WorldWideScience

Sample records for levels knowledge comprehension

  1. The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge Level on EFL Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shima Kameli

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study examined the impact of vocabulary knowledge level on reading comprehension performance among EFL language learners. The ultimate intention was to determine the association between levels of vocabulary knowledge and to clarify the relationship among vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension performance of EFL Iranian students on subtest of VLT and IELTS. Quantitative data were collected from 220 EFL Iranian adult students at the beginning of second semester of 2011 in private English language institute (BAHAR, Shiraz, Iran. The Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT and Reading Comprehension Test (IELTS were performed in one session as research instruments. The findings indicated that there were positive relationships among different levels of vocabulary test and also test scores on vocabulary size/breadth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension.

  2. Cultural Knowledge in News Comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mathieu, David

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents the main lines of the design and the findings of a reception study on news comprehension. This empirical study is a comparison of the comprehension processes of Danes and French Canadians over a set of news texts from both countries. Comprehension is explored from a cultural...... perspective, through the lens of cognition and pragmatics, revealing the role played by cultural knowledge in comprehension and the underlying relationship between a text and its intended audience. It is argued that recipients ‘problematise’ the news texts, a process by which the texts answer questions...

  3. Students' Metacomprehension Knowledge: Components That Predict Comprehension Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zabrucky, Karen M.; Moore, DeWayne; Agler, Lin-Miao Lin; Cummings, Andrea M.

    2015-01-01

    In the present study, we assessed students' metacomprehension knowledge and examined the components of knowledge most related to comprehension of expository texts. We used the Revised Metacomprehension Scale (RMCS) to investigate the relations between students' metacomprehension knowledge and comprehension performance. Students who evaluated and…

  4. Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge factors in 5th grade students’ reading comprehension

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    Kouider Mokhtari

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we examined 5th grade students’ levels of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness relative to their reading comprehension performance. The aim was to explore the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic awareness as potential sources of reading comprehension difficulty for these readers. Overall, we found that both vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness contributed in significant yet unique ways to students’ reading comprehension performance. Students who showed weaknesses in vocabulary and syntax also performed poorly on measures of reading comprehension. Additionally, we found that syntactic awareness explained a small amount of additional variance in reading comprehension beyond what was explained by vocabulary. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of research and practice addressing the relationships among syntax, vocabulary, and reading comprehension for more and less skilled readers.

  5. The Role of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge in Advanced EFL Listening Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atas, Ufuk

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents an empirical study that investigates the role of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension with 33 advanced Turkish learners of English as a foreign language. The Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt & Clapham, 2001) is used to measure the vocabulary knowledge of the participants and a standardized listening test…

  6. Vocabulary and Syntactic Knowledge Factors in 5th Grade Students' Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Kouider; Niederhauser, Dale S.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we examined 5th grade students' levels of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness relative to their reading comprehension performance. The aim was to explore the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic awareness as potential sources of reading comprehension difficulty for these readers. Overall, we found that both vocabulary…

  7. Comprehensive Teacher Education: A Handbook of Knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Washington, DC.

    Since 1992, AACTE and the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund have worked in partnership to advance the knowledge base of comprehensive teacher education. The AACTE/DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund's Comprehensive Teacher Education National Demonstration Project is grounded in the mutual belief that preparation of classroom teachers must…

  8. Comprehension challenges in the fourth grade: The roles of text cohesion, text genre, and readers’ prior knowledge

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    Danielle S. McNamara

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available We examined young readers’ comprehension as a function of text genre (narrative, science, text cohesion (high, low, and readers’ abilities (reading decoding skills and world knowledge. The overarching purpose of this study was to contribute to our understanding of the fourth grade slump. Children in grade 4 read four texts, including one high and one low cohesion text from each genre. Comprehension of each text was assessed with 12 multiple-choice questions and free and cued recall. Comprehension was enhanced by increased knowledge: high knowledge readers showed better comprehension than low knowledge readers and narratives were comprehended better than science texts. Interactions between readers’ knowledge levels and text characteristics indicated that the children showed larger effects of knowledge for science than for narrative texts, and those with more knowledge better understood the low cohesion, narrative texts, showing a reverse cohesion effect. Decoding skill benefited comprehension, but effects of text genre and cohesion depended less on decoding skill than prior knowledge. Overall, the study indicates that the fourth grade slump is at least partially attributable to the emergence of complex dependencies between the nature of the text and the reader’s prior knowledge. The results also suggested that simply adding cohesion cues, and not explanatory information, is not likely to be sufficient for young readers as an approach to improving comprehension of challenging texts.

  9. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbas Ali Zarei

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kinesthetic, and logical intelligences were predicators of reading comprehension. Moreover, musical, verbal, visual, kinesthetic and natural intelligences made significant contributions to predicting vocabulary knowledge.   Key words: Multiple intelligences, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge.

  10. Comprehension challenges in the fourth grade: The roles of text cohesion, text genre, and readers’ prior knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle S. McNAMARA

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available We examined young readers’ comprehension as a function of text genre (narrative, science, text cohesion (high, low, and readers’ abilities (reading decoding skills and world knowledge. The overarching purpose of this study was to contribute to our understanding of the fourth grade slump. Children in grade 4 read four texts, including one high and one low cohesion text from each genre. Comprehension of each text was assessed with 12 multiple-choice questions and free and cued recall. Comprehension was enhanced by increased knowledge: high knowledge readers showed bettercomprehension than low knowledge readers and narratives were comprehended better than science texts. Interactions between readers’ knowledge levels and text characteristics indicated that thechildren showed larger effects of knowledge for science than for narrative texts, and those with more knowledge better understood the low cohesion, narrative texts, showing a reverse cohesion effect.Decoding skill benefited comprehension, but effects of text genre and cohesion depended less on decoding skill than prior knowledge. Overall, the study indicates that the fourth grade slump is at leastpartially attributable to the emergence of complex dependencies between the nature of the text and the reader’s prior knowledge. The results also suggested that simply adding cohesion cues, and notexplanatory information, is not likely to be sufficient for young readers as an approach to improving comprehension of challenging texts.

  11. Do Knowledge Arrangements Affect Student Reading Comprehension of Genetics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jen-Yi; Tung, Yu-Neng; Hwang, Bi-Chi; Lin, Chen-Yung; Che-Di, Lee; Chang, Yung-Ta

    2014-01-01

    Various sequences for teaching genetics have been proposed. Three seventh-grade biology textbooks in Taiwan share similar key knowledge assemblages but have different knowledge arrangements. To investigate the influence of knowledge arrangements on student understanding of genetics, we compared students' reading comprehension of the three texts…

  12. Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rusli, Yazmin Ahmad; Montgomery, James W

    2017-10-17

    The aim of this study was to determine whether extant language (lexical) knowledge or domain-general working memory is the better predictor of comprehension of object relative sentences for children with typical development. We hypothesized that extant language knowledge, not domain-general working memory, is the better predictor. Fifty-three children (ages 9-11 years) completed a word-level verbal working-memory task, indexing extant language (lexical) knowledge; an analog nonverbal working-memory task, representing domain-general working memory; and a hybrid sentence comprehension task incorporating elements of both agent selection and cross-modal picture-priming paradigms. Images of the agent and patient were displayed at the syntactic gap in the object relative sentences, and the children were asked to select the agent of the sentence. Results of general linear modeling revealed that extant language knowledge accounted for a unique 21.3% of variance in the children's object relative sentence comprehension over and above age (8.3%). Domain-general working memory accounted for a nonsignificant 1.6% of variance. We interpret the results to suggest that extant language knowledge and not domain-general working memory is a critically important contributor to children's object relative sentence comprehension. Results support a connectionist view of the association between working memory and object relative sentence comprehension. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5404573.

  13. Irony comprehension: social conceptual knowledge and emotional response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akimoto, Yoritaka; Sugiura, Motoaki; Yomogida, Yukihito; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Miyazawa, Shiho; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2014-04-01

    Verbal irony conveys various emotional messages, from criticism to humor, that differ from the meaning of the actual words. To understand irony, we need conceptual knowledge of irony in addition to an understanding of context. We investigated the neural mechanism of irony comprehension, focusing on two overlooked issues: conceptual knowledge and emotional response. We studied 35 healthy subjects who underwent functional MRI. During the scan, the subject examined first-person-view stories describing verbal interactions, some of which included irony directed toward the subject. After MRI, the subject viewed the stories again and rated the degree of irony, humor, and negative emotion evoked by the statements. We identified several key findings about irony comprehension: (1) the right anterior superior temporal gyrus may be responsible for representing social conceptual knowledge of irony, (2) activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and the right anterior inferior temporal gyrus might underlie the understanding of context, (3) modulation of activity in the right amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus is associated with the degree of irony perceived, and (4) modulation of activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex varies with the degree of humor perceived. Our results clarified the differential contributions of the neural loci of irony comprehension, enriching our understanding of pragmatic language communication from a social behavior point of view. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Reading Comprehension Level and Development in Native and Language Minority Adolescent Low Achievers: Roles of Linguistic and Metacognitive Knowledge and Fluency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dr E.J. van Schooten; Dr. A.J.S. van Gelderen; M. Trapman; J. Hulstijn

    2016-01-01

    In a longitudinal design, we measured 50 low-achieving adolescents’ reading comprehension development from Grades 7 to 9. There were 24 native Dutch and 26 language minority students. In addition, we assessed the roles of (a) linguistic knowledge, (b) metacognitive knowledge, and (c) reading fluency

  15. Reading comprehension level and development in native and language minority adolescent low achievers : Roles of linguistic and metacognitive knowledge and fluency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trapman, M.; van Gelderen, A.; van Schooten, E.; Hulstijn, J.

    2017-01-01

    In a longitudinal design, we measured 50 low-achieving adolescents’ reading comprehension development from Grades 7 to 9. There were 24 native Dutch and 26 language minority students. In addition, we assessed the roles of (a) linguistic knowledge, (b) metacognitive knowledge, and (c) reading fluency

  16. Trends and Determinants of Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    USER

    This study examined comprehensive knowledge of HIV (CKH) and its determinants among young ... gender, education, marital status, place of ..... One of such interventions is the National ... of learning leaving a teeming population of out-of-.

  17. The contribution of phonological knowledge, memory, and language background to reading comprehension in deaf populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirshorn, Elizabeth A.; Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter; Supalla, Ted R.; Bavelier, Daphne

    2015-01-01

    While reading is challenging for many deaf individuals, some become proficient readers. Little is known about the component processes that support reading comprehension in these individuals. Speech-based phonological knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension in hearing individuals, yet its role in deaf readers is controversial. This could reflect the highly varied language backgrounds among deaf readers as well as the difficulty of disentangling the relative contribution of phonological versus orthographic knowledge of spoken language, in our case ‘English,’ in this population. Here we assessed the impact of language experience on reading comprehension in deaf readers by recruiting oral deaf individuals, who use spoken English as their primary mode of communication, and deaf native signers of American Sign Language. First, to address the contribution of spoken English phonological knowledge in deaf readers, we present novel tasks that evaluate phonological versus orthographic knowledge. Second, the impact of this knowledge, as well as memory measures that rely differentially on phonological (serial recall) and semantic (free recall) processing, on reading comprehension was evaluated. The best predictor of reading comprehension differed as a function of language experience, with free recall being a better predictor in deaf native signers than in oral deaf. In contrast, the measures of English phonological knowledge, independent of orthographic knowledge, best predicted reading comprehension in oral deaf individuals. These results suggest successful reading strategies differ across deaf readers as a function of their language experience, and highlight a possible alternative route to literacy in deaf native signers. Highlights: 1. Deaf individuals vary in their orthographic and phonological knowledge of English as a function of their language experience. 2. Reading comprehension was best predicted by different factors in oral deaf and

  18. 3cixty: Building comprehensive knowledge bases for city exploration

    OpenAIRE

    Troncy, Raphaël; Rizzo, Giuseppe; Jameson, Anthony; Corcho, Oscar; Plu, Julien; Palumbo, Enrico; Ballesteros Hermida, Juan Carlos; Spirescu, Adrian; Kuhn, Kai Dominik; Barbu, Catalin; Rossi, Matteo; Celino, Irene; Agarwal, Rachit; Scanu, Christian; Valla, Massimo

    2017-01-01

    International audience; Planning a visit to Expo Milano 2015 or simply touring in Milan are activities that require a certain amount of a priori knowledge of the city. In this paper, we present the process of building such comprehensive knowledge bases that contain descriptions of events and activities, places and sights, transportation facilities as well as social activities, collected from numerous static, near-and real-time local and global data providers, including hyper local sources suc...

  19. The contribution of phonological knowledge, memory, and language background to reading comprehension in deaf populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Ann Hirshorn

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available While reading is challenging for many deaf individuals, some become proficient readers. Yet we do not know the component processes that support reading comprehension in these individuals. Speech-based phonological knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension in hearing individuals, yet its role in deaf readers is controversial. This could reflect the highly varied language backgrounds among deaf readers as well as the difficulty of disentangling the relative contribution of phonological versus orthographic knowledge of spoken language, in our case ‘English’, in this population. Here we assessed the impact of language experience on reading comprehension in deaf readers by recruiting oral deaf individuals, who use spoken English as their primary mode of communication, and deaf native signers of American Sign Language. First, to address the contribution of spoken English phonological knowledge in deaf readers, we present novel tasks that evaluate phonological versus orthographic knowledge. Second, the impact of this knowledge, as well as verbal short-term memory and long-term memory skills, on reading comprehension was evaluated. The best predictor of reading comprehension differed as a function of language experience, with long-term memory, as measured by free recall, being a better predictor in deaf native signers than in oral deaf. In contrast, the measures of English phonological knowledge, independent of orthographic knowledge, best predicted reading comprehension in oral deaf individuals. These results suggest successful reading strategies differ across deaf readers as a function of their language experience, and highlight a possible alternative route to literacy in deaf native signers.

  20. Expository text comprehension: for which readers does knowledge of connectives contribute the most?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Welie, C; Schoonen, R; Kuiken, F; van den Bergh, H.H.

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different

  1. Knowledge-driven board-level functional fault diagnosis

    CERN Document Server

    Ye, Fangming; Chakrabarty, Krishnendu; Gu, Xinli

    2017-01-01

    This book provides a comprehensive set of characterization, prediction, optimization, evaluation, and evolution techniques for a diagnosis system for fault isolation in large electronic systems. Readers with a background in electronics design or system engineering can use this book as a reference to derive insightful knowledge from data analysis and use this knowledge as guidance for designing reasoning-based diagnosis systems. Moreover, readers with a background in statistics or data analytics can use this book as a practical case study for adapting data mining and machine learning techniques to electronic system design and diagnosis. This book identifies the key challenges in reasoning-based, board-level diagnosis system design and presents the solutions and corresponding results that have emerged from leading-edge research in this domain. It covers topics ranging from highly accurate fault isolation, adaptive fault isolation, diagnosis-system robustness assessment, to system performance analysis and evalua...

  2. Mind wandering during film comprehension: The role of prior knowledge and situational interest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopp, Kristopher; Mills, Caitlin; D'Mello, Sidney

    2016-06-01

    This study assessed the occurrence and factors that influence mind wandering (MW) in the domain of film comprehension. The cascading model of inattention assumes that a stronger mental representation (i.e., a situation model) during comprehension results in less MW. Accordingly, a suppression hypothesis suggests that MW would decrease as a function of having the knowledge of the plot of a film prior to viewing, because the prior-knowledge would help to strengthen the situation model during comprehension. Furthermore, an interest-moderation hypothesis would predict that the suppression effect of prior-knowledge would only emerge when there was interest in viewing the film. In the current experiment, 108 participants either read a short story that depicted the plot (i.e., prior-knowledge condition) or read an unrelated story of equal length (control condition) prior to viewing the short film (32.5 minutes) entitled The Red Balloon. Participants self-reported their interest in viewing the film immediately before the film was presented. MW was tracked using a self-report method targeting instances of MW with metacognitive awareness. Participants in the prior-knowledge condition reported less MW compared with the control condition, thereby supporting the suppression hypothesis. MW also decreased over the duration of the film, but only for those with prior-knowledge of the film. Finally, prior-knowledge effects on MW were only observed when interest was average or high, but not when interest was low.

  3. The Relationship between Listening Comprehension of Text and Sentences in Preschoolers: Specific or Mediated by Lower and Higher Level Components?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Florit, Elena; Roch, Maja; Levorato, M. Chiara

    2013-01-01

    Two studies explored the relation between listening comprehension of text and listening comprehension of sentences in preschoolers aged 4 to 5 years, 11 months. The first study analyzed this relationship taking into account the role of lower level components, namely, word knowledge and verbal working memory, as possible mediators. These components…

  4. Formalization and Interaction: Toward a Comprehensive History of Technology-Related Knowledge in Early Modern Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popplow, Marcus

    2015-12-01

    Recent critical approaches to what has conventionally been described as "scientific" and "technical" knowledge in early modern Europe have provided a wealth of new insights. So far, the various analytical concepts suggested by these studies have not yet been comprehensively discussed. The present essay argues that such comprehensive approaches might prove of special value for long-term and cross-cultural reflections on technology-related knowledge. As heuristic tools, the notions of "formalization" and "interaction" are proposed as part of alternative narratives to those highlighting the emergence of "science" as the most relevant development for technology-related knowledge in early modern Europe.

  5. Effect of Content Schema, Vocabulary Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension on Translation Performance

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    Reza Kafipour

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Schemata refer to all kinds of knowledge which are gained throughout the lifetime. Few studies tried to integrate schema theory and the next two crucial factors in translation and learning which are vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Thus, the present research aimed at delineating the potential effect of these three factors on translation performance of Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training. To this end, 172 Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training were selected based on two-step cluster sampling. To collect data, the participants answered a set of 6 open-ended questions to measure the students’ content schema along with a vocabulary size test, reading comprehension test, and translation task. To analyze data, Pearson correlation coefficient as well as stepwise multiple regressions was conducted through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17. Data analysis indicated that the independent variables significantly correlated with translation performance. In addition, multiple regressions analysis specified reading comprehension as the main contributing variable and content schema as the second in students’ translation performance. It also showed that vocabulary knowledge could not be a predicting factor in translation performance of the learners; the reason may refer to the inseparable component of their translation task that is dictionary. The results highlighted the role of content schema in translation performance of the learners.

  6. Influence of Prior Knowledge Questions on Pupils’ Performance in Reading Comprehension in Primary Schools in Kaduna, Nigeria

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    Hanna Onyi Yusuf

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out to determine the influence of prior knowledge questions on pupils’ performance in reading comprehension in primary schools in Kaduna, Nigeria. Two schools were used for the study. Ungwar Dosa primary school was used as the experimental school while Ungwar Rimi primary school was used as the control school. Thirty (30 primary five pupils from each of the two schools were used for the study. A total of sixty pupils were used for the study. A pre-test was administered on both groups of pupils before the commencement of teaching. A post-test was administered after six weeks of teaching. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The findings revealed significant difference in the performance of pupils taught reading comprehension using prior knowledge questions. Based on the findings, teachers are encouraged among others, to use prior knowledge questions to motivate and stimulate pupils to use their relevant background knowledge to interpret and understand new information in their reading comprehension texts. Curriculum planners and textbook writers are encouraged to include prior knowledge questions as part of the activities pupils should be exposed to during reading comprehension lessons.

  7. A comprehensive model for executing knowledge management audits in organizations: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahmoradi, Leila; Ahmadi, Maryam; Sadoughi, Farahnaz; Piri, Zakieh; Gohari, Mahmood Reza

    2015-01-01

    A knowledge management audit (KMA) is the first phase in knowledge management implementation. Incomplete or incomprehensive execution of the KMA has caused many knowledge management programs to fail. A study was undertaken to investigate how KMAs are performed systematically in organizations and present a comprehensive model for performing KMAs based on a systematic review. Studies were identified by searching electronic databases such as Emerald, LISA, and the Cochrane library and e-journals such as the Oxford Journal and hand searching of printed journals, theses, and books in the Tehran University of Medical Sciences digital library. The sources used in this study consisted of studies available through the digital library of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences that were published between 2000 and 2013, including both Persian- and English-language sources, as well as articles explaining the steps involved in performing a KMA. A comprehensive model for KMAs is presented in this study. To successfully execute a KMA, it is necessary to perform the appropriate preliminary activities in relation to the knowledge management infrastructure, determine the knowledge management situation, and analyze and use the available data on this situation.

  8. Roles of General versus Second Language (L2) Knowledge in L2 Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Ying; Roehrig, Alysia D.

    2011-01-01

    We examined the roles of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, syntactic awareness in English, and English vocabulary knowledge in the English reading comprehension of Chinese-speaking university students (n = 278). Results suggested a two-factor model of a General Reading Knowledge factor (metacognitive awareness employed during the…

  9. Assessing the Depth and Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge with Listening Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, Feng

    2014-01-01

    This study was inspired by Qian (1999) and Staehr (2009) and researched 88 Chinese learners who had already passed the College English Test 4 (CET). These learners volunteered to participate in the study regarding the depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and its relationship with listening comprehension, which was assessed by analyzing the…

  10. Expository Text Comprehension in Secondary School: For Which Readers Does Knowledge of Connectives Contribute the Most?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welie, Camille; Schoonen, Rob; Kuiken, Folkert; Bergh, Huub

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different language backgrounds or readers who vary in reading…

  11. Can Prior Knowledge Hurt Text Comprehension? An Answer Borrowed from Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Lawrence B.

    Taking a philosophical approach based on what Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes said about knowledge, this paper addresses some of the murkiness in the conceptual space surrounding the issue of whether prior knowledge does or does not facilitate text comprehension. Specifically, the paper first develops a non-exhaustive typology of cases in which…

  12. The Contribution of Vocabulary Knowledge and Spelling to the Reading Comprehension of Adolescents Who Are and Are Not English Language Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Deborah K; Petscher, Yaacov; Foorman, Barbara R

    2016-04-01

    This study examined the contributions of vocabulary and spelling to the reading comprehension of students in grades 6-10 who were and were not classified as English language learners. Results indicate that vocabulary accounted for greater between-grade differences and unique variance (Δ R 2 = .11 to .31) in comprehension as compared to spelling (Δ R 2 = .01 to .09). However, the contribution of spelling to comprehension was higher in the upper grade levels included in this cross-sectional analysis and functioned as a mediator of the impact of vocabulary knowledge at all levels. The direct effect of vocabulary was strong but lower in magnitude at each successive grade level from .58 in grade 6 to .41 in grade 10 while the indirect effect through spelling increased in magnitude at each successive grade level from .09 in grade 6 to .16 in grade 10. There were no significant differences between the language groups in the magnitude of the indirect impact, suggesting both groups of students relied more on both sources of lexical information in higher grades as compared to students in lower grades.

  13. Swarm Level 2 Comprehensive Inversion, 2016 Production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tøffner-Clausen, Lars; Sabaka, Terence; Olsen, Nils

    In the framework of the ESA Earth Observation Magnetic Mapping Mission Swarm, the Expert Support Laboratories (ESL) provides high quality Level 2 Products describing a.o. the magnetic fields of the Earth. This poster provides details of the Level 2 Products from the Comprehensive Inversion chain...

  14. Neural bases of event knowledge and syntax integration in comprehension of complex sentences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malaia, Evie; Newman, Sharlene

    2015-01-01

    Comprehension of complex sentences is necessarily supported by both syntactic and semantic knowledge, but what linguistic factors trigger a readers' reliance on a specific system? This functional neuroimaging study orthogonally manipulated argument plausibility and verb event type to investigate cortical bases of the semantic effect on argument comprehension during reading. The data suggest that telic verbs facilitate online processing by means of consolidating the event schemas in episodic memory and by easing the computation of syntactico-thematic hierarchies in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The results demonstrate that syntax-semantics integration relies on trade-offs among a distributed network of regions for maximum comprehension efficiency.

  15. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

    OpenAIRE

    Abbas Ali Zarei; Nima Shokri Afshar

    2014-01-01

    Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kin...

  16. Comprehensible knowledge model creation for cancer treatment decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afzal, Muhammad; Hussain, Maqbool; Ali Khan, Wajahat; Ali, Taqdir; Lee, Sungyoung; Huh, Eui-Nam; Farooq Ahmad, Hafiz; Jamshed, Arif; Iqbal, Hassan; Irfan, Muhammad; Abbas Hydari, Manzar

    2017-03-01

    A wealth of clinical data exists in clinical documents in the form of electronic health records (EHRs). This data can be used for developing knowledge-based recommendation systems that can assist clinicians in clinical decision making and education. One of the big hurdles in developing such systems is the lack of automated mechanisms for knowledge acquisition to enable and educate clinicians in informed decision making. An automated knowledge acquisition methodology with a comprehensible knowledge model for cancer treatment (CKM-CT) is proposed. With the CKM-CT, clinical data are acquired automatically from documents. Quality of data is ensured by correcting errors and transforming various formats into a standard data format. Data preprocessing involves dimensionality reduction and missing value imputation. Predictive algorithm selection is performed on the basis of the ranking score of the weighted sum model. The knowledge builder prepares knowledge for knowledge-based services: clinical decisions and education support. Data is acquired from 13,788 head and neck cancer (HNC) documents for 3447 patients, including 1526 patients of the oral cavity site. In the data quality task, 160 staging values are corrected. In the preprocessing task, 20 attributes and 106 records are eliminated from the dataset. The Classification and Regression Trees (CRT) algorithm is selected and provides 69.0% classification accuracy in predicting HNC treatment plans, consisting of 11 decision paths that yield 11 decision rules. Our proposed methodology, CKM-CT, is helpful to find hidden knowledge in clinical documents. In CKM-CT, the prediction models are developed to assist and educate clinicians for informed decision making. The proposed methodology is generalizable to apply to data of other domains such as breast cancer with a similar objective to assist clinicians in decision making and education. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Examining the Relative Contributions of Content Knowledge and Strategic Processing to Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aukerman, Maren; Brown, Rachel; Mokhtari, Kouider; Valencia, Sheila; Palincsar, Annemarie

    2015-01-01

    The essays below were prepared following the LRA session organized by Janice Almasi entitled, "Examining the relative contributions of content knowledge and strategic processing to comprehension." What unites these essays are the personal and historical stances that each writer has taken; in addition, the essays are rich with…

  18. The role of action knowledge in the comprehension of artefacts - a PET study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gerlach, Christian; Law, Ian; Gade, Anders

    2002-01-01

    and two naming tasks divided by category (natural objects vs artefacts). The left PMv (BA 6/44) was more activated by the categorization task for artefacts than by the categorization task for natural objects and the naming task for artefacts. However, the left PMv was not associated with the contrast......Activation of the left ventral premotor cortex (PMv) has in previous imaging studies been associated with the processing of visually presented artefacts. It has been suggested that this activation reflects processing of action knowledge and that action knowledge contributes to the comprehension...... of artefacts. The purpose of the present study was to test whether activation of the left PMv is common for all tasks involving the comprehension of artefacts or whether it is task specific. This was done by comparing performance and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) associated with two categorization tasks...

  19. Integration of World Knowledge and Temporary Information about Changes in an Object's Environmental Location during Different Stages of Sentence Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xuqian; Yang, Wei; Ma, Lijun; Li, Jiaxin

    2018-01-01

    Recent findings have shown that information about changes in an object's environmental location in the context of discourse is stored in working memory during sentence comprehension. However, in these studies, changes in the object's location were always consistent with world knowledge (e.g., in "The writer picked up the pen from the floor and moved it to the desk," the floor and the desk are both common locations for a pen). How do people accomplish comprehension when the object-location information in working memory is inconsistent with world knowledge (e.g., a pen being moved from the floor to the bathtub)? In two visual world experiments, with a "look-and-listen" task, we used eye-tracking data to investigate comprehension of sentences that described location changes under different conditions of appropriateness (i.e., the object and its location were typically vs. unusually coexistent, based on world knowledge) and antecedent context (i.e., contextual information that did vs. did not temporarily normalize unusual coexistence between object and location). Results showed that listeners' retrieval of the critical location was affected by both world knowledge and working memory, and the effect of world knowledge was reduced when the antecedent context normalized unusual coexistence of object and location. More importantly, activation of world knowledge and working memory seemed to change during the comprehension process. These results are important because they demonstrate that interference between world knowledge and information in working memory, appears to be activated dynamically during sentence comprehension.

  20. Assessment of HIV/AIDS comprehensive correct knowledge among Sudanese university: a cross-sectional analytic study 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elbadawi, Abdulateef; Mirghani, Hyder

    2016-01-01

    Comprehensive correct HIV/AIDS knowledge (CCAK) is defined as correctly identify the two major ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, and reject the most common misconceptions about HIV transmission. There are limited studies on this topic in Sudan. In this study we investigated the Comprehensive correct HIV/AIDS knowledge among Universities students. A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted among 556 students from two universities in 2014. Data were collected by using the self-administered pre-tested structured questionnaire. Chi-square was used for testing the significance and P. Value of ≥ 0.05 is considered as statistically significant. The majority (97.1%) of study subjects have heard about a disease called HIV/AIDS, while only 28.6% of them knew anyone who is infected with AIDS in the local community. Minority (13.8%) of students had CCAK however, males showed a better level of CCAK than females (OR = 2.77) with high significant statistical differences (P. Value = 0.001). Poor rate of CCAK among university students is noticed, especially among females. Almost half of students did not know preventive measures of HIV, nearly two thirds had misconception, about one third did not know the mode of transmission of HIV.

  1. Integration of World Knowledge and Temporary Information about Changes in an Object's Environmental Location during Different Stages of Sentence Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuqian Chen

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Recent findings have shown that information about changes in an object's environmental location in the context of discourse is stored in working memory during sentence comprehension. However, in these studies, changes in the object's location were always consistent with world knowledge (e.g., in “The writer picked up the pen from the floor and moved it to the desk,” the floor and the desk are both common locations for a pen. How do people accomplish comprehension when the object-location information in working memory is inconsistent with world knowledge (e.g., a pen being moved from the floor to the bathtub? In two visual world experiments, with a “look-and-listen” task, we used eye-tracking data to investigate comprehension of sentences that described location changes under different conditions of appropriateness (i.e., the object and its location were typically vs. unusually coexistent, based on world knowledge and antecedent context (i.e., contextual information that did vs. did not temporarily normalize unusual coexistence between object and location. Results showed that listeners' retrieval of the critical location was affected by both world knowledge and working memory, and the effect of world knowledge was reduced when the antecedent context normalized unusual coexistence of object and location. More importantly, activation of world knowledge and working memory seemed to change during the comprehension process. These results are important because they demonstrate that interference between world knowledge and information in working memory, appears to be activated dynamically during sentence comprehension.

  2. The Contribution of Knowledge about Anaphors, Organisational Signals and Refutations to Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    García, J. Ricardo; Bustos, Andrea; Sánchez, Emilio

    2015-01-01

    Expository texts contain rhetorical devices that help readers to connect text ideas (within a text and with prior knowledge) and to monitor reading. Rhetorical competence addresses readers' skill in detecting, understanding and using these devices. We examined the contribution of rhetorical competence to reading comprehension on two groups of 11-…

  3. The Relation of Morphological Awareness and Syntactic Awareness to Adults' Reading Comprehension: Is Vocabulary Knowledge a Mediating Variable?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Ying; Roehrig, Alysia D.; Williams, Rihana S.

    2011-01-01

    The authors' goal was to examine the structural relationships among vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension in English-speaking adults. Structural equation analysis of data collected from 151 participants revealed that morphological awareness affected reading comprehension directly. Syntactic…

  4. The Predictor Factor of Reading Comprehension Performance in English as a Foreign Language: Breadth or Depth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shima Kameli

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The present study explored the association among vocabulary breadth/size, depth/quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. The main intention of this research was to  explore the association of vocabulary knowledge depth/quality and reading comprehension performance. This study was also intended to find out which aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth/size or depth/quality, has more significant association with determining EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT, Word Associates Test (WAT, and Reading Comprehension test (IELTS have been administered among all the respondents. The participants were 220 adult male and female EFL learners who were learning English in advanced level in BAHAR institute, Shiraz, Iran. The findings revealed that 1 test  scores on vocabulary size/ breadth, depth/ quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were  positively correlated, 2 vocabulary size/ breadth was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth/ Quality of vocabulary knowledge.

  5. Accessing word meaning: Semantic word knowledge and reading comprehension in Dutch monolingual and bilingual fifth-graders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cremer, M.

    2013-01-01

    Word knowledge is one of the key elements in reading comprehension and by extension in school success. At the same time, it is not quite clear which components of lexical knowledge play a role in reading. Is it enough to recognize the words we read? Do we need an in-depth understanding of their

  6. The level of social relations comprehension and its impact on text comprehension in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hana Sotáková

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Background The study was carried out within the research “Reading comprehension – typical development and its risks”. The article contains data from a component study focused on 4th grade students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD who were incorporated into a group of readers with reading comprehension development risks. The main aim was to establish whether variable results in children’s reading and comprehension tests relate to the level of understanding of social relations. Participants and procedure We tested 20 students with ASD in two phases: T1 and T2. Each phase consisted of 2 individual sessions. Under the leadership of a research assistant, during each of these sessions a student would carry out the test focused on general intellectual skills, language skills, reading, and reading comprehension. For students with autistic spectrum disorder the Strange Stories test was added in order to ascertain the level of social relations understanding. Results The results in reading and reading comprehension tests among students with ASD varied significantly. Based on a correlation analysis it was found that the Strange Stories results substantially correlate with tests focused on reading, text comprehension and language skill levels. Conclusions Our research proved the following: the Strange Stories test results show that the level to which an individual is able to understand social relations and social behavior is significantly related to his/her ability to comprehend a text. Consequently, this can influence his/her learning skills as well as the quality of life in society. Cultivation of social abilities, social communication and understanding of social situations and relations is therefore necessary for compensation of autistic spectrum disorder expressions.

  7. Reading and Comprehension Levels in a Sample of Urban, Low-Income Persons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado, Cheryl; Weitzel, Marilyn

    2013-01-01

    Objective: Because health literacy is related to healthcare outcomes, this study looked at reading and comprehension levels in a sample of urban, low-income persons. Design: This was a descriptive exploration of reading comprehension levels, controlled for medical problems that could impact on vision and therefore ability to read. Setting: Ninety…

  8. An In-Depth Investigation into the Relationship between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Listening Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, Feng

    2016-01-01

    The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

  9. The Explicit/Implicit Knowledge Distinction and Working Memory: Implications for Second-Language Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ercetin, Gulcan; Alptekin, Cem

    2013-01-01

    Following an extensive overview of the subject, this study explores the relationships between second-language (L2) explicit/implicit knowledge sources, embedded in the declarative/procedural memory systems, and L2 working memory (WM) capacity. It further examines the relationships between L2 reading comprehension and L2 WM capacity as well as…

  10. Age-related differences in warning symbol comprehension and training effectiveness: effects of familiarity, complexity, and comprehensibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesch, M F; Horrey, W J; Wogalter, M S; Powell, W R

    2011-10-01

    Age-related changes in selective attention, inhibitory efficiency, and the ability to form new associations suggest that older adults may have greater difficulty with more complex and less comprehensible symbols. We examined comprehension of symbols varying in terms of ratings of familiarity, complexity, and comprehensibility, by younger (aged 18-35) and older (aged 55-70) adults. It was found that older adults have greater difficulty than younger adults in comprehending warning symbols and that accident scenario training improves comprehension. Regression analyses indicated that familiarity and comprehensibility were important in determining performance on the pre-training comprehension test by both younger and older adults. However, training eliminated the effects of stimulus characteristics for younger adults, while older adults' comprehension continued to be significantly influenced by comprehensibility. We suggest that symbol design incorporates cues to knowledge to facilitate the linkage between new knowledge (i.e. the warning symbol) and relevant knowledge in long-term memory. Statement of Relevance: Symbol characteristics play an important role in age-related differences in warning symbol comprehension. To optimise comprehension by older adults, symbols should have a clear relationship with areal-world referent. Alternatively, symbol design could incorporate cues to knowledge to facilitate the linkage between new knowledge and relevant knowledge in long-term memory.

  11. Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension Levels of Malaysian Tertiary Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelina Wan Lin Tan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance among students in a tertiary institution in a Malaysian context and examined the vocabulary size required for students to achieve reading comprehension at various levels of proficiency. The research questions that guided this study were: 1 What is the vocabulary size of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; 2 What is the reading comprehension proficiency of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; and 3 What vocabulary size is required for different levels of reading comprehension proficiency? This study used the quantitative approach. The participants were 53 Malaysian second-year students at a private university college in Malaysia who were reading for their Diploma in Mass Communication. The instruments used were the Vocabulary Size Test and the IELTS Reading Test (Academic Module. The findings showed that the average vocabulary size of the students was just over 6000 word families and this vocabulary size was generally insufficient for adequate reading comprehension. Students needed an average vocabulary size of about 8000 word families to achieve adequate reading comprehension and about 10000 word families to achieve proficient reading comprehension. Based on the individual student’s performance, this study did not find a linear relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance, nor was there a threshold vocabulary size for adequate reading comprehension.

  12. Language and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension: Evidence from Multivariate Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk

    2015-01-01

    Using data from children in South Korea (N = 145, M[subscript age] = 6.08), it was determined how low-level language and cognitive skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and working memory) and high-level cognitive skills (comprehension monitoring and theory of mind [ToM]) are related to listening comprehension and whether listening…

  13. Auditory comprehension: from the voice up to the single word level

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Anna Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Auditory comprehension, the ability to understand spoken language, consists of a number of different auditory processing skills. In the five studies presented in this thesis I investigated both intact and impaired auditory comprehension at different levels: voice versus phoneme perception, as well as single word auditory comprehension in terms of phonemic and semantic content. In the first study, using sounds from different continua of ‘male’-/pæ/ to ‘female’-/tæ/ and ‘male’...

  14. Levels of Text Comprehension in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): The Influence of Language Phenotype

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Rebecca; Norbury, Courtenay Frazier

    2014-01-01

    Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have reading comprehension difficulties, but the level of processing at which comprehension is most vulnerable and the influence of language phenotype on comprehension skill is currently unclear. We explored comprehension at sentence and passage levels across language phenotypes. Children with ASD…

  15. Navigation and Comprehension of Digital Expository Texts: Hypertext Structure, Previous Domain Knowledge, and Working Memory Capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burin, Debora I.; Barreyro, Juan P.; Saux, Gastón; Irrazábal, Natalia C.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: In contemporary information societies, reading digital text has become pervasive. One of the most distinctive features of digital texts is their internal connections via hyperlinks, resulting in non-linear hypertexts. Hypertext structure and previous knowledge affect navigation and comprehension of digital expository texts. From the…

  16. Reading comprehension skills of young adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ransby, Marilyn J; Swanson, H Lee

    2003-01-01

    This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.

  17. The Extent of Comprehension and Knowledge with Respect to Digital Citizenship among Middle Eastern and US Students at UNC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alqahtani, Abdullah; Alqahtani, Fatimah; Alqurashi, Mohammed

    2017-01-01

    Digital technologies have revolutionized the way people acquire information and gain new knowledge. With a click or touch on the screen, anybody who is online can sail in the digital world and accomplish many things. As such, the optimal use of information and communication technology involves user comprehension, knowledge, and awareness of…

  18. Memory and Comprehension for Health Information among Older Adults: Distinguishing the Effects of Domain-General and Domain-Specific Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chin, Jessie; Payne, Brennan; Gao, Xuefei; Conner-Garcia, Thembi; Graumlich, James F.; Murray, Michael D.; Morrow, Daniel G.; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A.L.

    2014-01-01

    While there is evidence that knowledge influences understanding of health information, less is known about the processing mechanisms underlying this effect and its impact on memory. We used the moving window paradigm to examine how older adults varying in domain-general crystallized ability (verbal ability) and health knowledge allocate attention to understand health and domain-general texts. Participants (n=107, aged 60 to 88 yrs) read and recalled single sentences about hypertension and about non-health topics. Mixed-effects modeling of word-by-word reading times suggested that domain-general crystallized ability increased conceptual integration regardless of text domain, while health knowledge selectively increased resource allocation to conceptual integration at clause boundaries in health texts. These patterns of attentional allocation were related to subsequent recall performance. Although older adults with lower levels of crystallized ability were less likely to engage in integrative processing, when they did, this strategy had a compensatory effect in improving recall. These findings suggest that semantic integration during reading is an important comprehension process that supports the construction of the memory representation and is engendered by knowledge. Implications of the findings for theories of text processing and memory as well as for designing patient education materials are discussed. PMID:24787361

  19. Memory and comprehension for health information among older adults: distinguishing the effects of domain-general and domain-specific knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chin, Jessie; Payne, Brennan; Gao, Xuefei; Conner-Garcia, Thembi; Graumlich, James F; Murray, Michael D; Morrow, Daniel G; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L

    2015-01-01

    While there is evidence that knowledge influences understanding of health information, less is known about the processing mechanisms underlying this effect and its impact on memory. We used the moving window paradigm to examine how older adults varying in domain-general crystallised ability (verbal ability) and health knowledge allocate attention to understand health and domain-general texts. Participants (n = 107, age: 60-88 years) read and recalled single sentences about hypertension and about non-health topics. Mixed-effects modelling of word-by-word reading times suggested that domain-general crystallised ability increased conceptual integration regardless of text domain, while health knowledge selectively increased resource allocation to conceptual integration at clause boundaries in health texts. These patterns of attentional allocation were related to subsequent recall performance. Although older adults with lower levels of crystallised ability were less likely to engage in integrative processing, when they did, this strategy had a compensatory effect in improving recall. These findings suggest that semantic integration during reading is an important comprehension process that supports the construction of the memory representation and is engendered by knowledge. Implications of the findings for theories of text processing and memory as well as for designing patient education materials are discussed.

  20. Linking HRM and Knowledge Transfer via Individual-level Mechanisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Minbaeva, Dana; Mäkelä, Kristiina; Rabbiosi, Larissa

    2012-01-01

    In response to recent calls for more research on micro-foundations, we seek to link human resource management (HRM) and knowledge transfer through individual-level mechanisms, arguing that individual-level conditions of action influence the extent to which employees engage in knowledge exchange. We...... examine four such conditions empirically using data from 811 employees in three Danish multinational corporations (MNCs). Our findings suggest that individual-level perceptions of organizational commitment to knowledge sharing, and extrinsic motivation, directly influence the extent to which employees...... engage in firm-internal knowledge exchange. We also find that intrinsic motivation and engagement in social interaction significantly mediate the relationship between perceived organizational commitment and knowledge exchange. Given that HRM can influence such conditions through an overall signaling...

  1. Is an Illustration Always Worth Ten Thousand Words? Effects of Prior Knowledge, Learning Style and Multimedia Illustrations on Text Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ollerenshaw, Alison; Aidman, Eugene; Kidd, Garry

    1997-01-01

    This study examined comprehension in four groups of undergraduates under text only, multimedia, and two diagram conditions of text supplementation. Results indicated that effects of text supplementation are mediated by prior knowledge and learning style: multimedia appears more beneficial to surface learners with little prior knowledge and makes…

  2. Levels of Subjective Comprehension in Advertising Processing and Their Relations to Ad Perceptions, Attitudes, and Memory.

    OpenAIRE

    Mick, David Glen

    1992-01-01

    Two fundamental orientations toward message comprehension have appeared in advertising research: the traditional objective view, which applies an accuracy criterion to conceptualize and evaluate comprehension, and the subjective view, which applies other criteria related to the individual comprehender and the actual experience of the message. This article develops a framework for four levels of subjective comprehension on the basis of an elaboration criterion. Comprehension levels are hypothe...

  3. MKEM: a Multi-level Knowledge Emergence Model for mining undiscovered public knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Song Min

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Since Swanson proposed the Undiscovered Public Knowledge (UPK model, there have been many approaches to uncover UPK by mining the biomedical literature. These earlier works, however, required substantial manual intervention to reduce the number of possible connections and are mainly applied to disease-effect relation. With the advancement in biomedical science, it has become imperative to extract and combine information from multiple disjoint researches, studies and articles to infer new hypotheses and expand knowledge. Methods We propose MKEM, a Multi-level Knowledge Emergence Model, to discover implicit relationships using Natural Language Processing techniques such as Link Grammar and Ontologies such as Unified Medical Language System (UMLS MetaMap. The contribution of MKEM is as follows: First, we propose a flexible knowledge emergence model to extract implicit relationships across different levels such as molecular level for gene and protein and Phenomic level for disease and treatment. Second, we employ MetaMap for tagging biological concepts. Third, we provide an empirical and systematic approach to discover novel relationships. Results We applied our system on 5000 abstracts downloaded from PubMed database. We performed the performance evaluation as a gold standard is not yet available. Our system performed with a good precision and recall and we generated 24 hypotheses. Conclusions Our experiments show that MKEM is a powerful tool to discover hidden relationships residing in extracted entities that were represented by our Substance-Effect-Process-Disease-Body Part (SEPDB model.

  4. The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgoyne, K; Kelly, J M; Whiteley, H E; Spooner, A

    2009-12-01

    Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading- and comprehension-related skills of a group of EAL learners. Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL. Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group. Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.

  5. Designing information visualizations for elite soccer children's different levels of comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herdal, Thor; Pedersen, Jeppe Gerner; Knudsen, Søren

    2016-01-01

    We describe a study that sought to understand elite soccer children's use of visualizations to learn about, and improve their own sports performance. We specifically investigate how visualizations support the players' data comprehension. In this process, we design and evaluate visualizations base...... on real data. Finally, we discuss how the players' level of comprehension might depend on factors such as their general literacy and visualization literacy, and the role of visualization in coaching children....

  6. A Comprehensive Real-Time Indoor Air-Quality Level Indicator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jungho Kang

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The growing concern about Indoor Air-Quality has accelerated the development of small, low-cost air-quality monitoring systems. These systems are capable of monitoring various indoor air pollutants in real time, notifying users about the current air-quality status and gathering the information to the central server. However, most Internet of Things (IoT-based air-quality monitoring systems numerically present the sensed value per pollutant, making it difficult for general users to identify how polluted the air is. Therefore, in this paper, we first introduce a tiny air-quality monitoring system that we developed and, based on the system, we also test the applicability of the comprehensive Air-Quality Index (AQI, which is widely used all over the world, in terms of its capacity for a comprehensive indoor air-quality indication. We also develop design considerations for an IoT-based air-quality monitoring system and propose a real-time comprehensive indoor air-quality level indication method, which effectively copes with dynamic changes and is efficient in terms of processing and memory overhead.

  7. Affix Meaning Knowledge in First Through Third Grade Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apel, Kenn; Henbest, Victoria Suzanne

    2016-04-01

    We examined grade-level differences in 1st- through 3rd-grade students' performance on an experimenter-developed affix meaning task (AMT) and determined whether AMT performance explained unique variance in word-level reading and reading comprehension, beyond other known contributors to reading development. Forty students at each grade level completed an assessment battery that included measures of phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, word-level reading, reading comprehension, and affix meaning knowledge. On the AMT, 1st-grade students were significantly less accurate than 2nd- and 3rd-grade students; there was no significant difference in performance between the 2nd- and 3rd-grade students. Regression analyses revealed that the AMT accounted for 8% unique variance of students' performance on word-level reading measures and 6% unique variance of students' performance on the reading comprehension measure, after age, phonological awareness, and receptive vocabulary were explained. These results provide initial information on the development of affix meaning knowledge via an explicit measure in 1st- through 3rd-grade students and demonstrate that affix meaning knowledge uniquely contributes to the development of reading abilities above other known literacy predictors. These findings provide empirical support for how students might use morphological problem solving to read unknown multimorphemic words successfully.

  8. Comparison of Different Levels of Reading Comprehension between Hearing-Impaired Loss and Normal-Hearing Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azam Sharifi

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Reading skill is one of the most important necessities of students' learning in everyday life. This skill is referred to the ability of comprehension, comment and conclusion from texts and receiving the meaning of the massage which is composed. Educational development in any student has a direct relation with the ability of the comprehension. This study is designed to investigate the effects of hearing loss on reading comprehension in hearing-impaired students compared to normal-hearing ones.Methods: Seventeen hearing-impaired students in 4th year of primary exceptional schools in Karaj, Robatkarim and Shahriyar, Iran, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Seventeen normal-hearing students were randomly selected from ordinary schools next to exceptional ones as control group. They were compared for different levels of reading comprehension using the international standard booklet (PIRLS 2001. Results: There was a significant difference in performance between hearing-impaired and normal- hearing students in different levels of reading comprehension (p<0.05.Conclusion: Hearing loss has negative effects on different levels of reading comprehension, so in exceptional centers, reconsideration in educational planning in order to direct education from memorizing to comprehension and deeper layers of learning seems necessary.

  9. The relationship between chiropractor required and current level of business knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciolfi, Michael Anthony; Kasen, Patsy Anne

    2017-01-01

    Chiropractors frequently practice within health care systems requiring the business acumen of an entrepreneur. However, some chiropractors do not know the relationship between the level of business knowledge required for practice success and their current level of business knowledge. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between chiropractors' perceived level of business knowledge required and their perceived level of current business knowledge. Two hundred and seventy-four participants completed an online survey (Health Care Training and Education Needs Survey) which included eight key business items. Participants rated the level of perceived business knowledge required (Part I) and their current perceived level of knowledge (Part II) for the same eight items. Data was collected from November 27, 2013 to December 18, 2013. Data were analyzed using Spearman's ranked correlation to determine the statistically significant relationships for the perceived level of knowledge required and the perceived current level of knowledge for each of the paired eight items from Parts I and II of the survey. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Tests were performed to determine the statistical difference between the paired items. The results of Spearman's correlation testing indicated a statistically significant ( p business items (6 of 8) however a statistically difference was demonstrated in only three of the paired business items. The implications of this study for social change include the potential to improve chiropractors' business knowledge and skills, enable practice success, enhance health services delivery and positively influence the profession as a viable career.

  10. Online Test Tool to Determine the CEFR Reading Comprehension Level of Text

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Velleman, Eric Martin; van der Geest, Thea

    2014-01-01

    On the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale, the average reading comprehension level of the Dutch population is B1 and the average level of text provided by Dutch government organisations requires a considerably higher reading skills level (C1). This means that part of

  11. Dissociating speech perception and comprehension at reduced levels of awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Matthew H.; Coleman, Martin R.; Absalom, Anthony R.; Rodd, Jennifer M.; Johnsrude, Ingrid S.; Matta, Basil F.; Owen, Adrian M.; Menon, David K.

    2007-01-01

    We used functional MRI and the anesthetic agent propofol to assess the relationship among neural responses to speech, successful comprehension, and conscious awareness. Volunteers were scanned while listening to sentences containing ambiguous words, matched sentences without ambiguous words, and signal-correlated noise (SCN). During three scanning sessions, participants were nonsedated (awake), lightly sedated (a slowed response to conversation), and deeply sedated (no conversational response, rousable by loud command). Bilateral temporal-lobe responses for sentences compared with signal-correlated noise were observed at all three levels of sedation, although prefrontal and premotor responses to speech were absent at the deepest level of sedation. Additional inferior frontal and posterior temporal responses to ambiguous sentences provide a neural correlate of semantic processes critical for comprehending sentences containing ambiguous words. However, this additional response was absent during light sedation, suggesting a marked impairment of sentence comprehension. A significant decline in postscan recognition memory for sentences also suggests that sedation impaired encoding of sentences into memory, with left inferior frontal and temporal lobe responses during light sedation predicting subsequent recognition memory. These findings suggest a graded degradation of cognitive function in response to sedation such that “higher-level” semantic and mnemonic processes can be impaired at relatively low levels of sedation, whereas perceptual processing of speech remains resilient even during deep sedation. These results have important implications for understanding the relationship between speech comprehension and awareness in the healthy brain in patients receiving sedation and in patients with disorders of consciousness. PMID:17938125

  12. Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rusli, Yazmin Ahmad; Montgomery, James W.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether extant language (lexical) knowledge or domain-general working memory is the better predictor of comprehension of object relative sentences for children with typical development. We hypothesized that extant language knowledge, not domain-general working memory, is the better predictor. Method:…

  13. Negative blood oxygen level dependent signals during speech comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez Moreno, Diana; Schiff, Nicholas D; Hirsch, Joy

    2015-05-01

    Speech comprehension studies have generally focused on the isolation and function of regions with positive blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals with respect to a resting baseline. Although regions with negative BOLD signals in comparison to a resting baseline have been reported in language-related tasks, their relationship to regions of positive signals is not fully appreciated. Based on the emerging notion that the negative signals may represent an active function in language tasks, the authors test the hypothesis that negative BOLD signals during receptive language are more associated with comprehension than content-free versions of the same stimuli. Regions associated with comprehension of speech were isolated by comparing responses to passive listening to natural speech to two incomprehensible versions of the same speech: one that was digitally time reversed and one that was muffled by removal of high frequencies. The signal polarity was determined by comparing the BOLD signal during each speech condition to the BOLD signal during a resting baseline. As expected, stimulation-induced positive signals relative to resting baseline were observed in the canonical language areas with varying signal amplitudes for each condition. Negative BOLD responses relative to resting baseline were observed primarily in frontoparietal regions and were specific to the natural speech condition. However, the BOLD signal remained indistinguishable from baseline for the unintelligible speech conditions. Variations in connectivity between brain regions with positive and negative signals were also specifically related to the comprehension of natural speech. These observations of anticorrelated signals related to speech comprehension are consistent with emerging models of cooperative roles represented by BOLD signals of opposite polarity.

  14. Cross-cultural differences in levels of knowledge about epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doughty, Julie; Baker, Gus A; Jacoby, Ann; Lavaud, Virginie

    2003-01-01

    To study how much people with epilepsy in Europe know and understand about their condition and how this might affect their lives. Clinical, demographic, psychosocial details and information assessing knowledge were collected by using self-completion questionnaires mailed to members of epilepsy support groups. Data were collected from 6,156 people with epilepsy from ten European countries. There were significant between-country differences in all variables considered. Overall levels of knowledge were acceptable when measured by the epilepsy knowledge questionnaire (EKQ, medical items). However, there were some gaps in knowledge, particularly in issues relating to medication and cause of epilepsy. This is the largest study of its kind to date. Results clearly highlighted that levels of knowledge differed significantly between countries. Overall, people with epilepsy are reasonably well informed about epilepsy, although some gaps in knowledge were evident.

  15. Scaffolding and co-operative learning : Effects on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English as a foreign language

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wachyunni, Sri

    2015-01-01

    For university students in Indonesia, English reading comprehension, which partially depends on vocabulary knowledge, is key to success in academic achievement. The current study was set up to compare the effect of two commonly known teaching interventions during a whole semester to improve reading

  16. Contrasting patterns of comprehension for superordinate, basic-level, and subordinate names in semantic dementia and aphasic stroke patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crutch, Sebastian J; Warrington, Elizabeth K

    2008-06-01

    It is well established that patients with semantic memory impairment show a relative sparing of general superordinate information as compared with more detailed item-specific information. The objective of the current study was to examine whether or not this superordinate superiority effect is also reliably observed in individuals with stroke. The participants were 3 patients with a diagnosis of semantic dementia (SD) and 4 left middle cerebral artery stroke patients. In the first experiment, participants were administered a series of spoken-word-picture matching tasks, in which picture identity was probed under two conditions: item name (e.g., goose, beetle, shark, hedgehog) and superordinate name (e.g., bird, insect, fish, mammal). The SD patients showed the predicted pattern of performance, identifying stimuli significantly more accurately by their superordinate term than by their specific name. By contrast, the stroke patients showed the reverse pattern of inferior performance in the superordinate condition in all versions of the experimental task. In a second experiment comparing comprehension ofbasic-level names (e.g., dog, bird, fish) and subordinate-level names (e.g., Dalmatian, sparrow, trout), stroke patients also showed a reversal of the normal basic-level effect, showing less accurate comprehension of basic-level names. The pattern of results documented among the stroke patients cannot be accommodated obviously or readily by existing models of conceptual knowledge. These contrasting abilities of SD patients, stroke patients, and normal healthy participants to process subordinate, basic-level, and superordinate names are considered in relation to disorders of executive processing and taxonomic categorization.

  17. Impact Of Using Joint Productive Activity Approach On Second Language Learners’ Performance In Reading Comprehension At The Basic Education Level In Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HANNA ONYI YUSUF

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the impact of using joint productive activity on the performance of second language learners in reading comprehension at the basic education level in Nigeria. A sample of forty (40 Junior Secondary II students from Kaduna North and South were used for the study. The study was quasi experimental. Government Junior Secondary School Doka was used as the experimental group while Government Junior Secondary School Makera was used as the control group. Both groups were assessed after six weeks of teaching using two reading comprehension tests. T-test was used to test the hypothesis raised in the study. The findings revealed significant differences in the performance of students taught reading comprehension using joint productive activity. Based on the findings teachers are encouraged to use joint productive activities in teaching reading comprehension. This is a positive deviation from the traditional practice in Nigeria where a teacher is regarded as the sole custodian of knowledge and students are empty tabula rasa who should be passive during class teaching. Teachers need to exploit this new approach by designing teaching comprehension activities that will require second language learners’ collaboration and active participation in accomplishing tasks jointly in class with the teacher.

  18. Understanding the Relative Contributions of Lower-Level Word Processes, Higher-Level Processes, and Working Memory to Reading Comprehension Performance in Proficient Adult Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannon, Brenda

    2012-01-01

    Although a considerable amount of evidence has been amassed regarding the contributions of lower-level word processes, higher-level processes, and working memory to reading comprehension, little is known about the relationships among these sources of individual differences or their relative contributions to reading comprehension performance. This…

  19. Participative knowledge management to empower manufacturing workers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Campatelli, Gianni; Richter, Alexander; Stocker, Alexander

    2016-01-01

    skills. In this paper, the authors suggest a participative knowledge management approach to empower manufacturing workers. Starting from a comprehensive empirical analysis of the existing work practices in a manufacturing company, the authors have developed and validated a knowledge management system...... prototype. The prototype is aimed for training, problem solving, and facilitating the discovery, acquisition, and sharing of manufacturing knowledge. The conducted evaluation of the prototype indicates that workers' skills and level of work satisfaction will increase since the knowledge management system...

  20. Direct and mediated effects of language and cognitive skills on comprehension of oral narrative texts (listening comprehension) for children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2016-01-01

    We investigated component language and cognitive skills of oral language comprehension of narrative texts (i.e., listening comprehension). Using the construction-integration model of text comprehension as an overarching theoretical framework, we examined direct and mediated relations of foundational cognitive skills (working memory and attention), foundational language skills (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge), and higher-order cognitive skills (inference, theory of mind, and comprehension monitoring) to listening comprehension. A total of 201 first grade children in South Korea participated in the study. Structural equation modeling results showed that listening comprehension is directly predicted by working memory, grammatical knowledge, inference, and theory of mind and is indirectly predicted by attention, vocabulary, and comprehension monitoring. The total effects were .46 for working memory, .07 for attention, .30 for vocabulary, .49 for grammatical knowledge, .31 for inference, .52 for theory of mind, and .18 for comprehension monitoring. These results suggest that multiple language and cognitive skills make contributions to listening comprehension, and their contributions are both direct and indirect. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Assessing children's inference generation: what do tests of reading comprehension measure?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowyer-Crane, Claudine; Snowling, Margaret J

    2005-06-01

    Previous research suggests that children with specific comprehension difficulties have problems with the generation of inferences. This raises important questions as to whether poor comprehenders have poor comprehension skills generally, or whether their problems are confined to specific inference types. The main aims of the study were (a) using two commonly used tests of reading comprehension to classify the questions requiring the generation of inferences, and (b) to investigate the relative performance of skilled and less-skilled comprehenders on questions tapping different inference types. The performance of 10 poor comprehenders (mean age 110.06 months) was compared with the performance of 10 normal readers (mean age 112.78 months) on two tests of reading comprehension. A qualitative analysis of the NARA II (form 1) and the WORD comprehension subtest was carried out. Participants were then administered the NARA II, WORD comprehension subtest and a test of non-word reading. The NARA II was heavily reliant on the generation of knowledge-based inferences, while the WORD comprehension subtest was biased towards the retention of literal information. Children identified by the NARA II as having comprehension difficulties performed in the normal range on the WORD comprehension subtests. Further, children with comprehension difficulties performed poorly on questions requiring the generation of knowledge-based and elaborative inferences. However, they were able to answer questions requiring attention to literal information or use of cohesive devices at a level comparable to normal readers. Different reading tests tap different types of inferencing skills. Lessskilled comprehenders have particular difficulty applying real-world knowledge to a text during reading, and this has implications for the formulation of effective intervention strategies.

  2. Effect of Knowledge Sources on Firm Level Innovation in Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osoro, O.; Vermeulen, P.A.M.; Knoben, J.; Kahyarara, G.

    2016-01-01

    This paper analyses the impact of different sources of knowledge on product and process innovation in Tanzania using firm-level data. We specifically analyse the separate impacts of internal knowledge, external knowledge and the combined impact of both types of knowledge on firms’ product and

  3. The effect of comprehensive sexual education program on sexual health knowledge and sexual attitude among college students in Southwest China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Xinli; Hawk, Skyler T; Winter, Sam; Meeus, Wim

    2015-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a comprehensive sexual education program for college students in Southwest China (a) improved sexual health knowledge in reproduction, contraception, condom use, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV; (b) increased accepting attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual individuals; and (c) altered participants' attitudes toward premarital sex and monogamy. The program used diverse teaching methods, providing 6 sessions over a period of 9 weeks about sexual health knowledge and sexual attitudes to college students (age 18-26 years) in Southwest China. Sexual health knowledge and sexual attitudes of 80 comprehensive sexual education class students (education group) and 92 general mental health education class students (control group) were measured at baseline, the end of course (posttest), and 3 weeks after the end of course (follow-up). There were significant effects of the program on (a) sexual health knowledge, including reproductive health, contraception, condom use, and HIV/AIDS and (b) positive attitudes toward sexual minorities, although these changes may require further reinforcement. In contrast, the program did not alter students' attitudes about premarital sex or monogamy. The results are discussed in terms of recommendations of sex education in China and future directions for research. © 2013 APJPH.

  4. The Effects of Promoting Educational Level on the Development of Reading Comprehension Levels in Hearing-Impaired Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Reza Sarmadi

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Hearing-impaired students have some delays in learning language skills such as reading because of hearing loss. To study the effect of promoting educational level on the development of reading comprehension, the students of the 4th grade of elementary and last year guidance school were compared based on international test of reading literacy.Methods: The project was cross-sectional and the tool used was the international standard booklet of PIRLS 2001. Thirty-six students selected with moderately severe and severe hearing loss from the 4th grade of elementary and last year guidance school from Shahriar, Robatkarim, Karaj and Hashtgerd, Iran, exceptional schools. Comparative statistical analysis was performed using t-test.Results: The first level (focus on and retrieve explicity information showed a meaningful difference between the last year guidance school and the 4th grade of elementary students (p<0.05, but there were no significant differences in other levels, make straightforward information-interpret and integrate ideas-examine and evaluate content, (p> 0.05.Conclusion: Hearing-impaired students have difficulties in understanding in deep levels of reading despite promoting educational level. Thus, in making policies for special trainings, continuing the rehabilitation in guidance and high school levels to promote the complex levels of comprehension should be taken more into consideration.

  5. A Polio Immunization Pamphlet with Increased Appeal and Simplified Language Does Not Improve Comprehension to an Acceptable Level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Terry C.; Fredrickson, Doren D.; Arnold, Connie; Murphy, Peggy W.; Herbst, Melissa; Bocchini, Joseph A.

    1998-01-01

    Two polio-vaccine pamphlets written on a sixth-grade level were compared for readability, comprehension, and preference among a broad range of parents. The easy-to-read version was widely preferred, and comprehension was significantly higher. However, the use of instructional graphics was required to achieve an acceptable level of comprehension.…

  6. Knowledge, Perception and Level of Male Partner Involvement in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Knowledge, Perception and Level of Male Partner Involvement in Choice of ... many practice this and the influence of the couple knowledge and perception on male ... Chi-square and binary logistic regression were used for statistical analysis.

  7. Awareness and knowledge level of cervical cancer among women ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Awareness and knowledge level of cervical cancer among women of reproductive ... in depth knowledge on cervical cancer, the need for mass education on the disease and the ... Keywords: Tumour, behaviour, sexual age, Upper East, Ghana ...

  8. The relation between children's reading comprehension level and their comprehension of idioms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cain, Kate; Oakhill, Jane; Lemmon, Kate

    2005-01-01

    We report an investigation of 9-year-olds' ability to interpret idioms in relation to their reading comprehension level. We manipulated whether the idioms were transparent or opaque, whether they were real or novel, whether they were presented in isolation or in a supportive narrative context. As predicted, children were better able to explain the meanings of idioms in context than in isolation. The good and poor comprehenders did not differ in their abilities to interpret transparent idioms in context, but the poor comprehenders were significantly worse at using context to work out the meanings of opaque idioms. The explanation task revealed the source of information used by the children to derive nontarget interpretations. We discuss these findings in relation to idiom processing strategies and Levorato and Cacciari's global elaboration model.

  9. Assessment of knowledge level on anaemia among pregnant women in Putrajaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adznam, Siti Nur'Hidayah; Sedek, Razalee; Kasim, Zalifah Mohd

    2018-04-01

    Anaemia during pregnancy is a common problem which affects both the mother's and her child's health. The aim of this study was to determine knowledge level on anaemia among pregnant women in Putrajaya. This study was also been carried out to identify the relationship between knowledge according to socio-demographic and antenatal characteristics. A total of 370 subjects were participated in this study. Subjects comprised of pregnant women who attended four health clinics in Putrajaya to undergo first antenatal visit for the current pregnancy. Socio-demographic information, antenatal characteristics and knowledge related to anaemia were collected using questionnaires. Blood samples were taken to identify hemoglobin level of subjects using Sysmex Hematology Analyzer machine (Sysmex Europe GmbH). The mean age of subjects was 30.2 ± 4.2 years and the mean hemoglobin level was 12.1 ± 4.8 g/dL. The median score for subject's knowledge towards anaemia was 84.2 corresponding to a high level of anaemia knowledge. Result of this study revealed that 55.7% of subjects had high knowledge on anaemia during pregnancy while 28.6% had moderate knowledge followed by 15.7% with low knowledge score. Most subjects correctly answered the general questions on the survey but under the assumption regarding the cause of anaemia. They were also lacking in knowledge regarding the risks of anaemia. Knowledge score was significantly associated with gestational week (peducation for pregnant women with regard to anaemia.

  10. The effect of comprehensive sexual education program on sexual health knowledge and sexual attitude among college students in southwest China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chi, X.; Hawk, S.T.; Winter, S.; Meeus, W.H.J.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a comprehensive sexual education program for college students in Southwest China (a) improved sexual health knowledge in reproduction, contraception, condom use, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV; (b) increased accepting attitudes toward

  11. The effect of comprehensive sexual education program on sexual health knowledge and sexual attitude among college students in Southwest China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chi, Xinli; Hawk, Skyler T; Winter, Sam; Meeus, Wim

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a comprehensive sexual education program for college students in Southwest China (a) improved sexual health knowledge in reproduction, contraception, condom use, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV; (b) increased accepting attitudes toward

  12. The Role of Embodiment and Individual Empathy Levels in Gesture Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jospe, Karine; Flöel, Agnes; Lavidor, Michal

    2017-01-01

    Research suggests that the action-observation network is involved in both emotional-embodiment (empathy) and action-embodiment (imitation) mechanisms. Here we tested whether empathy modulates action-embodiment, hypothesizing that restricting imitation abilities will impair performance in a hand gesture comprehension task. Moreover, we hypothesized that empathy levels will modulate the imitation restriction effect. One hundred twenty participants with a range of empathy scores performed gesture comprehension under restricted and unrestricted hand conditions. Empathetic participants performed better under the unrestricted compared to the restricted condition, and compared to the low empathy participants. Remarkably however, the latter showed the exactly opposite pattern and performed better under the restricted condition. This pattern was not found in a facial expression recognition task. The selective interaction of embodiment restriction and empathy suggests that empathy modulates the way people employ embodiment in gesture comprehension. We discuss the potential of embodiment-induced therapy to improve empathetic abilities in individuals with low empathy.

  13. A knowledge management model for graduate development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Bustos Farías

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to present a model for administrative knowledge management for the Graduate Support Division of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN. This administrative unit is important because it is responsible for managing the institution’s academic services at graduate level. A qualitative methodology was used based on in-depth interviews with graduate-level directors, experts in knowledge management and members of the institution. The results obtained support the use of administrative management tools based on Information Technology (IT, such as the design of a comprehensive dashboard, and the proposal that knowledge management processes be automated with digital repositories. The model identifies factors such as the relationships between people, technology, administrative knowledge and knowledge management processes, and is formed with innovative administrative contributions.

  14. Academic Language Knowledge and Comprehension of Science Text for English Language Learners and Fluent English-Speaking Students

    OpenAIRE

    Chang, Sandy

    2013-01-01

    As an initial step toward understanding which features of academic language make science-based expository text difficult for students with different English language proficiency (ELP) designations, this study investigated fifth-grade students' thoughts on text difficulty, their knowledge of the features of academic language, and the relationship between academic language and reading comprehension. Forty-five fifth-grade students participated in the study; 18 students were classified as Engli...

  15. The Effect of Technology-Based Altered Readability Levels on Struggling Readers' Science Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marino, Matthew T.; Coyne, Michael; Dunn, Michael

    2010-01-01

    This article reports findings from a study examining how altered readability levels affected struggling readers' (N = 288) comprehension of scientific concepts and vocabulary. Specifically, the researchers were interested in learning what effect altered readability levels have when low ability readers participate in a technology-based science…

  16. Ethnicity and HIV risk behaviour, testing and knowledge in Guatemala.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Tory M; Hembling, John; Bertrand, Jane T

    2015-01-01

    To describe levels of risky sexual behaviour, HIV testing and HIV knowledge among men and women in Guatemala by ethnic group and to identify adjusted associations between ethnicity and these outcomes. Data on 16,205 women aged 15-49 and 6822 men aged 15-59 from the 2008-2009 Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno Infantil were used to describe ethnic group differences in sexual behaviour, HIV knowledge and testing. We then controlled for age, education, wealth and other socio-demographic factors in a multivariate logistic regression model to examine the effects of ethnicity on outcomes related to age at sexual debut, number of lifetime sex partners, comprehensive HIV knowledge, HIV testing and lifetime sex worker patronage (men only). The data show low levels of risky sexual behaviour and low levels of HIV knowledge among indigenous women and men, compared to other respondents. Controlling for demographic factors, indigenous women were more likely than other women never to have been tested for HIV and to lack comprehensive HIV knowledge. They were less likely to report early sexual debut and three or more lifetime sexual partners. Indigenous men were more likely than other men to lack comprehensive HIV knowledge and demonstrated lower odds of early sexual debut, 10 or more lifetime sexual partners and sex worker patronage. The Mayan indigenous population in Guatemala, while broadly socially vulnerable, does not appear to be at elevated risk for HIV based on this analysis of selected risk factors. Nonetheless, low rates of HIV knowledge and testing may be cause for concern. Programmes working in indigenous communities should focus on HIV education and reducing barriers to testing. Further research into the factors that underlie ethnic self-identity and perceived ethnicity could help clarify the relative significance of these measures for HIV risk and other health outcomes.

  17. Effect of Knowledge Sources on Firm Level Innovation in Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osoro, Otieno; Kahyarara, Godius; Knoben, Joris; Vermeulen, P.A.M.

    In this paper we analyse the impact of different sources of knowledge on product innovation in Tanzania using firm level data from 543 firms. Specifically, we assess the separate impacts of internal knowledge and external knowledge and the combined impact of both on a firm’s likelihood of

  18. Investigating Student Choices in Performing Higher-Level Comprehension Tasks Using TED

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bianchi, Francesca; Marenzi, Ivana

    2016-01-01

    The current paper describes a first experiment in the use of TED talks and open tagging exercises to train higher-level comprehension skills, and of automatic logging of the student's actions to investigate the student choices while performing analytical tasks. The experiment took advantage of an interactive learning platform--LearnWeb--that…

  19. Efficiency of Iranian Translation Syllabus at BA Level; Deficiency: A New Comprehensive Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohrabi, Sarah; Rahimi, Ramin; Arjmandi, Masoume

    2015-01-01

    This study aims at investigating the practicality of the current curriculum for translation studies at national level (Iranian curriculum). It is going to have a comprehensive idea of translation students and teachers (university lecturers) over the current translation syllabus at BA level in Iran. A researcher-made CEQ questionnaire (Curriculum…

  20. Secondary School Teachers' Knowledge Level of the Concepts of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Secondary School Teachers' Knowledge Level of the Concepts of Environmental ... Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania ... level of the certificate of secondary education geography teachers when teaching the concepts of ...

  1. [Knowledge level of hypertensive patients about hypertension. Relationship between knowledge level and hypertension control].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benítez Camps, M; Egocheaga Cabello, M Isabel; Dalfó Baqué, A; Bajo García, J; Vara González, L; Sanchis Doménech, C; Martín Rioboo, E; Ureña Fernández, T; Domínguez Sardiña, M; Bonet Pla, A

    2015-01-01

    To assess the knowledge of the hypertensive patients about their hypertension and their relation to its control. Cross-sectional study among 400 hypertensive patients, all over 18 years, selected from 50 primary-care centres, who responded to an hypertension-related survey. Included variables were survey items, age, gender, educational level, professional occupation, blood pressure data and antihypertensive treatment. The obtained differences were analyzed using the chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon, Anova and Bonferroni methods. There were 323 valid surveys. 52.9% of respondents were women, the average age: 65.4 years (SD: 11.2), 54.8% of them had primary education. 39.6% were aware of the objectives of systolic BP control. Only 19.6% having knowledge of those for diastolic BP control, with no differences between controlled and uncontrolled (systolic BP: 39% vs 38.1%, P=.887; diastolic BP: 19.2% vs 21%, P=.721). Over 70% knew about lifestyle changes, without significant differences between controlled and uncontrolled respondents. 82% of controlled respondents, and 79% of those uncontrolled, recognized the chronical nature of the treatment (P=.548), but 15.1% of the controlled respondents and 12.4% of uncontrolled respondents did not see the relation between the treatment and hypertension control (P=.525). 31.1% believed to be well-controlled, but in fact was not. Our patients doesn't know blood pressure targets of control. There isn't relationship between this knowledge and control of hypertension. Copyright © 2014 SEHLELHA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  2. The importance of integumentary knowledge and skill in physical therapist entry-level education: are they prepared for practice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Karen A; Furney, Steven R

    2013-01-01

    Physical therapist practice is grounded in patient management principles encompassing all body systems and focuses on prevention, education, and functional outcomes. As such, management of the integumentary system crosses all practice settings, emphasizing the importance that basic integumentary content be adequately addressed during entry-level education. The purpose of this qualitative study was to compare the self-reported integumentary knowledge and skill of recent graduates to profession-determined expectations for education. Participants were 7 licensed physical therapists experienced in wound management. Semi-structured interview data were recorded, transcribed, and coded. A matrix compiling professional expectations for integumentary education was utilized to identify topics as absent, covered only briefly, or covered only during clinical rotations. Compression, vascular screening, infection, factors impacting healing, modalities, dressings, wound measurements, topicals, and sutures/staples were among the most commonly reported areas of deficiency. While integumentary care makes up a small percentage of physical therapy practice, it is a significant part of a comprehensively educated therapist. This study found participants did not perceive themselves to have received the minimum entry-level integumentary knowledge and skill deemed necessary by the profession. Study results are supported by current literature and demonstrate the need for integumentary curriculum review in entry-level programs.

  3. Intermediate-Level Knowledge in Child-Computer Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barendregt, Wolmet; Torgersson, Olof; Eriksson, Eva

    2017-01-01

    Based on an analysis of all papers at IDC from 2003 to 2016 this paper urges the Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) field to start formulating intermediate-level knowledge, in the form of e.g. strong concepts. Our analysis showed that 40% of all papers at the Interaction Design and Children...... conference presents the design of an artefact accompanied by an evaluation (to which we will refer as 'artefact-centered' papers). While exploring the design space in the form of artefacts is important and valuable, it can be argued that those artefact-centered papers generally make a smaller contribution...... to the field as a whole, which is also visible in the number of citations to such papers in comparison to the number of citations to other kinds of papers. As a first step towards more intermediate-level knowledge, we have thus attempted to formulate and ground three suggestions for strong concepts in CCI...

  4. A Pilot Study of Biomedical Text Comprehension using an Attention-Based Deep Neural Reader: Design and Experimental Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Seongsoon; Park, Donghyeon; Choi, Yonghwa; Lee, Kyubum; Kim, Byounggun; Jeon, Minji; Kim, Jihye; Tan, Aik Choon; Kang, Jaewoo

    2018-01-05

    With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology centered on deep-learning, the computer has evolved to a point where it can read a given text and answer a question based on the context of the text. Such a specific task is known as the task of machine comprehension. Existing machine comprehension tasks mostly use datasets of general texts, such as news articles or elementary school-level storybooks. However, no attempt has been made to determine whether an up-to-date deep learning-based machine comprehension model can also process scientific literature containing expert-level knowledge, especially in the biomedical domain. This study aims to investigate whether a machine comprehension model can process biomedical articles as well as general texts. Since there is no dataset for the biomedical literature comprehension task, our work includes generating a large-scale question answering dataset using PubMed and manually evaluating the generated dataset. We present an attention-based deep neural model tailored to the biomedical domain. To further enhance the performance of our model, we used a pretrained word vector and biomedical entity type embedding. We also developed an ensemble method of combining the results of several independent models to reduce the variance of the answers from the models. The experimental results showed that our proposed deep neural network model outperformed the baseline model by more than 7% on the new dataset. We also evaluated human performance on the new dataset. The human evaluation result showed that our deep neural model outperformed humans in comprehension by 22% on average. In this work, we introduced a new task of machine comprehension in the biomedical domain using a deep neural model. Since there was no large-scale dataset for training deep neural models in the biomedical domain, we created the new cloze-style datasets Biomedical Knowledge Comprehension Title (BMKC_T) and Biomedical Knowledge Comprehension Last

  5. Level of Knowledge about Human Papillomavirus Infection among Women of Kashan City, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nekooi M.S. BSc

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Aims A few studies concentrate on the level of knowledge of HPV. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of knowledge about HPV, its risk factors, and its relation with cervical cancer in women of Kashan City, Iran. Instrument & Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2015 in the population of the women of Kashan City, Iran, and 200 persons were selected by simple sampling method. The level of knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer were measured using a questionnaire with 10 questions about knowledge. The data was analyzed in SPSS 16 software by Chi-square, Exact Fisher and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Findings Most of the participants (152 persons; 76% had “weak, 26 participants (13% had “moderate” and only 22 participants (11% had “strong” level of knowledge about HPV. There were significant differences between the level of knowledge according to educational level (p=0.014 and professional status (p0.05. In all the questions, the most frequent answer was “don’t know”. The participants had some knowledge about “HPV causing cervical cancer” (34.5%, “HPV causing genital warts” (38%, “sexually transmission of HPV” (37.5% and “increased risk of getting HPV by extramarital sexual affairs” (43.5% Conclusion The level of knowledge about HPV, genital warts, and ways of infection transmission and its preventions in women of Kashan City, Iran, is insufficient.

  6. Reading Comprehension, Working Memory and Higher-Level Language Skills in Children with SLI and/or Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Anita M.-Y.; Ho, Connie S.-H.; Au, Terry K.-F.; McBride, Catherine; Ng, Ashley K.-H.; Yip, Lesley P.-W.; Lam, Catherine C.-C.

    2017-01-01

    This study examined (1) whether working memory and higher-level languages skills--inferencing and comprehension monitoring--accounted for individual differences among Chinese children in Chinese reading comprehension, after controlling for age, Chinese word reading and oral language skills, and (2) whether children with specific language…

  7. Translation and validation of the Greek version of the hypertension knowledge-level scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatziefstratiou, Anastasia A; Giakoumidakis, Konstantinos; Fotos, Nikolaos V; Baltopoulos, George; Brokalaki-Pananoudaki, Hero

    2015-12-01

    To translate and validate a Greek version of the Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale. The major barrier in the management of hypertension is the lack of adherence to medications and lifestyle adjustments. Patients' knowledge of the nature of hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors is a significant factor affecting individuals' adherence. However, few instruments have been developed to assess patients' knowledge level and no one has been translated into Greek. This study used a case control study design. Data collection for this research occurred between February 7, 2013 and March 10, 2013. The sample included both hypertensives and non-hypertensives. Participants simultaneously completed the version of the Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale. A total of 68 individuals completed the questionnaire. Coefficient alpha was 0·66 for hypertensives and 0·79 for non-hypertensives. The difference for the mean scores in the entire scale between the two samples was statistically significant. In addition, significant differences were observed in many sub-dimensions and no correlation was found between level, knowledge and age, gender and education level. Findings provide support for the validity of the Greek version of the Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale. The translation and validation of an instrument evaluating the level of knowledge of hypertension contribute to assessing the provided educational intervention. Low knowledge level should lead to the development of new methods of education, therefore nurses will have the opportunity to amplify their role in patients' education and develop relationships based on honesty and respect. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. A Compositional Knowledge Level Process Model of Requirements Engineering

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herlea, D.E.; Jonker, C.M.; Treur, J.; Wijngaards, W.C.A.

    2002-01-01

    In current literature few detailed process models for Requirements Engineering are presented: usually high-level activities are distinguished, without a more precise specification of each activity. In this paper the process of Requirements Engineering has been analyzed using knowledge-level

  9. Research on the construction of three level customer service knowledge graph

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Shi; Shen, Jiajie; Shi, Quan; Cheng, Xianyi

    2017-09-01

    With the explosion of knowledge and information of the enterprise and the growing demand for intelligent knowledge management and application and improve business performance the knowledge expression and processing of the enterprise has become a hot topic. Aim at the problems of the electric marketing customer service knowledge map (customer service knowledge map) in building theory and method, electric marketing knowledge map of three levels of customer service was discussed, and realizing knowledge reasoning based on Neo4j, achieve good results in practical application.

  10. Concussions in Community-Level Rugby: Risk, Knowledge, and Attitudes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, R Kyle; Hrubeniuk, Travis J; Witiw, Christopher D; MacDonald, Peter; Leiter, Jeff

    Rugby is a popular collision sport where participants are at risk of sustaining concussions. Most research focuses on elite-level or youth divisions. Comparatively, little is known about adult community rugby. The aim of this research was to estimate the risk of sustaining a concussion during participation in community-level rugby and summarize the collective knowledge and attitudes toward concussions. Concussion symptoms will be reported frequently among community-level rugby players and a substantial proportion will report a willingness to continue participation despite the risk. Cross-sectional analysis. Level 3. An anonymous, voluntary survey was administered to all 464 senior rugby players registered in the province of Manitoba in 2015. Two primary domains were assessed: (1) concussion history from the preceding season including occurrence, symptomatology, and impact on daily activities and (2) knowledge and attitudes toward concussion risks and management. In total, 284 (61.2%) rugby players responded. Concussive symptoms were reported by 106 (37.3%). Of those, 87% were formally diagnosed with a concussion and 27% missed school and/or work as a result. The danger of playing while symptomatic was recognized by 93.7% of participants, yet 29% indicated they would continue while symptomatic. Furthermore, 39% felt they were letting others down if they stopped playing due to a concussion. Concussive symptoms were common among the study cohort and had a notable impact on daily activities. A high proportion of players were willing to continue while experiencing symptoms despite recognizing the danger. The observed discord between knowledge and attitudes implicates a culture of "playing injured." Understanding the risk of injury may affect an individual's decision to participate in community-level rugby. Moreover, evidence of discord between the knowledge and attitudes of players may direct future research initiatives and league governance.

  11. Integrating indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in improving rural accessibility and mobility (in support of the comprehensive rural development programme in South Africa)

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Nhemachena, C

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS (IKS) IN IMPROVING RURAL ACCESSIBILITY AND MOBILITY (IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPREHENSIVE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN SOUTH AFRICA) CHARLES NHEMACHENA1, JAMES CHAKWIZIRA2, SIPHO DUBE1, GOODHOPE MAPONYA1, REMINA RASHOPOLA3... of Environmental Sciences, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, 0950 3 Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, PO Box X833, Pretoria 0001 ABSTRACT This study discusses opportunities and challenges for integrating local knowledge in improving...

  12. Comprehension with Instructional Media for Middle School Science: Holistic Performative Design Strategy and Cognitive Load

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Matthew Owen

    This study identifies three distinct levels of text-image integration in page design in a linear relationship of lesser to greater integration: prose primary, prose subsumed, and fully integrated strategies. Science textbook pages were redesigned according to these holistic design strategies for 158 7th-grade students. There were three separate treatment tests, as well as a pre-test and post-test, and pilot tests with both undergraduate students and the subjects themselves. Subjects found the fully integrated strategy to produce the most visually interesting designs and the prose primary strategy to produce the least interesting, with prose subsumed definitively in between (according to 95% confidence intervals). The strategy employed significantly altered interest in science subject matter in one of three treatments (ANOVA, P=0.0446), where a Student's t-test revealed that the prose subsumed strategy produced higher interest in subject matter than prose primary. The strategy employed significantly altered comprehension of abstract relationships in one of three treatments (ANOVA, P=0.0202), where a Student's t-test revealed that the fully integrated strategy resulted in greater comprehension than prose primary. For the same treatment condition significant differences were found through ANOVA for factual-level knowledge (P=0.0289) but not conceptual-level knowledge ( P=0.0586). For factual-level knowledge prose primary resulted in lesser comprehension than both prose subsumed and fully integrated. Comprehension is defined according to cognitive load theory. No strategy impact on perception of task difficulty was found. This study was approved by North Carolina State University's Institutional Review Board and Wake County Public School System's Research Review Committee.

  13. Global Knowledge Futures: Articulating the Emergence of a New Meta-level Field

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer M. Gidley

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I articulate a new meta-level field of studies that I call global knowledge futures—a field through which other emerging transdisciplinary fields can be integrated to cohere knowledge at a higher level. I contrast this with the current dominant knowledge paradigm of the global knowledge economy with its fragmentation, commodification and instrumentalism based on neoliberal knowledge capitalism. I take a big-picture, macrohistorical lens to the new thinking and new knowledge patterns that are emerging within the evolution of consciousness discourse. I explore three discourses: postformal studies, integral studies and planetary studies—using a fourth discourse, futures studies, to provide a macro-temporal framing. By extending the meta-fields of postformal, integral and planetary studies into a prospective future dimension, I locate areas of development where these leading-edge discourses can be brought into closer dialogue with each other. In this meeting point of four boundary-spanning discourses I identify the new meta-level field of global knowledge futures, grounded in human thinking capacities, such as creativity, imagination, dialogue and collaboration.

  14. A Knowledge Level Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving

    OpenAIRE

    Jennings, N. R.

    1992-01-01

    This paper proposes, characterizes and outlines the benefits of a new computer level specifically for multi-agent problem solvers. This level is called the cooperation knowledge level and involves describing and developing richer and more explicit models of common social phenomena. We then focus on one particular form of social interaction in which groups of agents decide they wish to work together, in a collaborative manner, to tackle a common problem. A domain independent model (called join...

  15. Knowledge and Attitude of clinical level dental students concerning ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: To determine the knowledge and attitude of clinical level dental students concerning Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Methods: Two hundred and fifteen clinical level dental students from three Nigerian universities were requested to complete a self- ...

  16. [Level of knowledge of antibiotics prescribed in outpatients].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernabé Muñoz, Elena; Flores Dorado, Macarena; Martínez Martínez, Fernando

    2015-04-01

    The lack of patient knowledge about their medication is considered to be one of the main reasons for an inappropriate use. This study the level of knowledge in patients about their prescribed antibiotic, and describes some of the factors related to this. A cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study with an analytical component. SITE: A community pharmacy in Murcia. The study form was offered to all customers who arrived to obtain antibiotics while the study was taking place. A validated form was used to determined the level of knowledge was a validated form. A total of 126 patients, most of them women, with an average age of 44.6 years were included. Half of the study population had no knowledge which could ensure the correct use of the antibiotic they were taking. The «process of use» of the medication was the best known dimension by the study population, followed by the «therapeutic aim». The dimension related to the «safety» of the medication was the one with the lowest values. After a logistic regression, a link between the knowledge of the antibiotic and the «know the name of the antibiotic» (p=.05; r=2.15) and the «number of antibiotic the patient takes» (p=.02; r=0.30) variables. The results show that there is a certain lack of information on the use of antibiotics by the study sample. Thes results could help to show the way to follow in future studies, targeted to meet the need of information. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  17. Nurses’ Knowledge Levels of Chest Drain Management: A Descriptive Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Merve Tarhan

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The physician is responsible for inserting one or more chest tubes into the pleural space or the mediastinal space and connecting them to an appropriate drainage system. When the general principles about care of patients with chest drains were implemented correctly and effectively by nurses, nurse will contribute to accelerate the healing process of patients. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine the nurses’ level of knowledge regarding the care of patients with chest drains. Methods: The study was conducted with 153 nurses who worked in a chest diseases and thoracic surgery hospital in July 2014. Questionnaire form of 35 questions prepared by investigators was used to collect data. For the analysis of results, frequency tests, independent sample t-test and oneway ANOVA test were used. Results: 69.3% of nurses stated that they had obtained information from colleguages. 35.3% considered their knowledge about chest drain management to be inadequate. 55.6% scored 13 points and above from knowledge questionnaire about chest drain management. There were statistically significant difference between knowledge level and educational background, clinic work type, working unit, years of professional experience and institutional experience, frequency of contact patients with chest drain and perception of knowledge level (p<0.05. Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that lack of evidence-based nursing care and insufficient training has resulted in uncertainty and knowledge deficit in important aspects of chest drain care. It can be concluded that nurses receive training needs and training protocols are about chest drain management.

  18. [Effects of comprehensive therapy on serum SPARC levels in ankylosing spondylitis patients accompanied with osteoporosis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jing-ren; Lin, Yan; Zhang, Chun-Yan; Li, Wei-Min; Guo, Chen-Jun; Ye, Lei

    2013-04-01

    To observe the effects of comprehensive therapy on serum secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) levels in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients accompanied with osteoporosis (OP), and to explore the possible mechanisms for SPARC in AS patients accompanied with osteoporosis. Totally 48 AS patients accompanied with OP (Group A) were treated with massage, intravenous infusion of Cervus and Cucumis Polypeptide Injection, and Bushen Quhan Zhiwang Decoction (BQZD) for 3 months. At the same time, 45 normal healthy subjects were recruited as the normal control group (Group B). Serum SPARC levels were measured by ELISA in Group A before and after comprehensive therapy and in those of Group B. The levels of bone mineral density of femoral neck (FN BMD), bone mineral density of 2 -4 lumbar spine (L2-4 BMD), bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta1) were detected. Meanwhile, Bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI) and Bath AS functional index (BASFI) were detected in Group A before and after treatment. The correlations between the aforesaid indices and serum SPARC levels were analyzed. Serum SPARC levels were significantly lower in those of Group A than in those of Group B (175. 30 +/- 72.04 micro/L vs 190. 52 +/- 86. 13 microg/ L, P <0. 01). Serum SPARC levels in those of Group A were negatively correlated with TNF-alpha (r = -0.261, P <0.01), positively with L2-4 BMD, TGF-beta1, and BSAP (r =0.437,0.256, 0.385, P <0.05, P <0.01). L2-4BMD and BSAP were independently predictors of serum SPARC in patients of Group A. After comprehensive therapy, the levels of TNF-alpha, BASDAI, and BASFI obviously decreased, TGF-beta1, BSAP, L2-4 BMD, and FN BMD obviously increased (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). The serum SPARC levels also significantly increased (188.32 +/- 87.50 microg/L, P <0. 05). Comprehensive therapy could effectively improve the bone metabolism, clinical symptoms and the

  19. Mind the (knowledge) gap: the effect of a communication instrument on emergency department patients' comprehension of and satisfaction with care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, Stefanie; Sharp, Brian; Fowler, Jennifer; Fowkes, Hope; Paz-Arabo, Patricia; Dilt-Skaggs, Mary Kate; Singal, Bonita; Carter, Thomas

    2015-02-01

    We developed a communication instrument to be used in the Emergency Department (ED) and hypothesized that use of this guide would increase patient comprehension of and satisfaction with care. This multi-site trial enrolled 643 patients in treatment and control groups. Comprehension of care was assessed by chart review and satisfaction measured via validated survey. Use of the instrument was not associated with improvements in patient knowledge about their care, with a mean of 4.6 (95% CI: 4.8-5.8) comprehension defects in the control group and 4.4 (95% CI: 3.9-4.9) in the treatment group. There was no significant effect on patient satisfaction 76.4% versus 76.9%, p=0.34. Elderly patients in both groups were found to have 1.1 (ppatients. Patients frequently misunderstand medical care in the ED. Comprehension decreases with increasing age. An isolated communication instrument does not improve satisfaction with or understanding of the care received. Providing a structured place for providers and patients to record details of care does not seem to improve satisfaction with or comprehension of care. Interventions that focus on communication skills and face time with patients may prove more effective. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Using miscue analysis to assess comprehension in deaf college readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albertini, John; Mayer, Connie

    2011-01-01

    For over 30 years, teachers have used miscue analysis as a tool to assess and evaluate the reading abilities of hearing students in elementary and middle schools and to design effective literacy programs. More recently, teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students have also reported its usefulness for diagnosing word- and phrase-level reading difficulties and for planning instruction. To our knowledge, miscue analysis has not been used with older, college-age deaf students who might also be having difficulty decoding and understanding text at the word level. The goal of this study was to determine whether such an analysis would be helpful in identifying the source of college students' reading comprehension difficulties. After analyzing the miscues of 10 college-age readers and the results of other comprehension-related tasks, we concluded that comprehension of basic grade school-level passages depended on the ability to recognize and comprehend key words and phrases in these texts. We also concluded that these diagnostic procedures provided useful information about the reading abilities and strategies of each reader that had implications for designing more effective interventions.

  1. Reactor Emergency Action Level Monitor: Knowledge acquisition experiences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Touchton, R.A.

    1987-01-01

    This paper presents the Knowledge Acquisition experiences in developing the Reactor Emergency Action Level Monitor (REALM) Expert System Prototype. REALM is an expert system which interprets plant sensor data and provides advice on the proper emergency classification. The REALM project is being funded by the Electric Power Research Institute, Consolidated Edison is serving as the host utility, and the effort is being conducted by Technology Applications, Inc. REALM is being designed to provide expert assistance in the identification of a nuclear power plant emergency situation and the determination of its severity, ultimately operating in a real-time, on-line processing environment. The paper discusses briefly the direct knowledge acquisition techniques used by the project team (who are themselves power industry engineers), to extract relevant knowledge from plant specifications and procedures

  2. Beyond the knowledge level : descriptions of rational behavior for sharing and reuse

    OpenAIRE

    Schmalhofer, Franz; Aitken, J. Stuart; Bourne, Lyle E.

    1994-01-01

    The currently dominant approach to the sharing and reuse of knowledge strives to develop ontologies, with clearly constrained interpretations. The idea of ontological commitments is based on the knowledge level perspective. Several shortcomings of the knowledge level have been identified (Clancey, 1991). Pursuing Clancey's argument, if KBS are to be situated in ever changing environments, their purposes and significance will change over time and they have to be redescribed accordingly. The be...

  3. Sexuality and HIV/AIDS: an exploration of older heterosexual women's knowledge levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Pamela; Humble, Áine M; Blum, Ilya

    2013-01-01

    Sexuality research tends to ignore older populations, and little is known about older women's sexual health knowledge. To fill this research gap, 186 Canadian heterosexual women 50 years and older were surveyed about their knowledge regarding sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Respondents had moderate levels of overall knowledge of sexual health and aging, correctly answering, on average, 60% of the 35 questions. They had lower levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge, correctly answering just over 50% of the 25 questions. Results indicate the need for social awareness and education in this group regarding both general sexual health later in life and HIV/AIDS.

  4. Fifth-Grade Turkish Elementary School Students' Listening and Reading Comprehension Levels with Regard to Text Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yildirim, Kasim; Yildiz, Mustafa; Ates, Seyit; Rasinski, Timothy

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine fifth grade elementary school students' listening and reading comprehension levels with regard to text types. This study was conducted on 180 fifth grade elementary school students in Sincan-Ankara in the spring semester of the academic year 2008-2009. The comprehension test was administered to students. The…

  5. Does the patients′ educational level and previous counseling affect their medication knowledge?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulmalik M Alkatheri

    2013-01-01

    Conclusions: The education level of the patient and previous counseling are positively linked to medication knowledge. Knowledge of the medications′ side effects proved to be the most difficult task for the participants in this study, requiring the highest level of education, and was improved by previous counseling.

  6. Components of Story Comprehension and Strategies to Support Them in Hearing and Deaf or Hard of Hearing Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Susan; Oakhill, Jane

    2015-01-01

    In this article, we review the skills that have been found to be related to good story comprehension in novice readers with normal hearing and describe the relative weight each plays. The relationship between effective story comprehension and lower level skills (such as syntactic awareness and vocabulary knowledge) is considered, and the casual…

  7. Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Of Secondary School Teachers ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study examined the knowledge and practices of 209 public secondary school teachers in Onitsha metropolis, Anambra State, Nigeria towards HIV/AIDS in order to assess their level of preparedness to deliver qualitative HIV/AIDS education within the context of a comprehensive sexuality education program. This has ...

  8. Comprehensive data base of high-level nuclear waste glasses: September 1987 status report: Volume 1, Discussion and glass durability data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kindle, C.H.; Kreiter, M.R.

    1987-12-01

    The Materials Characterization Center (MCC) at Pacific Northwest Laboratory is assembling a comprehensive data base (CDB) of experimental data collected for high-level nuclear waste package components. Data collected throughout the world are included in the data base; current emphasis is on waste glasses and their properties. The goal is to provide a data base of properties and compositions and an analysis of dominant property trends as a function of composition. This data base is a resource that nuclear waste producers, disposers, and regulators can use to compare properties of a particular high-level nuclear waste glass product with the properties of other glasses of similar compositions. Researchers may use the data base to guide experimental tests to fill gaps in the available knowledge or to refine empirical models. The data are incorporated into a computerized data base that will allow the data to be extracted based on, for example, glass composition or test duration. 3 figs

  9. Asthma knowledge level of child daycare center teachers' in Istanbul, Turkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akcay, A; Tamay, Z; Duksal, F; Celtik, C; Ergin, A; Guler, N

    2014-08-01

    Teachers are primarily responsible for supervising schoolchildren with asthma during school hours. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the level of knowledge of child daycare center teachers about asthma and factors affecting their knowledge. This study was performed on 297 teachers from 20 randomly selected child daycare centers in Istanbul. The teachers' level of knowledge about asthma was assessed by a questionnaire with 32 questions about asthma. The teachers were asked thirteen additional questions about demographic data and other characteristics of the child daycare centers and about themselves. One-way ANOVA and the independent samples t-test were used to determine differences in the level of asthma knowledge. A total of 297 teachers (287 females/10 males) filled in the questionnaire. The mean age of the teachers was 26.4 ± 8.1 years (range, 20-53 year). The teachers' "response score rate for each question" ranged from 38% to 94%. The teachers' "completely true response rate for each question" was lower and ranged from 1.6% to 83.9%. "The mean of asthma knowledge score" for the 32 questions was 113.64 ± 20.26 (71% ± 12.7%) from a maximum of 160 marks. "Asthma knowledge score for all questions" was related to teachers' gender, age, location and property of child daycare center and number of children in child daycare center. Although teachers of child daycare centers have some knowledge about asthma, their "completely true response rate for each question" was insufficient. Much more efficient educational programs are needed for these teachers.

  10. Firm Search for External Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sofka, Wolfgang; Grimpe, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    ignored the institutional context that provides or denies access to external knowledge at the country level. Combining institutional and knowledge search theory, we suggest that the market orientation of the institutional environment and the magnitude of institutional change influence when firms begin......The innovation performance of modern firms is increasingly determined by their ability to search and absorb external knowledge. However, after a certain threshold firms "oversearch" their environment and innovation performance declines. In this paper, we argue that prior literature has largely...... to experience the negative performance effects of oversearch. Based on a comprehensive sample of almost 8,000 firms from ten European countries, we find that institutions matter considerably for firms' search activity. Higher market orientation of institutions increases the effectiveness of firms' search...

  11. Dimensions of Discourse Level Oral Language Skills and Their Relation to Reading Comprehension and Written Composition: An Exploratory Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace; Park, Cheahyung; Park, Younghee

    2015-01-01

    We examined the relations of discourse-level oral language skills [i.e., listening comprehension, and oral retell and production of narrative texts (oral retell and production hereafter)] to reading comprehension and written composition. Korean-speaking first grade students (N = 97) were assessed on listening comprehension, oral retell and…

  12. Comprehension instruction research-based best practices

    CERN Document Server

    Parris, Sheri R; Morrow, Lesley Mandel

    2015-01-01

    All key issues of research and practice in comprehension instruction are addressed in this highly regarded professional resource and course text. Leading scholars examine the processes that enable students to make meaning from what they read--and how this knowledge can be applied to improve teaching at all grade levels. Best practices for meeting the needs of diverse elementary and secondary students are identified. Essential topics include strategies for comprehending different types of texts, the impact of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), cutting-edge assessment approaches, and the gr

  13. The importance of knowing the starting level of knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Barajas

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this work is to demonstrate the importance of the fact that from the beginning of the course students and teachers identify what is the initial knowledge level and the level that students must reach at the end of the course. This is important for the student because it will demonstrate the importance of the continuous assessment (Bologne methodology and in the other hand, for the teachers to know the initial level of their students. It can give influence to detect deficiencies and solve them to a well ending course. This helps a lot to students with an initial lack of knowledge of the subject. This study carries out specifically in the Chemistry subject in the degree of Ingeniería de Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo de Producto (Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development at Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Industrial (E.U.I.T.I. of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM.

  14. Levels of use of selected components of the Comprehensive Basic Nursing Programme

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. S. Gwele

    1996-03-01

    Full Text Available Change in nursing education in South Africa has been characterised by the predominance of the use of power-coercive strategies to effect change. Changes in nursing curricula are legislated through the South African Nursing Council. The Comprehensive Basic Nursing Programme (CBNP became mandatory for all institutions offering basic professional nurse preparation education programmes in this country in 1985. This was a comparative descriptive study aimed at examining the levels of use of 47 nurse educators at four nursing colleges regarding their behaviours and skills in implementing four selected components of the CBNP. The components of the CBNP which formed the focus for this study were teaching to produce nurses capable of (a rendering comprehensive health care, (b nursing holistically, (c thinking critically, and (d learning independently.

  15. Adequacy of Physicians Knowledge Level of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation to Current Guidelines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ümmu Kocalar

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: The purpose of this study is to test the level of information on CPR and suitability to current application of the phsicians practicing in hospital ANEAH. Material and Method: The form of a test of 20 questions fort his purpose has been prepared in accordance with the 2010 AHA-ERC CPR guidelines. This form distributed to volunteer physicians to fill in. A total of 173 physicians agreed to participate in he study. The results were analyzed statistically and tried to determine the factors affecting the level of information. Results:According to the results of the study physicians gender, age and the total duration of physicians and medical asistance doesn%u2019t affect the level of information. The number of CPR within 1 month positively affect the level of knowledge. The number of theoretical and practical training in medical school, have taken the positive impact the level of knowledge of physicians. The training period after graduation, significantly increased the level of physicians information. The order of these training sessions with the asistant courses, congress, seminars and lessions on the sempozims are effective. Discussion: CPR trainig programs for physicians should be standardized, updated and expanded. Recurent in-service trainig should be provided to increase phsicians knowledge on skills.

  16. Examining Educators' Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices about Using Technology with Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenty, Nicole S.; Anderson, Elizabeth McKendry

    2014-01-01

    Technology has been shown to foster children's motivation and interest in instructional materials. In addition, researchers have found that technology results in higher levels of student engagement and greater levels of comprehension. Researchers have also found that educators must have the knowledge and skills in technology necessary to…

  17. Foundations of reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wingerden-Fontein, E.G. van; Segers, P.C.J.; Balkom, L.J.M. van; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2017-01-01

    Background Knowledge about predictors for reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) is still fragmented. Aims This study compared reading comprehension, word decoding, listening comprehension, and reading related linguistic and cognitive precursor measures in children

  18. 76 FR 13143 - Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant Program; Office of Elementary and Secondary...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-10

    ... learning program environments that engage and motivate children and youth in speaking, listening, reading... and grade-level mastery of (A) oral language skills, both listening and speaking, (B) phonological..., fluently, and with comprehension, relying on knowledge of the vocabulary in those texts and of the...

  19. Knowledge, Perception and Level of Male Partner Involvement in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    establishing the level of male partner involvement and influence of couple knowledge and perception on male involvement in choice of ... access to care and provision of emotional and ..... although the male partners are key decision makers.

  20. Epilogue: Reading Comprehension Is Not a Single Ability-Implications for Assessment and Instruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamhi, Alan G; Catts, Hugh W

    2017-04-20

    In this epilogue, we review the 4 response articles and highlight the implications of a multidimensional view of reading for the assessment and instruction of reading comprehension. We reiterate the problems with standardized tests of reading comprehension and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of recently developed authentic tests of reading comprehension. In the "Instruction" section, we review the benefits and limitations of strategy instruction and highlight suggestions from the response articles to improve content and language knowledge. We argue that the only compelling reason to administer a standardized test of reading comprehension is when these tests are necessary to qualify students for special education services. Instruction should be focused on content knowledge, language knowledge, and specific task and learning requirements. This instruction may entail the use of comprehension strategies, particularly those that are specific to the task and focus on integrating new knowledge with prior knowledge.

  1. Knowledge of gestational diabetes among a multi-ethnic cohort in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carolan, Mary; Steele, Cheryl; Margetts, Heather

    2010-12-01

    to explore knowledge about gestational diabetes (GDM) among a multi-ethnic sample of women who were receiving antenatal care in Melbourne, Australia. cross-sectional comparative survey. diabetes clinic located in a public hospital in Melbourne's Western suburbs. 143 pregnant women with GDM from Vietnamese, Indian, Filipino and Caucasian backgrounds. 200 questionnaires were distributed and 143 were returned (response rate 71.5%). There were statistically significant differences between ethnic groups in terms of educational level (p=0.001) and fluency in English (p=0.001). Educational levels, measured in completed years of schooling, were lowest among Vietnamese [mean 8.5 years, standard deviation (SD) 1.0], Filipino (mean 8.9 years, SD 1.5) and Caucasian [mean 10.2 years, SD 0.9] women. Indian women had a higher mean level of education (11.6 years, SD 0.9). Fluency in English was reported by 100% of Caucasian, Indian and Filipino women, but 53.3% of Vietnamese women required interpreter services. The women's answers varied with ethnicity and educational status. Vietnamese and Filipino women displayed the least knowledge about GDM and food values. Caucasian women also scored poorly on general knowledge about GDM. Indian women scored highest across all areas of interest. Vietnamese women had the poorest English skills and lowest educational levels, and were identified as the group at greatest risk of misunderstanding GDM. English language proficiency alone, however, was not associated with better comprehension of GDM in this study. Higher educational level was the only factor linked to increased comprehension. It is, therefore, important that new educational strategies are developed to address lower health literacy as well as cultural factors when caring for multi-ethnic populations with GDM. This approach may also serve to address lower levels of comprehension among Caucasian populations. Copyright © 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  2. Linguistic knowledge, processing speed, and metacognitive knowledge in first- and second-language reading comprehension : A componential analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Gelderen, Amos; Schoonen, Rob; de Glopper, Kees; Hulstijn, Jan; Simis, Annegien; Snellings, Patrick; Stevenson, Marie

    The authors report results of a study into the role of components of first-language (L1; Dutch) and second-language (L2; English) reading comprehension. Differences in the contributions of components of L1 and L2 reading comprehension are analyzed, in particular processing speed in L1 and L2.

  3. Linguistic knowledge, processing speed and metacognitive knowledge in first and second language reading comprehension; a componential analysis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Gelderen, A.; Schoonen, R.; de Glopper, K.; Hulstijn, J.; Simis, A.; Snellings, P.; Stevenson, M.

    2004-01-01

    The authors report results of a study into the role of components of first-language (L1; Dutch) and second-language (L2; English) reading comprehension. Differences in the contributions of components of L1 and L2 reading comprehension are analyzed, in particular processing speed in L1 and L2.

  4. Knowledge-based and model-based hybrid methodology for comprehensive waste minimization in electroplating plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Keqin

    1999-11-01

    The electroplating industry of over 10,000 planting plants nationwide is one of the major waste generators in the industry. Large quantities of wastewater, spent solvents, spent process solutions, and sludge are the major wastes generated daily in plants, which costs the industry tremendously for waste treatment and disposal and hinders the further development of the industry. It becomes, therefore, an urgent need for the industry to identify technically most effective and economically most attractive methodologies and technologies to minimize the waste, while the production competitiveness can be still maintained. This dissertation aims at developing a novel WM methodology using artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, and fundamental knowledge in chemical engineering, and an intelligent decision support tool. The WM methodology consists of two parts: the heuristic knowledge-based qualitative WM decision analysis and support methodology and fundamental knowledge-based quantitative process analysis methodology for waste reduction. In the former, a large number of WM strategies are represented as fuzzy rules. This becomes the main part of the knowledge base in the decision support tool, WMEP-Advisor. In the latter, various first-principles-based process dynamic models are developed. These models can characterize all three major types of operations in an electroplating plant, i.e., cleaning, rinsing, and plating. This development allows us to perform a thorough process analysis on bath efficiency, chemical consumption, wastewater generation, sludge generation, etc. Additional models are developed for quantifying drag-out and evaporation that are critical for waste reduction. The models are validated through numerous industrial experiments in a typical plating line of an industrial partner. The unique contribution of this research is that it is the first time for the electroplating industry to (i) use systematically available WM strategies, (ii) know quantitatively and

  5. The level of Olympic knowledge's of schoolboys and young sportsmen of Crimea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mutiev A.V.

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The level of Olympic knowledge of young sportsmen of Crimea is explored and it is set that it does not differ from the levels of schoolboys, which do not go in for sports. In experiment took part 642 schoolchildren from 20 educational establishments of Crimea. Creation of the separate system of Olympic education, which would provide the high level of knowledge about Olympic movement, motivation, fixing of types, standards, models of conduct of young sportsmen's, in accordance with Olympic ideals is recommended.

  6. Analysis of Knowledge Level and Perception on Singkawang City Community towards Generic Medicines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Forid Morison

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Survey data show that the use of generic medicines in Indonesia is relatively very small, which only amounted 7%. This is due to lack of knowledge and poor perceptions towards generic medicines. Knowledge level and perceptions towards generic medicines are inflenced by community characteristics and information resource regarding generic medicines. The aim of this study was to determine the association between community characteristic and information resources with knowledge level and perception towards generic medicines. This study was an analytical survey with cross-sectional descriptive approach on 142 selected respondents who were fulfi inclusion and exclusion criteria. This study was conducted in June 2014 at several randomly selected locations on Singkawang City. The study show that 76 respondents (53.5% had inadequate knowledge and 123 respondents (86.6% had a good perception towards generic medicines. There is signifiant relationship between ethnicity (p=0.000 and information resources (p=0.009 with knowledge level regarding generic medicines at signifiance level of p<0.05. Although good perceptions were noted among the respondents, widespread dissemination of information regarding generic medicines should be continued to increase generic medicines used.

  7. Does reading strategy instruction improve students’ comprehension?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oyetunji, Christianah Oluwatoyin

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the effect of reading strategy instruction on Second Language (L2 students’ reading comprehension in a Botswana College of Education. The intervention programme was implemented based on the observation that some trainee teachers failed to improve on their L2 proficiency after spending a year in the L2 classroom. Prior to the intervention, difficulty in reading and comprehending had been identified as one of the contributing factors to their failure to improve on their proficiency level. A reading comprehension test was used to collect data from participants who were trainee teachers at a College of Education in Botswana before and after the intervention. The six-week intervention programme focused on seven reading strategies, namely the use of background knowledge, self-questioning, inferencing, rereading, drawing conclusions, identifying main ideas and summarising. The findings suggest that strategy training can increase L2 students’ reading comprehension. Based on the findings, it is recommended that strategy training be introduced into the L2 syllabus of the primary school teacher trainees in all Botswana Colleges of Education.

  8. Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ofosu, Nicole Naadu; Ekwaru, John Paul; Bastian, Kerry Ann; Loehr, Sarah A; Storey, Kate; Spence, John C; Veugelers, Paul J

    2018-04-18

    APPLE Schools is a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) project, started in schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas where dietary habits are poor, physical activity (PA) levels are low, and obesity rates are high. Earlier research showed program effects whereby energy intake, PA and weight status of students in APPLE Schools had reached similar levels as that of students in other schools. However, it is unknown whether the effects of CSH are sustained when children grow into adolescents. Effects of APPLE Schools on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status, seven years after the start of the project, when students were in junior high and high school were assessed. We hypothesised that APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates will remain at similar levels for these indicators. In the 2015/16 school year, junior high and high school graduates (grades 7-12) in Northern Alberta, Canada participated in a Youth Health Survey. Participants included graduates from APPLE elementary schools (n = 202) and comparison elementary schools (n = 338). Health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet (24-h dietary recall), PA (pedometer step count) and weight status were assessed. Mixed effects regression was employed to assess differences in these outcomes between APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates. Comparisons between elementary school (2008/09) and junior high/high school (2015/16) of self-efficacy, PA and weight status were also conducted. APPLE School graduates did not significantly differ from comparison school graduates on any outcomes (i.e. knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status). Additionally, no significant differences existed in the comparisons between 2008/09 and 2015/16. Our findings of no difference between the APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates suggest that the effects of APPLE Schools may continue into adolescence or the new

  9. Reading Level and Comprehension of Research Consent Forms: An Integrative Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foe, Gabriella; Larson, Elaine L

    2016-02-01

    Consent forms continue to be at a higher reading level than the recommended sixth to eighth grade, making it difficult for participants to comprehend information before enrolling in research. To assess and address the extent of the problem regarding the level of literacy of consent forms and update previously published reports, we conducted an integrative literature review of English language research published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2013; 35 descriptive and eight intervention studies met inclusion criteria. Results confirmed that developing forms at eighth-grade level was attainable though not practiced. It was found that risks of participation was the section most poorly understood. There was also a lack of consensus regarding the most effective method to increase comprehension. Further research using standardized tools is needed to determine the best approach for improving consent forms and processes. © The Author(s) 2016.

  10. Enhancement and knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Talamo

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Many issues related to enhancement strategies emerge nowadays both from the scenario offered by public real estates and from the current processes of conveyance of public assets to local authorities. On one hand it is still difficult, from a strategic point of view, to approach in the medium-long term the chronic problems of the public estates due to deterioration, obsolescence and organizational inadequacy. On the other hand there is the risk that inadequate levels of knowledge lead on one side to a prevalence of the binomial enhancement-alienation and on the other side to a lack of full comprehension of the actual potentialities of the existing assets. In this direction it is possible to analyze the topic of enhancement through, among many, the key of knowledge during the lifecycle of a building.

  11. Palliative Care: Delivering Comprehensive Oncology Nursing Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlin, Constance

    2015-11-01

    To describe palliative care as part of comprehensive oncology nursing care. A review of the palliative care, oncology, and nursing literature over the past 10 years. Palliative care is mandated as part of comprehensive cancer care. A cancer diagnosis often results in distress in the physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional domains of care. Oncology nurses are essential in providing palliative care from diagnosis to death to patients with cancer. They address the myriad aspects of cancer. With palliative care skills and knowledge, oncology nurses can provide quality cancer care. There are many opportunities in which oncology nurses can promote palliative care. Oncology nurses must obtain knowledge and skills in primary palliative care to provide comprehensive cancer care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The Comprehension Problems of Children with Poor Reading Comprehension despite Adequate Decoding: A Meta-Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Mercedes; Wagner, Richard K

    2018-06-01

    The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the comprehension problems of children who have a specific reading comprehension deficit (SCD), which is characterized by poor reading comprehension despite adequate decoding. The meta-analysis included 86 studies of children with SCD who were assessed in reading comprehension and oral language (vocabulary, listening comprehension, storytelling ability, and semantic and syntactic knowledge). Results indicated that children with SCD had deficits in oral language ( d = -0.78, 95% CI [-0.89, -0.68], but these deficits were not as severe as their deficit in reading comprehension ( d = -2.78, 95% CI [-3.01, -2.54]). When compared to reading comprehension age-matched normal readers, the oral language skills of the two groups were comparable ( d = 0.32, 95% CI [-0.49, 1.14]), which suggests that the oral language weaknesses of children with SCD represent a developmental delay rather than developmental deviance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

  13. Oral cancer screening: knowledge is not enough.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tax, C L; Haslam, S Kim; Brillant, Mgs; Doucette, H J; Cameron, J E; Wade, S E

    2017-08-01

    The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether dental hygienists are transferring their knowledge of oral cancer screening into practice. This study also wanted to gain insight into the barriers that might prevent dental hygienists from performing these screenings. A 27-item survey instrument was constructed to study the oral cancer screening practices of licensed dental hygienists in Nova Scotia. A total of 623 practicing dental hygienists received the survey. The response rate was 34% (n = 212) yielding a maximum margin of error of 5.47 at a 95% confidence level. Descriptive statistics were calculated using IBM SPSS Statistics v21 software (Armonk, NY:IBM Corp). Qualitative thematic analysis was performed on any open-ended responses. This study revealed that while dental hygienists perceived themselves as being knowledgeable about oral cancer screening, they were not transferring this knowledge to actual practice. Only a small percentage (13%) of respondents were performing a comprehensive extra-oral examination, and 7% were performing a comprehensive intra-oral examination. The respondents identified several barriers that prevented them from completing a comprehensive oral cancer screening. Early detection of oral cancer reduces mortality rates so there is a professional responsibility to ensure that comprehensive oral cancer screenings are being performed on patients. Dental hygienists may not have the authority in a dental practice to overcome all of the barriers that are preventing them from performing these screenings. Public awareness about oral cancer screenings could increase the demand for screenings and thereby play a role in changing practice norms. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Levels and sources of forest fire prevention knowledge of California hunters

    Science.gov (United States)

    William S. Folkman

    1963-01-01

    Males 30-50 years of age from the smaller urban centers (under 25,000 population) make up the bulk of the California hunter population. They are mainly from the skilled-semiskilled and professional-managerial occupations. Their level of knowledge about forest fire prevention is generally high, but their knowledge is weak in some pertinent areas. Most frequently...

  15. COGNITIVE STRUCTURING OF TEXT COMPREHENSION PROCESS IN THE ASPECT OF MICROLINGUISTICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kolodina Nina Ivanovna

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The theory of mnemo-units of knowledge in the aspect of microliguistics is deliberated in the article. Mnemo-unit of knowledge is considered to be a unit of knowledge in the operative memory, which cannot be verbalized but can be explained. The singling out such units, on the one hand, gives the opportunity to construct the structural scheme of comprehension process, and, on the other hand, to justify the theory of comprehension process as the process of operating with tiny recognized and unrecognized units which have schematic or contour fixation in the human's memory. The process of text comprehension is analyzed and compared with the process of making saccades. Given examples about the eyesight fixation on the words picked out on the line allow to speak about the fixation of attention only on these words. The summing up of such theоretic and practical data leads to the opportunity to base the theory of mnemo-units of knowledge in the aspect of microlinguistics. The comprehension process demands supporting the steady connections between the mnemo-units of knowledge. In their turn, the steady connections between the mnemo-units of knowledge, which are necessary for production of thinking forms, are insured by constant activization of the same units at the same sequence. Constant and sequent activization of the same units of knowledge leads to the human thinking process stereotyping. The cognitive model of structural thinking process is built in the article. The analysis of received data on stereotyped comprehension process allows to reveal the fact that the activization of one mnemo-units group demands the activization of another mnemo-units group. Activated mnemo-units groups determine the psychological structure of personality. In this aspect the motivation and the behavior are the necessary steps in the cognitive model of structural comprehension process while the psychological structure is considered.

  16. The Effect of Cultural Background Knowledge on Learning English Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Ibrahim

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to investigate the effect of cultural background knowledge on learning English Language. It also aims to investigate if there are significant differences between subjects' performance in reading comprehension according to sex and general ability in English (GAE. The study aims at answering the following questions: 1 . To what extent is the effect of cultural background knowledge on subjects' performance in reading comprehension? 2 . What is the difference in performance in reading comprehension between male and female subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge? 3. What is the differenc e between subjects' performance in reading comprehension texts which are loaded with American culture and their general ability in English. ? The population of th is study consisted of all first - year students majoring in English at Hebron University in th e first semester of the academic year 2011/2012. They were 600. The sample of the study consisted of 60 subjects, males and females divided into four groups, two experimental and two controlled. The researcher followed the experimental method. Means, stand ard deviations and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were calculated by using SPSS program. The study revealed the following results: 1. There are statistically significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between subjects who have cu ltural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge . 2 . There are no statistically significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between male and female subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge. 3. Subjects' GAE revealed that there are significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge. In the light of the results of th e study, the researcher recommends the

  17. Modulation of cortical activity during comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar text topics in speed reading and speed listening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A; Meschyan, Gayane; Keller, Timothy A; Just, Marcel Adam

    2014-12-01

    Brain activation associated with normal and speeded comprehension of expository texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics was investigated in reading and listening. The goal was to determine how brain activation and the comprehension processes it reflects are modulated by comprehension speed and topic familiarity. Passages on more familiar topics differentially activated a set of areas in the anterior temporal lobe and medial frontal gyrus, areas often associated with text-level integration processes, which we interpret to reflect integration of previous knowledge with the passage content. Passages presented at the faster presentation resulted in more activation of a network of frontal areas associated with strategic and working-memory processes (as well as visual or auditory sensory-related regions), which we interpret to reflect maintenance of local coherence among briefly available passage segments. The implications of this research is that the brain system for text comprehension adapts to varying perceptual and knowledge conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Comparison of reading comprehension and working memory in hearing-impaired and normal-hearing children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Rezaei

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Reading is the most important human need for learning. In normal-hearing people working memory is a predictor of reading comprehension. In this study the relationship between working memory and reading comprehension skills was studied in hearing-impaired children, and then compared with the normal-hearing group.Methods: This was a descriptive-analytic study. The working memory and reading comprehension skills of 18 (8 male, 10 female sever hearing-impaired children in year five of exceptional schools were compared by means of a reading test with 18 hearing children as control group. The subjects in the control group were of the same gender and educational level of the sample group.Results: The children with hearing loss performed similarly to the normal-hearing children in tasks related to auditory-verbal memory of sounds (reverse, visual-verbal memory of letters, and visual-verbal memory of pictures. However, they showed lower levels of performance in reading comprehension (p<0.001. Moreover, no significant relationship was observed between working memory and reading comprehension skills.Conclusion: Findings indicated that children with hearing loss have a significant impairment in the reading comprehension skill. Impairment in language knowledge and vocabulary may be the main cause of poor reading comprehension in these children. In hearing-impaired children working memory is not a strong predictor of reading comprehension.

  19. Development of knowledge building program concerning about high-level radioactive waste disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kimura, Hiroshi; Yamada, Kazuhiro; Takase, Hiroyasu

    2005-01-01

    Acquirement of knowledge about the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal is one of the important factors for public to determine the social acceptance of HLW disposal. However in Japan, public do not have knowledge about HLW and its disposal sufficiently. In this work, we developed the knowledge building program concerning about HLW disposal based on Nonaka, and Takeuchi's SECI spiral model in knowledge management, and carried to the experiment on this program. In the results, we found that the participants' knowledge about the HLW disposal increased and changed from misunderstanding' or 'assuming' to 'facts' or 'consideration' through this experimental program. These results said that the experimental program leads participants to have higher quality of knowledge about the HLW disposal. In consequence, this knowledge building program may be effective in the acquirement of high quality knowledge. (author)

  20. Comprehensive nursing intervention to improve the ability of self-care behaviors of chronic hepatitis B

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sha YANG

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: To explore suitable long-term antiviral therapy and comprehensive nursing intervention to patients with chronic hepatitis B system. Methods: To treat 136 cases of chronic hepatitis B patients with comprehensive nursing intervention and to investigate their regular medication situation, bad habits, self-observation and illness review visits before the intervention and after one month, three months and six months. Results: Regular medication situation, bad habits, self-observation and illness review visits of the patients who were treated with comprehensive nursing intervention have improved, and differences were statistically significant (P <0.05.Conclusion: Comprehensive nursing intervention can improve compliance, rehabilitation, knowledge level and life quality of the hepatitis B patients who suffered from long-term medication treatment.

  1. Reading comprehension in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Laura L; Rutledge, Stefanie

    2014-05-01

    Although individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) self-report reading problems and experience difficulties in cognitive-linguistic functions that support discourse-level reading, prior research has primarily focused on sentence-level processing and auditory comprehension. Accordingly, the authors investigated the presence and nature of reading comprehension in PD, hypothesizing that (a) individuals with PD would display impaired accuracy and/or speed on reading comprehension tests and (b) reading performances would be correlated with cognitive test results. Eleven adults with PD and 9 age- and education-matched control participants completed tests that evaluated reading comprehension; general language and cognitive abilities; and aspects of attention, memory, and executive functioning. The PD group obtained significantly lower scores on several, but not all, reading comprehension, language, and cognitive measures. Memory, language, and disease severity were significantly correlated with reading comprehension for the PD group. Individuals in the early stages of PD without dementia or broad cognitive deficits can display reading comprehension difficulties, particularly for high- versus basic-level reading tasks. These reading difficulties are most closely related to memory, high-level language, and PD symptom severity status. The findings warrant additional research to delineate further the types and nature of reading comprehension impairments experienced by individuals with PD.

  2. Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS: A Study on Development, Validity and Reliability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cemalettin Kalyoncu

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This study was conducted to develop a scale to measure knowledge about hypertension among Turkish adults. The Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS was generated based on content, face, and construct validity, internal consistency, test re-test reliability, and discriminative validity procedures. The final scale had 22 items with six sub-dimensions. The scale was applied to 457 individuals aged ≥18 years, and 414 of them were re-evaluated for test-retest reliability. The six sub-dimensions encompassed 60.3% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha coefficients were 0.82 for the entire scale and 0.92, 0.59, 0.67, 0.77, 0.72, and 0.76 for the sub-dimensions of definition, medical treatment, drug compliance, lifestyle, diet, and complications, respectively. The scale ensured internal consistency in reliability and construct validity, as well as stability over time. Significant relationships were found between knowledge score and age, gender, educational level, and history of hypertension of the participants. No correlation was found between knowledge score and working at an income-generating job. The present scale, developed to measure the knowledge level of hypertension among Turkish adults, was found to be valid and reliable.

  3. Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS): a study on development, validity and reliability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erkoc, Sultan Baliz; Isikli, Burhanettin; Metintas, Selma; Kalyoncu, Cemalettin

    2012-03-01

    This study was conducted to develop a scale to measure knowledge about hypertension among Turkish adults. The Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS) was generated based on content, face, and construct validity, internal consistency, test re-test reliability, and discriminative validity procedures. The final scale had 22 items with six sub-dimensions. The scale was applied to 457 individuals aged ≥ 18 years, and 414 of them were re-evaluated for test-retest reliability. The six sub-dimensions encompassed 60.3% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha coefficients were 0.82 for the entire scale and 0.92, 0.59, 0.67, 0.77, 0.72, and 0.76 for the sub-dimensions of definition, medical treatment, drug compliance, lifestyle, diet, and complications, respectively. The scale ensured internal consistency in reliability and construct validity, as well as stability over time. Significant relationships were found between knowledge score and age, gender, educational level, and history of hypertension of the participants. No correlation was found between knowledge score and working at an income-generating job. The present scale, developed to measure the knowledge level of hypertension among Turkish adults, was found to be valid and reliable.

  4. First aid: level of knowledge of relatives and bystanders in emergency situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomruk, Onder; Soysal, Suna; Gunay, Turkan; Cimrin, Arif H

    2007-01-01

    Bystanders who are able to provide immediate first aid to patients who require emergency care can make a big difference in the outcome. Thus, first-aid training should be made available to as many people as possible. The aims of this study were to assess the level of first-aid knowledge among bystanders in emergency situations and to identify factors that affected this level of knowledge. At Dokuz Eylul University Emergency Service between February 1 and February 15, 2002, 318 bystanders were given a questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire was concerned with demographic characteristics and factors that would affect first-aid knowledge level. The second part consisted of 16 multiple choice questions about first aid. Bystanders answered an average of 7.16+/-3.14 questions correctly. Bystanders who had graduated from a university, were health care personnel, had taken a first-aid course, had a first-aid certificate, or had a driver's license were considered to be more successful.

  5. Developing knowledge level scale of functional foods: Validity and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The aim of the study was to develop a scale to determine the knowledge levels of University students on functional foods and to investigate the validity and reliability of the scale. The research was conducted on 417 (209 girls and 208 boys) undergraduate students in Selcuk University regarding functional foods.

  6. Comprehensive Approach for Monitoring and Analyzing the Activity Concentration Level of PET Isotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osovizky, A.; Paran, J.; Ankry, N.; Vulasky, E.; Ashkenazi, B.; Tal, N.; Dolev, E.; Gonen, E.

    2004-01-01

    A comprehensive approach for measuring and analyzing low concentration levels of positron emitter isotopes is introduced. The solution is based on a Continuous Air Monitoring Sampler (CAMS), Stack Monitoring System (SMS) and software package. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a major tool for both, biochemical research and non-invasive diagnostics for medicine imaging. The PET method utilizes short half life β + radioisotopes that are produced in cyclotron sites built especially for this purpose. The growing need for β + isotopes brought about a commonly wide use of cyclotrons next to populated areas. Isotopes production involves two possible radiation hazards deriving from the activity concentration; one refers to the nearby population by the activity released through the ventilation system and the other refers to the personnel working in the nuclear facility. A comprehensive system providing solution for both radiation hazards is introduced in this work

  7. Knowledge levels of pre-school teachers related with basic first-aid practices, Isparta sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sönmez, Yonca; Uskun, Ersin; Pehlivan, Azize

    2014-09-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of knowledge of pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta related with basic first-aid practices and some factors which affected these levels of knowledge. In this cross-sectional, analytic study, 110 pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta constituted the population. A questionnaire questioning sociodemographic properties and the level of knowledge related with first-aid practices was applied under supervision. The level of knowledge was evaluated on a 20-point scale. In the analyses, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman's rank correlation were used. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee for Clinical Studies of Süleyman Demirel University School of Medicine (registration number: 105). The mean score of first-aid knowledge of the pre-school teachers was found to be 11.9±2.9. The least known issues included washing the wound by soap and water after a dog bite, information related with the necessity of immobilization of a child who has fallen from a high level and the phone number of National Poison Information Center (16.4%, 20.9% and 22.7%, respectively). The scores of the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be well were higher compared to the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be moderate (p=0.009) and poor (p=0.001). It was found that first-aid scores did not show significant difference in terms of age, working period, having received first-aid training and having faced with a condition requiring first-aid previously (p>0.05, for all comparisons). It was found that pre-school teachers had insufficient first-aid knowledge. Since the first-aid knowledge scores of the subjects who reported that they received first-aid training before did not show significant difference, it was thought that the quality of training was as important as receiving training.

  8. Developmental Relations Between Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muijselaar, M.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G,.; Droop, M.; Verhoeven, L.; de Jong, P.F.

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary,

  9. Metacognitive and language-specific knowledge in native and foreign language reading comprehension: an emprical study among Dutch students in grades 6, 8 and 10

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schoonen, R.; Hulstijn, J.; Bossers, B.

    1998-01-01

    This article gives the results of a study among 685 students in grades 6, 8 and 10 in the Netherlands to whom we administered grade-appropriate measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in their native language (NL), Dutch, as well as, in grades 8 and 10, in English as a foreign

  10. Operationalizing Levels of Academic Mastery Based on Vygotsky's Theory: The Study of Mathematical Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nezhnov, Peter; Kardanova, Elena; Vasilyeva, Marina; Ludlow, Larry

    2015-01-01

    The present study tested the possibility of operationalizing levels of knowledge acquisition based on Vygotsky's theory of cognitive growth. An assessment tool (SAM-Math) was developed to capture a hypothesized hierarchical structure of mathematical knowledge consisting of procedural, conceptual, and functional levels. In Study 1, SAM-Math was…

  11. Using communities of practice towards the next level of knowledge-management maturity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lameshnee Chetty

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Effective communities of practice undoubtedly impact organisations’ knowledgemanagement and contribute towards building a learning-organisation culture. Communitiesof practice represent an environment conducive to learning and for exchanging ideas, andthey are a formal learning forum. However, the level of organisational learning to whichcommunities of practice contribute is difficult to measure.Objectives: The research was conducted to analyse the impact of communities of practiceon building a learning organisation. The organisational system, culture and people offerthe key towards leveraging knowledge as a strategic resource in a learning organisation.The awareness of the organisation concerning knowledge management was measured on areplicated knowledge-management maturity model.Method: The organisational knowledge base was analysed prior to the implementation of thecommunities of practice and was compared to the situation three years later. The research wasbased on experiential learning cycles that consisted of five consequential but perpetual stages,namely reflect, plan, act, observe and reflect again.Results: The results indicated that communities of practice were instrumental in leveraging theorganisation to the next level in the knowledge-management maturity model. A collaborationframework was developed for each business unit to work towards a common goal byharnessing the knowledge that was shared.Conclusion: Although a positive impact by communities of practice is visible, an instrumentfor the measurement of intellectual capital is necessary. It is recommended that the monetaryvalue of knowledge as an asset is determined so that the value of the potential intellectualcapital can be measured.

  12. Relationship between vitamin D knowledge and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels amongst pregnant women.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Toher, C

    2013-08-24

    Pregnant women living at northerly latitudes are at risk of suboptimal vitamin D status. There is a paucity of studies correlating knowledge, attitudes and practices of vitamin D with serum levels amongst pregnant women. We aimed to determine the prevalence of suboptimal vitamin D status in pregnant women of various ethnicities attending two Dublin maternity hospitals and to assess levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning vitamin D.

  13. Browsing while reading: effects of instructional design and learners' prior knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theimo Müller-Kalthoff

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the key reasons that multimedia, and particularly hypertext systems, are gaining in importance is that they inspire hopes of optimizing learners' processes of knowledge construction. The present study is concerned with the respective influence of individual learner variables (i.e. particularly domain-specific prior knowledge on the use of different design attributes. Thirty-six university students worked through a hierarchically structured two-part hypertext about the psychology of memory under two experimental browsing conditions (reduced versus free browsing. Results show that deeper-level comprehension (i.e. structural knowledge was predicted by the interaction of experimental condition and prior knowledge, but that simply retaining facts was not. Participants with low prior knowledge performed better on the comprehension test if they had worked on the version with reduced access. Moreover, the version with reduced access helped to reduce feelings of disorientation. The measure of disorientation also appeared to be closely linked with the individual's computer experience, self-concept of computer ability and subject-related interest. The main implications for educational practice relate to the design of an adaptive multimedia and hypertext learning system and the successful learning with it.

  14. Investigation of knowledge level about intrauterine device

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hediye Dagdeviren

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To investigate a level of knowledge about intrauterine device between females who were examined in our gynecology department. Metods: The study was conducted at Gynecology and Obstetric Department of Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Teaching and Research Hospital between August 2012-November 2012. The study were included 189 patients who accepted to participate. For collecting data; a form of questionnaire was used which has gived information about the intrauterine device (IUD and status of socio-demographic characteristics of the patients. The questionnaire were administered by the researchers in a separate room as a face-to-face interviews. SPSS 20.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA program was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of the women in the study was 31.1 ± 9.9. 44.7% of women were not using any modern contraceptive method. IUD utilization rate was 3.2%. 1.6% of women had never heard IUD, %76.1 women heard copper IUD. 42% of respondents gave the wrong answer to IUD inserted into ovaries. Conclusion: The IUD which is a cheap, does not require patient compliance, and has high efficacy. In this study, we were not found a statisfically significant difference for answers to questions in patients with different socio-demographic characteristics. The main result of the study was; among all parcipitians ,even health care workers there was an important disability about level of knowledge for IUD. It is great importance the whole society, including health professionals must train about family planning. [Cukurova Med J 2013; 38(3.000: 440-445

  15. Knowledge-based machine indexing from natural language text: Knowledge base design, development, and maintenance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genuardi, Michael T.

    1993-01-01

    One strategy for machine-aided indexing (MAI) is to provide a concept-level analysis of the textual elements of documents or document abstracts. In such systems, natural-language phrases are analyzed in order to identify and classify concepts related to a particular subject domain. The overall performance of these MAI systems is largely dependent on the quality and comprehensiveness of their knowledge bases. These knowledge bases function to (1) define the relations between a controlled indexing vocabulary and natural language expressions; (2) provide a simple mechanism for disambiguation and the determination of relevancy; and (3) allow the extension of concept-hierarchical structure to all elements of the knowledge file. After a brief description of the NASA Machine-Aided Indexing system, concerns related to the development and maintenance of MAI knowledge bases are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to statistically-based text analysis tools designed to aid the knowledge base developer. One such tool, the Knowledge Base Building (KBB) program, presents the domain expert with a well-filtered list of synonyms and conceptually-related phrases for each thesaurus concept. Another tool, the Knowledge Base Maintenance (KBM) program, functions to identify areas of the knowledge base affected by changes in the conceptual domain (for example, the addition of a new thesaurus term). An alternate use of the KBM as an aid in thesaurus construction is also discussed.

  16. Human Processing of Knowledge from Texts: Acquisition, Integration, and Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    1979-06-01

    comprehension. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1977. Craik , F.I.M., and Lockhart , R. S. Levels of processing : for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning A...Table 5.9 presents summary data regarding the performance levels and memory and search processes of individual subjects. The first row in Table 5.9...R-2256-ARP A June 1979 ARPA Order No.: 189-1 9020 Cybernetics Technology Human Processing of Knowledge from Texts: Acquisition, Integration, and

  17. Second Language Listening Comprehension: A Schema-Theoretic Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Donna Reseigh

    1989-01-01

    Enormous potential exists for the transfer of listening comprehension theory to second language listening research. The need for such research is highlighted through an exploration of recurring themes in the literature on background knowledge and through application of these themes to second language listening comprehension. (CB)

  18. Developmental relations between reading comprehension and reading strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, W.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Jong, P.F. de

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary, and working memory were administered. A structural equation model was constructed to estimate the unique relations between reading strategies and reading comprehension, while controlling for reading...

  19. Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bing Xue

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available As the biggest emerging and developing country, and the second largest economy on the planet, China’s road to sustainability has attracted global attention; therefore, we need to have a deeper understanding to address this issue at very different levels. This editorial mainly reviews the contributions of the published papers in the Special Issue of “Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action”, the main findings in this special edition suggest that the concept of sustainability is more comprehensive and complex, and the transformation process from scientific knowledge to local action still has a long way to go, not only in China, but also in many developing countries. More research on the fundamental and innovative processes of sustainable transformations should be conducted. China needs to make more efforts to strengthen its road to sustainability, by merging all relevant types of knowledge, both within and outside science, as well as locally and globally.As the biggest emerging and developing country, and the second largest economy on the planet, China's road to sustainability has attracted global attention; therefore, we need to have a deeper understanding to address this issue at very different levels. This editorial mainly reviews the contributions of the published papers in the Special Issue of "Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action", the main findings in this special edition suggest that the concept of sustainability is more comprehensive and complex, and the transformation process from scientific knowledge to local action still has a long way to go, not only in China, but also in many developing countries. More research on the fundamental and innovative processes of sustainable transformations should be conducted. China needs to make more efforts to strengthen its road to sustainability, by merging all relevant types of knowledge, both within and outside science, as well as

  20. Community-Level Measures of Stroke Knowledge among Children: Findings from Hip Hop Stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, Cailey; Noble, James M; Leighton-Herrmann, Ellyn; Hecht, Mindy F; Williams, Olajide

    2017-01-01

    Community-level determinants of stroke knowledge among children are unknown but could meaningfully impact public stroke education campaigns. We explored for associations between community- and school-level quality measures relative to baseline stroke knowledge among children participating in the Hip Hop Stroke program. Baseline stroke knowledge assessments were performed in 2839 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students (ages 9-11 years) from November 2005 to April 2014. Knowledge was assessed relative to school performance grade (SPG, graded A-F; a school-level measure determined by the New York City [NYC] Department of Education) and economic need index (ENI, range: 0-2; a community-level, within-school measure of subsidized housing and meals with higher scores indicating more socioeconomic distress). Schools studied included those with SPG = B (n = 196), SPG = C (n = 1590), and SPG = D (n = 1053) and mean ENI = .85 (standard deviation: .23). A composite assessment of knowledge, including 4 stroke symptoms (blurred vision, facial droop, sudden headache, and slurred speech), was conducted consistently since 2006. Overall, students correctly identified a mean of 1.74 stroke symptoms (95% confidence interval: 1.70-1.79; possible range: 0-4, expected value of chance response alone or no knowledge = 2). For quartiles of ENI, mean knowledge scores are as follows: ENI Q1  = 2.00, ENI Q2  = 2.09, ENI Q3  = 1.46, and ENI Q4  = 1.56 (ENI Q3 and ENI Q4 versus ENI Q1 , P < .001). For SPG, SPG = B schools: 2.09, SPG = C: 1.83, and SPG = D: 1.56 (SPG = C and SPG = D versus SPG = B schools, P ≤ .05). Children's stroke knowledge was lowest in NYC communities with greater economic need and lower school performance. These findings could guide stroke education campaign implementation strategies. Copyright © 2017 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. [Investigation on level and influencing factors of first aid knowledge among dentists in Sichuan province].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Yu; Li, Yuan-Yuan; Li, Tian-Guo; Chen, Yi-Ge; Kong, Jing-Jun; Pan, Jian

    2018-04-01

    The study aims to investigate the cognition degree and influencing factors of first aid knowledge among dentists in Sichuan province, and to provide suggestions for the training of oral clinician. A questionnaire was designed for this study. It included the basic situation of population, first aid knowledge level, emergency situation often encountered in stomatology clinic, first aid training situation, learning approach and attitude of first aid knowledge, etc. This questionnaire was used to investigate the dentists of medical institutions in various cities in Sichuan province. The survey results was statistical analyzed. There were 245 valid questionnaires. 1) The level of first aid knowledge of dentists was generally lower in Sichuan province. Work department and other departments work experience were the influencing factors of knowledge level of first aid knowledge among dentists. 2) 87.3% of dentists believed that it was very necessary to master the knowledge of first aid, but in the event of an emergency situation, 73.5% of dentists only can find other doctors to guide themselves to help. 3) The most common way to learn first aid knowledge was through work experience and medical school's first aid course. Dentists should strengthen the learning and training to improve the first aid skill.

  2. Examining Listening Previewing as a Classwide Strategy to Promote Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkins, Renee O.; Musti-Rao, Shobana; Hale, Andrea D.; McGuire, Shannon; Hailley, Jennifer

    2010-01-01

    Classwide instructional strategies to improve not only reading fluency but also comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are essential for student reading success. The current study examined the immediate effects of two classwide listening previewing strategies on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Twenty-one, fourth-grade general…

  3. The Development of Tacit Knowledge Sharing Behaviour among Employees in Organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miss Hathaiporn Mongkolajala

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Due to the economic growth in Thailand, many organizations have recognized the importance of maintaining their employees’ knowledge and tried to create the knowledge sharing environment. In general, knowledge sharing is initiated from an individual level and extended to organizational level. Since knowledge sharing among employees is a procedure which passes on abilities and capabilities from one person to another. This study attempts to investigate the factors and relationships that influence tacit knowledge sharing behavior in an organizational context. Based on the widely accepted theory of reasoned action (TRA, we tried to develop a comprehensive model covering factors influencing intention to share both explicit and tacit knowledge. For the empirical validation, 270 responses from employees in private-sector organization in Thailand were collected via an online questionnaire. This research evaluated the influence of a series of potential factors on knowledge sharing behavior. Attitude toward knowledge sharing and subjective norms had a positive significant impact on intention to share explicit knowledge and also on intention to share tacit knowledge. In addition, intention to share explicit knowledge had direct significant relationship with intention to share tacit knowledge. Finally, intention to share tacit knowledge reflected a positive effect on knowledge sharing behavior.

  4. A Study on the Level of Intercultural Knowledge among Malaysian Secondary School Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatin Najwa Amelia binti Marsani

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Malaysia is typified by three major ethnic groups namely Malay, Chinese and Indian.  The evolution of national unity in Malaysia, which is based on acceptance and tolerance towards different cultures has been allowed to flourish in tandem with the realization of national aspirations.  Even though education system is seen to be the best tool to cultivate team work among these three major ethnic groups, contemporary research reveals that there is still a lack of intercultural embedment in both tertiary and non-tertiary settings.  Worst, non-tertiary setting national schools are seen as the breeding ground of racial polarization.  Thus, the main objectives of this research is to explore the level of intercultural knowledge that can enhance intercultural awareness among Malaysian secondary school students.  Data was collected using a structured survey questionnaire to elicit responses from Form Four students in one national secondary school in Penang, Malaysia on their level of intercultural knowledge.  The results of this study shows low level of intercultural knowledge among secondary school students and it indicates poor intercultural awareness among them in the contexts of intercultural knowledge.  This suggest that classroom intervention is needed to improve the students’ intercultural knowledge and at the same time improve their intercultural sensitivity towards other cultures.

  5. Comprehensive Oncologic Emergencies Research Network (CONCERN)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Comprehensive Oncologic Emergencies Research Network (CONCERN) was established in March 2015 with the goal to accelerate knowledge generation, synthesis and translation of oncologic emergency medicine research through multi-center collaborations.

  6. Essential knowledge for transistor-level LSI circuit design

    CERN Document Server

    Nakura, Toru

    2016-01-01

    This book is a collection of the miscellaneous knowledge essential for transistor-level LSI circuit design, summarized as the issues that need to be considered in each design step. To design an LSI that actually functions and to be able to properly measure it, an extremely large amount of diverse, detailed knowledge is necessary. Even though one may read a textbook about an op-amp, for example, the op-amp circuit design may not actually be possible to complete in one’s CAD tools. The first half of this text explains important design issues such as the operating principles of CAD tools, including schematic entry, SPICE simulation, layout and verification, and RC extraction. Then, mistake-prone topics for many circuit design beginners, resulting from their lack of consideration of these subjects, are explained including IO buffers, noise, and problems due to the progress of miniaturization. Following these topics, basic but very specialized issues for LSI circuit measurement are explained including measuremen...

  7. Sign language comprehension: the case of Spanish sign language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Ortiz, I R

    2008-01-01

    This study aims to answer the question, how much of Spanish Sign Language interpreting deaf individuals really understand. Study sampling included 36 deaf people (deafness ranging from severe to profound; variety depending on the age at which they learned sign language) and 36 hearing people who had good knowledge of sign language (most were interpreters). Sign language comprehension was assessed using passages of secondary level. After being exposed to the passages, the participants had to tell what they had understood about them, answer a set of related questions, and offer a title for the passage. Sign language comprehension by deaf participants was quite acceptable but not as good as that by hearing signers who, unlike deaf participants, were not only late learners of sign language as a second language but had also learned it through formal training.

  8. Does Bachelor's-Level Social Work Education Impact Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Substance-Abusing Clients?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senreich, Evan; Straussner, Shulamith Lala A.

    2013-01-01

    This study compared 248 graduating seniors with 301 beginning juniors at 10 bachelor's-level social work programs in the Northeast concerning their knowledge and attitudes regarding working with substance-abusing clients. Graduating seniors demonstrated modestly higher levels of knowledge and only slightly more positive attitudes toward working…

  9. Key tasks in healthcare marketing: assessing importance and current level of knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennett, Pamela A; Henson, Steve W; Crow, Stephen M; Hartman, Sandra J

    2005-01-01

    When examining the healthcare industry, the need for continuing education in internal functions (i.e., HR management) has been documented. However, equally important to success in the healthcare industry are external functions such as marketing. In an expansion of research on internally focused functions, we report findings from an exploratory study designed to examine the perceptions of executives about managerial skill needs in the externally focused area of marketing. Specifically, we examine eight key tasks in marketing and ask executives to rate the level of knowledge required for each and then to assess current, or actual, levels of knowledge in the field. Findings suggest that pricing strategy, product strategy, and segmentation and targeting were the tasks that require the most knowledge for healthcare marketers, and that they do, in fact, perceive various gaps in all of the areas examined. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.

  10. Chosen risk factors for osteoporosis and the level of knowledge about the disease in peri- and postmenopausal women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janiszewska, Mariola; Kulik, Teresa; Dziedzic, Małgorzata A; Żołnierczuk-Kieliszek, Dorota

    2015-03-01

    Osteoporosis as a chronic disease, affecting especially women in postmenopausal age, is an important, social and economic health problem especially of women of today's world. The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge of women in the peri- and postmenopausal period about the prevention of osteoporosis and show the influence of chosen risk factors on the level of this knowledge. A group of 300 women aged 45-65, being patients of healthcare centres in Chełm, Lublin and Zamość (Lublin voivodeship, south-eastern Poland) were included in the study. The purposive sampling was used. Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT) 2011 was the research tool. Gathered material was subjected to descriptive and statistical analysis. Tukey's test, t-student test and variance analysis (ANOVA) were all applied. An accepted p materiality level was level of knowledge about the role of physical activity in the prevention of osteoporosis (M = 13.93) and a low level of knowledge about well-balanced diet rich in calcium (M = 9.77). The knowledge about risk factors, screening and treatment remained on the average level (M = 8.00). An influence of socio-demographic factors on the level of knowledge was shown. Also some behaviours, associated with the lifestyle indeed influenced the level of this knowledge. Professional educational programs on osteoporosis should be implemented in the population of Polish peri- and postmenopausal women.

  11. Accessing Remote Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maskell, Peter

    2014-01-01

    young, single-site firms search for distant sources of complementary competences. The discussion is positioned within a comprehensive framework that allows a systematic investigation of the approaches available to firms engaged in globally extended learning. By utilizing the distinction between problem...... awareness (what remote knowledge is needed?) and source awareness (where does this knowledge reside?) the article explores the relative merits and inherent limitations of pipelines, listening posts, crowdsourcing and trade fairs to acquire knowledge and solutions from geographically and relationally remote...

  12. Determination of Doping Knowledge Level of Physical Education and Sports College Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet DALLI

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the work is Physical Education and Sports School students Doping is carried out to determine level of the knowledge. Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Physical Education and Sports has been applied to the 120 people who teaching in this departmant have been assessed in the 120 sur veys. To determine the knowledge level of doping, content validity of the questionnaire consisting of 32 questions, intelligibility and reliability in the 2006 - 2007 school year are made by Coskun Sargın, Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was found t o be 0.92. (0.80 level of knowledge of students in the department and according to gender differences were observed (p <0.05. students about gene doping as a result they do not have sufficient information has emerged. The information obtained on our research findings and results of the evaluation will be presented in some detail.

  13. How Knowledge Powers Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemov, Doug

    2017-01-01

    Recent research shows that reading comprehension relies heavily on prior knowledge. Far more than generic "reading skills" like drawing inferences, making predictions, and knowing the function of subheads, how well students learn from a nonfiction text depends on their background knowledge of the text's subject matter. And in a cyclical…

  14. Predictors of Reading Comprehension among Struggling Readers Who Exhibit Differing Levels of Inattention and Hyperactivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, Elizabeth; Barnes, Marcia; Fall, Anna-Mari; Roberts, Greg

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of inference making, decoding, memory, and vocabulary on reading comprehension among 7th- through 12th-grade struggling readers with varying levels of inattention and hyperactivity. We categorized a group of 414 struggling readers into 3 groups based on results from factor mixture modeling:…

  15. Constraint Programming for Context Comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Henning

    2014-01-01

    A close similarity is demonstrated between context comprehension, such as discourse analysis, and constraint programming. The constraint store takes the role of a growing knowledge base learned throughout the discourse, and a suitable con- straint solver does the job of incorporating new pieces...

  16. The Effect of the Reader's Background on Reading Comprehension Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bushra Saadoon Mohammed Al-Noori

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at measuring the amount of the effect of the reader's background knowledge on performance in reading comprehension tests through the assessment of information gained in reading comprehension (RC tests across-four testing techniques, short answer questions ,true-false items , multiple - choice items , and cloze test and re-test. This technique involves the examinees in two types of tasks, i.e. pre-reading and post -reading task. Two hypotheses have been proposed to achieve the aims of this study. They are  1-There are no significant differences between the pre-reading and post-reading performances of examinees on reading comprehension(RC. 2-There are no significant differences in information gain scores across the different techniques of testing reading comprehension (RC in EFL. To verify the validity of these two hypotheses, a number of statistical procedures have been used such as arithmetical mean, t-test for correlated and independent samples to analyze the performance of third and fourth year College students studying at the Department of English at University of Baghdad /Ibn Rushd College of Education for Humanities on two reading passages taken from TOEFL practice tests (2011. The analysis of the data has shown the following results: 1-The background knowledge has an effect on the performance on reading comprehension (RC. 2-There is a significant difference in students' performance on reading comprehension (RC. 3-The effect of background knowledge is investable on reading comprehension (RC tests, but it can be identified or neutralized. Based on these conclusions, the researcher presented a number of recommendations.

  17. Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

    OpenAIRE

    Ziegler, Brittany; Montplaisir, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students’ perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest approach. Significant differences in students’ perception of their knowledge and their determined knowledge exist at the beginning (pretest) and end (postte...

  18. Association between Knowledge about Comprehensive Food Education and Increase in Dental Caries in Japanese University Students: A Prospective Cohort Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muneyoshi Kunitomo

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In Japan, comprehensive food education (shokuiku programs are carried out with the aim of improving dietary practices and thereby reducing the incidence of lifestyle-related diseases, including dental caries. The purpose of this prospective cohort study was to investigate the association between knowledge about shokuiku and the increase in dental caries among Japanese university students who had attended a shokuiku program while in junior/senior high school. A total of 562 students volunteered to undergo oral examinations over a three-year follow-up period, during which the number of cases of dental caries were recorded. Additional information was collected using a questionnaire survey regarding knowledge about shokuiku, dietary habits, and oral health behaviors. In logistic regression analysis, males who lacked knowledge about shokuiku had significantly higher odds for dental caries than those who did not (odds ratio (OR, 2.00; 95% confidence interval (CI, 1.12–3.58; p = 0.019. On the other hand, among females, those who frequently consumed sugar-sweetened soft drinks had significantly higher odds for dental caries than those who did not (OR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.05–3.42; p = 0.035. These results suggest that having no knowledge about shokuiku is associated with a risk of increase in dental caries in Japanese male university students.

  19. An Evaluation on Levels of Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The aim was to determine the knowledge, attitude and behavioral levels of people at and above 65 years of age, living in Ankara (Turkey) about alternative medicine. The study was carried out between March – April 2010 through survey application of 200 participants by selective random sampling from the population.

  20. Promoting the Comprehension of Teachers and Students Using Young Adult Literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Shannon C.; Buskist, Connie

    2011-01-01

    Adolescents who struggle with reading most often encounter problems with comprehension, rather than the ability to read words. Comprehension is a dynamic process that requires the reader to use multiple strategies as meaning is constructed. To improve the reading comprehension of their students, teachers must be knowledgeable about what…

  1. Knowledge Management Challenges For Global Business

    OpenAIRE

    Veli Denizhan Kalkan

    2011-01-01

    Managing organizational knowledge effectively is a prerequisite for securing competitive advantages in the global marketplace. The field of knowledge management brings out important challenges for global business practices. Based on a comprehensive academic and popular literature review, this paper identifies six main knowledge management challenges faced by global business today. These are developing a working definition of knowledge, dealing with tacit knowledge and utilization of informati...

  2. [A survey of the level of AIDS knowledge among people concerned in Nanjing City].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Ze-Yu; Zhu, Ning; Li, Ping; Fang, Qun; Chen, Hui-Ling; Tang, Xiao-Ning; Yu, Hong-Bo; Wei, Zhong-Qing; Xu, Zhi-Peng

    2003-10-01

    To investigate the level of AIDS knowledge among people concerned in Nanjing city in order to provide scientific evidence and constructive suggestions for the government to formulate relevant policies for AIDS control. Three sets of questionnaires on AIDS knowledge were designed, the scores calculated, and the results evaluated. Of the 2,500 questionnaires issued to 4 different groups of people, 2,436 were collected back with effective answers, 991 from medical and health-related workers with the mean score of 58, 473 from college students with the mean score of 39.9, 524 from common city residents with the mean score of 42.3, and 448 from those working in high risk environment with the mean score of 47. The level of AIDS knowledge among people concerned in Nanjing city was far below the requirement of the nation, especially among medical and health-related workers. Efforts must be made to raise the level of AIDS knowledge of people concerned so as to enhance the prevention and treatment of the disease.

  3. [Prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a comparison of level of knowledge in three critical care units].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pujante-Palazón, I; Rodríguez-Mondéjar, J J; Armero-Barranco, D; Sáez-Paredes, P

    2016-01-01

    To determine the level of knowledge of the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia guidelines of nurses working in three intensive care units (ICU) in 3 university hospitals in a Spanish region, and evaluate the relationship between this level of knowledge and years worked in the ICU. A descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional, multicentre study was conducted using a validated and reliable questionnaire, made up by 9 questions with closed answers drawn from the EVIDENCE study. A total of 98 questionnaires were collected from ICU nurses of the three university hospitals (A, B, and C) from January to April 2014. The sample from hospital A responded the most, in contrast with the sample from hospital B, which was the one with the less participation. The Pearson correlation was calculated in order to determine the relationship between nurse years worked in ICU and level of knowledge. Hospital A obtained in the best mean score in the questionnaire, 6.33 (SD 1.4) points, followed by hospital C with 6.21 (SD 1.4), and finally, the hospital B with 6.06 (SD 1.5) points. A p=.08 was obtained on relating years worked with the level of knowledge. The results showed a high level of knowledge compared other studies. There was a tendency between the years worked in the unit and the level of knowledge in ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y SEEIUC. All rights reserved.

  4. Comprehensive eight-month intervention reduces weight and improves depression and anxiety levels in severe and morbid obesity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso Cofre-Lizama

    2017-04-01

    Conclusion: The comprehensive eight-month intervention had significant benefits for participants in weight loss and improved levels of anxiety and depression. For this reason, the intervention performed may be recommended for the treatment of this condition.

  5. Event-based plausibility immediately influences on-line language comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsuki, Kazunaga; Chow, Tracy; Hare, Mary; Elman, Jeffrey L; Scheepers, Christoph; McRae, Ken

    2011-07-01

    In some theories of sentence comprehension, linguistically relevant lexical knowledge, such as selectional restrictions, is privileged in terms of the time-course of its access and influence. We examined whether event knowledge computed by combining multiple concepts can rapidly influence language understanding even in the absence of selectional restriction violations. Specifically, we investigated whether instruments can combine with actions to influence comprehension of ensuing patients of (as in Rayner, Warren, Juhuasz, & Liversedge, 2004; Warren & McConnell, 2007). Instrument-verb-patient triplets were created in a norming study designed to tap directly into event knowledge. In self-paced reading (Experiment 1), participants were faster to read patient nouns, such as hair, when they were typical of the instrument-action pair (Donna used the shampoo to wash vs. the hose to wash). Experiment 2 showed that these results were not due to direct instrument-patient relations. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 1 using eyetracking, with effects of event typicality observed in first fixation and gaze durations on the patient noun. This research demonstrates that conceptual event-based expectations are computed and used rapidly and dynamically during on-line language comprehension. We discuss relationships among plausibility and predictability, as well as their implications. We conclude that selectional restrictions may be best considered as event-based conceptual knowledge rather than lexical-grammatical knowledge.

  6. A comprehensive model for diagnosing the causes of individual medical performance problems: skills, knowledge, internal, past and external factors (SKIPE).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norfolk, Tim; Siriwardena, A Niroshan

    2013-01-01

    This discussion paper describes a new and comprehensive model for diagnosing the causes of individual medical performance problems: SKIPE (skills, knowledge, internal, past and external factors). This builds on a previous paper describing a unifying theory of clinical practice, the RDM-p model, which captures the primary skill sets required for effective medical performance (relationship, diagnostics and management), and the professionalism that needs to underpin them. The SKIPE model is currently being used, in conjunction with the RDM-p model, for the in-depth assessment and management of doctors whose performance is a cause for concern.

  7. Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension for Seventh-Grade English Language Learners: Findings from Two Experimental Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaughn, Sharon; Martinez, Leticia R.; Linan-Thompson, Sylvia; Reutebuch, Colleen K.; Carlson, Coleen D.; Francis, David J.

    2009-01-01

    Two experimental studies to improve vocabulary knowledge and comprehension were conducted in 7th-grade social studies classes with English language learners (ELLs). Two different nonoverlapping samples of classes of 7th-grade students (N = 381 and N = 507) were randomly assigned at the classroom (i.e., section) level to a social studies…

  8. Using communities of practice towards the next level of knowledge-management maturity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lameshnee Chetty

    2012-07-01

    Objectives: The research was conducted to analyse the impact of communities of practice on building a learning organisation. The organisational system, culture and people offer the key towards leveraging knowledge as a strategic resource in a learning organisation. The awareness of the organisation concerning knowledge management was measured on a replicated knowledge management maturity model. Method: The organisational knowledge base was analysed prior to the implementation of the communities of practice and was compared to the situation three years later. The research was based on experiential learning cycles that consisted of five consequential but perpetual stages,namely reflect, plan, act, observe and reflect again. Results: The results indicated that communities of practice were instrumental in leveraging the organisation to the next level in the knowledge-management maturity model. A collaboration framework was developed for each business unit to work towards a common goal by harnessing the knowledge that was shared. Conclusion: Although a positive impact by communities of practice is visible, an instrument for the measurement of intellectual capital is necessary. It is recommended that the monetary value of knowledge as an asset is determined so that the value of the potential intellectual capital can be measured.

  9. Chosen risk factors for osteoporosis and the level of knowledge about the disease in peri- and postmenopausal women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariola Janiszewska

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction : Osteoporosis as a chronic disease, affecting especially women in postmenopausal age, is an important, social and economic health problem especially of women of today’s world. The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge of women in the peri- and postmenopausal period about the prevention of osteoporosis and show the influence of chosen risk factors on the level of this knowledge. Material and methods : A group of 300 women aged 45-65, being patients of healthcare centres in Chełm, Lublin and Zamość (Lublin voivodeship, south-eastern Poland were included in the study. The purposive sampling was used. Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT 2011 was the research tool. Gathered material was subjected to descriptive and statistical analysis. Tukey’s test, t-student test and variance analysis (ANOVA were all applied. An accepted p materiality level was < 0.05 and p < 0.01. Results : Respondents presented the average level of knowledge about the role of physical activity in the prevention of osteoporosis (M = 13.93 and a low level of knowledge about well-balanced diet rich in calcium (M = 9.77. The knowledge about risk factors, screening and treatment remained on the average level (M = 8.00. An influence of socio-demographic factors on the level of knowledge was shown. Also some behaviours, associated with the lifestyle indeed influenced the level of this knowledge. Conclusions : Professional educational programs on osteoporosis should be implemented in the population of Polish peri- and postmenopausal women.

  10. The Knowledge Level of Hypertension Patients for Drug Therapy in the Primary Health Care of Malang

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hananditia R. Pramestutie

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Hypertension is a persistent blood pressure in which systolic pressure ≥140 mmHg and diastolic pressure ≥90 mmHg. The knowledge that should be owned by patients with hypertension is the meaning, causes, symptoms and treatment of hypertension. This knowledge is important to support the success of hypertension therapy. The aim of this research was to determine the knowledge level of hypertension patients about their drug therapy in the primary health care of Malang. This research used observational study methods. The selection of the patients and the primary health care was done using non-random sampling technique (purposive sampling. The subject who meet the inclusion criteria were involved. The result of this study revealed that the patients with hypertension who have a sufficient level of knowledge were 69 respondents (72,63%. Patients who have a good criteria were 26 respondents (27,3763%. There is no patient with low level of knowledge in this research. The conclusion from this study is most patients with hypertension in Primary Health Care Malang have enough knowledge about their treatment.

  11. Strategy-based listening and pragmatic comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corsetti, Cristiane Ruzicki

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses the role of strategy-based listening as an alternative methodological approach to develop pragmatic comprehension in L2 contexts. Pragmatic comprehension refers to the understanding of speech acts and conversational implicatures. Listening comprehension comprises both bottom-up and top-down processes. Strategy-based listening encompasses the activation of pragmatic knowledge through pre-listening activities and the development of specific listening micro-skills. An empirical project which included a classroom project carried out with a group of eight learners preparing for the IELTS examination in 2009 corroborated the following assumptions: in order to achieve listening proficiency, learners need practice in making inferences as semantic and pragmatic inferences are embedded in verbal communication; semantic and pragmatic aspects affecting the meaning of utterances can be highlighted via comprehension activities focusing on specific listening subskills. The results of the classroom project suggested that strategy-based listening is potentially capable of directly enhancing pragmatic comprehension but were inconclusive with regards to pragmatic production

  12. Participatory System Science: Multi-Level Comprehension Through a Game-like Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fatland, D. R.; Kuntz, L.

    2012-12-01

    Participatory System Science: Multi-Level Comprehension Through a Game-like Process We built a time-series game that permits the player to make water management decisions concerning the Skagit River (north-central Washington state) every five years for 60 years. This work was inspired by the integrative efforts of the Skagit Climate Science Consortium and the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. Our principle guiding concepts have been - Construct a reasonable system description with -- wherever possible -- Events / Consequences rendered both visually and in terms of financial impact. - Base the system description on peer reviewed publications - Emphasize both connection and absence of connection between player Actions and subsequent Consequences in the catchment basin. Player choices center around dam flow levels and steps to mitigate negative impacts of sediment transport into the lower (populated) reaches of the Skagit River and into Puget Sound (levees, new dams, estuary restoration, etcetera). With this work we hope to explore scientific results in public awareness by engaging the game Player as a problem solver.

  13. OntoWeaver S: supporting the design of knowledge portals

    OpenAIRE

    Lei, Yuangui; Motta, Enrico; Domingue, John

    2004-01-01

    This paper presents OntoWeaver-S, an ontology-based infrastructure for building knowledge portals. In particular, OntoWeaver-S is integrated with a comprehensive web service platform, IRS-II, for the publication, discovery, and execution of web services. In this way, OntoWeaver-S supports the access and provision of remote web services for knowledge portals. Moreover, it provides a set of comprehensive site ontologies to model and represent knowledge portals, and thus is able to offer high le...

  14. Training Inference Making Skills Using a Situation Model Approach Improves Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisanne eBos

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to enhance third and fourth graders’ text comprehension at the situation model level. Therefore, we tested a reading strategy training developed to target inference making skills, which are widely considered to be pivotal to situation model construction. The training was grounded in contemporary literature on situation model-based inference making and addressed the source (text-based versus knowledge-based, type (necessary versus unnecessary for (re-establishing coherence, and depth of an inference (making single lexical inferences versus combining multiple lexical inferences, as well as the type of searching strategy (forward versus backward. Results indicated that, compared to a control group (n = 51, children who followed the experimental training (n = 67 improved their inference making skills supportive to situation model construction. Importantly, our training also resulted in increased levels of general reading comprehension and motivation. In sum, this study showed that a ‘level of text representation’-approach can provide a useful framework to teach inference making skills to third and fourth graders.

  15. Paired structures, imprecision types and two-level knowledge representation by means of opposites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rodríguez, J. Tinguaro; Franco de los Ríos, Camilo; Gómez, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Opposition-based models are a current hot-topic in knowledge representation. The point of this paper is to suggest that opposition can be in fact introduced at two different levels, those of the predicates of interest being represented (as short/tall) and of the logical references (true/false) used...... to evaluate the verification of the former. We study this issue by means of the consideration of different paired structures at each level. We also pay attention at how different types of fuzziness may be introduced in these paired structures to model imprecision and lack of knowledge. As a consequence, we...

  16. Comprehensive School Safety Initiative Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Institute of Justice, 2014

    2014-01-01

    The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) developed the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative in consultation with federal partners and Congress. It is a research-focused initiative designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide through the development of knowledge regarding the most effective and sustainable school safety interventions and…

  17. THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE VALUE RELEVANCE LITERATURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela Alina ROBU

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In the last decades, numerous studies have covered the relationship between stock price or stock return and financial information. These studies represent the "value-relevance" literature. Knowledge of this area of interest, through literature and the main ideas, yields scientific progress. The aim of the study is to achieve a qualitative and a quantitative analysis regarding the level of knowledge in the value relevance literature, in an international context. To achieve this aim, a number of 53 scientific articles published between 2001 and 2013 were selected, from the first two journals related to the number of citations in the rankings compiled by Google Scholar, Accounting and Taxation category. Qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis (factorial analysis of multiple correspondences as statistical method were used. The results reflect the importance of existing problems in the financial markets. The studies are focused on solving these problems, to support the investors.

  18. Nurses’ knowledge levels and Behaviours about Sexually Transmitted diseases and AIDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isil Irem Budakoglu

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: In this study we aimed to determine the knowledge level and behaviors of nurses towards AIDS and sexually transmitted disease (STD who are working at Baskent University Ankara Hospital\tDesign: There were 321 nurses at Baskent University Ankara Hospital at January 2005. Two hundred fifty six (79.7% of them participated the study. The data was collected with a questionnaire.\tMain outcome measures: The nurses who were answered the question “Are you using any method in order to prevent STD?” as\t“needless” were accepted as “sexually inactive”. The level of AIDS knowledge was evaluated over 100 point scale.\tRESULTS: The mean age of nurses was 25.8±0.2 (19-38, while 69.8% of them were college or faculty graduate and 71.1% of them were single. AIDS (94.4%, syphilis (70.6% and gonorrhea (60.2% were the first three STD implicated by nurses. The average value of AIDS knowledge of nurses was 83.8±0.8. The average value of nurses who had bachelor’s degree or doctorate, who were\tat the 26-27 age group, who were married or widowed and sexually inactive group, but these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05. Only 31 nurses (20.1% declared that they have been using any preventive method for STD.\tCONCLUSIONS: It is determined, although the status of STD and AIDS knowledge of nurses are high, but the percentage of usage of any preventive method is low.

  19. The knowledge level of chest physicians about the pulmonary rehabilitation topic

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    Hadice Selimoğlu Şen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The pulmonary rehabilitation (PR is multidisciplinary, evidence-based and personalized treatment approach for patients with a symptomatic chronic respiratory disease and reduced daily living activities. In this study, we aimed to determine the knowledge level of chest physicians about PR in our city. Methods: A standardized questionnaire consisting of 10 questions was conducted to a total of 40 chest diseases specialist and assistant doctors who are working at the university hospital, training and research hospital and a private hospital in Diyarbakir city and its purlieus. The questions about the definition of PR, goals, evaluation criteria, patient who candidate for rehabilitation and rehabilitation team, were asked in questionnaire. Ten points was given for each correct answer to closed-ended questions. The knowledge level were identified as low, moderate and high when points were <50, 50-79 and 80-100 respectively. Results: The mean age of participants was 36.1 ± 7.79 and working duration time in chest disease department was 5.57 ± 7.71 years. Seventy-eight point nine percent of university hospital doctors, 57.1% of training and research hospital doctors, 50% of private hospital doctors were answered correctly more than half of the questions. Conclusion: The knowledge of chest physicians about PR is substantially in low and moderate levels in our city. The creation of a curriculum about PR in medical schools, and postgraduate training of physicians in the field will raise awareness about this issue, and might increase the interest of physicians and patients to PR. J Clin Exp Invest 2014; 5 (3: 386-390

  20. key competences in the context of personnel policy and diagnostics of suitability ; a validation study of the START-W knowledge test for entry-level employees

    OpenAIRE

    Speckemeier, Christian

    2013-01-01

    This paper pursues the goal of further developing a testing procedure which precisely and reliably records the knowledge in the inductive conclusion allowing for a differentiated statement about the individual extent of knowledge as well as a prognosis about the future success of training. The START-W knowledge test is a component of the comprehensive START battery of tests which reproduces the individual basic competences at the commencement of work and is oriented on DIN Norm 33430. The...

  1. Proverb Comprehension as a Function of Reading Proficiency in Preadolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nippold, Marilyn A.; Allen, Melissa M.; Kirsch, Dixon I.

    2001-01-01

    Proverb comprehension through reading was examined in 42 preadolescent students, 24 of whom were identified as "proficient readers," and 18 as "less proficient readers." Comprehension on both unfamiliar concrete and abstract proverbs was associated with reading proficiency, word knowledge, and analogical reasoning. (Contains references.)…

  2. Comprehension and navigation of networked hypertexts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blom, Helen; Segers, Eliane; Knoors, Harry; Hermans, Daan; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to investigate secondary school students' reading comprehension and navigation of networked hypertexts with and without a graphic overview compared to linear digital texts. Additionally, it was studied whether prior knowledge, vocabulary, verbal, and visual working memory moderated

  3. Socio-demographic factors affecting knowledge level of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: The Tuberculosis (TB) control program in Bangladesh is still unsatisfactory due to insufficient knowledge and stigma about TB. Patients with low knowledge may be at higher risk of experiencing delays in diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Objectives: The aims of this study were to identify the knowledge ...

  4. Evaluation of knowledge regarding gestational diabetes mellitus and its association with glycaemic level: A Malaysian study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussain, Zahid; Yusoff, Zuraidah Mohd; Sulaiman, Syed Azhar Syed

    2015-06-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge about GDM and its corresponding relation with glycaemic level in GDM patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in antenatal clinic of Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia from June 2013 to December 2013 using Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Knowledge Questionnaire (GDMKQ) on the sample of 175 GDM patients. Three most recent fasting plasma glucose (FPG) values (mmol/l) were taken from patients profiles and mean was calculated. A total of 166 patients were included in final analysis. A total mean knowledge score of 166 patients was 10.01±3.63 and total mean FPG value was 5.50±1.13. Knowledge had a significant negative association with FPG (r=- 0.306, Pdiet/food values domain and lowest for management of GDM. Educational level seems to be the most significant predictor of GDM knowledge and glycaemic control. Highest mean knowledge score and lowest mean glycaemic levels were recorded for patients aged 25-29 years, Malay ethnicity, working women and family history of DM. Higher Knowledge about GDM is related to better glycaemic control. New educational strategies should be developed to improve the lower health literacy. Copyright © 2014 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Relational models for knowledge sharing behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boer, N.I.; Berends, J.J.; Baalen, P.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we explore the relational dimension of knowledge sharing behavior by proposing a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying knowledge sharing in organizations. This theoretical framework originates from (Fiske, 1991) and (Fiske, 1992) Relational Models Theory (RMT). The RMT

  6. Knowledge Level and Attitude of Health Care Workers About HIV/AIDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayse Ižnci

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Aim: In this study,it was aimed to investigate the level of knowledge and attitudes of healty care workers about HIV/AIDS. Material and Method: Data on knowledge and attitude of health care workers about HIV/AIDS was collected with a questionnaire. Results:This research was carried out on 230 health care workers (36 doctors, 194 nurses to investigate their knowledge and attidudes on HIV/AIDS. All of the participants knew that HIV/AIDS is an infectious disease,while 90.4 % of the participants stated that HIV/AIDS can be transmitted sexually.76.5 % of the participants stated they found their work risky for HIV/AIDS. Discussion:These findings have provided a data for educational programs designed for healty care workers. We belive that education programs for healty care workers will be effecive to control HIV/AIDS.

  7. Level of Knowledge of Pregnant women on Sexual Organs, Contraceptive Methods and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

    OpenAIRE

    Nuray Bozkurt; Aydan Biri; Ümit Korucuoglu; Nur Aksakal; Tuncay Nas; Onur Karabacak; Özdemir Himmetoglu

    2006-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: This study is designed to determine the level of knowledge of pregnant women on sexual organs, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases. METHOD: 54 pregnant women who applied to Gazi University Obstetrics and Gynecology Department were included. They were applied a questionnaire including questions about their demographic properties and their level of knowledge related to sexual organs,contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases. RESULTS: Mean age of the ...

  8. Knowledge level and incidence of complications in diabetic patients

    OpenAIRE

    Krzyżanowska, Ewa; Indycka, Ewelina; Łuczyk, Robert Jan; Łuczyk, Marta; Sawicka, Katarzyna; Wawryniuk, Agnieszka; Daniluk, Jadwiga

    2017-01-01

    Krzyżanowska Ewa, Indycka Ewelina, Łuczyk Robert Jan, Łuczyk Marta, Sawicka Katarzyna, Wawryniuk Agnieszka, Daniluk Jadwiga. Knowledge level and incidence of complications in diabetic patients. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(8):446-472. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.883767 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/4758 https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/830341 The journal has had 7 points in Min...

  9. Level and determinants of knowledge of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis among railway workers in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganasegeran, Kurubaran; Menke, J Michael; Challakere Ramaswamy, Vasudeva Murthy; Abdul Manaf, Rizal; Alabsi, Aied M; Al-Dubai, Sami Abdo Radman

    2014-01-01

    Symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, an ancient malady greatly impairing modern population quality of life, has stimulated global attention to find effective modes of prevention and intervention. This study aimed to assess factors affecting knowledge of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) among Malaysian railway workers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 513 railway workers involving eight major states within Peninsular Malaysia using population-based sampling. The assessment instrument was a face-validated, prepiloted, self-administered instrument with sociodemographics and knowledge items on knee OA. Mean (± SD) age of the respondents was 41.4 (± 10.7), with the majority aged 50 years or older (34.9%). Of the total respondents, 53.6% had low levels of knowledge of knee OA disease. Multivariate analysis found that four demographic predictors, age ≥ 50 years, family history of knee OA, self-awareness, and clinical diagnosis of the disease entity, were significantly associated with knowledge scores. The finding of a low level knee OA knowledge among Malaysian railway workers points to an urgent need for massive information to be disseminated among the workers at risk to foster primary prevention and self-care.

  10. The Role of Elaboration in the Comprehension and Retention of Prose: A Critical Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reder, Lynne M.

    1980-01-01

    Recent research in the area of prose comprehension is reviewed, including factors that affect amount of recall, representations of text structures, and use of world knowledge to aid comprehension. The need for more information processing models of comprehension is emphasized. Elaboration is considered important for comprehension and retention.…

  11. Fundamental Reform of Payment for Adult Primary Care: Comprehensive Payment for Comprehensive Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berenson, Robert A.; Schoenbaum, Stephen C.; Gardner, Laurence B.

    2007-01-01

    Primary care is essential to the effective and efficient functioning of health care delivery systems, yet there is an impending crisis in the field due in part to a dysfunctional payment system. We present a fundamentally new model of payment for primary care, replacing encounter-based imbursement with comprehensive payment for comprehensive care. Unlike former iterations of primary care capitation (which simply bundled inadequate fee-for-service payments), our comprehensive payment model represents new investment in adult primary care, with substantial increases in payment over current levels. The comprehensive payment is directed to practices to include support for the modern systems and teams essential to the delivery of comprehensive, coordinated care. Income to primary physicians is increased commensurate with the high level of responsibility expected. To ensure optimal allocation of resources and the rewarding of desired outcomes, the comprehensive payment is needs/risk-adjusted and performance-based. Our model establishes a new social contract with the primary care community, substantially increasing payment in return for achieving important societal health system goals, including improved accessibility, quality, safety, and efficiency. Attainment of these goals should help offset and justify the costs of the investment. Field tests of this and other new models of payment for primary care are urgently needed. PMID:17356977

  12. Level of knowledge among the population of radiation safety basic issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. A. Zelencova

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The goal of research was to determine the level of knowledge among the population on issues like sources of ionising radiation, methods of ionising radiation measurement, measures of self-protection in case of threating or actual radioactive pollution in the district, and to study self-estimation by the population of their knowledge of radiation safety issues. Research was carried out using the method of questioning of population groups in three regions close to the places of previous peaceful nuclear explosions (Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Tyumen regions, and in five Far East regions of the Russian Federation (Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Primorsky, Magadan and South-Sakhalin regions after radiation accident in Japan at "Fukushima-1" NPP. This research included processing of 243 questionnaires from the regions close to places of previous peaceful nuclear explosions and 216 questionnaires from the Far East regions.The analysis of obtained questioning results enabled to make the following conclusions: the level of knowledge among the population about the basic concepts of radiation safety appeared to be generally low among respondents of all eight territories. Considerable number of respondents in seven groups correctly mentioned the x-ray device as a source of ionising radiation (from 71 to 88 % of answers. In Murmansk region – only 52 % of the answers. Respondents of the same seven groups often correctly answered the question on how to detect ionising radiation (only with devices – from 68 to 98 % in different groups. The smallest number of correct answers to this question (42 % is also noted among respondents from the Murmansk region.Level of knowledge on self-protection measures at threating or actual radioactive pollution of the places of residence appeared a little higher among the Far East region population, who had actual concerns regarding the threat of radioactive pollution at the present time. However, in all eight investigated groups

  13. Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziegler, Brittany; Montplaisir, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students' perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest…

  14. Approximate number word knowledge before the cardinal principle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunderson, Elizabeth A; Spaepen, Elizabet; Levine, Susan C

    2015-02-01

    Approximate number word knowledge-understanding the relation between the count words and the approximate magnitudes of sets-is a critical piece of knowledge that predicts later math achievement. However, researchers disagree about when children first show evidence of approximate number word knowledge-before, or only after, they have learned the cardinal principle. In two studies, children who had not yet learned the cardinal principle (subset-knowers) produced sets in response to number words (verbal comprehension task) and produced number words in response to set sizes (verbal production task). As evidence of approximate number word knowledge, we examined whether children's numerical responses increased with increasing numerosity of the stimulus. In Study 1, subset-knowers (ages 3.0-4.2 years) showed approximate number word knowledge above their knower-level on both tasks, but this effect did not extend to numbers above 4. In Study 2, we collected data from a broader age range of subset-knowers (ages 3.1-5.6 years). In this sample, children showed approximate number word knowledge on the verbal production task even when only examining set sizes above 4. Across studies, children's age predicted approximate number word knowledge (above 4) on the verbal production task when controlling for their knower-level, study (1 or 2), and parents' education, none of which predicted approximation ability. Thus, children can develop approximate knowledge of number words up to 10 before learning the cardinal principle. Furthermore, approximate number word knowledge increases with age and might not be closely related to the development of exact number word knowledge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Student School-Level Math Knowledge Influence on Applied Mathematics Study Courses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rima Kriauzienė

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose—to find out the influence of student school-level math knowledge on courses of applied mathematics studies: what is the importance of having a math maturity exam for students, an estimate of social science students’ motivation to learn math, and attendance of seminars. Students who did take the state exam attended more seminars than the students who did not take math exam, and vice versa. Design/methodology/approach—this work describes research which involved persistent MRU Public Administration degree program second-year students. Doing statistical analysis of the data will be a link between school-level mathematics knowledge and attendance activity in seminars and motivation to learn mathematics. Findings—the research is expected to establish a connection between school-level mathematics knowledge and student motivation to learn mathematics. It was found that there is no correlation between student opinions about school mathematics courses and result of their first test. Determine relationship between attendance of exercises and public examinations. Between the stored type of exam and test results are dependent. Determine relationship between exercise attendance and test results, as shown by the calculated correlation coefficient Based on the results, it’s recommended to increase the number of exercises. A more refined analysis of the data is subject to further investigation. Research limitations/implications—this method is just one of the possible ways of application. Practical implications—that kind of research and its methodology can be applied not only to the subject of applied mathematics studies, but also to other natural or social sciences. Originality/Value—empirical experiment data can be used in other studies of Educology nature analysis.

  16. Student School-Level Math Knowledge Influence on Applied Mathematics Study Courses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tadas Laukevičius

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose—to find out the influence of student school-level math knowledge on courses of applied mathematics studies: what is the importance of having a math maturity exam for students, an estimate of social science students’ motivation to learn math, and attendance of seminars. Students who did take the state exam attended more seminars than the students who did not take math exam, and vice versa.Design/methodology/approach—this work describes research which involved persistent MRU Public Administration degree program second-year students. Doing statistical analysis of the data will be a link between school-level mathematics knowledge and attendance activity in seminars and motivation to learn mathematics.Findings—the research is expected to establish a connection between school-level mathematics knowledge and student motivation to learn mathematics.It was found that there is no correlation between student opinions about school mathematics courses and result of their first test.Determine relationship between attendance of exercises and public examinations.Between the stored type of exam and test results are dependent.Determine relationship between exercise attendance and test results, as shown by the calculated correlation coefficientBased on the results, it’s recommended to increase the number of exercises. A more refined analysis of the data is subject to further investigation.Research limitations/implications—this method is just one of the possible ways of application.Practical implications—that kind of research and its methodology can be applied not only to the subject of applied mathematics studies, but also to other natural or social sciences.Originality/Value—empirical experiment data can be used in other studies of Educology nature analysis.

  17. Women’s level of knowledge on and attitude towards emergency contraception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ümit Korucuoglu

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To evaluate reproductive age women’s level of knowledge on and attitude towards emergency contraception. Design: Questionnaire study Setting and participants: 300 women between the ages of 15-49 who applied to two “Mother-Child Health Care and Family Planning Centers” in Ankara and to Gazi University Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology Department outpatient clinics were enrolled into the study.\tMaterials-METHODS: A questionnaire including questions about descriptive properties, current contraceptive use and level of knowledge on and attitude towards emergency contraception were applied to participants via face-to-face interviews. RESULTS: Among all participants, 102 women (41% told that it was possible to prevent a probable pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, 46 women told (18.5% nothing could be done thereafter and 101 women (40.6% had no idea about the subject. 83 women (37.9% had already heard about morning-after pills. 21 women (7% claimed they had previously needed such a method, and 17 women (5.7% declared that they had used morning-after pills before.\tCONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that our population is in need of emergency contraception but lack enough knowledge. Thus, we think that education about emergency contraception should be rendered available for all women and women should be able to use this important way of contraception whenever they require.

  18. The Effect of Second-Language Proficiency on Second Language Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pohlmann, John T.

    1991-12-01

    Full Text Available Data from a first-language reading test, a second-language reading comprehension test with questions from different cognitive levels, and from the TOEFL were submitted to partial correlation analysis to detennine whether there was a significant effect of second-language proficiency on second-language reading comprehension when the influence of first-language reading comprehension was held constant. The results indicated that for factual and inference questions second-language reading comprehension may be more closely related to second-language proficiency than to first-language reading comprehension. The lack of a similar relationship for the generalization questions may be due to a substantial variation in the second-language readers' fonnal and content background knowledge which is necessary for the processing and comprehension of generalization questions. Data van 'n eerste taal-leestoets, 'n tweede taal-leesbegripstoets met vrae op verskillende kognitiewe vlakke en van die TO EFL is aan gedeeltelike korrelasie-ontleding onderworpe om vas te stel of daar 'n beduidende bei"nvloeding van tweede taal-vaardigheid op tweede taalleesbegrip was terwyl die invloed van eerste taal-leesbegrip konstant gebly het. Die resultate het aangedui dat wat feitelike en gevolgtrekkingsvrae betref, tweede taal-leesbegrip moontlik nader verwant is aan tweede taal-vaardigheid as aan eerste taal-leesbegrip. Die afwesigheid van 'n soortgelyke verhouding betreffende die veralgemeningsvrae is moontlik te IVlte aan 'n aansienlike variasie in die tweede taal lesers se fonnele en inhoudelike agtergrondkennis wat nodig is vir die verwerking en begrip van veralgemeningsvrae.

  19. Hypertext comprehension of deaf and hard-of-hearing students and students with specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Helen; Segers, Eliane; Hermans, Daan; Knoors, Harry; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2017-02-01

    This paper provides insight into the reading comprehension of hierarchically structured hypertexts within D/HH students and students with SLI. To our knowledge, it is the first study on hypertext comprehension in D/HH students and students with SLI, and it also considers the role of working memory. We compared hypertext versus linear text comprehension in D/HH students and students with SLI versus younger students without language problems who had a similar level of decoding and vocabulary. The results demonstrated no difference in text comprehension between the hierarchically structured hypertext and the linear text. Text comprehension of D/HH students and students with SLI was comparable to that of the students without language problems. In addition, there was a similar positive predictive value of visuospatial and not verbal working memory on hypertext comprehension for all three groups. The findings implicate that educational settings can make use of hierarchically structured hypertexts as well as linear texts and that children can navigate in the digital world from young age on, even if language or working memory problems are present. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Ambiguity in knowledge transfer: The role of theory-practice gap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheraghi, Mohammad Ali; Salsali, Mahvash; Safari, Mahmoud

    2010-01-01

    In spite of much literature written about the theory-practice gap in the international nursing journals, there is evidence that indicates this subject has not been probed comprehensively since nursing education was transferred to universities in Iran. In the recent years, the public and the government have criticized Iranian nurses because of poor quality of patient care. Although this subject has been lamented by some researchers, there is no comprehensive work on how this gap resulted. In the process of a larger study on "nursing knowledge translation to practice", of one PhD thesis, this process was explored. Using grounded theory analysis, indepth interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of 29 nurses, with different levels of experience, from the school of nursing in Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2006 from January to August. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three main themes emerging from this study included clinical behavior structure, paradoxical knowledge and practice, and divergent nursing organization. It seems that nursing education with some praxis and paradoxes in the realm of nursing knowledge and practice, along with divergent organizational structure have decreased nurses' ability in applying their professional knowledge and skills in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Moreover, in spite of increased academic input into nursing education, clinical behaviors of both education and practice settings was perceived as "traditional routine-based".

  1. Teacher knowledge, instructional expertise, and the development of reading proficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reid Lyon, G; Weiser, Beverly

    2009-01-01

    Teacher knowledge and instructional expertise have been found in correlational and pre- and posttest studies to be related to student reading achievement. This article summarizes data presented in this special issue and additional research to address four questions: (a) What do expert reading teachers know? (b) Why do teachers need to acquire this knowledge? (c) Do teachers believe they have this knowledge? and (d) Are teachers being adequately prepared to teach reading? Well-designed studies relevant to this topic have been sparse with a noticeable lack of attention given to identifying specific causal links between teacher knowledge, teaching expertise, and student reading achievement. Until the appropriate research designs and methodologies are applied to address the question of causal effects, conclusions about the specific content that teachers must know and the instructional practices that are most beneficial in presenting this content are preliminary at best. Future studies of the effect of essential reading content knowledge must be extended beyond word-level skills to vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing.

  2. Traffic light – nutrition labelling: knowledge, perception and use in consumers of Madrid, Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karimen Andrea León-Flández

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Describe knowledge, comprehension level, perception and use of traffic light labelling in consumers of Madrid.Material and Methods: A two phases, cross-sectional study design, carried out in Madrid, in 2012. Our sample was recruited randomly, and interviewed using a questionnaire designed for this purpose. Consumers of 7 stores of main supermarket chains in Madrid were questioned. Information about knowledge, comprehension, perception and use of traffic light labelling (TLL was collected. Analyses examined the frequency of the variables of interest. Differences were tested using the χ2 test.Results: The response rate was 80.6% (first phase and 97.8% (second phase. Consumers that knew the TLL and understood its color-coding system were 41.4% and 18.6% respectively. From the participants that knew the TLL system, 61.5% thought it was very useful (80% among those >65 years and 90% among those with primary studies; p>0.05. Just 31.4% of consumers habitually used TLL to buy their products (70% among those with primary studies; p=0.04. This percentage was higher in consumers that understood the color-coding system (second phase (66.6%; p<0.01.Conclusions: The level of TLL’s knowledge and comprehension was low. Consumers that know TLL, consider it a useful nutrition instrument. Those who understand, use it habitually to buy their products, especially consumers older than 65 years old and with primary studies. A widespread introduction of this system in Spain might contribute to improve food and eating habits, especially elderly people and less educated.

  3. The Effectiveness of Grammar Learning in Impro ving Reading Comprehension of English Majors

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    田晓

    2015-01-01

    The importance of grammar knowledge has al-ways been neglected in reading comprehension. To help English teachers and learners see the value of grammar analysis, this pa-per, therefore, explores the correlation between grammar and reading comprehension. Forty-four freshmen of English majors were involved in the experiment, completing two tests of grammar and reading comprehension respectively, and it was followed by a personal interview for some exceptional cases after a week. The result of data analysis shows that grammar analysis accompanying with vocabulary, emotion, as well as other factors produce an ef-fect on learners’reading comprehension to a certain degree. It is suggested that language teachers as well as learners therefore should attach importance to learning grammatical knowledge.

  4. Association between information sources and level of knowledge about diabetes in patients with type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cántaro, Katherine; Jara, Jimena A; Taboada, Marco; Mayta-Tristán, Percy

    2016-05-01

    To evaluate the association between the type of information source and the level of knowledge about diabetes mellitus in patients with type 2 diabetes. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a reference diabetes and hypertension center in Lima, Peru, during 2014. Level of knowledge was measured using the Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire-24 and 12 information sources. Patients with 75% correct answers were considered to have a good knowledge. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated. Of the total 464 patients enrolled, 52.2% were females, and 20.3% used the Internet as information source. Mean knowledge was 12.9±4.8, and only 17.0% had a good knowledge, which was associated with information on diabetes obtained from the Internet (OR=2.03, 95% CI 1.32 to 3.14), and also from other patients (OR=1.99, 95% CI 1.20 to 3.31). Good knowledge was also associated with postgraduate education (OR=3.66, 95% CI 1.21 to 11.09), disease duration longer than 12 years (OR=1.91, 95% CI 1,22 to 3.01), and age older than 70 years (OR=0.39, 95% CI 0.21-0.72). Search for information in the Internet was positively associated to a good level of knowledge. It is suggested to teach patients with diabetes to seek information on the Internet and, on the other hand, to develop virtual spaces for interaction of patients with diabetes. Copyright © 2016 SEEN. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  5. Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montplaisir, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students’ perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest approach. Significant differences in students’ perception of their knowledge and their determined knowledge exist at the beginning (pretest) and end (posttest) of the course. Alignment between student perception and determined knowledge was significantly more accurate on the posttest compared with the pretest. Students whose determined knowledge was in the upper quartile had significantly better alignment between their perception and determined knowledge on the pre- and posttest than students in the lower quartile. No difference exists between how students perceived their knowledge between upper- and lower-quartile students. There was a significant difference in alignment of perception and determined knowledge between males and females on the posttest, with females being more accurate in their perception of knowledge. This study provides evidence of discrepancies that exist between what students perceive they know and what they actually know. PMID:26086662

  6. US Spacesuit Knowledge Capture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chullen, Cinda; Thomas, Ken; McMann, Joe; Dolan, Kristi; Bitterly, Rose; Lewis, Cathleen

    2011-01-01

    The ability to learn from both the mistakes and successes of the past is vital to assuring success in the future. Due to the close physical interaction between spacesuit systems and human beings as users, spacesuit technology and usage lends itself rather uniquely to the benefits realized from the skillful organization of historical information; its dissemination; the collection and identification of artifacts; and the education of those in the field. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other organizations and individuals have been performing United States (U.S.) Spacesuit Knowledge Capture since the beginning of space exploration. Avenues used to capture the knowledge have included publication of reports; conference presentations; specialized seminars; and classes usually given by veterans in the field. More recently the effort has been more concentrated and formalized whereby a new avenue of spacesuit knowledge capture has been added to the archives in which videotaping occurs engaging both current and retired specialists in the field presenting technical scope specifically for education and preservation of knowledge. With video archiving, all these avenues of learning can now be brought to life with the real experts presenting their wealth of knowledge on screen for future learners to enjoy. Scope and topics of U.S. spacesuit knowledge capture have included lessons learned in spacesuit technology, experience from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Shuttle programs, hardware certification, design, development and other program components, spacesuit evolution and experience, failure analysis and resolution, and aspects of program management. Concurrently, U.S. spacesuit knowledge capture activities have progressed to a level where NASA, the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Hamilton Sundstrand (HS) and the spacesuit community are now working together to provide a comprehensive closed-looped spacesuit knowledge capture system which includes

  7. Spectrum of Physics Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blasiak, W.; Godlewska, M.; Rosiek, R.; Wcislo, D.

    2012-01-01

    The paper presents the results of research on the relationship between self-assessed comprehension of physics lectures and final grades of junior high school students (aged 13-15), high school students (aged 16-18) and physics students at the Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland (aged 21). Students' declared level of comprehension was measured…

  8. Cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Wingerden, Evelien; Segers, Eliane; van Balkom, Hans; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-11-01

    A considerable number of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) are able to acquire basic word reading skills. However, not much is known about their achievements in more advanced reading comprehension skills. In the present study, a group of 49 children with ID and a control group of 21 typically developing children with word decoding skills in the normal ranges of first grade were compared in lower level (explicit meaning) and higher level (implicit meaning) reading comprehension abilities. Moreover, in the group of children with ID it was examined to what extent their levels of lower level and higher level reading comprehension could be predicted from their linguistic skills (word decoding, vocabulary, language comprehension) and cognitive skill (nonverbal reasoning). It was found that children with ID were weaker than typically developing children in higher level reading comprehension but not in lower level reading comprehension. Children with ID also performed below the control group on nonverbal reasoning and language comprehension. After controlling for nonverbal reasoning, linguistic skills predicted lower level reading comprehension but not higher level reading comprehension. It can be concluded that children with ID who have basic decoding skill do reasonably well on lower level reading comprehension but continue to have problems with higher level reading comprehension. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Prospective Teachers' Comprehension Levels of Special Relativity Theory and the Effect of Writing for Learning on Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yildiz, Ali

    2012-01-01

    In the present study, the comprehension levels of special relativity theory in prospective teachers who take the Introduction to Modern Physics lesson in the faculty of education science teaching department and the effect of writing for learning on their achievement is researched. In the research, a control group pre-test post-test…

  10. Assessing nurses’ knowledge levels in the nutritional management of diabetes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Mogre

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Although nutrition education for diabetes patients is the responsibility of dieticians and/or nutritionist, nurses have an important role to play. This study measured the knowledge level of nurses’ and associated factors in the nutritional management of diabetes. In this cross-sectional study a sample of 200 nurses completed a 21-item nutritional management of diabetes knowledge test developed based on the ADA and WHO guidelines for the nutritional management of diabetes. Using Cronbach's alpha, reliability was 0.62. The nurses (n = 200 had almost a 1:1 male to female ratio (n = 99, 49.5% and n = 101, 50.5% and a mean age of 27.24 ± 3.66 years. Total mean score was 12.13 ± 3.17 (44.9% correct. Over 70% of the nurses said diabetes patients could exclude any of the major nutrients from their meals. Almost 90% (n = 179 of the nurses did not know the recommended daily caloric intake of carbohydrates for diabetes patients. Higher mean scores were found in nurses who have ever had a refresher course in nutrition, ever counseled a diabetes patient and took 2–3 nutrition courses during school. Nurses’ knowledge in the nutritional management of diabetes was poor. It raises questions about the adequacy of nurses’ knowledge in the nutritional management of diabetes.

  11. The Application of Question Levels in the Teaching of Year One Primary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulaiman, Tajularipin; Noordin, Nooreen

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which teachers use question levels in the teaching of investigation skills. Six question levels based on Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) were examined in this study which included knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and affective as well (Ghazali Mustapha, 1998).…

  12. The importance of team level tacit knowledge and related characteristics of high-performing health care teams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Leonard H; Bernell, Stephanie L

    2006-01-01

    Team level tacit knowledge is related to the collective knowledge of the team members. It is the shared experience that results in the ability to successfully anticipate the reactions of teammates in typical and nontypical situations. This study evaluates how tacit knowledge and related team characteristics influence the performance of cardiothoracic surgery teams.

  13. Measuring organizational readiness for knowledge translation in chronic care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Labarthe, Jenni; Légaré, France; Ouimet, Mathieu; Estabrooks, Carole A; Roch, Geneviève; Ghandour, El Kebir; Grimshaw, Jeremy

    2011-07-13

    Knowledge translation (KT) is an imperative in order to implement research-based and contextualized practices that can answer the numerous challenges of complex health problems. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a conceptual framework to guide the implementation process in chronic care. Yet, organizations aiming to improve chronic care require an adequate level of organizational readiness (OR) for KT. Available instruments on organizational readiness for change (ORC) have shown limited validity, and are not tailored or adapted to specific phases of the knowledge-to-action (KTA) process. We aim to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive, and valid instrument to measure OR for KT in healthcare. The OR for KT instrument will be based on core concepts retrieved from existing literature and validated by a Delphi study. We will specifically test the instrument in chronic care that is of an increasing importance for the health system. Phase one: We will conduct a systematic review of the theories and instruments assessing ORC in healthcare. The retained theoretical information will be synthesized in a conceptual map. A bibliography and database of ORC instruments will be prepared after appraisal of their psychometric properties according to the standards for educational and psychological testing. An online Delphi study will be carried out among decision makers and knowledge users across Canada to assess the importance of these concepts and measures at different steps in the KTA process in chronic care.Phase two: A final OR for KT instrument will be developed and validated both in French and in English and tested in chronic disease management to measure OR for KT regarding the adoption of comprehensive, patient-centered, and system-based CCMs. This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge on explanatory models and instruments assessing OR for KT. Moreover, this project aims to create more consensus on the theoretical underpinnings and the

  14. Measuring organizational readiness for knowledge translation in chronic care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ouimet Mathieu

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Knowledge translation (KT is an imperative in order to implement research-based and contextualized practices that can answer the numerous challenges of complex health problems. The Chronic Care Model (CCM provides a conceptual framework to guide the implementation process in chronic care. Yet, organizations aiming to improve chronic care require an adequate level of organizational readiness (OR for KT. Available instruments on organizational readiness for change (ORC have shown limited validity, and are not tailored or adapted to specific phases of the knowledge-to-action (KTA process. We aim to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive, and valid instrument to measure OR for KT in healthcare. The OR for KT instrument will be based on core concepts retrieved from existing literature and validated by a Delphi study. We will specifically test the instrument in chronic care that is of an increasing importance for the health system. Methods Phase one: We will conduct a systematic review of the theories and instruments assessing ORC in healthcare. The retained theoretical information will be synthesized in a conceptual map. A bibliography and database of ORC instruments will be prepared after appraisal of their psychometric properties according to the standards for educational and psychological testing. An online Delphi study will be carried out among decision makers and knowledge users across Canada to assess the importance of these concepts and measures at different steps in the KTA process in chronic care. Phase two: A final OR for KT instrument will be developed and validated both in French and in English and tested in chronic disease management to measure OR for KT regarding the adoption of comprehensive, patient-centered, and system-based CCMs. Discussion This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge on explanatory models and instruments assessing OR for KT. Moreover, this project aims to create more

  15. Individual differences in reading comprehension : A componential approach to eighth graders’ expository text comprehension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Welie, C.J.M.

    2017-01-01

    Why do secondary school students differ in their text comprehension? This is an important question because many secondary school students are unable to achieve the level of text comprehension required to enable learning from their school book texts. This thesis contributes to answering this question

  16. Research on a Frame-Based Model of Reading Comprehension. Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Ira

    This report summarizes computational investigations of language comprehension based on Marvin Minsky's theory of frames, a recent advance in artifical intelligence theories about the representation of knowledge. The investigations discussed explored frame theory as a basis for text comprehension by implementing models of the theory and developing…

  17. The Effects of Pre-Learning Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension and Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Stuart A.

    2009-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of pre-learning vocabulary on reading comprehension and writing. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) learned word pairs receptively and productively; four tests were used to measure reading comprehension, writing, and receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggest…

  18. Enhancing Engineering Students’ Reading Comprehension of English for Science and Technology With the Support of an Online Cumulative Sentence Analysis System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yea-Ru Tsai

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available For engineering students, reading in English is the core competence to absorb professional knowledge in academic settings and their future career, because many authentic textbooks and information about advanced technology have been published in English. The present study sets out to improve English reading comprehension among tertiary-level engineering students. An online reading strategy instruction based on cumulative sentence analysis (CSA was constructed to enhance the students’ reading comprehension of English technology texts. The comparison between the pre-test and post-test showed that the participants achieved a higher level of reading comprehension performance following the instruction. The findings clearly demonstrated that online CSA strategy instruction is an efficient and feasible approach to helping engineering students cope with their problems of reading English texts. Pedagogical implications are briefly discussed based on the findings of this study.

  19. Study Results on Knowledge Requirements for Entry-Level Airport Operations and Management Personnel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quilty, Stephen M.

    2005-01-01

    This paper identifies important topical knowledge areas required of individuals employed in airport operations and management positions. A total of 116 airport managers and airfield operations personnel responded to a survey that sought to identify the importance of various subject matter for entry level airport operations personnel. The results from this study add to the body of research on aviation management curriculum development and can be used to better develop university curriculum and supplemental training focused on airport management and operations. Recommendations are made for specialized airport courses within aviation management programs. Further, this study identifies for job seekers or individuals employed in entry level positions those knowledge requirements deemed important by airport managers and operations personnel at different sized airports.

  20. Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS): A Study on Development, Validity and Reliability

    OpenAIRE

    Erkoc, Sultan Baliz; Isikli, Burhanettin; Metintas, Selma; Kalyoncu, Cemalettin

    2012-01-01

    This study was conducted to develop a scale to measure knowledge about hypertension among Turkish adults. The Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS) was generated based on content, face, and construct validity, internal consistency, test re-test reliability, and discriminative validity procedures. The final scale had 22 items with six sub-dimensions. The scale was applied to 457 individuals aged ≥18 years, and 414 of them were re-evaluated for test-retest reliability. The six sub-dimensio...

  1. The transposition of musical knowledge in intellectual education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla Cuomo

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The construction of European citizenship in the era of complexity requires that the transmission of knowledge be directed towards an intellectual formation, that is, the ‘shaping’ of a critical mind, one that is able to problematize, and hence to discern. This can be achieved by educating towards comprehension. In facing this issue, musicologists ask themselves ‘what to teach’ and ‘how to teach’ it, in order to prepare students to the comprehension of music – these questions form the basis of music didactics as the science of ‘transposing’ savoir savant (learned knowledge into savoir enseigné (didactic knowledge. The paper proposes a model appraoch to music comprehension, through the didactic transposition of a piece by Claude Debussy, La cathédrale engloutie. The example is based on a strategy developed by musicological and methodological-didactic research, and focuses on the continuity among listening, music performance, and music history.

  2. Knowledge-Based Environmental Context Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pukite, P. R.; Challou, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    As we move from the oil-age to an energy infrastructure based on renewables, the need arises for new educational tools to support the analysis of geophysical phenomena and their behavior and properties. Our objective is to present models of these phenomena to make them amenable for incorporation into more comprehensive analysis contexts. Starting at the level of a college-level computer science course, the intent is to keep the models tractable and therefore practical for student use. Based on research performed via an open-source investigation managed by DARPA and funded by the Department of Interior [1], we have adapted a variety of physics-based environmental models for a computer-science curriculum. The original research described a semantic web architecture based on patterns and logical archetypal building-blocks (see figure) well suited for a comprehensive environmental modeling framework. The patterns span a range of features that cover specific land, atmospheric and aquatic domains intended for engineering modeling within a virtual environment. The modeling engine contained within the server relied on knowledge-based inferencing capable of supporting formal terminology (through NASA JPL's Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Technology (SWEET) ontology and a domain-specific language) and levels of abstraction via integrated reasoning modules. One of the key goals of the research was to simplify models that were ordinarily computationally intensive to keep them lightweight enough for interactive or virtual environment contexts. The breadth of the elements incorporated is well-suited for learning as the trend toward ontologies and applying semantic information is vital for advancing an open knowledge infrastructure. As examples of modeling, we have covered such geophysics topics as fossil-fuel depletion, wind statistics, tidal analysis, and terrain modeling, among others. Techniques from the world of computer science will be necessary to promote efficient

  3. Improving reading comprehension skills through the SCRATCH program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erdal Papatga

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to reveal how reading comprehension skills of elementary fourth graders who have problems in reading comprehension can be improved by means of the SCRATCH program. The study was designed as a participant action research. It was carried out within a 15-week process at an elementary school with middle socio-economic level in the Eskisehir province in the fall term of the 2015-2016 school year. The participants of the study were eight fourth graders who had problems in reading comprehension and were selected based on the criterion sampling method. Different data gathering tools were employed in different stages of the study. These were the Informal Reading Inventory, readability assessment rubric, participant selection form and identification forms for developmental level in reading comprehension for the quantitative data, and observation notes, a researcher diary, video recordings, teacher and student observation notes, and the projects the students prepared using the SCRATCH program for the qualitative data. In the study, the analysis of the quantitative data was done with correlation analysis, and Kendall W Test that shows inter-rater reliability. In addition, the identification forms for developmental level in reading comprehension were used to reveal the improvement in reading comprehension skills, and the Informal Reading Inventory was employed to score these forms. On the other hand, the qualitative data were analysed through the thematic analysis method, and MAXQDA was used for the analysis. As a result of the analyses, it was found that the reading level of the eight students who had problems in reading comprehension went up from the anxiety level to the instructional level in some forms, and even to the independent reading level in other forms; in other words, there was an improvement in the reading comprehension skills of all eight students.

  4. BOLD response to motion verbs in left posterior middle temporal gyrus during story comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wallentin, Mikkel; Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Vuust, Peter

    2011-01-01

    A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action...... knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause activation in LPMT. In this experiment we investigated whether this effect could be replicated in a setting resembling real life language comprehension, i.e. without any overt behavioral task during passive listening to a story. During f......, clauses containing motion verbs were accompanied by a robust activation of LPMT with no other significant effects, consistent with the hypothesis that this brain region is important for processing motion knowledge, even during naturalistic language comprehension conditions....

  5. Level of Knowledge of Pregnant women on Sexual Organs, Contraceptive Methods and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuray Bozkurt

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: This study is designed to determine the level of knowledge of pregnant women on sexual organs, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases.\tMETHOD: 54 pregnant women who applied to Gazi University Obstetrics and Gynecology Department were included. They were applied a questionnaire including questions about their demographic properties and their level of knowledge related to sexual organs,contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases.\tRESULTS: Mean age of the participants was 27.5±4.08. When they were asked about contraceptive methods, 61.2 % had knowledge about oral contraceptives, 78.7 % about preservatives, and 38 % had knowledge about tube ligation. 96.1 % of patients cited AIDS, 39.2 % hepatitis B and C, 29.4 % gonorrhea, 3.9 % chlamydia, 9.8 % herpes virus, 11.8 % HPV (genital wart and 27.5 % syphilisis as sexually transmitted diseases.\tCONCLUSION: The reason why this study is performed with pregnant women is that they have a sexual life, they are under the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and they need contraception. Finding out that pregnant women don’t have enough knowledge is important in regard to education of the population and preventive medicine.

  6. Expert Seeker: A People-Finder Knowledge Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becerra-Fernandez, Irma

    2000-01-01

    The first objective for this report was to perform a comprehensive research of industry models currently being used for similar purposes, in order to provide the Center with ideas of what is being done in area by private companies and government agencies. The second objective was to evaluate the use of taxonomies or ontologies to describe and catalog the areas of expertise at GSFC. The creation of a knowledge taxonomy is necessary for information extraction in order for The Expert Seeker to adequately search and find experts in a particular area of expertise. The requirements to develop a taxonomy are: provide minimal descriptive text; have the appropriate level of abstration; facilitate browsing; ease of use and speed of data entry are critical for success; customized to the organization and its culture; extent of knowledge areas; expandable, so new skills could be develop; could be complemented with free text fields to allow users the option to describe their knowledge in detail.

  7. Towards a comprehensive knowledge package for teaching proof: A focus on the misconception that empirical arguments are proofs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas J. Stylianides

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The concept of proof is central to meaningful learning of mathematics, but is hard for students to learn. A serious misconception dominant amongst students at all levels of schooling is that empirical arguments are proofs. An important question, then, is the following: What knowledge might enable teachers to help students overcome this misconception? Earlier research led to construction of a significant but rather incomplete ‘knowledge package’ for teaching in this area. Major elements of this knowledge package are summarised and its further development is contributed to by discussing a research-based instructional intervention found to be effective in helping secondary students begin to overcome the misconception that empirical arguments are proofs. Implications for mathematics teacher education are considered.

  8. Effect of Computerized Gloss Presentation Format on Reading Comprehension: A Cognitive Load Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farid Naserieh

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, gloss presentation format or the location where a gloss appears with respect to its related target word has received renewed attention. Research suggested that different gloss presentation formats could have differential effects on reading comprehension and/or vocabulary learning. This study hypothesized that the effectiveness of different computerized gloss presentation formats in reading comprehension could be explained by drawing on the split-attention effect within the framework of cognitive load theory. The effect predicts that when two related sources of information are physically separated (e.g., a target word and the respective gloss, cognitive resources are unnecessarily wasted, and learning is hindered. To test this hypothesis, 39 Persian-speaking L2 learners of English were divided into two experimental conditions, each being exposed to a text enhanced with either in-text or marginal glosses. Two measures of reading comprehension and three measures of cognitive load were employed. The participants’ initial differences in terms of grammatical knowledge and vocabulary size were balanced out, and their look-up behavior was also tracked. The results revealed that the participants with access to in-text glosses, compared with those with marginal glosses, experienced lower levels of cognitive load due to the elimination of split-attention and, accordingly, performed better on the reading com-prehension measures. Given the participants’ L2 proficiency level, the findings suggested that a text enhanced with in-text glosses tends to be instructionally more efficient.

  9. The comprehension of mathematic problems in primary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karel Pérez Ariza

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes the result of the research project “A study of causes of difficulties in learning comprehension from an interdisciplinary perspective in Camagüey. The main objective of that study is to propose a methodology for the comprehension of mathematic problems in primary school. In designing the methodology, the characteristics of this text variety, basic principle of the theory of reading comprehension and problem solving were taking into account. In this research work several theoretical methods were used —analysis-synthesis, historical-logical, inductive-deductive— to elaborate the theoretical framework, while modeling and system approach in the methodology construction. Additionally, empirical methods were used in order to assess the knowledge about comprehension of mathematic problems; among them observation and analysis of the activity results.

  10. Assess the knowledge level of POZ patients on the diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Małgorzata Żebrowska

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Diabetes is considered a civilization disease. It is now one of the major problems of the modern world. More than 123 million people suffer from it. About 3.5% of the general population suffer from this disease every year. This causes a huge health, social and economic problem. The reason for such a high incidence of illness is beyond the aging population, poor lifestyle: diet and low physical activity. Diabetes affects people of all ages. Having a disease means a very serious problem for the patient. It essentially changes its life, requires long-term treatment, proper care and lifestyle changes. Aim: Defining the knowledge level of POZ patients on the diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Material and method: The study group consisted of patients reporting to the POZ clinic at the Independent Public Health Care Unit in Bychawa. The research group comprised 36 women and 37 men. The research tool was an author's questionnaire, which included a total of 47 questions, 11 of them metric, and the remaining 36 related to knowledge about diabetes. Questions were closed questions. The results of the study were statistically analyzed. The values of the measured measurable parameters are expressed by means of mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, and non-measurable characteristics by means of numerical and interest. Standard deviation is a popular measure of dispersion reflecting the degree of dispersion of measurements around the arithmetic mean. The correlation between variables was used to correlate Sperman (R rankings. The significance level p <0.05 has been assumed to indicate the existence of statistically significant differences or dependencies. The database and statistical studies were based on Statistica 9.1 computer software. (StatSoft, Poland. Results: The knowledge of patients with type II diabetes mellitus is incomplete and high, and quite often they have knowledge in this field. Most respondents have

  11. A scalable architecture for incremental specification and maintenance of procedural and declarative clinical decision-support knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatsek, Avner; Shahar, Yuval; Taieb-Maimon, Meirav; Shalom, Erez; Klimov, Denis; Lunenfeld, Eitan

    2010-01-01

    Clinical guidelines have been shown to improve the quality of medical care and to reduce its costs. However, most guidelines exist in a free-text representation and, without automation, are not sufficiently accessible to clinicians at the point of care. A prerequisite for automated guideline application is a machine-comprehensible representation of the guidelines. In this study, we designed and implemented a scalable architecture to support medical experts and knowledge engineers in specifying and maintaining the procedural and declarative aspects of clinical guideline knowledge, resulting in a machine comprehensible representation. The new framework significantly extends our previous work on the Digital electronic Guidelines Library (DeGeL) The current study designed and implemented a graphical framework for specification of declarative and procedural clinical knowledge, Gesher. We performed three different experiments to evaluate the functionality and usability of the major aspects of the new framework: Specification of procedural clinical knowledge, specification of declarative clinical knowledge, and exploration of a given clinical guideline. The subjects included clinicians and knowledge engineers (overall, 27 participants). The evaluations indicated high levels of completeness and correctness of the guideline specification process by both the clinicians and the knowledge engineers, although the best results, in the case of declarative-knowledge specification, were achieved by teams including a clinician and a knowledge engineer. The usability scores were high as well, although the clinicians' assessment was significantly lower than the assessment of the knowledge engineers.

  12. Data mining and knowledge discovery technologies

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Taniar, David

    2008-01-01

    "This book presents researchers and practitioners in fields such as knowledge management, information science, Web engineering, and medical informatics, with comprehensive, innovative research on data...

  13. A cognitive architecture-based model of graph comprehension

    OpenAIRE

    Peebles, David

    2012-01-01

    I present a model of expert comprehension performance for 2 × 2 "interaction" graphs typically used to present data from two-way factorial research designs. Developed using the ACT-R cognitive architecture, the model simulates the cognitive and perceptual operations involved in interpreting interaction graphs and provides a detailed characterisation of the information extracted from the diagram, the prior knowledge required to interpret interaction graphs, and the knowledge generated during t...

  14. The Relationship between SES and Reading Comprehension in Chinese: A Mediation Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yahua Cheng

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available An increasing body of research provides evidence that socioeconomic status (SES was significantly related to children’s reading development; however, the psychological mechanism underlying the association between them remained an open question. The present study is designed to test the hypothesized three-path effect of vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness as mediators between SES and sentence reading comprehension in Chinese first-graders. Results of mediation model showed that SES exerted its effect on sentence reading comprehension through the indirect path via the simple mediating effect of morphological awareness and the three-path mediating effect of vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness. The findings highlight a previously unidentified mechanism of the relationship between SES and reading comprehension in Chinese young children.

  15. How Age, Linguistic Status, and the Nature of the Auditory Scene Alter the Manner in Which Listening Comprehension Is Achieved in Multitalker Conversations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avivi-Reich, Meital; Jakubczyk, Agnes; Daneman, Meredyth; Schneider, Bruce A

    2015-10-01

    We investigated how age and linguistic status affected listeners' ability to follow and comprehend 3-talker conversations, and the extent to which individual differences in language proficiency predict speech comprehension under difficult listening conditions. Younger and older L1s as well as young L2s listened to 3-talker conversations, with or without spatial separation between talkers, in either quiet or against moderate or high 12-talker babble background, and were asked to answer questions regarding their contents. After compensating for individual differences in speech recognition, no significant differences in conversation comprehension were found among the groups. As expected, conversation comprehension decreased as babble level increased. Individual differences in reading comprehension skill contributed positively to performance in younger EL1s and in young EL2s to a lesser degree but not in older EL1s. Vocabulary knowledge was significantly and positively related to performance only at the intermediate babble level. The results indicate that the manner in which spoken language comprehension is achieved is modulated by the listeners' age and linguistic status.

  16. MOBILIZING KNOWLEDGE IN DENMARK

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Claus

    2011-01-01

    Knowledge mobilization is not only a new expression in a Danish context. It is also an interesting concept to introduce and discuss. For doesn’t knowledge mobilization have more – or, at least, as much – to do with politics as with education research or education in itself? Doesn’t modern knowledge...... mobilization have to do with a new political will to mobilize the population by creating a connection between education research and education? On the basis of this report on the Danish efforts with respect to ’knowledge mobilization’, these questions can be answered affirmatively; the extent of knowledge...... competition state – that is to be realized by fulfilling the ambitions for comprehensive knowledge mobilization through education.1 On the other hand, Denmark is having a hard time finding a broad consensus when what is, in principle, supposed to be a common political will is to be translated into knowledge...

  17. Promoting At-Risk Preschool Children's Comprehension through Research-Based Strategy Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBruin-Parecki, Andrea; Squibb, Kathryn

    2011-01-01

    Young children living in poor urban neighborhoods are often at risk for reading difficulties, in part because developing listening comprehension strategies and vocabulary knowledge may not be a priority in their prekindergarten classrooms, whose curriculums typically focus heavily on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge. Prereading…

  18. The Quest for High-Level Knowledge in Schools: Revisiting the Concepts of Classification and Framing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morais, Ana M.; Neves, Isabel P.

    2018-01-01

    This article centres on the problem of raising the level of school knowledge, particularly science knowledge, for all. The article describes studies in science education developed in Portugal by Morais and Neves and collaborators. These studies are mainly based on Bernstein's model of pedagogic discourse (PD), and on his theorisation on knowledge…

  19. Reading for meaning: The foundational knowledge every teacher of science should have

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patterson, Alexis; Roman, Diego; Friend, Michelle; Osborne, Jonathan; Donovan, Brian

    2018-02-01

    Reading is fundamental to science and not an adjunct to its practice. In other words, understanding the meaning of the various forms of written discourse employed in the creation, discussion, and communication of scientific knowledge is inherent to how science works. The language used in science, however, sets up a barrier, that in order to be overcome requires all students to have a clear understanding of the features of the multimodal informational texts employed in science and the strategies they can use to decode the scientific concepts communicated in informational texts. We argue that all teachers of science must develop a functional understanding of reading comprehension as part of their professional knowledge and skill. After describing our rationale for including knowledge about reading as a professional knowledge base every teacher of science should have, we outline the knowledge about language teachers must develop, the knowledge about the challenges that reading comprehension of science texts poses for students, and the knowledge about instructional strategies science teachers should know to support their students' reading comprehension of science texts. Implications regarding the essential role that knowledge about reading should play in the preparation of science teachers are also discussed here.

  20. Transferring knowledge about high-level waste repositories: An ethical consideration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berndes, S.; Kornwachs, K.

    1996-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to present requirements to Information and Documentation Systems for high-level waste repositories from an ethical point of view. A structured synopsis of ethical arguments used by experts from Europe and America is presented. On the one hand the review suggests to reinforce the obligation to transfer knowledge about high level waste repositories. This obligation is reduced on the other hand by the objection that ethical obligations are dependent on the difference between our and future civilizations. This reflection results in proposing a list of well-balanced ethical arguments. Then a method is presented which shows how scenarios of possible future civilizations for different time horizons and related ethical arguments are used to justify requirements to the Information and Documentation System

  1. Knowledge Levels of Pre-Service Science Teachers on Radioactivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zehra Molu

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to determine the knowledge levels of pre-service science teachers about radioactivity. A knowledge test was administered to 56 pre-service science teachers participated in the General Chemistry I course in the fall semester of 2014-15 academic year. Papers derived from the pre-service science teachers were read and evaluated, and the responses were classified as “accurate", "misconception", "wrong" and "empty" categories for open-ended questions and the responses to the multiple-choice questions were classified as "right" and "wrong". The pre-service science teachers’ correct response rates were between 9 % (definition of “nuclear radiation” concept, question 15 and 86 % (radioactivity uses, question 14 in open-ended questions whereas in multiple choice questions the ratio of correct answers ranged from 5 % (concept definition and nuclear reactions, questions 21, 23 and 33 to 98 % (sample of concept, question 20. Students hold misconceptions on the radioactivity, warning picture, nuclear power plant (questions 1, 13, and 16; isotopes (question 4; natural and artificial nucleus reaction (question 6; age of the rocks (question 8; atomic bomb (question 10; hydrogen bomb (question 11 and core irradiation (question 15.

  2. Determination of the knowledge level, attitudes, and behaviors of islamic religious officials toward blood donation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keten, Hamit Sirri; Isik, Oguz; Kus, Celal; Ersoy, Ozgur; Olmez, Soner; Yildirim, Fatis; Celik, Mustafa

    2017-12-01

    The aim of the present study was to determine knowledge level, attitudes, and behaviors of Islamic religious officials toward blood donation. This study included 334 religious officials rendering service in the province of Kahramanmaras, located in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. A questionnaire was administered to gather sociodemographic data of the participants and their knowledge levels, attitudes, and behaviors toward blood donation. The questionnaire consisted of 11 questions that yielded a total of 11 points. The religious officials in the study included 206 imams (61.7%, males) and 128 Quran course instructors (38.3%, females). Of study participants, 134 (40.1%) reported a previous experience of blood donation and 200 (59.9%) denied previous experience of blood donation. The mean knowledge score was 7.09±2.54 points for males and 6.89±2.18 points for females. Male and female participants achieved comparable scores (p=0.476). Of the participants, 291 (87.1%) agreed and nine (2.7%) disagreed with the expression, "Blood donation is permissible in Islam;" 34 (10.2%) participants had no idea. The present study revealed considerable deficiencies in knowledge about blood donation among religious officials. In addition, the rate of blood donation and willingness to donate blood were low among religious officials. Although the level of knowledge about blood donation was similar in males and females, it was an interesting finding that the blood donation rate was significantly higher in males than in females. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Perceived Statistical Knowledge Level and Self-Reported Statistical Practice Among Academic Psychologists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Badenes-Ribera

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Publications arguing against the null hypothesis significance testing (NHST procedure and in favor of good statistical practices have increased. The most frequently mentioned alternatives to NHST are effect size statistics (ES, confidence intervals (CIs, and meta-analyses. A recent survey conducted in Spain found that academic psychologists have poor knowledge about effect size statistics, confidence intervals, and graphic displays for meta-analyses, which might lead to a misinterpretation of the results. In addition, it also found that, although the use of ES is becoming generalized, the same thing is not true for CIs. Finally, academics with greater knowledge about ES statistics presented a profile closer to good statistical practice and research design. Our main purpose was to analyze the extension of these results to a different geographical area through a replication study.Methods: For this purpose, we elaborated an on-line survey that included the same items as the original research, and we asked academic psychologists to indicate their level of knowledge about ES, their CIs, and meta-analyses, and how they use them. The sample consisted of 159 Italian academic psychologists (54.09% women, mean age of 47.65 years. The mean number of years in the position of professor was 12.90 (SD = 10.21.Results: As in the original research, the results showed that, although the use of effect size estimates is becoming generalized, an under-reporting of CIs for ES persists. The most frequent ES statistics mentioned were Cohen's d and R2/η2, which can have outliers or show non-normality or violate statistical assumptions. In addition, academics showed poor knowledge about meta-analytic displays (e.g., forest plot and funnel plot and quality checklists for studies. Finally, academics with higher-level knowledge about ES statistics seem to have a profile closer to good statistical practices.Conclusions: Changing statistical practice is not

  4. Validation and Comprehension of Text Information: Two Sides of the Same Coin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Tobias

    2015-01-01

    In psychological research, the comprehension of linguistic information and the knowledge-based assessment of its validity are often regarded as two separate stages of information processing. Recent findings in psycholinguistics and text comprehension research call this two-stage model into question. In particular, validation can affect…

  5. Individual Variation in Children's Reading Comprehension across Digital Text Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fesel, Sabine S.; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2018-01-01

    The present study examined children's digital text comprehension of digital text types linear digital text vs hypertext, with or without graphical navigable overviews. We investigated to what extent individual variation in children's comprehension could be explained by lexical quality (word reading efficiency and vocabulary knowledge), cognitive…

  6. Effects of peer education, social support and self esteem on breast self examination performance and knowledge level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malak, Arzu Tuna; Bektash, Murat; Turgay, Ayshe San; Tuna, Asli; Genç, Rabia Ekti

    2009-01-01

    To estimate associations among peer education, social support and self-esteem and their influences on performance of breast self-examination (BSE). Seven volunteer peer educators were given the BSE training programme and in turn educated 65 women students in the university. BSE knowledge evaluation forms developed by Maurer were applied for evaluation. Other data were collected with questionnaires for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and Scale of Perceived Social Support over three months. Knowledge level points of students and the BSE practice ratio were increased by peer support. There was a positive relationship between average BSE knowledge points and social support and self-esteem. The results showed positive relationships among BSE knowledge, social support and self-esteem, these affecting the BSE performance level.

  7. Determining the Knowledge Level of Pre-Service Teachers' on Radioactivity and Radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ergul, N. Remziye

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the basic knowledge levels of teacher candidates' from different branches regarding the subjects of radiation and radioactivity. 42 variables were determined in relation to the specified titles. In the preparation stage of determining the variables, all the related programs were examined, and attention was paid to include…

  8. Investigating Level of Mathematics Knowledge for Students Attending Vocational Schools in Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colakoglu, Nurdan

    2013-01-01

    Students attend mathematics courses in Turkey for totally 11 years, throughout education life ranging from primary school to university, including eight years in primary education and three years in secondary education (four years based on new arrangement); however, level of mathematic knowledge of students is upsetting when they reach university…

  9. Level of Awareness and Basic Knowledge Related to Radiation Protection Based on Academic Qualification and Service Tenure in Malaysian Nuclear Agency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munira Shaikh Nasir

    2015-01-01

    Effective radiation protection program is vital to ensure the safety of workers involved in work related to radiation. This objective of this research was to determine the level of awareness towards radiation protection among the workers at Malaysian Nuclear Agency. Questionnaire forms containing questions related to relevant work experience and knowledge of radiation safety were distributed to a group of identified radiation workers. The hypothesis of this study is that all workers involved have high levels of awareness and basic knowledge as they work in an institution which activities frequently and routinely involve radiation. The result of this research show that the level of awareness and knowledge of the respondents were at a good level, with an average overall score of 87.2% showed a high level of awareness among respondents. Overall, highest academic qualifications did not affect the level of knowledge (p > 0.05). In contrast, service tenure affects their level of knowledge (p < 0.05). (author)

  10. Closing global knowledge gaps : Producing generalized knowledge from case studies of social-ecological systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Magliocca, Nicholas R.; Ellis, Erle C.; Allington, Ginger R.H.; de Bremond, Ariane; Dell'Angelo, Jampel; Mertz, Ole; Messerli, Peter; Meyfroidt, Patrick; Seppelt, Ralf; Verburg, Peter H.

    2018-01-01

    Concerns over rapid widespread changes in social-ecological systems and their consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, food security, and human livelihoods are driving demands for globally comprehensive knowledge to support decision-making and policy development. Claims of regional or

  11. Spectrum of physics comprehension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blasiak, W; Godlewska, M; Rosiek, R; Wcislo, D

    2012-01-01

    The paper presents the results of research on the relationship between self-assessed comprehension of physics lectures and final grades of junior high school students (aged 13-15), high school students (aged 16-18) and physics students at the Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland (aged 21). Students' declared level of comprehension was measured during a physics lecture on a prearranged scale of 1-10 with the use of a personal response system designed for the purpose of this experiment. Through the use of this tool, we obtained about 2000 computer records of students' declared comprehension of a 45 min lecture, which we named ‘the spectrum of comprehension’. In this paper, we present and analyse the correlation between students' declared comprehension of the content presented in the lecture and their final learning results. (paper)

  12. Patterns of Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Creation in New Information Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jørgen Lerche; Meyer, Kirsten

    2006-01-01

    and creation processes. The aim is to obtain a deeper comprehension of which factors determine whether the use of information technology becomes a success or a failure in relation to knowledge sharing and creation. The paper is based on three previous studies investigating the use of information technology......Do the knowledge sharing and creation processes in collaborating groups benefit from the use of new information environments or are the environments rather inhibitive to the development of these processes? A number of different studies have shown quite varied results when it comes to appraising...... the importance and value of using new information technology in knowledge sharing and creation processes. In this paper we will try to unveil the patterns appearing in the use of new information environment and the users' understanding of the significance of using information technology in knowledge sharing...

  13. Adolescents' knowledge of medical terminology and family health history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hastrup, J L; Phillips, S M; Vullo, K; Kang, G; Slomka, L

    1992-01-01

    Compared 309 youths ages 11 to 15 years and their parents with respect to their comprehension of terms for seven common medical disorders: heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, ulcer, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. For two thirds of the adolescent sample, accuracy of reporting of these disorders among the parents and grandparents was assessed. Results indicated considerable variation among disorders with respect to both comprehension of terms and accuracy of family health history. Adolescents' age was a major predictor of knowledge of medical terms (r = .41). Age was not related to accuracy of family health information. Consonant with this finding, adolescents' level of accuracy regarding family health history was generally similar to that of previous adult samples, suggesting that family health information is acquired and retained at an early age. Adolescents were more accurate concerning parents' compared with grandparents' history of hypertension.

  14. Characterization of GM events by insert knowledge adapted re-sequencing approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Litao; Wang, Congmao; Holst-Jensen, Arne; Morisset, Dany; Lin, Yongjun; Zhang, Dabing

    2013-10-03

    Detection methods and data from molecular characterization of genetically modified (GM) events are needed by stakeholders of public risk assessors and regulators. Generally, the molecular characteristics of GM events are incomprehensively revealed by current approaches and biased towards detecting transformation vector derived sequences. GM events are classified based on available knowledge of the sequences of vectors and inserts (insert knowledge). Herein we present three insert knowledge-adapted approaches for characterization GM events (TT51-1 and T1c-19 rice as examples) based on paired-end re-sequencing with the advantages of comprehensiveness, accuracy, and automation. The comprehensive molecular characteristics of two rice events were revealed with additional unintended insertions comparing with the results from PCR and Southern blotting. Comprehensive transgene characterization of TT51-1 and T1c-19 is shown to be independent of a priori knowledge of the insert and vector sequences employing the developed approaches. This provides an opportunity to identify and characterize also unknown GM events.

  15. Level of Knowledge and Attitude of ICU Nurses toward Organ Donation and the Related Factors: A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zohre Najafi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Nurses play a key role in the process of organ donation and transplantation, and previous studies have widely addressed the level of knowledge and attitude of intensive care unit (ICU nurses in this regard. Considering the direct correlation between the positive attitude of the healthcare team, especially nurses, and the level of consent on organ donation, knowledge and attitude of nurses are important factors that have been assessed in several studies. However, no definite conclusions have been drawn in this regard. The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of ICU nurses toward organ donation and the related factors.Methods: A systematic review was conducted via searching in databases such as ProQuest, Medscape, MedlinePlus, MagIran, PubMed, and ScienceDirect to identify the articles published during 1990-2015 using keywords such as knowledge, attitude, organ donation, and nurses.Result: Awareness and knowledge are the main determinants of attitude in nurses, which should be applied in order to foster positive attitudes in the process of organ donation. Furthermore, extensive clinical knowledge should be acquired on organ donation and communication skills by ICU nurses through proper training programs.Conclusion: According to the results, using standard guidelines or scheduled training programs in nursing schools could improve the level of knowledge in nurses, which in turn enhances nursing performance. In addition, our findings indicated that positive attitude and knowledge of nurses could largely infleunce the viewpoint of families toward organ donation.

  16. Analysis on the Emergency Contraception Knowledge Level and Its Influencing Factors among Abortion Patients in Shanghai City

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    赵双玲; 楼超华; 高尔生

    2000-01-01

    Objective To evaluate the knowledge level of emergency contraception, explore the determinants of the knowledge level among women seeking abortion and give suggestions on how to improve the quality of emergency contraception service.Method A total of 606 women requiring abortion at three MCHs in Shanghai City were interviewed face to face with structured questionnaire.Results 63. 7% of unwanted pregnancy could use EC to prevent. Subjects got their knowledge on EC mainly from books~newspapers~magazines and relatives/friends/parents. The proportion of the awareness of EC was 28. 5%. Most subjects were aware of hormonal EC pill, but only 14. 9% of them knew that the pill should be taken within 72 hours after the intercourse. Among the subjects who were aware of EC, the average score of the knowledge was lower than half of the full marks. The lower the subject's educational level was, the less likely they were aware of EC and the lower score of the knowledge of EC they had. The score of the knowledge of EC was higher among subjects who learned of EC mainly from family planning publicity.Conclusion It is urgent to popularize EC in order to reduce unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion. The information, including EC can be used in which situations, it's advantages and disadvantages as well as indication, should be given to women in an appropriate way and using plain language. The departments of family planning should play a leading role in improving women's knowledge of EC.

  17. Knowledge of and preferences for health insurance among formal sector employees in Addis Ababa: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obse, Amarech; Hailemariam, Damen; Normand, Charles

    2015-08-11

    The Ethiopian health system has been undergoing through reforms. One of the reforms stipulated in policy documents is the introduction of health insurance at national level. Having the majority of the population without any experience of health insurance, investigating preferences and knowledge of the essence of health insurance among potential enrolees will provide vital information for policy makers. This formative study seeks to explore the knowledge and the preference for health insurance among formal sector employees in Addis Ababa. Six focus group discussions with formal sector employees and five key informant interviews were conducted in Addis Ababa. A thematic analysis is used to analyse the results. The findings suggest that there is little knowledge about the concept and elements of health insurance. Some concepts such as, risk pooling and sharing are not well understood. The participants of the study considered health insurance as only a prepayment mechanism without risk sharing among members of the scheme. Regarding preference for health insurance, they have revealed quality of care as the most important factor. Comprehensiveness of benefit packages and the amount of premium level are also found to be concerns related to health insurance. However, a trade-off is also observed among premium level, comprehensive benefit packages, and healthcare facilities. Improvements on availability and quality of services need to precede the introduction of social health insurance. There is also a need to work on awareness creation regarding concepts of health insurance. Further studies may explore if the knowledge gap is real or appeared due to reservations of the participants on the introduction of health insurance.

  18. Level and determinants of diabetes knowledge in patients with diabetes in Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional study

    OpenAIRE

    Mufunda, Esther; Wikby, Kerstin; Bj?rn, Albin; Hjelm, Katarina

    2012-01-01

    Introduction A previous study of beliefs about health and illness in Zimbabweans with diabetes mellitus indicated limited knowledge about diabetes and the body, affecting self-care and health-care seeking behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess the level of diabetes knowledge in Zimbabwean adults with diabetes mellitus, to determine the main gaps in knowledge and identify the socio-demographic and diabetes-related determinants that predict diabetes awareness and self-care practices. Me...

  19. Deaf college students' mathematical skills relative to morphological knowledge, reading level, and language proficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Ronald R; Gaustad, Martha G

    2007-01-01

    This study of deaf college students examined specific relationships between their mathematics performance and their assessed skills in reading, language, and English morphology. Simple regression analyses showed that deaf college students' language proficiency scores, reading grade level, and morphological knowledge regarding word segmentation and meaning were all significantly correlated with both the ACT Mathematics Subtest and National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Mathematics Placement Test scores. Multiple regression analyses identified the best combination from among these potential independent predictors of students' performance on both the ACT and NTID mathematics tests. Additionally, the participating deaf students' grades in their college mathematics courses were significantly and positively associated with their reading grade level and their knowledge of morphological components of words.

  20. Comprehension in grammatical sentences at the level of specificity and schematicity in Alzheimer’s disease: an analysis psycholinguistics and cognitive

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Berla Moreira de Moraes

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The present research aimed at identifying if there is any compromisse regarding the comprehension in grammatical sentences at the level of specificity, through the self-paced reading technique, produced by people suffering from Alzheimer. With the objective of reaching our goals and finding answers to our hypotheses, one experiment was carried out to analyse: the time of reaction while reading the sentence, the time of reaction for reading the comprehension questions and choosing the best answer, and the score of right answers given by Young adults (YA and healthy old (HO taken as groups of control and the old with likely Alzheimer (OLA as case group, considering sentences: at the level of schematicity and specificity. 10 YA, 10 HO and 10 OLA took part in the experiments, totalling thirty participants. Results show that, when compared to the old without cognitive decline, people suffering from Alzheimer presente inferior performance in comprehending conventional imagery when it comes to the rate of right answers and the time of response. As the result of the experiment, in relation to the level of specificity, people with Alzheimer need more time to read and give answers before schematic sentences, in which is also noticed the highest rate of wrong anwers. The hypothesis that the comprehension of conventional imagery in gramatical sentences at the level of specificity, is affected since the early stages of the Alzheimer disease was confirmed. We believe that this is influenced by the progressive cognitive decline of the working memory, by the speed of processing, by the decision making and also by the spacial and temporal orientation.

  1. Toward a comprehensive areal model of earthquake-induced landslides

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miles, S.B.; Keefer, D.K.

    2009-01-01

    This paper provides a review of regional-scale modeling of earthquake-induced landslide hazard with respect to the needs for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. Based on this review, it sets out important research themes and suggests computing with words (CW), a methodology that includes fuzzy logic systems, as a fruitful modeling methodology for addressing many of these research themes. A range of research, reviewed here, has been conducted applying CW to various aspects of earthquake-induced landslide hazard zonation, but none facilitate comprehensive modeling of all types of earthquake-induced landslides. A new comprehensive areal model of earthquake-induced landslides (CAMEL) is introduced here that was developed using fuzzy logic systems. CAMEL provides an integrated framework for modeling all types of earthquake-induced landslides using geographic information systems. CAMEL is designed to facilitate quantitative and qualitative representation of terrain conditions and knowledge about these conditions on the likely areal concentration of each landslide type. CAMEL is highly modifiable and adaptable; new knowledge can be easily added, while existing knowledge can be changed to better match local knowledge and conditions. As such, CAMEL should not be viewed as a complete alternative to other earthquake-induced landslide models. CAMEL provides an open framework for incorporating other models, such as Newmark's displacement method, together with previously incompatible empirical and local knowledge. ?? 2009 ASCE.

  2. PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaolin Liu

    Full Text Available Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders' preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning.

  3. Assessing and Promoting the Level of Safeguards Culture in Hungarian Nuclear Facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stefanka, Z.; Vincze, A.

    2015-01-01

    The Hungarian SSAC has introduced a comprehensive domestic safeguards verification system consisting of regular comprehensive SSAC verifications in the whole lifetime of the facilities. The main goals of the comprehensive verification system are: (i) to assess the facility's safeguards system compliance with the relevant national legislation and recommendations, (ii) to assess the activities of the facility aimed at maintaining and further developing its safeguards system, and, (iii) to revise validity of data and information previously provided by the facility subject to safeguards licencing procedures. The maintenance level of the system as well as the available knowledge on the possible needs for change reflect the top management's awareness of this issue and is a good indicator of the present and future effectiveness of the facility level safeguards system and the level of safeguards culture. The structure, preparation, conduction, documentation and initial experiences of the comprehensive safeguards verification system is introduced in the paper. Additionally, HAEA has just introduced a safeguards indexing method for evaluation the safeguards culture at Hungarian nuclear facilities. The main goal of indexing method and the evaluated parameters are also shown in the paper. (author)

  4. Knowledge, Treatment, Control, and Risk Factors for Hypertension among Adults in Southern Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sayed Fazel Zinat Motlagh

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Hypertension is the first and the most common risk factor to diseases such as cardiovascular, stroke, and renal diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the factors relevant to hypertension knowledge, treatment, and control in southern Iran. In this cross-sectional study, conducted in Kohgiluye Boyer-Ahmad province, south of Iran, a total of 1836 hypertension patients were randomly selected to participate voluntarily in the study. Hypertension treatment and its control were defined during study. In addition, knowledge about hypertension was measured by hypertension knowledge level scale (HK-LS. Treatment rates were 75.5 and 37.7 percent for female and male, respectively. Habitat, education, income, family history with hypertension, smoking, and time of diagnosis to the disease were found to be related to the treatment of the disease. Control rates were 30.7 and 31.4 for males and females, respectively. Habitat, education, and time of diagnosis to the disease were related to control. Over 50 percent of patients had average knowledge on hypertension. Considering the low rate of control and knowledge on hypertension among patients, health care providers should reinforce their services to improve appropriate knowledge level among elders and, also, plan comprehensive programs to promote health in order to encourage patients change and reform their life style.

  5. The Effect of Knowledge Linking Levels in Biology Lessons upon Students' Knowledge Structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wadouh, Julia; Liu, Ning; Sandmann, Angela; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

    2014-01-01

    Knowledge structure is an important aspect for defining students' competency in biology learning, but how knowledge structure is influenced by the teaching process in naturalistic biology classroom settings has scarcely been empirically investigated. In this study, 49 biology lessons in the teaching unit "blood and circulatory system" in…

  6. Knowledge Repository for Fmea Related Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cândea, Gabriela Simona; Kifor, Claudiu Vasile; Cândea, Ciprian

    2014-11-01

    This paper presents innovative usage of knowledge system into Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) process using the ontology to represent the knowledge. Knowledge system is built to serve multi-projects work that nowadays are in place in any manufacturing or services provider, and knowledge must be retained and reused at the company level and not only at project level. The system is following the FMEA methodology and the validation of the concept is compliant with the automotive industry standards published by Automotive Industry Action Group, and not only. Collaboration is assured trough web-based GUI that supports multiple users access at any time

  7. Healthcare professionals' attitudes, knowledge and self-efficacy levels regarding the use of self-hypnosis in childbirth: A prospective questionnaire survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAllister, Sophie; Coxon, Kirstie; Murrells, T; Sandall, J

    2017-04-01

    to examine healthcare professionals' attitudes, knowledge and levels of self-efficacy regarding the use of self-hypnosis in childbirth. a prospective survey. two large maternity units in London, England. healthcare professionals (n=129) involved in the care of childbearing women (anaesthetists, midwives and obstetricians). online questionnaire assessing healthcare professionals' experience, knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy relating to self-hypnosis in childbirth. attitude, self-efficacy and knowledge. over half of the participants surveyed (56%) reported they had minimal or no knowledge of hypnosis. Higher levels of knowledge were associated with higher levels of self-efficacy (phypnosis than doctors, and more exposure was significantly associated with higher levels of self-efficacy (midwives phypnosis in their own or partners' births had significantly higher self-efficacy scores (phypnosis in childbirth, they need to be confident in their ability to facilitate this method. Previous research has established that self-efficacy is a strong indicator of performance. Professionals with more knowledge of self-hypnosis are also more confident in supporting women using this technique in childbirth. Multi-disciplinary staff training which aims to increase knowledge, and which includes exposure to hypnosis in labour, may be beneficial in assisting staff to support women choosing to use self-hypnosis in labour. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Uncovering tacit knowledge: a pilot study to broaden the concept of knowledge in knowledge translation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kothari, Anita R; Bickford, Julia J; Edwards, Nancy; Dobbins, Maureen J; Meyer, Mechthild

    2011-08-18

    of explicit research findings. This indicates a need to broaden the scope of knowledge translation to include other forms of knowledge beyond explicit knowledge acquired through research. Strategies that recognize and support the use of tacit knowledge, such as communities of practice or networks, may be important components of a comprehensive approach to knowledge translation. This study provides support for further investigation of the role of tacit knowledge in the planning and delivery of effective public health services.

  9. The Role of Reading Skills on Reading Comprehension Ability of Turkish EFL Students

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    Ebru Kaya

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Reading is a part of our daily lives. It is performed both for pleasure and information. Reading skills are important for the individuals since they foster comprehension in reading. If the students do not have knowledge of reading skills, they cannot be expected to be successful readers. Thus, they cannot achieve the level of comprehension required to pass exams in their own departments. For this reason, reading skills should be taught in universities for the students to be able to cope with comprehension problems. This case study aims to find out whether or not reading skills has a role on the reading comprehension ability of Turkish EFL students. This study is both a qualitative and a quantitative study which lasted for a duration of 14 weeks. Two groups were selected (experimental and control among prep classes at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü Imam University. Both groups were administered a pre-test and questionnaire at the beginning of the study to find out if they were aware of reading skills. In addition, 10 students were chosen randomly for interview. During the study, reading skills were infused into the curriculum through designing lesson plans in accordance with the language content and topics for level C students, as determined by the Common European Language Framework. The lessons required the students to use reading skills before, during, and post reading. At the end of the study, the same questionnaire was re-administered. The students were given the post-test and then interviewed. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The obtained data revealed that the students enhanced their comprehension ability provided that they were taught to use reading skills.

  10. Optimising Comprehensibility in Interlingual Translation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nisbeth Jensen, Matilde

    2015-01-01

    The increasing demand for citizen engagement in areas traditionally belonging exclusively to experts, such as health, law and technology has given rise to the necessity of making expert knowledge available to the general public through genres such as instruction manuals for consumer goods, patien...... the functional text type of Patient Information Leaflet. Finally, the usefulness of applying the principles of Plain Language and intralingual translation for optimising comprehensibility in interlingual translation is discussed....

  11. General practitioners’ level of knowledge about their rights and criminal liabilities according to legislation in Turkey

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    Baki Derhem

    2017-12-01

    investigation. In our study, the doctors who have taken education about physician’s rights and criminal liabilities before had a higher number of correct answer than those who have not taken (p < 0.001. Conclusions . As a result of our survey, we determined that our physicians have insufficient levels of knowledge about medico-legal issues. The findings reveal the requirement for comprehensive education about a doctor’s rights and liabilities during residency or via in-service trainings. The importance of the situation should be investigated by further studies and constructive steps should be initiated as soon as possible.

  12. Teacher's reading comprehension: Implication for teaching practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Benevides Soares

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available A question of interest for educational workers is the reading comprehension process, a fundamental ability for progress in more advanced years of schooling, and its effect on pedagogical practices. This is a study that explores this question. A reading comprehension instrument composed by four structural levels of text and a scale of pedagogical practice composed by four sub-scales involving: cognitive practices with linguistic focus, cognitive practices, affective and motor practices, continuous education, was used. The results of 53 children suggest a slight tendency of teacher to prioritize cognitive practices independently of their reading comprehension level.

  13. Content Familiarity and Gender-Neutral Texts in Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalilehvand, Maryam; Samuel, Moses

    2014-01-01

    Based on the schema theory, it has been found that the background knowledge of males and females differs. This difference in background knowledge can affect the students' reading comprehension. In Iran, although boys and girls study in different schools, they follow the same curricula and syllabuses in all the schools. The present article reports…

  14. General Practitioner Knowledge Levels About Circumcision

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    Levent Cankorkmaz

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: This study was carried out to investigate knowledge levels of general practitioners and their thoughts about circumcision in Middle Anatolia.Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out with 247 general practitioners working in Sivas. A questionnaire was prepared by the authors using previous reports. Questionnaires were sent to subjects by post. One hundred and seventy eight general practitioners (57 women, 121 men responded and were included in the study. For statistical analysis, Chi-square test was used and p<0.05 value was accepted as significant.Results: 42.1% of subjects believed that circumcision should be performed between 2 and 6 years of age. 2.2% of subjects declared that circumcision could be done at home and 7.3% believed that the location of the operation is not important. 9.6% of subjects believed that the person who performs the circumcision does not have to be a doctor. 21.3% of subjects believed that circumcision could be performed without anesthesia during the newborn period because of undeveloped pain sensation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that general practitioners, who are the most easily accessible health staff for information about health, do not have updated information about the way to perform circumcision and its necessity. Therefore, it is concluded that education programs about circumcision for general practitioners must be continued and updated.

  15. [Correlation between knowledge about the consequences of obesity and physical activity levels among university students].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ocampo-Mascaró, Javier; Silva-Salazar, Vera; da Costa-Bullón, A Daniel

    2015-12-02

    Obesity is a growing public health issue. One of the main strategies to prevent it is physical activity. To determine if a correlation exists between awareness of the consequences of obesity and physical activity level. A cross-sectional study performed on a group of 215 students was conducted in 2013 and 2014. Non-health related program students were selected by convenience sampling at a university in Lima, Peru. Their physical activity level was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and knowledge about the consequences of obesity was assessed using the Obesity Risk Knowledge-10 scale (ORK-10). Each student was also asked to record the source where they obtained whatever information they knew about the topic. The median age of the participants was 20 (interquartile range of 4; 22-18), and 63% of the participants were female. According to the IPAQ, 53.9% of the participants recorded high levels of physical activity, 35.4% recorded moderate levels, and 10.7%, recorded low levels. While a low correlation between the ORK-10 score and the amount of METs/minute/week spent was found (rs=0.06), it was not significant (p=0.38). We found that people who were informed by the media or by healthcare personnel achieved higher scores on the ORK-10 scale than those who used other sources of information (p<0,05). There is a very low correlation between the knowledge about the consequences of obesity and a person’s physical activity level. A multidisciplinary approach that includes all determinants of physical activity is necessary in order to attain changes in people’s behavior.

  16. Effect of socioeconomic level on knowledge of stroke in the general population: A social inequality gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramírez-Moreno, J M; Alonso-González, R; Peral Pacheco, D; Millán-Nuñez, M V; Roa-Montero, A; Constantino-Silva, A B; Aguirre-Sánchez, J J

    2016-01-01

    Socioeconomic status is a factor that influences health-related behaviour in individuals as well as health conditions in entire populations. The objective of the present study was to analyse the sociodemographic factors that may influence knowledge of stroke. Cross-sectional study. A representative sample was selected by double randomisation. Face-to-face interviews were carried out by previously trained medical students using a structured questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions. Adequate knowledge was previously defined. The Mantel-Haenszel test and adjusted logistic regression analysis were used to assess the association between knowledge of stroke and the study variables. 2411 subjects were interviewed (59.9% women; mean age 49.0 [SD 17.3] years) Seventy-three per cent were residents of urban areas, 24.7% had a university education, and 15.2% had a low level of schooling. Only 2.1% reported earning more than 40 000 euros/year, with 29.9% earning less than 10 000. Nearly 74% reported having an excellent or good state of health. The unemployment rate was 17.0%. Prevalence of "adequate knowledge" was 39.7% (95% CI: 37.7%-41.6%). Trend analysis showed an association between knowledge of stroke and income (z=10.14, P<0.0001); educational level (z=15.95, P<0.0001); state of health (z=7.92, P<0.0001); and employment status (z=8.98, P<0.0001). Educational level, income, employment status, and state of health are independent factors for adequate knowledge of stroke. Public awareness campaigns should present material using simple language and efforts should be directed toward the most disadvantaged social strata in particular. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  17. READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES ONLINE: THE EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK, PROFICIENCY AND INTERACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip Murphy

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes an ongoing project to create an online version of a reading programme, a custom-designed English language proficiency course at a university in Japan. Following an interactionist view of second language acquisition, it was hypothesised that comprehension of a reading passage could be enhanced by online materials promoting interaction between students as they completed a multiple-choice reading comprehension exercise. Interaction was promoted: (a through pair work at a single computer and (b by providing Elaborative feedback in the form of hints about incorrect answers as a means of stimulating discussion about corrections. Students were randomly selected from upper and lower levels of English proficiency, as determined by the Kanda English Proficiency Test (Bonk & Ockey, 2003, to receive either Elaborative feedback or Knowledge of Correct Response feedback (which supplies the correct answers. Within these groups, some students worked in pairs and some alone. Quantitative results show that the interaction between Type of feedback and Manner of study (individual or pair work was statistically significant; students performed best on a follow-up comprehension exercise when in pairs and having been provided with Elaborative feedback. Furthermore, qualitative analysis of transcribed interactions also shows that Elaborative feedback was conducive to quality interaction.

  18. A Sport Education Fitness Season's Impact on Students' Fitness Levels, Knowledge, and In-Class Physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Jeffery Kurt; Hastie, Peter A; Wadsworth, Danielle D; Foote, Shelby; Brock, Sheri J; Hollett, Nikki

    2017-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a sport education season of fitness could provide students with recommended levels of in-class moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) while also increasing students' fitness knowledge and fitness achievement. One hundred and sixty-six 5th-grade students (76 boys, 90 girls) participated in a 20-lesson season called "CrossFit Challenge" during a 4-week period. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, push-ups, and curl-ups tests of the FITNESSGRAM® were used to assess fitness at pretest and posttest, while fitness knowledge was assessed through a validated, grade-appropriate test of health-related fitness knowledge (HRF). Physical activity was measured with Actigraph GT3X triaxial accelerometers. Results indicated a significant time effect for all fitness tests and the knowledge test. Across the entire season, the students spent an average of 54.5% of lesson time engaged in MVPA, irrespective of the type of lesson (instruction, free practice, or competition). The results suggest that configuring the key principles of sport education within a unit of fitness is an efficient model for providing students with the opportunity to improve fitness skill and HRF knowledge while attaining recommended levels of MVPA.

  19. Estimating the Difficulty Level of EFL Texts: Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natasha Pourdana

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to explore the impact of difficulty level of texts on EFL learners’ reading comprehension through the application of Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. The researchers’ primary assumption was that reading EFL texts would become more difficult as the learners’ performance proceeds from a text targeting their Knowledge abilities through the texts tapping on their Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis to Evaluation abilities. To fulfil the ultimate purpose of the research, 32 undergraduate students majoring in English translation at Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Iran took part in this investigation in 2011. In addition to Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT, the participants were given a teacher–made reading comprehension test, included six short reading passages from 154 to 166 ranges of words and 30 multiple- choice items which compiled and constructed based on the six levels in the hierarchy of Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA proved that except for the fifth level, the Synthesis text, the EFL learners’ performance was graded properly based on the difficulty levels expected and explored in Bloom’s levels of Cognitive Domain. The findings in this study are considerably practical in developing EFL materials and teaching reading skills and strategies.

  20. Mental juggling: when does multitasking impair reading comprehension?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Kit W; Altarriba, Jeanette; Popiel, Maximilian

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no-load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has become commonplace.

  1. ESAP Students' Comprehension of Multiple Technical Reading Texts: Insights from Personal Epistemological Beliefs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimi, Mohammad Nabi; Atai, Mohamood Reza

    2014-01-01

    Given the importance associated with multiple-document literacy in the present-day knowledge societies and the dearth of research in English Language Teaching in general and English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESAP) contexts in particular on multiple-document comprehension and the significance of reader beliefs in this type of comprehension,…

  2. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV among women in rural Mozambique: development and validation of the HIV knowledge 27 scale.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip J Ciampa

    Full Text Available The relationship between HIV knowledge and HIV-related behaviors in settings like Mozambique has been limited by a lack of rigorously validated measures.A convenience sample of women seeking prenatal care at two clinics were administered an adapted, orally-administered, 27 item HIV-knowledge scale, the HK-27. Validation analyses were stratified by survey language (Portuguese and Echuabo. Kuder-Richardson (KR-20 coefficients estimated internal reliability. Construct validity was assessed with bivariate associations between HK-27 scores (% correct and selected participant characteristics. The association between knowledge, self-reported HIV testing, and HIV infection were evaluated with multivariable logistic regression.Participants (N = 348 had a median age of 24; 188 spoke Portuguese, and 160 spoke Echuabo. Mean HK-27 scores were higher for Portuguese-speaking participants than Echuabo-speaking participants (68% correct vs. 42%, p0.8 for scales in both languages. Higher HK-27 scores were significantly (p≤0.05 correlated with more education, more media items in the home, a history of HIV testing, and participant work outside of the home for women of both languages. HK-27 scores were independently associated with completion of HIV testing in multivariable analysis (per 1% correct: aOR:1.02, 95%CI:0.01-0.03, p = 0.01, but not with HIV infection.HK-27 is a reliable and valid measure of HIV knowledge among Portuguese and Echuabo-speaking Mozambican women. The HK-27 demonstrated significant knowledge deficits among women in the study, and higher scores were associated with higher HIV testing probability. Future studies should evaluate the role of the HK-27 in longitudinal studies and in other populations.

  3. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV among women in rural Mozambique: development and validation of the HIV knowledge 27 scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciampa, Philip J; Skinner, Shannon L; Patricio, Sérgio R; Rothman, Russell L; Vermund, Sten H; Audet, Carolyn M

    2012-01-01

    The relationship between HIV knowledge and HIV-related behaviors in settings like Mozambique has been limited by a lack of rigorously validated measures. A convenience sample of women seeking prenatal care at two clinics were administered an adapted, orally-administered, 27 item HIV-knowledge scale, the HK-27. Validation analyses were stratified by survey language (Portuguese and Echuabo). Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) coefficients estimated internal reliability. Construct validity was assessed with bivariate associations between HK-27 scores (% correct) and selected participant characteristics. The association between knowledge, self-reported HIV testing, and HIV infection were evaluated with multivariable logistic regression. Participants (N = 348) had a median age of 24; 188 spoke Portuguese, and 160 spoke Echuabo. Mean HK-27 scores were higher for Portuguese-speaking participants than Echuabo-speaking participants (68% correct vs. 42%, p0.8) for scales in both languages. Higher HK-27 scores were significantly (p≤0.05) correlated with more education, more media items in the home, a history of HIV testing, and participant work outside of the home for women of both languages. HK-27 scores were independently associated with completion of HIV testing in multivariable analysis (per 1% correct: aOR:1.02, 95%CI:0.01-0.03, p = 0.01), but not with HIV infection. HK-27 is a reliable and valid measure of HIV knowledge among Portuguese and Echuabo-speaking Mozambican women. The HK-27 demonstrated significant knowledge deficits among women in the study, and higher scores were associated with higher HIV testing probability. Future studies should evaluate the role of the HK-27 in longitudinal studies and in other populations.

  4. Pain management knowledge and attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students and faculty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duke, Gloria; Haas, Barbara K; Yarbrough, Susan; Northam, Sally

    2013-03-01

    Pain affects approximately 76 million adults in the US. Though pain management has been targeted as a top priority, it continues to be inadequately addressed. Nursing faculty are in a unique position to significantly address the problem through facilitating the acquisition and utilization of knowledge by student nurses. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge of and attitudes toward pain in baccalaureate nursing students and faculty to establish a foundation for a systematic and comprehensive integration of pain content in the curricula. The descriptive design included a sample of 162 junior and senior students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program in Texas and 16 nursing faculty. The Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (KASRP) was used to measure knowledge and attitudes toward pain. A direct correlation was found between the level of education and the percentage correct score. Differences found in knowledge and attitudes among the three levels of students and faculty were significant (df = 3.173; F = 14.07, p pain through case scenarios of a patient who was smiling and talking as compared to a patient who was lying quietly and grimacing (X2 = 37.13, p pain assessment and treatment are taught is indicated. Further studies are needed to assess changes in knowledge and attitudes toward pain as curricular revisions are made. Copyright © 2013 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. How Spoken Language Comprehension is Achieved by Older Listeners in Difficult Listening Situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Bruce A; Avivi-Reich, Meital; Daneman, Meredyth

    2016-01-01

    Comprehending spoken discourse in noisy situations is likely to be more challenging to older adults than to younger adults due to potential declines in the auditory, cognitive, or linguistic processes supporting speech comprehension. These challenges might force older listeners to reorganize the ways in which they perceive and process speech, thereby altering the balance between the contributions of bottom-up versus top-down processes to speech comprehension. The authors review studies that investigated the effect of age on listeners' ability to follow and comprehend lectures (monologues), and two-talker conversations (dialogues), and the extent to which individual differences in lexical knowledge and reading comprehension skill relate to individual differences in speech comprehension. Comprehension was evaluated after each lecture or conversation by asking listeners to answer multiple-choice questions regarding its content. Once individual differences in speech recognition for words presented in babble were compensated for, age differences in speech comprehension were minimized if not eliminated. However, younger listeners benefited more from spatial separation than did older listeners. Vocabulary knowledge predicted the comprehension scores of both younger and older listeners when listening was difficult, but not when it was easy. However, the contribution of reading comprehension to listening comprehension appeared to be independent of listening difficulty in younger adults but not in older adults. The evidence suggests (1) that most of the difficulties experienced by older adults are due to age-related auditory declines, and (2) that these declines, along with listening difficulty, modulate the degree to which selective linguistic and cognitive abilities are engaged to support listening comprehension in difficult listening situations. When older listeners experience speech recognition difficulties, their attentional resources are more likely to be deployed to

  6. Framework for Knowledge Management Processes in Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Shafiei Nikabadi

    2014-02-01

    The innovation aspect of the research is to provide a comprehensive framework for knowledge management processes in supply chain of automotive industry with main indicators for each process. Several investigations have been made for knowledge management but specific research on knowledge management processes in the supply chain has not been observed. Thus providing the framework and indicators for each component of the framework is the innovation of the research

  7. Secondary School Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge Levels and Use of History of Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bütüner, Suphi Önder

    2018-01-01

    This study describes secondary school mathematics teachers' use of history of mathematics in their classes and their knowledge levels in this field. The study population included a total of 58 secondary school mathematics teachers working at the secondary schools located in Yozgat city center, and the sample included 32 mathematics teachers from…

  8. Knowledge about idiopathic scoliosis among students of physiotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciazynski, D; Czernicki, K; Durmala, J

    2008-01-01

    The aim of the study was to determine the level of basic knowledge about idiopathic scoliosis (IS) among students of physiotherapy. The study included 37 students of Medical University of Silesia (17F and 20M aged 22-25, mean 22.6), attending the 3(rd) year of a 1(st) degree of physiotherapy. All students had credits in kinesiotherapy, including methods of conservative treatment of IS. Students were examined using a questionnaire, comprising general knowledge of IS, questions related to sagittal plane correction, influence of various physical activities on IS and known methods of conservative treatment. 81 students considered IS as 3-D deformity. 62.2% of those questioned would diagnose IS when the Cobb angle reaches 10 degrees . All students agreed that the aetiology of IS remains unknown. 54.1% considered forcible extensory exercises of back as favourable in IS. Questioned students mostly preferred swimming (94.6%), yoga (73.0%) and martial arts (32.4%) as beneficial to IS. The methods of conservative treatment which were known best were: Lehnert-Schroth-Weiss (94.6%), Klapp (91.9%), Majoch (89.2%) and Dobosiewicz (78.4%). The conclusions indicate that the average level of knowledge of idiopathic scoliosis among students of physiotherapy is unsatisfactory, despite the education programme including the SOSORT guidelines. Education in the field of scoliosis should be comprehensive and meet contemporary guidelines and standards.

  9. The Relationship between Multiple Intelligences and Iranian EFL Learners’ Level of L2 Lexical Knowledge: The Case of Gender

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Biria

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Human cognitive competence represents individuals’ subconscious knowledge of abilities, talents, and mental skills collectively called “multiple intelligences (MIs”, which play a pivotal role in facilitating human learning. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to determine the magnitude of the relationship existing between multiple intelligences and Iranian EFL learners’ level of second language (L2 lexical knowledge on one hand and the partializing impact of gender on the other. For this purpose, from the population of the senior undergraduate students majoring in translation at Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan Branch, Isfahan, Iran, a sample of 88 students, 24 males and 64 females, were randomly selected. First, Mckenzie’s (1999 MIs Inventory was administered to specify the size of individual types of intelligences in each learner’s MIs composite. Then, the learners were provided with Nation’s (2001 receptive level test a week later to gauge their level of L2 lexical knowledge. The findings revealed that the scores on MIs inventory correlated positively with those of L2 lexical knowledge. Alternatively, different types of intelligences served as useful predictors for estimating the quality of learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Finally, it was found out that gender did indeed have a different effect regarding the learners’ vocabulary knowledge.

  10. Languages on the screen: is film comprehension related to the viewers' fluency level and to the language in the subtitles?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavaur, Jean-Marc; Bairstow, Dominique

    2011-12-01

    This research aimed at studying the role of subtitling in film comprehension. It focused on the languages in which the subtitles are written and on the participants' fluency levels in the languages presented in the film. In a preliminary part of the study, the most salient visual and dialogue elements of a short sequence of an English film were extracted by the means of a free recall task after showing two versions of the film (first a silent, then a dubbed-into-French version) to native French speakers. This visual and dialogue information was used in the setting of a questionnaire concerning the understanding of the film presented in the main part of the study, in which other French native speakers with beginner, intermediate, or advanced fluency levels in English were shown one of three versions of the film used in the preliminary part. Respectively, these versions had no subtitles or they included either English or French subtitles. The results indicate a global interaction between all three factors in this study: For the beginners, visual processing dropped from the version without subtitles to that with English subtitles, and even more so if French subtitles were provided, whereas the effect of film version on dialogue comprehension was the reverse. The advanced participants achieved higher comprehension for both types of information with the version without subtitles, and dialogue information processing was always better than visual information processing. The intermediate group similarly processed dialogues in a better way than visual information, but was not affected by film version. These results imply that, depending on the viewers' fluency levels, the language of subtitles can have different effects on movie information processing.

  11. Combining Stocks and Flows of Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ambos, Tina C.; Nell, Phillip Christopher; Pedersen, Torben

    In the area of knowledge management and knowledge governance, previous research has mostly focused on either knowledge stocks or knowledge flows of firms or organizational units. Contrary to this work, our study is among the first to integrate these two perspectives in order to shed light...... on the complementarity effects of different types of knowledge stocks and flows in the multinational corporation (MNC). We investigate intra-functional as well as cross-functional complementarity effects from the perspective of the knowledge recipient. We test the impact of stocks on flows on the benefit that is created...... for MNC units. Based on a comprehensive sample of 324 relationships between MNC units we find that both types of complementarity create benefits for these units, but that the effects from intra-functional combinations of knowledge stocks and flows are significantly stronger than from cross...

  12. The Effects of Pictorial Contexts on Listening and Reading Comprehension in English : A Schematic Point of View

    OpenAIRE

    西田, 正

    1984-01-01

    This paper begins with a brief examination of the relationship between reading and listening comprehension with emphasis placed on the similarities inherent in both the receptive skills. Goodman (1967) and Smith (1979) characterize reading as an interaction between printed information and the readers' knowledge. This characterization is true of listening comprehension because listeners make full use of the knowledge to understand the auditory information which is received. Schema theory p...

  13. All Kidding Aside: Humor Increases Learning at Knowledge and Comprehension Levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hackathorn, Jana; Garczynski, Amy M.; Blankmeyer, Katheryn; Tennial, Rachel D.; Solomon, Erin D.

    2011-01-01

    It has been argued that humor is beneficial in the classroom because it increases social bonding between instructor and student, salience of information, and ultimately recall and retention. The current study sought to add to the literature by empirically testing some assumptions about humor as a pedagogical tool. Specifically, we predicted that…

  14. Level and determinants of diabetes knowledge in patients with diabetes in Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mufunda, Esther; Wikby, Kerstin; Björn, Albin; Hjelm, Katarina

    2012-01-01

    Introduction A previous study of beliefs about health and illness in Zimbabweans with diabetes mellitus indicated limited knowledge about diabetes and the body, affecting self-care and health-care seeking behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess the level of diabetes knowledge in Zimbabwean adults with diabetes mellitus, to determine the main gaps in knowledge and identify the socio-demographic and diabetes-related determinants that predict diabetes awareness and self-care practices. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed using a standardized self-report Diabetes Knowledge Test questionnaire (DKT) of 58 respondents, 32 women and 26 men. Results were analysed with descriptive and analytic statistical methods. Results The majority of the respondents scored average knowledge on all three sub-scales: general knowledge, insulin use and total knowledge, with an overall score of 63.1± 14, 2%. Major knowledge gaps were in areas related to diet, insulin use and glycaemic control. No significant differences in mean scores were detected in the diabetes knowledge sub-scales when comparisons were made of mean knowledge scores in relation to socio-demographic and diabetes-related characteristics. However, diabetes-related complications were significantly associated with lower total and general diabetes knowledge, and female gender was an independent determinant of low general knowledge. Conclusion Knowledge gaps were evident in areas regarding insulin use, diet and glycaemic control. Low diabetes knowledge was associated with female gender and could be a risk factor for development of diabetes-related complications. Knowledge gaps need to be addressed in diabetes education to prevent development of diabetes-related complications. PMID:23396799

  15. Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finn, Chester E., Jr., Ed.; Petrilli, Michael J., Ed.

    2014-01-01

    Children cannot be truly literate without knowing about history, science, art, music, literature, civics, geography, and more. Indeed, they cannot satisfactorily comprehend what they read unless they possess the background knowledge that makes such comprehension possible. Yet most American primary schools have been marching in the opposite…

  16. Science Literacy and Prior Knowledge of Astronomy MOOC Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Impey, Chris David; Buxner, Sanlyn; Wenger, Matthew; Formanek, Martin

    2018-01-01

    Many of science classes offered on Coursera fall into fall into the category of general education or general interest classes for lifelong learners, including our own, Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space. Very little is known about the backgrounds and prior knowledge of these students. In this talk we present the results of a survey of our Astronomy MOOC students. We also compare these results to our previous work on undergraduate students in introductory astronomy courses. Survey questions examined student demographics and motivations as well as their science and information literacy (including basic science knowledge, interest, attitudes and beliefs, and where they get their information about science). We found that our MOOC students are different than the undergraduate students in more ways than demographics. Many MOOC students demonstrated high levels of science and information literacy. With a more comprehensive understanding of our students’ motivations and prior knowledge about science and how they get their information about science, we will be able to develop more tailored learning experiences for these lifelong learners.

  17. Disease specific knowledge about cystic fibrosis, patient education and counselling in Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sławomir Chomik

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available introduction and objective. The presented study assesses levels of specific knowledge of the disease among cystic fibrosis (CF patients and their families, and evaluates the effectiveness of a targeted, disease specific education programme. materials and methods. A cross-sectional survey among 462 families with a CF child evaluated their knowledge of the disease. A one year follow up survey among 200 families assessed the effectiveness of an educational programme developed to correct gaps, errors and misconceptions identified in the previously administered survey. Self-administered, comprehensive, 5-domains, 45-item multiple-choice CF Disease Knowledge Questionnaire (CFDKQ was anonymously completed by 462 subjects. results. 228 respondents were male (49%, 234 female (51%. The level of disease-specific knowledge in the age groups 0–6 and 7–10 years, was significantly higher than in 11–14 and 15–18 years of age groups (p<0.005. General medical and Genetics/Reproduction knowledge was low in all patients. Significant predictors of patient and parental knowledge were age and domicile. Patients and parents rely heavily on doctors for information about CF (77%. The follow-up survey (CFDKQ emphasized that special education programmes significantly improved levels of disease specific knowledge (p<0.0001. conclusions. If left uncorrected, the misconceptions, gaps and errors in CF knowledge identified in the presented study could result in inadvertent non-adherence to treatment, and impact on the progression and outcome of the disease. Secondly, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of targeted, disease specific information in improving disease knowledge of CF patients and their families, and highlights the value and need for the development of educational programmes for chronically ill patients and their families.

  18. Perceptions of Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Possible Consequences Relate Mainly to Self-Valuation of Science Knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Pittfield, Taryn; Jeitner, Christian

    2016-05-01

    This study examines perceptions of climate change and sea level rise in New Jersey residents in 2012 and 2014. Different surveys have shown declines in interest and concern about climate change and sea level rise. Climate change and increasing temperatures have an anthropogenic cause, which relates to energy use, making it important to examine whether people believe that it is occurring. In late 2012 New Jersey experienced Super storm Sandy, one of the worst hurricanes in its history, followed by public discussion and media coverage of stronger more frequent storms due to climate change. Using structured interviews, we tested the null hypotheses that there were no differences in perceptions of 1260 interviewees as a function of year of the survey, age, gender, years of education, and self-evaluation of science knowledge (on a scale of 1 to 5). In 2012 460 of 639 (72%) rated "global warming occurring" as "certain" (#4) or "very certain" (#5) compared with 453 of 621 (73%) in 2014. For "due to human activities" the numbers of "certain" or "very certain" were 71% in 2012, and 67% in 2014 and for sea level rise the numbers were 64% and 70%. There were some inconsistent between-year differences with higher ratings in 2012 for 3 outcomes and higher ratings in 2014 for 5 outcomes. However, for 25 questions relative to climate change, sea level rise, and the personal and ecological effects of sea level rise, self-evaluation of science knowledge, independent of years of education, was the factor that entered 23 of the models, accounting for the most variability in ratings. People who believed they had a "high knowledge" (#4) or "very high knowledge" (#5) of science rated all issues as more important than did those people who rated their own scientific knowledge as average or below average.

  19. Rethinking Knowledge Management: Strategies for Enhancing District-Level Teacher and Leader Tacit Knowledge Sharing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edge, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Grounded within knowledge management (KM) theory and conceptions of tacit and explicit knowledge, this article draws on historical evidence from the Early Years Literacy Project (EYLP), a four-year instructional renewal strategy implemented across 100 schools in a large Canadian school district. The EYLP management approach included a series of…

  20. The profile of conceptual comprehension of pre-service teacher in the mathematical problem solving with low emotional intelligence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prayitno, S. H.; Suwarsono, St.; Siswono, T. Y. E.

    2018-03-01

    Conceptual comprehension in this research is the ability to use the procedures that are owned by pre-service teachers to solve problems by finding the relation of the concept to another, or can be done by identifying the type of problem and associating it with a troubleshooting procedures, or connect the mathematical symbols with mathematical ideas and incorporate them into a series of logical reasoning, or by using prior knowledge that occurred directly, through its conceptual knowledge. The goal of this research is to describe the profile of conceptual comprehensin of pre-service teachers with low emotional intelligence in mathematical problems solving. Through observation and in-depth interview with the research subject the conclusion was that: pre-service teachers with low emotional intelligence pertained to the level of formal understanding in understanding the issues, relatively to the level of intuitive understanding in planning problem solving, to the level of relational understanding in implementing the relational problem solving plan, and pertained to the level of formal understanding in looking back to solve the problem.

  1. Patient knowledge and intention to use the intrauterine contraceptive device IUCD at a tertiary level hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia van der Westhuizen

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background:  The intrauterine device (IUCD is a highly effective and safe method of contraception.  Prevention of unwanted pregnancies has made its use a matter of national priority in certain countries.Despite numerous advantages and suitability the uptake of the IUCD is poor. Patients in South Africa seem to lack knowledge regarding this contraceptive.Objectives:  The aim of this study was to determine the quantity and quality of knowledge of the IUCD, and to evaluate its acceptability for future use.Methods:  A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital.  201 consecutive patients were interviewed using structured questionnaires.Results:  Awareness of the IUCD was found in almost half (49%, n=95 of our patients. Its use was very low, with only one patient having used it before. Overall qualitative knowledge was poor, even among those that were aware of the IUCD. There was a significant association between level of education and knowledge, with patients having passed Grade 12 or higher significantly more likely to have knowledge of the IUCD than those at lower levels (RR 1.57, 95% CI 1.18-2.08. Forty-five percent (n=86 of patients indicated a desire for future IUCD use.Conclusion:  Despite the availability of the IUCD in South African clinics and hospitals, its uptake is still poor. Awareness of this method seemed to have improved over the past few years, but the qualitative knowledge still lacks considerably.  Education plays a major role in the knowledge of contraception and better educational aids in all facilities will increase its use and reduce unwanted pregnancies. 

  2. Awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS among married women in rural Bangladesh and exposure to media: a secondary data analysis of the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asaduzzaman, Mohammad; Higuchi, Michiyo; Sarker, Mohammad Abul Bashar; Hamajima, Nobuyuki

    2016-02-01

    The aims of this study were to describe awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Bangladeshi married women in rural areas and to examine associations between exposure to mass media and their awareness and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS where mass media has been suggested to be vital sources of information. From the original dataset of the sixth Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey in 2011, the data of 11,570 rural married women aged 15-49 years old were extracted. Logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We found that approximately two-thirds of women (63.0%) aged 15-49 years had heard about HIV/AIDS. Exposure to each type of media was significantly associated with awareness of HIV/AIDS. Comparing to those who were not exposed to each of the investigated media, the adjusted ORs of comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS were significantly high for those exposed to newspapers/magazines less than once a week (1.34, 95% CI 1.09-1.65), newspapers/ magazines at least once a week (1.44, 95% CI 1.07-1.94), television at least once a week (1.41, 95% CI 1.18-1.68). It was suggested that television can be utilized to increase awareness and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS through effective programs. Although the level of exposure was still low, significant associations between exposure to newspapers/magazines and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS suggested potential of written messages to promote knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

  3. Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge and Teaching Comfort Levels for Agricultural Science and Technology Objectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wingenbach, Gary J.; White, Judith McIntosh; Degenhart, Shannon; Pannkuk, Tim; Kujawski, Jenna

    2007-01-01

    Self-efficacy beliefs are defined as context-specific assessments of one's competence to perform specific tasks, influence one's efforts, persistence, and resilience to succeed in a given task. Such beliefs are important determinants when considering agricultural science teachers' subject matter knowledge, teaching comfort levels, and their…

  4. Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2015-01-01

    The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

  5. MERS-CoV infection: Mind the public knowledge gap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bawazir, Amen; Al-Mazroo, Eman; Jradi, Hoda; Ahmed, Anwar; Badri, Motasim

    In August 2015, the Corona outbreak caused by Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was the 9th episode since June 2012 in Saudi Arabia. Little is known about the public awareness toward the nature or prevention of the disease. The aim of this work was to assess the knowledge of the adult population in Riyadh toward the MERS-CoV. In this cross-sectional survey, a self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to randomly selected participants visiting malls in Riyadh. The questionnaire contained measurable epidemiological and clinical MERS-CoV knowledge level variables and relevant source of information. The study included 676 participants. Mean age was 32.5 (±SD 8.6) years and 353 (47.8%) were males. Almost all participants heard about the corona disease and causative agent. The study showed a fair overall knowledge (66.0%), less knowledge on epidemiological features of the disease (58.3%), and good knowledge (90.7%) on the clinical manifestation of the MERS-CoV. Internet was the major (89.0%) source of disease information, and other sources including health care providers, SMS, television, magazines and books were low rated (all knowledge. This study concludes that there was inadequate epidemiological knowledge received by the public and the reliance mostly on the clinical manifestations to recognizing the MERS-CoV disease. Comprehensive public health education programs is important to increase awareness of simple epidemiological determinants of the disease is warranted. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Effects of Provided Trainings Regarding Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation on the Knowledge Level of Nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonay Göktaş

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Having experienced members in the team for obtaining successful outcomes in non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV is important. The aim of our study is to determine the effectiveness of training on nurse’s level of knowledge about NIMV Methods: This study was done with 70 nurses who were working at an university hospital. The data collection tools that were used were form for individual characteristics and knowledge test questions form consisting of multiple-choice for NIMV. Firstly, Pre-tests have been collected in the survey. Secondly, courses regarding NIMV indications, contraindications and patients management topics were given verbally by researchers. Finally, final tests were performed and data were collected. Analyzing for data were used frequency, percentage, wilcoxon and dependent samples Mc Nemar tests. Results: Mean age were 33.2±7.3, 87.1% were female, 68.6% had bachelor degrees. Of 47.1% were working in intensive care. 54.3% often provide care to NIMV applied patients. 94.7% mentioned that they don’t have any knowledge of NIMV applications. The differences between the pre-post training scores were higher statistically (p<0.001. It was determined that knowledge levels of nurses about NIMV indications and contraindications after training increased statistically significantly. (p<0.05. Conclusion: In our research it was understood that nurses’ knowledge has increased significantly after the training for non-invasive applications. By means of these trainings that will develop the affective, cognitive and psychomotor skills of nurses, it is expected to reveal the results of the extensive research and successful outcomes for NIMV applications will increase.

  7. Students’ Reading Comprehension Performance with Emotional Literacy-Based Strategy Intervention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusfarina Mohd Yussof

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available An effective reading comprehension process demands a strategy to enhance the cognitive ability to digest text information in the effort to elicit meaning contextually. In addition, the role of emotions also influences the efficacy of this process, especially in narrative text comprehension. This quasi-experimental study aims to observe students’ performance in the Reading Comprehension Test resulting from Emotional Literacy-Based Reading Comprehension Strategy (ELBRCS, which is a combination of cognitive and affective strategies. This study involved 90 students, whereby 45 students were clustered in the Experimental Group and received the ELBRCS intervension. The remaining 45 students were placed in the Control Group and underwent the conventional strategy (prevalent classroom method.The students’ reading comprehension performance was measured using the Reading Comprehension Test (RCT. The findings show that the experimental group received a higher score than the control group for RCT. The intervention has successfully increased student’s Reading Comprehension from literal comprehension to higher levels of comprehension i.e. inferential, evaluative and appreciative levels, as indicated by Barret’s Taxonomy.

  8. The effect of teaching method on long-term knowledge retention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beers, Geri W; Bowden, Susan

    2005-11-01

    Choosing a teaching strategy that results in knowledge retention on the part of learners can be challenging for educators. Studies on problem-based learning (PBL) have supported its effectiveness, compared to other, more traditional strategies. The results of a previous study comparing the effect of lecture versus PBL on objective test scores indicated there was no significant difference in scores. To measure long-term knowledge retention, the same groups were evaluated 1 year after instruction. The posttest administered in the original study was repeated, and the scores from a comprehensive adult health examination and the endocrine subsection were analyzed. At an alpha level of 0.05, a statistically significant difference was found in the scores on two of the measures. The scores of the PBL group were significantly higher on the endocrine section of the examination and the repeat posttest.

  9. Knowledge creation in nursing education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanian, Zahra Marzieh; Ahanchian, Mohammad Reza; Ahmadi, Suleiman; Hossein Gholizadeh, Rezvan; Karimi-Moonaghi, Hossein

    2014-09-28

    In today's society, knowledge is recognized as a valuable social asset and the educational system is in search of a new strategy that allows them to construct their knowledge and experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the process of knowledge creation in nursing education. In the present study, the grounded theory approach was used. This method provides a comprehensive approach to collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. Data were obtained through 17 semi-structured interviews with nursing faculties and nursing students. Purposeful and theoretical sampling was conducted. Based on the method of Strauss and Corbin, the data were analyzed using fragmented, deep, and constant-comparative methods. The main categories included striving for growth and reduction of ambiguity, use of knowledge resources, dynamism of mind and social factors, converting knowledge, and creating knowledge. Knowledge was converted through mind processes, individual and group reflection, praxis and research, and resulted in the creation of nursing knowledge. Discrete nursing knowledge is gained through disconformity research in order to gain more individual advantages. The consequence of this analysis was gaining new knowledge. Knowledge management must be included in the mission and strategic planning of nursing education, and it should be planned through operational planning in order to create applicable knowledge.

  10. Exploring ESL/EFL Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge on Reading Strategy Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wei

    2015-01-01

    Any instructional practice must be derived from a teacher's knowledge base for teaching, which can be acquired by training, study, or practice. While much attention has been paid to teachers' practical content knowledge in real educational settings, comprehensive syntheses of expert knowledge on a particular teaching task for a specific group of…

  11. Nuclear information and knowledge. News from the INIS and Nuclear Knowledge Management Section. No. 1, April 2006

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-04-01

    This first newsletter, a bi-annual publication, is aimed at informing about current developments in the INIS and Nuclear Knowledge Management Section of the IAEA. The vision for the Section is that knowledge powers the future and that knowledge is the basis of all nuclear activities. The International Nuclear Information System (INIS) is the worlds most authoritative and comprehensive source of reliable nuclear information with the aim that existing nuclear information and knowledge will be available in Member States, whenever and wherever needed, for the peaceful, safe and efficient use of nuclear energy. This first issue of the newspaper constitutes a review of the year 2005 in these fields and informs about some of planned activities for 2006 and 2007. It provides short articles about digitizing documents to preserve knowledge, INIS production statistics, the International Conference on Knowledge Management in Nuclear Facilities, supporting education and training, the School of Nuclear Knowledge Management and Coordinated Research Projects on Knowledge Preservation

  12. Dissociating speech perception and comprehension at reduced levels of awareness

    OpenAIRE

    Davis, Matthew H.; Coleman, Martin R.; Absalom, Anthony R.; Rodd, Jennifer M.; Johnsrude, Ingrid S.; Matta, Basil F.; Owen, Adrian M.; Menon, David K.

    2007-01-01

    We used functional MRI and the anesthetic agent propofol to assess the relationship among neural responses to speech, successful comprehension, and conscious awareness. Volunteers were scanned while listening to sentences containing ambiguous words, matched sentences without ambiguous words, and signal-correlated noise (SCN). During three scanning sessions, participants were nonsedated (awake), lightly sedated (a slowed response to conversation), and deeply sedated (no conversational response...

  13. The Correlation Of Knowledge And Education Level Of The Patients With The Gastritis Incident At Sindangbarang Public Health Center Cianjur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Drs. Oktoruddin Harun

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Gastritis is usually regarded as a thing paltry but gastritis was the beginning of a a disease that can be big problem for us. Based on the previous research at Public Health Center sindangbarang cianjur District were found scene gastritis from 10 patients 7 had less knowledgeable 1 respondents had knowledge cased and 2 respondents had good of knowledge. It is suspected that the incidence of gastritis has to do with knowledge and education level of the patients. The purpose of this research is to identify corelation betwen knowledge and education level of the patients outpatient with the gastritis at Public Health Center sindangbarang cianjur District. Research methodology used survey analytic correlative with design cross sectional .Data analyzed by univariat and bivariat with statistics chi square test. Population in this research were out patients Public Health Center sindangbarag. The sample 120 respondents with total of sampling. The results of the study were corelation knowledge of to gastritis incident based on the analysis of bivariat by using test chi-square computerized the results of statistical corel tests obtained p value 0.013 0.05 so H0 rejected. While relations education level with the gastritis incident based on the results of the analysis bivariat test chi-square use computerized obtained the results of statistical tests obtained p value 0.0001 0.05 so H0 rejected it could be concluded a significant between knowledge and the level of education with the gastritis incident corelation at Public Health Center sindangbarang cianjur District it is advised that need to effort to promotional and preventive especially with regard to knowledge of gastritis as information about gastritis and counseling on a preventive manner gastritis that can reduce or prevent disease gastritis.

  14. The Effects of Vocabulary Knowledge and Dictionary Use on EFL Reading Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Zhifa

    2013-01-01

    The present study mainly investigated the effects of vocabulary knowledge and dictionary use on EFL reading performance. The results show that scores on vocabulary size, specific vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are highly and positively correlated. Scores on specific vocabulary knowledge are more closely correlated with reading…

  15. Knowledge levels of intensive care nurses on prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akın Korhan, Esra; Hakverdioğlu Yönt, Gülendam; Parlar Kılıç, Serap; Uzelli, Derya

    2014-01-01

    Ventilator-associated pneumonia constitutes a significant concern for ventilated patients in the intensive care unit. This study was planned to evaluate the knowledge of nurses working in general intensive care units concerning evidence-based measures for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia. This study design is cross-sectional. It was carried out on nurses working in the general intensive care units of anesthiology and re-animation clinics. Collection of research data was performed by means of a Nurse Identification Form and a Form of Evidence-Based Knowledge concerning the Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia. Characterization statistics were shown by percentage, median and interquartile range. Chi-square and Wilcoxon tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used as appropriate. The median value of total points scored by nurses on the questionnaire was 4.00 ± 2.00. The difference between the nurses' education levels, duration of work experience and participation in in-service training programmes on ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention and the median value of their total scores on the questionnaire was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). The conclusion of the study was that critical care nurses' knowledge about ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention is poor. © 2013 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

  16. Unpacking 'ethno-finance': an introduction to indigenous 'financial' knowledge systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. J.C. Bray

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available For too many individuals, indigenous knowledge systems provoke no enthusiasm as they are perceived to be dormant and irrelevant. This article attempts to change this perception by highlighting the need for an in-depth knowledge of indigenous knowledge systems and, moreover, indigenous knowledge systems within finance. A comprehensive definition of ethno-finance, as well as examples, is supplied to help in the development of research opportunities within the sub-field of ethno-finance regarding indigenous knowledge systems.

  17. Assessment of Elementary School Teachers’ Level of Knowledge and Attitude regarding Traumatic Dental Injuries in the United Arab Emirates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manal A. Awad

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. In this cross-sectional study, the level of knowledge and attitude of elementary school teachers regarding traumatic dental injuries (TDI were assessed. Materials and Methods. A questionnaire was distributed to 330 elementary school teachers in 30 randomly selected schools in the Emirates of Sharjah and Dubai. The questionnaire collected information on participants’ demographic characteristics, first aid training, and attitude about emergency management of TDI. Results. 292 teachers (88% completed the questionnaires; of these, 95% were females, and 50% of the participants had first aid training. Knowledge about tooth avulsion was inadequate, and first aid training was not associated with correct responses to management of avulsed teeth (p>0.05. A significantly higher percentage of younger teachers (p<0.05 expressed the need for future education on TDI management. A significantly higher percentage of participants who had an educational position (95% indicated that they did not have enough knowledge regarding TDI compared to physical education teachers (79% and administrators (87% (p<0.05. Conclusions. Elementary school teachers in the UAE have a low level of knowledge regarding the management of dental trauma. Educational programs that address TDI are needed and could improve the elementary school teachers’ level of knowledge in emergency management of TDI.

  18. A case for the sentence in reading comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Cheryl M

    2009-04-01

    This article addresses sentence comprehension as a requirement of reading comprehension within the framework of the narrow view of reading that was advocated in the prologue to this forum. The focus is on the comprehension requirements of complex sentences, which are characteristic of school texts. Topics included in this discussion are (a) evidence linking sentence comprehension and syntax with reading, (b) syntactic properties of sentences that make them difficult to understand, (c) clinical applications for the assessment of sentence comprehension as it relates to reading, and (d) evidence and methods for addressing sentence complexity in treatment. Sentence complexity can create comprehension problems for struggling readers. The contribution of sentence comprehension to successful reading has been overlooked in models that emphasize domain-general comprehension strategies at the text level. The author calls for the evaluation of sentence comprehension within the context of content domains where complex sentences are found.

  19. The German Program and International Education: A Comprehensive Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McConeghy, Patrick M.

    1990-01-01

    Argues for a comprehensive approach toward teaching German as a second language in response to students' needs to acquire a global perspective. Rather than stressing only syntax, grammar, and vocabulary, German language education should also attempt to teach sensitivity to, knowledge of, and insight into German culture. (JL)

  20. Hypertext comprehension of deaf and hard-of-hearing students and students with specific language impairment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blom, H.C.; Segers, P.C.J.; Hermans, D.; Knoors, H.E.T.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2017-01-01

    This paper provides insight into the reading comprehension of hierarchically structured hypertexts within D/HH students and students with SLI. To our knowledge, it is the first study on hypertext comprehension in D/HH students and students with SLI, and it also considers the role of working memory.

  1. Exploring Australian women’s level of nutrition knowledge during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bookari K

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Khlood Bookari,1 Heather Yeatman,1 Moira Williamson2,3 1School of Health and Society, Faculty of Social Sciences, 2School of Nursing, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 3School of Nursing and Midwifery, Higher Education Division, Central Queensland University, Noosaville, QLD, Australia Background: The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE for pregnancy provides a number of food- and nutrition-related recommendations to assist pregnant women in optimizing their dietary behavior. However, there are limited data demonstrating pregnant women’s knowledge of the AGHE recommendations. This study investigated Australian pregnant women’s knowledge of the AGHE and related dietary recommendations for maintaining a healthy pregnancy. The variations in nutrition knowledge were compared with demographic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional study assessed eight different nutrition knowledge domains and the demographic characteristics of pregnant women. Four hundred women across Australia completed a multidimensional online survey based on validated and existing measures. Results: More than half of the pregnant women surveyed (65% were not familiar with the AGHE recommendations. The basic recommendations to eat more fruit, vegetables, bread, and cereals but less meat were poorly understood. An in-depth investigation of knowledge of nutrition information revealed misconceptions in a range of areas, including standard serving size, nutrients content of certain foods, energy density of fat, and the importance of key nutrients in pregnancy. Univariate analysis revealed significant demographic variation in nutrition knowledge scores. Multiple regression analysis confirmed the significant independent effects on respondents’ nutrition knowledge score (P<0.000 of the education level, income, age, stage of pregnancy, language, and having a health/nutrition qualification. The model indicated that

  2. Knowledge-based analysis of microarrays for the discovery of transcriptional regulation relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seok, Junhee; Kaushal, Amit; Davis, Ronald W; Xiao, Wenzhong

    2010-01-18

    The large amount of high-throughput genomic data has facilitated the discovery of the regulatory relationships between transcription factors and their target genes. While early methods for discovery of transcriptional regulation relationships from microarray data often focused on the high-throughput experimental data alone, more recent approaches have explored the integration of external knowledge bases of gene interactions. In this work, we develop an algorithm that provides improved performance in the prediction of transcriptional regulatory relationships by supplementing the analysis of microarray data with a new method of integrating information from an existing knowledge base. Using a well-known dataset of yeast microarrays and the Yeast Proteome Database, a comprehensive collection of known information of yeast genes, we show that knowledge-based predictions demonstrate better sensitivity and specificity in inferring new transcriptional interactions than predictions from microarray data alone. We also show that comprehensive, direct and high-quality knowledge bases provide better prediction performance. Comparison of our results with ChIP-chip data and growth fitness data suggests that our predicted genome-wide regulatory pairs in yeast are reasonable candidates for follow-up biological verification. High quality, comprehensive, and direct knowledge bases, when combined with appropriate bioinformatic algorithms, can significantly improve the discovery of gene regulatory relationships from high throughput gene expression data.

  3. Knowledge-Based Governance of “Green” Nuclear Energy: the Role of Comprehensive Life-long Models of RW Streams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rakitskaya, T.; Malinovskii, P.

    2016-01-01

    Full text: The global competitiveness of nuclear power depends on the transition to a new generation of high technologies—High blend (convergent, hybrid, additive and so on) which provide a synthesis of the results of previous generations of technology—High tech, High hume, High touch. Implementation of “green” projects of nuclear power depends not only on the solution to the problems with the choice of types of fast (breed) reactors generation IV for transition to closed (partial or complete) nuclear fuel cycle (High tech), but while ensuring safe and effective long-term of radioactive waste management with the participation of all key stakeholders (High hume). The generation High touch technologies creates additional competitive advantages of nuclear power, associated with the use of open innovations 2.0. In Russia in the year 2011 the Federal Act N o 190-FZ was adopted, which establishes the principle of compulsory final disposal of all radioactive wastes and the cost-effectiveness of their burial. From this time the new technology practice are build in Russia: Knowledge based governance in the radioactive waste management with the use of the comprehensive life-long models of radioactive waste streams. (author

  4. Factors associated with knowledge of diabetes in patients with type 2 diabetes using the Diabetes Knowledge Test validated with Rasch analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva K Fenwick

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: In patients with Type 2 diabetes, to determine the factors associated with diabetes knowledge, derived from Rasch analysis, and compare results with a traditional raw scoring method. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODS: Participants in this cross-sectional study underwent a comprehensive clinical and biochemical assessment. Diabetes knowledge (main outcome was assessed using the Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT which was psychometrically validated using Rasch analysis. The relationship between diabetes knowledge and risk factors identified during univariate analyses was examined using multivariable linear regression. The results using raw and Rasch-transformed methods were descriptively compared. RESULTS: 181 patients (mean age±standard deviation = 66.97±9.17 years; 113 (62% male were included. Using Rasch-derived DKT scores, those with greater education (β = 1.14; CI: 0.25,2.04, p = 0.013; had seen an ophthalmologist (β = 1.65; CI: 0.63,2.66, p = 0.002, and spoke English at home (β = 1.37; CI: 0.43,2.31, p = 0.005 had significantly better diabetes knowledge than those with less education, had not seen an ophthalmologist and spoke a language other than English, respectively. Patients who were members of the National Diabetes Service Scheme (NDSS and had seen a diabetes educator also had better diabetes knowledge than their counterparts. Higher HbA1c level was independently associated with worse diabetes knowledge. Using raw measures, access to an ophthalmologist and NDSS membership were not independently associated with diabetes knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Sociodemographic, clinical and service use factors were independently associated with diabetes knowledge based on both raw scores and Rasch-derived scores, which supports the implementation of targeted interventions to improve patients' knowledge. Choice of psychometric analytical method can affect study outcomes and should be considered during intervention

  5. Factors Associated with Knowledge of Diabetes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Using the Diabetes Knowledge Test Validated with Rasch Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenwick, Eva K.; Xie, Jing; Rees, Gwyn; Finger, Robert P.; Lamoureux, Ecosse L.

    2013-01-01

    Objective In patients with Type 2 diabetes, to determine the factors associated with diabetes knowledge, derived from Rasch analysis, and compare results with a traditional raw scoring method. Research Design & Methods Participants in this cross-sectional study underwent a comprehensive clinical and biochemical assessment. Diabetes knowledge (main outcome) was assessed using the Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT) which was psychometrically validated using Rasch analysis. The relationship between diabetes knowledge and risk factors identified during univariate analyses was examined using multivariable linear regression. The results using raw and Rasch-transformed methods were descriptively compared. Results 181 patients (mean age±standard deviation = 66.97±9.17 years; 113 (62%) male) were included. Using Rasch-derived DKT scores, those with greater education (β = 1.14; CI: 0.25,2.04, p = 0.013); had seen an ophthalmologist (β = 1.65; CI: 0.63,2.66, p = 0.002), and spoke English at home (β = 1.37; CI: 0.43,2.31, p = 0.005) had significantly better diabetes knowledge than those with less education, had not seen an ophthalmologist and spoke a language other than English, respectively. Patients who were members of the National Diabetes Service Scheme (NDSS) and had seen a diabetes educator also had better diabetes knowledge than their counterparts. Higher HbA1c level was independently associated with worse diabetes knowledge. Using raw measures, access to an ophthalmologist and NDSS membership were not independently associated with diabetes knowledge. Conclusions Sociodemographic, clinical and service use factors were independently associated with diabetes knowledge based on both raw scores and Rasch-derived scores, which supports the implementation of targeted interventions to improve patients' knowledge. Choice of psychometric analytical method can affect study outcomes and should be considered during intervention development. PMID:24312484

  6. Assessing Knowledge Levels of Secondary School Physical Education and Sports Teachers about Inclusive Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydin, Mensure

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the research is to assess knowledge levels of physical education teachers in inclusive education in secondary schools. For the research, the survey method was employed. It consisted of 55 physical education teachers employed in 47 secondary schools included in inclusive education program under Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of…

  7. The effects of linguistic modification on ESL students' comprehension of nursing course test items.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosher, Susan; Bowles, Melissa

    2008-01-01

    Recent research has indicated that language may be a source of construct-irrelevant variance for non-native speakers of English, or English as a second language (ESL) students, when they take exams. As a result, exams may not accurately measure knowledge of nursing content. One accommodation often used to level the playing field for ESL students is linguistic modification, a process by which the reading load of test items is reduced while the content and integrity of the item are maintained. Research on the effects of linguistic modification has been conducted on examinees in the K-12 population, but is just beginning in other areas. This study describes the collaborative process by which items from a pathophysiology exam were linguistically modified and subsequently evaluated for comprehensibility by ESL students. Findings indicate that in a majority of cases, modification improved examinees' comprehension of test items. Implications for test item writing and future research are discussed.

  8. Role of Knowledge Based Communities in Knowledge Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Ion CEPTUREANU

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In the new economy, knowledge is an essential component of economic and social systems. The organizational focus has to be on building knowledge-based management, development of human resource and building intellectual capital capabilities. Knowledge-based management is defined, at company level, by economic processes that emphasize creation, selling, buying, learning, storing, developing, sharing and protection of knowledge as a decisive condition for profit and long-term sustainability of the company. Hence, knowledge is, concurently, according to a majoritiy of specialists, raw material, capital, product and an essential input. Knowledge-based communities are one of the main constituent elements of a framework for knowledge based management. These are peer networks consisting of practitioners within an organization, supporting each other to perform better through the exchange and sharing of knowledge. Some large companies have contributed or supported the establishment of numerous communities of practice, some of which may have several thousand members. They operate in different ways, are of different sizes, have different areas of interest and addresses knowledge at different levels of its maturity. This article examines the role of knowledge-based communities from the perspective of knowledge based management, given that the arrangements for organizational learning, creating, sharing, use of knowledge within organizations become more heterogeneous and take forms more difficult to predict by managers and specialists.

  9. Sentence comprehension following moderate closed head injury in adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leikin, Mark; Ibrahim, Raphiq; Aharon-Peretz, Judith

    2012-09-01

    The current study explores sentence comprehension impairments among adults following moderate closed head injury. It was hypothesized that if the factor of syntactic complexity significantly affects sentence comprehension in these patients, it would testify to the existence of syntactic processing deficit along with working-memory problems. Thirty-six adults (18 closed head injury patients and 18 healthy controls matched in age, gender, and IQ) participated in the study. A picture-sentence matching task together with various tests for memory, language, and reading abilities were used to explore whether sentence comprehension impairments exist as a result of a deficit in syntactic processing or of working-memory dysfunction. Results indicate significant impairment in sentence comprehension among adults with closed head injury compared with their non-head-injured peers. Results also reveal that closed head injury patients demonstrate considerable decline in working memory, short-term memory, and semantic knowledge. Analysis of the results shows that memory impairment and syntactic complexity contribute significantly to sentence comprehension difficulties in closed head injury patients. At the same time, the presentation mode (spoken or written language) was found to have no effect on comprehension among adults with closed head injury, and their reading abilities appear to be relatively intact.

  10. An Object-oriented Knowledge Link Model for General Knowledge Management

    OpenAIRE

    Xiao-hong, CHEN; Bang-chuan, LAI

    2005-01-01

    The knowledge link is the basic on knowledge share and the indispensable part in knowledge standardization management. In this paper, a object-oriented knowledge link model is proposed for general knowledge management by using objectoriented representation based on knowledge levels system. In the model, knowledge link is divided into general knowledge link and integrated knowledge with corresponding link properties and methods. What’s more, its BNF syntax is described and designed.

  11. The Development of Metaphor Comprehension and Its Relationship with Relational Verbal Reasoning and Executive Function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carriedo, Nuria; Corral, Antonio; Montoro, Pedro R; Herrero, Laura; Ballestrino, Patricia; Sebastián, Iraia

    2016-01-01

    Our main objective was to analyse the different contributions of relational verbal reasoning (analogical and class inclusion) and executive functioning to metaphor comprehension across development. We postulated that both relational reasoning and executive functioning should predict individual and developmental differences. However, executive functioning would become increasingly involved when metaphor comprehension is highly demanding, either because of the metaphors' high difficulty (relatively novel metaphors in the absence of a context) or because of the individual's special processing difficulties, such as low levels of reading experience or low semantic knowledge. Three groups of participants, 11-year-olds, 15-year-olds and young adults, were assessed in different relational verbal reasoning tasks-analogical and class-inclusion-and in executive functioning tasks-updating information in working memory, inhibition, and shifting. The results revealed clear progress in metaphor comprehension between ages 11 and 15 and between ages 15 and 21. However, the importance of executive function in metaphor comprehension was evident by age 15 and was restricted to updating information in working memory and cognitive inhibition. Participants seemed to use two different strategies to interpret metaphors: relational verbal reasoning and executive functioning. This was clearly shown when comparing the performance of the "more efficient" participants in metaphor interpretation with that of the "less efficient" ones. Whereas in the first case none of the executive variables or those associated with relational verbal reasoning were significantly related to metaphor comprehension, in the latter case, both groups of variables had a clear predictor effect.

  12. Bye-bye mummy - Word comprehension in 9-month-old infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syrnyk, Corinne; Meints, Kerstin

    2017-06-01

    From the little research that exists on the onset of word learning in infants under the age of 1 year, the evidence suggests an idiosyncratic comprehensive vocabulary is developing. To further this field, we tested 49 nine-month-old infants by pre-assessing their vocabularies using a UK version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Intermodal preferential looking (IPL) was then used to examine word comprehension including: (a) words parents reported as understood, (b) words infants are expected to understand according to age-related frequency data, and (c) words parents had reported infants not to understand. Assuming parents are good assessors of their infant's early word knowledge, we expected a naming effect with IPL in condition (a), but not condition (c). As language research uses standard samples of words, we expected a discernible naming effect in condition (b). Results show clear IPL evidence of word comprehension for those words that parents reported their infants to understand (condition a). This agreement between methods demonstrates the usefulness of parental communicative developmental inventory in conjunction with IPL to assess infant's individual word knowledge. No naming effects were found for condition (c) and the lack of naming effects in (b) shows that pre-established word lists may not give a sufficiently clear picture of infant's true vocabulary - an important insight for researchers and practitioners alike. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Most word comprehension research is mainly based on older infants (12, 15, or 18 months of age to 2-3 years and older). Some evidence of word comprehension for common and novel nouns in 6- to 10-month-olds. Existing evidence uses either only specific word groups or nouns combined with specific training and/or repetition procedures. What does this study add? Nine-month-olds display word knowledge independent of context and without repetitions of words

  13. Level of confidence in venepuncture and knowledge in determining causes of blood sample haemolysis among clinical staff and phlebotomists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makhumula-Nkhoma, Nellie; Whittaker, Vicki; McSherry, Robert

    2015-02-01

    To investigate the association between confidence level in venepuncture and knowledge in determining causes of blood sample haemolysis among clinical staff and phlebotomists. Various collection methods are used to perform venepuncture, also called phlebotomy, the act of drawing blood from a patient using a needle. The collection method used has an impact on preanalytical blood sample haemolysis. Haemolysis is the breakdown of red blood cells, which makes the sample unsuitable. Despite available evidence on the common causes, extensive literature search showed a lack of published evidence on the association of haemolysis with staff confidence and knowledge. A quantitative primary research design using survey method. A purposive sample of 290 clinical staff and phlebotomists conducting venepuncture in one North England hospital participated in this quantitative survey. A three-section web-based questionnaire comprising demographic profile, confidence and competence levels, and knowledge sections was used to collect data in 2012. The chi-squared test for independence was used to compare the distribution of responses for categorical data. anova was used to determine mean difference in the knowledge scores of staff with different confidence levels. Almost 25% clinical staff and phlebotomists participated in the survey. There was an increase in confidence at the last venepuncture among staff of all categories. While doctors' scores were higher compared with healthcare assistants', p ≤ 0·001, nurses' were of wide range and lowest. There was no statistically significant difference (at the 5% level) in the total knowledge scores and confidence level at the last venepuncture F(2,4·690) = 1·67, p = 0·31 among staff of all categories. Evidence-based measures are required to boost staff knowledge base of preanalytical blood sample haemolysis for standardised and quality service. Monitoring and evaluation of the training, conducting and monitoring haemolysis rate are

  14. Socio-demographic factors affecting knowledge level of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the effects of selected ... Key words: Tuberculosis, National TB program, Rajshahi City, Knowledge index, Logistic regression model. ..... timate Patients' Costs: Pilot Results from two Districts.

  15. Assessment of knowledge on sexually transmitted infections and sexual risk behaviour in two rural districts of Bhutan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norbu, Kunzang; Mukhia, Sontosh; Tshokey

    2013-12-06

    The incidence of STI is high and increasing in Bhutan. Poor understanding of risky sexual behavior could be a cause. Comprehensive community surveys have not been previously done. This study was conducted to assess local knowledge on STIs and sexual risk behaviour in two rural districts of Bhutan: Gasa and Zhemgang. The study population included residents aged 15-49 years in the two districts. Health Assistants (HAs) visited all households to distribute questionnaires assessing understanding of knowledge on STIs and risk behaviour. Questionnaires were scored and analyzed. The average score was 61.6%. Respondents had highest knowledge about prevention and lowest about disease and complications. There was a positive correlation between level of education and knowledge on STI (P sexual behavior with 31.2% having sexual relationships with non-regular partners and 10.9% had extramarital sexual contacts. Regular use of condoms with non-regular partners was 49.1%. The most common reason for not using condom was unavailability during the sexual encounter. The study showed that despite increasing knowledge there was no reduction in risky sexual behaviour (p > 0.05). The study population had variable understanding of STIs and their complications. One in three persons practiced risky sexual behaviour, higher in men. Condom use was low. There was no reduction of risky sexual behaviour with increasing level of knowledge indicating that increasing level of knowledge does not necessarily reduce risky sexual behaviour.

  16. A rational inference approach to group and individual-level sentence comprehension performance in aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warren, Tessa; Dickey, Michael Walsh; Liburd, Teljer L

    2017-07-01

    The rational inference, or noisy channel, account of language comprehension predicts that comprehenders are sensitive to the probabilities of different interpretations for a given sentence and adapt as these probabilities change (Gibson, Bergen & Piantadosi, 2013). This account provides an important new perspective on aphasic sentence comprehension: aphasia may increase the likelihood of sentence distortion, leading people with aphasia (PWA) to rely more on the prior probability of an interpretation and less on the form or structure of the sentence (Gibson, Sandberg, Fedorenko, Bergen & Kiran, 2015). We report the results of a sentence-picture matching experiment that tested the predictions of the rational inference account and other current models of aphasic sentence comprehension across a variety of sentence structures. Consistent with the rational inference account, PWA showed similar sensitivity to the probability of particular kinds of form distortions as age-matched controls, yet overall their interpretations relied more on prior probability and less on sentence form. As predicted by rational inference, but not by other models of sentence comprehension in aphasia, PWA's interpretations were more faithful to the form for active and passive sentences than for direct object and prepositional object sentences. However contra rational inference, there was no evidence that individual PWA's severity of syntactic or semantic impairment predicted their sensitivity to form versus the prior probability of a sentence, as cued by semantics. These findings confirm and extend previous findings that suggest the rational inference account holds promise for explaining aphasic and neurotypical comprehension, but they also raise new challenges for the account. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Do multimedia based information services increase knowledge and satisfaction in head and neck cancer patients?

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Souza, V; Blouin, E; Zeitouni, A; Muller, K; Allison, P J

    2013-09-01

    To investigate the impact of a Multimode Comprehensive Tailored Information Package (MCTIP) on Head and Neck (H&N) cancer patients' knowledge and satisfaction. A non-randomized controlled trial was conducted at two participating hospitals. One hospital delivered the MCTIP and the second hospital provided normal care. The study was approved by local ethical committees. Patients with Stage III and IV cancer in the H&N region were recruited between their diagnosis and treatment. All participants were evaluated at baseline, 3 and 6months later using the Satisfaction with Cancer Information Profile (SCIP) and a Cancer Knowledge questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, T tests, chi square tests and finally linear mixed model analyses to test the potential impact of the intervention. A total of 103 participants participated in this study and complete data at all time points were collected for 96. The Test group reported higher levels of Cancer Knowledge and Satisfaction at all time points (pmultimedia based tailored information and higher levels of satisfaction and cancer knowledge compared to those who receive information in ad hoc manner. Exploring patients' informational needs is necessary before planning information services to them. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. In Pursuit of Natural Logics for Ontology-Structured Knowledge Bases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nilsson, Jørgen Fischer

    2015-01-01

    We argue for adopting a form of natural logic for ontology-structured knowledge bases with complex sentences. This serves to ease reading of knowledge base for domain experts and to make reasoning and querying and path-finding more comprehensible. We explain natural logic as a development from tr...

  19. Language Skills in Classical Chinese Text Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Kit-ling

    2018-01-01

    This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the role of lower- and higher-level language skills in classical Chinese (CC) text comprehension. A CC word and sentence translation test, text comprehension test, and questionnaire were administered to 393 Secondary Four students; and 12 of these were randomly selected to…

  20. Improving participant comprehension in the informed consent process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohn, Elizabeth; Larson, Elaine

    2007-01-01

    To critically analyze studies published within the past decade about participants' comprehension of informed consent in clinical research and to identify promising intervention strategies. Integrative review of literature. The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched. Inclusion criteria included studies (a) published between January 1, 1996 and January 1, 2007, (b) designed as descriptive or interventional studies of comprehension of informed consent for clinical research, (c) conducted in nonpsychiatric adult populations who were either patients or volunteer participants, (d) written in English, and (e) published in peer-reviewed journals. Of the 980 studies identified, 319 abstracts were screened, 154 studies were reviewed, and 23 met the inclusion criteria. Thirteen studies (57%) were descriptive, and 10 (43%) were interventional. Interventions tested included simplified written consent documents, multimedia approaches, and the use of a trained professional (consent educator) to assist in the consent process. Collectively, no single intervention strategy was consistently associated with improved comprehension. Studies also varied in regard to the definition of comprehension and the tools used to measure it. Despite increasing regulatory scrutiny, deficiencies still exist in participant comprehension of the research in which they participate, as well as differences in how comprehension is measured and assessed. No single intervention was identified as consistently successful for improving participant comprehension, and results indicated that any successful consent process should at a minimum include various communication modes and is likely to require one-to-one interaction with someone knowledgeable about the study.

  1. Impact of information sources on the knowledge of adolescents about hepatitis B

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thaver, A.M.; Kamal, A.

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To assess the impact of various sources of information on school going adolescents (belonging to higher social strata between ages 14-19 years) regarding Hepatitis B; its various types, importance, symptoms and cures. Methods: A self-administered survey was conducted among the secondary school students (9-12 grades) of a private school for this purpose. Results: A total of 160 students were approached from which 158 (98%) agreed to take part in the survey. Overall 98% students claimed to know something about Hepatitis B. But only 52% of all had comprehensive and correct knowledge about symptoms, causes and measures for prevention of Hepatitis B. Their major sources of knowledge were parents (57%) and television (56%) followed by newspapers and books (31%), doctors (30%) teachers and peers (29%). Conclusion: Only half of the adolescents had correct knowledge about Hepatitis B, which infers that an average person's level of knowledge would have many misperceptions and myths. Television and parents are the most influential sources of imparting health education to adolescents. Thus it is imperative that these sources of knowledge strengthened to provide correct information to adolescents. (author)

  2. The importance of comprehensive agricultural education in land-grant institutions: a historical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, P M; Field, T G; Green, R D; Rollin, B E

    2000-06-01

    Any thorough examination of the present and future of agricultural education must certainly begin with a look into its past. Since the creation of the United States, many leading American philosophers have viewed a strong agrarian culture as the bedrock of American vigor. These same philosophers repeatedly noted the significance of comprehensive agricultural education to a nation rich in agricultural wealth. The signing of the Agricultural Colleges Act legitimized the concept of formal education in the agricultural sciences and provided funding for such education. The Act, which came to be known as the Morrill Act, after one of its primary authors, stressed the importance of comprehensive education. In fact, the inclusion of liberal studies was specifically mentioned in the Morrill Act and was defended repeatedly by Morrill himself. Comprehensive education prevented graduating technically trained students who were lacking in the basic outcomes of education--critical, comprehensive problem solving, cohesive thought, and effective communication. However, throughout history, the demands of a growing population coupled with rapid advancements in scientific knowledge led to a gradual move away from comprehensive education in agricultural sciences toward increasing specialization, resulting in more narrowly trained students. Today's agricultural students are technically well versed but often lack the skill and knowledge required for cohesive thought and critical problem solving. Addressing the multitude of challenges facing leaders in the future of agriculture requires much more than technical skill. These challenges require quick, yet careful thinkers and communicators who can respond to changing market structure and consumer demand in a dynamic way. Students who are a product of a conscious move toward amalgamation of burgeoning scientific knowledge and technical prowess with an integrative education emphasizing relationships between disciplines would better serve

  3. The Comparison of Knowledge Level and Awareness of Osteoporosis between Women and Men

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebru Altın

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Osteoporosis is a disease which causes fractures depending on decreasing bone mineral density. Nutrition and life style which support the bone health must be known for prevention of the disease. This study was conducted to assess awareness about OP between men and women. Materials and Methods: The study was performed between the dates November 2012-May 2014 in Denizli Pamukkale University. A form including sociodemographic features, Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT and Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS were used in the collection of the data for evaluation the osteoporosis knowledge level and awarenes of the volunteers who accept to attend the study. Results: Hundred forty-seven volunteers of 96 women and 51 men attended to the study. Mean age was 36.1±14,6 years and 6.1% of the participants had a diagnosis osteoporosis and 13.6% of the participants had a family history of osteoporosis. When the participants were compared according to gender, there were statistically significant difference between two groups for education level, had own and a family history of osteoporosis (p<0,05. Men had higher education level than the women group. Women have higher own and familiy history of osteoporosis. When the scores of the questionnaires were compared between women and men, the mean score of the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale- Susceptibility score was 16.8±5.0 and 13.7±4.0, respectively. The women’s score were higher than men (p<0.05. Significant difference wasn’t found in the other subscales. Conclusion: Despite the high educational level of the men, it was detected that the level of the osteoporosis susceptibility was lower than women. High Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale level of women shows that women think osteoporosis is serious illness. Since the basic treatment approach was the prevention for osteoporosis, the education programs must be organized for either women who have high risk, or also for men to improve the

  4. Meeting the Demands of Science Reforms: A Comprehensive Professional Development for Practicing Middle School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pringle, Rose M.; Mesa, Jennifer; Hayes, Lynda

    2018-03-01

    Preparing teachers to teach science consistent with current reforms in science education is a daunting enterprise given a lack of high-quality science professional development (PD) adaptable across various contexts (Wilson 2013). This study examines the impact of a comprehensive professional development program on middle school teachers' disciplinary content knowledge and instructional practices. In this mixed methods investigation, data sources included classroom observations, content knowledge assessments, surveys, and a range of interviews. The teachers in the program showed significant improvements in their disciplinary content knowledge and demonstrated through their enactment of a reform-based curriculum, a range of ability levels to translate their knowledge into instructional practices consistent with the principles espoused in the PD. We conclude that programs that attend to elements of effective PD identified in the literature can positively impact middle school science teachers' enactment of reform-based science teaching. Our findings extend these elements to include the strategic engagement of school and district leadership and the provision of a safe learning space for teachers to collectively engage in reciprocal learning and critical practice. This study has worldwide implications for designing PD for science teachers and for extending our understanding of the impact of each element.

  5. How logical reasoning mediates the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

    The present study aimed to examine the role of logical reasoning in the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension in 146 fourth grade Dutch children. We assessed their standardized reading comprehension measure, along with their decoding efficiency and vocabulary as measures of lexical quality, syllogistic reasoning as measure of (verbal) logical reasoning, and nonverbal reasoning as a control measure. Syllogistic reasoning was divided into a measure tapping basic, coherence inferencing skill using logical syllogisms, and a measure tapping elaborative inferencing skill using indeterminate syllogisms. Results showed that both types of syllogisms partly mediated the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension, but also had a unique additional effect on reading comprehension. The indirect effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension via syllogisms was driven by vocabulary knowledge. It is concluded that measures of syllogistic reasoning account for higher-order thinking processes that are needed to make inferences in reading comprehension. The role of lexical quality appears to be pivotal in explaining the variation in reading comprehension both directly and indirectly via syllogistic reasoning.

  6. Quantitative and qualitative differences in the lexical knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children on the LITMUS-CLT task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altman, Carmit; Goldstein, Tamara; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

    2017-01-01

    While bilingual children follow the same milestones of language acquisition as monolingual children do in learning the syntactic patterns of their second language (L2), their vocabulary size in L2 often lags behind compared to monolinguals. The present study explores the comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in Hebrew, by two groups of 5- to 6-year olds with typical language development: monolingual Hebrew speakers (N = 26), and Russian-Hebrew bilinguals (N = 27). Analyses not only show quantitative gaps between comprehension and production and between nouns and verbs, with a bilingual effect in both, but also a qualitative difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in their production errors: monolinguals' errors reveal knowledge of the language rules despite temporary access difficulties, while bilinguals' errors reflect gaps in their knowledge of Hebrew (L2). The nature of Hebrew as a Semitic language allows one to explore this qualitative difference in the semantic and morphological level.

  7. The effect of an education program on the knowledge level and attitudes about Diabetes Mellitus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Paola de Pádua Gandra

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the impact of an education program on the knowledge level and attitudes about diabetes in diabetic patients. Methods: It was a before-and-after intervention study carried out in two moments: before and twelve months after implementation of theDiabetes Education Program (PED. We evaluated 23 patients with diabetes mellitus followed by two Basic Health Units from Diamantina-MG, Brazil. The data collection instrument was a semi-structured questionnaire with questions about personal data, educational level, disease definition, duration, causes, treatment, and difficulties in controlling it and the source of information on diabetes. The effect of the program on knowledge and attitudes was evaluated by comparing the number of correct answers before and after 12 months of its start, as well as changing attitudes about the disease. Results: We observed an increase in the number of correct answers on the diabetes symptoms and complications. The same occurred on the recognition of the importance of physical activity (27% and on the self-application of insulin(40% for treatments. In both moments, more than 50% of subjects reported having difficultyin the treatment of diabetes, and following the diet was the most referred. Only 4% answered correctly on the causes of diabetes in both moments. Conclusion: There was an improvement of the conceptual notions of the patients, especially on the definition of the disease, its symptoms and complications. Factors such as education level, age and income may have influenced the acquisition and incorporation of knowledge, changing it into concrete actions.

  8. Comprehensive maternity support and shared care in Switzerland: Comparison of levels of satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floris, Lucia; Irion, Olivier; Bonnet, Jocelyne; Politis Mercier, Maria-Pia; de Labrusse, Claire

    2018-04-01

    According to the woman-centred care model, continuous care by a midwife has a positive impact on satisfaction. Comprehensive support is a model of team midwifery care implemented in the large Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland, which has organised shared care according to the biomedical model of practice. This model of care insures a follow up by a specific group of midwives, during perinatal period. The goal of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction and outcomes of the obstetric and neonatal care of women who received comprehensive support during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, and compare them to women who received shared care. This was a prospective comparative study between two models of care in low risk pregnant women. The satisfaction and outcomes of care were evaluated using the French version of the Women's Experiences Maternity Care Scale, two months after giving birth. In total, 186 women in the comprehensive support group and 164 in the control group returned the questionnaire. After adjustment, the responses of those in the comprehensive support programme were strongly associated with optimal satisfaction, and they had a significantly lower epidural rate. No differences were observed between the two groups in the mode of delivery. The satisfaction relative to this support programme was associated with a birth plan for intrapartum and postnatal care. Team midwifery had a positive impact on satisfaction, with no adverse effects on the obstetric and neonatal outcomes, when compared to shared care. Copyright © 2017 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Establishing Shared Knowledge about Globalization in Asia and the Arctic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø; Graczyk, Piotr

    2016-01-01

    We discuss the role of knowledge in relations between Arctic communities and Asia (the Arctic Council observer states: China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea). We argue that mutual and shared knowledge between Arctic communities and Asia is necessary for local benefits and comprehensively su...... sustainable development for Arctic communities under globalization....

  10. Investigation of the relationship between knowledge concerning radiation and the level of anxiety toward radiation in student nurses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kunugita, Naoki

    2008-01-01

    In the medical fields, the use of radiation is indispensable in diagnosis, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and various other areas. On the other hand, great anxiety is often felt due to the misunderstanding of radiation, and this anxiety is seen in not only patients but also nurses. In this study, a questionnaire survey about knowledge of radiation and the level of anxiety was carried out in student nurses for three years from 2005 to 2007. The questionnaire included the level of anxiety about radiation and 12 basic question items concerning radiation. The results showed that the student with poor knowledge about radiation showed high anxiety. After a series of lectures concerning radiation, the acquisition of knowledge and a decrease in anxiety were observed in the students. However, it was still shown that people with scarce knowledge concerning radiation still had high anxiety at the end of the lectures. In conclusion, it was shown that education about radiation is necessary to decrease anxiety about radiation among nurses in medical care. (author)

  11. A research on comprehension differences between print and screen reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szu-Yuan Sun

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Since the 1980s, extensive research has been conducted comparing reading comprehension from printed text and computer screens. The conclusions, however, are not very consistent. As reading from computer screens requires a certain degree of individual technical skill, such variables should be objectively taken into consideration when conducting an experiment regarding the comparison between print and screen reading. This study analyses the difference in the level of understanding of the two presentational formats (text on printed pages and hypertext on computer screens for people between 45-54 years of age (i.e. “middleaged” adults. In our experimental findings there were no significant differences between the levels of comprehension for print and screen presentations. With regard to individual differences in gender, age group and educational level, the findings are as follows: gender and education effects on print reading comprehension performance were significant, while those on screen reading comprehension performance were not. For middle-aged computer learners, the main effect of age group on both print and screen reading comprehension performance was insignificant. In contrast, linear texts of traditional paper-based material are better for middle-aged readers’ literal text comprehension, while hypertext is beneficial to their inferential text comprehension. It is also suggested that hypermedia could be used as a cognitive tool for improving middle-aged adults’ inferential abilities on reading comprehension, provided that they were trained adequately to use available computers.

  12. A Model of Reading Comprehension in Chinese Elementary School Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeung, Pui-sze; Ho, Connie Suk-han; Chan, David Wai-ock; Chung, Kevin Kien-hoa; Wong, Yau-kai

    2013-01-01

    The relationships of reading-related skills (rapid naming, morphological awareness, syntactic skills, discourse skills, and verbal working memory) and word reading to reading comprehension were examined among 248 Chinese fourth graders in Hong Kong. Multiple regression analysis results showed that syntactic skills (word order knowledge,…

  13. Level of knowledge, attitudes and substance use among students of primary and secondary schools in Belgrade 2010/2011: Pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrijević Ivan,

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to organize prevention of substance abuse in the community, it is necessary to provide research on the level of knowledge, attitudes and patterns of use of particular substances within youth. In Belgrade, the Commission for the prevention of substance abuse among youth has done the research during the 2010/2011. The representative sample consisted of 1103 students from 16 primary and secondary schools in the city of Belgrade. We applied a specially designed questionnaire on the level of knowledge for particular classes of substances as well as new forms of addiction (internet, gambling. Important are data on different levels of students' knowledge about certain classes of substances. The low level of correct answers was noted for the way of cannabis use (5.3%, the consequences of amphetamines use (0.8%, the effects of opiates (1.9%, ways of using opiates (1.4%, effects of steroids (0.7%, the types of inhalants (3.8%, types of synthetic drugs (18.7% and the ability to detect substances in the urine (0.5%. The high level of correct answers was noted on the issue of the consequences of using marijuana (84.4%, sedatives (89.4%, possibility the Internet addiction (85.7%, computer games dependence (86.4% and betting (90.9%. This work provide guidelines for educational programs in order to improve students' knowledge in this field.

  14. An integration architecture for knowledge management system and business process management system

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jung, J.; Choi, I.; Song, M.S.

    2007-01-01

    Recently, interests in the notion of process-oriented knowledge management (PKM) from academia and industry have been significantly increased. Comprehensive research and development requirements along with a cogent framework, however, have not been proposed for integrating knowledge management (KM)

  15. Managing heterogeneous knowledge: A Theory of External Knowledge Integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraaijenbrink, Jeroen; Wijnhoven, Alphonsus B.J.M.

    2008-01-01

    Knowledge integration has been theorised at the levels of organisations and inter-organisational dyads. However, no theory exists yet of the integration of knowledge from an organisation's environment. This paper addresses this void in the literature by presenting a theory of external knowledge

  16. Setting the stage for master's level success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Donna

    Comprehensive reading, writing, research, and study skills play a critical role in a graduate student's success and ability to contribute to a field of study effectively. The literature indicated a need to support graduate student success in the areas of mentoring, navigation, as well as research and writing. The purpose of this two-phased mixed methods explanatory study was to examine factors that characterize student success at the Master's level in the fields of education, sociology and social work. The study was grounded in a transformational learning framework which focused on three levels of learning: technical knowledge, practical or communicative knowledge, and emancipatory knowledge. The study included two data collection points. Phase one consisted of a Master's Level Success questionnaire that was sent via Qualtrics to graduate level students at three colleges and universities in the Central Valley of California: a California State University campus, a University of California campus, and a private college campus. The results of the chi-square indicated that seven questionnaire items were significant with p values less than .05. Phase two in the data collection included semi-structured interview questions that resulted in three themes emerged using Dedoose software: (1) the need for more language and writing support at the Master's level, (2) the need for mentoring, especially for second-language learners, and (3) utilizing the strong influence of faculty in student success. It is recommended that institutions continually assess and strengthen their programs to meet the full range of learners and to support students to degree completion.

  17. Behavior, nutrition and lifestyle in a comprehensive health and disease paradigm: skills and knowledge for a predictive, preventive and personalized medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trovato, Guglielmo M

    2012-03-22

    Health and disease of individuals and of populations are the result of three groups of risk factors: genetics, environment and behavior. Assessment, interventions and tailored changes are possible with integrated approaches more effective if respectful of individuals and different cultures. Assessment tools and integrated interventional strategies are available, but widespread knowledge, skills and competence of well trained individual Medical Doctors still lack. Mediterranean diet is an appropriate reference paradigm because encompasses consistent research background, affordable sustainability, widespread comprehensibility and attractiveness inside a cultural framework of competences and skills in which the Medical Doctors can personally manage the need of prediction (early diagnosis), prevention (intervention on healthy persons) and tailored therapy and follow-up for patients. This profile is flexible and adjustable according to specific needs and preferences due to different economic and ethno-cultural milieus. It can enhanced through on-site/e-learning Continuous Medical Education (CME), by training and using friendly and affordable equipments.

  18. Risk factors for child abuse: levels of knowledge and difficulties in family medicine. A mixed method study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regnaut, Océane; Jeu-Steenhouwer, Marie; Manaouil, Cécile; Gignon, Maxime

    2015-10-30

    Family physicians (FPs) have a central role in the detection and management of child abuse. According to the literature, only 2-5% of initial reports of child abuse come from the medical profession. The objective of this study was to assess levels of knowledge of risk factors for child abuse by Family Physicians (FPs) and the attention that the physicians pay to these risk factors. We conducted a mixed-method survey based on semi-structured interviews. 50 FPs practicing in the Somme County (northern France) were interviewed with closed and open questions. The FPs' level of knowledge of risk factors for child abuse and obstacles in the detection of child abuse were assessed. The FPs' level of knowledge of risk factors for child abuse was similar to that reported in the literature. However, FPs knew little about the significant role of prematurity. Likewise, the FP's training did not seem to influence their knowledge of risk factors. Fear of an incorrect diagnosis was the main obstacle to reporting a suspected case. The FPs considered that they were often alone in dealing with a difficult situation and considered that the judicial system and the social services were not sufficiently active. Few FPs had actually received specific training in the detection and management of child abuse but many stated their need for this type of training. FPs encounter many obstacles in the detection of child abuse, which sometimes make the FP reluctant to report a suspected or potential case. Medical education need to be improved in this field.

  19. The Knowledge Dimension of Production Transfer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riis, Jens Ove; Sørensen, Brian Vejrum; Madsen, Erik Skov

    2008-01-01

    Purpose Even companies with many years of experience in production transfer tend to focus much attention on planning the physical move and on the explicit knowledge associated with normal production. At best management is aware of the challenges of capturing the tacit individual and collective...... knowledge having been developed over years in the production unit to be transferred. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for capturing this hidden knowledge as a basis for supporting an accelerated learning on the new site. Methodology The guiding principle states that hidden knowledge can only...... be captured in the course of acting important incidents. Three case studies illustrate and support the developed model. Findings The case studies show that the classification of the model can be used in practice and provide a comprehensive picture of hidden knowledge to be developed in the new site. Research...

  20. Knowledge, attitude, and beliefs of young, college student blood donors about Human immunodeficiency virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubey, Anju; Sonker, Atul; Chaudhary, Rajendra K

    2014-01-01

    Young people, who tend to be healthy, idealistic, and motivated, are an excellent pool of potential voluntary unpaid blood donors. Recruiting and retaining young blood donors improves the long term safety and sufficiency of a country's blood supply. Knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) should play an important role in prevention of disease transmission. This study was a questionnaire based survey, conducted to explore the levels of knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about HIV in young college student blood donors. The results showed that the proportion of participants with comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention and transmission was lesser than expected. Increase in education level and male gender was found to be significantly associated with high HIV-related knowledge. The responses on the different aspects of HIV-related attitude were also varied and there is still stigma associated with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) even in the educated groups. There was a spectrum of myths and misperceptions emphasizing the need of education that recognizes the social context of attitude towards HIV. Results from this study may contribute to the development of appropriate educational and training material for this group of donors which in turn, may assist in achieving the elusive goal of safe blood supply in future.

  1. Reading comprehension of deaf children with cochlear implants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vermeulen, A.M.; Bon, W.H.J. van; Schreuder, R.; Knoors, H.E.T.; Snik, A.F.M.

    2007-01-01

    The reading comprehension and visual word recognition in 50 deaf children and adolescents with at least 3 years of cochlear implant (0) use were evaluated. Their skills were contrasted with reference data of 500 deaf children without CIs. The reading comprehension level in children with CIs was

  2. Readability and comprehension of self-report binge eating measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Lauren K; McHugh, R Kathryn; Pratt, Elizabeth M; Thompson-Brenner, Heather

    2013-04-01

    The validity of self-report binge eating instruments among individuals with limited literacy is uncertain. This study aims to evaluate reading grade level and multiple domains of comprehension of 13 commonly used self-report assessments of binge eating for use in low-literacy populations. We evaluated self-report binge eating measures with respect to reading grade levels, measure length, formatting and linguistic problems. All measures were written at a reading grade level higher than is recommended for patient materials (above the 5th to 6th grade level), and contained several challenging elements related to comprehension. Correlational analyses suggested that readability and comprehension elements were distinct contributors to measure difficulty. Individuals with binge eating who have low levels of educational attainment or limited literacy are often underrepresented in measure validation studies. Validity of measures and accurate assessment of symptoms depend on an individual's ability to read and comprehend instructions and items, and these may be compromised in populations with lower levels of literacy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Knowledge, Cause and Level of Acceptance of Interest among Muslims in Balochistan

    OpenAIRE

    Nadeem, Faiza; Zaman, Nadeem Uz; Shah, Syed Raza Irfan

    2015-01-01

    Islam is not just a religion but a life’s complete code – presents economic, social and political systems of its own to guide human in all aspects of life – thus has prohibited interest which is the exploitation to the people and acting like a curse for the whole humanity – due to interest rich is getting richer and poor is getting poorer – affects the borrower and the lender alike. There is no research that throws light on the knowledge, cause and level of acceptance of interest among Muslim...

  4. An Analysis of Training Effects on School Personnel's Knowledge, Attitudes, Comfort, and Confidence Levels toward Educating Students about HIV/AIDS in Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deutschlander, Sharon

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the training effects on school personnel's knowledge, attitudes, comfort, and confidence levels toward educating students about HIV/AIDS in Pennsylvania. The following four research questions were explored: (a) What is the knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and comfort levels of school personnel regarding…

  5. Motorist comprehension of the slow-moving vehicle emblem in Manitoba.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroeker, A M; Mann, D D

    2010-04-01

    Despite the existence of the slow-moving vehicle (SMV) emblem for almost 50 years, there continues to be a large number of preventable accidents between SMVs and other motorists. In this study, the current SMV emblem was tested against other common road signs as well as alternative slow-moving vehicle emblems to determine motorist comprehension of the signs. An open-ended test method was used to determine the level of comprehension by Manitoba motorists. Written answers from 50 participants were classified as either "correct" or "incorrect" by the authors based on the meaning of the traffic signs provided in a driver's handbook. Only 3 of the 16 Manitoba traffic signs attained the 85% level of comprehension required by ANSI standards. Only 22% of participants correctly identified the current SMV emblem. Two alternatives to the SMV emblem found in the literature, both iconic in nature, were understood to mean "slow-moving vehicle" by only 2% and 8% of participants, respectively. Two alternatives to the SMV developed for this project were evaluated with levels of comprehension of 68% and 84%: however, these levels of comprehension were likely biased by the presence of text. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that the current symbolic SMV emblem should be replaced by an alternative emblem that is iconic in nature.

  6. Learning Using Dynamic and Static Visualizations: Students' Comprehension, Prior Knowledge and Conceptual Status of a Biotechnological Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yarden, Hagit; Yarden, Anat

    2010-05-01

    The importance of biotechnology education at the high-school level has been recognized in a number of international curriculum frameworks around the world. One of the most problematic issues in learning biotechnology has been found to be the biotechnological methods involved. Here, we examine the unique contribution of an animation of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in promoting conceptual learning of the biotechnological method among 12th-grade biology majors. All of the students learned about the PCR using still images ( n = 83) or the animation ( n = 90). A significant advantage to the animation treatment was identified following learning. Students’ prior content knowledge was found to be an important factor for students who learned PCR using still images, serving as an obstacle to learning the PCR method in the case of low prior knowledge. Through analysing students’ discourse, using the framework of the conceptual status analysis, we found that students who learned about PCR using still images faced difficulties in understanding some mechanistic aspects of the method. On the other hand, using the animation gave the students an advantage in understanding those aspects.

  7. Comprehensive Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Comprehensive Care Share this page Facebook Twitter Email Comprehensive Care Understand the importance of comprehensive MS care ... In this article A complex disease requires a comprehensive approach Today multiple sclerosis (MS) is not a ...

  8. Building the competitive intelligence knowledge: processes and activities in a corporate organisation

    OpenAIRE

    Sreenivasulu, V.

    1999-01-01

    This paper discusses the process of building and developing comprehensive tools, techniques, support systems, and better methods of harnessing the competitive intelligence knowledge processes. The author stresses the need for building sophisticated methodological competitive intelligence knowledge acquisition, systematic collection of competitive intelligence knowledge from various sources for critical analysis, process, organization, synthesis, assessment, screening, filtering and interpreta...

  9. A knowledge and awareness level survey of radiation protection among the radiation workers in Henan Province

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, Xiao-jun; Tian, Chong-bin; Zhang, Qin-fu; Liu, Cheng; Ding, Li

    2008-01-01

    Full text: Objective: To reveal the knowledge and awareness level of radiation protection among radiation workers in Henan province and to explore the methods to improve it. Methods: A questionnaire survey was carried out among 208 radiation workers. Results: The correct rate of the answer to radiation protection knowledge from radiation workers in Henan province is 53.78%. Most of them (88.9%) realized that it is important to protect patients and their companions. They adhere to the principles of justification of medial exposure and optimization of radiation protection and follow the management system of radiation protection. However, a few workers didn't follow the principles strictly. Sometime, during the radio diagnosis and radiotherapy services, the patients and their companions were not well protected from the radiation, and some patients were given unnecessary X-ray examine. Even worse, some workers did not attach importance to the regulations of radiation protection and disobey them frequently. Again, some hospital leaders disregard the regulation of radiation protection and didn't follow the regulation of health surveillance and radiation protection monitoring properly. And those behaviors and attitude, in fact, influence some workers' attitude to radiation protection. Conclusion: The level of radiation protection knowledge and awareness among the radiation workers in Henan province needs to be improved. It is necessary to strengthen radiation protection knowledge by strengthening training, and to improve safety awareness among the radiation staff, and, more important, the hospital leaders as well. (author)

  10. Students' inductive reasoning skills and the relevance of prior knowledge: an exploratory study with a computer-based training course on the topic of acne vulgaris.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horn-Ritzinger, Sabine; Bernhardt, Johannes; Horn, Michael; Smolle, Josef

    2011-04-01

    The importance of inductive instruction in medical education is increasingly growing. Little is known about the relevance of prior knowledge regarding students' inductive reasoning abilities. The purpose is to evaluate this inductive teaching method as a means of fostering higher levels of learning and to explore how individual differences in prior knowledge (high [HPK] vs. low [LPK]) contribute to students' inductive reasoning skills. Twenty-six LPK and 18 HPK students could train twice with an interactive computer-based training object to discover the underlying concept before doing the final comprehension check. Students had a median of 76.9% of correct answers in the first, 90.9% in the second training, and answered 92% of the final assessment questions correctly. More important, 86% of all students succeeded with inductive learning, among them 83% of the HPK students and 89% of the LPK students. Prior knowledge did not predict performance on overall comprehension. This inductive instructional strategy fostered students' deep approaches to learning in a time-effective way.

  11. Comprehension of concrete and abstract words in semantic dementia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jefferies, Elizabeth; Patterson, Karalyn; Jones, Roy W.; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2009-01-01

    The vast majority of brain-injured patients with semantic impairment have better comprehension of concrete than abstract words. In contrast, several patients with semantic dementia (SD), who show circumscribed atrophy of the anterior temporal lobes bilaterally, have been reported to show reverse imageability effects, i.e., relative preservation of abstract knowledge. Although these reports largely concern individual patients, some researchers have recently proposed that superior comprehension of abstract concepts is a characteristic feature of SD. This would imply that the anterior temporal lobes are particularly crucial for processing sensory aspects of semantic knowledge, which are associated with concrete not abstract concepts. However, functional neuroimaging studies of healthy participants do not unequivocally predict reverse imageability effects in SD because the temporal poles sometimes show greater activation for more abstract concepts. We examined a case-series of eleven SD patients on a synonym judgement test that orthogonally varied the frequency and imageability of the items. All patients had higher success rates for more imageable as well as more frequent words, suggesting that (a) the anterior temporal lobes underpin semantic knowledge for both concrete and abstract concepts, (b) more imageable items – perhaps due to their richer multimodal representations – are typically more robust in the face of global semantic degradation and (c) reverse imageability effects are not a characteristic feature of SD. PMID:19586212

  12. Knowledge-driven computational modeling in Alzheimer's disease research: Current state and future trends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geerts, Hugo; Hofmann-Apitius, Martin; Anastasio, Thomas J

    2017-11-01

    Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) follow a slowly progressing dysfunctional trajectory, with a large presymptomatic component and many comorbidities. Using preclinical models and large-scale omics studies ranging from genetics to imaging, a large number of processes that might be involved in AD pathology at different stages and levels have been identified. The sheer number of putative hypotheses makes it almost impossible to estimate their contribution to the clinical outcome and to develop a comprehensive view on the pathological processes driving the clinical phenotype. Traditionally, bioinformatics approaches have provided correlations and associations between processes and phenotypes. Focusing on causality, a new breed of advanced and more quantitative modeling approaches that use formalized domain expertise offer new opportunities to integrate these different modalities and outline possible paths toward new therapeutic interventions. This article reviews three different computational approaches and their possible complementarities. Process algebras, implemented using declarative programming languages such as Maude, facilitate simulation and analysis of complicated biological processes on a comprehensive but coarse-grained level. A model-driven Integration of Data and Knowledge, based on the OpenBEL platform and using reverse causative reasoning and network jump analysis, can generate mechanistic knowledge and a new, mechanism-based taxonomy of disease. Finally, Quantitative Systems Pharmacology is based on formalized implementation of domain expertise in a more fine-grained, mechanism-driven, quantitative, and predictive humanized computer model. We propose a strategy to combine the strengths of these individual approaches for developing powerful modeling methodologies that can provide actionable knowledge for rational development of preventive and therapeutic interventions. Development of these computational approaches is likely to

  13. Determinants of Green Innovation: The Impact of Internal and External Knowledge

    OpenAIRE

    Stucki, Tobias; Wörter, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Based on a comprehensive data set comprising 13 countries, 22 industries and a period of 30 years we investigate the impact of internal and external knowledge pools of both green and 'other than green' technologies on green patent activities. It turned out that the internal green knowledge stock is positively related to green patent activities with a considerably large marginal value. The country's green knowledge stock and the green knowledge stock of the same industry in other countries are...

  14. BOLD Response to Motion Verbs in Left Posterior Middle Temporal Gyrus during Story Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallentin, Mikkel; Nielsen, Andreas Hojlund; Vuust, Peter; Dohn, Anders; Roepstorff, Andreas; Lund, Torben Ellegaard

    2011-01-01

    A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause…

  15. The transposition of musical knowledge in intellectual education

    OpenAIRE

    Carla Cuomo; Maria Rosa De Luca

    2014-01-01

    The construction of European citizenship in the era of complexity requires that the transmission of knowledge be directed towards an intellectual formation, that is, the ‘shaping’ of a critical mind, one that is able to problematize, and hence to discern. This can be achieved by educating towards comprehension. In facing this issue, musicologists ask themselves ‘what to teach’ and ‘how to teach’ it, in order to prepare students to the comprehension of music – these questions form the basis of...

  16. The Development of Metaphor Comprehension and Its Relationship with Relational Verbal Reasoning and Executive Function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuria Carriedo

    Full Text Available Our main objective was to analyse the different contributions of relational verbal reasoning (analogical and class inclusion and executive functioning to metaphor comprehension across development. We postulated that both relational reasoning and executive functioning should predict individual and developmental differences. However, executive functioning would become increasingly involved when metaphor comprehension is highly demanding, either because of the metaphors' high difficulty (relatively novel metaphors in the absence of a context or because of the individual's special processing difficulties, such as low levels of reading experience or low semantic knowledge. Three groups of participants, 11-year-olds, 15-year-olds and young adults, were assessed in different relational verbal reasoning tasks-analogical and class-inclusion-and in executive functioning tasks-updating information in working memory, inhibition, and shifting. The results revealed clear progress in metaphor comprehension between ages 11 and 15 and between ages 15 and 21. However, the importance of executive function in metaphor comprehension was evident by age 15 and was restricted to updating information in working memory and cognitive inhibition. Participants seemed to use two different strategies to interpret metaphors: relational verbal reasoning and executive functioning. This was clearly shown when comparing the performance of the "more efficient" participants in metaphor interpretation with that of the "less efficient" ones. Whereas in the first case none of the executive variables or those associated with relational verbal reasoning were significantly related to metaphor comprehension, in the latter case, both groups of variables had a clear predictor effect.

  17. Cross-lagged relationships between morphological awareness and reading comprehension among Chinese children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yahua Cheng

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The present study examined the developmental relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension using a two-year and four-wave cross-lagged design with a sample of 149 Chinese children (80 male and 69 female. We measured children’s morphological awareness, word reading, and reading comprehension from T1 to T4, in addition to phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and general cognitive ability at T1 as control measures. Four plausible cross-lagged models were assessed and compared to examine the direction of the developmental relationships between morphological awareness and reading comprehension over time. Results found support for a reciprocal-causation model, that is, morphological awareness stably predicted subsequent reading comprehension, and the reverse relation was also found. Longitudinal mediation analyses revealed that word reading partially mediated the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in Chinese children. These findings extend our understanding of the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. The practical implications for these two developing skills in Chinese children are discussed.

  18. Gender differences in (metacognitive and motivational-emotional factors of reading comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svjetlana Kolić-Vehovec

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of our study was to establish, from the aspect of gender, the degree to which reading comprehension is connected with students' academic achievement, potential gender differences between (metacognitive and motivational-emotional factors of reading comprehension, and to identify the most important predictors of reading comprehension for exploratory and narrative texts. The results of study, which included 380 Slovenian and Croatian students with the average age of 10;6 years, showed that: (i reading comprehension significantly determines academic achievement regardless of students' gender; (ii there are significant gender differences in most of the factors of reading comprehension (girls summarize texts better, have more metacognitive knowledge of reading, show greater reading interest, feel more competent for reading and in general feel better while reading; (iii the predictive value of cognitive, motivational, and emotional predictors differ for exploratory and narrative texts (for exploratory texts metacognitive factors have the greatest predictive value; for narrative texts motivatonal-emotional factors have the greatest predictive value for boys, and metacognitive factors for girls.

  19. EFFICIENCY OF READING COMPREHENSION TRAINING IN PUPILS LIVING IN POVERTY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milena Kosak Babuder

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The results of Slovene and foreign studies reveal the connection between literacy levels and the level of education, employment opportunities and consequent socio-economic status of individuals and families. Reading efficiency relating to reading comprehension is an important element of reading literacy performance. The findings of several authors indicate empirical evidence of the existence of deficits and poor reading comprehension in pupils living in poverty and stress the importance of offsetting deficits and developing reading comprehension. Results of both foreign and Slovene studies indicate that the program of reading comprehension should be implemented in this group of pupils. In the article, we want to present effectiveness of the reading comprehension improvement program in pupils living in poverty. According to the findings of our research, in which we structured and implemented the reading comprehension program for pupils living in poverty with the Metacognitive-intersentential model of reading comprehension, the reading comprehension of the experimental group pupils who participated in the program improved compared to the control group pupils who did not participate in the program. Experimental group pupils also significantly improved correctness of their reading, their vocabulary and skills of verbal expression. When the program ended, we tested its efficiency by applied tests. The results on the manifest variables indicated that the program was good and efficient for pupils who live in poverty and experience reading comprehension problems.

  20. KEMAMPUAN MAHASISWA DALAM MEMBUAT COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pudiyono Pudiyono

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The aims of the research were to find out (a the level of the students’ ability in making comprehension questions, (b the students’ map of problems in making comprehension questions. The population of the research was all students joining Reading 4 academic year 2016, totaling to 30 students, while the sample was taken from all students. The result of data analysis showed that the average ability of the students, with score more than 70 reached 66.66%. In details, only 4 of the samples (13.33% got no wrong answers or an A. Those who got good achievement (B, considered as majority, amounted to 16 students (53.33%. The participants achieving enough grades (C reached 7 students or 23.33%. The last level achieved in this research was D with the number reaching 3 (10%. The map of problems laid on their inability in identifying between yes/no and WH questions, inverted sentence, choosing the right auxiliary and verbs and their spelling ability. Keyword: comprehension, questions, inversion, problem map, ability

  1. Distributed, cooperating knowledge-based systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truszkowski, Walt

    1991-01-01

    Some current research in the development and application of distributed, cooperating knowledge-based systems technology is addressed. The focus of the current research is the spacecraft ground operations environment. The underlying hypothesis is that, because of the increasing size, complexity, and cost of planned systems, conventional procedural approaches to the architecture of automated systems will give way to a more comprehensive knowledge-based approach. A hallmark of these future systems will be the integration of multiple knowledge-based agents which understand the operational goals of the system and cooperate with each other and the humans in the loop to attain the goals. The current work includes the development of a reference model for knowledge-base management, the development of a formal model of cooperating knowledge-based agents, the use of testbed for prototyping and evaluating various knowledge-based concepts, and beginning work on the establishment of an object-oriented model of an intelligent end-to-end (spacecraft to user) system. An introductory discussion of these activities is presented, the major concepts and principles being investigated are highlighted, and their potential use in other application domains is indicated.

  2. Interpretation of Radiological Images: Towards a Framework of Knowledge and Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Gijp, A.; van der Schaaf, M. F.; van der Schaaf, I. C.; Huige, J. C. B. M.; Ravesloot, C. J.; van Schaik, J. P. J.; ten Cate, Th. J.

    2014-01-01

    The knowledge and skills that are required for radiological image interpretation are not well documented, even though medical imaging is gaining importance. This study aims to develop a comprehensive framework of knowledge and skills, required for two-dimensional and multiplanar image interpretation in radiology. A mixed-method study approach was…

  3. Evaluation of a social marketing campaign to support Mexico City's comprehensive smoke-free law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thrasher, James F; Huang, Liling; Pérez-Hernández, Rosaura; Niederdeppe, Jeff; Arillo-Santillán, Edna; Alday, Jorge

    2011-02-01

    We aimed to assess the level of awareness and impact of a social marketing campaign to promote Mexico City's 2008 comprehensive smoke-free law. Four months after the smoke-free law was implemented but before the campaign launch, we collected data from a population-based, random sample of 961 inhabitants of Mexico City. We analyzed data from 786 respondents who completed follow-up at the end of the campaign to determine campaign exposure and the association between campaign exposure and changes in campaign-targeted knowledge and attitudes. Recall of any of the 5 campaign materials was 69%, with a uniform distribution of exposure to 1, 2, and 3 or more campaign materials (25%, 25%, and 19%, respectively). Exposure to a greater number of campaign materials was associated in a monotonic relation with campaign-targeted knowledge of ammonia and arsenic in cigarette smoke. In models assessing support for, perceived benefits of, and perceived right to smoke-free places, campaign exposure accounted for a positive change in half of the indicators within each of these domains. Social marketing campaigns can reinforce knowledge and attitudes that favor smoke-free laws, thereby helping to establish smoke-free norms.

  4. The Effect of Reading Involvement through Open-Ended Strategy vs. Fill-in- the- Blanks Strategy on Young EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rita Salehi Sepehr

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigated the extent to which an instructional framework of integrating strategy instruction (open-ended strategy and fill-in-the blanks strategy with motivation- support affected on reading result for young EFL learners. The central area of exploration included a comparison among three approaches to reading instruction: First, fill-in-the blanks strategy intervention; second, open-ended strategy intervention; and last, a control group which received the conventional reading strategies. The participants were sampled from amongst a group of seventy-seven pre-intermediate EFL learners in a language school in Tehran- Iran based on convenient sampling technique. For the sake of measurement, the researchers administered PET and CELT along with reading strategy based-test to quantify the participants’ current level of knowledge as well as the degree of achievement after treatment. For measurement’s sake, different types of tests such as PET, reading comprehension test (CELT, and reading strategy based- test were employed to quantify the participants’ current level of knowledge as well as the degree of achievement before and after instruction. The result of the present study indicated that the experimental groups had a significant improvement over the control group. Also, the level of learners’ reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. The results of this study can be to the benefit of both EFL and ESL teachers to teach reading comprehension using the student's critical mind as well as critical involvement in the reading tasks.

  5. Working memory contributions to reading comprehension components in middle childhood children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chrysochoou, Elisavet; Bablekou, Zoe; Tsigilis, Nikolaos

    2011-01-01

    This study examined working memory contributions to reading comprehension subskills in Greek children (mean age 9 years, 1 month). The phonological loop of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model was assessed with 3 recall tasks (words, nonwords, and digits) and a word list matching task. The central executive (CE) was assessed with 3 tasks (listening, counting, and backward digit recall). Participants were also given a receptive vocabulary task, a reading fluency task, and written stories accompanied by comprehension questions. Canonical correlation analyses showed that the comprehension variables were related to the CE rather than the phonological loop measures. CE functions were more strongly associated with elaborative inference generation (involving significant offline processing) and comprehension control (involving metacognitive monitoring). Smaller yet significant associations were observed between the CE and the necessary inference and literal comprehension measures, whereas a moderate relationship was found in the case of the simile comprehension variable. Among the CE variables, listening recall demonstrated the highest loading on the canonical function, followed by moderate yet significant counting and backward digit recall loadings. Vocabulary was found to fully mediate several associations between working memory and comprehension measures; however, the relationship between listening recall and elaborative inferences was partly mediated. Reading fluency and, on several occasions, Greek vocabulary knowledge did not mediate the relationships between CE measures and comprehension skills assessed. This study demonstrates the usefulness of CE measures for identifying young children's possible difficulties in carrying out specific reading comprehension processes.

  6. The Level of Difficulty and Discrimination Power of the Basic Knowledge and Skills Examination (EXHCOBA.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Backhoff Escudero

    2000-05-01

    Full Text Available The Basic Knowledge and Skills Examination (EXHCOBA is one of the few great-scale examinations in Mexico which has been publishing its psychometric parameters.  In this paper we describe the  item analysis results, regarding the exam’s difficulty level and discrimination power.  Results show that most of the items have a medium difficulty and a high discrimination power.  They also reveal that the mathematics items have better discrimination power levels than the ones which belong to social science.

  7. A Road Map for Knowledge Management Systems Design Using Axiomatic Design Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Houshmand Mahmoud

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Successful design and implementation of knowledge management systems have been the main concern of many researchers. It has been reported that more than 50% of knowledge management systems have failed, therefore, it is required to seek for a new and comprehensive scientific approach to design and implement it. In the design and implementation of a knowledge management system, it is required to know ’what we want to achieve’ and ’how and by what processes we will achieve it’. A literature review conducted and axiomatic design theory selected for this purpose. For the first time, this paper develops a conceptual design of knowledge management systems by means of a hierarchical structure, composed of ’Functional Requirements’ (FRs, ’Design Parameters’ (DPs, and ’Process Variables’ (PVs. The intersection of several studies conducted in the field of knowledge management systems has been used to design the knowledge management model. It reveals that six essential bases of knowledge management are organizational culture, organizational structure, human resources, management and leadership, information technology, and the external environment of the organization; that are represented as top DPs in the structure of the model. These essential factors are decomposed to lower levels by means of zigzagging. The model implemented in Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operation Corporation (TUSROC and the results were very promising. The most important result of this study is a roadmap to design successful and efficient knowledge management systems.

  8. Various Models for Reading Comprehension Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parastoo Babashamsi

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years reading can be viewed as a process, as a form of thinking, as a true experience, and as a tool subject. As a process, reading includes visual discrimination, independent recognition of word, rhythmic progression along a line of print, precision in the return sweep of the eyes, and adjustment of rate. In the same line, the present paper aims at considering the various models of reading process. Moreover, the paper will take a look at various factors such as schema and vocabulary knowledge which affect reading comprehension process.

  9. Explaining Variance in Comprehension for Students in a High-Poverty Setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conradi, Kristin; Amendum, Steven J.; Liebfreund, Meghan D.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the contributions of decoding, language, spelling, and motivation to the reading comprehension of elementary school readers in a high-poverty setting. Specifically, the research questions addressed whether and how the influences of word reading efficiency, semantic knowledge, reading self-concept, and spelling on reading…

  10. Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to HIV and AIDS in Nicaragua: a community-level perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ugarte, William J; Högberg, Ulf; Valladares, Eliette; Essén, Birgitta

    2013-03-01

    Nicaragua's HIV epidemic is concentrated among men who have sex with men. Nevertheless, the increasing number of HIV cases among heterosexuals, high levels of poverty and migration rates, and incomplete epidemiological data suggest the need to improve the understanding of the epidemic. To examine the prevalence of HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and sexual risk-taking behaviors, and their predictors among the adult population. A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2009 among 520 participants ages 15-49 from an ongoing Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Nicaragua. Bivariate analysis and adjusted prevalence ratios were use to examine factors associated with HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behavior. Contributing factors for risk-taking behaviors included cognitive, psychosocial, and emotional elements. Insufficient knowledge affecting the accurate assessment of HIV risk were low educational level, poverty, and rural origin, especially among females. Recognizing risk was not sufficient to promote safer sex: 90% of the females and 70% of the males who reported being sexually active in the past year did not use condoms during their last sexual encounter. Inconsistent condom use among men was associated with older age, long-term relationships, and lack of awareness about acquiring HIV infection. Interventions to reduce social-structural contextual factors in Nicaragua are needed so that individuals may adopt and maintain HIV risk reduction strategies. Increased gender-specific HIV education and skills-building programs need to be implemented. Sensitive mass media messages may also increase the knowledge of HIV and AIDS, and serve to encourage protective attitudes and behaviors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Training elements at different levels in the strategies for control of schistosomiasis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørnbjerg, Niels; Simonsen, P. E.; Furu, Peter

    1989-01-01

    Recently acquired comprehensive knowledge concerning the epidemiology of schistosomiasis has provided the background for the establishment of schistosomiasis control strategies. However, the planning, implementation, and maintenance of such control programmes requires sufficient numbers of well t...... trained personnel at the local, district and central levels. Training of health personnel as well as motivation of the community are fundamental and essential elements in any schistosomiasis control programme. The training elements and approaches are discussed....

  12. The Knowledge Level of Interns of Medical Faculty in Ondokuz Mayis University about Avian Influenza

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ozlem Terzi

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available AIM: It is predictable that our country, especially Samsun city will be affect by a probable avian influenza epidemic because of is location that takes place in the region of wild birds migration way. The aim of this study is to ascertain the knowledge level of interns of medical faculty about avian influenza. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted on 175 (81.7% of 214 intern of medical faculty between 1 and 30 May 2008. A questionnaire included six questions related with the agent, group of the agent and therapy of avian influenza and source of information about avian influenza, was applied to the participants. The questionnaire also included 10 questions, which should be answered as true/false for each the following subjects transmission ways, risk groups, symptoms and protection methods of the disease. Each correct answer is scored as one point and a knowledge score was calculated for each subject. RESULTS: In all, 79 students (45.1% were girls, 96(54.9% were boys. The median age was 24.6±1.1 years. While the proportion of true response was 73.7% about the avian influenza agent, 55.3% of the whole group knew the group of the agent. The median points for knowing the transmission ways of virus, risk groups and prevention were 7.0, 6.0 and 7.0 respectively. The median point of the participants was 9,0 for the question related with the symptoms of the disease and this question was the most correctly answered one. Although 56.4% of the participants knew the treatment of the disease, 33.5% of them stated that vaccination is protective. The information sources about disease were television (74.2%, newspapers/magazine (46.8% and the internet (36.0%. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, it’s found that interns have a medium level of knowledge about avian influenza. Lessons about, the diseases those can cause epidemics and important health problems in the future should be integrated in to the education programs to improve the knowledge level of interns

  13. Perceptions and knowledge about the acquired immunodeficiency ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1991-02-02

    Feb 2, 1991 ... Campus Health. (82%), State health services (51%), and public advertisements ... activity on which the comprehensive strategy against AIDS and HIV ... within the questionnaire, with specific reference to students' knowledge of the ... The 56 male respondents (52%) ranged in age from 17 years to. 30 years ...

  14. The level of nurses’ knowledge of the prevention of nosocomial infections – a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Izabela Gąska

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. A basic element in preventing and combating nosocomial infections is the medical personnel knowledge. It is up to health care workers to determine whether the hospital environment will be safe for both patients and those employed in this sector. The aim of the study was to present the level of nursing staff knowledge of nosocomial infections. Materials and methods. The research was carried out in the Podkarpackie Center of Cardiovascular Interventions in Sanok. The study group consisted of all nurses working in the Hemodynamic Department - 20 people. The tests were carried out using the diagnostic survey method. The research tool was the author's questionnaire. Results. The nurses were aware that the scale of the problem of nosocomial infections was important. Almost all nurses rated their level of knowledge of hospital-acquired infections very well. However, the full definition of the term "nosocomial infections" was not given by about a quarter of respondents. In hospitals nurses did not always follow the rules of aseptic and antiseptic treatment. In addition, they did not see the need to educate patients and their families about the prevention of infections. Conclusions. Hospitals should carry out monitoring of nurses’ compliance with the procedures that are aimed at the elimination of ward infections and should consistently strive at their best to apply these procedures at their workplace. The ward staff should be involved in the education of patients and their families in the prevention of nosocomial infections.

  15. Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Julia E; Mascarenhas, Alekhya; Bain, Julie; Straus, Sharon E

    2017-09-02

    Understanding sustainability is one of the significant implementation science challenges. One of the big challenges in researching sustainability is the lack of consistent definitions in the literature. Most implementation studies do not present a definition of sustainability, even when assessing sustainability. The aim of the current study was to systematically develop a comprehensive definition of sustainability based on definitions already used in the literature. We searched for knowledge syntheses of sustainability and abstracted sustainability definitions from the articles identified through any relevant systematic and scoping reviews. The constructs in the abstracted sustainability definitions were mapped to an existing definition. The comprehensive definition of sustainability was revised to include emerging constructs. We identified four knowledge syntheses of sustainability, which identified 209 original articles. Of the 209 articles, 24 (11.5%) included a definition of sustainability. These definitions were mapped to three constructs from an existing definition, and nine new constructs emerged. We reviewed all constructs and created a revised definition: (1) after a defined period of time, (2) a program, clinical intervention, and/or implementation strategies continue to be delivered and/or (3) individual behavior change (i.e., clinician, patient) is maintained; (4) the program and individual behavior change may evolve or adapt while (5) continuing to produce benefits for individuals/systems. All 24 definitions were remapped to the comprehensive definition (percent agreement among three coders was 94%). Of the 24 definitions, 17 described the continued delivery of a program (70.8%), 17 mentioned continued outcomes (70.8%), 13 mentioned time (54.2%), 8 addressed the individual maintenance of a behavior change (33.3%), and 6 described the evolution or adaptation (25.0%). We drew from over 200 studies to identify 24 existing definitions of sustainability

  16. Study on supporting system for operator's comprehensive understanding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshikawa, Shinji

    1996-01-01

    Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. has participated in the development of a system to support the process of operator's plant understanding by the use of information processing techniques such as artificial intelligence since 1994. Analysis and model formation of the process leading to operator's comprehensive understanding of plant (mental model) are undertaken attempting to determine the basic structure of the mental model available for the description of knowledge using the precedent survey and to observe how to utilize operator's own knowledge. After consideration of the way by which plant operators utilize their physical knowledges and the knowledges of physical observation in practice, a basic structure composed of 3 components a qualitative causal network, a hierarchical function model and 3 links joining the two was proposed for the mental model. A questionnaire survey on operator's statements was made and the contents were assigned in several categories for objective analysis. An unified form usable to make a data base was established. Further, we have a plan to develop the first proto-type system to promote operator's understanding by 1998. (M.N.)

  17. A practice course to cultivate students' comprehensive ability of photoelectricity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Yong; Liu, Yang; Niu, Chunhui; Liu, Lishuang

    2017-08-01

    After the studying of many theoretical courses, it's important and urgent for the students from specialty of optoelectronic information science and engineering to cultivate their comprehensive ability of photoelectricity. We set up a comprehensive practice course named "Integrated Design of Optoelectronic Information System" (IDOIS) for the purpose that students can integrate their knowledge of optics, electronics and computer programming to design, install and debug an optoelectronic system with independent functions. Eight years of practice shows that this practice course can train students' ability of analysis, design/development and debugging of photoelectric system, improve their ability in document retrieval, design proposal and summary report writing, teamwork, innovation consciousness and skill.

  18. The comprehensive training in Colombian higher education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolfo M. Posada Alvarez

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In this article the integral formation fundamental than action Under the new legislation and contemporary predicaments on education, knowledge and research education is analyzed. This training involves not only students but the entire university community, particularly teachers, whose reflective responsibility for their work should bring them to operate the pillars identified in education. Likewise Institutional factors that can ensure and strengthen the comprehensive training in higher education are analyzed: disciplinary integration, flexibility, innovation, leadership, participation, self-evaluation and accreditation.

  19. Does state-level context matter for individuals' knowledge about abortion, legality and health? Challenging the 'red states v. blue states' hypothesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bessett, Danielle; Gerdts, Caitlin; Littman, Lisa L; Kavanaugh, Megan L; Norris, Alison

    2015-01-01

    Recently, the hypothesis that state-level political context influences individuals' cultural values--the 'red states v. blue states' hypothesis--has been invoked to explain the hyper-polarisation of politics in the USA. To test this hypothesis, we examined individuals' knowledge about abortion in relation to the political context of their current state of residence. Drawing from an internet-survey of 586 reproductive-age individuals in the USA, we assessed two types of abortion knowledge: health-related and legality. We found that state-level conservatism does not modify the existing relationships between individual predictors and each of the two types of abortion knowledge. Hence, our findings do not support the 'red states' versus 'blue states' hypothesis. Additionally, we find that knowledge about abortion's health effects in the USA is low: 7% of our sample thought abortion before 12 weeks gestation was illegal.

  20. THE LEVEL OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE ON CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE RISK FACTORS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaraković, Milana; Mihajlović, Bojan; Ćemerlić, Snežana; Ađić, Filip; Sladojević, Miroslava; Mihajlović, Boaoliub

    2015-01-01

    Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The atherosclerotic process in the aorta starts in childhood, while atheroclerotic changes of coronary heart vessels start in adolescence. The aim of the study was to evaluate the knowledge of the students attending all four grades of grammar school about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, with special attention to the risk factors that can be influenced by modification of life-style. Data from the entrance and exit tests were collected from 197 students attending a grammar school in Novi Sad. Chi-square test and Student T-test or Mann-Whitney U test were used to examine the statistical difference between categorized variables and the continuous variables, respectively. The difference between the number of correct answers for all the students on the entrance test and exit test was statistically significant (pgrammar school and after the lectures, the student's knowledge level was increased by 82.3% (p<0.0005). Children and adolescents from Vojvodina and Serbia should be well informed about the cardiovascular disease risk factors and their prevention with special attention paid to the risk factors that can be influenced by changing lifestyle habits.

  1. Comprehensive overview of prostatitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Farhan Ullah; Ihsan, Awais Ullah; Khan, Hidayat Ullah; Jana, Ruby; Wazir, Junaid; Khongorzul, Puregmaa; Waqar, Muhammad; Zhou, Xiaohui

    2017-10-01

    Prostatitis is a common urinary tract syndrome that many doctors find problematic to treat effectively. It is the third most commonly found urinary tract disease in men after prostate cancer and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH). Prostatitis may account for 25% of all office visits made to the urological clinics complaining about the genital and urinary systems all over the world. In the present study, we classified prostatitis and comprehensively elaborated the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of acute bacterial prostatitis (category I), chronic bacterial prostatitis (category II), chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) (category III), and asymptomatic prostatitis (category IV). In addition, we also tried to get some insights about other types of prostatitis-like fungal, viral and gonococcal prostatitis. The aim of this review is to present the detail current perspective of prostatitis in a single review. To the best of our knowledge currently, there is not a single comprehensive review, which can completely elaborate this important topic in an effective way. Furthermore, this review will provide a solid platform to conduct future studies on different aspects such as risk factors, mechanism of pathogenesis, proper diagnosis, and rational treatment plans for fungal, viral, and gonococcal prostatitis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  2. [P.A.I.S., a personal medical information system. A comprehensive medical knowledge base].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Münch, E

    1994-06-01

    The electronic medical knowledge data base DOPIS is a compliation of knowledge from various special fields of medicine. Using uniform nomenclature, the data are presented on demand as they would be in a book chapter. Concise updates can be performed at low cost. The primary structure of the concept is the division of medical knowledge into data banks on diagnosis, literature, medication and pharmacology, as well as so-called electronic textbooks. All data banks and electronic textbooks are connected associatively. Visual information is obtained via the image data bank connected to the diagnosis data bank and the electronic books. Moreover, DOPIS has an integrated patient findings system, as well as an image processing and archiving system with research values enabling research functions. The diagnosis and literature data banks can be modified by the user or author, or fed with their own data (a so-called Expert System Shell). For authors from special fields working on the project, an extra Medical Electronic Publishing System has been developed and made available for the electronic textbooks. The model for the knowledge data base has been developed in the field of ENT, the programme implemented and initially ENT data have been stored.

  3. Comprehensive comparison of preselected regions for a high level radioactive waste repository: a subjective quantitative evaluation method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Ju; Zong Zihua; Jin Yuanxin; Zhu Pengfei; Su Rui; Chen Weiming

    2012-01-01

    Based on the comprehensive features of the 6 preselected regions (Northwest China, Southwest China East China, South China, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang regions) for China's high level radioactive waste repository, this paper uses the subjective quantitative method to evaluate the weight of each site selection criterion and provides the scores of each region. The results shows that the future natural changes and the hydrogeological conditions are considered as the most important natural siting criteria, while the social impact and human activities are the most important social siting criteria. According to the scores, the priority order of the regions are Northwest China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, South China, East China, Southwest China. On the whole, the scores of' the regions in western China (Northwest China, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia) are higher than those in eastern China (South China, East China Southwest China), which obviously shows that the participated experts considers that the disposal of high level waste in west China is more favorable than in east China. (authors)

  4. Effective strategies for comprehensive corridor management

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-10-01

    Despite the increasing importance of comprehensive corridor management at the state and local government level, questions remain regarding effective methods for developing and implementing corridor management plans. Further insight is also needed int...

  5. STEM Education in Canada: A Knowledge Synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeCoito, Isha

    2016-01-01

    Across Canada many initiatives have been initiated to generate more interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; however, no single or comprehensive overview has been conducted that takes into account the impact of these STEM initiatives on teaching/learning outcomes in K-12 education. This knowledge synthesis of…

  6. The Role of Accessibility of Semantic Word Knowledge in Monolingual and Bilingual Fifth-Grade Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremer, M.; Schoonen, R.

    2013-01-01

    The influences of word decoding, availability, and accessibility of semantic word knowledge on reading comprehension were investigated for monolingual "("n = 65) and bilingual children ("n" = 70). Despite equal decoding abilities, monolingual children outperformed bilingual children with regard to reading comprehension and…

  7. Handbook of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    This is the first handbook to cover comprehensively both software engineering and knowledge engineering - two important fields that have become interwoven in recent years. Over 60 international experts have contributed to the book. Each chapter has been written in such a way that a practitioner of software engineering and knowledge engineering can easily understand and obtain useful information. Each chapter covers one topic and can be read independently of other chapters, providing both a general survey of the topic and an in-depth exposition of the state of the art.

  8. Knowledge, attitude, and beliefs of young, college student blood donors about Human immunodeficiency virus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anju Dubey

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Young people, who tend to be healthy, idealistic, and motivated, are an excellent pool of potential voluntary unpaid blood donors. Recruiting and retaining young blood donors improves the long term safety and sufficiency of a country′s blood supply. Knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV should play an important role in prevention of disease transmission. Materials and Methods: This study was a questionnaire based survey, conducted to explore the levels of knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about HIV in young college student blood donors. Results: The results showed that the proportion of participants with comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention and transmission was lesser than expected. Increase in education level and male gender was found to be significantly associated with high HIV-related knowledge. The responses on the different aspects of HIV-related attitude were also varied and there is still stigma associated with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS even in the educated groups. Discussion: There was a spectrum of myths and misperceptions emphasizing the need of education that recognizes the social context of attitude towards HIV. Results from this study may contribute to the development of appropriate educational and training material for this group of donors which in turn, may assist in achieving the elusive goal of safe blood supply in future.

  9. The Impact of an Educational Intervention on Knowledge and Competency Levels for Students Enrolled in a Forensic Nursing Science Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, Stacy A.

    2014-01-01

    Forensic nursing is an emerging nursing specialty recognized by the American Nursing Association. However, nurses often do not have the basic knowledge or practical competence to provide the appropriate level of forensic care. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in knowledge or practical competence existed between students…

  10. GrandBase: generating actionable knowledge from Big Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiu Susie Fang

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to propose a system for generating actionable knowledge from Big Data and use this system to construct a comprehensive knowledge base (KB, called GrandBase. Design/methodology/approach – In particular, this study extracts new predicates from four types of data sources, namely, Web texts, Document Object Model (DOM trees, existing KBs and query stream to augment the ontology of the existing KB (i.e. Freebase. In addition, a graph-based approach to conduct better truth discovery for multi-valued predicates is also proposed. Findings – Empirical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the approaches presented in this study and the potential of GrandBase. The future research directions regarding GrandBase construction and extension has also been discussed. Originality/value – To revolutionize our modern society by using the wisdom of Big Data, considerable KBs have been constructed to feed the massive knowledge-driven applications with Resource Description Framework triples. The important challenges for KB construction include extracting information from large-scale, possibly conflicting and different-structured data sources (i.e. the knowledge extraction problem and reconciling the conflicts that reside in the sources (i.e. the truth discovery problem. Tremendous research efforts have been contributed on both problems. However, the existing KBs are far from being comprehensive and accurate: first, existing knowledge extraction systems retrieve data from limited types of Web sources; second, existing truth discovery approaches commonly assume each predicate has only one true value. In this paper, the focus is on the problem of generating actionable knowledge from Big Data. A system is proposed, which consists of two phases, namely, knowledge extraction and truth discovery, to construct a broader KB, called GrandBase.

  11. The art and science of knowledge synthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tricco, Andrea C; Tetzlaff, Jennifer; Moher, David

    2011-01-01

    To review methods for completing knowledge synthesis. We discuss how to complete a broad range of knowledge syntheses. Our article is intended as an introductory guide. Many groups worldwide conduct knowledge syntheses, and some methods are applicable to most reviews. However, variations of these methods are apparent for different types of reviews, such as realist reviews and mixed-model reviews. Review validity is dependent on the validity of the included primary studies and the review process itself. Steps should be taken to avoid bias in the conduct of knowledge synthesis. Transparency in reporting will help readers assess review validity and applicability, increasing its utility. Given the magnitude of the literature, the increasing demands on knowledge syntheses teams, and the diversity of approaches, continuing efforts will be important to increase the efficiency, validity, and applicability of systematic reviews. Future research should focus on increasing the uptake of knowledge synthesis, how best to update reviews, the comparability between different types of reviews (eg, rapid vs. comprehensive reviews), and how to prioritize knowledge synthesis topics. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Predictors of Foreign Language Reading Comprehension in a Hypermedia Reading Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbulut, Yavuz

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated factors affecting second/foreign language (L2) reading comprehension in a hypermedia environment within the theoretical framework of dual coding and cognitive load theories, and interactive models of L2 reading. The independent variables were reading ability, topic interest, prior topical knowledge, and the number of times…

  13. Examining Associations among ADHD, Homework Behavior, and Reading Comprehension: A Twin Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Little, Callie W.; Hart, Sara A.; Schatschneider, Christopher; Taylor, Jeanette

    2016-01-01

    Previous literature has indicated an important association between reading comprehension and both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and homework habits. This investigation sought to extend previous knowledge by providing information about how ADHD and homework behavior (i.e., completing homework regularly) may jointly influence…

  14. Correlates of Early Reading Comprehension Skills: A Componential Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babayigit, Selma; Stainthorp, Rhona

    2014-01-01

    This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills,…

  15. A roadmap for knowledge exchange and mobilization research in conservation and natural resource management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Vivian M; Young, Nathan; Cooke, Steven J

    2017-08-01

    Scholars across all disciplines have long been interested in how knowledge moves within and beyond their community of peers. Rapid environmental changes and calls for sustainable management practices mean the best knowledge possible is needed to inform decisions, policies, and practices to protect biodiversity and sustainably manage vulnerable natural resources. Although the conservation literature on knowledge exchange (KE) and knowledge mobilization (KM) has grown in recent years, much of it is based on context-specific case studies. This presents a challenge for learning cumulative lessons from KE and KM research and thus effectively using knowledge in conservation and natural resources management. Although continued research on the gap between knowledge and action is valuable, overarching conceptual frameworks are now needed to enable summaries and comparisons across diverse KE-KM research. We propose a knowledge-action framework that provides a conceptual roadmap for future research and practice in KE/KM with the aim of synthesizing lessons learned from contextual case studies and guiding the development and testing of hypotheses in this domain. Our knowledge-action framework has 3 elements that occur at multiple levels and scales: knowledge production (e.g., academia and government), knowledge mediation (e.g., knowledge networks, actors, relational dimension, and contextual dimension), and knowledge-based action (e.g., instrumental, symbolic, and conceptual). The framework integrates concepts from the sociology of science in particular, and serves as a guide to further comprehensive understanding of knowledge exchange and mobilization in conservation and sustainable natural resource management. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  16. Online system for knowledge assessment enhances students' results on school knowledge test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kralj, Benjamin; Glazar, Sasa Aleksej

    2013-01-01

    Variety of online tools were built to help assessing students' performance in school. Many teachers changed their methods of assessment from paper-and-pencil (P&P) to online systems. In this study we analyse the influence that using an online system for knowledge assessment has on students' knowledge. Based on both a literature study and our own research we designed and built an online system for knowledge assessment. The system is evaluated using two groups of primary school teachers and students (N = 686) in Slovenia: an experimental and a control group. Students solved P&P exams on several occasions. The experimental group was allowed to access the system either at school or at home for a limited period during the presentation of a selected school topic. Students in the experimental group were able to solve tasks and compare their own achievements with those of their coevals. A comparison of the P&P school exams results achieved by both groups revealed a positive effect on subject topic comprehension for those with access to the online self-assessment system.

  17. Pattern-Directed Processing of Knowledge from Texts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thorndyke, Perry W.

    A framework for viewing human text comprehension, memory, and recall is presented that assumes patterns of abstract conceptual relations are used to guide processing. These patterns consist of clusters of knowledge that encode prototypical co-occurrences of situations and events in narrative texts. The patterns are assumed to be a part of a…

  18. Comprehension and Generation of Metaphoric Language in Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasirer, Anat; Mashal, Nira

    2017-05-01

    Difficulties with figurative language comprehension were documented in adult dyslexia (DYS). In the present research, we investigated the comprehension and generation of metaphors in 37 children, 35 adolescents, and 34 adults with and without DYS. We also tested the contribution of executive function to metaphor processing. A multiple-choice questionnaire with conventional and novel metaphors was used to assess comprehension; a concept-explanation task was used to test conventional and novel metaphor generation (verbal creativity). The findings indicated differences between the dyslexic children and the control group in conventional metaphor comprehension. However, both groups performed similarly in the novel metaphor comprehension test. Furthermore, although children and adolescents with DYS showed similar performance in metaphor generation as their typically developing peers, adults with DYS generated more metaphors than controls. While scores on tests of verbal knowledge and mental flexibility contributed to the prediction of conventional metaphor comprehension, scores on non-verbal tests and mental flexibility contributed to the prediction of novel metaphor generation. Our findings suggest that individuals with DYS are not impaired in novel metaphor comprehension and metaphor generation and that metaphor comprehension and generation utilize different cognitive resources. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Cross-cultural Knowledge Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorel Mihai PARASCHIV

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The success of international companies in providing high quality products and outstanding services is subject, on the one hand, to the increasing dynamic of the economic environment and on the other hand to the adoption of worldwide quality standards and procedures. As market place is becoming more and more global, products and services offered worldwide by international companies must face the multi-cultural environment challenges. These challenges manifest themselves not only at customer relationship level but also deep inside companies, at employee level. Important support in facing all these challenges has been provided at cognitive level by management system models and at technological level by information cutting edge technologies Business Intelligence & Knowledge Management Business Intelligence is already delivering its promised outcomes at internal business environment and, with the explosive deployment of public data bases, expand its analytical power at national, regional and international level. Quantitative measures of economic environment, wherever available, may be captured and integrated in companies’ routine analysis. As for qualitative data, some effort is still to be done in order to integrate measures of social, political, legal, natural and technological environment in companies’ strategic analysis. An increased difficulty is found in treating cultural differences, common knowledge making the most hidden part of any foreign environment. Managing cultural knowledge is crucial to success in cultivating and maintaining long-term business relationships in multicultural environments. Knowledge Management provides the long needed technological support for cross-cultural management in the tedious task of improving knowledge sharing in multi-national companies and using knowledge effectively in international joint ventures. The paper is approaching the conceptual frameworks of knowledge management and proposes an unified model

  20. Integrating Traditional and Evolutionary Knowledge in Biodiversity Conservation: a Population Level Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dylan J. Fraser

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Despite their dual importance in the assessment of endangered/threatened species, there have been few attempts to integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK and evolutionary biology knowledge (EBK at the population level. We contrasted long-term aboriginal TEK with previously obtained EBK in the context of seasonal migratory habits and population biology of a salmonid fish, brook charr, (Salvelinus fontinalis inhabiting a large, remote postglacial lake. Compilation of TEK spanning four decades involved analytical workshops, semidirective interviews, and collaborative fieldwork with local aboriginal informants and fishing guides. We found that TEK complemented EBK of brook charr by providing concordant and additional information about (1 population viability; (2 breeding areas and migration patterns of divergent populations; and (3 the behavioral ecology of populations within feeding areas; all of which may ultimately affect the maintenance of population diversity. Aboriginal concerns related to human pressures on this species, not revealed by EBK, also help to focus future conservation initiatives for divergent populations and to encourage restoration of traditional fishing practices. However, relative to EBK, the relevance of TEK to salmonid biodiversity conservation was evident mainly at a smaller spatial scale, for example, that of individual rivers occupied by populations or certain lake sectors. Nevertheless, EBK was only collected over a 4-yr period, so TEK provided an essential long-term temporal window to evaluate population differences and persistence. We concluded that, despite different conceptual underpinnings, spatially and temporally varying TEK and EBK both contribute to the knowledge base required to achieve sustainability and effective biodiversity conservation planning for a given species. Such integration may be particularly relevant in many isolated regions, where intraspecific diversity can go unrecognized due to sparse

  1. Prospective Turkish elementary science teachers’ knowledge level about the greenhouse effect and their views on environmental education in university

    OpenAIRE

    Mustafa Kışoğlu; Hasan Gürbüz; Mehmet Erkol; Muhammed Said Akar; Mustafa Akıllı

    2010-01-01

    The fundamental factor of environmental education is teachers who are well-informed about environmental issues. This research aimed to determine prospective Turkish elementary science teachers’ knowledge level about causes, consequences and reducing of the greenhouse effect and to investigate the effect of gender, information source and membership in the environmental foundations on their knowledge. We also aimed to learn their views on environmental education given in universi...

  2. Comprehensive stroke units: a review of comparative evidence and experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Daniel K Y; Cordato, Dennis; O'Rourke, Fintan; Chan, Daniel L; Pollack, Michael; Middleton, Sandy; Levi, Chris

    2013-06-01

    Stroke unit care offers significant benefits in survival and dependency when compared to general medical ward. Most stroke units are either acute or rehabilitation, but comprehensive (combined acute and rehabilitation) model (comprehensive stroke unit) is less common. To examine different levels of evidence of comprehensive stroke unit compared to other organized inpatient stroke care and share local experience of comprehensive stroke units. Cochrane Library and Medline (1980 to December 2010) review of English language articles comparing stroke units to alternative forms of stroke care delivery, different types of stroke unit models, and differences in processes of care within different stroke unit models. Different levels of comparative evidence of comprehensive stroke units to other models of stroke units are collected. There are no randomized controlled trials directly comparing comprehensive stroke units to other stroke unit models (either acute or rehabilitation). Comprehensive stroke units are associated with reduced length of stay and greatest reduction in combined death and dependency in a meta-analysis study when compared to other stroke unit models. Comprehensive stroke units also have better length of stay and functional outcome when compared to acute or rehabilitation stroke unit models in a cross-sectional study, and better length of stay in a 'before-and-after' comparative study. Components of stroke unit care that improve outcome are multifactorial and most probably include early mobilization. A comprehensive stroke unit model has been successfully implemented in metropolitan and rural hospital settings. Comprehensive stroke units are associated with reductions in length of stay and combined death and dependency and improved functional outcomes compared to other stroke unit models. A comprehensive stroke unit model is worth considering as the preferred model of stroke unit care in the planning and delivery of metropolitan and rural stroke services

  3. Counselling at primary health facilities and level of knowledge of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    EB

    Education and employment were associated with good knowledge on ... counseling on PMTCT in the PHFs will bridge the identified knowledge gap and help in ... income countries, MTCT rates of less than 2% have ... behavioural changes but seems to have little impact ..... the United Kingdom and Ireland, 2000-2006. AIDS.

  4. A Knowledge Management Scenario to Support Knowledge Applications Development in Small and Medium Enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ROSU, S. M.

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, in the European countries more than 95% of the companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs and majority of the European Union employees work in these companies. In order to develop intelligent business to become competitive, the enterprises must increase the quality and technologic level of products and services, to have permanent new product or to make old products bettering and to have a good prices policy. These activities request first a large amount of data, information and knowledge collected from all sources and then request transferring knowledge at each enterprise level. Therefore, this work analyses the state of art of the knowledge and knowledge management (KM and propose KM scenario to support knowledge applications (KApps development in SMEs. In addition, the paper presents how can be knowledge bases built at the enterprise level.

  5. Knowledge-based public health situation awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirhaji, Parsa; Zhang, Jiajie; Srinivasan, Arunkumar; Richesson, Rachel L.; Smith, Jack W.

    2004-09-01

    There have been numerous efforts to create comprehensive databases from multiple sources to monitor the dynamics of public health and most specifically to detect the potential threats of bioterrorism before widespread dissemination. But there are not many evidences for the assertion that these systems are timely and dependable, or can reliably identify man made from natural incident. One must evaluate the value of so called 'syndromic surveillance systems' along with the costs involved in design, development, implementation and maintenance of such systems and the costs involved in investigation of the inevitable false alarms1. In this article we will introduce a new perspective to the problem domain with a shift in paradigm from 'surveillance' toward 'awareness'. As we conceptualize a rather different approach to tackle the problem, we will introduce a different methodology in application of information science, computer science, cognitive science and human-computer interaction concepts in design and development of so called 'public health situation awareness systems'. We will share some of our design and implementation concepts for the prototype system that is under development in the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research, in the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The system is based on a knowledgebase containing ontologies with different layers of abstraction, from multiple domains, that provide the context for information integration, knowledge discovery, interactive data mining, information visualization, information sharing and communications. The modular design of the knowledgebase and its knowledge representation formalism enables incremental evolution of the system from a partial system to a comprehensive knowledgebase of 'public health situation awareness' as it acquires new knowledge through interactions with domain experts or automatic discovery of new knowledge.

  6. Nurses′ knowledge and education about oral care of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radhika R Pai

    2015-01-01

    Setting and design: A cross sectional descriptive survey was conducted among 158 staff nurses working in oncology related areas from 4 different hospitals of Dakshina Kannada district and Udupi district of Karnataka state, India. Statistical Analysis: descriptive and inferential statistics was used by using SPSS 16 version. Results: Majority 81 (51.3% of the staff nurses had poor knowledge of oral care in cancer patients whereas 87 (55.1% reported that knowledge acquired through basic education in oral care is not sufficient. Most of the staff nurses 115 (72.8% did not receive basic education in oral care of cancer patients. There was significant association between knowledge and variables such as designation (.005, years of work experience (.040 and years of experience in cancer wards (.000 at 0.05 levels. Conclusion: Lack of knowledge suggest the need to develop and implement continuing nursing education programs on oral care specifically for patients receiving cancer treatments, for improving knowledge of staff nurses′ in order to render comprehensive care to the patients. This study also recommends the importance of inclusion of cancer patient specific oral care in the curriculum which can enhance competency of the qualified nurses in cancer wards.

  7. Greek students' knowledge and sources of information regarding sex education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matziou, V; Perdikaris, P; Petsios, K; Gymnopoulou, E; Galanis, P; Brokalaki, H

    2009-09-01

    Human sexuality is a complex part of life and is considered a multidimensional phenomenon. Therefore there is an increased need for adequate and comprehensive sex education, especially for teenagers and young adults. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the level of students' sexual knowledge, as well as to identify their sources of information regarding sexual life and reproduction. A cross-sectional study using a designed self-report questionnaire was performed. The study population consisted of 936 students who were attending 10 high schools and four medical schools in Attica. Data were collected after obtaining permission from the Pedagogic Institute of the Greek Ministry of Education. The main sources of students' sexual information about reproduction were friends (29.1%) and parents (24.0%), whereas school was reported by 14.3% of them. The preferred sources of information, according to students' perceptions, were sex education specialists (65.6%), followed by school (39.1%), parents (32.2%) and friends (27.7%). The importance of school, peer and parent support upon adolescents' sexual life was revealed by the results of the study. Students' knowledge level on sex topics is not satisfactory and therefore there is a need for sex education specialists and special courses regarding sex education in Greek schools.

  8. Knowledge base for power plant operation and its application to operation guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doi, Atsushi; Sakaguchi, Toshiaki

    1986-01-01

    The present study is aimed at constructing a knowledge base for supervisory control operation in power plants and developing an operation guidance by using it. Examination is made to provide dignosis procedures on the basis of an existing alarm system. An operation guidance procedure for diagnosis is proposed which is to be followed when several alarms are sounded simultaneously in a power plant, and application of the procedure to an existing plant is examined. The operation manual for the plant includes 75 description items for six alarms. It is shown that the number of items related to these alarms can be reduced by 70 % by rearranging them according to the procedure. Another investigation is conducted to provide an operation manual for diagnosis to be used when one alarm is sounded in a plant. The quality of the manual developed is on nearly the same level with that for the existing plant examined. When a knowledge base is to be constructed from an existing operation manual, the processing operation generally requires a certain level of linguistic comprehension ability, such as for judgment of synonyms. It is demonstrated that the procedure proposed here is able to develop a high-quality knowledge base with standardized terminology. The procedure can also serve to construct operation manuals for plants in other industrial fields. (Nogami, K.)

  9. Comprehensive development plans for the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Korea and preliminary safety assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jung, Kang Il; Kim, Jin Hyeong; Kwon, Mi Jin; Jeong, Mi Seon; Hong, Sung Wook; Park, Jin Beak [Korea Radioactive Waste Agency, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-12-15

    The disposal facility in Gyeongju is planning to dispose of 800,000 packages of low- and intermediate- level radioactive waste. This facility will be developed as a complex disposal facility that has various types of disposal facilities and accompanying management. In this study, based on the comprehensive development plan of the disposal facility, a preliminary post-closure safety assessment is performed to predict the phase development of the total capacity for the 800,000 packages to be disposed of at the site. The results for each scenario meet the performance target of the disposal facility. The assessment revealed that there is a significant impact of the inventory of intermediate-level radionuclide waste on the safety evaluation. Due to this finding, we introduce a disposal limit value for intermediate-level radioactive waste. With stepwise development of safety case, this development plan will increase the safety of disposal facilities by reducing uncertainties within the future development of the underground silo disposal facilities.

  10. Examining the Professional, Technical, and General Knowledge Competencies Needed by Beginning School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stripling, Christopher T.; Barrick, R. Kirby

    2013-01-01

    The philosophy behind the kind of teacher education one receives affects the preparedness of beginning agricultural education teachers. The purpose of this philosophical study was to examine and summarize the professional knowledge, technical knowledge, and general knowledge competencies needed in a comprehensive teacher education program to…

  11. Nuclear knowledge management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Constantin, Marin; Ghitescu, Petre

    2007-01-01

    Nuclear knowledge is characterized by high-complexity and variety of the component topics and long duration required by the build-up of individual competence. At organizational level, these characteristics made the power of an organization or institution to be determined by the capital accumulated of existing knowledge. Furthermore, the capacity of an organization to re-generate and raise the knowledge capital according to the specific processes it is running according to the existing demand decides its position/ranking in the economy of nuclear field. Knowledge management emphasizes re-utilization of existing practice and experience, upgrade, enrich and re-value of accumulated knowledge. The present paper identifies and classifies the nuclear knowledge steps, namely: tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, preserving, transfer, knowledge capture etc. On this basis there are identified the existing problems of nuclear knowledge management in Romania such as: difficulties to keep within the country the existing expertise, lack of interest in nuclear education, low level of organization of existing knowledge due to a small number of data bases, an insufficient integration of existing knowledge in IT systems, lack of ontology and taxonomy or an average structuralism. Nuclear knowledge in Romania is facing a major challenge which is generated by the future development of nuclear facilities. It is related to the rising demand of expertise and experts. This challenge is better solved by partnership between end users and institutions of Research and Development and university organization as well which could ensure the generation, transfer and preservation of nuclear knowledge. (authors)

  12. Strategy and pattern recognition in expert\\ud comprehension of 2 × 2 interaction graphs

    OpenAIRE

    Peebles, David

    2013-01-01

    I present a model of expert comprehension performance for 2 × 2 "interaction" graphs typically used to present data from two-way factorial research designs. Developed using the ACT-R cognitive architecture, the model simulates the cognitive and perceptual operations involved in interpreting interaction graphs and provides a detailed characterisation of the information\\ud extracted from the diagram, the prior knowledge required to interpret interaction graphs, and the knowledge generated durin...

  13. The Impact of Texting on Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jamal K. M. Ali

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a study of the effects of texting on English language comprehension. The authors believe that English used in texting causes a lack of comprehension for English speakers, learners, and texters. Wei, Xian-hai and Jiang (2008:3 declare “In Netspeak, there are some newly-created vocabularies, which people cannot comprehend them either from their partial pronunciation or from their figures.” Crystal (2007:23 claims; “variation causes problems of comprehension and acceptability. If you speak or write differently from the way I do, we may fail to understand each other.”  In this paper, the authors conducted a questionnaire at Aligarh Muslim University to ninety respondents from five different Faculties and four different levels. To measure respondents’ comprehension of English texting, the authors gave the respondents abbreviations used by texters and asked them to write the full forms of the abbreviations. The authors found that many abbreviations were not understood, which suggested that most of the respondents did not understand and did not use these abbreviations.

  14. Relationships between Organizational Trust, Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Creation, and Firm's Innovativeness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sankowska, Anna

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: This study seeks to provide empirical evidence of relationships between organizational trust, knowledge transfer, creation and innovativeness at the firm level. It aims to hypothesize a mediational model implying that organizational trust is related to knowledge transfer, which will, in turn, enhance knowledge creation, thereby…

  15. Understanding images using knowledge based approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tascini, G.

    1985-01-01

    This paper presents an approach to image understanding focusing on low level image processing and proposes a rule-based approach as part of larger knowledge-based system. The general system has a yerarchical structure that comprises several knowledge-based layers. The main idea is to confine at the lower level the domain independent knowledge and to reserve the higher levels for the domain dependent knowledge, that is for the interpretation

  16. The Reading Comprehension Strategies of Second Language Learners: A Spanish-English Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acosta Caballero, Karen Anelice

    2012-01-01

    Reading comprehension of school-aged students is an important topic of research; however, research on the reading comprehension of adult foreign/second language learners whose first language is English is limited, especially studies investigating the reading comprehension strategies that readers of different proficiency levels use when they…

  17. Television Literacy: Comprehension of Program Content Using Closed Captions for the Deaf.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Margaret S. Jelinek; Jackson, Dorothy W.

    2001-01-01

    This study assessed deaf and hearing students' comprehension of captions with and without visuals/video. Results indicate that reading grade level is highly correlated with caption comprehension test scores. Comprehension of the deaf students was consistently below that of hearing students. The captioned video produced significantly better…

  18. Digging beneath the Surface Behavioral and Neural Indices of Lexical Access during Idiom Comprehension in Aphasia: A Multi-Modal Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brumm, Kathleen Patricia

    2011-01-01

    This project examines spoken language comprehension in Broca's aphasia, a non-fluent language disorder acquired subsequent to stroke. Broca's aphasics demonstrate impaired comprehension for complex sentence constructions. To account for this deficit, one current processing theory claims that Broca's patients retain intrinsic linguistic knowledge,…

  19. Knowledge spaces

    CERN Document Server

    Doignon, Jean-Paul

    1999-01-01

    Knowledge spaces offer a rigorous mathematical foundation for various practical systems of knowledge assessment. An example is offered by the ALEKS system (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces), a software for the assessment of mathematical knowledge. From a mathematical standpoint, knowledge spaces generalize partially ordered sets. They are investigated both from a combinatorial and a stochastic viewpoint. The results are applied to real and simulated data. The book gives a systematic presentation of research and extends the results to new situations. It is of interest to mathematically oriented readers in education, computer science and combinatorics at research and graduate levels. The text contains numerous examples and exercises and an extensive bibliography.

  20. An Adaptive Approach to Managing Knowledge Development in a Project-Based Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilchin, Oleg; Kittany, Mohamed

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we propose an adaptive approach to managing the development of students' knowledge in the comprehensive project-based learning (PBL) environment. Subject study is realized by two-stage PBL. It shapes adaptive knowledge management (KM) process and promotes the correct balance between personalized and collaborative learning. The…

  1. The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leigh Rohde

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The early skills of Emergent Literacy include the knowledge and abilities related to the alphabet, phonological awareness, symbolic representation, and communication. However, existing models of emergent literacy focus on discrete skills and miss the perspective of the surrounding environment. Early literacy skills, including their relationship to one another, and the substantial impact of the setting and context, are critical in ensuring that children gain all of the preliminary skills and awareness they will need to become successful readers and writers. Research findings over the last few decades have led to a fuller understanding of all that emergent literacy includes, resulting in a need for a new, more comprehensive model. A new model, described in this article, strives to explain how emergent literacy can be viewed as an interactive process of skills and context rather than a linear series of individual components. Early literacy learning opportunities are more likely to happen when teachers have a solid knowledge base of emergent literacy and child development. Research has shown that preschool teachers with limited knowledge about literacy development are significantly less able to provide such experiences for children. Teachers will be better able to facilitate all of the components of emergent literacy if they have access to, and understanding of, a model that describes the components, their interactions, and the importance of environmental factors in supporting children.

  2. Metaphor-related figurative language comprehension in clinical populations: a critical review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maity Siqueira

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to critically review current studies with respect to definitions,methods, and results on the comprehension of metaphor, metonymy,idioms, and proverbs under the following clinical conditions: aphasia,Alzheimer’s disease, autism, brain injuries, specific language impairment,and Williams Syndrome. A comprehensive search of experimentalpsycholinguistic research was conducted using EBSCOhost, PsychInfo,PUBMED, and Web of Science databases. Thirty-eight studies met thereview inclusion criteria. Results point to deficits in figurative languagecomprehension in all conditions considered, lack of clear definitions ofthe phenomena investigated, and varied methods throughout the sample.Patients’ difficulties are attributed to multiple factors, such as a lack ofTheory of Mind, executive dysfunctions, and poor semantic knowledge.The study of nonliteral aspects of language comprehension in clinicalpopulations reveals a range of disparate impairments. There was no specificfeature about metaphor-related phenomena identified that could, on its own,account for the difficulty some populations have to understand figurativelanguage. Rather, metaphor-related language comprehension difficultiesare often part of pragmatic, linguistic, and/or cognitive impairments.Keywords: Figurative language. Metaphor. Metonymy. Proverb. Clinicalpopulations

  3. A knowledge-based system for fluidization studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1990-04-01

    Chemical engineers depend on process simulation models to determine optimal'' plant configurations which are technically feasible and economically viable. This research was undertaken to develop a comprehensive knowledge based simulation environment IPSE (Intelligent Process Simulation Environment) that can enhance the productivity of chemical engineers/modelers by serving as an intelligent assistant during all phases of process simulation involving fossil energy processes. In summary, the goals of this research are: application of knowledge-based techniques to the process modeling domain for enhancement of productivity; archiving and distribution of the knowledge of the best experts of process modeling; cross-model inference assistance to modelers not familiar with the process; and development of IPSE to serve as an intelligent tutoring system for process simulation. 18 figs.

  4. Uncertainty, Pluralism, and the Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reihlen, Markus; Ringberg, Torsten

    2013-01-01

    -cultural conventions and other social processes. Although comprehensive in scope, we argue that a knowledge-based theory of the firm needs to integrate a cognitivist approach that includes the synergetic production of tacit and explicit knowledge, the role of reflective thinking in resolving strategic uncertainties......, and the interaction between the individual and the social. This socio-cognitive theory of the firm posits that sustained competitive advantage of a firm is founded on the ability to align knowledge internally within the firm as well as externally with its stakeholders through the individual sense-making of feedback...

  5. Association between the level of education and knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue in the Caribbean region of Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz-Quijano, Fredi Alexander; Martínez-Vega, Ruth Aralí; Rodriguez-Morales, Alfonso J; Rojas-Calero, Ronald Alexander; Luna-González, María Lucrecia; Díaz-Quijano, Ronald Giovanny

    2018-01-16

    Community integration in dengue control requires assessments of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs), which can vary widely according to demographic and educational factors. We aimed to describe and compare the KAPs according to level of education in municipalities in the Caribbean region of Colombia. A survey was administered from October to December 2015, including families selected through probabilistic sampling in eleven municipalities. The analysis focused on the comparative description of the responses according to level of education. The KAP prevalence ratios (PR) according to education were estimated using Poisson regression (robust), including age and sex as adjustment variables. Out of 1057 participants, 1054 (99.7%) surveys were available for analysis, including 614 (58.3%) who had a high school level of education or higher and 440 (41.7%) who had a lower level of education (not high school graduates). The high school graduates showed a higher frequency of correct answers in relation to knowledge about dengue symptoms and transmission. On the other hand, graduates showed a higher probability of practices and attitudes that favor dengue control, including not storing water in containers (PR: 2.2; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.42-3.43), attend community meetings (PR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.07-1.65), educate family members and neighbors in prevention measures (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.15-1.59). Level of education could be a key determinant of knowledge of the disease and its transmission, as well as attitudes and practices, especially those that involve the integration of community efforts for dengue control.

  6. Psychodermatology: A comprehensive review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Savita Yadav

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Psychodermatology is an interesting domain of dermatology that overlaps with psychiatry. This arena in dermatology has received limited diligence, partly due to lack of training in this realm. We present here a comprehensive review of salient features and treatment updates in primary psychiatric dermatoses and have also discussed the role of psyche in psychophysiological cutaneous disorders. Secondary psychiatric morbidity is relatively common among patients visiting the dermatologists but often overlooked and uncared for. Dermatologist should be able to initiate basic pharmacotherapy, should be knowledgeable about various non-pharmacological treatments and know the right time to refer the patient to the psychiatrist. Awareness and pertinent treatment of psychodermatological disorders among dermatologists will lead to a more holistic treatment approach and better prognosis in this unique group of patients.

  7. Chess knowledge predicts chess memory even after controlling for chess experience: Evidence for the role of high-level processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, David M; Chang, Yu-Hsuan A

    2018-04-01

    The expertise effect in memory for chess positions is one of the most robust effects in cognitive psychology. One explanation of this effect is that chess recall is based on the recognition of familiar patterns and that experts have learned more and larger patterns. Template theory and its instantiation as a computational model are based on this explanation. An alternative explanation is that the expertise effect is due, in part, to stronger players having better and more conceptual knowledge, with this knowledge facilitating memory performance. Our literature review supports the latter view. In our experiment, a sample of 79 chess players were given a test of memory for chess positions, a test of declarative chess knowledge, a test of fluid intelligence, and a questionnaire concerning the amount of time they had played nontournament chess and the amount of time they had studied chess. We determined the numbers of tournament games the players had played from chess databases. Chess knowledge correlated .67 with chess memory and accounted for 16% of the variance after controlling for chess experience. Fluid intelligence accounted for an additional 13% of the variance. These results support the conclusion that both high-level conceptual processing and low-level recognition of familiar patterns play important roles in memory for chess positions.

  8. Comprehensive national energy strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-04-01

    This Comprehensive National Energy Strategy sets forth a set of five common sense goals for national energy policy: (1) improve the efficiency of the energy system, (2) ensure against energy disruptions, (3) promote energy production and use in ways that respect health and environmental values, (4) expand future energy choices, and (5) cooperate internationally on global issues. These goals are further elaborated by a series of objectives and strategies to illustrate how the goals will be achieved. Taken together, the goals, objectives, and strategies form a blueprint for the specific programs, projects, initiatives, investments, and other actions that will be developed and undertaken by the Federal Government, with significant emphasis on the importance of the scientific and technological advancements that will allow implementation of this Comprehensive National Energy Strategy. Moreover, the statutory requirement of regular submissions of national energy policy plans ensures that this framework can be modified to reflect evolving conditions, such as better knowledge of our surroundings, changes in energy markets, and advances in technology. This Strategy, then, should be thought of as a living document. Finally, this plan benefited from the comments and suggestions of numerous individuals and organizations, both inside and outside of government. The Summary of Public Comments, located at the end of this document, describes the public participation process and summarizes the comments that were received. 8 figs.

  9. A comprehensive overview on the foundations of formal concept analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Sumangali

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The immersion of voluminous collection of data is inevitable almost everywhere. The invention of mathematical models to analyse the patterns and trends of the data is an emerging necessity to extract and predict useful information in any Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD process. The Formal Concept Analysis (FCA is an efficient mathematical model used in the process of KDD which is specially designed to portray the structure of the data in a context and depict the underlying patterns and hierarchies in it. Due to the huge increase in the application of FCA in various fields, the number of research and review articles on FCA has raised to a large extent. This review differs from the existing ones in presenting the comprehensive survey on the fundamentals of FCA in a compact and crisp manner to benefit the beginners and its focuses on the scalability issues in FCA. Further, we present the generic anatomy of FCA apart from its origin and growth at a primary level.

  10. Does knowledge make a difference? The association between knowledge about genes and attitudes toward gene tests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jallinoja, P; Aro, A R

    2000-01-01

    that genetic testing will have positive consequences, but many also had worries related to the development of gene tests. We showed that there was an association between knowledge and attitudes, but better knowledge did not simply lead to unambiguous acceptance. Among those with the highest level of knowledge...... there was in many respects both more enthusiasm and more skepticism than among those with the lowest level of knowledge. Those with a low level of knowledge had more difficulties in taking a stance toward attitude statements. In general, steps should be taken, first, to increase citizens' capabilities to seek......A survey was conducted (n = 1,216) to evaluate the level of knowledge about basic facts of genetics and attitudes toward gene tests among the Finnish population. Our results show that a majority of the Finnish population generally approved of gene tests. Well over half of the respondents believed...

  11. Using key performance indicators as knowledge-management tools at a regional health-care authority level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berler, Alexander; Pavlopoulos, Sotiris; Koutsouris, Dimitris

    2005-06-01

    The advantages of the introduction of information and communication technologies in the complex health-care sector are already well-known and well-stated in the past. It is, nevertheless, paradoxical that although the medical community has embraced with satisfaction most of the technological discoveries allowing the improvement in patient care, this has not happened when talking about health-care informatics. Taking the above issue of concern, our work proposes an information model for knowledge management (KM) based upon the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) in health-care systems. Based upon the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) framework (Kaplan/Norton) and quality assurance techniques in health care (Donabedian), this paper is proposing a patient journey centered approach that drives information flow at all levels of the day-to-day process of delivering effective and managed care, toward information assessment and knowledge discovery. In order to persuade health-care decision-makers to assess the added value of KM tools, those should be used to propose new performance measurement and performance management techniques at all levels of a health-care system. The proposed KPIs are forming a complete set of metrics that enable the performance management of a regional health-care system. In addition, the performance framework established is technically applied by the use of state-of-the-art KM tools such as data warehouses and business intelligence information systems. In that sense, the proposed infrastructure is, technologically speaking, an important KM tool that enables knowledge sharing amongst various health-care stakeholders and between different health-care groups. The use of BSC is an enabling framework toward a KM strategy in health care.

  12. Tacit Knowledge Barriers within Franchise Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cumberland, Denise M.; Githens, Rod P.

    2010-01-01

    This paper reviews knowledge management in the context of a franchise business operation, with a focus on tacit knowledge barriers. In a franchise organization, the transfer of knowledge occurs on multiple levels and has an added level of complexity because of the number of partners and relationships. Tacit knowledge transfer should occur…

  13. The Role of Domain and System Knowledge on Text Comprehension and Information Search in Hypermedia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waniek, Jacqueline; Schafer, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    The goal of this study was to examine the role of domain and system knowledge on learner performance in reading and information search in hypermedia. Previous studies have shown that prior knowledge is an important individual factor for effective hypermedia use. However, current research lacks a full understanding of how these two aspects of prior…

  14. Study of secondhand smoke levels pre and post implementation of the comprehensive smoking ban in Mumbai

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deshpande Aditi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: This research was undertaken with the aim of assessing the indoor air quality in popular hospitality venues, as also to evaluate the effectiveness of the nationwide comprehensive public smoking ban. The analysis was split into two halves - baseline study taken up prior to implementation of the said ban on 2 nd October 2008, and the follow-up study after it came into effect. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five venues including five restaurants, fourteen resto-bars, two hookah (smoking water-pipe cafes and four pubs were selected using a mix of random, convenience and purposeful sampling. Particulate matter (PM 2.5 measurements at these venues were made using TSI SidePak AM510 Personal Aerosol Monitor. Results: The average PM 2.5 level in venues where smoking was permitted prior to implementation of ban was found to be 669.95 ΅g/m 3 in the baseline study. Post ban, the average PM 2.5 level in same test venues reduced to 240.8 ΅g/m 3 . The hookah cafes were an exception as the average PM 2.5 levels exceeded the permissible limits before as well as post ban. Conclusion: The baseline study showed that the hospitality venues had hazardous levels of PM 2.5 particles arising from second-hand smoke prior to smoking ban. These decreased by a maximum of 64% after the law took effect. A substantial improvement in air quality at these venues post implementation of the smoking ban indicated the effectiveness of the law.

  15. A knowledge transfer program for engineering students at master level at the UPM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiménez, G.; Mínguez, E.

    2014-01-01

    Conclusions: Practical tools to improve the NKM in the day by day in their work: • How to make their everyday work to be more traceable: – Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS); • Identify, inside the corporation, the people with critical knowledge (independent of the age!) – Evaluate the risk of losing that knowledge; – Planify the strategy of knowledge transfer; – Avoid that all the critical knowledge of one is concentrated in one person (knowledge islands); • Know the knowledge of your partner

  16. Barriers in Sustainable Knowledge Management Model in Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gratiela Dana BOCA

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper present a comprehensive model in education using the data base collected from 101 students from Turkey. The target group was students involved in academic life system. Results are used to design a model where education transfer of knowledge it is investigated in function of possible barriers as internal, external and knowledge management factors of influence in education selection and students vision for education development. As a conclusion, the evaluation of the barriers in sustainable knowledge management in education present a cross-educational model which seems to indicate its highly effective resource for environmental education focused on sustainability, and favours the development of knowledge, attitudes and future intentions of inspiring educational environment. The model can be useful on passing of knowledge from one generation to the next generation, managing succession and distributing the competencies and responsibilities to a repetitive change.

  17. The Changing Role of Vocational Education and the Comprehensive High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pucel, David J.

    As American society has changed from the industrial age to the information age to the knowledge/imagination age, the notion of a comprehensive high school in its originally envisioned form has again become a high priority. If all students are required to obtain a rigorous academic education and an applied education related to a life or work…

  18. Investigating the knowledge level of sellers of pesticides used in agricultural struggle in Adana province

    OpenAIRE

    Nazlıcan, Ersin; Ötegen, Volkan Recai; Akbaba, Muhsin; İlter, Hüseyin

    2018-01-01

    Objective:While significant increase in pesticide use in our country, most extensive usesare at Aegean and Mediterranean regions. Adjusting amount of pesticideconsumption is important for both human health and environmental contamination.Our aim is investigating the level of knowledge of sellers of pesticides usedin agricultural struggle about pesticides in Adana, in Mediterranean region.Method: In Adana, survey with 37 questions applied to sellers of pesticidesused in agricultural struggle, ...

  19. Containers of Knowledge as a Basis for Knowledge Maps

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dömeová Ludmila

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available The heart of most knowledge management (KM strategies was and often is in technologies as data warehousing, dokument management, etc. The so called „second generation of KM“ is based on a knowledge life cycle with both demand and supply side. Many discussions of KM are on theoretical and conceptual level and that ´s why many practicioners do not consider the KM as a significant contribution to competitive advantage. I tis necessary to make the knowledge more concrete, readable and user friendly. For knowledge collection and codification we use knowledge maps – schemas or models of how we undestand the problems and how we take actions. The knowledge maps can be expressed in texts, charts, pictures, etc. The character of knowledge map is closely connected with appropriate containers of knowledge. The containers perspektive is important in the implementation strategy of organizational learning.

  20. High Prevalence of Dehydration and Inadequate Nutritional Knowledge Among University and Club Level Athletes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magee, Pamela Jane; Gallagher, Alison M; McCormack, Jacqueline M

    2017-04-01

    Although dehydration of ≥ 2% body weight (BW) loss significantly impairs endurance performance, dehydration remains prevalent among athletes and may be owing to a lack of knowledge in relation to fluid requirements. The aim of this study was to assess the hydration status of university/club level athletes (n = 430) from a range of sports/activities (army officer cadet training; bootcamp training; cycling; Gaelic Athletic Association camogie, football and hurling; golf; hockey; netball; rugby; running (sprinting and endurance); Shotokan karate and soccer) immediately before and after training/competition and to assess their nutritional knowledge. Urine specific gravity (USG) was measured immediately before and after exercise and BW loss during exercise was assessed. Nutritional knowledge was assessed using a validated questionnaire. 31.9% of athletes commenced exercise in a dehydrated state (USG >1.020) with 43.6% of participants dehydrated posttraining/competition. Dehydration was particularly prevalent (>40% of cohort) among karateka, female netball players, army officer cadets, and golfers. Golfers that commenced a competitive 18 hole round dehydrated took a significantly higher number of strokes to complete the round in comparison with their euhydrated counterparts (79.5 ± 2.1 vs. 75.7 ± 3.9 strokes, p = .049). Nutritional knowledge was poor among participants (median total score [IQR]; 52.9% [46.0, 59.8]), albeit athletes who were euhydrated at the start of exercise had a higher overall score in comparison with dehydrated athletes (55.2% vs. 50.6%, p = .001). Findings from the current study, therefore, have significant implications for the education of athletes in relation to their individual fluid requirements around exercise.