Your search

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Association of American Geographers is a time to celebrate. To set the tone for the anniversary meetings in Philadelphia, I asked Geoffrey Martin, Marvin Mikesell, and John Adams to discuss significant events in the AAG's past, the Association’s present state, and prospects for the future. Their presentations were made in the initial session of the meetings on Sunday evening, April 22. We are pleased to reproduce for the members of the Association the transcripts of those verbal presentations. We are indebted to each of these colleagues for the excellent start they provided for our largest-ever professional meeting.—Brian J. L. Berry, President. © 1979 by the Association of American Geographers.

This study tested a causal model of academic self-efficacy in faculty at a large New England research university, focusing specifically on gender as one of 12 antecedent variables. Academic self-efficacy was defined as an estimate of confidence in one's ability to perform various tasks classified as research, service, and teaching in a university setting. The variables were drawn from Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and from characteristics of the university work setting. Data was obtained by mail response to a researcher-designed instrument: the Measure of Self-Efficacy in Academic Tasks (MSEAT). The findings show that being female contributed to feeling less efficacious about research tasks indirectly through the mediating influence of intervening variables. Feeling nourished and rewarded by a department and being male contributed to service self-efficacy. Teaching self-efficacy was not explained by the causal model. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of campus socializing interventions, departmental research climate, and university incentives for female faculty. © 1988.

This investigation examined the prevalence and nature of grief in response to patient suffering, loss, or death among healthcare workers employed at a general hospital and a skilled nursing facility. A questionnaire was constructed for this purpose. Approximately two-thirds of the skilled nursing facility personnel remembered experiencing bereavement as a reaction to the crises of their geriatric patients. Mourning occurred among virtually all of the general hospital personnel who usually serve younger patients. Healthcare personnel mourned most often for those persons who suffered or died of cancer. A selected sample of respondents recalled that psychological symptoms of grief were more evident than physical. Both symptom types often persisted for more than 1 month. Since grief is common among nurses and aides employed at the two medical settings, bereavement counseling is suggested for those healthcare personnel who require this service.

The use of gradient operators for image enhancement has been widely reported in the literature, but they have not been used routinely in the medical arena, particularly in the most common radiographic plain film procedure, chest radiographs. Gradient operators such as Sobel and Roberts operators, not only enhance image edges but also tend to enhance noise. Overall, the Sobel operator was found to be superior to the Roberts operator in edge enhancement. A theoretical explanation for the superior performance of the Sobel operator was developed based on the concept of analyzing the x and y Sobel masks as linear Alters. By applying pill box, Gaussian, or median filtering prior to applying a gradient operator, noise was reduced, but the pill box and Gaussian filters were much more computationally efficient than the median filter with approximately equal effectiveness in noise reduction. © 1988 IEEE

A 58-item Likert attitude scale was developed and administered to thirty Speech-Language Pathology graduate students in order to obtain their perceptions of a self-evaluation procedure used in a clinical training facility. Significant correlations were obtained between the clinicians’ perception of the overall usefulness of this self-evaluation procedure, and a majority (61%) of the items on the scale. Significant correlations were obtained for several pairs of demographic items. The implications of these results for the clinical supervision process are discussed, as well as the need for further research on this topic. © 1988 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

A knowledge of normal articulation is needed before the prosthodontist can assess the compensatory articulation used by glossectomy patients. The amount and portion of tongue resected is directly correlated with speech intelligibility. The loss of the tip of the tongue is more critical to intelligibility than a hemiglossectomy. Partial glossectomy speakers can often use the residual tongue stump to perform adaptive movements that approximate normal movements and should be treated as an articulation problem. The compensatory articulation used by the total glossectomy patient was reviewed. The prosthodontic management of patients with partial tongue resection often includes lowering the palatal vault, while the management of the total glossectomy patient usually requires a mandibular tongue prosthesis. These prostheses can be refined with the use of multiview videofluoroscopy, videotaping, and spectrographic analysis. © 1985.

In order to avoid obtaining variable measurement data it is critical to control pressure applied to the tongue by positioning clamps used in lingual vibrotactile research. A pressure sensing plate, associated electronics, and procedures are described which, when employed with positioning clamps in current use, will permit monitoring lingual pressure during vibrotactile investigations.

The effect of different levels of a multiple-talker background noise on the intelligibility of normal, esophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech was investigated. A superior laryngectomized male speaker and a normal-age matched male speaker produced the speech stimuli used in the study. Audiotape recordings of the speakers were presented to panels of naive listeners. The data from the listeners' responses revealed significant differences in the intelligibility of normal, esophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech as a function of the background noise level. The data did not indicate a superiority of one form of alaryngeal speech over the other in adverse noise conditions. © 1983.

A procedure and method is described to determine the frequency or pitch of tape-recorded voice samples, while keeping the cost of measurement within the reach of practicing clinicians. The method described reduces the uncertainty of pitch determination by comparison techniques and improves the accuracy of clinical estimation of fundamental vocal frequency and pitch. The accuracy, reliability, cost, and ease with which the method can be used makes it a viable tool to be used by the clinician. © 1981.

The concept "discounting health" is proposed as a heuristic model for analysis of differing perceptions concerning "cost-benefit", as these relate to systems of health care. This procedure became necessary during analysis of data gathered in rural Ethiopia to measure the effectiveness of new Health Centers. Ethnological research accompanying the quantitative study of health attitudes found that "subsistence anxiety" dominated all other concerns of the majority in the rural areas. The landless peasant sharecropper and his divorced wife represent the most prevalent social problem in Ethiopia. Holistic solutions should include some form of social security and safe wells, so that the population can stop "discounting health". © 1973.

Special education in the United States services a diverse population, including those students whose academic performance falls at the ends of the normal distribution. This article challenges the assumption that a continuum of learning opportunities appropriate for exceptional persons is possible when the concept of the normal distribution is used. An alternate model, a bull's-eye, is suggested to accommodate the openended potential for the gifted population. © 1990 A B Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain.

The research reported in this paper is an exploration of children's understandings of the concept and experience of interpersonal conflict. Data were gathered at focus group discussions with 7- to 16-year-old children. The analysis which is presented focuses on the children's metaphors of conflict as a place, conflict as an explosion and conflict as betrayal. Children's own descriptions of their experiences and understandings are emphasized. Thus, to the extent possible, what is presented is an examination of children's perspectives/voices as opposed to adult-centered analyses of children's experiences.

This case is about a family-owned discount store chain that was unable to survive much beyond its founder. It tells the story of a first-generation American family and its struggle to grow and prosper in a family business during the early 1900s. The case takes the reader through the business' growth, maturity, decline, and, ultimately, its demise in 1991, which was brought about by issues such as organizational structure, the role of family in the family business, lack of succession planning, and myopic strategic planning. The author uses fictitious names, dates, and places to protect the surviving family members' privacy, and to ensure confidentiality.