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The Development, Reliability, and Validity of the OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire
No full textThis report outlines the development, validity, and reliability of Part A of the OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire. Part A permits assessment of individuals\u27 functioning on each of five dimensions (social, economic, mental health, physical health and self-care capacity), the detailed information in each area being summarized on a 6-point rating scale by a rater. Content and consensual validity were ensured by the manner of construction. Information on criterion validity was obtained for all dimensions except social. The criterion used and their associated Kendall\u27s Tau values were: an objective economic scale (.62); ratings based on personal interviews by geropsychiatrists (.60); physician\u27s associates (.82); and physical therapists (.89). For 11 geographically dispersed raters from research and clinic settings, intraclass correlational coefficients, based on 30 subjects, ranged from .66 on physical health to .87 in self-care capacity; 74% of the ratings were in complete agreement, 24% differed by one point
The Differential Usage of Services by Impaired Elderly
No full textWhy do some clients use institutional services, while other, with comparable impairment, use community based services? To answer this question, a matching procedure paired clients from the two types of service provision. Sixty-six clients, ages 62 and over, were matched for functional ability as rated on a 6-item ADL scale (Katz, et al., 1970). A discriminant function analysis was performed, with the setting of service provision as the criterion variable. The results indicated that the institutional group was more likely than their community counterparts: (a) to have had previous service contact with other service providers; (b) to have less support available within the community setting from family members or friends; (c) to be more impaired in the areas of mental health and social resources
A Validity Study of the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire
No full textThe short, portable mental status questionnaire (SPMSQ) developed by Pfeiffer has several advantages over previous short instruments designed to assess the intellectual functioning of older adults. It is based upon data from both institutionalized and community-dwelling elderly. Although Pfeiffer a four-group classification, he used to groups in his initial validation study: (a) intact/mildly impaired, and (b) moderately/severely impaired. The present study compared clinicians\u27 ratings with those based upon the SPMSQ scores, and examined the validity of the four-group classification. The sample included 181 subjects from seven intermediate care facilities and nine home-care agencies. All were assessed by the OARS questionnaire, which includes the SPMSQ Three discriminant analyses were performed with three different criteria, for two-group, three-group, and four-group models. Results indicated that the two-group model (intact/mildly impaired and moderately/severely impaired) permitted significant discrimination. The four-group model, however, gave less distinct results. In particular, patients who were mildly intellectually impaired could not be clearly distinguished from those who were intact and from those who were moderately impaired. The three-group model (minimally, moderately, severely impaired) seemed to offer the best compromise between the gross dichotomy of the original two-model system and the less accurate four category system
Aging and Mental Health: Business as Usual?
No full textCautions that in developing training models in mental health and aging, psychologists must not overlook what experience has taught them about mental health intervention or what they know already about older adults. It is suggested that a life-span developmental view complements a community and preventive approach to the mental health needs of the elderly. Creation of a separate subspecialty of clinical geropsychology will not effectively serve older adults. What is needed is a synthesis ofalready existing expertise in areas such as life-span development, clinical psychology, and community psychology. This synthesis provides a conceptual foundation and set of intervention approaches on which to base training programs in mental health and aging
Identification, discrimination, and selective adaptation of simultaneous musical intervals
Full text linkFour experiments investigated perception of major and minor thirds whose component tones were sounded simultaneously. Effects akin to categorical perception of speech sounds were found. In the first experiment, musicians demonstrated relatively sharp category boundaries in identification and peaks near the boundary in discrimination tasks of an interval continuum where the bottom note was always an F and the top note varied from A to A flat in seven equal logarithmic steps. Nonmusicians showed these effects only to a small extent. The musicians showed higher than predicted discrimination performance overall, and reaction time increases at category boundaries. In the second experiment, musicians failed to consistently identify or discriminate thirds which varied in absolute pitch, but retained the proper interval ratio. In the last two experiments, using selective adaptation, consistent shifts were found in both identification and discrimination, similar to those found in speech experiments. Manipulations of adapting and test showed that the mechanism underlying the effect appears to be centrally mediated and confined to a frequency-specific level. A multistage model of interval perception, where the first stages deal only with specific pitches may account for the results
The Hydrocyanation of Some Substituted 4H-1-Benzopyranylidene-3-Acetates
Full text linkWe have found that the hydrocyanation of ethyl 2,3-dihydro-2-methoxy-4-oxo-2-aryl-4H-l-benzopyranylidine-3-acetate with potassium cyanide in aqueous ethanol produces the enolate of ethyl 4-oxo-2-aryl-c-cyano-4H-l-benzopyran-3-acetate. Acidification of the reaction with dilute hydrochloric acid protonates the enolate and precipitates the neutral ester. Hydrocyanating 4’-methoxylated ethyl 2,3-dihydro-2-methoxy-4-oxo-2-aryl-4H-l-benzopyranylidene-3-acetate affords the byproduct 4-oxo-2-aryl-4H-l-benzopyran-3-acetonitrile prior to acidification
On a Microcomputer Implementation of an Intrusion-detection Algorithm
No full textThe main objective of this paper is to discuss various aspects of implementing a specific intrusion-detection scheme on a micro-computer system using fixed-point arithmetic. The proposed scheme is suitable for detecting intruder stimuli which are in the form of transient signals. It consists of two stages: an adaptive digital predictor and an adaptive threshold detection algorithm. Experimental results involving data acquired via field experiments are also included
Learning to Live in a Therapeutic Community: A study of elderly inpatients.
No full textFifty-two elderly mental patients in a state hospital were transferred to a new milieu ward. In order to evaluate patient success in the unit, three outcome categories were defined nine months after the unit opened: discharge to the community, adjustment to the setting, and return to the previous ward. Despite the unit\u27s emphasis on performance criteria for success, staff evaluations of the patients\u27 personality rather than the patients\u27 achievement of the behavioural criteria, accounted for success in the setting
Ben Jonson\u27s Anti-Puritanism
Full text linkAlthough history has caused the satirist Ben Jonson and his witty plays to be swallowed up in the genius of his colleague, dramatist Will Shakespeare, in Elizabethan England the two were considered of similar stature. Ben Jonson, charismatic, antagonistic, conflicted, was a person of little subtlety, but of considerable interest for many. It becomes quickly evident from the characters in his plays Bartholomew Fair and The Alchemist that he developed an antipathy to the Puritans of his day. Ben Jonson, the convert to Catholicism, seemed to take personally the antics and forays of those who claimed their goal was to rid the Anglican Church of all of its Roman ties.
What was Jonson’s attitude toward the Puritans? How did it develop? Did it change throughout the years? Were Jonson’s attacks based on what how the Puritans behaved or what they represented? Were the Puritans in Jonson’s eyes the Elizabethan equivalent of the Pharisees’ of Jesus’ time? Or were Jonson’s attacks purely pragmatic? Was claiming to provide spiritual answers a subterfuge for their love of money the catalyst for Jonson’s attacks? Or was it that they cost him popularity and commissions? So virulent were these attacks that some even claimed Jonson “hated” the Puritans. Was this really so?
Utilizing all resources available in 1964, this thesis takes the time to weigh and evaluate the different aspects of Ben Jonson’s anti-Puritanism. The weight of conclusion falls on the significance of their impact on Jonson’s life as a dramatist. Research done since that time confirms this conclusion