http://discoverarchive.vanderbilt.edu:80/xmlui The DiscoverArchive digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. Tue, 15 May 2012 19:29:57 GMT 2012-05-15T19:29:57Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5095 Neurocognitive Effects of Radiation Therapy in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors Smith, Samantha E. This study characterizes the neurocognitive late effects of treatment in pediatric brain tumor survivors by examining patterns of executive function, coping, emotional outcomes, and brain activation. We examined associations among these variables and their relationship to prefrontal cortex activation in 20 children and adolescents ages 8 to 16‐ years old who completed treatment for a pediatric brain tumor with 20 healthy controls matched on age and sex. We found partial support for our hypothesis that survivors perform worse than healthy controls on these domains and that activation patterns during executive function tasks differ. No causal relationship among executive function, coping, and emotional outcome variables was found. Findings suggest that neurocognitive deficits in survivors may be associated with impairment in prefrontal cortex integrity. Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5095 2012-03-29T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5094 The Influence of Prior Reading Instruction and IEP Goals on the Reading Skills of Children with Down Syndrome Germansky, Sara E. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between IEP goals and prior reading instruction for children with Down Syndrome, and whether both of those variables had an impact on the children’s reading abilities and potential to learn. 24 children with Down Syndrome between the ages of 7 and 16 participated in a study conducted by Lemons and Fuchs (2010). The raw data was extracted to create kappa coefficients showing the agreement between IEP goals and prior reading instruction. Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients were also created to determine the relations between IEP goals, reading instruction, reading abilities and gain scores on posttest scores. The results showed no significant agreement between IEP goals and reading instruction. There were also significant relations between reading instruction and pre-test scores but not gain scores. There was no relationship between IEP goals and either set of scores. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5094 2012-01-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5093 Effects of Frequency and Regularity on New Learning in Preference Readers Wise, Jessica R. Learning to read English requires both knowledge of grapheme-phoneme (GP) rules and rapid recognition for familiar words, which can be mediated by whole-word (WW) mappings. Previous research has suggested that readers differ in their preferences for GP vs. WW strategies of word reading. In an artificial script training study with literate adults, we tested whether preference learners are affected by aspects of the learning demands relevant to English - GP regularity and word frequency. WW preference learners suffered higher costs when reading irregular words, but showed no frequency effects. Further, WW preference learners were more likely to apply GP rules to regular words. These findings suggest that preference may be a measure of ability to use GP strategy appropriately. Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5093 2012-04-01T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5092 Real-time real-space density functional theory calculations of electron scattering in materials Wyatt, Benjamin Density functional theory is utilized in real-time, real-space simulations of LEED measurements and attosecond electron scattering. For LEED measurements, we find that our simulation results agree well with experimental data and other theoretical approaches. For attosecond electron scattering, we find that the wavefunction of the scattered electron is not signficantly changed by the scattering process, and the measured electron density seems to be related to the initial form of the wave-packet. However, further investigation is needed to confirm these results for different choices of initial form. Fri, 04 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5092 2012-05-04T05:00:00Z