Abstracts

Many college students have difficulty observing that acceleration due to gravity is a constant when analyzing the motion of a cart down an inclined air track. They often cannot make the connection that it is gravity pulling the cart down the incline. This is unfortunate as the results of the measurement are usually excellent. We have written two different experiments in which the students drop an object and analyze its motion. Our goal was to not sacrifice accuracy while ensuring greater understanding of the physics. We gave the students a short quiz before and after the lab to assess comprehension of the concepts. As a control, the quiz was also given to several lab sections where the incline plane method is still used. We will discuss the outcomes of the assessments and correlate them with conceptual understanding exhibited in the laboratory reports.

Understanding the process of sputtering is important in order to accurately predict the evolution of materials as they are bombarded with ions. The greatest natural occurrence of ion sputtering is the bombardment of objects in space by the solar wind. The goal of this project was to design an ion gun to simulate the solar wind for low energy sputtering experiments. The ion gun utilizes a gas source and produces ions with kinetic energies from 100 eV to 30 keV. This project encompasses the simulation, creation, and testing of an ion gun. The current and future research opportunities this ion gun produces will help to create a better model of the effects of sputtering by low energy ions and thereby enable scientists to better predict the interactions of the solar wind with objects in space.

Objective: to determine if implementing an oral health education program at Washtenaw County Head Start will increase the number of children going to the dentist and receiving follow-up dental care. Methods: The data were collected from Head Start preschool for two years for the group without education and for three years for the group that received oral health education. The information was collected on a form that was completed by the child's dentist and the information was put into Access to track. Results: The results showed children who received dental education were more likely to go to the dentist and receive follow-up treatment than those who did not receive the educational component.

From January 1, 2000, until January 1, 2010, the U.S. has seen two recessions. The recession beginning the first quarter of 2008 is the event of interest. During the second recession, the fall in the economy not only hurt financial markets in the United States but also contributed to loss of property values, and the State and Local governments felt the pinch. The intent of this presentation is to draw from a sample of cities in 10 states and, using data from the Census of Government, to determine whether fund reserves or fund balances as a proportion of general fund spending are greater in Sunbelt States than they are in Rustbelt states during the period of interest, a decade in which there was a significant recession in 2001-02 and the start of a second one in 2008.

Edgar Schein observed that most of us "continue to find it amazingly difficult to understand and justify much of what we observe and experience in our organizational life." In many cases, managers have a difficult time trying to change the behavior of subordinates and often encounter resistance that appears to be unreasonable. Communication problems and misunderstandings occur between departments and/or group members that don't seem to make sense from a rational perspective. Culture and leadership can be viewed as being interrelated. Leaders create cultures when they create groups, and, once established, they determine the criteria for leadership. But if a culture becomes dysfunctional, it is the leader's responsibility to perceive this and manage evolution in such a way as to secure the group's survival in a changing environment. Cultural understanding is desirable for everyone but most essential for leaders.

There are notable differences between political experts and novices in terms of political thought. The literature is rife with examples of cognitive dissimilarity between experts and novices including differences in the ability to perceive and synthesize political information, as well as differences in information-processing strategies. The present study seeks to expand on this research by employing a think-aloud methodology to explore differences between political experts and novices in their use of heuristics. Participants were asked to engage with materials related to a political campaign contrived for the purposes of the study and to respond aloud to these materials as they examined them. It is hypothesized that individuals identified as experts will use heuristics more often and more effectively than their less sophisticated counterparts.

This paper creates a road map for senior center directors to follow in order to operate a productive center and outlines the basic services a center should provide, while suggesting guidelines for allocation of funding to accomplish a center's basic goal of providing social- and health-related services to seniors. This paper will include justifications for a municipally operated senior center. The paper has three major sections: (1) justification for a senior center within a community, (2) maintaining an effective organizational culture to provide the best services to the community, and (3) maintaining the interest of the community by making the senior center into a destination for people to visit.

Funding challenges, poor treatment outcomes, and increased system fragmentation are forcing publicly funded substance abuse treatment systems to change the way they fund and deliver services. Recovery-oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) have been implemented as a solution across the nation, as both community and statewide policy initiatives. This analysis outlines the advantages and weaknesses of ROSC as a policy alternative for the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, concluding with potential challenges for ROSC adoption and implementation.

Thus far, researchers have discovered that when adolescents have frequent, comfortable interactions with their parents about sex, they are more likely to delay sexual debut, use condoms more consistently, and have fewer sexual partners. Although the research has addressed comfort level and topics discussed in conversations about sex, what has not been addressed is how the tone that the parent sets for the conversation translates to the adolescent's comfort level in discussing these topics. This poster presentation addresses the sexual topics that have been discussed and also the tone and comfort level of these conversations. Participants for this study were 148 adolescents, ages 13 to 18, who were enrolled in a faith-based sexual education program. Although adolescents feel moderately comfortable talking to their parents, comfort level is related to tone. Additionally, the sexual activity and religiosity of the adolescents was related to parents' discussion of certain sexual topics.

Few studies have looked at personality traits and their relationship to physical therapy outcome. The present study addressed this by examining dysfunctional personality characteristics and how they are related to patients' level of improvement at their discharge from physical therapy treatment. Participants at a physical therapy treatment center completed questionnaires at their first three physical therapy appointments. Therapists completed a series of questions that asked them to rate the patients on several dimensions (e. g., whether the patient achieved the maximum benefit from his/her treatment). Results indicated that patients who displayed dependent personality features were perceived by their physical therapists as being more cooperative; physical therapists viewed their relationships with these patients more positively. Therapists tended to rate narcissistic individuals as having less successful treatment outcomes. Patients with higher scores on Dysfunctional Detachment were more likely to be viewed as difficult to work with by their physical therapists.

Few studies examine differential effects of adolescent AIS treatment (structured observation, bracing, or spinal fusion surgery) on long-term QoL in adul

This study examined the relationships between various child, parent, parenting, and peer factors in early childhood and later deviant behavior and association with 'deviant' peers in adolescence. Using data from the Childhood and Beyond (CAB) project, a longitudinal study of child self-perception and achievement in a largely white, middle class population (n=551), analyses were conducted using child and parent survey data from early elementary through high school. Preliminary analyses revealed that lower levels of child self-esteem, lower levels of clear and reasonable family rules, and lower positive affective parent-child relationship scores in early childhood were all significantly associated with higher deviant behavior scores in adolescence. In addition, lower positive affective parent-child relationship scores in early childhood were significantly associated with higher association with 'deviant' peers in adolescence. Furthermore, greater association with 'deviant' peers in adolescence was associated with higher deviant behavior scores in adolescence. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to associate with 'deviant' peers. Consistent with other findings in the field, these results suggest that certain aspects of a child's early environment may significantly impact later social functioning in adolescence. However, further analyses need to be performed to determine the extent to which these early factors interact and predict later functioning.

For AIS, a spinal deformity, QoL is an important aspect of treatment outcome. The SRS-22r, an AIS disease-specific QoL measure, is psychometrically sound in paper-and-pencil format. Our study examined its psychometrics when administered online. Via scoliosis websites, 311 AIS adults were recruited [mean age 40.3 + 13.5 years; 95.2% female; 89.7% white]. They completed the SRS-22r (assessing functioning, pain, self-image, mental health, and satisfaction with management), the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (assessing physical disability, social restriction, and pain) and the SF-12 (assessing general physical and mental QoL). SRS-22r floor/ceiling effects were low (<6.4%) for all domains except satisfaction with management (<10%). Internal consistency was strong (__0.80) in all domains except pain (_=.38). Concurrent validity (_.73) was moderate-strong relative to similar SF-12 and ODI domains. Overall, online and paper administrations had comparable psychometrics, suggesting that administering SRS-22r online could aid in ongoing QoL assessment to track long-term AIS treatment outcomes.

The validity of maternal ratings of infant temperament has been a subject of study for quite some time. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of depression on a mother's view of her infant's temperament. Depression was measured in 120 primarily low-income, unmarried pregnant women during pregnancy (T1) and 3 months after birth (T2) using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987; Wisner, Perry, & Piontek, 2002). Maternal perceptions of infant temperament were assessed at T2 using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ; Bates, Freeland, & Lounsberry, 1979). It is hypothesized that mothers who are depressed at T2 will rate their babies as having a more difficult temperament when they also showed signs of depression at T1. Results are expected to increase knowledge about possible influences on maternal reports of infant temperament.

Recent evidence suggests that post-bariatric surgery (BS) patients are overrepresented in substance abuse (SA) treatment programs; however, little is known about why this phenomenon is occurring. SA treatment patients with BS histories participated in a study examining the onset of SA relative to the timing of their BS. Qualitative interview data were used to evaluate participants' perceptions of the etiology of their SA problems and their recommendations for treatment providers working with BS patients. Four themes emerged regarding SA etiology: unresolved psychological problems, addiction substitution, faster substance metabolism with more intense effects, and increased pain medication availability. Three themes for future recommendations emerged: counseling, increasing education of SA risks post-surgery, and 'honesty' of patients and staff prior to BS. Finally, trajectories of SA development relative to BS will also be depicted. Implications include increased psychological treatment, with a particular focus on navigating identity shifts, and increased education of SA risks.

Research suggests childhood conduct disorder (CD) is a risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the mechanism of risk transmission is unclear. Social support is well documented for its protective effects in the prevention and recovery from PTSD, and lack of social support is a major risk factor for the development of PTSD. Yet only one study, a combat-related investigation, has examined social support as a mediator of the relationship between CD and PTSD. The purpose of this study is to examine social support as a moderator variable between CD and PTSD through a secondary analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). The NCS-R is a stratified, probability clustered sample of the United States population. It is hypothesized that trauma-exposed individuals with a history of conduct disorder reporting lack of perceived social support are more likely to endorse symptoms of PTSD than those who report a greater sense of perceived social support.

Online survey tools like SurveyMonkey have become common for psychological research and can be convenient and useful for research in which self-reported data are appropriate. Use of an online survey system raises several unique methodological issues, particularly in the management of partial or incomplete data and of duplicate participants. To demonstrate some of these issues, several cases of incomplete (n = 26) or duplicate (n = 3) participation from a study examining the relationship between a history of trauma and aggressive behavior (N = 232) will be discussed. The researcher proposes a simple 'taxonomy' of these cases, which may assist in cleaning and organizing data. In addition to formal statistical methods used to manage missing data, several strategies appear to be useful in helping the researcher detect and systematically discard duplicate data and make decisions about fully duplicate participants.

Extensive research on the etiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD) suggests that there is a broad array of factors contributing to the onset of this disorder. For instance, prior research established that emotional dysregulation (ED), impulsivity (IMP), and negative affect (NA) are important markers of BPD. Other studies have identified that a non-nurturing home environment leads to the development of problematic interpersonal relationships often referred to as object relations (OR). Research on the development of BPD is robust; however, no existing studies have evaluated the relative predictive power of emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, negative affect, and object relations. The current study looks at the sequential predictive powers of the object relations relative to emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and negative affect.

This study investigated how to increase access to the attentional states of mindfulness, decentering, and flow by comparing distinct mindfulness interventions with an active control. Internally focused mindfulness (IFM) training (mindful attention directed to interoceptive stimuli, n=12) and externally focused mindfulness (EFM) training (mindful attention directed to exteroceptive stimuli; n=16) were compared to a behavioral stress reduction control (n=16). An undergraduate student sample completed two 1-hour group-training sessions with a week of self-guided practice between them. Results of a repeated measures MANOVA showed significant differences in the acquisition of mindfulness, decentering, and flow. A pairwise comparison of the significant between-within interactions revealed that the IFM group showed a medium effect size on all measures at Time2. The EFM group also increased significantly in mindfulness. This is the first study to demonstrate that mindfulness training may increase access to flow states. Implications of these findings will be offered.

Despite difficulties with social cognition and nonverbal communication, there are a limited number of neuroimaging studies that have examined the neural correlates of direct versus averted gaze in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To examine potential aberrant connectivity, brain activation during direct versus averted gaze was compared in individuals with autism and matched controls using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a noninvasive technique that maps magnetic fields arising from cortical electrical activity. Brain activity was analyzed with MR-FOCUSS, a current density technique (Moran et al., 2005). Latency of brain activation was measured during direct gaze and averted gaze (-0.1 to .65 sec). Differences between ASD's and controls in latency of activation are hypothesized to occur with averted versus direct gaze and may be dependent on left versus right gaze procedures, consistent with hemispheric differences in neuronal processing.