The receptive communication abilities of deaf students under oral, manual, and combined methods.

Two groups of severely and profoundly deaf students aged 10 to 17 years were tested on their abilities to choose, from a set of four pictures, the one matching a sentence presented on videotape under 11 different communication conditions. The communication conditions involved individual and combined presentations of lipreading, listening, fingerspelling, and signed English. Severely deaf students scored higher than profoundly deaf students under all conditions except those that involved signed English, where the profoundly deaf group scored as high as the severely deaf group. All the students scored higher under conditions that involved audition, including lipreading plus audition, than under audition alone. The discussion of the results highlights methodological problems that made it difficult to interpret some previous studies in this area. Practical implications of the results for both oral education of the deaf and simultaneous communication are also discussed.     

A Proposed Test for Determining Physical Working Capacity at the Heart Rate Threshold

Abstract

Forty-four subjects were given an all-out run test on a motor driven treadmill. The times for attaining heart rates of 150, 160, 170, 180 beats per minute were recorded along with measurements of ventilation, oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production. The correlations between heart rate times and the all-out run times increased with the heart rate, a correlation of .85 calculated at the rate of 180 beats per minute. Using criteria established by Balke, it was demonstrated that the 180 heart rate serves as a valid cut-off point in measuring circulorespiratory capacity under variable exercise stress conditions.     

An accurate VO2max nonexercise regression model for 18-65-year-old adults

The purpose of this study was to develop a regression equation to predict maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) based on nonexercise (N-EX) data. All participants (N = 100), ages 18-65 years, successfully completed a maximal graded exercise test (GXT) to assess VO2max (M = 39.96 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), SD = 9.54). The N-EX data collected just before the maximal GXT included the participant's age; gender; body mass index (BMI); perceived functional ability (PFA) to walk, jog, or run given distances; and current physical activity (PA-R) level. Multiple linear regression generated the following N-EX prediction equation (R = .93, SEE = 3.45 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), % SEE = 8.62): VO2max (mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)) = 48.0730 + (6.1779 x gender; women = 0, men = 1) - (0. 2463 x age) - (0.6186 x BMI) + (0.7115 x PFA) + (0.6709 x PA-R). Cross validation using PRESS (predicted residual sum of squares) statistics revealed minimal shrinkage (R(p) = .91 and SEE(p) = 3.63 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)); thus, this model should yield acceptable accuracy when applied to an independent sample of adults (ages 18-65 years) with a similar cardiorespiratory fitness level. Based on standardized beta-weights, the PFA variable (0.41) was the most effective at predicting VO2max followed by age (-0.34), gender (0.33), BMI (-0.27), and PA-R (0.16). This study provides a N-EX regression model that yields relatively accurate results and is a convenient way to predict VO2max in adult men and women.     

School psychological referrals in an inner city school

The present study investigated number and nature of school psychological referrals in a black, lower socioeconomic, “inner-city” school system. Unlike earlier investigations, this study demonstrated statistically significant sex and/or developmental differences in stated reason for school psychological referrals. Results were examined in terms of suggestions for the training of school psychologists as well as in light of several theoretical issues in urban education.