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This action research project describes an intervention to increase attending and on-task behaviors in first- and second-grade students. The problem of inattentive behaviors was documented by means of teacher, student, and parent surveys and teacher observations. The intervention used behavioral management, organizational strategies, role playing, and cooperative grouping to increase attending and on-task behaviors. Post-intervention data indicated that targeted students demonstrated an improvement in their attending and on-task behaviors. (Six appendices contain surveys and checklists. Contains 26 references.)

Forming a medical diagnosis is a complicated reasoning process undertaken by physicians. Although there has been much research focusing on clinical reasoning approaches, there is limited empirical evidence in relation to causal attribution in medical diagnosis. The research on which this thesis is based explored and examined the social process of medical diagnosis and provides an explanation of the clinical reasoning and causal attribution used by physicians. The research was undertaken in an Emergency Department within an acute hospital, the data were collected using mixed method approach including one to one semi-structured interviews with individual physicians; observation of their medical assessments of patients and secondary data analysis of the subsequent recorded medical notes. The study involved 202 patients and 26 physicians. The analysis of the physicians’ semi-structured interviews, shows how physicians describe the diagnostic step process and how they blend their clinical reasoning skills and professional judgment with evidence-based medicine. Physicians apply prior learning of taught biomedical and pathophysiological knowledge to question patients using pattern recognition of common signs and symptoms of disease. These findings are portrayed through taped narratives of the physician/patient interaction during the medical diagnostic process, which shows how physicians control the medical encounter. The analysis/interpretation of documentary evidence (recorded medical notes) provides an insight into the way in which physicians used the information gathered during the diagnostic step process. By using SPSS it was possible to cluster the cases (individual patients) into groups. This stage-ordered classification procedure demonstrated commonality amongst individual cases whilst highlighting the uniqueness of any cases. A pattern emerged of two groups of cases: Group 1 - comprised of patients with the presenting complaints of chest pain, shortness of breath, collapse, abdominal pain, per rectal bleed, nausea, vascular and neurological problems and Group 2 - comprised of patients presenting with trauma, mechanical falls, miscarriage/gynaecological problems, allergies/rashes and dental problems. Findings show that the clinical reasoning approaches used varied according to the complexity of the patient’s presenting complaint. The recorded medical notes for the patients in Group 1, were comprehensive and demonstrated a combined approach of hypothetic-deductive and probabilistic reasoning which enabled the physicians to deal with the degree of uncertainty that is inherent in medicine. The recorded process in the medical notes was shortened for the majority of patients in Group 2, and here the clinical reasoning approach used was found to deterministic. It is acknowledged, that this is not always the case. By using crisp set QCA it was possible to explore causal conditions consistent with Group 1. Further analysis led to examination of the link of causal conditions presented in the medical notes with the individual impression/working diagnosis made by physicians.

Aldehydic lipid peroxidation products, free radical mediated oxidative stress and antioxidant status were investigated in three in vitro plant systems with the objective of exploring the involvement of oxidative stress in plant tissue cultures. Daucus carota was used as a model system for the study of somatic embryogenesis and for the development of an enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) technique, for the detection of hydroxynonenal-protein adducts in plant extracts. This study shows for the first time, in plants, that exogenously applied lipid peroxidation products hydroxynonenal (HNE) and malondialdehyde (MDA) inhibit callus proliferation and development (as somatic embryogenesis). Removal of the aldehydes led to a reversal of inhibitory effects. For the first time, HNE and MDA were measured in extracts of callus generated from different explants of Ipomoea batatas (an economically significant crop species). Using ELISA, HNE-protein adducts have been detected, in extracts from all three cultivars of I. batatas tested. Increases in the activities of the antioxidants, catalase and peroxidase were also observed in nodes of I. batatas after transfer to callus induction medium. Three callus cultures of Glycine max, one of which was habituated against benzylamino purine, the second contained chlorophyll (green) and the third, devoid of chlorophyll (white) were profiled for lipid peroxidation products and antioxidant activity. This is first report of the detection free HNE and MDA in G. max and were detected in all three callus types, with the highest concentrations for both aldehydes in the habituated callus line. HNE-protein adducts were only detected in the white callus line of G. max. The level of hydroxyl radical activity was found to be increased in aged callus compared to callus taken from the mid-point of the subculture cycle. Low activities of catalase, peroxidase and other antioxidants were found in the habituated callus. It is proposed that increased amounts of hydroxyl radicals, high levels of HNE and MDA and the low activity of antioxidants leads to oxidative stress in extreme conditions such as habituation in in vitro plant systems. This study has implications regarding the understanding of in vitro plant recalcitrance.