• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.125-136
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• 2018

Although atypical sensory processing is a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is considerable heterogeneity among ASD individuals in the modality and symptoms of atypical sensory processing. The present study examined visual processing of children with ASD, focusing on the complexity and orientation of visual information. Age- and -IQ-matched Korean children (14 ASD and 14 typically-developing (TD) children) received an orientation discrimination task involving static spatial gratings varied in complexity (simple versus complex) and orientation (horizontal versus vertical). The results revealed that ASD children had difficulty perceiving complex information regardless of orientation, whereas TD children had more difficulty with vertical gratings than horizontal gratings. Thus, group-level differences between ASD and TD children appeared greater when gratings were presented horizontally. Unlike ASD adult literature, however, ASD children did not show superior performance on simple gratings. Our findings on typical and atypical processing of ASD children have implications for both understanding the characteristics of ASD children and developing diagnostic tools for ASD.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.123-140
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• 2001

Hypotheses In health services research are becoming increasingly more complex and specific. As a result, health services research studies often include multiple independent, intervening, and dependent variables in a single hypothesis. Nevertheless, the statistical models adopted by health services researchers have failed to keep pace with the increasing complexity and specificity of hypotheses and research designs. This article introduces a statistical model well suited for complex and specific hypotheses tests in health services research studies. The covariance structure modeling(CSM) methodology is especially applied to regional relevance indices(RIs) to assess the impact of health resources and healthcare utilization. Data on secondary statistics and health insurance claims were collected by each catchment area. The model for RI was justified by direct and indirect effects of three latent variables measured by seven observed variables, using ten structural equations. The resulting structural model revealed significant direct effects of the structure of health resources but indirect effects of the quantity on RIs, and explained 82% of correlation matrix of measurement variables. Two variables, the number of beds and the portion of specialists among medical doctors, became to have significant effects on RIs by being analyzed using the CSM methodology, while they were insignificant in the regression model. Recommendations for the CSM methodology on health service research data are provided.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.122-132
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• 2005

Graphing abilities are critical to understand and convey information in science. And then, to what extent are secondary students in science courses able to understand line graphs? To find clues about the students' interpretation processes of the information in science-related line graphs, this study has the following research question: Is there a difference between the levels of complexity of good and poor readers as they use the thinking aloud method for studying cognitive processes? The present study was designed to provide evidence for the hypothesis that good line graph readers use a specific graph interpretation process when reading and interpreting line graphs. With the aid of the thinking aloud method we gained deeper insight into the interpretation processes of good and poor graph readers while verifying verbal statements with respect to line graphs. The high performing students tend to read much more information and more trend-related information than the low performing students. We support the assumption of differential line graph schema existing in the high performing students in conjunction with general graph schema. Also, high performing students tend to think aloud much more metacognitively than low performing students. High performing students think aloud a larger quantity of information from line graphs than low performing students, and more trend-related sentences than value-related sentences from line graphs. The differences of interpretation processes revealed between good and poor graph readers while reading and interpreting line graphs have implications for instructional practice as well as for test development and validation. Teaching students to read and interpret graphs flexibly and skillfully is a particular challenge to anyone seriously concerned with good education for students who live in an technological society.