Search results for: non-internal arc rated

Authors: Subhankar Karmakar, Madhan Kumar Vasudevan, Manivannan Muniyandi

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Thermal Grill Illusion (TGI) elicits a strong and often painful sensation of burn when interlacing warm and cold stimuli that are individually non-painful, excites thermoreceptors beneath the skin. Among several theories of TGI, the “disinhibition” theory is the most widely accepted in the literature. According to this theory, TGI is the result of the disinhibition or unmasking of the pain-sensitive HPC (Heat-Pinch-Cold) nerve fibers due to the inhibition of cold-sensitive nerve fibers that are responsible for masking HPC nerve fibers. Although researchers focused on understanding TGI throughexperiments and models, none of them investigated the prediction of TGI pain intensity through a computational model. Furthermore, the comparison of psychophysically perceived TGI intensity with neurophysiological models has not yet been studied. The prediction of pain intensity through a computational model of TGI can help inoptimizing thermal displays and understanding pathological conditions related to temperature perception. The current studyfocuses on developing a computational model to predict the intensity of TGI pain and experimentally observe the perceived TGI pain. The computational model is developed based on the disinhibition theory and by utilizing the existing popular models of warm and cold receptors in the skin. The model aims to predict the neuronal activity of the HPC nerve fibers. With a temperature-controlled thermal grill setup, fifteen participants (ten males and five females) were presented with five temperature differences between warm and cold grills (each repeated three times). All the participants rated the perceived TGI pain sensation on a scale of one to ten. For the range of temperature differences, the experimentally observed perceived intensity of TGI is compared with the neuronal activity of pain-sensitive HPC nerve fibers. The simulation results show a monotonically increasing relationship between the temperature differences and the neuronal activity of the HPC nerve fibers. Moreover, a similar monotonically increasing relationship is experimentally observed between temperature differences and the perceived TGI intensity. This shows the potential comparison of TGI pain intensity observed through the experimental study with the neuronal activity predicted through the model. The proposed model intends to bridge the theoretical understanding of the TGI and the experimental results obtained through psychophysics. Further studies in pain perception are needed to develop a more accurate version of the current model.

Keywords: thermal grill Illusion, computational modelling, simulation, psychophysics, haptics

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Authors: Hussain-Abdulah Arjmand, Nikki S. Rickard

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The response to stress can be highly heterogenous, and may be influenced by methodological factors. The integrity of data will be optimized by measuring both positive and negative affective responses to an event, by measuring responses in real time as close to the stressful event as possible, and by utilizing data collection methods that do not interfere with naturalistic behaviours. The aim of the current study was to explore short term prototypical responses to major stressor events on outcome measures encompassing both positive and negative indicators of psychological functioning. A novel mobile experience sampling methodology (m-ESM) was utilized to monitor both effective responses to stressors in real time. A smartphone mental health app (‘Moodprism’) which prompts users daily to report both their positive and negative mood, as well as whether any significant event had occurred in the past 24 hours, was developed for this purpose. A sample of 142 participants was recruited as part of the promotion of this app. Participants’ daily reported experience of stressor events, levels of depressive symptoms and positive affect were collected across a 30 day period as they used the app. For each participant, major stressor events were identified on the subjective severity of the event rated by the user. Depression and positive affect ratings were extracted for the three days following the event. Responses to the event were scaled relative to their general reactivity across the remainder of the 30 day period. Participants were first clustered into groups based on initial reactivity and subsequent recovery following a stressor event. This revealed distinct patterns of responding along depressive symptomatology and positive affect. Participants were then grouped based on allocations to clusters in each outcome variable. A highly individualised nature in which participants respond to stressor events, in symptoms of depression and levels of positive affect, was observed. A complete description of the novel profiles identified will be presented at the conference. These findings suggest that real-time measurement of both positive and negative functioning to stressors yields a more complex set of responses than previously observed with retrospective reporting. The use of smartphone technology to measure individualized responding also proved to shed significant insight.

Keywords: depression, experience sampling methodology, positive functioning, resilience

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Authors: Denise Ben-Porath, Tracy Masterson

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In the past, individuals who struggled with and sought treatment for mental health difficulties were stigmatized. However, the current generation holds more open attitudes around mental health issues. Indeed, public figures such as Demi Lovato, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles have taken to social media to break the silence around mental health, discussing their own struggles and the benefits of treatment. Thus, there is considerable reason to believe that this generation would hold fewer stigmatizing attitudes toward mental health difficulties and treatment compared to previous ones. In this study, we explored possible changes in stigma on mental health diagnosis and treatment seeking behavior between two generations: Gen Z, the current generation, and Gen X, those born between 1965-1980. It was hypothesized that Gen Z would hold less stigmatizing views on mental illness than Gen X. To examine possible changes in stigma attitudes between these two generations, we conducted a cross-generational cohort design by using the same methodology employed 20 years ago from the Ben-Porath (2002) study. Thus, participants were randomly assigned to read one of the following four case vignettes employed in the Ben-Porath (2002) study: (a) “Tom” who has received psychotherapy due to depression (b) “Tom” who has been depressed but received no psychological help, (c) “Tom” who has received medical treatment due to a back pain, or (d) “Tom” who had a back pain but did not receive medical attention. After reading the vignette, participants rated “Tom” on various personality dimensions using the IFQ Questionnaire and answered questions about their frequency of social media use and willingness to seek mental health treatment on a scale from 1-10. Identical to the results 20 years prior, a significant main effect was found for diagnosis with “Tom” being viewed in more negative terms when he was described as having depression vs. a medical condition (back pain) [F (1, 376) = 126.53, p < .001]. However, in the study conducted 20 years earlier, a significant interaction was found between diagnosis and help-seeking behavior [F (1, 376) = 8.28, p < .005]. Specifically, “Tom” was viewed in the most negative terms when described as depressed and seeking treatment. Alternatively, the current study failed to find a significant interaction between depression and help seeking behavior. These findings suggest that while individuals who hold a mental health diagnosis may still be stigmatized as they were 20 years prior, seeking treatment for mental health issues may be less so. Findings are discussed in the context of social media use and its impact on destigmatization.

Keywords: stigma, mental illness, help-seeking, social media

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Authors: Louise Bunce, Jill Childs, Adam J. Lonsdale, Naomi King

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A major concern for the Social Work profession concerns the frequency of burn-out and high turnover of staff. The characteristic of resilience has been identified as playing a crucial role in social workers’ ability to have a satisfying and successful career. Thus a critical role for social work education is to develop resilience in social work students. We currently need to know more about how to train resilient social workers who will also increase the academic standing of the profession. The specific aim of this research was to quantify characteristics that may contribute towards resilience and academic success among student social workers in order to mitigate against the problems of burn-out and low academic standing. These three characteristics were competence (effectiveness at mastering the environment), autonomy (sense of control and free will), and relatedness (interacting and connecting with others), as specified in Self-Determination Theory (SDT). When these three needs are satisfied, we experience higher degrees of motivation to succeed and wellbeing. Thus when these three needs are met in social work students, they have the potential to raise academic standards and promote wellbeing characteristics that contribute to the development of resilience. The current study tested the hypothesis that higher levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as defined by SDT, will predict levels of academic success and resilience in social work students. Two hundred and ten social work students studying at a number of universities completed well-established questionnaires to assess autonomy, competence, and relatedness, level of academic performance and resilience (The Brief Resilience Scale). In this scale, students rated their agreement with items e.g., ‘I bounce back quickly after hard times’ and ‘I usually come through difficult times with little struggle’. After controlling for various factors, including age, gender, ethnicity, and course (undergraduate or postgraduate) preliminary analysis revealed that the components of SDT provided useful predictive value for academic success and resilience. In particular, autonomy and competence provided a useful predictor of academic success while relatedness was a particularly useful predictor of resilience. This study demonstrated that SDT provides a valuable framework for helping to understand what predicts academic success and resilience among social work students. This is relevant because the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness can be affected by external social and cultural pressures, thus they can be improved by the right type of supportive teaching practices and educational environments. These findings contribute to the growing evidence-base to help build an academic and resilient social worker student body and workforce.

Keywords: education, resilience, self-determination theory, student social workers

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Authors: Peter Ecke

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This research presents insights from a questionnaire study and autobiographic narrative analyses about the language and cultural backgrounds, challenges, interests, and needs, as well as perceptions about bilingualism and language learning of undergraduate students at a Public University in the southwestern United States. Participants were 650 students, enrolled in college-level general education courses, entitled “Becoming multilingual: Learning and maintaining two or more languages” between 2020 and 2024. Data were collected via pre- and post-course questionnaires administered online through the Qualtrix XM platform and complemented with analyses of excerpts from autobiographical narratives that students produced as part of the course assignments. Findings, for example, show that course participants have diverse linguistic backgrounds. The five most frequently reported L1s were English (about 50% of course participants), Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, and Korean (in that order). The five most frequently reported L2s were English, Spanish, French, ASL, Japanese, German, and Mandarin (in that order). Participants also reported on their L2, L3, L4, and L5 if applicable. Most participants (over 60%) rated themselves bilingual or multilingual whereas 40% considered themselves to be monolingual or foreign language learners. Only about half of the participants reported feeling very or somewhat comfortable with their language skills, but these reports changed somewhat from the pre- to the post-course survey. About half of participants were mostly interested in learning how to effectively learn a foreign language. The other half of participants reported being most curious about learning about themselves as bi/multilinguals, (re)learning a language used in childhood, learning how to bring up a child as a bi/multilingual or learning about people who speak multiple languages (distributed about evenly). Participants’ comments about advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual remained relatively stable but their agreement with common myths about bilingualism and language learning changed from the pre- to the post-course survey. Students’ reflections in the autobiographical narratives and comments in (institutionally administered) anonymous course evaluations provided additional data on students’ concerns about their current language skills and uses as well as their perceptions about learning outcomes and the usefulness of the general education course for their current and future lives. It is hoped that the presented findings and discussion will spark interest among colleagues in offering similar courses as a resource for college students (and possibly other audiences), including those from migrant, indigenous, multilingual, and multicultural communities to contribute to a more harmonious bilingualism and well-being of college students who are or inspire to become bi-or multilingual.

Keywords: autobiographic narratives, general education university course, harmonious bilingualism and well-being, multilingualism, questionnaire study

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Authors: Simon Espigolé, Igor Shalyminov, Helen Hastie

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Deep machine learning techniques including deep neural networks (DNN) have been used to model language and dialogue for conversational agents to perform tasks, such as giving technical support and also for general chit-chat. They have been shown to be capable of generating long, diverse and coherent sentences in end-to-end dialogue systems and natural language generation. However, these systems tend to imitate the training data and will only generate the concepts and language within the scope of what they have been trained on. This work explores how deep neural networks can be used in a task that would normally require human creativity, whereby the human would read the movie description and/or watch the movie and come up with a compelling, interesting movie title. This task differs from simple summarization in that the movie title may not necessarily be derivable from the content or semantics of the movie description. Here, we train a type of DNN called a sequence-to-sequence model (seq2seq) that takes as input a short textual movie description and some information on e.g. genre of the movie. It then learns to output a movie title. The idea is that the DNN will learn certain techniques and approaches that the human movie titler may deploy that may not be immediately obvious to the human-eye. To give an example of a generated movie title, for the movie synopsis: ‘A hitman concludes his legacy with one more job, only to discover he may be the one getting hit.’; the original, true title is ‘The Driver’ and the one generated by the model is ‘The Masquerade’. A human evaluation was conducted where the DNN output was compared to the true human-generated title, as well as a number of baselines, on three 5-point Likert scales: ‘creativity’, ‘naturalness’ and ‘suitability’. Subjects were also asked which of the two systems they preferred. The scores of the DNN model were comparable to the scores of the human-generated movie title, with means m=3.11, m=3.12, respectively. There is room for improvement in these models as they were rated significantly less ‘natural’ and ‘suitable’ when compared to the human title. In addition, the human-generated title was preferred overall 58% of the time when pitted against the DNN model. These results, however, are encouraging given the comparison with a highly-considered, well-crafted human-generated movie title. Movie titles go through a rigorous process of assessment by experts and focus groups, who have watched the movie. This process is in place due to the large amount of money at stake and the importance of creating an effective title that captures the audiences’ attention. Our work shows progress towards automating this process, which in turn may lead to a better understanding of creativity itself.

Keywords: creativity, deep machine learning, natural language generation, movies

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Authors: Román Rodríguez Echegoyen, Fernando Carlos López Hernández, José Manuel López Ujaque

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Interactive management of energy certification ratings has remained on the sidelines of the evolution of virtual reality (VR) despite related advances in architecture in other areas such as BIM and real-time working programs. This research studies to what extent VR software can help the stakeholders to better understand energy efficiency parameters in order to obtain reliable ratings assigned to the parts of the building. To evaluate this hypothesis, the methodology has included the construction of a software prototype. Current energy certification systems do not follow an intuitive data entry system; neither do they provide a simple or visual verification of the technical values included in the certification by manufacturers or other users. This software, by means of real-time visualization and a graphical user interface, proposes different improvements to the current energy certification systems that ease the understanding of how the certification parameters work in a building. Furthermore, the difficulty of using current interfaces, which are not friendly or intuitive for the user, means that untrained users usually get a poor idea of the grounds for certification and how the program works. In addition, the proposed software allows users to add further information, such as financial and CO₂ savings, energy efficiency, and an explanatory analysis of results for the least efficient areas of the building through a new visual mode. The software also helps the user to evaluate whether or not an investment to improve the materials of an installation is worth the cost of the different energy certification parameters. The evaluated prototype (named VEE-IS) shows promising results when it comes to representing in a more intuitive and simple manner the energy rating of the different elements of the building. Users can also personalize all the inputs necessary to create a correct certification, such as floor materials, walls, installations, or other important parameters. Working in real-time through VR allows for efficiently comparing, analyzing, and improving the rated elements, as well as the parameters that we must enter to calculate the final certification. The prototype also allows for visualizing the building in efficiency mode, which lets us move over the building to analyze thermal bridges or other energy efficiency data. This research also finds that the visual representation of energy efficiency certifications makes it easy for the stakeholders to examine improvements progressively, which adds value to the different phases of design and sale.

Keywords: energetic certification, virtual reality, augmented reality, sustainability

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Authors: Alexandra Shipley

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Background: Undergraduate paediatric teaching must overcome two major challenges: 1) balancing patient safety with active student engagement and 2) exposing students to a comprehensive range of pathologies within a relatively short clinical placement. Whilst lectures and shadowing on paediatric wards constitute the mainstay of learning, Simulation and Virtual Reality (VR) are emerging as effective teaching tools, which - immune to the unpredictability and seasonal variation of hospital presentations - could expose students to the entire syllabus more reliably, efficiently, and independently. We aim to evaluate the potential utility of Simulation and VR in addressing gaps within the traditional paediatric curriculum from the perspective of medical students. Summary of Work: Exposure to and perceived utility of various learning opportunities within the Paediatric and Emergency Medicine courses were assessed through a questionnaire completed by 5th year medical students (n=23). Summary of Results: Students reported limited exposure to several common acute paediatric presentations, such as bronchiolitis (41%), croup (32%) or pneumonia (14%), and to clinical emergencies, including cardiac/respiratory arrests or trauma calls (27%). Across all conditions, average self-reported confidence in assessment and management to the level expected of an FY1 is greater amongst those who observed at least one case (e.g. 7.6/10 compared with 3.6/10 for croup). Students rated exposure through Simulation or VR to be of similar utility to witnessing a clinical scenario on the ward. In free text responses, students unanimously favoured being ‘challenged’ through ‘hands-on’ patient interaction over passive shadowing, where it is ‘easy to zone out.’ In recognition of the fact that such independence is only appropriate in certain clinical situations, many students reported wanting more Simulation and VR teaching. Importantly, students raised the necessity of ‘proper debriefs’ after these sessions to maximise educational value. Discussion and Conclusion: Our questionnaire elicited several student-perceived challenges in paediatric education, including incomplete exposure to common pathologies and limited opportunities for active involvement in patient care. Indeed, these experiences seem to be important predictors of confidence. Quantitative and qualitative feedback suggests that VR and Simulation satisfy students’ self-reported appetite for independent engagement with authentic clinical scenarios. Take-aways: Our findings endorse further development of VR and Simulation as high-yield adjuncts to paediatric education.

Keywords: paediatric emergency education, simulation, virtual reality, medical education

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Mehmet Kunt, Mahdi Nourollahi

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Evaluating the environmental risk factors is a combination of analysis of transportation effects. Various definitions for risk can be found in different scientific sources. Each definition depends on a specific and particular perspective or dimension. The effects of potential risks present along the new proposed routes and existing infrastructures of large transportation projects like railways should be studied under comprehensive engineering frameworks. Despite various definitions provided for ‘risk’, all include a uniform concept. Two obvious aspects, loss and unreliability, have always been pointed in all definitions of this term. But, selection as the third aspect is usually implied and means how one notices it. Currently, conducting engineering studies on the environmental effects of railway projects have become obligatory according to the Environmental Assessment Act in developing countries. Considering the longitudinal nature of these projects and probable passage of railways through various ecosystems, scientific research on the environmental risk of these projects have become of great interest. Although many areas of expertise such as road construction in developing countries have not seriously committed to these studies yet, attention to these subjects in establishment or implementation of different systems have become an inseparable part of this wave of research. The present study used environmental risks identified and existing in previous studies and stations to use in next step. The second step proposes a new hybrid approach of analytical network process (ANP) and DEMATEL in fuzzy conditions for assessment of determined risks. Since evaluation of identified risks was not an easy touch, mesh structure was an appropriate approach for analyzing complex systems which were accordingly employed for problem description and modeling. Researchers faced the shortage of real space data and also due to the ambiguity of experts’ opinions and judgments, they were declared in language variables instead of numerical ones. Since fuzzy logic is appropriate for ambiguity and uncertainty, formulation of experts’ opinions in the form of fuzzy numbers seemed an appropriate approach. Fuzzy DEMATEL method was used to extract the relations between major and minor risk factors. Considering the internal relations of risk major factors and its sub-factors in the analysis of fuzzy network, the weight of risk’s main factors and sub-factors were determined. In general, findings of the present study, in which effective railway environmental risk indicators were theoretically identified and rated through the first usage of combined model of DEMATEL and fuzzy network analysis, indicate that environmental risks can be evaluated more accurately and also employed in railway projects.

Keywords: DEMATEL, ANP, fuzzy, risk

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Authors: Rasha Shoumar

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Background: Since the onset of the Syria crisis in 2011, Jordan has hosted many Syrian refugees, many of which are residing in urban and rural areas. Vulnerability of refugees has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to their already existing challenge in access to medical services, rendering them vulnerable to the complications of untreated medical conditions and amplifying their risk for severe COVID-19 disease. To improve health outcomes and access to health care services in a COVID-19 context, IOM (The International Organization for Migration) provided health services including awareness raising, direct primary health care through mobile teams and referrals to secondary services were extended to the vulnerable populations of refugees. Method: 6 community health volunteers were trained and deployed to different governorates to provide COVID-19 and non-communicable disease awareness and collect data rated to non-communicable disease and access to medical health services. Primary health care services were extended to 7 governorates through a mobile medical team, providing medical management. The collected Data was reviewed and analyzed. Results: 2150 refugees in rural areas were reached out by community health volunteers, out of which 78 received their medications through the Ministry of Health, 121 received their medications through different non-governmental organizations, 665 patients couldn’t afford buying any medications, 1286 patients were occasionally buying their medications when they were able to afford it. 853 patients received medications and follow up through IOM mobile clinics, the most common conditions were hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, anemia, heart disease, thyroid disease, asthma, seizures, and psychiatric conditions. 709 of these patients had more than 3 of the comorbidities. Multiple cases were referred for secondary and tertiary lifesaving interventions. Conclusion: Non communicable diseases are highly prevalent among refugee population in Jordan, access to medical services have proven to be a challenge in rural areas especially during the COVID-19 era, many of the patients have multiple uncontrolled medical conditions placing them at risk for complications and risk for severe COVID-19 disease. Deployment of mobile clinics to rural areas plays an essential role in managing such medical conditions, thus improving the continuum of health care approach, physical and mental wellbeing of refugees and reducing the risk for severe COVID-19 disease among this group, taking us one step forward toward universal health access.

Keywords: COVID-19, refugees, mobile clinics, primary health care

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Authors: Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya

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In general building repair and renovation projects are minor in nature. It requires less attention as the primary cost involvement is relatively small. Although the building repair and maintenance projects look simple, it involves much complexity during execution. Many of the present research indicate that few uncertain situations are usually linked with maintenance projects. Those may not be read properly in the planning stage of the projects, and finally, lead to time overrun. Building repair and maintenance become essential and periodical after commissioning of the building. In Institutional buildings, the regular maintenance projects also include addition –alteration, modification activities. Increase in the student admission, new departments, and sections, new laboratories and workshops, up gradation of existing laboratories are very common in the institutional buildings in the developing nations like India. The project becomes very critical because it undergoes space problem, architectural design issues, structural modification, etc. One of the prime factors in the institutional building maintenance and modification project is the time constraint. Mostly it required being executed a specific non-work time period. The present research considered only the institutional buildings of the Eastern part of India to analyse the repair and maintenance project delay. A general survey was conducted among the technical institutes to find the causes and corresponding nature of construction delay factors. Five technical institutes are considered in the present study with repair, renovation, modification and extension type of projects. Construction delay factors are categorically subdivided into four groups namely, material, manpower (works), Contract and Site. The survey data are collected for the nature of delay responsible for a specific project and the absolute amount of delay through proposed and actual duration of work. In the first stage of the paper, a relative importance index (RII) is proposed for the delay factors. The occurrence of the delay factors is also judged by its frequency-severity nature. Finally, the delay factors are then rated and linked with the type of work. In the second stage, a regression analysis is executed to establish an empirical relationship between the actual time of a project and the percentage of delay. It also indicates the impact of the factors for delay responsibility. Ultimately, the present paper makes an effort to identify the critical delay factors for the repair and renovation type project in the Eastern Indian Institutional building.

Keywords: delay factor, institutional building, maintenance, relative importance index, regression analysis, repair

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Authors: Harini Atturu, Divyani Byagari, Bindhu Rani Thumkunta, Sahitya Bammidi, Manasa Badveli

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Introduction: Biological, psychological and social domains influence the outcomes of pregnancy. The COVID19 pandemic had a significant effect on the psychological and social domains of pregnant women all over the world. Everyone has inherent coping mechanisms which ultimately determine the actual impact of such external stimulus on outcomes of pregnancy. This study aims to understand the coping strategies used by pregnant women to overcome the psychological impact of the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic. Methods: Institutional ethics permission was sought. All pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in the institution during September 2020 were included in the study. Brief-COPE, a self-rated questionnaire, was provided to understand the coping strategies used by them. The Questionnaire consists of 28 questions that fall into 14 themes. These 14 themes were mapped into four domains consisting of Approaching coping (APC) styles, Avoidant Coping (AVC) styles, Humor and Religion. The results were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis. Factor analysis was performed to identify themes that are most frequently used. Results: 162 pregnant women were included in the study. The majority of the women were aged between 18 and 30 (90.1%). 60.9% of the respondents were having their first pregnancy and were in the 2nd trimester (59.6%). The majority of them were living in the city (74%), belonged to the middle class (77.6%) and were not working (70.1%). 56 respondents (34.6%) reported that they had contact with suspected or Covid positive patients. Many were worried that their pregnancy might be complicated (43%), their baby may contract COVID (45%) and their family members could get COVID during the hospital visits for antenatal check-ups. 33.6% of women admitted missing their regular antenatal check-ups because of the above concerns. All respondents used various coping strategies to overcome the psychological impact of COVID 19. Out of the 4 coping strategies, participants scored high on Religion with a mean of 5.471.45 followed by Approaching Coping (APC) styles (5.131.25), Humor (4.592.07) and Avoidant Coping (AVC) styles (4.130.88). Religion as a coping strategy scored high for all respondents irrespective of age, parity, trimester, social and employment status. Exploratory Factor analysis revealed two cluster groups that explained 68% of the variance, with Component 1 contributing to 58.9% and component 2 contributing 9.13% of the variance. Humor, Acceptance, Planning, and Religion were the top 4 factors that showed strong loadings. Conclusion: Most of the pregnant women were worried about the negative impact of COVID 19 on the outcomes of their pregnancy. Religion and Approaching coping styles seem to be the predominant coping strategies used by them. Interventionists and policymakers should consider these factors while providing support to such women.

Keywords: coping strategies, pregnancy, COVID-19, brief-COPE

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Authors: Jerry Fiave, Dacosta Aboagye, Stephen Ayisi-Addo, Mabel Kissiwah Asafo, Felix Osei-Sarpong, Ebenezer Kye-Mensah, Renee Opare-Otoo

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Background: Acceptability and preference of social and behaviour change (SBC) materials by target audiences is an important determinant of effective health communication outcomes. In Ghana, however, pre-test and post-test studies on acceptability and preference of specific SBC materials for specific audiences are rare. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the acceptability and preference of printed posters on COVID-19 related stigma as suitable SBC materials for health workers to influence behaviours that promote uptake of HIV-focused services. Methods: A total of 218 health workers who provide HIV-focused services were purposively sampled in 16 polyclinics where the posters were distributed in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Data was collected in March 2021 using an adapted self-administered questionnaire in Google forms deployed via WhatsApp to participants. The data were imported into SPSS version 27 where chi-square test and regression analyses were performed to establish association as well as strength of association between variables respectively. Results: A total of 142 participants (physicians, nurses, midwives, lab scientists, health promoters, diseases control officers) made up of 85(60%) females and 57(40%) males responded to the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 65.14%. Only 88 (61.97%) of the respondents were exposed to the posters. The majority of those exposed said the posters were informative [82(93.18%)], relevant [85(96.59%)] and attractive [83(94.32%)]. They [82(93.20%)] also rated the material as acceptable with no statistically significant association between category of health worker and acceptability of the posters (X =1.631, df=5, p=0.898). However, participants’ most preferred forms of material on COVID-19 related stigma were social media [38(26.76%)], television [33(23.24%)], SMS [19(13.38%)], and radio [18(12.70%)]. Clinical health workers were 4.88 times more likely to prefer online or electronic versions of SBC materials than nonclinical health workers [AOR= 4.88 (95% CI= 0.31-0.98), p=0.034]. Conclusions: Printed posters on COVID-19 related stigma are acceptable SBC materials in communicating behaviour change messages that target health workers in promoting uptake of HIV-focused services. Posters are however, not among the most preferred materials for health workers. It is therefore recommended that material assessment studies are conducted to inform the development of acceptable and preferred materials for target audiences.

Keywords: acceptability, AIDS, HIV, posters, preference, SBC, stigma, social and behaviour change communication

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Authors: Işın Alkan, Meltem Kürtüncü

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Objective: This study was carried out with an experimental design in order to determine whether the lullaby, which was listened from mother’s voice and a stranger’s voice to the babies born at term and hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit, had an effect on saturation values (SpO2), peak heart rate (PHR), respiration, fever, growth and development and hospitalization times of the infants. Method: Data from the study were obtained from 90 newborn babies who were hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Zonguldak Maternity And Children Hospital between September 2015-January 2016 and who met the eligibility criteria. Lullaby concert was performed by choosing one of the suitable care hours. SpO2, PHR, respiration, fever, growth and development and hospitalization times of the infants were recorded by the researcher on “Newborn response follow-up form” at pre-care and post-care. Vital signs of babies every day, weight, height and head circumference measurements at admission, weakly rated at an output. Results: In the experimental and control groups, like weight, height and head circumference anthropometric measurements were not found statistically significant difference intensive care units admission and output times. Hospitalization times on babies who listen to lullaby mother’s voice revealed statistically significant difference according to babies who listen to lullaby stranger’s voice. Before care and after care were examined, SpO2 rates of babies who listen to lullaby mother’s voice revealed statistically significant higher difference according to babies who listen to lullaby stranger’s voice and control group babies. Before care on PHR of babies in three groups were not found the statistical difference, but aftercare, it was found that statistically lower (normal range) on babies who listen to lullaby mother’s voice according to babies who listen to lullaby stranger’s voice. Before care in three groups were not found the statistical difference on respiration values of babies, but aftercare, it was found that statistically lower (normal range) on babies who listen to lullaby stranger’s voice according to babies who listen to mother’s voice and control groups. Before care and after care were examined, fever signs did not reveal statistically significant difference in three groups. Conclusion: Lullaby concerts as being normal ranges of vital signs of infants and also helping to shorten hospitalization times should be preferred in the neonatal intensive care units.

Keywords: growth and development, lullaby, mother voice, vital signs

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Authors: Nicola S. Schutte, John M. Malouff

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Introduction: Curiosity is a positive emotion and motivational state that consists of the desire to know. Curiosity consists of several related dimensions, including a desire for exploration, deprivation sensitivity, and stress tolerance. Creativity involves generating novel and valuable ideas or products. How curiosity may prompt greater creativity remains to be investigated. The phenomena of flow may link curiosity and creativity. Flow is characterized by intense concentration and absorption and gives rise to optimal performance. Objective of Study: The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the phenomenon of flow may link curiosity with creativity. Methods and Design: Fifty-seven individuals from Australia (45 women and 12 men, mean age of 35.33, SD=9.4) participated. Participants were asked to design a program encouraging residents in a local community to conserve water and to record the elements of their program in writing. Participants were then asked to rate their experience as they developed and wrote about their program. Participants rated their experience on the Dimensional Curiosity Measure sub-scales assessing the exploration, deprivation sensitivity, and stress tolerance facets of curiosity, and the Flow Short Scale. Reliability of the measures as assessed by Cronbach's alpha was as follows: Exploration Curiosity =.92, Deprivation Sensitivity Curiosity =.66, Stress Tolerance Curiosity =.93, and Flow=.96. Two raters independently coded each participant’s water conservation program description on creativity. The mixed-model intraclass correlation coefficient for the two sets of ratings was .73. The mean of the two ratings produced the final creativity score for each participant. Results: During the experience of designing the program, all three types of curiosity were significantly associated with the flow. Pearson r correlations were as follows: Exploration Curiosity and flow, r =.68 (higher Exploration Curiosity was associated with more flow); Deprivation Sensitivity Curiosity and flow, r =.39 (higher Deprivation Sensitivity Curiosity was associated with more flow); and Stress Tolerance Curiosity and flow, r = .44 (more stress tolerance in relation to novelty and exploration was associated with more flow). Greater experience of flow was significantly associated with greater creativity in designing the water conservation program, r =.39. The associations between dimensions of curiosity and creativity did not reach significance. Even though the direct relationships between dimensions of curiosity and creativity were not significant, indirect relationships through the mediating effect of the experience of flow between dimensions of curiosity and creativity were significant. Mediation analysis using PROCESS showed that flow linked Exploration Curiosity with creativity, standardized beta=.23, 95%CI [.02,.25] for the indirect effect; Deprivation Sensitivity Curiosity with creativity, standardized beta=.14, 95%CI [.04,.29] for the indirect effect; and Stress Tolerance Curiosity with creativity, standardized beta=.13, 95%CI [.02,.27] for the indirect effect. Conclusions: When engaging in an activity, higher levels of curiosity are associated with greater flow. More flow is associated with higher levels of creativity. Programs intended to increase flow or creativity might build on these findings and also explore causal relationships.

Keywords: creativity, curiosity, flow, motivation

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Authors: Namrata Jain, Vishaka Karnad

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Fashion has always fascinated people through ages. Indian women’s wear in particular women's western formal wear has gone through transformational phases during the past decade. Increasing number of working women, independence in deciding financial matters, media exposure and awareness of current trends has provided a different dimension to the apparel segment. With globalization and sharing of cultures, in India formal women’s wear is no longer restricted to ethnic outfits like a sari or salwarkameez. Strong western influence has been observed in the process of designing, production and use of western formal wear by working women as consumers. The present study focuses on the psychographics parameters, consumer buying preferences and their relation to the present market scenario. Qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through a observation, consumer survey and study of brands. A questionnaire was prepared and uploaded as a google form to gather primary data from hundred consumer respondents. The respondent samples were drawn through snowball and purposive sampling technique. Consumers’ buying behavior is influenced by various aspects like age group, occupation, income and their personal preferences. Frequency of use, criteria for brand selection, styles of formal wear and motivating factors for purchase of western formals by working women were the other influential factors under consideration. It was observed that higher consumption and more popularity was indicated by women in the age group of 21-30 years. Amongst western formal wear shirts and trousers were noted to be the most preferred in Mumbai. It may be noted that consumers purchased and used branded western formal wear for reasons of comfort and value for money. Past experience in using the product and price were some of the important criteria for brand loyalty but the need for variety lured consumers to look for other brands. Fit of the garment was rated as the most important motivational factor while selecting products for purchase. With the advancement of women’s economic status, self-reliance, women role and image in the society, impulsive buying has increased with increase in consumerism. There is an ever growing demand for innovations in cuts, styles, designs, colors and fabrics. The growing fashion consciousness at the work place has turned women’s formal wear segment into a lucrative and highly evolving market thus providing space for new entrepreneurs to become a part of this developing sector.

Keywords: buying behavior, consumerism, fashion, western formal wear

Procedia PDF Downloads 467

Authors: Paulo O. Motita

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The Philippine Association of State Colleges and University (PASUC) is an association of State owned and operated higher learning institutions in the Philippines, it is the association that spearhead the conduct of the Annual National Athletic competitions for State Colleges and Universities and Arnis is one of the regular sports. In 2009, Republic Act 9850 also known as declared Arnis as the National Sports and Martial arts of the Philippines. Arnis an ancient Filipino Martial Arts is the major sports in the Annual Palarong Pambansa and other school based sports events. The researcher as a Filipino Martial Arts master and a former athlete desired to determine the extent of acceptability of the arnis rules in competition which serves as the basis for the development of arnis rules. The study aimed to assess the conduct of Arnis competition in PASUC Olympics 2015 in Tugegarao City, Cagayan, Philippines.the rules and conduct itself as perceived by Officiating officials, Coaches and Athletes during the competition last February 7-15, 2015. The descriptive method of research was used, the survey questionnaire as the data gathering instrument was validated. The respondents were composed of 12 Officiating officials, 19 coaches and 138 athletes representing the different regions. Their responses were treated using the Mean, Percentage and One-way Analysis of Variance. The study revealed that the conduct of Arnis competition in PASUC Olympics 2015 was at the low extent to moderate extent as perceived by the three groups of respondents in terms of officiating, scoring and giving violations. Furthermore there is no significant difference in the assessment of the three groups of respondents in the assessment of Anyo and Labanan. Considering the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1). There is a need to identify the criteria for judging in Anyo and a tedious scrutiny on the rules of the game for labanan. 2) The three groups of respondents have similar views towards the assessment on the overall competitions for anyo that there were no clear technical guidelines for judging the performance of anyo event. 3). The three groups of respondents have similar views towards the assessment on the overall competitions for labanan that there were no clear technical guidelines for majority rule of giving scores in labanan. 4) The Anyo performance should be rated according to effectiveness of techniques and performance of weapon/s that are being used. 5) On other issues and concern towards the rules of competitions, labanan should be addressed in improving rules of competitions, focus on the applications of majority rules for scoring, players shall be given rest interval, a clear guidelines and set a standard qualifications for officiating officials.

Keywords: PASUC Olympics 2015, Arnis rules of competition, Anyo, Labanan, officiating

Procedia PDF Downloads 458

Authors: Farahnaz Amini, Woo Yun Kin, Lazwani Kolandaiveloo

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Availability of different genetic tests after completion of Human Genome Project increases the physicians’ responsibility to keep themselves update on the potential implementation of these genetic tests in their daily practice. However, due to numbers of barriers, still many of physicians are not either aware of these tests or are not willing to offer or refer their patients for genetic tests. This study was conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional, mailed-based survey to develop a primary data of Malaysian physicians’ level of knowledge and perception of gene profiling. Questionnaire had 29 questions. Total scores on selected questions were used to assess the level of knowledge. The highest possible score was 11. Descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA and chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis. Sixty three completed questionnaires was returned by 27 general practitioners (GPs) and 36 medical specialists. Responders’ age range from 24 to 55 years old (mean 30.2 ± 6.4). About 40% of the participants rated themselves as having poor level of knowledge in genetics in general whilst 60% believed that they have fair level of knowledge. However, almost half (46%) of the respondents felt that they were not knowledgeable about available genetic tests. A majority (94%) of the responders were not aware of any lab or company which is offering gene profiling services in Malaysia. Only 4% of participants were aware of using gene profiling for detection of dosage of some drugs. Respondents perceived greater utility of gene profiling for breast cancer (38%) compared to the colorectal familial cancer (3%). The score of knowledge ranged from 2 to 8 (mean 4.38 ± 1.67). Non-significant differences between score of knowledge of GPs and specialists were observed, with score of 4.19 and 4.58 respectively. There was no significant association between any demographic factors and level of knowledge. However, those who graduated between years 2001 to 2005 had higher level of knowledge. Overall, 83% of participants showed relatively high level of perception on value of gene profiling to detect patient’s risk of disease. However, low perception was observed for both statements of using gene profiling for general population in order to alter their lifestyle (25%) as well as having the full sequence of a patient genome for the purpose of determining a patient’s best match for treatment (18%). The lack of clinical guidelines, limited provider knowledge and awareness, lack of time and resources to educate patients, lack of evidence-based clinical information and cost of tests were the most barriers of ordering gene profiling mentioned by physicians. In conclusion Malaysian physicians who participate in this study had mediocre level of knowledge and awareness in gene profiling. The low exposure to the genetic questions and problems might be a key predictor of lack of awareness and knowledge on available genetic tests. Educational and training workshop might be useful in helping Malaysian physicians incorporate genetic profiling into practice for eligible patients.

Keywords: gene profiling, knowledge, Malaysia, physician

Procedia PDF Downloads 326

Authors: Rangika Perera, Shyamani Hettiarachchi, Fran Hagstrom

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Dyslexia is the most common reading reading-related difficulty among the school school-aged population and currently, 5-10% are showing the features of dyslexia in Sri Lanka. As there is an insufficient number of speech and language pathologists in the country and few speech and language pathologists working in government mainstream school settings, these children who are at risk of dyslexia are not receiving enough quality early intervention services to develop their reading skills. As teachers are the key professionals who are directly working with these children, using them as the primary facilitators to improve their reading skills will be the most effective approach. This study aimed to identify the efficacy of a two and half a day of intensive training provided to fifteen mainstream government school teachers of grade two classes. The goal of the training was to enhance their knowledge of dyslexia and provide full classroom skills training that could be used to support the development of the students’ reading competencies. A closed closed-ended multiple choice questionnaire was given to these teachers pre and -post-training to measure teachers’ knowledge of dyslexia, the areas in which these children needed additional support, and the best strategies to facilitate reading competencies. The data revealed that the teachers’ knowledge in all areas was significantly poorer prior to the training and that there was a clear improvement in all areas after the training. The gain in target areas of teaching skills selected to improve the reading skills of children was evaluated through peer feedback. Teachers were assigned to three groups and expected to model how they were going to introduce the skills in recommended areas using researcher developed, validated and reliability reliability-tested materials and the strategies which were introduced during the training within the given tasks. Peers and the primary investigator rated teachers’ performances and gave feedback on organizational skills, presentation skills of materials, clarity of instruction, and appropriateness of vocabulary. After modifying their skills according to the feedback the teachers received, they were expected to modify and represent the same tasks to the group the following day. Their skills were re-evaluated by the peers and primary investigator using the same rubrics to measure the improvement. The findings revealed a significant improvement in their teaching skills development. The data analysis of both knowledge and skills gains of the teachers was carried out using quantitative descriptive data analysis. The overall findings of the study yielded promising results that support intensive training as a method for improving teachers’ knowledge and teaching skill development for use with children in a whole class intervention setting who are at risk of dyslexia.

Keywords: Dyslexia, knowledge, teaching skills, training program

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: K. C. M. Wong, C. P. Y. Cheng, K. Y. Chan, G. S. C. Fung, T. F. O. Lau, K. F. C. Leung, J. P. C. Fok

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Hospital Authority (HA) is the statutory body to manage all public hospitals in Hong Kong. Occupational Care Medicine Service (OMCS) is an in-house multi-disciplinary team responsible for injury management in HA. Hospital administrative services (AS) provides essential support in hospital daily operation to facilitate the provision of quality healthcare services. An occupational health enhancement program in Tai Po Hospital (TPH) domestic service supporting unit (DSSU) was piloted in 2013 with satisfactory outcome, the keys to success were staff engagement and management support. Riding on the success, the program was rolled out to another 5 AS departments of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) and TPH in 2015. This paper highlights the indispensable components of disability management and occupational health enhancement program in hospital settings. Objectives: 1) Facilitate workplace to support staff with health affecting work problem, 2) Enhance staff’s occupational health. Methodology: Hospital Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) team and AS departments (catering, linen services, and DSSU) of AHNH and TPH worked closely with OMCS. Focus group meetings and worksite visits were conducted with frontline staff engagement. OSH hazards were identified with corresponding OSH improvement measures introduced, e.g., invention of high dusting device to minimize working at height; tailor-made linen cart to minimize back bending at work, etc. Specific MHO trainings were offered to each AS department. A disability management workshop was provided to supervisors in order to enhance their knowledge and skills in return-to-work (RTW) facilitation. Based on injured staff's health condition, OMCS would provide work recommendation, and RTW plan was formulated with engagement of staff and their supervisors. Genuine communication among stakeholders with expectation management paved the way for realistic goals setting and success in our program. Outcome: After implementation of the program, a significant drop of 26% in musculoskeletal disorders related sickness absence day was noted in 2016 as compared to the average of 2013-2015. The improvement was postulated by innovative OSH improvement measures, teamwork, staff engagement and management support. Staff and supervisors’ feedback were very encouraging that 90% respondents rated very satisfactory in program evaluation. This program exemplified good work sharing among departments to support staff in need.

Keywords: disability management, occupational health, return to work, occupational medicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Dercan Gencbas, Hatice Bebis, Sue Moorhead

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In the nursing process, many of the nursing classification systems were created to be used in international. From these, NANDA-I, Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) and Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC). In this direction, the main objective of this study is to establish a model for caregivers in hospitals and communities in Turkey and to ensure that nursing outputs are assessed by NOC-based measures. There are many scales to measure Urinary Incontinence (UI), which is very common in children, in old age, vaginal birth, NOC scales are ideal for use in the nursing process for comprehensive and holistic assessment, with surveys available. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of the NOC outputs and indicators used for UI NANDA-I. This research is a methodological study. In addition to the validity of scale indicators in the study, how much they will contribute to recovery after the nursing intervention was assessed by experts. Scope validations have been applied and calculated according to Fehring 1987 work model. According to this, nursing inclusion criteria and scores were determined. For example, if experts have at least four years of clinical experience, their score was 4 points or have at least one year of the nursing classification system, their score was 1 point. The experts were a publication experience about nursing classification, their score was 1 point, or have a doctoral degree in nursing, their score was 2 points. If the expert has a master degree, their score was 1 point. Total of 55 experts rated Fehring as a “senior degree” with a score of 90 according to the expert scoring. The nursing interventions to be applied were asked to what extent these indicators would contribute to recovery. For coverage validity tailored to Fehring's model, each NOC and NOC indicator from specialists was asked to score between 1-5. Score for the significance of indicators was from 1=no precaution to 5=very important. After the expert opinion, these weighted scores obtained for each NOC and NOC indicator were classified as 0.8 critical, 0.8 > 0.5 complements, > 0.5 are excluded. In the NANDA-I / NOC / NIC system (guideline), 5 NOCs proposed for nursing diagnoses for UI were proposed. These outputs are; Urinary Continence, Urinary Elimination, Tissue Integrity, Self CareToileting, Medication Response. After the scales are translated into Turkish, the weighted average of the scores obtained from specialists for the coverage of all 5 NOCs and the contribution of nursing initiatives exceeded 0.8. After the opinions of the experts, 79 of the 82 indicators were calculated as critical, 3 of the indicators were calculated as supplemental. Because of 0.5 > was not obtained, no substance was removed. All NOC outputs were identified as valid and usable scales in Turkey. In this study, five NOC outcomes were verified for the evaluation of the output of individuals who have received nursing knowledge of UI and variant types. Nurses in Turkey can benefit from the outputs of the NOC scale to perform the care of the elderly incontinence.

Keywords: nursing outcomes, content validity, nursing diagnosis, urinary incontinence

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Yi-Hung Ho, Chih-Wei Wang, Chih-Hsien Chen, Chih-Han Chang

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Unilateral laminotomy and bilateral laminotomies were successful decompressions methods for managing spinal stenosis that numerous studies have reported. Thus, unilateral laminotomy was rated technically much more demanding than bilateral laminotomies, whereas the bilateral laminotomies were associated with a positive benefit to reduce more complications. There were including incidental durotomy, increased radicular deficit, and epidural hematoma. However, no relative biomechanical analysis for evaluating spinal instability treated with unilateral and bilateral laminotomies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of different decompressions methods by experimental and finite element analysis. Three porcine lumbar spines were biomechanically evaluated for their range of motion, and the results were compared following unilateral or bilateral laminotomies. The experimental protocol included flexion and extension in the following procedures: intact, unilateral, and bilateral laminotomies (L2–L5). The specimens in this study were tested in flexion (8 Nm) and extension (6 Nm) of pure moment. Spinal segment kinematic data was captured by using the motion tracking system. A 3D finite element lumbar spine model (L1-S1) containing vertebral body, discs, and ligaments were constructed. This model was used to simulate the situation of treating unilateral and bilateral laminotomies at L3-L4 and L4-L5. The bottom surface of S1 vertebral body was fully geometrically constrained in this study. A 10 Nm pure moment also applied on the top surface of L1 vertebral body to drive lumbar doing different motion, such as flexion and extension. The experimental results showed that in the flexion, the ROMs (±standard deviation) of L3–L4 were 1.35±0.23, 1.34±0.67, and 1.66±0.07 degrees of the intact, unilateral, and bilateral laminotomies, respectively. The ROMs of L4–L5 were 4.35±0.29, 4.06±0.87, and 4.2±0.32 degrees, respectively. No statistical significance was observed in these three groups (P>0.05). In the extension, the ROMs of L3–L4 were 0.89±0.16, 1.69±0.08, and 1.73±0.13 degrees, respectively. In the L4-L5, the ROMs were 1.4±0.12, 2.44±0.26, and 2.5±0.29 degrees, respectively. Significant differences were observed among all trials, except between the unilateral and bilateral laminotomy groups. At the simulation results portion, the similar results were discovered with the experiment. No significant differences were found at L4-L5 both flexion and extension in each group. Only 0.02 and 0.04 degrees variation were observed during flexion and extension between the unilateral and bilateral laminotomy groups. In conclusions, the present results by finite element analysis and experimental reveal that no significant differences were observed during flexion and extension between unilateral and bilateral laminotomies in short-term follow-up. From a biomechanical point of view, bilateral laminotomies seem to exhibit a similar stability as unilateral laminotomy. In clinical practice, the bilateral laminotomies are likely to reduce technical difficulties and prevent perioperative complications; this study proved this benefit through biomechanical analysis. The results may provide some recommendations for surgeons to make the final decision.

Keywords: unilateral laminotomy, bilateral laminotomies, spinal stenosis, finite element analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 399

Authors: E. H. Walsh, J. McMahon, M. P. Herring

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Post-primary school-based suicide prevention (PSSP) is a valuable avenue to reduce suicidal behaviours in adolescents. The aims of this meta-analysis and meta-regression were 1) to quantify the effect of PSSP interventions on adolescent suicide ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA), and 2) to explore how intervention effects may vary based on important contextual and intervention factors. This study provides further support to the benefits of PSSP by demonstrating lower suicide outcomes in over 30,000 adolescents following PSSP and mental health interventions and tentatively suggests that intervention effectiveness may potentially vary based on intervention factors. The protocol for this study is registered on PROSPERO (ID=CRD42020168883). Population, intervention, comparison, outcomes, and study design (PICOs) defined eligible studies as cluster randomised studies (n=12) containing PSSP and measuring suicide outcomes. Aggregate electronic database EBSCO host, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched. Cochrane bias tools for cluster randomised studies demonstrated that half of the studies were rated as low risk of bias. The Egger’s Regression Test adapted for multi-level modelling indicated that publication bias was not an issue (all ps > .05). Crude and corresponding adjusted pooled log odds ratios (OR) were computed using the Metafor package in R, yielding 12 SA and 19 SI effects. Multi-level random-effects models accounting for dependencies of effects from the same study revealed that in crude models, compared to controls, interventions were significantly associated with 13% (OR=0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI), [0.78,0.96], Q18 =15.41, p=0.63) and 34% (OR=0.66, 95%CI [0.47,0.91], Q10=16.31, p=0.13) lower odds of SI and SA, respectively. Adjusted models showed similar odds reductions of 15% (OR=0.85, 95%CI[0.75,0.95], Q18=10.04, p=0.93) and 28% (OR=0.72, 95%CI[0.59,0.87], Q10=10.46, p=0.49) for SI and SA, respectively. Within-cluster heterogeneity ranged from no heterogeneity to low heterogeneity for SA across crude and adjusted models (0-9%). No heterogeneity was identified for SI across crude and adjusted models (0%). Pre-specified univariate moderator analyses were not significant for SA (all ps < 0.05). Variations in average pooled SA odds reductions across categories of various intervention characteristics were observed (all ps < 0.05), which preliminarily suggests that the effectiveness of interventions may potentially vary across intervention factors. These findings have practical implications for researchers, clinicians, educators, and decision-makers. Further investigation of important logical, theoretical, and empirical moderators on PSSP intervention effectiveness is recommended to establish how and when PSSP interventions best reduce adolescent suicidal behaviour.

Keywords: adolescents, contextual factors, post-primary school-based suicide prevention, suicide ideation, suicide attempts

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Authors: David Tennison

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In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new chronic illness emerged onto the global stage: Long Covid. Long Covid presents with several symptoms commonly seen in other poorly-understood illnesses, such as fibromyalgia (FM) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). However, while Long Covid has swiftly become a recognised illness, FM and ME/CFS are still seen as contested, which impacts patient care and healthcare experiences. This study aims to examine what the differences are between Long Covid and FM; and if the Long Covid case can provide guidance for how to address the healthcare challenge of contested illnesses. To address this question, this study performed comprehensive research into the history of FM; our current biomedical understanding of it; and available healthcare interventions (within the context of the UK NHS). Analysis was undertaken of the stigma and stereotypes around FM, and a comparison made between FM and the emerging Long Covid literature, along with the healthcare response to Long Covid. This study finds that healthcare for chronic contested illnesses in the UK is vastly insufficient - in terms of pharmaceutical and holistic interventions, and the provision of secondary care options. Interestingly, for Long Covid, many of the treatment suggestions are pulled directly from those used for contested illnesses. The key difference is in terms of funding and momentum – Long Covid has generated exponentially more interest and research in a short time than there has been in the last few decades of contested illness research. This stands to help people with FM and ME/CFS – for example, research has recently been funded into “brain fog”, a previously elusive and misunderstood symptom. FM is culturally regarded as a “women’s disease” and FM stigma stems from notions of “hysteria”. A key finding is that the idea of FM affecting women disproportionally is not reflected in modern population studies. Emerging data on Long Covid also suggests a slight leaning towards more female patients, however it is less feminised, potentially due to it emerging in the global historical moment of the pandemic. Another key difference is that FM is rated as an extremely low-prestige illness by healthcare professionals, while it was in large part due to the advocacy of affected healthcare professionals that Long Covid was so quickly recognised by science and medicine. In conclusion, Long Covid (and the risk of future pandemics and post-viral illnesses) highlight a crucial need for implementing new, and reinforcing existing, care networks for chronic illnesses. The difference in how contested illnesses like FM, and new ones like Long Covid are treated have a lot to do with the historical moment in which they emerge – but cultural stereotypes, from within and without medicine, need updating. Particularly as they contribute to disease stigma that causes genuine harm to patients. However, widespread understanding and acceptance of Long Covid could help fight contested illness stigma, and the attention, funding and research into Long Covid may actually help raise the profile of contested illnesses and uncover answers about their symptomatology.

Keywords: long COVID, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, NHS, healthcare, contested illnesses, chronic illnesses, COVID-19 pandemic

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Authors: F. A. Thomas, M. Schrafl-Altermatt, R. Treier, S. Kaufmann

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Stroke is the main cause of adult disability. Especially upper limb function is affected in most patients. Recently, cooperative hand movements have been shown to be a promising type of upper limb training in stroke rehabilitation. In these movements, which are frequently found in activities of daily living (e.g. opening a bottle, winding up a blind), the force of one upper limb has to be equally counteracted by the other limb to successfully accomplish a task. The use of standardized and reliable clinical assessments is essential to evaluate the efficacy of therapy and the functional outcome of a patient. Many assessments for upper limb function or impairment are available. However, the evaluation of cooperative hand movement tasks are rarely included in those. Thus, the aim of this study was (i) to develop a novel clinical assessment (CASA - Cooperative Activity Stroke Assessment) for the evaluation of patients’ capacity to perform cooperative hand movements and (ii) to test its inter- and interrater reliability. Furthermore, CASA scores were compared to current gold standard assessments for upper extremity in stroke patients (i.e. Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Box & Blocks Test). The CASA consists of five cooperative activities of daily living including (1) opening a jar, (2) opening a bottle, (3) open and closing of a zip, (4) unscrew a nut and (5) opening a clipbox. Here, the goal is to accomplish the tasks as fast as possible. In addition to the quantitative rating (i.e. time) which is converted to a 7-point scale, also the quality of the movement is rated in a 4-point scale. To test the reliability of CASA, fifteen stroke subjects were tested within a week twice by the same two raters. Intra-and interrater reliability was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for total CASA score and single items. Furthermore, Pearson-correlation was used to compare the CASA scores to the scores of Fugl-Meyer upper limb assessment and the box and blocks test, which were assessed in every patient additionally to the CASA. ICC scores of the total CASA score indicated an excellent- and single items established a good to excellent inter- and interrater reliability. Furthermore, the CASA score was significantly correlated to the Fugl-Meyer and Box & Blocks score. The CASA provides a reliable assessment for cooperative hand movements which are crucial for many activities of daily living. Due to its non-costly setup, easy and fast implementation, we suggest it to be well suitable for clinical application. In conclusion, the CASA is a useful tool in assessing the functional status and therapy related recovery in cooperative hand movement capacity in stroke patients.

Keywords: activitites of daily living, clinical assessment, cooperative hand movements, reliability, stroke

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Willem J. A. Louw

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The wave of new advanced computing technology that has been developed during the recent past has significantly changed the way we communicate, collaborate and collect information. It has created a new technology environment and paradigm in which our children and students grow-up and this impacts on their learning. Research confirmed that Generation Y students have a preference for learning in the new technology environment. The challenge or question is: How do we adjust our teaching and learning to make the most of these changes. The complexity of effective and efficient teaching and learning must not be underestimated and changes must be preceded by proper objective research to prevent any haphazard developments that could do more harm than benefit. A blended learning approach has been used in the Forestry department for a few numbers of years including the use of electronic-peer assisted learning (e-pal) in a fixed-computer set-up within a learning management system environment. It was decided to extend the investigation and do some exploratory research by using a range of different Tablet devices. For this purpose, learning activities or assignments were designed to cover aspects of communication, collaboration and collection of information. The Moodle learning management system was used to present normal module information, to communicate with students and for feedback and data collection. Student feedback was collected by using an online questionnaire and informal discussions. The research project was implemented in 2013, 2014 and 2015 amongst first and third-year students doing a forestry three-year technical tertiary qualification in commercial plantation management. In general, more than 80% of the students alluded to that the device was very useful in their learning environment while the rest indicated that the devices were not very useful. More than ninety percent of the students acknowledged that they would like to continue using the devices for all of their modules whilst the rest alluded to functioning efficiently without the devices. Results indicated that information collection (access to resources) was rated the highest advantageous factor followed by communication and collaboration. The main general advantages of using Tablets were listed by the students as being mobility (portability), 24/7 access to learning material and information of any kind on a user friendly device in a Wi-Fi environment, fast computing process speeds, saving time, effort and airtime through skyping and e-mail, and use of various applications. Ownership of the device is a critical factor while the risk was identified as a major potential constraint. Significant differences were reported between the different types and quality of Tablets. The preferred types are those with a bigger screen and the ones with overall better functionality and quality features. Tablets significantly increase the collaboration, communication and information collection needs of the students. It does, however, not replace the need of a computer/laptop because of limited storage and computation capacity, small screen size and inefficient typing.

Keywords: tablets, teaching, blended learning, tablet quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: L. C. Nwosu, C. O. Adedire, M. O. Ashamo, E. O. Ogunwolu

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The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky is a notorious pest of stored maize (Zea mays L.). The development of resistant maize varieties to manage weevils is a major breeding objective. The study investigated the parameters and mechanisms that confer resistance on a maize variety to S. zeamais infestation using twenty elite maize varieties. Detailed morphological, physical and chemical studies were conducted on whole-maize grain and the grain pericarp. Resistance was assessed at 33, 56, and 90 days post infestation using weevil mortality rate, weevil survival rate, percent grain damage, percent grain weight loss, weight of grain powder, oviposition rate and index of susceptibility as indices rated on a scale developed by the present study and on Dobie’s modified scale. Linear regression models that can predict maize grain damage in relation to the duration of storage were developed and applied. The resistant varieties identified particularly 2000 SYNEE-WSTR and TZBRELD3C5 with very high degree of resistance should be used singly or best in an integrated pest management system for the control of S. zeamais infestation in stored maize. Though increases in the physical properties of grain hardness, weight, length, and width increased varietal resistance, it was found that the bases of resistance were increased chemical attributes of phenolic acid, trypsin inhibitor and crude fibre while the bases of susceptibility were increased protein, starch, magnesium, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, cobalt and zinc, the role of potassium requiring further investigation. Characters that conferred resistance on the test varieties were found distributed in the pericarp and the endosperm of the grains. Increases in grain phenolic acid, crude fibre, and trypsin inhibitor adversely and significantly affected the bionomics of the weevil on further assessment. The flat side of a maize grain at the point of penetration was significantly preferred by the weevil. Why the south area of the flattened side of a maize grain was significantly preferred by the weevil is clearly unknown, even though grain-face-type seemed to be a contributor in the study. The preference shown to the south area of the grain flat side has implications for seed viability. The study identified antibiosis, preference, antixenosis, and host evasion as the mechanisms of maize post harvest resistance to Sitophilus zeamais infestation.

Keywords: maize weevil, resistant, parameters, mechanisms, preference

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Felipa M. Rico

Abstract:

Linguistic oral competence plays a vital role in attaining effective communication. Since the English language is considered as universally used language and has a high demand skill needed in the work-place, mastery is the expected output from learners. To achieve this, learners should be given integrated differentiated tasks which help them develop and strengthen the expected skills. This study aimed to develop speaking instructional supplementary material to enhance the English linguistic competence of Grade 9 students in areas of pronunciation, intonation and stress, voice projection, diction and fluency. A descriptive analysis was utilized to analyze the speaking level of performance of the students in order to employ appropriate strategies. There were two sets of respondents: 178 Grade 9 students selected through a stratified sampling and chosen at random. The other set comprised English teachers who evaluated the usefulness of the devised teaching materials. A teacher conducted a speaking test and activities were employed to analyze the speaking needs of students. Observation and recordings were also used to evaluate the students’ performance. The findings revealed that the English pronunciation of the students was slightly unclear at times, but generally fair. There were lapses but generally they rated moderate in intonation and stress, because of other language interference. In terms of voice projection, students have erratic high volume pitch. For diction, the students’ ability to produce comprehensible language is limited, and as to fluency, the choice of vocabulary and use of structure were severely limited. Based on the students’ speaking needs analyses, the supplementary material devised was based on Nunan’s IM model, incorporating context of daily life and global work settings, considering the principle that language is best learned in the actual meaningful situation. To widen the mastery of skill, a rich learning environment, filled with a variety instructional material tends to foster faster acquisition of the requisite skills for sustained learning and development. The role of IM is to encourage information to stick in the learners’ mind, as what is seen is understood more than what is heard. Teachers say they found the IM “very useful.” This implied that English teachers could adopt the materials to improve the speaking skills of students. Further, teachers should provide varied opportunities for students to get involved in real life situations where they could take turns in asking and answering questions and share information related to the activities. This would minimize anxiety among students in the use of the English language.

Keywords: diction, fluency, intonation, instructional materials, linguistic competence

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Authors: Ana-María Gómez-Carvajal, Hernando Santamaría-García, Mateo Bernal, Mario Valderrama, Daniela Lizarazo, Juliana Restrepo, María Fernanda Barreto, Angélica Parra, Paula Torres, Diana Matallana, Jaime Silva, José Santamaría-García, Sandra Baez

Abstract:

Higher levels of oxytocin are associated with better performance on social cognition tasks. However, higher levels of oxytocin have also been associated with increased levels of envy and schadenfreude. Considering these antecedents, this study aims to explore social emotions (i.e., envy and schadenfreude) and other components of social cognition (i.e. ToM and empathy), in women in the puerperal period and their respective partners, compared to a control group of men and women without children or partners. Control women should be in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle or taking oral contraceptives as they allow oxytocin levels to remain stable. We selected this population since increased levels of oxytocin are present in both mothers and fathers of newborn babies. Both groups were matched by age, sex, and education level. Twenty-two parents of newborns (11 women, 11 men) and 15 controls (8 women, 7 men) performed an experimental task designed to trigger schadenfreude and envy. In this task, each participant was shown a real-life photograph and a description of two target characters matched in age and gender with the participant. The task comprised two experimental blocks. In the first block, participants read 15 sentences describing fortunate events involving either character. After reading each sentence, participants rated the event in terms of how much envy they felt for the character (1=no envy, 9=extreme envy). In the second block, participants read and reported the intensity of their pleasure (schadenfreude, 1=no pleasure, 9=extreme pleasure) in response to 15 unfortunate events happening to the characters. Five neutral events were included in each block. Moreover, participants were assessed with ToM and empathy tests. Potential confounding variables such as general cognitive functioning, stress levels, hours of sleep and depression symptoms were also measured. Results showed that parents of newborns showed increased levels of envy and schadenfreude. These effects are not explained by any confounding factor. Moreover, no significant differences were found in ToM or empathy tests. Our results offer unprecedented evidence of specific differences in envy and schadenfreude levels in parents of newborns. Our findings support previous studies showing a negative relationship between oxytocin levels and negative social emotions. Further studies should assess the direct relationship between oxytocin levels in parents of newborns and the performance in social emotions tasks.

Keywords: envy, empathy, oxytocin, schadenfreude, social emotions, theory of mind

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Authors: Nathaniel Oladimeji Dixon, Adekemi Dorcas Fadun

Abstract:

Educational managers have observed a downward trend in the administrative effectiveness of non-teaching staff in federal universities in South-west Nigeria. This is evident in the low-quality service delivery of administrators and unaccomplished institutional goals and missions of higher education. Scholars have thus indicated the need for the deployment and adoption of a practice that encourages information collection and sharing among stakeholders with a view to improving service delivery and outcomes. This study examined the extent to which knowledge management correlated with the administrative effectiveness of non-teaching staff in federal universities in South-west Nigeria. The study adopted the survey design. Three federal universities (the University of Ibadan, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and Obafemi Awolowo University) were purposively selected because administrative ineffectiveness was more pronounced among non-teaching staff in government-owned universities, and these federal universities were long established. The proportional and stratified random sampling was adopted to select 1156 non-teaching staff across the three universities along the three existing layers of the non-teaching staff: secretarial (senior=311; junior=224), non-secretarial (senior=147; junior=241) and technicians (senior=130; junior=103). Knowledge Management Practices Questionnaire with four sub-scales: knowledge creation (α=0.72), knowledge utilization (α=0.76), knowledge sharing (α=0.79) and knowledge transfer (α=0.83); and Administrative Effectiveness Questionnaire with four sub-scales: communication (α=0.84), decision implementation (α=0.75), service delivery (α=0.81) and interpersonal relationship (α=0.78) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content analyzed. About 59.8% of the non-teaching staff exhibited a low level of knowledge management. The indices of administrative effectiveness of non-teaching staff were rated as follows: service delivery (82.0%), communication (78.0%), decision implementation (71.0%) and interpersonal relationship (68.0%). Knowledge management had significant relationships with the indices of administrative effectiveness: service delivery (r=0.82), communication (r=0.81), decision implementation (r=0.80) and interpersonal relationship (r=0.47). Knowledge management had a significant joint prediction on administrative effectiveness (F (4;1151)= 0.79, R=0.86), accounting for 73.0% of its variance. Knowledge sharing (β=0.38), knowledge transfer (β=0.26), knowledge utilization (β=0.22), and knowledge creation (β=0.06) had relatively significant contributions to administrative effectiveness. Lack of team spirit and withdrawal syndrome is the major perceived constraints to knowledge management practices among the non-teaching staff. Knowledge management positively influenced the administrative effectiveness of the non-teaching staff in federal universities in South-west Nigeria. There is a need to ensure that the non-teaching staff imbibe team spirit and embrace teamwork with a view to eliminating their withdrawal syndromes. Besides, knowledge management practices should be deployed into the administrative procedures of the university system.

Keywords: knowledge management, administrative effectiveness of non-teaching staff, federal universities in the south-west of nigeria., knowledge creation, knowledge utilization, effective communication, decision implementation

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