Beyond meaningful use: getting meaningful value from IT.

PubMed

Fortin, Jason; Zywiak, Walt

2010-02-01

The HITECH provisions of ARRA include financial incentives for providers to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. However, to maximize the value of IT under new payment models, provider organizations will need to go beyond meaningful use criteria in three key areas: Delivering high-quality care. Ensuring coordinated care. Integrating financial systems.

Incorporating Meaningful Gamification in a Blended Learning Research Methods Class: Examining Student Learning, Engagement, and Affective Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Meng; Hew, Khe Foon

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated how the use of meaningful gamification affects student learning, engagement, and affective outcomes in a short, 3-day blended learning research methods class using a combination of experimental and qualitative research methods. Twenty-two postgraduates were randomly split into two groups taught by the same…

An operational definition of a statistically meaningful trend.

PubMed

Bryhn, Andreas C; Dimberg, Peter H

2011-04-28

Linear trend analysis of time series is standard procedure in many scientific disciplines. If the number of data is large, a trend may be statistically significant even if data are scattered far from the trend line. This study introduces and tests a quality criterion for time trends referred to as statistical meaningfulness, which is a stricter quality criterion for trends than high statistical significance. The time series is divided into intervals and interval mean values are calculated. Thereafter, r(2) and p values are calculated from regressions concerning time and interval mean values. If r(2) ≥ 0.65 at p ≤ 0.05 in any of these regressions, then the trend is regarded as statistically meaningful. Out of ten investigated time series from different scientific disciplines, five displayed statistically meaningful trends. A Microsoft Excel application (add-in) was developed which can perform statistical meaningfulness tests and which may increase the operationality of the test. The presented method for distinguishing statistically meaningful trends should be reasonably uncomplicated for researchers with basic statistics skills and may thus be useful for determining which trends are worth analysing further, for instance with respect to causal factors. The method can also be used for determining which segments of a time trend may be particularly worthwhile to focus on.

Feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and effectiveness of patient participation at bedside shift reporting: mixed-method research protocol.

PubMed

Malfait, Simon; Eeckloo, Kristof; Lust, Elisa; Van Biesen, Wim; Van Hecke, Ann

2017-02-01

To evaluate the feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and effectiveness of bedside shift reporting in a minimum of five interventions and five control wards. Hospitals continually improve their quality of care. Next to improvements in clinical performance, more patient participation is stimulated through different methods. Methods to enhance patient participation such as bedside shift reporting lack rigorously performed research to determine their feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and effectiveness. Small-scale research and a previous pilot study indicate that bedside shift reporting improves patient participation, nurse-nurse communication and nurse-patient communication. The development, implementation and evaluation of bedside shift report are based on the Medical Research Council framework for complex interventions in health care. A matched, controlled, mixed-method, longitudinal study design will be used. The Feasibility-Appropriateness-Meaningfulness-Effectiveness framework will be applied for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of bedside shift report. A tailored intervention and implementation process for bedside shift report will be developed using diagnostic interviews, co-design and acceptability testing. The intervention will be evaluated before implementation and three times after implementation. Individual and focus group interviews will be performed. Questionnaires, observations and analysis of the medical records and administrative databases will be completed. This study was funded in October 2015. Research Ethics Committee approval was granted in March 2016. There is a pressing need for rigorous research into the effects of interventions for improving patient participation. This study addresses the significance of bedside shift report as an intervention to improve quality of care, communication and patient participation within a large-scale, matched, controlled research design. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Generation Me or Meaning? Exploring Meaningful Work in College Students and Career Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Blake A.; Owens, Rhea L.; Duffy, Ryan D.

2017-01-01

Assessing the value of meaningful work among undergraduate students is important for guiding career counseling, especially because today's students are often stereotyped as entitled and uninterested in prosocial or meaningful work. Additionally, understanding the value of meaningful work from the perspectives of career counselors would clarify if…

Comparison of meaningful learning characteristics in simulated nursing practice after traditional versus computer-based simulation method: a qualitative videography study.

PubMed

Poikela, Paula; Ruokamo, Heli; Teräs, Marianne

2015-02-01

Nursing educators must ensure that nursing students acquire the necessary competencies; finding the most purposeful teaching methods and encouraging learning through meaningful learning opportunities is necessary to meet this goal. We investigated student learning in a simulated nursing practice using videography. The purpose of this paper is to examine how two different teaching methods presented students' meaningful learning in a simulated nursing experience. The 6-hour study was divided into three parts: part I, general information; part II, training; and part III, simulated nursing practice. Part II was delivered by two different methods: a computer-based simulation and a lecture. The study was carried out in the simulated nursing practice in two universities of applied sciences, in Northern Finland. The participants in parts II and I were 40 first year nursing students; 12 student volunteers continued to part III. Qualitative analysis method was used. The data were collected using video recordings and analyzed by videography. The students who used a computer-based simulation program were more likely to report meaningful learning themes than those who were first exposed to lecture method. Educators should be encouraged to use computer-based simulation teaching in conjunction with other teaching methods to ensure that nursing students are able to receive the greatest educational benefits. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The EXCITE Trial: Predicting a Clinically Meaningful Motor Activity Log Outcome

PubMed Central

Park, Si-Woon; Wolf, Steven L.; Blanton, Sarah; Winstein, Carolee; Nichols-Larsen, Deborah S.

2013-01-01

Background and Objective This study determined which baseline clinical measurements best predicted a predefined clinically meaningful outcome on the Motor Activity Log (MAL) and developed a predictive multivariate model to determine outcome after 2 weeks of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and 12 months later using the database from participants in the Extremity Constraint Induced Therapy Evaluation (EXCITE) Trial. Methods A clinically meaningful CIMT outcome was defined as achieving higher than 3 on the MAL Quality of Movement (QOM) scale. Predictive variables included baseline MAL, Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), the sensory and motor portion of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), spasticity, visual perception, age, gender, type of stroke, concordance, and time after stroke. Significant predictors identified by univariate analysis were used to develop the multivariate model. Predictive equations were generated and odds ratios for predictors were calculated from the multivariate model. Results Pretreatment motor function measured by MAL QOM, WMFT, and FMA were significantly associated with outcome immediately after CIMT. Pretreatment MAL QOM, WMFT, proprioception, and age were significantly associated with outcome after 12 months. Each unit of higher pretreatment MAL QOM score and each unit of faster pretreatment WMFT log mean time improved the probability of achieving a clinically meaningful outcome by 7 and 3 times at posttreatment, and 5 and 2 times after 12 months, respectively. Patients with impaired proprioception had a 20% probability of achieving a clinically meaningful outcome compared with those with intact proprioception. Conclusions Baseline clinical measures of motor and sensory function can be used to predict a clinically meaningful outcome after CIMT. PMID:18780883

Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology by Rural Hospitals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCullough, Jeffrey; Casey, Michelle; Moscovice, Ira; Burlew, Michele

2011-01-01

Purpose: This study examines the current status of meaningful use of health information technology (IT) in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), other rural, and urban US hospitals, and it discusses the potential role of Medicare payment incentives and disincentives in encouraging CAHs and other rural hospitals to achieve meaningful use. Methods: Data…

Making Fractions Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Kelly K.

2015-01-01

To be able to support meaningful mathematical experiences, preservice elementary school teachers (PSTs) must learn mathematics in deep and meaningful ways (Ma 1999). They need to experience investigating and making sense of the mathematics they will be called on to teach. To expand their own--often limited--views of what it means to teach and…

Relationships between students' meaningful learning orientation and their understanding of genetics topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavallo, Ann M. Liberatore; Schafer, Larry E.

This study explored factors predicting the extent to which high school students (N = 140) acquired meaningful understanding of the biological topics of meiosis, the Punnett-square method, and the relationships between these topics. This study (a) examined mental modeling as a technique for measuring students' meaningful understanding of the topics, (b) measured students' predisposed, generalized tendency to learn meaningfully (meaningful learning orientation), (c) determined the extent to which students' meaningful learning orientation predicted meaningful understanding beyond that predicted by aptitude and achievement motivation, (d) experimentally tested two instructional treatments (relationships presented to students, relationships generated by students), (e) explored the relationships of meaningful learning orientation, prior knowledge, instructional treatment, and all interactions of these variables in predicting meaningful understanding. The results of correlations and multiple regressions indicated that meaningful learning orientation contributed to students' attainment of meaningful understanding independent of aptitude and achievement motivation. Meaningful learning orientation and prior knowledge interacted in unique ways for each topic to predict students' attainment of meaningful understanding. Instructional treatment had relatively little relationship to students' acquisition of meaningful understanding, except for learners midrange between meaningful and rote. These findings imply that a meaningful learning approach among students may be important, perhaps as much or more than aptitude and achievement motivation, for their acquisition of interrelated, meaningful understandings of science.

Does alignment of constructivist teaching, curriculum, and assessment strategies promote meaningful learning?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimarez, Teresa

Despite our national efforts to attract more students to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, the number of students continues to be small. Empirical studies have suggested that in order to actively engage students in the science learning processes, lessons need to be designed which consider student prior experiences and provide a sound curriculum, within an environment promoting social interaction---that is, allowing for sharing and negotiation of those ideas which promote reflective thinking. These premises require an embedded assessment system that continuously provides feedback to both student and teacher. This technique allows adaptation and modification of lessons to better facilitate conceptual understanding. This study focused on the use of constructivist strategies that, when aligned, promoted conceptual understanding while facilitating development of science process skills. Skill development leads to meaningful learning, known to promote a change of attitude toward science. A mixed research design embedded in a case study approach was used to understand the complexity of the variables examined in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used to strengthen the validity and interpretation of the findings. Students from one of three ninth-grade physical science classes were selected for this study. The students numbered 29, 13 boys and 16 girls; the majority of these students were of Hispanic background. The analysis of data suggested that the use of constructivist strategies promotes conceptual understanding of science concepts and development of science process skills and a change of attitude towards science. This study concluded that selecting teaching and multiple assessment strategies is vital to engage students in science careers. Due to the limited nature of this case study, the researcher recommends a replication or followup with a different teacher and school, including a control

Development of an Assessment Tool to Measure Students' Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

Research on learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory necessitates an understanding of students' perspectives of learning. Novak's Theory of Meaningful Learning states that the cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), and psychomotor (doing) domains must be integrated for meaningful learning to occur. The psychomotor domain is the…

A Mixed-Methods Study of the Recovery Concept, "A Meaningful Day," in Community Mental Health Services for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses.

PubMed

Myers, Neely A L; Smith, Kelly; Pope, Alicia; Alolayan, Yazeed; Broussard, Beth; Haynes, Nora; Compton, Michael T

2016-10-01

The recovery concept encompasses overcoming or managing one's illness, being physically and emotionally healthy, and finding meaningful purpose through work, school, or volunteering, which connects one to others in mutually fulfilling ways. Using a mixed-methods approach, we studied the emphasis on "a meaningful day" in the new Opening Doors to Recovery (ODR) program in southeast Georgia. Among 100 participants, we measured the meaningful day construct using three quantitative items at baseline (hospital discharge) and at 4-, 8-, and 12-month follow-up, finding statistically significant linear trends over time for all three measures. Complementary qualitative interviews with 30 individuals (ODR participants, family members, and ODR's Community Navigation Specialists and program leaders) revealed themes pertaining to companionship, productivity, achieving stability, and autonomy, as well as the concern about insufficient resources. The concept of "a meaningful day" can be a focus of clinical attention and measured as a person-centered outcome for clients served by recovery-oriented community mental health services.

Assessing Abnormal Uterine Bleeding: Are Physicians Taking a Meaningful Clinical History?

PubMed

Lam, Christina; Anderson, Britta; Lopes, Vrishali; Schulkin, Jay; Matteson, Kristen

2017-07-01

Women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) report significant reductions in quality of life (QOL), which can be attributed in many cases to the fear of embarrassing episodes of bleeding. We performed this study to determine whether or not during clinical encounters physicians addressed the impact of AUB on patient-reported QOL. Between October 2008 and May 2009, we conducted a cross-sectional study of members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Surveys were distributed using a mixed method (web- and mail-based) and included questions about physician characteristics and types of questions used when obtaining a clinical history from a patient with AUB. We calculated the proportion of physicians who endorsed asking each type of clinical question with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Four hundred seventeen questionnaires were returned (52%). Ninety-nine percent (95% CI 98.4%-99.9%) reported always asking a bleeding heaviness question, 87.2% (95% CI 83.2%-90.5%) reported always asking a QOL question, and 17.5% (95% CI 13.6%-21.9%) reported always asking a mood associated with bleeding question. Seventy-eight percent specifically asked patients about bleeding through their clothes, and 55% asked about changing social plans because of bleeding. Only 18% endorsed that asking about QOL was most essential for the evaluation of women with AUB. No physician characteristics such as years since completing residency, geography, or gender were associated with how commonly providers reported asking questions regarding impact of bleeding on QOL. Physicians may not be optimizing patient-provider interactions during menstrual history taking with patients with AUB by failing to assess impact of AUB on QOL in a way that is meaningful to patients.

Meaningful Gamification in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stansbury, Jessica A.; Earnest, David R.

2017-01-01

Motivation and game research continue to demonstrate that the implementation of game design characteristics in the classroom can be engaging and intrinsically motivating. The present study assessed the extent to which an industrial organizational psychology course designed learning environment created with meaningful gamification elements can…

What Makes Learning Meaningful?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Arthur L.; Burket, Lee

This document examines the work of Dewey, Kolb, Jarvis, Mezirow, Freire, Rogers, and Houle to find out what these experiential learning theorists have to say about the role experience plays in making learning meaningful. The first section addresses each writer's work for specific ideas of how experience is related to making learning meaningful,…

Effect of Meaningful Recognition on Critical Care Nurses' Compassion Fatigue.

PubMed

Kelly, Lesly A; Lefton, Cindy

2017-11-01

As caregivers in high-pressure environments, critical care nurses are at risk for burnout and secondary trauma-components of compassion fatigue. Recent findings have increased understanding of the phenomena, specifically that satisfaction and meaningful recognition may play a role in reducing burnout and raising compassion satisfaction; however, no large multisite studies of compassion fatigue have been conducted. To examine the effect of meaningful recognition and other predictors on compassion fatigue in a multicenter national sample of critical care nurses. A quantitative, descriptive online survey was completed by 726 intensive care unit nurses in 14 hospitals with an established meaningful recognition program and 410 nurses in 10 hospitals without such a program. Site coordinators at each hospital coordinated distribution of the survey to nurses to assess multiple predictors against outcomes, measured by the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Cross-validation and linear regression modeling were conducted to determine significant predictors of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction. Similar levels of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, overall satisfaction, and intent to leave were reported by nurses in hospitals with and without meaningful recognition programs. Meaningful recognition was a significant predictor of decreased burnout and increased compassion satisfaction. Additionally, job satisfaction and job enjoyment were highly predictive of decreased burnout, decreased secondary traumatic stress, and increased compassion satisfaction. In addition to acknowledging and valuing nurses' contributions to care, meaningful recognition could reduce burnout and boost compassion satisfaction. ©2017 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

What does meaningful look like? A qualitative study of patient engagement at the Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review: perspectives of reviewers and payers.

PubMed

Rozmovits, Linda; Mai, Helen; Chambers, Alexandra; Chan, Kelvin

2018-04-01

Objectives While there is wide support for patient engagement in health technology assessment, determining what constitutes meaningful (as opposed to tokenistic) engagement is complex. This paper explores reviewer and payer perceptions of what constitutes meaningful patient engagement in the Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review process. Methods Qualitative interview study comprising 24 semi-structured telephone interviews. A qualitative descriptive approach, employing the technique of constant comparison, was used to produce a thematic analysis. Results Submissions from patient advocacy groups were seen as meaningful when they provided information unavailable from other sources. This included information not collected in clinical trials, information relevant to clinical trade-offs and information about aspects of lived experience such as geographic differences and patient and carer priorities. In contrast, patient submissions that relied on emotional appeals or lacked transparency about their own methods were seen as detracting from the meaningfulness of patient engagement by conflating health technology assessment with other functions of patient advocacy groups such as fundraising or public awareness campaigns, and by failing to provide credible information relevant to deliberations. Conclusions This study suggests that misalignment of stakeholder expectations remains an issue even for a well-regarded health technology assessment process that has promoted patient engagement since its inception. Support for the technical capacity of patient groups to participate in health technology assessment is necessary but not sufficient to address this issue fully. There is a fundamental tension between the evidence-based nature of health technology assessment and the experientially oriented culture of patient advocacy. Divergent notions of what constitutes evidence and how it should be used must also be addressed.

Meaningful use of health information technology by rural hospitals.

PubMed

McCullough, Jeffrey; Casey, Michelle; Moscovice, Ira; Burlew, Michele

2011-01-01

This study examines the current status of meaningful use of health information technology (IT) in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), other rural, and urban US hospitals, and it discusses the potential role of Medicare payment incentives and disincentives in encouraging CAHs and other rural hospitals to achieve meaningful use. Data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey IT Supplement were analyzed, using t tests and probit regressions to assess whether implementation rates in CAHs and other rural hospitals are significantly different from rates in urban hospitals. Of the many measures we examined, only 4 have been met by a majority of rural hospitals: electronic recording of patient demographics and electronic access to lab reports, radiology reports, and radiology images. Meaningful use is even less prevalent among CAHs. We also find that rural hospitals lag behind urban institutions in nearly every measure of meaningful use. These differences are particularly large and significant for CAHs. The meaningful use incentive system creates many challenges for CAHs. First, investments are evaluated and subsidies determined after adoption. Thus, CAHs must accept financial risk when adopting health IT; this may be particularly important for large expenditures. Second, the subsidies may be low for relatively small expenditures. Third, since the subsidies are based on observable costs, CAHs will receive no support for their intangible costs (eg, workflow disruption). A variety of policies may be used to address these problems of financial risk, uncertain returns in a rural setting, and limited resources. © 2011 National Rural Health Association.

A Concurrent Mixed Methods Approach to Examining the Quantitative and Qualitative Meaningfulness of Absolute Magnitude Estimation Scales in Survey Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koskey, Kristin L. K.; Stewart, Victoria C.

2014-01-01

This small "n" observational study used a concurrent mixed methods approach to address a void in the literature with regard to the qualitative meaningfulness of the data yielded by absolute magnitude estimation scaling (MES) used to rate subjective stimuli. We investigated whether respondents' scales progressed from less to more and…

Implementing meaningful, educative curricula, and assessments in complex school environments.

PubMed

Ennis, Catherine D

This commentary uses the lens of curricular implementation to consider issues and opportunities afforded by the papers in this special edition. While it is interesting to envision innovative approaches to physical education, actually implementing changes in the complex institutional school environment is exceptionally challenging. These authors have done an excellent job presenting viable solutions and fore grounding challenges. Yet, without a concerted effort to invite teachers to engage with us in this process, our implementation initiatives may not enhance the meaningful and educative process that these scholars envision for physical education.

Implementing meaningful, educative curricula, and assessments in complex school environments

PubMed Central

Ennis, Catherine D.

2015-01-01

This commentary uses the lens of curricular implementation to consider issues and opportunities afforded by the papers in this special edition. While it is interesting to envision innovative approaches to physical education, actually implementing changes in the complex institutional school environment is exceptionally challenging. These authors have done an excellent job presenting viable solutions and fore grounding challenges. Yet, without a concerted effort to invite teachers to engage with us in this process, our implementation initiatives may not enhance the meaningful and educative process that these scholars envision for physical education. PMID:25960685

Novel Methods to Collect Meaningful Data From Adolescents for the Development of Health Interventions

PubMed Central

Hieftje, Kimberly; Duncan, Lindsay R.; Fiellin, Lynn E.

2014-01-01

Health interventions are increasingly focused on young adolescents, and as a result, discussions with this population have become a popular method in qualitative research. Traditional methods used to engage adults in discussions do not translate well to this population, who may have difficulty conceptualizing abstract thoughts and opinions and communicating them to others. As part of a larger project to develop and evaluate a video game for risk reduction and HIV prevention in young adolescents, we were seeking information and ideas from the priority audience that would help us create authentic story lines and character development in the video game. To accomplish this authenticity, we conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with young adolescents aged 10 to 15 years and employed three novel methods: Storytelling Using Graphic Illustration, My Life, and Photo Feedback Project. These methods helped provide a thorough understanding of the adolescents’ experiences and perspectives regarding their environment and future aspirations, which we translated into active components of the video game intervention. This article describes the processes we used and the valuable data we generated using these three engaging methods. These three activities are effective tools for eliciting meaningful data from young adolescents for the development of health interventions. PMID:24519998

Accepting Lower Salaries for Meaningful Work

PubMed Central

Hu, Jing; Hirsh, Jacob B.

2017-01-01

A growing literature indicates that people are increasingly motivated to experience a sense of meaning in their work lives. Little is known, however, about how perceptions of work meaningfulness influence job choice decisions. Although much of the research on job choice has focused on the importance of financial compensation, the subjective meanings attached to a job should also play a role. The current set of studies explored the hypothesis that people are willing to accept lower salaries for more meaningful work. In Study 1, participants reported lower minimum acceptable salaries when comparing jobs that they considered to be personally meaningful with those that they considered to be meaningless. In Study 2, an experimental enhancement of a job’s apparent meaningfulness lowered the minimum acceptable salary that participants required for the position. In two large-scale cross-national samples of full-time employees in 2005 and 2015, Study 3 found that participants who experienced more meaningful work lives were more likely to turn down higher-paying job offers elsewhere. The strength of this effect also increased significantly over this time period. Study 4 replicated these findings in an online sample, such that participants who reported having more meaningful work were less willing to leave their current jobs and organizations for higher paying opportunities. These patterns of results remained significant when controlling for demographic factors and differences in job characteristics. PMID:29085310

Integrating Concept Mapping into Information Systems Education for Meaningful Learning and Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Wei; Yue, Kwok-Bun

2017-01-01

Concept map (CM) is a theoretically sound yet easy to learn tool and can be effectively used to represent knowledge. Even though many disciplines have adopted CM as a teaching and learning tool to improve learning effectiveness, its application in IS curriculum is sparse. Meaningful learning happens when one iteratively integrates new concepts and…

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints

PubMed Central

Allan, Blake A.

2016-01-01

This study examined a model of meaningful work among a diverse sample of working adults. From the perspectives of Self-Determination Theory and the Psychology of Working Framework, we tested a structural model with social class and work volition predicting SDT motivation variables, which in turn predicted meaningful work. Partially supporting hypotheses, work volition was positively related to internal regulation and negatively related to amotivation, whereas social class was positively related to external regulation and amotivation. In turn, internal regulation was positively related to meaningful work, whereas external regulation and amotivation were negatively related to meaningful work. Indirect effects from work volition to meaningful work via internal regulation and amotivation were significant, and indirect effects from social class to meaningful work via external regulation and amotivation were significant. This study highlights the important relations between SDT motivation variables and meaningful work, especially the large positive relation between internal regulation and meaningful work. However, results also reveal that work volition and social class may play critical roles in predicting internal regulation, external regulation, and amotivation. PMID:26869970

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints.

PubMed

Allan, Blake A; Autin, Kelsey L; Duffy, Ryan D

2016-01-01

This study examined a model of meaningful work among a diverse sample of working adults. From the perspectives of Self-Determination Theory and the Psychology of Working Framework, we tested a structural model with social class and work volition predicting SDT motivation variables, which in turn predicted meaningful work. Partially supporting hypotheses, work volition was positively related to internal regulation and negatively related to amotivation, whereas social class was positively related to external regulation and amotivation. In turn, internal regulation was positively related to meaningful work, whereas external regulation and amotivation were negatively related to meaningful work. Indirect effects from work volition to meaningful work via internal regulation and amotivation were significant, and indirect effects from social class to meaningful work via external regulation and amotivation were significant. This study highlights the important relations between SDT motivation variables and meaningful work, especially the large positive relation between internal regulation and meaningful work. However, results also reveal that work volition and social class may play critical roles in predicting internal regulation, external regulation, and amotivation.

Meaningful improvement in gait speed in hip fracture recovery.

PubMed

Alley, Dawn E; Hicks, Gregory E; Shardell, Michelle; Hawkes, William; Miller, Ram; Craik, Rebecca L; Mangione, Kathleen K; Orwig, Denise; Hochberg, Marc; Resnick, Barbara; Magaziner, Jay

2011-09-01

To estimate meaningful improvements in gait speed observed during recovery from hip fracture and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of gait speed changes in detecting change in self-reported mobility. Secondary longitudinal data analysis from two randomized controlled trials Twelve hospitals in the Baltimore, Maryland, area. Two hundred seventeen women admitted with hip fracture. Usual gait speed and self-reported mobility (ability to walk 1 block and climb 1 flight of stairs) measured 2 and 12 months after fracture. Effect size-based estimates of meaningful differences were 0.03 for small differences and 0.09 for substantial differences. Depending on the anchor (stairs vs walking) and method (mean difference vs regression), anchor-based estimates ranged from 0.10 to 0.17 m/s for small meaningful improvements and 0.17 to 0.26 m/s for substantial meaningful improvement. Optimal gait speed cutpoints yielded low sensitivity (0.39-0.62) and specificity (0.57-0.76) for improvements in self-reported mobility. Results from this sample of women recovering from hip fracture provide only limited support for the 0.10-m/s cut point for substantial meaningful change previously identified in community-dwelling older adults experiencing declines in walking abilities. Anchor-based estimates and cut points derived from receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggest that greater improvements in gait speed may be required for substantial perceived mobility improvement in female hip fracture patients. Furthermore, gait speed change performed poorly in discriminating change in self-reported mobility. Estimates of meaningful change in gait speed may differ based on the direction of change (improvement vs decline) or between patient populations. © 2011, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2011, The American Geriatrics Society.

Meaningful Improvement in Gait Speed in Hip Fracture Recovery

PubMed Central

Alley, Dawn E.; Hicks, Gregory E.; Shardell, Michelle; Hawkes, William; Miller, Ram; Craik, Rebecca L.; Mangione, Kathleen K.; Orwig, Denise; Hochberg, Marc; Resnick, Barbara; Magaziner, Jay

2011-01-01

OBJECTIVES To estimate meaningful improvements in gait speed observed during recovery from hip fracture and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of gait speed changes in detecting change in self-reported mobility. DESIGN Secondary longitudinal data analysis from two randomized controlled trials SETTING Twelve hospitals in the Baltimore, Maryland, area. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred seventeen women admitted with hip fracture. MEASUREMENTS Usual gait speed and self-reported mobility (ability to walk 1 block and climb 1 flight of stairs) measured 2 and 12 months after fracture. RESULTS Effect size–based estimates of meaningful differences were 0.03 for small differences and 0.09 for substantial differences. Depending on the anchor (stairs vs walking) and method (mean difference vs regression), anchor-based estimates ranged from 0.10 to 0.17 m/s for small meaningful improvements and 0.17 to 0.26 m/s for substantial meaningful improvement. Optimal gait speed cut-points yielded low sensitivity (0.39–0.62) and specificity (0.57–0.76) for improvements in self-reported mobility. CONCLUSION Results from this sample of women recovering from hip fracture provide only limited support for the 0.10-m/s cut point for substantial meaningful change previously identified in community-dwelling older adults experiencing declines in walking abilities. Anchor-based estimates and cut points derived from receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggest that greater improvements in gait speed may be required for substantial perceived mobility improvement in female hip fracture patients. Furthermore, gait speed change performed poorly in discriminating change in self-reported mobility. Estimates of meaningful change in gait speed may differ based on the direction of change (improvement vs decline) or between patient populations. PMID:21883109

Three Methods of Assessing Values for Advance Care Planning

PubMed Central

Karel, Michele J.; Moye, Jennifer; Bank, Adam; Azar, Armin R.

2016-01-01

Advance care planning ideally includes communication about values between patients, family members, and care providers. This study examined the utility of health care values assessment tools for older adults with and without dementia. Adults aged 60 and older, with and without dementia, completed three values assessment tools—open-ended, forced-choice, and rating scale questions—and named a preferred surrogate decision maker. Responses to forced-choice items were examined at 9-month retest. Adults with and without dementia appeared equally able to respond meaningfully to questions about values regarding quality of life and health care decisions. People with dementia were generally as able as controls to respond consistently after 9 months. Although values assessment methods show promise, further item and scale development work is needed. Older adults with dementia should be included in clarifying values for advance care planning to the extent that they desire and are able. PMID:17215205

Determining the longitudinal validity and meaningful differences in HRQL of the PedsQL™ Sickle Cell Disease Module.

PubMed

Panepinto, Julie A; Paul Scott, J; Badaki-Makun, Oluwakemi; Darbari, Deepika S; Chumpitazi, Corrie E; Airewele, Gladstone E; Ellison, Angela M; Smith-Whitley, Kim; Mahajan, Prashant; Sarnaik, Sharada A; Charles Casper, T; Cook, Larry J; Leonard, Julie; Hulbert, Monica L; Powell, Elizabeth C; Liem, Robert I; Hickey, Robert; Krishnamurti, Lakshmanan; Hillery, Cheryl A; Brousseau, David C

2017-06-12

Detecting change in health status over time and ascertaining meaningful changes are critical elements when using health-related quality of life (HRQL) instruments to measure patient-centered outcomes. The PedsQL™ Sickle Cell Disease module, a disease specific HRQL instrument, has previously been shown to be valid and reliable. Our objectives were to determine the longitudinal validity of the PedsQL™ Sickle Cell Disease module and the change in HRQL that is meaningful to patients. An ancillary study was conducted utilizing a multi-center prospective trial design. Children ages 4-21 years with sickle cell disease admitted to the hospital for an acute painful vaso-oclusive crisis were eligible. Children completed HRQL assessments at three time points (in the Emergency Department, one week post-discharge, and at return to baseline (One to three months post-discharge). The primary outcome was change in HRQL score. Both distribution (effect size, standard error of measurement (SEM)) and anchor (global change assessment) based methods were used to determine the longitudinal validity and meaningful change in HRQL. Changes in HRQL meaningful to patients were identified by anchoring the change scores to the patient's perception of global improvement in pain. Moderate effect sizes (0.20-0.80) were determined for all domains except the Communication I and Cognitive Fatigue domains. The value of 1 SEM varied from 3.8-14.6 across all domains. Over 50% of patients improved by at least 1 SEM in Total HRQL score. A HRQL change score of 7-10 in the pain domains represented minimal perceived improvement in HRQL and a HRQL change score of 18 or greater represented moderate to large improvement. The PedsQL™ Sickle Cell Disease Module is responsive to changes in HRQL in patients experiencing acute painful vaso-occlusive crises. The study data establish longitudinal validity and meaningful change parameters for the PedsQL™ Sickle Cell Disease Module. ClinicalTrials.gov (study

Instruments for measuring meaningful learning in healthcare students: a systematic psychometric review.

PubMed

Cadorin, Lucia; Bagnasco, Annamaria; Tolotti, Angela; Pagnucci, Nicola; Sasso, Loredana

2016-09-01

To identify, evaluate and describe the psychometric properties of instruments that measure learning outcomes in healthcare students. Meaningful learning is an active process that enables a wider and deeper understanding of concepts. It is the result of an interaction between new and prior knowledge and produces a long-standing change in knowledge and skills. In the field of education, validated and reliable instruments for assessing meaningful learning are needed. A psychometric systematic review. MEDLINE CINAHL, SCOPUS, ERIC, Cochrane Library, Psychology & Behavioural Sciences Collection Database from 1990-December 2013. Using pre-determined inclusion criteria, three reviewers independently identified studies for full-text review. Then they extracted data for quality appraisal and graded instrument validity using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of the health status Measurement INstruments checklist and the Psychometric Grading Framework. Of the 57 studies identified for full-text review, 16 met the inclusion criteria and 13 different instruments were assessed. Following quality assessment, only one instrument was considered of good quality but it measured meaningful learning only in part; the others were either fair or poor. The Psychometric Grading Framework indicated that one instrument was weak, while the others were very weak. No instrument displayed adequate validity. The systematic review produced a synthesis of the psychometric properties of tools that measure learning outcomes in students of healthcare disciplines. Measuring learning outcomes is very important when educating health professionals. The identified tools may constitute a starting point for the development of other assessment tools. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Meaningfulness of service and marital satisfaction in Army couples.

PubMed

Bergmann, Jeffrey S; Renshaw, Keith D; Allen, Elizabeth S; Markman, Howard J; Stanley, Scott M

2014-10-01

The vast numbers of military service members who have been deployed since 2001 highlights the need to better understand relationships of military couples. A unique consideration in military couples is the concept of meaningfulness of service, or the value service members and their partners place on military service in spite of the sacrifices it requires. In a sample of 606 Army couples, the authors used path analysis to examine how male service members' and female spouses' perceived meaningfulness of service added to the prediction of marital satisfaction in both members of the couple, when accounting for service members' PTSD symptoms. Spouses' perceived meaningfulness of service was linked with higher marital satisfaction in spouses, regardless of service member's perceived meaningfulness of service. Service members' perceived meaningfulness of service was also associated with increased marital satisfaction in service members, but only when their spouses also perceived higher meaningfulness. There were no significant interactions between service members' PTSD and either partner's perceived meaningfulness. Implications for enhanced attention to spousal perceptions of meaningfulness of service are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Meaningfulness of Service and Marital Satisfaction in Army Couples

PubMed Central

Bergmann, Jeffrey S.; Renshaw, Keith D.; Allen, Elizabeth S.; Markman, Howard J.; Stanley, Scott M.

2015-01-01

The vast numbers of military service members who have been deployed since 2001 highlights the need to better understand relationships of military couples. A unique consideration in military couples is the concept of meaningfulness of service, or the value service members and their partners place on military service in spite of the sacrifices it requires. In a sample of 606 Army couples, we used path analysis to examine how male service members’ and female spouses’ perceived meaningfulness of service added to the prediction of marital satisfaction in both members of the couple, when accounting for service members’ PTSD symptoms. Spouses’ perceived meaningfulness of service was linked with higher marital satisfaction in spouses, regardless of service member’s perceived meaningfulness of service. Service members’ perceived meaningfulness of service was also associated with increased marital satisfaction in service members, but only when their spouses also perceived higher meaningfulness. There were no significant interactions between service members’ PTSD and either partner’s perceived meaningfulness. Implications for enhanced attention to spousal perceptions of meaningfulness of service are discussed. PMID:25046347

Hemispheric Differences in Processing Dichotic Meaningful and Non-Meaningful Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yasin, Ifat

2007-01-01

Classic dichotic-listening paradigms reveal a right-ear advantage (REA) for speech sounds as compared to non-speech sounds. This REA is assumed to be associated with a left-hemisphere dominance for meaningful speech processing. This study objectively probed the relationship between ear advantage and hemispheric dominance in a dichotic-listening…

The EXCITE Trial: Predicting a clinically meaningful motor activity log outcome.

PubMed

Park, Si-Woon; Wolf, Steven L; Blanton, Sarah; Winstein, Carolee; Nichols-Larsen, Deborah S

2008-01-01

This study determined which baseline clinical measurements best predicted a predefined clinically meaningful outcome on the Motor Activity Log (MAL) and developed a predictive multivariate model to determine outcome after 2 weeks of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and 12 months later using the database from participants in the Extremity Constraint Induced Therapy Evaluation (EXCITE) Trial. A clinically meaningful CIMT outcome was defined as achieving higher than 3 on the MAL Quality of Movement (QOM) scale. Predictive variables included baseline MAL, Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), the sensory and motor portion of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), spasticity, visual perception, age, gender, type of stroke, concordance, and time after stroke. Significant predictors identified by univariate analysis were used to develop the multivariate model. Predictive equations were generated and odds ratios for predictors were calculated from the multivariate model. Pretreatment motor function measured by MAL QOM, WMFT, and FMA were significantly associated with outcome immediately after CIMT. Pretreatment MAL QOM, WMFT, proprioception, and age were significantly associated with outcome after 12 months. Each unit of higher pretreatment MAL QOM score and each unit of faster pretreatment WMFT log mean time improved the probability of achieving a clinically meaningful outcome by 7 and 3 times at posttreatment, and 5 and 2 times after 12 months, respectively. Patients with impaired proprioception had a 20% probability of achieving a clinically meaningful outcome compared with those with intact proprioception. Baseline clinical measures of motor and sensory function can be used to predict a clinically meaningful outcome after CIMT.

Meaningful Understanding and Systems Thinking in Organic Chemistry: Validating Measurement and Exploring Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vachliotis, Theodoros; Salta, Katerina; Tzougraki, Chryssa

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was dual: First, to develop and validate assessment schemes for assessing 11th grade students' meaningful understanding of organic chemistry concepts, as well as their systems thinking skills in the domain. Second, to explore the relationship between the two constructs of interest based on students' performance…

Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index: Responsiveness, meaningful change, and relative efficiency.

PubMed

Barnett, Carolina; Bril, Vera; Kapral, Moira; Kulkarni, Abhaya V; Davis, Aileen M

2017-12-05

To study responsiveness and meaningful change of the Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index (MGII) and its relative efficiency compared to other measures. We enrolled 95 patients receiving prednisone, IV immunoglobulin (IVIg), or plasma exchange (PLEX) and 54 controls. Patients were assessed with the MGII and other measures-including the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score, Myasthenia Gravis Composite, and Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living-at baseline and 3-4 weeks after treatment. Statistical markers of responsiveness included between-groups and within-group differences, and we estimated the relative efficiency of the MGII compared to other measures. Patient-meaningful change was assessed with an anchor-based method, using the patient's impression of change. We determined the minimal detectable change (MDC) and the minimal important difference (MID) at the group and individual level. Treated patients had a higher change in MGII scores than controls (analysis of covariance p < 0.001). The ocular domain changed more with prednisone than with IVIg/PLEX (effect size 0.67 and 0.13, analysis of covariance p = 0.001). The generalized domain changed more with IVIg/PLEX than with prednisone (effect size 0.50 and 0.22, analysis of covariance p = 0.07). For the total MGII score, the individual MDC95 was 9.1 and the MID was 5.5 for individuals and 8.1 for groups. Relative efficiency ratios were >1 favoring the MGII. The MGII demonstrated responsiveness to prednisone, IVIg, and PLEX in patients with myasthenia. There is a differential response in ocular and generalized symptoms to type of therapy. The MGII has higher relative efficiency than comparison measures and is viable for use in clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

Ukrainian Teacher Candidates Develop Dispositions of Socially Meaningful Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koshmanova, Tetyana; Ravchyna, Tetyana

2010-01-01

This study addresses how the method of peer mediation can be utilized by teacher educators in developing students' attitudes to care for those who are in need, how to actively participate in socially meaningful activity without any expectation of reward, and how to contribute to the democratic development of a post-conflict country via active…

Stimulus Set Meaningfulness and Neurophysiological Differentiation: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Boly, Melanie; Sasai, Shuntaro; Gosseries, Olivia; Oizumi, Masafumi; Casali, Adenauer; Massimini, Marcello; Tononi, Giulio

2015-01-01

A meaningful set of stimuli, such as a sequence of frames from a movie, triggers a set of different experiences. By contrast, a meaningless set of stimuli, such as a sequence of ‘TV noise’ frames, triggers always the same experience—of seeing ‘TV noise’—even though the stimuli themselves are as different from each other as the movie frames. We reasoned that the differentiation of cortical responses underlying the subject’s experiences, as measured by Lempel-Ziv complexity (incompressibility) of functional MRI images, should reflect the overall meaningfulness of a set of stimuli for the subject, rather than differences among the stimuli. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the differentiation of brain activity patterns in response to a movie sequence, to the same movie scrambled in time, and to ‘TV noise’, where the pixels from each movie frame were scrambled in space. While overall cortical activation was strong and widespread in all conditions, the differentiation (Lempel-Ziv complexity) of brain activation patterns was correlated with the meaningfulness of the stimulus set, being highest in the movie condition, intermediate in the scrambled movie condition, and minimal for ‘TV noise’. Stimulus set meaningfulness was also associated with higher information integration among cortical regions. These results suggest that the differentiation of neural responses can be used to assess the meaningfulness of a given set of stimuli for a given subject, without the need to identify the features and categories that are relevant to the subject, nor the precise location of selective neural responses. PMID:25970444

Student Engagement and Teacher Guidance in Meaningful Mathematics: Enduring Principles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Gregory D.; Lucius, Lisa B.

2008-01-01

In mathematics, developing a conceptual understanding and observing properly modeled methods rarely lead to successful student performance. The student must participate. As with bike riding, participation with monitoring and guidance makes initial efforts meaningful and beneficial. In this article, the authors share a bike riding experience and…

Meaningful change and responsiveness in common physical performance measures in older adults.

PubMed

Perera, Subashan; Mody, Samir H; Woodman, Richard C; Studenski, Stephanie A

2006-05-01

To estimate the magnitude of small meaningful and substantial individual change in physical performance measures and evaluate their responsiveness. Secondary data analyses using distribution- and anchor-based methods to determine meaningful change. Secondary analysis of data from an observational study and clinical trials of community-dwelling older people and subacute stroke survivors. Older adults with mobility disabilities in a strength training trial (n=100), subacute stroke survivors in an intervention trial (n=100), and a prospective cohort of community-dwelling older people (n=492). Gait speed, Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), 6-minute-walk distance (6MWD), and self-reported mobility. Most small meaningful change estimates ranged from 0.04 to 0.06 m/s for gait speed, 0.27 to 0.55 points for SPPB, and 19 to 22 m for 6MWD. Most substantial change estimates ranged from 0.08 to 0.14 m/s for gait speed, 0.99 to 1.34 points for SPPB, and 47 to 49 m for 6MWD. Based on responsiveness indices, per-group sample sizes for clinical trials ranged from 13 to 42 for substantial change and 71 to 161 for small meaningful change. Best initial estimates of small meaningful change are near 0.05 m/s for gait speed, 0.5 points for SPPB, and 20 m for 6MWD and of substantial change are near 0.10 m/s for gait speed, 1.0 point for SPPB, and 50 m for 6MWD. For clinical use, substantial change in these measures and small change in gait speed and 6MWD, but not SPPB, are detectable. For research use, these measures yield feasible sample sizes for detecting meaningful change.

What constitutes meaningful engagement for patients and families as partners on research teams?

PubMed

Black, Agnes; Strain, Kimberly; Wallsworth, Christine; Charlton, Sara-Grey; Chang, Wilma; McNamee, Kate; Hamilton, Clayon

2018-01-01

Objective There is growing emphasis on health care organizations to ensure that lay people are meaningfully engaged as partners on research teams. Our aim was to explore the perspectives of patients, family members and informal caregivers who have been involved on health care research teams in Canada and elicit their recommendations for meaningful engagement. Methods We conducted a qualitative study guided by thematic analysis of transcripts of focus groups and interviews of 19 experienced patient research partners in Canada. Results We identified four main themes: research environment, expectations, support and value, which highlight participants' combined perspectives on important factors to ensure their engagement in research is meaningful. Conclusions Our findings add to the evolving evidence base on the perspectives of lay people involved in health care research and their recommendations for research leaders on meaningful engagement. Our study suggests that research leaders should provide a welcoming research environment, outline appropriate expectations for patient research partners on research teams, support patient research partners' engagement in projects and recognize the value patient research partners bring to health research.

Spectral embedding finds meaningful (relevant) structure in image and microarray data

PubMed Central

Higgs, Brandon W; Weller, Jennifer; Solka, Jeffrey L

2006-01-01

Background Accurate methods for extraction of meaningful patterns in high dimensional data have become increasingly important with the recent generation of data types containing measurements across thousands of variables. Principal components analysis (PCA) is a linear dimensionality reduction (DR) method that is unsupervised in that it relies only on the data; projections are calculated in Euclidean or a similar linear space and do not use tuning parameters for optimizing the fit to the data. However, relationships within sets of nonlinear data types, such as biological networks or images, are frequently mis-rendered into a low dimensional space by linear methods. Nonlinear methods, in contrast, attempt to model important aspects of the underlying data structure, often requiring parameter(s) fitting to the data type of interest. In many cases, the optimal parameter values vary when different classification algorithms are applied on the same rendered subspace, making the results of such methods highly dependent upon the type of classifier implemented. Results We present the results of applying the spectral method of Lafon, a nonlinear DR method based on the weighted graph Laplacian, that minimizes the requirements for such parameter optimization for two biological data types. We demonstrate that it is successful in determining implicit ordering of brain slice image data and in classifying separate species in microarray data, as compared to two conventional linear methods and three nonlinear methods (one of which is an alternative spectral method). This spectral implementation is shown to provide more meaningful information, by preserving important relationships, than the methods of DR presented for comparison. Tuning parameter fitting is simple and is a general, rather than data type or experiment specific approach, for the two datasets analyzed here. Tuning parameter optimization is minimized in the DR step to each subsequent classification method, enabling the

A qualitative study of perceptions of meaningful change in spinal muscular atrophy.

PubMed

McGraw, Sarah; Qian, Ying; Henne, Jeff; Jarecki, Jill; Hobby, Kenneth; Yeh, Wei-Shi

2017-04-04

This qualitative study examined how individuals with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), their caregivers, and clinicians defined meaningful change, primarily in the Type II and non-ambulant type III patient populations, associated with treatment of this condition. In addition, we explored participants' views about two measures of motor function routinely used in clinical trials for these SMA subtypes, namely the expanded version of the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale (HFMSE) and the Upper Limb Module (ULM). The 123 participants (21 with SMA, 64 parents, and 11 clinicians), recruited through SMA advocacy organizations, participated in one of 16 focus groups or 37 interviews. The sessions were audio-recorded, and verbatim transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. For the participants, meaningful change was relative to functional ability, and small changes in motor function could have an important impact on quality of life. Because patients and families feared progressive loss of functional ability, the participants saw maintenance of abilities as a meaningful outcome. They believed that measures of motor function covered important items, but worried that the HFMSE and ULM might not be sensitive enough to capture small changes. In addition, they felt that outcome measures should assess other important features of life with SMA, including the ability to perform daily activities, respiratory function, swallowing, fatigue, and endurance. Given the heterogeneity of SMA, it is important to expand the assessment of treatment effects to a broader range of outcomes using measures sensitive enough to detect small changes.

Concept mapping to promote meaningful learning, help relate theory to practice and improve learning self-efficacy in Asian mental health nursing students: A mixed-methods pilot study.

PubMed

Bressington, Daniel T; Wong, Wai-Kit; Lam, Kar Kei Claire; Chien, Wai Tong

2018-01-01

Student nurses are provided with a great deal of knowledge within university, but they can find it difficult to relate theory to nursing practice. This study aimed to test the appropriateness and feasibility of assessing Novak's concept mapping as an educational strategy to strengthen the theory-practice link, encourage meaningful learning and enhance learning self-efficacy in nursing students. This pilot study utilised a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design. The study was conducted in a University school of Nursing in Hong Kong. A total of 40 third-year pre-registration Asian mental health nursing students completed the study; 12 in the concept mapping (CM) group and 28 in the usual teaching methods (UTM) group. The impact of concept mapping was evaluated thorough analysis of quantitative changes in students' learning self-efficacy, analysis of the structure and contents of the concept maps (CM group), a quantitative measure of students' opinions about their reflective learning activities and content analysis of qualitative data from reflective written accounts (CM group). There were no significant differences in self-reported learning self-efficacy between the two groups (p=0.38). The concept mapping helped students identify their current level of understanding, but the increased awareness may cause an initial drop in learning self-efficacy. The results highlight that most CM students were able to demonstrate meaningful learning and perceived that concept mapping was a useful reflective learning strategy to help them to link theory and practice. The results provide preliminary evidence that the concept mapping approach can be useful to help mental health nursing students visualise their learning progress and encourage the integration of theoretical knowledge with clinical knowledge. Combining concept mapping data with quantitative measures and qualitative reflective journal data appears to be a useful way of assessing and understanding the effectiveness of

From Mindless to Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Billings, Laura; Roberts, Terry

2014-01-01

Despite teachers' best intentions, traditional whole-class discussions sometimes end up sounding like the monotonous drone of Charlie Brown's teacher. But with careful planning, teachers can structure discussions that encourage meaningful student interaction and collaborative thinking, write Laura Billings and Terry Roberts of the…

The Role of Leadership and Culture in Creating Meaningful Assessment: A Mixed Methods Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guetterman, Timothy C.; Mitchell, Nancy

2016-01-01

With increased demands for institutional accountability and improved student learning, involvement in assessment has become a fundamental role of higher education faculty (Rhodes, 2010). However, faculty members and administrators often question whether assessment efforts do indeed improve student learning (Hutchings, 2010). This mixed methods…

Life is pretty meaningful.

PubMed

Heintzelman, Samantha J; King, Laura A

2014-09-01

The human experience of meaning in life is widely viewed as a cornerstone of well-being and a central human motivation. Self-reports of meaning in life relate to a host of important functional outcomes. Psychologists have portrayed meaning in life as simultaneously chronically lacking in human life as well as playing an important role in survival. Examining the growing literature on meaning in life, we address the question "How meaningful is life, in general?" We review possible answers from various psychological sources, some of which anticipate that meaning in life should be low and others that it should be high. Summaries of epidemiological data and research using two self-report measures of meaning in life suggest that life is pretty meaningful. Diverse samples rate themselves significantly above the midpoint on self-reports of meaning in life. We suggest that if meaning in life plays a role in adaptation, it must be commonplace, as our analysis suggests. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules.

PubMed

Cho, Ji-Hoon; Wang, Kai; Galas, David J

2011-07-26

The ability to construct biologically meaningful gene networks and modules is critical for contemporary systems biology. Though recent studies have demonstrated the power of using gene modules to shed light on the functioning of complex biological systems, most modules in these networks have shown little association with meaningful biological function. We have devised a method which directly incorporates gene ontology (GO) annotation in construction of gene modules in order to gain better functional association. We have devised a method, Semantic Similarity-Integrated approach for Modularization (SSIM) that integrates various gene-gene pairwise similarity values, including information obtained from gene expression, protein-protein interactions and GO annotations, in the construction of modules using affinity propagation clustering. We demonstrated the performance of the proposed method using data from two complex biological responses: 1. the osmotic shock response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and 2. the prion-induced pathogenic mouse model. In comparison with two previously reported algorithms, modules identified by SSIM showed significantly stronger association with biological functions. The incorporation of semantic similarity based on GO annotation with gene expression and protein-protein interaction data can greatly enhance the functional relevance of inferred gene modules. In addition, the SSIM approach can also reveal the hierarchical structure of gene modules to gain a broader functional view of the biological system. Hence, the proposed method can facilitate comprehensive and in-depth analysis of high throughput experimental data at the gene network level.

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The ability to construct biologically meaningful gene networks and modules is critical for contemporary systems biology. Though recent studies have demonstrated the power of using gene modules to shed light on the functioning of complex biological systems, most modules in these networks have shown little association with meaningful biological function. We have devised a method which directly incorporates gene ontology (GO) annotation in construction of gene modules in order to gain better functional association. Results We have devised a method, Semantic Similarity-Integrated approach for Modularization (SSIM) that integrates various gene-gene pairwise similarity values, including information obtained from gene expression, protein-protein interactions and GO annotations, in the construction of modules using affinity propagation clustering. We demonstrated the performance of the proposed method using data from two complex biological responses: 1. the osmotic shock response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and 2. the prion-induced pathogenic mouse model. In comparison with two previously reported algorithms, modules identified by SSIM showed significantly stronger association with biological functions. Conclusions The incorporation of semantic similarity based on GO annotation with gene expression and protein-protein interaction data can greatly enhance the functional relevance of inferred gene modules. In addition, the SSIM approach can also reveal the hierarchical structure of gene modules to gain a broader functional view of the biological system. Hence, the proposed method can facilitate comprehensive and in-depth analysis of high throughput experimental data at the gene network level. PMID:21791051

Engaging in Work Even When It Is Meaningless: Positive Affective Disposition and Meaningful Work Interact in Relation to Work Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steger, Michael F.; Littman-Ovadia, Hadassah; Miller, Michal; Menger, Lauren; Rothmann, Sebastiaan

2013-01-01

The central aim of the present study was to assess the predictive value of affective disposition and meaningful work on employee engagement. Specifically, it was proposed that meaningful work moderates the relationship between affective disposition and engagement. Questionnaires were completed by 252 white-collar employees, working in a variety of…

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... INCENTIVE PROGRAM Requirements Specific to Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations § 495.210 Meaningful EHR user attestation. (a) Qualifying MA organizations are required to attest, in a form and manner specified by CMS, that each qualifying MA EP and qualifying MA-affiliated eligible hospitals is a meaningful...

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... INCENTIVE PROGRAM Requirements Specific to Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations § 495.210 Meaningful EHR user attestation. (a) Qualifying MA organizations are required to attest, in a form and manner specified by CMS, that each qualifying MA EP and qualifying MA-affiliated eligible hospitals is a meaningful...

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... INCENTIVE PROGRAM Requirements Specific to Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations § 495.210 Meaningful EHR user attestation. (a) Qualifying MA organizations are required to attest, in a form and manner specified by CMS, that each qualifying MA EP and qualifying MA-affiliated eligible hospitals is a meaningful...

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... INCENTIVE PROGRAM Requirements Specific to Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations § 495.210 Meaningful EHR user attestation. (a) Qualifying MA organizations are required to attest, in a form and manner specified by CMS, that each qualifying MA EP and qualifying MA-affiliated eligible hospitals is a meaningful...

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... INCENTIVE PROGRAM Requirements Specific to Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations § 495.210 Meaningful EHR user attestation. (a) Qualifying MA organizations are required to attest, in a form and manner specified by CMS, that each qualifying MA EP and qualifying MA-affiliated eligible hospitals is a meaningful...

Meaningful and Purposeful Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clementi, Donna

2014-01-01

This article describes a graphic, designed by Clementi and Terrill, the authors of "Keys to Planning for Learning" (2013), visually representing the components that contribute to meaningful and purposeful practice in learning a world language, practice that leads to greater proficiency. The entire graphic is centered around the letter…

Developing Meaningfulness at Work through Emotional Intelligence Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thory, Kathryn

2016-01-01

To date, there remains a significant gap in the human resource development (HRD) literature in understanding how training and development contributes to meaningful work. In addition, little is known about how individuals proactively make their work more meaningful. This article shows how emotional intelligence (EI) training promotes learning about…

Meaningful Responses to Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kovarik, Madeline

2006-01-01

If students were as engaged in reading as they are in video games, television, and sports, the world would be rife with proficient readers. Using a variety of instructional strategies, teachers can make the reading experience more meaningful, increase comprehension, and build proficiency. Mastering cognitive skills can change student reading from…

Helping others increases meaningful work: Evidence from three experiments.

PubMed

Allan, Blake A; Duffy, Ryan D; Collisson, Brian

2018-03-01

The aim of the current research was to examine whether manipulating task significance increased the meaningfulness of work among students (Study 1), an online sample of working adults (Study 2), and public university employees (Study 3). In Study 1, students completed a typing task for the benefit of themselves, a charity, or someone they knew would directly benefit from their work. People who worked to benefit someone else, rather than themselves, reported greater task meaningfulness. In Study 2, a representative, online sample of employees reflected on a time when they worked to benefit themselves or someone else at work. Results revealed that people who reflected on working to benefit someone else, rather than themselves, reported greater work meaningfulness. In Study 3, public university employees participated in a community intervention by working as they normally would, finding new ways to help people each day, or finding several new ways to help others on a single day. People who helped others many times in a single day experienced greater gains in work meaningfulness over time. Across 3 experimental studies, we found that people who perceived their work as helping others experienced more meaningfulness in their work. This highlights the potential mechanisms practitioners, employers, and other parties can use to increase the meaningfulness of work, which has implications for workers' well-being and productivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Is a multivariate consensus representation of genetic relationships among populations always meaningful?

PubMed Central

Moazami-Goudarzi, K; Laloë, D

2002-01-01

To determine the relationships among closely related populations or species, two methods are commonly used in the literature: phylogenetic reconstruction or multivariate analysis. The aim of this article is to assess the reliability of multivariate analysis. We describe a method that is based on principal component analysis and Mantel correlations, using a two-step process: The first step consists of a single-marker analysis and the second step tests if each marker reveals the same typology concerning population differentiation. We conclude that if single markers are not congruent, the compromise structure is not meaningful. Our model is not based on any particular mutation process and it can be applied to most of the commonly used genetic markers. This method is also useful to determine the contribution of each marker to the typology of populations. We test whether our method is efficient with two real data sets based on microsatellite markers. Our analysis suggests that for closely related populations, it is not always possible to accept the hypothesis that an increase in the number of markers will increase the reliability of the typology analysis. PMID:12242255

An exploratory study about meaningful work in acute care nursing.

PubMed

Pavlish, Carol; Hunt, Roberta

2012-01-01

To develop deeper understandings about nurses' perceptions of meaningful work and the contextual factors that impact finding meaning in work. Much has been written about nurses' job satisfaction and the impact on quality of health care. However, scant qualitative evidence exists regarding nurses' perceptions of meaningful work and how factors in the work environment influence their perceptions. The literature reveals links among work satisfaction, retention, quality of care, and meaningfulness in work. Using a narrative design, researchers interviewed 13 public health nurses and 13 acute care nurses. Categorical-content analysis with Atlas.ti data management software was conducted separately for each group of nurses. This article reports results for acute care nurses. Twenty-four stories of meaningful moments were analyzed and categorized. Three primary themes of meaningful work emerged: connections, contributions, and recognition. Participants described learning-focused environment, teamwork, constructive management, and time with patients as facilitators of meaningfulness and task-focused environment, stressful relationships, and divisive management as barriers. Meaningful nursing roles were advocate, catalyst and guide, and caring presence. Nurse administrators are the key to improving quality of care by nurturing opportunities for nurses to find meaning and satisfaction in their work. Study findings provide nurse leaders with new avenues for improving work environments and job satisfaction to potentially enhance healthcare outcomes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Meaningful work and mental health: job satisfaction as a moderator.

PubMed

Allan, Blake A; Dexter, Chelsea; Kinsey, Rebecca; Parker, Shelby

2018-02-01

Depression, anxiety and stress are common problems for modern workers. Although having meaningful work, or work that is significant, facilitates personal growth, and contributes to the greater good, has been linked to better mental health, people's work might also need to be satisfying or enjoyable to improve outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to examine meaningful work's relation to mental health (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress) and investigate job satisfaction as a moderator of this relation. The study hypotheses were tested with a large, diverse sample recruited from an online source. Partially supporting hypotheses, when controlling for job satisfaction, meaningful work negatively correlated with depression but did not have a significant relation with anxiety and stress. Similarly, job satisfaction negatively predicted depression and stress. Furthermore, the relations between meaningful work and both anxiety and stress were moderated by job satisfaction. Specifically, only people perceiving their work as meaningful and satisfying reported less anxiety and stress. Although continued research is needed, employers and employees may have to target both the meaningfulness and job satisfaction to address the issues of stress and anxiety among working adults.

Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners' conceptions of nature of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lederman, Norm G.; Abd-El-Khalick, Fouad; Bell, Randy L.; Schwartz, Renée S.

2002-08-01

Helping students develop informed views of nature of science (NOS) has been and continues to be a central goal for kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) science education. Since the early 1960s, major efforts have been undertaken to enhance K-12 students and science teachers' NOS views. However, the crucial component of assessing learners' NOS views remains an issue in research on NOS. This article aims to (a) trace the development of a new open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), which in conjunction with individual interviews aims to provide meaningful assessments of learners' NOS views; (b) outline the NOS framework that underlies the development of the VNOS; (c) present evidence regarding the validity of the VNOS; (d) elucidate the use of the VNOS and associated interviews, and the range of NOS aspects that it aims to assess; and (e) discuss the usefulness of rich descriptive NOS profiles that the VNOS provides in research related to teaching and learning about NOS. The VNOS comes in response to some calls within the science education community to go back to developing standardized forced-choice paper and pencil NOS assessment instruments designed for mass administrations to large samples. We believe that these calls ignore much of what was learned from research on teaching and learning about NOS over the past 30 years. The present state of this line of research necessitates a focus on individual classroom interventions aimed at enhancing learners' NOS views, rather than on mass assessments aimed at describing or evaluating students' beliefs.

An evaluation of meaningful learning in a high school chemistry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bross, April J.

This study utilized an action research methodology to examine students' understandings of science knowledge, and meaningful learning using the SLD (Science Lecture Demonstration) and laboratory instructional method in a high school chemistry classroom. This method was a modification of the Science Lecture Demonstration Method as developed by Majerich and Schmuckler (2004, in press), the modification due to the addition of a laboratory component. The participants in this study represented a convenience sample which included one class of twenty-two, middle to high socio-economic status students (Mean family income over $75,000/year in 2005 U.S. dollars) in an honors chemistry course at a public high school in the state of New Jersey. These participants included nine girls and thirteen boys. The results of this study indicated what the students' understandings of science knowledge were, how the understandings differed among students, and to what extent those understandings were indicative of meaningful learning. These results were obtained by careful analysis of student generated concept maps, narratives from demonstration quizzes, laboratory reports, and test questions, as well as a teacher/researcher reflection upon the classroom experience. A simple taxonomy for analyzing students' understandings of science knowledge was developed, based upon the work of Majerich (2004). Findings indicated that the students' understanding of science knowledge, as well as the extent of meaningful learning that occurs in the chemistry classroom may be influenced by the roles of: explicit directions, pre-existing knowledge from elementary and middle school science classes, using examples vs. non-examples, macroscopic vs. microscopic views of nature, time for reflection, and everyday vs. scientific language. Results obtained from high school student responses confirmed Novak's observation of elementary students' lack of differentiation between the terms vapor and gas (Novak, 1998).

Enhancing the Meaningfulness of Work for Astronauts on Long Duration Space Exploration Missions.

PubMed

Britt, Thomas W; Sytine, Anton; Brady, Ashley; Wilkes, Russ; Pittman, Rebecca; Jennings, Kristen; Goguen, Kandice

2017-08-01

Numerous authors have identified the stressors likely to be encountered on long duration space exploration missions (e.g., to Mars), including the possibility of significant crises, separation from family, boredom/monotony, and interpersonal conflict. Although many authors have noted that meaningful work may be beneficial for astronauts on these missions, none have detailed the sources of meaningful work for astronauts and how these sources may differ between astronauts. The present article identifies how engagement in meaningful work during long duration missions may mitigate the adverse effects of demands and increase the potential for benefits resulting from the missions. Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine NASA personnel, including astronauts, flight directors, and flight surgeons. Questions addressed sources of meaning for astronauts, characteristics of tasks that enhance vs. detract from meaning, and recommendations for enhancing meaning. Personnel mentioned contributing to humanity and the next generation, contributing to the mission, and exploration as the most meaningful aspects of their work. Characteristics of tasks that enhanced meaning included using a variety of skills, feeling personal control over their schedule, autonomy in the execution of tasks, and understanding the importance of the experiments conducted on the mission. Top recommendations to sustain meaning were insuring social needs were met through such activities as the strategic use of social media, giving astronauts autonomy as well as structure, and conducting training during transit. Implications are addressed for tailoring meaning-based interventions for astronauts participating on long duration missions and assessing the effectiveness of these interventions.Britt TW, Sytine A, Brady A, Wilkes R, Pittman R, Jennings K, Goguen K. Enhancing the meaningfulness of work for astronauts on long duration space exploration missions. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(8):779-783.

Evaluation of methods for the assessment of attention while driving.

PubMed

Kircher, Katja; Ahlstrom, Christer

2018-05-01

The ability to assess the current attentional state of the driver is important for many aspects of driving, not least in the field of partial automation for transfer of control between vehicle and driver. Knowledge about the driver's attentional state is also necessary for the assessment of the effects of additional tasks on attention. The objective of this paper is to evaluate different methods that can be used to assess attention, first theoretically, and then empirically in a controlled field study and in the laboratory. Six driving instructors participated in all experimental conditions of the study, delivering within-subjects data for all tested methods. Additional participants were recruited for some of the conditions. The test route consisted of 14km of motorway with low to moderate traffic, which was driven three times per participant per condition. The on-road conditions were: baseline, driving with eye tracking and self-paced visual occlusion, and driving while thinking aloud. The laboratory conditions were: Describing how attention should be distributed on a motorway, and thinking aloud while watching a video from the baseline drive. The results show that visual occlusion, especially in combination with eye tracking, was appropriate for assessing spare capacity. The think aloud protocol was appropriate to gain insight about the driver's actual mental representation of the situation at hand. Expert judgement in the laboratory was not reliable for the assessment of drivers' attentional distribution in traffic. Across all assessment techniques, it is evident that meaningful assessment of attention in a dynamic traffic situation can only be achieved when the infrastructure layout, surrounding road users, and intended manoeuvres are taken into account. This requires advanced instrumentation of the vehicle, and subsequent data reduction, analysis and interpretation are demanding. In conclusion, driver attention assessment in real traffic is a complex task, but

Birth, meaningful viability and abortion.

PubMed

Jensen, David

2015-06-01

What role does birth play in the debate about elective abortion? Does the wrongness of infanticide imply the wrongness of late-term abortion? In this paper, I argue that the same or similar factors that make birth morally significant with regard to abortion make meaningful viability morally significant due to the relatively arbitrary time of birth. I do this by considering the positions of Mary Anne Warren and José Luis Bermúdez who argue that birth is significant enough that the wrongness of infanticide does not imply the wrongness of late-term abortion. On the basis of the relatively arbitrary timing of birth, I argue that meaningful viability is the point at which elective abortion is prima facie morally wrong. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Meaningful coping with chronic pain: Exploring the interplay between goal violation, meaningful coping strategies and life satisfaction in chronic pain patients.

PubMed

Dezutter, Jessie; Dewitte, Laura; Thauvoye, Evalyne; Vanhooren, Siebrecht

2017-02-01

Trying to cope with chronic pain is a highly demanding and challenging task and pain patients often need to reformulate goals or aspirations due to their pain condition. This goal violation is often related with experienced distress and requires coping processes in order to decrease the distress and stimulate a healthy adaptation. Some scholars, however, argued that in so-called unsolvable or irreparable stressors such as chronic pain, conventional coping strategies like problem-focused coping might not be the most adaptive option. In these situations, meaningful coping strategies attempting to transform the meaning of the stressful experience would be more accurate. In this study, we aim to test if goal violation triggers meaningful coping strategies over time and whether engagement in these meaningful coping strategies result in improved life satisfaction, as an indicator of adaptation. A longitudinal three wave study in a sample of paint patients (n = 125) tests whether goal violation triggers positive reappraisal and downward comparison, two possible meaningful coping strategies. The study furthermore tests if engagement in these strategies results in a better adaptation to the pain condition, reflected in higher life satisfaction. Results partially supported our hypotheses by pointing to the benevolent role of downward comparison on life satisfaction via decreased goal violation of pain patients. Our findings however did also show that positive reappraisal predicted lower life satisfaction via increased levels of appraised goal violation which questions the role of positive reappraisal as a genuine meaningful coping strategy. Implications and limitations are discussed. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Focusing on Active, Meaningful Learning. IDEA Paper No. 34.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stalheim-Smith, Ann

This paper discusses active and meaningful learning and the application of this instructional approach to the college classroom, focusing on techniques used in the author's biology classes. Active and meaningful learning places emphasis on students actually doing things and thinking about what they are doing, relating new information to…

Research on assessment and improvement method of remote sensing image reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Li; Hua, Nian; Yu, Yanbo; Zhao, Zhanping

2018-01-01

Remote sensing image quality assessment and improvement is an important part of image processing. Generally, the use of compressive sampling theory in remote sensing imaging system can compress images while sampling which can improve efficiency. A method of two-dimensional principal component analysis (2DPCA) is proposed to reconstruct the remote sensing image to improve the quality of the compressed image in this paper, which contain the useful information of image and can restrain the noise. Then, remote sensing image quality influence factors are analyzed, and the evaluation parameters for quantitative evaluation are introduced. On this basis, the quality of the reconstructed images is evaluated and the different factors influence on the reconstruction is analyzed, providing meaningful referential data for enhancing the quality of remote sensing images. The experiment results show that evaluation results fit human visual feature, and the method proposed have good application value in the field of remote sensing image processing.

Meaningful Movement for Children: Stay True to Their Natures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumgarten, Sam

2006-01-01

This article discusses the meaningful movement for children. In this article, the author discusses "roots" in the "physical education garden" which, when thoroughly examined, reveal tried and true insights about children and their natures. By revisiting these natures or characteristics, one will have a clearer picture of what is meaningful to…

Write Another Poem about Marigold: Meaningful Writing as a Process of Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teichmann, Sandra Gail

1995-01-01

Considers a process approach toward the goal of meaningful writing which may aid in positive personal change. Outlines recent criticism of contemporary poetry; argues against tradition and practice of craft in writing poetry. Proposes a means of writing centered on a method of inquiry involving elements of self-involvement, curiosity, and risk to…

Effects of a meaningful, a discriminative, and a meaningless stimulus on equivalence class formation.

PubMed

Fields, Lanny; Arntzen, Erik; Nartey, Richard K; Eilifsen, Christoffer

2012-03-01

Thirty college students attempted to form three 3-node 5-member equivalence classes under the simultaneous protocol. After concurrent training of AB, BC, CD, and DE relations, all probes used to assess the emergence of symmetrical, transitive, and equivalence relations were presented for two test blocks. When the A-E stimuli were all abstract shapes, none of 10 participants formed classes. When the A, B, D, and E stimuli were abstract shapes and the C stimuli were meaningful pictures, 8 of 10 participants formed classes. This high yield may reflect the expansion of existing classes that consist of the associates of the meaningful stimuli, rather than the formation of the ABCDE classes, per se. When the A-E stimuli were abstract shapes and the C stimuli became S(D)s prior to class formation, 5 out of 10 participants formed classes. Thus, the discriminative functions served by the meaningful stimuli can account for some of the enhancement of class formation produced by the inclusion of a meaningful stimulus as a class member. A sorting task, which provided a secondary measure of class formation, indicated the formation of all three classes when the emergent relations probes indicated the same outcome. In contrast, the sorting test indicated "partial" class formation when the emergent relations test indicated no class formation. Finally, the effects of nodal distance on the relatedness of stimuli in the equivalence classes were not influenced by the functions served by the C stimuli in the equivalence classes.

Eight Steps to Meaningful Grading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deddeh, Heather; Main, Erin; Fulkerson, Sharon Ratzlaff

2010-01-01

A group of teachers at Clifford Smart Middle School in Michigan's Walled Lake Consolidated School District have broken free from traditional grading in order to embrace a more meaningful grading practice. Using standards-based grading practices, they believe their grading now accurately communicates to students and parents the student's mastery…

Towards a meaningful assessment of marine ecological impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA).

PubMed

Woods, John S; Veltman, Karin; Huijbregts, Mark A J; Verones, Francesca; Hertwich, Edgar G

2016-01-01

Human demands on marine resources and space are currently unprecedented and concerns are rising over observed declines in marine biodiversity. A quantitative understanding of the impact of industrial activities on the marine environment is thus essential. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely applied method for quantifying the environmental impact of products and processes. LCA was originally developed to assess the impacts of land-based industries on mainly terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. As such, impact indicators for major drivers of marine biodiversity loss are currently lacking. We review quantitative approaches for cause-effect assessment of seven major drivers of marine biodiversity loss: climate change, ocean acidification, eutrophication-induced hypoxia, seabed damage, overexploitation of biotic resources, invasive species and marine plastic debris. Our review shows that impact indicators can be developed for all identified drivers, albeit at different levels of coverage of cause-effect pathways and variable levels of uncertainty and spatial coverage. Modeling approaches to predict the spatial distribution and intensity of human-driven interventions in the marine environment are relatively well-established and can be employed to develop spatially-explicit LCA fate factors. Modeling approaches to quantify the effects of these interventions on marine biodiversity are less well-developed. We highlight specific research challenges to facilitate a coherent incorporation of marine biodiversity loss in LCA, thereby making LCA a more comprehensive and robust environmental impact assessment tool. Research challenges of particular importance include i) incorporation of the non-linear behavior of global circulation models (GCMs) within an LCA framework and ii) improving spatial differentiation, especially the representation of coastal regions in GCMs and ocean-carbon cycle models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Meaningful Assessment of Robotic Surgical Style using the Wisdom of Crowds.

PubMed

Ershad, M; Rege, R; Fey, A Majewicz

2018-07-01

Quantitative assessment of surgical skills is an important aspect of surgical training; however, the proposed metrics are sometimes difficult to interpret and may not capture the stylistic characteristics that define expertise. This study proposes a methodology for evaluating the surgical skill, based on metrics associated with stylistic adjectives, and evaluates the ability of this method to differentiate expertise levels. We recruited subjects from different expertise levels to perform training tasks on a surgical simulator. A lexicon of contrasting adjective pairs, based on important skills for robotic surgery, inspired by the global evaluative assessment of robotic skills tool, was developed. To validate the use of stylistic adjectives for surgical skill assessment, posture videos of the subjects performing the task, as well as videos of the task were rated by crowd-workers. Metrics associated with each adjective were found using kinematic and physiological measurements through correlation with the crowd-sourced adjective assignment ratings. To evaluate the chosen metrics' ability in distinguishing expertise levels, two classifiers were trained and tested using these metrics. Crowd-assignment ratings for all adjectives were significantly correlated with expertise levels. The results indicate that naive Bayes classifier performs the best, with an accuracy of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] when classifying into four, three, and two levels of expertise, respectively. The proposed method is effective at mapping understandable adjectives of expertise to the stylistic movements and physiological response of trainees.

Evaluating meaningful learning using concept mapping in dental hygiene education: a pilot study.

PubMed

Canasi, Dina M; Amyot, Cynthia; Tira, Daniel

2014-02-01

Concept mapping, as a teaching strategy, has been shown to promote critical thinking and problem solving in educational settings. Dental clinicians must distinguish between critical and irrelevant characteristics in the delivery of care, thus necessitating reasoning skills to do so. One of the aims of the American Dental Education Association Commission on Change and Innovation (ADEA-CCI) is to identify deficiencies in curriculum which were meant to improve critical thinking and problem solving skills necessary in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to compare 2 teaching strategies, traditional lecture and lecture supported by concept mapping exercises within collaborative working groups, to determine if there is a beneficial effect on meaningful learning. For this pilot study, the study population consisted of students from 2 geographically separated associate level dental hygiene programs in the southeastern U.S. A quasi-experimental control group pre- and post-test design was used. The degree of meaningful learning achieved by both programs was assessed by comparing pre- and post-test results. Both programs experienced a significant degree of meaningful learning from pre- to post-test. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the programs on the post-test. These results were in direct contrast to research in other disciplines on concept mapping and its effect on promoting meaningful learning. Further investigation into the study's outcome was obtained through a follow-up focus group. In spite of careful attention to methodology in the development of this research project, the focus group illuminated methodological failings that potentially impacted the outcome of the study. Recommendations are underscored for future conduct of educational research of this kind.

A Meaningful High School Diploma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Shepherd

2009-01-01

Creating a meaningful high school diploma will expose students to the full range of adult options which will enable them to shape their high school education in a way that connects to their current interests and stimulates the growth of new ones. Fully connecting all students to these four worlds of knowledge will equip them to build one…

Poignancy: Mixed Emotional Experience in the Face of Meaningful Endings

PubMed Central

Ersner-Hershfield, Hal; Mikels, Joseph A.; Sullivan, Sarah J.; Carstensen, Laura L.

2009-01-01

The experience of mixed emotions increases with age. Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that mixed emotions are associated with shifting time horizons. Theoretically, perceived constraints on future time increase appreciation for life, which, in turn, elicits positive emotions such as happiness. Yet, the very same temporal constraints heighten awareness that these positive experiences come to an end, thus yielding mixed emotional states. In 2 studies, the authors examined the link between the awareness of anticipated endings and mixed emotional experience. In Study 1, participants repeatedly imagined being in a meaningful location. Participants in the experimental condition imagined being in the meaningful location for the final time. Only participants who imagined “last times” at meaningful locations experienced more mixed emotions. In Study 2, college seniors reported their emotions on graduation day. Mixed emotions were higher when participants were reminded of the ending that they were experiencing. Findings suggest that poignancy is an emotional experience associated with meaningful endings. PMID:18179325

Effects of a Meaningful, a Discriminative, and a Meaningless Stimulus on Equivalence Class Formation

PubMed Central

Fields, Lanny; Arntzen, Erik; Nartey, Richard K; Eilifsen, Christoffer

2012-01-01

Thirty college students attempted to form three 3-node 5-member equivalence classes under the simultaneous protocol. After concurrent training of AB, BC, CD, and DE relations, all probes used to assess the emergence of symmetrical, transitive, and equivalence relations were presented for two test blocks. When the A–E stimuli were all abstract shapes, none of 10 participants formed classes. When the A, B, D, and E stimuli were abstract shapes and the C stimuli were meaningful pictures, 8 of 10 participants formed classes. This high yield may reflect the expansion of existing classes that consist of the associates of the meaningful stimuli, rather than the formation of the ABCDE classes, per se. When the A–E stimuli were abstract shapes and the C stimuli became SDs prior to class formation, 5 out of 10 participants formed classes. Thus, the discriminative functions served by the meaningful stimuli can account for some of the enhancement of class formation produced by the inclusion of a meaningful stimulus as a class member. A sorting task, which provided a secondary measure of class formation, indicated the formation of all three classes when the emergent relations probes indicated the same outcome. In contrast, the sorting test indicated “partial” class formation when the emergent relations test indicated no class formation. Finally, the effects of nodal distance on the relatedness of stimuli in the equivalence classes were not influenced by the functions served by the C stimuli in the equivalence classes. PMID:22389524

How should gestational weight gain be assessed? A comparison of existing methods and a novel method, area under the weight gain curve

PubMed Central

Kleinman, Ken P; Oken, Emily; Radesky, Jenny S; Rich-Edwards, Janet W; Peterson, Karen E; Gillman, Matthew W

2007-01-01

Background Gestational weight gain is important to assess for epidemiological and public health purposes: it is correlated with infant growth and may be related to maternal outcomes such as reproductive health and chronic disease risk. Methods commonly used to assess weight gain incorporate assumptions that are usually not borne out, such as a linear weight gain, or do not account for differential length of gestation. Methods We introduce a novel method to assess gestational weight gain, the area under the weight gain curve. This is easily interpretable as the additional pound-days carried due to pregnancy and avoids many flaws in alternative assessments. We compare the performance of the simple difference, weekly gain, Institute of Medicine categories and the area under the weight gain curve in predicting birthweight and maternal weight retention at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months post-partum. The analytic sample comprises 2016 participants in Project Viva, an observational prospective cohort study of pregnant women in Massachusetts. Results For birthweight outcomes, none of the weight gain measures is a meaningfully superior predictor. For 6-month postpartum weight retention the simple difference is superior, while for 12-, 24- and 36-month weight retention the area under the weight gain curve is superior. Conclusions These findings are plausible biologically: the same amount of weight gained early vs later in the pregnancy may reflect increased maternal fat stores. The timing of weight gain is reflected best in the area under the weight gain curve. Different methods of measuring gestational weight gain may be appropriate depending on the context. PMID:17715174

Dignity and respect: facilitating meaningful occupation for SeSotho elders.

PubMed

Du Toit, Sanetta H J; Böning, Wilmarié; Van Der Merwe, Tania Rauch

2014-03-01

Frail and vulnerable adults are divested of meaningful encounters when modernization and urbanization force them to embrace an unconventional residential care environment as a home. The aim of this article is to report on a study of SeSotho elders living in residential care to illustrate how more meaningful and culturally relevant experiences could be facilitated for them. A content analysis was done of the individual opinions of 15 collaborators as a secondary scrutiny of information obtained during a nominal group process. MAJOR FINDINGS. Findings revealed that elders were prone to experience loneliness, helplessness, and boredom due to situations dominated by occupational injustice. Co-occupations, training of staff, and environmental adaptations that allow a sense of interdependence could contribute in facilitating occupational justice for elders from a traditional South African indigenous background living in residential care. Human dignity and respect are upheld within residential care when elders have access to purposeful and meaningful activities of their choice that are culturally appropriate. Occupational therapists should advocate for doing, belonging, and becoming by facilitating meaningful occupational participation that is culturally relevant for their clients.

Making Social Studies Meaningful to Elementary Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Susan

1982-01-01

Describes a unit on Ancient Greece designed to make social studies meaningful to fourth and fifth graders. Individual projects and group activities helped students learn about ancient Greek culture. (AM)

Audio-Visual and Meaningful Semantic Context Enhancements in Older and Younger Adults.

PubMed

Smayda, Kirsten E; Van Engen, Kristin J; Maddox, W Todd; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2016-01-01

Speech perception is critical to everyday life. Oftentimes noise can degrade a speech signal; however, because of the cues available to the listener, such as visual and semantic cues, noise rarely prevents conversations from continuing. The interaction of visual and semantic cues in aiding speech perception has been studied in young adults, but the extent to which these two cues interact for older adults has not been studied. To investigate the effect of visual and semantic cues on speech perception in older and younger adults, we recruited forty-five young adults (ages 18-35) and thirty-three older adults (ages 60-90) to participate in a speech perception task. Participants were presented with semantically meaningful and anomalous sentences in audio-only and audio-visual conditions. We hypothesized that young adults would outperform older adults across SNRs, modalities, and semantic contexts. In addition, we hypothesized that both young and older adults would receive a greater benefit from a semantically meaningful context in the audio-visual relative to audio-only modality. We predicted that young adults would receive greater visual benefit in semantically meaningful contexts relative to anomalous contexts. However, we predicted that older adults could receive a greater visual benefit in either semantically meaningful or anomalous contexts. Results suggested that in the most supportive context, that is, semantically meaningful sentences presented in the audiovisual modality, older adults performed similarly to young adults. In addition, both groups received the same amount of visual and meaningful benefit. Lastly, across groups, a semantically meaningful context provided more benefit in the audio-visual modality relative to the audio-only modality, and the presence of visual cues provided more benefit in semantically meaningful contexts relative to anomalous contexts. These results suggest that older adults can perceive speech as well as younger adults when both

Audio-Visual and Meaningful Semantic Context Enhancements in Older and Younger Adults

PubMed Central

Smayda, Kirsten E.; Van Engen, Kristin J.; Maddox, W. Todd; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2016-01-01

Speech perception is critical to everyday life. Oftentimes noise can degrade a speech signal; however, because of the cues available to the listener, such as visual and semantic cues, noise rarely prevents conversations from continuing. The interaction of visual and semantic cues in aiding speech perception has been studied in young adults, but the extent to which these two cues interact for older adults has not been studied. To investigate the effect of visual and semantic cues on speech perception in older and younger adults, we recruited forty-five young adults (ages 18–35) and thirty-three older adults (ages 60–90) to participate in a speech perception task. Participants were presented with semantically meaningful and anomalous sentences in audio-only and audio-visual conditions. We hypothesized that young adults would outperform older adults across SNRs, modalities, and semantic contexts. In addition, we hypothesized that both young and older adults would receive a greater benefit from a semantically meaningful context in the audio-visual relative to audio-only modality. We predicted that young adults would receive greater visual benefit in semantically meaningful contexts relative to anomalous contexts. However, we predicted that older adults could receive a greater visual benefit in either semantically meaningful or anomalous contexts. Results suggested that in the most supportive context, that is, semantically meaningful sentences presented in the audiovisual modality, older adults performed similarly to young adults. In addition, both groups received the same amount of visual and meaningful benefit. Lastly, across groups, a semantically meaningful context provided more benefit in the audio-visual modality relative to the audio-only modality, and the presence of visual cues provided more benefit in semantically meaningful contexts relative to anomalous contexts. These results suggest that older adults can perceive speech as well as younger adults when

Evaluating and Comparing Singaporean and Taiwanese Eighth Graders' Conceptions of Science Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Tzung-Jin; Tan, Aik-Ling; Lee, Min-Hsien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2017-01-01

Background: Researchers have indicated that assessment practices and methods should support learners' construction of meaningful understanding of knowledge. Understanding students' conceptions of assessment will enable us to construct more realistic, valid and fair assessments. Learners' conceptualization of assessment would be imperative to serve…

Training order and structural location of meaningful stimuli: effects on equivalence class formation.

PubMed

Nartey, Richard K; Arntzen, Erik; Fields, Lanny

2015-12-01

In the present study, equivalence class formation was influenced by the temporal point of inclusion of a meaningful stimulus when baseline relations were serially or sequentially trained, and much less so by the location of the meaningful stimulus in the nodal structure of the class. In Experiment 1, participants attempted to form three 3-node, 5-member classes (A→B→C→D→E) under the simultaneous protocol. After serially training the baseline relations AB, BC, CD, and DE, in that order, the emergence of all emergent relations was tested concurrently. In the A-as-PIC condition, A was meaningful stimulus and B to E were meaningless stimulus, and 60 % of the participants formed classes. In addition, classes were formed by 40 %, 70 %, 40 %, and 20 % of the participants in the B-as-PIC, C-as-PIC, D-as-PIC, and E-as-PIC groups, respectively. Thus, the likelihood of class formation could have been influenced by the location of a meaningful stimulus in the class structure and/or by its order of introduction during training. In Experiment 2, we controlled for any effect of order of introduction by the concurrent training of all of the baseline relations. Regardless of the location of the meaningful stimulus, 0-20 % of participants formed classes. Thus, the temporal order of introducing a meaningful stimulus was the primary modulator of the class-enhancing property of meaningful stimuli, and not the location of the meaningful stimulus in the class structure.

Can Preoperative Patient-reported Outcome Measures Be Used to Predict Meaningful Improvement in Function After TKA?

PubMed

Berliner, Jonathan L; Brodke, Dane J; Chan, Vanessa; SooHoo, Nelson F; Bozic, Kevin J

2017-01-01

Despite the overall effectiveness of total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a subset of patients do not experience expected improvements in pain, physical function, and quality of life as documented by patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), which assess a patient's physical and emotional health and pain. It is therefore important to develop preoperative tools capable of identifying patients unlikely to improve by a clinically important margin after surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine if an association exists between preoperative PROM scores and patients' likelihood of experiencing a clinically meaningful change in function 1 year after TKA. A retrospective study design was used to evaluate preoperative and 1-year postoperative Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and SF-12 version 2 (SF12v2) scores from 562 patients who underwent primary unilateral TKA. This cohort represented 75% of the 750 patients who underwent surgery during that time period; a total of 188 others (25%) either did not complete PROM scores at the designated times or were lost to follow-up. Minimum clinically important differences (MCIDs) were calculated for each PROM using a distribution-based method and were used to define meaningful clinical improvement. MCID values for KOOS and SF12v2 physical component summary (PCS) scores were calculated to be 10 and 5, respectively. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine threshold values for preoperative KOOS and SF12v2 PCS scores and their respective predictive abilities. Threshold values defined the point after which the likelihood of clinically meaningful improvement began to diminish. Multivariate regression was used to control for the effect of preoperative mental and emotional health, patient attributes quantified by SF12v2 mental component summary (MCS) scores, on patients' likelihood of experiencing meaningful improvement in function after surgery. Threshold values for preoperative KOOS and SF

Meaningful Learning in the Cooperative Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharan, Yael

2015-01-01

Meaningful learning is based on more than what teachers transmit; it promotes the construction of knowledge out of learners' experience, feelings and exchanges with other learners. This educational view is based on the constructivist approach to learning and the co-operative learning approach. Researchers and practitioners in various…

An algorithm for encryption of secret images into meaningful images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanso, A.; Ghebleh, M.

2017-03-01

Image encryption algorithms typically transform a plain image into a noise-like cipher image, whose appearance is an indication of encrypted content. Bao and Zhou [Image encryption: Generating visually meaningful encrypted images, Information Sciences 324, 2015] propose encrypting the plain image into a visually meaningful cover image. This improves security by masking existence of encrypted content. Following their approach, we propose a lossless visually meaningful image encryption scheme which improves Bao and Zhou's algorithm by making the encrypted content, i.e. distortions to the cover image, more difficult to detect. Empirical results are presented to show high quality of the resulting images and high security of the proposed algorithm. Competence of the proposed scheme is further demonstrated by means of comparison with Bao and Zhou's scheme.

Developing an instrument to measure emotional behaviour abilities of meaningful learning through the Delphi technique.

PubMed

Cadorin, Lucia; Bagnasco, Annamaria; Tolotti, Angela; Pagnucci, Nicola; Sasso, Loredana

2017-09-01

To identify items for a new instrument that measures emotional behaviour abilities of meaningful learning, according to Fink's Taxonomy. Meaningful learning is an active process that promotes a wider and deeper understanding of concepts. It is the result of an interaction between new and previous knowledge and produces a long-term change of knowledge and skills. To measure meaningful learning capability, it is very important in the education of health professionals to identify problems or special learning needs. For this reason, it is necessary to create valid instruments. A Delphi Study technique was implemented in four phases by means of e-mail. The study was conducted from April-September 2015. An expert panel consisting of ten researchers with experience in Fink's Taxonomy was established to identify the items of the instrument. Data were analysed for conceptual description and item characteristics and attributes were rated. Expert consensus was sought in each of these phases. An 87·5% consensus cut-off was established. After four rounds, consensus was obtained for validation of the content of the instrument 'Assessment of Meaningful learning Behavioural and Emotional Abilities'. This instrument consists of 56 items evaluated on a 6-point Likert-type scale. Foundational Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring and Learning How to Learn were the six major categories explored. This content validated tool can help educators (teachers, trainers and tutors) to identify and improve the strategies to support students' learning capability, which could increase their awareness of and/or responsibility in the learning process. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Shwirl: Meaningful coloring of spectral cube data with volume rendering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vohl, Dany

2017-04-01

Shwirl visualizes spectral data cubes with meaningful coloring methods. The program has been developed to investigate transfer functions, which combines volumetric elements (or voxels) to set the color, and graphics shaders, functions used to compute several properties of the final image such as color, depth, and/or transparency, as enablers for scientific visualization of astronomical data. The program uses Astropy (ascl:1304.002) to handle FITS files and World Coordinate System, Qt (and PyQt) for the user interface, and VisPy, an object-oriented Python visualization library binding onto OpenGL.

Meaningful use: a roadmap for the advancement of health information exchange

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Frankel and colleagues have compared Israel and the U.S.’s experiences with health information exchange (HIE). They highlight the importance of institutional factors in fostering HIE development, notably the influence of local structures, experience and incentives. Historically, information infrastructure in the U.S. has been limited due to lack of standards, fragmented institutions and competition. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 authorized billions of dollars for the adoption and “Meaningful Use” of electronic health records. HITECH programs and Meaningful Use incentives target the advancement of HIE through 1) building blocks, 2) local support and 3) payment incentives. Meaningful Use requirements create a roadmap to broader electronic exchange of health information among providers and with patients. Ultimately, successful HIE in the U.S. will depend on whether Meaningful Use can address institutional needs within local markets. This is a commentary on http://www.ijhpr.org/content/2/1/722 PMID:23880399

Using adaptive processes and adverse outcome pathways to develop meaningful, robust, and actionable environmental monitoring programs.

PubMed

Arciszewski, Tim J; Munkittrick, Kelly R; Scrimgeour, Garry J; Dubé, Monique G; Wrona, Fred J; Hazewinkel, Rod R

2017-09-01

The primary goals of environmental monitoring are to indicate whether unexpected changes related to development are occurring in the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of ecosystems and to inform meaningful management intervention. Although achieving these objectives is conceptually simple, varying scientific and social challenges often result in their breakdown. Conceptualizing, designing, and operating programs that better delineate monitoring, management, and risk assessment processes supported by hypothesis-driven approaches, strong inference, and adverse outcome pathways can overcome many of the challenges. Generally, a robust monitoring program is characterized by hypothesis-driven questions associated with potential adverse outcomes and feedback loops informed by data. Specifically, key and basic features are predictions of future observations (triggers) and mechanisms to respond to success or failure of those predictions (tiers). The adaptive processes accelerate or decelerate the effort to highlight and overcome ignorance while preventing the potentially unnecessary escalation of unguided monitoring and management. The deployment of the mutually reinforcing components can allow for more meaningful and actionable monitoring programs that better associate activities with consequences. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:877-891. © 2017 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC). © 2017 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Operating Room Delays: Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Record.

PubMed

Van Winkle, Rachelle A; Champagne, Mary T; Gilman-Mays, Meri; Aucoin, Julia

2016-06-01

Perioperative areas are the most costly to operate and account for more than 40% of expenses. The high costs prompted one organization to analyze surgical delays through a retrospective review of their new electronic health record. Electronic health records have made it easier to access and aggregate clinical data; 2123 operating room cases were analyzed. Implementing a new electronic health record system is complex; inaccurate data and poor implementation can introduce new problems. Validating the electronic health record development processes determines the ease of use and the user interface, specifically related to user compliance with the intent of the electronic health record development. The revalidation process after implementation determines if the intent of the design was fulfilled and data can be meaningfully used. In this organization, the data fields completed through automation provided quantifiable, meaningful data. However, data fields completed by staff that required subjective decision making resulted in incomplete data nearly 24% of the time. The ease of use was further complicated by 490 permutations (combinations of delay types and reasons) that were built into the electronic health record. Operating room delay themes emerged notwithstanding the significant complexity of the electronic health record build; however, improved accuracy could improve meaningful data collection and a more accurate root cause analysis of operating room delays. Accurate and meaningful use of data affords a more reliable approach in quality, safety, and cost-effective initiatives.

[Job demands, meaningful work, and turnover intention among nurses].

PubMed

Cortese, C G; Gatti, Paola; Ghislieri, Chiara

2014-01-01

The shortage of nurses is a worldwide issue. Since turnover intention (TI) is considered one of the major determinants of turnover behaviour, it is essential to look deeper into the way it operates. This study uses the job demands-resources model to investigate the TI of nurses, on the one hand looking at the relationship that some demands (workload, emotional dissonance and abusive supervision) have on TI and on the other, investigating the role of a specific resource (meaningful work - MW) in terms of its effect on TI and as a potential moderator of the relationship between each demand and TI. The research project was carried out in a large hospital in Northern Italy by administering a self-report questionnaire to all nurses; 630 questionnaires were distributed, 423 (67.14%) of which were completed. The statistical analyses were performed with PASW 18. The results highlight a positive relationship between demands and TI and a negative relationship between meaningful work and TI. Moreover, a significant moderating effect of meaningful work on the relationship between emotional dissonance and TI also emerged. No significant moderating effects were found for the relationship between the other two demands and TI. This research allowed us to verify the importance of constructs such as abusive supervision and meaningful work that have not yet been extensively studied, within the context of nursing staff in Italy; it also offered a range of suggestions for organizational developments and for further investigations in this field.

Explorations in Statistics: Permutation Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curran-Everett, Douglas

2012-01-01

Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This eighth installment of "Explorations in Statistics" explores permutation methods, empiric procedures we can use to assess an experimental result--to test a null hypothesis--when we are reluctant to trust statistical…

Meaningful Peer Review in Radiology: A Review of Current Practices and Potential Future Directions.

PubMed

Moriarity, Andrew K; Hawkins, C Matthew; Geis, J Raymond; Dreyer, Keith J; Kamer, Aaron P; Khandheria, Paras; Morey, Jose; Whitfill, James; Wiggins, Richard H; Itri, Jason N

2016-12-01

The current practice of peer review within radiology is well developed and widely implemented compared with other medical specialties. However, there are many factors that limit current peer review practices from reducing diagnostic errors and improving patient care. The development of "meaningful peer review" requires a transition away from compliance toward quality improvement, whereby the information and insights gained facilitate education and drive systematic improvements that reduce the frequency and impact of diagnostic error. The next generation of peer review requires significant improvements in IT functionality and integration, enabling features such as anonymization, adjudication by multiple specialists, categorization and analysis of errors, tracking, feedback, and easy export into teaching files and other media that require strong partnerships with vendors. In this article, the authors assess various peer review practices, with focused discussion on current limitations and future needs for meaningful peer review in radiology. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mindful School: How To Assess Thoughtful Outcomes. K-College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Kay

Authentic assessment, as referred to in this book, encompasses meaningful tasks, positive interaction between teachers and students, methods that emphasize higher-order thinking skills, and strategies that allow students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning. Most important, authentic assessment means helping students to apply and…

Meaningful Use of School Health Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Kathleen Hoy; Bergren, Martha Dewey

2011-01-01

Meaningful use (MU) of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is an important development in the safety and security of health care delivery in the United States. Advancement in the use of EHRs occurred with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provides incentives for providers to support adoption and use of EHRs.…

Regional reference variation provides ecologically meaningful protection criteria for northern world heritage site.

PubMed

Bowman, Michelle; Spencer, Paula; Dubé, Monique; West, David

2010-01-01

Unprecedented rates of resource development and climate change at northern latitudes coupled with a lack of baseline information limits our ability to set ecologically meaningful criteria needed to protect these inherently sensitive ecosystems. We surveyed water and sediment chemistry, community composition of benthic algae and invertebrates and fish, and condition of a sentinel fish species, slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), in 2 rivers adjacent to metal mines and in 20 reference rivers in the headwaters of a World Heritage Site, the South Nahanni River Basin, NWT, Canada. The normal range (i.e., mean ± 2 standard deviations) of biological conditions in regional reference sites (grouped by community type) were used to set ecologically meaningful effect sizes. These effect sizes were used in noncentral hypotheses tests to assess the ecological condition of potentially impaired sites. Significant impairments at sites influenced by current and historical mining activity were indicative of mild enrichment (e.g., increased benthic abundance and sculpin condition) and bioaccumulation of metals (e.g., increased concentrations of Cu and Fe in muscle tissue of sculpin). Comparisons between our regional reference study and a concurrent upstream–downstream study showed that the sensitivity of biological endpoints was typically related to the impairment criteria used and not to the type of study design. Concentrations of metals such as Al, Cu, and Fe in river water at reference sites were above federal and regional guidelines, suggesting that these guidelines are not appropriate for the metal-rich headwaters of the South Nahanni River. The ephemerellid mayflies Drunella spinifera and Ephemerella maculata were present in 4 of our study sites; their occurrence had not previously been documented in the Yukon or Northwest Territories. Our results confirmed that the lack of baseline information on the physiochemical and biological composition of northern rivers is hampering

The Ars Moriendi Model for Spiritual Assessment: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation.

PubMed

Vermandere, Mieke; Warmenhoven, Franca; Van Severen, Evie; De Lepeleire, Jan; Aertgeerts, Bert

2015-07-01

To explore nurses' and physicians' experiences with the ars moriendi model (AMM) for spiritual assessment. Convergent, parallel, mixed-methods. Palliative home care in Belgium. 17 nurses and 4 family physicians (FPs) in the quantitative phase, and 19 nurses and 5 FPs in the later qualitative phase. A survey was used to investigate first impressions after a spiritual assessment. Descriptive statistics were applied for the analysis of the survey. In a semistructured interview a few weeks later, nurses and physicians were asked to describe their experiences with using the AMM. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed. Quantitative and qualitative results were compared to see whether the findings were confirmative. The survey assessed the feasibility of the AMM for use in palliative home care, whereas the semistructured interviews collected in-depth descriptions of healthcare providers' (HCPs') experiences with the AMM. The AMM was perceived as valuable. Many patients shared their wishes and expectations about the end of life. Most HCPs said they felt that the patient-provider relationship had been strengthened as a result of the spiritual assessment. Almost all assessments raised new issues; however, many dyads had informally discussed spiritual issues before. The current study suggests that HCPs believe that the AMM is a useful spiritual assessment tool. Guided by the model, HCPs can gather information about the context, life story, and meaningful connections of patients, which enables them to facilitate person-centered care. The AMM appears to be an important tool for spiritual assessment that can offer more insight into patients' spirituality and help nurses to establish person-centered end-of-life care.

Evaluating and comparing Singaporean and Taiwanese eighth graders' conceptions of science assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Tzung-Jin; Tan, Aik-Ling; Lee, Min-Hsien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2017-10-01

Background: Researchers have indicated that assessment practices and methods should support learners' construction of meaningful understanding of knowledge. Understanding students' conceptions of assessment will enable us to construct more realistic, valid and fair assessments. Learners' conceptualization of assessment would be imperative to serve as an essential reference to evaluate their learning progress.

Making Each Other’s Daily Life: Nurse Assistants’ Experiences and Knowledge on Developing a Meaningful Daily Life in Nursing Homes

PubMed Central

James, Inger; Fredriksson, Carin; Wahlström, Catrin; Kihlgren, Annica; Blomberg, Karin

2014-01-01

Background: In a larger action research project, guidelines were generated for how a meaningful daily life could be developed for older persons. In this study, we focused on the nurse assistants’ (NAs) perspectives, as their knowledge is essential for a well-functioning team and quality of care. The aim was to learn from NAs’ experiences and knowledge about how to develop a meaningful daily life for older persons in nursing homes and the meaning NAs ascribe to their work. Methods: The project is based on Participatory and Appreciative Action and Reflection. Data were generated through interviews, participating observations and informal conversations with 27 NAs working in nursing homes in Sweden, and a thematic analysis was used. Result: NAs developed a meaningful daily life by sensing and finding the “right” way of being (Theme 1). They sense and read the older person in order to judge how the person was feeling (Theme 2). They adapt to the older person (Theme 3) and share their daily life (Theme 4). NAs use emotional involvement to develop a meaningful daily life for the older person and meaning in their own work (Theme 5), ultimately making each other’s daily lives meaningful. Conclusion: It was obvious that NAs based the development of a meaningful daily life on different forms of knowledge: the oreticaland practical knowledge, and practical wisdom, all of which are intertwined. These results could be used within the team to constitute a meaningful daily life for older persons in nursing homes. PMID:25246997

Implementing a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system to enable meaningful use of an EHR medication reconciliation system

PubMed Central

Rangachari, Pavani

2018-01-01

Background Despite the regulatory impetus toward meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to prevent medication errors during care transitions, hospital adherence has lagged for one chief reason: low physician engagement, stemming from lack of consensus about which physician is responsible for managing a patient’s medication list. In October 2016, Augusta University received a 2-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system (AU Health) to progress from “limited use” of EHR MedRec technology to “meaningful use.” The hypothesis is that SKN would bring together a diverse group of practitioners, to facilitate tacit knowledge exchange on issues related to EHR MedRec, which in turn is expected to increase practitioners’ engagement in addressing those issues and enable meaningful use of EHR. The specific aims are to examine: 1) user-engagement in the SKN system, and 2) associations between “SKN use” and “meaningful use” of EHR. Methods The 2-year project uses an exploratory mixed-method design and consists of three phases: 1) development; 2) SKN implementation; and 3) analysis. Phase 1, completed in May 2017, sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec from practitioners directly involved in the MedRec process. This process facilitated development of a “Reporting Tool” on issues related to EHR MedRec, which, along with an existing “SKN/Discussion Tool,” was integrated into the EHR at AU Health. Phase 2 (launched in June 2017) involves implementing the EHR-integrated SKN system over a 52-week period in inpatient and outpatient medicine units. Discussion The prospective implementation design is expected to generate context-sensitive strategies for meaningful use and successful implementation of EHR MedRec and thereby make substantial contributions to the patient safety and

Meaningful Dialogue in Digitally Mediated Learning for In-Service Teacher Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramp, Andy

2015-01-01

This paper considers the role and development of meaningful dialogue in digitally mediated learning (DML) in UK higher education for teachers. It argues that more research is vital in the field of meaningful dialogue if we are to avoid the risk that pedagogic values in DML become increasingly driven by market forces toward "data vending"…

Using Learning Environments to Create Meaningful Work for Co-Op Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nevison, Colleen; Drewery, David; Pretti, Judene; Cormier, Lauren

2017-01-01

For students in cooperative education (co-op) programs, meaningful work is a critical aspect of participation and a key component of program success. However, studies have not explored how meaningful work can be created for co-op students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between co-op students' perceptions of a learning…

Effect of Community-Based Occupational Therapy on Health-Related Quality of Life and Engagement in Meaningful Activities of Women with Breast Cancer.

PubMed

Petruseviciene, Daiva; Surmaitiene, Deive; Baltaduoniene, Daiva; Lendraitiene, Egle

2018-01-01

We aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of community-based occupational therapy on health-related quality of life and engagement in meaningful activities among women with breast cancer. An open label randomized controlled trial study design was applied. The participants were members of various societies of women with cancer. In total, 22 women have participated in the study. Participants of the experimental group ( n = 11) participated in a 6-week community-based occupational therapy program and the usual activities of various societies, whereas the control group ( n = 11) women participated in the usual activities of the societies only. 1 of the participants withdrew during the course; therefore 21 completed the study successfully. Participants of both groups were assessed for health-related quality of life and the participants of the experimental group were assessed for engagement in meaningful activities. The evaluation was carried out during the nonacute period of the disease-at the beginning of the study and after 6 weeks. Women of the experimental group demonstrated statistically significantly better scores in the global quality of life, role functions, physical, emotional, cognitive, and social functions, fatigue, insomnia, financial impact, systemic therapy side effects, and breast symptoms scales compared to the control group participants ( p < 0.05) after the 6 weeks, as measured by the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and its breast cancer module QLQ-BR23 . Furthermore, women of the experimental group demonstrated significant greater engagement in meaningful activities when applying community-based occupational therapy ( p < 0.05), as measured by using the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS). The evaluation of the associations between the women's engagement in meaningful activities and changes in health-related quality of life showed that greater engagement in meaningful activities was associated with better emotional functions and a lower

Reaping the benefits of meaningful work: The mediating versus moderating role of work engagement.

PubMed

Johnson, Matthew J; Jiang, Lixin

2017-08-01

This study examined whether meaningful work may improve one's quality of life outside of the workplace (i.e., work-to-life enrichment). More importantly, we proposed and tested competing hypotheses regarding the role of work engagement in the relationship between meaningful work and work-to-life enrichment. Specifically, we investigated whether work engagement served as a mediator of this relationship, as suggested by the job demands-resources model, or instead a moderator, as suggested by conservation of resources theory. Two-wave survey data were collected from 194 respondents recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Analyses showed that meaningful work was positively related to work-to-life enrichment over time (i.e., 3 months later). Additionally, work engagement mediated but did not moderate the relationship between meaningful work at Time 1 and work-to-life enrichment at Time 2. We suggest that organizations foster a sense of meaningfulness in employees to facilitate engagement and in turn enrich employees' lives beyond the workplace. Therefore, not only organizations, but individuals as well may reap the benefits of meaningful work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Annotating spatio-temporal datasets for meaningful analysis in the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stasch, Christoph; Pebesma, Edzer; Scheider, Simon

2014-05-01

More and more environmental datasets that vary in space and time are available in the Web. This comes along with an advantage of using the data for other purposes than originally foreseen, but also with the danger that users may apply inappropriate analysis procedures due to lack of important assumptions made during the data collection process. In order to guide towards a meaningful (statistical) analysis of spatio-temporal datasets available in the Web, we have developed a Higher-Order-Logic formalism that captures some relevant assumptions in our previous work [1]. It allows to proof on meaningful spatial prediction and aggregation in a semi-automated fashion. In this poster presentation, we will present a concept for annotating spatio-temporal datasets available in the Web with concepts defined in our formalism. Therefore, we have defined a subset of the formalism as a Web Ontology Language (OWL) pattern. It allows capturing the distinction between the different spatio-temporal variable types, i.e. point patterns, fields, lattices and trajectories, that in turn determine whether a particular dataset can be interpolated or aggregated in a meaningful way using a certain procedure. The actual annotations that link spatio-temporal datasets with the concepts in the ontology pattern are provided as Linked Data. In order to allow data producers to add the annotations to their datasets, we have implemented a Web portal that uses a triple store at the backend to store the annotations and to make them available in the Linked Data cloud. Furthermore, we have implemented functions in the statistical environment R to retrieve the RDF annotations and, based on these annotations, to support a stronger typing of spatio-temporal datatypes guiding towards a meaningful analysis in R. [1] Stasch, C., Scheider, S., Pebesma, E., Kuhn, W. (2014): "Meaningful spatial prediction and aggregation", Environmental Modelling & Software, 51, 149-165.

Validation of Groundwater Models: Meaningful or Meaningless?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konikow, L. F.

2003-12-01

Although numerical simulation models are valuable tools for analyzing groundwater systems, their predictive accuracy is limited. People who apply groundwater flow or solute-transport models, as well as those who make decisions based on model results, naturally want assurance that a model is "valid." To many people, model validation implies some authentication of the truth or accuracy of the model. History matching is often presented as the basis for model validation. Although such model calibration is a necessary modeling step, it is simply insufficient for model validation. Because of parameter uncertainty and solution non-uniqueness, declarations of validation (or verification) of a model are not meaningful. Post-audits represent a useful means to assess the predictive accuracy of a site-specific model, but they require the existence of long-term monitoring data. Model testing may yield invalidation, but that is an opportunity to learn and to improve the conceptual and numerical models. Examples of post-audits and of the application of a solute-transport model to a radioactive waste disposal site illustrate deficiencies in model calibration, prediction, and validation.

Impacts of EHR Certification and Meaningful Use Implementation on an Integrated Delivery Network.

PubMed

Bowes, Watson A

2014-01-01

Three years ago Intermountain Healthcare made the decision to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Heath Record (EHR) Incentive Program which required that hospitals and providers use a certified EHR in a meaningful way. At that time, the barriers to enhance our home grown system, and change clinician workflows were numerous and large. This paper describes the time and effort required to enhance our legacy systems in order to pass certification, including filling 47 gaps in (EHR) functionality. We also describe the processes and resources that resulted in successful changes to many clinical workflows required by clinicians to meet meaningful use requirements. In 2011 we set meaningful use targets of 75% of employed physicians and 75% of our hospitals to meet Stage 1 of meaningful use by 2013. By the end of 2013, 87% of 696 employed eligible professionals and 100% of 22 Intermountain hospitals had successfully attested for Stage 1. This paper describes documented and perceived costs to Intermountain including time, effort, resources, postponement of other projects, as well as documented and perceived benefits of attainment of meaningful use.

Cache-Cache Comparison for Supporting Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jingyun; Fujino, Seiji

2015-01-01

The paper presents a meaningful discovery learning environment called "cache-cache comparison" for a personalized learning support system. The processing of seeking hidden relations or concepts in "cache-cache comparison" is intended to encourage learners to actively locate new knowledge in their knowledge framework and check…

Qualitative Insights from a Canadian Multi-Institutional Research Study: In Search of Meaningful E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Lorraine M.; Salyers, Vince; Myers, Sue; Hipfner, Carol; Hoffart, Caroline; MacLean, Christa; White, Kathy; Matus, Theresa; Forssman, Vivian; Barrett, Penelope

2014-01-01

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of…

Values: The Natural Result of Meaningful Relationships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beedy, Jeff; Gordon, John

1997-01-01

The New Hampton School (New Hampshire) uses the holistic Total Human Development Model with both students and faculty to instill principles focused on relationships as central to teaching and learning; respect and responsibility; sense of community; whole person development within the community; compassion and service; and the meaningful,…

The journey of primary care practices to meaningful use: a Colorado Beacon Consortium study.

PubMed

Fernald, Douglas H; Wearner, Robyn; Dickinson, W Perry

2013-01-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 provides for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid for clinicians who implement electronic health records (EHRs) and use this technology meaningfully to improve patient care. There are few comprehensive descriptions of how primary care practices achieve the meaningful use of clinical data, including the formal stage 1 meaningful use requirements. Evaluation of the Colorado Beacon Consortium project included iterative qualitative analysis of practice narratives, provider and staff interviews, and separate focus groups with quality improvement (QI) advisors and staff from the regional health information exchange (HIE). Most practices described significant realignment of practice priorities and aims, which often required substantial education and training of physicians and staff. Re-engineering office processes, data collection protocols, EHRs, staff roles, and practice culture comprised the primary effort and commitment to attest to stage 1 meaningful use and subsequent meaningful use of clinical data. While realizing important benefits, practices bore a significant burden in learning the true capabilities of their EHRs with little effective support from vendors. Attestation was an important initial milestone in the process, but practices faced substantial ongoing work to use their data meaningfully for patient care and QI. Key resources were instrumental to these practices: local technical EHR expertise; collaborative learning mechanisms; and regular contact and support from QI advisors. Meeting the stage 1 requirements for incentives under Medicare and Medicaid meaningful use criteria is the first waypoint in a longer journey by primary care practices to the meaningful use of electronic data to continuously improve the care and health of their patients. The intensive re-engineering effort for stage 1 yielded practice changes consistent with larger practice aims and goals

Defining a clinically meaningful effect for the design and interpretation of randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Keefe, Richard S E; Kraemer, Helena C; Epstein, Robert S; Frank, Ellen; Haynes, Ginger; Laughren, Thomas P; McNulty, James; Reed, Shelby D; Sanchez, Juan; Leon, Andrew C

2013-05-01

This article captures the proceedings of a meeting aimed at defining clinically meaningful effects for use in randomized controlled trials for psychopharmacological agents. Experts from a variety of disciplines defined clinically meaningful effects from their perspectives along with viewpoints about how to design and interpret randomized controlled trials. The article offers relevant, practical, and sometimes anecdotal information about clinically meaningful effects and how to interpret them. The concept for this session was the work of co-chairs Richard Keefe and the late Andy Leon. Faculty included Richard Keefe, PhD; James McNulty, AbScB; Robert S. Epstein, MD, MS; Shelby D. Reed, PhD; Juan Sanchez, MD; Ginger Haynes, PhD; Andrew C. Leon, PhD; Helena Chmura Kraemer, PhD; Ellen Frank, PhD, and Kenneth L. Davis, MD. The term clinically meaningful effect is an important aspect of designing and interpreting randomized controlled trials but can be particularly difficult in the setting of psychopharmacology where effect size may be modest, particularly over the short term, because of a strong response to placebo. Payers, regulators, patients, and clinicians have different concerns about clinically meaningful effects and may describe these terms differently. The use of moderators in success rate differences may help better delineate clinically meaningful effects. There is no clear consensus on a single definition for clinically meaningful differences in randomized controlled trials, and investigators must be sensitive to specific concerns of stakeholders in psychopharmacology in order to design and execute appropriate clinical trials.

On Meaningful Measurement: Concepts, Technology and Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, K. C.

This paper discusses how concepts and procedural skills in problem-solving tasks, as well as affects and emotions, can be subjected to meaningful measurement (MM), based on a multisource model of learning and a constructivist information-processing theory of knowing. MM refers to the quantitative measurement of conceptual and procedural knowledge…

Are there meaningful individual differences in temporal inconsistency in self-reported personality?

PubMed

Soubelet, Andrea; Salthouse, Timothy A; Oishi, Shigehiro

2014-11-01

The current project had three goals. The first was to examine whether it is meaningful to refer to across-time variability in self-reported personality as an individual differences characteristic. The second was to investigate whether negative affect was associated with variability in self-reported personality, while controlling for mean levels, and correcting for measurement errors. The third goal was to examine whether variability in self-reported personality would be larger among young adults than among older adults, and whether the relation of variability with negative affect would be stronger at older ages than at younger ages. Two moderately large samples of participants completed the International Item Pool Personality questionnaire assessing the Big Five personality dimensions either twice or thrice, in addition to several measures of negative affect. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that within-person variability in self-reported personality is a meaningful individual difference characteristic. Some people exhibited greater across-time variability than others after removing measurement error, and people who showed temporal instability in one trait also exhibited temporal instability across the other four traits. However, temporal variability was not related to negative affect, and there was no evidence that either temporal variability or its association with negative affect varied with age.

Blending Assessment into Instruction: Practical Applications and Meaningful Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Michael T.; van der Mars, Hans

2004-01-01

Since engagement in physical activity is now identified as an important outcome for students, teachers need to assess their students in ways that measure that behavior. Assessment serves many purposes in an educational setting. It can provide feedback, drive instructional needs, and evaluate outcomes of both students and programs. If done…

Defining a Clinically Meaningful Effect for the Design and Interpretation of Randomized Controlled Trials

PubMed Central

Kraemer, Helena C.; Epstein, Robert S.; Frank, Ellen; Haynes, Ginger; Laughren, Thomas P.; Mcnulty, James; Reed, Shelby D.; Sanchez, Juan; Leon, Andrew C.

2013-01-01

Objective: This article captures the proceedings of a meeting aimed at defining clinically meaningful effects for use in randomized controlled trials for psychopharmacological agents. Design: Experts from a variety of disciplines defined clinically meaningful effects from their perspectives along with viewpoints about how to design and interpret randomized controlled trials. Setting: The article offers relevant, practical, and sometimes anecdotal information about clinically meaningful effects and how to interpret them. Participants: The concept for this session was the work of co-chairs Richard Keefe and the late Andy Leon. Faculty included Richard Keefe, PhD; James McNulty, AbScB; Robert S. Epstein, MD, MS; Shelby D. Reed, PhD; Juan Sanchez, MD; Ginger Haynes, PhD; Andrew C. Leon, PhD; Helena Chmura Kraemer, PhD; Ellen Frank, PhD, and Kenneth L. Davis, MD. Results: The term clinically meaningful effect is an important aspect of designing and interpreting randomized controlled trials but can be particularly difficult in the setting of psychopharmacology where effect size may be modest, particularly over the short term, because of a strong response to placebo. Payers, regulators, patients, and clinicians have different concerns about clinically meaningful effects and may describe these terms differently. The use of moderators in success rate differences may help better delineate clinically meaningful effects. Conclusion: There is no clear consensus on a single definition for clinically meaningful differences in randomized controlled trials, and investigators must be sensitive to specific concerns of stakeholders in psychopharmacology in order to design and execute appropriate clinical trials. PMID:23882433

Sweeping the Floor or Putting a Man on the Moon: How to Define and Measure Meaningful Work.

PubMed

Both-Nwabuwe, Jitske M C; Dijkstra, Maria T M; Beersma, Bianca

2017-01-01

Meaningful work is integral to well-being and a flourishing life. The construct of "meaningful work" is, however, consistently affected by conceptual ambiguity. Although there is substantial support for arguments to maintain the status of conceptual ambiguity, we make a case for the benefits of having consensus on a definition and scale of meaningful work in the context of paid work. The objective of this article, therefore, was twofold. Firstly, we wanted to develop a more integrative definition of meaningful work. Secondly, we wanted to establish a corresponding operationalization. We reviewed the literature on the existing definitions of meaningful work and the scales designed to measure it. We found 14 definitions of meaningful work. Based on these definitions, we identified four categories of definitions, which led us to propose an integrative and comprehensive definition of meaningful work. We identified two validated scales that were partly aligned with the proposed definition. Based on our review, we conclude that scholars in this field should coalesce rather than diverge their efforts to conceptualize and measure meaningful work.

Sweeping the Floor or Putting a Man on the Moon: How to Define and Measure Meaningful Work

PubMed Central

Both-Nwabuwe, Jitske M. C.; Dijkstra, Maria T. M.; Beersma, Bianca

2017-01-01

Meaningful work is integral to well-being and a flourishing life. The construct of “meaningful work” is, however, consistently affected by conceptual ambiguity. Although there is substantial support for arguments to maintain the status of conceptual ambiguity, we make a case for the benefits of having consensus on a definition and scale of meaningful work in the context of paid work. The objective of this article, therefore, was twofold. Firstly, we wanted to develop a more integrative definition of meaningful work. Secondly, we wanted to establish a corresponding operationalization. We reviewed the literature on the existing definitions of meaningful work and the scales designed to measure it. We found 14 definitions of meaningful work. Based on these definitions, we identified four categories of definitions, which led us to propose an integrative and comprehensive definition of meaningful work. We identified two validated scales that were partly aligned with the proposed definition. Based on our review, we conclude that scholars in this field should coalesce rather than diverge their efforts to conceptualize and measure meaningful work. PMID:29033867

Definitions and methods of cost assessment: an intensivist's guide. ESICM section on health research and outcome working group on cost effectiveness.

PubMed

Jegers, M; Edbrooke, D L; Hibbert, C L; Chalfin, D B; Burchardi, H

2002-06-01

To define the different types of costs incurred in the care of critically ill patients and to describe some of the most commonly used methods for measuring and allocating these costs. Literature review. Definitions for opportunity, direct and indirect, fixed, variable, marginal, and total costs are described and interpreted in the context of the critical care setting. Two main methods of costing are described: the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' methods together with a number of cost proxies, such as the use of weighted hospital days, diagnosis-related groups, severity and activity scores, and effective costs per survivor. The assessment and allocation of costs to critically ill patients is complex and as a result of the different definitions and methods used, meaningful comparisons between studies are plagued with difficulty. When undertaking a study looking to measure costs, it is important to state: (a) the aim of the cost assessment study; (b) the perspective (point of view); (c) the type of costs that need to be measured; and (d) the time span of assessment. By being explicit about the rationale of the study and the methods used, it is hoped that the results of economic evaluations will be better understood, and hence implemented within the critical care setting.

Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose: Defining the Key Dimensions of Meaningful Work.

PubMed

Martela, Frank; Pessi, Anne B

2018-01-01

Research on meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, with an increasing understanding of the centrality of meaningfulness for work-related motivation, commitment, and well-being. However, ambiguity around the main construct, "meaningful work," has hindered this progress as various researchers have used partly overlapping, partly differing conceptualizations. To bring clarity to this issue, we examine a broad range of various definitions of meaningful work and come to argue that meaningfulness in the broadest sense is about work significance as an overall evaluation of work as regards whether it is intrinsically valuable and worth doing. Furthermore, we argue that there are two key sub-dimensions to this work significance: Broader purpose as work serving some greater good or prosocial goals (the intrinsic value of work beyond the person in question). And self-realization as a sense of autonomy, authenticity and self-expression at work (the intrinsic value of work for the person in question). Previous definitions of meaningful work feature typically one or two of these elements-significance, broader purpose, self-realization -, but in the future it would be beneficial to clearly acknowledge all three elements in both definitions and operationalizations of meaningful work.

Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose: Defining the Key Dimensions of Meaningful Work

PubMed Central

Martela, Frank; Pessi, Anne B.

2018-01-01

Research on meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, with an increasing understanding of the centrality of meaningfulness for work-related motivation, commitment, and well-being. However, ambiguity around the main construct, “meaningful work,” has hindered this progress as various researchers have used partly overlapping, partly differing conceptualizations. To bring clarity to this issue, we examine a broad range of various definitions of meaningful work and come to argue that meaningfulness in the broadest sense is about work significance as an overall evaluation of work as regards whether it is intrinsically valuable and worth doing. Furthermore, we argue that there are two key sub-dimensions to this work significance: Broader purpose as work serving some greater good or prosocial goals (the intrinsic value of work beyond the person in question). And self-realization as a sense of autonomy, authenticity and self-expression at work (the intrinsic value of work for the person in question). Previous definitions of meaningful work feature typically one or two of these elements—significance, broader purpose, self-realization –, but in the future it would be beneficial to clearly acknowledge all three elements in both definitions and operationalizations of meaningful work. PMID:29632502

Community-based medical education: is success a result of meaningful personal learning experiences?

PubMed

Kelly, Len; Walters, Lucie; Rosenthal, David

2014-01-01

Community-based medical education (CBME) is the delivery of medical education in a specific social context. Learners become a part of social and medical communities where their learning occurs. Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are year-long community-based placements where the curriculum and clinical experience is typically delivered by primary care physicians. These programs have proven to be robust learning environments, where learners develop strong communication skills and excellent clinical reasoning. To date, no learning model has been offered to describe CBME. The characteristics of CBME are explored by the authors who suggest that the social and professional context provided in small communities enhances medical education. The authors postulate that meaningfulness is engendered by the authentic context, which develops over time. These relationships with preceptors, patients and the community provide meaningfulness, which in turn enhances learning. The authors develop a novel learning model. They propose that the context-rich environment of CBME allows for meaningful relationships and experiences for students and that such meaningfulness enhances learning.

A meaningful daily life in nursing homes - a place of shelter and a space of freedom: a participatory appreciative action reflection study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Shortcomings in elderly care have been reported in many parts of the world, including Sweden. However, national guidelines for elderly care have been introduced in Sweden, which contain core values and local guarantees of dignity. These highlight the need for dignity and well-being, and organising the older person’s daily life so that they perceive it as meaningful. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to describe older persons’ experience and knowledge about obstacles, opportunities and solutions to developing a meaningful daily life for those living in nursing homes. Methods This study combined the Participatory Appreciative Action Reflection (PAAR) and hermeneutic approaches. Twenty-five older persons participated and persons with dementia or cognitive impairments were included. Repeated interviews were carried out as reflective conversations, leaving 50 interviews in total, wherein the older persons provided their analyses and reflections on a meaningful daily life. Finally, an analysis of the data was completed based on a life-world hermeneutic approach. Results We identified five tentative interpretations that describe obstacles, opportunities and solutions for a meaningful daily life. Themes 2 and 4 outline obstacles for a meaningful daily life, and Themes 1, 3 and 5 describe opportunities and solutions for a meaningful daily life: (1) Having space to be yourself; (2) No space to be yourself; (3) Belonging and security; (4) A feeling of insecurity; and (5) Longing for something to happen. In the main interpretation, we found that the five tentative interpretations are related to Tuan’s concepts of space and place, where place can be described as security and stableness, and space as freedom and openness. Conclusions The reciprocal relationship is a solution for a meaningful daily life and occurs in the interaction between staff and older persons in nursing homes. It is the balance of power, and constitutes a place of shelter and a

Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records by Outpatient Physicians and Readmissions of Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries.

PubMed

Unruh, Mark A; Jung, Hye-Young; Vest, Joshua R; Casalino, Lawrence P; Kaushal, Rainu

2017-05-01

Nearly one-fifth of hospitalized Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries are readmitted within 30 days. Participation in the Meaningful Use initiative among outpatient physicians may reduce readmissions. To evaluate the impact of outpatient physicians' participation in Meaningful Use on readmissions. The study population included 90,774 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries from New York State (2010-2012). We compared changes in the adjusted odds of readmission for patients of physicians who participated in Meaningful Use-stage 1, before and after attestation as meaningful users, with concurrent patients of matched control physicians who used paper records or electronic health records without Meaningful Use participation. Three secondary analyses were conducted: (1) limited to patients with 3+ Elixhauser comorbidities; (2) limited to patients with conditions used by Medicare to penalize hospitals with high readmission rates (acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia); and (3) using only patients of physicians with electronic health records who were not meaningful users as the controls. Thirty-day readmission. Patients of Meaningful Use physicians had 6% lower odds of readmission compared with patients of physicians who were not meaningful users, but the estimate was not statistically significant (odds ratio: 0.94, 95% confidence interval, 0.88-1.01). Estimated odds ratios from secondary analyses were broadly consistent with our primary analysis. Physician participation in Meaningful Use was not associated with reduced readmissions. Additional studies are warranted to see if readmissions decline in future stages of Meaningful Use where more emphasis is placed on health information exchange and outcomes.

A Continuum of Learning: From Rote Memorization to Meaningful Learning in Organic Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grove, Nathaniel P.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2012-01-01

The Assimilation Theory of Ausubel and Novak has typically been used in the research literature to describe two extremes to learning chemistry: meaningful learning "versus" rote memorization. It is unlikely, however, that such discrete categories of learning exist. Rote and meaningful learning, rather, are endpoints along a continuum of…

Water Habitat Study: Prediction Makes It More Meaningful.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glasgow, Dennis R.

1982-01-01

Suggests a teaching strategy for water habitat studies to help students make a meaningful connection between physiochemical data (dissolved oxygen content, pH, and water temperature) and biological specimens they collect. Involves constructing a poster and using it to make predictions. Provides sample poster. (DC)

The effect of meaningfulness and integrative processing in expressive writing on positive and negative affect and life satisfaction.

PubMed

Schutte, Nicola S; Searle, Trudy; Meade, Stephen; Dark, Neill A

2012-01-01

Meaningfulness and integrative processing of expressive writing may influence the effect of expressive writing. Participants completed measures of positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction before and after an expressive writing intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four expressive writing instruction conditions, which combined higher and lower levels of meaning and integrative processing instructions. Meaningfulness and integrative processing instructions had significant effects in increasing positive affect and there was a significant interaction between meaningfulness instructions and integrative processing instructions; participants in the high meaningfulness and high integrative processing instruction condition showed the greatest increase in positive affect. Meaningfulness had a significant effect in decreasing negative affect. The intervention did not influence life satisfaction. Both meaningfulness and integrative processing instructions led to more self-reported personal meaningfulness of the writing and more cognitive, emotional, behavioural and situational changes. More self-reported meaningfulness of the writing and more cognitive, emotional, behavioural and situational changes made as a result of the writing were in turn associated with greater increases in positive affect. The results of the study affirm the importance of meaningfulness and processing in expressive writing and potentially provide information regarding how to increase the effectiveness of expressive writing.

Students' Perceptions of Meaningfulness in First Year Experience Courses: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Nancy J.

2012-01-01

This qualitative case study, framed by a constructivist perspective, addresses a deficit in the literature and the knowledge base of a first year experience (FYE) academic program at a large, urban university regarding freshmen perceptions of meaningfulness in their courses. Existing studies identify concepts related to meaningfulness, but do not…

Meaningful Experiences in Physical Education and Youth Sport: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beni, Stephanie; Fletcher, Tim; Ní Chróinín, Déirdre

2017-01-01

The purpose of this research is to review the literature about young people's meaningful experiences in physical education and youth sport. We reviewed 50 empirical peer-reviewed articles published in English since 1987. Five themes were identified as central influences to young people's meaningful experiences in physical education and sport:…

The Effects of Cognitive Process and Decision Making Training in Reading Experience on Meaningful Learning with Underachieving College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dean, Rebecca J.

2010-01-01

The ability of underprepared college students to read and learn from their reading is essential to their academic success and to their ability to persist towards completing their degree. The purposes of this study were to (a) assess the relationship between the cognitive processes of reading-based decision making and meaningful learning and (b)…

Concept Mapping Using Cmap Tools to Enhance Meaningful Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cañas, Alberto J.; Novak, Joseph D.

Concept maps are graphical tools that have been used in all facets of education and training for organizing and representing knowledge. When learners build concept maps, meaningful learning is facilitated. Computer-based concept mapping software such as CmapTools have further extended the use of concept mapping and greatly enhanced the potential of the tool, facilitating the implementation of a concept map-centered learning environment. In this chapter, we briefly present concept mapping and its theoretical foundation, and illustrate how it can lead to an improved learning environment when it is combined with CmapTools and the Internet. We present the nationwide “Proyecto Conéctate al Conocimiento” in Panama as an example of how concept mapping, together with technology, can be adopted by hundreds of schools as a means to enhance meaningful learning.

Increasing Meaningful Assistive Technology Use in the Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connor, Cynthia; Beard, Lawrence A.

2015-01-01

Although personal technology is consistently used by students and teachers, meaningful use of technology for instruction may not be feasible without providing teachers specific training and support. One university is providing workshops, feedback through coursework, and hands-on training to teacher candidates and local area teachers. In addition,…

Creating a meaningful infection control program: one home healthcare agency's lessons.

PubMed

Poff, Renee McCoy; Browning, Sarah Via

2014-03-01

Creating a meaningful infection control program in the home care setting proved to be challenging for agency leaders of one hospital-based home healthcare agency. Challenges arose when agency leaders provided infection control (IC) data to the hospital's IC Committee. The IC Section Chief asked for national benchmark comparisons to align home healthcare reporting to that of the hospital level. At that point, it was evident that the home healthcare IC program lacked definition and structure. The purpose of this article is to share how one agency built a meaningful IC program.

Changes to the electronic health records market in light of health information technology certification and meaningful use

PubMed Central

Yoon, Jangho; Bossak, Brian H

2013-01-01

Background Health information technology (HIT) certification and meaningful use are interventions encouraging the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) in the USA. However, these initiatives also constitute a significant intervention which will change the structure of the EHR market. Objective To describe quantitatively recent changes to both the demand and supply sides of the EHR market. Materials and methods A cohort of 3447 of hospitals from the HIMSS Analytics Database (2006–10) was created. Using hospital referral regions to define the local market, we determined the percentage of hospitals using paper records, the number of vendors, and local EHR vendor competition using the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. Changes over time were assessed using a series of regression equations and geographic information systems analyses. Results Overall, there was movement away from paper records, upward trends in the number of EHR vendors, and greater competition. However, changes differed according to hospital size and region of the country. Changes were greatest for small hospitals, whereas competition and the number of vendors did not change dramatically for large hospitals. Discussion The EHR market is changing most dramatically for those least equipped to handle broad technological transformation, which underscores the need for continued targeted support. Furthermore, wide variations across the nation indicate a continued role for states in the support of EHR utilization. Conclusion The structure of the EHR market is undergoing substantial changes as desired by the proponents and architects of HIT certification and meaningful use. However, these transformations are not uniform for all hospitals or all the country. PMID:22917839

Measuring meaningful learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galloway, Kelli R.

The undergraduate chemistry laboratory has been an essential component in chemistry education for over a century. The literature includes reports on investigations of singular aspects laboratory learning and attempts to measure the efficacy of reformed laboratory curriculum as well as faculty goals for laboratory learning which found common goals among instructors for students to learn laboratory skills, techniques, experimental design, and to develop critical thinking skills. These findings are important for improving teaching and learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory, but research is needed to connect the faculty goals to student perceptions. This study was designed to explore students' ideas about learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Novak's Theory of Meaningful Learning was used as a guide for the data collection and analysis choices for this research. Novak's theory states that in order for meaningful learning to occur the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains must be integrated. The psychomotor domain is inherent in the chemistry laboratory, but the extent to which the cognitive and affective domains are integrated is unknown. For meaningful learning to occur in the laboratory, students must actively integrate both the cognitive domain and the affective domains into the "doing" of their laboratory work. The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was designed to measure students' cognitive and affective expectations and experiences within the context of conducting experiments in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Evidence for the validity and reliability of the data generated by the MLLI were collected from multiple quantitative studies: a one semester study at one university, a one semester study at 15 colleges and universities across the United States, and a longitudinal study where the MLLI was administered 6 times during two years of general and organic chemistry laboratory courses. Results from

Connecting the Dots: The Decline in Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Kenneth; Kilmartin, Christopher

2014-01-01

The authors describe cross-decades changes in the achievement attitudes and behaviors of average U. S. undergraduates that parallel the declines in meaningful learning reported by Arum and colleagues. Comparisons of pre-1987 and 2004-8 students on seven achievement-predictive measures revealed that (a) average 2004-8 undergraduates scored…

Effects of perceptual load and socially meaningful stimuli on crossmodal selective attention in Autism Spectrum Disorder and neurotypical samples.

PubMed

Tyndall, Ian; Ragless, Liam; O'Hora, Denis

2018-04-01

The present study examined whether increasing visual perceptual load differentially affected both Socially Meaningful and Non-socially Meaningful auditory stimulus awareness in neurotypical (NT, n = 59) adults and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, n = 57) adults. On a target trial, an unexpected critical auditory stimulus (CAS), either a Non-socially Meaningful ('beep' sound) or Socially Meaningful ('hi') stimulus, was played concurrently with the presentation of the visual task. Under conditions of low visual perceptual load both NT and ASD samples reliably noticed the CAS at similar rates (77-81%), whether the CAS was Socially Meaningful or Non-socially Meaningful. However, during high visual perceptual load NT and ASD participants reliably noticed the meaningful CAS (NT = 71%, ASD = 67%), but NT participants were unlikely to notice the Non-meaningful CAS (20%), whereas ASD participants reliably noticed it (80%), suggesting an inability to engage selective attention to ignore non-salient irrelevant distractor stimuli in ASD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Methods for assessing geodiversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zwoliński, Zbigniew; Najwer, Alicja; Giardino, Marco

2017-04-01

The accepted systematics of geodiversity assessment methods will be presented in three categories: qualitative, quantitative and qualitative-quantitative. Qualitative methods are usually descriptive methods that are suited to nominal and ordinal data. Quantitative methods use a different set of parameters and indicators to determine the characteristics of geodiversity in the area being researched. Qualitative-quantitative methods are a good combination of the collection of quantitative data (i.e. digital) and cause-effect data (i.e. relational and explanatory). It seems that at the current stage of the development of geodiversity research methods, qualitative-quantitative methods are the most advanced and best assess the geodiversity of the study area. Their particular advantage is the integration of data from different sources and with different substantive content. Among the distinguishing features of the quantitative and qualitative-quantitative methods for assessing geodiversity are their wide use within geographic information systems, both at the stage of data collection and data integration, as well as numerical processing and their presentation. The unresolved problem for these methods, however, is the possibility of their validation. It seems that currently the best method of validation is direct filed confrontation. Looking to the next few years, the development of qualitative-quantitative methods connected with cognitive issues should be expected, oriented towards ontology and the Semantic Web.

Participatory methods in pediatric participatory research: a systematic review.

PubMed

Haijes, Hanneke A; van Thiel, Ghislaine J M W

2016-05-01

Meaningful child participation in medical research is seen as important. In order to facilitate further development of participatory research, we performed a systematic literature study to describe and assess the available knowledge on participatory methods in pediatric research. A search was executed in five databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Cochrane. After careful screening of relevant papers, finally 24 documents were included in our analysis. Literature on participatory methods in pediatric research appears generally to be descriptive, whereby high-quality evidence is lacking. Overall, five groups of participatory methods for children could be distinguished: observational, verbal, written, visual, and active methods. The choice for one of these methods should be based on the child's age, on social and demographic characteristics, and on the research objectives. To date, these methods are still solely used for obtaining data, yet they are suitable for conducting meaningful participation. This may result in a successful partnership between children and researchers. Researchers conducting participatory research with children can use this systematic review in order to weigh the current knowledge about the participatory methods presented.

Video-Sharing Website Writing as Identity Performance: Heuristic Inquiry into Experiencing Personally Meaningful Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholes, Justin

2016-01-01

Enacting heuristic phenomenological inquiry, this article explores the experience of watching a video of a live show of what was personally meaningful music for the researcher. In this study, personally meaningful music, defined as music integral to adolescent identity construction, was sung by and conveyed through the online "discoursal…

Parental Functioning in Families of Children with ADHD: Evidence for Behavioral Parent Training and Importance of Clinically Meaningful Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gerdes, Alyson C.; Haack, Lauren M.; Schneider, Brian W.

2012-01-01

Objective/Method: Statistically significant and clinically meaningful effects of behavioral parent training on parental functioning were examined for 20 children with ADHD and their parents who had successfully completed a psychosocial treatment for ADHD. Results/Conclusion: Findings suggest that behavioral parent training resulted in…

Implementing a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system to enable meaningful use of an EHR medication reconciliation system.

PubMed

Rangachari, Pavani

2018-01-01

Despite the regulatory impetus toward meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to prevent medication errors during care transitions, hospital adherence has lagged for one chief reason: low physician engagement, stemming from lack of consensus about which physician is responsible for managing a patient's medication list. In October 2016, Augusta University received a 2-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system (AU Health) to progress from "limited use" of EHR MedRec technology to "meaningful use." The hypothesis is that SKN would bring together a diverse group of practitioners, to facilitate tacit knowledge exchange on issues related to EHR MedRec, which in turn is expected to increase practitioners' engagement in addressing those issues and enable meaningful use of EHR. The specific aims are to examine: 1) user-engagement in the SKN system, and 2) associations between "SKN use" and "meaningful use" of EHR. The 2-year project uses an exploratory mixed-method design and consists of three phases: 1) development; 2) SKN implementation; and 3) analysis. Phase 1, completed in May 2017, sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec from practitioners directly involved in the MedRec process. This process facilitated development of a "Reporting Tool" on issues related to EHR MedRec, which, along with an existing "SKN/Discussion Tool," was integrated into the EHR at AU Health. Phase 2 (launched in June 2017) involves implementing the EHR-integrated SKN system over a 52-week period in inpatient and outpatient medicine units. The prospective implementation design is expected to generate context-sensitive strategies for meaningful use and successful implementation of EHR MedRec and thereby make substantial contributions to the patient safety and risk management literature. From a health care policy

A prospective longitudinal study testing relationships between meaningful activities, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and meaning in life.

PubMed

Eakman, Aaron M

2014-01-01

The current study used a prospective longitudinal design to determine whether change in meaningful activity over an 11-month period could help explain change in meaning in life in a sample of 174 undergraduate and graduate students. The Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, Basic Psychological Needs Scales (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire were used as indicators of the constructs of meaningful activity, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and meaning and purpose in life. The findings were in support of the study hypotheses and indicated that change in meaningful activity explained both change in basic psychological needs fulfillment (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) and change in meaning in life. Further, this study reports findings consistent with results from cross-sectional studies in support of the hypothesis that change in meaningful activity may influence change in meaning in life through two pathways: a direct path of influence from meaningful activity to meaning in life and an indirect path through change in basic psychological needs fulfillment. The current study contributes to a growing literature implicating subjective evaluations of day-to-day action (or meaningful activity) as a fruitful means for exploring relationships between occupation and well-being. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Hospital IT adoption strategies associated with implementation success: implications for achieving meaningful use.

PubMed

Ford, Eric W; Menachemi, Nir; Huerta, Timothy R; Yu, Feliciano

2010-01-01

Health systems are facing significant pressure to either implement health information technology (HIT) systems that have "certified" electronic health record applications and that fulfill the federal government's definition of "meaningful use" or risk substantial financial penalties in the near future. To this end, hospitals have adopted one of three strategies, described as "best of breed," "best of suite," and "single vendor," to meet organizational and regulatory demands. The single-vendor strategy is used by the simple majority of U.S. hospitals, but is it the most effective mode for achieving full implementation? Moreover, what are the implications of adopting this strategy for achieving meaningful use? The simple answer to the first question is that the hospitals using the hybrid best of suite strategy had fully implemented HIT systems in significantly greater proportions than did hospitals employing either of the other strategies. Nonprofit and system-affiliated hospitals were more likely to have fully implemented their HIT systems. In addition, increased health maintenance organization market penetration rates were positively correlated with complete implementation rates. These results have ongoing implications for achieving meaningful use in the near term. The federal government's rewards and incentives program related to the meaningful use of HIT in hospitals has created an organizational imperative to implement such systems. For hospitals that have not begun systemwide implementation, pursuing a best of suite strategy may provide the greatest chance for achieving all or some of the meaningful use targets in the near term or at least avoiding future penalties scheduled to begin in 2015.

Development of Learning Models Based on Problem Solving and Meaningful Learning Standards by Expert Validity for Animal Development Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lufri, L.; Fitri, R.; Yogica, R.

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study is to produce a learning model based on problem solving and meaningful learning standards by expert assessment or validation for the course of Animal Development. This research is a development research that produce the product in the form of learning model, which consist of sub product, namely: the syntax of learning model and student worksheets. All of these products are standardized through expert validation. The research data is the level of validity of all sub products obtained using questionnaire, filled by validators from various field of expertise (field of study, learning strategy, Bahasa). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The result of the research shows that the problem solving and meaningful learning model has been produced. Sub products declared appropriate by expert include the syntax of learning model and student worksheet.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Clinically Meaningful Primary Endpoints in Phase 3 Clinical Trials

PubMed Central

Collard, Harold R.; Anstrom, Kevin J.; Flaherty, Kevin R.; Fleming, Thomas R.; King, Talmadge E.; Martinez, Fernando J.; Brown, Kevin K.

2012-01-01

Definitive evidence of clinical efficacy in a Phase 3 trial is best shown by a beneficial impact on a clinically meaningful endpoint—that is, an endpoint that directly measures how a patient feels (symptoms), functions (the ability to perform activities in daily life), or survives. In idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), we believe the endpoints that best meet these criteria are all-cause mortality and all-cause nonelective hospitalization. There are no validated measures of symptoms or broader constructs such as health status or funtional status in IPF. A surrogate endpoint is defined as an indirect measure that is intended to substitute for a clinically meaningful endpoint. Surrogate endpoints can be appropriate outcome measures if validated. However, validation requires substantial evidence that the effect of an intervention on a clinically meaningful endpoint is reliably predicted by the effect of an intervention on the surrogate endpoint. For patients with IPF, there are currently no validated surrogate endpoints. PMID:22505745

Effects of Node-Link Mapping on Non-Science Majors' Meaningful Learning and Conceptual Change in a Life-Science Survey Lecture Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park-Martinez, Jayne Irene

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of node-link mapping on students' meaningful learning and conceptual change in a 1-semester introductory life-science course. This study used node-link mapping to integrate and apply the National Research Council's (NRC, 2005) three principles of human learning: engaging students' prior…

Does Hip Arthroscopy Provide Meaningful Outcome Improvement for Adolescent Femoroacetabular Impingement

PubMed Central

Nwachukwu, Benedict Uchenna; Chang, Brenda; Kahlenberg, Cynthia A.; Fields, Kara G.; Nawabi, Danyal H.; Kelly, Bryan T.; Ranawat, Anil S.

2017-01-01

Objectives: Arthroscopic treatment of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) produces meaningful outcome improvement in adults. Hip arthroscopy for pediatric FAI is now established as a safe procedure however there is a paucity of evidence reporting on outcome improvement after arthroscopic treatment of FAI in this population. Methods: A prospective institutional hip preservation registry was reviewed to identify hip arthroscopies performed for pediatric FAI. Patients with pre-existing hip conditions such as slipped capital femoral epiphysis and Legg-Calve-Perthese were excluded. Included patients were 18 years and younger. The modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), the Hip Outcome Score (HOS) and the international Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-33) are routinely collected as part of the registry. Minimal clinically important difference (MCID) was calculated using a distribution based method and substantial clinical benefit (SCB) was calculated using the an anchor question. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis with area under the curve was used. AUC > 0.7 was considered significantly predictive. Results: Forty-seven children and adolescents were identified. The majority of patients were female (N=32, 68.1%) with a mean age of 16.5 (+ 1.1) years. The MCID (% achieving) for the mHHS, HOS activities of daily living (ADL), HOS Sport and iHOT-33 was 9.5 (85%), 9.8 (79%), 12.1 (85%) and 10.7 (94%) respectively. MCID values on these outcome tools were comparable to adult patients within the registry however for each outcome measure pediatric patients were more likely to achieve MCID. In univariate analysis acetabular version was the only predictive variable for achieving MCID in pediatric FAI (p<0.05). The majority of children (91%) reported improved physical ability based on the anchor question and 53% (compared to 40% in adult registry patients) were classified as achieving SCB. The following one-year raw outcome scores were significantly predictive of SCB on the mHHS, HOS

Motives for meaningful involvement in rural AIDS service organizations

PubMed Central

Paterson, Barbara L.; Ross, Steven; Gaudet, Ted

2013-01-01

The research described herein was a three-year exploratory descriptive study to examine how meaningful involvement (MIPA) is conceptualized and experienced in rural regions of the Maritime provinces of Canada. The focus of this paper is one aspect of the research; i.e., what motivates the clients of AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) in rural Canada to become meaningfully involved? We interviewed 34 people who were past or current clients of ASOs in Maritime Canada and who self-reported as engaging in at-risk behaviors for HIV or living with HIV. The interviews explored participants' perspectives about their motives for becoming meaningfully involved in an ASO. Three themes regarding motives for MIPA were revealed: (1) meeting personal needs; (2) making a difference to others; and (3) recognizing a fit between their skills, goals, needs and the opportunities and experiences within the ASO and with other ASO clients. Participants generally cited more than one motive. This research study contributed to the field of knowledge about the motives for MIPA in which it reveals (1) that MIPA was conceptualized by the rural ASO clients as whatever participation provided them personal meaning (i.e., by fulfilling a personal need, by making a difference, and by recognizing a fit) and (2) the important role that ASO staff and volunteers have in fostering and sustaining MIPA. The study also highlighted a trajectory of involvements that support the need for ASOs to entertain a wide range of roles that are assumed as MIPA. PMID:24111835

What students are saying about science: Student perspectives of meaningful, effective and ineffective learning experiences in science class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Thomas John

Statement of the problem. Research studies have rarely incorporated the subjective experience of students as they are engaged in learning. When the students' position is viewed at all in a research study, it is usually viewed from the perspective of the adult educators' interests and ways of seeing. As a result, the most conspicuously absent feature from the research literature is the first person voice of the student. In regards to science education specifically, few studies have focused on the students' perspective of their experience in science. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe and understand student perspectives of meaningful, effective, and ineffective learning experiences in science class. The following served as guiding questions: (1) What do students describe as meaningful and effective learning experiences in science class? (2) What do students describe as obstacles to their effective learning in science class? Methods. An interpretive research methodology was chosen for this study. The nine participants that took part in the study were grouped as self-directed, teacher-guided, and teacher-dependent learners. A variety of data gathering techniques were used including field notes, participant observations, interviews and focus groups. Throughout the study, inductive analysis was employed as a process for making sense out of the data. More specifically, the constant comparative method was used to categorize the data and facilitate the search for meaningful patterns. The analysis included a thick description of the students' experience of science in the first person voice of the student. The results of this study indicate that teachers play the fundamental role in the establishment of an effective learning environment and that students' consider their improved understanding to be a key to their meaningful learning. In addition, the students' improved understanding requires that teachers are actively involved in their progress and are

Urban environment and children's active lifestyle: softGIS revealing children's behavioral patterns and meaningful places.

PubMed

Kyttä, A Marketta; Broberg, Anna K; Kahila, Maarit H

2012-01-01

To determine the relationship between (1) urban structure characteristics, (2) children's environmental experiences and active behavioral patterns, and (3) perceived health and body mass index (BMI). Cross-sectional study. City of Turku, western coast of Finland, 175,000 inhabitants. Average residential density of the studied settings was 17 housing units per hectare, proportion of green structure 43%, and proportion of population under 15 years old 17%. One thousand eight hundred thirty seven fifth (10-12 years old) and seventh (13-15 years old) graders from 54 schools in Turku. Self-reported behavioral patterns (activity of school travel mode, territorial range, mobility licenses, and distance to meaningful places) and environmental experiences (localized meaningful places, likability index, environmental fears) were gathered on the basis of locality with an Internet-based softGIS method. Self-reported BMI, perceived health, and daily symptoms were also queried. Geographic information system-based measures of urban structure (residential density, proportion of green structure, proportion of children), calculated within a 500-m buffer of each respondent's home, were used as independent variables. Mainly logistic regression analysis. After controlling for gender, age, and neighborhood socioeconomic status (proportion of academically educated), residential density was significantly associated with active travel mode to school and short distances to the meaningful places of children. The proportions of green structure and children had an association with nonactive transport, long distance to meaningful places, and small territorial range. We also found significant associations between active school travel mode and reduced risk of being overweight when controlled for gender and age but not when the proportion of academically educated was also controlled. The negative association between likability index and daily symptoms and positive association with perceived health

A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Community Participation in Community Health Needs Assessments.

PubMed

Pennel, Cara L; McLeroy, Kenneth R; Burdine, James N; Matarrita-Cascante, David; Wang, Jia

Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from paying taxes. To maintain this status, they must provide benefit to the community they serve. In an attempt to improve accountability to these communities and the federal government, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 includes a provision that requires all nonprofit hospitals to conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) and implement strategies to address identified health priorities every 3 years. This Act's provision, operationalized by a regulation developed and enforced by the Internal Revenue Service, mandates the involvement of public health agencies and other community stakeholders in the completion of the CHNA. To better understand community participation in nonprofit hospital-directed community health assessment and health improvement planning activities. Using a 2-phased, mixed-methods study design, we (1) conducted content analysis of 95 CHNA/implementation plan reports and (2) interviewed hospital and health system key informants, consultants, and community stakeholders involved in CHNA and planning processes. Community participation was assessed in terms of types of stakeholders involved and the depth of their involvement. Our findings suggest that many hospitals engaged and involved community stakeholders in certain aspects of the assessment process, but very few engaged a broad array of community stakeholder and community members in meaningful participation throughout the CHNA and health improvement planning process. Vast improvements in community participation and collaborative assessment and planning can be made in future CHNAs. On the basis of the findings, recommendations are made for further research. Practice implications include expanding community engagement and participation by stakeholder and activity type and using a common community health improvement model that better aligns hospital CHNA processes and implementation strategies with other organizations and agencies.

“Meaningful use” of electronic health records and its relevance to laboratories and pathologists

PubMed Central

Henricks, Walter H.

2011-01-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) have emerged as a major topic in health care and are central to the federal government’s strategy for transforming healthcare delivery in the United States. Recent federal actions that aim to promote the use of EHRs promise to have significant implications for laboratories and for pathology practices. Under the HITECH (Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health) Act, an EHR incentive program has been established through which individual physicians and hospitals can qualify to receive incentive payments if they achieve “meaningful use” of “certified” EHR technology. The rule also establishes payment penalties in future years for eligible providers who have not met the requirements for meaningful use of EHRs. Meaningful use must be achieved using EHR technology that has been certified in accordance with functional and technical criteria that are set forth a regulation that parallels the meaningful use criteria in the incentive program. These actions and regulations are important to laboratories and pathologists for a number of reasons. Several of the criteria and requirements in the meaningful use rules and EHR certification criteria relate directly or indirectly to laboratory testing and laboratory information management, and future stage requirements are expected to impact the laboratory as well. Furthermore, as EHR uptake expands, there will be greater expectations for electronic interchange of laboratory information and laboratory information system (LIS)-EHR interfaces. Laboratories will need to be aware of the technical, operational, and business challenges that they may face as expectations for LIS-EHR increase. This paper reviews the important recent federal efforts aimed at accelerating EHR use, including the incentive program for EHR meaningful use, provider eligibility, and EHR certification criteria, from a perspective of their relevance for laboratories and pathology practices. PMID:21383931

Assessment methods for rehabilitation.

PubMed

Biefang, S; Potthoff, P

1995-09-01

Diagnostics and evaluation in medical rehabilitation should be based on methods that are as objective as possible. In this context quantitative methods are an important precondition. We conducted for the German Pensions Insurance Institutions (which are in charge of the medical and vocational rehabilitation of workers and employees) a survey on assessment methods for rehabilitation which included an evaluation of American literature, with the aim to indicate procedures that can be considered for adaptation in Germany and to define further research requirements. The survey identified: (1) standardized procedures and instrumented tests for the assessment of musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary and neurophysiological function; (2) personality, intelligence, achievement, neuropsychological and alcoholism screening tests for the assessment of mental or cognitive function; (3) rating scales and self-administered questionnaires for the assessment of Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL/IADL Scales); (4) generic profiles and indexes as well as disease-specific measures for the assessment of health-related quality of life and health status; and (5) rating scales for vocational assessment. German equivalents or German versions exist only for a part of the procedures identified. Translation and testing of Anglo-Saxon procedures should have priority over the development of new German methods. The following procedures will be taken into account: (a) instrumented tests for physical function, (b) IADL Scales, (c) generic indexes of health-related quality of life, (d) specific quality of life and health status measures for disorders of the circulatory system, metabolic system, digestive organs, respiratory tract and for cancer, and (e) vocational rating scales.

A method of selecting forest sites for air pollution study

Treesearch

Sreedevi K. Bringi; Thomas A. Seliga; Leon S. Dochinger

1981-01-01

Presents a method of selecting suitable forested areas for meaningful assessments of air pollution effects. The approach is based on the premise that environmental influences can significantly affect the forest-air pollution relationship, and that it is, therefore, desirable to equalize such influences at different sites. From existing data on environmental factors and...

Meaningfulness in work - experiences among employed individuals with persistent mental illness.

PubMed

Leufstadius, Christel; Eklund, Mona; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin

2009-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate how people with persistent mental illness, with various types of work and employment conditions, experience and describe the meaningfulness of work. The study had a qualitative approach and twelve informants living in the community were purposefully selected and interviewed according to overarching themes. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and all of the authors were involved in the analysis process. The findings resulted in four main themes: 1) work per se has certain characteristics, 2) participation in different contexts gives a feeling of normality, acceptance, belonging and fulfilment of norms and values, 3) work affords structure, energy and a balanced daily life, and 4) work increases well-being and strengthens one's identity. A tentative model is described concerning perceived meaningfulness in work among individuals with persistent mental illness, in which the first three aspects of meaning are a prerequisite for meaning in terms of increased well-being and strengthened identity. Furthermore, it seems important that work has to bring the just right challenge to the individual in order for him or her to perceive the identified aspects of meaningfulness.

Patients' and Caregivers' Attributes in a Meaningful Care Encounter: Similarities and Notable Differences

PubMed Central

Snellman, Ingrid; Gustafsson, Christine; Gustafsson, Lena-Karin

2012-01-01

In today's healthcare system, there is an imbalance between what patients expect of caregivers' care and their perception of the care they get. How is it possible to reduce this imbalance? The aim of this paper was to describe attributes associated with meaningful encounters in the Swedish healthcare system based on patients' and caregivers' written narratives and to note the differences and similarities between the attributes identified by the two groups. This paper is a qualitative descriptive study. The analysis was guided by qualitative content analyses. Based on patients' narratives, attributes associated with a meaningful encounter fell into four categories: the kind-hearted caregiver, the thoughtful caregiver, the mutually oriented caregiver, and the helpful caregiver. Based on caregivers' narratives, the attributes were categorized as being humane, caring through physical contact, caring by nurturing communication, joy and laughter in care, and a sense of mutuality. The results show that there are both similarities and differences in patients' and caregivers' opinions about the attributes of a meaningful encounter. Knowing more about the attributes associated with meaningful encounters makes it possible for caregivers to individualize care for patients and makes it easier to help and support patients in what they most need support with. PMID:22701802

Meaningful Work and Secondary School Teachers' Intention to Leave

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janik, M.; Rothmann, S.

2015-01-01

The study investigates the relations between secondary school teachers' work-role fit, job enrichment, supervisor relationships, co-worker relationships, psychological meaningfulness of work and intention to leave. A cross-sectional survey was used. The participants were 502 secondary school teachers in Namibia. The following measuring instruments…

42 CFR 495.6 - Meaningful use objectives and measures for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... HEALTH RECORD TECHNOLOGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM General Provisions § 495.6 Meaningful use objectives and... their first payment year. For Medicaid EPs who adopt, implement, or upgrade certified EHR technology in... certified EHR technology in their first payment year, the meaningful use objectives and associated measures...

Meaningful engagement of people living with HIV who use drugs: methodology for the design of a Peer Research Associate (PRA) hiring model.

PubMed

Closson, K; McNeil, R; McDougall, P; Fernando, S; Collins, A B; Baltzer Turje, R; Howard, T; Parashar, S

2016-10-07

Community-based HIV, harm reduction, and addiction research increasingly involve members of affected communities as Peer Research Associates (PRAs)-individuals with common experiences to the participant population (e.g. people who use drugs, people living with HIV [PLHIV]). However, there is a paucity of literature detailing the operationalization of PRA hiring and thus limited understanding regarding how affected communities can be meaningfully involved through low-barrier engagement in paid positions within community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects. We aim to address this gap by describing a low-threshold PRA hiring process. In 2012, the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation collaborated to develop a mixed-method CBPR project evaluating the effectiveness of the Dr. Peter Centre (DPC)-an integrative HIV care facility in Vancouver, Canada. A primary objective of the study was to assess the impact of DPC services among clients who have a history of illicit drug use. In keeping with CBPR principles, affected populations, community-based organizations, and key stakeholders guided the development and dissemination of a low-barrier PRA hiring process to meaningfully engage affected communities (e.g. PLHIV who have a history of illicit drug use) in all aspects of the research project. The hiring model was implemented in a number of stages, including (1) the establishment of a hiring team; (2) the development and dissemination of the job posting; (3) interviewing applicants; and (4) the selection of participants. The hiring model presented in this paper demonstrates the benefits of hiring vulnerable PLHIV who use drugs as PRAs in community-based research. The provision of low-barrier access to meaningful research employment described herein attempts to engage affected communities beyond tokenistic involvement in research. Our hiring model was successful at engaging five PRAs over a 2-year period and fostered opportunities for

A safety culture assessment by mixed methods at a public maternity and infant hospital in China

PubMed Central

Listyowardojo, Tita Alissa; Yan, Xiaoling; Leyshon, Stephen; Ray-Sannerud, Bobbie; Yu, Xin Yan; Zheng, Kai; Duan, Tao

2017-01-01

Objective To assess safety culture at a public maternity hospital in Shanghai, China, using a sequential mixed methods approach. The study was part of a bigger study looking at the application of the mixed methods approach to assess safety culture in health care in different organizations and countries. Methodology A mixed methods approach was utilized by first distributing the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire measuring six safety culture dimensions and five independent items to all hospital staff (n=1482) working in 18 departments at a single hospital. Afterward, semistructured interviews were conducted using convenience sampling, where 48 hospital staff from nine departments at the same hospital were individually interviewed. Results The survey received a response rate of 96%. The survey findings show significant differences between the hospital departments in almost all safety culture dimensions and independent items. Similarly, the interview findings revealed that there were different, competing priorities between departments perceived to result in a reduced quality of collaboration and bottlenecks in care delivery. Another major finding was that staff who worked more hours per week would perceive working conditions significantly more negatively. Issues related to working conditions were also the most common concerns discussed in the interviews, especially the issue on high workload. High workload was also reflected in the fact that 91.45% of survey respondents reported that they worked 40 hours or longer per week. Finally, interview findings complemented survey findings, thus providing a more complete and accurate picture of safety culture. Conclusion Hospital leaders need to prioritize interventions focused on improving the quality of cross-department collaboration and reducing workload. A mixed methods assessment of safety culture provides more meaningful, targeted results, enabling leaders to prioritize and tailor improvement efforts to increase the impact of

42 CFR 495.6 - Meaningful use objectives and measures for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... HEALTH RECORD TECHNOLOGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM General Provisions § 495.6 Meaningful use objectives and... year. For Medicaid EPs who adopt, implement, or upgrade certified EHR technology in their first payment... technology in their first payment year, the meaningful use objectives and associated measures of the Stage 1...

42 CFR 495.6 - Meaningful use objectives and measures for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... HEALTH RECORD TECHNOLOGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM General Provisions § 495.6 Meaningful use objectives and... year. For Medicaid EPs who adopt, implement, or upgrade certified EHR technology in their first payment... technology in their first payment year, the meaningful use objectives and associated measures of the Stage 1...

42 CFR 495.6 - Meaningful use objectives and measures for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... HEALTH RECORD TECHNOLOGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM General Provisions § 495.6 Meaningful use objectives and... year. For Medicaid EPs who adopt, implement, or upgrade certified EHR technology in their first payment... technology in their first payment year, the meaningful use objectives and associated measures of the Stage 1...

Initial Development of the Meaningful Learning with Technology Scale (MeLTS) for High-School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chwee Beng

2018-01-01

With the rapid developments in emerging technologies and the emphasis on technologies in learning environments, the connection between technologies and meaningful learning has strengthened. Developing an understanding of the components of meaningful learning with technology is pivotal, as this may enable educators to make more informed decisions…

Pedagogical Principles of Learning to Teach Meaningful Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ní Chróinín, Déirdre; Fletcher, Tim; O'Sullivan, Mary

2018-01-01

Background: Concerns that current forms of physical education teacher education (PETE) are not adequately providing teachers with the tools necessary for working with the realities and challenges of teaching physical education in contemporary schools has led some scholars to advocate for an approach that prioritises meaningfulness in physical…

Categorizing Drugs and Drug-Taking: A More Meaningful Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Robert S.; Duncan, David F.

This document reviews various definitions of the nature and classification of drugs. Difficulties with existing categorizations which use such bases as clinical utility, molecular structure, effects on the central nervous system, legality, and hazard potential are disucssed. A more meaningful categorization based on the availability and sources of…

A technology training protocol for meeting QSEN goals: Focusing on meaningful learning.

PubMed

Luo, Shuhong; Kalman, Melanie

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how we designed and developed a 12-step technology training protocol. The protocol is meant to improve meaningful learning in technology education so that nursing students are able to meet the informatics requirements of Quality and Safety Education in Nursing competencies. When designing and developing the training protocol, we used a simplified experiential learning model that addressed the core features of meaningful learning: to connect new knowledge with students' prior knowledge and real-world workflow. Before training, we identified students' prior knowledge and workflow tasks. During training, students learned by doing, reflected on their prior computer skills and workflow, designed individualized procedures for integration into their workflow, and practiced the self-designed procedures in real-world settings. The trainer was a facilitator who provided a meaningful learning environment, asked the right questions to guide reflective conversation, and offered scaffoldings at critical moments. This training protocol could significantly improve nurses' competencies in using technologies and increase their desire to adopt new technologies. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Are Changes in Leg Power Responsible for Clinically Meaningful Improvements in Mobility Among Older Adults?

PubMed Central

Bean, Jonathan F.; Kiely, Dan K.; LaRose, Sharon; Goldstein, Richard; Frontera, Walter R.; Leveille, Suzanne G.

2010-01-01

Objectives Mobility as measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) or habitual Gait Speed (GS) is predictive of mortality and disability among older adults. Clinically meaningful changes of these measures have been identified. Among physiologic attributes commonly targeted in rehabilitation, we sought to identify those attributes in which changes led to clinically meaningful differences (CMD) in the mobility outcomes. Participants Community-dwelling, mobility-limited older adults (n=116) participating in a 16-week randomized controlled trial (RCT) of two modes of exercise Setting Outpatient rehabilitation centers Design Secondary analysis of data collected for a RCT of exercise using binary outcomes defined by recording a large CMD (SPPB=1 unit; GS=.1m/s). Iterative models were performed to evaluate possible confounding between physiologic variables and relevant covariates. Measures Physiologic measures included leg power, leg strength, balance as measured by the Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA), rate pressure product (RPP) at the maximal stage of an exercise tolerance test. Outcomes included GS and SPPB. Leg power and leg strength were measured using computerized pneumatic strength training equipment and recorded in Watts and Newtons respectively. Results Participants were 68% female, had a mean age of 75.2 years, with a mean of 5.5 chronic conditions and a baseline mean SPPB score of 8.7. After controlling for age, site, group assignment, and baseline outcome values, leg power was the only attribute in which changes were significantly associated with a large CMD in SPPB (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.09, 2.02) and GS (OR1.31, 95% CI 1.01, 1.70). Conclusion Improvements in leg power, independent of strength, appear to make an important contribution towards clinically meaningful improvements in both SPPB and GS. PMID:21143443

Authentic Leadership and Altruism: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagnak, Mesut; Kuruöz, Mehmet

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effects of meaningfulness on the relationship between authentic leadership and altruistic behavior. The participants consisted of 356 teachers randomly selected from 14 primary and secondary schools in Nigde. Three different instruments were used in this study. The scales were translated…

New mobile methods for dietary assessment: review of image-assisted and image-based dietary assessment methods.

PubMed

Boushey, C J; Spoden, M; Zhu, F M; Delp, E J; Kerr, D A

2017-08-01

For nutrition practitioners and researchers, assessing dietary intake of children and adults with a high level of accuracy continues to be a challenge. Developments in mobile technologies have created a role for images in the assessment of dietary intake. The objective of this review was to examine peer-reviewed published papers covering development, evaluation and/or validation of image-assisted or image-based dietary assessment methods from December 2013 to January 2016. Images taken with handheld devices or wearable cameras have been used to assist traditional dietary assessment methods for portion size estimations made by dietitians (image-assisted methods). Image-assisted approaches can supplement either dietary records or 24-h dietary recalls. In recent years, image-based approaches integrating application technology for mobile devices have been developed (image-based methods). Image-based approaches aim at capturing all eating occasions by images as the primary record of dietary intake, and therefore follow the methodology of food records. The present paper reviews several image-assisted and image-based methods, their benefits and challenges; followed by details on an image-based mobile food record. Mobile technology offers a wide range of feasible options for dietary assessment, which are easier to incorporate into daily routines. The presented studies illustrate that image-assisted methods can improve the accuracy of conventional dietary assessment methods by adding eating occasion detail via pictures captured by an individual (dynamic images). All of the studies reduced underreporting with the help of images compared with results with traditional assessment methods. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better delineate attributes with regards to age of user, degree of error and cost.

Developing a system to track meaningful outcome measures in head and neck cancer treatment.

PubMed

Walters, Ronald S; Albright, Heidi W; Weber, Randal S; Feeley, Thomas W; Hanna, Ehab Y; Cantor, Scott B; Lewis, Carol M; Burke, Thomas W

2014-02-01

The health care industry, including consumers, providers, and payers of health care, recognize the importance of developing meaningful, patient-centered measures. This article describes our experience using an existing electronic medical record largely based on free text formats without structured documentation, in conjunction with tumor registry abstraction techniques, to obtain and analyze data for use in clinical improvement and public reporting. We performed a retrospective analysis of 2467 previously untreated patients treated with curative intent who presented with laryngeal, pharyngeal, or oral cavity cancer in order to develop a system to monitor and report meaningful outcome metrics of head and neck cancer treatment. Patients treated between 1995 and 2006 were analyzed for the primary outcomes of survival at 1 and 2 years, the ability to speak at 1 year posttreatment, and the ability to swallow at 1 year posttreatment. We encountered significant limitations in clinical documentation because of the lack of standardization of meaningful measures, as well limitations with data abstraction using a retrospective approach to reporting measures. Almost 5000 person-hours were required for data abstraction, quality review, and reporting, at a cost of approximately $134,000. Our multidisciplinary teams document extensive patient information; however, data is not stored in easily accessible formats for measurement, comparison, and reporting. We recommend identifying measures meaningful to patients, providers, and payers to be documented throughout the patients' entire treatment cycle, and significant investment in the improvements to electronic medical records and tumor registry reporting in order to provide meaningful quality measures for the future. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Meaningful Words and Non-Words Repetitive Articulatory Rate (Oral Diadochokinesis) in Persian Speaking Children.

PubMed

Zamani, Peyman; Rezai, Hossein; Garmatani, Neda Tahmasebi

2017-08-01

Repetitive articulatory rate or Oral Diadochokinesis (oral-DDK) shows a guideline for appraisal and diagnosis of subjects with oral-motor disorder. Traditionally, meaningless words repetition has been utilized in this task and preschool children have challenges with them. Therefore, we aimed to determine some meaningful words in order to test oral-DDK in Persian speaking preschool children. Participants were 142 normally developing children, (age range 4-6 years), who were asked to produce /motæka, golabi/ as two meaningful Persian words and /pa-ta-ka/ as non-word in conventional oral-DDK task. We compared the time taken for 10-times fast repetitions of two meaningful Persian words and the tri-syllabic nonsense word /pa-ta-ka/. Praat software was used to calculate the average time that subjects took to produce the target items. In 4-5 year old children, [Formula: see text] of time taken for 10-times repetitions of /pa-ta-ka, motæka, golabi/ were [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] seconds respectively, and in 5-6 year old children were [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] seconds respectively. Findings showed that the main effect of type of words on oral diadochokinesis was significant ([Formula: see text]). Children repeated meaningful words /motæka, golabi/ faster than the non-word /pa-ta-ka/. Sex and age factors had no effect on time taken for repetition of oral-DDK test. It is suggested that Speech Therapists can use meaningful words to facilitate oral-DDK test for children.

Self-report of tobacco use status: comparison of paper-based questionnaire, online questionnaire, and direct face-to-face interview--implications for meaningful use.

PubMed

Steffen, Mark W; Murad, Mohammad Hassan; Hays, J Taylor; Newcomb, Richard D; Molella, Robin G; Cha, Stephen S; Hagen, Philip T

2014-06-01

Identifying tobacco use status is essential to address use and provide resources to help patients quit. Being able to collect this information in an electronic format will become increasingly important, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has included the assessment of tobacco use as part of its Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria. The objective was to compare the accuracy of online vs. paper assessment methods to ascertain cigarette smoking status using a face-to-face structured interview as the gold standard. This was a retrospective analysis of a stratified opportunity sample of consecutive patients, reporting in 2010 for a periodic health evaluation, who completed either a scannable paper-based form or an online questionnaire and underwent a standardized rooming interview. Compared with face-to-face structured interview, the overall observed agreement and kappa coefficient for both methods combined (paper and online) were 97.7% and 0.69 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51-0.86) . For the online form they were 97.4% and 0.61 (95% CI 0.33-0.90), and for the paper form they were 97.9% and 0.75 (95% CI 0.54-0.96). There was no statistically significant difference in agreement between the online and paper-based methods (P=0.76) compared with a face-to-face structured interview. Online assessment of tobacco use status is as accurate as a paper questionnaire, and both methods have greater than 97% observed agreement with a face-to-face structured interview. The use of online assessment of tobacco use status has several advantages and more widespread use should be explored.

Informal caregivers and detection of delirium in postacute care: a correlational study of the confusion assessment method (CAM), confusion assessment method-family assessment method (CAM-FAM) and DSM-IV criteria.

PubMed

Flanagan, Nina M; Spencer, Gale

2016-09-01

Delirium is a common, serious and potentially life-threatening syndrome affecting older adults. This syndrome continues to be under-recognised and under treated by healthcare professionals across all care settings. Older adults who develop delirium have poorer outcomes, higher mortality and higher care costs. The purposes of this study were to correlate the confusion assessment method-family assessment method and confusion assessment method in the detection of delirium in postacute care, to correlate the confusion assessment method-family assessment method and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria in detection of delirium in postacute care, to determine the prevalence of delirium in postacute care elders and to describe the relationship of level of cognitive impairment and delirium in the postacute care setting. Implications for Practice Delirium is disturbing for patients and caregivers. Frequently . family members want to provide information about their loved one. The use of the CAM-FAM and CAM can give a more definitive determination of baseline status. Frequent observations using both instruments may lead to better recognition of delirium and implementation of interventions to prevent lasting sequelae. Descriptive studies determined the strengths of relationship between the confusion assessment method, confusion assessment method-family assessment method, Mini-Cog and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria in detection of delirium in the postacute care setting. Prevalence of delirium in this study was 35%. The confusion assessment method-family assessment method highly correlates with the confusion assessment method and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria for detecting delirium in older adults in the postacute care setting. Persons with cognitive impairment are more likely to develop delirium. Family members recognise symptoms of delirium when

Comprehension for What? Preparing Students for Their Meaningful Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Mark W.; Wise, Antoinette

2011-01-01

Researchers, policymakers, and educators face a daunting task these days concerning literacy education for the here and now and literacy for the future. Even though one clings to the romantic notion that education provides the building blocks in a straight line to a meaningful future, the reality is that mixed goals and instructional messages…

Making Science Meaningful for Young People with Diverse Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stead, Di

2015-01-01

In the autumn term of 2011, it was identified that a programme of support for developing science in the curriculum was required at a newly opened special school, Beacon Reach, in Lancashire, which caters to children with autism spectrum disorders. Staff wanted to provide a relevant and meaningful curriculum, accessible even to young people who…

How Do States Integrate Performance Assessment in Their Systems of Assessment?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stosich, Elizabeth Leisy; Snyder, Jon; Wilczak, Katie

2018-01-01

This paper reviews state strategies for incorporating performance assessment in policy and practice. Specifically, the paper reviews the use of performance assessment in 12 states in the Innovation Lab Network, a group committed to developing systems of assessment that provide meaningful measures of college and career readiness. This review…

WATER CHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT METHODS

EPA Science Inventory

This section summarizes and evaluates the surfce water column chemistry assessment methods for USEPA/EMAP-SW, USGS-NAQA, USEPA-RBP, Oho EPA, and MDNR-MBSS. The basic objective of surface water column chemistry assessment is to characterize surface water quality by measuring a sui...

Meaningful relief with flurbiprofen 8.75 mg spray in patients with sore throat due to upper respiratory tract infection.

PubMed

de Looze, Ferdinandus; Russo, Marc; Bloch, Mark; Montgomery, Barney; Shephard, Adrian; DeVito, Robert

2018-03-01

Evaluate the efficacy of flurbiprofen 8.75 mg spray for sore throat relief. Randomized, double-blind study in adults with sore throat due to upper respiratory tract infection who took flurbiprofen (n = 249) or placebo spray (n = 256). Pain relief was assessed using the Sore Throat Relief Rating Scale. Flurbiprofen spray provided significantly greater relief versus placebo from 20 min to 6 h (p < 0.0001; maximum difference: 75 min). Sore throat severity was reduced ≥-2.2 on the Sore Throat Scale from 75 min to 6 h, indicating meaningful relief. Significantly more patients taking flurbiprofen spray reported ≥30 min of 'at least moderate' relief versus placebo over 6 h (p < 0.0001). Most adverse events were mild. Flurbiprofen spray provides rapid, long-lasting and clinically meaningful relief from sore throat (ANZCTR: ACTRN12612000457842).

A Critical Analysis of Assessment Quality in Genomics and Bioinformatics Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Chad E.; Nehm, Ross H.

2013-01-01

The growing importance of genomics and bioinformatics methods and paradigms in biology has been accompanied by an explosion of new curricula and pedagogies. An important question to ask about these educational innovations is whether they are having a meaningful impact on students' knowledge, attitudes, or skills. Although assessments are…

Sustaining “Meaningful Use” of Health Information Technology in Low-Resource Practices

PubMed Central

Green, Lee A.; Potworowski, Georges; Day, Anya; May-Gentile, Rachelle; Vibbert, Danielle; Maki, Bruce; Kiesel, Leslie

2015-01-01

PURPOSE The implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) has been extensively studied, but their maintenance once implemented has not. The Regional Extension Center (REC) program provides implementation assistance to priority practices—those with limited financial, technical, and organizational resources—but the assistance is time limited. Our objective was to identify potential barriers to maintenance of meaningful use of EHRs in priority primary care practices using a qualitative observational study for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and priority practices in Michigan. METHODS We conducted cognitive task analysis (CTA) interviews and direct observations of health information technology implementation in FQHCs. In addition, we conducted semistructured interviews with implementation specialists serving priority practices to detect emergent themes relevant to maintenance. RESULTS Maintaining EHR technology will require ongoing expert technical support indefinitely beyond implementation to address upgrades and security needs. Maintaining meaningful use for quality improvement will require ongoing support for leadership and change management. Priority practices not associated with larger systems lack access to the necessary technical expertise, financial resources, and leverage with vendors to continue alone. Rural priority practices are particularly challenged, because expertise is often not available locally. CONCLUSIONS Priority practices, especially in rural areas, are at high risk for falling on the wrong side of a “digital divide” as payers and regulators enact increasing expectations for EHR use and information management. For those without affiliation to maintain the necessary expert staff, ongoing support will be needed for those practices to remain viable. PMID:25583887

Engaging Axiology: Enabling MeaningfulTransdisciplinary Collaboration in Adapted Physical Activity.

PubMed

Peers, Danielle

2018-07-01

In this article, I explore the concept of axiology in the context of adapted physical activity research and analyze its connection to the more commonly discussed paradigmatic assumptions of epistemology and ontology. Following methodological scholars, I argue for an acknowledgment of the pivotal role that axiology already plays in adapted physical activity research and for the potential interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary opportunities that could be enabled by engaging with axiology in more explicit ways. I discuss a number of potential axiological gaps between the field of adapted physical activity and disability communities, arguing that such differences may undermine attempts at doing meaningful transdisciplinary research with such communities. I offer strategies for bridging these axiological gaps, encouraging us to work together in axiologically reflexive ways in order to increase meaningful opportunities for more people with disabilities to be engaged in the movement-based activities and communities of their choice.

The Teacher as an Agent of Meaningful Educational Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandeyar, Saloshna

2017-01-01

This paper peers through the window to look at how a teacher brings about meaningful educational change in a diverse classroom. Utilizing three sets of arguments from the field of educational change, I traced educational change within a teacher during the course of an academic year. Data capture comprised a mix of semi-structured interviews and…

Professionalizing action research--a meaningful strategy for modernizing services?

PubMed

Hall, Julie E

2006-04-01

This paper outlines how a specific action research approach can be used to secure practice development in services which have found sustained change difficult. For the purpose of this paper discussion focuses upon using professionalizing action research (a form of action research) to secure transformation in acute inpatient mental health services. This speciality has experienced long-term difficultly in meaningful practice change. Not limited to this context parallels can be made with other health and social care services requiring significant modernization. The aim is to critically discuss the use of professionalizing action research as an approach to sustainable change. clarifies whether this method is a suitable vehicle for change, which is ideally suited to services which have a poor record of practice development. A review of action research and practice development literature forms the basis of this paper. The literature is sourced through bulletin boards, electronic databases and the British Library Classification Scheme. Keywords searched are action research, team learning, managing change and practice development. Following definition; the components of professionalizing action research are analysed using the themes of educative base, problem focus, improvement and involvement. The educative base of professionalizing action research is collaborative reflective practice which is used to initiate meaningful change, rooted in everyday practice. The benefit of this is that change actions are based in real-time situations. The problem focus component of professionalizing action research is used to emphasize the views of service users and carers. This is positive in terms of the patient and public involvement agenda although this theme does emphasize limitations of the approach. The final components are involvement and improvement, these are debated as pluralistic notions and the implications of this are acknowledged. Reviewing the literature and theoretical

Meaningful experiences in science education: Engaging the space researcher in a cultural transformation to greater science literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrow, Cherilynn A.

1993-11-01

The visceral appeal of space science and exploration is a very powerful emotional connection to a very large and diverse collection of people, most of whom have little or no perspective about what it means to do science and engineering. Therein lies the potential of space for a substantially enhanced positive impact on culture through education. This essay suggests that through engaging more of the space research and development community in enabling unique and 'meaningful educational experiences' for educators and students at the pre-collegiate levels, space science and exploration can amplify its positive feedback on society and act as an important medium for cultural transformation to greater science literacy. I discuss the impact of space achievements on people and define what is meant by a 'meaningful educational experience,' all of which points to the need for educators and students to be closer to the practice of real science. I offer descriptions of two nascent science education programs associated with NASA which have the needed characteristics for providing meaningful experiences that can cultivate greater science literacy. Expansion of these efforts and others like it will be needed to have the desired impact on culture, but I suggest that the potential for the needed resources is there in the scientific research communities. A society in which more people appreciate and understand science and science methods would be especially conducive to human progress in space and on Earth.

Meaningful experiences in science education: Engaging the space researcher in a cultural transformation to greater science literacy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrow, Cherilynn A.

1993-01-01

The visceral appeal of space science and exploration is a very powerful emotional connection to a very large and diverse collection of people, most of whom have little or no perspective about what it means to do science and engineering. Therein lies the potential of space for a substantially enhanced positive impact on culture through education. This essay suggests that through engaging more of the space research and development community in enabling unique and 'meaningful educational experiences' for educators and students at the pre-collegiate levels, space science and exploration can amplify its positive feedback on society and act as an important medium for cultural transformation to greater science literacy. I discuss the impact of space achievements on people and define what is meant by a 'meaningful educational experience,' all of which points to the need for educators and students to be closer to the practice of real science. I offer descriptions of two nascent science education programs associated with NASA which have the needed characteristics for providing meaningful experiences that can cultivate greater science literacy. Expansion of these efforts and others like it will be needed to have the desired impact on culture, but I suggest that the potential for the needed resources is there in the scientific research communities. A society in which more people appreciate and understand science and science methods would be especially conducive to human progress in space and on Earth.

Meaningful learning: The essential factor for conceptual change in limited or inappropriate propositional hierarchies leading to empowerment of learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novak, Joseph D.

2002-07-01

The construction and reconstruction of meanings by learners requires that they actively seek to integrate new knowledge with knowledge already in their cognitive structure. Ausubel's assimilation theory of cognitive learning has been shown to be effective in guiding research and instructional design to facilitate meaningful learning (Ausubel, The psychology of meaningful verbal learning, New York: Grune and Stratton, 1963; Educational psychology: A cognitive view, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968; The acquisition and retention of knowledge, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000). Gowin's Vee heuristic has been employed effectively to aid teachers and students in understanding the constructed nature of knowledge (Gowin, Educating, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981). Situated learning occurs when learning is by rote or at a lower level of meaningful learning. Concept mapping has been used effectively to aid meaningful learning with resulting modification of student's knowledge structures. When these knowledge structures are limited or faulty in some way, they may be referred to as Limited or Inappropriate Propositional Hierarchies (LIPH's). Conceptual change, or more accurately conceptual reconstrution, requires meaningful learning to modify LIPH's. Collaborative group learning facilitates meaningful learning and new knowledge construction. World-wide economic changes are forcing major changes in business and industry placing a premium on the power and value of knowledge and new knowledge production. These changes require changes in school and university education that centers on the nature and power of meaningful learning. New computer tools are available to facilitate teaching activities targeted at modifying LIPH's, and aiding meaningful learning in general.

The Role of Meaningful Dialogue in Early Childhood Education Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deakins, Eric

2007-01-01

Action research was used to study the effectiveness of Learning Organisation and Adaptive Enterprise theories for promoting organisation-wide learning and creating a more effective early childhood education organisation. This article describes the leadership steps taken to achieve shared vision via meaningful dialogue between board, management and…

Assessment of critical thinking: a Delphi study.

PubMed

Paul, Sheila A

2014-11-01

Nurse educators are responsible for preparing nurses who critically analyze patient information and provide meaningful interventions in today's complex health care system. By using the Delphi research method, this study, utilized the specialized and experiential knowledge of Certified Nurse Educators. This original Delphi research study asked Certified Nurse Educators how to assess the critical-thinking ability of nursing students in the clinical setting. The results showed that nurse educators need time, during the clinical experience, to accurately assess each individual nursing student. This study demonstrated the need for extended student clinical time, and a variety of clinical learning assessment tools. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment methods for the evaluation of vitiligo.

PubMed

Alghamdi, K M; Kumar, A; Taïeb, A; Ezzedine, K

2012-12-01

There is no standardized method for assessing vitiligo. In this article, we review the literature from 1981 to 2011 on different vitiligo assessment methods. We aim to classify the techniques available for vitiligo assessment as subjective, semi-objective or objective; microscopic or macroscopic; and as based on morphometry or colorimetry. Macroscopic morphological measurements include visual assessment, photography in natural or ultraviolet light, photography with computerized image analysis and tristimulus colorimetry or spectrophotometry. Non-invasive micromorphological methods include confocal laser microscopy (CLM). Subjective methods include clinical evaluation by a dermatologist and a vitiligo disease activity score. Semi-objective methods include the Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (VASI) and point-counting methods. Objective methods include software-based image analysis, tristimulus colorimetry, spectrophotometry and CLM. Morphometry is the measurement of the vitiliginous surface area, whereas colorimetry quantitatively analyses skin colour changes caused by erythema or pigment. Most methods involve morphometry, except for the chromameter method, which assesses colorimetry. Some image analysis software programs can assess both morphometry and colorimetry. The details of these programs (Corel Draw, Image Pro Plus, AutoCad and Photoshop) are discussed in the review. Reflectance confocal microscopy provides real-time images and has great potential for the non-invasive assessment of pigmentary lesions. In conclusion, there is no single best method for assessing vitiligo. This review revealed that VASI, the rule of nine and Wood's lamp are likely to be the best techniques available for assessing the degree of pigmentary lesions and measuring the extent and progression of vitiligo in the clinic and in clinical trials. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology © 2012 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Age differences in memory for meaningful and arbitrary associations: A memory retrieval account.

PubMed

Amer, Tarek; Giovanello, Kelly S; Grady, Cheryl L; Hasher, Lynn

2018-02-01

Older adults typically show poor associative memory performance relative to younger adults. This age-related effect, however, is mediated by the meaningfulness of the materials used, such that age differences are minimized with the use of information that is consistent with prior knowledge. While this effect has been interpreted as facilitative learning through schematic support, the role of memory retrieval on this effect has yet to be explored. Using an associative memory paradigm that varied the extent of controlled retrieval for previously studied meaningful or arbitrary associations, older and younger adults in the present study retrieved realistic and unrealistic grocery item prices in a speeded, or in a slow, more control-based retrieval condition. There were no age differences in memory for realistic (meaningful) prices in either condition; however, younger adults showed better memory than older adults for unrealistic prices in the controlled retrieval condition only. These results suggest that age differences in memory for arbitrary associations can, at least partly, be accounted for by age reductions in strategic, controlled retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Arbitrary conditional discriminative functions of meaningful stimuli and enhanced equivalence class formation.

PubMed

Nedelcu, Roxana I; Fields, Lanny; Arntzen, Erik

2015-03-01

Equivalence class formation by college students was influenced through the prior acquisition of conditional discriminative functions by one of the abstract stimuli (C) in the to-be-formed classes. Participants in the GR-0, GR-1, and GR-5 groups attempted to form classes under the simultaneous protocol, after mastering 0, 1, or 5 conditional relations between C and other abstract stimuli (V, W, X, Y, Z) that were not included in the to-be-formed classes (ABCDE). Participants in the GR-many group attempted to form classes that contained four abstract stimuli and one meaningful picture as the C stimulus. In the GR-0, GR-1, GR-5, and GR-many groups, classes were formed by 17, 25, 58, and 67% of participants, respectively. Thus, likelihood of class formation was enhanced by the prior formation of five C-based conditional relations (the GR-5 vs. GR-0 condition), or the inclusion of a meaningful stimulus as a class member (the GR-many vs. GR-0 condition). The GR-5 and GR-many conditions produced very similar yields, indicating that class formation was enhanced to a similar degree by including a meaningful stimulus or an abstract stimulus that had become a member of five conditional relations prior to equivalence class formation. Finally, the low and high yields produced by the GR-1 and GR-5 conditions showed that the class enhancement effect of the GR-5 condition was due to the number of conditional relations established during preliminary training and not to the sheer amount of reinforcement provided while learning these conditional relations. Class enhancement produced by meaningful stimuli, then, can be attributed to their acquired conditional discriminative functions as well as their discriminative, connotative, and denotative properties. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Do Contemporary Randomized Controlled Trials Meet ESMO Thresholds for Meaningful Clinical Benefit?

PubMed

Del Paggio, J C; Azariah, B; Sullivan, R; Hopman, W M; James, F V; Roshni, S; Tannock, I F; Booth, C M

2017-01-01

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) recently released a magnitude of clinical benefit scale (ESMO-MCBS) for systemic therapies for solid cancers. Here, we evaluate contemporary randomized controlled trials (RCTs) against the proposed ESMO thresholds for meaningful clinical benefit. RCTs evaluating systemic therapy for breast cancer, nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer (CRC), and pancreatic cancer published 2011-2015 were reviewed. Data were abstracted regarding trial characteristics and outcomes, and these were applied to the ESMO-MCBS. We also determined whether RCTs were designed to detect an effect that would meet clinical benefit as defined by the ESMO-MCBS. About 277 eligible RCTs were included (40% breast, 31% NSCLC, 22% CRC, 6% pancreas). Median sample size was 532 and 83% were funded by industry. Among all 277 RCTs, the experimental therapy was statistically superior to the control arm in 138 (50%) trials: results of only 31% (43/138) of these trials met the ESMO-MCBS clinical benefit threshold. RCTs with curative intent were more likely to meet clinically meaningful thresholds than those with palliative intent [61% (19/31) versus 22% (24/107), P < 0.001]. Among the 226 RCTs for which the ESMO-MCBS could be applied, 31% (70/226) were designed to detect an effect size that could meet ESMO-MCBS thresholds. Less than one-third of contemporary RCTs with statistically significant results meet ESMO thresholds for meaningful clinical benefit, and this represents only 15% of all published trials. Investigators, funding agencies, regulatory agencies, and industry should adopt more stringent thresholds for meaningful benefit in the design of future RCTs. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The importance of culturally meaningful activity for health benefits among older Korean immigrant living in the United States

PubMed Central

Kim, Junhyoung; Kim, May; Han, Areum; Chin, Seungtae

2015-01-01

Research indicates that participation in culturally meaningful activity is beneficial for immigrants’ health and well-being, yet older Korean immigrants struggle with accepting new cultural perspectives, which can negatively affect their health and well-being. Using in-depth interviews, this study was designed to capture the value of culturally meaningful activities for health among older Korean immigrants. Three themes were identified: (a) improved psychological well-being, (b) enhanced positive emotions and feelings, and (c) social connections developed with others. The findings suggest that by engaging in various culturally meaningful activities, older Korean immigrants gain a sense of social, cultural, and psychological significance in life. This study also provided evidence that older Korean immigrants maintain and develop their cultural identity through culturally meaningful activities. PMID:26084272

The importance of culturally meaningful activity for health benefits among older Korean immigrant living in the United States.

PubMed

Kim, Junhyoung; Kim, May; Han, Areum; Chin, Seungtae

2015-01-01

Research indicates that participation in culturally meaningful activity is beneficial for immigrants' health and well-being, yet older Korean immigrants struggle with accepting new cultural perspectives, which can negatively affect their health and well-being. Using in-depth interviews, this study was designed to capture the value of culturally meaningful activities for health among older Korean immigrants. Three themes were identified: (a) improved psychological well-being, (b) enhanced positive emotions and feelings, and (c) social connections developed with others. The findings suggest that by engaging in various culturally meaningful activities, older Korean immigrants gain a sense of social, cultural, and psychological significance in life. This study also provided evidence that older Korean immigrants maintain and develop their cultural identity through culturally meaningful activities.

Meaningful use's benefits and burdens for US family physicians.

PubMed

Holman, G Talley; Waldren, Steven E; Beasley, John W; Cohen, Deborah J; Dardick, Lawrence D; Fox, Chester H; Marquard, Jenna; Mullins, Ryan; North, Charles Q; Rafalski, Matt; Rivera, A Joy; Wetterneck, Tosha B

2018-06-01

The federal meaningful use (MU) program was aimed at improving adoption and use of electronic health records, but practicing physicians have criticized it. This study was aimed at quantifying the benefits (ie, usefulness) and burdens (ie, workload) of the MU program for practicing family physicians. An interdisciplinary national panel of experts (physicians and engineers) identified the work associated with MU criteria during patient encounters. They conducted a national survey to assess each criterion's level of patient benefit and compliance burden. In 2015, 480 US family physicians responded to the survey. Their demographics were comparable to US norms. Eighteen of 31 MU criteria were perceived as useful for more than half of patient encounters, with 13 of those being useful for more than two-thirds. Thirteen criteria were useful for less than half of patient encounters. Four useful criteria were reported as having a high compliance burden. There was high variability in physicians' perceived benefits and burdens of MU criteria. MU Stage 1 criteria, which are more related to basic/routine care, were perceived as beneficial by most physicians. Stage 2 criteria, which are more related to complex and population care, were perceived as less beneficial and more burdensome to comply with. MU was discontinued, but the merit-based incentive payment system within the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 adopted its criteria. For many physicians, MU created a significant practice burden without clear benefits to patient care. This study suggests that policymakers should not assess MU in aggregate, but as individual criteria for open discussion.

Is the diagnostic threshold for bulimia nervosa clinically meaningful?

PubMed

Chapa, Danielle A N; Bohrer, Brittany K; Forbush, Kelsie T

2018-01-01

The DSM-5 differentiates full- and sub-threshold bulimia nervosa (BN) according to average weekly frequencies of binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors. This study was the first to evaluate the modified frequency criterion for BN published in the DSM-5. The purpose of this study was to test whether community-recruited adults (N=125; 83.2% women) with current full-threshold (n=77) or sub-threshold BN (n=48) differed in comorbid psychopathology and eating disorder (ED) illness duration, symptom severity, and clinical impairment. Participants completed the Clinical Impairment Assessment and participated in semi-structured clinical interviews of ED- and non-ED psychopathology. Differences between the sub- and full-threshold BN groups were assessed using MANOVA and Chi-square analyses. ED illness duration, age-of-onset, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and drug misuse, and the presence of current and lifetime mood or anxiety disorders did not differ between participants with sub- and full-threshold BN. Participants with full-threshold BN had higher levels of clinical impairment and weight concern than those with sub-threshold BN. However, minimal clinically important difference analyses suggested that statistically significant differences between participants with sub- and full-threshold BN on clinical impairment and weight concern were not clinically significant. In conclusion, sub-threshold BN did not differ from full-threshold BN in clinically meaningful ways. Future studies are needed to identify an improved frequency criterion for BN that better distinguishes individuals in ways that will more validly inform prognosis and effective treatment planning for BN. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age Differences in the Neuroelectric Adaptation to Meaningful Sounds

PubMed Central

Leung, Ada W. S.; He, Yu; Grady, Cheryl L.; Alain, Claude

2013-01-01

Much of what we know regarding the effect of stimulus repetition on neuroelectric adaptation comes from studies using artificially produced pure tones or harmonic complex sounds. Little is known about the neural processes associated with the representation of everyday sounds and how these may be affected by aging. In this study, we used real life, meaningful sounds presented at various azimuth positions and found that auditory evoked responses peaking at about 100 and 180 ms after sound onset decreased in amplitude with stimulus repetition. This neural adaptation was greater in young than in older adults and was more pronounced when the same sound was repeated at the same location. Moreover, the P2 waves showed differential patterns of domain-specific adaptation when location and identity was repeated among young adults. Background noise decreased ERP amplitudes and modulated the magnitude of repetition effects on both the N1 and P2 amplitude, and the effects were comparable in young and older adults. These findings reveal an age-related difference in the neural processes associated with adaptation to meaningful sounds, which may relate to older adults’ difficulty in ignoring task-irrelevant stimuli. PMID:23935900

12 CFR 327.9 - Assessment pricing methods.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Assessment pricing methods. 327.9 Section 327.9... ASSESSMENTS In General § 327.9 Assessment pricing methods. (a) Small institutions—(1) Risk Categories. Each... unless effective corrective action is taken. (4) Financial ratios method. A small insured depository...

‘Killing Me Softly With His/Her Song’: How Leaders Dismantle Followers’ Sense of Work Meaningfulness

PubMed Central

Kipfelsberger, Petra; Kark, Ronit

2018-01-01

Leaders influence followers’ meaning and play a key role in shaping their employees’ experience of work meaningfulness. While the dominant perspective in theory and in empirical work focuses on the positive influence of leaders on followers’ work meaningfulness, our conceptual model explores conditions in which leaders may harm followers’ sense of meaning. We introduce six types of conditions: leaders’ personality traits, leaders’ behaviors, the relationship between leader and follower, followers’ attributions, followers’ characteristics, and job design under which leaders’ meaning making efforts might harm or ‘kill’ followers’ sense of work meaningfulness. Accordingly, we explore how these conditions may interact with leaders’ meaning making efforts to lower levels of followers’ sense of meaning, and in turn, lead to negative personal outcomes (cynicism, lower well-being, and disengagement), as well as negative organizational outcomes (corrosive organizational energy, higher turnover rates, and lower organizational productivity). By doing so, our research extends the current literature, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of leaders’ influence on followers’ work meaningfulness, while considering the dark side of meaning making. PMID:29867638

Deriving meaningful climate-effects data from social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuka, M. Z.; Fuka, D. R.

2011-12-01

This paper presents our research on extracting meaningful climate indicator data from unsolicited observations ("tweets") made by Twitter users regarding their physical surroundings and events occurring around them. Our goal is to establish whether the existing understanding of climate indicator data collected by more traditional means could be usefully supplemented by information derived from the potentially rich but also statistically diffuse data resource represented by social media. To this end, we've initiated an ongoing effort to collect and analyze Twitter observations made on a wide variety of climate-related phenological, biological, epidemiological and meteorological phenomena. We report on our acquisition methodology and discuss in particular our rationale for selecting keywords, phrases and filters for our searches. The iterative process of assembling an inventory of hundreds of climate-related search terms has in and of itself yielded interesting and sometimes surprising insights on what is and isn't noticed and commented on via social media with respect to climate indicator phenomenology. We report some of the highlights of those analyses along with significant findings from the data acquisition to date. In conclusion, we discuss our preliminary assessment of the approach, how it can be generalized and extended for social media other than Twitter, and how the resulting data could be used to serve climate science objectives.

Anand Niketan Ashram, Rangpur, India: An Education for Meaningful Participation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desai, Prakash O.; Haggerson, Nelson L.

1987-01-01

Describes a visit to the Anand Niketan Ashram in the interior of the State of Gujarat India, an internationally known school with a model education for meaningful citizen participation. Explores the program's philosophy activities and describes how the authors came together to have this experience and write this article. (BSR)

Meaningful community involvement in protected area issues: a dialogue session

Treesearch

Laurie Yung

2000-01-01

The current effort to rethink public involvement in decision-making processes for federal lands is gaining momentum. Advocates of alternative decision-making processes seek to involve communities in more meaningful ways than traditional NEPA-style public participation. These new processes take the form of citizen monitoring, partnerships, and most often, collaboration...

"Assessment Drives Learning": Do Assessments Promote High-Level Cognitive Processing?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bezuidenhout, M. J.; Alt, H.

2011-01-01

Students tend to learn in the way they know, or think, they will be assessed. Therefore, to ensure deep, meaningful learning, assessments must be geared to promote cognitive processing that requires complex, contextualised thinking to construct meaning and create knowledge. Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive levels is used worldwide to assist in…

An investigation of meaningful understanding and effectiveness of the implementation of Piagetian and Ausubelian theories in physics instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Karen Ann

One section of college students (N = 25) enrolled in an algebra-based physics course was selected for a Piagetian-based learning cycle (LC) treatment while a second section (N = 25) studied in an Ausubelian-based meaningful verbal reception learning treatment (MVRL). This study examined the students' overall (concept + problem solving + mental model) meaningful understanding of force, density/Archimedes Principle, and heat. Also examined were students' meaningful understanding as measured by conceptual questions, problems, and mental models. In addition, students' learning orientations were examined. There were no significant posttest differences between the LC and MVRL groups for students' meaningful understanding or learning orientation. Piagetian and Ausubelian theories explain meaningful understanding for each treatment. Students from each treatment increased their meaningful understanding. However, neither group altered their learning orientation. The results of meaningful understanding as measured by conceptual questions, problem solving, and mental models were mixed. Differences were attributed to the weaknesses and strengths of each treatment. This research also examined four variables (treatment, reasoning ability, learning orientation, and prior knowledge) to find which best predicted students' overall meaningful understanding of physics concepts. None of these variables were significant predictors at the.05 level. However, when the same variables were used to predict students' specific understanding (i.e. concept, problem solving, or mental model understanding), the results were mixed. For forces and density/Archimedes Principle, prior knowledge and reasoning ability significantly predicted students' conceptual understanding. For heat, however, reasoning ability was the only significant predictor of concept understanding. Reasoning ability and treatment were significant predictors of students' problem solving for heat and forces. For density

Assessment of Pancreatic β-Cell Function: Review of Methods and Clinical Applications

PubMed Central

Cersosimo, Eugenio; Solis-Herrera, Carolina; Trautmann, Michael E.; Malloy, Jaret; Triplitt, Curtis L.

2014-01-01

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by a progressive failure of pancreatic β-cell function (BCF) with insulin resistance. Once insulin over-secretion can no longer compensate for the degree of insulin resistance, hyperglycemia becomes clinically significant and deterioration of residual β-cell reserve accelerates. This pathophysiology has important therapeutic implications. Ideally, therapy should address the underlying pathology and should be started early along the spectrum of decreasing glucose tolerance in order to prevent or slow β-cell failure and reverse insulin resistance. The development of an optimal treatment strategy for each patient requires accurate diagnostic tools for evaluating the underlying state of glucose tolerance. This review focuses on the most widely used methods for measuring BCF within the context of insulin resistance and includes examples of their use in prediabetes and T2DM, with an emphasis on the most recent therapeutic options (dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists). Methods of BCF measurement include the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA); oral glucose tolerance tests, intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT), and meal tolerance tests; and the hyperglycemic clamp procedure. To provide a meaningful evaluation of BCF, it is necessary to interpret all observations within the context of insulin resistance. Therefore, this review also discusses methods utilized to quantitate insulin-dependent glucose metabolism, such as the IVGTT and the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp procedures. In addition, an example is presented of a mathematical modeling approach that can use data from BCF measurements to develop a better understanding of BCF behavior and the overall status of glucose tolerance. PMID:24524730

Creating Meaningful Inquiry in Inclusive Classrooms: Practitioners' Stories of Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Phyllis, Ed.; Whitehurst, Teresa, Ed.; Egerton, Jo, Ed.

2012-01-01

In recent years, the concept of teachers as researchers in both special and mainstream school settings has become part of our everyday language. Whilst many educational practitioners will see the need for research within their setting, many may not be familiar with the technical elements they believe are required. "Creating Meaningful Inquiry in…

Knowing Where You're Going: Planning for Meaningful Course Closure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burgess-Van Aken, Barbara

2017-01-01

A literature review on approaches to a final course session reveals a dearth of attention to the issue. Options for last-day activities fall into three categories: professor-centered, activity-focused, and student-driven. Using the criterion that meaningful course closure calls for last-day activities that engage students in reflection not only…

The Effects of Learning Styles and Meaningful Learning on the Learning Achievement of Gamification Health Education Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan, Kuo-Kuang; Xiao, Peng-wei; Su, Chung-Ho

2015-01-01

This study aims to discuss the correlations among learning styles, meaningful learning, and learning achievement. Directed at the rather difficult to comprehend human blood circulation unit in the biology materials for junior high school students, a Mobile Meaningful Blood Circulation Learning System, called MMBCLS gamification learning, was…

Getting the foundations right for the measurement of medication safety: the need for a meaningful conceptual frame.

PubMed

Ng, Jerome; Scahill, Shane; Harrison, Jeff

2017-03-24

A number of initiatives aimed at improving medication safety in and across New Zealand public hospitals have been introduced over recent years. Clinicians, policymakers and patients now want to know whether patients are safer today from medicine use than they have been in the past. The challenge has been determining exactly what should be measured. In this viewpoint, we critically examine the suitability of adverse drug events (ADE) as a primary metric for assessing the progress of medication safety improvement. We provide an overview of contemporary dialogue on medication safety measurement and highlight the emergent challenges. Finally, we reflect on how New Zealand has approached medication safety measurement so far and argue the need for a multi-stakeholder informed conceptual framework with a view to further enhancing meaningful assessment of medication safety.

The effects of meaningful irrelevant speech and road traffic noise on teachers' attention, episodic and semantic memory.

PubMed

Enmarker, Ingela

2004-11-01

The aim of the present experiment was to examine the effects of meaningful irrelevant speech and road traffic noise on attention, episodic and semantic memory, and also to examine whether the noise effects were age-dependent. A total of 96 male and female teachers in the age range of 35-45 and 55-65 years were randomly assigned to a silent or the two noise conditions. Noise effects found in episodic memory were limited to a meaningful text, where cued recall contrary to expectations was equally impaired by the two types of noise. However, meaningful irrelevant speech also deteriorated recognition of the text, whereas road traffic noise caused no decrement. Retrieval from two word fluency tests in semantic memory showed strong effects of noise exposure, one affected by meaningful irrelevant speech and the other by road traffic noise. The results implied that both acoustic variation and the semantic interference could be of importance for noise impairments. The expected age-dependent noise effects did not show up.

Examining emergency department communication through a staff-based participatory research method: identifying barriers and solutions to meaningful change.

PubMed

Cameron, Kenzie A; Engel, Kirsten G; McCarthy, Danielle M; Buckley, Barbara A; Mercer Kollar, Laura Min; Donlan, Sarah M; Pang, Peter S; Makoul, Gregory; Tanabe, Paula; Gisondi, Michael A; Adams, James G

2010-12-01

We test an initiative with the staff-based participatory research (SBPR) method to elicit communication barriers and engage staff in identifying strategies to improve communication within our emergency department (ED). ED staff at an urban hospital with 85,000 ED visits per year participated in a 3.5-hour multidisciplinary workshop. The workshop was offered 6 times and involved: (1) large group discussion to review the importance of communication within the ED and discuss findings from a recent survey of patient perceptions of ED-team communication; (2) small group discussions eliciting staff perceptions of communication barriers and best practices/strategies to address these challenges; and (3) large group discussions sharing and refining emergent themes and suggested strategies. Three coders analyzed summaries from group discussions by using latent content and constant comparative analysis to identify focal themes. A total of 127 staff members, including attending physicians, residents, nurses, ED assistants, and secretaries, participated in the workshop (overall participation rate 59.6%; range 46.7% to 73.3% by staff type). Coders identified a framework of 4 themes describing barriers and proposed interventions: (1) greeting and initial interaction, (2) setting realistic expectations, (3) team communication and respect, and (4) information provision and delivery. The majority of participants (81.4%) reported that their participation would cause them to make changes in their clinical practice. Involving staff in discussing barriers and facilitators to communication within the ED can result in a meaningful process of empowerment, as well as the identification of feasible strategies and solutions at both the individual and system levels. Copyright © 2010 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Finding pathways to more equitable and meaningful public-scientist partnerships

Treesearch

Daniela Soleri; Jonathan W. Long; Monica D. Ramirez-Andreotta; Ruth Eitemiller; Rajul Pandyaǁ

2016-01-01

For many, citizen science is exciting because of the possibility for more diverse, equitable partnerships in scientific research with outcomes considered meaningful and useful by all, including public participants. This was the focus of a symposium we organized at the 2015 conference of the Citizen Science Association. Here we synthesize points made by symposium...

Towards capturing meaningful outcomes for people with dementia in psychosocial intervention research: A pan-European consultation.

PubMed

Øksnebjerg, Laila; Diaz-Ponce, Ana; Gove, Dianne; Moniz-Cook, Esme; Mountain, Gail; Chattat, Rabih; Woods, Bob

2018-06-19

People with dementia are often marginalized and excluded from influence, also in relation to dementia research. There is, however, a growing requirement for inclusion through Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), but there is still limited knowledge on how researchers can fully benefit from the involvement of people with dementia in the development and testing of psychosocial interventions. This paper describes the results of a pan-European consultation with people with dementia, synthesizing their views on outcomes of psychosocial interventions. To involve people with dementia in establishing what are meaningful outcomes when participating in psychosocial interventions. Consultations took place at four divergent sites across Europe, involving twenty-five people with dementia from nine European countries. The methods used for the consultation were developed through an iterative process involving people with dementia. Data from the consultation were analysed from a thematic analysis approach. The results suggested that people with dementia wish to participate in interventions that enhance their well-being, confidence, health, social participation and human rights. This highlights a need for improvements in psychosocial research to capture these outcomes. Involving people with dementia in discussions of psychosocial interventions has enhanced our understanding about meaningful outcome measures in research and methods of data collection. This study suggests that new outcome measures in psychosocial research are needed where concepts of positive psychology and social health can guide innovation and outcome measurement. © 2018 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Children's associative learning: automatic and deliberate encoding of meaningful associations.

PubMed

Guttentag, R

1995-01-01

Three experiments were conducted examining 10- and 11-year-old children's deliberate and automatic encoding of meaningful associative relationships on a paired-associate learning task. Subjects in Experiment 1 were presented pairs of related and unrelated words under deliberate memorization and item-specific incidental-learning conditions. Cued-recall performance was superior with related relative to unrelated pairs under both instructional conditions, suggesting that the encoding of an association between items occurred automatically with meaningfully related words. In Experiment 2, it was found that execution of a verbal elaboration strategy required more time with unrelated than with related pairs, suggesting greater ease of elaboration strategy execution with related materials. Experiment 3 monitored strategy use online using a think-aloud procedure. Cued-recall performance was superior with related pairs when subjects used rehearsal. In contrast, elaboration produced equivalent levels of recall with both types of items, but subjects executed the strategy successfully more often with related than with unrelated pairs. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of automatic processes and the effort demands of strategy execution in children's strategy use.

Hospital budget increase for information technology during phase 1 meaningful use.

PubMed

Neumeier, Harold; Berner, Eta S; Burke, Darrell E; Azuero, Andres

2015-01-01

Federal policies have a significant effect on how businesses spend money. The 2009 HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) authorized incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they use certified electronic health records privately and securely to achieve specified improvements in care delivery. Federal incentive payments were offered in 2011 for hospitals that had satisfied "meaningful use" criteria. A longitudinal study of nonfederal hospital information technology (IT) budgets (N = 493) during the years 2009 to 2011 found increases in the percentage of hospital annual operating budgets allocated to IT in the years leading up to these federal incentives. This increase was most pronounced among hospitals receiving high proportions of their reimbursements from Medicaid, followed by hospitals receiving high proportions of their reimbursements from Medicare, possibly indicating a budget shift during this period to more IT spending to achieve meaningful-use policy guidelines.

Proactive Interference Does Not Meaningfully Distort Visual Working Memory Capacity Estimates in the Canonical Change Detection Task

PubMed Central

Lin, Po-Han; Luck, Steven J.

2012-01-01

The change detection task has become a standard method for estimating the storage capacity of visual working memory. Most researchers assume that this task isolates the properties of an active short-term storage system that can be dissociated from long-term memory systems. However, long-term memory storage may influence performance on this task. In particular, memory traces from previous trials may create proactive interference that sometimes leads to errors, thereby reducing estimated capacity. Consequently, the capacity of visual working memory may be higher than is usually thought, and correlations between capacity and other measures of cognition may reflect individual differences in proactive interference rather than individual differences in the capacity of the short-term storage system. Indeed, previous research has shown that change detection performance can be influenced by proactive interference under some conditions. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the canonical version of the change detection task – in which the to-be-remembered information consists of simple, briefly presented features – is influenced by proactive interference. Two experiments were conducted using methods that ordinarily produce substantial evidence of proactive interference, but no proactive interference was observed. Thus, the canonical version of the change detection task can be used to assess visual working memory capacity with no meaningful influence of proactive interference. PMID:22403556

Proactive interference does not meaningfully distort visual working memory capacity estimates in the canonical change detection task.

PubMed

Lin, Po-Han; Luck, Steven J

2012-01-01

The change detection task has become a standard method for estimating the storage capacity of visual working memory. Most researchers assume that this task isolates the properties of an active short-term storage system that can be dissociated from long-term memory systems. However, long-term memory storage may influence performance on this task. In particular, memory traces from previous trials may create proactive interference that sometimes leads to errors, thereby reducing estimated capacity. Consequently, the capacity of visual working memory may be higher than is usually thought, and correlations between capacity and other measures of cognition may reflect individual differences in proactive interference rather than individual differences in the capacity of the short-term storage system. Indeed, previous research has shown that change detection performance can be influenced by proactive interference under some conditions. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the canonical version of the change detection task - in which the to-be-remembered information consists of simple, briefly presented features - is influenced by proactive interference. Two experiments were conducted using methods that ordinarily produce substantial evidence of proactive interference, but no proactive interference was observed. Thus, the canonical version of the change detection task can be used to assess visual working memory capacity with no meaningful influence of proactive interference.

Scientific Caricatures in the Earth Science Classroom: An Alternative Assessment for Meaningful Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clary, Renee M.; Wandersee, James H.

2010-01-01

Archive-based, historical research of materials produced during the Golden Age of Geology (1788-1840) uncovered scientific caricatures (SCs) which may serve as a unique form of knowledge representation for students today. SCs played important roles in the past, stimulating critical inquiry among early geologists and fueling debates that addressed key theoretical issues. When historical SCs were utilized in a large-enrollment college Earth History course, student response was positive. Therefore, we offered SCs as an optional assessment tool. Paired t-tests that compared individual students’ performances with the SC option, as well as without the SC option, showed a significant positive difference favoring scientific caricatures ( α = 0.05). Content analysis of anonymous student survey responses revealed three consistent findings: (a) students enjoyed expressing science content correctly but creatively through SCs, (b) development of SCs required deeper knowledge integration and understanding of the content than conventional test items, and (c) students appreciated having SC item options on their examinations, whether or not they took advantage of them. We think that incorporation of SCs during assessment may effectively expand the variety of methods for probing understanding, thereby increasing the mode validity of current geoscience tests.

Methods for land use impact assessment: A review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perminova, Tataina, E-mail: tatiana.perminova@utt.fr; Department of Geoecology and Geochemistry, Institute of Natural Resources, National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30 Lenin Avenue, 634050 Tomsk; Sirina, Natalia, E-mail: natalia.sirina@utt.fr

Many types of methods to assess land use impact have been developed. Nevertheless a systematic synthesis of all these approaches is necessary to highlight the most commonly used and most effective methods. Given the growing interest in this area of research, a review of the different methods of assessing land use impact (LUI) was performed using bibliometric analysis. One hundred eighty seven articles of agricultural and biological science, and environmental sciences were examined. According to our results, the most frequently used land use assessment methods are Life-Cycle Assessment, Material Flow Analysis/Input–Output Analysis, Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecological Footprint. Comparison ofmore » the methods allowed their specific features to be identified and to arrive at the conclusion that a combination of several methods is the best basis for a comprehensive analysis of land use impact assessment. - Highlights: • We identified the most frequently used methods in land use impact assessment. • A comparison of the methods based on several criteria was carried out. • Agricultural land use is by far the most common area of study within the methods. • Incentive driven methods, like LCA, arouse the most interest in this field.« less

Programmatic assessment of competency-based workplace learning: when theory meets practice

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In competency-based medical education emphasis has shifted towards outcomes, capabilities, and learner-centeredness. Together with a focus on sustained evidence of professional competence this calls for new methods of teaching and assessment. Recently, medical educators advocated the use of a holistic, programmatic approach towards assessment. Besides maximum facilitation of learning it should improve the validity and reliability of measurements and documentation of competence development. We explored how, in a competency-based curriculum, current theories on programmatic assessment interacted with educational practice. Methods In a development study including evaluation, we investigated the implementation of a theory-based programme of assessment. Between April 2011 and May 2012 quantitative evaluation data were collected and used to guide group interviews that explored the experiences of students and clinical supervisors with the assessment programme. We coded the transcripts and emerging topics were organised into a list of lessons learned. Results The programme mainly focuses on the integration of learning and assessment by motivating and supporting students to seek and accumulate feedback. The assessment instruments were aligned to cover predefined competencies to enable aggregation of information in a structured and meaningful way. Assessments that were designed as formative learning experiences were increasingly perceived as summative by students. Peer feedback was experienced as a valuable method for formative feedback. Social interaction and external guidance seemed to be of crucial importance to scaffold self-directed learning. Aggregating data from individual assessments into a holistic portfolio judgement required expertise and extensive training and supervision of judges. Conclusions A programme of assessment with low-stakes assessments providing simultaneously formative feedback and input for summative decisions proved not easy to implement

Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler.

PubMed

Engesser, Sabrina; Ridley, Amanda R; Townsend, Simon W

2016-05-24

Language's expressive power is largely attributable to its compositionality: meaningful words are combined into larger/higher-order structures with derived meaning. Despite its importance, little is known regarding the evolutionary origins and emergence of this syntactic ability. Although previous research has shown a rudimentary capability to combine meaningful calls in primates, because of a scarcity of comparative data, it is unclear to what extent analog forms might also exist outside of primates. Here, we address this ambiguity and provide evidence for rudimentary compositionality in the discrete vocal system of a social passerine, the pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Natural observations and predator presentations revealed that babblers produce acoustically distinct alert calls in response to close, low-urgency threats and recruitment calls when recruiting group members during locomotion. On encountering terrestrial predators, both vocalizations are combined into a "mobbing sequence," potentially to recruit group members in a dangerous situation. To investigate whether babblers process the sequence in a compositional way, we conducted systematic experiments, playing back the individual calls in isolation as well as naturally occurring and artificial sequences. Babblers reacted most strongly to mobbing sequence playbacks, showing a greater attentiveness and a quicker approach to the loudspeaker, compared with individual calls or control sequences. We conclude that the sequence constitutes a compositional structure, communicating information on both the context and the requested action. Our work supports previous research suggesting combinatoriality as a viable mechanism to increase communicative output and indicates that the ability to combine and process meaningful vocal structures, a basic syntax, may be more widespread than previously thought.

A novel summary report of colonoscopy: timeline visualization providing meaningful colonoscopy video information.

PubMed

Cho, Minwoo; Kim, Jee Hyun; Kong, Hyoun Joong; Hong, Kyoung Sup; Kim, Sungwan

2018-05-01

The colonoscopy adenoma detection rate depends largely on physician experience and skill, and overlooked colorectal adenomas could develop into cancer. This study assessed a system that detects polyps and summarizes meaningful information from colonoscopy videos. One hundred thirteen consecutive patients had colonoscopy videos prospectively recorded at the Seoul National University Hospital. Informative video frames were extracted using a MATLAB support vector machine (SVM) model and classified as bleeding, polypectomy, tool, residue, thin wrinkle, folded wrinkle, or common. Thin wrinkle, folded wrinkle, and common frames were reanalyzed using SVM for polyp detection. The SVM model was applied hierarchically for effective classification and optimization of the SVM. The mean classification accuracy according to type was over 93%; sensitivity was over 87%. The mean sensitivity for polyp detection was 82.1%, and the positive predicted value (PPV) was 39.3%. Polyps detected using the system were larger (6.3 ± 6.4 vs. 4.9 ± 2.5 mm; P = 0.003) with a more pedunculated morphology (Yamada type III, 10.2 vs. 0%; P < 0.001; Yamada type IV, 2.8 vs. 0%; P < 0.001) than polyps missed by the system. There were no statistically significant differences in polyp distribution or histology between the groups. Informative frames and suspected polyps were presented on a timeline. This summary was evaluated using the system usability scale questionnaire; 89.3% of participants expressed positive opinions. We developed and verified a system to extract meaningful information from colonoscopy videos. Although further improvement and validation of the system is needed, the proposed system is useful for physicians and patients.

A virtual reality assessment and training system for unilateral neglect.

PubMed

Kim, Kwanguk; Kim, Jaehun; Ku, Jeonghun; Kim, Deog Young; Chang, Won Hyek; Shin, Dong Ik; Lee, Jang Han; Kim, In Young; Kim, Sun I

2004-12-01

Patients with unilateral neglect have problems reporting, responding, or orienting to novel or meaningful stimuli that is presented to the side opposite to that of a brain lesion. This creates a serous problem in regards to daily living activities. However, the established methods for assessing and training of unilateral neglect patients have several deficits. Recently, virtual reality (VR) technologies have been used as an assessment and treatment tool for rehabilitation. Hence, this study designed a VR system to assess and train unilateral neglect patients. In addition, the suitability and feasibility of our VR system for unilateral neglect patients was verified.

Meaningfulness of Sex Differences in Selected Interest-Values Test Scores.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plant, Walter T.; Southern, Mara L.

This research paper examines the meaningfulness of sex differences in the Allport, Vernon and Lindzey (AVL) Study of Values Scale and in selected scales of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII), using somewhat diverse groups of men and women. By comparing men's and women's scores on the two measures, it was found that little accuracy in…

Types of Meaningfulness of Life and Values of Future Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salikhova, Nailia R.

2016-01-01

The leading role of meaning of life in regulation of human's activity of all types provides the relevance of the research. The goal of the paper is to identify and describe types of meaningfulness of life in future teachers, and to reveal the specificity of values hierarchy indicative of each type. The leading approach applied in the research was…

Hospital Characteristics are Associated With Readiness to Attain Stage 2 Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records.

PubMed

Kim, Jungyeon; Ohsfeldt, Robert L; Gamm, Larry D; Radcliff, Tiffany A; Jiang, Luohua

2017-06-01

To examine the difference between rural and urban hospitals as to their overall level of readiness for stage 2 meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) and to identify other key factors that affect their readiness for stage 2 meaningful use. A conceptual framework based on the theory of organizational readiness for change was used in a cross-sectional multivariate analysis using 2,083 samples drawn from the HIMSS Analytics survey conducted with US hospitals in 2013. Rural hospitals were less likely to be ready for stage 2 meaningful use compared to urban hospitals in the United States (OR = 0.49) in our final model. Hospitals' past experience with an information exchange initiative, staff size in the information system department, and the Chief Information Officer (CIO)'s responsibility for health information management were identified as the most critical organizational contextual factors that were associated with hospitals' readiness for stage 2. Rural hospitals lag behind urban hospitals in EHR adoption, which will hinder the interoperability of EHRs among providers across the nation. The identification of critical factors that relate to the adoption of EHR systems provides insights into possible organizational change efforts that can help hospitals to succeed in attaining meaningful use requirements. Rural hospitals have increasingly limited resources, which have resulted in a struggle for these facilities to attain meaningful use. Given increasing closures among rural hospitals, it is all the more important that EHR development focus on advancing rural hospital quality of care and linkages with patients and other organizations supporting the care of their patients. © 2016 National Rural Health Association.

Assessment That Informs Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorson, Annette, Ed.

2000-01-01

Assessment is more than simply ascribing an 'A' or a 'B' to a particular student achievement. In an era of state-mandated proficiencies and alternative assessment strategies, educators need practical ideas they can use to meaningfully assess their students' learning and their own practice. This issue of "ENC Focus" centers on the topic of inquiry…

Are Multiple Measures Meaningful?: Lessons from a Statewide Performance Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Gail Lynn; Roswell, Barbara Sherr

2001-01-01

To determine the factors that contribute to or compromise the effectiveness of multiscored items, this study combined analysis of statewide score data from the 1996 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests with systematic analyses of 60 activities providing measures of writing, language usage, or both, and one or more content areas.…

Methods for Aquatic Resource Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

The Methods for Aquatic Resource Assessment (MARA) project consists of three main activities in support of assessing the conditions of the nation’s aquatic resources: 1) scientific support for EPA Office of Water’s national aquatic resource surveys; 2) spatial predications of riv...

California safety-net hospitals likely to be penalized by ACA value, readmission, and meaningful-use programs.

PubMed

Gilman, Matlin; Adams, E Kathleen; Hockenberry, Jason M; Wilson, Ira B; Milstein, Arnold S; Becker, Edmund R

2014-08-01

The Affordable Care Act includes provisions to increase the value obtained from health care spending. A growing concern among health policy experts is that new Medicare policies designed to improve the quality and efficiency of hospital care, such as value-based purchasing (VBP), the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), and electronic health record (EHR) meaningful-use criteria, will disproportionately affect safety-net hospitals, which are already facing reduced disproportionate-share hospital (DSH) payments under both Medicare and Medicaid. We examined hospitals in California to determine whether safety-net institutions were more likely than others to incur penalties under these programs. To assess quality, we also examined whether mortality outcomes were different at these hospitals. Our study found that compared to non-safety-net hospitals, safety-net institutions had lower thirty-day risk-adjusted mortality rates in the period 2009-11 for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia and marginally lower adjusted Medicare costs. Nonetheless, safety-net hospitals were more likely than others to be penalized under the VBP program and the HRRP and more likely not to meet EHR meaningful-use criteria. The combined effects of Medicare value-based payment policies on the financial viability of safety-net hospitals need to be considered along with DSH payment cuts as national policy makers further incorporate performance measures into the overall payment system. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

The Right to Appropriate and Meaningful Education for Children with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, David; Goodall, Craig

2015-01-01

This paper will explore from a "child's rights perspective" the "right" of children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) to appropriate and meaningful education. Human "rights" principles within international law will be evaluated in relation to how they have been interpreted and applied in relation to achieving this…

The co-creation of meaningful action: bridging enaction and interactional sociology.

PubMed

De Jaegher, Hanne; Peräkylä, Anssi; Stevanovic, Melisa

2016-05-05

What makes possible the co-creation of meaningful action? In this paper, we go in search of an answer to this question by combining insights from interactional sociology and enaction. Both research schools investigate social interactions as such, and conceptualize their organization in terms of autonomy. We ask what it could mean for an interaction to be autonomous, and discuss the structures and processes that contribute to and are maintained in the so-called interaction order. We also discuss the role played by individual vulnerability as well as the vulnerability of social interaction processes in the co-creation of meaningful action. Finally, we outline some implications of this interdisciplinary fraternization for the empirical study of social understanding, in particular in social neuroscience and psychology, pointing out the need for studies based on dynamic systems approaches on origins and references of coordination, and experimental designs to help understand human co-presence. © 2016 The Authors.

The co-creation of meaningful action: bridging enaction and interactional sociology

PubMed Central

Peräkylä, Anssi; Stevanovic, Melisa

2016-01-01

What makes possible the co-creation of meaningful action? In this paper, we go in search of an answer to this question by combining insights from interactional sociology and enaction. Both research schools investigate social interactions as such, and conceptualize their organization in terms of autonomy. We ask what it could mean for an interaction to be autonomous, and discuss the structures and processes that contribute to and are maintained in the so-called interaction order. We also discuss the role played by individual vulnerability as well as the vulnerability of social interaction processes in the co-creation of meaningful action. Finally, we outline some implications of this interdisciplinary fraternization for the empirical study of social understanding, in particular in social neuroscience and psychology, pointing out the need for studies based on dynamic systems approaches on origins and references of coordination, and experimental designs to help understand human co-presence. PMID:27069055

Objective Methodology to Assess Meaningful Research Productivity by Orthopaedic Residency Departments: Validation Against Widely Distributed Ranking Metrics and Published Surrogates.

PubMed

Jones, Louis B; Goel, Sameer; Hung, Leroy Y; Graves, Matthew L; Spitler, Clay A; Russell, George V; Bergin, Patrick F

2018-04-01

The mission of any academic orthopaedic training program can be divided into 3 general areas of focus: clinical care, academic performance, and research. Clinical care is evaluated on clinical volume, patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and becoming increasingly focused on data-driven quality metrics. Academic performance of a department can be used to motivate individual surgeons, but objective measures are used to define a residency program. Annual in-service examinations serve as a marker of resident knowledge base, and board pass rates are clearly scrutinized. Research productivity, however, has proven harder to objectively quantify. In an effort to improve transparency and better account for conflicts of interest, bias, and self-citation, multiple bibliometric measures have been developed. Rather than using individuals' research productivity as a surrogate for departmental research, we sought to establish an objective methodology to better assess a residency program's ability to conduct meaningful research. In this study, we describe a process to assess the number and quality of publications produced by an orthopaedic residency department. This would allow chairmen and program directors to benchmark their current production and make measurable goals for future research investment. The main goal of the benchmarking system is to create an "h-index" for residency programs. To do this, we needed to create a list of relevant articles in the orthopaedic literature. We used the Journal Citation Reports. This publication lists all orthopaedic journals that are given an impact factor rating every year. When we accessed the Journal Citation Reports database, there were 72 journals included in the orthopaedic literature section. To ensure only relevant, impactful journals were included, we selected journals with an impact factor greater than 0.95 and an Eigenfactor Score greater than 0.00095. After excluding journals not meeting these criteria, we were left with 45

Fostering Self-Reflection and Meaningful Learning: Earth Science Professional Development for Middle School Science Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monet, Julie A.; Etkina, Eugenia

2008-10-01

This paper describes the analysis of teachers’ journal reflections during an inquiry-based professional development program. As a part of their learning experience, participants reflected on what they learned and how they learned. Progress of subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge was assessed though surveys and pre- and posttests. We found that teachers have difficulties reflecting on their learning and posing meaningful questions. The teachers who could describe how they reasoned from evidence to understand a concept had the highest learning gains. In contrast those teachers who seldom or never described learning a concept by reasoning from evidence showed the smallest learning gains. This analysis suggests that learning to reflect on one’s learning should be an integral part of teachers’ professional development experiences.

Accurate and Inaccurate Conceptions about Osmosis That Accompanied Meaningful Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuckerman, June Trop

This study focused on the knowledge of six outstanding science students who solved an osmosis problem meaningfully. That is, they used appropriate and substantially accurate conceptual knowledge to generate an answer. Three generated a correct answer; three, an incorrect answer. This paper identifies both the accurate and inaccurate conceptions…

The Potato Chip Really Does Look Like Elvis! Neural Hallmarks of Conceptual Processing Associated with Finding Novel Shapes Subjectively Meaningful

PubMed Central

Federmeier, Kara D.; Paller, Ken A.

2012-01-01

Clouds and inkblots often compellingly resemble something else—faces, animals, or other identifiable objects. Here, we investigated illusions of meaning produced by novel visual shapes. Individuals found some shapes meaningful and others meaningless, with considerable variability among individuals in these subjective categorizations. Repetition for shapes endorsed as meaningful produced conceptual priming in a priming test along with concurrent activity reductions in cortical regions associated with conceptual processing of real objects. Subjectively meaningless shapes elicited robust activity in the same brain areas, but activity was not influenced by repetition. Thus, all shapes were conceptually evaluated, but stable conceptual representations supported neural priming for meaningful shapes only. During a recognition memory test, performance was associated with increased frontoparietal activity, regardless of meaningfulness. In contrast, neural conceptual priming effects for meaningful shapes occurred during both priming and recognition testing. These different patterns of brain activation as a function of stimulus repetition, type of memory test, and subjective meaningfulness underscore the distinctive neural bases of conceptual fluency versus episodic memory retrieval. Finding meaning in ambiguous stimuli appears to depend on conceptual evaluation and cortical processing events similar to those typically observed for known objects. To the brain, the vaguely Elvis-like potato chip truly can provide a substitute for the King himself. PMID:22079921

The Effect of Patient Portals on Quality Outcomes and Its Implications to Meaningful Use: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act imposes pressure on health care organizations to qualify for “Meaningful Use”. It is assumed that portals should increase patient participation in medical decisions, but whether or not the use of portals improves outcomes remains to be seen. Objective The purpose of this systemic review is to outline and summarize study results on the effect of patient portals on quality, or chronic-condition outcomes as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and its implications to Meaningful Use since the beginning of 2011. This review updates and builds on the work by Ammenwerth, Schnell-Inderst, and Hoerbst. Methods We performed a systematic literature search in PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. We identified any data-driven study, quantitative or qualitative, that examined a relationship between patient portals, or patient portal features, and outcomes. We also wanted to relate the findings back to Meaningful Use criteria. Over 4000 articles were screened, and 27 were analyzed and summarized for this systematic review. Results We identified 26 studies and 1 review, and we summarized their findings and applicability to our research question. Very few studies associated use of the patient portal, or its features, to improved outcomes; 37% (10/27) of papers reported improvements in medication adherence, disease awareness, self-management of disease, a decrease of office visits, an increase in preventative medicine, and an increase in extended office visits, at the patient’s request for additional information. The results also show an increase in quality in terms of patient satisfaction and customer retention, but there are weak results on medical outcomes. Conclusions The results of this review demonstrate that more health care organizations today offer features of a patient portal than in the review published in 2011. Articles reviewed rarely analyzed a full

Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler

PubMed Central

Engesser, Sabrina; Ridley, Amanda R.; Townsend, Simon W.

2016-01-01

Language’s expressive power is largely attributable to its compositionality: meaningful words are combined into larger/higher-order structures with derived meaning. Despite its importance, little is known regarding the evolutionary origins and emergence of this syntactic ability. Although previous research has shown a rudimentary capability to combine meaningful calls in primates, because of a scarcity of comparative data, it is unclear to what extent analog forms might also exist outside of primates. Here, we address this ambiguity and provide evidence for rudimentary compositionality in the discrete vocal system of a social passerine, the pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Natural observations and predator presentations revealed that babblers produce acoustically distinct alert calls in response to close, low-urgency threats and recruitment calls when recruiting group members during locomotion. On encountering terrestrial predators, both vocalizations are combined into a “mobbing sequence,” potentially to recruit group members in a dangerous situation. To investigate whether babblers process the sequence in a compositional way, we conducted systematic experiments, playing back the individual calls in isolation as well as naturally occurring and artificial sequences. Babblers reacted most strongly to mobbing sequence playbacks, showing a greater attentiveness and a quicker approach to the loudspeaker, compared with individual calls or control sequences. We conclude that the sequence constitutes a compositional structure, communicating information on both the context and the requested action. Our work supports previous research suggesting combinatoriality as a viable mechanism to increase communicative output and indicates that the ability to combine and process meaningful vocal structures, a basic syntax, may be more widespread than previously thought. PMID:27155011

An empirically based conceptual framework for fostering meaningful patient engagement in research.

PubMed

Hamilton, Clayon B; Hoens, Alison M; Backman, Catherine L; McKinnon, Annette M; McQuitty, Shanon; English, Kelly; Li, Linda C

2018-02-01

Patient engagement in research (PEIR) is promoted to improve the relevance and quality of health research, but has little conceptualization derived from empirical data. To address this issue, we sought to develop an empirically based conceptual framework for meaningful PEIR founded on a patient perspective. We conducted a qualitative secondary analysis of in-depth interviews with 18 patient research partners from a research centre-affiliated patient advisory board. Data analysis involved three phases: identifying the themes, developing a framework and confirming the framework. We coded and organized the data, and abstracted, illustrated, described and explored the emergent themes using thematic analysis. Directed content analysis was conducted to derive concepts from 18 publications related to PEIR to supplement, confirm or refute, and extend the emergent conceptual framework. The framework was reviewed by four patient research partners on our research team. Participants' experiences of working with researchers were generally positive. Eight themes emerged: procedural requirements, convenience, contributions, support, team interaction, research environment, feel valued and benefits. These themes were interconnected and formed a conceptual framework to explain the phenomenon of meaningful PEIR from a patient perspective. This framework, the PEIR Framework, was endorsed by the patient research partners on our team. The PEIR Framework provides guidance on aspects of PEIR to address for meaningful PEIR. It could be particularly useful when patient-researcher partnerships are led by researchers with little experience of engaging patients in research. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Workplace-Based Assessment: Effects of Rater Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Govaerts, M. J. B.; Schuwirth, L. W. T.; Van der Vleuten, C. P. M.; Muijtjens, A. M. M.

2011-01-01

Traditional psychometric approaches towards assessment tend to focus exclusively on quantitative properties of assessment outcomes. This may limit more meaningful educational approaches towards workplace-based assessment (WBA). Cognition-based models of WBA argue that assessment outcomes are determined by cognitive processes by raters which are…

What Do Medical Students Perceive as Meaningful in the Psychiatry Clerkship Learning Environment? A Content Analysis of Critical Incident Narratives.

PubMed

Gathright, Molly M; Thrush, Carol; Guise, J Benjamin; Krain, Lewis; Clardy, James

2016-04-01

In order to better understand the professional development of medical students during their psychiatry clerkship, this study identifies common themes and characteristics of students' critical incident narratives which are designed to capture a recount of clerkship experiences they perceived as meaningful. A total of 205 narratives submitted by psychiatry clerkship students in 2010-2011 were subjected to a thematic analysis using a methodological approach and adaptation of categories derived from prior similar research. Descriptive content analysis was also carried out to assess the valence of the narrative content, characters involved, and whether there was evidence that the experience changed students' perspectives in some way. Narratives contained a variety of positive (19%) and negative content (24%) and many contained a hybrid of both (57%). The most common theme (29%) concerned issues of respect and disrespect in patient, clinical, and coworker interactions. In general, the majority (68%) of students' meaningful experience narratives reflected a change in their perspective (e.g., I learned that...). Narratives containing positive and hybrid content were associated with a change in students' perspective (χ(2) = 10.61, df = 2, p < 0.005). Medical students are keenly aware of the learning environment. Positive and hybrid critical incident narratives were associated with a stated change in their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors due to the experience. Understanding the events that are meaningful to students can also provide rich feedback to medical educators regarding the ways in which students perceive clinical learning environments and how to best foster their professional development.

Meaningful participation for children in the Dutch child protection system: A critical analysis of relevant provisions in policy documents.

PubMed

Bouma, Helen; López López, Mónica; Knorth, Erik J; Grietens, Hans

2018-05-01

Policymakers are increasingly focusing on the participation of children in the child protection system (CPS). However, research shows that actual practice still needs to be improved. Embedding children's participation in legislation and policy documents is one important prerequisite for achieving meaningful participation in child protection practice. In this study, the participation of children in the Dutch CPS under the new Youth Act 2015 is critically analyzed. National legislation and policy documents were studied using a model of "meaningful participation" based on article 12 of the UNCRC. Results show that the idea of children's participation is deeply embedded in the current Dutch CPS. However, Dutch policy documents do not fully cover the three dimensions of what is considered to be meaningful participation for children: informing, hearing, and involving. Furthermore, children's participation differs among the organizations included in the child protection chain. A clear overall policy concerning the participation of children in the Dutch CPS is lacking. The conclusions of this critical analysis of policy documents and the framework of meaningful participation presented may provide a basis for the embedding of meaningful participation for children in child protection systems of other countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a More Meaningful Involvement of Librarians in Academic Program Reviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowker, Lynne

2018-01-01

Purpose: Using a descriptive case study approach, this paper aims to validate academic librarians' perceptions that they are marginalized by faculty during academic program reviews, and recommends ways for the two groups to collaborate more effectively to make program reviews more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes a case…

Sustained Partnerships: The Establishment and Development of Meaningful Student-Faculty Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urso, David J.

2012-01-01

This phenomenological study was designed to explore the one-on-one connections between successful students and the faculty members with whom a meaningful relationship was fostered. The specific focus was on the establishment, development, and reciprocity within the context of the relationships. By comparing the students' experiences to their…

Transforming City Schools through Art: Approaches to Meaningful K-12 Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutzel, Karen; Bastos, Flavia M. C.; Cozier, Kimberly J.

2012-01-01

This anthology places art at the center of meaningful urban education reform. Providing a fresh perspective on urban education, the contributors describe a positive, asset-based community development model designed to tap into the teaching/learning potential already available in urban cities. Rather than focusing on a lack of resources, this…

Can you prove it? There is no magic bullet for reporting capabilities to meet meaningful use guidelines.

PubMed

Lawrence, Daphne

2010-04-01

In order to qualify for meaningful use in 2011, hospitals will only need to use attestation. Hospitals will have to submit data to CMS electronically in 2012. Not all the data elements needed to prove meaningful use are routinely captured. Standardization is a stumbling block to reporting. For medium to large hospitals using a vendor to set up the reporting is an option.

Methods for Assessment of Memory Reactivation.

PubMed

Liu, Shizhao; Grosmark, Andres D; Chen, Zhe

2018-04-13

It has been suggested that reactivation of previously acquired experiences or stored information in declarative memories in the hippocampus and neocortex contributes to memory consolidation and learning. Understanding memory consolidation depends crucially on the development of robust statistical methods for assessing memory reactivation. To date, several statistical methods have seen established for assessing memory reactivation based on bursts of ensemble neural spike activity during offline states. Using population-decoding methods, we propose a new statistical metric, the weighted distance correlation, to assess hippocampal memory reactivation (i.e., spatial memory replay) during quiet wakefulness and slow-wave sleep. The new metric can be combined with an unsupervised population decoding analysis, which is invariant to latent state labeling and allows us to detect statistical dependency beyond linearity in memory traces. We validate the new metric using two rat hippocampal recordings in spatial navigation tasks. Our proposed analysis framework may have a broader impact on assessing memory reactivations in other brain regions under different behavioral tasks.

Hyperinsulinemic Normoglycemia does not meaningfully improve Myocardial Performance during Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Trial

PubMed Central

Duncan, Andra E.; Kashy, Babak Kateby; Sarwar, Sheryar; Singh, Akhil; Stenina-Adognravi, Olga; Christoffersen, Steffen; Alfirevic, Andrej; Sale, Shiva; Yang, Dongsheng; Thomas, James D.; Gillinov, Marc; Sessler, Daniel I.

2015-01-01

Background Glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) administration during cardiac surgery inconsistently improves myocardial function, perhaps because hyperglycemia negates the beneficial effects of GIK. The hyperinsulinemic normoglycemic clamp (HNC) technique may better enhance the myocardial benefits of GIK. We extended previous GIK investigations by: 1) targeting normoglycemia while administering a glucose-insulin-potassium infusion (HNC); 2) using improved echocardiographic measures of myocardial deformation, specifically myocardial longitudinal strain and strain rate; and, 3) assessing activation of glucose metabolic pathways. Methods 100 patients having aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis were randomly assigned to HNC (high-dose insulin with concomitant glucose infusion titrated to normoglycemia) versus standard therapy (insulin treatment if glucose >150 mg/dL). Our primary outcomes were left ventricular longitudinal strain and strain rate, assessed using speckle-tracking echocardiography. Right atrial tissue was analyzed for activation of glycolysis/pyruvate oxidation and alternative metabolic pathways. Results Time-weighted mean glucose concentrations were lower with HNC (127±19 mg/dL) than standard care (177±41 mg/dL; P<0.001). Echocardiographic data were adequate in 72 patients for strain analysis and 67 patients for strain rate analysis. HNC did not improve myocardial strain, with an HNC minus standard therapy difference of −1.2 (97.5%CI: −2.9, 0.5)%; P=0.11. Strain rate was significantly better, but by a clinically unimportant amount: −0.16 (−0.30, −0.03) sec−1, P = 0.007. There was no evidence of increased glycolytic, pyruvate oxidation, or hexosamine biosynthetic pathway activation in right atrial samples (n = 20, HNC; 22, standard therapy). Conclusions Administration of glucose and insulin while targeting normoglycemia during aortic valve replacement did not meaningfully improve myocardial function. PMID:26200180

Finding consensus on frailty assessment in acute care through Delphi method

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Objective We seek to address gaps in knowledge and agreement around optimal frailty assessment in the acute medical care setting. Frailty is a common term describing older persons who are at increased risk of developing multimorbidity, disability, institutionalisation and death. Consensus has not been reached on the practical implementation of this concept to assess clinically and manage older persons in the acute care setting. Design Modified Delphi, via electronic questionnaire. Questions included ranking items that best recognise frailty, optimal timing, location and contextual elements of a successful tool. Intraclass correlation coefficients for overall levels of agreement, with consensus and stability tested by 2-way ANOVA with absolute agreement and Fisher's exact test. Participants A panel of national experts (academics, front-line clinicians and specialist charities) were invited to electronic correspondence. Results Variables reflecting accumulated deficit and high resource usage were perceived by participants as the most useful indicators of frailty in the acute care setting. The Acute Medical Unit and Care of the older Persons Ward were perceived as optimum settings for frailty assessment. ‘Clinically meaningful and relevant’, ‘simple (easy to use)’ and ‘accessible by multidisciplinary team’ were perceived as characteristics of a successful frailty assessment tool in the acute care setting. No agreement was reached on optimal timing, number of variables and organisational structures. Conclusions This study is a first step in developing consensus for a clinically relevant frailty assessment model for the acute care setting, providing content validation and illuminating contextual requirements. Testing on clinical data sets is a research priority. PMID:27742633

Conceptualizing death in a worldview consistent, meaningful way and its effects on worldview defense.

PubMed

Rogers, Ross

2011-02-01

Research within terror management theory (TMT) has shown that when mortality is made salient, people subsequently engage in worldview defense: an increase in derogation of an individual who does not share their worldview along with an increase in veneration of an individual who does. Research has also shown that high levels of self-esteem (either dispositionally possessed or artificially enhanced) or legitimization of one's meaning supplying system (worldview) can attenuate the increase in worldview defense typically seen after mortality salience. Extending these findings, this research examined the hypothesis that motivating participants to consider their mortality in a manner that was personally meaningful and thus consistent with their particular worldview would also serve to assuage the need for worldview defense. The research reported below supported this reasoning. Specifically, participants with a Christian religious background who were given the typical mortality salience prime produced more positive evaluations of a Christian target and more negative evaluations of a Jewish target. However, participants with a Christian religious background who were presented with a meaningful mortality salience induction produced evaluations of the Christian and Jewish targets that did not differ. The implications of conceptualizing death meaningfully are discussed.

Aging, culture, and memory for socially meaningful item-context associations: an East-West cross-cultural comparison study.

PubMed

Yang, Lixia; Li, Juan; Spaniol, Julia; Hasher, Lynn; Wilkinson, Andrea J; Yu, Jing; Niu, Yanan

2013-01-01

Research suggests that people in Eastern interdependent cultures process information more holistically and attend more to contextual information than do people in Western independent cultures. The current study examined the effects of culture and age on memory for socially meaningful item-context associations in 71 Canadians of Western European descent (35 young and 36 older) and 72 native Chinese citizens (36 young and 36 older). All participants completed two blocks of context memory tasks. During encoding, participants rated pictures of familiar objects. In one block, objects were rated either for their meaningfulness in the independent living context or their typicality in daily life. In the other block, objects were rated for their meaningfulness in the context of fostering relationships with others or for their typicality in daily life. The encoding in each block was followed by a recognition test in which participants identified pictures and their associated contexts. The results showed that Chinese outperformed Canadians in context memory, though both culture groups showed similar age-related deficits in item and context memory. The results suggest that Chinese are at an advantage in memory for socially meaningful item-context associations, an advantage that continues from young adulthood into old age.

Digital Storytelling: A Meaningful Technology-Integrated Approach for Engaged Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadik, Alaa

2008-01-01

Although research emphasizes the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum, the use of technology can only be effective if teachers themselves possess the expertise to use technology in a meaningful way in the classroom. The aim of this study was to assist Egyptian teachers in developing teaching and learning through the application…

Creating an Effective and Meaningful Learning Environment for High-Ability Learners!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Joy Lawson

2013-01-01

An effective and meaningful classroom for high-ability students is one in which teaching and learning is focused on meeting students' intellectual, academic, and psychosocial needs using specific strategies to impact their learning today as they prepare for tomorrow. As parents become more engaged with teachers, it also is important for them…

Computer Algebra, Virtual Learning Environment and Meaningful Learning: Is It Possible?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abar, Celina A. A. P.; Barbosa, Lisbete Madsen

2011-01-01

A major challenge faced by teachers nowadays relates to the usage of proper educational technology to achieve a true and meaningful learning experience involving time for reflection. Teachers constantly seek new ways to improve instruction, but in virtual learning environments they often find themselves in a new role, interacting in a dynamic…

Use of the Attribute Hierarchy Method for Development of Student Cognitive Models and Diagnostic Assessments in Geoscience Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corrigan, S.; Brodsky, L. M.; Loper, S.; Brown, N.; Curley, J.; Baker, J.; Goss, M.; Castek, J.; Barber, J.

2010-12-01

There is a recognized need to better understand student learning in the geosciences (Stofflet, 1994; Zalles, Quallmalz, Gobert and Pallant, 2007). Educators, cognitive psychologists and practicing scientists have also called for instructional approaches that support deep conceptual development (Manduca, Mogk and Stillings, 2004, Libarkin and Kurdziel, 2006). In both cases there is an important role for educational measures that can generate descriptions of how student understanding develops over time and inform instruction. The presenters will suggest one way of responding to these needs by describing the Attribute Hierarchy Method (AHM) of assessment (Leighton, Gierl and Hunka, 2004; Gierl, Cui, Wang and Zhou, 2008) as enacted in a large-scale earth science curriculum development project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The AHM is one approach to criterion referenced, diagnostic assessment that ties measure design to cognitive models of student learning in order to support justified inferences about students’ understanding and the knowledge required for continued development. The Attribute Hierarchy Method bears potential for researchers and practitioners interested in learning progressions and solves many problems associated with making meaningful, justified inferences about students’ understanding based on their assessment performances. The process followed to design and develop the project’s cognitive models as well as a description of how they are used in subsequent assessment task design will be emphasized in order to demonstrate how the AHM may be applied in the context of geoscience education. Results from over twenty student cognitive interviews, and two hypothesized cognitive models -- one describing a student pathway for understanding rock formation and a second describing a student pathway for increasingly sophisticated use of maps and models in the geosciences - are also described. Sample assessment items will be provided as

Sentence Processing as a Function of Syntax, Short Term Memory Capacity, the Meaningfulness of the Stimulus and Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gamlin, Peter J.

1971-01-01

Examines the effects of short term memory (STM) capacity, meaningfulness of stimuli, and age upon listeners' structuring of sentences. Results show that the interaction between STM capacity and meaningfulness (1) approached significance when data were collapsed over both age levels, and (2) was significant for one age level. Tables and references.…

Measuring Assessment Climate: A Developmental Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, John F.; Finan, Elaine; Martel, Michael

2017-01-01

Externally imposed assessment requirements in higher education call for documented attention to using assessment results for program improvement. Although this systematic process promises to lead to better learning outcomes it has also been challenged as ineffective and even harmful. What can make assessment truly meaningful and move beyond the…

Assessing the Assessment Methods: Climate Change and Hydrologic Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brekke, L. D.; Clark, M. P.; Gutmann, E. D.; Mizukami, N.; Mendoza, P. A.; Rasmussen, R.; Ikeda, K.; Pruitt, T.; Arnold, J. R.; Rajagopalan, B.

2014-12-01

The Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other water management agencies have an interest in developing reliable, science-based methods for incorporating climate change information into longer-term water resources planning. Such assessments must quantify projections of future climate and hydrology, typically relying on some form of spatial downscaling and bias correction to produce watershed-scale weather information that subsequently drives hydrology and other water resource management analyses (e.g., water demands, water quality, and environmental habitat). Water agencies continue to face challenging method decisions in these endeavors: (1) which downscaling method should be applied and at what resolution; (2) what observational dataset should be used to drive downscaling and hydrologic analysis; (3) what hydrologic model(s) should be used and how should these models be configured and calibrated? There is a critical need to understand the ramification of these method decisions, as they affect the signal and uncertainties produced by climate change assessments and, thus, adaptation planning. This presentation summarizes results from a three-year effort to identify strengths and weaknesses of widely applied methods for downscaling climate projections and assessing hydrologic conditions. Methods were evaluated from two perspectives: historical fidelity, and tendency to modulate a global climate model's climate change signal. On downscaling, four methods were applied at multiple resolutions: statistically using Bias Correction Spatial Disaggregation, Bias Correction Constructed Analogs, and Asynchronous Regression; dynamically using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Downscaling results were then used to drive hydrologic analyses over the contiguous U.S. using multiple models (VIC, CLM, PRMS), with added focus placed on case study basins within the Colorado Headwaters. The presentation will identify which types of climate changes are

Telling the Story of MindRising: Minecraft, Mindfulness and Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Deirdre; Brown, Mark; Críosta, Gar Mac

2016-01-01

This paper describes a unique project known as MindRising Games. It reports how the innovative use of Minecraft™ combined with the principles of mindfulness and meaningful learning contributed to rich digital story telling. MindRising Games was a competition, which was part of the 100-year commemoration of the Easter Rising, designed to celebrate…

Effects of Meaningfulness and Context on Information Processing in Third-Graders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, Theresa; Richman, Shanna

The effects of meaningfulness of the stimulus materials and the presence or absence of contextual cues on problem-solving behavior were investigated. Third-graders (N=80) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and their performance in a series of discrimination problems was observed. Subjects in Conditions I and II responded to stimuli…

Thematic Unit Planning in Social Studies: Make It Focused and Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Todd A.; Barnett, Jennifer A.

2008-01-01

Unit planning is perhaps the most difficult of the teacher duties to execute well. This paper offers suggestions for improving focus and increasing the meaningfulness of thematic unit content for students. Stressing the concept of a Big Understanding, it outlines 6 sequential steps in the creation of units which, when applied, not only establish a…

Pedagogical Background for Technology Education--Meaningful Learning in Theory and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Autio, Ossi

2009-01-01

One important theme in technology education is the growing need to develop the type of pedagogies that encourage pupils in authentic and meaningful learning experiences. Often, the teaching strategies of technology education are only a matter of teaching the handling of materials and tools, and the production of mere objects does not consider how…

Meaningful task-specific training (MTST) for stroke rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Arya, Kamal Narayan; Verma, Rajesh; Garg, R K; Sharma, V P; Agarwal, Monika; Aggarwal, G G

2012-01-01

The upper extremity motor deficit is one of the functional challenges in post stroke patients. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the meaningful task-specific training (MTST) on the upper extremity motor recovery during the subacute phase after a stroke. This was a randomized, controlled, double-blinded trial in the neurology department of a university hospital and occupational therapy unit of a rehabilitation institute. A convenience sample of 103 people, 4 to 24 weeks (mean, 12.15 weeks) after the stroke, was randomized into 2 groups (MTST, 51; standard training group, 52). Subjects in the Brunnstrom stage of arm recovery of 2 to 5 were included in the study. Ninety-five participants completed the 8-week follow-up. Participants were assigned to receive either the MTST or dose-matched standard training program based on the Brunnstrom stage and Bobath neurodevelopmental technique, 4 to 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), Graded Wolf Motor Function Test (GWMFT), and Motor Activity Log (MAL) were outcome measures The MTST group showed a positive improvement in the mean scores on the outcome measures at post and follow-up assessments in comparison to the control group. Further, statistically significant differences were observed in changes between the groups at post and follow-up assessment for FMA, ARAT, GWMFT, and MAL. The MTST produced statistically significant and clinically relevant improvements in the upper extremity motor recovery of the patients who had a subacute stroke.

Meaningful Statistics in Professional Practices as a Bridge between Mathematics and Science: An Evaluation of a Design Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dierdorp, Adri; Bakker, Arthur; van Maanen, Jan A.; Eijkelhof, Harrie M. C.

2014-01-01

Background: Creating coherence between school subjects mathematics and science and making these school subjects meaningful are still topical challenges. This study investigates how students make meaningful connections between mathematics, statistics, science and applications when they engage in a specially developed unit that is based on…

Guidelines to encourage the adoption and meaningful use of health information technologies in the South African healthcare landscape.

PubMed

Mostert-Phipps, Nicky; Pottas, Dalenca; Korpela, Mikko

2013-01-01

There are various benefits associated with the adoption and meaningful use of health information technologies (HITs) in the healthcare sector. Despite these benefits, the South African healthcare sector has been slow to adopt HITs such as electronic record systems. The purpose of this research project was to formulate guidelines to encourage the adoption and meaningful use of HITs in the South African healthcare landscape. A three-round Delphi study was conducted to identify factors that should be addressed to encourage the adoption and meaningful use of HITs in the South African healthcare landscape. The Delphi panel included 21 participants that were considered to be suitably knowledgeable regarding the area under consideration. Consensus was reached on 42 factors that were rated as having a direct to significant impact on the adoption and meaningful use of HITs in the South African context. These factors were further analysed to formulate 20 guidelines that indicate that there are a wide range of factors that would have to be addressed involving a multitude of stakeholders.

Enhancing Institutional Assessment Efforts through Qualitative Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Note Chism, Nancy; Banta, Trudy W.

2007-01-01

Qualitative methods can do much to describe context and illuminate the why behind patterns encountered in institutional assessment. Alone, or in combination with quantitative methods, they should be the approach of choice for many of the most important assessment questions. (Contains 1 table.)

Project Spectrum: An Innovative Assessment Alternative.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krechevsky, Mara

1991-01-01

Project Spectrum attempts to reconceptualize the traditional linguistic and logical/mathematical bases of intelligence. Spectrum blurs the line between curriculum and assessment, embeds assessment in meaningful, real-world activities, uses "intelligence-fair" measures, emphasizes children's strengths, and recognizes the stylistic…

Student Engagement: A Framework for On-Demand Performance Assessment Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Catherine; Kokka, Kari; Darling-Hammond, Linda; Dieckmann, Jack; Pacheco, Vivian Santana; Sandler, Susan; Bae, Soung

2016-01-01

Engaging students in meaningful applications of their knowledge is a key aspect of both addressing the standards and providing greater access. Not only do the standards emphasize the importance of meaningful engagement in real-world tasks, but evidence shows that engagement is strongly related to student performance on assessment tasks, especially…

Meaningful Engagement to Enhance Diversity: Broadened Impact Actualized

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitney, V. W.; Pyrtle, A. J.

2008-12-01

The MS PHD'S Professional Development Program was established by and for UR/US populations to facilitate increased and sustained participation within the Earth system science community. MS PHD'S is jointly funded by NSF and NASA. Fourteen (14) minority Earth system scientists served as Program mentors and one- hundred fifteen (115) minority and non-minority scientists served as Meeting Mentors to student participants. Representatives from fifty-six (56) agencies and institutions provided support and exposure to MS PHD'S student participants. Two hundred fifty-eight (258) highly qualified UR/US students completed on-line applications to participate in the MS PHD'S Professional Development Program. Because of funding limitations, slightly fewer than 50% of the applicants were selected to participate. One-hundred twenty-six (126) undergraduate and graduate students from 26 states and Puerto Rico participated in the MS PHD'S program. Sixty-eight (68) MS PHD'S student participants self-identified as African American; thirty-four (34) as Puerto Rican; nine (9) as Hispanic/Mexican American, ten (10) as Native American and one (1) each as African, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Multi-Ethnic. During the five year span of MS PHD'S programming, sixteen (16) student participants completed BS degrees, twelve (12) completed MS degrees and ten (10) completed the Doctoral degrees. How did MS PHD'S establish meaningful engagement to enhance diversity within the Earth system science community? This case study reveals replicable processes and constructs to enhance the quality of meaningful collaboration and engagement. In addition, the study addresses frequently asked questions (FAQ's) on outreach, recruitment, engagement, retention and success of students from underrepresented populations within diversity-focused programs.

Biotechnologies as a Context for Enhancing Junior High-School Students' Ability to Ask Meaningful Questions about Abstract Biological Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsher, G.; Dreyfus, A.

1999-01-01

Suggests a new approach to teaching about biochemical cellular processes by stimulating student interest in those biochemical processes that allowed for the outcomes of modern biotechnologies. Discusses the development of students' ability to ask meaningful questions about intra-cellular processes, and the resulting meaningful learning of relevant…

Examining the Relationship between Selected Grade 3-12 Teachers' Perceived Assessment Literacy and Their Classroom Assessment Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Mark E.

2017-01-01

The study examined the self-reported understandings of selected 3rd to 12th grade teachers had of assessment and the assessment practices they reported implementing in their classrooms along with evidence extracted from written lesson plans. The literature on classroom assessment supports the idea that teachers who create meaningful assessments,…

Perspective: The missing link in academic career planning and development: pursuit of meaningful and aligned work.

PubMed

Lieff, Susan J

2009-10-01

Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a growing challenge. It has been suggested that inattention to the humanistic values of the faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Ensuring the alignment of academic physicians' inner direction with their outer context is critical to professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Personal reflection on the synergy of one's strengths, passions, and values can help faculty members define meaningful work so as to enable clearer career decision making. The premise of this article is that an awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are important considerations in the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and ways in which that framework can be applied and taught in development programs are presented and discussed.

Nystagmus Assessments Documented by Emergency Physicians in Acute Dizziness Presentations: A Target for Decision Support?

PubMed Central

Kerber, Kevin A.; Morgenstern, Lewis B.; Meurer, William J.; McLaughlin, Thomas; Hall, Pamela A.; Forman, Jane; Fendrick, A. Mark; Newman-Toker, David E.

2011-01-01

Objectives Dizziness is a common presenting complaint to the emergency department (ED), and emergency physicians (EPs) consider these presentations a priority for decision support. Assessing for nystagmus and defining its features are important steps for any acute dizziness decision algorithm. The authors sought to describe nystagmus documentation in routine ED care to determine if nystagmus assessments might be an important target in decision support efforts. Methods Medical records from ED visits for dizziness were captured as part of a surveillance study embedded within an ongoing population-based cohort study. Visits with documentation of a nystagmus assessment were reviewed and coded for presence or absence of nystagmus, ability to draw a meaningful inference from the description, and coherence with the final EP diagnosis when a peripheral vestibular diagnosis was made. Results Of 1,091 visits for dizziness, 887 (81.3%) documented a nystagmus assessment. Nystagmus was present in 185 out of 887 (20.9%) visits. When nystagmus was present, no further characteristics were recorded in 48 of the 185 visits (26%). The documentation of nystagmus (including all descriptors recorded) enabled a meaningful inference about the localization or cause in only 10 of the 185 (5.4%) visits. The nystagmus description conflicted with the EP diagnosis in 113 (80.7%) of the 140 visits that received a peripheral vestibular diagnosis. Conclusions Nystagmus assessments are frequently documented in acute dizziness presentations, but details do not generally enable a meaningful inference. Recorded descriptions usually conflict with the diagnosis when a peripheral vestibular diagnosis is rendered. Nystagmus assessments might be an important target in developing decision support for dizziness presentations. PMID:21676060

Job enrichment: creating meaningful career development opportunities for nurses.

PubMed

Duffield, Christine; Baldwin, Richard; Roche, Michael; Wise, Sarah

2014-09-01

This paper presents an evaluation of a career development policy in South Australia which increased the number of senior staff nurse positions and provided senior registered nurses with time away from clinical duties to undertake agreed projects. We use Kanter's model of structural power and commitment theory to understand the dimensions of this policy. Development strategies for experienced staff who wish to remain at the bedside are needed, especially in smaller health services with limited opportunities for horizontal or vertical mobility. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted with 54 senior staff nurses who participated in the career structure arrangements. The policy enhanced the structure of opportunity in three ways: by increasing the number of senior staff nurse positions, the ladder steps were improved; undertaking strategic projects developed new skills; and the job enrichment approach facilitated time out from the immediate pressures of ward work and challenged nurses in a different way. Through job enrichment, South Australia has found a novel way of providing meaningful career development opportunities for experienced nurses. Methods of job enrichment need to be considered as part of career development policy, especially where movement between clinical facilities is limited and staff wish to remain at the bedside. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Engaging Faculty in the Assessment and Improvement of Students' Critical Thinking Using the Critical Thinking Assessment Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, Barry; Haynes, Ada

2011-01-01

Many assessment experts believe it is essential to develop faculty-driven assessment tools in order to engage faculty in meaningful assessment that can improve student learning. Tennessee Technological University (TTU) has been involved in an extended effort during the last ten years to develop, refine, and nationally disseminate an instrument to…

Assessment in the Weight Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Tim; Jenkins, Jayne

2006-01-01

Physical educators continually investigate purposeful, meaningful, and authentic means to assess student learning in relationship to the national standards. Here, the authors describe a means of assessing several of the national standards for physical education in a high school weight training class. Adopting the North Dakota Standards for…

Meaningful Gamification and Students' Motivation: A Strategy for Scaffolding Reading Material

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling, Lynette Tan Yuen

2018-01-01

Gamification is an innovative pedagogical strategy where digital games are used in an educational setting and as an aid to learning. Recent publications on gamification in the classroom investigate the concept of "meaningful gamification," where, in line with Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory, competency, autonomy, and…

Making a Natural Product Chemistry Course Meaningful with a Mini Project Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hakim, Aliefman; Liliasari; Kadarohman, Asep; Syah, Yana Maolana

2016-01-01

This paper discusses laboratory activities that can improve the meaningfulness of natural product chemistry course. These laboratory activities can be useful for students from many different disciplines including chemistry, pharmacy, and medicine. Students at the third-year undergraduate level of chemistry education undertake the project to…

An Interactive System of Computer Generated Graphic Displays for Motivating Meaningful Learning of Matrix Operations and Concepts of Matrix Algebra

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-09-01

community’s search for a workable set of standards for school mathematics . In 1989 the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ) established the...made by the Commission on Standards for School Mathematics to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ). Of the 40 students who...Abstract This -s-y evaluated students’ responses to a teaching method designed to involve students and teachers of mathematics in a meaningful learning

Aging, Culture, and Memory for Socially Meaningful Item-Context Associations: An East-West Cross-Cultural Comparison Study

PubMed Central

Yang, Lixia; Li, Juan; Spaniol, Julia; Hasher, Lynn; Wilkinson, Andrea J.; Yu, Jing; Niu, Yanan

2013-01-01

Research suggests that people in Eastern interdependent cultures process information more holistically and attend more to contextual information than do people in Western independent cultures. The current study examined the effects of culture and age on memory for socially meaningful item-context associations in 71 Canadians of Western European descent (35 young and 36 older) and 72 native Chinese citizens (36 young and 36 older). All participants completed two blocks of context memory tasks. During encoding, participants rated pictures of familiar objects. In one block, objects were rated either for their meaningfulness in the independent living context or their typicality in daily life. In the other block, objects were rated for their meaningfulness in the context of fostering relationships with others or for their typicality in daily life. The encoding in each block was followed by a recognition test in which participants identified pictures and their associated contexts. The results showed that Chinese outperformed Canadians in context memory, though both culture groups showed similar age-related deficits in item and context memory. The results suggest that Chinese are at an advantage in memory for socially meaningful item-context associations, an advantage that continues from young adulthood into old age. PMID:23593288

Integrating rangeland and pastureland assessment methods into a national grazingland assessment approach

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Grazingland resource allocation and decision making at the national scale need to be based on comparable metrics. However, in the USA, rangelands and pasturelands have traditionally been assessed using different methods and indicators. These differences in assessment methods limit the ability to con...

Comparative assessment of GIS-based methods and metrics for estimating long-term exposures to air pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulliver, John; de Hoogh, Kees; Fecht, Daniela; Vienneau, Danielle; Briggs, David

2011-12-01

The development of geographical information system techniques has opened up a wide array of methods for air pollution exposure assessment. The extent to which these provide reliable estimates of air pollution concentrations is nevertheless not clearly established. Nor is it clear which methods or metrics should be preferred in epidemiological studies. This paper compares the performance of ten different methods and metrics in terms of their ability to predict mean annual PM 10 concentrations across 52 monitoring sites in London, UK. Metrics analysed include indicators (distance to nearest road, traffic volume on nearest road, heavy duty vehicle (HDV) volume on nearest road, road density within 150 m, traffic volume within 150 m and HDV volume within 150 m) and four modelling approaches: based on the nearest monitoring site, kriging, dispersion modelling and land use regression (LUR). Measures were computed in a GIS, and resulting metrics calibrated and validated against monitoring data using a form of grouped jack-knife analysis. The results show that PM 10 concentrations across London show little spatial variation. As a consequence, most methods can predict the average without serious bias. Few of the approaches, however, show good correlations with monitored PM 10 concentrations, and most predict no better than a simple classification based on site type. Only land use regression reaches acceptable levels of correlation ( R2 = 0.47), though this can be improved by also including information on site type. This might therefore be taken as a recommended approach in many studies, though care is needed in developing meaningful land use regression models, and like any method they need to be validated against local data before their application as part of epidemiological studies.

Qualitative Assessment of Inquiry-Based Teaching Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briggs, Michael; Long, George; Owens, Katrina

2011-01-01

A new approach to teaching method assessment using student focused qualitative studies and the theoretical framework of mental models is proposed. The methodology is considered specifically for the advantages it offers when applied to the assessment of inquiry-based teaching methods. The theoretical foundation of mental models is discussed, and…

Self-Regulated Learning Procedure for University Students: The "Meaningful Text-Reading" Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roman Sanchez, Jose Maria

2004-01-01

Introduction: Experimental validation of a self-regulated learning procedure for university students, i.e. the "meaningful text-reading" strategy, is reported in this paper. The strategy's theoretical framework is the "ACRA Model" of learning strategies. The strategy consists of a flexible, recurring sequence of five mental operations of written…

Is This a Meaningful Learning Experience? Interactive Critical Self-Inquiry as Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allard, Andrea C.; Gallant, Andrea

2012-01-01

What conditions enable educators to engage in meaningful learning experiences with peers and beginning practitioners? This article documents a self-study on our actions-in-practice in a peer mentoring project. The investigation involved an iterative process to improve our knowledge as teacher educators, reflective practitioners, and researchers.…

Objective Data Assessment (ODA) Methods as Nutritional Assessment Tools.

PubMed

Hamada, Yasuhiro

2015-01-01

Nutritional screening and assessment should be a standard of care for all patients because nutritional management plays an important role in clinical practice. However, there is no gold standard for the diagnosis of malnutrition or undernutrition, although a large number of nutritional screening and assessment tools have been developed. Nutritional screening and assessment tools are classified into two categories, namely, subjective global assessment (SGA) and objective data assessment (ODA). SGA assesses nutritional status based on the features of medical history and physical examination. On the other hand, ODA consists of objective data provided from various analyses, such as anthropometry, bioimpedance analysis (BIA), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), laboratory tests, and functional tests. This review highlights knowledge on the performance of ODA methods for the assessment of nutritional status in clinical practice. J. Med. Invest. 62: 119-122, August, 2015.

Some Limits in Peer Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Domingo, Joan; Martinez, Herminio; Gomariz, Spartacus; Gámiz, Juan

2014-01-01

Nowadays, the educational methodology known as "peer assessment" constitutes one of the pillars of formative assessment at the different levels of the educational system, particularly at the University level. In fact, in recent years, it has been increasingly used to enhance students' meaningful learning, as it is considered to be an…

Toxcast and the Use of Human Relevant In Vitro Exposures: Incorporating High-Throughput Exposure and Toxicity Testing Data for 21st Century Risk Assessments (British Toxicological Society Annual Congress)

EPA Science Inventory

The path for incorporating new approach methods and technologies into quantitative chemical risk assessment poses a diverse set of scientific challenges. These challenges include sufficient coverage of toxicological mechanisms to meaningfully interpret negative test results, dev...

REVIEW OF RAPID METHODS FOR ASSESSING WETLAND CONDITION

EPA Science Inventory

We evaluated over 40 wetland rapid assessment methods developed for a variety of purposes for their use in the assessment of ecological integrity or ecosystem condition. Four criteria were used to screen methods: 1) the method can be used to measure condition, 2) it is truly rap...

Improving EHR Capabilities to Facilitate Stage 3 Meaningful Use Care Coordination Criteria.

PubMed

Cross, Dori A; Cohen, Genna R; Nong, Paige; Day, Anya-Victoria; Vibbert, Danielle; Naraharisetti, Ramya; Adler-Milstein, Julia

Primary care practices have been limited in their ability to leverage electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE) to improve care coordination, but will soon be incentivized to do so under proposed Stage 3 meaningful use criteria. We use mixed methods to understand how primary care practices manage, share and reconcile electronic patient information across care settings, and identify innovations in EHR design to support enhanced care coordination. Opportunities identified by practices focused on availability and usability of features that facilitate (1) generation of customized summary of care records, (2) team-based care approaches, and (3) management of the increased volume of electronic information generated and exchanged during care transitions. More broadly, vendors and policymakers need to continue to work together to improve interoperability as the key to effective care coordination. If these EHR innovations were widespread, the value of meeting the proposed Stage 3 care coordination criteria would be substantially enhanced.

A Journey through Meaningful Use at a Large Academic Medical Center: Lessons of Leadership, Administration, and Technical Implementation

PubMed Central

Unger, Melissa D.; Aldrich, Alison M.; Hefner, Jennifer L.; Rizer, Milisa K.

2014-01-01

Successfully reporting meaningful use of electronic health records to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can be a challenging process, particularly for healthcare organizations with large numbers of eligible professionals. This case report describes a successful meaningful use attestation process undertaken at a major academic medical center. It identifies best practices in the areas of leadership, administration, communication, ongoing support, and technological implementation. PMID:25593572

A journey through meaningful use at a large academic medical center: lessons of leadership, administration, and technical implementation.

PubMed

Unger, Melissa D; Aldrich, Alison M; Hefner, Jennifer L; Rizer, Milisa K

2014-01-01

Successfully reporting meaningful use of electronic health records to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can be a challenging process, particularly for healthcare organizations with large numbers of eligible professionals. This case report describes a successful meaningful use attestation process undertaken at a major academic medical center. It identifies best practices in the areas of leadership, administration, communication, ongoing support, and technological implementation.

The categorisation of dysthymic disorder: can its constituents be meaningfully apportioned?

PubMed

Rhebergen, Didi; Graham, Rebecca; Hadzi-Pavlovic, Dusan; Stek, Max; Friend, Paul; Barrett, Melissa; Parker, Gordon

2012-12-20

Since its introduction in DSM-III, the validity of dysthymia has been debated. Our objective is to further examine the concept of dysthymia in an outpatient sample, and explore whether its constituents can be meaningfully apportioned. 318 patients attending the Black Dog Institute Depression Clinic were assessed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and completed several self-report measures, in addition to a clinical assessment by an Institute psychiatrist. The characteristics of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymic disorder and double depression were examined. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) were then conducted with the aim of detecting distinct classes based on depressive symptomatology and personality domains, respectively. Finally, clinicians' formulations of the study patients were examined. Depression groups mainly differed on parameters of severity. Although LCA and LPA analyses indicated the presence of distinct classes, these only moderately correlated with the MINI-diagnosed groups. Finally, there was evidence for considerable heterogeneity within clinicians' formulations of dysthymia. Inadequate sample numbers for various measures limited the power of the LPA and our sample was weighted to patients with a more severe depressive condition which may affect the detection of a distinct 'dysthymic' personality profile. Despite employing a variety of techniques, we were unable to obtain a clear homogeneous picture of dysthymia. Rather, there was evidence for a distinct heterogeneity in clinician-derived diagnoses. These findings allude to the questionable discriminant validity of dysthymia and may encourage future research and discussion on this important topic. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Investigation of the Factors Motivating Meaningful Learning of Statistics by Graduate Systems Management Students at AFIT.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

DAC-RiB 271 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS MOTIVATING MEANINGFUL v’ LEARNING OF STATIST (U) AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON RFB OH SCHOOL OF...Furthermore, the views expressed in the document are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the School of Systems and...MEANINGFUL LEARNING OF STATISTICS BY GRADUATE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT STUDENTS AT AFIT THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the School of Systems and Logistics

Beyond Needs Analysis: Soft Systems Methodology for Meaningful Collaboration in EAP Course Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tajino, Akira; James, Robert; Kijima, Kyoichi

2005-01-01

Designing an EAP course requires collaboration among various concerned stakeholders, including students, subject teachers, institutional administrators and EAP teachers themselves. While needs analysis is often considered fundamental to EAP, alternative research methodologies may be required to facilitate meaningful collaboration between these…

Meaningful Engagement in Scientific Practices: How Classroom Communities Develop Authentic Epistemologies for Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krist, Christina Rae

Recent reforms in science education, based on decades of learning research, emphasize engaging students in science and engineering practices as the means to develop and refine disciplinary ideas. These reforms advocate an epistemic shift in how school science is done: from students learning about science ideas to students figuring out core science ideas. This shift is challenging to implement: how do we bring the goals and practices of a discipline into classroom communities in meaningful ways that go beyond simply following rote scientific procedures? In this dissertation, I investigate how classroom communities learn to engage meaningfully in scientific practices, characterizing their engagement as a process of epistemic learning. I take a situated perspective that defines learning as shifts in how members engage in communities of practice. I examine students' epistemic learning as a function of their participation in a classroom community of scientific practice along two dimensions: what they do, or the practical epistemic heuristics they use to guide how they build knowledge; and who they are, or how ownership and authorship of ideas is negotiated and affectively marked through interaction. I focus on a cohort of students as they move from 6th to 8 th grade. I analyze three science units, one from each grade level, to look at the epistemic heuristics implicit in student and teacher talk and how the use of those heuristics shifts over time. In addition, I examine one anomalous 8th grade class to look at how students and the teacher position themselves and each other with respect to the ideas in their classroom and how that positioning supports epistemic learning. Taken together, these analyses demonstrate how students' engagement in scientific practices evolves in terms of what they do and who they are in relation to the knowledge and ideas in their classroom over time. I propose a model for epistemic learning that articulates how classroom communities develop

Growth Of New York Physician Participation In Meaningful Use Of Electronic Health Records Was Variable, 2011-12.

PubMed

Jung, Hye-Young; Unruh, Mark A; Kaushal, Rainu; Vest, Joshua R

2015-06-01

The federal government has invested $30 billion to promote the adoption and use of electronic health records (EHRs) through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. However, the associations between the characteristics of physicians, practices, and markets and the patterns of provider participation in ongoing federal meaningful-use incentive programs over time have been largely unexplored. In this article we describe the participation of New York physicians during the first two years of the meaningful-use initiative. We examined longitudinal patterns to identify characteristics associated with nonparticipation, late adoption of EHRs, noncontinuous participation, and switching programs. We found that 8.1 percent of 26,368 New York physicians participated in the Medicare incentive program in 2011, and 6.1 percent participated in the Medicaid program. Physician participation in the programs grew to 23.9 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, in 2012. Many physicians in the Medicaid incentive program in 2011 did not participate in either program in 2012. Prior EHR use, access to financial resources, and organizational capacity were physician characteristics associated with early and consistent participation in the meaningful-use initiative. Annual participation requirements, coupled with different options to meet meaningful-use criteria under the incentive programs, create disparate groups of physicians, which illustrates the need to monitor participants for continued participation. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Identifying clinically meaningful symptom response cut-off values on the SANS in predominant negative symptoms.

PubMed

Levine, Stephen Z; Leucht, Stefan

2013-04-01

The treatment and measurement of negative symptoms are currently at issue in schizophrenia, but the clinical meaning of symptom severity and change is unclear. To offer a clinically meaningful interpretation of severity and change scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Patients were intention-to-treat participants (n=383) in two double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials that compared amisulpride with placebo for the treatment of predominant negative symptoms. Equipercentile linking was used to examine extrapolation from (a) CGI-S to SANS severity ratings, and (b) CGI-I to SANS percentage change (n=383). Linking was conducted at baseline, 8-14 days, 28-30 days, and 56-60 days of the trials. Across visits, CGI-S ratings of 'not ill' linked to SANS scores of 0-13, and ranged to 'extreme' ratings that linked to SANS scores of 102-105. The relationship between the CGI-S and the SANS severity scores assumed a linear trend (1=0-13, 2=15-56, 3=37-61, 4=49-66, 5=63-75, 6=79-89, 7=102-105). Similarly the relationship between CGI-I ratings and SANS percentage change followed a linear trend. For instance, CGI-I ratings of 'very much improved' were linked to SANS percent changes of -90 to -67, 'much improved' to -50 to -42, and 'minimally improved' to -21 to -13. The current results uniquely contribute to the debate surrounding negative symptoms by providing clinical meaning to SANS severity and change scores and so offer direction regarding clinically meaningful response cut-off scores to guide treatment targets of predominant negative symptoms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Are changes in leg power responsible for clinically meaningful improvements in mobility in older adults?

PubMed

Bean, Jonathan F; Kiely, Dan K; LaRose, Sharon; Goldstein, Richard; Frontera, Walter R; Leveille, Suzanne G

2010-12-01

From among physiological attributes commonly targeted in rehabilitation, to identify those in which changes led to clinically meaningful differences (CMDs) in mobility outcomes. Secondary analysis of data collected for a randomized controlled trial of exercise using binary outcomes defined by recording a large CMD (Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)=1 unit; gait speed (GS)=0.1 m/s). Iterative models were performed to evaluate possible confounding between physiological variables and relevant covariates. Outpatient rehabilitation centers. Community-dwelling mobility-limited older adults (n=116) participating in a 16-week randomized controlled trial of two modes of exercise. Physiological measures included leg power, leg strength, balance as measured according to the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA), and rate pressure product at the maximal stage of an exercise tolerance test. Outcomes included GS and SPPB. Leg power and leg strength were measured using computerized pneumatic strength training equipment and recorded in Watts and Newtons, respectively. Participants were 68% female, had a mean age of 75.2, a mean of 5.5 chronic conditions, and a baseline mean SPPB score of 8.7. After controlling for age, site, group assignment, and baseline outcome values, leg power was the only attribute in which changes were significantly associated with a large CMD in SPPB (odds ratio (OR)=1.48, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.09-2.02) and GS (OR=1.31, 95% CI=1.01-1.70). Improvements in leg power, independent of strength, appear to make an important contribution to clinically meaningful improvements in SPPB and GS. © 2010, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2010, The American Geriatrics Society.

Pediatrics Milestone Project: Next Steps Toward Meaningful Outcomes Assessment

PubMed Central

Hicks, Patricia J.; Englander, Robert; Schumacher, Daniel J.; Burke, Ann; Benson, Bradley J.; Guralnick, Susan; Ludwig, Stephen; Carraccio, Carol

2010-01-01

In the September 2010 issue of JGME, the Pediatric Milestones Working Group published “The Pediatrics Milestones: Conceptual Framework, Guiding Principles, and Approach to Development”, a document that describes the construction of the first iteration of the Pediatric Milestones. These Milestones were developed by the Working Group as a group of practical behavioral expectations for each of the 52 sub-competencies. In constructing these Milestones, the authors were cognizant of the need to ground the Milestones themselves in evidence, theories or other conceptual frameworks that would provide the basis for the ontogeny of development for each sub-competency. During this next phase of the Milestones development, the process will continue with consultation with content experts and consideration of assessment of Milestones. We have described possible measurement tools, explored threats to validity, establishment of benchmarks, and possible approaches to reporting of performance. The vision of the Pediatrics Milestone Project is to understand the development of a pediatrician from entry into medical school through the twilight of a physician’s career, and the work will require a collaborative effort of the undergraduate and graduate medical education communities, and the accrediting and certifying bodies. PMID:22132281

Student Projects that Make a Meaningful and Lasting Contribution to Course Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Shelly J.

2013-01-01

The objective of this teaching tip is to share with others an idea of how to transform student projects from a dead-end process to a value-added end product, value-added end products that make a meaningful and lasting contribution to course content for use by future students. (Contains 2 tables.)

Does (Non-)Meaningful Sensori-Motor Engagement Promote Learning with Animated Physical Systems?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pouw, Wim T. J. L.; Eielts, Charly; Gog, Tamara; Zwaan, Rolf A.; Paas, Fred

2016-01-01

Previous research indicates that sensori-motor experience with physical systems can have a positive effect on learning. However, it is not clear whether this effect is caused by mere bodily engagement or the intrinsically meaningful information that such interaction affords in performing the learning task. We investigated (N = 74), through the use…

Meaningful Products: Making the Whole Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen, Barbara A.

2005-01-01

A library media specialist believes students should go beyond the facts and other information they find in sources. They can stretch their intellect and engage them in the learning process. The students can produce more meaningful and significant results by combining information found in sources, their original idea and transferable skills in the…

Changes to the electronic health records market in light of health information technology certification and meaningful use.

PubMed

Vest, Joshua R; Yoon, Jangho; Bossak, Brian H

2013-01-01

Health information technology (HIT) certification and meaningful use are interventions encouraging the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) in the USA. However, these initiatives also constitute a significant intervention which will change the structure of the EHR market. To describe quantitatively recent changes to both the demand and supply sides of the EHR market. A cohort of 3447 of hospitals from the HIMSS Analytics Database (2006-10) was created. Using hospital referral regions to define the local market, we determined the percentage of hospitals using paper records, the number of vendors, and local EHR vendor competition using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Changes over time were assessed using a series of regression equations and geographic information systems analyses. Overall, there was movement away from paper records, upward trends in the number of EHR vendors, and greater competition. However, changes differed according to hospital size and region of the country. Changes were greatest for small hospitals, whereas competition and the number of vendors did not change dramatically for large hospitals. The EHR market is changing most dramatically for those least equipped to handle broad technological transformation, which underscores the need for continued targeted support. Furthermore, wide variations across the nation indicate a continued role for states in the support of EHR utilization. The structure of the EHR market is undergoing substantial changes as desired by the proponents and architects of HIT certification and meaningful use. However, these transformations are not uniform for all hospitals or all the country.

Personality, Assessment Methods and Academic Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furnham, Adrian; Nuygards, Sarah; Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas

2013-01-01

This study examines the relationship between personality and two different academic performance (AP) assessment methods, namely exams and coursework. It aimed to examine whether the relationship between traits and AP was consistent across self-reported versus documented exam results, two different assessment techniques and across different…

Validity threats: overcoming interference with proposed interpretations of assessment data.

PubMed

Downing, Steven M; Haladyna, Thomas M

2004-03-01

Factors that interfere with the ability to interpret assessment scores or ratings in the proposed manner threaten validity. To be interpreted in a meaningful manner, all assessments in medical education require sound, scientific evidence of validity. The purpose of this essay is to discuss 2 major threats to validity: construct under-representation (CU) and construct-irrelevant variance (CIV). Examples of each type of threat for written, performance and clinical performance examinations are provided. The CU threat to validity refers to undersampling the content domain. Using too few items, cases or clinical performance observations to adequately generalise to the domain represents CU. Variables that systematically (rather than randomly) interfere with the ability to meaningfully interpret scores or ratings represent CIV. Issues such as flawed test items written at inappropriate reading levels or statistically biased questions represent CIV in written tests. For performance examinations, such as standardised patient examinations, flawed cases or cases that are too difficult for student ability contribute CIV to the assessment. For clinical performance data, systematic rater error, such as halo or central tendency error, represents CIV. The term face validity is rejected as representative of any type of legitimate validity evidence, although the fact that the appearance of the assessment may be an important characteristic other than validity is acknowledged. There are multiple threats to validity in all types of assessment in medical education. Methods to eliminate or control validity threats are suggested.

Effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia in residential aged care: a systematic review.

PubMed

Travers, Catherine; Brooks, Deborah; Hines, Sonia; O'Reilly, Maria; McMaster, Mitchell; He, Wei; MacAndrew, Margaret; Fielding, Elaine; Karlsson, Lina; Beattie, Elizabeth

2016-12-01

The ability to participate in valued activities, whether for work, leisure or family, is an important aspect of personal identity. In dementia, progressive memory loss means that abilities developed over a lifetime begin to be lost as well, contributing to the loss of self and identity. Some studies have reported that activities or interventions tailored to be meaningful to the person with dementia (defined as any activity important to the individual) are more effective in addressing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and improving quality of life (QoL) than those that are not so tailored. However, the effectiveness of individualizing interventions or activities for this population is not known. In response to consumer feedback by the Consumer Dementia Research Network that this question ought to be addressed, this review was undertaken, the aim of which was to determine the effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). People living with dementia in RACFs (nursing homes).Any intervention that was individualized to be meaningful to the participant, versus any active control condition or usual care.Experimental and observational studies. Quality of life, BPSD (such as agitation, aggression, depression, wandering and apathy), mood, function, cognition and sleep. The search strategy aimed to identify both published and unpublished studies, with the following 12 databases extensively searched: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Science, OTSeeker, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, clinicaltrials.gov, Mednar, OpenSIGLE, New York Academy of Medicine Library Gray Literature Report, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. The search strategy was limited to papers published in English between 2004 and January 31, 2015. All studies were assessed independently by two reviewers for relevance, eligibility and methodological quality. Data from included papers were extracted using a

Technical Assistance Needs Assessments (TANAs)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (TANA) is a process to identify whether a community requires additional support from EPA in order to understand technical information and have meaningful participation in the Superfund decision-making process.

Meaningful Learning in the Teaching of Culture: The Project Based Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kean, Ang Chooi; Kwe, Ngu Moi

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative effort taken by a team of three teacher educators in using the Project Based Learning (PBL) approach in the teaching of Japanese culture with the aim to investigate the presence of actual "meaningful learning" among 15 students of a 12-Week Preparatory Japanese Language course under a teacher…

Getting to Teacher Ownership: How Schools Are Creating Meaningful Change. Executive Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Marisa; Alcantara, Vianna; Cervantes, Laura; Del Razo, Jaime; Lopez, Ruth; Perez, Wendy

2017-01-01

This executive summary presents highlights from a study exploring the concept of teacher ownership and how it can bring about the deep and meaningful changes that schools need and that all students deserve. Based on teacher surveys and interviews in twenty-one schools in Los Angeles that are implementing major reforms, the study suggests that…

The Power of Dialogue and Meaningful Connectedness: Conversations between Two Female Scholars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nganga, Christine W.; Beck, Makini

2017-01-01

In this paper, the authors examine the power of dialogue and meaningful connectedness from their perspectives as female scholars of color. They draw from the feminist co-mentoring literature, which encourages equal balance of power among participants where each person takes on the role of teacher and learner, or mentor and mentee, since both have…

Older Adults Co-Creating Meaningful Individualized Social Activities Online for Healthy Ageing.

PubMed

Blusi, Madeleine; Nilsson, Ingeborg; Lindgren, Helena

2018-01-01

Social isolation and loneliness among older people is a growing problem with negative effects on physical and mental health. In co-creation with older adults individualized social activities were designed where older adults through computer mediated communication were able to participate in social activities without leaving their homes. Four types of activities were designed; outdoor activity, music event, visiting a friend and leisure activity. A participatory action research design was applied, where end users together with scientists from two research fields developed, tested and evaluated online participation in the activities. Usability and safety of the systems were major concerns among older adults. The evaluation pointed out that level of simplicity, usability and audio-video quality determined the level of satisfaction with the human interaction during the activity, thereby affecting the meaningfulness of the activity. The research presented in this paper constitutes the first step in a long-term research process aiming at developing a digital coaching system that gives older adults personalized support for increasing participation in meaningful social activities.

Assessment of medical communication skills by computer: assessment method and student experiences.

PubMed

Hulsman, R L; Mollema, E D; Hoos, A M; de Haes, J C J M; Donnison-Speijer, J D

2004-08-01

A computer-assisted assessment (CAA) program for communication skills designated ACT was developed using the objective structured video examination (OSVE) format. This method features assessment of cognitive scripts underlying communication behaviour, a broad range of communication problems covered in 1 assessment, highly standardised assessment and rating procedures, and large group assessments without complex organisation. The Academic Medical Centre (AMC) at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Aims To describe the development of the AMC Communication Test (ACT); to describe our experiences with the examination and rating procedures; to present test score descriptives, and to present the students' opinions of ACT. The ACT presents films on history taking, breaking bad news and shared decision making. Each film is accompanied by 3 types of short essay questions derived from our assessment model: "knows", "knows why/when" and "knows how". Evaluation questions about ACT were integrated into the assessment. Participants A total of 210 third year medical undergraduates were assessed. This study reports on the 110 (53%) students who completed all evaluation questions. Marking 210 examinations took about 17 days. The test score matched a normal distribution and showed a good level of discrimination of the students. About 75% passed the examination. Some support for the validity of our assessment model was found in the students' differential performance on the 3 types of questions. The ACT was well received. Student evaluations confirmed our efforts to develop realistic films that related well to the communication training programme. The ACT is a useful assessment method which complements interpersonal assessment methods for the evaluation of the medical communication skills of undergraduates.

Heard and valued: the development of a model to meaningfully engage marginalized populations in health services planning.

PubMed

Snow, M Elizabeth; Tweedie, Katherine; Pederson, Ann

2018-03-15

Recently, patient engagement has been identified as a promising strategy for supporting healthcare planning. However, the context and structure of universalistic, "one-size-fits-all" approaches often used for patient engagement may not enable diverse patients to participate in decision-making about programs intended to meet their needs. Specifically, standard patient engagement approaches are gender-blind and might not facilitate the engagement of those marginalized by, for example, substance use, low income, experiences of violence, homelessness, and/or mental health challenges-highly gendered health and social experiences. The project's purpose was to develop a heuristic model to assist planners to engage patients who are not traditionally included in healthcare planning. Using a qualitative research approach, we reviewed literature and conducted interviews with patients and healthcare planners regarding engaging marginalized populations in health services planning. From these inputs, we created a model and planning manual to assist healthcare planners to engage marginalized patients in health services planning, which we piloted in two clinical programs undergoing health services design. The findings from the pilots were used to refine the model. The analysis of the interviews and literature identified power and gender as barriers to participation, and generated suggestions to support diverse populations both to attend patient engagement events and to participate meaningfully. Engaging marginalized populations cannot be reduced to a single defined process, but instead needs to be understood as an iterative process of fitting engagement methods to a particular situation. Underlying this process are principles for meaningfully engaging marginalized people in healthcare planning. A one-size-fits-all approach to patient engagement is not appropriate given patients' diverse barriers to meaningful participation in healthcare planning. Instead, planners need a

Rural primary care practices and meaningful use of electronic health records: the role of Regional Extension Centers.

PubMed

Casey, Michelle M; Moscovice, Ira; McCullough, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

To examine the role of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) in helping rural physician practices adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and achieve meaningful use. Using data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, we conducted a county-level regression analysis using ordinary least squares to better understand rural-urban differences in REC participation, EHR implementation, and meaningful use, controlling for counties' economic conditions. We prepared case studies of 2 RECs that are serving a large number of rural practices, based on interviews with key individuals at the RECs, their partner organizations, and rural primary care practices that received assistance from the RECs. RECs are largely achieving their objective of targeting providers in communities that face barriers to EHRs. REC participants are disproportionately rural and more likely to come from high poverty and low employment communities. The case study RECs had long-standing relationships with rural providers, as well as extensive staff expertise in quality improvement and EHR implementation, and employed a variety of strategies to successfully assist rural providers. Rural providers report that REC assistance was invaluable in helping them implement EHRs and achieve meaningful use status. Modifying the criteria for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentives could help additional rural providers pay for EHRs. REC federal funding is scheduled to end in 2014, but practices that have not yet adopted EHRs may need significant, ongoing assistance to receive meaningful use. © 2013 National Rural Health Association.

Special Collections and the New Web: Using LibGuides to Provide Meaningful Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Barbara; Griffin, Melanie

2011-01-01

Librarians have long struggled to find user-friendly mediums to provide meaningful information to patrons using bibliographies, pathfinders, and subject guides with varying degrees of success. Content management systems, such as Springshare's LibGuides, have recently been developed to facilitate the creation of online subject guides. Special…

Reader Response in Secondary Settings: Increasing Comprehension through Meaningful Interactions with Literary Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodruff, Amanda H.; Griffin, Robert A.

2017-01-01

A fresh look at the reader response theory to enhance student comprehension through meaningful interactions with literature, this paper explores the instructional implications of a reader response approach in secondary classrooms and examines its role in fostering students' critical reading and thinking skills. The approach promotes transaction…

Toward a Framework for Conducting Ecoregional Threats Assessments

Treesearch

Jamison Ervin; Jeffrey Parrish

2006-01-01

Assessing threats to biodiversity is widely recognized as a critical step in conservation planning. While there have been recent advances in understanding how to assess threats at a site level, there has been relatively little consensus on how threats can be meaningfully assessed at an ecoregional scale. Drawing from numerous threat assessment studies, this paper...

Using Corporate-Based Methods To Assess Technical Communication Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faber, Brenton; Bekins, Linn; Karis, Bill

2002-01-01

Investigates methods of program assessment used by corporate learning sites and profiles value added methods as a way to both construct and evaluate academic programs in technical communication. Examines and critiques assessment methods from corporate training environments including methods employed by corporate universities and value added…

Adoption of electronic health records and preparations for demonstrating meaningful use: an American Academy of Ophthalmology survey.

PubMed

Boland, Michael V; Chiang, Michael F; Lim, Michele C; Wedemeyer, Linda; Epley, K David; McCannel, Colin A; Silverstone, David E; Lum, Flora

2013-08-01

To assess the current state of electronic health record (EHR) use by ophthalmologists, including adoption rate, user satisfaction, functionality, benefits, barriers, and knowledge of meaningful use criteria. Population-based, cross-sectional study. A total of 492 members of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). A random sample of 1500 AAO members were selected on the basis of their practice location and solicited to participate in a study of EHR use, practice management, and image management system use. Participants completed the survey via the Internet, phone, or fax. The survey included questions about the adoption of EHRs, available functionality, benefits, barriers, satisfaction, and understanding of meaningful use criteria and health information technology concepts. Current adoption rate of EHRs, user satisfaction, benefits and barriers, and availability of EHR functionality. Overall, 32% of the practices surveyed had already implemented an EHR, 15% had implemented an EHR for some of their physicians or were in the process of implementation, and another 31% had plans to do so within 2 years. Among those with an EHR in their practice, 49% were satisfied or extremely satisfied with their system, 42% reported increased or stable overall productivity, 19% reported decreased or stable overall costs, and 55% would recommend an EHR to a fellow ophthalmologist. For those with an electronic image management system, only 15% had all devices integrated, 33% had images directly uploaded into their system, and 12% had electronic association of patient demographics with the image. The adoption of EHRs by ophthalmology practices more than doubled from 2007 to 2011. The satisfaction of ophthalmologists with their EHR and their perception of beneficial effects on productivity and costs were all lower in 2011 than in 2007. Knowledge about meaningful use is high, but the percentage of physicians actually receiving incentive payments is relatively low. Given the importance

What Do They Understand? Using Technology to Facilitate Formative Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitten, Carolyn; Jacobbe, Tim; Jacobbe, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Formative assessment is so important to inform teachers' planning. A discussion of the benefits of using technology to facilitate formative assessment explains how four primary school teachers adopted three different apps to make their formative assessment more meaningful and useful.

Parent Perceptions of Time Spent Meaningfully by Young Adults with Pervasive Support Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossetti, Zachary; Lehr, Donna; Lederer, Leslie; Pelerin, Dana; Huang, Shuoxi

2015-01-01

This article describes a qualitative study that examined how 23 young adults with pervasive support needs and limited functional communication spent their time and how their parents (n = 23) and direct support professionals (DSPs; n = 2) defined meaningfulness in relation to the young adults' experiences. Data were collected through…

Clinical experimental stress studies: methods and assessment.

PubMed

Bali, Anjana; Jaggi, Amteshwar Singh

2015-01-01

Stress is a state of threatened homeostasis during which a variety of adaptive processes are activated to produce physiological and behavioral changes. Stress induction methods are pivotal for understanding these physiological or pathophysiological changes in the body in response to stress. Furthermore, these methods are also important for the development of novel pharmacological agents for stress management. The well-described methods to induce stress in humans include the cold pressor test, Trier Social Stress Test, Montreal Imaging Stress Task, Maastricht Acute Stress Test, CO2 challenge test, Stroop test, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task, noise stress, and Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test. Stress assessment in humans is done by measuring biochemical markers such as cortisol, cortisol awakening response, dexamethasone suppression test, salivary α-amylase, plasma/urinary norepinephrine, norepinephrine spillover rate, and interleukins. Physiological and behavioral changes such as galvanic skin response, heart rate variability, pupil size, and muscle and/or skin sympathetic nerve activity (microneurography) and cardiovascular parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, and self-reported anxiety are also monitored to assess stress response. This present review describes these commonly employed methods to induce stress in humans along with stress assessment methods.

A new method for water quality assessment: by harmony degree equation.

PubMed

Zuo, Qiting; Han, Chunhui; Liu, Jing; Ma, Junxia

2018-02-22

Water quality assessment is an important basic work in the development, utilization, management, and protection of water resources, and also a prerequisite for water safety. In this paper, the harmony degree equation (HDE) was introduced into the research of water quality assessment, and a new method for water quality assessment was proposed according to the HDE: by harmony degree equation (WQA-HDE). First of all, the calculation steps and ideas of this method were described in detail, and then, this method with some other important methods of water quality assessment (single factor assessment method, mean-type comprehensive index assessment method, and multi-level gray correlation assessment method) were used to assess the water quality of the Shaying River (the largest tributary of the Huaihe in China). For this purpose, 2 years (2013-2014) dataset of nine water quality variables covering seven monitoring sites, and approximately 189 observations were used to compare and analyze the characteristics and advantages of the new method. The results showed that the calculation steps of WQA-HDE are similar to the comprehensive assessment method, and WQA-HDE is more operational comparing with the results of other water quality assessment methods. In addition, this new method shows good flexibility by setting the judgment criteria value HD 0 of water quality; when HD 0  = 0.8, the results are closer to reality, and more realistic and reliable. Particularly, when HD 0  = 1, the results of WQA-HDE are consistent with the single factor assessment method, both methods are subject to the most stringent "one vote veto" judgment condition. So, WQA-HDE is a composite method that combines the single factor assessment and comprehensive assessment. This research not only broadens the research field of theoretical method system of harmony theory but also promotes the unity of water quality assessment method and can be used for reference in other comprehensive assessment.

A New Era for Educational Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, David

2015-01-01

In this article, David Conley focuses on how to assess meaningful learning in ways that promote student achievement while simultaneously meeting system accountability needs. The article draws upon research that supports the notion that a major shift in educational assessment is needed in order to encourage and evaluate the kind of learning that…

Building and Sustaining Hope. A Response to "Meaningful Hope for Teachers in a Time of High Anxiety and Low Morale"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hytten, Kathy

2011-01-01

In this essay, I respond to Carrie Nolan and Sarah M. Stitzlein's article "Meaningful Hope for Teachers in a Time of High Anxiety and Low Morale" and support their argument for meaningful hope grounded in pragmatist philosophy. I agree that while hope is routinely called for in the educational literature, it is often done so in superficial and…

Sensitivity of Claims-Based Algorithms to Ascertain Smoking Status More Than Doubled with Meaningful Use.

PubMed

Huo, Jinhai; Yang, Ming; Tina Shih, Ya-Chen

2018-03-01

The "meaningful use of certified electronic health record" policy requires eligible professionals to record smoking status for more than 50% of all individuals aged 13 years or older in 2011 to 2012. To explore whether the coding to document smoking behavior has increased over time and to assess the accuracy of smoking-related diagnosis and procedure codes in identifying previous and current smokers. We conducted an observational study with 5,423,880 enrollees from the year 2009 to 2014 in the Truven Health Analytics database. Temporal trends of smoking coding, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were measured. The rate of coding of smoking behavior improved significantly by the end of the study period. The proportion of patients in the claims data recorded as current smokers increased 2.3-fold and the proportion of patients recorded as previous smokers increased 4-fold during the 6-year period. The sensitivity of each International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code was generally less than 10%. The diagnosis code of tobacco use disorder (305.1X) was the most sensitive code (9.3%) for identifying smokers. The specificities of these codes and the Current Procedural Terminology codes were all more than 98%. A large improvement in the coding of current and previous smoking behavior has occurred since the inception of the meaningful use policy. Nevertheless, the use of diagnosis and procedure codes to identify smoking behavior in administrative data is still unreliable. This suggests that quality improvements toward medical coding on smoking behavior are needed to enhance the capability of claims data for smoking-related outcomes research. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Some hospitals are falling behind in meeting 'meaningful use' criteria and could be vulnerable to penalties in 2015.

PubMed

DesRoches, Catherine M; Worzala, Chantal; Bates, Scott

2013-08-01

With nearly $30 billion in incentives available, it is critical to know to what extent US hospitals have been able to respond to those incentives by adopting electronic health record (EHR) systems that meet Medicare's criteria for their "meaningful use." Medicare has provided aggregate incentive payment data, but still missing is an understanding of how these payments are distributed across hospital types and years. Our analysis of Medicare data found a substantial increase in the percentage of hospitals receiving EHR incentive payments between 2011 (17.4 percent) and 2012 (36.8 percent). However, this increase was not uniform across all hospitals, and the overall proportion of hospitals receiving a payment for meaningful use was low. Critical-access, smaller, and publicly owned or nonprofit hospitals appeared to be at particular risk for failing to meet Medicare's meaningful-use criteria, and the overall proportion of hospitals receiving a payment for meaningful use was low. Starting in 2015, hospitals that fail to meet the criteria will be subject to financial penalties. To address the needs of institutions in danger of incurring these penalties, policy makers could implement targeted grant programs and provide additional information technology workforce support. In addition, the capacity of EHR system vendors should be carefully monitored to ensure that these institutions have access to the technology they need.

Commentary on Values and Standards in Performance Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guion, Robert M.

1995-01-01

This commentary discusses three essential themes in performance assessment and its scoring. First, scores should mean something. Second, performance scores should permit fair and meaningful comparisons. Third, validity-reducing errors should be minimal. Increased attention to performance assessment may overcome these problems. (SLD)

Medical devices early assessment methods: systematic literature review.

PubMed

Markiewicz, Katarzyna; van Til, Janine A; IJzerman, Maarten J

2014-04-01

The aim of this study was to get an overview of current theory and practice in early assessments of medical devices, and to identify aims and uses of early assessment methods used in practice. A systematic literature review was conducted in September 2013, using computerized databases (PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus), and references list search. Selected articles were categorized based on their type, objective, and main target audience. The methods used in the application studies were extracted and mapped throughout the early stages of development and for their particular aims. Of 1,961 articles identified, eighty-three studies passed the inclusion criteria, and thirty were included by searching reference lists. There were thirty-one theoretical papers, and eighty-two application papers included. Most studies investigated potential applications/possible improvement of medical devices, developed early assessment framework or included stakeholder perspective in early development stages. Among multiple qualitative and quantitative methods identified, only few were used more than once. The methods aim to inform strategic considerations (e.g., literature review), economic evaluation (e.g., cost-effectiveness analysis), and clinical effectiveness (e.g., clinical trials). Medical devices were often in the prototype product development stage, and the results were usually aimed at informing manufacturers. This study showed converging aims yet widely diverging methods for early assessment during medical device development. For early assessment to become an integral part of activities in the development of medical devices, methods need to be clarified and standardized, and the aims and value of assessment itself must be demonstrated to the main stakeholders for assuring effective and efficient medical device development.

Meaningful Use of Data in Care Coordination by the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse: The TeleFamilies Project

PubMed Central

Looman, Wendy S.; Erickson, Mary M.; Garwick, Ann W.; Cady, Rhonda G.; Kelly, Anne; Pettey, Carrie; Finkelstein, Stanley M.

2012-01-01

Meaningful use of electronic health records to coordinate care requires skillful synthesis and integration of subjective and objective data by practitioners to provide context for information. This is particularly relevant in the coordination of care for children with complex special health care needs. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework and example of meaningful use within an innovative telenursing intervention to coordinate care for children with complex special health care needs. The TeleFamilies intervention engages an advanced practice nurse in a full-time care coordinator role within an existing hospital-based medical home for children with complex special health care needs. Care coordination is facilitated by the synthesis and integration of internal and external data using an enhanced electronic health record and telehealth encounters via telephone and videoconferencing between the advanced practice nurse and the family at home. The advanced practice nurse’s ability to maintain an updated plan of care that is shared across providers and systems and build a relationship over time with the patient and family supports meaningful use of these data. PMID:22948406

New method for assessing risks of email

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raja, Seyyed H.; Afrooz, Farzad

2013-03-01

E-mail technology, has become one of the requirements of human lives for correspondence between individuals. Given this, the important point is that the messages, server and client of e-mail and correspondences that exchanged between different people have acceptable security, to make people sure to use of this technology. In the information age, many of financial and non financial transactions are done electronically, data exchange takes place via the internet and theft and manipulation of data can make exorbitant cost in terms of integrity, financial, political, economic and culture. E-mail correspondence in there is same and it is very important. With review took place, a method that will focus on email system for risks assessment is not provided. We are examining ways of assessing for other systems and their strengths and weaknesses, then we use Mr Convery method for assessing email risks which it is for assessing network risks. At the end of paper we have offered special table for email risk assessment.

Assessing Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comeaux, Patricia, Ed.

2004-01-01

Students in traditional as well as online classrooms need more than grades from their instructors--they also need meaningful feedback to help bridge their academic knowledge and skills with their daily lives. With the increasing number of online learning classrooms, the question of how to consistently assess online learning has become increasingly…

Does Constructivist Approach Applicable through Concept Maps to Achieve Meaningful Learning in Science?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jena, Ananta Kumar

2012-01-01

This study deals with the application of constructivist approach through individual and cooperative modes of spider and hierarchical concept maps to achieve meaningful learning on science concepts (e.g. acids, bases & salts, physical and chemical changes). The main research questions were: Q (1): is there any difference in individual and…

Sources of Meaningfulness in the Workplace: A Study in the US Hospitality Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimitrov, Danielle

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the sources of meaningfulness at the workplace, according to the perceptions of hospitality employees from different national cultures in one US-based hotel, based on Dimitrov's empirical study about the features of the humane organization. Design/methodology/approach: This was an exploratory…

Measuring Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: A National, Cross-Sectional Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

Research on laboratory learning points to the need to better understand what and how students learn in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was administered to general and organic chemistry students from 15 colleges and universities across the United States in order to measure the…

Representing and Practising Meaningful Differences in a Well-Structured but Complex Art Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunliffe, Leslie

2010-01-01

This paper conceptualizes the secondary art curriculum as a well-structured but complex knowledge-domain, with the aim of emphasizing meaningful differences in the way creative grammar operates in the following gatherings of art practices: Pre-historic and non-European cultures; Ancient and European cultures before c. 1800; Romantic and Modern…

Using Electronic Assessment Systems to Enhance Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Domagala, Jospeh F.

2017-01-01

Teachers in the classroom need to be able to modify instruction in a meaningful way that helps students to improve academically. School districts provide electronic assessment data which helps teachers identify areas for improvement within their instruction. Electronic performance assessment systems can be an effective means of assisting schools…

Program Assessment in Geography: Boondoggle or Opportunity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jumper, Sidney

1992-01-01

Discusses an assessment program in the geography department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Describes the development of a senior proficiency examination. Suggests that the assessment process include development of meaningful curricular goals and strategies for implementation. Breaks the project down into phases: the search for funding,…

Towards a mathematical theory of meaningful communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corominas-Murtra, Bernat; Fortuny, Jordi; Solé, Ricard V.

2014-04-01

Meaning has been left outside most theoretical approaches to information in biology. Functional responses based on an appropriate interpretation of signals have been replaced by a probabilistic description of correlations between emitted and received symbols. This assumption leads to potential paradoxes, such as the presence of a maximum information associated to a channel that creates completely wrong interpretations of the signals. Game-theoretic models of language evolution and other studies considering embodied communicating agents show that the correct (meaningful) match resulting from agent-agent exchanges is always achieved and natural systems obviously solve the problem correctly. Inspired by the concept of duality of the communicative sign stated by the swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, here we present a complete description of the minimal system necessary to measure the amount of information that is consistently decoded. Several consequences of our developments are investigated, such as the uselessness of a certain amount of information properly transmitted for communication among autonomous agents.

Achieving meaningful use: a health system perspective.

PubMed

Bero, Cynthia L; Lee, Thomas H

2010-12-01

In 2002, Partners HealthCare (Partners) launched a strategy to accelerate the use of ambulatory electronic medical records across its network of 6000 physicians. Through focus on quality software products, creation of a system of financial incentives, and active engagement of health system leadership, Partners reached high levels of physician adoption by late 2006. Partners eventually introduced a mandate that made ambulatory electronic medical record use a requirement for all of its physicians. During this multi-year initiative, Partners also focused on the effective use of electronic medical records and introduced a series of tactics designed to optimize the use of these systems. With introduction of the meaningful-use concepts in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Partners will transition its efforts toward this important national priority. Partners' experience offers some unique insights into the process of electronic medical record adoption across a large, diverse health system.

Making meaningful improvements to direct care worker training through informed policy: Understanding how care setting structure and culture matter.

PubMed

Kemeny, M Elizabeth; Mabry, J Beth

2017-01-01

Well-intentioned policy governing the training of direct care workers (DCWs) who serve older persons, in practice, may become merely a compliance issue for organizations rather than a meaningful way to improve quality of care. This study investigates the relationships between best practices in DCW training and the structure and culture of long term support service (LTSS) organizations. Using a mixed-methods approach to analyzing data from 328 licensed LTSS organizations in Pennsylvania, the findings suggest that public policy should address methods of training, not just content, and consider organizational variations in size, training evaluation practices, DCW integration, and DCW input into care planning. Effective training also incorporates support for organizations and supervisors as key aspects of DCWs' learning and working environment.

The Meaningful Roles Intervention: An Evolutionary Approach to Reducing Bullying and Increasing Prosocial Behavior.

PubMed

Ellis, Bruce J; Volk, Anthony A; Gonzalez, Jose-Michael; Embry, Dennis D

2016-12-01

Bullying is a problem that affects adolescents worldwide. Efforts to prevent bullying have been moderately successful at best, or iatrogenic at worst. We offer an explanation for this limited success by employing an evolutionary-psychological perspective to analyze antibullying interventions. We argue that bullying is a goal-directed behavior that is sensitive to benefits as well as costs, and that interventions must address these benefits. This perspective led us to develop a novel antibullying intervention, Meaningful Roles, which offers bullies prosocial alternatives-meaningful roles and responsibilities implemented through a school jobs program and reinforced through peer-to-peer praise notes-that effectively meet the same status goals as bullying behavior. We describe this new intervention and how its theoretical evolutionary roots may be applicable to other intervention programs. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2015 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Methods of geodiversity assessment and theirs application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zwoliński, Zbigniew; Najwer, Alicja; Giardino, Marco

2016-04-01

The concept of geodiversity has rapidly gained the approval of scientists around the world (Wiedenbein 1993, Sharples 1993, Kiernan 1995, 1996, Dixon 1996, Eberhard 1997, Kostrzewski 1998, 2011, Gray 2004, 2008, 2013, Zwoliński 2004, Serrano, Ruiz- Flano 2007, Gordon et al. 2012). However, the problem recognition is still at an early stage, and in effect not explicitly understood and defined (Najwer, Zwoliński 2014). Nevertheless, despite widespread use of the concept, little progress has been made in its assessment and mapping. Less than the last decade can be observing investigation of methods for geodiversity assessment and its visualisation. Though, many have acknowledged the importance of geodiversity evaluation (Kozłowski 2004, Gray 2004, Reynard, Panizza 2005, Zouros 2007, Pereira et al. 2007, Hjort et al. 2015). Hitherto, only a few authors have undertaken that kind of methodological issues. Geodiversity maps are being created for a variety of purposes and therefore their methods are quite manifold. In the literature exists some examples of the geodiversity maps applications for the geotourism purpose, basing mainly on the geological diversity, in order to point the scale of the area's tourist attractiveness (Zwoliński 2010, Serrano and Gonzalez Trueba 2011, Zwoliński and Stachowiak 2012). In some studies, geodiversity maps were created and applied to investigate the spatial or genetic relationships with the richness of particular natural environmental components (Burnett et al. 1998, Silva 2004, Jačková, Romportl 2008, Hjort et al. 2012, 2015, Mazurek et al. 2015, Najwer et al. 2014). There are also a few examples of geodiversity assessment in order to geoconservation and efficient management and planning of the natural protected areas (Serrano and Gonzalez Trueba 2011, Pellitero et al. 2011, 2014, Jaskulska et al. 2013, Melelli 2014, Martinez-Grana et al. 2015). The most popular method of assessing the diversity of abiotic components of the natural

What influences the choice of assessment methods in health technology assessments? Statistical analysis of international health technology assessments from 1989 to 2002.

PubMed

Draborg, Eva; Andersen, Christian Kronborg

2006-01-01

Health technology assessment (HTA) has been used as input in decision making worldwide for more than 25 years. However, no uniform definition of HTA or agreement on assessment methods exists, leaving open the question of what influences the choice of assessment methods in HTAs. The objective of this study is to analyze statistically a possible relationship between methods of assessment used in practical HTAs, type of assessed technology, type of assessors, and year of publication. A sample of 433 HTAs published by eleven leading institutions or agencies in nine countries was reviewed and analyzed by multiple logistic regression. The study shows that outsourcing of HTA reports to external partners is associated with a higher likelihood of using assessment methods, such as meta-analysis, surveys, economic evaluations, and randomized controlled trials; and with a lower likelihood of using assessment methods, such as literature reviews and "other methods". The year of publication was statistically related to the inclusion of economic evaluations and shows a decreasing likelihood during the year span. The type of assessed technology was related to economic evaluations with a decreasing likelihood, to surveys, and to "other methods" with a decreasing likelihood when pharmaceuticals were the assessed type of technology. During the period from 1989 to 2002, no major developments in assessment methods used in practical HTAs were shown statistically in a sample of 433 HTAs worldwide. Outsourcing to external assessors has a statistically significant influence on choice of assessment methods.

The influence of digital filter type, amplitude normalisation method, and co-contraction algorithm on clinically relevant surface electromyography data during clinical movement assessments.

PubMed

Devaprakash, Daniel; Weir, Gillian J; Dunne, James J; Alderson, Jacqueline A; Donnelly, Cyril J

2016-12-01

There is a large and growing body of surface electromyography (sEMG) research using laboratory-specific signal processing procedures (i.e., digital filter type and amplitude normalisation protocols) and data analyses methods (i.e., co-contraction algorithms) to acquire practically meaningful information from these data. As a result, the ability to compare sEMG results between studies is, and continues to be challenging. The aim of this study was to determine if digital filter type, amplitude normalisation method, and co-contraction algorithm could influence the practical or clinical interpretation of processed sEMG data. Sixteen elite female athletes were recruited. During data collection, sEMG data was recorded from nine lower limb muscles while completing a series of calibration and clinical movement assessment trials (running and sidestepping). Three analyses were conducted: (1) signal processing with two different digital filter types (Butterworth or critically damped), (2) three amplitude normalisation methods, and (3) three co-contraction ratio algorithms. Results showed the choice of digital filter did not influence the clinical interpretation of sEMG; however, choice of amplitude normalisation method and co-contraction algorithm did influence the clinical interpretation of the running and sidestepping task. Care is recommended when choosing amplitude normalisation method and co-contraction algorithms if researchers/clinicians are interested in comparing sEMG data between studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Solubility assessment of 232Th from various types of soil in Malaysia using USP and DIN In Vitro digestion method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashid, Nur Shahidah Abdul; Perama, Yasmin Mohd Idris; Salih, Fitri Hakeem Mohd; Sarmani, Sukiman; Majid, Amran Ab.; Siong, Khoo Kok

2016-11-01

The overall results of the study showed that the concentrations of 232Th radionuclide using DIN digestion method during gastric phase are 0.0015 mg/kg - 0.0554 mg/kg and 0.0015 mg/kg - 0.0139 mg/kg during intestinal phase, respectively. As for USP digestion method during gastric phase are between 0.0877 mg/kg - 0.4964 mg/kg and 0.0207 mg/kg - 0.2291 mg/kg. The results from the measurements in various types of soils indicates some elevation of 232Th concentration in some types of soil compared to UNSCEAR reference values, in which may be a result from the impact of previous mining activity in the surrounding area and considered to be safe. In general, the results of 232Th concentrations from in vitro extraction technique is considered to be safe. By natural processes, thorium ingestion is getting transferred to living beings through different pathways and need to be monitored in order to assess possible hazards. Environmental studies are generally carried out to trace the pathway of radionuclides/radiotoxic elements to reach living organism. Environmental monitoring and meaningful interpretation of data from man-made pollution are more complicated without adequate knowledge about the natural abundance of radioactive elements in the environment.

Academic Program Assessment: A New Expertise for Faculty to Develop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blumberg, Phyllis

2017-01-01

Faculty are assuming greater responsibility for assessment of educational programs, which may be a new and daunting role. Therefore, faculty need to develop expertise and skills to do these assessments meaningfully. The overall purpose of this article is to provide faculty a program assessment resource. Assessments are conducted for accountability…

Actual evapotranspiration and deficit: Biologically meaningful correlates of vegetation distribution across spatial scales

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stephenson, N.L.

1998-01-01

Correlative approaches to understanding the climatic controls of vegetation distribution have exhibited at least two important weaknesses: they have been conceptually divorced across spatial scales, and their climatic parameters have not necessarily represented aspects of climate of broad physiological importance to plants. Using examples from the literature and from the Sierra Nevada of California, I argue that two water balance parameters-actual evapotranspiration (AET) and deficit (D)-are biologically meaningful, are well correlated with the distribution of vegetation types, and exhibit these qualities over several orders of magnitude of spatial scale (continental to local). I reach four additional conclusions. (1) Some pairs of climatic parameters presently in use are functionally similar to AET and D; however, AET and D may be easier to interpret biologically. (2) Several well-known climatic parameters are biologically less meaningful or less important than AET and D, and consequently are poorer correlates of the distribution of vegetation types. Of particular interest, AET is a much better correlate of the distributions of coniferous and deciduous forests than minimum temperature. (3) The effects of evaporative demand and water availability on a site's water balance are intrinsically different. For example, the 'dry' experienced by plants on sunward slopes (high evaporative demand) is not comparable to the 'dry' experienced by plants on soils with low water-holding capacities (low water availability), and these differences are reflected in vegetation patterns. (4) Many traditional topographic moisture scalars-those that additively combine measures related to evaporative demand and water availability are not necessarily meaningful for describing site conditions as sensed by plants; the same holds for measured soil moisture. However, using AET and D in place of moisture scalars and measured soil moisture can solve these problems.

Meaningful use and good catches: More appropriate metrics for checklist effectiveness.

PubMed

Putnam, Luke R; Anderson, Kathryn T; Diffley, Michael B; Hildebrandt, Aubrey A; Caldwell, Kelly M; Minzenmayer, Andrew N; Covey, Sarah E; Kawaguchi, Akemi L; Lally, Kevin P; Tsao, KuoJen

2016-12-01

The benefit of utilizing surgical safety checklists has been recently questioned. We evaluated our checklist performance after implementing a program that includes checklist-related good catches. Multifaceted interventions aimed at the preincision checklist and 5 prospective audits were conducted from 2011-2015. We documented adherence to the checklist (verbalization of each checkpoint), fidelity (meaningful performance of each checkpoint), and good catches (events with the potential to cause the patient harm but that were prevented from occurring). Good catches were divided into quality improvement-based categories (processes, medication, safety, communication, and equipment). A total of 1,346 checklist performances were observed (range, 144-373/yr). Adherence to the preincision checklist improved from 30% to 95% (P < .001), while adherence to the preinduction and debriefing checklists decreased (71% to 56%, P = .002) and remained unchanged (76%), respectively. Preincision fidelity decreased from 86% to 76% (P = .012). Good catches were identified during 16% of preincision checklist performances; process issues were most common (32%) followed by issues of medication administration (30%) and safety (22%). Implementation of a systematic checklist program resulted in significant and sustainable improvement in performance. Meaningful use and associated good catches may be more appropriate metric than actual patient harm for measuring checklist effectiveness. Although not previously described, checklist-related good catches represent an unknown benefit of checklists. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Callings, Work Role Fit, Psychological Meaningfulness and Work Engagement among Teachers in Zambia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothmann, Sebastiaan; Hamukang'andu, Lukondo

2013-01-01

Our aim in this study was to investigate the relationships among a calling orientation, work role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement of teachers in Zambia. A quantitative approach was followed and a cross-sectional survey was used. The sample (n = 150) included 75 basic and 75 secondary school teachers in the Choma district of…

Meaningful Informed Consent with Young Children: Looking Forward through an Interactive Narrative Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayne, Fiona; Howitt, Christine; Rennie, Léonie

2016-01-01

Ideas about ethical research with young children are evolving at a rapid rate. Not only can young children participate in the informed consent process, but researchers now also recognize that the process must be meaningful for them. As part of a larger study, this article reviews children's rights and informed consent literature as the foundation…

Meaningful Learning from Practice: Web-Based Video in Professional Preparation Programmes in University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Admiraal, Wilfried

2014-01-01

Web-based video is one of the technologies which can support meaningful learning from practice--in addition to practical benefits such as accessibility of practices, flexibility in updating information, and incorporating video into multimedia resources. A multiple case study was set up on the use of a web-based video learning environment in two…

Manifold learning-based subspace distance for machinery damage assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Chuang; Zhang, Zhousuo; He, Zhengjia; Shen, Zhongjie; Chen, Binqiang

2016-03-01

Damage assessment is very meaningful to keep safety and reliability of machinery components, and vibration analysis is an effective way to carry out the damage assessment. In this paper, a damage index is designed by performing manifold distance analysis on vibration signal. To calculate the index, vibration signal is collected firstly, and feature extraction is carried out to obtain statistical features that can capture signal characteristics comprehensively. Then, manifold learning algorithm is utilized to decompose feature matrix to be a subspace, that is, manifold subspace. The manifold learning algorithm seeks to keep local relationship of the feature matrix, which is more meaningful for damage assessment. Finally, Grassmann distance between manifold subspaces is defined as a damage index. The Grassmann distance reflecting manifold structure is a suitable metric to measure distance between subspaces in the manifold. The defined damage index is applied to damage assessment of a rotor and the bearing, and the result validates its effectiveness for damage assessment of machinery component.

A survey on sleep assessment methods

PubMed Central

Silva, Josep; Cauli, Omar

2018-01-01

Purpose A literature review is presented that aims to summarize and compare current methods to evaluate sleep. Methods Current sleep assessment methods have been classified according to different criteria; e.g., objective (polysomnography, actigraphy…) vs. subjective (sleep questionnaires, diaries…), contact vs. contactless devices, and need for medical assistance vs. self-assessment. A comparison of validation studies is carried out for each method, identifying their sensitivity and specificity reported in the literature. Finally, the state of the market has also been reviewed with respect to customers’ opinions about current sleep apps. Results A taxonomy that classifies the sleep detection methods. A description of each method that includes the tendencies of their underlying technologies analyzed in accordance with the literature. A comparison in terms of precision of existing validation studies and reports. Discussion In order of accuracy, sleep detection methods may be arranged as follows: Questionnaire < Sleep diary < Contactless devices < Contact devices < Polysomnography A literature review suggests that current subjective methods present a sensitivity between 73% and 97.7%, while their specificity ranges in the interval 50%–96%. Objective methods such as actigraphy present a sensibility higher than 90%. However, their specificity is low compared to their sensitivity, being one of the limitations of such technology. Moreover, there are other factors, such as the patient’s perception of her or his sleep, that can be provided only by subjective methods. Therefore, sleep detection methods should be combined to produce a synergy between objective and subjective methods. The review of the market indicates the most valued sleep apps, but it also identifies problems and gaps, e.g., many hardware devices have not been validated and (especially software apps) should be studied before their clinical use. PMID:29844990

Assessment methods in human body composition.

PubMed

Lee, Seon Yeong; Gallagher, Dympna

2008-09-01

The present study reviews the most recently developed and commonly used methods for the determination of human body composition in vivo with relevance for nutritional assessment. Body composition measurement methods are continuously being perfected with the most commonly used methods being bioelectrical impedance analysis, dilution techniques, air displacement plethysmography, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and MRI or magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Recent developments include three-dimensional photonic scanning and quantitative magnetic resonance. Collectively, these techniques allow for the measurement of fat, fat-free mass, bone mineral content, total body water, extracellular water, total adipose tissue and its subdepots (visceral, subcutaneous, and intermuscular), skeletal muscle, select organs, and ectopic fat depots. There is an ongoing need to perfect methods that provide information beyond mass and structure (static measures) to kinetic measures that yield information on metabolic and biological functions. On the basis of the wide range of measurable properties, analytical methods and known body composition models, clinicians and scientists can quantify a number of body components and with longitudinal assessment, can track changes in health and disease with implications for understanding efficacy of nutritional and clinical interventions, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment in clinical settings. With the greater need to understand precursors of health risk beginning in childhood, a gap exists in appropriate in-vivo measurement methods beginning at birth.

Assessment methods in human body composition

PubMed Central

Lee, Seon Yeong; Gallagher, Dympna

2009-01-01

Purpose of review The present study reviews the most recently developed and commonly used methods for the determination of human body composition in vivo with relevance for nutritional assessment. Recent findings Body composition measurement methods are continuously being perfected with the most commonly used methods being bioelectrical impedance analysis, dilution techniques, air displacement plethysmography, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and MRI or magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Recent developments include three-dimensional photonic scanning and quantitative magnetic resonance. Collectively, these techniques allow for the measurement of fat, fat-free mass, bone mineral content, total body water, extracellular water, total adipose tissue and its subdepots (visceral, subcutaneous, and intermuscular), skeletal muscle, select organs, and ectopic fat depots. Summary There is an ongoing need to perfect methods that provide information beyond mass and structure (static measures) to kinetic measures that yield information on metabolic and biological functions. On the basis of the wide range of measurable properties, analytical methods and known body composition models, clinicians and scientists can quantify a number of body components and with longitudinal assessment, can track changes in health and disease with implications for understanding efficacy of nutritional and clinical interventions, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment in clinical settings. With the greater need to understand precursors of health risk beginning in childhood, a gap exists in appropriate in-vivo measurement methods beginning at birth. PMID:18685451

Core principles of assessment in competency-based medical education.

PubMed

Lockyer, Jocelyn; Carraccio, Carol; Chan, Ming-Ka; Hart, Danielle; Smee, Sydney; Touchie, Claire; Holmboe, Eric S; Frank, Jason R

2017-06-01

The meaningful assessment of competence is critical for the implementation of effective competency-based medical education (CBME). Timely ongoing assessments are needed along with comprehensive periodic reviews to ensure that trainees continue to progress. New approaches are needed to optimize the use of multiple assessors and assessments; to synthesize the data collected from multiple assessors and multiple types of assessments; to develop faculty competence in assessment; and to ensure that relationships between the givers and receivers of feedback are appropriate. This paper describes the core principles of assessment for learning and assessment of learning. It addresses several ways to ensure the effectiveness of assessment programs, including using the right combination of assessment methods and conducting careful assessor selection and training. It provides a reconceptualization of the role of psychometrics and articulates the importance of a group process in determining trainees' progress. In addition, it notes that, to reach its potential as a driver in trainee development, quality care, and patient safety, CBME requires effective information management and documentation as well as ongoing consideration of ways to improve the assessment system.

Statistical methods in personality assessment research.

PubMed

Schinka, J A; LaLone, L; Broeckel, J A

1997-06-01

Emerging models of personality structure and advances in the measurement of personality and psychopathology suggest that research in personality and personality assessment has entered a stage of advanced development, in this article we examine whether researchers in these areas have taken advantage of new and evolving statistical procedures. We conducted a review of articles published in the Journal of Personality, Assessment during the past 5 years. Of the 449 articles that included some form of data analysis, 12.7% used only descriptive statistics, most employed only univariate statistics, and fewer than 10% used multivariate methods of data analysis. We discuss the cost of using limited statistical methods, the possible reasons for the apparent reluctance to employ advanced statistical procedures, and potential solutions to this technical shortcoming.

An overview of data integration methods for regional assessment.

PubMed

Locantore, Nicholas W; Tran, Liem T; O'Neill, Robert V; McKinnis, Peter W; Smith, Elizabeth R; O'Connell, Michael

2004-06-01

The U.S. Environmental Protections Agency's (U.S. EPA) Regional Vulnerability Assessment(ReVA) program has focused much of its research over the last five years on developing and evaluating integration methods for spatial data. An initial strategic priority was to use existing data from monitoring programs, model results, and other spatial data. Because most of these data were not collected with an intention of integrating into a regional assessment of conditions and vulnerabilities, issues exist that may preclude the use of some methods or require some sort of data preparation. Additionally, to support multi-criteria decision-making, methods need to be able to address a series of assessment questions that provide insights into where environmental risks are a priority. This paper provides an overview of twelve spatial integration methods that can be applied towards regional assessment, along with preliminary results as to how sensitive each method is to data issues that will likely be encountered with the use of existing data.

Assessment of active methods for removal of LEO debris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hakima, Houman; Emami, M. Reza

2018-03-01

This paper investigates the applicability of five active methods for removal of large low Earth orbit debris. The removal methods, namely net, laser, electrodynamic tether, ion beam shepherd, and robotic arm, are selected based on a set of high-level space mission constraints. Mission level criteria are then utilized to assess the performance of each redirection method in light of the results obtained from a Monte Carlo simulation. The simulation provides an insight into the removal time, performance robustness, and propellant mass criteria for the targeted debris range. The remaining attributes are quantified based on the models provided in the literature, which take into account several important parameters pertaining to each removal method. The means of assigning attributes to each assessment criterion is discussed in detail. A systematic comparison is performed using two different assessment schemes: Analytical Hierarchy Process and utility-based approach. A third assessment technique, namely the potential-loss analysis, is utilized to highlight the effect of risks in each removal methods.

Increased Trunk Extension Endurance is Associated with Meaningful Improvement in Balance among Older Adults with Mobility Problems

PubMed Central

Suri, Pradeep; Kiely, Dan K.; Leveille, Suzanne G.; Frontera, Walter R.; Bean, Jonathan. F.

2011-01-01

Objective To determine if trunk extension endurance changes with training are associated with clinically meaningful improvements in balance among mobility-limited older adults. Design Longitudinal data from a randomized clinical trial. Setting Outpatient rehabilitation research center. Participants Community-dwelling older adults (N=64; mean age 75.9 y) with mobility limitations as defined by a score of 4 to 10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery. Interventions 16 weeks of progressive resistance training. Main Outcome Measures Outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Unipedal Stance Test (UST). Predictors included leg strength, leg power, trunk extension endurance and the product of heart rate and blood pressure (RPP) at the final stage of an exercise tolerance test. We performed an analysis of data from participants who completed 16 weeks of training using binary outcomes defined by a clinically meaningful change from baseline to completion of the intervention (CMC) (BBS= 4 units; UST= 5 seconds). The association of predictor variables with balance outcomes was examined separately and together in multivariate adjusted logistic regression models. Results Trunk extension endurance in seconds (1.04 [1.00– 1.09]) was independently associated with CMC on the BBS. Trunk extension endurance (1.02 [1.00– 1.03]) was independently associated with CMC on the UST. Other physical attributes were not associated with meaningful change in balance. Conclusions Improvements in trunk extension endurance were independently associated with clinically meaningful changes in balance in older adults. Leg strength, leg power, and RPP were not associated with CMC in balance. Poor trunk extension endurance may be a rehabilitative impairment worthy of further study as a modifiable factor linked to balance among older adults. PMID:21636073

Mutually Beneficial Foreign Language Learning: Creating Meaningful Interactions through Video-Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kato, Fumie; Spring, Ryan; Mori, Chikako

2016-01-01

Providing learners of a foreign language with meaningful opportunities for interactions, specifically with native speakers, is especially challenging for instructors. One way to overcome this obstacle is through video-synchronous computer-mediated communication tools such as Skype software. This study reports quantitative and qualitative data from…

Relationship of procedural numbers with meaningful procedural autonomy in general surgery residents.

PubMed

Stride, Herbert P; George, Brian C; Williams, Reed G; Bohnen, Jordan D; Eaton, Megan J; Schuller, Mary C; Zhao, Lihui; Yang, Amy; Meyerson, Shari L; Scully, Rebecca; Dunnington, Gary L; Torbeck, Laura; Mullen, John T; Mandell, Samuel P; Choti, Michael; Foley, Eugene; Are, Chandrakanth; Auyang, Edward; Chipman, Jeffrey; Choi, Jennifer; Meier, Andreas; Smink, Douglas; Terhune, Kyla P; Wise, Paul; DaRosa, Debra; Soper, Nathaniel; Zwischenberger, Jay B; Lillemoe, Keith; Fryer, Jonathan P

2018-03-01

Concerns exist regarding the competency of general surgery graduates with performing core general surgery procedures. Current competence assessment incorporates minimal procedural numbers requirements. Based on the Zwisch scale we evaluated the level of autonomy achieved by categorical PGY1-5 general surgery residents at 14 U.S. general surgery resident training programs between September 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016. With 5 of the most commonly performed core general surgery procedures, we correlated the level of autonomy achieved by each resident with the number of procedures they had performed before the evaluation period, with the intent of identifying specific target numbers that would correlate with the achievement of meaningful autonomy for each procedure with most residents. Whereas a definitive target number was identified for laparoscopic appendectomy (i.e. 25), for the other 4 procedures studied (i.e. laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 52; open inguinal hernia repair, 42; ventral hernia repair, 35; and partial colectomy, 60), target numbers identified were less definitive and/or were higher than many residents will experience during their surgical residency training. We conclude that procedural target numbers are generally not effective in predicting procedural competence and should not be used as the basis for determining residents' readiness for independent practice. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Surveying immigrants without sampling frames - evaluating the success of alternative field methods.

PubMed

Reichel, David; Morales, Laura

2017-01-01

This paper evaluates the sampling methods of an international survey, the Immigrant Citizens Survey, which aimed at surveying immigrants from outside the European Union (EU) in 15 cities in seven EU countries. In five countries, no sample frame was available for the target population. Consequently, alternative ways to obtain a representative sample had to be found. In three countries 'location sampling' was employed, while in two countries traditional methods were used with adaptations to reach the target population. The paper assesses the main methodological challenges of carrying out a survey among a group of immigrants for whom no sampling frame exists. The samples of the survey in these five countries are compared to results of official statistics in order to assess the accuracy of the samples obtained through the different sampling methods. It can be shown that alternative sampling methods can provide meaningful results in terms of core demographic characteristics although some estimates differ to some extent from the census results.

Assessing Interval Estimation Methods for Hill Model ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Hill model of concentration-response is ubiquitous in toxicology, perhaps because its parameters directly relate to biologically significant metrics of toxicity such as efficacy and potency. Point estimates of these parameters obtained through least squares regression or maximum likelihood are commonly used in high-throughput risk assessment, but such estimates typically fail to include reliable information concerning confidence in (or precision of) the estimates. To address this issue, we examined methods for assessing uncertainty in Hill model parameter estimates derived from concentration-response data. In particular, using a sample of ToxCast concentration-response data sets, we applied four methods for obtaining interval estimates that are based on asymptotic theory, bootstrapping (two varieties), and Bayesian parameter estimation, and then compared the results. These interval estimation methods generally did not agree, so we devised a simulation study to assess their relative performance. We generated simulated data by constructing four statistical error models capable of producing concentration-response data sets comparable to those observed in ToxCast. We then applied the four interval estimation methods to the simulated data and compared the actual coverage of the interval estimates to the nominal coverage (e.g., 95%) in order to quantify performance of each of the methods in a variety of cases (i.e., different values of the true Hill model paramet

The qualitative assessment of pneumatic actuators operation in terms of vibration criteria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hetmanczyk, M. P.; Michalski, P.

2015-11-01

The work quality of pneumatic actuators can be assessed in terms of multiple criteria. In the case of complex systems with pneumatic actuators retained at end positions (with occurrence of piston impact in cylinder covers) the vibration criteria constitute the most reliable indicators. The paper presents an impact assessment on the operating condition of the rodless pneumatic cylinder regarding to selected vibrational symptoms. On the basis of performed analysis the authors had shown meaningful premises allowing an evaluation of the performance and tuning of end position damping piston movement with usage the most common diagnostic tools (portable vibration analyzers). The presented method is useful in tuning of parameters in industrial conditions.

A classification scheme for risk assessment methods.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stamp, Jason Edwin; Campbell, Philip LaRoche

2004-08-01

This report presents a classification scheme for risk assessment methods. This scheme, like all classification schemes, provides meaning by imposing a structure that identifies relationships. Our scheme is based on two orthogonal aspects--level of detail, and approach. The resulting structure is shown in Table 1 and is explained in the body of the report. Each cell in the Table represent a different arrangement of strengths and weaknesses. Those arrangements shift gradually as one moves through the table, each cell optimal for a particular situation. The intention of this report is to enable informed use of the methods so that amore » method chosen is optimal for a situation given. This report imposes structure on the set of risk assessment methods in order to reveal their relationships and thus optimize their usage.We present a two-dimensional structure in the form of a matrix, using three abstraction levels for the rows and three approaches for the columns. For each of the nine cells in the matrix we identify the method type by name and example. The matrix helps the user understand: (1) what to expect from a given method, (2) how it relates to other methods, and (3) how best to use it. Each cell in the matrix represent a different arrangement of strengths and weaknesses. Those arrangements shift gradually as one moves through the table, each cell optimal for a particular situation. The intention of this report is to enable informed use of the methods so that a method chosen is optimal for a situation given. The matrix, with type names in the cells, is introduced in Table 2 on page 13 below. Unless otherwise stated we use the word 'method' in this report to refer to a 'risk assessment method', though often times we use the full phrase. The use of the terms 'risk assessment' and 'risk management' are close enough that we do not attempt to distinguish them in this report. The remainder of this report is organized as follows. In Section 2 we provide context for

LARGE RIVER ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES AND FISH

EPA Science Inventory

Multiple projects are currently underway to increase our understanding of the varying results of different sampling methods and designs used for the biological assessment and monitoring of large (boatable) rivers. Studies include methods used to assess fish, benthic macroinverte...

Where language meets meaningful action: a combined behavior and lesion analysis of aphasia and apraxia.

PubMed

Weiss, Peter H; Ubben, Simon D; Kaesberg, Stephanie; Kalbe, Elke; Kessler, Josef; Liebig, Thomas; Fink, Gereon R

2016-01-01

It is debated how language and praxis are co-represented in the left hemisphere (LH). As voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping in LH stroke patients with aphasia and/or apraxia may contribute to this debate, we here investigated the relationship between language and praxis deficits at the behavioral and lesion levels in 50 sub-acute stroke patients. We hypothesized that language and (meaningful) action are linked via semantic processing in Broca's region. Behaviorally, half of the patients suffered from co-morbid aphasia and apraxia. While 24% (n = 12) of all patients exhibited aphasia without apraxia, apraxia without aphasia was rare (n = 2, 4%). Left inferior frontal, insular, inferior parietal, and superior temporal lesions were specifically associated with deficits in naming, reading, writing, or auditory comprehension. In contrast, lesions affecting the left inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, and the central region as well as the inferior parietal lobe were associated with apraxic deficits (i.e., pantomime, imitation of meaningful and meaningless gestures). Thus, contrary to the predictions of the embodied cognition theory, lesions to sensorimotor and premotor areas were associated with the severity of praxis but not language deficits. Lesions of Brodmann area (BA) 44 led to combined apraxic and aphasic deficits. Data suggest that BA 44 acts as an interface between language and (meaningful) action thereby supporting parcellation schemes (based on connectivity and receptor mapping) which revealed a BA 44 sub-area involved in semantic processing.

Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt.

PubMed

Goldman, S R; Hasselbring, T S

1997-01-01

In this article we consider issues relevant to the future of mathematics instruction and achievement for students with learning disabilities. The starting point for envisioning the future is the changing standards for mathematics learning and basic mathematical literacy. We argue that the shift from behaviorist learning theories to constructivist and social constructivist theories (see Rivera, this series) provides an opportunity to develop and implement a hybrid model of mathematics instruction. The hybrid model we propose embeds, or situates, important skill learning in meaningful contexts. We discuss some examples of instructional approaches to complex mathematical problem solving that make use of meaningful contexts. Evaluation data on these approaches have yielded positive and encouraging results for students with learning disabilities as well as general education students. Finally, we discuss various ways in which technology is important for realizing hybrid instructional models in mathematics.

Parent Involvement in Meaningful Post-School Experiences for Young Adults With IDD and Pervasive Support Needs.

PubMed

Rossetti, Zachary; Lehr, Donna; Pelerin, Dana; Huang, Shuoxi; Lederer, Leslie

2016-08-01

Despite initiatives supporting young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to engage in post-secondary education and integrated employment, those with more intensive support needs are not as easily involved in these post-school experiences. In an effort to learn from positive examples, we examined parent involvement in meaningful post-school experiences by eight young adults with IDD and pervasive support needs. Secondary analysis of data from a prior interview study yielded this smaller sample of eight young adults with meaningful post-school experiences. Their parents were actively involved as fierce advocates and creative problem solvers. The active involvement of parents included: a) attitudinal facilitators, b) advocacy efforts and perceptions, and c) strategic actions. Implications for future research and practice are described.

Category-contingent face adaptation for novel colour categories: Contingent effects are seen only after social or meaningful labelling.

PubMed

Little, Anthony C; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2011-01-01

A face appears normal when it approximates the average of a population. Consequently, exposure to faces biases perceptions of subsequently viewed faces such that faces similar to those recently seen are perceived as more normal. Simultaneously inducing such aftereffects in opposite directions for two groups of faces indicates somewhat discrete representations for those groups. Here we examine how labelling influences the perception of category in faces differing in colour. We show category-contingent aftereffects following exposure to faces differing in eye spacing (wide versus narrow) for blue versus red faces when such groups are consistently labelled with socially meaningful labels (Extravert versus Introvert; Soldier versus Builder). Category-contingent aftereffects were not seen using identical methodology when labels were not meaningful or were absent. These data suggest that human representations of faces can be rapidly tuned to code for meaningful social categories and that such tuning requires both a label and an associated visual difference. Results highlight the flexibility of the cognitive visual system to discriminate categories even in adulthood. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using Design-Based Research to Develop Meaningful Online Discussions in Undergraduate Field Experience Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Carol; Hill, Laurie; Lock, Jennifer; Altowairiki, Noha; Ostrowski, Chris; da Rosa dos Santos, Luciano; Liu, Yang

2017-01-01

From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task…

The effects of Roundhouse diagram construction and use on meaningful science learning in the middle school classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Robin Eichel

This research explored the effects of Roundhouse diagram construction and use on meaningful learning of science concepts in a 6th-grade science classroom. This investigation examined the transformation of students' science concepts as they became more proficient in constructing Roundhouse diagrams, what problems students encountered while constructing Roundhouse diagrams, and how choices of iconic images affected their progress in meaningfully learning science concepts as they constructed a series of Roundhouse diagrams. The process of constructing a Roundhouse diagram involved recognizing the learner's relevant existing concepts, evaluating the central concepts for a science lesson and breaking them down into their component parts, reconstructing the learner's conceptual framework by reducing the amount of detail efficiently, reviewing the reconstruction process, and linking each key concept to an iconic image. The researcher collected and analyzed qualitative and quantitative data to determine the effectiveness of the Roundhouse diagram. Data included field notes, observations, students' responses to Roundhouse diagram worksheets, students' perceptions from evaluation sheets, students' mastery of technique sheets, tapes and transcripts of students' interviews, student-constructed Roundhouse diagrams, and documentation of science grades both pre- and post-Roundhouse diagramming. This multiple case study focused on six students although the whole class was used for statistical purposes. Stratified purposeful sampling was used to facilitate comparisons as well as week-by-week comparisons of students' science grades and Roundhouse diagram scores to gain additional insight into the effectiveness of the Roundhouse diagramming method. Through participation in constructing a series of Roundhouse diagrams, middle school students gained a greater understanding of science concepts. Roundhouse diagram scores improved over time during the 10-week Roundhouse diagramming

Herbal hepatotoxicity: Challenges and pitfalls of causality assessment methods

PubMed Central

Teschke, Rolf; Frenzel, Christian; Schulze, Johannes; Eickhoff, Axel

2013-01-01

The diagnosis of herbal hepatotoxicity or herb induced liver injury (HILI) represents a particular clinical and regulatory challenge with major pitfalls for the causality evaluation. At the day HILI is suspected in a patient, physicians should start assessing the quality of the used herbal product, optimizing the clinical data for completeness, and applying the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) scale for initial causality assessment. This scale is structured, quantitative, liver specific, and validated for hepatotoxicity cases. Its items provide individual scores, which together yield causality levels of highly probable, probable, possible, unlikely, and excluded. After completion by additional information including raw data, this scale with all items should be reported to regulatory agencies and manufacturers for further evaluation. The CIOMS scale is preferred as tool for assessing causality in hepatotoxicity cases, compared to numerous other causality assessment methods, which are inferior on various grounds. Among these disputed methods are the Maria and Victorino scale, an insufficiently qualified, shortened version of the CIOMS scale, as well as various liver unspecific methods such as the ad hoc causality approach, the Naranjo scale, the World Health Organization (WHO) method, and the Karch and Lasagna method. An expert panel is required for the Drug Induced Liver Injury Network method, the WHO method, and other approaches based on expert opinion, which provide retrospective analyses with a long delay and thereby prevent a timely assessment of the illness in question by the physician. In conclusion, HILI causality assessment is challenging and is best achieved by the liver specific CIOMS scale, avoiding pitfalls commonly observed with other approaches. PMID:23704820

Outside track advances. Think smaller and rural hospitals are hopelessly behind in satisfying the meaningful-use criteria under ARRA-HITECH? Don't be so sure.

PubMed

Hagland, Mark

2010-04-01

Smaller and rural hospitals face particular challenges in terms of matching the needed financial and human resources to the task of achieving meaningful use. Nonetheless, some smaller and rural hospitals have made surprising progress towards meeting the 2011 meaningful use criteria. Data reporting requirements under meaningful use will be particularly challenging for this type of hospital; engaging clinicians, especially physicians, in coming together to meet the challenges early on, will be critical to success.

Assessment of General Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furman, Tanya

2013-01-01

The assessment of general education is often approached through broad surveys or standardized instruments that fail to capture the learning goals most faculty members desire for this portion of the curriculum. The challenge in remedying this situation lies, first, in defining general education in meaningful ways that can be both articulated and…

EMERGY METHODS: VALUABLE INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT TOOLS

EPA Science Inventory

NHEERL's Atlantic Ecology Division is investigating emergy methods as tools for integrated assessment in several projects evaluating environmental impacts, policies, and alternatives for remediation and intervention. Emergy accounting is a methodology that provides a quantitative...

Errors Using Observational Methods for Ergonomics Assessment in Real Practice.

PubMed

Diego-Mas, Jose-Antonio; Alcaide-Marzal, Jorge; Poveda-Bautista, Rocio

2017-12-01

The degree in which practitioners use the observational methods for musculoskeletal disorder risks assessment correctly was evaluated. Ergonomics assessment is a key issue for the prevention and reduction of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in workplaces. Observational assessment methods appear to be better matched to the needs of practitioners than direct measurement methods, and for this reason, they are the most widely used techniques in real work situations. Despite the simplicity of observational methods, those responsible for assessing risks using these techniques should have some experience and know-how in order to be able to use them correctly. We analyzed 442 risk assessments of actual jobs carried out by 290 professionals from 20 countries to determine their reliability. The results show that approximately 30% of the assessments performed by practitioners had errors. In 13% of the assessments, the errors were severe and completely invalidated the results of the evaluation. Despite the simplicity of observational method, approximately 1 out of 3 assessments conducted by practitioners in actual work situations do not adequately evaluate the level of potential musculoskeletal disorder risks. This study reveals a problem that suggests greater effort is needed to ensure that practitioners possess better knowledge of the techniques used to assess work-related musculoskeletal disorder risks and that laws and regulations should be stricter as regards qualifications and skills required by professionals.

Minimal Residual Disease Assessment in Lymphoma: Methods and Applications.

PubMed

Herrera, Alex F; Armand, Philippe

2017-12-01

Standard methods for disease response assessment in patients with lymphoma, including positron emission tomography and computed tomography scans, are imperfect. In other hematologic malignancies, particularly leukemias, the ability to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) is increasingly influencing treatment paradigms. However, in many subtypes of lymphoma, the application of MRD assessment techniques, like flow cytometry or polymerase chain reaction-based methods, has been challenging because of the absence of readily detected circulating disease or canonic chromosomal translocations. Newer MRD detection methods that use next-generation sequencing have yielded promising results in a number of lymphoma subtypes, fueling the hope that MRD detection may soon be applicable in clinical practice for most patients with lymphoma. MRD assessment can provide real-time information about tumor burden and response to therapy, noninvasive genomic profiling, and monitoring of clonal dynamics, allowing for many possible applications that could significantly affect the care of patients with lymphoma. Further validation of MRD assessment methods, including the incorporation of MRD assessment into clinical trials in patients with lymphoma, will be critical to determine how best to deploy MRD testing in routine practice and whether MRD assessment can ultimately bring us closer to the goal of personalized lymphoma care. In this review article, we describe the methods available for detecting MRD in patients with lymphoma and their relative advantages and disadvantages. We discuss preliminary results supporting the potential applications for MRD testing in the care of patients with lymphoma and strategies for including MRD assessment in lymphoma clinical trials.

Meaningful Words and Non-Words Repetitive Articulatory Rate (Oral Diadochokinesis) in Persian Speaking Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zamani, Peyman; Rezai, Hossein; Garmatani, Neda Tahmasebi

2017-01-01

Repetitive articulatory rate or Oral Diadochokinesis (oral-DDK) shows a guideline for appraisal and diagnosis of subjects with oral-motor disorder. Traditionally, meaningless words repetition has been utilized in this task and preschool children have challenges with them. Therefore, we aimed to determine some meaningful words in order to test…

Designing and Integrating Reusable Learning Objects for Meaningful Learning: Cases from a Graduate Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Joyce Hwee Ling

2017-01-01

E-learning quality depends on sound pedagogical integration between the content resources and lesson activities within an e-learning system. This study proposes that a meaningful learning with technology framework can be used to guide the design and integration of content resources with e-learning activities in ways that promote learning…

Sustaining "meaningful use" of health information technology in low-resource practices.

PubMed

Green, Lee A; Potworowski, Georges; Day, Anya; May-Gentile, Rachelle; Vibbert, Danielle; Maki, Bruce; Kiesel, Leslie

2015-01-01

The implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) has been extensively studied, but their maintenance once implemented has not. The Regional Extension Center (REC) program provides implementation assistance to priority practices-those with limited financial, technical, and organizational resources-but the assistance is time limited. Our objective was to identify potential barriers to maintenance of meaningful use of EHRs in priority primary care practices using a qualitative observational study for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and priority practices in Michigan. We conducted cognitive task analysis (CTA) interviews and direct observations of health information technology implementation in FQHCs. In addition, we conducted semistructured interviews with implementation specialists serving priority practices to detect emergent themes relevant to maintenance. Maintaining EHR technology will require ongoing expert technical support indefinitely beyond implementation to address upgrades and security needs. Maintaining meaningful use for quality improvement will require ongoing support for leadership and change management. Priority practices not associated with larger systems lack access to the necessary technical expertise, financial resources, and leverage with vendors to continue alone. Rural priority practices are particularly challenged, because expertise is often not available locally. Priority practices, especially in rural areas, are at high risk for falling on the wrong side of a "digital divide" as payers and regulators enact increasing expectations for EHR use and information management. For those without affiliation to maintain the necessary expert staff, ongoing support will be needed for those practices to remain viable. © 2015 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

Generalizability Theory Applied to Reading Assessments for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tindal, Gerald; Yovanoff, Paul; Geller, Josh P.

2010-01-01

Students with significant disabilities must participate in large-scale assessments, often using an alternate assessment judged against alternate achievement standards. The development and administration of this type of assessment must necessarily balance meaningful participation with accurate measurement. In this study, generalizability theory is…

Expanding Assessment Methods and Moments in History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frost, Jennifer; de Pont, Genevieve; Brailsford, Ian

2012-01-01

History courses at The University of Auckland are typically assessed at two or three moments during a semester. The methods used normally employ two essays and a written examination answering questions set by the lecturer. This study describes an assessment innovation in 2008 that expanded both the frequency and variety of activities completed by…

Turning risk assessment and adaptation policy priorities into meaningful interventions and governance processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Kathryn; DiMauro, Manuela; Johns, Daniel; Holmes, Gemma; Thompson, David; Russell, Andrew; Style, David

2018-06-01

The UK is one of the first countries in the world to have set up a statutory system of national climate risk assessments followed by a national adaptation programme. Having this legal framework has been essential for enabling adaptation at the government level in a challenging political environment. However, using this framework to create an improvement in resilience to climate change across the country requires more than publishing a set of documents; it requires careful thought about what interventions work, how they can be enabled and what level of risk acceptability individuals, organizations and the country should be aiming for. This article is part of the theme issue `Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy'.

Assessment in Service-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Betty

2012-01-01

Offering meaningful service to the community while engaging in active learning is a pedagogical strategy that has come to be known as service-learning. Both learner and the community are mutual recipients of benefits derived from the process. The fundamental question that remains is, "How do we assess the learner in this non traditional…

Hospital Characteristics Related to the Intention to Apply for Meaningful Use Incentive Payments

PubMed Central

Diana, Mark L; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Ford, Eric W; Menachemi, Nir

2012-01-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 provides incentives for hospitals to fully adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs). We used data from the 2009 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2008 Hospital Cost Reports to examine how various hospital characteristics are associated with the intention to pursue meaningful use incentives. Overall, 86 percent of hospitals indicated an intent to pursue HITECH incentives. However, hospitals that already have an EHR system, are larger, and are located in urban areas are more likely to indicate an intention to pursue incentives. Despite a high interest in HITECH incentives, certain hospital characteristics, including current EHR use, increase the proclivity for some hospitals to pursue meaningful use. Given these differences, there is the potential for the HITECH Act to inadvertently increase the digital divide between hospitals with certain characteristics and their counterparts without those characteristics. Policy makers should consider ways to alleviate barriers, especially for nonusers of EHRs, to realize the maximum benefits of the HITECH Act. PMID:22737100

Creating Meaningful Change in Education: A Cascading Logic Model. Scaling-Up Brief. Number 6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blase, Karen; Fixsen, Dean; Jackson, Kathleen Ryan

2015-01-01

Creating meaningful change in a state's education system from the capitol to the classroom is complex and challenging work. Over the past several decades, considerable research, policy, and funding have focused on the use of evidence-based programs (EBP) in schools. However, these practices only are effective when fully and effectively implemented…

Assessment and Evaluation Methods for Access Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Long, Dallas

2014-01-01

This article serves as a primer for assessment and evaluation design by describing the range of methods commonly employed in library settings. Quantitative methods, such as counting and benchmarking measures, are useful for investigating the internal operations of an access services department in order to identify workflow inefficiencies or…

Twenty Years of Progress in Violence Risk Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson, R. Karl

2005-01-01

Violence risk assessment has advanced considerably in the last 20 years. In the 1980s, leading professionals questioned the very possibility of valid violence risk assessments; now, many of the major risk factors have been identified, and professional debate focuses on how best to combine these risk factors into meaningful evaluations. An…

Formal Method of Description Supporting Portfolio Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morimoto, Yasuhiko; Ueno, Maomi; Kikukawa, Isao; Yokoyama, Setsuo; Miyadera, Youzou

2006-01-01

Teachers need to assess learner portfolios in the field of education. However, they need support in the process of designing and practicing what kind of portfolios are to be assessed. To solve the problem, a formal method of describing the relations between the lesson forms and portfolios that need to be collected and the relations between…

Turning risk assessment and adaptation policy priorities into meaningful interventions and governance processes.

PubMed

Brown, Kathryn; DiMauro, Manuela; Johns, Daniel; Holmes, Gemma; Thompson, David; Russell, Andrew; Style, David

2018-06-13

The UK is one of the first countries in the world to have set up a statutory system of national climate risk assessments followed by a national adaptation programme. Having this legal framework has been essential for enabling adaptation at the government level in a challenging political environment. However, using this framework to create an improvement in resilience to climate change across the country requires more than publishing a set of documents; it requires careful thought about what interventions work, how they can be enabled and what level of risk acceptability individuals, organizations and the country should be aiming for.This article is part of the theme issue 'Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Measuring Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Laboratories: A Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

Understanding how students learn in the undergraduate chemistry teaching laboratory is an essential component to developing evidence-based laboratory curricula. The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was developed to measure students' cognitive and affective expectations and experiences for learning in the chemistry…

Estimating a Meaningful Point of Change: A Comparison of Exploratory Techniques Based on Nonparametric Regression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klotsche, Jens; Gloster, Andrew T.

2012-01-01

Longitudinal studies are increasingly common in psychological research. Characterized by repeated measurements, longitudinal designs aim to observe phenomena that change over time. One important question involves identification of the exact point in time when the observed phenomena begin to meaningfully change above and beyond baseline…

Analytical resource assessment method for continuous (unconventional) oil and gas accumulations - The "ACCESS" Method

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crovelli, Robert A.; revised by Charpentier, Ronald R.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) periodically assesses petroleum resources of areas within the United States and the world. The purpose of this report is to explain the development of an analytic probabilistic method and spreadsheet software system called Analytic Cell-Based Continuous Energy Spreadsheet System (ACCESS). The ACCESS method is based upon mathematical equations derived from probability theory. The ACCESS spreadsheet can be used to calculate estimates of the undeveloped oil, gas, and NGL (natural gas liquids) resources in a continuous-type assessment unit. An assessment unit is a mappable volume of rock in a total petroleum system. In this report, the geologic assessment model is defined first, the analytic probabilistic method is described second, and the spreadsheet ACCESS is described third. In this revised version of Open-File Report 00-044 , the text has been updated to reflect modifications that were made to the ACCESS program. Two versions of the program are added as appendixes.

Method and apparatus for assessing cardiovascular risk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Albrecht, Paul (Inventor); Bigger, J. Thomas (Inventor); Cohen, Richard J. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

The method for assessing risk of an adverse clinical event includes detecting a physiologic signal in the subject and determining from the physiologic signal a sequence of intervals corresponding to time intervals between heart beats. The long-time structure of fluctuations in the intervals over a time period of more than fifteen minutes is analyzed to assess risk of an adverse clinical event. In a preferred embodiment, the physiologic signal is an electrocardiogram and the time period is at least fifteen minutes. A preferred method for analyzing the long-time structure variability in the intervals includes computing the power spectrum and fitting the power spectrum to a power law dependence on frequency over a selected frequency range such as 10.sup.-4 to 10.sup.-2 Hz. Characteristics of the long-time structure fluctuations in the intervals is used to assess risk of an adverse clinical event.

The Effect of Case Teaching on Meaningful and Retentive Learning When Studying Genetic Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Güccük, Ahmet; Köksal, Mustafa Serdar

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of case teaching on how students learn about genetic engineering, in terms of meaningful learning and retention of learning. The study was designed as quasi-experimental research including 63 8th graders (28 boys and 35 girls). To collect data, genetic engineering achievement tests were…

A combined emitter threat assessment method based on ICW-RCM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Hongwei; Guo, Xiaotao; Wang, Yubing

2017-08-01

Considering that the tradition al emitter threat assessment methods are difficult to intuitively reflect the degree of target threaten and the deficiency of real-time and complexity, on the basis of radar chart method(RCM), an algorithm of emitter combined threat assessment based on ICW-RCM (improved combination weighting method, ICW) is proposed. The coarse sorting is integrated with fine sorting in emitter combined threat assessment, sequencing the emitter threat level roughly accordance to radar operation mode, and reducing task priority of the low-threat emitter; On the basis of ICW-RCM, sequencing the same radar operation mode emitter roughly, finally, obtain the results of emitter threat assessment through coarse and fine sorting. Simulation analyses show the correctness and effectiveness of this algorithm. Comparing with classical method of emitter threat assessment based on CW-RCM, the algorithm is visual in image and can work quickly with lower complexity.

Novel Method to Assess Arterial Insufficiency in Rodent Hindlimb

PubMed Central

Ziegler, Matthew A.; DiStasi, Matthew R.; Miller, Steven J.; Dalsing, Michael C.; Unthank, Joseph L.

2015-01-01

Background Lack of techniques to assess maximal blood flow capacity thwarts the use of rodent models of arterial insufficiency to evaluate therapies for intermittent claudication. We evaluated femoral vein outflow (VO) in combination with stimulated muscle contraction as a potential method to assess functional hindlimb arterial reserve and therapeutic efficacy in a rodent model of subcritical limb ischemia. Materials and methods VO was measured with perivascular flow probes at rest and during stimulated calf muscle contraction in young healthy rats (Wistar Kyoto, WKY; lean Zucker, LZR) and rats with cardiovascular risk factors (Spontaneously Hypertensive, SHR; Obese Zucker, OZR) with acute and/or chronic femoral arterial occlusion. Therapeutic efficacy was assessed by administration of Ramipril or Losartan to SHR after femoral artery excision. Results VO measurement in WKY demonstrated the utility of this method to assess hindlimb perfusion at rest and during calf muscle contraction. While application to diseased models (OZR, SHR) demonstrated normal resting perfusion compared to contralateral limbs, a significant reduction in reserve capacity was uncovered with muscle stimulation. Administration of Ramipril and Losartan demonstrated significant improvement in functional arterial reserve. Conclusion The results demonstrate that this novel method to assess distal limb perfusion in small rodents with subcritical limb ischemia is sufficient to unmask perfusion deficits not apparent at rest, detect impaired compensation in diseased animal models with risk factors, and assess therapeutic efficacy. The approach provides a significant advance in methods to investigate potential mechanisms and novel therapies for subcritical limb ischemia in pre-clinical rodent models. PMID:26850199

Self-Assessment of Employability Skill Outcomes among Undergraduates and Alignment with Academic Ratings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Denise

2014-01-01

Despite acknowledgement of the benefits of self-assessment in higher education, disparity between student and academic assessments, with associated trends in overrating and underrating, plagues its meaningful use, particularly as a tool for formal assessment. This study examines self-assessment of capabilities in certain employability skills in…

Streamflow Duration Assessment Method for the Pacific Northwest

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Streamflow Duration Assessment Method for the Pacific Northwest is a scientific tool developed by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide a rapid assessment framework to distinguish between ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams.

Using slides to test for changes in crown defoliation assessment methods. Part I: Visual assessment of slides.

PubMed

Dobbertin, Matthias; Hug, Christian; Mizoue, Nobuya

2004-11-01

In this study we used photographs of tree crowns to test whether the assessment methods for tree defoliation in Switzerland have changed over time. We randomly selected 24 series of slides of Norway spruce with field assessments made between 1986 and 1995. The slides were randomly arranged and assessed by three experts without prior knowledge of the year when the slide was taken or the tree number. Defoliation was assessed using the Swiss reference photo guide. Although the correlations between the field assessments and slide assessments were high (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ranged between 0.79 and 0.83), we found significant differences between field and slide assessments (4.3 to 9% underprediction by the slide assessors) and between the slide assessments. However, no significant trends in field assessment methods could be detected. When the mean differences between field and slide assessments were subtracted, in some years, field assessors consistently underpredicted (1990, 1992) or overpredicted defoliation (1987, 1991). Defoliation tended to be overpredicted in slides taken against the light, and underpredicted for trees with more than 25% crown overlap. We conclude that slide series can be used to detect changes in assessment methods. However, potential observer bias calls for more objective methods of assessment.

An overview on the emerging area of identification, characterization, and assessment of health apps.

PubMed

Paglialonga, Alessia; Lugo, Alessandra; Santoro, Eugenio

2018-05-28

The need to characterize and assess health apps has inspired a significant amount of research in the past years, in search for methods able to provide potential app users with relevant, meaningful knowledge. This article presents an overview of the recent literature in this field and categorizes - by discussing some specific examples - the various methodologies introduced so far for the identification, characterization, and assessment of health apps. Specifically, this article outlines the most significant web-based resources for app identification, relevant frameworks for descriptive characterization of apps' features, and a number of methods for the assessment of quality along its various components (e.g., evidence base, trustworthiness, privacy, or user engagement). The development of methods to characterize the apps' features and to assess their quality is important to define benchmarks and minimum requirements. Similarly, such methods are important to categorize potential risks and challenges in the field so that risks can be minimized, whenever possible, by design. Understanding methods to assess apps is key to raise the standards of quality of health apps on the market, towards the final goal of delivering apps that are built on the pillars of evidence-base, reliability, long-term effectiveness, and user-oriented quality. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Appraising the reliability of visual impact assessment methods

Treesearch

Nickolaus R. Feimer; Kenneth H. Craik; Richard C. Smardon; Stephen R.J. Sheppard

1979-01-01

This paper presents the research approach and selected results of an empirical investigation aimed at the evaluation of selected observer-based visual impact assessment (VIA) methods. The VIA methods under examination were chosen to cover a range of VIA methods currently in use in both applied and research settings. Variation in three facets of VIA methods were...

42 CFR 495.6 - Meaningful use objectives and measures for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... HEALTH RECORD TECHNOLOGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM General Provisions § 495.6 Meaningful use objectives and... their first payment year. For Medicaid EPs who adopt, implement, or upgrade certified EHR technology in... first payment year. (4) Flexible options for using certified EHR technology in 2014. For an EHR...

Security, Dignity, Caring Relationships, and Meaningful Work: Needs Motivating Participation in a Job-Training Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayers, David F.; Miller-Dyce, Cherrel; Carlone, David

2008-01-01

Researchers asked 17 participants in a job-training program to describe their personal struggles following an economic restructuring. Examined through a critical theoretical lens, findings indicate that the learners enrolled in the program to reclaim security, dignity, meaningful work, and caring relationships. Program planners at community…

Readiness for Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology and Patient Centered Medical Home Recognition Survey Results

PubMed Central

Shin, Peter; Sharac, Jessica

2013-01-01

Objective Determine the factors that impact HIT use and MU readiness for community health centers (CHCs). Background The HITECH Act allocates funds to Medicaid and Medicare providers to encourage the adoption of electronic health records (EHR), in an effort to improve health care quality and patient outcomes, and to reduce health care costs. Methods We surveyed CHCs on their Readiness for Meaningful Use (MU) of Health Information Technology (HIT) and Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition, then we combined responses with 2009 Uniform Data System data to determine which factors impact use of HIT and MU readiness. Results Nearly 70% of CHCs had full or partial EHR adoption at the time of survey. Results are presented for centers with EHR adoption, by the length of time that their EHR systems have been in operation. PMID:24834365

The Effect of Mechanical and Meaningful Production of Output on Learning English Relative Clauses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abadikhah, Shirin

2012-01-01

The present study examined the effectiveness of mechanical and meaningful production of output on the learning of English relative clauses by Iranian EFL learners. The study involved two groups of learners (N = 36) who completed a pre-test, three activities and a post-test over an 8-week period. The collaborative dialogue of the participants was…

Methods of Comprehensive Assessment for China’s Energy Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Zhijin; Song, Yankui

2018-02-01

In order to assess the sustainable development of China’s energy objectively and accurately, we need to establish a reasonable indicator system for energy sustainability and make a targeted comprehensive assessment with the scientific methods. This paper constructs a comprehensive indicator system for energy sustainability from five aspects of economy, society, environment, energy resources and energy technology based on the theory of sustainable development and the theory of symbiosis. On this basis, it establishes and discusses the assessment models and the general assessment methods for energy sustainability with the help of fuzzy mathematics. It is of some reference for promoting the sustainable development of China’s energy, economy and society.

On some methods for assessing earthquake predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molchan, G.; Romashkova, L.; Peresan, A.

2017-09-01

A regional approach to the problem of assessing earthquake predictions inevitably faces a deficit of data. We point out some basic limits of assessment methods reported in the literature, considering the practical case of the performance of the CN pattern recognition method in the prediction of large Italian earthquakes. Along with the classical hypothesis testing, a new game approach, the so-called parimutuel gambling (PG) method, is examined. The PG, originally proposed for the evaluation of the probabilistic earthquake forecast, has been recently adapted for the case of 'alarm-based' CN prediction. The PG approach is a non-standard method; therefore it deserves careful examination and theoretical analysis. We show that the PG alarm-based version leads to an almost complete loss of information about predicted earthquakes (even for a large sample). As a result, any conclusions based on the alarm-based PG approach are not to be trusted. We also show that the original probabilistic PG approach does not necessarily identifies the genuine forecast correctly among competing seismicity rate models, even when applied to extensive data.

Application of geosites assessment method in geopark context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, Simon; Perret, Amandine; Renau, Pierre; Cartier-Moulin, Olivier; Regolini-Bissig, Géraldine

2014-05-01

The regional natural park of the Monts d'Ardèche (Ardèche and Haute-Loire departments, France) is candidate to the European Geopark Network (EGN) in 2014. The area has a wide geodiversity - with rocks from Cambrian to Pleistocene (basalt flows) - and interesting features like phonolitic protrusions, maars and granite boulders fields. Around 115 sites were selected and documented through a geosites inventory carried out in the territory. This pre-selection was supervised by the Ardèche Geological Society and is therefore expert advice based. In the context of EGN candidature, these potential geosites were assessed with a simplified method. It follows the spirit of the method from the University of Lausanne (Reynard et al., 2007) and its recent developments: assessment of the scientific (central) value and of a set of additional values (ecological and cultural). As this assessment aimed to offer a management tool to the future geopark's authorities, a special focus was given to management aspects. In particular, the opportunities to use the site for education (from schools to universities) and for tourism as well as the existence of protection and of interpretive facilities were documented and assessed. Several interesting conclusions may be drawn from this case study: (1) expert assessment is effective when it is based on a pre-existing inventory which is well structured and documented; (2) even simplified, an assessment method is a very useful framework to expert assessment as it focuses the discussions on most important points and helps to balance the assessment; (3) whereas the inventory can be extensively detailed and partly academic, the assessment in the geopark context is objective-driven in order to answer management needs. The place of the geosites assessment among the three key players of a geopark construction process (i.e. territory's managers, local geoscientists and EGN) is also discussed. This place can be defined as the point of consensus of needs

Quality Assessment by Science Teachers: Five Focus Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Frances

2013-01-01

In order to teach science well, science teachers need to know what to focus on in order to ensure their assessment of student learning is meaningful and useful for the students' on going learning and development. The diversity and range of content and skills within the subject of science mean that the assessment capabilities required by…

Risk Assessment and Integration Team (RAIT) Portfolio Risk Analysis Strategy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Michelle

2010-01-01

Impact at management level: Qualitative assessment of risk criticality in conjunction with risk consequence, likelihood, and severity enable development of an "investment policy" towards managing a portfolio of risks. Impact at research level: Quantitative risk assessments enable researchers to develop risk mitigation strategies with meaningful risk reduction results. Quantitative assessment approach provides useful risk mitigation information.

"Seeing the Whole Elephant": Changing Mindsets and Empowering Stakeholders to Meaningfully Manage Accountability and Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bush-Mecenas, Susan; Marsh, Julie A.; Montes de Oca, David; Hough, Heather

2018-01-01

School accountability and improvement policy are on the precipice of a paradigm shift. While the multiple-measure dashboard accountability approach holds great promise for promoting more meaningful learning opportunities for all students, our research indicates that this can come with substantial challenges in practice. We reflect upon the lessons…

Doing the Project and Learning the Content: Designing Project-Based Science Curricula for Meaningful Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanter, David E.

2010-01-01

Project-based science curricula can improve students' usable or meaningful understanding of the science content underlying a project. However, such curricula designed around "performances" wherein students design or make something do not always do this. We researched ways to design performance project-based science curricula (pPBSc) to better…

Interlaboratory Validation of the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) Method 1313 and Method 1316

EPA Science Inventory

This document summarizes the results of an interlaboratory study conducted to generate precision estimates for two parallel batch leaching methods which are part of the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF). These methods are: (1) Method 1313: Liquid-Solid Partition...

Developing an Assessment of Learning Process: The Importance of Pre-Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheran, Michelle; Sarbaum, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

Colleges and universities are increasingly being held accountable for assessing and reporting student learning. Recently there has been increased focus on using assessment to improve learning over time. In this paper we present a simple, step-by-step assessment process that will deliver meaningful results to achieve these ends. We emphasize the…

Using the TAT to Assess the Relation Between Gender Identity and the Use of Defense Mechanisms.

PubMed

Cramer, Phebe

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore whether 2 different dimensions of personality, when assessed at an implicit level with the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943 ) will show a theoretically meaningful coherence not demonstrated when 1 is assessed at an implicit level and the other at an explicit level. Gender identity and defense mechanisms were assessed implicitly using the TAT. Gender identity was compared with a self-report measure of gender-related attributes assessed at the explicit level. The results showed a theoretically meaningful coherence when different dispositions were assessed at the same level, but a lack of agreement when similar dispositions were assessed at different levels. The study is based on a secondary analysis of data from 2 previously published papers (Cramer, 1998 ; Cramer & Westergren, 1999 ).

Effectiveness of functional electrical stimulation on walking speed, functional walking category, and clinically meaningful changes for people with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Street, Tamsyn; Taylor, Paul; Swain, Ian

2015-04-01

To determine the effectiveness of functional electrical stimulation (FES) on drop foot in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), using data from standard clinical practice. Case series with a consecutive sample of FES users collected between 2008 and 2013. Specialist FES center at a district general hospital. Patients with MS who have drop foot (N=187) (117 women, 70 men; mean age, 55y [range, 27-80y]; mean duration since diagnosis, 11.7y [range, 1-56y]). A total of 166 patients were still using FES after 20 weeks, with 153 patients completing the follow-up measures. FES of the common peroneal nerve (178 unilateral, 9 bilateral FES users). Clinically meaningful changes (ie, >.05m/s and >0.1m/s) and functional walking category derived from 10-m walking speed. An increase in walking speed was found to be highly significant (P<.001), both initially where a minimum clinically meaningful change was observed (.07m/s) and after 20 weeks with a substantial clinically meaningful change (.11m/s). After 20 weeks, treatment responders displayed a 27% average improvement in their walking speed. No significant training effect was found. Overall functional walking category was maintained or improved in 95% of treatment responders. FES of the dorsiflexors is a well-accepted intervention that enables clinically meaningful changes in walking speed, leading to a preserved or an increased functional walking category. Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meaningful use care coordination criteria: Perceived barriers and benefits among primary care providers.

PubMed

Cohen, Genna R; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2016-04-01

Stage 2 and proposed Stage 3 meaningful use criteria ask providers to support patient care coordination by electronically generating, exchanging, and reconciling key information during patient care transitions. A stratified random sample of primary care practices in Michigan (n = 328) that had already met Stage 1 meaningful use criteria was surveyed, in order to identify the anticipated barriers to meeting these criteria as well as the expected impact on patient care coordination from doing so. The top three barriers, as identified by >65% of the primary care providers surveyed, were difficulty sending and receiving patient information electronically, a lack of provider and practice staff time, and the complex workflow changes required. Despite these barriers, primary care providers expressed strong agreement that meeting the proposed Stage 3 care coordination criteria would improve their patients' treatment and ensure they know about their patients' visits to other providers. The survey results suggest the need to enhance policy approaches and organizational strategies to address the key barriers identified by providers and practices in order to realize important care coordination benefits. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Using Cluster Analysis to Characterize Meaningful Learning in a First-Year University Chemistry Laboratory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was designed to measure students' cognitive and affective learning in the university chemistry laboratory. The MLLI was administered at the beginning and the end of the first semester to first-year university chemistry students to measure their expectations and experiences for learning in…

Vocational Assessment of Special Needs Individuals Project: Final Report. Phase II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stodden, Robert A.

The Vocational Assessment of Special Needs Individuals Project originated with the regional vocational schools and educational collaboratives of the Assabet and Blackstone Valleys cooperating to determine a meaningful process through which vocational assessment information could be collected, organized, and used in formulating a basis for…

The Search for Meaningful E-Learning at Canadian Universities: A Multi-Institutional Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salyers, Vincent; Carter, Lorraine; Carter, Alanna; Myers, Sue; Barrett, Penelope

2014-01-01

While e-learning is now characterized by a past and trends within that past, there continues to be uncertainty about how e-learning is defined and conceptualized, whether or not we like e-learning, and whether or not it is as meaningful to us as face to face learning. The purpose of this study was to document the e-learning perceptions of students…

Assessing Commercial and Alternative Poultry Processing Methods using Microbiome Analyses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Assessing poultry processing methods/strategies has historically used culture-based methods to assess bacterial changes or reductions, both in terms of general microbial communities (e.g. total aerobic bacteria) or zoonotic pathogens of interest (e.g. Salmonella, Campylobacter). The advent of next ...

REGIONAL VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION: EVALUATION OF INTEGRATION METHODS AND ASSESSMENTS RESULTS

EPA Science Inventory

This report describes methods for quantitative regional assessment developed by the Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program. The goal of ReVA is to develop regional-scale assessments of the magnitude, extent, distribution, and uncertainty of current and anticipated envir...

Opportunity for Adult Bonding/Meaningful Neighborhood Roles and Life-Satisfaction among USA Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paxton, Raheem J.; Valois, Robert F.; Huebner, E. Scott; Drane, J. Wasner

2006-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between adolescent life- satisfaction and bonding to adults/developing meaningful roles in the neighborhood within a pilot study of slightly modified version of the CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (MSYRBS) in a southern state in the USA. Overall, 43% of students reported that they were…

Discriminative functions and over-training as class-enhancing determinants of meaningful stimuli.

PubMed

Travis, Robert W; Fields, Lanny; Arntzen, Erik

2014-07-01

Likelihood of equivalence class formation (yield) was influenced by pre-class formation of simultaneous and successive discriminations, their mastery criteria, and overtraining of the successive discriminations. Each undergraduate in seven groups attempted to form two 3-node, 5-member equivalence classes (ABCDE). In the pictorial (PIC) group, meaningless nonsense syllables were used as the A, B, D, and E stimuli and meaningful pictures as the C stimuli. Nonsense syllables only were used in the other groups. The abstract (ABS) or 0-0-0 group involved no pre-class training. In the 84-0-0, 84-5-0 and 84-20-0 groups, simultaneous discriminations were trained among C stimuli to a mastery criterion of 84 trials, followed by successive discriminations trained to mastery criteria of 0, 5, and 20 trials, respectively. In the 84-20-0, 84-20-100, and 84-20-500 groups, simultaneous and successive discriminations were trained as noted, followed by overtraining with 0, 100, 500 successive-discrimination trials, respectively. The ABS group produced a 6% yield with the 84-0-0, 84-5-0, and 84-20-0 groups producing further modest increments. Overtraining produced a linear increase in yield, reaching 85% after 500 overtraining trials, a yield matching that produced by classes containing pictures as C stimuli (PIC). Thus, acquired discriminative functions and the overtraining of at least one function can account for class enhancement by meaningful stimuli. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Linking job-relevant personality traits, transformational leadership, and job performance via perceived meaningfulness at work: A moderated mediation model.

PubMed

Frieder, Rachel E; Wang, Gang; Oh, In-Sue

2018-03-01

By integrating the fundamental principles of the theory of purposeful work behavior (TPWB; Barrick, Mount, & Li, 2013) with cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) theory (Mischel, 1977; Mischel & Shoda, 1995), we examine how and when salespeople's job-relevant personality traits relate to their performance. We argue that individuals with personality traits that fit outdoor sales jobs (i.e., conscientious, extraversion, openness to experience) will perceive their work as more meaningful and as a result achieve heightened performance. Moreover, drawing from TPWB and CAPS theory, we expect that as an important element of the social context, transformational leadership moderates the indirect effect of salespeople's job-relevant personality traits on their job performance via enhanced perceptions of meaningfulness at work. Results based on data from 496 outdoor salespeople and their 218 supervisors and regional managers provide support for the hypotheses pertaining to conscientiousness and openness, but not extraversion. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of conscientiousness or openness on performance through perceived meaningfulness are more positive under low, rather than high, levels of transformational leadership. Implications for research and practice are discussed along with study limitations and future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparison of concepts in easy-to-use methods for MSD risk assessment.

PubMed

Roman-Liu, Danuta

2014-05-01

This article presents a comparative analysis of easy-to-use methods for assessing musculoskeletal load and the risk for developing musculoskeletal disorders. In all such methods, assessment of load consists in defining input data, the procedure and the system of assessment. This article shows what assessment steps the methods have in common; it also shows how those methods differ in each step. In addition, the methods are grouped according to their characteristic features. The conclusion is that the concepts of assessing risk in different methods can be used to develop solutions leading to a comprehensive method appropriate for all work tasks and all parts of the body. However, studies are necessary to verify the accepted premises and to introduce some standardization that would make consolidation possible. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Heterogeneity among violence-exposed women: applying person-oriented research methods.

PubMed

Nurius, Paula S; Macy, Rebecca J

2008-03-01

Variability of experience and outcomes among violence-exposed people pose considerable challenges toward developing effective prevention and treatment protocols. To address these needs, the authors present an approach to research and a class of methodologies referred to as person oriented. Person-oriented tools support assessment of meaningful patterns among people that distinguish one group from another, subgroups for whom different interventions are indicated. The authors review the conceptual base of person-oriented methods, outline their distinction from more familiar variable-oriented methods, present descriptions of selected methods as well as empirical applications of person-oriented methods germane to violence exposure, and conclude with discussion of implications for future research and translation between research and practice. The authors focus on violence against women as a population, drawing on stress and coping theory as a theoretical framework. However, person-oriented methods hold utility for investigating diversity among violence-exposed people's experiences and needs across populations and theoretical foundations.

[Statistical prediction methods in violence risk assessment and its application].

PubMed

Liu, Yuan-Yuan; Hu, Jun-Mei; Yang, Min; Li, Xiao-Song

2013-06-01

It is an urgent global problem how to improve the violence risk assessment. As a necessary part of risk assessment, statistical methods have remarkable impacts and effects. In this study, the predicted methods in violence risk assessment from the point of statistics are reviewed. The application of Logistic regression as the sample of multivariate statistical model, decision tree model as the sample of data mining technique, and neural networks model as the sample of artificial intelligence technology are all reviewed. This study provides data in order to contribute the further research of violence risk assessment.

Landfill mining: Developing a comprehensive assessment method.

PubMed

Hermann, Robert; Wolfsberger, Tanja; Pomberger, Roland; Sarc, Renato

2016-11-01

In Austria, the first basic technological and economic examinations of mass-waste landfills with the purpose to recover secondary raw materials have been carried out by the 'LAMIS - Landfill Mining Österreich' pilot project. A main focus of its research, and the subject of this article, is the first conceptual design of a comprehensive assessment method for landfill mining plans, including not only monetary factors (like costs and proceeds) but also non-monetary ones, such as the concerns of adjoining owners or the environmental impact. Detailed reviews of references, the identification of influences and system boundaries to be included in planning landfill mining, several expert workshops and talks with landfill operators have been performed followed by a division of the whole assessment method into preliminary and main assessment. Preliminary assessment is carried out with a questionnaire to rate juridical feasibility, the risk and the expenditure of a landfill mining project. The results of this questionnaire are compiled in a portfolio chart that is used to recommend, or not, further assessment. If a detailed main assessment is recommended, defined economic criteria are rated by net present value calculations, while ecological and socio-economic criteria are examined in a utility analysis and then transferred into a utility-net present value chart. If this chart does not support making a definite statement on the feasibility of the project, the results must be further examined in a cost-effectiveness analysis. Here, the benefit of the particular landfill mining project per capital unit (utility-net present value ratio) is determined to make a final distinct statement on the general benefit of a landfill mining project. © The Author(s) 2016.

Developing an Engineering Design Process Assessment using Mixed Methods.

PubMed

Wind, Stefanie A; Alemdar, Meltem; Lingle, Jeremy A; Gale, Jessica D; Moore, Roxanne A

Recent reforms in science education worldwide include an emphasis on engineering design as a key component of student proficiency in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines. However, relatively little attention has been directed to the development of psychometrically sound assessments for engineering. This study demonstrates the use of mixed methods to guide the development and revision of K-12 Engineering Design Process (EDP) assessment items. Using results from a middle-school EDP assessment, this study illustrates the combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques to inform item development and revisions. Overall conclusions suggest that the combination of quantitative and qualitative evidence provides an in-depth picture of item quality that can be used to inform the revision and development of EDP assessment items. Researchers and practitioners can use the methods illustrated here to gather validity evidence to support the interpretation and use of new and existing assessments.

Visual attention to meaningful stimuli by 1- to 3-year olds: implications for the measurement of memory.

PubMed

Hayne, Harlene; Jaeger, Katja; Sonne, Trine; Gross, Julien

2016-11-01

The visual recognition memory (VRM) paradigm has been widely used to measure memory during infancy and early childhood; it has also been used to study memory in human and nonhuman adults. Typically, participants are familiarized with stimuli that have no special significance to them. Under these conditions, greater attention to the novel stimulus during the test (i.e., novelty preference) is used as the primary index of memory. Here, we took a novel approach to the VRM paradigm and tested 1-, 2-, and 3-year olds using photos of meaningful stimuli that were drawn from the participants' own environment (e.g., photos of their mother, father, siblings, house). We also compared their performance to that of participants of the same age who were tested in an explicit pointing version of the VRM task. Two- and 3-year olds exhibited a strong familiarity preference for some, but not all, of the meaningful stimuli; 1-year olds did not. At no age did participants exhibit the kind of novelty preference that is commonly used to define memory in the VRM task. Furthermore, when compared to pointing, looking measures provided a rough approximation of recognition memory, but in some instances, the looking measure underestimated retention. The use of meaningful stimuli raise important questions about the way in which visual attention is interpreted in the VRM paradigm, and may provide new opportunities to measure memory during infancy and early childhood. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

School nurse evaluations: making the process meaningful and motivational.

PubMed

McDaniel, Kathryn H; Overman, Muriel; Guttu, Martha; Engelke, Martha Keehner

2013-02-01

The professional standards of school nursing practice provide a framework to help school nurses focus on their unique mission of promoting health and academic achievement for all students. Without the standards, the nurse's role can become task oriented and limited in scope. By using an evaluation tool that reflects the standards, nurses not only become aware and begin to understand the standards; they also become directly accountable for meeting them. In addition, developing an evaluation process based on the standards of school nurse practice increases the visibility of school nurses and helps school administrators understand the role of the school nurse. This article describes how one school district integrated the scope and standards of school nursing into the job description and performance evaluation of the nurse. The process which is used to complete the evaluation in a manner that is meaningful and motivational to the school nurse is described.

USING AN INTENSIVE ASSESSMENT METHOD TO CALIBRATE A RAPID WETLAND ASSESSMENT METHOD: AN EXAMPLE FROM NANTICOKE BASIN, DELAWARE AND MARYLAND, USA

EPA Science Inventory

The development of rapid assessment methods has become a priority for many organizations that want to report on the condition of wetlands at larger scales requiring many sampling sites. To have faith in these rapid methods, however, requires that they be verified with more compr...

Client-centred assessment and the identification of meaningful treatment goals for individuals with a spinal cord injury

PubMed Central

Donnelly, Catherine; Eng, Janice J; Hall, Jill; Alford, Lindsay; Giachino, Rob; Norton, Kathy; Kerr, Debbie Scott

2011-01-01

Study Design Retrospective analysis. Objectives 1) describe the self-care, productivity and leisure problems identified by individuals with a spinal cord injury during rehabilitation, 2) describe the perceived level of satisfaction and performance with self-care, productivity and leisure activities following a spinal cord injury, 3) quantify the relationship between the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), a client-centred, individualized measure of function, and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Setting Tertiary rehabilitation centre, spinal cord injury unit, GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, Vancouver, Canada. Methods Health records from 41 individuals with a SCI admitted between 2000 and 2002 were reviewed. Information was obtained from assessments performed on admission and discharge. Self-care, productivity and leisure problems identified by individuals with a SCI were described and their perceived level of performance and satisfaction was calculated. The relationship between the COPM and the FIM was measured by the Pearson product correlation. Results Self-care goals were identified most frequently (79%) followed by productivity (12%) and leisure (9%) goals. The top three problems identified by individuals with a SCI were functional mobility (including transfers and wheelchair use), dressing and grooming. A fair relationship was found between the COPM and the FIM (r between .351 to .514, p<.05) Conclusions The results highlight the importance of including a client-centred outcome measure in the assessment of individual’s with a SCI. Initial support is provided for use of the COPM in individuals with a SCI. PMID:14993893

44 CFR 10.9 - Preparation of environmental assessments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Preparation of environmental assessments. 10.9 Section 10.9 Emergency Management and Assistance FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY... quickly; (4) Likelihood of meaningful public comment; (5) National security classification issues; (6...

Pre-operative Thresholds for Achieving Meaningful Clinical Improvement after Arthroscopic Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement

PubMed Central

Nwachukwu, Benedict U.; Fields, Kara G.; Nawabi, Danyal H.; Kelly, Bryan T.; Ranawat, Anil S.

2016-01-01

Objectives: Knowledge of the thresholds and determinants for successful femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) treatment is evolving. The primary purpose of this study was to define pre-operative outcome score thresholds that can be used to predict patients most likely to achieve meaningful clinically important difference (MCID) after arthroscopic FAI treatment. Secondarily determinants of achieving MCID were evaluated. Methods: A prospective institutional hip arthroscopy registry was reviewed to identify patients with FAI treated with arthroscopic labral surgery, acetabular rim trimming, and femoral osteochondroplasty. The modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), the Hip Outcome Score (HOS) and the international Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-33) tools were administered at baseline and at one year post-operatively. MCID was calculated using a distribution-based method. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to calculate cohort-based threshold values predictive of achieving MCID. Area under the curve (AUC) was used to define predictive ability (strength of association) with AUC >0.7 considered acceptably predictive. Univariate and multivariable analyses were used to analyze demographic, radiographic and intra-operative factors associated with achieving MCID. Results: There were 374 patients (mean + SD age, 32.9 + 10.5) and 56.4% were female. The MCID for mHHS, HOS activities of daily living (HOS-ADL), HOS Sports, and iHOT-33 was 8.2, 8.4,14.5, and 12.0 respectively. ROC analysis (threshold, % achieving MCID, strength of association) for these tools in our population was: mHHS (61.6, 78%, 0.68), HOS-ADL (83.8, 68%, 0.84), HOS-Sports (63.9, 64%, 0.74), and iHOT-33 (54.3, 82%, 0.65). Likelihood for achieving MCID declined above and increased below these thresholds. In univariate analysis female sex, femoral version, lower acetabular outerbridge score and increasing CT sagittal center edge angle (CEA) were predictive of achieving MCID. In multivariable analysis

Expanding the Aperture of Psychological Assessment: Introduction to the Special Section on Innovative Clinical Assessment Technologies and Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trull, Timothy J.

2007-01-01

Contemporary psychological assessment is dominated by tried-and-true methods like clinical interviewing, self-report questionnaires, intellectual assessment, and behavioral observation. These approaches have served as the mainstays of psychological assessment for decades. To be sure, these methods have survived over the years because clinicians…

Enhanced equivalence class formation by the delay and relational functions of meaningful stimuli.

PubMed

Arntzen, Erik; Nartey, Richard K; Fields, Lanny

2015-05-01

Undergraduates in six groups of 10 attempted to form three 3-node 5-member equivalence classes (A → B → C → D → E) under the simultaneous protocol. In five of six groups, all stimuli were abstract shapes; in the PIC group, C stimuli were pictures with the remainder being abstract shapes. Before class formation, participants in the Identity-S and Identity-D groups were given preliminary training to form identity conditional discriminations with the C stimuli using simultaneous and 6 s delayed matching-to-sample procedures, respectively. In the Arbitrary-S and Arbitrary-D groups, before class formation, arbitrary conditional discriminations were formed between C and X stimuli using simultaneous and 6 s delayed matching-to-sample procedures, respectively. With no preliminary training, classes in the PIC and ABS groups were formed by 80% and 0% of participants, respectively. After preliminary training, class formation (yield) increased with delay, regardless of relational type. For each of the two delays, yield was slightly greater after forming arbitrary- instead of identity-relations. Yield was greatest, however, when a class contained a meaningful stimulus (PIC). During failed class formation, probes produced experimenter-defined relations, participant-defined relations, and unsystematic responding; delay, but not the relation type in preliminary training influenced relational and indeterminate responding. These results suggest how meaningful stimuli enhance equivalence class formation. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Portfolios: An Alternative Method of Student and Program Assessment

PubMed Central

Hannam, Susan E.

1995-01-01

The use of performance-based evaluation and alternative assessment techniques has become essential for curriculum programs seeking Commission of Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) accreditation. In athletic training education, few assessment models exist to assess student performance over the entire course of their educational program. This article describes a model of assessment-a student athletic training portfolio of “best works.” The portfolio can serve as a method to assess student development and to assess program effectiveness. The goals of the program include purposes specific to the five NATA performance domains. In addition, four types of portfolio evidence are described: artifacts, attestations, productions, and reproductions. Quality assignments and projects completed by students as they progress through a six-semester program are identified relative to the type of evidence and the domain(s) they represent. The portfolio assists with student development, provides feedback for curriculum planning, allows for student/faculty collaboration and “coaching” of the student, and assists with job searching. This information will serve as a useful model for those athletic training programs looking for an alternative method of assessing student and program outcomes. PMID:16558359

Agreement between the methods: Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment and the nutritional assessment of the World Health Organization.

PubMed

Pimenta, Fabiana S; Oliveira, Cássia M; Hattori, Wallisen T; Teixeira, Kely R

2017-11-12

To assess the agreement between the results of the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment questionnaire, adapted for children and adolescents of the Brazilian population, and the nutritional status assessment method through growth curves and the classification of the World Health Organization in a pediatric hospital service. This was an analytical, quantitative, cross-sectional study. During the data collection period, the nutritional status of all patients from 0 to 12 years of age, admitted to the pediatric unit of a university hospital, was concomitantly assessed according to the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment and World Health Organization curves. To determine the assessment and agreement between these methods, the Kappa and Kendall coefficients were used, respectively, considering a significance level of 5%. Sixty-one children participated, with a predominance of males. It was observed that the highest frequency of equivalent results occurred among the group classified as well nourished, and that only the height/age variable showed a close agreement between the methods. Additionally, there was a good correlation only for the weight/height variable between the assessment tools used. Due to the low agreement between the methods, the combination of both may be beneficial for the nutritional assessment of pediatric patients, collaborating with the early diagnosis of nutritional alterations and facilitating the use of adequate dietary therapy. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda.

Comparison of risk assessment procedures used in OCRA and ULRA methods

PubMed Central

Roman-Liu, Danuta; Groborz, Anna; Tokarski, Tomasz

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyse the convergence of two methods by comparing exposure and the assessed risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders at 18 repetitive task workstations. The already established occupational repetitive actions (OCRA) and the recently developed upper limb risk assessment (ULRA) produce correlated results (R = 0.84, p = 0.0001). A discussion of the factors that influence the values of the OCRA index and ULRA's repetitive task indicator shows that both similarities and differences in the results produced by the two methods can arise from the concepts that underlie them. The assessment procedure and mathematical calculations that the basic parameters are subjected to are crucial to the results of risk assessment. The way the basic parameters are defined influences the assessment of exposure and risk assessment to a lesser degree. The analysis also proved that not always do great differences in load indicator values result in differences in risk zones. Practitioner Summary: We focused on comparing methods that, even though based on different concepts, serve the same purpose. The results proved that different methods with different assumptions can produce similar assessment of upper limb load; sharp criteria in risk assessment are not the best solution. PMID:24041375

Students as Collaborators in Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences in Technology-Enhanced Classrooms: An Engaged Scholarship Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nel, Liezel

2017-01-01

In dealing with numerous challenges, higher education instructors need to adapt their pedagogical practices to present students with meaningful, engaged learning experiences that are likely to promote student success and adequately prepare students for the world we live in. As part of this pedagogical transformation instructors also need to…

Sacrifice: an ethical dimension of caring that makes suffering meaningful.

PubMed

Helin, Kaija; Lindström, Unni A

2003-07-01

This article is intended to raise the question of whether sacrifice can be regarded stituting a deep ethical structure in the relationship between patient and carer. The significance of sacrifice in a patient-carer relationship cannot, however, be fully understood from the standpoint of the consistently utilitarian ethic that characterizes today's ethical discourse. Deontological ethics, with its universal principles, also does not provide a suitable point of departure. Ethical recommendations and codices are important and serve as general sources of knowledge when making decisions, but they should be supplemented by an ethic that takes into consideration contextual and situational factors that make every encounter between patient and carer unique. Caring science research literature presents, on the whole, general agreement on the importance of responsibility and devotian with regard to sense of duty, warmth and genuine engagement in caring. That sacrifice may also constitute an important ethical element in the patient-carer relationship is, however, a contradictory and little considered theme. Caring literature that deals with sacrifice/self-sacrifice indicates contradictory import. It is nevertheless interesting to notice that both the negative and the positive aspects bring out importance of the concept for the professional character of caring. The tradition of ideas in medieval Christian mysticism with reference to Lévinas' ethic of responsibility offers a deeper perspective in which the meaningfulness of sacrifice in the caring relationship can be sought. The theme of sacrifice is not of interest merely as a carer's ethical outlook, but sacrifice can also be understood as a potential process of transformation health. The instinctive or conscious experience of sacrifice on the part of the individual patient can, on a symbolic level, be regarded as analogous to the cultic or religious sacrifice aiming at atonement. Sacrifice appears to the patient as an act of

Comparing potential early caries assessment methods for teledentistry

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Optical caries detection has the potential to be incorporated in telehealth medicine for preventive dental screening. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare visible and near infrared detection methods for identifying early non-cavitated ex vivo occlusal demineralization. Methods Six blinded examiners were used to compare the accuracy of the following three examinations in detecting occlusal demineralization: Midwest Caries ID™ (MID), visual photographic examination (CAM) and Cross Polarization Optical Coherence Tomography (CP-OCT). For each diagnostic method, two examiners assessed the extracted tooth samples 1–2 weeks apart. Teeth were then sectioned and lesion depth was confirmed (n = 42) by a blinded histological examination using a glycol based caries indicator dye. The sensitivity (Sen), specificity (Sp), Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and Area under the Receiver Operator Curve (AUC) were calculated. Results For detecting any demineralization versus sound pit and fissure enamel, the mean Sen/Sp found was 46.9/85.0 for MID, 80.5/52.5 for CAM, and 83.4/45.0 for CP-OCT. For detecting non-cavitated demineralization that progressed into the dentin, the mean Sen/Sp found was 17.3/88.0 for MID, 48.0/57.8 for CAM, and 44.2/72.7 for CP-OCT. AUC values were statistically significant (P < 0.05) in three out of four examiner assessments when MID and CP-OCT were used to detect any demineralization. AUC values were significant for a single CAM examination. When assessing deeper non-cavitated lesions, none of the assessment methods were able to yield AUC values that were significantly different than a random ‘coin flip’ test. When examining reliability, MID demonstrated the highest ICC score (0.83) and CP-OCT had the lowest (0.49). Conclusion Although MID and CP-OCT were useful in detecting the presence of demineralization, examiners were not able to utilize these devices to adequately assess the depth of the

Method and apparatus to assess compartment syndrome

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hargens, Alan R. (Inventor); Yost, William T. (Inventor); Ueno, Toshiaki (Inventor)

2008-01-01

A method and apparatus for measuring pressure buildup in a body compartment that encases muscular tissue. The method includes assessing the body compartment configuration and identifying the effect of pulsatile components on at least one compartment dimension. This process is used in preventing tissue necrosis, and in decisions of whether to perform surgery on the body compartment for prevention of Compartment Syndrome. An apparatus is used for measuring excess pressure in the body compartment having components for imparting ultrasonic waves such as a transducer, placing the transducer to impart the ultrasonic waves, capturing the reflected imparted ultrasonic waves, and converting them to electrical signals, a pulsed phase-locked loop device for assessing a body compartment configuration and producing an output signal, and means for mathematically manipulating the output signal to thereby categorize pressure build-up in the body compartment from the mathematical manipulations.

Comparison of two- and three-dimensional assessment methods of nasolabial appearance in cleft lip and palate patients: Do the assessment methods measure the same outcome?

PubMed

Mosmuller, David G M; Maal, Thomas J; Prahl, Charlotte; Tan, Robin A; Mulder, Frans J; Schwirtz, Roderic M F; de Vet, Henrica C W; Bergé, Stefaan J; Don Griot, J P W

2017-08-01

For the assessment of the nasolabial appearance in cleft patients, a widely accepted, reliable scoring system is not available. In this study four different methods of assessment are compared, including 2D and 3D asymmetry and aesthetic assessments. The data and ratings from an earlier study using the Asher-McDade aesthetic index on 3D photographs and the outcomes of 3D facial distance mapping were compared to a 2D aesthetic assessment, the Cleft Aesthetic Rating Scale, and to SymNose, a computerized 2D asymmetry assessment technique. The reliability and correlation between the four assessment techniques were tested using a sample of 79 patients. The 3D asymmetry assessment had the highest reliability and could be performed by just one observer (Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC): 0.99). The 2D asymmetry assessment of the nose was highly reliable when performed by just one observer (ICC: 0.89). However, for the 2D asymmetry assessment of the lip more observers were needed. For the 2D aesthetic assessments 3 observers were needed. The 3D aesthetic assessment had the lowest single-observer reliability (ICC: 0.38-0.56) of all four techniques. The agreement between the different assessment methods is poor to very poor. The highest correlation (R: 0.48) was found between 2D and 3D aesthetic assessments. Remarkably, the lowest correlations were found between 2D and 3D asymmetry assessments (0.08-0.17). Different assessment methods are not in agreement and seem to measure different nasolabial aspects. More research is needed to establish exactly what each assessment technique measures and which measurements or outcomes are relevant for the patients. Copyright © 2017 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.