Volume 42, Issue5 (May 2005)Articles in the Current Issue:Developmental growth in students' concept of energy: Analysis of selected items from the TIMSS database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiufeng; McKeough, Anne

2005-05-01

The aim of this study was to develop a model of students' energy concept development. Applying Case's (1985, 1992) structural theory of cognitive development, we hypothesized that students' concept of energy undergoes a series of transitions, corresponding to systematic increases in working memory capacity. The US national sample from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) database was used to test our hypothesis. Items relevant to the energy concept in the TIMSS test booklets for three populations were identified. Item difficulty from Rasch modeling was used to test the hypothesized developmental sequence, and percentage of students' correct responses was used to test the correspondence between students' age/grade level and level of the energy concepts. The analysis supported our hypothesized sequence of energy concept development and suggested mixed effects of maturation and schooling on energy concept development. Further, the results suggest that curriculum and instruction design take into consideration the developmental progression of students' concept of energy.

A review and preliminary evaluation of methodological factors in performance assessments of time-varying aircraft noise effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coates, G. D.; Alluisi, E. A.

1975-01-01

The effects of aircraft noise on human performance is considered. Progress is reported in the following areas: (1) review of the literature to identify the methodological and stimulus parameters involved in the study of noise effects on human performance; (2) development of a theoretical framework to provide working hypotheses as to the effects of noise on complex human performance; and (3) data collection on the first of several experimental investigations designed to provide tests of the hypotheses.

Developmental Growth in Students' Concept of Energy: Analysis of Selected Items from the TIMSS Database

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xiufeng; McKeough, Anne

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop a model of students' energy concept development. Applying Case's (1985, 1992) structural theory of cognitive development, we hypothesized that students' concept of energy undergoes a series of transitions, corresponding to systematic increases in working memory capacity. The US national sample from the Third…

Advancing the literature on designing audit and feedback interventions: identifying theory-informed hypotheses.

PubMed

Colquhoun, Heather L; Carroll, Kelly; Eva, Kevin W; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Ivers, Noah; Michie, Susan; Sales, Anne; Brehaut, Jamie C

2017-09-29

Audit and feedback (A&F) is a common strategy for helping health providers to implement evidence into practice. Despite being extensively studied, health care A&F interventions remain variably effective, with overall effect sizes that have not improved since 2003. Contributing to this stagnation is the fact that most health care A&F interventions have largely been designed without being informed by theoretical understanding from the behavioral and social sciences. To determine if the trend can be improved, the objective of this study was to develop a list of testable, theory-informed hypotheses about how to design more effective A&F interventions. Using purposive sampling, semi-structured 60-90-min telephone interviews were conducted with experts in theories related to A&F from a range of fields (e.g., cognitive, health and organizational psychology, medical decision-making, economics). Guided by detailed descriptions of A&F interventions from the health care literature, interviewees described how they would approach the problem of designing improved A&F interventions. Specific, theory-informed hypotheses about the conditions for effective design and delivery of A&F interventions were elicited from the interviews. The resulting hypotheses were assigned by three coders working independently into themes, and categories of themes, in an iterative process. We conducted 28 interviews and identified 313 theory-informed hypotheses, which were placed into 30 themes. The 30 themes included hypotheses related to the following five categories: A&F recipient (seven themes), content of the A&F (ten themes), process of delivery of the A&F (six themes), behavior that was the focus of the A&F (three themes), and other (four themes). We have identified a set of testable, theory-informed hypotheses from a broad range of behavioral and social science that suggest conditions for more effective A&F interventions. This work demonstrates the breadth of perspectives about A&F from non-healthcare-specific disciplines in a way that yields testable hypotheses for healthcare A&F interventions. These results will serve as the foundation for further work seeking to set research priorities among the A&F research community.

Risk-taking orientation and injury among youth workers: examining the social influence of supervisors, coworkers, and parents.

PubMed

Westaby, James D; Lowe, J Krister

2005-09-01

Despite youths' susceptibility to social influence, little research has examined the extent to which social factors impact youths' risk-taking orientation and injury at work. Drawing on social influence and behavioral intention theories, this study hypothesized that perceived supervisory influence, coworker risk taking, and parental risk taking serve as key exogenous variables of risk-taking orientation at work. Risk-taking orientation was further hypothesized to serve as a direct predictor and full mediator of work injury. The effect of parental risk taking was also hypothesized to be mediated through global risk taking, which in turn was posited to predict risk-taking orientation at work. Longitudinal results from 2,542 adolescents working across a wide spectrum of jobs supported hypothesized linkages, although there was some evidence of partially mediated mechanisms. Coworker risk taking was a relatively strong predictor of youths' risk-taking orientation at work. Copyright 2005 APA, all rights reserved.

Organisation of biotechnological information into knowledge.

PubMed

Boh, B

1996-09-01

The success of biotechnological research, development and marketing depends to a large extent on the international transfer of information and on the ability to organise biotechnology information into knowledge. To increase the efficiency of information-based approaches, an information strategy has been developed and consists of the following stages: definition of the problem, its structure and sub-problems; acquisition of data by targeted processing of computer-supported bibliographic, numeric, textual and graphic databases; analysis of data and building of specialized in-house information systems; information processing for structuring data into systems, recognition of trends and patterns of knowledge, particularly by information synthesis using the concept of information density; design of research hypotheses; testing hypotheses in the laboratory and/or pilot plant; repeated evaluation and optimization of hypotheses by information methods and testing them by further laboratory work. The information approaches are illustrated by examples from the university-industry joint projects in biotechnology, biochemistry and agriculture.

Piaget and Organic Chemistry: Teaching Introductory Organic Chemistry through Learning Cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Libby, R. Daniel

1995-07-01

This paper describes the first application of the Piaget-based learning cycle technique (Atkin & Karplus, Sci. Teach. 1962, 29, 45-51) to an introductory organic chemistry course. It also presents the step-by-step process used to convert a lecture course into a discussion-based active learning course. The course is taught in a series of learning cycles. A learning cycle is a three phase process that provides opportunities for students to explore new material and work with an instructor to recognize logical patterns in data, and devise and test hypotheses. In this application, the first phase, exploration, involves out-of-class student evaluation of data in attempts to identify significant trends and develop hypotheses that might explain the trends in terms of fundamental scientific principles. In the second phase, concept invention, the students and instructor work together in-class to evaluate student hypotheses and find concepts that work best in explaining the data. The third phase, application, is an out-of-class application of the concept to new situations. The development of learning cycles from lecture notes is presented as an 8 step procedure. The process involves revaluation and restructuring of the course material to maintain a continuity of concept development according to the instructor's logic, dividing topics into individual concepts or techniques, and refocusing the presentation in terms of large numbers of examples that can serve as data for students in their exploration and application activities. A sample learning cycle and suggestions for ways of limited implementation of learning cycles into existing courses are also provided.

Does age modify the association between psychosocial factors at work and deterioration of self-rated health?

PubMed

Burr, Hermann; Hasselhorn, Hans Martin; Kersten, Norbert; Pohrt, Anne; Rugulies, Reiner

2017-09-01

Objectives Few epidemiological studies have examined whether associations of psychosocial working conditions with risk of poor health differ by age. Based on results from mostly cross-sectional studies, we test whether (i) psychosocial relational factors (social support) are more strongly associated with declining health of older than younger employees and (ii) psychosocial job factors (workpace, influence, possibilities for development) are more strongly associated with declining health of younger than older employees. Methods We extracted two cohorts from the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study (DWECS): the 2000-2005 and 2005-2010 cohorts. The participating 5281 employees with good self-rated health (SRH) at baseline were observed in 6585 5-year time windows. Using log-binomial regression analyses, we analysed whether psychosocial factors at work predicted 5-year deterioration of SRH. Effect modification by age was estimated by calculating relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results High workpace among men, low influence at work as well as low social support from colleagues among women, and low possibilities for development and low social support from supervisors among both genders predicted 5-year decline in SRH. Of the 20 interaction analyses, only 1 was statistically significant and in the opposite direction of what was hypothesized (higher risk for declining SRH among middle-aged men with low possibilities for development compared to the young men with high possibilities for development). Conclusions Psychosocial working conditions predicted decline in SRH in this 5-year follow-up study. The model did not support our hypotheses about modifying effects by age.

The role of workaholism in the job demands-resources model.

PubMed

Molino, Monica; Bakker, Arnold B; Ghislieri, Chiara

2016-07-01

The present study tries to gain more insight in workaholism by investigating its antecedents and consequences using the job demands-resources model. We hypothesized that job demands would be positively related to workaholism, particularly when job resources are low. In addition, we hypothesized that workaholism would be positively related to negative outcomes in three important life domains: health, family, and work. The research involved 617 Italian workers (employees and self-employed). To test the hypotheses we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) and moderated structural equation modeling (MSEM) using Mplus 6. The results of SEM showed a good model where workload, cognitive demands, emotional demands, and customer-related social stressors were positively related to workaholism and work-family conflict (WFC) (partial mediation). Additionally, workaholism was indirectly related to exhaustion and intentions to change jobs through WFC. Moreover, MSEM analyses confirmed that job resources (job security and opportunities for development) buffered the relationship between job demands and workaholism. Particularly, the interaction effects were statistically significant in five out of eight combinations. These findings suggest that workaholism is a function of a suboptimal work environment and predicts unfavorable employee outcomes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The Development of University Students' Self-Sufficiency Based on Interactive Technologies by Their Immersion in the Professional Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ljubimova, Elena Mikhaelovna; Galimullina, Elvira Zufarovna; Ibatullin, Rinat Rivkatovich

2015-01-01

The article discusses the problems of using web technologies in the development of self-sufficiency of University students. We hypothesize that real professional situations in which he/she is obliged to work independently on the basis of web technologies contribute to the development of students' self-sufficiency. It is shown that the activity…

Measuring Gender (In)Equality: Introducing the Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base (GID). OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 247

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jutting, Johannes P.; Morrisson, Christian; Dayton-Johnson, Jeff; Drechsler, Denis

2006-01-01

Efforts to establish, test and analyse hypotheses regarding cross-country variations in women's economic status are hampered by the lack of a readily accessible and easily used information resource on the various dimensions of gender inequality. Addressing this gap, this paper introduces the Gender, Institutions and Development data base (GID)…

A model of involvement in work-related learning and development activity: the effects of individual, situational, motivational, and age variables.

PubMed

Maurer, Todd J; Weiss, Elizabeth M; Barbeite, Francisco G

2003-08-01

Eight hundred employees from across the U.S. work force participated in a detailed 13-month longitudinal study of involvement in learning and development activities. A new model was posited and tested in which the hypothesized sequence was as follows: worker age --> individual and situational antecedents --> perceived benefits of participation and self-efficacy for development --> attitudes toward development --> intentions to participate --> participation. The results depict a person who is oriented toward employee development as having participated in development activities before, perceiving themselves as possessing qualities needed for learning, having social support for development at work and outside of work, being job involved, having insight into his or her career, and believing in the need for development, in his or her ability to develop skills and to receive intrinsic benefits from participating. Given the aging work force, a detailed treatment of age differences in development is presented. Implications for new ideas in practice and future research are discussed.

Conservative Orientation as a Determinant of Hopelessness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Chau-Kiu; Kwok, Siu-Tong

1996-01-01

Hypothesizes that a conservative and individualistic orientation results in the fatalistic, alienated, and helpless outlook known as hopelessness. Provides extensive references to studies and theories characterizing conservatism and a work ethic belief as manifestations of an a maladaptive stage of psychological development. (MJP)

JPRS Report. Science & Technology: Europe.

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-29

systems (wind power engines, thermal collectors, etc.). Minister of Research and Technology Hubert Curien and Minister of Public Works, Housing...similar to those currently being manufac- tured in the USSR is being hypothesized, together with studies on the development of the new San Marco Scout

Conservative orientation as a determinant of hopelessness.

PubMed

Cheung, C K; Kwok, S T

1996-06-01

Conservative orientation is identified with reference to authoritarianism, work ethic belief, just world belief, and endorsement of individualistic causes of social problems. This over-arching orientation is hypothesized to affect hopelessness and to be affected by self-esteem with reference to ego development theory and learned helplessness theory. Causal modeling of data obtained from 1st-year college students (N = 556) in Hong Kong supports the hypotheses, showing that a student's hopelessness relates to his or her conservative orientation, even when self-esteem is controlled. This relationship can be interpreted by ego development and learned helplessness theories and cannot be explained as a spurious effect. Through the theories, hopelessness is interpreted as a result of maladaptive development and fatalistic, alienated, and helpless outlooks. This maladaptive development and the outlooks in turn result from students' conservative and individualistic orientation.

Job characteristics, flow, and performance: the moderating role of conscientiousness.

PubMed

Demerouti, Evangelia

2006-07-01

The present article aims to show the importance of positive work-related experiences within occupational health psychology by examining the relationship between flow at work (i.e., absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation) and job performance. On the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that (a) motivating job characteristics are positively related to flow at work and (b) conscientiousness moderates the relationship between flow and other ratings of (in-role and out-of-role) performance. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 113 employees from several occupations. Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses generally supported the hypotheses. Motivating job characteristics were predictive of flow, and flow predicted in-role and extra-role performance, for only conscientious employees.

Widely Assumed but Thinly Tested: Do Employee Volunteers' Self-Reported Skill Improvements Reflect the Nature of Their Volunteering Experiences?

PubMed Central

Jones, David A.

2016-01-01

An increasing number of companies use corporate volunteering programs (CVPs) to support and coordinate their employees' efforts to serve their communities. Among the most frequently touted benefits of such programs to sponsoring companies and employee volunteers alike is the opportunities for employees to develop tangible work-related skills through their volunteering activities. Evidence for skill development through volunteering, however, is mostly limited to the expressed beliefs of corporate leaders and employee volunteers. This study was designed to contribute to this largely anecdotal literature by testing hypotheses about the extent to which employee volunteers' self-reported skill development reflects the characteristics of the volunteers and their volunteering experiences. Study participants were 74 employee volunteers who completed a service apprenticeship managed by a U.S.-based nonprofit called Citizen Schools that partners with middle schools to extend the learning day with a combination of academic support, enrichment, and youth development activities. Data were obtained via the nonprofit's records, and surveys completed by employee volunteers before and after their service experience, including measures used to assess self-reported improvements in each of 10 work-related skills: communicating performance expectations, leadership, mentorship, motivating others, project management, providing performance feedback, public speaking and presenting, speaking clearly, teamwork, and time management. Support was found for several hypothesized effects suggesting that employees who practiced specific skills more often during their volunteering experience reported greater improvements in those skills. Improvements in some skills were higher among employee volunteers who completed a greater number of pre-volunteering preparation courses, and the effects of preparation courses were moderated by the employee volunteers' self-efficacy about improving their work-related skills on all 10 skills as hypothesized. I discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research, and provide suggestions for designing volunteer experiences that encourage service commitments from companies and their employees, and ultimately create tangible value for them and meaningful social value for their communities. PMID:27148108

Widely Assumed but Thinly Tested: Do Employee Volunteers' Self-Reported Skill Improvements Reflect the Nature of Their Volunteering Experiences?

PubMed

Jones, David A

2016-01-01

An increasing number of companies use corporate volunteering programs (CVPs) to support and coordinate their employees' efforts to serve their communities. Among the most frequently touted benefits of such programs to sponsoring companies and employee volunteers alike is the opportunities for employees to develop tangible work-related skills through their volunteering activities. Evidence for skill development through volunteering, however, is mostly limited to the expressed beliefs of corporate leaders and employee volunteers. This study was designed to contribute to this largely anecdotal literature by testing hypotheses about the extent to which employee volunteers' self-reported skill development reflects the characteristics of the volunteers and their volunteering experiences. Study participants were 74 employee volunteers who completed a service apprenticeship managed by a U.S.-based nonprofit called Citizen Schools that partners with middle schools to extend the learning day with a combination of academic support, enrichment, and youth development activities. Data were obtained via the nonprofit's records, and surveys completed by employee volunteers before and after their service experience, including measures used to assess self-reported improvements in each of 10 work-related skills: communicating performance expectations, leadership, mentorship, motivating others, project management, providing performance feedback, public speaking and presenting, speaking clearly, teamwork, and time management. Support was found for several hypothesized effects suggesting that employees who practiced specific skills more often during their volunteering experience reported greater improvements in those skills. Improvements in some skills were higher among employee volunteers who completed a greater number of pre-volunteering preparation courses, and the effects of preparation courses were moderated by the employee volunteers' self-efficacy about improving their work-related skills on all 10 skills as hypothesized. I discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research, and provide suggestions for designing volunteer experiences that encourage service commitments from companies and their employees, and ultimately create tangible value for them and meaningful social value for their communities.

Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and substitutes for leadership: a longitudinal study of research and development project team performance.

PubMed

Keller, Robert T

2006-01-01

Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and selected substitutes for leadership were studied as longitudinal predictors of performance in 118 research and development (R&D) project teams from 5 firms. As hypothesized, transformational leadership predicted 1-year-later technical quality, schedule performance, and cost performance and 5-year-later profitability and speed to market. Initiating structure predicted all the performance measures. The substitutes of subordinate ability and an intrinsically satisfying task each predicted technical quality and profitability, and ability predicted speed to market. Moderator effects for type of R&D work were hypothesized and found whereby transformational leadership was a stronger predictor of technical quality in research projects, whereas initiating structure was a stronger predictor of technical quality in development projects. Implications for leadership theory and research are discussed. (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

College Students' Integration of Education and Employment: Perceived Intrusion of Personal Problems in the Workplace.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavous, Dawn; Chambliss, Catherine

In this study students' perceptions of the workplace were analyzed to see how personal problems affected work ability. It was hypothesized that personal problems negatively affect students' ability to complete various types of tasks at work. It was also hypothesized that regardless of their attitudes toward the work environment, the more…

Industrialism and Modernity: Economic and Noneconomic Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sofranko, Andrew J.; Fliegel, Frederick C.

1977-01-01

The impact of employment at four different levels of industry on workers' value orientations in Ghana, India, Brazil, and the United States were assessed. Using data from workers in the different work settings, two modernity indexes were developed to test hypotheses on value change and on cross-cultural convergence. (Author/NQ)

The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: Toward an Adlerian Vocational Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, C. Edward, Jr.

1984-01-01

Presents an Adlerian vocational theory with several hypotheses and corollaries regarding: (a) life style, (b) work as life task, (c) family atmosphere and relationships, and (d) early recollections. Develops predictive vocational statements and offers the resulting framework as a stimulant to generate further study of Adlerian vocational…

If Only my Leader Would just Do Something! Passive Leadership Undermines Employee Well-being Through Role Stressors and Psychological Resource Depletion.

PubMed

Barling, Julian; Frone, Michael R

2017-08-01

The goal of this study was to develop and test a sequential mediational model explaining the negative relationship of passive leadership to employee well-being. Based on role stress theory, we posit that passive leadership will predict higher levels of role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload. Invoking Conservation of Resources theory, we further hypothesize that these role stressors will indirectly and negatively influence two aspects of employee well-being, namely overall mental health and overall work attitude, through psychological work fatigue. Using a probability sample of 2467 US workers, structural equation modelling supported the model by showing that role stressors and psychological work fatigue partially mediated the negative relationship between passive leadership and both aspects of employee well-being. The hypothesized, sequential indirect relationships explained 47.9% of the overall relationship between passive leadership and mental health and 26.6% of the overall relationship between passive leadership and overall work attitude. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Work, obesity, and occupational safety and health.

PubMed

Schulte, Paul A; Wagner, Gregory R; Ostry, Aleck; Blanciforti, Laura A; Cutlip, Robert G; Krajnak, Kristine M; Luster, Michael; Munson, Albert E; O'Callaghan, James P; Parks, Christine G; Simeonova, Petia P; Miller, Diane B

2007-03-01

There is increasing evidence that obesity and overweight may be related, in part, to adverse work conditions. In particular, the risk of obesity may increase in high-demand, low-control work environments, and for those who work long hours. In addition, obesity may modify the risk for vibration-induced injury and certain occupational musculoskeletal disorders. We hypothesized that obesity may also be a co-risk factor for the development of occupational asthma and cardiovascular disease that and it may modify the worker's response to occupational stress, immune response to chemical exposures, and risk of disease from occupational neurotoxins. We developed 5 conceptual models of the interrelationship of work, obesity, and occupational safety and health and highlighted the ethical, legal, and social issues related to fuller consideration of obesity's role in occupational health and safety.

A Stigmergy Approach for Open Source Software Developer Community Simulation

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

Cui, Xiaohui; Beaver, Justin M; Potok, Thomas E

2009-01-01

The stigmergy collaboration approach provides a hypothesized explanation about how online groups work together. In this research, we presented a stigmergy approach for building an agent based open source software (OSS) developer community collaboration simulation. We used group of actors who collaborate on OSS projects as our frame of reference and investigated how the choices actors make in contribution their work on the projects determinate the global status of the whole OSS projects. In our simulation, the forum posts and project codes served as the digital pheromone and the modified Pierre-Paul Grasse pheromone model is used for computing developer agentmore » behaviors selection probability.« less

Dealing with Organizational Double Binds: Three-way Interactive Effects of Role Stressors and Coping on Worker Exhaustion.

PubMed

Hornung, Severin; Lampert, Bettina; Glaser, Jürgen

2016-04-01

Based on theory regarding the dynamics of organizational double binds, hypotheses were developed about interactive effects of role conflict, role ambiguity, and coping on psychological exhaustion. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 948 civil servants employed by a government administration in Germany. The sample included 250 (26.4%) women (M age = 43.6 year, SD = 8.3) and average organizational tenure was 17.1 year (SD = 10.0). Moderated multiple regression supported the two hypothesized three-way interactions. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, exhaustion was lower in workers reporting high control coping than in workers reporting low control coping. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, worker exhaustion was more pronounced when support coping was high than when it was low. Problem-focused control coping seems crucial to maintain mental health in dealing with contradictory and unclear work role expectations. Emotion-focused support coping appears symptomatic of prolonged involvement in psychologically dysfunctional work situations that cannot otherwise be addressed. Implications are discussed in the context of growing awareness of the contradictory demands organizations impose on employees. © The Author(s) 2016.

Group relationships in early and late sessions and improvement in interpersonal problems.

PubMed

Lo Coco, Gianluca; Gullo, Salvatore; Di Fratello, Carla; Giordano, Cecilia; Kivlighan, Dennis M

2016-07-01

Groups are more effective when positive bonds are established and interpersonal conflicts resolved in early sessions and work is accomplished in later sessions. Previous research has provided mixed support for this group development model. We performed a test of this theoretical perspective using group members' (actors) and aggregated group members' (partners) perceptions of positive bonding, positive working, and negative group relationships measured early and late in interpersonal growth groups. Participants were 325 Italian graduate students randomly (within semester) assigned to 1 of 16 interpersonal growth groups. Groups met for 9 weeks with experienced psychologists using Yalom and Leszcz's (2005) interpersonal process model. Outcome was assessed pre- and posttreatment using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, and group relationships were measured at Sessions 3 and 6 using the Group Questionnaire. As hypothesized, early measures of positive bonding and late measures of positive working, for both actors and partners, were positively related to improved interpersonal problems. Also as hypothesized, late measures of positive bonding and early measures of positive working, for both actors and partners, were negatively related to improved interpersonal problems. We also found that early actor and partner positive bonding and negative relationships interacted to predict changes in interpersonal problems. The findings are consistent with group development theory and suggest that group therapists focus on group-as-a-whole positive bonding relationships in early group sessions and on group-as-a-whole positive working relationships in later group sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Training Students’ Science Process Skills through Didactic Design on Work and Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramayanti, S.; Utari, S.; Saepuzaman, D.

2017-09-01

Science Process Skills (SPS) has not been optimally trained to the students in the learning activity. The aim of this research is finding the ways to train SPS on the subject of Work and Energy. One shot case study design is utilized in this research that conducted on 32 students in one of the High Schools in Bandung. The students’ SPS responses were analyzed by the development SPS based assessment portfolios. The results of this research showed the didactic design that had been designed to training the identifying variables skills, formulating hypotheses, and the experiment activity shows the development. But the didactic design to improve the students’ predicting skills shows that the development is still not optimal. Therefore, in the future studies need to be developed the didactic design on the subject Work and Energy that exercising these skills.

Owl Pellet Paleontology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAlpine, Lisa K.

2013-01-01

In this activity for the beginning of a high school Biology 1 evolution unit, students are challenged to reconstruct organisms found in an owl pellet as a model for fossil reconstruction. They work in groups to develop hypotheses about what animal they have found, what environment it inhabited, and what niche it filled. At the end of the activity,…

An Economic Theory of School Governance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rada, Roger D.

Working from the basic assumption that the primary motivation for those involved in school governance is self-interest, this paper develops and discusses 15 hypotheses that form the essential elements of an economic theory of school governance. The paper opens with a review of previous theories of governance and their origins in social science…

Proposing and Testing a Model to Explain Traits of Algebra Preparedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venenciano, Linda; Heck, Ronald

2016-01-01

Early experiences with theoretical thinking and generalization in measurement are hypothesized to develop constructs we name here as logical reasoning and preparedness for algebra. Based on work of V. V. Davydov (1975), the Measure Up (MU) elementary grades experimental mathematics curriculum uses quantities of area, length, volume, and mass to…

Geologic hypotheses of Lake Tanganyika region, Zaire, drawn from ERTS imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolyce, U.; Ilunga, S.

1974-01-01

Based on initial work in the Lake Tanganyika area of eastern Zaire, it has been concluded that ERTS imagery is extremely useful for reconnaissance level geologic mapping and analysis in this region of the humid tropics. In particular, ERTS imagery has proven useful for recognizing and mapping regional structural units, for recognizing major structural features, and for arriving at some preliminary hypotheses about the mineral potential of the area. Results so far indicate that ERTS imagery can make a major contribution to the development of the mineral resources of the country. Research has concentrated on applications of ERTS imagery in the field of cartography, geology, forestry, hydrology and agriculture. For the work in geology, a test site was chosen in eastern Zaire on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in the vicinity of the Lukuga River. This area was selected because of its varied geology and the existence of two frames of cloud-free ERTS imagery.

The Perceptions of Fair Interpersonal Treatment Scale: development and validation of a measure of interpersonal treatment in the workplace.

PubMed

Donovan, M A; Drasgow, F; Munson, L J

1998-10-01

The Perceptions of Fair Interpersonal Treatment (PFIT) scale was designed to assess employees' perceptions of the interpersonal treatment in their work environment. Analyses of the factor structure and reliability of this new instrument indicate that the PFIT scale is a reliable instrument composed of 2 factors: supervisor treatment and coworker treatment. It was hypothesized that the PFIT scale would be positively correlated with job satisfaction variables and negatively correlated with work withdrawal, job withdrawal, experiences of sexual harassment, and an organization's tolerance of sexual harassment. Results based on 509 employees in a private-sector organization and 217 female faculty and staff members at a large midwestern university supported these hypotheses. Arguments that common method variance and employees' dispositions are responsible for the significant correlations between the PFIT scale and other job-related variables were eliminated. The implications of these results are discussed.

Emotional intelligence and job performance: The mediating role of work-family balance.

PubMed

Weinzimmer, Laurence G; Baumann, Heidi M; Gullifor, Daniel P; Koubova, Veronika

2017-01-01

In this study, we examine the dynamics between emotional intelligence, work-family balance, and job performance. A review of the literature to date has shown distinct relationships between emotional intelligence to job performance and work-family balance to job performance. We utilize a sample of 233 respondents to empirically test our set of hypotheses that contend work-family balance mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance. Our results support these hypotheses. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Giving raw data a chance to talk: a demonstration of exploratory visual analytics with a pediatric research database using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot to promote cohort discovery, research, and quality assessment.

PubMed

Viangteeravat, Teeradache; Nagisetty, Naga Satya V Rao

2014-01-01

Secondary use of large and open data sets provides researchers with an opportunity to address high-impact questions that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive and time consuming to study. Despite the availability of data, generating hypotheses from huge data sets is often challenging, and the lack of complex analysis of data might lead to weak hypotheses. To overcome these issues and to assist researchers in building hypotheses from raw data, we are working on a visual and analytical platform called PRD Pivot. PRD Pivot is a de-identified pediatric research database designed to make secondary use of rich data sources, such as the electronic health record (EHR). The development of visual analytics using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot makes the process of data elaboration, information gathering, knowledge generation, and complex information exploration transparent to tool users and provides researchers with the ability to sort and filter by various criteria, which can lead to strong, novel hypotheses.

Giving Raw Data a Chance to Talk: A Demonstration of Exploratory Visual Analytics with a Pediatric Research Database Using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot to Promote Cohort Discovery, Research, and Quality Assessment

PubMed Central

Viangteeravat, Teeradache; Nagisetty, Naga Satya V. Rao

2014-01-01

Secondary use of large and open data sets provides researchers with an opportunity to address high-impact questions that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive and time consuming to study. Despite the availability of data, generating hypotheses from huge data sets is often challenging, and the lack of complex analysis of data might lead to weak hypotheses. To overcome these issues and to assist researchers in building hypotheses from raw data, we are working on a visual and analytical platform called PRD Pivot. PRD Pivot is a de-identified pediatric research database designed to make secondary use of rich data sources, such as the electronic health record (EHR). The development of visual analytics using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot makes the process of data elaboration, information gathering, knowledge generation, and complex information exploration transparent to tool users and provides researchers with the ability to sort and filter by various criteria, which can lead to strong, novel hypotheses. PMID:24808811

Quantitative studies of bird movement: A methodological review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nichols, J.D.; Kaiser, A.

1999-01-01

The past several years have seen the development of a number of statistical models and methods for drawing inferences about bird movement using data from marked individuals. It can be difficult to keep up with this rapid development of new methods, so our purpose here is to categorize and review methods for drawing inferences about avian movement. We also outline recommendations about future work, dealing both with methodological developments and with studies directed at hypotheses about bird movement of interest from conservation, management, or ecological perspectives.

Quantitative studies of bird movement: a methodological review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nichols, J.D.; Kaiser, A.

1999-01-01

The past several years have seen development of a number of statistical models and methods for drawing inferences about bird movement using data from marked individuals. It can be difficult to keep up with this rapid development of new methods, so our purpose here is to categorize and review methods for drawing inferences about avian movement. We also outline recommendations about future work dealing both with methods development and actual studies directed at hypotheses about bird movement of interest from conservation, management, or ecological perspectives.

IYPT problems teach high school students about teamwork and the scientific method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kochanski, K.; Klishin, A.

2015-12-01

Laboratory work is often STEM students' primary exposure to key creative and communicative skills in the sciences, including experimental design, trouble shooting, team work, and oral presentations. The International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT) teaches these skills by inviting high school students to investigate simple unsolved systems instead of reproducing familiar results. Students work in teams to form hypotheses, gather data, and present their results orally in a tournament format. The IYPT has published 17 questions yearly since 1988, and its archives are an efficient source of experimental problems for outreach programs and have also been used for first-year undergraduate project classes (Planisic, 2009). We present insights and outcomes from two schools in which we introduced a new extracurricular program based on the IYPT model. Twenty-four students worked in small teams for three hours per day for six weeks. Surprisingly, most teams chose problems in unfamiliar subject areas such as fluid dynamics, and tailored their approaches to take advantage of individual skills including soldering, photography, and theoretical analysis. As the program progressed, students developed an increasingly intuitive understanding of the scientific method. They began to discuss the repeatability of their experiments without prompting, and were increasingly willing to describe alternative hypotheses.

New media applications and their potential for the advancement of public perceptions of archaeoastronomy and for the testing of archaeoastronomical hypotheses.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacDonald, J.

This paper looks at the use of astronomical programmes and the development of new media modeling techniques as a means to better understand archaeoastronomy. The paper also suggests that these new methods and technologies are a means of furthering the public perceptions of archaeoastronomy and the important role that 'astronomy' played in the history and development of human culture. This discussion is rooted in a computer simulation of Stonehenge and its land and skyscape. The integration of the astronomy software allows viewing horizon astronomical lignments in relation to digitally recreated Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (EBA) monumental architecture. This work shows how modern virtual modelling techniques can be a tool for testing archaeoastronomical hypotheses, as well as a demonstrative tool for teaching and promoting archaeoastronomy in mainstream media.

Life origination and development hydrate theory (LOH-Theory) in the context of biological, physicochemical, astrophysical, and paleontological studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostrovskii, V. E.; Kadyshevich, E. A.

2014-04-01

Till now, we formulated and developed the Life Origination Hydrate Theory (LOH-Theory) and Mitosis and Replication Hydrate Theory (MRHTheory) as the instruments for understanding the physical and chemical mechanisms applied by Nature for the living matter origination and propagation. This work is aimed at coordination of these theories with the paleontological and astrophysical knowledges and hypotheses of the Earth and Solar System remote histories.

Evaluation in the Seventies: What We Have Learned About Program Development and Implementation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holley, Freda M.

This paper, generated by the Austin, Texas, Independent School District's Office of Research and Evaluation, offers a set of working hypotheses about what a school district must do in the implementation of programs to improve the cost/effectiveness ratio of educational innovations. The author draws on three years of the Austin school district's…

Inequality and mortality: demographic hypotheses regarding advanced and peripheral capitalism.

PubMed

Gregory, J W; Piché, V

1983-01-01

This paper analyzes mortality differences between social classes and between advanced and peripheral regions of the world economy. The demographic analysis of mortality is integrated with the study of political economy, which emphasizes the entire process of social reproduction. As part of this dialectic model, both the struggle of the working class to improve health and the interest of capital in maximizing profits are examined. Data from Québec and Upper Volta are used to illustrate the hypothesis that substantially higher mortality rates exist for the working class compared with the bourgeoisie and in the less developed peripheral regions compared with the more developed regions.

Implications of work and community demands and resources for work-to-family conflict and facilitation.

PubMed

Voydanoff, Patricia

2004-10-01

Based on a differential salience approach, this article examines the combined effects of work and community demands and resources on work-to-family conflict and facilitation. The study uses information from 2,507 employed respondents from the 1995 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. The findings indicate that work demands are relatively strongly related to work-to-family conflict, whereas work resources are relatively more important in relation to work-to-family facilitation. Social incoherence and friend demands are positively related to work-to-family conflict, whereas sense of community and support from friends have positive effects on facilitation. Community resources also show weak amplifying effects on some of the positive relationships between work resources and work-to-family facilitation. The findings provide modest support for the hypotheses.

What to expect from an evolutionary hypothesis for a human disease: The case of type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Watve, Milind; Diwekar-Joshi, Manawa

2016-10-01

Evolutionary medicine has a promise to bring in a conceptual revolution in medicine. However, as yet the field does not have the same theoretical rigour as that of many other fields in evolutionary studies. We discuss here with reference to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) what role an evolutionary hypothesis should play in the development of thinking in medicine. Starting with the thrifty gene hypothesis, evolutionary thinking in T2DM has undergone several transitions, modifications and refinements of the thrift family of hypotheses. In addition alternative hypotheses independent of thrift are also suggested. However, most hypotheses look at partial pictures; make selective use of supportive data ignoring inconvenient truths. Most hypotheses look at a superficial picture and avoid getting into the intricacies of underlying molecular, neuronal and physiological processes. Very few hypotheses have suggested clinical implications and none of them have been tested with randomized clinical trials. In the meanwhile the concepts in the pathophysiology of T2DM are undergoing radical changes and evolutionary hypotheses need to take them into account. We suggest an approach and a set of criteria to evaluate the relative merits of the alternative hypotheses. A number of hypotheses are likely to fail when critically evaluated against these criteria. It is possible that more than one selective process are at work in the evolution of propensity to T2DM, but the intercompatibility of the alternative selective forces and their relative contribution needs to be examined. The approach we describe could potentially lead to a sound evolutionary theory that is clinically useful and testable by randomized controlled clinical trials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Supervisor support in the work place: legitimacy and positive affectivity.

PubMed

Yoon, J; Thye, S

2000-06-01

The authors tested 3 hypotheses regarding supervisor support in the work place. The validation hypothesis predicts that when employees are supported by their coworkers and the larger organization, they also receive more support from their supervisors. The positive affectivity hypothesis predicts that employees with positive dispositions receive more supervisor support because they are more socially oriented and likable. The moderation hypothesis predicts a joint multiplicative effect between validation and positive affectivity. An assessment of the hypotheses among a sample of 1,882 hospital employees in Korea provided strong support for the validation and moderation hypotheses.

Development of white matter microstructure in relation to verbal and visuospatial working memory—A longitudinal study

PubMed Central

Fjell, Anders M.; Tamnes, Christian K.; Grydeland, Håkon; Due-Tønnessen, Paulina; Bjørnerud, Atle; Sampaio-Baptista, Cassandra; Andersson, Jesper; Johansen-Berg, Heidi; Walhovd, Kristine B.

2018-01-01

Working memory capacity is pivotal for a broad specter of cognitive tasks and develops throughout childhood. This must in part rely on development of neural connections and white matter microstructure maturation, but there is scarce knowledge of specific relations between this and different aspects of working memory. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables us to study development of brain white matter microstructure. In a longitudinal DTI study of 148 healthy children between 4 and 11 years scanned twice with an on average 1.6 years interval, we characterized change in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), radial (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) in 10 major white matter tracts hypothesized to be of importance for working memory. The results showed relationships between change in several tracts and change in visuospatial working memory. Specifically, improvement in visuospatial working memory capacity was significantly associated with decreased MD, RD and AD in inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) and uncinate fasciculus (UF) in the right hemisphere, as well as forceps major (FMaj). No significant relationships were found between change in DTI metrics and change in verbal working memory capacity. These findings yield new knowledge about brain development and corresponding working memory improvements in childhood. PMID:29689058

The relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and work outcomes for older working women.

PubMed

Gordon, Judith R; Whelan-Berry, Karen S; Hamilton, Elizabeth A

2007-10-01

This article examines the relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and four work outcomes for 489 working women over the age of 50. Survey results from two U.S. health care organizations and one U.S. financial services organization indicate that older working women experience differing amounts of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family enhancement, and family-to-work enhancement. Hypotheses relating organizational work-family culture to work-family conflict and enhancement were partially supported, and hypotheses relating conflict and enhancement to four work outcomes were partially supported. Work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enhancement partially mediate the relationship between organizational work-family culture and selected work outcomes. Implications for theory and practice, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are also presented.

Developmental Profiles for Multiple Object Tracking and Spatial Memory: Typically Developing Preschoolers and People with Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Hearn, Kirsten; Hoffman, James E.; Landau, Barbara

2010-01-01

The ability to track moving objects, a crucial skill for mature performance on everyday spatial tasks, has been hypothesized to require a specialized mechanism that may be available in infancy (i.e. indexes). Consistent with the idea of specialization, our previous work showed that object tracking was more impaired than a matched spatial memory…

The Relation between Acquisition of a Theory of Mind and the Capacity to Hold in Mind.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Anne C. L.; Olson, David R.

1998-01-01

Tested hypothesized relationship between development of a theory of mind and increasing computational resources in 3- to 5-year olds. Found that the correlations between performance on theory of mind tasks and dual processing tasks were as high as r=.64, suggesting that changes in working memory capacity allow the expression of, and arguably the…

What Is a "Good" Social Network for a System?: The Flow of Know-How for Organizational Change. Working Paper #48

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Kenneth

2014-01-01

This study concerns how intra-organizational networks affect the implementation of policies and practices in organizations. In particular, we attend to the role of the informal subgroup or clique in cultivating and distributing locally adapted and integrated knowledge, or know-how. We develop two hypotheses based on the importance of…

Development and validity of the Emotion and Motivation Self-regulation Questionnaire (EMSR-Q).

PubMed

Alonso-Tapia, Jesús; Panadero Calderón, Ernesto; Díaz Ruiz, Miguel A

2014-07-15

This study has two objectives, first, to develop and validate the "Emotion and Motivation Self-regulation Questionnaire" (EMSR-Q), and second, to analyze (in the context of the questionnaire validation process) the relationships between self-regulation styles (SRS) rooted in goal orientations, and classroom motivational climate (CMC). A total of 664 Secondary Education students from Madrid (Spain) formed the sample of the study. It was divided randomly in two groups to perform confirmatory factor analysis and to cross-validate the results. Both analyses supported a five first-order factor structure, organized around two second-order factors, "Learning self-regulation style" (LSR) and "Avoidance self-regulation style" (ASR): (χ 2 /df = 2.71; GFI = .89; IFI = .84; CFI = .84; RMSEA = .07). Hypotheses concerning the relationships between SRS, goal orientations and expectancies are supported by additional correlation and factor analyses. Moreover, several regression analyses supported for the most part of the remaining hypotheses concerning the role of self-regulation styles as predictors of classroom motivational climate (CMC) perception, of change in self-regulation attributed to teacher work, and of students' satisfaction with this same work. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

On the evolution of reproductive restraint in malaria

PubMed Central

Mideo, Nicole; Day, Troy

2008-01-01

Malaria is one of the leading causes of death among infectious diseases in the world, claiming over one million lives every year. By these standards, this highly complex parasite is extremely successful at generating new infections. Somewhat surprisingly, however, many malaria species seem to invest relatively little in gametocytes, converting only a small percentage of circulating asexual parasite forms into this transmissible form. In this article, we use mathematical models to explore three of the hypotheses that have been proposed to explain this apparent ‘reproductive restraint’ and develop a novel, fourth hypothesis. We find that only one of the previous three hypotheses we explore can explain such low gametocyte conversion rates, and this hypothesis involves a very specific form of density-dependent transmission-blocking immunity. Our fourth hypothesis also provides a potential explanation and is based on the occurrence of multiple infections and the resultant within-host competition between malaria strains that this entails. Further experimental work is needed to determine which of these two hypotheses provides the most likely explanation. PMID:18303001

OSIRIS-REx and mission sample science: The return of at least 60 g of pristine regolith from asteroid Bennu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connolly, H. C., Jr.; Lauretta, D. S.

2014-07-01

Introduction: The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission was selected by NASA in May 2011 as the third New Frontiers mission. The target, (101955) Bennu, is a B-type near-Earth asteroid (NEA), hypothesized to be similar to CI or CM carbonaceous chondrites. The key science objectives of the mission are summarized in [1]. To meet these science objectives, the science team is coordinated and governed by the Science Executive Council (SEC): A group of six persons that run various elements of mission science. Mission Sample Science (MSS) is charged with analysis of the returned sample. Mission Sample Science: MSS is run by a Mission Scientist and composed of the following working groups: Carbonaceous Meteorite Working Group (CMWG), Dynamical Evolution Working Group (DEWG), Regolith Development Working Group (RDWG), Sample Analysis Working Group (SampleWG), Sample Site Science Working Group (SSSWG), and TAGSAM Working Group (TAGSAMWG). CMWG works to define and create well-characterized test samples, both natural and synthetic, for the development of spectral test data. These data are used to verify the depth and accuracy of spectral analysis techniques for processing data collected by the OSIRIS-REx spectrometers (OVIRS and OTES). The DEWG is charged with constraining the history of asteroid Bennu from main-belt asteroid to NEA. They also work closely with the SampleWG to define the hypotheses for the dynamical evolution of Bennu through the analysis of the returned sample. The RDWG is focused on developing constraints on the origin and evolution of regolith on Bennu through investigations of the surface geology and, working with the SampleWG, test these hypotheses through sample analysis. RDWG is also focused on the analysis of the sampling event and reconstructing what occurred during the event. SampleWG is focused on documenting Contamination Knowledge, which is distinct but related to mission Contamination Control. The main deliverable for this working group is the Sample Analysis Plan, due in 2019. Furthermore, it is this working group that is responsible for constituting the Preliminary Examination Team (PET) and performing the analyses of the returned sample during the first six months after return. SSSWG has the main deliverable of providing to the project the Science Value Maps (SVMs), which are part of the sample site selection process. If we can deliver the spacecraft to candidate sample sites, if it is safe to sample at them, and if there is material that can be ingested, SVMs will be a semi-quantitative aid in picking the optimum site to meet mission science goals. Finally, TAGSAM (Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) is the sampler for the mission and this working group is concerned primarily with characterizing TAGSAM capabilities against a range of regolith types. Mission Sample Science provides an over-arching structure to reconstruct the pre- and post-accretion history of Bennu from the formation of pre-solar grains, chondrules, up to geological activity within the asteroid to its final dynamical evolution through analysis of the returned sample using a wide range of disciplines and expertise.

Validation of the Work-Life Balance Culture Scale (WLBCS).

PubMed

Nitzsche, Anika; Jung, Julia; Kowalski, Christoph; Pfaff, Holger

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the theoretical development and initial validation of the newly developed Work-Life Balance Culture Scale (WLBCS), an instrument for measuring an organizational culture that promotes the work-life balance of employees. In Study 1 (N=498), the scale was developed and its factorial validity tested through exploratory factor analyses. In Study 2 (N=513), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to examine model fit and retest the dimensional structure of the instrument. To assess construct validity, a priori hypotheses were formulated and subsequently tested using correlation analyses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a one-factor model. Results of the bivariate correlation analyses may be interpreted as preliminary evidence of the scale's construct validity. The five-item WLBCS is a new and efficient instrument with good overall quality. Its conciseness makes it particularly suitable for use in employee surveys to gain initial insight into a company's perceived work-life balance culture.

La Croissance des depenses publiques d'education en Allemagne: 1829?1989

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diebolt, Claude

1996-09-01

The downturn in the economic situation in the early 1970s gave rise to new work on long-term "Kondratieff" cycles. Given the atypical fluctuation in some variables (prices, production, etc.), previous theories appeared to have exhausted their ability to explain events. To explain the original features of the structural crisis that was developing, it has become necessary to put forward and test new hypotheses. The results of work carried out by the research group on Quantitative History and Long-Term Theories at the University of Montpellier I meet this requirement. They introduce a relationship between expenditure on human development (wages, education, health, etc.) and that devoted to material growth.

Mechanisms driving recruitment variability in fish: comparisons between the Laurentian Great Lakes and marine systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pritt, Jeremy J.; Roseman, Edward F.; O'Brien, Timothy P.

2014-01-01

In his seminal work, Hjort (in Fluctuations in the great fisheries of Northern Europe. Conseil Parmanent International Pour L'Exploration De La Mar. Rapports et Proces-Verbaux, 20: 1–228, 1914) observed that fish population levels fluctuated widely, year-class strength was set early in life, and egg production by adults could not alone explain variability in year-class strength. These observations laid the foundation for hypotheses on mechanisms driving recruitment variability in marine systems. More recently, researchers have sought to explain year-class strength of important fish in the Laurentian Great Lakes and some of the hypotheses developed for marine fisheries have been transferred to Great Lakes fish. We conducted a literature review to determine the applicability of marine recruitment hypotheses to Great Lakes fish. We found that temperature, interspecific interactions, and spawner effects (abundance, age, and condition of adults) were the most important factors in explaining recruitment variability in Great Lakes fish, whereas relatively fewer studies identified bottom-up trophodynamic factors or hydrodynamic factors as important. Next, we compared recruitment between Great Lakes and Baltic Sea fish populations and found no statistical difference in factors driving recruitment between the two systems, indicating that recruitment hypotheses may often be transferable between Great Lakes and marine systems. Many recruitment hypotheses developed for marine fish have yet to be applied to Great Lakes fish. We suggest that future research on recruitment in the Great Lakes should focus on forecasting the effects of climate change and invasive species. Further, because the Great Lakes are smaller and more enclosed than marine systems, and have abundant fishery-independent data, they are excellent candidates for future hypothesis testing on recruitment in fish.

Qualitative mathematical models to support ecosystem-based management of Australia's Northern Prawn Fishery.

PubMed

Dambacher, Jeffrey M; Rothlisberg, Peter C; Loneragan, Neil R

2015-01-01

A major decline in the catch of the banana prawn [shrimp], Penaeus (Fenneropenaeus) merguiensis, occurred over a six-year period in the Weipa region of the northeastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Three main hypotheses have been developed to explain this decline: (1) prawn recruitment collapsed due to overfishing; (2) recruitment collapsed due to a change in the prawn's environment; and (3) adult banana prawns were still present, but fishers could no longer effectively find or catch them. Qualitative mathematical models were used to link population biology, environmental factors, and fishery dynamics to evaluate the alternative hypotheses. This modeling approach provides the means to rapidly integrate knowledge across disciplines and consider alternative hypotheses about how the structure and function of an ecosystem affects its dynamics. Alternative models were constructed to address the different hypotheses and also to encompass a diversity of opinion about the underlying dynamics of the system. Key findings from these analyses are that: instability in the system can arise when discarded fishery bycatch supports relatively high predation pressure; system stability can be enhanced by management of fishing effort or stock catchability; catch per unit effort is not necessarily a reliable indicator of stock abundance; a change in early-season rainfall should affect all stages in the banana prawn's life cycle; and a reduced catch in the Weipa region can create and reinforce a shift in fishing effort away from Weipa. Results from the models informed an approach to test the hypotheses (i.e., an experimental fishing program), and promoted understanding of the system among researchers, management agencies, and industry. The analytical tools developed in this work to address stages of a prawn life cycle and fishery dynamics are generally applicable to any exploited natural. resource.

Test of the role of nicotine dependence in the relation between posttraumatic stress disorder and panic spectrum problems.

PubMed

Feldner, Matthew T; Smith, Rose C; Babson, Kimberly A; Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie; Schmidt, Norman B; Zvolensky, Michael J

2009-02-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occurs with panic spectrum problems. Relatively little empirical work has tested possible mechanisms accounting for this association. Nicotine dependence often ensues subsequent to PTSD onset and research suggests smoking high numbers of cigarettes daily may lead to panic problems. The current study tested the hypotheses that nicotine dependence partially mediates the relations between PTSD and both panic attacks and panic disorder within a nationally representative sample of 5,692 (3,020 women; M(Age) = 45, SD = 18) adults from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication. Results were consistent with hypotheses. These findings support the theory suggesting smoking among people with PTSD may be involved in the development of panic problems.

Nonstandard maternal work schedules during infancy: Implications for children's early behavior problems

PubMed Central

Daniel, Stephanie S.; Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Leerkes, Esther; Tucker, Jenna; Han, Wen-Jui

2009-01-01

This paper examines the associations between maternal nonstandard work schedules during infancy and children's early behavior problems, and the extent to which infant temperament may moderate these associations. Hypothesized associations were tested using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care (Phase I). Analyses focused on mothers who returned to work by the time the child was 6 months of age, and who worked an average of at least 35 h per week from 6 through 36 months. At 24 and 36 months, children whose mothers worked a nonstandard schedule had higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Modest, albeit inconsistent, evidence suggests that temperamentally reactive children may be more vulnerable to maternal work schedules. Maternal depressive symptoms partially mediated associations between nonstandard maternal work schedules and child behavior outcomes. PMID:19233479

Influence of some psychosocial factors on mobbing and its consequences among employees working with people with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Figueiredo-Ferraz, Hugo; Gil-Monte, Pedro R; Grau-Alberola, Ester; Llorca-Pellicer, Marta; García-Juesas, Juan A

2012-09-01

The problem of mobbing has attracted a great deal of attention over the past few years. This concern has increased the study of the phenomena, which has resulted in many scientific publications. Mobbing has been characterized as an emerging risk at work. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of some psychosocial factors at work - role clarity, interpersonal conflicts and social support - on mobbing and its consequences - that is, inclination towards absenteeism and psychosomatic disorders. The sample included 422 employees working with people with intellectual disabilities. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The Hypothesized model showed an adequate fit to data, and all hypothesized relationships were significant. The results of this study provide support for the mediator role of mobbing in the relationship between high role ambiguity, low social support and high interpersonal conflicts and psychosomatic disorders and inclination towards absenteeism. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Examining a model of life satisfaction among unemployed adults.

PubMed

Duffy, Ryan D; Bott, Elizabeth M; Allan, Blake A; Torrey, Carrie L

2013-01-01

The present study examined a model of life satisfaction among a diverse sample of 184 adults who had been unemployed for an average of 10.60 months. Using the Lent (2004) model of life satisfaction as a framework, a model was tested with 5 hypothesized predictor variables: optimism, job search self-efficacy, job search support, job search behaviors, and work volition. After adding a path in the model from optimism to work volition, the hypothesized model was found to be a good fit for the data and a better fit than a more parsimonious, alternative model. In the hypothesized model, optimism, work volition, job search self-efficacy, and job search support were each found to significantly relate to life satisfaction, accounting for 35% of the variance. Additionally, using 50,000 bootstrapped samples, optimism was found to have a significant indirect effect on life satisfaction as mediated by job search self-efficacy, job search support, and work volition. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The effects of work engagement and self-efficacy on personal initiative and performance.

PubMed

Lisbona, Ana; Palaci, Francisco; Salanova, Marisa; Frese, Michael

2018-02-01

Two popular concepts, work engagement and personal initiative, are different but related constructs. This study is based on and extends the Frese and Fay (2001) model of personal initiative (PI) by including work engagement (WE) and self-efficacy as antecedents of PI, and performance as a consequence. Two studies (study 1, with a cross-sectional design using N = 396 participants from 22 organizations, and study 2, with a longitudinal design conducted in two waves with N = 118 participants from 15 organizations) test the hypotheses. Structural equation modeling and the PROCESS SPSS Macro were used to test the hypothesized mediating role of personal initiative in work engagement and performance, and the results show the indirect effect of WE on performance through PI. The results of these two studies confirmed our hypotheses: WE and self-efficacy lead to higher PI, which, in turn, leads to higher performance. In addition to considering WE as an antecedent of PI, the results lead to considering PI as an antecedent of performance.

Cybernetics and consciousness.

PubMed

Trabka, J

1999-01-01

This paper is a review of hypotheses of consciousness which arose from application of the theory of information and regulation and the cybernetic theory of mathematical machines in medicine. The author presents these hypotheses on the examples of his own works.

Mother Involvement as an Influence on Father Involvement with Early Adolescents

PubMed Central

Pleck, Joseph H.; Hofferth, Sandra L.

2009-01-01

This study hypothesized that father involvement is influenced by mothers' level of involvement as well as by marital conflict, mothers' work hours, and fathers' status as biological or step father. The analysis also tested hypotheses about mother involvement as a potential mediator of the effects of marital conflict and maternal work hours on father involvement, and hypotheses about factors influencing mother involvement. Children aged 10-14 from the NLSY79 who resided with their biological or step father and with their mother reported on each parent's involvement with them. As hypothesized, father involvement was predicted by mother involvement, and the reciprocal influence was not significant. Father involvement was associated with low marital conflict and being a biological father. Mothers' involvement partially mediated the effects of marital conflict on father involvement. If the mediating role of maternal involvement is not taken into account, the effect of marital conflict on father involvement is overestimated. PMID:21776195

Testing Hypotheses about Second Language Acquisition: The Copula and Negative in Three Subjects. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cancino, Herlinda; And Others

Three hypotheses are examined in relation to English copula and negative utterances produced by three native Spanish speakers. The hypotheses are interference, interlanguage and L1=L2, which states that acquisition of a language by second language learners will parallel acquisiton of the same language by first language learners. The results of the…

Developing leaders via experience: the role of developmental challenge, learning orientation, and feedback availability.

PubMed

Derue, D Scott; Wellman, Ned

2009-07-01

Prior research offers limited insight into the types of work experiences that promote leadership skill development and the ways that the person and context shape the developmental value of these experiences. In this article, the authors develop a series of hypotheses linking leadership skill development to features of the experience (developmental challenge), person (learning orientation), and context (feedback availability). Based on 225 on-the-job experiences across 60 managers, their results demonstrate that the relationship between developmental challenge and leadership skill development exhibits a pattern of diminishing returns. However, access to feedback can offset the diminishing returns associated with high levels of developmental challenge.

Capitalizing on Citizen Science Data for Validating Models and Generating Hypotheses Describing Meteorological Drivers of Mosquito-Borne Disease Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boger, R. A.; Low, R.; Paull, S.; Anyamba, A.; Soebiyanto, R. P.

2017-12-01

Temperature and precipitation are important drivers of mosquito population dynamics, and a growing set of models have been proposed to characterize these relationships. Validation of these models, and development of broader theories across mosquito species and regions could nonetheless be improved by comparing observations from a global dataset of mosquito larvae with satellite-based measurements of meteorological variables. Citizen science data can be particularly useful for two such aspects of research into the meteorological drivers of mosquito populations: i) Broad-scale validation of mosquito distribution models and ii) Generation of quantitative hypotheses regarding changes to mosquito abundance and phenology across scales. The recently released GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper (GO-MHM) app engages citizen scientists in identifying vector taxa, mapping breeding sites and decommissioning non-natural habitats, and provides a potentially useful new tool for validating mosquito ubiquity projections based on the analysis of remotely sensed environmental data. Our early work with GO-MHM data focuses on two objectives: validating citizen science reports of Aedes aegypti distribution through comparison with accepted scientific data sources, and exploring the relationship between extreme temperature and precipitation events and subsequent observations of mosquito larvae. Ultimately the goal is to develop testable hypotheses regarding the shape and character of this relationship between mosquito species and regions.

Need for uniqueness as a mediator of the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption in China.

PubMed

Sun, Gong; Chen, Jun; Li, Jie

2017-10-01

Strong economic development in China has led to a surge in status consumption as a means of gaining face. In Eastern culture, people interpret uniqueness as status distinction rather than separateness or deviance. This type of uniqueness can be used to meet others' expectations and gain social approval. Thus its relationship with face consciousness and status consumption is to be expected. This study investigates 2 hypotheses: (a) Face consciousness has a positive effect on status consumption and (b) Consumer need for uniqueness mediates the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption. Two-hundred and forty-six working respondents in eastern China completed a survey. Regression analysis of the results supported both hypotheses. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Preliminary testing of flow-ecology hypotheses developed for the GCP LCC region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brewer, Shannon K.; Davis, Mary

2014-01-01

The Ecological Limits of Hydrological Alteration (ELOHA) framework calls for the development of flow-ecology hypotheses to support protection of the flow regime from ecologically harmful alteration due to human activities. As part of a larger instream flow project for the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCP LCC), regional flow-ecology hypotheses were developed for fish, mussels, birds, and riparian vegetation (Davis and Brewer 20141). The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of existing ecological and hydrological data to test these hypotheses or others that may be developed in the future. Several databases related to biological collections and hydrologic data from Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana were compiled. State fish-community data from Oklahoma and Louisiana were summarized and paired with existing USGS gage data having at least a 40-year period of record that could be separated into reference and current conditions for comparison. The objective of this study was not to conduct exhaustive analyses of these data, the hypotheses, or analyses interpretation, but rather to use these data to determine if existing data were adequate to statistically test the regional flow-ecology hypotheses. The regional flow-ecology hypotheses were developed for the GCP LCC by a committee chaired by Shannon Brewer and Mary Davis (Davis and Brewer 2014). Existing data were useful for informing the hypotheses and suggest support for some hypotheses, but also highlight the need for additional testing and development as some results contradicted hypotheses. Results presented here suggest existing data are adequate to support some flow-ecology hypotheses; however, lack of sampling effort reported with the fish collections and the need for ecoregion-specific analyses suggest more data would be beneficial to analyses in some ecoregions. Additional fish sampling data from Texas and Louisiana will be available for future analyses and may ameliorate some of the data concerns and improve hypothesis interpretation. If the regional hydrologic model currently under development by the U.S. Geological Survey for the South-Central Climate Science Center is improved to produce daily hydrographs, it will enable use of fish data at ungaged locations. In future efforts, exhaustive analyses using these data, in addition to the development of more complex multivariate hypotheses, would be beneficial to understanding data gaps, particularly as relevant to species of conservation concern.

Variables associated with work performance in multidisciplinary mental health teams

PubMed Central

Fleury, Marie-Josée; Grenier, Guy; Bamvita, Jean-Marie; Chiocchio, François

2017-01-01

Objectives: This study investigates work performance among 79 mental health teams in Quebec (Canada). We hypothesized that work performance was positively associated with the use of standardized clinical tools and clinical approaches, integration strategies, “clan culture,” and mental health funding per capita. Methods: Work performance was measured using an adapted version of the Work Role Questionnaire. Variables were organized into four key areas: (1) team attributes, (2) organizational culture, (3) inter-organizational interactions, and (4) external environment. Results: Work performance was associated with two types of organizational culture (clan and hierarchy) and with two team attributes (use of standardized clinical tools and approaches). Discussion and conclusion: This study was innovative in identifying associations between work performance and best practices, justifying their implementation. Recommendations are provided to develop organizational cultures promoting a greater focus on the external environment and integration strategies that strengthen external focus, service effectiveness, and innovation. PMID:28839935

Learning to Question: The Roles of Multiple Hypotheses, Successive Approximations, Balloons and Toilet Paper in University Science Programs of Southwestern Amazonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, I. Foster

2008-06-01

Learning to question is essential for determining pathways of conservation and development in southwestern Amazonia during a time of rapid global environmental change. Teaching such an approach in graduate science programs in regional universities can be done using play-acting and simulation exercises. Multiple working hypotheses help students learn to question their own research results and expert witnesses. The method of successive approximations enables students to question the results of complex calculations, such as estimates of forest biomass. Balloons and rolls of toilet paper provide means of questioning two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional Earth and the value of pi. Generation of systematic errors can illustrate the pitfalls of blind acceptance of data. While learning to question is essential, it is insufficient by itself; students must also learn how to be solutionologists in order to satisfy societal demands for solutions to environmental problems. A little irreverence can be an excellent didactic tool for helping students develop the skills necessary to lead conservation and development efforts in the region.

Mechanisms linking authentic leadership to emotional exhaustion: The role of procedural justice and emotional demands in a moderated mediation approach.

PubMed

Kampa, Judith; Rigotti, Thomas; Otto, Kathleen

2017-04-07

In order to gain more knowledge on how the positive leadership concept of authentic leadership impacts follower strain, this study tries to uncover procedural justice as an underlying mechanism. In contrast to previous work, we exclusively base our theoretical model on justice theories. Specifically, we hypothesize that authentic leadership negatively predicts emotional exhaustion through perceptions of procedural justice. We assume that this indirect effect is conditional on followers' amount of emotional demands, and that the procedural justice-emotional exhaustion relationship is stronger when emotional demands are high. This finally results in a stronger exhaustion-reducing effect of authentic leadership. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested in a sample of N=628 employees nested in 168 teams using lagged data from three waves. Results provide support for all hypotheses. Authentic leadership is critical to employees' well-being as it contributes to an elevated perception of positive work conditions (procedural justice), especially in contexts with high emotional demands. Limitations and practical implications on leadership development are discussed.

Mechanisms linking authentic leadership to emotional exhaustion: The role of procedural justice and emotional demands in a moderated mediation approach

PubMed Central

KAMPA, Judith; RIGOTTI, Thomas; OTTO, Kathleen

2016-01-01

In order to gain more knowledge on how the positive leadership concept of authentic leadership impacts follower strain, this study tries to uncover procedural justice as an underlying mechanism. In contrast to previous work, we exclusively base our theoretical model on justice theories. Specifically, we hypothesize that authentic leadership negatively predicts emotional exhaustion through perceptions of procedural justice. We assume that this indirect effect is conditional on followers’ amount of emotional demands, and that the procedural justice-emotional exhaustion relationship is stronger when emotional demands are high. This finally results in a stronger exhaustion-reducing effect of authentic leadership. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested in a sample of N=628 employees nested in 168 teams using lagged data from three waves. Results provide support for all hypotheses. Authentic leadership is critical to employees’ well-being as it contributes to an elevated perception of positive work conditions (procedural justice), especially in contexts with high emotional demands. Limitations and practical implications on leadership development are discussed. PMID:27818452

Relationship between cannabis and psychosis: Reasons for use and associated clinical variables.

PubMed

Mané, Anna; Fernández-Expósito, Miguel; Bergé, Daniel; Gómez-Pérez, Laura; Sabaté, Agnés; Toll, Alba; Diaz, Laura; Diez-Aja, Cristobal; Perez, Victor

2015-09-30

The mechanism underneath the relationship between cannabis and psychosis remains controversial, for which several hypotheses have been proposed, including cannabis as self-medication and cannabis as a risk for the development of psychosis. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between cannabis and psychosis in first-episode psychosis cannabis users and non-users, and non-psychotic cannabis users. The age at the first psychotic episode, duration of untreated psychosis, psychopathology and reasons for cannabis use were assessed. First-episode psychosis cannabis users showed an earlier age at psychosis onset than non-user patients. No significant differences in symptomatology were found. The distinguishing reasons to use cannabis for patients with first-episode psychosis with respect to non-psychotic users were to arrange their thoughts and deal with hallucinations and suspiciousness. These findings are in agreement with both hypotheses: self-medication and secondary psychosis hypothesis. However, longitudinal prospective cohort studies assessing reasons for cannabis use are needed to investigate both hypotheses and their complementarity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Where in the World Will We Find Our Future Geoscientists?: One Employer's Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loudin, M. G.

2004-12-01

The challenges we face in finding and developing new energy resources to satisfy increasing global demand are driving us to update the attributes we seek in our entry-level Geoscientists. These attributes include a foundation of necessary technical talents and skills, as well as experimental approaches and geographic considerations. The resulting changes to our entry-level "demand profile," when convolved with the current global academic Geoscience landscape, present opportunities for development of alternative paradigms in how new Geoscientists are developed. While we have always stressed the need for strong, "classical" Earth Science fundamentals in our campus hires, both exploration and production business challenges point the way to an even greater emphasis on quantitative skills. For instance, accurately imaging deep structures overlain by highly complex salt strata in the Gulf of Mexico will require people who can balance an understanding of sedimentological and deformational processes with and understanding of the physics of wave propagation. Our experience has been that there are relatively few academic programs that stress both classical Geology and high-end quantitative skills for their graduates. Since we are in the business of remotely predicting subsurface conditions better than we ever have before, how well students are prepared in their approach to experimentation is ever more important to us. How well do students understand the systemic context of their work? Do they employ an approach characterized by multiple working hypotheses? How well are such hypotheses constrained by existing knowledge from other workers? Are their experiments well-designed and controlled such that some hypotheses can be unambiguously ruled out? Geographically, the locations of our resources and production will continue to shift away from areas like the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Since our research facilities and various centers of expertise reside in the US, we will continue to hire a high percentage of our Geoscientists in the US for employment here. However, decreasing internal demand for Geoscientists from Canada, Australia, and Europe will mean that our focus in these areas will largely shift to filling positions in our US research center and centers of expertise for which qualified US graduates cannot be found. As the proportion of our resources and production shifts into other areas, demand for highly qualified Geoscience graduates from these areas increases. Often, Geoscience departments in these areas are in an early stage of development. As many mature Geoscience departments face profound challenges from decreasing enrollments and funding, there is potential for "win-win" situations in which such departments work with governments that are interested in accelerating development of their academic institutions.

Factors affecting construction performance: exploratory factor analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soewin, E.; Chinda, T.

2018-04-01

The present work attempts to develop a multidimensional performance evaluation framework for a construction company by considering all relevant measures of performance. Based on the previous studies, this study hypothesizes nine key factors, with a total of 57 associated items. The hypothesized factors, with their associated items, are then used to develop questionnaire survey to gather data. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to the collected data which gave rise 10 factors with 57 items affecting construction performance. The findings further reveal that the items constituting ten key performance factors (KPIs) namely; 1) Time, 2) Cost, 3) Quality, 4) Safety & Health, 5) Internal Stakeholder, 6) External Stakeholder, 7) Client Satisfaction, 8) Financial Performance, 9) Environment, and 10) Information, Technology & Innovation. The analysis helps to develop multi-dimensional performance evaluation framework for an effective measurement of the construction performance. The 10 key performance factors can be broadly categorized into economic aspect, social aspect, environmental aspect, and technology aspects. It is important to understand a multi-dimension performance evaluation framework by including all key factors affecting the construction performance of a company, so that the management level can effectively plan to implement an effective performance development plan to match with the mission and vision of the company.

Testing Hypotheses on Risk Factors for Scientific Misconduct via Matched-Control Analysis of Papers Containing Problematic Image Duplications.

PubMed

Fanelli, Daniele; Costas, Rodrigo; Fang, Ferric C; Casadevall, Arturo; Bik, Elisabeth M

2018-02-19

It is commonly hypothesized that scientists are more likely to engage in data falsification and fabrication when they are subject to pressures to publish, when they are not restrained by forms of social control, when they work in countries lacking policies to tackle scientific misconduct, and when they are male. Evidence to test these hypotheses, however, is inconclusive due to the difficulties of obtaining unbiased data. Here we report a pre-registered test of these four hypotheses, conducted on papers that were identified in a previous study as containing problematic image duplications through a systematic screening of the journal PLoS ONE. Image duplications were classified into three categories based on their complexity, with category 1 being most likely to reflect unintentional error and category 3 being most likely to reflect intentional fabrication. We tested multiple parameters connected to the hypotheses above with a matched-control paradigm, by collecting two controls for each paper containing duplications. Category 1 duplications were mostly not associated with any of the parameters tested, as was predicted based on the assumption that these duplications were mostly not due to misconduct. Categories 2 and 3, however, exhibited numerous statistically significant associations. Results of univariable and multivariable analyses support the hypotheses that academic culture, peer control, cash-based publication incentives and national misconduct policies might affect scientific integrity. No clear support was found for the "pressures to publish" hypothesis. Female authors were found to be equally likely to publish duplicated images compared to males. Country-level parameters generally exhibited stronger effects than individual-level parameters, because developing countries were significantly more likely to produce problematic image duplications. This suggests that promoting good research practices in all countries should be a priority for the international research integrity agenda.

Predictive hypotheses are ineffectual in resolving complex biochemical systems.

PubMed

Fry, Michael

2018-03-20

Scientific hypotheses may either predict particular unknown facts or accommodate previously-known data. Although affirmed predictions are intuitively more rewarding than accommodations of established facts, opinions divide whether predictive hypotheses are also epistemically superior to accommodation hypotheses. This paper examines the contribution of predictive hypotheses to discoveries of several bio-molecular systems. Having all the necessary elements of the system known beforehand, an abstract predictive hypothesis of semiconservative mode of DNA replication was successfully affirmed. However, in defining the genetic code whose biochemical basis was unclear, hypotheses were only partially effective and supplementary experimentation was required for its conclusive definition. Markedly, hypotheses were entirely inept in predicting workings of complex systems that included unknown elements. Thus, hypotheses did not predict the existence and function of mRNA, the multiple unidentified components of the protein biosynthesis machinery, or the manifold unknown constituents of the ubiquitin-proteasome system of protein breakdown. Consequently, because of their inability to envision unknown entities, predictive hypotheses did not contribute to the elucidation of cation theories remained the sole instrument to explain complex bio-molecular systems, the philosophical question of alleged advantage of predictive over accommodative hypotheses became inconsequential.

Work Personality, Work Engagement, and Academic Effort in a Group of College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strauser, David R.; O'Sullivan, Deirdre; Wong, Alex W. K.

2012-01-01

The authors investigated the relationship between the variables of work engagement, developmental work personality, and academic effort in a sample of college students. This study provides evidence for the hypothesized positive relationship between academic effort, engagement, and work personality. When gender was controlled, the Work Tasks…

Associations Between White Matter Microstructure and Infants’ Working Memory

PubMed Central

Short, Sarah J.; Elison, Jed T.; Goldman, Barbara Davis; Styner, Martin; Gu, Hongbin; Connelly, Mark; Maltbie, Eric; Woolson, Sandra; Lin, Weili; Gerig, Guido; Reznick, J. Steven; Gilmore, John H.

2013-01-01

Working memory emerges in infancy and plays a privileged role in subsequent adaptive cognitive development. The neural networks important for the development of working memory during infancy remain unknown. We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and deterministic fiber tracking to characterize the microstructure of white matter fiber bundles hypothesized to support working memory in 12-month-old infants (n=73). Here we show robust associations between infants’ visuospatial working memory performance and microstructural characteristics of widespread white matter. Significant associations were found for white matter tracts that connect brain regions known to support working memory in older children and adults (genu, anterior and superior thalamic radiations, anterior cingulum, arcuate fasciculus, and the temporal-parietal segment). Better working memory scores were associated with higher FA and lower RD values in these selected white matter tracts. These tract-specific brain-behavior relationships accounted for a significant amount of individual variation above and beyond infants’ gestational age and developmental level, as measured with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Working memory was not associated with global measures of brain volume, as expected, and few associations were found between working memory and control white matter tracts. To our knowledge, this study is among the first demonstrations of brain-behavior associations in infants using quantitative tractography. The ability to characterize subtle individual differences in infant brain development associated with complex cognitive functions holds promise for improving our understanding of normative development, biomarkers of risk, experience-dependent learning and neuro-cognitive periods of developmental plasticity. PMID:22989623

Lean and leadership practices: development of an initial realist program theory.

PubMed

Goodridge, Donna; Westhorp, Gill; Rotter, Thomas; Dobson, Roy; Bath, Brenna

2015-09-07

Lean as a management system has been increasingly adopted in health care settings in an effort to enhance quality, capacity and safety, while simultaneously containing or reducing costs. The Ministry of Health in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada has made a multi-million dollar investment in Lean initiatives to create "better health, better value, better care, and better teams", affording a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the way in which Lean philosophy, principles and tools work in health care. In order to address the questions, "What changes in leadership practices are associated with the implementation of Lean?" and "When leadership practices change, how do the changed practices contribute to subsequent outcomes?", we used a qualitative, multi-stage approach to work towards developing an initial realist program theory. We describe the implications of realist assumptions for evaluation of this Lean initiative. Formal theories including Normalization Process Theory, Theories of Double Loop and Organization Leaning and the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance help understand this initial rough program theory. Data collection included: key informant consultation; a stakeholder workshop; documentary review; 26 audiotaped and transcribed interviews with health region personnel; and team discussions. A set of seven initial hypotheses regarding the manner in which Lean changes leadership practices were developed from our data. We hypothesized that Lean, as implemented in this particular setting, changes leadership practices in the following ways. Lean: a) aligns the aims and objectives of health regions; b) authorizes attention and resources to quality improvement and change management c) provides an integrated set of tools for particular tasks; d) changes leaders' attitudes or beliefs about appropriate leadership and management styles and behaviors; e) demands increased levels of expertise, accountability and commitment from leaders; f) measures and uses data effectively to identify actual and relevant local problems and the root causes of those problems; and g) creates or supports a 'learning organization' culture. This study has generated initial hypotheses and realist program theory that can form the basis for future evaluation of Lean initiatives. Developing leadership capacity and culture is theorized to be a necessary precursor to other systemic and observable changes arising from Lean initiatives.

Development and initial validation of a measure of work, family, and school conflict.

PubMed

Olson, Kristine J

2014-01-01

This study reports the development and initial validation of a theoretically based measure of conflict between work, family, and college student roles. The measure was developed through the assessment of construct definitions and an assessment of measurement items by subject matter experts. Then, the measurement items were assessed with data from 500 college students who were engaged in work and family responsibilities. The results indicate that conflict between work, family, and school are effectively measured by 12 factors assessing the direction of conflict (e.g., work-to-school conflict, and school-to-work conflict) as well as the form of conflict (i.e., time, strain, and behavior based conflict). Sets of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the 12 factors of the new measure are distinct from the 6 factors of the Carlson, Kacmar, and Williams (2000) work-family conflict measure. Criterion validity of the measure was established through a series of regression analyses testing hypothesized relationships between antecedent and outcome variables with role conflict. Results indicate that role demand was a robust predictor of role conflict. To extend the literature, core self-evaluations and emotional stability were established as predictors of role conflict. Further, work, family, and school role satisfaction were significantly impacted with the presence of role conflict between work, family, and school. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Workaholism and relationship quality: a spillover-crossover perspective.

PubMed

Bakker, Arnold B; Demerouti, Evangelia; Burke, Ronald

2009-01-01

This study of 168 dual-earner couples examined the relationship between workaholism and relationship satisfaction. More specifically, on the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that workaholism is positively related to work-family conflict. In addition, the authors predicted that workaholism is related to reduced support provided to the partner, through work-family conflict, and that individuals who receive considerable support from their partners are more satisfied with their relationship. Finally, the authors hypothesized direct crossover of relationship satisfaction between partners. The results of structural equation modeling analyses using the matched responses of both partners supported these hypotheses. Moreover, in line with predictions, the authors found that gender did not affect the strength of the relationships in the proposed model. The authors discuss workplace interventions as possible ways to help workaholics and their partners.

Final Report - DuraMelter 100 Tests to Support LAW Glass Formulation Correlation Development, VSL-06R6480-1, Rev. 0

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

Kruger, Albert A.; Muller, I. S.; Gong, W.

2013-12-03

This report describes the results of work and testing specified by Test Specifications 24590-LAW-TSP-RT-04-004, Rev. 0, Test Plans VSL-05T5480-1, Rev. 0 and Text Exceptions 24590-LAW-TEF-RT-05-00002. The work and any associated testing followed established quality assurance requirements and was conducted as authorized. The descriptions provided in this test report are an accurate account of both the conduct of the work and the data collected. Results required by the Test Plan are reported. Also reported are any unusual or anomalous occurences that are different from the starting hypotheses. The test results and this report have been reviewed and verified.

Dissecting contributions of prefrontal cortex and fusiform face area to face working memory.

PubMed

Druzgal, T Jason; D'Esposito, Mark

2003-08-15

Interactions between prefrontal cortex (PFC) and stimulus-specific visual cortical association areas are hypothesized to mediate visual working memory in behaving monkeys. To clarify the roles for homologous regions in humans, event-related fMRI was used to assess neural activity in PFC and fusiform face area (FFA) of subjects performing a delay-recognition task for faces. In both PFC and FFA, activity increased parametrically with memory load during encoding and maintenance of face stimuli, despite quantitative differences in the magnitude of activation. Moreover, timing differences in PFC and FFA activation during memory encoding and retrieval implied a context dependence in the flow of neural information. These results support existing neurophysiological models of visual working memory developed in the nonhuman primate.

Cross-national comparisons of complex problem-solving strategies in two microworlds.

PubMed

Güss, C Dominik; Tuason, Ma Teresa; Gerhard, Christiane

2010-04-01

Research in the fields of complex problem solving (CPS) and dynamic decision making using microworlds has been mainly conducted in Western industrialized countries. This study analyzes the CPS process by investigating thinking-aloud protocols in five countries. Participants were 511 students from Brazil, Germany, India, the Philippines, and the United States who worked on two microworlds. On the basis of cultural-psychological theories, specific cross-national differences in CPS strategies were hypothesized. Following theories of situatedness of cognition, hypotheses about the specific frequency of problem-solving strategies in the two microworlds were developed. Results of the verbal protocols showed (a) modification of the theoretical CPS model, (b) task dependence of CPS strategies, and (c) cross-national differences in CPS strategies. Participants' CPS processes were particularly influenced by country-specific problem-solving strategies. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in team contexts: cross-level interactions with team informational resources.

PubMed

Richter, Andreas W; Hirst, Giles; van Knippenberg, Daan; Baer, Markus

2012-11-01

We propose a cross-level perspective on the relation between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in which team informational resources, comprising both shared "knowledge of who knows what" (KWKW) and functional background diversity, benefit the creativity of individuals more with higher creative self-efficacy. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a multi-level study with 176 employees working in 34 research and development teams of a multinational company in 4 countries. In support of our hypotheses, the link between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity was more positive with greater shared KWKW, and this interactive effect was pronounced for teams of high rather than low functional background diversity. We discuss implications for the study of creative self-efficacy in team contexts. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Tone series and the nature of working memory capacity development.

PubMed

Clark, Katherine M; Hardman, Kyle O; Schachtman, Todd R; Saults, J Scott; Glass, Bret A; Cowan, Nelson

2018-04-01

Recent advances in understanding visual working memory, the limited information held in mind for use in ongoing processing, are extended here to examine auditory working memory development. Research with arrays of visual objects has shown how to distinguish the capacity, in terms of the number of objects retained, from the precision of the object representations. We adapt the technique to sequences of nonmusical tones, in an investigation including children (6-13 years, N = 84) and adults (26-50 years, N = 31). For each series of 1 to 4 tones, the participant responded by using an 80-choice scale to try to reproduce the tone at a queried serial position. Despite the much longer-lasting usefulness of sensory memory for tones compared with visual objects, the observed tone capacity was similar to previous findings for visual capacity. The results also constrain theories of childhood working memory development, indicating increases with age in both the capacity and the precision of the tone representations, similar to the visual studies, rather than age differences in time-based memory decay. The findings, including patterns of correlations between capacity, precision, and some auxiliary tasks and questionnaires, establish capacity and precision as dissociable processes and place important constraints on various hypotheses of working memory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing gerontological competency: a curriculum approach.

PubMed

Galambos, Colleen; Curl, Angela

2013-01-01

This study describes a competency-based educational approach to course development, implementation, and evaluation. The course model is presented, including its philosophical base. The authors hypothesized that student participation in a competency-based graduate gerontology course would increase their perceived competency level. Results indicate that students (N = 74 students; 2008-2011) rated their competency skill level as higher at posttest than at the pretest (paired t-tests, p < .01), as measured by the Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II. In addition, pretest/posttest results on the Myths of Aging checklist and Expectations Regarding Aging survey supported increases of perceived knowledge of older adults at posttest (p < .01). This project illustrates the benefits of organizing and implementing competency-based curriculum so that students are better prepared to work with older adults when they graduate.

Mental Objects in Working Memory: Development of Basic Capacity or of Cognitive Completion?

PubMed Central

Cowan, Nelson

2018-01-01

Working memory is the small amount of information that we hold in mind and use to carry out cognitive processes such as language comprehension and production, problem-solving, and decision-making. In order to understand cognitive development, it would be helpful to know whether working memory increases in capacity with development and, if so, how and why. I will focus on two major stumbling blocks toward understanding working memory development, namely that (1) many potentially relevant aspects of the mind change in parallel during development, obscuring the role of any one change; and (2) one cannot use the same test procedure from infancy to adulthood, complicating comparisons across age groups. With regard to the first stumbling block, the parallel development of different aspects of the mind, we discuss research in which attempts were made to hold constant some factors (knowledge, strategies, direction of attention) to investigate whether developmental differences remain. With regard to the second stumbling block, procedural differences in tests at different age groups, I suggest ways in which the results might be reconciled across procedures. I highlight the value of pursuing research that could distinguish between two different key hypotheses that emerge: that there is a developmental increase in the number of working memory slots (or in a basic resource that holds items in working memory), and that there is a developmental increase in the amount of detail that each of these slots can hold. PMID:28215289

Mental Objects in Working Memory: Development of Basic Capacity or of Cognitive Completion?

PubMed

Cowan, N

2017-01-01

Working memory is the small amount of information that we hold in mind and use to carry out cognitive processes such as language comprehension and production, problem solving, and decision making. In order to understand cognitive development, it would be helpful to know whether working memory increases in capacity with development and, if so, how and why. I will focus on two major stumbling blocks toward understanding working memory development, namely that (1) many potentially relevant aspects of the mind change in parallel during development, obscuring the role of any one change; and (2) one cannot use the same test procedure from infancy to adulthood, complicating comparisons across age groups. With regard to the first stumbling block, the parallel development of different aspects of the mind, we discuss research in which attempts were made to hold constant some factors (knowledge, strategies, direction of attention) to investigate whether developmental differences remain. With regard to the second stumbling block, procedural differences in tests for different age groups, I suggest ways in which the results might be reconciled across procedures. I highlight the value of pursuing research that could distinguish between two different key hypotheses that emerge: that there is a developmental increase in the number of working memory slots (or in a basic resource that holds items in working memory), and that there is a developmental increase in the amount of detail that each of these slots can hold. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Essay: Samuel Abraham Goudsmit (1902 1978)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bederson, Benjamin

2008-07-01

When Sam Goudsmit was 23, he and George Uhlenbeck hypothesized that the electron had spin. Sam was a well-known atomic physicist working at the University of Michigan when World War II began. During the war he first worked on radar at the MIT Radiation Lab, and then in the waning days of the war in Europe he led a mission to determine how far the Nazis had gotten in developing an atomic bomb. After chairing the Physics Department at Brookhaven, in 1950 APS named Goudsmit Managing Editor of Physical Review and Reviews of Modern Physics; in 1966 he was named Editor-in-Chief. He founded Physical Review Letters in 1958.

The effects of authentic leadership, six areas of worklife, and occupational coping self-efficacy on new graduate nurses' burnout and mental health: A cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Laschinger, Heather K Spence; Borgogni, Laura; Consiglio, Chiara; Read, Emily

2015-06-01

New nurse burnout has personal and organizational costs. The combined effect of authentic leadership, person-job fit within areas of worklife, and occupational coping self-efficacy on new nurses' burnout and emotional wellbeing has not been investigated. This study tested a model linking authentic leadership, areas of worklife, occupational coping self-efficacy, burnout, and mental health among new graduate nurses. We also tested the validity of the concept of interpersonal strain at work as a facet of burnout. A cross-sectional national survey of Canadian new graduate nurses was conducted. Registered nurses working in direct patient care in acute care settings with less than 3 years of experience were selected from provincial registry databases of 10 Canadian provinces. A total of 1009 of 3743 surveyed new graduate nurses were included in the final sample (useable response rate 27%). Participants received a mail survey package that included a letter of information, study questionnaire, and a $2 coffee voucher. To optimize response rates non-responders received a reminder letter four weeks after the initial mailing, followed by a second survey package four weeks after that. Ethics approval was obtained from the university ethics board prior to starting the study. Descriptive statistics and scale reliabilities were analyzed. Structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation was used to test the fit between the data and the hypothesized model and to assess the factor structure of the expanded burnout measure. The hypothesized model was an acceptable fit for the data (χ(2) (164)=1221.38; χ(2) ratio=7.447; CFI=.921; IFI=.921; RMSEA=.08). All hypothesized paths were significant. Authentic leadership had a positive effect on areas of worklife, which in turn had a positive effect on occupational coping self-efficacy, resulting in lower burnout, which was associated with poor mental health. Authentic leaders may play an important role in creating positive working conditions and strengthening new nurses' confidence that help them cope with job demands, thereby protecting them from developing burnout and poor mental health. Leadership training to develop supervisors' authentic leadership skills may promote the development of person-job fit, thereby increasing occupational self-efficacy and new nurses' wellbeing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of national culture on human failures in container shipping: the moderating role of Confucian dynamism.

PubMed

Lu, Chin-Shan; Lai, Kee-hung; Lun, Y H Venus; Cheng, T C E

2012-11-01

Recent reports on work safety in container shipping operations highlight high frequencies of human failures. In this study, we empirically examine the effects of seafarers' perceptions of national culture on the occurrence of human failures affecting work safety in shipping operations. We develop a model adopting Hofstede's national culture construct, which comprises five dimensions, namely power distance, collectivism/individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and Confucian dynamism. We then formulate research hypotheses from theory and test the hypotheses using survey data collected from 608 seafarers who work on global container carriers. Using a point scale for evaluating seafarers' perception of the five national culture dimensions, we find that Filipino seafarers score highest on collectivism, whereas Chinese and Taiwanese seafarers score highest on Confucian dynamism, followed by collectivism, masculinity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. The results also indicate that Taiwanese seafarers have a propensity for uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, whereas Filipino seafarers lean more towards power distance, masculinity, and collectivism, which are consistent with the findings of Hofstede and Bond (1988). The results suggest that there will be fewer human failures in container shipping operations when power distance is low, and collectivism and uncertainty avoidance are high. Specifically, this study finds that Confucian dynamism plays an important moderating role as it affects the strength of associations between some national culture dimensions and human failures. Finally, we discuss our findings' contribution to the development of national culture theory and their managerial implications for reducing the occurrence of human failures in shipping operations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of hospital nurse intention to remain employed: broadening our understanding

PubMed Central

Tourangeau, Ann E; Cummings, Greta; Cranley, Lisa A; Ferron, Era Mae; Harvey, Sarah

2010-01-01

Title Determinants of hospital nurse intention to remain employed: broadening ourunderstanding. Aim This paper is a report of a study to identify nurse reported determinants of intention to remain employed and to develop a model explaining determinants of hospital nurse intention to remain employed. Background A worsening shortage of nurses globally suggests that efforts must be made to promote retention of nurses. However, effective retention promotion strategies depend on understanding the factors influencing nurse retention. Methods A descriptive study using focus group methodology was implemented. Thirteen focus groups including 78 nurses were carried out in two Canadian provinces in 2007. Thematic analysis strategies were incorporated to analyse the data. Findings Eight thematic categories reflecting factors nurses described as influencing their intentions to remain employed emerged from focus groups: (1) relationships with co-workers, (2) condition of the work environment, (3) relationship with and support from one’s manager, (4) work rewards, (5) organizational support and practices, (6) physical and psychological responses to work, (7) patient relationships and other job content, and (8) external factors. A model of determinants of hospital nurse intention to remain employed is hypothesized. Conclusion Findings were both similar to and different from previous research. The overriding concept of job satisfaction was not found. Rather, nurse assessments of satisfaction within eight thematic categories were found to influence intentions to remain employed. Further testing of the hypothesized model is required to determine its global utility. Understanding determinants of intention to remain employed can lead to development of strategies that strengthen nurse retention. Incorporation of this knowledge in nurse education programmes is essential. PMID:20423434

Structural equation modeling for observational studies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grace, J.B.

2008-01-01

Structural equation modeling (SEM) represents a framework for developing and evaluating complex hypotheses about systems. This method of data analysis differs from conventional univariate and multivariate approaches familiar to most biologists in several ways. First, SEMs are multiequational and capable of representing a wide array of complex hypotheses about how system components interrelate. Second, models are typically developed based on theoretical knowledge and designed to represent competing hypotheses about the processes responsible for data structure. Third, SEM is conceptually based on the analysis of covariance relations. Most commonly, solutions are obtained using maximum-likelihood solution procedures, although a variety of solution procedures are used, including Bayesian estimation. Numerous extensions give SEM a very high degree of flexibility in dealing with nonnormal data, categorical responses, latent variables, hierarchical structure, multigroup comparisons, nonlinearities, and other complicating factors. Structural equation modeling allows researchers to address a variety of questions about systems, such as how different processes work in concert, how the influences of perturbations cascade through systems, and about the relative importance of different influences. I present 2 example applications of SEM, one involving interactions among lynx (Lynx pardinus), mongooses (Herpestes ichneumon), and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and the second involving anuran species richness. Many wildlife ecologists may find SEM useful for understanding how populations function within their environments. Along with the capability of the methodology comes a need for care in the proper application of SEM.

How job demands affect partners' experience of exhaustion: integrating work-family conflict and crossover theory.

PubMed

Bakker, Arnold B; Demerouti, Evangelia; Dollard, Maureen F

2008-07-01

This study among 168 couples of dual-earner parents uses insights from previous work-family conflict and crossover research to propose an integrative model delineating how job demands experienced by men and women carry over to the home domain. The authors hypothesized that for both men and women, job demands foster their own work-family conflict (WFC), which in turn contributes to their partners' home demands, family-work conflict (FWC), and exhaustion. In addition, they hypothesized that social undermining mediates the relationship between individuals' WFC and their partners' home demands. The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the proposed model. The hypothesis that gender would moderate the model relationships was rejected. These findings integrate previous findings on work-family conflict and crossover theories and suggest fluid boundaries between the work and home domains.

Mobile Phones and Mental Well-Being: Initial Evidence Suggesting the Importance of Staying Connected to Family in Rural, Remote Communities in Uganda

PubMed Central

Mack, Elizabeth; Namanya, Judith

2017-01-01

Due to the ubiquity of mobile phones around the globe, studies are beginning to analyze their influence on health. Prior work from developed countries highlights negative mental health outcomes related to overuse of mobile phones. However, there is little work on mental health impacts of mobile phone use or ownership in developing countries. This is an important gap to address because there are likely variations in mental health impacts of mobile phones between developing and developed countries, due to cultural nuances to phone use and distinct variations in financial models for obtaining mobile phone access in developing countries. To address this gap, this study analyzes survey data from 92 households in sparse, rural villages in Uganda to test two hypotheses about mobile phone ownership and mental health in a developing country context: (i) Mobile phone ownership is higher among more privileged groups, compared to less privileged groups (ie, wealth and ethnicity); and (ii) mobile phone ownership is positively associated with a culturally-relevant indicator of mental health, ‘feelings of peace’. Results indicate that households with mobile phones had higher levels of wealth on average, yet no significant differences were detected by ethnicity. As hypothesized, mobile phone ownership was associated with increased mental well-being for persons without family nearby (in the District) (p = 0.038) after adjusting for wealth, ethnicity and amount of land for crops and land for grazing. Mobile phone ownership was not significantly associated with increased mental well-being for persons with family nearby. These findings are consistent with studies of mobile phone use in other sub-Saharan African countries which find that phones are important tools for social connection and are thus beneficial for maintaining family ties. One might infer then that this increased feeling of mental well-being for persons located farther from family stems from the ability to maintain family connections. These findings are quite different from work in developed countries where mobile phone use is a source of technology-related stress or technostress. PMID:28095427

Mobile Phones and Mental Well-Being: Initial Evidence Suggesting the Importance of Staying Connected to Family in Rural, Remote Communities in Uganda.

PubMed

Pearson, Amber L; Mack, Elizabeth; Namanya, Judith

2017-01-01

Due to the ubiquity of mobile phones around the globe, studies are beginning to analyze their influence on health. Prior work from developed countries highlights negative mental health outcomes related to overuse of mobile phones. However, there is little work on mental health impacts of mobile phone use or ownership in developing countries. This is an important gap to address because there are likely variations in mental health impacts of mobile phones between developing and developed countries, due to cultural nuances to phone use and distinct variations in financial models for obtaining mobile phone access in developing countries. To address this gap, this study analyzes survey data from 92 households in sparse, rural villages in Uganda to test two hypotheses about mobile phone ownership and mental health in a developing country context: (i) Mobile phone ownership is higher among more privileged groups, compared to less privileged groups (ie, wealth and ethnicity); and (ii) mobile phone ownership is positively associated with a culturally-relevant indicator of mental health, 'feelings of peace'. Results indicate that households with mobile phones had higher levels of wealth on average, yet no significant differences were detected by ethnicity. As hypothesized, mobile phone ownership was associated with increased mental well-being for persons without family nearby (in the District) (p = 0.038) after adjusting for wealth, ethnicity and amount of land for crops and land for grazing. Mobile phone ownership was not significantly associated with increased mental well-being for persons with family nearby. These findings are consistent with studies of mobile phone use in other sub-Saharan African countries which find that phones are important tools for social connection and are thus beneficial for maintaining family ties. One might infer then that this increased feeling of mental well-being for persons located farther from family stems from the ability to maintain family connections. These findings are quite different from work in developed countries where mobile phone use is a source of technology-related stress or technostress.

Work-family conflict, job satisfaction and spousal support: an exploratory study of nurses' experience.

PubMed

Patel, C J; Beekhan, A; Paruk, Z; Ramgoon, S

2008-03-01

In recognising the highly stressful nature of the nursing profession, the added burden of hospital staff shortages, and patient overload, the present study explored the impact of work on family functioning, its relationship to job satisfaction and the role of spousal support in a group of 80 female nurses working in a government hospital. Using a descriptive, correlational design, the relationships among job satisfaction, work-family conflict (WFC) and spousal/partner support were explored. The hypotheses that job satisfaction and WFC would be negatively correlated, that job satisfaction and spousal support would be positively correlated, and that WFC and spousal support would be negatively correlated, were tested using correlation techniques. All hypotheses were confirmed. The role of spousal support in the relationship between job satisfaction and work -family conflict was highlighted.

Intra-Articular Therapeutic Delivery for Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

takes about 10 years to develop. The goals of this work are to test the ability of a novel therapeutic to slow the progression of post -traumatic...frequency of delivery in well- established small and large animal models of post -traumatic OA. These hypotheses will be tested via three Specific Aims...group) to conduct further contrast agent pilot testing on non-healthy joints. Animals were euthanized at 3 weeks post -MMT surgery, and all limbs fixed

Physical concepts in the development of constitutive equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cassenti, B. N.

1985-01-01

Proposed viscoplastic material models include in their formulation observed material response but do not generally incorporate principles from thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanics. Numerous hypotheses were made for material response based on first principles. Many of these hypotheses were tested experimentally. The proposed viscoplastic theories and the experimental basis of these hypotheses must be checked against the hypotheses. The physics of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, and the effects of defects, are reviewed for their application to the development of constitutive laws.

The relative contributions of processing speed and cognitive load to working memory accuracy in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Leavitt, Victoria M; Lengenfelder, Jean; Moore, Nancy B; Chiaravalloti, Nancy D; DeLuca, John

2011-06-01

Cognitive symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) include processing-speed deficits and working memory impairment. The precise manner in which these deficits interact in individuals with MS remains to be explicated. We hypothesized that providing more time on a complex working memory task would result in performance benefits for individuals with MS relative to healthy controls. Fifty-three individuals with clinically definite MS and 36 matched healthy controls performed a computerized task that systematically manipulated cognitive load. The interval between stimuli presentations was manipulated to provide increasing processing time. The results confirmed that individuals with MS who have processing-speed deficits significantly improve in performance accuracy when given additional time to process the information in working memory. Implications of these findings for developing appropriate cognitive rehabilitation interventions are discussed.

Perceived Physical Availability of Alcohol at Work and Workplace Alcohol Use and Impairment: Testing a Structural Model

PubMed Central

Frone, Michael R.; Trinidad, Jonathan R.

2014-01-01

This study develops and tests a new conceptual model of perceived physical availability of alcohol at work that provides unique insight into three dimensions of workplace physical availability of alcohol and their direct and indirect relations to workplace alcohol use and impairment. Data were obtained from a national probability sample of 2,727 U.S. workers. The results support the proposed conceptual model and provide empirical support for a positive relation of perceived physical availability of alcohol at work to workplace alcohol use and two dimensions of workplace impairment (workplace intoxication and workplace hangover). Ultimately, the findings suggest that perceived physical availability of alcohol at work is a risk factor for alcohol use and impairment during the workday, and that this relation is more complex than previously hypothesized. PMID:25243831

Potential Contribution of Work-Related Psychosocial Stress to the Development of Cardiovascular Disease and Type II Diabetes: A Brief Review.

PubMed

Krajnak, Kristine M

2014-01-01

Two of the major causes of death worldwide are cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes. Although death due to these diseases is assessed separately, the physiological process that is attributed to the development of cardiovascular disease can be linked to the development of Type II diabetes and the impact that this disease has on the cardiovascular system. Physiological, genetic, and personal factors contribute to the development of both these disorders. It has also been hypothesized that work-related stress may contribute to the development of Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This review summarizes some of the studies examining the role of work-related stress on the development of these chronic disorders. Because women may be more susceptible to the physiological effects of work-related stress, the papers cited in this review focus on studies that examined the difference in responses of men or women to work-related stress or on studies that focused on the effects of stress on women alone. Based on the papers summarized, it is concluded that (1) work-related stress may directly contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease by inducing increases in blood pressure and changes in heart rate that have negative consequences on functioning of the cardiovascular system; (2) workers reporting increased levels of stress may display an increased risk of Type II diabetes because they adopt poor health habits (ie, increased level of smoking, inactivity etc), which in turn contribute to the development of cardiovascular problems; and (3) women in high demand and low-control occupations report an increased level of stress at work, and thus may be at a greater risk of negative health consequences.

[High prevalence of job dissatisfaction among female physicians: work-family conflict as a potential stressor].

PubMed

Adám, Szilvia; Gyorffy, Zsuzsa; László, Krisztina

2009-08-02

Due to the family-centric nature of Hungarian society and to the high proportion of women in the medical profession, more female than male physicians may experience work-family conflict. The authors hypothesized that work-family conflict may reduce job satisfaction among female physicians. However, there is limited information about the prevalence of work-family conflict and job dissatisfaction as well as their associations among female physicians. To explore the prevalence of work-family conflict and its relations to job dissatisfaction among Hungarian physicians. Cross-sectional study with 219 female and 201 male physicians using self-report questionnaires. As hypothesized, female physicians reported significantly higher level of work-family conflict compared to male physicians (3.0 (SD 0.9) vs. 2.6 (SD 0.9); t (df): -3.8 (418); p < 0.001). Furthermore, more female than male physicians experienced work-family conflict often or extremely often [56% vs. 41%, respectively; chi 2 (df) = 9.3 (1); p < 0.01]. Significantly fewer women (55%) than men (66%) reported high levels of job satisfaction [chi 2 (df) = 4.8 (1), p < 0.05]. Similarly, significantly more female physicians (13%) experienced high level of job dissatisfaction compared to men (6%) [chi 2 (df) = 4.7 (1), p < 0.05]. Linear regression analyses showed that work-family conflict predicts job dissatisfaction among female and all physicians (beta = -0.17, 95% CI -0.31 - -0.04 and beta = -0.14, 95% CI -0.22 - -0.04, respectively). These results show that the level and prevalence of work-family conflict experienced by female physicians in Hungary is significantly higher than that among male physicians. Furthermore, these findings suggest that work-family conflict as a stressor may contribute to the development of job dissatisfaction and hence may adversely impact the well-being of female and male physicians and consequently the quality of patient care.

The Influence of Work-Related Fatigue, Work Conditions, and Personal Characteristics on Intent to Leave Among New Nurses.

PubMed

Liu, Yi; Wu, Li-Min; Chou, Pi-Ling; Chen, Mei-Hsin; Yang, Li-Chien; Hsu, Hsin-Tien

2016-01-01

This study aimed to (a) test the fit of the hypothesized model for new nurses' intent to leave and (b) determine the extent to which personal characteristics, work conditions, and work-related fatigue predict intent to leave among new nurses. This study was a cross-sectional survey study. A total of 162 new nurses were recruited. A hypothesized model was proposed for model testing. Structural equation modelling was used for data analysis. Work conditions only had an effect through work-related fatigue on new nurses' intent to leave. Personal characteristics did not have a significant effect on new nurses' intent to leave. The final model showed a good fit. Work-related fatigue, work conditions, and health explained 65% of the variance in new nurses' intent to leave. Work-related fatigue was a major determinant of new nurses' intent to leave. More attention should be paid to fatigue reduction strategies among new nurses. Work-related fatigue should be monitored, particularly for new nurses who work more than 10 hr per day and who have greater workloads. © 2015 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Responsiveness of the individual work performance questionnaire

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Individual work performance is an important outcome measure in studies in the workplace. Nevertheless, its conceptualization and measurement has proven challenging. To overcome limitations of existing scales, the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) was recently developed. The aim of the current study was to gain insight into the responsiveness of the IWPQ. Methods Data were used from the Be Active & Relax randomized controlled trial. The aim of the trial was to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention to stimulate physical activity and relaxation of office workers, on need for recovery. Individual work performance was a secondary outcome measure of the trial. In total, 39 hypotheses were formulated concerning correlations between changes on the IWPQ scales and changes on similar constructs (e.g., presenteeism) and distinct constructs (e.g., need for recovery) used in the trial. Results 260 Participants completed the IWPQ at both baseline and 12 months of follow-up. For the IWPQ scales, 23%, 15%, and 38%, respectively, of the hypotheses could be confirmed. In general, the correlations between change scores were weaker than expected. Nevertheless, at least 85% of the correlations were in the expected direction. Conclusions Based on results of the current study, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the responsiveness of the IWPQ. Several reasons may account for the weaker than expected correlations. Future research on the IWPQ’s responsiveness should be conducted, preferably in other populations and intervention studies, where greater changes over time can be expected. PMID:24885593

Work values among Lebanese workers.

PubMed

Sidani, Y M; Gardner, W L

2000-10-01

On the basis of a review of the existing literature, the authors tested 4 hypotheses to determine the applicability of work values in Arab societies to employees in Lebanese organizations. Only 1 hypothesis was supported: Organizational policies that ran counter to the worker's religious values had an adverse effect on job satisfaction. There was no support for the hypotheses (a) that workers' religiosity in inversely related to positive attitudes toward women's involvement at work, (b) that employee satisfaction is related to a mechanistic organizational design, or (c) that workers with an internal locus of control experience higher job satisfaction. The Lebanese workers, thus, did not appear to share some of the attributes claimed to exist in Arab societies.

Interactions between Cultural and Economic Determinants of Divorce in the Netherlands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalmijn, Matthijs; De Graaf, Paul M.; Poortman, Annerigt

2004-01-01

This study examines the relationship between gendered family roles and divorce in The Netherlands. Cultural and economic aspects of this relationship are distinguished. Economic hypotheses argue that the likelihood of divorce is increased if women work for pay and have attractive labor market resources. Cultural hypotheses argue that divorce…

Organizational Learning and Innovation Performance: A Review of the Literature and the Development of a Conceptual Framework and Research Hypotheses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yu-Lin; Ellinger, Andrea D.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework and research hypotheses based upon a thorough review of the conceptual and limited published empirical research in the organizational learning and innovation performance literatures. Hypotheses indicate the relationships between organizational learning, its antecedent, perception of…

Transitioning to a Data Driven Mental Health Practice: Collaborative Expert Sessions for Knowledge and Hypothesis Finding.

PubMed

Menger, Vincent; Spruit, Marco; Hagoort, Karin; Scheepers, Floor

2016-01-01

The surge in the amount of available data in health care enables a novel, exploratory research approach that revolves around finding new knowledge and unexpected hypotheses from data instead of carrying out well-defined data analysis tasks. We propose a specification of the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM), suitable for conducting expert sessions that focus on finding new knowledge and hypotheses in collaboration with local workforce. Our proposed specification that we name CRISP-IDM is evaluated in a case study at the psychiatry department of the University Medical Center Utrecht. Expert interviews were conducted to identify seven research themes in the psychiatry department, which were researched in cooperation with local health care professionals using data visualization as a modeling tool. During 19 expert sessions, two results that were directly implemented and 29 hypotheses for further research were found, of which 24 were not imagined during the initial expert interviews. Our work demonstrates the viability and benefits of involving work floor people in the analyses and the possibility to effectively find new knowledge and hypotheses using our CRISP-IDM method.

Disentangling mechanisms that mediate the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes in microbial succession.

PubMed

Dini-Andreote, Francisco; Stegen, James C; van Elsas, Jan Dirk; Salles, Joana Falcão

2015-03-17

Ecological succession and the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes are two major themes within microbial ecology, but these conceptual domains have mostly developed independent of each other. Here we provide a framework that integrates shifts in community assembly processes with microbial primary succession to better understand mechanisms governing the stochastic/deterministic balance. Synthesizing previous work, we devised a conceptual model that links ecosystem development to alternative hypotheses related to shifts in ecological assembly processes. Conceptual model hypotheses were tested by coupling spatiotemporal data on soil bacterial communities with environmental conditions in a salt marsh chronosequence spanning 105 years of succession. Analyses within successional stages showed community composition to be initially governed by stochasticity, but as succession proceeded, there was a progressive increase in deterministic selection correlated with increasing sodium concentration. Analyses of community turnover among successional stages--which provide a larger spatiotemporal scale relative to within stage analyses--revealed that changes in the concentration of soil organic matter were the main predictor of the type and relative influence of determinism. Taken together, these results suggest scale-dependency in the mechanisms underlying selection. To better understand mechanisms governing these patterns, we developed an ecological simulation model that revealed how changes in selective environments cause shifts in the stochastic/deterministic balance. Finally, we propose an extended--and experimentally testable--conceptual model integrating ecological assembly processes with primary and secondary succession. This framework provides a priori hypotheses for future experiments, thereby facilitating a systematic approach to understand assembly and succession in microbial communities across ecosystems.

Disentangling mechanisms that mediate the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes in microbial succession

PubMed Central

Dini-Andreote, Francisco; Stegen, James C.; van Elsas, Jan Dirk; Salles, Joana Falcão

2015-01-01

Ecological succession and the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes are two major themes within microbial ecology, but these conceptual domains have mostly developed independent of each other. Here we provide a framework that integrates shifts in community assembly processes with microbial primary succession to better understand mechanisms governing the stochastic/deterministic balance. Synthesizing previous work, we devised a conceptual model that links ecosystem development to alternative hypotheses related to shifts in ecological assembly processes. Conceptual model hypotheses were tested by coupling spatiotemporal data on soil bacterial communities with environmental conditions in a salt marsh chronosequence spanning 105 years of succession. Analyses within successional stages showed community composition to be initially governed by stochasticity, but as succession proceeded, there was a progressive increase in deterministic selection correlated with increasing sodium concentration. Analyses of community turnover among successional stages—which provide a larger spatiotemporal scale relative to within stage analyses—revealed that changes in the concentration of soil organic matter were the main predictor of the type and relative influence of determinism. Taken together, these results suggest scale-dependency in the mechanisms underlying selection. To better understand mechanisms governing these patterns, we developed an ecological simulation model that revealed how changes in selective environments cause shifts in the stochastic/deterministic balance. Finally, we propose an extended—and experimentally testable—conceptual model integrating ecological assembly processes with primary and secondary succession. This framework provides a priori hypotheses for future experiments, thereby facilitating a systematic approach to understand assembly and succession in microbial communities across ecosystems. PMID:25733885

Different contexts, different effects? Work time and mental health in the United States and Germany.

PubMed

Kleiner, Sibyl; Schunck, Reinhard; Schömann, Klaus

2015-03-01

This paper takes a comparative approach to the topic of work time and health, asking whether weekly work hours matter for mental health. We hypothesize that these relationships differ within the United States and Germany, given the more regulated work time environments within Germany and the greater incentives to work long hours in the United States. We further hypothesize that German women will experience greatest penalties to long hours. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine hours effects on mental health score at midlife. The results support our initial hypothesis. In Germany, longer work time is associated with worse mental health, while in the United States, as seen in previous research, the associations are more complex. Our results do not show greater mental health penalties for German women and suggest instead a selection effect into work hours operating by gender. © American Sociological Association 2015.

Social cognition and externalizing psychopathology: an investigation of the mediating role of language.

PubMed

Zadeh, Zohreh Yaghoub; Im-Bolter, Nancie; Cohen, Nancy J

2007-04-01

The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354 clinic-referred children (aged 7 to 14 years) recruited from a children's mental health centre were tested on measures of language, social cognition, working memory, and child psychopathology. We compared a hypothesized model presenting language functioning as a mediator of the association between social cognition and externalizing psychopathology to a model presenting the independent contribution of language and social cognition to externalizing psychopathology. As hypothesized, we found that the mediation model fits the data better than the alternative model. Our findings have implications for developing and modifying intervention techniques for children with dual language and externalizing psychopathology.

‘Willpower’ over the life span: decomposing self-regulation

PubMed Central

Ayduk, Ozlem; Berman, Marc G.; Casey, B. J.; Gotlib, Ian H.; Jonides, John; Kross, Ethan; Teslovich, Theresa; Wilson, Nicole L.; Zayas, Vivian

2011-01-01

In the 1960s, Mischel and colleagues developed a simple ‘marshmallow test’ to measure preschoolers’ ability to delay gratification. In numerous follow-up studies over 40 years, this ‘test’ proved to have surprisingly significant predictive validity for consequential social, cognitive and mental health outcomes over the life course. In this article, we review key findings from the longitudinal work and from earlier delay-of-gratification experiments examining the cognitive appraisal and attention control strategies that underlie this ability. Further, we outline a set of hypotheses that emerge from the intersection of these findings with research on ‘cognitive control’ mechanisms and their neural bases. We discuss implications of these hypotheses for decomposing the phenomena of ‘willpower’ and the lifelong individual differences in self-regulatory ability that were identified in the earlier research and that are currently being pursued. PMID:20855294

A culture of striving augments use of working memory? Implications for attention control.

PubMed

Buszard, Tim; Masters, Rich S W

2017-01-01

A culture of striving was notable in the developmental background of many of the elite and super elite athletes in the Hardy et al. Critically, a culture of striving was credited with a positive influence on a range of issues relevant to elite sports performance, including performance under pressure. Of the six athletes who did not reveal a culture of striving, five reported the greatest difficulty performing in high-pressure situations. We suspect that a culture of striving facilitates the development of attention control ability, which subsequently assists performance under pressure. We discuss attention control from the perspective of working memory and hypothesize that a culture of striving trains individuals to maximize their working memory capacity. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Work and Nonwork: An Analysis of Personal Meaning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anthony, Steven M.; Rice, Robert W.

Spillover and compensation are two recurrent hypotheses concerning the relationship between work and nonwork. Spillover proposes a basic similarity between an individual's activities and feelings in both the world of work, and nonwork; compensation proposes fundamental dissimilarity between the individual's world of work and nonwork. To focus on…

The development, evolution, and status of Holland's theory of vocational personalities: Reflections and future directions for counseling psychology.

PubMed

Nauta, Margaret M

2010-01-01

This article celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of John L. Holland's (1959) theory of vocational personalities and work environments by describing the theory's development and evolution, its instrumentation, and its current status. Hallmarks of Holland's theory are its empirical testability and its user-friendliness. By constructing measures for operationalizing the theory's constructs, Holland and his colleagues helped ensure that the theory could be implemented in practice on a widespread basis. Empirical data offer considerable support for the existence of Holland's RIASEC types and their ordering among persons and environments. Although Holland's congruence hypotheses have received empirical support, congruence appears to have modest predictive power. Mixed support exists for Holland's hypotheses involving the secondary constructs of differentiation, consistency, and vocational identity. Evidence of the continued impact of Holland's theory on the field of counseling psychology, particularly in the area of interest assessment, can be seen from its frequent implementation in practice and its use by scholars. Ideas for future research and practice using Holland's theory are suggested.

Psychometric Properties of a 36-Item Version of the “Stress Management Competency Indicator Tool”

PubMed Central

Toderi, Stefano; Sarchielli, Guido

2016-01-01

The development of supervisors’ behaviours has been proposed as an innovative approach for the reduction of employees’ work stress. The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) developed the “Stress Management Competency Indicator Tool” (SMCIT), designed to be used within a learning and development intervention. However, its psychometric properties have never been evaluated, and the length of the questionnaire (66 items) limits its practical applicability. We developed a brief 36-item version of the questionnaire, assessed its psychometric properties and studied the relationship with the employees’ psychosocial work environment. 353 employees filled in the brief SMCIT and the “Stress Management Indicator Tool”. The latter is a self-report questionnaire developed by the UK HSE, measuring workers’ perceptions of seven dimensions of the psychosocial work environment that if not properly managed can lead to harm. Data were analysed with structural equation modelling and multiple regressions. The results confirmed the factorial structure of the brief SMCIT questionnaire and mainly supported the convergent validity and internal consistency of the scales. Furthermore, with few exceptions, the relations hypothesized between supervisors’ competencies and the psychosocial work environment were confirmed, supporting the criterion validity of the revised questionnaire and the UK HSE framework. We conclude that the brief 36-item version of the SMCIT represents an important step toward the development of interventions directed at supervisors and we discuss the practical implications for work stress prevention. PMID:27827940

Appreciating age diversity and German nurse well-being and commitment: co-worker trust as the mediator.

PubMed

Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Lei, Zhike; Kauffeld, Simone

2012-06-01

Nursing practice faces the challenges of succeeding with a great diversity of customers and managing a diverse workforce with a wide range of age differences. While age diversity can lead to increased creativity and a greater richness of values and skills, it can also lead to value clashes, disrespect of each other's viewpoints, and increased conflict. As a result, nurses frequently experience stress, work-life imbalance, and a withdrawal from commitment. We propose the injection of positive diversity mindsets (age diversity appreciation) as one remedy. Specifically, we suggest that age diversity appreciation is positively related to nurses' well-being (stress and work-life balance), and also positively related to their team commitment. We further hypothesize that nurses' trust in co-workers mediates the hypothesized relationships. Our survey data of 138 nurses in a large hospital in Germany supported our hypotheses. We discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of our findings in the context of age diversity and nursing work outcomes in hospitals. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Do high-commitment work systems affect creativity? A multilevel combinational approach to employee creativity.

PubMed

Chang, Song; Jia, Liangding; Takeuchi, Riki; Cai, Yahua

2014-07-01

In this article, some information about the data used in the article and a citation were not included. The details of the corrections are provided.] This study uses 3-level, 2-wave time-lagged data from a random sample of 55 high-technology firms, 238 teams, and 1,059 individuals in China to investigate a multilevel combinational model of employee creativity. First, we hypothesize that firm (macrolevel) high-commitment work systems are conducive to individual (microlevel) creativity. Furthermore, we hypothesize that this positive crosslevel main impact may be combined with middle-level (mesolevel) factors, including team cohesion and team task complexity, such that the positive impact of firm high-commitment work systems on individual creativity is stronger when team cohesion is high and the team task more complex. The findings from random coefficient modeling analyses provide support for our hypotheses. These sets of results offer novel insight into how firms can use macrolevel and mesolevel contextual variables in a systematic manner to promote employee creativity in the workplace, despite its complex nature.

Development of a Vitality Scan related to workers' sustainable employability: a study assessing its internal consistency and construct validity.

PubMed

Brouwers, Livia A M; Engels, Josephine A; Heerkens, Yvonne F; van der Beek, Allard J

2015-06-16

Most validated sustainable employability questionnaires are extensive and difficult to obtain. Our objective was to develop a usable and valid tool, a Vitality Scan, to determine possible signs of stagnation in one's functioning related to sustainable employability and to establish the instrument's internal consistency and construct validity. A literature review was performed and expert input was obtained to develop an online survey of 31 items. A sample of 1722 Dutch employees was recruited. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. The underlying theoretical concepts were extracted by factor analysis using a principal component method. For construct validity, a priori hypotheses were defined for expected differences between known subgroups: 1) older workers would report more stagnation than younger workers, and 2) less educated workers would report more problems than the highly educated ones. Both hypotheses were statistically tested using ANOVA. Internal consistency measures and factor analysis resulted in five subscales with acceptable to good reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.72-0.87). These subscales included: balance and competence, motivation and involvement, resilience, mental and physical health, and social support at work. Three items were removed following these analyses. In accordance with our a priori hypothesis 1, the ANOVA showed that older workers reported the most problems, while younger workers reported the least problems. However, hypothesis 2 was not confirmed: no significant differences were found for education level. The developed Vitality Scan - with the 28 remaining items - showed good measurement properties. It is applicable as a user-friendly, evaluative instrument for worker's sustainable employability. The scan's value for determining whether or not the employee is at risk for a decrease in functioning during present and future work, should be further tested.

"These people, you just guide them until they become these people": learning to become a frequent indoor tanner.

PubMed

Stapleton, Jerod L; Crabtree, Benjamin F

2017-04-04

Many young women experiment with using indoor tanning beds with some becoming regular users. There is a dearth of research focused on factors related to the development of regular tanning. This study was designed to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of a regular indoor tanning bed user for the purpose of discovering working hypotheses related to the development of this behavior. The article thesis is that initial interactions with tanning salon employees transmit insider knowledge that serves to encourage the regular use of indoor tanning beyond experimentation. We used Spradley's ethnographic interviewing technique to conduct six iterative interviews with a key informant who was an active indoor tanning bed user and former salon employee. The research was completed in the United States in 2015. The informant described her experiences as a salon employee including her interactions with salon patrons. The informant was trained as a salon employee to talk about tanning as a complex process that requires multiple salon visits to achieve desired results and to develop rapport with salon patrons to be viewed as an important source of guidance and advice. In the informant's experience, indoor tanning users who viewed tanning as a complex process and felt connected to salon employees were more receptive to purchasing larger amounts of bulk tanning sessions and committing to purchasing salon memberships. Findings provide insights into our understanding of the development of regular tanning behavior and we propose working hypotheses about this behavior to be examined in future research. There are also implications for policy makers to reduce excessive tanning behaviors including considering point-of-sale regulations that limit sales techniques of salon employees and pricing restrictions.

Social imagery, tobacco independence, and the truthsm campaign.

PubMed

Evans, W Douglas; Price, Simani; Blahut, Steven; Hersey, James; Niederdeppe, Jeffrey; Ray, Sarah

2004-01-01

This study investigated relationships among exposure to the truthsm campaign, differences in social imagery about not smoking and related measures, and smoking behavior. We asked, "How does truthsm work? Through what psychological mechanisms does it affect smoking behavior?" We developed a framework to explain how receptivity to truthsm ads might influence youth cognitive states and subsequent effects on progression to established smoking. The main hypotheses were that social imagery about not smoking and related beliefs and attitudes about tobacco use mediate the relationship between truthsm exposure and smoking status. The study was based on data from the Legacy Media Tracking Survey (LMTS), waves I-III, which were conducted at three time points from 1999 through 2001. A nationally representative sample of 20,058 respondents aged 12-24 from the three time points was used in the analysis. We developed a structural equation model (SEM) based on constructs drawn from the LMTS. We investigated the model and tested our hypotheses about the psychological and behavioral effects of campaign exposure. We tested our constructs and model using a two-stage structural equation modeling approach. We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the measurement model. Our model achieved satisfactory fit, and we conducted the SEM to test our hypotheses. We found that social imagery and perceived tobacco independence mediate the relationship between truthsm exposure and smoking status. We found meaningful differences between paths for segmented samples based on age, gender, and race/ethnicity subgroups and over time. The truthsm campaign operates through individuals'sense of tobacco independence and social imagery about not smoking. This study indicates that the campaign's strategy has worked as predicted and represents an effective model for social marketing to change youth risk behaviors. Future studies should further investigate subgroup differences in campaign reactions and utilize contextual information about the truthsm campaign's evolution to explain changes in reactions over time.

The mechanisms of far transfer from cognitive training: Review and hypothesis.

PubMed

Greenwood, Pamela M; Parasuraman, Raja

2016-09-01

General intelligence is important for success in daily life, fueling interest in developing cognitive training as an intervention to improve fluid ability (Gf). A major obstacle to the design of effective cognitive interventions has been the paucity of hypotheses bearing on mechanisms underlying transfer of cognitive training to Gf. Despite the large amounts of money and time currently being expended on cognitive training, there is little scientific agreement on how, or even whether, Gf can be heightened by such training. We review the relevant strands of evidence on cognitive-training-related changes in (a) cortical mechanisms of distraction suppression, and (b) activation of the dorsal attention network (DAN). We hypothesize that training-related increases in control of attention are important for what is termed far transfer of cognitive training to untrained abilities, notably to Gf. We review the evidence that distraction suppression evident in behavior, neuronal firing, scalp electroencephalography, and hemodynamic change is important for protecting target processing during perception and also for protecting targets held in working memory. Importantly, attentional control also appears to be central to performance on Gf assessments. Consistent with this evidence, forms of cognitive training that increase ability to ignore distractions (e.g., working memory training and perceptual training) not only affect the DAN but also affect transfer to Gf. Our hypothesis is supported by existing evidence. However, to advance the field of cognitive training, it is necessary that competing hypotheses on mechanisms of far transfer of cognitive training be advanced and empirically tested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A diary study on work-related smartphone use, psychological detachment and exhaustion: examining the role of the perceived segmentation norm.

PubMed

Derks, Daantje; van Mierlo, Heleen; Schmitz, Elisabeth B

2014-01-01

In this diary study, we examined the associations between daily work-related smartphone use and daily psychological detachment and daily work-related exhaustion within a group of smartphone owners. In addition, we studied the role of the perceived segmentation norm at the workplace as a moderator of the link between work-related smartphone use and detachment. A total of 70 employees using smartphones on initiative of their employer completed a diary questionnaire on 4 successive workdays (N = 268 data points). We hypothesized that work-related smartphone use is negatively related to psychological detachment and that psychological detachment, in turn, is negatively related to work-related exhaustion. Finally, we expected that especially employees who perceive a high segmentation norm at their workplace have difficulties to psychologically detach from work on days that they use their smartphone more intensively. Overall, the results of multilevel analyses supported these hypotheses. The findings emphasize the importance of a clear organizational policy regarding work-related smartphone use outside of work hours. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

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.

Blended Working: For Whom It May (Not) Work

PubMed Central

Van Yperen, Nico W.; Rietzschel, Eric F.; De Jonge, Kiki M. M.

2014-01-01

Similarly to related developments such as blended learning and blended care, blended working is a pervasive and booming trend in modern societies. Blended working combines on-site and off-site working in an optimal way to improve workers’ and organizations’ outcomes. In this paper, we examine the degree to which workers feel that the two defining features of blended working (i.e., time-independent working and location-independent working) enhance their own functioning in their jobs. Blended working, enabled through the continuing advance and improvement of high-tech ICT software, devices, and infrastructure, may be considered beneficial for workers’ perceived effectiveness because it increases their job autonomy. However, because blended working may have downsides as well, it is important to know for whom blended working may (not) work. As hypothesized, in a sample of 348 workers (51.7% women), representing a wide range of occupations and organizations, we found that the perceived personal effectiveness of blended working was contingent upon workers’ psychological need strength. Specifically, the perceived effectiveness of both time-independent working and location-independent working was positively related to individuals’ need for autonomy at work, and negatively related to their need for relatedness and need for structure at work. PMID:25033202

Validation through Understanding Test-Taking Strategies: An Illustration With the CELPIP-General Reading Pilot Test Using Structural Equation Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Amery D.; Stone, Jake E.

2016-01-01

This article explores an approach for test score validation that examines test takers' strategies for taking a reading comprehension test. The authors formulated three working hypotheses about score validity pertaining to three types of test-taking strategy (comprehending meaning, test management, and test-wiseness). These hypotheses were…

The Effects of Subjective Time Pressure and Individual Differences on Hypotheses Generation and Action Prioritization in Police Investigations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alison, Laurence; Doran, Bernadette; Long, Matthew L.; Power, Nicola; Humphrey, Amy

2013-01-01

When individuals perceive time pressure, they decrease the generation of diagnostic hypotheses and prioritize information. This article examines whether individual differences in (a) internal time urgency, (b) experience, and (c) fluid mental ability can moderate these effects. Police officers worked through a computer-based rape investigative…

Future Research Directions in the Positive Valence Systems: Measurement, Development, and Implications for Youth Unipolar Depression.

PubMed

Olino, Thomas M

2016-01-01

The Positive Valence Systems (PVS) have been introduced by the National Institute of Mental Health as a domain to help organize multiple constructs focusing on reward-seeking behaviors. However, the initial working model for this domain is strongly influenced by adult constructs and measures. Thus, the present review focuses on extending the PVS into a developmental context. Specifically, the review provides some hypotheses about the structure of the PVS, how PVS components may change throughout development, how family history of depression may influence PVS development, and potential means of intervening on PVS function to reduce onsets of depression. Future research needs in each of these areas are highlighted.

Workplace responsibility, stress, alcohol availability and norms as predictors of alcohol consumption-related problems among employed workers.

PubMed

Hodgins, David C; Williams, Robert; Munro, Gordon

2009-01-01

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of alcohol use and problems among employed individuals in Alberta, Canada (N = 1,890), and to conduct a multivariate examination of predictors of alcohol consumption-related problems. General alcohol problems were identified by 10%, although very few workers described any specific work-related alcohol problems (1%). Structural equation modeling revealed that, as hypothesized, workplace alcohol availability predicted general alcohol problems. Job responsibility and workplace norms also predicted alcohol problems but only for men. Perceived work stress did not predict alcohol problems. Results support the development of interventions that focus on re-shaping alcohol use norms.

Thinking and working relationally: interviewing and constructing hypotheses to create compassionate understanding.

PubMed

Sheinberg, Marcia; Brewster, Mary Kim

2014-12-01

In the initial interviews of family therapy sessions, the therapist faces the challenge of obtaining and organizing the information that is most relevant toward understanding the essential concerns that families and couples bring to therapy. This article describes the process of clinical interviewing and case conceptualization used in training family therapists at the Ackerman Institute for the Family. This approach helps the therapist bring forward, and organize, specific information into relational hypotheses, or systemic-relational conceptualizations, that allow both family members and the therapist to understand presenting problems within their relational contexts. While always provisional, relational hypotheses help anchor the therapist in a systemic-relational frame and provide a conceptual through-line to guide the ongoing work of the therapy. The process of interviewing and the construction of clear and complex conceptualizations of presenting problems are illustrated through case examples. © 2014 Family Process Institute.

Work addiction and presenteeism: The buffering role of managerial support.

PubMed

Mazzetti, Greta; Vignoli, Michela; Schaufeli, Wilmar B; Guglielmi, Dina

2017-08-08

The current study examined the mediating effect of presenteeism and moderating effect of managerial support in the relation between workaholism and work-family conflict. A sample of 1065 white-collar employees from an Italian company filled in an online survey and hypotheses were tested using a bootstrapping procedure. Results showed that presenteeism mediated the association between workaholism and work-family conflict. Moreover, the mediating effect of presenteeism was moderated by managerial support: for employees reporting lower levels of support workaholism was stronger related to presenteeism than for those experiencing higher support. Presenteeism, in turn, was related to greater levels of work-family conflict. The present study sheds light into the protective role played by managerial support in preventing workaholic employees from forcing themselves to attend work also when feeling sick. Accordingly, early intervention aimed at buffering the negative association between workaholism and work-family conflict should focus on training managers to develop supportive leadership skills. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

University Faculty and Work-Related Well-Being: The Importance of the Triple Work Profile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vera, Maria; Salanova, Marisa; Martin, Beatriz

2010-01-01

Introduction: The main aim of this study is to test whether different university faculty work profiles (i.e., teaching, research and management) relate with the experience of well-being at work (i.e., burnout, work engagement and intrinsic satisfaction). Method: Hypotheses were tested through a K-means cluster, ANOVA, and confirmatory factor…

Work-Family Spillover and Daily Reports of Work and Family Stress in the Adult Labor Force.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Almeida, David M.; McDonald, Daniel A.

2002-01-01

Data from two affiliated national surveys were used to examine distribution of work-family spillover among working adults. Analyses testing family life course hypotheses indicated self-reported negative and positive spillover between work and family were not randomly distributed within the labor force. Age was found to have a persistent…

A Spatially-Explicit Modeling Approach to Examine the Interaction of Reproductive Traits and Landscape Characteristics on Arctic Shrub Expansion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naito, A. T.; Cairns, D. M.; Feldman, R. M.; Grant, W. E.

2014-12-01

Shrub expansion is one of the most recognized components of terrestrial Arctic change. While experimental work has provided valuable insights into its fine-scale drivers and implications, the contribution of shrub reproductive characteristics to their spatial patterns is poorly understood at broader scales. Building upon our previous work in river valleys in northern Alaska, we developed a C#-based spatially-explicit model that simulates historic landscape-scale shrub establishment between the 1970s and the late 2000s on a yearly time-step while accounting for parameters relating to different reproduction modes (clonal development with and without the "mass effect" and short-distance dispersal), as well as the presence and absence of the interaction of hydrologic constraints using the topographic wetness index. We examined these treatments on floodplains, valley slopes, and interfluves in the Ayiyak, Colville, and Kurupa River valleys. After simulating 30 landscape realizations using each parameter combination, we quantified the spatial characteristics (patch density, edge density, patch size variability, area-weighted shape index, area-weighted fractal dimension index, and mean distance between patches) of the resulting shrub patches on the simulation end date using FRAGSTATS. We used Principal Components Analysis to determine which treatments produced spatial characteristics most similar to those observed in the late 2000s. Based upon our results, we hypothesize that historic shrub expansion in northern Alaska has been driven in part by clonal reproduction with the "mass effect" or short-distance dispersal (< 5 m). The interactive effect of hydrologic characteristics, however, is less clear. These hypotheses may then be tested in future work involving field observations. Given the potential that climate change may facilitate a shift from a clonal to a sexual reproductive strategy, this model may facilitate predictions regarding future Arctic vegetation patterns.

Attribution of hydrological change using the Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrigan, Shaun

2017-04-01

The methods we have developed for managing our long-term water supply and protection from extreme hydrological events such as droughts and floods have been founded on the assumption that the hydrological cycle operates under natural conditions. However, it increasingly recognised that humans have the potential to induce significant change in almost every component of the hydrological cycle, for example, climate change, land-use change, and river engineering. Statistical detection of change in streamflow, outside that of natural variability, is an important scientific endeavour, but it does not tell us anything about the drivers of change. Attribution is the process of establishing the most likely cause(s) of a detected change - the why. Attribution is complex due to the integrated nature of streamflow and the proliferation of multiple possible drivers. It is perhaps this complexity, combined with few proven theoretical approaches to this problem in hydrology that has led to others to call for "more efforts and scientific rigour" (Merz et al., 2012). It is easier to limit the cause of a detected change to a single driver, or use simple correlation analysis alone as evidence of causation. It is convenient when the direction of a change in streamflow is consistent with what is expected from a well-known driver such as climate change. Over a century ago, Thomas Chamberlin argued these types of issues were common in many disciplines given how the scientific method is approached in general. His 1890 article introduces the Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses (MMWH) in an attempt to limit our confirmation bias and strives for increased objectivity. This presentation will argue that the MMWH offers an attractive theoretical approach to the attribution of hydrological change in modern hydrology as demonstrated through a case study of a well-documented change point in streamflow within the Boyne Catchment in Ireland. Further Reading Chamberlin, T. C.: The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses, Science (old series), 15(366), 92-96, doi:10.1126/science.ns-15.366.92, 1890. Harrigan, S., Murphy, C., Hall, J., Wilby, R. L. and Sweeney, J.: Attribution of detected changes in streamflow using multiple working hypotheses, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18(5), 1935-1952, doi:10.5194/hess-18-1935-2014, 2014. Merz, B., Vorogushyn, S., Uhlemann, S., Delgado, J. and Hundecha, Y.: HESS Opinions "More efforts and scientific rigour are needed to attribute trends in flood time series," Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16(5), 1379-1387, doi:10.5194/hess-16-1379-2012, 2012.

Start time variability and predictability in railroad train and engine freight and passenger service employees.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-01

Start time variability in work schedules is often hypothesized to be a cause of railroad employee fatigue because unpredictable work start times prevent employees from planning sleep and personal activities. This report examines work start time diffe...

Deformational plagiocephaly in normal infants: a systematic review of causes and hypotheses.

PubMed

De Bock, Freia; Braun, Volker; Renz-Polster, Herbert

2017-06-01

Deformational plagiocephaly (DP) is one of the most prevalent abnormal findings in infants and a frequent reason for parents to seek paediatric advice. To systematically review the literature and identify evidence and hypotheses on the aetiology and determinants of DP in otherwise healthy infants. Systematic keyword search in all major biomedical databases to identify peer-reviewed publications reporting (a) empirical research or (b) hypotheses on the aetiology of DP in healthy, term infants. 3150 studies published between 1985 and 2016 and containing relevant keywords were screened. In a two-pronged approach, results were summarised separately for the body of empirical work (22 studies) and the body of hypotheses (110 articles). Only a few empirical studies have examined risk factors in non-selected patient populations on a higher grade methodological level. The most commonly reported risk factors were: male gender, supine sleep position, limited neck rotation or preference in head position, first-born child, lower level of activity and lack of tummy time. Agreement between empirical studies was poor for most exposures, including supine sleep position, tummy time and use of car seats. The articles reporting hypotheses on the aetiology of DP cover a wide field of environmental and biological factors, but include little suggestions as to the potential influence of the everyday care environment of the baby. The evidence on the aetiology of DP is fragmentary and heterogeneous. In addition, factors possibly relevant to the development of DP have not been appreciated in the scientific discussion. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Don't let it get to you! A moderated mediated approach to the (in)justice-health relationship.

PubMed

Eib, Constanze; von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica; Blom, Victoria

2015-10-01

The present study investigates the consequences of overall justice perceptions on employees' mental health and work-family conflict. While many studies have found that perceiving injustice at work is harmful, little is known about the underlying processes. Based on the allostatic load model, it is hypothesized that mental preoccupation with work, defined as a cognitive state, is a mediator linking overall justice perceptions to employee health. Moreover, we argue that locus of control is a moderator for the mediated relationship. We tested our hypotheses with panel data consisting of 412 Swedish office workers. Results support that mental preoccupation with work mediates the relationship between overall justice and mental health, and overall justice and work-family conflict. Results also reveal that mental preoccupation with work plays a greater mediating role for individuals with an external locus of control. Implications and suggestions for future studies on the emerging relationship between organizational justice and health are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Return to work among breast cancer survivors: A literature review.

PubMed

Sun, Yuanlu; Shigaki, Cheryl L; Armer, Jane M

2017-03-01

Breast cancer survivors in their employment years are likely to try to go back to work after the primary treatment. Because the literature on return to work among breast cancer survivors is limited, we have undertaken a review of the literature to summarize what is known, including identifying important contributing variables and outcomes. This knowledge may be used to develop hypotheses and potential interventions to support breast cancer survivors who wish to return to work. We searched the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOUP, and PUBMED, within a 10-year timeframe (2004 to 2014). The majority of reviewed articles (N = 25) focused on three outcomes: return-to-work period, work ability, and work performance. The most frequently studied independent variables were collapsed into the following groups: health and well-being, symptoms and functioning, work demands and work environment, individual characteristics, and societal and cultural factors. Gaps in the literature include evidence of effective interventions to support return to work among breast cancer survivors and research to better understand the roles of government and business-related policy. All the studies reported a reduced work engagement and work ability. Employment status and work performance is associated with a combination of individual factors, work environment, culture, and resources. Significant gaps are apparent in the literature addressing breast cancer survivorship and return to work. This is a complex problem and it will likely require interdisciplinary research teams to develop effective and feasible interventions for this population.

On the use of three hydrological models as hypotheses to investigate the behaviour of a small Mediterranean catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruiz Pérez, Guiomar; Latron, Jérôme; Llorens, Pilar; Gallart, Francesc; Francés, Félix

2017-04-01

Selecting an adequate hydrological model is the first step to carry out a rainfall-runoff modelling exercise. A hydrological model is a hypothesis of catchment functioning, encompassing a description of dominant hydrological processes and predicting how these processes interact to produce the catchment's response to external forcing. Current research lines emphasize the importance of multiple working hypotheses for hydrological modelling instead of only using a single model. In line with this philosophy, here different hypotheses were considered and analysed to simulate the nonlinear response of a small Mediterranean catchment and to progress in the analysis of its hydrological behaviour. In particular, three hydrological models were considered representing different potential hypotheses: two lumped models called LU3 and LU4, and one distributed model called TETIS. To determine how well each specific model performed and to assess whether a model was more adequate than another, we raised three complementary tests: one based on the analysis of residual errors series, another based on a sensitivity analysis and the last one based on using multiple evaluation criteria associated to the concept of Pareto frontier. This modelling approach, based on multiple working hypotheses, helped to improve our perceptual model of the catchment behaviour and, furthermore, could be used as a guidance to improve the performance of other environmental models.

Work Engagement, Performance, and Active Learning: The Role of Conscientiousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bakker, Arnold B.; Demerouti, Evangelia; ten Brummelhuis, Lieke L.

2012-01-01

The present study examines whether the relationship between work engagement and job performance is moderated by the extent to which individuals are inclined to work hard, careful, and goal-oriented. On the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that conscientiousness strengthens the relationship between work engagement and supervisor ratings…

Education-Work Linkage and Policy: A Cross-National Analysis of Contextual Influences on School to Work Transition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiseman, Alexander W.; Alromi, Naif

A cross-national analysis was conducted to identify contextual influences that shape policies regarding the school-to-work transition and education-work linkages. The study's theoretical framework included principles based on technical-rational perspectives and neo-institutional perspectives. The study tested the following hypotheses: (1) schools…

Mindfulness, Authentic Functioning, and Work Engagement: A Growth Modeling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leroy, Hannes; Anseel, Frederik; Dimitrova, Nicoletta G.; Sels, Luc

2013-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness helps reduce symptoms of work stress but research has yet to clarify "whether" and "how" mindfulness is linked to work engagement. Using self-determination theory we hypothesize that mindfulness is positively related to work engagement and that this relationship can be better understood through…

Daily work-family conflict and alcohol use: testing the cross-level moderation effects of peer drinking norms and social support.

PubMed

Wang, Mo; Liu, Songqi; Zhan, Yujie; Shi, Junqi

2010-03-01

In the current study, we conducted daily telephone interviews with a sample of Chinese workers (N = 57) for 5 weeks to examine relationships between daily work-family conflict and alcohol use. Drawn from the tension reduction theory and the stressor-vulnerability model, daily work-family conflict variables were hypothesized to predict employees' daily alcohol use. Further, social variables (i.e., peer drinking norms, family support, and coworker support) were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between work-family conflict and alcohol use. Results showed that daily work-to-family conflict but not family-to-work conflict had a significant within-subject main effect on daily alcohol use. In addition, there was significant between-subject variation in the relationship between work-to-family conflict and alcohol use, which was predicted by peer drinking norms, coworker support, and family support. The current findings shed light on the daily health behavior consequences of work-family conflict and provide important theoretical and practical implications. 2010 APA, all rights reserved

The crossover of daily work engagement: test of an actor-partner interdependence model.

PubMed

Bakker, Arnold B; Xanthopoulou, Despoina

2009-11-01

This study of 62 dyads of employees (N = 124) examined the crossover of work engagement-a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. We hypothesized that work engagement crosses over from an employee (the actor) to his or her colleague (the partner) on a daily basis. The frequency of daily communication was expected to moderate the crossover of daily work engagement, which in turn would relate to colleagues' daily performance. Participants first filled in a general questionnaire and then completed a diary study over 5 consecutive workdays. The hypotheses were tested with multilevel analyses, using an actor-partner interdependence model. Results confirmed the crossover of daily work engagement, but only on days when employees within a dyad interacted more frequently than usual. Moreover, we found that actor's work engagement (particularly vigor), when frequently communicated, had a positive indirect relationship with partner's performance through partner's work engagement. Finally, results showed that actor's vigor was negatively related to partner's performance when communication was low. However, this negative effect was counteracted when mediated by the vigor of the partner.

Supporting shared hypothesis testing in the biomedical domain.

PubMed

Agibetov, Asan; Jiménez-Ruiz, Ernesto; Ondrésik, Marta; Solimando, Alessandro; Banerjee, Imon; Guerrini, Giovanna; Catalano, Chiara E; Oliveira, Joaquim M; Patanè, Giuseppe; Reis, Rui L; Spagnuolo, Michela

2018-02-08

Pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases can be tracked by studying the causality relationships among the factors contributing to its development. We could, for instance, hypothesize on the connections of the pathogenesis outcomes to the observed conditions. And to prove such causal hypotheses we would need to have the full understanding of the causal relationships, and we would have to provide all the necessary evidences to support our claims. In practice, however, we might not possess all the background knowledge on the causality relationships, and we might be unable to collect all the evidence to prove our hypotheses. In this work we propose a methodology for the translation of biological knowledge on causality relationships of biological processes and their effects on conditions to a computational framework for hypothesis testing. The methodology consists of two main points: hypothesis graph construction from the formalization of the background knowledge on causality relationships, and confidence measurement in a causality hypothesis as a normalized weighted path computation in the hypothesis graph. In this framework, we can simulate collection of evidences and assess confidence in a causality hypothesis by measuring it proportionally to the amount of available knowledge and collected evidences. We evaluate our methodology on a hypothesis graph that represents both contributing factors which may cause cartilage degradation and the factors which might be caused by the cartilage degradation during osteoarthritis. Hypothesis graph construction has proven to be robust to the addition of potentially contradictory information on the simultaneously positive and negative effects. The obtained confidence measures for the specific causality hypotheses have been validated by our domain experts, and, correspond closely to their subjective assessments of confidences in investigated hypotheses. Overall, our methodology for a shared hypothesis testing framework exhibits important properties that researchers will find useful in literature review for their experimental studies, planning and prioritizing evidence collection acquisition procedures, and testing their hypotheses with different depths of knowledge on causal dependencies of biological processes and their effects on the observed conditions.

Empathy Is a Protective Factor of Burnout in Physicians: New Neuro-Phenomenological Hypotheses Regarding Empathy and Sympathy in Care Relationship.

PubMed

Thirioux, Bérangère; Birault, François; Jaafari, Nematollah

2016-01-01

Burnout is a multidimensional work-related syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization-or cynicism-and diminution of personal accomplishment. Burnout particularly affects physicians. In medicine as well as other professions, burnout occurrence depends on personal, developmental-psychodynamic, professional, and environmental factors. Recently, it has been proposed to specifically define burnout in physicians as "pathology of care relationship." That is, burnout would arise, among the above-mentioned factors, from the specificity of the care relationship as it develops between the physician and the patient. Accordingly, experimental studies and theoretical approaches have suggested that burnout and empathy, which is one of the most important skills in physicians, are closely linked. However, the nature of the relation between burnout and empathy remains not yet understood, as reflected in the variety of theoretical and contradictory hypotheses attempting to causally relate these two phenomena. Firstly, we here question the epistemological problem concerning the modality of the burnout-empathy link. Secondly, we hypothesize that considering the multidimensional features of both burnout and empathy, on one hand, and on the other hand, the distinction between empathy and sympathy enables to overcome these contradictions and, consequently, gives a better understanding of the relationship between burnout and empathy in physicians. Thirdly, we propose that clarifying the link between burnout, empathy and sympathy would enable developing specific training in medical students and continuous professional formation in senior physicians and would potentially contribute to the prevention of burnout in medical care.

Does cortisol influence core executive functions? A meta-analysis of acute cortisol administration effects on working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting.

PubMed

Shields, Grant S; Bonner, Joseph C; Moons, Wesley G

2015-08-01

The hormone cortisol is often believed to play a pivotal role in the effects of stress on human cognition. This meta-analysis is an attempt to determine the effects of acute cortisol administration on core executive functions. Drawing on both rodent and stress literatures, we hypothesized that acute cortisol administration would impair working memory and set-shifting but enhance inhibition. Additionally, because cortisol is thought to exert different nongenomic (rapid) and genomic (slow) effects, we further hypothesized that the effects of cortisol would differ as a function of the delay between cortisol administration and cognitive testing. Although the overall analyses were nonsignificant, after separating the rapid, nongenomic effects of cortisol from the slower, genomic effects of cortisol, the rapid effects of cortisol enhanced response inhibition, g+ = 0.113, p=.016, but impaired working memory, g+ = -0.315, p=.008, although these effects reversed over time. Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no effect of cortisol administration on set-shifting. Thus, although we did not find support for the idea that increases in cortisol influence set-shifting, we found that acute increases in cortisol exert differential effects on working memory and inhibition over time. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Momentary Work Happiness as a Function of Enduring Burnout and Work Engagement.

PubMed

Bakker, Arnold B; Oerlemans, Wido G M

2016-08-17

The present study (N = 136) combined global measures with specific, experience-based measures to investigate how enduring job burnout and engagement influence the impact of daily work activities on momentary need satisfaction and happiness. We used the day reconstruction method (DRM) to ask employees from various occupations to reconstruct their working days. On the basis of employee work engagement and self-determination theories, we hypothesized that time spent on (a) core work tasks; (b) administrative work tasks; (c) client interactions; (d) interactions with colleagues; and (e) meetings would be negatively related to need satisfaction on the task level for employees high (vs. low) in enduring burnout; and positively related to need satisfaction on the task level for employees high (vs. low) in enduring work engagement. In addition, we predicted that psychological need satisfaction would mediate the relationships between time spent on work tasks and happiness during the tasks. The results of multilevel analyses largely supported these hypotheses. Our findings contribute to the literature by showing how those with high levels of burnout do not manage to satisfy their basic needs through their work, whereas those with high levels of work engagement satisfy their daily needs and stay happy.

Transitioning to a Data Driven Mental Health Practice: Collaborative Expert Sessions for Knowledge and Hypothesis Finding

PubMed Central

Scheepers, Floor

2016-01-01

The surge in the amount of available data in health care enables a novel, exploratory research approach that revolves around finding new knowledge and unexpected hypotheses from data instead of carrying out well-defined data analysis tasks. We propose a specification of the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM), suitable for conducting expert sessions that focus on finding new knowledge and hypotheses in collaboration with local workforce. Our proposed specification that we name CRISP-IDM is evaluated in a case study at the psychiatry department of the University Medical Center Utrecht. Expert interviews were conducted to identify seven research themes in the psychiatry department, which were researched in cooperation with local health care professionals using data visualization as a modeling tool. During 19 expert sessions, two results that were directly implemented and 29 hypotheses for further research were found, of which 24 were not imagined during the initial expert interviews. Our work demonstrates the viability and benefits of involving work floor people in the analyses and the possibility to effectively find new knowledge and hypotheses using our CRISP-IDM method. PMID:27630736

"It's tough hanging-up a call": The relationships between calling and work hours, psychological detachment, sleep quality, and morning vigor.

PubMed

Clinton, Michael E; Conway, Neil; Sturges, Jane

2017-01-01

It has been argued that when people believe that their work is a calling, it can often be experienced as an intense and consuming passion with significant personal meaning. While callings have been demonstrated to have several positive outcomes for individuals, less is known about the potential downsides for those who experience work in this way. This study develops a multiple-meditation model proposing that, while the intensity of a calling has a positive direct effect on work-related vigor, it motivates people to work longer hours, which both directly and indirectly via longer work hours, limits their psychological detachment from work in the evenings. In turn, this process reduces sleep quality and morning vigor. Survey and diary data of 193 church ministers supported all hypotheses associated with this model. This implies that intense callings may limit the process of recovery from work experiences. The findings contribute to a more balanced theoretical understanding of callings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Development of an Instrument to Measure Behavioral Health Function for Work Disability: Item Pool Construction and Factor Analysis

PubMed Central

Marfeo, Elizabeth E.; Ni, Pengsheng; Haley, Stephen M.; Jette, Alan M.; Bogusz, Kara; Meterko, Mark; McDonough, Christine M.; Chan, Leighton; Brandt, Diane E.; Rasch, Elizabeth K.

2014-01-01

Objectives To develop a broad set of claimant-reported items to assess behavioral health functioning relevant to the Social Security disability determination processes, and to evaluate the underlying structure of behavioral health functioning for use in development of a new functional assessment instrument. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Community. Participants Item pools of behavioral health functioning were developed, refined, and field-tested in a sample of persons applying for Social Security disability benefits (N=1015) who reported difficulties working due to mental or both mental and physical conditions. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measure Social Security Administration Behavioral Health (SSA-BH) measurement instrument Results Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) specified that a 4-factor model (self-efficacy, mood and emotions, behavioral control, and social interactions) had the optimal fit with the data and was also consistent with our hypothesized conceptual framework for characterizing behavioral health functioning. When the items within each of the four scales were tested in CFA, the fit statistics indicated adequate support for characterizing behavioral health as a unidimensional construct along these four distinct scales of function. Conclusion This work represents a significant advance both conceptually and psychometrically in assessment methodologies for work related behavioral health. The measurement of behavioral health functioning relevant to the context of work requires the assessment of multiple dimensions of behavioral health functioning. Specifically, we identified a 4-factor model solution that represented key domains of work related behavioral health functioning. These results guided the development and scale formation of a new SSA-BH instrument. PMID:23548542

Development of an instrument to measure behavioral health function for work disability: item pool construction and factor analysis.

PubMed

Marfeo, Elizabeth E; Ni, Pengsheng; Haley, Stephen M; Jette, Alan M; Bogusz, Kara; Meterko, Mark; McDonough, Christine M; Chan, Leighton; Brandt, Diane E; Rasch, Elizabeth K

2013-09-01

To develop a broad set of claimant-reported items to assess behavioral health functioning relevant to the Social Security disability determination processes, and to evaluate the underlying structure of behavioral health functioning for use in development of a new functional assessment instrument. Cross-sectional. Community. Item pools of behavioral health functioning were developed, refined, and field tested in a sample of persons applying for Social Security disability benefits (N=1015) who reported difficulties working because of mental or both mental and physical conditions. None. Social Security Administration Behavioral Health (SSA-BH) measurement instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) specified that a 4-factor model (self-efficacy, mood and emotions, behavioral control, social interactions) had the optimal fit with the data and was also consistent with our hypothesized conceptual framework for characterizing behavioral health functioning. When the items within each of the 4 scales were tested in CFA, the fit statistics indicated adequate support for characterizing behavioral health as a unidimensional construct along these 4 distinct scales of function. This work represents a significant advance both conceptually and psychometrically in assessment methodologies for work-related behavioral health. The measurement of behavioral health functioning relevant to the context of work requires the assessment of multiple dimensions of behavioral health functioning. Specifically, we identified a 4-factor model solution that represented key domains of work-related behavioral health functioning. These results guided the development and scale formation of a new SSA-BH instrument. Copyright © 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Work Demands, Work-Family Conflict, and Child Adjustment in African American Families: The Mediating Role of Family Routines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoyd, Vonnie C.; Toyokawa, Teru; Kaplan, Rachel

2008-01-01

Using data from a sample of 455 African American children (ages 10 to 12 years) and their parents, this study tests a hypothesized model linking (a) maternal work demands to family routines through work-family conflict and depressive symptoms and (b) maternal work demands to children's externalizing and internalizing problems through family…

Final Report - ILAW PCT, VHT, Viscosity, and Electrical Conductivity Model Development, VSL-07R1230-1

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

Kruger, Albert A.; Cooley, S. K.; Joseph, I.

This report describes the results of work and testing specified by the Test Specifications (24590-LAW-TSP-RT-01-013 Rev.1 and 24590-WTP-TSP-RT-02-001 Rev.0), Test Plans (VSL-02T4800-1 Rev.1 & TP-RPP-WTP-179 Rev.1), and Text Exception (24590-WTP-TEF-RT-03-040). The work and any associated testing followed established quality assurance requirements and conducted as authorized. The descriptions provided in this test report are an accurate account of both the conduct of the work and the data collected. Results required by the Test Plans are reported. Also reported are any unusual or anomalous occurrences that are different from the starting hypotheses. The test results and this report have been reviewed andmore » verified.« less

Influences of Creative Personality and Working Environment on the Research Productivity of Business School Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Kihwan; Choi, Suk Bong

2017-01-01

Previous research on creative working environments has focused on business organizations. This study examined the influence of creative personality and creative working environment on the research productivity of business faculty. It was hypothesized that creative personality, family support, colleague support, research resources, and workload…

American College Students and Protestant Work Ethic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wentworth, Diane Keyser; Chell, Robert M.

1997-01-01

Hypothesizes that older, graduate, and non-U.S. students would express a greater belief in Max Weber's "Protestant work ethic" (PWE), that posits hard work and delayed gratification as bases for achievement. Finds that younger students, male students, and foreign students have the strongest beliefs in the PWE. Explains the findings. (DSK)

Employee Responses to Flexible Work Schedules: An Inter-Organization, Inter-System Comparison.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, Jon L.; Newstrom, John W.

1982-01-01

Compared employee affective and behavioral responses to four work schedules--a fixed-hour schedule and three variations of flexible working hours. Hypothesized systematic differences in employee responses reflecting increased flexibility were not supported. Employees generally responded more favorably to flexible hour systems as contrasted with…

Workplace bullying and its relation with work characteristics, personality, and post-traumatic stress symptoms: an integrated model.

PubMed

Balducci, Cristian; Fraccaroli, Franco; Schaufeli, Wilmar B

2011-10-01

Workplace bullying refers to prolonged exposure to frequent hostile behaviors at work, which can lead to severe stress reactions. Research in this area has not revealed a clear picture on how bullying escalates in organizations. Drawing on recent developments in work stress theory, this study tested a comprehensive model of bullying in which work environmental and personality factors were hypothesized to act as antecedents of bullying and post-traumatic stress symptoms as an outcome. Structural equation modeling on data provided by 609 public sector employees in Italy showed that job demands (workload and role conflict) and job resources (decision authority, co-worker support and salary/promotion prospects) were related to bullying over and above neuroticism, and that bullying mediated the relationship between job demands and PTSD symptoms. Evidence also emerged for a buffering effect of job resources on the job demands-bullying relationship. Overall results are compatible with a view of bullying as a strain phenomenon, initiated by both work environmental and personality factors.

Work-family conflict and job satisfaction: emotional intelligence as a moderator.

PubMed

Gao, Yongdong; Shi, Junqi; Niu, Qikun; Wang, Lei

2013-08-01

The negative impact of work-family conflict (WFC) on employees' well-being and job-related outcomes has attracted much research attention recently. A major gap in the literature is which factors could potentially buffer its negative effect on employees. The present study examined the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between WFC and job satisfaction in a sample of 212 Chinese high school teachers. On the basis of conservation of resource theory, we hypothesized that emotional intelligence would weaken the negative effect of family-to-work and work-to-family interference on job satisfaction. Results suggested that WFC (work-to-family interference and family-to-work interference) was negatively related to job satisfaction and that emotional intelligence weakened the effect of WFC on job satisfaction. These findings provide implications for theories on WFC and emotional intelligence, such as conservation of resource theory. The current study also provides a test of these theories in Chinese culture to support the generalizability of theories developed in previous research. Practical implications for reducing the negative influence of WFC on employees' job satisfaction are also provided, such as the potential value of emotional intelligence for the training and development of employees in teaching professions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Work happiness among teachers: a day reconstruction study on the role of self-concordance.

PubMed

Tadić, Maja; Bakker, Arnold B; Oerlemans, Wido G M

2013-12-01

Self-concordant work motivation arises from one's authentic choices, personal values, and interests. In the present study, we investigated whether self-concordant motivation may fluctuate from one work-related task to the next. On the basis of self-determination theory, we hypothesized that momentary self-concordance buffers the negative impact of momentary work demands on momentary happiness. We developed a modified version of the day reconstruction method to investigate self-concordance, work demands, and happiness during specific work-related tasks on a within-person and within-day level. In total, 132 teachers completed a daily diary on three consecutive work days as well as a background questionnaire. The daily diary resulted in 792 reported work activities and activity-related work demands, self-concordance, and happiness scores. Multilevel analysis showed that-for most work activities-state self-concordant motivation buffered the negative association of work demands with happiness. These findings add to the literature on motivation and well-being by showing that the levels of self-concordance and happiness experienced by employees vary significantly on a within-day level and show a predictable pattern. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings to increase employees' well-being. © 2013.

Living the academic life: A model for work-family conflict.

PubMed

Beigi, Mina; Shirmohammadi, Melika; Kim, Sehoon

2015-01-01

Work-family conflict (WFC) is an inter-role conflict, which suggests that fulfilling expectations of family roles makes it difficult to satisfy expectations of work roles, and vice versa. Living an academic life includes balancing multiple work demands and family responsibilities, which may generate WFC for many faculty members. Researchers have emphasized the need for further studies of how faculty integrate work and family demands. This study explores WFC among Iranian faculty. We examine relationships among work hours, time spent with family, work-interference with family (WIF), family-interference with work (FIW), and job satisfaction. Faculty members from 25 Iranian public universities completed a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses in a single model. Findings suggest a positive relationship between faculty weekly work hours and WIF, and between time spent with family and FIW. WIF correlated negatively with job satisfaction, and work hours correlated positively with job satisfaction. Time spent with family and FIW had no influence on job satisfaction, and spouse employment moderated the relationship between WIF and job satisfaction. Findings have implications for human resources and organizational development professionals seeking insight into how faculty members and other knowledge workers experience work-family interrelationships.

The effects of work alienation on organisational commitment, work effort and work-to-family enrichment.

PubMed

Tummers, Lars G; Den Dulk, Laura

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of work alienation on organisational commitment, work effort and work-to-family enrichment. There is substantial research on the effects of work alienation on passive job performance, such as organisational commitment. However, studies analysing work alienation on active performance, such as work effort, and outside work, such as work-to-family enrichment, are scarce. Two dimensions of work alienation are considered: powerlessness and meaninglessness. Hypotheses are tested using surveys collected among a national sample of midwives in the Netherlands (respondents: 790, response rate 61%). the findings indicate that work alienation (powerlessness and meaninglessness) influence organisational commitment, work effort and--to a lesser extent--work-to-family enrichment. High work meaninglessness, in particular, has negative effects on these outcomes. When people feel that they have no influence in their work (hence, when they feel 'powerless') and especially when the feel that their work is not worthwhile (when they feel 'meaningless') this has substantial negative effects. Managers should increase the meaningfulness that people attach to their work, thereby maintaining a high-quality workforce. Possible strategies include: (1) improving person-job fit, (2) developing high-quality relationships, (3) better communicating the results people help to deliver. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Proximal and distal determinants of stressful work: framework and analysis of retrospective European data.

PubMed

Wahrendorf, Morten; Siegrist, Johannes

2014-08-15

While robust evidence on associations of stressful work with health exists, less research is available on determinants of stressful work in terms of respondents' characteristics (proximal factors) and in terms of national labour market policies (distal factors). In this article we analyse proximal (childhood circumstances and labour market disadvantage) and distal determinants (national compensation and integration policies) of stressful work in a comprehensive framework. We use data from the third wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), with retrospective information on individual life courses collected among 11181 retired men and women in 13 European countries (2008-2009). To test our hypotheses we estimate multilevel regression models. Results show that stressful work is related to disadvantaged circumstances during childhood. To some extent this association is explained by labour market disadvantage during adulthood. Additionally, well developed labour market integration policies are related to lower overall levels of stressful work at national level. This analysis provides first evidence of important determinants of stressful work, both in terms of pre-employment conditions (childhood circumstances) and in terms of contextual macro-social policies.

Explanation and the Theory of Expert Problem Solving

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-01

specified output, Our work has aimed to identify the individual generic tasks, to analyze them properly, and to clarify their relationships to more...coverage of hypotheses must be tractable. that there cannot be many incompatibility relationships or cancellation effects between individual hypotheses. and...no necessary relationship between this justificatory argument and the actual reasoning that produced the solution. In Wick’s system the explanation

Developmental and genetic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women.

PubMed

Arvey, Richard D; Zhang, Zhen; Avolio, Bruce J; Krueger, Robert F

2007-05-01

The genetic and developmental influences on leadership role occupancy were investigated using a sample of 178 fraternal and 214 identical female twins. Two general developmental factors were identified, one involving formal work experiences and the other a family experiences factor hypothesized to influence whether women move into positions of leadership in organizations. Results indicated that 32% of the variance in leadership role occupancy was associated with heritability. The 2 developmental factors also showed significant correlations with leadership role occupancy. However, after genetic factors were partialed out, only the work experience factor was significantly related to leadership role occupancy. Results are discussed in terms of prior life events and experiences that may trigger leadership development and the limitations of this study. 2007 APA, all rights reserved

Students' perceived importance of diversity exposure and training in dental education.

PubMed

Novak, Karen F; Whitehead, Albert W; Close, John M; Kaplan, Alan L

2004-03-01

Intercultural competence is an important component of the doctor-patient relationship in the multicultural climate evolving in the United States. We hypothesized that 1) exposure to racial and ethnic diversity in the student body, faculty, staff, and patient population in dental school and 2) a dental school curriculum that includes presentations on issues concerning racial and ethnic diversity will contribute to students' feeling more competent and confident to enter the multicultural work environment that is rapidly developing in the United States. A Likert-type scale questionnaire was administered to 627 fourth-year dental students enrolled in seven dental schools representing geographically diverse regions of the United States. Of these, 376 questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 60 percent. Results indicated that both the perception of diversity in the school environment and the presentation of diversity-specific content in the curriculum had moderately positive and significant correlations with the students' perception of their competency or ability to serve and work with diverse populations. The respective Pearson correlation coefficients for diversity in the school environment and diversity curriculum were .497 (p<.001) and .459 (p<.001). These results support the hypotheses that diversity exposure and training in the dental school environment are important for dental students entering a multicultural workplace.

The role of biotic forces in driving macroevolution: beyond the Red Queen

PubMed Central

Voje, Kjetil L.; Holen, Øistein H.; Liow, Lee Hsiang; Stenseth, Nils Chr.

2015-01-01

A multitude of hypotheses claim that abiotic factors are the main drivers of macroevolutionary change. By contrast, Van Valen's Red Queen hypothesis is often put forward as the sole representative of the view that biotic forcing is the main evolutionary driver. This imbalance of hypotheses does not reflect our current knowledge: theoretical work demonstrates the plausibility of biotically driven long-term evolution, whereas empirical work suggests a central role for biotic forcing in macroevolution. We call for a more pluralistic view of how biotic forces may drive long-term evolution that is compatible with both phenotypic stasis in the fossil record and with non-constant extinction rates. Promising avenues of research include contrasting predictions from relevant theories within ecology and macroevolution, as well as embracing both abiotic and biotic proxies while modelling long-term evolutionary data. By fitting models describing hypotheses of biotically driven macroevolution to data, we could dissect their predictions and transcend beyond pattern description, possibly narrowing the divide between our current understanding of micro- and macroevolution. PMID:25948685

How Early Bonding, Depression, Illicit Drug Use, and Perceived Support Work Together to Influence Drug-Dependent Mothers’ Caregiving

PubMed Central

Suchman, Nancy E.; McMahon, Thomas J.; Slade, Arietta; Luthar, Suniya S.

2007-01-01

In this study, the authors used an attachment framework to examine how drug-dependent mothers’ early bonding experience, depression, illicit drug use, and perceived support work together to influence the family environment. The authors hypothesized that (a) depression and drug use function as proxies for a stronger risk factor, the perceived absence of support available in everyday life, and (b) associations between mothers’ early bonding experience and family environment are mediated by perceptions of support and nurture available in everyday life. The authors used a “building block” analytic approach and data collected from 125 mothers enrolled in methadone maintenance to test hypotheses. Both hypotheses were confirmed for 1 outcome, family adaptability. For the 2nd outcome, family cohesion, only perceived support was a significant predictor. Although preliminary, the findings suggest that perceptions of relationships in everyday life play a critical role in the etiology of drug-dependent mothers’ parenting. PMID:16060738

The Influence of Work-Related Stressors on Clergy Husbands and Their Wives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Michael Lane; Blanton, Priscilla White

1994-01-01

Assessed predictive power of 5 work-related stressors identified in clergy family literature on criterion variables of marital, parent, and life satisfaction among 272 clergy husbands and their wives from 6 denominations. Findings supported hypotheses that work-related stressors were inversely related to marital, parental, and life satisfaction…

Extensive Training Is Insufficient to Produce the Work-Ethic Effect in Pigeons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasconcelos, Marco; Urcuioli, Peter J.

2009-01-01

Zentall and Singer (2007a) hypothesized that our failure to replicate the work-ethic effect in pigeons (Vasconcelos, Urcuioli, & Lionello-DeNolf, 2007) was due to insufficient overtraining following acquisition of the high- and low-effort discriminations. We tested this hypothesis using the original work-ethic procedure (Experiment 1) and one…

Reciprocal Relationships between Job Resources, Personal Resources, and Work Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xanthopoulou, Despoina; Bakker, Arnold B.; Demerouti, Evangelia; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.

2009-01-01

This study examined longitudinal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement. On the basis of Conservation of Resources theory, we hypothesized that job resources, personal resources, and work engagement are reciprocal over time. The study was conducted among 163 employees, who were followed-up over a period of 18…

Integrating Worked Examples into Problem Posing in a Web-Based Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Ju-Yuan; Hung, Chun-Ling; Lan, Yu-Feng; Jeng, Yoau-Chau

2013-01-01

Most students always lack of experience and perceive difficult regarding problem posing. The study hypothesized that worked examples may have benefits for supporting students' problem posing activities. A quasi-experiment was conducted in the context of a business mathematics course for examining the effects of integrating worked examples into…

Structured Observation of School Administrator Work Activities: Methodological Limitations and Recommendations for Research, Part 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pitner, Nancy J.; Russell, James S.

1986-01-01

This paper critically reviews studies of administrator work activities which follow the work of Henry Mintzberg (1973), concentrating on these shortcomings of the method: (1) procedural difficulties in coding; (2) design limitations of classifying activities; (3) inadequate testing of Mintzberg's hypotheses; and (4) failure to explore antecedents…

Working Memory Capacity and Fluid Intelligence: Maintenance and Disengagement.

PubMed

Shipstead, Zach; Harrison, Tyler L; Engle, Randall W

2016-11-01

Working memory capacity and fluid intelligence have been demonstrated to be strongly correlated traits. Typically, high working memory capacity is believed to facilitate reasoning through accurate maintenance of relevant information. In this article, we present a proposal reframing this issue, such that tests of working memory capacity and fluid intelligence are seen as measuring complementary processes that facilitate complex cognition. Respectively, these are the ability to maintain access to critical information and the ability to disengage from or block outdated information. In the realm of problem solving, high working memory capacity allows a person to represent and maintain a problem accurately and stably, so that hypothesis testing can be conducted. However, as hypotheses are disproven or become untenable, disengaging from outdated problem solving attempts becomes important so that new hypotheses can be generated and tested. From this perspective, the strong correlation between working memory capacity and fluid intelligence is due not to one ability having a causal influence on the other but to separate attention-demanding mental functions that can be contrary to one another but are organized around top-down processing goals. © The Author(s) 2016.

Plant reproduction systems in microgravity: experimental data and hypotheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kordyum, E. L.

Elucidation of the possibilities for higher plants to realize complete ontogenesis, from seed to seed, and to propagate by seeds in microgravity, is a fundamental task of space biology connected with the working of the CELSS program. At present, there are results of only 6 spaceflight experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana, an ephemeral plant which will flower and fruit in orbit. Morphogenesis of generative organs occurs normally in microgravity, but unlike the ground control, buds and flowers mainly contain sterile elements of the androecium and gynoecium which degenerate at different stages of development in microgravity. Cytological peculiarities of male and female sterility in microgravity are similar to those occurring naturally during sexual differentiation. Many of the seed formed in microgravity are: 1) nutritional deficiency, 2) insufficient light, 3) intensification of the influence of the above-mentioned factors by microgravity, 4) disturbances of a hormonal nature, and 5) the absence of pollination and fertilization. Possible ways for testing these hypotheses and obtaining viable seeds in microgravity are discussed.

Cognitive Demands of Lower Paleolithic Toolmaking

PubMed Central

Stout, Dietrich; Hecht, Erin; Khreisheh, Nada; Bradley, Bruce; Chaminade, Thierry

2015-01-01

Stone tools provide some of the most abundant, continuous, and high resolution evidence of behavioral change over human evolution, but their implications for cognitive evolution have remained unclear. We investigated the neurophysiological demands of stone toolmaking by training modern subjects in known Paleolithic methods (“Oldowan”, “Acheulean”) and collecting structural and functional brain imaging data as they made technical judgments (outcome prediction, strategic appropriateness) about planned actions on partially completed tools. Results show that this task affected neural activity and functional connectivity in dorsal prefrontal cortex, that effect magnitude correlated with the frequency of correct strategic judgments, and that the frequency of correct strategic judgments was predictive of success in Acheulean, but not Oldowan, toolmaking. This corroborates hypothesized cognitive control demands of Acheulean toolmaking, specifically including information monitoring and manipulation functions attributed to the "central executive" of working memory. More broadly, it develops empirical methods for assessing the differential cognitive demands of Paleolithic technologies, and expands the scope of evolutionary hypotheses that can be tested using the available archaeological record. PMID:25875283

Empathy Is a Protective Factor of Burnout in Physicians: New Neuro-Phenomenological Hypotheses Regarding Empathy and Sympathy in Care Relationship

PubMed Central

Thirioux, Bérangère; Birault, François; Jaafari, Nematollah

2016-01-01

Burnout is a multidimensional work-related syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization—or cynicism—and diminution of personal accomplishment. Burnout particularly affects physicians. In medicine as well as other professions, burnout occurrence depends on personal, developmental-psychodynamic, professional, and environmental factors. Recently, it has been proposed to specifically define burnout in physicians as “pathology of care relationship.” That is, burnout would arise, among the above-mentioned factors, from the specificity of the care relationship as it develops between the physician and the patient. Accordingly, experimental studies and theoretical approaches have suggested that burnout and empathy, which is one of the most important skills in physicians, are closely linked. However, the nature of the relation between burnout and empathy remains not yet understood, as reflected in the variety of theoretical and contradictory hypotheses attempting to causally relate these two phenomena. Firstly, we here question the epistemological problem concerning the modality of the burnout-empathy link. Secondly, we hypothesize that considering the multidimensional features of both burnout and empathy, on one hand, and on the other hand, the distinction between empathy and sympathy enables to overcome these contradictions and, consequently, gives a better understanding of the relationship between burnout and empathy in physicians. Thirdly, we propose that clarifying the link between burnout, empathy and sympathy would enable developing specific training in medical students and continuous professional formation in senior physicians and would potentially contribute to the prevention of burnout in medical care. PMID:27303328

Electrophysiological Repetition Effects in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment depend upon Working Memory Demand.

PubMed

Broster, Lucas S; Jenkins, Shonna L; Holmes, Sarah D; Edwards, Matthew G; Jicha, Gregory A; Jiang, Yang

2018-05-07

Forms of implicit memory, including repetition effects, are preserved relative to explicit memory in clinical Alzheimer's disease. Consequently, cognitive interventions for persons with Alzheimer's disease have been developed that leverage this fact. However, despite the clinical robustness of behavioral repetition effects, altered neural mechanisms of repetition effects are studied as biomarkers of both clinical Alzheimer's disease and pre-morbid Alzheimer's changes in the brain. We hypothesized that the clinical preservation of behavioral repetition effects results in part from concurrent operation of discrete memory systems. We developed two experiments that included probes of emotional repetition effects differing in that one included an embedded working memory task. We found that neural repetition effects manifested in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, the earliest form of clinical Alzheimer's disease, during emotional working memory tasks, but they did not manifest during the task that lacked the embedded working memory manipulation. Specifically, the working memory task evoked neural repetition effects in the P600 time-window, but the same neural mechanism was only minimally implicated in the task without a working memory component. We also found that group differences in behavioral repetition effects were smaller in the experiment with a working memory task. We suggest that cross-domain cognitive challenge can expose "defunct" neural capabilities of individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Supervised Learning Based Hypothesis Generation from Biomedical Literature.

PubMed

Sang, Shengtian; Yang, Zhihao; Li, Zongyao; Lin, Hongfei

2015-01-01

Nowadays, the amount of biomedical literatures is growing at an explosive speed, and there is much useful knowledge undiscovered in this literature. Researchers can form biomedical hypotheses through mining these works. In this paper, we propose a supervised learning based approach to generate hypotheses from biomedical literature. This approach splits the traditional processing of hypothesis generation with classic ABC model into AB model and BC model which are constructed with supervised learning method. Compared with the concept cooccurrence and grammar engineering-based approaches like SemRep, machine learning based models usually can achieve better performance in information extraction (IE) from texts. Then through combining the two models, the approach reconstructs the ABC model and generates biomedical hypotheses from literature. The experimental results on the three classic Swanson hypotheses show that our approach outperforms SemRep system.

Construct Validity and Scoring Methods of the World Health Organization: Health and Work Performance Questionnaire Among Workers With Arthritis and Rheumatological Conditions.

PubMed

AlHeresh, Rawan; LaValley, Michael P; Coster, Wendy; Keysor, Julie J

2017-06-01

To evaluate construct validity and scoring methods of the world health organization-health and work performance questionnaire (HPQ) for people with arthritis. Construct validity was examined through hypothesis testing using the recommended guidelines of the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments (COSMIN). The HPQ using the absolute scoring method showed moderate construct validity as four of the seven hypotheses were met. The HPQ using the relative scoring method had weak construct validity as only one of the seven hypotheses were met. The absolute scoring method for the HPQ is superior in construct validity to the relative scoring method in assessing work performance among people with arthritis and related rheumatic conditions; however, more research is needed to further explore other psychometric properties of the HPQ.

Enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in grapheme–color synesthesia☆

PubMed Central

Terhune, Devin Blair; Wudarczyk, Olga Anna; Kochuparampil, Priya; Cohen Kadosh, Roi

2013-01-01

There is emerging evidence that the encoding of visual information and the maintenance of this information in a temporarily accessible state in working memory rely on the same neural mechanisms. A consequence of this overlap is that atypical forms of perception should influence working memory. We examined this by investigating whether having grapheme–color synesthesia, a condition characterized by the involuntary experience of color photisms when reading or representing graphemes, would confer benefits on working memory. Two competing hypotheses propose that superior memory in synesthesia results from information being coded in two information channels (dual-coding) or from superior dimension-specific visual processing (enhanced processing). We discriminated between these hypotheses in three n-back experiments in which controls and synesthetes viewed inducer and non-inducer graphemes and maintained color or grapheme information in working memory. Synesthetes displayed superior color working memory than controls for both grapheme types, whereas the two groups did not differ in grapheme working memory. Further analyses excluded the possibilities of enhanced working memory among synesthetes being due to greater color discrimination, stimulus color familiarity, or bidirectionality. These results reveal enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in this population and supply further evidence for a close relationship between sensory processing and the maintenance of sensory information in working memory. PMID:23892185

Exposure to Psychological Aggression at Work and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Job Attitudes and Personal Health

PubMed Central

Schat, Aaron; Frone, Michael R.

2011-01-01

Despite the growing literature on workplace aggression and the importance of employee performance at work, few studies have examined the relation between workplace aggression and job performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between psychological aggression at work and two forms of job performance (task performance and contextual performance) and potential mediators of these relations. Based on Conservation of Resources theory and prior research, a model was developed and tested in which overall job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and overall personal health (i.e., physical and psychological health) fully mediate the relations between exposure to psychological aggression at work and both task performance and contextual performance. Data were obtained from a national probability sample of US workers (N = 2376) and the model was tested using structural equation modelling. The results supported the hypothesized model, demonstrating that exposure to psychological aggression at work negatively predicted both task performance and contextual performance, and that these relations were explained by decrements in job attitudes and health associated with exposure to psychological aggression at work. PMID:21643471

Exposure to Psychological Aggression at Work and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Job Attitudes and Personal Health.

PubMed

Schat, Aaron; Frone, Michael R

2011-01-01

Despite the growing literature on workplace aggression and the importance of employee performance at work, few studies have examined the relation between workplace aggression and job performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between psychological aggression at work and two forms of job performance (task performance and contextual performance) and potential mediators of these relations. Based on Conservation of Resources theory and prior research, a model was developed and tested in which overall job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and overall personal health (i.e., physical and psychological health) fully mediate the relations between exposure to psychological aggression at work and both task performance and contextual performance. Data were obtained from a national probability sample of US workers (N = 2376) and the model was tested using structural equation modelling. The results supported the hypothesized model, demonstrating that exposure to psychological aggression at work negatively predicted both task performance and contextual performance, and that these relations were explained by decrements in job attitudes and health associated with exposure to psychological aggression at work.

ADHD and working memory: the impact of central executive deficits and exceeding storage/rehearsal capacity on observed inattentive behavior.

PubMed

Kofler, Michael J; Rapport, Mark D; Bolden, Jennifer; Sarver, Dustin E; Raiker, Joseph S

2010-02-01

Inattentive behavior is considered a core and pervasive feature of ADHD; however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory deficits and inattentive behavior. The current study investigated whether inattentive behavior in children with ADHD is functionally related to the domain-general central executive and/or subsidiary storage/rehearsal components of working memory. Objective observations of children's attentive behavior by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n = 15) and typically developing children (n = 14) completed counterbalanced tasks that differentially manipulated central executive, phonological storage/rehearsal, and visuospatial storage/rehearsal demands. Results of latent variable and effect size confidence interval analyses revealed two conditions that completely accounted for the attentive behavior deficits in children with ADHD: (a) placing demands on central executive processing, the effect of which is evident under even low cognitive loads, and (b) exceeding storage/rehearsal capacity, which has similar effects on children with ADHD and typically developing children but occurs at lower cognitive loads for children with ADHD.

A Decentralized Approach to the Formulation of Hypotheses: A Hierarchical Structural Model for a Prion Self-Assembled System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Mingyang; Zhang, Feifei; Song, Chao; Shi, Pengfei; Zhu, Jin

2016-07-01

Innovation in hypotheses is a key transformative driver for scientific development. The conventional centralized hypothesis formulation approach, where a dominant hypothesis is typically derived from a primary phenomenon, can, inevitably, impose restriction on the range of conceivable experiments and legitimate hypotheses, and ultimately impede understanding of the system of interest. We report herein the proposal of a decentralized approach for the formulation of hypotheses, through initial preconception-free phenomenon accumulation and subsequent reticular logical reasoning processes. The two-step approach can provide an unbiased, panoramic view of the system and as such should enable the generation of a set of more coherent and therefore plausible hypotheses. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the utility of this open-ended approach, a hierarchical model has been developed for a prion self-assembled system, allowing insight into hitherto elusive static and dynamic features associated with this intriguing structure.

Assessing task-technology fit in a PACS upgrade: do users' and developers' appraisals converge?

PubMed

Lepanto, Luigi; Sicotte, Claude; Lehoux, Pascale

2011-12-01

The purpose of this study was to measure users' perceived benefits of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) upgrade, and compare their responses to those predicted by developers. The Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model served as the theoretical framework to study the relation between TTF, utilization, and perceived benefits. A self-administered survey was distributed to radiologists working in a university hospital undergoing a PACS upgrade. Four variables were measured: impact, utilization, TTF, and perceived net benefits. The radiologists were divided into subgroups according to their utilization profiles. Analysis of variance was performed and the hypotheses were tested with regression analysis. Interviews were conducted with developers involved in the PACS upgrade who were asked to predict impact and TTF. Users identified only a moderate fit between the PACS enhancements and their tasks, while developers predicted a high level of TTF. The combination of a moderate fit and an underestimation of the potential impact of changes in the PACS led to a low score for perceived net benefits. Results varied significantly among user subgroups. Globally, the data support the hypotheses that TTF predicts utilization and perceived net benefits, but not that utilization predicts perceived net benefits. TTF is a valid tool to assess perceived benefits, but it is important to take into account the characteristics of users. In the context of a technology that is rapidly evolving, there needs to be an alignment of what users perceive as a good fit and the functionality developers incorporate into their products.

Beyond cause to consequence: The road from possible to core self-revision

PubMed Central

Carroll, Patrick J.; Agler, Robert A.; Newhart, Daniel W.

2015-01-01

Two studies addressed the ultimate consequences and pathways running from repeated possible self-revisions to gradual revisions in core selves over time. As hypothesized, greater prior experiences of downward possible self-revision ultimately predicted greater subsequent declines in core self-integrity (e.g., greater self-doubt, lower self-esteem). However, also as hypothesized, this effect was mediated by the relative use of defensive vs. remedial attributions for past downward self-revision experiences. In closing, we unpack how the present work extends prior work by situating possible selves and motivated self-attributions as complementary systems that can slowly undermine as well as expand the integrity of core selves over time. PMID:26635509

Intellectual Development Is Positively Related to Intrinsic Motivation and Course Grades for Female but Not Male Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cortright, Ronald N.; Lujan, Heidi L.; Cox, Julie H.; Cortright, Maria A.; Langworthy, Brandon M.; Petta, Lorene M.; Tanner, Charles J.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2015-01-01

We hypothesized that the intellectual development of students, i.e., their beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, affects their intrinsic motivation and class performance. Specifically, we hypothesized that students with low intellectual development (i.e., the naive beliefs that knowledge is simple, absolute, and certain) have low…

Understanding well-being and learning of Nigerian nurses: a job demand control support model approach.

PubMed

van Doorn, Yvonne; van Ruysseveldt, Joris; van Dam, Karen; Mistiaen, Wilhelm; Nikolova, Irina

2016-10-01

This study investigated whether Nigerian nurses' emotional exhaustion and active learning were predicted by job demands, control and social support. Limited research has been conducted concerning nurses' work stress in developing countries, such as Nigeria. Accordingly, it is not clear whether work interventions for improving nurses' well-being in these countries can be based on work stress models that are developed in Western countries, such as the job demand control support model, as well as on empirical findings of job demand control support research. Nurses from Nurses Across the Borders Nigeria were invited to complete an online questionnaire containing validated scales; 210 questionnaires were fully completed and analysed. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Emotional exhaustion was higher for nurses who experienced high demands and low supervisor support. Active learning occurred when nurses worked under conditions of high control and high supervisor support. The findings suggest that the job demand control support model is applicable in a Nigerian nursing situation; the model indicates which occupational stressors contribute to poor well-being in Nigerian nurses and which work characteristics may boost nurses' active learning. Job (re)design interventions can enhance nurses' well-being and learning by guarding nurses' job demands, and stimulating job control and supervisor support. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The impact of health care professionals' service orientation on patients' innovative behavior.

PubMed

Henrike, Hannemann-Weber; Schultz, Carsten

2014-01-01

The increasing availability of medical information and the rising relevance of patient communities drive the active role of health consumers in health care processes. Patients become experts on their disease and provide valuable stimuli for novel care solutions. Medical encounters evolve toward a more collaborative health care service process, where patients are accepted as equal partners. However, the patient's active role depends on the interaction with the involved health care professionals. The aim of this article is to examine whether the service orientation of health care professionals and their proactive and adaptive work behavior and the extent of shared goals within the necessary interdisciplinary health professional team influence patients' innovative behavior. We address six rare diseases and use interview and survey data to test theoretically derived hypotheses. The sample consists of 86 patients and their 160 health care professionals. Sixty patients provided additional information via interviews. Patients' innovative behavior is reflected by the number of generated ideas as well as the variety of ideas. The service orientation of work teams plays an important role in the innovation process of patients. As hypothesized, the extent of shared goals within the health care teams has a direct effect on patients' idea generation. Work adaptivity and proactivity and shared goals both reinforce the positive effect of service orientation. Furthermore, significant associations between the three independent variables and the second outcome variable of patient's idea variety are confirmed. The study underlines (1) the important role of patients within health care service innovation processes, (2) the necessity of a service-oriented working climate to foster the development of innovative care solutions for rare diseases, and (3) the need for an efficient cooperation and open mindset of health care professionals to motivate and support patient innovation.

Meaningful conversations in living with and treating chronic conditions: development of the ICAN discussion aid.

PubMed

Boehmer, Kasey R; Hargraves, Ian G; Allen, Summer V; Matthews, Marc R; Maher, Christina; Montori, Victor M

2016-09-23

The needs of the growing population of complex patients with multiple chronic conditions calls for a different approach to care. Clinical teams need to acknowledge, respect, and support the work that patients do and the capacity they mobilize to enact this work, and to adapt and self-manage. Tools that enable this approach to care are needed. Using user-centered design principles, we set out to create a discussion aid for use by patients, clinicians, and other health professionals during clinical encounters. We observed clinical encounters, visited patient homes, and dialogued with patient support groups. We then developed and tested prototypes in routine clinical practice. Then we refined a final prototype with extensive stakeholder feedback. From this process resulted the ICAN Discussion Aid, a tool completed by the patient and reviewed during the consultation in which patients classified domains that contribute to capacity as sources of burden or satisfaction; clinical demands were also classified as sources of help or burden. The clinical review facilitated by ICAN generates hypotheses regarding why some treatment plans may be problematic and may not be enacted in the patient's situation. We successfully created a discussion aid to elucidate and share insights about the capacity patients have to enact the treatment plan and hypotheses as to why this plan may or may not be enacted. Next steps involve the evaluation of the impact of the ICAN Discussion Aid on clinical encounters with a variety of health professionals and the impact of ICAN-informed treatment plans on patient-important outcomes.

'Chipping in': clinical psychologists' descriptions of their use of formulation in multidisciplinary team working.

PubMed

Christofides, Stella; Johnstone, Lucy; Musa, Meyrem

2012-12-01

To investigate clinical psychologists' accounts of their use of psychological case formulation in multidisciplinary teamwork. A qualitative study using inductive thematic analysis. Ten clinical psychologists working in community and inpatient adult mental health services who identified themselves as using formulation in their multidisciplinary team work participated in semi-structured interviews. Psychological hypotheses were described as shared mostly through informal means such as chipping in ideas during a team discussion rather than through explicit means such as staff training or case presentations that usually only took place once participants had spent time developing their role within the team. Service context and staff's prior experience were also factors in how explicitly formulation was discussed. Participants reported that they believed that this way of working, although often not formally recognized, was valuable and improved the quality of clinical services provided. More investigation into this under-researched but important area of clinical practice is needed, in order to share ideas and support good practice. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Does Domain Knowledge Moderate Involvement of Working Memory Capacity in Higher-Level Cognition? A Test of Three Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambrick, D.Z.; Oswald, F.L.

2005-01-01

Research suggests that both working memory capacity and domain knowledge contribute to individual differences in higher-level cognition. This study evaluated three hypotheses concerning the interplay between these factors. The compensation hypothesis predicts that domain knowledge attenuates the influence of working memory capacity on higher-level…

Organizational Culture as Determinant of Knowledge Sharing Practices of Teachers Working in Higher Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Areekkuzhiyil, Santhosh

2016-01-01

The current study aims to explore the influence of organisational culture on the knowledge sharing practices of teachers working in higher education sector. The study hypothesized the impact of various aspects of organisational culture on the knowledge sharing practices of teachers working in higher education sector. The data required for the…

Impact of Organisational Factors on the Knowledge Sharing Practice of Teachers Working in Higher Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Areekkuzhiyil, Santhosh

2016-01-01

The current study aims to explore the various organizational factors that influence the knowledge sharing practices of teachers working in higher education sector. The study hypothesized the impact of various organizational factors on the knowledge sharing practices of teachers working in higher education sector. The data required for the study…

Staying Well and Engaged When Demands Are High: The Role of Psychological Detachment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sonnentag, Sabine; Binnewies, Carmen; Mojza, Eva J.

2010-01-01

The authors of this study examined the relation between job demands and psychological detachment from work during off-job time (i.e., mentally switching off) with psychological well-being and work engagement. They hypothesized that high job demands and low levels of psychological detachment predict poor well-being and low work engagement. They…

Very Early Brain Damage Leads to Remodeling of the Working Memory System in Adulthood: A Combined fMRI/Tractography Study

PubMed Central

Karolis, Vyacheslav; Caldinelli, Chiara; Brittain, Philip J.; Kroll, Jasmin; Rodríguez-Toscano, Elisa; Tesse, Marcello; Colquhoun, Matthew; Howes, Oliver; Dell'Acqua, Flavio; Thiebaut de Schotten, Michel; Murray, Robin M.; Williams, Steven C.R.; Nosarti, Chiara

2015-01-01

The human brain can adapt to overcome injury even years after an initial insult. One hypothesis states that early brain injury survivors, by taking advantage of critical periods of high plasticity during childhood, should recover more successfully than those who suffer injury later in life. This hypothesis has been challenged by recent studies showing worse cognitive outcome in individuals with early brain injury, compared with individuals with later brain injury, with working memory particularly affected. We invited individuals who suffered perinatal brain injury (PBI) for an fMRI/diffusion MRI tractography study of working memory and hypothesized that, 30 years after the initial injury, working memory deficits in the PBI group would remain, despite compensatory activation in areas outside the typical working memory network. Furthermore we hypothesized that the amount of functional reorganization would be related to the level of injury to the dorsal cingulum tract, which connects medial frontal and parietal working memory structures. We found that adults who suffered PBI did not significantly differ from controls in working memory performance. They exhibited less activation in classic frontoparietal working memory areas and a relative overactivation of bilateral perisylvian cortex compared with controls. Structurally, the dorsal cingulum volume and hindrance-modulated orientational anisotropy was significantly reduced in the PBI group. Furthermore there was uniquely in the PBI group a significant negative correlation between the volume of this tract and activation in the bilateral perisylvian cortex and a positive correlation between this activation and task performance. This provides the first evidence of compensatory plasticity of the working memory network following PBI. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here we used the example of perinatal brain injury (PBI) associated with very preterm birth to study the brain's ability to adapt to injury sustained early in life. In adulthood, individuals with PBI did not show significant deficits in working memory, but exhibited less activation in typical frontoparietal working memory areas. They also showed a relative overactivation of nontask-specific brain areas (perisylvian cortex) compared with controls, and such activation was negatively correlated with the size of white matter pathways involved in working memory (dorsal cingulum). Furthermore, this “extra” activation was associated with better working memory performance and could represent a novel compensatory mechanism following PBI. Such information could inform the development of neuroscience-based cognitive interventions following PBI. PMID:26631462

Intervention Effects on Safety Compliance and Citizenship Behaviors: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Study

PubMed Central

Hammer, Leslie B.; Johnson, Ryan C.; Crain, Tori L.; Bodner, Todd; Kossek, Ellen Ernst; Davis, Kelly; Kelly, Erin L.; Buxton, Orfeu M.; Karuntzos, Georgia; Chosewood, L. Casey; Berkman, Lisa

2015-01-01

We tested the effects of a work-family intervention on employee reports of safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors in 30 healthcare facilities using a group-randomized trial. Based on Conservation of Resources theory and the Work-Home Resources Model, we hypothesized that implementing a work-family intervention aimed at increasing contextual resources via supervisor support for work and family and employee control over work time would lead to improved personal resources and increased employee performance on the job in the form of self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Multilevel analyses used survey data from 1,524 employees at baseline, 6-month and 12-month post-intervention follow-ups. Significant intervention effects were observed for safety compliance at the 6-month and organizational citizenship behaviors at the 12-month follow-ups. More specifically, results demonstrate that the intervention protected against declines in employee self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors, compared to employees in the control facilities. The hypothesized mediators of perceptions of family supportive supervisor behaviors, control over work time, and work-family conflict (work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict) were not significantly improved by the intervention. However, baseline perceptions of family supportive supervisor behaviors, control over work time, and work-family climate were significant moderators of the intervention effect on the self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behavior outcomes. PMID:26348479

The three stages of building and testing mid-level theories in a realist RCT: a theoretical and methodological case-example.

PubMed

Jamal, Farah; Fletcher, Adam; Shackleton, Nichola; Elbourne, Diana; Viner, Russell; Bonell, Chris

2015-10-15

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of social interventions are often criticised as failing to open the 'black box' whereby they only address questions about 'what works' without explaining the underlying processes of implementation and mechanisms of action, and how these vary by contextual characteristics of person and place. Realist RCTs are proposed as an approach to evaluation science that addresses these gaps while preserving the strengths of RCTs in providing evidence with strong internal validity in estimating effects. In the context of growing interest in designing and conducting realist trials, there is an urgent need to offer a worked example to provide guidance on how such an approach might be practically taken forward. The aim of this paper is to outline a three-staged theoretical and methodological process of undertaking a realist RCT using the example of the evaluation of a whole-school restorative intervention aiming to reduce aggression and bullying in English secondary schools. First, informed by the findings of our initial pilot trial and sociological theory, we elaborate our theory of change and specific a priori hypotheses about how intervention mechanisms interact with context to produce outcomes. Second, we describe how we will use emerging findings from the integral process evaluation within the RCT to refine, and add to, these a priori hypotheses before the collection of quantitative, follow-up data. Third, we will test our hypotheses using a combination of process and outcome data via quantitative analyses of effect mediation (examining mechanisms) and moderation (examining contextual contingencies). The results are then used to refine and further develop the theory of change. The aim of the realist RCT approach is thus not merely to assess whether the intervention is effective or not, but to develop empirically informed mid-range theory through a three-stage process. There are important implications for those involved with reporting and reviewing RCTs, including the use of new, iterative protocols. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10751359 (Registered 11 March 2014).

A survey of etiologic hypotheses among testicular cancer researchers.

PubMed

Stang, A; Trabert, B; Rusner, C; Poole, C; Almstrup, K; Rajpert-De Meyts, E; McGlynn, K A

2015-01-01

Basic research results can provide new ideas and hypotheses to be examined in epidemiological studies. We conducted a survey among testicular cancer researchers on hypotheses concerning the etiology of this malignancy. All researchers on the mailing list of Copenhagen Testis Cancer Workshops and corresponding authors of PubMed-indexed articles identified by the search term 'testicular cancer' and published within 10 years (in total 2750 recipients) were invited to respond to an e-mail-based survey. Participants of the 8th Copenhagen Testis Cancer Workshop in May 2014 were subsequently asked to rate the plausibility of the suggested etiologic hypotheses on a scale of 1 (very implausible) to 10 (very plausible). This report describes the methodology of the survey, the score distributions by individual hypotheses, hypothesis group, and the participants' major research fields, and discuss the hypotheses that scored as most plausible. We also present plans for improving the survey that may be repeated at a next international meeting of experts in testicular cancer. Overall 52 of 99 (53%) registered participants of the 8th Copenhagen Testis Cancer Workshop submitted the plausibility rating form. Fourteen of 27 hypotheses were related to exposures during pregnancy. Hypotheses with the highest mean plausibility ratings were either related to pre-natal exposures or exposures that might have an effect during pregnancy and in post-natal life. The results of the survey may be helpful for triggering more specific etiologic hypotheses that include factors related to endocrine disruption, DNA damage, inflammation, and nutrition during pregnancy. The survey results may stimulate a multidisciplinary discussion about new etiologic hypotheses of testicular cancer. Published 2014. This article is a U. S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Research priorities: women in Africa.

PubMed

Okeyo, A P

1979-01-01

In December 1979, an Expert Meeting on Research and Data Collection on Women and Development was convened in Nairobi for the purpose of defining research priorities and methodological approaches for studying the role of African women in development. After reviewing current literature relevant to the subject matter, the participants developed a number of hypotheses regarding the impact of development activities on the role and status of women, and recommended that these hypotheses be tested in future reserach. In general, agrarian reform, mechanization of agriculture, the introduction of cash cropping, and modernization were hypothesized as having a negative impact on the role, status, productive activities, and nutritional standards of women. Other hypotheses stated that development programs and agricultural extension services tended to neglect women. Recommended research methodologies include: 1) efforts to involve the community members in the development and implementation of research projects undertaken in their communities; 2) increased use of local experts and community members in data collection; and 3) interdisciplinary collaboration. The participants also recommended that each country compile a statistical profile on the women in their countries. The profiles should include comparable information on: 1) fertility; 2) educational levels, employment status, and income levels for women; 3) household composition; and 4) types of services available to women.

Relationship quality and relationship context as antecedents of person- and task-focused interpersonal citizenship behavior.

PubMed

Settoon, Randall P; Mossholder, Kevin W

2002-04-01

A model hypothesizing relationship quality and relationship context as antecedents of two complementary forms of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) was tested. Measures with coworkers as the frame of reference were used to collect data from 273 individuals working in 2 service-oriented organizations. As hypothesized, variables reflecting relationship quality were associated with person-focused ICB, as mediated by empathic concern. Also as hypothesized, a relationship context variable, network centrality, exhibited a direct relationship with task-focused ICB. Unexpectedly, network centrality was directly associated with person-focused ICB. and empathic concern was associated with task-focused ICB. The results are discussed, and implications for research and practice are offered.

To stop or not to stop, that's the question: about persistence and mood of workaholics and work engaged employees.

PubMed

Van Wijhe, Corine I; Peeters, Maria C W; Schaufeli, Wilmar B

2011-12-01

Although workaholics and work engaged employees both work long hours, they seem to have a different underlying motivation to do so. The mood as input model might offer an explanation for the difference in work persistence of these employees. This model suggests that the interplay of mood and "persistence rules" (enough and enjoyment rules) may lead to different kinds of persistence mechanisms. The aims of this study are to present a scale for measuring persistence rules, the Work Persistence rules Checklist (WoPeC), to analyze its psychometric properties and to test the mood as input model in relationship with workaholism and work engagement. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis in study 1 provided support for the hypothesized factor structure of the WoPeC. In study 2, it appeared that the use of an enough and an enjoyment rule for determining when to continue working is related to workaholism and work engagement, respectively. Furthermore, it was hypothesized and found that negative mood is related to workaholism, whereas positive mood is associated with work engagement. The expected interactions between mood and persistence rules on workaholism and work engagement were not demonstrated. Mood and persistence rules seem relevant for explaining the difference between workaholism and work engagement.

Induction as an empirical problem: how students generalize during practical work

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wickman, Per-Olof

2002-05-01

We examined how university students made generalizations when making morphological observations of insects. Five groups of two or three students working together were audio recorded. The results were analysed by an approach based on the work of Wittgenstein and on a pragmatic and sociocultural perspective. Results showed that students rarely made generalizations in terms of universal statements and they did not use induction or produced hypotheses for testing in an analytic philosophical sense. The few generalizations they made of this kind were taken from zoological authorities like textbooks or lectures. However, students used induction when in more familiar contexts. Moreover, when generalizations were analysed in the sense of Dewey, it became evident that students are fully capable of making generalizations by transferring meaning from one experience to another. The implications of these results for using induction and hypotheses testing in instruction are discussed.

The Effects of Job Characteristics on Marital Quality: Specifying Linking Mechanisms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Diane; And Others

1992-01-01

Evaluated conceptual model hypothesizing that two dimensions of work-family interference, structural role difficulties and negative mood spillover, intervene in direct relationship between discrete characteristics of work and marital quality. Findings from 334 male and female white-collar workers indicated that job characteristics predicted…

Black/White Differences in Adolescent Drug Use: A Test of Six Hypotheses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rote, Sunshine M.; Taylor, John

2014-01-01

Six specific hypotheses have been developed to account for why Caucasians have higher rates of drug use compared to African-Americans. This article utilizes data from a South Florida-based community study of 893 young adults (1998-2002) to test these hypotheses. Specifically, Caucasians (1) initiate drug use at younger ages than African-Americans…

Characterization of the expression patterns of LEAFY/FLORICAULA and NEEDLY orthologs in female and male cones of the conifer genera Picea, Podocarpus, and Taxus: implications for current evo-devo hypotheses for gymnosperms.

PubMed

Vázquez-Lobo, Alejandra; Carlsbecker, Annelie; Vergara-Silva, Francisco; Alvarez-Buylla, Elena R; Piñero, Daniel; Engström, Peter

2007-01-01

The identity of genes causally implicated in the development and evolutionary origin of reproductive characters in gymnosperms is largely unknown. Working within the framework of plant evolutionary developmental biology, here we have cloned, sequenced, performed phylogenetic analyses upon and tested the expression patterns of LEAFY/FLORICAULA and NEEDLY orthologs in reproductive structures from selected species of the conifer genera Picea, Podocarpus, and Taxus. Contrary to expectations based on previous assessments, expression of LFY/FLO and NLY in cones of these taxa was found to occur simultaneously in a single reproductive axis, initially overlapping but later in mutually exclusive primordia and/or groups of developing cells in both female and male structures. These observations directly affect the status of the "mostly male theory" for the origin of the angiosperm flower. On the other hand, comparative spatiotemporal patterns of the expression of these genes suggest a complex genetic regulatory network of cone development, as well as a scheme of functional divergence for LFY/FLO with respect to NLY homologs in gymnosperms, both with clear heterochronic aspects. Results presented in this study contribute to the understanding of the molecular-genetic basis of morphological evolution in conifer cones, and may aid in establishing a foundation for gymnosperm-specific, testable evo-devo hypotheses.

Polymorphisms in inflammasome genes and risk of asthma in Brazilian children.

PubMed

Leal, Vinicius Nunes Cordeiro; Genov, Isabel Rugue; Mallozi, Márcia C; Solé, Dirceu; Pontillo, Alessandra

2018-01-01

Considering its role in inflammation and recently described "alternative" roles in epithelial homeostasis and Th1/Th2 balance, we hypothesize that inflammasome genetics could contribute to the development of asthma. Selected functional polymorphisms in inflammasome genes are evaluated in a cohort of asthmatic children and their families. Gain-of-function NLRP1 variants rs11651270, rs12150220 and rs2670660 resulted significantly associated to asthma in trios (TDT) analysis; and rs11651270 and rs2670660 also with asthma severity and total IgE level in asthmatic children. NLRP1 activators in humans are still unknown, however we hypothesized that individuals with gain-of-function SNPs in NLRP1 could be more prone in activating inflammasome in the presence of asthma-related cell stressors (i.e. ER stress or ROS), and this activation contribute to exacerbate inflammatory response and asthma development. Gain-of-function IL1A rs17561 resulted significantly associated with a reduced pulmonary capacity in asthmatic children. IL18 rs5744256 which lead to lower serum level of IL-18 appeared to be associated to a worse response to bronchodilators. Concluding, this work provides evidences about the contribution of inflammasome genetics in the development of paediatric asthma, both considering its inflammatory role in alveolar macrophages (i.e.: NLRP1) or its homeostatic role in lung epithelial cells (i.e.: IL1A, IL18). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The link between leadership and safety outcomes in hospitals.

PubMed

Squires, Mae; Tourangeau, Ann; Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Doran, Diane

2010-11-01

To test and refine a model examining relationships among leadership, interactional justice, quality of the nursing work environment, safety climate and patient and nurse safety outcomes. The quality of nursing work environments may pose serious threats to patient and nurse safety. Justice is an important element in work environments that support safety initiatives yet little research has been done that looks at how leader interactional justice influences safety outcomes. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 600 acute care registered nurses (RNs) to test and refine a model linking interactional justice, the quality of nurse leader-nurse relationships, work environment and safety climate with patient and nurse outcomes. In general the hypothesized model was supported. Resonant leadership and interactional justice influenced the quality of the leader-nurse relationship which in turn affected the quality of the work environment and safety climate. This ultimately was associated with decreased reported medication errors, intentions to leave and emotional exhaustion. Quality relationships based on fairness and empathy play a pivotal role in creating positive safety climates and work environments. To advocate for safe work environments, managers must strive to develop high-quality relationships through just leadership practices. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Have Disability Transfers Caused the Decline in Older Male Labor Force Participation? A Work-Status Rational Choice Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haveman, Robert H.; Wolfe, Barbara L.

This paper presents a decision-process model for explaining the growth in transfer recipiency (the receipt by working age people of disability income), the choice of work status, and the reduction in labor force participation of older workers. It is hypothesized that the attractiveness of disability income transfer options has led older male…

The Effect of Noise on the Relationship between Auditory Working Memory and Comprehension in School-Age Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Jessica R.; Osman, Homira; Schafer, Erin C.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The objectives of the current study were to examine the effect of noise (-5 dB SNR) on auditory comprehension and to examine its relationship with working memory. It was hypothesized that noise has a negative impact on information processing, auditory working memory, and comprehension. Method: Children with normal hearing between the ages…

An Empirical Examination of the Mechanisms Mediating between High-Performance Work Systems and the Performance of Japanese Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takeuchi, Riki; Lepak, David P.; Wang, Heli; Takeuchi, Kazuo

2007-01-01

The resource-based view of the firm and social exchange perspectives are invoked to hypothesize linkages among high-performance work systems, collective human capital, the degree of social exchange in an establishment, and establishment performance. The authors argue that high-performance work systems generate a high level of collective human…

Effects of Performance-Based Financial Incentives on Work Performance: A Study of Technical-Level Employees in the Private Sector in Sri Lanka

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wickramasinghe, Vathsala; Dabere, Sampath

2012-01-01

The objective of the study is to investigate the effect of performance-based financial incentives on work performance. The study hypothesized that the design features of performance-based financial incentive schemes themselves may influence individuals' work performance. For the study, survey methodology was used and 93 technical-level employees…

Shift work and chronic disease: the epidemiological evidence

PubMed Central

Armstrong, M. E. G.; Cairns, B. J.; Key, T. J.; Travis, R. C.

2011-01-01

Background Shift work, including night work, has been hypothesized to increase the risk of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Recent reviews of evidence relating to these hypotheses have focussed on specific diseases or potential mechanisms, but no general summary of the current data on shift work and chronic disease has been published. Methods Systematic and critical reviews and recent original studies indexed in PubMed prior to 31 December 2009 were retrieved, aided by manual searches of reference lists. The main conclusions from reviews and principle results from recent studies are presented in text and tables. Results Published evidence is suggestive but not conclusive for an adverse association between night work and breast cancer but limited and inconsistent for cancers at other sites and all cancers combined. Findings on shift work, in relation to risks of CVD, metabolic syndrome and diabetes are also suggestive but not conclusive for an adverse relationship. Conclusions Heterogeneity of study exposures and outcomes and emphasis on positive but non-significant results make it difficult to draw general conclusions. Further data are needed for additional disease endpoints and study populations. PMID:21355031

The RNA-world and co-evolution hypotheses and the origin of life: Implications, research strategies and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lahav, Noam

1993-12-01

The applicability of the RNA-world and co-evolution hypotheses to the study of the very first stages of the origin of life is discussed. The discussion focuses on the basic differences between the two hypotheses and their implications, with regard to the reconstruction methodology, ribosome emergence, balance between ribozymes and protein enzymes, and their major difficulties. Additional complexities of the two hypotheses, such as membranes and the energy source of the first reactions, are not treated in the present work. A central element in the proposed experimental strategies is the study of the catalytic activities of very small peptides and RNA-like oligomers, according to existing, as well as to yet-to-be-invented scenarios of the two hypotheses under consideration. It is suggested that the noveldirected molecular evolution technology, andmolecular computational modeling, can be applied to this research. This strategy is assumed to be essential for the suggested goal of future studies of the origin of life, namely, the establishment of a ‘Primordial Darwinian entity’.

Student Satisfaction With an Innovative Internship

PubMed Central

Petrila, Ann; Fireman, Orah; Fitzpatrick, Leslie Schnoll; Hodas, Robyn Wertheimer; Taussig, Heather N.

2014-01-01

This article describes an internship program designed specifically to meet graduate students’ training needs within the context of their work in a prevention program for children in foster care. An internship based on a strong model of intern recruitment and supervision, structured inclusion of interns in a supportive agency culture, a manualized orientation, and an ongoing didactic program, was hypothesized to result in a positive experience for interns. Results of anonymous surveys administered to 102 interns over a 9-year period assessing their internship experience are presented and discussed. Recommendations are made for development of internship training sites. PMID:25642119

Using the Job Demands-Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations.

PubMed

Nielsen, Morten Birkeland; Mearns, Kathryn; Matthiesen, Stig Berge; Eid, Jarle

2011-10-01

Using the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationship between risk perception as a job demand and psychological safety climate as a job resource with regard to job satisfaction in safety critical organizations. In line with the JD-R model, it was hypothesized that high levels of risk perception is related to low job satisfaction and that a positive perception of safety climate is related to high job satisfaction. In addition, it was hypothesized that safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Norwegian offshore workers (N = 986), all three hypotheses were supported. In summary, workers who perceived high levels of risk reported lower levels of job satisfaction, whereas this effect diminished when workers perceived their safety climate as positive. Follow-up analyses revealed that this interaction was dependent on the type of risks in question. The results of this study supports the JD-R model, and provides further evidence for relationships between safety-related concepts and work-related outcomes indicating that organizations should not only develop and implement sound safety procedures to reduce the effects of risks and hazards on workers, but can also enhance other areas of organizational life through a focus on safety. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Demand-supply dynamics in tourism systems: A spatio-temporal GIS analysis. The Alberta ski industry case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertazzon, Stefania

The present research focuses on the interaction of supply and demand of down-hill ski tourism in the province of Alberta. The main hypothesis is that the demand for skiing depends on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the population living in the province and outside it. A second, consequent hypothesis is that the development of ski resorts (supply) is a response to the demand for skiing. From the latter derives the hypothesis of a dynamic interaction between supply (ski resorts) and demand (skiers). Such interaction occurs in space, within a range determined by physical distance and the means available to overcome it. The above hypotheses implicitly define interactions that take place in space and evolve over time. The hypotheses are tested by temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal regression models, using the best available data and the latest commercially available software. The main purpose of this research is to explore analytical techniques to model spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal dynamics in the context of regional science. The completion of the present research has produced more significant contributions than was originally expected. Many of the unexpected contributions resulted from theoretical and applied needs arising from the application of spatial regression models. Spatial regression models are a new and largely under-applied technique. The models are fairly complex and a considerable amount of preparatory work is needed, prior to their specification and estimation. Most of this work is specific to the field of application. The originality of the solutions devised is increased by the lack of applications in the field of tourism. The scarcity of applications in other fields adds to their value for other applications. The estimation of spatio-temporal models has been only partially attained in the present research. This apparent limitation is due to the novelty and complexity of the analytical methods applied. This opens new directions for further work in the field of spatial analysis, in conjunction with the development of specific software.

Enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in grapheme-color synesthesia.

PubMed

Terhune, Devin Blair; Wudarczyk, Olga Anna; Kochuparampil, Priya; Cohen Kadosh, Roi

2013-10-01

There is emerging evidence that the encoding of visual information and the maintenance of this information in a temporarily accessible state in working memory rely on the same neural mechanisms. A consequence of this overlap is that atypical forms of perception should influence working memory. We examined this by investigating whether having grapheme-color synesthesia, a condition characterized by the involuntary experience of color photisms when reading or representing graphemes, would confer benefits on working memory. Two competing hypotheses propose that superior memory in synesthesia results from information being coded in two information channels (dual-coding) or from superior dimension-specific visual processing (enhanced processing). We discriminated between these hypotheses in three n-back experiments in which controls and synesthetes viewed inducer and non-inducer graphemes and maintained color or grapheme information in working memory. Synesthetes displayed superior color working memory than controls for both grapheme types, whereas the two groups did not differ in grapheme working memory. Further analyses excluded the possibilities of enhanced working memory among synesthetes being due to greater color discrimination, stimulus color familiarity, or bidirectionality. These results reveal enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in this population and supply further evidence for a close relationship between sensory processing and the maintenance of sensory information in working memory. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

When more is less: An examination of the relationship between hours in telework and role overload.

PubMed

Duxbury, Linda; Halinski, Michael

2014-01-01

Proponents of telework arrangements assert that those who telework have more control over their work and family domains than their counterparts who are not permitted to work from home. Using Karasek's theory we hypothesized that the relationship between demands (hours in work per week; hours in childcare per week) and strain (work role overload; family role overload) would be moderated by the number of hours the employee spent per week teleworking (control). To determine how the number of telework hours relates to work role overload and family role overload, we follow the test for moderation and mediation using hierarchical multiple regression analysis as outlined by Frazier et al. [50] We used survey data collected from 1,806 male and female professional employees who spent at least one hour per week working from home during regular hours (i.e. teleworking). As hypothesized, the number of hours in telework per week negatively moderated the relation between work demands (total hours in paid employment per week) and work strain (work role overload). Contrary to our hypothesis, the number of hours in telework per week only partially mediated the relation between family demands (hours a week in childcare) and family role overload (strain). The findings from this study support the idea that the control offered by telework is domain specific (helps employees meet demands at work but not at home).

Intensive Cardiorespiratory Exercise (ICE) to Remediate Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Active Duty Service Members

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-01

Determine if ICE is associated with cognitive benefits in mTBI. We hypothesize that ICE will be associated with gains in Global Cognition (primary outcome...mechanisms that may mediate or moderate how ICE affects cognition and depressive symptoms. Based on our prior work in older adults, we hypothesize...that gains in CR fitness (VO2peak) will mediate benefits in mTBI symptomatology ( cognitive and depression symptom severity). Three clinical

APOL1 Oligomerization as the Key Mediator of Kidney Disease in African Americans

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

kidney disease that accounts for the high rate of kidney disease in African Americans. This work is based on the hypothesize that APOL1 kidney disease...microscopy- based approaches. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Kidney, ESRD, APOL1, African American 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER...is based on the hypothesize that APOL1 kidney disease in African Americans results from abnormal aggregation of the APOL1 risk variant protein in an

From themes to hypotheses: following up with quantitative methods.

PubMed

Morgan, David L

2015-06-01

One important category of mixed-methods research designs consists of quantitative studies that follow up on qualitative research. In this case, the themes that serve as the results from the qualitative methods generate hypotheses for testing through the quantitative methods. That process requires operationalization to translate the concepts from the qualitative themes into quantitative variables. This article illustrates these procedures with examples that range from simple operationalization to the evaluation of complex models. It concludes with an argument for not only following up qualitative work with quantitative studies but also the reverse, and doing so by going beyond integrating methods within single projects to include broader mutual attention from qualitative and quantitative researchers who work in the same field. © The Author(s) 2015.

Making stronger causal inferences: Accounting for selection bias in associations between high performance work systems, leadership, and employee and customer satisfaction.

PubMed

Schmidt, Joseph A; Pohler, Dionne M

2018-05-17

We develop competing hypotheses about the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) with employee and customer satisfaction. Drawing on 8 years of employee and customer survey data from a financial services firm, we used a recently developed empirical technique-covariate balanced propensity score (CBPS) weighting-to examine if the proposed relationships between HPWS and satisfaction outcomes can be explained by reverse causality, selection effects, or commonly omitted variables such as leadership behavior. The results provide support for leader behaviors as a primary driver of customer satisfaction, rather than HPWS, and also suggest that the problem of reverse causality requires additional attention in future human resource (HR) systems research. Model comparisons suggest that the estimates and conclusions vary across CBPS, meta-analytic, cross-sectional, and time-lagged models (with and without a lagged dependent variable as a control). We highlight the theoretical and methodological implications of the findings for HR systems research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Working Memory and Speech Comprehension in Older Adults with Hearing Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagaraj, Naveen K.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between working memory (WM) and speech comprehension in older adults with hearing impairment (HI). It was hypothesized that WM would explain significant variance in speech comprehension measured in multitalker babble (MTB). Method: Twenty-four older (59-73 years) adults with sensorineural HI…

Spousal Support and Work--Family Balance in Launching a Family Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gudmunson, Clinton G.; Danes, Sharon M.; Werbel, James D.; Loy, Johnben Teik-Cheok

2009-01-01

This study examines whether emotional spousal support contributes to business owners' perceived work-family balance while launching a family business. Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources theory of stress is applied to 109 family business owners and their spouses. Results from structural equation models support several hypotheses. First, reports of…

Testing Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Association between Behavioral Inhibition and Language Development in Toddlerhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Ashley K. Smith; Patel, Deepika; Corley, Robin P.; Friedman, Naomi P.; Hewitt, John K.; Robinson, JoAnn L.; Rhee, Soo H.

2014-01-01

Studies have reported an inverse association between language development and behavioral inhibition or shyness across childhood, but the direction of this association remains unclear. This study tested alternative hypotheses regarding this association in a large sample of toddlers. Data on behavioral inhibition and expressive and receptive…

Estimation from PET data of transient changes in dopamine concentration induced by alcohol: support for a non-parametric signal estimation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Constantinescu, C. C.; Yoder, K. K.; Kareken, D. A.; Bouman, C. A.; O'Connor, S. J.; Normandin, M. D.; Morris, E. D.

2008-03-01

We previously developed a model-independent technique (non-parametric ntPET) for extracting the transient changes in neurotransmitter concentration from paired (rest & activation) PET studies with a receptor ligand. To provide support for our method, we introduced three hypotheses of validation based on work by Endres and Carson (1998 J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 18 1196-210) and Yoder et al (2004 J. Nucl. Med. 45 903-11), and tested them on experimental data. All three hypotheses describe relationships between the estimated free (synaptic) dopamine curves (FDA(t)) and the change in binding potential (ΔBP). The veracity of the FDA(t) curves recovered by nonparametric ntPET is supported when the data adhere to the following hypothesized behaviors: (1) ΔBP should decline with increasing DA peak time, (2) ΔBP should increase as the strength of the temporal correlation between FDA(t) and the free raclopride (FRAC(t)) curve increases, (3) ΔBP should decline linearly with the effective weighted availability of the receptor sites. We analyzed regional brain data from 8 healthy subjects who received two [11C]raclopride scans: one at rest, and one during which unanticipated IV alcohol was administered to stimulate dopamine release. For several striatal regions, nonparametric ntPET was applied to recover FDA(t), and binding potential values were determined. Kendall rank-correlation analysis confirmed that the FDA(t) data followed the expected trends for all three validation hypotheses. Our findings lend credence to our model-independent estimates of FDA(t). Application of nonparametric ntPET may yield important insights into how alterations in timing of dopaminergic neurotransmission are involved in the pathologies of addiction and other psychiatric disorders.

Inter-institutional Development of a Poster-Based Cancer Biology Learning Tool

PubMed Central

Andraos-Selim, Cecile; Modzelewski, Ruth A.; Steinman, Richard A.

2010-01-01

There is a paucity of African-American Cancer researchers. To help address this, an educational collaboration was developed between a Comprehensive Cancer Center and a distant undergraduate biology department at a minority institution that sought to teach students introductory cancer biology while modeling research culture. A student-centered active learning curriculum was established that incorporated scientific poster presentations and simulated research exercises to foster learning of cancer biology. Students successfully mined primary literature for supportive data to test cancer-related hypotheses. Student feedback indicated that the poster project substantially enhanced depth of understanding of cancer biology and laid the groundwork for subsequent laboratory work. This inter-institutional collaboration modeled the research process while conveying facts and concepts about cancer. PMID:20237886

Identification of tumor evolution patterns by means of inductive logic programming.

PubMed

Bevilacqua, Vitoantonio; Chiarappa, Patrizia; Mastronardi, Giuseppe; Menolascina, Filippo; Paradiso, Angelo; Tommasi, Stefania

2008-06-01

In considering key events of genomic disorders in the development and progression of cancer, the correlation between genomic instability and carcinogenesis is currently under investigation. In this work, we propose an inductive logic programming approach to the problem of modeling evolution patterns for breast cancer. Using this approach, it is possible to extract fingerprints of stages of the disease that can be used in order to develop and deliver the most adequate therapies to patients. Furthermore, such a model can help physicians and biologists in the elucidation of molecular dynamics underlying the aberrations-waterfall model behind carcinogenesis. By showing results obtained on a real-world dataset, we try to give some hints about further approach to the knowledge-driven validations of such hypotheses.

Intervention effects on safety compliance and citizenship behaviors: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Study.

PubMed

Hammer, Leslie B; Johnson, Ryan C; Crain, Tori L; Bodner, Todd; Kossek, Ellen Ernst; Davis, Kelly D; Kelly, Erin L; Buxton, Orfeu M; Karuntzos, Georgia; Chosewood, L Casey; Berkman, Lisa

2016-02-01

We tested the effects of a work-family intervention on employee reports of safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors in 30 health care facilities using a group-randomized trial. Based on conservation of resources theory and the work-home resources model, we hypothesized that implementing a work-family intervention aimed at increasing contextual resources via supervisor support for work and family, and employee control over work time, would lead to improved personal resources and increased employee performance on the job in the form of self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Multilevel analyses used survey data from 1,524 employees at baseline and at 6-month and 12-month postintervention follow-ups. Significant intervention effects were observed for safety compliance at the 6-month, and organizational citizenship behaviors at the 12-month, follow-ups. More specifically, results demonstrate that the intervention protected against declines in employee self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behaviors compared with employees in the control facilities. The hypothesized mediators of perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors, control over work time, and work-family conflict (work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict) were not significantly improved by the intervention. However, baseline perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors, control over work time, and work-family climate were significant moderators of the intervention effect on the self-reported safety compliance and organizational citizenship behavior outcomes. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Principle of Spacetime and Black Hole Equivalence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tianxi

2016-06-01

Modelling the universe without relying on a set of hypothetical entities (HEs) to explain observations and overcome problems and difficulties is essential to developing a physical cosmology. The well-known big bang cosmology, widely accepted as the standard model, stands on two fundamentals, which are Einstein’s general relativity (GR) that describes the effect of matter on spacetime and the cosmological principle (CP) of spacetime isotropy and homogeneity. The field equation of GR along with the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric of spacetime derived from CP generates the Friedmann equation (FE) that governs the development and dynamics of the universe. The big bang theory has made impressive successes in explaining the universe, but still has problems and solutions of them rely on an increasing number of HEs such as inflation, dark matter, dark energy, and so on. Recently, the author has developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe, which, instead of making many those hypotheses, only includes a new single postulate (or a new principle) to the cosmology - Principle of Spacetime and Black Hole Equivalence (SBHEP) - to explain all the existing observations of the universe and overcome all the existing problems in conventional cosmologies. This study thoroughly demonstrates how this newly developed black hole universe model, which therefore stands on the three fundamentals (GR, CP, and SBHEP), can fully explain the universe as well as easily conquer the difficulties according to the well-developed physics, thus, neither needing any other hypotheses nor existing any unsolved difficulties. This work was supported by NSF/REU (Grant #: PHY-1263253) at Alabama A & M University.

Applying the Job Demands--Resources Model to the Work--Home Interface: A Study among Medical Residents and Their Partners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bakker, Arnold B.; ten Brummelhuis, Lieke L.; Prins, Jelle T.; van der Heijden, Frank M. M. A.

2011-01-01

Work-home interference (WHI) is a prevalent problem because most employees have substantial family responsibilities on top of their work demands. The present study hypothesized that high job demands in combination with low job resources contribute to WHI. The job demands-resources (JD-R) model was used as a theoretical framework. Using a sample of…

Generational Differences in Work Values between Parents and Children and between Boys and Girls across Grade Levels 6, 9, 10, and 12

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wijting, Jan P.; And Others

1978-01-01

Cross-sectional comparison of elementary and secondary school children and parents examined changes in work values and relationships between children's and parents' work values as a function of age and sex. Revealed support for hypothesized differences in children's values and for convergence of sex differences in values at later ages. (Author)

Compte rendu d'une experience pedagogique. L'Enseignement de la competence de communication en langues secondes. (An Account of a Pedagogical Experiment. The Teaching of Communicative Competence in Second Languages). Acts of the Colloguium of the Swiss Interuniversity Commission for Applied Linguistics. CILA Bulletin.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunet, J.; Jammot, M. T.

Three methodological "hypotheses" elaborated by the "Centre interuniversitaire de recherche pour le recyclage des maitres d'italien" are presented here. These hypotheses came from three teams of teachers working from different perspectives on sets of lessons for beginners of all ages. Each team's operative assumptions, type of text, guiding…

Primal hypotheses: the relationship between naturalness, solitude, and the wilderness experience benefits of development of self, development of community, and spiritual development

Treesearch

Dave D. White; John C. Hendee

2000-01-01

This paper describes what we call “the primal hypotheses,” which assert positive relationships between the legislated wilderness attributes of naturalness and solitude and three broad constructs that embrace human benefits from wilderness experience reported in the literature—“development of self” (DOS), “development of community” (DOC) and “spiritual development” (SD...

The Kitchen Is Your Laboratory: A Research-Based Term-Paper Assignment in a Science Writing Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Clinton D.

2011-01-01

A term-paper assignment that encompasses the full scientific method has been developed and implemented in an undergraduate science writing and communication course with no laboratory component. Students are required to develop their own hypotheses, design experiments to test their hypotheses, and collect empirical data as independent scientists in…

Globalization, Foreign Investment Dependence and Agriculture Production: Pesticide and Fertilizer Use in Less-Developed Countries, 1990-2000

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jorgenson, Andrew K.; Kuykendall, Kennon A.

2008-01-01

Bridging the areas of political-economic sociology, the sociology of agriculture and environmental sociology, this study tests two hypotheses derived from a refined theory of foreign investment dependence. The hypotheses state that pesticide and fertilizer use intensity in less-developed countries are both positively associated with foreign…

How basic psychological needs and motivation affect vitality and lifelong learning adaptability of pharmacists: a structural equation model.

PubMed

Tjin A Tsoi, Sharon L N M; de Boer, Anthonius; Croiset, Gerda; Koster, Andries S; van der Burgt, Stéphanie; Kusurkar, Rashmi A

2018-01-31

Insufficient professional development may lead to poor performance of healthcare professionals. Therefore, continuing education (CE) and continuing professional development (CPD) are needed to secure safe and good quality healthcare. The aim of the study was to investigate the hypothesized associations and their directions between pharmacists' basic psychological needs in CE, their academic motivation, well-being, learning outcomes. Self-determination theory was used as a theoretical framework for this study. Data were collected through four questionnaires measuring: academic motivation, basic psychological needs (BPN), vitality and lifelong learning adaptability of pharmacists in the CE/CPD learning context. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data. Demographic factors like gender and working environment influenced the observed scores for frustration of BPN and factors like training status and working experience influenced the observed scores for academic motivation. A good model fit could be found only for a part of the hypothesized pathway. Frustration of BPN is positively directly related to the less desirable type of academic motivation, controlled motivation (0.88) and negatively directly related to vitality (- 1.61) and negatively indirectly related to learning outcomes in CE. Fulfillment or frustration of BPN are important predictors for well-being and learning outcomes. Further research should be conducted to discover how we can prevent these needs from being frustrated in order to design a motivating, vitalizing and sustainable CE/CPD system for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Basic psychological needs are very important predictors for well-being and learning outcomes. Further research should be conducted to discover how we can prevent these needs from being frustrated in order to design a motivating, vitalizing and sustainable CE/CPD system for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.

Segmentation editing improves efficiency while reducing inter-expert variation and maintaining accuracy for normal brain tissues in the presence of space-occupying lesions

PubMed Central

Deeley, MA; Chen, A; Datteri, R; Noble, J; Cmelak, A; Donnelly, EF; Malcolm, A; Moretti, L; Jaboin, J; Niermann, K; Yang, Eddy S; Yu, David S; Dawant, BM

2013-01-01

Image segmentation has become a vital and often rate limiting step in modern radiotherapy treatment planning. In recent years the pace and scope of algorithm development, and even introduction into the clinic, have far exceeded evaluative studies. In this work we build upon our previous evaluation of a registration driven segmentation algorithm in the context of 8 expert raters and 20 patients who underwent radiotherapy for large space-occupying tumors in the brain. In this work we tested four hypotheses concerning the impact of manual segmentation editing in a randomized single-blinded study. We tested these hypotheses on the normal structures of the brainstem, optic chiasm, eyes and optic nerves using the Dice similarity coefficient, volume, and signed Euclidean distance error to evaluate the impact of editing on inter-rater variance and accuracy. Accuracy analyses relied on two simulated ground truth estimation methods: STAPLE and a novel implementation of probability maps. The experts were presented with automatic, their own, and their peers’ segmentations from our previous study to edit. We found, independent of source, editing reduced inter-rater variance while maintaining or improving accuracy and improving efficiency with at least 60% reduction in contouring time. In areas where raters performed poorly contouring from scratch, editing of the automatic segmentations reduced the prevalence of total anatomical miss from approximately 16% to 8% of the total slices contained within the ground truth estimations. These findings suggest that contour editing could be useful for consensus building such as in developing delineation standards, and that both automated methods and even perhaps less sophisticated atlases could improve efficiency, inter-rater variance, and accuracy. PMID:23685866

Informal eldercare and work-related strain.

PubMed

Trukeschitz, Birgit; Schneider, Ulrike; Mühlmann, Richard; Ponocny, Ivo

2013-03-01

In light of an aging workforce, reconciling informal eldercare and paid work becomes increasingly pertinent. This article investigates the association between informal eldercare and work-related strain and tests for both the "competing demands" and "expansion" hypotheses. The sample of 938 Austrian employees consisted of employees caring for older relatives and a control group of employees without eldercare obligations. We ran a Tobit regression model on work-related strain with different measures of informal eldercare as explanatory variables and controls for both personal and workplace characteristics. Accounting for different characteristics of eldercare within one estimation model revealed that informal eldercare was associated with work-related strain in 2 ways, that is, it increased with both care hours and subjective care burden. However, after controlling for these burdensome attributes of eldercare, the carer status as such was found to be negatively associated with work-related strain. In addition and independently of care commitments, work-related factors, such as advanced skills and job motivation, reduced work-related strain. This article lends support to both the "competing demands" and the "expansion" hypotheses. Commitment to eldercare can enhance work-related outcomes but entails work-related problems if care burden and time demands of eldercare are substantial. Thus, workers with eldercare responsibilities cannot be considered less productive from the outset. An individual assessment of their situation, considering the care and work setting, is required. Findings from this study support the design of workplace initiatives to uphold workers' productivity in general and bring specific attention to policies alleviating workers' eldercare burden.

Advancing tuberculosis drug regimen development through innovative quantitative translational pharmacology methods and approaches.

PubMed

Hanna, Debra; Romero, Klaus; Schito, Marco

2017-03-01

The development of novel tuberculosis (TB) multi-drug regimens that are more efficacious and of shorter duration requires a robust drug development pipeline. Advances in quantitative modeling and simulation can be used to maximize the utility of patient-level data from prior and contemporary clinical trials, thus optimizing study design for anti-TB regimens. This perspective article highlights the work of seven project teams developing first-in-class translational and quantitative methodologies that aim to inform drug development decision-making, dose selection, trial design, and safety assessments, in order to achieve shorter and safer therapies for patients in need. These tools offer the opportunity to evaluate multiple hypotheses and provide a means to identify, quantify, and understand relevant sources of variability, to optimize translation and clinical trial design. When incorporated into the broader regulatory sciences framework, these efforts have the potential to transform the development paradigm for TB combination development, as well as other areas of global health. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Direct and indirect effects of third-party relationships on interpersonal trust.

PubMed

Ferrin, Donald L; Dirks, Kurt T; Shah, Pri P

2006-07-01

Past studies of the determinants of interpersonal trust have focused primarily on how trust forms in isolated dyads. Yet within organizations, trust typically develops between individuals who are embedded in a complex web of existing and potential relationships. In this article, the authors identify 3 alternative ways in which a trustor and trustee may be linked to each other via third parties: network closure (linked via social interactions with third parties), trust transferability (linked via trusted third parties), and structural equivalence (linked via the similarity of their relationships with all potential third parties within the organization). Each of these is argued to influence interpersonal trust via a distinct social mechanism. The authors hypothesized that network closure and structural equivalence would predict interpersonal trust indirectly via their impact on interpersonal organizational citizenship behaviors performed within the interpersonal relationship, whereas trust transferability would predict trust directly. Social network analyses of data gathered from a medium-sized work organization provide substantial support for the hypotheses and also suggest important directions for future research. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

A Model-Based Approach for Identifying Signatures of Ancient Balancing Selection in Genetic Data

PubMed Central

DeGiorgio, Michael; Lohmueller, Kirk E.; Nielsen, Rasmus

2014-01-01

While much effort has focused on detecting positive and negative directional selection in the human genome, relatively little work has been devoted to balancing selection. This lack of attention is likely due to the paucity of sophisticated methods for identifying sites under balancing selection. Here we develop two composite likelihood ratio tests for detecting balancing selection. Using simulations, we show that these methods outperform competing methods under a variety of assumptions and demographic models. We apply the new methods to whole-genome human data, and find a number of previously-identified loci with strong evidence of balancing selection, including several HLA genes. Additionally, we find evidence for many novel candidates, the strongest of which is FANK1, an imprinted gene that suppresses apoptosis, is expressed during meiosis in males, and displays marginal signs of segregation distortion. We hypothesize that balancing selection acts on this locus to stabilize the segregation distortion and negative fitness effects of the distorter allele. Thus, our methods are able to reproduce many previously-hypothesized signals of balancing selection, as well as discover novel interesting candidates. PMID:25144706

A model-based approach for identifying signatures of ancient balancing selection in genetic data.

PubMed

DeGiorgio, Michael; Lohmueller, Kirk E; Nielsen, Rasmus

2014-08-01

While much effort has focused on detecting positive and negative directional selection in the human genome, relatively little work has been devoted to balancing selection. This lack of attention is likely due to the paucity of sophisticated methods for identifying sites under balancing selection. Here we develop two composite likelihood ratio tests for detecting balancing selection. Using simulations, we show that these methods outperform competing methods under a variety of assumptions and demographic models. We apply the new methods to whole-genome human data, and find a number of previously-identified loci with strong evidence of balancing selection, including several HLA genes. Additionally, we find evidence for many novel candidates, the strongest of which is FANK1, an imprinted gene that suppresses apoptosis, is expressed during meiosis in males, and displays marginal signs of segregation distortion. We hypothesize that balancing selection acts on this locus to stabilize the segregation distortion and negative fitness effects of the distorter allele. Thus, our methods are able to reproduce many previously-hypothesized signals of balancing selection, as well as discover novel interesting candidates.

Increasing Psychotherapists’ Adoption and Implementation of the Evidence-based Practice of Progress Monitoring

PubMed Central

Persons, Jacqueline B.; Koerner, Kelly; Eidelman, Polina; Thomas, Cannon; Liu, Howard

2015-01-01

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) reach consumers slowly because practitioners are slow to adopt and implement them. We hypothesized that giving psychotherapists a tool + training intervention that was designed to help the therapist integrate the EBP of progress monitoring into his or her usual way of working would be associated with adoption and sustained implementation of the particular progress monitoring tool we trained them to use (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales on our Online Progress Tracking tool) and would generalize to all types of progress monitoring measures. To test these hypotheses, we developed an online progress monitoring tool and a course that trained psychotherapists to use it, and we assessed progress monitoring behavior in 26 psychotherapists before, during, immediately after, and 12 months after they received the tool and training. Immediately after receiving the tool + training intervention, participants showed statistically significant increases in use of the online tool and of all types of progress monitoring measures. Twelve months later, participants showed sustained use of any type of progress monitoring measure but not the online tool. PMID:26618237

FALCON: a toolbox for the fast contextualization of logical networks

PubMed Central

De Landtsheer, Sébastien; Trairatphisan, Panuwat; Lucarelli, Philippe; Sauter, Thomas

2017-01-01

Abstract Motivation Mathematical modelling of regulatory networks allows for the discovery of knowledge at the system level. However, existing modelling tools are often computation-heavy and do not offer intuitive ways to explore the model, to test hypotheses or to interpret the results biologically. Results We have developed a computational approach to contextualize logical models of regulatory networks with biological measurements based on a probabilistic description of rule-based interactions between the different molecules. Here, we propose a Matlab toolbox, FALCON, to automatically and efficiently build and contextualize networks, which includes a pipeline for conducting parameter analysis, knockouts and easy and fast model investigation. The contextualized models could then provide qualitative and quantitative information about the network and suggest hypotheses about biological processes. Availability and implementation FALCON is freely available for non-commercial users on GitHub under the GPLv3 licence. The toolbox, installation instructions, full documentation and test datasets are available at https://github.com/sysbiolux/FALCON. FALCON runs under Matlab (MathWorks) and requires the Optimization Toolbox. Contact thomas.sauter@uni.lu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:28673016

FALCON: a toolbox for the fast contextualization of logical networks.

PubMed

De Landtsheer, Sébastien; Trairatphisan, Panuwat; Lucarelli, Philippe; Sauter, Thomas

2017-11-01

Mathematical modelling of regulatory networks allows for the discovery of knowledge at the system level. However, existing modelling tools are often computation-heavy and do not offer intuitive ways to explore the model, to test hypotheses or to interpret the results biologically. We have developed a computational approach to contextualize logical models of regulatory networks with biological measurements based on a probabilistic description of rule-based interactions between the different molecules. Here, we propose a Matlab toolbox, FALCON, to automatically and efficiently build and contextualize networks, which includes a pipeline for conducting parameter analysis, knockouts and easy and fast model investigation. The contextualized models could then provide qualitative and quantitative information about the network and suggest hypotheses about biological processes. FALCON is freely available for non-commercial users on GitHub under the GPLv3 licence. The toolbox, installation instructions, full documentation and test datasets are available at https://github.com/sysbiolux/FALCON. FALCON runs under Matlab (MathWorks) and requires the Optimization Toolbox. thomas.sauter@uni.lu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Increasing psychotherapists' adoption and implementation of the evidence-based practice of progress monitoring.

PubMed

Persons, Jacqueline B; Koerner, Kelly; Eidelman, Polina; Thomas, Cannon; Liu, Howard

2016-01-01

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) reach consumers slowly because practitioners are slow to adopt and implement them. We hypothesized that giving psychotherapists a tool + training intervention that was designed to help the therapist integrate the EBP of progress monitoring into his or her usual way of working would be associated with adoption and sustained implementation of the particular progress monitoring tool we trained them to use (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales on our Online Progress Tracking tool) and would generalize to all types of progress monitoring measures. To test these hypotheses, we developed an online progress monitoring tool and a course that trained psychotherapists to use it, and we assessed progress monitoring behavior in 26 psychotherapists before, during, immediately after, and 12 months after they received the tool and training. Immediately after receiving the tool + training intervention, participants showed statistically significant increases in use of the online tool and of all types of progress monitoring measures. Twelve months later, participants showed sustained use of any type of progress monitoring measure but not the online tool. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct simulations of chemically reacting turbulent mixing layers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riley, J. J.; Metcalfe, R. W.

1984-01-01

The report presents the results of direct numerical simulations of chemically reacting turbulent mixing layers. The work consists of two parts: (1) the development and testing of a spectral numerical computer code that treats the diffusion reaction equations; and (2) the simulation of a series of cases of chemical reactions occurring on mixing layers. The reaction considered is a binary, irreversible reaction with no heat release. The reacting species are nonpremixed. The results of the numerical tests indicate that the high accuracy of the spectral methods observed for rigid body rotation are also obtained when diffusion, reaction, and more complex flows are considered. In the simulations, the effects of vortex rollup and smaller scale turbulence on the overall reaction rates are investigated. The simulation results are found to be in approximate agreement with similarity theory. Comparisons of simulation results with certain modeling hypotheses indicate limitations in these hypotheses. The nondimensional product thickness computed from the simulations is compared with laboratory values and is found to be in reasonable agreement, especially since there are no adjustable constants in the method.

Work and Supervisor Satisfaction as a Function of Subordinate Perceptions of Communication Competence of Self and Supervisor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Anthony F.; Hellweg, Susan A.

A study investigated relationships between subordinate perceptions of the communication competence of self and supervisor, and subordinate perceptions of supervisor and work satisfaction. The hypotheses were the following: (1) subordinates' satisfaction with their supervisors will vary as a function of their perceptions of their supervisors'…

Prefrontal Control of Familiarity and Recollection in Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feredoes, Eva; Postle, Bradley R.

2010-01-01

Left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is a critical neural substrate for the resolution of proactive interference (PI) in working memory. We hypothesized that left IFG achieves this by controlling the influence of familiarity- versus recollection-based information about memory probes. Consistent with this idea, we observed evidence for an "early" (200…

Job Characteristics, Work Involvement, and Job Performance of Public Servants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johari, Johanim; Yahya, Khulida Kirana

2016-01-01

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to assess the predicting role of job characteristics on job performance. Dimensions in the job characteristics construct are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Further, work involvement is tested as a mediator in the hypothesized link. Design/methodology/approach: A…

The Relationship Between Higher Order Need Strength and Sensitivity to Environmental Variations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beehr, Terry A.; And Others

Higher order need strength (HONS) has been shown to moderate the relationship between work role characteristics and some traditional dependent variables in organizations. It was hypothesized that employees with strong HONS might be more sensitive to variability in their work environments than people with weaker HONS. This would happen because…

Hyperactivity in Boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Ubiquitous Core Symptom or Manifestation of Working Memory Deficits?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapport, Mark D.; Bolden, Jennifer; Kofler, Michael J.; Sarver, Dustin E.; Raiker, Joseph S.; Alderson, R. Matt

2009-01-01

Hyperactivity is currently considered a core and ubiquitous feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory (WM) and activity level. The current study investigated whether children's activity level is functionally…

Teacher Work Context and Parent Involvement in Urban High Schools of Choice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bauch, Patricia A.; Goldring, Ellen B.

2000-01-01

Uses findings from previous studies of teacher work context to hypothesize that some features of the school workplace may contribute to greater parent involvement in urban high schools, especially home-school communication and parent volunteering. Discusses the roles of communal school organization and a context of caring. (SLD)

Cognitive Load Theory: An Empirical Study of Anxiety and Task Performance in Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, I-Jung; Chang, Chi-Cheng

2009-01-01

Introduction: This study explores the relationship among three variables--cognitive load, foreign language anxiety, and task performance. Cognitive load refers to the load imposed on working memory while performing a particular task. The authors hypothesized that anxiety consumes the resources of working memory, leaving less capacity for cognitive…

E-Learning Education of Educational Technologies in Full-Time and Combined Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagyová, Ingrid

2010-01-01

The article focuses on research in the area of Educational Technologies, mainly on the comparison of ways, methods and processes of education in full-time and combined studies. The work was undertaken in the Pedagogical Faculty, Ostrava University, Ostrava, Czech Republic. The fundamental presumptions and hypotheses that the work intended to…

Do Children with Phonological Delay Have Phonological Short-Term and Phonological Working Memory Deficits?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waring, Rebecca; Eadie, Patricia; Liow, Susan Rickard; Dodd, Barbara

2017-01-01

While little is known about why children make speech errors, it has been hypothesized that cognitive-linguistic factors may underlie phonological speech sound disorders. This study compared the phonological short-term and phonological working memory abilities (using immediate memory tasks) and receptive vocabulary size of 14 monolingual preschool…

Contribution of Self-Compassion to Competence and Mental Health in Social Work Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ying, Yu-Wen

2009-01-01

This study examined the potential contribution of self-compassion to perceived competence and mental health in master's of social work students (N=65). It was hypothesized that the components of self-compassion (i.e., mindfulness, common humanity, self-kindness, overidentification, isolation, and self-judgment) would impact perceived competence…

Gender Ideology, Marital Disruption, and the Employment of Married Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenstein, Theodore N.

1995-01-01

A study of 3,284 married women hypothesizes that nontraditional working women are more likely to experience marital disruption than traditional working women. Number of hours of paid employment per week was negatively related to marital stability for women holding nontraditional gender ideologies but not for women with traditional views. (JPS)

Keeping Them Happy: Job Satisfaction, Personality, and Attitudes toward Disability in Predicting Counselor Job Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Emily R.; Glidden, Laraine M.; Jobe, Brian M.

2006-01-01

Employee retention was studied in 48 counselors working at a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities. We hypothesized that attitudes toward persons with disabilities, personality characteristics of counselors, job satisfaction, and previous counselor experience would predict whether counselors would elect to return to work the…

Supporting Communication and Coordination in Collaborative Sensemaking.

PubMed

Mahyar, Narges; Tory, Melanie

2014-12-01

When people work together to analyze a data set, they need to organize their findings, hypotheses, and evidence, share that information with their collaborators, and coordinate activities amongst team members. Sharing externalizations (recorded information such as notes) could increase awareness and assist with team communication and coordination. However, we currently know little about how to provide tool support for this sort of sharing. We explore how linked common work (LCW) can be employed within a `collaborative thinking space', to facilitate synchronous collaborative sensemaking activities in Visual Analytics (VA). Collaborative thinking spaces provide an environment for analysts to record, organize, share and connect externalizations. Our tool, CLIP, extends earlier thinking spaces by integrating LCW features that reveal relationships between collaborators' findings. We conducted a user study comparing CLIP to a baseline version without LCW. Results demonstrated that LCW significantly improved analytic outcomes at a collaborative intelligence task. Groups using CLIP were also able to more effectively coordinate their work, and held more discussion of their findings and hypotheses. LCW enabled them to maintain awareness of each other's activities and findings and link those findings to their own work, preventing disruptive oral awareness notifications.

A Reanalysis of Occupation and Suicide: Negative Perceptions of the Workplace Linked to Suicide Attempts.

PubMed

Howard, Matt; Krannitz, Morgan

2017-11-17

Suicide is the ultimate outcome of poor psychological well-being; however, there is a paucity of research examining the link between occupation and suicide, despite early academic interest and the known importance of work to our everyday lives. We propose that this body of research was abandoned prematurely, and we provide a reanalysis by integrating the Job Characteristics Model and the Conservation of Resources model with extant suicide research. Specifically, we hypothesize that work design characteristics (job autonomy, task variety, physical demands) and threats to personal resources (absence of viewing work-as-career, work-family conflict, family-work conflict, job dissatisfaction) are linked to suicide attempts via depression and suicidal ideation. Utilizing three measurement occasions and 2,855 participants from the AddHealth database, our findings indicate that job autonomy, task variety, work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and job dissatisfaction all indirectly contribute to employees' suicide attempts via depression and suicidal ideation. Thus, negative employee perceptions of the workplace environment have much more severe consequences than is typically examined. Based on these results, we provide recommendations for developing a theoretically derived nomological net around suicidal behavior in an organizational context, and offer strategies for managers and employees to construct a work environment that is conducive to employee well-being.

The differential effect of anticipated work-family conflict on the STEM major embeddedness of men and women

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, Dante P.

It is nationally concerning that many students who begin as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors do not complete their degrees. Of additional concern is that among the STEM students who do persist to degree completion, women are severely underrepresented. The present research investigates the extent to which anticipated conflicts between work and family life (AWFC) are negatively related to students' embeddedness in their STEM majors, especially the STEM embeddedness of women. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling in Mplus-7 with a sample of 218 STEM students from an archival database. As hypothesized, work-family decision making self-efficacy had a negative relationship with both anticipated work interference with family (AWIF) and anticipated family interference with work (AFIW). Notably, only AFIW was negatively related to major embeddedness and only the indirect effect of WFSE on major embeddedness through AFIW was positive and significant, partially supporting each corresponding hypothesis. Additionally, the relationships among study variables did not significantly differ by gender. However, the relationship between AFIW and major embeddedness approached significance for women. Implications of this research, future directions, and study limitations are discussed.

Individual Characteristics Influencing Physicians’ Perceptions of Job Demands and Control: The Role of Affectivity, Work Engagement and Workaholism

PubMed Central

Mazzetti, Greta; Biolcati, Roberta; Guglielmi, Dina; Vallesi, Caryn; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.

2016-01-01

The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of individual characteristics, i.e., positive and negative affectivity, in explaining the different perception of job control and job demands in a particularly demanding environment such as the healthcare setting. In addition, we aimed to explore the mediational role of work engagement and workaholism using the Job Demands-Resources Model as a theoretical framework. Data were collected using a sample of 269 Italian head physicians working in nine general hospitals. To test our hypotheses, the collected data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Moreover, Sobel Test and bootstrapping were employed to assess the mediating hypotheses. Our results indicated that positive affectivity is related to work engagement, which, in its turn, showed a positive association with job control. In addition, workaholism mediated the relationship between negative affectivity and job demands. All in all, this study represents a first attempt to explore the role of trait affectivity as a dispositional characteristic able to foster the level of work engagement and workaholism exhibited by employees and, in turn, to increase the perceived levels of job control and job demands. PMID:27275828

Does constraining memory maintenance reduce visual search efficiency?

PubMed

Buttaccio, Daniel R; Lange, Nicholas D; Thomas, Rick P; Dougherty, Michael R

2018-03-01

We examine whether constraining memory retrieval processes affects performance in a cued recall visual search task. In the visual search task, participants are first presented with a memory prompt followed by a search array. The memory prompt provides diagnostic information regarding a critical aspect of the target (its colour). We assume that upon the presentation of the memory prompt, participants retrieve and maintain hypotheses (i.e., potential target characteristics) in working memory in order to improve their search efficiency. By constraining retrieval through the manipulation of time pressure (Experiments 1A and 1B) or a concurrent working memory task (Experiments 2A, 2B, and 2C), we directly test the involvement of working memory in visual search. We find some evidence that visual search is less efficient under conditions in which participants were likely to be maintaining fewer hypotheses in working memory (Experiments 1A, 2A, and 2C), suggesting that the retrieval of representations from long-term memory into working memory can improve visual search. However, these results should be interpreted with caution, as the data from two experiments (Experiments 1B and 2B) did not lend support for this conclusion.

Individual Characteristics Influencing Physicians' Perceptions of Job Demands and Control: The Role of Affectivity, Work Engagement and Workaholism.

PubMed

Mazzetti, Greta; Biolcati, Roberta; Guglielmi, Dina; Vallesi, Caryn; Schaufeli, Wilmar B

2016-06-06

The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of individual characteristics, i.e., positive and negative affectivity, in explaining the different perception of job control and job demands in a particularly demanding environment such as the healthcare setting. In addition, we aimed to explore the mediational role of work engagement and workaholism using the Job Demands-Resources Model as a theoretical framework. Data were collected using a sample of 269 Italian head physicians working in nine general hospitals. To test our hypotheses, the collected data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Moreover, Sobel Test and bootstrapping were employed to assess the mediating hypotheses. Our results indicated that positive affectivity is related to work engagement, which, in its turn, showed a positive association with job control. In addition, workaholism mediated the relationship between negative affectivity and job demands. All in all, this study represents a first attempt to explore the role of trait affectivity as a dispositional characteristic able to foster the level of work engagement and workaholism exhibited by employees and, in turn, to increase the perceived levels of job control and job demands.

Designing Hydrologic Observatories as a Community Resource

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hooper, R. P.; Duncan, J. M.

2004-12-01

CUAHSI convened a workshop in August 2004 to explore what makes a successful hydrologic observatory. Because of their high cost, only a small number of observatories will be operated, at least initially. (CUAHSI has recommended a pilot network of 5 observatories to develop operational experience and an eventual network of approximately 15 sites.) Because hydrologic scientists can work "in their backyard" (unlike oceanographers or astronomers), hydrologic observatories must offer significant advantages over current methods of field work to successfully attract researchers. Twenty-four teams of scientists submitted "prospectuses" of potential locations for hydrologic observatories for consideration by network attendees. These documents (available at http://www.cuahsi.org) were marketing documents to the workshop participants, who voted for a hypothetical network of 5 observatories from the 24 proposed sites. This network formed the basis for a day of discussions on necessary attributes of core data and how to form a network of observatories from a collection of sites that are designed and implemented individually. Key findings included: 1) Core data must be balanced among disciplines. Although the hydrologic cycle is an organizing principle for the design of HOs, physical data cannot dominate the core data; chemical and biological data, although more expensive to collect, must be given equal footing. 2) New data collection must strategically leverage existing data. Resources are always limited, so that a successful HO must carefully target gaps in existing data, as determined by an explicitly stated conceptual model, and fill them rather than designing an independent study. 3) Site logistics must support remote researchers. Significant resources will be necessary for on-site staff to handle housing, transportation, permitting and other needs. 4) Network-level hypotheses are required early in the implementation of HOs. A network will only emerge around hypotheses. Network-level hypotheses are currently being solicited by CUAHSI to help inform proposing team of important community questions.

A longitudinal cross-level model of leader and salesperson influences on sales force technology use and performance.

PubMed

Mathieu, John; Ahearne, Michael; Taylor, Scott R

2007-03-01

The authors examined the influence of the introduction of a new suite of technology tools on the performance of 592 salespersons. They hypothesized that the salespersons' work experience would have a negative effect on their technology self-efficacy, which in turn would relate positively to their use of technology. Sales performance was hypothesized to be positively related to both past performance and the use of new technology tools. Further, the authors hypothesized that leaders' commitment to sales technology would enhance salespersons' technology self-efficacy and usage, and leaders' empowering behaviors would influence salespersons' technology self-efficacy and moderate the individual-level relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses confirmed all of the hypothesized individual-level relationships and most of the cross-level relationships stemming from average leader behaviors. In particular, empowering leadership exhibited multiple cross-level interactions, as anticipated. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of social-psychological factors related to the success of sales force technology interventions. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Missouri River Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon) effects analysis—Integrative report 2016

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacobson, Robert B.; Annis, Mandy L.; Colvin, Michael E.; James, Daniel A.; Welker, Timothy L.; Parsley, Michael J.

2016-07-15

The Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Effects Analysis was designed to carry out three components of an assessment of how Missouri River management has affected, and will affect, population dynamics of endangered Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon): (1) collection of reliable scientific information, (2) critical assessment and synthesis of available data and analyses, and (3) analysis of the effects of actions on listed species and their habitats. This report is a synthesis of the three components emphasizing development of lines of evidence relating potential future management actions to pallid sturgeon population dynamics. We address 21 working management hypotheses that emerged from an expert opinion-based filtering process.The ability to quantify linkages from abiotic changes to pallid sturgeon population dynamics is compromised by fundamental information gaps. Although a substantial foundation of pallid sturgeon science has been developed during the past 20 years, our efforts attempt to push beyond that understanding to provide predictions of how future management actions may affect pallid sturgeon responses. For some of the 21 hypotheses, lines of evidence are limited to theoretical deduction, inference from sparse empirical datasets, or expert opinion. Useful simulation models have been developed to predict the effects of management actions on survival of drifting pallid sturgeon free embryos in the Yellowstone and Upper Missouri River complex (hereafter referred to as the “upper river”), and to assess the effects of flow and channel reconfigurations on habitat availability in the Lower Missouri River, tributaries, and Mississippi River downstream of Gavins Point Dam (hereafter referred to as the “lower river”). A population model also has been developed that can be used to assess sensitivity of the population to survival of specific life stages, assess some hypotheses related to stocking decisions, and explore a limited number of management scenarios.Consideration of lines of evidence for each of the 21 hypotheses includes a discussion of how the degree of uncertainty and risk associated with each hypothesis may guide science and implementation strategies. Implementation strategies include full implementation in the field, limited implementations as field-scale experiments, or (in the case of greatest uncertainty) implementation as learning actions, including research and opportunistic experiments or field-based gradient studies. Given the substantive uncertainties associated with pallid sturgeon population dynamics and the need to continually assimilate and assess new information, we proposed that an Effects Analysis-like process should be considered an integral part of ongoing Missouri River adaptive management.

Data Driven Approach to Burden of Treatment Measurement: A Study of Patients with Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Cheng, Alex C.; Levy, Mia A.

2016-01-01

Chronic disease affects patient quality of life through symptoms of the disease and the work of receiving treatment. While the effects of illness are well investigated, the burden of treatment is not commonly studied or monitored. We developed a method to quantify one dimension of the burden of treatment based on patient encounters with the healthcare system. We applied this method to a population of stage I-III breast cancer patients. As hypothesized and observed, stage IIIpatients had more appointments, spent more time in clinic, and spent more time admitted to the hospital in the first 18 months after diagnosis compared to stage I and II patients. Future work will evaluate the reproducibility and generalizability of this method for quantifying burden of treatment across other clinical settings and chronic diseases. This approach could enable identification of high-risk groups that could benefit from interventions to decrease patient work and improve outcomes. PMID:28269934

Antecedents and consequences of work-home interference among medical residents.

PubMed

Geurts, S; Rutte, C; Peeters, M

1999-05-01

A cross-sectional field study is reported in which a comprehensive model of work-home interference (WHI) was developed and tested among 166 medical residents of an academic hospital in the Netherlands. It was hypothesized that WHI functions as a critical mediating pathway in the relationship between work and home characteristics on the one hand, and work-related and general psychological health indicators on the other. The results revealed that one home characteristic and three work characteristics put pressure on the interface between the work and home life, that is, (1) having a spouse who works overtime frequently, (2) an unfavorable worktime schedule, (3) a high quantitative workload and (4) a problematic dependency on the superior. The results further showed that WHI was positively associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (i.e. work-related health indicators), as well as with psychosomatic health complaints and sleep deprivation (i.e. general health indicators). More importantly, the results strongly supported our basic hypothesis that WHI mediates the impact of some work and home characteristics on psychological health indicators. This seems to be particularly true for the general health indicators: none of the home and work characteristics just mentioned, had a direct impact on these general indicators, independent of WHI. With respect to the work-related health indicators, particularly depersonalization, the mediating role of WHI was also strong, though less consistent. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The impact of social work environment, teamwork characteristics, burnout, and personal factors upon intent to leave among European nurses.

PubMed

Estryn-Béhar, Madeleine; Van der Heijden, Beatrice I J M; Ogińska, Halszka; Camerino, Donatella; Le Nézet, Olivier; Conway, Paul Maurice; Fry, Clementine; Hasselhorn, Hans-Martin

2007-10-01

Europe's nursing shortage calls for more effective ways to recruit and retain nurses. This contribution aims to clarify whether and how social work environment, teamwork characteristics, burnout, and personal factors are associated with nurses' intent to leave (ITL). Our sample comprises 28,561 hospital-based nurses from 10 European countries. Different occupational levels have been taken into account: qualified registered nurses (n = 18,594), specialized nurses (n = 3957), head nurses (n = 3256), and nursing aides and ancillary staff (n = 2754). Our outcomes indicate that ITL is quite prevalent across Europe, although we have found some differences across the countries depending on working conditions and economic situation. Quality of teamwork, interpersonal relationships, career development possibilities, uncertainty regarding treatment, and influence at work are associated with nurses' decision to leave the profession across Europe, notwithstanding some country-specific outcomes. A serious lack of quality of teamwork seems to be associated with a 5-fold risk of ITL in 7 countries. As far as personal factors are concerned, our data support the hypothesized importance of work-family conflicts, satisfaction with pay, and burnout. A high burnout score seems to be associated with 3 times the risk of ITL in 5 countries. To prevent premature leaving, it is important to expand nurses' expertise, to improve working processes through collaboration and multidisciplinary teamwork, and to develop team training approaches and ward design facilitating teamwork.

The curvilinear relationship between work pressure and momentary task performance: the role of state and trait core self-evaluations.

PubMed

Hofmans, Joeri; Debusscher, Jonas; Dóci, Edina; Spanouli, Andromachi; De Fruyt, Filip

2015-01-01

Whereas several studies have demonstrated that core self-evaluations (CSE)-or one's appraisals about one's own self-worth, capabilities, and competences-relate to job outcomes, less is known about the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In the present study, we address this issue by examining the role of within- and between-person variation in CSE in the relationship between work pressure and task performance. We hypothesized that (a) work pressure relates to task performance in a curvilinear way, (b) state CSE mediates the curvilinear relationship between work pressure and task performance, and (c) the relationship between work pressure and state CSE is moderated by trait CSE. Our hypotheses were tested via a 10-day daily diary study with 55 employees in which trait CSE was measured at baseline, while work pressure, task performance, and state CSE were assessed on a daily basis. Bayesian multilevel path analysis showed that work pressure affects task performance via state CSE, with state CSE increasing as long as the employee feels that (s)he is able to handle the work pressure, while it decreases when the level of work pressure exceeds the employees' coping abilities. Moreover, we found that for people low on trait CSE, the depleting effect of work pressure via state CSE happens for low levels of work pressure, while for people high in trait CSE the depleting effect is located at high levels of work pressure. Together, our findings suggest that the impact of work pressure on task performance is driven by a complex interplay of between- and within-person differences in CSE.

Diagnosis by integrating model-based reasoning with knowledge-based reasoning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bylander, Tom

1988-01-01

Our research investigates how observations can be categorized by integrating a qualitative physical model with experiential knowledge. Our domain is diagnosis of pathologic gait in humans, in which the observations are the gait motions, muscle activity during gait, and physical exam data, and the diagnostic hypotheses are the potential muscle weaknesses, muscle mistimings, and joint restrictions. Patients with underlying neurological disorders typically have several malfunctions. Among the problems that need to be faced are: the ambiguity of the observations, the ambiguity of the qualitative physical model, correspondence of the observations and hypotheses to the qualitative physical model, the inherent uncertainty of experiential knowledge, and the combinatorics involved in forming composite hypotheses. Our system divides the work so that the knowledge-based reasoning suggests which hypotheses appear more likely than others, the qualitative physical model is used to determine which hypotheses explain which observations, and another process combines these functionalities to construct a composite hypothesis based on explanatory power and plausibility. We speculate that the reasoning architecture of our system is generally applicable to complex domains in which a less-than-perfect physical model and less-than-perfect experiential knowledge need to be combined to perform diagnosis.

Slot-like capacity and resource-like coding in a neural model of multiple-item working memory.

PubMed

Standage, Dominic; Pare, Martin

2018-06-27

For the past decade, research on the storage limitations of working memory has been dominated by two fundamentally different hypotheses. On the one hand, the contents of working memory may be stored in a limited number of `slots', each with a fixed resolution. On the other hand, any number of items may be stored, but with decreasing resolution. These two hypotheses have been invaluable in characterizing the computational structure of working memory, but neither provides a complete account of the available experimental data, nor speaks to the neural basis of the limitations it characterizes. To address these shortcomings, we simulated a multiple-item working memory task with a cortical network model, the cellular resolution of which allowed us to quantify the coding fidelity of memoranda as a function of memory load, as measured by the discriminability, regularity and reliability of simulated neural spiking. Our simulations account for a wealth of neural and behavioural data from human and non-human primate studies, and they demonstrate that feedback inhibition lowers both capacity and coding fidelity. Because the strength of inhibition scales with the number of items stored by the network, increasing this number progressively lowers fidelity until capacity is reached. Crucially, the model makes specific, testable predictions for neural activity on multiple-item working memory tasks.

The paradox of compassionate work: a mixed-methods study of satisfying and fatiguing experiences of animal health care providers.

PubMed

Polachek, Alicia J; Wallace, Jean E

2018-03-01

Compassionate work appears paradoxical as it may provide great rewards, but may also come at great costs to care providers. This paper explores the paradox of compassionate work by examining what interactions contribute to compassion satisfaction and what interactions contribute to compassion fatigue. This mixed-methods, cross-sectional study uses qualitative interview data from animal health care providers (N = 20) to identify work interactions that they find satisfying or stressful. Quantitative survey data (N = 572) are used to test hypotheses generated from the interviews regarding predictors of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a directed content analysis approach. Survey data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression. The results highlight the complex nature of compassionate work. As hypothesized, making a difference to animals and building relationships with animal patients and human clients relate to greater compassion satisfaction. Human client barriers to animal care and witnessing client grief relate to greater compassion fatigue, as predicted. None of the predictors relate to less compassion fatigue, but forming relationships with animal patients relates to both greater compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. This paper enhances our understanding of provider-client-patient interactions and highlights the paradox of compassionate work.

Improving the Development of Student's Research Questions and Hypotheses in an Introductory Business Research Methods Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strangman, Lauria; Knowles, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

In an introductory research methods course, students often develop research questions and hypotheses that are vague or confusing, do not contain measurable concepts, and are too narrow in scope or vision. Because of this, the final research projects often fail to provide useful information or address the overall research problem. A Lesson Study…

The use of analysis of variance procedures in biological studies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, B.K.

1987-01-01

The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is widely used in biological studies, yet there remains considerable confusion among researchers about the interpretation of hypotheses being tested. Ambiguities arise when statistical designs are unbalanced, and in particular when not all combinations of design factors are represented in the data. This paper clarifies the relationship among hypothesis testing, statistical modelling and computing procedures in ANOVA for unbalanced data. A simple two-factor fixed effects design is used to illustrate three common parametrizations for ANOVA models, and some associations among these parametrizations are developed. Biologically meaningful hypotheses for main effects and interactions are given in terms of each parametrization, and procedures for testing the hypotheses are described. The standard statistical computing procedures in ANOVA are given along with their corresponding hypotheses. Throughout the development unbalanced designs are assumed and attention is given to problems that arise with missing cells.

Calling and life satisfaction: it's not about having it, it's about living it.

PubMed

Duffy, Ryan D; Allan, Blake A; Autin, Kelsey L; Bott, Elizabeth M

2013-01-01

The present study examined the relation of career calling to life satisfaction among a diverse sample of 553 working adults, with a specific focus on the distinction between perceiving a calling (sensing a calling to a career) and living a calling (actualizing one's calling in one's current career). As hypothesized, the relation of perceiving a calling to life satisfaction was fully mediated by living a calling. On the basis of this finding, a structural equation model was tested to examine possible mediators between living a calling and life satisfaction. As hypothesized, the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction was partially mediated by job satisfaction and life meaning, and the link between living a calling and job satisfaction was mediated by work meaning and career commitment. Modifications of the model also revealed that the link of living a calling to life meaning was mediated by work meaning. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The Unanticipated Benefits of Behavioral Assessments and Interviews on Anxiety, Self-Esteem and Depression Among Women Engaging in Transactional Sex.

PubMed

Gunn, Jayleen K L; Roth, Alexis M; Center, Katherine E; Wiehe, Sarah E

2016-11-01

Women engaging in transactional sex have disproportional mental health co-morbidity and face substantial barriers to accessing social services. We hypothesized that participation in a longitudinal research study, with no overt intervention, would lead to short-term mental health improvements. For 4-weeks, 24 women disclosed information about their lives via twice daily cell-phone diaries and weekly interviews. We used t tests to compare self-esteem, anxiety, and depression at baseline and exit. Tests were repeated for hypothesized effect modifiers (e.g., substance abuse severity; age of sex work debut). For particularly vulnerable women (e.g., less educated, histories of abuse, younger initiation of sex work) participation in research conferred unanticipated mental health benefits. Positive interactions with researchers, as well as discussing lived experiences, may explain these effects. Additional studies are needed to confirm findings and identify mechanisms of change. This work contributes to the growing body of literature documenting that study participation improves mental health.

Investigating Adolescents' Critical Consciousness Development through a Character Framework.

PubMed

Seider, Scott; Tamerat, Jalene; Clark, Shelby; Soutter, Madora

2017-06-01

Brazilian philosopher-educator Paulo Freire defined critical consciousness as the ability to engage in reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it. A growing body of research has found that critical consciousness is predictive of a number of important academic and civic outcomes in adolescents from oppressed groups. The present mixed methods study considered the critical consciousness development of 335 adolescents (57% female, 92% African American or Latinx) attending urban secondary schools that sought to foster their students' critical consciousness, but featured five different pedagogical approaches. We hypothesized that considering these adolescents' critical consciousness development through a character lens would highlight ways in which different schooling models contribute differentially to their students' development of the intellectual, performance, and civic dimensions of critical consciousness. Longitudinal analyses revealed significant differences in the critical consciousness development of adolescents attending different schooling models along these dimensions. Interviews with adolescents and field work conducted at their schools offered insight into the programming and practices that may have contributed to these differences in students' critical consciousness development.

Nanoparticles: Nanoscale Systems for Medical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wadkins, David Allen

The goal of this project was to develop a series of nano platforms for single cell analysis and drug delivery. Nanoparticles are a promising option to improve our medical therapies by controlling biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of therapeutics. Nanosystems also offer significant opportunity to improve current imaging modalities. The systems developed during this thesis work can be foundations for developing advanced therapies for obesity and improving our fundamental understandings of single cell behavior. The first of the two systems we attempt to create was a drug delivery system that could selectively target adipose tissue to deliver uncoupling agents and drive browning of adipose tissue and associated weight loss. Protonophores have a history of significant toxic side effects in cardiac and neuronal tissues a recently discovered protonophore, but BAM-15, has been shown to have reduced cytotoxicity. We hypothesized that the altered biodistribution of BAM-15 encapsulated in a nanoparticle could provide systemic weight loss with minimized side effects. The second system developed utilized quantum dots to create a fluorescent barcode that could be repeatedly identified using quantitative fluorescent emission readings. This platform would allow for the tracking of individual cells, allowing repeat interrogation across time and space in complex multicellular environments. Ultimately this work demonstrates the process and complexity involved in developing nanoparticulate systems meant to interact with incredibly complex intracellular environments.

First Results of the Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models Experiment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schorlemmer, D.; Zechar, J.D.; Werner, M.J.; Field, E.H.; Jackson, D.D.; Jordan, T.H.

2010-01-01

The ability to successfully predict the future behavior of a system is a strong indication that the system is well understood. Certainly many details of the earthquake system remain obscure, but several hypotheses related to earthquake occurrence and seismic hazard have been proffered, and predicting earthquake behavior is a worthy goal and demanded by society. Along these lines, one of the primary objectives of the Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models (RELM) working group was to formalize earthquake occurrence hypotheses in the form of prospective earthquake rate forecasts in California. RELM members, working in small research groups, developed more than a dozen 5-year forecasts; they also outlined a performance evaluation method and provided a conceptual description of a Testing Center in which to perform predictability experiments. Subsequently, researchers working within the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) have begun implementing Testing Centers in different locations worldwide, and the RELM predictability experiment-a truly prospective earthquake prediction effort-is underway within the U. S. branch of CSEP. The experiment, designed to compare time-invariant 5-year earthquake rate forecasts, is now approximately halfway to its completion. In this paper, we describe the models under evaluation and present, for the first time, preliminary results of this unique experiment. While these results are preliminary-the forecasts were meant for an application of 5 years-we find interesting results: most of the models are consistent with the observation and one model forecasts the distribution of earthquakes best. We discuss the observed sample of target earthquakes in the context of historical seismicity within the testing region, highlight potential pitfalls of the current tests, and suggest plans for future revisions to experiments such as this one. ?? 2010 The Author(s).

First Results of the Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schorlemmer, Danijel; Zechar, J. Douglas; Werner, Maximilian J.; Field, Edward H.; Jackson, David D.; Jordan, Thomas H.

2010-08-01

The ability to successfully predict the future behavior of a system is a strong indication that the system is well understood. Certainly many details of the earthquake system remain obscure, but several hypotheses related to earthquake occurrence and seismic hazard have been proffered, and predicting earthquake behavior is a worthy goal and demanded by society. Along these lines, one of the primary objectives of the Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models (RELM) working group was to formalize earthquake occurrence hypotheses in the form of prospective earthquake rate forecasts in California. RELM members, working in small research groups, developed more than a dozen 5-year forecasts; they also outlined a performance evaluation method and provided a conceptual description of a Testing Center in which to perform predictability experiments. Subsequently, researchers working within the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) have begun implementing Testing Centers in different locations worldwide, and the RELM predictability experiment—a truly prospective earthquake prediction effort—is underway within the U.S. branch of CSEP. The experiment, designed to compare time-invariant 5-year earthquake rate forecasts, is now approximately halfway to its completion. In this paper, we describe the models under evaluation and present, for the first time, preliminary results of this unique experiment. While these results are preliminary—the forecasts were meant for an application of 5 years—we find interesting results: most of the models are consistent with the observation and one model forecasts the distribution of earthquakes best. We discuss the observed sample of target earthquakes in the context of historical seismicity within the testing region, highlight potential pitfalls of the current tests, and suggest plans for future revisions to experiments such as this one.

Hospital staff registered nurses' perception of horizontal violence, peer relationships, and the quality and safety of patient care.

PubMed

Purpora, Christina; Blegen, Mary A; Stotts, Nancy A

2015-01-01

To test hypotheses from a horizontal violence and quality and safety of patient care model: horizontal violence (negative behavior among peers) is inversely related to peer relations, quality of care and it is positively related to errors and adverse events. Additionally, the association between horizontal violence, peer relations, quality of care, errors and adverse events, and nurse and work characteristics were determined. A random sample (n= 175) of hospital staff Registered Nurses working in California. Nurses participated via survey. Bivariate and multivariate analyses tested the study hypotheses. Hypotheses were supported. Horizontal violence was inversely related to peer relations and quality of care, and positively related to errors and adverse events. Including peer relations in the analyses altered the relationship between horizontal violence and quality of care but not between horizontal violence, errors and adverse events. Nurse and hospital characteristics were not related to other variables. Clinical area contributed significantly in predicting the quality of care, errors and adverse events but not peer relationships. Horizontal violence affects peer relationships and the quality and safety of patient care as perceived by participating nurses. Supportive peer relationships are important to mitigate the impact of horizontal violence on quality of care.

The role of punishment and reward sensitivity in the emotional labor process: a within-person perspective.

PubMed

Schreurs, Bert; Guenter, Hannes; Hülsheger, Ute; van Emmerik, Hetty

2014-01-01

In this diary study, we tested the possibility that dispositional reward and punishment sensitivity, two central constructs of reinforcement sensitivity theory, would modify the relationship between emotional labor and job-related well-being (i.e., work engagement, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization). Specifically, based on a social functional account of emotion, we hypothesized that surface acting entails the risk of social disapproval and therefore may be more detrimental for high than for low punishment-sensitive individuals. In contrast, deep acting is hypothesized to hold the promise of social approval and therefore may be more beneficial for high than for low reward-sensitive individuals. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 237 service workers (N = 1,584 daily reports) who completed a general survey and daily surveys over the course of 10 working days. Multilevel analyses showed that surface acting was detrimental to well-being, and more strongly so for high than for low punishment-sensitive individuals. The results are consistent with the idea that heightened sensitivity to social disapproval aggravates the negative effects of surface acting. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Integrating ergonomics in design processes: a case study within an engineering consultancy firm.

PubMed

Sørensen, Lene Bjerg; Broberg, Ole

2012-01-01

This paper reports on a case study within an engineering consultancy firm, where engineering designers and ergonomists were working together on the design of a new hospital sterile processing plant. The objective of the paper is to gain a better understanding of the premises for integrating ergonomics into engineering design processes and how different factors either promote or limit the integration. Based on a grounded theory approach a model illustrating these factors is developed and different hypotheses about how these factors either promote and/or limit the integration of ergonomics into design processes is presented along with the model.

Biomedical discovery acceleration, with applications to craniofacial development.

PubMed

Leach, Sonia M; Tipney, Hannah; Feng, Weiguo; Baumgartner, William A; Kasliwal, Priyanka; Schuyler, Ronald P; Williams, Trevor; Spritz, Richard A; Hunter, Lawrence

2009-03-01

The profusion of high-throughput instruments and the explosion of new results in the scientific literature, particularly in molecular biomedicine, is both a blessing and a curse to the bench researcher. Even knowledgeable and experienced scientists can benefit from computational tools that help navigate this vast and rapidly evolving terrain. In this paper, we describe a novel computational approach to this challenge, a knowledge-based system that combines reading, reasoning, and reporting methods to facilitate analysis of experimental data. Reading methods extract information from external resources, either by parsing structured data or using biomedical language processing to extract information from unstructured data, and track knowledge provenance. Reasoning methods enrich the knowledge that results from reading by, for example, noting two genes that are annotated to the same ontology term or database entry. Reasoning is also used to combine all sources into a knowledge network that represents the integration of all sorts of relationships between a pair of genes, and to calculate a combined reliability score. Reporting methods combine the knowledge network with a congruent network constructed from experimental data and visualize the combined network in a tool that facilitates the knowledge-based analysis of that data. An implementation of this approach, called the Hanalyzer, is demonstrated on a large-scale gene expression array dataset relevant to craniofacial development. The use of the tool was critical in the creation of hypotheses regarding the roles of four genes never previously characterized as involved in craniofacial development; each of these hypotheses was validated by further experimental work.

Microsatellite primers for a species of South African everlasting daisy (Helichrysum odoratissimum; Gnaphalieae, Asteraceae).

PubMed

Glennon, Kelsey L; Cron, Glynis V

2016-05-01

Microsatellites were developed for the widespread Helichrysum odoratissimum (Asteraceae) to estimate gene flow across diploid populations and to test if gene flow occurs among other closely related lineages within this genus. Ten primer pairs were developed and tested using populations across South Africa; however, only seven primer pairs were polymorphic for the target species. The seven polymorphic primers amplified di- and trinucleotide repeats with up to 16 alleles per locus among 125 diploid individuals used for analyses. These markers can be used to estimate gene flow among populations of known ploidy level of H. odoratissimum to test evolutionary hypotheses. Furthermore, these markers amplify successfully in other Helichrysum species, including the other three taxonomic Group 4 species, and therefore can be used to inform taxonomic work on these species.

Cognitive functioning, aging, and work: A review and recommendations for research and practice.

PubMed

Fisher, Gwenith G; Chaffee, Dorey S; Tetrick, Lois E; Davalos, Deana B; Potter, Guy G

2017-07-01

There is a larger proportion and number of older adults in the labor force than ever before. Furthermore, older adults in the workforce are working until later ages. Although a great deal of research has examined physical health and well-being of working older adults, less research has focused on cognitive functioning. The purpose of this article is to provide a broad contemporary and multidisciplinary review of the intersection between cognitive functioning, aging, and work as a follow-up to a paper previously written by Fisher et al. (2014). We begin by providing definitions and background about cognitive functioning and how it changes over the life span. Next we discuss theories relevant to the intersection of cognitive functioning and work, including the use-it-or-lose-it hypothesis, the cognitive reserve hypothesis, hypotheses regarding environmental influences on intellectual functioning, and the job-demands-resources model. Then we summarize recent research about the effects of work on cognitive functioning, as well as ways that cognitive functioning may influence work motivation, learning, development, training, and safety. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of person-environment fit, suggesting avenues for future research, and discussing practical implications for the field of occupational health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Development and Validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire

PubMed Central

Cho, Junhan; Kogan, Steven M.

2017-01-01

The present study describes the development and validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire (MAQ). The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded measure of masculine attributes for sexual health research with African American young men. Consistent with Whitehead’s theory, the MAQ items were hypothesized to comprise two components representing reputation-based and respect-based attributes. The sample included 505 African American men aged 19 to 22 years (M = 20.29, SD = 1.10) living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Convergent and discriminant validity of the MAQ were assessed by examining the associations of masculinity attributes with psychosocial factors. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the extent to which the MAQ subscales predicted sexual risk behavior outcomes. Consistent with study hypotheses, the MAQ was composed of (a) reputation-based attributes oriented toward sexual prowess, toughness, and authority-defying behavior and (b) respect-based attributes oriented toward economic independence, socially approved levels of hard work and education, and committed romantic relationships. Reputation-based attributes were associated positively with street code and negatively related to academic orientation, vocational engagement, and self-regulation, whereas respect-based attributes were associated positively with academic and vocational orientations and self-regulation. Finally, reputation-based attributes predicted sexual risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, marijuana use, and incarceration, net of the influence of respect-based attributes. The development of the MAQ provides a new measure that permits systematic quantitative investigation of the associations between African American men’s masculinity ideology and sexual risk behavior. PMID:28413906

Development and Validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire.

PubMed

Cho, Junhan; Kogan, Steven M

2017-07-01

The present study describes the development and validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire (MAQ). The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded measure of masculine attributes for sexual health research with African American young men. Consistent with Whitehead's theory, the MAQ items were hypothesized to comprise two components representing reputation-based and respect-based attributes. The sample included 505 African American men aged 19 to 22 years ( M = 20.29, SD = 1.10) living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Convergent and discriminant validity of the MAQ were assessed by examining the associations of masculinity attributes with psychosocial factors. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the extent to which the MAQ subscales predicted sexual risk behavior outcomes. Consistent with study hypotheses, the MAQ was composed of (a) reputation-based attributes oriented toward sexual prowess, toughness, and authority-defying behavior and (b) respect-based attributes oriented toward economic independence, socially approved levels of hard work and education, and committed romantic relationships. Reputation-based attributes were associated positively with street code and negatively related to academic orientation, vocational engagement, and self-regulation, whereas respect-based attributes were associated positively with academic and vocational orientations and self-regulation. Finally, reputation-based attributes predicted sexual risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, marijuana use, and incarceration, net of the influence of respect-based attributes. The development of the MAQ provides a new measure that permits systematic quantitative investigation of the associations between African American men's masculinity ideology and sexual risk behavior.

The Ability of Psychological Flexibility and Job Control to Predict Learning, Job Performance, and Mental Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Frank W.; Flaxman, Paul E.

2006-01-01

This longitudinal study tested the degree to which an individual characteristic, psychological flexibility, and a work organization variable, job control, predicted ability to learn new skills at work, job performance, and mental health, amongst call center workers in the United Kingdom (N = 448). As hypothesized, results indicated that job…

Work Characteristics and Parent-Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roeters, Anne; Van Der Lippe, Tanja; Kluwer, Esther S.

2010-01-01

This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent-child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent-child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self-collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with…

Parental Concerns about After-School Time: Antecedents and Correlates among Dual-Earner Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnett, Rosalind Chait; Gareis, Karen C.; Sabattini, Laura; Carter, Nancy M.

2010-01-01

Most employed parents, many in dual-earner couples, are at work when their children get out of school, generating parental concerns about children's welfare after school. Parental concerns are hypothesized to be related to respondent and partner work hours, respondent schedule control, and child's unsupervised time and to give rise to job…

What's Mine Is Yours: The Crossover of Day-Specific Self-Esteem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neff, Angela; Sonnentag, Sabine; Niessen, Cornelia; Unger, Dana

2012-01-01

This diary study examines the daily crossover of self-esteem within working couples. By integrating self-esteem research into the crossover framework, we hypothesized that the day-specific self-esteem experienced by one partner after work crosses over to the other partner. Furthermore, we proposed that this daily crossover process is moderated by…

The Relationship of Work Values to Satisfaction with Retirement and Future Time Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halpern, Doryan

This study tested two hypotheses: (1) the importance attached to the intrinsic aspects of work is negatively related to retirement satisfaction, maximum extension of future time perspective (FTP), and the number of events anticipated in the future; (2) retirement satisfaction is positively related to FTP maximum length and events anticipated.…

The Role of Self-Efficacy in Performing Emotion Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heuven, Ellen; Bakker, Arnold B.; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.; Huisman, Noortje

2006-01-01

This study used a sample of 154 cabin attendants to examine the role of self-efficacy in the performance of emotion work. On the basis of the literature, we hypothesized that self-efficacy would have a moderating influence on the relationship between emotional job demands (i.e., feeling rules and emotionally charged interactions with passengers)…

Employers Assessment of Work Ethics Required of University Business Education Graduates in South-South Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okoro, James

2014-01-01

This study examined the employers assessment of work ethics required of university Business Education graduates in south south Nigeria. One research question and three hypotheses guided the study. The design of this study was a descriptive survey. The population of the study comprised 318 identified employers of Business Education graduates in…

ADHD and Working Memory: The Impact of Central Executive Deficits and Exceeding Storage/Rehearsal Capacity on Observed Inattentive Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kofler, Michael J.; Rapport, Mark D.; Bolden, Jennifer; Sarver, Dustin E.; Raiker, Joseph S.

2010-01-01

Inattentive behavior is considered a core and pervasive feature of ADHD; however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory deficits and inattentive behavior. The current study investigated whether inattentive behavior in children with ADHD is functionally related to the…

Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus Subserve Different Components of Working Memory in Rats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Taejib; Okada, Jeffrey; Jung, Min W.; Kim, Jeansok J.

2008-01-01

Both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus are implicated in working memory tasks in rodents. Specifically, it has been hypothesized that the mPFC is primarily engaged in the temporary storage and processing of information lasting from a subsecond to several seconds, while the hippocampal function becomes more critical as the working…

The part of cognitive science that is philosophy.

PubMed

Dennett, Daniel C

2009-04-01

There is much good work for philosophers to do in cognitive science if they adopt the constructive attitude that prevails in science, work toward testable hypotheses, and take on the task of clarifying the relationship between the scientific concepts and the everyday concepts with which we conduct our moral lives. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

An Experiment Comparing HBSE Graduate Social Work Classes: Face-to-Face and at a Distance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woehle, Ralph; Quinn, Andrew

2009-01-01

This article describes a quasi-experimental comparison of two master's level social work classes delivering content on human behavior in the social environment. One class, delivered face-to-face, was largely synchronous. The other class, delivered using distance technologies, was more asynchronous than the first. The authors hypothesized that…

Use of family-friendly work arrangements and work-family conflict: Crossover effects in dual-earner couples.

PubMed

Schooreel, Tess; Verbruggen, Marijke

2016-01-01

This study uses a dyadic approach to examine how an employee's work-family conflict is affected when his or her partner makes use of family-friendly work arrangements. We focused on 2 types of family-friendly practices, that is, reduced work hours and schedule or workplace flexibility. Hypotheses were tested with multilevel structural equation modeling using information of 186 dual-earner couples. In line with our hypotheses, we found support for both a positive and a negative crossover effect, though the results showed differences between the 2 types of family-friendly work arrangements. First, a positive crossover effect was found for both reduced work hours and schedule or workplace flexibility; however, the specific mechanisms explaining this effect differed per type of arrangements. In particular, employees whose partner made use of reduced work hours were found to experience less home demands, which was in turn associated with lower family-to-work conflict, whereas employees whose partner made use of schedule or workplace flexibility experienced a similar positive crossover effect but through an increase in the social support they perceived. Second, a negative crossover effect was found only for reduced work hours and not for schedule or workplace flexibility. Specifically, employees whose partner made use of reduced work hours were found to work on average more hours a week, which was in turn related with more work-to-family conflict, whereas employees whose partner made use of schedule or workplace flexibility worked on average fewer hours a week and consequently experienced lower work-to-family conflict. Implications for literature and practice are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Constructing the truth: from 'confusion of tongues' to 'constructions in analysis'.

PubMed

Press, Jacques

2006-04-01

The author hypothesizes that the papers Freud wrote in the period 1934-9 constitute a final turning point in his work resulting from an attempt to work through, by means of self-analysis, early traumatic elements reactivated by the conditions of his life in the 1930s. The author emphasizes that the ups and downs of Freud's relationship with Sándor Ferenczi and the mourning which followed his death in 1933 played an important role in this traumatic situation. He suggests that through these last works, Freud pursued a posthumous dialogue with Ferenczi. This working through led Freud, in Moses and monotheism, to an ultimate revision of his theory of trauma, a revision which the author examines in full, in the light of the works of the Egyptologist, Jan Assmann. A new analytical paradigm emerges: that of constructions in analysis developed in the article of the same name. The activity of construction appears as an alternative to the mutual analysis proposed by Ferenczi and is closely bound up with the notion of historical truth. In psychoanalysis, it would mean constructing a historical truth whose anchoring in the material truth of the past is essential, though it should not be confused with it.

Procedural justice, supervisor autonomy support, work satisfaction, organizational identification and job performance: the mediating role of need satisfaction and perceived organizational support.

PubMed

Gillet, Nicolas; Colombat, Philippe; Michinov, Estelle; Pronost, Anne-Marie; Fouquereau, Evelyne

2013-11-01

To test a model linking procedural justice, supervisor autonomy support, need satisfaction, organizational support, work satisfaction, organizational identification and job performance. Research in industrial and organizational psychology has shown that procedural justice and supervisor autonomy support lead to positive outcomes. However, very little research related to this subject has been conducted in healthcare settings. Moreover, few studies have examined mechanisms that could account for these positive relationships. A cross-sectional correlational design was used. Convenience sampling was used and a sample of 500 nurses working in haematology, oncology and haematology/oncology units in France was surveyed in 2011. The final sample consisted of 323 nurses (64.6% response rate). The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modelling. Procedural justice and supervisor autonomy support significantly and positively influenced need satisfaction and perceived organizational support, which in turn positively predicted work satisfaction, organizational identification and job performance. Organizations could deliver training programmes for their managers aimed at enhancing the use of fair procedures in allocating outcomes and developing their autonomy-supportive behaviours to improve nurses' work satisfaction, organizational identification and job performance. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Refining the quantitative pathway of the Pathways to Mathematics model.

PubMed

Sowinski, Carla; LeFevre, Jo-Anne; Skwarchuk, Sheri-Lynn; Kamawar, Deepthi; Bisanz, Jeffrey; Smith-Chant, Brenda

2015-03-01

In the current study, we adopted the Pathways to Mathematics model of LeFevre et al. (2010). In this model, there are three cognitive domains--labeled as the quantitative, linguistic, and working memory pathways--that make unique contributions to children's mathematical development. We attempted to refine the quantitative pathway by combining children's (N=141 in Grades 2 and 3) subitizing, counting, and symbolic magnitude comparison skills using principal components analysis. The quantitative pathway was examined in relation to dependent numerical measures (backward counting, arithmetic fluency, calculation, and number system knowledge) and a dependent reading measure, while simultaneously accounting for linguistic and working memory skills. Analyses controlled for processing speed, parental education, and gender. We hypothesized that the quantitative, linguistic, and working memory pathways would account for unique variance in the numerical outcomes; this was the case for backward counting and arithmetic fluency. However, only the quantitative and linguistic pathways (not working memory) accounted for unique variance in calculation and number system knowledge. Not surprisingly, only the linguistic pathway accounted for unique variance in the reading measure. These findings suggest that the relative contributions of quantitative, linguistic, and working memory skills vary depending on the specific cognitive task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Correlates of Injury-forced Work Reduction for Massage Therapists and Bodywork Practitioners.

PubMed

Blau, Gary; Monos, Christopher; Boyer, Ed; Davis, Kathleen; Flanagan, Richard; Lopez, Andrea; Tatum, Donna S

2013-01-01

Injury-forced work reduction (IFWR) has been acknowledged as an all-too-common occurrence for massage therapists and bodywork practitioners (M & Bs). However, little prior research has specifically investigated demographic, work attitude, and perceptual correlates of IFWR among M & Bs. To test two hypotheses, H1 and H2. H1 is that the accumulated cost variables set ( e.g., accumulated costs, continuing education costs) will account for a significant amount of IFWR variance beyond control/demographic (e.g., social desirability response bias, gender, years in practice, highest education level) and work attitude/perception variables (e.g., job satisfaction, affective occupation commitment, occupation identification, limited occupation alternatives) sets. H2 is that the two exhaustion variables (i.e., physical exhaustion, work exhaustion) set will account for significant IFWR variance beyond control/demographic, work attitude/perception, and accumulated cost variables sets. An online survey sample of 2,079 complete-data M & Bs was collected. Stepwise regression analysis was used to test the study hypotheses. The research design first controlled for control/demographic (Step1) and work attitude/perception variables sets (Step 2), before then testing for the successive incremental impact of two variable sets, accumulated costs (Step 3) and exhaustion variables (Step 4) for explaining IFWR. RESULTS SUPPORTED BOTH STUDY HYPOTHESES: accumulated cost variables set (H1) and exhaustion variables set (H2) each significantly explained IFWR after the control/demographic and work attitude/perception variables sets. The most important correlate for explaining IFWR was higher physical exhaustion, but work exhaustion was also significant. It is not just physical "wear and tear", but also "mental fatigue", that can lead to IFWR for M & Bs. Being female, having more years in practice, and having higher continuing education costs were also significant correlates of IFWR. Lower overall levels of work exhaustion, physical exhaustion, and IFWR were found in the present sample. However, since both types of exhaustion significantly and positively impact IFWR, taking sufficient time between massages and, if possible, varying one's massage technique to replenish one's physical and mental energy seem important. Failure to take required continuing education units, due to high costs, also increases risk for IFWR. Study limitations and future research issues are discussed.

Stressful life events, family support and successful ageing in the Biafran War generation.

PubMed

Chukwuorji, JohnBosco Chika; Nwoke, Mary Basil; Ebere, Magnus Okechukwu

2017-01-01

Although the developing countries contribute substantially to the population of the elderly, little is known about ageing in populous countries like Nigeria, particularly the Biafran War generation (BWG). Some of those who witnessed the Biafran War (also known as Nigerian Civil War) as children are well into late adulthood, while the majority of this pre-war/wartime cohort who are in their golden years will enter into later life in less than a decade from now. The aim of the present research was to examine the role of stressful life events and family support in successful ageing of the BWG. Data were collected using a self-administered survey completed by 453 members of the BWG who were ≥45 years. The survey included measures such as the Successful Ageing Inventory, Life Events Inventory, and family support subscale of Family Dynamics Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses of the study. The three dimensions of stressful life events (health events, interpersonal events and work-related/financial events) had moderate negative relationships with successful ageing. Family support was moderately and positively associated with successful ageing. For the moderation hypotheses, family support was a significant moderator of only the relationship between work-related stressful life events and successful ageing, especially for the <65 years subgroup. Growing old can be a very positive experience for both the individual and the society. Family support provides social protection for older people, in the face of difficult socio-economic circumstances.

Sexual Partners of Street-Based Female Sex Workers in St. Petersburg, Russia: A Model of Partnership Characteristics as a Basis for Further Research

PubMed Central

Levina, Olga S.; Heimer, Robert; Odinokova, Veronika; Bodanovskaya, Zinaida; Safiullina, Liliya; Irwin, Kevin S.; Niccolai, Linda M.

2014-01-01

Street-based sex work in Russia, as in many countries, carries with it a high risk for violence and the transmission of infectious diseases. The male partners of female sex workers are both cause and recipient of such risks. Because little is known about the men, we undertook a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of recruiting and interviewing them, develop typologies that describe partners, and derive hypotheses for further study and risk reduction intervention projects. We were able to conduct open-ended, qualitative interviews with street-based sex workers and, largely through these contacts, their male partners. To these data, we added interviews with social work and medical experts who engage with the sex workers. The text of interviews from 37 respondents were analyzed to identify commonly mentioned partner characteristics in five distinct domains: sociodemographics, behavioral patterns of the partners, motivations in seeking sex services, levels of partner engagement with the sex workers, and the social circumstances that moderate the engagement. Four of the five domains (all but sociodemographics) proved useful in identifying typologies that were best described as populated points in a matrix generated from the intersection of the four domains. The data were too limited to specify which of the points in the matrix are most common, but the points populated are useful in generating hypotheses for further study and in identifying potential avenues for risk reduction interventions. PMID:25741032

A meta-analysis of country differences in the high-performance work system-business performance relationship: the roles of national culture and managerial discretion.

PubMed

Rabl, Tanja; Jayasinghe, Mevan; Gerhart, Barry; Kühlmann, Torsten M

2014-11-01

Our article develops a conceptual framework based primarily on national culture perspectives but also incorporating the role of managerial discretion (cultural tightness-looseness, institutional flexibility), which is aimed at achieving a better understanding of how the effectiveness of high-performance work systems (HPWSs) may vary across countries. Based on a meta-analysis of 156 HPWS-business performance effect sizes from 35,767 firms and establishments in 29 countries, we found that the mean HPWS-business performance effect size was positive overall (corrected r = .28) and positive in each country, regardless of its national culture or degree of institutional flexibility. In the case of national culture, the HPWS-business performance relationship was, on average, actually more strongly positive in countries where the degree of a priori hypothesized consistency or fit between an HPWS and national culture (according to national culture perspectives) was lower, except in the case of tight national cultures, where greater a priori fit of an HPWS with national culture was associated with a more positive HPWS-business performance effect size. However, in loose cultures (and in cultures that were neither tight nor loose), less a priori hypothesized consistency between an HPWS and national culture was associated with higher HPWS effectiveness. As such, our findings suggest the importance of not only national culture but also managerial discretion in understanding the HPWS-business performance relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Sexual Partners of Street-Based Female Sex Workers in St. Petersburg, Russia: A Model of Partnership Characteristics as a Basis for Further Research.

PubMed

Levina, Olga S; Heimer, Robert; Odinokova, Veronika; Bodanovskaya, Zinaida; Safiullina, Liliya; Irwin, Kevin S; Niccolai, Linda M

2012-01-01

Street-based sex work in Russia, as in many countries, carries with it a high risk for violence and the transmission of infectious diseases. The male partners of female sex workers are both cause and recipient of such risks. Because little is known about the men, we undertook a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of recruiting and interviewing them, develop typologies that describe partners, and derive hypotheses for further study and risk reduction intervention projects. We were able to conduct open-ended, qualitative interviews with street-based sex workers and, largely through these contacts, their male partners. To these data, we added interviews with social work and medical experts who engage with the sex workers. The text of interviews from 37 respondents were analyzed to identify commonly mentioned partner characteristics in five distinct domains: sociodemographics, behavioral patterns of the partners, motivations in seeking sex services, levels of partner engagement with the sex workers, and the social circumstances that moderate the engagement. Four of the five domains (all but sociodemographics) proved useful in identifying typologies that were best described as populated points in a matrix generated from the intersection of the four domains. The data were too limited to specify which of the points in the matrix are most common, but the points populated are useful in generating hypotheses for further study and in identifying potential avenues for risk reduction interventions.

Two biomechanical strategies for locomotor adaptation to split-belt treadmill walking in subjects with and without transtibial amputation.

PubMed

Selgrade, Brian P; Toney, Megan E; Chang, Young-Hui

2017-02-28

Locomotor adaptation is commonly studied using split-belt treadmill walking, in which each foot is placed on a belt moving at a different speed. As subjects adapt to split-belt walking, they reduce metabolic power, but the biomechanical mechanism behind this improved efficiency is unknown. Analyzing mechanical work performed by the legs and joints during split-belt adaptation could reveal this mechanism. Because ankle work in the step-to-step transition is more efficient than hip work, we hypothesized that control subjects would reduce hip work on the fast belt and increase ankle work during the step-to-step transition as they adapted. We further hypothesized that subjects with unilateral, trans-tibial amputation would instead increase propulsive work from their intact leg on the slow belt. Control subjects reduced hip work and shifted more ankle work to the step-to-step transition, supporting our hypothesis. Contrary to our second hypothesis, intact leg work, ankle work and hip work in amputees were unchanged during adaptation. Furthermore, all subjects increased collisional energy loss on the fast belt, but did not increase propulsive work. This was possible because subjects moved further backward during fast leg single support in late adaptation than in early adaptation, compensating by reducing backward movement in slow leg single support. In summary, subjects used two strategies to improve mechanical efficiency in split-belt walking adaptation: a CoM displacement strategy that allows for less forward propulsion on the fast belt; and, an ankle timing strategy that allows efficient ankle work in the step-to-step transition to increase while reducing inefficient hip work. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A method for establishing constraints on galactic magnetic field models using ultra high energy cosmic rays and results from the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutherland, Michael Stephen

2010-12-01

The Galactic magnetic field is poorly understood. Essentially the only reliable measurements of its properties are the local orientation and field strength. Its behavior at galactic scales is unknown. Historically, magnetic field measurements have been performed using radio astronomy techniques which are sensitive to certain regions of the Galaxy and rely upon models of the distribution of gas and dust within the disk. However, the deflection of trajectories of ultra high energy cosmic rays arriving from extragalactic sources depends only on the properties of the magnetic field. In this work, a method is developed for determining acceptable global models of the Galactic magnetic field by backtracking cosmic rays through the field model. This method constrains the parameter space of magnetic field models by comparing a test statistic between backtracked cosmic rays and isotropic expectations for assumed cosmic ray source and composition hypotheses. Constraints on Galactic magnetic field models are established using data from the southern site of the Pierre Auger Observatory under various source distribution and cosmic ray composition hypotheses. Field models possessing structure similar to the stellar spiral arms are found to be inconsistent with hypotheses of an iron cosmic ray composition and sources selected from catalogs tracing the local matter distribution in the universe. These field models are consistent with hypothesis combinations of proton composition and sources tracing the local matter distribution. In particular, strong constraints are found on the parameter space of bisymmetric magnetic field models scanned under hypotheses of proton composition and sources selected from the 2MRS-VS, Swift 39-month, and VCV catalogs. Assuming that the Galactic magnetic field is well-described by a bisymmetric model under these hypotheses, the magnetic field strength near the Sun is less than 3-4 muG and magnetic pitch angle is less than -8°. These results comprise the first measurements of the Galactic magnetic field using ultra-high energy cosmic rays and supplement existing radio astronomical measurements of the Galactic magnetic field.

Similarities and differences between the Wnt and reelin pathways in the forming brain.

PubMed

Reiner, Orly; Sapir, Tamar

2005-01-01

One of the key features in development is the reutilization of successful signaling pathways. Here, we emphasize the involvement of the Wnt pathway, one of the five kinds of signal transduction pathway predominating early embryonic development of all animals, in regulating the formation of brain structure. We discuss the interrelationships between the Wnt and reelin pathways in the regulation of cortical layering. We summarize data emphasizing key molecules, which, when mutated, result in abnormal brain development. This integrated view, which is based on conservation of pathways, reveals the relative position of participants in the pathway, points to control mechanisms, and allows raising testable working hypotheses. Nevertheless, although signaling pathways are highly conserved from flies to humans, the overall morphology is not. We propose that future studies directed at understanding of diversification will provide fruitful insights on mammalian brain formation.

Predictors of workplace sexual health policy at sex work establishments in the Philippines.

PubMed

Withers, M; Dornig, K; Morisky, D E

2007-09-01

Based on the literature, we identified manager and establishment characteristics that we hypothesized are related to workplace policies that support HIV protective behavior. We developed a sexual health policy index consisting of 11 items as our outcome variable. We utilized both bivariate and multivariate analysis of variance. The significant variables in our bivariate analyses (establishment type, number of employees, manager age, and membership in manager association) were entered into a multivariate regression model. The model was significant (p<.01), and predicted 42) of the variability in the development and management of a workplace sexual health policy supportive of condom use. The significant predictors were number of employees and establishment type. In addition to individually-focused CSW interventions, HIV prevention programs should target managers and establishment policies. Future HIV prevention programs may need to focus on helping smaller establishments, in particular those with less employees, to build capacity and develop sexual health policy guidelines.

Bridging the gap between the technological singularity and mainstream medicine: highlighting a course on technology and the future of medicine.

PubMed

Solez, Kim; Bernier, Ashlyn; Crichton, Joel; Graves, Heather; Kuttikat, Preeti; Lockwood, Ross; Marovitz, William F; Monroe, Damon; Pallen, Mark; Pandya, Shawna; Pearce, David; Saleh, Abdullah; Sandhu, Neelam; Sergi, Consolato; Tuszynski, Jack; Waugh, Earle; White, Jonathan; Woodside, Michael; Wyndham, Roger; Zaiane, Osmar; Zakus, David

2013-09-09

The "technological singularity" is defined as that putative point in time forecasted to occur in the mid twenty-first century when machines will become smarter than humans, leading humans and machines to merge. It is hypothesized that this event will have a profound influence on medicine and population health. This work describes a new course on Technology and the Future of Medicine developed by a diverse, multi-disciplinary group of faculty members at a Canadian university. The course began as a continuous professional learning course and was later established as a recognized graduate course. We describe the philosophy of the course, the barriers encountered in course development, and some of the idiosyncratic solutions that were developed to overcome these, including the use of YouTube audience retention analytics. We hope that this report might provide a useful template for other institutions attempting to set up similar programs.

Occupational exposure to carcinogens: Benzene, pesticides and fibers

PubMed Central

Falzone, Luca; Marconi, Andrea; Loreto, Carla; Franco, Sabrina; Spandidos, Demetrios A.; Libra, Massimo

2016-01-01

It is well known that the occupational exposure to contaminants and carcinogens leads to the development of cancer in exposed workers. In the 18th century, Percivall Pott was the first to hypothesize that chronic exposure to dust in the London chimney sweeps was associated with an increased risk of developing cancer. Subsequently a growing body of evidence indicated that other physical factors were also responsible for oncogenic mutations. Over the past decades, many carcinogens have been found in the occupational environment and their presence is often associated with an increased incidence of cancer. Occupational exposure involves several factors and the association between carcinogens, occupational exposure and cancer is still unclear. Only a fraction of factors is recognized as occupational carcinogens and for each factor, there is an increased risk of cancer development associated with a specific work activity. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the majority of carcinogens are classified as ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ human carcinogens, while, direct evidence of carcinogenicity is provided in epidemiological and experimental studies. In the present review, exposures to benzene, pesticides and mineral fibers are discussed as the most important cancer risk factors during work activities. PMID:27748850

Occupational exposure to carcinogens: Benzene, pesticides and fibers (Review).

PubMed

Falzone, Luca; Marconi, Andrea; Loreto, Carla; Franco, Sabrina; Spandidos, Demetrios A; Libra, Massimo

2016-11-01

It is well known that the occupational exposure to contaminants and carcinogens leads to the development of cancer in exposed workers. In the 18th century, Percivall Pott was the first to hypothesize that chronic exposure to dust in the London chimney sweeps was associated with an increased risk of developing cancer. Subsequently a growing body of evidence indicated that other physical factors were also responsible for oncogenic mutations. Over the past decades, many carcinogens have been found in the occupational environment and their presence is often associated with an increased incidence of cancer. Occupational exposure involves several factors and the association between carcinogens, occupational exposure and cancer is still unclear. Only a fraction of factors is recognized as occupational carcinogens and for each factor, there is an increased risk of cancer development associated with a specific work activity. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the majority of carcinogens are classified as 'probable' and 'possible' human carcinogens, while, direct evidence of carcinogenicity is provided in epidemiological and experimental studies. In the present review, exposures to benzene, pesticides and mineral fibers are discussed as the most important cancer risk factors during work activities.

Molecular genetic analysis of activation-tagged transcription factors thought to be involved in photomorphogenesis

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

Neff, Michael M.

This is a final report for Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-08ER15927 entitled “Molecular Genetic Analysis of Activation-Tagged Transcription Factors Thought to be Involved in Photomorphogenesis”. Based on our preliminary photobiological and genetic analysis of the sob1-D mutant, we hypothesized that OBP3 is a transcription factor involved in both phytochrome and cryptochrome-mediated signal transduction. In addition, we hypothesized that OBP3 is involved in auxin signaling and root development. Based on our preliminary photobiological and genetic analysis of the sob2-D mutant, we also hypothesized that a related gene, LEP, is involved in hormone signaling and seedling development.

Motivational Mechanisms in the Relation between Job Characteristics and Employee Functioning.

PubMed

Olafsen, Anja H; Halvari, Hallgeir

2017-08-07

This study investigates the job demands-resources (JD-R) model in relation to work motivation in a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, with the purpose of developing a model where social-contextual factors are seen in relation to psychological needs in order to explain autonomous work motivation and, in turn, self-reported work performance and somatic symptom burden. SEM-analyses of cross-sectional survey data including 405 waiters/waitresses in Norway were conducted to evaluate the hypothesized model. Results indicate that different job resources have different relations to psychological need satisfaction, and that certain types of job demands (i.e., job challenges) actually may enhance satisfaction of specific psychological needs. In particular, task autonomy had a positive relation to autonomy satisfaction (p < .001) and to competence satisfaction (p < .05), positive feedback had a positive relation to autonomy-, competence-, and relatedness satisfaction (p < .001), and workload had a positive relation to competence satisfaction (p < .001). Furthermore, psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness positively related to autonomous work motivation and, in turn, positively to work performance and negatively to somatic symptom burden (p < .001). Indirect relations were also detected between the job characteristics and autonomous work motivation and between the basic needs and work performance (p < .05). Hence, when explaining autonomous work motivation and work outcomes, it is important to distinguish between different job demands and job resources, as well as among the three psychological needs.

Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory.

PubMed

Rusli, Yazmin Ahmad; Montgomery, James W

2017-10-17

The aim of this study was to determine whether extant language (lexical) knowledge or domain-general working memory is the better predictor of comprehension of object relative sentences for children with typical development. We hypothesized that extant language knowledge, not domain-general working memory, is the better predictor. Fifty-three children (ages 9-11 years) completed a word-level verbal working-memory task, indexing extant language (lexical) knowledge; an analog nonverbal working-memory task, representing domain-general working memory; and a hybrid sentence comprehension task incorporating elements of both agent selection and cross-modal picture-priming paradigms. Images of the agent and patient were displayed at the syntactic gap in the object relative sentences, and the children were asked to select the agent of the sentence. Results of general linear modeling revealed that extant language knowledge accounted for a unique 21.3% of variance in the children's object relative sentence comprehension over and above age (8.3%). Domain-general working memory accounted for a nonsignificant 1.6% of variance. We interpret the results to suggest that extant language knowledge and not domain-general working memory is a critically important contributor to children's object relative sentence comprehension. Results support a connectionist view of the association between working memory and object relative sentence comprehension. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5404573.

Management structures and beliefs in a professional organisation. an example from Swedish Public Dental Health Services.

PubMed

Ordell, Sven; Söderfeldt, Björn

2010-01-01

Work as a dentist is stressful and demanding. In the Public Dental Health Service (PDHS) the heads of clinics' have a great influence on the work environment. In turn the heads have to adapt to the overarching policies on management in each County, which create the environment for the clinics. The aims of this paper were to describe the management structure of the PDHS as described by their Chief Dental Officers (CDOs), and to test hypotheses that the management systems had "a logical administrative structure". A postal questionnaire was mailed to all 21 CDOs,who all responded. Context analysis and bivariate correlations were used. The PDHS employed on average 60% of all dentists in a county. The numbers of clinics for general dentistry in Sweden was 698, and for specialist care 144. The heads of clinics were dentists in 92%. Four hypotheses were tested. 1. separate political board did not lead to closer governance of the PDHS. 2. There was more emphasis on measurable than on qualitative objectives and followup. 3. There was only partial correlation between a larger county and a more formalized management. 4. There was no correlation between size of county and beliefs on advantages of scale. There was a widespread belief in advantages with larger clinics both from administrative, and rather surprisingly, from clinical aspects. Two of the four hypotheses could not be corroborated which indicates that the management structures were more formed by county specific principles. The four hypotheses on administrative behaviour were only partially corroborated. The implications for delivery of care to sparsely populated areas need to be monitored in view of the beliefs in larger clinics. The limits for decisions by management and for professional discretion must be monitored closely considering their effects on work environment and on the quality of care the professionals are able to deliver.

Morphine hyposensitivity in streptozotocin-diabetic rats: Reversal by dietary l-arginine treatment.

PubMed

Lotfipour, Shahrdad; Smith, Maree T

2018-01-01

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a long-term complication of diabetes. Defining symptoms include mechanical allodynia (pain due to light pressure or touch) and morphine hyposensitivity. In our previous work using the streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rat model of PDN, morphine hyposensitivity developed in a temporal manner with efficacy abolished at 3 months post-STZ and maintained for 6 months post-STZ. As this time course mimicked that for the temporal development of hyposensitivity to the pain-relieving effects of the furoxan nitric oxide (NO) donor, PRG150 (3-methylfuroxan-4-carbaldehyde) in STZ-diabetic rats, we hypothesized that progressive depletion of endogenous NO bioactivity may underpin the temporal loss of morphine sensitivity in STZ-diabetic rats. Furthermore, we hypothesized that replenishment of NO bioactivity may restore morphine sensitivity in these animals. Diabetes was induced in male Dark Agouti rats by intravenous injection of STZ (85 mg/kg). Diabetes was confirmed on day 7 if blood glucose concentrations were ≥15 mmol/L. Mechanical allodynia was fully developed in the bilateral hindpaws by 3 weeks of STZ-diabetes in rats and this was maintained for the study duration. Morphine hyposensitivity developed in a temporal manner with efficacy abolished by 3 months post-STZ. Administration of dietary l-arginine (NO precursor) at 1 g/d to STZ-diabetic rats according to a 15-week prevention protocol initiated at 9 weeks post-STZ prevented abolition of morphine efficacy. When given as an 8-week intervention protocol in rats where morphine efficacy was abolished, dietary l-arginine at 1 g/d progressively rescued morphine efficacy and potency. Our findings implicate NO depletion in the development of morphine hyposensitivity in STZ-diabetic rats. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Interactional synchrony and the origins of infant-mother attachment: a replication study.

PubMed

Isabella, R A; Belsky, J

1991-04-01

This study sought to replicate previous work in testing the hypothesis that interactions of dyads developing secure attachment relationships would be characterized by disproportionately synchronous and those of dyads developing insecure relationships by disproportionately asynchronous exchanges. Additionally, a priori hypotheses were tested regarding expected differences in the interactional histories of dyads developing insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments. Results supported the study's predictions in all cases. Dyads developing secure attachments were observed at 3 and 9 months to interact in a disproportionately well-timed, reciprocal, and mutually rewarding manner; dyads developing insecure relationships were disproportionately characterized by interactions in which mothers were minimally involved, unresponsive to infant signals, or intrusive. Within the insecure group, as predicted, 3- and 9-month interactions of avoidant dyads were characterized by maternal intrusiveness and overstimulation; resistant dyads were characterized at both ages by poorly coordinated interactions in which mothers were underinvolved and inconsistent. These findings are discussed as they lend to a growing body of evidence concerning associations between differential interactional histories and attachment quality.

Complex Immune Correlates of Protection in HIV-1 Vaccine Efficacy Trials

PubMed Central

Tomaras, Georgia D.; Plotkin, Stanley A.

2016-01-01

Summary Development of an efficacious HIV-1 vaccine is a major priority for improving human health worldwide. Vaccine mediated protection against human pathogens can be achieved through elicitation of protective innate, humoral, and cellular responses. Identification of specific immune responses responsible for pathogen protection enables vaccine development and provides insights into host defenses against pathogens and the immunological mechanisms that most effectively fight infection. Defining immunological correlates of transmission risk in preclinical and clinical HIV-1 vaccine trials has moved the HIV-1 vaccine development field forward and directed new candidate vaccine development. Immune correlate studies are providing novel hypotheses about immunological mechanisms that may be responsible for preventing HIV-1 acquisition. Recent results from HIV-1 immune correlates work has demonstrated that there are multiple types of immune responses that together, comprise an immune correlate—thus implicating polyfunctional immune control of HIV-1 transmission. An in depth understanding of these complex immunological mechanisms of protection against HIV-1 will accelerate the development of an efficacious HIV-1 vaccine. PMID:28133811

Adaptability-what it is and what it is not: Comment on Chandra and Leong (2016).

PubMed

Martin, Andrew J

2017-10-01

Chandra and Leong (2016) propose a new model of adaptability: the diversified portfolio model (DPM) of adaptability. Further thought and research on adaptability is a welcome addition to the limited body of work conducted on this topic to date. However, in their discussion there is a lack of definitional clarity, and there is frequent conflation of adaptability and resilience. It is also the case that the hypothesized adaptability model is general and could apply to many psychological constructs and processes (not just adaptability). In addition, there are gaps in research suggested by the authors that have been addressed by other researchers and there is a good deal of contemporary adaptability research that is not cited. Addressing these limitations in future work is vital to the further development of theory, research, and practice in the area of adaptability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Mars Redox Chemistry: Atacama Desert Soils as a Terrestrial Analog

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quinn, R. C.; Grunthaner, F. J.; Taylor, C. L.; Zent, A. P.

2003-01-01

The motivation for this work is to perform quantitative site characterizations of soil chemical processes to allow further development and field validation of the Mars Oxidant Instrument (MOI). The MOI is an in situ survey instrument designed to establish the presence of reactive chemical species in the martian soil, dust, or atmosphere, and to provide detailed reaction model system measurements to enable comprehensive Earthbased study. Functioning as a survey instrument, MOI tests the broad range of hypotheses explaining the reactivity of the martian surface material that have been put forth since the Viking experiments. This work is currently being carried out under the NASA ASTEP funded AstroBioLab (Jeffery Bada, PI). A second objective is to use Atacama field and Viking data to perform comparative studies, with the goal of furthering the understanding of the formation mechanisms and properties of martian oxidants.

Does the Component Processes Task Assess Text-Based Inferences Important for Reading Comprehension? A Path Analysis in Primary School Children

PubMed Central

Wassenburg, Stephanie I.; de Koning, Björn B.; de Vries, Meinou H.; van der Schoot, Menno

2016-01-01

Using a component processes task (CPT) that differentiates between higher-level cognitive processes of reading comprehension provides important advantages over commonly used general reading comprehension assessments. The present study contributes to further development of the CPT by evaluating the relative contributions of its components (text memory, text inferencing, and knowledge integration) and working memory to general reading comprehension within a single study using path analyses. Participants were 173 third- and fourth-grade children. As hypothesized, knowledge integration was the only component of the CPT that directly contributed to reading comprehension, indicating that the text-inferencing component did not assess inferential processes related to reading comprehension. Working memory was a significant predictor of reading comprehension over and above the component processes. Future research should focus on finding ways to ensure that the text-inferencing component taps into processes important for reading comprehension. PMID:27378989

Sequential Probability Ratio Test for Spacecraft Collision Avoidance Maneuver Decisions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell; Markley, F. Landis

2013-01-01

A document discusses sequential probability ratio tests that explicitly allow decision-makers to incorporate false alarm and missed detection risks, and are potentially less sensitive to modeling errors than a procedure that relies solely on a probability of collision threshold. Recent work on constrained Kalman filtering has suggested an approach to formulating such a test for collision avoidance maneuver decisions: a filter bank with two norm-inequality-constrained epoch-state extended Kalman filters. One filter models the null hypotheses that the miss distance is inside the combined hard body radius at the predicted time of closest approach, and one filter models the alternative hypothesis. The epoch-state filter developed for this method explicitly accounts for any process noise present in the system. The method appears to work well using a realistic example based on an upcoming, highly elliptical orbit formation flying mission.

[B-BS and occupational health and safety management systems].

PubMed

Bacchetta, Adriano Paolo

2010-01-01

The objective of a SGSL is the "prevention" agreement as approach of "pro-active" toward the safety at work through the construction of an integrated managerial system in synergic an dynamic way with the business organization, according to continuous improvement principles. Nevertheless the adoption of a SGSL, not could guarantee by itself the obtainment of the full effectiveness than projected and every individual's adhesion to it, must guarantee it's personal involvement in proactive way, so that to succeed to actual really how much hypothesized to systemic level to increase the safety in firm. The objective of a behavioral safety process that comes to be integrated in a SGSL, it has the purpose to succeed in implementing in firm a process of cultural change that raises the workers social group fundamental safety value, producing an ample and full involvement of all in the activities of safety at work development. SGSL = Occupational Health and Safety Management System.

Does Increased Spending on Pharmaceutical Marketing Inhibit Pioneering Innovation?

PubMed

Arnold, Denis G; Troyer, Jennifer L

2016-04-01

The pharmaceutical industry has been criticized for developing and aggressively marketing drugs that do not provide significant health benefits relative to existing drugs but retain the benefits of patent protection. Critics argue that drug marketing increases health care expenditures and provides a disincentive for pioneering drug innovation. However, evidence that marketing expenditures have any relationship to new drug approvals has been anecdotal. We hypothesized that, at publicly traded pharmaceutical firms, increased marketing expenditures will result in a reduced volume of pioneering new drugs in comparison to less innovative new drugs. We also hypothesized that additional research and development spending will result in an increased volume of pioneering new drugs in comparison to less innovative drugs. Results confirm our hypotheses. Specific policy recommendations for altering firms' incentives for the development of pioneering drugs are provided. Copyright © 2016 by Duke University Press.

Factors Affecting the Vocational Calling of Laboratory Animal Care and Research Employees

PubMed Central

Boivin, Gregory P; Markert, Ronald J

2016-01-01

We surveyed laboratory animal care and research workers to determine the factors affecting their vocational calling. The survey comprised 56 questions in 4 groups: passion, job stability or happiness, work volition, and demographics. We hypothesized that personnel who worked in the field a longer time, were older, had higher education levels, were involved with AALAS, and in higher positions in their organization were more likely to indicate a calling to the laboratory animal care field. In addition, we hypothesized that job satisfaction and classifying one's job as a calling were positively related to organizational support and work volition. Overall, 44% of respondents categorized their work as at least partially a calling. Those working at a higher level in the position of laboratory animal technician and in the organization were more likely to view their work as a calling. Increasing education level was related to work being a calling. Overall, vocational calling was significantly associated with higher pay, but technicians were the only subgroup where calling and higher pay were significantly related. Vocational calling and job satisfaction were associated with organizational support. For our sample of workers in the animal care field, other factors analyzed were not related to work being considered a calling. Leaders in the field of animal care may find our survey results valuable as they strive to adapt their organization's structure to the perceptions of their workforce with regard to their sense of calling. PMID:27931315

Work stressors, perseverative cognition and objective sleep quality: a longitudinal study among Dutch Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) Pilots.

PubMed

Radstaak, Mirjam; Geurts, Sabine A E; Beckers, Debby G J; Brosschot, Jos F; Kompier, Michiel A J

2014-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the associations between work stressors, perseverative cognition and subjective and objective sleep quality. We hypothesized work stressors to be associated with (i) poor nocturnal sleep quality and (ii) higher levels of perseverative cognition during a free evening. We further hypothesized (iii) perseverative cognition to be associated with poor nocturnal sleep quality and (iv) the association between work stressors and sleep quality to be mediated by perseverative cognition. The participants were 24 pilots working for the Dutch Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). They completed six questionnaires: at the end of three consecutive day shifts and each morning following the shifts. The questionnaires addressed work stressors (workload, distressing shifts and work-related conflicts), subjective sleep quality and perseverative cognition. Participants wore actigraphs to assess sleep onset latency, total sleep time and number of awakenings. Correlation analysis revealed that (i) distressing shifts were related to delayed sleep onset (r=0.50, p=0.026) and that workload was related to impaired sleep quality (e.g., subjective sleep quality: r=-0.42, p=0.044). Moreover, (ii) distressing shifts were positively related to perseverative cognition (r=0.62, p=0.002), (iii) perseverative cognition delayed sleep onset (r=0.74, p<0.001) and (iv) mediated the association between distressing shifts and sleep onset latency. Perseverative cognition may be an explanatory mechanism in the association between work stressors and poor sleep.

The curvilinear relationship between work pressure and momentary task performance: the role of state and trait core self-evaluations

PubMed Central

Hofmans, Joeri; Debusscher, Jonas; Dóci, Edina; Spanouli, Andromachi; De Fruyt, Filip

2015-01-01

Whereas several studies have demonstrated that core self-evaluations (CSE)–or one’s appraisals about one’s own self-worth, capabilities, and competences–relate to job outcomes, less is known about the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In the present study, we address this issue by examining the role of within- and between-person variation in CSE in the relationship between work pressure and task performance. We hypothesized that (a) work pressure relates to task performance in a curvilinear way, (b) state CSE mediates the curvilinear relationship between work pressure and task performance, and (c) the relationship between work pressure and state CSE is moderated by trait CSE. Our hypotheses were tested via a 10-day daily diary study with 55 employees in which trait CSE was measured at baseline, while work pressure, task performance, and state CSE were assessed on a daily basis. Bayesian multilevel path analysis showed that work pressure affects task performance via state CSE, with state CSE increasing as long as the employee feels that (s)he is able to handle the work pressure, while it decreases when the level of work pressure exceeds the employees’ coping abilities. Moreover, we found that for people low on trait CSE, the depleting effect of work pressure via state CSE happens for low levels of work pressure, while for people high in trait CSE the depleting effect is located at high levels of work pressure. Together, our findings suggest that the impact of work pressure on task performance is driven by a complex interplay of between- and within-person differences in CSE. PMID:26579053

Gene Expression Noise, Fitness Landscapes, and Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charlebois, Daniel

The stochastic (or noisy) process of gene expression can have fitness consequences for living organisms. For example, gene expression noise facilitates the development of drug resistance by increasing the time scale at which beneficial phenotypic states can be maintained. The present work investigates the relationship between gene expression noise and the fitness landscape. By incorporating the costs and benefits of gene expression, we track how the fluctuation magnitude and timescale of expression noise evolve in simulations of cell populations under stress. We find that properties of expression noise evolve to maximize fitness on the fitness landscape, and that low levels of expression noise emerge when the fitness benefits of gene expression exceed the fitness costs (and that high levels of noise emerge when the costs of expression exceed the benefits). The findings from our theoretical/computational work offer new hypotheses on the development of drug resistance, some of which are now being investigated in evolution experiments in our laboratory using well-characterized synthetic gene regulatory networks in budding yeast. Nserc Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant No. PDF-453977-2014).

Preeclampsia: is it because of the asymptomatic, unrecognized renal scars caused by urinary tract infections in childhood that become symptomatic with pregnancy?

PubMed

Ozlü, Tülay; Alçelik, Aytekin; Calişkan, Billur; Dönmez, Melahat Emine

2012-11-01

Preeclampsia is an important disease of pregnancy whose exact etiology is still unknown despite continuing developments in medicine. Although most commonly it is believed to be caused by a defective placentation, in this paper, we hypothesize that the primary underlying problem in the development of preeclampsia can be in kidneys in a greater proportion of cases than it is believed today. The increased intravascular volume and the increased work load of kidneys together with the resulting glomerular hypertrophy may precipitate nephrotic syndrome, which in this case is called "preeclampsia" in a previously affected kidney. Urinary tract infections in childhood leaving silent, unrecognized small scars in the kidneys may be the underlying renal cause which disrupts its silence with an increased work load of kidneys prominently occurring after the midtrimester. The histopathologic finding in kidneys with renal scars after childhood urinary tract infections and in preeclampsia is focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in the majority of cases and this similarity strengthens our hypothesis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers: A potential resource for studies in plant molecular biology(1.).

PubMed

Robarts, Daniel W H; Wolfe, Andrea D

2014-07-01

In the past few decades, many investigations in the field of plant biology have employed selectively neutral, multilocus, dominant markers such as inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to address hypotheses at lower taxonomic levels. More recently, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers have been developed, which are used to amplify coding regions of DNA with primers targeting open reading frames. These markers have proven to be robust and highly variable, on par with AFLP, and are attained through a significantly less technically demanding process. SRAP markers have been used primarily for agronomic and horticultural purposes, developing quantitative trait loci in advanced hybrids and assessing genetic diversity of large germplasm collections. Here, we suggest that SRAP markers should be employed for research addressing hypotheses in plant systematics, biogeography, conservation, ecology, and beyond. We provide an overview of the SRAP literature to date, review descriptive statistics of SRAP markers in a subset of 171 publications, and present relevant case studies to demonstrate the applicability of SRAP markers to the diverse field of plant biology. Results of these selected works indicate that SRAP markers have the potential to enhance the current suite of molecular tools in a diversity of fields by providing an easy-to-use, highly variable marker with inherent biological significance.

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers: A potential resource for studies in plant molecular biology1

PubMed Central

Robarts, Daniel W. H.; Wolfe, Andrea D.

2014-01-01

In the past few decades, many investigations in the field of plant biology have employed selectively neutral, multilocus, dominant markers such as inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to address hypotheses at lower taxonomic levels. More recently, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers have been developed, which are used to amplify coding regions of DNA with primers targeting open reading frames. These markers have proven to be robust and highly variable, on par with AFLP, and are attained through a significantly less technically demanding process. SRAP markers have been used primarily for agronomic and horticultural purposes, developing quantitative trait loci in advanced hybrids and assessing genetic diversity of large germplasm collections. Here, we suggest that SRAP markers should be employed for research addressing hypotheses in plant systematics, biogeography, conservation, ecology, and beyond. We provide an overview of the SRAP literature to date, review descriptive statistics of SRAP markers in a subset of 171 publications, and present relevant case studies to demonstrate the applicability of SRAP markers to the diverse field of plant biology. Results of these selected works indicate that SRAP markers have the potential to enhance the current suite of molecular tools in a diversity of fields by providing an easy-to-use, highly variable marker with inherent biological significance. PMID:25202637

Development and sexual dimorphism of the sonic system in deep sea neobythitine fishes: The upper continental slope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Heba A.; Mok, Hin-Kiu; Fine, Michael L.

2016-09-01

The anatomy of sound production in continental-slope fishes has been ignored since the work of NB Marshall in the 1960s. Due to food scarcity at great depths, we hypothesize that sonic muscles will be reduced in deep-water neobythitine cusk-eels (family Ophidiidae). Here we describe and quantify dimensions of the swimbladder and sonic muscles of three species from the upper slope. They have four pairs of well-developed sonic muscles (two medial and two lateral) with origins on the skull and insertions on the medial swimbladder (medial pair) or on modified epineural ribs that attach to the lateral swimbladder (lateral pair). Despite minor differences, relatively similar swimbladder dimensions, muscle length and external morphology suggest a conservative body plan. However, there are major differences in sonic muscle mass: medial muscles are heavier in males and made of relatively small fibers (ca 10 μm in diameter). Lateral muscles are generally larger in females and consist of larger fibers, as in epaxial trunk muscle. Muscle weight varies between species, and we suggest males produce advertisement calls that vary in amplitude and duration in different species. Due to differences in fiber size, we hypothesize that lateral muscles with larger fibers remain contracted during sound production, and medial muscles with smaller fibers will oscillate to drive swimbladder sound production.

Work-Family Conflict, Perceived Organizational Support and Professional Commitment: A Mediation Mechanism for Chinese Project Professionals

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Projects are characterized by long working hours, complex tasks and being a kind of temporary organization. As such, work-family conflict is particularly prominent for project employees. This research examined whether and how work-family conflict affects professional commitment among Chinese project professionals. Research hypotheses were developed to explore the relationship between work-family conflict, professional commitment to the project and the mediating effects of perceived organizational support. Data were collected from 327 project managers or professionals working in construction enterprises in China; data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, applying the bootstrapping method. Results showed that there were three dimensions of work-family conflict: time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict. There were two dimensions of perceived organizational support: emotional support and instrumental support. The study also tested the negative effect of work-family conflict on professional commitment and the positive effect of perceived organizational support on professional commitment. Specifically, time-based conflict and emotional support had positive effects on professional commitment. Perceived organizational support had a total mediating effect between work-family conflict and professional commitment. The strain-based conflict dimension of work-family conflict had negative impacts on professional commitment through perceived emotional support and instrumental support. Overall, our findings extend a better understanding of work-family conflict and professional commitment in the project setting and verify the importance of social support in balancing work and family and improving employee mobility. PMID:29462860

Work-Family Conflict, Perceived Organizational Support and Professional Commitment: A Mediation Mechanism for Chinese Project Professionals.

PubMed

Zheng, Junwei; Wu, Guangdong

2018-02-15

Projects are characterized by long working hours, complex tasks and being a kind of temporary organization. As such, work-family conflict is particularly prominent for project employees. This research examined whether and how work-family conflict affects professional commitment among Chinese project professionals. Research hypotheses were developed to explore the relationship between work-family conflict, professional commitment to the project and the mediating effects of perceived organizational support. Data were collected from 327 project managers or professionals working in construction enterprises in China; data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, applying the bootstrapping method. Results showed that there were three dimensions of work-family conflict: time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict. There were two dimensions of perceived organizational support: emotional support and instrumental support. The study also tested the negative effect of work-family conflict on professional commitment and the positive effect of perceived organizational support on professional commitment. Specifically, time-based conflict and emotional support had positive effects on professional commitment. Perceived organizational support had a total mediating effect between work-family conflict and professional commitment. The strain-based conflict dimension of work-family conflict had negative impacts on professional commitment through perceived emotional support and instrumental support. Overall, our findings extend a better understanding of work-family conflict and professional commitment in the project setting and verify the importance of social support in balancing work and family and improving employee mobility.

After-School Activities, Misbehavior in School, and Delinquency from the End of Elementary School through the Beginning of High School: A Test of Social Development Model Hypotheses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Charles B.; Catalano, Richard F.; Mazza, James J.; Brown, Eric C.; Haggerty, Kevin P.; Harachi, Tracy W.

2008-01-01

Annual survey data on 776 students from sixth through ninth grade were used to examine the relationships among after-school activities, misbehavior in school, and delinquency. The social development model hypothesizes that antisocial behavior in one developmental time period leads to less involvement in activities and interactions that have…

The Tongue Map, Real or Not?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Pamela A.

2013-01-01

Students need practice in proposing hypotheses, developing experiments that will test these hypotheses, and generating data that they will analyze to support or refute them. I describe a guided-inquiry activity based on the "tongue map" concept, appropriate for middle school and high school students.

Conceptual Commitments of the LIDA Model of Cognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franklin, Stan; Strain, Steve; McCall, Ryan; Baars, Bernard

2013-06-01

Significant debate on fundamental issues remains in the subfields of cognitive science, including perception, memory, attention, action selection, learning, and others. Psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence each contribute alternative and sometimes conflicting perspectives on the supervening problem of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Current efforts toward a broad-based, systems-level model of minds cannot await theoretical convergence in each of the relevant subfields. Such work therefore requires the formulation of tentative hypotheses, based on current knowledge, that serve to connect cognitive functions into a theoretical framework for the study of the mind. We term such hypotheses "conceptual commitments" and describe the hypotheses underlying one such model, the Learning Intelligent Distribution Agent (LIDA) Model. Our intention is to initiate a discussion among AGI researchers about which conceptual commitments are essential, or particularly useful, toward creating AGI agents.

Part of the job: the role of physical work conditions in the nurse turnover process.

PubMed

Vardaman, James M; Cornell, Paul T; Allen, David G; Gondo, Maria B; Muslin, Ivan S; Mobley, Robin N; Brock, Meagan E; Sigmon, Tracy L

2014-01-01

Retention of nursing staff remains an important issue for health care managers. Turnover research has focused primarily on motivational and social factors as keys to retention, whereas the role of the physical work conditions has received considerably less attention. However, work design theory suggests that physical work conditions may be an important factor in fostering retention among nursing staff. The aim of this study was to integrate work design theory with turnover process models to explore the influence of perceptions of physical work conditions on the development of turnover intentions among nursing staff. Drawing on two samples of registered nurses working in cancer units in metropolitan hospitals in the southeastern United States, this study explores the impact of perceptions of physical work conditions on turnover intentions using ordinary least squares regression. Hypotheses are tested in Study 1 and replicated in Study 2. A measure of perceptions of physical work conditions is also developed and validated using exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses. Perceptions of physical work conditions explain variance in turnover intentions above than that explained by motivational and social factors. Specifically, employee perceptions of noisy work conditions are found to significantly increase turnover intentions, whereas perceptions that work conditions facilitate tasks were found to significantly reduce turnover intentions. Perceptions of temperature and health hazard did not show significant effects. Results suggest that health care managers and scholars should re-examine the role of physical work conditions in the turnover process. Investments in upgrades that facilitate tasks may foster retention better than investments that simply improve employee comfort. Negative perceptions of work conditions may have no impact if they are considered a normal "part of the job," although negative perceptions of conditions that are viewed as under the organization's control may be important in creating a desire to leave.

[A Structural Equation Model on Family Strength of Married Working Women].

PubMed

Hong, Yeong Seon; Han, Kuem Sun

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of predictive factors related to family strength and develop a structural equation model that explains family strength among married working women. A hypothesized model was developed based on literature reviews and predictors of family strength by Yoo. This constructed model was built of an eight pathway form. Two exogenous variables included in this model were ego-resilience and family support. Three endogenous variables included in this model were functional couple communication, family stress and family strength. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire from 319 married working women who were 30~40 of age and lived in cities of Chungnam province in Korea. Data were analyzed with PASW/WIN 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 programs. Family support had a positive direct, indirect and total effect on family strength. Family stress had a negative direct, indirect and total effect on family strength. Functional couple communication had a positive direct and total effect on family strength. These predictive variables of family strength explained 61.8% of model. The results of the study show a structural equation model for family strength of married working women and that predicting factors for family strength are family support, family stress, and functional couple communication. To improve family strength of married working women, the results of this study suggest nursing access and mediative programs to improve family support and functional couple communication, and reduce family stress.

Building Teacher Teams: Evidence of Positive Spillovers from More Effective Colleagues. CEPA Working Paper No. 15-20

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Min; Loeb, Susanna; Grissom, Jason

2015-01-01

Student peer effects are well documented. We know far less, however, about peer effects among teachers. We hypothesize that a relatively effective teacher may positively affect the performance of their peers, while a relatively ineffective teacher may negatively impact the performance of other teachers with whom they work closely. Utilizing a…

Role Stress Revisited: Job Structuring Antecedents, Work Outcomes, and Moderating Effects of Locus of Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Sharon; You, Sukkyung

2014-01-01

A previous study examined role stress in relation to work outcomes; in this study, we added job structuring antecedents to a model of role stress and examined the moderating effects of locus of control. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the plausibility of our conceptual model, which specified hypothesized linkages among teachers'…

Age Differences Explain Social Class Differences in Students' Friendship at University: Implications for Transition and Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubin, Mark; Wright, Chrysalis L.

2015-01-01

The present research tested the hypotheses that (a) working-class students have fewer friends at university than middle-class students and (b) this social class difference occurs because working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students. A sample of 376 first-year undergraduate students from an Australian university completed an…

A Sense of Belonging: How Student Feelings Correlate with Learning about Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kernahan, Cyndi; Zheng, Wei; Davis, Tricia

2014-01-01

Learning about race and racism can be a difficult process. Previous work has shown that courses in this area can help to increase awareness of racial bias and discrimination, but less work has focused on how that change occurs. We hypothesized that feelings of belonging within the classroom could correlate with student learning and our results…

Agent Model Development for Assessing Climate-Induced Geopolitical Instability.

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

Boslough, Mark B.; Backus, George A.

2005-12-01

We present the initial stages of development of new agent-based computational methods to generate and test hypotheses about linkages between environmental change and international instability. This report summarizes the first year's effort of an originally proposed three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project. The preliminary work focused on a set of simple agent-based models and benefited from lessons learned in previous related projects and case studies of human response to climate change and environmental scarcity. Our approach was to define a qualitative model using extremely simple cellular agent models akin to Lovelock's Daisyworld and Schelling's segregation model. Such modelsmore » do not require significant computing resources, and users can modify behavior rules to gain insights. One of the difficulties in agent-based modeling is finding the right balance between model simplicity and real-world representation. Our approach was to keep agent behaviors as simple as possible during the development stage (described herein) and to ground them with a realistic geospatial Earth system model in subsequent years. This work is directed toward incorporating projected climate data--including various C02 scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report--and ultimately toward coupling a useful agent-based model to a general circulation model.3« less

Change in attitudes about employed mothers: exposure, interests, and gender ideology discrepancies.

PubMed

Kroska, Amy; Elman, Cheryl

2009-06-01

Using a sample of continuously-married individuals (793 women and 847 men) and their spouses drawn from the first two waves of the NSFH, we examine change in individuals' attitudes about mothers' employment. We investigate hypotheses derived from three models of attitude change: the exposure model, the interest-based model, and the control model. We find support for hypotheses derived from all three. Consistent with exposure hypotheses, the adoption of fundamentalist beliefs reduces egalitarianism, while spouses' egalitarianism and spouses' education are positively related to individuals' own egalitarianism. As predicted in both exposure and interest hypotheses, women's entry into employment is positively related to women's egalitarianism, while wives' occupational prestige is positively related to men's egalitarianism. Congruent with the interest model, the presence of a young child is positively associated with women's egalitarianism. Consistent with the exposure model, the number of children in the home reduces men's egalitarianism, and a traditional division of housework decreases women's egalitarianism. Finally, consistent with the gender ideology discrepancy hypothesis, derived from the control model, individuals whose background, work, and family life are inconsistent with their gender ideology at wave 1 shift their gender ideology at wave 2 in a direction that is more compatible with their background, work, and family life: egalitarians with traditional life patterns at wave 1 are more traditional in their gender ideology at wave 2, and traditionals with egalitarian life patterns at wave 1 are more egalitarian at wave 2. We discuss the implications of these patterns for larger scale change in gender ideology.

3D Buried Utility Location Using A Marching-Cross-Section Algorithm for Multi-Sensor Data Fusion

PubMed Central

Dou, Qingxu; Wei, Lijun; Magee, Derek R.; Atkins, Phil R.; Chapman, David N.; Curioni, Giulio; Goddard, Kevin F.; Hayati, Farzad; Jenks, Hugo; Metje, Nicole; Muggleton, Jennifer; Pennock, Steve R.; Rustighi, Emiliano; Swingler, Steven G.; Rogers, Christopher D. F.; Cohn, Anthony G.

2016-01-01

We address the problem of accurately locating buried utility segments by fusing data from multiple sensors using a novel Marching-Cross-Section (MCS) algorithm. Five types of sensors are used in this work: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Passive Magnetic Fields (PMF), Magnetic Gradiometer (MG), Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (LFEM) and Vibro-Acoustics (VA). As part of the MCS algorithm, a novel formulation of the extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is proposed for marching existing utility tracks from a scan cross-section (scs) to the next one; novel rules for initializing utilities based on hypothesized detections on the first scs and for associating predicted utility tracks with hypothesized detections in the following scss are introduced. Algorithms are proposed for generating virtual scan lines based on given hypothesized detections when different sensors do not share common scan lines, or when only the coordinates of the hypothesized detections are provided without any information of the actual survey scan lines. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated with both synthetic data and real data. The experimental results in this work demonstrate that the proposed MCS algorithm can locate multiple buried utility segments simultaneously, including both straight and curved utilities, and can separate intersecting segments. By using the probabilities of a hypothesized detection being a pipe or a cable together with its 3D coordinates, the MCS algorithm is able to discriminate a pipe and a cable close to each other. The MCS algorithm can be used for both post- and on-site processing. When it is used on site, the detected tracks on the current scs can help to determine the location and direction of the next scan line. The proposed “multi-utility multi-sensor” system has no limit to the number of buried utilities or the number of sensors, and the more sensor data used, the more buried utility segments can be detected with more accurate location and orientation. PMID:27827836

3D Buried Utility Location Using A Marching-Cross-Section Algorithm for Multi-Sensor Data Fusion.

PubMed

Dou, Qingxu; Wei, Lijun; Magee, Derek R; Atkins, Phil R; Chapman, David N; Curioni, Giulio; Goddard, Kevin F; Hayati, Farzad; Jenks, Hugo; Metje, Nicole; Muggleton, Jennifer; Pennock, Steve R; Rustighi, Emiliano; Swingler, Steven G; Rogers, Christopher D F; Cohn, Anthony G

2016-11-02

We address the problem of accurately locating buried utility segments by fusing data from multiple sensors using a novel Marching-Cross-Section (MCS) algorithm. Five types of sensors are used in this work: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Passive Magnetic Fields (PMF), Magnetic Gradiometer (MG), Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (LFEM) and Vibro-Acoustics (VA). As part of the MCS algorithm, a novel formulation of the extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is proposed for marching existing utility tracks from a scan cross-section (scs) to the next one; novel rules for initializing utilities based on hypothesized detections on the first scs and for associating predicted utility tracks with hypothesized detections in the following scss are introduced. Algorithms are proposed for generating virtual scan lines based on given hypothesized detections when different sensors do not share common scan lines, or when only the coordinates of the hypothesized detections are provided without any information of the actual survey scan lines. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated with both synthetic data and real data. The experimental results in this work demonstrate that the proposed MCS algorithm can locate multiple buried utility segments simultaneously, including both straight and curved utilities, and can separate intersecting segments. By using the probabilities of a hypothesized detection being a pipe or a cable together with its 3D coordinates, the MCS algorithm is able to discriminate a pipe and a cable close to each other. The MCS algorithm can be used for both post- and on-site processing. When it is used on site, the detected tracks on the current scs can help to determine the location and direction of the next scan line. The proposed "multi-utility multi-sensor" system has no limit to the number of buried utilities or the number of sensors, and the more sensor data used, the more buried utility segments can be detected with more accurate location and orientation.

Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: the critical role of career opportunities.

PubMed

Kraimer, Maria L; Seibert, Scott E; Wayne, Sandy J; Liden, Robert C; Bravo, Jesus

2011-05-01

This study examines antecedents and behavioral outcomes of employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We first propose that employees' past participation in formal developmental activities and experience with developmental relationships positively relate to their perceptions of organizational support for development. We then propose that perceived career opportunity within the organization moderates the relationship between organizational support for development and employee performance and turnover. Using a sample of 264 exempt-level employees and their supervisors, we found that participation in training classes, leader-member exchange, and career mentoring were each positively related to employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We also found support for the moderator hypotheses. Specifically, development support positively related to job performance, but only when perceived career opportunity within the organization was high. Further, development support was associated with reduced voluntary turnover when perceived career opportunity was high, but it was associated with increased turnover when perceived career opportunity was low. Our study demonstrates that social exchange and career motivation theory work together to explain when and how employees' perceptions of organizational support for development relate to turnover and job performance.

Return to work outcomes of the Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) program for women with stress-related disorders--a comparative study.

PubMed

Eklund, Mona; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin

2011-11-01

Stress-related disorders are a frequent cause for sick leave, with consequences such as great distress and adverse economic effects for the affected person and substantial costs for society. Identifying effective interventions that facilitate return to work is thus important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the 16-week Redesigning Daily Occupations program as a work rehabilitation method for Swedish women with stress-related disorders. The authors of this study hypothesized that, compared to women who got Care as Usual, 12 months after completed rehabilitation a larger proportion of the Redesigning Daily Occupations women would have returned to work, and they would have less sick leave, perceive less stress, and have greater self-esteem. Forty-two women entered the Redesigning Daily Occupations intervention and a matched comparison group received Care as Usual. The data, collected between 2007 and 2010, consisted of registry information and questionnaires targeting socio-demographics, perceived stress, and self-esteem. The findings partly verified the hypotheses. A larger proportion of the Redesigning Daily Occupations women returned to work and they decreased their sick leave and increased their self-esteem more than the Care as Usual group, but the groups did not differ in stress reduction. Thus, the Redesigning Daily Occupations seems to be a promising work rehabilitation method for women with stress-related disorders.

The Firepower of Work Craving: When Self-Control Is Burning under the Rubble of Self-Regulation

PubMed Central

Wojdylo, Kamila; Baumann, Nicola; Kuhl, Julius

2017-01-01

Work craving theory addresses how work-addicted individuals direct great emotion-regulatory efforts to weave their addictive web of working. They crave work for two main emotional incentives: to overcompensate low self-worth and to escape (i.e., reduce) negative affect, which is strategically achieved through neurotic perfectionism and compulsive working. Work-addicted individuals’ strong persistence and self-discipline with respect to work-related activities suggest strong skills in volitional action control. However, their inability to disconnect from work implies low volitional skills. How can work-addicted individuals have poor and strong volitional skills at the same time? To answer this paradox, we elaborated on the relevance of two different volitional modes in work craving: self-regulation (self-maintenance) and self-control (goal maintenance). Four hypotheses were derived from Wojdylo’s work craving theory and Kuhl’s self-regulation theory: (H1) Work craving is associated with a combination of low self-regulation and high self-control. (H2) Work craving is associated with symptoms of psychological distress. (H3) Low self-regulation is associated with psychological distress symptoms. (H4) Work craving mediates the relationships between self-regulation deficits and psychological distress symptoms at high levels of self-control. Additionally, we aimed at supporting the discriminant validity of work craving with respect to work engagement by showing their different volitional underpinnings. Results of the two studies confirmed our hypotheses: whereas work craving was predicted by high self-control and low self-regulation and associated with higher psychological distress, work engagement was predicted by high self-regulation and high self-control and associated with lower symptoms of psychological distress. Furthermore, work styles mediated the relationship between volitional skills and symptoms of psychological distress. Based on these new insights, several suggestions for prevention and therapeutic interventions for work-addicted individuals are proposed. PMID:28068379

Perceptions as Hypotheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregory, R. L.

1980-07-01

Perceptions may be compared with hypotheses in science. The methods of acquiring scientific knowledge provide a working paradigm for investigating processes of perception. Much as the information channels of instruments, such as radio telescopes, transmit signals which are processed according to various assumptions to give useful data, so neural signals are processed to give data for perception. To understand perception, the signal codes and the stored knowledge or assumptions used for deriving perceptual hypotheses must be discovered. Systematic perceptual errors are important clues for appreciating signal channel limitations, and for discovering hypothesis-generating procedures. Although this distinction between `physiological' and `cognitive' aspects of perception may be logically clear, it is in practice surprisingly difficult to establish which are responsible even for clearly established phenomena such as the classical distortion illusions. Experimental results are presented, aimed at distinguishing between and discovering what happens when there is mismatch with the neural signal channel, and when neural signals are processed inappropriately for the current situation. This leads us to make some distinctions between perceptual and scientific hypotheses, which raise in a new form the problem: What are `objects'?

Open-Ended Laboratory Investigations with Drosophila.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mertens, Thomas R.

1983-01-01

Background information, laboratory procedures (including matings performed), and results are presented for an open-ended investigation using the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Once data are collected, students develop hypotheses to explain results as well as devise additional experiments to test their hypotheses. Calculation of chi-square for…

Animal testing is still the best way to find new treatments for patients.

PubMed

Garattini, Silvio; Grignaschi, Giuliano

2017-04-01

Experimental research proceeds by hypotheses formulated on the basis of previous or new knowledge and then tested. If they are accepted, they serve as the basis for further hypotheses, and if they are rejected new hypotheses can be developed. In other words, when we are at the frontiers of knowledge the path is forged by "trial and error". When a trial shows a hypothesis is wrong, this is a step toward making fewer errors. This process also applies to drug development. There is no magic formula at present to predict - at the pre-clinical level - the therapeutic value of a drug for people with a disease. However, pre-clinical studies are needed in order to formulate hypotheses that justify clinical trials. Without these preliminary studies in vitro and in vivo in selected animal species it would be unethical to test still unproven chemicals in humans. Copyright © 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Advancing the application of systems thinking in health: realist evaluation of the Leadership Development Programme for district manager decision-making in Ghana.

PubMed

Kwamie, Aku; van Dijk, Han; Agyepong, Irene Akua

2014-06-16

Although there is widespread agreement that strong district manager decision-making improves health systems, understanding about how the design and implementation of capacity-strengthening interventions work is limited. The Ghana Health Service has adopted the Leadership Development Programme (LDP) as one intervention to support the development of management and leadership within district teams. This paper seeks to address how and why the LDP 'works' when it is introduced into a district health system in Ghana, and whether or not it supports systems thinking in district teams. We undertook a realist evaluation to investigate the outcomes, contexts, and mechanisms of the intervention. Building on two working hypotheses developed from our earlier work, we developed an explanatory case study of one rural district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data collection included participant observation, document review, and semi-structured interviews with district managers prior to, during, and after the intervention. Working backwards from an in-depth analysis of the context and observed short- and medium-term outcomes, we drew a causal loop diagram to explain interactions between contexts, outcomes, and mechanisms. The LDP was a valuable experience for district managers and teams were able to attain short-term outcomes because the novel approach supported teamwork, initiative-building, and improved prioritisation. However, the LDP was not institutionalised in district teams and did not lead to increased systems thinking. This was related to the context of high uncertainty within the district, and hierarchical authority of the system, which triggered the LDP's underlying goal of organisational control. Consideration of organisational context is important when trying to sustain complex interventions, as it seems to influence the gap between short- and medium-term outcomes. More explicit focus on systems thinking principles that enable district managers to better cope with their contexts may strengthen the institutionalisation of the LDP in the future.

T. rex and Godzilla: Finding Science in Science Fiction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engelmann, G. F.; Chure, D. J.

2017-12-01

Works of fiction act as a powerful vehicle for inculcating an intuitive understanding (or misunderstanding) of scientific concepts in the audience. They can communicate information about scientific phenomena or how science is done. These entertainments can contribute to scientific literacy of the public and provide valuable outreach opportunities, but scientific accuracy is rarely even a minor consideration in developing fictional stories. Science educators can still make use of popular fiction to promote science education and outreach. Varied approaches have focused on the physical science in classic space operas, but historical sciences can make use of public interest in fictional tales involving prehistoric creatures and settings. Dinosaurs like T. rex inspire awe and widespread popular appeal that can nurture an interest in fossils but also serves as a gateway to all the other sciences on which paleontology depends, and to the scientific endeavor itself. But the portrayal of dinosaurs has met with negative criticism of details that is not likely to be productive of further discussion and learning. Perhaps it is not so important that authors and film makers didn't get it right; that "correctness" of terms and reconstructions is less important than the opportunity to improve public understanding of how science works; to cultivate a habit of critical thinking and an analytical approach to interpreting the world. Dinosaurs and other long extinct creatures can provide examples of how we know what we know; what kind of evidence is available and how it can be interpreted; how creative framing of hypotheses allows imaginative conjectures to be constrained by observations. They can open informative discussions of how scientists work in gathering data and developing and testing hypotheses. For example, how do paleontologists find fossils? Monsters, unrealistic fantasy creatures like Godzilla, have great charismatic appeal, and can prompt discussions of the obstacles posed by physical laws to the actual existence of such phenomena, such as the effects of such large scale on mass and inertia. Alternatively, one could undertake a scientifically constrained flight of fancy that considers what properties would be needed to make such fantastic beasts possible. Imagination and creativity can bring real science to fiction.

An investigation of the effects of time and involvement in the relationship between stressors and work-family conflict.

PubMed

Fox, M L; Dwyer, D J

1999-04-01

Previous researchers have proposed that the time and energy involved in family and paid work should affect the relationship between stressors and conflict in both the work and family domains. Using a sample of 113 registered nurses, the authors hypothesized that the amount of time and involvement in both domains would moderate the stressor-conflict relationships. Results supported many of the interactions in predicting conflict in each domain, and implications for the health of working women with family responsibilities were discussed.

Heinz-Wolfram Kasemir: His Collected Works

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, Colin

2014-04-01

The story of Heinz-Wolfram Kasemir's scientific research is the not-uncommon tale of a researcher forced to the fringes for pushing hypotheses that ran against the grain. In the AGU monograph Heinz-Wolfram Kasemir: His Collected Works, Vladislav Mazur and Lothar Ruhnke pull together all of Kasemir's published works, some of them translated from German, in one place for the first time. In this interview, Vladislav Mazur shares with Eos a look into Kasemir's life and work, the science of atmospheric electricity and lightning, and an insider perspective on how science changes course.

Testing a theoretical model of clinical nurses' intent to stay.

PubMed

Cowden, Tracy L; Cummings, Greta G

2015-01-01

Published theoretical models of nurses' intent to stay (ITS) report inconsistent outcomes, and not all hypothesized models have been adequately tested. Research has focused on cognitive rather than emotional determinants of nurses' ITS. The aim of this study was to empirically verify a complex theoretical model of nurses' ITS that includes both affective and cognitive determinants and to explore the influence of relational leadership on staff nurses' ITS. The study was a correlational, mixed-method, nonexperimental design. A subsample of the Quality Work Environment Study survey data 2009 (n = 415 nurses) was used to test our theoretical model of clinical nurses' ITS as a structural equation model. The model explained 63% of variance in ITS. Organizational commitment, empowerment, and desire to stay were the model concepts with the strongest effects on nurses' ITS. Leadership practices indirectly influenced ITS. How nurses evaluate and respond to their work environment is both an emotional and rational process. Health care organizations need to be cognizant of the influence that nurses' feelings and views of their work setting have on their intention decisions and integrate that knowledge into the development of retention strategies. Leadership practices play an important role in staff nurses' perceptions of the workplace. Identifying the mechanisms by which leadership influences staff nurses' intentions to stay presents additional focus areas for developing retention strategies.

Cross-situational statistical word learning in young children.

PubMed

Suanda, Sumarga H; Mugwanya, Nassali; Namy, Laura L

2014-10-01

Recent empirical work has highlighted the potential role of cross-situational statistical word learning in children's early vocabulary development. In the current study, we tested 5- to 7-year-old children's cross-situational learning by presenting children with a series of ambiguous naming events containing multiple words and multiple referents. Children rapidly learned word-to-object mappings by attending to the co-occurrence regularities across these ambiguous naming events. The current study begins to address the mechanisms underlying children's learning by demonstrating that the diversity of learning contexts affects performance. The implications of the current findings for the role of cross-situational word learning at different points in development are discussed along with the methodological implications of employing school-aged children to test hypotheses regarding the mechanisms supporting early word learning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

When and how experienced incivility dissuades proactive performance: An integration of sociometer and self-identity orientation perspectives.

PubMed

Schilpzand, Pauline; Huang, Lei

2018-04-16

In this article we build on relational Sociometer Theory (Leary, 2005; Leary & Baumeister, 2000) to posit the impact of the belongingness threat of experienced incivility in one's work team on employee feelings of ostracism and subsequent engagement in proactive performance. Integrating the social-relational framework of Self-Identity Orientation Theory (Brewer & Gardner, 1996; Cooper & Thatcher, 2010), we nuance our predictions by hypothesizing that chronic self-identification orientations influence both the effect that experiencing incivility in one's work team exerts on feeling ostracized, and the impact that feeling ostracized has on subsequent employee proactive performance. Using a sample of 212 employees and their 51 supervising managers employed in an Internet service and solution company in China, we found support for our hypothesized model. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A mechanistic investigation of the algae growth "Droop" model.

PubMed

Lemesle, V; Mailleret, L

2008-06-01

In this work a mechanistic explanation of the classical algae growth model built by M. R. Droop in the late sixties is proposed. We first recall the history of the construction of the "predictive" variable yield Droop model as well as the meaning of the introduced cell quota. We then introduce some theoretical hypotheses on the biological phenomena involved in nutrient storage by the algae that lead us to a "conceptual" model. Though more complex than Droop's one, our model remains accessible to a complete mathematical study: its confrontation to the Droop model shows both have the same asymptotic behavior. However, while Droop's cell quota comes from experimental bio-chemical measurements not related to intra-cellular biological phenomena, its analogous in our model directly follows our theoretical hypotheses. This new model should then be looked at as a re-interpretation of Droop's work from a theoretical biologist's point of view.

Behavioral determinants of occupational exposure to chemical agents.

PubMed

Meijman, T F; Ulenbelt, P; Lumens, M E; Herber, R F

1996-01-01

In the demand-control model (see T. Theorell & R. A. Karasek, 1996), it is hypothesized that workers in active jobs (high demands-high decision latitude) can exert effective coping strategies when confronted with environmental stessors. Thus, when exposed to similar levels of a chemical agent, lower concentrations of this agent in blood could be expected in these workers in comparison with workers in passive jobs. This theory was tested in 2 studies of lead-exposed workers: 18 male Caucasian workers from an electric accumulatory factory and 18 male Caucasian workers from a lead smelting factory. The results did not follow the hypothesized outcomes. In the work environment of the workers in active jobs, lower concentrations of lead in air were measured, but higher levels of lead in blood were observed in these workers. The opposite was true of workers in passive jobs. Differences in hygienic behavior at work may explain these unexpected results.

Making work safer: testing a model of social exchange and safety management.

PubMed

DeJoy, David M; Della, Lindsay J; Vandenberg, Robert J; Wilson, Mark G

2010-04-01

This study tests a conceptual model that focuses on social exchange in the context of safety management. The model hypothesizes that supportive safety policies and programs should impact both safety climate and organizational commitment. Further, perceived organizational support is predicted to partially mediate both of these relationships. Study outcomes included traditional outcomes for both organizational commitment (e.g., withdrawal behaviors) as well as safety climate (e.g., self-reported work accidents). Questionnaire responses were obtained from 1,723 employees of a large national retailer. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques, all of the model's hypothesized relationships were statistically significant and in the expected directions. The results are discussed in terms of social exchange in organizations and research on safety climate. Maximizing safety is a social-technical enterprise. Expectations related to social exchange and reciprocity figure prominently in creating a positive climate for safety within the organization. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On Learning "Less": Language and Cognitive Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holland, V. Melissa; Palermo, David S.

1975-01-01

Two hypotheses concerning children's treatment of "less" as a synonym of "more" were tested with 4- and 5-year-olds. It was hypothesized: (1) that the "less"-"more" distinction can be taught; and (2) that conservation is dependent on the capacity to distinguish "more" and "less". (Author/CS)

Understanding Variables & Hypotheses in Scientific Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charters, W. W., Jr.

The hypothesis is the device scientists use to translate questions, theories, or proposed explanations into a form amenable to empirical research. This edition of W. W. Charter's treatise on clear, conceptual definitions and precise operational hypotheses, which was originally developed to assist students in educational policy and management…

Concepts for the development of light-weight composite structures for rotor burst containment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holmes, A. G.

1977-01-01

A set of hypotheses is established as to what variables might control the design of a weight-efficient protective device. A particular experiment for evaluating the hypotheses and materials was designed. The design and methods for the analysis of results are described.

Sources of organisational resiliency during the Thailand floods of 2011: a test of the bonding and bridging hypotheses.

PubMed

Andrew, Simon; Arlikatti, Sudha; Siebeneck, Laura; Pongponrat, Kannapa; Jaikampan, Kraiwuth

2016-01-01

Based on the Institutional Collective Action framework, this research tests the impact of two competing hypotheses--bonding and bridging--on enhancing organisational resiliency. The bonding hypothesis posits that organisational resiliency can be achieved if an organisation works closely with others, whereas the bridging hypothesis argues that such a structure places considerable stress on an organisation and advocates for an organisation to position itself as a central actor to gain access to novel resources from a diverse set of entities to achieve resiliency. The paper analyses data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 44 public, private, and non-profit organisations serving communities affected by the Great Floods of 2011 in the Thai capital, Bangkok (urban), and in Pathum Thani (suburban) and Ayutthaya (rural) provinces. The findings suggest that: organisational resiliency was associated with the bridging effect; organisations in the rural province were more resilient than those in the suburban and urban centres; and private and non-governmental organisations generally were more resilient than public sector organisations. The findings highlight the importance of fostering multi-sector partnerships to enhance organisational resiliency for disaster response. © 2016 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2016.

In Situ Distribution Guided Analysis and Visualization of Transonic Jet Engine Simulations.

PubMed

Dutta, Soumya; Chen, Chun-Ming; Heinlein, Gregory; Shen, Han-Wei; Chen, Jen-Ping

2017-01-01

Study of flow instability in turbine engine compressors is crucial to understand the inception and evolution of engine stall. Aerodynamics experts have been working on detecting the early signs of stall in order to devise novel stall suppression technologies. A state-of-the-art Navier-Stokes based, time-accurate computational fluid dynamics simulator, TURBO, has been developed in NASA to enhance the understanding of flow phenomena undergoing rotating stall. Despite the proven high modeling accuracy of TURBO, the excessive simulation data prohibits post-hoc analysis in both storage and I/O time. To address these issues and allow the expert to perform scalable stall analysis, we have designed an in situ distribution guided stall analysis technique. Our method summarizes statistics of important properties of the simulation data in situ using a probabilistic data modeling scheme. This data summarization enables statistical anomaly detection for flow instability in post analysis, which reveals the spatiotemporal trends of rotating stall for the expert to conceive new hypotheses. Furthermore, the verification of the hypotheses and exploratory visualization using the summarized data are realized using probabilistic visualization techniques such as uncertain isocontouring. Positive feedback from the domain scientist has indicated the efficacy of our system in exploratory stall analysis.

The influence of self-exempting beliefs and social networks on daily smoking: a mediation relationship explored.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaozhao Y; Kelly, Brian C; Yang, Tingzhong

2014-09-01

The decision to initiate, maintain, or quit cigarette smoking is structured by both social networks and health beliefs. Self-exempting beliefs affect people's decisions in favor of a behavior even when they recognize the harm associated with it. This study incorporated the literatures on social networks and self-exempting beliefs to study the problem of daily smoking by exploring their mediatory relationships and the mechanisms of how smoking behavior is developed and maintained. Specifically, this article hypothesizes that social networks affect daily smoking directly as well as indirectly by facilitating the formation of self-exempting beliefs. The sample comes from urban male residents in Hangzhou, China randomly selected and interviewed through multistage sampling in 2011. Using binary mediation analysis with logistic regression to test the hypotheses, the authors found that (a) daily smoking is associated with having smokers in several social network arenas and (b) self-exempting beliefs about smoking mediate the association between coworker network and daily smoking, but not for family network and friend network. The role of social network at work place in the creation and maintenance of self-exempting beliefs should be considered by policymakers, prevention experts, and interventionists.

Videofluorographic assessment of deglutitive behaviors in a rat model of aging and Parkinson disease

PubMed Central

Russell, John A.; Ciucci, Michelle R.; Hammer, Michael J.; Connor, Nadine P.

2012-01-01

Dysphagia is commonly associated with aging and Parkinson disease and can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life. In some cases, dysphagia may be life threatening. Animal models may be used to study underlying mechanisms of dysphagia, but paradigms that allow adequate imaging of the swallow in combination with measurement of physiological variables have not been forthcoming. To begin development of methods that allow this, we used videofluorography to record the deglutition behaviors of 22 Fischer 344-Brown Norway rats in young adult (9 months old), old (32 months old), and parkinsonian (unilateral lesion to the medial forebrain bundle) groups. We hypothesized that the old and parkinsonian rats would manifest deficits in deglutition behaviors analogous to those found in human clinical populations. Our results supported our hypotheses in that the old group demonstrated reductions in bolus transport speeds and mastication rate, while the parkinsonian rats showed impairments in oral processing. Interpretation of these results should consider the particular animal model, lesion type and videoflurographic protocol used in this work. Future studies will link swallow imaging data of this kind with physiological and anatomical data in a manner not possible with human participants. PMID:22763806

The Multifold Relationship Between Memory and Decision Making: An Individual-differences Study

PubMed Central

Del Missier, Fabio; Mäntylä, Timo; Hansson, Patrik; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Parker, Andrew M.; Nilsson, Lars-Göran

2014-01-01

Several judgment and decision-making tasks are assumed to involve memory functions, but significant knowledge gaps on the memory processes underlying these tasks remain. In a study on 568 adults between 25 to 80 years, hypotheses were tested on the specific relationships between individual differences in working memory, episodic memory, and semantic memory, respectively, and six main components of decision-making competence. In line with the hypotheses, working memory was positively related with the more cognitively-demanding tasks (Resistance to Framing, Applying Decision Rules, and Under/Overconfidence), whereas episodic memory was positively associated with a more experience-based judgment task (Recognizing Social Norms). Furthermore, semantic memory was positively related with two more knowledge-based decision-making tasks (Consistency in Risk Perception and Resistance to Sunk Costs). Finally, the age-related decline observed in some of the decision-making tasks was (partially or totally) mediated by the age-related decline in working memory or episodic memory. These findings are discussed in relation to the functional roles fulfilled by different memory processes in judgment and decision-making tasks. PMID:23565790

Smartphone-Based, Self-Administered Intervention System for Alcohol Use Disorders: Theory and Empirical Evidence Basis

PubMed Central

Dulin, Patrick L.; Gonzalez, Vivian M.; King, Diane K.; Giroux, Danielle; Bacon, Samantha

2013-01-01

Advances in mobile technology provide an opportunity to deliver in-the-moment interventions to individuals with alcohol use disorders, yet availability of effective “apps” that deliver evidence-based interventions is scarce. We developed an immediately available, portable, smartphone-based intervention system whose purpose is to provide stand-alone, self-administered assessment and intervention. In this paper, we describe how theory and empirical evidence, combined with smartphone functionality contributed to the construction of a user-friendly, engaging alcohol intervention. With translation in mind, we discuss how we selected appropriate intervention components including assessments, feedback and tools, that work together to produce the hypothesized outcomes. PMID:24347811

Exploring family environment characteristics and multiple abuse experiences among homeless youth.

PubMed

Ferguson, Kristin M

2009-11-01

This qualitative study used data from the Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) pilot study, a comprehensive vocational training program with integrated clinical services for homeless youth. In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 homeless youth participating in the SEI study to explore their perceptions of family environment characteristics and abuse experiences. The constant comparative method was used to analyze transcripts from in-depth interviews with the youth participants. Emergent themes related to family characteristics include home instability, abandonment, and caregiver substance abuse. Abuse-related subthemes include intrafamilial abuse, caregiver abuse, rejection, and deprecation by caregivers. Grounded theory is used to interpret findings and develop working hypotheses to guide future studies of multitype maltreatment among homeless youth.

Pattern perception and computational complexity: introduction to the special issue

PubMed Central

Fitch, W. Tecumseh; Friederici, Angela D.; Hagoort, Peter

2012-01-01

Research on pattern perception and rule learning, grounded in formal language theory (FLT) and using artificial grammar learning paradigms, has exploded in the last decade. This approach marries empirical research conducted by neuroscientists, psychologists and ethologists with the theory of computation and FLT, developed by mathematicians, linguists and computer scientists over the last century. Of particular current interest are comparative extensions of this work to non-human animals, and neuroscientific investigations using brain imaging techniques. We provide a short introduction to the history of these fields, and to some of the dominant hypotheses, to help contextualize these ongoing research programmes, and finally briefly introduce the papers in the current issue. PMID:22688630

Organizing "mountains of words" for data analysis, both qualitative and quantitative.

PubMed

Johnson, Bruce D; Dunlap, Eloise; Benoit, Ellen

2010-04-01

Qualitative research creates mountains of words. U.S. federal funding supports mostly structured qualitative research, which is designed to test hypotheses using semiquantitative coding and analysis. This article reports on strategies for planning, organizing, collecting, managing, storing, retrieving, analyzing, and writing about qualitative data so as to most efficiently manage the mountains of words collected in large-scale ethnographic projects. Multiple benefits accrue from this approach. Field expenditures are linked to units of work so productivity is measured, many staff in various locations have access to use and analyze the data, quantitative data can be derived from data that is primarily qualitative, and improved efficiencies of resources are developed.

Development of the Vicarious Resilience Scale (VRS): A measure of positive effects of working with trauma survivors.

PubMed

Killian, Kyle; Hernandez-Wolfe, Pilar; Engstrom, David; Gangsei, David

2017-01-01

Attending to the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of clinical work with trauma survivors on professionals themselves is a crucial aspect of clinical training and supervision. Vicarious resilience refers to unique, positive effects that transform therapists in response to witnessing trauma survivors' resilience and recovery process. This study describes the development and exploratory factor analysis of the first instrument to assess vicarious resilience. The Vicarious Resilience Scale (VRS) was developed and administered via electronic survey to 190 helping professionals from around the globe working with survivors of severe traumas, such as torture. Exploratory factor analysis yielded 7 factors: Changes in life goals and perspective, client-inspired hope, increased recognition of clients' spirituality as a therapeutic resource, increased capacity for resourcefulness, increased self-awareness and self-care practices, increased consciousness about power and privilege relative to clients' social location, and increased capacity for remaining present while listening to trauma narratives. The Cronbach's alpha reliability of the VRS was .92 and, as hypothesized, the VRS was moderately and positively correlated with posttraumatic growth and compassion satisfaction, indicating convergent validity. The VRS was not significantly correlated with compassion fatigue (CF) or burnout, indicating discriminant validity and that vicarious resilience is a unique construct that is not merely "the opposite" of CF or burnout. The VRS possesses sound psychometric properties and can be utilized in supervision and training contexts and for self-assessment by professionals working with trauma survivors to aid the recognition and cultivation of vicarious resilience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Staying at work with chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain: a qualitative study of workers' experiences.

PubMed

de Vries, Haitze J; Brouwer, Sandra; Groothoff, Johan W; Geertzen, Jan H B; Reneman, Michiel F

2011-06-03

Many people with chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain (CMP) have decreased work ability. The majority, however, stays at work despite their pain. Knowledge about workers who stay at work despite chronic pain is limited, narrowing our views on work participation. The aim of this study was to explore why people with CMP stay at work despite pain (motivators) and how they manage to maintain working (success factors). A semi-structured interview was conducted among 21 subjects who stay at work despite CMP. Participants were included through purposeful sampling. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into computer software Atlas.ti. Data was analyzed by means of thematic analysis. The interviews consisted of open questions such as: "Why are you working with pain?" or "How do you manage working while having pain?" A total of 16 motivators and 52 success factors emerged in the interviews. Motivators were categorized into four themes: work as value, work as therapy, work as income generator, and work as responsibility. Success factors were categorized into five themes: personal characteristics, adjustment latitude, coping with pain, use of healthcare services, and pain beliefs. Personal characteristics, well-developed self-management skills, and motivation to work may be considered to be important success factors and prerequisites for staying at work, resulting in behaviors promoting staying at work such as: raising adjustment latitude, changing pain-coping strategies, organizing modifications and conditions at work, finding access to healthcare services, and asking for support. Motivators and success factors for staying at work may be used for interventions in rehabilitation and occupational medicine, to prevent absenteeism, or to promote a sustainable return to work. This qualitative study has evoked new hypotheses about staying at work; quantitative studies on staying at work are needed to obtain further evidence.

Effects of work environment and job characteristics on the turnover intention of experienced nurses: The mediating role of work engagement.

PubMed

Wan, Qiaoqin; Li, Zhaoyang; Zhou, Weijiao; Shang, Shaomei

2018-06-01

To assess turnover intention among experienced nurses and explore the effects of work environment, job characteristics and work engagement on turnover intention. The nursing shortage is an urgent concern in China. A high turnover rate of experienced nurses could have serious effects on the quality of care, costs and the efficiency of hospitals. It is crucial to explore the predictors of turnover intention and develop strategies tailored to experienced nurses. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design. A total of 778 experienced nurses from seven hospitals was surveyed on their work engagement, job characteristics, work environment and turnover intention in March-May 2017. Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretical model and the hypotheses. The results showed that 35.9% of experienced nurses had high-level turnover intention. The final model explained 50% of the variance in experienced nurses' turnover intention and demonstrated that: (1) work environment was positively associated with higher work engagement and lower turnover intention and work engagement partially mediated the relationship between work environment and turnover intention; and (2) job characteristics were positively related to higher work engagement and lower turnover intention and work engagement fully mediated the relationship between job characteristics and turnover intention. The study confirms the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on work engagement posited by job demands-resources model. Theory-driven strategies to improve work environment, enhance job characteristics and promote wok engagement are needed to address the nursing shortage and high turnover intention among experienced nurses. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Medial Temporal Lobe and the Left Inferior Prefrontal Cortex Jointly Support Interference Resolution in Verbal Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oztekin, Ilke; Curtis, Clayton E.; McElree, Brian

2009-01-01

During working memory retrieval, proactive interference (PI) can be induced by semantic similarity and episodic familiarity. Here, we used fMRI to test hypotheses about the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions in successful resolution of PI. Participants studied six-word lists and responded to a…

Working Memory Units Are All in Your Head: Factors That Influence Whether Features or Objects Are the Favored Units

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vergauwe, Evie; Cowan, Nelson

2015-01-01

We compared two contrasting hypotheses of how multifeatured objects are stored in visual working memory (vWM); as integrated objects or as independent features. A new procedure was devised to examine vWM representations of several concurrently held objects and their features and our main measure was reaction time (RT), allowing an examination of…

The Relations between Children's Reading Comprehension, Working Memory, Language Skills and Components of Reading Decoding in a Normal Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goff, Deborah A.; Pratt, Chris; Ong, Ben

2005-01-01

The primary aim of the current study was to identify the strongest independent predictors of reading comprehension using word reading, language and memory variables in a normal sample of 180 children in grades 3-5, with a range of word reading skills. It was hypothesized that orthographic processing, receptive vocabulary and verbal working memory…

Amazon rainforest responses to elevated CO2: Deriving model-based hypotheses for the AmazonFACE experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rammig, A.; Fleischer, K.; Lapola, D.; Holm, J.; Hoosbeek, M.

2017-12-01

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is assumed to have a stimulating effect ("CO2 fertilization effect") on forest growth and resilience. Empirical evidence, however, for the existence and strength of such a tropical CO2 fertilization effect is scarce and thus a major impediment for constraining the uncertainties in Earth System Model projections. The implications of the tropical CO2 effect are far-reaching, as it strongly influences the global carbon and water cycle, and hence future global climate. In the scope of the Amazon Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment, we addressed these uncertainties by assessing the CO2 fertilization effect at ecosystem scale. AmazonFACE is the first FACE experiment in an old-growth, highly diverse tropical rainforest. Here, we present a priori model-based hypotheses for the experiment derived from a set of 12 ecosystem models. Model simulations identified key uncertainties in our understanding of limiting processes and derived model-based hypotheses of expected ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 that can directly be tested during the experiment. Ambient model simulations compared satisfactorily with in-situ measurements of ecosystem carbon fluxes, as well as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus stocks. Models consistently predicted an increase in photosynthesis with elevated CO2, which declined over time due to developing limitations. The conversion of enhanced photosynthesis into biomass, and hence ecosystem carbon sequestration, varied strongly among the models due to different assumptions on nutrient limitation. Models with flexible allocation schemes consistently predicted an increased investment in belowground structures to alleviate nutrient limitation, in turn accelerating turnover rates of soil organic matter. The models diverged on the prediction for carbon accumulation after 10 years of elevated CO2, mainly due to contrasting assumptions in their phosphorus cycle representation. These differences define the expected response ratio to elevated CO2 at the AmazonFACE site and identify priorities for experimental work and model development.

A Metric to Quantify Shared Visual Attention in Two-Person Teams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gontar, Patrick; Mulligan, Jeffrey B.

2015-01-01

Critical tasks in high-risk environments are often performed by teams, the members of which must work together efficiently. In some situations, the team members may have to work together to solve a particular problem, while in others it may be better for them to divide the work into separate tasks that can be completed in parallel. We hypothesize that these two team strategies can be differentiated on the basis of shared visual attention, measured by gaze tracking.

Exploration as a mediator of the relation between the attainment of motor milestones and the development of spatial cognition and spatial language.

PubMed

Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P M; Volman, M Chiel J M

2015-09-01

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and language at later ages. However, evidence linking these milestones with the development of spatial language and evidence regarding factors that might mediate this relation are scarce. The current study examined whether exploration of spatial-relational object properties (e.g., the possibility of containing or stacking) and exploration of the space through self-locomotion mediate the effect of, respectively, age of sitting and age of walking on spatial cognition and spatial language. Thus, we hypothesized that an earlier age of sitting and walking predicts, respectively, higher levels of spatial-relational object exploration and exploration through self-locomotion, which in turn, predict better spatial cognition and spatial language at later ages. Fifty-nine Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. A combination of tests, observations, and parental reports was used to measure motor development, exploratory behavior (age 20 months), spatial memory (age 24 months), spatial processing (age 32 months), and spatial language (age 36 months). Results show that attainment of sitting predicted spatial memory and spatial language, but spatial-relational object exploration did not mediate these effects. Attainment of independent walking predicted spatial processing and spatial language, and exploration through self-locomotion (partially) mediated these relations. These findings extend previous work and provide partial support for the hypotheses about the mediating role of exploration. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

New Graduate Nurses' Professional Commitment: Antecedents and Outcomes.

PubMed

Guerrero, Sylvie; Chênevert, Denis; Kilroy, Steven

2017-09-01

This study examines the factors that increase new graduate nurses' professional commitment and how this professional commitment in turn affects professional turnover intentions, anxiety, and physical health symptoms. The study was carried out in association with the nursing undergraduate's affiliation of Quebec, Canada. A three-wave longitudinal design was employed among nursing students. Nurses were surveyed before they entered the labor market, and then twice after they started working. Participants were contacted by post at their home address. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Professional commitment explains why good work characteristics and the provision of organizational resources related to patient care reduce nurses' anxiety and physical symptoms, and increase their professional turnover intentions. Pre-entry professional perceptions moderate the effects of work characteristics on professional commitment such that when participants hold positive pre-entry perceptions about the profession, the propensity to develop professional commitment is higher. There is a worldwide shortage of nurses. From a nurse training perspective, it is important to create realistic perceptions of the nursing role. In hospitals, providing a good work environment and resources conducive to their professional ethos is critical for ensuring nurses do not leave the profession early on in their careers. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

The effects of supervisors' supportive role, job stress, and work-family conflicts on the nurses' attitudes.

PubMed

Farhadi, Payam; Sharifian, Roxana; Feili, Ardalan; Shokrpour, Nasrin

2013-01-01

This study developed and tested a research model that examined the effects of supervisor support (SUPPORT), work-family conflict (W-FCON), family-work conflict (F-WCON), and job stress (JSTRESS) on a number of selected consequences using data collected from nurses and nurse axillaries in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences hospitals in Fars province (south of Iran). The results demonstrated that W-FCON and F-WCON exerted a significant positive influence on JSTRESS. Contrary to the study hypothesis, the results did not provide any empirical support for the significant negative relationship between W-FCON, F-WCON, and JSTRESS with family satisfaction (FSAT). The findings further revealed that higher JSTRESS led to lower life satisfaction (LSAT). As expected, high levels of FSAT resulted in increased LSAT. However, this study failed to find significant negative relationships between conflicts in the work-family interface and LSAT. The results also revealed that JSTRESS was not significantly associated with LSAT. Consonant with the study hypotheses, W-FCON, F-WCON, and JSTRESS were found to be significant for turnover intentions, whereas LSAT did not. Implications for managers and future research directions are presented.

Implementing real-time GNSS monitoring to investigate continental rift initiation processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, J. R.; Stamps, D. S.; Wauthier, C.; Daniels, M. D.; Saria, E.; Ji, K. H.; Mencin, D.; Ntambila, D.

2017-12-01

Continental rift initiation remains an elusive, yet fundamental, process in the context of plate tectonic theory. Our early work in the Natron Rift, Tanzania, the Earth's archetype continental rift initiation setting, indicates feedback between volcanic deformation and fault slip play a key role in the rift initiation process. We found evidence that fault slip on the Natron border fault during active volcanism at Ol Doniyo Lengai in 2008 required only 0.01 MPa of Coulomb stress change. This previous study was limited by GPS constraints 18 km from the volcano, rather than immediately adjacent on the rift shoulder. We hypothesize that fault slip adjacent to the volcano creeps, and without the need for active eruption. We also hypothesize silent slip events may occur over time-scales less than 1 day. To test our hypotheses we designed a GNSS network with 4 sites on the flanks of Ol Doinyo Lengai and 1 site on the adjacent Natron border fault with the capability to calculate 1 second, 3-5 cm precision positions. Data is transmitted to UNAVCO in real-time with remote satellite internet, which we automatically import to the EarthCube building block CHORDS (Cloud Hosted Real-time Data Services for the Geosciences) using our newly developed method. We use CHORDS to monitor and evaluate the health of our network while visualizing the GNSS data in real-time. In addition to our import method we have also developed user-friendly capabilities to export GNSS positions (longitude, latitude, height) with CHORDS assuming the data are available at UNAVCO in NMEA standardized format through the Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol (NTRIP). The ability to access the GNSS data that continuously monitors volcanic deformation, tectonics, and their interactions on and around Ol Doinyo Lengai is a crucial component in our investigation of continental rift initiation in the Natron Rift, Tanzania. Our new user-friendly methods developed to access and post-process real-time GNSS positioning data can also be used by others in the geodesy community that need 3-5 cm precision positions (longitude, latitude, height).

Testing the Job Demand-Control-Support model with anxiety and depression as outcomes: the Hordaland Health Study.

PubMed

Sanne, Bjarte; Mykletun, Arnstein; Dahl, Alv A; Moen, Bente E; Tell, Grethe S

2005-09-01

To test the strain/iso-strain, interaction and buffer hypotheses of the Job Demand-Control-Support model in relation to anxiety and depression. Five thousand five hundred and sixty-two workers with valid Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) scores were examined with the sub-scales of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale as outcomes. Multiple statistical methods were applied. The strain and iso-strain hypotheses were confirmed. Generally, additive and non-interaction effects were found between psychological demands, control and social support. The buffer hypotheses were refuted. Results from analyses testing different interaction operationalizations were complementary. High demands, low control and low support individually, but particularly combined, are risk factors for anxiety and depression. Support is the DCSQ index most strongly associated with anxiety and depression in women. Assessment of psychosocial work environment may identify workers at risk, and serve as a basis for job-redesign.

Coresidence with Parents, Women's Economic Resources, and the Transition to Marriage in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raymo, James M.; Ono, Hiromi

2007-01-01

Integrating three theoretical explanations for declining rates of marriage in Japan, the authors develop hypotheses in which linkages between benefits of coresidence with parents and marriage timing are moderated by women's own socioeconomic characteristics. To evaluate these hypothesized interactive relationships, data from a panel survey of…

A Quantitative Analysis of Children's Splitting Operations and Fraction Schemes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norton, Anderson; Wilkins, Jesse L. M.

2009-01-01

Teaching experiments with pairs of children have generated several hypotheses about students' construction of fractions. For example, Steffe (2004) hypothesized that robust conceptions of improper fractions depends on the development of a splitting operation. Results from teaching experiments that rely on scheme theory and Steffe's hierarchy of…

Towards a characterization of information automation systems on the flight deck

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dudley, Rachel Feddersen

This thesis summarizes research to investigate the characteristics that define information automation systems used on aircraft flight decks and the significant impacts that these characteristics have on pilot performance. Major accomplishments of the work include the development of a set of characteristics that describe information automation systems on the flight deck and an experiment designed to study a subset of these characteristics. Information automation systems on the flight deck are responsible for the collection, processing, analysis, and presentation of data to the flightcrew. These systems pose human factors issues and challenges that must be considered by designers of these systems. Based on a previously developed formal definition of information automation for aircraft flight deck systems, an analysis process was developed and conducted to reach a refined set of information automation characteristics. In this work, characteristics are defined as a set of properties or attributes that describe an information automation system's operation or behavior, which can be used to identify and assess potential human factors issues. Hypotheses were formed for a subset of the characteristics: Automation Visibility, Information Quality, and Display Complexity. An experimental investigation was developed to measure performance impacts related to these characteristics, which showed mixed results of expected and surprising findings, with many interactions. A set of recommendations were then developed based on the experimental observations. Ensuring that the right information is presented to pilots at the right time and in the appropriate manner is the job of flight deck system designers. This work provides a foundation for developing recommendations and guidelines specific to information automation on the flight deck with the goal of improving the design and evaluation of information automation systems before they are implemented.

Authentic leadership and nurses' voice behaviour and perceptions of care quality.

PubMed

Wong, Carol A; Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Cummings, Greta G

2010-11-01

The purpose of the present study was to test a theoretical model linking authentic leadership with staff nurses' trust in their manager, work engagement, voice behaviour and perceived unit care quality. Authentic leadership is a guide for effective leadership needed to build trust and healthier work environments because there is special attention given to honesty, integrity and high ethical standards in the development of leader-follower relationships. A non-experimental, predictive survey design was used to test the hypothesized model in a random sample of 280 (48% response rate) registered nurses working in acute care hospitals in Ontario. The final model fitted the data acceptably (χ(2)=17.24, d.f.=11, P=0.10, IFI=0.99, CFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.045). Authentic leadership significantly and positively influenced staff nurses' trust in their manager and work engagement which in turn predicted voice behaviour and perceived unit care quality. These findings suggest that authentic leadership and trust in the manager play a role in fostering trust, work engagement, voice behaviour and perceived quality of care. Nursing leaders can improve care quality and workplace conditions by paying attention to facilitating genuine and positive relationships with their staff. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Big Data: Are Biomedical and Health Informatics Training Programs Ready? Contribution of the IMIA Working Group for Health and Medical Informatics Education.

PubMed

Otero, P; Hersh, W; Jai Ganesh, A U

2014-08-15

The growing volume and diversity of health and biomedical data indicate that the era of Big Data has arrived for healthcare. This has many implications for informatics, not only in terms of implementing and evaluating information systems, but also for the work and training of informatics researchers and professionals. This article addresses the question: What do biomedical and health informaticians working in analytics and Big Data need to know? We hypothesize a set of skills that we hope will be discussed among academic and other informaticians. The set of skills includes: Programming - especially with data-oriented tools, such as SQL and statistical programming languages; Statistics - working knowledge to apply tools and techniques; Domain knowledge - depending on one's area of work, bioscience or health care; and Communication - being able to understand needs of people and organizations, and articulate results back to them. Biomedical and health informatics educational programs must introduce concepts of analytics, Big Data, and the underlying skills to use and apply them into their curricula. The development of new coursework should focus on those who will become experts, with training aiming to provide skills in "deep analytical talent" as well as those who need knowledge to support such individuals.

On gestation periods of creative work: an interface of Doig's art and science.

PubMed

Erren, Thomas C

2010-01-01

This article is meant for, but not confined to, younger scientists who may have a series of ideas, hypotheses and projects--be they small or big--and might grapple with the objective to pursue and complete at least some, and preferably most, work in due course. And yet, the very generation, development and completion of numerous projects takes gestation periods which can be long and painful. Importantly, this simple but important truth is valid for any creative process, be it in the sciences or in the arts. With reference to luminaries like Max Perutz and George Wald, more general interfaces between science and the arts are identified. With reference to how some of Peter Doig's paintings evolve over long times and to how John Eccles and Isaac Newton worked, extended gestation periods as a key similarity of creative work by both artists and scientists are exemplified and vindicated. It is concluded that long gestation periods of creative work should be viewed as the expectation rather than the exception. Importantly, the evolutionary and somewhat intuitive commitment to several projects at the same, and often extended, periods of time can be a recipe for revolutionary results fostered by the required variation and diversity of thinking and cross-fertilization of--seemingly--unrelated themes and fields.

Developing an occupational skills profile for the emerging profession of "big-data-enabled professional"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastens, K. A.; Malyn-Smith, J.; Ippolito, J.; Krumhansl, R.

2014-12-01

In August of 2014, the Oceans of Data Institute at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) is convening an expert panel to begin the process of developing an occupational skills profile for the "big-data-enabled professional." We define such a professional as an "individual who works with large complex data sets on a regular basis, asking and answering questions, analyzing trends, and finding meaningful patterns, in order to increase the efficiency of processes, make decisions and predictions, solve problems, generate hypotheses, and/or develop new understandings." The expert panel includes several geophysicists, as well as data professionals from engineering, higher education, analytical journalism, forensics, bioinformatics, and telecommunications. Working with experienced facilitators, the expert panel will create a detailed synopsis of the tasks and responsibilities characteristic of their profession, as well as the skills, knowledge and behaviors that enable them to succeed in the workplace. After the panel finishes their work, the task matrix and associated narrative will be vetted and validated by a larger group of additional professionals, and then disseminated for use by educators and employers. The process we are using is called DACUM (Developing a Curriculum), adapted by EDC and optimized for emergent professions, such as the "big-data-enabled professional." DACUM is a well-established method for analyzing jobs and occupations, commonly used in technical fields to develop curriculum and training programs that reflect authentic work tasks found in scientific and technical workplaces. The premises behind the DACUM approach are that: expert workers are better able to describe their own occupation than anyone else; any job can be described in terms of the tasks that successful workers in the occupation perform; all tasks have direct implications for the knowledge, skills, understandings and attitudes that must be taught and learned in preparation for the targeted career. At AGU, we will describe the process and present the finalized occupational profile.

Biological determination of mental disorders: a discussion based on recent hypotheses from neuroscience.

PubMed

Freitas-Silva, Luna Rodrigues; Ortega, Francisco

2016-08-29

Understanding the processes involved in the development of mental disorders has proven challenging ever since psychiatry was founded as a field. Neuroscience has provided new expectations that an explanation will be found for the development of mental disorders based on biological functioning alone. However, such a goal has not been that easy to achieve, and new hypotheses have begun to appear in neuroscience research. In this article we identify epigenetics, neurodevelopment, and plasticity as the principal avenues for a new understanding of the biology of mental phenomena. Genetic complexity, the environment's formative role, and variations in vulnerability involve important changes in the principal hypotheses on biological determination of mental disorders, suggesting a reconfiguration of the limits between the "social" and the "biological" in neuroscience research.

Structural equation model of total phosphorus loads in the Red River of the North Basin, USA and Canada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ryberg, Karen R.

2017-01-01

Attribution of the causes of trends in nutrient loading is often limited to correlation, qualitative reasoning, or references to the work of others. This paper represents efforts to improve causal attribution of water-quality changes. The Red River of the North basin provides a regional test case because of international interest in the reduction of total phosphorus loads and the availability of long-term total phosphorus data and ancillary geospatial data with the potential to explain changes in water quality over time. The objectives of the study are to investigate structural equation modeling methods for application to water-quality problems and to test causal hypotheses related to the drivers of total phosphorus loads over the period 1970 to 2012. Multiple working hypotheses that explain total phosphorus loads and methods for estimating missing ancillary data were developed, and water-quality related challenges to structural equation modeling (including skewed data and scaling issues) were addressed. The model indicates that increased precipitation in season 1 (November–February) or season 2 (March–June) would increase total phosphorus loads in the basin. The effect of agricultural practices on total phosphorus loads was significant, although the effect is about one-third of the effect of season 1 precipitation. The structural equation model representing loads at six sites in the basin shows that climate and agricultural practices explain almost 60% of the annual total phosphorus load in the Red River of the North basin. The modeling process and the unexplained variance highlight the need for better ancillary long-term data for causal assessments.

Teaching the Mantle Plumes Debate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foulger, G. R.

2010-12-01

There is an ongoing debate regarding whether or not mantle plumes exist. This debate has highlighted a number of issues regarding how Earth science is currently practised, and how this feeds into approaches toward teaching students. The plume model is an hypothesis, not a proven fact. And yet many researchers assume a priori that plumes exist. This assumption feeds into teaching. That the plume model is unproven, and that many practising researchers are skeptical, may be at best only mentioned in passing to students, with most teachers assuming that plumes are proven to exist. There is typically little emphasis, in particular in undergraduate teaching, that the origin of melting anomalies is currently uncertain and that scientists do not know all the answers. Little encouragement is given to students to become involved in the debate and to consider the pros and cons for themselves. Typically teachers take the approach that “an answer” (or even “the answer”) must be taught to students. Such a pedagogic approach misses an excellent opportunity to allow students to participate in an important ongoing debate in Earth sciences. It also misses the opportunity to illustrate to students several critical aspects regarding correct application of the scientific method. The scientific method involves attempting to disprove hypotheses, not to prove them. A priori assumptions should be kept uppermost in mind and reconsidered at all stages. Multiple working hypotheses should be entertained. The predictions of a hypothesis should be tested, and unpredicted observations taken as weakening the original hypothesis. Hypotheses should not be endlessly adapted to fit unexpected observations. The difficulty with pedagogic treatment of the mantle plumes debate highlights a general uncertainty about how to teach issues in Earth science that are not yet resolved with certainty. It also represents a missed opportunity to let students experience how scientific theories evolve, warts and all. Working with students to enable them to participate in the evolution of the subject and to share in the excitement of major developments is surely the best way to attract them to science.

Why is the Arkavathy River drying? A multiple hypothesis approach in a data scarce region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, V.; Thompson, S.; Madhyastha, K.; Penny, G.; Jeremiah, K.; Lele, S.

2015-01-01

The developing world faces unique challenges in achieving water security as it is disproportionately exposed to stressors such as climate change while also undergoing demographic growth, agricultural intensification and industrialization. Investigative approaches are needed that can inform sound policy development and planning to address the water security challenge in the context of data scarcity. We investigated the "predictions under change" problem in the Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) catchment of the Arkavathy sub-basin in South India. River inflows into the TG Halli reservoir have declined since the 1970s, and the reservoir is currently operating at only 20% of its built capacity. The mechanisms responsible for the drying of the river are not understood, resulting in uncoordinated and potentially counter-productive management responses. The objective of this study was to investigate potential explanations of the drying trend and thus obtain predictive insight. We used a multiple working hypothesis approach to investigate the decline in inflow into TG Halli reservoir. Five hypotheses were tested using data from field surveys and reliable secondary sources: (1) changes in rainfall amount, timing and storm intensity, (2) rising temperatures, (3) increased groundwater extraction, (4) expansion of eucalyptus plantations, and (5) increased fragmentation of the river channel. Our results indicate that proximate anthropogenic drivers of change such as groundwater pumping, expansion of eucalyptus plantations, and to a lesser extent channel fragmentation, are much more likely to have caused the decline in surface flows in the TG Halli catchment than changing climate. The case study shows that direct human interventions play a significant role in altering the hydrology of watersheds. The multiple working hypotheses approach presents a systematic way to quantify the relative contributions of anthropogenic drivers to hydrologic change. The approach not only yields a meaningful contribution to the policy debate, but also helps prioritize and design future primary research. The paper represents a first step toward "use-inspired" socio-hydrologic science.

Using Magnetic Stir Bars To Determine Digestive Passage Rate in an Ectotherm, the Garter Snake.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Temple, John G.

2002-01-01

Details how students, working under the guidance of an instructor, design an experiment to test the relationship of temperature and digestive passage rate in garter snakes. Allows students to formulate and test hypotheses. (DDR)

Predicting General Aviation Accident Frequency From Pilot Total Flight Hours

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-10-01

Craig (2001) hypothesized a killing zonea range of pilot total flight hours (TFH) from about 50-350, over : which general aviation (GA) pilots are at greatest risk. The current work tested a number of candidate modeling : functions on eight ...

Parents' Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children's Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration.

PubMed

Paul Halpern, Hillary; Perry-Jenkins, Maureen

2016-05-01

The current study utilized longitudinal, self-report data from a sample of 109 dual-earner, working-class couples and their 6-year-old children living in the northeastern United States. Research questions addressed the roles of parents' gender ideology and gendered behaviors in predicting children's development of gender-role attitudes. It was hypothesized that parents' behavior would be more influential than their ideology in the development of their children's attitudes about gender roles. Parents responded to questionnaires assessing their global beliefs about women's and men's "rightful" roles in society, work preferences for mothers, division of household and childcare tasks, division of paid work hours, and job traditionality. These data were collected at multiple time points across the first year of parenthood, and during a 6-year follow-up. At the final time point, children completed the Sex Roles Learning Inventory (SERLI), an interactive measure that assesses gender-role attitudes. Overall, mothers' and fathers' behaviors were better predictors of children's gender-role attitudes than parents' ideology. In addition, mothers and fathers played unique roles in their sons' and daughters' acquisition of knowledge about gender stereotypes. Findings from the current study fill gaps in the literature on children's gender development in the family context-particularly by examining the understudied role of fathers in children's acquisition of knowledge regarding gender stereotypes and through its longitudinal exploration of the relationship between parents' gender ideologies, parents' gendered behaviors, and children's gender-role attitudes.

Parents' Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children's Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

PubMed Central

Paul Halpern, Hillary; Perry-Jenkins, Maureen

2015-01-01

The current study utilized longitudinal, self-report data from a sample of 109 dual-earner, working-class couples and their 6-year-old children living in the northeastern United States. Research questions addressed the roles of parents’ gender ideology and gendered behaviors in predicting children’s development of gender-role attitudes. It was hypothesized that parents' behavior would be more influential than their ideology in the development of their children's attitudes about gender roles. Parents responded to questionnaires assessing their global beliefs about women's and men's "rightful" roles in society, work preferences for mothers, division of household and childcare tasks, division of paid work hours, and job traditionality. These data were collected at multiple time points across the first year of parenthood, and during a 6-year follow-up. At the final time point, children completed the Sex Roles Learning Inventory (SERLI), an interactive measure that assesses gender-role attitudes. Overall, mothers’ and fathers’ behaviors were better predictors of children’s gender-role attitudes than parents’ ideology. In addition, mothers and fathers played unique roles in their sons’ and daughters’ acquisition of knowledge about gender stereotypes. Findings from the current study fill gaps in the literature on children’s gender development in the family context—particularly by examining the understudied role of fathers in children’s acquisition of knowledge regarding gender stereotypes and through its longitudinal exploration of the relationship between parents’ gender ideologies, parents’ gendered behaviors, and children’s gender-role attitudes. PMID:27445431

Avoiding the Leviathan: A Strategy to Limit Post-Conflict Normative Breakdown

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

Emile Durkheim in his seminal work Suicide hypothesized that societies that go through periods of rapid change (such as the industrial revolution...French 4 sociologist and philosopher Emile Durkheim in his seminal work Suicide.13 Anomie (from the Greek a nomos, meaning without norms) is a...and Effervescence,” Durkheim and Violence. ed. S. Romi Mukherjee, (West Sussex, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2010), 5-7. 13 Emile Durkheim , Suicide

Involvement of Wives in Farm Tasks as Related to Characteristics of the Farm, the Family and Work Off the Farm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkening, Eugene A.; Ahrens, Nancy

In an attempt to determine the basis of the farm wife's involvement in farm tasks, hypotheses regarding farm size and type, family cycle and wife's age, off-farm work of husband or wife, and family educational levels were tested in a 1978 random questionnaire survey of 532 Wisconsin farm families. As expected, wives were more involved with farm…

Organizational nostalgia lowers turnover intentions by increasing work meaning: The moderating role of burnout.

PubMed

Leunissen, Joost M; Sedikides, Constantine; Wildschut, Tim; Cohen, Taya R

2018-01-01

We report 3 studies addressing the relevance of organizational nostalgia for the meaning that employees ascribe to their work (work meaning). We hypothesized, and found, that organizational nostalgia enhances work meaning and thereby reduces turnover intentions. In Study 1, an employee survey, spontaneously experienced organizational nostalgia was associated with higher work meaning. In Study 2, an organizational-nostalgia induction increased work meaning, which subsequently predicted lowered turnover intentions. In Study 3, an organizational-nostalgia induction increased work meaning and thereby lowered turnover intentions, especially among employees who reported relatively high levels of burnout. When burnout is high, organizational nostalgia functions as a rich source of meaning that benefits employees' work experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Coping with the Stigma of Mental Illness: Empirically-Grounded Hypotheses from Computer Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kroska, Amy; Har, Sarah K.

2011-01-01

This research demonstrates how affect control theory and its computer program, "Interact", can be used to develop empirically-grounded hypotheses regarding the connection between cultural labels and behaviors. Our demonstration focuses on propositions in the modified labeling theory of mental illness. According to the MLT, negative societal…

Using Biodata and Situational Judgment Inventories across Cultural Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prasad, Joshua J.; Showler, Morgan B.; Schmitt, Neal; Ryan, Ann Marie; Nye, Christopher D.

2017-01-01

The present research compares the operation of situational judgement and biodata measures between Chinese and U.S. respondents. We describe the development and past research on both measures, followed by hypothesized differences across the two groups of respondents. We base hypotheses on the nature of the Chinese and U.S. educational systems and…

Formative Assessment Probes: To Hypothesize or Not

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keeley, Page

2010-01-01

Formative assessment probes are used not only to uncover the ideas students bring to their learning, they can also be used to reveal teachers' common misconceptions. Consider a process widely used in inquiry science--developing hypotheses. In this article, the author features the probe "Is It a Hypothesis?", which serves as an example of how…

The Impact of Flipped Classroom in MBA's Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scafuto, Isabel; Serra, Fernando; Mangini, Eduardo; Maccari, Emerson Antonio; Ruas, Roberto

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceived quality of the service environment, regarding the use of the flipped classroom, through a survey of MBA students. Design/methodology/approach: Four hypotheses were developed from the literature in marketing and quality services in higher education. The hypotheses were tested using…

Prostitutes and chimney sweeps both have problems: towards full integration of both sexes in the study of occupational health.

PubMed

Messing, K; Dumais, L; Romito, P

1993-01-01

Recently, natural and social scientists have pointed out that the need to make scientific results apply to both sexes is not met by simply adding women as research subjects. They suggest that the social and biological specificity of both sexes must be recognized and adjustments made to the ways questions are asked, hypotheses are generated, research subjects are chosen, and data are analysed. It is important to examine the definitions, concepts and methods used in research in occupational health to see whether they obstruct recognition of women's occupational health problems or interfere with gender-neutral standard setting. Unravelling the effects of sex on occupational health is complicated by the fact that women and men do not, by and large, work at the same jobs. Definitions of "work" must in some cases be adjusted to take account of women's occupations, just as definitions involving "health" must include women's biological specificity. Appropriate changes must be made to generate sex-inclusive definitions of exposures to occupational hazards and of health effects. Methods for evaluating exposures typical of women's work must be developed. Women and their work must be appropriately included when standards for occupational exposures are set. If these adjustments are not made, women's occupational health problems will be seriously underestimated and understanding of health problems of both sexes will be hindered. Sociological analysis should also be done to reveal the mechanisms by which biased concepts and procedures develop and are reinforced.

Testing Software Development Project Productivity Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipkin, Ilya

Software development is an increasingly influential factor in today's business environment, and a major issue affecting software development is how an organization estimates projects. If the organization underestimates cost, schedule, and quality requirements, the end results will not meet customer needs. On the other hand, if the organization overestimates these criteria, resources that could have been used more profitably will be wasted. There is no accurate model or measure available that can guide an organization in a quest for software development, with existing estimation models often underestimating software development efforts as much as 500 to 600 percent. To address this issue, existing models usually are calibrated using local data with a small sample size, with resulting estimates not offering improved cost analysis. This study presents a conceptual model for accurately estimating software development, based on an extensive literature review and theoretical analysis based on Sociotechnical Systems (STS) theory. The conceptual model serves as a solution to bridge organizational and technological factors and is validated using an empirical dataset provided by the DoD. Practical implications of this study allow for practitioners to concentrate on specific constructs of interest that provide the best value for the least amount of time. This study outlines key contributing constructs that are unique for Software Size E-SLOC, Man-hours Spent, and Quality of the Product, those constructs having the largest contribution to project productivity. This study discusses customer characteristics and provides a framework for a simplified project analysis for source selection evaluation and audit task reviews for the customers and suppliers. Theoretical contributions of this study provide an initial theory-based hypothesized project productivity model that can be used as a generic overall model across several application domains such as IT, Command and Control, Simulation and etc... This research validates findings from previous work concerning software project productivity and leverages said results in this study. The hypothesized project productivity model provides statistical support and validation of expert opinions used by practitioners in the field of software project estimation.

SedWorks: A 3-D visualisation software package to help students link surface processes with depositional product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M. A.; Edwards, A.; Boulton, P.

2010-12-01

Helping students to develop a cognitive and intuitive feel for the different temporal and spatial scales of processes through which the rock record is assembled is a primary goal of geoscience teaching. SedWorks is a 3-D virtual geoscience world that integrates both quantitative modelling and field-based studies into one interactive package. The program aims to help students acquire scientific content, cultivate critical thinking skills, and hone their problem solving ability, while also providing them with the opportunity to practice the activities undertaken by professional earth scientists. SedWorks is built upon a game development platform used for constructing interactive 3-D applications. Initially the software has been developed for teaching the sedimentology component of a Geoscience degree and consists of a series of continents or land masses each possessing sedimentary environments which the students visit on virtual field trips. The students are able to interact with the software to collect virtual field data from both the modern environment and the stratigraphic record, and to formulate hypotheses based on their observations which they can test through virtual physical experimentation within the program. The program is modular in design in order to enhance its adaptability and to allow scientific content to be updated so that the knowledge and skills acquired are at the cutting edge. We will present an example module in which students undertake a virtual field study of a 2-km long stretch of a river to observe how sediment is transported and deposited. On entering the field area students are able to observe different bedforms in different parts of the river as they move up- and down-stream, as well as in and out of the river. As they explore, students discover ‘hot spots’ at which particular tools become available to them. This includes tools for measuring the physical parameters of the flow and sediment bed (e.g. velocity, depth, grain size, bed slope), a zoom-in/zoom-out function (to increase or decrease the resolution of the observations, e.g. zoom-in to observe the motion of individual grains on the bed) and a sectioning tool (to allow students to cut a cross-section through a bedform to observe the sedimentary structure being created). Students are encouraged to make notes of their observations in a field notebook, as they would in the real world. Based on their observations, students form hypotheses about the relationship between the physical attributes of the flow and the way in which sediment is transported, bedforms produced and sedimentary structures created. They are able to test these hypotheses using a virtual flume in an experimental field station, conveniently located within the field area. Concepts investigated by the students during the virtual field study include controls on bedload sediment transport, bedform phase diagrams, flow structure within channels (and its effect on sediment erosion and deposition), fluvial facies models and controls on facies architecture, and landscape evolution over different temporal and spatial scales.

Disentangling the causal relationships between work-home interference and employee health.

PubMed

van Hooff, Madelon L M; Geurts, Sabine A E; Taris, Toon W; Kompier, Michiel A J; Dikkers, Josje S E; Houtman, Irene L D; van den Heuvel, Floor M M

2005-02-01

The present study was designed to investigate the causal relationships between (time- and strain-based) work-home interference and employee health. The effort-recovery theory provided the theoretical basis for this study. Two-phase longitudinal data (with a 1-year time lag) were gathered from 730 Dutch police officers to test the following hypotheses with structural equation modeling: (i) work-home interference predicts health deterioration, (ii) health complaints precede increased levels of such interference, and (iii) both processes operate. The relationship between stable and changed levels of work-home interference across time and their relationships with the course of health were tested with a group-by-time analysis of variance. Four subgroups were created that differed in starting point and the development of work-home interference across time. The normal causal model, in which strain-based (but not time-based) work-home interference was longitudinally related to increased health complaints 1 year later, fit the data well and significantly better than the reversed causal model. Although the reciprocal model also provided a good fit, it was less parsimonious than the normal causal model. In addition, both an increment in (strain-based) work-home interference across time and a long-lasting experience of high (strain-based) work-home interference were associated with a deterioration in health. It was concluded that (strain-based) work-home interference acts as a precursor of health impairment and that different patterns of (strain-based) work-home interference across time are related to different health courses. Particularly long-term experience of (strain-based) work-home interference seems responsible for an accumulation of health complaints.

An integrative systems biology approach to understanding pulmonary diseases.

PubMed

Auffray, Charles; Adcock, Ian M; Chung, Kian Fan; Djukanovic, Ratko; Pison, Christophe; Sterk, Peter J

2010-06-01

Chronic inflammatory pulmonary diseases such as COPD and asthma are highly prevalent and associated with a major health burden worldwide. Despite a wealth of biologic and clinical information on normal and pathologic airway structure and function, the primary causes and mechanisms of disease remain to a large extent unknown, preventing the development of more efficient diagnosis and treatment. We propose to overcome these limitations through an integrative systems biology research strategy designed to identify the functional and regulatory pathways that play central roles in respiratory pathophysiology, starting with severe asthma. This approach relies on global genome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome data sets collected in cross-sectional patient cohorts with high-throughput measurement platforms and integrated with biologic and clinical data to inform predictive multiscale models ranging from the molecular to the organ levels. Working hypotheses formulated on the mechanisms and pathways involved in various disease states are tested through perturbation experiments using model simulation combined with targeted and global technologies in cellular and animal models. The responses observed are compared with those predicted by the initial models, which are refined to account better for the results. Novel perturbation experiments are designed and tested both computationally and experimentally to arbitrate between competing hypotheses. The process is iterated until the derived knowledge allows a better classification and subphenotyping of severe asthma using complex biomarkers, which will facilitate the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic interventions targeting multiple components of the molecular and cellular pathways involved. This can be tested and validated in prospective clinical trials.

Measuring Individual Differences in the Perfect Automation Schema.

PubMed

Merritt, Stephanie M; Unnerstall, Jennifer L; Lee, Deborah; Huber, Kelli

2015-08-01

A self-report measure of the perfect automation schema (PAS) is developed and tested. Researchers have hypothesized that the extent to which users possess a PAS is associated with greater decreases in trust after users encounter automation errors. However, no measure of the PAS currently exists. We developed a self-report measure assessing two proposed PAS factors: high expectations and all-or-none thinking about automation performance. In two studies, participants responded to our PAS measure, interacted with imperfect automated aids, and reported trust. Each of the two PAS measure factors demonstrated fit to the hypothesized factor structure and convergent and discriminant validity when compared with propensity to trust machines and trust in a specific aid. However, the high expectations and all-or-none thinking scales showed low intercorrelations and differential relationships with outcomes, suggesting that they might best be considered two separate constructs rather than two subfactors of the PAS. All-or-none thinking had significant associations with decreases in trust following aid errors, whereas high expectations did not. Results therefore suggest that the all-or-none thinking scale may best represent the PAS construct. Our PAS measure (specifically, the all-or-none thinking scale) significantly predicted the severe trust decreases thought to be associated with high PAS. Further, it demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties across two samples. This measure may be used in future work to assess levels of PAS in users of automated systems in either research or applied settings. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Interrole conflict and self-efficacy to manage work and family demands mediate the relationships of job and family demands with stress in the job and family domains.

PubMed

Smoktunowicz, Ewelina; Cieslak, Roman; Demerouti, Evangelia

2017-09-01

This study derives from Work-Home Resources model (ten Brummelhuis, L. L., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). A resource perspective on the work-home interface: The work-home resources model. American Psychologist, 67(7), 545-556. doi: 10.1037/a0027974 ) and Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US: Prentice-Hall, Inc.) to investigate mechanisms responsible for the effect of job and family demands on work- and family-related perceived stress. We hypothesized that interrole conflict and self-efficacy to manage work and family demands operate either independently or sequentially transmitting the effects of demands on perceived stress. A sample of 100 employees of various occupations participated in the study conducted online in two waves: Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) with a three-month interval. Regression analysis with bootstrapping was applied. Interrole conflict (T1) did not mediate the relationships between demands (T1) and perceived stress (T2), whereas self-efficacy (T1) mediated only those between family demands (T1) and stress (T2). However, data supported the sequential mediation hypotheses: Demands (T1) were associated with increased interrole conflict (T1) which in turn decreased self-efficacy (T1) and ultimately resulted in the elevated perceived stress at work and in the family (T2). Demands originating in one domain can impact stress both in the same and other life areas through the sequence of interrole conflict and context-specific self-efficacy.

Distribution of authorship in a scientific work.

PubMed

Petroianu, Andy

2012-01-01

To publish became almost compulsory in Medicine. There is no doubt about the importance of publishing research, but the ordering of its authors is not easy. The lack of internationally accepted criteria led to the establishment of several groups or conventions particularized medical and scientific sectors. To present numerical method to establish rule of value to people who carried out the research, and whether or not incorporated as authors. The proposed score is based on the needs of each step when conducting a scientific work. They were divided into topics in which the main ones were: 1) scientific criteria for authorship; 2) create the idea that originated the work and develop hypotheses; 3) structure the method of work; 4) guiding the work; 5) write the manuscript; 6) coordinate the group that carried out the work; 7) reviewing the literature; 8) suggestions incorporated into the work; 9) to solve fundamental problems of labor; 10) to collect data; 11) presentation at scientific meetings; 12 ) lead the job and raise funds; 13) providing patients or material; 14) to do the routine needs; 15) specific fee to participate; 16) criteria for ranking the authors; 17) honorary author; 18) usurpation of the main authorship, 19) acknowledgments . It is important to emphasize that, to prevent major conflicts, the group that is willing to conduct a scientific work should establish at the outset, as objectively as possible, the criteria to be adopted for distribution of authorship. The subjective criteria here proposed avoid interference and prevent conflicts of interest.

Methodology of citrate-based biomaterial development and application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran, M. Richard

Biomaterials play central roles in modern strategies of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Attempts to find tissue-engineered solutions to cure various injuries or diseases have led to an enormous increase in the number of polymeric biomaterials over the past decade. The breadth of new materials arises from the multiplicity of anatomical locations, cell types, and mode of application, which all place application-specific requirements on the biomaterial. Unfortunately, many of the currently available biodegradable polymers are limited in their versatility to meet the wide range of requirements for tissue engineering. Therefore, a methodology of biomaterial development, which is able to address a broad spectrum of requirements, would be beneficial to the biomaterial field. This work presents a methodology of citrate-based biomaterial design and application to meet the multifaceted needs of tissue engineering. We hypothesize that (1) citric acid, a non-toxic metabolic product of the body (Krebs Cycle), can be exploited as a universal multifunctional monomer and reacted with various diols to produce a new class of soft biodegradable elastomers with the flexibility to tune the material properties of the resulting material to meet a wide range of requirements; (2) the newly developed citrate-based polymers can be used as platform biomaterials for the design of novel tissue engineering scaffolding; and (3) microengineering approaches in the form thin scaffold sheets, microchannels, and a new porogen design can be used to generate complex cell-cell and cell-microenvironment interactions to mimic tissue complexity and architecture. To test these hypotheses, we first developed a methodology of citrate-based biomaterial development through the synthesis and characterization of a family of in situ crosslinkable and urethane-doped elastomers, which are synthesized using simple, cost-effective strategies and offer a variety methods to tailor the material properties to meet the needs of a particular application. Next, we introduced a new porogen generation technique, and showed the potential application of the newly developed materials through the fabrication and characterization of scaffold sheets, multiphasic small diameter vascular grafts, and multichanneled nerve guides. Finally, the in vivo applications of citrate-based materials are exemplified through the evaluation of peripheral nerve regeneration using multichanneled guides and the ability to assist in injection-based endoscopic mucosal resection therapy. The results presented in this work show that citric acid can be utilized as a cornerstone in the development of novel biodegradable materials, and combined with microengineering approaches to produce the next generation of tissue engineering scaffolding. These enabling new biomaterials and scaffolding strategies should address many of the existing challenges in tissue engineering and advance the field as a whole.

Youth experiences of family violence and teen dating violence perpetration: cognitive and emotional mediators.

PubMed

Jouriles, Ernest N; McDonald, Renee; Mueller, Victoria; Grych, John H

2012-03-01

This article describes a conceptual model of cognitive and emotional processes proposed to mediate the relation between youth exposure to family violence and teen dating violence perpetration. Explicit beliefs about violence, internal knowledge structures, and executive functioning are hypothesized as cognitive mediators, and their potential influences upon one another are described. Theory and research on the role of emotions and emotional processes in the relation between youths' exposure to family violence and teen dating violence perpetration are also reviewed. We present an integrated model that highlights how emotions and emotional processes work in tandem with hypothesized cognitive mediators to predict teen dating violence.

Molecular imaging and the unification of multilevel mechanisms and data in medical physics.

PubMed

Nikiforidis, George C; Sakellaropoulos, George C; Kagadis, George C

2008-08-01

Molecular imaging (MI) constitutes a recently developed approach of imaging, where modalities and agents have been reinvented and used in novel combinations in order to expose and measure biologic processes occurring at molecular and cellular levels. It is an approach that bridges the gap between modalities acquiring data from high (e.g., computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron-emitting isotopes) and low (e.g., PCR, microarrays) levels of a biological organization. While data integration methodologies will lead to improved diagnostic and prognostic performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, triggered by MI, will result in a better perception of the underlying biological mechanisms. Toward the development of a unifying theory describing these mechanisms, medical physicists can formulate new hypotheses, provide the physical constraints bounding them, and consequently design appropriate experiments. Their new scientific and working environment calls for interventions in their syllabi to educate scientists with enhanced capabilities for holistic views and synthesis.

Merging Social Networking Environments and Formal Learning Environments to Support and Facilitate Interprofessional Instruction

PubMed Central

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-01-01

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context. PMID:20165519

Unraveling the Complexity of Critical Consciousness, Political Efficacy, and Political Action Among Marginalized Adolescents.

PubMed

Diemer, Matthew A; Rapa, Luke J

2016-01-01

This research examines the complex patterns by which distinct dimensions of critical consciousness may lead marginalized adolescents toward distinct forms of political action. Structural equation modeling was applied to nationally representative data from the Civic Education Study (2,811 ninth graders; Mage  = 14.6), first establishing the measurement invariance of constructs across samples of poor or working class African American and Latino/a adolescents. Perceptions of societal inequality and aspirational beliefs that society ought to be more equal differentially predicted expected voting, conventional political action, and social action-while controlling for civic achievement and with nuances between ethnic and racial groups. Contrary to hypotheses and extant scholarship, political efficacy did not mediate or moderate relations between critical reflection and disparate forms of political action. © 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Association of linear IgA bullous disease with ulcerative colitis: a case of successful treatment with infliximab.

PubMed

Yamada, S; Makino, T; Jinnin, M; Sakai, K; Fukushima, S; Inoue, Y; Ihn, H

2013-01-01

Linear IgA bullous disease (LABD) has been reported in association with inflammatory bowel disease, in particular ulcerative colitis (UC). We reporting a 34-year-old female who developed LABD during a flare-up of UC. We administered infliximab, which has been approved for the treatment of UC; infliximab dramatically improved the cutaneous lesions and bowel symptoms. This is the first report showing a marked effect of infliximab on LABD. First, we hypothesize that infliximab works for UC and then calms down excessive production of inflammatory cytokines and autoantibodies, and so stricter control of UC by infliximab is beneficial against the skin condition of LABD. Second, we suggest that TNF-α production in the lesion of LABD is increased, so TNF-α plays an important role in developing cutaneous lesions. This case suggests that infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against TNF-α, is efficacious in the cutaneous symptoms of LABD.

Microsatellite primers for a species of South African everlasting daisy (Helichrysum odoratissimum; Gnaphalieae, Asteraceae)1

PubMed Central

Glennon, Kelsey L.; Cron, Glynis V.

2016-01-01

Premise of the study: Microsatellites were developed for the widespread Helichrysum odoratissimum (Asteraceae) to estimate gene flow across diploid populations and to test if gene flow occurs among other closely related lineages within this genus. Methods and Results: Ten primer pairs were developed and tested using populations across South Africa; however, only seven primer pairs were polymorphic for the target species. The seven polymorphic primers amplified di- and trinucleotide repeats with up to 16 alleles per locus among 125 diploid individuals used for analyses. Conclusions: These markers can be used to estimate gene flow among populations of known ploidy level of H. odoratissimum to test evolutionary hypotheses. Furthermore, these markers amplify successfully in other Helichrysum species, including the other three taxonomic Group 4 species, and therefore can be used to inform taxonomic work on these species. PMID:27213125

Developmental Origins of Cognitive Vulnerabilities to Depression: Review of Processes Contributing to Stability and Change Across Time

PubMed Central

Hankin, Benjamin L.; Oppenheimer, Caroline; Jenness, Jessica; Barrocas, Andreas; Shapero, Benjamin G.; Goldband, Jessica

2011-01-01

Cognitive theories of depression have been shown to be potent predictors of future increases in depressive symptoms and disorder in children, adolescents, and adults. This article focuses on potential developmental origins of the main cognitive vulnerabilities, including dysfunctional attitudes, negative cognitive style, and rumination. We selectively review processes and factors that have been hypothesized to contribute to the emergence and stabilization of these cognitive risk factors. This review focuses on genetic factors, temperament, parents and peers as salient interpersonal influences, and stressful life events. We end with suggestions for future theory development and research. In particular, we emphasize the need for additional conceptual and empirical work integrating these disparate processes together into a coherent, developmental psychopathological model, and we highlight the coexistence of both stability and change in the development of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression across the lifespan. PMID:19827008

Development of Low-Cost Inverted Microscope to Detect Early Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in MODS Culture

PubMed Central

Zimic, Mirko; Velazco, Abner; Comina, Germán; Coronel, Jorge; Fuentes, Patricia; Luna, Carmen G.; Sheen, Patricia; Gilman, Robert H.; Moore, David A. J.

2010-01-01

Background The microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay for rapid, low-cost detection of tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis depends upon visualization of the characteristic cording colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in liquid media. This has conventionally required an inverted light microscope in order to inspect the MODS culture plates from below. Few tuberculosis laboratories have this item and the capital cost of $5,000 for a high-end microscope could be a significant obstacle to MODS roll-out. Methodology We hypothesized that the precise definition provided by costly high-specification inverted light microscopes might not be necessary for pattern recognition. Significance In this work we describe the development of a low-cost artesenal inverted microscope that can operate in both a standard or digital mode to effectively replace the expensive commercial inverted light microscope, and an integrated system that could permit a local and remote diagnosis of tuberculosis. PMID:20351778

A Heuristic Model of Consciousness with Applications to the Development of Science and Society

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curreri, Peter A.

2010-01-01

A working model of consciousness is fundamental to understanding of the interactions of the observer in science. This paper examines contemporary understanding of consciousness. A heuristic model of consciousness is suggested that is consistent with psycophysics measurements of bandwidth of consciousness relative to unconscious perception. While the self reference nature of consciousness confers a survival benefit by assuring the all points of view regarding a problem are experienced in sufficiently large population, conscious bandwidth is constrained by design to avoid chaotic behavior. The multiple hypotheses provided by conscious reflection enable the rapid progression of science and technology. The questions of free will and the problem of attention are discussed in relation to the model. Finally the combination of rapid technology growth with the assurance of many unpredictable points of view is considered in respect to contemporary constraints to the development of society.

Harnessing the Power of Sibling Relationships as a Tool for Optimizing Social–Emotional Development

PubMed Central

Stormshak, Elizabeth A.; Bullock, Bernadette A.; Falkenstein, Corinna A.

2016-01-01

For some children, sibling relationships are a source of positive support and skills development and can improve self-regulation and emotional understanding. Other sibling relationships can be characterized by antisocial behavior, substance use, and conflict and can pose a risk for future negative outcomes. Family relationships, as well as parenting skills and family discord, contribute strongly to both youth outcomes and the quality of the sibling relationship. Our work uses a multilevel model for engaging and intervening with families that explicitly integrates intervention targets (e.g., family management, parent-child relationships, sibling relationships) with principles of behavior change. Though specific intervention effects on sibling relationships have not been tested, we have found (a) reductions in youths’ overall problem behavior, and (b) improvements in proactive parenting behaviors and parental monitoring, postintervention. It is hypothesized that reductions in child behavior problems and improvements in parenting strategies within the home positively influence sibling relationships. PMID:19960535

Merging social networking environments and formal learning environments to support and facilitate interprofessional instruction.

PubMed

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-04-28

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context.

Development of stimulation diagnostic technology. Annual report, May 1990--December 1991

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

Warpinski, N.R.; Lorenz, J.C.

The objective of this project is to apply Sandia`s expertise and technology towards the development of stimulation diagnostic technology in the areas of in situ stress, natural fracturing, stimulation processes and instrumentation systems. Initial work has concentrated on experiment planning for a site where hydraulic fracturing could be evaluated and design models and fracture diagnostics could be validated and improved. Important issues have been defined and new diagnostics, such as inclinometers, identified. In the area of in situ stress, circumferential velocity analysis is proving to be a useful diagnostic for stress orientation. Natural fracture studies of the Frontier formation aremore » progressing; two fracture sets have been found and their relation to tectonic events have been hypothesized. Analyses of stimulation data have been performed for several sites, primarily for in situ stress information. Some new ideas in stimulation diagnostics have been proposed; these ideas may significantly improve fracture diagnostic capabilities.« less

Development of stimulation diagnostic technology

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

Warpinski, N.R.; Lorenz, J.C.

The objective of this project is to apply Sandia's expertise and technology towards the development of stimulation diagnostic technology in the areas of in situ stress, natural fracturing, stimulation processes and instrumentation systems. Initial work has concentrated on experiment planning for a site where hydraulic fracturing could be evaluated and design models and fracture diagnostics could be validated and improved. Important issues have been defined and new diagnostics, such as inclinometers, identified. In the area of in situ stress, circumferential velocity analysis is proving to be a useful diagnostic for stress orientation. Natural fracture studies of the Frontier formation aremore » progressing; two fracture sets have been found and their relation to tectonic events have been hypothesized. Analyses of stimulation data have been performed for several sites, primarily for in situ stress information. Some new ideas in stimulation diagnostics have been proposed; these ideas may significantly improve fracture diagnostic capabilities.« less

What makes Darwinian hydrology "Darwinian"? Asking a different kind of question about landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harman, C.; Troch, P. A.

2014-02-01

There have been repeated calls for a Darwinian approach to hydrologic science, or for a synthesis of Darwinian and Newtonian approaches, to deepen understanding of the hydrologic system in the larger landscape context, and so develop a better basis for predictions now and in an uncertain future. But what exactly makes a Darwinian approach to hydrology "Darwinian"? While there have now been a number of discussions of Darwinian approaches, many referencing Harte (2002), the term is potentially a source of confusion because its connections to Darwin remain allusive rather than explicit. Here we suggest that the Darwinian approach to hydrology follows the example of Charles Darwin by focusing attention on the patterns of variation in populations and seeking hypotheses that explain these patterns in terms of the mechanisms and conditions that determine their historical development. These hypotheses do not simply catalog patterns or predict them statistically - they connect the present structure with processes operating in the past. Nor are they explanations presented without independent evidence or critical analysis - Darwin's hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying present-day variation could be independently tested and validated. With a Darwinian framework in mind, it is easy to see that a great deal of hydrologic research has already been done that contributes to a Darwinian hydrology - whether deliberately or not. We discuss some practical and philosophical issues with this approach to hydrologic science: how are explanatory hypotheses generated? What constitutes a good hypothesis? How are hypotheses tested? "Historical" sciences - including paleohydrology - have long grappled with these questions, as must a Darwinian hydrologic science. We can draw on Darwin's own example for some answers, though there are ongoing debates about the philosophical nature of his methods and reasoning. Darwin used a range of methods of historical reasoning to develop explanatory hypotheses: extrapolating mechanisms, space for time substitution, and looking for signatures of history. Some of these are already in use, while others are not and could be used to develop new insights. He sought explanatory hypotheses that intelligibly unified disparate facts, were testable against evidence, and had fertile implications for further research. He provided evidence to support his hypotheses by deducing corollary conditions ("if explanation A is true, then B will also be true") and comparing these to observations. While a synthesis of the Darwinian and Newtonian approaches remains a goal, the Darwinian approach to hydrologic science has significant value of its own. The Darwinian hydrology that has been conducted already has not been coordinated or linked into a general body of theory and knowledge, but the time is coming when this will be possible.

Animal models for assessment of infection and inflammation: contributions to elucidating the pathophysiology of sudden infant death syndrome.

PubMed

Blood-Siegfried, Jane

2015-01-01

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is still not well understood. It is defined as the sudden and unexpected death of an infant without a definitive cause. There are numerous hypotheses about the etiology of SIDS but the exact cause or causes have never been pinpointed. Examination of theoretical pathologies might only be possible in animal models. Development of these models requires consideration of the environmental and/or developmental risk factors often associated with SIDS, as they need to explain how the risk factors could contribute to the cause of death. These models were initially developed in common laboratory animals to test various hypotheses to explain these infant deaths - guinea pig, piglet, mouse, neonatal rabbit, and neonatal rat. Currently, there are growing numbers of researchers using genetically altered animals to examine specific areas of interest. This review describes the different systems and models developed to examine the diverse hypotheses for the cause of SIDS and their potential for defining a causal mechanism or mechanisms.

Comment on se rappelle et on resume des histoires (How We Remember and Summarize Stories)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kintsch, Walter; Van Dijk, Teun A.

1975-01-01

Working from theories of text grammar and logic, the authors suggest and tentatively confirm several hypotheses concerning the role of micro- and macro-structures in comprehension and recall of texts. (Text is in French.) (DB)

Computer Assisted Multi-Center Creation of Medical Knowledge Bases

PubMed Central

Giuse, Nunzia Bettinsoli; Giuse, Dario A.; Miller, Randolph A.

1988-01-01

Computer programs which support different aspects of medical care have been developed in recent years. Their capabilities range from diagnosis to medical imaging, and include hospital management systems and therapy prescription. In spite of their diversity these systems have one commonality: their reliance on a large body of medical knowledge in computer-readable form. This knowledge enables such programs to draw inferences, validate hypotheses, and in general to perform their intended task. As has been clear to developers of such systems, however, the creation and maintenance of medical knowledge bases are very expensive. Practical and economical difficulties encountered during this long-term process have discouraged most attempts. This paper discusses knowledge base creation and maintenance, with special emphasis on medical applications. We first describe the methods currently used and their limitations. We then present our recent work on developing tools and methodologies which will assist in the process of creating a medical knowledge base. We focus, in particular, on the possibility of multi-center creation of the knowledge base.

Laser vibrometer measurements and middle ear prostheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flock, Stephen T.; Dornhoffer, John; Ferguson, Scott

1997-05-01

One of us has developed an improved partial ossicular replacement prosthesis that is easier to implant and, based on pilot clinical measurements, results in better high-frequency hearing as compared to patients receiving one of the alternative prostheses. It is hypothesized that the primary reason for this is because of the relatively light weight (about 25 mg) and low compliance of the prosthesis, which could conceivably result in better high frequency vibrational characteristics. The purpose of our initial work was to develop an instrument suitable for objectively testing the vibrational characteristics of prostheses. We have developed a laser based device suitable for measuring the vibrational characteristics of the oval window or other structures of the middle ear. We have tested this device using a piezoelectric transducer excited at audio frequencies, as well as on the oval window in human temporal bones harvested from cadavers. The results illustrate that it is possible to non-invasively monitor the vibrational characteristics of anatomic structures with a very inexpensive photonic device.

Applications of polarization speckle in skin cancer detection and monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Tim K.; Tchvialeva, Lioudmila; Phillips, Jamie; Louie, Daniel C.; Zhao, Jianhua; Wang, Wei; Lui, Harvey; Kalia, Sunil

2018-01-01

Polarization speckle is a rapidly developed field. Unlike laser speckle, polarization speckle consists of stochastic interference patterns with spatially random polarizations, amplitudes and phases. We have been working in this exciting research field, developing techniques to generate polarization patterns from skin. We hypothesize that polarization speckle patterns could be used in biomedical applications, especially, for detecting and monitoring skin cancers, the most common neoplasmas for white populations around the world. This paper describes our effort in developing two polarization speckle devices. One of them captures the Stokes parameters So and S1 simultaneously, and another one captures all four Stokes parameters So, S1, S2, and S3 in one-shot, within milliseconds. Hence these two devices could be used in medical clinics and assessed skin conditions in-vivo. In order to validate our hypothesis, we conducted a series of three clinical studies. These are early pilot studies, and the results suggest that the devices have potential to detect and monitor skin cancers.

State and trait effects on individual differences in children's mathematical development.

PubMed

Bailey, Drew H; Watts, Tyler W; Littlefield, Andrew K; Geary, David C

2014-11-01

Substantial longitudinal relations between children's early mathematics achievement and their much later mathematics achievement are firmly established. These findings are seemingly at odds with studies showing that early educational interventions have diminishing effects on children's mathematics achievement across time. We hypothesized that individual differences in children's later mathematical knowledge are more an indicator of stable, underlying characteristics related to mathematics learning throughout development than of direct effects of early mathematical competency on later mathematical competency. We tested this hypothesis in two longitudinal data sets, by simultaneously modeling effects of latent traits (stable characteristics that influence learning across time) and states (e.g., prior knowledge) on children's mathematics achievement over time. Latent trait effects on children's mathematical development were substantially larger than state effects. Approximately 60% of the variance in trait mathematics achievement was accounted for by commonly used control variables, such as working memory, but residual trait effects remained larger than state effects. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Measuring the impact of an API-first mentality with ScienceBase after 4.5 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bristol, S.; Tekell, S.

2016-12-01

ScienceBase is a research infrastructure developed and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey with users and uses across a number of other agency and organization partners. Over four years ago, we released an Application Programming Interface (API) as the foundation of the system and took on the mindset that our progress would be measured by the uptake of the API by others beyond ourselves in developing interesting applications. We now measure success more by someone finding ScienceBase, organizing their data and information, developing an innovative API-driven application and then serendipitous discovery through a science meeting. Because of the way we built the RESTful API, we can characterize what parts of the system are employed. Analysis of usage data helps us take the supposition out of what works and guides design and funding decisions. This analytics-based process facilitates regular adjustments to our thinking and allows us to test design decisions as hypotheses rather than untestable aspirations.

State and Trait Effects on Individual Differences in Children's Mathematical Development

PubMed Central

Bailey, Drew H.; Watts, Tyler W.; Littlefield, Andrew K.; Geary, David C.

2015-01-01

Substantial longitudinal relations between children's early mathematics achievement and their much later mathematics achievement are firmly established. These findings are seemingly at odds with studies showing that early educational interventions have diminishing effects on children's mathematics achievement across time. We hypothesized that individual differences in children's later mathematical knowledge are more an indicator of stable, underlying characteristics related to mathematics learning throughout development than of direct effects of early mathematical competency on later mathematical competency. We tested this hypothesis in two longitudinal data sets, by simultaneously modeling effects of latent traits (stable characteristics that influence learning across time) and states (e.g., prior knowledge) on children's mathematics achievement over time. Latent trait effects on children's mathematical development were substantially larger than state effects. Approximately 60% of the variance in trait mathematics achievement was accounted for by commonly used control variables, such as working memory, but residual trait effects remained larger than state effects. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PMID:25231900

Perceived versus used workplace flexibility in Singapore: predicting work-family fit.

PubMed

Jones, Blake L; Scoville, D Phillip; Hill, E Jeffrey; Childs, Geniel; Leishman, Joan M; Nally, Kathryn S

2008-10-01

This study examined the relationship of 2 types of workplace flexibility to work-family fit and work, personal, and marriage-family outcomes using data (N = 1,601) representative of employed persons in Singapore. We hypothesized that perceived and used workplace flexibility would be positively related to the study variables. Results derived from structural equation modeling revealed that perceived flexibility predicted work-family fit; however, used flexibility did not. Work-family fit related positively to each work, personal, and marriage-family outcome; however, workplace flexibility only predicted work and personal outcomes. Findings suggest work-family fit may be an important facilitating factor in the interface between work and family life, relating directly to marital satisfaction and satisfaction in other family relationships. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Building entity models through observation and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, Richard; Kania, Robert; Fields, MaryAnne; Barnes, Laura

2011-05-01

To support the missions and tasks of mixed robotic/human teams, future robotic systems will need to adapt to the dynamic behavior of both teammates and opponents. One of the basic elements of this adaptation is the ability to exploit both long and short-term temporal data. This adaptation allows robotic systems to predict/anticipate, as well as influence, future behavior for both opponents and teammates and will afford the system the ability to adjust its own behavior in order to optimize its ability to achieve the mission goals. This work is a preliminary step in the effort to develop online entity behavior models through a combination of learning techniques and observations. As knowledge is extracted from the system through sensor and temporal feedback, agents within the multi-agent system attempt to develop and exploit a basic movement model of an opponent. For the purpose of this work, extraction and exploitation is performed through the use of a discretized two-dimensional game. The game consists of a predetermined number of sentries attempting to keep an unknown intruder agent from penetrating their territory. The sentries utilize temporal data coupled with past opponent observations to hypothesize the probable locations of the opponent and thus optimize their guarding locations.

The Impact of Information Culture on Patient Safety Outcomes. Development of a Structural Equation Model.

PubMed

Jylhä, Virpi; Mikkonen, Santtu; Saranto, Kaija; Bates, David W

2017-03-08

An organization's information culture and information management practices create conditions for processing patient information in hospitals. Information management incidents are failures that could lead to adverse events for the patient if they are not detected. To test a theoretical model that links information culture in acute care hospitals to information management incidents and patient safety outcomes. Reason's model for the stages of development of organizational accidents was applied. Study data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of 909 RNs who work in medical or surgical units at 32 acute care hospitals in Finland. Structural equation modeling was used to assess how well the hypothesized model fit the study data. Fit indices indicated a good fit for the model. In total, 18 of the 32 paths tested were statistically significant. Documentation errors had the strongest total effect on patient safety outcomes. Organizational guidance positively affected information availability and utilization of electronic patient records, whereas the latter had the strongest total effect on the reduction of information delays. Patient safety outcomes are associated with information management incidents and information culture. Further, the dimensions of the information culture create work conditions that generate errors in hospitals.

Comparison of the Output in Weighted Work Units of Installation Dental Laboratories with that of Regional Dental Activities. Part II.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

at the study sites and compare it to the total production at each site. Orthodontics was excepted be- cause it is not done at all laboratories, nor is...DENTAC laboratories. It is sometimes tempting to relate productivity in terms of weighted work units to the type of work being done. Orthodontic laboratory...hypotheses. DENTAC Sites 2 and 3 both produce a heavy orthodontic workload, whereas Site 1 did very little in Month 1. In Month 2, when Site 1 reported a

Early testing of new sanitation technology for urban slums: The case of the Blue Diversion Toilet.

PubMed

Tobias, Robert; O'Keefe, Mark; Künzle, Rahel; Gebauer, Heiko; Gründl, Harald; Morgenroth, Eberhard; Pronk, Wouter; Larsen, Tove A

2017-01-15

The toilets used most in informal urban settlements have detrimental consequences for the environment and human health due to the lack of proper collection and treatment of toilet waste. Concepts for safe, sustainable and affordable sanitation systems exist, but their feasibility and acceptance have to be investigated at an early stage of development, which is difficult due to the high costs of building working models. In this paper, we present an approach to estimate acceptance in a valid and representative form with only one working model, and apply it to test an innovative zero-emission toilet with recycling of wash water. Four basic principles were specified for investigation and nine hypotheses formulated to test the feasibility and acceptance of these principles: source separation of urine and feces with subsequent collection for resource recovery; provision of wash water in a separate cycle with on-site recovery through a membrane bioreactor; a convenient and attractive overall design; and a financially sustainable business plan. In Kampala (Uganda), in 2013, data was collected from 22 regular users, 308 one-time users and a representative sample of 1538 participants. Qualitative data was collected from the users, who evaluated their likes, perceived benefits, social norms and expected ease of use based on verbal and visual information. Most of the hypotheses were confirmed, indicating the feasibility and acceptance of the basic principles. Source separation and on-site water recovery were found to be feasible and accepted, provided users can be convinced that the emptying service and water recovery process work reliably. In the survey, the toilet was evaluated favorably and 51% of the participants agreed to be placed on a bogus waiting list. However, some design challenges were revealed, such as the size of the toilet, hiding feces from view and improving the separation of urine and water. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Advancing the application of systems thinking in health: realist evaluation of the Leadership Development Programme for district manager decision-making in Ghana

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Although there is widespread agreement that strong district manager decision-making improves health systems, understanding about how the design and implementation of capacity-strengthening interventions work is limited. The Ghana Health Service has adopted the Leadership Development Programme (LDP) as one intervention to support the development of management and leadership within district teams. This paper seeks to address how and why the LDP ‘works’ when it is introduced into a district health system in Ghana, and whether or not it supports systems thinking in district teams. Methods We undertook a realist evaluation to investigate the outcomes, contexts, and mechanisms of the intervention. Building on two working hypotheses developed from our earlier work, we developed an explanatory case study of one rural district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data collection included participant observation, document review, and semi-structured interviews with district managers prior to, during, and after the intervention. Working backwards from an in-depth analysis of the context and observed short- and medium-term outcomes, we drew a causal loop diagram to explain interactions between contexts, outcomes, and mechanisms. Results The LDP was a valuable experience for district managers and teams were able to attain short-term outcomes because the novel approach supported teamwork, initiative-building, and improved prioritisation. However, the LDP was not institutionalised in district teams and did not lead to increased systems thinking. This was related to the context of high uncertainty within the district, and hierarchical authority of the system, which triggered the LDP’s underlying goal of organisational control. Conclusions Consideration of organisational context is important when trying to sustain complex interventions, as it seems to influence the gap between short- and medium-term outcomes. More explicit focus on systems thinking principles that enable district managers to better cope with their contexts may strengthen the institutionalisation of the LDP in the future. PMID:24935521

Social Development in Six-Year-Old Identical and Fraternal Twins.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schave, Barbara; And Others

Four null hypotheses were formulated to test for relationships between pairs of identical and fraternal twins and their parents on measures of locus of control. Two additional hypotheses were formulated to test for differences between mean scores of identical and fraternal twins and scores of their parents on these same constructs. Twenty pairs of…

Consider the Alternative: The Effects of Causal Knowledge on Representing and Using Alternative Hypotheses in Judgments under Uncertainty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayes, Brett K.; Hawkins, Guy E.; Newell, Ben R.

2016-01-01

Four experiments examined the locus of impact of causal knowledge on consideration of alternative hypotheses in judgments under uncertainty. Two possible loci were examined; overcoming neglect of the alternative when developing a representation of a judgment problem and improving utilization of statistics associated with the alternative…

Keeping Our Network Safe: A Model of Online Protection Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Doohwang; Larose, Robert; Rifon, Nora

2008-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop and test a model of online protection behaviour, particularly regarding the use of virus protection. Hypotheses are proposed concerning the predictors of the intention to engage in virus protection behaviour. Using a survey of 273 college students who use the Internet, a test of the hypotheses is conducted…

[Occult medicine in the 20th century: pharmacotherapy by Demeter Georgievitz-Weitzer, known as Surya (1873 - 1949)].

PubMed

Helmstädter, Axel

2011-01-01

Demeter Georgievitz-Weitzer (1873-1949), called "Surya", Sanskrit for "sun", was an important representative of medical occultism in the first half of the 20th century. He worked as a journal editor and published a 13-volume book series about occult medicine, mainly written by himself. His hypotheses were closely related to the "Lebensreform" movement around 1900. Regarding diagnostics, he relied on astrology, cheiromancy, and clairvoyance, while therapeutics were dominated by diet and spagyric remedies according to Cesare Mattei (1809-1896) and Carl-Friedrich Zimpel (1801-1879). In his later years, he developed his own healing system, initially comprising eight, later only two preparations. Surya remedies were commercially available until the end of the 20th century,

Language evolution in the laboratory.

PubMed

Scott-Phillips, Thomas C; Kirby, Simon

2010-09-01

The historical origins of natural language cannot be observed directly. We can, however, study systems that support language and we can also develop models that explore the plausibility of different hypotheses about how language emerged. More recently, evolutionary linguists have begun to conduct language evolution experiments in the laboratory, where the emergence of new languages used by human participants can be observed directly. This enables researchers to study both the cognitive capacities necessary for language and the ways in which languages themselves emerge. One theme that runs through this work is how individual-level behaviours result in population-level linguistic phenomena. A central challenge for the future will be to explore how different forms of information transmission affect this process. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geophysical framework of the southwestern Nevada volcanic field and hydrogeologic implications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grauch, V.J.; Sawyer, David A.; Fridrich, Chris J.; Hudson, Mark R.

1999-01-01

Gravity and magnetic data, when integrated with other geophysical, geological, and rock-property data, provide a regional framework to view the subsurface geology in the southwestern Nevada volcanic field. The region has been loosely divided into six domains based on structural style and overall geophysical character. For each domain, the subsurface tectonic and magmatic features that have been inferred or interpreted from previous geophysical work has been reviewed. Where possible, abrupt changes in geophysical fields as evidence for potential structural lithologic control on ground-water flow has been noted. Inferred lithology is used to suggest associated hydrogeologic units in the subsurface. The resulting framework provides a basis for investigators to develop hypotheses from regional ground-water pathways where no drill-hole information exists.

Power and trust in organizational relations: an empirical study in Turkish public hospitals.

PubMed

Bozaykut, Tuba; Gurbuz, F Gulruh

2015-01-01

Given the salience of the interplay between trust and power relations in organizational settings, this paper examines the perceptions of social power and its effects on trust in supervisors within the context of public hospitals. Following the theoretical background from which the study model is developed, the recent situation of hospitals within Turkish healthcare system is discussed to further elucidate the working conditions of physicians. Sample data were collected employing a structured questionnaire that was distributed to physicians working at seven different public hospitals. The statistical analyses indicate that perceptions of supervisors' social power affect subordinates' trust in supervisors. Although coercive power is found to have the greatest impact on trust in supervisors, the influence of the power base is weak. In addition, the results show that perceptions of social power differ between genders. However, the results do not support any of the hypotheses regarding the relations between trust in supervisors and the examined demographic variables. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Early Working Memory in Children Born With Extremely Low Birth Weight: Assessed by Object Permanence

PubMed Central

Lowe, Jean; MacLean, Peggy C.; Shaffer, Michele L.; Watterberg, Kristi

2011-01-01

Object permanence is considered the earliest method for assessing working memory. Factors affecting object permanence performance in a sample of two hundred and thirty-three 18- to 22-month olds born with extremely low birth weight were examined. It was hypothesized that object permanence would be directly related to emotional and attention regulation, that children with lower birth weight and higher illness severity would have more difficulty on the object permanence task, and that no ethnic/racial differences would be found, as this is considered a culturally unbiased task. Attainment of object permanence had a significant positive association with emotional and attention regulation, even after controlling the medical severity and socioeconomic factors. More girls than boys passed the object permanence items. There was no ethnic/racial difference on object permanence. Our findings indicate that object permanence may be a culturally fair way of assessing development, and emotional and attention regulation are potential avenues of intervention for such skill. PMID:19339284

Error correction and diversity analysis of population mixtures determined by NGS

PubMed Central

Burroughs, Nigel J.; Evans, David J.; Ryabov, Eugene V.

2014-01-01

The impetus for this work was the need to analyse nucleotide diversity in a viral mix taken from honeybees. The paper has two findings. First, a method for correction of next generation sequencing error in the distribution of nucleotides at a site is developed. Second, a package of methods for assessment of nucleotide diversity is assembled. The error correction method is statistically based and works at the level of the nucleotide distribution rather than the level of individual nucleotides. The method relies on an error model and a sample of known viral genotypes that is used for model calibration. A compendium of existing and new diversity analysis tools is also presented, allowing hypotheses about diversity and mean diversity to be tested and associated confidence intervals to be calculated. The methods are illustrated using honeybee viral samples. Software in both Excel and Matlab and a guide are available at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/systemsbiology/research/software/, the Warwick University Systems Biology Centre software download site. PMID:25405074

Early working memory in children born with extremely low birth weight: assessed by object permanence.

PubMed

Lowe, Jean; MacLean, Peggy C; Shaffer, Michele L; Watterberg, Kristi

2009-04-01

Object permanence is considered the earliest method for assessing working memory. Factors affecting object permanence performance in a sample of two hundred and thirty-three 18- to 22-month olds born with extremely low birth weight were examined. It was hypothesized that object permanence would be directly related to emotional and attention regulation, that children with lower birth weight and higher illness severity would have more difficulty on the object permanence task, and that no ethnic/racial differences would be found, as this is considered a culturally unbiased task. Attainment of object permanence had a significant positive association with emotional and attention regulation, even after controlling the medical severity and socioeconomic factors. More girls than boys passed the object permanence items. There was no ethnic/racial difference on object permanence. Our findings indicate that object permanence may be a culturally fair way of assessing development, and emotional and attention regulation are potential avenues of intervention for such skill.

What has psychotherapy inherited from Carl Rogers?

PubMed

Goldfried, Marvin R

2007-09-01

Rogers' classic article (see record 2007-14639-002) on the necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic change--now 50 years old--has made an indelible impact on the field. In his brief article, Rogers broke with the past, making a compelling case for the importance of subjecting our hypotheses about how therapy works to empirical test. Moreover, his emphasis on the importance of the therapy relationship is now routinely accepted as necessary, even if not sufficient for change to occur. Having moved beyond Rogers' necessary and sufficient conditions, the field of therapy now recognizes that as important as the therapy relationship might be, there are certain clinical problems that require the use of specific techniques to bring about change. Still, it is currently recognized that therapist acceptance is essential, that nondirective methods can be effective in improving client motivation, and perhaps most important, that the therapist needs to work toward the development of evidence-based interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Work-family conflict in work groups: social information processing, support, and demographic dissimilarity.

PubMed

Bhave, Devasheesh P; Kramer, Amit; Glomb, Theresa M

2010-01-01

We used social information processing theory to examine the effect of work-family conflict (WFC) at the work group level on individuals' experience of WFC. Consistent with hypotheses, results suggest that WFC at the work group level influences individual WFC over and above the shared work environment and job demands. It was also observed that work group support and demographic dissimilarity moderate this relationship. Moderator analyses suggest that work group social support buffers WFC for individuals but is also associated with a stronger effect of work group WFC on individuals' WFC. Moreover, the work group effect on individuals' WFC was shown to be stronger for individuals who were demographically dissimilar to the work group in terms of sex and number of dependents. The interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Social support moderates the impact of demands on burnout and organizational connectedness: a two-wave study of volunteer firefighters.

PubMed

Huynh, Jasmine Y; Xanthopoulou, Despoina; Winefield, Anthony H

2013-01-01

This two-wave study of volunteers examined the effect of family and friend support on the relationship between volunteer demands (emotional demands and work-home conflict) on the one hand, and burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) and organizational connectedness on the other hand. It was hypothesized that family and friend support would moderate the relationship between (a) demands at Time 1 (T1) and burnout at Time 2 (T2); and (b) demands at T1 and organizational connectedness at T2. Hypotheses were tested among 126 Australian volunteer firefighters, who were followed up over 1 year. Results showed that support moderated the relationship between work-home conflict and exhaustion, but not between emotional demands and exhaustion. In addition, family and friend support moderated the relationship between both volunteer demands at T1 and cynicism and organizational connectedness at T2. These results suggest that support from family and friends is a critical resource in coping with the demands related to volunteer work and may protect volunteers from burnout, while helping them to stay connected to volunteering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring Neurotic Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blai, Boris, Jr.

An exploratory study concerned with the measurement of perseveration, or persistence, as a personality variable was based on the work of G.V. Hamilton, an early investigator in the field. Persistently maladaptive behavior was hypothesized to be a chief characteristic of neurosis. An experimental problem-solving situation was designed to…

Education, Income and Natives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chand, Krishan

Using data from the December, 1977, Anchorage Urban Observatory program, the study hypothesizes a relationship between education and income using Scattergrams in-between the two variables for different Alaskan working class characteristics to be studied (i.e., employers, employees, occupation, race and sex) and finding the coefficient of…

Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele

PubMed Central

ENGLISH, LIANNE; BARNES, MARCIA A.; FLETCHER, JACK M.; DENNIS, MAUREEN; RAGHUBAR, KIMBERLY P.

2011-01-01

Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intact word decoding and deficient text and discourse comprehension. This study investigated the ability to adjust reading in accordance with specified reading goals in 79 children and adolescents with SBM (9–19 years of age) and 39 controls (8–17 years of age). Both groups demonstrated slower reading times and enhanced comprehension when reading to study or to come up with a title than when reading for specific information or for entertainment. For both groups, verbal working memory contributed to comprehension performance in those reading conditions hypothesized to require more cognitive effort. Despite their sensitivity to the goals of reading, the group with SBM answered fewer comprehension questions correctly across all reading goal conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized cognitive underpinnings of comprehension deficits in SBM and to current models of text comprehension. PMID:20338082