48 CFR 9.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Obtaining information. 9... information. (a) Before making a determination of responsibility, the contracting officer shall possess or obtain information sufficient to be satisfied that a prospective contractor currently meets the...

Is the Meaningful Use Venous Thromboembolism VTE-6 Measure Meaningful? A Retrospective Analysis of One Hospital's VTE-6 Cases.

PubMed

Farrow, Norma E; Lau, Brandyn D; JohnBull, Eric A; Hobson, Deborah B; Kraus, Peggy S; Taffe, Elizabeth R; Shaffer, Dauryne L; Popoola, Victor O; Streiff, Michael B; Pronovost, Peter J; Haut, Elliott R

2016-09-01

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common, often deadly cause of preventable harm for hospitalized patients. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Meaningful Use VTE-6 measure automatically captures data documented in a Meaningful Use-certified electronic health record (EHR) to identify patients with potentially preventable VTE, defined as those who developed radiologically confirmed, in-hospital VTE and did not receive prophylaxis between admission and the day prior to the diagnostic test order date. The validity of the Meaningful Use VTE-6 measure was assessed by reviewing the quality of VTE prophylaxis provided to patients identified by the measure. A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients identified by VTE-6 during the first year of Meaningful Use Stage 1. The following information was abstracted from the Meaningful Use-certified EHR: patient demographics, clinical data, VTE prophylaxis prescribed and administered, and diagnostic testing. These data were then analyzed to assess prevention efforts prior to each VTE event and identify potential targets for improvement. Fifteen patients were identified as having sustained potentially preventable VTE by the Meaningful Use VTE-6 measure. Nine (60%) of the 15 patients identified were false positives and did not meet the rationale of the measure. For only 6 (40%) of the 15 patients was VTE considered to be truly potentially preventable; those patients provided targets for quality improvement measures. The majority of patients identified by the Meaningful Use VTE-6 algorithm did not suffer truly potentially preventable VTE. Misclassification of VTE as "potentially preventable" hinders efforts to target true opportunities for quality improvement.

48 CFR 509.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Obtaining information. 509... Obtaining information. (a) From a prospective contractor. FAR 9.105-1 lists a number of sources of information that a contracting officer may utilize before making a determination of responsibility. The...

48 CFR 509.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Obtaining information. 509... Obtaining information. (a) From a prospective contractor. FAR 9.105-1 lists a number of sources of information that a contracting officer may utilize before making a determination of responsibility. The...

48 CFR 509.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Obtaining information. 509... Obtaining information. (a) From a prospective contractor. FAR 9.105-1 lists a number of sources of information that a contracting officer may utilize before making a determination of responsibility. The...

48 CFR 509.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Obtaining information. 509... Obtaining information. (a) From a prospective contractor. FAR 9.105-1 lists a number of sources of information that a contracting officer may utilize before making a determination of responsibility. The...

48 CFR 209.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Obtaining information. 209....105-1 Obtaining information. (1) For guidance on using the Exclusions section of the System for Award... responsibility (see FAR 9.104-1(c)). One source of information relating to contractor performance is the Past...

5 CFR 1501.12 - Obtaining further information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Obtaining further information. 1501.12 Section 1501.12 Administrative Personnel THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS EMPLOYEES LOYALTY BOARD OPERATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS EMPLOYEES LOYALTY BOARD § 1501.12 Obtaining further information...

5 CFR 2411.5 - Procedure for obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Procedure for obtaining information. 2411.5 Section 2411.5 Administrative Personnel FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY, GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE... OFFICIAL INFORMATION § 2411.5 Procedure for obtaining information. (a) Authority/General Counsel/Panel/IG...

Making Fractions Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Kelly K.

2015-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2014-02-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, Theresa; Richman, Shanna

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

Informed consent process: A step further towards making it meaningful!

PubMed Central

Kadam, Rashmi Ashish

2017-01-01

Informed consent process is the cornerstone of ethics in clinical research. Obtaining informed consent from patients participating in clinical research is an important legal and ethical imperative for clinical trial researchers. Although informed consent is an important process in clinical research, its effectiveness and validity are always a concern. Issues related to understanding, comprehension, competence, and voluntariness of clinical trial participants may adversely affect the informed consent process. Communication of highly technical, complex, and specialized clinical trial information to participants with limited literacy, diverse sociocultural background, diminished autonomy, and debilitating diseases is a difficult task for clinical researchers. It is therefore essential to investigate and adopt innovative communication strategies to enhance understanding of clinical trial information among participants. This review article visits the challenges that affect the informed consent process and explores various innovative strategies to enhance the consent process. PMID:28828304

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

PubMed

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

2013-01-01

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

On Meaningful Measurement: Concepts, Technology and Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, K. C.

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

Students' Meaningful Learning Orientation and Their Meaningful Understandings of Meiosis and Genetics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavallo, Ann Liberatore

This 1-week study explored the extent to which high school students (n=140) acquired meaningful understanding of selected biological topics (meiosis and the Punnett square method) and the relationship between these topics. This study: (1) examined "mental modeling" as a technique for measuring students' meaningful understanding of the…

An algorithm for encryption of secret images into meaningful images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanso, A.; Ghebleh, M.

2017-03-01

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

21 CFR 20.109 - Data and information obtained by contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Data and information obtained by contract. 20.109... GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Availability of Specific Categories of Records § 20.109 Data and information obtained by contract. (a) All data and information obtained by the Food and Drug Administration by contract...

48 CFR 9.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... the responsibility of prospective contractors, including requesting preaward surveys when necessary..., especially when research and development is involved, the contracting officer may obtain this information... information concerning (i) the low bidder or (ii) those offerors in range for award. (2) Preaward surveys...

48 CFR 9.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... the responsibility of prospective contractors, including requesting preaward surveys when necessary..., especially when research and development is involved, the contracting officer may obtain this information... information concerning (i) the low bidder or (ii) those offerors in range for award. (2) Preaward surveys...

48 CFR 9.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... the responsibility of prospective contractors, including requesting preaward surveys when necessary..., especially when research and development is involved, the contracting officer may obtain this information... information concerning (i) the low bidder or (ii) those offerors in range for award. (2) Preaward surveys...

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

PubMed Central

Yoon, Jangho; Bossak, Brian H

2013-01-01

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

48 CFR 9.105-1 - Obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... information required concerning the adequacy of prospective contractors' accounting systems and these systems... accounting systems, and these systems' suitability for use in administering the proposed type of contract. (3... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Obtaining information. 9...

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

PubMed Central

Henricks, Walter H.

2011-01-01

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

What Makes Learning Meaningful?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Arthur L.; Burket, Lee

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Wei; Yue, Kwok-Bun

2017-01-01

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

19 CFR 201.9 - Methods employed in obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Methods employed in obtaining information. 201.9 Section 201.9 Customs Duties UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION GENERAL RULES OF GENERAL APPLICATION Initiation and Conduct of Investigations § 201.9 Methods employed in obtaining information. In...

19 CFR 201.9 - Methods employed in obtaining information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 3 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Methods employed in obtaining information. 201.9 Section 201.9 Customs Duties UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION GENERAL RULES OF GENERAL APPLICATION Initiation and Conduct of Investigations § 201.9 Methods employed in obtaining information. In...

Obtaining information by dynamic (effortful) touching

PubMed Central

Turvey, M. T.; Carello, Claudia

2011-01-01

Dynamic touching is effortful touching. It entails deformation of muscles and fascia and activation of the embedded mechanoreceptors, as when an object is supported and moved by the body. It is realized as exploratory activities that can vary widely in spatial and temporal extents (a momentary heft, an extended walk). Research has revealed the potential of dynamic touching for obtaining non-visual information about the body (e.g. limb orientation), attachments to the body (e.g. an object's height and width) and the relation of the body both to attachments (e.g. hand's location on a grasped object) and surrounding surfaces (e.g. places and their distances). Invariants over the exploratory activity (e.g. moments of a wielded object's mass distribution) seem to ground this ‘information about’. The conception of a haptic medium as a nested tensegrity structure has been proposed to express the obtained information realized by myofascia deformation, by its invariants and transformations. The tensegrity proposal rationalizes the relative indifference of dynamic touch to the site of mechanical contact (hand, foot, torso or probe) and the overtness of exploratory activity. It also provides a framework for dynamic touching's fractal nature, and the finding that its degree of fractality may matter to its accomplishments. PMID:21969694

Meaningful Use and Electronic Laboratory Reporting: Challenges Health Information Technology Vendors Face in Kentucky.

PubMed

Abisa, Michael

2017-01-01

To explore the challenges Health Information Technology (HIT) vendors face to satisfy the requirements for Meaningful Use (MU) and Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) of reportable diseases to the public health departments in Kentucky. A survey was conducted of Health Information Exchange (HIE) vendors in Kentucky through the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE). The survey was cross-sectional. Data were collected between February and March 2014. Participants were recruited from KHIE vendors. Participants received online survey link and by email and asked to submit their responses. Vendors' feedback were summarized and analyzed to identify their challenges. Out of the 55 vendors who received the survey, 35(63.64%) responded. Of the seven transport protocol options for ELR, vendors selected virtual private network (VPN) as the most difficult to implement (31.7%). Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) was selected as preferred ELR transport protocol (31.4%). Most of the respondents, 80% responded that they do not have any challenge with the Health Level 7 (HL7) standard implementation guide required by MU for 2014 ELR certification. The study found that the most difficult transport protocol to implement for ELR is VPN and if vendors have preference, they would use SFTP for ELR over KHIE choice of VPN and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). KHIE vendors do not see any variability in what is reportable by different jurisdiction and also it is not difficult for them to detect what is reportable from one jurisdiction verse the other.

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules.

PubMed

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

2011-07-26

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

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2013-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chwee Beng

2018-01-01

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

National Practice Patterns of Obtaining Informed Consent for Stroke Thrombolysis.

PubMed

Mendelson, Scott J; Courtney, D Mark; Gordon, Elisa J; Thomas, Leena F; Holl, Jane L; Prabhakaran, Shyam

2018-03-01

No standard approach to obtaining informed consent for stroke thrombolysis with tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) currently exists. We aimed to assess current nationwide practice patterns of obtaining informed consent for tPA. An online survey was developed and distributed by e-mail to clinicians involved in acute stroke care. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine independent factors contributing to always obtaining informed consent for tPA. Among 268 respondents, 36.7% reported always obtaining informed consent and 51.8% reported the informed consent process caused treatment delays. Being an emergency medicine physician (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.9-11.5) and practicing at a nonacademic medical center (odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-4.3) were independently associated with always requiring informed consent. The most commonly cited cause of delay was waiting for a patient's family to reach consensus about treatment. Most clinicians always or often require informed consent for stroke thrombolysis. Future research should focus on standardizing content and delivery of tPA information to reduce delays. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

28 CFR 51.38 - Obtaining information from others.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Obtaining information from others. 51.38 Section 51.38 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Processing of Submissions § 51.38 Obtaining...

28 CFR 51.38 - Obtaining information from others.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Obtaining information from others. 51.38 Section 51.38 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Processing of Submissions § 51.38 Obtaining...

Meaningful Use and Electronic Laboratory Reporting: Challenges Health Information Technology Vendors Face in Kentucky

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Objectives To explore the challenges Health Information Technology (HIT) vendors face to satisfy the requirements for Meaningful Use (MU) and Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) of reportable diseases to the public health departments in Kentucky. Methodology A survey was conducted of Health Information Exchange (HIE) vendors in Kentucky through the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE). The survey was cross-sectional. Data were collected between February and March 2014. Participants were recruited from KHIE vendors. Participants received online survey link and by email and asked to submit their responses. Vendors’ feedback were summarized and analyzed to identify their challenges. Out of the 55 vendors who received the survey, 35(63.64%) responded. Results Of the seven transport protocol options for ELR, vendors selected virtual private network (VPN) as the most difficult to implement (31.7%). Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) was selected as preferred ELR transport protocol (31.4%). Most of the respondents, 80% responded that they do not have any challenge with the Health Level 7 (HL7) standard implementation guide required by MU for 2014 ELR certification. Conclusion The study found that the most difficult transport protocol to implement for ELR is VPN and if vendors have preference, they would use SFTP for ELR over KHIE choice of VPN and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). KHIE vendors do not see any variability in what is reportable by different jurisdiction and also it is not difficult for them to detect what is reportable from one jurisdiction verse the other PMID:29403575

Accepting Lower Salaries for Meaningful Work

PubMed Central

Hu, Jing; Hirsh, Jacob B.

2017-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-06-01

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

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints

PubMed Central

Allan, Blake A.

2016-01-01

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

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints.

PubMed

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

2016-01-01

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

48 CFR 1809.505-4 - Obtaining access to sensitive information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Obtaining access to sensitive information. 1809.505-4 Section 1809.505-4 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL... Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest 1809.505-4 Obtaining access to sensitive information. (b) In...

Readiness for Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology and Patient Centered Medical Home Recognition Survey Results

PubMed Central

Shin, Peter; Sharac, Jessica

2013-01-01

Objective Determine the factors that impact HIT use and MU readiness for community health centers (CHCs). Background The HITECH Act allocates funds to Medicaid and Medicare providers to encourage the adoption of electronic health records (EHR), in an effort to improve health care quality and patient outcomes, and to reduce health care costs. Methods We surveyed CHCs on their Readiness for Meaningful Use (MU) of Health Information Technology (HIT) and Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition, then we combined responses with 2009 Uniform Data System data to determine which factors impact use of HIT and MU readiness. Results Nearly 70% of CHCs had full or partial EHR adoption at the time of survey. Results are presented for centers with EHR adoption, by the length of time that their EHR systems have been in operation. PMID:24834365

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen, Barbara A.

2005-01-01

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

12 CFR 1202.3 - What information can I obtain through FOIA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What information can I obtain through FOIA? 1202.3 Section 1202.3 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT § 1202.3 What information can I obtain through FOIA? (a) General. FHFA...

Proceedings of the Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services: "Meaningful Measures for Emerging Realities" (4th, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 12-16, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, Joan, Ed.; Kyrillidou, Martha, Ed.; Davis, Denise, Ed.

This Fourth Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services centered on the theme of "meaningful measures for emerging realities" and contributors surveyed the field of performance measurement from that perspective. The proceedings begins with seven keynote and invited papers from…

Meaningful use of health information technology and declines in in-hospital adverse drug events.

PubMed

Furukawa, Michael F; Spector, William D; Rhona Limcangco, M; Encinosa, William E

2017-07-01

Nationwide initiatives have promoted greater adoption of health information technology as a means to reduce adverse drug events (ADEs). Hospital adoption of electronic health records with Meaningful Use (MU) capabilities expected to improve medication safety has grown rapidly. However, evidence that MU capabilities are associated with declines in in-hospital ADEs is lacking. Data came from the 2010-2013 Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System and the 2008-2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics Database. Two-level random intercept logistic regression was used to estimate the association of MU capabilities and occurrence of ADEs, adjusting for patient characteristics, hospital characteristics, and year of observation. Rates of in-hospital ADEs declined by 19% from 2010 to 2013. Adoption of MU capabilities was associated with 11% lower odds of an ADE (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-0.96). Interoperability capability was associated with 19% lower odds of an ADE (95% CI, 0.67- 0.98). Adoption of MU capabilities explained 22% of the observed reduction in ADEs, or 67,000 fewer ADEs averted by MU. Concurrent with the rapid uptake of MU and interoperability, occurrence of in-hospital ADEs declined significantly from 2010 to 2013. MU capabilities and interoperability were associated with lower occurrence of ADEs, but the effects did not vary by experience with MU. About one-fifth of the decline in ADEs from 2010 to 2013 was attributable to MU capabilities. Findings support the contention that adoption of MU capabilities and interoperability spurred by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act contributed in part to the recent decline in ADEs. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the United States.

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

PubMed

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

2013-05-01

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

Towards a mathematical theory of meaningful communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2014-04-01

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

Meaningfulness of service and marital satisfaction in Army couples.

PubMed

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

2014-10-01

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

Meaningfulness of Service and Marital Satisfaction in Army Couples

PubMed Central

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

2015-01-01

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

Relationship between meaningful work and job performance in nurses.

PubMed

Tong, Ling

2018-04-01

The present study was designed to determine the relationship between meaningful work and job performance, and the impact of meaningful work on nursing care quality. Meaningful work has been suggested as a significant factor affecting job performance, but the relationship has never been studied in nurses in China. A descriptive correlational study was designed to assess the level of meaningful work, tasks, and contextual performance as well as their relationships. We used a stratified random-sampling approach to enrol nurses from hospitals. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between meaningful work and their demographic data. There were significant, positive relationships between meaningful work and task performance and contextual performance. Education level, work unit, and employment type influenced meaningful work. The work motivation score of the nurses was lower than that of the other 2 dimensions, and a negative work motivation score negatively influenced job performance. Improving meaningful work and providing more support and assistance could improve nurse performance, thereby improving the quality of nursing care. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

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

PubMed

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

2012-01-01

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

Hemispheric Differences in Processing Dichotic Meaningful and Non-Meaningful Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yasin, Ifat

2007-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2018-01-01

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

48 CFR 1509.505-4 - Obtaining access to proprietary information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... PROTECTION AGENCY ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS Organizational Conflicts of Interests 1509.505-4 Obtaining access to proprietary information. Contractors gaining access to confidential business... business information. ...

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

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

21 CFR 20.109 - Data and information obtained by contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Data and information obtained by contract. 20.109 Section 20.109 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Availability of Specific Categories of Records § 20.109 Data and information...

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

PubMed

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

2017-05-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2015-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2013-01-01

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

The Retention of Meaningful Understanding of Meiosis and Genetics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavallo, Ann Liberatore

This study investigated the retention of meaningful understanding of the biological topics of meiosis, the Punnett square method and the relations between these two topics. This study also explored the predictive influence of students' general tendency to learn meaningfully or by rote (meaningful learning orientation), prior knowledge of meiosis,…

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

PubMed

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

2009-01-01

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

"Meaningful use" of EHR in dental school clinics: how to benefit from the U.S. HITECH Act's financial and quality improvement incentives.

PubMed

Kalenderian, Elsbeth; Walji, Muhammad; Ramoni, Rachel B

2013-04-01

Through the 2009 HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act, the U.S. government committed $27 billion to incentivize the adoption and "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records (EHRs) by providers, including dentists. Given their patient profiles, dental school clinics are in a position to benefit from this time-delimited commitment to support the adoption and use of certified EHR technology under the Medicaid-based incentive. The benefits are not merely financial: rather, the meaningful use objectives and clinical quality measures can drive quality improvement initiatives within dental practices and help develop a community of medical and dental professionals focused on quality. This article describes how dentists can qualify as eligible providers and the set of activities that must be undertaken and attested to in order to obtain this incentive. Two case studies describe the approaches that can be used to meet the Medicaid threshold necessary to be eligible for the incentive. Dentists can and have successfully applied for meaningful use incentive payments. Given the diverse set of patients who are treated at dental schools, these dental practices are among those most likely to benefit from the incentive programs.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

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

Measuring Meaningful Work: The Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steger, Michael F.; Dik, Bryan J.; Duffy, Ryan D.

2012-01-01

Many people desire work that is meaningful. However, research in this area has attracted diverse ideas about meaningful work (MW), accompanied by an equally disparate collection of ways of assessing MW. To further advance study in this area, the authors propose a multidimensional model of work as a subjectively meaningful experience consisting of…

Redefining meaningful age groups in the context of disease.

PubMed

Geifman, Nophar; Cohen, Raphael; Rubin, Eitan

2013-12-01

Age is an important factor when considering phenotypic changes in health and disease. Currently, the use of age information in medicine is somewhat simplistic, with ages commonly being grouped into a small number of crude ranges reflecting the major stages of development and aging, such as childhood or adolescence. Here, we investigate the possibility of redefining age groups using the recently developed Age-Phenome Knowledge-base (APK) that holds over 35,000 literature-derived entries describing relationships between age and phenotype. Clustering of APK data suggests 13 new, partially overlapping, age groups. The diseases that define these groups suggest that the proposed divisions are biologically meaningful. We further show that the number of different age ranges that should be considered depends on the type of disease being evaluated. This finding was further strengthened by similar results obtained from clinical blood measurement data. The grouping of diseases that share a similar pattern of disease-related reports directly mirrors, in some cases, medical knowledge of disease-age relationships. In other cases, our results may be used to generate new and reasonable hypotheses regarding links between diseases.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2016-01-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2010-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Barbara; Griffin, Melanie

2011-01-01

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

An evaluation of meaningful learning in a high school chemistry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bross, April J.

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

Securing recruitment and obtaining informed consent in minority ethnic groups in the UK.

PubMed

Lloyd, Cathy E; Johnson, Mark R D; Mughal, Shanaz; Sturt, Jackie A; Collins, Gary S; Roy, Tapash; Bibi, Rukhsana; Barnett, Anthony H

2008-03-30

Previous health research has often explicitly excluded individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds due to perceived cultural and communication difficulties, including studies where there might be language/literacy problems in obtaining informed consent. This study addressed these difficulties by developing audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent and recording data. This report outlines 1) our experiences with securing recruitment to a qualitative study investigating alternative methods of data collection, and 2) the development of a standardised process for obtaining informed consent from individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds whose main language does not have an agreed written form. Two researchers from South Asian backgrounds recruited adults with Type 2 diabetes whose main language was spoken and not written, to attend a series of focus groups. A screening tool was used at recruitment in order to assess literacy skills in potential participants. Informed consent was obtained using audio-recordings of the patient information and recording patients' verbal consent. Participants' perceptions of this method of obtaining consent were recorded. Recruitment rates were improved by using telephone compared to face-to-face methods. The screening tool was found to be acceptable by all potential participants. Audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent were easy to implement and accepted by all participants. Attrition rates differed according to ethnic group. Snowballing techniques only partly improved participation rates. Audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent are an acceptable alternative to written consent in study populations where literacy skills are variable. Further exploration of issues relating to attrition is required, and a range of methods may be necessary in order to maximise response and participation rates.

From Mindless to Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Billings, Laura; Roberts, Terry

2014-01-01

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

An operational definition of a statistically meaningful trend.

PubMed

Bryhn, Andreas C; Dimberg, Peter H

2011-04-28

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

Life is pretty meaningful.

PubMed

Heintzelman, Samantha J; King, Laura A

2014-09-01

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

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

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

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

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

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

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

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

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

42 CFR 495.210 - Meaningful EHR user attestation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

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

50 CFR 23.86 - How can I obtain information on a CoP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false How can I obtain information on a CoP? 23... FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES) CITES Administration § 23.86 How can I obtain information on a CoP? As we receive information on an upcoming CoP from the CITES Secretariat, we will notify the public either...

50 CFR 23.86 - How can I obtain information on a CoP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How can I obtain information on a CoP? 23... FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES) CITES Administration § 23.86 How can I obtain information on a CoP? As we receive information on an upcoming CoP from the CITES Secretariat, we will notify the public either...

50 CFR 23.86 - How can I obtain information on a CoP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false How can I obtain information on a CoP? 23... FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES) CITES Administration § 23.86 How can I obtain information on a CoP? As we receive information on an upcoming CoP from the CITES Secretariat, we will notify the public either...

50 CFR 23.86 - How can I obtain information on a CoP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false How can I obtain information on a CoP? 23... FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES) CITES Administration § 23.86 How can I obtain information on a CoP? As we receive information on an upcoming CoP from the CITES Secretariat, we will notify the public either...

50 CFR 23.86 - How can I obtain information on a CoP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false How can I obtain information on a CoP? 23... FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES) CITES Administration § 23.86 How can I obtain information on a CoP? As we receive information on an upcoming CoP from the CITES Secretariat, we will notify the public either...

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

PubMed

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

2018-02-01

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

Meaningful and Purposeful Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clementi, Donna

2014-01-01

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

12 CFR 232.3 - Financial information exception for obtaining and using medical information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... that the debt is current and that the consumer has no delinquencies in her repayment history. If the..., mental, or behavioral health, condition or history, type of treatment, or prognosis into account as part... example, to obtain and use information about: (i) The dollar amount, repayment terms, repayment history...

Developing Meaningfulness at Work through Emotional Intelligence Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thory, Kathryn

2016-01-01

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

Meaningful Responses to Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kovarik, Madeline

2006-01-01

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

40 CFR 2.311 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act. 2.311 Section 2.311 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Confidentiality of Business Information § 2.311 Special rules governing...

Helping others increases meaningful work: Evidence from three experiments.

PubMed

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

2018-03-01

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

Public health surveillance and meaningful use regulations: a crisis of opportunity.

PubMed

Lenert, Leslie; Sundwall, David N

2012-03-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is intended to enhance reimbursement of health care providers for meaningful use of electronic health records systems. This presents both opportunities and challenges for public health departments. To earn incentive payments, clinical providers must exchange specified types of data with the public health system, such as immunization and syndromic surveillance data and notifiable disease reporting. However, a crisis looms because public health's information technology systems largely lack the capabilities to accept the types of data proposed for exchange. Cloud computing may be a solution for public health information systems. Through shared computing resources, public health departments could reap the benefits of electronic reporting within federal funding constraints.

Meaningful use of health information technology: evidence suggests benefits and challenges lie ahead.

PubMed

Furukawa, Michael F; Poon, Eric

2011-12-01

Less than 3 years into the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, measurable results are emerging. For example, in the first 11 months during which healthcare providers ("eligible professionals") and acute care hospitals ("eligible hospitals") had the opportunity to demonstrate stage 1 "Meaningful Use" of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT), more than 20,000 "eligible professionals" and 750 "eligible hospitals" have done so. In the current issue of The American Journal of Managed Care, we showcase examples of HITECH's potential impact, as well as illustrate the opportunities and challenges ahead. Two studies in this issue illustrate how HIT can improve the capacity of our healthcare system to manage chronic illnesses. The study by Vollmer et al describes how an interactive voice recognition system can improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroids among individuals with asthma in a large health maintenance organization. Shelley's study shows that the combination of electronic medical records, clinical decision support, and performance feedback can improve the rate of blood pressure control in patients with hypertension who receive care in community health centers. Together, these studies provide hope that the nation's investment in HIT could one day yield clinical dividends. Three other studies in this issue suggest that success for HIT will require attention to both technological and sociological factors. The study by Millery et al attributes the success of an HIT-based intervention to a multi-faceted approach that involves a combination of decision support tools, systematic provider feedback, implementation support, and leadership. Results from Abramson's study suggest that the full error-reduction potential of e-prescribing may only be reached with the combination of on-line clinical decision support and support for clinicians. The study by

An exploratory study about meaningful work in acute care nursing.

PubMed

Pavlish, Carol; Hunt, Roberta

2012-01-01

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

40 CFR 166.34 - EPA review of information obtained in connection with emergency exemptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false EPA review of information obtained in... PESTICIDES UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS Specific, Quarantine, and Public Health Exemptions § 166.34 EPA review of information obtained in connection with emergency exemptions. EPA shall review information...

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Admiraal, Wilfried

2014-01-01

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

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.

Obtaining providers' 'buy-in' and establishing effective means of information exchange will be critical to HITECH's success.

PubMed

Gold, Marsha R; McLaughlin, Catherine G; Devers, Kelly J; Berenson, Robert A; Bovbjerg, Randall R

2012-03-01

In enacting the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Congress set ambitious goals for the nation to integrate information technology into health care delivery. The provisions called for the electronic exchange of health information and the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology in health care practices and hospitals. We examined the marketplace and regulatory forces that influence HITECH's success and identify outstanding challenges, some beyond the provisions' control. To reach HITECH's goals, providers and patients must be persuaded of the value of health information exchange and support its implementation. Privacy concerns and remaining technical challenges must also be overcome. Achieving HITECH's goals will require well-aligned incentives, both visionary and practical pursuit of exchange infrastructure, and realistic assumptions about how quickly such wholesale change can be accomplished. The use of metrics to show adoption proceeding at a reasonable pace, increased flow of data across parties, and evidence that care is improving, at least in areas with robust systems, will be essential to persuade stakeholders that the initiative is progressing well and warrants continued investment.

Pennsylvania StreamStats--A web-based application for obtaining water-resource-related information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuckey, Marla H.; Hoffman, Scott A.

2010-01-01

StreamStats is a national web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) application, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., to provide a variety of water-resource-related information. Users can easily obtain descriptive information, basin characteristics, and streamflow statistics for USGS streamgages and ungaged stream locations throughout Pennsylvania. StreamStats also allows users to search upstream and (or) downstream from user-selected points to identify locations of and obtain information for water-resource-related activities, such as dams and streamgages.

32 CFR Appendix G to Part 275 - Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions G Appendix G to Part 275 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE... FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT OF 1978 Pt. 275, App. G Appendix G to Part 275—Releasing Information Obtained From...

32 CFR Appendix G to Part 275 - Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions G Appendix G to Part 275 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE... FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT OF 1978 Pt. 275, App. G Appendix G to Part 275—Releasing Information Obtained From...

32 CFR Appendix G to Part 275 - Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions G Appendix G to Part 275 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE... FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT OF 1978 Pt. 275, App. G Appendix G to Part 275—Releasing Information Obtained From...

32 CFR Appendix G to Part 275 - Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions G Appendix G to Part 275 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE... FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT OF 1978 Pt. 275, App. G Appendix G to Part 275—Releasing Information Obtained From...

32 CFR Appendix A to Part 275 - Obtaining Basic Identifying Account Information

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Obtaining Basic Identifying Account Information... Information A. A DoD law enforcement office may issue a formal written request for basic identifying account... only the above specified basic identifying information concerning a customer's account. C. A format for...

Public Health Surveillance and Meaningful Use Regulations: A Crisis of Opportunity

PubMed Central

Sundwall, David N.

2012-01-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is intended to enhance reimbursement of health care providers for meaningful use of electronic health records systems. This presents both opportunities and challenges for public health departments. To earn incentive payments, clinical providers must exchange specified types of data with the public health system, such as immunization and syndromic surveillance data and notifiable disease reporting. However, a crisis looms because public health’s information technology systems largely lack the capabilities to accept the types of data proposed for exchange. Cloud computing may be a solution for public health information systems. Through shared computing resources, public health departments could reap the benefits of electronic reporting within federal funding constraints. PMID:22390523

48 CFR 1809.505-4 - Obtaining access to sensitive information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest 1809.505-4 Obtaining access to sensitive information. (b) In... support management activities and administrative functions. The Assistant Administrator for Procurement... require contractors and subcontractors and their employees in procurements that support management...

Clinically Meaningful Rehabilitation Outcomes of Low Vision Patients Served by Outpatient Clinical Centers.

PubMed

Goldstein, Judith E; Jackson, Mary Lou; Fox, Sandra M; Deremeik, James T; Massof, Robert W

2015-07-01

To facilitate comparative clinical outcome research in low vision rehabilitation, we must use patient-centered measurements that reflect clinically meaningful changes in visual ability. To quantify the effects of currently provided low vision rehabilitation (LVR) on patients who present for outpatient LVR services in the United States. Prospective, observational study of new patients seeking outpatient LVR services. From April 2008 through May 2011, 779 patients from 28 clinical centers in the United States were enrolled in the Low Vision Rehabilitation Outcomes Study. The Activity Inventory, a visual function questionnaire, was administered to measure overall visual ability and visual ability in 4 functional domains (reading, mobility, visual motor function, and visual information processing) at baseline and 6 to 9 months after usual LVR care. The Geriatric Depression Scale, Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status, and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey physical functioning questionnaires were also administered to measure patients' psychological, cognitive, and physical health states, respectively, and clinical findings of patients were provided by study centers. Mean changes in the study population and minimum clinically important differences in the individual in overall visual ability and in visual ability in 4 functional domains as measured by the Activity Inventory. Baseline and post-rehabilitation measures were obtained for 468 patients. Minimum clinically important differences (95% CIs) were observed in nearly half (47% [95% CI, 44%-50%]) of patients in overall visual ability. The prevalence rates of patients with minimum clinically important differences in visual ability in functional domains were reading (44% [95% CI, 42%-48%]), visual motor function (38% [95% CI, 36%-42%]), visual information processing (33% [95% CI, 31%-37%]), and mobility (27% [95% CI, 25%-31%]). The largest average effect size (Cohen d = 0.87) for the

Birth, meaningful viability and abortion.

PubMed

Jensen, David

2015-06-01

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

Using Internet Search Engines to Obtain Medical Information: A Comparative Study

PubMed Central

Wang, Liupu; Wang, Juexin; Wang, Michael; Li, Yong; Liang, Yanchun

2012-01-01

Background The Internet has become one of the most important means to obtain health and medical information. It is often the first step in checking for basic information about a disease and its treatment. The search results are often useful to general users. Various search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com can play an important role in obtaining medical information for both medical professionals and lay people. However, the usability and effectiveness of various search engines for medical information have not been comprehensively compared and evaluated. Objective To compare major Internet search engines in their usability of obtaining medical and health information. Methods We applied usability testing as a software engineering technique and a standard industry practice to compare the four major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com) in obtaining health and medical information. For this purpose, we searched the keyword breast cancer in Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com and saved the results of the top 200 links from each search engine. We combined nonredundant links from the four search engines and gave them to volunteer users in an alphabetical order. The volunteer users evaluated the websites and scored each website from 0 to 10 (lowest to highest) based on the usefulness of the content relevant to breast cancer. A medical expert identified six well-known websites related to breast cancer in advance as standards. We also used five keywords associated with breast cancer defined in the latest release of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) and analyzed their occurrence in the websites. Results Each search engine provided rich information related to breast cancer in the search results. All six standard websites were among the top 30 in search results of all four search engines. Google had the best search validity (in terms of whether a website could be opened), followed by Bing, Ask.com, and Yahoo!. The search

Using Internet search engines to obtain medical information: a comparative study.

PubMed

Wang, Liupu; Wang, Juexin; Wang, Michael; Li, Yong; Liang, Yanchun; Xu, Dong

2012-05-16

The Internet has become one of the most important means to obtain health and medical information. It is often the first step in checking for basic information about a disease and its treatment. The search results are often useful to general users. Various search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com can play an important role in obtaining medical information for both medical professionals and lay people. However, the usability and effectiveness of various search engines for medical information have not been comprehensively compared and evaluated. To compare major Internet search engines in their usability of obtaining medical and health information. We applied usability testing as a software engineering technique and a standard industry practice to compare the four major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com) in obtaining health and medical information. For this purpose, we searched the keyword breast cancer in Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com and saved the results of the top 200 links from each search engine. We combined nonredundant links from the four search engines and gave them to volunteer users in an alphabetical order. The volunteer users evaluated the websites and scored each website from 0 to 10 (lowest to highest) based on the usefulness of the content relevant to breast cancer. A medical expert identified six well-known websites related to breast cancer in advance as standards. We also used five keywords associated with breast cancer defined in the latest release of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) and analyzed their occurrence in the websites. Each search engine provided rich information related to breast cancer in the search results. All six standard websites were among the top 30 in search results of all four search engines. Google had the best search validity (in terms of whether a website could be opened), followed by Bing, Ask.com, and Yahoo!. The search results highly overlapped between the

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

PubMed

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

2017-02-01

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

40 CFR 2.310 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Comprehensive Environmental...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980... information obtained under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended. (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Comprehensive...

Meaningful Movement for Children: Stay True to Their Natures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumgarten, Sam

2006-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2014-02-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2018-05-01

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

Hospital Characteristics Related to the Intention to Apply for Meaningful Use Incentive Payments

PubMed Central

Diana, Mark L; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Ford, Eric W; Menachemi, Nir

2012-01-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 provides incentives for hospitals to fully adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs). We used data from the 2009 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2008 Hospital Cost Reports to examine how various hospital characteristics are associated with the intention to pursue meaningful use incentives. Overall, 86 percent of hospitals indicated an intent to pursue HITECH incentives. However, hospitals that already have an EHR system, are larger, and are located in urban areas are more likely to indicate an intention to pursue incentives. Despite a high interest in HITECH incentives, certain hospital characteristics, including current EHR use, increase the proclivity for some hospitals to pursue meaningful use. Given these differences, there is the potential for the HITECH Act to inadvertently increase the digital divide between hospitals with certain characteristics and their counterparts without those characteristics. Policy makers should consider ways to alleviate barriers, especially for nonusers of EHRs, to realize the maximum benefits of the HITECH Act. PMID:22737100

Meaningful improvement in gait speed in hip fracture recovery.

PubMed

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

2011-09-01

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

Meaningful Improvement in Gait Speed in Hip Fracture Recovery

PubMed Central

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

2011-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Kelly, Lesly A; Lefton, Cindy

2017-11-01

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

40 CFR 712.7 - Report of readily obtainable information for subparts B and C.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Report of readily obtainable... Report of readily obtainable information for subparts B and C. TSCA section 8(a) authorizes EPA to require persons to report information that is known to or reasonably ascertainable by them. For purposes...

Eight Steps to Meaningful Grading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2010-01-01

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

28 CFR 51.37 - Obtaining information from the submitting authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Obtaining information from the submitting authority. 51.37 Section 51.37 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Processing of Submissions § 51.37...

Legal and psychological considerations for obtaining informed consent for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.

PubMed

Blackwood, Craig; Dixon, Jen; Reilly, Peter; Emery, Roger J

2017-01-01

This paper seeks to outline recent legal developments and requirements pertinent to obtaining informed consent. We argue that this is of particular relevance to patients considering a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, due to the high complication rate associated with this procedure. By examining the cognitive processes involved in decision-making, and other clinician-related factors such as delivery of information, gender bias and conflict of interest, we explore some of the barriers that can undermine the processes of shared decision-making and obtaining genuine informed consent. We argue that these issues highlight the importance for surgeons in understanding the cognitive processes and other influential factors involved in patients' comprehension and decision-making. We recommend, based on strong evidence, that decision aids could prove useful in overcoming such challenges and could provide one way of mitigating the ethical, professional and legal consequences of failing to obtain proper informed consent. They are not widely used in orthopaedics at present, although it would be in the interests of both the surgeon and patient for such measures to be explored.

Legal and psychological considerations for obtaining informed consent for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty

PubMed Central

Blackwood, Craig; Reilly, Peter; Emery, Roger J

2016-01-01

This paper seeks to outline recent legal developments and requirements pertinent to obtaining informed consent. We argue that this is of particular relevance to patients considering a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, due to the high complication rate associated with this procedure. By examining the cognitive processes involved in decision-making, and other clinician-related factors such as delivery of information, gender bias and conflict of interest, we explore some of the barriers that can undermine the processes of shared decision-making and obtaining genuine informed consent. We argue that these issues highlight the importance for surgeons in understanding the cognitive processes and other influential factors involved in patients’ comprehension and decision-making. We recommend, based on strong evidence, that decision aids could prove useful in overcoming such challenges and could provide one way of mitigating the ethical, professional and legal consequences of failing to obtain proper informed consent. They are not widely used in orthopaedics at present, although it would be in the interests of both the surgeon and patient for such measures to be explored. PMID:28572846

25 CFR 162.520 - Who owns the energy resource information obtained under the WEEL?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... AND WATER LEASES AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Weels § 162.520 Who owns the energy resource information obtained under the WEEL? (a) The WEEL must specify the ownership of any energy... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Who owns the energy resource information obtained under...

25 CFR 162.520 - Who owns the energy resource information obtained under the WEEL?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... AND WATER LEASES AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Weels § 162.520 Who owns the energy resource information obtained under the WEEL? (a) The WEEL must specify the ownership of any energy... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Who owns the energy resource information obtained under...

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

PubMed

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

2016-05-24

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

Getting meaningful informed consent from older adults: a structured literature review of empirical research.

PubMed

Sugarman, J; McCrory, D C; Hubal, R C

1998-04-01

understanding and include a variety of novel formats (e.g., simplified, storybook, video) and procedures (e.g., use of health educators, quizzing subjects, multiple disclosure sessions). A systematic review of the published literature on informed consent reveals evidence for impaired understanding of informed consent information in older subjects and those with less formal education. Effective strategies to improve the understanding of informed consent information should be considered when designing materials, forms, policies, and procedures for obtaining informed consent. Other than empirical research that has investigated disclosure and understanding of informed consent information, little systematic research has examined other aspects of the informed consent process. This deficit should be rectified to ensure that the rights and interests of patients and of human subjects who participate in research are adequately protected.

[The meaning of autonomy in Chinese culture: obtaining informed consent for operation].

PubMed

Lin, Mei-Ling; Wu, Jo Yung-Wei; Huang, Mei-Chih

2008-10-01

The purpose of gaining the patient's informed consent is ethical, lying in respect for his or her autonomy, and such consent forms the foundation for the performance of clinical medical treatment. In order to respect the patient's autonomy, for example, during decisions about operations, doctors have the obligation to clearly explain that patient's medical condition to him/her. A thorough briefing should be given prior to the obtaining of the patients' consent. In fulfillment of their duties as medical professionals, both doctors and nurses should be involved in clinically informing patients as well as in obtaining their signature for operation and anesthesia. Although informing patients about their physical state is not the responsibility of nurses, it remains absolutely necessary for nurses to understand how people in Asian cultures understand autonomy. This paper begins with a discussion of autonomy in ethics, and then outlines the differences between the Eastern and Western concepts of autonomy, before discussing the obtaining of the signature of consent, a process performed by the nursing staff during clinical treatment, and resulting in the provision of such signatures by patients with the legal capacity to provide them.

A Meaningful High School Diploma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Shepherd

2009-01-01

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

Poignancy: Mixed Emotional Experience in the Face of Meaningful Endings

PubMed Central

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

2009-01-01

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

Community Engagement Studios: A Structured Approach to Obtaining Meaningful Input From Stakeholders to Inform Research.

PubMed

Joosten, Yvonne A; Israel, Tiffany L; Williams, Neely A; Boone, Leslie R; Schlundt, David G; Mouton, Charles P; Dittus, Robert S; Bernard, Gordon R; Wilkins, Consuelo H

2015-12-01

Engaging communities in research increases its relevance and may speed the translation of discoveries into improved health outcomes. Many researchers lack training to effectively engage stakeholders, whereas academic institutions lack infrastructure to support community engagement. In 2009, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community-Engaged Research Core began testing new approaches for community engagement, which led to the development of the Community Engagement Studio (CE Studio). This structured program facilitates project-specific input from community and patient stakeholders to enhance research design, implementation, and dissemination. Developers used a team approach to recruit and train stakeholders, prepare researchers to engage with stakeholders, and facilitate an in-person meeting with both. The research core has implemented 28 CE Studios that engaged 152 community stakeholders. Participating researchers, representing a broad range of faculty ranks and disciplines, reported that input from stakeholders was valuable and that the CE Studio helped determine project feasibility and enhanced research design and implementation. Stakeholders found the CE Studio to be an acceptable method of engagement and reported a better understanding of research in general. A tool kit was developed to replicate this model and to disseminate this approach. The research core will collect data to better understand the impact of CE Studios on research proposal submissions, funding, research outcomes, patient and stakeholder engagement in projects, and dissemination of results. They will also collect data to determine whether CE Studios increase patient-centered approaches in research and whether stakeholders who participate have more trust and willingness to participate in research.

Community Engagement Studios: A Structured Approach to Obtaining Meaningful Input From Stakeholders to Inform Research

PubMed Central

Joosten, Yvonne A.; Israel, Tiffany L.; Williams, Neely A.; Boone, Leslie R.; Schlundt, David G.; Mouton, Charles P.; Dittus, Robert S.; Bernard, Gordon R.

2015-01-01

Problem Engaging communities in research increases its relevance and may speed the translation of discoveries into improved health outcomes. Many researchers lack training to effectively engage stakeholders, whereas academic institutions lack infrastructure to support community engagement. Approach In 2009, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community-Engaged Research Core began testing new approaches for community engagement, which led to the development of the Community Engagement Studio (CE Studio). This structured program facilitates project-specific input from community and patient stakeholders to enhance research design, implementation, and dissemination. Developers used a team approach to recruit and train stakeholders, prepare researchers to engage with stakeholders, and facilitate an in-person meeting with both. Outcomes The research core has implemented 28 CE Studios that engaged 152 community stakeholders. Participating researchers, representing a broad range of faculty ranks and disciplines, reported that input from stakeholders was valuable and that the CE Studio helped determine project feasibility and enhanced research design and implementation. Stakeholders found the CE Studio to be an acceptable method of engagement and reported a better understanding of research in general. A tool kit was developed to replicate this model and to disseminate this approach. Next Steps The research core will collect data to better understand the impact of CE Studios on research proposal submissions, funding, research outcomes, patient and stakeholder engagement in projects, and dissemination of results. They will also collect data to determine whether CE Studios increase patient-centered approaches in research and whether stakeholders who participate have more trust and willingness to participate in research. PMID:26107879

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

PubMed

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

2018-04-01

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

Meaningful use care coordination criteria: Perceived barriers and benefits among primary care providers.

PubMed

Cohen, Genna R; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2016-04-01

Stage 2 and proposed Stage 3 meaningful use criteria ask providers to support patient care coordination by electronically generating, exchanging, and reconciling key information during patient care transitions. A stratified random sample of primary care practices in Michigan (n = 328) that had already met Stage 1 meaningful use criteria was surveyed, in order to identify the anticipated barriers to meeting these criteria as well as the expected impact on patient care coordination from doing so. The top three barriers, as identified by >65% of the primary care providers surveyed, were difficulty sending and receiving patient information electronically, a lack of provider and practice staff time, and the complex workflow changes required. Despite these barriers, primary care providers expressed strong agreement that meeting the proposed Stage 3 care coordination criteria would improve their patients' treatment and ensure they know about their patients' visits to other providers. The survey results suggest the need to enhance policy approaches and organizational strategies to address the key barriers identified by providers and practices in order to realize important care coordination benefits. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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

PubMed Central

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

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-09-01

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

Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

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

Finding an information concept suited for a universal theory of information.

PubMed

Brier, Søren

2015-12-01

The view argued in this article is that if we want to define a universal concept of information covering subjective experiential and meaningful cognition - as well as intersubjective meaningful communication in nature, technology, society and life worlds - then the main problem is to decide, which epistemological, ontological and philosophy of science framework the concept of information should be based on and integrated in. All the ontological attempts to create objective concepts of information result in concepts that cannot encompass meaning and experience of embodied living and social systems. There is no conclusive evidence that the core of reality across nature, culture, life and mind is purely either mathematical, logical or of a computational nature. Therefore the core of the information concept should not only be based only on pure logical or mathematical rationality. We need to include interpretation, signification and meaning construction in our transdisciplinary framework for information as a basic aspect of reality alongside the physical, chemical and molecular biological. Dretske defines information as the content of new, true, meaningful, and understandable knowledge. According to this widely held definition information in a transdisciplinary theory cannot be 'objective', but has to be relativized in relation to the receiver's knowledge, as also proposed by Floridi. It is difficult to produce a quantitative statement independently of a qualitative analysis based on some sort of relation to the human condition as a semiotic animal. I therefore alternatively suggest to build information theories based on semiotics from the basic relations of embodied living systems meaningful cognition and communication. I agree with Peircean biosemiotics that all information must be part of real relational sign-processes manifesting as tokens. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2017-01-01

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

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment: a measure of engagement in personally valued activities.

PubMed

Eakman, Aaron M; Carlson, Mike E; Clark, Florence A

2010-01-01

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment (MAPA), a recently developed 28-item tool designed to measure the meaningfulness of activity, was tested in a sample of 154 older adults. The MAPA evidenced a sufficient level of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and correlated as theoretically predicted with the Life Satisfaction Index-Z, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, the Purpose in Life Test, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Inventory and the Rand SF-36v2 Health Survey subscales. Zero-order correlations consistently demonstrated meaningful relationships between the MAPA and scales of psychosocial well-being and health-related quality of life. Results from multiple regression analyses further substantiated these findings, as greater meaningful activity participation was associated with better psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. The MAPA appears to be a reliable and valid measure of meaningful activity, incorporating both subjective and objective indicators of activity engagement.

THE MEANINGFUL ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION ASSESSMENT: A MEASURE OF ENGAGEMENT IN PERSONALLY VALUED ACTIVITIES*

PubMed Central

EAKMAN, AARON M.; CARLSON, MIKE E.; CLARK, FLORENCE A.

2011-01-01

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment (MAPA), a recently developed 28-item tool designed to measure the meaningfulness of activity, was tested in a sample of 154 older adults. The MAPA evidenced a sufficient level of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and correlated as theoretically predicted with the Life Satisfaction Index-Z, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, the Purpose in Life Test, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Inventory and the Rand SF-36v2 Health Survey subscales. Zero-order correlations consistently demonstrated meaningful relationships between the MAPA and scales of psychosocial well-being and health-related quality of life. Results from multiple regression analyses further substantiated these findings, as greater meaningful activity participation was associated with better psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. The MAPA appears to be a reliable and valid measure of meaningful activity, incorporating both subjective and objective indicators of activity engagement. PMID:20649161

Making Social Studies Meaningful to Elementary Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Susan

1982-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-01-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

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

Achieving meaningful use: a health system perspective.

PubMed

Bero, Cynthia L; Lee, Thomas H

2010-12-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2015-12-01

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

Meaningful Learning in the Cooperative Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharan, Yael

2015-01-01

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

40 CFR 2.302 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Clean Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... information obtained under the Clean Water Act. 2.302 Section 2.302 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... governing certain information obtained under the Clean Water Act. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. (2)(i) Effluent data means...

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

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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

Accurately Decoding Visual Information from fMRI Data Obtained in a Realistic Virtual Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-09

Center for Learning and Memory , The University of Texas at Austin, 100 E 24th Street, Stop C7000, Austin, TX 78712, USA afloren@utexas.edu Received: 18...information from fMRI data obtained in a realistic virtual environment. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9:327. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00327 Accurately decoding...visual information from fMRI data obtained in a realistic virtual environment Andrew Floren 1*, Bruce Naylor 2, Risto Miikkulainen 3 and David Ress 4

Hospitals ineligible for federal meaningful-use incentives have dismally low rates of adoption of electronic health records.

PubMed

Wolf, Larry; Harvell, Jennie; Jha, Ashish K

2012-03-01

The US government has dedicated substantial resources to help certain providers, such as short-term acute care hospitals and physicians, adopt and meaningfully use electronic health record (EHR) systems. We used national data to determine adoption rates of EHR systems among all types of inpatient providers that were ineligible for these same federal meaningful-use incentives: long-term acute care hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, and psychiatric hospitals. Adoption rates for these institutions were dismally low: less than half of the rate among short-term acute care hospitals. Specifically, 12 percent of short-term acute care hospitals have at least a basic EHR system, compared with 6 percent of long-term acute care hospitals, 4 percent of rehabilitation hospitals, and 2 percent of psychiatric hospitals. To advance the creation of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, federal and state policy makers should consider additional measures, such as adopting health information technology standards and EHR system certification criteria appropriate for these ineligible hospitals; including such hospitals in state health information exchange programs; and establishing low-interest loan programs for the acquisition and use of certified EHR systems by ineligible providers.

32 CFR Appendix G to Part 275 - Releasing Information Obtained From Financial Institutions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT OF 1978 Pt. 275, App. G Appendix G to Part 275—Releasing Information Obtained From... record was obtained pursuant to the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, 12 U.S.C. 3401 et seq., and... transferring law enforcement office, personnel security element, or intelligence organization, or designee...

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

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

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

The effect of patient portals on quality outcomes and its implications to meaningful use: a systematic review.

PubMed

Kruse, Clemens Scott; Bolton, Katy; Freriks, Greg

2015-02-10

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-12-01

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

When "no" might not quite mean "no"; the importance of informed and meaningful non-consent: results from a survey of individuals refusing participation in a health-related research project.

PubMed

Williams, Brian; Irvine, Linda; McGinnis, Alison R; McMurdo, Marion E T; Crombie, Iain K

2007-04-26

Low participation rates can lead to sampling bias, delays in completion and increased costs. Strategies to improve participation rates should address reasons for non-participation. However, most empirical research has focused on participants' motives rather than the reasons why non-participants refuse to take part. In this study we investigated the reasons why older people choose not to participate in a research project. Follow-up study of people living in Tayside, Scotland who had opted-out of a cross-sectional survey on activities in retirement. Eight hundred and eighty seven people aged 65-84 years were invited to take part in a home-based cross-sectional survey. Of these, 471 refused to take part. Permission was obtained to follow-up 417 of the refusers. Demographic characteristics of people who refused to take part and the reasons they gave for not taking part were collected. 54% of those invited to take part in the original cross-sectional survey refused to do so. However, 61% of these individuals went on to participate in the follow-up study and provided reasons for their original refusal. For the vast majority of people initial non-participation did not reflect an objection to participating in research in principle but frequently stemmed from barriers or misunderstandings about the nature or process of the project itself. Only 28% indicated that they were "not interested in research". The meaningfulness of expressions of non-consent may therefore be called into question. Hierarchical log-linear modelling showed that refusal was independently influenced by age, gender and social class. However, this response pattern was different for the follow-up study in which reasons for non-participation in the first survey were sought. This difference in pattern and response rates supports the likely importance of recruitment issues that are research and context specific. An expression of non-consent does not necessarily mean that a fully informed evaluation of the pros

77 FR 37886 - Notice of Intent To Obtain Information Regarding Organizations Who Are Assisting African...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-25

... information regarding organizations active in this area, for the purpose of information sharing. SUMMARY: This notice announces that the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) is seeking information about organizations, both... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Notice of Intent To Obtain Information Regarding...

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

PubMed

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

2010-01-01

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

New method for finding multiple meaningful trajectories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, Zhonghao; Flachs, Gerald M.; Jordan, Jay B.

1995-07-01

Mathematical foundations and algorithms for efficiently finding multiple meaningful trajectories (FMMT) in a sequence of digital images are presented. A meaningful trajectory is motion created by a sentient being or by a device under the control of a sentient being. It is smooth and predictable over short time intervals. A meaningful trajectory can suddenly appear or disappear in sequence images. The development of the FMMT is based on these assumptions. A finite state machine in the FMMT is used to model the trajectories under the conditions of occlusions and false targets. Each possible trajectory is associated with an initial state of a finite state machine. When two frames of data are available, a linear predictor is used to predict the locations of all possible trajectories. All trajectories within a certain error bound are moved to a monitoring trajectory state. When trajectories attain three consecutive good predictions, they are moved to a valid trajectory state and considered to be locked into a tracking mode. If an object is occluded while in the valid trajectory state, the predicted position is used to continue to track; however, the confidence in the trajectory is lowered. If the trajectory confidence falls below a lower limit, the trajectory is terminated. Results are presented that illustrate the FMMT applied to track multiple munitions fired from a missile in a sequence of images. Accurate trajectories are determined even in poor images where the probabilities of miss and false alarm are very high.

Operating Room Delays: Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Record.

PubMed

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

2016-06-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2014-01-01

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

Making Meaningful Decisions about Time, Workload and Pedagogy in the Digital Age: The Course Resource Appraisal Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Eileen; Laurillard, Diana; Horan, Bernard; Charlton, Patricia

2015-01-01

This article reports on a design-based research project to create a modelling tool to analyse the costs and learning benefits involved in different modes of study. The Course Resource Appraisal Model (CRAM) provides accurate cost-benefit information so that institutions are able to make more meaningful decisions about which kind of…

76 FR 28434 - Notice of Disclosure of Confidential Business Information Obtained Under the Comprehensive...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-17

... Information Obtained Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act to EPA Contractor Toeroek Associates Inc., and Their Subcontractor, Science Applications International Corp. AGENCY... disclose confidential business information (``CBI'') submitted to EPA Region 9 pursuant to CERCLA to EPA...

Meaningful Use of School Health Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Kathleen Hoy; Bergren, Martha Dewey

2011-01-01

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

Methods and apparatus for capture and storage of semantic information with sub-files in a parallel computing system

DOEpatents

Faibish, Sorin; Bent, John M; Tzelnic, Percy; Grider, Gary; Torres, Aaron

2015-02-03

Techniques are provided for storing files in a parallel computing system using sub-files with semantically meaningful boundaries. A method is provided for storing at least one file generated by a distributed application in a parallel computing system. The file comprises one or more of a complete file and a plurality of sub-files. The method comprises the steps of obtaining a user specification of semantic information related to the file; providing the semantic information as a data structure description to a data formatting library write function; and storing the semantic information related to the file with one or more of the sub-files in one or more storage nodes of the parallel computing system. The semantic information provides a description of data in the file. The sub-files can be replicated based on semantically meaningful boundaries.

Making information skills meaningful: a case study from occupational therapy.

PubMed

Spring, Hannah

2018-03-01

The effective delivery of information literacy training can be a challenging process, and health library and information professionals are constantly innovating in this area. This article presents a case study of the BHSc (Hons) Occupational therapy degree programme at York St John University to demonstrate ways in which deep integration of information skills into the curriculum can be achieved. The article advises that in the delivery of health and social care related information skills, we should look more broadly at where relevant learning can happen. In particular, contexts of the health care environment are suggested as a consideration rather than the narrow scope of the academic, classroom-based environment. Examples are provided of specific teaching and learning activities used on the programme alongside CPD activity and curriculum design. © 2018 Health Libraries Group.

Development of an Information Fusion System for Engine Diagnostics and Health Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volponi, Allan J.; Brotherton, Tom; Luppold, Robert; Simon, Donald L.

2004-01-01

Aircraft gas-turbine engine data are available from a variety of sources including on-board sensor measurements, maintenance histories, and component models. An ultimate goal of Propulsion Health Management (PHM) is to maximize the amount of meaningful information that can be extracted from disparate data sources to obtain comprehensive diagnostic and prognostic knowledge regarding the health of the engine. Data Fusion is the integration of data or information from multiple sources, to achieve improved accuracy and more specific inferences than can be obtained from the use of a single sensor alone. The basic tenet underlying the data/information fusion concept is to leverage all available information to enhance diagnostic visibility, increase diagnostic reliability and reduce the number of diagnostic false alarms. This paper describes a basic PHM Data Fusion architecture being developed in alignment with the NASA C17 Propulsion Health Management (PHM) Flight Test program. The challenge of how to maximize the meaningful information extracted from disparate data sources to obtain enhanced diagnostic and prognostic information regarding the health and condition of the engine is the primary goal of this endeavor. To address this challenge, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) have formed a team with several small innovative technology companies to plan and conduct a research project in the area of data fusion as applied to PHM. Methodologies being developed and evaluated have been drawn from a wide range of areas including artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, statistical estimation, and fuzzy logic. This paper will provide a broad overview of this work, discuss some of the methodologies employed and give some illustrative examples.

The generation of meaningful information in molecular systems.

PubMed

Wills, Peter R

2016-03-13

The physico-chemical processes occurring inside cells are under the computational control of genetic (DNA) and epigenetic (internal structural) programming. The origin and evolution of genetic information (nucleic acid sequences) is reasonably well understood, but scant attention has been paid to the origin and evolution of the molecular biological interpreters that give phenotypic meaning to the sequence information that is quite faithfully replicated during cellular reproduction. The near universality and age of the mapping from nucleotide triplets to amino acids embedded in the functionality of the protein synthetic machinery speaks to the early development of a system of coding which is still extant in every living organism. We take the origin of genetic coding as a paradigm of the emergence of computation in natural systems, focusing on the requirement that the molecular components of an interpreter be synthesized autocatalytically. Within this context, it is seen that interpreters of increasing complexity are generated by series of transitions through stepped dynamic instabilities (non-equilibrium phase transitions). The early phylogeny of the amino acyl-tRNA synthetase enzymes is discussed in such terms, leading to the conclusion that the observed optimality of the genetic code is a natural outcome of the processes of self-organization that produced it. © 2016 The Author(s).

75 FR 76479 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment; Procedure for Obtaining...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-08

... appropriate automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; e.g., permitting... Information Collection for Public Comment; Procedure for Obtaining Certificates of Insurance for Capital... toll-free number) or e-mail Ms. [email protected] . Persons with hearing or speech impairments...

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

PubMed

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

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2013-08-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramp, Andy

2015-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2017-01-01

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

40 CFR 2.304 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act. 2.304 Section 2.304 Protection of Environment... Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. 300f et seq. (2...

40 CFR 2.304 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act. 2.304 Section 2.304 Protection of Environment... Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Safe Drinking Water Act. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. 300f et seq. (2...

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

PubMed

Johnson, Matthew J; Jiang, Lixin

2017-08-01

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

49 CFR 835.11 - Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 7 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information. 835.11 Section 835.11 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD TESTIMONY OF BOARD EMPLOYEES § 835.11 Obtaining Board accident reports, factual...

49 CFR 835.11 - Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information. 835.11 Section 835.11 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD TESTIMONY OF BOARD EMPLOYEES § 835.11 Obtaining Board accident reports, factual...

49 CFR 835.11 - Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 7 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information. 835.11 Section 835.11 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD TESTIMONY OF BOARD EMPLOYEES § 835.11 Obtaining Board accident reports, factual...

49 CFR 835.11 - Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 7 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Obtaining Board accident reports, factual accident reports, and supporting information. 835.11 Section 835.11 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD TESTIMONY OF BOARD EMPLOYEES § 835.11 Obtaining Board accident reports, factual...

Annotating spatio-temporal datasets for meaningful analysis in the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stasch, Christoph; Pebesma, Edzer; Scheider, Simon

2014-05-01

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

41 CFR 102-192.40 - Where can we obtain more information about the classes of mail?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PROGRAMS 192-MAIL MANAGEMENT Introduction to this Part § 102-192.40 Where can we obtain more information... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Where can we obtain more information about the classes of mail? 102-192.40 Section 102-192.40 Public Contracts and Property Management...

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

PubMed

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

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

An exploration of how Mexican American WIC mothers obtain information about behaviors associated with childhood obesity risk

PubMed Central

Cole, Suzanne M.; McKenney-Shubert, Shannon J.; Jones, Sonya J.; Peterson, Karen E.

2016-01-01

Objective To explore how a sample of Mexican American mothers with preschool-aged children recruited from a Midwestern WIC clinic obtain information about 4 behaviors associated with childhood obesity risk: eating, physical activity, screen time and sleep. Methods One-on-1, structured interviews, in which participants were asked how they communicated with family, learned to take care of their first infant and obtained information about the 4 targeted behaviors for their preschool-aged child. Setting An urban WIC clinic in the Midwest. Participants Forty Mexican-descent WIC mothers with children ages 3–4. Phenomenon of Interest Exposure to information about the 4 targeted behaviors among Mexican-descent mothers participating in WIC. Analysis Quantitative and qualitative data were used to characterize and compare across participants. Results Participants primarily obtained information from their child’s maternal grandmother during their first child’s infancy and from health professionals for their preschool-aged child. Participants typically obtained information through interpersonal communication, television and magazines. Participants were most interested in healthy eating information and least interested in screen time information. Some participants did not seek information. Conclusions Participants engaged in different patterns of information seeking across their child’s development and the 4 behaviors, suggesting that future research should be behaviorally specific. Findings from this study suggest several hypotheses to test in future research. PMID:27876321

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

PubMed

Bowes, Watson A

2014-01-01

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

Cache-Cache Comparison for Supporting Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jingyun; Fujino, Seiji

2015-01-01

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

Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices.

PubMed

Fairbrother, Hannah; Curtis, Penny; Goyder, Elizabeth

2016-12-01

Children's health and wellbeing is high on the research and policy agenda of many nations. There is a wealth of epidemiological research linking childhood circumstances and health practices with adult health. However, echoing a broader picture within child health research where children have typically been viewed as objects rather than subjects of enquiry, we know very little of how, in their everyday lives, children make sense of health-relevant information. This paper reports key findings from a qualitative study exploring how children understand food in everyday life and their ideas about the relationship between food and health. 53 children aged 9-10, attending two socio-economically contrasting schools in Northern England, participated during 2010 and 2011. Data were generated in schools through interviews and debates in small friendship groups and in the home through individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using cross-sectional, categorical indexing. Moving beyond a focus on what children know the paper mobilises the concept of health literacy (Nutbeam, 2000), explored very little in relation to children, to conceptualise how children actively construct meaning from health information through their own embodied experiences. It draws on insights from the Social Studies of Childhood (James and Prout, 2015), which emphasise children's active participation in their everyday lives as well as New Literacy Studies (Pahl and Rowsell, 2012), which focus on literacy as a social practice. Recognising children as active health literacy practitioners has important implications for policy and practice geared towards improving child health.

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

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2008-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2006-05-01

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

Values: The Natural Result of Meaningful Relationships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beedy, Jeff; Gordon, John

1997-01-01

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

An Exploration of How Mexican American WIC Mothers Obtain Information About Behaviors Associated With Childhood Obesity Risk.

PubMed

Davis, Rachel E; Cole, Suzanne M; McKenney-Shubert, Shannon J; Jones, Sonya J; Peterson, Karen E

2017-03-01

To explore how a sample of Mexican American mothers with preschool-aged children recruited from a Midwestern Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic obtained information about 4 behaviors associated with childhood obesity risk: eating, physical activity, screen time, and sleep. One-on-one structured interviews in which participants were asked how they communicated with family, learned to take care of their first infant, and obtained information about the 4 targeted behaviors for their preschool-aged child. An urban WIC clinic in the Midwest. Forty Mexican-descent mothers enrolled in WIC with children aged 3-4 years. Exposure to information about the 4 targeted behaviors among Mexican-descent mothers participating in WIC. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to characterize and compare across participants. Participants primarily obtained information from their child's maternal grandmother during their first child's infancy and from health professionals for their preschool-aged child. Participants typically obtained information through interpersonal communication, television, and magazines. Participants were most interested in healthy eating information and least interested in screen time information. Some participants did not seek information. Participants engaged in different patterns of information seeking across their child's development and the 4 behaviors, which suggests that future research should be behaviorally specific. Findings from this study suggest several hypotheses to test in future research. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding the factors that influence the adoption and meaningful use of social media by physicians to share medical information.

PubMed

McGowan, Brian S; Wasko, Molly; Vartabedian, Bryan Steven; Miller, Robert S; Freiherr, Desirae D; Abdolrasulnia, Maziar

2012-09-24

attitudes toward the use of social media were more likely to use social media and to share medical information with other physicians through social media. Neither age nor gender had a significant impact on adoption or usage of social media. Based on the results of this study, the use of social media applications may be seen as an efficient and effective method for physicians to keep up-to-date and to share newly acquired medical knowledge with other physicians within the medical community and to improve the quality of patient care. Future studies are needed to examine the impact of the meaningful use of social media on physicians' knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors in practice.

24 CFR 5.905 - What special authority is there to obtain access to sex offender registration information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... obtain access to sex offender registration information? 5.905 Section 5.905 Housing and Urban Development... access to sex offender registration information? (a) PHA obligation to obtain sex offender registration... applying for admission to any federally assisted housing program is subject to a lifetime sex offender...

24 CFR 5.905 - What special authority is there to obtain access to sex offender registration information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... obtain access to sex offender registration information? 5.905 Section 5.905 Housing and Urban Development... access to sex offender registration information? (a) PHA obligation to obtain sex offender registration... applying for admission to any federally assisted housing program is subject to a lifetime sex offender...

24 CFR 5.905 - What special authority is there to obtain access to sex offender registration information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... obtain access to sex offender registration information? 5.905 Section 5.905 Housing and Urban Development... access to sex offender registration information? (a) PHA obligation to obtain sex offender registration... applying for admission to any federally assisted housing program is subject to a lifetime sex offender...

24 CFR 5.905 - What special authority is there to obtain access to sex offender registration information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... obtain access to sex offender registration information? 5.905 Section 5.905 Housing and Urban Development... access to sex offender registration information? (a) PHA obligation to obtain sex offender registration... applying for admission to any federally assisted housing program is subject to a lifetime sex offender...

24 CFR 5.905 - What special authority is there to obtain access to sex offender registration information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... obtain access to sex offender registration information? 5.905 Section 5.905 Housing and Urban Development... access to sex offender registration information? (a) PHA obligation to obtain sex offender registration... applying for admission to any federally assisted housing program is subject to a lifetime sex offender...

Local contextual processing of abstract and meaningful real-life images in professional athletes.

PubMed

Fogelson, Noa; Fernandez-Del-Olmo, Miguel; Acero, Rafael Martín

2012-05-01

We investigated the effect of abstract versus real-life meaningful images from sports on local contextual processing in two groups of professional athletes. Local context was defined as the occurrence of a short predictive series of stimuli occurring before delivery of a target event. EEG was recorded in 10 professional basketball players and 9 professional athletes of individual sports during three sessions. In each session, a different set of visual stimuli were presented: triangles facing left, up, right, or down; four images of a basketball player throwing a ball; four images of a baseball player pitching a baseball. Stimuli consisted of 15 % targets and 85 % of equal numbers of three types of standards. Recording blocks consisted of targets preceded by randomized sequences of standards and by sequences including a predictive sequence signaling the occurrence of a subsequent target event. Subjects pressed a button in response to targets. In all three sessions, reaction times and peak P3b latencies were shorter for predicted targets compared with random targets, the last most informative stimulus of the predictive sequence induced a robust P3b, and N2 amplitude was larger for random targets compared with predicted targets. P3b and N2 peak amplitudes were larger in the professional basketball group in comparison with professional athletes of individual sports, across the three sessions. The findings of this study suggest that local contextual information is processed similarly for abstract and for meaningful images and that professional basketball players seem to allocate more attentional resources in the processing of these visual stimuli.

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

PubMed

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

2017-01-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

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

Assessing Assessment: In Pursuit of Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rootman-le Grange, Ilse; Blackie, Margaret A. L.

2018-01-01

The challenge of supporting the development of meaningful learning is prevalent in chemistry education research. One of the core activities used in the learning process is assessments. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how the semantics dimension of Legitimation Code Theory can be a helpful tool to critique the quality of assessments and…

40 CFR 2.303 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972. 2.303 Section 2.303 Protection of Environment... Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Noise Control Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. 4901 et seq...

40 CFR 2.303 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972. 2.303 Section 2.303 Protection of Environment... Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Noise Control Act of 1972. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Noise Control Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. 4901 et seq...

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

PubMed

Martela, Frank; Pessi, Anne B

2018-01-01

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

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

PubMed Central

Martela, Frank; Pessi, Anne B.

2018-01-01

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

42 CFR 478.24 - Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information. 478.24 Section 478.24 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS RECONSIDERATIONS AND APPEALS...

42 CFR 478.24 - Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information. 478.24 Section 478.24 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS RECONSIDERATIONS AND APPEALS...

42 CFR 478.24 - Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information. 478.24 Section 478.24 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS RECONSIDERATIONS AND APPEALS...

42 CFR 478.24 - Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Opportunity for a party to obtain and submit information. 478.24 Section 478.24 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS RECONSIDERATIONS AND APPEALS...

40 CFR 2.302 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Clean Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... provide the information was issued under section 309(a)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(a)(3), whether a civil action was brought under section 309(b) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(b), and whether the information... specifically does not apply to information obtained under section 310(d) or 312(g)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C...

40 CFR 2.302 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Clean Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... provide the information was issued under section 309(a)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(a)(3), whether a civil action was brought under section 309(b) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(b), and whether the information... specifically does not apply to information obtained under section 310(d) or 312(g)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C...

40 CFR 2.302 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Clean Water Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... provide the information was issued under section 309(a)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(a)(3), whether a civil action was brought under section 309(b) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319(b), and whether the information... specifically does not apply to information obtained under section 310(d) or 312(g)(3) of the Act, 33 U.S.C...

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

PubMed

Kelly, Len; Walters, Lucie; Rosenthal, David

2014-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grove, Nathaniel P.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2012-01-01

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

"Negotiorum Gestio" in Family Medicine, Informed Consent Obtainment, and Disciplinary Responsibility.

PubMed

Birkeland, Søren

2016-01-01

Introduction. Negotiorum gestio (NG) denotes an action where a person well intendedly acts on behalf of another without obtaining the latter's prior consent. In broad terms, NG-like actions have played a considerable role in health care provision. In some settings, health care delivery with only little or presumed patients' consent has been the rule rather than the exception. However, bioethical principles regarding patient autonomy and obtainment of the patient's informed consent (IC) before intervention are now increasingly materialized in the law of many countries. Aim. To study legal consequences of NG in family medicine and IC handling options. Methods. Case law examination. Results. A disciplinary board case is described concerning a family doctor conducting unlawful NG by not coming up to legal IC requirements. Discussion and Conclusion. The practical and legal implications of IC and possible role of novel Shared Decision-Making approaches in coming up to regulation and bioethical demands are discussed. It is concluded that a doctor may run an unnecessary legal risk when conducting NG in decision-competent patients and furthermore it is suggested that novel Shared Decision-Making approaches could help in obtaining a rightful and practicable IC.

Meaningful Gamification in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stansbury, Jessica A.; Earnest, David R.

2017-01-01

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

Water Habitat Study: Prediction Makes It More Meaningful.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glasgow, Dennis R.

1982-01-01

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

The measurement of water scarcity: Defining a meaningful indicator.

PubMed

Damkjaer, Simon; Taylor, Richard

2017-09-01

Metrics of water scarcity and stress have evolved over the last three decades from simple threshold indicators to holistic measures characterising human environments and freshwater sustainability. Metrics commonly estimate renewable freshwater resources using mean annual river runoff, which masks hydrological variability, and quantify subjectively socio-economic conditions characterising adaptive capacity. There is a marked absence of research evaluating whether these metrics of water scarcity are meaningful. We argue that measurement of water scarcity (1) be redefined physically in terms of the freshwater storage required to address imbalances in intra- and inter-annual fluxes of freshwater supply and demand; (2) abandons subjective quantifications of human environments and (3) be used to inform participatory decision-making processes that explore a wide range of options for addressing freshwater storage requirements beyond dams that include use of renewable groundwater, soil water and trading in virtual water. Further, we outline a conceptual framework redefining water scarcity in terms of freshwater storage.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2018-04-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2012-01-01

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

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment: A Measure of Engagement in Personally Valued Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eakman, Aaron M.; Carlson, Mike E.; Clark, Florence A.

2010-01-01

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment (MAPA), a recently developed 28-item tool designed to measure the meaningfulness of activity, was tested in a sample of 154 older adults. The MAPA evidenced a sufficient level of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and correlated as theoretically predicted with the Life Satisfaction…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Nancy J.

2012-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2017-01-01

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

DNA as information.

PubMed

Wills, Peter R

2016-03-13

This article reviews contributions to this theme issue covering the topic 'DNA as information' in relation to the structure of DNA, the measure of its information content, the role and meaning of information in biology and the origin of genetic coding as a transition from uninformed to meaningful computational processes in physical systems. © 2016 The Author(s).

The Organization of Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogoff, Barbara; Callanan, Maureen; Gutiérrez, Kris D.; Erickson, Frederick

2016-01-01

Informal learning is often treated as simply an alternative to formal, didactic instruction. This chapter discusses how the organization of informal learning differs across distinct settings but with important commonalities distinguishing informal learning from formal learning: Informal learning is nondidactic, is embedded in meaningful activity,…

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

PubMed Central

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

2006-01-01

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

Concept Mapping Using Cmap Tools to Enhance Meaningful Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cañas, Alberto J.; Novak, Joseph D.

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

The perspectives of researchers on obtaining informed consent in developing countries.

PubMed

Newton, Sam K; Appiah-Poku, John

2007-04-01

The doctrine of informed consent (IC) exists to protect individuals from exploitation or harm. This study into IC was carried out to investigate how different researchers perceived the process whereby researchers obtained consent. It also examined researchers' perspectives on what constituted IC, and how different settings influenced the process. The study recorded in-depth interviews with 12 lecturers and five doctoral students, who had carried out research in developing countries, at a leading school of public health in the United Kingdom. A purposive, snowballing approach was used to identify interviewees. Although the concept and application of the doctrine of IC should have been the same, irrespective of where the research was carried out, the process of obtaining it had to be different. The setting had to be taken into consideration and the autonomy of the subject had to be respected at all times. In areas of high illiteracy, and where understanding of the subject was likely to be a problem, there was an added responsibility placed on the researcher to devise innovative ways of carrying out the study, taking into consideration the peculiarities of the environment. The ethical issues for IC were the same, irrespective of where the research was conducted. However, because the backgrounds, setting, and knowledge of populations differed, there was the need to be similarly sensitive in obtaining consent. The problems of obtaining genuine IC were not limited to developing countries.

Increasing Meaningful Assistive Technology Use in the Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connor, Cynthia; Beard, Lawrence A.

2015-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-09-01

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

40 CFR 2.305 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. 2.305 Section 2.305 Protection of... § 2.305 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as...

40 CFR 2.305 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. 2.305 Section 2.305 Protection of... § 2.305 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as...

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

PubMed

Poff, Renee McCoy; Browning, Sarah Via

2014-03-01

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

Measuring meaningful learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galloway, Kelli R.

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

Connecting the Dots: The Decline in Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Kenneth; Kilmartin, Christopher

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2018-04-01

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

40 CFR 2.308 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 2.308 Section 2.308 Protection of... § 2.308 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic... Cosmetic Act, as amended, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. (2) Petition means a petition for the issuance of a...

40 CFR 2.308 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 2.308 Section 2.308 Protection of... § 2.308 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic... Cosmetic Act, as amended, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. (2) Petition means a petition for the issuance of a...

40 CFR 2.308 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 2.308 Section 2.308 Protection of... § 2.308 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic... Cosmetic Act, as amended, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. (2) Petition means a petition for the issuance of a...

40 CFR 2.308 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 2.308 Section 2.308 Protection of... § 2.308 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic... Cosmetic Act, as amended, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. (2) Petition means a petition for the issuance of a...

40 CFR 2.308 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 2.308 Section 2.308 Protection of... § 2.308 Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic... Cosmetic Act, as amended, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. (2) Petition means a petition for the issuance of a...

A business case for HIT adoption: effects of "meaningful use" EHR financial incentives on clinic revenue.

PubMed

Behkami, Nima A; Dorr, David A; Morrice, Stuart

2010-01-01

The goal of this study is to describe a framework that allows decision makers to efficiently evaluate factors that affect Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption and test suitable interventions; specifically financial incentives. The United States healthcare delivery system is experiencing a transformation to improve population health. There is strong agreement that "meaningful use" of Health Information Technology (HIT) is a major enabler in this effort. However it's also understood that the high cost of implementing an EHR is an obstacle for adoption. To help understand these complexities we developed a simulation model designed to capture the dynamic nature of policy interventions that affect the adoption of EHR. We found that "Effective" use of HIT approaches break-even-point and larger clinic revenue many times faster that "average" or "poor" use of HIT. This study uses a systems perspective to the evaluate EHR adoption process through the "meaningful use" redesign as proposed in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act 2009 in the United States healthcare industry by utilizing the System Dynamics methodology and Scenario Analysis.

Allegations of Failure to Obtain Informed Consent in Spinal Surgery Medical Malpractice Claims

PubMed Central

Grauberger, Jennifer; Kerezoudis, Panagiotis; Choudhry, Asad J.; Alvi, Mohammed Ali; Nassr, Ahmad; Currier, Bradford

2017-01-01

Importance Predictive factors associated with increased risk of medical malpractice litigation have been identified, including severity of injury, physician sex, and error in diagnosis. However, there is a paucity of literature investigating informed consent in spinal surgery malpractice. Objective To investigate the failure to obtain informed consent as an allegation in medical malpractice claims for patients undergoing a spinal procedure. Design, Setting, and Participants In this retrospective cohort study, a national medicolegal database was searched for malpractice claim cases related to spinal surgery for all years available (ie, January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2015). Main Outcomes and Measures Failure to obtain informed consent and associated medical malpractice case verdict. Results A total of 233 patients (117 [50.4%] male and 116 [49.8%] female; 80 with no informed consent allegation and 153 who cited lack of informed consent) who underwent spinal surgery and filed a malpractice claim were studied (mean [SD] age, 47.1 [13.1] years in the total group, 45.8 [12.9] years in the control group, and 47.9 [13.3] years in the informed consent group). Median interval between year of surgery and year of verdict was 5.4 years (interquartile range, 4-7 years). The most common informed consent allegations were failure to explain risks and adverse effects of surgery (52 [30.4%]) and failure to explain alternative treatment options (17 [9.9%]). In bivariate analysis, patients in the control group were more likely to require additional surgery (45 [56.3%] vs 53 [34.6%], P = .002) and have more permanent injuries compared with the informed consent group (46 [57.5%] vs 63 [42.0%], P = .03). On multivariable regression analysis, permanent injuries were more often associated with indemnity payment after a plaintiff verdict (odds ratio [OR], 3.12; 95% CI, 1.46-6.65; P = .003) or a settlement (OR, 6.26; 95% CI, 1.06-36.70; P = .04). Informed consent

Allegations of Failure to Obtain Informed Consent in Spinal Surgery Medical Malpractice Claims.

PubMed

Grauberger, Jennifer; Kerezoudis, Panagiotis; Choudhry, Asad J; Alvi, Mohammed Ali; Nassr, Ahmad; Currier, Bradford; Bydon, Mohamad

2017-06-21

Predictive factors associated with increased risk of medical malpractice litigation have been identified, including severity of injury, physician sex, and error in diagnosis. However, there is a paucity of literature investigating informed consent in spinal surgery malpractice. To investigate the failure to obtain informed consent as an allegation in medical malpractice claims for patients undergoing a spinal procedure. In this retrospective cohort study, a national medicolegal database was searched for malpractice claim cases related to spinal surgery for all years available (ie, January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2015). Failure to obtain informed consent and associated medical malpractice case verdict. A total of 233 patients (117 [50.4%] male and 116 [49.8%] female; 80 with no informed consent allegation and 153 who cited lack of informed consent) who underwent spinal surgery and filed a malpractice claim were studied (mean [SD] age, 47.1 [13.1] years in the total group, 45.8 [12.9] years in the control group, and 47.9 [13.3] years in the informed consent group). Median interval between year of surgery and year of verdict was 5.4 years (interquartile range, 4-7 years). The most common informed consent allegations were failure to explain risks and adverse effects of surgery (52 [30.4%]) and failure to explain alternative treatment options (17 [9.9%]). In bivariate analysis, patients in the control group were more likely to require additional surgery (45 [56.3%] vs 53 [34.6%], P = .002) and have more permanent injuries compared with the informed consent group (46 [57.5%] vs 63 [42.0%], P = .03). On multivariable regression analysis, permanent injuries were more often associated with indemnity payment after a plaintiff verdict (odds ratio [OR], 3.12; 95% CI, 1.46-6.65; P = .003) or a settlement (OR, 6.26; 95% CI, 1.06-36.70; P = .04). Informed consent allegations were significantly associated with less severe (temporary or emotional) injury (OR

Analysis of the Quality of Information Obtained About Uterine Artery Embolization From the Internet

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

Tavare, Aniket N.; Alsafi, Ali, E-mail: ali.alsafi03@imperial.ac.uk; Hamady, Mohamad S.

Purpose: The Internet is widely used by patients to source health care-related information. We sought to analyse the quality of information available on the Internet about uterine artery embolization (UAE). Materials and Methods: We searched three major search engines for the phrase 'uterine artery embolization' and compiled the top 50 results from each engine. After excluding repeated sites, scientific articles, and links to documents, the remaining 50 sites were assessed using the LIDA instrument, which scores sites across the domains of accessibility, usability, and reliability. The Fleisch reading ease score (FRES) was calculated for each of the sites. Finally, wemore » checked the country of origin and the presence of certification by the Health On the Net Foundation (HONcode) as well as their effect on LIDA and FRES scores.ResultsThe following mean scores were obtained: accessibility 48/60 (80%), usability 42/54 (77%), reliability 20/51 (39%), total LIDA 110/165 (67%), and FRES 42/100 (42%). Nine sites had HONcode certification, and this was associated with significantly greater (p < 0.05) reliability and total LIDA and FRES scores. When comparing sites between United Kingdom and United States, there was marked variation in the quality of results obtained when searching for information on UAE (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In general, sites were well designed and easy to use. However, many scored poorly on the reliability of their information either because they were produced in a non-evidence-based way or because they lacking currency. It is important that patients are guided to reputable, location-specific sources of information online, especially because prominent search engine rank does not guarantee reliability of information.« less

Understanding of how older adults with low vision obtain, process, and understand health information and services.

PubMed

Kim, Hyung Nam

2017-10-16

Twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act, there has still been a lack of advancement of accessibility in healthcare for people with visual impairments, particularly older adults with low vision. This study aims to advance understanding of how older adults with low vision obtain, process, and use health information and services, and to seek opportunities of information technology to support them. A convenience sample of 10 older adults with low vision participated in semi-structured phone interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Participants shared various concerns in accessing, understanding, and using health information, care services, and multimedia technologies. Two main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the analysis. Due to the concerns, older adults with low vision tended to fail to obtain the full range of all health information and services to meet their specific needs. Those with low vision still rely on residual vision such that multimedia-based information which can be useful, but it should still be designed to ensure its accessibility, usability, and understandability.

Identifying climate risk perceptions, information needs, and barriers to information exchange among public land managers.

PubMed

Peters, Casey B; Schwartz, Mark W; Lubell, Mark N

2018-03-01

Meeting ecosystem management challenges posed by climate change requires building effective communication channels among researchers, planners and practitioners to focus research on management issues requiring new knowledge. We surveyed resource managers within two regions of the western United States regions to better understand perceived risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change and barriers to obtaining and using relevant climate science information in making ecosystem management decisions. We sought to understand what types of climate science information resource managers find most valuable, and the formats in which they prefer to receive climate science information. We found broad concern among natural resource managers in federal agencies that climate change will make it more difficult for them to achieve their management goals. Primary barriers to incorporating climate science into planning are distributed among challenges identifying, receiving, and interpreting appropriate science and a lack of direction provided by agency leadership needed to meaningfully use this emerging science in resource planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Critical assessment of pediatric neurosurgery patient/parent educational information obtained via the Internet.

PubMed

Garcia, Michael; Daugherty, Christopher; Ben Khallouq, Bertha; Maugans, Todd

2018-05-01

OBJECTIVE The Internet is used frequently by patients and family members to acquire information about pediatric neurosurgical conditions. The sources, nature, accuracy, and usefulness of this information have not been examined recently. The authors analyzed the results from searches of 10 common pediatric neurosurgical terms using a novel scoring test to assess the value of the educational information obtained. METHODS Google and Bing searches were performed for 10 common pediatric neurosurgical topics (concussion, craniosynostosis, hydrocephalus, pediatric brain tumor, pediatric Chiari malformation, pediatric epilepsy surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, plagiocephaly, spina bifida, and tethered spinal cord). The first 10 "hits" obtained with each search engine were analyzed using the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose (CRAAP) test, which assigns a numerical score in each of 5 domains. Agreement between results was assessed for 1) concurrent searches with Google and Bing; 2) Google searches over time (6 months apart); 3) Google searches using mobile and PC platforms concurrently; and 4) searches using privacy settings. Readability was assessed with an online analytical tool. RESULTS Google and Bing searches yielded information with similar CRAAP scores (mean 72% and 75%, respectively), but with frequently differing results (58% concordance/matching results). There was a high level of agreement (72% concordance) over time for Google searches and also between searches using general and privacy settings (92% concordance). Government sources scored the best in both CRAAP score and readability. Hospitals and universities were the most prevalent sources, but these sources had the lowest CRAAP scores, due in part to an abundance of self-marketing. The CRAAP scores for mobile and desktop platforms did not differ significantly (p = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS Google and Bing searches yielded useful educational information, using either mobile or PC platforms. Most

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholes, Justin

2016-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Eakman, Aaron M

2014-01-01

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

Transforming Legacy Systems to Obtain Information Superiority

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-01-01

is imperative that innovative technologies be developed to enable legacy weapon systems to exploit the information revolution, achieve information ... dominance , and meet the required operational tempo. This paper presents an embedded-system architecture, open system middleware services, and a software

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

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-01-01

12v2 PCS scores were a maximum of 58 (area under the curve [AUC], 0.76; p < 0.001) and 34 (AUC, 0.65; p < 0.001), respectively. Patients scoring above these thresholds, indicating better preoperative function, were less likely to experience a clinically meaningful improvement in function after TKA. When accounting for mental and emotional health with a multivariate analysis, the predictive ability of both KOOS and SF12v2 PCS threshold values improved (AUCs increased to 0.80 and 0.71, respectively). Better preoperative mental and emotional health, as reflected by a higher MCS score, resulted in higher threshold values for KOOS and SF12v2 PCS. We identified preoperative PROM threshold values that are associated with clinically meaningful improvements in functional outcome after TKA. Patients with preoperative KOOS or SF12v2 PCS scores above the defined threshold values have a diminishing probability of experiencing clinically meaningful improvement after TKA. Patients with worse baseline mental and emotional health (as defined by SF12v2 MCS score) have a lower probability of experiencing clinically important levels of functional improvement after surgery. The results of this study are directly applicable to patient-centered informed decision-making tools and may be used to facilitate discussions with patients regarding the expected benefit after TKA. Level III, prognostic study.

Development of a Method to Obtain More Accurate General and Oral Health Related Information Retrospectively

PubMed Central

A, Golkari; A, Sabokseir; D, Blane; A, Sheiham; RG, Watt

2017-01-01

Statement of Problem: Early childhood is a crucial period of life as it affects one’s future health. However, precise data on adverse events during this period is usually hard to access or collect, especially in developing countries. Objectives: This paper first reviews the existing methods for retrospective data collection in health and social sciences, and then introduces a new method/tool for obtaining more accurate general and oral health related information from early childhood retrospectively. Materials and Methods: The Early Childhood Events Life-Grid (ECEL) was developed to collect information on the type and time of health-related adverse events during the early years of life, by questioning the parents. The validity of ECEL and the accuracy of information obtained by this method were assessed in a pilot study and in a main study of 30 parents of 8 to 11 year old children from Shiraz (Iran). Responses obtained from parents using the final ECEL were compared with the recorded health insurance documents. Results: There was an almost perfect agreement between the health insurance and ECEL data sets (Kappa value=0.95 and p < 0.001). Interviewees remembered the important events more accurately (100% exact timing match in case of hospitalization). Conclusions: The Early Childhood Events Life-Grid method proved to be highly accurate when compared with recorded medical documents. PMID:28959773

From Data to Semantic Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Floridi, Luciano

2003-06-01

There is no consensus yet on the definition of semantic information. This paper contributes to the current debate by criticising and revising the Standard Definition of semantic Information (SDI) as meaningful data, in favour of the Dretske-Grice approach: meaningful and well-formed data constitute semantic information only if they also qualify as contingently truthful. After a brief introduction, SDI is criticised for providing necessary but insufficient conditions for the definition of semantic information. SDI is incorrect because truth-values do not supervene on semantic information, and misinformation (that is, false semantic information) is not a type of semantic information, but pseudo-information, that is not semantic information at all. This is shown by arguing that none of the reasons for interpreting misinformation as a type of semantic information is convincing, whilst there are compelling reasons to treat it as pseudo-information. As a consequence, SDI is revised to include a necessary truth-condition. The last section summarises the main results of the paper and indicates the important implications of the revised definition for the analysis of the deflationary theories of truth, the standard definition of knowledge and the classic, quantitative theory of semantic information.

Motives for meaningful involvement in rural AIDS service organizations

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

Which components of health information technology will drive financial value?

PubMed

Kern, Lisa M; Wilcox, Adam; Shapiro, Jason; Dhopeshwarkar, Rina V; Kaushal, Rainu

2012-08-01

The financial effects of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE) are largely unknown, despite unprecedented federal incentives for their use. We sought to understand which components of EHRs and HIE are most likely to drive financial savings in the ambulatory, inpatient, and emergency department settings. Framework development and a national expert panel. We searched the literature to identify functionalities enabled by EHRs and HIE across the 3 healthcare settings. We rated each of 233 functionality-setting combinations on their likelihood of having a positive financial effect. We validated the top-scoring functionalities with a panel of 28 national experts, and we compared the high-scoring functionalities with Stage 1 meaningful use criteria. We identified 54 high-scoring functionality- setting combinations, 27 for EHRs and 27 for HIE. Examples of high-scoring functionalities included providing alerts for expensive medications, providing alerts for redundant lab orders, sending and receiving imaging reports, and enabling structured medication reconciliation. Of the 54 high-scoring functionalities, 25 (46%) are represented in Stage 1 meaningful use. Many of the functionalities not yet represented in meaningful use correspond with functionalities that focus directly on healthcare utilization and costs rather than on healthcare quality per se. This work can inform the development and selection of future meaningful use measures; inform implementation efforts, as clinicians and hospitals choose from among a "menu" of measures for meaningful use; and inform evaluation efforts, as investigators seek to measure the actual financial impact of EHRs and HIE.

[The use of automated processing of information obtained during space flights for the monitoring and evaluation of airborne pollution].

PubMed

Bagmanov, B Kh; Mikhaĭlova, A Iu; Pavlov, S V

1997-01-01

The article describes experience on use of automated processing of information obtained during spaceflights for analysis of urban air pollution. The authors present a method for processing of information obtained during spaceflights and show how to identify foci of industrial release and area of their spread within and beyond the cities.

24 CFR 960.205 - Drug use by applicants: Obtaining information from drug treatment facility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

.... This section addresses a PHA's authority to request and obtain information from drug abuse treatment... household member. (2) Drug abuse treatment facility. An entity: (i) That holds itself out as providing, and... consent forms signed by such household member that: (i) Requests any drug abuse treatment facility to...

24 CFR 960.205 - Drug use by applicants: Obtaining information from drug treatment facility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

.... This section addresses a PHA's authority to request and obtain information from drug abuse treatment... household member. (2) Drug abuse treatment facility. An entity: (i) That holds itself out as providing, and... consent forms signed by such household member that: (i) Requests any drug abuse treatment facility to...

24 CFR 960.205 - Drug use by applicants: Obtaining information from drug treatment facility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

.... This section addresses a PHA's authority to request and obtain information from drug abuse treatment... household member. (2) Drug abuse treatment facility. An entity: (i) That holds itself out as providing, and... consent forms signed by such household member that: (i) Requests any drug abuse treatment facility to...

24 CFR 960.205 - Drug use by applicants: Obtaining information from drug treatment facility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

.... This section addresses a PHA's authority to request and obtain information from drug abuse treatment... household member. (2) Drug abuse treatment facility. An entity: (i) That holds itself out as providing, and... consent forms signed by such household member that: (i) Requests any drug abuse treatment facility to...

24 CFR 960.205 - Drug use by applicants: Obtaining information from drug treatment facility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

.... This section addresses a PHA's authority to request and obtain information from drug abuse treatment... household member. (2) Drug abuse treatment facility. An entity: (i) That holds itself out as providing, and... consent forms signed by such household member that: (i) Requests any drug abuse treatment facility to...

Use of social media and internet to obtain health information by rural adolescent mothers.

PubMed

Logsdon, M Cynthia; Mittelberg, Meghan; Myers, John

2015-02-01

Adolescent mothers residing in rural areas need accurate health information to care for themselves and their babies. The purpose of this study was to determine the use of social media and Internet by adolescent mothers residing in rural areas, particularly in regard to obtaining health information. Using a cross-sectional design, a convenience sample of adolescent mothers living in a rural county in a state located in the southern U.S. (n = 15), completed the Pew Internet Survey during home visits with nurses from a community health agency. All adolescent mothers accessed Internet using cell phones (93%) or computers (100%). Many adolescent mothers sent or received over 50 text messages per day. Thirty-three percent of adolescent mothers searched for health information on the Internet every few weeks; 27% received health information from Facebook. Communication of health information using the Internet and social media may be effective with adolescent mothers residing in rural areas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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

Meaningful Work and Secondary School Teachers' Intention to Leave

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janik, M.; Rothmann, S.

2015-01-01

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

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

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

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

40 CFR 1515.10 - What information is available, and how can it be obtained?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... can it be obtained? 1515.10 Section 1515.10 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY... Council on Environmental Quality will permit copying of any available material but will reserve the right... the Freedom of Information Act as amended (5 U.S.C. 552(b)). (c) The legislative history of the...

Using social knowledge networking technology to enable meaningful use of electronic health record technology in hospitals and health systems.

PubMed

Rangachari, Pavani

2014-12-01

Despite the federal policy momentum towards "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records, the healthcare organizational literature remains replete with reports of unintended adverse consequences of implementing Electronic Health Records, including: increased work for clinicians, unfavorable workflow changes, and unexpected changes in communication patterns & practices. In addition to being costly and unsafe, these unintended adverse consequences may pose a formidable barrier to "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records. Correspondingly, it is essential for hospital administrators to understand and detect the causes of unintended adverse consequences, to ensure successful implementation of Electronic Health Records. The longstanding Technology-in-Practice framework emphasizes the role of human agency in enacting structures of technology use or "technologies-in-practice." Given a set of unintended adverse consequences from health information technology implementation, this framework could help trace them back to specific actions (types of technology-in-practice) and institutional conditions (social structures). On the other hand, the more recent Knowledge-in-Practice framework helps understand how information and communication technologies ( e.g. , social knowledge networking systems) could be implemented alongside existing technology systems, to create new social structures, generate new knowledge-in-practice, and transform technology-in-practice. Therefore, integrating the two literature streams could serve the dual purpose of understanding and overcoming unintended adverse consequences of Electronic Health Record implementation. This paper seeks to: (1) review the theoretical literatures on technology use & implementation, and identify a framework for understanding & overcoming unintended adverse consequences of implementing Electronic Health Records; (2) outline a broad project proposal to test the applicability of the framework in enabling "meaningful use

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

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

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

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

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

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

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

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

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

Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, 2010

2010-01-01

"Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning" was envisioned in response to a 2007 request for proposals from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE). FIPSE called for national, consortial contributions to improving the knowledge and abilities to assess student…

Pedagogical Principles of Learning to Teach Meaningful Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2018-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Robert S.; Duncan, David F.

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

25 CFR 1000.73 - Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information from a non-BIA bureau? 1000.73 Section 1000.73 Indians OFFICE OF THE... § 1000.73 Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

On Information Storage Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leimkuhler, Ferdinand F.

The transfer of information through space and time in communication systems is often accompanied by significant delays which give rise to meaningful storage problems. Mathematical models have been developed for the study of these kinds of problems which are applicable to the design of manual, library-type, or mechanized information storage and…

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

PubMed

Luo, Shuhong; Kalman, Melanie

2018-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-08-01

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

Authentic Leadership and Altruism: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagnak, Mesut; Kuruöz, Mehmet

2017-01-01

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

Challenges of Obtaining Informed Consent in Emergency Ward: A Qualitative Study in One Iranian Hospital

PubMed Central

Davoudi, Nayyereh; Nayeri, Nahid Dehghan; Zokaei, Mohammad Saeed; Fazeli, Nematallah

2017-01-01

Background and Objective: Regarding the fact that emergency ward has unique characteristics, whose uniqueness affects informed consent processes by creating specific challenges. Hence, it seems necessary to identify the process and challenges of informed consent in the emergency ward through a qualitative study to understand actual patients’ and health care providers’ experiences, beliefs, values, and feelings about the informed consent in the emergency ward. Through such studies, new insight can be gained on the process of informed consent and its challenges with the hope that the resulting knowledge will enable the promotion of ethical, legal as well as effective health services to the patients in the emergency ward. Method: In this qualitative study, research field was one of the emergency wards of educational and public hospitals in Iran. Field work and participant observation were carried out for 515 hours from June 2014 to March 2016. Also, conversations and semi-structured interviews based on the observations were conducted. The participants of the study were nurses and physicians working in the emergency ward, as well as patients and their attendants who were involved in the process of obtaining informed consent. Results: Three main categories were extracted from the data: a sense of frustration; reverse protection; and culture of paternalism in consent process. Conclusion: Findings of this study can be utilized in correcting the structures and processes of obtaining informed consent together with promotion of patients' ethical and legal care in emergency ward. In this way, the approaches in consent process will be changed from paternalistic approach to patient-centered care which concomitantly protects patient’s autonomy. PMID:29399235

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

PubMed

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

2017-08-01

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

XML — an opportunity for <meaningful> data standards in the geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houlding, Simon W.

2001-08-01

Extensible markup language (XML) is a recently introduced meta-language standard on the Web. It provides the rules for development of metadata (markup) standards for information transfer in specific fields. XML allows development of markup languages that describe what information is rather than how it should be presented. This allows computer applications to process the information in intelligent ways. In contrast hypertext markup language (HTML), which fuelled the initial growth of the Web, is a metadata standard concerned exclusively with presentation of information. Besides its potential for revolutionizing Web activities, XML provides an opportunity for development of meaningful data standards in specific application fields. The rapid endorsement of XML by science, industry and e-commerce has already spawned new metadata standards in such fields as mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, multi-media and Web micro-payments. Development of XML-based data standards in the geosciences would significantly reduce the effort currently wasted on manipulating and reformatting data between different computer platforms and applications and would ensure compatibility with the new generation of Web browsers. This paper explores the evolution, benefits and status of XML and related standards in the more general context of Web activities and uses this as a platform for discussion of its potential for development of data standards in the geosciences. Some of the advantages of XML are illustrated by a simple, browser-compatible demonstration of XML functionality applied to a borehole log dataset. The XML dataset and the associated stylesheet and schema declarations are available for FTP download.

Body mass index is not a clinically meaningful predictor of patient reported outcomes of primary hip replacement surgery: prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Judge, A; Batra, R N; Thomas, G E; Beard, D; Javaid, M K; Murray, D W; Dieppe, P A; Dreinhoefer, K E; Peter-Guenther, K; Field, R; Cooper, C; Arden, N K

2014-03-01

To describe whether body mass index (BMI) is a clinically meaningful predictor of patient reported outcomes following primary total hip replacement (THR) surgery. Combined data from prospective cohort studies. We obtained information from four cohorts of patients receiving primary THR for osteoarthritis: Exeter Primary Outcomes Study (EPOS) (n = 1431); EUROHIP (n = 1327); Elective Orthopaedic Centre (n = 2832); and St. Helier (n = 787). The exposure of interest was pre-operative BMI. Confounding variables included: age, sex, SF-36 mental health, comorbidities, fixed flexion, analgesic use, college education, OA in other joints, expectation of less pain, radiographic K&L grade, ASA grade, years of hip pain. The primary outcome was the Oxford Hip Score (OHS). Regression models describe the association of BMI on outcome adjusting for all confounders. For a 5-unit increase in BMI, the attained 12-month OHS decreases by 0.78 points 95%CI (0.27-1.28), P-value 0.001. Compared to people of normal BMI (20-25), those in the obese class II (BMI 35-40) would have a 12-month OHS that is 2.34 points lower. Although statistically significant this effect is small and not clinically meaningful in contrast to the substantial change in OHS seen across all BMI groupings. In obese class II patients achieved a 22.2 point change in OHS following surgery. Patients achieved substantial change in OHS after THR across all BMI categories, which greatly outweighs the small difference in attained post-operative score. The findings suggest BMI should not present a barrier to access THR in terms of PROMs. Copyright © 2014 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Body mass index is not a clinically meaningful predictor of patient reported outcomes of primary hip replacement surgery: prospective cohort study

PubMed Central

Judge, Andy; Batra, Rajbir N; Thomas, Geraint; Beard, David; Javaid, M Kassim; Murray, David; Dieppe, Paul A; Dreinhoefer, Karsten; Peter-Guenther, Klaus; Field, Richard; Cooper, Cyrus; Arden, Nigel K

2014-01-01

Objectives To describe whether body mass index (BMI) is a clinically meaningful predictor of patient reported outcomes following primary total hip replacement (THR) surgery Design Combined data from prospective cohort studies. We obtained information from four cohorts of patients receiving primary THR for osteoarthritis: Exeter Primary Outcomes Study (n=1431); EUROHIP (n=1327); Elective Orthopaedic Centre (n=2832); and St. Helier (n=787). The exposure of interest was pre-operative BMI. Confounding variables included: age, sex, SF-36 mental health, comorbidities, fixed flexion, analgesic use, college education, OA in other joints, expectation of less pain, radiographic K&L grade, ASA grade, years of hip pain. The primary outcome was the Oxford Hip Score (OHS). Regression models describe the association of BMI on outcome adjusting for all confounders. Results For a 5-unit increase in BMI, the attained 12-month OHS decreases by 0.78 points 95%CI (0.27 to 1.28), p-value 0.001. Compared to people of normal BMI (20 to 25), those in the obese class II (BMI 35 to 40) would have a 12-month OHS that is 2.34 points lower. Although statistically significant this effect is small and not clinically meaningful in contrast to the substantial change in OHS seen across all BMI groupings. In obese class II patients achieved a 22.2 point change in OHS following surgery. Conclusions Patients achieved substantial change in OHS after THR across all BMI categories, which greatly outweighs the small difference in attained post-operative score. The findings suggest BMI should not present a barrier to access THR in terms of PROMs. PMID:24418679

Merit-Based Incentive Payment System: Meaningful Changes in the Final Rule Brings Cautious Optimism.

PubMed

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah; Helm Ii, Standiford; Calodney, Aaron K; Hirsch, Joshua A

2017-01-01

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) eliminated the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) act formula - a longstanding crucial issue of concern for health care providers and Medicare beneficiaries. MACRA also included a quality improvement program entitled, "The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS." The proposed rule of MIPS sought to streamline existing federal quality efforts and therefore linked 4 distinct programs into one. Three existing programs, meaningful use (MU), Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), value-based payment (VBP) system were merged with the addition of Clinical Improvement Activity category. The proposed rule also changed the name of MU to Advancing Care Information, or ACI. ACI contributes to 25% of composite score of the four programs, PQRS contributes 50% of the composite score, while VBP system, which deals with resource use or cost, contributes to 10% of the composite score. The newest category, Improvement Activities or IA, contributes 15% to the composite score. The proposed rule also created what it called a design incentive that drives movement to delivery system reform principles with the inclusion of Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs).Following the release of the proposed rule, the medical community, as well as Congress, provided substantial input to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),expressing their concern. American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) focused on 3 important aspects: delay the implementation, provide a 3-month performance period, and provide ability to submit meaningful quality measures in a timely and economic manner. The final rule accepted many of the comments from various organizations, including several of those specifically emphasized by ASIPP, with acceptance of 3-month reporting period, as well as the ability to submit non-MIPS measures to improve real quality and make the system meaningful. CMS also provided a mechanism for

Comprehension for What? Preparing Students for Their Meaningful Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Mark W.; Wise, Antoinette

2011-01-01

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

Making Science Meaningful for Young People with Diverse Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stead, Di

2015-01-01

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

Ukrainian Teacher Candidates Develop Dispositions of Socially Meaningful Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koshmanova, Tetyana; Ravchyna, Tetyana

2010-01-01

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

An exploration of strategies used by older people to obtain information about health- and social care services in the community.

PubMed

Mc Grath, Margaret; Clancy, Kathleen; Kenny, Anne

2016-10-01

To explore the strategies used by older people living in Ireland to obtain information about community health and social services. A qualitative exploratory design was used. Focus groups (n = 3) were conducted with community dwelling older people (n = 17). A series of vignettes were used to guide discussion regarding hypothetical situations that approximated real-life scenarios for older people. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. Obtaining information about community health and social services is an ongoing process that requires continuous commitment by older adults. Key strategies which emerged from the data included (i) taking a proactive stance towards accessing health information, (ii) making use of personal networks in your community and (iii) developing 'insider' knowledge. Older people in this study had a proactive approach to obtaining health information and identified the importance of taking responsibility for managing their own needs. Despite this, obtaining basic information about community health and social services was a challenging and time-consuming process. Future research should focus on developing health literacy interventions that build upon and expand the strategies currently used by older people. © 2015 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Survey of Fires in Buildings. Third Report: The Use of Information Obtained From Fire Surveys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silcock, A.

1973-01-01

The previous two reports in this series gave details of the general. scope of the pilot exercise and methods by which it was carried out. In addition the nature of the information obtained was illustrated by preliminary analyses of the house and industrial fires surveyed. Some brief comments on the use of the information were made. This report indicates a method of assessing the nation wide effects of applying conclusions drawn from the results of limited numbers of surveys and considers the use of the information for specific purposes.

Statistical Symbolic Execution with Informed Sampling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Filieri, Antonio; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Visser, Willem; Geldenhuys, Jaco

2014-01-01

Symbolic execution techniques have been proposed recently for the probabilistic analysis of programs. These techniques seek to quantify the likelihood of reaching program events of interest, e.g., assert violations. They have many promising applications but have scalability issues due to high computational demand. To address this challenge, we propose a statistical symbolic execution technique that performs Monte Carlo sampling of the symbolic program paths and uses the obtained information for Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing with respect to the probability of reaching the target events. To speed up the convergence of the statistical analysis, we propose Informed Sampling, an iterative symbolic execution that first explores the paths that have high statistical significance, prunes them from the state space and guides the execution towards less likely paths. The technique combines Bayesian estimation with a partial exact analysis for the pruned paths leading to provably improved convergence of the statistical analysis. We have implemented statistical symbolic execution with in- formed sampling in the Symbolic PathFinder tool. We show experimentally that the informed sampling obtains more precise results and converges faster than a purely statistical analysis and may also be more efficient than an exact symbolic analysis. When the latter does not terminate symbolic execution with informed sampling can give meaningful results under the same time and memory limits.

Engaging Axiology: Enabling MeaningfulTransdisciplinary Collaboration in Adapted Physical Activity.

PubMed

Peers, Danielle

2018-07-01

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

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

PubMed

Poikela, Paula; Ruokamo, Heli; Teräs, Marianne

2015-02-01

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

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

PubMed

Kemeny, M Elizabeth; Mabry, J Beth

2017-01-01

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

The Teacher as an Agent of Meaningful Educational Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandeyar, Saloshna

2017-01-01

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

Meaningful Learning and Summative Assessment in Geography Education: An Analysis in Secondary Education in the Netherlands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bijsterbosch, Erik; van der Schee, Joop; Kuiper, Wilmad

2017-01-01

Enhancing meaningful learning is an important aim in geography education. Also, assessment should reflect this aim. Both formative and summative assessments contribute to meaningful learning when more complex knowledge and cognitive processes are assessed. The internal school-based geography examinations of the final exam in pre-vocational…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novak, Joseph D.

2002-07-01

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

The Role of Meaningful Dialogue in Early Childhood Education Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deakins, Eric

2007-01-01

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

Student Engagement and Teacher Guidance in Meaningful Mathematics: Enduring Principles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Gregory D.; Lucius, Lisa B.

2008-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2015-03-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-01-01

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

Disorientating, fun or meaningful? Disadvantaged families' experiences of a science museum visit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Archer, Louise; Dawson, Emily; Seakins, Amy; Wong, Billy

2016-12-01

It is widely agreed that there is a need to increase and widen science participation. Informal science learning environments (ISLEs), such as science museums, may provide valuable spaces within which to engage visitors—yet the visitor profile of science museums remains narrow. This paper seeks to understand the experiences of socially disadvantaged families within such spaces. Using a Bourdieusian analytic lens, we analyse qualitative data from a small study conducted with ten parents and ten children from an urban school who visited a large science museum. Data includes pre- and post-interviews, audio recordings and visit fieldnotes. We characterised families' experiences as falling into three discourses, as `disorientating', `fun' or `meaningful' visits. Analysis identifies how the families' experiences, and the likelihood of deriving science learning from the visit, were shaped through interactions of habitus and capital. Implications for improving equity and inclusion within ISLEs are discussed.

The dynamics of meaningful social interactions and the emergence of collective knowledge.

PubMed

Dankulov, Marija Mitrović; Melnik, Roderick; Tadić, Bosiljka

2015-07-15

Collective knowledge as a social value may arise in cooperation among actors whose individual expertise is limited. The process of knowledge creation requires meaningful, logically coordinated interactions, which represents a challenging problem to physics and social dynamics modeling. By combining two-scale dynamics model with empirical data analysis from a well-known Questions &Answers system Mathematics, we show that this process occurs as a collective phenomenon in an enlarged network (of actors and their artifacts) where the cognitive recognition interactions are properly encoded. The emergent behavior is quantified by the information divergence and innovation advancing of knowledge over time and the signatures of self-organization and knowledge sharing communities. These measures elucidate the impact of each cognitive element and the individual actor's expertise in the collective dynamics. The results are relevant to stochastic processes involving smart components and to collaborative social endeavors, for instance, crowdsourcing scientific knowledge production with online games.

Meaningful public participation in scientific research: How to build an effective site-based long-term education program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnett, L.

2013-12-01

Many site-based educators (Wildlife Refuges, nature centers, Cooperative Extension Programs, schools, arboretums) struggle with developing and implementing cohesive long-term scientific monitoring projects into their existing outreach programming. Moreover, projects that are not meaningful to participants often have little or no sustainable long-term impact. Programs proven most effective are those which 1.) engage the participants in the study design and implementation process, 2.) answer a scientific question posed by site leaders; the data collected supports USA-NPN efforts as well as related site management and monitoring questions, 3.) are built into existing outreach and education programs, using phenology as a lens for understanding both natural and cultural history, and 4.) consistently share outcomes and results with the participants. The USA National Phenology Network's (USA-NPN) Education Program provides phenology curriculum and outreach to educators in formal, non-formal, and informal settings. Materials are designed to serve participants in grades 5-12, higher education, and adult learners. Phenology, used as a lens for place-based education, can inform science, environmental, and climate literacy, as well as other subject areas including cultural studies, art, and language arts. The USA-NPN offers consultation with site leaders on how to successfully engage site-based volunteers and students in long-term phenological studies using Nature's Notebook (NN), the professional and citizen science phenology monitoring program. USA-NPN education and educator instruction materials are designed and field-tested to demonstrate how to implement a long-term NN phenology-monitoring program at such sites. These curricula incorporate monitoring for public visitors, long-term volunteers, and school groups, while meeting the goals of USA-NPN and the site, and can be used as a model for other public participation in science programs interested in achieving similar

Deriving meaningful climate-effects data from social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2011-12-01

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

7 CFR 1.641 - How may parties obtain discovery of information needed for the case?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false How may parties obtain discovery of information needed for the case? 1.641 Section 1.641 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture ADMINISTRATIVE... legal theories of an attorney. (g) Experts. Unless restricted by the ALJ, a party may discover any facts...

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

PubMed Central

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

2015-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2015-01-01

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

76 FR 64010 - Special Rules Governing Certain Information Obtained Under the Clean Air Act: Technical Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-17

... natural gas. 211112 Natural gas liquid extraction facilities. Petrochemical Production 32511 Ethylene.... Suppliers of Natural Gas and NGLs 221210 Natural gas distribution facilities. 211112 Natural gas liquid... Gas Reporting Rule, which are provided in the Special Rules Governing Certain Information Obtained...

Age Differences in the Neuroelectric Adaptation to Meaningful Sounds

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

28 CFR 115.341 - Obtaining information from residents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... ACT NATIONAL STANDARDS Standards for Juvenile Facilities Screening for Risk of Sexual Victimization... use information about each resident's personal history and behavior to reduce the risk of sexual abuse... instrument. (c) At a minimum, the agency shall attempt to ascertain information about: (1) Prior sexual...

28 CFR 115.341 - Obtaining information from residents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ACT NATIONAL STANDARDS Standards for Juvenile Facilities Screening for Risk of Sexual Victimization... use information about each resident's personal history and behavior to reduce the risk of sexual abuse... instrument. (c) At a minimum, the agency shall attempt to ascertain information about: (1) Prior sexual...

28 CFR 115.341 - Obtaining information from residents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... ACT NATIONAL STANDARDS Standards for Juvenile Facilities Screening for Risk of Sexual Victimization... use information about each resident's personal history and behavior to reduce the risk of sexual abuse... instrument. (c) At a minimum, the agency shall attempt to ascertain information about: (1) Prior sexual...

50 CFR 221.41 - How may parties obtain discovery of information needed for the case?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... materials, it must show: (i) That it has substantial need of the materials in preparing its own case; and... legal theories of an attorney. (g) Experts. Unless restricted by the ALJ, a party may discover any facts...: (i) That it has a compelling need for the information; and (ii) That it cannot practicably obtain the...

An observational study of the relationship between meaningful use-based electronic health information exchange, interoperability, and medication reconciliation capabilities.

PubMed

Elysee, Gerald; Herrin, Jeph; Horwitz, Leora I

2017-10-01

Stagnation in hospitals' adoption of data integration functionalities coupled with reduction in the number of operational health information exchanges could become a significant impediment to hospitals' adoption of 3 critical capabilities: electronic health information exchange, interoperability, and medication reconciliation, in which electronic systems are used to assist with resolving medication discrepancies and improving patient safety. Against this backdrop, we assessed the relationships between the 3 capabilities.We conducted an observational study applying partial least squares-structural equation modeling technique to 27 variables obtained from the 2013 American Hospital Association annual survey Information Technology (IT) supplement, which describes health IT capabilities.We included 1330 hospitals. In confirmatory factor analysis, out of the 27 variables, 15 achieved loading values greater than 0.548 at P < .001, as such were validated as the building blocks of the 3 capabilities. Subsequent path analysis showed a significant, positive, and cyclic relationship between the capabilities, in that decreases in the hospitals' adoption of one would lead to decreases in the adoption of the others.These results show that capability for high quality medication reconciliation may be impeded by lagging adoption of interoperability and health information exchange capabilities. Policies focused on improving one or more of these capabilities may have ancillary benefits.

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

PubMed

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

2014-08-01

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

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

PubMed Central

Kipfelsberger, Petra; Kark, Ronit

2018-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desai, Prakash O.; Haggerson, Nelson L.

1987-01-01

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

Meaningful community involvement in protected area issues: a dialogue session

Treesearch

Laurie Yung

2000-01-01

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

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Karen Ann

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

Data as Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolby, James L.

1984-01-01

Suggests structure based on two sets of principles for deriving meaning from data: Shannon's measure of entropy, which provides means of measuring amount of information in message; and Ranganathan's faceted classification scheme, which provides means of determining number of meaningful data. Syntax, meaning, and semantics of data are discussed.…

20 CFR 603.23 - What information must State UC agencies obtain from other agencies, and crossmatch with wage...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What information must State UC agencies obtain from other agencies, and crossmatch with wage information, for purposes of an IEVS? 603.23 Section 603.23 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FEDERAL-STATE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION (UC) PROGRAM;...

Obtaining subjects' consent to publish identifying personal information: current practices and identifying potential issues.

PubMed

Yoshida, Akiko; Dowa, Yuri; Murakami, Hiromi; Kosugi, Shinji

2013-11-25

In studies publishing identifying personal information, obtaining consent is regarded as necessary, as it is impossible to ensure complete anonymity. However, current journal practices around specific points to consider when obtaining consent, the contents of consent forms and how consent forms are managed have not yet been fully examined. This study was conducted to identify potential issues surrounding consent to publish identifying personal information. Content analysis was carried out on instructions for authors and consent forms developed by academic journals in four fields (as classified by Journal Citation Reports): medicine general and internal, genetics and heredity, pediatrics, and psychiatry. An online questionnaire survey of editors working for journals that require the submission of consent forms was also conducted. Instructions for authors were reviewed for 491 academic journals (132 for medicine general and internal, 147 for genetics and heredity, 100 for pediatrics, and 112 for psychiatry). Approximately 40% (203: 74 for medicine general and internal, 31 for genetics and heredity, 58 for pediatrics, and 40 for psychiatry) stated that subject consent was necessary. The submission of consent forms was required by 30% (154) of the journals studied, and 10% (50) provided their own consent forms for authors to use. Two journals mentioned that the possible effects of publication on subjects should be considered. Many journal consent forms mentioned the difficulties in ensuring complete anonymity of subjects, but few addressed the study objective, the subjects' right to refuse consent and the withdrawal of consent. The main reason for requiring the submission of consent forms was to confirm that consent had been obtained. Approximately 40% of journals required subject consent to be obtained. However, differences were observed depending on the fields. Specific considerations were not always documented. There is a need to address issues around the study

Obtaining subjects’ consent to publish identifying personal information: current practices and identifying potential issues

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In studies publishing identifying personal information, obtaining consent is regarded as necessary, as it is impossible to ensure complete anonymity. However, current journal practices around specific points to consider when obtaining consent, the contents of consent forms and how consent forms are managed have not yet been fully examined. This study was conducted to identify potential issues surrounding consent to publish identifying personal information. Methods Content analysis was carried out on instructions for authors and consent forms developed by academic journals in four fields (as classified by Journal Citation Reports): medicine general and internal, genetics and heredity, pediatrics, and psychiatry. An online questionnaire survey of editors working for journals that require the submission of consent forms was also conducted. Results Instructions for authors were reviewed for 491 academic journals (132 for medicine general and internal, 147 for genetics and heredity, 100 for pediatrics, and 112 for psychiatry). Approximately 40% (203: 74 for medicine general and internal, 31 for genetics and heredity, 58 for pediatrics, and 40 for psychiatry) stated that subject consent was necessary. The submission of consent forms was required by 30% (154) of the journals studied, and 10% (50) provided their own consent forms for authors to use. Two journals mentioned that the possible effects of publication on subjects should be considered. Many journal consent forms mentioned the difficulties in ensuring complete anonymity of subjects, but few addressed the study objective, the subjects’ right to refuse consent and the withdrawal of consent. The main reason for requiring the submission of consent forms was to confirm that consent had been obtained. Conclusion Approximately 40% of journals required subject consent to be obtained. However, differences were observed depending on the fields. Specific considerations were not always documented. There is a need

Variation In Rural Health Information Technology Adoption And Use.

PubMed

Heisey-Grove, Dawn M

2016-02-01

While rural hospitals and physicians have adopted health information technology at the same, or greater, rates as their urban counterparts, meaningful-use attestation varies dramatically among rural providers. Also, rural providers are more likely to skip a year of declaring that they have met meaningful-use requirements, putting them at a financial disadvantage compared to urban providers. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2012-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burgess-Van Aken, Barbara

2017-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2015-01-01

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

45 CFR 73.735-803 - Prohibition against involvement in financial transactions based on information obtained through...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Prohibition against involvement in financial transactions based on information obtained through Federal employment. 73.735-803 Section 73.735-803 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION STANDARDS OF CONDUCT Financial...

Knowledge structure representation and automated updates in intelligent information management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corey, Stephen; Carnahan, Richard S., Jr.

1990-01-01

A continuing effort to apply rapid prototyping and Artificial Intelligence techniques to problems associated with projected Space Station-era information management systems is examined. In particular, timely updating of the various databases and knowledge structures within the proposed intelligent information management system (IIMS) is critical to support decision making processes. Because of the significantly large amounts of data entering the IIMS on a daily basis, information updates will need to be automatically performed with some systems requiring that data be incorporated and made available to users within a few hours. Meeting these demands depends first, on the design and implementation of information structures that are easily modified and expanded, and second, on the incorporation of intelligent automated update techniques that will allow meaningful information relationships to be established. Potential techniques are studied for developing such an automated update capability and IIMS update requirements are examined in light of results obtained from the IIMS prototyping effort.

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

PubMed

Enmarker, Ingela

2004-11-01

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

Assessing clinically meaningful treatment effects in controlled trials: chronic migraine as an example.

PubMed

Dodick, David W; Turkel, Catherine C; DeGryse, Ronald E; Diener, Hans-Christoph; Lipton, Richard B; Aurora, Sheena K; Nolan, Marissa E; Silberstein, Stephen D

2015-02-01

In addition to headache, persons with chronic migraine (CM) experience multiple symptoms, both ictal and interictal, that may contribute to their suffering. Translating clinical trial results into practice requires assessment of the results' clinical meaningfulness. When examining treatment benefit in this disabled patient population, multiple headache-symptom measures should be considered to fully reflect clinical relevance. Currently, only onabotulinumtoxinA is approved specifically for headache prophylaxis in adults with CM. Topiramate is the only other therapeutic agent with double-blind, placebo-controlled evidence in this population. Herein we evaluate the clinical meaningfulness of onabotulinumtoxinA and topiramate as headache prophylaxis in CM by comparing primary endpoints from the placebo-controlled, double-blind phase of the Phase 3 REsearch Evaluating Migraine Prophylaxis Therapy (PREEMPT) clinical program and the topiramate clinical trial (frequency of headache days [primary endpoint in PREEMPT; secondary in topiramate trial] and migraine/migrainous days [primary in topiramate trial, or "migraine/probable-migraine days"; secondary in PREEMPT]). Additionally, outcome measures such as responder rates, health-related quality of life, discontinuation rates, safety, and tolerability profiles are important clinical considerations. The clinical data indicate that statistically significant, clinically relevant treatment benefits exist for both onabotulinumtoxinA and topiramate. These data support these treatments as meaningful headache prophylaxis in adults with CM. CM is a chronic pain condition. We sought to determine the clinical relevance of recent trials in this disabled population. Clinical data indicate that statistically significant, clinically relevant treatment benefits exist for both onabotulinumtoxinA and topiramate, and support use of these treatments as meaningful headache prophylaxis in CM. Copyright © 2015 American Pain Society. Published

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

PubMed

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

2012-03-01

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

The dynamics of meaningful social interactions and the emergence of collective knowledge

PubMed Central

Dankulov, Marija Mitrović; Melnik, Roderick; Tadić, Bosiljka

2015-01-01

Collective knowledge as a social value may arise in cooperation among actors whose individual expertise is limited. The process of knowledge creation requires meaningful, logically coordinated interactions, which represents a challenging problem to physics and social dynamics modeling. By combining two-scale dynamics model with empirical data analysis from a well-known Questions & Answers system Mathematics, we show that this process occurs as a collective phenomenon in an enlarged network (of actors and their artifacts) where the cognitive recognition interactions are properly encoded. The emergent behavior is quantified by the information divergence and innovation advancing of knowledge over time and the signatures of self-organization and knowledge sharing communities. These measures elucidate the impact of each cognitive element and the individual actor’s expertise in the collective dynamics. The results are relevant to stochastic processes involving smart components and to collaborative social endeavors, for instance, crowdsourcing scientific knowledge production with online games. PMID:26174482

The dynamics of meaningful social interactions and the emergence of collective knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dankulov, Marija Mitrović; Melnik, Roderick; Tadić, Bosiljka

2015-07-01

Collective knowledge as a social value may arise in cooperation among actors whose individual expertise is limited. The process of knowledge creation requires meaningful, logically coordinated interactions, which represents a challenging problem to physics and social dynamics modeling. By combining two-scale dynamics model with empirical data analysis from a well-known Questions & Answers system Mathematics, we show that this process occurs as a collective phenomenon in an enlarged network (of actors and their artifacts) where the cognitive recognition interactions are properly encoded. The emergent behavior is quantified by the information divergence and innovation advancing of knowledge over time and the signatures of self-organization and knowledge sharing communities. These measures elucidate the impact of each cognitive element and the individual actor’s expertise in the collective dynamics. The results are relevant to stochastic processes involving smart components and to collaborative social endeavors, for instance, crowdsourcing scientific knowledge production with online games.

Finding pathways to more equitable and meaningful public-scientist partnerships

Treesearch

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

2016-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Guttentag, R

1995-01-01

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

25 CFR 162.539 - Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining a WSR lease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Wsr Leases § 162.539 Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining... direct result of energy resource information gathered from a WEEL activity, obtaining a WEEL is not a...

25 CFR 162.539 - Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining a WSR lease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Wsr Leases § 162.539 Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining... direct result of energy resource information gathered from a WEEL activity, obtaining a WEEL is not a...

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plant, Walter T.; Southern, Mara L.

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

Types of Meaningfulness of Life and Values of Future Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salikhova, Nailia R.

2016-01-01

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

Extracting spatial information from networks with low-order eigenvectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cucuringu, Mihai; Blondel, Vincent D.; Van Dooren, Paul

2013-03-01

We consider the problem of inferring meaningful spatial information in networks from incomplete information on the connection intensity between the nodes of the network. We consider two spatially distributed networks: a population migration flow network within the US, and a network of mobile phone calls between cities in Belgium. For both networks we use the eigenvectors of the Laplacian matrix constructed from the link intensities to obtain informative visualizations and capture natural geographical subdivisions. We observe that some low-order eigenvectors localize very well and seem to reveal small geographically cohesive regions that match remarkably well with political and administrative boundaries. We discuss possible explanations for this observation by describing diffusion maps and localized eigenfunctions. In addition, we discuss a possible connection with the weighted graph cut problem, and provide numerical evidence supporting the idea that lower-order eigenvectors point out local cuts in the network. However, we do not provide a formal and rigorous justification for our observations.

5W1H Information Extraction with CNN-Bidirectional LSTM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurdin, A.; Maulidevi, N. U.

2018-03-01

In this work, information about who, did what, when, where, why, and how on Indonesian news articles were extracted by combining Convolutional Neural Network and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory. Convolutional Neural Network can learn semantically meaningful representations of sentences. Bidirectional LSTM can analyze the relations among words in the sequence. We also use word embedding word2vec for word representation. By combining these algorithms, we obtained F-measure 0.808. Our experiments show that CNN-BLSTM outperforms other shallow methods, namely IBk, C4.5, and Naïve Bayes with the F-measure 0.655, 0.645, and 0.595, respectively.

The Right to Appropriate and Meaningful Education for Children with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, David; Goodall, Craig

2015-01-01

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

Setting Meaningful Criterion-Reference Cut Scores as an Effective Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munyofu, Paul

2010-01-01

The state of Pennsylvania, like many organizations interested in performance improvement, routinely engages in professional development activities. Educators in this hands-on activity engaged in setting meaningful criterion-referenced cut scores for career and technical education assessments using two methods. The main purposes of this study were…

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

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-05-05

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

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

PubMed Central

Peräkylä, Anssi; Stevanovic, Melisa

2016-01-01

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

Feasibility of Obtaining Quantitative 3-Dimensional Information Using Conventional Endoscope: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Hyun, Jong Jin; Keum, Bora; Seo, Yeon Seok; Kim, Yong Sik; Jeen, Yoon Tae; Lee, Hong Sik; Um, Soon Ho; Kim, Chang Duck; Ryu, Ho Sang; Lim, Jong-Wook; Woo, Dong-Gi; Kim, Young-Joong; Lim, Myo-Taeg

2012-01-01

Background/Aims Three-dimensional (3D) imaging is gaining popularity and has been partly adopted in laparoscopic surgery or robotic surgery but has not been applied to gastrointestinal endoscopy. As a first step, we conducted an experiment to evaluate whether images obtained by conventional gastrointestinal endoscopy could be used to acquire quantitative 3D information. Methods Two endoscopes (GIF-H260) were used in a Borrmann type I tumor model made of clay. The endoscopes were calibrated by correcting the barrel distortion and perspective distortion. Obtained images were converted to gray-level image, and the characteristics of the images were obtained by edge detection. Finally, data on 3D parameters were measured by using epipolar geometry, two view geometry, and pinhole camera model. Results The focal length (f) of endoscope at 30 mm was 258.49 pixels. Two endoscopes were fixed at predetermined distance, 12 mm (d12). After matching and calculating disparity (v2-v1), which was 106 pixels, the calculated length between the camera and object (L) was 29.26 mm. The height of the object projected onto the image (h) was then applied to the pinhole camera model, and the result of H (height and width) was 38.21 mm and 41.72 mm, respectively. Measurements were conducted from 2 different locations. The measurement errors ranged from 2.98% to 7.00% with the current Borrmann type I tumor model. Conclusions It was feasible to obtain parameters necessary for 3D analysis and to apply the data to epipolar geometry with conventional gastrointestinal endoscope to calculate the size of an object. PMID:22977798

40 CFR 2.309 - Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Marine Protection, Research and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information obtained under the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. 2.309 Section 2.309... Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section: (1) Act means the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, 33 U.S.C. 1401 et seq. (2) Permit...

Procedures of recruiting, obtaining informed consent, and compensating research participants in Qatar: findings from a qualitative investigation.

PubMed

Killawi, Amal; Khidir, Amal; Elnashar, Maha; Abdelrahim, Huda; Hammoud, Maya; Elliott, Heather; Thurston, Michelle; Asad, Humna; Al-Khal, Abdul Latif; Fetters, Michael D

2014-02-04

Very few researchers have reported on procedures of recruiting, obtaining informed consent, and compensating participants in health research in the Arabian Gulf Region. Empirical research can inform the debate about whether to adjust these procedures for culturally diverse settings. Our objective was to delineate procedures related to recruiting, obtaining informed consent, and compensating health research participants in the extremely high-density multicultural setting of Qatar. During a multistage mixed methods project, field observations and qualitative interviews were conducted in a general medicine clinic of a major medical center in Qatar. Participants were chosen based on gender, age, literacy, and preferred language, i.e., Arabic, English, Hindi and Urdu. Qualitative analysis identified themes about recruitment, informed consent, compensation, and other research procedures. A total of 153 individuals were approached and 84 enrolled; the latter showed a diverse age range (18 to 75 years); varied language representation: Arabic (n = 24), English (n = 20), Hindi (n = 20), and Urdu (n = 20); and balanced gender distribution: women (n = 43) and men (n = 41). Primary reasons for 30 declinations included concern about interview length and recording. The study achieved a 74% participation rate. Qualitative analytics revealed key themes about hesitation to participate, decisions about participation with family members as well as discussions with them as "incidental research participants", the informed consent process, privacy and gender rules of the interview environment, reactions to member checking and compensation, and motivation for participating. Vulnerability emerged as a recurring issue throughout the process among a minority of participants. This study from Qatar is the first to provide empirical data on recruitment, informed consent, compensation and other research procedures in a general adult population in the Middle East and Arabian Gulf. This

Taking a Closer Look at Your Informational Writing Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beschorner, Beth; Hall, Anna H.

2018-01-01

When students write informational text, they have the opportunity to engage with meaningful topics, become curious about the world, learn domain-specific knowledge, and use academic vocabulary. Given the possibilities for learning through writing informational text, it is important for teachers to reflect on and improve their informational writing…

Meaningful, Authentic and Place-Based Informal Science Education for 6-12 Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ito, E.; Dalbotten, D. M.

2014-12-01

American Indians are underrepresented in STEM and especially in Earth sciences. They have the lowest high school graduation rate and highest unemployment. On the other hand, tribes are in search of qualified young people to work in geo- and hydro-technical fields to manage reservations' natural resources. Dalbotten and her collaborators at the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and local 6-12 teachers ran a place-based but non-themed informal monthly science camps (gidakiimanaaniwigamig) for 7 years starting 2003. Camps were held on reservation and some activities focused on observing seasonal changes. The students enjoyed coming to the camps but the camp activities went largely unnoticed by the reservation itself. For the last 5 years, we and the same cast of characters from the gidakiimanaaniwigamig camps ran a very place-based, research-based camp program, manoomin. The research was focused on manoomin (wild rice) which is a culturally important plant and food that grows in local lakes and wetlands. Manmade changes in hydrology, toxic metals from mining, and changing weather patterns due to climate change threaten this precious resource. Our plan was for 6-12 students to investigate the past, the present and the future conditions of manoomin on and around the reservation. It became clear by 3rd year that the research project, as conceived, was overly ambitious and could not be completed at the level we hoped in a camp setting (6 weekend camps = 6 full days per year). However, students felt that they were involved in research that was beneficial to their reservation, reported gaining self-confidence to pursue a career in science, and stated a desired to obtain a college degree. They also became aware of STEM employment opportunities on reservation that they could aim for. The camps also fostered a trusting relationship between researchers at Fond du Lac resource managers and the U. of MN. Based on these experiences, we proposed a new format for these

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuckerman, June Trop

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

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

PubMed Central

Federmeier, Kara D.; Paller, Ken A.

2012-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2018-02-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-04-04

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

34 CFR 361.52 - Informed choice.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... individual (including students with disabilities who are making the transition from programs under the... disabilities who require assistance in exercising informed choice throughout the vocational rehabilitation... eligible individuals meaningful choices among the methods used to procure vocational rehabilitation...

BOULDER AREA SUSTAINABILITY INFORMATION NETWORK (BASIN)

EPA Science Inventory

The primary goal of the Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN) is to help citizens make meaningful connections between environmental data and their day-to-day activities and facilitate involvement in public policy development. Objectives include:

...

• Promoting meaningful use of health information technology in Israel: ministry of health vision.

  PubMed

  Gerber, Ayala; Topaz, Maxim Max

  2014-01-01

  The Ministry of Health (MOH) of Israel has overall responsibility for the healthcare system. In recent years the MOH has developed strong capabilities in the areas of technology assessment and prioritization of new technologies. Israel completed the transition to computerized medical records a decade ago in most care settings; however, the processes in Israel was spontaneous, without government control and standards settings, therefore large variations among systems and among organizations were created. Currently, the main challenge is to convert the information scattered in different systems, to organized, visible information and to make it available to various levels in health management. The MOH's solution is of implementing a selected information system from a specific vendor, at all the hospitals and all HMO's clinics, in order to achieve interoperability. The sys-tem will enable access to the patient's medical record history from any location.

• Towards a More Meaningful Involvement of Librarians in Academic Program Reviews

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

  Bowker, Lynne

  2018-01-01

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

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

  Urso, David J.

  2012-01-01

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

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

  2012-01-01

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

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

  PubMed

  Lawrence, Daphne

  2010-04-01

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

• Knowledge representation and management: transforming textual information into useful knowledge.

  PubMed

  Rassinoux, A-M

  2010-01-01

  To summarize current outstanding research in the field of knowledge representation and management. Synopsis of the articles selected for the IMIA Yearbook 2010. Four interesting papers, dealing with structured knowledge, have been selected for the section knowledge representation and management. Combining the newest techniques in computational linguistics and natural language processing with the latest methods in statistical data analysis, machine learning and text mining has proved to be efficient for turning unstructured textual information into meaningful knowledge. Three of the four selected papers for the section knowledge representation and management corroborate this approach and depict various experiments conducted to .extract meaningful knowledge from unstructured free texts such as extracting cancer disease characteristics from pathology reports, or extracting protein-protein interactions from biomedical papers, as well as extracting knowledge for the support of hypothesis generation in molecular biology from the Medline literature. Finally, the last paper addresses the level of formally representing and structuring information within clinical terminologies in order to render such information easily available and shareable among the health informatics community. Delivering common powerful tools able to automatically extract meaningful information from the huge amount of electronically unstructured free texts is an essential step towards promoting sharing and reusability across applications, domains, and institutions thus contributing to building capacities worldwide.

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

  PubMed

  Rogers, Ross

  2011-02-01

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

• THE IMPORTANCE OF SPATIAL ACCURACY FOR CHEMICAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

  EPA Science Inventory

  Information about chemicals can be critical to making timely decisions. The results of these decisions may not be realized for many years. In order to increase the value of chemical information and to create and utilize meaningful environmental models, the Environmental Prote...

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

  Sadik, Alaa

  2008-01-01

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

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

  Davis, Joy Lawson

  2013-01-01

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

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

  2011-01-01

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

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

  ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

  Gamlin, Peter J.

  1971-01-01

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

• Do family physicians electronic health records support meaningful use?

  PubMed

  Peterson, Lars E; Blackburn, Brenna; Ivins, Douglas; Mitchell, Jason; Matson, Christine; Phillips, Robert L

  2015-03-01

  Spurred by government incentives, the use of electronic health records (EHRs) in the United States has increased; however, whether these EHRs have the functionality necessary to meet meaningful use (MU) criteria remains unknown. Our objective was to characterize family physician access to MU functionality when using a MU-certified EHR. Data were obtained from a convenience survey of family physicians accessing their American Board of Family Medicine online portfolio in 2011. A brief survey queried MU functionality. We used descriptive statistics to characterize the responses and bivariate statistics to test associations between MU and patient communication functions by presence of a MU-certified EHR. Out of 3855 respondents, 60% reported having an EHR that supports MU. Physicians with MU-certified EHRs were more likely than physicians without MU-certified EHRs to report patient registry activities (49.7% vs. 32.3%, p-value<0.01), tracking quality measures (74.1% vs. 56.4%, p-value<0.01), access to labs or consultation notes, and electronic prescribing; but electronic communication abilities were low regardless of EHR capabilities. Family physicians with MU-certified EHRs are more likely to report MU functionality; however, a sizeable minority does not report MU functions. Many family physicians with MU-certified EHRs may not successfully meet the successively stringent MU criteria and may face significant upgrade costs to do so. Cross sectional survey. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

• Obtaining and providing health information in the community pharmacy setting.

  PubMed

  Iwanowicz, Susan L; Marciniak, Macary Weck; Zeolla, Mario M

  2006-06-15

  Community pharmacists are a valuable information resource for patients and other healthcare providers. The advent of new information technology, most notably the Internet, coupled with the rapid availability of new healthcare information, has fueled this demand. Pharmacy students must receive training that enables them to meet this need. Community advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) provide an excellent opportunity for students to develop and master drug information skills in a real-world setting. Preceptors must ensure that students are familiar with drug information resources and can efficiently identify the most useful resource for a given topic. Students must also be trained to assess the quality of resources and use this information to effectively respond to drug or health information inquiries. This article will discuss key aspects of providing drug information in the community pharmacy setting and can serve as a guide and resource for APPE preceptors.

Obtaining and Providing Health Information in the Community Pharmacy Setting

PubMed Central

Iwanowicz, Susan L.; Marciniak, Macary Weck; Zeolla, Mario M.

2006-01-01

Community pharmacists are a valuable information resource for patients and other healthcare providers. The advent of new information technology, most notably the Internet, coupled with the rapid availability of new healthcare information, has fueled this demand. Pharmacy students must receive training that enables them to meet this need. Community advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) provide an excellent opportunity for students to develop and master drug information skills in a real-world setting. Preceptors must ensure that students are familiar with drug information resources and can efficiently identify the most useful resource for a given topic. Students must also be trained to assess the quality of resources and use this information to effectively respond to drug or health information inquiries. This article will discuss key aspects of providing drug information in the community pharmacy setting and can serve as a guide and resource for APPE preceptors. PMID:17136178

Creating a career legacy map to help assure meaningful work in nursing.

PubMed

Hinds, Pamela S; Britton, Dorienda R; Coleman, Lael; Engh, Eileen; Humbel, Tina Kunze; Keller, Susan; Kelly, Katherine Patterson; Menard, Johanna; Lee, Marlene A; Roberts-Turner, Renee; Walczak, Dory

2015-01-01

When nurses declare a professional legacy (or what they intend to be better in health care because of their efforts), they are likely to maintain a focus on achieving their legacy and to experience meaning in the process. We depict the legacy and involved steps in creating a legacy map, which is a concrete guide forward to intended career outcomes. Informed by the "meaningful work" literature, we describe a legacy map, its function, the process to create one, and the application of a legacy map to guide careers. We also describe an administrative benefit of the legacy map-the map can be used by team leaders and members to secure needed resources and opportunities to support the desired legacy of team members. Legacy mapping can be a self-use career guidance tool for nurses and other health care professionals or a tool that links the career efforts of a team member with the career support efforts of a team leader. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2016-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Todd A.; Barnett, Jennifer A.

2008-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Autio, Ossi

2009-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-09-01

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

The Concept Maps as a Didactic Resource Tool of Meaningful Learning in Astronomy Themes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silveira, Felipa Pacífico Ribeiro de Assis; Mendonça, Conceição Aparecida Soares

2015-07-01

This article presents the results of an investigation that sought to understand the performance of the conceptual map (MC) as a teaching resource facilitator of meaningful learning of scientific concepts on astronomical themes, developed with elementary school students. The methodology employed to obtain and process the data was based on a quantitative and qualitative approach. On the quantitative level we designed a quasi-experimental research with a control group that did not use the MC and an experimental group that used the MC, both being evaluated in the beginning and end of the process. In this case, the performance of both groups is displayed in a descriptive and analytical study. In the qualitative approach, the MCs were interpreted using the structuring and assigned meanings shared by the student during his/her presentation. The results demonstrated through the improvement of qualifications that the MC made a difference in conceptual learning and in certain skills revealed by learning indicators.

Meaningful Engagement to Enhance Diversity: Broadened Impact Actualized

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2008-12-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsher, G.; Dreyfus, A.

1999-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Lieff, Susan J

2009-10-01

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

45 CFR 158.151 - Expenditures related to Health Information Technology and meaningful use requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Expenditures related to Health Information... HUMAN SERVICES REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS ISSUER USE OF PREMIUM REVENUE: REPORTING AND REBATE REQUIREMENTS Disclosure and Reporting § 158.151 Expenditures related to Health Information...

45 CFR 158.151 - Expenditures related to Health Information Technology and meaningful use requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Expenditures related to Health Information... HUMAN SERVICES REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS ISSUER USE OF PREMIUM REVENUE: REPORTING AND REBATE REQUIREMENTS Disclosure and Reporting § 158.151 Expenditures related to Health Information...

45 CFR 158.151 - Expenditures related to Health Information Technology and meaningful use requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Expenditures related to Health Information... Human Services REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS ISSUER USE OF PREMIUM REVENUE: REPORTING AND REBATE REQUIREMENTS Disclosure and Reporting § 158.151 Expenditures related to Health Information...

45 CFR 158.151 - Expenditures related to Health Information Technology and meaningful use requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Expenditures related to Health Information... HUMAN SERVICES REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS ISSUER USE OF PREMIUM REVENUE: REPORTING AND REBATE REQUIREMENTS Disclosure and Reporting § 158.151 Expenditures related to Health Information...

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling, Lynette Tan Yuen

2018-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2016-01-01

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

Binge eating as a meaningful experience in bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa: a qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Eli, Karin

2015-12-01

Clinical studies describe binge eating as a reaction to hunger, negative affect, or the need to dissociate. However, little is known about the meanings that women with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa associate with binge eating. To examine how women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa interpret their experiences of binge eating. Sixteen women who engaged in binge eating and had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or their subclinical variants were interviewed about their experiences of eating disorder. Interview data were analyzed using phenomenologically-informed thematic analysis. Participants described binge eating as a practice through which the self experiences a sense of release, and existential emptiness is replaced by overwhelming fullness. Meaningful experiences of release and fullness are central to binge eating in bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa, and may contribute to the long-term maintenance of this practice.

Flexible Learning in an Information Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Badrul, Ed.

2007-01-01

Flexible Learning in an Information Society uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors--institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation--and a systematic understanding of these…

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

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roman Sanchez, Jose Maria

2004-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allard, Andrea C.; Gallant, Andrea

2012-01-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2014-01-01

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

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

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

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

Medical Comics as Tools to Aid in Obtaining Informed Consent for Stroke Care.

PubMed

Furuno, Yuichi; Sasajima, Hiroyasu

2015-07-01

Informed consent has now become common in medical practice. However, a gap still exists between doctors and patients in the understanding of clinical conditions. We designed medical comics about "subarachnoid hemorrhage" and "intracerebral hemorrhage" to help doctors obtain informed consent intuitively, quickly, and comprehensively.Between September 2010 and September 2012, we carried out a questionnaire survey about medical comics with the families of patients who had suffered an intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. The questionnaire consisted of 6 questions inquiring about their mental condition, reading time, usefulness of the comics in understanding brain function and anatomy, pathogenesis, doctor's explanation, and applicability of these comics.The results showed that 93.8% responders would prefer or strongly prefer the use of comics in other medical situations. When considering the level of understanding of brain function and anatomy, pathology of disease, and doctor's explanation, 81.3%, 75.0%, and 68.8% of responders, respectively, rated these comics as very useful or useful.We think that the visual and narrative illustrations in medical comics would be more helpful for patients than a lengthy explanation by a doctor. Most of the responders hoped that medical comics would be applied to other medical cases. Thus, medical comics could work as a new communication tool between doctors and patients.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tajino, Akira; James, Robert; Kijima, Kyoichi

2005-01-01

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

Effects of information and communication technology on youth's health knowledge.

PubMed

Ghorbani, Nahid R; Heidari, Rosemarie N

2011-05-01

Information technology (IT) has produced a deep impact on human lives, and the most important aspect of its effect is on education and learning. This study was done for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of electronic health information on our Web site http://www.teen.hbi.ir in the promotion of health education and in increasing the capabilities of the students in the use of the Internet. This study was performed on the basis of the information obtained from the questionnaires on selected health issues from 649 students from 3 high schools. Information was collected in 2 steps (pretest and posttest). The t test and Leven's test were used in the statistical analysis of data. Results of the t test showed that educating students through health information Web sites has increased their knowledge by at least 14.5% on environmental health and 48.9% on nutrition and was statistically meaningful in all fields (P=.000) with the exception of mental health. The fact is that the use of IT has become a part of our society and is perhaps the most promising medium for achieving health promotion initiatives.

Consent for participating in clinical trials - Is it really informed?

PubMed

Alexa-Stratulat, Teodora; Neagu, Marius; Neagu, Anca-Iulia; Alexa, Ioana Dana; Ioan, Beatrice Gabriela

2018-06-22

The article explores the challenges of ensuring voluntary and informed consent which is obtained from potential research subjects in the north-eastern part of Romania. This study is one of the first empirical papers of this nature in Romania. The study used a quantitative survey design using the adapted Quality of Informed Consent (QuIC) questionnaire. The target population consisted of 100 adult persons who voluntarily enrolled in clinical trials. The informed consent form must contain details regarding the potential risks and benefits, the aim of the clinical trial, study design, confidentiality, insurance and contact details in case of additional questions. Our study confirmed that although all required information was included in the ICF, few clinical trial participants truly understood it. We also found that the most important predictive factor for a good subjective and objective understanding of the clinical trial was the level of education. Our study suggests that researchers should consider putting more effort in order to help clinical trials participants achieve a better understanding of the informed consent. In this way they will ensure that participants' decision-making is meaningful and that their interests are protected. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krist, Christina Rae

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

Health Information Obtained From the Internet and Changes in Medical Decision Making: Questionnaire Development and Cross-Sectional Survey.

PubMed

Chen, Yen-Yuan; Li, Chia-Ming; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2018-02-12

medical decision making (P=.01), consulting with others (P<.001), and promoting self-efficacy on deliberating the online health information (P<.001) based on the online health information they obtained. Present health care professionals have a responsibility to acknowledge that patients' medical decision making may be changed based on additional online health information. Health care professionals should assist patients' medical decision making by initiating as much dialogue with patients as possible, providing credible and convincing health information to patients, and guiding patients where to look for accurate, comprehensive, and understandable online health information. By doing so, patients will avoid becoming overwhelmed with extraneous and often conflicting health information. Educational interventions to promote health information seekers' ability to identify, locate, obtain, read, understand, evaluate, and effectively use online health information are highly encouraged. ©Yen-Yuan Chen, Chia-Ming Li, Jyh-Chong Liang, Chin-Chung Tsai. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 12.02.2018.

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

PubMed

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

2015-06-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teichmann, Sandra Gail

1995-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Shelly J.

2013-01-01

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

Using Information Processing Theory to Teach Social Stratification to Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

Information in context has meaning for the student, easily understood, easily retrieved, and successfully moves to long term memory. If information is not in context, rote memorization occurs with the less meaningful information, and information is not easily retrieved or successfully stored in long term memory. The purpose of this study was to…

TopoToolbox: using sensor topography to calculate psychologically meaningful measures from event-related EEG/MEG.

PubMed

Tian, Xing; Poeppel, David; Huber, David E

2011-01-01

The open-source toolbox "TopoToolbox" is a suite of functions that use sensor topography to calculate psychologically meaningful measures (similarity, magnitude, and timing) from multisensor event-related EEG and MEG data. Using a GUI and data visualization, TopoToolbox can be used to calculate and test the topographic similarity between different conditions (Tian and Huber, 2008). This topographic similarity indicates whether different conditions involve a different distribution of underlying neural sources. Furthermore, this similarity calculation can be applied at different time points to discover when a response pattern emerges (Tian and Poeppel, 2010). Because the topographic patterns are obtained separately for each individual, these patterns are used to produce reliable measures of response magnitude that can be compared across individuals using conventional statistics (Davelaar et al. Submitted and Huber et al., 2008). TopoToolbox can be freely downloaded. It runs under MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc.) and supports user-defined data structure as well as standard EEG/MEG data import using EEGLAB (Delorme and Makeig, 2004).

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kean, Ang Chooi; Kwe, Ngu Moi

2014-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2017-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nganga, Christine W.; Beck, Makini

2017-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Blusi, Madeleine; Nilsson, Ingeborg; Lindgren, Helena

2018-01-01

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

Characteristics of patient portals developed in the context of health information exchanges: early policy effects of incentives in the meaningful use program in the United States.

PubMed

Otte-Trojel, Terese; de Bont, Antoinette; van de Klundert, Joris; Rundall, Thomas G

2014-11-21

In 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the United States launched the second stage of its Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, providing financial incentives to providers to meaningfully use their electronic health records to engage patients online. Patient portals are electronic means to engage patients by enabling secure access to personal medical records, communication with providers, various self-management tools, and administrative functionalities. Outcomes of patient portals have mainly been reported in large integrated health systems. This may now change as the EHR Incentive Program enables and supports the use of patient portals in other types of health systems. In this paper, we focus on Health Information Exchanges (HIE): entities that facilitate data exchange within networks of independent providers. In response to the EHR Incentive Program, some Health Information Exchanges in the United States are developing patient portals and offering them to their network of providers. Such patient portals hold high value for patients, especially in fragmented health system contexts, due to the portals' ability to integrate health information from an array of providers and give patients one access point to this information. Our aim was to report on the early effects of the EHR incentives on patient portal development by HIEs. Specifically, we describe the characteristics of these portals, identify factors affecting adoption by providers during the 2013-2014 time frame, and consider what may be the primary drivers of providers' adoption of patient portals in the future. We identified four HIEs that were developing patient portals as of spring 2014. We collected relevant documents and conducted interviews with six HIE leaders as well as two providers that were implementing the portals in their practices. We performed content analysis on these data to extract information pertinent to our study objectives. Our findings suggest that there

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2013-01-01

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

How the public uses social media wechat to obtain health information in china: a survey study.

PubMed

Zhang, Xingting; Wen, Dong; Liang, Jun; Lei, Jianbo

2017-07-05

On average, 570 million users, 93% in China's first-tier cities, log on to WeChat every day. WeChat has become the most widely and frequently used social media in China, and has been profoundly integrated into the daily life of many Chinese people. A variety of health-related information may be found on WeChat. The objective of this study is to understand how the general public views the impact of the rapidly emerging social media on health information acquisition. A self-administered questionnaire was designed, distributed, collected, and analyzed utilizing the online survey tool Sojump. WeChat was adopted to randomly release the questionnaires using convenience sampling and collect the results after a certain amount of time. (1) A total of 1636 questionnaires (WeChat customers) were collected from 32 provinces. (2) The primary means by which respondents received health education was via the Internet (71.79%). Baidu and WeChat were the top 2 search tools utilized (90.71% and 28.30%, respectively). Only 12.41% of respondents were satisfied with their online health information search. (3) Almost all had seen (98.35%) or read (97.68%) health information; however, only 14.43% believed that WeChat health information could improve health. Nearly one-third frequently received and read health information through WeChat. WeChat was selected (63.26%) as the most expected means for obtaining health information. (4) The major concerns regarding health information through WeChat included the following: excessively homogeneous information, the lack of a guarantee of professionalism, and the presence of advertisements. (5) Finally, the general public was most interested in individualized and interactive health information by managing clinicians, they will highly benefit from using social media rather than Internet search tools. The current state of health acquisition proves worrisome. The public has a high chance to access health information via WeChat. The growing popularity of

Is the diagnostic threshold for bulimia nervosa clinically meaningful?

PubMed

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

2018-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2013-08-01

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

The challenge of obtaining information necessary for multi-criteria decision analysis implementation: the case of physiotherapy services in Canada

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background As fiscal constraints dominate health policy discussions across Canada and globally, priority-setting exercises are becoming more common to guide the difficult choices that must be made. In this context, it becomes highly desirable to have accurate estimates of the value of specific health care interventions. Economic evaluation is a well-accepted method to estimate the value of health care interventions. However, economic evaluation has significant limitations, which have lead to an increase in the use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). One key concern with MCDA is the availability of the information necessary for implementation. In the Fall 2011, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association embarked on a project aimed at providing a valuation of physiotherapy services that is both evidence-based and relevant to resource allocation decisions. The framework selected for this project was MCDA. We report on how we addressed the challenge of obtaining some of the information necessary for MCDA implementation. Methods MCDA criteria were selected and areas of physiotherapy practices were identified. The building up of the necessary information base was a three step process. First, there was a literature review for each practice area, on each criterion. The next step was to conduct interviews with experts in each of the practice areas to critique the results of the literature review and to fill in gaps where there was no or insufficient literature. Finally, the results of the individual interviews were validated by a national committee to ensure consistency across all practice areas and that a national level perspective is applied. Results Despite a lack of research evidence on many of the considerations relevant to the estimation of the value of physiotherapy services (the criteria), sufficient information was obtained to facilitate MCDA implementation at the local level. Conclusions The results of this research project serve two purposes: 1) a method to

Medical Comics as Tools to Aid in Obtaining Informed Consent for Stroke Care

PubMed Central

Furuno, Yuichi; Sasajima, Hiroyasu

2015-01-01

Abstract Informed consent has now become common in medical practice. However, a gap still exists between doctors and patients in the understanding of clinical conditions. We designed medical comics about “subarachnoid hemorrhage” and “intracerebral hemorrhage” to help doctors obtain informed consent intuitively, quickly, and comprehensively. Between September 2010 and September 2012, we carried out a questionnaire survey about medical comics with the families of patients who had suffered an intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. The questionnaire consisted of 6 questions inquiring about their mental condition, reading time, usefulness of the comics in understanding brain function and anatomy, pathogenesis, doctor's explanation, and applicability of these comics. The results showed that 93.8% responders would prefer or strongly prefer the use of comics in other medical situations. When considering the level of understanding of brain function and anatomy, pathology of disease, and doctor's explanation, 81.3%, 75.0%, and 68.8% of responders, respectively, rated these comics as very useful or useful. We think that the visual and narrative illustrations in medical comics would be more helpful for patients than a lengthy explanation by a doctor. Most of the responders hoped that medical comics would be applied to other medical cases. Thus, medical comics could work as a new communication tool between doctors and patients. PMID:26131830

Construction of meaningful identities in the context of rheumatoid arthritis, motherhood and paid work: A meta-ethnography.

PubMed

Feddersen, Helle; Kristiansen, Tine Mechlenborg; Andersen, Pernille Tanggaard; Hørslev-Petersen, Kim; Primdahl, Jette

2017-12-01

To derive new conceptual understanding about how women with rheumatoid arthritis manage their illness, motherhood and paid work, based on a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge, gained from qualitative studies. Rheumatoid arthritis affects several social aspects of life; however, little is known about how women with rheumatoid arthritis simultaneously manage their illness, motherhood and paid work. Qualitative metasynthesis. A qualitative metasynthesis informed by Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnography was carried out, based on studies identified by a systematic search in nine databases. Six studies were included. Social interactions in the performance of three interdependent subidentities emerged as an overarching category, with three subcategories: subidentities associated with (1) paid work, (2) motherhood and (3) rheumatoid arthritis. Pressure in managing one of the subidentities could restrict the fulfilment of the others. The subidentities were interpreted as being flexible, situational, contextual and competing. The women strove to construct meaningful subidentities by taking into account feedback obtained in social interactions. The subidentities associated with paid work and motherhood are competing subidentities. Paid work is given the highest priority, followed by motherhood and illness is the least attractive subidentity. Because of the fluctuating nature of the illness, the women constantly reconstruct the three interdependent subidentities. When healthcare professionals meet a woman with rheumatoid arthritis, they should consider that she might not accept the subidentity as an ill person. Health professionals should not expect that women will prioritise their illness in their everyday life. This could be included in clinical conversation with the women. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A discrete choice experiment to obtain a tariff for valuing informal care situations measured with the CarerQol instrument.

PubMed

Hoefman, Renske J; van Exel, Job; Rose, John M; van de Wetering, E J; Brouwer, Werner B F

2014-01-01

Economic evaluations adopting a societal perspective need to include informal care whenever relevant. However, in practice, informal care is often neglected, because there are few validated instruments to measure and value informal care for inclusion in economic evaluations. The CarerQol, which is such an instrument, measures the impact of informal care on 7 important burden dimensions (CarerQol-7D) and values this in terms of general quality of life (CarerQol-VAS). The objective of the study was to calculate utility scores based on relative utility weights for the CarerQol-7D. These tariffs will facilitate inclusion of informal care in economic evaluations. The CarerQol-7D tariff was derived with a discrete choice experiment conducted as an Internet survey among the general adult population in the Netherlands (N = 992). The choice set contained 2 unlabeled alternatives described in terms of the 7 CarerQol-7D dimensions (level range: "no,"some," and "a lot"). An efficient experimental design with priors obtained from a pilot study (N = 104) was used. Data were analyzed with a panel mixed multinomial parameter model including main and interaction effects of the attributes. The utility attached to informal care situations was significantly higher when this situation was more attractive in terms of fewer problems and more fulfillment or support. The interaction term between the CarerQol-7D dimensions physical health and mental health problems also significantly explained this utility. The tariff was constructed by adding up the relative utility weights per category of all CarerQol-7D dimensions and the interaction term. We obtained a tariff providing standard utility scores for caring situations described with the CarerQol-7D. This facilitates the inclusion of informal care in economic evaluations.

Success of University Student Volunteers in Obtaining Consent for Reviewing Private Health Information for Emergency Research.

PubMed

Kramer, Adam I; Stephenson, Elizabeth; Betel, Adam; Crudden, Johanna; Boutis, Kathy

2017-01-01

This study aimed to determine the success of university student volunteers in obtaining consent from parents to allow review of their child's personal health information (PHI) for emergency research screening. This study also aimed to examine the variables associated with successful consent. This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at a pediatric emergency department (ED). University students, who functioned as delegates of the health information custodian, approached parents for consent. Of 2,506 parents, 1,852 (73.9%) provided consent to allow review of their child's PHI for research screening. Variables associated with successful consent were high (≥12 months) versus low (<12 months) volunteer experience (OR = 2.0), research related (vs. unrelated) to the child's chief complaint (OR = 2.0), child treated regularly by specialists at the study institution (OR = 1.7), and ED presentation mid-week vs. weekend (OR = 1.7) and morning vs. evening presentation (OR = 1.4). When approached by a university student volunteer, about 25% of parents declined to have their child's PHI reviewed for research screening. This model of obtaining consent may put some emergency research at risk for selection bias. Variables that increase the odds of successful consent can be considered in program design to improve the effectiveness of this model.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodruff, Amanda H.; Griffin, Robert A.

2017-01-01

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

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

PubMed

Ng, Jerome; Scahill, Shane; Harrison, Jeff

2017-03-24

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

19 CFR 356.11 - Procedures for obtaining access to privileged information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... information. 356.11 Section 356.11 Customs Duties INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE... Government. Where, in the course of a panel review, the panel has reviewed privileged information under a Protective Order for Privileged Information, and the issue to which such information pertains is relevant to...

19 CFR 356.11 - Procedures for obtaining access to privileged information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... information. 356.11 Section 356.11 Customs Duties INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE... Government. Where, in the course of a panel review, the panel has reviewed privileged information under a Protective Order for Privileged Information, and the issue to which such information pertains is relevant to...

19 CFR 356.11 - Procedures for obtaining access to privileged information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... information. 356.11 Section 356.11 Customs Duties INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE... Government. Where, in the course of a panel review, the panel has reviewed privileged information under a Protective Order for Privileged Information, and the issue to which such information pertains is relevant to...

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

PubMed Central

Rangachari, Pavani

2018-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2017-06-12

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

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

PubMed

Rangachari, Pavani

2018-01-01

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

Use of the Internet by patients and their families to obtain genetics-related information.

PubMed

Taylor, M R; Alman, A; Manchester, D K

2001-08-01

To characterize use of the Internet by patients and their families referred to general genetics clinics. We developed a survey to assess Internet use among patients visiting urban and rural clinics in Colorado and Wyoming. One hundred eighty-nine surveys were distributed to patients and their family members visiting outpatient general genetics clinics in spring 2000. The 8-page anonymous survey instrument asked about use of the Internet to obtain genetics-related information (GRI). All participants were asked whether a physician or health professional had referred them to the Internet for GRI. Subjects who had previously used the Internet to search for GRI were asked to rate whether they considered the GRI they encountered to be accurate, inaccurate, easy to understand, confusing, or trustworthy. One hundred fifty-seven surveys (83%) were returned (52% urban; 48% rural). Ninety (60%) of 149 respondents were at the clinic for a new-patient visit, and 59 (40%) were follow-up visits. All respondents were older than 17 years; 141 (91%) of 155 respondents were the patient's parent or guardian. Seventy-three (47%) of 155 respondents had searched the Internet for GRI prior to their clinic visit. The patients and families themselves initiated the majority of such efforts; only 8 (5%) of 148 respondents had been referred to a site on the World Wide Web by a physician. Interestingly, 136 (92%) of 147 respondents indicated that they would be likely to visit a Web site that was recommended by a geneticist. The most compelling reasons for searching the Internet for GRI were to get information in layperson's terms (60/131 [46%]); to get information about treatment (16/131 [12%]); and to get information about genetic research (16/131 [12%]). Among respondents who reported visiting GRI Web sites, 24 (41%) of 58 agreed that information was confusing or difficult to understand, 35 (53%) of 66 agreed that information was accurate and trustworthy, and 44 (77%) of 57 agreed that using

Exploring Novel Tools for Assessing High School Students' Meaningful Understanding of Organic Reactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vachliotis, Theodoros; Salta, Katerina; Vasiliou, Petroula; Tzougraki, Chryssa

2011-01-01

Systemic assessment questions (SAQs) are novel assessment tools used in the context of the Systemic Approach to Teaching and Learning (SATL) model. The purpose of this model is to enhance students' meaningful understanding of scientific concepts by use of constructivist concept mapping procedures, which emphasize the development of systems…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2015-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hytten, Kathy

2011-01-01

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

Shwirl: Meaningful coloring of spectral cube data with volume rendering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vohl, Dany

2017-04-01

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

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

PubMed

Ennis, Catherine D

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

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

PubMed Central

Ennis, Catherine D.

2015-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jena, Ananta Kumar

2012-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimitrov, Danielle

2012-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunliffe, Leslie

2010-01-01

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

Laboratory Exercises in Online Information Assurance Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhagyavati

2006-01-01

Information assurance courses delivered in an online environment pose challenges to the development of meaningful hands-on exercises for students. This article presents techniques on furnishing laboratory exercises to online students and presents examples of assignments drawn from the author's experiences in teaching online courses for over three…

Developing the foundation for syndromic surveillance and health information exchange for yolo county, california.

PubMed

Chaudhary, Osama

2012-01-01

This report delineates Yolo County Health Department's process to ascertain its optimal methods of participation in syndromic surveillance and health information exchange. As a health department serving a county of just 200,000 residents, Yolo County Health Department needed to operate within strict financial constraints. Meaningful Use legislation enabled it to pursue both syndromic surveillance and health information exchange participation whilst complying with its budgetary restrictions. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH), a segment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has incentivized the 'Meaningful Use' of electronic health records (EHRs) by providing incentive reimbursements and non-compliance penalties. The Meaningful Use of EHRs is to take place over 3 Stages: Stage 1 has begun, Stage 2 is imminent, and Stage 3 is currently being discussed. Having been solicited by both health information exchange and syndromic surveillance options which were cost-prohibitive, Yolo County Health Department focused attention on BioSense 2.0, a Meaningul Use-ready and virtually free syndromic surveillance program developed by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In collaboration with Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, and with support from several other area counties, Yolo County Health Department submitted a Funding Opportunity application for BioSense 2.0 regional implementation. Through this collaboration, Yolo County Health Department has begun participating in the formative stages of the Sacramento Area Center for Advanced Biosurveillance (SAC-B). Via SAC-B, Yolo County Health Department will be able to participate in syndromic surveillance in the BioSense 2.0 program, and simultaneously expand its electronic health data sharing towards a more comprehensive health information exchange. LASTLY, OVER THE COURSE OF THESE PROJECTS, THREE OTHER METHODS OF PARTICIPATING IN

78 FR 37806 - Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; EPA's...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-24

... profanity, threats, information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information... strategic planning efforts, EPA encourages programs to develop meaningful performance measures, set...), Licensed Certification Providers (6100-20), Licensed Certifying Body (6100-13) Annual Reporting Form...

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vachliotis, Theodoros; Salta, Katerina; Tzougraki, Chryssa

2014-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-12-01

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

Towards the development of full-fledged forest fire information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baetens, J.; De Baets, B.

2012-12-01

Throughout the last decades much efforts have been spent in obtaining an increased understanding of wildfire dynamics and the way it is influenced by prevailing environmental conditions and settings, such as temperature, humidity, topography, vegetation abundance, and so on, since such a profound apprehension is a prerequisite for achieving enhanced wildfire prevention measures, as well as for optimizing fire fighting and disaster management. Amongst other things, this pursuit has culminated in the deployment of wildfire information systems, such as the Canadian Wildfire Information System (CWFIS), the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and the United States Active Fire Mapping Program and Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE), which inform any interested stakeholder, be it a citizen or a government official, about the current fire risk, the extent and location of current fires, the inflammability of the vegetation, and so on. Taking into account the coverage of these systems, it should be clear that they strongly rely upon satellite imagery that is obtained from dedicated sensors, such as the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board of NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) that is carried by NOAA satellites, or more general-purpose instruments on board of spacecrafts such as Landsat or SPOT. Yet, to this day the aforementioned information systems have not yet embraced the power of mathematical modeling in order to enable trustworthy forecasts of the spatio-temporal propagation of wildfires given their current extent, which would nonetheless be extremely useful for optimizing fire fighting and disaster management, taking appropriate preventive measures, and so on. The deployment of such full-fledged wildfire information systems requires a high-level integration of (real-time) satellite imagery, weather reports and forecasts, geographic information, and

7 CFR 4290.620 - Requirements to obtain information from Portfolio Concerns.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... English. (a) Information for initial Financing decision. Before extending any Financing, you must require... financing proceeds), cash flow analyses, projections, and such economic development information about the Enterprise, as are necessary to support your investment decision. The information submitted must be...

Insights on Inspirational Education for "High-Risk" Youth Informed by Participatory Action Research (PAR) on Youth Engagement: Short Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwasaki, Yoshitaka; Hopper, Tristan; Whelan, Patricia

2017-01-01

This short communication provides our insights into how or in what ways educators can more effectively support aspiration of at-risk/high-risk youth toward meaningful education. These are informed by the key learnings from our ongoing youth engagement research. Those insights emphasize the importance of "meaningful engagement of youth"…

What is a Concept?: A Fresh Look at Teaching Factual Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lattanzio, Tania; Muller, Andrea

2017-01-01

Educators have traditionally taught through topics and content, the content being discrete pieces of factual information (e.g., capital cities, dates of significant events, names of dinosaurs, parts of plants). While such factual information is important, learners do not always understand how to transfer the content to meaningful and authentic…

Meaningful use in the safety net: a rapid ethnography of patient portal implementation at five community health centers in California.

PubMed

Ackerman, Sara L; Sarkar, Urmimala; Tieu, Lina; Handley, Margaret A; Schillinger, Dean; Hahn, Kenneth; Hoskote, Mekhala; Gourley, Gato; Lyles, Courtney

2017-09-01

US health care institutions are implementing secure websites (patient portals) to achieve federal Meaningful Use (MU) certification. We sought to understand efforts to implement portals in "safety net" health care systems that provide services for low-income populations. Our rapid ethnography involved visits at 4 California safety net health systems and in-depth interviews at a fifth. Visits included interviews with clinicians and executives ( n  = 12), informal focus groups with front-line staff ( n  = 35), observations of patient portal sign-up procedures and clinic work, review of marketing materials and portal use data, and a brief survey ( n  = 45). Our findings demonstrate that the health systems devoted considerable effort to enlisting staff support for portal adoption and integrating portal-related work into clinic routines. Although all health systems had achieved, or were close to achieving, MU benchmarks, patients faced numerous barriers to portal use and our participants were uncertain how to achieve and sustain "meaningful use" as defined by and for their patients. Health systems' efforts to achieve MU certification united clinic staff under a shared ethos of improved quality of care. However, MU's assumptions about patients' demand for electronic access to health information and ability to make use of it directed clinics' attention to enrollment and message routing rather than to the relevance and usability of a tool that is minimally adaptable to the safety net context. We found a mismatch between MU-based metrics of patient engagement and the priorities and needs of safety net patient populations. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Pharmacogenetic testing, informed consent and the problem of secondary information.

PubMed

Netzer, Christian; Biller-Andorno, Nikola

2004-08-01

Numerous benefits for patients have been predicted if prescribing decisions were routinely accompanied by pharmacogenetic testing. So far, little attention has been paid to the possibility that the routine application of this new technology could result in considerable harm to patients. This article emphasises that pharmacogenetic testing shares both the opportunities and the pitfalls with 'conventional' disease-genetic testing. It demonstrates that performing pharmacogenetic tests as well as interpreting the results are extraordinarily complex issues requiring a high level of expertise. It further argues that pharmacogenetic testing can have a huge impact on clinical decisions and may influence the therapeutic strategy as well as the clinical monitoring of a patient. This view challenges the predominant paradigm that pharmacogenetic testing will predict patients' responses to medicines, but that it will not provide any other significant disease-specific predictive information about the patient or family members. The article also questions published proposals to reduce the consent procedure for pharmacogenetic testing to a simple statement that the physician wishes to test a sample of the patient's DNA to see if a drug will be safe or whether it will work, and presents an alternative model that is better suited to protect patient's interests and to obtain meaningful informed consent. The paper concludes by outlining conditions for the application of pharmacogenetic testing in clinical practice in a way that can make full use of its potential benefits while minimising possible harm to patients and their families.

Area-level factors associated with electronic health record adoption and meaningful use in the Regional Extension Center Program

PubMed Central

Samuel, Cleo A

2014-01-01

Objective To identify area-level correlates of electronic health record (EHR) adoption and meaningful use (MU) among primary care providers (PCPs) enrolled in the Regional Extension Center (REC) Program. Materials and methods County-level data on 2013 EHR adoption and MU among REC-enrolled PCPs were obtained from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and linked with other county-level data sources including the Area Resource File, American Community Survey, and Federal Communications Commission's broadband availability database. Hierarchical models with random intercepts for RECs were employed to assess associations between a broad set of area-level factors and county-level rates of EHR adoption and MU. Results Among the 2715 counties examined, the average county-level EHR adoption and MU rates for REC-enrolled PCPs were 87.5% and 54.2%, respectively. Community health center presence and Medicaid enrollment concentration were positively associated with EHR adoption, while metropolitan status and Medicare Advantage enrollment concentration were positively associated with MU. Health professional shortage area status and minority concentration were negatively associated with EHR adoption and MU. Discussion Increased financial incentives in areas with greater concentrations of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees may be encouraging EHR adoption and MU among REC-enrolled PCPs. Disparities in EHR adoption and MU in some low-resource and underserved areas remain a concern. Conclusions Federal efforts to spur EHR adoption and MU have demonstrated some early success; however, some geographic variations in EHR diffusion indicate that greater attention needs to be paid to ensuring equitable uptake and use of EHRs throughout the US. PMID:24798687

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

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stephenson, N.L.

1998-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2016-12-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothmann, Sebastiaan; Hamukang'andu, Lukondo

2013-01-01

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

Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records: Experiences From the Field and Future Opportunities.

PubMed

Slight, Sarah Patricia; Berner, Eta S; Galanter, William; Huff, Stanley; Lambert, Bruce L; Lannon, Carole; Lehmann, Christoph U; McCourt, Brian J; McNamara, Michael; Menachemi, Nir; Payne, Thomas H; Spooner, S Andrew; Schiff, Gordon D; Wang, Tracy Y; Akincigil, Ayse; Crystal, Stephen; Fortmann, Stephen P; Bates, David W

2015-09-18

With the aim of improving health care processes through health information technology (HIT), the US government has promulgated requirements for "meaningful use" (MU) of electronic health records (EHRs) as a condition for providers receiving financial incentives for the adoption and use of these systems. Considerable uncertainty remains about the impact of these requirements on the effective application of EHR systems. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-sponsored Centers for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERTs) critically examined the impact of the MU policy relating to the use of medications and jointly developed recommendations to help inform future HIT policy. We gathered perspectives from a wide range of stakeholders (N=35) who had experience with MU requirements, including academicians, practitioners, and policy makers from different health care organizations including and beyond the CERTs. Specific issues and recommendations were discussed and agreed on as a group. Stakeholders' knowledge and experiences from implementing MU requirements fell into 6 domains: (1) accuracy of medication lists and medication reconciliation, (2) problem list accuracy and the shift in HIT priorities, (3) accuracy of allergy lists and allergy-related standards development, (4) support of safer and effective prescribing for children, (5) considerations for rural communities, and (6) general issues with achieving MU. Standards are needed to better facilitate the exchange of data elements between health care settings. Several organizations felt that their preoccupation with fulfilling MU requirements stifled innovation. Greater emphasis should be placed on local HIT configurations that better address population health care needs. Although MU has stimulated adoption of EHRs, its effects on quality and safety remain uncertain. Stakeholders felt that MU requirements should be more flexible and recognize that integrated models may achieve information

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

PubMed

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

2016-10-01

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

Journalism as Model for Civic and Information Literacies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smirnov, Natalia; Saiyed, Gulnaz; Easterday, Matthew W.; Lam, Wan Shun Eva

2018-01-01

Journalism can serve as a generative disciplinary context for developing civic and information literacies needed to meaningfully participate in an increasingly networked and mediated public sphere. Using interviews with journalists, we developed a cognitive task analysis model, identifying an iterative sequence of production and domain-specific…

TopoToolbox: Using Sensor Topography to Calculate Psychologically Meaningful Measures from Event-Related EEG/MEG

PubMed Central

Tian, Xing; Poeppel, David; Huber, David E.

2011-01-01

The open-source toolbox “TopoToolbox” is a suite of functions that use sensor topography to calculate psychologically meaningful measures (similarity, magnitude, and timing) from multisensor event-related EEG and MEG data. Using a GUI and data visualization, TopoToolbox can be used to calculate and test the topographic similarity between different conditions (Tian and Huber, 2008). This topographic similarity indicates whether different conditions involve a different distribution of underlying neural sources. Furthermore, this similarity calculation can be applied at different time points to discover when a response pattern emerges (Tian and Poeppel, 2010). Because the topographic patterns are obtained separately for each individual, these patterns are used to produce reliable measures of response magnitude that can be compared across individuals using conventional statistics (Davelaar et al. Submitted and Huber et al., 2008). TopoToolbox can be freely downloaded. It runs under MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc.) and supports user-defined data structure as well as standard EEG/MEG data import using EEGLAB (Delorme and Makeig, 2004). PMID:21577268

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

PubMed Central

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

2011-01-01

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

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kato, Fumie; Spring, Ryan; Mori, Chikako

2016-01-01

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

Where language meets meaningful action: a combined behavior and lesion analysis of aphasia and apraxia.

PubMed

Weiss, Peter H; Ubben, Simon D; Kaesberg, Stephanie; Kalbe, Elke; Kessler, Josef; Liebig, Thomas; Fink, Gereon R

2016-01-01

It is debated how language and praxis are co-represented in the left hemisphere (LH). As voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping in LH stroke patients with aphasia and/or apraxia may contribute to this debate, we here investigated the relationship between language and praxis deficits at the behavioral and lesion levels in 50 sub-acute stroke patients. We hypothesized that language and (meaningful) action are linked via semantic processing in Broca's region. Behaviorally, half of the patients suffered from co-morbid aphasia and apraxia. While 24% (n = 12) of all patients exhibited aphasia without apraxia, apraxia without aphasia was rare (n = 2, 4%). Left inferior frontal, insular, inferior parietal, and superior temporal lesions were specifically associated with deficits in naming, reading, writing, or auditory comprehension. In contrast, lesions affecting the left inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, and the central region as well as the inferior parietal lobe were associated with apraxic deficits (i.e., pantomime, imitation of meaningful and meaningless gestures). Thus, contrary to the predictions of the embodied cognition theory, lesions to sensorimotor and premotor areas were associated with the severity of praxis but not language deficits. Lesions of Brodmann area (BA) 44 led to combined apraxic and aphasic deficits. Data suggest that BA 44 acts as an interface between language and (meaningful) action thereby supporting parcellation schemes (based on connectivity and receptor mapping) which revealed a BA 44 sub-area involved in semantic processing.

Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt.

PubMed

Goldman, S R; Hasselbring, T S

1997-01-01

In this article we consider issues relevant to the future of mathematics instruction and achievement for students with learning disabilities. The starting point for envisioning the future is the changing standards for mathematics learning and basic mathematical literacy. We argue that the shift from behaviorist learning theories to constructivist and social constructivist theories (see Rivera, this series) provides an opportunity to develop and implement a hybrid model of mathematics instruction. The hybrid model we propose embeds, or situates, important skill learning in meaningful contexts. We discuss some examples of instructional approaches to complex mathematical problem solving that make use of meaningful contexts. Evaluation data on these approaches have yielded positive and encouraging results for students with learning disabilities as well as general education students. Finally, we discuss various ways in which technology is important for realizing hybrid instructional models in mathematics.

Features of asthma which provide meaningful insights for understanding the disease heterogeneity.

PubMed

Deliu, M; Yavuz, T S; Sperrin, M; Belgrave, D; Sahiner, U M; Sackesen, C; Kalayci, O; Custovic, A

2018-01-01

Data-driven methods such as hierarchical clustering (HC) and principal component analysis (PCA) have been used to identify asthma subtypes, with inconsistent results. To develop a framework for the discovery of stable and clinically meaningful asthma subtypes. We performed HC in a rich data set from 613 asthmatic children, using 45 clinical variables (Model 1), and after PCA dimensionality reduction (Model 2). Clinical experts then identified a set of asthma features/domains which informed clusters in the two analyses. In Model 3, we reclustered the data using these features to ascertain whether this improved the discovery process. Cluster stability was poor in Models 1 and 2. Clinical experts highlighted four asthma features/domains which differentiated the clusters in two models: age of onset, allergic sensitization, severity, and recent exacerbations. In Model 3 (HC using these four features), cluster stability improved substantially. The cluster assignment changed, providing more clinically interpretable results. In a 5-cluster model, we labelled the clusters as: "Difficult asthma" (n = 132); "Early-onset mild atopic" (n = 210); "Early-onset mild non-atopic: (n = 153); "Late-onset" (n = 105); and "Exacerbation-prone asthma" (n = 13). Multinomial regression demonstrated that lung function was significantly diminished among children with "Difficult asthma"; blood eosinophilia was a significant feature of "Difficult," "Early-onset mild atopic," and "Late-onset asthma." Children with moderate-to-severe asthma were present in each cluster. An integrative approach of blending the data with clinical expert domain knowledge identified four features, which may be informative for ascertaining asthma endotypes. These findings suggest that variables which are key determinants of asthma presence, severity, or control may not be the most informative for determining asthma subtypes. Our results indicate that exacerbation-prone asthma may be a separate asthma

Parent Involvement in Meaningful Post-School Experiences for Young Adults With IDD and Pervasive Support Needs.