Modeling good research practices--overview: a report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force-1.

PubMed

Caro, J Jaime; Briggs, Andrew H; Siebert, Uwe; Kuntz, Karen M

2012-01-01

Models-mathematical frameworks that facilitate estimation of the consequences of health care decisions-have become essential tools for health technology assessment. Evolution of the methods since the first ISPOR modeling task force reported in 2003 has led to a new task force, jointly convened with the Society for Medical Decision Making, and this series of seven papers presents the updated recommendations for best practices in conceptualizing models; implementing state-transition approaches, discrete event simulations, or dynamic transmission models; dealing with uncertainty; and validating and reporting models transparently. This overview introduces the work of the task force, provides all the recommendations, and discusses some quandaries that require further elucidation. The audience for these papers includes those who build models, stakeholders who utilize their results, and, indeed, anyone concerned with the use of models to support decision making.

Brief non-symbolic, approximate number practice enhances subsequent exact symbolic arithmetic in children

PubMed Central

Spelke, Elizabeth S.

2014-01-01

Recent research reveals a link between individual differences in mathematics achievement and performance on tasks that activate the approximate number system (ANS): a primitive cognitive system shared by diverse animal species and by humans of all ages. Here we used a brief experimental paradigm to test one causal hypothesis suggested by this relationship: activation of the ANS may enhance children's performance of symbolic arithmetic. Over 2 experiments, children who briefly practiced tasks that engaged primitive approximate numerical quantities performed better on subsequent exact, symbolic arithmetic problems than did children given other tasks involving comparison and manipulation of non-numerical magnitudes (brightness and length). The practice effect appeared specific to mathematics, as no differences between groups were observed on a comparable sentence completion task. These results move beyond correlational research and provide evidence that the exercise of non-symbolic numerical processes can enhance children's performance of symbolic mathematics. PMID:24462713

Self-guided strategy-adaption training for older adults: Transfer effects to everyday tasks.

PubMed

Bottiroli, Sara; Cavallini, Elena; Dunlosky, John; Vecchi, Tomaso; Hertzog, Christopher

2017-09-01

The goal of the present research was to examine the potential of a learner-oriented approach to improving older adults' performance in tasks that are similar to real-life situations that require strategic deployment of cognitive resources. A crucial element of this approach involves encouraging older adults to explicitly analyze tasks to consider how to adapt trained skills to a new task context. In an earlier study, a specialist-directed intervention produced training gains and transfer to some untrained memory tasks. In the present study, older adults received a manual instructing them about principles of task analysis, two memory strategies, and strategy adaptation. Self-guided strategy-adaption training involved practicing some memory tasks as well as instructions on how the trained skills could be applied to new tasks that were not practiced. The criterion tasks involved practice tasks, non-practiced tasks that were discussed in the manual, and transfer tasks that were never mentioned in the manual. Two of the tests were from the Everyday Cognition Battery (inductive reasoning and working memory). As compared to a waiting-list control group, older adults assigned to self-guided strategy-adaption training showed memory improvements on tasks that were practiced or discussed during training. Most important, the learner-oriented approach produced transfer to the everyday tasks. Our findings show the potential of instructing task appraisal processes as a basis for fostering transfer, including improving older adults' performance in simulated everyday tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cooperative Learning: Review of Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillies, Robyn M.

2016-01-01

Cooperative learning is widely recognized as a pedagogical practice that promotes socialization and learning among students from pre-school through to tertiary level and across different subject domains. It involves students working together to achieve common goals or complete group tasks--goals and tasks that they would be unable to complete by…

Flow Control and Design Assessment for Drainage System at McMurdo Station, Antarctica

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-24

Council BMP Best Management Practice CASQUA California Storm Water Quality Task Force CRREL Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory DS...ponds The California Storm Water Quality Task Force (CASQUA 1993) defines a sediment basin as “a pond created by excavation or constructing an em...British Standards Institution. California Storm Water Quality Task Force (CASQUA). 1993. ESC41: Check Dams. In Stormwater Best Management Practices

Research into Practice: Scaffolding Learning Processes to Improve Speaking Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Christine C. M.

2017-01-01

This article is a personal view of the application of results from three areas of research that I believe are relevant to developing second language speaking in the classroom: task repetition, pre-task planning and communication strategies. I will discuss these three areas in terms of level of research application--where research is not applied…

Predicting the practice effects on the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) function of fMRI in a symbolic manipulation task

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Yulin; Sohn, Myeong-Ho; Anderson, John R.; Stenger, V. Andrew; Fissell, Kate; Goode, Adam; Carter, Cameron S.

2003-04-01

Based on adaptive control of thought-rational (ACT-R), a cognitive architecture for cognitive modeling, researchers have developed an information-processing model to predict the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response of functional MRI in symbol manipulation tasks. As an extension of this research, the current event-related functional MRI study investigates the effect of relatively extensive practice on the activation patterns of related brain regions. The task involved performing transformations on equations in an artificial algebra system. This paper shows that the base-level activation learning in the ACT-R theory can predict the change of the BOLD response in practice in a left prefrontal region reflecting retrieval of information. In contrast, practice has relatively little effect on the form of BOLD response in the parietal region reflecting imagined transformations to the equation or the motor region reflecting manual programming.

Varied Practice in Laparoscopy Training: Beneficial Learning Stimulation or Cognitive Overload?

PubMed

Spruit, Edward N; Kleijweg, Luca; Band, Guido P H; Hamming, Jaap F

2016-01-01

Determining the optimal design for surgical skills training is an ongoing research endeavor. In education literature, varied practice is listed as a positive intervention to improve acquisition of knowledge and motor skills. In the current study we tested the effectiveness of a varied practice intervention during laparoscopy training. Twenty-four trainees (control group) without prior experience received a 3 weeks laparoscopic skills training utilizing four basic and one advanced training task. Twenty-eight trainees (experimental group) received the same training with a random training task schedule, more frequent task switching and inverted viewing conditions on the four basic training tasks, but not the advanced task. Results showed inferior performance of the experimental group on the four basic laparoscopy tasks during training, at the end of training and at a 2 months retention session. We assume the inverted viewing conditions have led to the deterioration of learning in the experimental group because no significant differences were found between groups on the only task that had not been practiced under inverted viewing conditions; the advanced laparoscopic task. Potential moderating effects of inter-task similarity, task complexity, and trainee characteristics are discussed.

Varied Practice in Laparoscopy Training: Beneficial Learning Stimulation or Cognitive Overload?

PubMed Central

Spruit, Edward N.; Kleijweg, Luca; Band, Guido P. H.; Hamming, Jaap F.

2016-01-01

Determining the optimal design for surgical skills training is an ongoing research endeavor. In education literature, varied practice is listed as a positive intervention to improve acquisition of knowledge and motor skills. In the current study we tested the effectiveness of a varied practice intervention during laparoscopy training. Twenty-four trainees (control group) without prior experience received a 3 weeks laparoscopic skills training utilizing four basic and one advanced training task. Twenty-eight trainees (experimental group) received the same training with a random training task schedule, more frequent task switching and inverted viewing conditions on the four basic training tasks, but not the advanced task. Results showed inferior performance of the experimental group on the four basic laparoscopy tasks during training, at the end of training and at a 2 months retention session. We assume the inverted viewing conditions have led to the deterioration of learning in the experimental group because no significant differences were found between groups on the only task that had not been practiced under inverted viewing conditions; the advanced laparoscopic task. Potential moderating effects of inter-task similarity, task complexity, and trainee characteristics are discussed. PMID:27242599

Effects of Imperfect Automation on Operator’s Supervisory Control of Multiple Robots

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) U.S. Army Research Laboratory ATTN: RDRL- HRM -AT Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5425 8...Survey, the Ishihara Color Vision Test, and the Cube 6 Comparison test. Participants then received training and practice on the tasks they were about to...completing various tasks, several mini- exercises for practicing the steps, and exercises for performing the robotic control tasks. The type and

Patterns of Tasks, Patterns of Talk: L2 Literacy Building in University Spanish Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gleason, Jesse; Slater, Tammy

2017-01-01

Second language (L2) classroom research has sought to shed light on the processes and practices that develop L2 learners' abilities [Nunan, D. 2004. "Task-based language teaching." London: Continuum; Verplaetse, L. 2014. "Using big questions to apprentice students into language-rich classroom practices." "TESOL…

A New Model of Tracheostomy Care: Closing the Research-Practice Gap

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

521 A New Model of Tracheostomy Care: Closing the Research –Practice Gap Joel St. Clair Abstract Performance improvements have brought about...and it continues to close the research - practice gap . The WRAMC Department of Nursing is presently developing similar evidence-based procedures for... Research -Practice Gap 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK

Environmental Research In Practice: Restoration And Protection Of Water Resources

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked to protect human health and the environment. To carry out this task, the EPA makes use of technical expertise within its Office of Research and Development. Restoration and protection of water resources is one area of tec...

Enabling Critical Reflection on Research Supervisory Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearson, Margot; Kayrooz, Carole

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of an instrument--The Reflective Supervisor Questionnaire (RSQ). The RSQ maps the domain of research supervisory practice as a facilitative process involving educational tasks and activities. It is designed to assist research supervisors explore, by means of self-reflection and reflection on feedback from…

New social tasks for cognitive psychology; or, new cognitive tasks for social psychology.

PubMed

Wettersten, John

2014-01-01

To elucidate how differing theories of rationality lead to differing practices, their social rules must be analyzed. This is true not merely in science but also in society at large. This analysis of social thinking requires both the identification of innate cognitive social psychological processes and explanations of their relations with differing rules of rational practice. These new tasks can enable social psychologists to contribute to the study of how social situations facilitate or inhibit rational practice and enable cognitive psychologists to improve social psychological theory. In contrast to dominant current research strategies, social and cognitive psychologists can integrate social studies of rational practices and their consequences with studies of underlying cognitive psychological processes. In this article I do not attempt to carry out these tasks but rather point to both their lack of recognition and their importance.

Does self-efficacy mediate transfer effects in the learning of easy and difficult motor skills?

PubMed

Stevens, David; Anderson, David I; O'Dwyer, Nicholas J; Mark Williams, A

2012-09-01

The effect of task difficulty on inter-task transfer is a classic issue in motor learning. We examined the relation between self-efficacy and transfer of learning after practicing different versions of a stick balancing task. Practicing the same task or an easier version led to significant pre- to post-test transfer of learning, whereas practicing a more difficult version did not. Self-efficacy increased modestly from pre- to post-test with easy practice, but decreased significantly with difficult practice. In addition, self-efficacy immediately prior to the post-test was significantly lower after difficult practice than easy or intermediate practice. Self-efficacy immediately prior to the post-test, performance at the end of practice, and pre-test performance explained 75% of the variance in post-test performance. The mediating role of self-efficacy on transfer of learning offers an alternative explanation for recent findings on the superiority of easy-to-difficult transfer and may help clarify inconsistencies in earlier research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Memory consolidation and contextual interference effects with computer games.

PubMed

Shewokis, Patricia A

2003-10-01

Some investigators of the contextual interference effect contend that there is a direct relation between the amount of practice and the contextual interference effect based on the prediction that the improvement in learning tasks in a random practice schedule, compared to a blocked practice schedule, increases in magnitude as the amount of practice during acquisition on the tasks increases. Research using computer games in contextual interference studies has yielded a large effect (f = .50) with a random practice schedule advantage during transfer. These investigations had a total of 36 and 72 acquisition trials, respectively. The present study tested this prediction by having 72 college students, who were randomly assigned to a blocked or random practice schedule, practice 102 trials of three computer-game tasks across three days. After a 24-hr. interval, 6 retention and 5 transfer trials were performed. Dependent variables were time to complete an event in seconds and number of errors. No significant differences were found for retention and transfer. These results are discussed in terms of how the amount of practice, task-related factors, and memory consolidation mediate the contextual interference effect.

Design and Use of Task Cards in the Reciprocal Style of Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iserbyt, Peter; Byra, Mark

2013-01-01

Task cards are instructional tools that combine a picture of a skill with written instructions about how to perform the skill. This article provides practical guidelines for developing research-based task cards for use in physical education classes. Fitness-related motor skills are used as examples to clarify design principles for task cards. The…

The role of production and teamwork practices in construction safety: a cognitive model and an empirical case study.

PubMed

Mitropoulos, Panagiotis Takis; Cupido, Gerardo

2009-01-01

In construction, the challenge for researchers and practitioners is to develop work systems (production processes and teams) that can achieve high productivity and high safety at the same time. However, construction accident causation models ignore the role of work practices and teamwork. This study investigates the mechanisms by which production and teamwork practices affect the likelihood of accidents. The paper synthesizes a new model for construction safety based on the cognitive perspective (Fuller's Task-Demand-Capability Interface model, 2005) and then presents an exploratory case study. The case study investigates and compares the work practices of two residential framing crews: a 'High Reliability Crew' (HRC)--that is, a crew with exceptional productivity and safety over several years, and an average performing crew from the same company. The model explains how the production and teamwork practices generate the work situations that workers face (the task demands) and affect the workers ability to cope (capabilities). The case study indicates that the work practices of the HRC directly influence the task demands and match them with the applied capabilities. These practices were guided by the 'principle' of avoiding errors and rework and included work planning and preparation, work distribution, managing the production pressures, and quality and behavior monitoring. The Task Demand-Capability model links construction research to a cognitive model of accident causation and provides a new way to conceptualize safety as an emergent property of the production practices and teamwork processes. The empirical evidence indicates that the crews' work practices and team processes strongly affect the task demands, the applied capabilities, and the match between demands and capabilities. The proposed model and the exploratory case study will guide further discovery of work practices and teamwork processes that can increase both productivity and safety in construction operations. Such understanding will enable training of construction foremen and crews in these practices to systematically develop high reliability crews.

Toward a Practical Model of Cognitive/Information Task Analysis and Schema Acquisition for Complex Problem-Solving Situations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braune, Rolf; Foshay, Wellesley R.

1983-01-01

The proposed three-step strategy for research on human information processing--concept hierarchy analysis, analysis of example sets to teach relations among concepts, and analysis of problem sets to build a progressively larger schema for the problem space--may lead to practical procedures for instructional design and task analysis. Sixty-four…

Manipulating Task Implementation Variables with Incipient Spanish Language Learners: A Classroom-Based Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payant, Caroline; Reagan, Derek

2018-01-01

A growing body of research has shown a positive role of task-supported instruction in second language (L2) learning (Ellis, 2003a; Loewen, 2015; Van Den Branden, 2006). From a pedagogical perspective, recycling or repeating parts of teaching materials is common practice and theoretical support for such practice is emerging (Bygate and Samuda,…

Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making--Emerging Good Practices: Report 2 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force.

PubMed

Marsh, Kevin; IJzerman, Maarten; Thokala, Praveen; Baltussen, Rob; Boysen, Meindert; Kaló, Zoltán; Lönngren, Thomas; Mussen, Filip; Peacock, Stuart; Watkins, John; Devlin, Nancy

2016-01-01

Health care decisions are complex and involve confronting trade-offs between multiple, often conflicting objectives. Using structured, explicit approaches to decisions involving multiple criteria can improve the quality of decision making. A set of techniques, known under the collective heading, multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA), are useful for this purpose. In 2014, ISPOR established an Emerging Good Practices Task Force. The task force's first report defined MCDA, provided examples of its use in health care, described the key steps, and provided an overview of the principal methods of MCDA. This second task force report provides emerging good-practice guidance on the implementation of MCDA to support health care decisions. The report includes: a checklist to support the design, implementation and review of an MCDA; guidance to support the implementation of the checklist; the order in which the steps should be implemented; illustrates how to incorporate budget constraints into an MCDA; provides an overview of the skills and resources, including available software, required to implement MCDA; and future research directions. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Good research practices for comparative effectiveness research: defining, reporting and interpreting nonrandomized studies of treatment effects using secondary data sources: the ISPOR Good Research Practices for Retrospective Database Analysis Task Force Report--Part I.

PubMed

Berger, Marc L; Mamdani, Muhammad; Atkins, David; Johnson, Michael L

2009-01-01

Health insurers, physicians, and patients worldwide need information on the comparative effectiveness and safety of prescription drugs in routine care. Nonrandomized studies of treatment effects using secondary databases may supplement the evidence based from randomized clinical trials and prospective observational studies. Recognizing the challenges to conducting valid retrospective epidemiologic and health services research studies, a Task Force was formed to develop a guidance document on state of the art approaches to frame research questions and report findings for these studies. The Task Force was commissioned and a Chair was selected by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Board of Directors in October 2007. This Report, the first of three reported in this issue of the journal, addressed issues of framing the research question and reporting and interpreting findings. The Task Force Report proposes four primary characteristics-relevance, specificity, novelty, and feasibility while defining the research question. Recommendations included: the practice of a priori specification of the research question; transparency of prespecified analytical plans, provision of justifications for any subsequent changes in analytical plan, and reporting the results of prespecified plans as well as results from significant modifications, structured abstracts to report findings with scientific neutrality; and reasoned interpretations of findings to help inform policy decisions. Comparative effectiveness research in the form of nonrandomized studies using secondary databases can be designed with rigorous elements and conducted with sophisticated statistical methods to improve causal inference of treatment effects. Standardized reporting and careful interpretation of results can aid policy and decision-making.

Optimising, generalising and integrating educational practice using neuroscience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colvin, Robert

2016-07-01

Practical collaboration at the intersection of education and neuroscience research is difficult because the combined discipline encompasses both the activity of microscopic neurons and the complex social interactions of teachers and students in a classroom. Taking a pragmatic view, this paper discusses three education objectives to which neuroscience can be effectively applied: optimising, generalising and integrating instructional techniques. These objectives are characterised by: (1) being of practical importance; (2) building on existing education and cognitive research; and (3) being infeasible to address based on behavioural experiments alone. The focus of the neuroscientific aspect of collaborative research should be on the activity of the brain before, during and after learning a task, as opposed to performance of a task. The objectives are informed by literature that highlights possible pitfalls with educational neuroscience research, and are described with respect to the static and dynamic aspects of brain physiology that can be measured by current technology.

The roles of critical care advanced practice nurse.

PubMed

Sung, Young Hee; Yi, Young Hee; Kwon, In Gak; Cho, Yong Ae

2006-12-01

To determine and compare the perception among nurses and doctors of the roles and tasks of critical care advanced practice nurses (APNs) in order to establish standardized and formally agreed role criteria for such critical care APNs. This study measured and analyzed the necessity of each of the roles and tasks of critical care APNs, as perceived by nurses and doctors, through a survey of 121 participants: 71 nurses in 7 intensive care units (ICUs) at a general hospital in Seoul, and 50 doctors who used ICUs. Data collection utilized a questionnaire of 128 questions in the following fields: direct practice (79), leadership and change agent (17), consultation and collaboration (15), education and counseling (11), and research (6). Both the nurses' and the doctors' groups confirmed the necessity of critical care APNs, with doctors who frequently used ICUs indicating a particularly strong need. As for the priority of each role of critical care APNs, the nurses considered direct practice to be the most critical, followed by education and counseling, research, consultation and collaboration, and leadership and change agent. The doctors also considered direct practice to be the most critical, followed by education and counseling, consultation and collaboration, research, and leadership and change agent. There was a statistically significant difference between how the two groups regarded all the roles, except for the consultation and collaboration roles. As for the necessity of each role of critical care APNs, the nurses considered research to be the most necessary, followed by education and counseling, consultation and collaboration, leadership and change agent, and direct practice. The doctors, on the other hand, considered education and counseling to be the most necessary, followed by research, consultation and collaboration, leadership and change agent, and direct practice. The responses of the two groups to all the roles, except for education and counseling roles, were significantly different. Nurses and doctors have different perceptions of the roles and tasks of critical care APNs. Thus, it is necessary for the combined nursing and medical fields to reach an official agreement on a set of criteria to standardize for the roles and tasks of critical care APNs.

Space Flight Resource Management Training for International Space Station Flight Controllers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Keefe, William S.

2011-01-01

Training includes both SFRM-dedicated lessons and SFRM training embedded into technical lessons. Goal is to reduce certification times by 50% and integrated simulations by 75-90%. SFRM is practiced, evaluated and debriefed in part task trainers and full-task simulation lessons. SFRM model and training are constantly being evaluated against student/management feedback, best practices from industry/ military, and latest research.

The Relationship between Stated Beliefs, Classroom Practices, and Reading Research Studies of Oral Corrective Feedback in Four ESL Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamiya, Nobuhiro

2012-01-01

A call for a bridge between research and practice is nothing new, yet it seems to be an impossible task to accomplish. Despite the dedicated efforts made by numerous researchers in the past, the world is still largely separate between researchers and teachers. One piece of evidence is that research studies seem to have only a little impact on…

Harmonization in preclinical epilepsy research: A joint AES/ILAE translational initiative.

PubMed

Galanopoulou, Aristea S; French, Jacqueline A; O'Brien, Terence; Simonato, Michele

2017-11-01

Among the priority next steps outlined during the first translational epilepsy research workshop in London, United Kingdom (2012), jointly organized by the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), are the harmonization of research practices used in preclinical studies and the development of infrastructure that facilitates multicenter preclinical studies. The AES/ILAE Translational Task Force of the ILAE has been pursuing initiatives that advance these goals. In this supplement, we present the first reports of the working groups of the Task Force that aim to improve practices of performing rodent video-electroencephalography (vEEG) studies in experimental controls, generate systematic reviews of preclinical research data, and develop preclinical common data elements (CDEs) for epilepsy research in animals. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International League Against Epilepsy.

Advanced practice nursing role delineation in acute and critical care: application of the strong model of advanced practice.

PubMed

Mick, D J; Ackerman, M H

2000-01-01

This purpose of this study was to differentiate between the roles of clinical nurse specialists and acute care nurse practitioners. Hypothesized blending of the clinical nurse specialist and acute care nurse practitioner roles is thought to result in an acute care clinician who integrates the clinical skills of the nurse practitioner with the systems knowledge, educational commitment, and leadership ability of the clinical nurse specialist. Ideally, this role blending would facilitate excellence in both direct and indirect patient care. The Strong Model of Advanced Practice, which incorporates practice domains of direct comprehensive care, support of systems, education, research, and publication and professional leadership, was tested to search for practical evidence of role blending. This descriptive, exploratory, pilot study included subjects (N = 18) solicited from an academic medical center and from an Internet advanced practice listserv. Questionnaires included self-ranking of expertise in practice domains, as well as valuing of role-related tasks. Content validity was judged by an expert panel of advanced practice nurses. Analyses of descriptive statistics revealed that clinical nurse specialists, who had more experience both as registered nurses and in the advanced practice nurse role, self-ranked their expertise higher in all practice domains. Acute care nurse practitioners placed higher importance on tasks related to direct comprehensive care, including conducting histories and physicals, diagnosing, and performing diagnostic procedures, whereas clinical nurse specialists assigned greater importance to tasks related to education, research, and leadership. Levels of self-assessed clinical expertise as well as valuing of role-related tasks differed among this sample of clinical nurse specialists and acute care nurse practitioners. Groundwork has been laid for continuing exploration into differentiation in advanced practice nursing roles. As the clinical nurse specialist role changes and the acute care nurse practitioner role emerges, it is imperative that advanced practice nurses describe their contribution to health care. Associating advanced practice nursing activities with outcomes will help further characterize these 2 advanced practice roles.

Development of Principles for Multimodal Displays in Army Human-Robot Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

Research Laboratory ATTN: RDRL- HRM -D Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5425 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT...the practical limitations of various cognitive resource channels for HRI tasks. 2.1.2 Purpose Now that MRT and the common workload manipulations...with more mission targets. • Workload conditions were not counter-balanced for practice effects. 7 Increasing task difficulty generally

Entering into dialogue about the mathematical value of contextual mathematising tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Caroline; Chin, Sze Looi; Moala, John Griffith; Choy, Ban Heng

2018-03-01

Our project seeks to draw attention to the rich mathematical thinking that is generated when students work on contextual mathematising tasks. We use a design-based research approach to create ways of reporting that raise the visibility of this rich mathematical thinking while retaining and respecting its complexity. These reports will be aimed for three classroom stakeholders: (1) students, who wish to reflect on and enhance their mathematical learning; (2) teachers, who wish to integrate contextual mathematising tasks into their teaching practice and (3) researchers, who seek rich tasks for generating observable instances of mathematical thinking and learning. We anticipate that these reports and the underlying theoretical framework for creating them will contribute to greater awareness of and appreciation for the mathematical value of contextual mathematising tasks in learning, teaching and research.

Social Network Analysis as an Analytic Tool for Task Group Research: A Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockhart, Naorah C.

2017-01-01

Group counselors commonly collaborate in interdisciplinary settings in health care, substance abuse, and juvenile justice. Social network analysis is a methodology rarely used in counseling research yet has potential to examine task group dynamics in new ways. This case study explores the scholarly relationships among 36 members of an…

Supporting Parents: Using Research to Inform Policy and Best Practice. Social Policy Report Brief. Volume 30, Issue 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridgman, Anne

2017-01-01

Parenting is one of the most emotionally powerful, demanding, and consequential tasks of adulthood. Previously, the task of parenting was shared with extended family and community members. Today, with less extensive networks of experience and support, parents are frequently not as well prepared. Research has identified the elements of competent…

Relations between task delegation and job satisfaction in general practice: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

Riisgaard, Helle; Nexøe, Jørgen; Le, Jette V; Søndergaard, Jens; Ledderer, Loni

2016-11-30

It has for years been discussed whether practice staff should be involved in patient care in general practice to a higher extent. The research concerning task delegation within general practice is generally increasing, but the literature focusing on its influence on general practitioners' and their staff's job satisfaction appears to be sparse even though job satisfaction is acknowledged as an important factor associated with both patient satisfaction and medical quality of care. Therefore, the overall aim of this study was 1) to review the current research on the relation between task delegation and general practitioners' and their staff's job satisfaction and, additionally, 2) to review the evidence of possible explanations for this relation. A systematic literature review. We searched the four databases PubMed, Cinahl, Embase, and Scopus systematically. The immediate relevance of the retrieved articles was evaluated by title and abstract by the first author, and papers that seemed to meet the aim of the review were then fully read by first author and last author independently judging the eligibility of content. We included four studies in the review. They explored views and attitudes of the staff, encompassing nurses as well as practice managers. Only one of the included studies also explored general practitioners' views and attitudes, hence making it impossible to establish any syntheses on this relation. According to the studies, the staff's overall attitude towards task delegation was positive and led to increased job satisfaction, probably because task delegation comprised a high degree of work autonomy. The few studies included in our review suggest that task delegation within general practice may be seen by the staff as an overall positive issue contributing to their job satisfaction, primarily due to perceived autonomy in the work. However, because of the small sample size comprising only qualitative studies, and due to the heterogeneity of these studies, we cannot draw unambiguous conclusions although we point towards tendencies.

There are limits to the effects of task instructions: Making the automatic effects of task instructions context-specific takes practice.

PubMed

Braem, Senne; Liefooghe, Baptist; De Houwer, Jan; Brass, Marcel; Abrahamse, Elger L

2017-03-01

Unlike other animals, humans have the unique ability to share and use verbal instructions to prepare for upcoming tasks. Recent research showed that instructions are sufficient for the automatic, reflex-like activation of responses. However, systematic studies into the limits of these automatic effects of task instructions remain relatively scarce. In this study, the authors set out to investigate whether this instruction-based automatic activation of responses can be context-dependent. Specifically, participants performed a task of which the stimulus-response rules and context (location on the screen) could either coincide or not with those of an instructed to-be-performed task (whose instructions changed every run). In 2 experiments, the authors showed that the instructed task rules had an automatic impact on performance-performance was slowed down when the merely instructed task rules did not coincide, but, importantly, this effect was not context-dependent. Interestingly, a third and fourth experiment suggests that context dependency can actually be observed, but only when practicing the task in its appropriate context for over 60 trials or after a sufficient amount of practice on a fixed context (the context was the same for all instructed tasks). Together, these findings seem to suggest that instructions can establish stimulus-response representations that have a reflexive impact on behavior but are insensitive to the context in which the task is known to be valid. Instead, context-specific task representations seem to require practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Learning to multitask: effects of video game practice on electrophysiological indices of attention and resource allocation.

PubMed

Maclin, Edward L; Mathewson, Kyle E; Low, Kathy A; Boot, Walter R; Kramer, Arthur F; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele

2011-09-01

Changes in attention allocation with complex task learning reflect processing automatization and more efficient control. We studied these changes using ERP and EEG spectral analyses in subjects playing Space Fortress, a complex video game comprising standard cognitive task components. We hypothesized that training would free up attentional resources for a secondary auditory oddball task. Both P3 and delta EEG showed a processing trade-off between game and oddball tasks, but only some game events showed reduced attention requirements with practice. Training magnified a transient increase in alpha power following both primary and secondary task events. This contrasted with alpha suppression observed when the oddball task was performed alone, suggesting that alpha may be related to attention switching. Hence, P3 and EEG spectral data are differentially sensitive to changes in attentional processing occurring with complex task training. Copyright © 2011 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) work practices report for composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luca, Jackie

1994-01-01

In an effort to gain a better understanding of effective safety and health work practice controls for composite manufacturing operations, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Occupational Safety and Health Committee established a Composites Task Group. The group's task was to provide AIA members with recommendations for minimizing occupational exposure risk and to determine research needs and information gaps. The strategy included a review of toxicological information on composites, a review of member company experience and control methods, and interaction with other professional organizations who share an interest in composite work practices.

Gender Power in Elite Schools: Methodological Insights from Researcher Reflexive Accounts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forbes, Joan; Weiner, Gaby

2014-01-01

The main task of this paper is to understand the methodological insights from researchers' reflexive accounts about the production of gender in the specific practices of three Scottish elite schools. Accordingly, the paper poses three questions: How is gender re/constructed through the specific practices of these elite schools? What insights into…

Increasing Rates of School Completion: Moving from Policy and Research to Practice. A Manual for Policymakers, Administrators, and Educators. Essential Tools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehr, Camilla A.; Johnson, David R.; Bremer, Christine D.; Cosio, Anna; Thompson, Megan

2004-01-01

This manual provides a synthesis of research-based dropout prevention and intervention and offers examples of interventions that show evidence of effectiveness. This has proven to be a difficult task because the intervention research on dropout and school completion that can be used to inform practice is incomplete (Dynarski & Gleason, 2002;…

Imagined Actions Aren't Just Weak Actions: Task Variability Promotes Skill Learning in Physical Practice but Not in Mental Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coelho, Chase J.; Nusbaum, Howard C.; Rosenbaum, David A.; Fenn, Kimberly M.

2012-01-01

Early research on visual imagery led investigators to suggest that mental visual images are just weak versions of visual percepts. Later research helped investigators understand that mental visual images differ in deeper and more subtle ways from visual percepts. Research on motor imagery has yet to reach this mature state, however. Many authors…

Re-Envisioning the Roles, Tasks, and Contributions of Language Teachers in the Multilingual Era of Language Education Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubanyiova, Magdalena; Crookes, Graham

2016-01-01

This article lays out the proposition that the rapid changes in 21st-century society, in which multilingualism is the norm, have presented new challenges, questions, and resources with regard to the roles, tasks, and contributions of language teachers. In line with recent research developments and in keeping with tradition, we believe it helpful…

Opening the Black Box: Cognitive Strategies in Family Practice

PubMed Central

Christensen, Robert E.; Fetters, Michael D.; Green, Lee A.

2005-01-01

PURPOSE We wanted to describe the cognitive strategies used by family physicians when structuring the decision-making tasks of an outpatient visit. METHODS This qualitative study used cognitive task analysis, a structured interview method in which a trained interviewer works individually with expert decision makers to capture their stages and elements of information processing. RESULTS Eighteen family physicians of varying levels of experience participated. Three dominant themes emerged: time pressure, a high degree of variation in task structuring, and varying degrees of task automatization. Based on these data and previous research from the cognitive sciences, we developed a model of novice and expert approaches to decision making in primary care. The model illustrates differences in responses to unexpected opportunity in practice, particularly the expert’s use of attentional surplus (reserve capacity to handle problems) vs the novice’s choice between taking more time or displacing another task. CONCLUSIONS Family physicians have specific, highly individualized cognitive task-structuring approaches and show the decision behavior features typical of expert decision makers in other fields. This finding places constraints on and suggests useful approaches for improving practice. PMID:15798041

Review of Occupational Therapy Intervention Research in the Practice Area of Children and Youth 2009–2013

PubMed Central

Bendixen, Roxanna M.; Huang, Yu Yun; Lim, Yoonjeong

2014-01-01

PURPOSE. We conducted a systematic review examining the extent to which pediatric intervention research recently published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy reflects occupational therapy’s holistic occupation-based tenets. METHOD. We surveyed 10 systematic reviews and analyzed 38 single effectiveness studies for intervention approach, type, level of environmental targeting, level of occupational task and participation practice, and measures used. RESULTS. Of the 38 single effectiveness studies, 12 (32%) explicitly incorporated both environmental targets of intervention and practice of complex or in vivo occupational tasks, with steady increases during the 2009–2013 time frame. CONCLUSION. In the area of children and youth, occupational therapy is making steady gains in reflecting and demonstrating the effectiveness of the profession’s holistic, occupation-based tenets. Occupational therapy researchers must be mindful to ensure that despite the reductionist nature of intervention research, interventions reflect the profession’s holistic understanding of the interplay between the child, environment, and occupations. PMID:24581415

The effect of strategic memory training in older adults: who benefits most?

PubMed

Rosi, Alessia; Del Signore, Federica; Canelli, Elisa; Allegri, Nicola; Bottiroli, Sara; Vecchi, Tomaso; Cavallini, Elena

2017-12-07

Previous research has suggested that there is a degree of variability among older adults' response to memory training, such that some individuals benefit more than others. The aim of the present study was to identify the profile of older adults who were likely to benefit most from a strategic memory training program that has previously proved to be effective in improving memory in healthy older adults. In total, 44 older adults (60-83 years) participated in a strategic memory training. We examined memory training benefits by measuring changes in memory practiced (word list learning) and non-practiced tasks (grocery list and associative learning). In addition, a battery of cognitive measures was administered in order to assess crystallized and fluid abilities, short-term memory, working memory, and processing speed. Results confirmed the efficacy of the training in improving performance in both practiced and non-practiced memory tasks. For the practiced memory tasks, results showed that memory baseline performance and crystallized ability predicted training gains. For the non-practiced memory tasks, analyses showed that memory baseline performance was a significant predictor of gain in the grocery list learning task. For the associative learning task, the significant predictors were memory baseline performance, processing speed, and marginally the age. Our results indicate that older adults with a higher baseline memory capacity and with more efficient cognitive resources were those who tended to benefit most from the training. The present study provides new avenues in designing personalized intervention according to the older adults' cognitive profile.

The Institutional Research Practitioner: A Guidebook to Effective Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clagett, Craig A.; Huntington, Robin B.

Designed for institutional researchers, this handbook provides practical guidelines for the operation of an effective research office. Chapter I defines institutional research and describes tasks a research office may undertake, including strategic planning support, budget development, facilities planning, personnel and staffing analyses,…

Pitfalls With the New American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy.

PubMed

Pauli, Jaimey M; Repke, John T

2017-03-01

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy was created to evaluate the existing literature, develop practice guidelines, and identify areas for future research focus. Several issues were identified that may not have been initially obvious during the process of developing this document, including limited practical use, a lack of high quality literature, conflicting recommendations, a potential for high resource utilization, need for continually updated information, and little headway in research that is clinically useful. The purpose of this review was to make suggestions to improving these guidelines' overall usefulness and consistency for the busy clinician.

Preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading for older adults.

PubMed

Rawson, Katherine A; Touron, Dayna R

2015-12-01

Concerning age-related effects on cognitive skill acquisition, the modal finding is that older adults do not benefit from practice to the same extent as younger adults in tasks that afford a shift from slower algorithmic processing to faster memory-based processing. In contrast, Rawson and Touron (2009) demonstrated a relatively rapid shift to memory-based processing in the context of a reading task. The current research extended beyond this initial study to provide more definitive evidence for relative preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading tasks for older adults. Younger and older adults read short stories containing unfamiliar noun phrases (e.g., skunk mud) followed by disambiguating information indicating the combination's meaning (either the normatively dominant meaning or an alternative subordinate meaning). Stories were repeated across practice blocks, and then the noun phrases were presented in novel sentence frames in a transfer task. Both age groups shifted from computation to retrieval after relatively few practice trials (as evidenced by convergence of reading times for dominant and subordinate items). Most important, both age groups showed strong evidence for memory-based processing of the noun phrases in the transfer task. In contrast, older adults showed minimal shifting to retrieval in an alphabet arithmetic task, indicating that the preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading was task-specific. Discussion focuses on important implications for theories of memory-based automaticity in general and for specific theoretical accounts of age effects on memory-based automaticity, as well as fruitful directions for future research. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Score Study Practices of Texas High School Choir Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rohwer, Debbie; Herring, Michelle; Moore, Jordan

2014-01-01

Score study combines the task of what music educators do to prepare for class everyday with many of the components that are taught in collegiate theory classes. While non-research articles have cited the practical application of score study techniques, there is a need for research on score study to describe the ways choral educators pragmatically…

Preferences and Practices among Students Who Read Braille and Use Assistive Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Andrea, Frances Mary

2012-01-01

Introduction: Students who read braille use assistive technology to engage in literacy tasks and to access the general curriculum. There is little research on the ways in which technology has changed the reading and writing practices and preferences of students who use braille, nor is there much research on how assistive technology is learned by…

Disseminating Evidence-Based Practice For Children & Adolescents: A Systems Approach to Enhancing Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Psychological Association (APA), 2008

2008-01-01

This report focuses on psychological practice with children and adolescents, concurring with a previous task force report that integrating science and practice must be a priority. In addition, the report advocates that developmental considerations and cultural/contextual factors warrant specific, distinctive attention by researchers and…

How to improve essential skills in introductory physics through brief, spaced, online practice.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heckler, Andrew; Mikula, Brendon

2017-01-01

We developed and implemented a set of online ``essential skills'' tasks to help students achieve and retain a core level of mastery and fluency in basic skills necessary for their coursework. The task design is based on our research on student understanding and difficulties as well as three well-established cognitive principles: 1) spaced practice, to promote retention, 2) interleaved practice, to promote the ability to recognize when the learned skill is needed, and 3) mastery practice mastery practice, to promote a base level of performance. We report on training on a variety of skills with vector math. Students spent a relatively small amount of time, 10-20 minutes in practice each week, answering relevant questions online until a mastery level was achieved. Results indicate significant and often dramatic gains, often with average gains of over one standard deviation. Notably, these large gains are retained at least several months after the final practice session, including for less-prepared students. Funding for this research was provided by the Center for Emergent Materials: an NSF MRSEC under Award Number DMR-1420451.

Reflective Analysis as a Tool for Task Redesign: The Case of Prospective Elementary Teachers Solving and Posing Fraction Comparison Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thanheiser, Eva; Olanoff, Dana; Hillen, Amy; Feldman, Ziv; Tobias, Jennifer M.; Welder, Rachael M.

2016-01-01

Mathematical task design has been a central focus of the mathematics education research community over the last few years. In this study, six university teacher educators from six different US institutions formed a community of practice to explore key aspects of task design (planning, implementing, reflecting, and modifying) in the context of…

Training Aids for Basic Combat Skills: A Procedure for Training-Aid Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

aids is a constant in training and education. Researchers in fields as varied as disability education, business, firefighting, vocal performance...the aids should (a) address tasks with which many Soldiers have difficulty mastering, (b) address tasks that are critical to basic combat training...candidates because of other practical considerations such as low cost, potential impact to critical IET tasks, etc

Changing patterns of brain activation during maze learning.

PubMed

Van Horn, J D; Gold, J M; Esposito, G; Ostrem, J L; Mattay, V; Weinberger, D R; Berman, K F

1998-05-18

Recent research has found that patterns of brain activation involving the frontal cortex during novel task performance change dramatically following practice and repeat performance. Evidence for differential left vs. right frontal lobe activation, respectively, during episodic memory encoding and retrieval has also been reported. To examine these potentially related issues regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 15 normal volunteers using positron emission tomography (PET) during the naive and practiced performance of a maze task paradigm. SPM analysis indicated a largely right-sided, frontal lobe activation during naive performance. Following training and practice, performance of the same maze task elicited a more posterior pattern of rCBF activation involving posterior cingulate and precuneus. The change in the pattern of rCBF activation between novel and practiced task conditions agrees with results found in previous studies using repeat task methodology, and indicates that the neural circuitry required for encoding novel task information differs from that required when the same task has become familiar and information is being recalled. The right-sided preponderance of activation during naive performance may relate to task novelty and the spatially-based nature of the stimuli, whereas posterior areas activated during repeat performance are those previously found to be associated with visuospatial memory recall. Activation of these areas, however, does not agree with previously reported findings of left-sided activation during verbal episodic memory encoding and right-sided activation during retrieval, suggesting different neural substrates for verbal and visuospatial processing within memory. Copyright 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Good research practices for measuring drug costs in cost-effectiveness analyses: a societal perspective: the ISPOR Drug Cost Task Force report--Part II.

PubMed

Garrison, Louis P; Mansley, Edward C; Abbott, Thomas A; Bresnahan, Brian W; Hay, Joel W; Smeeding, James

2010-01-01

Major guidelines regarding the application of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) have recommended the common and widespread use of the "societal perspective" for purposes of consistency and comparability. The objective of this Task Force subgroup report (one of six reports from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research [ISPOR] Task Force on Good Research Practices-Use of Drug Costs for Cost Effectiveness Analysis [Drug Cost Task Force (DCTF)]) was to review the definition of this perspective, assess its specific application in measuring drug costs, identify any limitations in theory or practice, and make recommendations regarding potential improvements. Key articles, books, and reports in the methodological literature were reviewed, summarized, and integrated into a draft review and report. This draft report was posted for review and comment by ISPOR membership. Numerous comments and suggestions were received, and the report was revised in response to them. The societal perspective can be defined by three conditions: 1) the inclusion of time costs, 2) the use of opportunity costs, and 3) the use of community preferences. In practice, very few, if any, published CEAs have met all of these conditions, though many claim to have taken a societal perspective. Branded drug costs have typically used actual acquisition cost rather than the much lower social opportunity costs that would reflect only short-run manufacturing and distribution costs. This practice is understandable, pragmatic, and useful to current decision-makers. Nevertheless, this use of CEA focuses on static rather than dynamic efficacy and overlooks the related incentives for innovation. Our key recommendation is that current CEA practice acknowledge and embrace this limitation by adopting a new standard for the reference case as one of a "limited societal" or "health systems" perspective, using acquisition drug prices while including indirect costs and community preferences. The field of pharmacoeconomics also needs to acknowledge the limitations of this perspective when it comes to important questions of research and development costs, and incentives for innovation.

Work motivation, task delegation and job satisfaction of general practice staff: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Riisgaard, Helle; Søndergaard, Jens; Munch, Maria; Le, Jette V; Ledderer, Loni; Pedersen, Line B; Nexøe, Jørgen

2017-04-01

Recent research has shown that a high degree of task delegation is associated with the practise staff's overall job satisfaction, and this association is important to explore since job satisfaction is related to medical as well as patient-perceived quality of care. This study aimed: (1) to investigate associations between degrees of task delegation in the management of chronic disease in general practice, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a case and the staff's work motivation, (2) to investigate associations between the work motivation of the staff and their job satisfaction. The study was based on a questionnaire to which 621 members of the practice staff responded. The questionnaire consisted of a part concerning degree of task delegation in the management of COPD in their respective practice and another part being about their job satisfaction and motivation to work. In the first analysis, we found that 'maximal degree' of task delegation was significantly associated with the staff perceiving themselves to have a large degree of variation in tasks, odds ratio (OR) = 4.26, confidence interval (CI) = 1.09, 16.62. In the second analysis, we found that this perceived large degree of variation in tasks was significantly associated with their overall job satisfaction, OR = 2.81, confidence interval = 1.71, 4.61. The results suggest that general practitioners could delegate highly complex tasks in the management of COPD to their staff without influencing the staff's work motivation, and thereby their job satisfaction, negatively, as long as they ensure sufficient variation in the tasks. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Research into Practice: The Task-Based Approach to Instructed Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

East, Martin

2017-01-01

This article discusses the phenomenon of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in instructed additional language settings. It begins from the premise that, despite considerable theoretical and empirical support, TBLT remains a contested endeavour. Critics of TBLT argue that, particularly with regard to time-limited foreign language instructional…

What Physicians Reason about during Admission Case Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juma, Salina; Goldszmidt, Mark

2017-01-01

Research suggests that physicians perform multiple reasoning tasks beyond diagnosis during patient review. However, these remain largely theoretical. The purpose of this study was to explore reasoning tasks in clinical practice during patient admission review. The authors used a constant comparative approach--an iterative and inductive process of…

Teachers, Tasks, and Tensions: Lessons from a Research-Practice Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Raymond; Severance, Samuel; Penuel, William R.; Leary, Heather

2016-01-01

How teachers make sense of new academic standards significantly shapes the implementation of those standards. Professional development organized around the analysis of mathematical tasks has potential to prepare teachers for standards implementation by helping them develop common understandings of standards and how to help students meet ambitious…

Mathematical Tasks as a Framework for Reflection: From Research To Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, Mary Kay; Smith, Margaret Schwan

1998-01-01

Describes the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) national reform project aimed at studying and fostering the development and implementation of enhanced mathematics instructional programs. It is a framework for reflection based on mathematical tasks used during classroom instruction and the ways in…

(De)stabilization of Required and Spontaneous Postural Dynamics with Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faugloire, Elise; Bardy, Benoit G.; Stoffregen, Thomas A.

2009-01-01

The present research examined how learning a new ankle-hip coordination influenced the preexisting postural repertoire. Standing participants learned a new ankle-hip coordination mode (relative phase of 90[degrees]). Before and after practice, postural patterns were evaluated in two different tasks. In the required task, specific ankle-hip…

The influence of professional expertise and task complexity upon the potency of the contextual interference effect.

PubMed

Ollis, Stewart; Button, Chris; Fairweather, Malcolm

2005-03-01

The contextual interference (CI) effect has been investigated through practice schedule manipulations within both basic and applied studies. Despite extensive research activity there is little conclusive evidence regarding the optimal practice structure of real world manipulative tasks in professional training settings. The present study therefore assessed the efficacy of practising simple and complex knot-tying skills in professional fire-fighters training. Forty-eight participants were quasi-randomly assigned to various practice schedules along the CI continuum. Twenty-four participants were students selected for their novice knot-tying capabilities and 24 were experienced fire-fighters who were more 'experienced knot-tiers'. They were assessed for skill acquisition, retention and transfer effects having practiced tying knots classified as simple or complex. Surprisingly, high levels of CI scheduling enhance learning for novices even when practising a complex task. The findings also revealed that CI benefits are most apparent as learners engage in tasks high in transfer distality. In conclusion, complexity and experience are mediating factors influencing the potency of the CI training effect in real-world settings.

Improving the dependability of research in personality and social psychology: recommendations for research and educational practice.

PubMed

Funder, David C; Levine, John M; Mackie, Diane M; Morf, Carolyn C; Sansone, Carol; Vazire, Simine; West, Stephen G

2014-02-01

In this article, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Task Force on Publication and Research Practices offers a brief statistical primer and recommendations for improving the dependability of research. Recommendations for research practice include (a) describing and addressing the choice of N (sample size) and consequent issues of statistical power, (b) reporting effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), (c) avoiding "questionable research practices" that can inflate the probability of Type I error, (d) making available research materials necessary to replicate reported results, (e) adhering to SPSP's data sharing policy, (f) encouraging publication of high-quality replication studies, and (g) maintaining flexibility and openness to alternative standards and methods. Recommendations for educational practice include (a) encouraging a culture of "getting it right," (b) teaching and encouraging transparency of data reporting, (c) improving methodological instruction, and (d) modeling sound science and supporting junior researchers who seek to "get it right."

Early career researchers want Open Science.

PubMed

Farnham, Andrea; Kurz, Christoph; Öztürk, Mehmet Ali; Solbiati, Monica; Myllyntaus, Oona; Meekes, Jordy; Pham, Tra My; Paz, Clara; Langiewicz, Magda; Andrews, Sophie; Kanninen, Liisa; Agbemabiese, Chantal; Guler, Arzu Tugce; Durieux, Jeffrey; Jasim, Sarah; Viessmann, Olivia; Frattini, Stefano; Yembergenova, Danagul; Benito, Carla Marin; Porte, Marion; Grangeray-Vilmint, Anaïs; Curiel, Rafael Prieto; Rehncrona, Carin; Malas, Tareq; Esposito, Flavia; Hettne, Kristina

2017-11-15

Open Science is encouraged by the European Union and many other political and scientific institutions. However, scientific practice is proving slow to change. We propose, as early career researchers, that it is our task to change scientific research into open scientific research and commit to Open Science principles.

Collaborative Practice: A Model of Successful Working in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, C. R.; Dunning, G.; Connolly, M.; Elliott, T.

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop the notion of collaborative practice from theoretical and empirical bases. Design/methodology/approach: The research analysed the concepts of collaboration, reflective practice and the primary task. It also examined the ways of working of 18 primary schools in Wales where the level of student…

Best Practices in Student Recruitment: A Case Study of Eleven Practitioners at Seven Alternative Graduate Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Sheri S. L.

2012-01-01

This research addresses best practices for recruiting students at small graduate schools. Best practice is a management term defined as the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task. While popular techniques can promote student enrollment, the actual practices and how they are carried out can be varied and unique at each school. For…

Training for generalization in Theory of Mind: a study with older adults

PubMed Central

Cavallini, Elena; Bianco, Federica; Bottiroli, Sara; Rosi, Alessia; Vecchi, Tomaso; Lecce, Serena

2015-01-01

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict social behavior. Recent research in this area has shown a decline in ToM abilities associated with normal aging that is of a moderate magnitude or greater. Very few studies have investigated whether it is possible to improve older adults’ ToM abilities. The present study was designed to address this gap in the literature by evaluating the impact of a ToM training on practiced and transfer tasks. We provided older adults with a variety of activities designed to facilitate the generalization of benefits to other ToM-demanding tasks. Participants were 63 healthy older adults, native Italian speakers (Mage = 71.44, SD = 5.24, age range: 63–81 years). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the ToM training (age range: 63–81 years) and the physical-conversation training (age range: 64–81 years). Training effects were measured using the strange stories (practiced task) and the animation task (transfer task). Results revealed the efficacy of the training in producing improvements on practiced but also on transfer tasks. PMID:26300818

Exploring the Use of a Multiplayer Game to Execute Light Infantry Company Missions

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

training : (a) are trained sufficiently to implement the tasks (T), (b) need practice with implementing the task (P), and (c) are untrained on the task...approved for distribution: BARBARA A. BLACK, Ph.D. MICHELLE SAMS, Ph.D. Research Program Manager Director Training and...Maneuver Captains Career Course (MCCC) at Fort Benning, Georgia, have had limited success using training games. Early efforts to provide the MCCC with

Effects of the Good Behavior Game on classwide off-task behavior in a high school basic algebra resource classroom.

PubMed

Flower, Andrea; McKenna, John; Muething, Colin S; Bryant, Diane Pedrotty; Bryant, Brian R

2014-01-01

This study investigated the effects of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on classwide off-task behavior in two ninth-grade basic algebra resource classes. Ten students with a variety of disabilities, in two classrooms, and their special education resource teacher participated in this study. A reversal design was employed, in which the special education teacher implemented GBG compared to typical practice-algebra readiness instruction. Results showed that classwide off-task behavior decreased in the GBG conditions compared to the baseline and reversal conditions. Fidelity measures indicated that the teacher implemented GBG with fidelity. Students and the teacher rated GBG favorably. Overall findings support the use of GBG for reducing classwide off-task behavior. Implications for practice and future research directions are presented.

The roles of deliberate practice and innate ability in developing expertise: evidence and implications.

PubMed

Kulasegaram, Kulamakan M; Grierson, Lawrence E M; Norman, Geoffrey R

2013-10-01

Medical education research focuses extensively on experience and deliberate practice (DP) as key factors in the development of expert performance. The research on DP minimises the role of individual ability in expert performance. This claim ignores a large body of research supporting the importance of innate individual cognitive differences. We review the relationship between DP and an innate individual ability, working memory (WM) capacity, to illustrate how both DP and individual ability predict expert performance. This narrative review examines the relationship between DP and WM in accounting for expert performance. Studies examining DP, WM and individual differences were identified through a targeted search. Although all studies support extensive DP as a factor in explaining expertise, much research suggests individual cognitive differences, such as WM capacity, predict expert performance after controlling for DP. The extent to which this occurs may be influenced by the nature of the task under study and the cognitive processes used by experts. The importance of WM capacity is greater for tasks that are non-routine or functionally complex. Clinical reasoning displays evidence of this task-dependent importance of individual ability. No single factor is both necessary and sufficient in explaining expertise, and individual abilities such as WM can be important. These individual abilities are likely to contribute to expert performance in clinical settings. Medical education research and practice should identify the individual differences in novices and experts that are important to clinical performance. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integration of classroom science performance assessment tasks by participants of the Wisconsin Performance Assessment Development Project (WPADP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonnis, Dorothy Ann

The goals of this interpretive study were to examine selected Wisconsin science teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning science, to describe the scope of classroom performance assessment practices, and to gain an understanding of teachers' personal and professional experiences that influenced their belief systems of teaching, learning and assessment. The study was designed to answer the research questions: (1) How does the integration of performance assessment relate to the teachers' views of teaching and learning? (2) How are the selected teachers integrating performance assessment in their teaching? (3) What past personal and professional experiences have influenced teachers' attitudes and beliefs related to their classroom performance assessment practices? Purposeful sampling was used to select seven Wisconsin elementary, middle and high school science teachers who participated in the WPADP initiative from 1993-1995. Data collection methods included a Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI), semi-structured interviews, teacher developed portfolios, portfolio conferences, and classroom observations. Four themes and multiple categories emerged through data analysis to answer the research questions and to describe the results. Several conclusions were drawn from this research. First, science teachers who appeared to effectively integrate performance assessment, demonstrated transformational thinking in their attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning science. In addition, these teachers viewed assessment and instructional practices as interdependent. Third, transformational teachers generally used well defined criteria to judge student work and made it public to the students. Transformational teachers provided students with real-world performance assessment tasks that were also learning events. Furthermore, student task responses informed the transformational teachers about effectiveness of instruction, students' complex thinking skills, quality of assessment instruments, students' creativity, and students' self-assessment skills. Finally, transformational teachers maintained integration of performance assessment practices through sustaining teacher support networks, engaging in professional development programs, and reflecting upon past personal and professional experiences related to teaching, learning and assessment. Salient conflicts overcome or minimized by transformational teachers include the conflict between assessment scoring and grading issues, validity and reliability concerns about the performance assessment tasks used, and the difficulty for teachers to consistently provide public criteria to students before task administration.

Part-time careers in academic internal medicine: a report from the association of specialty professors part-time careers task force on behalf of the alliance for academic internal medicine.

PubMed

Linzer, Mark; Warde, Carole; Alexander, R Wayne; Demarco, Deborah M; Haupt, Allison; Hicks, Leroi; Kutner, Jean; Mangione, Carol M; Mechaber, Hilit; Rentz, Meridith; Riley, Joanne; Schuster, Barbara; Solomon, Glen D; Volberding, Paul; Ibrahim, Tod

2009-10-01

To establish guidelines for more effectively incorporating part-time faculty into departments of internal medicine, a task force was convened in early 2007 by the Association of Specialty Professors. The task force used informal surveys, current literature, and consensus building among members of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine to produce a consensus statement and a series of recommendations. The task force agreed that part-time faculty could enrich a department of medicine, enhance workforce flexibility, and provide high-quality research, patient care, and education in a cost-effective manner. The task force provided a series of detailed steps for operationalizing part-time practice; to do so, key issues were addressed, such as fixed costs, malpractice insurance, space, cross-coverage, mentoring, career development, productivity targets, and flexible scheduling. Recommendations included (1) increasing respect for work-family balance, (2) allowing flexible time as well as part-time employment, (3) directly addressing negative perceptions about part-time faculty, (4) developing policies to allow flexibility in academic advancement, (5) considering part-time faculty as candidates for leadership positions, (6) encouraging granting agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Administration, to consider part-time faculty as eligible for research career development awards, and (7) supporting future research in "best practices" for incorporating part-time faculty into academic departments of medicine.

Spatial parameters at the basis of social transfer of learning.

PubMed

Lugli, Luisa; Iani, Cristina; Milanese, Nadia; Sebanz, Natalie; Rubichi, Sandro

2015-06-01

Recent research indicates that practicing on a joint spatial compatibility task with an incompatible stimulus-response mapping affects subsequent joint Simon task performance, eliminating the social Simon effect. It has been well established that in individual contexts, for transfer of learning to occur, participants need to practice an incompatible association between stimulus and response positions. The mechanisms underlying transfer of learning in joint task performance are, however, less well understood. The present study was aimed at assessing the relative contribution of 3 different spatial relations characterizing the joint practice context: stimulus-response, stimulus-participant, and participant-response relations. In 3 experiments, the authors manipulated the stimulus-response, stimulus-participant, and response-participant associations. We found that learning from the practice task did not transfer to the subsequent task when during practice stimulus-response associations were spatially incompatible and stimulus-participant associations were compatible (Experiment 1). However, a transfer of learning was evident when stimulus-participant associations were spatially incompatible. This occurred both when response-participant associations were incompatible (Experiment 2) and when they were compatible (Experiment 3). These results seem to support an agent corepresentation account of correspondence effects emerging in joint settings since they suggest that, in social contexts, critical to obtain transfer-of-learning effects is the spatial relation between stimulus and participant positions while the spatial relation between stimulus and response positions is irrelevant. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive structure, flexibility, and plasticity in human multitasking-An integrative review of dual-task and task-switching research.

PubMed

Koch, Iring; Poljac, Edita; Müller, Hermann; Kiesel, Andrea

2018-06-01

Numerous studies showed decreased performance in situations that require multiple tasks or actions relative to appropriate control conditions. Because humans often engage in such multitasking activities, it is important to understand how multitasking affects performance. In the present article, we argue that research on dual-task interference and sequential task switching has proceeded largely separately using different experimental paradigms and methodology. In our article we aim at organizing this complex set of research in terms of three complementary research perspectives on human multitasking. One perspective refers to structural accounts in terms of cognitive bottlenecks (i.e., critical processing stages). A second perspective refers to cognitive flexibility in terms of the underlying cognitive control processes. A third perspective emphasizes cognitive plasticity in terms of the influence of practice on human multitasking abilities. With our review article we aimed at highlighting the value of an integrative position that goes beyond isolated consideration of a single theoretical research perspective and that broadens the focus from single experimental paradigms (dual task and task switching) to favor instead a view that emphasizes the fundamental similarity of the underlying cognitive mechanisms across multitasking paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Conducting international nursing research: challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Opollo, Jackline Gloria; Opollo, Diana Alaka; Gray, Jennifer; Spies, Lori

2014-11-01

To describe practical experiences before, during and after gaining entry into research fields in Kenya and Uganda. Planning, conducting and implementing international research can be an arduous task. Novice researchers need practical guides to accessing international fields and mitigating challenges met in the field. The researchers conducted three different studies in two developing nations. This paper reviews challenges encountered when conducting international research. Solutions used to overcome these challenges are discussed. Establishing and maintaining effective partnerships is critical to the success of international research efforts. Researchers must be tactful, flexible and creative when handling methodological, ethical and logistical challenges encountered in settings poor in resources. International research provides opportunities for increasing dedication, building cross-cultural competence and advancing health professional practice globally. This paper contributes to nursing scholarship by highlighting the practical challenges of conducting international research. Illustrations aimed at lending insight and encouraging others to expand their dedication to conducting international research are offered.

Factors Considered by Elementary Teachers When Developing and Modifying Mathematical Tasks to Support Children's Mathematical Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fredenberg, Michael Duane

The idea that problems and tasks play a pivotal role in a mathematics lesson has a long standing in mathematics education research. Recent calls for teaching reform appeal for training teachers to better understand how students learn mathematics and to employ students' mathematical thinking as the basis for pedagogy (CCSSM, 2010; NCTM, 2000; NRC 1999). The teaching practices of (a) developing a task for a mathematics lesson and, (b) modifying the task for students while enacting the lesson fit within the scope of supporting students' mathematical thinking. Surprisingly, an extensive search of the literature did not yield any research aimed to identify and refine the constituent parts of the aforementioned teaching practices in the manner called for by Grossman and xiii colleagues (2009). Consequently, my research addresses the two questions: (a) what factors do exemplary elementary teachers consider when developing a task for a mathematics lesson? (b) what factors do they consider when they modify a task for a student when enacting a lesson? I conducted a multiple case study involving three elementary teachers, each with extensive training in the area of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), as well as several years experience teaching mathematics following the principles of CGI (Carpenter et al., 1999). I recorded video of three mathematics lessons with each participant and after each lesson I conducted a semi-structured stimulated recall interview. A subsequent follow-up clinical interview was conducted soon thereafter to further explore the teacher's thoughts (Ginsberg, 1997). In addition, my methodology included interjecting myself at select times during a lesson to ask the teacher to explain her reasoning. Qualitative analysis led to a framework that identified four categories of influencing factors and seven categories of supporting objectives for the development of a task. Subsets of these factors and objectives emerged as particularly relevant when the teachers decided to modify a task. Moreover, relationships between and among the various factors were identified. The emergent framework from this study offers insight into decompositions of the two teaching practices of interest, and, in particular, the utility of the number choices made by the teachers.

The Translation of Cognitive Paradigms for Patient Research

PubMed Central

Luck, Steven J.; Gold, James M.

2008-01-01

Many cognitive tasks have been developed by basic scientists to isolate and measure specific cognitive processes in healthy young adults, and these tasks have the potential to provide important information about cognitive dysfunction in psychiatric disorders, both in psychopathology research and in clinical trials. However, several practical and conceptual challenges arise in translating these tasks for patient research. Here we outline a paradigm development strategy—which involves iteratively testing modifications of the tasks in college students, in older healthy adults, and in patients—that we have used to successfully translate a large number of cognitive tasks for use in schizophrenia patients. This strategy makes it possible to make the tasks patient friendly while maintaining their cognitive precision. We also outline several measurement issues that arise in these tasks, including differences in baseline performance levels and speed-accuracy trade-offs, and we provide suggestions for addressing these issues. Finally, we present examples of 2 experiments, one of which exemplifies our recommendations regarding measurement issues and was a success and one of which was a painful but informative failure. PMID:18487226

The role of governance in implementing task-shifting from physicians to nurses in advanced roles in Europe, U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

PubMed

Maier, Claudia B

2015-12-01

Task-shifting from physicians to nurses is increasing worldwide; however, research on how it is governed is scarce. This international study assessed task-shifting governance models and implications on practice, based on a literature scoping review; and a survey with 93 country experts in 39 countries (response rate: 85.3%). Governance was assessed by several indicators, regulation of titles, scope of practice, prescriptive authority, and registration policies. This policy analysis focused on eleven countries with task-shifting at the Advanced Practice Nursing/Nurse Practitioner (APN/NP) level. Governance models ranged from national, decentralized to no regulation, but at the discretion of employers and settings. In countries with national or decentralized regulation, restrictive scope of practice laws were shown as barrier, up-to-date laws as enablers to advanced practice. Countries with decentralized regulation resulted in uneven levels of practice. In countries leaving governance to individual settings, practice variations existed, moreover data availability and role clarity was limited. Policy options include periodic reviews to ensure laws are up to date, minimum harmonization in decentralized contexts, harmonized educational and practice-level requirements to reduce practice variation and ensure quality. From a European Union (EU) perspective, regulation is preferred over non-regulation as a first step toward the recognition of qualifications in countries with similar levels of advanced practice. Countries early on in the process need to be aware that different governance models can influence practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

School Social Workers' Perceived Efficacy at Tasks Related to Curbing Suspension and Undesirable Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teasley, Martell L.; Miller, Christina R.

2011-01-01

This study explores school social workers' perceptions of their ability to successfully engage in practice tasks that reduce the likelihood of school suspension and undesirable behaviors among racial and ethnic groups within diverse geographical locations (urban, suburban, and rural). Using survey research methods with a convenience sample, 201…

How Parental Support during Homework Contributes to Helpless Behaviors among Struggling Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orkin, Melissa; May, Sidney; Wolf, Maryanne

2017-01-01

This research investigated the influence of parental practices on helpless behaviors of struggling readers during homework tasks. Parents (N = 36) of elementary students reported on their children's helpless behaviors, such as task avoidance and negative affect, during homework assignments, and on the nature and frequency of their support.…

The Primary Program: Report from the Task Force on Improving Kentucky Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Lexington, KY.

Because the primary years are the point where specific changes are required in teaching practice and school organization, a task force examined Kentucky's primary program through school visits, interviews, expert testimony, and research. The last three years have shown marked improvement in student performance in the basics (reading, writing, and…

Management Practices: A Major Cause of Stress among Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mersky, Ronald

This research studies task-based stress among teachers in a rural setting. A 51-item instrument was administered to teachers in 12 schools to determine (1) the extent of differential reactions to a wide range of task-based teaching events, as correlated with situational characteristics (sex, age, elementary or secondary affiliation, school size);…

Implications of the Mmory Controversy for Clinical Practice: An Overview of Treatment Recommendations and Guidelines.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Courtois, Christine A.

2001-01-01

Provides an overview of the positions taken by both sides in the dispute of "false memory." Then presents major findings of several professional task forces charged with reviewing the controversy and arriving at recommendations for research, clinical practice, and forensic practice regarding delayed recall of memories for sexual abuse.…

Making Dysphagia Easier to Swallow: A Review for the Practicing Clinician.

PubMed

Jansson-Knodell, Claire L; Codipilly, D Chamil; Leggett, Cadman L

2017-06-01

Evaluating a patient with dysphagia can be a complex and daunting task. In this article, we present a practical approach to the evaluation, physical examination, and subsequent work-up of dysphagia that is applicable to practicing physicians. Copyright © 2017 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions.

PubMed

Grant, Adam M

2008-01-01

Does task significance increase job performance? Correlational designs and confounded manipulations have prevented researchers from assessing the causal impact of task significance on job performance. To address this gap, 3 field experiments examined the performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance. In Experiment 1, fundraising callers who received a task significance intervention increased their levels of job performance relative to callers in 2 other conditions and to their own prior performance. In Experiment 2, task significance increased the job dedication and helping behavior of lifeguards, and these effects were mediated by increases in perceptions of social impact and social worth. In Experiment 3, conscientiousness and prosocial values moderated the effects of task significance on the performance of new fundraising callers. The results provide fresh insights into the effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance, offering noteworthy implications for theory, research, and practice on job design, social information processing, and work motivation and performance. 2008 APA

Mechanisms of Practice-Related Reductions of Dual-Task Interference with Simple Tasks: Data and Theory

PubMed Central

Strobach, Tilo; Torsten, Schubert

2017-01-01

In dual-task situations, interference between two simultaneous tasks impairs performance. With practice, however, this impairment can be reduced. To identify mechanisms leading to a practice-related improvement in sensorimotor dual tasks, the present review applied the following general hypothesis: Sources that impair dual-task performance at the beginning of practice are associated with mechanisms for the reduction of dual-task impairment at the end of practice. The following types of processes provide sources for the occurrence of this impairment: (a) capacity-limited processes within the component tasks, such as response-selection or motor response stages, and (b) cognitive control processes independent of these tasks and thus operating outside of component-task performance. Dual-task practice studies show that, under very specific conditions, capacity-limited processes within the component tasks are automatized with practice, reducing the interference between two simultaneous tasks. Further, there is evidence that response-selection stages are shortened with practice. Thus, capacity limitations at these stages are sources for dual-task costs at the beginning of practice and are overcome with practice. However, there is no evidence demonstrating the existence of practice-related mechanisms associated with capacity-limited motor-response stages. Further, during practice, there is an acquisition of executive control skills for an improved allocation of limited attention resources to two tasks as well as some evidence supporting the assumption of improved task coordination. These latter mechanisms are associated with sources of dual-task interference operating outside of component task performance at the beginning of practice and also contribute to the reduction of dual-task interference at its end. PMID:28439319

The Education of Behavior Disordered Students. Report of the West Virginia Task Force.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West Virginia State Dept. of Education, Charleston. Bureau of Learning Systems.

The report presents findings of a West Virginia task force on a program study for behavior disordered students in early childhood education, middle childhood education, and adolescent education. The first section presents a synopsis of studies on current research and best practices in the education of behavior disordered students. The conclusions…

Professional Task-Based Curriculum Development for Distance Education Practitioners at Master's Level: A Design-Based Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feng, Xiaoying; Lu, Guangxin; Yao, Zhihong

2015-01-01

Curriculum development for distance education (DE) practitioners is more and more focusing on practical requirements and competence development. Delphi and DACUM methods have been used at some universities. However, in the competency-based development area, these methods have been taken over by professional-task-based development in the last…

Technology of Synergy Manifestation in the Research of Solution's Stability of Differential Equations System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dvoryatkina, Svetlana N.; Melnikov, Roman A. M.; Smirnov, Eugeny I.

2017-01-01

Effectiveness of mathematical education as non-linear, composite and open system, formation and development of cognitive abilities of the trainee are wholly defined in the solution of complex tasks by means of modern achievements in science to high school practice adaptation. The possibility of complex tasks solution arises at identification of…

An Examination of K-5 Principal Time and Tasks to Improve Leadership Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Vooren, Carol

2018-01-01

This study highlights the high rates of attrition among school leaders that result from increased demands on school principals. This article reports on a unique university and school district partnership that worked together in action-based, community-engaged research to address the time allocation and tasks in the daily life of principals. The…

Free recall and outdoor running: cognitive and physical demand interference.

PubMed

Epling, Samantha L; Blakely, Megan J; Russell, Paul N; Helton, William S

2016-10-01

Cognitive resource theory is a proposed explanation for people's limited ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Reallocation of a restricted supply of cognitive resources to two or more tasks may be detrimental to performance on one or both tasks. Many professionals in high-risk fields, such as those engaged in firefighting, military, and search and rescue missions, face simultaneous mental and physical demands, yet little is known about the resources required to move over the natural terrain these operators may encounter. In the present research, we investigated whether interference was found between outdoor running and a word recall task. As hypothesized, a reduction in word recall was observed in the dual task compared to a recall-alone task; however, the distance run was not significantly different between the dual task and the run-alone task. Subjective reports of workload, task focus, and being "spent" (measures calculated from responses on a questionnaire) were greatest in the dual task. These results support the cognitive resource theory and have important theoretical and practical implications. Further research is required to better understand the type and extent of cognitive resources required by such physical tasks and the potential interference with simultaneous mental tasks.

Exploring Virtual Mental Practice in Maintenance Task Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bauerle, Tim; Brnich, Michael J.; Navoyski, Jason

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to a general understanding of mental practice by investigating the utility of and participant reaction to a virtual reality maintenance training among underground coal mine first responders. Design/Methodology/Approach: Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Office of Mine…

Community Interests and Indicator System Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holden, Meg

2009-01-01

Testing the validity of indicator systems is a task almost always left to the scientific community, in standard practice and in keeping with the quest for objectivity prevalent in politics and in society as a whole. This paper calls for a reinvigorated agenda within indicators research to question this practice and develop alternative…

Microanalytic Assessment of Self-Regulated Learning During Clinical Reasoning Tasks: Recent Developments and Next Steps.

PubMed

Cleary, Timothy J; Durning, Steven J; Artino, Anthony R

2016-11-01

Helping medical educators obtain and use assessment data to assist medical students, residents, and physicians in reducing diagnostic errors and other forms of ineffective clinical practice is of critical importance. Self-Regulated Learning-Microanalytic Assessment and Training is an assessment-to-intervention framework designed to address this need by generating data about trainees' strategic processes (e.g., focusing on clinical task procedures), regulatory processes (e.g., planning how to do a task), and motivational processes (e.g., increasing confidence for performing a task) as they perform clinical activities. In this article, the authors review several studies that have used an innovative assessment approach, called self-regulated learning (SRL) microanalysis, to generate data about how trainees regulate their thinking and actions during clinical reasoning tasks. Across the studies, initial findings revealed that medical students often do not exhibit strategic thinking and action during clinical reasoning practice tasks even though some regulatory processes (e.g., planning) are predictive of important medical education outcomes. Further, trainees' motivation beliefs, strategic thinking, and self-evaluative judgments tend to shift rapidly during clinical skills practice and may also vary across different parts of a patient encounter. Collectively, these findings underscore the value of dynamically assessing trainees' SRL as they complete clinical tasks. The findings also set the stage for exploring how medical educators can best use SRL microanalytic assessment data to guide remedial practices and the provision of feedback to trainees. Implications and future research directions for connecting assessments to intervention in medical education are discussed.

Wind power forecasting: IEA Wind Task 36 & future research issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giebel, G.; Cline, J.; Frank, H.; Shaw, W.; Pinson, P.; Hodge, B.-M.; Kariniotakis, G.; Madsen, J.; Möhrlen, C.

2016-09-01

This paper presents the new International Energy Agency Wind Task 36 on Forecasting, and invites to collaborate within the group. Wind power forecasts have been used operatively for over 20 years. Despite this fact, there are still several possibilities to improve the forecasts, both from the weather prediction side and from the usage of the forecasts. The new International Energy Agency (IEA) Task on Forecasting for Wind Energy tries to organise international collaboration, among national meteorological centres with an interest and/or large projects on wind forecast improvements (NOAA, DWD, MetOffice, met.no, DMI,...), operational forecaster and forecast users. The Task is divided in three work packages: Firstly, a collaboration on the improvement of the scientific basis for the wind predictions themselves. This includes numerical weather prediction model physics, but also widely distributed information on accessible datasets. Secondly, we will be aiming at an international pre-standard (an IEA Recommended Practice) on benchmarking and comparing wind power forecasts, including probabilistic forecasts. This WP will also organise benchmarks, in cooperation with the IEA Task WakeBench. Thirdly, we will be engaging end users aiming at dissemination of the best practice in the usage of wind power predictions. As first results, an overview of current issues for research in short-term forecasting of wind power is presented.

Examining and contrasting the cognitive activities engaged in undergraduate research experiences and lab courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, N. G.; Wieman, Carl E.

2016-12-01

While the positive outcomes of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been extensively categorized, the mechanisms for those outcomes are less understood. Through lightly structured focus group interviews, we have extracted the cognitive tasks that students identify as engaging in during their UREs. We also use their many comparative statements about their coursework, especially lab courses, to evaluate their experimental physics-related cognitive tasks in those environments. We find there are a number of cognitive tasks consistently encountered in physics UREs that are present in most experimental research. These are seldom encountered in lab or lecture courses, with some notable exceptions. Having time to reflect and fix or revise, and having a sense of autonomy, were both repeatedly cited as key enablers of the benefits of UREs. We also identify tasks encountered in actual experimental research that are not encountered in UREs. We use these findings to identify opportunities for better integration of the cognitive tasks in UREs and lab courses, as well as discussing the barriers that exist. This work responds to extensive calls for science education to better develop students' scientific skills and practices, as well as calls to expose more students to scientific research.

Ethical Challenges in Promoting the Implementation of Preventive Interventions: Report of the SPR Task Force.

PubMed

Leadbeater, Bonnie J; Dishion, Tom; Sandler, Irwin; Bradshaw, Catherine P; Dodge, Kenneth; Gottfredson, Denise; Graham, Phillip W; Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah; Maldonado-Molina, Mildred M; Mauricio, Anne M; Smith, Emilie Phillips

2018-06-23

Prevention science researchers and practitioners are increasingly engaged in a wide range of activities and roles to promote evidence-based prevention practices in the community. Ethical concerns invariably arise in these activities and roles that may not be explicitly addressed by university or professional guidelines for ethical conduct. In 2015, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) Board of Directors commissioned Irwin Sandler and Tom Dishion to organize a series of roundtables and establish a task force to identify salient ethical issues encountered by prevention scientists and community-based practitioners as they collaborate to implement evidence-based prevention practices. This article documents the process and findings of the SPR Ethics Task Force and aims to inform continued efforts to articulate ethical practice. Specifically, the SPR membership and task force identified prevention activities that commonly stemmed from implementation and scale-up efforts. This article presents examples that illustrate typical ethical dilemmas. We present principles and concepts that can be used to frame the discussion of ethical concerns that may be encountered in implementation and scale-up efforts. We summarize value statements that stemmed from our discussion. We also conclude that the field of prevention science in general would benefit from standards and guidelines to promote ethical behavior and social justice in the process of implementing evidence-based prevention practices in community settings. It is our hope that this article serves as an educational resource for students, investigators, and Human Subjects Review Board members regarding some of the complexity of issues of fairness, equality, diversity, and personal rights for implementation of preventive interventions.

Good research practices for comparative effectiveness research: approaches to mitigate bias and confounding in the design of nonrandomized studies of treatment effects using secondary data sources: the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Good Research Practices for Retrospective Database Analysis Task Force Report--Part II.

PubMed

Cox, Emily; Martin, Bradley C; Van Staa, Tjeerd; Garbe, Edeltraut; Siebert, Uwe; Johnson, Michael L

2009-01-01

The goal of comparative effectiveness analysis is to examine the relationship between two variables, treatment, or exposure and effectiveness or outcome. Unlike data obtained through randomized controlled trials, researchers face greater challenges with causal inference with observational studies. Recognizing these challenges, a task force was formed to develop a guidance document on methodological approaches to addresses these biases. The task force was commissioned and a Chair was selected by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Board of Directors in October 2007. This report, the second of three reported in this issue of the Journal, discusses the inherent biases when using secondary data sources for comparative effectiveness analysis and provides methodological recommendations to help mitigate these biases. The task force report provides recommendations and tools for researchers to mitigate threats to validity from bias and confounding in measurement of exposure and outcome. Recommendations on design of study included: the need for data analysis plan with causal diagrams; detailed attention to classification bias in definition of exposure and clinical outcome; careful and appropriate use of restriction; extreme care to identify and control for confounding factors, including time-dependent confounding. Design of nonrandomized studies of comparative effectiveness face several daunting issues, including measurement of exposure and outcome challenged by misclassification and confounding. Use of causal diagrams and restriction are two techniques that can improve the theoretical basis for analyzing treatment effects in study populations of more homogeneity, with reduced loss of generalizability.

A practical guide and perspectives on the use of experimental pain modalities with children and adolescents

PubMed Central

Birnie, Kathryn A; Caes, Line; Wilson, Anna C; Williams, Sara E; Chambers, Christine T

2014-01-01

SUMMARY Use of experimental pain is vital for addressing research questions that would otherwise be impossible to examine in the real world. Experimental induction of pain in children is highly scrutinized given the potential for harm and lack of direct benefit to a vulnerable population. However, its use has critically advanced our understanding of the mechanisms, assessment and treatment of pain in both healthy and chronically ill children. This article introduces various experimental pain modalities, including the cold pressor task, the water load symptom provocation test, thermal pain, pressure pain and conditioned pain modulation, and discusses their application for use with children and adolescents. It addresses practical implementation and ethical issues, as well as the advantages and disadvantages offered by each task. The incredible potential for future research is discussed given the array of experimental pain modalities now available to pediatric researchers. PMID:24641434

Domain-Specific and Unspecific Reaction Times in Experienced Team Handball Goalkeepers and Novices

PubMed Central

Helm, Fabian; Reiser, Mathias; Munzert, Jörn

2016-01-01

In our everyday environments, we are constantly having to adapt our behavior to changing conditions. Hence, processing information is a fundamental cognitive activity, especially the linking together of perceptual and action processes. In this context, expertise research in the sport domain has concentrated on arguing that superior processing performance is driven by an advantage to be found in anticipatory processes (see Williams et al., 2011, for a review). This has resulted in less attention being paid to the benefits coming from basic internal perceptual-motor processing. In general, research on reaction time (RT) indicates that practicing a RT task leads to an increase in processing speed (Mowbray and Rhoades, 1959; Rabbitt and Banerji, 1989). Against this background, the present study examined whether the speed of internal processing is dependent on or independent from domain-specific motor expertise in unpredictable stimulus–response tasks and in a double stimulus–response paradigm. Thirty male participants (15 team handball goalkeepers and 15 novices) performed domain-unspecific simple or choice stimulus–response (CSR) tasks as well as CSR tasks that were domain-specific only for goalkeepers. As expected, results showed significantly faster RTs for goalkeepers on domain-specific tasks, whereas novices’ RTs were more frequently excessively long. However, differences between groups in the double stimulus-response paradigm were not significant. It is concluded that the reported expertise advantage might be due to recalling stored perceptual-motor representations for the domain-specific tasks, implying that experience with (practice of) a motor task explicitly enhances the internal processing of other related domain-specific tasks. PMID:27445879

Domain-Specific and Unspecific Reaction Times in Experienced Team Handball Goalkeepers and Novices.

PubMed

Helm, Fabian; Reiser, Mathias; Munzert, Jörn

2016-01-01

In our everyday environments, we are constantly having to adapt our behavior to changing conditions. Hence, processing information is a fundamental cognitive activity, especially the linking together of perceptual and action processes. In this context, expertise research in the sport domain has concentrated on arguing that superior processing performance is driven by an advantage to be found in anticipatory processes (see Williams et al., 2011, for a review). This has resulted in less attention being paid to the benefits coming from basic internal perceptual-motor processing. In general, research on reaction time (RT) indicates that practicing a RT task leads to an increase in processing speed (Mowbray and Rhoades, 1959; Rabbitt and Banerji, 1989). Against this background, the present study examined whether the speed of internal processing is dependent on or independent from domain-specific motor expertise in unpredictable stimulus-response tasks and in a double stimulus-response paradigm. Thirty male participants (15 team handball goalkeepers and 15 novices) performed domain-unspecific simple or choice stimulus-response (CSR) tasks as well as CSR tasks that were domain-specific only for goalkeepers. As expected, results showed significantly faster RTs for goalkeepers on domain-specific tasks, whereas novices' RTs were more frequently excessively long. However, differences between groups in the double stimulus-response paradigm were not significant. It is concluded that the reported expertise advantage might be due to recalling stored perceptual-motor representations for the domain-specific tasks, implying that experience with (practice of) a motor task explicitly enhances the internal processing of other related domain-specific tasks.

Response to Vogelstein: How the 2012 AAP Task Force on circumcision went wrong.

PubMed

Van Howe, Robert S

2018-01-01

Vogelstein cautions medical organizations against jumping into the fray of controversial issues, yet proffers the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics' Task Force policy position on infant male circumcision as 'an appropriate use of position-statements.' Only a scratch below the surface of this policy statement uncovers the Task Force's failure to consider Vogelstein's many caveats. The Task Force supported the cultural practice by putting undeserved emphasis on questionable scientific data, while ignoring or underplaying the importance of valid contrary scientific data. Without any effort to quantitatively assess the risk/benefit balance, the Task Force concluded the benefits of circumcision outweighed the risks, while acknowledging that the incidence of risks was unknown. This Task Force differed from other Academy policy-forming panels by ignoring the Academy's standard quality measures and by not appointing members with extensive research experience, extensive publications, or recognized expertise directly related to this topic. Despite nearly 100 publications available at the time addressing the substantial ethical issues associated with infant male circumcision, the Task Force chose to ignore the ethical controversy. They merely stated, with minimal justification, the opinion of one of the Task Force members that the practice of infant male circumcision is morally permissible. The release of the report has fostered an explosion of academic discussion on the ethics of infant male circumcision with a number of national medical organizations now decrying the practice as a human rights violation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A hugh marketing research task: birth control.

PubMed

Simon, J L

1968-02-01

Research in underdeveloped countries to sell family planning is discussed. The article also aims at pinpointing other possible research areas. Census reports were actually the earliest work relevant to birth control. Later came the research on psychosocial factors affecting family size in developed countries. After World War I, client oriented research into family planning began. The history of this type of research is discussed with more emphasis on the surveys of the knowledge, attitude and contraception practices (KAP) in various countries. The author claims the KAP surveys to be the largest worldwide market research job ever done. Propagands campaigns, contraceptive costs, bonuses for contraceptive practices, and effectiveness of persuasion techniques are discussed.

Advancing a new evidence-based professional in health care: job task analysis for health and wellness coaches.

PubMed

Wolever, Ruth Q; Jordan, Meg; Lawson, Karen; Moore, Margaret

2016-06-27

The pressing need to manage burgeoning chronic disease has led to the emergence of job roles such as health and wellness coaches (HWCs). As use of this title has increased dramatically, so has the need to ensure consistency, quality and safety for health and wellness coaching (HWC) provided in both practice and research. Clear and uniform role definitions and competencies are required to ensure appropriate scope of practice, to allow best practices to emerge, and to support the implementation of well-designed, large scale studies to accumulate a rigorous evidence base. Since the nascent field is replete with heterogeneity in terms of role delineations and competencies, a collaborative volunteer non-profit organization, the National Consortium for Credentialing Health and Wellness Coaches (NCCHWC), has been built over the past six years to support professionalization of the field. In 2014, a professionally led Job Task Analysis (JTA) was conducted with 15 carefully selected subject matter experts (SMEs) with diverse education and professional backgrounds who were practicing HWC in a wide variety of settings. After establishing a thorough list of specific tasks employed during HWC, the expert panel discussed the knowledge and skills necessary to competently perform the tasks. Subsequently, a large validation survey assessed the relative importance and frequency of each identified job task in conducting HWC. The JTA identified 21 job tasks as essential to HWC. In the subsequent validation survey, 4026 practicing health and wellness coaches were invited to rate each of the 21 job tasks in terms of their importance and frequency. A response rate of 25.6 % provided a diverse sample (n = 1031) in terms of background, and represented a wide variety of training programs from academia, industry, the private sector and associations. Per best practices, the subset of practicing HWCs (n = 885) provided importance and frequency ratings to be used to calculate task and domain weights that can serve as a foundation for a NCCHWC national certification examination. This JTA provides a significant step forward in the building of a clear and consistent definition of HWC that will allow for uniform practice standards and enable more stringent methodology to evaluate this promising approach within evidence-based medicine.

Optimizing Music Learning: Exploring How Blocked and Interleaved Practice Schedules Affect Advanced Performance.

PubMed

Carter, Christine E; Grahn, Jessica A

2016-01-01

Repetition is the most commonly used practice strategy by musicians. Although blocks of repetition continue to be suggested in the pedagogical literature, work in the field of cognitive psychology suggests that repeated events receive less processing, thereby reducing the potential for long-term learning. Motor skill learning and sport psychology research offer an alternative. Instead of using a blocked practice schedule, with practice completed on one task before moving on to the next task, an interleaved schedule can be used, in which practice is frequently alternated between tasks. This frequent alternation involves more effortful processing, resulting in increased long-term learning. The finding that practicing in an interleaved schedule leads to better retention than practicing in a blocked schedule has been labeled the "contextual interference effect." While the effect has been observed across a wide variety of fields, few studies have researched this phenomenon in a music-learning context, despite the broad potential for application to music practice. This study compared the effects of blocked and interleaved practice schedules on advanced clarinet performance in an ecologically valid context. Ten clarinetists were given one concerto exposition and one technical excerpt to practice in a blocked schedule (12 min per piece) and a second concerto exposition and technical excerpt to practice in an interleaved schedule (3 min per piece, alternating until a total of 12 min of practice were completed on each piece). Participants sight-read the four pieces prior to practice and performed them at the end of practice and again one day later. The sight-reading and two performance run-throughs of each piece were recorded and given to three professional clarinetists to rate using a percentage scale. Overall, whenever there was a ratings difference between the conditions, pieces practiced in the interleaved schedule were rated better than those in the blocked schedule, although results varied across raters. Participant questionnaires also revealed that the interleaved practice schedule had positive effects on factors such as goal setting, focus, and mistake identification. Taken together, these results suggest that an interleaved practice schedule may be a more effective practice strategy than continuous repetition in a music-learning context.

Optimizing Music Learning: Exploring How Blocked and Interleaved Practice Schedules Affect Advanced Performance

PubMed Central

Carter, Christine E.; Grahn, Jessica A.

2016-01-01

Repetition is the most commonly used practice strategy by musicians. Although blocks of repetition continue to be suggested in the pedagogical literature, work in the field of cognitive psychology suggests that repeated events receive less processing, thereby reducing the potential for long-term learning. Motor skill learning and sport psychology research offer an alternative. Instead of using a blocked practice schedule, with practice completed on one task before moving on to the next task, an interleaved schedule can be used, in which practice is frequently alternated between tasks. This frequent alternation involves more effortful processing, resulting in increased long-term learning. The finding that practicing in an interleaved schedule leads to better retention than practicing in a blocked schedule has been labeled the “contextual interference effect.” While the effect has been observed across a wide variety of fields, few studies have researched this phenomenon in a music-learning context, despite the broad potential for application to music practice. This study compared the effects of blocked and interleaved practice schedules on advanced clarinet performance in an ecologically valid context. Ten clarinetists were given one concerto exposition and one technical excerpt to practice in a blocked schedule (12 min per piece) and a second concerto exposition and technical excerpt to practice in an interleaved schedule (3 min per piece, alternating until a total of 12 min of practice were completed on each piece). Participants sight-read the four pieces prior to practice and performed them at the end of practice and again one day later. The sight-reading and two performance run-throughs of each piece were recorded and given to three professional clarinetists to rate using a percentage scale. Overall, whenever there was a ratings difference between the conditions, pieces practiced in the interleaved schedule were rated better than those in the blocked schedule, although results varied across raters. Participant questionnaires also revealed that the interleaved practice schedule had positive effects on factors such as goal setting, focus, and mistake identification. Taken together, these results suggest that an interleaved practice schedule may be a more effective practice strategy than continuous repetition in a music-learning context. PMID:27588014

Status Report on Speech Research: A Report on the Status and Progress of Studies on the Nature of Speech, Instrumentation for Its Investigation, and Practical Applications, October 1-December 31, 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Nancy, Ed.

The articles in this paper explore the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical research applications. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Task Dynamic Coordination of the Speech Articulators: A Preliminary Model" (Elliot Saltzman); (2) "Some Observations…

Standards for the Reporting of Genetic Counseling Interventions in Research and Other Studies (GCIRS): an NSGC Task Force Report.

PubMed

Hooker, Gillian W; Babu, D; Myers, M F; Zierhut, H; McAllister, M

2017-06-01

As the demand for evidence to support the value of genetic counseling increases, it is critical that reporting of genetic counseling interventions in research and other types of studies (e.g. process improvement or service evaluation studies) adopt greater rigor. As in other areas of healthcare, the appraisal, synthesis, and translation of research findings into genetic counseling practice are likely to be improved if clear specifications of genetic counseling interventions are reported when studies involving genetic counseling are published. To help improve reporting practices, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) convened a task force in 2015 to develop consensus standards for the reporting of genetic counseling interventions. Following review by the NSGC Board of Directors, the NSGC Practice Guidelines Committee and the editorial board of the Journal of Genetic Counseling, 23 items across 8 domains were proposed as standards for the reporting of genetic counseling interventions in the published literature (GCIRS: Genetic Counseling Intervention Reporting Standards). The authors recommend adoption of these standards by authors and journals when reporting studies involving genetic counseling interventions.

Do you put your best foot forward? Interactive effects of task performance and impression management tactics on career outcomes.

PubMed

Cheng, Jen-Wei; Chiu, Wei-La; Chang, Yi-Ying; Johnstone, Stewart

2014-01-01

This study aims to investigate the interactive effects of task performance and impression management tactics on career outcomes from the socioanalytic perspective. Based on a survey of 195 employee-supervisor dyads from various industries in Taiwan, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that (1) the relationship between task performance and a one-year salary adjustment was greater among employees who frequently employ ingratiation than among those who do not, (2) the relationship between task performance and a one-year salary adjustment was greater among employees who frequently employ exemplification than among those who do not, and (3) the relationship between task performance and career satisfaction was greater among employees who frequently employ self-promotion than among those who do not. This study concludes by suggesting implications for research and practice, and offers some directions for future research.

Research in Mathematics Education through a Keyhole: Task Problematization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sierpinska, Anna

2004-01-01

There is a dream, among mathematics educators, for a common direction that would unite teachers, policy makers and researchers, with researchers collaborating to accumulate knowledge and thus contribute to the understanding and improvement of school practice. But this dream becomes less and less realistic in view of the tendency of mathematics…

Mapping to Estimate Health-State Utility from Non-Preference-Based Outcome Measures: An ISPOR Good Practices for Outcomes Research Task Force Report.

PubMed

Wailoo, Allan J; Hernandez-Alava, Monica; Manca, Andrea; Mejia, Aurelio; Ray, Joshua; Crawford, Bruce; Botteman, Marc; Busschbach, Jan

2017-01-01

Economic evaluation conducted in terms of cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) provides information that decision makers find useful in many parts of the world. Ideally, clinical studies designed to assess the effectiveness of health technologies would include outcome measures that are directly linked to health utility to calculate QALYs. Often this does not happen, and even when it does, clinical studies may be insufficient for a cost-utility assessment. Mapping can solve this problem. It uses an additional data set to estimate the relationship between outcomes measured in clinical studies and health utility. This bridges the evidence gap between available evidence on the effect of a health technology in one metric and the requirement for decision makers to express it in a different one (QALYs). In 2014, ISPOR established a Good Practices for Outcome Research Task Force for mapping studies. This task force report provides recommendations to analysts undertaking mapping studies, those that use the results in cost-utility analysis, and those that need to critically review such studies. The recommendations cover all areas of mapping practice: the selection of data sets for the mapping estimation, model selection and performance assessment, reporting standards, and the use of results including the appropriate reflection of variability and uncertainty. This report is unique because it takes an international perspective, is comprehensive in its coverage of the aspects of mapping practice, and reflects the current state of the art. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Methodology capture: discriminating between the "best" and the rest of community practice

PubMed Central

Eales, James M; Pinney, John W; Stevens, Robert D; Robertson, David L

2008-01-01

Background The methodologies we use both enable and help define our research. However, as experimental complexity has increased the choice of appropriate methodologies has become an increasingly difficult task. This makes it difficult to keep track of available bioinformatics software, let alone the most suitable protocols in a specific research area. To remedy this we present an approach for capturing methodology from literature in order to identify and, thus, define best practice within a field. Results Our approach is to implement data extraction techniques on the full-text of scientific articles to obtain the set of experimental protocols used by an entire scientific discipline, molecular phylogenetics. Our methodology for identifying methodologies could in principle be applied to any scientific discipline, whether or not computer-based. We find a number of issues related to the nature of best practice, as opposed to community practice. We find that there is much heterogeneity in the use of molecular phylogenetic methods and software, some of which is related to poor specification of protocols. We also find that phylogenetic practice exhibits field-specific tendencies that have increased through time, despite the generic nature of the available software. We used the practice of highly published and widely collaborative researchers ("expert" researchers) to analyse the influence of authority on community practice. We find expert authors exhibit patterns of practice common to their field and therefore act as useful field-specific practice indicators. Conclusion We have identified a structured community of phylogenetic researchers performing analyses that are customary in their own local community and significantly different from those in other areas. Best practice information can help to bridge such subtle differences by increasing communication of protocols to a wider audience. We propose that the practice of expert authors from the field of evolutionary biology is the closest to contemporary best practice in phylogenetic experimental design. Capturing best practice is, however, a complex task and should also acknowledge the differences between fields such as the specific context of the analysis. PMID:18761740

Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices for Occupational and Environmental Epidemiologic Research. The Chemical Manufacturers Association's Epidemiology Task Group.

PubMed

1991-12-01

The Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices (GEPs) for Occupational and Environmental Epidemiologic Research address the conduct of studies generally undertaken to answer questions about human health in relationship to the work place or the environment. The GEPs propose minimum practices and procedures that should be considered to help ensure the quality and integrity of data used in epidemiologic research and to provide adequate documentation of the research methods. The GEPs address the process of conducting individual epidemiologic studies and do not prescribe specific research methods. The Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices propose minimum practices and procedures in the following areas: I. Organization and Personnel II. Facilities, Resource Commitment, and Contractors III. Protocol IV. Review and Approval V. Study Conduct VI. Communication VII. Archiving VIII. Quality Assurance Although the Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices will not guarantee good epidemiology, they do provide a useful framework for ensuring that all research issues are adequately addressed. This framework is proposed as a first step in improving epidemiologic research practices through adherence to sound scientific research principles. Appendices provide an overview of standard operating procedures, a glossary of terms used in the Guidelines, and suggested references on occupational epidemiology methods.

Sports-science roundtable: does sports-science research influence practice?

PubMed

Bishop, David; Burnett, Angus; Farrow, Damian; Gabbett, Tim; Newton, Robert

2006-06-01

As sports scientists, we claim to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge that influences athletic practice and performance. Is this the reality? At the inaugural congress of the Australian Association for Exercise and Sports Science, a panel of well-credentialed academic experts with experience in the applied environment debated the question, Does sports-science research influence practice? The first task was to define "sports-science research," and it was generally agreed that it is concerned with providing evidence that improves sports performance. When practices are equally effective, sports scientists also have a role in identifying practices that are safer, more time efficient, and more enjoyable. There were varying views on the need for sports-science research to be immediately relevant to coaches or athletes. Most agreed on the importance of communicating the results of sports-science research, not only to the academic community but also to coaches and athletes, and the need to encourage both short- and long-term research. The panelists then listed examples of sports-science research that they believe have influenced practice, as well as strategies to ensure that sports-science research better influences practice.

Practices of Management Development: A Malaysian Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Law, Kian Aun

2008-01-01

This paper deals with a case study of Management Development (MD) practices at Malaysian Assurance Alliance (MAA). The aim of this research is to investigate how a large Malaysian insurance corporation developed and integrated MD initiatives with current organizational needs and tasks. Attempts were made to map and categorize the MD initiatives…

Applying Connectivist Principles and the Task-Based Approach to the Design of a Multimodal Didactic Unit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aldana Gutiérrez, Yeraldine; Baquero Rodríguez, Mauro Jordan; Rivero Ortiz, Gustavo Adolfo; Romero García, Dora Cenaida

2012-01-01

This article describes the pedagogical intervention developed in a public school as part of the research "Exploring Communications Practices through Facebook as a Mediatic Device", framed within the computer mediated communications field. Twelve ninth graders' communications practices were explored and addressed by means of multimodal…

Practice-Based Evidence for Children and Adolescents: Advancing the Research Agenda in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kratochwill, Thomas R.; Hoagwood, Kimberly Eaton; Kazak, Anne E.; Weisz, John R.; Hood, Korey; Vargas, Luis A.; Banez, Gerard A.

2012-01-01

The American Psychological Association Task Force on Evidence- Based Practice for Children and Adolescents (2008) recommended a systems approach to enhancing care in order to improve outcomes for children and adolescents with mental health needs and redress persistent systemic problems with the structure of services. Recommendations for enhancing…

Succeeding in the City: Challenges and Best Practices on Urban Commuter Campuses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Marcia Roe

2006-01-01

The work of helping students succeed on urban commuter campuses may be some of the most complicated in higher education. Even in understanding their tasks, educators at city-based institutions must typically draw on research and practice from an amalgam of other types of institutions, including community colleges, metropolitan universities, urban…

Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Edwin A.; Latham, Gary P.

2002-01-01

Summarizes 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory, describing core findings of the theory, mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. Explains the external validity and practical significance of goal setting theory,…

Learner-Controlled Practice Difficulty in the Training of a Complex Task: Cognitive and Motivational Mechanisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Michael G.; Day, Eric Anthony; Wang, Xiaoqian; Schuelke, Matthew J.; Arsenault, Matthew L.; Harkrider, Lauren N.; Cooper, Olivia D.

2013-01-01

An inherent aspect of learner-controlled instructional environments is the ability of learners to affect the degree of difficulty faced during training. However, research has yet to examine how learner-controlled practice difficulty affects learning. Based on the notion of "desirable difficulties" (Bjork, 1994), this study examined the…

The influence of time management skill on the curvilinear relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and task performance.

PubMed

Rapp, Adam A; Bachrach, Daniel G; Rapp, Tammy L

2013-07-01

In this research we integrate resource allocation and social exchange perspectives to build and test theory focusing on the moderating role of time management skill in the nonmonotonic relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and task performance. Results from matching survey data collected from 212 employees and 41 supervisors and from task performance metrics collected several months later indicate that the curvilinear association between OCB and task performance is significantly moderated by employees' time management skill. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Job satisfaction of advanced practice nurses in the Veterans Health Administration.

PubMed

Faris, Judith A; Douglas, Marilyn K; Maples, Deanna C; Berg, Laurie R; Thrailkill, Ann

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the level of job satisfaction and barriers to practice for advanced practice nurses (APNs) employed by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The Misener Nurse Practitioner Job Satisfaction Survey (MNPJSS) and an investigator-developed questionnaire were completed by a self-selected, convenience sample of 1,983 APNs who responded to an internal VHA email invitation (61% response rate) to participate in an anonymous on-line survey. Respondents reported being minimally satisfied with their job overall, most satisfied with their benefits and least satisfied with professional growth and intrapractice collegiality. They scored lower than their private sector peers for total job satisfaction and all subscales except benefits, as compared to samples of three smaller studies. Clinical nurse specialists reported greater job satisfaction then NPs. The most frequently cited barriers to practice were: too many non-APN tasks, lack of administrative support, and inadequate time to do research. Strategies for improving professional growth and intra-practice collegiality are needed. APNs' job satisfaction may be improved in these areas by mentoring of new APN graduates and administrative approval for participating in research. Additional administrative support is needed to decrease the amount of non-APN tasks and clerical duties.

Prevalence, predictors, and patient outcomes associated with physician co-management: findings from the Los Angeles Women's Health Study.

PubMed

Rose, Danielle E; Tisnado, Diana M; Tao, May L; Malin, Jennifer L; Adams, John L; Ganz, Patricia A; Kahn, Katherine L

2012-06-01

Physician co-management, representing joint participation in the planning, decision-making, and delivery of care, is often cited in association with coordination of care. Yet little is known about how physicians manage tasks and how their management style impacts patient outcomes. To describe physician practice style using breast cancer as a model. We characterize correlates and predictors of physician practice style for 10 clinical tasks, and then test for associations between physician practice style and patient ratings of care. We queried 347 breast cancer physicians identified by a population-based cohort of women with incident breast cancer regarding care using a clinical vignette about a hypothetical 65-year-old diabetic woman with incident breast cancer. To test the association between physician practice style and patient outcomes, we linked medical oncologists' responses to patient ratings of care (physician n=111; patient n=411). After adjusting for physician and practice setting characteristics, physician practice style varied by physician specialty, practice setting, financial incentives, and barriers to referrals. Patients with medical oncologists who co-managed tasks had higher patient ratings of care. Physician practice style for breast cancer is influenced by provider and practice setting characteristics, and it is an important predictor of patient ratings. We identify physician and practice setting factors associated with physician practice style and found associations between physician co-management and patient outcomes (e.g., patient ratings of care). © Health Research and Educational Trust.

The Bobath concept - a model to illustrate clinical practice.

PubMed

Michielsen, Marc; Vaughan-Graham, Julie; Holland, Ann; Magri, Alba; Suzuki, Mitsuo

2017-12-17

The model of Bobath clinical practice provides a framework identifying the unique aspects of the Bobath concept in terms of contemporary neurological rehabilitation. The utilisation of a framework to illustrate the clinical application of the Bobath concept provides the basis for a common understanding with respect to Bobath clinical practice, education, and research. The development process culminating in the model of Bobath clinical practice is described. The use of the model in clinical practice is illustrated using two cases: a client with a chronic incomplete spinal cord injury and a client with a stroke. This article describes the clinical application of the Bobath concept in terms of the integration of posture and movement with respect to the quality of task performance, applying the Model of Bobath Clinical Practice. Facilitation, a key aspect of Bobath clinical practice, was utilised to positively affect motor control and perception in two clients with impairment-related movement problems due to neurological pathology and associated activity limitations and participation restrictions - the outcome measures used to reflect the individual clinical presentation. Implications for Rehabilitation The model of Bobath clinical practice provides a framework identifying the unique aspects of the Bobath-concept. The model of Bobath clinical practice provides the basis for a common understanding with respect to Bobath clinical practice, education, and research. The clinical application of the Bobath-concept highlights the integration of posture and movement with respect to the quality of task performance. Facilitation, a key aspect of Bobath clinical practice, positively affects motor control, and perception.

A theory-based model of translation practices in public health participatory research.

PubMed

Clavier, Carole; Sénéchal, Yan; Vibert, Stéphane; Potvin, Louise

2012-06-01

This article explores the innovative practices of actors specifically mandated to support interactions between academic researchers and their partners from the community during public health participatory research. Drawing on the concept of translation as developed in actor-network theory and found in the literature on knowledge transfer and the sociology of intermediate actors, we build a theory-based model of the translation practices developed by these actors at the interface between community and university. We refine this model by using it to analyse material from two focus groups comprising participants purposively selected because they work at the nexus between research and practice. Our model of translation practices includes cognitive (dealing with the contents of the research), strategic (geared to facilitating the research process and balancing power relationships among the partners) and logistic practices (the hands-on tasks of coordination). Combined, these three types of translation practices demonstrate that actors working at the interface in participatory research contribute to multidirectional exchanges and the co-construction of knowledge among research partners. Beyond the case of participatory research, theorising translation practices helps understand how knowledge is produced at the interface between academic and experiential (or lay) knowledge. © 2011 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2011 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach.

PubMed

Wilkinson, Andrea J; Yang, Lixia

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE. To examine plasticity of inhibition, as indexed by practice effects of inhibition tasks and the associated transfer effects, using a multiple task approach in healthy older adults. METHOD. Forty-eight healthy older adults were evenly assigned to either a practice group or a no-contact control group. All participants completed pretest (2.5 hours) and posttest (2 hours) sessions, with a 2-week interval in between. During the 2-week interval, only the practice group completed six 30-minute practice sessions (three sessions per week for two consecutive weeks) of three lab-based inhibition tasks. RESULTS. All three inhibition tasks demonstrated significant improvement across practice sessions, suggesting practice-induced plasticity. The benefit, however, only transferred to near-near tasks. The results are inconclusive with regard to the near-far and far-far transfer effects. DISCUSSION. This study further extends literature on practice effects of inhibition in older adults by using a multiple task approach. Together with previous work, the current study suggests that older adults are able to improve inhibition performance through practice and transfer the practice gains to tasks that overlap in both target cognitive ability and task structure (i.e., near-near tasks).

Inhibition Plasticity in Older Adults: Practice and Transfer Effects Using a Multiple Task Approach

PubMed Central

Wilkinson, Andrea J.; Yang, Lixia

2016-01-01

Objective. To examine plasticity of inhibition, as indexed by practice effects of inhibition tasks and the associated transfer effects, using a multiple task approach in healthy older adults. Method. Forty-eight healthy older adults were evenly assigned to either a practice group or a no-contact control group. All participants completed pretest (2.5 hours) and posttest (2 hours) sessions, with a 2-week interval in between. During the 2-week interval, only the practice group completed six 30-minute practice sessions (three sessions per week for two consecutive weeks) of three lab-based inhibition tasks. Results. All three inhibition tasks demonstrated significant improvement across practice sessions, suggesting practice-induced plasticity. The benefit, however, only transferred to near-near tasks. The results are inconclusive with regard to the near-far and far-far transfer effects. Discussion. This study further extends literature on practice effects of inhibition in older adults by using a multiple task approach. Together with previous work, the current study suggests that older adults are able to improve inhibition performance through practice and transfer the practice gains to tasks that overlap in both target cognitive ability and task structure (i.e., near-near tasks). PMID:26885407

Enhancing ASTRO101 Student Engagement Using Student-Created ScienceSKETCHES

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie

2016-01-01

As astronomy teaching faculty are changing their teaching strategies from those less desirable approaches that allow students to passively listen to professor-centered, information-lectures to more desirable, active-student engagement classrooms characterized by active learning, ASTRO 101 professors are looking for more ways to help students learn to participate in authentic scientific practices. This is consistent with notion advocated by the NRC that students should practice scientific thinking, scientific discourse, and scientific practices while learning science. Noticing that much informal scientific discussion is mediated by sketches—such as those occasionally lively discussions held after hours during scientific conferences—scholars at the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research have been piloting a series of active learning tasks where students are challenged to create scientific drawings to illustrate their understanding of astronomical phenomena or structures. Known informally as ScienceSKETCHES, examples of these tasks challenge students to illustrate: the spectral curve differences between high and low mass stars; the differences among galaxy shapes; the distribution of stars for the Andromeda Galaxy in terms of luminosity versus temperature; old and young planetary surfaces; or the relationships between distances and speeds of orbiting objects. Although our initial testing has focused on predominately on paper and pencil tasks, with the occasional cell phone picture of a ScienceSKETCH being texted to the professor, the electronic-based teaching world is nearly ready to support these sorts of drawing tasks. Already, the ability to complete and submit scientific sketches is becoming commonplace across electronic learning platforms, including shared white-boarding in many desktop videoconferencing systems, and handheld device learning systems for interactive classrooms, like those from Learning Catalytics, among many others. Our initial results suggest that this strategy is worthwhile line of research and development for a wide range of astronomy education researchers and curriculum developers.

The effect of concurrent bandwidth feedback on learning the lane-keeping task in a driving simulator.

PubMed

de Groot, Stefan; de Winter, Joost C F; López García, José Manuel; Mulder, Max; Wieringa, Peter A

2011-02-01

The aim of this study was to investigate whether concurrent bandwidth feedback improves learning of the lane-keeping task in a driving simulator. Previous research suggests that bandwidth feedback improves learning and that off-target feedback is superior to on-target feedback. This study aimed to extend these findings for the lane-keeping task. Participants without a driver's license drove five 8-min lane-keeping sessions in a driver training simulator: three practice sessions, an immediate retention session, and a delayed retention session I day later. There were four experimental groups (n=15 per group): (a) on-target, receiving seat vibrations when the center of the car was within 0.5 m of the lane center; (b) off-target, receiving seat vibrations when the center of the car was more than 0.5 m away from the lane center; (c) control, receiving no vibrations; and (d) realistic, receiving seat vibrations depending on engine speed. During retention, all groups were provided with the realistic vibrations. During practice, on-target and off-target groups had better lane-keeping performance than the nonaugmented groups, but this difference diminished in the retention phase. Furthermore, during late practice and retention, the off-target group outperformed the on-target group.The off-target group had a higher rate of steering reversal and higher steering entropy than the nonaugmented groups, whereas no clear group differences were found regarding mean speed, mental workload, or self-reported measures. Off-target feedback is superior to on-target feedback for learning the lane-keeping task. This research provides knowledge to researchers and designers of training systems about the value of feedback in simulator-based training of vehicular control.

Effects of gender, imagery ability, and sports practice on the performance of a mental rotation task.

PubMed

Habacha, Hamdi; Molinaro, Corinne; Dosseville, Fabrice

2014-01-01

Mental rotation is one of the main spatial abilities necessary in the spatial transformation of mental images and the manipulation of spatial parameters. Researchers have shown that mental rotation abilities differ between populations depending on several variables. This study uses a mental rotation task to investigate effects of several factors on the spatial abilities of 277 volunteers. The results demonstrate that high and low imagers performed equally well on this tasks. Athletes outperformed nonathletes regardless of their discipline, and athletes with greater expertise outperformed those with less experience. The results replicate the previously reported finding that men exhibit better spatial abilities than women. However, with high amounts of practice, the women in the current study were able to perform as well as men.

The Bobath concept in contemporary clinical practice.

PubMed

Graham, Julie Vaughan; Eustace, Catherine; Brock, Kim; Swain, Elizabeth; Irwin-Carruthers, Sheena

2009-01-01

Future development in neurorehabilitation depends upon bringing together the endeavors of basic science and clinical practice. The Bobath concept is widely utilized in rehabilitation following stroke and other neurological conditions. This concept was first developed in the 1950s, based on the neuroscience knowledge of those times. The theoretical basis of the Bobath concept is redefined based on contemporary neuroscience and rehabilitation science. The framework utilized in the Bobath concept for the analysis of movement and movement dysfunction is described. This framework focuses on postural control for task performance, the ability to move selectively, the ability to produce coordinated sequences of movement and vary movement patterns to fit a task, and the role of sensory input in motor behaviour and learning. The article describes aspects of clinical practice that differentiate this approach from other models of practice. Contemporary practice in the Bobath concept utilizes a problem-solving approach to the individual's clinical presentation and personal goals. Treatment is focused toward remediation, where possible, and guiding the individual towards efficient movement strategies for task performance. The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical framework on which future research into the Bobath concept can be based.

Personalized Video Feedback and Repeated Task Practice Improve Laparoscopic Knot-Tying Skills: Two Controlled Trials.

PubMed

Abbott, Eduardo F; Thompson, Whitney; Pandian, T K; Zendejas, Benjamin; Farley, David R; Cook, David A

2017-11-01

Compare the effect of personalized feedback (PF) vs. task demonstration (TD), both delivered via video, on laparoscopic knot-tying skills and perceived workload; and evaluate the effect of repeated practice. General surgery interns and research fellows completed four repetitions of a simulated laparoscopic knot-tying task at one-month intervals. Midway between repetitions, participants received via e-mail either a TD video (demonstration by an expert) or a PF video (video of their own performance with voiceover from a blinded senior surgeon). Each participant received at least one video per format, with sequence randomly assigned. Outcomes included performance scores and NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) scores. To evaluate the effectiveness of repeated practice, scores from these trainees on a separate delayed retention test were compared against historical controls who did not have scheduled repetitions. Twenty-one trainees completed the randomized study. Mean change in performance scores was significantly greater for those receiving PF (difference = 23.1 of 150 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0, 46.2], P = .05). Perceived workload was also significantly reduced (difference = -3.0 of 20 [95% CI: -5.8, -0.3], P = .04). Compared with historical controls (N = 93), the 21 with scheduled repeated practice had higher scores on the laparoscopic knot-tying assessment two weeks after the final repetition (difference = 1.5 of 10 [95% CI: 0.2, 2.8], P = .02). Personalized video feedback improves trainees' procedural performance and perceived workload compared with a task demonstration video. Brief monthly practice sessions support skill acquisition and retention.

Biomedical text mining for research rigor and integrity: tasks, challenges, directions.

PubMed

Kilicoglu, Halil

2017-06-13

An estimated quarter of a trillion US dollars is invested in the biomedical research enterprise annually. There is growing alarm that a significant portion of this investment is wasted because of problems in reproducibility of research findings and in the rigor and integrity of research conduct and reporting. Recent years have seen a flurry of activities focusing on standardization and guideline development to enhance the reproducibility and rigor of biomedical research. Research activity is primarily communicated via textual artifacts, ranging from grant applications to journal publications. These artifacts can be both the source and the manifestation of practices leading to research waste. For example, an article may describe a poorly designed experiment, or the authors may reach conclusions not supported by the evidence presented. In this article, we pose the question of whether biomedical text mining techniques can assist the stakeholders in the biomedical research enterprise in doing their part toward enhancing research integrity and rigor. In particular, we identify four key areas in which text mining techniques can make a significant contribution: plagiarism/fraud detection, ensuring adherence to reporting guidelines, managing information overload and accurate citation/enhanced bibliometrics. We review the existing methods and tools for specific tasks, if they exist, or discuss relevant research that can provide guidance for future work. With the exponential increase in biomedical research output and the ability of text mining approaches to perform automatic tasks at large scale, we propose that such approaches can support tools that promote responsible research practices, providing significant benefits for the biomedical research enterprise. Published by Oxford University Press 2017. This work is written by a US Government employee and is in the public domain in the US.

On the application of motivation theory to human factors/ergonomics: motivational design principles for human-technology interaction.

PubMed

Szalma, James L

2014-12-01

Motivation is a driving force in human-technology interaction. This paper represents an effort to (a) describe a theoretical model of motivation in human technology interaction, (b) provide design principles and guidelines based on this theory, and (c) describe a sequence of steps for the. evaluation of motivational factors in human-technology interaction. Motivation theory has been relatively neglected in human factors/ergonomics (HF/E). In both research and practice, the (implicit) assumption has been that the operator is already motivated or that motivation is an organizational concern and beyond the purview of HF/E. However, technology can induce task-related boredom (e.g., automation) that can be stressful and also increase system vulnerability to performance failures. A theoretical model of motivation in human-technology interaction is proposed, based on extension of the self-determination theory of motivation to HF/E. This model provides the basis for both future research and for development of practical recommendations for design. General principles and guidelines for motivational design are described as well as a sequence of steps for the design process. Human motivation is an important concern for HF/E research and practice. Procedures in the design of both simple and complex technologies can, and should, include the evaluation of motivational characteristics of the task, interface, or system. In addition, researchers should investigate these factors in specific human-technology domains. The theory, principles, and guidelines described here can be incorporated into existing techniques for task analysis and for interface and system design.

The influence of deliberate practice on musical achievement: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Platz, Friedrich; Kopiez, Reinhard; Lehmann, Andreas C; Wolf, Anna

2014-01-01

Deliberate practice (DP) is a task-specific structured training activity that plays a key role in understanding skill acquisition and explaining individual differences in expert performance. Relevant activities that qualify as DP have to be identified in every domain. For example, for training in classical music, solitary practice is a typical training activity during skill acquisition. To date, no meta-analysis on the quantifiable effect size of deliberate practice on attained performance in music has been conducted. Yet the identification of a quantifiable effect size could be relevant for the current discussion on the role of various factors on individual difference in musical achievement. Furthermore, a research synthesis might enable new computational approaches to musical development. Here we present the first meta-analysis on the role of deliberate practice in the domain of musical performance. A final sample size of 13 studies (total N = 788) was carefully extracted to satisfy the following criteria: reported durations of task-specific accumulated practice as predictor variables and objectively assessed musical achievement as the target variable. We identified an aggregated effect size of r c = 0.61; 95% CI [0.54, 0.67] for the relationship between task-relevant practice (which by definition includes DP) and musical achievement. Our results corroborate the central role of long-term (deliberate) practice for explaining expert performance in music.

Generalizing on best practices in image processing: a model for promoting research integrity: Commentary on: Avoiding twisted pixels: ethical guidelines for the appropriate use and manipulation of scientific digital images.

PubMed

Benos, Dale J; Vollmer, Sara H

2010-12-01

Modifying images for scientific publication is now quick and easy due to changes in technology. This has created a need for new image processing guidelines and attitudes, such as those offered to the research community by Doug Cromey (Cromey 2010). We suggest that related changes in technology have simplified the task of detecting misconduct for journal editors as well as researchers, and that this simplification has caused a shift in the responsibility for reporting misconduct. We also argue that the concept of best practices in image processing can serve as a general model for education in best practices in research.

The Creativity-in-Progress Rubric on Proving: Two Teaching Implementations and Students' Reported Usage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El Turkey, Houssein; Tang, Gail; Savic, Milos; Karakok, Gulden; Cilli-Turner, Emily; Plaxco, David

2018-01-01

A growing body of mathematics education research points to the importance of fostering students' mathematical creativity in undergraduate mathematics courses. However, there are not many research-based instructional practices that aim to accomplish this task. Our research group has been working to address this issue and created a formative…

Work-based physiological assessment of physically-demanding trades: a methodological overview.

PubMed

Taylor, Nigel A S; Groeller, Herb

2003-03-01

Technological advances, modified work practices, altered employment strategies, work-related injuries, and the rise in work-related litigation and compensation claims necessitate ongoing trade analysis research. Such research enables the identification and development of gender- and age-neutral skills, physiological attributes and employment standards required to satisfactorily perform critical trade tasks. This paper overviews a methodological approach which may be adopted when seeking to establish trade-specific physiological competencies for physically-demanding trades (occupations). A general template is presented for conducting a trade analyses within physically-demanding trades, such as those encountered within military or emergency service occupations. Two streams of analysis are recommended: the trade analysis and the task analysis. The former involves a progressive dissection of activities and skills into a series of specific tasks (elements), and results in a broad approximation of the types of trade duties, and the links between trade tasks. The latter, will lead to the determination of how a task is performed within a trade, and the physiological attributes required to satisfactorily perform that task. The approach described within this paper is designed to provide research outcomes which have high content, criterion-related and construct validities.

Security from Within: Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shooting

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-01

2012 report, the Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force reviewing the Fort Hood shooting recommended “a threat management approach employing...mental health research findings into clinical practice. 103 The field of implementation science offers several models for establishing and supporting...December 29, 2008, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_policyguide_2008-01.pdf. 47 Defense Science Board. “Task Force Report

The relationship between sustained inattentional blindness and working memory capacity.

PubMed

Beanland, Vanessa; Chan, Esther Hiu Chung

2016-04-01

Inattentional blindness, whereby observers fail to detect unexpected stimuli, has been robustly demonstrated in a range of situations. Originally research focused primarily on how stimulus characteristics and task demands affect inattentional blindness, but increasingly studies are exploring the influence of observer characteristics on the detection of unexpected stimuli. It has been proposed that individual differences in working memory capacity predict inattentional blindness, on the assumption that higher working memory capacity confers greater attentional capacity for processing unexpected stimuli. Unfortunately, empirical investigations of the association between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity have produced conflicting findings. To help clarify this relationship, we examined the relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity in two samples (Ns = 195, 147) of young adults. We used three common variants of sustained inattentional blindness tasks, systematically manipulating the salience of the unexpected stimulus and primary task practice. Working memory capacity, measured by automated operation span (both Experiments 1 & 2) and N-back (Experiment 1 only) tasks, did not predict detection of the unexpected stimulus in any of the inattentional blindness tasks tested. Together with previous research, this undermines claims that there is a robust relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity. Rather, it appears that any relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory is either too small to have practical significance or is moderated by other factors and consequently varies with attributes such as the sample characteristics within a given study.

Lunar Landing Walking Simulator

NASA Image and Video Library

1965-09-03

Lunar Landing Walking Simulator: Researchers at Langley study the ability of astronauts to walk, run and perform other tasks required during lunar exploration. The Reduced Gravity Simulator gave researchers the opportunity to look at the effects of one-sixth normal gravity on self-locomotion. Several Apollo astronauts practiced lunar waling at the facility.

Promoting Student Learning and Productive Persistence in Developmental Mathematics: Research Frameworks Informing the Carnegie Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Ann R.; Beattie, Rachel L.

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on two research-based frameworks that inform the design of instruction and promote student success in accelerated, developmental mathematics pathways. These are Learning Opportunities--productive struggle on challenging and relevant tasks, deliberate practice, and explicit connections, and Productive Persistence--promoting…

2013 Review and Update of the Genetic Counseling Practice Based Competencies by a Task Force of the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling.

PubMed

Doyle, Debra Lochner; Awwad, Rawan I; Austin, Jehannine C; Baty, Bonnie J; Bergner, Amanda L; Brewster, Stephanie J; Erby, Lori A H; Franklin, Cathi Rubin; Greb, Anne E; Grubs, Robin E; Hooker, Gillian W; Noblin, Sarah Jane; Ormond, Kelly E; Palmer, Christina G; Petty, Elizabeth M; Singletary, Claire N; Thomas, Matthew J; Toriello, Helga; Walton, Carol S; Uhlmann, Wendy R

2016-10-01

The first practice based competencies (PBCs) for the field of genetic counseling were adopted by the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC), 1996. Since that time, there has been significant growth in established and new work settings (clinical and non-clinical) and changes in service delivery models and the roles of genetic counselors. These changes prompted the ABGC to appoint a PBC Task Force in 2011 to review the PBCs with respect to their current relevance and to revise and update them as necessary. There are four domains in the revised PBCs: (I) Genetics Expertise and Analysis (II) Interpersonal, Psychosocial and Counseling Skills (III) Education and (IV) Professional Development and Practice. There are 22 competencies, each clarified with learning objectives or samples of activities and skills; a glossary is included. New competencies were added that address genomics, genetic testing and genetic counselors' roles in risk assessment, education, supervision, conducting research and presenting research options to patients. With PBCs serving as the pre-defined abilities or outcomes of training, graduating genetic counselors will be well prepared to enter the field with a minimum level of skills and abilities. A description of the Task Force's work, key changes and the 2013 PBCs are presented herein.

Attention theory and training research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connelly, James G., Jr.; Wickens, Christopher D.; Lintern, Gavan; Harwood, Kelly

1987-01-01

This study used elements of attention theory as a methodological basis to decompose a complex training task in order to improve training efficiency. The complex task was a microcomputer flight simulation where subjects were required to control the stability of their own helicopter while acquiring and engaging enemy helicopers in a threat enviroment. Subjects were divided into whole-task, part-task, and part/open loop adaptive task groups in a transfer of training paradigm. The effect of reducing mental workload at the early stages of learning was examined with respect to the degree that subordinate elements of the complex task could be automated through practice of consistent, learnable stimulus-response relationships. Results revealed trends suggesting the benefit of isolating consistently mapped sub-tasks for part-task training and the presence of a time-sharing skill over and above the skill required for the separate subtasks.

Examining the Feasibility, Tolerability, and Preliminary Efficacy of Repetitive Task-Specific Practice for People With Unilateral Spatial Neglect

PubMed Central

Lang, Catherine E.; Birkenmeier, Rebecca; Holm, Margo; Rubinstein, Elaine; Van Swearingen, Jessie; Skidmore, Elizabeth R.

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE. We examined the feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of repetitive task-specific practice for people with unilateral spatial neglect (USN). METHOD. People with USN ≥6 mo poststroke participated in a single-group, repeated-measures study. Attendance, total repetitions, and satisfaction indicated feasibility and pain indicated tolerability. Paired t tests and effect sizes were used to estimate changes in upper-extremity use (Motor Activity Log), function (Action Research Arm Test), and attention (Catherine Bergego Scale). RESULTS. Twenty participants attended 99.4% of sessions and completed a high number of repetitions. Participants reported high satisfaction and low pain, and they demonstrated small, significant improvements in upper-extremity use (before Bonferroni corrections; t = –2.1, p = .04, d = .30), function (t = –3.0, p < .01, d = .20), and attention (t = –3.4, p < .01, d = –.44). CONCLUSION. Repetitive task-specific practice is feasible and tolerable for people with USN. Improvements in upper-extremity use, function, and attention may be attainable. PMID:27294994

The Relationship Between Engagement and Neurophysiological Measures of Attention in Motion-Controlled Video Games: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Leiker, Amber M; Miller, Matthew; Brewer, Lauren; Nelson, Monica; Siow, Maria; Lohse, Keith

2016-04-21

Video games and virtual environments continue to be the subject of research in health sciences for their capacity to augment practice through user engagement. Creating game mechanics that increase user engagement may have indirect benefits on learning (ie, engaged learners are likely to practice more) and may also have direct benefits on learning (ie, for a fixed amount of practice, engaged learners show superior retention of information or skills). To manipulate engagement through the aesthetic features of a motion-controlled video game and measure engagement's influence on learning. A group of 40 right-handed participants played the game under two different conditions (game condition or sterile condition). The mechanics of the game and the amount of practice were constant. During practice, event-related potentials (ERPs) to task-irrelevant probe tones were recorded during practice as an index of participants' attentional reserve. Participants returned for retention and transfer testing one week later. Although both groups improved in the task, there was no difference in the amount of learning between the game and sterile groups, countering previous research. A new finding was a statistically significant relationship between self-reported engagement and the amplitude of the early-P3a (eP3a) component of the ERP waveform, such that participants who reported higher levels of engagement showed a smaller eP3a (beta=-.08, P=.02). This finding provides physiological data showing that engagement elicits increased information processing (reducing attentional reserve), which yields new insight into engagement and its underlying neurophysiological properties. Future studies may objectively index engagement by quantifying ERPs (specifically the eP3a) to task-irrelevant probes.

The Relationship Between Engagement and Neurophysiological Measures of Attention in Motion-Controlled Video Games: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Brewer, Lauren; Nelson, Monica; Siow, Maria

2016-01-01

Background Video games and virtual environments continue to be the subject of research in health sciences for their capacity to augment practice through user engagement. Creating game mechanics that increase user engagement may have indirect benefits on learning (ie, engaged learners are likely to practice more) and may also have direct benefits on learning (ie, for a fixed amount of practice, engaged learners show superior retention of information or skills). Objective To manipulate engagement through the aesthetic features of a motion-controlled video game and measure engagement’s influence on learning. Methods A group of 40 right-handed participants played the game under two different conditions (game condition or sterile condition). The mechanics of the game and the amount of practice were constant. During practice, event-related potentials (ERPs) to task-irrelevant probe tones were recorded during practice as an index of participants’ attentional reserve. Participants returned for retention and transfer testing one week later. Results Although both groups improved in the task, there was no difference in the amount of learning between the game and sterile groups, countering previous research. A new finding was a statistically significant relationship between self-reported engagement and the amplitude of the early-P3a (eP3a) component of the ERP waveform, such that participants who reported higher levels of engagement showed a smaller eP3a (beta=−.08, P=.02). Conclusions This finding provides physiological data showing that engagement elicits increased information processing (reducing attentional reserve), which yields new insight into engagement and its underlying neurophysiological properties. Future studies may objectively index engagement by quantifying ERPs (specifically the eP3a) to task-irrelevant probes. PMID:27103052

Dyslexia Policy and Practice: Cross-Professional and Parental Perspectives on the Northern Ireland Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Gillian J.; Hazzard, Donna; McPhillips, Therése; Tiernan, Barbara; Casserly, Ann-Marie

2017-01-01

This article considers policy and practice in relation to dyslexia provision in Northern Ireland since the 2002 Task Group Report. Using interviews with original and current stakeholders, this research, funded by SCoTENS (Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South), examined the extent to which recommendations have been met in the…

School Leadership of the Future: How the National Education Institute in Slovenia Supported Schools to Develop Distributed Leadership Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sentocnik, Sonja; Rupar, Brigita

2009-01-01

Current educational literature suggests that distributing leadership in schools can facilitate individual and organizational development. While many state agencies in the United States and Europe are encouraging schools to reshape their leadership practice to distribute responsibilities for leadership tasks across roles, empirical research on how…

What if Best Practice Is Too Expensive? Feedback on Oral Presentations and Efficient Use of Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leger, Lawrence A.; Glass, Karligash; Katsiampa, Paraskevi; Liu, Shibo; Sirichand, Kavita

2017-01-01

We evaluate feedback methods for oral presentations used in training non-quantitative research skills (literature review and various associated tasks). Training is provided through a credit-bearing module taught to MSc students of banking, economics and finance in the UK. Monitoring oral presentations and providing "best practice"…

[Translational medicine in Russian cardiology: a new stage or repetition of the past?

PubMed

Tereshchenko, S N; Zhirov, I V; Kochetov, A G

2016-01-01

The brief review gives the experience in using the concept of translational medicine in the practical activities of the Russian Cardiology Research and Production Complex in the past 25 years of its existence. It outlines the possible ways of developing this area in Russian medicine to solve crucial scientific and practical tasks.

Professional Dialogue, Reflective Practice and Teacher Research: Engaging Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers in Collegial Dialogue about Curriculum Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simoncini, Kym M.; Lasen, Michelle; Rocco, Sharn

2014-01-01

While embedded in teacher professional standards and assumed aspects of teacher professionalism, willingness and ability to engage in professional dialogue about practice and curriculum initiatives are rarely examined or explicitly taught in teacher education programs. With this in mind, the authors designed an assessment task for pre-service…

Production practices affecting worker task demands in concrete operations: A case study.

PubMed

Memarian, Babak; Mitropoulos, Panagiotis

2015-01-01

Construction work involves significant physical, mental, and temporal task demands. Excessive task demands can have negative consequences for safety, errors and production. This exploratory study investigates the magnitude and sources of task demands on a concrete operation, and examines the effect of the production practices on the workers' task demands. The NASA Task Load Index was used to measure the perceived task demands of two work crews. The operation involved the construction of a cast-in-place concrete building under high schedule pressures. Interviews with each crew member were used to identify the main sources of the perceived demands. Extensive field observations and interviews with the supervisors and crews identified the production practices. The workers perceived different level of task demands depending on their role. The production practices influenced the task demands in two ways: (1) practices related to work organization, task design, resource management, and crew management mitigated the task demands; and (2) other practices related to work planning and crew management increased the crew's ability to cope with and adapt to high task demands. The findings identify production practices that regulate the workers' task demands. The effect of task demands on performance is mitigated by the ability to cope with high demands.

Evaluating Prior Scholarship in Literature Reviews of Research Articles: A Comparative Study of Practices in Two Research Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwan, Becky S. C.; Chan, Hang; Lam, Colin

2012-01-01

Evaluations of prior scholarship play a crucial role in the literature review (LR) of a research article by showing how the boundary of an area of inquiry can be further advanced by the writer's work. Yet, many inexperienced writers find evaluating others' work a major challenge. Although the task has received some attention in research and…

Individualized deliberate practice on a virtual reality simulator improves technical performance of surgical novices in the operating room: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Palter, Vanessa N; Grantcharov, Teodor P

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether individualized deliberate practice on a virtual reality (VR) simulator results in improved technical performance in the operating room. Training on VR simulators has been shown to improve technical performance in the operating room (OR). Currently described VR curricula consist of trainees practicing the same tasks until expert proficiency is reached. It has yet to be investigated whether the individualized deliberate practice, where curricula tasks vary depending on prior levels of technical proficiency, would translate into the OR. This single-blinded prospective trial randomized 16 novice surgical residents to a deliberate practice (DP) group and a conventional residency training group. Both groups performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the OR that was video-recorded. Technical performance of DP group residents in the OR was assessed using 3 validated assessment tools. A score of less than 60% on any component of the assessment tool resulted in the trainee practicing a specific task on the VR simulator. The DP group practiced on the simulator as per their individualized schedule. Both groups then performed another laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A blinded expert assessed the OR recordings using a validated global rating scale. Although both groups had similar technical abilities preintervention [DP: median score, 13.5 (9.3-15.0); control: median score, 14.5 (9.3-17.8); P = 0.45], the DP residents had a superior technical performance postintervention [DP: median score, 17.0 (15.3-18.5); control: median score, 12.5 (7.5-14.0); P = 0.03]. Of 8 DP residents, 6 practiced 5 basic VR tasks (median 1 trial to pass), and 7 of 8 practiced 2 advanced tasks (median 4 trials to pass). A curriculum of deliberate individualized practice on a VR simulator improves technical performance in the OR. This has implications to greatly improve the feasibility of implementing simulation-based curricula in residency training programs, rather then having them being limited to research protocols.

Mental and psychomotor task performance in noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

The possible adverse effects of noise on mental and psychomotor task performance were a matter of practical concern for centuries and continue to be a matter of scientific controversy. A review indicates that except for the masking or interferences with the hearing of sounds needed to perform a given task, noise does not necessarily interfer with work performance. However, because of difficulties in the experimental control of some of these possible effects, the results of research on work performance in noise were inconsistent and difficult to encompass in any simple theoretical construct. Indeed, reviews of research in this area conclude that simple generalizations about possible effects of noise on work performance cannot be made. Nevertheless, several general theories were put forth.

Practising family history: 'identity' as a category of social practice.

PubMed

Bottero, Wendy

2015-09-01

Research on family history argues it performs the task of anchoring a sense of 'self' through tracing ancestral connection and cultural belonging, seeing it as a form of storied 'identity-work'. This paper draws on a small-scale qualitative study to think further on the identity-work of family history. Using practice theory, and a disaggregated notion of 'identity', it explores how the storying of family histories relates to genealogy as a leisure hobby, a form of historical research, and an information-processing activity; and examines the social organization of that narrativity, where various practical engagements render certain kinds of genealogical information more, or less, 'storyable'. Key features of 'identity-work' in family history, such as the construction of genealogy as a personal journey of discovery and identification with particular ancestors, emerge as a consequence of the procedures of family history, organized as a set of practical tasks. The paper explores 'identity-work' as a consequence of people's engagement in specific social practices which provide an internal logic to their actions, with various components of 'identity' emerging as categories of practice shaped within, and for, use. Focusing on 'identity' as something produced when we are engaged in doing other things, the paper examines how the practical organization of 'doing other things' helps produce 'identity' in particular ways. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2015.

Neurophysiological correlates of visuo-motor learning through mental and physical practice.

PubMed

Allami, Nadia; Brovelli, Andrea; Hamzaoui, El Mehdi; Regragui, Fakhita; Paulignan, Yves; Boussaoud, Driss

2014-03-01

We have previously shown that mental rehearsal can replace up to 75% of physical practice for learning a visuomotor task (Allami, Paulignan, Brovelli, & Boussaoud, (2008). Experimental Brain Research, 184, 105-113). Presumably, mental rehearsal must induce brain changes that facilitate motor learning. We tested this hypothesis by recording scalp electroencephalographic activity (EEG) in two groups of subjects. In one group, subjects executed a reach to grasp task for 240 trials. In the second group, subjects learned the task through a combination of mental rehearsal for the initial 180 trials followed by the execution of 60 trials. Thus, one group physically executed the task for 240 trials, the other only for 60 trials. Amplitudes and latencies of event-related potentials (ERPs) were compared across groups at different stages during learning. We found that ERP activity increases dramatically with training and reaches the same amplitude over the premotor regions in the two groups, despite large differences in physically executed trials. These findings suggest that during mental rehearsal, neuronal changes occur in the motor networks that make physical practice after mental rehearsal more effective in configuring functional networks for skilful behaviour. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How Changes in White Matter Might Underlie Improved Reaction Time Due to Practice1

PubMed Central

Voelker, Pascale; Piscopo, Denise; Weible, Aldis; Lynch, Gary; Rothbart, Mary K.; Posner, Michael I.; Niell, Cristopher M.

2017-01-01

Why does training on a task reduce the reaction time for performing it? New research points to changes in white matter pathways as one likely mechanism. These pathways connect remote brain areas involved in performing the task. Genetic variations may be involved in individual differences in the extent of this improvement. If white matter change is involved in improved reaction time with training, it may point the way toward understanding where and how generalization occurs. We examine the hypothesis that brain pathways shared by different tasks may result in improved performance of cognitive tasks remote from the training. PMID:27064751

TH-D-BRB-04: Pinnacle Scripting: Improving Efficiency While Maintaining Safety

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

Moore, J.

2016-06-15

Scripting capabilities and application programming interfaces (APIs) are becoming commonly available in modern treatment planning systems. These links to the treatment planning system (TPS) allow users to read data from the TPS, and in some cases use TPS functionality and write data back to the TPS. Such tools are powerful extensions, allowing automation of routine clinical tasks and supporting research, particularly research involving repetitive tasks on large patient populations. The data and functionality exposed by scripting/API capabilities is vendor dependent, as are the languages used by script/API engines, such as the Microsoft .NET framework or Python. Scripts deployed in amore » clinical environment must be commissioned and validated like any other software tool. This session will provide an overview of scripting applications and a discussion of best practices, followed by a practical introduction to the scripting capabilities of three commercial treatment planning systems. Learning Objectives: Understand the scripting capabilities available in several treatment planning systems Learn how to get started using scripting capabilities Understand the best practices for safe script deployment in a clinical environment R. Popple, Varian Medical Systems has provided research support unrelated to the topic of this session.R. Cardan, Varian Medical Systems for grant research, product evaluation, and teaching honorarium.« less

Effects of Single Compared to Dual Task Practice on Learning a Dynamic Balance Task in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Kiss, Rainer; Brueckner, Dennis; Muehlbauer, Thomas

2018-01-01

Background: In everyday life, people engage in situations involving the concurrent processing of motor (balance) and cognitive tasks (i.e., “dual task situations”) that result in performance declines in at least one of the given tasks. The concurrent practice of both the motor and cognitive task may counteract these performance decrements. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of single task (ST) compared to dual task (DT) practice on learning a dynamic balance task. Methods: Forty-eight young adults were randomly assigned to either a ST (i.e., motor or cognitive task training only) or a DT (i.e., motor-cognitive training) practice condition. The motor task required participants to stand on a platform and keeping the platform as close to horizontal as possible. In the cognitive task, participants were asked to recite serial subtractions of three. For 2 days, participants of the ST groups practiced the motor or cognitive task only, while the participants of the DT group concurrently performed both. Root-mean-square error (RMSE) for the motor and total number of correct calculations for the cognitive task were computed. Results: During practice, all groups improved their respective balance and/or cognitive task performance. With regard to the assessment of learning on day 3, we found significantly smaller RMSE values for the ST motor (d = 1.31) and the DT motor-cognitive (d = 0.76) practice group compared to the ST cognitive practice group but not between the ST motor and the DT motor-cognitive practice group under DT test condition. Further, we detected significantly larger total numbers of correct calculations under DT test condition for the ST cognitive (d = 2.19) and the DT motor-cognitive (d = 1.55) practice group compared to the ST motor practice group but not between the ST cognitive and the DT motor-cognitive practice group. Conclusion: We conclude that ST practice resulted in an effective modulation of the trained domain (i.e., motor or cognitive) while only DT practice resulted in an effective modulation of both domains (i.e., motor and cognitive). Thus, particularly DT practice frees up central resources that were used for an effective modulation of motor and cognitive processing mechanisms. PMID:29593614

RoboLeader: An Intelligent Agent for Enhancing Supervisory Control of Multiple Robots

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) U.S. Army Research Laboratory ATTN: RDRL- HRM -AT Aberdeen...has been shown to have good 1 PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond...training and practice on the tasks they would need to conduct. Training was self-paced and was delivered by PowerPoint slides, which showed the

Governance Practice in English Further Education Colleges: The Purpose of Further Education Governance and the Changing Role of Standards Committee Governors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masunga, Robert

2013-01-01

This article explores the purpose of governance in the further education (FE) sector in England and the increasing tasks demands that are expected from the governors of standards committees (SC) as part of their changing role. It will then examine how these task demands impact SC governors' perceptions of FE governance. This research is done at a…

Management Information Task Group

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-12-18

Defense Business Practice Implementation Board Management Information Task Group Report...Std Z39-18 Defense Business Practice Implementation Board Management Information Task Group... Business Practice Implementation Board Management Information Task Group Report FY02-2 3

Measuring the construct of executive control in schizophrenia: defining and validating translational animal paradigms for discovery research.

PubMed

Gilmour, Gary; Arguello, Alexander; Bari, Andrea; Brown, Verity J; Carter, Cameron; Floresco, Stan B; Jentsch, David J; Tait, David S; Young, Jared W; Robbins, Trevor W

2013-11-01

Executive control is an aspect of cognitive function known to be impaired in schizophrenia. Previous meetings of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) group have more precisely defined executive control in terms of two constructs: "rule generation and selection", and "dynamic adjustments of control". Next, human cognitive tasks that may effectively measure performance with regard to these constructs were identified to be developed into practical and reliable measures for use in treatment development. The aim of this round of CNTRICS meetings was to define animal paradigms that have sufficient promise to warrant further investigation for their utility in measuring these constructs. Accordingly, "reversal learning" and the "attentional set-shifting task" were nominated to assess the construct of rule generation and selection, and the "stop signal task" for the construct of dynamic adjustments of control. These tasks are described in more detail here, with a particular focus on their utility for drug discovery efforts. Presently, each assay has strengths and weaknesses with regard to this point and increased emphasis on improving practical aspects of testing, understanding predictive validity, and defining biomarkers of performance represent important objectives in attaining confidence in translational validity here. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward a Shift in Expectations and Values: What We've Learned from Collaborative Action Research in Northern Indigenous Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Shelly Stagg; Horton, Laura; Restoule, Jean Paul

2016-01-01

In this paper we propose that collaborative action research values, goals and practices have much in common with guiding principles for conducting research with educators and community members in First Nation, Inuit and Metis communities, as outlined in the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures'…

DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORY OF EDUCATION FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL AND OTHER BASIC RESEARCH FINDINGS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

TAYLOR, CALVIN W.; AND OTHERS

A BROAD EXPLORATORY AND THEORETICAL STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE IN A FUNDAMENTAL SENSE THE IMPLICATIONS AND IMPACT WHICH NEW RESEARCH IN THE BASIC BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE FIELDS HAD ON EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE AND THEORY. THE TOTAL TASK WAS TO BUILD A NEW EDUCATIONAL THEORY USING SAMPLINGS FROM ALL BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TO INVESTIGATE WAYS TO REDUCE…

Constructive Alignment and the Research Skills Development Framework: Using Theory to Practically Align Graduate Attributes, Learning Experiences, and Assessment Tasks in Undergraduate Midwifery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pretorius, Lynette; Bailey, Carolyn; Miles, Maureen

2013-01-01

Midwifery educators have to provide students with stimulating curricula that teach academic and vocational content, as well as transferable skills. The Research Skills Development (RSD) framework provides a conceptual model that allows educators to explicitly scaffold the development of their students' research skills. This paper aims to…

Exploring the barriers to and facilitators of implementing research into practice.

PubMed

Johnston, Bridget; Coole, Carol; Narayanasamy, Melanie; Feakes, Ruth; Whitworth, Gillian; Tyrell, Tracy; Hardy, Beth

2016-08-02

District and community nursing roles have changed rapidly in recent years. Community nurses are increasingly being tasked with carrying out multiple roles, which require them to put research into practice and use evidence-based tools and interventions. The implementation of interventions and tools needs to be developed from empirical research, requiring evidence, to be translated into practice. However, this process may be compromised or enhanced by a number of factors. This exploratory, descriptive qualitative study sought to identify barriers and facilitators to community nurses implementing research into practice. Four focus groups were conducted with registered community nurses and district nurses (n=22). Analysis identified four main themes: keeping up to date with evidence; using a clinical tool; education/training and implementation. Findings suggest that there are barriers at a personal, professional and organisational level. Strategies are suggested to overcome these obstacles.

Task shifting between physicians and nurses in acute care hospitals: cross-sectional study in nine countries.

PubMed

Maier, Claudia B; Köppen, Julia; Busse, Reinhard

2018-05-25

Countries vary in the extent to which reforms have been implemented expanding nurses' Scopes-of-Practice (SoP). There is limited cross-country research if and how reforms affect clinical practice, particularly in hospitals. This study analyses health professionals' perceptions of role change and of task shifting between the medical and nursing professions in nine European countries. Cross-sectional design with surveys completed by 1716 health professionals treating patients with breast cancer (BC) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 161 hospitals across nine countries. Descriptive and bivariate analysis on self-reported staff role changes and levels of independence (with/without physician oversight) by two country groups, with major SoP reforms implemented between 2010 and 2015 (Netherlands, England, Scotland) and without (Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Turkey). Participation in 'medical tasks' was identified using two methods, a data-driven and a conceptual approach. Individual task-related analyses were performed for the medical and nursing professions, and Advanced Practice Nurses/Specialist Nurses (APN/SN). Health professionals from the Netherlands, England and Scotland more frequently reported changes to staff roles over this time period vs. the other six countries (BC 74.0% vs. 38.7%, p < .001; AMI 61.7% vs. 37.3%, p < .001), and higher independence in new roles (BC 58.6% vs. 24.0%, p < .001; AMI 48.9% vs. 29.2%, p < .001). A higher proportion of nurses and APN/SN from these three countries reported to undertake tasks related to BC diagnosis, therapy, prescribing of medicines and information to patients compared to the six countries. Similar cross-country differences existed for AMI on prescribing medications and follow-up care. Tasks related to diagnosis and therapy, however, remained largely within the medical profession's domain. Most tasks were reported to be performed by both professions rather than carried out by one profession only. Higher levels of changes to staff roles and task shifting were reported in the Netherlands, England and Scotland, suggesting that professional boundaries have shifted, for instance on chemotherapy or prescribing medicines. For most tasks, however, a partial instead of full task shifting is practice.

Curriculum Recommendations of the AACP-PSSC Task Force on Caring for the Underserved

PubMed Central

Roche, Victoria F.; Assemi, Mitra; Conry, John M.; Shane-McWhorter, Laura; Sorensen, Todd D.

2008-01-01

A task force was convened by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and the Pharmaceutical Services Support Center (PSSC) and charged with the development of a curriculum framework to guide pharmacy programs in educating students on caring for the underserved. Utilizing a literature-based model, the task force constructed a framework that delineated evidence-based practice, clinical prevention and health promotion, health systems and policy, and community aspects of practice. Specific learning outcomes tailored to underserved populations were crafted and linked to resources readily available to the academy. The AACP-PSSC curriculum framework was shared with the academy in 2007. Schools and Colleges are urged to share experiences with implementation so that the impact of the tool can be evaluated. The task force recommends that the AACP Institutional Research Advisory Committee be involved in gathering assessment data. Implementation of the curriculum framework can help the academy fulfill the professional mandate to proactively provide the highest quality care to all, including underserved populations. PMID:18698398

Academic Library Web Sites: Current Practice and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Detlor, Brian; Lewis, Vivian

2006-01-01

To address competitive threats, academic libraries are encouraged to build robust Web sites personalized to learning and research tasks. Through an evaluation of Association of Research Libraries (ARL)-member Web sites, we suggest how library Web sites should evolve and reflect upon the impacts such recommendations may have on academic libraries…

Adaptations of School Effectiveness Research to Practice: A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guzzetti, Barbara J.

This case study of a Colorado school district sought to assess the process and outcomes of administrative leadership in implementing school effectiveness research on time-on-task classroom strategies. The study examines the interrelationship of conditions bearing upon the change effort and focuses on those changes affecting the district's…

Considering Community Literacies in the Secondary Classroom: A Collaborative Teacher and Researcher Study Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carbone, Paula M.; Reynolds, Rema E.

2013-01-01

A year long study group brought teachers and researchers working in urban contexts in US public schools together to examine literacy practices incorporating students' community literacies into schooled tasks. The goal was to provide teacher development in making connections across their students' community literacies and the academic literacy they…

Research into Practice: The Influence of Discourse Studies on Language Descriptions and Task Design in Published ELT Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilmore, Alex

2015-01-01

Discourse studies is a vast, multidisciplinary, and rapidly expanding area of research, embracing a range of approaches including discourse analysis, corpus analysis, conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, critical discourse analysis, genre analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. Each approach offers its own unique perspective…

External Stakeholders and Internal Practices in Departments of Teacher Education at European Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarrevaara, Timo; Wikström, Janne; Maassen, Peter

2017-01-01

Research-intensive universities are operating in an environment of conflicting goals and priorities. Their status in research as well as education is dependent on their performance in various global arenas where performance can be measured with relatively clear indicators. However, success in operations outside the primary tasks of the academic…

Care for a Patient With Cancer As a Project: Management of Complex Task Interdependence in Cancer Care Delivery.

PubMed

Trosman, Julia R; Carlos, Ruth C; Simon, Melissa A; Madden, Debra L; Gradishar, William J; Benson, Al B; Rapkin, Bruce D; Weiss, Elisa S; Gareen, Ilana F; Wagner, Lynne I; Khan, Seema A; Bunce, Mikele M; Small, Art; Weldon, Christine B

2016-11-01

Cancer care is highly complex and suffers from fragmentation and lack of coordination across provider specialties and clinical domains. As a result, patients often find that they must coordinate care on their own. Coordinated delivery teams may address these challenges and improve quality of cancer care. Task interdependence is a core principle of rigorous teamwork and is essential to addressing the complexity of cancer care, which is highly interdependent across specialties and modalities. We examined challenges faced by a patient with early-stage breast cancer that resulted from difficulties in understanding and managing task interdependence across clinical domains involved in this patient's care. We used team science supported by the project management discipline to discuss how various task interdependence aspects can be recognized, deliberately designed, and systematically managed to prevent care breakdowns. This case highlights how effective task interdependence management facilitated by project management methods could markedly improve the course of a patient's care. This work informs efforts of cancer centers and practices to redesign cancer care delivery through innovative, practical, and patient-centered approaches to management of task interdependence in cancer care. Future patient-reported outcomes research will help to determine optimal ways to engage patients, including those who are medically underserved, in managing task interdependence in their own care.

Survey to assess the role of pharmacy technicians and nonpharmacist staff in the operation of research pharmacies.

PubMed

Siden, Rivka; Tamer, Helen R; Skyles, Amy J; Dolan, Christopher S; Propes, Denise J; Redic, Kimberly

2014-11-01

Results of a survey assessing trends and innovations in the use of pharmacy technicians and other nonpharmacist staff in the research pharmacy setting are reported. A Web-based survey was distributed to Internet communities of members of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the University Health-System Consortium involved in investigational drug research and related practice areas. The survey collected data on the characteristics of institutions with pharmacy department staff dedicated to such research activities and the participation of pharmacists, technicians, and other staff in key areas of research pharmacy operations. Survey responses from 51 institutions were included in the data analysis. Overall, the reported distribution of assigned responsibility for most evaluated research pharmacy tasks reflected traditional divisions of pharmacist and technician duties, with technicians performing tasks subject to a pharmacist check or pharmacists completing tasks alone. However, some institutions reported allowing technicians to perform a number of key tasks without direct pharmacist supervision, primarily in the areas of inventory management and sponsor monitoring and auditing; almost half of the surveyed institutions reported technician involvement in teaching activities. In general, the reported use of "tech-check-tech" arrangements in research pharmacies was very limited. Some responding institutions reported the innovative use of nonpharmacist staff (e.g., paid interns, students and residents on rotation). Although the majority of research pharmacy tasks related to direct patient care are performed by or under the direct supervision of pharmacists, a variety of other essential tasks are typically assigned to pharmacy technicians and other nonpharmacist staff. Copyright © 2014 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring the Complexity of Teachers' Enactment of Practice for Equity: A Rasch Model and Facet Theory-Based Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Wen-Chia Claire

2017-01-01

Preparing and supporting teachers to enact teaching practice that responds to diversity, challenges educational inequities, and promotes social justice is a pressing yet daunting and complex task. More research is needed to understand how and to what extent teacher education programs prepare and support teacher candidates to enhance the…

Serial and Parallel Processes in Working Memory after Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oberauer, Klaus; Bialkova, Svetlana

2011-01-01

Six young adults practiced for 36 sessions on a working-memory updating task in which 2 digits and 2 spatial positions were continuously updated. Participants either did 1 updating operation at a time, or attempted 1 numerical and 1 spatial operation at the same time. In contrast to previous research using the same paradigm with a single digit and…

Measuring the Performance of Attention Networks with the Dalhousie Computerized Attention Battery (DalCAB): Methodology and Reliability in Healthy Adults.

PubMed

Jones, Stephanie A H; Butler, Beverly C; Kintzel, Franziska; Johnson, Anne; Klein, Raymond M; Eskes, Gail A

2016-01-01

Attention is an important, multifaceted cognitive domain that has been linked to three distinct, yet interacting, networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. The measurement of attention and deficits of attention within these networks is critical to the assessment of many neurological and psychiatric conditions in both research and clinical settings. The Dalhousie Computerized Attention Battery (DalCAB) was created to assess attentional functions related to the three attention networks using a range of tasks including: simple reaction time, go/no-go, choice reaction time, dual task, flanker, item and location working memory, and visual search. The current study provides preliminary normative data, test-retest reliability (intraclass correlations) and practice effects in DalCAB performance 24-h after baseline for healthy young adults (n = 96, 18-31 years). Performance on the DalCAB tasks demonstrated Good to Very Good test-retest reliability for mean reaction time, while accuracy and difference measures (e.g., switch costs, interference effects, and working memory load effects) were most reliable for tasks that require more extensive cognitive processing (e.g., choice reaction time, flanker, dual task, and conjunction search). Practice effects were common and pronounced at the 24-h interval. In addition, performance related to specific within-task parameters of the DalCAB sub-tests provides preliminary support for future formal assessment of the convergent validity of our interpretation of the DalCAB as a potential clinical and research assessment tool for measuring aspects of attention related to the alerting, orienting, and executive control networks.

Understanding Research Gaps and Priorities for Improving Behavioral Counseling Interventions: Lessons Learned From the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

PubMed

Kurth, Ann E; Miller, Therese L; Woo, Meghan; Davidson, Karina W

2015-09-01

Behavioral counseling interventions can address significant causes of preventable morbidity and mortality. However, despite a growing evidence base for behavioral counseling interventions, there remain significant research gaps that limit translating the evidence into clinical practice. Using U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) examples, we address how researchers and funders can move the research portfolio forward to achieve better application of behavioral counseling interventions to address substantial health burdens in the U.S. This paper describes the types of gaps that the USPSTF encounters across its behavioral counseling intervention topics and provides suggestions for opportunities to address these gaps to enhance the evidence base for primary care-based behavioral counseling recommendations. To accomplish this, we draw from both the USPSTF experience and issues identified by researchers and clinicians during the USPSTF-sponsored Behavioral Counseling Intervention Forum. We also discuss the dilemma posed by having "insufficient" evidence with which to make a behavioral counseling intervention-related recommendation, and describe two case examples (screening for alcohol misuse in adolescence and screening for child maltreatment), detailing the research gaps that remain. Recommendations are outlined for researchers, funders, and practice implementers to improve behavioral counseling intervention research and application. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. All rights reserved.

Authentic Integration: a model for integrating mathematics and science in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treacy, Páraic; O'Donoghue, John

2014-07-01

Attempts at integrating mathematics and science have been made previously but no definitive, widely adopted teaching model has been developed to date. Research suggests that hands-on, practical, student-centred tasks should form a central element when designing an effective model for the integration of mathematics and science. Aided by this research, the author created a new model entitled 'Authentic Integration' which caters for the specific needs of integration of mathematics and science. This model requires that each lesson be based around a rich task which relates to the real world and ensures that hands-on group work, inquiry, and discussion are central to the lesson. It was found that Authentic Integration, when applied in four Irish post-primary schools, positively affected pupil understanding. The teachers who completed the intervention displayed a very positive attitude towards the approach, intimating that they would continue to implement the practice in their classrooms.

Developing a Community-Wide Initiative to Address Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress: A Case Study of The Philadelphia ACE Task Force.

PubMed

Pachter, Lee M; Lieberman, Leslie; Bloom, Sandra L; Fein, Joel A

The Philadelphia ACE Task Force is a community based collaborative of health care providers, researchers, community-based organizations, funders, and public sector representatives. The mission of the task force is to provide a venue to address childhood adversity and its consequences in the Philadelphia metropolitan region. In this article we describe the origins and metamorphosis of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force, which initially was narrowly focused on screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in health care settings but expanded its focus to better represent a true community-based approach to sharing experiences with addressing childhood adversity in multiple sectors of the city and region. The task force has been successful in developing a research agenda and conducting research on ACEs in the urban context, and has identified foci of local activity in the areas of professional training and workforce development, community education, and local practical interventions around adversity, trauma, and resiliency. In this article we also address the lessons learned over the first 5 years of the task force's existence and offers recommendations for future efforts to build a local community-based ACEs collaborative. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Central and Off-Axis Spatial Contrast Sensitivity Measured with Gabor Patches

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

caveats concern such factors as the effects of practice (16), the potential task-dependent effects of practice (17), and the effect of attention (18) on...0684; U.S. Army Research Laboratory: Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, 2007, pp 1–19. 16. Johnson, C. A.; Leibowitz, H. W. Practice Effects for Visual...ORGANIZATION COPIES ORGANIZATION 13 1 ARMY RSCH LABORATORY – HRED RDRL HRM A J MARTIN MYER CENTER BLDG 2700 RM 2D311 FORT MONMOUTH

Watch and Learn: Seeing Is Better than Doing when Acquiring Consecutive Motor Tasks

PubMed Central

Larssen, Beverley C.; Ong, Nicole T.; Hodges, Nicola J.

2012-01-01

During motor adaptation learning, consecutive physical practice of two different tasks compromises the retention of the first. However, there is evidence that observational practice, while still effectively aiding acquisition, will not lead to interference and hence prove to be a better practice method. Observers and Actors practised in a clockwise (Task A) followed by a counterclockwise (Task B) visually rotated environment, and retention was immediately assessed. An Observe-all and Act-all group were compared to two groups who both physically practised Task A, but then only observed (ObsB) or did not see or practice Task B (NoB). The two observer groups and the NoB control group better retained Task A than Actors, although importantly only the observer groups learnt Task B. RT data and explicit awareness of the rotation suggested that the observers had acquired their respective tasks in a more strategic manner than Actor and Control groups. We conclude that observational practice benefits learning of multiple tasks more than physical practice due to the lack of updating of implicit, internal models for aiming in the former. PMID:22723909

Constructing experimental designs for discrete-choice experiments: report of the ISPOR Conjoint Analysis Experimental Design Good Research Practices Task Force.

PubMed

Reed Johnson, F; Lancsar, Emily; Marshall, Deborah; Kilambi, Vikram; Mühlbacher, Axel; Regier, Dean A; Bresnahan, Brian W; Kanninen, Barbara; Bridges, John F P

2013-01-01

Stated-preference methods are a class of evaluation techniques for studying the preferences of patients and other stakeholders. While these methods span a variety of techniques, conjoint-analysis methods-and particularly discrete-choice experiments (DCEs)-have become the most frequently applied approach in health care in recent years. Experimental design is an important stage in the development of such methods, but establishing a consensus on standards is hampered by lack of understanding of available techniques and software. This report builds on the previous ISPOR Conjoint Analysis Task Force Report: Conjoint Analysis Applications in Health-A Checklist: A Report of the ISPOR Good Research Practices for Conjoint Analysis Task Force. This report aims to assist researchers specifically in evaluating alternative approaches to experimental design, a difficult and important element of successful DCEs. While this report does not endorse any specific approach, it does provide a guide for choosing an approach that is appropriate for a particular study. In particular, it provides an overview of the role of experimental designs for the successful implementation of the DCE approach in health care studies, and it provides researchers with an introduction to constructing experimental designs on the basis of study objectives and the statistical model researchers have selected for the study. The report outlines the theoretical requirements for designs that identify choice-model preference parameters and summarizes and compares a number of available approaches for constructing experimental designs. The task-force leadership group met via bimonthly teleconferences and in person at ISPOR meetings in the United States and Europe. An international group of experimental-design experts was consulted during this process to discuss existing approaches for experimental design and to review the task force's draft reports. In addition, ISPOR members contributed to developing a consensus report by submitting written comments during the review process and oral comments during two forum presentations at the ISPOR 16th and 17th Annual International Meetings held in Baltimore (2011) and Washington, DC (2012). Copyright © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Task Demands in OSCEs Influence Learning Strategies.

PubMed

Lafleur, Alexandre; Laflamme, Jonathan; Leppink, Jimmie; Côté, Luc

2017-01-01

Models on pre-assessment learning effects confirmed that task demands stand out among the factors assessors can modify in an assessment to influence learning. However, little is known about which tasks in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) improve students' cognitive and metacognitive processes. Research is needed to support OSCE designs that benefit students' metacognitive strategies when they are studying, reinforcing a hypothesis-driven approach. With that intent, hypothesis-driven physical examination (HDPE) assessments ask students to elicit and interpret findings of the physical exam to reach a diagnosis ("Examine this patient with a painful shoulder to reach a diagnosis"). When studying for HDPE, students will dedicate more time to hypothesis-driven discussions and practice than when studying for a part-task OSCE ("Perform the shoulder exam"). It is expected that the whole-task nature of HDPE will lead to a hypothesis-oriented use of the learning resources, a frequent use of adjustment strategies, and persistence with learning. In a mixed-methods study, 40 medical students were randomly paired and filmed while studying together for two hypothetical OSCE stations. Each 25-min study period began with video cues asking to study for either a part-task OSCE or an HDPE. In a crossover design, sequences were randomized for OSCEs and contents (shoulder or spine). Time-on-task for discussions or practice were categorized as "hypothesis-driven" or "sequence of signs and maneuvers." Content analysis of focus group interviews summarized students' perception of learning resources, adjustment strategies, and persistence with learning. When studying for HDPE, students allocate significantly more time for hypothesis-driven discussions and practice. Students use resources contrasting diagnoses and report persistence with learning. When studying for part-task OSCEs, time-on-task is reversed, spent on rehearsing a sequence of signs and maneuvers. OSCEs with similar contents but different task demands lead to opposite learning strategies regarding how students manage their study time. Measuring pre-assessment effects from a metacognitive perspective provides empirical evidence to redesign assessments for learning.

Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands.

PubMed

Kray, Jutta; Gaspard, Hanna; Karbach, Julia; Blaye, Agnès

2013-01-01

In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8-10 years) and older children (11-13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first.

Experiencing everyday ethics in context: Frontline data collectors perspectives and practices of bioethics☆

PubMed Central

Kingori, Patricia

2013-01-01

Data collectors play a vital role in producing scientific knowledge. They are also an important component in understanding the practice of bioethics. Yet, very little attention has been given to their everyday experiences or the context in which they are expected to undertake these tasks. This paper argues that while there has been extensive philosophical attention given to ‘the what’ and ‘the why’ in bioethics – what action is taken place and why – these should be considered along ‘the who’ – who are the individuals tasked with bioethics and what can their insights bring to macro-level and abstract discussions of bioethics. This paper will draw on the philosophical theories of Paul Ricoeur which compliments a sociological examination of data collectors experiences and use of their agency coupled with a concern for contextual and institutional factors in which they worked. In emphasising everyday experiences and contexts, I will argue that data collectors' practice of bioethics was shaped by their position at the frontline of face-to-face interactions with medical research participants and community members, alongside their own personal ethical values and motivations. Institutional interpretations of bioethics also imposed certain parameters on their bioethical practice but these were generally peripheral to their sense of obligation and the expectations conferred in witnessing the needs and suffering of those they encountered during their quotidian research duties. This paper will demonstrate that although the principle of autonomy has dominated discussions of bioethics and gaining informed consent seen as a central facet of ethical research by many research institutions, for data collectors this principle was seldom the most important marker of their ethical practice. Instead, data collectors were concerned with remedying the dilemmas they encountered through enacting their own interpretations of justice and beneficence and imposing their own agency on the circumstances they experienced. Their practice of bioethics demonstrates their contribution to the conduct of research and the shortcomings of an over-emphasis on autonomy. PMID:24210881

Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. A 35-year odyssey.

PubMed

Locke, Edwin A; Latham, Gary P

2002-09-01

The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory's limitations.

The Principle-Practical Discourse Edge: Elementary Preservice and Mentor Teachers Working Together on Colearning Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunckel, Kristin L.; Wood, Marcy B.

2016-01-01

A major challenge in preparing elementary teachers to teach inquiry-based science is finding qualified mentor teachers who use research-based approaches to teach science in their classrooms. This situation means preservice teachers often see few connections between the research-based principles for teaching science they learn in university-based…

Cooperative or Collaborative Literacy Practices: Mapping Metadiscourse in a Business Students' Wiki Group Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alyousef, Hesham Suleiman; Picard, Michelle Yvette

2011-01-01

Although wikis have been used successfully in collaborative learning in higher education, there is a lack of research investigating wikis in business module assessment tasks. Little research to date has been conducted on how wikis formatively develop international English as a second language (ESL) in business students' academic discourse. In this…

Classroom Response Systems: Using Task Technology Fit to Explore Impact Potential

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Kenneth D., II.

2010-01-01

The primary purpose of this study is to determine how students are impacted by the use of Classroom Response System (CRS) technology. This research explores the nature of the outcomes experienced by students and their perceptions on the leading pedagogy and practices for using CRS technology in the classroom. The research is both quantitative and…

Is the Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) Always Best? The Power of Choice in a Bifurcated Practical Stream for a Large Introductory Biochemistry Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowland, Susan L.; Lawrie, Gwen A.; Behrendorff, James B. Y. H.; Gillam, Elizabeth M. J.

2012-01-01

Science undergraduate courses typically cater to a mixed-learner cohort, with a diversity of motivations and skills. This diversity introduces pressure for designers of the practical laboratory curriculum. Students who are struggling with the course need a series of tasks that begin simply, and transition to more conceptually difficult material.…

Effects of heart rate variability biofeedback during exposure to fear-provoking stimuli within spider-fearful individuals: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Schäfer, Sarah K; Ihmig, Frank R; Lara H, Karen A; Neurohr, Frank; Kiefer, Stephan; Staginnus, Marlene; Lass-Hennemann, Johanna; Michael, Tanja

2018-03-16

Specific phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy is the treatment of choice for specific phobias. However, not all patients respond equally well to it. Hence, current research focuses on therapeutic add-ons to increase and consolidate the effects of exposure therapy. One potential therapeutic add-on is biofeedback to increase heart rate variability (HRV). A recent meta-analysis shows beneficial effects of HRV biofeedback interventions on stress and anxiety symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of the current trial is to evaluate the effects of HRV biofeedback, which is practiced before and utilized during exposure, in spider-fearful individuals. Further, this trial is the first to differentiate between the effects of a HRV biofeedback intervention and those of a low-load working memory (WM) task. Eighty spider-fearful individuals participate in the study. All participants receive a training session in which they practice two tasks (HRV biofeedback and a motor pseudo-biofeedback task or two motor pseudo-biofeedback tasks). Afterwards, they train both tasks at home for 6 days. One week later, during the exposure session, they watch 16 1-min spider video clips. Participants are divided into four groups: group 1 practices the HRV biofeedback and one motor pseudo-task before exposure and utilizes HRV biofeedback during exposure. Group 2 receives the same training, but continues the pseudo-biofeedback task during exposure. Group 3 practices two pseudo-biofeedback tasks and continues one of them during exposure. Group 4 trains in two pseudo-biofeedback tasks and has no additional task during exposure. The primary outcome is fear of spiders (measured by the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire and the Behavioral Approach Test). Secondary outcomes are physiological measures based on electrodermal activity, electrocardiogram and respiration. This RCT is the first one to investigate the effects of using a pre-trained HRV biofeedback during exposure in spider-fearful individuals. The study critically contrasts the effects of the biofeedback intervention with those of pseudo-tasks, which also require WM capacity, but which do not have a physiological base. If HRV biofeedback is effective in reducing fear of spiders, it would represent an easy-to-use tool to improve exposure-therapy outcomes. Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien, DRKS00012278 . Registered on 23 May 2017, amendment on 5 October 2017.

Learning to combine high variability with high precision: lack of transfer to a different task.

PubMed

Wu, Yen-Hsun; Truglio, Thomas S; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2015-01-01

The authors studied effects of practicing a 4-finger accurate force production task on multifinger coordination quantified within the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. During practice, task instability was modified by changing visual feedback gain based on accuracy of performance. The authors also explored the retention of these effects, and their transfer to a prehensile task. Subjects practiced the force production task for 2 days. After the practice, total force variability decreased and performance became more accurate. In contrast, variance of finger forces showed a tendency to increase during the first practice session while in the space of finger modes (hypothetical commands to fingers) the increase was under the significance level. These effects were retained for 2 weeks. No transfer of these effects to the prehensile task was seen, suggesting high specificity of coordination changes. The retention of practice effects without transfer to a different task suggests that further studies on a more practical method of improving coordination are needed.

A decision-making tool to prescribe knee orthoses in daily practice for patients with osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Coudeyre, Emmanuel; Nguyen, Christelle; Chabaud, Aurore; Pereira, Bruno; Beaudreuil, Johann; Coudreuse, Jean-Marie; Deat, Philippe; Sailhan, Frédéric; Lorenzo, Alain; Rannou, François

2018-03-01

To develop a decision-making tool (DMT) to facilitate the prescription of knee orthoses for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) in daily practice. A steering committee gathered a multidisciplinary task force experienced in OA management/clinical research. Two members performed a literature review with qualitative analysis of the highest-quality randomized controlled trials and practice guidelines to confirm evidence concerning knee orthosis for OA. A first DMT draft was presented to the task force in a 1-day meeting in January 2016. The first version of the DMT was criticized and discussed regarding everyday practice issues. Every step was discussed and amended until consensus agreement was achieved within the task force. Then 4 successive consultation rounds occurred by electronic communication, first with primary- and secondary-care physicians, then with international experts. All corrections and suggestions by each member were shared with the rest of the task force and included to reach final consensus. The final version was validated by the steering committee. The definition and indication of several types of knee orthoses (sleeve, patello-femoral, hinged or unicompartmental offloading braces) were detailed. Orthoses may be proposed in addition to first-line non-pharmacological treatment if patient acceptance is considered good. At every step, a specific clinical assessment is needed. Based on the latest high-level evidence, practice guidelines, and an expert panel, a DMT to facilitate daily practice prescription of knee orthoses for OA patients was designed. An evaluation of DMT implementation in a wide range of health professionals is still needed. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.

Self-Control of Haptic Assistance for Motor Learning: Influences of Frequency and Opinion of Utility

PubMed Central

Williams, Camille K.; Tseung, Victrine; Carnahan, Heather

2017-01-01

Studies of self-controlled practice have shown benefits when learners controlled feedback schedule, use of assistive devices and task difficulty, with benefits attributed to information processing and motivational advantages of self-control. Although haptic assistance serves as feedback, aids task performance and modifies task difficulty, researchers have yet to explore whether self-control over haptic assistance could be beneficial for learning. We explored whether self-control of haptic assistance would be beneficial for learning a tracing task. Self-controlled participants selected practice blocks on which they would receive haptic assistance, while participants in a yoked group received haptic assistance on blocks determined by a matched self-controlled participant. We inferred learning from performance on retention tests without haptic assistance. From qualitative analysis of open-ended questions related to rationales for/experiences of the haptic assistance that was chosen/provided, themes emerged regarding participants’ views of the utility of haptic assistance for performance and learning. Results showed that learning was directly impacted by the frequency of haptic assistance for self-controlled participants only and view of haptic assistance. Furthermore, self-controlled participants’ views were significantly associated with their requested haptic assistance frequency. We discuss these findings as further support for the beneficial role of self-controlled practice for motor learning. PMID:29255438

Good Practices for Real-World Data Studies of Treatment and/or Comparative Effectiveness: Recommendations from the Joint ISPOR-ISPE Special Task Force on Real-World Evidence in Health Care Decision Making.

PubMed

Berger, Marc L; Sox, Harold; Willke, Richard J; Brixner, Diana L; Eichler, Hans-Georg; Goettsch, Wim; Madigan, David; Makady, Amr; Schneeweiss, Sebastian; Tarricone, Rosanna; Wang, Shirley V; Watkins, John; Mullins, C Daniel

2017-09-01

Real-world evidence (RWE) includes data from retrospective or prospective observational studies and observational registries and provides insights beyond those addressed by randomized controlled trials. RWE studies aim to improve health care decision making. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) created a task force to make recommendations regarding good procedural practices that would enhance decision makers' confidence in evidence derived from RWD studies. Peer review by ISPOR/ISPE members and task force participants provided a consensus-building iterative process for the topics and framing of recommendations. The ISPOR/ISPE Task Force recommendations cover seven topics such as study registration, replicability, and stakeholder involvement in RWE studies. These recommendations, in concert with earlier recommendations about study methodology, provide a trustworthy foundation for the expanded use of RWE in health care decision making. The focus of these recommendations is good procedural practices for studies that test a specific hypothesis in a specific population. We recognize that some of the recommendations in this report may not be widely adopted without appropriate incentives from decision makers, journal editors, and other key stakeholders. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Inspiring hope-A physician's responsibility, translating the science into clinical practice.

PubMed

Temple, Walley J

2018-03-01

Giving hope to patients is our responsibility. It is the essence of a meaningful practice in medicine. Science now allows us to understand this complex and multidimensional human dynamic, and translate it into clinical practice. Quantitative research has shown hope is strong even in terminal illness. Through qualitative methodology hope fostering strategies and hope hindering behaviors have been identified. This exciting new knowledge facilitates the challenging task of disclosure of bad news while enabling hope. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of pre-task music on sports or exercise performance.

PubMed

Smirmaul, Bruno P

2017-01-01

Pre-task music is a very common strategy among sports competitors. However, as opposed to in-task music, the scientific evidence to support its ergogenic effects on either sports or exercise performance is limited. This brief review critically addresses the existing literature investigating the effects of pre-task music on sports and exercise performance, focusing on the methods and results of experimental studies, and offers basic and practical recommendations. In July 2015, a comprehensive literature search was performed in Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar using the following key words in combination: "pre-task music," "pre-test music," "pre-exercise music," "exercise performance," "sports performance." The literature search was further expanded by both hand searching review articles on the topic and by searching the reference lists from the articles retrieved for any relevant references. Overall, a total of 15 studies in 14 articles were included. Pre-task music research has been unsystematic, methodologically limited and infrequent. Using this review as a starting point to overcome previous methodological limitations when designing future experiments may contribute to the development of pre-task music research, which is still in its infancy. Currently, there is no sufficient evidence to support the overall ergogenic effects of pre-task music on sports or exercise performance. Nonetheless, pre-task music has showed a likely ergogenic effect on shorter and predominantly anaerobic tasks such as grip strength, Wingate test, and short-duration sports or sports-like tasks, in contrast to longer and predominantly aerobic tasks.

Furthering the Understanding of Parent–Child Relationships: A Nursing Scholarship Review Series. Part 3: Interaction and the Parent–Child Relationship—Assessment and Intervention Studies

PubMed Central

Pridham, Karen A.; Lutz, Kristin F.; Anderson, Lori S.; Riesch, Susan K.; Becker, Patricia T.

2010-01-01

PURPOSE This integrative review concerns nursing research on parent–child interaction and relationships published from 1980 through 2008 and includes assessment and intervention studies in clinically important settings (e.g., feeding, teaching, play). CONCLUSIONS Directions for research include development of theoretical frameworks, valid observational systems, and multivariate and longitudinal data analytic strategies. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Observation of social–emotional as well as task-related interaction qualities in the context of assessing parent–child relationships could generate new questions for nursing research and for family-centered nursing practice. PMID:20074112

Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory.

PubMed

Jaeggi, Susanne M; Buschkuehl, Martin; Jonides, John; Perrig, Walter J

2008-05-13

Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning. Moreover, Gf is closely related to professional and educational success, especially in complex and demanding environments. Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regimen yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.

Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory

PubMed Central

Jaeggi, Susanne M.; Buschkuehl, Martin; Jonides, John; Perrig, Walter J.

2008-01-01

Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning. Moreover, Gf is closely related to professional and educational success, especially in complex and demanding environments. Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regimen yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications. PMID:18443283

Action video games do not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.

PubMed

van Ravenzwaaij, Don; Boekel, Wouter; Forstmann, Birte U; Ratcliff, Roger; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2014-10-01

Previous research suggests that playing action video games improves performance on sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks. For instance, Green, Pouget, and Bavelier (2010) used the diffusion model to decompose data from a motion detection task and estimate the contribution of several underlying psychological processes. Their analysis indicated that playing action video games leads to faster information processing, reduced response caution, and no difference in motor responding. Because perceptual learning is generally thought to be highly context-specific, this transfer from gaming is surprising and warrants corroborative evidence from a large-scale training study. We conducted 2 experiments in which participants practiced either an action video game or a cognitive game in 5 separate, supervised sessions. Prior to each session and following the last session, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task. In the second experiment, we included a third condition in which no video games were played at all. Behavioral data and diffusion model parameters showed similar practice effects for the action gamers, the cognitive gamers, and the nongamers and suggest that, in contrast to earlier reports, playing action video games does not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.

Action Video Games Do Not Improve the Speed of Information Processing in Simple Perceptual Tasks

PubMed Central

van Ravenzwaaij, Don; Boekel, Wouter; Forstmann, Birte U.; Ratcliff, Roger; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2015-01-01

Previous research suggests that playing action video games improves performance on sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks. For instance, Green, Pouget, and Bavelier (2010) used the diffusion model to decompose data from a motion detection task and estimate the contribution of several underlying psychological processes. Their analysis indicated that playing action video games leads to faster information processing, reduced response caution, and no difference in motor responding. Because perceptual learning is generally thought to be highly context-specific, this transfer from gaming is surprising and warrants corroborative evidence from a large-scale training study. We conducted 2 experiments in which participants practiced either an action video game or a cognitive game in 5 separate, supervised sessions. Prior to each session and following the last session, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task. In the second experiment, we included a third condition in which no video games were played at all. Behavioral data and diffusion model parameters showed similar practice effects for the action gamers, the cognitive gamers, and the nongamers and suggest that, in contrast to earlier reports, playing action video games does not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks. PMID:24933517

Spotlight on the Middle: Report of the Texas Task Force on Middle School Education. Executive Summary and State Board of Education Policy Statement on Middle Grade Education and Middle Grade Schools. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas Education Agency, Austin.

This summary highlights implementation strategies from the full report for restructuring middle grade education in Texas. The task force was guided by a central theme--a vision of Texas schools using each other as resources and the campus planning process as a vehicle for implementing research-based concepts and practices in the middle grades.…

Human Research Program Human Health Countermeasures Element Sensorimotor Risk Standing Review Panel (SRP) Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, Barry

2009-01-01

The Sensorimotor Risk Standing Review Panel (SRP) met at the NASA Johnson Space Center on October 4-6, 2009 to discuss the areas of future research targeted by the Human Health Countermeasures (HHC) Element of the Human Research Program (HRP). Using evidence-based knowledge as a background for risks, NASA had identified gaps in knowledge to address those risks. Ongoing and proposed tasks were presented to address the gaps. The charge to the Sensorimotor Risk SRP was to review the gaps, evaluate whether the tasks addressed these gaps and to make recommendations to NASA s HRP Science Management Office regarding the SRP's review. The SRP was requested to evaluate the practicality of the proposed efforts in light of the realistic demands placed on the HRP. In short, all tasks presented in the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) should address specific risks related to the challenges faced by the astronauts as a result of prolonged exposure to microgravity. All tasks proposed to fill the gaps in knowledge should provide applied, translational data necessary to address the specific risks. Several presentations were made to the SRP during the site visit and the SRP spent sufficient time to address the panel charge, either as a group or in separate sessions. The SRP made a final debriefing to the HRP Program Scientist. Taking the evidence and the risk as givens, the SRP reached the following conclusions: 1) the panel is very supportive of and endorses the present activities of the Sensorimotor Risk; and the panel is likewise supportive of the gaps and associated tasks in the IRP; 2) overall, the tasks addressed the gaps in the IRP; 3) there were some gaps and tasks that merit further enhancement and some new gaps/tasks that the SRP recommends.

A multi-country perspective on nurses' tasks below their skill level: reports from domestically trained nurses and foreign trained nurses from developing countries.

PubMed

Bruyneel, Luk; Li, Baoyue; Aiken, Linda; Lesaffre, Emmanuel; Van den Heede, Koen; Sermeus, Walter

2013-02-01

Several studies have concluded that the use of nurses' time and energy is often not optimized. Given widespread migration of nurses from developing to developed countries, it is important for human resource planning to know whether nursing education in developing countries is associated with more exaggerated patterns of inefficiency. First, to describe nurses' reports on tasks below their skill level. Second, to examine the association between nurses' migratory status (domestically trained nurse or foreign trained nurse from a developing country) and reports on these tasks. The Registered Nurse Forecasting Study used a cross-sectional quantitative research design to gather data from 33,731 nurses (62% response rate) in 486 hospitals in Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. For this analysis, nurse-reported information on migratory status and tasks below their skill level performed during their last shift was used. Random effects models estimated the effect of nurses' migratory status on reports of these tasks. 832 nurses were trained in a developing country (2.5% of total sample). Across countries, a high proportion of both domestically trained and foreign trained nurses from developing countries reported having performed tasks below their skill level during their last shift. After adjusting for nurses' type of last shift worked, years of experience, and level of education, there remained a pronounced overall effect of being a foreign trained nurse from a developing country and an increase in reports of tasks below skill level performed during the last shift. The findings suggest that there remains much room for improvement to optimize the use of nurses' time and energy. Special attention should be given to raising the professional level of practice of foreign trained nurses from developing countries. Further research is needed to understand the influence of professional practice standards, skill levels of foreign trained nurses from developing countries and values attached to these tasks resulting from previous work experiences in their home countries. This will allow us to better understand the conditions under which foreign trained nurses from developing countries can optimally contribute to professional nursing practice in developed country contexts. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A female advantage in the serial production of non-representational learned gestures.

PubMed

Chipman, Karen; Hampson, Elizabeth

2006-01-01

Clinical research has demonstrated a sex difference in the neuroanatomical organization of the limb praxis system. To test for a corresponding sex difference in the functioning of this system, we compared healthy men and women on a gesture production task modeled after those used in apraxia research. In two separate studies, participants were taught to perform nine non-representational gestures in response to computer-generated color cues. After extensive practice with the gestures, the color cues were placed on a timer and presented in randomized sequences at progressively faster speeds. A detailed videotape analysis revealed that women in both studies committed significantly fewer 'praxic' errors than men (i.e., errors that resembled those seen in limb apraxia). This was true during both the untimed practice trials and the speeded trials of the task, despite equivalent numbers of errors between the sexes in the 'non-praxic' (i.e., executory) error categories. Women in both studies also performed the task at significantly faster speeds than men. This finding was not accounted for by a female advantage in extraneous elements of the task, i.e., speed of color processing, associative retrieval, or motor execution. Together, the two studies provide convergent support for a female advantage in the efficiency of forelimb gesture production. They are consistent with emerging evidence of a sex difference in the anatomical organization of the praxis system.

Wind power forecasting: IEA Wind Task 36 & future research issues

DOE PAGES

Giebel, G.; Cline, J.; Frank, H.; ...

2016-10-03

Here, this paper presents the new International Energy Agency Wind Task 36 on Forecasting, and invites to collaborate within the group. Wind power forecasts have been used operatively for over 20 years. Despite this fact, there are still several possibilities to improve the forecasts, both from the weather prediction side and from the usage of the forecasts. The new International Energy Agency (IEA) Task on Forecasting for Wind Energy tries to organise international collaboration, among national meteorological centres with an interest and/or large projects on wind forecast improvements (NOAA, DWD, MetOffice, met.no, DMI,...), operational forecaster and forecast users. The Taskmore » is divided in three work packages: Firstly, a collaboration on the improvement of the scientific basis for the wind predictions themselves. This includes numerical weather prediction model physics, but also widely distributed information on accessible datasets. Secondly, we will be aiming at an international pre-standard (an IEA Recommended Practice) on benchmarking and comparing wind power forecasts, including probabilistic forecasts. This WP will also organise benchmarks, in cooperation with the IEA Task WakeBench. Thirdly, we will be engaging end users aiming at dissemination of the best practice in the usage of wind power predictions. As first results, an overview of current issues for research in short-term forecasting of wind power is presented.« less

Fluctuations of the experience of togetherness within the team over time: task-cohesion and shared understanding throughout a sporting regular season.

PubMed

Bourbousson, Jérôme; Fortes-Bourbousson, Marina

2017-06-01

Based on a diagnosis action research design, the present study assessed the fluctuations of the team experience of togetherness. Reported experiences of 12 basketball team members playing in the under-18 years old national championship were studied during a four-month training and competitive period. Time series analysis (Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average procedures) served to describe temporal properties of the way in which the fluctuations of task-cohesion and shared understanding were step-by-step experienced over time, respectively. Correlations, running-correlations and cross-lagged correlations were used to describe the temporal links that governed the relationships between both phenomena. The results indicated that the task-cohesion dimensions differed mainly for shared understanding dynamics in that their time fluctuations were not embedded in external events, and that the variations in shared understanding tend to precede 'individual attractions to the task' variations with seven team practical sessions. This study argues for further investigation of how 'togetherness' is experienced alternatively as a feeling of cohesion or shared understanding. Practitioner Summary: The present action research study investigated the experience that the team members have to share information during practice, and the subsequent benefices on team cohesion. Results call for specific interventions that make team members accept the fluctuating nature of team phenomena, to help them maintaining their daily efforts.

Assessment of the effectiveness of wrong way driving countermeasures and mitigation methods.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

This report describes the methodology and results of tasks performed to evaluate the effectiveness of : wrong way driving countermeasures and mitigation methods. Researchers reviewed the state of the practice : regarding wrong way driving in the Unit...

Against conventional wisdom: when the public, the media, and medical practice collide.

PubMed

Jensen, Jakob D; Krakow, Melinda; John, Kevin K; Liu, Miao

2013-01-01

In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released new mammography screening guidelines that sparked a torrent of criticism. The subsequent conflict was significant and pitted the Task Force against other health organizations, advocacy groups, the media, and the public at large. We argue that this controversy was driven by the systematic removal of uncertainty from science communication. To increase comprehension and adherence, health information communicators remove caveats, limitations, and hedging so science appears simple and more certain. This streamlining process is, in many instances, initiated by researchers as they engage in dissemination of their findings, and it is facilitated by public relations professionals, journalists, public health practitioners, and others whose tasks involve using the results from research for specific purposes. Uncertainty is removed from public communication because many communicators believe that it is difficult for people to process and/or that it is something the audience wants to avoid. Uncertainty management theory posits that people can find meaning and value in uncertainty. We define key terms relevant to uncertainty management, describe research on the processing of uncertainty, identify directions for future research, and offer recommendations for scientists, practitioners, and media professionals confronted with uncertain findings. Science is routinely simplified as it is prepared for public consumption. In line with the model of information overload, this practice may increase short-term adherence to recommendations at the expense of long-term message consistency and trust in science.

Against conventional wisdom: when the public, the media, and medical practice collide

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released new mammography screening guidelines that sparked a torrent of criticism. The subsequent conflict was significant and pitted the Task Force against other health organizations, advocacy groups, the media, and the public at large. We argue that this controversy was driven by the systematic removal of uncertainty from science communication. To increase comprehension and adherence, health information communicators remove caveats, limitations, and hedging so science appears simple and more certain. This streamlining process is, in many instances, initiated by researchers as they engage in dissemination of their findings, and it is facilitated by public relations professionals, journalists, public health practitioners, and others whose tasks involve using the results from research for specific purposes. Analysis Uncertainty is removed from public communication because many communicators believe that it is difficult for people to process and/or that it is something the audience wants to avoid. Uncertainty management theory posits that people can find meaning and value in uncertainty. We define key terms relevant to uncertainty management, describe research on the processing of uncertainty, identify directions for future research, and offer recommendations for scientists, practitioners, and media professionals confronted with uncertain findings. Conclusions Science is routinely simplified as it is prepared for public consumption. In line with the model of information overload, this practice may increase short-term adherence to recommendations at the expense of long-term message consistency and trust in science. PMID:24565173

Task shifting from physicians to nurses in primary care in 39 countries: a cross-country comparative study.

PubMed

Maier, Claudia B; Aiken, Linda H

2016-12-01

Primary care is in short supply in many countries. Task shifting from physicians to nurses is one strategy to improve access, but international research is scarce. We analysed the extent of task shifting in primary care and policy reforms in 39 countries. Cross-country comparative research, based on an international expert survey, plus literature scoping review. A total of 93 country experts participated, covering Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (response rate: 85.3%). Experts were selected according to pre-defined criteria. Survey responses were triangulated with the literature and analysed using policy, thematic and descriptive methods to assess developments in country-specific contexts. Task shifting, where nurses take up advanced roles from physicians, was implemented in two-thirds of countries (N = 27, 69%), yet its extent varied. Three clusters emerged: 11 countries with extensive (Australia, Canada, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA), 16 countries with limited and 12 countries with no task shifting. The high number of policy, regulatory and educational reforms, such as on nurse prescribing, demonstrate an evolving trend internationally toward expanding nurses' scope-of-practice in primary care. Many countries have implemented task-shifting reforms to maximise workforce capacity. Reforms have focused on removing regulatory and to a lower extent, financial barriers, yet were often lengthy and controversial. Countries early on in the process are primarily reforming their education. From an international and particularly European Union perspective, developing standardised definitions, minimum educational and practice requirements would facilitate recognition procedures in increasingly connected labour markets. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Care for a Patient With Cancer As a Project: Management of Complex Task Interdependence in Cancer Care Delivery

PubMed Central

Carlos, Ruth C.; Simon, Melissa A.; Madden, Debra L.; Gradishar, William J.; Benson, Al B.; Rapkin, Bruce D.; Weiss, Elisa S.; Gareen, Ilana F.; Wagner, Lynne I.; Khan, Seema A.; Bunce, Mikele M.; Small, Art; Weldon, Christine B.

2016-01-01

Cancer care is highly complex and suffers from fragmentation and lack of coordination across provider specialties and clinical domains. As a result, patients often find that they must coordinate care on their own. Coordinated delivery teams may address these challenges and improve quality of cancer care. Task interdependence is a core principle of rigorous teamwork and is essential to addressing the complexity of cancer care, which is highly interdependent across specialties and modalities. We examined challenges faced by a patient with early-stage breast cancer that resulted from difficulties in understanding and managing task interdependence across clinical domains involved in this patient’s care. We used team science supported by the project management discipline to discuss how various task interdependence aspects can be recognized, deliberately designed, and systematically managed to prevent care breakdowns. This case highlights how effective task interdependence management facilitated by project management methods could markedly improve the course of a patient’s care. This work informs efforts of cancer centers and practices to redesign cancer care delivery through innovative, practical, and patient-centered approaches to management of task interdependence in cancer care. Future patient-reported outcomes research will help to determine optimal ways to engage patients, including those who are medically underserved, in managing task interdependence in their own care. PMID:27577619

A collection of research reporting, theoretical analysis, and practical applications in science education: Examining qualitative research methods, action research, educator-researcher partnerships, and constructivist learning theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartle, R. Todd

2007-12-01

Educator-researcher partnerships are increasingly being used to improve the teaching of science. Chapter 1 provides a summary of the literature concerning partnerships, and examines the justification of qualitative methods in studying these relationships. It also justifies the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Empirically-based studies of educator-researcher partnership relationships are rare despite investments in their implementation by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and others. Chapter 2 describes a qualitative research project in which participants in an NSF GK-12 fellowship program were studied using informal observations, focus groups, personal interviews, and journals to identify and characterize the cultural factors that influenced the relationships between the educators and researchers. These factors were organized into ten critical axes encompassing a range of attitudes, behaviors, or values defined by two stereotypical extremes. These axes were: (1) Task Dictates Context vs. Context Dictates Task; (2) Introspection vs. Extroversion; (3) Internal vs. External Source of Success; (4) Prior Planning vs. Implementation Flexibility; (5) Flexible vs. Rigid Time Sense; (6) Focused Time vs. Multi-tasking; (7) Specific Details vs. General Ideas; (8) Critical Feedback vs. Encouragement; (9) Short Procedural vs. Long Content Repetition; and (10) Methods vs. Outcomes are Well Defined. Another ten important stereotypical characteristics, which did not fit the structure of an axis, were identified and characterized. The educator stereotypes were: (1) Rapport/Empathy; (2) Like Kids; (3) People Management; (4) Communication Skills; and (5) Entertaining. The researcher stereotypes were: (1) Community Collaboration; (2) Focus Intensity; (3) Persistent; (4) Pattern Seekers; and (5) Curiosity/Skeptical. Chapter 3 summarizes the research presented in chapter 2 into a practical guide for participants and administrators of educator-researcher partnerships. Understanding how to identify and evaluate constructivist lessons is the first step in promoting and improving constructivism in teaching. Chapter 4 summarizes a theoretically-generated series of practical criteria that define constructivism: (1) Eliciting Prior Knowledge, (2) Creating Cognitive Dissonance, (3) Application of New Knowledge with Feedback, and (4) Reflection on Learning, or Metacognition. These criteria can be used by any practitioner to evaluate the level of constructivism used in a given lesson or activity.

From experiment to publication in one semester: a lecture course model on the basis of a photonic researcher's every-day tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhard, Christoph; Wieneke, Stephan

2015-10-01

We report on a lecture course model that we established three semesters ago in order to strengthen practice-orientated teaching in optics and photonics: In the frame of the lecture "Advanced Laser Treatment", which is a mandatory course of our university's master degree curriculum, students now have the possibility to experience a researcher's every-day tasks. In small groups, the attendees work on a self-contained topic which is defined by the lecturers. The work load and content is in the scale of a small work package of a usual research project. It includes the initial research on the state of the art, the experimentation using different laser sources, and the subsequent evaluation of the obtained results. On the basis of this work, the students then prepare a draft of a scientific paper and finally present their results and findings orally in a conference-like exam. This lecture course model has turned out to be an appropriate teaching method for practice-orientated subjects. It was observed that the students are much more motivated and work more independently than during a classical lecture with a certain amount of lab work. Having sole responsibility supports to identify with their project. Further, this lecture course model helps to develop scientific work skills, attain first experience in every-day research tasks and encourages creativity. In some cases, the paper drafts written by the students can even be published, representing a valuable starting point for their future professional career.

Effects of automation and task load on task switching during human supervision of multiple semi-autonomous robots in a dynamic environment.

PubMed

Squire, P N; Parasuraman, R

2010-08-01

The present study assessed the impact of task load and level of automation (LOA) on task switching in participants supervising a team of four or eight semi-autonomous robots in a simulated 'capture the flag' game. Participants were faster to perform the same task than when they chose to switch between different task actions. They also took longer to switch between different tasks when supervising the robots at a high compared to a low LOA. Task load, as manipulated by the number of robots to be supervised, did not influence switch costs. The results suggest that the design of future unmanned vehicle (UV) systems should take into account not simply how many UVs an operator can supervise, but also the impact of LOA and task operations on task switching during supervision of multiple UVs. The findings of this study are relevant for the ergonomics practice of UV systems. This research extends the cognitive theory of task switching to inform the design of UV systems and results show that switching between UVs is an important factor to consider.

The Entrance test of physics and Workbook in teaching of physics at secondary vocational school within long-term pedagogical research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerlínová, Věra

2017-01-01

Within the long-term pedagogical research ongoing since the school year 2008/2009 to 2015/2016 at the secondary vocational school in Bohumín was through of Entrance test of physics, which included curriculum of the sixth to ninth year of elementary school, regularly finding out, in which parts of Entrance test - Unit conversions, International System of Units, Properties of matter, Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electricity and Magnetism, Optics, Atoms and Universe - pupils of the 1st years of secondary vocational school, technical and non-technical, reach a higher number of correct answers, in which dominates the wrong answers and which parts of the test pupils are better left out completely. It turned out that the results of these tests are very informative not only for theoretical and practical teaching, but also technical and other science subjects. The results of the Entrance tests are also a valuable source of information for continuous innovation Workbook of Physics - Mechanics for the 1st year of secondary vocational schools [1] - whose the first version began during the school year 2007/2008 and which was tested within pre-research in school years 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and within research in school year 2010/2011. On the basis of feedbacks getting from research the Workbook is regularly expanded, innovated and updated. The Workbook consists of parts dedicated to physical concepts, physical tasks, proposals to physical experiments, pupils comments from viewed video projection and documentary films, examples from the world of science and technology, examples from practice and real life, physical terminology in English, quizzes, competitions, interesting things and links related to discussed curriculum. The Workbook is divided into thematic sections, chapters and subchapters similar as physics textbooks for pupils of the 1st years of Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic. In the Workbook there are included tasks on fill in the words, polynomial tasks with choice answer "one right answer", tasks assignment, tasks to sketching to the pictures and physical tasks including graphic sketches. Long-term research through the Entrance test of physics and the use of the Workbook in physics teaching will continue in the school year 2016/2017 and not just among pupils of the 1st years of secondary vocational school, but also pupils at grammar school, where the research was conducted in the school year 2010/2011 and 2014/2015.

Task 1.13 -- Data collection and database development for clean coal technology by-product characteristics and management practices. Semi-annual report, July 1--December 31, 1996

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

Pflughoeft-Hassett, D.F.

1997-08-01

Information from DOE projects and commercial endeavors in fluidized-bed combustion and coal gasification is the focus of this task by the Energy and Environmental Research Center. The primary goal of this task is to provide an easily accessible compilation of characterization information on CCT (Clean Coal Technology) by-products to government agencies and industry to facilitate sound regulatory and management decisions. Supporting objectives are (1) to fully utilize information from previous DOE projects, (2) to coordinate with industry and other research groups, (3) to focus on by-products from pressurized fluidized-bed combustion (PFBC) and gasification, and (4) to provide information relevant tomore » the EPA evaluation criteria for the Phase 2 decision.« less

Developing Healthcare Data Analytics APPs with Open Data Science Tools.

PubMed

Hao, Bibo; Sun, Wen; Yu, Yiqin; Xie, Guotong

2017-01-01

Recent advances in big data analytics provide more flexible, efficient, and open tools for researchers to gain insight from healthcare data. Whilst many tools require researchers to develop programs with programming languages like Python, R and so on, which is not a skill set grasped by many researchers in the healthcare data analytics area. To make data science more approachable, we explored existing tools and developed a practice that can help data scientists convert existing analytics pipelines to user-friendly analytics APPs with rich interactions and features of real-time analysis. With this practice, data scientists can develop customized analytics pipelines as APPs in Jupyter Notebook and disseminate them to other researchers easily, and researchers can benefit from the shared notebook to perform analysis tasks or reproduce research results much more easily.

The IUGS Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism - promoting professional skills professionalism in the teaching, research and application of geoscience for the protection and education of the public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allington, Ruth; Fernandez-Fuentes, Isabel

2013-04-01

A new IUGS Task Group entitled the Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism was formed in 2012 and launched at a symposium at the 341GC in Brisbane on strengthening communication between fundamental and applied geosciences and between geoscientists and public. The Task Group aims to ensure that the international geoscience community is engaged in a transformation of its profession so as to embed the need for a professional skills base alongside technical and scientific skills and expertise, within a sound ethical framework in all arenas of geoscience practice. This needs to be established during training and education and reinforced as CPD throughout a career in geoscience as part of ensuring public safety and effective communication of geoscience concepts to the public. The specific objective of the Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism that is relevant to this poster session is: • To facilitate a more 'joined up' geoscience community fostering better appreciation by academics and teachers of the professional skills that geoscientists need in the workplace, and facilitate better communication between academic and applied communities leading to more effective application of research findings and technology to applied practitioners and development of research programmes that truly address urgent issues. Other Task Group objectives are: • To provide a specific international forum for discussion of matters of common concern and interest among geoscientists and geoscientific organizations involved in professional affairs, at the local, national and international level; • To act as a resource to IUGS on professional affairs in the geosciences as they may influence and impact "Earth Science for the Global Community" in general - both now and in the future; • To offer and provide leadership and knowledge transfer services to countries and geoscientist communities around the world seeking to introduce systems of professional governance and self-regulation in the Earth sciences; • To provide geoscientists in all areas of professional practice and at all stages of their careers with practical guidance and support on professional matters; • To continue and increase over time the provision of symposia and technical sessions to allow for exchange and knowledge transfer at IGCs and other events for those involved in, and impacted by, the evolution of professionalism in the geosciences. • To act as a resource to members of IUGS, and others, of material and speakers to present to geoscience groups - in particular young Earth scientists - around the world on professional practice and registration matters (including geoscience practice standards and guidelines, and reporting standards, codes of ethics and conduct, and professional registration.) The sponsors of the new TG are: • European Federation of Geologists (EFG) • Geoscientists Canada • American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) • Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) • South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNSP) • El Colegio de Geólogos de Bolivia (College of Geologists of Bolivia)

Commission errors of active intentions: the roles of aging, cognitive load, and practice.

PubMed

Boywitt, C Dennis; Rummel, Jan; Meiser, Thorsten

2015-01-01

Performing an intended action when it needs to be withheld, for example, when temporarily prescribed medication is incompatible with the other medication, is referred to as commission errors of prospective memory (PM). While recent research indicates that older adults are especially prone to commission errors for finished intentions, there is a lack of research on the effects of aging on commission errors for still active intentions. The present research investigates conditions which might contribute to older adults' propensity to perform planned intentions under inappropriate conditions. Specifically, disproportionally higher rates of commission errors for still active intentions were observed in older than in younger adults with both salient (Experiment 1) and non-salient (Experiment 2) target cues. Practicing the PM task in Experiment 2, however, helped execution of the intended action in terms of higher PM performance at faster ongoing-task response times but did not increase the rate of commission errors. The results have important implications for the understanding of older adults' PM commission errors and the processes involved in these errors.

Implications of the new sepsis definition on research and practice.

PubMed

Peach, Brian C

2017-04-01

The Society of Critical-Care Medicine and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine recently announced a marked change in the sepsis definition. A task force of 19 sepsis clinicians and researchers made the change based on advances in the pathobiological understanding of the septic process. The task force determined that there were numerous justifications for a revision of the sepsis definition, which are outlined in this article. The systemic inflammatory response criteria have been replaced by the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score in the newly operationalized definition (Singer et al., 2016). In addition to the definition change, the task force recommended using the new quick SOFA (qSOFA) score in non-ICU settings, as a risk stratification tool to identify patients who may be septic or be at risk of developing sepsis. The change in definition will likely have a negative impact on sepsis research in the short-term as hospitals adjust their coding for the new definition, but may result in less misclassification bias and improved research data in the long-term. While the intent of the SCCM/ESICM task force was to better define sepsis for coding and epidemiological research purposes, there is the potential for improved patient outcomes if clinicians are better able to differentiate between sepsis and inflammatory events. The qSOFA tool may also aid clinicians in recognizing sepsis in a quicker manner, leading to more timely treatment, and potentially better outcomes. While the new operationalized Sepsis-3 definition appears on the surface to be an improvement over the previous iterations, it remains to be seen if research data will be more robust using the new criteria. There is the potential for better patient outcomes if clinicians are better able to differentiate sepsis from inflammatory events with the new definition, and if sepsis cases are recognized sooner with qSOFA. Future research on the impact of this definition change on research and practice will be essential, to determine if the Sepsis 3 definition, its associated clinical criteria, and the qSOFA need further revision. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Task Analysis Strategies and Practices. Practice Application Brief.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Bettina Lankard

Worker-oriented, job-oriented, and cognitive task analyses have all been used as tools for closing the gap between what curriculum teaches and what workers do. Although they share a commonality of purpose, the focus, cost, and practicality of task analysis techniques vary. Worker-oriented task analysis focuses on general human behaviors required…

Roles of a Teacher and Researcher during in Situ Professional Development around the Implementation of Mathematical Modeling Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Hyunyi; Brady, Corey

2016-01-01

Partnership with teachers for professional development has been considered beneficial because of the potential of collaborative work in the teacher's own classroom to be relevant to practice. From this perspective, both teachers and researchers can draw on their own expertise and work as authentic partners. In this study, we address the need for…

Good research practices for measuring drug costs in cost effectiveness analyses: issues and recommendations: the ISPOR Drug Cost Task Force report--Part I.

PubMed

Hay, Joel W; Smeeding, Jim; Carroll, Norman V; Drummond, Michael; Garrison, Louis P; Mansley, Edward C; Mullins, C Daniel; Mycka, Jack M; Seal, Brian; Shi, Lizheng

2010-01-01

The assignment of prices or costs to pharmaceuticals can be crucial to results and conclusions that are derived from pharmacoeconomic cost effectiveness analyses (CEAs). Although numerous pharmacoeconomic practice guidelines are available in the literature and have been promulgated in many countries, these guidelines are either vague or silent about how drug costs should be established or measured. This is particularly problematic in pharmacoeconomic studies performed from the "societal" perspective, because typically the measured cost of a brand name pharmaceutical is not a true economic cost but also includes transfer payments from some members of society (patients and third party payers) to other members of society (pharmaceutical manufacturer stockholders) in large part as a reward for biomedical innovation. Moreover, there are numerous and complex institutional factors that influence how drug costs should be measured from other CEA perspectives, both internationally and within the domestic US context. The objective of this report is to provide guidance and recommendations on how drug costs should be measured for CEAs performed from a number of key analytic perspectives. ISPOR Task Force on Good Research Practices-Use of Drug Costs for Cost Effectiveness Analysis (Drug Cost Task Force [DCTF]) was appointed with the advice and consent of the ISPOR Board of Directors. Members were experienced developers or users of CEA models, worked in academia, industry, and as advisors to governments, and came from several countries. Because how drug costs should be measured for CEAs depend on the perspectives, five Task Force subgroups were created to develop drug cost standards from the societal, managed care, US government, industry, and international perspective. The ISPOR Task Force on Good Research Practices-Use of Drug Costs for Cost Effectiveness Analysis (DCTF) subgroups met to develop core assumptions and an outline before preparing six draft reports. They solicited comments on the outline and drafts from a core group of 174 external reviewers and more broadly from the membership of ISPOR at two ISPOR meetings and via the ISPOR web site. Drug cost measurements should be fully transparent and reflect the net payment most relevant to the user's perspective. The Task Force recommends that for CEAs of brand name drugs performed from a societal perspective, either 1) CEA analysts use a cost that more accurately reflects true societal drug costs (e.g., 20-60% of average sales price), or when that is too unrealistic to be meaningful for decision-makers, 2) refer to their analyses as from a "limited societal perspective." CEAs performed from a payer perspective should use drug prices actually paid by the relevant payer net of all rebates, copays, or other adjustments. When such price adjustments are confidential, the analyst should apply a typical or average discount that preserves this confidentiality. Drug transaction prices not only ration current use of medication but also ration future biomedical research and development. CEA researchers should tailor the appropriate measure of drug costs to the analytic perspective, maintain clarity and transparency on drug cost measurement, and report the sensitivity of CEA results to reasonable drug cost measurement alternatives.

Video game practice optimizes executive control skills in dual-task and task switching situations.

PubMed

Strobach, Tilo; Frensch, Peter A; Schubert, Torsten

2012-05-01

We examined the relation of action video game practice and the optimization of executive control skills that are needed to coordinate two different tasks. As action video games are similar to real life situations and complex in nature, and include numerous concurrent actions, they may generate an ideal environment for practicing these skills (Green & Bavelier, 2008). For two types of experimental paradigms, dual-task and task switching respectively; we obtained performance advantages for experienced video gamers compared to non-gamers in situations in which two different tasks were processed simultaneously or sequentially. This advantage was absent in single-task situations. These findings indicate optimized executive control skills in video gamers. Similar findings in non-gamers after 15 h of action video game practice when compared to non-gamers with practice on a puzzle game clarified the causal relation between video game practice and the optimization of executive control skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Costs and Benefits of Testing and Guessing on Recognition Memory

PubMed Central

Huff, Mark J.; Balota, David A.; Hutchison, Keith A.

2016-01-01

We examined whether two types of interpolated tasks (i.e., retrieval-practice via free recall or guessing a missing critical item) improved final recognition for related and unrelated word lists relative to restudying or completing a filler task. Both retrieval-practice and guessing tasks improved correct recognition relative to restudy and filler tasks, particularly when study lists were semantically related. However, both retrieval practice and guessing also generally inflated false recognition for the non-presented critical words. These patterns were found when final recognition was completed during a short delay within the same experimental session (Experiment 1) and following a 24-hr delay (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, task instructions were presented randomly after each list to determine whether retrieval-practice and guessing effects were influenced by task-expectancy processes. In contrast to Experiments 1 and 2, final recognition following retrieval practice and guessing was equivalent to restudy, suggesting that the observed retrieval-practice and guessing advantages were in part due to preparatory task-based processing during study. PMID:26950490

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children

PubMed Central

Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

2016-01-01

Background Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. Methods The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6–12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. Results TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. Conclusions These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures. PMID:27384671

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children.

PubMed

Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

2016-01-01

Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6-12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures.

Validity of peer grading using Calibrated Peer Review in a guided-inquiry, conceptual physics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Edward; Goldberg, Fred; Robinson, Steve; McKean, Michael

2016-12-01

Constructing and evaluating explanations are important science practices, but in large classes it can be difficult to effectively engage students in these practices and provide feedback. Peer review and grading are scalable instructional approaches that address these concerns, but which raise questions about the validity of the peer grading process. Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is a web-based system that scaffolds peer evaluation through a "calibration" process where students evaluate sample responses and receive feedback on their evaluations before evaluating their peers. Guided by an activity theory framework, we developed, implemented, and evaluated CPR-based tasks in guided-inquiry, conceptual physics courses for future teachers and general education students. The tasks were developed through iterative testing and revision. Effective tasks had specific and directed prompts and evaluation instructions. Using these tasks, over 350 students at three universities constructed explanations or analyzed physical phenomena, and evaluated their peers' work. By independently assessing students' responses, we evaluated the CPR calibration process and compared students' peer reviews with expert evaluations. On the tasks analyzed, peer scores were equivalent to our independent evaluations. On a written explanation item included on the final exam, students in the courses using CPR outperformed students in similar courses using traditional writing assignments without a peer evaluation element. Our research demonstrates that CPR can be an effective way to explicitly include the science practices of constructing and evaluating explanations into large classes without placing a significant burden on the instructor.

DESIGNING PHARMACEUTICAL TRIALS FOR SARCOPENIA IN FRAIL OLDER ADULTS: EU/US TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS

PubMed Central

VELLAS, B.; PAHOR, M.; MANINI, T.; ROOKS, D.; GURALNIK, J.M.; MORLEY, J.; STUDENSKI, S.; EVANS, W.; ASBRAND, C.; FARIELLO, R.; PEREIRA, S.; ROLLAND, Y.; VAN KAN, G. ABELLAN; CESARI, M.; CHUMLEA, WM.C.; FIELDING, R.

2014-01-01

An international task force of academic and industry leaders in sarcopenia research met on December 5, 2012 in Orlando, Florida to develop guidelines for designing and executing randomized clinical trials of sarcopenia treatments. The Task Force reviewed results from previous trials in related disease areas to extract lessons relevant to future sarcopenia trials, including practical issues regarding the design and conduct of trials in elderly populations, the definition of appropriate target populations, and the selection of screening tools, outcome measures, and biomarkers. They discussed regulatory issues, the challenges posed by trials of different types of interventions, and the need for standardization and harmonization. The Task Force concluded with recommendations for advancing the field toward better clinical trials. PMID:23933872

The Critical Roles of Task Conflict and Job Autonomy in the Relationship Between Proactive Personalities and Innovative Employee Behavior.

PubMed

Giebels, Ellen; de Reuver, Renee S M; Rispens, Sonja; Ufkes, Elze G

2016-09-01

We examine why and when proactive personality is beneficial for innovative behavior at work. Based on a survey among 166 employees working in 35 departments of a large municipality in the Netherlands we show that an increase in task conflicts explains the positive relation between a proactive personality and innovative employee behavior. This process is moderated by job autonomy in such a way that the relationship between proactive personality and task conflict is particularly strong under low compared with high autonomy. The present research contributes to the discussion on the potential benefits of task conflict for change processes and highlights the importance of examining the interplay between personality and work context for understanding innovation practices.

Priority Tasks of the Development of a Regional Higher Pedagogical Educational Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shilov, S. P.

2014-01-01

Regional higher pedagogical educational institutions in Russia need to use new techniques in preparing students for new social and economic needs, including providing more opportunities for engagement in practical research experiences. [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.

Cooperative Learning: Developments in Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillies, Robyn M.

2014-01-01

Cooperative learning is widely recognized as a pedagogical practice that promotes socialization and learning among students from kindergarten through to college level and across different subject areas. Cooperative learning involves students working together to achieve common goals or complete group tasks. Interest in cooperative learning has…

Fostering Cognitive Growth Through Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternglass, Marilyn S.

Recent research studies and texts in composition demonstrate the growing belief that students' difficulties with the writing tasks assigned to them are inextricably linked with their difficulties in handling complex cognitive processes. Through appropriate writing activities, students can be provided with practice in the intellectual functions…

Recommendations on evidence needed to support measurement equivalence between electronic and paper-based patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures: ISPOR ePRO Good Research Practices Task Force report.

PubMed

Coons, Stephen Joel; Gwaltney, Chad J; Hays, Ron D; Lundy, J Jason; Sloan, Jeff A; Revicki, Dennis A; Lenderking, William R; Cella, David; Basch, Ethan

2009-06-01

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are the consequences of disease and/or its treatment as reported by the patient. The importance of PRO measures in clinical trials for new drugs, biological agents, and devices was underscored by the release of the US Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance for industry titled "Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Use in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims." The intent of the guidance was to describe how the FDA will evaluate the appropriateness and adequacy of PRO measures used as effectiveness end points in clinical trials. In response to the expressed need of ISPOR members for further clarification of several aspects of the draft guidance, ISPOR's Health Science Policy Council created three task forces, one of which was charged with addressing the implications of the draft guidance for the collection of PRO data using electronic data capture modes of administration (ePRO). The objective of this report is to present recommendations from ISPOR's ePRO Good Research Practices Task Force regarding the evidence necessary to support the comparability, or measurement equivalence, of ePROs to the paper-based PRO measures from which they were adapted. The task force was composed of the leadership team of ISPOR's ePRO Working Group and members of another group (i.e., ePRO Consensus Development Working Group) that had already begun to develop recommendations regarding ePRO good research practices. The resulting task force membership reflected a broad array of backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise that enriched the development of this report. The prior work became the starting point for the Task Force report. A subset of the task force members became the writing team that prepared subsequent iterations of the report that were distributed to the full task force for review and feedback. In addition, review beyond the task force was sought and obtained. Along with a presentation and discussion period at an ISPOR meeting, a draft version of the full report was distributed to roughly 220 members of a reviewer group. The reviewer group comprised individuals who had responded to an emailed invitation to the full membership of ISPOR. This Task Force report reflects the extensive internal and external input received during the 16-month good research practices development process. RESULTS/RECOMMENDATIONS: An ePRO questionnaire that has been adapted from a paper-based questionnaire ought to produce data that are equivalent or superior (e.g., higher reliability) to the data produced from the original paper version. Measurement equivalence is a function of the comparability of the psychometric properties of the data obtained via the original and adapted administration mode. This comparability is driven by the amount of modification to the content and format of the original paper PRO questionnaire required during the migration process. The magnitude of a particular modification is defined with reference to its potential effect on the content, meaning, or interpretation of the measure's items and/or scales. Based on the magnitude of the modification, evidence for measurement equivalence can be generated through combinations of the following: cognitive debriefing/testing, usability testing, equivalence testing, or, if substantial modifications have been made, full psychometric testing. As long as only minor modifications were made to the measure during the migration process, a substantial body of existing evidence suggests that the psychometric properties of the original measure will still hold for the ePRO version. Hence, an evaluation limited to cognitive debriefing and usability testing only may be sufficient. However, where more substantive changes in the migration process has occurred, confirming that the adaptation to the ePRO format did not introduce significant response bias and that the two modes of administration produce essentially equivalent results is necessary. Recommendations regarding the study designs and statistical approaches for assessing measurement equivalence are provided. The electronic administration of PRO measures offers many advantages over paper administration. We provide a general framework for decisions regarding the level of evidence needed to support modifications that are made to PRO measures when they are migrated from paper to ePRO devices. The key issues include: 1) the determination of the extent of modification required to administer the PRO on the ePRO device and 2) the selection and implementation of an effective strategy for testing the measurement equivalence of the two modes of administration. We hope that these good research practice recommendations provide a path forward for researchers interested in migrating PRO measures to electronic data collection platforms.

Safeguards Knowledge Management & Retention at U.S. National Laboratories.

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

Haddal, Risa; Jones, Rebecca; Bersell, Bridget

In 2017, four U.S. National Laboratories collaborated on behalf of DOE/NNSA to explore the safeguards knowledge retention problem, identify possible approaches, and develop a strategy to address it. The one-year effort consisted of four primary tasks. First, the project sought to identify critical safeguards information at risk of loss. Second, a survey and workshop were conducted to assess nine U.S. National Laboratories' efforts to determine current safeguards knowledge retention practices and challenges, and identify best practices. Third, specific tools were developed to identify and predict critical safeguards knowledge gaps and how best to recruit in order to fill those gaps.more » Finally, based on findings from the first three tasks and research on other organizational approaches to address similar issues, a strategy was developed on potential knowledge retention methods, customized HR policies, and best practices that could be implemented across the National Laboratory Complex.« less

Teaching Research Skills to Student Pharmacists in One Semester: An Applied Research Elective.

PubMed

Perez, Alexandra; Rabionet, Silvia; Bleidt, Barry

2017-02-25

Objectives. To implement and assess the effectiveness of a 15-week applied research elective that introduced students to secondary database analysis in clinical pharmacy. Design. In small groups, students learned, planned, developed and completed a secondary database study to answer an original research question. During one semester, they completed a basic research proposal and Institutional Review Board application, created and analyzed a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) sample dataset, and reported the results in an abstract and poster presentation. Assessment. All deliverables resulted in high grades. Mean scores on a survey conducted following completion of the course revealed that students strongly agreed or agreed that they had high levels of confidence about performing research-related tasks. Eight student groups delivered poster presentations at professional conferences. Conclusions. Within one semester, student pharmacists with no or little research experience completed original research projects that contributed to pharmacy practice knowledge. They felt highly confident doing research-related tasks, and successfully disseminated their studies beyond the classroom.

Intensive care unit nurses' information needs and recommendations for integrated displays to improve nurses' situation awareness.

PubMed

Koch, Sven H; Weir, Charlene; Haar, Maral; Staggers, Nancy; Agutter, Jim; Görges, Matthias; Westenskow, Dwayne

2012-01-01

Fatal errors can occur in intensive care units (ICUs). Researchers claim that information integration at the bedside may improve nurses' situation awareness (SA) of patients and decrease errors. However, it is unclear which information should be integrated and in what form. Our research uses the theory of SA to analyze the type of tasks, and their associated information gaps. We aimed to provide recommendations for integrated, consolidated information displays to improve nurses' SA. Systematic observations methods were used to follow 19 ICU nurses for 38 hours in 3 clinical practice settings. Storyboard methods and concept mapping helped to categorize the observed tasks, the associated information needs, and the information gaps of the most frequent tasks by SA level. Consensus and discussion of the research team was used to propose recommendations to improve information displays at the bedside based on information deficits. Nurses performed 46 different tasks at a rate of 23.4 tasks per hour. The information needed to perform the most common tasks was often inaccessible, difficult to see at a distance or located on multiple monitoring devices. Current devices at the ICU bedside do not adequately support a nurse's information-gathering activities. Medication management was the most frequent category of tasks. Information gaps were present at all levels of SA and across most of the tasks. Using a theoretical model to understand information gaps can aid in designing functional requirements. Integrated information that enhances nurses' Situation Awareness may decrease errors and improve patient safety in the future.

Intensive care unit nurses' information needs and recommendations for integrated displays to improve nurses' situation awareness

PubMed Central

Weir, Charlene; Haar, Maral; Staggers, Nancy; Agutter, Jim; Görges, Matthias; Westenskow, Dwayne

2012-01-01

Objective Fatal errors can occur in intensive care units (ICUs). Researchers claim that information integration at the bedside may improve nurses' situation awareness (SA) of patients and decrease errors. However, it is unclear which information should be integrated and in what form. Our research uses the theory of SA to analyze the type of tasks, and their associated information gaps. We aimed to provide recommendations for integrated, consolidated information displays to improve nurses' SA. Materials and Methods Systematic observations methods were used to follow 19 ICU nurses for 38 hours in 3 clinical practice settings. Storyboard methods and concept mapping helped to categorize the observed tasks, the associated information needs, and the information gaps of the most frequent tasks by SA level. Consensus and discussion of the research team was used to propose recommendations to improve information displays at the bedside based on information deficits. Results Nurses performed 46 different tasks at a rate of 23.4 tasks per hour. The information needed to perform the most common tasks was often inaccessible, difficult to see at a distance or located on multiple monitoring devices. Current devices at the ICU bedside do not adequately support a nurse's information-gathering activities. Medication management was the most frequent category of tasks. Discussion Information gaps were present at all levels of SA and across most of the tasks. Using a theoretical model to understand information gaps can aid in designing functional requirements. Conclusion Integrated information that enhances nurses' Situation Awareness may decrease errors and improve patient safety in the future. PMID:22437074

Developing Best Practices for Capturing As-Built Building Information Models (BIM) for Existing Facilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-01

students conducting the data capture and data entry, an analytical method known as the Task Load Index ( NASA TLX Version 2.0) was used. This method was...published by the NASA Ames Research Center in December 2003. The entire report can be found at: http://humansystems.arc.nasa.gov/groups/ TLX The...completion of each task in the survey process, surveyors were required to complete a NASA TLX form to report their assessment of the workload for

What is "theory of mind"? Concepts, cognitive processes and individual differences.

PubMed

Apperly, Ian A

2012-01-01

Research on "theory of mind" has traditionally focused on a narrow participant group (preschool children) using a narrow range of experimental tasks (most notably, false-belief tasks). Recent work has greatly expanded the age range of human participants tested to include human infants, older children, and adults, has devised new tasks, and has adopted methods from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. However, theoretical work has not kept pace with these changes, with the result that studies using one kind of method or participant group often inherit assumptions about the nature of theory of mind from other research, with little regard for whether these assumptions are appropriate. I argue that three distinct approaches to thinking about theory of mind are already implicit in research practice, and that future work, whether with infants, children, or adults, will benefit from articulating these approaches more clearly and following their different implications for what theory of mind is and how it should be studied.

Nominal and functional task difficulty in skill acquisition: Effects on performance in two tests of transfer.

PubMed

Sanli, Elizabeth A; Lee, Timothy D

2015-06-01

The influence of nominal and functional task difficulty during the acquisition of a motor skill was examined in two tests of transfer of learning. The task involved a ballistic, target-directed, finger action. Nominal task difficulty was defined as the distance of the target from the home position. Functional task difficulty was created by manipulating the progression of target distances during practice. Based on the challenge point framework (Guadagnoli & Lee, 2004), we predicted that practice with a set of targets farther away from the performer would benefit from less functional task difficulty, while practice with a closer set of targets would benefit from more functional task difficulty. In single-task transfer tests, learners who practiced using the high nominal task difficulty targets benefitted in terms of persistence of performance over time. In dual-task transfer tests, groups with an intermediate combined (nominal and functional) task difficulty performed with greater persistence over time on tests of transfer than those who practiced with the highest or lowest combined difficulty. Together these findings suggest that the influences of nominal and functional task difficulty during acquisition are weighted differentially depending upon the transfer test context. The challenge point framework does not accurately capture this complex relationship in its current form. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Practice on Task Architecture: Combined Evidence from Interference Experiments and Random-Walk Models of Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamienkowski, Juan E.; Pashler, Harold; Dehaene, Stanislas; Sigman, Mariano

2011-01-01

Does extensive practice reduce or eliminate central interference in dual-task processing? We explored the reorganization of task architecture with practice by combining interference analysis (delays in dual-task experiment) and random-walk models of decision making (measuring the decision and non-decision contributions to RT). The main delay…

A Latent Curve Model of Parental Motivational Practices and Developmental Decline in Math and Science Academic Intrinsic Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottfried, Adele Eskeles; Marcoulides, George A.; Gottfried, Allen W.; Oliver, Pamella H.

2009-01-01

A longitudinal approach was used to examine the effects of parental task-intrinsic and task-extrinsic motivational practices on academic intrinsic motivation in the subject areas of math and science. Parental task-intrinsic practices comprise encouragement of children's pleasure and engagement in the learning process, whereas task-extrinsic…

IEA Wind Task 36 Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giebel, Gregor; Cline, Joel; Frank, Helmut; Shaw, Will; Pinson, Pierre; Hodge, Bri-Mathias; Kariniotakis, Georges; Sempreviva, Anna Maria; Draxl, Caroline

2017-04-01

Wind power forecasts have been used operatively for over 20 years. Despite this fact, there are still several possibilities to improve the forecasts, both from the weather prediction side and from the usage of the forecasts. The new International Energy Agency (IEA) Task on Wind Power Forecasting tries to organise international collaboration, among national weather centres with an interest and/or large projects on wind forecast improvements (NOAA, DWD, UK MetOffice, …) and operational forecaster and forecast users. The Task is divided in three work packages: Firstly, a collaboration on the improvement of the scientific basis for the wind predictions themselves. This includes numerical weather prediction model physics, but also widely distributed information on accessible datasets for verification. Secondly, we will be aiming at an international pre-standard (an IEA Recommended Practice) on benchmarking and comparing wind power forecasts, including probabilistic forecasts aiming at industry and forecasters alike. This WP will also organise benchmarks, in cooperation with the IEA Task WakeBench. Thirdly, we will be engaging end users aiming at dissemination of the best practice in the usage of wind power predictions, especially probabilistic ones. The Operating Agent is Gregor Giebel of DTU, Co-Operating Agent is Joel Cline of the US Department of Energy. Collaboration in the task is solicited from everyone interested in the forecasting business. We will collaborate with IEA Task 31 Wakebench, which developed the Windbench benchmarking platform, which this task will use for forecasting benchmarks. The task runs for three years, 2016-2018. Main deliverables are an up-to-date list of current projects and main project results, including datasets which can be used by researchers around the world to improve their own models, an IEA Recommended Practice on performance evaluation of probabilistic forecasts, a position paper regarding the use of probabilistic forecasts, and one or more benchmark studies implemented on the Windbench platform hosted at CENER. Additionally, spreading of relevant information in both the forecasters and the users community is paramount. The poster also shows the work done in the first half of the Task, e.g. the collection of available datasets and the learnings from a public workshop on 9 June in Barcelona on Experiences with the Use of Forecasts and Gaps in Research. Participation is open for all interested parties in member states of the IEA Annex on Wind Power, see ieawind.org for the up-to-date list. For collaboration, please contact the author grgi@dtu.dk).

Between land and sea: divergent data stewardship practices in deep-sea biosphere research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cummings, R.; Darch, P.

2013-12-01

Data in deep-sea biosphere research often live a double life. While the original data generated on IODP expeditions are highly structured, professionally curated, and widely shared, the downstream data practices of deep-sea biosphere laboratories are far more localized and ad hoc. These divergent data practices make it difficult to track the provenance of datasets from the cruise ships to the laboratory or to integrate IODP data with laboratory data. An in-depth study of the divergent data practices in deep-sea biosphere research allows us to: - Better understand the social and technical forces that shape data stewardship throughout the data lifecycle; - Develop policy, infrastructure, and best practices to improve data stewardship in small labs; - Track provenance of datasets from IODP cruises to labs and publications; - Create linkages between laboratory findings, cruise data, and IODP samples. In this paper, we present findings from the first year of a case study of the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI), an NSF Science and Technology Center that studies life beneath the seafloor. Our methods include observation in laboratories, interviews, document analysis, and participation in scientific meetings. Our research uncovers the data stewardship norms of geologists, biologists, chemists, and hydrologists conducting multi-disciplinary research. Our research team found that data stewardship on cruises is a clearly defined task performed by an IODP curator, while downstream it is a distributed task that develops in response to local need and to the extent necessary for the immediate research team. IODP data are expensive to collect and challenging to obtain, often costing $50,000/day and requiring researchers to work twelve hours a day onboard the ships. To maximize this research investment, a highly trained IODP data curator controls data stewardship on the cruise and applies best practices such as standardized formats, proper labeling, and centralized storage. In the laboratory, a scientist is his or her own curator. In contrast to the IODP research parties, laboratory research teams analyze diverse datasets, share them internally, implement ad hoc data management practices, optimize methods for their specific research questions, and release data on request through personal transactions. We discovered that while these workflows help small research teams retain flexibility and local control - crucial in exploratory deep-sea biosphere research - they also hinder data interoperability, discoverability, and consistency of methods from one research team to the next. Additional consequences of this contrast between IODP and lab practices are that it is difficult to track the provenance of data and to create linkages between laboratory findings, cruise data, and archived IODP samples. The ability to track provenance would add value to datasets and provide a clearer picture of the decisions made throughout the data lifecycle. Better linkages between the original data, laboratory data, and samples would allow secondary researchers to locate IODP data that may be useful to their research after laboratory findings are published. Our case study is funded by the Sloan Foundation and NSF.

Two-and-a-half-year-olds succeed at a traditional false-belief task with reduced processing demands.

PubMed

Setoh, Peipei; Scott, Rose M; Baillargeon, Renée

2016-11-22

When tested with traditional false-belief tasks, which require answering a standard question about the likely behavior of an agent with a false belief, children perform below chance until age 4 y or later. When tested without such questions, however, children give evidence of false-belief understanding much earlier. Are traditional tasks difficult because they tap a more advanced form of false-belief understanding (fundamental-change view) or because they impose greater processing demands (processing-demands view)? Evidence that young children succeed at traditional false-belief tasks when processing demands are reduced would support the latter view. In prior research, reductions in inhibitory-control demands led to improvements in young children's performance, but often only to chance (instead of below-chance) levels. Here we examined whether further reductions in processing demands might lead to success. We speculated that: (i) young children could respond randomly in a traditional low-inhibition task because their limited information-processing resources are overwhelmed by the total concurrent processing demands in the task; and (ii) these demands include those from the response-generation process activated by the standard question. This analysis suggested that 2.5-y-old toddlers might succeed at a traditional low-inhibition task if response-generation demands were also reduced via practice trials. As predicted, toddlers performed above chance following two response-generation practice trials; toddlers failed when these trials either were rendered less effective or were used in a high-inhibition task. These results support the processing-demands view: Even toddlers succeed at a traditional false-belief task when overall processing demands are reduced.

Effects of variability of practice in music: a pilot study on fast goal-directed movements in pianists

PubMed Central

Bangert, Marc; Wiedemann, Anna; Jabusch, Hans-Christian

2014-01-01

Variability of Practice (VOP) refers to the acquisition of a particular target movement by practicing a range of varying targets rather than by focusing on fixed repetitions of the target only. VOP has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on transfer to a novel task and on skill consolidation. This study extends the line of research to musical practice. In a task resembling a barrier-knockdown paradigm, 36 music students trained to perform a wide left-hand interval leap on the piano. Performance at the target distance was tested before and after a 30-min standardized training session. The high-variability group (VAR) practiced four different intervals including the target. Another group (FIX) practiced the target interval only. A third group (SPA) performed spaced practice on the target only, interweaving with periods of not playing. Transfer was tested by introducing an interval novel to either group. After a 24-h period with no further exposure to the instrument, performance was retested. All groups performed at comparable error levels before training, after training, and after the retention (RET) interval. At transfer, however, the FIX group, unlike the other groups, committed significantly more errors than in the target task. After the RET period, the effect was washed out for the FIX group but then was present for VAR. Thus, the results provide only partial support for the VOP hypothesis for the given setting. Additional exploratory observations suggest tentative benefits of VOP regarding execution speed, loudness, and performance confidence. We derive specific hypotheses and specific recommendations regarding sample selection and intervention duration for future investigations. Furthermore, the proposed leap task measurement is shown to be (a) robust enough to serve as a standard framework for studies in the music domain, yet (b) versatile enough to allow for a wide range of designs not previously investigated for music on a standardized basis. PMID:25157223

Exploration of multidimensional interactive classroom teaching for CCD principle and application course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Xinghu; Tan, Ailing; Zhang, Baojun; Fu, Guangwei; Bi, Weihong

2017-08-01

The CCD principle and application course is professional and comprehensive. It involves many subject contents. The course content includes eight aspects. In order to complete the teaching tasks within a limited time, improve the classroom teaching quality and prompt students master the course content faster and better, so the multidimensional interactive classroom teaching is proposed. In the teaching practice, the interactive relationship between the frontier science, scientific research project, living example and classroom content is researched detailedly. Finally, it has been proved practically that the proposed multidimensional interactive classroom teaching can achieved good teaching effect.

Pediatric patient-reported outcome instruments for research to support medical product labeling: report of the ISPOR PRO good research practices for the assessment of children and adolescents task force.

PubMed

Matza, Louis S; Patrick, Donald L; Riley, Anne W; Alexander, John J; Rajmil, Luis; Pleil, Andreas M; Bullinger, Monika

2013-06-01

Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments for children and adolescents are often included in clinical trials with the intention of collecting data to support claims in a medical product label. The purpose of the current task force report is to recommend good practices for pediatric PRO research that is conducted to inform regulatory decision making and support claims made in medical product labeling. The recommendations are based on the consensus of an interdisciplinary group of researchers who were assembled for a task force associated with the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). In those areas in which supporting evidence is limited or in which general principles may not apply to every situation, this task force report identifies factors to consider when making decisions about the design and use of pediatric PRO instruments, while highlighting issues that require further research. Five good research practices are discussed: 1) Consider developmental differences and determine age-based criteria for PRO administration: Four age groups are discussed on the basis of previous research (<5 years old, 5-7 years, 8-11 years, and 12-18 years). These age groups are recommended as a starting point when making decisions, but they will not fit all PRO instruments or the developmental stage of every child. Specific age ranges should be determined individually for each population and PRO instrument. 2) Establish content validity of pediatric PRO instruments: This section discusses the advantages of using children as content experts, as well as strategies for concept elicitation and cognitive interviews with children. 3) Determine whether an informant-reported outcome instrument is necessary: The distinction between two types of informant-reported measures (proxy vs. observational) is discussed, and recommendations are provided. 4) Ensure that the instrument is designed and formatted appropriately for the target age group. Factors to consider include health-related vocabulary, reading level, response scales, recall period, length of instrument, pictorial representations, formatting details, administration approaches, and electronic data collection (ePRO). 5) Consider cross-cultural issues. Additional research is needed to provide methodological guidance for future studies, especially for studies involving young children and parents' observational reports. As PRO data are increasingly used to support pediatric labeling claims, there will be more information regarding the standards by which these instruments will be judged. The use of PRO instruments in clinical trials and regulatory submissions will help ensure that children's experience of disease and treatment are accurately represented and considered in regulatory decisions. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Practical Guide to Environmental Scanning: Approaches, Sources, and Selected Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clagett, Craig A.

1989-01-01

A guide to environmental scanning looks at its rationale and relationship to strategic planning, and outlines three administrative approaches: establishment of a committee, sponsoring a scanning conference or event, and assigning the task to the institutional research or planning office. (MSE)

Empirical study of seven data mining algorithms on different characteristics of datasets for biomedical classification applications.

PubMed

Zhang, Yiyan; Xin, Yi; Li, Qin; Ma, Jianshe; Li, Shuai; Lv, Xiaodan; Lv, Weiqi

2017-11-02

Various kinds of data mining algorithms are continuously raised with the development of related disciplines. The applicable scopes and their performances of these algorithms are different. Hence, finding a suitable algorithm for a dataset is becoming an important emphasis for biomedical researchers to solve practical problems promptly. In this paper, seven kinds of sophisticated active algorithms, namely, C4.5, support vector machine, AdaBoost, k-nearest neighbor, naïve Bayes, random forest, and logistic regression, were selected as the research objects. The seven algorithms were applied to the 12 top-click UCI public datasets with the task of classification, and their performances were compared through induction and analysis. The sample size, number of attributes, number of missing values, and the sample size of each class, correlation coefficients between variables, class entropy of task variable, and the ratio of the sample size of the largest class to the least class were calculated to character the 12 research datasets. The two ensemble algorithms reach high accuracy of classification on most datasets. Moreover, random forest performs better than AdaBoost on the unbalanced dataset of the multi-class task. Simple algorithms, such as the naïve Bayes and logistic regression model are suitable for a small dataset with high correlation between the task and other non-task attribute variables. K-nearest neighbor and C4.5 decision tree algorithms perform well on binary- and multi-class task datasets. Support vector machine is more adept on the balanced small dataset of the binary-class task. No algorithm can maintain the best performance in all datasets. The applicability of the seven data mining algorithms on the datasets with different characteristics was summarized to provide a reference for biomedical researchers or beginners in different fields.

Comparison of software packages for detecting differential expression in RNA-seq studies

PubMed Central

Seyednasrollah, Fatemeh; Laiho, Asta

2015-01-01

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) has rapidly become a popular tool to characterize transcriptomes. A fundamental research problem in many RNA-seq studies is the identification of reliable molecular markers that show differential expression between distinct sample groups. Together with the growing popularity of RNA-seq, a number of data analysis methods and pipelines have already been developed for this task. Currently, however, there is no clear consensus about the best practices yet, which makes the choice of an appropriate method a daunting task especially for a basic user without a strong statistical or computational background. To assist the choice, we perform here a systematic comparison of eight widely used software packages and pipelines for detecting differential expression between sample groups in a practical research setting and provide general guidelines for choosing a robust pipeline. In general, our results demonstrate how the data analysis tool utilized can markedly affect the outcome of the data analysis, highlighting the importance of this choice. PMID:24300110

Comparison of software packages for detecting differential expression in RNA-seq studies.

PubMed

Seyednasrollah, Fatemeh; Laiho, Asta; Elo, Laura L

2015-01-01

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) has rapidly become a popular tool to characterize transcriptomes. A fundamental research problem in many RNA-seq studies is the identification of reliable molecular markers that show differential expression between distinct sample groups. Together with the growing popularity of RNA-seq, a number of data analysis methods and pipelines have already been developed for this task. Currently, however, there is no clear consensus about the best practices yet, which makes the choice of an appropriate method a daunting task especially for a basic user without a strong statistical or computational background. To assist the choice, we perform here a systematic comparison of eight widely used software packages and pipelines for detecting differential expression between sample groups in a practical research setting and provide general guidelines for choosing a robust pipeline. In general, our results demonstrate how the data analysis tool utilized can markedly affect the outcome of the data analysis, highlighting the importance of this choice. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.

Systematic review automation technologies

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Systematic reviews, a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, are not produced quickly enough to support clinical practice. The cost of production, availability of the requisite expertise and timeliness are often quoted as major contributors for the delay. This detailed survey of the state of the art of information systems designed to support or automate individual tasks in the systematic review, and in particular systematic reviews of randomized controlled clinical trials, reveals trends that see the convergence of several parallel research projects. We surveyed literature describing informatics systems that support or automate the processes of systematic review or each of the tasks of the systematic review. Several projects focus on automating, simplifying and/or streamlining specific tasks of the systematic review. Some tasks are already fully automated while others are still largely manual. In this review, we describe each task and the effect that its automation would have on the entire systematic review process, summarize the existing information system support for each task, and highlight where further research is needed for realizing automation for the task. Integration of the systems that automate systematic review tasks may lead to a revised systematic review workflow. We envisage the optimized workflow will lead to system in which each systematic review is described as a computer program that automatically retrieves relevant trials, appraises them, extracts and synthesizes data, evaluates the risk of bias, performs meta-analysis calculations, and produces a report in real time. PMID:25005128

Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Discrete Choice Experiments: A Report of the ISPOR Conjoint Analysis Good Research Practices Task Force.

PubMed

Hauber, A Brett; González, Juan Marcos; Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Catharina G M; Prior, Thomas; Marshall, Deborah A; Cunningham, Charles; IJzerman, Maarten J; Bridges, John F P

2016-06-01

Conjoint analysis is a stated-preference survey method that can be used to elicit responses that reveal preferences, priorities, and the relative importance of individual features associated with health care interventions or services. Conjoint analysis methods, particularly discrete choice experiments (DCEs), have been increasingly used to quantify preferences of patients, caregivers, physicians, and other stakeholders. Recent consensus-based guidance on good research practices, including two recent task force reports from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, has aided in improving the quality of conjoint analyses and DCEs in outcomes research. Nevertheless, uncertainty regarding good research practices for the statistical analysis of data from DCEs persists. There are multiple methods for analyzing DCE data. Understanding the characteristics and appropriate use of different analysis methods is critical to conducting a well-designed DCE study. This report will assist researchers in evaluating and selecting among alternative approaches to conducting statistical analysis of DCE data. We first present a simplistic DCE example and a simple method for using the resulting data. We then present a pedagogical example of a DCE and one of the most common approaches to analyzing data from such a question format-conditional logit. We then describe some common alternative methods for analyzing these data and the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. We present the ESTIMATE checklist, which includes a list of questions to consider when justifying the choice of analysis method, describing the analysis, and interpreting the results. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning about general practice through qualitative interviews: lessons from a seminar course with medical students.

PubMed

von Unger, Hella; Werwick, Katrin; Lichte, Thomas; Herrmann, Markus

2010-01-01

A seminar course was developed in order to train medical students in qualitative research methods, while providing an introduction to the field of General Practice. Students were enabled to conduct semi-structured interviews with general practitioners (GPs), during which they learned about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of frequently encountered medical problems. The course was carried out four times at two universities in Germany. The study explores the students' learning experiences focusing on their research experience. Data were collected in four focus groups and analyzed. The students perceived the course as very different from their usual medical education. This was appreciated, but also caused some difficulties. Three themes emerged: (1) Missing 'facts', (2) New horizons: 'Thinking outside the box', and (3) The challenge of interpretation: 'Reading between the lines'. Learning qualitative research methods can be particularly challenging for medical students as the tasks and epistemology of qualitative research run counter to the usual learning formats and research paradigms in medical education. When teaching qualitative research, special care should be taken to address the cognitive dissonance experienced by students and to explain the unique contribution of qualitative research to medical practice and the field of General Practice especially.

Rehabilitation robotics for the upper extremity: review with new directions for orthopaedic disorders.

PubMed

Hakim, Renée M; Tunis, Brandon G; Ross, Michael D

2017-11-01

The focus of research using technological innovations such as robotic devices has been on interventions to improve upper extremity function in neurologic populations, particularly patients with stroke. There is a growing body of evidence describing rehabilitation programs using various types of supportive/assistive and/or resistive robotic and virtual reality-enhanced devices to improve outcomes for patients with neurologic disorders. The most promising approaches are task-oriented, based on current concepts of motor control/learning and practice-induced neuroplasticity. Based on this evidence, we describe application and feasibility of virtual reality-enhanced robotics integrated with current concepts in orthopaedic rehabilitation shifting from an impairment-based focus to inclusion of more intense, task-specific training for patients with upper extremity disorders, specifically emphasizing the wrist and hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe virtual reality-enhanced rehabilitation robotic devices, review evidence of application in patients with upper extremity deficits related to neurologic disorders, and suggest how this technology and task-oriented rehabilitation approach can also benefit patients with orthopaedic disorders of the wrist and hand. We will also discuss areas for further research and development using a task-oriented approach and a commercially available haptic robotic device to focus on training of grasp and manipulation tasks. Implications for Rehabilitation There is a growing body of evidence describing rehabilitation programs using various types of supportive/assistive and/or resistive robotic and virtual reality-enhanced devices to improve outcomes for patients with neurologic disorders. The most promising approaches using rehabilitation robotics are task-oriented, based on current concepts of motor control/learning and practice-induced neuroplasticity. Based on the evidence in neurologic populations, virtual reality-enhanced robotics may be integrated with current concepts in orthopaedic rehabilitation shifting from an impairment-based focus to inclusion of more intense, task-specific training for patients with UE disorders, specifically emphasizing the wrist and hand. Clinical application of a task-oriented approach may be accomplished using commercially available haptic robotic device to focus on training of grasp and manipulation tasks.

Contextual determinants of the social-transfer-of-learning effect.

PubMed

Milanese, Nadia; Iani, Cristina; Sebanz, Natalie; Rubichi, Sandro

2011-06-01

A recent study (Milanese et al. in Cogn 116(1):15-22, 2010) showed that performing a spatial compatibility task with incompatible S-R links (i.e., the practice task) alongside a co-actor eliminates the Simon effect in a subsequent joint Simon task (i.e., the transfer task). In the present study, we conducted three experiments to individuate which elements of the practice task need to remain constant for this social-transfer-of-learning to occur. In Experiment 1, participants performed the practice task alongside a co-actor and the Simon task with a different co-actor; in Experiment 2, they performed the practice task alongside a co-actor and the Simon task with the same co-actor after exchanging their seats. Results showed a modulation of the joint Simon effect in Experiment 1 only. In Experiment 2, we found a regular joint Simon effect. These results indicate that, while co-actor identity is not crucial, other elements of the context, such as keeping the same position across tasks, are necessary for the social-transfer-of-learning to occur. On the whole, our data suggest that the social-transfer-of-learning effect is not tuned to a specific co-actor and depends on spatial parameters of the practice and transfer tasks.

Ready to rumble: how team personality composition and task conflict interact to improve performance.

PubMed

Bradley, Bret H; Klotz, Anthony C; Postlethwaite, Bennett E; Brown, Kenneth G

2013-03-01

Although prior work has proposed a number of conditions under which task conflict in teams may improve performance, composition variables have been left unexplored. Given the effects of personality traits on team processes and outcomes demonstrated in prior work, investigating whether specific personality compositions influence the effect of task conflict on team performance is critical to researchers' understanding of conflict in teams. Our results indicate that team-level averages of both openness to experience and emotional stability function as moderators of the relationship between task conflict and team performance. Specifically, task conflict had a positive impact on performance in teams with high levels of openness or emotional stability; in contrast, task conflict had a negative impact on performance in teams with low levels of openness or emotional stability. Thus, when task conflict emerges, teams composed of members who are open minded or emotionally stable are best able to leverage conflict to improve performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

IEA Task 32: Wind Lidar Systems for Wind Energy Deployment (LIDAR)

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

Kuhn, Martin; Trabucchi, Davide; Clifton, Andrew

2016-05-25

Under the International Energy Agency Wind Implementing Agreement (IEA Wind) Task 11, researchers started examining novel applications for remote sensing and the issues around them during the 51st topical expert meeting about remote sensing in January 2007. The 59th topical expert meeting organized by Task 11 in October 2009 was also dedicated to remote sensing, and the first draft of the Task's recommended practices on remote sensing was published in January 2013. The results of the Task 11 topical expert meetings provided solid groundwork for a new IEA Wind Task 32 on wind lidar technologies. Members of the wind communitymore » identified the need to consolidate the knowledge about wind lidar systems to facilitate their use, and to investigate how to exploit the advantages offered by this technology. This was the motivation that led to the start of IEA Wind Task 32 'Lidar Application for Wind Energy Deployment' in November 2011. The kick-off was meeting was held in May 2012.« less

Research Activities in Support of High-Resolution Land Cover Mapping in the North Central United States

Treesearch

Dacia M. Meneguzzo; Greg C. Liknes

2015-01-01

The USDA Agroforestry Strategic Framework and the 2014 Farm Bill call for inventory and monitoring of agroforestry practices; however, collecting such data over very large non-forested areas is costly. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station has addressed this challenge by forming a targeted task team whose primary purpose is to...

Associations between degrees of task delegation and job satisfaction of general practitioners and their staff: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Riisgaard, Helle; Søndergaard, Jens; Munch, Maria; Le, Jette V; Ledderer, Loni; Pedersen, Line B; Nexøe, Jørgen

2017-01-17

In recent years, the healthcare system in the western world has undergone a structural development caused by changes in demography and pattern of disease. In order to maintain the healthcare system cost-effective, new tasks are placed in general practice urging the general practitioners to rethink the working structure without compromising the quality of care. However, there is a substantial variation in the degree to which general practitioners delegate tasks to their staff, and it is not known how these various degrees of task delegation influence the job satisfaction of general practitioners and their staff. We performed a cross-sectional study based on two electronic questionnaires, one for general practitioners and one for their staff. Both questionnaires were divided into two parts, a part exploring the degree of task delegation regarding management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in general practice and a part concerning the general job satisfaction and motivation to work. We found a significant association between perceived "maximal degree" of task delegation in management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the staff's overall job satisfaction. The odds ratio of the staff's satisfaction with the working environment displayed a tendency that there is also an association with "maximal degree" of task delegation. In the analysis of the general practitioners, the odds ratios of the results indicate that there is a tendency that "maximal degree" of task delegation is associated with overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with the challenges in work, and satisfaction with the working environment. We conclude that a high degree of task delegation is significantly associated with overall job satisfaction of the staff, and that there is a tendency that a high degree of task delegation is associated with the general practitioners' and the staff's satisfaction with the working environment as well as with general practitioners' overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with challenges in work. To qualify future delegation processes within general practice, further research could explore the reasons for our findings.

Good practices for real-world data studies of treatment and/or comparative effectiveness: Recommendations from the joint ISPOR-ISPE Special Task Force on real-world evidence in health care decision making.

PubMed

Berger, Marc L; Sox, Harold; Willke, Richard J; Brixner, Diana L; Eichler, Hans-Georg; Goettsch, Wim; Madigan, David; Makady, Amr; Schneeweiss, Sebastian; Tarricone, Rosanna; Wang, Shirley V; Watkins, John; Daniel Mullins, C

2017-09-01

Real-world evidence (RWE) includes data from retrospective or prospective observational studies and observational registries and provides insights beyond those addressed by randomized controlled trials. RWE studies aim to improve health care decision making. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) created a task force to make recommendations regarding good procedural practices that would enhance decision makers' confidence in evidence derived from RWD studies. Peer review by ISPOR/ISPE members and task force participants provided a consensus-building iterative process for the topics and framing of recommendations. The ISPOR/ISPE Task Force recommendations cover seven topics such as study registration, replicability, and stakeholder involvement in RWE studies. These recommendations, in concert with earlier recommendations about study methodology, provide a trustworthy foundation for the expanded use of RWE in health care decision making. The focus of these recommendations is good procedural practices for studies that test a specific hypothesis in a specific population. We recognize that some of the recommendations in this report may not be widely adopted without appropriate incentives from decision makers, journal editors, and other key stakeholders. © 2017 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Development of the work on fuel cells in the Ministry for Atomic Energy of Russian Federation

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

Lubovin, B.Y.; Novitski, E.Z.

1996-04-01

This paper describes research on fuel cells in the Russian Federation. The beginning of the practical work on fuel cells in Russia dates back to the 50`s and 60`s when the Ural Electrochemical Plant and the Ural Electromechanical Plant of the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building of the USSR, all Russian Research Institute of the power sources and many other institutes of the Ministry of Electrotechnical Industry of the USSR got to the development of the alkaline fuel cells for the spaceships according to the tasks of the SPC `Energy` and for the submarines on the tasks of the Ministry ofmore » Defense.« less

Rotation, Reflection, and Frame Changes; Orthogonal tensors in computational engineering mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brannon, R. M.

2018-04-01

Whilst vast literature is available for the most common rotation-related tasks such as coordinate changes, most reference books tend to cover one or two methods, and resources for less-common tasks are scarce. Specialized research applications can be found in disparate journal articles, but a self-contained comprehensive review that covers both elementary and advanced concepts in a manner comprehensible to engineers is rare. Rotation, Reflection, and Frame Changes surveys a refreshingly broad range of rotation-related research that is routinely needed in engineering practice. By illustrating key concepts in computer source code, this book stands out as an unusually accessible guide for engineers and scientists in engineering mechanics.

Development problem analysis of correlation leak detector’s software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faerman, V. A.; Avramchuk, V. S.; Marukyan, V. M.

2018-05-01

In the article, the practical application and the structure of the correlation leak detectors’ software is studied and the task of its designing is analyzed. In the first part of the research paper, the expediency of the facilities development of correlation leak detectors for the following operating efficiency of public utilities exploitation is shown. The analysis of the functional structure of correlation leak detectors is conducted and its program software tasks are defined. In the second part of the research paper some development steps of the software package – requirement forming, program structure definition and software concept creation – are examined in the context of the usage experience of the hardware-software prototype of correlation leak detector.

Guidelines for Guidelines: Are They Up to the Task? A Comparative Assessment of Clinical Practice Guideline Development Handbooks

PubMed Central

Ansari, Shabnam; Rashidian, Arash

2012-01-01

Objectives We conducted a comparative review of clinical practice guideline development handbooks. We aimed to identify the main guideline development tasks, assign weights to the importance of each task using expert opinions and identify the handbooks that provided a comprehensive coverage of the tasks. Methods We systematically searched and included handbooks published (in English language) by national, international or professional bodies responsible for evidenced-based guideline development. We reviewed the handbooks to identify the main guideline development tasks and scored each handbook for each task from 0 (the handbook did not mention the task) to 2 (the task suitably addressed and explained), and calculated a weighted score for each handbook. The tasks included in over 75% of the handbooks were considered as ‘necessary’ tasks. Result Nineteen guideline development handbooks and twenty seven main tasks were identified. The guideline handbooks’ weighted scores ranged from 100 to 220. Four handbooks scored over 80% of the maximum possible score, developed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Swiss Centre for International Health, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and World Health Organization. Necessary tasks were: selecting the guideline topic, determining the guideline scope, identifying relevant existing guidelines, involving the consumers, forming guideline development group,, developing clinical questions, systematic search for evidence, selecting relevant evidence, appraising identifies research evidence, making group decision, grading available evidence, creating recommendations, final stakeholder consultation, guideline implementation strategies, updating recommendations and correcting potential errors. Discussion Adequate details for evidence based development of guidelines were still lacking from many handbooks. The tasks relevant to ethical issues and piloting were missing in most handbooks. The findings help decision makers in identifying the necessary tasks for guideline development, provide an updated comparative list of guideline development handbooks, and provide a checklist to assess the comprehensiveness of guideline development processes. PMID:23189167

Quantitative analysis of task selection for brain-computer interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llera, Alberto; Gómez, Vicenç; Kappen, Hilbert J.

2014-10-01

Objective. To assess quantitatively the impact of task selection in the performance of brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Approach. We consider the task-pairs derived from multi-class BCI imagery movement tasks in three different datasets. We analyze for the first time the benefits of task selection on a large-scale basis (109 users) and evaluate the possibility of transferring task-pair information across days for a given subject. Main results. Selecting the subject-dependent optimal task-pair among three different imagery movement tasks results in approximately 20% potential increase in the number of users that can be expected to control a binary BCI. The improvement is observed with respect to the best task-pair fixed across subjects. The best task-pair selected for each subject individually during a first day of recordings is generally a good task-pair in subsequent days. In general, task learning from the user side has a positive influence in the generalization of the optimal task-pair, but special attention should be given to inexperienced subjects. Significance. These results add significant evidence to existing literature that advocates task selection as a necessary step towards usable BCIs. This contribution motivates further research focused on deriving adaptive methods for task selection on larger sets of mental tasks in practical online scenarios.

Implications of ICD-10 for Sarcopenia Clinical Practice and Clinical Trials: Report by the International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research Task Force.

PubMed

Vellas, B; Fielding, R A; Bens, C; Bernabei, R; Cawthon, P M; Cederholm, T; Cruz-Jentoft, A J; Del Signore, S; Donahue, S; Morley, J; Pahor, M; Reginster, J-Y; Rodriguez Mañas, L; Rolland, Y; Roubenoff, R; Sinclair, A; Cesari, M

2018-01-01

Establishment of an ICD-10-CM code for sarcopenia in 2016 was an important step towards reaching international consensus on the need for a nosological framework of age-related skeletal muscle decline. The International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research Task Force met in April 2017 to discuss the meaning, significance, and barriers to the implementation of the new code as well as strategies to accelerate development of new therapies. Analyses by the Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium are underway to develop quantitative definitions of sarcopenia. A consensus conference is planned to evaluate this analysis. The Task Force also discussed lessons learned from sarcopenia trials that could be applied to future trials, as well as lessons from the osteoporosis field, a clinical condition with many constructs similar to sarcopenia and for which ad hoc treatments have been developed and approved by regulatory agencies.

Directions in implementation research methods for behavioral and social science.

PubMed

Irwin, Molly; Supplee, Lauren H

2012-10-01

There is a growing interest, by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, in evidence-based policy and practice. As a result, more dollars are being invested in program evaluation in order to establish "what works," and in some cases, funding is specifically tied to those programs found to be effective. However, reproducing positive effects found in research requires more than simply adopting an evidence-based program. Implementation research can provide guidance on which components of an intervention matter most for program impacts and how implementation components can best be implemented. However, while the body of rigorous research on effective practices continues to grow, research on implementation lags behind. To address these issues, the Administration for Children and Families and federal partners convened a roundtable meeting entitled, Improving Implementation Research Methods for Behavioral and Social Science, in the fall of 2010. This special section of the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research includes papers from the roundtable and highlights the role implementation science can play in shedding light on the difficult task of taking evidence-based practices to scale.

Forced Aerobic Exercise Preceding Task Practice Improves Motor Recovery Poststroke.

PubMed

Linder, Susan M; Rosenfeldt, Anson B; Dey, Tanujit; Alberts, Jay L

To understand how two types of aerobic exercise affect upper-extremity motor recovery post-stroke. Our aims were to (1) evaluate the feasibility of having people who had a stroke complete an aerobic exercise intervention and (2) determine whether forced or voluntary exercise differentially facilitates upper-extremity recovery when paired with task practice. Seventeen participants with chronic stroke completed twenty-four 90-min sessions over 8 wk. Aerobic exercise was immediately followed by task practice. Participants were randomized to forced or voluntary aerobic exercise groups or to task practice only. Improvement on the Fugl-Meyer Assessment exceeded the minimal clinically important difference: 12.3, 4.8, and 4.4 for the forced exercise, voluntary exercise, and repetitive task practice-only groups, respectively. Only the forced exercise group exhibited a statistically significant improvement. People with chronic stroke can safely complete intensive aerobic exercise. Forced aerobic exercise may be optimal in facilitating motor recovery associated with task practice. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Inquiry: the pedagogical importance of a skill central to clinical practice.

PubMed

Barrows, H S

1990-01-01

The skill of inquiry is central to the task of the doctor confronted with a patient problem. Despite its importance this skill is not given appropriate emphasis in the education of medical students or in research concerning the clinical reasoning skills of doctors.

Implementing an Online Vocabulary Training Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, Charles E.

2015-01-01

Although vocabulary acquisition research has shed much light on practical methods for increasing lexical knowledge (Nation, 1994), many foreign language teachers hesitate to implement focused vocabulary-training programs in their classrooms. The reasons most often cited for this hesitation are associated with the difficult tasks of creating,…

Deepening Cosmic Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Gerard

2013-01-01

This article is a special blend of research, theory, and practice, with clear insight into the origins of Cosmic Education and cosmic task, while recalling memories of student explorations in botany, in particular, episodes from Mr. Leonard's teaching. Mr. Leonard speaks of a storytelling curriculum that eloquently puts perspective into dimensions…

Study Identifies Best Pavement Practices in Wet-Freeze Climates : Research Spotlight

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-01

In 2015, Michigan Public Act 175 established the Roads Innovation Task Force. It directed MDOT to determine how the agency could improve the effective life span of state highways, with a goal of 50- to 75-year pavement longevity and reduced costs. MD...

Learning and Retention through Predictive Inference and Classification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakamoto, Yasuaki; Love, Bradley C.

2010-01-01

Work in category learning addresses how humans acquire knowledge and, thus, should inform classroom practices. In two experiments, we apply and evaluate intuitions garnered from laboratory-based research in category learning to learning tasks situated in an educational context. In Experiment 1, learning through predictive inference and…

A model for technology assessment as applied to closed loop infusion systems. Technology Assessment Task Force of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

PubMed

Jastremski, M; Jastremski, C; Shepherd, M; Friedman, V; Porembka, D; Smith, R; Gonzales, E; Swedlow, D; Belzberg, H; Crass, R

1995-10-01

To test a model for the assessment of critical care technology on closed loop infusion control, a technology that is in its early stages of development and testing on human subjects. A computer-assisted search of the English language literature and reviews of the gathered data by experts in the field of closed loop infusion control systems. Studies relating to closed loop infusion control that addressed one or more of the questions contained in our technology assessment template were analyzed. Study design was not a factor in article selection. However, the lack of well-designed clinical outcome studies was an important factor in determining our conclusions. A focus person summarized the data from the selected studies that related to each of the assessment questions. The preliminary data summary developed by the focus person was further analyzed and refined by the task force. Experts in closed loop systems were then added to the group to review the summary provided by the task force. These experts' comments were considered by the task force and this final consensus report was developed. Closed loop system control is a technological concept that may be applicable to several aspects of critical care practice. This is a technology in the early stages of evolution and much more research and data are needed before its introduction into usual clinical practice. Furthermore, each specific application and each device for each application (e.g., nitroprusside infusion, ventilator adjustment), although based on the same technological concept, are sufficiently different in terms of hardware and computer algorithms to require independent validation studies. Closed loop infusion systems may have a role in critical care practice. However, for most applications, further development is required to move this technology from the innovation phase to the point where it can be evaluated so that its role in critical car practice can be defined. Each application of closed loop infusion systems must be independently validated by appropriately designed research studies. Users should be provided with the clinical parameters driving each closed loop system so that they can ensure that it agrees with their opinion of acceptable medical practice. Clinical researchers and leaders in industry should collaborate to perform the scientifically valid, outcome-based research that is necessary to evaluate the effect of this new technology. The original model we developed for technology assessment required the addition of several more questions to produce a complete analysis of an emerging technology. An emerging technology should be systematically assessed (using a model such as the model developed by the Society of Critical Care Medicine), before its introduction into clinical practice in order to provide a focus for human outcome validation trials and to minimize the possibility of widespread use of an unproven technology.

Language mapping with verbs and sentences in awake surgery: a review.

PubMed

Rofes, Adrià; Miceli, Gabriele

2014-06-01

Intraoperative language mapping in awake surgery is typically conducted by asking the patient to produce automatic speech and to name objects. These tasks might not map language with sufficient accuracy, as some linguistic processes can only be triggered by tasks that use verbs and sentences. Verb and sentence processing tasks are currently used during surgery, albeit sparsely. Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science records were searched to retrieve studies focused on language mapping with verbs/sentences in awake surgery. We review the tasks reported in the published literature, spell out the language processes assessed by each task, list the cortical and subcortical regions whose stimulation inhibited language processing, and consider the types of errors elicited by stimulation in each region. We argue that using verb tasks allows a more thorough evaluation of language functions. We also argue that verb tasks are preferable to object naming tasks in the case of frontal lesions, as lesion and neuroimaging data demonstrate that these regions play a critical role in verb and sentence processing. We discuss the clinical value of these tasks and the current limitations of the procedure, and provide some guidelines for their development. Future research should aim toward a differentiated approach to language mapping - one that includes the administration of standardized and customizable tests and the use of longitudinal neurocognitive follow-up studies. Further work will allow researchers and clinicians to understand brain and language correlates and to improve the current surgical practice.

The Critical Roles of Task Conflict and Job Autonomy in the Relationship Between Proactive Personalities and Innovative Employee Behavior

PubMed Central

Giebels, Ellen; de Reuver, Renee S.M.; Rispens, Sonja; Ufkes, Elze G.

2016-01-01

We examine why and when proactive personality is beneficial for innovative behavior at work. Based on a survey among 166 employees working in 35 departments of a large municipality in the Netherlands we show that an increase in task conflicts explains the positive relation between a proactive personality and innovative employee behavior. This process is moderated by job autonomy in such a way that the relationship between proactive personality and task conflict is particularly strong under low compared with high autonomy. The present research contributes to the discussion on the potential benefits of task conflict for change processes and highlights the importance of examining the interplay between personality and work context for understanding innovation practices. PMID:27536008

Functional evaluation of out-of-the-box text-mining tools for data-mining tasks

PubMed Central

Jung, Kenneth; LePendu, Paea; Iyer, Srinivasan; Bauer-Mehren, Anna; Percha, Bethany; Shah, Nigam H

2015-01-01

Objective The trade-off between the speed and simplicity of dictionary-based term recognition and the richer linguistic information provided by more advanced natural language processing (NLP) is an area of active discussion in clinical informatics. In this paper, we quantify this trade-off among text processing systems that make different trade-offs between speed and linguistic understanding. We tested both types of systems in three clinical research tasks: phase IV safety profiling of a drug, learning adverse drug–drug interactions, and learning used-to-treat relationships between drugs and indications. Materials We first benchmarked the accuracy of the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL in a manually annotated, publically available dataset from the 2008 i2b2 Obesity Challenge. We then applied the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL to 9 million clinical notes from the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment (STRIDE) and used the resulting data for three research tasks. Results There is no significant difference between using the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL in the results of the three research tasks when using large datasets. In one subtask, REVEAL achieved higher sensitivity with smaller datasets. Conclusions For a variety of tasks, employing simple term recognition methods instead of advanced NLP methods results in little or no impact on accuracy when using large datasets. Simpler dictionary-based methods have the advantage of scaling well to very large datasets. Promoting the use of simple, dictionary-based methods for population level analyses can advance adoption of NLP in practice. PMID:25336595

Experiencing everyday ethics in context: frontline data collectors perspectives and practices of bioethics.

PubMed

Kingori, Patricia

2013-12-01

Data collectors play a vital role in producing scientific knowledge. They are also an important component in understanding the practice of bioethics. Yet, very little attention has been given to their everyday experiences or the context in which they are expected to undertake these tasks. This paper argues that while there has been extensive philosophical attention given to 'the what' and 'the why' in bioethics - what action is taken place and why - these should be considered along 'the who' - who are the individuals tasked with bioethics and what can their insights bring to macro-level and abstract discussions of bioethics. This paper will draw on the philosophical theories of Paul Ricoeur which compliments a sociological examination of data collectors experiences and use of their agency coupled with a concern for contextual and institutional factors in which they worked. In emphasising everyday experiences and contexts, I will argue that data collectors' practice of bioethics was shaped by their position at the frontline of face-to-face interactions with medical research participants and community members, alongside their own personal ethical values and motivations. Institutional interpretations of bioethics also imposed certain parameters on their bioethical practice but these were generally peripheral to their sense of obligation and the expectations conferred in witnessing the needs and suffering of those they encountered during their quotidian research duties. This paper will demonstrate that although the principle of autonomy has dominated discussions of bioethics and gaining informed consent seen as a central facet of ethical research by many research institutions, for data collectors this principle was seldom the most important marker of their ethical practice. Instead, data collectors were concerned with remedying the dilemmas they encountered through enacting their own interpretations of justice and beneficence and imposing their own agency on the circumstances they experienced. Their practice of bioethics demonstrates their contribution to the conduct of research and the shortcomings of an over-emphasis on autonomy. Copyright © 2013 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Experiments in autonomous robotics

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

Hamel, W.R.

1987-01-01

The Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research (CESAR) is performing basic research in autonomous robotics for energy-related applications in hazardous environments. The CESAR research agenda includes a strong experimental component to assure practical evaluation of new concepts and theories. An evolutionary sequence of mobile research robots has been planned to support research in robot navigation, world sensing, and object manipulation. A number of experiments have been performed in studying robot navigation and path planning with planar sonar sensing. Future experiments will address more complex tasks involving three-dimensional sensing, dexterous manipulation, and human-scale operations.

Revised American Thyroid Association guidelines for the management of medullary thyroid carcinoma.

PubMed

Wells, Samuel A; Asa, Sylvia L; Dralle, Henning; Elisei, Rossella; Evans, Douglas B; Gagel, Robert F; Lee, Nancy; Machens, Andreas; Moley, Jeffrey F; Pacini, Furio; Raue, Friedhelm; Frank-Raue, Karin; Robinson, Bruce; Rosenthal, M Sara; Santoro, Massimo; Schlumberger, Martin; Shah, Manisha; Waguespack, Steven G

2015-06-01

The American Thyroid Association appointed a Task Force of experts to revise the original Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: Management Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association. The Task Force identified relevant articles using a systematic PubMed search, supplemented with additional published materials, and then created evidence-based recommendations, which were set in categories using criteria adapted from the United States Preventive Services Task Force Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The original guidelines provided abundant source material and an excellent organizational structure that served as the basis for the current revised document. The revised guidelines are focused primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and hereditary MTC. The Task Force developed 67 evidence-based recommendations to assist clinicians in the care of patients with MTC. The Task Force considers the recommendations to represent current, rational, and optimal medical practice.

Revised American Thyroid Association Guidelines for the Management of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

PubMed Central

Asa, Sylvia L.; Dralle, Henning; Elisei, Rossella; Evans, Douglas B.; Gagel, Robert F.; Lee, Nancy; Machens, Andreas; Moley, Jeffrey F.; Pacini, Furio; Raue, Friedhelm; Frank-Raue, Karin; Robinson, Bruce; Rosenthal, M. Sara; Santoro, Massimo; Schlumberger, Martin; Shah, Manisha; Waguespack, Steven G.

2015-01-01

Introduction: The American Thyroid Association appointed a Task Force of experts to revise the original Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: Management Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association. Methods: The Task Force identified relevant articles using a systematic PubMed search, supplemented with additional published materials, and then created evidence-based recommendations, which were set in categories using criteria adapted from the United States Preventive Services Task Force Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The original guidelines provided abundant source material and an excellent organizational structure that served as the basis for the current revised document. Results: The revised guidelines are focused primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and hereditary MTC. Conclusions: The Task Force developed 67 evidence-based recommendations to assist clinicians in the care of patients with MTC. The Task Force considers the recommendations to represent current, rational, and optimal medical practice. PMID:25810047

Students’ Achievement Goals, Learning-Related Emotions and Academic Achievement

PubMed Central

Lüftenegger, Marko; Klug, Julia; Harrer, Katharina; Langer, Marie; Spiel, Christiane; Schober, Barbara

2016-01-01

In the present research, the recently proposed 3 × 2 model of achievement goals is tested and associations with achievement emotions and their joint influence on academic achievement are investigated. The study was conducted with 388 students using the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire including the six proposed goal constructs (task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, other-avoidance) and the enjoyment and boredom scales from the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire. Exam grades were used as an indicator of academic achievement. Findings from CFAs provided strong support for the proposed structure of the 3 × 2 achievement goal model. Self-based goals, other-based goals and task-approach goals predicted enjoyment. Task-approach goals negatively predicted boredom. Task-approach and other-approach predicted achievement. The indirect effects of achievement goals through emotion variables on achievement were assessed using bias-corrected bootstrapping. No mediation effects were found. Implications for educational practice are discussed. PMID:27199836

NASA's Big Data Task Force

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, C. P.; Kinter, J. L.; Beebe, R. F.; Feigelson, E.; Hurlburt, N. E.; Mentzel, C.; Smith, G.; Tino, C.; Walker, R. J.

2017-12-01

Two years ago NASA established the Ad Hoc Big Data Task Force (BDTF - https://science.nasa.gov/science-committee/subcommittees/big-data-task-force), an advisory working group with the NASA Advisory Council system. The scope of the Task Force included all NASA Big Data programs, projects, missions, and activities. The Task Force focused on such topics as exploring the existing and planned evolution of NASA's science data cyber-infrastructure that supports broad access to data repositories for NASA Science Mission Directorate missions; best practices within NASA, other Federal agencies, private industry and research institutions; and Federal initiatives related to big data and data access. The BDTF has completed its two-year term and produced several recommendations plus four white papers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. This presentation will discuss the activities and results of the TF including summaries of key points from its focused study topics. The paper serves as an introduction to the papers following in this ESSI session.

Human Body Mechanics of Pushing and Pulling: Analyzing the Factors of Task-related Strain on the Musculoskeletal System.

PubMed

Argubi-Wollesen, Andreas; Wollesen, Bettina; Leitner, Martin; Mattes, Klaus

2017-03-01

The purpose of this review is to name and describe the important factors of musculoskeletal strain originating from pushing and pulling tasks such as cart handling that are commonly found in industrial contexts. A literature database search was performed using the research platform Web of Science. For a study to be included in this review differences in measured or calculated strain had to be investigated with regard to: (1) cart weight/ load; (2) handle position and design; (3) exerted forces; (4) handling task (push and pull); or (5) task experience. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria and proved to be of adequate methodological quality by the standards of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. External load or cart weight proved to be the most influential factor of strain. The ideal handle positions ranged from hip to shoulder height and were dependent on the strain factor that was focused on as well as the handling task. Furthermore, task experience and subsequently handling technique were also key to reducing strain. Workplace settings that regularly involve pushing and pulling should be checked for potential improvements with regards to lower weight of the loaded handling device, handle design, and good practice guidelines to further reduce musculoskeletal disease prevalence.

An Efficient Framework for Development of Task-Oriented Dialog Systems in a Smart Home Environment.

PubMed

Park, Youngmin; Kang, Sangwoo; Seo, Jungyun

2018-05-16

In recent times, with the increasing interest in conversational agents for smart homes, task-oriented dialog systems are being actively researched. However, most of these studies are focused on the individual modules of such a system, and there is an evident lack of research on a dialog framework that can integrate and manage the entire dialog system. Therefore, in this study, we propose a framework that enables the user to effectively develop an intelligent dialog system. The proposed framework ontologically expresses the knowledge required for the task-oriented dialog system's process and can build a dialog system by editing the dialog knowledge. In addition, the framework provides a module router that can indirectly run externally developed modules. Further, it enables a more intelligent conversation by providing a hierarchical argument structure (HAS) to manage the various argument representations included in natural language sentences. To verify the practicality of the framework, an experiment was conducted in which developers without any previous experience in developing a dialog system developed task-oriented dialog systems using the proposed framework. The experimental results show that even beginner dialog system developers can develop a high-level task-oriented dialog system.

An Efficient Framework for Development of Task-Oriented Dialog Systems in a Smart Home Environment

PubMed Central

Park, Youngmin; Kang, Sangwoo; Seo, Jungyun

2018-01-01

In recent times, with the increasing interest in conversational agents for smart homes, task-oriented dialog systems are being actively researched. However, most of these studies are focused on the individual modules of such a system, and there is an evident lack of research on a dialog framework that can integrate and manage the entire dialog system. Therefore, in this study, we propose a framework that enables the user to effectively develop an intelligent dialog system. The proposed framework ontologically expresses the knowledge required for the task-oriented dialog system’s process and can build a dialog system by editing the dialog knowledge. In addition, the framework provides a module router that can indirectly run externally developed modules. Further, it enables a more intelligent conversation by providing a hierarchical argument structure (HAS) to manage the various argument representations included in natural language sentences. To verify the practicality of the framework, an experiment was conducted in which developers without any previous experience in developing a dialog system developed task-oriented dialog systems using the proposed framework. The experimental results show that even beginner dialog system developers can develop a high-level task-oriented dialog system. PMID:29772668

Detecting vocal fatigue in student singers using acoustic measures of mean fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sisakun, Siphan

2000-12-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the ability of four acoustic parameters, mean fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio, to detect vocal fatigue in student singers. The participants are 15 voice students, who perform two distinct tasks, data collection task and vocal fatiguing task. The data collection task includes the sustained vowel /a/, reading a standard passage, and self-rate on a vocal fatigue form. The vocal fatiguing task is the vocal practice of musical scores for a total of 45 minutes. The four acoustic parameters are extracted using the software EZVoicePlus. The data analyses are performed to answer eight research questions. The first four questions relate to correlations of the self-rating scale and each of the four parameters. The next four research questions relate to differences in the parameters over time using one-factor repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result yields a proposed acoustic profile of vocal fatigue in student singers. This profile is characterized by increased fundamental frequency; slightly decreased jitter; slightly decreased shimmer; and slightly increased harmonics-to-noise ratio. The proposed profile requires further investigation.

Sample size in psychological research over the past 30 years.

PubMed

Marszalek, Jacob M; Barber, Carolyn; Kohlhart, Julie; Holmes, Cooper B

2011-04-01

The American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Statistical Inference was formed in 1996 in response to a growing body of research demonstrating methodological issues that threatened the credibility of psychological research, and made recommendations to address them. One issue was the small, even dramatically inadequate, size of samples used in studies published by leading journals. The present study assessed the progress made since the Task Force's final report in 1999. Sample sizes reported in four leading APA journals in 1955, 1977, 1995, and 2006 were compared using nonparametric statistics, while data from the last two waves were fit to a hierarchical generalized linear growth model for more in-depth analysis. Overall, results indicate that the recommendations for increasing sample sizes have not been integrated in core psychological research, although results slightly vary by field. This and other implications are discussed in the context of current methodological critique and practice.

Speech sequence skill learning in adults who stutter.

PubMed

Bauerly, Kim R; De Nil, Luc F

2011-12-01

The present study compared the ability of 12 people who stutter (PWS) and 12 people who do not stutter (PNS) to consolidate a novel sequential speech task. Participants practiced 100 repetitions of a single, monosyllabic, nonsense word sequence during an initial practice session and returned 24-h later to perform an additional 50 repetitions. Results showed significantly slower sequence durations in the PWS compared to PNS following extensive practice and consolidation. However, the hypothesis that poor performance gains in PWS compared to PNS during practice would be maintained following a 24-h consolidation period was not supported. Further descriptive analysis revealed large within group differences in PWS which to some extent were attributed to a subgroup of PWS who failed to show any improvements in performance following practice or consolidation. The results and the possible presence of subgroups of PWS are discussed with regard to their limitations in motor learning abilities. The reader will be able to (1) explain the difference between practice and learning, (2) define consolidation and explain the importance of measuring performance following a consolidation period, (3) understand past research on PWS' performance during both speech and nonspeech motor tasks, and (4) explain why individual differences in practice effects and learning may have important implications for client variability in treatment outcome. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

Settoon, Randall P; Mossholder, Kevin W

2002-04-01

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

Air Vehicle Integration and Technology Research (AVIATR). Task Order 0003: Condition-Based Maintenance Plus Structural Integrity (CBM+SI) Demonstration (April 2011 to August 2011)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

investigated. Implementation of this technology into the maintenance framework depends on several factors, including safety of the structural system, cost... Maintenance Parameters The F-15 Program has indicated that, in practice , maintenance actions are generally performed on flight hour multiples of 200...Risk Analysis or the Perform Cost Benefit Analysis sections of the flowchart. 4.6. Determine System Configurations The current maintenance practice

Two-and-a-half-year-olds succeed at a traditional false-belief task with reduced processing demands

PubMed Central

Scott, Rose M.; Baillargeon, Renée

2016-01-01

When tested with traditional false-belief tasks, which require answering a standard question about the likely behavior of an agent with a false belief, children perform below chance until age 4 y or later. When tested without such questions, however, children give evidence of false-belief understanding much earlier. Are traditional tasks difficult because they tap a more advanced form of false-belief understanding (fundamental-change view) or because they impose greater processing demands (processing-demands view)? Evidence that young children succeed at traditional false-belief tasks when processing demands are reduced would support the latter view. In prior research, reductions in inhibitory-control demands led to improvements in young children’s performance, but often only to chance (instead of below-chance) levels. Here we examined whether further reductions in processing demands might lead to success. We speculated that: (i) young children could respond randomly in a traditional low-inhibition task because their limited information-processing resources are overwhelmed by the total concurrent processing demands in the task; and (ii) these demands include those from the response-generation process activated by the standard question. This analysis suggested that 2.5-y-old toddlers might succeed at a traditional low-inhibition task if response-generation demands were also reduced via practice trials. As predicted, toddlers performed above chance following two response-generation practice trials; toddlers failed when these trials either were rendered less effective or were used in a high-inhibition task. These results support the processing-demands view: Even toddlers succeed at a traditional false-belief task when overall processing demands are reduced. PMID:27821728

What physicians reason about during admission case review.

PubMed

Juma, Salina; Goldszmidt, Mark

2017-08-01

Research suggests that physicians perform multiple reasoning tasks beyond diagnosis during patient review. However, these remain largely theoretical. The purpose of this study was to explore reasoning tasks in clinical practice during patient admission review. The authors used a constant comparative approach-an iterative and inductive process of coding and recoding-to analyze transcripts from 38 audio-recorded case reviews between junior trainees and their senior residents or attendings. Using a previous list of reasoning tasks, analysis focused on what tasks were performed, when they occurred, and how they related to the other tasks. All 24 tasks were observed in at least one review with a mean of 17.9 (Min = 15, Max = 22) distinct tasks per review. Two new tasks-assess illness severity and patient decision-making capacity-were identified, thus 26 tasks were examined. Three overarching tasks were identified-assess priorities, determine and refine the most likely diagnosis and establish and refine management plans-that occurred throughout all stages of the case review starting from patient identification and continuing through to assessment and plan. A fourth possible overarching task-reflection-was also identified but only observed in four instances across three cases. The other 22 tasks appeared to be context dependent serving to support, expand, and refine one or more overarching tasks. Tasks were non-sequential and the same supporting task could serve more than one overarching task. The authors conclude that these findings provide insight into the 'what' and 'when' of physician reasoning during case review that can be used to support professional development, clinical training and patient care. In particular, they draw attention to the iterative way in which each task is addressed during a case review and how this finding may challenge conventional ways of teaching and assessing clinical communication and reasoning. They also suggest that further research is needed to explore how physicians decide why a supporting task is required in a particular context.

Making the Most of Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilles, Carol

2010-01-01

Research supports what many teachers have long known: talk is a valuable tool for learning. But how can we incorporate talk and still keep students on task, thinking collectively and deeply? Gillis offers a solid theoretical foundation for incorporating talk throughout the curriculum, and then provides practical help for implementing it, with…

Corporate Funding and Conflicts of Interest: A Primer for Psychologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pachter, Wendy S.; Fox, Ronald E.; Zimbardo, Philip; Antonuccio, David O.

2007-01-01

A presidential task force on external funding was established by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2003 to review APA policies, procedures, and practices regarding the acceptance of funding and support from private corporations for educational and training programs; continuing education offerings; research projects; publications;…

Delegation: Win-Win Strategies for Managing Early Childhood Settings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayden, Jacqueline

1999-01-01

This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series provides staff management strategies for directors and others involved with the management of early childhood settings and suggests ways to effectively delegate authority and tasks in order to reduce administrative pressures and workload. The booklet presents…

Transfer of Training with Formation Flight Trainer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Gary B.; Cyrus, Michael L.

The present research was conducted to determine transfer of practice from a formation simulator to actual aircraft flight for the wing aircraft component of the formation flying task. Evidence in support of positive transfer was obtained by comparing students trained in the formation simulator with students who were essentially untrained and with…

Cluster: Drafting. Course: Architectural Drafting. Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanford - Lee County Schools, NC.

The sequence of 10 units is designed for use with an instructor in architectural drafting, and is also keyed to other texts. Each unit contains several task packages specifying prerequisites, rationale for learning, objectives, learning activities to be supervised by the instructor, and learning practice. The units cover: architectural lettering…

The Influence of Instructional Variables and Task Constraints on Handwriting Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzpatrick, Paula; Vander Hart, Nanho; Cortesa, Cathryn

2013-01-01

Handwriting is used throughout the school day and is important to demonstrate knowledge. This research evaluated how handwriting instructional practices and intrinsic and extrinsic factors in actual classroom settings impacted learning handwriting over the course of the school year. Findings indicated that extrinsic factors (educational…

Laboratory-Based and Autobiographical Retrieval Tasks Differ Substantially in Their Neural Substrates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDermott, Kathleen B.; Szpunar, Karl K.; Christ, Shawn E.

2009-01-01

In designing experiments to investigate retrieval of event memory, researchers choose between utilizing laboratory-based methods (in which to-be-remembered materials are presented to participants) and autobiographical approaches (in which the to-be-remembered materials are events from the participant's pre-experimental life). In practice, most…

Interactions between Learner Characteristics and Optimal Instruction. Report No. 75-17.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brophy, Jere E.

Possible implications of individual and group differences for educational research and practice are discussed. Differences include preference for cooperative versus competitive tasks; for working alone versus in a group; for structured versus unstructured learning situations; or for individual versus group reward contingencies; social class and…

Authentic Assessment: A Venerable Idea Whose Time Is Now

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macy, Marisa; Bagnato, Stephen J.; Gallen, Robert

2016-01-01

Many early childhood assessment practices involve table top testing that requires young children to behave like an adult (e.g., follow adult directives, attend to task, and answer questions). Research and professional policy standards have identified and mandated alternatives. Authentic assessment is the alternative to conventional testing…

Sexual Objectification of Women: Clinical Implications and Training Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szymanski, Dawn M.; Carr, Erika R.; Moffitt, Lauren B.

2011-01-01

This article focuses on the implications of theory and empirical research on the sexual objectification of women. Drawing largely from the American Psychological Association's 2007 "Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Girls and Women," the 2007 "Report of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls,"…

Microworlds for Learning Object-Oriented Programming: Considerations from Research to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Djelil, Fahima; Albouy-Kissi, Adelaide; Albouy-Kissi, Benjamin; Sanchez, Eric; Lavest, Jean-Marc

2016-01-01

Object-Oriented paradigm is a common paradigm for introductory programming courses. However, many teachers find that transitioning to teaching this paradigm is a difficult task. To overcome this complexity, many experienced teachers use microworlds to give beginner students an intuitive and rapid understanding of fundamental abstract concepts of…

Modelling Mathematics Problem Solving Item Responses Using a Multidimensional IRT Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Margaret; Adams, Raymond

2006-01-01

This research examined students' responses to mathematics problem-solving tasks and applied a general multidimensional IRT model at the response category level. In doing so, cognitive processes were identified and modelled through item response modelling to extract more information than would be provided using conventional practices in scoring…

Preparing to Prescribe: How Do Clerkship Students Learn in the Midst of Complexity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLellan, Lucy; Yardley, Sarah; Norris, Ben; de Bruin, Anique; Tully, Mary P.; Dornan, Tim

2015-01-01

Prescribing tasks, which involve pharmacological knowledge, clinical decision-making and practical skill, take place within unpredictable social environments and involve interactions within and between endlessly changing health care teams. Despite this, curriculum designers commonly assume them to be simple to learn and perform. This research used…

The California Language Census Survey: Field Methodology Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornejo, Ricardo; Nadeau, Adel

This is the first in a series of papers on research, development, and training for bilingual/multicultural education. The first two sections of the paper describe Task Force findings specifying remedies available for eliminating past educational practices ruled unlawful under Lau v Nichols, particularly the section dealing with identification of…

Defining, Designing for, and Measuring "Social Constructivist Digital Literacy" Development in Learners: A Proposed Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Rebecca

2016-01-01

This paper offers a newly conceptualized modular framework for digital literacy that defines this concept as a task-driven "social constructivist digital literacy," comprising 6 practice domains grounded in Constructionism and social constructivism: Create, Manage, Publish, Socialize, Research, Surf. The framework articulates possible…

Implementing the Science Assessment Standards: Developing and validating a set of laboratory assessment tasks in high school biology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Gouranga Chandra

Very often a number of factors, especially time, space and money, deter many science educators from using inquiry-based, hands-on, laboratory practical tasks as alternative assessment instruments in science. A shortage of valid inquiry-based laboratory tasks for high school biology has been cited. Driven by this need, this study addressed the following three research questions: (1) How can laboratory-based performance tasks be designed and developed that are doable by students for whom they are designed/written? (2) Do student responses to the laboratory-based performance tasks validly represent at least some of the intended process skills that new biology learning goals want students to acquire? (3) Are the laboratory-based performance tasks psychometrically consistent as individual tasks and as a set? To answer these questions, three tasks were used from the six biology tasks initially designed and developed by an iterative process of trial testing. Analyses of data from 224 students showed that performance-based laboratory tasks that are doable by all students require careful and iterative process of development. Although the students demonstrated more skill in performing than planning and reasoning, their performances at the item level were very poor for some items. Possible reasons for the poor performances have been discussed and suggestions on how to remediate the deficiencies have been made. Empirical evidences for validity and reliability of the instrument have been presented both from the classical and the modern validity criteria point of view. Limitations of the study have been identified. Finally implications of the study and directions for further research have been discussed.

Comparison of School Counselors and School Social Workers: Performance of Tasks and Perceived Preparedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldman, Matthew

2010-01-01

This study compares the professional roles of school counselors and school social workers in terms of the frequency of performing various practice tasks, feelings of preparedness to perform various practice tasks, discrepancies between frequency of task performance and feelings of preparedness to perform said tasks, and factors that may affect…

Teacher leadership in mathematics and science: Subject content knowledge and the improvement of instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manno, Christopher M.

This study explores the role of teacher leader subject content knowledge in the promotion of professional development and instructional reform. Consistent with a distributed leadership perspective, many have asserted that the promotion of school effectiveness can be enhanced through the application of teacher leadership (Frost & Durrant, 2003; Harris, 2002a; Sherrill, 1999; Silva, Gimbert, & Nolan, 2000; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). There has been much discussion in the research about the significance of teachers' subject content knowledge in teaching and learning which has generally asserted a positive relationship with instructional practice and student achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Newton & Newton, 2001; Parker & Heywood, 2000). The role of content knowledge in teacher leader work has been less researched. This study focused on deepening understanding of perceptions regarding teacher leaders' roles in improving instructional practice. Based on a framework of common teacher leader tasks, qualitative methods were used to investigate the relationship between teacher leader subject content knowledge and perceptions of effectiveness in promoting professional development and instructional reform. The study indicates that content experts behave differently than their non-expert counterparts. Content experts recognize deficiencies in colleagues' content knowledge as a primary problem in the implementation of math or science reform. Content experts view their work as advocacy for improved curriculum and instruction for all children, and work within a small set of task categories to promote discussions about teaching, learning, and content. Content experts develop trust and rapport with colleagues by demonstrating expertise, and are respected for their deep knowledge and efforts to help teachers learn the content. They also differ from non-content experts in the professional growth experiences in which they engage. The consideration of content expertise as an influence to teacher leader work helps to refine our conception of teacher leadership. A task-focused model of content expert teacher leadership is presented, and provides guidance for recruitment, selection, and development of future teacher leaders. Content expertise is presented as a form of human capital that promotes task-focused distributed leadership. Practical recommendations for future teacher leadership initiatives and suggestions for future research are presented.

Managing a new collaborative entity in business organizations: understanding organizational communities of practice effectiveness.

PubMed

Kirkman, Bradley L; Mathieu, John E; Cordery, John L; Rosen, Benson; Kukenberger, Michael

2011-11-01

Companies worldwide are turning to organizational communities of practice (OCoPs) as vehicles to generate learning and enhance organizational performance. OCoPs are defined as groups of employees who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who strengthen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on a consistent basis. To date, OCoP research has drawn almost exclusively from the community of practice (CoP) literature, even though the organizational form of CoPs shares attributes of traditional CoPs and of organizational teams. Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) original theory of legitimate peripheral participation, we integrate theory and research from CoPs and organizational teams to develop and empirically examine a model of OCoP effectiveness that includes constructs such as leadership, empowerment, the structure of tasks, and OCoP relevance to organizational effectiveness. Using data from 32 OCoPs in a U.S.-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, we found that external community leaders play an important role in enhancing OCoP empowerment, particularly to the extent that task interdependence is high. Empowerment, in turn, was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We also found that OCoPs designated as "core" by the organization (e.g., working on critical issues) were more effective than those that were noncore. Task interdependence also was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We provide scholars and practitioners with insights on how to effectively manage OCoPs in today's organizations. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Capacity for Cancer Care Delivery Research in National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program Community Practices: Availability of Radiology and Primary Care Research Partners.

PubMed

Carlos, Ruth C; Sicks, JoRean D; Chang, George J; Lyss, Alan P; Stewart, Teresa L; Sung, Lillian; Weaver, Kathryn E

2017-12-01

Cancer care spans the spectrum from screening and diagnosis through therapy and into survivorship. Delivering appropriate care requires patient transitions across multiple specialties, such as primary care, radiology, and oncology. From the program's inception, the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) sites were tasked with conducting cancer care delivery research (CCDR) that evaluates structural, organizational, and social factors, including care transitions that determine patient outcomes. The aim of this study is to describe the capacity of the NCORP to conduct multidisciplinary CCDR that includes radiology and primary care practices. The NCORP includes 34 community and 12 minority and underserved community sites. The Landscape Capacity Assessment was conducted in 2015 across these 46 sites, composed of the 401 components and subcomponents designated to conduct CCDR. Each respondent had the opportunity to designate an operational practice group, defined as a group of components and subcomponents with common care practices and resources. The primary outcomes were the proportion of adult oncology practice groups with affiliated radiology and primary care practices. The secondary outcomes were the proportion of those affiliated radiology and primary care groups that participate in research. Eighty-seven percent of components and subcomponents responded to at least some portion of the assessment, representing 230 practice groups. Analyzing the 201 adult oncology practice groups, 85% had affiliated radiologists, 69% of whom participate in research. Seventy-nine percent had affiliated primary care practitioners, 31% of whom participate in research. Institutional size, multidisciplinary group practice, and ownership by large regional or multistate health systems was associated with research participation by affiliated radiology and primary care groups. Research participation by these affiliated specialists was not significantly different between the community and the minority and underserved community sites. Research relationships exist between the majority of community oncology sites and affiliated radiology practices. Research relationships with affiliated primary care practices lagged. NCORP as a whole has the opportunity to encourage continued and expanded engagement where relationships exist. Where no relationship exists, the NCORP can encourage recruitment, particularly of primary care practices as partners. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Human Resources Task Group Report Task 3

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-12-18

AND ADDRESS(ES) Defense Business Board,1155 Defense Pentagon,Washington,DC,20301-1155 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING...2002 DEFENSE BUSINESS PRACTICE IMPLEMENTATION BOARD Defense Business Practice Implementation Board Human Resources Task Group...their hiring success and reduced attrition through use of aptitude and motivational testing. Defense Business Practice Implementation Board Human

Helping coaches apply the principles of representative learning design: validation of a tennis specific practice assessment tool.

PubMed

Krause, Lyndon; Farrow, Damian; Reid, Machar; Buszard, Tim; Pinder, Ross

2018-06-01

Representative Learning Design (RLD) is a framework for assessing the degree to which experimental or practice tasks simulate key aspects of specific performance environments (i.e. competition). The key premise being that when practice replicates the performance environment, skills are more likely to transfer. In applied situations, however, there is currently no simple or quick method for coaches to assess the key concepts of RLD (e.g. during on-court tasks). The aim of this study was to develop a tool for coaches to efficiently assess practice task design in tennis. A consensus-based tool was developed using a 4-round Delphi process with 10 academic and 13 tennis-coaching experts. Expert consensus was reached for the inclusion of seven items, each consisting of two sub-questions related to (i) the task goal and (ii) the relevance of the task to competition performance. The Representative Practice Assessment Tool (RPAT) is proposed for use in assessing and enhancing practice task designs in tennis to increase the functional coupling between information and movement, and to maximise the potential for skill transfer to competition contexts.

Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS)--explanation and elaboration: a report of the ISPOR Health Economic Evaluation Publication Guidelines Good Reporting Practices Task Force.

PubMed

Husereau, Don; Drummond, Michael; Petrou, Stavros; Carswell, Chris; Moher, David; Greenberg, Dan; Augustovski, Federico; Briggs, Andrew H; Mauskopf, Josephine; Loder, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

Economic evaluations of health interventions pose a particular challenge for reporting because substantial information must be conveyed to allow scrutiny of study findings. Despite a growth in published reports, existing reporting guidelines are not widely adopted. There is also a need to consolidate and update existing guidelines and promote their use in a user-friendly manner. A checklist is one way to help authors, editors, and peer reviewers use guidelines to improve reporting. The task force's overall goal was to provide recommendations to optimize the reporting of health economic evaluations. The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement is an attempt to consolidate and update previous health economic evaluation guidelines into one current, useful reporting guidance. The CHEERS Elaboration and Explanation Report of the ISPOR Health Economic Evaluation Publication Guidelines Good Reporting Practices Task Force facilitates the use of the CHEERS statement by providing examples and explanations for each recommendation. The primary audiences for the CHEERS statement are researchers reporting economic evaluations and the editors and peer reviewers assessing them for publication. The need for new reporting guidance was identified by a survey of medical editors. Previously published checklists or guidance documents related to reporting economic evaluations were identified from a systematic review and subsequent survey of task force members. A list of possible items from these efforts was created. A two-round, modified Delphi Panel with representatives from academia, clinical practice, industry, and government, as well as the editorial community, was used to identify a minimum set of items important for reporting from the larger list. Out of 44 candidate items, 24 items and accompanying recommendations were developed, with some specific recommendations for single study-based and model-based economic evaluations. The final recommendations are subdivided into six main categories: 1) title and abstract, 2) introduction, 3) methods, 4) results, 5) discussion, and 6) other. The recommendations are contained in the CHEERS statement, a user-friendly 24-item checklist. The task force report provides explanation and elaboration, as well as an example for each recommendation. The ISPOR CHEERS statement is available online via Value in Health or the ISPOR Health Economic Evaluation Publication Guidelines Good Reporting Practices - CHEERS Task Force webpage (http://www.ispor.org/TaskForces/EconomicPubGuidelines.asp). We hope that the ISPOR CHEERS statement and the accompanying task force report guidance will lead to more consistent and transparent reporting, and ultimately, better health decisions. To facilitate wider dissemination and uptake of this guidance, we are copublishing the CHEERS statement across 10 health economics and medical journals. We encourage other journals and groups to consider endorsing the CHEERS statement. The author team plans to review the checklist for an update in 5 years. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Summary of Important Documents in the Field of Research Ethics

PubMed Central

Fischer, Bernard A

2006-01-01

Today's researchers are obligated to conduct their studies ethically. However, it often seems a daunting task to become familiar with the important ethical codes required to do so. The purpose of this article is to examine the content of those ethical documents most relevant to the biomedical researcher. Documents examined include the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, Henry Beecher's landmark paper, the Belmont Report, the U.S. Common Rule, the Guideline for Good Clinical Practice, and the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's report on research protections for the mentally ill. PMID:16192409

Aerospace Technology Innovation. Volume 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Janelle (Editor); Cousins, Liz (Editor)

2001-01-01

Commercializing technology is a daunting task. Of every 11 new product ideas, only one will successfully make it to the marketplace. Fully 46% of new product investment becomes sunk in cost. Yet, a few good companies consistently attain an 80% technology commercialization success rate and have lead the way in establishing best practices. The NASA Incubator program consists of nine incubators, each residing near a NASA research center. The purpose of the incubators is to use the best practices is to use the best practices of technology commercialization to help early stage businesses successfully launch new products that incorporate NASA technology.

Functional brain activation associated with working memory training and transfer.

PubMed

Clark, Cameron M; Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M

2017-09-15

While behavioural trials of working memory (WM) training have received much attention in recent years, a lesser explored parallel approach is functional neuroimaging. A small literature has suggested a complex time course for functional activation pattern changes following WM training (i.e. not simply increasing or decreasing due to training); however, no study to date has examined such neuroplastic effects in both the training task (dual n-back) and the fluid intelligence transfer task to which the training is purported to transfer (Raven's Matrices). This study investigated neural correlates of WM training in healthy young adults randomized to six weeks of WM training, or an active control condition (processing speed training) with a pre- and post-training fMRI design. Results indicated significant reductions in activation for the WM trained group in key WM-task related areas for trained WM tasks after training compared to the processing speed active control group. The same pattern of training related decreases in activation for the WM trained group was not observed for the transfer task, which is consistent with null results for all cognitive outcomes of the present trial. The observed pattern of results suggests that repetitive practice with a complex task does indeed lead to neuroplastic processes that very likely represent the reduced demand for attentional control while sub-components of the task become more routinized with practice. We suggest that future research investigate neural correlates of WM training in populations for which WM itself is impaired and/or behavioural trials of WM training have returned more promising results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conducting a Discrete-Choice Experiment Study Following Recommendations for Good Research Practices: An Application for Eliciting Patient Preferences for Diabetes Treatments.

PubMed

Janssen, Ellen M; Hauber, A Brett; Bridges, John F P

2018-01-01

To consolidate and illustrate good research practices in health care to the application and reporting of a study measuring patient preferences for type 2 diabetes mellitus medications, given recent methodological advances in stated-preference methods. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research good research practices and other recommendations were used to conduct a discrete-choice experiment. Members of a US online panel with type 2 diabetes mellitus completed a Web-enabled, self-administered survey that elicited choices between treatment pairs with six attributes at three possible levels each. A D-efficient experimental design blocked 48 choice tasks into three 16-task surveys. Preference estimates were obtained using mixed logit estimation and were used to calculate choice probabilities. A total of 552 participants (51% males) completed the survey. Avoiding 90 minutes of nausea was valued the highest (mean -10.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] -10.53 to -9.47). Participants wanted to avoid low blood glucose during the day and/or night (mean -3.87; 95% CI -4.32 to -3.42) or one pill and one injection per day (mean -7.04; 95% CI -7.63 to -6.45). Participants preferred stable blood glucose 6 d/wk (mean 4.63; 95% CI 4.15 to 5.12) and a 1% decrease in glycated hemoglobin (mean 5.74; 95% CI 5.22 to 6.25). If cost increased by $1, the probability that a treatment profile would be chosen decreased by 1%. These results are consistent with the idea that people have strong preferences for immediate consequences of medication. Despite efforts to produce recommendations, ambiguity surrounding good practices remains and various judgments need to be made when conducting stated-preference studies. To ensure transparency, these judgments should be described and justified. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigating Assessment Bias for Constructed Response Explanation Tasks: Implications for Evaluating Performance Expectations for Scientific Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Federer, Meghan Rector

Assessment is a key element in the process of science education teaching and research. Understanding sources of performance bias in science assessment is a major challenge for science education reforms. Prior research has documented several limitations of instrument types on the measurement of students' scientific knowledge (Liu et al., 2011; Messick, 1995; Popham, 2010). Furthermore, a large body of work has been devoted to reducing assessment biases that distort inferences about students' science understanding, particularly in multiple-choice [MC] instruments. Despite the above documented biases, much has yet to be determined for constructed response [CR] assessments in biology and their use for evaluating students' conceptual understanding of scientific practices (such as explanation). Understanding differences in science achievement provides important insights into whether science curricula and/or assessments are valid representations of student abilities. Using the integrative framework put forth by the National Research Council (2012), this dissertation aimed to explore whether assessment biases occur for assessment practices intended to measure students' conceptual understanding and proficiency in scientific practices. Using a large corpus of undergraduate biology students' explanations, three studies were conducted to examine whether known biases of MC instruments were also apparent in a CR instrument designed to assess students' explanatory practice and understanding of evolutionary change (ACORNS: Assessment of COntextual Reasoning about Natural Selection). The first study investigated the challenge of interpreting and scoring lexically ambiguous language in CR answers. The incorporation of 'multivalent' terms into scientific discourse practices often results in statements or explanations that are difficult to interpret and can produce faulty inferences about student knowledge. The results of this study indicate that many undergraduate biology majors frequently incorporate multivalent concepts into explanations of change, resulting in explanatory practices that were scientifically non-normative. However, use of follow-up question approaches was found to resolve this source of bias and thereby increase the validity of inferences about student understanding. The second study focused on issues of item and instrument structure, specifically item feature effects and item position effects, which have been shown to influence measures of student performance across assessment tasks. Results indicated that, along the instrument item sequence, items with similar surface features produced greater sequencing effects than sequences of items with dissimilar surface features. This bias could be addressed by use of a counterbalanced design (i.e., Latin Square) at the population level of analysis. Explanation scores were also highly correlated with student verbosity, despite verbosity being an intrinsically trivial aspect of explanation quality. Attempting to standardize student response length was one proposed solution to the verbosity bias. The third study explored gender differences in students' performance on constructed-response explanation tasks using impact (i.e., mean raw scores) and differential item function (i.e., item difficulties) patterns. While prior research in science education has suggested that females tend to perform better on constructed-response items, the results of this study revealed no overall differences in gender achievement. However, evaluation of specific item features patterns suggested that female respondents have a slight advantage on unfamiliar explanation tasks. That is, male students tended to incorporate fewer scientifically normative concepts (i.e., key concepts) than females for unfamiliar taxa. Conversely, females tended to incorporate more scientifically non-normative ideas (i.e., naive ideas) than males for familiar taxa. Together these results indicate that gender achievement differences for this CR instrument may be a result of differences in how males and females interpret and respond to combinations of item features. Overall, the results presented in the subsequent chapters suggest that as science education shifts toward the evaluation of fused scientific knowledge and practice (e.g., explanation), it is essential that educators and researchers investigate potential sources of bias inherent to specific assessment practices. This dissertation revealed significant sources of CR assessment bias, and provided solutions to address these problems.

Musical expertise has minimal impact on dual task performance.

PubMed

Cocchini, Gianna; Filardi, Maria Serena; Crhonkova, Marcela; Halpern, Andrea R

2017-05-01

Studies investigating effect of practice on dual task performance have yielded conflicting findings, thus supporting different theoretical accounts about the organisation of attentional resources when tasks are performed simultaneously. Because practice has been proven to reduce the demand of attention for the trained task, the impact of long-lasting training on one task is an ideal way to better understand the mechanisms underlying dual task decline in performance. Our study compared performance during dual task execution in expert musicians compared to controls with little if any musical experience. Participants performed a music recognition task and a visuo-spatial task separately (single task) or simultaneously (dual task). Both groups showed a significant but similar performance decline during dual tasks. In addition, the two groups showed a similar decline of dual task performance during encoding and retrieval of the musical information, mainly attributed to a decline in sensitivity. Our results suggest that attention during dual tasks is similarly distributed by expert and non-experts. These findings are in line with previous studies showing a lack of sensitivity to difficulty and lack of practice effect during dual tasks, supporting the idea that different tasks may rely on different and not-sharable attentional resources.

Imaging of the small intestine in Crohn's disease: Joint position statement of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology and Indian Radiological and Imaging Association.

PubMed

Kedia, Saurabh; Sharma, Raju; Makharia, Govind K; Ahuja, Vineet; Desai, Devendra; Kandasamy, Devasenathipathy; Eapen, Anu; Ganesan, Karthik; Ghoshal, Uday C; Kalra, Naveen; Karthikeyan, D; Madhusudhan, Kumble Seetharama; Philip, Mathew; Puri, Amarender Singh; Puri, Sunil; Sinha, Saroj K; Banerjee, Rupa; Bhatia, Shobna; Bhat, Naresh; Dadhich, Sunil; Dhali, G K; Goswami, B D; Issar, S K; Jayanthi, V; Misra, S P; Nijhawan, Sandeep; Puri, Pankaj; Sarkar, Avik; Singh, S P; Srivastava, Anshu; Abraham, Philip; Ramakrishna, B S

2017-11-01

The Indian Society of Gastroenterology (ISG) Task Force on Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) developed combined ISG-IRIA evidence-based best-practice guidelines for imaging of the small intestine in patients with suspected or known Crohn's disease. These 29 position statements, developed through a modified Delphi process, are intended to serve as reference for teaching, clinical practice, and research.

Good research practices for measuring drug costs in cost-effectiveness analyses: an international perspective: the ISPOR Drug Cost Task Force report--Part VI.

PubMed

Shi, Lizheng; Hodges, Meredith; Drummond, Michael; Ahn, Jeonghoon; Li, Shu Chuen; Hu, Shanlian; Augustovski, Federico; Hay, Joel W; Smeeding, Jim

2010-01-01

The pharmacoeconomic guidelines available in the literature or promulgated in many countries are either vague or silent about how drug costs should be established or measured so an international comparison of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) results can be made. The objective of this report is to provide guidance and recommendations on how drug costs should be measured for CEAs done from an internationally comparative perspective. Members of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Task Force on Good Research Practices-Use of Drug Costs for Cost Effectiveness Analysis (Drug Cost Task Force [DCTF]) subgroup from several countries were experienced developers or users of CEA models, and worked in academia, industry, and as advisors to governments. They solicited comments on drafts from a core group of 174 external reviewers and more broadly, from the members of the ISPOR at the ISPOR 12th Annual International meeting and via the ISPOR Web site. Drug units should be standardized in terms of volume of active ingredient, regardless of packaging and dosing strength variations across countries. Drug costs should be measured in local currency per unit of active ingredient and should be converted to other currencies using sensitivity analyses of purchasing power parities (PPP) and exchange rates, whichever is more appropriate. When using drug prices from different years, the consumer price index for the local currency should be applied before the PPP and/or exchange rate conversion. CEA researchers conducting international pharmacoeconomic analysis should tailor the appropriate measure of drug costs to the international perspective, to maintain clarity and transparency on drug cost measurement in the context of international drug comparison and report the sensitivity of CEA results to reasonable cost conversions.

Examining the effects of an eco-driving message on driver distraction.

PubMed

Rouzikhah, Hossein; King, Mark; Rakotonirainy, Andry

2013-01-01

This paper examines the effects of an eco-driving message on driver distraction. Two in-vehicle distracter tasks were compared with an eco-driving task and a baseline task in an advanced driving simulator. N=22 subjects were asked to perform an eco-driving, CD changing, and a navigation task while engaged in critical manoeuvres during which they were expected to respond to a peripheral detection task (PDT) with total duration of 3.5h. The study involved two sessions over two consecutive days. The results show that drivers' mental workloads are significantly higher during navigation and CD changing tasks in comparison to the two other scenarios. However, eco-driving mental workload is still marginally significant (p∼.05) across different manoeuvres. Similarly, event detection tasks show that drivers miss significantly more events in the navigation and CD changing scenarios in comparison to both the baseline and eco-driving scenario. Analysis of the practice effect shows that drivers' baseline scenario and navigation scenario exhibit significantly less demand on the second day. Drivers also can detect significantly more events on the second day for all scenarios. The authors conclude that even reading a simple message while driving could potentially lead to missing an important event, especially when executing critical manoeuvres. However, there is some evidence of a practice effect which suggests that future research should focus on performance with habitual rather than novel tasks. It is recommended that sending text as an eco-driving message analogous to the study circumstances should not be delivered to drivers on-line when vehicle is in motion. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Policy Studies Series: Japanese Technology Policy: What’s the Secret?

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-02-01

producers, while subsidies , tax incentives and loan programs provide incentives for Japanese industry to invest in and develop technology. These practices...Education [J Science and Technology Agency 0 MITI 234 12 Defense Agency o Ministry of Agric ., For. & Fish - Ministry of HeallhuWelfare 0 Min. of Posts and...34 The primary task of consortia is information exchange and coordination of a research agenda, not actual joint research. They are most effective in

Functional evaluation of out-of-the-box text-mining tools for data-mining tasks.

PubMed

Jung, Kenneth; LePendu, Paea; Iyer, Srinivasan; Bauer-Mehren, Anna; Percha, Bethany; Shah, Nigam H

2015-01-01

The trade-off between the speed and simplicity of dictionary-based term recognition and the richer linguistic information provided by more advanced natural language processing (NLP) is an area of active discussion in clinical informatics. In this paper, we quantify this trade-off among text processing systems that make different trade-offs between speed and linguistic understanding. We tested both types of systems in three clinical research tasks: phase IV safety profiling of a drug, learning adverse drug-drug interactions, and learning used-to-treat relationships between drugs and indications. We first benchmarked the accuracy of the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL in a manually annotated, publically available dataset from the 2008 i2b2 Obesity Challenge. We then applied the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL to 9 million clinical notes from the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment (STRIDE) and used the resulting data for three research tasks. There is no significant difference between using the NCBO Annotator and REVEAL in the results of the three research tasks when using large datasets. In one subtask, REVEAL achieved higher sensitivity with smaller datasets. For a variety of tasks, employing simple term recognition methods instead of advanced NLP methods results in little or no impact on accuracy when using large datasets. Simpler dictionary-based methods have the advantage of scaling well to very large datasets. Promoting the use of simple, dictionary-based methods for population level analyses can advance adoption of NLP in practice. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Rapid-Response Impulsivity: Definitions, Measurement Issues, and Clinical Implications

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Kristen R.; Littlefield, Andrew K.; Anastasio, Noelle C.; Cunningham, Kathryn A.; Fink, Latham H.; Wing, Victoria C.; Mathias, Charles W.; Lane, Scott D.; Schutz, Christian; Swann, Alan C.; Lejuez, C.W.; Clark, Luke; Moeller, F. Gerard; Potenza, Marc N.

2015-01-01

Impulsivity is a multi-faceted construct that is a core feature of multiple psychiatric conditions and personality disorders. However, progress in understanding and treating impulsivity in the context of these conditions is limited by a lack of precision and consistency in its definition and assessment. Rapid-response-impulsivity (RRI) represents a tendency toward immediate action that occurs with diminished forethought and is out of context with the present demands of the environment. Experts from the International Society for Research on Impulsivity (InSRI) met to discuss and evaluate RRI-measures in terms of reliability, sensitivity, and validity with the goal of helping researchers and clinicians make informed decisions about the use and interpretation of findings from RRI-measures. Their recommendations are described in this manuscript. Commonly-used clinical and preclinical RRI-tasks are described, and considerations are provided to guide task selection. Tasks measuring two conceptually and neurobiologically distinct types of RRI, “refraining from action initiation” (RAI) and “stopping an ongoing action” (SOA) are described. RAI and SOA-tasks capture distinct aspects of RRI that may relate to distinct clinical outcomes. The InSRI group recommends that: 1) selection of RRI-measures should be informed by careful consideration of the strengths, limitations, and practical considerations of the available measures; 2) researchers use both RAI and SOA tasks in RRI studies to allow for direct comparison of RRI types and examination of their associations with clinically relevant measures; and, 3) similar considerations should be made for human and non-human studies in an effort to harmonize and integrate pre-clinical and clinical research. PMID:25867840

Physical Activity Predicts Performance in an Unpracticed Bimanual Coordination Task.

PubMed

Boisgontier, Matthieu P; Serbruyns, Leen; Swinnen, Stephan P

2017-01-01

Practice of a given physical activity is known to improve the motor skills related to this activity. However, whether unrelated skills are also improved is still unclear. To test the impact of physical activity on an unpracticed motor task, 26 young adults completed the international physical activity questionnaire and performed a bimanual coordination task they had never practiced before. Results showed that higher total physical activity predicted higher performance in the bimanual task, controlling for multiple factors such as age, physical inactivity, music practice, and computer games practice. Linear mixed models allowed this effect of physical activity to be generalized to a large population of bimanual coordination conditions. This finding runs counter to the notion that generalized motor abilities do not exist and supports the existence of a "learning to learn" skill that could be improved through physical activity and that impacts performance in tasks that are not necessarily related to the practiced activity.

Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Psychologist, 2006

2006-01-01

The evidence-based practice movement has become an important feature of health care systems and health care policy. Within this context, the APA 2005 Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice defines and discusses evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP). In an integration of science and practice, the Task Force's report describes…

Practice and Experience of Task Management of University Students: Case of University of Tsukuba, Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fukuzawa, Ryoko; Joho, Hideo; Maeshiro, Tetsuya

2015-01-01

This paper reports the results of a survey that investigated the practice and experience of task management of university students. A total of 202 tasks identified by 24 university students were analyzed. The results suggest that participants had a reasonable sense of priority of tasks, that they tend to perceive a task as a big chunk, not a…

Evaluation of Visual Analytics Environments: The Road to the Visual Analytics Science and Technology Challenge Evaluation Methodology

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

Scholtz, Jean; Plaisant, Catherine; Whiting, Mark A.

The evaluation of visual analytics environments was a topic in Illuminating the Path [Thomas 2005] as a critical aspect of moving research into practice. For a thorough understanding of the utility of the systems available, evaluation not only involves assessing the visualizations, interactions or data processing algorithms themselves, but also the complex processes that a tool is meant to support (such as exploratory data analysis and reasoning, communication through visualization, or collaborative data analysis [Lam 2012; Carpendale 2007]). Researchers and practitioners in the field have long identified many of the challenges faced when planning, conducting, and executing an evaluation ofmore » a visualization tool or system [Plaisant 2004]. Evaluation is needed to verify that algorithms and software systems work correctly and that they represent improvements over the current infrastructure. Additionally to effectively transfer new software into a working environment, it is necessary to ensure that the software has utility for the end-users and that the software can be incorporated into the end-user’s infrastructure and work practices. Evaluation test beds require datasets, tasks, metrics and evaluation methodologies. As noted in [Thomas 2005] it is difficult and expensive for any one researcher to setup an evaluation test bed so in many cases evaluation is setup for communities of researchers or for various research projects or programs. Examples of successful community evaluations can be found [Chinchor 1993; Voorhees 2007; FRGC 2012]. As visual analytics environments are intended to facilitate the work of human analysts, one aspect of evaluation needs to focus on the utility of the software to the end-user. This requires representative users, representative tasks, and metrics that measure the utility to the end-user. This is even more difficult as now one aspect of the test methodology is access to representative end-users to participate in the evaluation. In many cases the sensitive nature of data and tasks and difficult access to busy analysts puts even more of a burden on researchers to complete this type of evaluation. User-centered design goes beyond evaluation and starts with the user [Beyer 1997, Shneiderman 2009]. Having some knowledge of the type of data, tasks, and work practices helps researchers and developers know the correct paths to pursue in their work. When access to the end-users is problematic at best and impossible at worst, user-centered design becomes difficult. Researchers are unlikely to go to work on the type of problems faced by inaccessible users. Commercial vendors have difficulties evaluating and improving their products when they cannot observe real users working with their products. In well-established fields such as web site design or office software design, user-interface guidelines have been developed based on the results of empirical studies or the experience of experts. Guidelines can speed up the design process and replace some of the need for observation of actual users [heuristics review references]. In 2006 when the visual analytics community was initially getting organized, no such guidelines existed. Therefore, we were faced with the problem of developing an evaluation framework for the field of visual analytics that would provide representative situations and datasets, representative tasks and utility metrics, and finally a test methodology which would include a surrogate for representative users, increase interest in conducting research in the field, and provide sufficient feedback to the researchers so that they could improve their systems.« less

Interactive effects of team cohesion on perceived efficacy in semi-professional sport.

PubMed

Marcos, Francisco Miguel Leo; Miguel, Pedro Antonio Sánchez; Oliva, David Sánchez; Calvo, Tomás García

2010-01-01

The present study examined the relationships among cohesion, self-efficacy, coaches' perceptions of their players' efficacy at the individual level and athletes' perceptions of their teammates' efficacy. Participants (n = 76) recruited from four semi- professional soccer and basketball teams completed cohesiveness and efficacy questionnaires who. Data were analyzed through a correlational methodology. Results indicated significant correlations between self-efficacy and task cohesion and social cohesion. Regression analysis results suggest task cohesion positively related to coaches and teammate's perception of efficacy. These results have implications for practitioners in terms of the importance of team building to enhance team cohesion and feelings of efficacy. Key pointsThis paper increases the knowledge about soccer and basketball match analysis.Give normative values to establish practice and match objectives.Give applications ideas to connect research with coaches' practice.

Undergraduate Reflective Journaling in Work Integrated Learning: Is It Relevant to Professional Practice?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edgar, Susan; Francis-Coad, Jacqueline; Connaughton, Joanne

2013-01-01

This paper presents the research findings from a study reviewing graduates' opinions on completing online reflective journaling tasks during work integrated learning as an undergraduate. The study was divided into two parts with an initial focus group conducted with six physiotherapy graduates seven months following graduation. Findings from the…

Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Complexes with Schiff Base Ligands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkinson, Shane M.; Sheedy, Timothy M.; New, Elizabeth J.

2016-01-01

In order for undergraduate laboratory experiments to reflect modern research practice, it is essential that they include a range of elements, and that synthetic tasks are accompanied by characterization and analysis. This intermediate general chemistry laboratory exercise runs over 2 weeks, and involves the preparation of a Schiff base ligand and…

Practices & Problems in Competency-Based Measurement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunda, Mary Anne, Ed.; Sanders, James R., Ed.

Three basic areas of definition, measurement, and research, voiced as concerns by members of the National Council of Measurement in Education (NCME) to its Task Force on Measurement Problems in Competency-Based Programs, are used as an organizer for a sponsored symposia and the papers in this monograph. The problem of the definition of competency…

Learning Your Kids: An Action Research Approach to Home Visits and Teacher Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polson, Bilal

2013-01-01

Due to demographic shifts suburban schools are having difficulty meeting the needs of students of immigrant, poor and working class families. Schools are forced with the difficult task of closing learning gaps with students who may have difficult circumstances. Literature indicates fostering a healthy home/school connection by conducting…

Cluster: Drafting. Course: Basic Technical Drafting. Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanford - Lee County Schools, NC.

The set of six units is designed for use with an instructor in basic technical drafting and is also keyed to other texts. Each unit contains several task packages specifying prerequisites, rationale for learning, objectives, learning activities to be supervised by the instructor, and learning practice. The units cover: pictorial drawing; screw…

Using Simulation to Support Novice Teachers' Classroom Management Skills: Comparing Traditional and Alternative Certification Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pankowski, Jennifer; Walker, Joan T.

2016-01-01

Drawing from research on situated cognition and the development of expertise and simulations in professional education, we designed two simulation tasks that provided novice teachers with repeated opportunities to deliberately practice managing a classroom under no-fault conditions. The simulations immersed novices in two perennial classroom…

Emotions in Group Work: Insights from an Appraisal-Oriented Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zschocke, Karen; Wosnitza, Marold; Bürger, Kathrin

2016-01-01

Small group work is common practice in higher education. However, empirical research on students' emotions related to group work is still relatively scarce. Particularly, little is known about students' appraisals of a group task as antecedents of emotions arising in the context of group work. This paper provides a first attempt to systematically…

Special Educators' Perceptions on Effective Preparation and Practice for Student Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liese, Aerial Anne

2018-01-01

Alternative school settings are success prospects for students at risk of school failure. However, research on the daily experiences of the special educators in alternate school settings tasked with educating the at-risk population, is limited. The purpose of this phenomenological study was (a) to recognize the perceptions of special educators…

Development and application of a community sustainability visualization tool through integration of US EPA’s Sustainable and Health Community Research Program tasks

EPA Science Inventory

Maintaining a harmonious balance between economic, social, and environmental well-being is paramount to community sustainability. Communities need a practical/usable suite of measures to assess their current position on a "surface" of sustainability created from the interaction ...

Student Adoption & Development of Digital Learning Media: Action Research and Recommended Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabor, Sharon W.; Minch, Robert P.

2013-01-01

Digital technologies offer many opportunities for creating engaging course content. In this study we captured student perceptions and adoption choices related to creating and using digital media as learning tools. Podcasts, video and other media were integrated in a variety of contexts and tasks in two undergraduate information technology (IT)…

Making Sense of Education: Sensory Ethnography and Visual Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Ceri

2017-01-01

Education involves the engagement of the full range of the senses in the accomplishment of tasks and the learning of knowledge and skills. However both in pedagogical practices and in the process of educational research, there has been a tendency to privilege the visual. To explore these issues, detailed sensory ethnographic fieldwork was…

Teaching Qualitative Research: Using Theory to Inform Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallee, Margaret W.

2010-01-01

This article considers how theories of instructional scaffolding--which call for a skilled expert to teach a novice a new task by breaking it into smaller pieces--might be employed in graduate-level qualitative methods courses. The author discusses how she used instructional scaffolding in the design and delivery of a qualitative methods course…

The App Map: A Tool for Systematic Evaluation of Apps for Early Literacy Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Israelson, Madeleine Heins

2015-01-01

As portable devices become increasingly available in elementary classrooms teachers are expected to use these new technologies to engage students in both traditional print-based literacy learning and digital literacies practices, such as multimodal composing. Teachers face the daunting task of integrating apps into their current research-based…

Delivering Sustainable Practice? A Case Study of the Scottish Active Schools Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Gavin

2009-01-01

Since 1999, concerns about Scotland's future health and economic performance have profoundly impacted on the new Scottish Executive. Research highlighting an obesity crisis facing young Scots has, together with the work of Scotland's Physical Activity Task Force and Physical Education Review Group, encouraged the education of all young Scots to be…

Effects of Sleep on Performance of a Keyboard Melody

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Amy L.; Duke, Robert A.

2006-01-01

Recent research has shown that both the speed and accuracy of novel motor skills improve during sleep in a process called consolidation. Such off-line learning in the absence of practice as yet has been experimentally observed only with learners performing relatively simple tasks. In the experiment we report here, we tested whether experienced…

Success Modulates Consolidation of a Visuomotor Adaptation Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trempe, Maxime; Sabourin, Maxime; Proteau, Luc

2012-01-01

Consolidation is a time-dependent process that is responsible for the storage of information in long-term memory. As such, it plays a crucial role in motor learning. Prior research suggests that some consolidation processes are triggered only when the learner experiences some success during practice. In the present study, we tested whether…

Addressing Religious Plurality--A Teacher Perspective on Minority Religion and Secular Ethics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zilliacus, Harriet

2013-01-01

The Finnish education system recognizes religious plurality by offering education in pupils' own religion or in secular ethics. However, little research has been undertaken on how plurality is addressed in classroom practice. This study investigates how 31 minority religion and secular ethics teachers view the task of supporting and including…

Authentic Integration: A Model for Integrating Mathematics and Science in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treacy, Páraic; O'Donoghue, John

2014-01-01

Attempts at integrating mathematics and science have been made previously but no definitive, widely adopted teaching model has been developed to date. Research suggests that hands-on, practical, student-centred tasks should form a central element when designing an effective model for the integration of mathematics and science. Aided by this…

Can We Reduce Our Implicit Prejudice toward Persons with Disability? The Challenge of Meditation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schimchowitsch, Sarah; Rohmer, Odile

2016-01-01

The present research further extends recent data revealing implicit attitude towards persons with disability, with the aim to explore if meditation practice can reduce automatic mental processes initiating prejudice. Forty adult experienced meditators and 34 meditation-naïve individuals performed an evaluative priming task. None of them presented…

Bi-Stability of Movement Coordination as a Function of Skill Level and Task Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yeou-Teh; Mayer-Kress, Gottfried; Newell, Karl M.

2010-01-01

This study investigated whether the level of practice interacts with the initial conditions (here manipulated as preparatory movements) and task difficulty (ball angular velocity and friction) in determining the stability of movement coordination for a roller ball motor task. Practice level and task difficulty were manipulated as two control…

Transfer of training between distinct motor tasks after stroke: implications for task-specific approaches to upper-extremity neurorehabilitation.

PubMed

Schaefer, Sydney Y; Patterson, Chavelle B; Lang, Catherine E

2013-09-01

Although task-specific training is emerging as a viable approach for recovering motor function after stroke, there is little evidence for whether the effects of such training transfer to other functional motor tasks not directly practiced in therapy. The purpose of the current study was to test whether training on one motor task in individuals with chronic hemiparesis poststroke would transfer to untrained tasks that were either spatiotemporally similar or different. In all, 11 participants with chronic mild to moderate hemiparesis following stroke completed 5 days of supervised massed practice of a feeding task with their affected side. Performance on the feeding task, along with 2 other untrained functional upper-extremity motor tasks (sorting, dressing) was assessed before and after training. Performance of all 3 tasks improved significantly after training exclusively on 1 motor task. The amount of improvement in the untrained tasks was comparable and was not dependent on the degree of similarity to the trained task. Because the number and type of tasks that can be practiced are often limited within standard stroke rehabilitation, results from this study will be useful for designing task-specific training plans to maximize therapy benefits.

Elementary science education: Dilemmas facing preservice teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan, Sherry Elaine

Prospective teachers are involved in a process of induction into a culture of teaching that has rules, or codes of conduct for engaging in teaching practice. This same culture of teaching exists within a larger culture of schooling that also has values and norms for behaviors, that over time have become institutionalized. Teacher educators are faced with the challenging task of preparing preservice teachers to resolve dilemmas that arise from conflicts between the pressure to adopt traditional teaching practices of schooling, or to adopt inquiry-based teaching practices from their university methods classes. One task for researchers in teacher education is to define with greater precision what factors within the culture of schooling hinder or facilitate implementation of inquiry-based methods of science teaching in schools. That task is the focus of this study. A qualitative study was undertaken using a naturalistic research paradigm introduced by Lincoln and Guba in 1985. Participant observation, interviews, discourse analysis of videotapes of lessons from the methods classroom and written artifacts produced by prospective teachers during the semester formed the basis of a grounded theory based on inductive analysis and emergent design. Unstructured interviews were used to negotiate outcomes with participants. Brief case reports of key participants were also written. This study identified three factors that facilitated or hindered the prospective teachers in this research success in implementing inquiry-based science teaching in their field placement classrooms: (a) the culture of teaching/teacher role-socialization, (b) the culture of schooling and its resistance to change, and (c) the culture of teacher education, especially in regards to grades and academic standing. Some recommendations for overcoming these persistent obstacles to best practice in elementary science teaching include: (a) preparing prospective teachers to understand and cope with change processes, (b) to understand the nature of teaching and schooling, and (c) to understand the nature of teacher education itself through explicit discourse about these topics. In addition, development of greater partnerships among university faculty and schools though Partnership School models and other community-building efforts can afford prospective teachers more opportunities to enter the discourse; perhaps even as change agents.

Delegation knowledge and practice among rehabilitation nurses.

PubMed

White, Mary Joe; Gutierrez, Ann; Davis, Kerry; Olson, Rhonda; McLaughlin, Celeste

2011-01-01

Delegation is an essential process that allows nurses to function more effectively and efficiently. The Association of Rehabilitation Nurses' (ARN) Southeast Texas Chapter research committee developed a survey to study registered nurses (RN) practices and knowledge of delegation to unlicensed assistive personnel. State boards of nursing determine delegation practices, so the survey was sent only to Texas ARN members. Benners' Novice to Expert theory was used to study delegation practices based on years of experience, certification, and education. Survey Monkey was used with a questionnaire developed by the research committee. Descriptive statistics analyzed data from the survey's 73 respondents, and chi-square measured significance of differences based on years of experience and certification (yes or no). Data show that delegation knowledge does not necessarily translate to practice, especially when looking at specific tasks performed by certified rehabilitation registered nurses (CRRNs) and non-CRRNs. The data support continued study of this important issue; 93.7% of respondents say delegation requires further discussion.

Within-session and one-week practice effects on a motor task in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Schaefer, Sydney Y; Duff, Kevin

2017-06-01

Practice effects on neuropsychological tests, which are improvements in test scores due to repeated exposure to testing materials, are robust in healthy elders, but muted in older adults with cognitive disorders. Conversely, few studies have investigated practice effects on motor tasks involving procedural memory, particularly across test-retest periods exceeding 24 hours. The current study examined one-week practice effects on a novel upper extremity motor task in 54 older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Results indicate that these individuals with primary memory deficits did improve on this motor task within a brief training session as well as across one week. These practice effects were unrelated to demographic characteristics or global cognition. One-week practice effects were, however, negatively related to delayed memory function, with larger practice effects being associated with poorer delayed memory and potentially better visuospatial ability. The presence of longer term practice effects on a procedural motor task not only has implications for how longitudinal assessments with similar measures involving implicit memory might be interpreted, but may also inform future rehabilitative strategies for patients with more severe declarative memory deficits.

Positioning occupational therapy as a discipline on the research continuum: results of a cross-sectional survey of research experience.

PubMed

Pighills, Alison C; Plummer, David; Harvey, Desley; Pain, Tilley

2013-08-01

Evidence-based practice and research are beginning and endpoints on a research continuum. Progression along the continuum builds research capacity. Occupational Therapy has a low evidence base, thus, clinicians are not implementing evidence-based practice or publishing research. Barriers to implementing evidence-based practice and engaging in research include a lack of confidence. This research gauged Occupational Therapists' research experience, support needs and barriers, and compared levels of research anxiety between allied health disciplines. A cross-sectional survey was sent to Health Practitioners in northern Queensland in May-June 2011. Responses about experience, support needs and barriers, between Occupational Therapists, were analysed using Chi-square 'goodness of fit' tests. Multivariate analysis compared responses between disciplines about research anxiety. This paper reports results for the subset of Occupational Therapists. The whole population, consisting of 152 Occupational Therapists, was sent a questionnaire, from which 86 responded. More Occupational Therapists than not had experience of evidence-based practice and less support was required, but they had little experience of producing research and required more support. The amount of support required for activities along the research continuum was inversely related to the level of experience in these tasks. Barriers included lack of staff and time. Occupational Therapists were more anxious about research (53 of 79, 67%) than all other Health Practitioner disciplines combined (170 of 438, 39%, P < 0.0001). A cohesive strategy should focus on consolidating Occupational Therapists' evidence-based practice skills and building confidence. Clinicians wishing to engage in research need access to academic support. Academics and clinicians should work closely to produce clinically relevant research. © 2013 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Standardized Effect Sizes for Moderated Conditional Fixed Effects with Continuous Moderator Variables

PubMed Central

Bodner, Todd E.

2017-01-01

Wilkinson and Task Force on Statistical Inference (1999) recommended that researchers include information on the practical magnitude of effects (e.g., using standardized effect sizes) to distinguish between the statistical and practical significance of research results. To date, however, researchers have not widely incorporated this recommendation into the interpretation and communication of the conditional effects and differences in conditional effects underlying statistical interactions involving a continuous moderator variable where at least one of the involved variables has an arbitrary metric. This article presents a descriptive approach to investigate two-way statistical interactions involving continuous moderator variables where the conditional effects underlying these interactions are expressed in standardized effect size metrics (i.e., standardized mean differences and semi-partial correlations). This approach permits researchers to evaluate and communicate the practical magnitude of particular conditional effects and differences in conditional effects using conventional and proposed guidelines, respectively, for the standardized effect size and therefore provides the researcher important supplementary information lacking under current approaches. The utility of this approach is demonstrated with two real data examples and important assumptions underlying the standardization process are highlighted. PMID:28484404

The Sentence Completion and Three Wishes tasks: windows into the inner lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Dykens, E; Schwenk, K; Maxwell, M; Myatt, B

2007-08-01

Measuring the self-perceptions, thoughts, hopes and inner lives of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) has long been a research challenge. Unlike objective or projective tests, semi-projective tasks may provide persons with ID with just enough structure or cues to convey their self-perceptions in a spontaneous and unbiased manner. Sentence Completion and Three Wishes tasks were individually administered to 128 persons with ID aged 5-50 years (mean = 18.75 years). Participants had Prader-Willi, Williams or Down syndromes. Content analyses resulted in 19 codes that were used to reliably score both tasks by independent raters who achieved excellent levels of inter-rater agreement. Participants also received IQ testing, and their parents or care providers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Frequent themes across both tasks included activities, positive affect, desired objects, and relationships with family and pets. No gender or IQ effects were found, and just a few codes showed modest age effects. Several responses, including dating, friends, food, and positive or negative self-appraisals, were significantly related to either syndrome status or CBCL maladaptive behaviour. Although not widely used, the Sentence Completion and Three Wishes tasks are useful semi-projective techniques for garnering otherwise hard-to-access self-perceptions and associations of people with ID. Implications are discussed for practice and research.

Commentary: Working memory training and ADHD - where does its potential lie? Reflections on Chacko et al. (2014).

PubMed

Gathercole, Susan E

2014-03-01

Chacko et al.'s investigation of the clinical utility of WM training to alleviate key symptoms of ADHD is timely and substantial, and marks a significant point in cognitive training research. Cogmed Working Memory Training (CWMT) involves intensive practice on multiple memory span tasks that increase in difficulty as performance improves with practice. Relative to a placebo version in which the span level of the memory tasks are kept at a low fixed level, Chacko et al. () found that CWMT boosted the performance of children with ADHD on short-term memory (STM) tasks similar to trained activities. Complex WM span measures sharing little overlap with the structure of training activities were not enhanced. Neither did active CWMT ameliorate classic symptoms of ADHD such as parent or teacher ratings of attentional problems, or direct measures of motor impulsivity and sustained attention. Reading, spelling, comprehension or mathematics scores similarly showed no response to training. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. © 2014 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Using the Hand Laterality Judgement Task to Assess Motor Imagery: A Study of Practice Effects in Repeated Measurements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boonstra, Anne M.; de Vries, Sjoerd J.; Veenstra, Evelien; Tepper, Marga; Feenstra, Wya; Otten, Egbert

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a practice effect on the Hand Laterality Judgement Task (HLJT). The HLJT task is a mental rotation task that can be used to assess motor imagery ability in stroke patients. Thirty-three healthy individuals performed the HLJT and two control tasks twice at a 3-week interval. Differences in the…

Task sharing in rural Haiti: Qualitative assessment of a brief, structured training with and without apprenticeship supervision for community health workers

PubMed Central

McLean, Kristen E; Kaiser, Bonnie N; Hagaman, Ashley K; Wagenaar, Bradley H; Therosme, Tatiana P; Kohrt, Brandon A

2015-01-01

Despite growing support for supervision after task sharing trainings in humanitarian settings, there is limited research on the experience of trainees in apprenticeship and other supervision approaches. Studying apprenticeships from trainees’ perspectives is crucial to refine supervision and enhance motivation for service implementation. The authors implemented a multi-stage, transcultural adaptation for a pilot task sharing training in Haiti entailing three phases: 1) literature review and qualitative research to adapt a mental health and psychosocial support training; 2) implementation and qualitative process evaluation of a brief, structured group training; and 3) implementation and qualitative evaluation of an apprenticeship training, including a two year follow-up of trainees. Structured group training revealed limited knowledge acquisition, low motivation, time and resource constraints on mastery, and limited incorporation of skills into practice. Adding an apprenticeship component was associated with subjective clinical competency, increased confidence regarding utilising skills, and career advancement. Qualitative findings support the added value of apprenticeship according to trainees. PMID:26190953

Consideration of species differences in developing novel molecules as cognition enhancers.

PubMed

Young, Jared W; Jentsch, J David; Bussey, Timothy J; Wallace, Tanya L; Hutcheson, Daniel M

2013-11-01

The NIH-funded CNTRICS initiative has coordinated efforts to promote the vertical translation of novel procognitive molecules from testing in mice, rats and non-human primates, to clinical efficacy in patients with schizophrenia. CNTRICS highlighted improving construct validation of tasks across species to increase the likelihood that the translation of a candidate molecule to humans will be successful. Other aspects of cross-species behaviors remain important however. This review describes cognitive tasks utilized across species, providing examples of differences and similarities of innate behavior between species, as well as convergent construct and predictive validity. Tests of attention, olfactory discrimination, reversal learning, and paired associate learning are discussed. Moreover, information on the practical implication of species differences in drug development research is also provided. The issues covered here will aid in task development and utilization across species as well as reinforcing the positive role preclinical research can have in developing procognitive treatments for psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multidimensional Profiling of Task Stress States for Human Factors: A Brief Review.

PubMed

Matthews, Gerald

2016-09-01

This article advocates multidimensional assessment of task stress in human factors and reviews the use of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ) for evaluation of systems and operators. Contemporary stress research has progressed from an exclusive focus on environmental stressors to transactional perspectives on the stress process. Performance impacts of stress reflect the operator's dynamic attempts to understand and cope with task demands. Multidimensional stress assessments are necessary to gauge the different forms of system-operator interaction. This review discusses the theoretical and practical use of the DSSQ in evaluating multidimensional patterns of stress response. It presents psychometric evidence for the multidimensional perspective and illustrative profiles of subjective state response to task stressors and environments. Evidence is also presented on stress state correlations with related variables, including personality, stress process measures, psychophysiological response, and objective task performance. Evidence supports the validity of the DSSQ as a task stress measure. Studies of various simulated environments show that different tasks elicit different profiles of stress state response. Operator characteristics such as resilience predict individual differences in state response to stressors. Structural equation modeling may be used to understand performance impacts of stress states. Multidimensional assessment affords insight into the stress process in a variety of human factors contexts. Integrating subjective and psychophysiological assessment is a priority for future research. Stress state measurement contributes to evaluating system design, countermeasures to stress and fatigue, and performance vulnerabilities. It may also support personnel selection and diagnostic monitoring of operators. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

The 100 Most Cited Articles on Healthcare Simulation: A Bibliometric Review.

PubMed

Walsh, Chloe; Lydon, Sinéad; Byrne, Dara; Madden, Caoimhe; Fox, Susan; OʼConnor, Paul

2018-06-01

This article provides an overview and synthesis of the 100 most cited healthcare simulation publications to provide insight into the articles that have shaped current knowledge and practice. Searches of the Scopus and Web of Science databases were conducted in July 2017. Most articles were concerned with medical education and training (86%) and were most often published in surgical journals (33%). Manikins (20%), standardized patients (16%), inanimate part-task trainers (16%), fully simulated environments (17%), and virtual reality part-task trainers (14%) were the most commonly featured types of simulators. Healthcare simulation research has matured and grown during the preceding decades. There has been a move away from research questions focused on "does simulation work?" to an assessment of the conditions under which simulation is most effective. It is hoped that providing an overview of highly cited works will help identify topics for further research.

Parallel task processing of very large datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romig, Phillip Richardson, III

This research concerns the use of distributed computer technologies for the analysis and management of very large datasets. Improvements in sensor technology, an emphasis on global change research, and greater access to data warehouses all are increase the number of non-traditional users of remotely sensed data. We present a framework for distributed solutions to the challenges of datasets which exceed the online storage capacity of individual workstations. This framework, called parallel task processing (PTP), incorporates both the task- and data-level parallelism exemplified by many image processing operations. An implementation based on the principles of PTP, called Tricky, is also presented. Additionally, we describe the challenges and practical issues in modeling the performance of parallel task processing with large datasets. We present a mechanism for estimating the running time of each unit of work within a system and an algorithm that uses these estimates to simulate the execution environment and produce estimated runtimes. Finally, we describe and discuss experimental results which validate the design. Specifically, the system (a) is able to perform computation on datasets which exceed the capacity of any one disk, (b) provides reduction of overall computation time as a result of the task distribution even with the additional cost of data transfer and management, and (c) in the simulation mode accurately predicts the performance of the real execution environment.

The Effect of iPad Use during Independent Practice for Students with Challenging Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flower, Andrea

2014-01-01

In the classroom, time on-task is critical because it is linked to learning and success. When off-task behaviors occur, substantial learning and instructional time may be lost. Many students with disabilities struggle with remaining on-task, particularly during independent practice periods. Strategies to increase time on-task during classroom…

Rapid Transfer of Abstract Rules to Novel Contexts in Human Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Cole, Michael W.; Etzel, Joset A.; Zacks, Jeffrey M.; Schneider, Walter; Braver, Todd S.

2011-01-01

Flexible, adaptive behavior is thought to rely on abstract rule representations within lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), yet it remains unclear how these representations provide such flexibility. We recently demonstrated that humans can learn complex novel tasks in seconds. Here we hypothesized that this impressive mental flexibility may be possible due to rapid transfer of practiced rule representations within LPFC to novel task contexts. We tested this hypothesis using functional MRI and multivariate pattern analysis, classifying LPFC activity patterns across 64 tasks. Classifiers trained to identify abstract rules based on practiced task activity patterns successfully generalized to novel tasks. This suggests humans can transfer practiced rule representations within LPFC to rapidly learn new tasks, facilitating cognitive performance in novel circumstances. PMID:22125519

Sex, Gender, and Traumatic Brain Injury: A Commentary.

PubMed

Colantonio, Angela

2016-02-01

The goal of this supplemental issue is to address major knowledge, research, and clinical practice gaps regarding the limited focus on brain injury in girls and women as well as limited analysis of the effect of sex and gender in research on acquired brain injury. Integrating sex and gender in research is recognized as leading to better science and, ultimately, to better clinical practice. A sex and gender analytical approach to rehabilitation research is crucial to understanding traumatic brain injury and improving quality of life outcomes for survivors. Put another way, the lack of focus on sex and gender reduces the rigor of research design, the generalizability of study findings, and the effectiveness of clinical implementation and knowledge dissemination practices. The articles in this supplement examine sex and gender using a variety of methodological approaches and research contexts. Recommendations for future research on acquired brain injury that consciously incorporates sex and gender are made throughout this issue. This supplement is a product of the Girls and Women with ABI Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of Physiological Self-Regulation and Adaptive Task Allocation Techniques for Controlling Operator Hazardous States of Awareness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Pope, Alan T.; Freeman, Frederick G.

2001-01-01

Prinzel, Hadley, Freeman, and Mikulka found that adaptive task allocation significantly enhanced performance only when used at the endpoints of the task workload continuum (i.e., very low or high workload), but that the technique degraded performance if invoked during other levels of task demand. These researchers suggested that other techniques should be used in conjunction with adaptive automation to help minimize the onset of hazardous states of awareness (HSA) and keep the operator 'in-the-loop.' The paper reports on such a technique that uses psychophysiological self-regulation to modulate the level of task engagement. Eighteen participants were assigned to three groups (self-regulation, false feedback, and control) and performed a compensatory tracking task that was cycled between three levels of task difficulty on the basis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) record. Those participants who had received self-regulation training performed significantly better and reported lower NASA-TLX scores than participants in the false feedback and control groups. Furthermore, the false feedback and control groups had significantly more task allocations resulting in return-to-manual performance decrements and higher EEG difference scores. Theoretical and practical implications of these results for adaptive automation are discussed.

The effects of instructional sets on reactions to and performance on an intelligent tutoring system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Debra Steele

1993-01-01

The effects of a contextual factor, i.e., task instructions, on performance on and reactions to an Intellegent Tutoring System (ITS) training Remote Manipulator System (RMS) tasks were examined. The results supported the first prediction that task instructions could be used to successfully induce a mastery versus an achievement orientation. Previous research suggests that a mastery orientation can result in beneficial effects on learning and performance of complex tasks. Furthermore, the results supported the second prediction that a mastery orientation would have beneficial effects on learning and performance as well as affective and cognitive reactions to the ITS tasks. Moreover, the results indicated that a mastery orientation was especially beneficial for the more complex ITS tasks and later in task practice, i.e., when a task was performed for the second time. A mastery orientation is posited to have its beneficial effects by focusing more effort and attention on task performance. Conclusions are drawn with some caution due to the small number of subjects, although the results for these subjects were consistent across multiple trials and multiple measures of performance. ITS designers are urged to consider contextual factors such as task instructions and feedback in terms of their potential to induce a mastery versus an achievement orientation.

Dynamics of task sets: evidence from dense-array event-related potentials.

PubMed

Poulsen, Catherine; Luu, Phan; Davey, Colin; Tucker, Don M

2005-06-01

Prior research suggests that task sets facilitate coherent, goal-directed behavior by providing an internal, contextual frame that biases selection toward context-relevant stimulus attributes and responses. Questions about how task sets are engaged, maintained, and shifted have recently become a major focus of research on executive control processes. We employed dense-array (128-channel) event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine the dynamics of brain systems engaged during the preparation and implementation of task switching. The EEG was recorded while participants performed letter and digit judgments to pseudorandomly-ordered, univalent (#3, A%) and bivalent (G5) stimulus trials, with the appropriate task cued by a colored rectangle presented 450 ms before target onset. Results revealed spatial and temporal variations in brain activity that could be related to preparatory processes common to both switch and repeat trials, switch-specific control processes engaged to reconfigure and maintain task set under conflict, and visual priming benefits of task repetition. Despite extensive practice and improvement, both behavioral and ERP results indicated that subjects maintained high levels of executive control processing with extended task engagement. The patterns of ERP activity obtained in the present study fit well with functional neuroanatomical models of self-regulation of action. The frontopolar and right-lateralized frontal switch effects obtained in the present study are consistent with the role of these regions in adapting to changing contextual contingencies. In contrast, the centroparietal P3b and N384 effects related to the contextual ambiguity of bivalent trials are consistent with the context monitoring and updating functions associated with the posterior cingulate learning circuit.

Distributed computing feasibility in a non-dedicated homogeneous distributed system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leutenegger, Scott T.; Sun, Xian-He

1993-01-01

The low cost and availability of clusters of workstations have lead researchers to re-explore distributed computing using independent workstations. This approach may provide better cost/performance than tightly coupled multiprocessors. In practice, this approach often utilizes wasted cycles to run parallel jobs. The feasibility of such a non-dedicated parallel processing environment assuming workstation processes have preemptive priority over parallel tasks is addressed. An analytical model is developed to predict parallel job response times. Our model provides insight into how significantly workstation owner interference degrades parallel program performance. A new term task ratio, which relates the parallel task demand to the mean service demand of nonparallel workstation processes, is introduced. It was proposed that task ratio is a useful metric for determining how large the demand of a parallel applications must be in order to make efficient use of a non-dedicated distributed system.

Snapshots of mathematics teacher noticing during task design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choy, Ban Heng

2016-09-01

Designing a mathematically worthwhile task is critical for promoting students' reasoning. To improve task design skills, teachers often engage in collaborative lesson planning activities such as lesson study. However, to learn from the process of lesson study, it is important for teachers to notice productively the concepts, students' confusion and the design of the task. But what researchers mean by productive noticing varies. In this article, I present the FOCUS Framework which highlights two characteristics of productive noticing: having an explicit focus for noticing and focusing noticing through pedagogical reasoning. Using these two characteristics, I develop snapshots of noticing as a representation of practice to present a fine-grained analysis of teacher noticing. Through vignettes of teachers discussing the design of a task to teach fractions, I illustrate how two teachers' noticing can be analysed and represented using snapshots of noticing. To conclude, I highlight what snapshots of noticing tell us about a teacher's noticing and suggest ways to use these snapshots in future studies of noticing.

The effects of bilingual growth on toddlers’ executive function

PubMed Central

Crivello, Cristina; Kuzyk, Olivia; Rodrigues, Monyka; Friend, Margaret; Zesiger, Pascal; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

2015-01-01

The mastery of two languages provides bilingual speakers with cognitive benefits over monolinguals, particularly on cognitive flexibility and selective attention. However, extant research is limited to comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals at a single point in time. This study investigated whether growth in bilingual proficiency, as shown by an increased number of translation equivalents (TEs) over a 7-month period, improves executive function. We hypothesized that bilingual toddlers with a larger increase of TEs would have more practice in switching across lexical systems, boosting executive function abilities. Expressive vocabulary and TEs were assessed at 24 and 31 months of age. A battery of tasks, including conflict, delay, and working memory tasks, was administered at 31 months. As expected, we observed a task-specific advantage in inhibitory control in bilinguals. More important, within the bilingual group, larger increases in the number of TEs predicted better performance on conflict tasks but not on delay tasks. This unique longitudinal design confirms the relation between executive function and early bilingualism. PMID:26402219

Transfer of training between distinct motor tasks after stroke: Implications for task- specific approaches to upper extremity neurorehabilitation

PubMed Central

Schaefer, Sydney Y.; Patterson, Chavelle B.; Lang, Catherine E.

2013-01-01

Background Although task-specific training is emerging as a viable approach for recovering motor function after stroke, there is little evidence for whether the effects of such training transfer to other functional motor tasks not directly practiced in therapy. Objective The purpose of the current study was to test whether training on one motor task would transfer to untrained tasks that were either spatiotemporally similar or different in individuals with chronic hemiparesis post-stroke. Methods Eleven participants with chronic mild-to-moderate hemiparesis following stroke completed five days of supervised massed practice of a feeding task with their affected side. Performance on the feeding task, along with two other untrained functional upper extremity motor tasks (sorting, dressing) was assessed before and after training. Results Performance of all three tasks improved significantly after training exclusively on one motor task. The amount of improvement in the untrained tasks was comparable, and was not dependent on the degree of similarity to the trained task. Conclusions Because the number and type of tasks that can be practiced are often limited within standard stroke rehabilitation, results from this study will be useful for designing task-specific training plans to maximize therapy benefits. PMID:23549521

Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching.

PubMed

Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

2017-01-01

The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects ). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode.

Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching

PubMed Central

Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

2018-01-01

The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode. PMID:29387027

Using principles from emergency management to improve emergency response plans for research animals.

PubMed

Vogelweid, Catherine M

2013-10-01

Animal research regulatory agencies have issued updated requirements for emergency response planning by regulated research institutions. A thorough emergency response plan is an essential component of an institution's animal care and use program, but developing an effective plan can be a daunting task. The author provides basic information drawn from the field of emergency management about best practices for developing emergency response plans. Planners should use the basic principles of emergency management to develop a common-sense approach to managing emergencies in their facilities.

Working memory plasticity in old age: practice gain, transfer, and maintenance.

PubMed

Li, Shu-Chen; Schmiedek, Florian; Huxhold, Oliver; Röcke, Christina; Smith, Jacqui; Lindenberger, Ulman

2008-12-01

Adult age differences in cognitive plasticity have been studied less often in working memory than in episodic memory. The authors investigated the effects of extensive working memory practice on performance improvement, transfer, and short-term maintenance of practice gains and transfer effects. Adults age 20-30 years and 70-80 years practiced a spatial working memory task with 2 levels of processing demands across 45 days for about 15 min per day. In both age groups and relative to age-matched, no-contact control groups, we found (a) substantial performance gains on the practiced task, (b) near transfer to a more demanding spatial n-back task and to numerical n-back tasks, and (c) 3-month maintenance of practice gains and near transfer effects, with decrements relative to postpractice performance among older but not younger adults. No evidence was found for far transfer to complex span tasks. The authors discuss neuronal mechanisms underlying adult age differences and similarities in patterns of plasticity and conclude that the potential of deliberate working memory practice as a tool for improving cognition in old age merits further exploration. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Student Material for Competency-Based Education Curriculum for Licensed Practical Nurse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Associated Educational Consultants, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA.

This curriculum for licensed practical nurse contains 18 units. Each unit is divided into modules comprised of task or job-related competencies. A student competency sheet (SCS) provided for each task is organized into this format: unit number and name, module letter and name of the group of related tasks, and number and name of task; performance…

Proactive interference and practice effects in visuospatial working memory span task performance.

PubMed

Blalock, Lisa Durrance; McCabe, David P

2011-01-01

In the current study the influence of proactive interference (PI) and practice on recall from a visuospatial working memory (WM) task was examined. Participants completed a visuospatial WM span task under either high-PI conditions (a traditional span task) or low-PI conditions (a span task with breaks between trials). Trials of each length (i.e., two to five to-be-remembered items) were equally distributed across three blocks in order to examine practice effects. Recall increased across blocks to a greater extent in the low-PI condition than in the high-PI condition, indicating that reducing PI increased recall from WM. Additionally, in the final block the correlation between fluid intelligence and WM recall was stronger for the high-PI condition than the low-PI condition, indicating that practice reduced the strength of the correlation between span task recall and fluid intelligence, but only in the low-PI condition. These results support current theories that propose that one source of variability in recall from WM span task is the build-up of PI, and that PI build-up is an important contributing factor to the relation between visuospatial WM span task recall and higher-level cognition.

Age differences in memory control: evidence from updating and retrieval-practice tasks.

PubMed

Lechuga, Maria Teresa; Moreno, Virginia; Pelegrina, Santiago; Gómez-Ariza, Carlos J; Bajo, Maria Teresa

2006-11-01

Some contemporary approaches suggest that inhibitory mechanisms play an important role in cognitive development. In addition, several authors distinguish between intentional and unintentional inhibitory processes in cognition. We report two experiments aimed at exploring possible developmental changes in these two types of inhibitory mechanisms. In Experiment 1, an updating task was used. This task requires that participants intentionally suppress irrelevant information from working memory. In Experiment 2, the retrieval-practice task was used. Retrieval practice of a subset of studied items is thought to involve unintentional inhibitory processes to overcome interference from competing memories. As a result, suppressed items become forgotten in a later memory test. Results of the experiments indicated that younger children (8) were less efficient than older children (12) and adults at intentionally suppressing information (updating task). However, when the task required unintentional inhibition of competing items (retrieval-practice task), this developmental trend was not found and children and adults showed similar levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. The results are discussed in terms of the development of efficient inhibition and the distinction between intentional and unintentional inhibitions.

Practical quantification of necrosis in histological whole-slide images.

PubMed

Homeyer, André; Schenk, Andrea; Arlt, Janine; Dahmen, Uta; Dirsch, Olaf; Hahn, Horst K

2013-06-01

Since the histological quantification of necrosis is a common task in medical research and practice, we evaluate different image analysis methods for quantifying necrosis in whole-slide images. In a practical usage scenario, we assess the impact of different classification algorithms and feature sets on both accuracy and computation time. We show how a well-chosen combination of multiresolution features and an efficient postprocessing step enables the accurate quantification necrosis in gigapixel images in less than a minute. The results are general enough to be applied to other areas of histological image analysis as well. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Students' Ways of Thinking to Re-Cast the Tasks of Teaching about Functions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doerr, Helen M.

2003-01-01

Recent research suggests that the examination of students' work may lead to changes in teaching practice that are more effective in terms of students' mathematical learning. However, the link between the examination of students' work and the teachers' actions in the classroom is largely unexamined, particularly at the secondary level. In this…

The Sexist Tradition: Words and Meaning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanley, Julia Penelope

Because of the built-in stereotyping and derogation of women that exists in the English language, the classroom teacher must face the task of finding practical answers to three popular attacks against research on sexism in English: language is a rather minor and irrelevant issue; there is no need to change language from the way it has always been;…

Big Five Personality Traits as Predictors of the Academic Success of University and College Students in Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smidt, Wilfried

2015-01-01

Academic success in early childhood teacher education is important because it provides a foundation for occupational development in terms of professional competence, the quality of educational practices, as well as career success. Consequently, identifying factors that can explain differences in academic success is an important research task.…

A Curricular-Sampling Approach to Progress Monitoring: Mathematics Concepts and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Fuchs, Douglas; Zumeta, Rebecca O.

2008-01-01

Progress monitoring is an important component of effective instructional practice. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a form of progress monitoring that has been the focus of rigorous research. Two approaches for formulating CBM systems exist. The first is to assess performance regularly on a task that serves as a global indicator of competence…

Training in the Adolescent Brain: An FMRI Training Study on Divergent Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleibeuker, Sietske W.; Stevenson, Claire E.; van der Aar, Laura; Overgaauw, Sandy; van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.; Crone, Eveline A.

2017-01-01

Prior research suggests that adolescence is a time of enhanced sensitivity for practice and learning. In this study we tested the neural correlates of divergent thinking training in 15- to 16-year-old adolescents relative to an age-matched active control group. All participants performed an alternative uses task, a valid measure to test divergent…

The Captive Helicopter as a Training Device: Experimental Evaluation of a Concept. Technical Report 68-9.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caro, Paul W., Jr.; And Others

As part of the Army's effort to use synthetic devices to improve training, researchers evaluated a captive helicopter attached to a ground effects machine. Experimental groups received varying amounts of pre-flight practice tasks designed to develop flight skills, while control groups received no device training. Student flight performance during…

"When Will Your Program Be Available in Spanish?" Adapting an Early Parenting Intervention for Latino Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumas, Jean E.; Arriaga, Ximena; Begle, Angela Moreland; Longoria, Zayra

2010-01-01

This paper describes the Spanish adaptation of PACE--"Parenting Our Children to Excellence." Successfully offered in preschools and daycare centers since 2002, PACE is a research-based preventive intervention to support families in their parenting task through discussions and activities that address practical childrearing issues and promote child…

Perceptions of Women and Men Leaders Following 360-Degree Feedback Evaluations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfaff, Lawrence A.; Boatwright, Karyn J.; Potthoff, Andrea L.; Finan, Caitlin; Ulrey, Leigh Ann; Huber, Daniel M.

2013-01-01

In this study, researchers used a customized 360-degree method to examine the frequency with which 1,546 men and 721 women leaders perceived themselves and were perceived by colleagues as using 10 relational and 10 task-oriented leadership behaviors, as addressed in the Management-Leadership Practices Inventory (MLPI). As hypothesized, men and…

Evaluation of the Effects of Sensory Integration-Based Intervention by a Preschool Special Education Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonggat, Penelope Wong; Hall, Laura J.

2010-01-01

This study addresses the call for increased research on common public school practices and progress monitoring by public school teachers. An alternating treatment design was implemented by a preschool teacher to evaluate the effect of sensory-integration based activities compared with an attention control on the on task behavior of three…

Cluster: Metals. Course: Machine Shop. Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanford - Lee County Schools, NC.

The set of 13 units is designed for use with an instructor in actual machine shop practice and is also keyed to audio visual and textual materials. Each unit contains a series of task packages which: specify prerequisites within the series (minimum is Unit 1); provide a narrative rationale for learning; list both general and specific objectives in…

Young Children as Active Participants in the Investigation of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makin, Laurie; Whiteman, Peter

2006-01-01

Gathering data about children's development and learning has long been the domain of adults. However, there is increasing interest in including children's voices in their education and, a more challenging task, in research that impacts on educational practice and policy making. Techniques such as Instant Video Revisiting (IVR) offer a way for…

Physiological Factors in Adult Learning and Instruction. Research to Practice Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verner, Coolie; Davison, Catherine V.

The physiological condition of the adult learner as related to his learning capability is discussed. The design of the instructional process, the selection of learning tasks, the rate at which instruction occurs, and the nature of the instructional setting may all be modified by the instructor to accomodate the variable physiological conditions of…

The Role of Volition in Distance Education: An Exploration of Its Capacities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deimann, Markus; Bastiaens, Theo

2010-01-01

During the past two decades, volition, defined as the ability to stay task-focused and ward off distractions, has become of special relevance for educational research and practice. It describes how decreased motivation or negative emotions can be dealt with by applying action control strategies. However, despite its potential, an important area of…

Engineering Infrastructure Diagramming and Modeling. Engineering Education and Practice in The United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems.

This report forms an integral part of a study conducted by the Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer, under the auspices of the National Research Council. Five major tasks undertaken by the panel were: (1) defining engineering; (2) determining influences on the engineering community, including external influences and internal…

Educational Games in Practice: The Challenges Involved in Conducting a Game-Based Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marklund, Björn Berg; Taylor, Anna-Sofia Alklind

2016-01-01

The task of integrating games into an educational setting is a demanding one, and integrating games as a harmonious part of a bigger ecosystem of learning requires teachers to orchestrate a myriad of complex organizational resources. Historically, research on digital game-based learning has focused heavily on the coupling between game designs,…

"That's Where the Rubber Meets the Road": The Intersection of Special Education and Dual Language Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kangas, Sara E. N.

2017-01-01

Background: English language learners (ELLs) with special needs remain an underresearched student population. Although providing services to these students proves to be a daunting task, bilingual schools are uniquely poised to meet the educational needs of ELLs with special needs. Yet, research has not explored service provision practices in…

Exploring the Effects of Technology Overload on the Outcomes of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementation Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kates, Earl B.

2016-01-01

Despite significant investments made by organizations to implement ERP systems and prior research that explored contributing factors of ERP failure, the ERP implementation success rate continues to remain low in practice. Increased technology usage in the workplace coupled with higher dependency on technology to complete project tasks often leads…

Tried and True: Tested Ideas for Teaching and Learning from the Regional Educational Laboratories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levinson, Luna; Stonehill, Robert

This collection of 16 tested ideas for improving teaching and learning evolved from the work of the 1995 Proven Laboratory Practices Task Force charged with identifying and collecting the best and most useful work from the Regional Educational Laboratories. The Regional Educational Laboratory program is the largest research and development…

Working memory plasticity and aging.

PubMed

Rhodes, Rebecca E; Katz, Benjamin

2017-02-01

The present research explores how the trajectory of learning on a working memory task changes throughout the life span, and whether gains in working memory performance are exclusively a question of initial working memory capacity (WMC) or whether age exerts an independent effect. In a large, cross-sectional study of younger, middle-aged, and older adults, we examined learning on a widely used working memory task-the dual n-back task-over 20 sessions of practice. We found that, while all age groups improved on the task, older adults demonstrated less improvement on the task, and also reached a lower asymptotic maximum performance than younger adults. After controlling for initial WMC, we found that age exerted independent effects on training gains and asymptotic performance; older adults tended to improve less and reached lower levels of performance than younger adults. The difference between younger and older adults' rates of learning depended in part on initial WMC. These results suggest that age-related effects on working memory include not only effects on capacity, but also plasticity and the ability to improve on a task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The use of analytical models in human-computer interface design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gugerty, Leo

1993-01-01

Recently, a large number of human-computer interface (HCI) researchers have investigated building analytical models of the user, which are often implemented as computer models. These models simulate the cognitive processes and task knowledge of the user in ways that allow a researcher or designer to estimate various aspects of an interface's usability, such as when user errors are likely to occur. This information can lead to design improvements. Analytical models can supplement design guidelines by providing designers rigorous ways of analyzing the information-processing requirements of specific tasks (i.e., task analysis). These models offer the potential of improving early designs and replacing some of the early phases of usability testing, thus reducing the cost of interface design. This paper describes some of the many analytical models that are currently being developed and evaluates the usefulness of analytical models for human-computer interface design. This paper will focus on computational, analytical models, such as the GOMS model, rather than less formal, verbal models, because the more exact predictions and task descriptions of computational models may be useful to designers. The paper also discusses some of the practical requirements for using analytical models in complex design organizations such as NASA.

Redesigning Journal Clubs to Staying Current with the Literature.

PubMed

Dickerson, Roland N; Wood, G Christopher; Swanson, Joseph M; Brown, Rex O

2017-11-06

Staying current with the literature is of paramount importance to the pharmacist engaged in an evidence-based clinical practice. Given the expanding roles and responsibilities of today's pharmacists combined with exponential growth in new medical and health sciences literature, staying current has become an extremely daunting task. Traditional journal clubs have focused upon their role as a training vehicle for teaching critical reading skills to residents. However, schools of pharmacy are now required to provide instruction in biostatistics, research design, and interpretation. We present a paradigm shift in the traditional journal club model whereby a collection of periodicals is screened and a short synopsis of the pertinent articles is provided. The associated tasks for screening and presenting of the primary literature are shared among a group of clinicians and trainees with similar practice interests resulting in a more reasonable workload for the individual. This journal club method was effective in identifying a significant majority of articles judged to be pertinent by independent groups of clinicians in the same practice arenas. Details regarding the shared core practice and knowledge base elements, journal club format, identification of journals, and evaluation of the success of the journal club technique are provided.

Manifestations of metacognitive activity during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathabathe, Kgadi Clarrie; Potgieter, Marietjie

2017-07-01

This paper elaborates a process followed to characterise manifestations of cognitive regulation during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations. Metacognitive activity was defined as the demonstration of planning, monitoring, control and evaluation of cognitive activities by students while carrying out the chemistry task. Inherent in collaborative learning is the social aspect of metacognition, which in this study was evidenced in social cognitive regulation (notably of intra- and interpersonal metacognitive regulations) as groups of students went about planning their practical investigations. Discussions of two of the learning groups (n = 4; n = 3) as they planned the extended practical investigation were recorded, transcribed and analysed for indicators of any inherent metacognitive activity. The process of characterising the manifestations of metacognition resulted in the development of a coding system which specifies not only the regulatory strategies at play but the type of regulation (self or other), the area of regulation (cognition, task performance or behaviour) as well as the depth of regulatory contributions (high or low). The fine-grained coding system allowed for a finer theoretical elucidation of the social nature of metacognition. The implications of this study for metacognition and chemistry education research are highlighted.

Redesigning Journal Clubs to Staying Current with the Literature

PubMed Central

Dickerson, Roland N.; Wood, G. Christopher; Swanson, Joseph M.; Brown, Rex O.

2017-01-01

Staying current with the literature is of paramount importance to the pharmacist engaged in an evidence-based clinical practice. Given the expanding roles and responsibilities of today’s pharmacists combined with exponential growth in new medical and health sciences literature, staying current has become an extremely daunting task. Traditional journal clubs have focused upon their role as a training vehicle for teaching critical reading skills to residents. However, schools of pharmacy are now required to provide instruction in biostatistics, research design, and interpretation. We present a paradigm shift in the traditional journal club model whereby a collection of periodicals is screened and a short synopsis of the pertinent articles is provided. The associated tasks for screening and presenting of the primary literature are shared among a group of clinicians and trainees with similar practice interests resulting in a more reasonable workload for the individual. This journal club method was effective in identifying a significant majority of articles judged to be pertinent by independent groups of clinicians in the same practice arenas. Details regarding the shared core practice and knowledge base elements, journal club format, identification of journals, and evaluation of the success of the journal club technique are provided. PMID:29113107

Soldier-Robot Teaming: Effects of Multimodal Collaboration on Team Communication for Robot Reconnaissance

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-01

of the modes of communication and target types central to the experimental tasks, as well as a task demonstration. The Soldier then practiced the...experimental tasks with each communication modality on a separate training course with targets. Practice was structured such that a communication... practice structure across all three communication conditions. Radio was always introduced first, then chat, and lastly tactor. The exception to this

Gradual training reduces practice difficulty while preserving motor learning of a novel locomotor task.

PubMed

Sawers, Andrew; Hahn, Michael E

2013-08-01

Motor learning strategies that increase practice difficulty and the size of movement errors are thought to facilitate motor learning. In contrast to this, gradual training minimizes movement errors and reduces practice difficulty by incrementally introducing task requirements, yet remains as effective as sudden training and its large movement errors for learning novel reaching tasks. While attractive as a locomotor rehabilitation strategy, it remains unknown whether the efficacy of gradual training extends to learning locomotor tasks and their unique requirements. The influence of gradual vs. sudden training on learning a locomotor task, asymmetric split belt treadmill walking, was examined by assessing whole body sagittal plane kinematics during 24 hour retention and transfer performance following either gradual or sudden training. Despite less difficult and less specific practice for the gradual cohort on day 1, gradual training resulted in equivalent motor learning of the novel locomotor task as sudden training when assessed by retention and transfer a day later. This suggests that large movement errors and increased practice difficulty may not be necessary for learning novel locomotor tasks. Further, gradual training may present a viable locomotor rehabilitation strategy avoiding large movement errors that could limit or impair improvements in locomotor performance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conducting indirect-treatment-comparison and network-meta-analysis studies: report of the ISPOR Task Force on Indirect Treatment Comparisons Good Research Practices: part 2.

PubMed

Hoaglin, David C; Hawkins, Neil; Jansen, Jeroen P; Scott, David A; Itzler, Robbin; Cappelleri, Joseph C; Boersma, Cornelis; Thompson, David; Larholt, Kay M; Diaz, Mireya; Barrett, Annabel

2011-06-01

Evidence-based health care decision making requires comparison of all relevant competing interventions. In the absence of randomized controlled trials involving a direct comparison of all treatments of interest, indirect treatment comparisons and network meta-analysis provide useful evidence for judiciously selecting the best treatment(s). Mixed treatment comparisons, a special case of network meta-analysis, combine direct evidence and indirect evidence for particular pairwise comparisons, thereby synthesizing a greater share of the available evidence than traditional meta-analysis. This report from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Indirect Treatment Comparisons Good Research Practices Task Force provides guidance on technical aspects of conducting network meta-analyses (our use of this term includes most methods that involve meta-analysis in the context of a network of evidence). We start with a discussion of strategies for developing networks of evidence. Next we briefly review assumptions of network meta-analysis. Then we focus on the statistical analysis of the data: objectives, models (fixed-effects and random-effects), frequentist versus Bayesian approaches, and model validation. A checklist highlights key components of network meta-analysis, and substantial examples illustrate indirect treatment comparisons (both frequentist and Bayesian approaches) and network meta-analysis. A further section discusses eight key areas for future research. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abrupt strategy change underlies gradual performance change: Bayesian hierarchical models of component and aggregate strategy use.

PubMed

Wynton, Sarah K A; Anglim, Jeromy

2017-10-01

While researchers have often sought to understand the learning curve in terms of multiple component processes, few studies have measured and mathematically modeled these processes on a complex task. In particular, there remains a need to reconcile how abrupt changes in strategy use can co-occur with gradual changes in task completion time. Thus, the current study aimed to assess the degree to which strategy change was abrupt or gradual, and whether strategy aggregation could partially explain gradual performance change. It also aimed to show how Bayesian methods could be used to model the effect of practice on strategy use. To achieve these aims, 162 participants completed 15 blocks of practice on a complex computer-based task-the Wynton-Anglim booking (WAB) task. The task allowed for multiple component strategies (i.e., memory retrieval, information reduction, and insight) that could also be aggregated to a global measure of strategy use. Bayesian hierarchical models were used to compare abrupt and gradual functions of component and aggregate strategy use. Task completion time was well-modeled by a power function, and global strategy use explained substantial variance in performance. Change in component strategy use tended to be abrupt, whereas change in global strategy use was gradual and well-modeled by a power function. Thus, differential timing of component strategy shifts leads to gradual changes in overall strategy efficiency, and this provides one reason for why smooth learning curves can co-occur with abrupt changes in strategy use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Identification and location tasks rely on different mental processes: a diffusion model account of validity effects in spatial cueing paradigms with emotional stimuli.

PubMed

Imhoff, Roland; Lange, Jens; Germar, Markus

2018-02-22

Spatial cueing paradigms are popular tools to assess human attention to emotional stimuli, but different variants of these paradigms differ in what participants' primary task is. In one variant, participants indicate the location of the target (location task), whereas in the other they indicate the shape of the target (identification task). In the present paper we test the idea that although these two variants produce seemingly comparable cue validity effects on response times, they rest on different underlying processes. Across four studies (total N = 397; two in the supplement) using both variants and manipulating the motivational relevance of cue content, diffusion model analyses revealed that cue validity effects in location tasks are primarily driven by response biases, whereas the same effect rests on delay due to attention to the cue in identification tasks. Based on this, we predict and empirically support that a symmetrical distribution of valid and invalid cues would reduce cue validity effects in location tasks to a greater extent than in identification tasks. Across all variants of the task, we fail to replicate the effect of greater cue validity effects for arousing (vs. neutral) stimuli. We discuss the implications of these findings for best practice in spatial cueing research.

Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats.

PubMed

Tsingos-Lucas, Cherie; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Schneider, Carl R; Smith, Lorraine

2017-02-25

Objectives. To investigate whether reflective-writing skills are associated with academic success. Methods. Two hundred sixty-four students enrolled in a pharmacy practice course completed reflective statements. Regression procedures were conducted to determine whether reflective-writing skills were associated with academic success in different assessment formats: written, oral, and video tasks. Results. Reflective-writing skills were found to be a predictor of academic performance in some formats of assessment: written examination; oral assessment task and overall score for the Unit of Study (UoS). Reflective writing skills were not found to predict academic success in the video assessment task. Conclusions. Possessing good reflective-writing skills was associated with improved academic performance. Further research is recommended investigating the impact of reflective skill development on academic performance measures in other health education.

Robotics in a controlled, ecological life support system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miles, Gaines E.; Krom, Kimberly J.

1993-01-01

Controlled, Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) that utilize plants to provide food, water and oxygen could consume considerable amounts of labor unless crop production, recovery and processing are automated. Robotic manipulators equipped with special end-effectors and programmed to perform the sensing and materials handling tasks would minimize the amount of astronaut labor required. The Human Rated Test Facility (HRTF) planned for Johnson Space Center could discover and demonstrate techniques of crop production which can be reliably integrated with machinery to minimize labor requirements. Before the physical components (shelves, lighting fixtures, etc.) can be selected, a systems analysis must be performed to determine which alternative processes should be followed and how the materials handling tasks should be automated. Given that the current procedures used to grow crops in a CELSS may not be the best methods to automate, then what are the alternatives? How may plants be grown, harvested, processed for food, and the inedible components recycled? What commercial technologies current exist? What research efforts are underway to develop new technologies which might satisfy the need for automation in a CELSS? The answers to these questions should prove enlightening and provide some of the information necessary to perform the systems analysis. The planting, culturing, gathering, threshing and separation, food processing, and recovery of inedible portions of wheat were studied. The basic biological and materials handling processes of each task are defined and discussed. Current practices at Johnson Space Center and other NASA centers are described and compared to common production practices in the plant production industry. Technologies currently being researched which might be applicable are identified and illustrated. Finally, based on this knowledge, several scenarios are proposed for automating the tasks for wheat.

Cognitive training with casual video games: points to consider

PubMed Central

Baniqued, Pauline L.; Kranz, Michael B.; Voss, Michelle W.; Lee, Hyunkyu; Cosman, Joshua D.; Severson, Joan; Kramer, Arthur F.

2014-01-01

Brain training programs have proliferated in recent years, with claims that video games or computer-based tasks can broadly enhance cognitive function. However, benefits are commonly seen only in trained tasks. Assessing generalized improvement and practicality of laboratory exercises complicates interpretation and application of findings. In this study, we addressed these issues by using active control groups, training tasks that more closely resemble real-world demands and multiple tests to determine transfer of training. We examined whether casual video games can broadly improve cognition, and selected training games from a study of the relationship between game performance and cognitive abilities. A total of 209 young adults were randomized into a working memory–reasoning group, an adaptive working memory–reasoning group, an active control game group, and a no-contact control group. Before and after 15 h of training, participants completed tests of reasoning, working memory, attention, episodic memory, perceptual speed, and self-report measures of executive function, game experience, perceived improvement, knowledge of brain training research, and game play outside the laboratory. Participants improved on the training games, but transfer to untrained tasks was limited. No group showed gains in reasoning, working memory, episodic memory, or perceptual speed, but the working memory–reasoning groups improved in divided attention, with better performance in an attention-demanding game, a decreased attentional blink and smaller trail-making costs. Perceived improvements did not differ across training groups and those with low reasoning ability at baseline showed larger gains. Although there are important caveats, our study sheds light on the mixed effects in the training and transfer literature and offers a novel and potentially practical training approach. Still, more research is needed to determine the real-world benefits of computer programs such as casual games. PMID:24432009

Cognitive training with casual video games: points to consider.

PubMed

Baniqued, Pauline L; Kranz, Michael B; Voss, Michelle W; Lee, Hyunkyu; Cosman, Joshua D; Severson, Joan; Kramer, Arthur F

2014-01-07

Brain training programs have proliferated in recent years, with claims that video games or computer-based tasks can broadly enhance cognitive function. However, benefits are commonly seen only in trained tasks. Assessing generalized improvement and practicality of laboratory exercises complicates interpretation and application of findings. In this study, we addressed these issues by using active control groups, training tasks that more closely resemble real-world demands and multiple tests to determine transfer of training. We examined whether casual video games can broadly improve cognition, and selected training games from a study of the relationship between game performance and cognitive abilities. A total of 209 young adults were randomized into a working memory-reasoning group, an adaptive working memory-reasoning group, an active control game group, and a no-contact control group. Before and after 15 h of training, participants completed tests of reasoning, working memory, attention, episodic memory, perceptual speed, and self-report measures of executive function, game experience, perceived improvement, knowledge of brain training research, and game play outside the laboratory. Participants improved on the training games, but transfer to untrained tasks was limited. No group showed gains in reasoning, working memory, episodic memory, or perceptual speed, but the working memory-reasoning groups improved in divided attention, with better performance in an attention-demanding game, a decreased attentional blink and smaller trail-making costs. Perceived improvements did not differ across training groups and those with low reasoning ability at baseline showed larger gains. Although there are important caveats, our study sheds light on the mixed effects in the training and transfer literature and offers a novel and potentially practical training approach. Still, more research is needed to determine the real-world benefits of computer programs such as casual games.

The simplest acquisition protocol is sometimes the best protocol: performing and learning a 1:2 bimanual coordination task.

PubMed

Panzer, Stefan; Kennedy, Deanna; Wang, Chaoyi; Shea, Charles H

2018-02-01

An experiment was conducted to determine if the performance and learning of a multi-frequency (1:2) coordination pattern between the limbs are enhanced when a model is provided prior to each acquisition trial. Research has indicated very effective performance of a wide variety of bimanual coordination tasks when Lissajous plots with goal templates are provided, but this research has also found that participants become dependent on this information and perform quite poorly when it is withdrawn. The present experiment was designed to test three forms of modeling (Lissajous with template, Lissajous without template, and limb model), but in each situations, the model was presented prior to practice and not available during the performance of the task. This was done to decrease dependency on the model and increase the development of an internal reference of correctness that could be applied on test trials. A control condition was also collected, where a metronome was used to guide the movement. Following less than 7 min of practice, participants in the three modeling conditions performed the first test block very effectively; however, performance of the control condition was quite poor. Note that Test 1 was performed under the same conditions as used during acquisition. Test 2 was conducted with no augmented information provided prior to or during the performance of the task. Only participants in the limb model condition were able to maintain performance on Test 2. The findings suggest that a very simple intuitive display can provide the necessary information to form an effective internal representation of the coordination pattern which can be used guide performance when the augmented display is withdrawn.

A questionnaire to assess the relevance and credibility of observational studies to inform health care decision making: an ISPOR-AMCP-NPC Good Practice Task Force report.

PubMed

Berger, Marc L; Martin, Bradley C; Husereau, Don; Worley, Karen; Allen, J Daniel; Yang, Winnie; Quon, Nicole C; Mullins, C Daniel; Kahler, Kristijan H; Crown, William

2014-03-01

Evidence-based health care decisions are best informed by comparisons of all relevant interventions used to treat conditions in specific patient populations. Observational studies are being performed to help fill evidence gaps. Widespread adoption of evidence from observational studies, however, has been limited because of various factors, including the lack of consensus regarding accepted principles for their evaluation and interpretation. Two task forces were formed to develop questionnaires to assist decision makers in evaluating observational studies, with one Task Force addressing retrospective research and the other Task Force addressing prospective research. The intent was to promote a structured approach to reduce the potential for subjective interpretation of evidence and drive consistency in decision making. Separately developed questionnaires were combined into a single questionnaire consisting of 33 items. These were divided into two domains: relevance and credibility. Relevance addresses the extent to which findings, if accurate, apply to the setting of interest to the decision maker. Credibility addresses the extent to which the study findings accurately answer the study question. The questionnaire provides a guide for assessing the degree of confidence that should be placed from observational studies and promotes awareness of the subtleties involved in evaluating those. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal research and data collection in primary care.

PubMed

van Weel, Chris

2005-01-01

This article reviews examples of and experience with longitudinal research in family medicine. The objective is to use this empirical information to formulate recommendations for improving longitudinal research. The article discusses 3 longitudinal studies from the Nijmegen academic family practice research network: 1 on the prognosis of depression and 1 each on the prognosis of and outcomes of care for type 2 diabetes mellitus. The Nijmegen network has recorded all episodes of morbidity encountered in Dutch family medicine since 1971 in a stable practice population. This network's experience is evaluated to identify lessons that may help other practice-based research networks (PBRNs) in pursuing longitudinal research. In terms of external conditions (conditions related to the general setting), the stability of a population and a high level of continuity of care substantially enhance the ability to perform longitudinal research. In terms of internal conditions (conditions related to the PBRN), motivation of family physicians and their staff to conduct ongoing data collection, and their ownership of the data are key for success. Other critical internal conditions include standardization of data; collection of data by clinician-friendly means; training of family physicians and their staff in data collection, as well as meetings for discussion of this task; provision of feedback to practices on the research findings; use of standard procedures to promote adherence to data collection; availability of facilities for regular measurement of patients' health status or chart review; and use of mechanisms for tracking patients who leave the practice area. Insight from existing experience suggests that longitudinal research can be enhanced in PBRNs. The best way forward is to build longitudinal data collection by drawing on lessons from successful studies. Primary care research policy should advocate for a role of longitudinal research and stimulate its development in PBRNs under favorable population circumstances.

Differential Changes with Extended Practice.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-06-01

This project was designed to answer a series of questions involving extended practice on motor skills tasks. The tasks employed were video games , and principal interest was focused on whether: (1) performance late in practice involves fewer underlying factors than early in practice; (2) video games coverge or diverge differentially upon one another; and (3) factorial content of

Emulating Real-Life Situations with a Play Task to Observe Parenting Skills and Child Behaviors

PubMed Central

Rusby, Julie C.; Metzler, Carol W.; Sanders, Matthew R.; Crowley, Ryann

2015-01-01

Play tasks that use standardized procedures and materials are a practical way to assess parenting skills, child behaviors, and the ways in which parents and children interact. We describe a systematic process for developing the Parent–Child Play Task (PCPT) to assess mother–child interactions for a randomized controlled trial on a video-based parenting program. Participants are 307 mothers and their 3-through 6-year-old children who present oppositional and disruptive behavior challenges. The validity of the PCPT was investigated by testing (a) the extent to which the tasks elicit the specific parent and child behaviors of interest, (b) the consistency of individuals’ behavior across the play tasks, and (c) the concurrent associations of the PCPT observed child behaviors and mother reports of child behavior. The different tasks elicited the mother and child behaviors that they were designed to elicit. Behavior consistency across tasks for individual mothers and children was fair to good, with the exception of two task-specific behaviors. Mothers’ guidance (provision of instructions to foster a skill) during the teaching task and children’s interruptions while mother was busy during the questionnaire task were highly task specific. Modest associations were found between observed children’s noncompliance and inappropriate behaviors, and mother-reported conduct problems and oppositional behaviors. Implications for clinical and research assessments are discussed. PMID:25689090

Improving public health policy through infection transmission modelling: Guidelines for creating a Community of Practice

PubMed Central

Moghadas, Seyed M; Haworth-Brockman, Margaret; Isfeld-Kiely, Harpa; Kettner, Joel

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Despite significant research efforts in Canada, real application of modelling in public health decision making and practice has not yet met its full potential. There is still room to better address the diversity of the Canadian population and ensure that research outcomes are translated for use within their relevant contexts. OBJECTIVES: To strengthen connections to public health practice and to broaden its scope, the Pandemic Influenza Outbreak Research Modelling team partnered with the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases to hold a national workshop. Its objectives were to: understand areas where modelling terms, methods and results are unclear; share information on how modelling can best be used in informing policy and improving practice, particularly regarding the ways to integrate a focus on health equity considerations; and sustain and advance collaborative work in the development and application of modelling in public health. METHOD: The Use of Mathematical Modelling in Public Health Decision Making for Infectious Diseases workshop brought together research modellers, public health professionals, policymakers and other experts from across the country. Invited presentations set the context for topical discussions in three sessions. A final session generated reflections and recommendations for new opportunities and tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in content and research include the lack of standard frameworks and a glossary for infectious disease modelling. Consistency in terminology, clear articulation of model parameters and assumptions, and sustained collaboration will help to bridge the divide between research and practice. PMID:26361486

A Comparison of Telephone Genetic Counseling and In-Person Genetic Counseling from the Genetic Counselor's Perspective.

PubMed

Burgess, Kelly R; Carmany, Erin P; Trepanier, Angela M

2016-02-01

Growing demand for and limited geographic access to genetic counseling services is increasing the need for alternative service delivery models (SDM) like telephone genetic counseling (TGC). Little research has been done on genetic counselors' perspectives of the practice of TGC. We created an anonymous online survey to assess whether telephone genetic counselors believed the tasks identified in the ABGC (American Board of Genetic Counseling) Practice Analysis were performed similarly or differently in TGC compared to in person genetic counseling (IPGC). If there were differences noted, we sought to determine the nature of the differences and if additional training might be needed to address them. Eighty eight genetic counselors with experience in TGC completed some or all of the survey. Respondents identified differences in 13 (14.8%) of the 88 tasks studied. The tasks identified as most different in TGC were: "establishing rapport through verbal and nonverbal interactions" (60.2%; 50/83 respondents identified the task as different), "recognizing factors affecting the counseling interaction" (47.8%; 32/67), "assessing client/family emotions, support, etc." (40.1%; 27/66) and "educating clients about basic genetic concepts" (35.6%; 26/73). A slight majority (53.8%; 35/65) felt additional training was needed to communicate information without visual aids and more effectively perform psychosocial assessments. In summary, although a majority of genetic counseling tasks are performed similarly between TGC and IPGC, TGC counselors recognize that specific training in the TGC model may be needed to address the key differences.

Degradation of learned skills: Effectiveness of practice methods on visual approach and landing skill retention

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sitterley, T. E.; Zaitzeff, L. P.; Berge, W. A.

1972-01-01

Flight control and procedural task skill degradation, and the effectiveness of retraining methods were evaluated for a simulated space vehicle approach and landing under instrument and visual flight conditions. Fifteen experienced pilots were trained and then tested after 4 months either without the benefits of practice or with static rehearsal, dynamic rehearsal or with dynamic warmup practice. Performance on both the flight control and procedure tasks degraded significantly after 4 months. The rehearsal methods effectively countered procedure task skill degradation, while dynamic rehearsal or a combination of static rehearsal and dynamic warmup practice was required for the flight control tasks. The quality of the retraining methods appeared to be primarily dependent on the efficiency of visual cue reinforcement.

The transition to increased automaticity during finger sequence learning in adult males who stutter.

PubMed

Smits-Bandstra, Sarah; De Nil, Luc; Rochon, Elizabeth

2006-01-01

The present study compared the automaticity levels of persons who stutter (PWS) and persons who do not stutter (PNS) on a practiced finger sequencing task under dual task conditions. Automaticity was defined as the amount of attention required for task performance. Twelve PWS and 12 control subjects practiced finger tapping sequences under single and then dual task conditions. Control subjects performed the sequencing task significantly faster and less variably under single versus dual task conditions while PWS' performance was consistently slow and variable (comparable to the dual task performance of control subjects) under both conditions. Control subjects were significantly more accurate on a colour recognition distracter task than PWS under dual task conditions. These results suggested that control subjects transitioned to quick, accurate and increasingly automatic performance on the sequencing task after practice, while PWS did not. Because most stuttering treatment programs for adults include practice and automatization of new motor speech skills, findings of this finger sequencing study and future studies of speech sequence learning may have important implications for how to maximize stuttering treatment effectiveness. As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to: (1) Define automaticity and explain the importance of dual task paradigms to investigate automaticity; (2) Relate the proposed relationship between motor learning and automaticity as stated by the authors; (3) Summarize the reviewed literature concerning the performance of PWS on dual tasks; and (4) Explain why the ability to transition to automaticity during motor learning may have important clinical implications for stuttering treatment effectiveness.

Introducing Information Literacy Competency Standards for Nursing.

PubMed

Phelps, Sue F; Hyde, Loree; Planchon Wolf, Julie

2015-01-01

The Association for College and Research Libraries published the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Nursing (ILCSN) in January 2014, written by a task force of the Health Sciences Interest Group of the American Library Association. The ILCSN describes skills ranging from basic to advanced information research competencies for students enrolled in nursing programs at all levels and for professional nurses. This article guides administrators and faculty in use of the standards to design programs and coursework in information skills to support evidence-based practice.

Improving the Quality of Lab Reports by Using Them as Lab Instructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haagen-Schuetzenhoefer, Claudia

2012-10-01

Lab exercises are quite popular in teaching science. Teachers have numerous goals in mind when teaching science laboratories. Nevertheless, empirical research draws a heterogeneous picture of the benefits of lab work. Research has shown that it does not necessarily contribute to the enhancement of practical abilities or content knowledge. Lab activities are frequently based on recipe-like, step-by-step instructions ("cookbook style"), which do not motivate students to engage cognitively. Consequently, students put the emphasis on "task completion" or "manipulating equipment."2

The U.K. Pushes the Boundaries of Bionics: Researchers and Engineers Are Making Great Strides Toward Advanced Prosthetics' Ultimate Goal-Mimicking the Functionality of a Real Limb.

PubMed

Banks, Jim

2016-01-01

Using state-of-the-art technology, athletes at the Paralympic Games achieve great feats of physical prowess, but for most people using assistive and rehabilitative technologies (ART), even simple tasks can present huge challenges. Many do not make full use of the technology available to them because it is unreliable, uncomfortable, and nonintuitive, so researchers are pushing the envelope to create practical solutions that function like real limbs.

Role of Inspection and Condition Assessment in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Infrastructure Management: Current Practices and Opportunities for the Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

being done, in part, in response to Executive Order 13327, which mandates a pragmatic and consistent approach to Federal agency management of real...move forward. The U.S. Army Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory was tasked with surveying a number of...assessment in use within USACE. (All rely on a deficiency-based approach, i.e., deviations from standards or from known benchmarks, to inspection.); (2

How Executive Functions Are Evaluated in Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy? A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Pereira, Armanda; Lopes, Sílvia; Magalhães, Paula; Sampaio, Adriana; Chaleta, Elisa; Rosário, Pedro

2018-01-01

Aims: The aim of the present study was to examine how executive functions are assessed in children and adolescents with Cerebral Palsy. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted using four bibliographic databases (WebScience, Scopus, PubMed, and Psycinfo), and only studies that evaluated at least one executive function were selected. Both the research and reporting of results were based on Cochrane's recommendations and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. Results: The instrument most frequently used was the D-KEFS. All studies point to the existence of impairments in the executive functions among children and adolescents with Cerebral Palsy with an impact on several cognitive and life domains. Interpretation: There is a need to further systematize the research protocols to study the executive functions and their assessment in the intervention context. Findings of this review presented a diversity of tests (e.g., D-KEFS) or tasks (e.g., The inhibitory ability task) used with children with Cerebral Palsy. However, no information was given about adaptations performed to the test/task to meet Cerebral Palsy's specificities. Future research could consider including this information, which is key both to researchers and practitioners. The results of this study have important implications and suggestions for future avenues and guidelines for research and practice. PMID:29467685

Measuring team cohesion: observations from the science.

PubMed

Salas, Eduardo; Grossman, Rebecca; Hughes, Ashley M; Coultas, Chris W

2015-05-01

The aim of this study was to review literature relevant to cohesion measurement, explore developing measurement approaches, and provide theoretical and practical recommendations for optimizing cohesion measurement. Cohesion is essential for team effectiveness and performance, leading researchers to focus attention on understanding how to enhance it. However, cohesion is inconsistently defined and measured, making it difficult to compare findings across studies and limiting the ability to advance science and practice. We reviewed empirical research through which we uncovered specific information about cohesion's conceptualization, measurement, and relationships with performance, culminating in a set of current trends from which we provide suggestions and possible solutions to guide future efforts and help the field converge toward greater consistency. Cohesion demonstrates more significant relationships with performance when conceptualized using social and task (but not other) dimensions and when analyses are performed at the team level. Cohesion is inherently temporal, yet researchers rarely measure cohesion at multiple points during the life of a team. Finally, cohesion matters in large, dynamic collectives, complicating measurement. However, innovative and unobtrusive methodologies are being used, which we highlight. Practitioners and researchers are encouraged to define cohesion with task and social subdimensions and to measure with behavioral and attitudinal operationalizations. Individual and team-oriented items are recommended, though team-level analyses are most effective. Innovative/unobtrusive methods should be further researched to enable cohesion measurement longitudinally and in large, dynamic collectives. By applying our findings and conclusions, researchers and practitioners will be more likely to find consistent, reliable, and significant cohesion-to-performance relationships. This work is not subject to U.S. copyright restrictions.

Developing and Modifying Behavioral Coding Schemes in Pediatric Psychology: A Practical Guide

PubMed Central

McMurtry, C. Meghan; Chambers, Christine T.; Bakeman, Roger

2015-01-01

Objectives To provide a concise and practical guide to the development, modification, and use of behavioral coding schemes for observational data in pediatric psychology. Methods This article provides a review of relevant literature and experience in developing and refining behavioral coding schemes. Results A step-by-step guide to developing and/or modifying behavioral coding schemes is provided. Major steps include refining a research question, developing or refining the coding manual, piloting and refining the coding manual, and implementing the coding scheme. Major tasks within each step are discussed, and pediatric psychology examples are provided throughout. Conclusions Behavioral coding can be a complex and time-intensive process, but the approach is invaluable in allowing researchers to address clinically relevant research questions in ways that would not otherwise be possible. PMID:25416837

Sharing Responsibilities within the General Practice Team - A Cross-Sectional Study of Task Delegation in Germany.

PubMed

Mergenthal, Karola; Beyer, Martin; Gerlach, Ferdinand M; Guethlin, Corina

2016-01-01

Expected growth in the demand for health services has generated interest in the more effective deployment of health care assistants. Programs encouraging German general practitioners (GPs) to share responsibility for care with specially qualified health care assistants in the family practice (VERAHs) have existed for several years. But no studies have been conducted on the tasks German GPs are willing to rely on specially qualified personnel to perform, what they are prepared to delegate to all non-physician practice staff and what they prefer to do themselves. As part of an evaluation study on the deployment of VERAHs in GP-centered health care, we used a questionnaire to ask about task delegation within the practice team. From a list of tasks that VERAHs are specifically trained to carry out, GPs were asked to indicate which they actually delegate. We also asked GPs why they had employed a VERAH in their practice and for their opinions on the benefits and limitations of assigning tasks to VERAHs. The aim of the study was to find out which tasks GPs delegate to their specially qualified personnel, which they permit all HCAs to carry out, and which tasks they do not delegate at all. The survey was filled in and returned by 245 GPs (83%). Some tasks were exclusively delegated to VERAHs (e.g. home visits), while others were delegated to all HCAs (e.g. vaccinations). About half the GPs rated the assessment of mental health, as part of the comprehensive assessment of a patient's condition, as the sole responsibility of a GP. The possibility to delegate more complex tasks was the main reason given for employing a VERAH. Doctors said the delegation of home visits provided them with the greatest relief. In Germany, where GPs are solely accountable for the health care provided in their practices, experience with the transfer of responsibility to other non-physician health care personnel is still very limited. When HCAs have undergone special training, GPs seem to be prepared to delegate tasks that demand a substantial degree of know-how, such as home visits and case management. This "new" role allocation within the practice may signal a shift in the provision of health care by family practice teams in Germany.

Sharing Responsibilities within the General Practice Team – A Cross-Sectional Study of Task Delegation in Germany

PubMed Central

Mergenthal, Karola; Beyer, Martin; Gerlach, Ferdinand M.; Guethlin, Corina

2016-01-01

Background Expected growth in the demand for health services has generated interest in the more effective deployment of health care assistants. Programs encouraging German general practitioners (GPs) to share responsibility for care with specially qualified health care assistants in the family practice (VERAHs) have existed for several years. But no studies have been conducted on the tasks German GPs are willing to rely on specially qualified personnel to perform, what they are prepared to delegate to all non-physician practice staff and what they prefer to do themselves. Methods As part of an evaluation study on the deployment of VERAHs in GP-centered health care, we used a questionnaire to ask about task delegation within the practice team. From a list of tasks that VERAHs are specifically trained to carry out, GPs were asked to indicate which they actually delegate. We also asked GPs why they had employed a VERAH in their practice and for their opinions on the benefits and limitations of assigning tasks to VERAHs. The aim of the study was to find out which tasks GPs delegate to their specially qualified personnel, which they permit all HCAs to carry out, and which tasks they do not delegate at all. Results The survey was filled in and returned by 245 GPs (83%). Some tasks were exclusively delegated to VERAHs (e.g. home visits), while others were delegated to all HCAs (e.g. vaccinations). About half the GPs rated the assessment of mental health, as part of the comprehensive assessment of a patient’s condition, as the sole responsibility of a GP. The possibility to delegate more complex tasks was the main reason given for employing a VERAH. Doctors said the delegation of home visits provided them with the greatest relief. Conclusions In Germany, where GPs are solely accountable for the health care provided in their practices, experience with the transfer of responsibility to other non-physician health care personnel is still very limited. When HCAs have undergone special training, GPs seem to be prepared to delegate tasks that demand a substantial degree of know-how, such as home visits and case management. This “new” role allocation within the practice may signal a shift in the provision of health care by family practice teams in Germany. PMID:27280415

"Experience Isn't Everything": How Emotion Affects the Relationship Between Experience and Cue Utilization.

PubMed

Crane, Monique Frances; Brouwers, Sue; Wiggins, Mark William; Loveday, Thomas; Forrest, Kirsty; Tan, Suyin Giselle Marianne; Cyna, Allan Michael

2018-04-01

This research examined whether negative and positive arousal emotions modify the relationship between experience level and cue utilization among anesthetists. The capacity of a practitioner to form precise associations between clusters of features (e.g., symptoms) and events (e.g., diagnosis) and then act on them is known as cue utilization. A common assumption is that practice experience allows opportunities for cue acquisition and cue utilization. However, this relationship is often not borne out in research findings. This study investigates the role of emotional state in this relationship. An online tool (EXPERTise 2.0) was used to assess practitioner cue utilization for tasks relevant to anesthesia. The experience of positive and negative arousal emotions in the previous three days was measured, and emotion clusters were generated. Experience was measured as the composite of practice years and hours of practice experience. The moderating role of emotion on the relationship between experience and cue utilization was examined. Data on 125 anesthetists (36% female) were included in the analysis. The predicted interaction between arousal emotions and the experience level emerged. In particular, post hoc analyses revealed that anxiety-related emotions facilitated the likelihood of high cue utilization in less experienced practitioners. The findings suggest a role for emotions in cue use and suggest a functional role for normal range anxiety emotions in a simulated work-relevant task. This research illustrates the importance of understanding the potentially functional effects common negative arousal emotions may have on clinical performance, particularly for those with less experience.

Can You Imagine? The Effect of Mental Practice on the Acquisition and Retention of a Motor Skill as a Function of Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarus, Tal; Ratzon, Navah Z.

2000-01-01

A study investigated the effect of age on mental practice in 30 children, 30 adults, and 30 older adults randomly participating in physical and mental-physical practice. Mental practice benefitted children and older adults in coordination tasks. Older adults especially benefitted from mental practice in retention tasks. (Contains 58 references.)…

Parenting by anxious mothers: effects of disorder subtype, context and child characteristics.

PubMed

Murray, Lynne; Lau, Pui Yi; Arteche, Adriane; Creswell, Cathy; Russ, Stephanie; Zoppa, Letizia Della; Muggeo, Michela; Stein, Alan; Cooper, Peter

2012-02-01

There has been increasing research interest in parenting by anxious adults; however, little is known about anxiety-subtype effects, or effects of the context in which parenting is assessed. Two groups of anxious mothers, social phobia (N = 50), generalised anxiety disorder (N = 38), and nonanxious controls (N = 62) were assessed with their 4.9-year-old children in three tasks: two presented threat specifically relevant to each maternal disorder, namely, a social threat task where the child had to give a speech, and a nonsocial threat task where the child had to explore potentially scary objects; the third was a nonthreat task (playing with play dough). Seven parenting dimensions were scored. Effects on parenting of maternal anxiety subgroup and task, and their interactions, were examined, as were effects of earlier child behavioural inhibition and currently manifest anxiety. There were no parenting differences between maternal groups in the nonthreat play-dough task; parenting difficulties in the two anxious groups were principally evident in the disorder-specific challenge. Parenting differences between nonanxious and anxious mothers occurred independently of child characteristics. There was little evidence for particular forms of parenting difficulty being unique to maternal disorder. Anxious mothers' parenting difficulties emerge when occurring under challenge, especially when this is disorder-specific. These effects should be considered in research and clinical practice. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2011 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Does physiotherapy based on the Bobath concept, in conjunction with a task practice, achieve greater improvement in walking ability in people with stroke compared to physiotherapy focused on structured task practice alone?: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Brock, Kim; Haase, Gerlinde; Rothacher, Gerhard; Cotton, Susan

2011-10-01

To compare the short-term effects of two physiotherapy approaches for improving ability to walk in different environments following stroke: (i) interventions based on the Bobath concept, in conjunction with task practice, compared to (ii) structured task practice alone. Randomized controlled trial. Two rehabilitation centres Participants: Twenty-six participants between four and 20 weeks post-stroke, able to walk with supervision indoors. Both groups received six one-hour physiotherapy sessions over a two-week period. One group received physiotherapy based on the Bobath concept, including one hour of structured task practice. The other group received six hours of structured task practice. The primary outcome was an adapted six-minute walk test, incorporating a step, ramp and uneven surface. Secondary measures were gait velocity and the Berg Balance Scale. Measures were assessed before and after the intervention period. Following the intervention, there was no significant difference in improvement between the two groups for the adapted six-minute walk test (89.9 (standard deviation (SD) 73.1) m Bobath versus 41 (40.7) m task practice, P = 0.07). However, walking velocity showed significantly greater increases in the Bobath group (26.2 (SD 17.2) m/min versus 9.9 (SD = 12.9) m/min, P = 0.01). No significant differences between groups were recorded for the Berg Balance Scale (P = 0.2). This pilot study indicates short-term benefit for using interventions based on the Bobath concept for improving walking velocity in people with stroke. A sample size of 32 participants per group is required for a definitive study.

Assessing preschoolers interactive behaviour: A validation study of the "Coding System for Mother-Child Interaction".

PubMed

Baiao, R; Baptista, J; Carneiro, A; Pinto, R; Toscano, C; Fearon, P; Soares, I; Mesquita, A R

2018-07-01

The preschool years are a period of great developmental achievements, which impact critically on a child's interactive skills. Having valid and reliable measures to assess interactive behaviour at this stage is therefore crucial. The aim of this study was to describe the adaptation and validation of the child coding of the Coding System for Mother-Child Interactions and discuss its applications and implications in future research and practice. Two hundred twenty Portuguese preschoolers and their mothers were videotaped during a structured task. Child and mother interactive behaviours were coded based on the task. Maternal reports on the child's temperament and emotional and behaviour problems were also collected, along with family psychosocial information. Interrater agreement was confirmed. The use of child Cooperation, Enthusiasm, and Negativity as subscales was supported by their correlations across tasks. Moreover, these subscales were correlated with each other, which supports the use of a global child interactive behaviour score. Convergent validity with a measure of emotional and behavioural problems (Child Behaviour Checklist 1 ½-5) was established, as well as divergent validity with a measure of temperament (Children's Behaviour Questionnaire-Short Form). Regarding associations with family variables, child interactive behaviour was only associated with maternal behaviour. Findings suggest that this coding system is a valid and reliable measure for assessing child interactive behaviour in preschool age children. It therefore represents an important alternative to this area of research and practice, with reduced costs and with more flexible training requirements. Attention should be given in future research to expanding this work to clinical populations and different age groups. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Distribution of Practice and Metacognition in Learning and Long-Term Retention of a Discrete Motor Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dail, Teresa K.; Christina, Robert W.

2004-01-01

This study examined judgments of learning and the long-term retention of a discrete motor task (golf putting) as a function of practice distribution. The results indicated that participants in the distributed practice group performed more proficiently than those in the massed practice group during both acquisition and retention phases. No…

Guidance on How to Move from Current Practice to Recommended Practice in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative Publication)

EPA Science Inventory

The report provides guidance on how to move from current practice to recommended practice in Life Cycle Impact Assessment. It is composed of three complementary parts elaborated in the first task force (TFI) of the LCIA programme, with contribution of the other three task forces:

The Effect of Variability of Practice at Execution Redundancy Level in Skilled and Novice Basketball Players.

PubMed

Taheri, Hamidreza; Fazeli, Davoud; Poureghbali, Sogand

2017-04-01

We investigated the effect of practice variability through execution redundancy in skilled and novice basketball players on free throw skills. Twelve skilled basketball players and 12 novices (mean age = 25.4 years, SD = 4.3) were divided into four groups (skilled constant, skilled variable, novice constant, and novice variable). After a pretest, participants practiced free throw action. The variable groups threw the ball over an obstacle of varying heights on each trial in random order, whereas the obstacle's height was fixed for the constant groups. After 7 and 14 consecutive days of practice, participants performed two posttests with constant and variable distances from the basket. The results showed that practicing different solutions of a task did not affect the performance of skilled players but had an immediate negative effect on the performance of novice players. Learning a complex task is the result of learning task-related parameters, and practice variability can create a mismatch between task difficulty and new learner skill levels.

Web Survey Design in ASP.Net 2.0: A Simple Task with One Line of Code

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Chang

2007-01-01

Over the past few years, more and more companies have been investing in electronic commerce (EC) by designing and implementing Web-based applications. In the world of practice, the importance of using Web technology to reach individual customers has been presented by many researchers. This paper presents an easy way of conducting marketing…

"A Different Frame around the Conversation": A Narrative Inquiry into the Reflective Practice of Early Induction Administrators Charged with Instructional Supervision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Zachary

2010-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and analyze the ways in which newly inducted supervisors (in the first three years of their work) tasked with clinical supervision, cognitive coaching, and similar forms of developmental instructional supervision were engaged in a "reflective dialogue" between their supervisory…

Practicing What We Preach in Teacher Education: A Critical Whiteness Studies Analysis of Experiential Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Meghan E.

2017-01-01

In this article I problematize the reasons for and methods through which I incorporated an opportunity for experiential learning, via a Community Inquiry Project, into my own teaching. I take the stance of a teacher-researcher to closely analyze the specific documents and tasks used to introduce pre-service teachers to the project. I draw on…

2013 AHA/ACC guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The goals of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) are to prevent cardiovascular (CV) diseases, improve the management of people who have these diseases through professional education and research, and develop guidelines, standards and policies that promot...

A Sisyphean Task: Historical Perspectives on the Relationship between Writing and Reading Instruction. Technical Report No. 7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clifford, Geraldine Joncich

Based on the thesis that cycles of concern for an integrated, holistic approach to English language instruction have periodically emerged in reaction to historical forces that are essentially fragmenting in their effects, this thematic report explores events in 20th-century American educational theory, research, and practice that deal with English…

An Overview of the Use of Mechanical Turk in Behavioral Sciences: Implications for Social Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Chitat; Holosko, Michael J.

2016-01-01

Crowdsourcing is a process in which a firm parcels out work to a "crowd" and offers payment for anyone within the crowd who completes the task determined by that firm. A growing number of behavioral scientists have begun using the Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to facilitate their research and practice, but there is apparently not one academic…

Responding to the Call: Developing and Assessing Pedagogical Spanish Competencies in Bilingual Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aquino-Sterling, Cristian R.

2016-01-01

Bilingual teacher education scholars continue to advocate for the improvement of Spanish language-related teacher preparation practices. However, the field is in need of research on how bilingual teacher educators across the U.S. are addressing this task in their work with future teachers. In responding to this call, I describe an approach and an…

Is Two Better than One? Comparing Children's Narrative Competence in an Individual versus Joint Storytelling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinto, Giuliana; Tarchi, Christian; Bigozzi, Lucia

2018-01-01

This research looks at the potential of peer interaction practices in improving narrative competence by analyzing the efficacy of peer learning on children's oral narrative productions. Gains on a macro-level (structure and coherence of the narrative) and a micro-level (cohesion of the narrative) were analyzed. Fifty-six primary school children…

Fostering Writing in Upper Primary Grades: A Study into the Distinct and Combined Impact of Explicit Instruction and Peer Assistance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Smedt, Fien; Van Keer, Hilde

2018-01-01

As writing is a complex and resource demanding task, high-quality writing instruction is indispensable from primary grades on to support beginning writers in developing effective writing skills. Writing research should therefore provide teachers and schools with evidence-based guidelines for teaching writing in daily practice. In this respect, the…

Challenges and Strategies in Social Work and Social Welfare PhD Education: Helping Candidates Jump through the Dissertation Hoops

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Roni

2015-01-01

A major task of social work doctoral programs is preparing the next generation of researchers and educators in the profession. To develop competence in generating new knowledge relevant to social work practice and disseminating it to future practitioners, doctoral candidates need to master a broad and complicated set of theoretical, empirical, and…

Graduate Student WAIS-III Scoring Accuracy Is a Function of Full Scale IQ and Complexity of Examiner Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopwood, Christopher J.; Richard, David C. S.

2005-01-01

Research on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) suggests that practicing clinical psychologists and graduate students make item-level scoring errors that affect IQ, index, and subtest scores. Studies have been limited in that Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and examiner administration,…

Towards Competence-Based Practices in Vocational Education -- What Will the Process Require from Teacher Education and Teacher Identities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nissilä, Säde-Pirkko; Karjalainen, Asko; Koukkari, Marja; Kepanen, Pirkko

2015-01-01

Competence-based education refers to the integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes and interactivity as the intended outcomes of learning. It makes use of lifelong learning and lifelike tasks in realistic settings and requires the cooperation of teachers. This research was prompted by the desire to explain why collegial cooperation often seems…

An Exploratory Examination of Literacy Assessment Practices of Adult Programs in North Carolina's Piedmont-Triad Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Eboni Nikita; Comer, Marcus M.

2007-01-01

It is estimated that 22 percent, of adults in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina have poor literacy skills, meaning that they have difficulty with tasks involving simple texts and documents. Purpose: Given this low level of adult literacy, the purpose of this exploratory research study was to analyze the perceptions of North Carolina's adult…

Notetaking Strategies and Their Relationship to Performance on Listening Comprehension and Communicative Assessment Tasks. TOEFL Monograph Series. MS-35. ETS RR-07-01

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrell, Patricia L.

2007-01-01

Utilizing a pre- and posttest research design, with an instructional intervention of good practices in notetaking, the notes taken by examinees during a computer-based listening comprehension test prior to and following the instructional intervention were examined for particular notetaking strategies. Questionnaires probed perceptions of the…

Students discussing their mathematical ideas: the role of the teacher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pijls, Monique; Dekker, Rijkje

2011-12-01

This article adds to current research on enhancing student discourse in mathematics teaching specifically in secondary schools but with equal relevance to elementary schools. Three mathematics teachers in secondary education were confronted with the question of how to encourage students to discuss their work with each other in the daily practice of their mathematical lessons. In response to this question the teachers devised three different approaches to encourage student discourse. One of the teachers chose to experiment with another setting to perform mathematical tasks that involved students working together on a group test. The second teacher experimented with a new kind of help when students were working on their maths tasks and asked for assistance. The third created a new setting in which the teacher (temporarily) did not provide mathematical hints and the students had to solve their own problems. The three teachers were very motivated, but they all had difficulties in not giving explanations themselves when supporting their students in their collaborative mathematical learning. They found that temporarily diminishing their product help stimulated discussion between students. It also became clear that the process of teacher reflection and follow-up discussions with the researcher/observers promoted changes of practice.

HIV Task Sharing Between Nurses and Physicians in Nigeria: Examining the Correlates of Nurse Self-Efficacy and Job Satisfaction.

PubMed

Iwu, Emilia Ngozi; Holzemer, William L

A global shortfall of 12.9 million health care workers has been predicted to occur in the next two decades. Task sharing between physicians and nurses, a method used to help compensate for provider shortages, was shown to improve access to antiretroviral therapy in Africa, but led to nurses performing beyond their scopes of practice. We surveyed 508 nurses in task-shifted roles in Nigeria. Respondents (n = 399) provided information on age, years in practice, gender, registration status, employment site, and access to task-sharing training and mentoring. Years in practice negatively influenced task-sharing self-efficacy. Positive correlates of job satisfaction were years in practice, older age, male gender, single licensure, employment at a tertiary hospital, mentoring, and duration of training. System challenges and employment in faith-based and nontertiary hospitals increased likelihood of job dissatisfaction. Supportive practice and policy interventions are needed to minimize negative effects of disparities in job satisfaction across facilities. Copyright © 2017 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of explanations on mathematical reasoning tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norqvist, Mathias

2018-01-01

Studies in mathematics education often point to the necessity for students to engage in more cognitively demanding activities than just solving tasks by applying given solution methods. Previous studies have shown that students that engage in creative mathematically founded reasoning to construct a solution method, perform significantly better in follow up tests than students that are given a solution method and engage in algorithmic reasoning. However, teachers and textbooks, at least occasionally, provide explanations together with an algorithmic method, and this could possibly be more efficient than creative reasoning. In this study, three matched groups practiced with either creative, algorithmic, or explained algorithmic tasks. The main finding was that students that practiced with creative tasks did, outperform the students that practiced with explained algorithmic tasks in a post-test, despite a much lower practice score. The two groups that got a solution method presented, performed similarly in both practice and post-test, even though one group got an explanation to the given solution method. Additionally, there were some differences between the groups in which variables predicted the post-test score.

New ways of seeing: Health social work leadership and research capacity building.

PubMed

McDermott, Fiona; Bawden, Glenda

2017-01-01

Building research capacity amongst social work practitioners is critically important for leaders in the social work profession. To reverse an apparent reluctance to use evidence and engage in research, strong social work leadership in practice organisations is needed. The literature on leadership in health social work is relatively silent regarding research capacity building as a leadership attribute but it is argued in this paper that leadership is crucial. A programme of research capacity building and its outcomes in a health social work department is described, identifying key principles guiding its establishment and tasks undertaken. A transformational leadership style characterised this approach to research capacity building which delivered benefits to the staff and the service.

The Benefits of Executive Control Training and the Implications for Language Processing

PubMed Central

Hussey, Erika K.; Novick, Jared M.

2012-01-01

Recent psycholinguistics research suggests that the executive function (EF) skill known as conflict resolution – the ability to adjust behavior in the service of resolving among incompatible representations – is important for several language processing tasks such as lexical and syntactic ambiguity resolution, verbal fluency, and common-ground assessment. Here, we discuss work showing that various EF skills can be enhanced through consistent practice with working-memory tasks that tap these EFs, and, moreover, that improvements on the training tasks transfer across domains to novel tasks that may rely on shared underlying EFs. These findings have implications for language processing and could launch new research exploring if EF training, within a “process-specific” framework, could be used as a remediation tool for improving general language use. Indeed, work in our lab demonstrates that EF training that increases conflict-resolution processes has selective benefits on an untrained sentence-processing task requiring syntactic ambiguity resolution, which relies on shared conflict-resolution functions. Given claims that conflict-resolution abilities contribute to a range of linguistic skills, EF training targeting this process could theoretically yield wider performance gains beyond garden-path recovery. We offer some hypotheses on the potential benefits of EF training as a component of interventions to mitigate general difficulties in language processing. However, there are caveats to consider as well, which we also address. PMID:22661962

Mental Representation and Mental Practice: Experimental Investigation on the Functional Links between Motor Memory and Motor Imagery

PubMed Central

Frank, Cornelia; Land, William M.; Popp, Carmen; Schack, Thomas

2014-01-01

Recent research on mental representation of complex action has revealed distinct differences in the structure of representational frameworks between experts and novices. More recently, research on the development of mental representation structure has elicited functional changes in novices' representations as a result of practice. However, research investigating if and how mental practice adds to this adaptation process is lacking. In the present study, we examined the influence of mental practice (i.e., motor imagery rehearsal) on both putting performance and the development of one's representation of the golf putt during early skill acquisition. Novice golfers (N = 52) practiced the task of golf putting under one of four different practice conditions: mental, physical, mental-physical combined, and no practice. Participants were tested prior to and after a practice phase, as well as after a three day retention interval. Mental representation structures of the putt were measured, using the structural dimensional analysis of mental representation. This method provides psychometric data on the distances and groupings of basic action concepts in long-term memory. Additionally, putting accuracy and putting consistency were measured using two-dimensional error scores of each putt. Findings revealed significant performance improvements over the course of practice together with functional adaptations in mental representation structure. Interestingly, after three days of practice, the mental representations of participants who incorporated mental practice into their practice regime displayed representation structures that were more similar to a functional structure than did participants who did not incorporate mental practice. The findings of the present study suggest that mental practice promotes the cognitive adaptation process during motor learning, leading to more elaborate representations than physical practice only. PMID:24743576

The impact of electronic health record use on physician productivity.

PubMed

Adler-Milstein, Julia; Huckman, Robert S

2013-11-01

To examine the impact of the degree of electronic health record (EHR) use and delegation of EHR tasks on clinician productivity in ambulatory settings. We examined EHR use in primary care practices that implemented a web-based EHR from athenahealth (n = 42) over 3 years (695 practice-month observations). Practices were predominantly small and spread throughout the country. Data came from athenahealth practice management system and EHR task logs. We developed monthly measures of EHR use and delegation to support staff from task logs. Productivity was measured using work relative value units (RVUs). Using fixed effects models, we assessed the independent impacts on productivity of EHR use and delegation. We then explored the interaction between these 2 strategies and the role of practice size. Greater EHR use and greater delegation were independently associated with higher levels of productivity. An increase in EHR use of 1 standard deviation resulted in a 5.3% increase in RVUs per clinician workday; an increase in delegation of EHR tasks of 1 standard deviation resulted in an 11.0% increase in RVUs per clinician workday (P <.05 for both). Further, EHR use and delegation had a positive joint impact on productivity in large practices (coefficient, 0.058; P <.05), but a negative joint impact on productivity in small practices (coefficient, -0.142; P <.01). Clinicians in practices that increased EHR use and delegated EHR tasks were more productive, but practice size determined whether the 2 strategies were complements or substitutes.

Selection and utilization of assessment instruments in substance abuse treatment trials: the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network experience.

PubMed

Rosa, Carmen; Ghitza, Udi; Tai, Betty

2012-07-17

Based on recommendations from a US Institute of Medicine report, the National Institute on Drug Abuse established the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) in 1999, to accelerate the translation of science-based addiction treatment research into community-based practice, and to improve the quality of addiction treatment, using science as the vehicle. One of the CTN's primary tasks is to serve as a platform to forge bi-directional communications and collaborations between providers and scientists, to enhance the relevance of research, which generates empirical results that impact practice. Among many obstacles in moving research into real-world settings, this commentary mainly describes challenges and iterative experiences in regard to how the CTN develops its research protocols, with focus on how the CTN study teams select and utilize assessment instruments, which can reasonably balance the interests of both research scientists and practicing providers when applied in CTN trials. This commentary also discusses the process by which the CTN further selects a core set of common assessment instruments that may be applied across all trials, to allow easier cross-study analyses of comparable data.

An evaluation of human factors research for ultrasonic inservice inspection

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

Pond, D.J.; Donohoo, D.T.; Harris, R.V. Jr.

1998-03-01

This work was undertaken to determine if human factors research has yielded information applicable to upgrading requirements in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section XI, improving methods and techniques in Section V, and/or suggesting relevant research. A preference was established for information and recommendations which have become accepted and standard practice. Manual Ultrasonic Testing/Inservice Inspection (UT/ISI) is a complex task subject to influence by dozens of variables. This review frequently revealed equivocal findings regarding effects of environmental variables as well as repeated indications that inspection performance may be more, and more reliably, influenced by the workers` social environment, includingmore » managerial practices, than by other situational variables. Also of significance are each inspector`s relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities, and determination of these is seen as a necessary first step in upgrading requirements, methods, and techniques as well as in focusing research in support of such programs, While understanding the effects and mediating mechanisms of the variables impacting inspection performance is a worthwhile pursuit for researchers, initial improvements in industrial UTASI performance may be achieved by implementing practices already known to mitigate the effects of potentially adverse conditions. 52 refs., 2 tabs.« less

The effects of computer-assisted instruction on the mathematics performance and classroom behavior of children with ADHD.

PubMed

Mautone, Jennifer A; DuPaul, George J; Jitendra, Asha K

2005-08-01

The present study examines the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on the mathematics performance and classroom behavior of three second-through fourth-grade students with ADHD. A controlled case study is used to evaluate the effects of the computer software on participants' mathematics performance and on-task behavior. Participants' mathematics achievement improve and their on-task behavior increase during the CAI sessions relative to independent seatwork conditions. In addition, students and teachers consider CAI to be an acceptable intervention for some students with ADHD who are having difficulty with mathematics. Implications of these results for practice and research are discussed.

Recognition-induced forgetting is not due to category-based set size.

PubMed

Maxcey, Ashleigh M

2016-01-01

What are the consequences of accessing a visual long-term memory representation? Previous work has shown that accessing a long-term memory representation via retrieval improves memory for the targeted item and hurts memory for related items, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting. Recently we found a similar forgetting phenomenon with recognition of visual objects. Recognition-induced forgetting occurs when practice recognizing an object during a two-alternative forced-choice task, from a group of objects learned at the same time, leads to worse memory for objects from that group that were not practiced. An alternative explanation of this effect is that category-based set size is inducing forgetting, not recognition practice as claimed by some researchers. This alternative explanation is possible because during recognition practice subjects make old-new judgments in a two-alternative forced-choice task, and are thus exposed to more objects from practiced categories, potentially inducing forgetting due to set-size. Herein I pitted the category-based set size hypothesis against the recognition-induced forgetting hypothesis. To this end, I parametrically manipulated the amount of practice objects received in the recognition-induced forgetting paradigm. If forgetting is due to category-based set size, then the magnitude of forgetting of related objects will increase as the number of practice trials increases. If forgetting is recognition induced, the set size of exemplars from any given category should not be predictive of memory for practiced objects. Consistent with this latter hypothesis, additional practice systematically improved memory for practiced objects, but did not systematically affect forgetting of related objects. These results firmly establish that recognition practice induces forgetting of related memories. Future directions and important real-world applications of using recognition to access our visual memories of previously encountered objects are discussed.

Focusing on task conflict in the Stroop effect.

PubMed

Entel, Olga; Tzelgov, Joseph

2018-03-01

Two types of conflict underlie performance in the Stroop task-informational (between the incongruent word and its ink color) and task (between the relevant color-naming task and the irrelevant word-reading task). We manipulated congruent-to-neutral trial ratio in an attempt to reveal whether task conflict can be monitored and controlled in the absence of an informational conflict. In our first experiment, no incongruent trials were included, thus allowing examination of a pure task conflict situation. The results revealed an impressively large facilitation when most of the stimuli were congruent and a smaller yet significant facilitation when most of the stimuli were neutrals. In Experiments 2, exposing participants to incongruent trials during pre-experimental practice (but not during the experimental blocks) slowed down the responses to congruent trials, resulting in a reduced facilitation effect in the mostly congruent condition, and in a negative facilitation in the mostly neutral condition. In our third experiment, we replicated our results, eliminating possible contingency and frequency biases. Overall, our findings show that experiencing, or at least expecting, informational conflict is essential to reveal conflict, while control is recruited through task demands. This challenges previous findings and points out that additional research is needed to clarify the necessity of informational conflict for conflict detection.

Global oral health inequalities: dental caries task group--research agenda.

PubMed

Pitts, N; Amaechi, B; Niederman, R; Acevedo, A-M; Vianna, R; Ganss, C; Ismail, A; Honkala, E

2011-05-01

The IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Task Group on Dental Caries has synthesized current evidence and opinion to identify a five-year implementation and research agenda which should lead to improvements in global oral health, with particular reference to the implementation of current best evidence as well as integrated action to reduce caries and health inequalities between and within countries. The Group determined that research should: integrate health and oral health wherever possible, using common risk factors; be able to respond to and influence international developments in health, healthcare, and health payment systems as well as dental prevention and materials; and exploit the potential for novel funding partnerships with industry and foundations. More effective communication between and among the basic science, clinical science, and health promotion/public health research communities is needed. Translation of research into policy and practice should be a priority for all. Both community and individual interventions need tailoring to achieve a more equal and person-centered preventive focus and reduce any social gradient in health. Recommendations are made for both clinical and public health implementation of existing research and for caries-related research agendas in clinical science, health promotion/public health, and basic science.