Message communications of particular message types between compute nodes using DMA shadow buffers

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

Blocksome, Michael A.; Parker, Jeffrey J.

Message communications of particular message types between compute nodes using DMA shadow buffers includes: receiving a buffer identifier specifying an application buffer having a message of a particular type for transmission to a target compute node through a network; selecting one of a plurality of shadow buffers for a DMA engine on the compute node for storing the message, each shadow buffer corresponding to a slot of an injection FIFO buffer maintained by the DMA engine; storing the message in the selected shadow buffer; creating a data descriptor for the message stored in the selected shadow buffer; injecting the datamore » descriptor into the slot of the injection FIFO buffer corresponding to the selected shadow buffer; selecting the data descriptor from the injection FIFO buffer; and transmitting the message specified by the selected data descriptor through the data communications network to the target compute node.« less

'The secret shame': a content analysis of online news reporting of a celebrity admitting smoking while pregnant.

PubMed

Carroll, Beverley; Freeman, Becky

2015-04-01

Around one in 10 Australian women report that they smoke while pregnant, and this may be a significant underestimation. In 2013, Australian celebrity Chrissie Swan announced publicly that she had been smoking during her pregnancy, generating substantial media coverage. This study sought to identify the main themes in the reporting of the 'Swan pregnant and admitting smoking' story by online news media. Between 6 February 2013 and 18 February 2013 inclusively, a content analysis was conducted of Australian online news items using the keywords: 'Chrissie Swan smoking', and 'Chrissie Swan pregnant and smoking'. News items were coded for nine themes. A total of 124 items were identified. The most frequent themes were: 'celebrity story' (90.32%) and 'societal judgement of pregnant smokers' (69.35%). Less than one-half (45.97%) of the news items included 'quitting is hard' content and only 29.03% of the news items included 'smoking and health' content. Specific quit-referral content was found in only 13.71% of the news items. There was a missed opportunity to promote positive, non-judgemental smoking and pregnancy messages and health information that support pregnant women to quit smoking. SO WHAT?: Health promotion strategies are needed to build capacity in advocacy to promote positive health messages and counter societal judgement of pregnant smokers. Formative research into the use of celebrities and other influential women to promote positive empowering messages should be carried out and incorporated in future health promotion campaigns to improve pregnant women's ability to quit smoking.

The Impact of Exposure to Cartoons Promoting Healthy Eating on Children's Food Preferences and Choices.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Sónia; Ferreira, Rita; Conceição, Eva M; Silva, Cátia; Machado, Paulo P P; Boyland, Emma; Vaz, Ana

2018-05-01

This study explored whether a cartoon show with healthy eating messages positively affected children's food choices and food preferences. Experimental between-subjects design. Four elementary schools in Portugal were investigated. Children (aged 4-8 years; n = 142) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: a comparison group (n = 73) was exposed to cartoons with no reference to food and an intervention group (n = 69) was exposed to cartoons with healthy eating messages. After viewing, each child was given the opportunity to eat ad libitum for 10 minutes from a small selection of snack foods. Number of healthy and unhealthy food items chosen. Food preferences were measured using an adapted version of the Leeds Food Preference Checklist. Generalized linear models were used to test for differences between groups. Results were considered significant at P ≤ .05. Children in the experimental group chose significantly more healthy food items than did those in the comparison group (B = -.600; SE = .19; P < .05). Future studies may address the effect of prolonged exposure to healthy eating cartoons. Cartoons can be used to promote healthy food choices and can be a part of health promotion campaigns. Copyright © 2018 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Message Testing to Create Effective Health Communication Campaigns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Domigan, Juliane; Glassman, Tavis J.; Miller, Jeff; Hug, Heather; Diehr, Aaron J.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to assess a health communication campaign designed to reduce distracted driving among college students within the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing central interviewing techniques, participants were asked qualitative and quantitative items soliciting feedback concerning the efficacy of the messages.…

The Berne Model and Advertising Messages: A Psychographic Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Charles H.

This study relates Eric Berne's theory of Transactional Analysis to the effectiveness of advertising messages. A 30 item Personality Mode Test was constructed in order to assess subject agreement with statements reflecting Berne's three personality states: parent (social evaluative), adult (controlled rationality), and child (emotiveness). After…

Food and beverage promotions in Vancouver schools: A study of the prevalence and characteristics of in-school advertising, messaging, and signage

PubMed Central

Velazquez, Cayley E.; Black, Jennifer L.; Ahmadi, Naseam

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive profile of food-related advertising, messaging, and signage in Vancouver schools and to examine differences in the prevalence and characteristics of promotions between elementary and secondary schools. All food-related promotions were photographed in 23 diverse Vancouver public schools between November 2012 and April 2013. Key attributes, including the location, size, and main purpose of each promotion, as well as the type of food and/or beverage advertised and compliance with provincial school nutrition guidelines, were coded. Descriptive statistics assessed the prevalence and characteristics of promotions. Cross-tabulations examined whether the promotional landscape differed between elementary and secondary schools. All secondary and 80% of elementary schools contained food or beverage promotions (median = 17, range = 0–57 promotions per school). Of the 493 promotions documented, approximately 25% depicted “choose least” or “not recommended” items, prohibited for sale by provincial school nutrition guidelines. Nearly 1/3 of promotions advertised commercial items (e.g., brand name beverages such as Pepsi), in violation of the Board of Education's advertising policies and only 13% conveyed nutrition education messages. Close to half of all promotions were created by students for class projects, many of which marketed minimally nutritious items. In Vancouver schools, food-related promotions are common and are more prevalent in secondary than elementary schools. Students are regularly exposed to messaging for nutritionally poor items that are not in compliance with provincial school nutrition guidelines and which violate school board advertising policies. Stronger oversight of food-related promotional materials is needed to ensure that schools provide health promoting food environments. PMID:26844147

Food and beverage promotions in Vancouver schools: A study of the prevalence and characteristics of in-school advertising, messaging, and signage.

PubMed

Velazquez, Cayley E; Black, Jennifer L; Ahmadi, Naseam

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive profile of food-related advertising, messaging, and signage in Vancouver schools and to examine differences in the prevalence and characteristics of promotions between elementary and secondary schools. All food-related promotions were photographed in 23 diverse Vancouver public schools between November 2012 and April 2013. Key attributes, including the location, size, and main purpose of each promotion, as well as the type of food and/or beverage advertised and compliance with provincial school nutrition guidelines, were coded. Descriptive statistics assessed the prevalence and characteristics of promotions. Cross-tabulations examined whether the promotional landscape differed between elementary and secondary schools. All secondary and 80% of elementary schools contained food or beverage promotions (median = 17, range = 0-57 promotions per school). Of the 493 promotions documented, approximately 25% depicted "choose least" or "not recommended" items, prohibited for sale by provincial school nutrition guidelines. Nearly 1/3 of promotions advertised commercial items (e.g., brand name beverages such as Pepsi), in violation of the Board of Education's advertising policies and only 13% conveyed nutrition education messages. Close to half of all promotions were created by students for class projects, many of which marketed minimally nutritious items. In Vancouver schools, food-related promotions are common and are more prevalent in secondary than elementary schools. Students are regularly exposed to messaging for nutritionally poor items that are not in compliance with provincial school nutrition guidelines and which violate school board advertising policies. Stronger oversight of food-related promotional materials is needed to ensure that schools provide health promoting food environments.

Patient knowledge and recall of health information following exposure to "facts and myths" message format variations.

PubMed

Cameron, Kenzie A; Roloff, Michael E; Friesema, Elisha M; Brown, Tiffany; Jovanovic, Borko D; Hauber, Sara; Baker, David W

2013-09-01

To assess if exposure to varying "facts and myths" message formats affected participant knowledge and recall accuracy of information related to influenza vaccination. Consenting patients (N=125) were randomized to receive one of four influenza related messages (Facts Only; Facts and Myths; Facts, Myths, and Refutations; or CDC Control), mailed one week prior to a scheduled physician visit. Knowledge was measured using 15 true/false items at pretest and posttest; recall accuracy was assessed using eight items at posttest. All participants' knowledge scores increased significantly (p<0.05); those exposed to the CDC Control message had a higher posttest knowledge score (adjusted mean=11.18) than those in the Facts Only condition (adjusted mean 9.61, p=<0.02). Participants accurately recalled a mean of 4.49 statements (SD=1.98). ANOVA demonstrated significant differences in recall accuracy by condition [F(3, 83)=7.74, p<.001, η(2)=0.22]. Messages that include facts, myths, and evidence to counteract myths appear to be effective in increasing participants' knowledge. We found no evidence that presenting both facts and myths is counterproductive to recall accuracy. Use of messages containing facts and myths may engage the reader and lead to knowledge gain. Recall accuracy is not assured by merely presenting factual information. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individual Differences in Persuadability in the Health Promotion Domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaptein, Maurits; Lacroix, Joyca; Saini, Privender

This paper examines the behavioral consequences of individual differences in persuadability in the health promotion domain. We use a 7-item persuadability instrument to determine participants persuadability score. Based on this score two groups are created: the low and high persuadables. Subsequently, we present 2 studies that test the responses to health-related persuasive messages of both low and high persuadables. The results consistently show that high persuadables comply more to messages with a persuasive content as compared to a neutral message than low persuadables. Even more, both studies indicate lower compliance by low persuadables when persuasive messages are employed. Implications of this possible detrimental effect of the use of persuasive messages for low persuadables are discussed.

Evaluating a Modular Design Approach to Collecting Survey Data Using Text Messages

PubMed Central

West, Brady T.; Ghimire, Dirgha; Axinn, William G.

2015-01-01

This article presents analyses of data from a pilot study in Nepal that was designed to provide an initial examination of the errors and costs associated with an innovative methodology for survey data collection. We embedded a randomized experiment within a long-standing panel survey, collecting data on a small number of items with varying sensitivity from a probability sample of 450 young Nepalese adults. Survey items ranged from simple demographics to indicators of substance abuse and mental health problems. Sampled adults were randomly assigned to one of three different modes of data collection: 1) a standard one-time telephone interview, 2) a “single sitting” back-and-forth interview with an interviewer using text messaging, and 3) an interview using text messages within a modular design framework (which generally involves breaking the survey response task into distinct parts over a short period of time). Respondents in the modular group were asked to respond (via text message exchanges with an interviewer) to only one question on a given day, rather than complete the entire survey. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses demonstrate that the two text messaging modes increased the probability of disclosing sensitive information relative to the telephone mode, and that respondents in the modular design group, while responding less frequently, found the survey to be significantly easier. Further, those who responded in the modular group were not unique in terms of available covariates, suggesting that the reduced item response rates only introduced limited nonresponse bias. Future research should consider enhancing this methodology, applying it with other modes of data collection (e. g., web surveys), and continuously evaluating its effectiveness from a total survey error perspective. PMID:26322137

Content Characteristics Driving the Diffusion of Antismoking Messages: Implications for Cancer Prevention in the Emerging Public Communication Environment

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

This study examined how content characteristics of antitobacco messages affect smokers’ selective exposure to and social sharing of those messages. Results from an experiment revealed that content features predicting smokers’ selection of antismoking messages are different from those predicting whether those messages are shared. Antismoking messages smokers tend to select are characterized by strong arguments (odds ratio = 2.02, P = .02) and positive sentiments (odds ratio = 3.08, P = .03). Once selected, the messages more likely to be retransmitted by smokers were those with novel arguments (B = .83, P = .002) and positive sentiments (B = 1.65, P = .005). This research adds to the literature about the content characteristics driving the social diffusion of antitobacco messages and contributes to our understanding of the role of persuasive messages about smoking cessation in the emerging public communication environment. PMID:24395989

Effect of Message Type on the Visual Attention of Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury.

PubMed

Thiessen, Amber; Brown, Jessica; Beukelman, David; Hux, Karen; Myers, Angela

2017-05-17

The purpose of this investigation was to measure the effect of message type (i.e., action, naming) on the visual attention patterns of individuals with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) when viewing grids composed of 3 types of images (i.e., icons, decontextualized photographs, and contextualized photographs). Fourteen adults with TBI and 14 without TBI-assigned either to an action or naming message condition-viewed grids composed of 3 different image types. Participants' task was to select/sustain visual fixation on the image they felt best represented a stated message (i.e., action or naming). With final fixation location serving as a proxy for selection, participants in the naming message condition selected decontextualized photographs significantly more often than the other 2 image types. Participants in the action message condition selected contextualized photographs significantly more frequently than the other 2 image types. Minimal differences were noted between participant groups. This investigation provides preliminary evidence of the relationship between image and message type. Clinicians involved in the selection of images used for message representation should consider the message being represented when designing supports for people with TBI. Further research is necessary to fully understand the relationship between images and message type.

Young People's Everyday Literacies: The Language Features of Instant Messaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haas, Christina; Takayoshi, Pamela

2011-01-01

In this article, we examine writing in the context of new communication technologies as a kind of everyday literacy. Using an inductive approach developed from grounded theory, we analyzed a 32,000-word corpus of college students' Instant Messaging (IM) exchanges. Through our analysis of this corpus, we identify a fifteen-item taxonomy of IM…

Predictive Validity of an Empirical Approach for Selecting Promising Message Topics: A Randomized-Controlled Study

PubMed Central

Lee, Stella Juhyun; Brennan, Emily; Gibson, Laura Anne; Tan, Andy S. L.; Kybert-Momjian, Ani; Liu, Jiaying; Hornik, Robert

2016-01-01

Several message topic selection approaches propose that messages based on beliefs pretested and found to be more strongly associated with intentions will be more effective in changing population intentions and behaviors when used in a campaign. This study aimed to validate the underlying causal assumption of these approaches which rely on cross-sectional belief–intention associations. We experimentally tested whether messages addressing promising themes as identified by the above criterion were more persuasive than messages addressing less promising themes. Contrary to expectations, all messages increased intentions. Interestingly, mediation analyses showed that while messages deemed promising affected intentions through changes in targeted promising beliefs, messages deemed less promising also achieved persuasion by influencing nontargeted promising beliefs. Implications for message topic selection are discussed. PMID:27867218

Which Type of Antismoking Advertisement Is Perceived as More Effective? An Experimental Study With a Sample of Australian Socially Disadvantaged Welfare Recipients.

PubMed

Guillaumier, Ashleigh; Bonevski, Billie; Paul, Chris; d'Este, Catherine; Durkin, Sarah; Doran, Christopher

2017-05-01

Evaluate the perceived effectiveness of key antismoking messages among highly disadvantaged smokers and assess the impact of nicotine dependence and cessation cognitions on message processing. The experimental crossover trial, undertaken between March and December 2012, randomly exposed participants to two of three antismoking advertisements delivered via touchscreen computer. Welfare recipients were recruited from a community service organization in New South Wales, Australia. Subjects were 354 smokers (79% response rate). Participants resided in government rental housing (52%), earned less than AUD$400/wk (72%), and received their primary income from government welfare (95%). Three 30-second antismoking television advertisements representing common campaign themes: why to quit (graphic imagery), why to quit (personal testimonial), or how to quit. An 11-item scale assessed perceived effectiveness and message acceptance. An eight-item cessation cognitions index assessed motivations and readiness to quit, and the heaviness of smoking index was used to classify nicotine dependence. Descriptive statistics, generalized linear mixed models, and multiple linear regression analyses are reported. Why-to-quit advertisements were perceived as significantly more effective than the how-to-quit advertisement (all p < .0001). Smokers with positive cessation cognitions were more likely to accept antismoking messages (p = .0003) and perceive them as effective (p < .0001). Nicotine dependence level did not influence message acceptance (p = .7322) or effectiveness (p = .8872). Highly emotive advertisements providing good reasons to quit may be the most effective in promoting the antismoking message among groups with high smoking rates.

Design and Multi-Country Validation of Text Messages for an mHealth Intervention for Primary Prevention of Progression to Hypertension in Latin America.

PubMed

Diez-Canseco, Francisco; Zavala-Loayza, J Alfredo; Beratarrechea, Andrea; Kanter, Rebecca; Ramirez-Zea, Manuel; Rubinstein, Adolfo; Martinez, Homero; Miranda, J Jaime

2015-02-18

Mobile health (mHealth) has been posited to contribute to the reduction in health gaps and has shown fast and widespread growth in developing countries. This growth demands understanding of, and preparedness for, local cultural contexts. To describe the design and validation of text messages (short message service, SMS) that will be used for an mHealth behavioral change intervention to prevent hypertension in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru. An initial set of 64 SMS text messages were designed to promote healthy lifestyles among individuals in different stages of behavior change, addressing four key domains: salt and sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of high fat and sugar foods, and physical activity. The 64 SMS text messages were organized into nine subsets for field validation. In each country 36 people were recruited, half of them being male. Of the participants, 4 per country evaluated each subset of SMS text messages, which contained between 6 and 8 SMS text messages regarding different key domains and stages of change. The understanding and appeal of each SMS text message was assessed using a 7-item questionnaire. The understanding and appeal ratings were used to reach a final set of 56 SMS text messages. Overall, each of the 64 SMS text messages received a total of 12 evaluations (4 per country). The majority of evaluations-742 out of a total of 767 (96.7%) valid responses-revealed an adequate understanding of the key idea contained in the SMS text message. On a scale from 1 to 10, the average appeal score was 8.7 points, with a range of 4 to 10 points. Based on their low scores, 8 SMS text messages per country were discarded. Once the final set of 56 SMS text messages was established, and based on feedback obtained in the field, wording and content of some SMS text messages were improved. Of the final set, 9, 8, and 16 of the SMS text messages were improved based on participant evaluations from Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru, respectively. Most SMS text messages selected for the final set (49/56, 88%) were the same in all countries, except for small wording differences. The final set of SMS text messages produced had very high rates of understanding and appeal in three different Latin American countries. This study highlights the importance of developing and validating a package of simple, preventative SMS text messages, grounded in evidence and theory, across three different Latin American countries with active engagement of end users.

Design and Multi-Country Validation of Text Messages for an mHealth Intervention for Primary Prevention of Progression to Hypertension in Latin America

PubMed Central

Diez-Canseco, Francisco; Zavala-Loayza, J Alfredo; Beratarrechea, Andrea; Kanter, Rebecca; Ramirez-Zea, Manuel; Rubinstein, Adolfo; Martinez, Homero

2015-01-01

Background Mobile health (mHealth) has been posited to contribute to the reduction in health gaps and has shown fast and widespread growth in developing countries. This growth demands understanding of, and preparedness for, local cultural contexts. Objective To describe the design and validation of text messages (short message service, SMS) that will be used for an mHealth behavioral change intervention to prevent hypertension in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru. Methods An initial set of 64 SMS text messages were designed to promote healthy lifestyles among individuals in different stages of behavior change, addressing four key domains: salt and sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of high fat and sugar foods, and physical activity. The 64 SMS text messages were organized into nine subsets for field validation. In each country 36 people were recruited, half of them being male. Of the participants, 4 per country evaluated each subset of SMS text messages, which contained between 6 and 8 SMS text messages regarding different key domains and stages of change. The understanding and appeal of each SMS text message was assessed using a 7-item questionnaire. The understanding and appeal ratings were used to reach a final set of 56 SMS text messages. Results Overall, each of the 64 SMS text messages received a total of 12 evaluations (4 per country). The majority of evaluations—742 out of a total of 767 (96.7%) valid responses—revealed an adequate understanding of the key idea contained in the SMS text message. On a scale from 1 to 10, the average appeal score was 8.7 points, with a range of 4 to 10 points. Based on their low scores, 8 SMS text messages per country were discarded. Once the final set of 56 SMS text messages was established, and based on feedback obtained in the field, wording and content of some SMS text messages were improved. Of the final set, 9, 8, and 16 of the SMS text messages were improved based on participant evaluations from Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru, respectively. Most SMS text messages selected for the final set (49/56, 88%) were the same in all countries, except for small wording differences. Conclusions The final set of SMS text messages produced had very high rates of understanding and appeal in three different Latin American countries. This study highlights the importance of developing and validating a package of simple, preventative SMS text messages, grounded in evidence and theory, across three different Latin American countries with active engagement of end users. PMID:25693595

Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behavior Among First-Year College Students.

PubMed

Pace, Kristin; Silk, Kami; Nazione, Samantha; Fournier, Laura; Collins-Eaglin, Jan

2018-02-01

Awareness and utilization of mental health services on college campuses is a salient issue, particularly for first-year students as they transition into college life. The current study uses focus groups and surveys to test help-seeking messages for first-year students. In this formative research, Phase 1 focus-group participants (N = 47) discussed four message concepts related to awareness of symptoms of mental health problems and services available to students. Phase 2 participants (N = 292) viewed one of three message concepts and then completed items that measured their perceptions of the message. Focus-group results helped prioritize likely effectiveness of messages based on responses to message features and provided an understanding of mental health help-seeking perceptions among college students. The quantitative results indicate the messages have potential for increasing awareness of mental health issues, as well as promoting availability of campus resources. Implications for tailoring campaign messages to first-year students are discussed.

Effects of cell-phone and text-message distractions on true and false recognition.

PubMed

Smith, Theodore S; Isaak, Matthew I; Senette, Christian G; Abadie, Brenton G

2011-06-01

This study examined the effects of electronic communication distractions, including cell-phone and texting demands, on true and false recognition, specifically semantically related words presented and not presented on a computer screen. Participants were presented with 24 Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists while manipulating the concurrent presence or absence of cell-phone and text-message distractions during study. In the DRM paradigm, participants study lists of semantically related words (e.g., mother, crib, and diaper) linked to a non-presented critical lure (e.g., baby). After studying the lists of words, participants are then requested to recall or recognize previously presented words. Participants often not only demonstrate high remembrance for presented words (true memory: crib), but also recollection for non-presented words (false memory: baby). In the present study, true memory was highest when participants were not presented with any distraction tasks during study of DRM words, but poorer when they were required to complete a cell-phone conversation or text-message task during study. False recognition measures did not statistically vary across distraction conditions. Signal detection analyses showed that participants better discriminated true targets (list items presented during study) from true target controls (items presented during study only) when cell-phone or text-message distractions were absent than when they were present. Response bias did not vary significantly across distraction conditions, as there were no differences in the likelihood that a participant would claim an item as "old" (previously presented) rather than "new" (not previously presented). Results of this study are examined with respect to both activation monitoring and fuzzy trace theories.

Data communications in a parallel active messaging interface of a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Davis, Kristan D.; Faraj, Daniel A.

2014-07-22

Algorithm selection for data communications in a parallel active messaging interface (`PAMI`) of a parallel computer, the PAMI composed of data communications endpoints, each endpoint including specifications of a client, a context, and a task, endpoints coupled for data communications through the PAMI, including associating in the PAMI data communications algorithms and ranges of message sizes so that each algorithm is associated with a separate range of message sizes; receiving in an origin endpoint of the PAMI a data communications instruction, the instruction specifying transmission of a data communications message from the origin endpoint to a target endpoint, the data communications message characterized by a message size; selecting, from among the associated algorithms and ranges, a data communications algorithm in dependence upon the message size; and transmitting, according to the selected data communications algorithm from the origin endpoint to the target endpoint, the data communications message.

Data communications in a parallel active messaging interface of a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Davis, Kristan D; Faraj, Daniel A

2013-07-09

Algorithm selection for data communications in a parallel active messaging interface (`PAMI`) of a parallel computer, the PAMI composed of data communications endpoints, each endpoint including specifications of a client, a context, and a task, endpoints coupled for data communications through the PAMI, including associating in the PAMI data communications algorithms and ranges of message sizes so that each algorithm is associated with a separate range of message sizes; receiving in an origin endpoint of the PAMI a data communications instruction, the instruction specifying transmission of a data communications message from the origin endpoint to a target endpoint, the data communications message characterized by a message size; selecting, from among the associated algorithms and ranges, a data communications algorithm in dependence upon the message size; and transmitting, according to the selected data communications algorithm from the origin endpoint to the target endpoint, the data communications message.

The influence of alcohol-specific communication on adolescent alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences.

PubMed

Reimuller, Alison; Hussong, Andrea; Ennett, Susan T

2011-12-01

Alcohol-specific communication, a direct conversation between an adult and an adolescent regarding alcohol use, contains messages about alcohol relayed from the adult to the child. The current study examined the construct of alcohol-specific communication and the effect of messages on adolescent alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Parent-adolescent dyads were assessed biannually for 3 years (grades 9-11 at wave 6) to examine these relations in a large longitudinal study of adolescents initially in grades 6 through 8. An exploratory factor analysis identified two factors among alcohol-specific communication items, permissive messages and negative alcohol messages. Results showed previous level of adolescent alcohol use moderated the relation between permissive messages and alcohol use outcomes. Plotting of these interactions showed greater alcohol use and consequences with increasing permissive messages in adolescents with higher versus lower levels of previous alcohol use. Results suggest that parental messages regarding alcohol use may impact adolescent alcohol use beyond the effect of general parenting style and parental alcohol use.

The Influence of Alcohol-specific Communication on Adolescent Alcohol Use and Alcohol-related Consequences

PubMed Central

Reimuller, Alison; Hussong, Andrea; Ennett, Susan T.

2013-01-01

Alcohol-specific communication, a direct conversation between an adult and an adolescent regarding alcohol use, contains messages about alcohol relayed from the adult to the child. The current study examined the construct of alcohol-specific communication and the effect of messages on adolescent alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Parent-adolescent dyads were assessed biannually for 3 years (grades 9-11 at wave 6) to examine these relations in a large longitudinal study of adolescents initially in grades 6 through 8. An exploratory factor analysis identified two factors among alcohol-specific communication items, permissive messages and negative alcohol messages. Results showed previous level of adolescent alcohol use moderated the relation between permissive messages and alcohol use outcomes. Plotting of these interactions showed greater alcohol use and consequences with increasing permissive messages in adolescents with higher versus lower levels of previous alcohol use. Results suggest that parental messages regarding alcohol use may impact adolescent alcohol use beyond the effect of general parenting style and parental alcohol use. PMID:21667141

Adolescent Girls' Perceptions of Smoking Risk and Protective Factors: Implications for Message Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curbow, Barbara; Bowie, Janice; Binko, JoAnn; Smith, Stephanie; Dreyling, Erin; McDonnell, Karen A.

2007-01-01

Using a snowball technique, in-depth interviews were conducted with 108 girls emanating from seven demographically dissimilar social networks. Girls were asked to classify 58 items as either a risk or protective factor for smoking initiation and then to assign an importance weighting to each. All items except one (worries about her weight) were…

Using message framing to promote acceptance of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

PubMed

Gerend, Mary A; Shepherd, Janet E

2007-11-01

Use of message framing for encouraging vaccination, an increasingly common preventive health behavior, has received little empirical investigation. The authors examined the relative effectiveness of gain-versus loss-framed messages in promoting acceptance of a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV)-a virus responsible for virtually all cases of cervical cancer. Undergraduate women (N = 121) were randomly assigned to read a booklet describing the benefits of receiving (gain-framed message) or the costs of not receiving (loss-framed message) a prophylactic HPV vaccine. After reading the booklet, participants indicated their intent to obtain the HPV vaccine. A 5-item composite representing intentions to obtain the HPV vaccine. The effect of message framing on HPV vaccine acceptance was moderated by risky sexual behavior and approach avoidance motivation. A loss-framed message led to greater HPV vaccination intentions than a gain framed message but only among participants who had multiple sexual partners and participants who infrequently used condoms. The loss-frame advantage was also observed among participants high in avoidance motivation. Findings highlight characteristics of the message recipient that may affect the success of framed messages promoting vaccine acceptance. This study has practical implications for the development of health communications promoting vaccination.

Mobile phone text messaging to improve knowledge and practice of diabetic foot care in a developing country: Feasibility and outcomes.

PubMed

Hassan, Zeinab M

2017-06-01

To test the feasibility and effectiveness of using mobile phone text messaging to reinforce learning and the practice of diabetic foot care in a developing country. Ongoing learning reinforcement (2-3 times weekly) by text messaging followed an informal class on diabetic foot care in a community clinic setting. Subjects with cell phone access and no history of diabetic foot wounds or current wounds were recruited for participation (N = 225). Foot examinations and pretesting by survey occurred just before patients departed the clinic; the posttest survey and a final foot examination occurred 12 weeks later. The survey included basic demographic items along with items to measure knowledge and current foot care practices. One sample t tests (raw scores) and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared knowledge and practice before and after intervention. Initially, a majority of the sample (76%) reported poor levels of foot care. After 12 weeks <1% reported poor foot care practices. Statistical testing showed significant gains in knowledge (by score and level) and nearly unanimous compliance with daily foot examination. Mobile phone text messaging is an economical, feasible, and effective method for educators to improve diabetic self-care, even in a developing country. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Message framing and color combination in the perception of medical information.

PubMed

Chien, Yu-Hung

2011-04-01

A 2 x 2 between-subjects design was used to examine the effects of message framing (gain vs loss) and color combination (red background with white characters vs white background with black characters) on 120 university students' perception of materials promoting the H1N1 flu vaccine and their willingness to receive the vaccine after they had read the materials. Each participant completed a 6-item questionnaire, and the results of an analysis of variance showed that participants rated vaccine information presented through loss-framed messages as having greater interest and leading to greater understanding. Loss-framed messages presented on a white background with black characters significantly increased the willingness of the participants to receive the vaccine.

Message passing with queues and channels

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

Dozsa, Gabor J; Heidelberger, Philip; Kumar, Sameer

In an embodiment, a send thread receives an identifier that identifies a destination node and a pointer to data. The send thread creates a first send request in response to the receipt of the identifier and the data pointer. The send thread selects a selected channel from among a plurality of channels. The selected channel comprises a selected hand-off queue and an identification of a selected message unit. Each of the channels identifies a different message unit. The selected hand-off queue is randomly accessible. If the selected hand-off queue contains an available entry, the send thread adds the first sendmore » request to the selected hand-off queue. If the selected hand-off queue does not contain an available entry, the send thread removes a second send request from the selected hand-off queue and sends the second send request to the selected message unit.« less

Food commercials increase preference for energy-dense foods, particularly in children who watch more television.

PubMed

Boyland, Emma J; Harrold, Joanne A; Kirkham, Tim C; Corker, Catherine; Cuddy, Jenna; Evans, Deborah; Dovey, Terence M; Lawton, Clare L; Blundell, John E; Halford, Jason C G

2011-07-01

Our aim was to determine if levels of television viewing (a proxy measure for habitual commercial exposure) affect children's food preference responses to television food commercials. A total of 281 children aged 6 to 13 years from northwest England viewed toy or food television commercials followed by a cartoon on 2 separate occasions; they then completed 3 food preference measures, a commercial recognition task, and a television viewing questionnaire. After viewing the food commercials, all children selected more branded and nonbranded fat-rich and carbohydrate-rich items from food preference checklists compared with after viewing the toy commercials. The food preferences of children with higher habitual levels of television viewing were more affected by food commercial exposure than those of low television viewers. After viewing food commercials, high television viewing children selected a greater number of branded food items compared with after the toy commercials as well as compared with the low television viewers. Children correctly recognized more food commercials than toy commercials. Exposure to television food commercials enhanced high television viewers' preferences for branded foods and increased reported preferences for all food items (branded and nonbranded) relative to the low television viewers. This is the first study to demonstrate that children with greater previous exposure to commercials (high television viewers) seemed to be more responsive to food promotion messages than children with lower previous advertising exposure. Copyright © 2011 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A systematic review on empowerment for healthy nutrition in health promotion.

PubMed

Brandstetter, Susanne; Rüter, Jana; Curbach, Janina; Loss, Julika

2015-12-01

The present review aimed to identify and synthesize studies that used an empowerment approach within the field of healthy nutrition. A systematic review was conducted. Studies were identified by database searching (PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Psyndex). Searching, selecting and reporting were done according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) Statement. Health promotion including the subject of healthy nutrition. Individuals from non-clinical populations. A total of 1226 studies were screened for eligibility, eight studies were finally included. Three studies used the empowerment approach within a qualitative research paradigm and five studies within (quasi-) experimental intervention studies. Heterogeneity in settings, samples and evaluation methods was high. Most studies referred to the key message of empowerment, i.e. taking control over one's own life. However, the ways in which this key message was implemented in the interventions differed considerably. The number of studies included was very low. Furthermore, most studies had some limitations in terms of reporting how the empowerment approach was actually applied. The empowerment approach still seems to be unfamiliar within the field of healthy nutrition.

The measurement of cyberbullying: dimensional structure and relative item severity and discrimination.

PubMed

Menesini, Ersilia; Nocentini, Annalaura; Calussi, Pamela

2011-05-01

In relation to a sample of 1,092 Italian adolescents (50.9% females), the present study aims to: (a) analyze the most parsimonious structure of the cyberbullying and cybervictimization construct in male and female Italian adolescents through confirmatory factor analysis; and (b) analyze the severity and the discrimination parameters of each act using the item response theory. Results showed that the structure of the cyberbullying scale for perpetrated and received behaviors in both genders could best be represented by a monodimensional model where each item lies on a continuum of severity of aggressive acts. For both genders, the less severe acts are silent/prank calls and insults on instant messaging, and the most severe acts are unpleasant pictures/photos on Web sites, phone pictures/photos/videos of intimate scenes, and phone pictures/photos/videos of violent scenes. The items nasty text messages, nasty or rude e-mails, insults on Web sites, insults in chatrooms, and insults on blogs range from moderate to high levels of severity. Regarding the discrimination level of the acts, several items emerged as good indicators at various levels of cyberbullying and cybervictimization severity, with the exception of silent/prank calls. Furthermore, gender specificities underlined that the visual items can be considered good indicators of severe cyberbullies and cybervictims only in males. This information can help in understanding better the nature of the phenomenon, its severity in a given population, and to plan more specific prevention and intervention strategies.

A Systematic Review of Interventions to Enhance Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in Adolescents Delivered via Mobile Phone Text Messaging.

PubMed

Loescher, Lois J; Rains, Stephen A; Kramer, Sandra S; Akers, Chelsie; Moussa, Renee

2018-05-01

To systematically review healthy lifestyle interventions targeted to adolescents and delivered using text messaging (TM). PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases. Study Inclusion Criteria: Research articles published during 2011 to 2014; analyses focused on intervention targeting adolescents (10-19 years), with healthy lifestyle behaviors as main variables, delivered via mobile phone-based TM. The authors extracted data from 27 of 281 articles using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method. Adolescent and setting characteristics, study design and rigor, intervention effectiveness, challenges, and risk of bias. Across studies, 16 (59.3%) of 27 included non-Caucasians. The gender was split for 22 (81.5%) of 27 studies. Thirteen studies were randomized controlled trials. There was heterogeneity among targeted conditions, rigor of methods, and intervention effects. Interventions for monitoring/adherence (n = 8) reported more positive results than those for health behavior change (n = 19). Studies that only included message delivered via TM (n = 14) reported more positive effects than studies integrating multiple intervention components. Interventions delivered using TM presented minimal challenges, but selection and performance bias were observed across studies. Interventions delivered using TM have the potential, under certain conditions, to improve healthy lifestyle behaviors in adolescents. However, the rigor of studies varies, and established theory and validated measures have been inconsistently incorporated.

Self-Help Service Center Management System User’s Manual: Version 2.1

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

tools and other equipment loaned to customers. Temporary nonconsumable items, such as lawn mowers , must be returned by a certain due date a’nd time...function to process the return of lawn mowers . 3. A capability to identify the status of and/or process the return of a single borrowed item. This would be...IiR Qty Due Date Time 00000035 LAWN MOWER T I 1 03/09/90 18:00 Message Box ILocation Available: 10 Aisle: Authorized for item. I Row: Bin: Enter T for

Use of qualitative research to inform development of nutrition messages for low-income mothers of preschool children.

PubMed

White, Alicie H; Wilson, Judy F; Burns, Adam; Blum-Kemelor, Donna; Singh, Anita; Race, Patricia O; Soto, Valery; Lockett, Alice F

2011-01-01

To develop and test nutrition messages and supporting content with low-income mothers for use with theory-based interventions addressing fruit and vegetable consumption and child-feeding practices. Six formative and 6 evaluative focus groups explored message concepts and tested messages, respectively. Research facilities in Maryland, Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina, New York, Alabama, and Illinois. Ninety-five low-income mothers of 2- to 5-year-old children; over half from households participating in a federal nutrition assistance program. Preference for and comprehension of nutrition messages. Qualitative data analysis procedures to generate common themes from transcripts and observers' notes. Messages on role modeling, cooking and eating together, having patience when introducing new food items, and allowing children to serve themselves were well received. Mothers preferred messages that emphasized their role as a teacher and noted benefits such as their children becoming more independent and learning new skills. Mothers commonly doubted children's ability to accurately report when they are "full" and disliked messages encouraging mothers to allow children to "decide" whether and how much to eat. This study generated 7 audience-tested messages for incorporation into nutrition education interventions targeting low-income mothers of preschool-age children. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Expectancy Theory in Media and Message Selection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Leuven, Jim

1981-01-01

Argues for reversing emphasis on uses and gratifications research in favor of an expectancy model which holds that selection of a particular medium depends on (1) the expectation that the choice will be followed by a message of interest and (2) the importance of that message in satisfying user's values. (PD)

[News items on human papillomavirus and its vaccine in the Valencian press (2006-2011)].

PubMed

Tuells, José; Duro Torrijos, José Luis; Chilet Rosell, Elisa; Pastor Villalba, Eliseo; Portero Alonso, Antonio; Navarro Ortiz, Carmen; Galiana de la Villa, Eva María

2013-01-01

The process of introducing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine aimed at teenage girls has not been entirely without controversy in Spain. This vaccine was originally hyped as a preventive measure in the fight against cervical cancer but the resulting euphoria was tempered by a message calling for evidence. During administration of the second dose of the vaccine in February 2009, an unexpected turn of events attracted vast media coverage when two teenagers experienced adverse effects after immunization in Valencia (Spain). This study analyzes the scope and content of news items on HPV, immunization and cervical cancer published between 2006 and 2011 in two widely disseminated regional newspapers in Valencia. We also discuss the extent to which the messages transmitted may have influenced acceptability of the vaccine. Copyright © 2012 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

How do top cable news websites portray cognition as an aging issue?

PubMed

Vandenberg, Anna E; Price, Anna E; Friedman, Daniela B; Marchman, Graham; Anderson, Lynda A

2012-06-01

We examined messages that the websites of the top cable news companies (MSNBC, FOX, and CNN) conveyed about cognition between January 2007 and March 2010. Drawing on agenda-setting theory, this work assessed the frequency, prominence, and attributes of cognitive topics in messages targeting an aging audience. We used quantitative content analysis to examine the frequency and prominence of cognitive topics and cognitive goals, as well as how the cognitive discussions were framed. Chi-square analyses were conducted to compare cognitive health information discussed in news items that did and did not target an "aging audience." Qualitative analysis of the aging audience subgroup was used to further examine age-associated cognitive messages. Within the 229 cognitive items identified, we found significantly more coverage of cognitive functioning and unspecified dementia and significantly less coverage of cognitive disease not dementia, specified dementia, and accidents or injury for the aging audience. Our qualitative analysis of news items aimed at an aging audience documented a focus on maintaining functioning and avoiding decline through various individual lifestyle behaviors. However, contextual information about level of cognition to be maintained, particular cognitive functions targeted, specific norms about cognitive aging, and how cognitive function is determined was lacking. Our research points to a communication gap in the delivery of academic research findings to a lay audience through online journalism. We suggest more clarity by researchers in defining cognitive concepts and measurement of cognitive function for journalistic translation and public consumption.

Perceived visual informativeness (PVI): construct and scale development to assess visual information in printed materials.

PubMed

King, Andy J; Jensen, Jakob D; Davis, LaShara A; Carcioppolo, Nick

2014-01-01

There is a paucity of research on the visual images used in health communication messages and campaign materials. Even though many studies suggest further investigation of these visual messages and their features, few studies provide specific constructs or assessment tools for evaluating the characteristics of visual messages in health communication contexts. The authors conducted 2 studies to validate a measure of perceived visual informativeness (PVI), a message construct assessing visual messages presenting statistical or indexical information. In Study 1, a 7-item scale was created that demonstrated good internal reliability (α = .91), as well as convergent and divergent validity with related message constructs such as perceived message quality, perceived informativeness, and perceived attractiveness. PVI also converged with a preference for visual learning but was unrelated to a person's actual vision ability. In addition, PVI exhibited concurrent validity with a number of important constructs including perceived message effectiveness, decisional satisfaction, and three key public health theory behavior predictors: perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy. Study 2 provided more evidence that PVI is an internally reliable measure and demonstrates that PVI is a modifiable message feature that can be tested in future experimental work. PVI provides an initial step to assist in the evaluation and testing of visual messages in campaign and intervention materials promoting informed decision making and behavior change.

Verifying Safety Messages Using Relative-Time and Zone Priority in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Banani, Sam; Gordon, Steven; Thiemjarus, Surapa; Kittipiyakul, Somsak

2018-04-13

In high-density road networks, with each vehicle broadcasting multiple messages per second, the arrival rate of safety messages can easily exceed the rate at which digital signatures can be verified. Since not all messages can be verified, algorithms for selecting which messages to verify are required to ensure that each vehicle receives appropriate awareness about neighbouring vehicles. This paper presents a novel scheme to select important safety messages for verification in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed scheme uses location and direction of the sender, as well as proximity and relative-time between vehicles, to reduce the number of irrelevant messages verified (i.e., messages from vehicles that are unlikely to cause an accident). Compared with other existing schemes, the analysis results show that the proposed scheme can verify messages from nearby vehicles with lower inter-message delay and reduced packet loss and thus provides high level of awareness of the nearby vehicles.

Verifying Safety Messages Using Relative-Time and Zone Priority in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

Banani, Sam; Thiemjarus, Surapa; Kittipiyakul, Somsak

2018-01-01

In high-density road networks, with each vehicle broadcasting multiple messages per second, the arrival rate of safety messages can easily exceed the rate at which digital signatures can be verified. Since not all messages can be verified, algorithms for selecting which messages to verify are required to ensure that each vehicle receives appropriate awareness about neighbouring vehicles. This paper presents a novel scheme to select important safety messages for verification in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed scheme uses location and direction of the sender, as well as proximity and relative-time between vehicles, to reduce the number of irrelevant messages verified (i.e., messages from vehicles that are unlikely to cause an accident). Compared with other existing schemes, the analysis results show that the proposed scheme can verify messages from nearby vehicles with lower inter-message delay and reduced packet loss and thus provides high level of awareness of the nearby vehicles. PMID:29652840

Florida Red Tide Knowledge and Risk Perception: Is there a need for tailored messaging?

PubMed

Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Kohler, Kate; Byrne, Margaret M; Studts, Jamie

2014-02-01

Harmful algal blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis , occur throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Recent research efforts sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and others found that Florida red tide causes both acute and possibly chronic health effects from the toxic aerosols. Florida red tide also demonstrated significant social and economic impacts to both coastal residents and visitors. In conjunction with the research, persistent outreach efforts were conducted over the 11 year period. The goal of this project was to assess potential needs for tailored messaging needed among different red tide information user groups. Survey participants included 303 local residents, both with asthma and without, and 'snowbirds (seasonal residents that reside in the Sarasota area for more than 3 months but less than 6 months/year), also both with asthma and without. The questionnaire assessed Florida red tide knowledge and risk perception regarding Florida red tide using items drawn from two previously published surveys to allow comparison. Our results reveal that overall knowledge of Florida red tide has not changed. We found that knowledge was consistent across our selected groups and also did not vary by age, gender and education level. However, knowledge regarding consumption of seafood during Florida red tide has declined. Risk perception increased significantly for people who have asthma. Individuals responsible for public health communication regarding Florida red tide and human health concerns need to continue to pursue more effective outreach messages and delivery methods.

Florida Red Tide Knowledge and Risk Perception: Is there a need for tailored messaging?

PubMed Central

Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Kohler, Kate; Byrne, Margaret M.; Studts, Jamie

2013-01-01

Harmful algal blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, occur throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Recent research efforts sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and others found that Florida red tide causes both acute and possibly chronic health effects from the toxic aerosols. Florida red tide also demonstrated significant social and economic impacts to both coastal residents and visitors. In conjunction with the research, persistent outreach efforts were conducted over the 11 year period. The goal of this project was to assess potential needs for tailored messaging needed among different red tide information user groups. Survey participants included 303 local residents, both with asthma and without, and ‘snowbirds (seasonal residents that reside in the Sarasota area for more than 3 months but less than 6 months/year), also both with asthma and without. The questionnaire assessed Florida red tide knowledge and risk perception regarding Florida red tide using items drawn from two previously published surveys to allow comparison. Our results reveal that overall knowledge of Florida red tide has not changed. We found that knowledge was consistent across our selected groups and also did not vary by age, gender and education level. However, knowledge regarding consumption of seafood during Florida red tide has declined. Risk perception increased significantly for people who have asthma. Individuals responsible for public health communication regarding Florida red tide and human health concerns need to continue to pursue more effective outreach messages and delivery methods. PMID:24563634

The role of health consciousness in predicting attention to health warning messages.

PubMed

Kaskutas, L A; Greenfield, T K

1997-01-01

Guided by information processing theory and the health belief model, this paper considers the relationship between health consciousness among the general population and attention to environmental health warnings about alcohol consumption. Mechanisms of exposure to three dominant types of impersonal alcohol-related health messages in the environment are explored. Cross-sectional survey using telephone interview data. A representative nationwide sample of adults was interviewed in 1993 (n = 1026), with a response rate of 63%. Key variables include exposure to warning labels on alcoholic beverages, to point-of-sale posters, and to advertisements in the media, as well as respondents' alcohol consumption, health problems (indicative of salience of health warnings), and level of health consciousness assessed by items tapping concern with nutrition and seeking information on health topics. In the total sample, over a third had seen a warning label or poster and almost all had seen an advertisement about the risks associated with alcohol consumption in 1993. Survey respondents scored very high on five individual items that make up the health consciousness scale introduced here, with 69% endorsing all items. The scale demonstrated good internal reliability (alpha = .70) and was significantly correlated (p < .01) with not enjoying getting drunk and with usually reading product warning labels, suggesting construct validity. Yet the hypothesized strong relationships between health consciousness and attention to health warnings about drinking were not observed; nor was salience of messages a predictor of recall. Importantly, high proportions of underage drinkers and young adults at elevated risk for drinking problems are reached by container warning label messages. Mechanisms of exposure recall vary based on message source, with "container label recall" associated with heavier drinking, younger age, and purchasing patterns; "poster recall" associated with purchasing and health consciousness; and "advertisement recall" associated with heavy consumption and younger age. These results are contrary to predictions from skeptics of broad-based informational interventions, who argue that only the already-health conscious are attentive to health warnings about the risks of alcohol consumption. These data suggest that the label is reaching intended target audiences, especially younger people, males, and heavier alcohol consumers. Future research in predicting attention to impersonal health warnings in the environment should continue to improve the assessment of constructs such as salience and health consciousness, and should further test the applicability of available theoretical models. Subsequent research should also consider additional measures to tap mechanisms of exposure to impersonal health messages to enable a better understanding of the population that is not being reached by such public health interventions.

How to Identify Drug Paraphernalia

MedlinePlus

... red eyes, changes in pupil size, or eye movements Items or associations that may indicate interest in illegal drugs or drug use. Clothing, jewelry, tattoos, teen slang with drug culture messages. Websites, music, or publications that glamorize drug use. Where do ...

A Querying Method over RDF-ized Health Level Seven v2.5 Messages Using Life Science Knowledge Resources.

PubMed

Kawazoe, Yoshimasa; Imai, Takeshi; Ohe, Kazuhiko

2016-04-05

Health level seven version 2.5 (HL7 v2.5) is a widespread messaging standard for information exchange between clinical information systems. By applying Semantic Web technologies for handling HL7 v2.5 messages, it is possible to integrate large-scale clinical data with life science knowledge resources. Showing feasibility of a querying method over large-scale resource description framework (RDF)-ized HL7 v2.5 messages using publicly available drug databases. We developed a method to convert HL7 v2.5 messages into the RDF. We also converted five kinds of drug databases into RDF and provided explicit links between the corresponding items among them. With those linked drug data, we then developed a method for query expansion to search the clinical data using semantic information on drug classes along with four types of temporal patterns. For evaluation purpose, medication orders and laboratory test results for a 3-year period at the University of Tokyo Hospital were used, and the query execution times were measured. Approximately 650 million RDF triples for medication orders and 790 million RDF triples for laboratory test results were converted. Taking three types of query in use cases for detecting adverse events of drugs as an example, we confirmed these queries were represented in SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) using our methods and comparison with conventional query expressions were performed. The measurement results confirm that the query time is feasible and increases logarithmically or linearly with the amount of data and without diverging. The proposed methods enabled query expressions that separate knowledge resources and clinical data, thereby suggesting the feasibility for improving the usability of clinical data by enhancing the knowledge resources. We also demonstrate that when HL7 v2.5 messages are automatically converted into RDF, searches are still possible through SPARQL without modifying the structure. As such, the proposed method benefits not only our hospitals, but also numerous hospitals that handle HL7 v2.5 messages. Our approach highlights a potential of large-scale data federation techniques to retrieve clinical information, which could be applied as applications of clinical intelligence to improve clinical practices, such as adverse drug event monitoring and cohort selection for a clinical study as well as discovering new knowledge from clinical information.

Argos: Design and Development of Object-Oriented, Event-Driven Multimedia Data Base Technology in Support of the Paperless Ship

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-01

on openStack global mode -- mode may be any of the following types: -- navigate - traverse through the graphical hierarchy -- order - for...ordering an item via graphics put "NAVIGATE" into MODE hide message box hide menubar set userlevel to 5 end openStack on closestack -- this handler will... openStack hide menuBAR hide message box end openStack * BKGND #1, BUTTON #1: Next * * * * ** ** * on mouseUp visual effect wipe left go to next card of

Household food diversity and nutritional status among adults in Brazil.

PubMed

Bezerra, Ilana N; Sichieri, Rosely

2011-03-27

The aims of this study were to evaluate whether a diversity of healthy foods in a household would decrease the availability of unhealthy foods and to evaluate the association between a healthy dietary diversity score (DDS) and nutritional status among adults. Data from the 2002-2003 Brazilian Household Budget Survey were used. This nationwide survey used a two-stage sampling technique: households were selected after selection of primary sample units (PSUs). Analyses were based on 3,393 PSUs, evaluating 659,816 records of food items purchased by 35,237 households. The DDS was based on the healthy food groups according to Brazilian food guidelines. Per capita acquisition of sugar, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages and crackers, cookies and cakes (unhealthy food groups) in PSUs was also calculated. Individual weight and height were measured at household. Multivariate linear regression models estimated the association of underweight and overweight and obesity (excess weight) with the PSUs' DDS. Greater acquisition of unhealthy food groups was associated with higher DDS. A high PSU's DDS was negatively associated with underweight (β = -0.38; p-value = 0.04) and positively associated with excess weight (β = 0.98; p-value = 0.05) after adjustment for availability of unhealthy food groups and socioeconomic variables. Our data indicate that there was no replacement of unhealthy food groups by healthy food groups, therefore a healthy diet message for obesity prevention should be combined with a message focused on eating less.

Direct, Operational Field Test Evaluation, Human Factors

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-08-01

IN THIS EXPERIMENT, 32 LICENSED DRIVERS (16 YOUNG, 16 OLD) DROVE ON AN EXPRESSWAY. ON EACH TRIAL (96 PER SUBJECT), 1 TO 3 TRAFFIC MESSAGES CONTAINING 6 TO 14 ITEMS WERE PRESENTED. (L-94 EASTBOUND AT SOUTHFIELD FREEWAY, CONTINUING CONSTRUCTION, RIGHT ...

Guidelines On The Selection And Design Of Messages For Changeable Message Signs

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-06-01

THIS REPORT PRESENTS GUIDELINES ON THE DESIGN OF CHANGEABLE MESSAGE SIGN (CMS) MESSAGES FOR USE IN FREEWAY CORRIDORS FOR INCIDENT MANAGEMENT AND ROUTE DIVERSION. IT IS A COMPANION TO REPORT NO. FHWA/TX-92/1232-9, WHICH IS A PRIMER ON THE CHARACTERIST...

GMSEC Interface Specification Document 2016 March

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Handy, Matthew

2016-01-01

The GMSEC Interface Specification Document contains the standard set of defined messages. Each GMSEC standard message contains a GMSEC Information Bus Header section and a Message Contents section. Each message section identifies required fields, optional fields, data type and recommended use of the fields. Additionally, this document includes the message subjects associated with the standard messages. The system design of the operations center should ensure the components that are selected use both the API and the defined standard messages in order to achieve full interoperability from component to component.

Coast Guard All Hands

Science.gov Websites

. In this post, Rachel gets some answers from the experts on military moves! U.S. Coast Guard photo by messages to publish in a weekly post to help raise awareness about specific messages and useful information . General Messages Weekly Roundup All Hands selects several messages to publish in a weekly post to help

Towards collaborative filtering recommender systems for tailored health communications.

PubMed

Marlin, Benjamin M; Adams, Roy J; Sadasivam, Rajani; Houston, Thomas K

2013-01-01

The goal of computer tailored health communications (CTHC) is to promote healthy behaviors by sending messages tailored to individual patients. Current CTHC systems collect baseline patient "profiles" and then use expert-written, rule-based systems to target messages to subsets of patients. Our main interest in this work is the study of collaborative filtering-based CTHC systems that can learn to tailor future message selections to individual patients based explicit feedback about past message selections. This paper reports the results of a study designed to collect explicit feedback (ratings) regarding four aspects of messages from 100 subjects in the smoking cessation support domain. Our results show that most users have positive opinions of most messages and that the ratings for all four aspects of the messages are highly correlated with each other. Finally, we conduct a range of rating prediction experiments comparing several different model variations. Our results show that predicting future ratings based on each user's past ratings contributes the most to predictive accuracy.

Towards Collaborative Filtering Recommender Systems for Tailored Health Communications

PubMed Central

Marlin, Benjamin M.; Adams, Roy J.; Sadasivam, Rajani; Houston, Thomas K.

2013-01-01

The goal of computer tailored health communications (CTHC) is to promote healthy behaviors by sending messages tailored to individual patients. Current CTHC systems collect baseline patient “profiles” and then use expert-written, rule-based systems to target messages to subsets of patients. Our main interest in this work is the study of collaborative filtering-based CTHC systems that can learn to tailor future message selections to individual patients based explicit feedback about past message selections. This paper reports the results of a study designed to collect explicit feedback (ratings) regarding four aspects of messages from 100 subjects in the smoking cessation support domain. Our results show that most users have positive opinions of most messages and that the ratings for all four aspects of the messages are highly correlated with each other. Finally, we conduct a range of rating prediction experiments comparing several different model variations. Our results show that predicting future ratings based on each user’s past ratings contributes the most to predictive accuracy. PMID:24551430

Concept identification for a power take-off shielding campaign.

PubMed

Tinc, P J; Madden, E; Park, S; Weil, R; Sorensen, J A

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Machinery entanglements, specifically power take-off (PTO) entanglements, are a leading cause of injuries and fatalities on farms. In order to address this life-threatening issue, a social marketing campaign is being developed to reduce barriers and emphasize motivators to shielding. This article discusses the process of designing, testing, and selecting concepts to be used in the campaign. Small-group discussions (triads) were held to test 13 message concepts. Participants were asked to provide feedback and select the two messages that they believed to be most powerful. Upon completion, three message concepts were selected to be finalized.

CEC Today, 1994-1998.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

CEC Today, 1994

1994-01-01

This document consists of the first 40 issues of a newsletter published "exclusively for members of the Council for Exceptional Children" (CEC). Issues typically include items such as: a message from the executive director, a legislative update, meeting announcements, suggestions to regular and student chapters of the organization,…

The Vehicular Information Space Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prinz, Vivian; Schlichter, Johann; Schweiger, Benno

Vehicular networks are distributed, self-organizing and highly mobile ad hoc networks. They allow for providing drivers with up-to-the-minute information about their environment. Therefore, they are expected to be a decisive future enabler for enhancing driving comfort and safety. This article introduces the Vehicular Information Space framework (VIS). Vehicles running the VIS form a kind of distributed database. It enables them to provide information like existing hazards, parking spaces or traffic densities in a location aware and fully distributed manner. In addition, vehicles can retrieve, modify and delete these information items. The underlying algorithm is based on features derived from existing structured Peer-to-Peer algorithms and extended to suit the specific characteristics of highly mobile ad hoc networks. We present, implement and simulate the VIS using a motorway and an urban traffic environment. Simulation studies on VIS message occurrence show that the VIS implies reasonable traffic overhead. Also, overall VIS message traffic is independent from the number of information items provided.

Message Variability and Heterogeneity: A Core Challenge for Communication Research

PubMed Central

Slater, Michael D.; Peter, Jochen; Valkenberg, Patti

2015-01-01

Messages are central to human social experience, and pose key conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of communication. In response to these challenges, we outline a systematic approach to conceptualizing, operationalizing, and analyzing messages. At the conceptual level, we distinguish between two core aspects of messages: message variability (the defined and operationalized features of messages) and message heterogeneity (the undefined and unmeasured features of messages), and suggest preferred approaches to defining message variables. At the operational level, we identify message sampling, selection, and research design strategies responsive to issues of message variability and heterogeneity in experimental and survey research. At the analytical level, we highlight effective techniques to deal with message variability and heterogeneity. We conclude with seven recommendations to increase rigor in the study of communication through appropriately addressing the challenges presented by messages. PMID:26681816

Selecting Items for Criterion-Referenced Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mellenbergh, Gideon J.; van der Linden, Wim J.

1982-01-01

Three item selection methods for criterion-referenced tests are examined: the classical theory of item difficulty and item-test correlation; the latent trait theory of item characteristic curves; and a decision-theoretic approach for optimal item selection. Item contribution to the standardized expected utility of mastery testing is discussed. (CM)

Applying Quantitative Approaches to the Formative Evaluation of Antismoking Campaign Messages

PubMed Central

Parvanta, Sarah; Gibson, Laura; Forquer, Heather; Shapiro-Luft, Dina; Dean, Lorraine; Freres, Derek; Lerman, Caryn; Mallya, Giridhar; Moldovan-Johnson, Mihaela; Tan, Andy; Cappella, Joseph; Hornik, Robert

2014-01-01

This article shares an in-depth summary of a formative evaluation that used quantitative data to inform the development and selection of promotional ads for the antismoking communication component of a social marketing campaign. A foundational survey provided cross-sectional data to identify beliefs about quitting smoking that campaign messages should target, as well as beliefs to avoid. Pretesting draft ads against quantitative indicators of message effectiveness further facilitated the selection and rejection of final campaign ads. Finally, we consider lessons learned from the process of balancing quantitative methods and judgment to make formative decisions about more and less promising persuasive messages for campaigns. PMID:24817829

Clinician and Parent Perspectives on Educational Needs for Increasing Adolescent HPV Vaccination.

PubMed

Widman, Christy A; Rodriguez, Elisa M; Saad-Harfouche, Frances; Twarozek, Annamaria Masucci; Erwin, Deborah O; Mahoney, Martin C

2018-04-01

Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related morbidity and mortality remain a significant public health burden despite the availability of HPV vaccines for cancer prevention. We engaged clinicians and parents to identify barriers and opportunities related to adolescent HPV vaccination within a focused geographic region. This mixed-method study design used an interviewer-administered semi-structured interview with clinicians (n = 52) and a written self-administered survey with similar items completed by parents (n = 54). Items focused on experiences, opinions, and ideas about HPV vaccine utilization in the clinical setting, family, and patient perceptions about HPV vaccination and potential future efforts to increase vaccine utilization. Quantitative items were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative content was analyzed thematically. Suggested solutions for achieving higher rates of HPV vaccination noted by clinicians included public health education, the removal of stigma associated with vaccines, media endorsements, and targeting parents as the primary focus of educational messages. Parents expressed the need for more information about HPV-related disease, HPV vaccines, vaccine safety, sexual concerns, and countering misinformation on social media. Results from this mixed-method study affirm that educational campaigns targeting both health care professionals and parents represent a key facilitator for promoting HPV vaccination; disease burden and cancer prevention emerged as key themes for this messaging.

Promoting Mental Health Resource Use on Campus by "Trying Something New".

PubMed

Champlin, Sara; Nisbett, Gwendelyn

2018-05-01

To design and test a persuasive health promotion campaign that aligns with the qualities of trying something new for the first time. Given that a majority of students have not previously sought/considered professional mental health assistance before, the hypothesis tested in this study asked whether a campaign that takes this into account is effective with this audience. Participants viewed an online informational message (n = 84), information message plus first-time experience banner (n = 99), or 1 of 4 full campaigns, each depicting a student story and photo about a first-time experience (moving from home [n = 48], skydiving [n = 52], acting in a play [n = 48], and exercising with personal trainer [n = 48]). Visual poster items: appeal (visually pleasing, 7 items, α = .92), support (value of poster, 5 items, α = .86) and behavioral intention items: engagement (participant seek help/pay attention, 3 items, α = .86), relevance (content as relevant, 3 items, α = .84), and judgment (judgment of others for not seeking help, 2 items, α = .87). College students (N = 380). In comparison to information-only messages, framing mental health help seeking as a first-time experience was linked with increased appeal, support, and engagement (M informationonly = 2.79 [standard deviation, SD = 1.34], M informationplusbanner = 3.25 [SD = 1.23], M fullcampaign = 4.07 [SD = 1.28], P < .001, M informationonly = 4.38 [SD = 1.47], M informationplusbanner = 4.92 [SD = 1.21], M fullcampaign = 4.57 [SD = 1.26], P = .014, and M informationonly = 3.13 [SD = 1.76], M informationplusbanner = 3.56 [SD = 1.48], M fullcampaign = 4.02 [SD = 1.42], P < .001, respectively). As anticipated, the full campaign garnered the highest affect and engagement scores. When comparing the 4 first-time experiences, there were main effects on support and engagement (M train = 5.06 [SD = 1.17], M plane = 4.27 [SD = 1.28], M home = 4.59 [SD = 1.19], M play = 4.38 [SD = 1.29], P = .009 and M train = 4.50 [SD = 1.27], M plane = 3.75 [SD = 1.43], M home = 4.01 [SD = 1.49], M play = 3.84 [SD = 1.39], P = .042, respectively), with the novel experience of "working with a personal trainer" rated highest. Findings from this study have implications for the design of health promotion materials on college campuses. Specifically, campaigns that frame seeking help for mental health as a new experience potentially increase student engagement in this behavior. A key finding from the present study is that a campaign in which this behavior is linked to a familiar form of interpersonal help seeking (personal training) can create receptivity to the stigmatized issue of mental health help seeking.

Use and Appreciation of a Web-Based, Tailored Intervention (E-health4Uth) Combined With Counseling to Promote Adolescents’ Health in Preventive Youth Health Care: Survey and Log-File Analysis

PubMed Central

Bannink, Rienke; Broeren, Suzanne; Joosten-van Zwanenburg, Evelien; van As, Els; van de Looij-Jansen, Petra

2014-01-01

Background Health promotion for adolescents is important in the prevention of mental health problems and health-risk behaviors. We implemented two interventions in a preventive youth health care setting. Adolescents in the E-health4Uth group received Web-based, tailored messages on their health behavior and well-being. Adolescents in the E-health4Uth and counseling group received the same tailored messages, but were subsequently referred to a school nurse for a consultation if they were at risk of mental health problems. Objective This study evaluated the use and appreciation of these Web-based, tailored messages and additional consultation with a school nurse. Differences in use and appreciation according to demographics (ie, gender, level of education, and ethnicity) of the adolescents were also assessed. Methods Two youth health care organizations participated in this study and conducted the interventions in 12 secondary schools. In total, 1702 adolescents participated; 533 in the E-health4Uth group, 554 in the E-health4Uth and counseling group, and 615 in the control group (ie, care as usual). Adolescents completed an evaluation questionnaire assessing the use and appreciation of the tailored messages immediately after receiving these messages and at a 4-month follow-up. After the consultation, adolescents and nurses completed an evaluation questionnaire on the use and appreciation of the consultation. Results The majority of the adolescents (845/1034, 81.72%) indicated they had read the tailored messages. Most items on the use and appreciation of the tailored messages and the program were scored positive (overall satisfaction on a scale from 1, most-negative, to 10, most-positive: mean 6.70, SD 1.60). In general, adolescents in vocational training, girls, and adolescents of non-Dutch ethnicity, indicated they used the tailored messages more often and appreciated the content of the messages better than adolescents receiving preuniversity education, boys, and adolescents of Dutch ethnicity, respectively (all P<.05). In the E-health4Uth and counseling group, 18.6% (103/553) of the adolescents were referred to a nurse. Adolescents in vocational training and girls were more often referred to a nurse than adolescents receiving preuniversity education (P=.007) and boys (P=.03), respectively. Adolescents and nurses positively evaluated the consultation (overall satisfaction of adolescents: mean 8.07, SD 1.21). Adolescents in vocational training attended the consultation more often (P=.047) and considered the consultation a more valuable addition to the tailored messages than adolescents receiving preuniversity education (P=.034). Conclusions The Web-based, tailored messages and additional consultation were used and appreciated positively by adolescents and nurses. The consultation seems a valuable addition to the tailored messages. However, the tailored messages might need further improvement since adolescents did not rate all evaluation items about these messages explicitly positive. As these interventions were already interweaved with the existing practice of the preventive youth health care, they are especially promising for future implementation. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register Number (NTR): NTR3596; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=3596 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6LryL42zH). PMID:24394676

Use and Appreciation of a Web-Based, Tailored Intervention (E-health4Uth) Combined With Counseling to Promote Adolescents' Health in Preventive Youth Health Care: Survey and Log-File Analysis.

PubMed

Bannink, Rienke; Broeren, Suzanne; Joosten-van Zwanenburg, Evelien; van As, Els; van de Looij-Jansen, Petra; Raat, Hein

2014-01-06

Health promotion for adolescents is important in the prevention of mental health problems and health-risk behaviors. We implemented two interventions in a preventive youth health care setting. Adolescents in the E-health4Uth group received Web-based, tailored messages on their health behavior and well-being. Adolescents in the E-health4Uth and counseling group received the same tailored messages, but were subsequently referred to a school nurse for a consultation if they were at risk of mental health problems. This study evaluated the use and appreciation of these Web-based, tailored messages and additional consultation with a school nurse. Differences in use and appreciation according to demographics (ie, gender, level of education, and ethnicity) of the adolescents were also assessed. Two youth health care organizations participated in this study and conducted the interventions in 12 secondary schools. In total, 1702 adolescents participated; 533 in the E-health4Uth group, 554 in the E-health4Uth and counseling group, and 615 in the control group (ie, care as usual). Adolescents completed an evaluation questionnaire assessing the use and appreciation of the tailored messages immediately after receiving these messages and at a 4-month follow-up. After the consultation, adolescents and nurses completed an evaluation questionnaire on the use and appreciation of the consultation. The majority of the adolescents (845/1034, 81.72%) indicated they had read the tailored messages. Most items on the use and appreciation of the tailored messages and the program were scored positive (overall satisfaction on a scale from 1, most-negative, to 10, most-positive: mean 6.70, SD 1.60). In general, adolescents in vocational training, girls, and adolescents of non-Dutch ethnicity, indicated they used the tailored messages more often and appreciated the content of the messages better than adolescents receiving preuniversity education, boys, and adolescents of Dutch ethnicity, respectively (all P<.05). In the E-health4Uth and counseling group, 18.6% (103/553) of the adolescents were referred to a nurse. Adolescents in vocational training and girls were more often referred to a nurse than adolescents receiving preuniversity education (P=.007) and boys (P=.03), respectively. Adolescents and nurses positively evaluated the consultation (overall satisfaction of adolescents: mean 8.07, SD 1.21). Adolescents in vocational training attended the consultation more often (P=.047) and considered the consultation a more valuable addition to the tailored messages than adolescents receiving preuniversity education (P=.034). The Web-based, tailored messages and additional consultation were used and appreciated positively by adolescents and nurses. The consultation seems a valuable addition to the tailored messages. However, the tailored messages might need further improvement since adolescents did not rate all evaluation items about these messages explicitly positive. As these interventions were already interweaved with the existing practice of the preventive youth health care, they are especially promising for future implementation. Netherlands Trial Register Number (NTR): NTR3596; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=3596 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6LryL42zH).

The Selection of Test Items for Decision Making with a Computer Adaptive Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spray, Judith A.; Reckase, Mark D.

The issue of test-item selection in support of decision making in adaptive testing is considered. The number of items needed to make a decision is compared for two approaches: selecting items from an item pool that are most informative at the decision point or selecting items that are most informative at the examinee's ability level. The first…

Time Course of Grammatical Encoding in Agrammatism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jiyeon

2011-01-01

Producing a sentence involves encoding a preverbal message into a grammatical structure by retrieving lexical items and integrating them into a functional (semantic-to-grammatical) structure. Individuals with agrammatism are impaired in this grammatical encoding process. However, it is unclear what aspect of grammatical encoding is impaired and…

Guidelines for Effective Selective Listening.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schendel, Joel D.; Shields, Joyce L.

Defining selective listening as an intelligence gathering technique that depends on an individual's ability to access, monitor, and report oral messages accurately and to give processing priority to messages of possible intelligence value, this report describes one important application of the technique: overhearing the conversations of others…

Method for Veterbi decoding of large constraint length convolutional codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hsu, In-Shek (Inventor); Truong, Trieu-Kie (Inventor); Reed, Irving S. (Inventor); Jing, Sun (Inventor)

1988-01-01

A new method of Viterbi decoding of convolutional codes lends itself to a pipline VLSI architecture using a single sequential processor to compute the path metrics in the Viterbi trellis. An array method is used to store the path information for NK intervals where N is a number, and K is constraint length. The selected path at the end of each NK interval is then selected from the last entry in the array. A trace-back method is used for returning to the beginning of the selected path back, i.e., to the first time unit of the interval NK to read out the stored branch metrics of the selected path which correspond to the message bits. The decoding decision made in this way is no longer maximum likelihood, but can be almost as good, provided that constraint length K in not too small. The advantage is that for a long message, it is not necessary to provide a large memory to store the trellis derived information until the end of the message to select the path that is to be decoded; the selection is made at the end of every NK time unit, thus decoding a long message in successive blocks.

A New Item Selection Procedure for Mixed Item Type in Computerized Classification Testing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, C. Allen; Wang, Tianyou

This paper proposes a new Information-Time index as the basis for item selection in computerized classification testing (CCT) and investigates how this new item selection algorithm can help improve test efficiency for item pools with mixed item types. It also investigates how practical constraints such as item exposure rate control, test…

Nutrition, dieting, and fitness messages in a magazine for adolescent women, 1970-1990.

PubMed

Guillen, E O; Barr, S I

1994-09-01

This study was designed to characterize nutrition and fitness messages presented between 1970-1990 in a magazine for adolescent women; to evaluate whether these messages changed over time; and to assess the body shape portrayed as desirable, and whether this changed over time. A data collection form was developed to code nutrition and fitness-related written items, advertisements and recipes, and the page coverage allocated to these items. Body shape was assessed by measuring bust:waist and hip:waist ratios of photographs of models wearing bathing suits or underwear. Magazines from even years between 1970-1990 (n = 132) were coded. Both nutrition-related and fitness-related coverage emphasized weight loss and physical appearance. Half the major nutrition-related articles presented a weight-loss plan, and weight loss was frequently addressed in other nutrition articles. The primary reasons presented for following a nutrition of fitness plan were to lose weight and become more attractive. Statements that the product or service would promote weight loss were found in 47% of nutrition-related advertisements. Nutrition coverage did not exhibit a net change over time, whereas fitness coverage increased (F = 6.6, p < .005), and the ratio of nutrition: fitness coverage changed from 10:1 in 1970 to 0.75:1 in 1990. Models' body shapes were less curvaceous than those in magazines for adult women, and the hip:waist ratio decreased over time (F = 7.3, p < .01). The nutrition and fitness messages in this magazine for adolescent women emphasize body shape and appearance, similar to findings from adult women's magazines, and contribute to the cultural milieu in which thinness is an expectation for women. Between 1970-1990, the emphasis on fitness increased, and the body shape of models tended to become more linear.

Using Instant Messaging for Collaborative Learning: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sotillo, Susana M.

2006-01-01

As recent second language acquisition (SLA) studies have shown, the negotiation of linguistic items such as vocabulary, verb tenses, and grammar rules with different types of interlocutors--native speakers (NSs) and advanced non-native speakers (NNSs) of English--seems to facilitate second language development among students. Findings from…

Building Relationships through Exchange

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Primavera, Angi; Hall, Ellen

2011-01-01

From the moment of birth, children form and develop relationships with others in their world based on exchange. Children recognize that engaging in such encounters offers them the opportunity to enter into a relationship with another individual and to nurture that relationship through the exchange of messages and gifts, items and ideas. At Boulder…

Analyzing the Structure and Content of Public Health Messages

PubMed Central

Morrison, Frances P.; Kukafka, Rita; Johnson, Stephen B.

2005-01-01

Background Health messages are crucial to the field of public health in effecting behavior change, but little research is available to assist writers in composing the overall structure of a message. In order to develop software to assist individuals in constructing effective messages, the structure of existing health messages must be understood, and an appropriate method for analyzing health message structure developed. Methods 72 messages from expert sources were used for development of the method, which was then tested for reproducibility using ten randomly selected health messages. Four raters analyzed the messages and inter-coder agreement was calculated. Results A method for analyzing the structure of the messages was developed using sublanguage analysis and discourse analysis. Overall kappa between four coders was 0.69. Conclusion A novel framework for characterizing health message structure and a method for analyzing messages appears to be reproducible and potentially useful for creating an authoring tool. PMID:16779098

A Comparison of Three Types of Test Development Procedures Using Classical and Latent Trait Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benson, Jeri; Wilson, Michael

Three methods of item selection were used to select sets of 38 items from a 50-item verbal analogies test and the resulting item sets were compared for internal consistency, standard errors of measurement, item difficulty, biserial item-test correlations, and relative efficiency. Three groups of 1,500 cases each were used for item selection. First…

Parameter Estimation in Rasch Models for Examinee-Selected Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Chen-Wei; Wang, Wen-Chung

2017-01-01

The examinee-selected-item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set of items (e.g., choose one item to respond from a pair of items), always yields incomplete data (i.e., only the selected items are answered and the others have missing data) that are likely nonignorable. Therefore, using…

Data communications for a collective operation in a parallel active messaging interface of a parallel computer

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

Faraj, Daniel A.

Algorithm selection for data communications in a parallel active messaging interface (`PAMI`) of a parallel computer, the PAMI composed of data communications endpoints, each endpoint including specifications of a client, a context, and a task, endpoints coupled for data communications through the PAMI, including associating in the PAMI data communications algorithms and bit masks; receiving in an origin endpoint of the PAMI a collective instruction, the instruction specifying transmission of a data communications message from the origin endpoint to a target endpoint; constructing a bit mask for the received collective instruction; selecting, from among the associated algorithms and bit masks,more » a data communications algorithm in dependence upon the constructed bit mask; and executing the collective instruction, transmitting, according to the selected data communications algorithm from the origin endpoint to the target endpoint, the data communications message.« less

Data communications for a collective operation in a parallel active messaging interface of a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Faraj, Daniel A

2013-07-16

Algorithm selection for data communications in a parallel active messaging interface (`PAMI`) of a parallel computer, the PAMI composed of data communications endpoints, each endpoint including specifications of a client, a context, and a task, endpoints coupled for data communications through the PAMI, including associating in the PAMI data communications algorithms and bit masks; receiving in an origin endpoint of the PAMI a collective instruction, the instruction specifying transmission of a data communications message from the origin endpoint to a target endpoint; constructing a bit mask for the received collective instruction; selecting, from among the associated algorithms and bit masks, a data communications algorithm in dependence upon the constructed bit mask; and executing the collective instruction, transmitting, according to the selected data communications algorithm from the origin endpoint to the target endpoint, the data communications message.

Optimal Item Selection with Credentialing Examinations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambleton, Ronald K.; And Others

The study compared two promising item response theory (IRT) item-selection methods, optimal and content-optimal, with two non-IRT item selection methods, random and classical, for use in fixed-length certification exams. The four methods were used to construct 20-item exams from a pool of approximately 250 items taken from a 1985 certification…

Earth Observing System Data Gateway

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfister, Robin; McMahon, Joe; Amrhein, James; Sefert, Ed; Marsans, Lorena; Solomon, Mark; Nestler, Mark

2006-01-01

The Earth Observing System Data Gateway (EDG) software provides a "one-stop-shopping" standard interface for exploring and ordering Earth-science data stored at geographically distributed sites. EDG enables a user to do the following: 1) Search for data according to high-level criteria (e.g., geographic location, time, or satellite that acquired the data); 2) Browse the results of a search, viewing thumbnail sketches of data that satisfy the user s criteria; and 3) Order selected data for delivery to a specified address on a chosen medium (e.g., compact disk or magnetic tape). EDG consists of (1) a component that implements a high-level client/server protocol, and (2) a collection of C-language libraries that implement the passing of protocol messages between an EDG client and one or more EDG servers. EDG servers are located at sites usually called "Distributed Active Archive Centers" (DAACs). Each DAAC may allow access to many individual data items, called "granules" (e.g., single Landsat images). Related granules are grouped into collections called "data sets." EDG enables a user to send a search query to multiple DAACs simultaneously, inspect the resulting information, select browseable granules, and then order selected data from the different sites in a seamless fashion.

Testing Cessation Messages for Cigarette Package Inserts: Findings from a Best/Worst Discrete Choice Experiment

PubMed Central

Thrasher, James F.; Davis, Rachel E.; Popova, Lucy; Cho, Yoo Jin; Salloum, Ramzi G.; Louviere, Jordan; Hammond, David

2018-01-01

This study assessed smokers’ responses to different smoking cessation topics and imagery for cigarette package inserts. Adult smokers from Canada (n = 1000) participated in three discrete choice experiments (DCEs): DCE 1 assessed five cessation benefit topics and five imagery types; DCE 2 assessed five messages with tips to improve cessation success and five imagery types; DCE 3 assessed four reproductive health benefits of cessation topics and four imagery types. In each DCE, participants evaluated four or five sets of four inserts, selecting the most and least motivating (DCEs 1 & 3) or helpful (DCE 2) for quitting. Linear mixed models regressed choices on insert and smoker characteristics. For DCE 1, the most motivating messages involved novel disease topics and imagery of younger women. For DCE 2, topics of social support, stress reduction and nicotine replacement therapy were selected as most helpful, with no differences by imagery type. For DCE 3, imagery influenced choices more than topic, with imagery of a family or a mom and baby selected as most motivating. Statistically significant interactions for all three experiments indicated that the influence of imagery type on choices depended on the message topic. Messages to promote smoking cessation through cigarette pack inserts should consider specific combinations of message topic and imagery. PMID:29415523

An Evaluation of Two Methods for Generating Synthetic HL7 Segments Reflecting Real-World Health Information Exchange Transactions

PubMed Central

Mwogi, Thomas S.; Biondich, Paul G.; Grannis, Shaun J.

2014-01-01

Motivated by the need for readily available data for testing an open-source health information exchange platform, we developed and evaluated two methods for generating synthetic messages. The methods used HL7 version 2 messages obtained from the Indiana Network for Patient Care. Data from both methods were analyzed to assess how effectively the output reflected original ‘real-world’ data. The Markov Chain method (MCM) used an algorithm based on transitional probability matrix while the Music Box model (MBM) randomly selected messages of particular trigger type from the original data to generate new messages. The MBM was faster, generated shorter messages and exhibited less variation in message length. The MCM required more computational power, generated longer messages with more message length variability. Both methods exhibited adequate coverage, producing a high proportion of messages consistent with original messages. Both methods yielded similar rates of valid messages. PMID:25954458

The Effects of Liking Norms and Descriptive Norms on Vegetable Consumption: A Randomized Experiment

PubMed Central

Thomas, Jason M.; Liu, Jinyu; Robinson, Eric L.; Aveyard, Paul; Herman, C. Peter; Higgs, Suzanne

2016-01-01

There is evidence that social norm messages can be used to promote the selection of fruit and vegetables in low habitual consumers of these foods but it is unclear whether this effect is sustained over time. It is also unclear whether information about others' liking for a food (liking norm) could have the same effect. Using a 2 × 5 × 2 experimental design we investigated the effects of exposure to various messages on later intake from a food buffet and whether any effects were sustained 24 h after exposure in both low and high consumers of vegetables. There were three factors: delay (immediate food selection vs. food selection 24 h after exposure), message type (liking norm, descriptive norm, health message, vegetable variety condition, and neutral control message), and habitual consumption (low vs. high). The buffet consisted of three raw vegetables, three energy-dense foods, and two dips. For vegetables and non-vegetables there were no main effects of message type, nor any main effect of delay. There was a significant message × habitual vegetable consumption interaction for vegetable consumption; however, follow up tests did not yield any significant effects. Examining each food individually, there were no main effects of message type, nor any main effect of delay, for any of the foods; however, there was a message × habitual vegetable consumption interaction for broccoli. Consumption of broccoli in the health message and descriptive norm conditions did not differ from the control neutral condition. However, habitually low consumers of vegetables increased their consumption of broccoli in the vegetable variety and liking norm conditions relative to habitual low vegetable consumers in the neutral control condition (p < 0.05). Further, investigation of the effects of the liking norm and vegetable variety condition on vegetable intake is warranted. This trial is listed as NCT02618174 at clinicaltrials.gov. PMID:27065913

Impacts of efficacy and exemplification in an online message about weight loss on weight management self-efficacy, satisfaction, and personal importance.

PubMed

Sarge, Melanie A; Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia

2013-01-01

Health information search is among the most popular Internet activities, requiring health campaigns to attract attention in a context of unprecedented competition with alternative content. The present study reconstructs a similar context that allows selective avoidance and exposure in order to examine which health message characteristics foster particular message impacts. Drawing on social cognitive theory, a 3-session study examined short-term and delayed impacts of efficacy and exemplification as characteristics of a weight loss online message, offered for selective reading among other content, on weight management self-efficacy, satisfaction, and personal importance. Short-term impacts and impacts 2 weeks after exposure reflect that the high-efficacy exemplar version increased self-efficacy and satisfaction, while the high-efficacy base-rate version lowered them. However, the exemplar and base-rate versions of the low-efficacy message increased importance of body weight management.

Social Marketing Risk-Framing Approaches for Dental Sealants in Rural American Indian Children

PubMed Central

Champine, Dorothy; Hoyt, Dee; Lin, Lillian; Salois, Emily; Silvas, Sharon; Tail, Terri Weasel; Williams, Matthew

2015-01-01

Objective To compare three variants of a culturally-relevant and theoretically-based message to determine the most influential risk framing approach for improving intention to place dental sealants for preschool children. Design and Sample A convenience sample of adult, American Indian participants (n = 89) attending a community health fair were assigned to view a gain-framed, loss-framed, or mix-framed dental sealant message. Measurements We compared participant's scores on a 46-item survey to determine the relative effect of the frame assignment on seven indices of behavior change. Results The mean difference in participant's stage-of-change scores (x = 1.17, n = 89, sd = 1.90) demonstrated a significant improvement for all groups after watching the dental sealant message t(88) = 5.81, p < .0001, 95% CI [0.77 – 1.57]. Self-efficacy was the only construct for which we detected a statistically significant difference as a function of frame assignment. Overall, the mix-framed message resulted in the highest scores. The gain-framed message was the least influential on four constructs. This finding is in contrast to findings that gain-framed oral health messages are most influential (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012; O'Keefe & Jensen, 2007). Conclusions Community advisory board members determined to use the mix-framed approach in an oral-health social marketing campaign with a rural, American Indian audience. PMID:26032902

Social Marketing Risk-Framing Approaches for Dental Sealants in Rural American Indian Children.

PubMed

Larsson, Laura S; Champine, Dorothy; Hoyt, Dee; Lin, Lillian; Salois, Emily; Silvas, Sharon; Tail, Terri Weasel; Williams, Matthew

2015-01-01

To compare three variants of a culturally relevant and theoretically based message to determine the most influential risk-framing approach for improving intention to place dental sealants for preschool children. A convenience sample of adult, American Indian participants (n = 89) attending a community health fair were assigned to view a gain-framed, loss-framed, or mix-framed dental sealant message. We compared participants' scores on a 46-item survey to determine the relative effect of the frame assignment on seven indices of behavior change. The mean difference in participants' stage-of-change scores (x = 1.17, n = 89, SD = 1.90) demonstrated a significant improvement for all groups after watching the dental sealant message t88  = 5.81, p < .0001, 95% CI [0.77-1.57]. Self-efficacy was the only construct for which we detected a statistically significant difference as a function of frame assignment. Overall, the mix-framed message resulted in the highest scores. The gain-framed message was the least influential on four constructs. This finding is in contrast to findings that gain-framed oral health messages are most influential (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012; O'Keefe & Jensen, 2007). Community advisory board members determined to use the mix-framed approach in an oral health social marketing campaign with a rural, American Indian audience. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Persuasiveness of online flu-vaccination promotional banners.

PubMed

Chien, Yu-Hung

2013-04-01

Young people appear to have relatively little motivation to participate in flu-vaccination programs. This study assessed the effectiveness of online banners in efforts to persuade young people to get vaccinated. Specifically, a 2 x 3 between-subjects factorial design was used to examine the effects of message framing (gain vs loss) and color configuration (white text on a red background, black text on a yellow background, and white text on a blue background) on 180 college students' perceptions of the persuasiveness of flu-vaccination promotional banners. Each participant completed a four-item questionnaire, and the results of an analysis of variance showed that persuasiveness scores were higher among participants exposed to a loss-framed than to a gain-framed message, but only when the loss-framed message was presented in white text on a red background. The theoretical and practical implications of manipulating these two factors in the development of effective health-promotion materials are discussed.

The Uses of Text Messaging in Sexual Relationships Scale: Associations with risky sexual behavior among at-risk African American emerging adults

PubMed Central

Broaddus, Michelle; Dickson-Gomez, Julia

2017-01-01

Qualitative and quantitative research was used to create the Uses of Texting in Sexual Relationships scale. At-risk, predominantly African American emerging adults participated in qualitative interviews (N = 20) and quantitative surveys (N = 110) about their uses of text messaging within romantic and sexual relationships. Exploratory factor analysis of items generated from interviews resulted in four subscales: Sexting, Relationship Maintenance, Relationship Development, and Texting for Sexual Safety. Exploratory analyses indicated associations of Sexting with more instances of condomless sex, and Texting for Sexual Safety with fewer instances of condomless sex, which was moderated by relationship power. Further research on the connections between text messaging in relationships and sexual behavior among high-risk and minority young adults is warranted, and intervention efforts to decrease sexual risks need to incorporate these avenues of sexual communication. PMID:27710089

Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) revisited. Suggestions for the development of an enhanced general food motivation model.

PubMed

Fotopoulos, Christos; Krystallis, Athanasios; Vassallo, Marco; Pagiaslis, Anastasios

2009-02-01

Recognising the need for a more statistically robust instrument to investigate general food selection determinants, the research validates and confirms Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ's) factorial design, develops ad hoc a more robust FCQ version and tests its ability to discriminate between consumer segments in terms of the importance they assign to the FCQ motivational factors. The original FCQ appears to represent a comprehensive and reliable research instrument. However, the empirical data do not support the robustness of its 9-factorial design. On the other hand, segmentation results at the subpopulation level based on the enhanced FCQ version bring about an optimistic message for the FCQ's ability to predict food selection behaviour. The paper concludes that some of the basic components of the original FCQ can be used as a basis for a new general food motivation typology. The development of such a new instrument, with fewer, of higher abstraction FCQ-based dimensions and fewer items per dimension, is a right step forward; yet such a step should be theory-driven, while a rigorous statistical testing across and within population would be necessary.

78 FR 2987 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-15

.... For a recorded message listing items struck from or added to the meeting, call (202) 502-8627. This is... D. Bose, Secretary. A free webcast of this event is available through www.ferc.gov . Anyone with Internet access who desires to view this event can do so by navigating to www.ferc.gov 's Calendar of...

77 FR 21584 - Notice of Meeting, Front Range Resource Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-10

... normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours. SUPPLEMENTARY... of discussion items include: Trail work and native fish habitat restoration with the Orient Land...

TRAPPED: Technology as a Barrier to Leaving an Abusive Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halligan, Caitlin; Knox, David; Brinkley, Jason

2013-01-01

A 42 item Internet questionnaire was completed by 259 undergraduates at a large southeastern university designed to assess the degree to which individuals involved in abusive relationships would report that technology in the form of text messages, email, and Facebook would impair their ability to terminate the relationship. Almost sixty percent…

Navigator. Volume 45, Number 3, Spring 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Science Education Leadership Association, 2009

2009-01-01

The National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA) was formed in 1959 to meet a need to develop science education leadership for K-16 school systems. "Navigator" is published by NSELA to provide the latest NSELA events. This issue of "Navigator" includes the following items: (1) A Message from the President (Brenda Wojnowski); (2) NSELA…

Chinese and American Textbook Business--Totally Different the Finding.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehl, Marc

1978-01-01

Members of the second United States booksellers delegation to the People's Republic of China observed that textbooks in China carry political messages; the state and teachers are involved in the publishing process; texts are written by committees; and textbooks are almost always paperbacks and not available as a retail item. (JMD)

A Mixed Message: The School Vending Machine.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hinkle, Margaret Murray

1982-01-01

Dental disease, especially tooth decay, is reaching epidemic proportions among children of school age. Since sugar is a major cause of tooth decay and since many confections are sold in schools, it is recommended that schools remove confections and other nonnutritional food items from vending machines, fund-raising activities, and food services.…

A Comparison of the One-and Three-Parameter Logistic Models on Measures of Test Efficiency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benson, Jeri

Two methods of item selection were used to select sets of 40 items from a 50-item verbal analogies test, and the resulting item sets were compared for relative efficiency. The BICAL program was used to select the 40 items having the best mean square fit to the one parameter logistic (Rasch) model. The LOGIST program was used to select the 40 items…

The measurement of threat orientations.

PubMed

Thompson, Suzanne C; Schlehofer, Michèle M; Bovin, Michelle J

2006-01-01

To develop measures of 3 threat orientations that affect responses to health behavior messages. In Study 1, college students (N = 47) completed items assessing threat orientations and health behaviors. In Study 2, college students and community adults (N = 110) completed the threat orientation items and measures of convergent and discriminant validity. In Study 1, the control-based, denial-based, and heightened-sensitivity-based threat orientation scales demonstrated good internal consistency and correlated with engagement in health behaviors. In Study 2, the convergent and discriminant validity of the 3 measures was established. The 3 scales have good internal reliability and construct validity.

Evidence-informed recommendations for constructing and disseminating messages supplementing the new Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Few validated guidelines exist for developing messages in health promotion practice. In clinical practice, the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research, and Evaluation II (AGREE II) Instrument is the international gold standard for guideline assessment, development, and reporting. In a case study format, this paper describes the application of the AGREE II principles to guide the development of health promotion guidelines for constructing messages to supplement the new Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (CPAG) released in 2011. Methods The AGREE II items were modified to suit the objectives of developing messages that (1) clarify key components of the new CPAG and (2) motivate Canadians to meet the CPAG. The adapted AGREE II Instrument was used as a systematic guide for the recommendation development process. Over a two-day meeting, five workgroups (one for each CPAG – child, youth, adult, older adult – and one overarching group) of five to six experts (including behavior change, messaging, and exercise physiology researchers, key stakeholders, and end users) reviewed and discussed evidence for creating and targeting messages to supplement the new CPAG. Recommendations were summarized and reviewed by workgroup experts. The recommendations were pilot tested among end users and then finalized by the workgroup. Results The AGREE II was a useful tool in guiding the development of evidence-based specific recommendations for constructing and disseminating messages that supplement and increase awareness of the new CPAG (child, youth, adults, and older adults). The process also led to the development of sample messages and provision of a rationale alongside the recommendations. Conclusions To our knowledge, these are the first set of evidence-informed recommendations for constructing and disseminating messages supplementing physical activity guidelines. This project also represents the first application of international standards for guideline development (i.e., AGREE II) to the creation of practical recommendations specifically aimed to inform health promotion and public health practice. The messaging recommendations have the potential to increase the public health impact of evidence-based guidelines. PMID:23634998

Multidimensional CAT Item Selection Methods for Domain Scores and Composite Scores with Item Exposure Control and Content Constraints

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Lihua

2014-01-01

The intent of this research was to find an item selection procedure in the multidimensional computer adaptive testing (CAT) framework that yielded higher precision for both the domain and composite abilities, had a higher usage of the item pool, and controlled the exposure rate. Five multidimensional CAT item selection procedures (minimum angle;…

Comparing Methods for Item Analysis: The Impact of Different Item-Selection Statistics on Test Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Andrew T.

2011-01-01

Practitioners often depend on item analysis to select items for exam forms and have a variety of options available to them. These include the point-biserial correlation, the agreement statistic, the B index, and the phi coefficient. Although research has demonstrated that these statistics can be useful for item selection, no research as of yet has…

A smartphone app to communicate child passenger safety: an application of theory to practice.

PubMed

Gielen, A C; McDonald, E M; Omaki, E; Shields, W; Case, J; Aitken, M

2015-10-01

Child passenger safety remains an important public health problem because motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children, and the majority of children ride improperly restrained. Using a mobile app to communicate with parents about injury prevention offers promise but little information is available on how to create such a tool. The purpose of this article is to illustrate a theory-based approach to developing a tailored, smartphone app for communicating child passenger safety information to parents. The theoretical basis for the tailoring is the elaboration likelihood model, and we utilized the precaution adoption process model (PAPM) to reflect the stage-based nature of behavior change. We created assessment items (written at ≤6th grade reading level) to determine the child's proper type of car seat, the parent's PAPM stage and beliefs on selected constructs designed to facilitate stage movement according to the theory. A message library and template were created to provide a uniform structure for the tailored feedback. We demonstrate how messages derived in this way can be delivered through new m-health technology and conclude with recommendations for the utility of the methods used here for other m-health, patient education interventions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The information filter: how dentists use diet diary information to give patients clear and simple advice.

PubMed

Arheiam, Arheiam; Brown, Stephen L; Higham, Susan M; Albadri, Sondos; Harris, Rebecca V

2016-12-01

Diet diaries are recommended for dentists to monitor children's sugar consumption. Diaries provide multifaceted dietary information, but patients respond better to simpler advice. We explore how dentists integrate information from diet diaries to deliver useable advice to patients. As part of a questionnaire study of general dental practitioners (GDPs) in Northwest England, we asked dentists to specify the advice they would give a hypothetical patient based upon a diet diary case vignette. A sequential mixed method approach was used for data analysis: an initial inductive content analysis (ICA) to develop coding system to capture the complexity of dietary assessment and delivered advice. Using these codes, a quantitative analysis was conducted to examine correspondences between identified dietary problems and advice given. From these correspondences, we inferred how dentists reduced problems to give simple advice. A total of 229 dentists' responses were analysed. ICA on 40 questionnaires identified two distinctive approaches of developing diet advice: a summative (summary of issues into an all-encompassing message) and a selective approach (selection of a main message approach). In the quantitative analysis of all responses, raw frequencies indicated that dentists saw more problems than they advised on and provided highly specific advice on a restricted number of problems (e.g. not eating sugars before bedtime 50.7% or harmful items 42.4%, rather than simply reducing the amount of sugar 9.2%). Binary logistic regression models indicate that dentists provided specific advice that was tailored to the key problems that they identified. Dentists provided specific recommendations to address what they felt were key problems, whilst not intervening to address other problems that they may have felt less pressing. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effect of using different cover image quality to obtain robust selective embedding in steganography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Karwan Asaad; Al-Jawad, Naseer; Abdulla, Alan Anwer

2014-05-01

One of the common types of steganography is to conceal an image as a secret message in another image which normally called a cover image; the resulting image is called a stego image. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of using different cover image quality, and also analyse the use of different bit-plane in term of robustness against well-known active attacks such as gamma, statistical filters, and linear spatial filters. The secret messages are embedded in higher bit-plane, i.e. in other than Least Significant Bit (LSB), in order to resist active attacks. The embedding process is performed in three major steps: First, the embedding algorithm is selectively identifying useful areas (blocks) for embedding based on its lighting condition. Second, is to nominate the most useful blocks for embedding based on their entropy and average. Third, is to select the right bit-plane for embedding. This kind of block selection made the embedding process scatters the secret message(s) randomly around the cover image. Different tests have been performed for selecting a proper block size and this is related to the nature of the used cover image. Our proposed method suggests a suitable embedding bit-plane as well as the right blocks for the embedding. Experimental results demonstrate that different image quality used for the cover images will have an effect when the stego image is attacked by different active attacks. Although the secret messages are embedded in higher bit-plane, but they cannot be recognised visually within the stegos image.

Protocol for a thematic synthesis to identify key themes and messages from a palliative care research network.

PubMed

Nicholson, Emma; Murphy, Tara; Larkin, Philip; Normand, Charles; Guerin, Suzanne

2016-10-21

Research networks that facilitate collaborative research are increasing both regionally and globally and such collaborations contribute greatly to knowledge transfer particularly in health research. The Palliative Care Research Network is an Irish-based network that seeks to create opportunities and engender a collaborative environment to encourage innovative research that is relevant for policy and practice. The current review outlines a methodology to identify cross-cutting messages to identify how dissemination outputs can be optimized to ensure that key messages from this research reaches all knowledge users. Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocol guidelines will inform the search and analysis plan to ensure that the synthesis of the data is as rigorous as possible. An approach based on critical interpretative synthesis will be adapted to include a thematic synthesis for the identification of higher-order themes and messages from a body of dissemination products generated by the Palliative Care Research Network. The thematic synthesis outlined in the present protocol offers a novel method of synthesising data from a focused research network that employs a variety of dissemination materials as a means of identifying key themes and messages from a specific body of research. The high-level themes and messages will be identified from the thematic synthesis, widely disseminated and targeted towards a range of stakeholders and knowledge users such as carers, health and social care professionals, policy makers and researchers.

A Comparison of the One-, the Modified Three-, and the Three-Parameter Item Response Theory Models in the Test Development Item Selection Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eignor, Daniel R.; Douglass, James B.

This paper attempts to provide some initial information about the use of a variety of item response theory (IRT) models in the item selection process; its purpose is to compare the information curves derived from the selection of items characterized by several different IRT models and their associated parameter estimation programs. These…

Sensation Seeking and Narrative Transportation: High Sensation Seeking Children's Interest in Reading outside of School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Jakob; Imboden, Kristen; Ivic, Rebecca

2011-01-01

High sensation seekers (HSS) prefer messages that allow them to maintain an optimal level of arousal (i.e., highly arousing messages). Transportation theory suggests that narrative immersion in a story may moderate reader arousal, and thus HSS message selection. To test this idea, a survey was administered to 120 fourth and fifth graders. In…

The Use of Message Framing to Promote Sexual Risk Reduction in Young Adolescents: A Pilot Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camenga, Deepa R.; Hieftje, Kimberly D.; Fiellin, Lynn E.; Edelman, E. Jennifer; Rosenthal, Marjorie S.; Duncan, Lindsay R.

2014-01-01

Few studies have explored the application of message framing to promote health behaviors in adolescents. In this exploratory study, we examined young adolescents' selection of gain- versus loss-framed images and messages when designing an HIV-prevention intervention to promote delayed sexual initiation. Twenty-six adolescents (aged 10-14 years)…

Re-Presenting Subversive Songs: Applying Strategies for Invention and Arrangement to Nontraditional Speech Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlesworth, Dacia

2010-01-01

Invention deals with the content of a speech, arrangement involves placing the content in an order that is most strategic, style focuses on selecting linguistic devices, such as metaphor, to make the message more appealing, memory assists the speaker in delivering the message correctly, and delivery ideally enables great reception of the message.…

[The scientific information that the pharmaceutical industry provides to family doctors].

PubMed

Rivera Casares, F; Richart Rufino, M J; Navas Cutanda, J; Rodríguez Górriz, E; Gómez Moruno, C; Gómez García, B

2005-06-15

To check whether the information in the written publicity that the pharmaceutical industry gives to family doctors really is based on the scientific studies that support it. Cross-sectional study. Health centre on the outskirts of a big city. Over a year, all the scientific studies that laboratory reps gave family doctors along with the advertising for medicines were collected. A total of 63 paired studies and advertising pieces were obtained. 1-3 advertising messages with each supporting study were selected and reviewed in a structured fashion. Then whether or not the messages selected were based on the study was appraised. 44.5% of the advertising messages were not based on the accompanying study; 29.9% clearly were based on the study; and in the rest there was a half-and-half relationship. There was a significant relationship between the evaluation of the advertising messages and the kind of study, masking and the kind of result variable. A high proportion of advertising messages are not based on the study that is reputed to support them. A critique of these studies has to be undertaken before the advertising messages can be looked at.

Outcomes of a statewide anti-tobacco industry youth organizing movement.

PubMed

Dunn, Caroline L; Pirie, Phyllis L; Oakes, J Michael

2004-01-01

To outline the design and present select findings from an evaluation of a statewide anti-tobacco industry youth organizing movement. A telephone survey was administered to teenagers to assess associations between exposure to anti-industry youth organizing activities and tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. A group-level comparison between areas high and low in youth organizing activities was planned. Methodological obstacles necessitated a subject-level analytic approach, with comparisons being made between youth at higher and lower levels of exposure. Six rural areas (comprising 13 counties) and two urban regions of Minnesota were selected for survey. The study comprised 852 youth, aged 15 to 17 years old, randomly selected from county-specific sampling frames constructed from a marketing research database. Exposure index scores were developed for two types of activities designed to involve youth in the anti-industry program: branding (creating awareness of the movement in general) and messaging (informing about the movement's main messages). Attitudinal outcomes measured attitudes about the tobacco industry and the effectiveness of youth action. Behavioral outcomes included taking action to get involved in the organization, spreading an anti-industry message, and smoking susceptibility. Branding index scores were significantly correlated with taking action to get involved (p < or = .001) and spreading an anti-industry message (p < or = .001). Messaging index scores were significantly correlated with all five attitudinal constructs (all associations, p < or = .001), taking action to get involved (p < or = .001), and spreading an anti-industry message (p < or = . 01). The hypothesized association between messaging scores and susceptibility was not significant. A youth organizing effort, in combination with an intensive countermarketing media campaign, can be an effective strategy for involving youth in tobacco prevention and generating negative attitudes about the industry.

Patients’ Engagement With “Sweet Talk” – A Text Messaging Support System for Young People With Diabetes

PubMed Central

Franklin, Victoria Louise; Greene, Alexandra; Waller, Annalu; Greene, Stephen Alan

2008-01-01

Background Guidelines for optimizing type 1 diabetes in young people advocate intensive insulin therapy coupled with personal support from the health care team. “Sweet Talk” is a novel intervention designed to support patients between clinic visits using text messages sent to a mobile phone. Scheduled messages are tailored to patient profiles and diabetes self-management goals, and generic messages include topical “newsletters” and anonymized tips from other participants. The system also allows patients to submit data and questions to the diabetes care team. Objectives The aim was to explore how patients with type 1 diabetes interact with the Sweet Talk system in order to understand its utility to this user group. Methods Subjects were 64 young people with diabetes who were participating in the intervention arms of a randomized controlled trial. All text messages submitted to Sweet Talk during a 12-month period were recorded. Messaging patterns and content were analyzed using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. Results Patients submitted 1180 messages during the observation period (mean 18.4, median 6). Messaging frequency ranged widely between participants (0-240) with a subset of 5 high users contributing 52% of the total. Patients’ clinical and sociodemographic characteristics were not associated with total messaging frequency, although girls sent significantly more messages unrelated to diabetes than did boys (P = .002). The content of patients’ messages fell into 8 main categories: blood glucose readings, diabetes questions, diabetes information, personal health administration, social messages, technical messages, message errors, and message responses. Unprompted submission of blood glucose values was the most frequent incoming message type (35% of total). Responses to requests for personal experiences and tips generated 40% of all the incoming messages, while topical news items also generated good responses. Patients also used the service to ask questions, submit information about their self-management, and order supplies. No patients nominated supporters to receive text messages about their self-management goals. Another option that was not used was the birthday reminder service. Conclusions Automated, scheduled text messaging successfully engaged young people with diabetes. While the system was primarily designed to provide “push” support to patients, submission of clinical data and queries illustrates that it was seen as a trusted medium for communicating with care providers. Responses to the newsletters and submission of personal experiences and tips for circulation to other participants also illustrate the potential value of such interventions for establishing a sense of community. Although participants submitted relatively few messages, positive responses to the system suggest that most derived passive support from reading the messages. The Sweet Talk system could be readily adapted to suit other chronic disease models and age groups, and the results of this study may help to inform the design of future text message support interventions. PMID:18653444

The impact of emotional tone, message, and broadcast parameters in youth anti-smoking advertisements.

PubMed

Biener, Lois; Ji, Ming; Gilpin, Elizabeth A; Albers, Alison B

2004-01-01

In the context of controversy regarding the optimal characteristics of anti-smoking advertisements for youth, this study examines the impact on recall and perceived effectiveness of variations in the message, emotional tone, reach and frequency of broadcast, remoteness of broadcast, and characteristics of the adolescent audience such as changes in smoking behavior, ownership of cigarette promotional items, and demographic variables. A two-wave longitudinal survey of a population-based sample of 618 Massachusetts youth 12 to 15 years old was carried out in 1993 and 1997. A Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) approach was used to model the recall and perceived effectiveness of eight advertisements as a function of viewer and ad characteristics. Advertisements featuring messages about serious health consequences which had been independently rated as high in negative emotion were more likely to be recalled and were perceived as more effective by youth survey respondents than ads featuring messages about normative behavior for teens or ads relying on humor. Advertising intensity, while contributing to recall, was negatively related to perceived effectiveness. This study supports mounting evidence that negative emotion in anti-smoking advertisements is effective with youth audiences.

A Model of Pantun Learning to Develop Elementary Student’s Entrepreneurship Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asteria, P. V.; Yulianto, B.

2018-01-01

The principle of entrepreneurship should be instilled from an early age. Pantun is one of Indonesian local culture taught for the elementary school student. Therefore, this study aims to describe (1) the ability to understand the content from pantun based entrepreneurship, (2) the ability to determine the messages from pantun based entrepreneurship, and (3) the ability to apply the messages from pantun based entrepreneurship into their real life. The research type is descriptive quantitative and conducted on the subject of 35 students from SDN Margomulyo I Ngawi. The data is the student’s skill in reading comprehension from the pantun based entrepreneurship with the writing test items instrument. The results showed that the student’s ability to determine the content from pantun based entrepreneurship shows achievement by an average of 9.3 (include an excellent category) and the ability of students to determine the entrepreneurship messages by an average of 7.8 (good). Meanwhile, the average student’s ability to apply the entrepreneurship messages in pantun into their real life by an average of 8.7 (excellent). Overall, the student’s skill in reading comprehension from the pantun based entrepreneurship as a whole reached an average of 86.4 (excellent category).

EAACI position paper on occupational rhinitis

PubMed Central

Moscato, Gianna; Vandenplas, Olivier; Van Wijk, Roy Gerth; Malo, Jean-Luc; Perfetti, Luca; Quirce, Santiago; Walusiak, Jolanta; Castano, Roberto; Pala, Gianni; Gautrin, Denyse; De Groot, Hans; Folletti, Ilenia; Yacoub, Mona Rita; Siracusa, Andrea

2009-01-01

The present document is the result of a consensus reached by a panel of experts from European and non-European countries on Occupational Rhinitis (OR), a disease of emerging relevance which has received little attention in comparison to occupational asthma. The document covers the main items of OR including epidemiology, diagnosis, management, socio-economic impact, preventive strategies and medicolegal issues. An operational definition and classification of OR tailored on that of occupational asthma, as well as a diagnostic algorithm based on steps allowing for different levels of diagnostic evidence are proposed. The needs for future research are pointed out. Key messages are issued for each item. PMID:19257881

Using Mutual Information for Adaptive Item Comparison and Student Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Chao-Lin

2005-01-01

The author analyzes properties of mutual information between dichotomous concepts and test items. The properties generalize some common intuitions about item comparison, and provide principled foundations for designing item-selection heuristics for student assessment in computer-assisted educational systems. The proposed item-selection strategies…

Flow of Emotional Messages in Artificial Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chmiel, Anna; Hołyst, Janusz A.

Models of message flows in an artificial group of users communicating via the Internet are introduced and investigated using numerical simulations. We assumed that messages possess an emotional character with a positive valence and that the willingness to send the next affective message to a given person increases with the number of messages received from this person. As a result, the weights of links between group members evolve over time. Memory effects are introduced, taking into account that the preferential selection of message receivers depends on the communication intensity during the recent period only. We also model the phenomenon of secondary social sharing when the reception of an emotional e-mail triggers the distribution of several emotional e-mails to other people.

Mixed Messages: Ambiguous Penalty Information in Modified Restaurant Menu Items

PubMed Central

Lawless, Harry T.; Patel, Anjali A.; Lopez, Nanette V.

2016-01-01

Restaurant menu items from six national or regional brands were modified to reduce fat, saturated fat, sodium and total calories. Twenty-four items were tested with a current recipe, and two modifications (small and moderate reductions) for 72 total products. Approximately 100 consumers tested each product for acceptability as well as for desired levels of tastes/flavor, amounts of key ingredients and texture/consistency using just-about-right (JAR) scales. Penalty analysis was conducted to assess the effects of non-JAR ratings on acceptability scores. Situations arose where JAR ratings and penalty analyses could yield different recommendations, including large groups with low penalties and small groups with high penalties. Opposing groups with moderate to high penalties on opposite sides of the same JAR scale were also seen. Strategies for dealing with these observances are discussed. PMID:27833254

Stratified and Maximum Information Item Selection Procedures in Computer Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deng, Hui; Ansley, Timothy; Chang, Hua-Hua

2010-01-01

In this study we evaluated and compared three item selection procedures: the maximum Fisher information procedure (F), the a-stratified multistage computer adaptive testing (CAT) (STR), and a refined stratification procedure that allows more items to be selected from the high a strata and fewer items from the low a strata (USTR), along with…

A validity problem in measuring exposure to mass media campaigns.

PubMed

Brown, J D; Bauman, K E; Padgett, C A

1990-01-01

Recognition of radio and television messages included in three mass media campaigns designed to keep adolescents from starting to smoke cigarettes was measured in six treatment and four control cities (Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas) in the southeastern United States. The telephone survey of 574 randomly selected adolescents found high recognition of campaign messages even in the areas where the campaigns had not been broadcast. Campaign messages that differed significantly from other anti-smoking messages were less likely to be falsely recognized. These results reinforce the need to include true control groups in mass media evaluations and to construct distinctive messages if exposure is an important aspect of campaign evaluation.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions for weight management using text messaging.

PubMed

Siopis, G; Chey, T; Allman-Farinelli, M

2015-02-01

Obesity prevalence continues to increase worldwide, with significant associated chronic disease and health cost implications. Among more recent innovations in health service provision is the use of text messaging for health behaviour change interventions including weight management. This review investigates the efficacy of weight management programmes incorporating text messaging. Medical and scientific databases were searched from January 1993 to October 2013. Eligibility criteria included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), pseudoRCTs and before and after studies of weight management, among healthy children and adults, that used text messaging and included a nutrition component. Data extraction and quality assessment followed guidelines from PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) and the Evidence Analysis Manual of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. From 512 manuscripts retrieved, 14 met the inclusion criteria (five manuscripts in children and nine in adults). Duration of interventions ranged from 1 to 24 months. Frequency of text messaging was from daily to fortnightly. Six studies in adults were included in a meta-analysis with mean body weight change as the primary outcome. The weighted mean change in body weight in intervention participants was -2.56 kg (95% confidence interval = -3.46 to -1.65) and in controls -0.37 kg (95% confidence interval = -1.22 to 0.48). The small body of evidence indicates that text messaging interventions can promote weight loss. However, lack of long-term results indicate that further efficacy studies are required. Future investigations should elucidate the determinants, such as intervention duration, text message frequency and level of interactivity that maximise the success and cost effectiveness of the delivery medium. © 2014 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy for Delay Tolerant Network under City Based Environments.

PubMed

Ayub, Qaisar; Ngadi, Asri; Rashid, Sulma; Habib, Hafiz Adnan

2018-01-01

Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) multi-copy routing protocols are privileged to create and transmit multiple copies of each message that causes congestion and some messages are dropped. This process is known as reactive drop because messages were dropped re-actively to overcome buffer overflows. The existing reactive buffer management policies apply a single metric to drop source, relay and destine messages. Hereby, selection to drop a message is dubious because each message as source, relay or destine may have consumed dissimilar magnitude of network resources. Similarly, DTN has included time to live (ttl) parameter which defines lifetime of message. Hence, when ttl expires then message is automatically destroyed from relay nodes. However, time-to-live (ttl) is not applicable on messages reached at their destinations. Moreover, nodes keep replicating messages till ttl expires even-though large number of messages has already been dispersed. In this paper, we have proposed Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy (PQB-R) for DTN under City Based Environments. The PQB-R classifies buffered messages into source, relay and destine queues. Moreover, separate drop metric has been applied on individual queue. The experiment results prove that proposed PQB-R has reduced number of messages transmissions, message drop and increases delivery ratio.

Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy for Delay Tolerant Network under City Based Environments

PubMed Central

Ngadi, Asri; Rashid, Sulma; Habib, Hafiz Adnan

2018-01-01

Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) multi-copy routing protocols are privileged to create and transmit multiple copies of each message that causes congestion and some messages are dropped. This process is known as reactive drop because messages were dropped re-actively to overcome buffer overflows. The existing reactive buffer management policies apply a single metric to drop source, relay and destine messages. Hereby, selection to drop a message is dubious because each message as source, relay or destine may have consumed dissimilar magnitude of network resources. Similarly, DTN has included time to live (ttl) parameter which defines lifetime of message. Hence, when ttl expires then message is automatically destroyed from relay nodes. However, time-to-live (ttl) is not applicable on messages reached at their destinations. Moreover, nodes keep replicating messages till ttl expires even-though large number of messages has already been dispersed. In this paper, we have proposed Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy (PQB-R) for DTN under City Based Environments. The PQB-R classifies buffered messages into source, relay and destine queues. Moreover, separate drop metric has been applied on individual queue. The experiment results prove that proposed PQB-R has reduced number of messages transmissions, message drop and increases delivery ratio. PMID:29438438

Electronic signatures for long-lasting storage purposes in electronic archives.

PubMed

Pharow, Peter; Blobel, Bernd

2005-03-01

Communication and co-operation in healthcare and welfare require a certain set of trusted third party (TTP) services describing both status and relation of communicating principals as well as their corresponding keys and attributes. Additional TTP services are needed to provide trustworthy information about dynamic issues of communication and co-operation such as time and location of processes, workflow relations, and system behaviour. Legal and ethical requirements demand securely stored patient information and well-defined access rights. Among others, electronic signatures based on asymmetric cryptography are important means for securing the integrity of a message or file as well as for accountability purposes including non-repudiation of both origin and receipt. Electronic signatures along with certified time stamps or time signatures are especially important for electronic archives in general, electronic health records (EHR) in particular, and especially for typical purposes of long-lasting storage. Apart from technical storage problems (e.g. lifetime of the storage devices, interoperability of retrieval and presentation software), this paper identifies mechanisms of e.g. re-signing and re-stamping of data items, files, messages, sets of archived items or documents, archive structures, and even whole archives.

Use of short messaging services to assess depressive symptoms among refugees in South Africa: Implications for social services providing mental health care in resource-poor settings

PubMed Central

Tomita, Andrew; Kandolo, Ka Muzombo; Susser, Ezra; Burns, Jonathan K

2016-01-01

Few studies in developing nations have assessed the use of short messaging services (SMS) to identify psychological challenges in refugee populations. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of SMS-based methods to screen for depression risk among refugees in South Africa attending mental health services, and to compare its reliability and acceptability with face-to-face consultation. Of the 153 refugees enrolled at baseline, 135 were available for follow-up assessments in our cohort study. Depression symptomatology was assessed using the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) instrument. Nearly everyone possessed a mobile phone and utilized SMS. Furthermore, low incomplete item response in QIDS and high perceived ease of interacting via SMS with service providers supported the feasibility of this method. There was a fair level of reliability between face-to-face and SMS-based screening methods, but no significant difference in preference rating between the two methods. Despite potential implementation barriers (network delay/phone theft), depression screening using SMS may be viable for refugee mental health services in low-resource settings. PMID:26407989

Boys to Men: Sports Media. Messages about Masculinity: A National Poll of Children, Focus Groups, and Content Analysis of Sports Programs and Commercials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Messner, Mike; Hunt, Darnell; Dunbar, Michele; Chen, Perry; Lapp, Joan; Miller, Patti

Sports programming plays a significant role in the media messages that American boys receive today. To explore the messages that sports programming presents to its audience, this report relates the findings of a study that analyzed a representative selection of sports programs and their accompanying commercials; also presented are findings from a…

Minimally buffered data transfers between nodes in a data communications network

DOEpatents

Miller, Douglas R.

2015-06-23

Methods, apparatus, and products for minimally buffered data transfers between nodes in a data communications network are disclosed that include: receiving, by a messaging module on an origin node, a storage identifier, a origin data type, and a target data type, the storage identifier specifying application storage containing data, the origin data type describing a data subset contained in the origin application storage, the target data type describing an arrangement of the data subset in application storage on a target node; creating, by the messaging module, origin metadata describing the origin data type; selecting, by the messaging module from the origin application storage in dependence upon the origin metadata and the storage identifier, the data subset; and transmitting, by the messaging module to the target node, the selected data subset for storing in the target application storage in dependence upon the target data type without temporarily buffering the data subset.

Expertise sensitive item selection.

PubMed

Chow, P; Russell, H; Traub, R E

2000-12-01

In this paper we describe and illustrate a procedure for selecting items from a large pool for a certification test. The proposed procedure, which is intended to improve the alignment of the certification test with on-the-job performance, is based on an expertise sensitive index. This index for an item is the difference between the item's p values for experts and novices. An example is provided of the application of the index for selecting items to be used in certifying bakers.

Selection of multiple cued items is possible during visual short-term memory maintenance.

PubMed

Matsukura, Michi; Vecera, Shaun P

2015-07-01

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that maintenance of a selected object feature held in visual short-term/working memory (VSTM/VWM) is supported by the same neural mechanisms that encode the sensory information. If VSTM operates by retaining "reasonable copies" of scenes constructed during sensory processing (Serences, Ester, Vogel, & Awh, 2009, p. 207, the sensory recruitment hypothesis), then attention should be able to select multiple items represented in VSTM as long as the number of these attended items does not exceed the typical VSTM capacity. It is well known that attention can select at least two noncontiguous locations at the same time during sensory processing. However, empirical reports from the studies that examined this possibility are inconsistent. In the present study, we demonstrate that (1) attention can indeed select more than a single item during VSTM maintenance when observers are asked to recognize a set of items in the manner that these items were originally attended, and (2) attention can select multiple cued items regardless of whether these items are perceptually organized into a single group (contiguous locations) or not (noncontiguous locations). The results also replicate and extend the recent finding that selective attention that operates during VSTM maintenance is sensitive to the observers' goal and motivation to use the cueing information.

Understanding health food messages on Twitter for health literacy promotion.

PubMed

Zhou, J; Liu, F; Zhou, H

2018-05-01

With the popularity of social media, Twitter has become an important tool to promote health literacy. However, many health-related messages on Twitter are dead-ended and cannot reach many people. This is unhelpful for health literacy promotion. This article aims to examine the features of online health food messages that people like to retweet. We adopted rumour theory as our theoretical foundation and extracted seven characteristics (i.e. emotional valence, attractiveness, sender's authoritativeness, external evidence, argument length, hashtags, and direct messages). A total of 10,025 health-related messages on Twitter were collected, and 1496 messages were randomly selected for further analysis. Each message was treated as one unit and then coded. All the hypotheses were tested with logistic regression. Emotional valence, attractiveness, sender's authoritativeness, argument length, and direct messages in a Twitter message had positive effects on people's retweet behaviour. The effect of external evidence was negative. Hashtags had no significant effect after consideration of other variables. Online health food messages containing positive emotions, including pictures, containing direct messages, having an authoritative sender, having longer arguments, or not containing external URLs are more likely to be retweeted. However, a message only containing positive or negative emotions or including direct messages without any support information will not be retweeted.

Influence of Fallible Item Parameters on Test Information During Adaptive Testing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wetzel, C. Douglas; McBride, James R.

Computer simulation was used to assess the effects of item parameter estimation errors on different item selection strategies used in adaptive and conventional testing. To determine whether these effects reduced the advantages of certain optimal item selection strategies, simulations were repeated in the presence and absence of item parameter…

Lateralized goal framing: how selective presentation impacts message effectiveness.

PubMed

McCormick, Michael; Seta, John J

2012-11-01

We tested whether framing a message as a gain or loss would alter its effectiveness by using a dichotic listening procedure to selectively present a health related message to the left or right hemisphere. A significant goal framing effect (losses > gains) was found when right, but not left, hemisphere processing was initially enhanced. The results support the position that the contextual processing style of the right hemisphere is especially sensitive to the associative implications of the frame. We discussed the implications of these findings for goal framing research, and the valence hypothesis. We also discussed how these findings converge with prior valence framing research and how they can be of potential use to health care providers.

Parents' experiences with and preferences for immunization reminder/recall technologies.

PubMed

Clark, Sarah J; Butchart, Amy; Kennedy, Allison; Dombkowski, Kevin J

2011-11-01

To describe parents' experiences and preferences regarding the use of different communication modes for immunization reminder/recall messages. A cross-sectional, Internet-based survey of a nationally representative sample of parents of children 0 to 17 years of age was performed. Survey items included questions regarding previous receipt of reminder/recall notices; preferences for how to receive notices in the future; recentness of changes to home address, home telephone, cell phone, and e-mail information; child's usual site for immunization; and willingness to register cell phone numbers with the child's immunization provider to receive future cell phone or text messages about immunization. Overall, 31% of parents had ever received an immunization reminder/recall notice, usually by mail. For future immunization messages, approximately one-third of parents preferred mail or calls to the home telephone, 16% preferred e-mail, and 8% preferred calls to a cell phone. More than one-half of parents had maintained the same home address, home telephone number, cell phone number, or e-mail address for the previous 3 years. More than one-half of parents were willing to register their cell phone numbers with their child's usual immunization provider. Although most parents continue to prefer the traditional modes for immunization reminder/recall messages, 1 in 4 preferred newer technologies, and parents' e-mail and cell phone information was surprisingly stable. More than one-half of the parents were willing to register their cell phone numbers for future immunization messaging via cell phone calls or text messages. Research and implementation efforts might benefit from focusing on this willing population.

Discovery of Potent and Selective Agonists of δ Opioid Receptor by Revisiting the "Message-Address" Concept.

PubMed

Shen, Qing; Qian, Yuanyuan; Huang, Xiaoqin; Xu, Xuejun; Li, Wei; Liu, Jinggen; Fu, Wei

2016-04-14

The classic "message-address" concept was proposed to address the binding of endogenous peptides to the opioid receptors and was later successfully applied in the discovery of the first nonpeptide δ opioid receptor (DOR) antagonist naltrindole. By revisiting this concept, and based on the structure of tramadol, we designed a series of novel compounds that act as highly potent and selective agonists of DOR among which (-)-6j showed the highest affinity (K i = 2.7 nM), best agonistic activity (EC50 = 2.6 nM), and DOR selectivity (more than 1000-fold over the other two subtype opioid receptors). Molecular docking studies suggest that the "message" part of (-)-6j interacts with residue Asp128(3.32) and a neighboring water molecule, and the "address" part of (-)-6j packs with hydrophobic residues Leu300(7.35), Val281(6.55), and Trp284(6.58), rendering DOR selectivity. The discovery of novel compound (-)-6j, and the obtained insights into DOR-agonist binding will help us design more potent and selective DOR agonists.

The development and test of urban and rural pedestrian safety messages

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-01-01

The objective of this project was to identify, develop and produce public education messages for pedestrian safety. Pedestrian accident types and situations which had not been previously addressed through public education were selected. These include...

Murmer, a message generator and reporter for Unix, VMS, and VxWorks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oleynik, G.; Appleton, B.; Moore, C.; Sergey, G.; Udumula, L.

1994-02-01

Murmer is a Unix based message generation, reporting, display, and logging system that we have developed for use in data acquisition systems at Fermilab. Murmer is a tool for the production and management of message reporting. Its usefulness ranges from software product development and maintenance to system level shakedown and diagnostics. Murmer provides a VMS MESSAGE-like function code generation utility, a client routine package for sending these codes over the network to a central server, and a server which translates the codes into meaningful visual information, writes the information to a logfile, and display it on B&W or color X windows. Because Murmer stores message information in keyed access files, it can provide advanced features such as popping up help when a displayed message is clicked on by the mouse and executing 'action' shell scripts when selected messages are received by the server.

A study on the development of public campaign messages for organ donation promotion in Korea.

PubMed

Sun, Hye-Jin

2015-12-01

This study aims to find an effective method of expressing a message in public service ads by investigating whether or not a message framing type affects the outcome. Specifically, the study looks into the effects of messaging on organ donation by identifying how the type of message framing (positive vs. negative) and appeal type (rational vs. emotional) affect the attitude and behavioural intention of the consumer. The individual characteristics of each subject such as altruistic mind, level of self-monitoring and issue involvement were selected as intermediate variables that may affect the impact of a message. The study therefore tries to establish a proposition that can be used to generate an effective promotional message on organ donation in a systematic way. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Understanding the Impact of Using Mass Media as a Pedagogical Tool for Nutrition Education of Healthcare Workers in the Community College Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shumaker Jeffrey, Penny Michelle

2011-01-01

Nutrition-related messages inundate mass media advertisements in the United States but it is unclear as to how those messages affect a person's food selection behavior and awareness of nutrient and non-nutrient message content. This dissertation is a culmination of research examining the use of mass media (television and print) as a pedagogical…

Exploring a Model of Symbolic Social Communication: The Case of ‘Magic’ Johnson

PubMed Central

FLORA, JUNE A.; SCHOOLER, CAROLINE; MAYS, VICKIE M.; COCHRAN, SUSAN D.

2009-01-01

We propose a model of symbolic social communication to explain the process whereby sociocultural identity mediates relationships among receivers, sources and messages to shape message effects. This exploratory study examines how two at-risk groups of African American men responded to various HIV prevention messages delivered by celebrity and professional sources. We interviewed 47 men from a homeless shelter and 50 male college students. Members of both groups were likely to select Johnson as the best person to deliver HIV prevention messages among a list of African American celebrity and professional sources. Results suggest the symbolic meanings embedded in celebrities and message topics are important and enduring influences on message effects. The images and ideas that a source represents are transferred to the advocated behavior, attitude or knowledge change and thus shape how messages are interpreted and received. Further understanding of how culture influences the effects of persuasive messages is critical for the improvement of health-communication campaigns. PMID:22011997

Utilizing Response Time Distributions for Item Selection in CAT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan, Zhewen; Wang, Chun; Chang, Hua-Hua; Douglas, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

Traditional methods for item selection in computerized adaptive testing only focus on item information without taking into consideration the time required to answer an item. As a result, some examinees may receive a set of items that take a very long time to finish, and information is not accrued as efficiently as possible. The authors propose two…

Procedures for Selecting Items for Computerized Adaptive Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kingsbury, G. Gage; Zara, Anthony R.

1989-01-01

Several classical approaches and alternative approaches to item selection for computerized adaptive testing (CAT) are reviewed and compared. The study also describes procedures for constrained CAT that may be added to classical item selection approaches to allow them to be used for applied testing. (TJH)

[Egypt: Selected Readings, Egyptian Mummies, and the Egyptian Pyramid.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC.

This resource packet presents information and resources on ancient Egypt. The bibliography includes readings divided into five sections: (1) "General Information" (46 items); (2) "Religion" (8 items); (3) "Art" (8 items); (4) "Hieroglyphics" (6 items); and (5) selections "For Young Readers" (11…

Friendly-Sharing: Improving the Performance of City Sensoring through Contact-Based Messaging Applications.

PubMed

Herrera-Tapia, Jorge; Hernández-Orallo, Enrique; Tomás, Andrés; Manzoni, Pietro; Tavares Calafate, Carlos; Cano, Juan-Carlos

2016-09-18

Regular citizens equipped with smart devices are being increasingly used as "sensors" by Smart Cities applications. Using contacts among users, data in the form of messages is obtained and shared. Contact-based messaging applications are based on establishing a short-range communication directly between mobile devices, and on storing the messages in these devices for subsequent delivery to cloud-based services. An effective way to increase the number of messages that can be shared is to increase the contact duration. We thus introduce the Friendly-Sharing diffusion approach, where, during a contact, the users are aware of the time needed to interchange the messages stored in their buffers, and they can thus decide to wait more time in order to increase the message sharing probability. The performance of this approach is anyway closely related to the size of the buffer in the device. We therefore compare various policies either for the message selection at forwarding times and for message dropping when the buffer is full. We evaluate our proposal with a modified version of the Opportunistic Networking Environment (ONE) simulator and using real human mobility traces.

Similarity facilitates relationships on social networks: a field experiment on facebook.

PubMed

Martin, Angélique; Jacob, Céline; Guéguen, Nicolas

2013-08-01

People interact more readily with someone with whom they think they have something in common, but the effect of an incidental similarity has never been examined on social networks. Facebook users were contacted by a stranger who also possessed a Facebook page and who asked them to become his friend. The request message contained one item of similarity, two items of similarity, or none. Compliance to the request was the dependent variable. Increased compliance to the request was found when comparing the two similarity conditions with the control no-similarity condition. However, no difference was found between the two similarity conditions. Similarity appears to foster relationships on social networks.

"Are You In or Are You Out?!" Moral Appeals to the Public in Organ Donation Poster Campaigns: A Multimodal and Ethical Analysis.

PubMed

Hansen, Solveig L; Eisner, Marthe I; Pfaller, Larissa; Schicktanz, Silke

2018-08-01

Organ transplantation is a well-established practice in modern medicine. However, many countries, especially those with an opt-in regulation, face the problem of low donation numbers. Respective public campaigns attempt to increase the number of donors by swaying public opinion with the use of carefully selected bits of information. Germany serves as a case study for an opt-in country investing approximately €7.5 million/year in the distribution of respective campaigns. To address diverse populations, large-scale posters in various public spaces still display a multitude of moral messages for organ donation. We developed a detailed multimodal approach for the analysis of health communication by focusing exemplarily on such organ donation poster campaigns as a common mean since the 1990s. In all, we identified 13 campaigns with 83 posters from 1996 to 2016. Here, we focus on both the textual and visual elements of such material to analyze how morally relevant principles and virtues are interwoven. Six categories of moral appeals were identified in the complete sample: altruism, being a decisive person, family responsibility, minimizing suffering, social conformity, and complete reciprocity. Overall, visual items were used to create a variety of social, moral, and epistemic claims with respect to organ donation. Our analysis reveals critical aspects highlighting the potential conflicts that arise from the ambiguity and wrong information of some messages as well as the risk of inappropriate blaming driven by these campaigns.

Calcium, Vitamin D, Iron, and Folate Messages in Three Canadian Magazines.

PubMed

Cooper, Marcia; Zalot, Lindsay; Wadsworth, Laurie A

2014-12-01

Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey showed that calcium, vitamin D, iron, and folate are nutrients of concern for females 19-50 years of age. The study objectives were to assess the quantity, format, and accuracy of messages related to these nutrients in selected Canadian magazines and to examine their congruency with Canadian nutrition policies. Using content analysis methodology, messages were coded using a stratified sample of a constructed year for Canadian Living, Chatelaine, and Homemakers magazines (n = 33) from 2003-2008. Pilot research was conducted to assess inter-coder agreement and to develop the study coding sheet and codebook. The messages identified (n = 595) averaged 18 messages per magazine issue. The most messages were found for calcium, followed by folate, iron, and vitamin D, and the messages were found primarily in articles (46%) and advertisements (37%). Overall, most messages were coded as accurate (82%) and congruent with Canadian nutrition policies (90%). This research demonstrated that the majority of messages in 3 Canadian magazines between 2003 and 2008 were accurate and reflected Canadian nutrition policies. Because Canadian women continue to receive much nutrition information via print media, this research provides important insights for dietitians into media messaging.

Fighting obesity or obese persons? Public perceptions of obesity-related health messages.

PubMed

Puhl, R; Peterson, J L; Luedicke, J

2013-06-01

This study examined public perceptions of obesity-related public health media campaigns with specific emphasis on the extent to which campaign messages are perceived to be motivating or stigmatizing. In summer 2011, data were collected online from a nationally representative sample of 1014 adults. Participants viewed a random selection of 10 (from a total of 30) messages from major obesity public health campaigns from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and rated each campaign message according to positive and negative descriptors, including whether it was stigmatizing or motivating. Participants also reported their familiarity with each message and their intentions to comply with the message content. Participants responded most favorably to messages involving themes of increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and general messages involving multiple health behaviors. Messages that have been publicly criticized for their stigmatizing content received the most negative ratings and the lowest intentions to comply with message content. Furthermore, messages that were perceived to be most positive and motivating made no mention of the word 'obesity' at all, and instead focused on making healthy behavioral changes without reference to body weight. These findings have important implications for framing messages in public health campaigns to address obesity, and suggest that certain types of messages may lead to increased motivation for behavior change among the public, whereas others may be perceived as stigmatizing and instill less motivation to improve health.

Validation of persuasive messages for the promotion of physical activity among people with coronary heart disease.

PubMed

Mendez, Roberto Della Rosa; Rodrigues, Roberta Cunha Matheus; Spana, Thaís Moreira; Cornélio, Marília Estevam; Gallani, Maria Cecília Bueno Jayme; Pérez-Nebra, Amalia Raquel

2012-01-01

to validate the content of persuasive messages for promoting walking among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The messages were constructed to strengthen or change patients' attitudes to walking. the selection of persuasive arguments was based on behavioral beliefs (determinants of attitude) related to walking. The messages were constructed based in the Elaboration Likelihood Model and were submitted to content validation. the data was analyzed with the content validity index and by the importance which the patients attributed to the messages' persuasive arguments. Positive behavioral beliefs (i.e. positive and negative reinforcement) and self-efficacy were the appeals which the patients considered important. The messages with validation evidence will be tested in an intervention study for the promotion of the practice of physical activity among patients with CHD.

Promoting healthy eating and physical activity short-term effects of a mass media campaign.

PubMed

Beaudoin, Christopher E; Fernandez, Carolyn; Wall, Jerry L; Farley, Thomas A

2007-03-01

Soaring obesity levels present a severe health risk in the United States, especially in low-income minority populations. High-frequency paid television and radio advertising, as well as bus and streetcar signage. A mass media campaign in New Orleans to promote walking and fruit and vegetable consumption in a low-income, predominantly African-American urban population. Messages tailored with consideration of the African-American majority. Random-digit-dial telephone surveys using cross-sectional representative samples at baseline in 2004 and following the onset of the campaign in 2005. Survey items on campaign message recall; attitudes toward walking, snack food avoidance, and fruit and vegetable consumption; and behaviors related to fruit and vegetable consumption, snack food consumption, and utilitarian and leisure walking. From baseline, there were significant increases in message recall measures, positive attitudes toward fruit and vegetable consumption, and positive attitudes toward walking. Behaviors did not change significantly. In 2005, message recall measures were associated with positive levels of each of the outcome variables. Over 5 months, the media campaign appeared to have stimulated improvements in attitudes toward healthy diet and walking behaviors addressed by the campaign. These findings encourage the continuation of the media campaign, with future evaluation to consider whether the behavioral measures change.

Use of cognitive interview techniques in the development of nutrition surveys and interactive nutrition messages for low-income populations.

PubMed

Carbone, Elena T; Campbell, Marci K; Honess-Morreale, Lauren

2002-05-01

The effectiveness of dietary surveys and educational messages is dependent in part on how well the target audience's information processing needs and abilities are addressed. Use of pilot testing is helpful; however, problems with wording and language are often not revealed. Cognitive interview techniques offer 1 approach to assist dietitians in understanding how audiences process information. With this method, respondents are led through a survey or message and asked to paraphrase items; discuss thoughts, feelings, and ideas that come to mind; and suggest alternative wording. As part of a US Department of Agriculture-funded nutrition education project, 23 cognitive interviews were conducted among technical community college students in North Carolina. Interview findings informed the development of tailored computer messages and survey questions. Better understanding of respondents' cognitive processes significantly improved the language and approach used in this intervention. Interview data indicated 4 problem areas: vague or ineffective instructions, confusing questions and response options, variable interpretation of terms, and misinterpretation of dietary recommendations. Interviews also provided insight into the meaning of diet-related stages of change. These findings concur with previous research suggesting that cognitive interview techniques are a valuable tool in the formative evaluation and development of nutrition surveys and materials.

Use of Jackknifing to Evaluate Effects of Anchor Item Selection on Equating with the Nonequivalent Groups with Anchor Test (NEAT) Design. Research Report. ETS RR-15-10

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Ru; Haberman, Shelby; Guo, Hongwen; Liu, Jinghua

2015-01-01

In this study, we apply jackknifing to anchor items to evaluate the impact of anchor selection on equating stability. In an ideal world, the choice of anchor items should have little impact on equating results. When this ideal does not correspond to reality, selection of anchor items can strongly influence equating results. This influence does not…

Mobile phone text messaging improves antihypertensive drug adherence in the community.

PubMed

Varleta, Paola; Acevedo, Mónica; Akel, Carlos; Salinas, Claudia; Navarrete, Carlos; García, Ana; Echegoyen, Carolina; Rodriguez, Daniel; Gramusset, Lissette; Leon, Sandra; Cofré, Pedro; Retamal, Raquel; Romero, Katerine

2017-12-01

Antihypertensive drug adherence (ADA) is a mainstay in blood pressure control. Education through mobile phone short message system (SMS) text messaging could improve ADA. The authors conducted a randomized study involving 314 patients with hypertension with <6 months of antihypertensive treatment from the Preventive Health Program of 12 different primary care centers in Santiago, Chile. Patients were randomly assigned to receive or not receive SMS related to ADA and healthy lifestyle. Adherence was assessed by the self-reported four-item scale Morisky-Green-Levine questionnaire at baseline and after 6 months of follow-up, with four of four positive questions classified as good adherence. Group comparison for adherence was performed by means of a logistic regression model, adjusting by baseline adherence, age older than 60 years, and sex. A total of 163 patients were randomized to receive and 151 to not receive SMS. After 6 months of follow-up, ADA in the non-SMS group decreased from 59.3% to 51.4% (P=.1). By contrast, adherence increased from 49% to 62.3% (P=.01) in the SMS group. Text messaging intervention improved ADA (risk ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.6 [P<.05]). At 6-month follow-up, text messaging resulted in an increase in reporting ADA in this hypertensive Latino population. This approach could become an effective tool to overcome poor medication adherence in the community. ©2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gross for kids but good for parents: differing messages in advertisements for the same products.

PubMed

Jones, Sandra; Fabrianesi, Belinda

2008-06-01

There has been surprisingly little research into the effects of food advertising on parents' perception of commonly consumed children's food items, although the available research suggests that parents may find nutritional claims in these advertisements confusing. The purpose of the present study was to investigate parents' perceptions of branded snack foods targeted at children, and the extent to which these perceptions are influenced by advertising messages. Using an intercept survey, participants were shown either adult-targeted or child-targeted advertisements for the same food products. Central business district of a major Australian city. One hundred adults, mean age 40 years. The study results suggest that: (1) adults' perceptions of advertised food products and, most importantly, purchase intentions for those products differ according to the version of the advertisement seen (for three of the products, 42-54% would buy the product after seeing the child version compared with 82-84% after seeing the adult version); and (2) adults clearly perceive distinctly different messages in advertisements for the same products which are targeting parents vs. those targeting children (e.g. for three of the products, 74-92% perceived that the adult version of the advertisement suggested the food was nutritionally beneficial compared with 2-14% perceiving this for the child version). It is clear that the messages conveyed to children about specific foods are quite different to the messages conveyed to adults - and importantly parents - about the same foods.

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words: Noncommercial Tobacco Content in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Press

PubMed Central

SMITH, ELIZABETH A.; OFFEN, NAPHTALI; MALONE, RUTH E.

2009-01-01

Smoking prevalence in the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community is higher than in the mainstream population. The reason is undetermined; however, normalization of tobacco use in the media has been shown to affect smoking rates. To explore whether this might be a factor in the LGB community, we examined noncommercial imagery and text relating to tobacco and smoking in LGB magazines and newspapers. Tobacco-related images were frequent and overwhelmingly positive or neutral about tobacco use. Images frequently associated smoking with celebrities. Text items unrelated to tobacco were often illustrated with smoking imagery. Text items about tobacco were likely to be critical of tobacco use; however, there were three times as many images as text items. The number of image items was not accounted for by the number of text items: nearly three quarters of all tobacco-related images (73.8%) were unassociated with relevant text. Tobacco imagery is pervasive in LGB publications. The predominant message about tobacco use in the LGB press is positive or neutral; tobacco is often glamorized. Noncommercial print images of smoking may normalize it, as movie product placement does. Media advocacy approaches could counter normalization of smoking in LGB-specific media. PMID:17074732

Mobile phone messages to provide support to women during the home phase of medical abortion in South Africa: a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Constant, Deborah; de Tolly, Katherine; Harries, Jane; Myer, Landon

2014-09-01

Home use of misoprostol for medical abortion is more convenient for many women than in-clinic use but requires management of abortion symptoms at home without provider backup. This study evaluated whether automated text messages to women undergoing medical abortion can reduce anxiety and emotional discomfort, and whether the messages can better prepare women for symptoms they experience. A multisite randomized controlled trial was conducted in which women undergoing early medical abortion were allocated to receive standard of care (SOC) only (n=235) or SOC+a messaging intervention (n=234). Consenting women were interviewed at the clinic after taking mifepristone and again at their follow-up clinic visit 2-3 weeks later; the intervention group received text messages over the duration of this period. Emotional outcomes were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Adler's 12-item emotional scale and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Preparedness for the abortion symptoms and overall satisfaction with the procedure were assessed using 4-point Likert-type scales. Between baseline and follow-up, anxiety decreased more (p=0.013), and less emotional stress was experienced (adjusted for baseline anxiety, p=0.015), in the intervention compared to the SOC group. Participants in the intervention group were also more likely to report that they felt very well prepared for the bleeding (p<0.001), pain (p=0.042) and side effects (p=0.027) they experienced. Acceptability and other negative emotions relating to the abortion did not differ between study groups. Ninety-nine percent of the intervention group stated that they would recommend the messages to a friend having the same procedure. Text messages to women following mifepristone administration for early medical abortion may assist them in managing symptoms and appear highly acceptable to recipients. This randomized controlled trial provides evidence for the effectiveness of text messages following mifepristone administration in strengthening medical abortion care. The messages were associated with significant reductions in women's anxiety and stress during the abortion process; they improved preparedness for the abortion symptoms experienced and appeared highly acceptable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Credibility elements of eWOM messages in the context of health care services. A Romanian perspective.

PubMed

Purcarea, V L; Gheorghe, I R; Petrescu, C M

2013-09-15

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Romanian consumers' determinants of eWOM messages' perceived credibility in the context of health care services. We selected a sample of 127 women and we administered a questionnaire. We used the partial least squares to uncover the established relationships between the variables of the model, namely the argument strength and the source credibility of a eWOM message and the intention to purchase a health care service based on the information embedded in the eWOM messages. The results revealed that all variables had positive direct correlations with each other but the argument strength of a message has the highest impact on the intention.

Partisan Bias in Message Selection: Media Gatekeeping of Party Press Releases

PubMed Central

Haselmayer, Martin; Wagner, Markus; Meyer, Thomas M.

2017-01-01

Parties try to shape media coverage in ways that are favorable to them, but what determines whether media outlets pick up and report on party messages? Based on content analyses of 1,496 party press releases and 6,512 media reports from the 2013 Austrian parliamentary election campaign, we show that media coverage of individual party messages is influenced not just by news factors, but also by partisan bias. The media are therefore more likely to report on messages from parties their readers favor. Importantly, this effect is greater rather than weaker when these messages have high news value. These findings have important implications for understanding the media’s role in elections and representative democracies in general. PMID:29170614

Politeness and the communication of uncertainty.

PubMed

Holtgraves, Thomas; Perdew, Audrey

2016-09-01

Ambiguity in language derives, in part, from the multiple motivations that underlie the choice to use any particular expression. The use of some lexical items, such as probability expressions and scalar terms, can be motivated by a desire to communicate uncertainty as well as a desire to be polite (i.e., manage face). Research has demonstrated that the interpretation of these items can be influenced by the existence of a potential politeness motive. In general, communications about negative events, relative to positive events, result in higher likelihood estimates whenever politeness can be discerned as a potential motive. With few exceptions, however, this research has focused only on the hearer. In the present research we focused on the dyad and examined whether speakers vary their messages as a function of politeness, and the effect that this has on subsequent judgments made by a recipient. In two experiments we presented participants with situations that varied in terms of face-threat and asked them how they would communicate potentially threatening information. Both experiments included a second set of participants who read these utterances and provided judgments as to the degree of uncertainty conveyed by the utterance. In both experiments, messages in the face-threatening condition conveyed greater uncertainty than messages in the non-face-threatening condition, and the probability estimates made by the second set of participants varied as a function of conveyed uncertainty. This research demonstrates that when examining speakers and hearers together, severe events may be judged less likely (rather than more likely), because speakers tend to hedge the certainty with which they communicate the information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mobile phone text message reminders: Measuring preferences of people with antipsychotic medication.

PubMed

Kauppi, Kaisa; Kannisto, Kati A; Hätönen, Heli; Anttila, Minna; Löyttyniemi, Eliisa; Adams, Clive E; Välimäki, Maritta

2015-10-01

Mobile technology use, including Short Messaging Service (SMS) text messaging, has increased in health care services. Preferences regarding the type or timing of text messages sent by healthcare providers to people with antipsychotic medication have not yet been fully investigated. This study examines the relationship between patients' demographic characteristics and the tailored messages they select. The study ("Mobile.Net", 27704027) includes a structured analysis of a random sub-sample of participants who received messages for 12months. The data were collected in 24 sites and 45 psychiatric hospitals in Finland and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Poisson regression models. The study sample involved 562 people on antipsychotic medication, and a total of 2112 text messages (2 to 25 monthly) were analysed. Regarding message content, there was no significant variation in the proportions relating to 'medication', 'treatment appointments' or 'free time'. Monday was the most popular day to receive messages and morning was preferred to later in the day. Age was most closely associated with 'number of messages' and 'time of messages'. Older women and younger men preferred higher numbers of messages (p=0.0031). Participants preferred positive, encouraging and slightly humorous messages. The findings suggest that messages may be acceptable for difficult to access groups in follow-up. This type of intervention may be useful for various types of patients especially for younger males. To further support the evidence about factors related to message utilization and use, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of text messages in psychiatric care. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Time and frequency for digital telecommunications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folts, H. C.

1972-01-01

Time and frequency (T and F) are fundamental and pervasive parameters of telecommunication technology. Advancing development of digital communications using data modulation rates above 2400 baud and time-division multiplex in complex network configurations is now requiring more accurate and precise T and F reference information for efficient operation of telecommunication systems. A schematic diagram of a general communication system is shown. This diagram is very general and can depict any type of communication. The information source selects a specific message which is encoded and sent through a communication channel. Enroute, the signal is subjected to perturbations from environmental noise. The received signal is then decoded and delivered to its destination. Through the process, the message may undergo many spurious changes, resulting in a loss of information content in the delivered message as compared to the original selected message. In digital telecommunication systems, loss of information content of the signals can be attributed to noise, distortion of waveshape, and loss of synchronization.

Can We Retrieve the Information Which Was Intentionally Forgotten? Electrophysiological Correlates of Strategic Retrieval in Directed Forgetting.

PubMed

Mao, Xinrui; Tian, Mengxi; Liu, Yi; Li, Bingcan; Jin, Yan; Wu, Yanhong; Guo, Chunyan

2017-01-01

Retrieval inhibition hypothesis of directed forgetting effects assumed TBF (to-be-forgotten) items were not retrieved intentionally, while selective rehearsal hypothesis assumed the memory representation of retrieved TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was weaker than TBR (to-be-remembered) items. Previous studies indicated that directed forgetting effects of item-cueing method resulted from selective rehearsal at encoding, but the mechanism of retrieval inhibition that affected directed forgetting of TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was not clear. Strategic retrieval is a control process allowing the selective retrieval of target information, which includes retrieval orientation and strategic recollection. Retrieval orientation via the comparison of tasks refers to the specific form of processing resulted by retrieval efforts. Strategic recollection is the type of strategies to recollect studied items for the retrieval success of targets. Using a "directed forgetting" paradigm combined with a memory exclusion task, our investigation of strategic retrieval in directed forgetting assisted to explore how retrieval inhibition played a role on directed forgetting effects. When TBF items were targeted, retrieval orientation showed more positive ERPs to new items, indicating that TBF items demanded more retrieval efforts. The results of strategic recollection indicated that: (a) when TBR items were retrieval targets, late parietal old/new effects were only evoked by TBR items but not TBF items, indicating the retrieval inhibition of TBF items; (b) when TBF items were retrieval targets, the late parietal old/new effect were evoked by both TBR items and TBF items, indicating that strategic retrieval could overcome retrieval inhibition of TBF items. These findings suggested the modulation of strategic retrieval on retrieval inhibition of directed forgetting, supporting that directed forgetting effects were not only caused by selective rehearsal, but also retrieval inhibition.

Can We Retrieve the Information Which Was Intentionally Forgotten? Electrophysiological Correlates of Strategic Retrieval in Directed Forgetting

PubMed Central

Mao, Xinrui; Tian, Mengxi; Liu, Yi; Li, Bingcan; Jin, Yan; Wu, Yanhong; Guo, Chunyan

2017-01-01

Retrieval inhibition hypothesis of directed forgetting effects assumed TBF (to-be-forgotten) items were not retrieved intentionally, while selective rehearsal hypothesis assumed the memory representation of retrieved TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was weaker than TBR (to-be-remembered) items. Previous studies indicated that directed forgetting effects of item-cueing method resulted from selective rehearsal at encoding, but the mechanism of retrieval inhibition that affected directed forgetting of TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was not clear. Strategic retrieval is a control process allowing the selective retrieval of target information, which includes retrieval orientation and strategic recollection. Retrieval orientation via the comparison of tasks refers to the specific form of processing resulted by retrieval efforts. Strategic recollection is the type of strategies to recollect studied items for the retrieval success of targets. Using a “directed forgetting” paradigm combined with a memory exclusion task, our investigation of strategic retrieval in directed forgetting assisted to explore how retrieval inhibition played a role on directed forgetting effects. When TBF items were targeted, retrieval orientation showed more positive ERPs to new items, indicating that TBF items demanded more retrieval efforts. The results of strategic recollection indicated that: (a) when TBR items were retrieval targets, late parietal old/new effects were only evoked by TBR items but not TBF items, indicating the retrieval inhibition of TBF items; (b) when TBF items were retrieval targets, the late parietal old/new effect were evoked by both TBR items and TBF items, indicating that strategic retrieval could overcome retrieval inhibition of TBF items. These findings suggested the modulation of strategic retrieval on retrieval inhibition of directed forgetting, supporting that directed forgetting effects were not only caused by selective rehearsal, but also retrieval inhibition. PMID:28900411

Item Selection and Ability Estimation Procedures for a Mixed-Format Adaptive Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Tsung-Han; Dodd, Barbara G.

2012-01-01

In this study we compared five item selection procedures using three ability estimation methods in the context of a mixed-format adaptive test based on the generalized partial credit model. The item selection procedures used were maximum posterior weighted information, maximum expected information, maximum posterior weighted Kullback-Leibler…

Bayesian Item Selection in Constrained Adaptive Testing Using Shadow Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veldkamp, Bernard P.

2010-01-01

Application of Bayesian item selection criteria in computerized adaptive testing might result in improvement of bias and MSE of the ability estimates. The question remains how to apply Bayesian item selection criteria in the context of constrained adaptive testing, where large numbers of specifications have to be taken into account in the item…

Minimum Sample Size Requirements for Mokken Scale Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Straat, J. Hendrik; van der Ark, L. Andries; Sijtsma, Klaas

2014-01-01

An automated item selection procedure in Mokken scale analysis partitions a set of items into one or more Mokken scales, if the data allow. Two algorithms are available that pursue the same goal of selecting Mokken scales of maximum length: Mokken's original automated item selection procedure (AISP) and a genetic algorithm (GA). Minimum…

A Feedback Control Strategy for Enhancing Item Selection Efficiency in Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissman, Alexander

2006-01-01

A computerized adaptive test (CAT) may be modeled as a closed-loop system, where item selection is influenced by trait level ([theta]) estimation and vice versa. When discrepancies exist between an examinee's estimated and true [theta] levels, nonoptimal item selection is a likely result. Nevertheless, examinee response behavior consistent with…

Delivery of Patient-Reported Outcome Instruments by Automated Mobile Phone Text Messaging.

PubMed

Anthony, Christopher A; Lawler, Ericka A; Glass, Natalie A; McDonald, Katelyn; Shah, Apurva S

2017-11-01

Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments allow patients to interpret their health and are integral in evaluating orthopedic treatments and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to define: (1) correlation between PROs collected by automated delivery of text messages on mobile phones compared with paper delivery; and (2) patient use characteristics of a technology platform utilizing automated delivery of text messages on mobile phones. Paper versions of the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the short form of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) were completed by patients in orthopedic hand and upper extremity clinics. Over the next 48 hours, the same patients also completed the mobile phone portion of the study outside of the clinic which included text message delivery of the SF-12 and QuickDASH, assigned in a random order. Correlations between paper and text message delivery of the 2 PROs were assessed. Among 72 patients, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the written and mobile phone delivery of QuickDASH was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.95). The ICC between the paper and mobile phone delivery of the SF-12 physical health composite score was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.79-0.93) and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75-0.92) for the SF-12 mental health composite score. We find that text message delivery using mobile phones permits valid assessment of SF-12 and QuickDASH scores. The findings suggest that software-driven automated delivery of text communication to patients via mobile phones may be a valid method to obtain other PRO scores in orthopedic patients.

An Efficiency Balanced Information Criterion for Item Selection in Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Kyung T.

2012-01-01

Successful administration of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) programs in educational settings requires that test security and item exposure control issues be taken seriously. Developing an item selection algorithm that strikes the right balance between test precision and level of item pool utilization is the key to successful implementation…

Applying Bayesian Item Selection Approaches to Adaptive Tests Using Polytomous Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penfield, Randall D.

2006-01-01

This study applied the maximum expected information (MEI) and the maximum posterior-weighted information (MPI) approaches of computer adaptive testing item selection to the case of a test using polytomous items following the partial credit model. The MEI and MPI approaches are described. A simulation study compared the efficiency of ability…

Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), Spring 2000: Elementary Health/Physical Education, Released Items, Grade 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri State Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jefferson City.

This document presents 10 released items from the Health/Physical Education Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test given in the spring of 2000 to fifth graders. Items from the test sessions include: selected-response (multiple choice), constructed-response, and a performance event. The selected-response items consist of individual questions…

Inductive Selectivity in Children’s Cross-classified Concepts

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Simone P.

2012-01-01

Cross-classified items pose an interesting challenge to children’s induction since these items belong to many different categories, each of which may serve as a basis for a different type of inference. Inductive selectivity is the ability to appropriately make different types of inferences about a single cross-classifiable item based on its different category memberships. This research includes five experiments that examine the development of inductive selectivity in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds (N = 272). Overall, the results show that by age 4 years, children have inductive selectivity with taxonomic and script categories. That is, children use taxonomic categories to make biochemical inferences about an item whereas children use script categories to make situational inferences about an item. PMID:22803510

Understanding Consistency Maintenance in Service Discovery Architectures in Response to Message Loss

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-07-01

manager (SM), and (3) service cache manager ( SCM ). The SCM is an optional element not supported by all discovery protocols. These components participate...the SCM operates as an intermediary, matching advertised SDs of SMs to requirements provided by SUs. Table 1 shows how these general concepts map...Service DescriptionService ItemService Description (SD) Directory Service Agent (optional) not applicableLookup ServiceService Cache Manager ( SCM

Investigation of the ADA Language Implementation of the Hellenic Command Control and Information System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-06-01

libary packages which support machine dependent physical interfaces, interrupt structures or special devices. Thus, programs and libraries written in...obtains real-time data, makes and imple- ments decisions and receives and originates digital messages. The major equipment items which are appropriate...maintenance. g. Provide digital communications access processing. Each microcomputer can be programmed to perform a specific set of functions using prepared

Self-Help Service Center Management System User’s Manual: Version 2.5

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-05-01

equipment loaned to customers. Temporary nonconsumable items, such as lawn mowers , must be returned by a certain due date and time. Permanent...would use this function to process the return of lawn mowers . 3. A capability to identify the status of and/or process the return of a single borrowed...Date Tim ... ................ ................................. ...... ..... ........ °....... 00000035 LAWN MOWER T I 1 03/09/90 18:00 Message Box

Determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network

DOEpatents

Faraj, Ahmad A.

2010-01-26

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network that include: partitioning nodes in the network into a first sub-network and a second sub-network in dependence upon a topology of the network; sending, by each node in the first sub-network to a destination node in the second sub-network, a first message having a predetermined message size; receiving, by each node in the first sub-network from a source node in the second sub-network, a second message; measuring, by each node in the first sub-network, the elapsed communications time between the sending of the first message and the receiving of the second message; selecting the longest elapsed communications time; and calculating the bisection bandwidth for the network in dependence upon the number of the nodes in the first sub-network, the predetermined message size of the first test message, and the longest elapsed communications time.

Using the Clear Communication Index to Improve Materials for a Behavioral Intervention.

PubMed

Porter, Kathleen J; Alexander, Ramine; Perzynski, Katelynn M; Kruzliakova, Natalie; Zoellner, Jamie M

2018-02-08

Ensuring that written materials used in behavioral interventions are clear is important to support behavior change. This study used the Clear Communication Index (CCI) to assess the original and revised versions of three types of written participant materials from the SIPsmartER intervention. Materials were revised based on original scoring. Scores for the entire index were significantly higher among revised versions than originals (57% versus 41%, p < 0.001); however, few revised materials (n = 2 of 53) achieved the benchmark of ≥90%. Handouts scored higher than worksheets and slide sets for both versions. The proportion of materials scored as having "a single main message" significantly increased between versions for worksheets (7% to 57%, p = 0.003) and slide sets (33% to 67%, p = 0.004). Across individual items, most significant improvements were in Core, with four-items related to the material having a single main message. Findings demonstrate that SIPsmartER's revised materials improved after CCI-informed edits. They advance the evidence and application of the CCI, suggesting it can be effectively used to support improvement in clarity of different types of written materials used in behavioral interventions. Implications for practical considerations of using the tool and suggestions for modifications for specific types of materials are presented.

Work-related stress assessed by a text message single-item stress question.

PubMed

Arapovic-Johansson, B; Wåhlin, C; Kwak, L; Björklund, C; Jensen, I

2017-12-02

Given the prevalence of work stress-related ill-health in the Western world, it is important to find cost-effective, easy-to-use and valid measures which can be used both in research and in practice. To examine the validity and reliability of the single-item stress question (SISQ), distributed weekly by short message service (SMS) and used for measurement of work-related stress. The convergent validity was assessed through associations between the SISQ and subscales of the Job Demand-Control-Support model, the Effort-Reward Imbalance model and scales measuring depression, exhaustion and sleep. The predictive validity was assessed using SISQ data collected through SMS. The reliability was analysed by the test-retest procedure. Correlations between the SISQ and all the subscales except for job strain and esteem reward were significant, ranging from -0.186 to 0.627. The SISQ could also predict sick leave, depression and exhaustion at 12-month follow-up. The analysis on reliability revealed a satisfactory stability with a weighted kappa between 0.804 and 0.868. The SISQ, administered through SMS, can be used for the screening of stress levels in a working population. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Associating a prototypical forbidden food item with guilt or celebration: relationships with indicators of (un)healthy eating and the moderating role of stress and depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Kuijer, Roeline G; Boyce, Jessica A; Marshall, Emma M

2015-01-01

The increase in obesity and the many educational messages prompting us to eat a healthy diet have heightened people's concerns about the effects of food choice on health and weight. An unintended side effect may be that such awareness fuels feelings of guilt and worry about food. Although guilt has the potential to motivate behaviour change, it may also lead to feelings of helplessness and loss of control. The current study examined the relationship between a default association of either 'guilt' or 'celebration' with a prototypical forbidden food item (chocolate cake), indicators of healthy eating and choosing food for mood regulation reasons. Following a 'diathesis-stress' perspective, the moderating roles of depressive symptoms and stress were examined. Although a default association of guilt was found to be harmless under some circumstances (i.e. under low stress), those who associated chocolate cake with guilt (vs. celebration) reported unhealthier eating habits and lower levels of perceived behavioural control over healthy eating when under stress, rated mood regulation reasons for food choice as important irrespective of their current affective state, and did not have more positive attitudes towards healthy eating. Implications for public health messages and interventions will be discussed.

Please respond ASAP: workplace telepressure and employee recovery.

PubMed

Barber, Larissa K; Santuzzi, Alecia M

2015-04-01

Organizations rely heavily on asynchronous message-based technologies (e.g., e-mail) for the purposes of work-related communications. These technologies are primary means of knowledge transfer and building social networks. As a by-product, workers might feel varying levels of preoccupations with and urges for responding quickly to messages from clients, coworkers, or supervisors--an experience we label as workplace telepressure. This experience can lead to fast response times and thus faster decisions and other outcomes initially. However, research from the stress and recovery literature suggests that the defining features of workplace telepressure interfere with needed work recovery time and stress-related outcomes. The present set of studies defined and validated a new scale to measure telepressure. Study 1 tested an initial pool of items and found some support for a single-factor structure after problematic items were removed. As expected, public self-consciousness, techno-overload, and response expectations were moderately associated with telepressure in Study 1. Study 2 demonstrated that workplace telepressure was distinct from other personal (job involvement, affective commitment) and work environment (general and ICT work demands) factors and also predicted burnout (physical and cognitive), absenteeism, sleep quality, and e-mail responding beyond those factors. Implications for future research and workplace practices are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Frequency of Risk-Related News Media Messages in 2016 Coverage of Zika Virus.

PubMed

Sell, Tara Kirk; Watson, Crystal; Meyer, Diane; Kronk, Marissa; Ravi, Sanjana; Pechta, Laura E; Lubell, Keri M; Rose, Dale A

2018-01-03

News media plays a large role in the information the public receives during an infectious disease outbreak, and may influence public knowledge and perceptions of risk. This study analyzed and described the content of U.S. news media coverage of Zika virus and Zika response during 2016. A random selection of 800 Zika-related news stories from 25 print and television news sources was analyzed. The study examined 24 different messages that appeared in news media articles and characterized them using theories of risk perception as messages with characteristics that could increase perception of risk (risk-elevating messages; n = 14), messages that could decrease perception of risk (risk-minimizing messages; n = 8), or messages about travel or testing guidance (n = 2). Overall, 96% of news stories in the study sample contained at least one or more risk-elevating message(s) and 61% contained risk-minimizing message(s). The frequency of many messages changed after local transmission was confirmed in Florida, and differed between sources in locations with or without local transmission in 2016. Forty percent of news stories included messages about negative potential outcomes of Zika virus infection without mentioning ways to reduce risk. Findings from this study may help inform current federal, state, and local Zika responses by offering a detailed analysis of how news media are covering the outbreak and response activities as well as identifying specific messages appearing more or less frequently than intended. Findings identifying the types of messages that require greater emphasis may also assist public health communicators in responding more effectively to future outbreaks. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

A Research Protocol to Test the Effectiveness of Text Messaging and Reminder Calls to Increase Service Use Referrals in a Community Engagement Program.

PubMed

Varma, Deepthi Satheesa; Hart, Mark; McIntyre, Denise Sonya; Kwiatkowski, Evan; Cottler, Linda Bauer

2016-06-28

Mobile phoned-based interventions have been increasingly used in clinical populations to improve health and health care delivery. The literature has shown that mobile phone-based text messages (short message service, SMS) are instantaneous, cost effective, and have less chance of being misplaced. Studies using mobile phone based-text messages have reported text messages as effective reminders that have resulted in increased appointment attendance, adherence to treatment, and better self-management. There have been no reports of adverse events when using text messaging in terms of misreading or misinterpreting data, transmitting inaccurate data, losing verbal or nonverbal communication cues, privacy issues, or failure or delay in message delivery. However, the literature has cited a need for personalized messages that are more responsive to individual needs. In addition, there has been a dearth of information on the use of reminders in nonclinical populations. The goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of adding reminders in the form of text messaging versus reminder calls versus text messages and reminder calls to increase use of service referrals provided through community outreach. A total of 300 participants will be recruited for the study. Each participant will be randomized to one of three arms: a group that receives only reminder calls (CALLSONLY); a group that receives only text message reminders (TEXTONLY); and a group that receives both reminder calls and text messages (CALLS+TEXT). All groups will receive their reminder intervention on the 15th and 45th day after baseline when they receive medical and social service referrals from the community health workers (CHWs). A standard script will be used to administer the call and text reminders and a 15-item telephone-based satisfaction survey will be administered to assess the participant satisfaction with the process of receiving periodic reminders. The study is in the recruitment and follow-up phase. The authors anticipate completion of recruitment, interventions, and data entry by July 2016. Preliminary results are expected to be available by September 2016. This study will provide an opportunity to test the effectiveness of mobile-based interventions on nonclinical, community-recruited populations. In particular, such a protocol would increase the effectiveness of a community-based engagement program by instating a formal reminder system for all program members who receive social and/or medical service referrals during outreach in the community. Findings from this study would guide the development and implementation of reminder protocols for community-based engagement programs nationwide.

Mobile Phone Interventions for the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.

PubMed

Park, Linda G; Beatty, Alexis; Stafford, Zoey; Whooley, Mary A

2016-01-01

Mobile health in the form of text messaging and mobile applications provides an innovative and effective approach to promote prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, the magnitude of these effects is unclear. Through a comprehensive search of databases from 2002-2016, we conducted a quantitative systematic review. The selected studies were critically evaluated to extract and summarize pertinent characteristics and outcomes. A large majority of studies (22 of 28, 79%) demonstrated text messaging, mobile applications, and telemonitoring via mobile phones were effective in improving outcomes. Some key factors associated with successful interventions included personalized messages with tailored advice, greater engagement (2-way text messaging, higher frequency of messages), and use of multiple modalities. Overall, text messaging appears more effective than smartphone-based interventions. Incorporating principles of behavioral activation will help promote and sustain healthy lifestyle behaviors in patients with CVD that result in improved clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mobile Phone Interventions for the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

PubMed Central

Park, Linda G.; Beatty, Alexis; Stafford, Zoey; Whooley, Mary A.

2016-01-01

Mobile health in the form of text messaging and mobile applications provides an innovative and effective approach to promote prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, the magnitude of these effects is unclear. Through a comprehensive search of databases from 2002–2016, we conducted a quantitative systematic review. The selected studies were critically evaluated to extract and summarize pertinent characteristics and outcomes. A large majority of studies (22 of 28, 79%) demonstrated text messaging, mobile applications, and telemonitoring via mobile phones were effective in improving outcomes. Some key factors associated with successful interventions included personalized messages with tailored advice, greater engagement (2-way text messaging, higher frequency of messages), and use of multiple modalities. Overall, text messaging appears more effective than smartphone-based interventions. Incorporating principles of behavioral activation will help promote and sustain healthy lifestyle behaviors in patients with CVD that result in improved clinical outcomes. PMID:27001245

Friendly-Sharing: Improving the Performance of City Sensoring through Contact-Based Messaging Applications

PubMed Central

Herrera-Tapia, Jorge; Hernández-Orallo, Enrique; Tomás, Andrés; Manzoni, Pietro; Tavares Calafate, Carlos; Cano, Juan-Carlos

2016-01-01

Regular citizens equipped with smart devices are being increasingly used as “sensors” by Smart Cities applications. Using contacts among users, data in the form of messages is obtained and shared. Contact-based messaging applications are based on establishing a short-range communication directly between mobile devices, and on storing the messages in these devices for subsequent delivery to cloud-based services. An effective way to increase the number of messages that can be shared is to increase the contact duration. We thus introduce the Friendly-Sharing diffusion approach, where, during a contact, the users are aware of the time needed to interchange the messages stored in their buffers, and they can thus decide to wait more time in order to increase the message sharing probability. The performance of this approach is anyway closely related to the size of the buffer in the device. We therefore compare various policies either for the message selection at forwarding times and for message dropping when the buffer is full. We evaluate our proposal with a modified version of the Opportunistic Networking Environment (ONE) simulator and using real human mobility traces. PMID:27649209

Multimodal information Management: Evaluation of Auditory and Haptic Cues for NextGen Communication Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Bittner, Rachel M.; Anderson, Mark R.

2012-01-01

Auditory communication displays within the NextGen data link system may use multiple synthetic speech messages replacing traditional ATC and company communications. The design of an interface for selecting amongst multiple incoming messages can impact both performance (time to select, audit and release a message) and preference. Two design factors were evaluated: physical pressure-sensitive switches versus flat panel "virtual switches", and the presence or absence of auditory feedback from switch contact. Performance with stimuli using physical switches was 1.2 s faster than virtual switches (2.0 s vs. 3.2 s); auditory feedback provided a 0.54 s performance advantage (2.33 s vs. 2.87 s). There was no interaction between these variables. Preference data were highly correlated with performance.

SMS text messaging as a means of increasing recall of therapy goals in brain injury rehabilitation: a single-blind within-subjects trial.

PubMed

Culley, Campbell; Evans, Jonathan J

2010-01-01

A single-blind within-subjects trial was used to test the efficacy of sending SMS text messages to patients with a traumatic brain injury as a means of improving their recall of rehabilitation goals. Eleven participants were recruited from two community-based rehabilitation centres and were sent text messages relating to three randomly selected goals from a selection of six current goals three times per day for 14 days. Participants' recall of their rehabilitation goals was assessed at baseline, seven days, and 14 days via free recall and cued recall procedures. Results showed that goals in the "text" condition were recalled better than goals in the "no text" condition. Practical applications and extensions are discussed.

Restricted interests and teacher presentation of items.

PubMed

Stocco, Corey S; Thompson, Rachel H; Rodriguez, Nicole M

2011-01-01

Restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) is more pervasive, prevalent, frequent, and severe in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than in their typical peers. One subtype of RRB is restricted interests in items or activities, which is evident in the manner in which individuals engage with items (e.g., repetitious wheel spinning), the types of items or activities they select (e.g., preoccupation with a phone book), or the range of items or activities they select (i.e., narrow range of items). We sought to describe the relation between restricted interests and teacher presentation of items. Overall, we observed 5 teachers interacting with 2 pairs of students diagnosed with an ASD. Each pair included 1 student with restricted interests. During these observations, teachers were free to present any items from an array of 4 stimuli selected by experimenters. We recorded student responses to teacher presentation of items and analyzed the data to determine the relation between teacher presentation of items and the consequences for presentation provided by the students. Teacher presentation of items corresponded with differential responses provided by students with ASD, and those with restricted preferences experienced a narrower array of items.

How lay people respond to messages about genetics, health, and race.

PubMed

Condit, C; Bates, B

2005-08-01

There is a growing movement in medical genetics to develop, implement, and promote a model of race-based medicine. Although race-based medicine may become a widely disseminated standard of care, messages that advocate race-based selection for diagnosing, screening and prescribing drugs may exacerbate health disparities. These messages are present in clinical genetic counseling sessions, mass media, and everyday talk. Messages promoting linkages among genes, race, and health and messages emphasizing genetic causation may promote both general racism and genetically based racism. This mini-review examines research in three areas: studies that address the effects of these messages about genetics on levels of genetic determinism and genetic discrimination; studies that address the effects of these messages on attitudes about race; and, studies of the impacts of race-specific genetic messages on recipients. Following an integration of this research, this mini-review suggests that the current literature appears fragmented because of methodological and measurement issues and offers strategies for future research. Finally, the authors offer a path model to help organize future research examining the effects of messages about genetics on socioculturally based racism, genetically based racism, and unaccounted for racism. Research in this area is needed to understand and mitigate the negative attitudinal effects of messages that link genes, race, and health and/or emphasize genetic causation.

The Impact of Receiving the Same Items on Consecutive Computer Adaptive Test Administrations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neill, Thomas; Lunz, Mary E.; Thiede, Keith

2000-01-01

Studied item exposure in a computerized adaptive test when the item selection algorithm presents examinees with questions they were asked in a previous test administration. Results with 178 repeat examinees on a medical technologists' test indicate that the combined use of an adaptive algorithm to select items and latent trait theory to estimate…

Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), Spring 2000: High School Health/Physical Education, Released Items, Grade 9.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri State Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jefferson City.

This document presents 10 released items from the Health/Physical Education Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test given in the spring of 2000 to ninth graders. Items from the test sessions include: selected-response (multiple choice), constructed-response, and a performance event. The selected-response items consist of individual questions…

Pilot study of psychotherapeutic text messaging for depression.

PubMed

Pfeiffer, Paul N; Henry, Jennifer; Ganoczy, Dara; Piette, John D

2017-08-01

Background Text messaging services could increase access to psychotherapeutic content for individuals with depression by avoiding barriers to in-person psychotherapy such as cost, transportation, and therapist availability. Determining whether text messages reflecting different psychotherapeutic techniques exhibit differences in acceptability or effectiveness may help guide service development. Objectives We aimed to determine: (1) the feasibility of delivering a psychotherapy-based text messaging service to people with depression identified via the internet, (2) whether there is variation in satisfaction with messages according to the type of psychotherapeutic technique they represent, and (3) whether symptoms of depression vary according to receipt of each message type and participants' satisfaction with the messages they received. Methods For this study 190 US adults who screened positive for a major depressive episode (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥10) were recruited from online advertisements. Participants received a daily psychotherapy-based text message 6 days per week for 12 weeks. Text messages were developed by a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to reflect three psychotherapeutic approaches: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), behavioural activation, and cognitive restructuring. Each week the message type for the week was randomly assigned from one of the three types, allowing for repeats. Participants were asked daily to rate each message. On the 7th day of each week, participants completed a two-item depression screener (PHQ-2). Web-based surveys at baseline, 6, and 12 weeks were used as the primary measure of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). Results Of the 190 participants enrolled, 85 (45%) completed the 6-week web survey and 67 (35%) completed the 12-week survey. The mean baseline PHQ-9 score was 19.4 (SD 4.2) and there was a statistically significant mean improvement in PHQ-9 scores of -2.9 (SD 6.0; p < 0.001) at 6 weeks and -4.8 (SD 6.6; p < 0.001) at 12 weeks. Mean satisfaction ratings did not vary across message types. There was generally no association between the number of weeks in which participants received a given message type and PHQ-9 scores at follow-up. However, among individuals with more severe depression at baseline (PHQ-9 ≥ 20; n = 30), the number of weeks of behavioural activation messages received was associated with less symptom improvement (ρ = 0.37; p = 0.04) at 12 weeks. Participants who gave higher satisfaction ratings to messages regardless of type had greater reductions in PHQ-9 scores at 6 weeks. Conclusions Study participants exhibited borderline clinically significant improvement in depressive symptoms at 12 weeks suggesting the effects of the intervention, if any, were small. Although there was no overall variation in changes in PHQ-9 according to users' exposure to the three message types, effectiveness among severely depressed participants could potentially be improved by tailoring towards fewer behavioural activation messages. Controlled studies to determine effectiveness of texting interventions such as this one are indicated considering that even small effects may be cost effective given the low cost of delivering text messages.

Polarization, Definition, and Selective Media Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tichenor, P. J.; And Others

The traditional hypothesis that extreme attitudinal positions on controversial issues are likely to produce low understanding of messages on these issues--especially when the messages represent opposing views--is tested. Data for test of the hypothesis are from two field studies, each dealing with reader attitudes and decoding of one news article…

The Impact of Electronic Communication Technology on Written Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamzah, Mohd. Sahandri Gani B.; Ghorbani, Mohd. Reza; Abdullah, Saifuddin Kumar B.

2009-01-01

Communication technology is changing things. Language is no exception. Some language researchers argue that language is deteriorating due to increased use in electronic communication. The present paper investigated 100 randomly selected electronic mails (e-mails) and 50 short messaging system (SMS) messages of a representative sample of…

Features of cues and processes during chloroplast-mediated retrograde signaling in the alga Chlamydomonas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Retrograde signalling is a selective process defined by cues generated in chloroplast/mitochondria which traverse membranes and end up regulating nuclear gene expression and protein synthesis. The coding and encoding of organellar message(s) that alter nuclear gene expression and/or cellular metabo...

Engineered cell-cell communication via DNA messaging

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Evolution has selected for organisms that benefit from genetically encoded cell-cell communication. Engineers have begun to repurpose elements of natural communication systems to realize programmed pattern formation and coordinate other population-level behaviors. However, existing engineered systems rely on system-specific small molecules to send molecular messages among cells. Thus, the information transmission capacity of current engineered biological communication systems is physically limited by specific biomolecules that are capable of sending only a single message, typically “regulate transcription.” Results We have engineered a cell-cell communication platform using bacteriophage M13 gene products to autonomously package and deliver heterologous DNA messages of varying lengths and encoded functions. We demonstrate the decoupling of messages from a common communication channel via the autonomous transmission of various arbitrary genetic messages. Further, we increase the range of engineered DNA messaging across semisolid media by linking message transmission or receipt to active cellular chemotaxis. Conclusions We demonstrate decoupling of a communication channel from message transmission within engineered biological systems via the autonomous targeted transduction of user-specified heterologous DNA messages. We also demonstrate that bacteriophage M13 particle production and message transduction occurs among chemotactic bacteria. We use chemotaxis to improve the range of DNA messaging, increasing both transmission distance and communication bit rates relative to existing small molecule-based communication systems. We postulate that integration of different engineered cell-cell communication platforms will allow for more complex spatial programming of dynamic cellular consortia. PMID:22958599

Item Selection and Pre-equating with Empirical Item Characteristic Curves.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Livingston, Samuel A.

An empirical item characteristic curve shows the probability of a correct response as a function of the student's total test score. These curves can be estimated from large-scale pretest data. They enable test developers to select items that discriminate well in the score region where decisions are made. A similar set of curves can be used to…

One portion size of foods frequently consumed by Korean adults

PubMed Central

Choi, Mi-Kyeong; Hyun, Wha-Jin; Lee, Sim-Yeol; Park, Hong-Ju; Kim, Se-Na

2010-01-01

This study aimed to define a one portion size of food items frequently consumed for convenient use by Koreans in food selection, diet planning, and nutritional evaluation. We analyzed using the original data on 5,436 persons (60.87%) aged 20 ~ 64 years among 8,930 persons to whom NHANES 2005 and selected food items consumed by the intake frequency of 30 or higher among the 500 most frequently consumed food items. A total of 374 varieties of food items of regular use were selected. And the portion size of food items was set on the basis of the median (50th percentile) of the portion size for a single intake by a single person was analyzed. In cereals, the portion size of well polished rice was 80 g. In meats, the portion size of Korean beef cattle was 25 g. Among vegetable items, the portion size of Baechukimchi was 40 g. The portion size of the food items of regular use set in this study will be conveniently and effectively used by general consumers in selecting food items for a nutritionally balanced diet. In addition, these will be used as the basic data in setting the serving size in meal planning. PMID:20198213

[Mokken scaling of the Cognitive Screening Test].

PubMed

Diesfeldt, H F A

2009-10-01

The Cognitive Screening Test (CST) is a twenty-item orientation questionnaire in Dutch, that is commonly used to evaluate cognitive impairment. This study applied Mokken Scale Analysis, a non-parametric set of techniques derived from item response theory (IRT), to CST-data of 466 consecutive participants in psychogeriatric day care. The full item set and the standard short version of fourteen items both met the assumptions of the monotone homogeneity model, with scalability coefficient H = 0.39, which is considered weak. In order to select items that would fulfil the assumption of invariant item ordering or the double monotonicity model, the subjects were randomly partitioned into a training set (50% of the sample) and a test set (the remaining half). By means of an automated item selection eleven items were found to measure one latent trait, with H = 0.67 and item H coefficients larger than 0.51. Cross-validation of the item analysis in the remaining half of the subjects gave comparable values (H = 0.66; item H coefficients larger than 0.56). The selected items involve year, place of residence, birth date, the monarch's and prime minister's names, and their predecessors. Applying optimal discriminant analysis (ODA) it was found that the full set of twenty CST items performed best in distinguishing two predefined groups of patients of lower or higher cognitive ability, as established by an independent criterion derived from the Amsterdam Dementia Screening Test. The chance corrected predictive value or prognostic utility was 47.5% for the full item set, 45.2% for the fourteen items of the standard short version of the CST, and 46.1% for the homogeneous, unidimensional set of selected eleven items. The results of the item analysis support the application of the CST in cognitive assessment, and revealed a more reliable 'short' version of the CST than the standard short version (CST14).

Improving maternal and newborn health: effectiveness of a community health worker program in rural Kenya.

PubMed

Adam, Mary B; Dillmann, Maria; Chen, Mei-kuang; Mbugua, Simon; Ndung'u, Joram; Mumbi, Priscilla; Waweru, Eunice; Meissner, Peter

2014-01-01

Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) form an important element of many health systems, and in Kenya these volunteers are the foundation for promoting behavior change through health education, earlier case identification, and timely referral to trained health care providers. This study examines the effectiveness of a community health worker project conducted in rural Kenya that sought to promote improved knowledge of maternal newborn health and to increase deliveries under skilled attendance. The study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent design that examined relevant demographic items and knowledge about maternal and newborn health combined with a comprehensive retrospective birth history of women's children using oral interviews of women who were exposed to health messages delivered by CHWs and those who were not exposed. The project trained CHWs in three geographically distinct areas. Mean knowledge scores were higher in those women who reported being exposed to the health messages from CHWs, Eburru 32.3 versus 29.2, Kinale 21.8 vs 20.7, Nyakio 26.6 vs 23.8. The number of women delivering under skilled attendance was higher for those mothers who reported exposure to one or more health messages, compared to those who did not. The percentage of facility deliveries for women exposed to health messages by CHWs versus non-exposed was: Eburru 46% versus 19%; Kinale 94% versus 73%: and Nyakio 80% versus 78%. The delivery of health messages by CHWs increased knowledge of maternal and newborn care among women in the local community and encouraged deliveries under skilled attendance.

Improving Maternal and Newborn Health: Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker Program in Rural Kenya

PubMed Central

Adam, Mary B.; Dillmann, Maria; Chen, Mei-kuang; Mbugua, Simon; Ndung’u, Joram; Mumbi, Priscilla; Waweru, Eunice; Meissner, Peter

2014-01-01

Background Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) form an important element of many health systems, and in Kenya these volunteers are the foundation for promoting behavior change through health education, earlier case identification, and timely referral to trained health care providers. This study examines the effectiveness of a community health worker project conducted in rural Kenya that sought to promote improved knowledge of maternal newborn health and to increase deliveries under skilled attendance. Methods The study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent design that examined relevant demographic items and knowledge about maternal and newborn health combined with a comprehensive retrospective birth history of women’s children using oral interviews of women who were exposed to health messages delivered by CHWs and those who were not exposed. The project trained CHWs in three geographically distinct areas. Results Mean knowledge scores were higher in those women who reported being exposed to the health messages from CHWs, Eburru 32.3 versus 29.2, Kinale 21.8 vs 20.7, Nyakio 26.6 vs 23.8. The number of women delivering under skilled attendance was higher for those mothers who reported exposure to one or more health messages, compared to those who did not. The percentage of facility deliveries for women exposed to health messages by CHWs versus non-exposed was: Eburru 46% versus 19%; Kinale 94% versus 73%: and Nyakio 80% versus 78%. Conclusion The delivery of health messages by CHWs increased knowledge of maternal and newborn care among women in the local community and encouraged deliveries under skilled attendance. PMID:25090111

Astronaut Jerry Linenger with sheet of TIPS correspondence

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-09-15

STS064-23-025 (9-20 Sept. 1994) --- With scissors in hand, astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, STS-64 mission specialist, prepares to cut off a lengthy sheet of correspondence from ground controllers. Called the Thermal Imaging Printing System (TIPS), the message center occupies a stowage locker on the space shuttle Discovery's middeck. Astronaut L. Blaine Hammond, pilot, retrieves a clothing item from a nearby locker. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A Womb with a Political View: Barbara Park's "MA! There's Nothing to Do Here!" Prenatal Parenting, and the Battle over Personhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abate, Michelle Ann

2013-01-01

This essay makes the case that Barbara Park's picture book "MA! There's Nothing to Do Here!: A Word from Your Baby-in-Waiting" (2008) adds another equal-parts absurdist and alarming item to the ever-growing responsibilities of expecting mothers: ensuring that their fetus is entertained. The messages that Park's narrative…

Contextual behavior and neural circuits

PubMed Central

Lee, Inah; Lee, Choong-Hee

2013-01-01

Animals including humans engage in goal-directed behavior flexibly in response to items and their background, which is called contextual behavior in this review. Although the concept of context has long been studied, there are differences among researchers in defining and experimenting with the concept. The current review aims to provide a categorical framework within which not only the neural mechanisms of contextual information processing but also the contextual behavior can be studied in more concrete ways. For this purpose, we categorize contextual behavior into three subcategories as follows by considering the types of interactions among context, item, and response: contextual response selection, contextual item selection, and contextual item–response selection. Contextual response selection refers to the animal emitting different types of responses to the same item depending on the context in the background. Contextual item selection occurs when there are multiple items that need to be chosen in a contextual manner. Finally, when multiple items and multiple contexts are involved, contextual item–response selection takes place whereby the animal either chooses an item or inhibits such a response depending on item–context paired association. The literature suggests that the rhinal cortical regions and the hippocampal formation play key roles in mnemonically categorizing and recognizing contextual representations and the associated items. In addition, it appears that the fronto-striatal cortical loops in connection with the contextual information-processing areas critically control the flexible deployment of adaptive action sets and motor responses for maximizing goals. We suggest that contextual information processing should be investigated in experimental settings where contextual stimuli and resulting behaviors are clearly defined and measurable, considering the dynamic top-down and bottom-up interactions among the neural systems for contextual behavior. PMID:23675321

Young adults' responses to alternative messages describing a sugar-sweetened beverage price increase.

PubMed

Gollust, Sarah E; Tang, Xuyang; White, James M; French, Simone A; Runge, Carlisle Ford; Rothman, Alexander J

2017-01-01

Many jurisdictions in the USA and globally are considering raising the prices of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) through taxes as a strategy to reduce their consumption. The objective of the present study was to identify whether the rationale provided for an SSB price increase affects young adults' behavioural intentions and attitudes towards SSB. Participants were randomly assigned to receive one of eight SSB price increase rationales. Intentions to purchase SSB and attitudes about the product and policy were measured. A forty-six-item cross-sectional Internet survey. Undergraduate students (n 494) at a large US Midwestern university. Rationale type was significantly associated with differences in participants' purchasing intentions for the full sample (F 7,485=2·53, P=0·014). Presenting the rationale for an SSB price increase as a user fee, an effort to reduce obesity, a strategy to offset health-care costs or to protect children led to lower SSB purchasing intentions compared with a message with no rationale. Rationale type was also significantly associated with differences in perceptions of soda companies (F 7,485=2·10, P=0·043); among low consumers of SSB, messages describing the price increase as a user fee or tax led to more negative perceptions of soda companies. The rationale attached to an SSB price increase could influence consumers. However, these message effects may depend on individuals' level of SSB consumption.

Abstract Mindsets Increase Believability of Spatially Distant Online Messages

PubMed Central

Sungur, Hande; Hartmann, Tilo; van Koningsbruggen, Guido M.

2016-01-01

Growing evidence from online credibility research reveals that online users rely on heuristic processes to evaluate the credibility of online information. The current paper, which is based on the construal level theory (CLT), proposes that congruency between the psychological distance of a stimulus and the way it is mentally construed can act as a heuristic for believability. According to CLT, psychologically close (e.g., spatially, temporally, socially) stimuli are represented concretely whereas psychologically distant stimuli are represented abstractly. The level of mental construals and the psychological distance of information have been shown to influence people’s truth judgments in offline contexts. This study tests whether congruency between the construal level of people’s mindsets (abstract vs. concrete) and the psychological distance implied in an online message (far vs. close) enhances message believability. By partially confirming CLT predictions, we found that believability of an online news item about a distant location increased when people maintained an abstract mindset rather than a concrete one. The effect of a concrete mindset on believability was not significant for the close psychological distance condition. Our findings provide initial evidence that congruency between the construal level of people’s mindsets and psychological distance cues in online messages can act as a heuristic for believability. We discuss the potential of applying the CLT framework to the growing literature on online cognitive heuristics in the area of online information credibility. PMID:27468272

Memory capacity, selective control, and value-directed remembering in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

PubMed

Castel, Alan D; Lee, Steve S; Humphreys, Kathryn L; Moore, Amy N

2011-01-01

The ability to select what is important to remember, to attend to this information, and to recall high-value items leads to the efficient use of memory. The present study examined how children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) performed on an incentive-based selectivity task in which to-be-remembered items were worth different point values. Participants were 6-9 year old children with ADHD (n = 57) and without ADHD (n = 59). Using a selectivity task, participants studied words paired with point values and were asked to maximize their score, which was the overall value of the items they recalled. This task allows for measures of memory capacity and the ability to selectively remember high-value items. Although there were no significant between-groups differences in the number of words recalled (memory capacity), children with ADHD were less selective than children in the control group in terms of the value of the items they recalled (control of memory). All children recalled more high-value items than low-value items and showed some learning with task experience, but children with ADHD Combined type did not efficiently maximize memory performance (as measured by a selectivity index) relative to children with ADHD Inattentive type and healthy controls, who did not differ significantly from one another. Children with ADHD Combined type exhibit impairments in the strategic and efficient encoding and recall of high-value items. The findings have implications for theories of memory dysfunction in childhood ADHD and the key role of metacognition, cognitive control, and value-directed remembering when considering the strategic use of memory. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

The effects of message framing and risk perceptions for HPV vaccine campaigns: focus on the role of regulatory fit.

PubMed

Park, Sun-Young

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effects of framing and risk perception, and their interaction effects on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Based on a 2 (message frames) × 2 (perceived risk) experimental design, the interaction effects reveal the effectiveness of loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages would be maximized for high (vs. low) perceived risk condition. Based on regulatory fit principles the synergy effects are shown in terms of attitudes toward advertising and HPV vaccination, HPV vaccination intention, and ad-promoted behavioral intention. The findings indicate right message appeals should be selected for the right target audiences in the setting of HPV vaccine promotions.

Fault tolerant hypercube computer system architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madan, Herb S. (Inventor); Chow, Edward (Inventor)

1989-01-01

A fault-tolerant multiprocessor computer system of the hypercube type comprising a hierarchy of computers of like kind which can be functionally substituted for one another as necessary is disclosed. Communication between the working nodes is via one communications network while communications between the working nodes and watch dog nodes and load balancing nodes higher in the structure is via another communications network separate from the first. A typical branch of the hierarchy reporting to a master node or host computer comprises, a plurality of first computing nodes; a first network of message conducting paths for interconnecting the first computing nodes as a hypercube. The first network provides a path for message transfer between the first computing nodes; a first watch dog node; and a second network of message connecting paths for connecting the first computing nodes to the first watch dog node independent from the first network, the second network provides an independent path for test message and reconfiguration affecting transfers between the first computing nodes and the first switch watch dog node. There is additionally, a plurality of second computing nodes; a third network of message conducting paths for interconnecting the second computing nodes as a hypercube. The third network provides a path for message transfer between the second computing nodes; a fourth network of message conducting paths for connecting the second computing nodes to the first watch dog node independent from the third network. The fourth network provides an independent path for test message and reconfiguration affecting transfers between the second computing nodes and the first watch dog node; and a first multiplexer disposed between the first watch dog node and the second and fourth networks for allowing the first watch dog node to selectively communicate with individual ones of the computing nodes through the second and fourth networks; as well as, a second watch dog node operably connected to the first multiplexer whereby the second watch dog node can selectively communicate with individual ones of the computing nodes through the second and fourth networks. The branch is completed by a first load balancing node; and a second multiplexer connected between the first load balancing node and the first and second watch dog nodes, allowing the first load balancing node to selectively communicate with the first and second watch dog nodes.

Implementing AORN recommended practices for selection and use of packaging systems for sterilization.

PubMed

Morton, Paula J; Conner, Ramona

2014-04-01

The delivery of sterile products to the sterile field is essential to perioperative practice. The use of protective packaging for sterilized items is crucial to helping ensure that patients receive sterile items for surgical procedures. AORN's "Recommended practices for selection and use of packaging systems for sterilization" offers guidance to perioperative team members in evaluating, selecting, and using packaging systems that permit sterilization of the contents, prevent contamination of sterilized items until the package is opened for use, protect the items from damage during transport and storage, and permit aseptic delivery of the items to the sterile field. Copyright © 2014 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Strategic Message Selection on Residents' Intent to Conserve Water in the Landscape

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warner, Laura A.; Rumble, Joy; Martin, Emmett; Lamm, Alexa J.; Cantrell, Randall

2015-01-01

Changing individuals' behaviors is a critical challenge for Extension professionals who encourage good irrigation practices and technologies for landscape water conservation. Multiple messages were used to influence two predictors of behavioral intent informed by the theory of planned behavior, Florida residents' (N = 1,063) attitude and perceived…

Knowledge and Processes That Predict Proficiency in Digital Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulger, Monica E.; Mayer, Richard E.; Metzger, Miriam J.

2014-01-01

Proficiency in digital literacy refers to the ability to read and write using online sources, and includes the ability to select sources relevant to the task, synthesize information into a coherent message, and communicate the message with an audience. The present study examines the determinants of digital literacy proficiency by asking 150…

77 FR 49819 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Pretesting of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-17

.... Knowledge of these decisionmaking processes will be applied by FDA to help design effective communication... effectively design messages and select formats that have the greatest potential to influence the target... each new pretest will vary, depending on the nature of the material or message being tested and the...

Phenomenological Behavior-Exchange Models of Marital Success.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottman, John; And Others

The objective of two studies was to devise an assessment procedure for the evaluation of therapy with distressed marriages. An extension of behavior exchange theory was proposed to include phenomenological ratings by the couple of the intent of messages sent and the impact of messages received. Convergent criteria were used to select 14…

Making the Connection: Some People, Programs and Ideas Highlighted by Adult Learners Week 2001.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, John; Della, Jennie

This document profiles selected people, programs, and ideas highlighted by Australia's Adult Learners Week 2001 and begins with these papers: "Adult Learners Week: A National Celebration" (Ned Dennis); "A Message from the Adult Learners Week Patron" (Peter Hollingworth); "A Message of Support from the Prime Minister of…

Relations Among Central Auditory Abilities, Socio-Economic Factors, Speech Delay, Phonic Abilities and Reading Achievement: A Longitudinal Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flowers, Arthur; Crandell, Edwin W.

Three auditory perceptual processes (resistance to distortion, selective listening in the form of auditory dedifferentiation, and binaural synthesis) were evaluated by five assessment techniques: (1) low pass filtered speech, (2) accelerated speech, (3) competing messages, (4) accelerated plus competing messages, and (5) binaural synthesis.…

The Effects of Discriminate Message Interventions on Behavioral Intentions to Engage in Physical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Taejin; Heald, Gary R.

2009-01-01

Objective: The authors attempt to show the usefulness of discriminate messages designed to increase college students' intentions to engage in physical activities. Participants: The authors selected a sample of undergraduate students enrolled in communication courses at a university in the southeastern United States for a baseline online survey (n…

User Demographics for Embodiment Customization

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

Cowell, Andrew J.; Stanney, Kay M.

Attempts at interface agent personalization are usually aimed at helping the user perform a task or service. For example,scheduling of appointments, inspection of messages, discovering items of interest and different forms of negotiation. While this is very noble undertaking, it makes assumptions about the level of trust and credibility a user may place in such an agent in a realworld setting. If Microsoft's experiments in social user interfaces teach us anything, it is that a ''one size fits all'' solution does not truly engage the user and encourage reuse. This ''relationship management'' between the user and the character begins whenmore » the two first meet. As with human-human relationships, first impressions are essential. Instead of looking at the functional aspects of the relationship, we believe the characters embodiment is the best place to start the personalization process. We describe a study in which participants from several different age ranges,genders and ethnic groups were asked their preference of anthropomorphic character, based on a cooperative computer task. We found that participants generally selected characters from the same ethic group as themselves and that almost all participants selected a young character (instead of a middle aged or elderly character). No significant preference was found for character gender.« less

Media Messages About Cancer: What Do People Understand?

PubMed Central

MAZOR, KATHLEEN M.; CALVI, JOSEPHINE; COWAN, REBECCA; COSTANZA, MARY E.; HAN, PAUL K. J.; GREENE, SARAH M.; SACCOCCIO, LAURA; COVE, ERICA; ROBLIN, DOUGLAS; WILLIAMS, ANDREW

2010-01-01

Health messages on television and other mass media have the potential to significantly influence the public’s health-related knowledge and behaviors, but little is known about people’s ability to comprehend such messages. To investigate whether people understood the spoken information in media messages about cancer prevention and screening, we recruited 44 adults from 3 sites to view 6 messages aired on television and the internet. Participants were asked to paraphrase main points and selected phrases. Qualitative analysis methods were used to identify what content was correctly and accurately recalled and paraphrased, and to describe misunderstandings and misconceptions. While most participants accurately recalled and paraphrased the gist of the messages used here, over-generalization (e.g., believing preventative behaviors to be more protective than stated), loss of details (e.g., misremembering the recommended age for screening) and confusion or misunderstandings around specific concepts (e.g., interpreting “early stage” as the stage in one’s life rather than cancer stage) were common. Variability in the public’s ability to understand spoken media messages may limit the effectiveness of both pubic health campaigns and provider-patient communication. Additional research is needed to identify message characteristics which enhance understandability and improve comprehension of spoken media messages around cancer. PMID:20845199

Effect of individual thinking styles on item selection during study time allocation.

PubMed

Jia, Xiaoyu; Li, Weijian; Cao, Liren; Li, Ping; Shi, Meiling; Wang, Jingjing; Cao, Wei; Li, Xinyu

2018-04-01

The influence of individual differences on learners' study time allocation has been emphasised in recent studies; however, little is known about the role of individual thinking styles (analytical versus intuitive). In the present study, we explored the influence of individual thinking styles on learners' application of agenda-based and habitual processes when selecting the first item during a study-time allocation task. A 3-item cognitive reflection test (CRT) was used to determine individuals' degree of cognitive reliance on intuitive versus analytical cognitive processing. Significant correlations between CRT scores and the choices of first item selection were observed in both Experiment 1a (study time was 5 seconds per triplet) and Experiment 1b (study time was 20 seconds per triplet). Furthermore, analytical decision makers constructed a value-based agenda (prioritised high-reward items), whereas intuitive decision makers relied more upon habitual responding (selected items from the leftmost of the array). The findings of Experiment 1a were replicated in Experiment 2 notwithstanding ruling out the possible effects from individual intelligence and working memory capacity. Overall, the individual thinking style plays an important role on learners' study time allocation and the predictive ability of CRT is reliable in learners' item selection strategy. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Effect of Reinforcement of Oral Health Education Message through Short Messaging Service in Mobile Phones: A Quasi-Experimental Trial

PubMed Central

Jadhav, Harish C.; Dodamani, Arun S.; Karibasappa, G. N.; Naik, Rahul G.; Khairnar, Mahesh R.; Deshmukh, Manjiri A.; Vishwakarma, Prashanth

2016-01-01

Objective. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of reinforcement of oral health education message through short messaging service (SMS) in mobile phones. Material and Methods. 400 subjects from two colleges (200 from each college) belonging to 18–20 years age group possessing mobile phones were randomly selected and baseline examination of oral hygiene and gingival status was carried out using Oral Hygiene Index (OHI) and Gingival Index (GI). Oral health education was provided to all the subjects. Oral health education message was reinforced through short messaging service (SMS) in mobile phones for the subjects belonging to the intervention group. There was no such reinforcement for the control group. Follow-up examinations were done at the end of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th month. After the 3rd month, subjects of the intervention group did not receive oral health education message through short messaging service (SMS) and were followed up after next three months. Compiled data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 statistical software. Result. Mean OHI and GI scores in intervention group were significantly (p < 0.01) less than those of control group after the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th month. Conclusion. Reinforcement of oral health education message through short messaging service (SMS) is effective media to improve oral health. PMID:26941793

Variation by Gender in Abu Dhabi High School Students' Interests in Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badri, Masood; Mazroui, Karima Al; Al Rashedi, Asma; Yang, Guang

2016-04-01

Abu Dhabi high school students' interest in physics in different contexts was investigated with a survey conducted in connection with the international project, The Relevance of Science Education (ROSE). The sample consisted of 2248 students in public and private schools. Means of most items that belong to the school physics context for both girls and boys were below the score of (3.0). The most interesting topics for both genders were connected with fantasy items. The least interesting items (particularly for girls) were connected with artifacts and technological processes. Girls assigned the highest scores for "why we dream" and "life and death." Boys assigned the highest scores for "inventions and discoveries" and "life outside of earth." The main message of the study is that new curricular approaches and textbooks can be developed through combining technological and human contexts. The implications for curriculum development, teacher professional development programs, and other education strategies in Abu Dhabi are discussed in light of the ROSE survey.

The effects of relative food item size on optimal tooth cusp sharpness during brittle food item processing

PubMed Central

Berthaume, Michael A.; Dumont, Elizabeth R.; Godfrey, Laurie R.; Grosse, Ian R.

2014-01-01

Teeth are often assumed to be optimal for their function, which allows researchers to derive dietary signatures from tooth shape. Most tooth shape analyses normalize for tooth size, potentially masking the relationship between relative food item size and tooth shape. Here, we model how relative food item size may affect optimal tooth cusp radius of curvature (RoC) during the fracture of brittle food items using a parametric finite-element (FE) model of a four-cusped molar. Morphospaces were created for four different food item sizes by altering cusp RoCs to determine whether optimal tooth shape changed as food item size changed. The morphospaces were also used to investigate whether variation in efficiency metrics (i.e. stresses, energy and optimality) changed as food item size changed. We found that optimal tooth shape changed as food item size changed, but that all optimal morphologies were similar, with one dull cusp that promoted high stresses in the food item and three cusps that acted to stabilize the food item. There were also positive relationships between food item size and the coefficients of variation for stresses in food item and optimality, and negative relationships between food item size and the coefficients of variation for stresses in the enamel and strain energy absorbed by the food item. These results suggest that relative food item size may play a role in selecting for optimal tooth shape, and the magnitude of these selective forces may change depending on food item size and which efficiency metric is being selected. PMID:25320068

Comparison of text messaging data collection vs face-to-face interviews for public health surveys: a cluster randomized crossover study of care-seeking for childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in rural China.

PubMed

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Wang, Wei; Wu, Qiong; Li, Ye; Scherpbier, Robert W; Du, Xiaozhen; Chen, Li; Zhang, Yanfeng; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor

2018-06-01

To compare text messaging and face-to-face interviews to conduct a survey on childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. Caregivers of young children able to send text messages in Zhao County in rural China were included in this crossover study. Villages (clusters) were randomized into two groups using the ratio 1:1.6 to account for an expected higher drop-out in group 2. In group 1, participants first completed the face-to-face and then text messaging survey; this order was reversed in group 2. We determined data equivalence of 17 questions that were answered by participants who were the same person in both surveys. For the text messaging survey, we assessed the overall and item response rate. We included 1014 participants between 16 and 28 March 2013: 371 in 15 villages in group 1 and 643 in 27 villages in group 2. A total of 662 (65.3%) out of 1014 participants responded (first text message question) and a significantly higher proportion who did not respond were from rural areas ( P  = 0.005). Of 651 participants willing to participate, 356 (54.7%) completed the text messaging survey, which was marginally significantly different between the groups ( P  = 0.05). In total, 409 participants took part in both surveys: 183 in group 1 and 226 in group 2. There was a significantly higher proportion of caregivers from rural areas in Zhao County in the non-responder group compared to the responder group ( P  = 0.004). Kappas were substantial for six (0.61-0.80), moderate for two (0.58 and 0.60), and fair for three questions (0.31, 0.35 and 0.37). The proportion of agreement was >90% for five questions; 80.0%-90.0% for five questions; 70.0%, 65.0% and 45.5%. The remaining questions had too small numbers to calculate these values. This study shows that text messaging data collection produces data similar to data from face-to-face interviews in a middle-income setting, but the response rate was insufficient for use in public health surveys. Improving the response rate is important, because text message surveys could be of greater value in rural remote areas due to the cost-saving potential.

Random one-of-N selector

DOEpatents

Kronberg, J.W.

1993-04-20

An apparatus for selecting at random one item of N items on the average comprising counter and reset elements for counting repeatedly between zero and N, a number selected by the user, a circuit for activating and deactivating the counter, a comparator to determine if the counter stopped at a count of zero, an output to indicate an item has been selected when the count is zero or not selected if the count is not zero. Randomness is provided by having the counter cycle very often while varying the relatively longer duration between activation and deactivation of the count. The passive circuit components of the activating/deactivating circuit and those of the counter are selected for the sensitivity of their response to variations in temperature and other physical characteristics of the environment so that the response time of the circuitry varies. Additionally, the items themselves, which may be people, may vary in shape or the time they press a pushbutton, so that, for example, an ultrasonic beam broken by the item or person passing through it will add to the duration of the count and thus to the randomness of the selection.

Random one-of-N selector

DOEpatents

Kronberg, James W.

1993-01-01

An apparatus for selecting at random one item of N items on the average comprising counter and reset elements for counting repeatedly between zero and N, a number selected by the user, a circuit for activating and deactivating the counter, a comparator to determine if the counter stopped at a count of zero, an output to indicate an item has been selected when the count is zero or not selected if the count is not zero. Randomness is provided by having the counter cycle very often while varying the relatively longer duration between activation and deactivation of the count. The passive circuit components of the activating/deactivating circuit and those of the counter are selected for the sensitivity of their response to variations in temperature and other physical characteristics of the environment so that the response time of the circuitry varies. Additionally, the items themselves, which may be people, may vary in shape or the time they press a pushbutton, so that, for example, an ultrasonic beam broken by the item or person passing through it will add to the duration of the count and thus to the randomness of the selection.

Choosing Wisely: The Top-5 Recommendations from the Italian Panel of the National Guidelines for the Management of Acute Pharyngitis in Children.

PubMed

Chiappini, Elena; Bortone, Barbara; Di Mauro, Giuseppe; Esposito, Susanna; Galli, Luisa; Landi, Massimo; Novelli, Andrea; Marchisio, Paola; Marseglia, Gian Luigi; Principi, Nicola; de Martino, Maurizio

2017-03-01

With the aim to reduce waste in the health care system and avoid risks associated with unnecessary treatment, the Italian Panel of the National Guidelines for the Management of Acute Pharyngitis in Children joined the Choosing Wisely initiative. An ad hoc Choosing Wisely task force was selected to develop a candidate list of items for the top-5 list on pharyngitis medicine. Through a process of literature review and consensus, the final list of 5 items was chosen. Drafted recommendations were formulated and then reviewed by the task force members until a final consensus was reached. The 5 recommendations approved are: blood exams should not be performed; antibiotics should not be administrated unless microbiologic confirmation of streptococcal infection has been carried out; if a throat culture is performed, susceptibility tests on isolates should not be executed; antibiotic course should not be shortened; because penicillin V is not available in Italy, amoxicillin (50 mg/kg/d in 2-3 doses orally) for 10 days is the first choice treatment; and steroids should not be administered for the risk of masking possible underlying severe condition. This top-5 list can be a novel tool to spread the key messages of guidelines and to avoid unnecessary diagnostic procedures, and to promote a rational use of antibiotics in children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey - 2007. Comparison with the Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2001-2002 in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Al-Bedah, Abdullah M; Qureshi, Naseem A; Al-Guhaimani, Hani I; Basahi, Jamal A

2010-09-01

To primarily describe both smoking pattern in the youth population and a comparison with the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in 2001-2002. The standard 2-stage methodology and a cross-sectional design were used to select randomly a representative sample of intermediate schools, classes, and students from all regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January to June 2007. Comparing results with the 2001 GYTS, the prevalence of ever and current smoking, use of other tobacco products, and initiation of smoking by never smokers in the next year increased among males, but with improvement in the students' knowledge and attitudes towards smokers. The second-hand tobacco smoke items were not distinguished, however, one or both parent smokers increased by 6% over 6 years. Media anti-smoking messages and awareness improved, however, the widespread display and proliferation of items with a cigarette brand logo on it, encourages participants to buy more cigarettes. Teaching hazards of smoking to students improved, however, the reasons why people of their age smoke were not discussed interactively. Females less than 18 years of age (minors) were not denied cigarette purchase compared to male participants of the same age. The National Tobacco Control Programs is apparently working effectively but differentially against smoking. The program needs to be evaluated systematically and accordingly and intensified further to reduce smoking among youths in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Effect of a Counseling Session Bolstered by Text Messaging on Self-Selected Health Behaviors in College Students: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Sandrick, Janice; Tracy, Doreen; Eliasson, Arn; Roth, Ashley; Bartel, Jeffrey; Simko, Melanie; Bowman, Tracy; Harouse-Bell, Karen; Kashani, Mariam; Vernalis, Marina

2017-05-17

The college experience is often the first time when young adults live independently and make their own lifestyle choices. These choices affect dietary behaviors, exercise habits, techniques to deal with stress, and decisions on sleep time, all of which direct the trajectory of future health. There is a need for effective strategies that will encourage healthy lifestyle choices in young adults attending college. This preliminary randomized controlled trial tested the effect of coaching and text messages (short message service, SMS) on self-selected health behaviors in the domains of diet, exercise, stress, and sleep. A second analysis measured the ripple effect of the intervention on health behaviors not specifically selected as a goal by participants. Full-time students aged 18-30 years were recruited by word of mouth and campuswide advertisements (flyers, posters, mailings, university website) at a small university in western Pennsylvania from January to May 2015. Exclusions included pregnancy, eating disorders, chronic medical diagnoses, and prescription medications other than birth control. Of 60 participants, 30 were randomized to receive a single face-to-face meeting with a health coach to review results of behavioral questionnaires and to set a health behavior goal for the 8-week study period. The face-to-face meeting was followed by SMS text messages designed to encourage achievement of the behavioral goal. A total of 30 control subjects underwent the same health and behavioral assessments at intake and program end but did not receive coaching or SMS text messages. The texting app showed that 87.31% (2187/2505) of messages were viewed by intervention participants. Furthermore, 28 of the 30 intervention participants and all 30 control participants provided outcome data. Among intervention participants, 22 of 30 (73%) showed improvement in health behavior goal attainment, with the whole group (n=30) showing a mean improvement of 88% (95% CI 39-136). Mean improvement in any behavioral domains was not seen in the control group. Intervention participants also increased their exercise significantly compared with controls, regardless of their self-selected goal category. The increased exercise was paralleled by significantly lower fasting glucose levels. The health coaching session plus tailored SMS text messages improved self-selected health behaviors with a modest ripple effect to include unselected health behaviors. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02476604; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02476604 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6qAAryS5t). ©Janice Sandrick, Doreen Tracy, Arn Eliasson, Ashley Roth, Jeffrey Bartel, Melanie Simko, Tracy Bowman, Karen Harouse-Bell, Mariam Kashani, Marina Vernalis. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 17.05.2017.

Combining computer adaptive testing technology with cognitively diagnostic assessment.

PubMed

McGlohen, Meghan; Chang, Hua-Hua

2008-08-01

A major advantage of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is that it allows the test to home in on an examinee's ability level in an interactive manner. The aim of the new area of cognitive diagnosis is to provide information about specific content areas in which an examinee needs help. The goal of this study was to combine the benefit of specific feedback from cognitively diagnostic assessment with the advantages of CAT. In this study, three approaches to combining these were investigated: (1) item selection based on the traditional ability level estimate (theta), (2) item selection based on the attribute mastery feedback provided by cognitively diagnostic assessment (alpha), and (3) item selection based on both the traditional ability level estimate (theta) and the attribute mastery feedback provided by cognitively diagnostic assessment (alpha). The results from these three approaches were compared for theta estimation accuracy, attribute mastery estimation accuracy, and item exposure control. The theta- and alpha-based condition outperformed the alpha-based condition regarding theta estimation, attribute mastery pattern estimation, and item exposure control. Both the theta-based condition and the theta- and alpha-based condition performed similarly with regard to theta estimation, attribute mastery estimation, and item exposure control, but the theta- and alpha-based condition has an additional advantage in that it uses the shadow test method, which allows the administrator to incorporate additional constraints in the item selection process, such as content balancing, item type constraints, and so forth, and also to select items on the basis of both the current theta and alpha estimates, which can be built on top of existing 3PL testing programs.

Effects of adding an Italian theme to a restaurant on the perceived ethnicity, acceptability, and selection of foods.

PubMed

Bell, R; Meiselman, H L; Pierson, B J; Reeve, W G

1994-02-01

We investigated whether a change in the perceived ethnicity of a food can be produced without manipulating the food item itself, and if that change in ethnic perception is accompanied by a change in acceptability and food selection behavior. Italian and British foods were offered in a British restaurant for four days. Foods were offered for 2 days under control conditions, when the restaurant was decorated as usual. The identical foods then were offered in the restaurant for 2 more days under experimental conditions, when ethnic names were used on the menu to describe foods, and the restaurant was decorated with an Italian theme. Perceived ethnicity and acceptability of items were rated by customers each day, and item selection was tracked. The Italian theme increased selection of pasta and dessert items, and decreased the selection of fish. The Italian theme also increased the perceived Italian ethnicity of British pasta items, fish and veal, and increased the perceived Italian ethnicity of the meal overall. These findings show that changes in perceived ethnicity and food selection can be accomplished without altering food items, but merely by manipulating the environment, and may imply a unique strategy for increasing perceived menu variety.

Maintaining relevance: an evaluation of health message sponsorship at Australian community sport and arts events.

PubMed

Rosenberg, Michael; Ferguson, Renee

2014-12-04

Health message sponsorship at community sport and arts events is an established component of a health promotion settings approach. Recent increases in commercial sponsorship of sport and community events has swelled competition for consumer attention and potentially reduced the impact of health message sponsorship. The purpose of this study was to evaluate awareness, understandings and behavioural intentions of health messages promoted at sponsored community sport and arts events. Interview and self-administered surveys were completed by 2259 adults attending one of 29 sport and arts events held in Western Australia between 2008 and 2013. The surveys measured participant awareness of the health message promoted at the event, as well as comprehension, acceptance and behavioural intention as a result of exposure to health messages. Awareness of the sponsored health message was 58% across all sponsored events, with high levels of comprehension (74%) and acceptance (92%) among those aware of the health message. Forming behavioural intentions was significantly related to the type of sponsored message promoted at the event, being female and over 40 years of age. Messages about sun protection and promoting mental health were the most likely to result in behavioural intention. Health message sponsorship, at least within a comprehensive sponsorship program, appears to remain an effective health promotion strategy for generating awareness and behavioural intention among people attending sport and arts events. Remaining relevant within a modern sponsorship environment appears closely aligned to selecting health messages that promote behavioural action relevant to the sponsored event that are also supported by broader health promotion campaigns.

Messages to Motivate Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: National Studies of Parents and Physicians

PubMed Central

Malo, Teri L.; Gilkey, Melissa B.; Hall, Megan E.; Shah, Parth D.; Brewer, Noel T.

2016-01-01

Background Physician communication about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a key determinant of uptake. To support physician communication, we sought to identify messages that would motivate HPV vaccination. Methods In 2014–2015, we surveyed national samples of parents of adolescents ages 11–17 (n=1,504) and primary care physicians (n=776). Parents read motivational messages, selected from nine longer messages developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and six brief messages developed by the study team. Parents indicated whether each message would persuade them to get HPV vaccine for their adolescents. Physicians read the brief messages and indicated whether they would use them to persuade parents to get HPV vaccine for 11- to 12-year-old children. Results The highest proportion of parents (65%) and physicians (69%) found this brief message to be persuasive: “I strongly believe in the importance of this cancer-preventing vaccine for [child’s name].” Parents disinclined to vaccinate were most receptive to messages with information about HPV infection being common, cancers caused by HPV, and HPV vaccine effectiveness. Parents’ endorsement did not vary by race/ethnicity, education, child age, or child sex (all p > .05). Conclusion Our national surveys of parents and physicians identified messages that could motivate HPV vaccination, even among parents disinclined to vaccinate their children. The lack of difference across demographic subgroups in parental endorsement may suggest that these messages can be used across demographic subgroups. Impact Our findings support physicians’ use of these messages with parents to help motivate uptake of this important cancer-preventing vaccine. PMID:27694109

Specifying the role of the left prefrontal cortex in word selection

PubMed Central

Ries, S. K; Karzmark, C. R.; Navarrete, E.; Knight, R. T.; Dronkers, N. F.

2015-01-01

Word selection allows us to choose words during language production. This is often viewed as a competitive process wherein a lexical representation is retrieved among semantically-related alternatives. The left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is thought to help overcome competition for word selection through top-down control. However, whether the LPFC is always necessary for word selection remains unclear. We tested 6 LPFC-injured patients and controls in two picture naming paradigms varying in terms of item repetition. Both paradigms elicited the expected semantic interference effects (SIE), reflecting interference caused by semantically-related representations in word selection. However, LPFC patients as a group showed a larger SIE than controls only in the paradigm involving item repetition. We argue that item repetition increases interference caused by semantically-related alternatives, resulting in increased LPFC-dependent cognitive control demands. The remaining network of brain regions associated with word selection appears to be sufficient when items are not repeated. PMID:26291289

The relative price of healthy and less healthy foods available in Australian school canteens.

PubMed

Billich, Natassja; Adderley, Marijke; Ford, Laura; Keeton, Isabel; Palermo, Claire; Peeters, Anna; Woods, Julie; Backholer, Kathryn

2018-04-12

School canteens have an important role in modelling a healthy food environment. Price is a strong predictor of food and beverage choice. This study compared the relative price of healthy and less healthy lunch and snack items sold within Australian school canteens. A convenience sample of online canteen menus from five Australian states were selected (100 primary and 100 secondary schools). State-specific canteen guidelines were used to classify menu items into 'green' (eat most), 'amber' (select carefully) and 'red' (not recommended in schools). The price of the cheapest 'healthy' lunch (vegetable-based 'green') and snack ('green' fruit) item was compared to the cheapest 'less healthy' ('amber/red') lunch and snack item, respectively, using an un-paired t-test. The relative price of the 'healthy' items and the 'less healthy' items was calculated to determine the proportion of schools that sold the 'less healthy' item cheaper. The mean cost of the 'healthy' lunch items was greater than the 'less healthy' lunch items for both primary (AUD $0.70 greater) and secondary schools ($0.50 greater; p < 0.01). For 75% of primary and 57% of secondary schools, the selected 'less healthy' lunch item was cheaper than the 'healthy' lunch item. For 41% of primary and 48% of secondary schools, the selected 'less healthy' snack was cheaper than the 'healthy' snack. These proportions were greatest for primary schools located in more, compared to less, disadvantaged areas. The relative price of foods sold within Australian school canteens appears to favour less healthy foods. School canteen healthy food policies should consider the price of foods sold.

Item Selection in Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing--Gaining Information from Different Angles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chun; Chang, Hua-Hua

2011-01-01

Over the past thirty years, obtaining diagnostic information from examinees' item responses has become an increasingly important feature of educational and psychological testing. The objective can be achieved by sequentially selecting multidimensional items to fit the class of latent traits being assessed, and therefore Multidimensional…

Direction of Wording Effects in Balanced Scales.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Timothy R.; Cleary, T. Anne

1993-01-01

The degree to which statistical item selection reduces direction-of-wording effects in balanced affective measures developed from relatively small item pools was investigated with 171 male and 228 female undergraduate and graduate students at 2 U.S. universities. Clearest direction-of-wording effects result from selection of items with high…

A Comparison Study of Item Exposure Control Strategies in MCAT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mao, Xiuzhen; Ozdemir, Burhanettin; Wang, Yating; Xiu, Tao

2016-01-01

Four item selection indexes with and without exposure control are evaluated and compared in multidimensional computerized adaptive testing (CAT). The four item selection indices are D-optimality, Posterior expectation Kullback-Leibler information (KLP), the minimized error variance of the linear combination score with equal weight (V1), and the…

Assessing Correspondence Following Acquisition of an Exchange-Based Communication System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sigafoos, Jeff; Ganz, Jennifer B.; O'Reilly, Mark; Lancioni, Giulio E.; Schlosser, Ralf W.

2007-01-01

Two students with developmental disabilities were taught to request six snack items. Requesting involved giving a graphic symbol to the trainer in exchange for the matching snack item. Following acquisition, we assessed the correspondence between requests and subsequent item selections by requiring the student to select the previously requested…

A Comparison of Item Selection Techniques for Testlets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Daniel L.; Dodd, Barbara G.; Vaughn, Brandon K.

2010-01-01

This study examined the performance of the maximum Fisher's information, the maximum posterior weighted information, and the minimum expected posterior variance methods for selecting items in a computerized adaptive testing system when the items were grouped in testlets. A simulation study compared the efficiency of ability estimation among the…

Decision making: rational or hedonic?

PubMed Central

Cabanac, Michel; Bonniot-Cabanac, Marie-Claude

2007-01-01

Three experiments studied the hedonicity of decision making. Participants rated their pleasure/displeasure while reading item-sentences describing political and social problems followed by different decisions (Questionnaire 1). Questionnaire 2 was multiple-choice, grouping the items from Questionnaire 1. In Experiment 1, participants answered Questionnaire 2 rapidly or slowly. Both groups selected what they had rated as pleasant, but the 'leisurely' group maximized pleasure less. In Experiment 2, participants selected the most rational responses. The selected behaviors were pleasant but less than spontaneous behaviors. In Experiment 3, Questionnaire 2 was presented once with items grouped by theme, and once with items shuffled. Participants maximized the pleasure of their decisions, but the items selected on Questionnaires 2 were different when presented in different order. All groups maximized pleasure equally in their decisions. These results support that decisions are made predominantly in the hedonic dimension of consciousness. PMID:17848195

A Content Analysis of E-mail Communication between Patients and Their Providers: Patients Get the Message

PubMed Central

White, Casey B.; Moyer, Cheryl A.; Stern, David T.; Katz, Steven J.

2004-01-01

Objective: E-mail use in the clinical setting has been slow to diffuse for several reasons, including providers' concerns about patients' inappropriate and inefficient use of the technology. This study examined the content of a random sample of patient–physician e-mail messages to determine the validity of those concerns. Design: A qualitative analysis of patient–physician e-mail messages was performed. Measurements: A total of 3,007 patient–physician e-mail messages were collected over 11 months as part of a randomized, controlled trial of a triage-based e-mail system in two primary care centers (including 98 physicians); 10% of messages were randomly selected for review. Messages were coded across such domains as message type, number of requests per e-mail, inclusion of sensitive content, necessity of a physician response, and message tone. Results: The majority (82.8%) of messages addressed a single issue. The most common message types included information updates to the physicians (41.4%), prescription renewals (24.2%), health questions (13.2%), questions about test results (10.9%), referrals (8.8%), “other” (including thank yous, apologies) (8.8%), appointments (5.4%), requests for non-health-related information (4.8%), and billing questions (0.3%). Overall, messages were concise, formal, and medically relevant. Very few (5.1%) included sensitive content, and none included urgent messages. Less than half (43.2%) required a physician response. Conclusion: A triage-based e-mail system promoted e-mail exchanges appropriate for primary care. Most patients adhered to guidelines aimed at focusing content, limiting the number of requests per message, and avoiding urgent requests or highly sensitive content. Thus, physicians' concerns about the content of patients' e-mails may be unwarranted. PMID:15064295

Understanding Messaging Preferences to Inform Development of Mobile Goal-Directed Behavioral Interventions

PubMed Central

van Stolk-Cooke, Katherine; Morgenstern, Jon; Kuerbis, Alexis N; Markle, Kendra

2014-01-01

Background Mobile messaging interventions have been shown to improve outcomes across a number of mental health and health-related conditions, but there are still significant gaps in our knowledge of how to construct and deliver the most effective brief messaging interventions. Little is known about the ways in which subtle linguistic variations in message content can affect user receptivity and preferences. Objective The aim of this study was to determine whether any global messaging preferences existed for different types of language content, and how certain characteristics moderate those preferences, in an effort to inform the development of mobile messaging interventions. Methods This study examined user preferences for messages within 22 content groupings. Groupings were presented online in dyads of short messages that were identical in their subject matter, but structurally or linguistically varied. Participants were 277 individuals residing in the United States who were recruited and compensated through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) system. Participants were instructed to select the message in each dyad that they would prefer to receive to help them achieve a personal goal of their choosing. Results Results indicate global preferences of more than 75% of subjects for certain types of messages, such as those that were grammatically correct, free of textese, benefit-oriented, polite, nonaggressive, and directive as opposed to passive, among others. For several classes of messages, few or no clear global preferences were found. There were few personality- and trait-based moderators of message preferences, but subtle manipulations of message structure, such as changing “Try to…” to “You might want to try to…” affected message choice. Conclusions The results indicate that individuals are sensitive to variations in the linguistic content of text messages designed to help them achieve a personal goal and, in some cases, have clear preferences for one type of message over another. Global preferences were indicated for messages that contained accurate spelling and grammar, as well as messages that emphasize the positive over the negative. Research implications and a guide for developing short messages for goal-directed behaviors are presented in this paper. PMID:24500775

Best Design for Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing With the Bifactor Model

PubMed Central

Seo, Dong Gi; Weiss, David J.

2015-01-01

Most computerized adaptive tests (CATs) have been studied using the framework of unidimensional item response theory. However, many psychological variables are multidimensional and might benefit from using a multidimensional approach to CATs. This study investigated the accuracy, fidelity, and efficiency of a fully multidimensional CAT algorithm (MCAT) with a bifactor model using simulated data. Four item selection methods in MCAT were examined for three bifactor pattern designs using two multidimensional item response theory models. To compare MCAT item selection and estimation methods, a fixed test length was used. The Ds-optimality item selection improved θ estimates with respect to a general factor, and either D- or A-optimality improved estimates of the group factors in three bifactor pattern designs under two multidimensional item response theory models. The MCAT model without a guessing parameter functioned better than the MCAT model with a guessing parameter. The MAP (maximum a posteriori) estimation method provided more accurate θ estimates than the EAP (expected a posteriori) method under most conditions, and MAP showed lower observed standard errors than EAP under most conditions, except for a general factor condition using Ds-optimality item selection. PMID:29795848

Reducing the Time and Expenditure: From Prototype to Production in Information Technology Application Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

It also combines the properties of procedures and data into one package . Objects are instances of some class or group of items that exhibit similar...Encapsulation—a means of packaging an object so that only valid operations on it are allowed • Modularity—decomposing a system into cohesive, loosely coupled...Advertise availability during special occasions ( holidays , seasons, etc…) Request for Password -Returns message that e- mail has been sent to

Selecting Soldiers and Civilians into the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School : Developing Empirical Selection Composites

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

a biographical instrument measuring personality ; (b) a Work Values instrument representing work preferences investigated in prior officer and...items used in SelectOCS Phase 2 (see Table 2.5). TAPAS uses multidimensional pairwise preference (MDPP) personality items scored using item response...presented respondents with a list of 30 traits and 30 skills (derived from leadership and personality literature) and instructed them to rate the

Directed forgetting of visual symbols: evidence for nonverbal selective rehearsal.

PubMed

Hourihan, Kathleen L; Ozubko, Jason D; MacLeod, Colin M

2009-12-01

Is selective rehearsal possible for nonverbal information? Two experiments addressed this question using the item method directed forgetting paradigm, where the advantage of remember items over forget items is ascribed to selective rehearsal favoring the remember items. In both experiments, difficult-to-name abstract symbols were presented for study, followed by a recognition test. Directed forgetting effects were evident for these symbols, regardless of whether they were or were not spontaneously named. Critically, a directed forgetting effect was observed for unnamed symbols even when the symbols were studied under verbal suppression to prevent verbal rehearsal. This pattern indicates that a form of nonverbal rehearsal can be used strategically (i.e., selectively) to enhance memory, even when verbal rehearsal is not possible.

Development of a short version of the new brief job stress questionnaire.

PubMed

Inoue, Akiomi; Kawakami, Norito; Shimomitsu, Teruichi; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Haratani, Takashi; Yoshikawa, Toru; Shimazu, Akihito; Odagiri, Yuko

2014-01-01

This study was aimed to investigate the test-retest reliability and validity of a short version of the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (New BJSQ) whose scales have one item selected from a standard version. Based on the results from an anonymous web-based questionnaire of occupational health staffs and personnel/labor staffs, we selected higher-priority scales from the standard version. After selecting one item with highest item-total correlation coefficient from each scale, a 23-item questionnaire was developed. A nationally representative survey was administered to Japanese employees (n=1,633) to examine test-retest reliability and validity. Most scales (or items) showed modest but adequate levels of test-retest reliability (r>0.50). Furthermore, job demands and job resources scales (or items) were associated with mental and physical stress reactions while job resources scales (or items) were also associated with positive outcomes. These findings provided a piece of evidence that the short version of the New BJSQ is reliable and valid.

Development of a Short Version of the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire

PubMed Central

INOUE, Akiomi; KAWAKAMI, Norito; SHIMOMITSU, Teruichi; TSUTSUMI, Akizumi; HARATANI, Takashi; YOSHIKAWA, Toru; SHIMAZU, Akihito; ODAGIRI, Yuko

2014-01-01

This study was aimed to investigate the test-retest reliability and validity of a short version of the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (New BJSQ) whose scales have one item selected from a standard version. Based on the results from an anonymous web-based questionnaire of occupational health staffs and personnel/labor staffs, we selected higher-priority scales from the standard version. After selecting one item with highest item-total correlation coefficient from each scale, a 23-item questionnaire was developed. A nationally representative survey was administered to Japanese employees (n=1,633) to examine test-retest reliability and validity. Most scales (or items) showed modest but adequate levels of test-retest reliability (r>0.50). Furthermore, job demands and job resources scales (or items) were associated with mental and physical stress reactions while job resources scales (or items) were also associated with positive outcomes. These findings provided a piece of evidence that the short version of the New BJSQ is reliable and valid. PMID:24975108

Credibility Elements of eWOM Messages in the Context of Health Care Services. A Romanian Perspective

PubMed Central

Purcarea, VL; Gheorghe, IR; Petrescu, CM

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Romanian consumers’ determinants of eWOM messages’ perceived credibility in the context of health care services. We selected a sample of 127 women and we administered a questionnaire. We used the partial least squares to uncover the established relationships between the variables of the model, namely the argument strength and the source credibility of a eWOM message and the intention to purchase a health care service based on the information embedded in the eWOM messages. The results revealed that all variables had positive direct correlations with each other but the argument strength of a message has the highest impact on the intention. PMID:24146683

Are "drink responsibly" alcohol campaigns strategically ambiguous?

PubMed

Smith, Sandi W; Atkin, Charles K; Roznowski, JoAnn

2006-01-01

This article applies the concept of strategic ambiguity in examining viewer responses to brewer-sponsored "responsible drinking" television advertising campaigns. Strategically ambiguous messages are designed to engender diverse interpretations between varied audience segments, and these different selective perceptions should translate into relatively uniform positive corporate images. In this study, teenage and young adult respondents were shown a series of television spots from two leading alcohol companies. As predicted, there was a high degree of diversity in meanings of message content and campaign purpose derived by viewers, particularly among less sophisticated teenagers. Moreover, evaluative ratings of messages and sponsors were generally favorable and more uniform than interpretive responses. The research demonstrates how seemingly prohealth messages can serve to subtly advance both industry sales and public relations interests.

Method for distributed agent-based non-expert simulation of manufacturing process behavior

DOEpatents

Ivezic, Nenad; Potok, Thomas E.

2004-11-30

A method for distributed agent based non-expert simulation of manufacturing process behavior on a single-processor computer comprises the steps of: object modeling a manufacturing technique having a plurality of processes; associating a distributed agent with each the process; and, programming each the agent to respond to discrete events corresponding to the manufacturing technique, wherein each discrete event triggers a programmed response. The method can further comprise the step of transmitting the discrete events to each agent in a message loop. In addition, the programming step comprises the step of conditioning each agent to respond to a discrete event selected from the group consisting of a clock tick message, a resources received message, and a request for output production message.

A visual interface for generic message translation

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

Blattner, M.M.; Kou, L.T.; Carlson, J.W.

1988-06-21

This paper is concerned with the translation of data structures we call messages. Messages are an example of a type of data structure encountered in generic data translation. Our objective is to provide a system that the nonprogrammer can use to specify the nature of translations from one type to another. For this reason we selected a visual interface that uses interaction techniques that do not require a knowledge of programming or command languages. The translator must accomplish two tasks: create a mapping between fields in different message types that specifies which fields have similar semantic content, and reformat ormore » translate data specifications within those fields. The translations are accomplished with appropriate, but different, visual metaphors. 14 refs., 4 figs.« less

Routing Based on Length of Time of Available Connection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anandappan, Thanga (Inventor); Roy, Aloke (Inventor); Malve, Sharath Babu (Inventor); Toth, Louis T. (Inventor)

2016-01-01

In an embodiment, a method of routing packets at a first node in an ad-hoc network is provided. The method includes receiving, at the first node, a plurality of route-alive messages corresponding to a destination, each of the plurality of route-alive messages including a route time indicating a length of time in which a communicative connection is available between the second node that sent the respective route-alive message and the destination. The method also includes determining an updated route time for each second node. The updated route time corresponds to a length of time in which a communication connection is available between the first node and the destination through the respective second node. A second node is selected for sending a packet to based on the updated route time for each of the second nodes, wherein a node having a longer updated route time is given higher priority for selection.

Agricultural Extension Messages Using Video on Portable Devices Increased Knowledge about Seed Selection, Storage and Handling among Smallholder Potato Farmers in Southwestern Uganda

PubMed Central

Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Vandevelde, Senne; Walukano, Wilberforce; Van Asten, Piet

2017-01-01

To feed a growing population, agricultural productivity needs to increase dramatically. Agricultural extension information, with its public, non-rival nature, is generally undersupplied, and public provision remains challenging. In this study, simple agricultural extension video messages, delivered through Android tablets, were tested in the field to determine if they increased farmers’ knowledge of recommended practices on (i) potato seed selection and (ii) seed storage and handling among a sample of potato farmers in southwestern Uganda. Using a field experiment with ex ante matching in a factorial design, it was established that showing agricultural extension videos significantly increased farmers’ knowledge. However, results suggested impact pathways that went beyond simply replicating what was shown in the video. Video messages may have triggered a process of abstraction, whereby farmers applied insights gained in one context to a different context. PMID:28122005

Using Response-Time Constraints in Item Selection To Control for Differential Speededness in Computerized Adaptive Testing. LSAC Research Report Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Linden, Wim J.; Scrams, David J.; Schnipke, Deborah L.

This paper proposes an item selection algorithm that can be used to neutralize the effect of time limits in computer adaptive testing. The method is based on a statistical model for the response-time distributions of the test takers on the items in the pool that is updated each time a new item has been administered. Predictions from the model are…

TEDS-M 2008 User Guide for the International Database. Supplement 4: TEDS-M Released Mathematics and Mathematics Pedagogy Knowledge Assessment Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brese, Falk, Ed.

2012-01-01

The goal for selecting the released set of test items was to have approximately 25% of each of the full item sets for mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) that would represent the full range of difficulty, content, and item format used in the TEDS-M study. The initial step in the selection was to…

Methodology for Developing and Evaluating the PROMIS® Smoking Item Banks

PubMed Central

Cai, Li; Stucky, Brian D.; Tucker, Joan S.; Shadel, William G.; Edelen, Maria Orlando

2014-01-01

Introduction: This article describes the procedures used in the PROMIS® Smoking Initiative for the development and evaluation of item banks, short forms (SFs), and computerized adaptive tests (CATs) for the assessment of 6 constructs related to cigarette smoking: nicotine dependence, coping expectancies, emotional and sensory expectancies, health expectancies, psychosocial expectancies, and social motivations for smoking. Methods: Analyses were conducted using response data from a large national sample of smokers. Items related to each construct were subjected to extensive item factor analyses and evaluation of differential item functioning (DIF). Final item banks were calibrated, and SF assessments were developed for each construct. The performance of the SFs and the potential use of the item banks for CAT administration were examined through simulation study. Results: Item selection based on dimensionality assessment and DIF analyses produced item banks that were essentially unidimensional in structure and free of bias. Simulation studies demonstrated that the constructs could be accurately measured with a relatively small number of carefully selected items, either through fixed SFs or CAT-based assessment. Illustrative results are presented, and subsequent articles provide detailed discussion of each item bank in turn. Conclusions: The development of the PROMIS smoking item banks provides researchers with new tools for measuring smoking-related constructs. The use of the calibrated item banks and suggested SF assessments will enhance the quality of score estimates, thus advancing smoking research. Moreover, the methods used in the current study, including innovative approaches to item selection and SF construction, may have general relevance to item bank development and evaluation. PMID:23943843

In their own words: a qualitative content analysis of women’s and men’s preferences for women’s genitals

PubMed Central

Mullinax, Margo; Herbenick, Debby; Schick, Vanessa; Sanders, Stephanie A.; Reece, Michael

2015-01-01

Research increasingly shows genital attitudes have an impact on sexual well-being and health seeking behaviours. This study explored what women and men like and dislike about women’s genitals. Data are from open-ended items, part of a cross-sectional Internet-based survey anonymously completed by 496 women and 198 men. Overall, both women and men had positive attitudes towards women’s genitals, although there was overlap between likes and dislikes. Some of the most common likes for women related to aesthetics and for men related to tactile and sexual aspects. Men listed more likes than dislikes. The emphasis on both positive and negative messages provides a more complete image of the complex ways people interact with their own and other’s bodies and can help tailor clinical and educational messages. PMID:27004044

The Uses of Texting in Sexual Relationships Scale: Associations With Risky Sexual Behavior Among At-Risk African American Emerging Adults.

PubMed

Broaddus, Michelle; Dickson-Gomez, Julia

2016-10-01

Qualitative and quantitative research was used to create the Uses of Texting in Sexual Relationships scale. At-risk, predominantly African American emerging adults participated in qualitative interviews (N = 20) and quantitative surveys (N = 110) about their uses of text messaging within romantic and sexual relationships. Exploratory factor analysis of items generated from interviews resulted in four subscales: Sexting, Relationship Maintenance, Relationship Development, and Texting for Sexual Safety. Exploratory analyses indicated associations of Sexting with more instances of condomless sex, and Texting for Sexual Safety with fewer instances of condomless sex, which was moderated by relationship power. Further research on the connections between text messaging in relationships and sexual behavior among high-risk and minority young adults is warranted, and intervention efforts to decrease sexual risks need to incorporate these avenues of sexual communication.

Characteristics of food industry web sites and "advergames" targeting children.

PubMed

Culp, Jennifer; Bell, Robert A; Cassady, Diana

2010-01-01

To assess the content of food industry Web sites targeting children by describing strategies used to prolong their visits and foster brand loyalty; and to document health-promoting messages on these Web sites. A content analysis was conducted of Web sites advertised on 2 children's networks, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. A total of 290 Web pages and 247 unique games on 19 Internet sites were examined. Games, found on 81% of Web sites, were the most predominant promotion strategy used. All games had at least 1 brand identifier, with logos being most frequently used. On average Web sites contained 1 "healthful" message for every 45 exposures to brand identifiers. Food companies use Web sites to extend their television advertising to promote brand loyalty among children. These sites almost exclusively promoted food items high in sugar and fat. Health professionals need to monitor food industry marketing practices used in "new media." Published by Elsevier Inc.

Inductive Selectivity in Children's Cross-Classified Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Simone P.

2012-01-01

Cross-classified items pose an interesting challenge to children's induction as these items belong to many different categories, each of which may serve as a basis for a different type of inference. Inductive selectivity is the ability to appropriately make different types of inferences about a single cross-classifiable item based on its different…

Automated Test-Form Generation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Linden, Wim J.; Diao, Qi

2011-01-01

In automated test assembly (ATA), the methodology of mixed-integer programming is used to select test items from an item bank to meet the specifications for a desired test form and optimize its measurement accuracy. The same methodology can be used to automate the formatting of the set of selected items into the actual test form. Three different…

Automated Text Messaging as an Adjunct to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression: A Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Aguilera, Adrian; Bruehlman-Senecal, Emma; Demasi, Orianna; Avila, Patricia

2017-05-08

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression is efficacious, but effectiveness is limited when implemented in low-income settings due to engagement difficulties including nonadherence with skill-building homework and early discontinuation of treatment. Automated messaging can be used in clinical settings to increase dosage of depression treatment and encourage sustained engagement with psychotherapy. The aim of this study was to test whether a text messaging adjunct (mood monitoring text messages, treatment-related text messages, and a clinician dashboard to display patient data) increases engagement and improves clinical outcomes in a group CBT treatment for depression. Specifically, we aim to assess whether the text messaging adjunct led to an increase in group therapy sessions attended, an increase in duration of therapy attended, and reductions in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item (PHQ-9) symptoms compared with the control condition of standard group CBT in a sample of low-income Spanish speaking Latino patients. Patients in an outpatient behavioral health clinic were assigned to standard group CBT for depression (control condition; n=40) or the same treatment with the addition of a text messaging adjunct (n=45). The adjunct consisted of a daily mood monitoring message, a daily message reiterating the theme of that week's content, and medication and appointment reminders. Mood data and qualitative responses were sent to a Web-based platform (HealthySMS) for review by the therapist and displayed in session as a tool for teaching CBT skills. Intent-to-treat analyses on therapy attendance during 16 sessions of weekly therapy found that patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct stayed in therapy significantly longer (median of 13.5 weeks before dropping out) than patients assigned to the control condition (median of 3 weeks before dropping out; Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney z=-2.21, P=.03). Patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct also generally attended more sessions (median=6 sessions) during this period than patients assigned to the control condition (median =2.5 sessions), but the effect was not significant (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney z=-1.65, P=.10). Both patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct (B=-.29, 95% CI -0.38 to -0.19, z=-5.80, P<.001) and patients assigned to the control conditions (B=-.20, 95% CI -0.32 to -0.07, z=-3.12, P=.002) experienced significant decreases in depressive symptom severity over the course of treatment; however, the conditions did not significantly differ in their degree of symptom reduction. This study provides support for automated text messaging as a tool to sustain engagement in CBT for depression over time. There were no differences in depression outcomes between conditions, but this may be influenced by low follow-up rates of patients who dropped out of treatment. ©Adrian Aguilera, Emma Bruehlman-Senecal, Orianna Demasi, Patricia Avila. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 08.05.2017.

Automated Text Messaging as an Adjunct to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression: A Clinical Trial

PubMed Central

Bruehlman-Senecal, Emma; Demasi, Orianna; Avila, Patricia

2017-01-01

Background Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression is efficacious, but effectiveness is limited when implemented in low-income settings due to engagement difficulties including nonadherence with skill-building homework and early discontinuation of treatment. Automated messaging can be used in clinical settings to increase dosage of depression treatment and encourage sustained engagement with psychotherapy. Objectives The aim of this study was to test whether a text messaging adjunct (mood monitoring text messages, treatment-related text messages, and a clinician dashboard to display patient data) increases engagement and improves clinical outcomes in a group CBT treatment for depression. Specifically, we aim to assess whether the text messaging adjunct led to an increase in group therapy sessions attended, an increase in duration of therapy attended, and reductions in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item (PHQ-9) symptoms compared with the control condition of standard group CBT in a sample of low-income Spanish speaking Latino patients. Methods Patients in an outpatient behavioral health clinic were assigned to standard group CBT for depression (control condition; n=40) or the same treatment with the addition of a text messaging adjunct (n=45). The adjunct consisted of a daily mood monitoring message, a daily message reiterating the theme of that week’s content, and medication and appointment reminders. Mood data and qualitative responses were sent to a Web-based platform (HealthySMS) for review by the therapist and displayed in session as a tool for teaching CBT skills. Results Intent-to-treat analyses on therapy attendance during 16 sessions of weekly therapy found that patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct stayed in therapy significantly longer (median of 13.5 weeks before dropping out) than patients assigned to the control condition (median of 3 weeks before dropping out; Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney z=−2.21, P=.03). Patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct also generally attended more sessions (median=6 sessions) during this period than patients assigned to the control condition (median =2.5 sessions), but the effect was not significant (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney z=−1.65, P=.10). Both patients assigned to the text messaging adjunct (B=−.29, 95% CI −0.38 to −0.19, z=−5.80, P<.001) and patients assigned to the control conditions (B=−.20, 95% CI −0.32 to −0.07, z=−3.12, P=.002) experienced significant decreases in depressive symptom severity over the course of treatment; however, the conditions did not significantly differ in their degree of symptom reduction. Conclusions This study provides support for automated text messaging as a tool to sustain engagement in CBT for depression over time. There were no differences in depression outcomes between conditions, but this may be influenced by low follow-up rates of patients who dropped out of treatment. PMID:28483742

Positive messages enhance older adults' motivation and recognition memory for physical activity programmes.

PubMed

Notthoff, Nanna; Klomp, Peter; Doerwald, Friederike; Scheibe, Susanne

2016-09-01

Although physical activity is an effective way to cope with ageing-related impairments, few older people are motivated to turn their sedentary lifestyle into an active one. Recent evidence suggests that walking can be more effectively promoted in older adults with positive messages about the benefits of walking than with negative messages about the risks of inactivity. This study examined motivation and memory as the supposed mechanisms underlying the greater effectiveness of positively framed compared to negatively framed messages for promoting activity. Older adults ( N  = 53, age 60-87 years) were introduced to six physical activity programmes that were randomly paired with either positively framed or negatively framed messages. Participants indicated how motivated they were to participate in each programme by providing ratings on attractiveness, suitability, capability and intention. They also completed surprise free recall and recognition tests. Respondents felt more motivated to participate in physical activity programmes paired with positively framed messages than in those with negatively framed ones. They also had better recognition memory for positively framed than negatively framed messages, and misremembered negatively framed messages to be positively framed. Findings support the notion that socioemotional selectivity theory-a theory of age-related changes in motivation-is a useful basis for health intervention design.

Communicating Concepts about Altruism in Interstellar Messages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vakoch, Douglas A.

2002-01-01

This project identifies key principles of altruism that can be translated into interstellar messages for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. The message contents will focus specifically on the evolution of altruism, drawing on recent insights in evolutionary biology, with particular emphasis on sociobiological accounts of kin selection and reciprocal altruism. This focus on altruism for message contents has several advantages. First, the subject can be translated into interstellar messages both via an existing formal interstellar language and via pictorial messages. For example, aspects of reciprocal altruism can be described through mathematical modeling, such as game theoretic approaches, which in turn can be described readily in the interstellar language Lincos. Second, concentrating on altruism as a message content may facilitate communications with extraterrestrial intelligence. Some scientists have argued that humans may be expected to communicate something about their moral status and development in an exchange with extraterrestrials. One of the most salient ways that terrestrial and extraterrestrial civilizations might be expected to evaluate one another is in terms of ethical motivations. Indeed, current search strategies assume some measure of altruism on the part of transmitting civilizations; with no guarantee of a response, the other civilization would be providing information to us with no direct payoff. Thus, concepts about altruism provide an appropriate content for interstellar messages, because the concepts themselves might be understood by extraterrestrial civilizations.

Feasibility and Acceptability of Text Messaging to Assess Daily Substance Use and Sexual Behaviors among Urban Emerging Adults.

PubMed

Bonar, Erin E; Cunningham, Rebecca M; Collins, R Lorraine; Cranford, James A; Chermack, Stephen T; Zimmerman, Marc A; Blow, Frederic C; Walton, Maureen A

2018-01-01

Daily process research can help distinguish causal relationships between substance use and sexual risk behaviors in high-risk groups, such as urban emerging adults. We employed text messaging to assess 18-25 year-olds' daily substance use and sexual risk behaviors over 28 days. We describe the implementation of this method, attitudes regarding the daily surveys, and correlates of survey completion. We recruited 111 emerging adults from an urban Emergency Department in a resource-limited area who reported recent drug use and unprotected sex ( M age =22.0; 53.2% female; 45.1% African American; 43.2% receiving public assistance). Respondents completed M =18.0 ( SD = 8.7) of 28 daily surveys (27 items each). Participants completing a 1-month follow-up found the surveys not at all/only a little annoying (90.3%) and were comfortable with questions about drugs/alcohol (97.9%) and sex (94.6%). Completion was higher on weekdays versus weekends, and earlier in the study. Daily survey completion was unrelated to same-day substance use measured by the Timeline Follow Back at follow-up; polysubstance use and drinks consumed were associated with lower odds of next-day completion. School enrollment, public assistance, unlimited texting plan, lower baseline alcohol use, and depression symptoms at follow-up were associated with higher completion. Technology difficulties were commonly mentioned barriers to completion. Participants in this urban, resource-constrained sample found the daily text message methodology acceptable for reporting sensitive information. With rapid advancements in technologies and increased accessibility, text messaging remains a promising methodology for the study of daily processes in substance use and HIV risk behaviors. Keywords: text messaging; assessment; emerging adults; substance use; risky sex; mobile technology.

Anabolic-androgenic steroid use among high school football players.

PubMed

Stilger, V G; Yesalis, C E

1999-04-01

Eight-hundred seventy-three Indiana high school football players were surveyed to investigate the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Subjects were varsity football players that were randomly selected from 27 high schools throughout Indiana. Out of a possible 1,325 subjects, 873 or 66% participated in the study. Subjects completed a 50 item questionnaire that measured demographic information, perceived use of AAS, reasons for use, and how AAS are taken. The results indicate that 6.3% of Indiana high school football players were current or former AAS users. The average age at time of first use of AAS was 14 years and 15% began taking before the age of ten. Almost half of respondents indicated they could obtain AAS if they so desired, and that other athletes, physicians, and coaches were listed as sources for AAS. Athletic trainers can play a vital role in disseminating accurate information about AAS abuse, including the long-term adverse health risks. These messages should begin with students and athletes as early as the fourth and fifth grades and delivered as often as possible throughout the school years.

A real-time method to predict social media popularity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiao; Lu, Zhe-Ming

How to predict the future popularity of a message or video on online social media (OSM) has long been an attractive problem for researchers. Although many difficulties are still ahead, recent studies suggest that temporal and topological features of early adopters generally play a very important role. However, with the increase of the adopters, the feature space will grow explosively. How to select the most effective features is still an open issue. In this work, we investigate several feature extraction methods over the Twitter platform and find that most predictive power concentrates on the second half of the propagation period, and that not only a model trained on one platform generalizes well to others as previous works observed, but also a model trained on one dataset performs well on predicting the popularity for other datasets with different number of observed early adopters. According to these findings, at least for the best features by far, the data used to extract features can be halved without loss of evident accuracy and we provide a way to roughly predict the growth trend of a social-media item in real-time.

Addressing Compassion Fatigue and Stress of Special Education Teachers and Professional Staff Using Mindfulness and Prayer.

PubMed

Sharp Donahoo, Lori M; Siegrist, Beverly; Garrett-Wright, Dawn

2017-01-01

Alternative therapies are promising nursing interventions for improvement of compassion fatigue in educators working in special education. A convenience sample of 27 teachers and professional staff working in special education participated in a quasi-experimental pilot study and completed a pre/posttest of demographic questions, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (10-item) and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL). All attended a presentation on stress, compassion satisfaction (CS), mindfulness, prayer, and social support. Nearly, one half received weekly electronic text message reminders encouraging use of mindfulness and prayer. All were offered support groups. Use of alternative therapies was self-selected and self-reported. Significant improvement occurred in posttest PSS scores ( p = .0485) of participants with the highest reported levels of use of mindfulness. ProQOL CS scores ( p = .0289) and PSS scores ( p = .0244) significantly improved when evaluating difference in means between groups with the highest levels and lowest levels of prayer and mindfulness. ProQOL burnout scores ( p = <.0001) increased from pretest to posttest. Findings were not significant in regard to reminders and social support.

Food safety hazards lurk in the kitchens of young adults.

PubMed

Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol; Maurer, Jaclyn; Wheatley, Virginia; Cottone, Ellen; Clancy, Michele

2007-04-01

Food mishandling in home kitchens likely causes a significant amount of foodborne disease; however, little is known about the food safety hazards lurking in home kitchens. The purposes of this study were to audit the kitchens of young adults with education beyond high school to identify food safety problems and develop recommendations for education efforts. Researchers developed a criterion-referenced home kitchen observation instrument to assess compliance of home food storage and rotation practices (e.g., temperature), sanitation and chemical storage, and general kitchen condition (e.g., infestation) with recommended practices. The instrument contained seven scales: Kitchen Cleanliness (eight items), Appliance Cleanliness (three items), Cleaning Supplies Availability (eight items), Temperatures (Food Thermometer Access & Refrigerator/Freezer Temperatures) (five items), Cold Food Storage (seven items), Dry Food Storage (eight items), and Poisons Storage (two items). Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the study population, as a whole, and by gender. A total of 154 young adults (mean age, 20.7+/- 1.3 SD) enrolled in a northeastern university participated. Participants scored 70% or higher on Poisons Storage, Dry Food Storage, Kitchen Cleanliness, and Cleaning Supplies Availability scales but less than 60% on the Appliance Cleanliness and Cold Food Storage scales. Performance was lowest on the Temperatures scale. Females scored significantly higher than males on the Kitchen Cleanliness and Cleaning Supply Availability scales. Average refrigerator and freezer temperatures were higher than recommendations. Food safety education targeted at this young adult population needs to evolve into focused messages pertaining to the key food safety violations in this population.

A Routing Path Construction Method for Key Dissemination Messages in Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Moon, Soo Young; Cho, Tae Ho

2014-01-01

Authentication is an important security mechanism for detecting forged messages in a sensor network. Each cluster head (CH) in dynamic key distribution schemes forwards a key dissemination message that contains encrypted authentication keys within its cluster to next-hop nodes for the purpose of authentication. The forwarding path of the key dissemination message strongly affects the number of nodes to which the authentication keys in the message are actually distributed. We propose a routing method for the key dissemination messages to increase the number of nodes that obtain the authentication keys. In the proposed method, each node selects next-hop nodes to which the key dissemination message will be forwarded based on secret key indexes, the distance to the sink node, and the energy consumption of its neighbor nodes. The experimental results show that the proposed method can increase by 50–70% the number of nodes to which authentication keys in each cluster are distributed compared to geographic and energy-aware routing (GEAR). In addition, the proposed method can detect false reports earlier by using the distributed authentication keys, and it consumes less energy than GEAR when the false traffic ratio (FTR) is ≥10%. PMID:25136649

Relevance and speed of message delivery trade-offs in augmentative and alternative communication.

PubMed

Bedrosian, Jan L; Hoag, Linda A; McCoy, Kathleen F

2003-08-01

This report is the first in a series of investigations designed to test a theory identifying the effects of conversational trade-offs between selected maxims on public attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system users and their communication. In the current study, the trade-offs between the relevance of a prestored message and its speed of delivery were examined. Participating were 96 sales clerks. Twelve scripted videotaped conversational conditions, involving an AAC customer and a clerk at a checkout counter, were used to manipulate message relevance, speed of message delivery, and participant/AAC user gender. Following each assigned viewing, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward the AAC user and his or her communication. Significantly higher mean ratings were found for the conditions involving the slowly delivered relevant messages (both preceded by a conversational floorholder and without a floorholder) when compared to the quickly delivered partly relevant message condition. In addition, the condition involving the slowly delivered relevant message with a floorholder yielded significantly higher mean ratings than that without the floorholder. There was no effect for participant/user gender. Modifications of the theory and technological implications are discussed.

Research in VLSI Systems. Heuristic Programming Project and VLSI Theory Project. A Fast Turn Around Facility for Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-01

to occur). When a rectangle is inserted, all currently selected items are de -selected, and the newly inserted rectangle is selected. This makes it...Items are de - * selected before the selection takes place. A selected symbol instance is displayed with a bold outline, and a selected rectangle edge...symbol instance or set of rectangle edges, everything previously selected is first de -selected. If the selected object is a reference point the old

Measurement versus prediction in the construction of patient-reported outcome questionnaires: can we have our cake and eat it?

PubMed

Smits, Niels; van der Ark, L Andries; Conijn, Judith M

2017-11-02

Two important goals when using questionnaires are (a) measurement: the questionnaire is constructed to assign numerical values that accurately represent the test taker's attribute, and (b) prediction: the questionnaire is constructed to give an accurate forecast of an external criterion. Construction methods aimed at measurement prescribe that items should be reliable. In practice, this leads to questionnaires with high inter-item correlations. By contrast, construction methods aimed at prediction typically prescribe that items have a high correlation with the criterion and low inter-item correlations. The latter approach has often been said to produce a paradox concerning the relation between reliability and validity [1-3], because it is often assumed that good measurement is a prerequisite of good prediction. To answer four questions: (1) Why are measurement-based methods suboptimal for questionnaires that are used for prediction? (2) How should one construct a questionnaire that is used for prediction? (3) Do questionnaire-construction methods that optimize measurement and prediction lead to the selection of different items in the questionnaire? (4) Is it possible to construct a questionnaire that can be used for both measurement and prediction? An empirical data set consisting of scores of 242 respondents on questionnaire items measuring mental health is used to select items by means of two methods: a method that optimizes the predictive value of the scale (i.e., forecast a clinical diagnosis), and a method that optimizes the reliability of the scale. We show that for the two scales different sets of items are selected and that a scale constructed to meet the one goal does not show optimal performance with reference to the other goal. The answers are as follows: (1) Because measurement-based methods tend to maximize inter-item correlations by which predictive validity reduces. (2) Through selecting items that correlate highly with the criterion and lowly with the remaining items. (3) Yes, these methods may lead to different item selections. (4) For a single questionnaire: Yes, but it is problematic because reliability cannot be estimated accurately. For a test battery: Yes, but it is very costly. Implications for the construction of patient-reported outcome questionnaires are discussed.

Utility and Cost-Effectiveness of Motivational Messaging to Increase Survey Response in Physicians: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Randolph C. H.; Mak, Winnie W. S.; Pang, Ingrid H. Y.; Wong, Samuel Y. S.; Tang, Wai Kwong; Lau, Joseph T. F.; Woo, Jean; Lee, Diana T. F.; Cheung, Fanny M.

2018-01-01

The present study examined whether, when, and how motivational messaging can boost the response rate of postal surveys for physicians based on Higgin's regulatory focus theory, accounting for its cost-effectiveness. A three-arm, blinded, randomized controlled design was used. A total of 3,270 doctors were randomly selected from the registration…

Risk-Taking Tendencies and Radon Messages: A Field Experiment Testing an Information Processing Model for Risk Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, M. A.; Valenti, JoAnn Myer

Using radon (a naturally-occurring radioactive gas linked to lung cancer) as the health risk factor, a study examined which risk-taking tendencies interact with different health-risk message strategies. A phone survey pretested 837 randomly selected homeowners from three Florida counties with the highest levels of radon in the state (706 agreed to…

The Use of a Situation-Comedy in the Delivery of Media Messages: A Content Analysis of Health-Related Themes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trunfio, Tony N.

2011-01-01

A quantitative-qualitative historical content analysis of selected Seinfeld television comedy episodes was conducted for this study. Episodes were analyzed for the presence of health-related messages pertaining to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's health priority areas, which include the most harmful risk behaviors affecting…

Evaluation of Public Service Advertising Messages with Local and Non-Local Source Attribution: A Controlled Laboratory Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynn, Jerry R.; Gagnard, Alice

A study was conducted to examine message evaluations of selected public service advertisements (PSAs) by a young adult population and to test whether local and nonlocal source attribution would influence those evaluations. In addition, the study investigated the extent to which audience characteristics such as fatalism (the degree to which a…

Effects of Content Balancing and Item Selection Method on Ability Estimation in Computerized Adaptive Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahin, Alper; Ozbasi, Durmus

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to reveal effects of content balancing and item selection method on ability estimation in computerized adaptive tests by comparing Fisher's maximum information (FMI) and likelihood weighted information (LWI) methods. Research Methods: Four groups of examinees (250, 500, 750, 1000) and a bank of 500 items with 10 different…

Using Response Times for Item Selection in Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Linden, Wim J.

2008-01-01

Response times on items can be used to improve item selection in adaptive testing provided that a probabilistic model for their distribution is available. In this research, the author used a hierarchical modeling framework with separate first-level models for the responses and response times and a second-level model for the distribution of the…

Optimizing the Use of Response Times for Item Selection in Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choe, Edison M.; Kern, Justin L.; Chang, Hua-Hua

2018-01-01

Despite common operationalization, measurement efficiency of computerized adaptive testing should not only be assessed in terms of the number of items administered but also the time it takes to complete the test. To this end, a recent study introduced a novel item selection criterion that maximizes Fisher information per unit of expected response…

A Comparison of Four Item-Selection Methods for Severely Constrained CATs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

He, Wei; Diao, Qi; Hauser, Carl

2014-01-01

This study compared four item-selection procedures developed for use with severely constrained computerized adaptive tests (CATs). Severely constrained CATs refer to those adaptive tests that seek to meet a complex set of constraints that are often not conclusive to each other (i.e., an item may contribute to the satisfaction of several…

Community Attitudes About Discussing Sexual Health: Assessing Public Opinion of Local STD Prevention Campaigns

PubMed Central

Thomas, Rosalind; Bekan Homawoo, Brigitte; McClamroch, Kristi; Wise, Benjamin; Coles, F. Bruce

2013-01-01

Objectives We assessed public views about the acceptability of and need for sexually transmitted disease (STD) and sexual health-related educational messaging in local campaigns. Methods A 28-item state-added module was included in the 2008 New York Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (n=3,751). Respondents rated acceptability of venues/dissemination channels and messaging and agreement with attitudinal/need statements. Additional data were analyzed from a separate state survey with individual county samples (n=36,257). We conducted univariate, bivariate, and multivariable modeling analyses. Results Each venue was acceptable to more than three-quarters of respondents (range: 79% for billboards to 95% for teaching STD prevention in high school). All message areas were acceptable to at least 85% of respondents (acceptability rating range: 85% to 97%). More than 70% agreed that there is a need for more open discussion about STDs. Bivariate analyses identified areas where messaging tailored to specific subgroups may be helpful (e.g., 26% of white people, 44% of African Americans, and 45% of Hispanic people agreed with the statement, “I need ideas about how to talk to my partner about protection from STDs”). Little geographic variation was seen. Results of multivariable modeling on opposition showed limited interaction effects. Conclusion These data provide key information about current community norms and reflect the public's approval for hearing and seeing more about sexual health and STDs in a range of public forums. PMID:23450887

Developing content for a mHealth intervention to promote postpartum retention in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programs and early infant diagnosis of HIV: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Odeny, Thomas A; Newman, Maya; Bukusi, Elizabeth A; McClelland, R Scott; Cohen, Craig R; Camlin, Carol S

2014-01-01

Maternal attendance at postnatal clinic visits and timely diagnosis of infant HIV infection are important steps for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. We aimed to use theory-informed methods to develop text messages targeted at facilitating these steps. We conducted five focus group discussions with health workers and women attending antenatal, postnatal, and PMTCT clinics to explore aspects of women's engagement in postnatal HIV care and infant testing. Discussion topics were informed by constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and prior empirical research. Qualitative data were coded and analyzed according to the construct of the HBM to which they related. Themes were extracted and used to draft intervention messages. We carried out two stages of further messaging development: messages were presented in a follow-up focus group in order to develop optimal phrasing in local languages. We then further refined the messages, pretested them in individual cognitive interviews with selected health workers, and finalized the messages for the intervention. Findings indicated that brief, personalized, caring, polite, encouraging, and educational text messages would facilitate women bringing their children to clinic after delivery, suggesting that text messages may serve as an important "cue to action." Participants emphasized that messages should not mention HIV due to fear of HIV testing and disclosure. Participants also noted that text messages could capitalize on women's motivation to attend clinic for childhood immunizations. Applying a multi-stage content development approach to crafting text messages--informed by behavioral theory--resulted in message content that was consistent across different focus groups. This approach could help answer "why" and "how" text messaging may be a useful tool to support maternal and child health. We are evaluating the effect of these messages on improving postpartum PMTCT retention and infant HIV testing in a randomized trial.

Specifying the role of the left prefrontal cortex in word selection.

PubMed

Riès, S K; Karzmark, C R; Navarrete, E; Knight, R T; Dronkers, N F

2015-10-01

Word selection allows us to choose words during language production. This is often viewed as a competitive process wherein a lexical representation is retrieved among semantically-related alternatives. The left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is thought to help overcome competition for word selection through top-down control. However, whether the LPFC is always necessary for word selection remains unclear. We tested 6 LPFC-injured patients and controls in two picture naming paradigms varying in terms of item repetition. Both paradigms elicited the expected semantic interference effects (SIE), reflecting interference caused by semantically-related representations in word selection. However, LPFC patients as a group showed a larger SIE than controls only in the paradigm involving item repetition. We argue that item repetition increases interference caused by semantically-related alternatives, resulting in increased LPFC-dependent cognitive control demands. The remaining network of brain regions associated with word selection appears to be sufficient when items are not repeated. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of Elderly Quality of Life Index – Eqoli: Item Reduction and Distribution into Dimensions

PubMed Central

Paschoal, Sérgio Márcio Pacheco; Filho, Wilson Jacob; Litvoc, Júlio

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE To describe item reduction and its distribution into dimensions in the construction process of a quality of life evaluation instrument for the elderly. METHODS The sampling method was chosen by convenience through quotas, with selection of elderly subjects from four programs to achieve heterogeneity in the “health status”, “functional capacity”, “gender”, and “age” variables. The Clinical Impact Method was used, consisting of the spontaneous and elicited selection by the respondents of relevant items to the construct Quality of Life in Old Age from a previously elaborated item pool. The respondents rated each item’s importance using a 5-point Likert scale. The product of the proportion of elderly selecting the item as relevant (frequency) and the mean importance score they attributed to it (importance) represented the overall impact of that item in their quality of life (impact). The items were ordered according to their impact scores and the top 46 scoring items were grouped in dimensions by three experts. A review of the negative items was performed. RESULTS One hundred and ninety three people (122 women and 71 men) were interviewed. Experts distributed the 46 items into eight dimensions. Closely related items were grouped and dimensions not reaching the minimum expected number of items received additional items resulting in eight dimensions and 43 items. DISCUSSION The sample was heterogeneous and similar to what was expected. The dimensions and items demonstrated the multidimensionality of the construct. The Clinical Impact Method was appropriate to construct the instrument, which was named Elderly Quality of Life Index - EQoLI. An accuracy process will be examined in the future. PMID:18438571

Methodology for developing and evaluating the PROMIS smoking item banks.

PubMed

Hansen, Mark; Cai, Li; Stucky, Brian D; Tucker, Joan S; Shadel, William G; Edelen, Maria Orlando

2014-09-01

This article describes the procedures used in the PROMIS Smoking Initiative for the development and evaluation of item banks, short forms (SFs), and computerized adaptive tests (CATs) for the assessment of 6 constructs related to cigarette smoking: nicotine dependence, coping expectancies, emotional and sensory expectancies, health expectancies, psychosocial expectancies, and social motivations for smoking. Analyses were conducted using response data from a large national sample of smokers. Items related to each construct were subjected to extensive item factor analyses and evaluation of differential item functioning (DIF). Final item banks were calibrated, and SF assessments were developed for each construct. The performance of the SFs and the potential use of the item banks for CAT administration were examined through simulation study. Item selection based on dimensionality assessment and DIF analyses produced item banks that were essentially unidimensional in structure and free of bias. Simulation studies demonstrated that the constructs could be accurately measured with a relatively small number of carefully selected items, either through fixed SFs or CAT-based assessment. Illustrative results are presented, and subsequent articles provide detailed discussion of each item bank in turn. The development of the PROMIS smoking item banks provides researchers with new tools for measuring smoking-related constructs. The use of the calibrated item banks and suggested SF assessments will enhance the quality of score estimates, thus advancing smoking research. Moreover, the methods used in the current study, including innovative approaches to item selection and SF construction, may have general relevance to item bank development and evaluation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Development of a smoking prevention mass media program using diagnostic and formative research.

PubMed

Worden, J K; Flynn, B S; Geller, B M; Chen, M; Shelton, L G; Secker-Walker, R H; Solomon, D S; Solomon, L J; Couchey, S; Costanza, M C

1988-09-01

The process of developing a mass media campaign to prevent smoking among adolescents is described in detail. This campaign supplements a school smoking prevention program and shares educational objectives with the school program but is otherwise independent. It comprises various television and radio 30- and 60-sec "spot" messages. The campaign development process includes identifying educational objectives and strategies for appealing to young people; conducting diagnostic surveys and focus groups to determine target audience interests and perceptions about smoking and media content; suggesting approaches to producers to create preliminary television and radio messages for testing; conducting formative pretests with target groups to select optimal messages and suggest improvements to those messages; producing final messages for media presentation; and developing a media exposure plan to place messages in local media at optimal times for reception by target audiences. The media campaign is being evaluated in a 5-year project with 5,500 adolescents in four communities to determine the additional effect of mass media over a school program alone in preventing smoking.

Measurement equivalence of seven selected items of posttraumatic growth between black and white adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

PubMed

Rhodes, Alison M; Tran, Thanh V

2013-02-01

This study examined the equivalence or comparability of the measurement properties of seven selected items measuring posttraumatic growth among self-identified Black (n = 270) and White (n = 707) adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina, using data from the Baseline Survey of the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group Study. Internal consistency reliability was equally good for both groups (Cronbach's alphas = .79), as were correlations between individual scale items and their respective overall scale. Confirmatory factor analysis of a congeneric measurement model of seven selected items of posttraumatic growth showed adequate measures of fit for both groups. The results showed only small variation in magnitude of factor loadings and measurement errors between the two samples. Tests of measurement invariance showed mixed results, but overall indicated that factor loading, error variance, and factor variance were similar between the two samples. These seven selected items can be useful for future large-scale surveys of posttraumatic growth.

The Effect of Message Frames on Public Attitudes Toward Criminal Justice Reform for Nonviolent Offenses

PubMed Central

Gottlieb, Aaron

2017-01-01

In recent years, the rhetoric surrounding criminal justice policy has increasingly emphasized reform, rather than being “tough on crime.” Although this change in rhetoric is aimed at building public support for reform, little is known about its efficacy. To test the efficacy of reform rhetoric, I conducted an Internet experiment using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of six message conditions or to a control condition (no message) and then asked their views about eliminating the use of incarceration for select nonviolent offenses. Results from ordinal logistic regression models suggest that message frames that appeal to a respondent’s self-interest or emphasize the unfairness of the punishment (not who is punished) tend to be most effective. PMID:28943646

Evolution of a Test Item

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaan, Mary

2007-01-01

This article follows the development of test items (see "Language Assessment Quarterly", Volume 3 Issue 1, pp. 71-79 for the article "Test and Item Specifications Development"), beginning with a review of test and item specifications, then proceeding to writing and editing of items, pretesting and analysis, and finally selection of an item for a…

A Model-Based Analysis of Semi-Automated Data Discovery and Entry Using Automated Content Extraction

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

Accomplish Goal) to (a) visually search the contents of a file folder until the icon corresponding to the desired file is located (Choose...Item_from_set), and (b) move the mouse to that icon and double click to open it (Double_select Object). Note that Choose Item_from_set and Double_select...argument, which Open File fills with <found_item>, a working memory pointer to the file icon that Choose_item_from Set finds. Look_at, Point_to

Selective attention and recognition: effects of congruency on episodic learning.

PubMed

Rosner, Tamara M; D'Angelo, Maria C; MacLellan, Ellen; Milliken, Bruce

2015-05-01

Recent research on cognitive control has focused on the learning consequences of high selective attention demands in selective attention tasks (e.g., Botvinick, Cognit Affect Behav Neurosci 7(4):356-366, 2007; Verguts and Notebaert, Psychol Rev 115(2):518-525, 2008). The current study extends these ideas by examining the influence of selective attention demands on remembering. In Experiment 1, participants read aloud the red word in a pair of red and green spatially interleaved words. Half of the items were congruent (the interleaved words had the same identity), and the other half were incongruent (the interleaved words had different identities). Following the naming phase, participants completed a surprise recognition memory test. In this test phase, recognition memory was better for incongruent than for congruent items. In Experiment 2, context was only partially reinstated at test, and again recognition memory was better for incongruent than for congruent items. In Experiment 3, all of the items contained two different words, but in one condition the words were presented close together and interleaved, while in the other condition the two words were spatially separated. Recognition memory was better for the interleaved than for the separated items. This result rules out an interpretation of the congruency effects on recognition in Experiments 1 and 2 that hinges on stronger relational encoding for items that have two different words. Together, the results support the view that selective attention demands for incongruent items lead to encoding that improves recognition.

The emotion-induced memory trade-off: more than an effect of overt attention?

PubMed

Steinmetz, Katherine R Mickley; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2013-01-01

Although it has been suggested that many effects of emotion on memory are attributable to attention, in the present study we addressed the hypothesis that such effects may relate to a number of different factors during encoding or postencoding. One way to look at the effects of emotion on memory is by examining the emotion-induced memory trade-off, whereby enhanced memory for emotional items often comes at the cost of memory for surrounding background information. We present evidence that this trade-off cannot be explained solely by overt attention (measured via eyetracking) directed to the emotional items during encoding. Participants did not devote more overt attention to emotional than to neutral items when those items were selectively remembered (at the expense of their backgrounds). Only when participants were asked to answer true/false questions about the items and the backgrounds--a manipulation designed to affect both overt attention and poststimulus elaboration--was there a reduction in selective emotional item memory due to an increase in background memory. These results indicate that the allocation of overt visual attention during encoding is not sufficient to predict the occurrence of selective item memory for emotional items.

The Impact of Presentation Format on Younger and Older Adults' Self-Regulated Learning.

PubMed

Price, Jodi

2017-01-01

Background/Study Context: Self-regulated learning involves deciding what to study and for how long. Debate surrounds whether individuals' selections are influenced more by item complexity, point values, or if instead people select in a left-to-right reading order, ignoring item complexity and value. The present study manipulated whether point values and presentation format favored selection of simple or complex Chinese-English pairs to assess the impact on younger and older adults' selection behaviors. One hundred and five younger (M age  = 20.26, SD = 2.38) and 102 older adults (M age  = 70.28, SD = 6.37) participated in the experiment. Participants studied four different 3 × 3 grids (two per trial), each containing three simple, three medium, and three complex Chinese-English vocabulary pairs presented in either a simple-first or complex-first order, depending on condition. Point values were assigned in either a 2-4-8 or 8-4-2 order so that either simple or complex items were favored. Points did not influence the order in which either age group selected items, whereas presentation format did. Younger and older adults selected more simple or complex items when they appeared in the first column. However, older adults selected and allocated more time to simpler items but recalled less overall than did younger adults. Memory beliefs and working memory capacity predicted study time allocation, but not item selection, behaviors. Presentation format must be considered when evaluating which theory of self-regulated learning best accounts for younger and older adults' study behaviors and whether there are age-related differences in self-regulated learning. The results of the present study combine with others to support the importance of also considering the role of external factors (e.g., working memory capacity and memory beliefs) in each age group's self-regulated learning decisions.

Varying levels of difficulty index of skills-test items randomly selected by examinees on the Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination.

PubMed

Koh, Bongyeun; Hong, Sunggi; Kim, Soon-Sim; Hyun, Jin-Sook; Baek, Milye; Moon, Jundong; Kwon, Hayran; Kim, Gyoungyong; Min, Seonggi; Kang, Gu-Hyun

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to characterize the difficulty index of the items in the skills test components of the class I and II Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination (KEMTLE), which requires examinees to select items randomly. The results of 1,309 class I KEMTLE examinations and 1,801 class II KEMTLE examinations in 2013 were subjected to analysis. Items from the basic and advanced skills test sections of the KEMTLE were compared to determine whether some were significantly more difficult than others. In the class I KEMTLE, all 4 of the items on the basic skills test showed significant variation in difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as 4 of the 5 items on the advanced skills test (P<0.05). In the class II KEMTLE, 4 of the 5 items on the basic skills test showed significantly different difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as all 3 of the advanced skills test items (P<0.01). In the skills test components of the class I and II KEMTLE, the procedure in which examinees randomly select questions should be revised to require examinees to respond to a set of fixed items in order to improve the reliability of the national licensing examination.

Applying core principles to the design and evaluation of the 'Take Charge. Take the Test' campaign: what worked and lessons learned.

PubMed

Fraze, J L; Uhrig, J D; Davis, K C; Taylor, M K; Lee, N R; Spoeth, S; Robinson, A; Smith, K; Johnston, J; McElroy, L

2009-09-01

To describe the application of seven core principles to the design and evaluation of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing social marketing campaign as a case study example. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used a structured social marketing approach, informed by the Ecological Model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Health Belief Model, to develop and evaluate a two-city campaign with print, radio and outdoor advertising; HIV telephone hotlines; an HIV website; community partnerships; and events to promote information seeking and HIV testing. The CDC applied seven core principles to design and evaluate the campaign, including formative research, the use of behavioural theories, audience segmentation, message design and pretesting, channel selection, process evaluation and outcome evaluation. Over 200 partners in both cities contributed significantly to campaign efforts. Key informant interviews indicated that, due to increased coordination, city infrastructures for HIV testing improved. More than 9600 individuals attended campaign events in both cities, with 1492 rapid HIV tests administered and 14 newly-identified HIV individuals. Overall, event attendees responded positively to campaign materials and events, and free HIV testing opportunities. The campaign significantly increased information-seeking behaviours in the form of hotline calls and web searches. Audience reaction and receptivity to the final campaign materials was very high. Exposure to campaign messages was associated with increases in key knowledge items, intentions to get tested, and peer-to-peer communication. The seven core principles, including formative research, behavioural theories and extensive partnerships, acted synergistically to help a campaign reach its target audience with compelling, relevant messages and motivate them to seek information and get an HIV test. Rapid testing removes many barriers by providing a testing process that can be accessed and acted upon quickly in response to media exposure. Findings suggest that modifying the campaign in future implementations to encourage the target audience to attend and participate in rapid testing events, while expanding the number and reach of such events, may have considerable potential to measurably increase testing behaviours.

Using the Self-Directed Search in Research: Selecting a Representative Pool of Items to Measure Vocational Interests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poitras, Sarah-Caroline; Guay, Frederic; Ratelle, Catherine F.

2012-01-01

Using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the goal of this study was to select a reduced pool of items from the French Canadian version of the Self-Directed Search--Activities Section (Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994). Two studies were conducted. Results of Study 1, involving 727 French Canadian students,…

Improving Health Worker Adherence to Malaria Treatment Guidelines in Papua New Guinea: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Text Message Reminder Service

PubMed Central

Kurumop, Serah F.; Bullen, Chris; Whittaker, Robyn; Betuela, Inoni; Hetzel, Manuel W.; Pulford, Justin

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to assess whether a text message reminder service designed to support health worker adherence to a revised malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The study took place in six purposively selected health facilities located in the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) of PNG. Ten text messages designed to remind participants of key elements of the new NMTP were transmitted to 42 health workers twice over a two week period (two text messages per day, Monday to Friday) via the country’s largest mobile network provider. The feasibility and acceptability of the text message reminder service was assessed by transmission reports, participant diaries and group discussions. Findings indicate that the vast majority of text messages were successfully transmitted, participants’ had regular mobile phone access and that most text messages were read most of the time and were considered both acceptable and clinically useful. Nevertheless, the study found that PNG health workers may tire of the service if the same messages are repeated too many times and that health workers may be reluctant to utilize more comprehensive, yet complementary, resources. In conclusion, a text message reminder service to support health worker adherence to the new malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in PNG. A rigorous pragmatic, effectiveness trial would be justified on the basis of these findings. PMID:24116122

Evidence against global attention filters selective for absolute bar-orientation in human vision.

PubMed

Inverso, Matthew; Sun, Peng; Chubb, Charles; Wright, Charles E; Sperling, George

2016-01-01

The finding that an item of type A pops out from an array of distractors of type B typically is taken to support the inference that human vision contains a neural mechanism that is activated by items of type A but not by items of type B. Such a mechanism might be expected to yield a neural image in which items of type A produce high activation and items of type B low (or zero) activation. Access to such a neural image might further be expected to enable accurate estimation of the centroid of an ensemble of items of type A intermixed with to-be-ignored items of type B. Here, it is shown that as the number of items in stimulus displays is increased, performance in estimating the centroids of horizontal (vertical) items amid vertical (horizontal) distractors degrades much more quickly and dramatically than does performance in estimating the centroids of white (black) items among black (white) distractors. Together with previous findings, these results suggest that, although human vision does possess bottom-up neural mechanisms sensitive to abrupt local changes in bar-orientation, and although human vision does possess and utilize top-down global attention filters capable of selecting multiple items of one brightness or of one color from among others, it cannot use a top-down global attention filter capable of selecting multiple bars of a given absolute orientation and filtering bars of the opposite orientation in a centroid task.

Comparison of text messaging data collection vs face-to-face interviews for public health surveys: a cluster randomized crossover study of care-seeking for childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in rural China

PubMed Central

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Wang, Wei; Wu, Qiong; Li, Ye; Scherpbier, Robert W; Du, Xiaozhen; Chen, Li; Zhang, Yanfeng; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor

2018-01-01

Background To compare text messaging and face-to-face interviews to conduct a survey on childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. Methods Caregivers of young children able to send text messages in Zhao County in rural China were included in this crossover study. Villages (clusters) were randomized into two groups using the ratio 1:1.6 to account for an expected higher drop-out in group 2. In group 1, participants first completed the face-to-face and then text messaging survey; this order was reversed in group 2. We determined data equivalence of 17 questions that were answered by participants who were the same person in both surveys. For the text messaging survey, we assessed the overall and item response rate. Results We included 1014 participants between 16 and 28 March 2013: 371 in 15 villages in group 1 and 643 in 27 villages in group 2. A total of 662 (65.3%) out of 1014 participants responded (first text message question) and a significantly higher proportion who did not respond were from rural areas (P = 0.005). Of 651 participants willing to participate, 356 (54.7%) completed the text messaging survey, which was marginally significantly different between the groups (P = 0.05). In total, 409 participants took part in both surveys: 183 in group 1 and 226 in group 2. There was a significantly higher proportion of caregivers from rural areas in Zhao County in the non-responder group compared to the responder group (P = 0.004). Kappas were substantial for six (0.61–0.80), moderate for two (0.58 and 0.60), and fair for three questions (0.31, 0.35 and 0.37). The proportion of agreement was >90% for five questions; 80.0%-90.0% for five questions; 70.0%, 65.0% and 45.5%. The remaining questions had too small numbers to calculate these values. Conclusions This study shows that text messaging data collection produces data similar to data from face-to-face interviews in a middle-income setting, but the response rate was insufficient for use in public health surveys. Improving the response rate is important, because text message surveys could be of greater value in rural remote areas due to the cost-saving potential. PMID:29899982

Feasibility and Effectiveness of mHealth for Mobilizing Households for Indoor Residual Spraying to Prevent Malaria: A Case Study in Mali

PubMed Central

Mangam, Keith; Fiekowsky, Elana; Bagayoko, Moussa; Norris, Laura; Belemvire, Allison; Longhany, Rebecca; Fornadel, Christen; George, Kristen

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Components of mHealth are increasingly being added to development interventions worldwide. A particular case of interest is in Mali where the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) Project piloted a mobile mass-messaging service in Koulikoro District in August 2014 to determine whether voice and/or text messages received on cell phones could effectively replace door-to-door mobilization for an indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaign. To measure the pilot’s effectiveness, we evaluated structure preparedness (all household and food items removed) in 3 pilot intervention villages compared with 3 villages prepared for spray through door-to-door mobilization that was modified by incorporating town hall meetings and radio spots. Structure preparedness was significantly lower in households mobilized through the mobile-messaging approach compared with the door-to-door approach (49% vs. 75%, respectively; P = .03). Spray coverage of targeted households also was significantly lower among the mobile-messaging villages than the door-to-door mobilization villages (86% vs. 96%, respectively; P = .02). The mobile-messaging approach, at US$8.62 per structure prepared, was both more costly and less effective than the door-to-door approach at US$1.08 per structure prepared. While literacy and familiarity with technology were major obstacles, it also became clear that by removing the face-to-face interactions between mobilizers and household residents, individuals were not as trusting or understanding of the mobilization messages. These residents felt it was easier to ignore a text or voice message than to ignore a mobilizer who could provide reassurances and preparation support. In addition, men often received the mobile messages, as they typically owned the mobile phones, while women—who were more likely to be at home at the time of spray—usually interacted with the door-to-door mobilizers. Future attempts at using mHealth approaches for similar IRS mobilization efforts in Mali should be done in a way that combines mHealth tools with more common human-based interventions, rather than as a stand-alone approach, and should be designed with a gender lens in mind. The choice of software used for mass messaging should also be considered to find a local option that is both less expensive and perhaps more attuned to the local context than a U.S.-based software solution. PMID:27353616

Feasibility and Effectiveness of mHealth for Mobilizing Households for Indoor Residual Spraying to Prevent Malaria: A Case Study in Mali.

PubMed

Mangam, Keith; Fiekowsky, Elana; Bagayoko, Moussa; Norris, Laura; Belemvire, Allison; Longhany, Rebecca; Fornadel, Christen; George, Kristen

2016-06-20

Components of mHealth are increasingly being added to development interventions worldwide. A particular case of interest is in Mali where the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) Project piloted a mobile mass-messaging service in Koulikoro District in August 2014 to determine whether voice and/or text messages received on cell phones could effectively replace door-to-door mobilization for an indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaign. To measure the pilot's effectiveness, we evaluated structure preparedness (all household and food items removed) in 3 pilot intervention villages compared with 3 villages prepared for spray through door-to-door mobilization that was modified by incorporating town hall meetings and radio spots. Structure preparedness was significantly lower in households mobilized through the mobile-messaging approach compared with the door-to-door approach (49% vs. 75%, respectively; P = .03). Spray coverage of targeted households also was significantly lower among the mobile-messaging villages than the door-to-door mobilization villages (86% vs. 96%, respectively; P = .02). The mobile-messaging approach, at US$8.62 per structure prepared, was both more costly and less effective than the door-to-door approach at US$1.08 per structure prepared. While literacy and familiarity with technology were major obstacles, it also became clear that by removing the face-to-face interactions between mobilizers and household residents, individuals were not as trusting or understanding of the mobilization messages. These residents felt it was easier to ignore a text or voice message than to ignore a mobilizer who could provide reassurances and preparation support. In addition, men often received the mobile messages, as they typically owned the mobile phones, while women-who were more likely to be at home at the time of spray-usually interacted with the door-to-door mobilizers. Future attempts at using mHealth approaches for similar IRS mobilization efforts in Mali should be done in a way that combines mHealth tools with more common human-based interventions, rather than as a stand-alone approach, and should be designed with a gender lens in mind. The choice of software used for mass messaging should also be considered to find a local option that is both less expensive and perhaps more attuned to the local context than a U.S.-based software solution. © Mangam et al.

Item Response Models for Examinee-Selected Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Wen-Chung; Jin, Kuan-Yu; Qiu, Xue-Lan; Wang, Lei

2012-01-01

In some tests, examinees are required to choose a fixed number of items from a set of given items to answer. This practice creates a challenge to standard item response models, because more capable examinees may have an advantage by making wiser choices. In this study, we developed a new class of item response models to account for the choice…

Investigating Item Exposure Control Methods in Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozturk, Nagihan Boztunc; Dogan, Nuri

2015-01-01

This study aims to investigate the effects of item exposure control methods on measurement precision and on test security under various item selection methods and item pool characteristics. In this study, the Randomesque (with item group sizes of 5 and 10), Sympson-Hetter, and Fade-Away methods were used as item exposure control methods. Moreover,…

Selection and Transmission Processes for Information in the Emerging Media Environment: Psychological Motives and Message Characteristics

PubMed Central

Cappella, Joseph N.; Kim, Hyun Suk; Albarracín, Dolores

2014-01-01

The emerging media environment introduced fundamental changes in the quality and format of information available to the public, which can now flexibly seek, alter, and disseminate the information they receive. Therefore, the two processes of information selection and information retransmission are crucial for understanding the reach of any information available in the online information environment. From this starting point, we examine the common psychological motives driving information selection and transmission of attitude-relevant information: Defense and accuracy motives adding a focus on interpersonal motives. We also review message factors that can activate psychological motives leading to selection of retransmission of information, such as the desire for novelty and emotional stimulation. We speculate about the directions for the next generation of research necessary to understand exposure as a core outcome in media effects research and theory. PMID:26190944

Answering the call: a tool that measures functional breast cancer literacy.

PubMed

Williams, Karen Patricia; Templin, Thomas N; Hines, Resche D

2013-01-01

There is a need for health care providers and health care educators to ensure that the messages they communicate are understood. The purpose of this research was to test the reliability and validity, in a culturally diverse sample of women, of a revised Breast Cancer Literacy Assessment Tool (Breast-CLAT) designed to measure functional understanding of breast cancer in English, Spanish, and Arabic. Community health workers verbally administered the 35-item Breast-CLAT to 543 Black, Latina, and Arab American women. A confirmatory factor analysis using a 2-parameter item response theory model was used to test the proposed 3-factor Breast-CLAT (awareness, screening and knowledge, and prevention and control). The confirmatory factor analysis using a 2-parameter item response theory model had a good fit (TLI = .91, RMSEA = .04) to the proposed 3-factor structure. The total scale reliability ranged from .80 for Black participants to .73 for total culturally diverse sample. The three subscales were differentially predictive of family history of cancer. The revised Breast-CLAT scales demonstrated internal consistency reliability and validity in this multiethnic, community-based sample.

Attracting Views and Going Viral: How Message Features and News-Sharing Channels Affect Health News Diffusion

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyun Suk

2015-01-01

This study examined how intrinsic as well as perceived message features affect the extent to which online health news stories prompt audience selections and social retransmissions, and how news-sharing channels (e-mail vs. social media) shape what goes viral. The study analyzed actual behavioral data on audience viewing and sharing of New York Times health news articles, and associated article content and context data. News articles with high informational utility and positive sentiment invited more frequent selections and retransmissions. Articles were also more frequently selected when they presented controversial, emotionally evocative, and familiar content. Informational utility and novelty had stronger positive associations with e-mail-specific virality, while emotional evocativeness, content familiarity, and exemplification played a larger role in triggering social media-based retransmissions. PMID:26441472

[Development of a cell phone addiction scale for korean adolescents].

PubMed

Koo, Hyun Young

2009-12-01

This study was done to develop a cell phone addiction scale for Korean adolescents. The process included construction of a conceptual framework, generation of initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, preliminary study, and extraction of final items. The participants were 577 adolescents in two middle schools and three high schools. Item analysis, factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency were used to analyze the data. Twenty items were selected for the final scale, and categorized into 3 factors explaining 55.45% of total variance. The factors were labeled as withdrawal/tolerance (7 items), life dysfunction (6 items), and compulsion/persistence (7 items). The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with self-control, impulsiveness, and cell phone use. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 20 items was .92. Scale scores identified students as cell phone addicted, heavy users, or average users. The above findings indicate that the cell phone addiction scale has good validity and reliability when used with Korean adolescents.

Development of a Multidimensional Functional Health Scale for Older Adults in China.

PubMed

Mao, Fanzhen; Han, Yaofeng; Chen, Junze; Chen, Wei; Yuan, Manqiong; Alicia Hong, Y; Fang, Ya

2016-05-01

A first step to achieve successful aging is assessing functional wellbeing of older adults. This study reports the development of a culturally appropriate brief scale (the Multidimensional Functional Health Scale for Chinese Elderly, MFHSCE) to assess the functional health of Chinese elderly. Through systematic literature review, Delphi method, cultural adaptation, synthetic statistical item selection, Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis, we conducted development of item pool, two rounds of item selection, and psychometric evaluation. Synthetic statistical item selection and psychometric evaluation was processed among 539 and 2032 older adults, separately. The MFHSCE consists of 30 items, covering activities of daily living, social relationships, physical health, mental health, cognitive function, and economic resources. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.92, and the comparative fit index was 0.917. The MFHSCE has good internal consistency and construct validity; it is also concise and easy to use in general practice, especially in communities in China.

Effects of promotional materials on vending sales of low-fat items in teachers' lounges.

PubMed

Fiske, Amy; Cullen, Karen Weber

2004-01-01

This study examined the impact of an environmental intervention in the form of promotional materials and increased availability of low-fat items on vending machine sales. Ten vending machines were selected and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, or one of two experimental conditions. Vending machines in the two intervention conditions received three additional low-fat selections. Low-fat items were promoted at two levels: labels (intervention I), and labels plus signs (intervention II). The number of individual items sold and the total revenue generated was recorded weekly for each machine for 4 weeks. Use of promotional materials resulted in a small, but not significant, increase in the number of low-fat items sold, although machine sales were not significantly impacted by the change in product selection. Results of this study, although not statistically significant, suggest that environmental change may be a realistic means of positively influencing consumer behavior.

Assessment of the Item Selection and Weighting in the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score for Wegener's Granulomatosis

PubMed Central

MAHR, ALFRED D.; NEOGI, TUHINA; LAVALLEY, MICHAEL P.; DAVIS, JOHN C.; HOFFMAN, GARY S.; MCCUNE, W. JOSEPH; SPECKS, ULRICH; SPIERA, ROBERT F.; ST.CLAIR, E. WILLIAM; STONE, JOHN H.; MERKEL, PETER A.

2013-01-01

Objective To assess the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score for Wegener's Granulomatosis (BVAS/WG) with respect to its selection and weighting of items. Methods This study used the BVAS/WG data from the Wegener's Granulomatosis Etanercept Trial. The scoring frequencies of the 34 predefined items and any “other” items added by clinicians were calculated. Using linear regression with generalized estimating equations in which the physician global assessment (PGA) of disease activity was the dependent variable, we computed weights for all predefined items. We also created variables for clinical manifestations frequently added as other items, and computed weights for these as well. We searched for the model that included the items and their generated weights yielding an activity score with the highest R2 to predict the PGA. Results We analyzed 2,044 BVAS/WG assessments from 180 patients; 734 assessments were scored during active disease. The highest R2 with the PGA was obtained by scoring WG activity based on the following items: the 25 predefined items rated on ≥5 visits, the 2 newly created fatigue and weight loss variables, the remaining minor other and major other items, and a variable that signified whether new or worse items were present at a specific visit. The weights assigned to the items ranged from 1 to 21. Compared with the original BVAS/WG, this modified score correlated significantly more strongly with the PGA. Conclusion This study suggests possibilities to enhance the item selection and weighting of the BVAS/WG. These changes may increase this instrument's ability to capture the continuum of disease activity in WG. PMID:18512722

Focused, Unfocused, and Defocused Information in Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rerko, Laura; Oberauer, Klaus

2013-01-01

The study investigated the effect of selection cues in working memory (WM) on the fate of not-selected contents of WM. Experiments 1A and 1B showed that focusing on 1 cued item in WM does not impair memory for the remaining items. The nonfocused items are maintained in WM even when this is not required by the task. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that…

American College Student Values: Their Relationship to Selected Personal and Academic Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritter, Carolyn E.

A 20-item chi-square test of independence was administered to a selected sample of college students that was stratified 50% male and 50% female. Male and female responses showed a significant difference on 18 of the 20 items. The 2 items on which attitudes of both sexes were the same were the role of government in business and a solution to the…

Hiding message into DNA sequence through DNA coding and chaotic maps.

PubMed

Liu, Guoyan; Liu, Hongjun; Kadir, Abdurahman

2014-09-01

The paper proposes an improved reversible substitution method to hide data into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence, and four measures have been taken to enhance the robustness and enlarge the hiding capacity, such as encode the secret message by DNA coding, encrypt it by pseudo-random sequence, generate the relative hiding locations by piecewise linear chaotic map, and embed the encoded and encrypted message into a randomly selected DNA sequence using the complementary rule. The key space and the hiding capacity are analyzed. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method has a better performance compared with the competing methods with respect to robustness and capacity.

Food consumption patterns in the Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada: a cross-sectional telephone survey

PubMed Central

Nesbitt, Andrea; Majowicz, Shannon; Finley, Rita; Pollari, Frank; Pintar, Katarina; Marshall, Barbara; Cook, Angela; Sargeant, Jan; Wilson, Jeff; Ribble, Carl; Knowles, Lewinda

2008-01-01

Background The demographics and lifestyles of Canadians are changing, thereby influencing food choices and food preparation in the home. Although different dietary practices are associated with increased risk of foodborne illness, our ability to evaluate food consumption trends and assess risks associated with foodborne illness is limited by lack of data on current eating habits and consumer food safety practices. The objective of this study was to describe, for the first time, the food consumption patterns in a Canadian-based population from a food safety perspective, in order to establish baseline data on actual food intake of individuals. Method A cross-sectional telephone survey of 2,332 randomly selected residents of Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada (C-EnterNet pilot site) was conducted between November 2005 and March 2006. Food intake was assessed using a 7-day dietary recall method. Results Certain food items were consumed more than others among the same food groups, and consumption of many food items varied by gender and age. Specific foods considered high-risk for the transmission of certain enteric pathogens were significantly more likely to be consumed by males (i.e. unpasteurized juice, bean sprouts, and undercooked meat) and elderly individuals (i.e. undercooked eggs). The majority of households prepared and consumed most meals at home, allocating an average of 44 minutes to prepare a meal. Conclusion Baseline data on actual food intake is useful to public health professionals and food safety risk assessors for developing communication messages to consumers and in foodborne outbreak investigations. PMID:18950509

Determining the Capacity of Time-Based Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Derrick G.; Kunar, Melina A.

2012-01-01

In visual search, a set of distractor items can be suppressed from future selection if they are presented (previewed) before a second set of search items arrive. This "visual marking" mechanism provides a top-down way of prioritizing the selection of new stimuli, at the expense of old stimuli already in the field (Watson & Humphreys,…

IRT Model Selection Methods for Dichotomous Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Taehoon; Cohen, Allan S.

2007-01-01

Fit of the model to the data is important if the benefits of item response theory (IRT) are to be obtained. In this study, the authors compared model selection results using the likelihood ratio test, two information-based criteria, and two Bayesian methods. An example illustrated the potential for inconsistency in model selection depending on…

Relevance of Item Analysis in Standardizing an Achievement Test in Teaching of Physical Science in B.Ed Syllabus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marie, S. Maria Josephine Arokia; Edannur, Sreekala

2015-01-01

This paper focused on the analysis of test items constructed in the paper of teaching Physical Science for B.Ed. class. It involved the analysis of difficulty level and discrimination power of each test item. Item analysis allows selecting or omitting items from the test, but more importantly item analysis is a tool to help the item writer improve…

Arctic Small Rodents Have Diverse Diets and Flexible Food Selection

PubMed Central

Soininen, Eeva M.; Ravolainen, Virve T.; Bråthen, Kari Anne; Yoccoz, Nigel G.; Gielly, Ludovic; Ims, Rolf A.

2013-01-01

The ecology of small rodent food selection is poorly understood, as mammalian herbivore food selection theory has mainly been developed by studying ungulates. Especially, the effect of food availability on food selection in natural habitats where a range of food items are available is unknown. We studied diets and selectivity of grey-sided voles (Myodes rufocanus) and tundra voles (Microtus oeconomus), key herbivores in European tundra ecosystems, using DNA metabarcoding, a novel method enabling taxonomically detailed diet studies. In order to cover the range of food availabilities present in the wild, we employed a large-scale study design for sampling data on food availability and vole diets. Both vole species had ingested a range of plant species and selected particularly forbs and grasses. Grey-sided voles also selected ericoid shrubs and tundra voles willows. Availability of a food item rarely affected its utilization directly, although seasonal changes of diets and selection suggest that these are positively correlated with availability. Moreover, diets and selectivity were affected by availability of alternative food items. These results show that the focal sub-arctic voles have diverse diets and flexible food preferences and rarely compensate low availability of a food item with increased searching effort. Diet diversity itself is likely to be an important trait and has previously been underrated owing to methodological constraints. We suggest that the roles of alternative food item availability and search time limitations for small rodent feeding ecology should be investigated. Nomenclature Annotated Checklist of the Panarctic Flora (PAF), Vascular plants. Available at: http://nhm2.uio.no/paf/, accessed 15.6.2012. PMID:23826371

The SMP mobilizes a bright idea: a CSM cinema on wheels.

PubMed

1985-01-01

The Bangladesh Family Planning Social Marketing Project (SMP) provides 1 of the best examples of the use of the mass media to promote social marketing. Using a fleet of 7 vans and 1 motor launch, the SMP brings films about family planning to more than a million rural couples a month living in isolated villages. Each film unit has two 16 mm projectors, a generator, a screen and speaker system and is operated by a projectionist and an assistant. 1 mobile unit gives about 25 shows a month at a cost of $75US per show, or less than 2 cents per person. The message reels and advertising spots were produced in Bangladesh, and the musical numbers are taken from local feature films. Every 3-4 months, the vans switch message and musical films, but all units keep separate copies of the advertising spots for Raja and Panther condoms and Maya and Ovacon pills. The motivational films were developed through extensive research, and they address basic social issues. During the show, various promotional items are sold, including calendars with family planning messages, plastic bags, key rings, and contraceptives. According to Robert Ciszewski, executive director of Population Services International, these mobile films are making a profound social change in Bangladesh.

Using Market Research to Characterize College Students and Identify Potential Targets for Influencing Health Behaviors

PubMed Central

Berg, Carla J.; Ling, Pamela M.; Guo, Hongfei; Windle, Michael; Thomas, Janet L.; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S.; An, Lawrence C.

2013-01-01

Marketing campaigns, such as those developed by the tobacco industry, are based on market research, which defines segments of a population by assessing psychographic characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests). This study uses a similar approach to define market segments of college smokers, to examine differences in their health behaviors (smoking, drinking, binge drinking, exercise, diet), and to determine the validity of these segments. A total of 2,265 undergraduate students aged 18–25 years completed a 108-item online survey in fall 2008 assessing demographic, psychographic (i.e., attitudes, interests), and health-related variables. Among the 753 students reporting past 30-day smoking, cluster analysis was conducted using 21 psychographic questions and identified three market segments – Stoic Individualists, Responsible Traditionalists, and Thrill-Seeking Socializers. We found that segment membership was related to frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and limiting dietary fat. We then developed three messages targeting each segment and conducted message testing to validate the segments on a subset of 73 smokers representing each segment in spring 2009. As hypothesized, each segment indicated greater relevance and salience for their respective message. These findings indicate that identifying qualitatively different subgroups of young adults through market research may inform the development of engaging interventions and health campaigns targeting college students. PMID:25264429

Perceived message sensation value (PMSV) and the dimensions and validation of a PMSV scale.

PubMed

Palmgreen, Philip; Stephenson, Michael T; Everett, Maureen W; Baseheart, John R; Francies, Regina

2002-01-01

Sensation seeking has been linked to drug abuse and risky behaviors, and is positively associated with preferences for messages high in sensation value (i.e., perceived to be highly novel, arousing, dramatic, or intense). This suggests the utility of valid and reliable measures of perceived message sensation value (PMSV) in research on information processing, persuasion, and reducing risk-related behaviors. Dimensions and construct validity of a 17-item PMSV scale were examined via 2 studies: 1 of 368 high school students' reactions to televised antimarijuana public service announcements (PSAs) and one of 444 college students' responses to televised anticocaine PSAs. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated 3-dimensional solutions for the PMSV scale were nearly identical for high sensation seeking (HSS) and low sensation seeking (LSS) respondents in Study 1 and HSS respondents in Study 2. Total scale alphas were .87 for Study 1 and .93 for Study 2. The PMSV scale and its dimensions (Emotional Arousal, Dramatic Impact, Novelty) were positively correlated with affective response measures in both studies for HSS and LSS. Study 1 also examined cognitive, narrative, and sensory PSA processing, which were found to be positively associated with total PMSV and the Arousal and Dramatic Impact dimensions of PSMV for both HSS and LSS.

Using Market Research to Characterize College Students and Identify Potential Targets for Influencing Health Behaviors.

PubMed

Berg, Carla J; Ling, Pamela M; Guo, Hongfei; Windle, Michael; Thomas, Janet L; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S; An, Lawrence C

2010-12-01

Marketing campaigns, such as those developed by the tobacco industry, are based on market research, which defines segments of a population by assessing psychographic characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests). This study uses a similar approach to define market segments of college smokers, to examine differences in their health behaviors (smoking, drinking, binge drinking, exercise, diet), and to determine the validity of these segments. A total of 2,265 undergraduate students aged 18-25 years completed a 108-item online survey in fall 2008 assessing demographic, psychographic (i.e., attitudes, interests), and health-related variables. Among the 753 students reporting past 30-day smoking, cluster analysis was conducted using 21 psychographic questions and identified three market segments - Stoic Individualists, Responsible Traditionalists, and Thrill-Seeking Socializers. We found that segment membership was related to frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and limiting dietary fat. We then developed three messages targeting each segment and conducted message testing to validate the segments on a subset of 73 smokers representing each segment in spring 2009. As hypothesized, each segment indicated greater relevance and salience for their respective message. These findings indicate that identifying qualitatively different subgroups of young adults through market research may inform the development of engaging interventions and health campaigns targeting college students.

Varying levels of difficulty index of skills-test items randomly selected by examinees on the Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Purpose: The goal of this study was to characterize the difficulty index of the items in the skills test components of the class I and II Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination (KEMTLE), which requires examinees to select items randomly. Methods: The results of 1,309 class I KEMTLE examinations and 1,801 class II KEMTLE examinations in 2013 were subjected to analysis. Items from the basic and advanced skills test sections of the KEMTLE were compared to determine whether some were significantly more difficult than others. Results: In the class I KEMTLE, all 4 of the items on the basic skills test showed significant variation in difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as 4 of the 5 items on the advanced skills test (P<0.05). In the class II KEMTLE, 4 of the 5 items on the basic skills test showed significantly different difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as all 3 of the advanced skills test items (P<0.01). Conclusion: In the skills test components of the class I and II KEMTLE, the procedure in which examinees randomly select questions should be revised to require examinees to respond to a set of fixed items in order to improve the reliability of the national licensing examination. PMID:26883810

Designing P-Optimal Item Pools in Computerized Adaptive Tests with Polytomous Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Xuechun

2012-01-01

Current CAT applications consist of predominantly dichotomous items, and CATs with polytomously scored items are limited. To ascertain the best approach to polytomous CAT, a significant amount of research has been conducted on item selection, ability estimation, and impact of termination rules based on polytomous IRT models. Few studies…

Comparison of Alternate and Original Items on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

PubMed

Lebedeva, Elena; Huang, Mei; Koski, Lisa

2016-03-01

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly individuals. We hypothesized that measurement error when using the new alternate MoCA versions to monitor change over time could be related to the use of items that are not of comparable difficulty to their corresponding originals of similar content. The objective of this study was to compare the difficulty of the alternate MoCA items to the original ones. Five selected items from alternate versions of the MoCA were included with items from the original MoCA administered adaptively to geriatric outpatients (N = 78). Rasch analysis was used to estimate the difficulty level of the items. None of the five items from the alternate versions matched the difficulty level of their corresponding original items. This study demonstrates the potential benefits of a Rasch analysis-based approach for selecting items during the process of development of parallel forms. The results suggest that better match of the items from different MoCA forms by their difficulty would result in higher sensitivity to changes in cognitive function over time.

An Algorithm for Timely Transmission of Solicitation Messages in RPL for Energy-Efficient Node Mobility.

PubMed

Park, Jihong; Kim, Ki-Hyung; Kim, Kangseok

2017-04-19

The IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) was proposed for various applications of IPv6 low power wireless networks. While RPL supports various routing metrics and is designed to be suitable for wireless sensor network environments, it does not consider the mobility of nodes. Therefore, there is a need for a method that is energy efficient and that provides stable and reliable data transmission by considering the mobility of nodes in RPL networks. This paper proposes an algorithm to support node mobility in RPL in an energy-efficient manner and describes its operating principle based on different scenarios. The proposed algorithm supports the mobility of nodes by dynamically adjusting the transmission interval of the messages that request the route based on the speed and direction of the motion of mobile nodes, as well as the costs between neighboring nodes. The performance of the proposed algorithm and previous algorithms for supporting node mobility were examined experimentally. From the experiment, it was observed that the proposed algorithm requires fewer messages per unit time for selecting a new parent node following the movement of a mobile node. Since fewer messages are used to select a parent node, the energy consumption is also less than that of previous algorithms.

An Algorithm for Timely Transmission of Solicitation Messages in RPL for Energy-Efficient Node Mobility

PubMed Central

Park, Jihong; Kim, Ki-Hyung; Kim, Kangseok

2017-01-01

The IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) was proposed for various applications of IPv6 low power wireless networks. While RPL supports various routing metrics and is designed to be suitable for wireless sensor network environments, it does not consider the mobility of nodes. Therefore, there is a need for a method that is energy efficient and that provides stable and reliable data transmission by considering the mobility of nodes in RPL networks. This paper proposes an algorithm to support node mobility in RPL in an energy-efficient manner and describes its operating principle based on different scenarios. The proposed algorithm supports the mobility of nodes by dynamically adjusting the transmission interval of the messages that request the route based on the speed and direction of the motion of mobile nodes, as well as the costs between neighboring nodes. The performance of the proposed algorithm and previous algorithms for supporting node mobility were examined experimentally. From the experiment, it was observed that the proposed algorithm requires fewer messages per unit time for selecting a new parent node following the movement of a mobile node. Since fewer messages are used to select a parent node, the energy consumption is also less than that of previous algorithms. PMID:28422084

Aging, Memory Efficiency and the Strategic Control of Attention at Encoding: Impairments of Value-Directed Remembering in Alzheimer's Disease

PubMed Central

Castel, Alan D.; Balota, David A.; McCabe, David P.

2009-01-01

Selecting what is important to remember, attending to this information, and then later recalling it can be thought of in terms of the strategic control of attention and the efficient use of memory. In order to examine whether aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) influenced this ability, the present study used a selectivity task, where studied items were worth various point values and participants were asked to maximize the value of the items they recalled. Relative to younger adults (N=35) and healthy older adults (N=109), individuals with very mild AD (N=41) and mild AD (N=13) showed impairments in the strategic and efficient encoding and recall of high value items. Although individuals with AD recalled more high value items than low value items, they did not efficiently maximize memory performance (as measured by a selectivity index) relative to healthy older adults. Performance on complex working memory span tasks was related to the recall of the high value items but not low value items. This pattern suggests that relative to healthy aging, AD leads to impairments in strategic control at encoding and value-directed remembering. PMID:19413444

Physical activity text messaging interventions in adults: a systematic review.

PubMed

Buchholz, Susan Weber; Wilbur, JoEllen; Ingram, Diana; Fogg, Louis

2013-08-01

Physical inactivity is a leading health risk factor for mortality worldwide. Researchers are examining innovative techniques including the use of mobile technology to promote physical activity. One such technology, text messaging, is emerging internationally as a method to communicate with and motivate individuals to engage in healthy behaviors, including physical activity. Review the existing scientific literature on adult physical activity text messaging interventions. This systematic review examined research papers that addressed physical activity text messaging intervention studies in adults. Using multiple databases, the search strategy included published English language studies through October 1, 2011. An author-developed data collection tool was used independently by two reviewers to extract and examine the selected study variables. The initial search resulted in the identification of 200 publications. Eleven publications representing 10 studies were included in the final review. Studies were conducted in seven countries with over half the studies being randomized controlled trials. Participants of the studies were predominantly young to middle aged women. Physical activity data were mainly obtained by self-report although three studies used pedometers or accelerometers. Interventions ranged from only sending out text messages to combining text messages with educational materials, staff support, and/or Internet technology. Minimal information was given regarding development or number of text messages used. The median effect size for the studies was 0.50. To date, using text messaging as a method to promote physical activity has only been studied by a small group of researchers. Current physical activity text messaging literature is characterized by small sample sizes, heterogeneous but positive effect sizes, and a lack of specificity as to the development of the text messages used in these studies. Further research in this area is imperative to facilitate the expansion of mobile technology to promote physical activity. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Computer-supported feedback message tailoring: theory-informed adaptation of clinical audit and feedback for learning and behavior change.

PubMed

Landis-Lewis, Zach; Brehaut, Jamie C; Hochheiser, Harry; Douglas, Gerald P; Jacobson, Rebecca S

2015-01-21

Evidence shows that clinical audit and feedback can significantly improve compliance with desired practice, but it is unclear when and how it is effective. Audit and feedback is likely to be more effective when feedback messages can influence barriers to behavior change, but barriers to change differ across individual health-care providers, stemming from differences in providers' individual characteristics. The purpose of this article is to invite debate and direct research attention towards a novel audit and feedback component that could enable interventions to adapt to barriers to behavior change for individual health-care providers: computer-supported tailoring of feedback messages. We argue that, by leveraging available clinical data, theory-informed knowledge about behavior change, and the knowledge of clinical supervisors or peers who deliver feedback messages, a software application that supports feedback message tailoring could improve feedback message relevance for barriers to behavior change, thereby increasing the effectiveness of audit and feedback interventions. We describe a prototype system that supports the provision of tailored feedback messages by generating a menu of graphical and textual messages with associated descriptions of targeted barriers to behavior change. Supervisors could use the menu to select messages based on their awareness of each feedback recipient's specific barriers to behavior change. We anticipate that such a system, if designed appropriately, could guide supervisors towards giving more effective feedback for health-care providers. A foundation of evidence and knowledge in related health research domains supports the development of feedback message tailoring systems for clinical audit and feedback. Creating and evaluating computer-supported feedback tailoring tools is a promising approach to improving the effectiveness of clinical audit and feedback.

Increasing Perioperative Communication With Automated Mobile Phone Messaging in Total Joint Arthroplasty.

PubMed

Day, Molly A; Anthony, Christopher A; Bedard, Nicholas A; Glass, Natalie A; Clark, Charles R; Callaghan, John J; Noiseux, Nicolas O

2018-01-01

Automated mobile phone messaging has not been reported in total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Our purpose was to compare Press Ganey (PG) and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores between TJA patients who did and did not receive perioperative automated mobile phone messages. Patients were prospectively enrolled and received messages for 1 week prior until 2 weeks after TJA. Message content included reminders, activity, and pain control. Patients answered select PG/HCAHPS and questions regarding their experience with the automated communication platform. Average PG/HCAHPS scores were compared to historical TJA patients in the 3-year window prior (control group) with significance P < .05. Thirty-seven consecutive patients were approached and 92% (n = 34) were enrolled. The experimental group was 47% male, with 80% patients between 51 and 75 years. The experimental (n = 30) and control groups (n = 26) were similar. Patients receiving messages were more likely to have a good understanding of health responsibilities (P = .024) and feel that the care team demonstrated shared decision-making (P = .024). Of patients enrolled, 87% felt messages helped them be more prepared for surgery, 100% felt messages kept them better informed, and 97% would participate again. TJA patients who received perioperative communication via automated mobile phone messaging had improved patient satisfaction scores postoperatively. Patients perceived this form of communication was useful and kept them better informed. Automated mobile phone messaging can be an easily integrated, helpful adjunct to surgeons, healthcare systems, and case managers to more effectively communicate with patients undergoing TJA in this era of value-based care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of macaronic Hindi-English ‘Hinglish’ text message content for a coronary heart disease secondary prevention programme

PubMed Central

Thakkar, Jay; Karthikeyan, Ganesan; Purohit, Gaurav; Thakkar, Swetha; Sharma, Jitender; Verma, Sunilkumar; Parakh, Neeraj; Seth, Sandeep; Mishra, Sundeep; Yadav, Rakesh; Singh, Sandeep; Joshi, Rohina; Thiagalingam, Aravinda; Chow, Clara K; Redfern, Julie

2016-01-01

Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in India. Text message based prevention programs have demonstrated reduction in cardiovascular risk factors among patients with CHD in selected populations. Customisation is important as behaviour change is influenced by culture and linguistic context. Objectives To customise a mobile phone text message program supporting behaviour and treatment adherence in CHD for delivery in North India. Methods We used an iterative process with mixed methods involving three phases: (1) Initial translation, (2) Review and incorporation of feedback including review by cardiologists in India to assess alignment with local guidelines and by consumers on perceived utility and clarity and (3) Pilot testing of message management software. Results Messages were translated in three ways: symmetrical translation, asymmetrical translation and substitution. Feedback from cardiologists and 25 patients was incorporated to develop the final bank. Patients reported Hinglish messages were easy to understand (93%) and useful (78%). The software located in Australia successfully delivered messages to participants based in Delhi-surrounds (India). Conclusions Our process for customisation of a text message program considered cultural, linguistic and the medical context of potential participants. This is important in optimising intervention fidelity across populations enabling examination of the generalisability of text message programs across populations. We also demonstrated the customised program was acceptable to patients in India and that a centralised cross-country delivery model was feasible. This process could be used as a guide for other groups seeking to customise their programs. Trial registration number TEXTMEDS Australia (Parent study)—ACTRN 12613000793718. PMID:27752288

Non-ignorable missingness item response theory models for choice effects in examinee-selected items.

PubMed

Liu, Chen-Wei; Wang, Wen-Chung

2017-11-01

Examinee-selected item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set, always yields incomplete data (i.e., when only the selected items are answered, data are missing for the others) that are likely non-ignorable in likelihood inference. Standard item response theory (IRT) models become infeasible when ESI data are missing not at random (MNAR). To solve this problem, the authors propose a two-dimensional IRT model that posits one unidimensional IRT model for observed data and another for nominal selection patterns. The two latent variables are assumed to follow a bivariate normal distribution. In this study, the mirt freeware package was adopted to estimate parameters. The authors conduct an experiment to demonstrate that ESI data are often non-ignorable and to determine how to apply the new model to the data collected. Two follow-up simulation studies are conducted to assess the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences for parameter estimation of ignoring MNAR data. The results of the two simulation studies indicate good parameter recovery of the new model and poor parameter recovery when non-ignorable missing data were mistakenly treated as ignorable. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

ADSORPTIVE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES: MEDIA SELECTION

EPA Science Inventory

The presentation provides information on six items to be considered when selecting an adsorptive media for removing arsenic from drinking water; performance, EBCT, pre-treatment, regeneration, residuals, and cost. Each item is discussed in general and data and photographs from th...

Impact of an Australian mass media campaign targeting physical activity in 1998.

PubMed

Bauman, A E; Bellew, B; Owen, N; Vita, P

2001-07-01

Physical activity is now a public health priority, but there is only limited evidence on the effectiveness of mass-reach campaigns. Paid and unpaid television and print-media advertising, physician mail-outs, and community-level support programs and strategies. A mass-media statewide campaign to promote regular moderate-intensity activity was conducted during February 1998. The target group was adults aged 25 to 60 who were motivated but insufficiently active. Cohort and independent-sample, cross-sectional representative population surveys, before and after the campaign. The intervention was conducted in the state of New South Wales, with the other states of Australia as the comparison region. Telephone survey items on physical activity, media message awareness, physical activity knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions. Unprompted recall of the activity messages in the campaign state increased substantially from 2.1% to 20.9% (p<0.01), with small changes elsewhere in Australia (1.2% to 2.6%). There were large changes in prompted awareness from 12.9% to 50.7% (p<0.0001), much larger than changes elsewhere (14.1% to 16%, p=0.06). Knowledge of appropriate moderate-intensity activity and physical activity self-efficacy increased significantly and only in the campaign state. Compared to all others, those in the target group who recalled the media message were 2.08 times more likely to increase their activity by at least an hour per week (95% confidence interval = 1.51-2.86). This integrated campaign positively influenced short-term physical activity message recall, knowledge, and behavior of the target population, compared to the population in the region who were not exposed.

Self-Regulated Learning in Younger and Older Adults: Does Aging Affect Metacognitive Control?

PubMed Central

Price, Jodi; Hertzog, Christopher; Dunlosky, John

2011-01-01

Two experiments examined whether younger and older adults’ self-regulated study (item selection and study time) conformed to the region of proximal learning (RPL) model when studying normatively easy, medium, and difficult vocabulary pairs. Experiment 2 manipulated the value of recalling different pairs and provided learning goals for words recalled and points earned. Younger and older adults in both experiments selected items for study in an easy-to-difficult order, indicating the RPL model applies to older adults’ self-regulated study. Individuals allocated more time to difficult items, but prioritized easier items when given less time or point values favoring difficult items. Older adults studied more items for longer but realized lower recall than did younger adults. Older adults’ lower memory self-efficacy and perceived control correlated with their greater item restudy and avoidance of difficult items with high point values. Results are discussed in terms of RPL and agenda-based regulation models. PMID:19866382

Digital Library Selection: Maximum Access, Not Buying the Best Titles: Libraries Should Become Full-Text Amazon.coms's.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Anthony W.

2000-01-01

Discusses new ways of selecting information for digital libraries. Topics include increasing the quantity of information acquired versus item by item selection that is more costly than the value it adds; library-publisher relationships; netLibrary; electronic journals; and the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)…

The Empirical Selection of Anchor Items Using a Multistage Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Brandon

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if using a multistage approach for the empirical selection of anchor items would lead to more accurate DIF detection rates than the anchor selection methods proposed by Kopf, Zeileis, & Strobl (2015b). A simulation study was conducted in which the sample size, percentage of DIF, and balance of DIF…

Assembling a Computerized Adaptive Testing Item Pool as a Set of Linear Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Linden, Wim J.; Ariel, Adelaide; Veldkamp, Bernard P.

2006-01-01

Test-item writing efforts typically results in item pools with an undesirable correlational structure between the content attributes of the items and their statistical information. If such pools are used in computerized adaptive testing (CAT), the algorithm may be forced to select items with less than optimal information, that violate the content…

Use of Matrix Sampling Procedures to Assess Achievement in Solving Open Addition and Subtraction Sentences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montague, Margariete A.

This study investigated the feasibility of concurrently and randomly sampling examinees and items in order to estimate group achievement. Seven 32-item tests reflecting a 640-item universe of simple open sentences were used such that item selection (random, systematic) and assignment (random, systematic) of items (four, eight, sixteen) to forms…

African Americans' knowledge about organ donation: closing the gap with more effective persuasive message strategies.

PubMed

Morgan, Susan E; Cannon, Thomas

2003-11-01

In spite of increasing interest in the area of African Americans' willingness to donate organs, little empirical knowledge exists that can be used to create more effective public communication campaigns. In this study, 310 African Americans responded to seven knowledge items (based on myths and misconceptions about organ donation) shown in past studies to discriminate between donors and nondonors. The rate of accurate responses varied from 33% to 78% to individual knowledge items. Beliefs that the organ allocation system is inequitable (favoring whites and the rich) and the belief that donors pay extra medical bills strongly distinguished donors from nondonors. In addition, the information sources reported by African Americans willing to donate were more likely to include family members. Implications of these findings to the development of more effective organ donation campaigns targeting African Americans are offered.

Climate Literacy for Kids: Finding Medium, Message, and Stance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, D. K.; Leon, N.; Jackson, R.; Greene, M. P.

2011-12-01

As part of NASA's Global Climate Change (climate.nasa.gov) website (winner of the 2011Webby Award for Best Science Site), Climate Kids (climate.nasa.gov/kids) presents positive role models for green careers and encourages kids to be good climate citizens. But before they will care, they must understand. Climate Kids helps kids understand climate science by communicating at their own science awareness and maturity level, and by giving them concrete ways to start helping Earth now. Climate Kids, as informal education, speaks to upper-elementary-school-age kids in their own language and using some of their favorite media. In addition to simple, liberally illustrated text explanations of the basic science concepts, cartoons and games reinforce the concepts in a fun way. A growing section on green careers interviews enthusiastic individuals currently practicing their professions. In explaining what they do, these individuals reinforce the climate science concepts and "how to help" suggestions elsewhere on the site. The games also reinforce the green career choices. "Green Careers" currently features a "green" general contractor, a home energy auditor, a water-wise landscaper, a recycling program educator, and a renewable energy scientist. The message of the scientist, who designs wind energy farms and "architectural wind" arrays, is reinforced by the "Power-up" game. In this game, players move a wind turbine up or down to capture the wind and move a solar array back and forth to stay out of cloud shadows. Depending on how many "windows" of the game's "city" light up using these alternative energy sources, the player earns a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum "medal." A recycling game reinforces the messages of the recycling program educator about the importance of recycling in saving energy, what can and cannot be recycled, and how long trash items remain in a landfill before decomposing. In the game, a variety of throw-away objects rains down from the top of the screen. Various recycling bins (glass, plastic, metal, and paper) are lined up on the left and right sides of the screen, with a trash bin at the bottom. As an item drops, the player must quickly decide what kind of material it is made of and whether it is recyclable, then guide it into the appropriate bin. As the rate of items entering play increases, any missed items fall into the trash and stay there for a length of time proportional to their decomposition time. If the trash bin gets full, the game is over. While enjoying the increasing challenge of the game, players learn to identify many items as recyclable that they may not have recognized as recyclable before. Another feature on Climate Kids is "Climate Tales," a slightly edgy animated cartoon series (two episodes so far) about the adventures of a blundering polar bear, a chirpy tamarin monkey, and a grumpy old fish as "accidental tourists" around the planet, observing and dealing with the environmental conditions they encounter. Fairly complex concepts (such as reasons and implications of the declining abundance of phytoplankton) are woven into the tales. Climate Kids is a fun site for kids, educational and realistic, and yet positive and hopeful-the only reasonable stance to present to this young audience.

The associative memory deficit in aging is related to reduced selectivity of brain activity during encoding

PubMed Central

Saverino, Cristina; Fatima, Zainab; Sarraf, Saman; Oder, Anita; Strother, Stephen C.; Grady, Cheryl L.

2016-01-01

Human aging is characterized by reductions in the ability to remember associations between items, despite intact memory for single items. Older adults also show less selectivity in task-related brain activity, such that patterns of activation become less distinct across multiple experimental tasks. This reduced selectivity, or dedifferentiation, has been found for episodic memory, which is often reduced in older adults, but not for semantic memory, which is maintained with age. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether there is a specific reduction in selectivity of brain activity during associative encoding in older adults, but not during item encoding, and whether this reduction predicts associative memory performance. Healthy young and older adults were scanned while performing an incidental-encoding task for pictures of objects and houses under item or associative instructions. An old/new recognition test was administered outside the scanner. We used agnostic canonical variates analysis and split-half resampling to detect whole brain patterns of activation that predicted item vs. associative encoding for stimuli that were later correctly recognized. Older adults had poorer memory for associations than did younger adults, whereas item memory was comparable across groups. Associative encoding trials, but not item encoding trials, were predicted less successfully in older compared to young adults, indicating less distinct patterns of associative-related activity in the older group. Importantly, higher probability of predicting associative encoding trials was related to better associative memory after accounting for age and performance on a battery of neuropsychological tests. These results provide evidence that neural distinctiveness at encoding supports associative memory and that a specific reduction of selectivity in neural recruitment underlies age differences in associative memory. PMID:27082043

Key Ingredients-Target Groups, Methods and Messages, and Evaluation-of Local-Level, Public Interventions to Counter Stigma and Discrimination: A Lived Experience Informed Selective Narrative Literature Review.

PubMed

Ashton, Laura J; Gordon, Sarah E; Reeves, Racheal A

2018-04-01

A proliferation of recent literature provides substantial direction as to the key ingredients-target groups, messages and methods, and evaluation-of local-level, public interventions to counter stigma and discrimination. This paper provides a selective narrative review of that literature from the perspective or standpoint of anti-stigma experts with lived experience of mental distress, the key findings of which have been synthesised and presented in diagrammatic overviews (infographics). These are intended to guide providers in planning, delivering and evaluating lived experience-directed local-level, public interventions to counter stigma and discrimination in accord with current best practice.

WRAP low level waste restricted waste management (LLW RWM) glovebox acceptance test report

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

Leist, K.J.

1997-11-24

On April 22, 1997, the Low Level Waste Restricted Waste Management (LLW RWM) glovebox was tested using acceptance test procedure 13027A-87. Mr. Robert L. Warmenhoven served as test director, Mr. Kendrick Leist acted as test operator and test witness, and Michael Lane provided miscellaneous software support. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine glovebox control system interlocks, operator Interface Unit (OIU) menus, alarms, and messages. Basic drum port and lift table control sequences were demonstrated. OIU menus, messages, and alarm sequences were examined, with few exceptions noted. Barcode testing was bypassed, due to the lack ofmore » installed equipment as well as the switch from basic reliance on fixed bar code readers to the enhanced use of portable bar code readers. Bar code testing was completed during performance of the LLW RWM OTP. Mechanical and control deficiencies were documented as Test Exceptions during performance of this Acceptance Test. These items are attached as Appendix A to this report.« less

If You're House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages.

PubMed

Boland, Julie E; Queen, Robin

2016-01-01

The increasing prevalence of social media means that we often encounter written language characterized by both stylistic variation and outright errors. How does the personality of the reader modulate reactions to non-standard text? Experimental participants read 'email responses' to an ad for a housemate that either contained no errors or had been altered to include either typos (e.g., teh) or homophonous grammar errors (grammos, e.g., to/too, it's/its). Participants completed a 10-item evaluation scale for each message, which measured their impressions of the writer. In addition participants completed a Big Five personality assessment and answered demographic and language attitude questions. Both typos and grammos had a negative impact on the evaluation scale. This negative impact was not modulated by age, education, electronic communication frequency, or pleasure reading time. In contrast, personality traits did modulate assessments, and did so in distinct ways for grammos and typos.

If You’re House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The increasing prevalence of social media means that we often encounter written language characterized by both stylistic variation and outright errors. How does the personality of the reader modulate reactions to non-standard text? Experimental participants read ‘email responses’ to an ad for a housemate that either contained no errors or had been altered to include either typos (e.g., teh) or homophonous grammar errors (grammos, e.g., to/too, it’s/its). Participants completed a 10-item evaluation scale for each message, which measured their impressions of the writer. In addition participants completed a Big Five personality assessment and answered demographic and language attitude questions. Both typos and grammos had a negative impact on the evaluation scale. This negative impact was not modulated by age, education, electronic communication frequency, or pleasure reading time. In contrast, personality traits did modulate assessments, and did so in distinct ways for grammos and typos. PMID:26959823

Web Cast on Arsenic Demonstration Program: Lessons Learned

EPA Science Inventory

Web cast presentation covered 10 Lessons Learned items selected from the Arsenic Demonstration Program with supporting information. The major items discussed include system design and performance items and the cost of the technologies.

Computerized Adaptive Testing: Overview and Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meijer, Rob R.; Nering, Michael L.

1999-01-01

Provides an overview of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and introduces contributions to this special issue. CAT elements discussed include item selection, estimation of the latent trait, item exposure, measurement precision, and item-bank development. (SLD)

Energy star compliant voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telecommunications network including energy star compliant VoIP devices

DOEpatents

Kouchri, Farrokh Mohammadzadeh

2012-11-06

A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications system, a method of managing a communications network in such a system and a program product therefore. The system/network includes an ENERGY STAR (E-star) aware softswitch and E-star compliant communications devices at system endpoints. The E-star aware softswitch allows E-star compliant communications devices to enter and remain in power saving mode. The E-star aware softswitch spools messages and forwards only selected messages (e.g., calls) to the devices in power saving mode. When the E-star compliant communications devices exit power saving mode, the E-star aware softswitch forwards spooled messages.

Consumer Understanding, Preferences, and Responses to Different Versions of Drug Safety Messages in the United States: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

McCormack, Lauren; Craig Lefebvre, R; Bann, Carla; Taylor, Olivia; Rausch, Paula

2016-02-01

As part of its mission, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communicates with the public regularly about the benefits and risks of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Effectively communicating risk, however, is a significant public health challenge. To better understand how different populations understand information communicated by the FDA about drug safety, we conducted a randomized experiment to examine comprehension and other measures of effectiveness of drug safety messages that occurred in a post-market surveillance phase. We used an Internet panel survey of 1244 consumers, of whom 58% used prescription drugs in the past year. Half of the sample panel was randomized to read a previous FDA Drug Safety Communication (DSC) with the drug name changed, and the other half was randomized to read a revised version of the same DSC. We examined how making certain modifications to the way drug risk information is communicated has an impact on comprehension and behavioral intentions, including the user's likelihood of discontinuing the drug. We also studied how comprehension varied by respondent characteristics, health literacy skills, risk perceptions, and trust in the message. Based on a five-item comprehension index, the revised version of the message was associated with significantly greater comprehension of the information relative to the standard version (63 vs 52% correct, p < 0.001). Significantly more respondents found the revised version to be clear (82 vs 73%, p < 0.000), while fewer in that group reported learning something new (78% vs 84%, p = 0.015). No significant differences emerged between the two groups in terms of the message being informative, convincing, or helpful. We found no significant differences between the two groups in terms of behavioral intentions, risk perception, and trust. We found that making plain language changes to the DSC significantly increased consumers' level of comprehension of its content, providing support for ongoing use and further exploration of these strategies in pharmacovigilance communication research. The study findings have important implications for future drug safety and other communication messages related to prescription drugs.

Reliability of a store observation tool in measuring availability of alcohol and selected foods.

PubMed

Cohen, Deborah A; Schoeff, Diane; Farley, Thomas A; Bluthenthal, Ricky; Scribner, Richard; Overton, Adrian

2007-11-01

Alcohol and food items can compromise or contribute to health, depending on the quantity and frequency with which they are consumed. How much people consume may be influenced by product availability and promotion in local retail stores. We developed and tested an observational tool to objectively measure in-store availability and promotion of alcoholic beverages and selected food items that have an impact on health. Trained observers visited 51 alcohol outlets in Los Angeles and southeastern Louisiana. Using a standardized instrument, two independent observations were conducted documenting the type of outlet, the availability and shelf space for alcoholic beverages and selected food items, the purchase price of standard brands, the placement of beer and malt liquor, and the amount of in-store alcohol advertising. Reliability of the instrument was excellent for measures of item availability, shelf space, and placement of malt liquor. Reliability was lower for alcohol advertising, beer placement, and items that measured the "least price" of apples and oranges. The average kappa was 0.87 for categorical items and the average intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.83 for continuous items. Overall, systematic observation of the availability and promotion of alcoholic beverages and food items was feasible, acceptable, and reliable. Measurement tools such as the one we evaluated should be useful in studies of the impact of availability of food and beverages on consumption and on health outcomes.

Effect of a promotional campaign on heart-healthy menu choices in community restaurants.

PubMed

Fitzgerald, Catherine M; Kannan, Srimathi; Sheldon, Sharon; Eagle, Kim Allen

2004-03-01

The research question examined in this study was: Does a promotional campaign impact the sales of heart-healthy menu items at community restaurants? The 8-week promotional campaign used professionally developed advertisements in daily and monthly print publications and posters and table tents in local restaurants. Nine restaurants tracked the sales of selected heart-healthy menu items and comparable menu items sold before and after a promotional campaign. The percentage of heart-healthy items sold after the campaign showed a trend toward a slight increase in heart-healthy menu item selections, although it was not statistically significant. This study and others indicate that dietetics professionals must continue to develop strategies to promote heart-healthy food choices in community restaurants.

Lateralized goal framing: How health messages are influenced by valence and contextual/analytic processing.

PubMed

McCormick, Michael; Seta, John J

2016-05-01

The effectiveness of health messages has been shown to vary due to the positive or negative framing of information, often known as goal framing. In two experiments we altered, the strength of the goal framing manipulation by selectively activating the processing style of the left or right hemisphere (RH). In Experiment 1, we found support for the contextual/analytic perspective; a significant goal framing effect was observed when the contextual processing style of the RH - but not the analytic processing style of the left hemisphere (LH) - was initially activated. In Experiment 2, support for the valence hypothesis was found when a message that had a higher level of personal involvement was used than that in Experiment 1. When the LH was initially activated, there was an advantage for the gain- vs. loss-framed message; however, an opposite pattern - an advantage for the loss-framed message - was obtained when the RH was activated. These are the first framing results that support the valence hypothesis. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these experiments.

The ABC of vitamin D: a qualitative study of the knowledge and attitudes regarding vitamin D deficiency amongst selected population groups.

PubMed

Bonevski, Billie; Bryant, Jamie; Lambert, Sylvie; Brozek, Irena; Rock, Vanessa

2013-03-15

In Australia, vitamin D supply in food is limited, and sun exposure is the main source of vitamin D. However skin cancer risk is high, and the need to gain some sun exposure for adequate vitamin D is challenging public health messages to use protection in the sun. The complex vitamin D public health message may be confusing the public and, in particular, those at highest risk for vitamin D deficiency. This study explored vitamin D and sun exposure attitudes, knowledge and practices of some groups considered at risk of vitamin D deficiency and those delivering healthy sun exposure messages to children. 52 adults participated in six focus groups. Results corroborated with previous research showing low levels of vitamin D knowledge. Individual and environmental barriers to receiving adequate sun exposure were also identified. The message advocating balanced sun exposure to produce adequate vitamin D needs to be made clearer and be more effectively communicated. Findings provide insights to aid development of appropriate public health messages for safe sun exposure and vitamin D, especially for vulnerable groups.

Communication Studies of DMP and SMP Machines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sohn, Andrew; Biswas, Rupak; Chancellor, Marisa K. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Understanding the interplay between machines and problems is key to obtaining high performance on parallel machines. This paper investigates the interplay between programming paradigms and communication capabilities of parallel machines. In particular, we explicate the communication capabilities of the IBM SP-2 distributed-memory multiprocessor and the SGI PowerCHALLENGEarray symmetric multiprocessor. Two benchmark problems of bitonic sorting and Fast Fourier Transform are selected for experiments. Communication-efficient algorithms are developed to exploit the overlapping capabilities of the machines. Programs are written in Message-Passing Interface for portability and identical codes are used for both machines. Various data sizes and message sizes are used to test the machines' communication capabilities. Experimental results indicate that the communication performance of the multiprocessors are consistent with the size of messages. The SP-2 is sensitive to message size but yields a much higher communication overlapping because of the communication co-processor. The PowerCHALLENGEarray is not highly sensitive to message size and yields a low communication overlapping. Bitonic sorting yields lower performance compared to FFT due to a smaller computation-to-communication ratio.

Efforts Toward the Development of Unbiased Selection and Assessment Instruments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudner, Lawrence M.

Investigations into item bias provide an empirical basis for the identification and elimination of test items which appear to measure different traits across populations or cultural groups. The Psychometric rationales for six approaches to the identification of biased test items are reviewed: (1) Transformed item difficulties: within-group…

Developing and investigating the use of single-item measures in organizational research.

PubMed

Fisher, Gwenith G; Matthews, Russell A; Gibbons, Alyssa Mitchell

2016-01-01

The validity of organizational research relies on strong research methods, which include effective measurement of psychological constructs. The general consensus is that multiple item measures have better psychometric properties than single-item measures. However, due to practical constraints (e.g., survey length, respondent burden) there are situations in which certain single items may be useful for capturing information about constructs that might otherwise go unmeasured. We evaluated 37 items, including 18 newly developed items as well as 19 single items selected from existing multiple-item scales based on psychometric characteristics, to assess 18 constructs frequently measured in organizational and occupational health psychology research. We examined evidence of reliability; convergent, discriminant, and content validity assessments; and test-retest reliabilities at 1- and 3-month time lags for single-item measures using a multistage and multisource validation strategy across 3 studies, including data from N = 17 occupational health subject matter experts and N = 1,634 survey respondents across 2 samples. Items selected from existing scales generally demonstrated better internal consistency reliability and convergent validity, whereas these particular new items generally had higher levels of content validity. We offer recommendations regarding when use of single items may be more or less appropriate, as well as 11 items that seem acceptable, 14 items with mixed results that might be used with caution due to mixed results, and 12 items we do not recommend using as single-item measures. Although multiple-item measures are preferable from a psychometric standpoint, in some circumstances single-item measures can provide useful information. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Location Indices for Ordinal Polytomous Items Based on Item Response Theory. Research Report. ETS RR-15-20

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ali, Usama S.; Chang, Hua-Hua; Anderson, Carolyn J.

2015-01-01

Polytomous items are typically described by multiple category-related parameters; situations, however, arise in which a single index is needed to describe an item's location along a latent trait continuum. Situations in which a single index would be needed include item selection in computerized adaptive testing or test assembly. Therefore single…

Comparison of Alternate and Original Items on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

PubMed Central

Lebedeva, Elena; Huang, Mei; Koski, Lisa

2016-01-01

Background The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly individuals. We hypothesized that measurement error when using the new alternate MoCA versions to monitor change over time could be related to the use of items that are not of comparable difficulty to their corresponding originals of similar content. The objective of this study was to compare the difficulty of the alternate MoCA items to the original ones. Methods Five selected items from alternate versions of the MoCA were included with items from the original MoCA administered adaptively to geriatric outpatients (N = 78). Rasch analysis was used to estimate the difficulty level of the items. Results None of the five items from the alternate versions matched the difficulty level of their corresponding original items. Conclusions This study demonstrates the potential benefits of a Rasch analysis-based approach for selecting items during the process of development of parallel forms. The results suggest that better match of the items from different MoCA forms by their difficulty would result in higher sensitivity to changes in cognitive function over time. PMID:27076861

Investigating a memory-based account of negative priming: support for selection-feature mismatch.

PubMed

MacDonald, P A; Joordens, S

2000-08-01

Using typical and modified negative priming tasks, the selection-feature mismatch account of negative priming was tested. In the modified task, participants performed selections on the basis of a semantic feature (e.g., referent size). This procedure has been shown to enhance negative priming (P. A. MacDonald, S. Joordens, & K. N. Seergobin, 1999). Across 3 experiments, negative priming occurred only when the repeated item mismatched in terms of the feature used as the basis for selections. When the repeated item was congruent on the selection feature across the prime and probe displays, positive priming arose. This pattern of results appeared in both the ignored- and the attended-repetition conditions. Negative priming does not result from previously ignoring an item. These findings strongly support the selection-feature mismatch account of negative priming and refute both the distractor inhibition and the episodic-retrieval explanations.

Responsiveness to healthy advertisements in adults: An experiment assessing beyond brand snack selection and the impact of restrained eating.

PubMed

Dovey, Terence M; Torab, Tina; Yen, Dorothy; Boyland, E J; Halford, Jason C G

2017-05-01

The objective of this study was to explore the impact of different advertising messages on adults' snack choice. Eighty participants (18-24 years old) were offered the choice between two snack packs following exposure to one of three advertising conditions. The snack packs contained either healthy or high fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) foods. Participants were exposed to commercials containing either non-food products, healthy food products or HFSS food products and their subsequent choice of snack pack was recorded. The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) was used to assess the impact of external, restrained and emotional eating behaviour on snack pack selection following exposure to advertisements. The majority of unrestrained participants preferentially choose the HFSS snack pack irrespective of advertisement condition. In contrast, high restrained individuals exposed to the healthy eating advertisement condition preferentially selected the healthy snack pack while those in other advertisement conditions refused to take either snack pack. The healthy eating message, when distributed through mass media, resonated with restrained eaters only. Exposure to healthy food adverts provoked restrained eaters into choosing a snack pack; while exposure to other messages results in restrained eaters refusing to take any foods. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Exploring religious mechanisms for healthy alcohol use: religious messages and drinking among Korean women in California.

PubMed

Ayers, John W; Hofstetter, C Richard; Hughes, Suzanne C; Irvin, Veronica L; Sim, D Eastern Kang; Hovell, Melbourne F

2009-11-01

This research identifies social reinforcers within religious institutions associated with alcohol consumption among Korean women in California. Data were drawn from telephone interviews with female adults (N = 591) selected from a random sampling of persons in California with Korean surnames during 2007. Approximately 70% of attempted interviews were completed, with 92% conducted in Korean. Respondents were asked about any lifetime drinking (yes/no), drinking rate (typical number of drinks consumed on drinking days among current drinkers), and messages discouraging "excessive drinking" from religious leaders or congregants. Bivariable and multivariable regressions were used for analysis. Approximately 70.4% of women reported any lifetime drinking, and drinkers drank a mean (SD) of 1.10 (1.22) drinks on drinking days. About 30.8% reported any exposure to religious leaders' messages discouraging excessive drinking, and 28.2% reported any exposure to similar messages from congregants. Each congregant's message was statistically significantly associated with a 5.1% lower probability (odds ratio = 0.775, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.626, 0.959) of any lifetime drinking. also, each congregant's message was associated with a 13.8% (B = -0.138; 95% CI: -0.306, 0.029) lower drinking rate, which was statistically significant after adjusting for covariates using a one-tailed test. Exposure to leaders' messages was not statistically significantly associated with any lifetime drinking or drinking rate. Social reinforcement in the form of religious messages may be one mechanism by which religious institutions influence drinking behaviors. For Korean women, messages from congregants had a unique impact beyond the traditional religiosity indicators. These social mechanisms provide public health interventionists with religious pathways to improve drinking behaviors.

Exploring Religious Mechanisms for Healthy Alcohol Use: Religious Messages and Drinking Among Korean Women in California*

PubMed Central

Ayers, John W.; Hofstetter, C. Richard; Hughes, Suzanne C.; Irvin, Veronica L.; Kang Sim, D. Eastern; Hovell, Melbourne F.

2009-01-01

Objective: This research identifies social reinforcers within religious institutions associated with alcohol consumption among Korean women in California. Method: Data were drawn from telephone interviews with female adults (N = 591) selected from a random sampling of persons in California with Korean surnames during 2007. Approximately 70% of attempted interviews were completed, with 92% conducted in Korean. Respondents were asked about any lifetime drinking (yes/no), drinking rate (typical number of drinks consumed on drinking days among current drinkers), and messages discouraging “excessive drinking” from religious leaders or congregants. Bivariable and multivariable regressions were used for analysis. Results: Approximately 70.4% of women reported any lifetime drinking, and drinkers drank a mean (SD) of 1.10 (1.22) drinks on drinking days. About 30.8%reported about 30.8% reported any exposure to religious leaders' messages discouraging excessive drinking, and 28.2% reported any exposure to similar messages from congregants. Each congregant's message was statistically significantly associated with a 5.1% lower probability (odds ratio = 0.775, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.626, 0.959) of any lifetime drinking. Also, each congregant's message was associated with a 13.8% (B = -0.138; 95% CI: -0.306, 0.029) lower drinking rate, which was statistically significant after adjusting for covariates using a one-tailed test. Exposure to leaders' messages was not statistically significantly associated with any lifetime drinking or drinking rate. Conclusions: Social reinforcement in the form of religious messages may be one mechanism by which religious institutions influence drinking behaviors. For Korean women, messages from congregants had a unique impact beyond the traditional religiosity indicators. These social mechanisms provide public health interventionists with religious pathways to improve drinking behaviors. PMID:19895765

5 CFR 591.215 - Where does OPM collect prices in the COLA and DC areas?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...-housing data throughout the survey area, and for selected items such as golf, snow skiing, and air travel..., City of Manassas, and City of Manassas Park. 1 1 For selected items, such as golf, snow skiing, and air...

Factors Related to Communication of Forest Fire Prevention Messages, a Study of Selected Rural Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griessman, B. Eugene; Bertrand, Alvin L.

Two rural Louisiana communities were selected to evaluate the effectiveness of certain types of communication in preventing man-caused forest fires. The communities were selected on the basis of differences in fire occurrence rates and other factors related to conservation. Questionnaires and personal interviews were utilized to determine views of…

Selective Attention with Human Earphones.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, C. James

1988-01-01

Describes a method for demonstrating dichotic listening tasks in the classroom which involves substituting live readers for tape recorded messages to allow direct student observation of various selective attention phenomena. Concludes that live readers offer pedagogical benefits that make them superior to tape recorded dichotic listening tasks.…

Gain versus loss-framed messaging and colorectal cancer screening among African Americans: A preliminary examination of perceived racism and culturally targeted dual messaging.

PubMed

Lucas, Todd; Hayman, Lenwood W; Blessman, James E; Asabigi, Kanzoni; Novak, Julie M

2016-05-01

This preliminary study examined the effect of gain versus loss-framed messaging as well as culturally targeted personal prevention messaging on African Americans' receptivity to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. This research also examined mechanistic functions of perceived racism in response to message framing. Community samples of African Americans (N = 132) and White Americans (N = 50) who were non-compliant with recommended CRC screening completed an online education module about CRC, and were either exposed to a gain-framed or loss-framed message about CRC screening. Half of African Americans were exposed to an additional and culturally targeted self-control message about personal prevention of CRC. Theory of planned behavior measures of attitudes, normative beliefs, perceived behavioural control, and intentions to obtain a CRC screen served as primary outcomes. The effect of messaging on perceived racism was also measured as an outcome. Consistent with prior research, White Americans were more receptive to CRC screening when exposed to a loss-framed message. However, African Americans were more receptive when exposed to a gain-framed message. The contrary effect of loss-framed messaging on receptivity to screening among African Americans was mediated by an increase in perceived racism. However, including an additional and culturally targeted prevention message mitigated the adverse effect of a loss-framed message. This study identifies an important potential cultural difference in the effect of message framing on illness screening among African Americans, while also suggesting a culturally relevant linking mechanism. This study also suggests the potential for simultaneously presented and culturally targeted messaging to alter the effects of gain and loss-framed messaging on African Americans. What is already known on this subject? African Americans are at an increased risk of both developing and dying from colorectal cancer (CRC). These disparities can be attributed in large part to deficits in the use of CRC screening among African Americans. Guided by prospect theory, available literature suggests that selectively pairing gain and loss-framed messaging with illness prevention and detection can better promote adaptive health behaviour. Specifically, loss-framed messages that emphasize the potential costs of failing to act may promote better use of illness detection behaviours, such as CRC screening. Emerging literature highlights the potential for cultural differences in the effects of gain and loss messaging on health behaviour, especially among collectivist or interdependent cultures. What does this study add? This study is the first to identify a potential and important cultural difference in the effect of message framing on cancer screening among African Americans, whereby gain-framed messaging better compelled receptivity to CRC screening. This study is also the first to show that the use of loss-framed messaging may reduce receptivity to CRC screening among African Americans by increasing perceived racism. This study demonstrates that simultaneously including a culturally targeted personal prevention message may attenuate the negative effects of loss-framed messaging on CRC screening among African Americans. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Feature-based and spatial attentional selection in visual working memory.

PubMed

Heuer, Anna; Schubö, Anna

2016-05-01

The contents of visual working memory (VWM) can be modulated by spatial cues presented during the maintenance interval ("retrocues"). Here, we examined whether attentional selection of representations in VWM can also be based on features. In addition, we investigated whether the mechanisms of feature-based and spatial attention in VWM differ with respect to parallel access to noncontiguous locations. In two experiments, we tested the efficacy of valid retrocues relying on different kinds of information. Specifically, participants were presented with a typical spatial retrocue pointing to two locations, a symbolic spatial retrocue (numbers mapping onto two locations), and two feature-based retrocues: a color retrocue (a blob of the same color as two of the items) and a shape retrocue (an outline of the shape of two of the items). The two cued items were presented at either contiguous or noncontiguous locations. Overall retrocueing benefits, as compared to a neutral condition, were observed for all retrocue types. Whereas feature-based retrocues yielded benefits for cued items presented at both contiguous and noncontiguous locations, spatial retrocues were only effective when the cued items had been presented at contiguous locations. These findings demonstrate that attentional selection and updating in VWM can operate on different kinds of information, allowing for a flexible and efficient use of this limited system. The observation that the representations of items presented at noncontiguous locations could only be reliably selected with feature-based retrocues suggests that feature-based and spatial attentional selection in VWM rely on different mechanisms, as has been shown for attentional orienting in the external world.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of face-to-face communication of tailored health messages: implications for practice.

PubMed

Wanyonyi, Kristina L; Themessl-Huber, Markus; Humphris, Gerry; Freeman, Ruth

2011-12-01

To conduct a systematic review of the effect of face-to-face delivered tailored health messages on patient behavior and applications for practice. A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Systematic searches of a number of electronic databases were conducted and criteria for selection of studies were specified. 6 experimental studies published between 2003 and 2009 were included. The studies were all randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of a face-to-face tailored messaging intervention. There were variation in their research design and methods used to randomize. All participants were aged at least 18 years. All of the studies reported positive changes in participants' health behavior with varying degrees of effect size and duration. A meta-analysis of the available data also confirmed an overall positive effect of tailored messaging on participants' health behaviors. The systematic review and the meta-analysis demonstrate a significant and positive effective of face-to-face tailored messaging upon participants' health behaviors. Health practitioners should be encouraged to allot time in their work routines to discover their patients' psycho-social characteristics and felt needs in order that they can provide a tailored health message to enable the patient to adopt health-promoting regimes into their lifestyle. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Secure Messaging in Electronic Health Records and Its Impact on Diabetes Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Kuo, Alyce; Dang, Stuti

2016-09-01

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which aims for the universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) in primary care settings and "meaningful use" of this technology. The objectives of "meaningful use" are well defined and executed in stages; one of the objectives of stage 2, beginning in 2014, was implementation of a secure messaging system between patients and providers. Secure messaging has been shown to positively affect patients who struggle with managing chronic diseases on a day to day basis. This review aims to assess the clinical evidence supporting the use of secure messaging in EHRs in self-management of diabetes. A systematic search of PubMed was conducted, and 320 results were returned. Of these, 11 were selected based on outlined criteria. Evidence from 7 of the 11 included studies suggests significant improvement in patients' hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) with the use of secure messaging. However, improvements in patients' secondary outcomes, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, were inconsistent. Further work must be done to determine how to best maximize the potential of available tools such as secure messaging and EHRs to improve patient outcomes.

Informational masking of speech in children: Effects of ipsilateral and contralateral distracters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wightman, Frederic L.; Kistler, Doris J.

2005-11-01

Using a closed-set speech recognition paradigm thought to be heavily influenced by informational masking, auditory selective attention was measured in 38 children (ages 4-16 years) and 8 adults (ages 20-30 years). The task required attention to a monaural target speech message that was presented with a time-synchronized distracter message in the same ear. In some conditions a second distracter message or a speech-shaped noise was presented to the other ear. Compared to adults, children required higher target/distracter ratios to reach comparable performance levels, reflecting more informational masking in these listeners. Informational masking in most conditions was confirmed by the fact that a large proportion of the errors made by the listeners were contained in the distracter message(s). There was a monotonic age effect, such that even the children in the oldest age group (13.6-16 years) demonstrated poorer performance than adults. For both children and adults, presentation of an additional distracter in the contralateral ear significantly reduced performance, even when the distracter messages were produced by a talker of different sex than the target talker. The results are consistent with earlier reports from pure-tone masking studies that informational masking effects are much larger in children than in adults.

Health messages on television commercials.

PubMed

Wallack, L; Dorfman, L

1992-01-01

Television is an important source of health information in the United States, yet little research has focused on the presentation of general health issues on television. This preliminary study reports on the health-related content of television commercials found on a typical television day. We conducted a content analysis of a composite day of television comprising 20 hours randomly selected over a three week period (April-May 1989). Findings are presented regarding health messages found in commercial time--advertisements, public service announcements (PSAs), editorials, and promotions for upcoming programs. Overall, 31% of the 654 commercial spots contained health messages. Most health messages were claims of good nutrition in food and beverage advertisements. PSAs comprise 1.4% of the 20-hour sample and 5.8% of the commercial time. Health messages appeared in 38% of PSAs, accounting for less than seven minutes. Not one PSA addressed tobacco, alcohol, or diet--the three leading behavioral risk factors for poor health. PSAs are usually seen as a mechanism by which the public health community can alert the public to important health issues. Given the declining pool of PSA time, public health educators will need to seek alternative strategies for influencing television content, such as media advocacy. In addition, further research on audience interpretation and response to commercial messages is suggested.

Self-affirmation alters the brain’s response to health messages and subsequent behavior change

PubMed Central

Falk, Emily B.; O’Donnell, Matthew Brook; Cascio, Christopher N.; Tinney, Francis; Kang, Yoona; Lieberman, Matthew D.; Taylor, Shelley E.; An, Lawrence; Resnicow, Kenneth; Strecher, Victor J.

2015-01-01

Health communications can be an effective way to increase positive health behaviors and decrease negative health behaviors; however, those at highest risk are often most defensive and least open to such messages. For example, increasing physical activity among sedentary individuals affects a wide range of important mental and physical health outcomes, but has proven a challenging task. Affirming core values (i.e., self-affirmation) before message exposure is a psychological technique that can increase the effectiveness of a wide range of interventions in health and other domains; however, the neural mechanisms of affirmation’s effects have not been studied. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural processes associated with affirmation effects during exposure to potentially threatening health messages. We focused on an a priori defined region of interest (ROI) in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a brain region selected for its association with self-related processing and positive valuation. Consistent with our hypotheses, those in the self-affirmation condition produced more activity in VMPFC during exposure to health messages and went on to increase their objectively measured activity levels more. These findings suggest that affirmation of core values may exert its effects by allowing at-risk individuals to see the self-relevance and value in otherwise-threatening messages. PMID:25646442

Social gating of sensory information during ongoing communication.

PubMed

Anders, Silke; Heussen, Yana; Sprenger, Andreas; Haynes, John-Dylan; Ethofer, Thomas

2015-01-01

Social context plays an important role in human communication. Depending on the nature of the source, the same communication signal might be processed in fundamentally different ways. However, the selective modulation (or "gating") of the flow of neural information during communication is not fully understood. Here, we use multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) and multivoxel connectivity analysis (MVCA), a novel technique that allows to analyse context-dependent changes of the strength interregional coupling between ensembles of voxels, to examine how the human brain differentially gates content-specific sensory information during ongoing perception of communication signals. In a simulated electronic communication experiment, participants received two alternative text messages during fMRI ("happy" or "sad") which they believed had been sent either by their real-life friend outside the scanner or by a computer. A region in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) selectively increased its functional coupling with sensory-content encoding regions in the visual cortex when a text message was perceived as being sent by the participant's friend, and decreased its functional coupling with these regions when a text message was perceived as being sent by the computer. Furthermore, the strength of neural encoding of content-specific information of text messages in the dmPFC was modulated by the social tie between the participant and her friend: the more of her spare time a participant reported to spend with her friend the stronger was the neural encoding. This suggests that the human brain selectively gates sensory information into the relevant network for processing the mental states of others, depending on the source of the communication signal. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigating Measurement Invariance in Computer-Based Personality Testing: The Impact of Using Anchor Items on Effect Size Indices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egberink, Iris J. L.; Meijer, Rob R.; Tendeiro, Jorge N.

2015-01-01

A popular method to assess measurement invariance of a particular item is based on likelihood ratio tests with all other items as anchor items. The results of this method are often only reported in terms of statistical significance, and researchers proposed different methods to empirically select anchor items. It is unclear, however, how many…

40 CFR 721.63 - Protection in the workplace.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... wear, personal protective equipment that provides a barrier to prevent dermal exposure to the substance in the specific work area where it is selected for use. Each such item of personal protective... other personal protective equipment selected in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the following items...

Developing a Strategy for Using Technology-Enhanced Items in Large-Scale Standardized Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, William

2017-01-01

As large-scale standardized tests move from paper-based to computer-based delivery, opportunities arise for test developers to make use of items beyond traditional selected and constructed response types. Technology-enhanced items (TEIs) have the potential to provide advantages over conventional items, including broadening construct measurement,…

The Application of Strength of Association Statistics to the Item Analysis of an In-Training Examination in Diagnostic Radiology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diamond, James J.; McCormick, Janet

1986-01-01

Using item responses from an in-training examination in diagnostic radiology, the application of a strength of association statistic to the general problem of item analysis is illustrated. Criteria for item selection, general issues of reliability, and error of measurement are discussed. (Author/LMO)

Use of consumer survey data to target cessation messages to smokers through mass media.

PubMed

Nelson, David E; Gallogly, Meg; Pederson, Linda L; Barry, Matthew; McGoldrick, Daniel; Maibach, Edward W

2008-03-01

We identified the mass media channels that reach the most cigarette smokers in an attempt to more effectively target smoking cessation messages. Reach estimates and index scores for smokers were taken from 2002-2003 ConsumerStyles and HealthStyles national surveys of adults (N=11660) to estimate overall and demographic-specific exposure measures for television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Smokers viewed more television, listened to more radio, and read fewer magazines and newspapers than did nonsmokers. Nearly one third of smokers were regular daytime or late-night television viewers. Selected cable television networks (USA, Lifetime, and Discovery Channel) and selected radio genres, such as classic rock and country, had high reach and were cost-efficient channels for targeting smokers. Certain mass media channels offer efficient opportunities to target smoking cessation messages so they reach relatively large audiences of smokers at relatively low cost. The approach used in this study can be applied to other types of health risk factors to improve health communication planning and increase efficiency of program media expenditures.

W-026, Waste Receiving and Processing Facility data management system validation and verification report

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

Palmer, M.E.

1997-12-05

This V and V Report includes analysis of two revisions of the DMS [data management system] System Requirements Specification (SRS) and the Preliminary System Design Document (PSDD); the source code for the DMS Communication Module (DMSCOM) messages; the source code for selected DMS Screens, and the code for the BWAS Simulator. BDM Federal analysts used a series of matrices to: compare the requirements in the System Requirements Specification (SRS) to the specifications found in the System Design Document (SDD), to ensure the design supports the business functions, compare the discreet parts of the SDD with each other, to ensure thatmore » the design is consistent and cohesive, compare the source code of the DMS Communication Module with the specifications, to ensure that the resultant messages will support the design, compare the source code of selected screens to the specifications to ensure that resultant system screens will support the design, compare the source code of the BWAS simulator with the requirements to interface with DMS messages and data transfers relating to the BWAS operations.« less

Assessing Patients’ Experiences with Communication Across the Cancer Care Continuum

PubMed Central

Mazor, Kathleen M.; Street, Richard L.; Sue, Valerie M.; Williams, Andrew E.; Rabin, Borsika A.; Arora, Neeraj K.

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate the relevance, performance and potential usefulness of the Patient Assessment of cancer Communication Experiences (PACE) items. Methods Items focusing on specific communication goals related to exchanging information, fostering healing relationships, responding to emotions, making decisions, enabling self-management, and managing uncertainty were tested via a retrospective, cross-sectional survey of adults who had been diagnosed with cancer. Analyses examined response frequencies, inter-item correlations, and coefficient alpha. Results A total of 366 adults were included in the analyses. Relatively few selected “Does Not Apply”, suggesting that items tap relevant communication experiences. Ratings of whether specific communication goals were achieved were strongly correlated with overall ratings of communication, suggesting item content reflects important aspects of communication. Coefficient alpha was ≥.90 for each item set, indicating excellent reliability. Variations in the percentage of respondents selecting the most positive response across items suggest results can identify strengths and weaknesses. Conclusion The PACE items tap relevant, important aspects of communication during cancer care, and may be useful to cancer care teams desiring detailed feedback. PMID:26979476

Effects of aging on neural connectivity underlying selective memory for emotional scenes

PubMed Central

Waring, Jill D.; Addis, Donna Rose; Kensinger, Elizabeth A.

2012-01-01

Older adults show age-related reductions in memory for neutral items within complex visual scenes, but just like young adults, older adults exhibit a memory advantage for emotional items within scenes compared with the background scene information. The present study examined young and older adults’ encoding-stage effective connectivity for selective memory of emotional items versus memory for both the emotional item and its background. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed scenes containing either positive or negative items within neutral backgrounds. Outside the scanner, participants completed a memory test for items and backgrounds. Irrespective of scene content being emotionally positive or negative, older adults had stronger positive connections among frontal regions and from frontal regions to medial temporal lobe structures than did young adults, especially when items and backgrounds were subsequently remembered. These results suggest there are differences between young and older adults’ connectivity accompanying the encoding of emotional scenes. Older adults may require more frontal connectivity to encode all elements of a scene rather than just encoding the emotional item. PMID:22542836

Effects of aging on neural connectivity underlying selective memory for emotional scenes.

PubMed

Waring, Jill D; Addis, Donna Rose; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2013-02-01

Older adults show age-related reductions in memory for neutral items within complex visual scenes, but just like young adults, older adults exhibit a memory advantage for emotional items within scenes compared with the background scene information. The present study examined young and older adults' encoding-stage effective connectivity for selective memory of emotional items versus memory for both the emotional item and its background. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed scenes containing either positive or negative items within neutral backgrounds. Outside the scanner, participants completed a memory test for items and backgrounds. Irrespective of scene content being emotionally positive or negative, older adults had stronger positive connections among frontal regions and from frontal regions to medial temporal lobe structures than did young adults, especially when items and backgrounds were subsequently remembered. These results suggest there are differences between young and older adults' connectivity accompanying the encoding of emotional scenes. Older adults may require more frontal connectivity to encode all elements of a scene rather than just encoding the emotional item. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale: An empirical investigation

PubMed Central

Rosen, L.D.; Whaling, K.; Carrier, L.M.; Cheever, N.A.; Rokkum, J.

2015-01-01

Current approaches to measuring people’s everyday usage of technology-based media and other computer-related activities have proved to be problematic as they use varied outcome measures, fail to measure behavior in a broad range of technology-related domains and do not take into account recently developed types of technology including smartphones. In the present study, a wide variety of items, covering a range of up-to-date technology and media usage behaviors. Sixty-six items concerning technology and media usage, along with 18 additional items assessing attitudes toward technology, were administered to two independent samples of individuals, comprising 942 participants. Factor analyses were used to create 11 usage subscales representing smartphone usage, general social media usage, Internet searching, e-mailing, media sharing, text messaging, video gaming, online friendships, Facebook friendships, phone calling, and watching television in addition to four attitude-based subscales: positive attitudes, negative attitudes, technological anxiety/dependence, and attitudes toward task-switching. All subscales showed strong reliabilities and relationships between the subscales and pre-existing measures of daily media usage and Internet addiction were as predicted. Given the reliability and validity results, the new Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale was suggested as a method of measuring media and technology involvement across a variety of types of research studies either as a single 60-item scale or any subset of the 15 subscales. PMID:25722534

Development of a Microsoft Excel tool for one-parameter Rasch model of continuous items: an application to a safety attitude survey.

PubMed

Chien, Tsair-Wei; Shao, Yang; Kuo, Shu-Chun

2017-01-10

Many continuous item responses (CIRs) are encountered in healthcare settings, but no one uses item response theory's (IRT) probabilistic modeling to present graphical presentations for interpreting CIR results. A computer module that is programmed to deal with CIRs is required. To present a computer module, validate it, and verify its usefulness in dealing with CIR data, and then to apply the model to real healthcare data in order to show how the CIR that can be applied to healthcare settings with an example regarding a safety attitude survey. Using Microsoft Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), we designed a computer module that minimizes the residuals and calculates model's expected scores according to person responses across items. Rasch models based on a Wright map and on KIDMAP were demonstrated to interpret results of the safety attitude survey. The author-made CIR module yielded OUTFIT mean square (MNSQ) and person measures equivalent to those yielded by professional Rasch Winsteps software. The probabilistic modeling of the CIR module provides messages that are much more valuable to users and show the CIR advantage over classic test theory. Because of advances in computer technology, healthcare users who are familiar to MS Excel can easily apply the study CIR module to deal with continuous variables to benefit comparisons of data with a logistic distribution and model fit statistics.

The Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale: An empirical investigation.

PubMed

Rosen, L D; Whaling, K; Carrier, L M; Cheever, N A; Rokkum, J

2013-11-01

Current approaches to measuring people's everyday usage of technology-based media and other computer-related activities have proved to be problematic as they use varied outcome measures, fail to measure behavior in a broad range of technology-related domains and do not take into account recently developed types of technology including smartphones. In the present study, a wide variety of items, covering a range of up-to-date technology and media usage behaviors. Sixty-six items concerning technology and media usage, along with 18 additional items assessing attitudes toward technology, were administered to two independent samples of individuals, comprising 942 participants. Factor analyses were used to create 11 usage subscales representing smartphone usage, general social media usage, Internet searching, e-mailing, media sharing, text messaging, video gaming, online friendships, Facebook friendships, phone calling, and watching television in addition to four attitude-based subscales: positive attitudes, negative attitudes, technological anxiety/dependence, and attitudes toward task-switching. All subscales showed strong reliabilities and relationships between the subscales and pre-existing measures of daily media usage and Internet addiction were as predicted. Given the reliability and validity results, the new Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale was suggested as a method of measuring media and technology involvement across a variety of types of research studies either as a single 60-item scale or any subset of the 15 subscales.

The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data (RECORD) Statement

PubMed Central

Benchimol, Eric I.; Smeeth, Liam; Guttmann, Astrid; Harron, Katie; Moher, David; Petersen, Irene; Sørensen, Henrik T.; von Elm, Erik; Langan, Sinéad M.

2015-01-01

Routinely collected health data, obtained for administrative and clinical purposes without specific a priori research goals, are increasingly used for research. The rapid evolution and availability of these data have revealed issues not addressed by existing reporting guidelines, such as Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected health Data (RECORD) statement was created to fill these gaps. RECORD was created as an extension to the STROBE statement to address reporting items specific to observational studies using routinely collected health data. RECORD consists of a checklist of 13 items related to the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion section of articles, and other information required for inclusion in such research reports. This document contains the checklist and explanatory and elaboration information to enhance the use of the checklist. Examples of good reporting for each RECORD checklist item are also included herein. This document, as well as the accompanying website and message board (http://www.record-statement.org), will enhance the implementation and understanding of RECORD. Through implementation of RECORD, authors, journals editors, and peer reviewers can encourage transparency of research reporting. PMID:26440803

The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data (RECORD) statement.

PubMed

Benchimol, Eric I; Smeeth, Liam; Guttmann, Astrid; Harron, Katie; Moher, David; Petersen, Irene; Sørensen, Henrik T; von Elm, Erik; Langan, Sinéad M

2015-10-01

Routinely collected health data, obtained for administrative and clinical purposes without specific a priori research goals, are increasingly used for research. The rapid evolution and availability of these data have revealed issues not addressed by existing reporting guidelines, such as Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected health Data (RECORD) statement was created to fill these gaps. RECORD was created as an extension to the STROBE statement to address reporting items specific to observational studies using routinely collected health data. RECORD consists of a checklist of 13 items related to the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion section of articles, and other information required for inclusion in such research reports. This document contains the checklist and explanatory and elaboration information to enhance the use of the checklist. Examples of good reporting for each RECORD checklist item are also included herein. This document, as well as the accompanying website and message board (http://www.record-statement.org), will enhance the implementation and understanding of RECORD. Through implementation of RECORD, authors, journals editors, and peer reviewers can encourage transparency of research reporting.

[The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data (RECORD) statement].

PubMed

Benchimol, Eric I; Smeeth, Liam; Guttmann, Astrid; Harron, Katie; Hemkens, Lars G; Moher, David; Petersen, Irene; Sørensen, Henrik T; von Elm, Erik; Langan, Sinéad M

2016-10-01

Routinely collected health data, obtained for administrative and clinical purposes without specific a priori research goals, are increasingly used for research. The rapid evolution and availability of these data have revealed issues not addressed by existing reporting guidelines, such as Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected health Data (RECORD) statement was created to fill these gaps. RECORD was created as an extension to the STROBE statement to address reporting items specific to observational studies using routinely collected health data. RECORD consists of a checklist of 13 items related to the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion section of articles, and other information required for inclusion in such research reports. This document contains the checklist as well as explanatory and elaboration information to enhance the use of the checklist. Examples of good reporting for each RECORD checklist item are also included. This document, as well as the accompanying website and message board (http://www.record-statement.org), will improve the implementation and understanding of RECORD. By implementing RECORD, authors, journals editors, and peer reviewers can enhance transparency of research reporting. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Hold the Applause!: Do Accelerated Reader (TM) and Electronic Bookshelf (TM) Send the Right Message?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Betty

1996-01-01

Although the computerized reading management programs, Accelerated Reader and Electronic Bookshelf, increase library circulation and standardized test scores, they have drawbacks. Both programs devalue reading, diminish motivation, limit title choice, restrict materials selection and collection development, discourage independent selection of…

An item-response theory approach to safety climate measurement: The Liberty Mutual Safety Climate Short Scales.

PubMed

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; Chen, Zhuo; Perry, MacKenna; Cheung, Janelle H; Wang, Mo

2017-06-01

Zohar and Luria's (2005) safety climate (SC) scale, measuring organization- and group- level SC each with 16 items, is widely used in research and practice. To improve the utility of the SC scale, we shortened the original full-length SC scales. Item response theory (IRT) analysis was conducted using a sample of 29,179 frontline workers from various industries. Based on graded response models, we shortened the original scales in two ways: (1) selecting items with above-average discriminating ability (i.e. offering more than 6.25% of the original total scale information), resulting in 8-item organization-level and 11-item group-level SC scales; and (2) selecting the most informative items that together retain at least 30% of original scale information, resulting in 4-item organization-level and 4-item group-level SC scales. All four shortened scales had acceptable reliability (≥0.89) and high correlations (≥0.95) with the original scale scores. The shortened scales will be valuable for academic research and practical survey implementation in improving occupational safety. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

ERP markers of target selection discriminate children with high vs. low working memory capacity.

PubMed

Shimi, Andria; Nobre, Anna Christina; Scerif, Gaia

2015-01-01

Selective attention enables enhancing a subset out of multiple competing items to maximize the capacity of our limited visual working memory (VWM) system. Multiple behavioral and electrophysiological studies have revealed the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting adults' selective attention of visual percepts for encoding in VWM. However, research on children is more limited. What are the neural mechanisms involved in children's selection of incoming percepts in service of VWM? Do these differ from the ones subserving adults' selection? Ten-year-olds and adults used a spatial arrow cue to select a colored item for later recognition from an array of four colored items. The temporal dynamics of selection were investigated through EEG signals locked to the onset of the memory array. Both children and adults elicited significantly more negative activity over posterior scalp locations contralateral to the item to-be-selected for encoding (N2pc). However, this activity was elicited later and for longer in children compared to adults. Furthermore, although children as a group did not elicit a significant N2pc during the time-window in which N2pc was elicited in adults, the magnitude of N2pc during the "adult time-window" related to their behavioral performance during the later recognition phase of the task. This in turn highlights how children's neural activity subserving attention during encoding relates to better subsequent VWM performance. Significant differences were observed when children were divided into groups of high vs. low VWM capacity as a function of cueing benefit. Children with large cue benefits in VWM capacity elicited an adult-like contralateral negativity following attentional selection of the to-be-encoded item, whereas children with low VWM capacity did not. These results corroborate the close coupling between selective attention and VWM from childhood and elucidate further the attentional mechanisms constraining VWM performance in children.

Item generation and design testing of a questionnaire to assess degenerative joint disease-associated pain in cats.

PubMed

Zamprogno, Helia; Hansen, Bernie D; Bondell, Howard D; Sumrell, Andrea Thomson; Simpson, Wendy; Robertson, Ian D; Brown, James; Pease, Anthony P; Roe, Simon C; Hardie, Elizabeth M; Wheeler, Simon J; Lascelles, B Duncan X

2010-12-01

To determine the items (question topics) for a subjective instrument to assess degenerative joint disease (DJD)-associated chronic pain in cats and determine the instrument design most appropriate for use by cat owners. 100 randomly selected client-owned cats from 6 months to 20 years old. Cats were evaluated to determine degree of radiographic DJD and signs of pain throughout the skeletal system. Two groups were identified: high DJD pain and low DJD pain. Owner-answered questions about activity and signs of pain were compared between the 2 groups to define items relating to chronic DJD pain. Interviews with 45 cat owners were performed to generate items. Fifty-three cat owners who had not been involved in any other part of the study, 19 veterinarians, and 2 statisticians assessed 6 preliminary instrument designs. 22 cats were selected for each group; 19 important items were identified, resulting in 12 potential items for the instrument; and 3 additional items were identified from owner interviews. Owners and veterinarians selected a 5-point descriptive instrument design over 11-point or visual analogue scale formats. Behaviors relating to activity were substantially different between healthy cats and cats with signs of DJD-associated pain. Fifteen items were identified as being potentially useful, and the preferred instrument design was identified. This information could be used to construct an owner-based questionnaire to assess feline DJD-associated pain. Once validated, such a questionnaire would assist in evaluating potential analgesic treatments for these patients.

Food depictions in picture books for preschool children: Frequency, centrality, and affect.

PubMed

Goldman, Jane A; Descartes, Lara

2016-01-01

The food content and messages depicted in popular children's picture books were examined using a set of 100 "Favorite Books for Preschoolers." Sixty-nine of these books depicted food and comprised the sample. Examined were: the types and frequencies of food depicted in the text and/or illustrations of the books; the centrality (central, background); and the affect (positive, neutral, or negative) of those depictions. Each food item was counted, categorized by type, and where possible, coded for centrality and affect. Fruit was the most frequently depicted food, followed by sweetened baked goods, dairy, and vegetables. However, centrality and affect differed for these foods. For example, sweet baked goods were high in both centrality and affect. In contrast vegetables were relatively high in centrality but most often neutral in affect. Ice cream, although not in many books, always was associated with positive outcomes. Results were compared to findings in the literature on food messages presented in children's television programs. The ratio of healthy foods to nutrient-poor foods was higher in the books. However, as in television, the books emphasized the desirability of sweetened foods. The results point to the need for detailed analyses of the types of presentations associated with different foods presented in books for children, as well as for continued investigations into food messages in the growing range of media available to young children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Best Practices for Suicide Prevention Messaging and Evaluating California's "Know the Signs" Media Campaign.

PubMed

Acosta, Joie; Ramchand, Rajeev; Becker, Amariah

2017-09-01

Although communication is a key component of US strategies to prevent suicide and there are a number of marketing campaigns promoting messages that suicide is a preventable public health problem, there has been little evaluation of these campaigns. The study describes the development of a checklist of best practices for suicide prevention communication campaigns and the use of the checklist to evaluate California's investment in "Know the Signs" (KTS-M), a suicide prevention mass media campaign. We conducted a literature review and solicited expert feedback to identify best practices and then used the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method to assess whether KTS-M was consistent with the identified best practices. Overall, experts agreed that KTS-M adhered to most of the 46 checklist items and suggested that the campaign was among the best suicide prevention media campaigns they had observed. The checklist was developed through expert input and literature review and focuses only on media campaigns. Given the nascent state of the evidence about what makes an effective suicide prevention message and the growing number of campaigns, the checklist of best practices reflects one way of promoting quality in this evolving field. The consistency between the experts' comments and their ratings of KTS-M suggests that the checklist may provide important guidance to inform the development of future campaigns and the evaluation of ongoing campaigns.

Item Selection Criteria with Practical Constraints for Computerized Classification Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Chuan-Ju

2011-01-01

This study compares four item selection criteria for a two-category computerized classification testing: (1) Fisher information (FI), (2) Kullback-Leibler information (KLI), (3) weighted log-odds ratio (WLOR), and (4) mutual information (MI), with respect to the efficiency and accuracy of classification decision using the sequential probability…

Selecting Lower Priced Items.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleinert, Harold L.; And Others

1988-01-01

A program used to teach moderately to severely mentally handicapped students to select the lower priced items in actual shopping activities is described. Through a five-phase process, students are taught to compare prices themselves as well as take into consideration variations in the sizes of containers and varying product weights. (VW)

ITEM SELECTION TECHNIQUES AND EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

COX, RICHARD C.

THE VALIDITY OF AN EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST DEPENDS UPON THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SPECIFIED EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THESE OBJECTIVES ARE MEASURED BY THE EVALUATION INSTRUMENT. THIS STUDY IS DESIGNED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF STATISTICAL ITEM SELECTION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE FINAL EVALUATION INSTRUMENT AS COMPARED WITH…

Mutual Information Item Selection in Adaptive Classification Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissman, Alexander

2007-01-01

A general approach for item selection in adaptive multiple-category classification tests is provided. The approach uses mutual information (MI), a special case of the Kullback-Leibler distance, or relative entropy. MI works efficiently with the sequential probability ratio test and alleviates the difficulties encountered with using other local-…

Model Selection Indices for Polytomous Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Taehoon; Cohen, Allan S.; Sung, Hyun-Jung

2009-01-01

This study examines the utility of four indices for use in model selection with nested and nonnested polytomous item response theory (IRT) models: a cross-validation index and three information-based indices. Four commonly used polytomous IRT models are considered: the graded response model, the generalized partial credit model, the partial credit…

ARBA Guide to Biographical Resources 1986-1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wick, Robert L., Ed.; Mood, Terry Ann, Ed.

This guide provides a representative selection of biographical dictionaries and related works useful to the reference and collection development processes in all types of libraries. Three criteria were used in selection: (1) each item included was published within the past 12 years; (2) each item has been included in American Reference Books…

Taking Turns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopkins, Brian

2010-01-01

Two people take turns selecting from an even number of items. Their relative preferences over the items can be described as a permutation, then tools from algebraic combinatorics can be used to answer various questions. We describe each person's optimal selection strategies including how each could make use of knowing the other's preferences. We…

The Performance of IRT Model Selection Methods with Mixed-Format Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whittaker, Tiffany A.; Chang, Wanchen; Dodd, Barbara G.

2012-01-01

When tests consist of multiple-choice and constructed-response items, researchers are confronted with the question of which item response theory (IRT) model combination will appropriately represent the data collected from these mixed-format tests. This simulation study examined the performance of six model selection criteria, including the…

The Effects of Messages about the Causes of Obesity on Disciplinary Action Decisions for Overweight Employees.

PubMed

Lindeman, Meghan I H; Crandall, Amanda K; Finkelstein, Lisa M

2017-05-19

We investigated the impact of messages about the causes of obesity (controllable or uncontrollable) on the disciplinary action consequences selected for obese employees in response to a work-related mistake. Participants read about either the controllable or uncontrollable causes of obesity before reviewing an ostensible employee file that included a description of an employee mistake. Depending on condition, the file contained a photo of the employee that either depicted them as obese or average weight. Participants were more willing to withhold a raise or promotion from an obese employee than from an average-weight employee. Further, there was little evidence that the messages about the causes of obesity affected participants' perceived control and self-efficacy for healthy behaviors.

A point-of-sale communications campaign to provide consumers safety information on drug-dietary supplement interactions: a pilot study.

PubMed

Perlman, Adam I; Lebow, David G; Raphael, Karen; Ali, Ather; Simmons, Leigh Ann

2013-01-01

Concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals has become increasingly common, and with this trend, so has the incidence of adverse drug-supplement interactions. In the current market, consumers have no way to distinguish between safe and potentially harmful supplements. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that messages designed to increase consumers' awareness of potential health risks of concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals would promote further consideration and action, as evidenced by (a) seeking additional information from an authoritative source or qualified health care professional and (b) changing dietary supplement usage patterns. To test this hypothesis, an innovative consumer information delivery system, referred to as the Buyer Information Network (BuyIN), was utilized. BuyIN uses currently available, Web-enabled point-of-sale (POS) technology to provide up-to-date, evidence-based, health- and safety-related messages to consumers at the retail checkout counter. Results showed that more than one-fourth (27.1%) of consumers (n = 199) who purchased targeted items reported they were aware of the messages. Of this subgroup of aware consumers, 11.2% reported that they sought additional information from a physician or pharmacist, 11.5% reported that they visited the website listed on the coupon, and 10.5% indicated that they changed their dietary supplement usage patterns as a result of the messages. Future research should include a large-scale study of a fully implemented and capable system at multiple test sites around the country, including investigating the utility of BuyIN in different retail settings.

A Point-of-Sale Communications Campaign to Provide Consumers Safety Information on Drug-Dietary Supplement Interactions:A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Perlman, Adam I.; Lebow, David G.; Raphael, Karen; Ali, Ather; Simmons, Leigh Ann

2013-01-01

Concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals has become increasingly common, and with this trend, so has the incidence of adverse drug–supplement interactions. In the current market, consumers have no way to distinguish between safe and potentially harmful supplements. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that messages designed to increase consumers' awareness of potential health risks of concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals would promote further consideration and action, as evidenced by (a) seeking additional information from an authoritative source or qualified health care professional and (b) changing dietary supplement usage patterns. To test this hypothesis, an innovative consumer information delivery system, referred to as the Buyer Information Network (BuyIN), was utilized. BuyIN uses currently available, Web-enabled point-of-sale (POS) technology to provide up-to-date, evidence-based, health- and safety-related messages to consumers at the retail checkout counter. Results showed that more than one-fourth (27.1%) of consumers (n = 199) who purchased targeted items reported they were aware of the messages. Of this subgroup of aware consumers, 11.2% reported that they sought additional information from a physician or pharmacist, 11.5% reported that they visited the website listed on the coupon, and 10.5% indicated that they changed their dietary supplement usage patterns as a result of the messages. Future research should include a large-scale study of a fully implemented and capable system at multiple test sites around the country, including investigating the utility of BuyIN in different retail settings. PMID:23356591

An Evaluation of "Intentional" Weighting of Extended-Response or Constructed-Response Items in Tests with Mixed Item Types.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ito, Kyoko; Sykes, Robert C.

This study investigated the practice of weighting a type of test item, such as constructed response, more than other types of items, such as selected response, to compute student scores for a mixed-item type of test. The study used data from statewide writing field tests in grades 3, 5, and 8 and considered two contexts, that in which a single…

Method of generating features optimal to a dataset and classifier

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

Bruillard, Paul J.; Gosink, Luke J.; Jarman, Kenneth D.

A method of generating features optimal to a particular dataset and classifier is disclosed. A dataset of messages is inputted and a classifier is selected. An algebra of features is encoded. Computable features that are capable of describing the dataset from the algebra of features are selected. Irredundant features that are optimal for the classifier and the dataset are selected.

Science Library of Test Items. Volume Two.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New South Wales Dept. of Education, Sydney (Australia).

The second volume of test items in the Science Library of Test Items is intended as a resource to assist teachers in implementing and evaluating science courses in the first 4 years of Australian secondary school. The items were selected from questions submitted to the School Certificate Development Unit by teachers in New South Wales. Only the…

Integrating Test-Form Formatting into Automated Test Assembly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diao, Qi; van der Linden, Wim J.

2013-01-01

Automated test assembly uses the methodology of mixed integer programming to select an optimal set of items from an item bank. Automated test-form generation uses the same methodology to optimally order the items and format the test form. From an optimization point of view, production of fully formatted test forms directly from the item pool using…

Network support for system initiated checkpoints

DOEpatents

Chen, Dong; Heidelberger, Philip

2013-01-29

A system, method and computer program product for supporting system initiated checkpoints in parallel computing systems. The system and method generates selective control signals to perform checkpointing of system related data in presence of messaging activity associated with a user application running at the node. The checkpointing is initiated by the system such that checkpoint data of a plurality of network nodes may be obtained even in the presence of user applications running on highly parallel computers that include ongoing user messaging activity.

"Please Don't Send Us Spam!" A Participative, Theory-Based Methodology for Developing an mHealth Intervention.

PubMed

Toefy, Yoesrie; Skinner, Donald; Thomsen, Sarah

2016-08-17

Mobile health solutions have the potential of reducing burdens on health systems and empowering patients with important information. However, there is a lack of theory-based mHealth interventions. The purpose of our study was to develop a participative, theory-based, mobile phone, audio messaging intervention attractive to recently circumcised men at voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) clinics in the Cape Town area in South Africa. We aimed to shift some of the tasks related to postoperative counselling on wound management and goal setting on safe sex. We place an emphasis on describing the full method of message generation to allow for replication. We developed an mHealth intervention using a staggered qualitative methodology: (1) focus group discussions with 52 recently circumcised men and their partners to develop initial voice messages they felt were relevant and appropriate, (2) thematic analysis and expert consultation to select the final messages for pilot testing, and (3) cognitive interviews with 12 recent VMMC patients to judge message comprehension and rank the messages. Message content and phasing were guided by the theory of planned behavior and the health action process approach. Patients and their partners came up with 245 messages they thought would help men during the wound-healing period. Thematic analysis revealed 42 different themes. Expert review and cognitive interviews with more patients resulted in 42 messages with a clear division in terms of needs and expectations between the initial wound-healing recovery phase (weeks 1-3) and the adjustment phase (weeks 4-6). Discussions with patients also revealed potential barriers to voice messaging, such as lack of technical knowledge of mobile phones and concerns about the invasive nature of the intervention. Patients' own suggested messages confirmed Ajzen's theory of planned behavior that if a health promotion intervention can build trust and be relevant to the recipient's needs in the first contacts, then the same recipients will perceive subsequent motivational messages more favorably. The health action process approach was also a useful tool for guiding the phasing of the messages. Participants were more positive and salutogenic than public health experts. The system showed how a process of consultation can work with a set of potential recipients of an mHealth service to ensure that their needs are included. Classic behavioral theories can and should be used to design modern mHealth interventions. We also believe that patients are the best source of messaging, ensuring that messages are culturally relevant and interesting to the recipient.

The Subset Sum game.

PubMed

Darmann, Andreas; Nicosia, Gaia; Pferschy, Ulrich; Schauer, Joachim

2014-03-16

In this work we address a game theoretic variant of the Subset Sum problem, in which two decision makers (agents/players) compete for the usage of a common resource represented by a knapsack capacity. Each agent owns a set of integer weighted items and wants to maximize the total weight of its own items included in the knapsack. The solution is built as follows: Each agent, in turn, selects one of its items (not previously selected) and includes it in the knapsack if there is enough capacity. The process ends when the remaining capacity is too small for including any item left. We look at the problem from a single agent point of view and show that finding an optimal sequence of items to select is an [Formula: see text]-hard problem. Therefore we propose two natural heuristic strategies and analyze their worst-case performance when (1) the opponent is able to play optimally and (2) the opponent adopts a greedy strategy. From a centralized perspective we observe that some known results on the approximation of the classical Subset Sum can be effectively adapted to the multi-agent version of the problem.

The Subset Sum game☆

PubMed Central

Darmann, Andreas; Nicosia, Gaia; Pferschy, Ulrich; Schauer, Joachim

2014-01-01

In this work we address a game theoretic variant of the Subset Sum problem, in which two decision makers (agents/players) compete for the usage of a common resource represented by a knapsack capacity. Each agent owns a set of integer weighted items and wants to maximize the total weight of its own items included in the knapsack. The solution is built as follows: Each agent, in turn, selects one of its items (not previously selected) and includes it in the knapsack if there is enough capacity. The process ends when the remaining capacity is too small for including any item left. We look at the problem from a single agent point of view and show that finding an optimal sequence of items to select is an NP-hard problem. Therefore we propose two natural heuristic strategies and analyze their worst-case performance when (1) the opponent is able to play optimally and (2) the opponent adopts a greedy strategy. From a centralized perspective we observe that some known results on the approximation of the classical Subset Sum can be effectively adapted to the multi-agent version of the problem. PMID:25844012

Sexty Southerners: Sexting Content and Behaviors among Selected Southern Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Heather K.; Marshall, S. Alexandra

2016-01-01

Sexting is defined as sending/posting/sharing sexually explicit messages or nude/semi-nude images via electronic communication. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess and determine relationships of sexting behavioral intentions, sexting behaviors, and sexting content among selected Southern undergraduate students. Methods: Survey…

DRD4 long allele carriers show heightened attention to high-priority items relative to low-priority items.

PubMed

Gorlick, Marissa A; Worthy, Darrell A; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E; Beevers, Christopher G; Maddox, W Todd

2015-03-01

Humans with seven or more repeats in exon III of the DRD4 gene (long DRD4 carriers) sometimes demonstrate impaired attention, as seen in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at other times demonstrate heightened attention, as seen in addictive behavior. Although the clinical effects of DRD4 are the focus of much work, this gene may not necessarily serve as a "risk" gene for attentional deficits, but as a plasticity gene where attention is heightened for priority items in the environment and impaired for minor items. Here we examine the role of DRD4 in two tasks that benefit from selective attention to high-priority information. We examine a category learning task where performance is supported by focusing on features and updating verbal rules. Here, selective attention to the most salient features is associated with good performance. In addition, we examine the Operation Span (OSPAN) task, a working memory capacity task that relies on selective attention to update and maintain items in memory while also performing a secondary task. Long DRD4 carriers show superior performance relative to short DRD4 homozygotes (six or less tandem repeats) in both the category learning and OSPAN tasks. These results suggest that DRD4 may serve as a "plasticity" gene where individuals with the long allele show heightened selective attention to high-priority items in the environment, which can be beneficial in the appropriate context.

DRD4 Long Allele Carriers Show Heightened Attention to High-Priority Items Relative to Low-Priority Items

PubMed Central

Gorlick, Marissa A.; Worthy, Darrell A.; Knopik, Valerie S.; McGeary, John E.; Beevers, Christopher G.; Maddox, W. Todd

2014-01-01

Humans with 7 or more repeats in exon III of the DRD4 gene (long DRD4 carriers) sometimes demonstrate impaired attention, as seen in ADHD, and at other times demonstrate heightened attention, as seen in addictive behavior. Though the clinical effects of DRD4 are the focus of much work, this gene may not necessarily serve as a ‘risk’ gene for attentional deficits, but as a plasticity gene where attention is heightened for priority items in the environment and impaired for minor items. Here we examine the role of DRD4 in two tasks that benefit from selective attention to high-priority information. We examine a category learning task where performance is supported by focusing on features and updating verbal rules. Here selective attention to the most salient features is associated with good performance. In addition, we examine the Operation Span Task (OSPAN), a working memory capacity task that relies on selective attention to update and maintain items in memory while also performing a secondary task. Long DRD4 carriers show superior performance relative to short DRD4 homozygotes (six or less tandem repeats) in both the category learning and OSPAN tasks. These results suggest that DRD4 may serve as a ‘plasticity’ gene where individuals with the long allele show heightened selective attention to high-priority items in the environment, which can be beneficial in the appropriate context. PMID:25244120

New decision criteria for selecting delta check methods based on the ratio of the delta difference to the width of the reference range can be generally applicable for each clinical chemistry test item.

PubMed

Park, Sang Hyuk; Kim, So-Young; Lee, Woochang; Chun, Sail; Min, Won-Ki

2012-09-01

Many laboratories use 4 delta check methods: delta difference, delta percent change, rate difference, and rate percent change. However, guidelines regarding decision criteria for selecting delta check methods have not yet been provided. We present new decision criteria for selecting delta check methods for each clinical chemistry test item. We collected 811,920 and 669,750 paired (present and previous) test results for 27 clinical chemistry test items from inpatients and outpatients, respectively. We devised new decision criteria for the selection of delta check methods based on the ratio of the delta difference to the width of the reference range (DD/RR). Delta check methods based on these criteria were compared with those based on the CV% of the absolute delta difference (ADD) as well as those reported in 2 previous studies. The delta check methods suggested by new decision criteria based on the DD/RR ratio corresponded well with those based on the CV% of the ADD except for only 2 items each in inpatients and outpatients. Delta check methods based on the DD/RR ratio also corresponded with those suggested in the 2 previous studies, except for 1 and 7 items in inpatients and outpatients, respectively. The DD/RR method appears to yield more feasible and intuitive selection criteria and can easily explain changes in the results by reflecting both the biological variation of the test item and the clinical characteristics of patients in each laboratory. We suggest this as a measure to determine delta check methods.

Telemedicine in dermatology during external operations.

PubMed

Morand, J J

2017-11-01

Telemedicine makes it possible to refer clinical, laboratory, and radiological questions to distant experts, sometimes in real time. This study examines a selection of internet messages sent by physicians carrying out overseas missions or assigned to remote locations and analyzes the interest but also the limitations of teleconsultations in dermatology. The effectiveness of the response depended on the quality of the message, including correct symptom descriptions, thorough history-taking, and the definition of the attached images, as well as the field experience of the specialists receiving the message. Feedback is also of fundamental importance in improving remote expert assessment. The main problem is that conclusive diagnosis is often prevented by the lack of equipment and follow-up available in the field, i.e., inability to perform confirmatory testing or obtain sufficient follow-up information to evaluate the outcome of trial treatments. Training of doctors and nurses in the French Army Medical Service in telemedicine and in clearer better structured messages can contribute to the effectiveness of this mode of communication.

Community-Based Participatory Research in an Obesity Prevention Media Campaign for Mexican Americans: Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta!

PubMed Central

Reininger, Belinda M.; Barroso, Cristina S.; Mitchell-Bennett, Lisa; Cantu, Ethel; Fernandez, Maria E.; Gonzalez, Dora Alicia; Chavez, Marge; Freeberg, Diamantina; McAlister, Alfred

2009-01-01

Background and Methods To address obesity and related morbidities, community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategies were employed to design / evaluate a Spanish language media campaign promoting physical activity and healthful food choices among Mexican Americans. Qualitative evaluation strategies including content analyses on types and focus of media messages were conducted. Focus groups assessed appeal and trustworthiness of messages. Results All media campaign products feature role models and experts. Campaign messages primarily (98%) appear in TV morning show segments. Newsletters present individual and family role model stories. Majority of newsletters (68%) are distributed through churches and “promotora” outreach efforts. Conclusions CBPR lends itself to the selection and tailoring of evidence-based media campaigns. Moreover, CBPR guidance resulted in media messages that are credible and appealing to audience. Process evaluation strategies that gather information from the community provide solid evidence for how to modify the campaign to best meet audience expectations. PMID:19131541

[Interview Questions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Dan

2007-01-01

The Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center, or GMSEC, was started in 2001 to create a new standard approach for managing GSFC missions. Standardized approaches in the past involved selecting and then integrating the most appropriate set of functional tools. Assumptions were made that "one size fits all" and that tool changes would not be necessary for many years. GMSEC took a very different approach and has proven to be very successful. The core of the GMSEC architecture consists of a publish/subscribe message bus, standardized message formats, and an Applications Programming Interface (API). The API supports multiple operating systems, programming languages and messaging middleware products. We use a GMSEC-developed free middleware for low-cost development. A high capacity, robust middleware is used for operations and a messaging system with a very small memory footprint is used for on-board flight software. Software components can use the standard message formats or develop adapters to convert from their native formats to the GMSEC formats. We do not want vendors to modify their core products. Over 50 software components are now available for use with the GMSEC architecture. Most available commercial telemetry and command systems, including the GMV hifly Satellite Control System, have been adapted to run in the GMSEC labs.

An audience-channel-message-evaluation (ACME) framework for health communication campaigns.

PubMed

Noar, Seth M

2012-07-01

Recent reviews of the literature have indicated that a number of health communication campaigns continue to fail to adhere to principles of effective campaign design. The lack of an integrated, organizing framework for the design, implementation, and evaluation of health communication campaigns may contribute to this state of affairs. The current article introduces an audience-channel-message-evaluation (ACME) framework that organizes the major principles of health campaign design, implementation, and evaluation. ACME also explicates the relationships and linkages between the varying principles. Insights from ACME include the following: The choice of audience segment(s) to focus on in a campaign affects all other campaign design choices, including message strategy and channel/component options. Although channel selection influences options for message design, choice of message design also influences channel options. Evaluation should not be thought of as a separate activity, but rather should be infused and integrated throughout the campaign design and implementation process, including formative, process, and outcome evaluation activities. Overall, health communication campaigns that adhere to this integrated set of principles of effective campaign design will have a greater chance of success than those using principles idiosyncratically. These design, implementation, and evaluation principles are embodied in the ACME framework.

The ABC of Vitamin D: A Qualitative Study of the Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Vitamin D Deficiency amongst Selected Population Groups

PubMed Central

Bonevski, Billie; Bryant, Jamie; Lambert, Sylvie; Brozek, Irena; Rock, Vanessa

2013-01-01

Objective: In Australia, vitamin D supply in food is limited, and sun exposure is the main source of vitamin D. However skin cancer risk is high, and the need to gain some sun exposure for adequate vitamin D is challenging public health messages to use protection in the sun. The complex vitamin D public health message may be confusing the public and, in particular, those at highest risk for vitamin D deficiency. This study explored vitamin D and sun exposure attitudes, knowledge and practices of some groups considered at risk of vitamin D deficiency and those delivering healthy sun exposure messages to children. Method: 52 adults participated in six focus groups. Results: Results corroborated with previous research showing low levels of vitamin D knowledge. Individual and environmental barriers to receiving adequate sun exposure were also identified. Conclusions and Implications: The message advocating balanced sun exposure to produce adequate vitamin D needs to be made clearer and be more effectively communicated. Findings provide insights to aid development of appropriate public health messages for safe sun exposure and vitamin D, especially for vulnerable groups. PMID:23503169

Selecting, Evaluating and Creating Policies for Computer-Based Resources in the Behavioral Sciences and Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Linda B., Comp.; And Others

This collection includes four handouts: (1) "Selection Critria Considerations for Computer-Based Resources" (Linda B. Richardson); (2) "Software Collection Policies in Academic Libraries" (a 24-item bibliography, Jane W. Johnson); (3) "Circulation and Security of Software" (a 19-item bibliography, Sara Elizabeth Williams); and (4) "Bibliography of…

Comparing the Performance of Five Multidimensional CAT Selection Procedures with Different Stopping Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Lihua

2013-01-01

Through simulated data, five multidimensional computerized adaptive testing (MCAT) selection procedures with varying test lengths are examined and compared using different stopping rules. Fixed item exposure rates are used for all the items, and the Priority Index (PI) method is used for the content constraints. Two stopping rules, standard error…

Emotional Intelligence in Applicant Selection for Care-Related Academic Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zysberg, Leehu; Levy, Anat; Zisberg, Anna

2011-01-01

Two studies describe the development of the Audiovisual Test of Emotional Intelligence (AVEI), aimed at candidate selection in educational settings. Study I depicts the construction of the test and the preliminary examination of its psychometric properties in a sample of 92 college students. Item analysis allowed the modification of problem items,…

A Selected Bibliography on International Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foreign Policy Association, New York, NY.

This unannotated bibliography is divided into four major sections; 1) General Background Readings for Teachers; 2) Approaches and Methods; 3) Materials for the Classroom; and, 4) Sources of Information and Materials. It offers a highly selective list of items which provide wide coverage of the field. Included are items on foreign policy, war and…

2 CFR Appendix B to Part 230 - Selected Items of Cost

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... PRINCIPLES FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS (OMB CIRCULAR A-122) Pt. 230, App. B Appendix B to Part 230—Selected... use of patents and copyrights 45. Selling and marketing 46. Specialized service facilities 47. Taxes... of this appendix provide principles to be applied in establishing the allowability of certain items...

An Attempt to Influence Selected Portions of Student Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Edwin R.

In an attempt to selectively improve student performance, one-half of a set of difficult test items from a FORTRAN programming class had handouts explaining the concepts underlying the items distributed to the students. Each handout contained a written learning objective, a short prose passage explaining the objective, and one or more practice…

Informed and Uninformed Naïve Assessment Constructors' Strategies for Item Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fives, Helenrose; Barnes, Nicole

2017-01-01

We present a descriptive analysis of 53 naïve assessment constructors' explanations for selecting test items to include on a summative assessment. We randomly assigned participants to an informed and uninformed condition (i.e., informed participants read an article describing a Table of Specifications). Through recursive thematic analyses of…

Dual-Objective Item Selection Criteria in Cognitive Diagnostic Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Hyeon-Ah; Zhang, Susu; Chang, Hua-Hua

2017-01-01

The development of cognitive diagnostic-computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT) has provided a new perspective for gaining information about examinees' mastery on a set of cognitive attributes. This study proposes a new item selection method within the framework of dual-objective CD-CAT that simultaneously addresses examinees' attribute mastery…

Audiovisual Materials for Teaching Economics. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harter, Charlotte T.; And Others

The third edition of this catalog, which expands and revises earlier editions, annotates audiovisual items for economic education in kindergarten through college. The purpose of the catalog is to help teachers select sound economic materials for classroom use. A selective listing, the catalog cites over 700 items out of more than 1200 items…

The Relationship between Attitudes toward Censorship and Selected Academic Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwyer, Edward J.; Summy, Mary K.

1989-01-01

To examine characteristics of subjects relative to their attitudes toward censorship, a study surveyed 98 college students selected from students in a public university in the southeastern United States. A 24-item Likert-style censorship scale was used to measure attitudes toward censorship. Strong agreement with affirmative items would suggest…

Mobile phone messaging for facilitating self-management of long-term illnesses.

PubMed

de Jongh, Thyra; Gurol-Urganci, Ipek; Vodopivec-Jamsek, Vlasta; Car, Josip; Atun, Rifat

2012-12-12

Long-term illnesses affect a significant proportion of the population in developed and developing countries. Mobile phone messaging applications, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), may present convenient, cost-effective ways of supporting self-management and improving patients' self-efficacy skills through, for instance, medication reminders, therapy adjustments or supportive messages. To assess the effects of mobile phone messaging applications designed to facilitate self-management of long-term illnesses, in terms of impact on health outcomes and patients' capacity to self-manage their condition. Secondary objectives include assessment of: user evaluation of the intervention; health service utilisation and costs; and possible risks and harms associated with the intervention. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL,The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 2), MEDLINE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), EMBASE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), PsycINFO (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), CINAHL (EbscoHOST) (January 1993 to June 2009), LILACS (January 1993 to June 2009) and African Health Anthology (January 1993 to June 2009).We also reviewed grey literature (including trial registers) and reference lists of articles. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised controlled trials (QRCTs), controlled before-after (CBA) studies, or interrupted time series (ITS) studies with at least three time points before and after the intervention. We selected only studies where it was possible to assess the effects of mobile phone messaging independent of other technologies or interventions. Two review authors independently assessed all studies against the inclusion criteria, with any disagreements resolved by a third review author. Study design features, characteristics of target populations, interventions and controls, and results data were extracted by two review authors and confirmed by a third. Primary outcomes of interest were health outcomes as a result of the intervention and capacity to self-manage long-term conditions. We also considered patients' and providers' evaluation of the intervention, perceptions of safety, health service utilisation and costs, and potential harms or adverse effects. The included studies were heterogeneous in type of condition addressed, intervention characteristics and outcome measures. Therefore, a meta-analysis to derive an overall effect size for the main outcome categories was not considered justified and findings are presented narratively. We included four randomised controlled trials involving 182 participants.For the primary outcome of health outcomes, including physiological measures, there is moderate quality evidence from two studies involving people with diabetes showing no statistical difference from text messaging interventions compared with usual care or email reminders for glycaemic control (HbA1c), the frequency of diabetic complications, or body weight. There is moderate quality evidence from one study of hypertensive patients that the mean blood pressure and the proportion of patients who achieved blood pressure control were not significantly different in the intervention and control groups, and that there was no statistically significant difference in mean body weight between the groups. There is moderate quality evidence from one study that asthma patients receiving a text messaging intervention experienced greater improvements on peak expiratory flow variability (mean difference (MD) -11.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) -19.56 to -2.68) and the pooled symptom score comprising four items (cough, night symptoms, sleep quality, and maximum tolerated activity) (MD -0.36, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.17) compared with the control group. However, the study found no significant differences between the groups in impact on forced vital capacity or forced expiratory flow in 1 second.For the primary outcome of capacity to self-manage the condition, there is moderate quality evidence from one study that diabetes patients receiving the text messaging intervention demonstrated improved scores on measures of self-management capacity (Self-Efficacy for Diabetes score (MD 6.10, 95% CI 0.45 to 11.75), Diabetes Social Support Interview pooled score (MD 4.39, 95% CI 2.85 to 5.92)), but did not show improved knowledge of diabetes. There is moderate quality evidence from three studies of the effects on treatment compliance. One study showed an increase in hypertensive patients' rates of medication compliance in the intervention group (MD 8.90, 95% CI 0.18 to 17.62) compared with the control group, but in another study there was no statistically significant effect on rates of compliance with peak expiratory flow measurement in asthma patients. Text message prompts for diabetic patients initially also resulted in a higher number of blood glucose results sent back (46.0) than email prompts did (23.5).For the secondary outcome of participants' evaluation of the intervention, there is very low quality evidence from two studies that patients receiving mobile phone messaging support reported perceived improvement in diabetes self-management, wanted to continue receiving messages, and preferred mobile phone messaging to email as a method to access a computerised reminder system.For the secondary outcome of health service utilisation, there is very low quality evidence from two studies. Diabetes patients receiving text messaging support made a comparable number of clinic visits and calls to an emergency hotline as patients without the support. For asthma patients the total number of office visits was higher in the text messaging group, whereas the number of hospital admissions was higher for the control group.Because of the small number of trials included, and the low overall number of participants, for any of the reviewed outcomes the quality of the evidence can at best be considered moderate. We found some, albeit very limited, indications that in certain cases mobile phone messaging interventions may provide benefit in supporting the self-management of long-term illnesses. However, there are significant information gaps regarding the long-term effects, acceptability, costs, and risks of such interventions. Given the enthusiasm with which so-called mHealth interventions are currently being implemented, further research into these issues is needed. 

Is selective attention the basis for selective imitation in infants? An eye-tracking study of deferred imitation with 12-month-olds.

PubMed

Kolling, Thorsten; Oturai, Gabriella; Knopf, Monika

2014-08-01

Infants and children do not blindly copy every action they observe during imitation tasks. Research demonstrated that infants are efficient selective imitators. The impact of selective perceptual processes (selective attention) for selective deferred imitation, however, is still poorly described. The current study, therefore, analyzed 12-month-old infants' looking behavior during demonstration of two types of target actions: arbitrary versus functional actions. A fully automated remote eye tracker was used to assess infants' looking behavior during action demonstration. After a 30-min delay, infants' deferred imitation performance was assessed. Next to replicating a memory effect, results demonstrate that infants do imitate significantly more functional actions than arbitrary actions (functionality effect). Eye-tracking data show that whereas infants do not fixate significantly longer on functional actions than on arbitrary actions, amount of fixations and amount of saccades differ between functional and arbitrary actions, indicating different encoding mechanisms. In addition, item-level findings differ from overall findings, indicating that perceptual and conceptual item features influence looking behavior. Looking behavior on both the overall and item levels, however, does not relate to deferred imitation performance. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that, on the one hand, selective imitation is not explainable merely by selective attention processes. On the other hand, notwithstanding this reasoning, attention processes on the item level are important for encoding processes during target action demonstration. Limitations and future studies are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tier One Performance Screen Initial Operational Test and Evaluation: 2012 Interim Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

are known to predict outcomes in work settings. Because the TAPAS uses item response theory (IRT) methods to construct and score items, it can be...Qualification Test (AFQT), to select new Soldiers. Although the AFQT is useful for selecting new Soldiers, other personal attributes are important to...to be and will continue to serve as a useful metric for selecting new Soldiers, other personal attributes, in particular non-cognitive attributes

Computerized adaptive testing: the capitalization on chance problem.

PubMed

Olea, Julio; Barrada, Juan Ramón; Abad, Francisco J; Ponsoda, Vicente; Cuevas, Lara

2012-03-01

This paper describes several simulation studies that examine the effects of capitalization on chance in the selection of items and the ability estimation in CAT, employing the 3-parameter logistic model. In order to generate different estimation errors for the item parameters, the calibration sample size was manipulated (N = 500, 1000 and 2000 subjects) as was the ratio of item bank size to test length (banks of 197 and 788 items, test lengths of 20 and 40 items), both in a CAT and in a random test. Results show that capitalization on chance is particularly serious in CAT, as revealed by the large positive bias found in the small sample calibration conditions. For broad ranges of theta, the overestimation of the precision (asymptotic Se) reaches levels of 40%, something that does not occur with the RMSE (theta). The problem is greater as the item bank size to test length ratio increases. Potential solutions were tested in a second study, where two exposure control methods were incorporated into the item selection algorithm. Some alternative solutions are discussed.

The Comparative Effectiveness of Different Item Analysis Techniques in Increasing Change Score Reliability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crocker, Linda M.; Mehrens, William A.

Four new methods of item analysis were used to select subsets of items which would yield measures of attitude change. The sample consisted of 263 students at Michigan State University who were tested on the Inventory of Beliefs as freshmen and retested on the same instrument as juniors. Item change scores and total change scores were computed for…

Anchor Selection Strategies for DIF Analysis: Review, Assessment, and New Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopf, Julia; Zeileis, Achim; Strobl, Carolin

2015-01-01

Differential item functioning (DIF) indicates the violation of the invariance assumption, for instance, in models based on item response theory (IRT). For item-wise DIF analysis using IRT, a common metric for the item parameters of the groups that are to be compared (e.g., for the reference and the focal group) is necessary. In the Rasch model,…

Computerized Adaptive Testing for Polytomous Motivation Items: Administration Mode Effects and a Comparison with Short Forms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hol, A. Michiel; Vorst, Harrie C. M.; Mellenbergh, Gideon J.

2007-01-01

In a randomized experiment (n = 515), a computerized and a computerized adaptive test (CAT) are compared. The item pool consists of 24 polytomous motivation items. Although items are carefully selected, calibration data show that Samejima's graded response model did not fit the data optimally. A simulation study is done to assess possible…

Objective and Item Banking Computer Software and Its Use in Comprehensive Achievement Monitoring.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schriber, Peter E.; Gorth, William P.

The current emphasis on objectives and test item banks for constructing more effective tests is being augmented by increasingly sophisticated computer software. Items can be catalogued in numerous ways for retrieval. The items as well as instructional objectives can be stored and test forms can be selected and printed by the computer. It is also…

Wisconsin Title I Migrant Education. Section 143 Project: Development of an Item Bank. Summary Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Frank N.; And Others

The successful Wisconsin Title 1 project item bank offers a valid, flexible, and efficient means of providing migrant student tests in reading and mathematics tailored to instructor curricula. The item bank system consists of nine PASCAL computer programs which maintain, search, and select from approximately 1,000 test items stored on floppy disks…

Assessing patients' experiences with communication across the cancer care continuum.

PubMed

Mazor, Kathleen M; Street, Richard L; Sue, Valerie M; Williams, Andrew E; Rabin, Borsika A; Arora, Neeraj K

2016-08-01

To evaluate the relevance, performance and potential usefulness of the Patient Assessment of cancer Communication Experiences (PACE) items. Items focusing on specific communication goals related to exchanging information, fostering healing relationships, responding to emotions, making decisions, enabling self-management, and managing uncertainty were tested via a retrospective, cross-sectional survey of adults who had been diagnosed with cancer. Analyses examined response frequencies, inter-item correlations, and coefficient alpha. A total of 366 adults were included in the analyses. Relatively few selected Does Not Apply, suggesting that items tap relevant communication experiences. Ratings of whether specific communication goals were achieved were strongly correlated with overall ratings of communication, suggesting item content reflects important aspects of communication. Coefficient alpha was ≥.90 for each item set, indicating excellent reliability. Variations in the percentage of respondents selecting the most positive response across items suggest results can identify strengths and weaknesses. The PACE items tap relevant, important aspects of communication during cancer care, and may be useful to cancer care teams desiring detailed feedback. The PACE is a new tool for eliciting patients' perspectives on communication during cancer care. It is freely available online for practitioners, researchers and others. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of the PROMIS health expectancies of smoking item banks.

PubMed

Edelen, Maria Orlando; Tucker, Joan S; Shadel, William G; Stucky, Brian D; Cerully, Jennifer; Li, Zhen; Hansen, Mark; Cai, Li

2014-09-01

Smokers' health-related outcome expectancies are associated with a number of important constructs in smoking research, yet there are no measures currently available that focus exclusively on this domain. This paper describes the development and evaluation of item banks for assessing the health expectancies of smoking. Using data from a sample of daily (N = 4,201) and nondaily (N = 1,183) smokers, we conducted a series of item factor analyses, item response theory analyses, and differential item functioning analyses (according to gender, age, and race/ethnicity) to arrive at a unidimensional set of health expectancies items for daily and nondaily smokers. We also evaluated the performance of short forms (SFs) and computer adaptive tests (CATs) to efficiently assess health expectancies. A total of 24 items were included in the Health Expectancies item banks; 13 items are common across daily and nondaily smokers, 6 are unique to daily, and 5 are unique to nondaily. For both daily and nondaily smokers, the Health Expectancies item banks are unidimensional, reliable (reliability = 0.95 and 0.96, respectively), and perform similarly across gender, age, and race/ethnicity groups. A SF common to daily and nondaily smokers consists of 6 items (reliability = 0.87). Results from simulated CATs showed that health expectancies can be assessed with good precision with an average of 5-6 items adaptively selected from the item banks. Health expectancies of smoking can be assessed on the basis of these item banks via SFs, CATs, or through a tailored set of items selected for a specific research purpose. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Development of the PROMIS nicotine dependence item banks.

PubMed

Shadel, William G; Edelen, Maria Orlando; Tucker, Joan S; Stucky, Brian D; Hansen, Mark; Cai, Li

2014-09-01

Nicotine dependence is a core construct important for understanding cigarette smoking and smoking cessation behavior. This article describes analyses conducted to develop and evaluate item banks for assessing nicotine dependence among daily and nondaily smokers. Using data from a sample of daily (N = 4,201) and nondaily (N =1,183) smokers, we conducted a series of item factor analyses, item response theory analyses, and differential item functioning analyses (according to gender, age, and race/ethnicity) to arrive at a unidimensional set of nicotine dependence items for daily and nondaily smokers. We also evaluated performance of short forms (SFs) and computer adaptive tests (CATs) to efficiently assess dependence. A total of 32 items were included in the Nicotine Dependence item banks; 22 items are common across daily and nondaily smokers, 5 are unique to daily smokers, and 5 are unique to nondaily smokers. For both daily and nondaily smokers, the Nicotine Dependence item banks are strongly unidimensional, highly reliable (reliability = 0.97 and 0.97, respectively), and perform similarly across gender, age, and race/ethnicity groups. SFs common to daily and nondaily smokers consist of 8 and 4 items (reliability = 0.91 and 0.81, respectively). Results from simulated CATs showed that dependence can be assessed with very good precision for most respondents using fewer than 6 items adaptively selected from the item banks. Nicotine dependence on cigarettes can be assessed on the basis of these item banks via one of the SFs, by using CATs, or through a tailored set of items selected for a specific research purpose. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Artificial pheromone for path selection by a foraging swarm of robots.

PubMed

Campo, Alexandre; Gutiérrez, Alvaro; Nouyan, Shervin; Pinciroli, Carlo; Longchamp, Valentin; Garnier, Simon; Dorigo, Marco

2010-11-01

Foraging robots involved in a search and retrieval task may create paths to navigate faster in their environment. In this context, a swarm of robots that has found several resources and created different paths may benefit strongly from path selection. Path selection enhances the foraging behavior by allowing the swarm to focus on the most profitable resource with the possibility for unused robots to stop participating in the path maintenance and to switch to another task. In order to achieve path selection, we implement virtual ants that lay artificial pheromone inside a network of robots. Virtual ants are local messages transmitted by robots; they travel along chains of robots and deposit artificial pheromone on the robots that are literally forming the chain and indicating the path. The concentration of artificial pheromone on the robots allows them to decide whether they are part of a selected path. We parameterize the mechanism with a mathematical model and provide an experimental validation using a swarm of 20 real robots. We show that our mechanism favors the selection of the closest resource is able to select a new path if a selected resource becomes unavailable and selects a newly detected and better resource when possible. As robots use very simple messages and behaviors, the system would be particularly well suited for swarms of microrobots with minimal abilities.

Age differences in goals: implications for health promotion.

PubMed

Zhang, Xin; Fung, Helene; Ching, Bob Ho-hong

2009-05-01

Socioemotional selectivity theory postulates that, as people age, they prioritize emotionally meaningful goals. This study investigated whether these age differences in goals are reflected in how younger (aged 18-36, n = 111) and older adults (aged 62-86, n = 104) evaluated, remembered information from and were persuaded by health messages. Participants were randomly assigned to read health pamphlets with identical factual information but emphasizing emotional or non-emotional goals. Findings showed that health messages that emphasized emotional goals, but not those that emphasized future-oriented or neutral goals, were better remembered, were evaluated more positively and led to greater behavioral changes among older adults, but not younger adults. These findings suggest that health messages targeting older adults may be more effective if they are framed in ways that emphasize love and caring.

Weapon Performance Testing and Analysis: The MODI-PAC Round, the Number 4 Lead-Shot Round, and the Flying Baton

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-01-01

items. The items tested were the MODI-PAC, a proprietary item of Reming)on Arms Company, a standard 12 - gauge round of No. 4 lead shot, and an...to refrain from testing this item. Therefore, the final selection of items for testing were (1) the MODI-PAC, (2) a standard 12 - gauge shotgun round of...The first item evaluated was the MODI-PAC5. The MOQ1-PAC which standsfor “modified impact “ is a 12 - gauge shotgun shell loaded with approximately 320

Method of data mining including determining multidimensional coordinates of each item using a predetermined scalar similarity value for each item pair

DOEpatents

Meyers, Charles E.; Davidson, George S.; Johnson, David K.; Hendrickson, Bruce A.; Wylie, Brian N.

1999-01-01

A method of data mining represents related items in a multidimensional space. Distance between items in the multidimensional space corresponds to the extent of relationship between the items. The user can select portions of the space to perceive. The user also can interact with and control the communication of the space, focusing attention on aspects of the space of most interest. The multidimensional spatial representation allows more ready comprehension of the structure of the relationships among the items.

Text-messaging versus telephone reminders to reduce missed appointments in an academic primary care clinic: a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Telephone or text-message reminders have been shown to significantly reduce the rate of missed appointments in different medical settings. Since text-messaging is less resource-demanding, we tested the hypothesis that text-message reminders would be as effective as telephone reminders in an academic primary care clinic. Methods A randomized controlled non-inferiority trial was conducted in the academic primary care division of the Geneva University Hospitals between November 2010 and April 2011. Patients registered for an appointment at the clinic, and for whom a cell phone number was available, were randomly selected to receive a text-message or a telephone call reminder 24 hours before the planned appointment. Patients were included each time they had an appointment. The main outcome was the rate of unexplained missed appointments. Appointments were not missed if they were cancelled or re-scheduled before or independently from the intervention. We defined non-inferiority as a difference below 2% in the rate of missed appointments and powered the study accordingly. A satisfaction survey was conducted among a random sample of 900 patients (response rate 41%). Results 6450 patients were included, 3285 in the text-message group and 3165 in the telephone group. The rate of missed appointments was similar in the text-message group (11.7%, 95% CI: 10.6-12.8) and in the telephone group (10.2%, 95% CI: 9.2-11.3 p = 0.07). However, only text message reminders were cost-effective. No patient reported any disturbance by any type of reminder in the satisfaction survey. Three quarters of surveyed patients recommended its regular implementation in the clinic. Conclusions Text-message reminders are equivalent to telephone reminders in reducing the proportion of missed appointments in an academic primary care clinic and are more cost-effective. Both types of reminders are well accepted by patients. PMID:23557331

A Theory-Based Video Messaging Mobile Phone Intervention for Smoking Cessation: Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Dorey, Enid; Bramley, Dale; Bullen, Chris; Denny, Simon; Elley, C Raina; Maddison, Ralph; McRobbie, Hayden; Parag, Varsha; Rodgers, Anthony; Salmon, Penny

2011-01-01

Background Advances in technology allowed the development of a novel smoking cessation program delivered by video messages sent to mobile phones. This social cognitive theory-based intervention (called “STUB IT”) used observational learning via short video diary messages from role models going through the quitting process to teach behavioral change techniques. Objective The objective of our study was to assess the effectiveness of a multimedia mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 6-month follow-up. Participants had to be 16 years of age or over, be current daily smokers, be ready to quit, and have a video message-capable phone. Recruitment targeted younger adults predominantly through radio and online advertising. Registration and data collection were completed online, prompted by text messages. The intervention group received an automated package of video and text messages over 6 months that was tailored to self-selected quit date, role model, and timing of messages. Extra messages were available on demand to beat cravings and address lapses. The control group also set a quit date and received a general health video message sent to their phone every 2 weeks. Results The target sample size was not achieved due to difficulty recruiting young adult quitters. Of the 226 randomized participants, 47% (107/226) were female and 24% (54/226) were Maori (indigenous population of New Zealand). Their mean age was 27 years (SD 8.7), and there was a high level of nicotine addiction. Continuous abstinence at 6 months was 26.4% (29/110) in the intervention group and 27.6% (32/116) in the control group (P = .8). Feedback from participants indicated that the support provided by the video role models was important and appreciated. Conclusions This study was not able to demonstrate a statistically significant effect of the complex video messaging mobile phone intervention compared with simple general health video messages via mobile phone. However, there was sufficient positive feedback about the ease of use of this novel intervention, and the support obtained by observing the role model video messages, to warrant further investigation. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Number: ACTRN12606000476538; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=81688 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5umMU4sZi) PMID:21371991

A theory-based video messaging mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation: randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Whittaker, Robyn; Dorey, Enid; Bramley, Dale; Bullen, Chris; Denny, Simon; Elley, C Raina; Maddison, Ralph; McRobbie, Hayden; Parag, Varsha; Rodgers, Anthony; Salmon, Penny

2011-01-21

Advances in technology allowed the development of a novel smoking cessation program delivered by video messages sent to mobile phones. This social cognitive theory-based intervention (called "STUB IT") used observational learning via short video diary messages from role models going through the quitting process to teach behavioral change techniques. The objective of our study was to assess the effectiveness of a multimedia mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 6-month follow-up. Participants had to be 16 years of age or over, be current daily smokers, be ready to quit, and have a video message-capable phone. Recruitment targeted younger adults predominantly through radio and online advertising. Registration and data collection were completed online, prompted by text messages. The intervention group received an automated package of video and text messages over 6 months that was tailored to self-selected quit date, role model, and timing of messages. Extra messages were available on demand to beat cravings and address lapses. The control group also set a quit date and received a general health video message sent to their phone every 2 weeks. The target sample size was not achieved due to difficulty recruiting young adult quitters. Of the 226 randomized participants, 47% (107/226) were female and 24% (54/226) were Maori (indigenous population of New Zealand). Their mean age was 27 years (SD 8.7), and there was a high level of nicotine addiction. Continuous abstinence at 6 months was 26.4% (29/110) in the intervention group and 27.6% (32/116) in the control group (P = .8). Feedback from participants indicated that the support provided by the video role models was important and appreciated. This study was not able to demonstrate a statistically significant effect of the complex video messaging mobile phone intervention compared with simple general health video messages via mobile phone. However, there was sufficient positive feedback about the ease of use of this novel intervention, and the support obtained by observing the role model video messages, to warrant further investigation. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Number: ACTRN12606000476538; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=81688 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5umMU4sZi).

Development, Validation, and Use of an Item Bank for Police Promotion Examinations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enger, John M.

In Arkansas, in reaction to complaints about traditional methods of selection for promotion, the civil service commission has chosen to base promotions in the police department solely on scores on locally-developed objective tests. Items developed and loaded into a computerized test bank were selected from six areas of responsibility: (1) criminal…

Multidimensional CAT Item Selection Methods for Domain Scores and Composite Scores: Theory and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Lihua

2012-01-01

Multidimensional computer adaptive testing (MCAT) can provide higher precision and reliability or reduce test length when compared with unidimensional CAT or with the paper-and-pencil test. This study compared five item selection procedures in the MCAT framework for both domain scores and overall scores through simulation by varying the structure…

Variable stars around selected open clusters in the VVV area: Young Stellar Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, Nicolas; Borissova, Jura; Bayo, Amelia; Kurtev, Radostin; Lucas, Philip

2017-09-01

Time-varying phenomena are one of the most substantial sources of astrophysical information, and led to many fundamental discoveries in modern astronomy. We have developed an automated tool to search and analyze variable sources in the near infrared Ks band, using the data from the Vista Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) ESO Public Survey ([5, 8]). One of our main goals is to investigate the Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) in the Galactic star forming regions, looking for: •Variability. •New pre-main sequence star clusters. Here we present the newly discovered YSOs within some selected stellar clusters in our Galaxy.

Her Voice Lingers on and Her Memory Is Strategic: Effects of Gender on Directed Forgetting

PubMed Central

Yang, Hwajin; Yang, Sujin; Park, Giho

2013-01-01

The literature on directed forgetting has employed exclusively visual words. Thus, the potentially interesting aspects of a spoken utterance, which include not only vocal cues (e.g., prosody) but also the speaker and the listener, have been neglected. This study demonstrates that prosody alone does not influence directed-forgetting effects, while the sex of the speaker and the listener significantly modulate directed-forgetting effects for spoken utterances. Specifically, forgetting costs were attenuated for female-spoken items compared to male-spoken items, and forgetting benefits were eliminated among female listeners but not among male listeners. These results suggest that information conveyed in a female voice draws attention to its distinct perceptual attributes, thus interfering with retention of the semantic meaning, while female listeners' superior capacity for processing the surface features of spoken utterances may predispose them to spontaneously employ adaptive strategies to retain content information despite distraction by perceptual features. Our findings underscore the importance of sex differences when processing spoken messages in directed forgetting. PMID:23691141

Optimizing data collection for public health decisions: a data mining approach

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Collecting data can be cumbersome and expensive. Lack of relevant, accurate and timely data for research to inform policy may negatively impact public health. The aim of this study was to test if the careful removal of items from two community nutrition surveys guided by a data mining technique called feature selection, can (a) identify a reduced dataset, while (b) not damaging the signal inside that data. Methods The Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys for stores (NEMS-S) and restaurants (NEMS-R) were completed on 885 retail food outlets in two counties in West Virginia between May and November of 2011. A reduced dataset was identified for each outlet type using feature selection. Coefficients from linear regression modeling were used to weight items in the reduced datasets. Weighted item values were summed with the error term to compute reduced item survey scores. Scores produced by the full survey were compared to the reduced item scores using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results Feature selection identified 9 store and 16 restaurant survey items as significant predictors of the score produced from the full survey. The linear regression models built from the reduced feature sets had R2 values of 92% and 94% for restaurant and grocery store data, respectively. Conclusions While there are many potentially important variables in any domain, the most useful set may only be a small subset. The use of feature selection in the initial phase of data collection to identify the most influential variables may be a useful tool to greatly reduce the amount of data needed thereby reducing cost. PMID:24919484

Optimizing data collection for public health decisions: a data mining approach.

PubMed

Partington, Susan N; Papakroni, Vasil; Menzies, Tim

2014-06-12

Collecting data can be cumbersome and expensive. Lack of relevant, accurate and timely data for research to inform policy may negatively impact public health. The aim of this study was to test if the careful removal of items from two community nutrition surveys guided by a data mining technique called feature selection, can (a) identify a reduced dataset, while (b) not damaging the signal inside that data. The Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys for stores (NEMS-S) and restaurants (NEMS-R) were completed on 885 retail food outlets in two counties in West Virginia between May and November of 2011. A reduced dataset was identified for each outlet type using feature selection. Coefficients from linear regression modeling were used to weight items in the reduced datasets. Weighted item values were summed with the error term to compute reduced item survey scores. Scores produced by the full survey were compared to the reduced item scores using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Feature selection identified 9 store and 16 restaurant survey items as significant predictors of the score produced from the full survey. The linear regression models built from the reduced feature sets had R2 values of 92% and 94% for restaurant and grocery store data, respectively. While there are many potentially important variables in any domain, the most useful set may only be a small subset. The use of feature selection in the initial phase of data collection to identify the most influential variables may be a useful tool to greatly reduce the amount of data needed thereby reducing cost.

Selection of Common Items as an Unrecognized Source of Variability in Test Equating: A Bootstrap Approximation Assuming Random Sampling of Common Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michaelides, Michalis P.; Haertel, Edward H.

2014-01-01

The standard error of equating quantifies the variability in the estimation of an equating function. Because common items for deriving equated scores are treated as fixed, the only source of variability typically considered arises from the estimation of common-item parameters from responses of samples of examinees. Use of alternative, equally…

Development of a wheelchair mobility skills test for children and adolescents: combining evidence with clinical expertise.

PubMed

Sol, Marleen Elisabeth; Verschuren, Olaf; de Groot, Laura; de Groot, Janke Frederike

2017-02-13

Wheelchair mobility skills (WMS) training is regarded by children using a manual wheelchair and their parents as an important factor to improve participation and daily physical activity. Currently, there is no outcome measure available for the evaluation of WMS in children. Several wheelchair mobility outcome measures have been developed for adults, but none of these have been validated in children. Therefore the objective of this study is to develop a WMS outcome measure for children using the current knowledge from literature in combination with the clinical expertise of health care professionals, children and their parents. Mixed methods approach. Phase 1: Item identification of WMS items through a systematic review using the 'COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments' (COSMIN) recommendations. Phase 2: Item selection and validation of relevant WMS items for children, using a focus group and interviews with children using a manual wheelchair, their parents and health care professionals. Phase 3: Feasibility of the newly developed Utrecht Pediatric Wheelchair Mobility Skills Test (UP-WMST) through pilot testing. Phase 1: Data analysis and synthesis of nine WMS related outcome measures showed there is no widely used outcome measure with levels of evidence across all measurement properties. However, four outcome measures showed some levels of evidence on reliability and validity for adults. Twenty-two WMS items with the best clinimetric properties were selected for further analysis in phase 2. Phase 2: Fifteen items were deemed as relevant for children, one item needed adaptation and six items were considered not relevant for assessing WMS in children. Phase 3: Two health care professionals administered the UP-WMST in eight children. The instructions of the UP-WMST were clear, but the scoring method of the height difference items needed adaptation. The outdoor items for rolling over soft surface and the side slope item were excluded in the final version of the UP-WMST due to logistic reasons. The newly developed 15 item UP-WMST is a validated outcome measure which is easy to administer in children using a manual wheelchair. More research regarding reliability, construct validity and responsiveness is warranted before the UP-WMST can be used in practice.

High capacity low delay packet broadcasting multiaccess schemes for satellite repeater systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, S. K.

1980-12-01

Demand assigned packet radio schemes using satellite repeaters can achieve high capacities but often exhibit relatively large delays under low traffic conditions when compared to random access. Several schemes which improve delay performance at low traffic but which have high capacity are presented and analyzed. These schemes allow random acess attempts by users, who are waiting for channel assignments. The performance of these are considered in the context of a multiple point communication system carrying fixed length messages between geographically distributed (ground) user terminals which are linked via a satellite repeater. Channel assignments are done following a BCC queueing discipline by a (ground) central controller on the basis of requests correctly received over a collision type access channel. In TBACR Scheme A, some of the forward message channels are set aside for random access transmissions; the rest are used in a demand assigned mode. Schemes B and C operate all their forward message channels in a demand assignment mode but, by means of appropriate algorithms for trailer channel selection, allow random access attempts on unassigned channels. The latter scheme also introduces framing and slotting of the time axis to implement a more efficient algorithm for trailer channel selection than the former.

A novel fuzzy logic-based image steganography method to ensure medical data security.

PubMed

Karakış, R; Güler, I; Çapraz, I; Bilir, E

2015-12-01

This study aims to secure medical data by combining them into one file format using steganographic methods. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is selected as hidden data, and magnetic resonance (MR) images are also used as the cover image. In addition to the EEG, the message is composed of the doctor׳s comments and patient information in the file header of images. Two new image steganography methods that are based on fuzzy-logic and similarity are proposed to select the non-sequential least significant bits (LSB) of image pixels. The similarity values of the gray levels in the pixels are used to hide the message. The message is secured to prevent attacks by using lossless compression and symmetric encryption algorithms. The performance of stego image quality is measured by mean square of error (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity measure (SSIM), universal quality index (UQI), and correlation coefficient (R). According to the obtained result, the proposed method ensures the confidentiality of the patient information, and increases data repository and transmission capacity of both MR images and EEG signals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vulnerability and self-perceived health status among light and heavy smokers: the relationship to short-term fear appeal tobacco control messages.

PubMed

Szklo, André Salem; Coutinho, Evandro Silva Freire

2009-07-01

It is important to stimulate smokers to acquire some level of risk perception associated with their current behavior in order to motivate smoking cessation. The present article attempts to understand how the content of short-term fear appeal government tobacco messages may interact with different levels of daily cigarette consumption in order to affect smokers' vulnerabilities, expressed by self-perceived health status. A Poisson model was used to estimate the prevalence ratio of fair or poor self-perceived health status (FPHS) according to daily cigarette consumption. We also calculated the proportions of smokers who stated that selected health warning pictures on cigarette packets encourage people to quit smoking, stratified by self-perceived health status and daily cigarette consumption. The proportion of smokers with FPHS was 25% higher among those who smoked > 20 cigarettes/day (p = 0.01). Among smokers with FPHS, heavy smokers showed the highest proportions of responses in favor of selected warning pictures most closely related to losses in ordinary daily living, such as shortness of breath and being bothered by cigarette addiction. Short-term loss-framed tobacco control messages seem to have raised awareness of vulnerability among heavier smokers.

Prey selection by the Lake Superior fish community

USGS Publications Warehouse

Isaac, Edmund J.; Hrabik, Thomas R.; Stockwell, Jason D.; Gamble, Allison E.

2012-01-01

Mysis diluviana is an important prey item to the Lake Superior fish community as found through a recent diet study. We further evaluated this by relating the quantity of prey found in fish diets to the quantity of prey available to fish, providing insight into feeding behavior and prey preferences. We describe the seasonal prey selection of major fish species collected across 18 stations in Lake Superior in spring, summer, and fall of 2005. Of the major nearshore fish species, bloater (Coregonus hoyi), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) consumed Mysis, and strongly selected Mysis over other prey items each season. However, lake whitefish also selected Bythotrephes in the fall when Bythotrephes were numerous. Cisco (Coregonus artedi), a major nearshore and offshore species, fed largely on calanoid copepods, and selected calanoid copepods (spring) and Bythotrephes (summer and fall). Cisco also targeted prey similarly across bathymetric depths. Other major offshore fish species such as kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) and deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsoni) fed largely on Mysis, with kiyi targeting Mysis exclusively while deepwater sculpin did not prefer any single prey organism. The major offshore predator siscowet lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush siscowet) consumed deepwater sculpin and coregonines, but selected deepwater sculpin and Mysis each season, with juveniles having a higher selection for Mysis than adults. Our results suggest that Mysis is not only a commonly consumed prey item, but a highly preferred prey item for pelagic, benthic, and piscivorous fishes in nearshore and offshore waters of Lake Superior.

Development of Methodologic Tools for Planning and Managing Library Services: IV. Bibliography of Studies Selected for Methods and Data Useful to Biomedical Libraries *

PubMed Central

Orr, Richard H.

1970-01-01

This selective bibliography is intended to serve as a guide to empirical studies reporting data and methods that can be used by medical librarians to assess their own efforts objectively and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services they offer. The decision rules that governed selection of items for the bibliography are specified in detail. A total of 178 items published between 1915 and mid-1968 met the selection criteria. The list of items is supplemented by a keyword index derived from titles. Half the items are journal articles; a third of these articles appeared in the Bulletin, and most of the remainder in thirteen other library and information science journals. Most of the non-journal items are technical reports issued by the organization that conducted or sponsored the work. The characteristics of this literature suggest that few medical libraries, unless they are part of a university system that includes the collection of a library or information science school, are likely to have quick access to the literature base needed to support a comprehensive program of self-evaluation studies and the continuing education of their own staff. Regional medical libraries might well undertake to ensure both ready access to, and awareness of, literature on the scientific aspects of librarianship. PMID:4912761

Guidelines for the selection of chemical-protective clothing. Volume 1. (3rd Edition). Report for January 1985-May 1987

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

Schwope, A.D.; Costas, P.P.; Jackson, J.O.

1987-02-01

A variety of protective-clothing items are commerically available for emergency response and other applications where chemical hazards may be encountered. Data and information for selecting chemical-protective clothing is either not available or is inconsistant from source to source. In 1983, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsored the development of chemical-protective clothing selection guidelines to assist their own Office of Health and Safety in providing guidance to personnel, primarily EPA employees and contractors, working on hazardous-waste sites. These guidelines allowed a user to select an appropriate protective material for a specific chemical, select a clothing item (glove, suit, etc.) and thenmore » determine which manufacturers offered the clothing item in the selected material. The U.S. Coast Guard Office of Research and Development and the EPA have supplemented these guidelines with additional data on material chemical resistance, material physical properties, clothing design features, and specific-vendor products. A chapter has been added for selecting chemical protective suits. These guidelines contain data for over 750 chemicals and 700 clothing products. Volume I provides the performance information and recommendations for selecting different types of protective clothing.« less

[The effects of cue upon selective memorization].

PubMed

Watanabe, I

1982-10-01

The subjects listened to a list of 21 words read aloud and memorized eight words among them indicated by the cue. In VC (voice-cue) condition, where the change of voice between male and female cued the difference between the to-be-memorized and not-to-be-memorized items, the percentage of correct recall was higher and the number of intrusion-errors was fewer than in NVC (non-voice-cue) condition, where the cue was the sound of chime given immediately before the to-be-memorized item. The results suggest that the physical characteristics of cue facilitate the selective memorization, but do not necessarily support the early-selection theory of attention. Next, in order to confirm Watanabe's (1976) assertion that the transformation of to-be-memorized items into long-term memory and the exclusion of not-to-be-memorized items take place in parallel, the subjects were required to rehearse aloud every word as it was presented. However, it was found that the method of voiced rehearsal was inadequate to test the assertion.

Severity of Organized Item Theft in Computerized Adaptive Testing: A Simulation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yi, Qing; Zhang, Jinming; Chang, Hua-Hua

2008-01-01

Criteria had been proposed for assessing the severity of possible test security violations for computerized tests with high-stakes outcomes. However, these criteria resulted from theoretical derivations that assumed uniformly randomized item selection. This study investigated potential damage caused by organized item theft in computerized adaptive…

Assessment of Preference for Edible and Leisure Items in Individuals with Dementia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortega, Javier Virues; Iwata, Brian A.; Nogales-Gonzalez, Celia; Frades, Belen

2012-01-01

We conducted 2 studies on reinforcer preference in patients with dementia. Results of preference assessments yielded differential selections by 14 participants. Unlike prior studies with individuals with intellectual disabilities, all participants showed a noticeable preference for leisure items over edible items. Results of a subsequent analysis…

Post-hoc simulation study to adopt a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for a Korean Medical License Examination.

PubMed

Seo, Dong Gi; Choi, Jeongwook

2018-05-17

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) has been adopted in license examinations due to a test efficiency and accuracy. Many research about CAT have been published to prove the efficiency and accuracy of measurement. This simulation study investigated scoring method and item selection methods to implement CAT in Korean medical license examination (KMLE). This study used post-hoc (real data) simulation design. The item bank used in this study was designed with all items in a 2017 KMLE. All CAT algorithms for this study were implemented by a 'catR' package in R program. In terms of accuracy, Rasch and 2parametric logistic (PL) model performed better than 3PL model. Modal a Posteriori (MAP) or Expected a Posterior (EAP) provided more accurate estimates than MLE and WLE. Furthermore Maximum posterior weighted information (MPWI) or Minimum expected posterior variance (MEPV) performed better than other item selection methods. In terms of efficiency, Rasch model was recommended to reduce test length. Simulation study should be performed under varied test conditions before adopting a live CAT. Based on a simulation study, specific scoring and item selection methods should be predetermined before implementing a live CAT.

“Please Don’t Send Us Spam!” A Participative, Theory-Based Methodology for Developing an mHealth Intervention

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background Mobile health solutions have the potential of reducing burdens on health systems and empowering patients with important information. However, there is a lack of theory-based mHealth interventions. Objective The purpose of our study was to develop a participative, theory-based, mobile phone, audio messaging intervention attractive to recently circumcised men at voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) clinics in the Cape Town area in South Africa. We aimed to shift some of the tasks related to postoperative counselling on wound management and goal setting on safe sex. We place an emphasis on describing the full method of message generation to allow for replication. Methods We developed an mHealth intervention using a staggered qualitative methodology: (1) focus group discussions with 52 recently circumcised men and their partners to develop initial voice messages they felt were relevant and appropriate, (2) thematic analysis and expert consultation to select the final messages for pilot testing, and (3) cognitive interviews with 12 recent VMMC patients to judge message comprehension and rank the messages. Message content and phasing were guided by the theory of planned behavior and the health action process approach. Results Patients and their partners came up with 245 messages they thought would help men during the wound-healing period. Thematic analysis revealed 42 different themes. Expert review and cognitive interviews with more patients resulted in 42 messages with a clear division in terms of needs and expectations between the initial wound-healing recovery phase (weeks 1–3) and the adjustment phase (weeks 4–6). Discussions with patients also revealed potential barriers to voice messaging, such as lack of technical knowledge of mobile phones and concerns about the invasive nature of the intervention. Patients’ own suggested messages confirmed Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior that if a health promotion intervention can build trust and be relevant to the recipient’s needs in the first contacts, then the same recipients will perceive subsequent motivational messages more favorably. The health action process approach was also a useful tool for guiding the phasing of the messages. Participants were more positive and salutogenic than public health experts. Conclusions The system showed how a process of consultation can work with a set of potential recipients of an mHealth service to ensure that their needs are included. Classic behavioral theories can and should be used to design modern mHealth interventions. We also believe that patients are the best source of messaging, ensuring that messages are culturally relevant and interesting to the recipient. PMID:27535589

Reducing routine vaccination dropout rates: evaluating two interventions in three Kenyan districts, 2014.

PubMed

Haji, Adam; Lowther, S; Ngan'ga, Z; Gura, Z; Tabu, C; Sandhu, H; Arvelo, Wences

2016-02-16

Globally, vaccine preventable diseases are responsible for nearly 20% of deaths annually among children <5 years old. Worldwide, many children dropout from the vaccination program, are vaccinated late, or incompletely vaccinated. We evaluated the impact of text messaging and sticker reminders to reduce dropouts from the vaccination program. The evaluation was conducted in three selected districts in Kenya: Machakos, Langata and Njoro. Three health facilities were selected in each district, and randomly allocated to send text messages or provide stickers reminding parents to bring their children for second and third dose of pentavalent vaccine, or to the control group (routine reminder) with next appointment date indicated on the well-child booklet. Children aged <12 months presenting for their first dose of pentavalent vaccine were enrolled. A dropout was defined as not returning for vaccination ≥ 2 weeks after scheduled date for third dose of pentavalent vaccine. We calculated dropout rate as a percentage of the difference between first and third pentavalent dose. We enrolled 1,116 children; 372 in each intervention and 372 controls between February and October 2014. Median age was 45 days old (range: 31-99 days), and 574 (51%) were male. There were 136 (12%) dropouts. Thirteen (4%) children dropped out among those who received text messages, 60 (16%) among who received sticker reminders, and 63 (17%) among the controls. Having a caregiver with below secondary education [Odds Ratio (OR) 1.8, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.1-3.2], and residing >5 km from health facility (OR 1.6, CI 1.0-2.7) were associated with higher odds of dropping out. Those who received text messages were less likely to drop out compared to controls (OR 0.2, CI 0.04-0.8). There was no statistical difference between those who received stickers and controls (OR 0.9, CI 0.5-1.6). Text message reminders can reduce vaccination dropout rates in Kenya. We recommend the extended implementation of text message reminders in routine vaccination services.

Metamemory prediction accuracy for simple prospective and retrospective memory tasks in 5-year-old children.

PubMed

Kvavilashvili, Lia; Ford, Ruth M

2014-11-01

It is well documented that young children greatly overestimate their performance on tests of retrospective memory (RM), but the current investigation is the first to examine children's prediction accuracy for prospective memory (PM). Three studies were conducted, each testing a different group of 5-year-olds. In Study 1 (N=46), participants were asked to predict their success in a simple event-based PM task (remembering to convey a message to a toy mole if they encountered a particular picture during a picture-naming activity). Before naming the pictures, children listened to either a reminder story or a neutral story. Results showed that children were highly accurate in their PM predictions (78% accuracy) and that the reminder story appeared to benefit PM only in children who predicted they would remember the PM response. In Study 2 (N=80), children showed high PM prediction accuracy (69%) regardless of whether the cue was specific or general and despite typical overoptimism regarding their performance on a 10-item RM task using item-by-item prediction. Study 3 (N=35) showed that children were prone to overestimate RM even when asked about their ability to recall a single item-the mole's unusual name. In light of these findings, we consider possible reasons for children's impressive PM prediction accuracy, including the potential involvement of future thinking in performance predictions and PM. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing food selection in a health promotion program: validation of a brief instrument for American Indian children in the southwest United States.

PubMed

Koehler, K M; Cunningham-Sabo, L; Lambert, L C; McCalman, R; Skipper, B J; Davis, S M

2000-02-01

Brief dietary assessment instruments are needed to evaluate behavior changes of participants in dietary intervention programs. The purpose of this project was to design and validate an instrument for children participating in Pathways to Health, a culturally appropriate, cancer prevention curriculum. Validation of a brief food selection instrument, Yesterday's Food Choices (YFC), which contained 33 questions about foods eaten the previous day with response choices of yes, no, or not sure. Reference data for validation were 24-hour dietary recalls administered individually to 120 students selected randomly. The YFC and 24-hour dietary recalls were administered to American Indian children in fifth- and seventh-grade classes in the Southwest United States. Dietary recalls were coded for food items in the YFC and results were compared for each item using percentage agreement and the kappa statistic. Percentage agreement for all items was greater than 60%; for most items it was greater than 70%, and for several items it was greater than 80%. The amount of agreement beyond that explained by chance (kappa statistic) was generally small. Three items showed substantial agreement beyond chance (kappa > or = 0.6); 2 items showed moderate agreement (kappa = 0.40 to 0.59) most items showed fair agreement (kappa = 0.20 to 0.39). The food items showing substantial agreement were hot or cold cereal, low-fat milk, and mutton or chile stew. Fried or scrambled eggs and deep-fried foods showed moderate agreement beyond chances. Previous development and validation of brief food selection instruments for children participating in health promotion programs has had limited success. In this study, instrument-related factors that apparently contributed to poor agreement between data from the YFC and 24-hour dietary recall were inclusion of categories of foods vs specific foods; food knowledge, preparation, and vocabulary, item length, and overreporting of attractive foods. Collecting and scoring the 24-hour recall data may also have contributed to poor agreement. Further development of brief instruments for evaluating changes in children's behavior in dietary programs is necessary. Factors related to the YFC that need further development may be issues that are also important in the development of effective, brief dietary assessments for children as individual clients or patients.

Coagulation Function of Stored Whole Blood is Preserved for 14 Days in Austere Conditions: A ROTEM Feasibility Study During a Norwegian Antipiracy Mission and Comparison to Equal Ratio Reconstituted Blood

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-24

mechanical piston movements measured by the ROTEM device. Error messages were recorded in 4 (1.5%) of 267 tests. CWB yielded repro- ducible ROTEM results... piston movement analysis, error message frequency, and result variability and (2) compare the clotting properties of cold-stored WB obtained from a walking...signed the selection form, which tracked TTD screening and blood grouping results. That same form doubled as a transfusion form and was used to

An innovative use of instant messaging technology to support a library's single-service point.

PubMed

Horne, Andrea S; Ragon, Bart; Wilson, Daniel T

2012-01-01

A library service model that provides reference and instructional services by summoning reference librarians from a single service point is described. The system utilizes Libraryh3lp, an open-source, multioperator instant messaging system. The selection and refinement of this solution and technical challenges encountered are explored, as is the design of public services around this technology, usage of the system, and best practices. This service model, while a major cultural and procedural change at first, is now a routine aspect of customer service for this library.

Choices Regarding Thrombolysis Are Modified by the Way to Transfer the Messages.

PubMed

Gong, Jingjing; Zhang, Yan; Gao, Hongyan; Wei, Wei; Lv, Jing; Liu, Hongyun; Huang, Yonghua

2017-01-01

Although thrombolysis is the most effective medical treatment for acute ischemic stroke, many stroke patients eligible for thrombolysis miss this treatment as a result of delay or refusal by the patients and/or their proxies. To explore the influences of prognostic information for different intervals from stroke onset to the start of thrombolytic treatment (OTT) and other factors on the preferences of patients/proxies regarding thrombolytic therapy, a cross-sectional, discrete-choice experiment was performed between August 2013 and September 2014. A total of 613 Chinese inpatients or their immediate family members were consecutively recruited at the Department of Neurology. After random assignment to a negative-framing group or a positive-framing group, the subjects completed a series of surveys, including nine items about thrombolysis. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to examine participants' preference paradigms for thrombolysis and to categorize the participants into different subgroups. Subsequently, regression analyses were conducted to explore predictors of categorization of the participants into each subgroup and to construct a thrombolytic decision-making model. LCA revealed an optimal 3-subgroup model including a consent to thrombolysis subgroup and objection to thrombolysis subgroups 1 and 2. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that compared with assignment to the consent to thrombolysis subgroup, assignment to objection to thrombolysis subgroup 1 or 2 could be predicted by different factors. χ 2 tests indicated effects of framing and other factors on participants' choices regarding thrombolysis. Choices regarding thrombolysis were modified by not only prognostic information for different OTT intervals but also message framing, presentation format, and sociodemographic characteristics. To facilitate consent to thrombolysis, physicians should convey prognostic information to patients/proxies on the basis of patient OTT interval and should order the presentation of therapies according to the classification of patients/proxies. Individualized decision-making (IDM) might be an optimal strategy to increase the selection of thrombolysis, which providing important reference points for IDM in other clinical domains.

Choices Regarding Thrombolysis Are Modified by the Way to Transfer the Messages

PubMed Central

Gong, Jingjing; Zhang, Yan; Gao, Hongyan; Wei, Wei; Lv, Jing; Liu, Hongyun; Huang, Yonghua

2017-01-01

Although thrombolysis is the most effective medical treatment for acute ischemic stroke, many stroke patients eligible for thrombolysis miss this treatment as a result of delay or refusal by the patients and/or their proxies. To explore the influences of prognostic information for different intervals from stroke onset to the start of thrombolytic treatment (OTT) and other factors on the preferences of patients/proxies regarding thrombolytic therapy, a cross-sectional, discrete-choice experiment was performed between August 2013 and September 2014. A total of 613 Chinese inpatients or their immediate family members were consecutively recruited at the Department of Neurology. After random assignment to a negative-framing group or a positive-framing group, the subjects completed a series of surveys, including nine items about thrombolysis. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to examine participants’ preference paradigms for thrombolysis and to categorize the participants into different subgroups. Subsequently, regression analyses were conducted to explore predictors of categorization of the participants into each subgroup and to construct a thrombolytic decision-making model. LCA revealed an optimal 3-subgroup model including a consent to thrombolysis subgroup and objection to thrombolysis subgroups 1 and 2. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that compared with assignment to the consent to thrombolysis subgroup, assignment to objection to thrombolysis subgroup 1 or 2 could be predicted by different factors. χ2 tests indicated effects of framing and other factors on participants’ choices regarding thrombolysis. Choices regarding thrombolysis were modified by not only prognostic information for different OTT intervals but also message framing, presentation format, and sociodemographic characteristics. To facilitate consent to thrombolysis, physicians should convey prognostic information to patients/proxies on the basis of patient OTT interval and should order the presentation of therapies according to the classification of patients/proxies. Individualized decision-making (IDM) might be an optimal strategy to increase the selection of thrombolysis, which providing important reference points for IDM in other clinical domains. PMID:29167657

What does the media say about palliative care? A descriptive study of news coverage in written media in Spain

PubMed Central

García, Miriam; Navas, Alejandro; Olza, Inés; Gómez-Baceiredo, Beatriz; Pujol, Francesc; Garralda, Eduardo; Centeno, Carlos

2017-01-01

Introduction The goal of palliative care (PC) is to improve the quality of life of terminal stage patients and their families. The subject frequently appears in the mass-media and this helps create a socially accepted identity. The aim of this study is to describe and analyse PC related news items appeared in the Spanish written media. Methodology A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed. Considering diffusion, scope and the range in editorial policy criteria, four printed newspapers (PN) were selected, together with four exclusively digital media sources (DM). Through Mynews, a newspaper content depository, and the search tool for each DM website, articles published between 2009 and 2014 which included the terms "palliative care" and "palliative medicine" were sought. A questionnaire was created to characterise each article identified and a descriptive analysis was undertaken. Results A total of 627 articles were identified, of which 359 (57%) were published in PN (42% in the printed editions -PE- 16% in their online editions -OE-) and 268 (43%) in DM. In general, they appeared mainly in sections concerning Health (23%), Culture and Society (18%) and General/Home News (15%). In PE, just 2% were found in the Health section and nearly 70% in Culture and Society and General/Home News. Most of the articles were informative in nature and contained socio-political messages (90%). Statements by PC professionals were found in 35% of the articles and by politicians in 32%. The most frequent content was related to facing end of life (74%) and patient quality of life (70%). Conclusions The Spanish written media reflects the socio-political interest aroused by PC. Nevertheless, messages circulating about PC do not describe professional practice, or the contribution of the same for patients. Content more in line with the clinical practice might help contribute to the development of this new area of medicine. PMID:28968433