Eating and inflicting pain out of boredom.

Science.gov (United States)

Havermans, Remco C; Vancleef, Linda; Kalamatianos, Antonis; Nederkoorn, Chantal

2015-02-01

In the present study it was investigated whether boredom promotes eating and if so, whether this effect likely reflects an increased drive for rewarding stimulation (positive reinforcement) or more plainly the drive to escape boredom (negative reinforcement). In the latter case, the valence of the stimulation should not matter and people might even be willing to look for negative stimulation, for instance to hurt oneself, just to escape boredom. In two parallel experiments, it was tested whether induced boredom promotes the consumption of chocolate (Experiment 1) and whether participants likewise are more inclined to self-administer electrocutaneous stimuli (Experiment 2). In both experiments, a total of 30 participants attended two separate sessions watching a documentary for 1 h (neutral condition) and a monotonous repetition of a single clip from the same documentary for 1 h (boring condition), in balanced order. During Experiment 1, participants had free access to M&Ms and during Experiment 2 participants could freely self-administer brief electrical shocks. It was found that participants ate more M&Ms when bored but also that they more readily self-administered electrical shocks when bored. It is concluded that eating when bored is not driven by an increased desire for satisfying incentive stimulation, but mainly by the drive to escape monotony. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Travel, leisure, boredom and the Middle Ages

OpenAIRE

Jović, Maja

2016-01-01

The subject of this analysis deals with the concepts of travel, leisure and boredom, with emphasis on the medieval period. What was travel to a man of the Middle Ages, and was there any place in his life for leisure, and especially boredom? Either in opposition to each other or one inside the other, homo faber, homo viator and homo ludens coexist. Entering the medieval imaginarium, we inevitably enter a sphere of three layers of societal stratification (oratores, laboratores, bellatores). The...

Examining Leisure Boredom in High School Students in Turkey

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Akgul, Merve Beyza

2015-01-01

High school students who do not have leisure skills are more likely to be bored during leisure time. The aim of the study is to examine leisure boredom of high school students based on some variables (gender and income), and to investigate the relationship between leisure boredom, the presence/absence of anti-social behavior and the frequency at…

The psychometric properties of a workplace boredom scale (DUBS within the South African context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumarie M. van Wyk

2016-05-01

Research purpose: To determine the psychometric properties of the Dutch Boredom Scale (DUBS within the South African context. Motivation for the study: No reliable and valid scale for workplace boredom was available in South Africa at the time of the current research. Boredom at work has been found to affect organisations negatively in other countries. Insights are needed into workplace boredom and how it affects the outcomes of organisations in South Africa. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional research approach was utilised. A random convenience sample (N = 490 was obtained from organisations within the manufacturing and logistics sector. In order to validate the DUBS, the factor structure, construct validity (convergent and discriminant validity and scale reliability were investigated. A mediation model was also tested with structural equation modelling to ascertain predictive validity. Main findings: The results showed that the one-factor structure of the DUBS could be confirmed and that this factor had acceptable reliability. In terms of convergent validity, all of the item indicators loaded significantly on the workplace boredom construct, and the relationship between workplace boredom and work underload revealed that they were positively correlated with medium effect size. Furthermore, work engagement and organisational commitment were correlated negatively in terms of practical significance with workplace boredom. A structural mediation model showed that work underload was significantly and positively associated with boredom, which in turn had significant negative relations to both work engagement and organisational commitment. No significant direct relations were found from work underload to either work engagement or organisational commitment. Instead, bootstrapping showed that there was an indirect-only relationship from work underload to work engagement and organisational commitment through workplace boredom – indicating full

Eaten Up by Boredom: Consuming Food to Escape Awareness of the Bored Self.

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Andrew Bryan Moynihan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Research indicates that being bored affectively marks an appraised lack of meaning in the present situation and in life. We propose that state boredom increases eating in an attempt to distract from this experience, especially among people high in objective self-awareness. Three studies were conducted to investigate boredom’s effects on eating, both naturally occurring in a diary study and manipulated in two experiments. In Study 1, a week-long diary study showed that state boredom positively predicted calorie, fat, sugar, and protein consumption. In Study 2, a high (vs. low boredom task increased the desire to snack as opposed to eating something healthy, especially amongst those participants high in objective self-awareness. In addition, Study 3 demonstrated that among people high in objective self-awareness, high (vs. low boredom increased the consumption of less healthy foods and the consumption of more exciting, healthy foods. However, this did not extend to unexciting, healthy food. Collectively, these novel findings signify the role of boredom in predicting maladaptive and adaptive eating behaviors as a function of the need to distant from the experience of boredom. Further, our results suggest that more exciting, healthy food serves as alternative to maladaptive consumption following boredom.

Ability grouping of gifted students: effects on academic self-concept and boredom.

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Preckel, Franzis; Götz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne

2010-09-01

Securing appropriate challenge or preventing boredom is one of the reasons frequently used to justify ability grouping of gifted students, which has been shown to have beneficial effects for achievement. On the other hand, critics stress psychosocial costs, such as detrimental effects on academic self-concept (contrast or big-fish-little-pond effect). The effects of full-time ability grouping in special classrooms for the gifted on students' academic self-concept and their experience of boredom in mathematics classes were investigated. The sample comprised 186 ninth-grade students (106 male) from eight classes at one Austrian high school. Four of these classes were part of a gifted track beginning from school year 9 on (N=93). Students were assessed repeatedly within the first half of the school year, three times via self-report questionnaires and once by applying a standardized IQ-test. Students in gifted classes reported a decrease in maths academic self-concept which was most pronounced early in the academic year. Interventions to counterbalance the negative effect of exposure to a high-ability reference group should therefore be implemented when ability grouping begins. No evidence for the boredom hypothesis was found (higher levels of boredom among gifted students in regular classes). However, students clearly differed in the reasons they stated for experiencing boredom. Boredom attributions changed over time and supported the assumption that gifted classes provide more appropriate levels of challenge.

Electroencephalogram oscillations support the involvement of task-unrelated thoughts in the mechanism of boredom: A pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyauchi, Eri; Kawasaki, Masahiro

2018-06-11

Boredom is a universal experience; however, the neural mechanisms underlying the phenomenon remain unclear. Previous research suggests that boredom is related to attentional failure and derives a possible explanation for the cognitive processes of boredom as a product of appraisals made about task-unrelated thoughts. There are little published data regarding proposed processes from neuroscientific perspectives. Therefore, the authors aimed to examine whether cognitive processes of boredom with task-unrelated thoughts followed by appraisals of them can be explained by examining oscillatory correlates. Electroencephalography was used to measure changes in neural oscillatory activity during subjective experiences of boredom or dislike in healthy subjects. Using this approach, temporal information of brain activity particular to the boredom experience was acquired. Additionally, the Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale was used to evaluate the effects of attentional deficits in the neural processing of boredom. Tonic increase in theta and transient increases in alpha activity were exhibited before the key press response for experiencing boredom; however, only tonic increases in theta amplitudes were boredom specific. The results of this pilot study suggest that the boredom experience is possibly associated with cognitive processes involved in task-unrelated thoughts, followed by their appraisals to be bored, mediated by alpha and theta activity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Boredom in Achievement Settings: Exploring Control-Value Antecedents and Performance Outcomes of a Neglected Emotion

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Pekrun, Reinhard; Goetz, Thomas; Daniels, Lia M.; Stupnisky, Robert H.; Perry, Raymond P.

2010-01-01

The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students' appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students' boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual…

Canadian and Chinese University Students' Approaches to Coping with Academic Boredom

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Tze, Virginia M. C.; Daniels, Lia M.; Klassen, Robert M.; Li, Johnson C.-H.

2013-01-01

Although past research has shown the benefits of using approach coping in dealing with negative emotions, little is known about how students cope with a common negative achievement emotion, boredom, across cultures. Therefore, the goals of this study were to validate the Boredom Coping Scale (BCS) in Canada (n = 151, mean age = 23.29) and China (n…

“I cannot stand the boredom.” Binge drinking expectancies in adolescence

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Roberta Biolcati

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The main aim of this study is to improve our knowledge on binge drinking behavior in adolescents. In particular, we tested a model of predictors of binge drinking focusing on boredom proneness; we also examined the predictive and mediating role of drinking expectancies on binge drinking. Methods: A questionnaire designed to assess current drinking behavior, such as binge drinking, drinking expectancies and boredom proneness, was administered to 721 Italian adolescents (61% females aged between 13 and 19 years (M = 15.98, SD = 1.61. Results: Structural equation modeling confirmed the evidence on drinking expectancies as predicted by boredom proneness and as predictive of adolescents' binge drinking. Interestingly, disinhibition and relief from pain seem to play a more important mediating role between boredom and alcohol outcome. Conversely, no mediation was found for interpersonal and social confidence expectancies on binge drinking. Conclusions: In general, the results suggest that preventative interventions on alcohol misuse should focus on personality traits and underlying drinking expectancies.

Is it beneficial to use Internet-communication for escaping from boredom? Boredom proneness interacts with cue-induced craving and avoidance expectancies in explaining symptoms of Internet-communication disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Wegmann, Elisa; Ostendorf, Sina; Brand, Matthias

2018-01-01

The use of online-communication applications including messengers (e.g. WhatsApp) or social networking services (e.g. Facebook) on the smartphone has turned into daily practice for billions of people, for example during waiting times. An increasing number of individuals show diminished control over their usage of these applications despite negative consequences in everyday life. This can be referred to as Internet-communication disorder (ICD). The current study investigated the effect of boredom proneness on symptoms of an ICD. It further examined the mediating role of cognitive and affective mechanisms, namely expectancies to avoid negative feelings online and cue-induced craving. The results of a structural equation model (N = 148) illustrate that boredom proneness is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of an ICD as it had a significant direct effect on ICD symptoms. Furthermore, boredom proneness predicted avoidance expectancies as well as cue-induced craving. Both in turn enhanced the risk of developing ICD tendencies. Moreover, both variables mediated the effect of boredom proneness on ICD and interacted among each other. In summary, the results demonstrate that people who have a higher susceptibility to experience boredom show higher expectancies to avoid negative emotions online, which promotes higher craving reactions when being confronted with specific cues (e.g. an incoming message), and could result in ICD tendencies.

Is it beneficial to use Internet-communication for escaping from boredom? Boredom proneness interacts with cue-induced craving and avoidance expectancies in explaining symptoms of Internet-communication disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Ostendorf, Sina

2018-01-01

The use of online-communication applications including messengers (e.g. WhatsApp) or social networking services (e.g. Facebook) on the smartphone has turned into daily practice for billions of people, for example during waiting times. An increasing number of individuals show diminished control over their usage of these applications despite negative consequences in everyday life. This can be referred to as Internet-communication disorder (ICD). The current study investigated the effect of boredom proneness on symptoms of an ICD. It further examined the mediating role of cognitive and affective mechanisms, namely expectancies to avoid negative feelings online and cue-induced craving. The results of a structural equation model (N = 148) illustrate that boredom proneness is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of an ICD as it had a significant direct effect on ICD symptoms. Furthermore, boredom proneness predicted avoidance expectancies as well as cue-induced craving. Both in turn enhanced the risk of developing ICD tendencies. Moreover, both variables mediated the effect of boredom proneness on ICD and interacted among each other. In summary, the results demonstrate that people who have a higher susceptibility to experience boredom show higher expectancies to avoid negative emotions online, which promotes higher craving reactions when being confronted with specific cues (e.g. an incoming message), and could result in ICD tendencies. PMID:29672574

Boredom and Passion: Triggers of Habitual Entrepreneurship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller, Sabine; Neergaard, Helle

. The case based, the study identifies eight factors, which contribute to consecutive venture creation. The findings suggest that boredom and passion are necessary conditions triggering habitual entrepreneurship. Other important mechanisms included the joy of discovering and exploiting an opportunity...

Neural Correlates of Boredom in Music Perception

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Ashkan Fakhr Tabatabaie

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Music can elicit powerful emotional responses, the neural correlates of which have not been properly understood. An important aspect about the quality of any musical piece is its ability to elicit a sense of excitement in the listeners. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of boredom evoked by music in human subjects. Methods: We used EEG recording in nine subjects while they were listening to total number of 10 short-length (83 sec musical pieces with various boredom indices. Subjects evaluated boringness of musical pieces while their EEG was recording. Results: Using short time Fourier analysis, we found that beta2 rhythm was (16-20 Hz significantly lower whenever the subjects rated the music as boring in comparison to nonboring. Discussion: The results demonstrate that the music modulates neural activity of various partsof the brain and can be measured using EEG.

The psychometric properties of a workplace boredom scale (DUBS) within the South African context

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Wyk, Sumarie M.; de Beer, Leon T.; Pienaar, Jaco; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.

2016-01-01

Orientation: Boredom at work has been shown to be a concern for individuals and organisations. At the time of this research, no validated scale was available to measure and investigate workplace boredom within the South African context. Research purpose: To determine the psychometric properties of

Environmental enrichment reduces signs of boredom in caged mink.

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Rebecca K Meagher

Full Text Available Animals housed in impoverished cages are often labelled 'bored'. They have also been called 'apathetic' or 'depressed', particularly when profoundly inactive. However, these terms are rarely operationally defined and validated. As a negative state caused by under-stimulation, boredom should increase interest in stimuli of all kinds. Apathy (lack of interest, by contrast, should manifest as decreased interest in all stimuli, while anhedonia (loss of pleasure, a depressive symptom should specifically decrease interest in normally rewarding stimuli. We tested the hypotheses that mink, a model carnivore, experience more boredom, depression-like apathy, or anhedonia in non-enriched (NE cages than in complex, enriched (E cages. We exposed 29 subjects (13 E, 16 NE to ten stimuli categorized a priori as aversive (e.g. air puffs, rewarding (e.g. evoking chasing or ambiguous/neutral (e.g. candles. Interest in stimuli was assessed via latencies to contact, contact durations, and durations oriented to stimuli. NE mink contacted all stimuli faster (P = 0.003 than E mink, and spent longer oriented to/in contact with them, albeit only significantly so for ambiguous ones (treatment*type P<0.013. With stimulus category removed from statistical models, interest in all stimuli was consistently higher among NE mink (P<0.0001 for all measures. NE mink also consumed more food rewards (P = 0.037. Finally, we investigated whether lying down while awake and stereotypic behaviour (both increased by NE housing predicted these responses. Lying awake positively co-varied with certain measures of increased exploration. In contrast, stereotypic 'scrabbling' or locomotion (e.g. pacing did not. Overall, NE mink showed no evidence of apathy or depression, but instead a heightened investigation of diverse stimuli consistent with boredom. This state was potentially indicated by spending much time lying still but awake (although this result requires replication. Boredom can

Leisure Time Boredom: Issues Concerning College Students

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Hickerson, Benjamin D.; Beggs, Brent A.

2007-01-01

Students who do not have leisure skills, cannot manage leisure time, or are not aware that leisure can be psychologically rewarding are more likely to be bored during leisure. This study examined the impact of boredom on leisure of college students in relation to gender, level of education, and activity choice. Subjects at a Midwestern university…

Neural networks underlying affective states in a multimodal virtual environment: contributions to boredom

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Krystyna Anna Mathiak

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The interaction of low perceptual stimulation or goal-directed behavior with a negative subjective evaluation may lead to boredom. This contribution to boredom may shed light on its neural correlates, which are poorly characterized so far. A video game served as simulation of free interactive behavior without interruption of the game’s narrative. Thirteen male German volunteers played a first-person shooter game (Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. Two independent coders performed the time-based analysis of the audio-visual game content. Boredom was operationalized as interaction of prolonged absence of goal-directed behavior with lowered affect in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS.A decrease of positive affect correlated with response amplitudes in bilateral insular clusters extending into the amygdala to prolonged inactive phases in a game play and an increase in negative affect was associated with higher responses in bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Precuneus and hippocampus responses were negatively correlated with changes in negative affect.We describe for the first time neural contributions to boredom, using a video game as complex virtual environment. Further our study confirmed that positive and negative affect are separable constructs, reflected by distinct neural patterns. Positive affect may be associated with afferent limbic activity whereas negative affect with affective control.

On boredom: a close encounter with encapsulated parts of the psyche.

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Bergstein, Avner

2009-06-01

The psychoanalytical literature has numerous scattered references to the analyst's experience of boredom, especially amongst writers working with primitive mental states. In the present paper, the author tries to gather some of these references in an attempt to integrate the various facets of this widespread phenomenon, and reflect on some clinical issues and dilemmas it raises. It is suggested that the experience of boredom in analysis may be a reaction to an encounter with a hidden, encapsulated part of the psyche, a bidimensional area of experience in which mental activity has been suspended, and experience remains meaningless. This is a barren area of lack, an encounter with the autistic core of the psyche. However, boredom may also be an experiential expression of despair, a re-living of primitive object relations with an emotionally non-existent primary object. Through bringing the emptiness and desolation into analysis, the individual makes room for the empty, blunt, dead inner object which resides within him, and that needs to be integrated into the psyche. This inner object is a vital part of the patient's inner world, part of his history, and can neither be erased nor filled in order to eradicate the emptiness. This is illustrated by clinical material from patients along the spectrum of autism, autistic reaction following trauma and autistic barriers in neurotic patients.

On the relationship between meaning in life and boredom proneness: examining a logotherapy postulate.

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Melton, Amanda M A; Schulenberg, Stefan E

2007-12-01

Logotherapy, developed by Viktor Frankl, posits that when one lacks meaning in life, boredom can result. Thus, the two constructs should be inversely related. To examine this relationship, 279 students (M = 19.8 yr., SD = 2.6; 179 women, 98 men) from a university in the southern United States were administered the Purpose of Life test and the Boredom Proneness Scale. As expected, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between the scores on the two scales (r = -.71). Directions for research are offered.

Analysis of physiological signals for recognition of boredom, pain, and surprise emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Eun-Hye; Park, Byoung-Jun; Park, Mi-Sook; Kim, Sang-Hyeob; Sohn, Jin-Hun

2015-06-18

The aim of the study was to examine the differences of boredom, pain, and surprise. In addition to that, it was conducted to propose approaches for emotion recognition based on physiological signals. Three emotions, boredom, pain, and surprise, are induced through the presentation of emotional stimuli and electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), skin temperature (SKT), and photoplethysmography (PPG) as physiological signals are measured to collect a dataset from 217 participants when experiencing the emotions. Twenty-seven physiological features are extracted from the signals to classify the three emotions. The discriminant function analysis (DFA) as a statistical method, and five machine learning algorithms (linear discriminant analysis (LDA), classification and regression trees (CART), self-organizing map (SOM), Naïve Bayes algorithm, and support vector machine (SVM)) are used for classifying the emotions. The result shows that the difference of physiological responses among emotions is significant in heart rate (HR), skin conductance level (SCL), skin conductance response (SCR), mean skin temperature (meanSKT), blood volume pulse (BVP), and pulse transit time (PTT), and the highest recognition accuracy of 84.7% is obtained by using DFA. This study demonstrates the differences of boredom, pain, and surprise and the best emotion recognizer for the classification of the three emotions by using physiological signals.

Narcissism and boredom revisited: an exploration of correlates of overt and covert narcissism among Dutch university students.

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Zondag, Hessel J

2013-04-01

This article presents a study of the relationship between narcissism, overt and covert, and seven aspects of boredom, defined as listlessness, drawn out experience of time, depletion, lack of concentration, restlessness, experience seeking, and lack of interest. The survey was conducted using questionnaires administered to 32 men and 177 women. The mean age of male respondents was 30.9 yr. (SD = 11.9), that of female respondents 30.2 yr. (SD = 12.2). In general terms, covert narcissism was found to be positively, and overt narcissism negatively, associated with boredom. The results showed a more complex pattern than was found in previous research into the relationship between narcissism and boredom and suggest that overt and covert narcissism are at opposite ends of the adjustment continuum.

Work-related boredom and depressed mood from a daily perspective: The moderating roles of work centrality and need satisfaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hooff, M.L.M. van; Hooft, E.A.J. van

2016-01-01

This study aimed to advance insight into inter- and intrapersonal processes that may affect the associations between work-related boredom and employee well-being. We employed a daily perspective to examine (1) the relations between work-related boredom and depressed mood at the end of the workday

Predictive power of task orientation, general self-efficacy and self-determined motivation on fun and boredom

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Lorena Ruiz-González

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this study was to test the predictive power of dispositional orientations, general self-efficacy and self-determined motivation on fun and boredom in physical education classes, with a sample of 459 adolescents between 13 and 18 with a mean age of 15 years (SD = 0.88. The adolescents responded to four Likert scales: Perceptions of Success Questionnaire, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Sport Motivation Scale and Intrinsic Satisfaction Questionnaire in Sport. The results showed the structural regression model showed that task orientation and general self-efficacy positively predicted self-determined motivation and this in turn positively predicted more fun and less boredom in physical education classes. Consequently, the promotion of an educational task-oriented environment where learners perceive their progress and make them feel more competent, will allow them to overcome the intrinsically motivated tasks, and therefore they will have more fun. Pedagogical implications for less boredom and more fun in physical education classes are discussed.

Time Perspectives and Boredom Coping Strategies of Undergraduate Students from Turkey

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Eren, Altay; Coskun, Hamit

2015-01-01

Using person-centered and variable-centered analyses, this study examined the relationships between undergraduate students' time perspectives and boredom coping strategies. A total of 719 undergraduate students voluntarily participated in the study. Results of the study showed that undergraduate students' time perspectives can be reliably defined…

Understanding workplace boredom among white collar employees : temporary reactions and individual differences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijden, van der G.A.H.; Schepers, J.J.L.; Nijssen, E.J.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate white collar employees' temporary relief strategies to workplace boredom. Building on self-regulation theory we define two responses: engaging in distraction and work indifference. We also investigate whether some individuals are more likely to engage in

Teacher’s Autonomy Support and Engagement in Math: Multiple Mediating Roles of Self-efficacy, Intrinsic Value, and Boredom

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Wang, Jia; Liu, Ru-De; Ding, Yi; Xu, Le; Liu, Ying; Zhen, Rui

2017-01-01

Previous studies have highlighted the impacts of environmental factors (teacher’s autonomy support) and individual factors (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom) on academic engagement. This study aimed to investigate these variables and examine the relations among them. Three structural equation models tested the multiple mediational roles of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom in the relation between teacher’s autonomy support and behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, respectively, in math. A total of 637 Chinese middle school students (313 males, 324 females; mean age = 14.82) voluntarily participated in this study. Results revealed that self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom played important and mediating roles between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and student engagement. Specifically, these three individual variables partly mediated the relations between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and behavioral and cognitive engagement, while fully mediating the relation between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and emotional engagement. These findings complement and extend the understanding of factors affecting students’ engagement in math. PMID:28690560

Trait Procrastination, Self-Efficacy and Achievement Goals: The Mediation Role of Boredom Coping Strategies

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Zhou, Mingming; Kam, Chester Chun Seng

2017-01-01

Limited research has examined the mediational role of coping strategy in students' motivation and procrastination. In this study, we examined the relationships among self-efficacy, achievement goals, boredom coping strategies and procrastination with 506 Chinese college students. Data were collected via questionnaires. Structural equation…

The Development of Leisure Boredom in Early Adolescence: Predictors and Longitudinal Associations with Delinquency and Depression

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Spaeth, Michael; Weichold, Karina; Silbereisen, Rainer K.

2015-01-01

The literature proposes that leisure boredom may systematically increase during adolescence. Moreover, some authors assume that this hypothesized developmental trend is associated with increases in youthful delinquency and depression. Individual dispositions (e.g., temperamental disinhibition) are believed to exacerbate the relationship between…

The Relationship between Student Anti-Intellectualism and Proneness to Boredom in a Sample of College Students

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Laverghetta, Antonio

2015-01-01

College student anti-intellectualism is defined as a general disdain of intellectual and academic endeavors. Eigenberger and Sealander (2001), using the student anti-intellectualism scale (SAIS), reported that SAIS scores were negatively correlated with openness to experience and elaborative/deep cognitive processing. Proneness to boredom,…

Boredom Proneness, Social Connectedness, and Sexual Addiction among Men Who Have Sex with Male Internet Users

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Chaney, Michael P.; Blalock, Andrew C.

2006-01-01

The authors collected surveys from 517 men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited from Internet chat rooms to examine the relationships among boredom, social connectedness, and sexual addiction. The results provide addictions professionals psychosocial factors to assess when working with sexually addicted MSM. (Contains 3 tables.)

Young Men, Time and Boredom in the Republic of Georgia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Martin Demant

in the regional capital of Batumi do not feel that they are part of the progression these changes create. Instead, they feel marginalized both by space and time—passed over and without prospects. This distinctive case study provides empirical evidence for a deeper understanding of contemporary societal......In the midst of societal optimism, how do young men cope with the loss of a vibrant future? Young Men, Time, and Boredom in the Republic of Georgia provides a vivid exploration of the tension between subjective and societal time and the ways these tensions create experiences of marginality among...... developments and their effects on individual experiences....

Can job crafting reduce job boredom and increase work engagement? A three-year cross-lagged panel study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harju, Lotta K.; Hakanen, Jari J.; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/073779563

2016-01-01

Building upon the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this longitudinal study examined whether job crafting behaviors (i.e. increasing structural and social job resources and increasing challenges) predict less job boredom and more work engagement. We also tested the reverse causation effects of

Within-Person Analyses of Situational Interest and Boredom: Interactions between Task-Specific Perceptions and Achievement Goals

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Ayumi; Murayama, Kou

2014-01-01

Despite the increasing number of studies examining the correlates of interest and boredom, surprisingly little research has focused on within-person fluctuations in these emotions, making it difficult to describe their situational nature. To address this gap in the literature, this study conducted repeated measurements (12 times) on a sample of…

A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Learning-Related Boredom Scale (LRBS) with Canadian and Chinese College Students

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Tze, Virginia M. C.; Klassen, Robert M.; Daniels, Lia M.; Li, Johnson C.-H.; Zhang, Xiao

2013-01-01

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Learning-Related Boredom Scale (LRBS) from the Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ; Pekrun, Goetz, & Perry, 2005; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002) in a sample of 405 university students from Canada and China. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the factor…

Brain responses to repeated visual experience among low and high sensation seekers: role of boredom susceptibility

OpenAIRE

Jiang, Yang; Lianekhammy, Joann; Lawson, Adam; Guo, Chunyan; ynam, Donald; Joseph, Jane E.; Gold, Brian T.; Kelly, Thomas H.

2009-01-01

To better understand individual differences in sensation seeking and its components, including boredom susceptibility and experience seeking, we examined brain responses of high and low sensation seekers during repeated visual experience. Individuals scoring in the top and bottom quartiles from a college-aged population on the Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale (BSSS) participated in an event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment. Line drawings of common objects were randomly intermixed and present...

“Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr”. Notes on Bruce O’Neill’s "The Space of Boredom"

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George Tudorie

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Bruce O’Neill describes homeless men and women in Bucharest who could not navigate the downward spiral which followed the meltdown of the state-run economy after 1989. Deprived of the culturally treasured anchors of work, home, and family, and unable to participate in anything recognizably meaningful, these individuals are forced into a position of malignant contemplation, even when busy surviving. It is an experience of paralyzed restlessness which resonates with the ruins they zigzag through. The Space of Boredom captures this landscape convincingly, and in elegant prose. The book moves effortlessly from the discussion of scholarly works in a number of fields, to observation of sometimes cinematic quality. It is well argued, abundantly researched, and clear about its theoretical assumptions. If some questions remain to be answered, at least to this reader, this may be an artifact of background. Assumptions, including important ones about the nature of affects, and about boredom itself, may not be shared. Some questions of this kind will be raised in the following.

Crick's gossip test and Watson's boredom principle: A pseudo-mathematical analysis of effort in scientific research.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Bruce G

2008-01-01

Crick and Watson gave complementary advice to the aspiring scientist based on the insight that to do your best work you need to make your greatest possible effort. Crick made the positive suggestion to work on the subject which most deeply interests you, the thing about which you spontaneously gossip - Crick termed this 'the gossip test'. Watson made the negative suggestion of avoiding topics and activities that bore you - which I have termed 'the boredom principle'. This is good advice because science is tough and the easy things have already been done. Solving the harder problems that remain requires a lot of effort. But in modern biomedical science individual effort does not necessarily correlate with career success as measured by salary, status, job security, etc. This is because Crick and Watson are talking about revolutionary science - using Thomas Kuhn's distinction between paradigm-shifting 'revolutionary' science and incremental 'normal' science. There are two main problems with pursuing a career in revolutionary science. The first is that revolutionary science is intrinsically riskier than normal science, the second that even revolutionary success in a scientific backwater may be less career-enhancing than mundane work in a trendy field. So, if you pick your scientific problem using the gossip test and the boredom principle, you might also be committing career suicide. This may explain why so few people follow Crick and Watson's advice. The best hope for future biomedical science is that it will evolve towards a greater convergence between individual effort and career success.

Urban-rural differences in adolescent self-esteem, leisure boredom, and sensation-seeking as predictors of leisure-time usage and satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, W R; Caltabiano, M L

1996-01-01

Australia's "sporting nation" image has been challenged by adolescents' decreasing involvement in active leisure pursuits. A significant number of adolescents experience leisure boredom and dissatisfaction, which have been implicated in drug use and delinquency. Researchers have largely ignored the multivariate nature of adolescent leisure experiences. This North Queensland, Australian adolescent leisure study explored the extent to which adolescent leisure experiences were mediated by individual and situational variables. Seventy-five Cairns and 65 Atherton high school students (66 males and 74 females) were surveyed from grades 8, 10, and 12 (ages 12 to 19), during normal class periods. The Self-Rating Scale (SPS) measure of self-esteem, Sensation-Seeking Scale Form II (SSS), Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS), and a time-use inventory yielded quantitative data. Urban adolescents reported less leisure satisfaction. Participation was highest for passive leisure and lowest for active leisure. Urban adolescents reported higher social leisure, while rural adolescents engaged in more passive leisure. For both Cairns and Atherton, the heaviest substance users were those who scored low on self-esteem and high on sensation-seeking. Atherton adolescents who scored low on self-esteem but high on sensation-seeking, reported the most crime involvement. Methodological issues and implications are discussed and suggestions made for future research.

Meaning, lived experience, empathy and boredom: Max van Manen on phenomenology and Heidegger.

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Paley, John

2018-07-01

Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution has attracted the attention of Max van Manen, who has published a highly critical review article. Anyone reading this article, but unfamiliar with the book, will get a distorted view of what it is about, whom it is addressed to, what it tries to achieve, and how it goes about presenting its arguments. Not mildly distorted, in need of the odd correction here and there, but systematically misrepresented. One problem is that van Manen appears to have an idée fixe which prevents him from recognizing that the book is not about a certain philosophical tradition (known as "phenomenology"), but about a particular type of qualitative research (also known, unfortunately and confusingly, as "phenomenology"). A second idée fixe disposes him to misread an earlier article of mine and (much more seriously) three works by Heidegger. My aim in this article is to describe these two idées fixes, and exhibit their consequences. In doing so, I will examine what van Manen has to say on four crucial topics: meaning, lived experience, empathy, and Heidegger's analysis of boredom in The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Automated Analysis of Facial Cues from Videos as a Potential Method for Differentiating Stress and Boredom of Players in Games

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Bevilacqua

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Facial analysis is a promising approach to detect emotions of players unobtrusively; however approaches are commonly evaluated in contexts not related to games or facial cues are derived from models not designed for analysis of emotions during interactions with games. We present a method for automated analysis of facial cues from videos as a potential tool for detecting stress and boredom of players behaving naturally while playing games. Computer vision is used to automatically and unobtrusively extract 7 facial features aimed at detecting the activity of a set of facial muscles. Features are mainly based on the Euclidean distance of facial landmarks and do not rely on predefined facial expressions, training of a model, or the use of facial standards. An empirical evaluation was conducted on video recordings of an experiment involving games as emotion elicitation sources. Results show statistically significant differences in the values of facial features during boring and stressful periods of gameplay for 5 of the 7 features. We believe our approach is more user-tailored, convenient, and better suited for contexts involving games.

Brain Potentials and Personality: A New Look at Stress Susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

1987-09-01

disinhibition (Dis) measures a hedonistic , extraverted lifestyle including drinking, parties, sex, and gambling; boredom susceptibility (BS) indicates an...adventure seeking; ES = Experience seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom susceptibility. 1 14 I N i*5’ Table 4 Correlation of Auditory Evoked...20. aTAS = Thrill and adventure seeking; ES = Experience seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom susceptibility. < .05. 15 I The present study

L'ennui dans quelques romans de Julien Green : du « violent dégoût de tout » à « l’effroi d’être au monde »

OpenAIRE

Andevert, Anne-Laure

2015-01-01

This thesis aims at studying how boredom is depicked in five novels – Mont-Cinère, Adrienne Mesurat, Minuit, Le Malfaiteur, Le Mauvais Lieu – and how differently Julien Green painted it. In a first part, our analysis of the Greenian boredom from within and without has highlighted his characters’ internal alienation mirroring their inability to live. Indeed, studying the characters’ environment gives some insight into the scope of boredom. The town then becomes the canvass on which their bored...

Applying the Job Characteristics Model to the College Education Experience

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Kass, Steven J.; Vodanovich, Stephen J.; Khosravi, Jasmine Y.

2011-01-01

Boredom is one of the most common complaints among university students, with studies suggesting its link to poor grades, drop out, and behavioral problems. Principles borrowed from industrial-organizational psychology may help prevent boredom and enrich the classroom experience. In the current study, we applied the core dimensions of the job…

The role of motivation and metacognition on the development of cognitive and affective responses in physical education les-sons: A self-determination approach

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Yannis Karagiannidis

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The study investigated the role of motivation and metacognition in the formation of cognitive and affective outcomes from participation in physical education lessons within the framework of self-determination theory. A sample of 630 adolescents (M age = 14.06, SD = .29 participated in the study. Participants completed questionnaires including measures of perceived autonomy support in PE, autonomous motivation in PE, metacognitive processes in PE, enjoyment, boredom in PE and intention for leisure-time physical activity. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that perceptions of autonomy supportive motivational climate significantly predicted enjoyment, boredom and intentions towards leisure-time physical activity. In addition autonomous motivation and metacognition significantly predicted enjoyment, boredom and intentions, whereas controlling motivation was a significant predictor of boredom. Multiple mediation modeling indicated that perceptions of autonomy supporting climate on these responses was mediated mainly by autonomous motivation and metacognition. The findings of the present study provide valuable information on the mediating role of autonomous motivation and metacognition on the effects of autonomy supportive motivational climate on students’ cognitive and affective responses during physical education lessons.

Maintaining human productivity during Mars transit

Science.gov (United States)

Statler, Irving C.; Billings, Charles E.

1989-01-01

This paper addresses the special nature of the human-machine relationship during a trip to Mars. In particular, the potential for monotony and boredom during a long-duration space voyage and the effect on motivation and productivity can be important considerations to the health and welfare of the crew. For the voyage to Mars, a design may be considered that will purposefully maintain some level of workload for the crew as a preventive measure for the deterioration of productivity that comes with boredom. This paper speculates on these considerations, on the appropriate level of workload for maximum productivity, and on what might be done during the mission to alleviate the problems caused by monotony and boredom.

Adaptive Motivation Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-02-01

concept of motivation at all. Nuttin (1973) placed -5- Landy: ONR Annual Report certain hedonistic overtones on White’s principle of effectance motivation...deficiencies of motivation theories become particularly apparent in dealing with the issue of boredom . Tn terms of objective reality, it would seem...with expcsure to a c nstant stimulus set, we might justifiably conclude that there is a regular sequence which characterizes the appearance of boredom

Dampak Efikasi Diri terhadap Beban Kognitif dalam Pembelajaran Matematika dengan Emosi Akademik sebagai Mediator

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Sunawan

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of present study was to identify the role of academic emotions in mediating the correlation between self-efficacy and cognitive load in mathematics learning. Four hundred and eighty-seven high school students (191 boys and 296 girls were involved in the correlational study. Structural equation modelling, in particular mediation analysis, was applied to identify the mediation effect of academic emotions. The results showed that self- efficacy predicted academic emotions (namely enjoyment, anger, and boredom directly, but anxiety indirectly. Then, academic emotions predicted cognitive load: extraneous load was predicted by enjoyment, anger, and boredom; intrinsic load was predicted by enjoyment and anxiety; whereas germane load was only predicted by enjoyment. Enjoyment negatively mediated self-efficacy with extraneous load, but positively mediated self-efficacy with intrinsic and germane load. Anger negatively mediated self-efficacy with extraneous load. Boredom negatively mediated extraneous and intrinsic load. Findings of present study clarify the role of academic emotions on cognitive performance, particularly cognitive load.

Fun and Games and Boredom.

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Buday, Richard; Baranowski, Tom; Thompson, Debbe

2012-08-01

Serious videogames use entertainment to teach, train, or change behavior. What began in the 1970s as tentative attempts to create learning software is now a recognized videogame genre and an emerging health science. Although more research is needed, a growing body of literature suggests serious videogames can be effective. Support for serious videogames, however, is not universal. An informal Web search reveals numerous skeptics. Critics question serious videogames' entertainment value and, thus, their viability. "How can serious videogames attract and maintain players," the argument goes, "if they aren't as much fun as commercial titles, or even any fun at all?" This article examines the argument that, to be effective, serious videogames should be overtly fun and comparable to commercial off-the-shelf videogames. It explores differences between game developer- and researcher-led projects and discusses ways serious videogames can avoid boring and alienating players. It concludes that direct comparisons between serious and commercial game entertainment values may be misdirected.

Association of obesity and eating in the absence of hunger among college students in a Mexican-USA border city.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Morales, Eugenia; Jiménez-Cruz, Arturo; Alcántara-Jurado, Luis; Armendáriz-Anguiano, Ana; Bacardí-Gascón, Montserrat

2014-06-01

Few studies have examined disinhibited eating behaviors in Mexico. However eating in the absence of hunger (EAH), defined as eating in response to the presence of palatable foods in the absence of physiological hunger, is one of the more frequently examined behaviors. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between obesity and EAH among college students in a large Mexican-USA border city. Two-hundred and one sophomore college students completed the EAH questionnaire (EAH-C). Weight and height were measured. To assess reproducibility a test-retest was conducted in a subset sample (n = 20). Test-retest correlations ranged from ρ = 0.44 to 0.86, p obesity was 29 and 14 % respectively. The internal validity was assessed by Cronbach's alph. Internal consistency for all subscales was: external eating (α = 0.83), negative affect (α = 0.92) and fatigue/boredom (α = 0.86). Principal component analysis generated four subscales for the EAH-C: external eating, negative affect, fatigue and boredom. Comparing normal weight students versus obese students, normal weight students (57.1%) had higher scores on boredom subscale than obese students (p students had higher scores in the negative affect subscale than the males (p obesity.

Motivational Antecedents of Well-Being and Health Related Behaviors in Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Balaguer, Isabel; Duda, Joan L; Castillo, Isabel

2017-10-01

Grounded in the Achievement Goal Theory framework of motivation and optimal functioning, there were two objectives of this study: (a) to test a model hypothesizing links between personal theories of school achievement, indices of the quality of academic engagement, wellbeing, and health-related behaviors, and (b) to explore whether the hypothesized model was invariant across gender groups. A multisection questionnaire pack tapping the targeted variables was administered to 967 teenagers (475 boys and 492 girls) aged between 11 to 16 years old. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that Task theory of achievement predicted positively satisfaction in school and negatively boredom in school. An Ego theory of achievement was linked to higher levels of boredom in school. Satisfaction in school corresponded to higher life satisfaction, while boredom was negatively related. Higher life satisfaction was associated with lower tobacco, alcohol and marijuana consumption, more healthy food intake and greater levels of physical activity. The results revealed partial invariance of the model by gender. The quality of adolescents' involvement in the classroom holds important implications for adolescent's well-being and their health related behaviors. Interventions on the creation of a task-involving motivational climate in the school are proposed to promote healthy lifestyles among young people.

Perceived Academic Control and Academic Emotions Predict Undergraduate University Student Success: Examining Effects on Dropout Intention and Achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Respondek, Lisa; Seufert, Tina; Stupnisky, Robert; Nett, Ulrike E

2017-01-01

The present study addressed concerns over the high risk of university students' academic failure. It examined how perceived academic control and academic emotions predict undergraduate students' academic success, conceptualized as both low dropout intention and high achievement (indicated by GPA). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 883 undergraduate students across all disciplines of a German STEM orientated university. The study additionally compared freshman students ( N = 597) vs. second-year students ( N = 286). Using structural equation modeling, for the overall sample of undergraduate students we found that perceived academic control positively predicted enjoyment and achievement, as well as negatively predicted boredom and anxiety. The prediction of dropout intention by perceived academic control was fully mediated via anxiety. When taking perceived academic control into account, we found no specific impact of enjoyment or boredom on the intention to dropout and no specific impact of all three academic emotions on achievement. The multi-group analysis showed, however, that perceived academic control, enjoyment, and boredom among second-year students had a direct relationship with dropout intention. A major contribution of the present study was demonstrating the important roles of perceived academic control and anxiety in undergraduate students' academic success. Concerning corresponding institutional support and future research, the results suggested distinguishing incoming from advanced undergraduate students.

Protective Isolation for Patients with Haematological Malignancies: A Pilot Study Investigating Patients' Distress and Use of Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Annibali, O; Pensieri, C; Tomarchio, V; Biagioli, V; Pennacchini, M; Tendas, A; Tambone, V; Tirindelli, M C

2017-10-01

Background: Patients with haematological malignancies are often hospitalized in protective isolation until full neutrophil recovery in order to prevent infections. This descriptive pilot study evaluate the level of isolation-related distress and the use of free time in a sample of Italian onco-haematological patients who were hospitalized in protective isolation. Materials and Methods: Participants were 18 patients hospitalized in hematologic ward to receive induction therapy (n=12) or autologous stem cell transplant (n=6). They completed a self-report questionnaire before discharge. Results: Participants reported a moderate level of isolation-related distress, anxiety, and boredom: the more the anxiety and the boredom, the more the distress (r=.77; Psurfing in Internet or using PC (33.3%), and playing games or making cross-words (16.7%). Participants who reported pessimistic thinking had higher isolation-related distress (P=.004) as well as anxiety (P<.001) and boredom (P=.001). Conclusion: Haematology Units should support isolated patients in spending their time in recreational activities, allowing more contacts with immediate relatives and friends, providing free TV and Wi-Fi connection inside the room. In addition, patients should have to keep themselves physically active. Isolation-related distress could also be reduced by providing psychological support.

Investigation of the role of personal factors on work injury in underground mines using structural equation modeling

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

P.S. Paul

2013-01-01

Work injuries in mines are complex and generally characterized by several factors starting from personal to technical and technical to social characteristics. In this paper, investigation was made through the application of structural equation modeling to study the nature of relationships between the influencing/associating personal factors and work injury and their sequential relationships leading towards work injury occurrences in underground coal mines. Six variables namely, rebelliousness, negative affectivity, job boredom, job dissatisfaction and work injury were considered in this study. Instruments were developed to quantify them through a questionnaire survey. Underground mine work-ers were randomly selected for the survey. Responses from 300 participants were used for the analysis. The structural model of LISREL was used to estimate the interrelationships amongst the variables. The case study results show that negative affectivity and job boredom induce more job dissatisfaction to the workers whereas risk taking attitude of the individual is positively influenced by job dissatisfaction as well as by rebelliousness characteristics of the individual. Finally, risk taking and job dissatisfaction are having positive significant direct relationship with work injury. The findings of this study clearly reveal that rebelliousness, negative affectivity and job boredom are the three key personal factors influencing work related injuries in mines that need to be addressed properly through effective safety programs.

Coach autonomy support and quality of sport engagement in young soccer players.

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez, María Sol; Balaguer, Isabel; Castillo, Isabel; Duda, Joan L

2009-05-01

Based on the self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), this study tested a model of the assumed sequential relationships between perceived autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction, self-determined motivation, and enjoyment/boredom. The hypothesized mediational roles of psychological need satisfaction and self-determined motivation were also studied. In a sample of 370 young male soccer players, path analysis results offered support for the proposed model. Total mediation was supported in the case of the psychological need satisfaction in the relationship between autonomy support and self-determined motivation, and partial mediation for self-determined motivation in the links between psychological need satisfaction and enjoyment (positive) and boredom (negative). Implications of autonomy-supportive behaviors provided by coaches for the quality of sport involvement among young athletes are discussed.

Improving Habitability, Mood & Diet through Bioregenerative Food Systems

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — During spaceflight, mealtime plays a primary role in psychological well-being of the crew by contributing to stress reduction, boredom relief and group unity. During...

Incidence of Parental Support and Pressure on Their Children's Motivational Processes towards Sport Practice Regarding Gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Amado, Diana; Sánchez-Oliva, David; González-Ponce, Inmaculada; Pulido-González, Juan José; Sánchez-Miguel, Pedro Antonio

2015-01-01

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, structural equation modeling (SEM) with the aim of examining how parental support/pressure could influence their children´s motivational processes in sport was conducted, as well as the models´ differences in operability regarding gender. The sample size was 321 children ranging in age from 10 to 16 years old who were athletes from Extremadura, and 321 parents (included only the father or mother more involved with the sport of his or her child). 175 participants were male and 146 were female from individual (n = 130), and team sports (n=191). A questionnaire was conducted to assess parental perception of support/pressure and another questionnaire was conducted to measure satisfaction of basic psychological needs, type of motivation and enjoyment/boredom showed by their children towards sport practice. Results revealed that parental pressure negatively predicted satisfaction of the basic psychological needs. It also emerged as a strong positive predictor of intrinsic motivation and negative predictor of amotivation. Moreover, intrinsic motivation emerged as positive predictor of enjoyment and a negative predictor of boredom, whereas amotivation positively predicted boredom and negatively predicted enjoyment. Furthermore, results showed there were mean differences by gender: male athletes perceived greater parental pressure. Hence, it is necessary to decrease parental pressure towards their children in sport, with the aim of making them more motivated and enjoy, promoting positive consequences.

Incidence of Parental Support and Pressure on Their Children's Motivational Processes towards Sport Practice Regarding Gender.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Amado

Full Text Available Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, structural equation modeling (SEM with the aim of examining how parental support/pressure could influence their children´s motivational processes in sport was conducted, as well as the models´ differences in operability regarding gender. The sample size was 321 children ranging in age from 10 to 16 years old who were athletes from Extremadura, and 321 parents (included only the father or mother more involved with the sport of his or her child. 175 participants were male and 146 were female from individual (n = 130, and team sports (n=191. A questionnaire was conducted to assess parental perception of support/pressure and another questionnaire was conducted to measure satisfaction of basic psychological needs, type of motivation and enjoyment/boredom showed by their children towards sport practice. Results revealed that parental pressure negatively predicted satisfaction of the basic psychological needs. It also emerged as a strong positive predictor of intrinsic motivation and negative predictor of amotivation. Moreover, intrinsic motivation emerged as positive predictor of enjoyment and a negative predictor of boredom, whereas amotivation positively predicted boredom and negatively predicted enjoyment. Furthermore, results showed there were mean differences by gender: male athletes perceived greater parental pressure. Hence, it is necessary to decrease parental pressure towards their children in sport, with the aim of making them more motivated and enjoy, promoting positive consequences.

Incidence of Parental Support and Pressure on Their Children’s Motivational Processes towards Sport Practice Regarding Gender

Science.gov (United States)

Amado, Diana

2015-01-01

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, structural equation modeling (SEM) with the aim of examining how parental support/pressure could influence their children´s motivational processes in sport was conducted, as well as the models´ differences in operability regarding gender. The sample size was 321 children ranging in age from 10 to 16 years old who were athletes from Extremadura, and 321 parents (included only the father or mother more involved with the sport of his or her child). 175 participants were male and 146 were female from individual (n = 130), and team sports (n=191). A questionnaire was conducted to assess parental perception of support/pressure and another questionnaire was conducted to measure satisfaction of basic psychological needs, type of motivation and enjoyment/boredom showed by their children towards sport practice. Results revealed that parental pressure negatively predicted satisfaction of the basic psychological needs. It also emerged as a strong positive predictor of intrinsic motivation and negative predictor of amotivation. Moreover, intrinsic motivation emerged as positive predictor of enjoyment and a negative predictor of boredom, whereas amotivation positively predicted boredom and negatively predicted enjoyment. Furthermore, results showed there were mean differences by gender: male athletes perceived greater parental pressure. Hence, it is necessary to decrease parental pressure towards their children in sport, with the aim of making them more motivated and enjoy, promoting positive consequences. PMID:26039062

Training to Survive the Hazard Called Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Agassi, Joseph

1984-01-01

The evils of compulsory instruction and the problems of educational reform in the general education system are explored. Strategies which target student boredom as a focal point are offered for improving education. (DF)

Military Individual Readiness (Etat de Preparation Militaire de L’Individu)

Science.gov (United States)

2009-03-01

stress, boredom , losing control); • Organizational blocks (workload, coaching issues, not being promoted, public complaints); and • External...during an unfavourable situation. In this context, prosocial organizational citizenship behaviours are said to influence readiness through the

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... like biting your nails, try playing with a stress ball or silly putty instead. This will help ... of hangnails, or other triggers, such as boredom, stress, or anxiety. By figuring out what causes you ...

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Center Meetings and events Make a difference Career planning AAD apps Academy meeting Chronic urticaria—for members ... as boredom, stress, or anxiety. By figuring out what causes you to bite your nails, you can ...

Behavioral correlates of anxiety in well-functioning older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Losada, Andrés; Márquez-González, María; Pachana, Nancy A; Wetherell, Julie L; Fernández-Fernández, Virginia; Nogales-González, Celia; Ruiz-Díaz, Miguel

2015-07-01

Research on the behavioral correlates of anxiety in older adults is sparse. The aim of this study was to explore the association of anxiety with behavioral patterns defined by health, activity, emotional and social variables. A convenience sample of 395 older adults completed measures of health, activity, emotions, social variables and experiential avoidance. Cross-sectional data were analysed using cluster analysis. Five clusters were identified: active healthy, healthy, active vulnerable, lonely inactive and frail lonely. Participants in the active healthy and healthy clusters showed the highest scores on health variables (vitality and physical function), and adaptive scores on the rest of variables. They also reported the lowest scores on anxiety and included the lowest number of cases with clinically significant anxiety levels. Active vulnerable showed high scores on social support, leisure activities and capitalization on them but low scores in vitality and physical functioning. Participants in the lonely inactive cluster reported the highest mean score in experiential avoidance and high scores on boredom and loneliness, and low scores on social support, leisure activities capitalizing on pleasant activities and health variables. Frail lonely represent a particularly vulnerable profile of participants, similar to that of lonely inactive, but with significantly lower scores on health variables and higher scores on boredom and hours watching TV. Anxiety in older adults is not only linked to poor health, but also to dysfunctional social behavior, loneliness, boredom and experiential avoidance. Maladaptive profiles of older adults with regard to these variables have been identified.

Risky decision making in adults with ADHD.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthies, S; Philipsen, A; Svaldi, J

2012-09-01

Risky decision making and disadvantageous choices constitute core characteristics of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Consequences include negative psychosocial and health-related outcomes. However, risky decision making and its interrelations with emotional states in ADHD are poorly understood. Therefore, the authors investigated risky decision making without and after boredom induction in adults with and without ADHD. In study 1, ADHD patients (n = 15) and age/education matched controls (CG; n = 16) were compared on the Game of Dice Task (GDT), an established task measuring decision making in unambiguous situations. In study 2, ADHD patients (n = 14) and CG (n = 13) underwent boredom induction prior to the GDT. In study 1, ADHD patients selected the disadvantageous alternatives significantly more often than CG. In study 2, no significant group differences were found due to an increase in risky decision making in CG following the boredom induction. Even if severity of depression did not affect our results, it may be necessary to compare GDT responses in ADHD patients with and without current depression. Risk as a motor of disadvantageous decision making needs to be taken into account in therapeutic contexts as a maintenance factor of dysfunctional behaviour. The findings of study 2 are in line with postulated alterations of emotional state adjustment in ADHD. The link between decisions making and emotional regulation in ADHD needs further attention in research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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Full Text Available ... Mohs AUC MyDermPath+ Psoriasis Patient education resources Practice Management Center Coding and reimbursement Coding MACRA Fee schedule ... as boredom, stress, or anxiety. By figuring out what causes you to bite your nails, you can ...

Stress for Success: How to Optimize Your Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Gmelch, Walter H.

1983-01-01

This article explores linkages between stress and effective job performance: while too much stress can lead to burnout, too little stressful stimulation can result in boredom. Generating the proper amount of stress for optimal job performance is discussed. (PP)

Summary of ARI Research on Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Science.gov (United States)

1975-05-01

8217 values--resentment of authority, rejection of traditional American culture, and generally hedonistic outlook. Users perceived the company-level...with low morale, boredom , and dissatisfaction with job, officers, and the Army. Certain value-attitude profiles among enlisted men, including

The Impact of Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Experiences on Minority Individuals’ Educational and Career Success.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-05-16

Negative attitudes toward the subject being studied based on social isolation and its corresponding boredom . f. Lack of persistence in completing...1976). The effects of cooperative vs. individualized instruction on student prosocial behavior, attitudes toward learning, and achievement. Journal

DRAMATIC LITERATURE, DIGITISATION AND CULTURAL ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dean SPGS NAU

boredom because the media make us to see the world as the camera sees it and not the way ... characterized by countless cars, decaying buildings, and crowds bustling ... Chief Chamberlain: About four weeks ago, I came back from work to ...

Task Monotony and Performance Efficacy of Mentally Retarded Young Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, Bill J.; And Others

1982-01-01

Thirty-six mildly mentally retarded young adults were exposed to one of three training arrangements for vigilance performance, a monitoring task that some professionals consider uniquely appropriate for such persons because they are assumed to be less susceptible to boredom. (Author)

Differences between Semantic Profiles of the Action Tendencies Linked to Emotion Words in Achievement and Unspecified General Contexts, Defined by Colombian Spanish Native Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Chavarría, Jason A.; Villada Zapata, Johny; Chaves Castaño, Liliana

2017-01-01

Introduction: We investigated the meaning of sixteen achievement emotion words--anger, anxiety, boredom, contentment, despair, disappointment, frustration, guilt, hope, hopelessness, joy, pride, relief, sadness, shame, and surprise--, specifically in terms of their action tendencies component, through a modified version of the CoreGRID…

Unschoolers of the World, Unwork! Grassroots Lessons and Strategies against 21st Century Capitalism

Science.gov (United States)

Jandric, Petar; Taylor, Astra

2016-01-01

This conversation explores unschooling through theory and personal experience of Astra Taylor, who examines deschooling alongside the continua of Freedom/Oppression, Personal Control/Personal Autonomy, Solitude/Boredom, Privilege/Social Reproduction, Socialisation/Democracy. Taylor reveals complex relationships between the main strands of her…

Eating habits and behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

... your chance of success. Keep healthy snacks at work. Pack healthy lunches that you make at home. Pay attention to your feelings of hunger. Learn the difference between physical hunger and habitual eating or eating as a response to stress or boredom.

No Child Left Behind and the Impact of Kurt Heller’s Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franz J. MONKS

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB was signed into law on January 8 in the year 2002. This law had a significant influence on all aspects of American education from pre-kindergarten up to grade 12. The basic intention of the law was: all children should have to meet quality standards that are assessed each year. The consequence was that teachers concentrated their attention especially to the slow and difficult learners. Consequently the fast and talented learners were neglected and school became for them increasingly a place of boredom. Boredom can produce a negative school motivation, or even worse it can kill motivation. Heller, on the other side, contributed as teacher and scientist in a substantial way for more than 4 decades to the well-being of all children, especially the talented and gifted learners. Some of his prominent achievements are highlighted in this article.

ALIENATION, SENSATION SEEKING AND MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE PROFILE IN MEN BEING TREATED FOR ALCOHOL AND/OR OPIOID DEPENDENCE

Science.gov (United States)

Mattoo, Surendra K.; Varma, Vijoy K.; Singh, Ram Avatar; Khurana, Hitesh; Kaur, Rajinder; Sharma, Suresh K.

2001-01-01

Two hundred and thirty men, being treated for ICD-10 diagnosed dependence on alcohol, opioids or both, were studied 2-4 weeks after the last use of alcohol or opioids. Alienation Scale, Sensation Seeking Scale and Muliphasic Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), and selected sociodemographic and family history data were studied. All three groups showed high alienation (more in opioid cases), high sensation seeking (more in alcohol cases, more for boredom susceptibility), and a disturbed MPQ profile. The dual dependence group was similar to opioid group for age, but closer to alcohol group in terms of personality profile. Only alcohol cases showed a significantly positive correlation between alienation and sensation seeking- in terms of total scale, and boredom susceptibility and disinhibition subscales only. Thus, substance specificity was not reflected prominently in the inter-relationships between alienation, sensation seeking and MPQ scores, and sociodemographic variables. PMID:21407879

“I Blog so I Become”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Erz, Antonia; Gyrd-Jones, Richard; Heeris Christensen, Anna-Bertha

2016-01-01

This study adopts an identity perspective to explore the transformational power of fashion blogging on consumer bloggers’ self-concepts. Blog post data and in-depth interviews reveal the changing self-concept of consumers who have started fashion blogging out of curiosity or boredom but, through...

Balancing Life and the Mission: Compressed Scheduling in Law Enforcement

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

patrol environment produce cumulative and synergistic effects.35 For example, overwork , loss of sleep, irregular sleep patterns, boredom, or high...the] agency has experienced an increased number of suicides and off-duty arrests.”62 Frequently, these incidents are related to an inability to cope

Using Visual Programming and Robots to Help Novices to Overcome Fear of Coding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chongtay, R.

2016-01-01

for non-Computer Science students. Weekly observations as well as surveys at the beginning and at the end of the course were made to provide insights on students’ motivation, engagement, self-perceived skills, and self-perceived emotions such as confusion, frustration, anger, boredom, curiosity, happiness...

Team Training for Command and Control Systems. Volume II. Recommendations for Research Program.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-04-01

between individual and group goals and how they are set, the roles of hedonistic individual orientation and altruistic commitment to a group, and... boredom . They are not intended to be definitive, comprehensive, nor exhaustive. They are also not mutually exclusive and other partitionings of the

The Effects of Nicotine on MK-801-induced Attentional Deficits: An Animal Model of Schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

purely hedonistic and pleasure-seeking reasons, inclinations that a non-disordered population is better able to control. Finally, the MK-801 model...schizophrenia, and boredom . American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 583. Smith, J.A., Boyer-Millar, C., & Goudie, A.J. (1999). Does MK-801 discrimination

Emotions, Self-Regulated Learning, and Achievement in Mathematics : A Growth Curve Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ahmed, Wondimu; van der Werf, Greetje; Kuyper, Hans; Minnaert, Alexander

The purpose of the current study was twofold: (a) to investigate the developmental trends of 4 academic emotions (anxiety, boredom, enjoyment, and pride) and (b) to examine whether changes in emotions are linked to the changes in students' self-regulatory strategies (shallow, deep, and

Study of the radioactivity of building materials in a room built with bricks containing phosphogypsum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marnissi, Anis

2007-01-01

The phosphogypsum is a waste product by the phosphate fertilizer industry. This product is present in huge quantities. It poses a boredom that is growing. His recovery still hangs at the impurities it contains, particularly radioactive elements. This is the main object of this study. (Author)

Teaching Information Literacy to Generation Y.

Science.gov (United States)

Manuel, Kate

2002-01-01

Discusses how to change library information literacy classes for Generation Y students (born after 1981) to accommodate their learning styles and preferences, based on experiences at California State University, Hayward. Topics include positive outlooks toward technology; orientation toward images, not linear text; low thresholds for boredom and…

Understanding Underachievers.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Flora

1984-01-01

Reasons children underachieve in school are examined: emotional problems, secondary gains, teacher troubles, peer pressure, boredom, fear of trying, and fear of growing up. Guidelines for parents are offered concerning involvement with homework, holding children back, rewards versus bribes, activities that boost self-esteem, and parent…

Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox,

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

People make robots work. Harvard Business Review 62(1):94-102. George, J.M. 1991 State or trait: Effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at...effort may be directed to impact-modifying behavior to MEASURING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTIVITY * 117 relieve boredom . These actions may be

Increasing Productivity through Social Structure.

Science.gov (United States)

1985-02-15

Development and Maintenance of Prosocial Behavior, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 1980. Wolf, S. & Latan6, B. Interactive television and social...p<.01. There were no effects or interactions for trial block, indicating that practice, fatigue or boredom did not affect overall performance or the

Examination of Automation-Induced Complacency and Individual Difference Variates

Science.gov (United States)

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; DeVries, Holly; Freeman, Fred G.; Mikulka, Peter

2001-01-01

Automation-induced complacency has been documented as a cause or contributing factor in many airplane accidents throughout the last two decades. It is surmised that the condition results when a crew is working in highly reliable automated environments in which they serve as supervisory controllers monitoring system states for occasional automation failures. Although many reports have discussed the dangers of complacency, little empirical research has been produced to substantiate its harmful effects on performance as well as what factors produce complacency. There have been some suggestions, however, that individual characteristics could serve as possible predictors of performance in automated systems. The present study examined relationship between the individual differences of complacency potential, boredom proneness, and cognitive failure, automation-induced complacency. Workload and boredom scores were also collected and analyzed in relation to the three individual differences. The results of the study demonstrated that there are personality individual differences that are related to whether an individual will succumb to automation-induced complacency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL VARIABLES AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Randler

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Recent psychological studies highlight emotional aspects, and they show an important role within individual learning processes. Hereby, positive emotions were supposed to positively influence learning and achievement processes and negative ones do the contrary. In this study, an educational unit “ecosystem lake” was used during which achievement (three tests and emotional variables (interest, well-being, anxiety and boredom; measured at the end of three pre-selected lessons were monitored. The research question was to explore correlations between emotional variables and the learning outcome of the teaching unit. Prior knowledge was regressed against the subsequent tests to account for its confounding effect. Regressions showed a highly significant influence of prior knowledge on the subsequent measurements of achievement. However, after accounting for prior knowledge, a positive correlation between interest/well-being and achievement and a negative correlation between anxiety/boredom and achievement was found. Further research and interventions should try to enhance positive emotions in biology lessons to positively influence achievement.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko eLüftenegger

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In the present research, the recently proposed 3x2 model of achievement goals is tested and associations with achievement emotions and their joint influence on academic achievement are investigated. The study was conducted with 388 students using the 3x2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire including the six proposed goal constructs (task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, other-avoidance and the enjoyment and boredom scales from the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire. Exam grades were used as an indicator of academic achievement. Findings from CFAs provided strong support for the proposed structure of the 3x2 achievement goal model. Self-based goals, other-based goals and task-approach goals predicted enjoyment. Task-approach goals negatively predicted boredom. Task-approach and other-approach predicted achievement. The indirect effects of achievement goals through emotion variables on achievement were assessed using bias-corrected bootstrapping. No mediation effects were found. Implications for educational practice are discussed.

Beyond the genetic basis of sensation seeking: The influence of birth order, family size and parenting styles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feij, Jan A,

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Genetic analyses of sensation seeking have shown fairly high heritabilities for measures of this trait. However, 40 to 60% of the variance remains unexplained by genetic factors. This longitudinal study examines the influence of characteristics of the family environment -- birth order, family size, socio-economic status and parenting styles -- on two dimensions of sensation seeking: disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. Previous research has shown that these dimensions load on the same factor, are related to biologically based impulsive disorders, and have a common genetic basis. Questionnaire and biographical data obtained from 532 female and 479 male young adults (age between 18 and 30 years were analyzed using structural modeling. The results show that participants who experienced little parental care and much control were more likely to have high scores on disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. It appears that these family factors may partly explain the previously reported effects of birth order and family size on sensation seeking.

More Than Flow: Revisiting the Theory of Four Channels of Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ching-I Teng

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Flow (FCF theory has received considerable attention in recent decades. In addition to flow, FCF theory proposed three influential factors, that is, boredom, frustration, and apathy. While these factors have received relatively less attention than flow, Internet applications have grown exponentially, warranting a closer reexamination of the applicability of the FCF theory. Thus, this study tested the theory that high/low levels of skill and challenge lead to four channels of flow. The study sample included 253 online gamers who provided valid responses to an online survey. Analytical results support the FCF theory, although a few exceptions were noted. First, skill was insignificantly related to apathy, possibly because low-skill users can realize significant achievements to compensate for their apathy. Moreover, in contrast with the FCF theory, challenge was positively related to boredom, revealing that gamers become bored with difficult yet repetitive challenges. Two important findings suggest new directions for FCF theory.

SEAGULL: A Project for Releasing the Potential of the Gifted.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Michael L.

1980-01-01

Describes a program to heighten self-esteem, interest in school, and creativity of gifted/talented children. Identity, inquiry, and interaction are presented as primary motivations to learning. The curriculum includes group sessions to foster self-image development, a media center to stimulate inquiry and eliminate boredom, and activities to…

Students' Emotions during Homework: Structures, Self-Concept Antecedents, and Achievement Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Goetz, Thomas; Nett, Ulrike E.; Martiny, Sarah E.; Hall, Nathan C.; Pekrun, Reinhard; Dettmers, Swantje; Trautwein, Ulrich

2012-01-01

In the present study (N = 553; 8th and 11th grade students; 52% female) we investigated students' enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom while completing homework (homework emotions), and contrasted these emotions with those experienced during class (classroom emotions). Both homework emotions and classroom emotions were assessed separately…

Mathematics-Related Emotions among Finnish Adolescents across Different Performance Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Marja Eliisa; Hannula, Markku Sakari; Björn, Piia Maria

2017-01-01

This study examined the relation of mathematics performance and gender with seven mathematics-related emotions (enjoyment, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness and boredom) among adolescents. Using strict and lenient mathematics performance cut-off scores, respective groups of adolescents with mathematics difficulties (MD, n = 136), low (LA,…

Incremental Beliefs of Ability, Achievement Emotions and Learning of Singapore Students

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Wenshu; Lee, Kerry; Ng, Pak Tee; Ong, Joanne Xiao Wei

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationships of students' incremental beliefs of math ability to their achievement emotions, classroom engagement and math achievement. A sample of 273 secondary students in Singapore were administered measures of incremental beliefs of math ability, math enjoyment, pride, boredom and anxiety, as well as math classroom…

Crisis at Retirement of both Male and Female Civil Servants and its ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was designed to investigate psychological aspects of aging among the elderly men and women in the South-South zone Nigeria. Specifically the study focused on the effect of psychological problems such as: loneliness, boredom, fear, insecurity, stress, anxiety, bereavement, cry spell, memory loss, loss of self ...

Biting

Science.gov (United States)

... Distraction works wonders with kids this age. If emotions and energy levels are running high or if boredom has set in, help redirect a little one's attention to a more positive activity, like dancing to music, coloring, or playing a game. Discipline usually is not necessary, since most kids ...

Visualisation and Gamification of e-Learning and Programming Education

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Marie; Mozelius, Peter; Collin, Jonas

2015-01-01

Courses in virtual learning environments can leave recently enrolled participants in a state of loneliness, confusion and boredom. What course content is essential in the course, where can more information be found and which assignments are mandatory? Research has stated that learner control and motivation are crucial issues for successful online…

Experimental Longitudinal Test of the Influence of Autonomy-Supportive Teaching on Motivation for Participation in Elementary School Physical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Leptokaridou, Elisavet T.; Vlachopoulos, Symeon P.; Papaioannou, Athanasios G.

2016-01-01

The present study examined the efficacy of autonomy-supportive teaching during elementary school physical education (PE) in influencing pupils' enjoyment, fear of failure, boredom and effort. A sample of 54 pupils attending fifth and sixth grades comprised the control group (typical instruction; n = 27) and the experimental group…

Perspective on Giftedness.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Frederick E.

1989-01-01

Four authors present arguments and counter-arguments on issues in gifted education, including student boredom, the atrophying of abilities not used, advanced classes which focus on ability but are out of step with student interests, problems of social adjustment in grade-skipping, etc. All authors stress the importance of the whole child. (JDD)

Transforming Librarians.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Chung I.

1985-01-01

New information technologies have begun to help librarians transfer their routine procedures and tasks to nonprofessional staff and library users, which allows them to begin to be relieved from the boredom of glorified clerical work. Developments in information technology also allow librarians to see their work from new and different perspectives.…

The Positive Psychology of Interested Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Jeremy P.; Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly

2003-01-01

Using the experience sampling method with a diverse national sample of 1,215 high school students, identified 2 groups of adolescents, those who experience chronic interest in everyday life experiences and those who experience widespread boredom. Suggests that a generalized chronic experience of interest can be a signal of psychological health.…

Emotions, Self-Regulated Learning, and Achievement in Mathematics: A Growth Curve Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Wondimu; van der Werf, Greetje; Kuyper, Hans; Minnaert, Alexander

2013-01-01

The purpose of the current study was twofold: (a) to investigate the developmental trends of 4 academic emotions (anxiety, boredom, enjoyment, and pride) and (b) to examine whether changes in emotions are linked to the changes in students' self-regulatory strategies (shallow, deep, and meta-cognitive) and achievement in mathematics. Four hundred…

A Roadmap to the Professionalization of Guidance and Counselling ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Emeka Egbochuku

Introduction. Retirement is the total withdrawal of a worker's services from ... work is the first life step that convincingly defines a person as old because it ... Any form of retirement, will certainly affect the .... The mental health of ageing retirees is affected. It is .... plan is Vulnerable to boredom, marital conflict, social isolation,.

Second-year medical students' motivational beliefs, emotions, and achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Artino, Anthony R; La Rochelle, Jeffery S; Durning, Steven J

2010-12-01

A challenge for medical educators is to better understand the personal factors that lead to individual success in medical school and beyond. Recently, educational researchers in fields outside medicine have acknowledged the importance of motivation and emotion in students' learning and performance. These affective factors have received less emphasis in the medical education literature. This longitudinal study examined the relations between medical students' motivational beliefs (task value and self-efficacy), achievement emotions (enjoyment, anxiety and boredom) and academic achievement. Second-year medical students (n=136) completed motivational beliefs and achievement emotions surveys following their first and second trimesters, respectively. Academic achievement was operationalised as students' average course examination grades and national board shelf examination scores. The results largely confirmed the hypothesised relations between beliefs, emotions and achievement. Structural equation modelling revealed that task value beliefs were positively associated with course-related enjoyment (standardised regression coefficient [β] = 0.59) and were negatively related to boredom (β= -0.25), whereas self-efficacy beliefs were negatively associated with course-related anxiety only (β = -0.47). Furthermore, student enjoyment was positively associated with national board shelf examination score (β = 0.31), whereas anxiety and boredom were both negatively related to course examination grade (β= -0.36 and -0.27, respectively). The overall structural model accounted for considerable variance in each of the achievement outcomes: R(2) = 0.20 and 0.14 for the course examination grade and national board shelf examination score, respectively. This study suggests that medical students' motivational beliefs and achievement emotions are important contributors to their academic achievement. These results have implications for medical educators striving to understand the

Guidelines for School and Community Cooperation: Implementation on a Gang Prevention Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Ronnie; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

Youth gangs are not a new phenomena in the United States; however, in the past decade the number of gang members has increased dramatically. Gang prevention-intervention programs are a necessary part of every school's curriculum. Students join gangs for a variety of reasons ranging from boredom to intent on criminal behavior. One characteristic…

Souls without Longing.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, Robert C.

2003-01-01

Suggests that college students must become aware of "today's malady of the soul," a new strain of boredom stemming from such factors as the decline of politics and absence of religion in people's lives. Asserts that students' belief in progress takes a toll, also noting the negative influence of nihilism. Cautions that students turn to…

Caller Characteristics, Call Contents, and Types of Assistance Provided by Caller Sex and Age Group in a Canadian Inuit Crisis Line in Nunavut, 1991-2001

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Josephine C. H.; Maranzan, Kathryn Amanda; Boone, Margaret; Vander Velde, John; Levy, Sheila

2012-01-01

Analysis of calls made to a northern Canadian Inuit crisis line in the territory of Nunavut between 1991 and 2001 revealed that the majority of users were adult females who called to discuss problems primarily related to relationships and loneliness/boredom. Younger callers tended to make prank calls. The volunteer staff used mostly empathetic…

Background Music in the Dissection Laboratory: Impact on Stress Associated with the Dissection Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Anyanwu, Emeka G.

2015-01-01

Notable challenges, such as mental distress, boredom, negative moods, and attitudes, have been associated with learning in the cadaver dissection laboratory (CDL). The ability of background music (BM) to enhance the cognitive abilities of students is well documented. The present study was designed to investigate the impact of BM in the CDL and on…

Understanding the Role of Negative Emotions in Adult Learning and Achievement: A Social Functional Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Fitness, Julie

2018-01-01

The role of emotions in adult learning and achievement has received increasing attention in recent years. However, much of the emphasis has been on test anxiety, rather than the wider spectrum of negative emotions such as sadness, grief, boredom and anger. This paper reports findings of a qualitative study exploring the experience and functionality of negative emotions at university. Thirty-six academic staff and students from an Australian university were interviewed about emotional responses to a range of learning events. Data analysis was informed by a prototype approach to emotion research. Four categories of discrete negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear, boredom) were considered by teachers and students to be especially salient in learning, with self-conscious emotions (guilt, embarrassment, shame) mentioned by more students than staff. While negative emotions were frequently viewed as detrimental to motivation, performance and learning, they were also construed under some circumstances as beneficial. The findings are discussed in relation to the value of social functional approaches for a better understanding of the diverse roles of negative emotions in learning and achievement. PMID:29461487

Streamer Motives and User-Generated Content on Social Live-Streaming Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Friedlander, Mathilde B.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Three most popular information services, Periscope, Ustream, and YouNow, vicarious for all Social Live-Streaming Services (SLSSs, are investigated to analyze their streamers' motivations and the user-generated content. Additionally, we collected demographic data (gender and age. More than 7,500 streams by users from the U.S., Germany, and Japan were observed. Main streamer motivations on SLSSs are boredom, socializing, the need to reach a specific group, the need to communicate, and fun. Important content categories on all three SLSSs are chatting, sharing information, 24/7, and 'slice of life.' We were able to identify differences between users from the U.S., Germany, and Japan as well as between the users of Periscope, Ustream, and YouNow. The main motive to stream in the U.S. is to reach a specific group, while in Japan it is socializing, and in Germany boredom. The top content category for both, YouNow as well as Periscope, is to chat; on Ustream it is 24/7 (i.e., webcams.

Understanding the Role of Negative Emotions in Adult Learning and Achievement: A Social Functional Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Anna D; Fitness, Julie

2018-02-20

The role of emotions in adult learning and achievement has received increasing attention in recent years. However, much of the emphasis has been on test anxiety, rather than the wider spectrum of negative emotions such as sadness, grief, boredom and anger. This paper reports findings of a qualitative study exploring the experience and functionality of negative emotions at university. Thirty-six academic staff and students from an Australian university were interviewed about emotional responses to a range of learning events. Data analysis was informed by a prototype approach to emotion research. Four categories of discrete negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear, boredom) were considered by teachers and students to be especially salient in learning, with self-conscious emotions (guilt, embarrassment, shame) mentioned by more students than staff. While negative emotions were frequently viewed as detrimental to motivation, performance and learning, they were also construed under some circumstances as beneficial. The findings are discussed in relation to the value of social functional approaches for a better understanding of the diverse roles of negative emotions in learning and achievement.

Understanding the Role of Negative Emotions in Adult Learning and Achievement: A Social Functional Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna D. Rowe

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The role of emotions in adult learning and achievement has received increasing attention in recent years. However, much of the emphasis has been on test anxiety, rather than the wider spectrum of negative emotions such as sadness, grief, boredom and anger. This paper reports findings of a qualitative study exploring the experience and functionality of negative emotions at university. Thirty-six academic staff and students from an Australian university were interviewed about emotional responses to a range of learning events. Data analysis was informed by a prototype approach to emotion research. Four categories of discrete negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear, boredom were considered by teachers and students to be especially salient in learning, with self-conscious emotions (guilt, embarrassment, shame mentioned by more students than staff. While negative emotions were frequently viewed as detrimental to motivation, performance and learning, they were also construed under some circumstances as beneficial. The findings are discussed in relation to the value of social functional approaches for a better understanding of the diverse roles of negative emotions in learning and achievement.

Baseline heart rate, sensation seeking, and aggression in young adult women: a two-sample examination.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Laura C; Scarpa, Angela

2013-01-01

Although substantial literature discusses sensation seeking as playing a role in the relationship between baseline heart rate and aggression, few published studies have tested the relationships among these variables. Furthermore, most prior studies have focused on risk factors of aggression in men and have largely ignored this issue in women. Two samples (n = 104; n = 99) of young adult women completed measures of resting heart rate, sensation seeking, and aggression. Across the two samples of females there was no evidence for the relationships of baseline heart rate with sensation seeking or with aggression that has been consistently shown in males. Boredom susceptibility and disinhibition subscales of sensation seeking were consistently significantly correlated with aggression. The lack of significance and the small effect sizes indicate that other mechanisms are also at work in affecting aggression in young adult women. Finally, it is important to consider the type of sensation seeking in relation to aggression, as only boredom susceptibility and disinhibition were consistently replicated across samples. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Predicting Substance Use Behavior among South African Adolescents: The Role of Leisure Experiences across Time

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Erin Hiley; Coffman, Donna L.; Caldwell, Linda L.; Smith, Edward A.; Wegner, Lisa; Vergnani, Tania; Mathews, Catherine

2011-01-01

Using seven waves of data, collected twice a year from the 8th through the 11th grades in a low-resource community in Cape Town, South Africa, we aimed to describe the developmental trends in three specific leisure experiences (leisure boredom, new leisure interests, and healthy leisure) and substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana)…

Mark Twain, Walt Disney, and the Playful Response to Pirate Stories

Science.gov (United States)

West, Mark I.

2010-01-01

Like many a modern play theorist, both Mark Twain and Walt Disney were enchanted by the way children act out stories, in particular pirate tales. For both Twain and Disney, this fascination grew out of their small-town, midwestern boyhoods, where avid reading and fantasy play helped stave off boredom and fill emotional gaps for both of them. Even…

Young Peoples' Opinions about the Causes of, and Solutions to, New Zealand's High Youth Suicide Rate

Science.gov (United States)

Heled, Edna; Read, John

2005-01-01

In response to an open-ended question about the causes of New Zealand's high youth suicide rate, 384 young adults most commonly cited pressure to conform and perform, followed by financial worries, abuse and neglect, problems with alcohol or drugs, and boredom. Depression was cited by 5 percent and mental illness by only 1 percent. Recommended…

Journey to the techno-unconscious

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ratta, Donatella Della; Lovink, Geert

2016-01-01

Writing like Tzara is fun but we’ve left the 20th century and there is no way back. Warfare and boredom have merged on the timeline of our digital daily life. Sharing ain’t no caring. The more riots and killings, the more likes. Twitter tells us it’s yet another horrified Isis video turned viral,

How to Stop Biting Your Nails

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... of hangnails, or other triggers, such as boredom, stress, or anxiety. By figuring out what causes you to bite your nails, you can figure out how to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop. Just knowing when you’re inclined to bite may help solve the problem. Try to gradually stop biting ...

Navy Alcohol and Drug Safety Action Program: Research and Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-11-20

Disinhibition, Susceptibility to Boredom, Novel Experience Seeking, and Thrill and Adventure Seeking), the Rathus (1973) Assertiveness Inventory, Rotter’s...predictive relationship between facilitator responses to Rokeach and Firo-B scales and their subsequent scores in The University of Arizona Facilitator...Rokeach and Firo-B scales was continued. Results from the initial effort forced recognition that a major problem associated with predicting trainer

Application of Gamification in a College STEM Introductory Course: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Machajewski, Szymon Tomasz

2017-01-01

Between 2000 and 2016, the STEM industry reportedly added jobs at the rate of 28% while all jobs were growing at only 6%. However, 48% of bachelor's degree students and 69% of associate's degree students in STEM majors left their program of study between 2003 and 2009. The high attrition rate is often attributed to low student engagement, boredom,…

Classroom Texting in College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Pettijohn, Terry F.; Frazier, Erik; Rieser, Elizabeth; Vaughn, Nicholas; Hupp-Wilds, Bobbi

2015-01-01

A 21-item survey on texting in the classroom was given to 235 college students. Overall, 99.6% of students owned a cellphone and 98% texted daily. Of the 138 students who texted in the classroom, most texted friends or significant others, and indicate the reason for classroom texting is boredom or work. Students who texted sent a mean of 12.21…

Hallucinations, loneliness, and social isolation in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

El Haj, Mohamad; Jardri, Renaud; Larøi, Frank; Antoine, Pascal

2016-01-01

Cognitive and functional compromise, as frequently observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), hinders communication and social interactions. One consequence of this hindrance may be a feeling of loneliness. Moreover, emptiness and boredom, as observed in social isolation and loneliness, may thus be compensated for by creating imagined stimuli. Conditions of loneliness may be viewed as potentially generating hallucinatory experiences. To assess this assumption, the present study explored the relationship between social isolation, loneliness, and hallucinations in a sample of 22 mild AD participants and 24 elderly, healthy controls. Participants were assessed using the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and a scale exploring contact with others and social participation. More hallucinatory experiences, social isolation, and loneliness were found in the AD group than in the healthy control group. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between hallucinations and loneliness and between hallucinations and social isolation in both groups. Finally, hallucinations were predicted by social isolation. Hallucinations may constitute a compensatory mechanism that aims to fulfil communication needs in lonely, elderly participants. Hallucinations may also be regarded as experiences that allow certain participants to escape the cycle of boredom, emptiness, and affective deprivation caused by social isolation.

An Integrated Architecture for Grounded Intelligence in Its Development, Experimental, Environmental, and Social Context

Science.gov (United States)

2007-05-01

supervisory system lie core drives, such as hunger , boredom, attention-seeking, and other domain-specific drives (such as task success), modeled as scalar...the control of routing activities. Cognitive Neuropsychology , 17:297-338. [Davies and Stone, 1995] Davies, M. and Stone, T. (1995). Introduction. In...Thornton, I., J., P., and Shiffrar, M. (1998). The visual perception of human locomotion. Cognitive Neuropsychology , 15:535-552. [Wilson, 2001] Wilson

فقدان معنى الحياة في نصوص مثال غازي المسرحية

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

زينة صباح فليح العنيبي

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The meaning of life, subjective state of boredom, indifference and vacuum loss, as you feel personal with pessimism and doubt in human motives, and the question most of the activities of life value and a sense of value in life, according to this vision me research study the loss of meaning in the texts of Ghazi example of the play, as it included chapter the first research problem identified the following question: how to reflect the loss of meaning as the subject of psychological educational in the theatrical text of Iraq in that it is the subject of educational theater helps the recipient (the reader to overcome the loss of meaning, suffering and pain felt by, and purified by theater, represented Recipients with dramatic personalities suffering from the loss of meaning and change its behavior and its practices function sublimated behavior, the aim of the research is the identification of the loss of meaning in the texts of Ghazi example the play, the boundaries of research stage has been included from (1990 - 2001, and concluded chapter identifying terminology. The second chapter included three admonishing me the first section examining the concept of meaning in life philosophically, while me the second topic to study the psychological motives that cause the meaning of life for the loss, while the third section me to study the loss of meaning in the personal dramas and previous studies, and identified the effects resulting from the frame Theoretical. The third chapter included the research procedures, namely, the research community, the research sample, the research tool, the research methodology. The fourth chapter contains the following results: 1 - It was clear loss of meaning in the personality through feelings of emptiness and emptiness, boredom and boredom, and helplessness to no avail. 2 - Payment of the loss of meaning in the personality to a sense of extreme loneliness and alienation and lack of value and aim in vain and lack of

Designing for experience : arousing boredom to evoke predefined user behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Aart, J.; Salem, B.I.; Bartneck, C.; Hu, J.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.; Desmet, P.; Tzvetanov, S.; Hekkert, P.; Justice, L.

2008-01-01

In the light of Cultural Computing, this study influences user affect and behaviour by touching upon core values of Western culture. We created an augmented reality environment in which users experience a predefined sequence of emotional states and events. This study concerns two typically Western

From thermal boredom to thermal pleasure: a brief literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christhina Candido

Full Text Available The most recent review of the ASHRAE Standard 55 (2010 incorporates the dialectic between static and adaptive approaches to thermal comfort by proposing different recommendations for airconditioned and naturally ventilated buildings. Particularly in naturally ventilated buildings, this standard aligns with three important topics in research field of thermal comfort during the last decades: (i air movement enhancement versus draft, (ii control availability and its impact on occupants' satisfaction, and (iii the search for thermal pleasure. This paper presents the rationale behind these three research topics and discusses its positive influence when moving from thermal comfort towards thermal pleasure.

Environmental enrichment in farm, zoo, companion and experimental animals

OpenAIRE

Vučinić Marijana

2009-01-01

The paper deals with environmental enrichment for domestic animals at farms, animals in zoos, experimental animals and pet animals. Also, the paper defines and describes different strategies of environmental enrichment. Environmental enrichment is a simple and effective mean of prevention of boredom, behavioral disorders as well as an effective mean of improving animal welfare in farm, zoo, companion and experimental animals. Different items and materials may be used for environmental enrichm...

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) biofeedback: A new training approach for operator’s performance enhancement

OpenAIRE

Auditya Purwandini Sutarto; Muhammad Nubli Abdul Wahab; Nora Mat Zin

2010-01-01

The widespread implementation of advanced and complex systems requires predominantly operators’ cognitive functions and less importance of human manual control. On the other hand, most operators perform their cognitive functions below their peak cognitive capacity level due to fatigue, stress, and boredom. Thus, there is a need to improve their cognitive functions during work. The goal of this paper is to present a psychophysiology training approach derived from cardiovascular response ...

Concordance of U.S. Army Psychology Conference Proceedings from 1958 through 1988

Science.gov (United States)

1990-06-01

DENTISTRY 76 020 PARTICIPANT/PROBLEM ORIENTED CASE CONFERENCE:AN ALTERNATIVE 76 035 REGIONAL PSYCH CONSLTNT PRGRM OF CONUS ARMY HEALTH SERVICES 76 039...APPLICATION OF GROUP DYNAMICS TO PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY 82 297 FOOD AND CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY IN EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES 82 305 ARMY CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST...BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL 872 183 BIOSTATISTICS 85F 163 BOREDOM 85 175 BRAIN DAMAGE 600 BRAIN DAMAGE 85 215 BRAIN DAMAGE 85 221 BRAIN DAMAGE 85F 196 BRAIN

Beyond the genetic basis of sensation seeking: The influence of birth order, family size and parenting styles

OpenAIRE

Feij, Jan A,; Taris, Toon W.

2010-01-01

Genetic analyses of sensation seeking have shown fairly high heritabilities for measures of this trait. However, 40 to 60% of the variance remains unexplained by genetic factors. This longitudinal study examines the influence of characteristics of the family environment -- birth order, family size, socio-economic status and parenting styles -- on two dimensions of sensation seeking: disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. Previous research has shown that these dimensions load on the same fa...

IMPLEMENTASI STRATEGI PEMBELAJARAN PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM (Sebagai Solusi Problematika Pembelajaran PAI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zetty Azizatun Ni'mah

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The inability of teachers in choosing learning strategies unvariaty will cause boredom student in learning is done, it is a serious impact on the psychological students. Because of that variation is recommended in order to maintain the level of attention, increase interest and prevent boredom in students, so students always show perseverance, enthusiasm and active participation in learning. Learning strategies as have the meaning as concrete actions or steps that must be taken by teachers and students in setting potential and resources in order to efficiently obtain results in accordance with a design that is composed systemic and systematically so as to support the achievement of objectives. The learning strategy is divided into three types: 1 a strategy of organizing learning content. 2 learning strategies delivery of content: (Exspository strategy is a learning process conducted by the teachers present the material or subject matter in the form that has been prepared in a neat, systematic and complete, so that the students stayed to listen and observe in an orderly and organized, Strategy Inquiry (startegy inkuiry, namely the delivery of teaching materials that require processing of materials by the students, 3 A management strategy of learning by teachers to create teaching and learning situation and condition so that students do learning activities optimally.

Montessori-Based Activities for Persons With Dementia:Effects on Engagement and Affect

OpenAIRE

Gozali, Tsofit

2002-01-01

This study focuses on the importance of activity as an intervention with persons with dementia. Continuity theory serves as a general guide, along with research on leisure in later life and the theory of personhood in dementia, to explain the importance of engaging persons with dementia in activities. Implementing purposeful activities with persons with dementia has been demonstrated to reduce boredom and agitated behavior and to maximize the functional abilities of the individual. The impo...

Evacuation Behavior: Case Study of the Taft Louisiana Chemical Tank Explosion Incident.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-05-01

bedridden elderly evacuees. The weather was cool to cold on Saturday so both children and adults remained indoors. To combat boredom, a film was shown in...adults, and 10 percent were elderly adults (however, one nuclear plant evacuation document estimates that there are approximately 5,000 persons 60 years...by the transportation officer, but a pattern was followed. People living in neighborhoods known to contain the poor and/or elderly were serviced first

A conceptual framework for the integration of flow theory and cognitive evaluation theory

OpenAIRE

Abuhamdeh, Sami

2012-01-01

Flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, Beyond boredom and anxiety: Experiencing flow in work and play. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1975) and cognitive evaluation theory (Deci and Ryan, Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. Plenum, New York, 1985) have each inspired a large body of research dedicated to understanding why we enjoy doing what we enjoy doing. Although both theories ostensibly address the same category of behavior—namely, intrinsically motivated behavior—there ha...

Exploring the role of motivational and coping resources in a Special Forces selection process

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Beer, Morris

2014-07-01

Full Text Available context (Casey, 2011). Problem statement Stressors in the military context range from complex demands that integrate cognitive, physical, interpersonal and emotional aspects to possible life-threatening and dangerous situations. However, it also... involves menial and repetitive tasks such as ensuring that military and personal equipment is clean and well maintained at all times and dealing with the frustration of long periods of low demand and boredom (Maddi, 2013). Emotional and psychological...

Privilegiets problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharma, Devika

2013-01-01

In this article I explore a contemporary structure of feeling closely but ambivalently related to what moral anthropologist Didier Fassin has termed ”humanitarian reason”. I label this specific affective disposition ‘the predicament of privilege’. In the first part of the article I relate...... pertaining to being globally privileged: sentiments such as boredom, indifference, compassion fatigue, cynicism, bad conscience and sheer reluctance to engage emotionally in the ethical claims made on us....

Teaching a Large Multi-Level Class Using Different Strategies and Activities to Motivate English Language Learning

OpenAIRE

Julia Sevy

2016-01-01

Many challenges face English language teachers today, but two common problems in Ecuador specifically in universities are large class sizes and multi-level students. These problems can create boredom, anxiety, and over all lack of interest in English language learning. It is shown in this article how to combat these particular problems through various strategies utilized to teach to the students’ needs, help them work together and intrinsically motivate them to learn different English languag...

The Relative Acceptability and Consumption of the Current and Proposed Versions of the T Ration

Science.gov (United States)

1991-05-01

Orange Juice, Instant Coffee Coffee Peanut Butter/Jelly Peanut Butter/Jelly Cocoa 8. Eggs /Ham 8. Swedish Meatballs in Pork Sausage Links Brown Gravy...more closely resembles eggs . Moreover, in the 1985 study the same items were served more frequently, and a boredom or fatigue factor may have lowered...omelets were high calorie and yet not very filling. Several participants mentioned that they’d prefer to have plain scrambled eggs because they don’t

Streamer Motives and User-Generated Content on Social Live-Streaming Services

OpenAIRE

Friedlander, Mathilde B.

2017-01-01

Three most popular information services, Periscope, Ustream, and YouNow, vicarious for all Social Live-Streaming Services (SLSSs), are investigated to analyze their streamers' motivations and the user-generated content. Additionally, we collected demographic data (gender and age). More than 7,500 streams by users from the U.S., Germany, and Japan were observed. Main streamer motivations on SLSSs are boredom, socializing, the need to reach a specific group, the need to communicate, and fun. Im...

How can Gamification Improve MOOC Student Engagement?

OpenAIRE

Khalil, M.F.D.; Ebner, Martin; Admiraal, Wilfried; Pivec, M.; Grundler, J.

2017-01-01

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) require students’ motivation either intrinsically or extrinsically to complete any of its courses. Even though MOOCs enjoy great popularity and bring many benefits to the educational community, some concerns arise with MOOC advancement. In fact, MOOCs are affected by low completion rate and face issues with respect to interactivity and student engagement along MOOC duration, which may convert student excitement to boredom and then drop out at any stage. A k...

Interactive Teaching Across Culture and Technology

OpenAIRE

Chumbo, Isabel (Ed.); Silva, Elisabete Mendes (Ed.)

2015-01-01

Remember the time when you had a teacher in front of a blackboard endlessly talking, sometimes in a rambling way to students? Those days are gone. This project is a proof of that and aims at palliating students’ boredom. Interactive Teaching Materials across Culture and Technology (INTACT) intends to present an alternative way in the teaching paradigm as it intends to be a resourceful tool in the teaching/learning process. Both teachers and students can work together coopera...

From boredom to dependence: The medicalisation of the Swedish gambling problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edman Johan

2016-02-01

Full Text Available AIMS - The aim of this study is to investigate the medicalising of gambling problems by comparing the political discussions on gambling in the Swedish Parliament in the early 1970s and the early 2010s. DESIGN - Against a theoretical background on medicalising processes in general, and medicalisation of gambling problems in particular, we have analysed discussion protocols and parliamentary bills in the Swedish Parliament from the years 1970-1975 and 2012-2013. RESULTS - The problem descriptions of the 1970s and 2010s are, in certain respects, strikingly similar, identifying proactive operators such as the gambling companies and highlighting an inadequate legal framework. But where the MPs of the 1970s put some effort into describing the drab society which fed the need for gambling, the elected representatives of the 2010s shortcut to individual dependence. CONCLUSIONS - EU membership and the development of the Internet have made effective control and regulation impossible in the early 2010s and the political handling of the Swedish gambling problem is therefore a clear example of how market liberalisation can pave the way for individualisation, medicalisation and depoliticisation of social problems.

How to behave as Alice in Wonderland–about boredom and curiosity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Aart, J.; Bartneck, C.; Hu, J.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.; Salem Bernard, B.I.

2010-01-01

In the context of cultural computing, we created a mixed reality environment that influences user affect and evokes predefined user behaviour. The theoretical challenge is applying persuasive design to virtual and augmented reality. Based on begin of the story ‘Alice’s in adventures in Wonderland’

Prevalence of context effects: testing with a straightforward question of yesterday happiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Sohn, Kitae

2018-05-03

Although contexts effects were found in responding to general happiness, it is little known how prevalent the effects can be in other measures of subjective wellbeing. If context effects are still found for a measure of subjective wellbeing that exhibits a host of features minimizing the effects, one can conclude that the effects can be quite prevalent. We aimed to assess this possibility. We analyzed the Indonesian Family Life Survey by exploiting the random assignment of four versions of a list of 12 yesterday affects. The random assignment established causality on firmer ground. We applied ordered probit models by sex (10,162 men and 11,531 women): the dependent variable of interest was a measure of happiness, and the independent variables of interest were four affects that immediately preceded happiness. We found that when sadness immediately preceded happiness, men were 2.4% points more likely to say not at all happy and 2.5% points less likely to say very happy. The corresponding figures for women were 1.5 and 1.8% points. We, however, found no discernible context effects when boredom and anger immediately preceded happiness. Context effects were still found for a measure of subjective wellbeing even when the effects were thought to be minimal. That said, the different influence of sadness versus boredom and anger suggests that there are ways to alleviate context effects.

Validation Evidence of the Motivation for Teaching Scale in Secondary Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Abós, Ángel; Sevil, Javier; Martín-Albo, José; Aibar, Alberto; García-González, Luis

2018-04-10

Grounded in self-determination theory, the aim of this study was to develop a scale with adequate psychometric properties to assess motivation for teaching and to explain some outcomes of secondary education teachers at work. The sample comprised 584 secondary education teachers. Analyses supported the five-factor model (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation) and indicated the presence of a continuum of self-determination. Evidence of reliability was provided by Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and average variance extracted. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses supported the partial invariance (configural and metric) of the scale in different sub-samples, in terms of gender and type of school. Concurrent validity was analyzed by a structural equation modeling that explained 71% of the work dedication variance and 69% of the boredom at work variance. Work dedication was positively predicted by intrinsic motivation (ß = .56, p amotivation (ß = -.49, p amotivation (ß = .68, p < .001). The Motivation for Teaching Scale in Secondary Education (Spanish acronym EME-ES, Escala de Motivación por la Enseñanza en Educación Secundaria) is discussed as a valid and reliable instrument. This is the first specific scale in the work context of secondary teachers that has integrated the five-factor structure together with their dedication and boredom at work.

The Use of Inflight Online Distance Education for Mission Support and Psychological Support.

Science.gov (United States)

Mardon, Austin; Nichol, Kenneth; Mardon, Catherine

Time, too much of and the resulting boredom is a major psychological barrier to multi year inner solar system space missions. Cross training which could be facilitated by online in flight educational programs might serve mission purposes and distract astronauts from the natural multiyear boredom to and from Mars. The personnel selected will be motivated well educated and likely very intelligent. They might have even experience some educational online and computer based education during their educational history. Distance learning is become more and more common in the educational landscape in the world. The mission doctor might learn geology. The geologist might learn ship systems. The pilot might learn basic medical treatment. The advantage of having planned out learning schemes might have major morale boosting factors by giving the self motivated high achieving crew something to direct their energies toward. The time lag could be compensated for by AI spacecraft educational software. Also for recreational purposes archeology or cultural studies could be taught to give greater breadth of interest. Online educational institutions might even do curriculum for free if they could be used afterward and before. Many high achievers have diverse interests and this might boost morale by allowing them to learn about a field of study that they had always had an interest in but their career took them in a different direction

The role of sensation seeking and motivations for eating in female and male adolescents who binge eat.

Science.gov (United States)

Laghi, Fiorenzo; Pompili, Sara; Baumgartner, Emma; Baiocco, Roberto

2015-04-01

Although different personality traits have been associated with the onset and maintenance of binge eating, the role of sensation seeking is still not well documented. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of sensation seeking and motivations for eating in male and female adolescents who binge eat. 336 adolescents (196 boys and 140 girls, mean age 17.48) completed a survey composed of Binge Eating Scale, Motivation for Eating Scale, and Brief Sensation Seeking Scale. Our results showed that for female adolescents, binge eating was significantly correlated with age, body mass index (BMI), Environmental and Emotional Eating. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that BMI was a significant positive predictor of binge eating; Emotional and Physical Eating accounted for 34% of the variance. For male adolescents, binge eating was significantly correlated with age, BMI, Boredom susceptibility, Experience seeking, environmental, Social and Emotional Eating. The most significant variables that contribute to binge symptoms, were age and BMI (that accounted for 16% of the variance), Experience seeking and Boredom susceptibility (11%) and emotional eating (18%). Our results provided support for emotional motivations as significant triggers for binge eating behavior in both male and female adolescents. Although two sensation seeking dimensions were significant predictors of binge eating in males, sensation seeking was not associated to binge eating in the female subsample. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive experiences in physical education through teacher intervention in the teaching unit futsal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ángel Abós Catalán

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The interpersonal style used by the teacher of Physical Education (PE in their classes can trigger consequences for students inside and outside the classroom. Grounded in self-determination theory and achievement goal theory, the aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between motivational climate and support of the basic psychological needs (BPN generated by the PE teacher in the teaching unit (TU of futsal, with consequences of enjoyment and boredom, as well as the predisposition toward EF experienced by students. The sample was composed of 70 students (32 men and 38 women year 4th of compulsory Secondary Education, aged 15 to 17 years (M age = 15.31, SD = 0.49. The variables measured at the end of the TU were: motivational climate (EPCM, support of the BPN (CANPB and affective consequences (SSI the content of futsal and the predisposition towards PE (PEPS. The results of correlation analysis showed that the task climate and support of the BPN in the TU futsal, correlated positively and significantly with enjoyment and some predisposing factors toward PE, while doing it in reverse with boredom. Therefore, given the relationship between what happens in the classroom and outside it, seems necessary that teachers of PE generates a task climate and support of the BPN in each of curricular content, to students adopt life-styles more active and healthy. 

Workout at work: laboratory test of psychological and performance outcomes of active workstations.

Science.gov (United States)

Sliter, Michael; Yuan, Zhenyu

2015-04-01

With growing concerns over the obesity epidemic in the United States and other developed countries, many organizations have taken steps to incorporate healthy workplace practices. However, most workers are still sedentary throughout the day--a major contributor to individual weight gain. The current study sought to gather preliminary evidence of the efficacy of active workstations, which are a possible intervention that could increase employees' physical activity while they are working. We conducted an experimental study, in which boredom, task satisfaction, stress, arousal, and performance were evaluated and compared across 4 randomly assigned conditions: seated workstation, standing workstation, cycling workstation, and walking workstation. Additionally, body mass index (BMI) and exercise habits were examined as moderators to determine whether differences in these variables would relate to increased benefits in active conditions. The results (n = 180) showed general support for the benefits of walking workstations, whereby participants in the walking condition had higher satisfaction and arousal and experienced less boredom and stress than those in the passive conditions. Cycling workstations, on the other hand, tended to relate to reduced satisfaction and performance when compared with other conditions. The moderators did not impact these relationships, indicating that walking workstations might have psychological benefits to individuals, regardless of BMI and exercise habits. The results of this study are a preliminary step in understanding the work implications of active workstations. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Customer satisfaction with individual shopping trip experiences in grocery retailing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esbjerg, Lars; Grunert, Klaus G; Jensen, Birger Boutrup

, whereas hedonic value reflects the potential entertainment and emotional worth associated with the shopping trip. Recognising this duality, in addition to enabling customers to satisfy utilitarian needs related to product-acquisition, grocery retailers increasingly try to offer customers pleasurable...... shopping experiences, even to entertain them. Because there is evidence suggesting even satisfied customers sometimes switch brands and retailers due to boredom, it is important for retailers to continuously engage consumers and stir interest in a given store. Satisfying customers again and again...

Science toys

Science.gov (United States)

Crease, Robert P.

2009-01-01

"I have a low boredom threshold," Tim Rowett explains, ushering in my son Alex and me. Rowett is a jovial, professorishlooking man with wire-rimmed glasses and a short, white beard. Alex and I have gone to his flat in Twickenham, on the edge of London, to see his collection of fun stuff - jokes, games, puzzles and other toys related to science. When I ask what they have in common, Rowett has a ready, if not illuminating, answer: "They're just things that make people go 'Wow!'."

An inquiry - aesthetics of art in hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gates, Jillian

2008-09-01

Historically, art has served a significant purpose within hospital waiting rooms. However, in recent times we have experienced cuts in funding and less interest in improving the aesthetic of art displayed in Australian hospitals. This article briefly discusses the history of art in hospitals and explores a methodology for researching the preference of Australian patients today. Potentially, Australians waiting in hospitals and medical clinics could benefit from art works that reflect their preferences; this may help to ease the pain, anxiety, and boredom of waiting.

Northrop Frye on Leisure as Activity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Graham, Brian Russell

2015-01-01

This article argues that Frye’s theory of leisure as an activity (distinct from the leisure industry) represents an example of meliorist thought in relation to culture. Clarifying this view involves contrasting this conclusion about Frye with the Bourdieuian perspective, which makes up the content...... of the second main section. Before turning to social class, this article considers Frye’s discussion of leisure and boredom, and his overall view of the values, activities, historic struggles and class association of three sectors: industry, politics and leisure....

The Bored Self in Knowledge Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Costas, Jana; Kärreman, Dan

2016-01-01

of the bored self as a combination of unfilled aspirations and the sense of stagnation, leading to an arrested identity. Our contribution is to expand extant conceptualizations of employee interactions with identity regulation, in particular relating to identity work and identification. The findings provide......This article draws attention to reported experiences of boredom in knowledge work. Drawing on extensive qualitative data gathered at two management consultancy firms, we analyze these experiences as a particular interaction with identity regulation and work experiences. We conceptualize the reports...

Smoking frequency among current college student smokers: distinguishing characteristics and factors related to readiness to quit smoking.

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Carla J; Ling, Pamela M; Hayes, Rashelle B; Berg, Erin; Nollen, Nikki; Nehl, Eric; Choi, Won S; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S

2012-02-01

Given the increased prevalence of non-daily smoking and changes in smoking patterns, particularly among young adults, we examined correlates of smoking level, specifically motives for smoking, and readiness to quit smoking among 2682 college undergraduates who completed an online survey. Overall, 64.7% (n = 1736) were non-smokers, 11.6% (n = 312) smoked 1-5 days, 10.5% (n = 281) smoked 6-29 days and 13.2% (n = 353) were daily smokers. Ordinal regression analyses modeling smoking level indicated that correlates of higher smoking level included having more friends who smoke (β = 0.63, 95% CI 0.57-0.69) and more frequent other tobacco use (β = 0.04, 95% CI 0.02-0.05), drinking (β = 0.04, 95% CI 0.02-0.07) and binge drinking (β = 0.09, 95% CI 0.06-0.13). Bivariate analyses indicated that daily smokers (versus the subgroups of non-daily smokers) were less likely to smoke for social reasons but more likely to smoke for self-confidence, boredom, and affect regulation. Controlling for sociodemographics, correlates of readiness to quit among current smokers included fewer friends who smoke (P = 0.002), less frequent binge drinking (P = 0.03), being a social smoker (P smoking less for self-confidence (P = 0.04), smoking more for boredom (P = 0.03) and less frequent smoking (P = 0.001). Specific motives for smoking and potential barriers to cessation particularly may be relevant to different groups of college student smokers.

Influential motivational variables in a teaching unit of rugby: the key to improving the educational intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angel Abós Catalán

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Physical inactivity is one of the most important problems that affect to our society due to the lack of student motivation in some school contents. The objective of this study was to study the relationship between motivational climate created by the Physical Education teacher in a teaching unit of rugby and basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation and affective consequences experienced by students. A total of 77 students (M age = 15.35, SD = 0.53 of an educational institution, belonging to 4th year Secondary Education, completed the following questionnaires: Perceived of Motivational Climate Scale (EPCM, Basic Psychological Needs in Excersice Scale (BPNES, Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS-14 and the Scale of Entertainment / Boredom in Physical Education (SSI-EF. The results showed that task climate predicted positively and significantly the three basic psychological needs and self-determined forms of motivation, while the ego climate predicted amotivation. In turn, the three basic psychological needs predicted positively intrinsic motivation, while the amotivation was negatively predicted by perceived competence and social relationships. Also, it was found a positive prediction between intrinsic motivation and enjoyment, and negatively with respect to boredom, which was also predicted by amotivation. The results suggest the idea that Physical Education teachers should create a task climate, favoring the satisfaction of the psychological mediators and developing a more self-determined motivation which could trigger affective consequences like enjoyment. 

Leisure Time in Modern Societies: A New Source of Boredom and Stress?

Science.gov (United States)

Haller, Max; Hadler, Markus; Kaup, Gerd

2013-01-01

The increase in leisure time over the last century is well documented. We know much less, however, about the quality of the use of leisure time. Quite divergent predictions exist in this regard: Some authors have argued that the new, extensive free time will lead to new forms of time pressure and stress; others have foreseen an expansion of…

Employee engagement, boredom and frontline construction workers feeling safe in their workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteoak, John W; Mohamed, Sherif

2016-08-01

Systems thinking is a philosophy currently prevalent within construction safety literature that is applied to understand and improve safety in sociotechnical systems. Among systems, the site-project organizational system is of particular interest to this paper. Using focus group and survey feedback research to learn about how safety incidents effect levels of construction workers engagement this paper reveals how a safety incident provides an opportunity to create a potential quality (productivity) upgrade within an organization. The research approach involved a qualitative study involving 27 frontline supervisors and a follow-up survey completed by 207 frontline workers in the Australian Asphalt and Pavement Industry. The focus group interviews supported the articulation of the concepts of tacit safety, explicit safety, situational awareness, foresight ability, practical intelligence and crew synergy. Our findings indicate that having regular shift changes and other job site workers being fatigued are influential on perceptions of tacit safety. An individual's foresight ability was found to be the most potent predictor of worker perceptions of work engagement. The paper explains that relatively small improvements in worker perceptions of safety can bring about significant improvements in employee engagement and productivity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethnographies of Waiting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Janeja, Manpreet Kaur; Bandak, Andreas

We all wait – in traffic jams, passport offices, school meal queues, for better weather, an end to fighting, peace. Time spent waiting produces hope, boredom, anxiety, doubt, or uncertainty. Ethnographies of Waiting explores the social phenomenon of waiting and its centrality in human society...... worth the wait?" Waiting thus conceived is intrinsic to the ethnographic method at the heart of the anthropological enterprise. Featuring detailed ethnographies from Japan, Georgia, England, Ghana, Norway, Russia and the United States, a Foreword by Craig Jeffrey and an Afterword by Ghassan Hage...

El ocio en la antigüedad.Juegos del Mundo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esteban Llagostera

2011-01-01

Full Text Available El aburrimiento del hombre en todos los tiempos, originó que inventase lo que hoy llamamos ocio, o sea, la manera o forma de cubrir el tiempo muerto. De ahí nacieron los miles de juegos de los que ahora disfrutamos.Through all the times, the boredom of mankind originated the invention of what we call nowadays games and entertainment, that is to say, the way of occupying our leisure time. This was the origin of the thousands of board, card and court games we presently enjoy.

Video game addiction in children and teenagers in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Shao-I; Lee, Jie-Zhi; Huang, Der-Hsiang

2004-10-01

Video game addiction in children and teenagers in Taiwan is associated with levels of animosity, social skills, and academic achievement. This study suggests that video game addiction can be statistically predicted on measures of hostility, and a group with high video game addiction has more hostility than others. Both gender and video game addiction are negatively associated with academic achievement. Family function, sensation seeking, gender, and boredom have statistically positive relationships with levels of social skills. Current models of video game addiction do not seem to fit the findings of this study.

Could Neurolecturing Address the Limitations of Live and Recorded Lectures?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Gamez

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Lectures are a common teaching method in higher education. However, they have many serious limitations, including boredom, attendance, short attention span, low knowledge transmission and the passivity of students. This paper suggests how a combination of electroencephalography (EEG and eye-tracking technology could address some of these limitations – an approach that I have called neurolecturing. Neurolecturing could measure students’ attention, learning and cognitive load and provide real time feedback to students and lecturers. It could also play a role in the flipped classroom and artificial intelligence tutoring.

The Influence of Perceived Disgust on Students' Motivation and Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Randler, Christoph; Hummel, Eberhard; Wüst-Ackermann, Peter

2013-11-01

There are a wide range of student emotions in academic settings, but apart from emotions such as interest and well-being, disgust is a negative emotion which might be relevant in biology education, for instance, during dissection or when encountering living animals. This paper addresses the issue of situational disgust during a course at the university using living animals and prepared mounts. The course covers a wide range of organisms from protists (e.g. Paramecium) through invertebrates to vertebrates and uses many methods (e.g. microscopy, dissection, and behavioral observations) and specific content (anatomy, structure, and behavior). The dissection of the trout was rated as most disgusting, followed by working with living woodlice, living earthworms, and living snails. The least disgusting lessons were those dealing with microscopy, mammalian skulls, honeybee dance, and bird flight. Based on animals, macro-invertebrates were rated as most disgusting and mammals as least disgusting. Concerning methods, observing through a microscope was perceived as being least disgusting, followed by experiments without animals, then followed by experiments with living animals and, most disgusting, dissection. Disgust was correlated negatively with interest, well-being, and competence but positively with pressure and boredom. Thus, low disgust is related to high interest, well-being, and competence, while higher disgust is related to higher pressure and boredom. The results show a need for measuring situational disgust in addition to survey studies. They also suggest that perceived disgust negatively affects intrinsic motivation. This has implications for biology teaching, because carrying out dissections or experiencing living animals in the classroom may have a detrimental effect on motivation.

Smoking frequency among current college student smokers: distinguishing characteristics and factors related to readiness to quit smoking

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Berg, Carla J.; Ling, Pamela M.; Hayes, Rashelle B.; Berg, Erin; Nollen, Nikki; Nehl, Eric; Choi, Won S.; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S.

2012-01-01

Given the increased prevalence of non-daily smoking and changes in smoking patterns, particularly among young adults, we examined correlates of smoking level, specifically motives for smoking, and readiness to quit smoking among 2682 college undergraduates who completed an online survey. Overall, 64.7% (n = 1736) were non-smokers, 11.6% (n = 312) smoked 1–5 days, 10.5% (n = 281) smoked 6–29 days and 13.2% (n = 353) were daily smokers. Ordinal regression analyses modeling smoking level indicated that correlates of higher smoking level included having more friends who smoke (β = 0.63, 95% CI 0.57–0.69) and more frequent other tobacco use (β = 0.04, 95% CI 0.02–0.05), drinking (β = 0.04, 95% CI 0.02–0.07) and binge drinking (β = 0.09, 95% CI 0.06–0.13). Bivariate analyses indicated that daily smokers (versus the subgroups of non-daily smokers) were less likely to smoke for social reasons but more likely to smoke for self-confidence, boredom, and affect regulation. Controlling for sociodemographics, correlates of readiness to quit among current smokers included fewer friends who smoke (P = 0.002), less frequent binge drinking (P = 0.03), being a social smoker (P confidence (P = 0.04), smoking more for boredom (P = 0.03) and less frequent smoking (P = 0.001). Specific motives for smoking and potential barriers to cessation particularly may be relevant to different groups of college student smokers. PMID:22156071

Human factors measurement for future air traffic control systems.

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Langan-Fox, Janice; Sankey, Michael J; Canty, James M

2009-10-01

This article provides a critical review of research pertaining to the measurement of human factors (HF) issues in current and future air traffic control (ATC). Growing worldwide air traffic demands call for a radical departure from current ATC systems. Future systems will have a fundamental impact on the roles and responsibilities of ATC officers (ATCOs). Valid and reliable methods of assessing HF issues associated with these changes, such as a potential increase (or decrease) in workload, are of utmost importance for advancing theory and for designing systems, procedures, and training. We outline major aviation changes and how these relate to five key HF issues in ATC. Measures are outlined, compared, and evaluated and are followed by guidelines for assessing these issues in the ATC domain. Recommendations for future research are presented. A review of the literature suggests that situational awareness and workload have been widely researched and assessed using a variety of measures, but researchers have neglected the areas of trust, stress, and boredom. We make recommendations for use of particular measures and the construction of new measures. It is predicted that, given the changing role of ATCOs and profound future airspace requirements and configurations, issues of stress, trust, and boredom will become more significant. Researchers should develop and/or refine existing measures of all five key HF issues to assess their impact on ATCO performance. Furthermore, these issues should be considered in a holistic manner. The current article provides an evaluation of research and measures used in HF research on ATC that will aid research and ATC measurement.

Emotion Recognition Through Body Language Using RGB-D Sensor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kiforenko, Lilita; Kraft, Dirk

2016-01-01

by various visual stimuli. We present the emotion dataset that is recorded using Microsoft Kinect for Windows sensor and body joints rotation angles that are extracted using Microsoft Kinect Software Development Kit 1.6. The classified emotions are curiosity, confusion, joy, boredom and disgust. We show...... joint rotation angles and meta-features that are fed into a Support Vector Machines classifier. The work of Gaber-Barron and Si (2012) is used as inspiration and many of their proposed meta-features are reimplemented or modified. In this work we try to identify ”basic” human emotions, that are triggered...

Circadian typology and sensation seeking in adolescents.

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Muro, Anna; Gomà-i-Freixanet, Montserrat; Adan, Ana

2012-12-01

The relationship of circadian typology with personality has been largely studied in adults, but there are few studies exploring such relationship in adolescents. Adolescence has been associated with a greater tendency to eveningness preference, sleeping problems, poorer academic achievement, earlier substance use, or risky behaviors, and it is suggested that this association might be mediated by personality factors. Given the relevance of identifying the behavioral outcomes of young evening types to detect and prevent health problems, the present study aimed to explore, for the first time, the relationship between sensation seeking and circadian typology in an adolescent sample of 688 students (51.45% boys) from 12 to 16 yrs old. They answered the Spanish versions of the Morningness-Eveningness Scale for Children (MESC) and the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS), which includes four subscales measuring Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Experience Seeking, Disinhibition, and Boredom Susceptibility. Analyses showed that boys obtained significantly higher scores than girls on J-SSS total score and all subscales except Boredom Susceptibility, whereas evening-type adolescents of both sexes scored significantly higher than neither types and than morning types on J-SSS total score. These results indicate that evening-type adolescents show a greater desire for varied, new, complex, and intense sensations, and they are ready for experiencing more risks than morning types. The implications of this study suggest the need of being aware of individual differences in the SS trait in evening-type adolescents, as well as taking into account the wide variety of behaviors associated with it, either prosocial or antisocial, to design better preventive health and academic programs.

Ethnographies of Youth and Temporality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalsgård, Anne Line; Frederiksen, Martin Demant; Højlund, Susanne

As we experience and manipulate time—be it as boredom or impatience—it becomes an object: something materialized and social, something that affects perception, or something that may motivate reconsideration and change. The editors and contributors to this important new book, Ethnographies of Youth...... emotional unrest and violence but also creativity and hope are responses to troubling times. The chapters discuss notions of time and its “objectification” in diverse locales including the Georgian Republic, Brazil, Denmark, and Uganda. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, the essays in Ethnographies...... of Youth and Temporality use youth as a prism to understand time and its subjective experience....

“What Can Hume Teach Us about Film Evaluation?”

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Robert R. Clewis

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article identifies three distinct temporal notions in Hume’s aesthetics: passing the test of time, repeated viewing of a work, and the personal aging of the critic. It applies these ideas to the evaluation and enjoyment of films. It characterizes positive, negative, and ambivalent film aging, which are associated with nostalgia, boredom, and comic amusement, respectively, and which bear on our enjoyment, not evaluation, of film. The paper discusses Allen’s Zelig, Antonioni’s La Notte, Cameron’s The Terminator, Lucas’s Star Wars, Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and Renoir’s La Règle du Jeu. 

Market mechanisms for compensating hazardous work: a critical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shakow, D.

1984-01-01

Adam Smith's theory that the marketplace can compensate workers for social inequities (i.e., hazards, boredom, etc.) in the work place is applied to the nuclear industry. The author argues that market mechanisms are unlikely to ensure adequate compensation for work-related hazards. He summarizes and critiques the neoclassical compensating-wage hypothesis, then reviews empirical evidence in support of the hypothesis in light of an alternative hypothesis derived from the literature on labor market segmentation. He challenges the assumption of perfect labor mobility and perfect information. A promising direction for further research would be a structural analysis of the emerging market for temporary workers. 13 references, 2 figures

Good distractions: Testing the effects of listening to an audiobook on driving performance in simple and complex road environments.

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Nowosielski, Robert J; Trick, Lana M; Toxopeus, Ryan

2018-02-01

Distracted driving (driving while performing a secondary task) causes many collisions. Most research on distracted driving has focused on operating a cell-phone, but distracted driving can include eating while driving, conversing with passengers or listening to music or audiobooks. Although the research has focused on the deleterious effects of distraction, there may be situations where distraction improves driving performance. Fatigue and boredom are also associated with collision risk and it is possible that secondary tasks can help alleviate the effects of fatigue and boredom. Furthermore, it has been found that individuals with high levels of executive functioning as measured by the OSPAN (Operation Span) task show better driving while multitasking. In this study, licensed drivers were tested in a driving simulator (a car body surrounded by screens) that simulated simple or complex roads. Road complexity was manipulated by increasing traffic, scenery, and the number of curves in the drive. Participants either drove, or drove while listening to an audiobook. Driving performance was measured in terms of braking response time to hazards (HRT): the time required to brake in response to pedestrians or vehicles that suddenly emerged from the periphery into the path of the vehicle, speed, standard deviation of speed, standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP). Overall, braking times to hazards were higher on the complex drive than the simple one, though the effects of secondary tasks such as audiobooks were especially deleterious on the complex drive. In contrast, on the simple drive, driving while listening to an audiobook lead to faster HRT. We found evidence that individuals with high OSPAN scores had faster HRTs when listening to an audiobook. These results suggest that there are environmental and individual factors behind difference in the allocation of attention while listening to audiobooks while driving. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation of ergonomics in the management of parking increasing the quality of living parking park in mall Robinson Denpasar city

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Sutapa, I. K.; Sudiarsa, I. M.

2018-01-01

The problems that often arise in the area of Denpasar City mostly caused by parking problems at the centers of activities such as shopping centers. The problems that occur not only because of the large number of vehicles that parked but also the result of the condition of parking officers who have not received attention, there is no concern about the physical condition of parking attendants because doing night guard duty. To improve the quality of parking officer, ergonomic parking lot is improved through the application of appropriate technology with systemic, holistic, interdisciplinary and participatory approach. The general objective of the research is to know the implementation of ergonomics in parking management on the improvement of the quality of parking officer in Robinson shopping center. The indicator of the quality of the parking officer work is the decrease of musculoskeletal complaints, fatigue, workload, boredom and increasing work motivation. The study was conducted using the same subject design, involving 10 subjects as a simple random sample. Intervention is done by arrangement of ergonomic basement motorcycle parking. Measurements done before and after repair. Washing out (WO) for 14 days. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively, tested normality (shapirowilk) and homogeneity (Levene Test). For normal and homogeneous distribution data, different test with One Way Anova, different test between Period with Post Hoc. Normally distributed and non-homogeneous data, different test with Friedman Test, different test between periods using Wilcoxon test. Data were analyzed with significance level of 5%. The results showed that the implementation of ergonomic in the management of parking area of the court decreased musculoskeletal complaints by 15.10% (p management of the parking lot improves the quality of the parking officer work from: (1) decrease of musculoskeletal complaints, (2) decrease of melting rate, (3) decrease of parking workload

Examining the relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, positive smoking outcome expectancies, and cigarette smoking in people with substance use disorders: a multiple mediator model.

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Hruska, Bryce; Bernier, Jennifer; Kenner, Frank; Kenne, Deric R; Boros, Alec P; Richardson, Christopher J; Delahanty, Douglas L

2014-01-01

Cigarette smoking is highly prevalent in people with substance use disorders (SUDs) and is associated with significant physical health problems. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also highly associated with both SUDs and cigarette smoking and may serve as a barrier to smoking cessation efforts. In addition, people with PTSD are more likely to hold positive smoking outcome expectancies (i.e., beliefs that smoking cigarettes results in positive outcomes); these beliefs may contribute to cigarette smoking in people with SUDs experiencing PTSD symptoms. The present study examined the relationship between PTSD symptoms and typical daily cigarette smoking/cigarette dependence symptoms in a sample of 227 trauma-exposed current smokers with SUDs (59.9% male, 89.4% Caucasian) seeking detoxification treatment services. Additionally, the indirect effects of multiple types of positive smoking outcome expectancies on these relationships were examined. Participants completed questionnaires assessing PTSD symptoms, positive smoking outcome expectancies, cigarette consumption, and cigarette dependence symptoms. Results indicated that PTSD symptoms were not directly related to cigarette consumption or cigarette dependence symptoms. However, negative affect reduction outcome expectancies were shown to have a significant indirect effect between PTSD symptoms and cigarette consumption, while negative affect reduction, boredom reduction, and taste-sensorimotor manipulation outcome expectancies were all found to have significant indirect effects between PTSD symptoms and cigarette dependence symptoms. The indirect effect involving negative affect reduction outcome expectancies was statistically larger than that of taste sensorimotor manipulation outcome expectancies, while negative affect reduction and boredom reduction outcome expectancies were comparable in magnitude. These results suggest that expectancies that smoking can manage negative affective experiences are related to

Vision systems for scientific and engineering applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chadda, V.K.

2009-01-01

Human performance can get degraded due to boredom, distraction and fatigue in vision-related tasks such as measurement, counting etc. Vision based techniques are increasingly being employed in many scientific and engineering applications. Notable advances in this field are emerging from continuing improvements in the fields of sensors and related technologies, and advances in computer hardware and software. Automation utilizing vision-based systems can perform repetitive tasks faster and more accurately, with greater consistency over time than humans. Electronics and Instrumentation Services Division has developed vision-based systems for several applications to perform tasks such as precision alignment, biometric access control, measurement, counting etc. This paper describes in brief four such applications. (author)

Does Sense of the Humor Make Sense in the Classroom?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Freddy Antonio González-Ynfante

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the importance of humor as a teaching strategy in the classroom, considering the usual lack of motivation and boredom. To analyze whether the “happy teaching and happy learning” may increase effectiveness in the teaching-learning process, the author will discuss how, despite the many benefits it may bring, humor is not used in the classroom due to prejudices and fears. The idea is not for teachers to play the role of a comedian or a clown, but to intervene and get closer to the group with a teaching, didactic purpose through humor. Plato (1992 thought about this; he used to say that sometimes a joke may help, where seriousness put up resistance.

Incorporating Memes and Instagram to Enhance Student’s Participation

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Agnes Dian Purnama

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Today’s teaching and learning faces more challenges as technology keeps on updating itself. Teachers are expected to adopt as many as possible technology products to promote students’ engagement in classroom activity. Utilizing technology products may help teachers to decrease students’ boredom inside classroom since it proposes a new kind of activity. The main purpose is to create an enjoyable teaching and learning environment as well as to trigger students to be creative. By highlighting youths’ characteristics that tend to be visual and addicted to rapid information, memes and Instagram may be used as one of the strategies to develop an innovative teaching and learning process. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200101

On the possible adaptive value of coprophagy in free-ranging chimpanzees.

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Krief, Sabrina; Jamart, Aliette; Hladik, Claude-Marcel

2004-04-01

Coprophagy occurred during major periods of feeding on fruits of Dialium spp. (Caesalpiniaceae) in a group of orphaned chimpanzees released in Conkouati Douli National Park, Republic of Congo. Since stress, boredom or food scarcity could not explain coprophagy according to our daily behavioral and veterinary control observations, we suggest that Dialium seeds were the item of interest in the feces. Two types of Dialium seeds were commonly found in the feces after chimpanzees swallowed the mesocarp and whole seeds together. These seeds were either whole and hard or whole/broken and soft imbibed. A mechanical and/or chemical effect of the gut passage may enable the chimpanzees to chew and ingest the seeds, thus providing nutritional intake.

An ecological approach to learning with technology: responding to tensions within the "wow-effect" phenomenon in teaching practices

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Herro, Danielle

2016-12-01

This review explores Anne Kamstrupp's "The Wow-effect in Science Teacher Education" by examining her theorized "wow-effect" as a teaching enactment that may serve to engage students, but often fails to provide deep understanding of science content. My response extends her perspective of socio-materiality as means to understand the "wow-effect" by suggesting social constructivism provides a more accurate lens to disentangle the phenomenon. I react to her position that tension fields within the phenomenon include the relationship between new and old technologies, boredom and engagement, and active and sedentary learning. In this conversation, I point to a new way of conceptualizing using digital media in the classroom as ecology of learning that may serve to decrease problems associated with the "wow-effect".

Effects of Exergame Play on EF in Children and Adolescents at a Summer Camp for Low Income Youth.

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Flynn, Rachel M; Richert, Rebekah A; Staiano, Amanda E; Wartella, Ellen; Calvert, Sandra L

2014-01-01

Past research has suggested exergame play improves adolescents' executive function (EF) skills. EF change in 70 African American and Hispanic/Latino 10- to 16-year-olds participating in an inner-city summer camp was assessed following five 30-minute exergame play sessions. Children's EF scores improved from pre- to posttest, and factors related to this change were examined. The number of exergame sessions the participants attended predicted posttest scores. In addition, level of achievement during game play was related to EF scores. Finally, the children's level of enjoyment was not related to EF; however, frustration and boredom during game play were negatively related to EF. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the relationship between exergame play and cognitive benefits for adolescent players.

The wow-effect in science teacher education

Science.gov (United States)

Kamstrupp, Anne Katrine

2016-12-01

This article explores the wow- effect as a phenomenon in science teacher education. Through ethnographic fieldwork at a teachers' college in Denmark, the author encounters a phenomenon enacted in a particular way of teaching that wows the students. The students are in the process of becoming natural science/technology and biology teachers. This article explores and theorizes the wow-effect by examining tension fields within the phenomenon between boredom and engagement, new and old technologies, and being active and sedentary. By situating this phenomenon in a discussion of theory and practice in teacher education, the author discusses how teaching according to the wow-effect is both engaging for the students as well as problematic in relation to learning certain theoretical aspects of natural science/technology and biology.

The wow-effect in science teacher education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamstrup, Anne Katrine

2016-01-01

This article explores the wow-effect as a phenomenon in science teacher education. Through ethnographic fieldwork at a teachers’ college in Denmark, the author encounters a phenomenon enacted in a particular way of teaching that wows the students. The students are in the process of becoming natural...... in teacher education, the author discusses how teaching according to the wow-effect is both engaging for the students as well as problematic in relation to learning certain theoretical aspects of natural science/technology and biology....... science/technology and biology teachers. This article explores and theorizes the wow-effect by examining tension fields within the phenomenon between boredom and engagement, new and old technologies, and being active and sedentary. By situating this phenomenon in a discussion of theory and practice...

A person-centered approach to individualizing a school-based universal preventive intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Linda L; Bradley, Stephanie; Coffman, Donna

2009-01-01

This manuscript focuses on how individualized components may be embedded within a universal preventive intervention (TimeWise: Taking Charge of Leisure Time) to make program delivery more effective. Leisure related variables (motivation, boredom/interest and peer and parental influence) were used to suggest ways to individualize the program. Latent Class Analysis was used to develop individualized risk and strength profiles of adolescents (N = 617). Comparisons were made between a treatment and control group. Four classes were identified: undifferentiated high, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation/amotivation, undifferentiated low. These classes were related to substance use. Membership in the intrinsic class was associated with intervention group while the extrinsic class was related to the control group. Results were useful in suggesting ways to tailor a universal prevention program.

The new dropout challenge: bridging gaps among students, parents, and teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bridgeland, John M

2010-01-01

Interview and survey data reveal significant disconnects among the insights and perspectives of dropouts, parents, teachers, and administrators on the causes and solutions to the dropout challenge. Many educators, for example, do not see boredom as a factor for most dropouts, while young people who drop out see it as the central cause. The author argues that if these disconnects are not more fully understood and bridged, they will continue to set back efforts to keep more students in school and on track to graduate ready for postsecondary education. Models for how communities can engage these constituencies in productive dialogue and transformative action are included in reports and in Grad Nation, a guidebook that helps communities tackle their dropout crises.

Development and validation of a multi-dimensional measure of intellectual humility.

Science.gov (United States)

Alfano, Mark; Iurino, Kathryn; Stey, Paul; Robinson, Brian; Christen, Markus; Yu, Feng; Lapsley, Daniel

2017-01-01

This paper presents five studies on the development and validation of a scale of intellectual humility. This scale captures cognitive, affective, behavioral, and motivational components of the construct that have been identified by various philosophers in their conceptual analyses of intellectual humility. We find that intellectual humility has four core dimensions: Open-mindedness (versus Arrogance), Intellectual Modesty (versus Vanity), Corrigibility (versus Fragility), and Engagement (versus Boredom). These dimensions display adequate self-informant agreement, and adequate convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity. In particular, Open-mindedness adds predictive power beyond the Big Six for an objective behavioral measure of intellectual humility, and Intellectual Modesty is uniquely related to Narcissism. We find that a similar factor structure emerges in Germanophone participants, giving initial evidence for the model's cross-cultural generalizability.

Early Adolescents and Substance Use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raimondo Maria Pavarin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available 1300 students (54.3% girls 13–16 years old were interviewed in the urban area of Bologna during 2010. Random effect multiple logistic regression models were used. Results show a reciprocal relationship between alcohol use, tobacco, and cannabis. Most users were offered cannabis, began using at 14 years of age, and do not believe using is very dangerous. They live with only one parent, have more than 50 euros of spending money per month, and abuse alcohol, abuse that increases relative to the intensity of cigarette smoking. Legal/illegal dichotomy seems to overturn, where alcohol becomes a “drug” and the use of tobacco, similar to other drugs, is motivated as a solution to reduce anxiety, combat boredom, relax, and to ease loneliness.

Team Organization Method Using Salary Auction Game for Sustainable Motivation

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Sangkyun Kim

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In performing team-based projects in engineering class, students usually face many problems, such as free-riding, lack of responsibility, boredom, and insufficient initiative. This papers proposes a new method for performing team-based projects in engineering class—specifically, a gamified method for team organization using a salary auction game. On the description of the design and use of a salary auction game in engineering class, a case study conducted using a survey method is reported to validate the practical value of the proposed auction game. The salary auction game proposed in this paper demonstrates that a gamified team organization method in engineering class could be used as an effective tool to enhance motivation and to improve learning outcomes of engineering students.

Math’s teaching through cooperative learning in year-2 Primary Education

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Jesús Iglesias Muñiz

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The goal of this study was to assess the effects of cooperative learning as a methodological tool for maths teaching. A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent groups of students was used. A total of 33 students belonging to two year-2 Primary Education intact classes agreed to participate. One experienced a cooperative learning approach, while the other one experienced a traditional approach. Assessment was performed quantitatively through a maths’ skills test and qualitatively through children’s drawings. Quantitative results showed that the cooperative learning group reached higher math scores, while from the qualitative results emerged 3 positive categories: enjoyment, learning, group work and 3 negative: boredom/tiredness, difficult and bad behaviour. Cooperative learning seems to debilitate students’ negative perceptions on the math class.

Coprophagy in wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a possibly adaptive strategy?

Science.gov (United States)

Sakamaki, Tetsuya

2010-01-01

Four cases of coprophagy and two cases of fecal inspection were identified during the 1142 h of observing wild bonobos at Wamba in the Luo Scientific Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At least 5 females in the study group practiced coprophagy and/or fecal inspection. According to our daily behavioral observations, boredom and stress, insufficient roughage, and the search for essential nutrients could not explain the coprophagy. Several episodes observed in this study indicated that bonobos might have sought and ingested certain valuable food items, such as hard Dialium seeds, in feces during relatively lean seasons. Although coprophagy occurred only rarely among wild bonobos, this practice appeared to represent a possibly adaptive feeding strategy during periods of food scarcity rather than a behavioral abnormality.

Manufacturing work and organizational stresses in export processing zones.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jinky Leilanie

2009-10-01

In the light of global industrialization, much attention has been focused on occupational factors and their influence on the health and welfare of workers. This was a cross sectional study using stratified sampling technique based on industry sizes. The study sampled 24 industries, 6 were small scale industries and 9 each for medium and large scale industries. From the 24 industries, a total of 500 respondents for the questionnaire was taken. For occupational health and safety standards that industries have to comply with, there was low compliance among small-scale industries relative to the medium and large scale industries. Only one industry had an air cleaning device for cleaning contaminated air prior to emission into the external community. Among the 500 respondents, majority were female (88.8%), single (69.6%) and worked in the production or assembly-line station (87.4%). Sickness absenteeism was relative high among the workers in this study accounting for almost 54% among females and 48% among males. Many of the workers also reported of poor performance at work, boredom, tardiness and absenteeism. For association between work factors and personal factors, the following were found to be statistically significant at p=0.05. Boredom was associated with lack of skills training, lack of promotion, disincentives for sick leaves, poor relationship with boss and poor relationships with employers. On the other hand, poor performance was also associated with lack of skills training, lack of promotions, job insecurity, and poor relationship with employers. From the data generated, important issues that must be dealt with in work organizations include the quality of work life, and health and safety issues. Based on these findings, we can conclude that there are still issues on occupational health and safety (OHS) in the target site of export processing zones in the Philippines. There must be an active campaign for OHS in industries that are produce for the global market

EEG Correlates of the Flow State: A Combination of Increased Frontal Theta and Moderate Frontocentral Alpha Rhythm in the Mental Arithmetic Task

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Kenji Katahira

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Flow experience is a subjective state experienced during holistic involvement in a certain activity, which has been reported to function as a factor promoting motivation, skill development, and better performance in the activity. To verify the positive effects of flow and develop a method to utilize it, the establishment of a reliable measurement of the flow state is essential. The present study utilized an electroencephalogram (EEG during an experimentally evoked flow state and examined the possibility of objective measurement of immediate flow. A total of 16 participants (10 males, 6 females participated in the experiment that employed a mental arithmetic task developed in a previous study. Post-trial self-report of the flow state and EEG during task execution were measured and compared among three conditions (Boredom, Flow, and Overload that had different levels of task difficulty. Furthermore, the correlations between subjective flow items and EEG activity were examined. As expected, the ratings on the subjective evaluation items representing the flow state were the highest in the Flow condition. Regarding the EEG data, theta activities in the frontal areas were higher in the Flow and the Overload conditions than in the Boredom condition, and alpha activity in the frontal areas and the right central area gradually increased depending on the task difficulty. These EEG activities correlated with self-reported flow experience, especially items related to the concentration on the task and task difficulty. From the results, the flow state was characterized by increased theta activities in the frontal areas and moderate alpha activities in the frontal and central areas. The former may be related to a high level of cognitive control and immersion in task, and the latter suggests that the load on the working memory was not excessive. The findings of this study suggest the possibility of distinguishing the flow state from other states using multiple

EEG Correlates of the Flow State: A Combination of Increased Frontal Theta and Moderate Frontocentral Alpha Rhythm in the Mental Arithmetic Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Katahira, Kenji; Yamazaki, Yoichi; Yamaoka, Chiaki; Ozaki, Hiroaki; Nakagawa, Sayaka; Nagata, Noriko

2018-01-01

Flow experience is a subjective state experienced during holistic involvement in a certain activity, which has been reported to function as a factor promoting motivation, skill development, and better performance in the activity. To verify the positive effects of flow and develop a method to utilize it, the establishment of a reliable measurement of the flow state is essential. The present study utilized an electroencephalogram (EEG) during an experimentally evoked flow state and examined the possibility of objective measurement of immediate flow. A total of 16 participants (10 males, 6 females) participated in the experiment that employed a mental arithmetic task developed in a previous study. Post-trial self-report of the flow state and EEG during task execution were measured and compared among three conditions (Boredom, Flow, and Overload) that had different levels of task difficulty. Furthermore, the correlations between subjective flow items and EEG activity were examined. As expected, the ratings on the subjective evaluation items representing the flow state were the highest in the Flow condition. Regarding the EEG data, theta activities in the frontal areas were higher in the Flow and the Overload conditions than in the Boredom condition, and alpha activity in the frontal areas and the right central area gradually increased depending on the task difficulty. These EEG activities correlated with self-reported flow experience, especially items related to the concentration on the task and task difficulty. From the results, the flow state was characterized by increased theta activities in the frontal areas and moderate alpha activities in the frontal and central areas. The former may be related to a high level of cognitive control and immersion in task, and the latter suggests that the load on the working memory was not excessive. The findings of this study suggest the possibility of distinguishing the flow state from other states using multiple EEG activities

Identifying Features of Bodily Expression As Indicators of Emotional Experience during Multimedia Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentin Riemer

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The importance of emotions experienced by learners during their interaction with multimedia learning systems, such as serious games, underscores the need to identify sources of information that allow the recognition of learners’ emotional experience without interrupting the learning process. Bodily expression is gaining in attention as one of these sources of information. However, to date, the question of how bodily expression can convey different emotions has largely been addressed in research relying on acted emotion displays. Following a more contextualized approach, the present study aims to identify features of bodily expression (i.e., posture and activity of the upper body and the head that relate to genuine emotional experience during interaction with a serious game. In a multimethod approach, 70 undergraduates played a serious game relating to financial education while their bodily expression was captured using an off-the-shelf depth-image sensor (Microsoft Kinect. In addition, self-reports of experienced enjoyment, boredom, and frustration were collected repeatedly during gameplay, to address the dynamic changes in emotions occurring in educational tasks. Results showed that, firstly, the intensities of all emotions indeed changed significantly over the course of the game. Secondly, by using generalized estimating equations, distinct features of bodily expression could be identified as significant indicators for each emotion under investigation. A participant keeping their head more turned to the right was positively related to frustration being experienced, whereas keeping their head more turned to the left was positively related to enjoyment. Furthermore, having their upper body positioned more closely to the gaming screen was also positively related to frustration. Finally, increased activity of a participant’s head emerged as a significant indicator of boredom being experienced. These results confirm the value of bodily

Review of rearing-related factors affecting the welfare of laying hens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Janczak, Andrew M.; Riber, Anja Brinch

2015-01-01

Laying hens may face a number of welfare problems including: acute and chronic pain caused by beak trimming; exaggerated fearfulness that may cause stress and suffocation; difficulties in locating resources, resulting potentially in emaciation and dehydration; frustration and boredom, caused...... to their effects on bird welfare include beak trimming, housing type, furnishing, enrichment, feeding, stocking density, flock size, sound and light levels, concentration of gasses, age at transfer from rearing to production facilities, similarity between rearing and production facilities, competence of staff...... rearing conditions. Two main conclusions of this work are that attempts should be made to use appropriate genetic material and that beak trimming should be limited where possible. In addition to this, the rearing system should provide constant access to appropriate substrates, perches, and mashed feed...

“HOW DO YOU FEEL?”: EMOTIONS EXHIBITED WHILE PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO GAMING BEHAVIORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rex P. Bringula

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This descriptive study utilized a validated questionnaire to determine the emotions exhibited by computer gamers in cyber cafés. We determined that gamers exhibited both positive and negative emotions while playing games. We observed that gamers were inclined to be more anxious about being defeated in a game as gaming became frequent and length of years spent playing games increased. They also had the tendency to become more stressed when length of years spent playing games increased. On the other hand, other gaming behaviors were not significantly related to other emotions. We concluded that not all emotions exhibited by gamers while playing computer games could be attributed to their gaming behaviors. We recommend that other emotions such as anger, frustration, boredom, amusement, etc. be included in future research.

[The influence of musical rhythms on the perception of subjective states of adult patients on dialysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Caminha, Leandro Bechert; da Silva, Maria Júlia Paes; Leão, Eliseth Ribeiro

2009-12-01

Being submitted to dialysis four hours a day, three times a week can mean experiencing boredom, besides discomfort. Patients often report that the time seems to take longer to go by. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of two different musical rhythms in the states of mind and perception of adult patients undergoing dialysis, since the literature on this subject is scarce. The study was performed at a private hospital with 43 patients, who participated in two sessions of musical improvisation with a keyboard. The subjective states and perception were evaluated before and after the intervention. Over 80% of the patients felt that time went by faster after the interventions in both rhythms. However, the pace was a decisive factor in the kind of emotional experience that the patients had.

Teaching a Large Multi-Level Class Using Different Strategies and Activities to Motivate English Language Learning

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Julia Sevy

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Many challenges face English language teachers today, but two common problems in Ecuador specifically in universities are large class sizes and multi-level students. These problems can create boredom, anxiety, and over all lack of interest in English language learning. It is shown in this article how to combat these particular problems through various strategies utilized to teach to the students’ needs, help them work together and intrinsically motivate them to learn different English language skills, specifically grammar and sentence structure. These strategies include group work, task-based learning, the inverted or flipped classroom, role-play and intrinsic learning. The author explains how these strategies work in a specific group of university pupils in Ecuador to overcome these specific problems in a classroom, but without student participation they can be flawed.

The prosocial and aggressive driving inventory (PADI): a self-report measure of safe and unsafe driving behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Paul B; Houston, John M; Vazquez, Jose A; Smither, Janan A; Harms, Amanda; Dahlke, Jeffrey A; Sachau, Daniel A

2014-11-01

Surveys of 1217 undergraduate students supported the reliability (inter-item and test-retest) and validity of the Prosocial and Aggressive Driving Inventory (PADI). Principal component analyses on the PADI items yielded two scales: Prosocial Driving (17 items) and Aggressive Driving (12 items). Prosocial Driving was associated with fewer reported traffic accidents and violations, with participants who were older and female, and with lower Boredom Susceptibility and Hostility scores, and higher scores on Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Neuroticism. Aggressive Driving was associated with more frequent traffic violations, with female participants, and with higher scores on Competitiveness, Sensation Seeking, Hostility, and Extraversion, and lower scores on Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness. The theoretical and practical implications of the PADI's dual focus on safe and unsafe driving are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Empirical validation of a model of reminiscence and health in later life.

Science.gov (United States)

Cappeliez, Philippe; O'Rourke, Norm

2006-07-01

This study addresses the adaptive value of functions of reminiscence with respect to physical and mental health in later life. A model examining the relationships between the functions of reminiscence and life satisfaction, psychiatric distress, and health is presented and tested. Self-positive (reminiscence for Identity, Death Preparation, and Problem Solving) and self-negative (reminiscence for Boredom Reduction, Bitterness Revival, and Intimacy Maintenance) functions have statistically significant and direct associations with the well-being of this sample of older adults, the first positively and the second negatively. Prosocial functions (reminiscence for Conversation, and to Teach-Inform Others) appear to have no direct link with health. Self-functions appear to have an important and lasting influence on physical and mental health, whereas prosocial functions may affect health by means of their role in emotional regulation.

Anger, frustration, boredom and the Department of Motor Vehicles: Can negative emotions impede organ donor registration?

Science.gov (United States)

Siegel, Jason T; Tan, Cara N; Rosenberg, Benjamin D; Navarro, Mario A; Thomson, Andrew L; Lyrintzis, Elena A; Alvaro, Eusebio M; Jones, Natalie D

2016-03-01

The IIFF Model (Information, Immediate and Complete Registration Mechanism, Focused Engagement, Favorable Activation) offers a checklist of considerations for interventions seeking to influence organ donor registration behavior. One aspect of the model, favorable activation, recommends considering the emotional and motivational state of a potential donor registrant. Given that most donor registrations occur at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), we considered whether emotions experienced while at the DMV could influence registration rates. The current research effort investigated the emotions people experience while visiting the DMV, explored whether these emotions are associated with donor registration intentions, and experimentally assessed whether DMV experiences influence donor registration. Three studies were conducted through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. In Study 1, we randomly assigned participants to either recall a prior DMV experience or to a comparison condition. Emotions associated with the recalled experiences were the dependent variable. Study 2 assessed the correlations between nine different emotions and donor registration intentions. Study 3 randomly assigned participants to recall a prior frustrating DMV experience or to a comparison condition. Intention to register to donate was the dependent variable. Study 1 found that recalling a prior DMV experience was associated with more negative and less positive emotions than the comparison condition. Study 2 found that increased levels of negative emotion could be problematic, as negative emotions were associated with decreased donor intentions. Study 3 found that recalling a frustrating DMV experience resulted in significantly lower intentions to register as an organ donor (vs. a control condition). Although not all DMV experiences are negative, these data indicated a relationship between the DMV and negative emotions; an association between negative emotions and lower donor registration intentions; and, a causal relationship between negative DMV experiences and decreased registration intentions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neurologic Complications of Psychomotor Stimulant Abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez-Ramos, Juan

2015-01-01

Psychomotor stimulants are drugs that act on the central nervous system (CNS) to increase alertness, elevate mood, and produce a sense of well-being. These drugs also decrease appetite and the need for sleep. Stimulants can enhance stamina and improve performance in tasks that have been impaired by fatigue or boredom. Approved therapeutic applications of stimulants include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. These agents also possess potent reinforcing properties that can result in excessive self-administration and abuse. Chronic use is associated with adverse effects including psychosis, seizures, and cerebrovascular accidents, though these complications usually occur in individuals with preexisting risk factors. This chapter reviews the adverse neurologic consequences of chronic psychomotor stimulant use and abuse, with a focus on two prototypical stimulants methamphetamine and cocaine. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, David W

2007-01-01

Motivation is short-term focused energy. The oldest theories of motivation explain motivated activity as effort to overcome primary deficiencies, such as hunger or boredom. Such theories are difficult to apply because individuals learn idiosyncratic secondary motives as alternative ways of responding to these needs. Three prominent needs theories are discussed: Herzberg's theory of hygiene and motivational factors; McClelland's needs for achievement, power, and affiliation; and Maslow's hierarchy and theory of self-actualization. A second approach to motivation holds that individuals may be thought of as engaging in rational processes to maximize their self-interests. The presented examples of this approach include Vroom's expectancy theory, Adam's theory of inequality, and the Porter-Lawler model that addresses the question of whether satisfaction leads to high performance or vice versa. Finally, several theories of motivation as life orientation are developed.

Measuring emotions during epistemic activities: the Epistemically-Related Emotion Scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Pekrun, Reinhard; Vogl, Elisabeth; Muis, Krista R; Sinatra, Gale M

2017-09-01

Measurement instruments assessing multiple emotions during epistemic activities are largely lacking. We describe the construction and validation of the Epistemically-Related Emotion Scales, which measure surprise, curiosity, enjoyment, confusion, anxiety, frustration, and boredom occurring during epistemic cognitive activities. The instrument was tested in a multinational study of emotions during learning from conflicting texts (N = 438 university students from the United States, Canada, and Germany). The findings document the reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the instrument. A seven-factor model best fit the data, suggesting that epistemically-related emotions should be conceptualised in terms of discrete emotion categories, and the scales showed metric invariance across the North American and German samples. Furthermore, emotion scores changed over time as a function of conflicting task information and related significantly to perceived task value and use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies.

Reliability and validity of the Marijuana Motives Measure among young adult frequent cannabis users and associations with cannabis dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Benschop, Annemieke; Liebregts, Nienke; van der Pol, Peggy; Schaap, Rick; Buisman, Renate; van Laar, Margriet; van den Brink, Wim; de Graaf, Ron; Korf, Dirk J

2015-01-01

The Marijuana Motives Measure (MMM) has so far been examined mainly in student populations, often with relatively limited involvement in cannabis use. This study evaluated the factor structure of the MMM in a demographically mixed sample of 600 young adult (18-30 years) frequent (≥ 3 days per week) cannabis users in the Netherlands. Analysis confirmed a five-factor solution, denoting coping, enhancement, social, conformity and expansion motives. Additionally, the original MMM was extended with two items (boredom and habit), which formed a distinct, internally consistent sixth factor labelled routine motives. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, coping and routine motives showed significant associations with 12-month DSM-IV cannabis dependence. The results suggest general reliability and validity of the MMM in a heterogeneous population of experienced cannabis users. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Admission to a psychiatric unit and changes in tobacco smoking.

Science.gov (United States)

Ker, Suzy; Owens, David

2008-05-06

Smoking and withdrawal from smoking complicates the assessment and treatment of mental illness. We aimed to establish whether psychiatric inpatients smoke different amounts after admission than beforehand and, if so, to find out why. Forty-three inpatients on a working age adult psychiatry ward completed self-report questionnaires about smoking habits. Those who smoked a different amount after admission had a follow-up interview to find out why they thought this had occurred. The interview incorporated qualitative and quantitative aspects which were analysed accordingly.Fifty-six percent of participants were smokers before admission, rising to 70% afterwards. Of the smokers, 17% smoked less after admission, and 63% smoked more. The average number of cigarettes smoked per person per day increased from five to thirteen. The main reasons for smoking more were boredom, stress and the wish to socialise.

STEM the Boredom: Engage Students in the Australian Curriculum Using ICT with Problem-Based Learning and Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Newhouse, Christopher Paul

2017-02-01

The well-being of modern economies and societies is increasingly requiring citizens to possess capabilities in integrating knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering and science to solve problems. However, by the end of schooling, the majority of Australian students show little interest in these discipline areas and have no plans to continue study or work in them; many refer to these disciplines as boring. Further, they typically have little experience in integrating knowledge and skills from these disciplines and/or in applying this to solve relevant problems. Therefore, there is a need to engage students with such learning experiences to develop their interest and capabilities, particularly during the early years of secondary schooling. This is not easy for teachers to respond to, but with the support of modern digital technologies and the new Australian curriculum, the potential is expanded and the challenge is more readily achievable. However, appropriate pedagogies need to be supported that include more authentic approaches to assessment. Learning activities need to support students to integrate knowledge and skills across discipline areas in tackling real problems, and this also needs to be reflected in how students are assessed. In this paper, I will draw on personal experience as a teacher, a review of recent literature, components of the Australian Curriculum, and findings from research projects associated with my University research centre, to argue for, and illustrate how, teachers can orchestrate powerful learning activities to promote an interdisciplinary approach to STEM.

A Profile of an ‘A’ List Homo –Habitus, Attitude, Boredom and The End of Enjoyment

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Sasho Alexander Lambevski

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Embodying signifiers of silent suffering, frequently envenomed by envy disguised as patronising pity, enraged as a result of admiration never returned, duped by their naïve belief in gay (capitalist Eden, stress-ridden, moving through a psychosocial reality that almost never fails to disappoint, split between a deadly wish to speak in monotone with their larynxes, bodies and dicks, and a little flicker that tells them to resists this urge, too many homo men express, in the guise of the composite character I describe below, the emotional battleground created by the new bourgeoisie’s deployment of the breathtakingly beautiful masculine homo male body as a sign/image vehicle in asserting its own social domination in a late capitalist society. The character I develop here can be read as a simulation and fabulation of the homonormative new bourgeois self as a syndrome with a range of affective cripplings coming from the technologically assisted channelling of homosexual desire via the mass circulation of the imaginary of the homo new bourgeoisie. 

IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS TO LEARN LESSONS ACTIVITIES CHASSIS POWER TRANSFER STANDARD COMPETENCE AND CORRECT STEERING SYSTEM WITH LEARNING METHOD DISCOVERY INQUIRY CLASS XIB SMK MUHAMMADIYAH GAMPING ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harry Suharto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study to determine the increase learners' learning activities subjects chassis and power transfer competency standard steering system repair discovery learning through the implementation of class XI inquiry Lightweight Vehicle Technology SMK Muhammadiyah Gamping, Sleman academic year 2013/2014. This research including action research   Research conducted at SMK Muhammadiyah Gamping XIB class academic year 2013/2014 with a sample of 26 students. Techniques of data collection using questionnaire sheet, observation sheets and documentation to determine the increase in student activity. Instrument validation study using experts judgment. Analysis using descriptive statistics using the technique .   The results showed that the increased activity of the first cycle to the second cycle include an increase of 57.7 % Visual activities; Oral activities amounted to 61.6 %; Listening activities amounted to 23.04 %; Writing activities by 8.7 %; Mental activities of 73.1 %; Emotional activities of 42.3 % ( for the spirit of the students in learning activities ; Motor activities amounted to -7.7 % ( decrease negative activity . Based on these results can be known to most students in SMK Muhammadiyah Gamping gave a positive opinion on the use of inquiry and discovery learning method has a view that the use of inquiry discovery learning methods can be useful for students and schools themselves. Learners who have a good perception of the use of discovery learning method of inquiry he has known and fully aware of the standards of achievement of competence theory fix the steering system. Learning discovery learning methods on achievement of competency standards inquiry repair steering systems theory pleased with the learning process, they are also able to: 1 increase the motivation to learn, 2 improving learning achievement; 3 enhancing creativity; 4 listen, respect, and accept the opinion of the participants other students; 5 reduce boredom

Instructional games: Scientific language use, concept understanding, and attitudinal development of middle school learners

Science.gov (United States)

Mongillo, Geraldine

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the influence of instructional games on middle school learners' use of scientific language, concept understanding, and attitude toward learning science. The rationale for this study stemmed from the lack of research concerning the value of play as an instructional strategy for older learners. Specifically, the study focused on the ways in which 6 average ability 7th grade students demonstrated scientific language and concept use during gameplay. The data were collected for this 6-week study in a southern New Jersey suburban middle school and included audio recordings of the 5 games observed in class, written documents (e.g., student created game questions, self-evaluation forms, pre- and post-assessments, and the final quiz) interviews, and researcher field notes. Data were coded and interpreted borrowing from the framework for scientific literacy developed by Bybee (1997). Based on the findings, the framework was modified to reflect the level of scientific understanding demonstrated by the participants and categorized as: Unacquainted, Nominal, Functional, and Conceptual. Major findings suggested that the participants predominantly achieved the Functional level of scientific literacy (i.e., the ability to adequately and appropriately use scientific language in both written and oral discourse) during games. Further, it was discovered that the participants achieved the Conceptual level of scientific literacy during gameplay. Through games participants were afforded the opportunity to use common, everyday language to explore concepts, promoted through peer collaboration. In games the participants used common language to build understandings that exceeded Nominal or token use of the technical vocabulary and concepts. Additionally, the participants reported through interviews and self-evaluation forms that their attitude (patterns included: Motivation, Interest, Fun, Relief from Boredom, and an Alternate Learning

Residents' perceptions and experiences of social interaction and participation in leisure activities in residential aged care.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Jessica E; O'Connell, Beverly; Gaskin, Cadeyrn J

2013-10-01

Social interaction and participation in leisure activities are positively related to the health and well-being of elderly people. The main focus of this exploratory study was to investigate elderly peoples' perceptions and experiences of social interaction and leisure activities living in a residential aged care (RAC) facility. Six residents were interviewed. Themes emerging from discussions about their social interactions included: importance of family, fostering friendships with fellow residents, placement at dining room tables, multiple communication methods, and minimal social isolation and boredom. Excursions away from the RAC facility were favourite activities. Participants commonly were involved in leisure activities to be socially connected. Poor health, family, the RAC facility, staffing, transportation, and geography influenced their social interaction and participation in leisure activities. The use of new technologies and creative problem solving with staff are ways in which residents could enhance their social lives and remain engaged in leisure activities.

Medical aspects of nuclear armament

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janse, M.J.; Schene, A.; Koch, K.

1983-06-18

The authors highlight a few medical, biological and psycological aspects of the use of nuclear weapons, drawing attention to their viewpoint that doctors should actively participate in the fight against nuclear armament. The short and long-term radiation effects on man and ecology are presented based on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki experiences. The danger of human error within this framework is emphasised and it is suggested that it is the medical profession's duty to point out how the effect of stress and boredom can lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Medical expertise may also help in the identification of unstable personalities among those who have access to nuclear weapons and in the understanding of the psycology of international conflicts and the psychopathology of those leaders who would use nuclear war as an instrument of national policy. Finally the effects of the nuclear war threat on children and teenagers are considered.

Are online poker problem gamblers sensation seekers?

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnaire, Céline

2018-03-31

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between sensation seeking and online poker gambling in a community sample of adult online poker players, when controlling for age, gender, anxiety and depression. In total, 288 online poker gamblers were recruited. Sociodemographic data, gambling behavior (CPGI), sensation seeking (SSS), depression and anxiety (HADS) were evaluated. Problem online poker gamblers have higher sensation seeking scores (total, thrill and adventure, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility subscores) and depression scores than non-problem online poker gamblers. Being male, with total sensation seeking, disinhibition and depression scores are factors associated with online poker problem gambling. These findings are interesting in terms of harm reduction. For example, because disinhibition could lead to increased time and money spent, protective behavioral strategies like setting time and monetary limits should be encouraged in poker online gamblers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medical aspects of nuclear armament

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janse, M.J.; Schene, A.; Koch, K.

1983-01-01

The authors highlight a few medical, biological and psycological aspects of the use of nuclear weapons, drawing attention to their viewpoint that doctors should actively participate in the fight against nuclear armament. The short and long-term radiation effects on man and ecology are presented based on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki experiences. The danger of human error within this framework is emphasised and it is suggested that it is the medical profession's duty to point out how the effect of stress and boredom can lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Medical expertise may also help in the identification of unstable personalities among those who have access to nuclear weapons and in the understanding of the psycology of international conflicts and the psychopathology of those leaders who would use nuclear war as an instrument of national policy. Finally the effects of the nuclear war threat on children and teenagers are considered. (C.F.)

Working Conditions, Occupational Injuries, and Health Among Filipino Fish Processing Workers in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Gabriel Macasiray; de Castro, Butch

2017-05-01

This study explored how unique environmental conditions in Alaska influenced occupational health and safety for Filipino fish processing workers, many of whom migrated from warm locations (e.g., the Philippines, California, and Nevada). In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 Filipino workers in one commercial fish processing company in Dutch Harbor. Results indicated that cold weather interferes with workers' job performance, increasing their risk for injury and illness, whereas the community's isolation and rural nature causes loneliness and boredom, resulting in more high-risk behaviors. Other non-environmental factors affecting worker health include roommate and supervisor concerns and culture-specific practices. Findings suggest the importance of job rotation to avoid long exposures to cold temperatures, the value of a designated individual to inform workers about company and community resources that promote healthy lifestyles, and the possible utility of a joint worker-management safety committee.

[Crossing borders. The motivation of extreme sportsmen].

Science.gov (United States)

Opaschowski, H W

2005-08-01

In his article "Crossing borders -- the motivation of extreme sportsmen" the author gets systematically to the bottom of the question of why extreme sportsmen voluntarily take risks and endanger themselves. Within the scope of a representative sampling 217 extreme sportsmen -- from the fields of mountain biking, trekking and free climbing, canoyning, river rafting and deep sea diving, paragliding, parachuting, bungee jumping and survival training -- give information about their personal motives. What fascinates them? The attraction of risk? The search for sensation? Or the drop out of everyday life? And what comes afterwards? Does in the end the whole life become an extreme sport? Fact is: they live extremely, because they want to move beyond well-trodden paths. To escape the boredom of everyday life they are searching for the kick, the thrill, the no-limit experience. It's about calculated risk between altitude flight and deep sea adventure.

Perspectives of best Practices for Learning Gender-Inclusive Science: Influences of Extracurricular Science for Gifted Girls and Electrical Engineering for Women

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Shaunda L.

Gifted girls in elementary school must follow the set curriculum, but their choices of extracurricular activities may indicate future subject preferences. This study attempted to explore the perceptions of gifted girls regarding how the family, home, and school environments influenced their choices to take extracurricular science classes. A mixed methodology was adopted: qualitative, to understand the girls' perceptions of influence, and quantitative, to measure their attitudes toward science. Influential factors identified in this study highlight fun as occurring with the highest frequency and four emergent factors: doubt, traditional sex roles, boredom, and group work. In addition, findings from a focused case study of a graduate electrical engineer are interwoven with the girls' perspectives of science. The varying ages and experiences with science of the participants provide interesting views. This study adds knowledge to the field of science education, specifically on withingender differences of gifted girls and women in engineering.

Learning Ultrasound-Guided Needle Insertion Skills through an Edutainment Game

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Wing-Yin; Ni, Dong; Pang, Wai-Man; Qin, Jing; Chui, Yim-Pan; Yu, Simon Chun-Ho; Heng, Pheng-Ann

Ultrasound-guided needle insertion is essential in many of minimally invasive surgeries or procedures, such as biopsy, drug delivery, spinal anaesthesia, etc. Accurate and safe needle insertion is a difficult task due to the high requirement of hand-eye coordination skills. Many proposed virtual reality (VR) based training systems put their emphasis on realistic simulation instead of pedagogical efficiency. The lack of schematic training scenario leads to boredom of repetitive operations. To solve this, we present our novel training system with the integration of game elements in order to retain the trainees' enthusiasm. Task-oriented scenarios, time attack scenarios and performance evaluation are introduced. Besides, some state-of-art technologies are also presented, including ultrasound simulation, needle haptic rendering as well as a mass-spring-based needle-tissue interaction simulation. These works are shown to be effective to keep the trainees up with learning.

Internet sociology: Impact of Facebook addiction on the lifestyle and other recreational activities of the Indian youth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Modi Y.A.

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background: In March 2013 Facebook announced it had around 1.1 billion monthly active users, this number has been growing exponentially from 40% in 2011 and it is estimated to pass 70% mark in 2013. Most of these users being young, the impact of Facebook addiction can clearly be expected to alter their lifestyle. Objectives: •To examine the impact Facebook addiction (IV on the recreational activities (DV. •To identify the effects of Facebook addiction on the well-being of the Indian youth. Methods: Empirical research using descriptive analysis was conducted on more than 100 college students. Findings: Greater percentage of the population is at threat to get addicted or is already addicted to Facebook. Activities affected due to Facebook usage were identified and categorized. Anger, frustration, boredom and sadness were the possible variables reported by respondent incase of forceful reduction of Facebook usage.

Sensation seeking and visual selective attention in adults with HIV/AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardy, David J; Castellon, Steven A; Hinkin, Charles H; Levine, Andrew J; Lam, Mona N

2008-11-01

The association between sensation seeking and visual selective attention was examined in 31 adults with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Sensation seeking was measured with Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V). Selective attention was assessed with a perceptual span task, where a target letter-character must be identified in a quickly presented array of nontarget letter-characters. As predicted, sensation seeking was strongly associated (R(2) = .229) with perceptual span performance in the array size 12 condition, where selective attention demands were greatest, but not in the easier conditions. The Disinhibition, Boredom Susceptibility, and Experience Seeking subscales of the SSS-V were associated with span performance. It is argued that personality factors such as sensation seeking may play a significant role in selective attention and related cognitive abilities in HIV positive adults. Furthermore, sensation seeking differences might explain certain inconsistencies in the HIV neuropsychology literature.

THE MEANING OF RELATIONSHIP IN HEMINGWAY’S “HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANT”

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Susanty Susanty

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article is intended to postulate the position of women described well by Hemingway as a girl called Jig in “Hills like White Elephants” as a marginal part of a patriarchal society. Difficulty is found in describing the exact nature of a man-woman relationship in Hemingway as the woman characters are so thinly portrayed. “Hills like White Elephants” suggests a relationship between the meaning of white elephants and the man’s attitude toward the unborn child. The relationship presents the representation of boredom, desperateness of life, the sense of lost happiness, and the awareness of the failure of love. The story also can be defined into a two-part theme. The first is a commentary about the way selfishness can corrupt a relationship. The second comments on life and what it means to bear life. Keywords: attitude, character, Hemingway, relationship, women

PENGARUH METODE SCAFFOLDING BERBASIS KONSTRUKTIVISME TERHADAP HASIL BELAJAR MATEMATIKA

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Indrawati Indrawati

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT This study is motivated by the fact that many students have difficulties in learning mathematics especially for junior highschool students. This study aims to know the implementation of scaffolding method based on constructivism to students’ mathematics achievement. This is an experimental study with one group pretest and posttest design. The sample were 32 students grade VIII. Data is analyzed by t-test and n-gain test. T-test result shows that sig=0,000<0,05, The average score increases 15,63 and based on N-gain test shows that students competence increases too. It means that scaffolding method based on constructivism influence students’ mathematics achievement significantly. Thus scaffolding method based on constructivism can be implemented in any instruction, because it can increase students’ achievement and students will get learning variation that can reduce boredom and motivate them to learn actively. Keywords: mathematics achievement; constructivism; scaffolding.

Real-Time Associations Between Engaging in Leisure and Daily Health and Well-Being.

Science.gov (United States)

Zawadzki, Matthew J; Smyth, Joshua M; Costigan, Heather J

2015-08-01

Engagement in leisure has a wide range of beneficial health effects. Yet, this evidence is derived from between-person methods that do not examine the momentary within-person processes theorized to explain leisure's benefits. This study examined momentary relationships between leisure and health and well-being in daily life. A community sample (n = 115) completed ecological momentary assessments six times a day for three consecutive days. At each measurement, participants indicated if they were engaging in leisure and reported on their mood, interest/boredom, and stress levels. Next, participants collected a saliva sample for cortisol analyses. Heart rate was assessed throughout the study. Multilevel models revealed that participants had more positive and less negative mood, more interest, less stress, and lower heart rate when engaging in leisure than when not. Results suggest multiple mechanisms explaining leisure's effectiveness, which can inform leisure-based interventions to improve health and well-being.

Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: Longitudinal Models of Reciprocal Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Pekrun, Reinhard; Lichtenfeld, Stephanie; Marsh, Herbert W; Murayama, Kou; Goetz, Thomas

2017-09-01

A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting age = 11.7 years; representative sample). Structural equation modeling showed that positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) positively predicted subsequent achievement (math end-of-the-year grades and test scores), and that achievement positively predicted these emotions, controlling for students' gender, intelligence, and family socioeconomic status. Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Fatigue after Stroke: The Patient's Perspective

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Victoria Louise Barbour

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Fatigue after stroke is common and distressing to patients. Aims. Our aims were to explore patients' perceptions of post-stroke fatigue, including the causes of fatigue and the factors that alleviate fatigue, in a mixed methods study. Results. We interviewed 15 patients who had had a stroke and were inpatients on stroke rehabilitation wards. A substantial proportion of patients reported that their fatigue started at the time of their stroke. Various different factors were reported to improve fatigue, including exercise, good sleep, rehabilitation and rest. Fatigue influences patients' sense of “control” after their stroke. Conclusion. Our results are consistent with the possibility that poststroke fatigue might be triggered by factors that occur at the time of the stroke (e.g., the stroke lesion itself, or admission to hospital and then exacerbated by poor sleep and boredom. These factors should be considered when developing complex interventions to improve post-stroke fatigue.

Digantar In India: A Case Study For Joyful Learning

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Vanita CHOPRA

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The hearts and minds of children and young adults are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life. The school has to provide for all these experiences. However, this experience of 'going to school' destroys children's spirit to learn, their sense of wonder, their curiosity about the world, and their willingness to care for the human condition. After finding an 'extraordinary sameness' in our schools, Goodlad (1984 wrote, "Boredom is a disease of epidemic proportions. ... Why are our schools not places of joy?" (p 242 As educators, we have the responsibility to educate and inspire the whole child - mind, heart, and soul and put more joy into students' experience of going to school and get more joy out of working inside one. It is rightly said that joyful learning can flourish in school - if you give joy a chance. This paper discusses the example of Digantar schools as a case study of alternative schooling for joyful learning.

Online Sales of Unscheduled Pharmaceutical Agents: A Case Report of Tianeptine Use in the United States.

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Gupta, Swapnil; Wallace, Ryan; Sloshower, Jordan

: Tianeptine is a tricyclic antidepressant that stimulates mu-opioid receptors at high doses. It is marketed and used across Europe and Latin America as an antidepressant, but is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States. In the United States, tianeptine is sold through online health stores as a cognition enhancer, dietary supplement, or as research chemical. We report the case of a 36-year-old man with a history of major depressive disorder, responsive to sertraline, who turned to the unmonitored use of tianeptine purchased online to treat residual feelings of apathy and boredom. His use of tianeptine was marked by rapidly escalating doses and a significant withdrawal syndrome that made discontinuation of this substance difficult. This case serves as a reminder that unscheduled pharmaceutical agents are available for misuse by the general population and have the potential to cause significant harm. Therefore, medical providers must be aware of and screen for the use of such products amongst their patients.

Theses on Distributed Aesthetics. Or, What a Network is Not

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Geert Lovink

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In this essay Lovink and Munster set forward a number of proposals for a distributed aesthetics. If new media artistic practice and aesthetic experience were most often characterised by recourse to computational culture, then distributed aesthetics is dominated by networks. Networked media and technologies help to disperse experience so that we never seem to be having our experiences in the one place anymore. However, the authors suggest, most of the images and rhetoric attempting to characterise this distributed experience are drawn from the cartographic traditions of geographic information systems and/or conceptions of biological networking and growth. These do not assist in coming to terms with the specifically social aspects of online networking. The authors speculate that a distributed aesthetics must take into account the collective and personal 'aesthesia' of online networks - the experience of labouring towards new forms of social collectivity that produces not only euphoria but also boredom and frustration.

Autobiographical memory functions of nostalgia in comparison to rumination and counterfactual thinking: similarity and uniqueness.

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Cheung, Wing-Yee; Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine

2018-02-01

We compared and contrasted nostalgia with rumination and counterfactual thinking in terms of their autobiographical memory functions. Specifically, we assessed individual differences in nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking, which we then linked to self-reported functions or uses of autobiographical memory (Self-Regard, Boredom Reduction, Death Preparation, Intimacy Maintenance, Conversation, Teach/Inform, and Bitterness Revival). We tested which memory functions are shared and which are uniquely linked to nostalgia. The commonality among nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking resides in their shared positive associations with all memory functions: individuals who evinced a stronger propensity towards past-oriented thought (as manifested in nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking) reported greater overall recruitment of memories in the service of present functioning. The uniqueness of nostalgia resides in its comparatively strong positive associations with Intimacy Maintenance, Teach/Inform, and Self-Regard and weak association with Bitterness Revival. In all, nostalgia possesses a more positive functional signature than do rumination and counterfactual thinking.

Lost or fond? Effects of nostalgia on sad mood recovery vary by attachment insecurity.

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Cavanagh, Sarah R; Glode, Ryan J; Opitz, Philipp C

2015-01-01

Nostalgia involves a fond recollection of people and events lost to time. Growing evidence indicates that nostalgia may ameliorate negative affective states such as loneliness and boredom. However, the effect of nostalgia on sadness is unknown, and there is little research on how social connectedness might impact nostalgia's effects. Grounded in a theoretical framework whereby people with lower levels of attachment insecurity benefit more from nostalgia, we exposed participants to a mortality-related sad mood and then randomly assigned them to reflect on a nostalgic or an ordinary event memory. We examined changes in mood and electrodermal activity (EDA) and found that nostalgic versus ordinary event memories led to a blunted recovery from sad mood, but that this effect was moderated by degree of attachment insecurity, such that participants with low insecurity benefited from nostalgia whereas people with high insecurity did not. These findings suggest that nostalgia's benefits may be tied to the degree of confidence one has in one's social relationships.

A study of the daily life of modern teenagers: the presence in social networks as an integral component of communication

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Koroleva D.O.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The article introduces the methodologies of the study of the everyday life of modern teenagers whiсh can simultaneously be used to traceevents occurring in real and virtual space: “Online and offline diary" and "15 minutes". The data of pilot studies showed that the teenager’s online performance is mainly presented in a form of communication in social networks. We have discovered that the on- and offline convergence of space for growth is inseparable from respondents themselves. Through the active use of social networks, a modern teenager is able to be present in different socialenvironments simultaneously. Constant checking news and posts in social networks is a new, peculiar to teenage daily ritual. The so-called "red zones", where a teenager consciously waives the possibility of "escape" into a parallel reality, are linked to significant events in everyday life, while a feeling of boredom brings to life the compensation through "getting about" in virtual space.

COLOUR SYMBOLISM NIGHT LANDSCAPE OF A. P. CHEKHOV

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K. A. Kochnova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines the linguistic picture of the world of Anton Chekhov explores the nature of individual perception, implemented in the language of the writer. Words denoting colour, occupy an important place in the linguistic system. Author lexico-semantic field “colour-light designation” is more detailed than in the national language, composition. In the structure of the very constituents of the field, the tokens, there are changes, transformations: a complication semnai patterns of speech, because the semantics of the lexeme is influenced by the worldview of the artist. The greatest representativeness have the token black and white. They are characterized by the greatest frequency and complex semantic structure. Individual copyrights are the main categories of the attitude of the writer (death, boredom, sadness, indifference, loneliness. A. P. Chekhov displays adjectives beyond the underlying value, widely using them to create images. Building abstract images, the writer often takes inspiration from the visual image, including color.

University Students’ Tendencies Toward and Reasons Behind Dropout

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Hüseyin ŞİMŞEK

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In this research conducted to investigate university students’ tendencies toward and reasons behind dropout, it was found that university students had a high level of tendency towards dropout (45%. This indicated that one out of two students wanted to drop out of school at least once for a reason. As a result, their tendencies toward dropout was due to personal factors as well as those related to family, friends, and school. The personal factors affecting tendency toward dropout were gender, academic performance, school attendance, out-of-school work, boredom at school, and discipline penalty. According to the results, the factors related to school were faculty type, level of satisfaction with administrative and teaching staff as well as with social activities, level of difficulty in the department, and willingness to choose faculty. Furthermore, in this study, a positive relationship was found between dropout tendency and possession of close friends who dropped out of school.

Economic and cultural correlates of subjective wellbeing in countries using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

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Gaygisiz, Esma

2010-06-01

The correlations among indicators of objective well-being, cultural dimensions, and subjective well-being were investigated using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from 35 countries. The subjective well-being measures included life satisfaction as well as six positive and six negative indexes of experience. Positive and negative experience scores were subjected to principal component analysis, and two positive experience components (labeled as "positive experiences" and "time management") and two negative experience components (labeled as "pain, worry, and sadness" and "anger and boredom") were extracted. Objective well-being included economic indicators, education, and health. The cultural variables included Hofstede's and Schwartz's cultural dimensions, national Big Five personality scores, and national IQs. High life satisfaction was positively related to Gross Domestic Product, life expectancy, education, individualism, affective and intellectual autonomy, egalitarianism, and conscientiousness, whereas low life satisfaction was related to unemployment, unequal income distribution, power distance, masculinity uncertainty avoidance, embeddedness, hierarchy, and neuroticism.

Fahr Syndrome Unknown Complication: Overactive Bladder

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Devrim Tuglu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A 38-year-old male patient was admitted to our outpatient department because of frequency and urgency incontinence. During evaluation it was detected that the patient was suffering from frequency which was progressive for one year, feeling of incontinence, and urgency incontinence. There was no urologic pathology detected in patient’s medical and family history. Neurologic consultation was requested due to his history of boredom, reluctance to do business, balance disorders, and recession for about 3 years. Brain computerized tomography (CT scan revealed that amorphous calcifications were detected in the bilaterally centrum semiovale, basal ganglia, capsula interna, thalami, mesencephalon, pons and bulbus, and the bilateral cerebellar hemispheres. We have detected spontaneous neurogenic detrusor overactivity without sphincter dyssynergia after evaluating the voiding diary, cystometry, and pressure flow study. We consider the detrusor overactivity which occurred one year after the start of the neurological symptoms as the suprapontine inhibition and damage in the axonal pathways in the Fahr syndrome.

Lost or Fond? Effects of Nostalgia on Sad Mood Recovery Vary By Attachment Insecurity

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Sarah Rose Cavanagh

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Nostalgia involves a fond recollection of people and events lost to time. Growing evidence indicates that nostalgia may ameliorate negative affective states such as loneliness and boredom. However, the effect of nostalgia on sadness is unknown, and there is little research on how social connectedness might impact nostalgia’s effects. Grounded in a theoretical framework whereby people with lower levels of attachment insecurity benefit more from nostalgia, we exposed participants to a mortality-related sad mood and then randomly assigned them to reflect on a nostalgic or an ordinary event memory. We examined changes in mood and electrodermal activity and found that nostalgic versus ordinary event memories led to a blunted recovery from sad mood, but that this effect was moderated by degree of attachment insecurity, such that participants with low insecurity benefited from nostalgia whereas people with high insecurity did not. These findings suggest that nostalgia’s benefits may be tied to the degree of confidence one has in one’s social relationships.

Epilepsy monitoring - The patients' views: A qualitative study based on Kolcaba's Comfort Theory.

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Egger-Rainer, Andrea; Trinka, Eugen; Höfler, Julia; Dieplinger, Anna Maria

2017-03-01

The aim of this qualitative study was to determine which perception of personal comfort patients name in the context of their hospitalization in an Austrian Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU). Problem-centred interviews with twelve inpatients were conducted. Data analyses were done according to Mayring's qualitative content analyses following the technique of structuring-deductive category assignment. Patients experienced different kinds of comfort along with their hospitalization in the EMU. Comfort-decreasing factors were bed rest, boredom, and waiting for possible seizures. As comfort-increasing factors, hope for enhanced seizure control, support by family and staff, and intelligible information about the necessity of restrictive conditions were identified. The study results should assist health care professionals, enabling them to design comfort enhancing interventions for patients undergoing video-electroencephalography (EEG) investigations in an EMU. Some of these seem to be simple and obtainable without high financial or technical effort. Others are more complex and have to be further assessed for their feasibility. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An "ethics of the self" in the novel-cronicle-journal-short story Ana de Amsterdam, by Ana Cássia Rebelo

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Lilian Reichert Coelho

2017-11-01

Full Text Available We present a Reading of the relations between the plurality of Genres collected by Ana Cássia Rebelo, a writer with roots in Portugal, Goa and Moçambique at the same time, in the book Ana de Amsterdam, and the themes dealt. As theoretical bias, we approached to Agamben, Gumbrecht and Barthes. As method, we chose the inductive perspective. As main theoretical notions, we adopted “the ethics of the self”, the production of presence and biografeme. After the mentioned effort, we concluded that boredom insulated from anguish, produced in the core of the Contemporary world, affects the narrator in such a deep way that compels her to take a strong position and highlight her privacy in an obscene way. It allows her to frame her own “self” as a mosaic of Genres and Themes, arised from the relation between the body as materiality and the subjective experience of Reading and Writing.

Sex differences in sensation-seeking: a meta-analysis.

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Cross, Catharine P; Cyrenne, De-Laine M; Brown, Gillian R

2013-01-01

Men score higher than women on measures of sensation-seeking, defined as a willingness to engage in novel or intense activities. This sex difference has been explained in terms of evolved psychological mechanisms or culturally transmitted social norms. We investigated whether sex differences in sensation-seeking have changed over recent years by conducting a meta-analysis of studies using Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, version V (SSS-V). We found that sex differences in total SSS-V scores have remained stable across years, as have sex differences in Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility. In contrast, the sex difference in Thrill and Adventure Seeking has declined, possibly due to changes in social norms or out-dated questions on this sub-scale. Our results support the view that men and women differ in their propensity to report sensation-seeking characteristics, while behavioural manifestations of sensation-seeking vary over time. Sex differences in sensation-seeking could reflect genetically influenced predispositions interacting with socially transmitted information.

Exercise during long term exposure to space: Value of exercise during space exploration

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1990-01-01

There appear to be two general physiological reasons why exercise will be beneficial to space travelers who will experience a weightless and isolated environment for many months or a few years: (1) to alleviate or prevent tissue atrophy (principally bone and muscle), to maintain cardiovascular function, and to prevent deleterious changes in extracellular and cellular fluid volumes and plasma constituents, especially electrolytes; and (2) to maintain whole organism functional physical and physiological status with special reference to neuromuscular coordination (physical skill) and physical fitness (muscle strength and power, flexibility, and aerobic endurance). The latter reason also relates well to the ability of the crew members to resist both general and local fatigue and thus ensure consistent physical performance. Various forms of exercise, performed regularly, could help alleviate boredom and assist the travelers in coping with stress, anxiety, and depression. The type, frequency, duration and intensity of exercise and ways of ensuring that crew members engage in it are discussed.

Functions of reminiscence and the psychological well-being of young-old and older adults over time.

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O'Rourke, Norm; Cappeliez, Philippe; Claxton, Amy

2011-03-01

Existing cross-sectional research demonstrates an association between reminiscence functions and well-being in later life. The results of this study replicate and extend previous findings in separate participant samples above and below 70 years of age. Findings suggest a link between reminiscence functions and psychological well-being, and indirectly between reminiscence and well-being 16 months thereafter. Invariance analyses reveal few differences in association between reminiscence and well-being when young-old (n = 196) and older adults (n = 215) are compared. These findings suggest a direct positive association between self-positive reminiscence functions (identity, death preparation, and problem-solving) and a direct negative association between self-negative functions (boredom reduction, bitterness revival, and intimacy maintenance) and psychological well-being (life satisfaction, depressive, and anxiety symptoms). In contrast, prosocial reminiscence functions (conversation, teach/inform others) appear to have an indirect association with well-being (i.e., via self-positive and self-negative functions). These findings are discussed relative to evolving theory and research linking cognition and health.

The motivations and experiences of students enrolled in online science courses at the community college

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Ghosh, Urbi

An important question in online learning involves how to effectively motivate and retain students in science online courses. There is a dearth of research and knowledge about the experiences of students enrolled in online science courses in community colleges which has impeded the proper development and implementation of online courses and retention of students in the online environment. This study sought to provide an understanding of the relationships among each of the following variables: self-efficacy, task value, negative-achievement emotions, self-regulation learning strategies (metacognition), learning strategy (elaboration), and course satisfaction to student's performance (course final grade). Bandura's social-cognitive theory was used as a framework to describe the relationships among students' motivational beliefs (perceived task value, self-efficacy, and self-regulation) and emotions (frustration and boredom) with the dependent variables (elaboration and overall course satisfaction). A mixed-method design was used with a survey instrumentation and student interviews. A variety of science online courses in biology, genetics, astronomy, nutrition, and chemistry were surveyed in two community colleges. Community colleges students (N = 107) completed a questionnaire during enrollment in a variety of online science online courses. Upon course completion, 12 respondents were randomly selected for follow-up in-depth interviews. Multiple regression results from the study indicate perceived task value and self-regulatory learning strategies (metacognition) were as important predictors for students' use of elaboration, while self-efficacy and the number of prior online courses was not significant predictors for students' elaboration when all four predictors were included. Frustration was a significant negative predictor of overall course satisfaction, and boredom unexpectedly emerged as a positive predictor when frustration was also in the model. In addition, the

[Biophysical double-lives, 1939-1946. Or: spaces of boredom. On 'information discourse' and (dis)continuities in the life sciences].

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Stadler, Max

2011-03-01

Arguably, few things have shaped the historiography of the mid-twentieth century psy-sciences (and indeed, of the life sciences and science/technology/intellectual life quite generally) more profoundly than the story of cybernetics. This essay aims to undermine this technofuturistic picture of epistemological upheavals, of cyborg regimes of knowing, and of the incipient post-human, by reinserting back into the story the rather dull and unspectacular lives (and occupations) of the great majority of British, 'diverted' biologists during World War II. Instead of Ratio Clubbers or Macy-Conference frequenters, this essay is concerned with a much larger population of would-be biologists and their most pedestrian appropriations of, and exposures to, electronics. What I argue is that the prevalence and systematicity of such exposures in the course of the personnel-hungry radio-war points to a very different--low-key--picture of the war/technology-induced deflections of biological science at mid-century. As an example of how deeply at odds narrations of cybernetic's ascent tend to sit with developments on ground level, special attention will be devoted to the physiologists-turned-radar-scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, and their war-time, or more properly, spare-time investigations into the biophysics of nerve. The latter--technical, difficult, and utterly unphilosophical--while absent from the cyber-theme-focused historiography, provided the basis for the tremendous impact Hodkgin and Huxley would in fact have on the mainstream, disciplinarily conservative physiological sciences; the larger aim however is to weave these far from peculiar biographical trajectories into a somewhat bigger picture of the intersections between radar electronics and biological science: a picture which does not centre on sensational discourses but on mundane electronic practices; and thus, on the generational experience of those who were known at the time as "ex radar folk with biological leanings".

Importance of the Motivational Climate in Goal, Enjoyment, and the Causes of Success in Handball Players.

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Granero-Gallegos, Antonio; Gómez-López, Manuel; Rodríguez-Suárez, Nuria; Abraldes, J Arturo; Alesi, Marianna; Bianco, Antonino

2017-01-01

The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the motivational climate created by the coach and perceived by a group of young handball players on their goal orientations, their beliefs regarding reasons for success and their self-satisfaction. The study participants were 159 young handball players. Players were administered a battery composed of tests to measure the above-mentioned motivational constructs. Results showed that a perceived mastery-oriented motivational climate was positively related to a task-centered goal orientation, enjoyment, and a belief that success may be achieved through effort. In contrast, a perceived performance-orientated training climate was linked to an ego-centered goal orientation, boredom, or lack of enthusiasm, and a belief that the routes of success in this sport are the abilities and the use of deception techniques. On the whole, this study underlines the educational role of the coach in young handball players. Specifically, the coach's socializing role influences both handball player's commitment and positive motivational profile as well as sport performance.

Importance of the Motivational Climate in Goal, Enjoyment, and the Causes of Success in Handball Players

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Antonio Granero-Gallegos

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the motivational climate created by the coach and perceived by a group of young handball players on their goal orientations, their beliefs regarding reasons for success and their self-satisfaction. The study participants were 159 young handball players. Players were administered a battery composed of tests to measure the above-mentioned motivational constructs. Results showed that a perceived mastery-oriented motivational climate was positively related to a task-centered goal orientation, enjoyment, and a belief that success may be achieved through effort. In contrast, a perceived performance-orientated training climate was linked to an ego-centered goal orientation, boredom, or lack of enthusiasm, and a belief that the routes of success in this sport are the abilities and the use of deception techniques. On the whole, this study underlines the educational role of the coach in young handball players. Specifically, the coach’s socializing role influences both handball player’s commitment and positive motivational profile as well as sport performance.

The Glass Half Empty: How Emotional Exhaustion Affects the State-Trait Discrepancy in Self-Reports of Teaching Emotions.

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Goetz, Thomas; Becker, Eva S; Bieg, Madeleine; Keller, Melanie M; Frenzel, Anne C; Hall, Nathan C

2015-01-01

Following from previous research on intensity bias and the accessibility model of emotional self-report, the present study examined the role of emotional exhaustion in explaining the discrepancy in teachers' reports of their trait (habitual) versus state (momentary, "real") emotions. Trait reports (habitual emotions, exhaustion) were assessed via trait questionnaires, and state reports (momentary emotions) were assessed in real time via the experience sampling method by using personal digital assistants (N = 69 high school teachers; 1,089 measures within teachers). In line with our assumptions, multi-level analyses showed that, as compared to the state assessment, teachers reported higher levels of habitual teaching-related emotions of anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, enjoyment, and pride. Additionally, the state-trait discrepancy in self-reports of negative emotions was accounted for by teachers' emotional exhaustion, with high exhaustion levels corresponding with a greater state-trait discrepancy. Exhaustion levels did not moderate the state-trait discrepancy in positive emotions indicating that perceived emotional exhaustion may reflect identity-related cognitions specific to the negative belief system. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.

How we can measure the non-driving-task engagement in automated driving: Comparing flow experience and workload.

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Ko, Sang Min; Ji, Yong Gu

2018-02-01

In automated driving, a driver can completely concentrate on non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs). This study investigated the flow experience of a driver who concentrated on NDRTs and tasks that induce mental workload under conditional automation. Participants performed NDRTs under different demand levels: a balanced demand-skill level (fit condition) to induce flow, low-demand level to induce boredom, and high-demand level to induce anxiety. In addition, they performed the additional N-Back task, which artificially induces mental workload. The results showed participants had the longest reaction time when they indicated the highest flow score, and had the longest gaze-on time, road-fixation time, hands-on time, and take-over time under the fit condition. Significant differences were not observed in the driver reaction times in the fit condition and the additional N-Back task, indicating that performing NDRTs that induce a high flow experience could influence driver reaction time similar to performing tasks with a high mental workload. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

On the Determinants and Outcomes of Passion for Playing Pokémon Go.

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Orosz, Gábor; Zsila, Ágnes; Vallerand, Robert J; Böthe, Beáta

2018-01-01

In 2016, Pokémon Go became the most popular smartphone game. Despite the increasing popularity of this augmented reality game, to date, no studies have investigated passion for playing Pokémon Go. On the theoretical basis of the Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP), our goal was to investigate the associations between Pokémon Go playing motives, passion, and impulsivity. A total of 621 Pokémon Go players participated in the study (54.9% female; M age = 22.6 years, SD age = 4.4). It was found that impulsivity was more strongly associated with obsessive passion (OP) than with harmonious passion (HP). HP was associated with adaptive motives (i.e., outdoor activity, social, recreation, and nostalgia), while OP was associated with less adaptive motives (i.e., fantasy, escape, boredom, competition, and coping). Therefore, in line with the DMP, HP and OP for playing Pokémon Go can predict an almost perfectly distinguished set of adaptive or maladaptive playing motives, and OP has a noteworthy relationship with impulsivity as a determinant.

The Perceptions of Adolescents about Cyberbullying and Cybervictimization

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Erkan Yaman

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to explain high school students’ perceptions of cyber bullying behaviour. The work group of the study consists of 14 students (10 Male, 4 Female, who still attend various high schoolsl in Sakarya in 2010- 2011 Education Year. One of qualitative research method “phenomenology method”, which is suitable for research’s nature,had been used. In the research, in point of structure “standardized open-ended interview”, in data analysis a kind of content analysis “categorical analysis” had been used. As a result this study, cyberbullying behavior exhibited by students categorized as cyber verbal language, cyberforgery, and hiding identity. Results of this study indicated that the reasons for cyberbullying includes gaining social popularity, struggling boredom, and making revenge. The findings of this study indicate that students maintain cyberbullying to feel well, empower friendships, and enjoy his time. This study demonstrated that students feel anger, sadness, and revenge when they experience cybervictimization. What are the signs and consequences of cyber bullying, cyber bullying dealing with issues such as families, organize seminars for teachers and students

A dual-process perspective on fluency-based aesthetics: the pleasure-interest model of aesthetic liking.

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Graf, Laura K M; Landwehr, Jan R

2015-11-01

In this article, we develop an account of how aesthetic preferences can be formed as a result of two hierarchical, fluency-based processes. Our model suggests that processing performed immediately upon encountering an aesthetic object is stimulus driven, and aesthetic preferences that accrue from this processing reflect aesthetic evaluations of pleasure or displeasure. When sufficient processing motivation is provided by a perceiver's need for cognitive enrichment and/or the stimulus' processing affordance, elaborate perceiver-driven processing can emerge, which gives rise to fluency-based aesthetic evaluations of interest, boredom, or confusion. Because the positive outcomes in our model are pleasure and interest, we call it the Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking (PIA Model). Theoretically, this model integrates a dual-process perspective and ideas from lay epistemology into processing fluency theory, and it provides a parsimonious framework to embed and unite a wealth of aesthetic phenomena, including contradictory preference patterns for easy versus difficult-to-process aesthetic stimuli. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Wavelet Packet Entropy in Speaker-Independent Emotional State Detection from Speech Signal

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Mina Kadkhodaei Elyaderani

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, wavelet packet entropy is proposed for speaker-independent emotion detection from speech. After pre-processing, wavelet packet decomposition using wavelet type db3 at level 4 is calculated and Shannon entropy in its nodes is calculated to be used as feature. In addition, prosodic features such as first four formants, jitter or pitch deviation amplitude, and shimmer or energy variation amplitude besides MFCC features are applied to complete the feature vector. Then, Support Vector Machine (SVM is used to classify the vectors in multi-class (all emotions or two-class (each emotion versus normal state format. 46 different utterances of a single sentence from Berlin Emotional Speech Dataset are selected. These are uttered by 10 speakers in sadness, happiness, fear, boredom, anger, and normal emotional state. Experimental results show that proposed features can improve emotional state detection accuracy in multi-class situation. Furthermore, adding to other features wavelet entropy coefficients increase the accuracy of two-class detection for anger, fear, and happiness.

The Glass Half Empty: How Emotional Exhaustion Affects the State-Trait Discrepancy in Self-Reports of Teaching Emotions

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Goetz, Thomas; Becker, Eva S.; Bieg, Madeleine; Keller, Melanie M.; Frenzel, Anne C.; Hall, Nathan C.

2015-01-01

Following from previous research on intensity bias and the accessibility model of emotional self-report, the present study examined the role of emotional exhaustion in explaining the discrepancy in teachers’ reports of their trait (habitual) versus state (momentary, “real”) emotions. Trait reports (habitual emotions, exhaustion) were assessed via trait questionnaires, and state reports (momentary emotions) were assessed in real time via the experience sampling method by using personal digital assistants (N = 69 high school teachers; 1,089 measures within teachers). In line with our assumptions, multi-level analyses showed that, as compared to the state assessment, teachers reported higher levels of habitual teaching-related emotions of anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, enjoyment, and pride. Additionally, the state-trait discrepancy in self-reports of negative emotions was accounted for by teachers’ emotional exhaustion, with high exhaustion levels corresponding with a greater state-trait discrepancy. Exhaustion levels did not moderate the state-trait discrepancy in positive emotions indicating that perceived emotional exhaustion may reflect identity-related cognitions specific to the negative belief system. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed. PMID:26368911

Stress and burnout in forensic mental health nursing: a literature review.

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Dickinson, Tommy; Wright, Karen M

Forensic mental health nurses who work with patients who have severe and enduring mental health needs have been identified as at risk of suffering from occupational stress, and even developing burnout syndrome. Therefore, this article reviews the available literature on stress and burnout in inpatient forensic mental health nursing to identify the stressors and to highlight recommendations. From the review, the main stressors placed on forensic nurses are identified as interprofessional conflicts, workload, and lack of involvement in decision-making. Recommendations to reduce stress and burnout for nurses within this specialty are highlighted. These are identified as follows: staff should have easy access to support systems including clinical supervision; managers should foster an open and honest culture to enable staff members to express their feelings openly or in confidence and learn how to deal with their frustrations; and staff should be encouraged to rotate wards to increase personal and professional development and reduce boredom and apathy. Furthermore, staff should be provided with, and encouraged to undertake, continuing professional development which may include psychosocial interventions training.

On the Determinants and Outcomes of Passion for Playing Pokémon Go

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Orosz, Gábor; Zsila, Ágnes; Vallerand, Robert J.; Böthe, Beáta

2018-01-01

In 2016, Pokémon Go became the most popular smartphone game. Despite the increasing popularity of this augmented reality game, to date, no studies have investigated passion for playing Pokémon Go. On the theoretical basis of the Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP), our goal was to investigate the associations between Pokémon Go playing motives, passion, and impulsivity. A total of 621 Pokémon Go players participated in the study (54.9% female; Mage = 22.6 years, SDage = 4.4). It was found that impulsivity was more strongly associated with obsessive passion (OP) than with harmonious passion (HP). HP was associated with adaptive motives (i.e., outdoor activity, social, recreation, and nostalgia), while OP was associated with less adaptive motives (i.e., fantasy, escape, boredom, competition, and coping). Therefore, in line with the DMP, HP and OP for playing Pokémon Go can predict an almost perfectly distinguished set of adaptive or maladaptive playing motives, and OP has a noteworthy relationship with impulsivity as a determinant. PMID:29599735

Supporting Multiple Cognitive Processing Styles Using Tailored Support Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuan Q. Tran; Karen M. Feigh; Amy R. Pritchett

2007-01-01

According to theories of cognitive processing style or cognitive control mode, human performance is more effective when an individual's cognitive state (e.g., intuition/scramble vs. deliberate/strategic) matches his/her ecological constraints or context (e.g., utilize intuition to strive for a 'good-enough' response instead of deliberating for the 'best' response under high time pressure). Ill-mapping between cognitive state and ecological constraints are believed to lead to degraded task performance. Consequently, incorporating support systems which are designed to specifically address multiple cognitive and functional states e.g., high workload, stress, boredom, and initiate appropriate mitigation strategies (e.g., reduce information load) is essential to reduce plant risk. Utilizing the concept of Cognitive Control Models, this paper will discuss the importance of tailoring support systems to match an operator's cognitive state, and will further discuss the importance of these ecological constraints in selecting and implementing mitigation strategies for safe and effective system performance. An example from the nuclear power plant industry illustrating how a support system might be tailored to support different cognitive states is included

Self-reported reasons for vaping among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in the US: Nationally-representative results.

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Patrick, Megan E; Miech, Richard A; Carlier, Carola; O'Malley, Patrick M; Johnston, Lloyd D; Schulenberg, John E

2016-08-01

The study describes the most common reasons for using vaporizers (such as e-cigarettes) among US adolescents and investigates how reasons for use differ by grade, lifetime cigarette use, frequency of vaporizer use, gender, race/ethnicity, and parent education. Data were collected from 4066 students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades in 2015 as part of the Monitoring the Future study, a cross-sectional and nationally representative US survey. Common reasons for vaporizer use reported by respondents who had ever used a vaporizer were experimentation (53.0%), taste (37.2%), boredom (23.5%), having a good time (22.4%), and relaxation (21.6%). Reasons differed little across grades or parent education; reasons differed by lifetime use of regular cigarettes, frequency of vaping, gender, and race/ethnicity. Overall, results suggest that decisions to vape are based on curiosity, taste, and pleasure, rather than for reasons such as quitting regular cigarettes or substituting for regular cigarette smoking. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The coming of age of self-mutilation.

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Favazza, A R

1998-05-01

Self-mutilation (SM), the deliberate, nonsuicidal destruction of one's own body tissue, occurs in such culturally sanctioned practices as tattooing; body piercing; and healing, spiritual, and order-preserving rituals. As a symptom, it has typically been regarded as a manifestation of borderline behavior and misidentified as a suicide attempt. It has begun to attract mainstream media attention, and many more who suffer from it are expected to seek treatment. This review suggests that SM can best be understood as a morbid self-help effort providing rapid but temporary relief from feelings of depersonalization, guilt, rejection, and boredom as well as hallucinations, sexual preoccupations, and chaotic thoughts. Major SM includes infrequent acts such as eye enucleation and castration, commonly associated with psychosis and intoxication. Stereotypic SM includes such acts as head banging and self-biting most often accompanying Tourette's syndrome and severe mental retardation. Superficial/moderate SM includes compulsive acts such as trichotillomania and skin picking and such episodic acts as skin-cutting and burning, which evolve into an axis I syndrome of repetitive impulse dyscontrol with protean symptoms.

Multiresolution analysis (discrete wavelet transform) through Daubechies family for emotion recognition in speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Campo, D.; Quintero, O. L.; Bastidas, M.

2016-04-01

We propose a study of the mathematical properties of voice as an audio signal. This work includes signals in which the channel conditions are not ideal for emotion recognition. Multiresolution analysis- discrete wavelet transform - was performed through the use of Daubechies Wavelet Family (Db1-Haar, Db6, Db8, Db10) allowing the decomposition of the initial audio signal into sets of coefficients on which a set of features was extracted and analyzed statistically in order to differentiate emotional states. ANNs proved to be a system that allows an appropriate classification of such states. This study shows that the extracted features using wavelet decomposition are enough to analyze and extract emotional content in audio signals presenting a high accuracy rate in classification of emotional states without the need to use other kinds of classical frequency-time features. Accordingly, this paper seeks to characterize mathematically the six basic emotions in humans: boredom, disgust, happiness, anxiety, anger and sadness, also included the neutrality, for a total of seven states to identify.

Stereotypes of Old People Persist

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Lars Tornstam

2007-07-01

Full Text Available In 2005, as well as in 1982, almost 90 percent of Swedes subscribed to the stereotype that retirement pensioners suffer from loneliness and more than half of Swedes also believed that pensioners suffer from boredom and dissatisfaction with life.Little seems to have changed for the better, or even impaired with regard to the images of the psychological conditions of pensioners, at the same time as Swedes have become somewhat more knowledgeable about the physiological/material conditions associated with aging. This follows from a 2005 follow-up of a Swedish Facts on Aging Quiz, first given in 1982. The comparatively stable pattern of stereotypes over the 23-year period indicates that stereotypes – in old, well-known or permutated forms – will prevail as long as their ageist roots do. The changes observed indicate the possibility of a future pattern of stereotypes, which combines an exaggerated “positive” image of retirement pensioners’ health and wealth, with associated envy of the “greedy geezers”, and pity for their lonely and meaningless lives.

Substance use in young adults with schizophrenic disorders.

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Test, M A; Wallisch, L S; Allness, D J; Ripp, K

1989-01-01

Use of nonprescribed mood altering substances is pervasive and problematic in young adults with serious mental illnesses in community care. Fifty-eight percent of young adult clients with clearly defined schizophrenia or schizophrenia-related disorders participating in a long-term community treatment study were rated by staff or themselves as using alcohol, cannabis, or other street drugs several times a week or more. We interviewed in depth a random sample of these "significant users" to obtain their perspective on their frequencies, patterns, histories, contributing factors to, and effects of substance use and their related treatment experiences. Results revealed these clients' substance use to be of long duration and deeply entrenched, with current use often involving multiple substances including both street drugs and substances of "everyday life" (e.g., caffeine, nicotine). Clients reported compelling reasons for use including anxiety reduction, relief of boredom, and a means for social contact. Staff and clients clearly view substance use quite differently, with the latter focusing at least as much on consequences of symptom relief as symptom exacerbation. Treatment implications are discussed.

Encouraging Indonesian English Young Learners through Language Games

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Tita Ratna Wulandari

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Indonesian English Young Learners (IEYL really close to boredom. Therefore, the teachers are demanded to be as highly creative as possible when they are having classroom activities. To see the recent phenomena, most IEYL feel convenient to study in their English course rather than their school. This is due to the English course provides them with fun, relax, and enjoyable learning environment. In contrast, the school provides the IEYL with monotonous activities. In accordance with this problem, the writer is interested in describing five English games which might be references for school teachers. The problems of this study were: (1 what are the five English games which can help the IEYL in classroom activities? and (2 what are the procedures to apply the games in classroom activities? The findings were descriptively discussed by seeing the literature review. It is found that the games to help IEYL are: (a. Spider Web, (b. Cartoon Color, (c. Find Someone who, (d. Read-Run-Say-Listen-Write, and (e. What is it? Keywords:IEYL, LanguageGames and Classroom Activities

The performance environment of the England youth soccer teams: a quantitative investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pain, Matthew A; Harwood, Chris G

2008-09-01

We examined the performance environment of the England youth soccer teams. Using a conceptually grounded questionnaire developed from the themes identified by Pain and Harwood (2007), 82 players and 23 national coaches and support staff were surveyed directly following international tournaments regarding the factors that positively and negatively influenced performance. The survey enabled data to be captured regarding both the extent and magnitude of the impact of the factors comprising the performance environment. Overall, team and social factors were generally perceived to have the greatest positive impact, with players and staff showing high levels of consensus in their evaluations. Team leadership and strong team cohesion were identified by both groups as having the greatest positive impact. Overall, far fewer variables were perceived to have a negative impact on performance, especially for players. The main negatives common to both groups were players losing composure during games, player boredom, and a lack of available activities in the hotel. The major findings support those of Pain and Harwood (2007) and in using a larger sample helped to corroborate and strengthen the generalizability of the findings.

Technology, attributions, and emotions in post-secondary education: An application of Weiner's attribution theory to academic computing problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Maymon, Rebecca; Hall, Nathan C; Goetz, Thomas; Chiarella, Andrew; Rahimi, Sonia

2018-01-01

As technology becomes increasingly integrated with education, research on the relationships between students' computing-related emotions and motivation following technological difficulties is critical to improving learning experiences. Following from Weiner's (2010) attribution theory of achievement motivation, the present research examined relationships between causal attributions and emotions concerning academic computing difficulties in two studies. Study samples consisted of North American university students enrolled in both traditional and online universities (total N = 559) who responded to either hypothetical scenarios or experimental manipulations involving technological challenges experienced in academic settings. Findings from Study 1 showed stable and external attributions to be emotionally maladaptive (more helplessness, boredom, guilt), particularly in response to unexpected computing problems. Additionally, Study 2 found stable attributions for unexpected problems to predict more anxiety for traditional students, with both external and personally controllable attributions for minor problems proving emotionally beneficial for students in online degree programs (more hope, less anxiety). Overall, hypothesized negative effects of stable attributions were observed across both studies, with mixed results for personally controllable attributions and unanticipated emotional benefits of external attributions for academic computing problems warranting further study.

Priming semantic concepts affects the dynamics of aesthetic appreciation.

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Faerber, Stella J; Leder, Helmut; Gerger, Gernot; Carbon, Claus-Christian

2010-10-01

Aesthetic appreciation (AA) plays an important role for purchase decisions, for the appreciation of art and even for the selection of potential mates. It is known that AA is highly reliable in single assessments, but over longer periods of time dynamic changes of AA may occur. We measured AA as a construct derived from the literature through attractiveness, arousal, interestingness, valence, boredom and innovativeness. By means of the semantic network theory we investigated how the priming of AA-relevant semantic concepts impacts the dynamics of AA of unfamiliar product designs (car interiors) that are known to be susceptible to triggering such effects. When participants were primed for innovativeness, strong dynamics were observed, especially when the priming involved additional AA-relevant dimensions. This underlines the relevance of priming of specific semantic networks not only for the cognitive processing of visual material in terms of selective perception or specific representation, but also for the affective-cognitive processing in terms of the dynamics of aesthetic processing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Masturbation and Pornography Use Among Coupled Heterosexual Men With Decreased Sexual Desire: How Many Roles of Masturbation?

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Carvalheira, Ana; Træen, Bente; Stulhofer, Aleksandar

2015-01-01

The relation between masturbation and sexual desire has not been systematically studied. The present study assessed the association between masturbation and pornography use and the predictors and correlates of frequent masturbation (several times a week or more often) among coupled heterosexual men who reported decreased sexual desire. Analyses were carried out on a subset of 596 men with decreased sexual desire (mean age = 40.2 years) who were recruited as part of a large online study on male sexual health in 3 European countries. A majority of the participants (67%) reported masturbating at least once a week. Among men who masturbated frequently, 70% used pornography at least once a week. A multivariate assessment showed that sexual boredom, frequent pornography use, and low relationship intimacy significantly increased the odds of reporting frequent masturbation among coupled men with decreased sexual desire. These findings point to a pattern of pornography-related masturbation that can be dissociated from partnered sexual desire and can fulfill diverse purposes. Clinical implications include the importance of exploring specific patterns of masturbation and pornography use in the evaluation of coupled men with decreased sexual desire.

Children in Rural Internet Café ——Ethnographic Investigation on the Internet Usage and Social Interaction of Left-behind Children in Ou Town Hubei Province

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Cheng-Yun Guan

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The paper that takes Ou Town in Hubei Province as a case, studies the influence on the socialization of left-behind children after the intrusion of the Internet café industry into rural areas by ethnographic investigation. This study figures out a large number of migrant workers crowding into urban areas left nothing but the hollowing-out in rural regions. Unfortunately, the Internet café industry makes use of this chance to scramble for the children’s market. Mentally immature left-behind children find it hard to resist the temptation because of lack of self-control, so that they waste massive amount of time and energy in the virtue world. Despite they have experienced the "pleasure", and relieved from loneliness and boredom, their interaction activities have also been involved in the online game industry chain. This does not only exert impacts on the communication among people, but also on the construction of social capital in their social interaction, which leads to the disadvantaged accumulation of social capital. The group affected by the network, inadvertently learns at school and drops out one after another, ending up in their flow-life work from one city to another.

Women's orgasm obstacles: A qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nekoolaltak, Maryam; Keshavarz, Zohreh; Simbar, Masoumeh; Nazari, Ali Mohammad; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza

2017-08-01

Woman's orgasm plays a vital role in sexual compatibility and marital satisfaction. Orgasm in women is a learnable phenomenon that is influenced by several factors. The aim of this study is exploring obstacles to orgasm in Iranian married women. This qualitative study with directed content analysis approach was conducted in 2015-2016, on 20 Iranian married women who were individually interviewed at two medical clinics in Tehran, Iran. Orgasm obstacles were explored in one category, 4 subcategories, and 25 codes. The main category was "Multidimensionality of women's orgasm obstacles". Subcategories and some codes included: Physical obstacles (wife's or husband's boredom, vaginal infection, insufficient vaginal lubrication), psychological obstacles (lack of sexual knowledge, shame, lack of concentration on sex due to household and children problems), relational obstacles (husband's hurry, having a dispute and annoyance with spouse) and contextual obstacles (Irregular sleep hours, lack of privacy and inability to separate children's bedroom from their parents, lack of peace at home). For prevention or treatment of female orgasm disorders, attention to physical factors is not enough. Obtaining a comprehensive history about physical, psychological, relational and contextual dimensions of woman's life is necessary.

Technology, attributions, and emotions in post-secondary education: An application of Weiner’s attribution theory to academic computing problems

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Nathan C.; Goetz, Thomas; Chiarella, Andrew; Rahimi, Sonia

2018-01-01

As technology becomes increasingly integrated with education, research on the relationships between students’ computing-related emotions and motivation following technological difficulties is critical to improving learning experiences. Following from Weiner’s (2010) attribution theory of achievement motivation, the present research examined relationships between causal attributions and emotions concerning academic computing difficulties in two studies. Study samples consisted of North American university students enrolled in both traditional and online universities (total N = 559) who responded to either hypothetical scenarios or experimental manipulations involving technological challenges experienced in academic settings. Findings from Study 1 showed stable and external attributions to be emotionally maladaptive (more helplessness, boredom, guilt), particularly in response to unexpected computing problems. Additionally, Study 2 found stable attributions for unexpected problems to predict more anxiety for traditional students, with both external and personally controllable attributions for minor problems proving emotionally beneficial for students in online degree programs (more hope, less anxiety). Overall, hypothesized negative effects of stable attributions were observed across both studies, with mixed results for personally controllable attributions and unanticipated emotional benefits of external attributions for academic computing problems warranting further study. PMID:29529039

A sociological stance on fatigue and tiredness: Social inequalities, norms and representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Loriol, Marc

2017-04-01

Fatigue is complex, representing simultaneously a physiological, psychological and social phenomenon. The sociological approach attempts to understand the experience of fatigue and its characterization at diverse periods and in various social contexts. After giving a sociological history of different forms of fatigue through the ages (acedia, melancholy, neurasthenia, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.), this article proposes a social epidemiology of fatigue in the current period. Objectification of working and living conditions allows us to illustrate social inequalities in fatigue and exhaustion, but seems to contradict dominant social representations of fatigue today. It invites a critical discussion of contemporary theories of fatigue (such those of Alain Ehrenberg or Byung-Chul Han), which consider that fatigue is a condition of modern man, overwhelmed by his freedom. More modestly, analysis of the fatigue presented here rests on the capacity to be able to find a good balance between too much investment in work or life (which is exhausting) and not enough investment (which leads to boredom and lack of self-fulfillment). This balance depends on fragile and specific social norms in different professional or social circles and cannot be defined a priori. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

STRES DAN CARA MENGATASINYA DALAM PERSPEKTIF PSIKOLOGI

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MUSRADINUR

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Depression in daily life can give less flavor / discomfort, but it can also provide a sense of comfort. As an element that gives a sense of comfort it can be utilized, can be enjoyed, as well as the taste them, as well as a driving force to get ahead in life. As a factor that gives disires, it will cause a lot of complaints, in a state of acute anxiety in the form, in the form of chronic, physical or mental disorder, boredom, fatigue and eventually death. Management of depression is certainly pursuant nature. When he weighed on benefits in his life should be enjoyed. When he raises depression, in a state of acute, there are various alternatives to resolve it, either to the stress itself or its aftermath. In a state of chronic disorders that arise must be dealt with treatment. Here the role of the cooperation of various fields of medicine necessary if the interference is onganik. Psiklatri important role precisely in the face of such disorders. In the face of psychiatric disorders mural there are options on how to face up to the psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.

Cardiovascular responses during deep water running versus shallow water running in school children

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Anerao Urja M, Shinde Nisha K, Khatri SM

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Overview: As the school going children especially the adolescents’ need workout routine; it is advisable that the routine is imbibed in the school’s class time table. In India as growing number of schools provide swimming as one of the recreational activities; school staff often fails to notice the boredom that is caused by the same activity. Deep as well as shallow water running can be one of the best alternatives to swimming. Hence the present study was conducted to find out the cardiovascular response in these individuals. Methods: This was a Prospective Cross-Sectional Comparative Study done in 72 healthy school going students (males grouped into 2 according to the interventions (Deep water running and Shallow water running. Cardiovascular parameters such as Heart rate (HR, Saturation of oxygen (SpO2, Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE were assessed. Results: Significant improvements in cardiovascular parameters were seen in both the groups i.e. by both the interventions. Conclusion: Deep water running and Shallow water running can be used to improve cardiac function in terms of various outcome measures used in the study.

Validating internet research: a test of the psychometric equivalence of internet and in-person samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyerson, Paul; Tryon, Warren W

2003-11-01

This study evaluated the psychometric equivalency of Web-based research. The Sexual Boredom Scale was presented via the World-Wide Web along with five additional scales used to validate it. A subset of 533 participants that matched a previously published sample (Watt & Ewing, 1996) on age, gender, and race was identified. An 8 x 8 correlation matrix from the matched Internet sample was compared via structural equation modeling with a similar 8 x 8 correlation matrix from the previously published study. The Internet and previously published samples were psychometrically equivalent. Coefficient alpha values calculated on the matched Internet sample yielded reliability coefficients almost identical to those for the previously published sample. Factors such as computer administration and uncontrollable administration settings did not appear to affect the results. Demographic data indicated an overrepresentation of males by about 6% and Caucasians by about 13% relative to the U.S. Census (2000). A total of 2,230 participants were obtained in about 8 months without remuneration. These results suggest that data collection on the Web is (1) reliable, (2) valid, (3) reasonably representative, (4) cost effective, and (5) efficient.

The performance environment of the England youth soccer teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Pain, Matthew A; Harwood, Chris

2007-10-01

In the present study, we examined the performance environment of the England youth soccer teams. Using a semi-structured protocol with a prospective sample, national coaches (n = 6), sport scientists (n = 3), and players (n = 4) were interviewed directly following international tournaments about the factors that positively and negatively influenced performance. Qualitative content analysis revealed the following factors as major positive influences on performance: adhering to a consistent tournament strategy, player understanding, strong team cohesion, organized entertainment activities, detailed knowledge of opposition, an effective physical rest/recovery strategy, and previous tournament experience. Major factors perceived to have negatively influenced performance included: over-coaching, player boredom, player anxiety, physical superiority of the opposition, physical fatigue over the tournament, problems sleeping, and lack of information on the opposition. Eight overall dimensions emerged to describe the performance environment: planning and organization, physical environment, tactical factors, development and performance philosophy, psychological factors, physical factors, social factors, and coaching. The findings support recent work that suggests the performance environment is multifaceted, with performance being contingent upon a broad range of interacting factors that go beyond the traditional psychosocial and physical domains.

“Chickens Are a Lot Smarter than I Originally Thought”: Changes in Student Attitudes to Chickens Following a Chicken Training Class

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Susan J. Hazel

2015-08-01

Full Text Available A practical class using clicker training of chickens to apply knowledge of how animals learn and practice skills in animal training was added to an undergraduate course. Since attitudes to animals are related to their perceived intelligence, surveys of student attitudes were completed pre- and post- the practical class, to determine if (1 the practical class changed students’ attitudes to chickens and their ability to experience affective states, and (2 any changes were related to previous contact with chickens, training experience or gender. In the post- versus pre-surveys, students agreed more that chickens are easy to teach tricks to, are intelligent, and have individual personalities and disagreed more that they are difficult to train and are slow learners. Following the class, they were more likely to believe chickens experience boredom, frustration and happiness. Females rated the intelligence and ability to experience affective states in chickens more highly than males, although there were shifts in attitude in both genders. This study demonstrated shifts in attitudes following a practical class teaching clicker training in chickens. Similar practical classes may provide an effective method of teaching animal training skills and promoting more positive attitudes to animals.

Sex-Free and Sex-Related Components of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ Neuroticism Scale among Finnish and Turkish Students

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Timo Lajunen

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have suggested that the Neuroticism scale (N of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ reflects two different dimensions, of which the first is sex-related (N-S and the second sex-free (N-A. The N-S component is characterized by social sensitivity and worry while N-A reflects moodiness, irritability and boredom. The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal structure of the N scale in samples of 320 Finnish and 230 Turkish students. The bi-dimensional structure suggested by Francis had an acceptable fit to data in the Finnish and Turkish samples. Higher N-S and N scores correlated with being a woman in the Turkish sample. Neither N nor N-S scores were related to sex in the Finnish sample. ANOVA results showed the main effect of sex on N and N-S scores and the main effect of culture (Finnish vs. Turkish on N and N-A. Turkish women scored higher in N and N-S scales than the other groups. The possible cultural and social reasons for the sex differences on the N scale score were discussed.

Using Information and Communication Technologies in Hospital Classrooms: SAVEH Project

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Dolores Meneses

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Children suffering a serious illness, experience enormous changes in their daily lives. Not only does the direct consequences of the disease affect the child, but also the fact of being at a hospital, or at home and not being allowed to go to school. Frequently, connections with classmates, neighbors, and sometimes even some with his relatives are lost. Furthermore, the responsibility of the state, to continue his schooling process is much harder, since different communities (family, school teachers, hospital teachers, medical doctors, psychologists… have to be coordinated. Last but not least, entertainment and enjoyment should be provided to avoid boredom and to improve their affective state. At the same time, with the development of Information and Communication Technologies, a large number of solutions have arisen that allow people to enhance their communication, education and entertainment possibilities. These technologies seem perfectly suitable to be used to tackle the problems described above. In this article, some of the special necessities of children suffering from a serious illness are pointed out, technologies available to be facilitated are described and some initiatives taking place in Spain mentioned. The SAVEH project will be described in detail.

The Smoking Consequences Questionnaire: Factor structure and predictive validity among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Vidrine, Damon J; Costello, Tracy J; Mazas, Carlos; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Mejia, Luz Maria; Wetter, David W

2009-11-01

Much of the existing research on smoking outcome expectancies has been guided by the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (SCQ ). Although the original version of the SCQ has been modified over time for use in different populations, none of the existing versions have been evaluated for use among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States. The present study evaluated the factor structure and predictive validity of the 3 previously validated versions of the SCQ--the original, the SCQ-Adult, and the SCQ-Spanish, which was developed with Spanish-speaking smokers in Spain--among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in Texas. The SCQ-Spanish represented the least complex solution. Each of the SCQ-Spanish scales had good internal consistency, and the predictive validity of the SCQ-Spanish was partially supported. Nearly all the SCQ-Spanish scales predicted withdrawal severity even after controlling for demographics and dependence. Boredom Reduction predicted smoking relapse across the 5- and 12-week follow-up assessments in a multivariate model that also controlled for demographics and dependence. Our results support use of the SCQ-Spanish with Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

Using Interactive Software to Teach Foundational Mathematical Skills

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Larysa V Lysenko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The pilot research presented here explores the classroom use of Emerging Literacy in Mathematics (ELM software, a research-based bilingual interactive multimedia instructional tool, and its potential to develop emerging numeracy skills. At the time of the study, a central theme of early mathematics curricula, Number Concept, was fully developed. It was broken down into five mathematical concepts including counting, comparing, adding, subtracting and decomposing. Each of these was further subdivided yielding 22 online activities, each building in a level of complexity and abstraction. In total, 234 grade one students from 12 classes participated in the two-group post-test study that lasted about seven weeks and for which students in the experimental group used ELM for about 30 minutes weekly. The results for the final sample of 186 students showed that ELM students scored higher on the standardized math test (Canadian Achievement Test, 2008 and reported less boredom and lower anxiety as measured on the Academic Emotions Questionnaire than their peers in the control group. This short duration pilot study of one ELM theme holds great promise for ELM’s continued development.

RELIGIUSITAS DENGAN FLOW AKADEMIK PADA SISWA

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Putri Saraswati

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Problems in education are students who experience boredom in the learning process, whereas in the learning required concentration, interest and motivation, which required students to experience flow. Flow itself blends in total concentration which refers to the solemn concept in religiosity. The purpose of this research is to know religiosity relationship with academic flow. The design of this study is non-experimental correlation type. The data retrieval technique uses cluster sampling technique. Totals subjects as many as 222 students in city of Malang. Data collection method used in this research is the scale of religiosity made by the researcher. Then the scale of academic flow using the scale of LIS (The flow inventory for student, the researchers add some items in the scale of LIS. Data analysis method used product moment. The results of data analysis obtained r = 0.508 p = 0.000 (sig <0.01 means that this study shows a significant positive relationship between religiosity and academic flow. While the effective contribution of religiosity to academic flow is 25.8% and the rest equal to 74.2%, influenced by other factors.

The Benefit of Pets and Animal-Assisted Therapy to the Health of Older Individuals

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Cherniack, E. Paul; Cherniack, Ariella R.

2014-01-01

Many studies utilizing dogs, cats, birds, fish, and robotic simulations of animals have tried to ascertain the health benefits of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy in the elderly. Several small unblinded investigations outlined improvements in behavior in demented persons given treatment in the presence of animals. Studies piloting the use of animals in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia have yielded mixed results. Animals may provide intangible benefits to the mental health of older persons, such as relief social isolation and boredom, but these have not been formally studied. Several investigations of the effect of pets on physical health suggest animals can lower blood pressure, and dog walkers partake in more physical activity. Dog walking, in epidemiological studies and few preliminary trials, is associated with lower complication risk among patients with cardiovascular disease. Pets may also have harms: they may be expensive to care for, and their owners are more likely to fall. Theoretically, zoonotic infections and bites can occur, but how often this occurs in the context of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy is unknown. Despite the poor methodological quality of pet research after decades of study, pet ownership and animal-assisted therapy are likely to continue due to positive subjective feelings many people have toward animals. PMID:25477957

Appraisals of Salient Visual Elements in Web Page Design

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Johanna M. Silvennoinen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Visual elements in user interfaces elicit emotions in users and are, therefore, essential to users interacting with different software. Although there is research on the relationship between emotional experience and visual user interface design, the focus has been on the overall visual impression and not on visual elements. Additionally, often in a software development process, programming and general usability guidelines are considered as the most important parts of the process. Therefore, knowledge of programmers’ appraisals of visual elements can be utilized to understand the web page designs we interact with. In this study, appraisal theory of emotion is utilized to elaborate the relationship of emotional experience and visual elements from programmers’ perspective. Participants (N=50 used 3E-templates to express their visual and emotional experiences of web page designs. Content analysis of textual data illustrates how emotional experiences are elicited by salient visual elements. Eight hierarchical visual element categories were found and connected to various emotions, such as frustration, boredom, and calmness, via relational emotion themes. The emotional emphasis was on centered, symmetrical, and balanced composition, which was experienced as pleasant and calming. The results benefit user-centered visual interface design and researchers of visual aesthetics in human-computer interaction.

A narrative analysis of helplessness in depression.

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Vanheule, Stijn; Hauser, Stuart T

2008-12-01

The transcripts of semistructured clinical interviews with forty psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents were subjected to narrative analysis in an effort to map the logic of their explanations as they spontaneously talked about helplessness experiences, and to determine how helplessness is embedded in broader story lines. Three types of narrative composition were discerned, and are discussed by means of excerpts from the interviews. In a first and predominant type of narrative, a disturbing confrontation with another is pivotal: the other's intentions are obscure; this frightens the narrator, who does not know what to do. Helplessness arises as a direct result of not knowing how to manage the "unbearable riddle" of the other's intentions. In the second, more marginal type of narrative, helplessness is embedded in an account of emptiness and boredom. The protagonist relates enduring experiences of emptiness due to loss and the suffering consequent on it. In the third, also more marginal type of narrative, helplessness is framed in a context of failure: the protagonist adheres to strict standards, feels he or she has fallen short, and concludes that he or she is a failure. Only the first type of narrative is significantly related to the psychiatric diagnoses of mood disorder and major depression.

An ergonomic study on the onset of mental fatigue among the load handling workers of a central market area in Kolkata.

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Gangopadhyay, Somnath; Das, Tamal

2012-01-01

It is a well recognized fact that manual material handling (MMH) entails enormous physical labor and associated discomfort feeling, which invariably culminate into musculoskeletal disorders. However mental fatigue, in such instances, becomes an unexplored parameter that needs definite attention during assessment of work status of MMH workers. The present study is being performed among 75 porters of a central market in Kolkata to ascertain the extent of physical and mental exhaustion among them. SF-12 health status questionnaire followed by another questionnaire involving psychosocial questions were performed among them. The analysis of both the questionnaires clearly revealed that most of the porters are under severe physical exertion as they alone carry about 120 kg load at a time and such activity is repeated at least 40 times throughout the day. They always suffer from pain and discomfort feeling at different body parts and this interferes with their normal work activity to a great extent. Moreover absenteeism means no financial return and even a day's rigourous work fetches meagre income. The inability to support family convincingly even after performing such hazardous tasks makes them feel low. Monotony, boredom, fatigue and mental trauma form an integral part of their daily work schedule.

Konstruksi Makna Smartphone bagi Mahasiswa Jurusan Marketing Komunikasi di Universitas Bina Nusantara Jakarta

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Ferane Aristrivani Sofian

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Most Marketing Communication students are smartphone users. The students, either consciously or not, would prefer to use his/her smartphone rather than socializing with other people around. Even when in class during lectures, until it often leads to conflict between lecturer and students. In connection with the meaning, everyone will behave towards something based on the meaning of that something in his mind. Thus, this study would like to try to answer what the meaning of the smartphone for Marketing Communication students is; why they use a smartphone when lectures take place; and what their opinion in wisefully using of their smartphones. This study used a qualitative research system with a descriptive case study method. Through observation and in-depth interviews of nine informants can be seen that the meaning of a smartphone for students is as practical communication medium for sharing information and the necessities of life; teaching methods oflecturer are less attractive, boredom, always wanted to connect anytime, anywhere with friends or family, addicted to smartphones are reasons why students always want to use smartphones in class when the lecture takes place; and the wise use of smartphones by students is at the right time, do not harm others and for positive things. 

Mobile phone use on a young person's unit.

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Bell, Jacquelyn; Finlay, Fiona; Baverstock, Anna

2009-09-01

To ascertain information about the use of mobile phones on a young person's hospital unit and to obtain the views of nursing staff and young people about the benefits of their use. A qualitative study using a pre-piloted questionnaire was given to 50 young people admitted consecutively to the young person's unit of district general hospital in a four-week period. A separate questionnaire was given to nine members of the nursing team over the same time period. Most young people had access to a mobile phone while on the ward. A total of 30 per cent were told they could use their phone, 75 per cent of those had made calls or sent texts while on the ward, 80 per cent had received calls or texts, and 20 per cent had used the ward phone at the nursing station. All staff agreed that it was helpful for young people to use their phones on the ward to keep in contact with friends and family, to avoid isolation and ease boredom. Young people have different social needs to younger children and appreciate the opportunity to use mobile phones. A more flexible approach should be adopted. The advantages of phone use clearly outweigh the risks.

Thai nursing students' adaption to problem-based learning: a qualitative study.

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Klunklin, Areewan; Subpaiboongid, Pornpun; Keitlertnapha, Pongsri; Viseskul, Nongkran; Turale, Sue

2011-11-01

Student-centred forms of learning have gained favour internationally over the last few decades including problem based learning, an approach now incorporated in medicine, nursing and other disciplines' education in many countries. However, it is still new in Thailand and being piloted to try to offset traditional forms of didactic, teacher-centred forms of teaching. In this qualitative study, 25 undergraduate nursing students in northern Thailand were interviewed about their experiences with problem-based learning in a health promotion subject. Content analysis was used to interrogate interview data, which revealed four categories: adapting, seeking assistance, self-development, and thinking process development. Initially participants had mixed emotions of confusion, negativity or boredom in the adaption process, but expressed satisfaction with creativity in learning, group work, and leadership development. They described increased abilities to problem solve and think critically, but struggled to develop questioning behaviours in learning. Socio-culturally in Thai education, students have great respect for teachers, but rarely question or challenge them or their learning. We conclude that problem-based learning has great potential in Thai nursing education, but educators and systems need to systematically prepare appropriate learning environments, their staff and students, to incorporate this within curricula. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The benefit of pets and animal-assisted therapy to the health of older individuals.

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Cherniack, E Paul; Cherniack, Ariella R

2014-01-01

Many studies utilizing dogs, cats, birds, fish, and robotic simulations of animals have tried to ascertain the health benefits of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy in the elderly. Several small unblinded investigations outlined improvements in behavior in demented persons given treatment in the presence of animals. Studies piloting the use of animals in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia have yielded mixed results. Animals may provide intangible benefits to the mental health of older persons, such as relief social isolation and boredom, but these have not been formally studied. Several investigations of the effect of pets on physical health suggest animals can lower blood pressure, and dog walkers partake in more physical activity. Dog walking, in epidemiological studies and few preliminary trials, is associated with lower complication risk among patients with cardiovascular disease. Pets may also have harms: they may be expensive to care for, and their owners are more likely to fall. Theoretically, zoonotic infections and bites can occur, but how often this occurs in the context of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy is unknown. Despite the poor methodological quality of pet research after decades of study, pet ownership and animal-assisted therapy are likely to continue due to positive subjective feelings many people have toward animals.

From Danger and Motherhood to Health and Beauty: Health Advice for the Factory Girl in Early Twentieth-Century Britain1

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LONG, VICKY; MARLAND, HILARY

2015-01-01

A survey of government reports and the archives and journals of other agencies interested in industrial health in early twentieth-century Britain has led us to conclude that, in addition to apprehension about the potentially harmful impact of industrial work on the reproductive health of women, there was a great deal of interest in the health of young, unmarried girls in the workplace, particularly the factory. Adopting a broader time frame, we suggest that the First World War, with its emphasis on the reproductive health of women, was an anomalous experience in a broader trend which stressed the growing acceptability of women’s work within industry. Concern with girls’ health and welfare embraced hygiene, diet, exercise, recreation, fashion and beauty within and outside of the workplace, as well as the impact of the boredom and monotony associated with industrial work. The health problems of young women workers tended to be associated with behaviour and environment rather than biology, as were anxieties about the impact of work on morals, habits and character. Efforts to ensure that young female factory workers would be equipped to take their place as citizens and parents, we argue, often dovetailed rather than diverged with the ‘boy labour’ question. PMID:20481061

Women’s orgasm obstacles: A qualitative study

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Nekoolaltak, Maryam; Keshavarz, Zohreh; Simbar, Masoumeh; Nazari, Ali Mohammad; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza

2017-01-01

Background: Woman’s orgasm plays a vital role in sexual compatibility and marital satisfaction. Orgasm in women is a learnable phenomenon that is influenced by several factors. Objective: The aim of this study is exploring obstacles to orgasm in Iranian married women. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study with directed content analysis approach was conducted in 2015-2016, on 20 Iranian married women who were individually interviewed at two medical clinics in Tehran, Iran. Results: Orgasm obstacles were explored in one category, 4 subcategories, and 25 codes. The main category was “Multidimensionality of women’s orgasm obstacles”. Subcategories and some codes included: Physical obstacles (wife’s or husband’s boredom, vaginal infection, insufficient vaginal lubrication), psychological obstacles (lack of sexual knowledge, shame, lack of concentration on sex due to household and children problems), relational obstacles (husband’s hurry, having a dispute and annoyance with spouse) and contextual obstacles (Irregular sleep hours, lack of privacy and inability to separate children’s bedroom from their parents, lack of peace at home). Conclusion: For prevention or treatment of female orgasm disorders, attention to physical factors is not enough. Obtaining a comprehensive history about physical, psychological, relational and contextual dimensions of woman’s life is necessary. PMID:29082366

Accuracy and Consistency of Grass Pollen Identification by Human Analysts Using Electron Micrographs of Surface Ornamentation

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Luke Mander

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Premise of the study: Humans frequently identify pollen grains at a taxonomic rank above species. Grass pollen is a classic case of this situation, which has led to the development of computational methods for identifying grass pollen species. This paper aims to provide context for these computational methods by quantifying the accuracy and consistency of human identification. Methods: We measured the ability of nine human analysts to identify 12 species of grass pollen using scanning electron microscopy images. These are the same images that were used in computational identifications. We have measured the coverage, accuracy, and consistency of each analyst, and investigated their ability to recognize duplicate images. Results: Coverage ranged from 87.5% to 100%. Mean identification accuracy ranged from 46.67% to 87.5%. The identification consistency of each analyst ranged from 32.5% to 87.5%, and each of the nine analysts produced considerably different identification schemes. The proportion of duplicate image pairs that were missed ranged from 6.25% to 58.33%. Discussion: The identification errors made by each analyst, which result in a decline in accuracy and consistency, are likely related to psychological factors such as the limited capacity of human memory, fatigue and boredom, recency effects, and positivity bias.

Exploring the entanglement of personal epistemologies and emotions in students' thinking

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Gupta, Ayush; Elby, Andrew; Danielak, Brian A.

2018-06-01

Evidence from psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience suggests that cognition and emotions are coupled. Education researchers have also documented correlations between emotions (such as joy, anxiety, fear, curiosity, boredom) and academic performance. Nonetheless, most research on students' reasoning and conceptual change within the learning sciences and physics and science education research has not attended to the role of learners' emotions in describing or modeling the fine timescale dynamics of their conceptual reasoning. The few studies that integrate emotions into models of learners' cognition have mostly done so at a coarse grain size. In this study, toward the long-term goal of incorporating emotions into models of in-the-moment cognitive dynamics, we present a case study of Judy, an undergraduate electrical engineering and physics major. We show that shifts in the intensity of a fine-grained aspect of Judy's emotions, her annoyance at conceptual homework problems, co-occur with shifts in her epistemological stance toward differentiating knowledge about and the practical utility of real circuits and idealized circuit models. We then argue for the plausibility of a cognitive model in which Judy's emotions and epistemological stances mutually affect each other. We end with discussions on how models of learners' cognition that incorporate their emotions are generative for instructional purposes and research on learning.

The use of negative themes in television food advertising.

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Pettigrew, Simone; Roberts, Michele; Chapman, Kathy; Quester, Pascale; Miller, Caroline

2012-04-01

The ability of food advertising to trigger food consumption and influence social norms relating to food consumption has resulted in increasing attention being given to the prevalence and nature of food advertising. The present study investigated the use of negative themes in food advertisements aired on Australian television to determine the prevalence of depictions of violence/aggression, mocking, nagging, boredom, loneliness, food craving, mood enhancement, and the emotional use of food across 61 days of programming time. The results suggest that advertisers are using negative themes to capture attention and invoke an emotional response in the target audience. Sixteen percent (14,611) of the 93,284 food advertisements contained negative themes, with mood enhancement and food craving being the most commonly depicted negative themes. Advertisements with negative themes were more likely to be for non-core foods and to be aired during children's popular viewing times than at other times. The potential for negative themes in food advertising to promote unhealthy food consumption behaviors among children is likely to be of concern to policy makers. Building on this exploratory study, further research is needed to investigate how nutrition-related decision making is affected by exposure to food advertisements employing negative emotional themes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tobacco use among urban Aboriginal Australian young people: a qualitative study of reasons for smoking, barriers to cessation and motivators for smoking cessation.

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Cosh, Suzanne; Hawkins, Kimberley; Skaczkowski, Gemma; Copley, David; Bowden, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Smoking prevalence among Aboriginal Australian young people greatly exceeds the prevalence in the broader population of Australian young people, yet limited research has explored the social context in which young Aboriginal Australians smoke. Four focus groups were conducted in 2009 with South Australian Aboriginal smokers aged 15-29 years residing in urban areas (n = 32) to examine attitudes and experiences surrounding smoking and quitting. The primary reasons for smoking initiation and maintenance among Aboriginal Australian young people were identified as stress, social influence and boredom. Motivators for quitting were identified as pregnancy and/or children, sporting performance (males only), cost issues and, to a lesser extent, health reasons. The barriers to cessation were identified as social influence, the perception of quitting as a distant event and reluctance to access cessation support. However, it appears that social influences and stress were particularly salient contributors to smoking maintenance among Aboriginal Australian young people. Smoking cessation interventions targeted at young urban Aboriginal Australian smokers should aim to build motivation to quit by utilising the motivators of pregnancy and/or children, sporting performance (males only), cost issues and, to a lesser extent, health reasons, while acknowledging the pertinent role of social influence and stress in the lives of young urban Aboriginal Australian smokers.

The problem of professional burnout in stress management

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Makasheva Natalia

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The problem of professional burnout is extremely relevant in current stress management. By its nature, professional burnout is a unique type of stress syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion. It leads to loss of energy and interest in one’s job. A burnout could be the result of such syndromes as – burnout and boreout. It could emerge as the reaction of the organism to the high working intensity and stress working conditions or due to the boredom and absence of the sphere for professional realization. Both syndromes negatively influence the professional activity and require serious research and an adequate approach to the study. Studies have been conducted in the higher educational environment and among production employees. The studies were conducted with the application of the existing tests for revealing the “boreout” and “burnout” syndromes. Studies have shown that the syndrome “burnout” is common among workers with free working regulations, whose work requires greater independence, initiative and responsibility. According to the results of the study, the employees who are more free in the performance of their professional duties (teachers, managers are less subjected to the boreout syndrome. For the prevention and control of professional burnout company management needs to apply the achievements of stress management.

The Benefit of Pets and Animal-Assisted Therapy to the Health of Older Individuals

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E. Paul Cherniack

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Many studies utilizing dogs, cats, birds, fish, and robotic simulations of animals have tried to ascertain the health benefits of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy in the elderly. Several small unblinded investigations outlined improvements in behavior in demented persons given treatment in the presence of animals. Studies piloting the use of animals in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia have yielded mixed results. Animals may provide intangible benefits to the mental health of older persons, such as relief social isolation and boredom, but these have not been formally studied. Several investigations of the effect of pets on physical health suggest animals can lower blood pressure, and dog walkers partake in more physical activity. Dog walking, in epidemiological studies and few preliminary trials, is associated with lower complication risk among patients with cardiovascular disease. Pets may also have harms: they may be expensive to care for, and their owners are more likely to fall. Theoretically, zoonotic infections and bites can occur, but how often this occurs in the context of pet ownership or animal-assisted therapy is unknown. Despite the poor methodological quality of pet research after decades of study, pet ownership and animal-assisted therapy are likely to continue due to positive subjective feelings many people have toward animals.

“Without Porn…I Wouldn’t Know Half The Things I Know Now”: A Qualitative Study of Pornography Use Among a Sample Of Urban, Low-Income, Black and Hispanic Youth

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Rothman, Emily F.; Kaczmarsky, Courtney; Burke, Nina; Jansen, Emily; Baughman, Allyson

2014-01-01

Information about pornography-viewing habits of urban, low income, youth of color in the U.S. is lacking. This study was designed to answer the following using a sample of 16-18 year old urban-residing, low income, Black or Hispanic youth: (1) What types of pornography do youth report watching, where, and for what purpose?; (2) Do youth feel that pornography exposure has an impact on their own sexual behaviors?; and (3) How do parents react to their pornography use? The following themes emerged from interviews with 23 youth: (a) Youth primarily reported watching pornography that featured one-on-one sexual intercourse, but also reported having seen extreme pornography (e.g., public humiliation, incest); (b) youth reported watching pornography on home computers or smartphones, and that pornography was frequently watched in school; (c) youth reported watching for entertainment, for sexual stimulation, instructional purposes, and to alleviate boredom; many copied what they saw in pornography during their own sexual encounters; (d) pressure to make or to imitate pornography was an element of some unhealthy dating relationships; and (e) parents were generally described as unsupportive of youths’ use of pornography, but under-equipped to discuss it. Approximately one-fifth expressed a prefererence for pornography featuring actors of their same race/ethnicity. PMID:25350847

"Without Porn … I Wouldn't Know Half the Things I Know Now": A Qualitative Study of Pornography Use Among a Sample of Urban, Low-Income, Black and Hispanic Youth.

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Rothman, Emily F; Kaczmarsky, Courtney; Burke, Nina; Jansen, Emily; Baughman, Allyson

2015-01-01

Information about the pornography-viewing habits of urban, low-income youth of color in the United States is lacking. This study was designed to answer the following using a sample of 16- to 18-year-old urban-residing, low-income Black or Hispanic youth: (1) What types of pornography do youth report watching; where and for what purpose? (2) Do youth feel that pornography exposure has an impact on their own sexual behaviors? and (3) How do parents react to their pornography use? The following themes emerged from interviews with 23 youth: (1) Youth primarily reported watching pornography that featured one-on-one sexual intercourse but also reported having seen extreme pornography (e.g., public humiliation, incest); (2) youth reported watching pornography on home computers or smartphones, and that pornography was frequently watched in school; (3) youth reported watching for entertainment, for sexual stimulation, instructional purposes, and to alleviate boredom; many copied what they saw in pornography during their own sexual encounters; (4) pressure to make or to imitate pornography was an element of some unhealthy dating relationships; and (5) parents were generally described as unsupportive of youth's use of pornography but underequipped to discuss it. Approximately one-fifth expressed a preference for pornography featuring actors of their same race/ethnicity.

Age at onset typology in opioid dependent men: an exploratory study.

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De, Biswajit; Mattoo, Surendra K; Basu, Debasish

2002-04-01

This study attempted to apply age at onset typology in ICD-10 diagnosed opioid dependence. The sample comprised 80 men seeking treatment at an addiction clinic. The measures included socio-demographic and clinical profile, Severity of Opioid Dependence Questionnaire, Modified Sensation Seeking Scale, Multiphasic Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and Family History Assessment Module. A cut-off age of 20/21 years for an early-onset late-onset typology of opioid dependence was obtained using two methods - the modal age at onset method and one-third sample by age at onset method. The early onset group showed significant differences in terms of it being more often younger, urban, unmarried, wage earning or students, using oral opioids (not heroin or injectables), showing higher lifetime use and dependence of sedatives, earlier onset of use and dependence of sedatives and tobacco, and higher global psychopathology in terms of MPQ. The early onset group also showed statistically insignificant trends for lesser use and dependence of alcohol, higher severity of opioid dependence, more legal and less social complications, higher sensation seeking (except boredom susceptibility), and more frequent substance dependence in first degree relatives. The age at onset typology in opioid dependence appears to be feasible and having some similarities to similar typology in alcoholism.

Using Group Drawings Activities to Facilitate the Understanding of the Systemic Aspects of Projects

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João Alberto Arantes do Amaral

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this article, we present our findings regarding promoting group drawing activities in order to facilitate the learning of systemic aspects of projects. We discuss the approach we used to engage the students and foster learning in our classes. We used group drawing activities in two project management undergraduate courses. The courses, which involved 41 students, took place during the second semester of 2016 in a public university in Brazil. We conducted qualitative research, using qualitative observation and focus group interviews. In order to gauge the effects of the use of this educational technique, we followed the five-phased qualitative analysis method, combined with a systems analysis of the data obtained from observation. Five recurrent themes emerged: 1 Making drawings in groups helps content retention and facilitates connections between the concepts explained by the professor; 2 Making drawings in groups promotes knowledge sharing among team members; 3 Making drawings in group fosters creativity and communication between students; 4 Drawing in groups reduces the students’ boredom, makes the lecture more dynamic and interesting; 5 Drawing in groups reinforces bonds between students. Our systems analysis suggests that group drawing improves student participation in classroom activities, strengthens bonds between students, and enhances learning.

Relationship problems and extradyadic romantic and sexual activity in a web-sample of Norwegian men and women.

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Træen, Bente; Thuen, Frode

2013-04-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the prevalence of self-reported types of extradyadic romantic and sexual activity among adult Norwegians and to explore the role of infidelity in breaking up a permanent relationship. The results are based on 1,001 web interviews with persons ranging in age from 18 to 67 years. The majority of respondents reported having engaged in some kind of extradyadic romantic and/or sexual activity. Forty-five percent of the women and 39% of the men claimed they had experienced a previous breakup from a marriage or cohabiting relationship. Among those aged 50 years or older, the most important reasons for breaking up a previous relationship were infidelity (38%) and lost love (38%). More men (44%) than women (33%) reported infidelity. Respondents younger than 50 years were more motivated by boredom. Among respondents below the age of 50 years, the most frequently reported reasons for considering termination of a present relationship were quarreling (37%), poor sex life (29%), and "other" reasons (25%). Accordingly, infidelity was not identified as an essential factor for considering a breakup from the present relationship. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Links between Psychotropic Substance Use and Sensation Seeking in a Prevalence Study: The Role of Some Features of Parenting Style in a Large Sample of Adolescents.

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Scalese, Marco; Curzio, Olivia; Cutrupi, Valentina; Bastiani, Luca; Gori, Mercedes; Denoth, Francesca; Molinaro, Sabrina

2014-01-01

Aims. The objectives of the study were to (a) investigate the prevalence risk of current drug users and (b) explore the association between parental monitoring, adolescent-parent relationship, family structure, financial status, and sensation-seeking and psychotropic substance use. Methods. Data were drawn from the 2002 Italian student population survey of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. The sample size was 10,790 adolescents, aged 15-19 years. Multivariate logistic analyses were performed. Findings. The prevalence of users was 27.3% (34.2% males; 21.6% females). Single-parent and reconstructed families were related to the greatest likelihood of substance use. A medium financial status and, for females, a satisfying relationship with father were protective factors. Probability of engaging in risk-taking behavior increased when parental knowledge decreased. Exploring deeper how parental monitoring could modify the relation between different traits of sensation seeking and substances use revealed the following: "thrill and adventure seeking," within the case of a good monitoring, can help against the use of substances; "boredom susceptibility" is not associated with drug use, except when parental monitoring is weak. Conclusions. Specific subdimensions, associated with substance use, may be more amenable to prevention than general interventions on sensation-seeking personality. Family is the context that could promote health education.

Women’s orgasm obstacles: A qualitative study

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Maryam Nekoolaltak

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Woman’s orgasm plays a vital role in sexual compatibility and marital satisfaction. Orgasm in women is a learnable phenomenon that is influenced by several factors. Objective: The aim of this study is exploring obstacles to orgasm in Iranian married women. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study with directed content analysis approach was conducted in 2015-2016, on 20 Iranian married women who were individually interviewed at two medical clinics in Tehran, Iran. Results: Orgasm obstacles were explored in one category, 4 subcategories, and 25 codes. The main category was “Multidimensionality of women’s orgasm obstacles”. Subcategories and some codes included: Physical obstacles (wife’s or husband’s boredom, vaginal infection, insufficient vaginal lubrication, psychological obstacles (lack of sexual knowledge, shame, lack of concentration on sex due to household and children problems, relational obstacles (husband’s hurry, having a dispute and annoyance with spouse and contextual obstacles (Irregular sleep hours, lack of privacy and inability to separate children’s bedroom from their parents, lack of peace at home. Conclusion: For prevention or treatment of female orgasm disorders, attention to physical factors is not enough. Obtaining a comprehensive history about physical, psychological, relational and contextual dimensions of woman’s life is necessary.

Experiencia, aburrimiento y legibilidad en tres cuentos de Roberto Bolaño

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Bernardo Patricio Rocco Núñez

2017-07-01

Full Text Available El presente artículo estudia el conjunto de cuentos “Últimos atardeceres en la tierra”, “Días de 1978” y “Vagabundo en Francia y Bélgica” pertenecientes al libro Putas Asesinas(2001 de Roberto Bolaño, con el objetivo de comprender la representación de la crisis de la experiencia moderna. En este sentido, se exploran las relaciones entre la temática de la locura, el trauma del exilio chileno y el estado de aburrimiento. En consecuencia, se muestra cómo el viaje del sujeto moderno manifiesta una genealogía conceptual que haría legible la historia chilena contemporánea. This article studies the short stories “Últimos atardeceres en la tierra”, “Días de 1978” and “Vagabundo en Francia y Bélgica” belonging to Putas Asesinas (2001 by Roberto Bolaño, with the goal of understanding the representation of the crisis of the modern experience. In this sense, the relationships between the subjects of madness, the trauma of the Chilean exile and the state of boredom are explored. In short, it shows how the journey of the modern subject manifests a conceptual genealogy that would make contemporary Chilean history legible.

EEG Frequency Changes Prior to Making Errors in an Easy Stroop Task

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Rachel Atchley

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Mind-wandering is a form of off-task attention that has been associated with negative affect and rumination. The goal of this study was to assess potential electroencephalographic markers of task-unrelated thought, or mind-wandering state, as related to error rates during a specialized cognitive task. We used EEG to record frontal frequency band activity while participants completed a Stroop task that was modified to induce boredom, task-unrelated thought, and therefore mind-wandering.Methods: A convenience sample of 27 older adults (50–80 years completed a computerized Stroop matching task. Half of the Stroop trials were congruent (word/color match, and the other half were incongruent (mismatched. Behavioral data and EEG recordings were assessed. EEG analysis focused on the 1-s epochs prior to stimulus presentation in order to compare trials followed by correct versus incorrect responses.Results: Participants made errors on 9% of incongruent trials. There were no errors on congruent trials. There was a decrease in alpha and theta band activity during the epochs followed by error responses.Conclusion: Although replication of these results is necessary, these findings suggest that potential mind-wandering, as evidenced by errors, can be characterized by a decrease in alpha and theta activity compared to on-task, accurate performance periods.

The diet of adult psittacids: veterinarian and ethological approaches.

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Péron, F; Grosset, C

2014-06-01

Parrots species are kept as pets because of their colours, their vocal abilities, their longevity and also their behaviours. Nevertheless, many owners do not know how to feed their bird in a healthy way and sometimes veterinarians and ethologists are confronted to dramatic situations. Diet is a key factor to prevent and reduce health and psychogenic disorders. Imbalance can lead to physical, physiological and behavioural modifications that can weaken the owner-bird relationship, cause bird discomfort and sometimes threaten its survival. Psittacids are known for their complex cognitive and communicative abilities. They are social animals and need many interactions. Kept in captivity, they could suffer from boredom because of lack of stimulations and also because of lack of possibility to explore and to forage, which could represent up to 70% of their day time in the wild. Indeed, humans control every parameter in the environment of pet psittacids. They provide a highly digestible diet. In captivity, foraging is not mandatory, and the bird can get bored. Here, we present a review of the literature regarding the quality of the diet and health disorders on one hand and the interaction between foraging opportunities and psychogenic disorders in adult psittacids on the other hand. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Determinants of daily smoking in Turkish young adults in the Netherlands

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Verhulst Frank C

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As little is known about the determinants of smoking in large ethnic minorities in the Netherlands and other Western European countries, we studied the determinants of smoking young adult offspring of Turkish migrants to the Netherlands. Methods Cross-sectional survey of 439 Turkish adults (18–28 y in 2003. Smokers were compared with never smokers for five groups of determinants: demographic and socioeconomic factors, behavioral and emotional problems, psychosocial factors, and cultural factors. Associations were measured by prevalence rate ratios. Results Prevalences for men were 51% for daily smoking, 12% for former smoking, and 38% for never smoking. For women they were 44%, 11%, and 47%, respectively. Without adjustment for other determinants, higher prevalence was associated with: emotional problems, boredom, life events, and being male; and, specifically among women, with low self-esteem and having children. The strongest determinants of daily smoking In multivariate models were alcohol use and demographic and socio-economic factors. Of the cultural factors only strong Muslim identification was associated with lower smoking prevalence. Conclusion The high prevalence of smoking warrants action. Many of the well-known determinants of smoking in Western countries were also important among young adults from ethnic minorities. Women with children and people of a low educational level deserve special attention.

Sensation seeking in a community sample of French gamblers: Comparison between strategic and non-strategic gamblers.

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Bonnaire, Céline; Bungener, Catherine; Varescon, Isabelle

2017-04-01

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between sensation seeking and gambling disorder (GD) in a community sample of gamblers (when controlling for the effect of substance use, gender and age) and see whether sensation seeking scores depend on the gambling activity when comparing strategic and non-strategic gamblers. A total of 380 gamblers was recruited. First, pathological gamblers (PGs) (n =143) were compared to non-pathological gamblers (NPGs) (n =237). Second, strategic gamblers (n =93) were compared to non-strategic gamblers (n =110). Sociodemographic data, gambling behavior (SOGS, DSM-IV), tobacco and alcohol use (CAGE), and sensation seeking (SSS) were evaluated. PGs have higher boredom susceptibility scores than NPGs and this factor is associated with GD. Nevertheless, the relationship between sensation seeking and GD depends on the gambling activity. In fact, sensation seeking is associated with GD in strategic gamblers only. PGs playing strategic games display different profiles from non-strategic PGs. Thus, factors associated with GD differ when the gambling activity is taken into account. These findings are consistent with the idea of it being essential to identify clinically distinct subgroups of PGs in the treatment of GD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Relationship Between Pathological Gambling and Sensation Seeking: The Role of Subscale Scores

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Fortune, Erica E.

2010-01-01

Research investigating the relationship between gambling and sensation seeking has yet to establish conclusively whether pathological gamblers (PGs) are more or less sensation seeking than nonpathological gamblers (NPGs). Sensation seeking is usually measured with the Zuckerman et al. (J Consult Clin Psychol 46:139–149, 1978) SS Scale form V (SSS-V). Whereas previous studies relied on the SSS-V total score, the current study uses two samples to demonstrate the importance of the SSS-V subscales, which include Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TA), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (DS), and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). In two samples, strong intrascale correlations between DS and BS, and between TA and ES, suggest that certain subscales reflect similar underlying characteristics. In both samples PGs displayed higher scores than NPGs on the DS and BS subscales, with mean differences in Sample 2 reaching significant levels for both DS and BS. Results support the notion that the SSS-V can be divided into concepts reflecting actual behavior, based on the DS and BS subscales, and hypothetical behavior, based on the TA and ES subscales. Furthermore, PGs appear to have a preference for the more behavioral subscales while NPGs show a preference for the more hypothetical subscales. Reasons for the subscale divisions and preferences are discussed. PMID:19943092

Game elements improve performance in a working memory training task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Ninaus

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The utilization of game elements in a non-game context is currently used in a vast range of different domains. However, research on game elements’ effects in cognitive tasks is still sparse. Thus, in this study we implemented three game elements, namely, progress bar, level indicator, and a thematic setting, in a working memory training task. We evaluated the impact of game elements on user performance and perceived state of flow when compared to a conventional version of the task. Participants interacting with game elements showed higher scores in the working memory training task than participants from a control group who completed the working memory training task without the game elements. Moreover, game elements facilitated the individuals’ performance closer to their maximum working memory capacity. Finally, the perceived flow did not differ between the two groups, which indicates that game elements can induce better performance without changing the perception of being “in the zone”, that is without an increase in anxiety or boredom. This empirical study indicates that certain game elements can improve the performance and efficiency in a working memory task by increasing users’ ability and willingness to train at their optimal performance level. 

Reminiscence functions and the health of Israeli Holocaust survivors as compared to other older Israelis and older Canadians.

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O'Rourke, Norm; Bachner, Yaacov G; Cappeliez, Philippe; Chaudhury, Habib; Carmel, Sara

2015-01-01

Existing research with English-speaking samples indicates that various ways in which older adults recall their past affect both their physical and mental health. Self-positive reminiscence functions (i.e. identity, problem-solving, death preparation) correlate and predict mental health in later life whereas self-negative functions (i.e. bitterness revival, boredom reduction, intimacy maintenance) correlate and predict the physical health of older adults. For this study, we recruited 295 Israeli Holocaust survivors to ascertain if early life trauma affects these associations between reminiscence and health. In order to distinguish cross-national differences from survivor-specific effects, we also recruited two comparative samples of other older Israelis (not Holocaust survivors; n = 205) and a second comparative sample of 335 older Canadians. Three separate structural equation models were computed to replicate this tripartite reminiscence and health model. Coefficients for self-negative functions significantly differed between survivors and both Canadians and other older Israelis, and between Canadians and both Israeli samples. However, no differences were found between prosocial and self-positive functions. Moreover, the higher order structure of reminiscence and health appears largely indistinguishable across these three groups. Early life trauma does not appear to fundamentally affect associations between reminiscence and health. These findings underscore the resilience of Holocaust survivors.

Science fiction and human enhancement: radical life-extension in the movie 'In Time' (2011).

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Roduit, Johann A R; Eichinger, Tobias; Glannon, Walter

2018-03-20

The ethics of human enhancement has been a hotly debated topic in the last 15 years. In this debate, some advocate examining science fiction stories to elucidate the ethical issues regarding the current phenomenon of human enhancement. Stories from science fiction seem well suited to analyze biomedical advances, providing some possible case studies. Of particular interest is the work of screenwriter Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, S1m0ne, In Time, and Good Kill), which often focuses on ethical questions raised by the use of new technologies. Examining the movie In Time (2011), the aim of this paper is to show how science fiction can contribute to the ethical debate of human enhancement. In Time provides an interesting case study to explore what could be some of the consequences of radical life-extension technologies. In this paper, we will show how arguments regarding radical life-extension portrayed in this particular movie differ from what is found in the scientific literature. We will see how In Time gives flesh to arguments defending or rejecting radical life-extension. It articulates feelings of unease, alienation and boredom associated with this possibility. Finally, this article will conclude that science fiction movies in general, and In Time in particular, are a valuable resource for a broad and comprehensive debate about our coming future.

Behavioral responses of three lemur species to different food enrichment devices.

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Shapiro, Morgan E; Shapiro, Hannah G; Ehmke, Erin E

2018-05-01

Environmental enrichment is a tool used to promote the welfare and well-being of captive animals by encouraging the display of species-specific behaviors and reducing the stress or boredom induced by captive environments. Lemurs are highly endangered, yet few studies have analyzed the behavioral impacts of enrichment on captive populations. We studied the impacts of two novel enrichment devices on three lemur species (ring-tailed lemurs [Lemur catta], red-ruffed lemurs [Varecia rubra], and Coquerel's sifaka [Propithecus coquereli]) to determine both the overall and species-specific impacts of enrichment on lemur behavior. We recorded lemur behavior using the continuous sampling method to obtain behavior duration and analyzed our results using ANOVA Repeated Measures. Results showed enrichment effectiveness differed for each species and that different enrichment devices had varying impacts on lemur behavior across all species. We attributed the differences in species-specific responses to the unique locomotor patterns and methods of diet acquisition of each species, and the variances in behavioral responses across all species to the characteristics of each device. Our study highlights the importance of species-specific enrichment and encourages further research in this field in order to maximize the positive effects of enrichment, which in turn has the potential to affect the overall well-being of captive populations. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design of robotic leg and physiotherapy (ROLEP) assist with interactive game

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Hasan, A. F.; Husin, M. F. Che; Hashim, M. N.; Rosli, K. A.; Roslim, F. R. A.; Abidin, A. F. Z.

2017-09-01

Injuries in certain parts of the feet can cause a person to have difficulty in walking or running if it is not treated through physiotherapy. In Malaysia, therapy centers only provide a service or the use of basic tools that are not efficient as more sophisticated equipment requires a high cost. In fact, exercise requiring close monitoring physiotherapist are also at a high cost. Therefore, using robot therapy is a new technology that can provide an alternative way to solve this problem. The implementation of this project has produced a robotic physiotherapy which has one degree of freedom, portable and inexpensive way to help the movement of the patient's leg. It covers basic electrical circuits, mechanical components, programming and has been combined with an interactive game as the main driver. ROLEP (Robotic-Leg-Physiotherapy) is able to help patients through the therapy process. It was built using CT-UNO as its microprocessor connected to MD10-C which acted as the motor driver. The interactive game produced by using Unity game software is a key driver in getting rid of boredom and reduce pain. As a result, ROLEP designed can operate well within its range of the patient's weight. It has the advantage of portability and easy to use by the patients. ROLEP expected to help patients undergoing therapy process more efficient and interesting in the process of recovery.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV biofeedback: A new training approach for operator’s performance enhancement

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Auditya Purwandini Sutarto

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The widespread implementation of advanced and complex systems requires predominantly operators’ cognitive functions and less importance of human manual control. On the other hand, most operators perform their cognitive functions below their peak cognitive capacity level due to fatigue, stress, and boredom. Thus, there is a need to improve their cognitive functions during work. The goal of this paper is to present a psychophysiology training approach derived from cardiovascular response named heart rate variability (HRV biofeedback. Description of resonant frequency biofeedback - a specific HRV training protocol - is discussed as well as its supported researches for the performance enhancement. HRV biofeedback training works by teaching people to recognize their involuntary HRV and to control patterns of this physiological response. The training is directed to increase HRV amplitude that promotes autonomic nervous system balance. This balance is associated with improved physiological functioning as well as psychological benefits. Most individuals can learn HRV biofeedback training easily which involves slowing the breathing rate (around six breaths/min to each individual’s resonant frequency at which the amplitude of HRV is maximized. Maximal control over HRV can be obtained in most people after approximately four sessions of training. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of HRV biofeedback to the improvement of some cognitive functions in both simulated and real industrial operators.

Negative Academic Emotion and Psychological Well-being in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal.

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Wang, Daoyang; Li, Shuting; Hu, Mingming; Dong, Dan; Tao, Sha

2017-01-01

The study aimed to explore the relationship among negative academic emotions (e.g., anxiety, shame, anger, boredom, hopelessness, disappointment, and hatred), psychological well-being (including life vitality, health concern, altruism commitment, self-value, friendly relationship, and personal development), and cognitive reappraisal in rural-to-urban migrant adolescents in China. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the relationship between psychological well-being and negative academic emotions is moderated by cognitive reappraisal. A total of 311 migrant adolescents aged 14-20 years were selected, including 132 boys and 179 girls. Results of a regression analysis showed that cognitive reappraisal (positive) and negative academic emotions were significant predictors of psychological well-being. The interaction effect between cognitive reappraisal and negative academic emotion was also a significant predictor of psychological well-being. In the simple slope analysis the group with a below average cognitive reappraisal score the negative academic emotions were associated with lower psychological well-being, whereas in the group with above average cognitive reappraisal the effect of negative academic emotions on psychological well-being was not significant. However, for those with a cognitive reappraisal score of 1 standard deviation above the average, the effect of negative academic emotions on psychological well-being was not significant. These results suggest that cognitive reappraisal was a significant moderator in the relationship between negative academic emotion and psychological well-being.

The Influence of Perceived Organizational Injustice towards Workplace Personal Web Usage and Work Productivity in Indonesia

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Nur Fathonah

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Workplace personal web usage (WPWU is an employee’s activity in using internet for non-related task during working hours. It is considered a counterproductive behavior when done excessively because it can interrupt employee’s productivity, but it can increase creativity and eliminate boredom when used in a rational amount. The objective of this study was to prove whether perceived organizational injustice had influence on WPWU which affected work productivity. A total of 222 respondents working in various industries were gathered through web-survey. By using multinomial logistic regression analysis, this study found that high level use of internet for unrelated jobs between 2 to 4 hours a day was influenced by respondents’ perception of not getting fair treatment and incentive for being good performer, which then caused them to perform very low completion of tasks. There were two contrasting views regarding this result; organizations considered it as deviant behavior because it reduced employees’ performance whereas employees regarded it as just short breaks to get rid of stress. Hence, this finding suggested that companies should redesign its internet policies to accommodate “Work-Life Blend”; blending work and personal lives, as a consequence of cultural shift in the era of globalization and new technologies. Keywords: Organizational Justice, Workplace Personal Web Usage, Work Productivity, Work-Life Blend, Indonesia.

Comparison of Classification Methods for Detecting Emotion from Mandarin Speech

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Pao, Tsang-Long; Chen, Yu-Te; Yeh, Jun-Heng

It is said that technology comes out from humanity. What is humanity? The very definition of humanity is emotion. Emotion is the basis for all human expression and the underlying theme behind everything that is done, said, thought or imagined. Making computers being able to perceive and respond to human emotion, the human-computer interaction will be more natural. Several classifiers are adopted for automatically assigning an emotion category, such as anger, happiness or sadness, to a speech utterance. These classifiers were designed independently and tested on various emotional speech corpora, making it difficult to compare and evaluate their performance. In this paper, we first compared several popular classification methods and evaluated their performance by applying them to a Mandarin speech corpus consisting of five basic emotions, including anger, happiness, boredom, sadness and neutral. The extracted feature streams contain MFCC, LPCC, and LPC. The experimental results show that the proposed WD-MKNN classifier achieves an accuracy of 81.4% for the 5-class emotion recognition and outperforms other classification techniques, including KNN, MKNN, DW-KNN, LDA, QDA, GMM, HMM, SVM, and BPNN. Then, to verify the advantage of the proposed method, we compared these classifiers by applying them to another Mandarin expressive speech corpus consisting of two emotions. The experimental results still show that the proposed WD-MKNN outperforms others.

Improving training tools for continuing operator qualification in Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marti, F.; San Antonio, S.

1991-01-01

There are currently nine nuclear power plants in service in Spain; the most recent started commercial operation in 1988. Spanish legislation requires operators to have an academic technical background of at least 3 yr. The turnover rate is <5%, and in recent years, symptom-based emergency procedure has been introduced. These facts have given rise to a situation in which Spanish licensed operators are demanding more in-depth training to avoid a stagnant routine and boredom. In responding to this challenge, Tecnatom has had to significantly update its two simulators for boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PSR) plants, to ensure coverage of the emergency procedures and has had to create a tool - the Interactive Graphics Simulator - that allows these problems to be ameliorated. With a view to updating its simulators, Tecnatom initiated in 1985 a project known as advanced simulation models (MAS), which was completed at the end of 1990. The TRACS code is a real-time advanced thermohydraulic code for upgrading Tecnatom's nuclear plant simulators. The interactive graphic simulator, (SGI) is a system that provides a graphic display of the models of a full-scope simulator by means of color monitors. The two new tools used are enabling higher levels of motivation to be achieved among the plant operations personnel, especially with respect to requalification

Social and Cultural Context of Betel Quid Consumption in Taiwan and Implications for Prevention and Cessation Interventions.

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Lin, Cheng-Chieh; Tamí-Maury, Irene; Ma, Wei-Fen; Lam, Cho; Tsai, Ming-Hsui; Lin, Mi-Ting; Li, Chia-Ing; Liu, Chiu-Shong; Li, Tsai-Chung; Chiu, Chang-Fang; Lu, I-Ying; Gritz, Ellen R

2017-04-16

In Taiwan, betel quid chewing is a part of social life for chewers. Betel quid itself, with or without tobacco, is a Group 1 human carcinogen. Betel quid chewing has become a severe health threat in Taiwan. The aim of the present study was to identify the individual, social, contextual, and cultural factors related to initiation, continuous use, and cessation of betel quid chewing. Four focus groups and 15 in depth face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2013 with current and former users of betel quid, members of a community organization located in central Taiwan. A thematic analysis identified themes evident across all groups. Study participants (N = 41) were 66% male and 34% female; mean age was 40.34 ± 9.23 years. Participants stated that betel quid initiation usually occurs during childhood and that the most frequent reasons for chewing were: to follow cultural/social traditions, to achieve an energetic feeling, and to avoid boredom. Participants perceived betel quid chewing as an addiction and a risk factor for cancer and other health-related conditions. The most frequently mentioned barriers to quitting betel quid included: peer pressure and selected withdrawal symptoms. For the development of culturally relevant and effective cessation interventions for betel quid in Taiwan, it is critical to understand and address perceptions of betel quid chewing and barriers to cessation.

PREVALENCE AND FACTORS INFLUENCING BETEL NUT CHEWING AMONG ADULTS IN WEST INSEIN TOWNSHIP, YANGON, MYANMAR.

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Myint, Su Kyaw; Narksawat, Kulaya; Sillabutra, Jutatip

2016-09-01

Betel nut chewing can cause precancerous oral lesions and is common in Myanmar. We conducted a cross sectional study aimed to estimate prevalence and factors influencing betel nut chewing among 420 subjects aged ≥18 years in West Insein Township, Yangon, Myanmar in order to inform preventive health programs. The mean age of the study subjects was 45(±15) years. The overall prevalence of current betel nut chewing among study subjects was 55.2%. The mean age starting betel nut chewing was 29(±13) years, and the mean duration of chewing was 15(±13) years. The reasons given by study subjects for chewing betel nut included the addictive effect to betel nut, to release tension, to get rid of boredom and to stop smoking. Sixty-two point three percent of current betel nut chewers also chewed tobacco and 24.2% also smoked cigarettes. Factors significantly associated with betel nut chewing were male gender, current alcohol consumer, having no education or finishing primary or secondary school, having a low score regarding their attitude about the health effects of betel nut chewing, and having high score on interpersonal factors by family and peer pressure. Our results show a need to better educate the public about the health effects of betel nut chewing among the study population.

Talking to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans about tobacco use.

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Widome, Rachel; Joseph, Anne M; Polusny, Melissa A; Chlebeck, Bernadette; Brock, Betsy; Gulden, Ashley; Fu, Steven S

2011-07-01

Our goal in this study was to examine beliefs and attitudes about tobacco use in the newest generation of combat veterans, those who served in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]). We held 5 focus groups (n = 17) with Minnesota Army National Guard soldiers who had recently returned from combat deployment in support of OEF/OIF. Sessions were audiorecorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. We found that it is common to use tobacco in the combat zone for stress and anger management and boredom relief. Tobacco was also a tool for staying alert, a way to socialize, and provided a chance to take breaks. Participants recognized the culture of tobacco use in the military. Stress, nicotine dependence, the tobacco environment at drill activities, and perceived inaccessibility of cessation tools perpetuated use at home and served as a barrier to cessation. Repeatedly, participants cited tobacco policies (such as increased taxes and smoke-free workspaces) as motivators for quitting. There are specific circumstances common to combat zones that promote tobacco use. Results suggest that environmental changes that address the prominence of tobacco in military culture, the acceptance of nonsmoking breaks, and cessation programs that address stress issues and make cessation aids available may be effective in reducing tobacco use.

Ecological momentary assessment of antecedents and consequences of smoking in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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Mitchell, John T; Dennis, Michelle F; English, Joseph S; Dennis, Paul A; Brightwood, Amy; Beckham, Jean C; Kollins, Scott H

2014-09-01

The current study assessed antecedents and consequences of ad lib cigarette smoking in smokers diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Adult smokers with ADHD (n = 17) completed 870 smoking and 622 nonsmoking electronic diary entries over a 7-day observation period of their naturalistic smoking behavior. Data collection occurred from 2011 to 2012. Generalized estimating equations indicated that ADHD smokers were more likely to smoke when urge to smoke, negative affect, boredom, stress, worry, and restlessness were elevated. In addition, participants were more likely to smoke in situations that elicited higher levels of nervousness and frustration. ADHD symptoms, in general, did not differ between smoking and nonsmoking contexts, though hyperactive-impulsive ADHD symptoms were elevated prior to smoking in frustrating situations. Additional situational antecedent variables were associated with smoking, including being in the presence of others smoking, being in a bar or restaurant, while outside, and while consuming caffeinated or alcoholic beverages. Participants also reported a significant improvement in urge to smoke, negative affect, stress, hunger, and ADHD symptoms after smoking a cigarette. Findings suggest certain contextual factors that may maintain ad lib cigarette smoking in smokers with ADHD and identify potential treatment targets in smoking cessation interventions for this at-risk group. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed. Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Canine olfaction as an alternative to analytical instruments for ...

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Recent literature has touted the use of canine olfaction as a diagnostic tool for identifying pre-clinical disease status, especially cancer and infection from biological media samples. Studies have shown a wide range of outcomes, ranging from almost perfect discrimination, all the way to essentially random results. This disparity is not likely to be a detection issue; dogs have been shown to have extremely sensitive noses as proven by their use for tracking, bomb detection and search and rescue. However, in contrast to analytical instruments, dogs are subject to boredom, fatigue, hunger and external distractions. These challenges are of particular importance in a clinical environment where task repetition is prized, but not as entertaining for a dog as chasing odours outdoors. The question addressed here is how to exploit the intrinsic sensitivity and simplicity of having a dog simply sniff out disease, in the face of variability in behavior and response. There is no argument that living cells emanate a variety of gas- and liquid-phase compounds as waste from normal metabolism, and that these compounds become easureable from various biological media including skin, blood, urine, breath, feces, etc. [1, 2] The overarching term for this phenomenon from the perspective of systems biology analysis is “cellular respiration”, which has become an important topic for the interpretation and documentation of the human exposome, the chemical counterpart to the genome.

Links between Psychotropic Substance Use and Sensation Seeking in a Prevalence Study: The Role of Some Features of Parenting Style in a Large Sample of Adolescents

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Marco Scalese

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Aims. The objectives of the study were to (a investigate the prevalence risk of current drug users and (b explore the association between parental monitoring, adolescent-parent relationship, family structure, financial status, and sensation-seeking and psychotropic substance use. Methods. Data were drawn from the 2002 Italian student population survey of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. The sample size was 10,790 adolescents, aged 15–19 years. Multivariate logistic analyses were performed. Findings. The prevalence of users was 27.3% (34.2% males; 21.6% females. Single-parent and reconstructed families were related to the greatest likelihood of substance use. A medium financial status and, for females, a satisfying relationship with father were protective factors. Probability of engaging in risk-taking behavior increased when parental knowledge decreased. Exploring deeper how parental monitoring could modify the relation between different traits of sensation seeking and substances use revealed the following: “thrill and adventure seeking,” within the case of a good monitoring, can help against the use of substances; “boredom susceptibility” is not associated with drug use, except when parental monitoring is weak. Conclusions. Specific subdimensions, associated with substance use, may be more amenable to prevention than general interventions on sensation-seeking personality. Family is the context that could promote health education.

Introduction of a new instrument to measure motivation for gaming: the electronic gaming motives questionnaire.

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Myrseth, Helga; Notelaers, Guy; Strand, Leif Åge; Borud, Einar Kristian; Olsen, Olav Kjellevold

2017-09-01

To adapt the four-dimensional Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Revised (GMQ-R) to measure the motivation for engaging in electronic gaming, and to validate the internal structure and investigate the criterion validity of the new Electronic Gaming Motives Questionnaire (EGMQ). The GMQ-R was adapted to measure motivation for playing video games and the new instrument was tested on a sample of Norwegian conscripts selected randomly from the pool of conscripts who started their military service between 2013 and 2015. The questionnaire was administered to all those who had played video games during the last 6 months and consisted of 853 gamers (86.8% men, mean age = 19.4 years). All participants completed the EGMQ, as well as other measures of gaming behaviour, gaming problems, boredom, loneliness and depression. The confirmatory factor analyses showed that the proposed EGMQ (measuring enhancement, coping, social and self-gratification motives) displayed satisfactory fit and internal consistency. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that gender emerged as a significant predictor (P motivational dimensions explained an additional 5.8-38.8% of the variance. Coping and self-gratification predicted gaming problems (P motivational dimensions were also predicted differentially by indicators of psychosocial wellbeing, indicating divergent validity of the four motives. The four-dimensional Electronic Gaming Motives Questionnaire is a valid instrument for measuring motives for gaming. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

An exploratory study of long-haul truck drivers' secondary tasks and reasons for performing them.

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Iseland, Tobias; Johansson, Emma; Skoog, Siri; Dåderman, Anna M

2018-08-01

Research on drivers has shown how certain visual-manual secondary tasks, unrelated to driving, increase the risk of being involved in crashes. The purpose of the study was to investigate (1) if long-haul truck drivers in Sweden engage in secondary tasks while driving, what tasks are performed and how frequently, (2) the drivers' self-perceived reason/s for performing them, and (3) if psychological factors might reveal reasons for their engaging in secondary tasks. The study comprised 13 long-haul truck drivers and was conducted through observations, interviews, and questionnaires. The drivers performed secondary tasks, such as work environment related "necessities" (e.g., getting food and/or beverages from the refrigerator/bag, eating, drinking, removing a jacket, face rubbing, and adjusting the seat), interacting with a mobile phone/in-truck technology, and doing administrative tasks. The long-haul truck drivers feel bored and use secondary tasks as a coping strategy to alleviate boredom/drowsiness, and for social interaction. The higher number of performed secondary tasks could be explained by lower age, shorter driver experience, less openness to experience, lower honesty-humility, lower perceived stress, lower workload, and by higher health-related quality of life. These explanatory results may serve as a starting point for further studies on large samples to develop a safer and healthier environment for long-haul truck drivers. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Negative Academic Emotion and Psychological Well-being in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daoyang Wang

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The study aimed to explore the relationship among negative academic emotions (e.g., anxiety, shame, anger, boredom, hopelessness, disappointment, and hatred, psychological well-being (including life vitality, health concern, altruism commitment, self-value, friendly relationship, and personal development, and cognitive reappraisal in rural-to-urban migrant adolescents in China. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the relationship between psychological well-being and negative academic emotions is moderated by cognitive reappraisal. A total of 311 migrant adolescents aged 14–20 years were selected, including 132 boys and 179 girls. Results of a regression analysis showed that cognitive reappraisal (positive and negative academic emotions were significant predictors of psychological well-being. The interaction effect between cognitive reappraisal and negative academic emotion was also a significant predictor of psychological well-being. In the simple slope analysis the group with a below average cognitive reappraisal score the negative academic emotions were associated with lower psychological well-being, whereas in the group with above average cognitive reappraisal the effect of negative academic emotions on psychological well-being was not significant. However, for those with a cognitive reappraisal score of 1 standard deviation above the average, the effect of negative academic emotions on psychological well-being was not significant. These results suggest that cognitive reappraisal was a significant moderator in the relationship between negative academic emotion and psychological well-being.

Understanding why an active video game intervention did not improve motor skill and physical activity in children with developmental coordination disorder: A quantity or quality issue?

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Howie, Erin K; Campbell, Amity C; Abbott, Rebecca A; Straker, Leon M

2017-01-01

Active video games (AVGs) have been identified as a novel strategy to improve motor skill and physical activity in clinical populations. A recent cross-over randomized trial found AVGs to be ineffective at improving motor skill and physical activity in the home-environment for children with or at-risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The study purpose was to better understand why the intervention had been ineffective by examining the quantity and quality of AVG play during an AVG intervention for children with or at-risk for DCD. Participants (n=21, ages 9-12) completed the 16 week AVG intervention. Detailed quantitative and qualitative data were systematically triangulated to obtain the quantity of exposure (AVG exposure over time, patterns of exposure) and quality of use (game selection, facilitators and barriers to play). The median AVG dose (range 30-35min/day) remained relatively stable across the intervention and met the prescribed dose. Play quality was impacted by game selection, difficulty playing games, lack of time, illness, technical difficulties and boredom. The ineffectiveness of a home-based AVG intervention may be due to quality of play. Strategies to improve the quality of game play may help realize the potential benefits of AVGs as a clinical tool for children with DCD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development and initial evaluation of the Pornography-Use Avoidance Self-Efficacy Scale.

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Kraus, Shane W; Rosenberg, Harold; Martino, Steve; Nich, Charla; Potenza, Marc N

2017-09-01

Background and aims This study employed a newly developed questionnaire to evaluate whether men's self-efficacy to avoid using pornography in each of 18 emotional, social, or sexually arousing situations was associated with either their typical frequency of pornography use or their hypersexuality. Methods Using an Internet-based data collection procedure, 229 male pornography users (M age  = 33.3 years, SD = 12.2) who had sought or considered seeking professional help for their use of pornography completed questionnaires assessing their situationally specific self-efficacy, history of pornography use, self-efficacy to employ specific pornography-reduction strategies, hypersexuality, and demographic characteristics. Results Frequency of pornography use was significantly negatively associated with level of confidence in 12 of the 18 situations. In addition, lower hypersexuality and higher confidence to employ pornography-use-reduction strategies were associated with higher confidence to avoid using pornography in each of the 18 situations. A principal axis factor analysis yielded three clusters of situations: (a) sexual arousal/boredom/opportunity, (b) intoxication/locations/easy access, and (c) negative emotions. Discussion and conclusions This questionnaire could be employed to identify specific high-risk situations for lapse or relapse and as a measure of treatment outcome among therapy clients, but we recommend further examination of the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the questionnaire in treatment samples. Because only one of the three clusters reflected a consistent theme, we do not recommend averaging self-efficacy within factors to create subscales.

The onset and progression of alcohol use disorders: A qualitative study from Goa, India.

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Mackinnon, Nathalie; Bhatia, Urvita; Nadkarni, Abhijit

2017-06-30

Quantitative evidence about the burden of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) needs to be complemented with a nuanced qualitative understanding of explanatory models to help supplement public health strategies that are too often steeped uncritically in biomedical models. The aim of this study was to identify the role of various factors in the onset and persistence of AUD and recovery from AUD. This was a qualitative study nested in a population cohort from Goa, India. In-depth interviews of men with incident, recovered, and persistent AUD covered topics such as changes in drinking habits over time, perceptions and experiences about starting/stopping drinking, and so on. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Reasons to begin drinking included social drinking, functional use of alcohol, stress, and boredom. Progression to problematic drinking patterns was characterized by drinking alone, alternating between abstinent and heavy drinking periods, and drinking based on the availability of finances. Some enablers to reduce/stop drinking included consequences of drinking lifestyle and personal resolve; some barriers included availability of alcohol at social events and stress. Some reasons for persisting heavy use of alcohol included lack of family support, physical withdrawal symptoms, peer pressure, stress, and easy availability. This article offers a strong conceptualization and nuanced understanding of AUD across a spectrum of developmental courses. This adds to the limited literature on explanatory models of AUD in India and identifies potential targets for prevention and treatment strategies for AUD in low- and middle-income country settings.

Association of the dopamine D2 receptor rs1800497 polymorphism and eating behavior in Chilean children.

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Obregón, Ana M; Valladares, Macarena; Goldfield, Gary

2017-03-01

Studies have established a strong genetic component in eating behavior. The TaqI A1 polymorphism (rs1800497) has previously been associated with obesity and eating behavior. Additionally, this polymorphism has been associated with diminished dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) density, higher body mass, and food reinforcement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the DRD2 rs1800497 polymorphism and eating behavior in Chilean children. This was a cross-sectional study in which we selected 258 children (44% girls, 56% boys; ages 8-14 y) with a wide variation in body mass index. Anthropometric measurements were performed by standard procedures. Eating behavior was assessed using the Eating in Absence of Hunger Questionnaire (EAHQ), Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire, and the Food Reinforcement Value Questionnaire. Genotype of the rs1800497 was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Association of the TaqI A1 variant (T allele) with eating behavior was assessed using nonparametric tests. Compared with normal-weight children, the obese group demonstrated higher scores on the External Eating and Fatigue/Boredom subscales of the EAHQ. Higher scores were assessed in Food Responsiveness, Emotional Overeating, Enjoyment to Food and Desire to Drink subscales (P Food subscale in boys. The TaqI A1 polymorphism may be a risk factor for eating behavior traits that may predispose children to greater energy intake and obesity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The meanings and context of smoking among Mexican university students.

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Thrasher, James F; Bentley, Mararet E

2006-01-01

We sought to describe the dominant social contexts and meanings of smoking among Mexican university students. Structured observations were made and individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 43 university students who were at five levels of involvement with smoking (i.e., never smoker; ex-smoker; experimenter; regular smoker; frequent smoker). Content analysis of interview transcripts was used to distill the primary settings and themes that students associated with smoking. Outside their homes and away from the purview of their parents, the environments that students frequented were permissive of smoking, supporting their perceptions of smoking behavior, cigarettes, and the tobacco industry as normal and socially acceptable. Cigarette smoking was a highly social practice, with students practicing simultaneous smoking and cigarette sharing to underscore bonds with others. Moreover, the leisure times and places in which students smoked appeared to bolster their perceptions of cigarettes as offering them pleasurable relaxation and escape from boredom and conflictual social relations. All students believed that smoking was addictive and that second-hand smoke was dangerous to non-smokers. The short-term negative outcomes of smoking appeared more salient to students than either the longer-term health outcomes of smoking or the practices of the tobacco industry. The meanings and context of smoking were comparable to those found among youth in other parts of the world. Successful tobacco prevention messages and policies to prevent smoking in other youth populations may also succeed among Mexican youth.

Effect of (social) media on the political figure fever model: Jokowi-fever model

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Yong, Benny; Samat, Nor Azah

2016-02-01

In recent years, political figures begin to utilize social media as one of alternative to engage in communication with their supporters. Publics referred to Jokowi, one of the candidates in Indonesia presidential election in 2014, as the first politician in Indonesia to truly understand the power of social media. Social media is very important in shaping public opinion. In this paper, effect of social media on the Jokowi-fever model in a closed population will be discussed. Supporter population is divided into three class sub-population, i.e susceptible supporters, Jokowi infected supporters, and recovered supporters. For case no positive media, there are two equilibrium points; the Jokowi-fever free equilibrium point in which it locally stable if basic reproductive ratio less than one and the Jokowi-fever endemic equilibrium point in which it locally stable if basic reproductive ratio greater than one. For case no negative media, there is only the Jokowi-fever endemic equilibrium point in which it locally stable if the condition is satisfied. Generally, for case positive media proportion is positive, there is no Jokowi-fever free equilibrium point. The numerical result shows that social media gives significantly effect on Jokowi-fever model, a sharp increase or a sharp decrease in the number of Jokowi infected supporters. It is also shown that the boredom rate is one of the sensitive parameters in the Jokowi-fever model; it affects the number of Jokowi infected supporters.

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH COLOURFUL PUZZLE GAME

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Risca Dwiaryanti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary plays an important role because it links to the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Those aspects should be integrated in teaching and learning process of English. However, the students must be able to know the meaning of each word or vocabulary of English in order to master the four skills. It is as a mean to create a sentence in daily communication to show someone’s feeling, opinion, idea, desire, etc. So that, both speakers understand what the other speaker mean. However, English as a second language in Indonesia seems very hard for the students to master vocabulary of English. It makes them not easy to be understood directly and speak fluently. The students, sometimes, get difficulties in understanding, memorizing the meaning of the vocabulary, and getting confused in using the new words. There must be an effective strategy to attract students’ interest, break the boredom, and make the class more lively. Based on the writer experience, Colourful Puzzle Game is able to make the students learn vocabulary quickly. It needs teacher’s creativity to create the materials of this game based on the class condition. The teacher just need a game board made from colourful papers, write any command and prohibition words on it. A dice is a tool to decide where the player should stop based on the number. Some pins as counter as sign of each player.

Sensation seeking in males involved in recreational high risk sports

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M Guszkowska

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The study examined sensation seeking intensity level in males involved in recreational high risk sports and investigated whether its level depends on type of sport practised. Additionally, in case of parachutists, sport experience of study participants were scrutinised with regard to its possible impact on the level of sensation seeking.The research involved 217 males aged 17 to 45, practising recreational high risk sports, namely: parachuting (n=98; wakeboarding (n=30; snowboarding (n=30; scuba diving (n=22; alpinism (n=20; paragliding (n=17. The control group included 54 men not involved in sports. Polish version of Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS-IV of Zuckerman was applied.Results show, that high risk sports males are featured by stronger need of sensations in comparison to control group and this concerned all but one aspect of sensation seeking variable. The only exception was the need of intellectual stimulation. Except from the thrill and adventure seeking dimension, type of sport may also be an important determinant of sensation seeking. Men practising snowboard and wakeboard presented stronger need for sensations, especially in the dimension of experience seeking, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. Sport experience (number of jumps in parachuting did not differentiate the level of sensation seeking among investigated parachutists. Population of sport high risk male takers was not homogeneous, and therefore in future research one should analyse specific sports (or events in a certain sport separately.

Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

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Jeremias J. de Klerk

2012-02-01

Research purpose: The aim is to provide an explanation to the lure behind interventions and to contribute to building a theory on plausible systems psychodynamic drivers and mechanisms of recurrent change interventions. Motivation for the study: This study provides insights into social defences in ways that did not receive much attention previously; specifically how defence mechanisms act as drivers for new change and improvement interventions. Research design, approach and method: A literature study, consisting of a literature review and a phenomenological analysis. The study was conducted from the systems psychodynamic approach. Main findings: Improvement interventions often represent defences that serve to contain anxieties or maintain fantasies. Four specific themes emerged: interventions defend the perception of being in control, they maintain the fantasy that one is busy with worthy actions to overcome challenges, they are defences against boredom or contain anxieties about incompetence, and they maintain the fantasy of being heroic leaders. Practical/managerial implications: The findings can assist leaders to understand their own defences in order to avoid embarking on non-essential interventions. This can free up much time, energy and effort to spend on other priorities, assisting organisations to achieve better results. Contribution/value-add: The study refutes the notion that improvement interventions are always rational coping mechanisms and highlights the role of improvement interventions as defences to reduce anxiety, even though they may contribute little to organisational survival in real terms.

Análise da versão espanhola do Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI adaptado à Educação Física Analysis of the Spanish version of the Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI adapted to Physical Education

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Antonio Granero-Gallegos

2013-03-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as propriedades psicométricas do Sport Satisfation Instrument (SSI adaptado para a Educação Física (EF por meio de uma análise fatorial exploratória da estrutura bidimensional do instrumento em uma amostra espanhola. Com isso, buscou-se determinar, de maneira preliminar, se o SSI constitui um instrumento válido e fiável para ser utilizado em futuras pesquisas. O instrumento foi elaborado em um modelo teórico de dois fatores: Satisfação/Diversão e Tédio. A amostra constituiu-se de um total de 224 alunos de secundária entre 12 e 19 anos. A versão [espanhola] do instrumento adaptado para a EF demonstrou níveis aceitáveis de consistência interna.The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI adapted physical education (PE using exploratory factor analysis of the dimensional structure of the instrument in a Spanish sample. It was intended to determine, on a preliminary basis, whether it constitutes a valid and reliable for use in future research. Was administered to a total of 224 high school students 12 to 19 years. This analysis supports the hypothesized theoretical model of two factors (satisfaction / fun and boredom. The Spanish version of the instrument for PE showed acceptable levels of internal consistency.

Factors influencing long-term adherence to pelvic floor exercises in women with urinary incontinence.

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Venegas, Mónica; Carrasco, Bernardita; Casas-Cordero, Romina

2018-03-01

To ensure the effectiveness of Physical Therapy for urinary incontinence (UI), it is crucial that patients adhere to treatment in both the long and the short term. Treatment adherence may prevent symptom progression and the need for surgery, which is associated with higher costs and potential complications. Adherence is defined as carrying out a recommended behavioral modification or change. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established that adherence is a multifactorial phenomenon determined by the interaction of five dimensions, which include diverse factors that affect long-term adherence on many levels. To identify the factors that influence long-term adherence to pelvic floor exercises in women with UI. Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The sample was recruited from the "Centro Integral de Reeducación de Piso Pélvico" (CIREP), and included 61 women treated for UI at the center in 2014 and 2015. Participants completed a self-administered, 28-item questionnaire developed for this study based on the WHO five dimensions. Data analysis was performed using STATA 13.0 software. Having performed pelvic floor home exercises after discharge from Physical Therapy was significantly associated with self-rated treatment adherence (P pelvic floor exercise program (P pelvic floor exercises in women with UI; forgetting to do the exercises and boredom with the exercises were the factors most strongly related to low treatment adherence, while motivation and commitment were associated with high adherence in this population. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Do surgeon interviewers have human factor-related issues during the long day UK National Trauma and Orthopaedic specialty recruitment process?

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Scrimgeour, D S G; Higgins, J; Bucknall, V; Arnett, R; Featherstone, C R; Cleland, J; Lee, A J; Brennan, P A

2018-03-05

The role that human factors (HF) play in contributing to medical error is increasingly being recognised by healthcare professionals. Surprisingly, much less is known about the possible effects of HF including boredom, fatigue and organisational influences, on performance outside of the clinical environment such as examining or assessing candidates in other high stakes situations. The authors used a validated 38 response questionnaire based around the HF analysis and classification system (HFACS) to assess factors including stress and pressure, care and support and working within the rules for surgeon interviewers at the UK national trainee selection process in Trauma and Orthopaedic surgery. 121 completed questionnaires were analysed (86% response rate). No statistically significant differences were found between interviewer experience, grade or role at the interview and the mean scores obtained for all four factor items. Overall interviewers had a positive experience during national selection with mean factor scores ranging from 3.80 to 3.98 (out of a maximum satisfaction score of 5). Careful planning by organisations and recognising the importance of the human element are essential to ensure assessors are looked after properly during high stakes assessment processes. Our data suggests that a positive experience for examiners is likely to benefit candidate performance and contribute to a fair and reliable recruitment process. The relationship between examiner experience and candidate performance merits further investigation. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Departing from PowerPoint default mode: Applying Mayer's multimedia principles for enhanced learning of parasitology.

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Nagmoti, Jyoti Mahantesh

2017-01-01

PowerPoint (PPT™) presentation has become an integral part of day-to-day teaching in medicine. Most often, PPT™ is used in its default mode which in fact, is known to cause boredom and ineffective learning. Research has shown improved short-term memory by applying multimedia principles for designing and delivering lectures. However, such evidence in medical education is scarce. Therefore, we attempted to evaluate the effect of multimedia principles on enhanced learning of parasitology. Second-year medical students received a series of lectures, half of the lectures used traditionally designed PPT™ and the rest used slides designed by Mayer's multimedia principles. Students answered pre and post-tests at the end of each lecture (test-I) and an essay test after six months (test-II) which assessed their short and long term knowledge retention respectively. Students' feedback on quality and content of lectures were collected. Statistically significant difference was found between post test scores of traditional and modified lectures (P = 0.019) indicating, improved short-term memory after modified lectures. Similarly, students scored better in test II on the contents learnt through modified lectures indicating, enhanced comprehension and improved long-term memory (P learning through multimedia designed PPT™ and suggested for their continued use. It is time to depart from default PPT™ and adopt multimedia principles to enhance comprehension and improve short and long term knowledge retention. Further, medical educators may be trained and encouraged to apply multimedia principles for designing and delivering effective lectures.

Students' Perceptions and Emotions Toward Learning in a Flipped General Science Classroom

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Jeong, Jin Su; González-Gómez, David; Cañada-Cañada, Florentina

2016-10-01

Recently, the inverted instruction methodologies are gaining attentions in higher educations by claiming that flipping the classroom engages more effectively students with the learning process. Besides, students' perceptions and emotions involved in their learning process must be assessed in order to gauge the usability of this relatively new instruction methodology, since it is vital in the educational formation. For this reason, this study intends to evaluate the students' perceptions and emotions when a flipped classroom setting is used as instruction methodology. This research was conducted in a general science course, sophomore of the Primary Education bachelor degree in the Training Teaching School of the University of Extremadura (Spain). The results show that the students have the overall positive perceptions to a flipped classroom setting. Particularly, over 80 % of them considered that the course was a valuable learning experience. They also found this course more interactive and were willing to have more courses following a flipped model. According to the students' emotions toward a flipped classroom course, the highest scores were given to the positive emotions, being fun and enthusiasm along with keyword frequency test. Then, the lowest scores were corresponded to negative emotions, being boredom and fear. Therefore, the students attending to a flipped course demonstrated to have more positive and less negative emotions. The results obtained in this study allow drawing a promising tendency about the students' perceptions and emotions toward the flipped classroom methodology and will contribute to fully frame this relatively new instruction methodology.

Perceptions of individual and community environmental influences on fruit and vegetable intake, North Carolina, 2004.

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Boyington, Josephine E A; Schoster, Britta; Remmes Martin, Kathryn; Shreffler, Jack; Callahan, Leigh F

2009-01-01

Increases in obesity and other chronic conditions continue to fuel efforts for lifestyle behavior changes. However, many strategies do not address the impact of environment on lifestyle behaviors, particularly healthy dietary intake. This study explored the perceptions of environment on intake of fruits and vegetables in a cohort of 2,479 people recruited from 22 family practices in North Carolina. Participants were administered a health and social demographic survey. Formative assessment was conducted on a subsample of 32 people by using focus groups, semistructured individual interviews, community mapping, and photographs. Interviews and discussions were transcribed and content was analyzed using ATLAS.ti version 5. Survey data were evaluated for means, frequencies, and group differences. The 2,479 participants had a mean age of 52.8 years, mean body mass index (BMI) of 29.4, and were predominantly female, white, married, and high school graduates. The 32 subsample participants were older, heavier, and less educated. Some prevalent perceptions about contextual factors related to dietary intake included taste-bud fatigue (boredom with commonly eaten foods), life stresses, lack of forethought in meal planning, current health status, economic status, the ability to garden, lifetime dietary exposure, concerns about food safety, contradictory nutrition messages from the media, and variable work schedules. Perceptions about intake of fruits and vegetables intake are influenced by individual (intrinsic) and community (extrinsic) environmental factors. We suggest approaches for influencing behavior and changing perceptions using available resources.

Sensation seeking and smoking behaviors among adolescents in the Republic of Korea.

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Hwang, Heejin; Park, Sunhee

2015-06-01

This study aimed to explore the relationship between the four components of sensation seeking (i.e., disinhibition, thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, and boredom susceptibility) and three types of smoking behavior (i.e., non-smoking, experimental smoking, and current smoking) among high school students in the Republic of Korea. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed using two models. In Model 1, the four subscales of sensation seeking were used as covariates, and in Model 2, other control factors (i.e., characteristics related to demographics, individuals, family, school, and friends) were added to Model 1 in order to adjust for their effects. In Model 1, the impact of disinhibition on experimental smoking and current smoking was statistically significant. In Model 2, the influence of disinhibition on both of these smoking behaviors remained statistically significant after controlling for all the other covariates. Also, the effect of thrill and adventure seeking on experimental smoking was statistically significant. The two statistically significant subscales of sensation seeking were positively associated with the risk of smoking behaviors. According to extant literature and current research, sensation seeking, particularly disinhibition, is strongly associated with smoking among youth. Therefore, sensation seeking should be measured among adolescents to identify those who are at greater risk of smoking and to develop more effective intervention strategies in order to curb the smoking epidemic among youth. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Marijuana use and associated motives in Colorado university students.

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Phillips, Kristina T; Lalonde, Trent L; Phillips, Michael M; Schneider, Maryia M

2017-12-01

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among college students, with heavy use leading to negative outcomes. Use of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes in select U.S. states has been controversial, with concerns surrounding increased prevalence rates and harm. The current exploratory study aimed to assess marijuana use in college students in Colorado, demographic differences in frequency of use, and motives for using. College students (N = 300; 61% female) were recruited through introductory psychology courses and completed a series of questionnaires and a marijuana urine screen. Almost three-fourths of the sample reported lifetime use of marijuana. Sixty-five percent used marijuana within the last year and 29% tested positive on the urine screen. Hurdle Poisson regression models with a subset of participants (n = 117) showed non-Greek and freshman status were associated with increased number of days participants used marijuana in the last month. Problem marijuana use was positively associated with a range of motives-of note-motives focused on coping, boredom, alcohol, and food. Prevalence rates of marijuana use were high in this sample of college students in a state with legal recreational marijuana use. Particular students (eg, students who use marijuana to cope) may be at higher risk for problem marijuana use. Developing effective, tailored interventions for university students is warranted. (Am J Addict 2017;26:830-837). © 2017 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Mindfulness and eating behavior in adolescent girls at risk for type 2 diabetes.

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Pivarunas, Bernadette; Kelly, Nichole R; Pickworth, Courtney K; Cassidy, Omni; Radin, Rachel M; Shank, Lisa M; Vannucci, Anna; Courville, Amber B; Chen, Kong Y; Tanofsky-Kraff, Marian; Yanovski, Jack A; Shomaker, Lauren B

2015-09-01

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship of dispositional mindfulness to binge eating and associated eating attitudes and behaviors among adolescent girls at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Participants were 114 overweight or obese adolescents enrolled in a study of girls with a family history of T2D and mild depressive symptoms. Adolescent self-reports of mindfulness, eating in the absence of hunger, and depressive symptoms were collected. An interview was administered to determine presence of binge eating episodes and a behavioral task was used to assess the reinforcing value of food relative to other nonsnack food rewards. Body composition was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. In analyses accounting for race, percent body fat, lean mass, height, age, and depressive symptoms, dispositional mindfulness was associated with a lower odds of binge eating (p = .002). Controlling for the same potential confounds, mindfulness was also inversely associated with eating concern, eating in the absence of hunger in response to fatigue/boredom, and higher food reinforcement relative to physical activity (all p mindfulness are related to binge eating and associated attitudes and behaviors that may confer risk for obesity and metabolic problems. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which mindfulness plays a role in the etiology and/or maintenance of disinhibited eating in adolescents at risk for T2D. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Psychopathology of Online Poker Players: Review of Literature.

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Moreau, Axelle; Chabrol, Henri; Chauchard, Emeline

2016-06-01

Background and aims Online Texas Hold'em poker has become a spectacular form of entertainment in our society, and the number of people who use this form of gambling is increasing. It seems that online poker activity challenges existing theoretical concepts about problem gambling behaviors. The purpose of this literature review is to provide a current overview about the population of online poker players. Methods To be selected, articles had to focus on psychopathology in a sample of online poker players, be written in English or French, and be published before November 2015. A total of 17 relevant studies were identified. Results In this population, the proportion of problematic gamblers was higher than in other forms of gambling. Several factors predicting excessive gambling were identified such as stress, internal attribution, dissociation, boredom, negative emotions, irrational beliefs, anxiety, and impulsivity. The population of online poker players is largely heterogeneous, with experimental players forming a specific group. Finally, the validity of the tools used to measure excessive or problematic gambling and irrational beliefs are not suitable for assessing online poker activity. Discussion and conclusions Future studies need to confirm previous findings in the literature of online poker games. Given that skills are important in poker playing, skill development in the frames of excessive use of online poker should be explored more in depth, particularly regarding poker experience and loss chasing. Future research should focus on skills, self-regulation, and psychopathology of online poker players.

The development and initial evaluation of the Pornography-Use Avoidance Self-Efficacy Scale

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Kraus, Shane W.; Rosenberg, Harold; Martino, Steve; Nich, Charla; Potenza, Marc N.

2017-01-01

Background and aims This study employed a newly developed questionnaire to evaluate whether men’s self-efficacy to avoid using pornography in each of 18 emotional, social, or sexually arousing situations was associated with either their typical frequency of pornography use or their hypersexuality. Methods Using an Internet-based data collection procedure, 229 male pornography users (Mage = 33.3 years, SD = 12.2) who had sought or considered seeking professional help for their use of pornography completed questionnaires assessing their situationally specific self-efficacy, history of pornography use, self-efficacy to employ specific pornography-reduction strategies, hypersexuality, and demographic characteristics. Results Frequency of pornography use was significantly negatively associated with level of confidence in 12 of the 18 situations. In addition, lower hypersexuality and higher confidence to employ pornography-use-reduction strategies were associated with higher confidence to avoid using pornography in each of the 18 situations. A principal axis factor analysis yielded three clusters of situations: (a) sexual arousal/boredom/opportunity, (b) intoxication/locations/easy access, and (c) negative emotions. Discussion and conclusions This questionnaire could be employed to identify specific high-risk situations for lapse or relapse and as a measure of treatment outcome among therapy clients, but we recommend further examination of the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the questionnaire in treatment samples. Because only one of the three clusters reflected a consistent theme, we do not recommend averaging self-efficacy within factors to create subscales. PMID:28889754

Assessing and improving health in the workplace: an integration of subjective and objective measures with the STress Assessment and Research Toolkit (St.A.R.T. method

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Panari Chiara

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this work was to introduce a new combined method of subjective and objective measures to assess psychosocial risk factors at work and improve workers’ health and well-being. In the literature most of the research on work-related stress focuses on self-report measures and this work represents the first methodology capable of integrating different sources of data. Method An integrated method entitled St.A.R.T. (STress Assessment and Research Toolkit was used in order to assess psychosocial risk factors and two health outcomes. In particular, a self-report questionnaire combined with an observational structured checklist was administered to 113 workers from an Italian retail company. Results The data showed a correlation between subjective data and the rating data of the observational checklist for the psychosocial risk factors related to work contexts such as customer relationship management and customer queue. Conversely, the factors related to work content (workload and boredom measured with different methods (subjective vs. objective showed a discrepancy. Furthermore, subjective measures of psychosocial risk factors were more predictive of workers’ psychological health and exhaustion than rating data. The different objective measures played different roles, however, in terms of their influence on the two health outcomes considered. Conclusions It is important to integrate self-related assessment of stressors with objective measures for a better understanding of workers’ conditions in the workplace. The method presented could be considered a useful methodology for combining the two measures and differentiating the impact of different psychological risk factors related to work content and context on workers’ health.

Phenomenology in Its Original Sense.

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van Manen, Max

2017-05-01

In this article, I try to think through the question, "What distinguishes phenomenology in its original sense?" My intent is to focus on the project and methodology of phenomenology in a manner that is not overly technical and that may help others to further elaborate on or question the singular features that make phenomenology into a unique qualitative form of inquiry. I pay special attention to the notion of "lived" in the phenomenological term "lived experience" to demonstrate its critical role and significance for understanding phenomenological reflection, meaning, analysis, and insights. I also attend to the kind of experiential material that is needed to focus on a genuine phenomenological question that should guide any specific research project. Heidegger, van den Berg, and Marion provide some poignant exemplars of the use of narrative "examples" in phenomenological explorations of the phenomena of "boredom," "conversation," and "the meaningful look in eye-contact." Only what is given or what gives itself in lived experience (or conscious awareness) are proper phenomenological "data" or "givens," but these givens are not to be confused with data material that can be coded, sorted, abstracted, and accordingly analyzed in some "systematic" manner. The latter approach to experiential research may be appropriate and worthwhile for various types of qualitative inquiry but not for phenomenology in its original sense. Finally, I use the mythical figure of Kairos to show that the famous phenomenological couplet of the epoché-reduction aims for phenomenological insights that require experiential analysis and attentive (but serendipitous) methodical inquiry practices.

Five-year follow-up of people diagnosed with compulsive shopping disorder.

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Black, Donald W; Shaw, Martha; Allen, Jeff

2016-07-01

The authors assessed clinical symptoms and self-reported shopping and spending behavior in people diagnosed with compulsive shopping (CS) at a 5-year follow-up interview. All met the criteria of McElroy et al. for lifetime CS and had the disorder for >1year. Structured and semistructured instruments and self-report questionnaires were used to collect data. Of the original 26 subjects, 17 (65%) were interviewed and are the focus of this report. At follow-up, their ages ranged from 23 to 67years (mean=44years). Lifetime psychiatric comorbidity was common, but few had current psychiatric disorders at follow-up. Interest in shopping and spending decreased for eight (47%), stayed the same for five (29%), and increased for four (24%) subjects. Eleven subjects (65%) reported having attempted to quit their CS and three (18%) reported successfully doing so. Triggers for returning to CS included feelings of pressure/excitement/tension to shop; boredom; negative feelings such as sadness, depression, frustration, or anger; and the desire for positive feelings like happiness, power, or elation. Mean scores on the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS) and the shopping version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale showed overall improvement in CS symptoms (d=1.16 and d=-1.19, respectively); subjects were also less impulsive (d=-0.48). At baseline and follow-up, those with a lifetime mood disorder tended to have greater CS severity. While the subjects showed overall improvement, most had ongoing symptoms of CS. The implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, and Risk-Taking Behaviors among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Dependent Persons

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Koosha Paydary

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. The aim of this study was to compare impulsivity and risky decision making among HIV-positive and negative heroin dependent persons. Methods. We compared different dimensions of impulsivity and risky decision making in two groups of 60 HIV-positive and 60 HIV-negative male heroin dependent persons. Each group was comprised of equal numbers of current (treatment seeker and former (abstinent heroin addicts. Data collection tools included Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS, and Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS. Results. In SSS, comprised of four subscales including thrill and adventure seeking (TAS, experience seeking (ES, disinhibition (DIS, and boredom susceptibility (BS, there was a borderline difference in DIS (P=0.08 as HIV-positive group scored higher than HIV-negative group. Also, ES and total score were significantly higher among HIV-positive patients. In BART, HIV-positive subjects scored higher in risk taking than HIV-negative subjects as reflected in higher Average Number of puffs in Successful Balloons (ANSB. In BIS, HIV-positive group scored significantly higher in cognitive impulsivity (CI (P=0.03 and nonplanning impulsivity (NPI (P=0.05 in comparison to HIV-negative group. Also, current heroin addicts scored significantly higher in NPI compared to former addict HIV-negative participants (P=0.015. IGT did not show any significant difference between groups. Conclusion. Higher levels of impulsivity and risk taking behaviors among HIV-positive heroin addicts will increase serious concerns regarding HIV transmission from this group to other opiate dependents and healthy people.

Measuring aesthetic emotions: A review of the literature and a new assessment tool

Science.gov (United States)

Hosoya, Georg; Menninghaus, Winfried; Beermann, Ursula; Wagner, Valentin; Eid, Michael; Scherer, Klaus R.

2017-01-01

Aesthetic perception and judgement are not merely cognitive processes, but also involve feelings. Therefore, the empirical study of these experiences requires conceptualization and measurement of aesthetic emotions. Despite the long-standing interest in such emotions, we still lack an assessment tool to capture the broad range of emotions that occur in response to the perceived aesthetic appeal of stimuli. Elicitors of aesthetic emotions are not limited to the arts in the strict sense, but extend to design, built environments, and nature. In this article, we describe the development of a questionnaire that is applicable across many of these domains: the Aesthetic Emotions Scale (Aesthemos). Drawing on theoretical accounts of aesthetic emotions and an extensive review of extant measures of aesthetic emotions within specific domains such as music, literature, film, painting, advertisements, design, and architecture, we propose a framework for studying aesthetic emotions. The Aesthemos, which is based on this framework, contains 21 subscales with two items each, that are designed to assess the emotional signature of responses to stimuli’s perceived aesthetic appeal in a highly differentiated manner. These scales cover prototypical aesthetic emotions (e.g., the feeling of beauty, being moved, fascination, and awe), epistemic emotions (e.g., interest and insight), and emotions indicative of amusement (humor and joy). In addition, the Aesthemos subscales capture both the activating (energy and vitality) and the calming (relaxation) effects of aesthetic experiences, as well as negative emotions that may contribute to aesthetic displeasure (e.g., the feeling of ugliness, boredom, and confusion). PMID:28582467

Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, and Risk-Taking Behaviors among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Dependent Persons

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Paydary, Koosha; Mahin Torabi, Somayeh; SeyedAlinaghi, SeyedAhmad; Noori, Mehri; Noroozi, Alireza; Ameri, Sara; Ekhtiari, Hamed

2016-01-01

Objective. The aim of this study was to compare impulsivity and risky decision making among HIV-positive and negative heroin dependent persons. Methods. We compared different dimensions of impulsivity and risky decision making in two groups of 60 HIV-positive and 60 HIV-negative male heroin dependent persons. Each group was comprised of equal numbers of current (treatment seeker) and former (abstinent) heroin addicts. Data collection tools included Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). Results. In SSS, comprised of four subscales including thrill and adventure seeking (TAS), experience seeking (ES), disinhibition (DIS), and boredom susceptibility (BS), there was a borderline difference in DIS (P = 0.08) as HIV-positive group scored higher than HIV-negative group. Also, ES and total score were significantly higher among HIV-positive patients. In BART, HIV-positive subjects scored higher in risk taking than HIV-negative subjects as reflected in higher Average Number of puffs in Successful Balloons (ANSB). In BIS, HIV-positive group scored significantly higher in cognitive impulsivity (CI) (P = 0.03) and nonplanning impulsivity (NPI) (P = 0.05) in comparison to HIV-negative group. Also, current heroin addicts scored significantly higher in NPI compared to former addict HIV-negative participants (P = 0.015). IGT did not show any significant difference between groups. Conclusion. Higher levels of impulsivity and risk taking behaviors among HIV-positive heroin addicts will increase serious concerns regarding HIV transmission from this group to other opiate dependents and healthy people. PMID:27051528

Automated Air Traffic Control Operations with Weather and Time-Constraints: A First Look at (Simulated) Far-Term Control Room Operations

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Prevot, Thomas; Homola, Jeffrey R.; Martin, Lynne H.; Mercer, Joey S.; Cabrall, Christopher C.

2011-01-01

In this paper we discuss results from a recent high fidelity simulation of air traffic control operations with automated separation assurance in the presence of weather and time-constraints. We report findings from a human-in-the-loop study conducted in the Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) at the NASA Ames Research Center. During four afternoons in early 2010, fifteen active and recently retired air traffic controllers and supervisors controlled high levels of traffic in a highly automated environment during three-hour long scenarios, For each scenario, twelve air traffic controllers operated eight sector positions in two air traffic control areas and were supervised by three front line managers, Controllers worked one-hour shifts, were relieved by other controllers, took a 3D-minute break, and worked another one-hour shift. On average, twice today's traffic density was simulated with more than 2200 aircraft per traffic scenario. The scenarios were designed to create peaks and valleys in traffic density, growing and decaying convective weather areas, and expose controllers to heavy and light metering conditions. This design enabled an initial look at a broad spectrum of workload, challenge, boredom, and fatigue in an otherwise uncharted territory of future operations. In this paper we report human/system integration aspects, safety and efficiency results as well as airspace throughput, workload, and operational acceptability. We conclude that, with further refinements. air traffic control operations with ground-based automated separation assurance can be an effective and acceptable means to routinely provide very high traffic throughput in the en route airspace.

Measuring aesthetic emotions: A review of the literature and a new assessment tool.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ines Schindler

Full Text Available Aesthetic perception and judgement are not merely cognitive processes, but also involve feelings. Therefore, the empirical study of these experiences requires conceptualization and measurement of aesthetic emotions. Despite the long-standing interest in such emotions, we still lack an assessment tool to capture the broad range of emotions that occur in response to the perceived aesthetic appeal of stimuli. Elicitors of aesthetic emotions are not limited to the arts in the strict sense, but extend to design, built environments, and nature. In this article, we describe the development of a questionnaire that is applicable across many of these domains: the Aesthetic Emotions Scale (Aesthemos. Drawing on theoretical accounts of aesthetic emotions and an extensive review of extant measures of aesthetic emotions within specific domains such as music, literature, film, painting, advertisements, design, and architecture, we propose a framework for studying aesthetic emotions. The Aesthemos, which is based on this framework, contains 21 subscales with two items each, that are designed to assess the emotional signature of responses to stimuli's perceived aesthetic appeal in a highly differentiated manner. These scales cover prototypical aesthetic emotions (e.g., the feeling of beauty, being moved, fascination, and awe, epistemic emotions (e.g., interest and insight, and emotions indicative of amusement (humor and joy. In addition, the Aesthemos subscales capture both the activating (energy and vitality and the calming (relaxation effects of aesthetic experiences, as well as negative emotions that may contribute to aesthetic displeasure (e.g., the feeling of ugliness, boredom, and confusion.

Associations of Housing First Configuration and Crime and Social Connectedness Among Persons With Chronic Homelessness Histories.

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Whittaker, Elizabeth; Flatau, Paul Robert; Swift, Wendy; Dobbins, Timothy A; Burns, Lucinda

2016-10-01

This study compared changes in criminal justice contact, quality of life, and social connectedness over a 12-month follow-up period between participants in two Housing First configurations (scattered site [SS] and congregate site [CS]). A longitudinal, quantitative design was utilized for this ecological study. Changes in individual outcomes over time were compared for SS and CS participants who completed both baseline and 12-month follow-up surveys (N=63). The number of contacts with various types of criminal justice system channels differed significantly between SS and CS participants, decreasing significantly among SS participants and increasing significantly among CS participants. The two groups did not differ on quality-of-life outcomes or social-connectedness measures, with the exception of case management engagement, whereby a greater proportion of SS participants disengaged from this service over time compared with CS participants. At follow-up, significant within-group changes over time emerged, with increased boredom reported among SS participants, whereas CS participants reported improvements in social relationships, with fewer reporting losing their temper. The findings supported the notion that the Housing First approach has the potential to significantly improve the lives of persons who have experienced chronic homelessness, a traditionally marginalized and vulnerable group. Over time, this may result in a reduction in the use of acute services, thereby reducing societal costs. The challenge remains to identify the suitability of particular configurations of housing and support and how service delivery can optimize individual outcomes so positive outcomes are maintained in the longer term.

Benchmarking the minimum Electron Beam (eBeam) dose required for the sterilization of space foods

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Bhatia, Sohini S.; Wall, Kayley R.; Kerth, Chris R.; Pillai, Suresh D.

2018-02-01

As manned space missions extend in length, the safety, nutrition, acceptability, and shelf life of space foods are of paramount importance to NASA. Since food and mealtimes play a key role in reducing stress and boredom of prolonged missions, the quality of food in terms of appearance, flavor, texture, and aroma can have significant psychological ramifications on astronaut performance. The FDA, which oversees space foods, currently requires a minimum dose of 44 kGy for irradiated space foods. The underlying hypothesis was that commercial sterility of space foods could be achieved at a significantly lower dose, and this lowered dose would positively affect the shelf life of the product. Electron beam processed beef fajitas were used as an example NASA space food to benchmark the minimum eBeam dose required for sterility. A 15 kGy dose was able to achieve an approximately 10 log reduction in Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli bacteria, and a 5 log reduction in Clostridium sporogenes spores. Furthermore, accelerated shelf life testing (ASLT) to determine sensory and quality characteristics under various conditions was conducted. Using Multidimensional gas-chromatography-olfactometry-mass spectrometry (MDGC-O-MS), numerous volatiles were shown to be dependent on the dose applied to the product. Furthermore, concentrations of off -flavor aroma compounds such as dimethyl sulfide were decreased at the reduced 15 kGy dose. The results suggest that the combination of conventional cooking combined with eBeam processing (15 kGy) can achieve the safety and shelf-life objectives needed for long duration space-foods.

Lost in the present but confident of the past: experiences of being in a psycho-geriatric unit as narrated by persons with dementia.

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Edvardsson, David; Nordvall, Karin

2008-02-01

To illuminate meanings of being in a psycho-geriatric unit. Background. There are known risks associated with moving persons with dementia from home to an institution, but little is known about how they experience being in psycho-geriatric units. Using open-ended research interviews, six persons with mild to severe dementia were asked to narrate about their experiences in the hospital. The interviews were interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutical method of analysis. The comprehensive understanding of being in a psycho-geriatric unit points towards an understanding of being lost in the present but confident of the past. The analysis showed that the participants appeared lost as they could not narrate where they were and why, but that they became confident when narrating about their previous life. The analysis also showed that being in the hospital meant sharing living space with strangers, invasions of private space and establishing new acquaintances. Being in the unit could also mean boredom and devaluation for participants. The interviews were interpreted in the light of narrative theory of identity: persons with dementia narrating about previous life experiences as to make claims of how to be interpreted by others; as persons instead of merely as 'demented' patients. Experiences of care narrated by persons with dementia present meaningful and useful information that can provide feedback to inform care practice. Experiences of care from persons with dementia provide meaningful information about care and the doing and being of staff. Creating time for conversations with these persons may facilitate well-being.

Assessing and improving health in the workplace: an integration of subjective and objective measures with the STress Assessment and Research Toolkit (St.A.R.T.) method.

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Panari, Chiara; Guglielmi, Dina; Ricci, Aurora; Tabanelli, Maria Carla; Violante, Francesco Saverio

2012-09-20

The aim of this work was to introduce a new combined method of subjective and objective measures to assess psychosocial risk factors at work and improve workers' health and well-being. In the literature most of the research on work-related stress focuses on self-report measures and this work represents the first methodology capable of integrating different sources of data. An integrated method entitled St.A.R.T. (STress Assessment and Research Toolkit) was used in order to assess psychosocial risk factors and two health outcomes. In particular, a self-report questionnaire combined with an observational structured checklist was administered to 113 workers from an Italian retail company. The data showed a correlation between subjective data and the rating data of the observational checklist for the psychosocial risk factors related to work contexts such as customer relationship management and customer queue. Conversely, the factors related to work content (workload and boredom) measured with different methods (subjective vs. objective) showed a discrepancy. Furthermore, subjective measures of psychosocial risk factors were more predictive of workers' psychological health and exhaustion than rating data. The different objective measures played different roles, however, in terms of their influence on the two health outcomes considered. It is important to integrate self-related assessment of stressors with objective measures for a better understanding of workers' conditions in the workplace. The method presented could be considered a useful methodology for combining the two measures and differentiating the impact of different psychological risk factors related to work content and context on workers' health.

A Study of Engagement in Active and Passive Roles in Casual Leisure Occupations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne M. Fenech

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: This article explores whether engagement with listening occupations varies depending on the occupational role or the level of sensory stimulation presented to participants with neuropalliative conditions. Method: The study used a multiple case quasi-experimental study involving marginal-participant timesampled observations of engagement of individuals with neuropalliative conditions, with casual leisure occupations using the Individual Child Engagement Record. Data was collected using the Individual Child Engagement Record with 14 participants (who had Barthel scores averaging 7/100. The participants represented a particular sub-group of individuals with profound levels of neurological disability. Results: The time-sampled observations of engagement showed a significant difference between the scores for the control condition, engagement in a potentially active role at a music-making group, and engagement in a passive audience role when listening to an audio recording. Therefore, passively listening to an audio recording appears to be less engaging than the potentially active role offered by the music-making group for participants with neuropalliative conditions. Conclusion: The small sample size and the use of a single observer without video recording backup compromised the reliability of the data while complying with the facility’s POVA policy. Switching on an auditory recording or broadcast, while easy to arrange, may not be sufficiently engaging to prevent boredom and occupational deprivation. Consideration of an individual’s sensory, support, and role preference should be undertaken when designing leisure occupations for individuals with neuropalliative conditions rather than simply switching on an audio recording or broadcast

Measuring aesthetic emotions: A review of the literature and a new assessment tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Ines; Hosoya, Georg; Menninghaus, Winfried; Beermann, Ursula; Wagner, Valentin; Eid, Michael; Scherer, Klaus R

2017-01-01

Aesthetic perception and judgement are not merely cognitive processes, but also involve feelings. Therefore, the empirical study of these experiences requires conceptualization and measurement of aesthetic emotions. Despite the long-standing interest in such emotions, we still lack an assessment tool to capture the broad range of emotions that occur in response to the perceived aesthetic appeal of stimuli. Elicitors of aesthetic emotions are not limited to the arts in the strict sense, but extend to design, built environments, and nature. In this article, we describe the development of a questionnaire that is applicable across many of these domains: the Aesthetic Emotions Scale (Aesthemos). Drawing on theoretical accounts of aesthetic emotions and an extensive review of extant measures of aesthetic emotions within specific domains such as music, literature, film, painting, advertisements, design, and architecture, we propose a framework for studying aesthetic emotions. The Aesthemos, which is based on this framework, contains 21 subscales with two items each, that are designed to assess the emotional signature of responses to stimuli's perceived aesthetic appeal in a highly differentiated manner. These scales cover prototypical aesthetic emotions (e.g., the feeling of beauty, being moved, fascination, and awe), epistemic emotions (e.g., interest and insight), and emotions indicative of amusement (humor and joy). In addition, the Aesthemos subscales capture both the activating (energy and vitality) and the calming (relaxation) effects of aesthetic experiences, as well as negative emotions that may contribute to aesthetic displeasure (e.g., the feeling of ugliness, boredom, and confusion).

Age-Related Changes in Associations Between Reasons for Alcohol Use and High-Intensity Drinking Across Young Adulthood.

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Patrick, Megan E; Evans-Polce, Rebecca; Kloska, Deborah D; Maggs, Jennifer L; Lanza, Stephanie T

2017-07-01

Analyses focus on whether self-reported reasons for drinking alcohol change in their associations with high-intensity drinking across the transition to adulthood. Self-report data on high-intensity drinking (10+ drinks) collected from the national Monitoring the Future study in 2005 to 2014 from those ages 18-26 were used (N = 2,664 [60% women] for all drinkers and 1,377 for heavy episodic [5+] drinkers; up to 6,541 person-waves). Time-varying effect modeling examined changes in the direction and magnitude of associations between eight reasons for drinking and high-intensity alcohol use across continuous age. Four reasons to drink showed quite stable associations with high-intensity drinking across age: drinking to get away from problems, to get high, to relax, and to sleep. Associations between two reasons and high-intensity drinking decreased with age: anger/frustration and to have a good time. The association between drinking because of boredom and high-intensity drinking increased with age. Drinking because it tastes good had a weak association with high-intensity drinking. Among heavy episodic drinkers, reasons for use also differentiated high-intensity drinking, with two exceptions: drinking to have a good time and to relax did not distinguish drinking 10+ drinks from drinking 5-9 drinks. Reasons for drinking are differentially associated with high-intensity drinking, compared with any other drinking and compared with lower intensity heavy drinking, across age during the transition to adulthood. Intervention programs seeking to mitigate alcohol-related harms should focus on reasons for use when they are the most developmentally salient.

Reasons for recent marijuana use in relation to use of other illicit drugs among high school seniors in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Palamar, Joseph J; Griffin-Tomas, Marybec; Kamboukos, Dimitra

2015-01-01

Studies show that illicit cannabis (marijuana) use is related to use of other illicit drugs and that reasons for use are related to frequency of marijuana use. However, research is needed to examine whether specific reasons for marijuana use are associated with use of other illicit drugs. Data from recent marijuana-using high school seniors were examined from 12 cohorts of Monitoring the Future (Weighted n = 6481) to examine whether reasons for recent marijuana use are associated with use of eight other illicit drugs. Using "to experiment" decreased odds of reporting use of each drug and using to decrease effects of other drugs increased odds of reporting use of each drug. In multivariable models, using marijuana "to experiment" decreased the odds for reporting use of hallucinogens other than LSD and narcotics other than heroin. Using marijuana for "insight" increased the odds for use of hallucinogens other than LSD, and use due to "boredom" increased the odds for reporting use of powder cocaine and hallucinogens other than LSD. Using marijuana to increase effects of other drugs increased odds of reporting use of each of the eight drugs, and using it to decrease other drug effects increased odds of reporting use of crack, hallucinogens other than LSD, and amphetamine/stimulants. This study helped identify illicit marijuana users who are more likely to report use of other illicit drugs. Prevention efforts need to focus on students who report certain reasons for marijuana use as they may be at risk for use of other illicit drugs.

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

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Szalma, James L

2014-12-01

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

Usability and Feasibility of an Internet-Based Virtual Pedestrian Environment to Teach Children to Cross Streets Safely

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Schwebel, David C.; McClure, Leslie A.; Severson, Joan

2013-01-01

Child pedestrian injury is a preventable global health challenge. Successful training efforts focused on child behavior, including individualized streetside training and training in large virtual pedestrian environments, are laborious and expensive. This study considers the usability and feasibility of a virtual pedestrian environment “game” application to teach children safe street-crossing behavior via the internet, a medium that could be broadly disseminated at low cost. Ten 7- and 8-year-old children participated. They engaged in an internet-based virtual pedestrian environment and completed a brief assessment survey. Researchers rated children's behavior while engaged in the game. Both self-report and researcher observations indicated the internet-based system was readily used by the children without adult support. The youth understood how to engage in the system and used it independently and attentively. The program also was feasible. It provided multiple measures of pedestrian safety that could be used for research or training purposes. Finally, the program was rated by children as engaging and educational. Researcher ratings suggested children used the program with minimal fidgeting or boredom. The pilot test suggests an internet-based virtual pedestrian environment offers a usable, feasible, engaging, and educational environment for child pedestrian safety training. If future research finds children learn the cognitive and perceptual skills needed to cross streets safely within it, internet-based training may provide a low-cost medium to broadly disseminate child pedestrian safety training. The concept may be generalized to other domains of health-related functioning such as teen driving safety, adolescent sexual risk-taking, and adolescent substance use. PMID:24678263

Standardisasi Waktu Kerja Pada Unit Pengolahan Kakao, Koperasi Rimbun, Pidie Jaya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juanda Juanda

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Standardization of Working Time at Cocoa Processing Unit, Rimbun Cooperative, Pidie Jaya ABSTRACT. Rimbun Cooperative is a business unit operating a chocolate factory producing several chocolate products such as cocoa fat, cocoa powder, 3 in 1 instant drinks (sachets, and chocolate bars. This research aims to measure standard times of operators in all working stations of the chocolate factory. These standards comprised the standards in roasting, peeling, pasting, pressing, powdering, powder sieving, powder mixing, dough mixing, refining, and chonching working stations. The data were directly collected using Time Study method with Stop Watch. The samples were randomly selected with five (5 repetitions; and the standard times were measured using Westinghouse Method to quantify performance and allowance factors. The result shows that standard times of operators in each working station are as follows: roasting (36 minutes, peeling (193 minutes, pasting (276 minutes, pressing (78 minutes, powdering (17 minutes, powder sieving (14 minutes, powder mixing (36 minutes, dough mixing (17 minutes, refining (30 minutes, and chonching (30 minutes. In peeling, pasting, powdering, powder sieving working stations, standard times of operators cannot be separated with working times of machines because the operators are required to run the machines (sequence. In general, standard times of operators, after calculation, are larger than direct records because during the working times, operators would not or could not use allowance factors for personal uses, such as for going to bathroom, drinking, and socializing with their colleagues as means to reduce stress or boredom.

Using Self-Determination Theory to Understand Motivation Deficits in Schizophrenia: The ‘Why’ of Motivated Behavior

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Gard, David E.; Sanchez, Amy H.; Starr, Jessica; Cooper, Shanna; Fisher, Melissa; Rowlands, Abby; Vinogradov, Sophia

2014-01-01

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) provides a model for understanding motivation deficits in schizophrenia, and recent research has focused on problems with intrinsic motivation. However, SDT emphasizes that motivated behavior results from three different factors: intrinsic motivators (facilitated by needs for autonomy, competency, and relatedness), extrinsic motivators (towards reward or away from punishment), or when intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are absent or thwarted a disconnect/disengagement occurs resulting in behavior driven by boredom or ‘passing time’. Using a novel approach to Ecological Momentary Assessment, we assessed the degree to which people with schizophrenia were motivated by these factors relative to healthy control participants. Forty-seven people with and 41 people without schizophrenia were provided with cell phones and were called four times a day for one week. On each call participants were asked about their goals, and about the most important reason motivating each goal. All responses were coded by independent raters (blind to group and hypotheses) on all SDT motivating factors, and ratings were correlated to patient functioning and symptoms. We found that, relative to healthy participants, people with schizophrenia reported goals that were: 1) less motivated by filling autonomy and competency needs, but equivalently motivated by relatedness; 2) less extrinsically rewarding, but equivalently motivated by punishment; 3) more disconnected/disengaged. Higher disconnected/disengaged goals were significantly associated with higher negative symptoms and lower functioning. These findings indicate several important leverage points for behavioral treatments and suggest the need for vigorous psychosocial intervention focusing on autonomy, competence, and reward early in the course of illness. PMID:24853060

Self-perceived smoking motives and their correlates in a general population sample.

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Fidler, Jennifer A; West, Robert

2009-10-01

Understanding motivation to continue smoking may help the development of smoking cessation interventions. However, little information exists on the prevalence of specific motives for smoking in representative samples of smokers. This study examined smokers' reports of their motives for continued smoking in an English general population sample. A total of 2,133 smokers participating in monthly cross-sectional surveys (the Smoking Toolkit Study) identified which, if any, of the following motives they believed were important in keeping them smoking: enjoyment, stress relief, weight control, boredom relief, aid to concentration, aid to socializing, pain relief, liking being a smoker, and feeling bad when not smoking. Associations between these motives and gender, age, social grade, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, and quit attempts in the last year were examined using logistic regression. Enjoyment and stress relief were the most commonly reported motives (51% and 47%, respectively). Women reported stress relief and weight control more often than men, whereas men were more likely to report enjoyment and liking being a smoker. Older smokers reported enjoying smoking and liking being a smoker more than younger smokers but were less likely to report socializing and stress relief as important motives. Not having made a quit attempt in the last year was associated with enjoying smoking and liking being a smoker. Higher dependence was associated with a greater number of reported motives. While smoking for stress relief is common, perceptions of enjoyment of smoking and positive smoker identity may be the key motives that inhibit attempts at cessation.

Flipping Radiology Education Right Side Up.

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O'Connor, Erin E; Fried, Jessica; McNulty, Nancy; Shah, Pallav; Hogg, Jeffery P; Lewis, Petra; Zeffiro, Thomas; Agarwal, Vikas; Reddy, Sravanthi

2016-07-01

In flipped learning, medical students independently learn facts and concepts outside the classroom, and then participate in interactive classes to learn to apply these facts. Although there are recent calls for medical education reform using flipped learning, little has been published on its effectiveness. Our study compares the effects of flipped learning to traditional didactic instruction on students' academic achievement, task value, and achievement emotions. At three institutions, we alternated flipped learning with traditional didactic lectures during radiology clerkships, with 175 medical students completing a pretest on general diagnostic imaging knowledge to assess baseline cohort comparability. Following instruction, posttests and survey examinations of task value and achievement emotions were administered. Linear mixed effects analysis was used to examine the relationship between test scores and instruction type. Survey responses were modeled using ordinal category logistic regression. Instructor surveys were also collected. There were no baseline differences in test scores. Mean posttest minus pretest scores were 10.5% higher in the flipped learning group than in the didactic instruction group (P = 0.013). Assessment of task value and achievement emotions showed greater task value, increased enjoyment, and decreased boredom with flipped learning (all P flipped learning condition. Flipped learning was associated with increased academic achievement, greater task value, and more positive achievement emotions when compared to traditional didactic instruction. Further investigation of flipped learning methods in radiology education is needed to determine whether flipped learning improves long-term retention of knowledge, academic success, and patient care. Copyright © 2016 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The personality, motivational, and need-based background of problematic Tinder use.

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Orosz, Gábor; Benyó, Mária; Berkes, Bernadett; Nikoletti, Edina; Gál, Éva; Tóth-Király, István; Bőthe, Beáta

2018-04-12

Background and aims Tinder is a geo-located online dating application, which is present in almost 200 countries and has 10 million daily users. The aim of the present research was to investigate the motivational, personality, and basic psychological need-related background of problematic Tinder use. Methods After qualitative pretest and item construction, in Study 1 (N = 414), confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to corroborate the different motivational factors behind Tinder use. In Study 2 (N = 346), the associations between Big Five traits, Tinder motivations, and problematic Tinder use were examined with structural equation modeling (SEM). In Study 3 (N = 298), the potential role of general self-esteem, relatedness need satisfaction, and frustration in relation to Tinder-use motivations and problematic Tinder use was examined with SEM. Results In Study 1, a 16-item first-order factor structure was identified with four motivational factors, such as sex, love, self-esteem enhancement, and boredom. In Study 2, problematic Tinder use was mainly related to using Tinder for self-esteem enhancement. The Big Five personality factors were only weakly related to the four motivations and to problematic Tinder use. Counterintuitively, Study 3 showed that instead of global self-esteem, relatedness need frustration was the strongest predictor of self-esteem enhancement Tinder-use motivation which, in turn, was the strongest predictor of problematic Tinder use. Discussion Four motivational factors were identified as predictors of problematic use with need frustration being a relevant background variable instead of general personality traits.

Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualitative insights.

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Cohen-Mansfield, Jiska; Hazan, Haim; Lerman, Yaffa; Shalom, Vera

2016-04-01

Older persons are particularly vulnerable to loneliness because of common age-related changes and losses. This paper reviews predictors of loneliness in the older population as described in the current literature and a small qualitative study. Peer-reviewed journal articles were identified from psycINFO, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar from 2000-2012. Overall, 38 articles were reviewed. Two focus groups were conducted asking older participants about the causes of loneliness. Variables significantly associated with loneliness in older adults were: female gender, non-married status, older age, poor income, lower educational level, living alone, low quality of social relationships, poor self-reported health, and poor functional status. Psychological attributes associated with loneliness included poor mental health, low self-efficacy beliefs, negative life events, and cognitive deficits. These associations were mainly studied in cross-sectional studies. In the focus groups, participants mentioned environmental barriers, unsafe neighborhoods, migration patterns, inaccessible housing, and inadequate resources for socializing. Other issues raised in the focus groups were the relationship between loneliness and boredom and inactivity, the role of recent losses of family and friends, as well as mental health issues, such as shame and fear. Future quantitative studies are needed to examine the impact of physical and social environments on loneliness in this population. It is important to better map the multiple factors and ways by which they impact loneliness to develop better solutions for public policy, city, and environmental planning, and individually based interventions. This effort should be viewed as a public health priority.

Understanding tobacco use among Filipino American men.

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Maxwell, Annette E; Garcia, Gabriel M; Berman, Barbara A

2007-07-01

Although lung cancer is the top cancer killer among Filipino American men, data on tobacco-related knowledge and attitudes, cessation efforts, and preferences for smoking cessation programs among this population are lacking. We interviewed a community sample of 318 Filipino American men (110 current, 108 former, and 100 never-smokers, all immigrants) aged 40-75 years in Los Angeles County in English and Tagalog, to gain a better understanding of their tobacco use as a first step toward developing a culturally tailored smoking cessation program. In our sample, smokers had lower levels of education and income compared with nonsmokers and were less acculturated based on language use and English fluency. Smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to agree that smoking can alleviate stress, depression, and boredom, and that it is part of social interactions, growing up, being a man, and looking mature. These beliefs were summarized in a Smoking Beliefs Scale (Cronbach's alpha = .84), which predicted current smoking in a multivariate analysis, together with perceived risk of getting smoking-related diseases and peer norms. The most preferred smoking cessation intervention formats were educational small group sessions with other Filipino men (32%), followed by one-on-one consultations by a health professional (26%), video (20%), pamphlet (17%), and toll-free telephone number (6%). More than half of the current smokers requested these smoking cessation activities in Tagalog (34%) or a combination of Tagalog and English (24%). Based on these findings, we make specific recommendations for a smoking cessation program for Filipino men.

Sensation Seeking as one of the Motivating Factors for Performing Skydiving

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Bołdak Agnieszka

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction. For some time, the issue of participating in high-risk sports, including skydiving, has been linked to the trait of sensation seeking, but skydivers do not constitute a homogeneous group in terms of this factor. The aim of the study was to determine the role of the need for sensation in performing skydiving and to examine whether the importance of this factor differs depending on gender. Material and methods. The study included a total of 143 skydivers (98 men and 45 women aged from 17 to 49 years with different levels of expertise in skydiving. In total, 73 respondents were categorised as novices, and 70 were considered experts. Novice skydivers were defined as having completed no more than 10 jumps in their lives. Expert skydivers were persons who had made at least 100 jumps in their lives and had a licence to perform skydiving independently, without instructor supervision. The need for stimulation was measured using the Sensation Seeking Scale IV by Zuckerman, in its Polish version by Oleszkiewicz-Zsurzs. Results. Since a high proportion of individuals with a strong need for sensation was found among both men and women, it can be concluded that it is an important factor in primary selection in skydiving (when the sport is undertaken, regardless of gender. Conclusions. The significance of sensation seeking as a factor in secondary selection in skydiving (when the sport is being performed differs depending on the particular dimension of sensation seeking and gender. Susceptibility to boredom is probably a significant factor in secondary selection in women.

The benefits of hydrotherapy to patients with spinal cord injuries.

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Ellapen, Terry J; Hammill, Henriëtte V; Swanepoel, Mariëtte; Strydom, Gert L

2018-01-01

Many patients with spinal cord injury (PWSCI) lead sedentary lifestyles, experiencing poor quality of life and medical challenges. PWSCI don't like to participate in land-based-exercises because it's tedious to perform the same exercises, decreasing their rehabilitative compliance and negatively impacting their well-being. An alternative exercise environment and exercises may alleviate boredom, enhancing compliance. Discuss the benefits of hydrotherapy to PWSCI concerning underwater gait-kinematics, thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses and spasticity. A literature surveillance was conducted between 1998 and 2017, through the Crossref meta-database and Google Scholar, according to the PRISMA procedures. Key search words were water-therapy, aquatic-therapy, hydrotherapy, spinal cord injury, rehabilitation, human, kinematics, underwater gait, cardiorespiratory, thermoregulation and spasticity. The quality of each paper was evaluated using a modified Downs and Black Appraisal Scale. The participants were records pertaining to PWSCI and hydrotherapy. The outcomes of interest were: hydrotherapy interventions, the impact of hydrotherapy on gait-kinematics, thermoregulation during water submersion and cardiorespiratory function of PWSCI. Omitted records included: non-English publications from before 1998 or unrelated to hydrotherapy and PWSCI. The record screening admissibility was performed as follows: the title screen, the abstract screen and the full text screen. Literature search identified 1080 records. Upon application of the exclusion criteria, 92 titles, 29 abstracts and 17 full text records were eligible. Only 15 records were selected to be included in this clinical commentary. Evidence shows a paucity of randomised control trials (RCT) conducted in this field. Hydrotherapy improves PWSCI underwater gait-kinematics, cardiorespiratory and thermoregulatory responses and reduces spasticity.

The influence of music on mental effort and driving performance.

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Ünal, Ayça Berfu; Steg, Linda; Epstude, Kai

2012-09-01

The current research examined the influence of loud music on driving performance, and whether mental effort mediated this effect. Participants (N=69) drove in a driving simulator either with or without listening to music. In order to test whether music would have similar effects on driving performance in different situations, we manipulated the simulated traffic environment such that the driving context consisted of both complex and monotonous driving situations. In addition, we systematically kept track of drivers' mental load by making the participants verbally report their mental effort at certain moments while driving. We found that listening to music increased mental effort while driving, irrespective of the driving situation being complex or monotonous, providing support to the general assumption that music can be a distracting auditory stimulus while driving. However, drivers who listened to music performed as well as the drivers who did not listen to music, indicating that music did not impair their driving performance. Importantly, the increases in mental effort while listening to music pointed out that drivers try to regulate their mental effort as a cognitive compensatory strategy to deal with task demands. Interestingly, we observed significant improvements in driving performance in two of the driving situations. It seems like mental effort might mediate the effect of music on driving performance in situations requiring sustained attention. Other process variables, such as arousal and boredom, should also be incorporated to study designs in order to reveal more on the nature of how music affects driving. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study.

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Kühn, Simone; Kugler, Dimitrij Tycho; Schmalen, Katharina; Weichenberger, Markus; Witt, Charlotte; Gallinat, Jürgen

2018-03-13

It is a widespread concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce pro-social behaviour, increase impulsivity and interfere with cognition as well as mood in its players. Previous experimental studies have focussed on short-term effects of violent video gameplay on aggression, yet there are reasons to believe that these effects are mostly the result of priming. In contrast, the present study is the first to investigate the effects of long-term violent video gameplay using a large battery of tests spanning questionnaires, behavioural measures of aggression, sexist attitudes, empathy and interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness, risk taking, delay discounting), mental health (depressivity, anxiety) as well as executive control functions, before and after 2 months of gameplay. Our participants played the violent video game Grand Theft Auto V, the non-violent video game The Sims 3 or no game at all for 2 months on a daily basis. No significant changes were observed, neither when comparing the group playing a violent video game to a group playing a non-violent game, nor to a passive control group. Also, no effects were observed between baseline and posttest directly after the intervention, nor between baseline and a follow-up assessment 2 months after the intervention period had ended. The present results thus provide strong evidence against the frequently debated negative effects of playing violent video games in adults and will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective on the effects of violent video gaming.

Is psychological membership in the classroom a function of standing out while fitting in? Implications for achievement motivation and emotions.

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Gray, DeLeon L

2017-04-01

Education researchers have consistently linked students' perceptions of "fitting in" at school with patterns of motivation and positive emotions. This study proposes that "standing out" is also helpful for producing these outcomes, and that standing out works in concert with perceptions of fitting in. In a sample of 702 high school students nested within 33 classrooms, principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were each conducted on half of the sample. Results support the proposed structure of measures of standing out and fitting in. Multilevel latent profile analysis was then used to classify students into four profiles of standing out while fitting in (SOFI): Unfulfilled, Somewhat Fulfilled, Nearly Fulfilled, and Fulfilled. A multinomial logistic regression revealed that students of color and those on who paid free/reduced prices lunch were overrepresented in the Unfulfilled and Somewhat Fulfilled profiles. A multilevel path analysis was then performed to assess the direct and indirect associations of profile membership with measures of task value and achievement emotions. Relative to the other profiles, students in the Fulfilled SOFI Profile express greater psychological membership in their classrooms and, in turn, express higher valuing of academic material (i.e., intrinsic value, utility value, and attainment value) and more positive achievement emotions (i.e., more enjoyment and pride; less boredom, hopelessness, and shame). This investigation provides critical insights on the potential benefits of structuring academic learning environments to foster feelings of distinctiveness among adolescents; and has implications for cultivating identities and achievement motivation in academic settings. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychiatric morbidity in asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus patients

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V S Chauhan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Psychiatric morbidity in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV patients is being studied all over the world. There is paucity of Indian literature particularly in asymptomatic HIV individuals. Aim: The aim of the following study is to establish the prevalence and the determinants of psychiatric morbidity in asymptomatic HIV patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess psychiatric morbidity as per ICD-10 dacryocystorhinostomy criteria in 100 consecutive asymptomatic seropositive HIV patients and an equal number of age, sex, education, economic and marital status matched HIV seronegative control. All subjects were assessed with the general health questionnaire (GHQ, mini mental status examination, hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS and sensation seeking scale (SSS and the scores were analyzed statistically. Results: Asymptomatic HIV positive patients had significantly higher GHQ caseness and depression but not anxiety on HADS as compared to HIV seronegative controls. On SSS asymptomatic HIV seropositive subjects showed significant higher scores in thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking and boredom susceptibility as compared to controls. HIV seropositive patients had significantly higher incidence of total psychiatric morbidity. Among the individual disorders, alcohol dependence syndrome, sexual dysfunction and adjustment disorder were significantly increased compared with HIV seronegative controls. Conclusion: Psychiatric morbidity is higher in asymptomatic HIV patients when compared to HIV seronegative controls. Among the individual disorders, alcohol dependence syndrome, sexual dysfunction and adjustment disorder were significantly increased compared with HIV seronegative controls. High sensation seeking and substance abuse found in HIV seropositive patients may play a vital role in engaging in high-risk behavior resulting in this dreaded illness.

Characteristics and motivations of absconders from forensic mental health services: a case-control study.

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Wilkie, Treena; Penney, Stephanie R; Fernane, Stephanie; Simpson, Alexander I F

2014-03-27

Absconding from hospital is a significant health and security issue within psychiatric facilities that can have considerable adverse effects on patients, their family members and care providers, as well as the wider community. Several studies have documented correlates associated with absconding events among general psychiatric samples; however, few studies have examined this phenomenon within samples of forensic patients where the perception of threat to public safety in the event of an unauthorized absence from hospital is often higher. We investigate the frequency, timing, and determinants of absconding events among a sample of forensic psychiatric patients over a 24-month period, and compare patients who abscond to a control group matched along several sociodemographic and clinical dimensions. We explore, in a qualitative manner, patients' motives for absconding. Fifty-seven patients were responsible for 102 incidents of absconding during the two year study window. Forensic patients who absconded from hospital were more likely to have a history of absconding attempts, a diagnosed substance use disorder, as well as score higher on a structured professional violence risk assessment measure. Only one of the absconding events identified included an incident of minor violence, and very few included the commission of other illegal behaviors (with the exception of substance use). The most common reported motive for absconding was a sense of boredom or frustration. Using an inclusive definition of absconding, we found that absconding events were generally of brief duration, and that no member of the public was harmed by patients who absconded. Findings surrounding the motivations of absconders suggest that improvements in therapeutic communication between patients and clinical teams could help to reduce the occurrence of absconding events.

EXTENDED SPEECH EMOTION RECOGNITION AND PREDICTION

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Theodoros Anagnostopoulos

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Humans are considered to reason and act rationally and that is believed to be their fundamental difference from the rest of the living entities. Furthermore, modern approaches in the science of psychology underline that humans as a thinking creatures are also sentimental and emotional organisms. There are fifteen universal extended emotions plus neutral emotion: hot anger, cold anger, panic, fear, anxiety, despair, sadness, elation, happiness, interest, boredom, shame, pride, disgust, contempt and neutral position. The scope of the current research is to understand the emotional state of a human being by capturing the speech utterances that one uses during a common conversation. It is proved that having enough acoustic evidence available the emotional state of a person can be classified by a set of majority voting classifiers. The proposed set of classifiers is based on three main classifiers: kNN, C4.5 and SVM RBF Kernel. This set achieves better performance than each basic classifier taken separately. It is compared with two other sets of classifiers: one-against-all (OAA multiclass SVM with Hybrid kernels and the set of classifiers which consists of the following two basic classifiers: C5.0 and Neural Network. The proposed variant achieves better performance than the other two sets of classifiers. The paper deals with emotion classification by a set of majority voting classifiers that combines three certain types of basic classifiers with low computational complexity. The basic classifiers stem from different theoretical background in order to avoid bias and redundancy which gives the proposed set of classifiers the ability to generalize in the emotion domain space.

An In-Depth Qualitative Examination of the Ecstasy Experience: Results of a Focus Group with Ecstasy-Using College Students

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LEVY, KIRA B.; O'GRADY, KEVIN E.; WISH, ERIC D.; ARRIA, AMELIA M.

2010-01-01

This study examined ecstasy use in 30 college students who participated in one of four 60-minute focus groups with other participants who also had a history of ecstasy use. Ten topics emerged in the sessions: 1) pill ingredients, 2) mechanism of MDMA effects, 3) reasons for initiating ecstasy use, 4) risky behaviors and ecstasy use, 5) sexual activity and ecstasy, 6) positive effects from ecstasy use, 7) negative effects related to ecstasy use, 8) ecstasy and polysubstance use, 9) perceived risks of ecstasy use, and 10) motivational factors related to quitting ecstasy use. Most participants had a basic understanding of the contents of ecstasy pills, and the effects that ecstasy has on the brain and bodily functions. Participants reported positive effects on mood, social pressure, curiosity, availability, boredom, desire for an altered state of mind, desire to escape, self-medication, desire to have fun, and the ease of use of ecstasy in comparison to other drugs as reasons for initiating ecstasy use. They were divided regarding whether ecstasy increased the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors, including risky sexual behavior. Participants described their experiences of both the positive and negative effects (physical and psychological) that they attributed to their use of ecstasy. All participants were polysubstance users, consuming a number of other substances simultaneously and concurrently with ecstasy. The majority was unaware of specific types of problems ecstasy could potentially cause and discounted its potential harm. Participants varied in their motivation for quitting ecstasy use, including negative personal experiences while using ecstasy, health concerns, and addiction/tolerance. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. PMID:16048826

Camp life: Are northern work camps safe havens for a migrant workforce, or dens of iniquity rampant with sex, drugs and alcohol?

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Laverty, K.

2004-02-01

Two studies, dealing with life in work camps in northern Alberta and yielding contradictory results, are discussed. One study by a graduate student in sociology found that many of the men and women housed in work camps in remote locations of the northeastern oilsands belt use drugs, alcohol and casual sex to relieve boredom and loneliness. The other study, commissioned by the Athabasca Regional Issues Working Group (RWIG) found that camp workers visit Fort McMurray on the average of just over once a week, and use that time to take care of normal business, such as visiting health care professionals, buying gasoline, clothing, etc. It found no evidence of widespread sex, or drug or alcohol abuse among work camp residents. The RWIG study surveyed 25 per cent of the 6,272 worker population living in three camps in the Wood Buffalo region during June 2003. The study prepared by V. Taylor for a M.A. degree in sociology at the University of Calgary was severely criticized, primarily for its conclusions being based on a sample size of only nine men and one woman. Despite the criticism, the Taylor study made headlines across the country and has been instrumental in raising awareness of the special needs of a mobile workforce. A more broadly-based study is in progress at the University of Alberta, supported by the RCMP and a number of workplace stakeholders. Its objectives are to examine the situation more thoroughly, identify gaps in services and to explore long term solutions to what is undeniably a serious problem, indicated, if not proven, by the Taylor study.

Characteristics of Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use in U.S. University Students: A Qualitative-Method Investigation

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Li, Wen; O’Brien, Jennifer E.; Snyder, Susan M.; Howard, Matthew O.

2015-01-01

Studies have identified high rates and severe consequences of Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use (IA/PIU) in university students. However, most research concerning IA/PIU in U.S. university students has been conducted within a quantitative research paradigm, and frequently fails to contextualize the problem of IA/PIU. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study using the focus group approach and examined 27 U.S. university students who self-identified as intensive Internet users, spent more than 25 hours/week on the Internet for non-school or non-work-related activities and who reported Internet-associated health and/or psychosocial problems. Students completed two IA/PIU measures (Young’s Diagnostic Questionnaire and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale) and participated in focus groups exploring the natural history of their Internet use; preferred online activities; emotional, interpersonal, and situational triggers for intensive Internet use; and health and/or psychosocial consequences of their Internet overuse. Students’ self-reports of Internet overuse problems were consistent with results of standardized measures. Students first accessed the Internet at an average age of 9 (SD = 2.7), and first had a problem with Internet overuse at an average age of 16 (SD = 4.3). Sadness and depression, boredom, and stress were common triggers of intensive Internet use. Social media use was nearly universal and pervasive in participants’ lives. Sleep deprivation, academic under-achievement, failure to exercise and to engage in face-to-face social activities, negative affective states, and decreased ability to concentrate were frequently reported consequences of intensive Internet use/Internet overuse. IA/PIU may be an underappreciated problem among U.S. university students and warrants additional research. PMID:25647224

Using self-determination theory to understand motivation deficits in schizophrenia: the 'why' of motivated behavior.

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Gard, David E; Sanchez, Amy H; Starr, Jessica; Cooper, Shanna; Fisher, Melissa; Rowlands, Abby; Vinogradov, Sophia

2014-07-01

Self-determination theory (SDT) provides a model for understanding motivation deficits in schizophrenia, and recent research has focused on problems with intrinsic motivation. However, SDT emphasizes that motivated behavior results from three different factors: intrinsic motivators (facilitated by needs for autonomy, competency, and relatedness), extrinsic motivators (towards reward or away from punishment), or when intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are absent or thwarted a disconnect-disengagement occurs resulting in behavior driven by boredom or 'passing time'. Using a novel approach to Ecological Momentary Assessment, we assessed the degree to which people with schizophrenia were motivated by these factors relative to healthy control participants. Forty-seven people with and 41 people without schizophrenia were provided with cell phones and were called four times a day for one week. On each call participants were asked about their goals, and about the most important reason motivating each goal. All responses were coded by independent raters (blind to group and hypotheses) on all SDT motivating factors, and ratings were correlated to patient functioning and symptoms. We found that, relative to healthy participants, people with schizophrenia reported goals that were: (1) less motivated by filling autonomy and competency needs, but equivalently motivated by relatedness; (2) less extrinsically rewarding, but equivalently motivated by punishment; (3) more disconnected-disengaged. Higher disconnected-disengaged goals were significantly associated with higher negative symptoms and lower functioning. These findings indicate several important leverage points for behavioral treatments and suggest the need for vigorous psychosocial intervention focusing on autonomy, competence, and reward early in the course of illness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of internet addiction/pathological internet use in U.S. university students: a qualitative-method investigation.

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Wen Li

Full Text Available Studies have identified high rates and severe consequences of Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use (IA/PIU in university students. However, most research concerning IA/PIU in U.S. university students has been conducted within a quantitative research paradigm, and frequently fails to contextualize the problem of IA/PIU. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study using the focus group approach and examined 27 U.S. university students who self-identified as intensive Internet users, spent more than 25 hours/week on the Internet for non-school or non-work-related activities and who reported Internet-associated health and/or psychosocial problems. Students completed two IA/PIU measures (Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale and participated in focus groups exploring the natural history of their Internet use; preferred online activities; emotional, interpersonal, and situational triggers for intensive Internet use; and health and/or psychosocial consequences of their Internet overuse. Students' self-reports of Internet overuse problems were consistent with results of standardized measures. Students first accessed the Internet at an average age of 9 (SD = 2.7, and first had a problem with Internet overuse at an average age of 16 (SD = 4.3. Sadness and depression, boredom, and stress were common triggers of intensive Internet use. Social media use was nearly universal and pervasive in participants' lives. Sleep deprivation, academic under-achievement, failure to exercise and to engage in face-to-face social activities, negative affective states, and decreased ability to concentrate were frequently reported consequences of intensive Internet use/Internet overuse. IA/PIU may be an underappreciated problem among U.S. university students and warrants additional research.

Engaging Multimedia into Speaking Class Practices: Toward students’ Achievement and Motivation

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Ratnawati Ratnawati

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The present study reports several impacts of implementing multimedia toward teaching and learning process in speaking class at second grade students of Galuh University, Ciamis. Further, the study came from insights on students’ boredom during speaking class which affected their achievement and motivation.  Mixed method research design (Creswell, 2013 then employed to answer several proposed hypotheses. For proving the result of its application, observation, questionnaire, pre and post-test were administered to collect the data while both quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied to analyze the collected data from classroom practices. The research findings indicates that  multimedia in speaking class got positive responds from students in term of motivation and accomplishment. The great look portrayed from the class that students were enthusiastic, got involved and interested in multimedia provided by teacher during learning process. Moreover, pre and post-tests that are performace-based tests were greatly used to test the effectiveness of multimedia effects during the class. In this side, the researcher employed experiment of two equivalent groups: control and experimental group. It then reported that t-test related is 2.04  out of 1.70 for  t- distribution which points out that there is significant difference between the results of both tests. It means that the result of this research agreed that multimedia has good effects for teaching speaking in the scope of students’ interests, feedback and their cognitive aspects. In line with above statements, the further studies is also necessary  dealing with other multimedia for obtaining more positive effects toward learning process and those result enables to increase quality of education.

Characteristics of internet addiction/pathological internet use in U.S. university students: a qualitative-method investigation.

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Li, Wen; O'Brien, Jennifer E; Snyder, Susan M; Howard, Matthew O

2015-01-01

Studies have identified high rates and severe consequences of Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use (IA/PIU) in university students. However, most research concerning IA/PIU in U.S. university students has been conducted within a quantitative research paradigm, and frequently fails to contextualize the problem of IA/PIU. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study using the focus group approach and examined 27 U.S. university students who self-identified as intensive Internet users, spent more than 25 hours/week on the Internet for non-school or non-work-related activities and who reported Internet-associated health and/or psychosocial problems. Students completed two IA/PIU measures (Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale) and participated in focus groups exploring the natural history of their Internet use; preferred online activities; emotional, interpersonal, and situational triggers for intensive Internet use; and health and/or psychosocial consequences of their Internet overuse. Students' self-reports of Internet overuse problems were consistent with results of standardized measures. Students first accessed the Internet at an average age of 9 (SD = 2.7), and first had a problem with Internet overuse at an average age of 16 (SD = 4.3). Sadness and depression, boredom, and stress were common triggers of intensive Internet use. Social media use was nearly universal and pervasive in participants' lives. Sleep deprivation, academic under-achievement, failure to exercise and to engage in face-to-face social activities, negative affective states, and decreased ability to concentrate were frequently reported consequences of intensive Internet use/Internet overuse. IA/PIU may be an underappreciated problem among U.S. university students and warrants additional research.

Impact of utilisation of uncompleted handouts on power point presentations (PPT in rural Indian medical institute

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ROSHAN BHAISARE

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Note taking while attending a PPT requires high activity of memory and writing process which ultimately leads to what is called “death by power point” referring to boredom and fatigue. To overcome this we planned to evaluate the impact of utilisation of uncompleted handouts given prior to PPT presentations. Methods: Final year MBBS students were divided in 2 batches, batch A and batch B. For a set of lectures one batch was provided with handouts before lecture while the other batch was given lectures only. Crossover was done to avoid bias, all the lectures being given by the same presenter. At the end of each lecture, a short questionnaire of 10 Multiple Choice Question (MCQ was provided to the students. Mean scores were calculated for lectures with handouts and without handouts. Results: For a set of lectures, when batch A was provided with handouts, the mean score was 28.2; for batch B to which no handouts were given the mean score was 23.4. Similarly, for batch B when provided with handouts the mean score was 29.1, for batch A which was not provided with handouts the mean score was 24. There was an average increase of 4.2 marks. Actual gain when handouts were provided was 1.2 marks per lecture. It was more for the batch comprising of repeater students as compared to the batch of fresher students. Increase in attendance was also noted. Conclusion: Providing uncompleted handouts before a didactic lecture definitely results in increase in knowledge gain; repeater students benefit more with uncompleted handouts.

Reported use of technology in stroke rehabilitation by physical and occupational therapists.

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Langan, Jeanne; Subryan, Heamchand; Nwogu, Ifeoma; Cavuoto, Lora

2017-08-16

With the patient care experience being a healthcare priority, it is concerning that patients with stroke reported boredom and a desire for greater fostering of autonomy, when evaluating their rehabilitation experience. Technology has the potential to reduce these shortcomings by engaging patients through entertainment and objective feedback. Providing objective feedback has resulted in improved outcomes and may assist the patient in learning how to self-manage rehabilitation. Our goal was to examine the extent to which physical and occupational therapists use technology in clinical stroke rehabilitation home exercise programs. Surveys were sent via mail, email and online postings to over 500 therapists, 107 responded. Conventional equipment such as stopwatches are more frequently used compared to newer technology like Wii and Kinect games. Still, less than 25% of therapists' report using a stopwatch five or more times per week. Notably, feedback to patients is based upon objective data less than 50% of the time by most therapists. At the end of clinical rehabilitation, patients typically receive a written home exercise program and non-technological equipment, like theraband and/or theraputty to continue rehabilitation efforts independently. The use of technology is not pervasive in the continuum of stroke rehabilitation. Implications for Rehabilitation The patient care experience is a priority in healthcare, so when patients report feeling bored and desiring greater fostering of autonomy in stroke rehabilitation, it is troubling. Research examining the use of technology has shown positive results for improving motor performance and engaging patients through entertainment and use of objective feedback. Physical and occupational therapists do not widely use technology in stroke rehabilitation. Therapists should consider using technology in stroke rehabilitation to better meet the needs of the patient.

Drinking game participation, gender performance and normalization of intoxication among Nigerian university students.

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Dumbili, Emeka; Williams, Clare

2017-06-01

Most research on drinking games (DGs) and the associated risks focuses on Western countries. In the Nigerian context, DGs activity has not attracted scholarly attention but growing media reports indicate that Nigerian youths play DGs, and that a number of gamers have died during or immediately after game-playing. Drawing on gender performance scripts, we explored the performance of gender through DGs practices and the factors that motivate DGs participation. Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with male and female college students (aged 19-23 years) at a university in south-eastern Nigeria. The participants discussed the popularity of the DGs that students play on this campus, identifying the spaces where each game is played and the motivations for game-playing. Collective, contextual constructions of gender identities through 'Fastest-Drinker' DG were identified, and the participants also performed gender through 'Truth-or-Dare' and 'Endurance' DGs. Men dominated 'First-to-Finish' DGs, which are played at parties and bars, and consumed beer or stout, while women, who mainly played Truth-or-Dare games, drank spirits or sweetened alcoholic beverages. Boredom and fun seeking provoked game-playing among women while adherence to masculinity norms, which engendered the public performance of masculinity and gambling activities, motivated men to play DGs. To avoid 'collective shame', men's friendship groups provided support/care for inebriated game-playing members, but the immediacy of this support/care varied according to DGs type. DGs appear to normalize heavy drinking and the culture of intoxication on this campus. Measures to monitor alcohol sales outlets around campuses and interventions that target students' leisure spaces should be developed.

Associations among types of impulsivity, substance use problems and neurexin-3 polymorphisms.

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Stoltenberg, Scott F; Lehmann, Melissa K; Christ, Christa C; Hersrud, Samantha L; Davies, Gareth E

2011-12-15

Some of the genetic vulnerability for addiction may be mediated by impulsivity. This study investigated relationships among impulsivity, substance use problems and six neurexin-3 (NRXN3) polymorphisms. Neurexins (NRXNs) are presynaptic transmembrane proteins that play a role in the development and function of synapses. Impulsivity was assessed with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and the TIME paradigm; alcohol problems with the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST); drug problems with the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-20); and regular tobacco use with a single question. Participants (n=439 Caucasians, 64.7% female) donated buccal cells for genotyping. Six NRXN3 polymorphisms were genotyped: rs983795, rs11624704, rs917906, rs1004212, rs10146997 and rs8019381. A dual luciferase assay was conducted to determine whether allelic variation at rs917906 regulated gene expression. In general, impulsivity was significantly higher in those who regularly used tobacco and/or had alcohol or drug problems. In men, there were modest associations between rs11624704 and attentional impulsivity (p=0.005) and between rs1004212 and alcohol problems (p=0.009). In women, there were weak associations between rs10146997 and TIME estimation (p=0.03); and between rs1004212 and drug problems (p=0.03). The dual luciferase assay indicated that C and T alleles of rs917906 did not differentially regulate gene expression in vitro. Associations between impulsivity, substance use problems and polymorphisms in NRXN3 may be gender specific. Impulsivity is associated with substance use problems and may provide a useful intermediate phenotype for addiction. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensation seeking related to varied definition of risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dastol, O.U.; Drottz-Sjoberg, B.M.

1998-01-01

This pilot study is based on the assumption that the normal use of the word risk varies across subjects. It has been shown in previous risk perception studies that some people report their definition or normal use of the concept of risk as e.g. mainly probability, a combination of probability and consequences, mainly consequences, or due to the nature of the event (Drottz-Sjoeberg, 1991). Another field of research has developed measures for personality traits, i.e. facets of Sensation Seeking; Disinhibition, Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Experience Seeking, and Boredom Susceptibility (Zuckerman, 1994). The design of the present study involved three independent groups of first year psychology students (N=93). They were presented with one of three response formats regarding their normal use of the word risk, i.e. an open-ended format, separate ratings of four items suggesting a definition of risk on five-point scales, and one single five-point scale with the extremes labelled probability and consequences, and with their combination as the scale mid-point. The results showed, e.g. that the typical open-ended response to the personal definition of risk was 'danger', but among the responses were also 'chance', and 'outcome'. Another finding was that people who defined risk as 'outcome' and 'chance', using the open-ended format tended to score higher on the total Sensation Seeking Scale than those who defined risk as 'danger'. In addition, subjects who defined risk as the 'combination' of probability and consequences, using other response formats, also tended to score higher on the total Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), especially as compared to those defining risk as the 'probability' of an event. (authors)

The benefits of hydrotherapy to patients with spinal cord injuries

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Terry J. Ellapen

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Many patients with spinal cord injury (PWSCI lead sedentary lifestyles, experiencing poor quality of life and medical challenges. PWSCI don’t like to participate in land-based-exercises because it’s tedious to perform the same exercises, decreasing their rehabilitative compliance and negatively impacting their well-being. An alternative exercise environment and exercises may alleviate boredom, enhancing compliance. Objectives: Discuss the benefits of hydrotherapy to PWSCI concerning underwater gait-kinematics, thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses and spasticity. Methodology: A literature surveillance was conducted between 1998 and 2017, through the Crossref meta-database and Google Scholar, according to the PRISMA procedures. Key search words were water-therapy, aquatic-therapy, hydrotherapy, spinal cord injury, rehabilitation, human, kinematics, underwater gait, cardiorespiratory, thermoregulation and spasticity. The quality of each paper was evaluated using a modified Downs and Black Appraisal Scale. The participants were records pertaining to PWSCI and hydrotherapy. The outcomes of interest were: hydrotherapy interventions, the impact of hydrotherapy on gait-kinematics, thermoregulation during water submersion and cardiorespiratory function of PWSCI. Omitted records included: non-English publications from before 1998 or unrelated to hydrotherapy and PWSCI. The record screening admissibility was performed as follows: the title screen, the abstract screen and the full text screen. Results: Literature search identified 1080 records. Upon application of the exclusion criteria, 92 titles, 29 abstracts and 17 full text records were eligible. Only 15 records were selected to be included in this clinical commentary. Evidence shows a paucity of randomised control trials (RCT conducted in this field. Conclusion: Hydrotherapy improves PWSCI underwater gait-kinematics, cardiorespiratory and thermoregulatory responses and

Who is a dangerous driver? Socio-demographic and personal determinants of risky traffic behavior

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Aleksandra Peplińska

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Background The aim of this study was to search for comprehensive socio-demographic and personal (personality and temperamental determinants of risky on-the-road behavior. Based on the results of previous studies, we assumed that the main predictors of dangerous traffic behavior include: internal locus of control, sensation seeking, risk seeking and risk acceptance, as well as high self-esteem, a low level of reactivity combined with a high level of endurance and activity (which together determine a strong need for stimulation and a preference for hedonistic values; and among socio-demographic variables – age, gender, education and duration of having a driving license. Participants and procedure The study included a group of 380 participants, aged between 19 and 61 years (Me = 24. In order to verify the hypothesis, a battery of research tools measuring personality and temperamental variables was adopted, namely: the Formal Characteristics of Behavior – Temperament Questionnaire, Rotter I-E Scale, Risk Acceptance Scale, Stimulating-Instrumental Risk Inventory, Scheler Value Scale, Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results The dangerous driver syndrome was found to be promoted by high levels of experience and sensation seeking, low levels of tolerance to boredom and monotony, high need for stimulating risk and high risk acceptance, high self-esteem, a preference for hedonistic values coupled with aversion towards moral values, as well as low sensory sensitivity, and was especially visible among older men with short driving experience. Conclusions It can be concluded that both socio-demographic and psychological variables, such as temperament and personality, are significant predictors of dangerous traffic behavior.

[Understand the tobacco industry's strategy for recruiting teens: Lessons from a 1973 marketing document].

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Dautzenberg, B

2018-06-01

For years, the tobacco industry has organized the inoculation of tobacco addiction to adolescents. The analysis of a 1973 RJReynols ® document identified ten physical and psychological factors in order to increase the number of young users for a brand of cigarettes. These young people are classified into three groups: pre-smokers, learners and smokers. The taste for pre-smokers and learners and nicotine for smokers are main physical parameters. The industry clearly knows that tobacco is mainly consumed because of nicotine addiction, so it is necessary to make adolescents addict. It is interesting to note that cigarette pack was in 1973 a positive factor to attract young smokers, whereas now with the arrival of the neutral packaging, the tobacco industry declares that packaging has no influence to attract teenagers ! Of the psychological factors, the only negative factor is the self-image of the smoker. The tobacco industry already recognized in 1973 that smokers were unhappy about smoking. For learners, self-image and the experience of adults are most important factor, which is why the industry strives to create a positive image and convey message that smoking initiation is a ritual to become adult. According to the tobacco industry, stress and alleviation of boredom are also important points in turning pre-smokers into learners and learners into smokers. This article aims to provide practical tools for understanding industry initiatives targeting adolescents. The attached tool can be used by the teens or adults involved to understand the optimization of teenagers tobacco marketing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Children's active play: self-reported motivators, barriers and facilitators

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Rowan Brockman

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Physical activity has important benefits for children's physical health and mental wellbeing, but many children do not meet recommended levels. Research suggests that active play has the potential to make a valuable contribution to children's overall physical activity, whilst providing additional cognitive, social and emotional benefits. However, relatively little is known about the determinants of UK children's active play. Understanding these factors provides the critical first step in developing interventions to increase children's active play, and therefore overall physical activity. Eleven focus groups were conducted with 77, 10-11 year old children from four primary schools in Bristol, UK. Focus groups examined: (i factors which motivate children to take part in active play; (ii factors which limit children's active play and (iii factors which facilitate children's active play. All focus groups were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using a thematic approach. Children were motivated to engage in active play because they perceived it to be enjoyable, to prevent boredom, to have physical and mental health benefits and to provide freedom from adult control, rules and structure. However, children's active play was constrained by a number of factors, including rainy weather and fear of groups of teenagers in their play spaces. Some features of the physical environment facilitated children's active play, including the presence of green spaces and cul-de-sacs in the neighbourhood. Additionally, children's use of mobile phones when playing away from home was reported to help to alleviate parents' safety fears, and therefore assist children's active play. Children express a range of motivational and environmental factors that constrain and facilitate their active play. Consideration of these factors should improve effectiveness of interventions designed to increase active play.

"911" Among West African immigrants in New York City: a qualitative study of parents' disciplinary practices and their perceptions of child welfare authorities.

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Rasmussen, Andrew; Akinsulure-Smith, Adeyinka; Chu, Tracy; Keatley, Eva

2012-08-01

Immigrant parents' perceptions of child protective services may have important implications for their engagement in public institutions that are central to their children's well being. The current study examined West African immigrants' perceptions of child welfare authorities and the role of disciplining and monitoring in these communities' meaning making. A multiethnic group of 59 West African immigrants (32 parents and 27 adolescent children) living in the United States were interviewed in 18 focus groups and eight individual interviews between December 2009 and July 2010. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach; strategies for rigor included triangulation (multiple interview formats, varied composition of groups, multiple coders for each transcript), verification (follow-up interviewing, feedback to community-based organizations), and auditability. Primary among parents' concerns were "911" (used to refer to the police and child protective authorities), the loss of collective child monitoring networks, and threats to their children posed by "American" values and neighborhood violence. Children were concerned with parents' close monitoring that resulted in boredom and a sense that parents did not recognize them for adhering to their families' values. Feedback from CBOs suggested that parents got their information about child protective policies from children but that although misinformed they were accurate in their negative assessment of contact. Not unlike in other urban populations, West African immigrants' disciplinary tactics are instrumental, oriented toward protecting their children from the multiple dangers perceived in their surroundings, but may also put them at risk for contact with child protective services. Results suggest that "911" results from a "loss spiral" (Hobfoll, 1989) that begins as West Africans resettle without collective child monitoring networks, leading to increased concern for their children's safety, and interacting with

Robust Identification of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastics through Bayesian Decision

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Zulkifley, Mohd Asyraf; Mustafa, Mohd Marzuki; Hussain, Aini; Mustapha, Aouache; Ramli, Suzaimah

2014-01-01

Recycling is one of the most efficient methods for environmental friendly waste management. Among municipal wastes, plastics are the most common material that can be easily recycled and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of its major types. PET material is used in consumer goods packaging such as drinking bottles, toiletry containers, food packaging and many more. Usually, a recycling process is tailored to a specific material for optimal purification and decontamination to obtain high grade recyclable material. The quantity and quality of the sorting process are limited by the capacity of human workers that suffer from fatigue and boredom. Several automated sorting systems have been proposed in the literature that include using chemical, proximity and vision sensors. The main advantages of vision based sensors are its environmentally friendly approach, non-intrusive detection and capability of high throughput. However, the existing methods rely heavily on deterministic approaches that make them less accurate as the variations in PET plastic waste appearance are too high. We proposed a probabilistic approach of modeling the PET material by analyzing the reflection region and its surrounding. Three parameters are modeled by Gaussian and exponential distributions: color, size and distance of the reflection region. The final classification is made through a supervised training method of likelihood ratio test. The main novelty of the proposed method is the probabilistic approach in integrating various PET material signatures that are contaminated by stains under constant lighting changes. The system is evaluated by using four performance metrics: precision, recall, accuracy and error. Our system performed the best in all evaluation metrics compared to the benchmark methods. The system can be further improved by fusing all neighborhood information in decision making and by implementing the system in a graphics processing unit for faster processing speed. PMID

The material, moral, and affective worlds of dealing and crime among young men entrenched in an inner city drug scene.

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Fast, Danya; Shoveller, Jean; Kerr, Thomas

2017-06-01

A large body of previous research has elucidated how involvement in drug dealing and crime among marginalized urban youth who use drugs is shaped by the imperatives of addiction and survival in the context of poverty. However, a growing body of research has examined how youth's involvement in these activities is shaped by more expansive desires and moralities. In this paper, we examine the material, moral, and affective worlds of loosely gang affiliated, street level dealing and crime among one group of young men in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing on longitudinal interviews with 44 young men from 2008 to 2016, and ethnographic fieldwork with a group of approximately 15 of those young men over the same time period, we argue that for these youth, dealing and crime were not solely about economic survival, or even the accrual of highly meaningful forms of "street capital" in the margins. Rather, as "regimes of living," dealing and crime also opened up new value systems, moral logics, and affects in relation to the tremendous risks, potential rewards, and crushing boredom of life in the margins. These activities were also understood as a way into deeply desired forms of social spatial belonging in the city, which had previously only been imagined. However, across time dealing and crime "embedded" young men in cycles of incarceration, destitution, addictions, and mental health crises that ultimately reinforced their exclusion-from legal employment, but also within the world of crime. The findings of this study underscore the importance of adopting a life course perspective in order to meaningfully address the harms associated with involvement in dealing and crime among youth in our setting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robust identification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics through Bayesian decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Zulkifley, Mohd Asyraf; Mustafa, Mohd Marzuki; Hussain, Aini; Mustapha, Aouache; Ramli, Suzaimah

2014-01-01

Recycling is one of the most efficient methods for environmental friendly waste management. Among municipal wastes, plastics are the most common material that can be easily recycled and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of its major types. PET material is used in consumer goods packaging such as drinking bottles, toiletry containers, food packaging and many more. Usually, a recycling process is tailored to a specific material for optimal purification and decontamination to obtain high grade recyclable material. The quantity and quality of the sorting process are limited by the capacity of human workers that suffer from fatigue and boredom. Several automated sorting systems have been proposed in the literature that include using chemical, proximity and vision sensors. The main advantages of vision based sensors are its environmentally friendly approach, non-intrusive detection and capability of high throughput. However, the existing methods rely heavily on deterministic approaches that make them less accurate as the variations in PET plastic waste appearance are too high. We proposed a probabilistic approach of modeling the PET material by analyzing the reflection region and its surrounding. Three parameters are modeled by Gaussian and exponential distributions: color, size and distance of the reflection region. The final classification is made through a supervised training method of likelihood ratio test. The main novelty of the proposed method is the probabilistic approach in integrating various PET material signatures that are contaminated by stains under constant lighting changes. The system is evaluated by using four performance metrics: precision, recall, accuracy and error. Our system performed the best in all evaluation metrics compared to the benchmark methods. The system can be further improved by fusing all neighborhood information in decision making and by implementing the system in a graphics processing unit for faster processing speed.

Electronic Cigarette Awareness, Use, and Perceptions among Cancer Patients

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Erin J. Buczek MD

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Objective Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs are an emerging trend, yet little is known about their use in the cancer population. The objectives of this study were (1 to describe characteristics of e-cig use among cancer patients, (2 to define e-cig advertising exposure, and (3 to characterize perceptions of traditional cigarettes versus e-cigs. Study Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Comprehensive cancer center. Subjects and Methods Inpatient, current smokers with a cancer diagnosis. E-cig exposure and use were defined using descriptive statistics. Wilcoxon rank test was used to compare perceptions between e-cigs and traditional cigarettes. Results A total of 979 patients were enrolled in the study; 39 cancer patients were identified. Most cancer patients were women (59%, with an average age of 53.3 years. Of the patients, 46.2% reported e-cig use, most of which (88.9% was “experimental or occasional.” The primary reason for e-cig use was to aid smoking cessation (66.7%, alternative use in nonsmoking areas (22.2%, and “less risky” cigarette replacement (5.6%. The most common sources for e-cig information were TV (76.9%, stores (48.7%, friends (35.9%, family (30.8%, and newspapers or magazines (12.8%. Compared with cigarettes, e-cigs were viewed as posing a reduced health risk ( P < .001 and conferring a less negative social impression ( P < .001. They were also viewed as less likely to satisfy nicotine cravings ( P = .002, to relieve boredom ( P = .0005, to have a calming effect ( P < .001, and as tasting pleasant ( P = .006 Conclusions E-cig use and advertising exposure are common among cancer patients. E-cig use is perceived as healthier and more socially acceptable but less likely to produce a number of desired consequences of cigarette use.

Social provision and loneliness among older people suffering from chronic physical illness. A mixed-methods approach.

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Kvaal, Kari; Halding, Anne-Grethe; Kvigne, Kari

2014-03-01

To describe and compare the perceived social provision for a group reporting never feeling lonely with that of a group reporting feeling lonely and to explore the meaning of loneliness. Participants (N = 101) were recruited from geriatric wards. Inclusion criteria were as follows: aged 65 years or more, the absence of dementia, one or more chronic physical disorders and plans to be discharged from the hospital to their home. The mean age was 81.3 years (range: 65-96 years), 68% were women, and 66% lived alone. Assessments of social provisions and loneliness were collected by a subjective report using the Social Provision Scale (SPS), and the Montgomery-Aasberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) was used to assess depression. The participants were also asked whether they felt lonely and were then asked to describe the meaning of loneliness if they had indicated feeling lonely. Narratives were then condensed by the participants into short sentences. Seventy-five per cent of the participants reported feeling lonely, of these 54% were living alone, and 18% identified with depression. Three subscales of SPS scores were significantly lower in the lonely group: attachment (p loneliness was dominated by emptiness and negative emotions. The following themes were identified: Emotions were dominated by sadness, anxiety and restlessness, anger and guilt. Relationships were dominated by being left alone, being confined and feeling useless. Existential dimensions were characterised by emptiness, endless boredom, isolation and the potential for change. The study shows that loneliness is prevalent among older people suffering from chronic physical illness and confirms the complexity of the concept. A mixed-methods design contributed to nuanced and detailed information about the meaning of loneliness. © 2013 Nordic College of Caring Science. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Never ever? Characteristics, outcomes and motivations of patients who abscond or escape: A 5-year review of escapes and absconds from two medium and low secure forensic units.

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Mezey, Gillian; Durkin, Catherine; Dodge, Liam; White, Sarah

2015-12-01

Absconds and escapes by psychiatric patients from secure forensic psychiatric settings create public anxiety and are poorly understood. To describe secure hospital patients who escape from within the secure perimeter or abscond, and test for differences between these groups. Escapes and absconds between 2008 and 2012 from the medium and low secure forensic psychiatric inpatient units of two London National Health Service Trusts were identified through the Trusts' databases. Demographic, offending, mental health and incident data were extracted from records for each. Seventy-seven incidents, involving 54 patients, were identified over the five years. These were 13 escapes involving 12 patients, representing a rate of 0.04 per 1000 bed days, and 64 absconds involving 42 patients, a rate of 0.26 per 1000 bed days; 15 (28%) patients were absent without leave more than once. Over half of the patients came back voluntarily within 24 hours of leaving. Over 50% of them had drunk alcohol or taken drugs while away from the unit. Escapees were more likely to be transferred prisoners and to have planned their escape, less likely to return to the unit voluntarily and away longer than patients who absconded. Offending was rare during unauthorised leave--just three offences among the 77 incidents; self-harm was more likely. Motives for absconding included: wanting freedom or drink or drugs, family worries and/or dissatisfaction with aspects of treatment. Escapes or absconding from secure healthcare units have different characteristics, but may best be prevented by convergent strategies. Relational security is likely to be as important for foiling plans for the former as it is for reducing boredom, building strong family support and managing substance misuse in the latter. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Robust identification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET plastics through Bayesian decision.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Asyraf Zulkifley

Full Text Available Recycling is one of the most efficient methods for environmental friendly waste management. Among municipal wastes, plastics are the most common material that can be easily recycled and polyethylene terephthalate (PET is one of its major types. PET material is used in consumer goods packaging such as drinking bottles, toiletry containers, food packaging and many more. Usually, a recycling process is tailored to a specific material for optimal purification and decontamination to obtain high grade recyclable material. The quantity and quality of the sorting process are limited by the capacity of human workers that suffer from fatigue and boredom. Several automated sorting systems have been proposed in the literature that include using chemical, proximity and vision sensors. The main advantages of vision based sensors are its environmentally friendly approach, non-intrusive detection and capability of high throughput. However, the existing methods rely heavily on deterministic approaches that make them less accurate as the variations in PET plastic waste appearance are too high. We proposed a probabilistic approach of modeling the PET material by analyzing the reflection region and its surrounding. Three parameters are modeled by Gaussian and exponential distributions: color, size and distance of the reflection region. The final classification is made through a supervised training method of likelihood ratio test. The main novelty of the proposed method is the probabilistic approach in integrating various PET material signatures that are contaminated by stains under constant lighting changes. The system is evaluated by using four performance metrics: precision, recall, accuracy and error. Our system performed the best in all evaluation metrics compared to the benchmark methods. The system can be further improved by fusing all neighborhood information in decision making and by implementing the system in a graphics processing unit for faster

"It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing"- an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings.

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Joachim; Ostovar, Roya

2016-01-01

The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside (proto-)language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D) as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-)language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction and transmission of mating signals. Social functions include bonding, synchronization of many individuals, appeasement of hostile individuals, and pre- and extra-verbal communication enabling embodied individual and collective memorizing. In many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Individual benefits of R&D include improvement of body coordination, as well as painkilling, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom effects. Rhythm most likely paved the way for human speech as supported by studies confirming the overlaps between cognitive and neural resources recruited for language and rhythm. In addition, dance encompasses visual and gestural communication. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused on and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing"– an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Richter

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside proto-language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. If this behavior is universal, R&D must have an essential function in human evolution. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction, transmission of mating signals, synchronization of many individuals, social bonding, appeasement of hostile individuals, pre- and extra-verbal communication, improvement of body coordination, as well as pain killing, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom functions. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Dance enables embodied individual and collective memorizing; in many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Rhythm is necessary to codify human speech and dance encompasses gesture. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got that Swing”– an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Joachim; Ostovar, Roya

2016-01-01

The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside (proto-)language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D) as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-)language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction and transmission of mating signals. Social functions include bonding, synchronization of many individuals, appeasement of hostile individuals, and pre- and extra-verbal communication enabling embodied individual and collective memorizing. In many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Individual benefits of R&D include improvement of body coordination, as well as painkilling, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom effects. Rhythm most likely paved the way for human speech as supported by studies confirming the overlaps between cognitive and neural resources recruited for language and rhythm. In addition, dance encompasses visual and gestural communication. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused on and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention. PMID:27774058

Sensation seeking as a common factor in opioid dependent subjects and high risk sport practicing subjects. A cross sectional study.

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Franques, P; Auriacombe, M; Piquemal, E; Verger, M; Brisseau-Gimenez, S; Grabot, D; Tignol, J

2003-03-01

Animal research has outlined a vulnerability trait to drug dependence like behavior. The behavioral characteristic of this vulnerability is hyperactivity in response to a novel environment of which sensation seeking (SS) has been suggested as a possible equivalent in humans. If this is the case, SS should be more frequent in drug dependent and risky sports practicing subjects then controls. The objective of this study was to determine if opioid dependent subjects (ODS) and regular paragliders (RP) would be more SS then normal controls. Cross sectional study. Three groups of 34 individuals (total 102) matched for age and sex were selected from ODS seeking treatment, a paragliding club, and a college staff. Global and sub-scores of the Zuckerman sensation seeking scale (SSS). Non parametric statistics (Kruskal Wallis and Wilcoxon 2-Sample Tests) were used given the non-normal distribution of SSS scores in the ODS and RP groups. Significant differences were found across the three groups for the Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) (P = 0.001), dishinibition (Dis) (P = 0.0003) and total score (P = 0.001). ODS and RP scored significantly higher than controls on two (Dis and the TAS scales). RP also scored significantly higher on the Boredom Susceptibility (BS) scale (P = 0.04). Our results show that RP and ODS differ from controls and have some similarities based on the SSS. In this study, the ODS and the RP could express different forms of a general tendency to seek intense and abrupt sensations through various behaviors. Our results in humans are in favor of the hypothesis that the behavioral trait of vulnerability to drug dependence behavior is expressed through SS. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.

A randomized controlled trial testing an Internet delivered cost-benefit approach to weight loss maintenance.

Science.gov (United States)

Leahey, Tricia M; Fava, Joseph L; Seiden, Andrew; Fernandes, Denise; Doyle, Caroline; Kent, Kimberly; La Rue, Molly; Mitchell, Marc; Wing, Rena R

2016-11-01

Weight loss maintenance is a significant challenge in obesity treatment. During maintenance the "costs" of adhering to weight management behaviors may outweigh the "benefits." This study examined the efficacy of a novel approach to weight loss maintenance based on modifying the cost-benefit ratio. Individuals who achieved a 5% weight loss (N=75) were randomized to one of three, 10-month maintenance interventions. All interventions were delivered primarily via the Internet. The Standard arm received traditional weight maintenance strategies. To increase benefits, or rewards, for maintenance behaviors, the two cost-benefit intervention conditions received weekly monetary rewards for self-monitoring and social reinforcement via e-coaching. To decrease behavioral costs (boredom) and increase novelty, participants in the cost-benefit conditions also monitored different evidence-based behaviors every two weeks (e.g., Weeks 1 & 2: steps; Week 3 & 4: red foods). The primary difference between the cost-benefit interventions was type of e-coach providing social reinforcement: Professional (CB Pro) or Peer (CB Peer). Study procedures took place in Providence, RI from 2013 to 2014. Retention was 99%. There were significant group differences in weight regain (p=.01). The Standard arm gained 3.5±5.7kg. In contrast, participants in CB Pro and CB Peer lost an additional 1.8±7.0kg and 0.5±6.4kg, respectively. These results suggest that an Internet delivered cost-benefit approach to weight loss maintenance may be effective for long-term weight control. In addition, using peer coaches to provide reinforcement may be a particularly economic alternative to professionals. These data are promising and provide support for a larger, longer trial. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children's active play: self-reported motivators, barriers and facilitators.

Science.gov (United States)

Brockman, Rowan; Jago, Russell; Fox, Kenneth R

2011-06-10

Physical activity has important benefits for children's physical health and mental wellbeing, but many children do not meet recommended levels. Research suggests that active play has the potential to make a valuable contribution to children's overall physical activity, whilst providing additional cognitive, social and emotional benefits. However, relatively little is known about the determinants of UK children's active play. Understanding these factors provides the critical first step in developing interventions to increase children's active play, and therefore overall physical activity. Eleven focus groups were conducted with 77, 10-11 year old children from four primary schools in Bristol, UK. Focus groups examined: (i) factors which motivate children to take part in active play; (ii) factors which limit children's active play and (iii) factors which facilitate children's active play. All focus groups were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using a thematic approach. Children were motivated to engage in active play because they perceived it to be enjoyable, to prevent boredom, to have physical and mental health benefits and to provide freedom from adult control, rules and structure. However, children's active play was constrained by a number of factors, including rainy weather and fear of groups of teenagers in their play spaces. Some features of the physical environment facilitated children's active play, including the presence of green spaces and cul-de-sacs in the neighbourhood. Additionally, children's use of mobile phones when playing away from home was reported to help to alleviate parents' safety fears, and therefore assist children's active play. Children express a range of motivational and environmental factors that constrain and facilitate their active play. Consideration of these factors should improve effectiveness of interventions designed to increase active play.

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

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

2017-08-01

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

¿El sentido del humor, tiene sentido en el aula? / Does Sense of the Humor Make Sense in the Classroom?

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Freddy Antonio González Ynfante

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Recibido 09 de junio de 2011 • Aceptado 24 de octubre de 2011 • Corregido 27 de setiembre de 2011 Resumen. El presente ensayo tiene como finalidad reflexionar sobre la importancia del humor pedagógico como estrategia de enseñanza aprendizaje en el aula; esto, tomando en cuenta la problemática de desmotivación y aburrimiento que sucede normalmente en la clase. Para plantear si “el enseñar contento y el aprender con alegría” pueden aumentar la eficacia en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, se abordará cómo, a pesar de las múltiples ventajas que puede aportar el humor en las aulas, se omite su empleo por la existencia de ciertos prejuicios y temores. La idea no es que los docentes hagan el papel de comediantes o payasos, sino la de mediar y acercar la clase de manera pedagógica y didáctica a través del uso del humor, y sobre esto reflexionaba Platón (1992, cuando planteaba que muchas veces ayudaba una broma, en donde la seriedad oponía resistencia. Abstract. This paper studies the importance of humor as a teaching strategy in the classroom, considering the usual lack of motivation and boredom. To analyze whether the “happy teaching and happy learning” may increase effectiveness in the teaching-learning process, the author will discuss how, despite the many benefits it may bring, humor is not used in the classroom due to prejudices and fears. The idea is not for teachers to play the role of a comedian or a clown, but to intervene and get closer to the group with a teaching, didactic purpose through humor. Plato (1992 thought about this; he used to say that sometimes a joke may help, where seriousness put up resistance.

The Web as Information Source: a Case Study on the Impact of Internet Search Lessons

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Chiara Ravagni

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The use of the Web by students has increased more and more and it has become the most recurring way to find quick information for educational purposes. Given the lack, in Italy, of thorough programs for the integration of Information Literacy and Internet searches in schools and universities, the adults who are now using it are almost always self-taught. Consequently, many different approaches to the medium have spread, and with them an objective difficulty in planning Internet-research courses, since everyone has his/her own way to search and a unique perception of his/her search skills. That’s why delivering a course where every participant is forced to follow the same learning path may originate feelings of frustration, unease, or boredom, thus reducing the learning potential offered by the course. This research focuses on the Internet Search side of Information Literacy and analyzes the impact of short lessons on first and second year university students in Education at the University of Bolzano, Italy. The students are either native German-speakers or native Italian-speakers, and the research focuses, in an European perspective, on the differences in their Internet-research approaches as well. The first phase consists in interviews and test (the logs of the internet sessions are recorded by a software to find out the perception of reliability of the Internet information and the way to find it by the students. The second phase is the course in itself, which focuses on Boolean operators, information retrieval theories and exercises, and evaluation of web pages. After the course the students are interviewed and tested again, to check if their approach to internet research has changed and in which way. The results can be used to plan courses on Information Literacy and Internet Search with individualized programs, or to propose methods to assess the learning in this field.

Wearing ambidextrous vinyl gloves does not impair manual dexterity.

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Drabek, Tomas; Boucek, Charles D; Buffington, Charles W

2013-01-01

Universal precautions mandate that health care workers wear gloves to prevent the unintended spread of bloodborne pathogens. Gloves may affect manual dexterity, generally delaying task completion. Our previous study showed that wearing the wrong size latex surgical glove degraded manual dexterity. The use of non-sterile and non-latex gloves may limit certain risks and be more cost-effective. However, such gloves may produce different results. We hypothesized that ambidextrous vinyl examination gloves would degrade manual dexterity compared with bare hands. We studied 20 random subjects from a medical environment. Subjects performed a standard battery of Grooved Pegboard tasks while bare-handed, wearing ambidextrous non-sterile vinyl gloves that were their preferred size, a size too small, and a size too large. The order was randomized with a Latin Square design to minimize the effects of time, boredom, and fatigue on the subjects. Subjects were also invited to comment on the fit of different size gloves. Wearing vinyl gloves of both the preferred size and a size up or down failed to affect manual dexterity vs. bare hands on time to insert pegs, and pegs dropped during insertion or removal. In contrast, the time to remove pegs was reduced by wearing preferred size vinyl gloves compared with performing the task with bare hands (Pgloves that were too small caused significant hand discomfort. Vinyl gloves surprisingly do not degrade manual dexterity even when worn in ill-fitting sizes. Wearing a preferred size vinyl glove vs. bare hands may improve dexterity in selected tasks. Choosing a comfortable, large size seems the best strategy when the preferred size is unavailable. Thinner vinyl gloves may improve grip and may not degrade touch as much as latex surgical gloves and may thus represent a reasonable choice for selected tasks.

The experience of critically ill children: A phenomenological study of discomfort and comfort.

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Carnevale, Franco A; Gaudreault, Josée

2013-01-01

Emerging evidence indicates that critically ill children are particularly at risk for incurring significant psychological harm. Little is known about these children's actual experiences. The aim of the study was to examine children's experience of critical illness. The research question was: What are a critically ill child's sources of discomfort and comfort? Interpretive phenomenology was selected as the study's method. Children's accounts were examined to identify what they considered meaningful, in terms of their experienced discomfort and comfort. Data sources included formal and informal interviews with child-participants, drawings provided by some participants, and field-notes documenting observed non-verbal data. Twelve children were enrolled in the study, ranging from 3 to 17years of age; including four girls and eight boys. Although all participants were able to discuss the discomfort and comfort they experienced, they reported difficulties in remembering part or most of their experience. Some participants characterized their Pediatric Intensive Care Unit stay quite favourably or as "not that bad", while some described their experience unfavourably. Diverse types of discomforts were reported, including fears and worries, hurt and pain, invasive interventions, missing significant people, noise, food or eating problems, boredom, physical symptoms, as well as four additional discomforts reported by individual participants. Several sources of comfort were described, including parents, visitors and friends, hospital staff (principally nurses), stuffed animal/favourite blanket, entertainment and play, food, selected medical interventions, thinking of going home, being able to walk or run, sleep, waking up, gifts, along with two other comforts reported by individual participants. Embodiment and a tension between aloneness and being with were identified as the principal phenomena underlying these children's experiences. The findings complement existing knowledge

Exploring lay perceptions of the causes of crib-biting/windsucking behaviour in horses.

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Litva, A; Robinson, C S; Archer, D C

2010-05-01

Crib-biting/windsucking behaviour has important consequences for equine health and welfare. Lay perceptions of health and illness are of interest to medical sociologists, providing important information to medical practitioners, but have infrequently been applied in veterinary research. To demonstrate how lay epidemiology can be applied within veterinary research by exploring the lay perceptions regarding the causes of crib-biting/windsucking behaviour in horses. Informants were recruited from professional and amateur horse owners who had or had not owned/cared for a horse that exhibited crib-biting/windsucking behaviour. In-depth interviews were used to examine perceptions about the development of this behaviour within each group until a 'saturation' of themes emerged. The main themes that emerged as causes of crib-biting/windsucking behaviour were 'boredom', 'stress' and 'habit/addiction'. In the group of owners/carers who did not have direct experience of this type of behaviour, 'copying' from other horses emerged as a strong theme and they stated that they would not wish to own a crib-biting/windsucking horse. In contrast, those who had direct experience of horses demonstrating this behaviour did not believe copying was a cause based on their own observations and would not be put off purchasing or caring for another horse displaying this behaviour. Perceptions about what causes crib-biting/windsucking was influenced by whether or not informants had personal experience of horses demonstrating this behaviour. The three main themes that emerged have some justification based on current research and highlight the need for further investigation into the underlying pathophysiology of crib-biting/windsucking behaviour. Qualitative approaches to health, disease and behaviour have an important role in the medical field and are applicable to veterinary research.

AIDS and sex tourism.

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Herold, E S; Van Kerkwijk, C

1992-01-01

Tourists traveling internationally lower their inhibitions and take greater risks than they would typically in their home cultures. Loneliness, boredom, and a sense of freedom contribute to this behavioral change. Some tourists travel internationally in search of sexual gratification. This motivation may be actively conscious or subconscious to the traveler. Billed as romantic with great natural beauty, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Kenya are popular destinations of tourists seeking sex. The Netherlands and countries in eastern Europe are also popular. With most initial cases of HIV infection in Europe having histories of international travel, mass tourism is a major factor in the international transmission of AIDS. While abroad, tourists have sex with casual partners, sex workers, and/or other tourists. Far from all tourists, however, carry and consistently use condoms with these partners. One study found female and non white travelers to be less likely than Whites and males to carry condoms. The risk of HIV infection increases in circumstances where condoms are not readily available in the host country and/or are of poor quality. Regarding actual condom use, a study found only 34% of sex tourists from Switzerland to consistently use condoms while abroad. 28% of men in an STD clinic in Melbourne, Australia, reported consistent condom use in sexual relations while traveling in Asia; STDs were identified in 73% of men examined. The few studies of tourists suggest that a significant proportion engage in risky behavior while traveling. HIV prevalence is rapidly increasing in countries known as destinations for sex tourism. High infection rates are especially evident among teenage sex workers in Thailand. Simply documenting the prevalence of risky behavior among sex tourists will not suffice. More research is needed on travelers and AIDS with particular attention upon the motivating factors supporting persistent high-risk behavior.

Smoking initiation among young adults in the United States and Canada, 1998-2010: a systematic review.

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Freedman, Kit S; Nelson, Nanette M; Feldman, Laura L

2012-01-01

Young adults have the highest smoking rate of any age group in the United States and Canada, and recent data indicate that they often initiate smoking as young adults. The objective of this study was to systematically review peer-reviewed articles on cigarette smoking initiation and effective prevention efforts among young adults. We searched 5 databases for research articles published in English between 1998 and 2010 on smoking initiation among young adults (aged 18-25) living in the United States or Canada. We extracted the following data from each study selected: the measure of initiation used, age range of initiation, age range of study population, data source, target population, sampling method, and sample size. We summarized the primary findings of each study according to 3 research questions and categories of data (eg, sociodemographic) that emerged during the data extraction process. Of 1,072 identified studies, we found 27 articles that met our search criteria, but several included a larger age range of initiation (eg, 18-30, 18-36) than we initially intended to include. Disparities in young adult smoking initiation existed according to sex, race, and educational attainment. The use of alcohol and illegal drugs was associated with smoking initiation. The risk of smoking initiation among young adults increased under the following circumstances: exposure to smoking, boredom or stress while serving in the military, attending tobacco-sponsored social events while in college, and exposure to social norms and perceptions that encourage smoking. Effective prevention efforts include exposure to counter-marketing, denormalization campaigns, taxation, and the presence of smoke-free policies. Much remains to be learned about young adult smoking initiation, particularly among young adults in the straight-to-work population. Dissimilar measures of smoking initiation limit our knowledge about smoking initiation among young adults. We recommend developing a standardized

“911” among West African immigrants in New York City: A qualitative study of parents’ disciplinary practices and their perceptions of child welfare authorities

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Rasmussen, Andrew; Akinsulure-Smith, Adeyinka; Chu, Tracy; Keatley, Eva

2012-01-01

Immigrant parents’ perceptions of child protective services may have important implications for their engagement in public institutions that are central to their children’s well being. The current study examined West African immigrants’ perceptions of child welfare authorities and the role of disciplining and monitoring in these communities’ meaning making. A multiethnic group of 59 West African immigrants (32 parents and 27 adolescent children) living in the United States were interviewed in 18 focus groups and eight individual interviews between December 2009 and July 2010. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach; strategies for rigor included triangulation (multiple interview formats, varied composition of groups, multiple coders for each transcript), verification (follow-up interviewing, feedback to community-based organizations), and auditability. Primary among parents’ concerns were “911” (used to refer to the police and child protective authorities), the loss of collective child monitoring networks, and threats to their children posed by “American” values and neighborhood violence. Children were concerned with parents’ close monitoring that resulted in boredom and a sense that parents did not recognize them for adhering to their families’ values. Feedback from CBOs suggested that parents got their information about child protective policies from children but that although misinformed they were accurate in their negative assessment of contact. Not unlike in other urban populations, West African immigrants’ disciplinary tactics are instrumental, oriented towards protecting their children from the multiple dangers perceived in their surroundings, but may also put them at risk for contact with child protective services. Results suggest that “911” results from a “loss spiral” (Hobfoll, 1989) that begins as West Africans resettle without collective child monitoring networks, leading to increased concern for their

An Unobtrusive System to Measure, Assess, and Predict Cognitive Workload in Real-World Environments

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Bracken, Bethany K.; Palmon, Noa; Elkin-Frankston, Seth; Irvin, Scott; Jenkins, Michael; Farry, Mike

2017-01-01

Across many careers, individuals face alternating periods of high and low attention and cognitive workload, which can result in impaired cognitive functioning and can be detrimental to job performance. For example, some professions (e.g., fire fighters, emergency medical personnel, doctors and nurses working in an emergency room, pilots) require long periods of low workload (boredom), followed by sudden, high-tempo operations during which they may be required to respond to an emergency and perform at peak cognitive levels. Conversely, other professions (e.g., air traffic controllers, market investors in financial industries, analysts) require long periods of high workload and multitasking during which the addition of just one more task results in cognitive overload resulting in mistakes. An unobtrusive system to measure, assess, and predict cognitive workload could warn individuals, their teammates, or their supervisors when steps should be taken to augment cognitive readiness. In this talk I will describe an approach to this problem that we have found to be successful across work domains including: (1) a suite of unobtrusive, field-ready neurophysiological, physiological, and behavioral sensors that are chosen to best suit the target environment; (2) custom algorithms and statistical techniques to process and time-align raw data originating from the sensor suite; (3) probabilistic and statistical models designed to interpret the data into the human state of interest (e.g., cognitive workload, attention, fatigue); (4) and machine-learning techniques to predict upcoming performance based on the current pattern of events, and (5) display of each piece of information depending on the needs of the target user who may or may not want to drill down into the functioning of the system to determine how conclusions about human state and performance are determined. I will then focus in on our experimental results from our custom functional near-infrared spectroscopy sensor

Patient outcomes after critical illness: a systematic review of qualitative studies following hospital discharge.

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Hashem, Mohamed D; Nallagangula, Aparna; Nalamalapu, Swaroopa; Nunna, Krishidhar; Nausran, Utkarsh; Robinson, Karen A; Dinglas, Victor D; Needham, Dale M; Eakin, Michelle N

2016-10-26

There is growing interest in patient outcomes following critical illness, with an increasing number and different types of studies conducted, and a need for synthesis of existing findings to help inform the field. For this purpose we conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies evaluating patient outcomes after hospital discharge for survivors of critical illness. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and CENTRAL databases from inception to June 2015. Studies were eligible for inclusion if the study population was >50 % adults discharged from the ICU, with qualitative evaluation of patient outcomes. Studies were excluded if they focused on specific ICU patient populations or specialty ICUs. Citations were screened in duplicate, and two reviewers extracted data sequentially for each eligible article. Themes related to patient outcome domains were coded and categorized based on the main domains of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) framework. A total of 2735 citations were screened, and 22 full-text articles were eligible, with year of publication ranging from 1995 to 2015. All of the qualitative themes were extracted from eligible studies and then categorized using PROMIS descriptors: satisfaction with life (16 studies), including positive outlook, acceptance, gratitude, independence, boredom, loneliness, and wishing they had not lived; mental health (15 articles), including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and irritability/anger; physical health (14 articles), including mobility, activities of daily living, fatigue, appetite, sensory changes, muscle weakness, and sleep disturbances; social health (seven articles), including changes in friends/family relationships; and ability to participate in social roles and activities (six articles), including hobbies and disability. ICU survivors may experience positive emotions and life satisfaction; however, a wide range of mental

FENOMENA SELF POTRAIT DI KALANGAN REMAJA STUDI PRESENTASI DIRI DAN SELF ACCAPTANCE REMAJA PUTRI DI JAKARTA

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Rika Yessica Rahma

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The rapid development of information technology has spawned a culture of gadgets, namely high-tech tools. The function of this gadget also vary depending on the wearer. One implication of the sophistication of the smartphone camera spawned a new phenomenon in the world community. The phenomenon is called self portrait or selfie. Theory and concepts used in this study include self-presentation theory of Erving Goffman, Symbolic Interaction Theory, the concept of youth and self-acceptance or self acceptance. The research subjects are young women that student private university in Jakarta with the criteria of the age between 18 to 22 years. From the research selfie reason they do not only worry about the physical appearance, there are some key informants emotionally also can not accept about him. They generally cover the melancholy, boredom, loneliness in a way making it seem happier when photographed selfie. Selfie through photos, they can do presentations themselves in accordance role that you want to appear and to present themselves many symbols that exchanged its meaning through the setting, the appearance of the face and involvement in his role.   Perkembangan pesat teknologi informasi telah melahirkan budaya gadget, yaitu alat berteknologi tinggi yang memiliki berbagai macam fungsi tergantung pemakainya. Salah satu implikasi dari kecanggihan kamera smartphone melahirkan fenomena self potrait atau selfie. Teori maupun konsep yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini antara lain teori presentasi diri dari Erving Goffman, Teori Interaksi Simbolik, konsep mengenai remaja dan self acceptance atau peneriman diri. Adapun subjek penelitian adalah remaja putri yakni mahasiswi perguruan tinggi swasta di Jakarta dengan kriteria usia antara 18 sampai 22 tahun. Dari hasil penelitian terungkap bahwa alasan mereka melakukan selfie tidak hanya cemas terhadap penampilan fisik, tetapi juga secara emosi mereka belum dapat menerima tentang dirinya. Mereka umumnya

Harm perception, attitudes and predictors of waterpipe (shisha) smoking among secondary school adolescents in Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia.

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Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Amr, Mostafa Abdel Monem; Zaza, Burhan Omar; Suleman, Wassem

2010-01-01

This study aimed to determine the prevalence and social determinants of waterpipe (WP) smoking among secondary school students in Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia and to assess their health related knowledge and attitudes toward WP. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,652 Saudi secondary school students of both genders aged between 15-19 years selected by multistage sampling method. A self-administered anonymous Arabic version of Global Youth Tobacco Survey modified with items dedicated to WP smoking and to assess perception of health related hazards and attitudes towards WP was employed for data collection. Prevalence of current smokers 'all forms' was 30.3% among males (C.I= 27.5- 33.2%) and 8.5% in females (C.I= 6.6-10.9%). WP was used by 53.9% of the current tobacco users, significantly higher among older age students. Of the regular WP smokers, 20.7% smoked WP on daily basis, 23.8% weekly, 64.2% stated using flavored " Muassel " tobacco. Primary motives for WP smoking were outings with friends, company, boredom and wasting time. Of the total, 49.7% of students stated that WP smoking is less harmful than cigarettes, 60.5% believed that harmful substances were purified through water filtration, with non-addictive properties in 67.8%. Knowledge about health hazards of WP smoking was low, irrespective of student's smoking status. WP smoking is more socially acceptable than cigarettes (52.1%), represents a good opportunity for gathering of friends and family (33.8%), and smoking of WP can relieve stress and tensions (37.8%). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that socializing motives, cigarette smoking, smoking among close family and friends, male gender and increasing age were positive predictors for WP smoking. Social acceptability, poor knowledge of WP health related hazards and certain socio demographics are favoring the increasing current trend of WP use among adolescents in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia.

Review of rearing-related factors affecting the welfare of laying hens

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Janczak, Andrew M.; Riber, Anja B.

2015-01-01

Laying hens may face a number of welfare problems including: acute and chronic pain caused by beak trimming; exaggerated fearfulness that may cause stress and suffocation; difficulties in locating resources, resulting potentially in emaciation and dehydration; frustration and boredom, caused by an environment that is barren; feather pecking; cannibalism; foot lesions; and bone fractures. In Europe, a greater proportion of laying hens are housed in non-cage systems compared to the rest of the world. The extent of the different welfare problems may therefore vary between countries as the type of housing system influences the risk of suffering. More generally, many of these welfare problems are influenced by the rearing environment of the pullets. This article therefore focuses on welfare problems in laying hens that can be traced back to rearing. Factors that have been studied in relation to their effects on bird welfare include beak trimming, housing type, furnishing, enrichment, feeding, stocking density, flock size, sound and light levels, concentration of gasses, age at transfer from rearing to production facilities, similarity between rearing and production facilities, competence of staff, and interactions between bird strain and environment. The present review aims to summarize rearing-related risk factors of poor welfare in adult laying hens housed according to European Union legislation. It aims to identify gaps in current knowledge, and suggests strategies for improving bird welfare by improving rearing conditions. Two main conclusions of this work are that attempts should be made to use appropriate genetic material and that beak trimming should be limited where possible. In addition to this, the rearing system should provide constant access to appropriate substrates, perches, and mashed feed, and should be as similar as possible to the housing system used for the adult birds. Finally, young birds (pullets) should be moved to the production facilities before

Significados de las instituciones de apoyo para los niños en situación de calle, Medellín, Colombia The meaning of support institutions for homeless children, Medellín, Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Álvaro Giraldo Pineda

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Estudio realizado con niños en situación de calle en Medellín, Colombia. Objetivo: Comprender desde la mirada de los participantes, el significado de las instituciones que les brindan apoyo. Metodología: Cualitativa-etnográfica. Se realizaron 39 entrevistas, observación y diario de campo. La ética fue parte integral del proceso. El análisis se hizo con los participantes para garantizar el rigor. Resultados: Los niños ingresan a las instituciones buscando apoyo, motivados por éstas, por sí mismos o por otras personas. Según los niños, las instituciones pretenden cambiarles la personalidad, el pensamiento y el comportamiento, vinculándolos a un proceso. Para que éste se cumpla, se establecen normas que son aplicadas y sancionadas por los educadores o por los líderes. Los niños abandonan las instituciones cuando reciben castigos humillantes, por "caciqueo", aburrimiento y temores. Conclusión: La institución por ella misma no logra estos cambios, ellos se consiguen solamente por la interacción con sus amigos y "parceros".The research was made with Medellin´s street children, Colombia. Objective: Understand under the participant´s view, the meaning of support institutions. Method: Qualitative, ethnographic research. 39 Interviews, observation and field diary were realized. Ethic was fundamental piece of the process. Analysis was made with participant to guarantee the rigor. Results: Children go to these institutions looking for support, motivated by themselves, other people or the institutions. These pretend to change children´s personality, thought and behavior joining them to a process. To accomplish this, some rules has to be applied and penalized by teachers or leaders. Children leave these institutions when they received humiliating punishment, submissiveness ("caciqueo", boredom and fear. Conclusion: Institution by itself does not accomplish these changes, they are only achieved by the interaction with their friends and

Exploring the perspectives of 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old primary school students on physical activity engagement-"'Cause you can't just be sitting at a desk all the time!"

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Harvey, J; Pearson, E S; Sanzo, P; Lennon, A E

2018-05-01

Research indicates that 91% of Canadian children are not engaging in enough physical activity (PA) to achieve health benefits. Physical education (PE) classes have been identified as a way to improve child health by facilitating engagement in movement-based activities. The daily physical activity (DPA) initiative was created with similar intentions and requires that students participate in at least 20 min of PA daily via PE classes and/or during instructional time for other subjects. Despite recommendations that 150 min of exercise/play be incurred weekly through either avenue, nearly half of Canadian schools fail to achieve this goal. The disconnect between PA-related school policies and low reported participation rates suggests that additional research is warranted. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of primary students regarding the facilitators, barriers, and recommendations for PA engagement at their schools. Researchers conducted nine group interviews with 53 children aged 10-12, representing six primary schools in Northwestern Ontario using a semi-structured interview format. Sessions were analysed using inductive content analysis. Participants discussed several facilitators of PA including enjoying activities (alleviating boredom and participating with others), accomplishment (skill building and enhanced self-image), and benefits in the classroom (thinking clearly and enhanced readiness to learn). Barriers to PA participation included school rules and culture (PA/PE restrictions, heavy workload, and "no work, no PA"), personal struggles (physical challenges and varied skill levels), and technology (being addictive and a replacement for being active). Recommendations for enhancing engagement that were outlined by the children centred around PE and daily physical activity (increase opportunities and involve students in planning/delivery) and recess-based themes (decrease focus on safety and make equipment more available). These

Theories of addiction: methamphetamine users' explanations for continuing drug use and relapse.

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Newton, Thomas F; De La Garza, Richard; Kalechstein, Ari D; Tziortzis, Desey; Jacobsen, Caitlin A

2009-01-01

A variety of preclinical models have been constructed to emphasize unique aspects of addiction-like behavior. These include Negative Reinforcement ("Pain Avoidance"), Positive Reinforcement ("Pleasure Seeking"), Incentive Salience ("Craving"), Stimulus Response Learning ("Habits"), and Inhibitory Control Dysfunction ("Impulsivity"). We used a survey to better understand why methamphetamine-dependent research volunteers (N = 73) continue to use methamphetamine, or relapse to methamphetamine use after a period of cessation of use. All participants met DSM-IV criteria for methamphetamine abuse or dependence, and did not meet criteria for other current Axis I psychiatric disorders or dependence on other drugs of abuse, other than nicotine. The questionnaire consisted of a series of face-valid questions regarding drug use, which in this case referred to methamphetamine use. Examples of questions include: "Do you use drugs mostly to make bad feelings like boredom, loneliness, or apathy go away?", "Do you use drugs mostly because you want to get high?", "Do you use drugs mostly because of cravings?", "Do you find yourself getting ready to take drugs without thinking about it?", and "Do you impulsively take drugs?". The scale was anchored at 1 (not at all) and 7 (very much). For each question, the numbers of participants rating each question negatively (1 or 2), neither negatively or affirmatively (3-5), and affirmatively (6 or 7) were tabulated. The greatest number of respondents (56%) affirmed that they used drugs due to "pleasure seeking." The next highest categories selected were "impulsivity" (27%) and "habits"(25%). Surprisingly, many participants reported that "pain avoidance" (30%) and "craving" (30%) were not important for their drug use. Results from this study support the contention that methamphetamine users (and probably other drug users as well) are more heterogeneous than is often appreciated, and imply that treatment development might be more successful if

The effects of participation in leisure activities on neuropsychiatric symptoms of persons with cognitive impairment: a cross-sectional study.

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Chiu, Yi-Chen; Huang, Chien-Ying; Kolanowski, Ann M; Huang, Hsiu-Li; Shyu, Yeaing Lotus; Lee, Shu-Hwa; Lin, Ching-Rong; Hsu, Wen-Chuin

2013-10-01

People with cognitive impairment have been shown to engage in few structured activities. During periods of unoccupied time or boredom, these patients most likely manifest neuropsychiatric symptoms. The purposes of this study were to (1) describe the leisure-activity indicators (variety in leisure activities, appraisal of each activity's restorative function, and leisure dysfunction, i.e. failure to appreciate the importance of restorative aspects of leisure activity), of community-dwelling older Taiwanese adults with cognitive impairment, and (2) explore the relationships between these indicators and neuropsychiatric symptoms in this population. Cross-sectional. Memory disorder and geriatric psychiatric clinics of two hospitals in northern Taiwan. Patient-family caregiver dyads (N=60). Patients' dementia severity, based on Clinical Dementia Rating scores, was 0.5-2.0. Family caregivers completed the Chinese Neuropsychiatric Inventory to assess patients' behavioral problems and the Restorative Activity Questionnaire to assess patients' participation in leisure activities, restorative experience, and leisure dysfunction. On average, patients participated in approximately five individual leisure activities, but very few group leisure activities. The top three leisure activities were watching TV, taking a walk, and talking to relatives and friends. The leisure activities in which participants least commonly engaged were fishing, attending cultural exhibitions, and chess/card playing. All leisure-activity indicators were significantly correlated with disease stage, global cognitive function, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Two leisure-activity indicators (leisure dysfunction and restorative experiences) were significantly correlated with depressive symptoms. Only leisure dysfunction significantly and consistently predicted neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results can be used by home health or community health nurses to design tailored leisure-activity plans for improving

A review on the occupational health and social security of unorganized workers in the construction industry.

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Tiwary, Guddi; Gangopadhyay, P K

2011-01-01

Construction is one of the important industries employing a large number of people on its workforce. A wide range of activities are involved in it. Due to the advent of industrialization and recent developments, this industry is taking a pivotal role for construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and so forth. The workers engaged in this industry are victims of different occupational disorders and psychosocial stresses. In India, they belong to the organized and unorganized sectors. However, data in respect to occupational health and psychosocial stress are scanty in our country. It is true that a sizable number of the workforce is from the unorganized sectors - the working hours are more than the stipulated hours of work - the work place is not proper - the working conditions are non-congenial in most of the cases and involve risk factors. Their wages are also not adequate, making it difficult for them to run their families. The hazards include handling of different materials required for construction, and exposure to harsh environmental conditions like sun, rain, and so on. On account of this, in adverse conditions, it results in accidents and adverse health conditions cause psychosocial strain and the like. They are victims of headache, backache, joint pains, skin diseases, lung disorders like silicosis, other muscular skeletal disorders, and so on. The repetitive nature of the work causes boredom and the disproportionate earning compared to the requirements puts them under psychological stress and strain and other abnormal behavioral disorders. The Government of India has realized the importance of this industry and has promulgated an Act in 1996. The state government are being asked to adhere to this, although only a few states have partially enforced it. In this article, attempts have been made to review some of the important available articles for giving a broad idea of the problem and for furtherance of research in this field.

Geomorphic tipping points: convenient metaphor or fundamental landscape property?

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Lane, Stuart

2016-04-01

In 2000 Malcolm Gladwell published as book that has done much to publicise Tipping Points in society but also in academia. His arguments, re-expressed in a geomorphic sense, have three core elements: (1) a "Law of the Few", where rapid change results from the effects of a relatively restricted number of critical elements, ones that are able to rapidly connect systems together, that are particularly sensitive to an external force, of that are spatially organised in a particular way; (2) a "Stickiness" where an element of the landscape is able to assimilate characteristics which make it progressively more applicable to the "Law of the Few"; and (3), given (1) and (2) a history and a geography that means that the same force can have dramatically different effects, according to where and when it occurs. Expressed in this way, it is not clear that Tipping Points bring much to our understanding in geomorphology that existing concepts (e.g. landscape sensitivity and recovery; cusp-catastrophe theory; non-linear dynamics systems) do not already provide. It may also be all too easy to describe change in geomorphology as involving a Tipping Point: we know that geomorphic processes often involve a non-linear response above a certain critical threshold; we know that landscapes can, after Denys Brunsden, be though of as involving long periods of boredom ("stability") interspersed with brief moments of terror ("change"); but these are not, after Gladwell, sufficient for the term Tipping Point to apply. Following from these issues, this talk will address three themes. First, it will question, through reference to specific examples, notably in high Alpine systems, the extent to which the Tipping Point analogy is truly a property of the world in which we live. Second, it will explore how 'tipping points' become assigned metaphorically, sometimes evolving to the point that they themselves gain agency, that is, shaping the way we interpret landscape rather than vice versa. Third, I

Relationship Between Psychomotor Efficiency and Sensation Seeking of People Exposed to Noise and Low Frequency Vibration Stimuli

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Korchut, Aleksander; Kowalska-Koczwara, Alicja; Romanska – Zapała, Anna; Stypula, Krzysztof

2017-10-01

At the workplace of the machine operator, low frequency whole body and hand- arm vibrations are observed. They occur together with noise. Whole body vibration in the range of 3-25 Hz are detrimental to the human body due to the location of the resonant frequency of large organs of the human body in this range. It can be assumed that for this reason people working every day in such conditions can have reduced working efficiency. The influence of low frequency vibration and noise on the human body leads to both physiological and functional changes. The result of the impact of noise and vibration stimuli depends largely on the specific characteristics of the objects, which include among other personality traits, temperament and emotional factor. The pilot study conducted in the laboratory was attended by 30 young men. The aim of the study was to look for correlations between the need for stimulation of the objects and their psychomotor efficiency in case of vibration exposure and vibration together with noise exposure in variable conditions task. The need for stimulation of the objects as defined in the study is based on theoretical assumptions of one dimensional model of temperament developed by Marvin Zuckerman. This theory defines the need for stimulation as the search for different, new, complex and intense sensations, as well as the willingness to take risks. The aim of research was to verify if from four factors such as: the search for adventure and horror, sensation seeking, disinhibition and susceptibility to boredom, we can choose the ones that in conjunction with varying operating conditions, may significantly determine the efficiency of the task situation. The objects performed the test evaluation of their motor skills which consisted in keeping the cursor controlled by a joystick through the path. The number of exceeds of the cursor beyond the path and its maximum deviation was recorded. The collected data were used to determine the correlation between the

A happier and less sinister past, a more hedonistic and less fatalistic present and a more structured future: time perspective and well-being

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Sailer, Uta; Rosenberg, Patricia; Nima, Ali Al; Gamble, Amelie; Gärling, Tommy; Archer, Trevor

2014-01-01

Background. Previous studies have established a link between how people relate to their past, present, and future (i.e., time perspective) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect). Time perspective comprises five dimensions: Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future. Life satisfaction can also be evaluated in relation to different time frames. Moreover, approach related positive affect is associated to a different concept of well-being labeled psychological well-being. In the present study we extend previous findings by investigating the effect of time perspective on the time frame of evaluations of life satisfaction (past, present, future) and by investigating the relationship between time perspective and psychological well-being. Method. Questionnaires on time perspective (Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory), temporal life satisfaction (Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale), affect (Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule), and psychological well-being (Scales of Psychological Well-Being—short version) were answered by 453 individuals. Two different structural equation models were tested, one of the relationship between time perspective and temporal life satisfaction, and the other of the relationship between time perspective, affect and psychological well-being. Results. Time perspective affected life satisfaction depending on the time scale on which it was evaluated—memory of a negative past influenced life satisfaction in all time frames, and a positive view of the past influenced both past and future life satisfaction. Moreover, less rumination about past negative events (i.e., low score on Past Negative), the tendency to take risks in the present to achieve happy feelings and/or avoid boredom (i.e., high scores on Present Hedonistic), and a less hopeless and pessimistic view about the present (low scores on Present Fatalistic) were associated with higher levels of

Teaching Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology Through Guided Inquiry Projects

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McMillan, N. J.

2003-12-01

Undergraduate Petrology at New Mexico State University (GEOL 399) has been taught using three, 5-6 week long projects in place of lectures, lab, and exams for the last six years. Reasons for changing from the traditional format include: 1) to move the focus from identification and memorization to petrologic thinking; 2) the need for undergraduate students to apply basic chemical, structural, and field concepts to igneous and metamorphic rocks; 3) student boredom in the traditional mode by the topic that has captivated my professional life, in spite of my best efforts to offer thrilling lectures, problems, and labs. The course has three guided inquiry projects: volcanic, plutonic, and pelitic dynamothermal. Two of the rock suites are investigated during field trips. Each project provides hand samples and thin sections; the igneous projects also include whole-rock major and trace element data. Students write a scientific paper that classifies and describes the rocks, describes the data (mineralogical and geochemical), and uses data to interpret parameters such as tectonic setting, igneous processes, relationship to phase diagrams, geologic history, metamorphic grade, metamorphic facies, and polymetamorphic history. Students use the text as a major resource for self-learning; mini-lectures on pertinent topics are presented when needed by the majority of students. Project scores include evaluation of small parts of the paper due each Friday and participation in peer review as well as the final report. I have found that petrology is much more fun, although more difficult, to teach using this method. It is challenging to be totally prepared for class because students are working at different speeds on different levels on different aspects of the project. Students enjoy the course, especially the opportunity to engage in scientific investigation and debate. A significant flaw in this course is that students see fewer rocks and have less experience in rock classification

STRATEGI PEMBELAJARAN PELATIHAN MENJAHIT SEBAGAI UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KEMANDIRIAN ANAK TUNAGRAHITA DI SEKOLAH LUAR BIASA (SLB DHARMA ANAK BANGSA KLATEN

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Septiyana Dwi Hastuti

2017-03-01

are learning tailoring training strats with time training conducted on Wednesday and Thursday from 07.00 until 12:50 and then conditioning learners are grouped according to the ability of learners with the material presented is the material level 1 (one and the material level of 2 (two using lectures, demonstrations and question and answer. Learning strategies used individually oriented. Constraints include internal factors include psychological factors, among others: lack of interest, understanding difficult, moody, tired, boredom. Physical factors such as: health, disability. External factors include school factors that instrument lessons, the learning time. Community factors peers, mass media.

Deporte entre rejas. ¿Algo más que control social?

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Martos García, Daniel

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Sport practices belong to the prison’s landscape. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about the role they play in prisons ordinary life. Therefore, we developed an ethnographic study, mainly located in the sports hall of a Spanish prison, to understand exercise and sport meanings among inmates, workers, educators and monitors. Data indicate that social rehabilitation through sport is an illusion, although it is the official goal of imprisonment. Even so, participants assign different benefits to exercise and sport, especially inmates. Educative potential of self-control through sport and, mainly, distraction and compensation strategy to cope with boredom, time and confinement’s physical and mental problems are among them. Paper concludes that exercise and sport can play a symbolic ‘evasion’ and personal liberation, but are constrained by a context in which control and order are at the forefront of everything.

Las actividades deportivas forman parte del paisaje de las prisiones. Sin embargo, escasea el conocimiento sobre el papel que desempeñan en la vida cotidiana de las cárceles. Por ello realizamos un estudio etnográfico, principalmente en el polideportivo de una prisión española, dirigido a comprender los significados que el ejercicio físico y el deporte tenían para los presos, funcionarios, educadores y monitores. Los resultados indican que la reinserción mediante estas prácticas es una ilusión, a pesar de ser la finalidad oficial de la reclusión. Aun así, les asignan diversos beneficios, especialmente los presos y presas. Entre ellos se encuentra el potencial educativo ligado al autocontrol y, sobre todo, el entretenimiento y la compensación para ocupar el tiempo, huir del hastío y sobrellevar los problemas del encierro. El artículo concluye que el ejercicio y el deporte pueden tener un papel de “evasión” simbólica y liberación personal, aunque los presos viven atenazados por un contexto en el que

Gender determinants of smoking practice in Indigenous communities: an exploratory study.

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Knott, V E; Gilligan, G; Maksimovic, L; Shen, D; Murphy, M

2016-03-01

Despite the need to urgently reduce smoking rates among Indigenous Australians, in order to close-the-gap in life expectancy, little is known regarding how this can be achieved. This study aimed to explore whether a focus on gender specific determinants of smoking among Indigenous Australians could be identified, thus providing a potentially novel approach to underpin future efforts at intervention. A qualitative research design was employed. Eighty-two participants, comprised of 43 Indigenous women (mean age 32.15, SD, 12.47) and 39 Indigenous men (mean age 34.91, SD, 11.26), participated in one of 12 focus groups held in metropolitan, regional and rural locations in South Australia. Facilitators prompted discussion in response to the question: 'What is it like being a smoker these days?' Two experienced coders assessed data for themes using Attride-Stirling's (2002) method of analysis. Two global themes emerged for men and women. The first theme, 'It's Harder to Smoke Nowadays', encompassed sub-themes capturing changed smoking practices in response to tobacco control strategies implemented in Australia. Sub-themes of 'smoking in secrecy' coupled with an 'awareness of the effects of passive smoking' were identified among women. Among men, sub-themes that depicted tension between 'a desire to be a role model' and 'guilt about smoking' emerged. The second theme, 'Push and Pull Factors', identified a range of gender specific determinants of smoking. While similar reasons for smoking ('pull factors') were identified in men and women (e.g. addiction, boredom, stress, pleasure, mood stabiliser), different 'push factors' (reasons for not wanting to smoke) emerged. For men, sport, fitness and children were identified as reasons for not wanting to smoke, whereas women identified factors such as respect for non-smokers, and body image concerns. The current findings suggest that there may be fundamental differences in the determinants of smoking (pull factors) as well as

A happier and less sinister past, a more hedonistic and less fatalistic present and a more structured future: time perspective and well-being

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Uta Sailer

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background. Previous studies have established a link between how people relate to their past, present, and future (i.e., time perspective and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect. Time perspective comprises five dimensions: Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future. Life satisfaction can also be evaluated in relation to different time frames. Moreover, approach related positive affect is associated to a different concept of well-being labeled psychological well-being. In the present study we extend previous findings by investigating the effect of time perspective on the time frame of evaluations of life satisfaction (past, present, future and by investigating the relationship between time perspective and psychological well-being.Method. Questionnaires on time perspective (Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory, temporal life satisfaction (Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale, affect (Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule, and psychological well-being (Scales of Psychological Well-Being—short version were answered by 453 individuals. Two different structural equation models were tested, one of the relationship between time perspective and temporal life satisfaction, and the other of the relationship between time perspective, affect and psychological well-being.Results. Time perspective affected life satisfaction depending on the time scale on which it was evaluated—memory of a negative past influenced life satisfaction in all time frames, and a positive view of the past influenced both past and future life satisfaction. Moreover, less rumination about past negative events (i.e., low score on Past Negative, the tendency to take risks in the present to achieve happy feelings and/or avoid boredom (i.e., high scores on Present Hedonistic, and a less hopeless and pessimistic view about the present (low scores on Present Fatalistic were associated with higher

2. The Concept of “Modelarium” and its Impact on Creativity And Artistic Education

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Bajçinovci Bujar

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Students and Teachers are an epic symbiosis in process of direct learning and academic advancement. Nowadays, this interaction is more bonded and interdependent with technology and equipment‟s, which in a whole system expands learning horizons. The digital era has introduced in the education system new modes of learning, a new way of life and style in schooling. This phenomenon changed the methods of teaching in universities, where lectures were accompanied with concrete explanations of works in modeling, in structural and conceptual sense. The relationship between a student of architecture and teachers broadened with introduction of computer aided modeling and simulation tools to construct those ideas into the reality. The study presented in this paper investigates conceptual methods in art, architecture, creativity and innovation in academic education, focusing on interactive teaching issues, and methods. The research methods consist of empirical observation carried out during 25 years of experience in academia, and direct observation of teaching methods. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolutive process in teaching relations between architectural students and teachers, with the focus in educational competencies and communication skills. Findings indicate that through artistic concepts of “Modelarium” as an unconventional learning space, a tool and space that enables the partnership. An informal meeting place for artistic interaction, but, concurrently it is a formal part of the educational system in architectural studies, a strategy by which we can bring more: time, conceptual awareness of space and interactive teaching in architecture, which bonds multidimensional threads between students and teachers; thus, fostering a powerful sense of partnership, avoiding boredom and passive learning, while facing the challenges, associated with the development of technology, life style, real issues and global world trends. Research

A happier and less sinister past, a more hedonistic and less fatalistic present and a more structured future: time perspective and well-being.

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Sailer, Uta; Rosenberg, Patricia; Nima, Ali Al; Gamble, Amelie; Gärling, Tommy; Archer, Trevor; Garcia, Danilo

2014-01-01

Background. Previous studies have established a link between how people relate to their past, present, and future (i.e., time perspective) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect). Time perspective comprises five dimensions: Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future. Life satisfaction can also be evaluated in relation to different time frames. Moreover, approach related positive affect is associated to a different concept of well-being labeled psychological well-being. In the present study we extend previous findings by investigating the effect of time perspective on the time frame of evaluations of life satisfaction (past, present, future) and by investigating the relationship between time perspective and psychological well-being. Method. Questionnaires on time perspective (Zimbardo's Time Perspective Inventory), temporal life satisfaction (Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale), affect (Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule), and psychological well-being (Scales of Psychological Well-Being-short version) were answered by 453 individuals. Two different structural equation models were tested, one of the relationship between time perspective and temporal life satisfaction, and the other of the relationship between time perspective, affect and psychological well-being. Results. Time perspective affected life satisfaction depending on the time scale on which it was evaluated-memory of a negative past influenced life satisfaction in all time frames, and a positive view of the past influenced both past and future life satisfaction. Moreover, less rumination about past negative events (i.e., low score on Past Negative), the tendency to take risks in the present to achieve happy feelings and/or avoid boredom (i.e., high scores on Present Hedonistic), and a less hopeless and pessimistic view about the present (low scores on Present Fatalistic) were associated with higher levels of

Texting at the light and other forms of device distraction behind the wheel.

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Bernstein, James J; Bernstein, Joseph

2015-09-26

Cell phones are a well-known source of distraction for drivers, and owing to the proliferation of text messaging services, web browsers and interactive apps, modern devices provide ever-increasing temptation for drivers to take their eyes off the road. Although it is probably obvious that drivers' manual engagement of a device while their vehicles are in motion is potentially dangerous, it may not be clear that such engagement when the vehicle is at rest (an activity broadly labeled "texting at the light") can also impose risks. For one thing, a distracted driver at rest may fail to respond quickly to sudden changes in road conditions, such as an ambulance passing through. In addition, texting at the light may decrease so-called "situational awareness" and lead to driving errors even after the device is put down. To our knowledge, the direct comparison of the rate of device usage by drivers at rest with the rate of device usage by drivers in motion has not been reported. We collected information on 2000 passenger vehicles by roadside observation. For the first group of 1000 passenger vehicles stopped at a traffic light, device usage ("texting", "talking", "none"), gender of the driver, vehicle type, seatbelt usage and presence of front seat passengers were recorded. For a second set of 1000 vehicles in motion, device usage alone was noted. Statistical significance for differences in rates was assessed with the chi-square test. We found that 3 % of drivers in motion were texting and 5 % were talking. Among the stopped drivers, 14.5 % were texting and 6.3 % were talking. In the stopped-vehicle set, gender and vehicle type were not associated with significant differences in device usage, but having a front seat passenger and using seatbelts were. Device usage is markedly higher among drivers temporarily at rest compared with those in motion, and the presence of a front seat passenger, who may help alleviate boredom or reprimand bad behavior, is associated with lower

Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation.

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Massad, Salwa G; Karam, Rita; Brown, Ryan; Glick, Peter; Shaheen, Mohammed; Linnemayr, Sebastian; Khammash, Umaiyeh

2014-11-24

Young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are profoundly affected by violence, high unemployment, and economic hardship. Experiences of community-level violence and personal trauma increase the likelihood that young people will engage in risky behaviors that include smoking, drug use, and unsafe sex. Little is known about the sexual behavior of young people in the region, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Our aim in this study was to gain an insight into the perceived prevalence and patterns of sexual behavior among Palestinian youth. The study was based on ten focus groups and 17 in-depth interviews with young people aged 16-24 years as part of the formative phase of a cross-sectional representative study of risk behaviors in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in 2012. The sample was selected using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. Qualitative analysis was used to code detailed notes of focus groups and interviews. Based on participants' reports, different types of sexual activity outside marriage were not uncommon, even in conservative communities. The most reported sexual activity was non-penetrative sex: oral and anal intercourse, and virtual sex. Some young people had sexual intercourse with sex workers; they went to brothels in Israel and to brothels operating clandestinely in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Most respondents were of the opinion that young people did not usually use protection during sexual intercourse. Many reported that youth engage in different types of sexual activity outside marriage for several reasons: to challenge the culture, financial constraints and inability to marry, basic human need, personal pleasure, suppression, to kill boredom, and to prove manhood. In contrast with the conservative social context of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the findings suggest that sexual activities outside marriage may be more common than is currently assumed. Sexual

A counselor in your pocket: feasibility of mobile health tailored messages to support HIV medication adherence

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Cook PF

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Paul F Cook,1 Jane M Carrington,2 Sarah J Schmiege,1 Whitney Starr,3 Blaine Reeder11University of Colorado College of Nursing, Aurora, CO, USA; 2University of Arizona College of Nursing, Tucson, AZ, USA; 3University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USAPurpose: Medication adherence is a major challenge in HIV treatment. New mobile technologies such as smartphones facilitate the delivery of brief tailored messages to promote adherence. However, the best approach for tailoring messages is unknown. Persons living with HIV (PLWH might be more receptive to some messages than others based on their current psychological state.Methods: We recruited 37 PLWH from a parent study of motivational states and adherence. Participants completed smartphone-based surveys at a random time every day for 2 weeks, then immediately received intervention or control tailored messages, depending on random assignment. After 2 weeks in the initial condition, participants received the other condition in a crossover design. Intervention messages were tailored to match PLWH’s current psychological state based on five variables – control beliefs, mood, stress, coping, and social support. Control messages were tailored to create a mismatch between message framing and participants’ current psychological state. We evaluated intervention feasibility based on acceptance, ease of use, and usefulness measures. We also used pilot randomized controlled trial methods to test the intervention’s effect on adherence, which was measured using electronic caps that recorded pill-bottle openings.Results: Acceptance was high based on 76% enrollment and 85% satisfaction. Participants found the hardware and software easy to use. However, attrition was high at 59%, and usefulness ratings were slightly lower. The most common complaint was boredom. Unexpectedly, there was no difference between mismatched and matched messages’ effects, but each group showed a 10%–15% improvement

A Comparative study of Personality as a common pathway in HIV Sero-positive and Alcohol dependent cases on Five Factor Model

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Kalpana Srivastava

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the personality traits of alcohol and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-positive patients and to compare them with normal controls. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 100 consecutive patients with alcohol dependence and HIV each and a control group of 100 normal cases without any physical or psychiatric illness. A score of 2 or less on the General Health Questionnaire was taken as cutoff, and the participants were included in the study with written informed consent. All participants were assessed with the NEO personality inventory revised and sensation-seeking scale (SSS. Results: There were significant differences among the study group on all the five factors, i.e., neuroticism (N, extraversion (E, conscientiousness (C, openness to experience (O, and agreeableness (A. On factor “N,” HIV and alcohol group scored significantly more as compared to normal group. Odds ratio revealed high neuroticism to be a risk factor in alcohol-dependent and HIV cases (P < 0.05. The normal group scored significantly higher on factor “E” as compared to HIV and alcohol cases. High scores on factor “E” and “C” have a protective. Odds ratio found low score of factor “C” as a risk factor; however, “O” did not emerge as a risk factor. The logistic regression revealed that high scores on “N” and “E” and low “A” score had a significant association with alcohol dependence (P < 0.05. Among HIV cases, high score on “N” and “E” and low “C” score emerged significant. Alcohol cases scored significantly more on boredom susceptibility (BS on SSS as compared to HIV and normal controls. On disinhibition (DIS, HIV cases and alcohol cases scored significantly higher as compared to normal group (P < 0.05. Conclusion: High “N” scores on NEO personality inventory are significantly associated with alcohol dependence and HIV while high scores on “E” and “C” have a

Reproductive health and quality of life of young Burmese refugees in Thailand

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Hunnangkul Saowalak

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Of the 140 000 Burmese* refugees living in camps in Thailand, 30% are youths aged 15-24. Health services in these camps do not specifically target young people and their problems and needs are poorly understood. This study aimed to assess their reproductive health issues and quality of life, and identifies appropriate service needs. Methods We used a stratified two-stage random sample questionnaire survey of 397 young people 15-24 years from 5,183 households, and 19 semi-structured qualitative interviews to assess and explore health and quality of life issues. Results The young people in the camps had very limited knowledge of reproductive health issues; only about one in five correctly answered at least one question on reproductive health. They were clear that they wanted more reproductive health education and services, to be provided by health workers rather than parents or teachers who were not able to give them the information they needed. Marital status was associated with sexual health knowledge; having relevant knowledge of reproductive health was up to six times higher in married compared to unmarried youth, after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic factors. Although condom use was considered important, in practice a large proportion of respondents felt too embarrassed to use them. There was a contradiction between moral views and actual behaviour; more than half believed they should remain virgins until marriage, while over half of the youth experienced sex before marriage. Two thirds of women were married before the age of 18, but two third felt they did not marry at the right age. Forced sex was considered acceptable by one in three youth. The youth considered their quality of life to be poor and limited due to confinement in the camps, the limited work opportunities, the aid dependency, the unclear future and the boredom and unhappiness they face. Conclusions The long conflict in Myanmar and the resultant

Mental health and housing.

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Kari-Koskinen, O; Karvonen, P

1976-01-01

political organizations, (3) leisure-time clubs and (4) societies and institutions for promoting social integration, including educational, advisory and assistance bodies. The study of satiation processes offers an interesting approach to the relationship between housing and mental health. Man requires new stimuli to motivate him. Boredom and satiation serve to induce passivity and may provoke destructive behaviour and escapism. Finland has the highest percentage of dwellings constructed in the immediate post-war period of any country in Europe, and in respect of the functions of housing many aspects are still apparent which are detrimental to mental health.

A qualitative study of methamphetamine initiation in Cape Town, South Africa

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Hobkirk, Andréa L.; Watt, Melissa H.; Myers, Bronwyn; Skinner, Donald; Meade, Christina S.

2015-01-01

Background Despite a significant rise in methamphetamine use in low- and middle-income countries, there has been little empirical examination of the factors that contribute to individuals’ initiation of methamphetamine use in these settings. The goal of this study was to qualitatively examine factors associated with methamphetamine initiation in South Africa. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 active methamphetamine users (13 women and 17 men) in Cape Town, South Africa. Interviews included narrative descriptions of the circumstances surrounding methamphetamine initiation. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated. Transcripts were analyzed with document memos, data display matrices, and a constant comparison technique to identify themes. Results On average, participants began regularly using methamphetamine around age 21 and had used for seven years. Four major themes emerged related to the initiation of methamphetamine use. The prevalence of methamphetamine users and distributors made the drug convenient and highly accessible to first time users. Methamphetamine has increased in popularity and is considered “trendy”, which contributes to social pressure from friends, and less often, family members to initiate use. Initiation is further fueled by a lack of opportunities for recreation and employment, which leads to boredom and curiosity about the rumored positive effects of the drug. Young people also turn to methamphetamine use and distribution through gang membership as an attempt to generate income in impoverished communities with limited economic opportunities. Finally, participants described initiating methamphetamine as a means of coping with the cumulative stress and psychological burden provoked by the high rates of violence and crime in areas of Cape Town. Conclusion The findings highlight the complex nature of methamphetamine initiation in low- and middle-income countries like South Africa. There is a need for

Assessing Consumer Emotional Responses in the Presence and Absence of Critical Quality Attributes: A Case Study with Chicken Eggs.

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Wardy, Wisdom; Sae-Eaw, Amporn; Sriwattana, Sujinda; No, Hong Kyoon; Prinyawiwatkul, Witoon

2015-07-01

Effects of attribute presence and absence on the emotional profile and consumer acceptability of products with varying qualities were assessed using eggs as an example. An online survey (n = 320) was used to evaluate emotional responses and acceptability to 5 types of egg quality attributes: intrinsic, aesthetic, extrinsic, expediency, and wholesome/safety, for both present and absent conditions. Attribute absence rather than presence evoked greater consumer discriminating emotions associated with eggs. Mean emotion intensity elicited by the presence of all quality attributes ranged from 1.67 (intrinsic; guilty) to 4.05 (wholesome; good) versus 2.01 (wholesome; satisfied) to 3.29 (wholesome; disgusted) when absent. Key positive emotions elicited by presence of attributes were active, calm, good, interested, happy, safe, and satisfied; while dominant negative emotions elicited by absence of attributes included disgusted and worried. Wholesome quality (constituted by egg freshness, "packing/best-before-date" and absence of visible cracks) exhibited the highest liking (7.65) and emotion intensities, while the emotional responses to both the presence and absence of intrinsic quality (constituted by nutrient-fortified egg, organic egg, and USDA-certified farm egg) were similar, reflecting their dynamic effects on emotions. Emotions and acceptability were more correlated for attribute absence than presence; and good, happy, and satisfied emotions were strongly related to egg acceptability (r ≥ 0.6). Egg product/packaging design can be oriented toward emphasizing wholesome and expedient attributes, since they enhance good, safe, and satisfied emotions, while minimizing disgust, worry, and boredom. The use of emotional responses and hedonic testing regarding attribute presence and absence would allow for improved selection of attributes critical to consumer acceptance of products. Assessing effects of attribute presence compared with absence on food-evoked emotions may

La tecnología como motor de la innovación educativa. Estrategia y política institucional de la Universidad de Alicante

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Llorens Largo, Faraón

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Technological innovation has to be standarized. It is not just a few-freaks-game to kill boredom experimenting with new ideas and tools from technological advances. Universities must acknowledge and empower innovative good practices. They must profit from these practices and set up strategies to lead all of us to better accomplish their educational mission. However, internal policies of each university should be based on justified fundamentals and must be shared by all its community. This paper is divided in three blocks. The first one, strategies to improve teaching + learning through the use of technology, establishes the fundamentals where the University of Alicante lays on. The second one explains the strategy and institutional policies of the University of Alicante during 2005-2008 period, as something already stated and proven. The third block anticipates planning and master lines for 2009-2012 period. Finally, this paper closes with some deep thoughts not to forget lessons learnt and not to make already known mistakes, thus running the right way.La innovación educativa debe de oficializarse. No es sólo cuestión de unos pocos locos que no tienen otra cosa mejor a la que dedicar su tiempo que experimentar con las ideas y herramientas que los avances tecnológicos ponen a nuestro alcance. Las universidades deben reconocer y potenciar esas buenas prácticas innovadoras. Deben alinearlas con su misión y establecer estrategias que nos conduzcan a su cumplimiento. Pero la política interna de cada universidad debe basarse en unos fundamentos que la justifiquen y debe ser compartida por toda la comunidad universitaria. Así, este articulo se estructura en tres bloques. Un primer bloque, estrategias de mejora de la enseñanza+aprendizaje por medio de la tecnología, que establece esos principios sobre los que se sustenta la política de la Universidad de Alicante. El segundo bloque está dedicado a explicar la estrategia y pol

Are Drinking Motives Universal? Characteristics of Motive Types in Alcohol-Dependent Men from Two Diverse Populations

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Verena Ertl

2018-02-01

and psychopathological symptoms were reported to a significantly greater extent by relief drinkers (effect sizes of comparisons ranging from r = 0.25 to r = 0.48. However, the motive types did not differ significantly on alcohol consumption or alcohol-related symptoms and traumatic experiences apart from childhood maltreatment.ConclusionThe chronology of addiction development and patterns of drinking motivation seem to be similar across cultures, i.e., that motive targeting interventions might be applicable cross-culturally. Addressing comorbid symptomatology should be a key treatment component for relief drinkers, whereas finding alternatives for the creation of positive feelings and ways to counteract boredom and inactivity should be a general treatment element.

A qualitative study of methamphetamine initiation in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Hobkirk, Andréa L; Watt, Melissa H; Myers, Bronwyn; Skinner, Donald; Meade, Christina S

2016-04-01

Despite a significant rise in methamphetamine use in low- and middle-income countries, there has been little empirical examination of the factors that contribute to individuals' initiation of methamphetamine use in these settings. The goal of this study was to qualitatively examine factors associated with methamphetamine initiation in South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 active methamphetamine users (13 women and 17 men) in Cape Town, South Africa. Interviews included narrative descriptions of the circumstances surrounding methamphetamine initiation. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated. Transcripts were analyzed with document memos, data display matrices, and a constant comparison technique to identify themes. On average, participants began regularly using methamphetamine around age 21 and had used for seven years. Four major themes emerged related to the initiation of methamphetamine use. The prevalence of methamphetamine users and distributors made the drug convenient and highly accessible to first time users. Methamphetamine has increased in popularity and is considered "trendy", which contributes to social pressure from friends, and less often, family members to initiate use. Initiation is further fueled by a lack of opportunities for recreation and employment, which leads to boredom and curiosity about the rumored positive effects of the drug. Young people also turn to methamphetamine use and distribution through gang membership as an attempt to generate income in impoverished communities with limited economic opportunities. Finally, participants described initiating methamphetamine as a means of coping with the cumulative stress and psychological burden provoked by the high rates of violence and crime in areas of Cape Town. The findings highlight the complex nature of methamphetamine initiation in low- and middle-income countries like South Africa. There is a need for community-level interventions to address the

Exploring the Wisdom Structure: Validation of the Spanish New Short Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS) and Its Explanatory Power on Psychological Health-Related Variables.

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García-Campayo, Javier; Del Hoyo, Yolanda L; Barceló-Soler, Alberto; Navarro-Gil, Mayte; Borao, Luis; Giarin, Veronica; Tovar-Garcia, R Raziel; Montero-Marin, Jesus

2018-01-01

Introduction: Personal wisdom has demonstrated important implications for the health of individuals. The aim of the present study was to validate a Spanish version of the Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS), exploring the structure of a possible general factor, and assessing its explanatory power on psychological health-related variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used, with a total sample of 624 Spanish participants recruited on the Internet and randomly split into two halves. The following instruments were applied: 3D-WS, Purpose in Life (PIL), Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Factorial structures were analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA), and the general factor was characterized by using bifactor models. The explanatory power of the 3D-WS was established by multiple regression. Results: The original long and short versions of the 3D-WS were not replicated in the first subsample using EFA, and there was a high rate of cross-loadings. Thus, a new short 3D-WS was proposed by ordering the original items according to factorial weights. This three-correlated-factor (reflective, cognitive, and affective) proposal was tested by means of CFA in the second subsample, with adequate psychometrics and invariance, and a good fit (χ 2 /df = 1.98; CFI = 0.946; RMSEA = 0.056; 90% CI = 0.040-0.072). A bifactor structure, in which the reflective trait of wisdom was integrated into a general factor (G-Reflective) improved the model fit (χ 2 /df = 1.85; CFI = 0.959; RMSEA = 0.052; 90% CI = 0.035-0.070). The explained common variance of G-Reflective was 0.53; therefore, the new short 3D-WS should not be considered essentially unidimensional. The new short 3D-WS showed positive relationships with the PIL and PANAS-positive, and negative associations with the MSBS, PANAS-negative and DERS, contributing to explain all

Penciptaan Seni Film Eksperimental “Sweet Rahwana”

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Hery Sasongko

2014-11-01

movie theaters. These conditions had occurred beforethe Indonesian cinemas collapsed. Puppet will be inspiration to heal the boredom inIndonesian movie themes. Puppet is a legend that cannot be separated from the charactersof the story. One of the puppet characters is Rahwana. He is always symbolized as a badcharacter. The elements contained in the character of Rahwana were the inspiration tomake an experimental film which can be the alternative movies for the Indonesian youngpeople, so they can have greater insight. Exploring visual and editing methods by using anew and good technique can make a good quality of experimental film.

SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND PERCEPTION OF LIVE LECTURES BY MEDICAL STUDENTS

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Nisha Narendran

2017-02-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND The current generation is rightly described as generation M (edia highlighting the increasing time spent with media on any given day. The availability of mobiles and the absence of mobile jammers in lecture classes will seriously interfere with lecture attendance or concentration in lecture hours. We intend to take a survey on the level of social media use or use of smartphone for other non-academic uses by medical students during their lecture hours. We expect them to put forward their views as to how they perceive live lectures and what can be done to improve the effect of live lectures in this era of widespread and anytime media use. Aims of the study were- 1. To conduct a survey among medical students in preclinical postings regarding use of social media use during live lecture hours. 2. To assess their perception regarding conventional lecture duration and the factors, which could improve their concentration during lecture hours. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among the participants. Approval was obtained from the Institutional Research Committee. All the 135 participants of the study were administered a semi-structured prevalidated questionnaire to assess their perception regarding live lecture and a survey regarding use of social media was taken. The collected data was entered into MS Excel and analysed using Epiinfo version 7. Percentages were used to quantify the results. Settings and Design- The study was conducted among third semester students attending pharmacology lectures in Government Medical College, Thrissur. RESULTS 77 (57% participants agreed of using social media regularly in lecture hours. Majority used it to chat or connect with friends and in gaming either because of addiction or to avoid boredom. They were a majority in opinion that the hot noon time lectures should be cut short in duration. They preferred the use of newer technology based methods to be adopted for

When are night shifts effective for nursing student clinical learning? Findings from a mixed-method study design.

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Palese, Alvisa; Basso, Felix; Del Negro, Elena; Achil, Illarj; Ferraresi, Annamaria; Morandini, Marzia; Moreale, Renzo; Mansutti, Irene

2017-05-01

Some nursing programmes offer night shifts for students while others do not, mainly due to the lack of evidence regarding their effectiveness on clinical learning. The principal aims of the study were to describe nursing students' perceptions and to explore conditions influencing effectiveness on learning processes during night shifts. An explanatory mixed-method study design composed of a cross-sectional study (primary method, first phase) followed by a descriptive phenomenological study design (secondary method, second phase) in 2015. Two bachelor of nursing degree programmes located in Northern Italy, three years in length and requiring night shifts for students starting in the second semester of the 1st year, were involved. First phase: all nursing students ending their last clinical placement of the academic year attended were eligible; 352 out the 370 participated. Second phase: a purposeful sample of nine students among those included in the first phase and who attended the highest amount of night shifts were interviewed. First phase: a questionnaire composed of closed and open-ended questions was adopted; data was analyzed through descriptive statistical methods. Second phase: an open-ended face-to-face audio-recorded interview was adopted and data was analyzed through content analysis. Findings from the quantitative phase, showed that students who attended night shifts reported satisfaction (44.7%) less frequently than those who attended only day shifts (55.9%). They also reported boredom (23.5%) significantly more often compared to day shift students (p=0001). Understanding of the nursing role and learning competence was significantly inferior among night shift students as compared to day shift students, while the perception of wasting time was significantly higher among night shift students compared to their counterparts. Night shift students performed nursing rounds (288; 98.2%), non-nursing tasks (247; 84.3%) and/or less often managed clinical problems

Criança: objeto a liberado? Child: freed object a?

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Glaucineia Gomes de Lima

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Lacan (1968-69 abordou a criança como objeto a liberado. Assim, ela é capturada no gozo, drama em torno do qual a família se estrutura. Tais formulações são questionadas no texto que discute o lugar da criança como objeto de gozo nos tempos atuais. Parte-se da discussão sobre a sociedade da globalização, cuja lógica se orienta para a produção incessante de objetos de consumo, marcada pelo declínio dos ideais e o impulso ao hedonismo mortífero. O imperativo do consumo na sociedade globalizada não é sem conseqüências para a educação, que se guia pela lógica de educar para o mercado, empreitada que tem como efeito o fracasso escolar, um dos nomes do 'mal-estar' na educação. Desponta, entre educadores e educandos, apatia, tédio e indiferença no vazio em que parece ter se tornado o espaço escolar. Os efeitos de retorno do gozo incidem sobre o corpo das crianças, que é objeto de maus-tratos, violência, pedofilia e todo tipo de abusos. Assim, conclui-se questionando qual é o lugar para a escuta do sintoma, face ao imperativo de consumo e a ascensão do objeto, e as suas conseqüências para o apagamento da subjetividade da criança.Lacan approached the child as a freed object a. Thus, the child is captured in pleasure, drama upon which family is structured. These formulations are questioned in the text that approaches child as the current object of pleasure. The departing point is the discussion on the globalized society which heads to the on-going production of consumer objects, labeled by the decay of ideals and its drive to a lethal hedonism. But the consumption imperative in the globalized society has its own consequences on education which entails the logic of instructing for the market, leading to an educational failure, also known as educational uneasiness. What emerges from educators and students is apathy, boredom and indifference in the emptiness that schools seem to have turned into. The results of the return

Effect of military deployment in operational area on the trend of smoking among troops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parvez, S.; Mubarik, H.

2015-01-01

. There was an increased consumption of cigarettes among troops (p < 0.001). The increased frequency of consumption of cigarettes in operational area was because of stress/increased combat activities, boredom, lack of recreational activities and monotony. Conclusion: It is concluded from the present study that operational activities increase the tendency of smoking in some troops and cause increased consumption of cigarettes by others mainly because of stress and peer pressure, which over the period of time can affect health, medical fitness and operational readiness of military personnel. (author)

Food intake and nutritional status during EXEMSI. Experimental Campaign for the European Manned Space Infrastructure.

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Milon, H; Decarli, B; Adine, A M; Kihm, E

1996-01-01

Modifications of food intake by astronauts during long-duration spaceflights have been observed. Various psychological stress factors, such as isolation, confinement, constrained community and boredom, are thought to play a role in this phenomenon. For this reason it was decided to include a nutritional investigation in the EXEMSI simulation study, in which four crew members (1 female and 3 males) were isolated and confined for 60 days in a space station-like environment. The Food and Nutritional Management System, developed for this experiment, provided on-line analysis of all available foods in terms of their nutrient content (macronutrients, water, minerals, vitamins). It permitted to keep an accurate record of the daily food intake of each crew member. The system has been shown to be a powerful tool for future missions, either simulations or actual spaceflights. It permits optimal management of food and eating on board, and offers the possibility of online analysis of the nutritional status of the crew. It can provide readily usable data for future analysis of nutritional variables in relation to other physiological and metabolic parameters. It could also supply a periodic feedback to the subject for the purpose of adjusting food intake. Eating and nutrition during the experiment were not a problem, but a pleasure, and therefore played an important role in its success. Confinement and isolation apparently had no effect on either the eating habits or the nutritional status of the crew members. The good food rather helped to decrease the potentially induced stress by providing daily periods of pleasure and of social activities. Detailed analysis of food intake showed erratic eating patterns, both before and during the experiment. However, the weekly averages of macro- and micronutrient intakes were in the normal range, except for vitamins B1 and B6 that were rather low and showed the need for supplements. Food appreciation was assessed by daily questionnaires

Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” towards “A Life Worth Living”

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David J. Mellor

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The Five Freedoms have had major impact on animal welfare thinking internationally. However, despite clear initial statements that the words ‘freedom from’ should indicate ‘as free as possible from’, the Freedoms have come to be represented as absolute or fundamental freedoms, even rights, by some animal advocate and other groups. Moreover, a marked increase in scientific understanding over the last two decades shows that the Freedoms do not capture the more nuanced knowledge of the biological processes that is germane to understanding animal welfare and which is now available to guide its management. For example, the named negative experiences of thirst, hunger, discomfort and pain, and others identified subsequently, including breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, debility, weakness and sickness, can never be eliminated, merely temporarily neutralised. Each one is a genetically embedded element that motivates animals to behave in particular ways to obtain specific life-sustaining resources, avoid or reduce physical harm or facilitate recovery from infection or injury. Their undoubted negativity creates a necessary sense of urgency to respond, without which animals would not survive. Also, the temporary neutralisation of these survival-critical affects does not in and of itself generate positive experience. This questions the commonly held assumption that good animal welfare will result when these internally generated negative affects are minimised. Animals may also experience other negative affects that include anxiety, fear, panic, frustration, anger, helplessness, loneliness, boredom and depression. These situation-related affects reflect animals’ perceptions of their external circumstances. Although they are elicited by threatening, cramped, barren and/or isolated conditions, they can often be replaced by positive affects when animals are kept with congenial others in spacious, stimulus-rich and safe environments which provide

[French translation and validation of the Tension-Effort Stress Inventory (TESI, 7) emotional list].

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Legrand, F

2002-01-01

Since emotion became a central topic in scientific psychology, a conceptual consensus is needed with regard to its definition. Reversal theory provides such a widely, comprehensive theory of emotion that is currently missing from the psychology literature. According to reversal theorists, there are 16 primary emotions corresponding directly to one's preferred and non preferred phenomenological experiences. These include 4 pleasant/somatic emotions (relaxation, excitement, placidity, provocativeness), 4 unpleasant/somatic emotions (anxiety, anger, boredom, sullenness), 4 pleasant/transactional emotions (pride, modesty, gratitude, virtue) and 4 unpleasant/transactional emotions (humiliation, resentment, shame and guilt). Tension-Effort Stress Inventory (TESI, is an auto questionnaire with the 3rd section containing this 16 primary emotions list. The aim of our study deals with french translation and factorial validation of this list. Method and procedure - Participants (n=46) were voluntary french speaking individuals who prepared to be involved in a new tourist attraction established in a french winter sport resort. This attraction is made up of a 950 meters-long carrying cable tightened to an altitude of 100 meters above the ground, offering anyone whose weight exceeds 40 kg a thrilling 90 km/h rush. Of the sample of 46 individuals, 29 were male and 17 were female. The average age was 31,4 years with a 18-59 range and 7,7 as standard deviation value. Each subject had to complete a french version of TESI just before being hang on the cable and just after his or her arrival on the landing zone. Results - Pre- and post-activity descriptive statistics for each item were subjected to Pearson correlations calculation and then, an explanatory factorial analysis was carried out. Principal component analysis results (after varimax rotation) exhibited 6 factors explaining a proportion of 64% of the total variance: 4 of these 6 dimensions seemed to be similar to the ones

Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the "Five Freedoms" towards "A Life Worth Living".

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Mellor, David J

2016-03-14

The Five Freedoms have had major impact on animal welfare thinking internationally. However, despite clear initial statements that the words 'freedom from' should indicate 'as free as possible from', the Freedoms have come to be represented as absolute or fundamental freedoms, even rights, by some animal advocate and other groups. Moreover, a marked increase in scientific understanding over the last two decades shows that the Freedoms do not capture the more nuanced knowledge of the biological processes that is germane to understanding animal welfare and which is now available to guide its management. For example, the named negative experiences of thirst, hunger, discomfort and pain, and others identified subsequently, including breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, debility, weakness and sickness, can never be eliminated, merely temporarily neutralised. Each one is a genetically embedded element that motivates animals to behave in particular ways to obtain specific life-sustaining resources, avoid or reduce physical harm or facilitate recovery from infection or injury. Their undoubted negativity creates a necessary sense of urgency to respond, without which animals would not survive. Also, the temporary neutralisation of these survival-critical affects does not in and of itself generate positive experience. This questions the commonly held assumption that good animal welfare will result when these internally generated negative affects are minimised. Animals may also experience other negative affects that include anxiety, fear, panic, frustration, anger, helplessness, loneliness, boredom and depression. These situation-related affects reflect animals' perceptions of their external circumstances. Although they are elicited by threatening, cramped, barren and/or isolated conditions, they can often be replaced by positive affects when animals are kept with congenial others in spacious, stimulus-rich and safe environments which provide opportunities for them to engage in

The Benefits of High-Intensity Functional Training Fitness Programs for Military Personnel.

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Haddock, Christopher K; Poston, Walker S C; Heinrich, Katie M; Jahnke, Sara A; Jitnarin, Nattinee

2016-11-01

High intensity functional training (HIFT) programs are designed to address multiple fitness domains, potentially providing improved physical and mental readiness in a changing operational environment. Programs consistent with HIFT principals such as CrossFit, SEALFIT and the US Marine Corps' High Intensity Tactical Training (HITT) are increasingly popular among military personnel. The goal of HIFT programs is to produce high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, endurance and strength that exceed those achieved by following current physical activity recommendations. Given the investment in and popularity of HIFT in the military, it is important to consider the potential impact of this approach to fitness training for the health of military personnel and their risk of training injury. In a previous report in this journal, we addressed the question of whether HIFT was associated with higher injury rates compared to other exercise programs. We argued that concerns about the injury potential of HIFT exercise programs were not supported by the scientific literature to date, although additional research was needed to directly compare injury rates in approaches such as CrossFit to traditional military fitness programs. In this article we will review the scientific data on the practical, health and fitness benefits of HIFT exercise programs for military populations. Practical benefits to HIFT exercise programs include shorter training times and volumes, exercises which simulate combat tasks, lower equipment costs, reduced potential for boredom and adaptation as a result of constant variation, less injury potential compared to high volume endurance training, and scalability to all fitness levels and rehabilitation needs. For instance, HIFT training volumes are typically between 25% to nearly 80% less than traditional military fitness programs without reductions in fitness outcomes. HIFT program also provide an impressive range of health benefits such as the promotion of

Effects of person-centered care on residents and staff in aged-care facilities: a systematic review

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Brownie S

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Sonya Brownie, Susan NancarrowSchool of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, AustraliaBackground: Several residential aged-care facilities have replaced the institutional model of care to one that accepts person-centered care as the guiding standard of practice. This culture change is impacting the provision of aged-care services around the world. This systematic review evaluates the evidence for an impact of person-centered interventions on aged-care residents and nursing staff.Methods: We searched Medline, Cinahl, Academic Search Premier, Scopus, Proquest, and Expanded Academic ASAP databases for studies published between January 1995 and October 2012, using subject headings and free-text search terms (in UK and US English spelling including person-centered care, patient-centered care, resident-oriented care, Eden Alternative, Green House model, Wellspring model, long-term care, and nursing homes.Results: The search identified 323 potentially relevant articles. Once duplicates were removed, 146 were screened for inclusion in this review; 21 were assessed for methodological quality, resulting in nine articles (seven studies that met our inclusion criteria. There was only one randomized, controlled trial. The majority of studies were quasi-experimental pre-post test designs, with a control group (n = 4. The studies in this review incorporated a range of different outcome measures (ie, dependent variables to evaluate the impact of person-centered interventions on aged-care residents and staff. One person-centered intervention, ie, the Eden Alternative, was associated with significant improvements in residents' levels of boredom and helplessness. In contrast, facility-specific person-centered interventions were found to impact nurses' sense of job satisfaction and their capacity to meet the individual needs of residents in a positive way. Two studies found that person-centered care was actually associated with an

Nuevas narrativas televisivas: relajar, entretener, contar, ciudadanizar, experimentar New Television Narratives: Entertainment, Telling, Citizenship, Experimental

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Omar Rincón

2011-03-01

Full Text Available La televisión generalista e industrial es un viaje al pasado, al vacío de sentido y al aburrimiento por su conservadurismo moral, su pereza creativa, su ausencia de pensamiento y su pobre modo de entender el entretenimiento. Pero el monopolio televisivo de la pantalla pública se acabó, pues ahora todo ciudadano puede ser un productor, narrador audiovisual y tener pantalla. Así aparecen nuevas televisiones y otras pantallas que se atreven a contar distinto: un periodismo más subjetivo, testimonial y pensado desde las imágenes; una telenovela hiperrealista que se atreve a intervenir el melodrama desde la comedia, el documental y las culturas locales; unos medios de abajo y con la gente que se hacen para romper con la homogeneidad temática y política de las máquinas mediática, del mercado y del desarrollo. En este ensayo se argumenta a favor de la televisión como lugar de expresión de identidades inestables, experimentos narrativos y posibilidades inéditas para la creación audiovisual… solo si «toma la forma» de mujer, de lo indígena, afro, medio ambiental, otras sexualidades… y juega en nuevas pantallas como Youtube, lo comunitario y el celular. Lo más urgente es que la televisión pase de la obsesión por los contenidos a las exploraciones estéticas y narrativas desde las identidades otras y en narrativas más «colaboractivas» porque existe la posibilidad de ser los relatos que queremos ser.Broadcasting and industrial television is a trip back to the past, to a space devoid of meaning, and to the boredom resulting from its moral conservatism, lack of creativity, thought and entertainment. But television’s monopoly over public screening is over; now, anyone can be a producer, an audiovisual narrator with his or her own screen. New television and other screens are daring to change the way stories are told: a more subjective, testimonial and imagebased journalism; a hyperrealist soap opera that dares to bring melodrama to

Bringing Experience from the Field into the Classroom with the NOAA Teacher at Sea and PolarTREC Teacher Research Experience Programs

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Eubanks, E. D.; Kohin, S.; Oberbauer, S.

2008-12-01

impressionable learners. Additionally, I've been invited to participate in a future research project in Costa Rica with Dr. Oberbauer--allowing his research to continue to reach a broad audience of students and community members interested in learning about fascinating science from around the world. I have found that the best way to be an effective science teacher is to be a scientist. Having the opportunity to work in the field with researchers, allowed me to become a scientist. Participating in TRE's has rejuvenated my career, allowed me to acquire new and innovative ideas for my classroom and school, and has given my students the opportunity to work with renowned oceanographers and climatologists and real data--something most kids will never get the chance to do. Teachers and researchers only stand to benefit from these unique relationships. As a Zoology major and teacher, these experiences were life changing for me during a time when I had contemplated leaving my profession due to boredom. The expeditions rekindled my love for science and desire to share and teach through the eyes of a scientist. The more we bridge the gap between teachers and researchers the more science comes alive for our future scientists. We need to our youth to continue the research that is already underway.

A influência de ritmos musicais sobre a percepção dos estados subjetivos de pacientes adultos em hemodiálise La influencia de ritmos musicales sobre la percepción de los estados subjetivos de pacientes adultos en hemodiálisis The influence of musical rhythms on the perception of subjective states of adult patients on dialysis

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Leandro Bechert Caminha

2009-12-01

presentaron.Being submitted to dialysis four hours a day, three times a week can mean experiencing boredom, besides discomfort. Patients often report that the time seems to take longer to go by. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of two different musical rhythms in the states of mind and perception of adult patients undergoing dialysis, since the literature on this subject is scarce. The study was performed at a private hospital with 43 patients, who participated in two sessions of musical improvisation with a keyboard. The subjective states and perception were evaluated before and after the intervention. Over 80% of the patients felt that time went by faster after the interventions in both rhythms. However, the pace was a decisive factor in the kind of emotional experience that the patients had.

A face pedagógica de Eros The pedagogical face of Eros

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Marlene de Souza Dozol

2007-08-01

Full Text Available O presente trabalho busca descobrir a face pedagógica de Eros. Como ponto de partida, está o fato de a figura do educador/professor ser comumente representado por alguém cuja ocupação não suscita desejos de qualquer espécie. Não raras vezes assistimos a representações literárias e imagens televisivas ou cinematográficas nas quais o professor aparece comicamente como uma caricatura que fala, de modo monótono e sem parar, a alunos cujos rostos oscilam entre o tédio e o escárnio. No entanto, o que é de fato assustador é que, cada vez mais, as imagens que aparecem no discurso das novas gerações, numa tentativa de oposição à caricatura supracitada, associam a figura do professor à de um animador de auditório, performático, divertido, especialista em dinâmicas grupais catárticas, sem conteúdo e igualmente caricatural. Procurando, então, desviar-se de ambas as caricaturas e refletir sobre o gênero específico de libido pedagógica - compreendido como força ou energia espiritual para o progresso moral, intelectual e sensível -, o texto recupera o poder ilustrativo do mito, pensa sobre a força do imaginário na constituição de parâmetros modelares para a Educação e para o exercício da mestria (para isso, propõe notas socráticas, sofísticas e escolásticas com ênfase na linguagem e aponta para a importância dessa discussão diante dos problemas que habitam os espaços educativos contemporâneos.The present work seeks to uncover the pedagogical face of Eros. As a starting point, there is the fact that the figure of the educator/teacher is commonly represented by someone whose occupation does not elicit desires of any kind. It is not unusual to see literary representations and televised or cinema images in which the teacher appears comically as a caricature that talks continuously and monotonically to pupils whose countenances oscillate between boredom and scorn. But what is truly frightening is that, more and

Género y motivación situacional en Educación Física: claves para el desarrollo de estrategias de intervención. [Gender and situational motivation in physical education: the key to the development of intervention strategies].

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Ángel Abós

2015-07-01

-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2007, the aim of the current study was to analyze the influence of gender on motivational variables and cognitive and affective consequences along different Physical Education didactic units. In this study, 66 students (30 males and 36 females, aged from 15 to 17 years, (M age = 15.29, SD= 0.71, were involved. At the end of the three didactic units different situational motivational variables were measured: basic psychological needs by BPNES, self-determined motivation through the EMSI, affective consequences like enjoyment and boredom using the SSI-EF and predisposition toward the practice of content by PEPS. The results show that girls have a lower perceived competence than boys in soccer (p<.001. However, girls perceive a higher self-determined motivation, enjoyment and a greater cognitive attitude towards acrosport (p<.001. The intra-group analysis shows higher values in soccer content compared to the contents of acrosport in boys (p<.05. On the contrary, girls perceived motivational variables related to acrosport in a positive way compared to the other two contents related to cooperation-opposition sports (p<.05. Therefore, guidelines are proposed to reorient the teaching-learning process in these didactic units, by developing and implementing specific strategies to influence motivational processes based on gender.

Análisis de la ansiedad en el atletismo; un estudio con veteranos. [Analysis of anxiety in athletics; a study with master athletes].

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Antonio Zarauz

2013-07-01

cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and selfconfidence based on independent variables: sex, age, athletic specialty, competition level achieved, whether the athlete is coached, daily training time, days of training per week, years spent training, number of athletes with whom they train and number of competitions in which they participate annually. Midrange values were obtained in precompetitive anxiety (cognitive and somatic and high values in self-confidence. Also, as expected with this type of collective, boredom and deception techniques get some very low scores. Conversely, scores for fun are very high, and those obtained for effort and skill are also high, as is perception of success in sport judging by ego and task. We discuss the results and conclude that the profile of the veteran with more confidence and less anxiety is the one who, being a man of over 50 years, shows greater task orientation and sense of fun during practice of more technical athletic specialties and who, in turn, is self trained and has over 20 years’ practice experience.

Experimenting with Educational Games using the Xbox, PC, and iPad

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Rohrlick, D.; Kilb, D. L.; Peach, C. L.; Simms, E.; Yang, A.; Layman, C.; Deutscher, R.

2012-12-01

gaming techniques work and which do not. We have discovered how simple concepts such as audio queues and voice-overs play a powerful role in obtaining and holding a player's attention. We have also found having the learning goals built into the gameplay is often more effective than directly quizzing the player's knowledge. By adding surprises to the gameplay, a game does a better job keeping the player's attention. Also, presenting non-traditional physical interactions with the game through motion controls or touch-screens help spur the player's interest. The duration of the game is another important factor. Depending on how much interactivity there is available to the player, the game's duration can either lead to overwhelming frustration if too short, or repetitive boredom if the game is too long. Overall, we find one of the most important parts of the learning gaming experience is making sure players are having fun while learning. After creating our games on various formats and software suites, we are working toward understanding the efficacy of our gaming approaches in not only holding players interest, but also in achieving specific learning goals related to the science behind the gameplay. We hope to encourage educators to view educational games as a useful addition to the range of approaches they use to engage students in science. Perhaps this can even motivate some educators to create their own games.

The speed of the narrative of the story of Sa'di's Golestan based theory of Gérard Genette

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Omid Vahdanifar

2016-12-01

story, and pushing researchers to discover unknown aspects of the literary works of ancient Persian language.  More stories of Golestan were written in a "realistic" way and besides simplicity, in many respects accord with the contemporary fiction techniques and principles. In this work, the following questions will be answered: 1. What are the most important factors affecting the pace of the narrative Golestan's anecdotes?  2. Does the rapid or slow pace of the narratives impact on their popularity or everlasting? The objectives of this paper can be summarized as follows: 1. Evaluation of use of the additive and reductive factors in speed of Golestan's narrative stories.  2. Examining the Effect of narrative speed as one of the most important topics in everlasting Golestan's stories.  3- Determine the skills Saadi's successful or unsuccessful use of narrative speed. In this paper was to review the pace of the narrative in Sa'di's Golestan anecdotes. The results of this study showed that: 1. In Golestan's anecdots, the use of elements of selection and elimination, single frequency and frequency recounts, speeded up (rapid movement the narrative. 2. In Golestan's anecdotes these factors have been used more: descriptions, subjective expression, adding episode, frequently repeated, the Parish of retrospectively, revealing the mental - emotional, negative acceleration, self-talk, dialogue, quotation, analogy, theorizing and comparing the characters. But these elements slowed down the speed of narrative stories. Thus, according to the results of this paper can be said the Golestan's anecdotes are narrative s in which the pace is slow. However this pace of the narrative is effective because pace factors of the narratives are charm and reputation and in the popularity of Golestan, have left a positive effect. Thus, this feature makes the reader without boredom, enjoy reading stories, adventures and events and pursue them until the end. Witness is the various and several

Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” towards “A Life Worth Living”

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Mellor, David J.

2016-01-01

welfare and which is now available to guide its management. For example, the named negative experiences of thirst, hunger, discomfort and pain, and others identified subsequently, including breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, debility, weakness and sickness, can never be eliminated, merely temporarily neutralised. Each one is a genetically embedded element that motivates animals to behave in particular ways to obtain specific life-sustaining resources, avoid or reduce physical harm or facilitate recovery from infection or injury. Their undoubted negativity creates a necessary sense of urgency to respond, without which animals would not survive. Also, the temporary neutralisation of these survival-critical affects does not in and of itself generate positive experience. This questions the commonly held assumption that good animal welfare will result when these internally generated negative affects are minimised. Animals may also experience other negative affects that include anxiety, fear, panic, frustration, anger, helplessness, loneliness, boredom and depression. These situation-related affects reflect animals’ perceptions of their external circumstances. Although they are elicited by threatening, cramped, barren and/or isolated conditions, they can often be replaced by positive affects when animals are kept with congenial others in spacious, stimulus-rich and safe environments which provide opportunities for them to engage in behaviours they find rewarding. These behaviours may include environment-focused exploration and food acquisition activities as well as animal-to-animal interactive activities, all of which can generate various forms of comfort, pleasure, interest, confidence and a sense of control. Animal welfare management should aim to reduce the intensity of survival-critical negative affects to tolerable levels that nevertheless still elicit the required behaviours, and should also provide opportunities for animals to behave in ways they find rewarding, noting

Le Bruit de l'amer: Time, Loss and Fossilized Romanticism in Madame Bovary

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Luke Bouvier

2011-07-01

have focused on Emma Bovary's “temporal disorder”, her strange inability to produce an event in her life or to integrate time into her experience. A key scene in this regard is Emma's odd failure to mourn her mother as she acts out a set of elaborate romantic grief rituals that ultimately leave her bored and unmoved. Drawing on a broadly psychoanalytic framework, and in particular recent work on trauma and addiction, this study suggests that this scene is symptomatic of a broader inability to assimilate loss, which manifests itself in the problems of boredom and addiction, and in Emma's general inability to orient herself temporally with respect to the past. Of particular importance are the linguistic implications of this problem, the way in which such a temporal disorder linked to a failure of mourning can be read precisely through the disturbances of language that it provokes. In the odd, inscrutable figure of la mère Rollet, for example, one can discern the cryptic adventure of language that arises from the problem of unassimilated loss in this novel, the very conspiracy of words that drives Emma to suicide through the staging of equivocal, uncanny returns.  Ultimately, if Emma's failure to mourn her mother reveals a certain inability to mourn time itself, this scene unmistakably depicts Emma's inability or refusal to mourn a dead aesthetic as well. Indeed, when Emma indulges her taste for romantic imagery in listening to “les chants de cygnes mourants”, what she fails to hear is precisely the clichéd, worn-out nature of such imagery, romanticism's equivocal double voicing as a champ de signes mourants.

EDITORIAL: Dearing strikes again!

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Dobson Honorary Editor, Ken

1996-05-01

Extra-territorial readers of this journal must surely hover between amazement and boredom at the periodic references to the time and energy spent in England in reviewing, changing, re-reviewing and re-changing its educational programmes from ages 5-18. (Scotland has its own educational system and seems to be doing quite well, thank you.) Recently, Sir Ron Dearing, the Government's educational trouble-shooter, who in a few short months managed to sort out the 5-16 curriculum to the satisfaction (more or less) of both Establishment and politicians, was given the task of redefining the principles underlying the education of 16-19 year-olds. In March 1996 he produced a report that has been greeted, initially at least, with the universal approval of the press and politicians of all parties. The main and century-old problem with the English educational system is the deep divide between academic (pre-university) and vocational education. This may reflect the broad division between `gentlemen' and players (artisans) that seems to be a feature of English society, and which may be too wide for a mere education system to bridge. A second problem has been the perceived narrowness, due to overspecialization into just three subjects, of pre-university courses, which has tended to produce yet another divide - between arts graduates (interesting, lively, well-read, cultured) and science graduates (boring, uncouth, illiterate). However, the rather boringly titled Review of Qualifications for 16-19 Year Olds, Summary ReportFootnote is at least clear in its intentions of bridging both gaps. It reviews the continuing decline in the popularity of mathematics and science subjects as pre-university (A-level) courses, and records that the parallel vocational courses (GNVQ) in science do not yet match their status and their acceptance by employers, and people in general. It accepts the failure of Advanced Supplementary courses to provide a broadening of the 16-19 curriculum. It makes many

Üstün Yetenekli Öğrencilerin Öğrenme, Öğretme, Öğretmenlik Mesleği ve Öğretmen Özellikleri ile İlgili Görüşleri (Gifted Students' Perceptions about Learning, Teaching, Teacher Characteristics and Teaching as a Profession

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Bahadır Erişti

2012-06-01

teaching process during which students improve their own development and feel enjoyment. 19.6 % of the participants considered teaching as a profession they wished to make. In contrast, 80.4 % of the students did not want to. Gifted students' views about teaching as a profession did not vary by gender (χ2(1= 0.133; p=.716 and grade (χ2(2= 3.946; p=.139. The reasons why gifted students wished teaching as a profession were classified in several categories. The highest rated of these was concerned with the idea that by teaching, they contribute to the lives of others and this process provides students with positive feelings. The second highest rated reason was that they wanted to be a teacher in order to save other students from boredom in the classroom they encountered during their school years. The other reason was the belief that teaching as a profession is a holy job. The reasons why the gifted students did not want to have teaching as a career was related to the characteristics of this profession. Students perceived this profession to be difficult, boring, monotonous, tedious and requiring patience. They also did not consider teaching as a profession because it did not fit their interests and abilities. Another important reason that gifted students did not want to have a teaching career was the low income teachers have. Gifted students’ ranking of 14 teacher characteristics in importance revealed interesting findings. Gifted students considered “knowledge” to be the most important characteristics of a teacher (M= 2.826 followed by understanding (M= 3.913, and fairness (M = 4.391. Proficiency in Turkish (M= 5.152 and inquiry (M= 5.196 were also found to be important. Experience (6.065, emotionality (7.087, impressive tone of voice (7.5 and discipline (7.674 were of secondary importance for gifted students they looked for from teachers. They ranked charisma (9.283 as the tenth most important characteristics. Finally, gifted students considered teachers’ physical

Panorama de prácticas de alimentación de adolescentes escolarizados Overview of feeding practices in school adolescents Panorama de práticas de alimentação de adolescentes escolarizados

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AMAYA REY MARÍA CONSUELO DEL PILAR

2009-12-01

/day, oils and butters (45,8±19,4 g/day, vegetables (35,2±58,2 g/day, eggs (26,7±24 g/day, snacks (10,3±13,4 g/day and fast food (4±11 g/day. Men reported alcohol consumption. Intake of energy and nutrients: While protein intake was high (126,3% of the requirements, the intake of energy was deficient (88,7% of the requirements. Deficiencies were found in the consumption of vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, calcium and iron. Food habits: 74,6% of adolescents skipped at least one of the main daily meals. 35,3% of adolescents reported that their emotional situations such as anguish, anxiety, sadness and boredom influenced the increase of food consumption, while for 46,8% these feelings led them to reduce their food intake. 76,6% of adolescents would regularly eat in company while 22,4% would do it alone. 11% of the adolescents that participate are at risk of developing feeding conduct disorders. 45,8% of the adolescents’ families shop at big supermarket chains; the mother is who regularly buys the food (58,2 % and kooks it (71,1%. 78,6% of the adolescents´ families consume food outside home. Family constitutes the greatest influence on food, according to the adolescents (80,1%, followed by the media (10,9%, friends (5% and school (4%. Conclusions: Adolescents present feeding practices that may constitute a risk to cause disease due to inadequate food consumption and which are translated in deficient contribution of energy, vitamin A, B complex vitamins, calcium and iron and high protein contribution. Feeding practices: there is no adequate distribution of food during the day. Emotions affect food consumption; family and media have great influence on the feeding conduct of adolescents.A alimentação dos adolescentes é uma questão de interesse para a enfermagem, vistos os efeitos das ações de promoção da saúde e prevenção de doenças que se podem realizar durante essa etapa e o impacto que ela tem na saúde atual e futura destes jovens

Panorama de prácticas de alimentación de adolescentes escolarizados Panorama de práticas de alimentação de adolescentes escolarizados Overview of feeding practices in school adolescents

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OLGA OSORIO MURILLO

adolescentes.Feeding of adolescents constitutes a topic of interest for nursing due to the effect that health promotion and disease prevention actions have. Said actions can be carried out during this life phase and have impact on current and future health of young people. Objective: evaluate the practices and influences of food in school adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study with a sample of 201 adolescents, which were evaluated for food intake, risks of feeding conduct disorders, feeding circumstances, influence of family, friends, school and media. Results: food consumption: the highest daily consumption was: cereals (436,2±172g/day, soft drinks and sweetened drinks (225,9±152 g/day, meat (155,4±70 g/day, fruits (145,3±66 g/day and diary (123,3±95 g/day. Also found was lower consumption of: sugars, pastries and ice creams (60,6±30,5 g/day, leguminous (49,5±58,2 g/day, oils and butters (45,8±19,4 g/day, vegetables (35,2±58,2 g/day, eggs (26,7±24 g/day, snacks (10,3±13,4 g/day and fast food (4±11 g/day. Men reported alcohol consumption. Intake of energy and nutrients: While protein intake was high (126,3% of the requirements, the intake of energy was deficient (88,7% of the requirements. Deficiencies were found in the consumption of vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, calcium and iron. Food habits: 74,6% of adolescents skipped at least one of the main daily meals. 35,3% of adolescents reported that their emotional situations such as anguish, anxiety, sadness and boredom influenced the increase of food consumption, while for 46,8% these feelings led them to reduce their food intake. 76,6% of adolescents would regularly eat in company while 22,4% would do it alone. 11% of the adolescents that participate are at risk of developing feeding conduct disorders. 45,8% of the adolescents' families shop at big supermarket chains; the mother is who regularly buys the food (58,2 % and kooks it (71,1%. 78,6% of the adolescents´ families

From the Editor

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Ugur Demiray

2006-10-01

identification of gas components in lighter has been thought. To enlighten this situation a simple experiment design has been planned.Next and the ninth article were sent to TOJDE by Terhemba Nom AMBE-UVA. Title of paper is “Interactivity in distance education: The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN experience”. Terhemba Nom AMBE-UVA is from School of Arts and Social Sciences National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN. The paper represents a study of students’ experience of interactivity in distance education programmes at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN. Through surveys and focus groups with students, facilitators, and administrative support staff, we found out that interactivity is a key determinant of student success rate. Majority of the students are workers in the urban areas who combine “work and learn” which is the motto of NOUN. The survey showed that majority of the students depended on their facilitators as key resource persons and on their peers or study groups both for required and voluntary interactivity to reinforce their learning. This was able to reduce loneliness, boredom and loss of community experienced in distance education. Because NOUN has not completed its Repository, Production, Distribution, and Administration Headquarters (REPRODAhq and equipped the study centers with up-to-date technological facilities, this frustrated accessibility that is dialectically linked to interactivity. Next three paper from Turkey. The tenth article is written by Bahar BARAN and Kursat CAGILTAY from Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TURKEY It is titled as “Teachers' Experiences in Online Professional Development Environment ”. Their qualitative study aims to explore teachers’ opinions on traditional professional development (PD courses and their experiences from an online course. 10 teachers from a private school participated in an online