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

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Walter H Henricks

2011-01-01

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

The Omaha system and meaningful use: applications for practice, education, and research.

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Martin, Karen S; Monsen, Karen A; Bowles, Kathryn H

2011-01-01

Meaningful use has become ubiquitous in the vocabulary of health information technology. It suggests that better healthcare does not result from the adoption of technology and electronic health records, but by increasing interoperability and informing clinical decisions at the point of care. Although the initial application of meaningful use was limited to eligible professionals and hospitals, it incorporates complex processes and workflow that involve all nurses, other healthcare practitioners, and settings. The healthcare community will become more integrated, and interdisciplinary practitioners will provide enhanced patient-centered care if electronic health records adopt the priorities of meaningful use. Standardized terminologies are a necessary component of such electronic health records. The Omaha System is an exemplar of a standardized terminology that enables meaningful use of clinical data to support and improve patient-centered clinical practice, education, and research. It is user-friendly, generates data that can be shared with patients and their families, and enables healthcare providers to analyze and exchange patient-centered coded data. Use of the Omaha System is increasing steadily in diverse practice, education, and research settings nationally and internationally.

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules

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Wang Kai

2011-07-01

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

Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler

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

2016-01-01

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

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

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Wei, Wei; Yue, Kwok-Bun

2017-01-01

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

Meaningful radiation worker training for temporary craftsmen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, S.L.

1976-01-01

The carefully organized Radiation Worker Training Program presented to permanently assigned personnel at a power reactor facility too often falls by the wayside when temporary craftsmen are brought in for an outage. Even though these temporary workers will frequently be assigned to outage jobs with high radiation and/or contamination exposures, their Radiation Worker Training is often squeezed into an already busy schedule, thus reducing its effectiveness. As an aid for evaluating the effectiveness of an existing Radiation Worker Training Program for temporary craftsmen or for setting up a new program, the following guides are presented and discussed in this paper: the training environment; the interest and meaningfulness of the presentation; the method or methods used for presentation of the training information; the use of demonstrations; trainee participation; and, measuring the amount and type of information retained by a trainee. Meaningful Radiation Worker Training for temporary craftsmen can pay big dividends. Craftsmen can be expected to make fewer mistakes, thus reducing radiation exposure and lessening the chance for the spread of contamination. The craftsmen will also benefit by being able to work longer and utility management will benefit by having lower outage costs

Improving students' meaningful learning on the predictive nature of quantum mechanics

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Rodolfo Alves de Carvalho Neto

2009-03-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with research about teaching quantum mechanics to 3rd year high school students and their meaningful learning of its predictive aspect; it is based on the Master’s dissertation of one of the authors (CARVALHO NETO, 2006. While teaching quantum mechanics, we emphasized its predictive and essentially probabilistic nature, based on Niels Bohr’s complementarity interpretation (BOHR, 1958. In this context, we have discussed the possibility of predicting measurement results in well-defined experimental contexts, even for individual events. Interviews with students reveal that they have used quantum mechanical ideas, suggesting their meaningful learning of the essentially probabilistic predictions of quantum mechanics.

Types of Meaningfulness of Life and Values of Future Teachers

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Salikhova, Nailia R.

2016-01-01

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

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

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

2013-01-01

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

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

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Lee, Chwee Beng

2018-01-01

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

Meaningfulness for creation of growth in Small- and Medium-sized enterprises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brink, Tove; Neville, Mette

2016-01-01

The research in this paper reveals how meaningfulness of growth can be created in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The research is conducted in a four-year period with 24 SMEs participating from different industry branches. The research is now in the late part of the 3rd. year starting...

Work engagement and meaningful work across generational cohorts

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Crystal Hoole

2015-08-01

to 261 participants across several financial institutions in Gauteng, including three generational cohorts (Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Main findings: A moderate relationship was found to exist between work engagement and meaningful work. The Baby Boomer generation experiences the highest levels of engagement and meaningful work. Significant differences were found between Baby Boomers and Generation X and Baby Boomers and Generation Y. No significant difference were noted between Generation X and Generation Y. Practical/managerial implications: A one-size-fits-all strategy to improve work engagement and the sense of meaning in work does not exist. Results of this study suggest that various approaches based on the needs of each cohort may be required in order to sustain engagement. Older workers in particular prove to be far more valuable and productive and should be treated with care. Contribution: Whilst a large amount of information exists in terms of generational cohorts, not all findings are supported by empirical research to link the concept of work engagement to the different generational cohorts. The conventional belief that older people are less engaged and do not find meaning in their work has been proven to be a misconception, which highlights the danger of stereotypical beliefs. The findings suggest that older employees are still very valuable resources and can contribute significantly to the organisation’s success, but have different needs and values than other age groups. Customised engagement strategies tailored towards different generational cohorts might be more beneficial.

Psychological context of work meaningfulness

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Karel Paulík

2014-12-01

Full Text Available There is a significant shift of approach to the management of organizations and workers in recent decades. This shift in management philosophy is characterized by converting from traditional, conventional (rather bureaucratic management models to rather humanistic/existential oriented models. This transition comes partly from the understanding that human resources are the most promising and effective way for organization development, partly from a shift in the understanding of the role of organizations in society. The key point of these approaches has become a "meaning" or "meaningfulness" in relation to the work and organization. The importance of work meaningfulness is not only in its potential to increase the competitiveness of organizations, but especially in its major (mostly positive impacts on the employee himself and his work (and by that the organization and its performance. Work meaningfulness is strongly connected to the work engagement, which represents the active personal participation in the work process, manifested by vigor, active cooperation, willingness to contribute to the company's success and dedication to work. Work engagement seems to be next important factor affecting work attitudes and achievements of employees. The paper gives an overview of various approaches to work meaningfulness and work engagement, on the basis of which authors propose new model of work meaningfulness with overlap to work engagement. The work meaningfulness is not seen as one-dimensional variable, but consists of complex of interacting factors and processes that define an individual perceived meaning and importance of the work. Meaningful work is influenced by three areas. The first is the organizational culture. This is defined as a specific pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that are often not clearly expressed, but affect the way individuals behave in an organization and how things are done. The second area is the work

Revealing the Linkage Network Dynamic Structures of Chinese Maritime Ports through Automatic Information System Data

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Hongchu Yu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Marine economic cooperation has emerged as a major theme in this era of globalization; hence, maritime network connectivity and dynamics have attracted more and more attention. Port construction and maritime route improvements increase maritime trade and thus facilitate economic viability and resource sustainability. This paper reveals the regional dimension of inter-port linkage dynamic structure of Chinese maritime ports from a complex multilayer perspective that is meaningful for strategic forecasting and regional long-term economic development planning. In this research, Automatic Information System (AIS-derived traffic flows were used to construct a maritime network and subnetworks based on the geographical locations of ports. The linkage intensity between subnetworks, the linkage tightness within subnetworks, the spatial isolation between high-intensity backbones and tight skeleton networks, and a linkage concentration index for each port were calculated. The ports, in turn, were analyzed based on these network attributes. This study analyzed the external competitiveness and internal cohesion of each subnetwork. The results revealed problems in port management and planning, such as unclear divisions in port operations. More critically, weak complementary relationships between the backbone and skeleton networks among the ports reduce connectivity and must be strengthened. This research contributes to the body of work supporting strategic decision-making for future development.

Meaningful work, work engagement and organisational commitment

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Madelyn Geldenhuys

2014-03-01

Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships amongst psychological meaningfulness, work engagement and organisational commitment and to test for a possible mediation effect of work engagement on the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and organisational commitment. Motivation for the study: Managers have to rethink ways of improving productivity and performance at work, due to the diverse, and in some instances escalating, needs of employees (e.g. financial support to uphold their interest in and enjoyment of working. Research approach, design and method: A quantitative approach was employed to gather the data for the study, utilising a cross-sectional survey design. The sample (n = 415 consisted of working employees from various companies and positions in Gauteng, South Africa. Main findings: The results confirmed a positive relationship between psychological meaningfulness, work engagement and organisational commitment. Further, psychological meaningfulness predicts work engagement, whilst psychological meaningfulness and work engagement predict organisational commitment. Practical/managerial implications: Employers identifying their employees’ commitment patterns and mapping out strategies for enhancing those that are relevant to organisational goals will yield positive work outcomes (e.g. employees who are creative, seek growth or challenges for themselves. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the literature through highlighting the impact that meaningful work has on sustaining employee commitment to the organisation.

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

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

2017-07-01

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

WHATSAPP CONTRIBUTIONS IN SPANISH TEACHING: A PERSPECTIVE OF MEANINGFUL AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

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Iandra Maria Weirich da Silva Coelho

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This article describes a didactic proposal, mediated by the use of WhatsApp as a potential tool for the teaching of Spanish as an additional language. Activities are drawn from collaborative and meaningful practice with authentic situations of the language usage, taking by reference the theoretical construct of the Theory of Meaningful Learning (AUSUBEL, 2003 and Collaborative Practice of Writing. The results identify positive contributions about the increased interest and motivation of students, promotion of discursive competence, interactivity, autonomy, about actions involving the authorship and collaborative construction in information network for knowledge sharing.

Towards a mathematical theory of meaningful communication

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

2014-04-01

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

Meaningfulness of Service and Marital Satisfaction in Army Couples

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

2015-01-01

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

Meaningfulness of service and marital satisfaction in Army couples.

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

2014-10-01

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

Relationship between meaningful work and job performance in nurses.

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Tong, Ling

2018-04-01

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

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

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

2018-01-01

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

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

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

2016-01-01

Previous research indicates that sensori-motor experience with physical systems can have a positive effect on learning. However, it is not clear whether this effect is caused by mere bodily engagement or the intrinsically meaningful information that such interaction affords in performing the

Meaningful and efficient? Enduring challenges to Aboriginal participation in environmental assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Udofia, Aniekan; Noble, Bram; Poelzer, Greg

2017-01-01

This paper explores the underlying practice-based challenges to meaningful and efficient Aboriginal participation in environmental assessment (EA) - participation that provides meaningful opportunities for Aboriginal communities to shape EA, yet assures a degree of efficiency for project proponents who need to obtain EA approvals in a timely and financially viable manner. We do so based on an analysis of the EA policy community's experience with uranium exploration and mining in Saskatchewan, Canada. Many of the challenges to meaningful and efficient Aboriginal participation that emerged are multi-dimensional, often concerning participation processes, decision-making, and relationships. Although scholars have explored many of these issues and have proposed numerous solutions, challenges persist in practice. Several other issues also emerged from our study that have received limited attention, including the non-commitment to early and ongoing participation by smaller project proponents, and the EA exemption of exploration projects; the limited availability of information to project developers on local right holders and Aboriginal interests; expectations about the integration of traditional knowledge and land use in EA not aligning with the information that is available to proponents; confusion about who is responsible for initiating early participation and consultation processes; the lack of early relationship building with potentially affected communities, particularly by governments; and the lack of other viable avenues, outside EA, for Aboriginal communities to raise more strategic issues of concern that affect traditional lands and treaty rights.

The effect of occupational meaningfulness on occupational commitment

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Itai Ivtzan

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Existing research lacks a scholarly consensus on how to define and validly measure ‘meaningful work’ (e.g., Rosso, Dekas & Wrzesniewski, 2010. The following correlational study highlights the value of investigating meaningfulness in the context of occupational commitment. The study hypothesizes that occupational commitment is positively correlated with occupational meaningfulness, where meaningfulness is defined as the extent to which people’s occupations contribute to personal meaning in life. One-hundred and fifty-six full-time office based UK workers completed an online questionnaire including 18 questions measuring levels of occupational commitment (Meyer, Allen & Smith, 1993, in addition to six novel items measuring occupational meaningfulness. The results supported the hypothesis and also showed that the affective sub-type of occupational commitment had the highest correlation with occupational meaningfulness. Such results exhibit the importance of finding meaning at work, as well as the relevance of this to one’s level of commitment to his or her job. This paper argues that individuals should consider OM before choosing to take a specific role, whereas organizations ought to consider the OM of their potential candidates before recruiting them into a role. Possible directions for future research directions are also discussed.

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

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

2013-01-01

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

Reflections on Meaningfulness and its Social Relevance

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Nicole Note

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Philosophers who write about the meaning of life are few nowadays. Thesubject has lost its attractiveness. Perceived from a viewpoint of logical positivism or language philosophy, the whole issue of meaningfulness seems rather pointless. It is often considered to be related to metaphysics, making it less suitable for philosophical inquiry. The topic of meaningfulness seems too intangible. Indeed, the few philosophers that have embarked on examining meaningfulness have proven to be well aware of the challenges this poses. At times they acknowledge that the more they concentrate on the subject, the more it seems to fall apart into unintelligible pieces about whichnothing of philosophical value can be said.

The Retention of Meaningful Understanding of Meiosis and Genetics.

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Cavallo, Ann Liberatore

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

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

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

2009-01-01

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

Antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work among school teachers

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Elmari Fouché

2017-03-01

Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work among school teachers. Motivation for the study: Meaningful work underpins people’s motivation and affects their well-being and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it is a significant pathway to healthy and authentic organisations. However, a research gap exists regarding the effects of different antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work. Research approach, design and method: A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample of 513 teachers. The Work-Life Questionnaire, Revised Job Diagnostic Survey, Co-worker Relations Scale, Work and Meaning Inventory, Personal Resources Scale, Work Engagement Scale, Turnover Intention Scale and a measure of self-rated performance were administered. Main findings: A calling orientation, job design and co-worker relations were associated with meaningful work. A low calling orientation and poor co-worker relationships predicted burnout. A calling orientation, a well-designed job, good co-worker relationships and meaningful work predicted work engagement. Job design was moderately associated with self-ratings of performance. The absence of a calling orientation predicted teachers’ intention to leave the organisation. Practical/managerial implications: Educational managers should consider implementing interventions to affect teachers’ calling orientation (through job crafting, perceptions of the nature of their jobs (by allowing autonomy and co-worker relations (through teambuilding to promote perceptions of meaningful work. Promoting perceptions of meaningful work might contribute to lower burnout, higher work engagement, better self-ratings of performance and retention of teachers. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to scientific knowledge regarding the effects of three antecedents, namely a calling orientation, job design and co-worker relationships on meaningful work. It also contributed to knowledge

Measuring meaningful learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, Kelli R.

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

Meaningful work and secondary school teachers' intention to leave

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Janik

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The study investigates the relations between secondary school teachers' work-role fit, job enrichment, supervisor relationships, co-worker relationships, psychological meaningfulness of work and intention to leave. A cross-sectional survey was used. The participants were 502 secondary school teachers in Namibia. The following measuring instruments were used: Work-role Fit Scale, Job Enrichment Scale, Co-worker and Supervisor Relationships Scales, Psychological Meaningfulness Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. Work-role fit and job enrichment both had direct positive effect on experiences of psychological meaningfulness at work, while poor work-role fit and low psychological meaningfulness both had a direct effect on teachers' intentions to leave. An analysis of the indirect effects showed that poor work-role fit and poor job enrichment affected intention to leave due to the concomitant experience of low psychological meaningfulness. These findings have implications for the retention of teachers in secondary schools.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lixia Yang

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2010-01-01

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

Hidden acoustic information revealed by intentional nonlinearity

Science.gov (United States)

Dowling, David R.

2017-11-01

Acoustic waves are omnipresent in modern life and are well described by the linearized equations of fluid dynamics. Once generated, acoustic waves carry and collect information about their source and the environment through which they propagate, respectively, and this information may be retrieved by analyzing recordings of these waves. Because of this, acoustics is the primary means for observation, surveillance, reconnaissance, and remote sensing in otherwise opaque environments, such as the Earth's oceans and crust, and the interior of the human body. For such information-retrieval tasks, acoustic fields are nearly always interrogated within their recorded frequency range or bandwidth. However, this frequency-range restriction is not general; acoustic fields may also carry (hidden) information at frequencies outside their bandwidth. Although such a claim may seem counter intuitive, hidden acoustic-field information can be revealed by re-introducing a marquee trait of fluid dynamics: nonlinearity. In particular, an intentional quadratic nonlinearity - a form of intra-signal heterodyning - can be used to obtain acoustic field information at frequencies outside a recorded acoustic field's bandwidth. This quadratic nonlinearity enables a variety of acoustic remote sensing applications that were long thought to be impossible. In particular, it allows the detrimental effects of sparse recordings and random scattering to be suppressed when the original acoustic field has sufficient bandwidth. In this presentation, the topic is developed heuristically, with a just brief exposition of the relevant mathematics. Hidden acoustic field information is then revealed from simulated and measured acoustic fields in simple and complicated acoustic environments involving frequencies from a few Hertz to more than 100 kHz, and propagation distances from tens of centimeters to hundreds of kilometers. Sponsored by ONR, NAVSEA, and NSF.

Patient-perceived satisfactory improvement (PPSI): interpreting meaningful change in pain from the patient's perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ten Klooster, Peter M.; Drossaers-Bakker, K.W.; Taal, Erik; van de Laar, Mart A F J

2006-01-01

The assessment of clinically meaningful changes in patient-reported pain has become increasingly important when interpreting results of clinical studies. However, proposed response criteria, such as the minimal clinically important difference, do not correspond with the growing need for information

Meaningful Interaction in a Local Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holck, Ulla

2006-01-01

This keynote is based on a Ph.D. thesis on development of socially meaningful interaction in music therapy with children with very poor communication skills (Holck 2002). The aim was to identify some of the conditions, whereby actions can be understood as meaningful - that is, whereby the child......’ Samspil i Musikterapi [Eng.: ’Commusical’ Interplay in Music Therapy. Qualitative Video Analyses of Musical and Gestural Interactions with Children with Severe Functional Limitations, including Children with Autism]. Unpubl. PhD thesis, Aalborg Universitet. Holck, U. (2004) Interaction Themes in Music...

Life is pretty meaningful.

Science.gov (United States)

Heintzelman, Samantha J; King, Laura A

2014-09-01

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

Consumers’ social media brand behaviors: uncovering underlying motivators and deriving meaningful consumer segments

OpenAIRE

Dimitriu, Radu; Guesalaga Trautmann, Rodrigo

2017-01-01

The current research identifies the range of social media brand behaviors (i.e., brand touch points) that consumers can exhibit on social media, and subsequently queries a representative sample of consumers with regard to such behaviors. The analysis reveals four underlying motivators for consumers’ social media behaviors, including brand tacit engagement, brand exhibiting, brand patronizing and brand deal seeking. These motivators are used to derive meaningful consumer segments identified as...

Meaningful and Purposeful Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Clementi, Donna

2014-01-01

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

PROMOTING MEANINGFUL LEARNING THROUGH CREATE-SHARE-COLLABORATE

OpenAIRE

Sailin, Siti Nazuar; Mahmor, Noor Aida

2017-01-01

Students in this 21st century are required to acquire these 4C skills: Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity. These skills can be integrated in the teaching and learning through innovative teaching that promotes active and meaningful learning. One way of integrating these skills is through collaborative knowledge creation and sharing. This paper providesan example of meaningful teaching and learning activities designed within the Create-Share-Collaborate instructional...

Meaningful work and mental health: job satisfaction as a moderator.

Science.gov (United States)

Allan, Blake A; Dexter, Chelsea; Kinsey, Rebecca; Parker, Shelby

2018-02-01

Depression, anxiety and stress are common problems for modern workers. Although having meaningful work, or work that is significant, facilitates personal growth, and contributes to the greater good, has been linked to better mental health, people's work might also need to be satisfying or enjoyable to improve outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to examine meaningful work's relation to mental health (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress) and investigate job satisfaction as a moderator of this relation. The study hypotheses were tested with a large, diverse sample recruited from an online source. Partially supporting hypotheses, when controlling for job satisfaction, meaningful work negatively correlated with depression but did not have a significant relation with anxiety and stress. Similarly, job satisfaction negatively predicted depression and stress. Furthermore, the relations between meaningful work and both anxiety and stress were moderated by job satisfaction. Specifically, only people perceiving their work as meaningful and satisfying reported less anxiety and stress. Although continued research is needed, employers and employees may have to target both the meaningfulness and job satisfaction to address the issues of stress and anxiety among working adults.

Are all certified EHRs created equal? Assessing the relationship between EHR vendor and hospital meaningful use performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmgren, A Jay; Adler-Milstein, Julia; McCullough, Jeffrey

2017-11-24

The federal electronic health record (EHR) certification process was intended to ensure a baseline level of system quality and the ability to support meaningful use criteria. We sought to assess whether there was variation across EHR vendors in the degree to which hospitals using products from those vendors were able to achieve high levels of performance on meaningful use criteria. We created a cross-sectional national hospital sample from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology EHR Products Used for Meaningful Use Attestation public use file and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicare EHR Incentive Program Eligible Hospitals public use file. We used regression models to assess the relationship between vendor and hospital performance on 6 Stage 2 Meaningful Use criteria, controlling for hospital characteristics. We also calculated how much variation in performance is explained by vendor choice. We found significant associations between specific vendor and level of hospital performance for all 6 meaningful use criteria. Epic was associated with significantly higher performance on 5 of the 6 criteria; relationships for other vendors were mixed, with some associated with significantly worse performance on multiple criteria. EHR vendor choice accounted for between 7% and 34% of performance variation across the 6 criteria. A nontrivial proportion of variation in hospital meaningful use performance is explained by vendor choice, and certain vendors are more often associated with better meaningful use performance than others. Our results suggest that policy-makers should improve the certification process by including more "real-world" scenario testing and provider feedback or ratings to reduce this variation. Hospitals can use these results to guide interactions with vendors. Vendor choice accounts for a meaningful proportion of variation in hospital meaningful use performance, and specific vendors are consistently associated

Meaningful work and secondary school teachers' intention to leave ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The following measuring instruments were used: Work-role Fit Scale, Job Enrichment Scale, Co-worker and Supervisor Relationships Scales, Psychological Meaningfulness Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. Work-role fit and job enrichment both had direct positive effect on experiences of psychological meaningfulness at ...

Meaningful spatial and temporal sequences of activities in dwelling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hematalikeikha, M.A.; Coolen, H.C.C.H.; Pourdeihimi, S.

2014-01-01

Human activities based on human needs are affected by affordances and meanings that occur in the dwelling. Activities over time and space have meaningful sequences. The meaningfulness of activities in the cultural framework is conditioned by its special temporality and spatiality. Also, temporal or

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-02-01

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

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints

OpenAIRE

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

2016-01-01

This study examined a model of meaningful work among a diverse sample of working adults. From the perspectives of Self-Determination Theory and the Psychology of Working Framework, we tested a structural model with social class and work volition predicting SDT motivation variables, which in turn predicted meaningful work. Partially supporting hypotheses, work volition was positively related to internal regulation and negatively related to amotivation, whereas social class was positively relat...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

1998-04-01

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

A Mixed-Methods Study of the Recovery Concept, "A Meaningful Day," in Community Mental Health Services for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Neely A L; Smith, Kelly; Pope, Alicia; Alolayan, Yazeed; Broussard, Beth; Haynes, Nora; Compton, Michael T

2016-10-01

The recovery concept encompasses overcoming or managing one's illness, being physically and emotionally healthy, and finding meaningful purpose through work, school, or volunteering, which connects one to others in mutually fulfilling ways. Using a mixed-methods approach, we studied the emphasis on "a meaningful day" in the new Opening Doors to Recovery (ODR) program in southeast Georgia. Among 100 participants, we measured the meaningful day construct using three quantitative items at baseline (hospital discharge) and at 4-, 8-, and 12-month follow-up, finding statistically significant linear trends over time for all three measures. Complementary qualitative interviews with 30 individuals (ODR participants, family members, and ODR's Community Navigation Specialists and program leaders) revealed themes pertaining to companionship, productivity, achieving stability, and autonomy, as well as the concern about insufficient resources. The concept of "a meaningful day" can be a focus of clinical attention and measured as a person-centered outcome for clients served by recovery-oriented community mental health services.

Intrinsic Value and a Meaningful Life | Audi | Philosophical Papers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

I distinguish various ways in which human life may be thought to be meaningful and present an account of what might be called existential meaningfulness. The account is neutral with respect to both theism and naturalism, but each is addressed in several places and the paper's main points are harmonious with certain ...

Values-led Participatory Design as a pursuit of meaningful alternatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leong, Tuck Wah; Iversen, Ole Sejer

2015-01-01

Participatory Design (PD) is inherently concerned with inquiring into and supporting human values when designing IT. We argue that a PD approach that is led by a focus upon participants' values can allow participants to discover meaningful alternatives -- alternative uses and alternative...... conceptualizations for IT that are particularly meaningful to them. However, how PD works with values in the design process has not been made explicit. In this paper, we aim to (i) explicate this values-led PD approach, (ii) illustrate how this approach can lead to outcomes that are meaningful alternatives, and (iii...

Characteristics of meaningful chemistry education - The case of water quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Westbroek, Hanna Barbara

2005-01-01

This thesis addresses the question of how to involve students in meaningful chemistry education by a proper implementation of three characteristics of meaningful: a context, a need-to-know approach and attention for student input. The characteristics were adopted as solution strategies for

Revealing plant cryptotypes: defining meaningful phenotypes among infinite traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Chitwood, Daniel H; Topp, Christopher N

2015-04-01

The plant phenotype is infinite. Plants vary morphologically and molecularly over developmental time, in response to the environment, and genetically. Exhaustive phenotyping remains not only out of reach, but is also the limiting factor to interpreting the wealth of genetic information currently available. Although phenotyping methods are always improving, an impasse remains: even if we could measure the entirety of phenotype, how would we interpret it? We propose the concept of cryptotype to describe latent, multivariate phenotypes that maximize the separation of a priori classes. Whether the infinite points comprising a leaf outline or shape descriptors defining root architecture, statistical methods to discern the quantitative essence of an organism will be required as we approach measuring the totality of phenotype. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards happiness: Experiences of work-role fit, meaningfulness and work engagement of industrial/organisational psychologists in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Llewellyn E. van Zyl

2010-10-01

Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine how I/O psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement, utilising the happiness framework proposed by Seligman (2002. Motivation for the study: I/O psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness in the workplace. Information about their work engagement and experiences of meaning is therefore needed. Research design, approach and method: A survey design was used. A convenience sample (n = 106 was taken of I/O psychologists in South Africa. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-Role Fit Scale, the Work-Life Questionnaire, the Psychological Meaningfulness Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and a survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. Main findings: Work-role fit predicted psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The calling orientation to work predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation to work and work engagement. Practical implications: A calling orientation to work should be fostered in I/O psychologists because it contributes to experiences of work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Contribution/value-add: The results of this study contribute to scientific knowledge about work-role fit, engagement and meaning as components of happiness of I/O psychologists.

ID-check: Online concealed information test reveals true identity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verschuere, B.; Kleinberg, B.

2016-01-01

The Internet has already changed people's lives considerably and is likely to drastically change forensic research. We developed a web-based test to reveal concealed autobiographical information. Initial studies identified a number of conditions that affect diagnostic efficiency. By combining these

Meaningful work and secondary school teachers' intention to leave

OpenAIRE

Janik, M.; Rothmann, S.

2015-01-01

The study investigates the relations between secondary school teachers' work-role fit, job enrichment, supervisor relationships, co-worker relationships, psychological meaningfulness of work and intention to leave. A cross-sectional survey was used. The participants were 502 secondary school teachers in Namibia. The following measuring instruments were used: Work-role Fit Scale, Job Enrichment Scale, Co-worker and Supervisor Relationships Scales, Psychological Meaningfulness Scale and Turnove...

Poignancy: Mixed Emotional Experience in the Face of Meaningful Endings

Science.gov (United States)

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

2009-01-01

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

Meaningful Human Control over Autonomous Systems: A Philosophical Account

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filippo Santoni de Sio

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Debates on lethal autonomous weapon systems have proliferated in the past 5 years. Ethical concerns have been voiced about a possible raise in the number of wrongs and crimes in military operations and about the creation of a “responsibility gap” for harms caused by these systems. To address these concerns, the principle of “meaningful human control” has been introduced in the legal–political debate; according to this principle, humans not computers and their algorithms should ultimately remain in control of, and thus morally responsible for, relevant decisions about (lethal military operations. However, policy-makers and technical designers lack a detailed theory of what “meaningful human control” exactly means. In this paper, we lay the foundation of a philosophical account of meaningful human control, based on the concept of “guidance control” as elaborated in the philosophical debate on free will and moral responsibility. Following the ideals of “Responsible Innovation” and “Value-sensitive Design,” our account of meaningful human control is cast in the form of design requirements. We identify two general necessary conditions to be satisfied for an autonomous system to remain under meaningful human control: first, a “tracking” condition, according to which the system should be able to respond to both the relevant moral reasons of the humans designing and deploying the system and the relevant facts in the environment in which the system operates; second, a “tracing” condition, according to which the system should be designed in such a way as to grant the possibility to always trace back the outcome of its operations to at least one human along the chain of design and operation. As we think that meaningful human control can be one of the central notions in ethics of robotics and AI, in the last part of the paper, we start exploring the implications of our account for the design and use of non

Today's 'meaningful use' standard for medication orders by hospitals may save few lives; later stages may do more.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jones, S.S.; Heaton, P.; Friedberg, M.W.; Schneider, E.C.

2011-01-01

The federal government is currently offering bonus payments through Medicare and Medicaid to hospitals, physicians, and other eligible health professionals who meet new standards for "meaningful use" of health information technology. Whether these incentives will improve care, reduce errors, and

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

Science.gov (United States)

Brier, Søren

2015-12-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2011-01-01

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

Making Social Studies Meaningful to Elementary Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Susan

1982-01-01

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

Students’ Expectations and Experiences of Meaningful Simulation-Based Medical Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tuulikki Keskitalo

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This study aims to investigate students’ expectations and experiences of meaningful learning in simulation-based learning environments. We set the following research question: How do students’ experiences of meaningful simulation-based learning correspond to their expectations? The students’ (n = 87; male 51, female 36 pre- and post-questionnaires were analyzed using statistical methods. The results indicated that students’ expectations and experiences of meaningful learning were positive, and for most statements, there were statistically significant differences between the mean pre-questionnaire rating and the mean post-questionnaire rating, thereby indicating that students’ actual experiences of simulation-based learning were more positive than their expectations. Thus, students’ experiences exceeded their expectations.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsten E Smayda

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

Meaningful Learning in the Cooperative Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Sharan, Yael

2015-01-01

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

A meaningful workplace: Framework, space and context ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A meaningful workplace: Framework, space and context. ... PL Steenkamp, JS Basson ... The organisation experiences a loss of productivity, quality, innovation, et cetera ... This is what this article is about: to conceptualise the workplace as ...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-02-10

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

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

Operating Room Delays: Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Record.

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

2016-06-01

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

When Information Conveys Meaning

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Anthony Reading

2012-11-01

Full Text Available While some information is clearly meaningful and some clearly is not, no one has been able to identify exactly what the difference is. The major obstacle has been the way information and meaning are conceptualized: the one in the physical realm of tangible, objective entities and the other in the mental world of intangible, subjective ones. This paper introduces an approach that incorporates both of them within a unified framework by defining them in terms of what they do, rather than what they are. Meaningful information is thus conceptualized here as patterns of matter and energy that have a tangible effect on the entities that detect them, either by changing their function, structure or behavior, while patterns of matter and energy that have no such effects are considered meaningless. The way that meaningful information can act as a causal agent in bio-behavioral systems enables us to move beyond dualistic concepts of ourselves as comprised of a material body that obeys the laws of physics and a non-material essence that is too elusive to study [1].

COURSERA ONLINE COURSE: A PLATFORM FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS’ MEANINGFUL AND VIBRANT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Arnis Silvia

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This article reports on English teachers‘ attitudes towards a professional development program run by Coursera (coursera.org. These teachers were participants of Foundation of Teaching for Learning 1: Introduction online course. Using a survey case study, the findings reveal that most of the participants perceive the course as a well-organized and effective platform to engage in professional learning. Coursera is an online learning platform offering various courses for teacher educators which are meaningful (closely related to their daily teaching practice and vibrant (involves active collaboration among peer participants to review and assess their projects. Albeit this nature, another finding shows that the participants lament that their institutions do not provide professional development (PD support. In fact, PD programs are not constrained to face-to-face encounters, since it can be designed using online platforms such as Coursera, a massive open online course (MOOC. Accordingly, the contribution of the article is to show how online platforms make meaningful and vibrant teacher professional development (TPD possible. The implication of the study is that school administrators and policy makers should provide support for their teachers to take online PD programs. This professional learning should contribute to the best teaching practice and student learning attainment.

Meaningful Use of School Health Data

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Johnson, Kathleen Hoy; Bergren, Martha Dewey

2011-01-01

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

Revealing Tripartite Quantum Discord with Tripartite Information Diagram

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Wei-Ting Lee

2017-11-01

Full Text Available A new measure based on the tripartite information diagram is proposed for identifying quantum discord in tripartite systems. The proposed measure generalizes the mutual information underlying discord from bipartite to tripartite systems, and utilizes both one-particle and two-particle projective measurements to reveal the characteristics of the tripartite quantum discord. The feasibility of the proposed measure is demonstrated by evaluating the tripartite quantum discord for systems with states close to Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger, W, and biseparable states. In addition, the connections between tripartite quantum discord and two other quantum correlations—namely genuine tripartite entanglement and genuine tripartite Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering—are briefly discussed. The present study considers the case of quantum discord in tripartite systems. However, the proposed framework can be readily extended to general N-partite systems.

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

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Johnson, Matthew J; Jiang, Lixin

2017-08-01

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

How to Produce a Transdisciplinary Information Concept for a Universal Theory of Information?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brier, Søren

2017-01-01

the natural, technical, social and humanistic sciences must be defined as a part of real relational meaningful sign-processes manifesting as tokens. Thus Peirce’s information theory is empirically based in a realistic worldview, which through modern biosemiotics includes all living systems....... concept of information as a difference that makes a difference and in Luhmann’s triple autopoietic communication based system theory, where information is always a part of a message. Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticist semiotics differs from other paradigms in that it integrates logic and information...... in interpretative semiotics. I therefore suggest alternatively building information theories based on semiotics from the basic relations of embodied living systems meaningful cognition and communication. I agree with Peircean biosemiotics that all transdisciplinary information concepts in order to work across...

Annotating spatio-temporal datasets for meaningful analysis in the Web

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Stasch, Christoph; Pebesma, Edzer; Scheider, Simon

2014-05-01

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

Remedial principles and meaningful engagement in education ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article evaluates the meaningful engagement doctrine in the education rights jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in the light of a set of normative principles developed by Susan Sturm for evaluating participatory public law remedies. It commences by identifying four principles for evaluating participatory remedies ...

Fishing for meaningful units in connected speech

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henrichsen, Peter Juel; Christiansen, Thomas Ulrich

2009-01-01

In many branches of spoken language analysis including ASR, the set of smallest meaningful units of speech is taken to coincide with the set of phones or phonemes. However, fishing for phones is difficult, error-prone, and computationally expensive. We present an experiment, based on machine...

Designing Meaningful Game Experiences for Rehabilitation and Sustainable Mobility Settings

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Silvia Gabrielli

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the approach followed in two ongoing research projects aimed to designing meaningful game-based experiences to support home rehabilitation, eco-sustainable mobility goals and more in general better daily lifestyles. We first introduce the need for designing meaningful game-based experiences that are well-connected to the relevant non-game settings and can be customized by/for users, then, we show examples of how this approach can be realized in the rehabilitation and sustainable mobility contexts.

Callings, work role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

meaningful work experiences, which also impact individuals' work .... group 25 to 29 years. .... significant chi-squared difference tests, after these path deletions, indicated that .... Counseling Psychology, 59:479-485. doi: 10.1037/a0028949.

Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices

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Hannah Fairbrother

2016-12-01

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

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

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

2012-09-24

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

Demands–abilities fit, work beliefs, meaningful work and engagement in nature-based jobs

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Nellie de Crom

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Meaningful work and personal engagement are important dimensions of flourishing of employees, especially when individuals work in challenging jobs. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between demands–abilities fit, work beliefs, meaningful work and engagement in individuals in nature-based jobs. Motivation for the study: Individuals working in nature often work under challenging circumstances without the necessary resources. A research gap exists regarding the effects of demands–abilities fit and work beliefs on meaningful work. It is also not clear how these antecedents and meaningful work will impact the engagement of individuals working in nature. Research approach, design and method: A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample of 161 nature-based employees. Data were collected using a structured online questionnaire consisting of items from the demands–abilities fit scale, work–life questionnaire, work and meaning Inventory, work engagement scale and a biographical questionnaire. Main findings: Work beliefs (calling, career and job and demands–abilities fit predicted a large percentage of the variance in meaning making. Work beliefs (calling and job and demands–abilities fit also predicted a large percentage of the variance in greater good motivations. Demands–abilities fit and a calling work orientation indirectly affected work engagement via meaningful work. The scales which measured calling and job orientations showed insufficient discriminant validity in relation to the scales which measured positive meaning and work engagement. Practical and managerial implications: Managers should consider implementing interventions to affect the demands–abilities fit (through human resource management interventions and work beliefs of individuals working in nature (through job crafting. Promoting perceptions of meaningful work might contribute to higher personal engagement

Wonderful Life : Exploring Wonder in Meaningful Moments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Goor, Marie Jacqueline; Sools, Anna Maria; Westerhof, Gerben Johan; Bohlmeijer, Ernst Thomas

In this article, we bring the study of meaning together with the emerging field of study focusing on the emotions of wonder: wonder, enchantment, awe, and being moved. It is in meaningful moments that these two meet, and in our empirical study, we used the emotions of wonder as a lens to investigate

Meaningful Use of a Confidential Adolescent Patient Portal.

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Thompson, Lindsay A; Martinko, Thomas; Budd, Pamela; Mercado, Rebeccah; Schentrup, Anzeela M

2016-02-01

To design and evaluate the usage of an adolescent patient portal specifically adapted for adolescent health care needs that also satisfied institutional meaningful use guidelines regarding electronic health records. Key stakeholders at one academic health care center adopted an online portal and opted to designate a patient portal specifically for adolescents to maximize confidentiality in compliance with state privacy laws. This study analyzed aggregate electronic health record data of adolescents' (ages 12-17.9 years) uptake, usage, and functionality of this portal and compared it to parent portal usage for younger children (ages 0-11 years). Differences in means were calculated using paired t tests. The portal was used similarly between parents of young children and adolescents, with almost 1,000 enrollees in each group from September 1, 2012 to March 31, 2015. There were no gender differences in enrollment. Adolescents were less likely than parents of younger children to review appointments (73% vs. 85%), laboratory tests (67% vs. 79%), problem lists (40% vs. 78%), or allergies (45% vs. 77%, all p values adolescents sent 1,397 confidential messages. Institutional decisions for implementing meaningful use requirements can align with goals of adolescent health. Patient portals can enhance adolescent health care quality and adolescents readily use a confidential portal. Implementation of meaningful use requirements should be checked against adolescent health care needs to maximize confidentiality and promote health communication. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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

2012-05-01

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

Novel study guides for biochemistry meaningful learning in biology: a design-based research

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Caetano da Costa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available To address the usually decontextualized transmission of information in biochemistry teaching, three interventions in a discipline (Metabolism for Biology majors were applied as innovative study guides. We describe the development, application, and evaluation of two study guides, contextualized with a real problem or an integrative view, using broad themes like evolution and metabolic adaptation. In order to evaluate the impact of both interventions on interest, motivation, and learning of the metabolic pathways, a design-based research with cycles of application and assessment was carried out, by means of classroom observation, grade analysis in written exams, and students’ interviews. Analysis and interpretation of the results point to benefits for teaching and learning, with helpful information to guide elaboration and refinement of new teaching materials and to make active learning more meaningful.

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

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

2017-01-01

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

Assessing Assessment: In Pursuit of Meaningful Learning

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

2018-01-01

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

Pengaruh Job Enrichment terhadap Employee Engagement melalui Psychological Meaningfulness sebagai Mediator

OpenAIRE

Sungkit, Flavia Norpina; Meiyanto, IJK Sito

2015-01-01

The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of job enrichment toward employee engagement through psychological meaningfulness as the mediator. Research design used is a cross-sectional study of 112 employees. Data is analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Result shows job enrichment is able to influence employee engagement significantly through psychological meaningfulness as the mediator. The p=0,000 with significance level 0,05. The sig F change shows 0,006, which is

Protestant ethic: Contributing towards a meaningful workplace ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The article also indicates that the Protestant ethic can indeed contribute towards a meaningful experience whilst performing work-related tasks in workspace. The Protestant work ethic is more than a cultural norm that places a positive moral value on doing a good job. Based on a belief that work has intrinsic value for its own ...

77 FR 70444 - Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Health Information...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-26

... Technology; Health Information Technology; HIT Policy Committee: Request for Comment Regarding the Stage 3 Definition of Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) AGENCY: Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Department...

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

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Kelly, Len; Walters, Lucie; Rosenthal, David

2014-01-01

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

Meaningful Share Generation for Increased Number of Secrets in Visual Secret-Sharing Scheme

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Mustafa Ulutas

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new scheme for hiding two halftone secret images into two meaningful shares created from halftone cover images. Meaningful shares are more desirable than noise-like (meaningless shares in Visual Secret Sharing because they look natural and do not attract eavesdroppers' attention. Previous works in the field focus on either increasing number of secrets or creating meaningful shares for one secret image. The method outlined in this paper both increases the number of secrets and creates meaningful shares at the same time. While the contrast ratio of shares is equal to that of Extended Visual Cryptography, two secrets are encoded into two shares as opposed to one secret in the Extended Visual Cryptography. Any two natural-looking images can be used as cover unlike the Halftone Visual Cryptography method where one cover should be the negative of the other cover image and can only encode one secret. Effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by an experiment.

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

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Grove, Nathaniel P.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2012-01-01

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

Water Habitat Study: Prediction Makes It More Meaningful.

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Glasgow, Dennis R.

1982-01-01

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

Meaningful Gamification in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology Course

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Stansbury, Jessica A.; Earnest, David R.

2017-01-01

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

The measurement of water scarcity: Defining a meaningful indicator.

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Damkjaer, Simon; Taylor, Richard

2017-09-01

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

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

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

2017-01-01

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

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

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

2010-01-01

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

Combining complexity measures of EEG data: multiplying measures reveal previously hidden information.

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Burns, Thomas; Rajan, Ramesh

2015-01-01

Many studies have noted significant differences among human electroencephalograph (EEG) results when participants or patients are exposed to different stimuli, undertaking different tasks, or being affected by conditions such as epilepsy or Alzheimer's disease. Such studies often use only one or two measures of complexity and do not regularly justify their choice of measure beyond the fact that it has been used in previous studies. If more measures were added to such studies, however, more complete information might be found about these reported differences. Such information might be useful in confirming the existence or extent of such differences, or in understanding their physiological bases. In this study we analysed publically-available EEG data using a range of complexity measures to determine how well the measures correlated with one another. The complexity measures did not all significantly correlate, suggesting that different measures were measuring unique features of the EEG signals and thus revealing information which other measures were unable to detect. Therefore, the results from this analysis suggests that combinations of complexity measures reveal unique information which is in addition to the information captured by other measures of complexity in EEG data. For this reason, researchers using individual complexity measures for EEG data should consider using combinations of measures to more completely account for any differences they observe and to ensure the robustness of any relationships identified.

The Organization of Informal Learning

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

2016-01-01

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

Information processing in the transcriptional regulatory network of yeast: Functional robustness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dehmer Matthias

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene networks are considered to represent various aspects of molecular biological systems meaningfully because they naturally provide a systems perspective of molecular interactions. In this respect, the functional understanding of the transcriptional regulatory network is considered as key to elucidate the functional organization of an organism. Results In this paper we study the functional robustness of the transcriptional regulatory network of S. cerevisiae. We model the information processing in the network as a first order Markov chain and study the influence of single gene perturbations on the global, asymptotic communication among genes. Modification in the communication is measured by an information theoretic measure allowing to predict genes that are 'fragile' with respect to single gene knockouts. Our results demonstrate that the predicted set of fragile genes contains a statistically significant enrichment of so called essential genes that are experimentally found to be necessary to ensure vital yeast. Further, a structural analysis of the transcriptional regulatory network reveals that there are significant differences between fragile genes, hub genes and genes with a high betweenness centrality value. Conclusion Our study does not only demonstrate that a combination of graph theoretical, information theoretical and statistical methods leads to meaningful biological results but also that such methods allow to study information processing in gene networks instead of just their structural properties.

Concept Mapping Using Cmap Tools to Enhance Meaningful Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Cañas, Alberto J.; Novak, Joseph D.

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

Building Bridges Through Meaningful Occupation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Fortuna

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Mary Block, MS, OTR/L, an occupational therapist and artist based in Illinois, provided the cover art for the Summer 2017 issue of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT. Generations is a sculpture made from concrete that measures 240 x100 in. (6.096 x 2.54 m. The piece was commissioned by Mary’s home town, the Village of Deerfield, IL. Mary always knew she wanted to be an artist. When competing paradigms altered Mary’s career path, the field of occupational therapy helped her to shape a new worldview. In uncertain times, meaningful occupation empowered Mary to start over again where she originally began

Morality and a Meaningful Life | Thomas | Philosophical Papers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... healthy dovetail with respect to leading a meaningful life. With this argument regarding psychological health I draw upon, and extend, P. F. Strawson's seminal essay “Freedom and Resentment”. Also in this regard, I extend Wittgenstein's argument against the possibility of a private language to social behavior generally.

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

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

2017-09-01

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

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

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Poff, Renee McCoy; Browning, Sarah Via

2014-03-01

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

Callings, work role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Our aim in this study was to investigate the relationships among a calling orientation, work role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement of teachers in Zambia. A quantitative approach was followed and a cross-sectional survey was used. The sample (n = 150) included 75 basic and 75 secondary school ...

Synonyms, Antonyms, and Retroactive Inhibition with Meaningful Material

Science.gov (United States)

Weisshed, Ethel

1973-01-01

The determination of the extent to which generalizations derived from studies of rote verbal learning, particularly paired-associate learning applied to highly meaningful materials, was the focus of this study. It was found that discriminating tags to synonyms and antonyms permitting the application of appropriate transfer rules may be attached.…

Meaningful work and work engagement : The mediating role of perceived opportunity to craft and job crafting behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Wingerden, Jessica; van der Stoep, Joost; Poell, R.F.

2018-01-01

This study examines the impact of meaningful work on employees’ level of work engagement as mediated by perceived opportunities to craft and job crafting. Based on the literature on meaningful work and job crafting, we hypothesize that meaningful work has a positive relationship with an employee’s

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-04-01

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

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

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

2010-01-01

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

Using Meaningful Contexts to Promote Understanding of Pronumerals

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Linsell, Chris; Cavanagh, Michael; Tahir, Salma

2013-01-01

Developing a conceptual understanding of elementary algebra has been the focus of a number of recent articles in this journal. Baroudi (2006) advocated problem solving to assist students' transition from arithmetic to algebra, and Shield (2008) described the use of meaningful contexts for developing the concept of function. Samson (2011, 2012)…

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Investigate Meaningful Prenatal Care Among African American Women.

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Nypaver, Cynthia F; Shambley-Ebron, Donna

2016-11-01

In the United States, African American babies die more than twice as often as White babies. The cause for this difference remains elusive, yet is likely complex with one factor being inadequate cultural care of pregnant African American women. The purpose of this study was to explore African American women's perspectives of meaningful prenatal care. Community-based participatory research was employed for this study using photovoice. The sample included 11 African American mothers in an urban community in Midwestern United States. Five themes were abstracted from the data: (1) Access to Care; (2) Soul Nourishment; (3) Companionship; (4) Help Me, Teach Me; and (5) The Future. Meaningful prenatal care is influenced by culture. African American women need physical, social, and soulful support to enhance meaningfulness of care during pregnancy. The findings support that meaningfulness of prenatal care for African American women may be enhanced by accessible and uniquely designed, culturally congruent models of prenatal care. © The Author(s) 2015.

Information Privacy Revealed

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Lavagnino, Merri Beth

2013-01-01

Why is Information Privacy the focus of the January-February 2013 issue of "EDUCAUSE Review" and "EDUCAUSE Review Online"? Results from the 2012 annual survey of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) indicate that "meeting regulatory compliance requirements continues to be the top perceived driver…

ID-Check: Online Concealed Information Test Reveals True Identity.

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Verschuere, Bruno; Kleinberg, Bennett

2016-01-01

The Internet has already changed people's lives considerably and is likely to drastically change forensic research. We developed a web-based test to reveal concealed autobiographical information. Initial studies identified a number of conditions that affect diagnostic efficiency. By combining these moderators, this study investigated the full potential of the online ID-check. Participants (n = 101) tried to hide their identity and claimed a false identity in a reaction time-based Concealed Information Test. Half of the participants were presented with personal details (e.g., first name, last name, birthday), whereas the others only saw irrelevant details. Results showed that participants' true identity could be detected with high accuracy (AUC = 0.98; overall accuracy: 86-94%). Online memory detection can reliably and validly detect whether someone is hiding their true identity. This suggests that online memory detection might become a valuable tool for forensic applications. © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

From Data to Semantic Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciano Floridi

2003-06-01

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

Which components of health information technology will drive financial value?

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

2012-08-01

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

Modeling Meaningful Learning in Chemistry Using Structural Equation Modeling

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Brandriet, Alexandra R.; Ward, Rose Marie; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2013-01-01

Ausubel and Novak's construct of "meaningful learning" stipulates that substantive connections between new knowledge and what is already known requires the integration of thinking, feeling, and performance (Novak J. D., (2010), "Learning, creating, and using knowledge: concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and…

A revealed-preference study of behavioural impacts of real-time traffic information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knockaert, J.S.A.; Tseng, Y.; Verhoef, E.T.

2013-01-01

In the present study, we investigate the impact of real-time traffic information on traveller behaviour by using repeated day-to-day revealed-preference (RP) observations from a reward experiment. We estimate a trip scheduling model of morning peak behaviour that allows us to determine the impact of

Improving the user experience through practical data analytics gain meaningful insight and increase your bottom line

CERN Document Server

Fritz, Mike

2015-01-01

Improving the User Experience through Practical Data Analytics is your must-have resource for making UX design decisions based on data, rather than hunches. Authors Fritz and Berger help the UX professional recognize and understand the enormous potential of the ever-increasing user data that is often accumulated as a by-product of routine UX tasks, such as conducting usability tests, launching surveys, or reviewing clickstream information. Then, step-by-step, they explain how to utilize both descriptive and predictive statistical techniques to gain meaningful insight with that data. You'll be

Meaningful Work and Secondary School Teachers' Intention to Leave

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Janik, M.; Rothmann, S.

2015-01-01

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

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

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Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

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

A Knowledge Comparison Environment for Supporting Meaningful Learning of E-Book Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingyun Wang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present an ontology-based visualization support system which can provide a meaningful learning environment to help e-book learners to effectively construct their knowledge frameworks. In this personalized visualization support system, learners are encouraged to actively locate new knowledge in their own knowledge framework and check the logical consistency of their ideas for clearing up misunderstandings; on the other hand, instructors will be able to decide the group distribution for collaborative learning activities based on the knowledge structure of learners. For facilitating those visualization supports, a method to semi-automatically construct a course-centered ontology to describe the required information in a map structure is presented. To automatically manipulate this course-centered ontology to provide visualization learning supports, a prototype system is designed and developed.

Pedagogical Principles of Learning to Teach Meaningful Physical Education

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

2018-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Shuhong; Kalman, Melanie

2018-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-08-01

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

Authentic Leadership and Altruism: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness

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Sagnak, Mesut; Kuruöz, Mehmet

2017-01-01

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

41 CFR 102-81.30 - What information must job applicants at child care centers reveal?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What information must... Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 81-SECURITY Security § 102-81.30 What information must job applicants at child care centers reveal...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-04-01

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

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

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

2017-08-01

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

End user programming with personally meaningful objects

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Smith, Andrew C

2016-09-01

Full Text Available (Kimchi et al., 2003). Perceptual organisation is a neuro-cognitive process that dictates how we perceive objects in physical space and how we interpret some objects as being distinct from others and yet other objects as part of a whole (Helm, 2014... called the designer-cum-user. Using this approach, the user creates a personally meaningful artefact that represents the target product. Although not confirmed, we anticipate that this approach reduces the initial cognitive load on the user when he uses...

Are estimates of meaningful decline in mobility performance consistent among clinically important subgroups? (Health ABC Study).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perera, S.; Studenski, S.; Newman, A.; Simonsick, E.; Harris, T.; Schwartz, A.; Visser, M.

2014-01-01

Background: Meaningful change criteria help determine if function has improved or declined, but their magnitudes may vary across clinically relevant subgroups. We estimate meaningful decline in four common measures of physical performance in subgroups of older adults based on initial performance,

ONTOLOGY BASED MEANINGFUL SEARCH USING SEMANTIC WEB AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Palaniammal

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The semantic web extends the current World Wide Web by adding facilities for the machine understood description of meaning. The ontology based search model is used to enhance efficiency and accuracy of information retrieval. Ontology is the core technology for the semantic web and this mechanism for representing formal and shared domain descriptions. In this paper, we proposed ontology based meaningful search using semantic web and Natural Language Processing (NLP techniques in the educational domain. First we build the educational ontology then we present the semantic search system. The search model consisting three parts which are embedding spell-check, finding synonyms using WordNet API and querying ontology using SPARQL language. The results are both sensitive to spell check and synonymous context. This paper provides more accurate results and the complete details for the selected field in a single page.

Redefining meaningful age groups in the context of disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Geifman, Nophar; Cohen, Raphael; Rubin, Eitan

2013-12-01

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

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

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

2017-01-01

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

Comprehension for What? Preparing Students for Their Meaningful Future

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Conley, Mark W.; Wise, Antoinette

2011-01-01

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

Beneficial effects of semantic memory support on older adults' episodic memory: Differential patterns of support of item and associative information.

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Mohanty, Praggyan Pam; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Ratneshwar, Srinivasan

2016-02-01

The effects of two types of semantic memory support-meaningfulness of an item and relatedness between items-in mitigating age-related deficits in item and associative, memory are examined in a marketing context. In Experiment 1, participants studied less (vs. more) meaningful brand logo graphics (pictures) paired with meaningful brand names (words) and later were assessed by item (old/new) and associative (intact/recombined) memory recognition tests. Results showed that meaningfulness of items eliminated age deficits in item memory, while equivalently boosting associative memory for older and younger adults. Experiment 2, in which related and unrelated brand logo graphics and brand name pairs served as stimuli, revealed that relatedness between items eliminated age deficits in associative memory, while improving to the same degree item memory in older and younger adults. Experiment 2 also provided evidence for a probable boundary condition that could reconcile seemingly contradictory extant results. Overall, these experiments provided evidence that although the two types of semantic memory support can improve both item and associative memory in older and younger adults, older adults' memory deficits can be eliminated when the type of support provided is compatible with the type of information required to perform well on the test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

In search of meaningfulness: nostalgia as an antidote to boredom.

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van Tilburg, Wijnand A P; Igou, Eric R; Sedikides, Constantine

2013-06-01

We formulated, tested, and supported, in 6 studies, a theoretical model according to which individuals use nostalgia as a way to reinject meaningfulness in their lives when they experience boredom. Studies 1-3 established that induced boredom causes increases in nostalgia when participants have the opportunity to revert to their past. Studies 4 and 5 examined search for meaning as a mediator of the effect of boredom on nostalgia. Specifically, Study 4 showed that search for meaning mediates the effect of state boredom on nostalgic memory content, whereas Study 5 demonstrated that search for meaning mediates the effect of dispositional boredom on dispositional nostalgia. Finally, Study 6 examined the meaning reestablishment potential of nostalgia during boredom: Nostalgia mediates the effect of boredom on sense of meaningfulness and presence of meaning in one's life. Nostalgia counteracts the meaninglessness that individuals experience when they are bored.

Engaging Axiology: Enabling MeaningfulTransdisciplinary Collaboration in Adapted Physical Activity.

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Peers, Danielle

2018-07-01

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

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

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Poikela, Paula; Ruokamo, Heli; Teräs, Marianne

2015-02-01

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

Relationship between attachment to God and meaningful life parents of mentally retarded children in Zahedan city

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H Jenaabadi

2014-07-01

Conclusion: Given a significant positive correlation between appeal to God and meaningful life, it is suggested including spirituality therapy sessions and teaching religious coping methods to reduce stress and thus make meaningful life in these parents by welfare, education of exceptional children, and radio and television organizations.

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

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Novak, Joseph D.

2002-07-01

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

Greenhouse gas emissions from cities and regions: International implications revealed by Hong Kong

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, Paul G.; Chow, Alice S.Y.; Symons, Jonathan

2012-01-01

The diversity of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting methodologies currently utilized by cities around the world make meaningful comparisons of their emissions almost impossible. Consequently, the 2010 United Nations International Standard for Determining Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Cities promotes a “harmonized protocol for quantifying the GHG emissions attributable to cities and local regions.” The UN's common standard has important implications for comparison, benchmarking and policy assessment related to energy policies. This paper uses Hong Kong as a case study to illustrate these implications. Hong Kong's per capita contribution to GHG emissions are among the highest in the world, yet the local government's official statistics indicate emissions that are far below those reported by most affluent economies. This discrepancy arises from a reporting methodology that does not require inclusion of GHG emissions linked to consumption of imported goods or emissions from aviation and shipping. The Hong Kong case reveals that current inventories do not provide sufficient information to guide policymaking related to energy and climate change. They also do not provide adequate information for comparing policies of cities internationally. Alternative emissions-reporting standards that focus more on pollution from consumption will create avenues for more effective climate-related policies. - Highlights: ► Flawed GHG inventory methodologies can lead cities to adopt misguided policies. ► Diverse GHG inventory methodologies make meaningful comparisons among cities difficult. ► A Hong Kong case study highlights that GHG inventories can misrepresent cities' climate impacts. ► City inventories often exclude GHG emissions linked to imports, aviation and shipping. ► The International Standard for Determining GHG Emissions for Cities can assist climate policy.

Intersubject information mapping: revealing canonical representations of complex natural stimuli

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Nikolaus Kriegeskorte

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Real-world time-continuous stimuli such as video promise greater naturalism for studies of brain function. However, modeling the stimulus variation is challenging and introduces a bias in favor of particular descriptive dimensions. Alternatively, we can look for brain regions whose signal is correlated between subjects, essentially using one subject to model another. Intersubject correlation mapping (ICM allows us to find brain regions driven in a canonical manner across subjects by a complex natural stimulus. However, it requires a direct voxel-to-voxel match between the spatiotemporal activity patterns and is thus only sensitive to common activations sufficiently extended to match up in Talairach space (or in an alternative, e.g. cortical-surface-based, common brain space. Here we introduce the more general approach of intersubject information mapping (IIM. For each brain region, IIM determines how much information is shared between the subjects' local spatiotemporal activity patterns. We estimate the intersubject mutual information using canonical correlation analysis applied to voxels within a spherical searchlight centered on each voxel in turn. The intersubject information estimate is invariant to linear transforms including spatial rearrangement of the voxels within the searchlight. This invariance to local encoding will be crucial in exploring fine-grained brain representations, which cannot be matched up in a common space and, more fundamentally, might be unique to each individual – like fingerprints. IIM yields a continuous brain map, which reflects intersubject information in fine-grained patterns. Performed on data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI of subjects viewing the same television show, IIM and ICM both highlighted sensory representations, including primary visual and auditory cortices. However, IIM revealed additional regions in higher association cortices, namely temporal pole and orbitofrontal cortex. These

The electronic patient record as a meaningful audit tool - Accountability and autonomy in general practitioner work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winthereik, Brit Ross; van der Ploeg, I.; Berg, Marc

2007-01-01

Health authorities increasingly request that general practitioners (GPs) use information and communication technologies such as electronic patient records (EPR) for accountability purposes. This article deals with the use of EPRs among general practitioners in Britain. It examines two ways in which...... makes them active in finding ways that turn the EPR into a meaningful tool for them, that is, a tool that helps them provide what they see as good care. The article's main contribution is to show how accountability and autonomy are coproduced; less professional autonomy does not follow from more...... GPs use the EPR for accountability purposes. One way is to generate audit reports on the basis of the information that has been entered into the record. The other is to let the computer intervene in the clinical process through prompts. The article argues that GPs' ambivalence toward using the EPR...

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

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Barnett, L.

2013-12-01

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

How Do Novice Art Teachers Define and Implement Meaningful Curriculum?

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Bain, Christina; Newton, Connie; Kuster, Deborah; Milbrandt, Melody

2010-01-01

Four researchers collaborated on this qualitative case study that examined 11 first-year novice art teachers' understanding and implementation of meaningful curriculum. Participants were selected through a criterion method sampling strategy; the subjects were employed in rural, urban, and suburban public school districts. In order to conduct a…

Cultural study in design : In search of a meaningful approach

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van Boeijen, A.G.C.

2014-01-01

Does the Circuit of Culture help design students to do a cultural study that is meaningful for their design project? Indeed, it provides a good view on the phenomenon culture, its complexity and how contemporary cultures can be studied, providing an overview and structure of the processes that

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

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

2015-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junhyoung Kim

2015-06-01

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

How Does Electronic Health Information Exchange Affect Hospital Performance Efficiency? The Effects of Breadth and Depth of Information Sharing.

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Cho, Na-Eun; Ke, Weiling; Atems, Bebonchu; Chang, Jongwha

2018-01-01

This research was motivated by the large investment in health information technology (IT) by hospitals and the inconsistent findings related to the effects of health IT adoption on hospital performance. Building on resource orchestration theory and the information systems literature, the authors developed a research model to investigate how the configuration strategies for sharing information under health IT systems affect hospital efficiency. The hypotheses were tested using data from the 2010 annual and IT surveys of the American Hospital Association, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services case mix index, and U.S. Census Bureau's small-area income and poverty estimates. The study revealed that in health IT systems, the breadth (extent) and depth (level of detail) of digital information sharing among stakeholders each has a curvilinear relationship with hospital efficiency. In addition, breadth and depth reinforce each other's positive effects and attenuate each other's negative effects, and their balance has a positive effect on hospital efficiency. The results of this research have the potential to enrich the literature on the value of adopting health IT systems as well as in providing practitioner guidelines for meaningful use.

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

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Petra Kipfelsberger

2018-05-01

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

Meaningful community involvement in protected area issues: a dialogue session

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Laurie Yung

2000-01-01

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

Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon : How to define and measure meaningful work

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

2017-01-01

Meaningful work is integral to well-being and a flourishing life. The construct of "meaningful work" is, however, consistently affected by conceptual ambiguity. Although there is substantial support for arguments to maintain the status of conceptual ambiguity, we make a case for the benefits of

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

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Williams, Karen Ann

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

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

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Enmarker, Ingela

2004-11-01

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

Facilitators on networks reveal optimal interplay between information exchange and reciprocity.

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Szolnoki, Attila; Perc, Matjaž; Mobilia, Mauro

2014-04-01

Reciprocity is firmly established as an important mechanism that promotes cooperation. An efficient information exchange is likewise important, especially on structured populations, where interactions between players are limited. Motivated by these two facts, we explore the role of facilitators in social dilemmas on networks. Facilitators are here mirrors to their neighbors-they cooperate with cooperators and defect with defectors-but they do not participate in the exchange of strategies. As such, in addition to introducing direct reciprocity, they also obstruct information exchange. In well-mixed populations, facilitators favor the replacement and invasion of defection by cooperation as long as their number exceeds a critical value. In structured populations, on the other hand, there exists a delicate balance between the benefits of reciprocity and the deterioration of information exchange. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations of social dilemmas on various interaction networks reveal that there exists an optimal interplay between reciprocity and information exchange, which sets in only when a small number of facilitators occupy the main hubs of the scale-free network. The drawbacks of missing cooperative hubs are more than compensated for by reciprocity and, at the same time, the compromised information exchange is routed via the auxiliary hubs with only marginal losses in effectivity. These results indicate that it is not always optimal for the main hubs to become leaders of the masses, but rather to exploit their highly connected state to promote tit-for-tat-like behavior.

The Concept Maps as a Didactic Resource Tool of Meaningful Learning in Astronomy Themes

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Silveira, Felipa Pacífico Ribeiro de Assis; Mendonça, Conceição Aparecida Soares

2015-07-01

This article presents the results of an investigation that sought to understand the performance of the conceptual map (MC) as a teaching resource facilitator of meaningful learning of scientific concepts on astronomical themes, developed with elementary school students. The methodology employed to obtain and process the data was based on a quantitative and qualitative approach. On the quantitative level we designed a quasi-experimental research with a control group that did not use the MC and an experimental group that used the MC, both being evaluated in the beginning and end of the process. In this case, the performance of both groups is displayed in a descriptive and analytical study. In the qualitative approach, the MCs were interpreted using the structuring and assigned meanings shared by the student during his/her presentation. The results demonstrated through the improvement of qualifications that the MC made a difference in conceptual learning and in certain skills revealed by learning indicators.

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

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

2014-02-01

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

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

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

2015-02-01

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

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

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

2015-07-01

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

Association between clinically meaningful behavior problems and overweight in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lumeng, Julie C; Gannon, Kate; Cabral, Howard J; Frank, Deborah A; Zuckerman, Barry

2003-11-01

To determine whether there is a relationship between clinically meaningful behavior problems and concurrent and future overweight in 8- to 11-year-old children. 1998 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth interview data for 8- to 11-year-old children and their mothers were analyzed. A Behavior Problems Index score >90th percentile was considered clinically meaningful. Child overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) >or=95th percentile for age and sex. Multiple logistic regression was used to control for potential confounders (selected a priori): child's sex, race, use of behavior-modifying medication, history of academic retention, and hours of television per day; maternal obesity, smoking status, marital status, education, and depressive symptoms; family poverty status; and Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (HOME-SF) cognitive stimulation score. In an attempt to elucidate temporal sequence, a second analysis was conducted with a subsample of normal-weight children who became overweight between 1996 and 1998 while controlling for BMI z score in 1996. The sample included 755 mother-child pairs. Of the potential confounding variables, race, maternal obesity, academic grade retention, maternal education, poverty status, and HOME-SF cognitive stimulation score acted as joint confounders, altering the relationship between behavior problems and overweight in the multiple logistic regression model. With these covariates in the final model, behavior problems were independently associated with concurrent child overweight (adjusted odds ratio: 2.95; 95% confidence interval: 1.34-6.49). The relationship was strengthened in the subsample of previously normal-weight children, with race, maternal obesity, HOME-SF cognitive stimulation score, and 1996 BMI z score acting as confounders (adjusted odds ratio: 5.23; 95% confidence interval: 1.37-19.9). Clinically meaningful behavior problems in 8- to 11-year-old children were independently

Finding pathways to more equitable and meaningful public-scientist partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-01-01

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

Designing meaningful educational spaces for the development of competencies in childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yenny Otálora Sevilla

2010-11-01

Full Text Available A meaningful educational space is a learning environment that promotes and strengthens the development of social and cognitive competencies in children. This article offers conceptual and methodological elements from Educational Psychology that facilitates the design of significant educational spaces for the development of child competencies, both in and out of school. On the one hand, the learning environment is defined as a dynamic and complex space of construction of knowledge. On the other it takes into account some considerations about child development which help set five criteria to characterize learning environments as meaningful educational spaces: They are structured, intensive, extensive, generative and interactive situations. Each of these criteria is illustrated through learning environments designed by educators in Colombia, based on the use of cultural practices inherent their communities of origin. Cultural practices were found to be relevant to the development of their children’s competencies.

Comparing the Scale of Web Subject Directories Precision in Technical-Engineering Information Retrieval

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Mehrdokht Wazirpour Keshmiri

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this research was to compare the scale of web subject directories precision in information retrieval of technical-engineering science. Information gathering was documentary and webometric. Keywords of technical-engineering science were chosen at twenty different subjects from IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and engineering magazines that situated in sciencedirect site. These keywords are used at five subject directories Yahoo, Google, Infomine, Intute, Dmoz, that were web directories high-utilization. Usually first results in searching tools are connected to searching keywords. Because, first ten results was evaluated in every search. These assessments to consist of scale of precision, scale of error, scale retrieval items in technical-engineering categories to retrieval items entirely. The used criteria for determining the scale of precision that was according to high-utilization standards in different documents, to consist of presence of the keywords in title, appearance of keywords at the part of web retrieved pages, keywords adjacency, URL of page, page description and subject categories. Information analysis was according to Kruskal-Wallis Test and L.S.D fisher. Results revealed that there was meaningful difference about precision of web subject directories in information retrieval of technical-engineering science, Therefore this theory was confirmed.web subject directories ranked from point of precision as follows. Google, Yahoo, Intute, Dmoz, and Infomine. The scale of observed error at the first results was another criterion that was used for comparing web subject directories. In this research, Yahoo had minimum scale of error and Infomine had most of error. This research also compared the scale of retrieval items in all of categories web subject directories entirely to retrieval items in technical-engineering categories, results revealed that there was meaningful difference between them. And

Can Ausubel's Theory of Meaningful Learning Become an Alternative to Piagetian Psychology?

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Albert, Edna

1979-01-01

Discusses Novak's views that Ausubel's meaningful learning can become an alternative to Piagetian psychology and argues that Ausubel does not provide a theory that can be an alternative to Piaget's developmental psychology. (HM)

Economic choices reveal probability distortion in macaque monkeys.

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Stauffer, William R; Lak, Armin; Bossaerts, Peter; Schultz, Wolfram

2015-02-18

Economic choices are largely determined by two principal elements, reward value (utility) and probability. Although nonlinear utility functions have been acknowledged for centuries, nonlinear probability weighting (probability distortion) was only recently recognized as a ubiquitous aspect of real-world choice behavior. Even when outcome probabilities are known and acknowledged, human decision makers often overweight low probability outcomes and underweight high probability outcomes. Whereas recent studies measured utility functions and their corresponding neural correlates in monkeys, it is not known whether monkeys distort probability in a manner similar to humans. Therefore, we investigated economic choices in macaque monkeys for evidence of probability distortion. We trained two monkeys to predict reward from probabilistic gambles with constant outcome values (0.5 ml or nothing). The probability of winning was conveyed using explicit visual cues (sector stimuli). Choices between the gambles revealed that the monkeys used the explicit probability information to make meaningful decisions. Using these cues, we measured probability distortion from choices between the gambles and safe rewards. Parametric modeling of the choices revealed classic probability weighting functions with inverted-S shape. Therefore, the animals overweighted low probability rewards and underweighted high probability rewards. Empirical investigation of the behavior verified that the choices were best explained by a combination of nonlinear value and nonlinear probability distortion. Together, these results suggest that probability distortion may reflect evolutionarily preserved neuronal processing. Copyright © 2015 Stauffer et al.

The categorisation of dysthymic disorder: Can its constituents be meaningfully apportioned?

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Rhebergen, D.; Graham, R.; Hadzi-Pavlovic, D.; Stek, M.L.; Friend, P.; Barrett, M.; Parker, G.

2012-01-01

Background: Since its introduction in DSM-III, the validity of dysthymia has been debated. Our objective is to further examine the concept of dysthymia in an outpatient sample, and explore whether its constituents can be meaningfully apportioned. Methods: 318 patients attending the Black Dog

PRIVATE INFORMATION REVEALED BY ROMANIAN FACEBOOK USERS - AN EXPLORATORY ASSESSMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VEGHES Calin

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The use of online social networks has become part of our lives. More and more people join networks, create their online profile, add pictures with themselves, add personal information about them, find people they know and connect with them, share and like posts, comments, pictures or movies and many more. The social networks allow more and more features and people are open and willing to try them. In this context, it is important for those who own such a profile to be aware of how their personal information is handled, who can view the data they publish in the social network and how they can protect the information they post, by granting access to it only to those persons they want to. The objective of this research was to study what type of information Romanian Facebook users are revealing on their profiles. We have conducted an empirical research, based on an online questionnaire which was available to be accessed in March 2013. 42,5% of the respondents, aged between 21 and 40, formed mostly my employees, managers and students, have not shared on their profiles neither their phone number, their home address, nor their messenger ID. Even though we have considered that the email address was also considered personal and very private information, our assumption did not confirmed, about 30% of the respondents have their email address shown on their profile. At the opposite side, it was confirmed that the gender, real name, personal pictures, birthday and current town are information published by more than 80% the respondents. The respondents do know and do make a difference between having their profile shown when searched on Facebook and allowing their profile to be visualised by whomever they want. Even though most of the respondents have their profile public when searched for it, the great majority have set that only their friends to be able to see the information they post online. Only about 10% of the respondents have added or have accepted

Measuring Patient Experiences: Is It Meaningful and Actionable?

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Sabrina T; Johnston, Sharon; Burge, Fred; McGrail, Kim; Hogg, William

2017-10-01

Performance measurement must be meaningful to those being asked to contribute data and to the clinicians who are collecting the information. It must be actionable if performance measurement and reporting is to influence health system transformation. To date, measuring patient experiences in all parts of the healthcare system in Canada lags behind other countries. More attention needs to be paid to capturing patients with complex intersecting health and social problems that result from inequitable distribution of wealth and/or underlying structural inequities related to systemic issues such as racism and discrimination, colonialism and patriarchy. Efforts to better capture the experiences of patients who do not regularly access care and who speak English or French as a second language are also needed. Before investing heavily into collecting patient experience data as part of a performance measurement system the following ought to be considered: (1) ensuring value for and buy-in from clinicians who are being asked to collect the data and/or act on the results; (2) investment in the infrastructure to administer iterative, cost-effective patient/family experience data collection, analysis and reporting (e.g., automated software tools) and (3) incorporating practice support (e.g., facilitation) and health system opportunities to integrate the findings from patient experience surveys into policy and practice. Investment into the infrastructure of measuring, reporting and engaging clinicians in improving practice is needed for patient/caregiver experiences to be acted upon. © 2017 Longwoods Publishing.

Mediating role of meaningful work between resources and work engagement in Bangladesh’s private banks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nawrin Rubaba

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Engaged employees are considered as the most desired assets for the organization. Although significant contributions have been observed in the engagement literature, a holistic approach is yet to be untouched in terms of developing relationship between various resources, work engagement and psychological mechanism such as meaningful work. The purpose of this study is to explore the mediating role of meaningful work between resources and work engagement in private banks in Bangladesh. This study followed the quantitative methodological approach and based on Bakker and Demerouti’s (2007 Job demand-resources model. A survey questionnaire was prepared and used to collect data. 440 respondents participated in this study, who is currently working in private banks in Bangladesh. Multiple regression analysis along with Sobel test was performed to analyze the data. The findings confirmed that the relationships between organizational, job, personal resources and work engagement were partially mediated through meaningful work. It has been observed that all determinates had a significant influence on work engagement. For practical implications, the organization can align various resources to uplift the engagement level of the employees. Since meaningful work was found to be a significant predictor, managers can develop jobs where employees can relate their purpose to their work. This study recommends that future research can apply this model to different contexts as well as to different groups of respondents.

Early- versus Late-Onset Dysthymia: A Meaningful Clinical Distinction?

OpenAIRE

Sansone, Randy A.; Sansone, Lori A.

2009-01-01

In the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, dysthymic disorder is categorized as either early-onset or late-onset, based upon the emergence of symptoms before or after the age of 21, respectively. Does this diagnostic distinction have any meaningful clinical implications? In this edition of The Interface, we present empirical studies that have, within a single study, compared individuals with early-versus late-onset dysthymia. In this review, we found that, compared ...

The Right to Appropriate and Meaningful Education for Children with ASD

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, David; Goodall, Craig

2015-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-05-05

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Peräkylä, Anssi; Stevanovic, Melisa

2016-01-01

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

The challenge of a meaningful job

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jepsen, Ingrid

and the feeling of doing high quality care generate job satisfaction. The obligation and pressure to perform well and the disadvantages on the midwives’ private lives is counterbalanced by the feeling of doing a meaningful and important job. Working in caseload midwifery creates a feeling of working in a self....... The methodology was inspired by ethnography, and applied methods were field observations followed by interviews. Participants: Thirteen out of eighteen midwives working in caseloads were observed during one or two days in the antenatal clinic and interviewed at a later occasion. Findings: The recognition......-governing model within the public hospital, without losing the technological benefits of a modern birth unit. For pregnant women with a challenging personality or attitude towards others, Caseload midwifery may provide an extra opportunity to feel recognized and respected. Key conclusions: Caseload midwifery...

Taking a Closer Look at Your Informational Writing Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Beschorner, Beth; Hall, Anna H.

2018-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-02-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2007-04-26

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

Towards a More Meaningful Involvement of Librarians in Academic Program Reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Bowker, Lynne

2018-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2012-01-01

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

Meaningful real-life relationships in massively multiplayer online roleplaying games

OpenAIRE

Mansikkamäki, E. (Eetu)

2014-01-01

Abstract Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games are extremely popular with millions and millions of players spending large portions of their free time in these virtual environments. Still the social value and the meaningfulness of the relationships formed within them are questioned by most non-gamers and even some gamers. In the past even academia was mainly concentrating on the negative aspects of gaming but lately...

Are students ready for meaningful use?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary S. Ferenchick

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Background: The meaningful use (MU of electronic medical records (EMRs is being implemented in three stages. Key objectives of stage one include electronic analysis of data entered into structured fields, using decision-support tools (e.g., checking drug–drug interactions [DDI] and electronic information exchange. Objective: The authors assessed the performance of medical students on 10 stage-one MU tasks and measured the correlation between students’ MU performance and subsequent end-of-clerkship professionalism assessments and their grades on an end-of-year objective structured clinical examination. Participants: Two-hundred and twenty-two third-year medical students on the internal medicine (IM clerkship. Design/main measures: From July 2010 to February 2012, all students viewed 15 online tutorials covering MU competencies. The authors measured student MU documentation and performance in the chart of a virtual patient using a fully functional training EMR. Specific MU measurements included, adding: a new problem, a new medication, an advanced directive, smoking status, the results of screening tests; and performing a DDI (in which a major interaction was probable, and communicating a plan for this interaction. Key results: A total of 130 MU errors were identified. Sixty-eight (30.6% students had at least one error, and 30 (13.5% had more than one (range 2–6. Of the 130 errors, 90 (69.2% were errors in structured data entry. Errors occurred in medication dosing and instructions (18%, DDI identification (12%, documenting smoking status (15%, and colonoscopy results (23%. Students with MU errors demonstrated poorer performance on end-of-clerkship professionalism assessments (r=−0.112, p=0.048 and lower observed structured clinical examination (OSCE history-taking skills (r=−0.165, p=0.008 and communication scores (r=− 0.173, p=0.006. Conclusions: MU errors among medical students are common and correlate with subsequent poor

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

Science.gov (United States)

Gamlin, Peter J.

1971-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-01-01

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

Pedagogical Background for Technology Education--Meaningful Learning in Theory and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Autio, Ossi

2009-01-01

One important theme in technology education is the growing need to develop the type of pedagogies that encourage pupils in authentic and meaningful learning experiences. Often, the teaching strategies of technology education are only a matter of teaching the handling of materials and tools, and the production of mere objects does not consider how…

Meaningful Statistics in Professional Practices as a Bridge between Mathematics and Science: An Evaluation of a Design Research Project

Science.gov (United States)

Dierdorp, Adri; Bakker, Arthur; van Maanen, Jan A.; Eijkelhof, Harrie M. C.

2014-01-01

Background: Creating coherence between school subjects mathematics and science and making these school subjects meaningful are still topical challenges. This study investigates how students make meaningful connections between mathematics, statistics, science and applications when they engage in a specially developed unit that is based on…

Tax Policy Trends: Republicans Reveal Proposed Tax Overhaul

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip Bazel

2017-10-01

Full Text Available REPUBLICANS REVEAL PROPOSED TAX OVERHAUL The White House and Congressional Republicans have revealed their much-anticipated proposal for reform of the U.S. personal and corporate tax systems. The proposal titled, “UNIFIED FRAMEWORK FOR FIXING OUR BROKEN TAX CODE” outlines a number of central policy changes, which will significantly alter the U.S. corporate tax system. The proposal includes a top federal marginal rate reduction for the sole proprietorships, partnerships and S corporation—small business equivalents— from 39.6% to 25% (state income tax rates would no longer be deductible. Large corporations would also see a meaningful federal rate reduction given the proposed drop in the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 20%. Additionally, the proposal includes a generous temporary measure intended to stimulate investment, full capital expensing for machinery with a partial limitation of interest deductions.

Money makes you reveal more: Consequences of monetary cues on preferential disclosure of personal information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumitava eMukherjee

2013-11-01

Full Text Available With continuous growth in information aggregation and dissemination, studies on privacy preferences are important to understand what makes people reveal information about them. Previous studies have demonstrated that short-term gains and possible monetary rewards make people risk disclosing information. Given the malleability of privacy preferences and the ubiquitous monetary cues in daily lives, we measured the contextual effect of reminding people about money on their privacy disclosure preferences. In experiment 1, we found that priming money increased willingness to disclose their personal information that could be shared with an online shopping website. Beyond stated willingness, experiment 2 tested whether priming money increases propensity for actually giving out personal information. Across both experiments, we found that priming money increases both the reported willingness and the actual disclosure of personal information. Our results imply that not only do short-term rewards make people trade-off personal security and privacy, but also mere exposure to money increases self-disclosure.

Money makes you reveal more: consequences of monetary cues on preferential disclosure of personal information.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Sumitava; Manjaly, Jaison A; Nargundkar, Maithilee

2013-01-01

With continuous growth in information aggregation and dissemination, studies on privacy preferences are important to understand what makes people reveal information about them. Previous studies have demonstrated that short-term gains and possible monetary rewards make people risk disclosing information. Given the malleability of privacy preferences and the ubiquitous monetary cues in daily lives, we measured the contextual effect of reminding people about money on their privacy disclosure preferences. In experiment 1, we found that priming money increased willingness to disclose their personal information that could be shared with an online shopping website. Beyond stated willingness, experiment 2 tested whether priming money increases propensity for actually giving out personal information. Across both experiments, we found that priming money increases both the reported willingness and the actual disclosure of personal information. Our results imply that not only do short-term rewards make people trade-off personal security and privacy, but also mere exposure to money increases self-disclosure.

Thermal and radiation history of meteorites as revealed by their thermoluminescence records

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhandari, N.

1985-01-01

Attempts are described to derive information about important parameters of the thermal and radiation history of meteorites from a study of depth profile of thermoluminescence coupled to appropriate annealing studies. In this review some possibilities are examined, emphasizing various factors cardinal to any meaningful application of TL in meteoritics. (author)

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-09-01

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

Social networking for language learners: Creating meaningful output with Web 2.0 tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Chartrand

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The Internet has the potential to provide language learners with vast resources of authentic written, audio, and video materials to supplement lessons. Educators can find a wide assortment of materials for learners to study in class or after class for independent learning and to encourage learner autonomy. More recently, however, the immense popularity of social networking websites has created new opportunities for language learners to interact in authentic ways that were previously difficult to achieve. Advances in technology mean that today, learners of a language can easily interact with their peers in meaningful practice that helps foster language acquisition and motivation. That is, tasks that make use of Web 2.0 interactivity can significantly raise students’ potential to generate meaningful output and stimulate their interest in language learning.

Biotechnologies as a Context for Enhancing Junior High-School Students' Ability to Ask Meaningful Questions about Abstract Biological Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsher, G.; Dreyfus, A.

1999-01-01

Suggests a new approach to teaching about biochemical cellular processes by stimulating student interest in those biochemical processes that allowed for the outcomes of modern biotechnologies. Discusses the development of students' ability to ask meaningful questions about intra-cellular processes, and the resulting meaningful learning of relevant…

Perspective: The missing link in academic career planning and development: pursuit of meaningful and aligned work.

Science.gov (United States)

Lieff, Susan J

2009-10-01

Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a growing challenge. It has been suggested that inattention to the humanistic values of the faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Ensuring the alignment of academic physicians' inner direction with their outer context is critical to professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Personal reflection on the synergy of one's strengths, passions, and values can help faculty members define meaningful work so as to enable clearer career decision making. The premise of this article is that an awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are important considerations in the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and ways in which that framework can be applied and taught in development programs are presented and discussed.

Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index: Responsiveness, meaningful change, and relative efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Carolina; Bril, Vera; Kapral, Moira; Kulkarni, Abhaya V; Davis, Aileen M

2017-12-05

To study responsiveness and meaningful change of the Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index (MGII) and its relative efficiency compared to other measures. We enrolled 95 patients receiving prednisone, IV immunoglobulin (IVIg), or plasma exchange (PLEX) and 54 controls. Patients were assessed with the MGII and other measures-including the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score, Myasthenia Gravis Composite, and Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living-at baseline and 3-4 weeks after treatment. Statistical markers of responsiveness included between-groups and within-group differences, and we estimated the relative efficiency of the MGII compared to other measures. Patient-meaningful change was assessed with an anchor-based method, using the patient's impression of change. We determined the minimal detectable change (MDC) and the minimal important difference (MID) at the group and individual level. Treated patients had a higher change in MGII scores than controls (analysis of covariance p 1 favoring the MGII. The MGII demonstrated responsiveness to prednisone, IVIg, and PLEX in patients with myasthenia. There is a differential response in ocular and generalized symptoms to type of therapy. The MGII has higher relative efficiency than comparison measures and is viable for use in clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

Meaningful Gamification and Students' Motivation: A Strategy for Scaffolding Reading Material

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Lynette Tan Yuen

2018-01-01

Gamification is an innovative pedagogical strategy where digital games are used in an educational setting and as an aid to learning. Recent publications on gamification in the classroom investigate the concept of "meaningful gamification," where, in line with Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory, competency, autonomy, and…

Pilot Study of Flow and Meaningfulness as Psychological Learning Concepts in Patient Education: A Short Report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nicic, Sara; Nørby, Karina; Bruun Johansen, Clea

2014-01-01

of this study was to investigate the applicability of these concepts of positive psychological theory in a patient education setting. Methods: This pilot study combines participating observation of group based patient education and 8 qualitative interviews with 4 patients with type 2 diabetes. Meaning......Abstract Background: The aim of this pilot study was to explore patient experiences of meaningfulness and flow related to group based patient education in type 2 diabetes. Meaningfulness and flow are underexposed as psychological learning concepts in patient education, and the ambition...

Creating Visual Design and Meaningful Audience Experiences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steijn, Arthur; Ion Wille, Jakob

2014-01-01

The main purpose of the EU Interreg funded Classical Composition Music and Experience Design project, was to rethink audience experiences and develop knowledge of applied technologies connected to classical music and live concerts. The project and its main objectives was motivated by at least thee...... conditions. The most important being 1) the development in new technology creating new expectations in audiences attending cultural events, including classical concerts, 2) resent decline in audiences attending classical music and 3) a will to strengthen relations between cultural institutions, creative...... businesses and educational institutions in the Øresund region (including the city and surroundings of Malmø and Copenhagen). Therefore the project Classical Composition Music and Experience Design focused on developing new and meaningful audience experiences where live classical music meets new digital...

Binge eating as a meaningful experience in bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa: a qualitative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Eli, Karin

2015-12-01

Clinical studies describe binge eating as a reaction to hunger, negative affect, or the need to dissociate. However, little is known about the meanings that women with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa associate with binge eating. To examine how women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa interpret their experiences of binge eating. Sixteen women who engaged in binge eating and had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or their subclinical variants were interviewed about their experiences of eating disorder. Interview data were analyzed using phenomenologically-informed thematic analysis. Participants described binge eating as a practice through which the self experiences a sense of release, and existential emptiness is replaced by overwhelming fullness. Meaningful experiences of release and fullness are central to binge eating in bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa, and may contribute to the long-term maintenance of this practice.

Flexible Learning in an Information Society

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Badrul, Ed.

2007-01-01

Flexible Learning in an Information Society uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors--institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation--and a systematic understanding of these…

Trial sequential analysis reveals insufficient information size and potentially false positive results in many meta-analyses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brok, J.; Thorlund, K.; Gluud, C.

2008-01-01

in 80% (insufficient information size). TSA(15%) and TSA(LBHIS) found that 95% and 91% had absence of evidence. The remaining nonsignificant meta-analyses had evidence of lack of effect. CONCLUSION: TSA reveals insufficient information size and potentially false positive results in many meta......OBJECTIVES: To evaluate meta-analyses with trial sequential analysis (TSA). TSA adjusts for random error risk and provides the required number of participants (information size) in a meta-analysis. Meta-analyses not reaching information size are analyzed with trial sequential monitoring boundaries...... analogous to interim monitoring boundaries in a single trial. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We applied TSA on meta-analyses performed in Cochrane Neonatal reviews. We calculated information sizes and monitoring boundaries with three different anticipated intervention effects of 30% relative risk reduction (TSA...

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McMurdo Marion ET

2007-04-01

-consent does not necessarily mean that a fully informed evaluation of the pros and cons of participation and non-participation has taken place. The meaningfulness of expressions of non-consent may therefore be a cause for concern and should be subject to further research. Many reasons for non-participation may be specific to a particular research topic or population. Information sheets should reflect this by going beyond standardised guidelines for their design and instead proactively seek out and address areas of concern or potential misunderstanding. The use of established behavioural theory in their design could also be considered.

The consistency and complementarity between critical meaningful learning theory and the epistemology of Paul Feyerabend

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipe Damasio

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Researchers in science teaching have advocated concomitant education about and of science. To approach the nature and history of science in basic education is necessary to have an epistemological approach that can go between of rationalism of Bunge and relativism of Feyerabend. In this paper, it is argued that Feyerabend's epistemological stance is that more can help promote meaningful learning critical, so as to form inquiring, flexible, creative, innovative, tolerant and liberal people. In addition, the suggestions Feyerabend's epistemology also complement the Theory of Meaningful Learning Critical to propose a curriculum and a context for the principles of the theory are in science classrooms.

Implementing the Standards: Teaching Informal Algebra.

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, James E.

1991-01-01

Presents suggestions for developing algebraic concepts beginning in the early grades to develop a gradual building from informal to formal algebraic concepts that progresses over the K-12 curriculum. Includes suggestions for representing relationships, solving equations, employing meaningful applications of algebra, and using of technology. (MDH)

Beyond Needs Analysis: Soft Systems Methodology for Meaningful Collaboration in EAP Course Design

Science.gov (United States)

Tajino, Akira; James, Robert; Kijima, Kyoichi

2005-01-01

Designing an EAP course requires collaboration among various concerned stakeholders, including students, subject teachers, institutional administrators and EAP teachers themselves. While needs analysis is often considered fundamental to EAP, alternative research methodologies may be required to facilitate meaningful collaboration between these…

If meaningfulness is not always fulfilling, why then does it matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Note

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We start from a quandary in the field of meaningfulness introduced by Susan Wolf, who attempts to make clear why meaning in life would matter. In common sense terms, fulfilment is considered to play a main role in the conceptualisation of meaningfulness. While initially taking this also for granted Wolf gradually comprehends that fulfilment is not the overall reason why meaning in life matters. She leaves however open the paramount question of what would make it then so particular. In this article, we explore this query to a fuller extent, and maintain that a promising road to an answer lays in the understanding that meaning in life is directive in an ineffable way. In order to fathom what this entails, a distinction between meaningfulness’ and ‘meaning in life’ will prove helpful. Both have often been considered synonyms, but we argue that they are quite distinct, yet intrinsically related. Starting from a subject that is mainly discussed in analytic philosophy, we build a bridge to phenomenological praxis, indicating that we can only understand its core function - its ineffable way of being directive - through phenomenology.

Meaningful Engagement in Scientific Practices: How Classroom Communities Develop Authentic Epistemologies for Science

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Krist, Christina Rae

Recent reforms in science education, based on decades of learning research, emphasize engaging students in science and engineering practices as the means to develop and refine disciplinary ideas. These reforms advocate an epistemic shift in how school science is done: from students learning about science ideas to students figuring out core science ideas. This shift is challenging to implement: how do we bring the goals and practices of a discipline into classroom communities in meaningful ways that go beyond simply following rote scientific procedures? In this dissertation, I investigate how classroom communities learn to engage meaningfully in scientific practices, characterizing their engagement as a process of epistemic learning. I take a situated perspective that defines learning as shifts in how members engage in communities of practice. I examine students' epistemic learning as a function of their participation in a classroom community of scientific practice along two dimensions: what they do, or the practical epistemic heuristics they use to guide how they build knowledge; and who they are, or how ownership and authorship of ideas is negotiated and affectively marked through interaction. I focus on a cohort of students as they move from 6th to 8 th grade. I analyze three science units, one from each grade level, to look at the epistemic heuristics implicit in student and teacher talk and how the use of those heuristics shifts over time. In addition, I examine one anomalous 8th grade class to look at how students and the teacher position themselves and each other with respect to the ideas in their classroom and how that positioning supports epistemic learning. Taken together, these analyses demonstrate how students' engagement in scientific practices evolves in terms of what they do and who they are in relation to the knowledge and ideas in their classroom over time. I propose a model for epistemic learning that articulates how classroom communities develop

Proposal for inclusion of topics of particle physics integrated electric charge through a potentially meaningful teaching units

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Lisiane Barcellos Calheiro

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In this article the results of the analysis of free and concept maps produced are presented from the application and evaluation of a Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units – PMTU, which is a teaching sequence based on various learning theories and seeks to promote meaningful student learning. Presents, in this work, part of a research Masters in Science Education which deals with the inclusion of topics of particle physics integrated with traditional content of the third year of high school. It was implemented in a third grade high school class of a State School in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, and Brazil. The PMTU aimed to address in an integrated manner threads for Particle Physics and Electronics. A didactic sequence that integrated the topics of electric charge, atomic models, elementary particles, quantization and process electrification was applied. Such integration aimed at stimulating the interest on topics related to Modern and Contemporary Physics. It was developed using PMTU activities that aimed at promoting meaningful learning and knowledge construction in the classroom, Since the topics involved were quite complex, this made their integration a real challenge to the high school teachers, and resulted in changes in their teaching practices. Research showed that the inclusion of topics on physics of elementary particles the and electricity, through Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units, show satisfactory results in the students’ learning.

Using Information Processing Theory to Teach Social Stratification to Pre-Service Teachers

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Brown, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

Information in context has meaning for the student, easily understood, easily retrieved, and successfully moves to long term memory. If information is not in context, rote memorization occurs with the less meaningful information, and information is not easily retrieved or successfully stored in long term memory. The purpose of this study was to…

Meaningful Learning in the Teaching of Culture: The Project Based Learning Approach

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Kean, Ang Chooi; Kwe, Ngu Moi

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative effort taken by a team of three teacher educators in using the Project Based Learning (PBL) approach in the teaching of Japanese culture with the aim to investigate the presence of actual "meaningful learning" among 15 students of a 12-Week Preparatory Japanese Language course under a teacher…

Older Adults Co-Creating Meaningful Individualized Social Activities Online for Healthy Ageing.

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Blusi, Madeleine; Nilsson, Ingeborg; Lindgren, Helena

2018-01-01

Social isolation and loneliness among older people is a growing problem with negative effects on physical and mental health. In co-creation with older adults individualized social activities were designed where older adults through computer mediated communication were able to participate in social activities without leaving their homes. Four types of activities were designed; outdoor activity, music event, visiting a friend and leisure activity. A participatory action research design was applied, where end users together with scientists from two research fields developed, tested and evaluated online participation in the activities. Usability and safety of the systems were major concerns among older adults. The evaluation pointed out that level of simplicity, usability and audio-video quality determined the level of satisfaction with the human interaction during the activity, thereby affecting the meaningfulness of the activity. The research presented in this paper constitutes the first step in a long-term research process aiming at developing a digital coaching system that gives older adults personalized support for increasing participation in meaningful social activities.

Engaging in Work Even When It Is Meaningless: Positive Affective Disposition and Meaningful Work Interact in Relation to Work Engagement

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Steger, Michael F.; Littman-Ovadia, Hadassah; Miller, Michal; Menger, Lauren; Rothmann, Sebastiaan

2013-01-01

The central aim of the present study was to assess the predictive value of affective disposition and meaningful work on employee engagement. Specifically, it was proposed that meaningful work moderates the relationship between affective disposition and engagement. Questionnaires were completed by 252 white-collar employees, working in a variety of…

Is the diagnostic threshold for bulimia nervosa clinically meaningful?

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Chapa, Danielle A N; Bohrer, Brittany K; Forbush, Kelsie T

2018-01-01

The DSM-5 differentiates full- and sub-threshold bulimia nervosa (BN) according to average weekly frequencies of binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors. This study was the first to evaluate the modified frequency criterion for BN published in the DSM-5. The purpose of this study was to test whether community-recruited adults (N=125; 83.2% women) with current full-threshold (n=77) or sub-threshold BN (n=48) differed in comorbid psychopathology and eating disorder (ED) illness duration, symptom severity, and clinical impairment. Participants completed the Clinical Impairment Assessment and participated in semi-structured clinical interviews of ED- and non-ED psychopathology. Differences between the sub- and full-threshold BN groups were assessed using MANOVA and Chi-square analyses. ED illness duration, age-of-onset, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and drug misuse, and the presence of current and lifetime mood or anxiety disorders did not differ between participants with sub- and full-threshold BN. Participants with full-threshold BN had higher levels of clinical impairment and weight concern than those with sub-threshold BN. However, minimal clinically important difference analyses suggested that statistically significant differences between participants with sub- and full-threshold BN on clinical impairment and weight concern were not clinically significant. In conclusion, sub-threshold BN did not differ from full-threshold BN in clinically meaningful ways. Future studies are needed to identify an improved frequency criterion for BN that better distinguishes individuals in ways that will more validly inform prognosis and effective treatment planning for BN. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The information activity of rail passenger information staff: a foundation for information system requirements

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Martin Rose

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This paper examines the goal-directed information activity of passenger information staff, working in the dynamic environment of rail network control. The explicit aim is to define a meaningful set of information system requirements. The report shows how dynamic situations may lead us to question a number of established theories of information science. Method. Passenger information officers (PIOs were observed on duty within the rail command and control headquarters. Observation sessions totally eight hours involved the manual recording of sequential information flows and the associated activity of PIOs. A semi-structured management interview was also conducted to provide further insight into the organizational context. Analysis. A viewpoint-oriented analysis technique was used to analyse sequential data captured during observation sessions. Event sequences that represent and explain the viewpoints were identified and elaborated into detailed scenario descriptions. Results. The analysis both supports and contests a number of established theories from information science. Additionally, a range of 'mandatory' and 'desirable' system requirements are derived from the scenario and viewpoint analyses. Conclusion. Dynamic situations have a significant impact on information behaviour which is not always predicted by current theories of information science.

Meaningful Academic Work as Praxis in Emergence

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Keijo Räsänen

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The managerial form of university governance has changed the conditions of academic work in many countries. While some academics consider this a welcome development, others experience it as a threat to their autonomy and to the meaningfulness of their work. This essay suggests a stance in response to the current conditions that should serve especially the latter group of academics. The claim is that by approaching academic work as a potential praxis in emergence, it is possible to appreciate local, autonomous activity in renewing academic work. Even if such efforts remain difficult, dispersed in space, discontinuous in time, and incomplete, they may provide a sense of direction and keep up hope. The conception of praxis is a way of articulating the mission of such efforts; simultaneously, it is also a way of defining an epistemic object for research on academic work.

Information Science Roles in the Emerging Field of Data Science

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Gary Marchionini

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The article discusses how data science emerges from information science,statistics, computer science, and knowledge domain. Schools of information stand as meaningful and substantive entities that are critical to the education of scholars and practitioners who work across a wide range of enterprises. Data science is but one emerging field that will benefit from information school engagement.

Cluster Analysis of an International Pressure Pain Threshold Database Identifies 4 Meaningful Subgroups of Adults With Mechanical Neck Pain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walton, David M; Kwok, Timothy S H; Mehta, Swati

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To determine pressure pain detection threshold (PPDT) related phenotypes of individuals with mechanical neck pain that may be identifiable in clinical practice. METHODS: This report describes a secondary analysis of 5 independent, international mechanical neck pain databases of PPDT...... values taken at both a local and distal region (total N=1176). Minor systematic differences in mean PPDT values across cohorts necessitated z-transformation before analysis, and each cohort was split into male and female sexes. Latent profile analysis (LPA) using the k-means approach was undertaken...... to identify the most parsimonious set of PPDT-based phenotypes that were both statistically and clinically meaningful. RESULTS: LPA revealed 4 distinct clusters named according to PPDT levels at the local and distal zones: low-low PPDT (67%), mod-mod (25%), mod-high (4%), and high-high (4%). Secondary...

What Faculty Interviews Reveal about Meaningful Learning in the

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Bretz, Stacey Lowery; Fay, Michael; Bruck, Laura B.; Towns, Marcy H.

2013-01-01

Forty chemistry faculty from American Chemical Society-approved departments were interviewed to determine their goals for undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Faculty were stratified by type of institution, departmental success with regard to National Science Foundation funding for laboratory reform, and level of laboratory course. Interview…

Implementing a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system to enable meaningful use of an EHR medication reconciliation system.

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Rangachari, Pavani

2018-01-01

Despite the regulatory impetus toward meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to prevent medication errors during care transitions, hospital adherence has lagged for one chief reason: low physician engagement, stemming from lack of consensus about which physician is responsible for managing a patient's medication list. In October 2016, Augusta University received a 2-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system (AU Health) to progress from "limited use" of EHR MedRec technology to "meaningful use." The hypothesis is that SKN would bring together a diverse group of practitioners, to facilitate tacit knowledge exchange on issues related to EHR MedRec, which in turn is expected to increase practitioners' engagement in addressing those issues and enable meaningful use of EHR. The specific aims are to examine: 1) user-engagement in the SKN system, and 2) associations between "SKN use" and "meaningful use" of EHR. The 2-year project uses an exploratory mixed-method design and consists of three phases: 1) development; 2) SKN implementation; and 3) analysis. Phase 1, completed in May 2017, sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec from practitioners directly involved in the MedRec process. This process facilitated development of a "Reporting Tool" on issues related to EHR MedRec, which, along with an existing "SKN/Discussion Tool," was integrated into the EHR at AU Health. Phase 2 (launched in June 2017) involves implementing the EHR-integrated SKN system over a 52-week period in inpatient and outpatient medicine units. The prospective implementation design is expected to generate context-sensitive strategies for meaningful use and successful implementation of EHR MedRec and thereby make substantial contributions to the patient safety and risk management literature. From a health care policy

Parent Perceptions of Time Spent Meaningfully by Young Adults with Pervasive Support Needs

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Rossetti, Zachary; Lehr, Donna; Lederer, Leslie; Pelerin, Dana; Huang, Shuoxi

2015-01-01

This article describes a qualitative study that examined how 23 young adults with pervasive support needs and limited functional communication spent their time and how their parents (n = 23) and direct support professionals (DSPs; n = 2) defined meaningfulness in relation to the young adults' experiences. Data were collected through…

Using mobile phone contextual information to facilitate managing image collections

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jakob Eg; Luniewski, Maciej

2009-01-01

In this paper, we describe a prototype application that utilizes the embedded sensors in advanced mobile phones to infer meaningful contextual information, with the potential to support the users in managing their personal information. Contextual information such as time, location, movement...... in personal information management. We hypothesize that information inferred from embedded mobile phone sensors can offer useful contextual information for managing personal information, including the domain of interest here, namely image collections. This has potential for individuals as well as groups...

Meaningful cultural learning by imitative participation: the case of abstract thinking in primary school

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van Oers, B.

2012-01-01

The article describes a theory-driven approach to meaningful learning in primary schools, based on the Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development and learning. This approach is elaborated into an educational concept called 'developmental education' that is implemented in the

Measuring Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: A National, Cross-Sectional Study

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Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

Research on laboratory learning points to the need to better understand what and how students learn in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was administered to general and organic chemistry students from 15 colleges and universities across the United States in order to measure the…

Representing and Practising Meaningful Differences in a Well-Structured but Complex Art Curriculum

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Cunliffe, Leslie

2010-01-01

This paper conceptualizes the secondary art curriculum as a well-structured but complex knowledge-domain, with the aim of emphasizing meaningful differences in the way creative grammar operates in the following gatherings of art practices: Pre-historic and non-European cultures; Ancient and European cultures before c. 1800; Romantic and Modern…

Motivational reading on education, meaningful reading realisation

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Adriana Qafa

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this study I will present some ideas on today’s educational practice for motivation, the realization of the meaningful reading. There is a special place for the methodical ranking of the reading process, starting in school. Main requests of this reading, consist of the deep meaning of the subject, exploration of the idea, and other elements of the subject, implementation of the technique’s rules of the expressive reading, such as breathing, voice, diction, intonation, spelling, stoppages, logical emphasizes, emotional expressions, temper, timber, gesticulations, and mimic. There is also highlighted the fact that the used method comes from the pupils’ results and depends on the capability and level of the teacher, from the programming’s scale, the tools that are put into disposition, the age and the level of the pupils, and from the environment that the teacher creates during courses. At the end there are some practical guidelines for the realization of the expressive reading in the literature subject.

Informal payments and the quality of health care: Mechanisms revealed by Tanzanian health workers.

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Mæstad, Ottar; Mwisongo, Aziza

2011-02-01

Informal payments for health services are common in many transitional and developing countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the nature of informal payments in the health sector of Tanzania and to identify mechanisms through which informal payments may affect the quality of health care. Our focus is on the effect of informal payments on health worker behaviours, in particular the interpersonal dynamics among health workers at their workplaces. We organised eight focus groups with 58 health workers representing different cadres and levels of care in one rural and one urban district in Tanzania. We found that health workers at all levels receive informal payments in a number of different contexts. Health workers sometimes share the payments received, but only partially, and more rarely within the cadre than across cadres. Our findings indicate that health workers are involved in 'rent-seeking' activities, such as creating artificial shortages and deliberately lowering the quality of service, in order to extract extra payments from patients or to bargain for a higher share of the payments received by their colleagues. The discussions revealed that many health workers think that the distribution of informal payments is grossly unfair. The findings suggest that informal payments can impact negatively on the quality of health care through rent-seeking behaviours and through frustrations created by the unfair allocation of payments. Interestingly, the presence of corruption may also induce non-corrupt workers to reduce the quality of care. Positive impacts can occur because informal payments may induce health workers to increase their efforts, and maybe more so if there is competition among health workers about receiving the payments. Moreover, informal payments add to health workers' incomes and might thus contribute to retention of health workers within the health sector. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

78 FR 37806 - Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; EPA's...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-24

... profanity, threats, information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information... strategic planning efforts, EPA encourages programs to develop meaningful performance measures, set...), Licensed Certification Providers (6100-20), Licensed Certifying Body (6100-13) Annual Reporting Form...

Physicians' pharmacogenomics information needs and seeking behavior: a study with case vignettes.

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Heale, Bret S E; Khalifa, Aly; Stone, Bryan L; Nelson, Scott; Del Fiol, Guilherme

2017-08-01

Genetic testing, especially in pharmacogenomics, can have a major impact on patient care. However, most physicians do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge to apply pharmacogenomics to patient care. Online information resources can help address this gap. We investigated physicians' pharmacogenomics information needs and information-seeking behavior, in order to guide the design of pharmacogenomics information resources that effectively meet clinical information needs. We performed a formative, mixed-method assessment of physicians' information-seeking process in three pharmacogenomics case vignettes. Interactions of 6 physicians' with online pharmacogenomics resources were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for prominent themes. Quantitative data included information-seeking duration, page navigations, and number of searches entered. We found that participants searched an average of 8 min per case vignette, spent less than 30 s reviewing specific content, and rarely refined search terms. Participants' information needs included a need for clinically meaningful descriptions of test interpretations, a molecular basis for the clinical effect of drug variation, information on the logistics of carrying out a genetic test (including questions related to cost, availability, test turn-around time, insurance coverage, and accessibility of expert support).Also, participants sought alternative therapies that would not require genetic testing. This study of pharmacogenomics information-seeking behavior indicates that content to support their information needs is dispersed and hard to find. Our results reveal a set of themes that information resources can use to help physicians find and apply pharmacogenomics information to the care of their patients.

Meaningful Understanding and Systems Thinking in Organic Chemistry: Validating Measurement and Exploring Relationships

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Vachliotis, Theodoros; Salta, Katerina; Tzougraki, Chryssa

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was dual: First, to develop and validate assessment schemes for assessing 11th grade students' meaningful understanding of organic chemistry concepts, as well as their systems thinking skills in the domain. Second, to explore the relationship between the two constructs of interest based on students' performance…

CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO THE EDUCATION OF LIFE-MEANINGFUL VALUES OF TEENAGERS AND EARLY ADOLESCENCE IN UKRAINE

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Katherinа Zhurba

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The article presents the conceptual approaches to the upbringing in the education of life-meaningful values of teenagers and early adolescence in Ukraine. The definition of life-meaningful values has been given up. The major problems and contradictions in the upbringing of the Ukrainian children were paid attention to. The dependence of the result of upbringing, from the desire and the participation of all actors: children, parents, teachers is pointed out. Conceptual approaches to education of life values meaning are analyzed on the methodological, theoretical and practical levels. The aspects of the previous researches have been underlined. In this context, a systematic approach determines the integrity of the educational process in primary and high school. Synergetic approach combines the organization and self-organization of the growing personality. Humanistic approach recognizes each child's highest value at school, family, and society. Personal-centered approach provides individual attention to him, to free choice of that or other life-meaningful values. Activity approach provides practice and deed activity of children and shows how the value of the meaning of life affects the behavior of the individual. The theoretical level of substantiation of the concept of education of children of teenagers and early youth gives ability to define key points and concepts. Practical level implies the corresponding experimental activity, the determination of propriate pedagogical conditions, the selection of content, forms and methods of education of teenagers and early adolescence. Conceptual approaches offer the opportunity to develop a modern system of education of the values of the meaning of life of teenagers and early adolescence in Ukraine. Implementation of conceptual approaches aimed at qualitative changes in the education of life-meaningful values among of teenagers and early adolescence.

The Meaningful Roles Intervention: An Evolutionary Approach to Reducing Bullying and Increasing Prosocial Behavior.

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Ellis, Bruce J; Volk, Anthony A; Gonzalez, Jose-Michael; Embry, Dennis D

2016-12-01

Bullying is a problem that affects adolescents worldwide. Efforts to prevent bullying have been moderately successful at best, or iatrogenic at worst. We offer an explanation for this limited success by employing an evolutionary-psychological perspective to analyze antibullying interventions. We argue that bullying is a goal-directed behavior that is sensitive to benefits as well as costs, and that interventions must address these benefits. This perspective led us to develop a novel antibullying intervention, Meaningful Roles, which offers bullies prosocial alternatives-meaningful roles and responsibilities implemented through a school jobs program and reinforced through peer-to-peer praise notes-that effectively meet the same status goals as bullying behavior. We describe this new intervention and how its theoretical evolutionary roots may be applicable to other intervention programs. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2015 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Mystery Montage: A Holistic, Visual, and Kinesthetic Process for Expanding Horizons and Revealing the Core of a Teaching Philosophy

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Ennis, Kim; Priebe, Carly; Sharipova, Mayya; West, Kim

2012-01-01

Revealing the core of a teaching philosophy is the key to a concise and meaningful philosophy statement, but it can be an elusive goal. This paper offers a visual, kinesthetic, and holistic process for expanding the horizons of self-reflection, self-analysis, and self-knowledge. Mystery montage, a variation of visual mapping, storyboarding, and…

Meaningful use in the safety net: a rapid ethnography of patient portal implementation at five community health centers in California.

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Ackerman, Sara L; Sarkar, Urmimala; Tieu, Lina; Handley, Margaret A; Schillinger, Dean; Hahn, Kenneth; Hoskote, Mekhala; Gourley, Gato; Lyles, Courtney

2017-09-01

US health care institutions are implementing secure websites (patient portals) to achieve federal Meaningful Use (MU) certification. We sought to understand efforts to implement portals in "safety net" health care systems that provide services for low-income populations. Our rapid ethnography involved visits at 4 California safety net health systems and in-depth interviews at a fifth. Visits included interviews with clinicians and executives ( n  = 12), informal focus groups with front-line staff ( n  = 35), observations of patient portal sign-up procedures and clinic work, review of marketing materials and portal use data, and a brief survey ( n  = 45). Our findings demonstrate that the health systems devoted considerable effort to enlisting staff support for portal adoption and integrating portal-related work into clinic routines. Although all health systems had achieved, or were close to achieving, MU benchmarks, patients faced numerous barriers to portal use and our participants were uncertain how to achieve and sustain "meaningful use" as defined by and for their patients. Health systems' efforts to achieve MU certification united clinic staff under a shared ethos of improved quality of care. However, MU's assumptions about patients' demand for electronic access to health information and ability to make use of it directed clinics' attention to enrollment and message routing rather than to the relevance and usability of a tool that is minimally adaptable to the safety net context. We found a mismatch between MU-based metrics of patient engagement and the priorities and needs of safety net patient populations. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Callings, Work Role Fit, Psychological Meaningfulness and Work Engagement among Teachers in Zambia

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Rothmann, Sebastiaan; Hamukang'andu, Lukondo

2013-01-01

Our aim in this study was to investigate the relationships among a calling orientation, work role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement of teachers in Zambia. A quantitative approach was followed and a cross-sectional survey was used. The sample (n = 150) included 75 basic and 75 secondary school teachers in the Choma district of…

The association of meaningfulness, well-being, and engagement with absenteeism : A moderated mediation model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soane, E.; Shantz, A.; Alfes, K.; Truss, C.; Rees, C.; Gatenby, M.

2013-01-01

We theorized that absence from work is a resource-based process that is related to perceived meaningfulness of work, well-being, and engagement. Broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) and engagement theory (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008; Kahn, 1990) were used to develop a

Information as signs: A semiotic analysis of the information concept, determining it's ontological and epistemological commitments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thellefsen, Martin Muderspach; Thellefsen, Torkild Leo; Sørensen, Bent

2018-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to formulate an analytical framework for the information concept based on the semiotic theory. Design/methodology/approach The paper is motivated by the apparent controversy that still surrounds the information concept. Information, being a key concept within...... LIS, suffers from being anchored in various incompatible theories. The paper suggests that information is signs, and it demonstrates how the concept of information can be understood within C.S. Peirce’s phenomenologically rooted semiotic. Hence, from there, certain ontological conditions as well...... epistemological consequences of the information concept can be deduced. Findings The paper argues that an understanding of information, as either objective or subjective/discursive, leads to either objective reductionism and signal processing, that fails to explain how information becomes meaningful at all...

Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records: Experiences From the Field and Future Opportunities.

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Slight, Sarah Patricia; Berner, Eta S; Galanter, William; Huff, Stanley; Lambert, Bruce L; Lannon, Carole; Lehmann, Christoph U; McCourt, Brian J; McNamara, Michael; Menachemi, Nir; Payne, Thomas H; Spooner, S Andrew; Schiff, Gordon D; Wang, Tracy Y; Akincigil, Ayse; Crystal, Stephen; Fortmann, Stephen P; Bates, David W

2015-09-18

With the aim of improving health care processes through health information technology (HIT), the US government has promulgated requirements for "meaningful use" (MU) of electronic health records (EHRs) as a condition for providers receiving financial incentives for the adoption and use of these systems. Considerable uncertainty remains about the impact of these requirements on the effective application of EHR systems. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-sponsored Centers for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERTs) critically examined the impact of the MU policy relating to the use of medications and jointly developed recommendations to help inform future HIT policy. We gathered perspectives from a wide range of stakeholders (N=35) who had experience with MU requirements, including academicians, practitioners, and policy makers from different health care organizations including and beyond the CERTs. Specific issues and recommendations were discussed and agreed on as a group. Stakeholders' knowledge and experiences from implementing MU requirements fell into 6 domains: (1) accuracy of medication lists and medication reconciliation, (2) problem list accuracy and the shift in HIT priorities, (3) accuracy of allergy lists and allergy-related standards development, (4) support of safer and effective prescribing for children, (5) considerations for rural communities, and (6) general issues with achieving MU. Standards are needed to better facilitate the exchange of data elements between health care settings. Several organizations felt that their preoccupation with fulfilling MU requirements stifled innovation. Greater emphasis should be placed on local HIT configurations that better address population health care needs. Although MU has stimulated adoption of EHRs, its effects on quality and safety remain uncertain. Stakeholders felt that MU requirements should be more flexible and recognize that integrated models may achieve information

Journalism as Model for Civic and Information Literacies

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Smirnov, Natalia; Saiyed, Gulnaz; Easterday, Matthew W.; Lam, Wan Shun Eva

2018-01-01

Journalism can serve as a generative disciplinary context for developing civic and information literacies needed to meaningfully participate in an increasingly networked and mediated public sphere. Using interviews with journalists, we developed a cognitive task analysis model, identifying an iterative sequence of production and domain-specific…

Mutually Beneficial Foreign Language Learning: Creating Meaningful Interactions through Video-Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

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Kato, Fumie; Spring, Ryan; Mori, Chikako

2016-01-01

Providing learners of a foreign language with meaningful opportunities for interactions, specifically with native speakers, is especially challenging for instructors. One way to overcome this obstacle is through video-synchronous computer-mediated communication tools such as Skype software. This study reports quantitative and qualitative data from…

Spatial anomaly detection in sensor networks using neighborhood information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosman, H.H.W.J.; Iacca, G.; Tejada, A.; Wörtche, H.J.; Liotta, A.

2016-01-01

The field of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), embedded systems with sensing and networking capabil- ity, has now matured after a decade-long research effort and technological advances in electronics and networked systems. An important remaining challenge now is to extract meaningful information from

Spatial anomaly detection in sensor networks using neighborhood information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosman, H.H.W.J.; Iacca, G.; Tejada, A.; Wörtche, H.J.; Liotta, A.

The field of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), embedded systems with sensing and networking capability, has now matured after a decade-long research effort and technological advances in electronics and networked systems. An important remaining challenge now is to extract meaningful information from

Meaningful metrics a 21st-century librarian's guide to bibliometrics, altmetrics, and research impact

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Roemer, Robin Chin

2015-01-01

What does it mean to have meaningful metrics in today's complex higher education landscape? With a foreword by Heather Piwowar and Jason Priem, this highly engaging and activity-laden book serves to introduce readers to the fast-paced world of research metrics from the unique perspective of academic librarians and LIS practitioners. Starting with the essential histories of bibliometrics and altmetrics, and continuing with in-depth descriptions of the core tools and emerging issues at stake in the future of both fields, Meaningful Metrics is a convenient all-in-one resource that is designed to be used by a range of readers, from those with little to no background on the subject to those looking to become movers and shakers in the current scholarly metrics movement. Authors Borchardt and Roemer, offer tips, tricks, and real-world examples illustrate how librarians can support the successful adoption of research metrics, whether in their institutions or across academia as a whole.

Energy key performance indicators : a european benchmark and assessment of meaningful indicators for the use of energy in large corporations

OpenAIRE

Friedrichs, Katja

2013-01-01

This study aims to identify and analyze energy key performance indicators among large European companies. Energy usage has become a very meaningful topic for both internal management as well as external stakeholders of a company. A review of current literature suggests that while environmental indicators in general have found broad attention and plenty of theories concerning good and meaningful indicators are published, no study investigating actually applied energy indicators ...

A semantic approach to concept lattice-based information retrieval

OpenAIRE

Codocedo , Victor; Lykourentzou , Ioanna; Napoli , Amedeo

2014-01-01

International audience; The volume of available information is growing, especially on the web, and in parallel the questions of the users are changing and becoming harder to satisfy. Thus there is a need for organizing the available information in a meaningful way in order to guide and improve document indexing for information retrieval applications taking into account more complex data such as semantic relations. In this paper we show that Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) and concept lattices p...

Creating meaningful multimedia presentations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hardman, H.L.; Ossenbruggen, van J.R.

2006-01-01

Finding relevant information is one step in the chain of understanding information. Presenting material to a user in a suitable way is a further step. Our research focuses on using semantic annotations of multimedia elements to increase the "presentability" of retrieved information. We investigate

Are there meaningful individual differences in temporal inconsistency in self-reported personality?

Science.gov (United States)

Soubelet, Andrea; Salthouse, Timothy A; Oishi, Shigehiro

2014-11-01

The current project had three goals. The first was to examine whether it is meaningful to refer to across-time variability in self-reported personality as an individual differences characteristic. The second was to investigate whether negative affect was associated with variability in self-reported personality, while controlling for mean levels, and correcting for measurement errors. The third goal was to examine whether variability in self-reported personality would be larger among young adults than among older adults, and whether the relation of variability with negative affect would be stronger at older ages than at younger ages. Two moderately large samples of participants completed the International Item Pool Personality questionnaire assessing the Big Five personality dimensions either twice or thrice, in addition to several measures of negative affect. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that within-person variability in self-reported personality is a meaningful individual difference characteristic. Some people exhibited greater across-time variability than others after removing measurement error, and people who showed temporal instability in one trait also exhibited temporal instability across the other four traits. However, temporal variability was not related to negative affect, and there was no evidence that either temporal variability or its association with negative affect varied with age.

Computational mediation as factor of motivation and meaningful learning in education of sciences of 9th grade: astronomy topics

Science.gov (United States)

Da Silva, F. M.; Furtado, W. W.

2012-10-01

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the contribution of using hypertext and pedagogic mediation in search of a Meaningful Learning Process in Sciences. We investigate the usage of hypertext in the teaching and learning methods of Astronomy modules. A survey was conducted with students from the 9th grade of Primary School of a public school in the city of Goiânia, Goiás in Brazil. We have analyzed the possibilities that hypermedia can offer in the teaching and learning process, using as reference David Ausubel's Theory of Meaningful Learning. The study was divided into four phases: application of an initial questionnaire on students, development of didactic material (hypertext), six classes held in a computer lab with the use of hypermedia and a final questionnaire applied in the lab after classes. This research indicated that the use of hypertext linked to pedagogical mediation processes is seen as a motivational tool and has potential to foster to Meaningful Learning.

Identifying health facilities outside the enterprise: challenges and strategies for supporting health reform and meaningful use.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Brian E; Colvard, Cyril; Tierney, William M

2014-06-24

Objective: To support collation of data for disability determination, we sought to accurately identify facilities where care was delivered across multiple, independent hospitals and clinics. Methods: Data from various institutions' electronic health records were merged and delivered as continuity of care documents to the United States Social Security Administration (SSA). Results: Electronic records for nearly 8000 disability claimants were exchanged with SSA. Due to the lack of standard nomenclature for identifying the facilities in which patients received the care documented in the electronic records, SSA could not match the information received with information provided by disability claimants. Facility identifiers were generated arbitrarily by health care systems and therefore could not be mapped to the existing international standards. Discussion: We propose strategies for improving facility identification in electronic health records to support improved tracking of a patient's care between providers to better serve clinical care delivery, disability determination, health reform and meaningful use. Conclusion: Accurately identifying the facilities where health care is delivered to patients is important to a number of major health reform and improvement efforts underway in many nations. A standardized nomenclature for identifying health care facilities is needed to improve tracking of care and linking of electronic health records.

İşin Anlamlılığını Belirleyen Sosyal-Yapısal Özelliklerin Güçlendirmeye Olan Etkileri ve Sonuçları Üzerine bir Araştırma = A Study on the Effects of the Social-Structural Characteristics Determining the Meaningfulness of Work on Empowerment and the Results of these Effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasan GÜL

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to determine the social-structural characteristics that organizations must have in order that employees could feel themselves empowered. For this purpose, the possible effects of social-structural characteristics on the meaningfulness level of the work performed were studied. In addition, an analysis was conducted to determine whether the level of work meaningfulness might lead to affective commitment as well. The subjects of the study were 222 administrative personnel of 13 state universities. In conclusion, it was determined that the structural characteristics providing the work with meaningfulness were role ambiguity, access to resourses, and access to information. In addition, it was determined that the employees who find their work meaningful have affective commitment to their organizations.

Visualising the invisible: a network approach to reveal the informal social side of student learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hommes, J; Rienties, B; de Grave, W; Bos, G; Schuwirth, L; Scherpbier, A

2012-12-01

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students' learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not stop outside the classroom. Therefore we studied how informal social interaction influences student learning. Moreover, to explore what really matters in the students learning process, a model was tested how the generally known important constructs-prior performance, motivation and social integration-relate to informal social interaction and student learning. 301 undergraduate medical students participated in this cross-sectional quantitative study. Informal social interaction was assessed using self-reported surveys following the network approach. Students' individual motivation, social integration and prior performance were assessed by the Academic Motivation Scale, the College Adaption Questionnaire and students' GPA respectively. A factual knowledge test represented student' learning. All social networks were positively associated with student learning significantly: friendships (β = 0.11), providing information to other students (β = 0.16), receiving information from other students (β = 0.25). Structural equation modelling revealed a model in which social networks increased student learning (r = 0.43), followed by prior performance (r = 0.31). In contrast to prior literature, students' academic motivation and social integration were not associated with students' learning. Students' informal social interaction is strongly associated with students' learning. These findings underline the need to change our focus from the formal context (classroom) to the informal context to optimize student learning and deliver modern medics.

Effect of Community-Based Occupational Therapy on Health-Related Quality of Life and Engagement in Meaningful Activities of Women with Breast Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daiva Petruseviciene

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of community-based occupational therapy on health-related quality of life and engagement in meaningful activities among women with breast cancer. An open label randomized controlled trial study design was applied. The participants were members of various societies of women with cancer. In total, 22 women have participated in the study. Participants of the experimental group (n=11 participated in a 6-week community-based occupational therapy program and the usual activities of various societies, whereas the control group (n=11 women participated in the usual activities of the societies only. 1 of the participants withdrew during the course; therefore 21 completed the study successfully. Participants of both groups were assessed for health-related quality of life and the participants of the experimental group were assessed for engagement in meaningful activities. The evaluation was carried out during the nonacute period of the disease—at the beginning of the study and after 6 weeks. Women of the experimental group demonstrated statistically significantly better scores in the global quality of life, role functions, physical, emotional, cognitive, and social functions, fatigue, insomnia, financial impact, systemic therapy side effects, and breast symptoms scales compared to the control group participants (p<0.05 after the 6 weeks, as measured by the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and its breast cancer module QLQ-BR23. Furthermore, women of the experimental group demonstrated significant greater engagement in meaningful activities when applying community-based occupational therapy (p<0.05, as measured by using the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS. The evaluation of the associations between the women’s engagement in meaningful activities and changes in health-related quality of life showed that greater engagement in meaningful activities was associated with better emotional functions and a

Computer-based information management system for interventional radiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forman, B.H.; Silverman, S.G.; Mueller, P.R.; Hahn, P.F.; Papanicolaou, N.; Tung, G.A.; Brink, J.A.; Ferrucci, J.T.

1989-01-01

The authors authored and implemented a computer-based information management system (CBIMS) for the integrated analysis of data from a variety of abdominal nonvascular interventional procedures. The CBIMS improved on their initial handwritten-card system (which listed only patient name, hospital number, and type of procedure) by capturing relevant patient data in an organized fashion and integrating information for meaningful analysis. Advantages of CBIMS include enhanced compilation of monthly census, easy access to a patient's interventional history, and flexible querying capability that allows easy extraction of subsets of information from the patient database

Recoverability in quantum information theory

Science.gov (United States)

Wilde, Mark

The fact that the quantum relative entropy is non-increasing with respect to quantum physical evolutions lies at the core of many optimality theorems in quantum information theory and has applications in other areas of physics. In this work, we establish improvements of this entropy inequality in the form of physically meaningful remainder terms. One of the main results can be summarized informally as follows: if the decrease in quantum relative entropy between two quantum states after a quantum physical evolution is relatively small, then it is possible to perform a recovery operation, such that one can perfectly recover one state while approximately recovering the other. This can be interpreted as quantifying how well one can reverse a quantum physical evolution. Our proof method is elementary, relying on the method of complex interpolation, basic linear algebra, and the recently introduced Renyi generalization of a relative entropy difference. The theorem has a number of applications in quantum information theory, which have to do with providing physically meaningful improvements to many known entropy inequalities. This is based on arXiv:1505.04661, now accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society A. I acknowledge support from startup funds from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at LSU, the NSF under Award No. CCF-1350397, and the DARPA Quiness Program through US Army Research Office award W31P4Q-12-1-0019.

Measuring Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Laboratories: A Longitudinal Study

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

Understanding how students learn in the undergraduate chemistry teaching laboratory is an essential component to developing evidence-based laboratory curricula. The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was developed to measure students' cognitive and affective expectations and experiences for learning in the chemistry…

The Effect of Case Teaching on Meaningful and Retentive Learning When Studying Genetic Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Güccük, Ahmet; Köksal, Mustafa Serdar

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of case teaching on how students learn about genetic engineering, in terms of meaningful learning and retention of learning. The study was designed as quasi-experimental research including 63 8th graders (28 boys and 35 girls). To collect data, genetic engineering achievement tests were…

Identifying meaningful activities among elderly people with demenitia: the developing process of an observation taxonomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andresen, Mette

2014-01-01

, values and beliefs in the center formed the base in the development of the tool. Aim: To develop an observational tool which can identify meaningful activities among elderly demented nursing home residents and thereby provide staff with more knowledge and possibilities for inviting and engaging residents...

Magnitude and meaningfulness of change in SF-36 scores in four types of orthopedic surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Busija, Lucy; Osborne, Richard H; Nilsdotter, Anna

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Medical Outcomes General Health Survey (SF-36) is a widely used health status measure; however, limited evidence is available for its performance in orthopedic settings. The aim of this study was to examine the magnitude and meaningfulness of change and sensitivity of SF-36...

Security, Dignity, Caring Relationships, and Meaningful Work: Needs Motivating Participation in a Job-Training Program

Science.gov (United States)

Ayers, David F.; Miller-Dyce, Cherrel; Carlone, David

2008-01-01

Researchers asked 17 participants in a job-training program to describe their personal struggles following an economic restructuring. Examined through a critical theoretical lens, findings indicate that the learners enrolled in the program to reclaim security, dignity, meaningful work, and caring relationships. Program planners at community…

KnoweScape - Analyzing the dynamics of information and knowledge landscapes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scharnhorst, A.M.

2015-01-01

There is no escape from the expansion of information, so that structuring and locating meaningful knowledge becomes ever more difficult. This project will tackle this urgent problem using the unique networking and capacity-building features provided by the COST framework. For the first time, a

[Can informal employment be compared in South America? Analysis of its definition, measurement and classification].

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz, Marisol E; Tarafa Orpinell, Gemma; Jódar Martínez, Pere; Benach, Joan

2015-01-01

To characterize and analyze the situation of informal employment with regard to its definition, measurement and classification in South American countries. A literature review was conducted from four databases and grey literature through a scoping review, which included reports from international organizations and from the 12 countries in South America. The data were analyzed by evaluating content and establishing similarities among countries. The data reviewed showed a disparity in the definitions used, although many countries define informal employment as workers with no contract. Most countries measured informal employment through household surveys, but due to the differences in classifications, the information found was heterogeneous, with little standardization among registries. Therefore, the data could not be compared at a regional level. The definition of the International Labour Organization was not useful to study informal employment in the countries studied. The definition should include protected and unprotected workers. An appropriate and specific definition of informal employment would allow nuances to be studied within the concept, revealing the loopholes faced by most of the population working informally. The key to meaningful comparisons within the study region is to incorporate common indicators among local registration systems (measurement) in order to determine the public health impact in the informally employed population. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Doing the Project and Learning the Content: Designing Project-Based Science Curricula for Meaningful Understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Kanter, David E.

2010-01-01

Project-based science curricula can improve students' usable or meaningful understanding of the science content underlying a project. However, such curricula designed around "performances" wherein students design or make something do not always do this. We researched ways to design performance project-based science curricula (pPBSc) to better…

"Seeing the Whole Elephant": Changing Mindsets and Empowering Stakeholders to Meaningfully Manage Accountability and Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Bush-Mecenas, Susan; Marsh, Julie A.; Montes de Oca, David; Hough, Heather

2018-01-01

School accountability and improvement policy are on the precipice of a paradigm shift. While the multiple-measure dashboard accountability approach holds great promise for promoting more meaningful learning opportunities for all students, our research indicates that this can come with substantial challenges in practice. We reflect upon the lessons…

Oil-field equipment in Romania. Export trade information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tinis, R.

1991-09-01

The Industry Sector Analyses (I.S.A.) for oil field equipment contains statistical and narrative information on projected market demand, end-users, receptivity of Romanian consumers to U.S. products, the competitive situation - Romanian production, total import market, U.S. market position, foreign competition, and competitive factors, and market access - Romanian tariffs, non-tariff barriers, standards, taxes and distribution channels. The I.S.A. provides the United States industry with meaningful information regarding the Romanian market for oil field equipment

Creating Meaningful Multimedia Presentations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L. Hardman (Lynda); J.R. van Ossenbruggen (Jacco)

2006-01-01

textabstractFinding relevant information is one step in the chain of understanding information. Presenting material to a user in a suitable way is a further step. Our research focuses on using semantic annotations of multimedia elements to increase the ”presentability” of

Using Cluster Analysis to Characterize Meaningful Learning in a First-Year University Chemistry Laboratory Course

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, Kelli R.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2015-01-01

The Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) was designed to measure students' cognitive and affective learning in the university chemistry laboratory. The MLLI was administered at the beginning and the end of the first semester to first-year university chemistry students to measure their expectations and experiences for learning in…

75 FR 28331 - Meaningful Access to United States Currency for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-20

... feature is used in some foreign currency, and the Study's data indicated that this feature was more... Currency for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons AGENCY: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Department of... meaningful access to U.S. currency to people who are blind and visually impaired pursuant to section 504 of...

The Search for Meaningful E-Learning at Canadian Universities: A Multi-Institutional Research Study

Science.gov (United States)

Salyers, Vincent; Carter, Lorraine; Carter, Alanna; Myers, Sue; Barrett, Penelope

2014-01-01

While e-learning is now characterized by a past and trends within that past, there continues to be uncertainty about how e-learning is defined and conceptualized, whether or not we like e-learning, and whether or not it is as meaningful to us as face to face learning. The purpose of this study was to document the e-learning perceptions of students…

Taking a leap of faith: Meaningful participation of people with experiences of homelessness in solutions to address homelessness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trudy Laura Norman

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Participation of people with experiences of homelessness is critical to the development of meaningful strategies to end homelessness. The purpose of this study was to gain insights from people who have been homeless in a mid-sized Canadian city, as to strategies that facilitate meaningful participation in solutions to end homelessness. Within an overarching framework of collaborative research, we collected data through seven focus groups and employed interpretive description as our approach to data analysis. In our analysis, we identified both exclusionary and inclusionary forces that impact participation. Exclusionary forces included being ‘caught in the homelessness industry’, ‘homelessness is a full time job’ and facing stigma/discrimination that make participation a ‘leap of faith’. Inclusionary forces included earning respect and building trust to address unequal power relations, and restoring often ‘taken for granted’ social relations. Specific strategies to enhance participation include listening, valuing skills and stories, and supporting advocacy efforts. The study findings illuminate ways in which power imbalances are lived out in the daily lives of people who experience homelessness, as well as mitigating forces that provide direction as to strategies for addressing power inequities that seek to make participation and social inclusion meaningful. Keywords: homelessness, social policy, social exclusion, social inclusion, advocacy

FuzzyFusion: an application architecture for multisource information fusion

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Kevin L.; Henning, Ronda R.

2009-04-01

The correlation of information from disparate sources has long been an issue in data fusion research. Traditional data fusion addresses the correlation of information from sources as diverse as single-purpose sensors to all-source multi-media information. Information system vulnerability information is similar in its diversity of sources and content, and in the desire to draw a meaningful conclusion, namely, the security posture of the system under inspection. FuzzyFusionTM, A data fusion model that is being applied to the computer network operations domain is presented. This model has been successfully prototyped in an applied research environment and represents a next generation assurance tool for system and network security.

Meaning in meaninglessness: The propensity to perceive meaningful patterns in coincident events and randomly arranged stimuli is linked to enhanced attention in early sensory processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Rominger, Christian; Schulter, Günter; Fink, Andreas; Weiss, Elisabeth M; Papousek, Ilona

2018-05-01

Perception of objectively independent events or stimuli as being significantly connected and the associated proneness to perceive meaningful patterns constitute part of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, which are associated with altered attentional processes in lateralized speech perception. Since perceiving meaningful patterns is to some extent already prevalent in the general population, the aim of the study was to investigate whether the propensity to experience meaningful patterns in co-occurring events and random stimuli may be associated with similar altered attentional processes in lateralized speech perception. Self-reported and behavioral indicators of the perception of meaningful patterns were assessed in non-clinical individuals, along with EEG auditory evoked potentials during the performance of an attention related lateralized speech perception task (Dichotic Listening Test). A greater propensity to perceive meaningful patterns was associated with higher N1 amplitudes of the evoked potentials to the onset of the dichotically presented consonant-vowel syllables, indicating enhanced automatic attention in early sensory processing. The study suggests that more basic mechanisms in how people associate events may play a greater role in the cognitive biases that are manifest in personality expressions such as positive schizotypy, rather than that positive schizotypy moderates these cognitive biases directly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Qualitative Insights from a Canadian Multi-Institutional Research Study: In Search of Meaningful E-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Lorraine M.; Salyers, Vince; Myers, Sue; Hipfner, Carol; Hoffart, Caroline; MacLean, Christa; White, Kathy; Matus, Theresa; Forssman, Vivian; Barrett, Penelope

2014-01-01

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of…

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-02-03

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

The Relationship Between Magnet Designation, Electronic Health Record Adoption, and Medicare Meaningful Use Payments.

Science.gov (United States)

Lippincott, Christine; Foronda, Cynthia; Zdanowicz, Martin; McCabe, Brian E; Ambrosia, Todd

2017-08-01

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between nursing excellence and electronic health record adoption. Of 6582 US hospitals, 4939 were eligible for the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, and 6419 were eligible for evaluation on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model. Of 399 Magnet hospitals, 330 were eligible for the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, and 393 were eligible for evaluation in the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model. Meaningful use attestation was defined as receipt of a Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program payment. The adoption electronic health record was defined as Level 6 and/or 7 on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model. Logistic regression showed that Magnet-designated hospitals were more likely attest to Meaningful Use than non-Magnet hospitals (odds ratio = 3.58, P electronic health records than non-Magnet hospitals (Level 6 only: odds ratio = 3.68, P electronic health record use, which involves earning financial incentives for successful adoption. Continued investigation is needed to examine the relationships between the quality of nursing care, electronic health record usage, financial implications, and patient outcomes.

Linking job-relevant personality traits, transformational leadership, and job performance via perceived meaningfulness at work: A moderated mediation model.

Science.gov (United States)

Frieder, Rachel E; Wang, Gang; Oh, In-Sue

2018-03-01

By integrating the fundamental principles of the theory of purposeful work behavior (TPWB; Barrick, Mount, & Li, 2013) with cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) theory (Mischel, 1977; Mischel & Shoda, 1995), we examine how and when salespeople's job-relevant personality traits relate to their performance. We argue that individuals with personality traits that fit outdoor sales jobs (i.e., conscientious, extraversion, openness to experience) will perceive their work as more meaningful and as a result achieve heightened performance. Moreover, drawing from TPWB and CAPS theory, we expect that as an important element of the social context, transformational leadership moderates the indirect effect of salespeople's job-relevant personality traits on their job performance via enhanced perceptions of meaningfulness at work. Results based on data from 496 outdoor salespeople and their 218 supervisors and regional managers provide support for the hypotheses pertaining to conscientiousness and openness, but not extraversion. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of conscientiousness or openness on performance through perceived meaningfulness are more positive under low, rather than high, levels of transformational leadership. Implications for research and practice are discussed along with study limitations and future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing Visualization Techniques for Semantics-based Information Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Richard M.; Hall, David R.

2003-01-01

Information systems incorporating complex network structured information spaces with a semantic underpinning - such as hypermedia networks, semantic networks, topic maps, and concept maps - are being deployed to solve some of NASA s critical information management problems. This paper describes some of the human interaction and navigation problems associated with complex semantic information spaces and describes a set of new visual interface approaches to address these problems. A key strategy is to leverage semantic knowledge represented within these information spaces to construct abstractions and views that will be meaningful to the human user. Human-computer interaction methodologies will guide the development and evaluation of these approaches, which will benefit deployed NASA systems and also apply to information systems based on the emerging Semantic Web.

Productive Information Foraging

Science.gov (United States)

Furlong, P. Michael; Dille, Michael

2016-01-01

This paper presents a new algorithm for autonomous on-line exploration in unknown environments. The objective of the algorithm is to free robot scientists from extensive preliminary site investigation while still being able to collect meaningful data. We simulate a common form of exploration task for an autonomous robot involving sampling the environment at various locations and compare performance with a simpler existing algorithm that is also denied global information. The result of the experiment shows that the new algorithm has a statistically significant improvement in performance with a significant effect size for a range of costs for taking sampling actions.

Social network profiles as information sources for adolescents' offline relations

OpenAIRE

Courtois, Cédric; All, Anissa

2012-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study concerning the use of profile pages by adolescents to get to know more about offline friends and acquaintances. Previous research has indicated that social network sites are used to gather information on new online contacts. However, several studies have demonstrated a substantial overlap between offline and online social networks. Hence, we question whether online profiles are meaningful in gathering information on these 'offline' friends and acquai...

Social network profiles as information sources for adolescents' offline relations

OpenAIRE

Courtois, Cédric; All, Anissa; Vanwynsberghe, Hadewijch

2012-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study concerning the use of online profile pages by adolescents to know more about “offline” friends and acquaintances. Previous research has indicated that social networking sites (SNSs) are used to gather information on new online contacts. However, several studies have demonstrated a substantial overlap between offline and online social networks. Hence, we question whether online connections are meaningful in gathering information on offline friends and...

Novel Study Guides for Biochemistry Meaningful Learning in Biology: a Design-Based Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Costa, C ; Galembeck, E. Costa, C ; Galembeck, E.

2017-07-01

teaching and learning, with helpful information to guide elaboration and refinement of new teaching materials and to make active learning more meaningful.

Establishing meaningful cut points for online user ratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Thielsch, Meinald T

2015-01-01

Subjective perceptions of websites can be reliably measured with questionnaires. But it is unclear how such scores should be interpreted in practice, e.g. is an aesthetics score of 4 points on a seven-point-scale satisfactory? The current paper introduces a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC)-based methodology to establish meaningful cut points for the VisAWI (visual aesthetics of websites inventory) and its short form the VisAWI-S. In two studies we use users' global ratings (UGRs) and website rankings as anchors. A total of 972 participants took part in the studies which yielded similar results. First, one-item UGRs correlate highly with the VisAWI. Second, cut points on the VisAWI reliably differentiate between sites that are perceived as attractive versus unattractive. Third, these cut points are variable, but only within a certain range. Together the research presented here establishes a score of 4.5 on the VisAWI which is a reasonable goal for website designers and highlights the utility of the ROC methodology to derive relevant scores for rating scales.

Possibilities of creating meaningful encounters in anesthesia nursing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Karin

Anesthesia nursing is performed in a highly technological environment with restricted time for interaction with patients. Patients are in a vulnerable position, which can be characterized by anxiety regarding the anesthetic and surgical procedure. The bedrock of effective nursing care is to facil......Anesthesia nursing is performed in a highly technological environment with restricted time for interaction with patients. Patients are in a vulnerable position, which can be characterized by anxiety regarding the anesthetic and surgical procedure. The bedrock of effective nursing care...... of nursing. In this dissertation, focused ethnography is used to explore the interactions between patients and nurse anesthetists before general anesthesia. Moreover, it will explore the professional identity of nurse anesthetists, in relation to the situation of preparing patients for general anesthesia....... A micro-substantive theory is developed regarding the opportunities for creating meaningful encounters between patients and nurse anesthetists. The theory is based on three dominant motivations for interaction in anesthesia nursing. The context of care is not committed and responsive to the core elements...

Exploring gender differences in information search among domestic vistors to Yellow Mountain and Guilin, PRC

Science.gov (United States)

Hui Xie; Jigang Bao; Duarte B. Morais

2007-01-01

In the dynamic global environment of today, understanding how consumers acquire information is important at the micro level for marketing management decisions and at the macro level for public policy decisions. Gender has been identified as a factor influencing information search and other meaningful consumer behavior constructs. Therefore, understanding gender...

Informal learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Callanan, Maureen; Cervantes, Christi; Loomis, Molly

2011-11-01

We consider research and theory relevant to the notion of informal learning. Beginning with historical and definitional issues, we argue that learning happens not just in schools or in school-aged children. Many theorists have contrasted informal learning with formal learning. Moving beyond this dichotomy, and away from a focus on where learning occurs, we discuss five dimensions of informal learning that are drawn from the literature: (1) non-didactive, (2) highly socially collaborative, (3) embedded in meaningful activity, (4) initiated by learner's interest or choice, and (5) removed from external assessment. We consider these dimensions in the context of four sample domains: learning a first language, learning about the mind and emotions within families and communities, learning about science in family conversations and museum settings, and workplace learning. Finally, we conclude by considering convergences and divergences across the different literatures and suggesting areas for future research. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 646-655 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.143 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Visual attention to meaningful stimuli by 1- to 3-year olds: implications for the measurement of memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayne, Harlene; Jaeger, Katja; Sonne, Trine; Gross, Julien

2016-11-01

The visual recognition memory (VRM) paradigm has been widely used to measure memory during infancy and early childhood; it has also been used to study memory in human and nonhuman adults. Typically, participants are familiarized with stimuli that have no special significance to them. Under these conditions, greater attention to the novel stimulus during the test (i.e., novelty preference) is used as the primary index of memory. Here, we took a novel approach to the VRM paradigm and tested 1-, 2-, and 3-year olds using photos of meaningful stimuli that were drawn from the participants' own environment (e.g., photos of their mother, father, siblings, house). We also compared their performance to that of participants of the same age who were tested in an explicit pointing version of the VRM task. Two- and 3-year olds exhibited a strong familiarity preference for some, but not all, of the meaningful stimuli; 1-year olds did not. At no age did participants exhibit the kind of novelty preference that is commonly used to define memory in the VRM task. Furthermore, when compared to pointing, looking measures provided a rough approximation of recognition memory, but in some instances, the looking measure underestimated retention. The use of meaningful stimuli raise important questions about the way in which visual attention is interpreted in the VRM paradigm, and may provide new opportunities to measure memory during infancy and early childhood. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Meaningful experiences in science education: Engaging the space researcher in a cultural transformation to greater science literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, Cherilynn A.

1993-01-01

The visceral appeal of space science and exploration is a very powerful emotional connection to a very large and diverse collection of people, most of whom have little or no perspective about what it means to do science and engineering. Therein lies the potential of space for a substantially enhanced positive impact on culture through education. This essay suggests that through engaging more of the space research and development community in enabling unique and 'meaningful educational experiences' for educators and students at the pre-collegiate levels, space science and exploration can amplify its positive feedback on society and act as an important medium for cultural transformation to greater science literacy. I discuss the impact of space achievements on people and define what is meant by a 'meaningful educational experience,' all of which points to the need for educators and students to be closer to the practice of real science. I offer descriptions of two nascent science education programs associated with NASA which have the needed characteristics for providing meaningful experiences that can cultivate greater science literacy. Expansion of these efforts and others like it will be needed to have the desired impact on culture, but I suggest that the potential for the needed resources is there in the scientific research communities. A society in which more people appreciate and understand science and science methods would be especially conducive to human progress in space and on Earth.

School nurse evaluations: making the process meaningful and motivational.

Science.gov (United States)

McDaniel, Kathryn H; Overman, Muriel; Guttu, Martha; Engelke, Martha Keehner

2013-02-01

The professional standards of school nursing practice provide a framework to help school nurses focus on their unique mission of promoting health and academic achievement for all students. Without the standards, the nurse's role can become task oriented and limited in scope. By using an evaluation tool that reflects the standards, nurses not only become aware and begin to understand the standards; they also become directly accountable for meeting them. In addition, developing an evaluation process based on the standards of school nurse practice increases the visibility of school nurses and helps school administrators understand the role of the school nurse. This article describes how one school district integrated the scope and standards of school nursing into the job description and performance evaluation of the nurse. The process which is used to complete the evaluation in a manner that is meaningful and motivational to the school nurse is described.

Reaching Agreement: The Structure & Pragmatics of Critical Care Nurses' Informal Argument

Science.gov (United States)

Hagler, Debra A.; Brem, Sarah K.

2008-01-01

The hospital critical care unit provides an authentic, high-stakes setting for studying reasoning, argumentation, and discourse. In particular, it allows examination of structural and pragmatic features of informal collaborative argument created while participants are engaged in familiar, meaningful activities central to their work. The nursing…

Callings and Work Engagement: Moderated Mediation Model of Work Meaningfulness, Occupational Identity, and Occupational Self-Efficacy

Science.gov (United States)

Hirschi, Andreas

2012-01-01

Scholarly interest in callings is growing, but researchers' understanding of how and when callings relate to career outcomes is incomplete. The present study investigated the possibility that the relationship of calling to work engagement is mediated by work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy--and that this…

Application of Ausubel's Theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning to Curriculum, Teaching and Learning of Deaf Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Biser, Eileen

Implications of D. Ausubel's Theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning and its derivative, the Advance Organizer Model of Teaching, for deaf students are examined. Ausubel believes that complex intellectual processes (thinking, language, problem-solving, concept formation) are the major aspects of learning, and that primary emphasis should be placed on…

Sacrifice: an ethical dimension of caring that makes suffering meaningful.

Science.gov (United States)

Helin, Kaija; Lindström, Unni A

2003-07-01

This article is intended to raise the question of whether sacrifice can be regarded stituting a deep ethical structure in the relationship between patient and carer. The significance of sacrifice in a patient-carer relationship cannot, however, be fully understood from the standpoint of the consistently utilitarian ethic that characterizes today's ethical discourse. Deontological ethics, with its universal principles, also does not provide a suitable point of departure. Ethical recommendations and codices are important and serve as general sources of knowledge when making decisions, but they should be supplemented by an ethic that takes into consideration contextual and situational factors that make every encounter between patient and carer unique. Caring science research literature presents, on the whole, general agreement on the importance of responsibility and devotian with regard to sense of duty, warmth and genuine engagement in caring. That sacrifice may also constitute an important ethical element in the patient-carer relationship is, however, a contradictory and little considered theme. Caring literature that deals with sacrifice/self-sacrifice indicates contradictory import. It is nevertheless interesting to notice that both the negative and the positive aspects bring out importance of the concept for the professional character of caring. The tradition of ideas in medieval Christian mysticism with reference to Lévinas' ethic of responsibility offers a deeper perspective in which the meaningfulness of sacrifice in the caring relationship can be sought. The theme of sacrifice is not of interest merely as a carer's ethical outlook, but sacrifice can also be understood as a potential process of transformation health. The instinctive or conscious experience of sacrifice on the part of the individual patient can, on a symbolic level, be regarded as analogous to the cultic or religious sacrifice aiming at atonement. Sacrifice appears to the patient as an act of

A guide to performance management for the Health Information Manager.

Science.gov (United States)

Leggat, Sandra G

This paper provides a summary of human resource management practices that have been identified as being associated with better outcomes in performance management. In general, essential practices include transformational leadership and a coherent program of goal setting, performance monitoring and feedback. Some Health Information Managers may feel they require training assistance to develop the necessary skills in the establishment of meaningful work performance goals for staff and the provision of useful and timely feedback. This paper provides useful information to assist Health Information Managers enhance the performance of their staff.

Effective information provision to rural dwellers in the era of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rural dwellers in Nigeria make up the larger proportion of the people whose information needs are not sufficiently met even though they contribute meaningfully to national development. The failure of the Nigerian public libraries to effectively perform its roles as a local gate way to knowledge and the layman's university has ...

Compiling standardized information from clinical practice: using content analysis and ICF Linking Rules in a goal-oriented youth rehabilitation program.

Science.gov (United States)

Lustenberger, Nadia A; Prodinger, Birgit; Dorjbal, Delgerjargal; Rubinelli, Sara; Schmitt, Klaus; Scheel-Sailer, Anke

2017-09-23

To illustrate how routinely written narrative admission and discharge reports of a rehabilitation program for eight youths with chronic neurological health conditions can be transformed to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. First, a qualitative content analysis was conducted by building meaningful units with text segments assigned of the reports to the five elements of the Rehab-Cycle ® : goal; assessment; assignment; intervention; evaluation. Second, the meaningful units were then linked to the ICF using the refined ICF Linking Rules. With the first step of transformation, the emphasis of the narrative reports changed to a process oriented interdisciplinary layout, revealing three thematic blocks of goals: mobility, self-care, mental, and social functions. The linked 95 unique ICF codes could be grouped in clinically meaningful goal-centered ICF codes. Between the two independent linkers, the agreement rate was improved after complementing the rules with additional agreements. The ICF Linking Rules can be used to compile standardized health information from narrative reports if prior structured. The process requires time and expertise. To implement the ICF into common practice, the findings provide the starting point for reporting rehabilitation that builds upon existing practice and adheres to international standards. Implications for Rehabilitation This study provides evidence that routinely collected health information from rehabilitation practice can be transformed to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health by using the "ICF Linking Rules", however, this requires time and expertise. The Rehab-Cycle ® , including assessments, assignments, goal setting, interventions and goal evaluation, serves as feasible framework for structuring this rehabilitation program and ensures that the complexity of local practice is appropriately reflected. The refined "ICF Linking Rules" lead to a standardized

The geography of informal arts and crafts traders in South Africa's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

(Devey, Skinner & Valodia, 2003: 12;. Dewar, 2005: 5; Ligthelm, 2008: 370;. Tissington, 2009: 27). According to Lighthelm & Masuku. (2003: 3), the use of the term 'informal sector' in economic literature was never meant to refer to a homogeneous group. In order to draw meaningful conclusions about its composition the.

Which role for Life Cycle Thinking in the definition of meaningful indicators for the circular economy?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niero, Monia

2017-01-01

at the micro level. We discuss the role of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in the development of meaningful circularity indicators at the product level taking into account the absolute perspective on CE. Our analysis is limited to the environmental aspect of sustainability with a focus on the climate change impact...

Contributions of meaningful experiences gatherings to artistic education field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardo Bustamante Cardona

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This article shows a theoretical approach to and a description of some contributions of a work of transformation of educational and sociocultural reality carried out by a group of people and institutions, among which are San Buenaventura University, Antioquia Museum, Ediarte Inc. and Antioquia University. Such intervention aims at contributing to the improvement of Artistic Education quality in Antioquia and the nation. In order to understand the significance of these Gatherings, a short historical framework is explained in which global and regional processes of academic activities having an impact on the structure of the Artistic Education field are pointed out. Likewise, some perspectives in the definition of artistic education are tackled and then a definition of Pierre Bourdieu´s concept of fieldis presented. Therefore, Meaningful Experiences Gatherings in Artistic Education (MEGAE are presented and the three first gatherings are described. Finally, it is shown the panorama of the contributions of the gatherings both in the theoretical formulation and relational structure of the field.

Cogent：A Case Study of Meaningful Gamification in Education with Virtual Currency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Chen

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes students’ experience with Cogent, a virtual economy system used throughout the 4 years of a B.S. degree in a Technology major. The case study explains the rules of the Cogent system and investigates its effectiveness to motivate students to learn. Using focus groups and interviews, we collected qualitative data from students about their experience and perceptions of Cogent. The results indicate that Cogent played an encouraging and motivational role for these students and suggest potential for the successful design and implementation of meaningful gamification systems to promote student motivation and engagement within an educational context.

Science literacy and meaningful learning: status of public high school students from Rio de Janeiro face to molecular biology concepts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Alves Escodino

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In this work we aimed to determine the level of Molecular Biology (MB science literacy of students from two Brazilian public schools which do not consider the rogerian theory for class planning and from another institution, Cap UERJ, which favours this theory. We applied semiclosed questionnaires specific to the different groups of science literacy levels. Besides, we have asked them to perform conceptual maps with MB concepts in order to observe if they have experienced meaningful learning. Finally, we prepared MB classes for students of the three schools, considering their conceptual maps and tried to evaluate, through a second map execution, if the use of alternative didactics material, which consider meaningful learning process, would have any effect over the appropriation of new concepts. We observed that most students are placed at Functional literacy level. Nonetheless, several students from CAp were also settled at the higher Conceptual and Procedural levels. We found that most students have not experienced meaningful learning and that the employment of didactic material and implementation of proposals which consider the cognitive structure of the students had a significant effect on the appropriation of several concepts.

Meaningful Engagement of Organizational and Agency Partnerships to Enhance Diversity within the Earth System Science Community: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Pyrtle, A. J.; Whitney, V. W.; Powell, J. M.; Bailey, K. L.

2006-12-01

The Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science Initiative (MS PHD'S) was established by and for underrepresented minorities to facilitate increased and sustained participation in Earth system science community. The MS PHD'S launched its pilot program in 2003 with twenty professional organizations, agencies and institutions as partners. Each year partnership alliances have grown. In the second year or programming, thirty-one partnering agencies/institutions supported involvement of MS PHD'S student participants and for 2005-2006, representatives from forty-five agencies and institutions have provided similar support and exposure to the third cohort of student participants. Nineteen scientists served as meeting mentors during the MS PHD'S pilot program in 2003. By the following year, twenty-two additional scientists partnered with MS PHD'S mentees. During 2005-2006, twenty-one new scientists served as program mentors. Thus far, the MS PHD'S program has successfully engaged sixty-two minority and non-minority scientists as mentors to MS PHD'S student participants. AGU, AMS, ASLO, ESA, TOS, NAS OSB and JOI continue to serve as MS PHD'S Society Partners and hosts for MS PHD'S student activities in conjunction with their meetings. Each of the five professional society partners provided assistance in identifying mentors, provided complimentary memberships and meeting registrations for MS PHD'S student participants. AGU, AMS, ASLO, JOI and TOS have sponsored more than 90 conference registration and travel awards for the purpose of student participants engaging in MS PHD'S Professional Development Program Phase 2 activities at their international meetings. How did MS PHD'S establish meaningful engagement of organizational and agency partnerships to enhance diversity within the Earth system science community? This case study reveals replicable processes and constructs to enhance the quality of meaningful collaboration and engagement

On the meaningfulness of testing preference axioms in stated preference discrete choice experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Tjur, Carl Tue; Østerdal, Lars Peter Raahave

2012-01-01

A stream of studies on evaluation of health care services and public goods have developed tests of the preference axioms of completeness and transitivity and methods for detecting other preference phenomena such as unstability, learning- and tiredness effects, and random error, in stated preference...... discrete choice experiments. This methodological paper tries to identify the role of the preference axioms and other preference phenomena in the context of such experiments and discusses whether or howsuch axioms and phenomena can be subject to meaningful (statistical) tests....

Qualitative Insights from a Canadian Multiinstitutional Research Study: In Search of Meaningful E-learning

OpenAIRE

Lorraine M. Carter; Vince Salyers; Sue Myers; Carol Hipfner; Caroline Hoffart; Christa MacLean; Kathy White; Theresa Matus; Vivian Forssman; Penelope Barrett

2014-01-01

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of e-learning. Importantly, e-learning was conceptualized as the integration of pedagogy, instructional technology, and the Internet into teaching ...

Contested Spaces. Meaningful Places. Contemporary Performances of Place and Belonging in Spain and Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria J. C. Krom

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This essay aims to contribute to current anthropological debate on space and place, analysing in two instances of festival performance how, on the one hand the politics of appropriation of space contributes to the configuration of power relations, and how on the other hand, participants in these festivals engage individually and collectively with physical space(s to create places which they experience as meaningful in terms of identity and belonging.

Information in learning to co-ordinate and control movements: Is there a need for specificity of practice?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Savelsbergh, Geert J.P.; Van Der Kamp, John

2000-01-01

The goal of the paper is to defend the thesis that information and movement are tightly coupled and as a result specificity of training is required in order to get meaningful learning effects. This thesis will be illustrated by elaborating upon the role of informational constraints in the control

Heterogeneous 40Ar/39Ar laser probe apparent ages in low-grade mylonitic rocks: Constraining a meaningful geological age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arancibia, G

2001-01-01

Obtaining meaningful geological ages from mylonitic rocks has been a major problem for structural geologist, because apparent ages have usually no geologic significance. Over the last years, in situ high spatial resolutions 40 Ar/ 39 Ar studies (e.g. Ruffet et al., 1991; Reddy et al., 1996; Pickles et al., 1997), permit obtain apparent ages of mineral and link them directly with textural, microstructural and chemical patterns that can previously be obtained by optical and scanning electron (SEM) microscopes and electron microprobe. In this work, heterogeneous 40 Ar/ 39 Ar laser probe ages from low-grade volcanic mylonites show complex argon distributions patterns. Inverse isochron analysis suggests that most obtained apparent ages contain argon excess and only younger ages have a meaningful geologically interpretation (au)

Discursive mobile phone practices and informal rules

OpenAIRE

Lloyd, Clare

2010-01-01

This paper uses Discourse Analysis (DA) to investigate the socially constructed discursive practices of mobile phone use; specifically it examines the informal rules of mobile phone use. It qualitatively investigates mobile phone use within an Australian cultural context. „Discourse theory begins with the assumption that all objects and actions are meaningful, and that their meaning is a product of historically specific systems of rules‟ (Howarth 2000, p. 8). Evidence of soc...

Proteomic amino-termini profiling reveals targeting information for protein import into complex plastids.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pitter F Huesgen

Full Text Available In organisms with complex plastids acquired by secondary endosymbiosis from a photosynthetic eukaryote, the majority of plastid proteins are nuclear-encoded, translated on cytoplasmic ribosomes, and guided across four membranes by a bipartite targeting sequence. In-depth understanding of this vital import process has been impeded by a lack of information about the transit peptide part of this sequence, which mediates transport across the inner three membranes. We determined the mature N-termini of hundreds of proteins from the model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, revealing extensive N-terminal modification by acetylation and proteolytic processing in both cytosol and plastid. We identified 63 mature N-termini of nucleus-encoded plastid proteins, deduced their complete transit peptide sequences, determined a consensus motif for their cleavage by the stromal processing peptidase, and found evidence for subsequent processing by a plastid methionine aminopeptidase. The cleavage motif differs from that of higher plants, but is shared with other eukaryotes with complex plastids.

Dissociating Neural Correlates of Meaningful Emblems from Meaningless Gestures in Deaf Signers and Hearing Non-Signers

Science.gov (United States)

Husain, Fatima T.; Patkin, Debra J.; Kim, Jieun; Braun, Allen R.; Horwitz, Barry

2012-01-01

Emblems are meaningful, culturally-specific hand gestures that are analogous to words. In this fMRI study, we contrasted the processing of emblematic gestures with meaningless gestures by pre-lingually Deaf and hearing participants. Deaf participants, who used American Sign Language, activated bilateral auditory processing and associative areas in the temporal cortex to a greater extent than the hearing participants while processing both types of gestures relative to rest. The hearing non-signers activated a diverse set of regions, including those implicated in the mirror neuron system, such as premotor cortex (BA 6) and inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) for the same contrast. Further, when contrasting the processing of meaningful to meaningless gestures (both relative to rest), the Deaf participants, but not the hearing, showed greater response in the left angular and supramarginal gyri, regions that play important roles in linguistic processing. These results suggest that whereas the signers interpreted emblems to be comparable to words, the non-signers treated emblems as similar to pictorial descriptions of the world and engaged the mirror neuron system. PMID:22968047

Rocket Science: An Exploration of What Information Is of Meaning to Educational Psychologists when Evaluating Their Work

Science.gov (United States)

Lowther, Cath

2013-01-01

Evaluation is a central feature of educational psychologists' (EPs) work. Different evaluation tools have been used in the published literature but a consistent approach is yet to emerge. Informed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this research asks what information EPs find meaningful when they evaluate their work. Six EPs working in a…

Patient Centred Systems: Techno-Anthropological reflections on the challenges of 'meaningfully engaging' patients within health informatics research.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Ming-Chao; Almond, Helen; Cummings, Elizabeth; Roehrer, Erin; Showell, Chris; Turner, Paul

2015-01-01

This chapter explores how Techno-Anthropology can contribute to more explicitly professional and ethically responsible reflections on the socio-technical practices involved in meaningfully engaging patients in health informatics research. The chapter draws on insights from health informatics research projects focused on chronic disease and self-management conducted in Tasmania during the last 10 years. Through these projects the paper explores three topics of relevance to 'meaningful engagement' with patients: (i) Patient Self-Management and Chronic Disease (ii) Patients as Users in Health Informatics research, and, (iii) Evaluations of outcomes in Health and Health Informatics Interventions. Techno-Anthropological reflections are then discussed through the concepts of liminality, polyphony and power. This chapter argues that beyond its contribution to methodology, an important role for Techno-Anthropology in patient centred health informatics research may be its capacity to support new ways of conceptualising and critically reflecting on the construction and mediation of patients' needs, values and perspectives.

[Framework for the strengthening of health information systems in Peru].

Science.gov (United States)

Curioso, Walter H; Espinoza-Portilla, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

In this article we present the essential components and policies that are most relevant regarding the conceptual framework to strengthen the health information systems in Peru. The article also presents the main policies, actions and strategies made in the field of electronic health in Peru that are most significant. The health information systems in Peru play a key role and are expected to achieve an integrated and interoperable information system. This will allow health information to be complete, efficient, of good quality and available in a timely manner to achieve better quality of life for people and allow meaningful modernization of public health in the context of health reform in Peru.

The Relationship between Psychological Meaningfulness and Employee Engagement: Moderating Effect of Age and Gender

OpenAIRE

Ruswahida Ibnu Ruslan; Md. Aminul Islam; Idris Mohd Noor

2014-01-01

There has been a great deal of interest in employee engagement over the years, and it has become a popular term. However, there is no one universally acceptable definition for employee engagement until now. Employee engagement has been defined in many ways, and its assessment also seems to be similar, as developed by scholars such as Kahn [1] who coins the term psychological meaningfulness. This paper reviews the literature surrounding employee engagement, especially in terms of psychological...

Computer and information science

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

This edited book presents scientific results of the 15th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2016) which was held on June 26– 29 in Okayama, Japan. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. Research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those papers accepted for presentation at the conference. The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the program committee, and underwent further rigorous rounds of review. This publication captures 12 of the conference’s most promising...

Analyse morphologique fine pour la recherche d'information biomédicale

OpenAIRE

Claveau , Vincent; Kijak , Ewa

2012-01-01

National audience; In the biomedical field, the key to access information is the use of specialized terms. However, in most of Indo-European languages, these terms are complex morphological struc- tures. The aim of the presented work is to identify the various meaningful components of these terms and use this analysis to improve biomedical information retrieval. We present an ap- proach combining an automatic alignment using a pivot language, and an analogical learning that allows an accurate...

Meaningful Learning with Mobile Devices: Pre-Service Class Teachers' Experiences of Mobile Learning in the Outdoors

Science.gov (United States)

Kärki, Tomi; Keinänen, Heli; Tuominen, Anu; Hoikkala, Marianna; Matikainen, Eila; Maijala, Hanna

2018-01-01

The authors consider the use of mobile learning environment ActionTrack in teacher education. Pre-service class teachers' (N = 277) experiences of the mobile learning environment were measured with a 7-point Likert-scale questionnaire based on seven attributes of meaningful learning. Students' ratings for different attributes were analysed…

The Role of Post-Visit Action Resources in Facilitating Meaningful Free-Choice Learning after a Zoo Visit

Science.gov (United States)

Bueddefeld, Jill N. H.; Van Winkle, Christine M.

2018-01-01

Places like zoos, where free-choice learning is encouraged, are important for conveying climate change and sustainability issues to the public. Free-choice learning that targets environmentally focused sustainable behavior changes must be meaningful in order to encourage actual behavior change post-visit. However, visitors often fail to translate…

Initial validation of a proxy indicator of functioning as a potential tool for establishing a clinically meaningful cocaine use outcome.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiluk, Brian D; Babuscio, Theresa A; Nich, Charla; Carroll, Kathleen M

2017-10-01

Establishing a non-abstinence cocaine use outcome as clinically meaningful has been elusive, in part due to the lack of association between cocaine use outcomes and meaningful indicators of long-term functioning. Using data pooled across 7 clinical trials evaluating treatments for cocaine (N=718), a dichotomous indicator of functioning was created to represent a meaningful outcome ('problem-free functioning' - PFF), defined as the absence of problems across non-substance-related domains on the Addiction Severity Index. Its validity was evaluated at multiple time points (baseline, end-of-treatment, terminal follow-up) and used to explore associations with cocaine use. The percentage of participants meeting PFF criteria increased over time (baseline=18%; end-of-treatment=32%; terminal follow-up=37%). At each time point, ANOVAs indicated those who met PFF criteria reported significantly less distress on the Brief Symptom Inventory and less perceived stress on the Perceived Stress Scale. Generalized linear models indicated categorical indices of self-reported cocaine use at the end of treatment were predictive of the probability of meeting PFF criteria during follow-up (β=-0.01, pcocaine use in the final month of treatment was associated with PFF during follow-up, with strongest associations between PFF and abstinence or 'occasional' use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Increased trunk extension endurance is associated with meaningful improvement in balance among older adults with mobility problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Suri, Pradeep; Kiely, Dan K; Leveille, Suzanne G; Frontera, Walter R; Bean, Jonathan F

2011-07-01

To determine whether trunk extension endurance changes with training are associated with clinically meaningful improvements in balance among mobility-limited older adults. Longitudinal data from a randomized controlled trial. Outpatient rehabilitation research center. Community-dwelling older adults (N=64; mean age, 75.9y) with mobility limitations as defined by a score of 4 to 10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery. Sixteen weeks of progressive resistance training. Outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Unipedal Stance Time (UST). Predictors included leg strength, leg power, trunk extension endurance, and the product of heart rate and blood pressure (RPP) at the final stage of an exercise tolerance test. We performed an analysis of data from participants who completed 16 weeks of training by using binary outcomes defined by a clinically meaningful change (CMC) from baseline to completion of the intervention (BBS=4 units; UST=5s). The association of predictor variables with balance outcomes was examined separately and together in multivariate adjusted logistic regression models. Trunk extension endurance in seconds (1.04 [1.00-1.09]) was independently associated with CMC on the BBS. Trunk extension endurance (1.02 [1.00-1.03]) was independently associated with CMC on the UST. Other physical attributes were not associated with meaningful change in balance. Improvements in trunk extension endurance were independently associated with CMCs in balance in older adults. Leg strength, leg power, and RPP were not associated with CMC in balance. Poor trunk extension endurance may be a rehabilitative impairment worthy of further study as a modifiable factor linked to balance among older adults. Copyright © 2011 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predicting loss of employment over three years in multiple sclerosis: clinically meaningful cognitive decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, Sarah A; Drake, Allison; Zivadinov, Robert; Munschauer, Frederick; Weinstock-Guttman, Bianca; Benedict, Ralph H B

2010-10-01

Cognitive dysfunction is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), yet the magnitude of change on objective neuropsychological (NP) tests that is clinically meaningful is unclear. We endeavored to determine NP markers of the transition from employment to work disability in MS, as indicated by degree of decline on individual tests. Participants were 97 employed MS patients followed over 41.3 ± 17.6 months with a NP battery covering six domains of cognitive function. Deterioration at follow-up was designated as documented and paid disability benefits (conservative definition) or a reduction in hours/work responsibilities (liberal definition). Using the conservative definition, 28.9% reported deteriorated employment status and for the liberal definition, 45.4%. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and California Verbal Learning Test, Total Learning (CVLT2-TL) measures distinguished employed and disabled patients at follow-up. Controlling for demographic and MS characteristics, the odds ratio of a deterioration based on a change of 2.0 on the CVLT2-TL was 3.7 (95% CI 1.2-11.4 and SDMT by 4.0 was 4.2 (95% CI 1.2-14.8), accounting for 86.7% of the area under the ROC curve. We conclude that decline on NP testing over time is predictive of deterioration in vocational status, establishing a magnitude of decline on NP tests that is clinically meaningful.

Emotions experienced at event recall and the self: Implications for the regulation of self-esteem, self-continuity and meaningfulness.

Science.gov (United States)

Ritchie, Timothy D; Sedikides, Constantine; Skowronski, John J

2016-01-01

The intensity of positive affect elicited by recall of positive events exceeds the intensity of negative affect elicited by recall of negative events (fading affect bias, or FAB). The research described in the present article examined the relation between the FAB and three regulatory goals of the self: esteem, continuity and meaningfulness. The extent to which an event contributed to esteem (Study 1), continuity (Study 2) or meaningfulness (Study 3) was related to positive affect at event recall provoked by positive memories and to negative affect at event recall provoked by negative memories. The relation between affect experienced at recall and the three regulatory goals was bidirectional. The results showcase how individuals use recall for self-regulatory purposes and how they implement self-regulatory goals for positive affect.

Incorporating Meaningful Gamification in a Blended Learning Research Methods Class: Examining Student Learning, Engagement, and Affective Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Meng; Hew, Khe Foon

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated how the use of meaningful gamification affects student learning, engagement, and affective outcomes in a short, 3-day blended learning research methods class using a combination of experimental and qualitative research methods. Twenty-two postgraduates were randomly split into two groups taught by the same…

Open-label extension studies: do they provide meaningful information on the safety of new drugs?

Science.gov (United States)

Day, Richard O; Williams, Kenneth M

2007-01-01

The number of open-label extension studies being performed has increased enormously in recent years. Often it is difficult to differentiate between these extension studies and the double-blind, controlled studies that preceded them. If undertaken primarily to gather more patient-years of exposure to the new drug in order to understand and gain confidence in its safety profile, open-label extension studies can play a useful and legitimate role in drug development and therapeutics. However, this can only occur if the open-label extension study is designed, executed, analysed and reported competently. Most of the value accrued in open-label extension studies is gained from a refinement in the perception of the expected incidence of adverse effects that have most likely already been identified as part of the preclinical and clinical trial programme. We still have to rely heavily on post-marketing safety surveillance systems to alert us to type B (unpredictable) adverse reactions because open-label extension studies are unlikely to provide useful information about these types of often serious and relatively rare adverse reactions. Random allocation into test and control groups is needed to produce precise incidence data on pharmacologically expected, or type A, adverse effects. Some increased confidence about incidence rates might result from the open-label extension study; however, as these studies are essentially uncontrolled and biased, the data are not of great value. Other benefits have been proposed to be gained from open-label extension studies. These include ongoing access to an effective but otherwise unobtainable medicine by the volunteers who participated in the phase III pivotal trials. However, there are unappreciated ethical issues about the appropriateness of enrolling patients whose response to previous treatment is uncertain, largely because treatment allocation in the preceding randomised, double-blind, controlled trial has not been revealed at the

A cost-effective method of achieving meaningful citizen participation in public roadway pipeline studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buszynski, M.E.

1996-12-31

Many proponents of gas pipeline studies using the public roadway for their facilities have trouble encouraging public participation. Problems resulting from a lack of public involvement are documented. A public participation process designed to gather meaningful public input is presented through a case study of a public roadway pipeline study in southern Ontario. Techniques are outlined to effectively stimulate public interest and document the public involvement process. Recommendations are made as to the transferability of this process to other jurisdictions.

Medicare incentive payments for meaningful use of electronic health records: accounting and reporting developments.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-01

The Healthcare Financial Management Association through its Principles and Practices (P&P) Board publishes issue analyses to provide short-term practical assistance on emerging issues in healthcare financial management. In a new issue analysis excerpted in this article, HFMA's P&P Board provides some clarity to the healthcare industry on certain accounting and reporting issues resulting from incentive payments under the Medicare program for the meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) technology. Consultation on these matters with independent auditors is highly recommended.

Acting to gain information

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenchein, Stanley J.; Burns, J. Brian; Chapman, David; Kaelbling, Leslie P.; Kahn, Philip; Nishihara, H. Keith; Turk, Matthew

1993-01-01

This report is concerned with agents that act to gain information. In previous work, we developed agent models combining qualitative modeling with real-time control. That work, however, focused primarily on actions that affect physical states of the environment. The current study extends that work by explicitly considering problems of active information-gathering and by exploring specialized aspects of information-gathering in computational perception, learning, and language. In our theoretical investigations, we analyzed agents into their perceptual and action components and identified these with elements of a state-machine model of control. The mathematical properties of each was developed in isolation and interactions were then studied. We considered the complexity dimension and the uncertainty dimension and related these to intelligent-agent design issues. We also explored active information gathering in visual processing. Working within the active vision paradigm, we developed a concept of 'minimal meaningful measurements' suitable for demand-driven vision. We then developed and tested an architecture for ongoing recognition and interpretation of visual information. In the area of information gathering through learning, we explored techniques for coping with combinatorial complexity. We also explored information gathering through explicit linguistic action by considering the nature of conversational rules, coordination, and situated communication behavior.

Information in Reality: Logic and Metaphysics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph E. Brenner

2011-10-01

information, including meaning and value. These properties subsume the notion of semantic information as well-formed, meaningful and truthful data as proposed most recently by Luciano Floridi. LIR sup-ports the concept of ‘biotic’ information of Stuart Kauffmann, Robert Logan and their colleagues and that of meaningful information developed by Christophe Menant. Logic in Reality does not pretend to the level of rigor of an experimental or mathematical theory. It is proposed as a meth-odology to assist in achieving a minimum scientific legitimacy for a qualitative theory of information. My hope is that by seeing information, meaning and knowledge as dynamic processes, evolving according to logical rules in my extended sense of logic, some of the on-going issues on the nature and function of information may be clarified.

Directed cortical information flow during human object recognition: analyzing induced EEG gamma-band responses in brain's source space.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gernot G Supp

Full Text Available The increase of induced gamma-band responses (iGBRs; oscillations >30 Hz elicited by familiar (meaningful objects is well established in electroencephalogram (EEG research. This frequency-specific change at distinct locations is thought to indicate the dynamic formation of local neuronal assemblies during the activation of cortical object representations. As analytically power increase is just a property of a single location, phase-synchrony was introduced to investigate the formation of large-scale networks between spatially distant brain sites. However, classical phase-synchrony reveals symmetric, pair-wise correlations and is not suited to uncover the directionality of interactions. Here, we investigated the neural mechanism of visual object processing by means of directional coupling analysis going beyond recording sites, but rather assessing the directionality of oscillatory interactions between brain areas directly. This study is the first to identify the directionality of oscillatory brain interactions in source space during human object recognition and suggests that familiar, but not unfamiliar, objects engage widespread reciprocal information flow. Directionality of cortical information-flow was calculated based upon an established Granger-Causality coupling-measure (partial-directed coherence; PDC using autoregressive modeling. To enable comparison with previous coupling studies lacking directional information, phase-locking analysis was applied, using wavelet-based signal decompositions. Both, autoregressive modeling and wavelet analysis, revealed an augmentation of iGBRs during the presentation of familiar objects relative to unfamiliar controls, which was localized to inferior-temporal, superior-parietal and frontal brain areas by means of distributed source reconstruction. The multivariate analysis of PDC evaluated each possible direction of brain interaction and revealed widespread reciprocal information-transfer during familiar

In Quest of a Meaningful Model of Human Self and Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manzurul Huq

1994-06-01

Full Text Available There is a growing awareness among many modern psychologists that the will to meaning is a highly distinctive feature of man, distinguishing him from animals. Accordingly, a behaviour model for man, to be truly representative, must include the drive for meaning as a significant dimension of human personality. In the light of this realization, some major psychological models of personality, e.g., the psychoanalytical model, behaviouristic model, humanistic model, and the existential model have been briefly examined, and a model based on transcendental nature of man is proposed. According to this model, the realization of an abiding comprehensive meaning of life and the consequent all­ inclusive meaningful behaviour, both at the individual and social levels, is the junction of man's perception and belief in a transcendentally anchored integrated framework of life.

Information and Communication Technology Use Is Related to Higher Well-Being Among the Oldest-Old.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Tamara; Reed, Andrew E; Carr, Dawn C

2017-09-01

Older adults often prioritize socially meaningful goals over informational goals. Thus, we predicted that using information and communication technology (ICT) in service of socially meaningful versus informational goals relates to higher well-being among the oldest-old. We surveyed 445 adults aged 80+ (mean = 84, range = 80-93; 64% female; 26% non-White) online or via telephone. Participants reported motivations for ICT use (connect with others, learn new information) and rated their psychological and physical well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, loneliness, goal attainment, subjective health, functional limitations). We conducted regression and mediation analyses to test our hypothesis. Participants used ICT more to connect with friends/family (M = 3.66, SD = 1.28) than to learn information (M = 2.61, SD = 1.44), p relationships between ICT use and psychological well-being, whereas informational motivations mediated the relationships between ICT use and physical well-being. Older adults aged 80+ use ICT less than other generations, but may have much to gain. Using social versus informational technologies may enhance multiple aspects of well-being in different ways during very late life. Highlighting such benefits may increase ICT adoption among the oldest-old. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Dissociating neural correlates of meaningful emblems from meaningless gestures in deaf signers and hearing non-signers.

Science.gov (United States)

Husain, Fatima T; Patkin, Debra J; Kim, Jieun; Braun, Allen R; Horwitz, Barry

2012-10-10

Emblems are meaningful, culturally-specific hand gestures that are analogous to words. In this fMRI study, we contrasted the processing of emblematic gestures with meaningless gestures by pre-lingually Deaf and hearing participants. Deaf participants, who used American Sign Language, activated bilateral auditory processing and associative areas in the temporal cortex to a greater extent than the hearing participants while processing both types of gestures relative to rest. The hearing non-signers activated a diverse set of regions, including those implicated in the mirror neuron system, such as premotor cortex (BA 6) and inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) for the same contrast. Further, when contrasting the processing of meaningful to meaningless gestures (both relative to rest), the Deaf participants, but not the hearing, showed greater response in the left angular and supramarginal gyri, regions that play important roles in linguistic processing. These results suggest that whereas the signers interpreted emblems to be comparable to words, the non-signers treated emblems as similar to pictorial descriptions of the world and engaged the mirror neuron system. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-04-01

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

The ADAS-cog and clinically meaningful change in the VISTA clinical trial of galantamine for Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Rockwood, Kenneth; Fay, Sherri; Gorman, Mary

2010-02-01

A minimum 4-point change at 6 months on the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) is deemed clinically important, but this cut-point has been little studied in relation to clinical meaningfulness. In an investigator-initiated, clinical trial of galantamine, we investigated the extent to which a 4-point change classifies goal attainment by individual patients. Secondary analysis of the video imaging synthesis of treating Alzheimer's disease (VISTA) study: a 4-month, multi-centre, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, trial of galantamine in 130 mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease patients (4-month open-label follow-up). ADAS-cog responses at 6 months were compared with outcomes on three clinical measures: clinician's interview based impression of change-plus caregiver input (CIBIC+), patient/carer-goal attainment scaling (PGAS) and clinician-GAS (CGAS). Thirty-seven of 99 patients improved by > or = 4 points on the ADAS-cog at 6 months, and 16/99 showed > or = 4-point worsening. ADAS-cog change scores correlated notionally to modestly with changes on the CGAS (r = -0.31), the PGAS (r = -0.29) and the CIBIC+ (r = 0.31). As a group, patients with ADAS-cog improvement were significantly more likely to improve on the clinical measures; those who worsened showed non-significant clinical decline. Individually, about half were misclassified in relation to each clinical measure; often when the ADAS-Cog detected 'no change', clinically meaningful effects could be detected. Even so, no ADAS-Cog cut-point optimally classified patients' clinical responses. A 4-point ADAS-cog change at 6 months is clinically meaningful for groups. Substantial individual misclassification between the ADAS-cog and clinical measures suggests no inherent meaning to a 4-point ADAS-cog change for a given patient.

Measuring the Information Content of Stock Trades.

OpenAIRE

Hasbrouck, Joel

1991-01-01

This paper suggests that the interactions of security trades and quote revisions be modeled as a vector autoregressive system. Within this framework, a trade's information effect may be meaningfully measured as the ultimate price impact of the trade innovation. Estimates for a sample of NYSE issues suggest a trade's full price impact arrives only with a protracted lag; the impact is a positive and concave function of the trade size; large trades cause the spread to widen; trades occurring in ...

Teaching and investigating the use of Concept Maps as educational resource facilitator of meaningful learning for natural sciences in elementary education.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipa Pacífico Ribeiro de Assis Silveira

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The study tried to answer questions pertinent to the use of concept maps (CM as a teaching resource facilitator of meaningful learning of scientific concepts of Natural Sciences, in the classroom of elementary school. To answer the questions and insert the MC in the classroom every day, we adopted the interdependence between the process of learning, teaching and investigation. To ensure a triadic relationship, outline an intervention / investigation with theoretical and methodological support in quantitative and qualitative approach. The teaching and learning were secured from a teaching strategy, able to share and negotiate concepts relevant to the field of education, enabling students move beyond their existing knowledge, ensuring the data of research about the effects of MC in learning of the groups investigated. The MC was defined as a teaching resource potential for this level of education and principles of the Theory of Meaningful Learning that supports it. It was evident the recursive procedural character inherent in meaningful learning as using the MC as a teaching resource in the construction of scientific knowledge of Natural Sciences, the occurrence of learning of the groups using the MC and its validation in the presence of students of final grades of elementary school.

Qualitative Insights from a Canadian Multiinstitutional Research Study: In Search of Meaningful E-learning

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Lorraine M. Carter

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of e-learning. Importantly, e-learning was conceptualized as the integration of pedagogy, instructional technology, and the Internet into teaching and learning environments. Based on this definition, participants reflected on e-learning in relation to one or more of the following contexts: face-to-face (f2f classrooms in which instructional technologies (e.g. learning management systems, video and webconferencing, mobile devices, etc. are used; blended or web-enhanced learning environments; and fully online learning environments. Data collected for the study included survey data (n=1377 for students, n=187 for faculty; narrative comments (n=269 for students, n=74 for faculty; and focus groups (n=16 for students, n=33 for faculty. The latter two sets of data comprise the basis of this paper. Four major themes emerged based on the responses of students and faculty. Represented by the acronym HIDI, the themes include human connection (H, IT support (I, design (D, and institutional infrastructure (I. These themes and sub-themes are presented in the paper as well as recommendations for educators and administrators who aspire to make e-learning a pedagogically meaningful experience for both learners and their teachers.

Phylogeny and patterns of diversity of goat mtDNA haplogroup A revealed by resequencing complete mitogenomes.

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Maria Grazia Doro

Full Text Available We sequenced to near completion the entire mtDNA of 28 Sardinian goats, selected to represent the widest possible diversity of the most widespread mitochondrial evolutionary lineage, haplogroup (Hg A. These specimens were reporters of the diversity in the island but also elsewhere, as inferred from their affiliation to each of 11 clades defined by D-loop variation. Two reference sequences completed the dataset. Overall, 206 variations were found in the full set of 30 sequences, of which 23 were protein-coding non-synonymous single nucleotide substitutions. Many polymorphic sites within Hg A were informative for the reconstruction of its internal phylogeny. Bayesian and network clustering revealed a general similarity over the entire molecule of sequences previously assigned to the same D-loop clade, indicating evolutionarily meaningful lineages. Two major sister groupings emerged within Hg A, which parallel distinct geographical distributions of D-loop clades in extant stocks. The pattern of variation in protein-coding genes revealed an overwhelming role of purifying selection, with the quota of surviving variants approaching neutrality. However, a simple model of relaxation of selection for the bulk of variants here reported should be rejected. Non-synonymous diversity of Hg's A, B and C denoted that a proportion of variants not greater than that allowed in the wild was given the opportunity to spread into domesticated stocks. Our results also confirmed that a remarkable proportion of pre-existing Hg A diversity became incorporated into domestic stocks. Our results confirm clade A11 as a well differentiated and ancient lineage peculiar of Sardinia.

A meaningful MESS (Medical Education Scholarship Support

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Shari A. Whicker

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Graduate medical education faculty bear the responsibility of demonstrating active research and scholarship; however, faculty who choose education-focused careers may face unique obstacles related to the lack of promotion tracks, funding, career options, and research opportunities. Our objective was to address education research and scholarship barriers by providing a collaborative peer-mentoring environment and improve the production of research and scholarly outputs. Methods: We describe a Medical Education Scholarship Support (MESS group created in 2013. MESS is an interprofessional, multidisciplinary peer-mentoring education research community that now spans multiple institutions. This group meets monthly to address education research and scholarship challenges. Through this process, we develop new knowledge, research, and scholarly products, in addition to meaningful collaborations. Results: MESS originated with eight founding members, all of whom still actively participate. MESS has proven to be a sustainable unfunded local community of practice, encouraging faculty to pursue health professions education (HPE careers and fostering scholarship. We have met our original objectives that involved maintaining 100% participant retention; developing increased knowledge in at least seven content areas; and contributing to the development of 13 peer-reviewed publications, eight professional presentations, one Masters of Education project, and one educational curriculum. Discussion: The number of individuals engaged in HPE research continues to rise. The MESS model could be adapted for use at other institutions, thereby reducing barriers HPE researchers face, providing an effective framework for trainees interested in education-focused careers, and having a broader impact on the education research landscape.

Information Retrieval Methods in Libraries and Information Centers ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The volumes of information created, generated and stored are immense that without adequate knowledge of information retrieval methods, the retrieval process for an information user would be cumbersome and frustrating. Studies have further revealed that information retrieval methods are essential in information centers ...

Assessment of Land Surface Complexity In Relation To Information Capacity and the Fractal Dimension in Different Landform Regions Using Landsat Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Wang Xu; Huijie, Qin; Zhe, Zhang; Fei, Li

2014-01-01

Remote sensing images are highly structured, and contiguous pixels of space domain have strong correlations that contain abundant information on land surface structure features and land surface electromagnetic radiation features. The information capacity model, which is a quality evaluation model based on a multi-dimensional histogram, includes local correlations within different pixels. Thus, the information capacity can illustrate land surface structural information more objectively and effectively than other single-pixel calculation models. Our results reveal that the information capacity value correlates well with the meaningful grey level of remote sensing imagery. This high correlation is related to the complexity of terrestrial surface landscapes. Therefore, information capacity, as applied to geoscience, is introduced in this study to demonstrate the spatial differentiation of information capacity of different landform regions. Generally, the information capacity of a mountain is large and is followed in decreasing order by those of the hills and the plains. Moreover, the correlation between information capacity and the fractal dimension is analysed. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the level of correlation for information capacity and the fractal dimension is high, and the correlation coefficient for the basic landform areas and the loess landform areas is 0.874 and 0.825, respectively. Finally, this paper proposes that information capacity be used as a new reference index for geoscientific analysis in quantitative research on the characteristics of land surface complexity

Advancements on Radar Polarization Information Acquisition and Processing

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Dai Dahai

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The study on radar polarization information acquisition and processing has currently been one important part of radar techniques. The development of the polarization theory is simply reviewed firstly. Subsequently, some key techniques which include polarization measurement, polarization anti-jamming, polarization recognition, imaging and parameters inversion using radar polarimetry are emphatically analyzed in this paper. The basic theories, the present states and the development trends of these key techniques are presented and some meaningful conclusions are derived.

THE RELEVANCE OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION GENERATED BY THE APPLICATION OF IAS 29 RELATED TO SHAREHOLDERS CAPITAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bunget Ovidiu Constantin

2013-07-01

The objective of IAS 29 is to establish specific standards for entities reporting in the currency of a hyperinflationary economy, so that the financial information provided is meaningful. Our empirical analysis encompasses a hyperinflationary economy covering a wide variety of hyperinflationary conditions.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-03-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, E.; Dalbotten, D. M.

2014-12-01

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

Harnessing information technology to improve women's health information: evidence from Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Zakar, Rubeena; Zakar, Muhammad Z; Qureshi, Shazia; Fischer, Florian

2014-09-04

More than half of Pakistani women are illiterate, marginalized, and experience myriad health problems. These women are also disadvantaged in terms of their restricted mobility and limited access to public space. Nonetheless, user-friendly information and communication technologies (ICTs) have opened up new opportunities to provide them with information that is essential for their health and well-being. We established an Information and Communication Centre (ICC) in a village in Sialkot (Pakistan) on a pilot basis in 2009. The basic philosophy of the ICC was to provide women with health-related information by exposing them to modern sources of information on their doorstep. By design, the ICC was a community-based and community-managed institution where women could access information through online (e.g., internet, mobile phone etc.) and offline (e.g., CDs, TV etc.) resources. The ICC was managed by a group of local volunteer women who had the capacity and skills to use the devices and tools of modern ICTs. We noted an overwhelming participation and interest from local women in the activities of the ICC. The women wanted to receive information on a wide range of issues, from family planning, antenatal care, and childcare to garbage disposal and prevention of domestic violence. Overall, the ICC was successful in initiating a meaningful "information dialogue" at community level, where much-needed information was retrieved, negotiated, mediated, and disseminated through intimate and trusted relations. We conclude that ICTs have the capacity to cross the barriers of illiteracy and can reach out to disadvantaged women living under a conservative patriarchal regime.

Measuring engagement with music: development of an informant-report questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanstone, Ashley D; Wolf, Michael; Poon, Tina; Cuddy, Lola L

2016-01-01

This study describes the development of the Music Engagement Questionnaire (MusEQ), a 35-item scale to measure engagement with music in daily life. Music has implications for well-being and for therapy, notably for individuals living with dementia. A number of excellent scales or questionnaires are now available to measure music engagement. Unlike these scales, the MusEQ may be completed by either the participant or an informant. Study 1 drew on a community-based sample of 391 participants. Exploratory factor analysis revealed six interpretable factors, which formed the basis for construction of six subscales. Study 2 applied the MusEQ to a group of participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 16) as well as a group of neurotypical older adults (OA; n = 16). Informants completed the MusEQ, and the OA group also completed the self-report version of the MusEQ. Both groups had an interview in which they described the place music had in their lives. These interviews were scored by three independent raters. The MusEQ showed excellent internal consistency. Five of the factor-derived subscales showed good or excellent internal consistency. MusEQ scores were moderately correlated with a global rating of 'musicality' and with music education. There was strong agreement between self-report and informant-report data. MusEQ scores showed a significant positive relationship to independent ratings of music engagement. The MusEQ provides a meaningful and reliable option for measuring music engagement among participants who are unable to complete a self-report questionnaire.

Searching and selecting online information: analysis of the strategic actions of the university students

OpenAIRE

María José Hernández Serrano

2013-01-01

As complex and dynamic activity, the searching and selection of online information needs a strategic performance in order to achieve effective and meaningful results and processes. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether university students perceive a need to be strategic, for what actions, what times, and what are their predispositions towards the strategic actions in the Internet information searching and selection process. Results showed differences between students by course, thos...

Business intelligence effort get a boost. The meaningful use framework highlights the value of data warehouses and BI tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Raths, David

2011-01-01

As patient care organizations nationwide prepare to report on meaningful use quality measures, those with enterprise data warehouses may find they have a head start. The more advanced among them are establishing workgroups to create dashboards to analyze progress and identify gaps that need addressing.

Contributions of the Meaningful Learning Theory to the learning of botany concepts - doi: 10.4025/actascieduc.v33i2.14355

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Airton José Vinholi Júnior

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The study was conducted in a school of the black community of Furnas do Dionísio (Jaraguari, Mato Grosso do Sul State. For its realization, initially, a test with questions of botany was applied to the students to identify the absence or presence of subsumers classified into adequate or partially adequate. This analysis was used for the planning and production of instructional strategies in order to facilitate interaction between new information and background on the student's cognitive structure in order to promote learning. After, educational interventions have been proposed based on dialogue between traditional knowledge and science in the classroom. Based on the results of these strategies and concept maps based on the Theory of Meaningful Learning of David Ausubel, built by students on the proposed content, we concluded that learning was satisfactory. Taking into account the methodology used to investigate the local knowledge about medicinal plants, it is concluded that this contribution was significant to the learning of botany. 

Informed consent: Enforcing pharmaceutical companies' obligations abroad.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Stacey B

2010-06-15

The past several years have seen an evolution in the obligations of pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials abroad. Key players, such as international human rights organizations, multinational pharmaceutical companies, the United States government and courts, and the media, have played a significant role in defining these obligations. This article examines how such obligations have developed through the lens of past, present, and future recommendations for informed consent protections. In doing so, this article suggests that, no matter how robust obligations appear, they will continue to fall short of providing meaningful protection until they are accompanied by a substantive enforcement mechanism that holds multinational pharmaceutical companies accountable for their conduct. Issues of national sovereignty, particularly in the United States, will continue to prevent meaningful enforcement by an international tribunal or through one universally adopted code of ethics. This article argues that, rather than continuing to pursue an untenable international approach, the Alien Torts Statute (ATS) offers a viable enforcement mechanism, at least for US-based pharmaceutical companies. Recent federal appellate court precedent interpreting the ATS provides the mechanism for granting victims redress and enforcing accountability of sponsors (usually pharmaceutical companies and research and academic institutions) for informed consent misconduct. Substantive human rights protections are vital in order to ensure that every person can realize the "right to health." This article concludes that by building on the federal appellate court's ATS analysis, which grants foreign trial participants the right to pursue claims of human rights violations in US courts, a mechanism can be created for enforcing not only substantive informed consent, but also human rights protections.

Role of information systems in public health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartshorne, J E; Carstens, I L

1990-07-01

The purpose of this review is to establish a conceptual framework on the role of information systems in public health care. Information is indispensable for effective management and development of health services and therefore considered as an important operational asset or resource. A Health Information System is mainly required to support management and operations at four levels: namely transactional and functional; operational control; management planning and control; and strategic planning. To provide the necessary information needs of users at these levels of management in the health care system, a structured information system coupled with appropriate information technology is required. Adequate and relevant information is needed regarding population characteristics, resources available and expended, output and outcome of health care activities. Additionally information needs to be reliable, accurate, timely, easily accessible and presented in a compact and meaningful form. With a well-planned health information system health authorities would be in a position to provide a quality, cost-effective and efficient health service for as many people as need it, optimal utilisation of resources and to maintain and improve the community's health status.

3rd ACIS International Conference on Applied Computing and Information Technology

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

This edited book presents scientific results of the 3nd International Conference on Applied Computing and Information Technology (ACIT 2015) which was held on July 12-16, 2015 in Okayama, Japan. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. Research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them.

4th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

This edited book presents scientific results of the 14th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2015) which was held on June 28 – July 1, 2015 in Las Vegas, USA. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. Research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them.

Meaningful activities for improving the wellbeing of people with dementia: beyond mere pleasure to meeting fundamental psychological needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyman, Samuel R; Szymczynska, Paulina

2016-03-01

Dementia is being increasingly recognised as a major public health issue for our ageing populations. A critical aspect of supporting people with dementia is facilitating their participation in meaningful activities. However, research to date has not drawn on theories of ageing from developmental psychology that would help undergird the importance of such meaningful activity. For the first time, we connect existing activity provision for people with dementia with developmental psychology theories of ageing. We reviewed the literature in two stages: first, we narratively searched the literature to demonstrate the relevance of psychological theories of ageing for provision of meaningful activities for people with dementia, and in particular focused on stage-based theories of adult development (Carl Jung and Erik Erikson), gerotranscendence (Tornstam), selective optimisation with compensation (Baltes and Baltes), and optimisation in primary and secondary control (Heckhausen and Schulz). Second, we systematically searched PubMed and PsycINFO for studies with people with dementia that made use of the aforementioned theories. The narrative review highlights that activity provision for people with dementia goes beyond mere pleasure to meeting fundamental psychological needs. More specifically, that life review therapy and life story work address the need for life review; spiritual/religious activities address the need for death preparation; intergenerational activities address the need for intergenerational relationships; re-acquaintance with previously conducted leisure activities addresses the need for a sense of control and to achieve life goals; and pursuit of new leisure activities addresses the need to be creative. The systematic searches identified two studies that demonstrated the utility of applying Erikson's theory of psychosocial development to dementia care. We argue for the importance of activity provision for people with dementia to help promote wellbeing

Mathematics revealed

CERN Document Server

Berman, Elizabeth

1979-01-01

Mathematics Revealed focuses on the principles, processes, operations, and exercises in mathematics.The book first offers information on whole numbers, fractions, and decimals and percents. Discussions focus on measuring length, percent, decimals, numbers as products, addition and subtraction of fractions, mixed numbers and ratios, division of fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The text then examines positive and negative numbers and powers and computation. Topics include division and averages, multiplication, ratios, and measurements, scientific notation and estim

Identifying biologically meaningful hot-weather events using threshold temperatures that affect life-history.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan J Cunningham

Full Text Available Increases in the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves are frequently evoked in climate change predictions. However, there is no universal definition of a heat wave. Recent, intense hot weather events have caused mass mortalities of birds, bats and even humans, making the definition and prediction of heat wave events that have the potential to impact populations of different species an urgent priority. One possible technique for defining biologically meaningful heat waves is to use threshold temperatures (T(thresh above which known fitness costs are incurred by species of interest. We set out to test the utility of this technique using T(thresh values that, when exceeded, affect aspects of the fitness of two focal southern African bird species: the southern pied babbler Turdiodes bicolor (T(thresh = 35.5 °C and the common fiscal Lanius collaris (T(thresh = 33 °C. We used these T(thresh values to analyse trends in the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves of magnitude relevant to the focal species, as well as the annual number of hot days (maximum air temperature > T(thresh, in north-western South Africa between 1961 and 2010. Using this technique, we were able to show that, while all heat wave indices increased during the study period, most rapid increases for both species were in the annual number of hot days and in the maximum intensity (and therefore intensity variance of biologically meaningful heat waves. Importantly, we also showed that warming trends were not uniform across the study area and that geographical patterns in warming allowed both areas of high risk and potential climate refugia to be identified. We discuss the implications of the trends we found for our focal species, and the utility of the T(thresh technique as a conservation tool.

The Meaningful Learning of Intellectual Skills: An Application of Ausubel's Subsumption Theory to the Domain of Intellectual Skills Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

West, Leo H. T.; Kellett, Natalie C.

1981-01-01

Tests the applicability of Ausubel's theory to the meaningful learning of intellectual skills. Results of three studies of high school students indicate that advance organizers enhance learning of skills related to solubility product problems. This effect was removed if prior teaching in relevant background knowledge was included. (Author/WB)

Heard and valued: the development of a model to meaningfully engage marginalized populations in health services planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Snow, M Elizabeth; Tweedie, Katherine; Pederson, Ann

2018-03-15

Recently, patient engagement has been identified as a promising strategy for supporting healthcare planning. However, the context and structure of universalistic, "one-size-fits-all" approaches often used for patient engagement may not enable diverse patients to participate in decision-making about programs intended to meet their needs. Specifically, standard patient engagement approaches are gender-blind and might not facilitate the engagement of those marginalized by, for example, substance use, low income, experiences of violence, homelessness, and/or mental health challenges-highly gendered health and social experiences. The project's purpose was to develop a heuristic model to assist planners to engage patients who are not traditionally included in healthcare planning. Using a qualitative research approach, we reviewed literature and conducted interviews with patients and healthcare planners regarding engaging marginalized populations in health services planning. From these inputs, we created a model and planning manual to assist healthcare planners to engage marginalized patients in health services planning, which we piloted in two clinical programs undergoing health services design. The findings from the pilots were used to refine the model. The analysis of the interviews and literature identified power and gender as barriers to participation, and generated suggestions to support diverse populations both to attend patient engagement events and to participate meaningfully. Engaging marginalized populations cannot be reduced to a single defined process, but instead needs to be understood as an iterative process of fitting engagement methods to a particular situation. Underlying this process are principles for meaningfully engaging marginalized people in healthcare planning. A one-size-fits-all approach to patient engagement is not appropriate given patients' diverse barriers to meaningful participation in healthcare planning. Instead, planners need a

[Overview of the US policies for health information technology and lessons learned for Israel].

Science.gov (United States)

Topaz, Maxim; Ash, Nachman

2013-05-01

The heaLthcare system in the United States (U.S.) faces a number of significant changes aimed at improving the quality and availability of medical services and reducing costs. Implementation of health information technologies, especiaLly ELectronic Health Records (EHR), is central to achieving these goals. Several recent Legislative efforts in the U.S. aim at defining standards and promoting wide scale "Meaningful Use" of the novel technologies. In Israel, the majority of heaLthcare providers adopted EHR throughout the Last decade. Unlike the U.S., the process of EHR adoption occurred spontaneously, without governmental control or the definition of standards. In this article, we review the U.S. health information technology policies and standards and suggest potential lessons Learned for Israel. First, we present the three-staged Meaningful Use regulations that require eligible healthcare practitioners to use EHR in their practice. We also describe the standards for EHR certification and national efforts to create interoperable health information technology networks. Finally, we provide a brief overview of the IsraeLi regulation in the field of EHR. Although the adoption of health information technology is wider in Israel, the Lack of technology standards and governmental control has Led to Large technology gaps between providers. The example of the U.S. Legislation urges the adoption of several critical steps to further enhance the quality and efficiency of the Israeli healthcare system, in particular: strengthening health information technology regulation; developing Licensure criteria for health information technology; bridging the digital gap between healthcare organizations; defining quality measures; and improving the accessibility of health information for patients.

Black-hole information puzzle: a generic string-inspired approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolic, H.

2008-01-01

Given the insight stemming from string theory, the origin of the black-hole (BH) information puzzle is traced back to the assumption that it is physically meaningful to trace out the density matrix over negative-frequency Hawking particles. Instead, treating them as virtual particles necessarily absorbed by the BH in a manner consistent with the laws of BH thermodynamics, and tracing out the density matrix only over physical BH states, complete evaporation becomes compatible with unitarity. (orig.)

Developing Health Information Technology (HIT) Programs and HIT Curriculum: The Southern Polytechnic State University Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chi; Reichgelt, Han; Rutherfoord, Rebecca H.; Wang, Andy Ju An

2014-01-01

Health Information Technology (HIT) professionals are in increasing demand as healthcare providers need help in the adoption and meaningful use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems while the HIT industry needs workforce skilled in HIT and EHR development. To respond to this increasing demand, the School of Computing and Software Engineering…

Revealing Relationships among Relevant Climate Variables with Information Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Knuth, Kevin H.; Golera, Anthony; Curry, Charles T.; Huyser, Karen A.; Kevin R. Wheeler; Rossow, William B.

2005-01-01

The primary objective of the NASA Earth-Sun Exploration Technology Office is to understand the observed Earth climate variability, thus enabling the determination and prediction of the climate's response to both natural and human-induced forcing. We are currently developing a suite of computational tools that will allow researchers to calculate, from data, a variety of information-theoretic quantities such as mutual information, which can be used to identify relationships among climate variables, and transfer entropy, which indicates the possibility of causal interactions. Our tools estimate these quantities along with their associated error bars, the latter of which is critical for describing the degree of uncertainty in the estimates. This work is based upon optimal binning techniques that we have developed for piecewise-constant, histogram-style models of the underlying density functions. Two useful side benefits have already been discovered. The first allows a researcher to determine whether there exist sufficient data to estimate the underlying probability density. The second permits one to determine an acceptable degree of round-off when compressing data for efficient transfer and storage. We also demonstrate how mutual information and transfer entropy can be applied so as to allow researchers not only to identify relations among climate variables, but also to characterize and quantify their possible causal interactions.

(Re)Counting Meaningful Learning Experiences: Using Student-Created Reflective Videos to Make Invisible Learning Visible during PjBL Experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Shaunna

2016-01-01

This ethnographic case study investigated how the process of learning during a yearlong after-school, project-based learning (PjBL) experience could be documented by student-created reflective videos. Guided by social constructivism, constant comparative analysis was used to explore the meaningful learning that took place in addition to the…

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2004-01-01

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

Paper trails, trailing behind: improving informed consent to IVF through multimedia applications

Science.gov (United States)

Madeira, Jody Lyneé; Andraka-Christou, Barbara

2016-01-01

Though intended to educate patients on the risks, benefits, side effects and alternatives within medical treatment, informed consent documents may have unanticipated consequences for patients. Patients may regard these forms as little more than a ritual to access treatment. Or patients may perceive that these forms exist to protect doctors rather than to contribute to a meaningful, patient-protective educational interaction. To rehabilitate the informed consent project, this essay considers the baggage that informed consent documents have acquired through practical use, explores patients' and providers' lived experience of informed consent, and considers whether a multimedia consent application would be a viable solution to the various difficulties that currently erode perceptions of and confidence in the informed consent process. PMID:27774231

Mutual information as a two-point correlation function in stochastic lattice models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Müller, Ulrich; Hinrichsen, Haye

2013-01-01

In statistical physics entropy is usually introduced as a global quantity which expresses the amount of information that would be needed to specify the microscopic configuration of a system. However, for lattice models with infinitely many possible configurations per lattice site it is also meaningful to introduce entropy as a local observable that describes the information content of a single lattice site. Likewise, the mutual information between two sites can be interpreted as a two-point correlation function which quantifies how much information a lattice site has about the state of another one and vice versa. Studying a particular growth model we demonstrate that the mutual information exhibits scaling properties that are consistent with the established phenomenological scaling picture. (paper)

Job enrichment: creating meaningful career development opportunities for nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffield, Christine; Baldwin, Richard; Roche, Michael; Wise, Sarah

2014-09-01

This paper presents an evaluation of a career development policy in South Australia which increased the number of senior staff nurse positions and provided senior registered nurses with time away from clinical duties to undertake agreed projects. We use Kanter's model of structural power and commitment theory to understand the dimensions of this policy. Development strategies for experienced staff who wish to remain at the bedside are needed, especially in smaller health services with limited opportunities for horizontal or vertical mobility. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted with 54 senior staff nurses who participated in the career structure arrangements. The policy enhanced the structure of opportunity in three ways: by increasing the number of senior staff nurse positions, the ladder steps were improved; undertaking strategic projects developed new skills; and the job enrichment approach facilitated time out from the immediate pressures of ward work and challenged nurses in a different way. Through job enrichment, South Australia has found a novel way of providing meaningful career development opportunities for experienced nurses. Methods of job enrichment need to be considered as part of career development policy, especially where movement between clinical facilities is limited and staff wish to remain at the bedside. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Do family physicians electronic health records support meaningful use?

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-03-01

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

Multivariate information-theoretic measures reveal directed information structure and task relevant changes in fMRI connectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lizier, Joseph T; Heinzle, Jakob; Horstmann, Annette; Haynes, John-Dylan; Prokopenko, Mikhail

2011-02-01

The human brain undertakes highly sophisticated information processing facilitated by the interaction between its sub-regions. We present a novel method for interregional connectivity analysis, using multivariate extensions to the mutual information and transfer entropy. The method allows us to identify the underlying directed information structure between brain regions, and how that structure changes according to behavioral conditions. This method is distinguished in using asymmetric, multivariate, information-theoretical analysis, which captures not only directional and non-linear relationships, but also collective interactions. Importantly, the method is able to estimate multivariate information measures with only relatively little data. We demonstrate the method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging time series to establish the directed information structure between brain regions involved in a visuo-motor tracking task. Importantly, this results in a tiered structure, with known movement planning regions driving visual and motor control regions. Also, we examine the changes in this structure as the difficulty of the tracking task is increased. We find that task difficulty modulates the coupling strength between regions of a cortical network involved in movement planning and between motor cortex and the cerebellum which is involved in the fine-tuning of motor control. It is likely these methods will find utility in identifying interregional structure (and experimentally induced changes in this structure) in other cognitive tasks and data modalities.

Service Learning in Undergraduate Nursing Education: Strategies to Facilitate Meaningful Reflection.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Nola A; Brown, Janet M

2016-01-01

Service learning is recognized as a valuable pedagogy involving experiential learning, reflection, and reciprocal learning. Students develop critical thinking and social awareness by using the crucial activity of reflecting upon their experiential learning with community partners. The purpose of this paper is to demystify the process of reflection by identifying best practices to enhance reflection and offering suggestions for grading. By understanding "the what" and "the how" of reflection, educators can implement service learning experiences designed to include the essential component of reflection. Strategies for facilitating meaningful reflection are described including descriptions of what students should reflect upon and how to initiate reflection through writing, reading, doing, and telling. Grading rubrics are suggested to facilitate evaluation of student reflection. When properly implemented, service learning encourages students to be good citizens of the world. By using best practices associated with reflection, students can be challenged to think critically about the world and how their service can achieve community goals. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The right to appropriate and meaningful education for children with ASD.

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, David; Goodall, Craig

2015-10-01

This paper will explore from a 'child's rights perspective' the 'right' of children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) to appropriate and meaningful education. Human 'rights' principles within international law will be evaluated in relation to how they have been interpreted and applied in relation to achieving this 'right'. The International Convention of the Rights of the Child (United Nations in Convention on the rights of the child, office of the high commissioner, United Nations, Geneva, 1989) and the convention on the rights of the person with disability (United Nations in Convention on the rights of person's with disabilities and optional protocol, office of the high commissioner, United Nations, Geneva, 2006) amongst others will be utilised to argue the case for 'inclusive' educational opportunities to be a 'right' of every child on the autistic spectrum. The efficacy of mainstream inclusion is explored, identifying the position that a 'one size fits all' model of education is not appropriate for all children with ASD.

COMPUTER ALGEBRA, VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND MEANINGFUL LEARNING: IS IT POSSIBLE?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Celina A. A. P. Abar

2011-03-01

Full Text Available A major challenge faced by teachers nowadays relates to the usage of proper educational technology to achieve a true and meaningful learning experience involving time for reflection. Teachers constantly seek new ways to improve instruction, but in virtual learning environments they often find themselves in a new role, interacting in a dynamic system with students and simultaneously acquiring new skills related to the tools in use. In this paper we address this question by conducting an online course aimed at primary and secondary school mathematics teachers, designed to investigate the effective use of GeoGebra and Moodle. The tools selected for the course are free and easy to use, an important factor for the new technology to be incorporated into teaching practice. The course results show that a well-constructed proposal is able to meet the expectations of teachers. Furthermore, the usage of new technologies involves, beyond technical issues, changes in the behavior and in the relationships between the actors involved.

Meaningful Ways of Understanding and Measuring Change for People with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Thematic Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

McCusker, Louise; Turner, Marie-Louise; Pike, Georgina; Startup, Helen

2018-02-19

The effective treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) presents healthcare providers with a significant challenge. The evidence base remains limited partially due to a lack of professional consensus and service user involvement regarding ways of measuring change. As a result, the limited evidence that is available draws on such a wide range of outcome measures, that comparison across treatment types is hindered, maintaining a lack of clarity regarding the clinical needs of this group. This investigation aimed to follow the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2009) research recommendations by asking service users about meaningful change within their recovery. This forms a starting point for the future development of a tailored outcome measure. Fifteen service users with a diagnosis of BPD participated in three focus groups across two specialist Personality Disorder services. The focus groups were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Two superordinate themes were synthesized from the data: (1) recovery to what?: 'How do you rewrite who you are?'; and (2) conditions for change. Each superordinate theme further consisted of three subordinate themes which elucidated the over-arching themes. This investigation highlights the complex nature of measuring change in people who have received a BPD diagnosis. Further research is needed to develop meaningful ways of measuring change according to the needs and priorities of people with BPD.

Issue in Information Sharing of Halal Food Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masrom Nor Ratna

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Information sharing serves as an essential approach for the companies and antecedents of supply chain integration. Nowadays, with the highly competitive in halal food market, information sharing has become more conceivable. Furthermore, information sharing in supply chains has become more efficient by having meaningful relationship with the members of halal supply chain. There is a lack information regarding information shared within members in halal food supply chain literature. The information needed in order to shed the light of how companies nowadays can be more competitive. The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the information can be shared among the members of the halal food supply chain. This study elaborates the barriers of information sharing leading to enhanced supply chain integration among enterprises, as a result. The interview with four managers from halal certified food manufactures has been deployed to get rich data about the information sharing. The finding shows that most of cases halal certified food manufacturers has low communication with their suppliers. Trust is the key enablers within the members of halal food supply chain.

Industry sector analysis, Mexico: Electric power production and distribution equipment. Export Trade Information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, J.S.; Miller, R.W.

1988-09-01

The Industry Sector Analyses (I.S.A.) for electric power production and distribution equipment contains statistical and narrative information on projected market demand, end-users, receptivity of Mexican consumers to U.S. products, the competitive situation - Mexican production, total import market, U.S. market position, foreign competition, and competitive factors, and market access - Mexican tariffs, non-tariff barriers, standards, taxes and distribution channels. The I.S.A. provides the United States industry with meaningful information regarding the Mexican market for electric power production and distribution equipment

Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Increasing the Meaningful Involvement of Women Living With HIV/AIDS (MIWA) in the Design and Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Allison; Greene, Saara; Nicholson, Valerie; O'Brien, Nadia; Sanchez, Margarite; de Pokomandy, Alexandra; Loutfy, Mona; Kaida, Angela

2015-01-01

The meaningful involvement of women living with HIV/AIDS (MIWA) is a key feature of women-centred HIV care, yet little is known about transforming MIWA from principle to practice. Drawing on focus group data from the Canadian HIV Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS), we explored HIV-positive women's meaningful involvement in the design and delivery of HIV/AIDS services in British Columbia, Canada. In this article, we highlight the benefits and tensions that emerge as women traverse multiple roles as service users and service providers within their care communities, and the impact this has on their access to care and overall health.

Meaningful mediation analysis : Plausible causal inference and informative communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pieters, Rik

2017-01-01

Statistical mediation analysis has become the technique of choice in consumer research to make causal inferences about the influence of a treatment on an outcome via one or more mediators. This tutorial aims to strengthen two weak links that impede statistical mediation analysis from reaching its

Informal Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartmann, Mia Rosa Koss; Hartmann, Rasmus Koss

Informal innovation, defined as the development and putting-into-use of novel solutions by non-R&D employees without prior formal approval from or subsequent revealing to superiors, has been recurrently observed in organizational research. But even as it is increasingly recognized that R&D is not......Informal innovation, defined as the development and putting-into-use of novel solutions by non-R&D employees without prior formal approval from or subsequent revealing to superiors, has been recurrently observed in organizational research. But even as it is increasingly recognized that R......&D is not the only plausible source of innovation inside organizations, informal innovation has yet to be systematically explored or theorized. We propose a theory of informal innovation based on analyses of prior literature and mixed-method, multi-site studies of innovation at the working level of two extreme......-case organizations. We propose that informal innovation occurs as 1) employees personally experience problems that they believe are not recognized or prioritized by superiors; 2) some employees are able to develop solutions, essentially at no cost; 3) innovators face no benefits from revealing to superiors, but can...

Topic-oriented community detection of rating-based social networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Reihanian

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, real world social networks contain a vast range of information including shared objects, comments, following information, etc. Finding meaningful communities in this kind of networks is an interesting research area and has attracted the attention of many researchers. The community structure of complex networks reveals both their organization and hidden relations among their constituents. Most of the researches in the field of community detection mainly focus on the topological structure of the network without performing any content analysis. In recent years, a number of researches have proposed approaches which consider both the contents that are interchanged in networks, and the topological structures of the networks in order to find more meaningful communities. In this research, the effect of topic analysis in finding more meaningful communities in social networking sites in which the users express their feelings toward different objects (like movies by means of rating is demonstrated by performing extensive experiments.

Information Foraging in Nuclear Power Plant Control Rooms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boring, R.L.

2011-01-01

nformation foraging theory articulates the role of the human as an 'informavore' that seeks information and follows optimal foraging strategies (i.e., the 'information scent') to find meaningful information. This paper briefly reviews the findings from information foraging theory outside the nuclear domain and then discusses the types of information foraging strategies operators employ for normal and off-normal operations in the control room. For example, operators may employ a predatory 'wolf' strategy of hunting for information in the face of a plant upset. However, during routine operations, the operators may employ a trapping 'spider' strategy of waiting for relevant indicators to appear. This delineation corresponds to information pull and push strategies, respectively. No studies have been conducted to determine explicitly the characteristics of a control room interface that is optimized for both push and pull information foraging strategies, nor has there been empirical work to validate operator performance when transitioning between push and pull strategies. This paper explores examples of control room operators as wolves vs. spiders and con- cludes by proposing a set of research questions to investigate information foraging in control room settings.

Information Foraging in Nuclear Power Plant Control Rooms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

R.L. Boring

2011-09-01

nformation foraging theory articulates the role of the human as an 'informavore' that seeks information and follows optimal foraging strategies (i.e., the 'information scent') to find meaningful information. This paper briefly reviews the findings from information foraging theory outside the nuclear domain and then discusses the types of information foraging strategies operators employ for normal and off-normal operations in the control room. For example, operators may employ a predatory 'wolf' strategy of hunting for information in the face of a plant upset. However, during routine operations, the operators may employ a trapping 'spider' strategy of waiting for relevant indicators to appear. This delineation corresponds to information pull and push strategies, respectively. No studies have been conducted to determine explicitly the characteristics of a control room interface that is optimized for both push and pull information foraging strategies, nor has there been empirical work to validate operator performance when transitioning between push and pull strategies. This paper explores examples of control room operators as wolves vs. spiders and con- cludes by proposing a set of research questions to investigate information foraging in control room settings.

Colors and geometric forms in the work process information coding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Čizmić Svetlana

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the research was to establish the meaning of the colors and geometric shapes in transmitting information in the work process. The sample of 100 students connected 50 situations which could be associated with regular tasks in the work process with 12 colors and 4 geometric forms in previously chosen color. Based on chosen color-geometric shape-situation regulation, the idea of the research was to find out regularities in coding of information and to examine if those regularities can provide meaningful data assigned to each individual code and to explain which codes are better and applicable represents of examined situations.

Understanding the Factors That Influence the Adoption and Meaningful Use of Social Media by Physicians to Share Medical Information

OpenAIRE

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

2012-01-01

Background Within the medical community there is persistent debate as to whether the information available through social media is trustworthy and valid, and whether physicians are ready to adopt these technologies and ultimately embrace them as a format for professional development and lifelong learning. Objective To identify how physicians are using social media to share and exchange medical information with other physicians, and to identify the factors that influence physicians’ use of soc...

Some Cognitive Variables in Meaningful Learning of the Physics Concepts of Work and Energy: A Study of Ausubelian Learning Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Talisayon, Vivien Millan

This study is an empirical investigation of Ausubel's paradigm of meaningful learning, applied specifically to the learning of high school physics students. In the first phase of the study path analysis and multiple regression techniques were used to describe the Ausubelian learning variables: available relevant ideas in learner's cognitive…

Harnessing information technology to improve women’s health information: evidence from Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background More than half of Pakistani women are illiterate, marginalized, and experience myriad health problems. These women are also disadvantaged in terms of their restricted mobility and limited access to public space. Nonetheless, user-friendly information and communication technologies (ICTs) have opened up new opportunities to provide them with information that is essential for their health and well-being. Methods We established an Information and Communication Centre (ICC) in a village in Sialkot (Pakistan) on a pilot basis in 2009. The basic philosophy of the ICC was to provide women with health-related information by exposing them to modern sources of information on their doorstep. By design, the ICC was a community-based and community-managed institution where women could access information through online (e.g., internet, mobile phone etc.) and offline (e.g., CDs, TV etc.) resources. The ICC was managed by a group of local volunteer women who had the capacity and skills to use the devices and tools of modern ICTs. Results We noted an overwhelming participation and interest from local women in the activities of the ICC. The women wanted to receive information on a wide range of issues, from family planning, antenatal care, and childcare to garbage disposal and prevention of domestic violence. Overall, the ICC was successful in initiating a meaningful “information dialogue” at community level, where much-needed information was retrieved, negotiated, mediated, and disseminated through intimate and trusted relations. Conclusion We conclude that ICTs have the capacity to cross the barriers of illiteracy and can reach out to disadvantaged women living under a conservative patriarchal regime. PMID:25189632

The influence of transformational leadership on employee well-being: results from a survey of companies in the information and communication technology sector in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Christine; Pfaff, Holger; Lehner, Birgit; Driller, Elke; Nitzsche, Anika; Stieler-Lorenz, Brigitte; Wasem, Jürgen; Jung, Julia

2013-07-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a transformational leadership style on employee well-being. Data for the study were taken from an on-line survey of all employees from six German companies in the information and communication technology sector. The data obtained were analyzed using multiple logistic regressions. Analysis of data from a total of 318 employees (response rate 58.4%) revealed a significant relationship between transformational leadership and employee well-being (P = 0.00; OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.22). A higher degree of perceived transformational leadership is associated with greater well-being. The results of this study suggest that a transformational leadership style, which both conveys a sense of trust and meaningfulness and individually challenges and develops employees, also has a positive effect on employee well-being.

Project Integration Architecture: Inter-Application Propagation of Information

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, William Henry

2005-01-01

A principal goal of the Project Integration Architecture (PIA) is to facilitate the meaningful inter-application transfer of application-value-added information. Such exchanging applications may be largely unrelated to each other except through their applicability to an overall project; however, the PIA effort recognizes as fundamental the need to make such applications cooperate despite wide disparaties either in the fidelity of the analyses carried out, or even the disciplines of the analysis. This paper discusses the approach and techniques applied and anticipated by the PIA project in treating this need.

Information Impact | Journal of Information and Knowledge ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Information Impact | Journal of Information and Knowledge Management ... Abstract. This study was designed to determine the impact of collaboration on research and teaching .... delivery of quality instruction. ... for doing Collaborative projects, and there ... reveals that co-construction of knowledge ..... Get relevant materials.

A Concurrent Mixed Methods Approach to Examining the Quantitative and Qualitative Meaningfulness of Absolute Magnitude Estimation Scales in Survey Research

Science.gov (United States)

Koskey, Kristin L. K.; Stewart, Victoria C.

2014-01-01

This small "n" observational study used a concurrent mixed methods approach to address a void in the literature with regard to the qualitative meaningfulness of the data yielded by absolute magnitude estimation scaling (MES) used to rate subjective stimuli. We investigated whether respondents' scales progressed from less to more and…

Therapy-Induced Neuroplasticity of Language in Chronic Post Stroke Aphasia: A Mismatch Negativity Study of (A)Grammatical and Meaningful/less Mini-Constructions

Science.gov (United States)

Lucchese, Guglielmo; Pulvermüller, Friedemann; Stahl, Benjamin; Dreyer, Felix R.; Mohr, Bettina

2017-01-01

Clinical language performance and neurophysiological correlates of language processing were measured before and after intensive language therapy in patients with chronic (time post stroke >1 year) post stroke aphasia (PSA). As event-related potential (ERP) measure, the mismatch negativity (MMN) was recorded in a distracted oddball paradigm to short spoken sentences. Critical ‘deviant’ sentence stimuli where either well-formed and meaningful, or syntactically, or lexico-semantically incorrect. After 4 weeks of speech-language therapy (SLT) delivered with high intensity (10.5 h per week), clinical language assessment with the Aachen Aphasia Test battery demonstrated significant linguistic improvements, which were accompanied by enhanced MMN responses. More specifically, MMN amplitudes to grammatically correct and meaningful mini-constructions and to ‘jabberwocky’ sentences containing a pseudoword significantly increased after therapy. However, no therapy-related changes in MMN responses to syntactically incorrect strings including agreement violations were observed. While MMN increases to well-formed meaningful strings can be explained both at the word and construction levels, the neuroplastic change seen for ‘jabberwocky’ sentences suggests an explanation in terms of constructions. The results confirm previous reports that intensive SLT leads to improvements of linguistic skills in chronic aphasia patients and now demonstrate that this clinical improvement is associated with enhanced automatic brain indexes of construction processing, although no comparable change is present for ungrammatical strings. Furthermore, the data confirm that the language-induced MMN is a useful tool to map functional language recovery in PSA. PMID:28111545

Proactive interference does not meaningfully distort visual working memory capacity estimates in the canonical change detection task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Po-Han eLin

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The change detection task has become a standard method for estimating the storage capacity of visual working memory. Most researchers assume that this task isolates the properties of an active short-term storage system that can be dissociated from long-term memory systems. However, long-term memory storage may influence performance on this task. In particular, memory traces from previous trials may create proactive interference that sometimes leads to errors, thereby reducing estimated capacity. Consequently, the capacity of visual working memory may be higher than is usually thought, and correlations between capacity and other measures of cognition may reflect individual differences in proactive interference rather than individual differences in the capacity of the short-term storage system. Indeed, previous research has shown that change detection performance can be influenced by proactive interference under some conditions. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the canonical version of the change detection task—in which the to-be-remembered information consists of simple, briefly presented features—is influenced by proactive interference. Two experiments were conducted using methods that ordinarily produce substantial evidence of proactive interference, but no proactive interference was observed. Thus, the canonical version of the change detection task can be used to assess visual working memory capacity with no meaningful influence of proactive interference.

Proactive interference does not meaningfully distort visual working memory capacity estimates in the canonical change detection task.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Po-Han; Luck, Steven J

2012-01-01

The change detection task has become a standard method for estimating the storage capacity of visual working memory. Most researchers assume that this task isolates the properties of an active short-term storage system that can be dissociated from long-term memory systems. However, long-term memory storage may influence performance on this task. In particular, memory traces from previous trials may create proactive interference that sometimes leads to errors, thereby reducing estimated capacity. Consequently, the capacity of visual working memory may be higher than is usually thought, and correlations between capacity and other measures of cognition may reflect individual differences in proactive interference rather than individual differences in the capacity of the short-term storage system. Indeed, previous research has shown that change detection performance can be influenced by proactive interference under some conditions. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the canonical version of the change detection task - in which the to-be-remembered information consists of simple, briefly presented features - is influenced by proactive interference. Two experiments were conducted using methods that ordinarily produce substantial evidence of proactive interference, but no proactive interference was observed. Thus, the canonical version of the change detection task can be used to assess visual working memory capacity with no meaningful influence of proactive interference.

Ananke: temporal clustering reveals ecological dynamics of microbial communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael W. Hall

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Taxonomic markers such as the 16S ribosomal RNA gene are widely used in microbial community analysis. A common first step in marker-gene analysis is grouping genes into clusters to reduce data sets to a more manageable size and potentially mitigate the effects of sequencing error. Instead of clustering based on sequence identity, marker-gene data sets collected over time can be clustered based on temporal correlation to reveal ecologically meaningful associations. We present Ananke, a free and open-source algorithm and software package that complements existing sequence-identity-based clustering approaches by clustering marker-gene data based on time-series profiles and provides interactive visualization of clusters, including highlighting of internal OTU inconsistencies. Ananke is able to cluster distinct temporal patterns from simulations of multiple ecological patterns, such as periodic seasonal dynamics and organism appearances/disappearances. We apply our algorithm to two longitudinal marker gene data sets: faecal communities from the human gut of an individual sampled over one year, and communities from a freshwater lake sampled over eleven years. Within the gut, the segregation of the bacterial community around a food-poisoning event was immediately clear. In the freshwater lake, we found that high sequence identity between marker genes does not guarantee similar temporal dynamics, and Ananke time-series clusters revealed patterns obscured by clustering based on sequence identity or taxonomy. Ananke is free and open-source software available at https://github.com/beiko-lab/ananke.

Information fusion via constrained principal component regression for robust quantification with incomplete calibrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogt, Frank

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: Analysis Task: Determine the albumin (= protein) concentration in microalgae cells as a function of the cells’ nutrient availability. Left Panel: The predicted albumin concentrations as obtained by conventional principal component regression features low reproducibility and are partially higher than the concentrations of algae in which albumin is contained. Right Panel: Augmenting an incomplete PCR calibration with additional expert information derives reasonable albumin concentrations which now reveal a significant dependency on the algae's nutrient situation. -- Highlights: •Make quantitative analyses of compounds embedded in largely unknown chemical matrices robust. •Improved concentration prediction with originally insufficient calibration models. •Chemometric approach for incorporating expertise from other fields and/or researchers. •Ensure chemical, biological, or medicinal meaningfulness of quantitative analyses. -- Abstract: Incomplete calibrations are encountered in many applications and hamper chemometric data analyses. Such situations arise when target analytes are embedded in a chemically complex matrix from which calibration concentrations cannot be determined with reasonable efforts. In other cases, the samples’ chemical composition may fluctuate in an unpredictable way and thus cannot be comprehensively covered by calibration samples. The reason for calibration model to fail is the regression principle itself which seeks to explain measured data optimally in terms of the (potentially incomplete) calibration model but does not consider chemical meaningfulness. This study presents a novel chemometric approach which is based on experimentally feasible calibrations, i.e. concentration series of the target analytes outside the chemical matrix (‘ex situ calibration’). The inherent lack-of-information is then compensated by incorporating additional knowledge in form of regression constraints. Any outside knowledge can be

Self-disclosure on Facebook: How much do we really reveal?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie Day

Full Text Available This paper investigates the use of the social networking site Facebook to self-disclose and analyses the responses of a small group of Facebook users surveyed about their own willingness to self-disclose. An online survey was used to ask Facebook users about their level of Facebook use, what types of personal information they are willing to reveal and the frequency of these personal revelations. The survey also asked the participants to take a look at their publicly viewable profile and the types of information revealed there. Results indicated that overall, most people tended to be cautious about the types of information they revealed, posted mainly positive statements about themselves and were aware of personal privacy issues.

Cinderella's Coach or Just Another Pumpkin? Information Communication Technologies and the Continuing Marginalisation of Languages in Australian Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Norris, Lindy; Coutas, Penelope

2014-01-01

The rhetoric around global connectedness and advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) suggests that: Professional life for the marginalised and isolated language teacher should be easier; the experience of language learners in Australian schools should be more meaningful and bring them closer to the languages and communities that…

Attitudes of Academic Library Managers towards Factors Affecting Information Needs Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Reza Davarpanah

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A periodic information needs assessment in libraries and information centers will allow libraries to focus on providing access to the most appropriate resources for specific groups and increase users satisfaction and library effectiveness. The present research paper, which is an applied survey, focuses on the subjects’ attitude towards factors affecting information needs assessment in academic libraries. Research population included 190 subjects from 29 medical and non-medical academic libraries who were asked to fill-in a research-made questionnaire. The results showed that 70 percent of the surveyed libraries had never undertaken a systematic information needs assessment. Some of the significant factors affecting information needs assessment were: managerial commitment to identifying users’ information needs, postulation of user needs, managing s resistance to change, paying no attention to reality and policy. The tests showed meaningful differences among the subjects attitudes relating to their demographic variables; also the test indicated no significant differences between the attitudes towards the barriers of information needs assessment.

Reflection of Information Technologies over the Information Professionals in Terms of Status: A Survey on the Librarians in Ankara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Semanur Öztemiz

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In order not to succumb to technologies that carry out tasks similar to those performed by humans, modern professional understanding makes it essential to adopt reconciliatory approaches. Because it requires less effort, the partnership between manpower and technology allows professional activities to be carried out in a shorter time and results in greater product or service output. In addition, this partnership deeply affects the workforce responsible for professional implementation. Developing technologies have brought about various changes in education and job titles and particularly in the professional specifications for information professionals. This study aims to set forth the reflections of change on the status extent, based on the information professionals ’ experiences. This study is based on descriptive methodology and covers 106 information professionals working in public libraries, university libraries and in the libraries of those institutions attached to the Prime Ministry in the Turkish capital city Ankara. This research finds that changes in information technologies have had meaningful impacts in terms of indicators of social status such as value, respectability, financial income and professional interest.

Effects of study time and meaningfulness on environmental context-dependent recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Isarida, Takeo; Isarida, Toshiko K; Sakai, Tetsuya

2012-11-01

In two experiments, we examined whether the size of place-context-dependent recognition decreased with study time and with the meaningfulness of the to-be-remembered materials. A group of 80 undergraduates intentionally studied a list of words in a short (1.5 s per item) or a long (4.0 s per item) study-time condition (Exp. 1). Another 40 undergraduates studied lists consisting of words and nonwords in the long-study-time condition (Exp. 2). After a short retention interval, recognition for the targets was tested in the same or in a different context. Context was manipulated by means of the combination of place, subsidiary task, and experimenter. Significant context-dependent recognition discrimination was found for words in the short-study-time condition (Exp. 1), but not in the long-study-time condition (Exps. 1 and 2). Significant effects were found as well for nonwords, even in the long-study-time condition (Exp. 2). These results are explained well by an outshining account: that is, by principles of outshining and encoding specificity.

Web Search Behavior and Information Needs of People With Multiple Sclerosis: Focus Group Study and Analysis of Online Postings

OpenAIRE

Colombo, Cinzia; Mosconi, Paola; Confalonieri, Paolo; Baroni, Isabella; Traversa, Silvia; Hill, Sophie J; Synnot, Anneliese J; Oprandi, Nadia; Filippini, Graziella

2014-01-01

Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and their family members increasingly seek health information on the Internet. There has been little exploration of how MS patients integrate health information with their needs, preferences, and values for decision making. The INtegrating and Deriving Evidence, Experiences, and Preferences (IN-DEEP) project is a collaboration between Italian and Australian researchers and MS patients, aimed to make high-quality evidence accessible and meaningful to...

Merging information from multi-model flood projections in a hierarchical Bayesian framework

Science.gov (United States)

Le Vine, Nataliya

2016-04-01

Multi-model ensembles are becoming widely accepted for flood frequency change analysis. The use of multiple models results in large uncertainty around estimates of flood magnitudes, due to both uncertainty in model selection and natural variability of river flow. The challenge is therefore to extract the most meaningful signal from the multi-model predictions, accounting for both model quality and uncertainties in individual model estimates. The study demonstrates the potential of a recently proposed hierarchical Bayesian approach to combine information from multiple models. The approach facilitates explicit treatment of shared multi-model discrepancy as well as the probabilistic nature of the flood estimates, by treating the available models as a sample from a hypothetical complete (but unobserved) set of models. The advantages of the approach are: 1) to insure an adequate 'baseline' conditions with which to compare future changes; 2) to reduce flood estimate uncertainty; 3) to maximize use of statistical information in circumstances where multiple weak predictions individually lack power, but collectively provide meaningful information; 4) to adjust multi-model consistency criteria when model biases are large; and 5) to explicitly consider the influence of the (model performance) stationarity assumption. Moreover, the analysis indicates that reducing shared model discrepancy is the key to further reduction of uncertainty in the flood frequency analysis. The findings are of value regarding how conclusions about changing exposure to flooding are drawn, and to flood frequency change attribution studies.

Nurses' Satisfaction With Using Nursing Information Systems From Technology Acceptance Model and Information Systems Success Model Perspectives: A Reductionist Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Hsien-Cheng

2017-02-01

Nursing information systems can enhance nursing practice and the efficiency and quality of administrative affairs within the nursing department and thus have been widely considered for implementation. Close alignment of human-computer interaction can advance optimal clinical performance with the use of information systems. However, a lack of introduction of the concept of alignment between users' perceptions and technological functionality has caused dissatisfaction, as shown in the existing literature. This study provides insight into the alignment between nurses' perceptions and how technological functionality affects their satisfaction with Nursing Information System use through a reductionist perspective of alignment. This cross-sectional study collected data from 531 registered nurses in Taiwan. The results indicated that "perceived usefulness in system quality alignment," "perceived usefulness in information quality alignment," "perceived ease of use in system quality alignment," "perceived ease of use in information quality alignment," and "perceived ease of use in service quality alignment" have significantly affected nurses' satisfaction with Nursing Information System use. However, "perceived usefulness in service quality alignment" had no significant effect on nurses' satisfaction. This study also provides some meaningful implications for theoretical and practical aspects of design.

Industry sector analysis, Mexico: Oil and gas field machinery and equipment. Export Trade Information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-04-01

The Industry Sector Analyses (I.S.A.) for oil and gas field machinery and equipment contains statistical and narrative information on projected market demand, end-users, receptivity of Mexican consumers to U.S. products, the competitive situation - Mexican production, total import market, U.S. market position, foreign competition, and competitive factors, and market access - Mexican tariffs, non-tariff barriers, standards, taxes and distribution channels. The I.S.A. provides the United States industry with meaningful information regarding the Mexican market for oil and gas field machinery and equipment

E-Learning Content Design Standards Based on Interactive Digital Concepts Maps in the Light of Meaningful and Constructivist Learning Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Afify, Mohammed Kamal

2018-01-01

The present study aims to identify standards of interactive digital concepts maps design and their measurement indicators as a tool to develop, organize and administer e-learning content in the light of Meaningful Learning Theory and Constructivist Learning Theory. To achieve the objective of the research, the author prepared a list of E-learning…

Identifying clinically meaningful symptom response cut-off values on the SANS in predominant negative symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Stephen Z; Leucht, Stefan

2013-04-01

The treatment and measurement of negative symptoms are currently at issue in schizophrenia, but the clinical meaning of symptom severity and change is unclear. To offer a clinically meaningful interpretation of severity and change scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Patients were intention-to-treat participants (n=383) in two double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials that compared amisulpride with placebo for the treatment of predominant negative symptoms. Equipercentile linking was used to examine extrapolation from (a) CGI-S to SANS severity ratings, and (b) CGI-I to SANS percentage change (n=383). Linking was conducted at baseline, 8-14 days, 28-30 days, and 56-60 days of the trials. Across visits, CGI-S ratings of 'not ill' linked to SANS scores of 0-13, and ranged to 'extreme' ratings that linked to SANS scores of 102-105. The relationship between the CGI-S and the SANS severity scores assumed a linear trend (1=0-13, 2=15-56, 3=37-61, 4=49-66, 5=63-75, 6=79-89, 7=102-105). Similarly the relationship between CGI-I ratings and SANS percentage change followed a linear trend. For instance, CGI-I ratings of 'very much improved' were linked to SANS percent changes of -90 to -67, 'much improved' to -50 to -42, and 'minimally improved' to -21 to -13. The current results uniquely contribute to the debate surrounding negative symptoms by providing clinical meaning to SANS severity and change scores and so offer direction regarding clinically meaningful response cut-off scores to guide treatment targets of predominant negative symptoms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geographic variation in health IT and health care outcomes: A snapshot before the meaningful use incentive program began.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Catherine G; Lammers, Eric

2015-03-01

The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which includes the Meaningful Use (MU) incentive program, was designed to increase the adoption of health information technology (IT) by physicians and hospitals. Policymakers hope that increased use of health IT to exchange health information will in turn enhance the quality and efficiency of health care delivery. In this study, we analyze the extent to which key outcomes vary based on the levels of health ITness among physicians and hospitals before the HITECH and MU programs led to increases in adoption and changes in use. Our findings provide an important baseline for a future evaluation of the impact of these programs on population-level outcomes. We constructed measures of the degree of hospital and physician adoption and use ("health ITness") at the level of the hospital referral region (HRR). We used data from the 2010 IT Supplement of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey of Hospitals to capture hospital health ITness and data from the 2010 survey of ambulatory health care sites produced by SK&A Information Services for the physician measure. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between market-level Medicare costs and use and three measures: (1) physician health ITness, (2) hospital health ITness, and (3) an overall measure of health ITness. In general, greater levels of physician health ITness are associated with decreasing costs and use. Many of these relationships lose statistical significance, however, when we control for population and market characteristics such as the average age and health status of Medicare beneficiaries, mean household income, and the HMO penetration rate. Several of the relationships also change according to the level of hospital health ITness. Our findings suggest that greater levels of physician health ITness are associated with decreasing costs and use for a number of services, including inpatient costs

Toward Soil Spatial Information Systems (SSIS) for global modeling and ecosystem management

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgardner, Marion F.

1995-01-01

The general objective is to conduct research to contribute toward the realization of a world soils and terrain (SOTER) database, which can stand alone or be incorporated into a more complete and comprehensive natural resources digital information system. The following specific objectives are focussed on: (1) to conduct research related to (a) translation and correlation of different soil classification systems to the SOTER database legend and (b) the inferfacing of disparate data sets in support of the SOTER Project; (2) to examine the potential use of AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data for delineating meaningful soils and terrain boundaries for small scale soil survey (range of scale: 1:250,000 to 1:1,000,000) and terrestrial ecosystem assessment and monitoring; and (3) to determine the potential use of high dimensional spectral data (220 reflectance bands with 10 m spatial resolution) for delineating meaningful soils boundaries and conditions for the purpose of detailed soil survey and land management.

The Effects of Public Concern for Information Privacy on the Adoption of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) by Healthcare Entities.

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaeilzadeh, Pouyan

2018-05-08

The implementation of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) by healthcare organizations may not achieve the desired outcomes as consumers may request that their health information remains unshared because of information privacy concerns. Drawing on the insights of concern for information privacy (CFIP) literature, this work extends the application of CFIP to the HIE domain. This study attempts to develop and test a model centered on the four dimensions of CFIP construct (collection, errors, unauthorized access, and secondary use) and their antecedents to predict consumers' opt-in behavioral intention toward HIE in the presence of the perceived health status' effects. We conducted an online survey in the United States using 826 samples. The results demonstrate that the perceived health information sensitivity and computer anxiety meaningfully contribute to information privacy concerns and CFIP construct significantly impedes consumers' opt-in decision to HIEs. Interestingly, contrary to our expectation, perceived poor health status considerably attenuates the negative effects exerted by CFIP on opt-in intention. The model proposed by this study can be used as a useful conceptual tool by both further studies and practitioners to examine the complex nature of patients' reactions to information privacy threats associated with the use of HIE technology in the healthcare industry.

Transactions of the twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Monteleone, S. [comp.

1997-09-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, October 20--22, 1997. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion of information exchanged during the course of the meeting, and are given in order of their presentation in each session.

Transactions of the twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteleone, S.

1997-09-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, October 20--22, 1997. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion of information exchanged during the course of the meeting, and are given in order of their presentation in each session

Unsupervised text mining methods for literature analysis: a case study for Thomas Pynchon's V.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christos Iraklis Tsatsoulis

2013-08-01

Full Text Available We investigate the use of unsupervised text mining methods for the analysis of prose literature works, using Thomas Pynchon's novel 'V'. as a case study. Our results suggest that such methods may be employed to reveal meaningful information regarding the novel’s structure. We report results using a wide variety of clustering algorithms, several distinct distance functions, and different visualization techniques. The application of a simple topic model is also demonstrated. We discuss the meaningfulness of our results along with the limitations of our approach, and we suggest some possible paths for further study.

Web-based audiovisual patient information system--a study of preoperative patient information in a neurosurgical department.

Science.gov (United States)

Gautschi, Oliver P; Stienen, Martin N; Hermann, Christel; Cadosch, Dieter; Fournier, Jean-Yves; Hildebrandt, Gerhard

2010-08-01

In the current climate of increasing awareness, patients are demanding more knowledge about forthcoming operations. The patient information accounts for a considerable part of the physician's daily clinical routine. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the information is understood by the patient after solely verbal elucidation. To optimise information delivery, different auxiliary materials are used. In a prospective study, 52 consecutive stationary patients, scheduled for an elective lumbar disc operation were asked to use a web-based audiovisual patient information system. A combination of pictures, text, tone and video about the planned surgical intervention is installed on a tablet personal computer presented the day before surgery. All patients were asked to complete a questionnaire. Eighty-four percent of all participants found that the audiovisual patient information system lead to a better understanding of the forthcoming operation. Eighty-two percent found that the information system was a very helpful preparation before the pre-surgical interview with the surgeon. Ninety percent of all participants considered it meaningful to provide this kind of preoperative education also to patients planned to undergo other surgical interventions. Eighty-four percent were altogether "very content" with the audiovisual patient information system and 86% would recommend the system to others. This new approach of patient information had a positive impact on patient education as is evident from high satisfaction scores. Because patient satisfaction with the informed consent process and understanding of the presented information improved substantially, the audiovisual patient information system clearly benefits both surgeons and patients.

Youth Perspectives on Meaningful Participation in Community Based Programs: A Qualitative Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sherer W. Royce

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Allowing the voiceless to have a voice is a tenet of empowerment. This paper highlights research that employed a participatory action research framework to gain a better understanding of young people’s perceptions about youth empowerment and acquire their perspective (voice about the meaningfulness of participation in out-of-school advocacy and volunteer program activities. Using Photovoice, the research provides a missing point of view in youth empowerment model development. Results indicate that the quality of a youth’s participation in a community-based program is determined by 1 youth expressing themselves without censorship, 2 occasions for youth to expand their social networks with youth and adults, and 3 adults observing and valuing youth contributions. These findings raise implications for community-based, youth empowerment programs including program philosophy, program procedures, youth empowerment content and activities, and adult leadership style. The findings may assist practitioners when designing youth empowering activities and researchers when operationalizing youth empowerment.

Some features of South-Ukrainian NPP information centre's interaction with mass media in post Chernobyl period

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiyashko, S.; Kurilchik, N.

1995-01-01

Using the above methods of interaction with the off-site media helped the South Ukraine NPP information centre achieve meaningful results in restoring the image of nuclear power ad making it more trustworthy. This is supported by a review of media Publications since 1989. Quantitative and qualitative modifications of the information flow to the media have yielded substantial changes of the structure of news releases about the South Ukraine NPP and nuclear power. Background information has increased from 1. 5 to 50 percent. Negative information is no longer dominating, and the Chernobyl topic is counterbalanced with diverse NucNet materials about nuclear from throughout the world. (author)

Climate Velocity Can Inform Conservation in a Warming World.

Science.gov (United States)

Brito-Morales, Isaac; García Molinos, Jorge; Schoeman, David S; Burrows, Michael T; Poloczanska, Elvira S; Brown, Christopher J; Ferrier, Simon; Harwood, Tom D; Klein, Carissa J; McDonald-Madden, Eve; Moore, Pippa J; Pandolfi, John M; Watson, James E M; Wenger, Amelia S; Richardson, Anthony J

2018-06-01

Climate change is shifting the ranges of species. Simple predictive metrics of range shifts such as climate velocity, that do not require extensive knowledge or data on individual species, could help to guide conservation. We review research on climate velocity, describing the theory underpinning the concept and its assumptions. We highlight how climate velocity has already been applied in conservation-related research, including climate residence time, climate refugia, endemism, historic and projected range shifts, exposure to climate change, and climate connectivity. Finally, we discuss ways to enhance the use of climate velocity in conservation through tailoring it to be more biologically meaningful, informing design of protected areas, conserving ocean biodiversity in 3D, and informing conservation actions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information Overload in Group Communication: From Conversation to Cacophony in the Twitch Chat

OpenAIRE

Nematzadeh, Azadeh; Ciampaglia, Giovanni Luca; Ahn, Yong-Yeol; Flammini, Alessandro

2016-01-01

Online communication channels, especially social web platforms, are rapidly replacing traditional ones. Online platforms allow users to overcome physical barriers, enabling worldwide participation. However, the power of online communication bears an important negative consequence --- we are exposed to too much information to process. Too many participants, for example, can turn online public spaces into noisy, overcrowded fora where no meaningful conversation can be held. Here we analyze a la...

Chemical Information revealed by Mössbauer spectroscopy and DFT calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakashima, Satoru, E-mail: snaka@hiroshima-u.ac.jp [Hiroshima University, Natural Science Center for Basic Research and Development (Japan)

2017-11-15

Mixed-valence state of binuclear metallocene derivatives and spin-crossover (SCO) phenomena of the assembled Fe(II) complexes have been studied by using Mössbauer spectroscopy. The understanding of the results obtained by Mössbauer spectra is well supported by means of X-ray structural analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Benchmark study of relativisitic DFT calculation by using Mössbauer isomer shifts of Eu, Np complexes reveals the validity of the calculation. Such study sheds light on the bonding character of 4f and 5f electron. These results are reviewed.

Can business impact analysis play a meaningful role in planning a cost-saving programme?

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Trevor

2011-02-01

Business continuity as it exists today would appear to have reached something of a plateau. Considering the history of the discipline, and how it has developed from 'simple' disaster recovery to its present position, it is clear that the trend has been to move from a reactive discipline to a proactive process. Following on from this broadly-accepted point, it is perhaps time to consider how the discipline may develop and what wider and deeper contribution the business continuity profession may make to add further value for our clients. In the present climate, it seems appropriate to consider how (and if) business continuity practice can make a meaningful contribution to a cost saving exercise. The public and private sectors are considered and the differences are compared.

Implementing the legal criteria for meaningful consent in the concept of mobile advertising

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cleff, Evelyne Beatrix

2007-01-01

Advancements of the wired Internet and mobile telecommunication networks offer companies new advertising opportunities but this development creates a need to consider acceptance and usability issues in order to ensure permission-based advertising. According to the law of the European Union (EU......), only permission-based mobile advertising is allowed. In order to obtain consent from the mobile user, the advertiser is obliged to make an effective disclosure. However, these rules are not specific to this new context. It will be a great challenge for advertisers to translate the requirements...... into actual business practices in order to obtain meaningful consent from the mobile user. This article focuses on the evaluation of legal problems related to these issues in order to find adequate technical solutions concerning m-advertising. It is assumed that a technological design, which is in line...

The need to incorporate health information technology into physicians' education and professional development.

Science.gov (United States)

Graham-Jones, Pierce; Jain, Sachin H; Friedman, Charles P; Marcotte, Leah; Blumenthal, David

2012-03-01

Nationwide, as physicians and health care systems adopt electronic health records, health information technology is becoming integral to the practice of medicine. But current medical education and professional development curricula do not systematically prepare physicians to use electronic health records and the data these systems collect. We detail how training in meaningful use of electronic health records could be incorporated into physician training, from medical school, through licensure and board certification, to continuing medical education and the maintenance of licensure and board certification. We identify six near-term opportunities for professional organizations to accelerate the integration of health information technology into their requirements.

The OnyCOE-t™ questionnaire: responsiveness and clinical meaningfulness of a patient-reported outcomes questionnaire for toenail onychomycosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kianifard Farid

2006-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This research was conducted to confirm the validity and reliability and to assess the responsiveness and clinical meaningfulness of the OnyCOE-t™, a questionnaire specifically designed to measure patient-reported outcomes (PRO associated with toenail onychomycosis. Methods 504 patients with toenail onychomycosis randomized to receive 12 weeks of terbinafine 250 mg/day with or without target toenail debridement in the IRON-CLAD® trial completed the OnyCOE-t™ at baseline, weeks 6, 12, 24, and 48. The OnyCOE-t™ is composed of 6 multi-item scales and 1 single-item scale. These include a 7-item Toenail Symptom assessment, which comprises both Symptom Frequency and Symptom Bothersomeness scales; an 8-item Appearance Problems scale; a 7-item Physical Activities Problems scale; a 1-item Overall Problem scale; a 7-item Stigma scale; and a 3-item Treatment Satisfaction scale. In total, 33 toenail onychomycosis-specific items are included in the OnyCOE-t™. Clinical data, in particular the percent clearing of mycotic involvement in the target toenail, and OnyCOE-t™ responses were used to evaluate the questionnaire's reliability, validity, responsiveness, and the minimally clinical important difference (MCID. Results The OnyCOE-t™ was shown to be reliable and valid. Construct validity and known groups validity were acceptable. Internal consistency reliability of multi-item scales was demonstrated by Cronbach's alpha > .84. Responsiveness was good, with the Treatment Satisfaction, Symptom Frequency, Overall Problem, and Appearance Problem scales demonstrating the most responsiveness (Guyatt's statistic of 1.72, 1.31, 1.13, and 1.11, respectively. MCID was evaluated for three different clinical measures, and indicated that approximately an 8.5-point change (on a 0 to 100 scale was clinically meaningful based on a 25% improvement in target nail clearing. Conclusion The OnyCOE-t™ questionnaire is a unique, toenail-specific PRO

SunDial: embodied informal science education using GPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan K. Halpern

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Science centers serve a number of goals for visitors, ideally providing experiences that are educational, social, and meaningful. This paper describes SunDial, a handheld application developed for families to use at a science center. Inspired by the idea of geocaching, the high-tech treasure hunting game that utilizes GPS technologies, SunDial asks families to use a single handheld device to locate and participate in a series of learning modules around the museum. Observations of 10 families suggest that it supports rich informal science education experiences, provides insights about families’ interaction patterns around and with single handheld devices, and demonstrates the value of navigation as an educational experience. Further, using recently released guidelines for Informal Science Education (ISE experiences to inform the design process proved valuable, tying features of the technology to educational and social goals, and giving evidence that explicit reference to these guidelines can improve ISE experiences and technologies.

Meaningful Learning in the Permanent Exhibition Hall of the Natural Science Museum of Universidade de Caxias do Sul

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Fabiana Setti Zulian

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Museum of Natural Sciences, University of Caxias do Sul, the space of non-formal education, has great potential for the development of activities related to environmental education. In the permanent exhibition room are provided information on the concept of ecosystems, flora and fauna of regional ecosystems, the interaction between them and the environmental impacts that suffer be performed. In tutoring questions occur and students are to report give opportunity knowledge they have acquired in school and in everyday experiences, adding new insights to these, thus making meaningful learning. Aiming to conserve natural resources and enhance ecosystems of Rio Grande do Sul, with the familiar design to preserve: the ecosystems of the Rio Grande do Sul - The Natural Science Museum goes to School, in partnership with the Municipal Primary School Jardelino Ramos, we elaborated a different methodology in addition to visitation. After explanations of ecosystems, various activities, including game of questions and answers on ecosystems, bingo and interactive storytelling history were under taken in accordance with the age range of students. Participated in these activities about 450 students of the partner school. The result was significant, it was noted that in later activities in school the occurrence of transferring the knowledge acquired in visits to the Natural Science Museum, through the reports and actions of students.

Pediatric aspects of inpatient health information technology systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, Christoph U

2015-03-01

In the past 3 years, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act accelerated the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) with providers and hospitals, who can claim incentive monies related to meaningful use. Despite the increase in adoption of commercial EHRs in pediatric settings, there has been little support for EHR tools and functionalities that promote pediatric quality improvement and patient safety, and children remain at higher risk than adults for medical errors in inpatient environments. Health information technology (HIT) tailored to the needs of pediatric health care providers can improve care by reducing the likelihood of errors through information assurance and minimizing the harm that results from errors. This technical report outlines pediatric-specific concepts, child health needs and their data elements, and required functionalities in inpatient clinical information systems that may be missing in adult-oriented HIT systems with negative consequences for pediatric inpatient care. It is imperative that inpatient (and outpatient) HIT systems be adapted to improve their ability to properly support safe health care delivery for children. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Sensitivity of Claims-Based Algorithms to Ascertain Smoking Status More Than Doubled with Meaningful Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Jinhai; Yang, Ming; Tina Shih, Ya-Chen

2018-03-01

The "meaningful use of certified electronic health record" policy requires eligible professionals to record smoking status for more than 50% of all individuals aged 13 years or older in 2011 to 2012. To explore whether the coding to document smoking behavior has increased over time and to assess the accuracy of smoking-related diagnosis and procedure codes in identifying previous and current smokers. We conducted an observational study with 5,423,880 enrollees from the year 2009 to 2014 in the Truven Health Analytics database. Temporal trends of smoking coding, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were measured. The rate of coding of smoking behavior improved significantly by the end of the study period. The proportion of patients in the claims data recorded as current smokers increased 2.3-fold and the proportion of patients recorded as previous smokers increased 4-fold during the 6-year period. The sensitivity of each International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code was generally less than 10%. The diagnosis code of tobacco use disorder (305.1X) was the most sensitive code (9.3%) for identifying smokers. The specificities of these codes and the Current Procedural Terminology codes were all more than 98%. A large improvement in the coding of current and previous smoking behavior has occurred since the inception of the meaningful use policy. Nevertheless, the use of diagnosis and procedure codes to identify smoking behavior in administrative data is still unreliable. This suggests that quality improvements toward medical coding on smoking behavior are needed to enhance the capability of claims data for smoking-related outcomes research. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic information processing states revealed through neurocognitive models of object semantics

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Alex

2015-01-01

Recognising objects relies on highly dynamic, interactive brain networks to process multiple aspects of object information. To fully understand how different forms of information about objects are represented and processed in the brain requires a neurocognitive account of visual object recognition that combines a detailed cognitive model of semantic knowledge with a neurobiological model of visual object processing. Here we ask how specific cognitive factors are instantiated in our mental processes and how they dynamically evolve over time. We suggest that coarse semantic information, based on generic shared semantic knowledge, is rapidly extracted from visual inputs and is sufficient to drive rapid category decisions. Subsequent recurrent neural activity between the anterior temporal lobe and posterior fusiform supports the formation of object-specific semantic representations – a conjunctive process primarily driven by the perirhinal cortex. These object-specific representations require the integration of shared and distinguishing object properties and support the unique recognition of objects. We conclude that a valuable way of understanding the cognitive activity of the brain is though testing the relationship between specific cognitive measures and dynamic neural activity. This kind of approach allows us to move towards uncovering the information processing states of the brain and how they evolve over time. PMID:25745632

Gifts in Health Crisis: The Use of Health Coaching to Create Opportunity for a More Meaningful Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Nutt, Theresa

2018-02-01

The purpose of this article is to explore health coaching as an effective intervention in times of health crisis for patients, families, and health-care staff. The pause that a health crisis creates in the activities of normal life allows for deeper questions about a person's life to emerge. Health coaching provides a safe space for clients to engage with these life questions while facilitating a connection with their sense of personal empowerment and innate inner wisdom. The result is a more meaningful and resilient life despite the outcome of the health crisis.

MEANINGFUL VARIABILITY: A SOCIOLINGUISTICALLY-GROUNDED APPROACH TO VARIATION IN OPTIMALITY THEORY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Antonio Cutillas Espinosa

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Most approaches to variability in Optimality Theory have attempted to make variation possible within the OT framework, i.e. to reformulate constraints and rankings to accommodate variable and gradient linguistic facts. Sociolinguists have attempted to apply these theoretical advances to the study of language variation, with an emphasis on language-interna1 variables (Auger 2001, Cardoso 2001. Little attention has been paid to the array of externa1 factors that influence the patterning of variation. In this paper, we argue that some variation pattems-specially those that are socially meaningful- are actually the result of a three-grarnmar system. G, is the standard grammar, which has to be available to the speaker to obtain these variation patterns. G; is the vernacular grammar, which the speaker is likely to have acquired in his local community. Finally, G, is an intergrammar, which is used by the speaker as his 'default' constraint set. G is a continuous ranking (Boersma & Hayes 2001 and domination relations are consciously altered by the speakers to shape the appropriate and variable linguistic output. We illustrate this model with analyses of English and Spanish.

Knowledge structure representation and automated updates in intelligent information management systems

Science.gov (United States)

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

1990-01-01

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

Effects of prior information on decoding degraded speech: an fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Clos, Mareike; Langner, Robert; Meyer, Martin; Oechslin, Mathias S; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B

2014-01-01

Expectations and prior knowledge are thought to support the perceptual analysis of incoming sensory stimuli, as proposed by the predictive-coding framework. The current fMRI study investigated the effect of prior information on brain activity during the decoding of degraded speech stimuli. When prior information enabled the comprehension of the degraded sentences, the left middle temporal gyrus and the left angular gyrus were activated, highlighting a role of these areas in meaning extraction. In contrast, the activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (area 44/45) appeared to reflect the search for meaningful information in degraded speech material that could not be decoded because of mismatches with the prior information. Our results show that degraded sentences evoke instantaneously different percepts and activation patterns depending on the type of prior information, in line with prediction-based accounts of perception. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Clinical meaningfulness of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale change in relation to goal attainment in patients on cholinesterase inhibitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Rockwood, Kenneth; Howlett, Susan E; Hoffman, Deborah; Schindler, Rachel; Mitnitski, Arnold

2017-10-01

The clinical meaningfulness of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) subscale change is disputed. We compared 2- to 4-point ADAS-Cog changes with changes in Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and everyday function across initial ADAS-Cog scores and treatment responses. This exploratory analysis evaluated mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease patients treated with donepezil (12 months) or galantamine (8 months). Clinical meaningfulness was defined as concomitant ADAS-Cog and GAS changes of ±3 points and/or functional improvement. Patients with ≥3-point ADAS-Cog improvement significantly improved on GAS but not on standard tests of everyday function. ADAS-Cog "no change" (≤±3 points) was seen with mean GAS improvement. Initial ADAS-Cog improvement made endpoint improvement (ADAS-Cog 3 points and GAS 1 point) more likely (odds ratio = 6.9; 95% confidence interval = 2.5-19.5). In contrast, initial deterioration made endpoint improvement unlikely (0.33; 0.14-0.64). ADAS-Cog improvement and no change were each associated with GAS improvement. Initial ADAS-Cog worsening was unlikely to result in later improvement. ISRCTN26167328. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The significance of meaningful and enjoyable activities for nursing home resident's experiences of dignity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Slettebø, Åshild; Saeteren, Berit; Caspari, Synnøve

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Living in a nursing home may be challenging to the residents' experience of dignity. Residents' perception of how their dignity is respected in everyday care is important. AIM: To examine how nursing home residents experience dignity through the provision of activities that foster...... meaning and joy in their daily life. METHOD: A qualitative design was used and 28 individual semistructured interviews conducted with nursing home residents from six nursing homes in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Independent ethical committees in all...... participating countries granted their approval for the study. FINDINGS: The participants highlight two dimensions of the activities that foster experiences of dignity in nursing homes in Scandinavia. These two categories were (i) fostering dignity through meaningful participation and (ii) fostering dignity...

Transactions of the Twenty-First Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteleone, S.

1993-10-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 21st Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 25--27, 1993. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion and information exchange during the course of the meeting and are given in the order of their presentation in each session

Transactions of the Twenty-First Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Monteleone, S. [comp.

1993-10-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 21st Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 25--27, 1993. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion and information exchange during the course of the meeting and are given in the order of their presentation in each session.

Transactions of the twenty-second water reactor safety information meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-10-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 22nd Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 24--26, 1994. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion and information exchange during the course of the meeting and are given in the order of their presentation in each session. Individual papers have been cataloged separately

Modeling and Development of Medical Information System Based on Support Vector Machine in Web Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuanfu Hu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at improving and utilizing the ontology information in ontology design of FOAF and vCard in real time, and the application of open relational data technology, SPARQL query information results and sending RDF/JSON data format. In addition, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of patient information extraction from the medical information website. This article includes two web search engines that are used to inform patients about medical care information. The experiment uses Drupal as the main software tool, and the Drupal RDF extension module provides some meaningful mapping. In the evaluation part, the structure of the experimental test platform is established and the system function test is carried out. The evaluation results include consumers or patients retrieving the latest doctor information and comparing search capabilities and techniques, between our system and existing systems.

Health information technology and physicians' perceptions of healthcare quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Hai; Peifer, Karen L; Chen, Jie; Rizzo, John A

2011-03-01

To investigate the relationship between the use of health information technology (HIT) and physician perceptions of providing high-quality care and to determine whether this relationship has changed over time. We used 2 waves of longitudinal data from the Community Tracking Study Physician Surveys, 2000-2001 and 2004-2005. Three measures of HIT were examined: a binary variable measuring the use of at least 1 type of HIT, a continuous variable measuring the total number of HIT types, and a binary variable measuring use of all 5 HIT types related to "meaningful use" of HIT as defined by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Three multivariate models were estimated to study the effect of each HIT measure on physicians' perception of providing high-quality care. Individual fixed-effects estimation also was used to control for individual time-invariant factors. Using at least 1 type of HIT significantly enhanced physicians' perception of providing high-quality care in 2000-2001, but not in 2004-2005. The marginal effect of adding 1 extra HIT type was positive and statistically significant in both periods. The association between using all 5 HIT types related to meaningful use and perceived quality was statistically significant in 2000-2001, but not in 2004-2005. Health information technology has become a multifunctional system and appears to have enhanced physicians' perception of providing high-quality care. Physicians' perceptions of medical care quality improved as the number of HIT types used increased. This study supports more extensive use of HIT in physician practices.

Transactions of the nineteenth water reactor safety information meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, A.J.

1991-10-01

This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 19th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, October 28--30, 1991. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, USNRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the nuclear industry, and from the governments and industry in Europe and Japan are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion and information exchange during the course of the meeting, and are given in the order of their presentation in each session. The individual summaries have been cataloged separately

13thInternational Conference on Computer and Information Science

CERN Document Server

Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing 2012

2013-01-01

The purpose of the 13th  International Conference on Computer and Information Science (SNPD 2012) held on August 8-10, 2012 in Kyoto, Japan was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science, and to share ideas and information in a meaningful way.  Our conference officers selected the best 17 papers from those papers accepted for presentation at the conference in order to publish them in this volume.  The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the program committee, and underwent further rounds of rigorous review.   The  conference organizers selected 17 outstanding papers from SNPD 2012, all of which you will find in this volume of Springer’s Studies in Computational Intelligence.

Engaging Scientists in Meaningful E/PO: How the NASA SMD E/PO Community Addresses Informal Educators' Preferences for PD and Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolone, Lindsay; Nelson, Andi; Smith, Denise A.; NASA SMD Astrophysics E/PO Community

2015-01-01

The NASA Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum (SEPOF) coordinates the work of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Astrophysics EPO projects. These teams work together to capitalize on the cutting-edge discoveries of NASA Astrophysics missions to support educators in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and to enable youth to engage in doing STEM inside and outside of school. The Astrophysics Forum assists scientists and educators with becoming involved in SMD E/PO, which is uniquely poised to foster collaboration between scientists with content expertise and educators with pedagogy expertise, and makes SMD E/PO resources and expertise accessible to the science and education communities. Informal educators participated in a recent nationally-distributed survey from the NASA SMD SEPOF Informal Education Working Group. The results show the preferences of staff from museums, parks, public libraries, community/afterschool centers, and others with regard to professional development and material resources. The results of the survey will be presented during this session.In addition, we present opportunities for the astronomy community to participate in collaborations supporting the NASA SMD efforts in K-12 Formal Education, Informal Science Education, and Outreach. These efforts focus on enhancing instruction, as well as youth and public engagement, in STEM via use of research-based best practices, collaborations with libraries, partnerships with local and national organizations, and remote engagement of audiences. The Forums' efforts for the Formal, Informal Science Education and Outreach communities include a literature review, appraisal of informal educators' needs, coordination of audience-based NASA resources and opportunities, professional development, plus support with the Next Generation Science Standards. Learn how to join in our collaborative efforts to support the K-12 Formal Education community and to reach the informal

A contextual image segmentation system using a priori information for automatic data classification in nuclear physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benkirane, A.; Auger, G.; Chbihi, A.; Bloyet, D.; Plagnol, E.

1994-01-01

This paper presents an original approach to solve an automatic data classification problem by means of image processing techniques. The classification is achieved using image segmentation techniques for extracting the meaningful classes. Two types of information are merged for this purpose: the information contained in experimental images and a priori information derived from underlying physics (and adapted to image segmentation problem). This data fusion is widely used at different stages of the segmentation process. This approach yields interesting results in terms of segmentation performances, even in very noisy cases. Satisfactory classification results are obtained in cases where more ''classical'' automatic data classification methods fail. (authors). 25 refs., 14 figs., 1 append

A contextual image segmentation system using a priori information for automatic data classification in nuclear physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benkirane, A; Auger, G; Chbihi, A [Grand Accelerateur National d` Ions Lourds (GANIL), 14 - Caen (France); Bloyet, D [Caen Univ., 14 (France); Plagnol, E [Paris-11 Univ., 91 - Orsay (France). Inst. de Physique Nucleaire

1994-12-31

This paper presents an original approach to solve an automatic data classification problem by means of image processing techniques. The classification is achieved using image segmentation techniques for extracting the meaningful classes. Two types of information are merged for this purpose: the information contained in experimental images and a priori information derived from underlying physics (and adapted to image segmentation problem). This data fusion is widely used at different stages of the segmentation process. This approach yields interesting results in terms of segmentation performances, even in very noisy cases. Satisfactory classification results are obtained in cases where more ``classical`` automatic data classification methods fail. (authors). 25 refs., 14 figs., 1 append.

Stories of Informal Mentorship: Recognizing the Voices of Mentees in Academic Libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colleen MacKinnon

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Based on the 2014 OLA Super Conference session “Mentorship in Academic Libraries: A Universe of Possibilities,” this article explores the benefits of informal mentorship in its various forms and how librarians are embracing a new way of thinking about mentorship both individually and organizationally. The lived experiences of two professional academic librarians are shared as they argue that informal mentorship offers the opportunity to co-create a meaningful mentorship experience by recognizing the importance of the mentee’s voice. This paper will discuss the value of informal mentorship and how, when certain elements are present within it, this model can allow us to reimagine mentorship in academic libraries. Concepts such as “accidental” mentorship, “purposeful” mentorship, mentorship “network,” and “peer” mentorship are discussed.

Fostering Self-Reflection and Meaningful Learning: Earth Science Professional Development for Middle School Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Monet, Julie A.; Etkina, Eugenia

2008-10-01

This paper describes the analysis of teachers’ journal reflections during an inquiry-based professional development program. As a part of their learning experience, participants reflected on what they learned and how they learned. Progress of subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge was assessed though surveys and pre- and posttests. We found that teachers have difficulties reflecting on their learning and posing meaningful questions. The teachers who could describe how they reasoned from evidence to understand a concept had the highest learning gains. In contrast those teachers who seldom or never described learning a concept by reasoning from evidence showed the smallest learning gains. This analysis suggests that learning to reflect on one’s learning should be an integral part of teachers’ professional development experiences.

Implementing the legal criteria of meaningful consent in the concept of mobile advertising

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cleff, Evelyne Beatrix

2006-01-01

Advancements of the wired Internet and mobile telecommunication networks offer companies new advertising opportunities but this development also creates a need to consider acceptance and usability issues in order to ensure permission-based advertising. According to the law of the European Union (EU......), only permission-based mobile advertising is allowed. In order to obtain consent from the mobile user, the advertiser is obliged to make an effective disclosure. However, these rules are not specific to this new context. It will be a great challenge for advertisers to translate the requirements...... into actual business practices in order to obtain meaningful consent from the mobile user. This article focuses on the evaluation of legal problems related to these issues in order to find adequate technical solutions concerning m-advertising. It is assumed that a technological design, which is in line...

Categorization of Information is the First Step to Enterprise Information Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Koptenkov

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article reveals the necessity and importance of information categorizing in the area of information security systems development. This paper describes an information categorizing method based on the assessment of damages in a breach of confidentiality, integrity and availability of processed information. This method allows us to classify information on the degree of its value to the organization and most effectively implement an access control system.

Revealing topological organization of human brain functional networks with resting-state functional near infrared spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Haijing; Wang, Jinhui; Zhao, Tengda; Shu, Ni; He, Yong

2012-01-01

The human brain is a highly complex system that can be represented as a structurally interconnected and functionally synchronized network, which assures both the segregation and integration of information processing. Recent studies have demonstrated that a variety of neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion MRI and electroencephalography/magnetoencephalography can be employed to explore the topological organization of human brain networks. However, little is known about whether functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a relatively new optical imaging technology, can be used to map functional connectome of the human brain and reveal meaningful and reproducible topological characteristics. We utilized resting-state fNIRS (R-fNIRS) to investigate the topological organization of human brain functional networks in 15 healthy adults. Brain networks were constructed by thresholding the temporal correlation matrices of 46 channels and analyzed using graph-theory approaches. We found that the functional brain network derived from R-fNIRS data had efficient small-world properties, significant hierarchical modular structure and highly connected hubs. These results were highly reproducible both across participants and over time and were consistent with previous findings based on other functional imaging techniques. Our results confirmed the feasibility and validity of using graph-theory approaches in conjunction with optical imaging techniques to explore the topological organization of human brain networks. These results may expand a methodological framework for utilizing fNIRS to study functional network changes that occur in association with development, aging and neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The effect of informal communication on the leadership styles in governmental organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Sehhat

2012-10-01

Full Text Available These days, it is not possible to accomplish tasks without having productive relationships with the rest of the world. Although there are some evidences, which indicate informal organizations normally face some limitations on their return but there are also some studies suggesting that informal organizations are the best ways for making significant changes. Recently, many people have suggested that informal organizations provide good infrastructures for organization's workflow many conflict of interests could be solved using informal communications. News can be distributed in organizations through informal units much easier and it is easier to handle them. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between informal communications with leadership style in some of governmental organizations located in free islands of Chabahar, in south east part of Iran. The proposed model of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among many people who are acting as managers in those firms. The preliminary results indicate that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between leadership style and informal relationships.

Preoperative information needs of children undergoing tonsillectomy.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Buckley, Aoife

2012-02-01

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify the information needs of children undergoing tonsillectomy with reference to content of information, method of delivery, information providers and timing of information provision. BACKGROUND: Tonsillectomy can be anxiety provoking for children and preoperative preparation programmes are long recognised to reduce anxiety. However, few have been designed from the perspectives of children and to date little is known about how best to prepare children in terms of what to tell them, how to convey information to them, who can best provide information and what is the best timing for information provision. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive study. METHOD: Data were collected from nine children (aged 6-9) using interviews supported by a write and draw technique. Data were coded and categorised into themes reflecting content, method, providers and timing of information. RESULTS: Children openly communicated their information needs especially on what to tell them to expect when facing a tonsillectomy. Their principal concerns were about operation procedures, experiencing \\'soreness\\' and discomfort postoperatively and parental presence. Mothers were viewed as best situated to provide them with information. Children were uncertain about what method of information and timing would be most helpful to them. CONCLUSION: Preoperative educational interventions need to take account of children\\'s information needs so that they are prepared for surgery in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them. Future research is needed in this area. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Practical steps towards informing children about having a tonsillectomy include asking them what they need to know and addressing their queries accordingly. Child-centred information leaflets using a question and answer format could also be helpful to children.

Belief system, meaningfulness, and psychopathology associated with suicidality among Chinese college students: a cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jiubo; Yang, Xueling; Xiao, Rong; Zhang, Xiaoyuan; Aguilera, Diane; Zhao, Jingbo

2012-08-17

Research suggests that Chinese religious believers are more likely to commit suicide than those identifying as non-religious among rural young adults, contrary to findings in Western countries. However, one cannot conclude that religiosity is associated with elevated suicide risk without examining the effect of political and religious beliefs in a generally atheist country like China where political belief plays a dominant role in the belief system of young adults. The present study investigated the effects of political and religious belief on suicidality with meaningfulness and psychopathology as potential mediators in a large representative sample of Chinese college students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1390 first-year college students randomly sampled from 10 colleges and universities in mainland China. A total of 1168 respondents (84.0%) provided complete data on all variables. Lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt were 45.1%, 6.8%, and 1.9% respectively, with one-year suicidal ideation showing at 19.3%. Female gender was associated with elevated risk of suicidality. Political belief but not religious belief was associated with decreased suicide risk. A significant interactive effect of political belief and religious belief was found, indicating that for political believers, being religious was associated with decreased suicide risk; for non-political believers, being religious was associated with increased suicide risk. Multi-group structural equation modeling showed that meaningfulness completely mediated and psychopathology partially mediated the effect of belief system on suicidality. Gender differences were found in pathways of political belief by religious beliefs to suicidality and political belief to psychopathology. The coefficients were significant for males but not for females. In less religious societies, political belief may serve as a means of integration as does religious affiliation in religious societies

Context-dependent memory in a meaningful environment for medical education: in the classroom and at the bedside.

Science.gov (United States)

Koens, Franciska; Ten Cate, Olle Th J; Custers, Eugène J F M

2003-01-01

Learning-in-context is a much-discussed topic in medical education. Information is said to be better recalled when the learning environment resembles the later retrieval environment. Godden and Baddeley (1975) showed that divers recalled words better when the recall condition matched the original learning environment, i.e. underwater or on land. Though it is unclear whether the findings can be generalized for medical education, medical educators regularly refer to them. We replicated the Godden and Baddeley study in ecologically more valid conditions for medical education and extended it with meaningful subject matter (namely, a patient case description). Sixty-three clerks were randomized over four conditions, contrasting a clinical (bedside) with an educational (classroom) environment as both learning and recall conditions. Students were asked to recall a list of words and a patient case in the same environment or in the opposite environment as where they learned it. We failed to find a significant same-context advantage for free recall of the list of words and the patient case propositions. However, there does appear to be a slight tendency towards better recall of the case description when learning took place in the clinical environment. In medical education, the context, if conceived as physical surroundings, does not seem to contribute to a same-context advantage. One should be cautious in generalizing the findings of Godden and Baddeley. However, different forms of 'context' other than the physical one used in the Godden and Baddeley study may well enhance learning effects in medical education.

Construction of meaningful identities in the context of rheumatoid arthritis, motherhood and paid work: A meta-ethnography.

Science.gov (United States)

Feddersen, Helle; Kristiansen, Tine Mechlenborg; Andersen, Pernille Tanggaard; Hørslev-Petersen, Kim; Primdahl, Jette

2017-12-01

To derive new conceptual understanding about how women with rheumatoid arthritis manage their illness, motherhood and paid work, based on a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge, gained from qualitative studies. Rheumatoid arthritis affects several social aspects of life; however, little is known about how women with rheumatoid arthritis simultaneously manage their illness, motherhood and paid work. Qualitative metasynthesis. A qualitative metasynthesis informed by Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnography was carried out, based on studies identified by a systematic search in nine databases. Six studies were included. Social interactions in the performance of three interdependent subidentities emerged as an overarching category, with three subcategories: subidentities associated with (1) paid work, (2) motherhood and (3) rheumatoid arthritis. Pressure in managing one of the subidentities could restrict the fulfilment of the others. The subidentities were interpreted as being flexible, situational, contextual and competing. The women strove to construct meaningful subidentities by taking into account feedback obtained in social interactions. The subidentities associated with paid work and motherhood are competing subidentities. Paid work is given the highest priority, followed by motherhood and illness is the least attractive subidentity. Because of the fluctuating nature of the illness, the women constantly reconstruct the three interdependent subidentities. When healthcare professionals meet a woman with rheumatoid arthritis, they should consider that she might not accept the subidentity as an ill person. Health professionals should not expect that women will prioritise their illness in their everyday life. This could be included in clinical conversation with the women. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hidden profiles and concealed information: strategic information sharing and use in group decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Toma, Claudia; Butera, Fabrizio

2009-06-01

Two experiments investigated the differential impact of cooperation and competition on strategic information sharing and use in a three-person group decision-making task. Information was distributed in order to create a hidden profile so that disconfirmation of group members' initial preferences was required to solve the task. Experiment 1 revealed that competition, compared to cooperation, led group members to withhold unshared information, a difference that was not significant for shared information. In competition, compared to cooperation, group members were also more reluctant to disconfirm their initial preferences. Decision quality was lower in competition than in cooperation, this effect being mediated by disconfirmation use and not by information sharing. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and revealed the role of mistrust in predicting strategic information sharing and use in competition. These results support a motivated information processing approach of group decision making.

Personal Information Management for Nurses Returning to School.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, Katherine

2015-12-01

Registered nurses with a diploma or an associate's degree are encouraged to return to school to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Until they return to school, many RNs have little need to regularly write, store, and retrieve work-related papers, but they are expected to complete the majority of assignments using a computer when in the student role. Personal information management (PIM) is a system of organizing and managing electronic information that will reduce computer clutter, while enhancing time use, task management, and productivity. This article introduces three PIM strategies for managing school work. Nesting is the creation of a system of folders to form a hierarchy for storing and retrieving electronic documents. Each folder, subfolder, and document must be given a meaningful unique name. Numbering is used to create different versions of the same paper, while preserving the original document. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Label-Informed Non-negative Matrix Factorization with Manifold Regularization for Discriminative Subnetwork Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Takanori; Tunc, Birkan; Parker, Drew; Kim, Junghoon; Verma, Ragini

2016-10-01

In this paper, we present a novel method for obtaining a low dimensional representation of a complex brain network that: (1) can be interpreted in a neurobiologically meaningful way, (2) emphasizes group differences by accounting for label information, and (3) captures the variation in disease subtypes/severity by respecting the intrinsic manifold structure underlying the data. Our method is a supervised variant of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), and achieves dimensionality reduction by extracting an orthogonal set of subnetworks that are interpretable, reconstructive of the original data, and also discriminative at the group level. In addition, the method includes a manifold regularizer that encourages the low dimensional representations to be smooth with respect to the intrinsic geometry of the data, allowing subjects with similar disease-severity to share similar network representations. While the method is generalizable to other types of non-negative network data, in this work we have used structural connectomes (SCs) derived from diffusion data to identify the cortical/subcortical connections that have been disrupted in abnormal neurological state. Experiments on a traumatic brain injury (TBI) dataset demonstrate that our method can identify subnetworks that can reliably classify TBI from controls and also reveal insightful connectivity patterns that may be indicative of a biomarker.

Value of Information Analysis Applied to the Economic Evaluation of Interventions Aimed at Reducing Juvenile Delinquency: An Illustration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hester V Eeren

Full Text Available To investigate whether a value of information analysis, commonly applied in health care evaluations, is feasible and meaningful in the field of crime prevention.Interventions aimed at reducing juvenile delinquency are increasingly being evaluated according to their cost-effectiveness. Results of cost-effectiveness models are subject to uncertainty in their cost and effect estimates. Further research can reduce that parameter uncertainty. The value of such further research can be estimated using a value of information analysis, as illustrated in the current study. We built upon an earlier published cost-effectiveness model that demonstrated the comparison of two interventions aimed at reducing juvenile delinquency. Outcomes were presented as costs per criminal activity free year.At a societal willingness-to-pay of €71,700 per criminal activity free year, further research to eliminate parameter uncertainty was valued at €176 million. Therefore, in this illustrative analysis, the value of information analysis determined that society should be willing to spend a maximum of €176 million in reducing decision uncertainty in the cost-effectiveness of the two interventions. Moreover, the results suggest that reducing uncertainty in some specific model parameters might be more valuable than in others.Using a value of information framework to assess the value of conducting further research in the field of crime prevention proved to be feasible. The results were meaningful and can be interpreted according to health care evaluation studies. This analysis can be helpful in justifying additional research funds to further inform the reimbursement decision in regard to interventions for juvenile delinquents.

An Interactive System of Computer Generated Graphic Displays for Motivating Meaningful Learning of Matrix Operations and Concepts of Matrix Algebra

Science.gov (United States)

1990-09-01

community’s search for a workable set of standards for school mathematics . In 1989 the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ) established the...made by the Commission on Standards for School Mathematics to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ). Of the 40 students who...Abstract This -s-y evaluated students’ responses to a teaching method designed to involve students and teachers of mathematics in a meaningful learning

Information Myopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadi Helena Presser

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This article reflects on the ways of appropriation in organizations. The notion of Information Myopia is characterized by the lack of knowledge about the available informational capabilities in organizations, revealing a narrow view of the information environment. This analysis has focused on the process for renewing the software licenses contracts of a large multinational group, in order to manage its organizational assets in information technology. The collected, explained and justified information allowed to elaborate an action proposal, which enabled the creation of new organizational knowledge. In its theoretical dimension, the value of information was materialized by its use, in a collective process of organizational learning.

Information cultures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skouvig, Laura

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to suggest a genealogy of the concept of information beyond the 20th century. The article discusses how the concept of information culture might provide a way of formulating such a genealogic strategy. The article approaches this purpose by providing a general...... narrative of premodern information cultures, examining works on early-modern scholars and 18th century savants and discussion of what seems to be a Foucauldian rupture in the conceptualization of information in 19th century England. The findings of the article are situated in the thinking that a genealogy...... of information would reveal that information had specific purposes in specific settings....

The Philosophy of Information as an Underlying and Unifying Theory of Information Science

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Tomic, Taeda

2010-01-01

Introduction: Philosophical analyses of theoretical principles underlying these sub-domains reveal philosophy of information as underlying meta-theory of information science. Method: Conceptual research on the knowledge sub-domains in information science and philosophy and analysis of their mutual connection. Analysis: Similarities between…

When Do Campaigns Matter? Informed Votes, the Heteroscedastic Logit and the Responsiveness of Electoral Outcomes

OpenAIRE

Gerber, Elisabeth R.; Lupia, Arthur

1993-01-01

Previous research suggests that voters in mass elections tend to be badly informed. If these voters do not know enough about the relationship between the policy consequences of electoral outcomes and their own interests, then electoral outcomes may not provide meaningful expressions of voter interests. Can campaign activity affect the relationship between voter interests and electoral outcomes? To answer this question, we use survey data from 35 comparable elections and a new empirical method...

Context based multimedia information retrieval

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mølgaard, Lasse Lohilahti

The large amounts of digital media becoming available require that new approaches are developed for retrieving, navigating and recommending the data to users in a way that refl ects how we semantically perceive the content. The thesis investigates ways to retrieve and present content for users...... topics from a large collection of the transcribed speech to improve retrieval of spoken documents. The context modelling is done using a variant of probabilistic latent semantic analysis (PLSA), to extract properties of the textual sources that refl ect how humans perceive context. We perform PLSA...... of Wikipedia , as well as text-based semantic similarity. The final aspect investigated is how to include some of the structured data available in Wikipedia to include temporal information. We show that a multiway extension of PLSA makes it possible to extract temporally meaningful topics, better than using...

Nonlinear responses within the medial prefrontal cortex reveal when specific implicit information influences economic decision making.

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Deppe, Michael; Schwindt, Wolfram; Kugel, Harald; Plassmann, Hilke; Kenning, Peter

2005-04-01

The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how individual economic decisions are influenced by implicit memory contributions. Twenty-two participants were asked to make binary decisions between different brands of sensorily nearly undistinguishable consumer goods. Changes of brain activity comparing decisions in the presence or absence of a specific target brand were detected by fMRI. Only when the tar get brand was the participant's favorite one did the authors find reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal, posterior parietal, and occipital cortices and the left premotor area (Brodmann areas [BA] 9, 46, 7/19, and 6). Simultaneously, activity was increased in the inferior precuneus and posterior cingulate (BA 7), right superior frontal gyrus (BA 10), right supramarginal gyrus (BA 40), and, most pronounced, in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (BA 10). For products mainly distinguishable by brand information, the authors revealed a nonlinear winner-take-all effect for a participant's favorite brand characterized, on one hand, by reduced activation in brain areas associated with working memory and reasoning and, on the other hand, increased activation in areas involved in processing of emotions and self-reflections during decision making.

Development of a clinical information tool for the electronic medical record: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Barbara A; Tannery, Nancy H; Wessel, Charles B; Yarger, Frances; LaDue, John; Fiorillo, Anthony B

2010-07-01

What is the process of developing a clinical information tool to be embedded in the electronic health record of a very large and diverse academic medical center? The development took place at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System. The clinical information tool developed is a search box with subject tabs to provide quick access to designated full-text information resources. Each subject tab offers a federated search of a different pool of resources. Search results are organized "on the fly" into meaningful categories using clustering technology and are directly accessible from the results page. After more than a year of discussion and planning, a clinical information tool was embedded in the academic medical center's electronic health record. The library successfully developed a clinical information tool, called Clinical-e, for use at the point of care. Future development will refine the tool and evaluate its impact and effectiveness.

SEDAC information gateway plan V(1)

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Robert S. (Compiler)

1995-01-01

This annual update of the Information Gateway Plan incorporates changes recommended by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) User Working Group (UWG) and reflects comments and suggestions from users, collaborators, and the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR). The Information Gateway Plan is a concise and specific plan that outlines SEDAC activities and services in support of the earth and social sciences and other user communities. The SEDAC Information Gateway effort is a primary means by which the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) can link meaningfully with a broad range of social science data sources and users in ways that lead to tangible benefits to the American people. The SEDAC Information Gateway provides interdisciplinary access to socioeconomic and physical science data and information resources held by SEDAC and numerous other institutions and networks around the world. The Plan describes the areas of research of earth scientists and socioeconomic scientists where interchange of data and information is most needed. It sets guidelines for the continued development of SEDAC's directory of social science datasets and establishes priorities for efforts to make data held by SEDAC or accessible through SEDAC available to the user community. The Plan also describes the means by which the SEDAC user community can access information products specified by the SEDAC Data and Applications Development Plan (DADP). Among other major activities, SEDAC will continue to enhance and operate a directory capability, interoperable with the Global Change Master Directory, that provides the socioeconomic community with information about earth science products and the earth science research community with information about socioeconomic data. The Information Gateway also serves as a unique and powerful access pathway for a wide range of users and potential users of socioeconomic and earth science data, including

4th International Conference on Applied Computing and Information Technology

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This edited book presents scientific results of the 4th International Conference on Applied Computing and Information Technology (ACIT 2016) which was held on December 12–14, 2016 in Las Vegas, USA. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. The aim of this conference was also to bring out the research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those papers accepted for presentation at the conference. The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the Program Committee, and underwent further rigorous rounds of review. Th...

Information-theoretic approach to lead-lag effect on financial markets

Science.gov (United States)

Fiedor, Paweł

2014-08-01

Recently the interest of researchers has shifted from the analysis of synchronous relationships of financial instruments to the analysis of more meaningful asynchronous relationships. Both types of analysis are concentrated mostly on Pearson's correlation coefficient and consequently intraday lead-lag relationships (where one of the variables in a pair is time-lagged) are also associated with them. Under the Efficient-Market Hypothesis such relationships are not possible as all information is embedded in the prices, but in real markets we find such dependencies. In this paper we analyse lead-lag relationships of financial instruments and extend known methodology by using mutual information instead of Pearson's correlation coefficient. Mutual information is not only a more general measure, sensitive to non-linear dependencies, but also can lead to a simpler procedure of statistical validation of links between financial instruments. We analyse lagged relationships using New York Stock Exchange 100 data not only on an intraday level, but also for daily stock returns, which have usually been ignored.

Statistical Symbolic Execution with Informed Sampling

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-01-01

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

A clinically meaningful training effect in walking speed using functional electrical stimulation for motor-incomplete spinal cord injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Tamsyn; Singleton, Christine

2018-05-01

The study aimed to investigate the presence of a training effect for rehabilitation of walking function in motor-incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) through daily use of functional electrical stimulation (FES). A specialist FES outpatient centre. Thirty-five participants (mean age 53, SD 15, range 18-80; mean years since diagnosis 9, range 5 months - 39 years) with drop foot and motor-incomplete SCI (T12 or higher, ASIA Impairment Scale C and D) able to ambulate 10 metres with the use of a walking stick or frame. FES of the peroneal nerve, glutei and hamstrings as clinically indicated over six months in the community. The data was analysed for a training effect (difference between unassisted ten metre walking speed at baseline and after six months) and orthotic effects (difference between walking speed with and without FES) initially on day one and after six months. The data was further analysed for a minimum clinically important difference (MCID) (>0.06 m/s). A clinically meaningful, significant change was observed for initial orthotic effect (0.13m/s, CI: 0.04-0.17, P = 0.013), total orthotic effect (0.11m/s, CI: 0.04-0.18, P = 0.017) and training effect (0.09m/s, CI: 0.02-0.16, P = 0.025). The results suggest that daily independent use of FES may produce clinically meaningful changes in walking speed which are significant for motor-incomplete SCI. Further research exploring the mechanism for the presence of a training effect may be beneficial in targeting therapies for future rehabilitation.

Effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia in residential aged care: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Travers, Catherine; Brooks, Deborah; Hines, Sonia; O'Reilly, Maria; McMaster, Mitchell; He, Wei; MacAndrew, Margaret; Fielding, Elaine; Karlsson, Lina; Beattie, Elizabeth

2016-12-01

The ability to participate in valued activities, whether for work, leisure or family, is an important aspect of personal identity. In dementia, progressive memory loss means that abilities developed over a lifetime begin to be lost as well, contributing to the loss of self and identity. Some studies have reported that activities or interventions tailored to be meaningful to the person with dementia (defined as any activity important to the individual) are more effective in addressing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and improving quality of life (QoL) than those that are not so tailored. However, the effectiveness of individualizing interventions or activities for this population is not known. In response to consumer feedback by the Consumer Dementia Research Network that this question ought to be addressed, this review was undertaken, the aim of which was to determine the effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). People living with dementia in RACFs (nursing homes).Any intervention that was individualized to be meaningful to the participant, versus any active control condition or usual care.Experimental and observational studies. Quality of life, BPSD (such as agitation, aggression, depression, wandering and apathy), mood, function, cognition and sleep. The search strategy aimed to identify both published and unpublished studies, with the following 12 databases extensively searched: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Science, OTSeeker, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, clinicaltrials.gov, Mednar, OpenSIGLE, New York Academy of Medicine Library Gray Literature Report, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. The search strategy was limited to papers published in English between 2004 and January 31, 2015. All studies were assessed independently by two reviewers for relevance, eligibility and methodological quality. Data from included papers were extracted using a

Immediate relativity: EEG reveals early engagement of comparison in social information processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohmann, Katharina; Stahl, Jutta; Mussweiler, Thomas; Kedia, Gayannée

2016-11-01

A wide array of social decisions relies on social comparisons. As such, these decisions require fast access to relative information. Therefore, we expect that signatures of the comparative process should be observable in electrophysiological components at an early stage of information processing. However, to date, little is known about the neural time course of social target comparisons. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis in 2 electroencephalography (EEG) studies using a social distance effect paradigm. The distance effect capitalizes on the fact that stimuli close on a certain dimension take longer to compare than stimuli clearly differing on this dimension. Here, we manipulated the distance of face characteristics regarding their levels of attractiveness (Study 1) and trustworthiness (Study 2), 2 essential social dimensions. In both studies, size comparisons served as a nonsocial control condition. In Study 1, distance related effects were apparent 170 ms (vertex positive potential, VPP) and 200 ms (N2) after stimulus onset for attractiveness comparisons. In Study 2, trustworthiness comparisons took effect already after 100 ms (N1) and likewise carried over to an event-related N2. Remarkably, we observed a similar temporal pattern for social (attractiveness, trustworthiness) and nonsocial (size) dimensions. These results speak in favor of an early encoding of comparative information and emphasize the primary role of comparison in social information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Meaningful Engagements: Feminist Historiography and the Digital Humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Enoch, Jessica; Bessette, Jean

2013-01-01

Recent surveys of feminist rhetorical historiography by Royster and Kirsch, Elizabeth Tasker and Frances B. Holt-Underwood, K. J. Rawson, Kathleen J. Ryan, and Jessica Enoch reveal that very few feminist historiographers have taken up digital methodologies or engaged digital humanist conversations. Thus while digital feminist scholars have…

Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners' conceptions of nature of science

Science.gov (United States)

Lederman, Norm G.; Abd-El-Khalick, Fouad; Bell, Randy L.; Schwartz, Renée S.

2002-08-01

Helping students develop informed views of nature of science (NOS) has been and continues to be a central goal for kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) science education. Since the early 1960s, major efforts have been undertaken to enhance K-12 students and science teachers' NOS views. However, the crucial component of assessing learners' NOS views remains an issue in research on NOS. This article aims to (a) trace the development of a new open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), which in conjunction with individual interviews aims to provide meaningful assessments of learners' NOS views; (b) outline the NOS framework that underlies the development of the VNOS; (c) present evidence regarding the validity of the VNOS; (d) elucidate the use of the VNOS and associated interviews, and the range of NOS aspects that it aims to assess; and (e) discuss the usefulness of rich descriptive NOS profiles that the VNOS provides in research related to teaching and learning about NOS. The VNOS comes in response to some calls within the science education community to go back to developing standardized forced-choice paper and pencil NOS assessment instruments designed for mass administrations to large samples. We believe that these calls ignore much of what was learned from research on teaching and learning about NOS over the past 30 years. The present state of this line of research necessitates a focus on individual classroom interventions aimed at enhancing learners' NOS views, rather than on mass assessments aimed at describing or evaluating students' beliefs.

The Impact of Approved Accounting Standard AASB 1024 “Consolidated Accounts” on the Information Included in Consolidated Financial Statements

OpenAIRE

Pramuka, Bambang Agus

1995-01-01

The intent of consolidated financial statements is to provide meaningful, relevant, useful, and reliable information about the operations of a group of companies. In compliance with AASB 1024 'Consolidated Accounts', and AAS 24 Consolidated Financial Reports', a parent entity now has to include in its consolidated financial statements all controlled entities, regardless of their legal form or the ownership interest held. The new Standard also pr...

The Effect of Publicized Quality Information on Home Health Agency Choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Jeah Kyoungrae; Wu, Bingxiao; Kim, Hyunjee; Polsky, Daniel

2016-12-01

We examine consumers' use of publicized quality information in Medicare home health care markets, where consumer cost sharing and travel costs are absent. We report two findings. First, agencies with high quality scores are more likely to be preferred by consumers after the introduction of a public reporting program than before. Second, consumers' use of publicized quality information differs by patient group. Community-based patients have slightly larger responses to public reporting than hospital-discharged patients. Patients with functional limitations at the start of their care, at least among hospital-discharged patients, have a larger response to the reported functional outcome measure than those without functional limitations. In all cases of significant marginal effects, magnitudes are small. We conclude that the current public reporting approach is unlikely to have critical impacts on home health agency choice. Identifying and releasing quality information that is meaningful to consumers may help increase consumers' use of public reports. © The Author(s) 2015.

Understanding Social Isolation Among Urban Aging Adults: Informing Occupation-Based Approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Hand, Carri; Retrum, Jessica; Ware, George; Iwasaki, Patricia; Moaalii, Gabe; Main, Deborah S

2017-10-01

Socially isolated aging adults are at risk of poor health and well-being. Occupational therapy can help address this issue; however, information is needed to guide such work. National surveys characterize social isolation in populations of aging adults but fail to provide meaningful information at a community level. The objective of this study is to describe multiple dimensions of social isolation and related factors among aging adults in diverse urban neighborhoods. Community-based participatory research involving a door-to-door survey of adults 50 years and older was used. Participants ( N = 161) reported social isolation in terms of small social networks (24%) and wanting more social engagement (43%). Participants aged 50 to 64 years reported the highest levels of isolation in most dimensions. Low income, poor health, lack of transportation, and infrequent information access appeared linked to social isolation. Occupational therapists can address social isolation in similar urban communities through policy and practice that facilitate social engagement and network building.

3th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science

CERN Document Server

2015-01-01

This edited book presents scientific results of the 13th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2014) which was held on June 4-6, 2014 in Taiyuan, China. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. Research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those papers accepted for presentation at the conference.  The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the program committee, and underwent further rigorous rounds of review. This publication captures 14 of the conference’s most promis...

Shifts in information processing level: the speed theory of intelligence revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Sircar, S S

2000-06-01

A hypothesis is proposed here to reconcile the inconsistencies observed in the IQ-P3 latency relation. The hypothesis stems from the observation that task-induced increase in P3 latency correlates positively with IQ scores. It is hypothesised that: (a) there are several parallel information processing pathways of varying complexity which are associated with the generation of P3 waves of varying latencies; (b) with increasing workload, there is a shift in the 'information processing level' through progressive recruitment of more complex polysynaptic pathways with greater processing power and inhibition of the oligosynaptic pathways; (c) high-IQ subjects have a greater reserve of higher level processing pathways; (d) a given 'task-load' imposes a greater 'mental workload' in subjects with lower IQ than in those with higher IQ. According to this hypothesis, a meaningful comparison of the P3 correlates of IQ is possible only when the information processing level is pushed to its limits.