NURSES' PERCEPTION REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTER-BASED CLINICAL NURSING DOCUMENTATION

This qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study was performed with the objective of understanding the perception of the nurses working in medical-surgical units of a university hospital, regarding the strategies developed to perform a pilot test of the PROCEnf-USP electronic system, with the purpose of computerizing clinical nursing documentation. Eleven nurses of a theoretical-practical training program were interviewed and the obtained data were analyzed using the Content Analysis Technique. The following categories were discussed based on the references of participative management and planned changes: favorable aspects for the implementation; unfavorable aspects for the implementation; and expectations regarding the implementation. According to the nurses' perceptions, the preliminary use of the electronic system allowed them to show their potential and to propose improvements, encouraging them to become partners of the group manager in the dissemination to other nurses of the institution.

Slowdown of gist perception in colour diagnostic scenes

Humans perceive the content (gist) of a scene very rapidly within about 40 ms [Castelhano and Henderson, 2008 Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance 43(3) 660-675]. It has also been demonstrated that colours contribute to the perception of the gist of a scene if the colours are diagnostic for the distinction of scenes (Oliva and Schyns, 2000 Cognitive Psychology 41 176-210). We presented 320 coloured photographs of 2 diagnostic (mountains and coasts) and 2 nondiagnostic colour scenes (cities and rooms), 80 per category, in a masking paradigm. The mask consisted of randomly distributed colour patches. SOA was varied between 20 and 80 ms, in steps of 20 ms and subjects had to indicate the gist of the scene (4AFC). A control condition without masking was also included. In line with previous results we have found that the gist of nondiagnostic coloured scenes is extracted within 40 ms. However, if colour comes into play, the extraction of the scene gist is prolonged by about 20 ms. A possible reason for this outcome might be that nondiagnostic colour scenes are identified by their luminance components which are processed faster than the colour information, which in turn mediates the identification of diagnostic colour scenes

Factors determining the success of radiofrequency denervation in lumbar facet joint pain: a prospective study

Background and aims Radiofrequency denervation (RF) of the lumbar facet joints has been shown to be effective in well-selected patients. However, long-term success varies between studies. We evaluated the influence of selected psychosocial and constitutional factors on the outcome of RF, expressed as the duration of pain relief. Methods This prospective observational study included 44 patients who received RF denervations at the University Hospital of Berne. Success was defined as at least 50% pain reduction 7–21 days, 6 months and 1 year after RF therapy. The Cox-regression analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of the following factors on the duration of success: age, sex, depression, work inability and previous surgery. Results Complete follow-up was available for 41 patients. The success rate 7–21 days after the denervation was 76%. It decreased to 32% at 6 months and to 22% at 1 year. The median success duration was 17 weeks (95% CI 10–26). The Cox-regression analysis showed a significant shorter duration of success for patients with depression (hazard ratio [HR] 2.97, 95% CI 1.32–6.65), previous surgery (HR 2.39, 95% CI 1.10–5.21) and number of treated joints (HR 1.95 for each increase in the number of joints, 95% CI 1.14–3.33). In bivariate analyses, only depression was kept to be significant. Conclusions Depression seems to be related with a short duration of success. Based on these findings, a comprehensive study is warranted to evaluate whether psychosocial factors have to be considered when recruiting patients for radiofrequency denervation.

Effects of training and melodic features on mode perception

The two modes most widely used in Western music today convey opposite moods—a distinction that nonmusicians and even young children are able to make. However, the current studies provide evidence that, despite a strong link between mode and affect, mode perception is problematic. Nonmusicians found mode discrimination to be harder than discrimination of other melodic features, and they were not able to accurately classify major and minor melodies with these labels. Although nonmusicians were able to classify major and minor melodies using affective labels, they performed at chance in mode discrimination. Training, in the form of short lessons given to nonmusicians and the natural musical experience of musicians, improved performance, but not to ceiling levels. Tunes with high note density were classified as major, and tunes with low note density as minor, even though these features were actually unrelated in the experimental material. Although these findings provide support for the importance of mode in the perception of emotion, they clearly indicate that these mode perceptions are inaccurate, even in trained individuals, without the assistance of affective labeling.

Does the Presence of a Learning Disability Elicit a Stigmatization?

Aims: To determine whether or not a Learning Disability(LD) label leads to stigmatization. Study Design: This research used a 2(sex of participant) x 2(LD label)x 2 (Sex of stimulus person) factorial design. Place and Duration of Study: Bucknell University, between October 2010 and April 2011. Methodology: Sample: We included 200 participants (137 women and 63 men, ranging in age from 18 – 75 years, M = 26.41. Participants rated the stimulus individual on 27 personality traits, 8 Life success measures, and the Big-5 personality dimensions. Also, participants completed a Social Desirability measure. Results: A MANOVA revealed a main effect for the Learning Disability description, F(6, 185) = 6.41 p< .0001, eta2 = .17,for the Big-5 personality dimensions, Emotional Stability, F(1, 185) = 13.39, p < .001, eta2 = .066, and Openness to Experiences F(1,185) = 7.12, p< .008, eta2 = .036.Stimulus individuals described as having a learning disability were perceived as being less emotionally stable and more open to experiences than those described as not having a learning disability. Another MANOVA revealed a main effect for having a disability or not, F(8, 183) = 4.29, p< .0001, eta2 = .158, for the Life Success items, Attractiveness, F(1, 198) = 16.63, p< .0001, eta2 = .080, and Future Success,F(1, 198) = 4.57, p< .034, eta2 = .023. Stimulus individuals described as having a learning disability were perceived as being less attractive and with less potential for success than those described as not having a learning disability. Conclusion: The results of this research provide evidence that a bias exists toward those who have learning disabilities. The mere presence of an LD label had the ability to cause a differential perception of those with LDs and those without LDs.

The Role of Gender in Ethnic Perception

A group of 406 Polish university students (210 women and 196 men) were asked to describe typical representatives of selected ethnic groups and their typical female and male members. The descriptions were based on a list of 24 traits and a list of 18 values, accompanied by scales for measuring trait-typicality and value-importance. The participants' level of confidence about the accuracy of the descriptions, their ethnic attitudes and their perception of the relative social status of men and women in ethnic groups were also measured. The results indicate an effect of masculinisation of ethnic images for both traits and values. Descriptions of typical representatives of ethnic groups resemble the images of typical men significantly more than those of typical women of these nationalities, even for the most modern nations. Differences registered between images of typical representatives of ethnic groups and their male and female members concerned primarily the traits and values basic to gender stereotypes. The images of women were significantly more favourable than those of men. The bias in ethnic perception towards the gender of the stereotype-holder was also indicated. Several differences were found between women's and men's perception of typical representatives of ethnic groups and especially of ethnic gender subgroups, without however the predicted effect of gender in-group favouritism. There was also a degree of ethnic in-group favouritism of Poles related to the gender both of participants and of the ethnic target groups.

Evaluation of factors affecting speed perception in a driving simulator

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of different variables on the perception of vehicle speeds in a driving simulator. The motivations of the study include validation of the Michigan Technological University Human Factors and Systems Lab driving simulator, obtaining a better understanding of what influences speed perception in a virtual environment, and how to improve speed perception in future simulations involving driver performance measures. Using a fixed base driving simulator, two experiments were conducted, the first to evaluate the effects of subject gender, roadway orientation, field of view, barriers along the roadway, opposing traffic speed, and subject speed judgment strategies on speed estimation, and the second to evaluate all of these variables as well as feedback training through use of the speedometer during a practice run. A mixed procedure model (mixed model ANOVA) in SAS® 9.2 was used to determine the significance of these variables in relation to subject speed estimates, as there were both between and within subject variables analyzed. It was found that subject gender, roadway orientation, feedback training, and the type of judgment strategy all significantly affect speed perception. By using curved roadways, feedback training, and speed judgment strategies including road lines, speed limit experience, and feedback training, speed perception in a driving simulator was found to be significantly improved.

Maxillary sinus floor elevation using the (transalveolar) osteotome technique with or without grafting material. Part I: Implant survival and patients' perception

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the survival and success rates of implants installed utilizing the (transalveolar) osteotome technique, to compare peri-implant soft tissue parameters and marginal bone levels of osteotome-installed implants with implants placed using standard surgical procedures, and to evaluate patient-centered outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During 2000 to 2005, 252 Straumann dental implants were inserted in 181 patients. The surgical technique was a modification of the original osteotome technique presented by Summers. In addition to the clinical examination, the patients were asked to give their perception of the surgical procedure, utilizing a visual analogue scale. RESULTS: The cumulative survival rate of the osteotome-installed implants after a mean follow-up time of 3.2 years, was 97.4% (95% confidence intervals: 94.4-98.8%). From the 252 implants inserted, three were lost before loading and another three were lost in the first and second year. According to residual bone height the survival was 91.3% for implant sites with < or =4 mm residual bone height, and 90% for sites with 4 mm and 5 mm, when compared with that of 100% in sites with bone height of above 5 mm. According to implant length the survival rates were 100% for 12 mm, 98.7% for 10 mm, 98.7% for 8 mm and only 47.6% for 6 mm implants. Soft tissue parameters (pocket probing depth, probing attachment level, bleeding on probing and marginal bone levels) did not yield any differences between the osteotome-installed and the conventionally placed implants. More than 90% of the patients were satisfied with the implant therapy and would undergo similar therapy again if necessary. The cost associated with implant therapy was considered to be justified. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the osteotome technique was a reliable method for implant insertion in the posterior maxilla, especially at sites with 5 mm or more of preoperative residual bone height and a relatively flat sinus floor.

Investigations into Velocity and Distance Perception Based on Different Types of Moving Sound Sources with Respect to Auditory Virtual Environments

The characteristics of moving sound sources have strong implications on the listener's distance perception and the estimation of velocity. Modifications of the typical sound emissions as they are currently occurring due to the tendency towards electromobility have an impact on the pedestrian's safety in road traffic. Thus, investigations of the relevant cues for velocity and distance perception of moving sound sources are not only of interest for the psychoacoustic community, but also for several applications, like e.g. virtual reality, noise pollution and safety aspects of road traffic. This article describes a series of psychoacoustic experiments in this field. Dichotic and diotic stimuli of a set of real-life recordings taken from a passing passenger car and a motorcycle were presented to test subjects who in turn were asked to determine the velocity of the object and its minimal distance from the listener. The results of these psychoacoustic experiments show that the estimated velocity is strongly linked to the object's distance. Furthermore, it could be shown that binaural cues contribute significantly to the perception of velocity. In a further experiment, it was shown that - independently of the type of the vehicle - the main parameter for distance determination is the maximum sound pressure level at the listener's position. The article suggests a system architecture for the adequate consideration of moving sound sources in virtual auditory environments. Virtual environments can thus be used to investigate the influence of new vehicle powertrain concepts and the related sound emissions of these vehicles on the pedestrians' ability to estimate the distance and velocity of moving objects.

Influence of Anchoring on Miscarriage Risk Perception Associated with Amniocentesis

INFLUENCE OF ANCHORING ON MISCARRIAGE RISK PERCEPTION ASSOCIATED WITH AMNIOCENTESIS Publication No. ___________ Regina Nuccio, BS Supervisory Professor: Claire N. Singletary, MS, CGC Amniocentesis is the most common invasive procedure performed during pregnancy (Eddleman, et al., 2006). One important factor that women consider when making a decision about amniocentesis is the risk of miscarriage associated with the procedure. People use heuristics such as anchoring, the action of using a prior belief regarding the magnitude of risk as a frame of reference for new information to be synthesized, to better understand risks that they encounter in their lives. This study aimed to determine a woman’s perception of miscarriage risk associated with amniocentesis before and after a genetic counseling session and to determine what factors are most likely to anchor a woman’s perception of miscarriage risk associated with amniocentesis. Most women perceived the risk as low or average pre-counseling and were likely to indicate the numeric risk of amniocentesis as <1% risk. A higher percentage of patients correctly identified the numeric risk as <1% post-counseling when compared to pre-counseling. However, the majority of patients’ feeling about the risk perception did not change after the genetic counseling session (60%), regardless of how they perceived the risk before discussing amniocentesis with a genetic counselor. Those whose risk perception did change after discussing amniocentesis with a genetic counselor showed a decreased risk perception (p<0.0001). Of the multitude of factors studied, only two showed significance: having a friend or relative with a personal or family history of a genetic disorder was associated with a lower risk perception (p=0.001) and having a child already was associated with a lower risk perception (p=0.038). The lack of significant factors may reflect the uniqueness of each patient’s heuristic framework and reinforces the importance of genetic counseling to elucidate individual concerns.

The Neural Substrates of Multisensory Speech Perception

Comprehending speech is one of the most important human behaviors, but we are only beginning to understand how the brain accomplishes this difficult task. One key to speech perception seems to be that the brain integrates the independent sources of information available in the auditory and visual modalities in a process known as multisensory integration. This allows speech perception to be accurate, even in environments in which one modality or the other is ambiguous in the context of noise. Previous electrophysiological and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments have implicated the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) in auditory-visual integration of both speech and non-speech stimuli. While evidence from prior imaging studies have found increases in STS activity for audiovisual speech compared with unisensory auditory or visual speech, these studies do not provide a clear mechanism as to how the STS communicates with early sensory areas to integrate the two streams of information into a coherent audiovisual percept. Furthermore, it is currently unknown if the activity within the STS is directly correlated with strength of audiovisual perception. In order to better understand the cortical mechanisms that underlie audiovisual speech perception, we first studied the STS activity and connectivity during the perception of speech with auditory and visual components of varying intelligibility. By studying fMRI activity during these noisy audiovisual speech stimuli, we found that STS connectivity with auditory and visual cortical areas mirrored perception; when the information from one modality is unreliable and noisy, the STS interacts less with the cortex processing that modality and more with the cortex processing the reliable information. We next characterized the role of STS activity during a striking audiovisual speech illusion, the McGurk effect, to determine if activity within the STS predicts how strongly a person integrates auditory and visual speech information. Subjects with greater susceptibility to the McGurk effect exhibited stronger fMRI activation of the STS during perception of McGurk syllables, implying a direct correlation between strength of audiovisual integration of speech and activity within an the multisensory STS.

Being Moved by the Self and Others: Influence of Empathy on Self-Motion Perception

BACKGROUND: The observation of conspecifics influences our bodily perceptions and actions: Contagious yawning, contagious itching, or empathy for pain, are all examples of mechanisms based on resonance between our own body and others. While there is evidence for the involvement of the mirror neuron system in the processing of motor, auditory and tactile information, it has not yet been associated with the perception of self-motion. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated whether viewing our own body, the body of another, and an object in motion influences self-motion perception. We found a visual-vestibular congruency effect for self-motion perception when observing self and object motion, and a reduction in this effect when observing someone else's body motion. The congruency effect was correlated with empathy scores, revealing the importance of empathy in mirroring mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The data show that vestibular perception is modulated by agent-specific mirroring mechanisms. The observation of conspecifics in motion is an essential component of social life, and self-motion perception is crucial for the distinction between the self and the other. Finally, our results hint at the presence of a "vestibular mirror neuron system".

Gender in Theology and Religion: a Success Story?! Report from a Conference

In January 2011 some fifty scholars from different parts of Europe met in Groningen, the Netherlands for an expert meeting entitled Gender in theology and religion: a success story?! to analyze the factors that contribute to the successful mainstreaming of gender in a theological discipline and to reflect on the future of gender studies in theology and religious studies. Different speakers highlighted the many successes of gender studies in theology and religious studies: its power to 'trouble' the disciplines and their heuristic categories; its contribution to the development of other disciplines such as queer studies and postcolonial studies; the many PhD studies produced; the number of significant publications that had appeared over the last years. All indicate that gender studies in theology and religious studies have matured. But the participants also pointed towards the ambiguity of the success of gender studies in the academy: the indeterminacy of the institutional position and positions of gender studies in the theological disciplines in seminaries, departments faculties and universities; the lack of male scholars’ engagement in gender studies, which is expressed by their absence in these studies and/or the low reception of gender studies publications in their disciplines. Both ambiguities represent a danger for the future of gender studies, according to the participants in the meeting. In order to further the success of gender in theology and religion they formulated the following recommendations: to analyze the position of these studies in their institutions from the perspective of the implied audience (church, academy, ordinary theologians); engage men in gender studies; embrace the cultural turn in religious studies; develop interdisciplinary cooperations with gender studies in the humanities; engage creatively with the changing role of religion in contemporary society; analyze whose perspective one follows and authorizes in the perception of theology, religious studies and gender studies themselves; record the history of women’s and gender studies in theology and religion, and honor and celebrate the successes.

The composition and timing of flower odour emission by wild Petunia axillaris coincide with the antennal perception and nocturnal activity of the pollinator Manduca sexta

In the genus Petunia, distinct pollination syndromes may have evolved in association with bee-visitation (P. integrifolia spp.) or hawk moth-visitation (P. axillaris spp). We investigated the extent of congruence between floral fragrance and olfactory perception of the hawk moth Manduca sexta. Hawk moth pollinated P. axillaris releases high levels of several compounds compared to the bee-pollinated P. integrifolia that releases benzaldehyde almost exclusively. The three dominating compounds in P. axillaris were benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol and methyl benzoate. In P. axillaris, benzenoids showed a circadian rhythm with an emission peak at night, which was absent from P. integrifolia. These characters were highly conserved among different P. axillaris subspecies and P. axillaris accessions, with some differences in fragrance composition. Electroantennogram (EAG) recordings using flower-blends of different wild Petunia species on female M. sexta antennae showed that P. axillaris odours elicited stronger responses than P. integrifolia odours. EAG responses were highest to the three dominating compounds in the P. axillaris flower odours. Further, EAG responses to odour-samples collected from P. axillaris flowers confirmed that odours collected at night evoked stronger responses from M. sexta than odours collected during the day. These results show that timing of odour emissions by P. axillaris is in tune with nocturnal hawk moth activity and that flower-volatile composition is adapted to the antennal perception of these pollinators.

The Career Engagement Scale: Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors

Careers today increasingly require engagement in proactive career behaviors; however, there is a lack of validated measures assessing the general degree to which somebody is engaged in such career behaviors. We describe the results of six studies with six independent samples of German university students (total N = 2,854), working professionals (total N = 561), and university graduates (N = 141) that report the development and validation of the Career Engagement Scale - a measure of the degree of which somebody is proactively developing her or his career as expressed by diverse career behaviors. The studies provide supprt for measurement invariance across gender and time. In support of convergent and discriminant validity, we find that career engagement is more prevalent among working professionals than among university students and that this scale has incremental validity above several specific career behaviors regarding its relation to vocational identity clarity and career self-efficacy beliefs among students and to job and career satisfaction among employees. In support of incremental predictive validity, beyond the effects of several more specific careeer behaviors, career engagement while at university predicts higher job and career satisfaction several months later after beginning work.