Emergency department status boards: user-evolved artefacts for inter- and intra-group coordination

Large, easily viewed status boards are commonly used in some healthcare settings such as emergency departments, operating theaters, intensive care units, and inpatient wards. Because these artefacts were developed by front-line users, and have little to no supervisory or regulatory control, they offer valuable insights into the theories of work and hazard held by those users. Although the status boards case were locally developed over many years for within-group coordination, they have also become useful for between-group coordination across organizational boundaries. In this paper, we compare and contrast the use of such status boards in two disparate settings: a US emergency department, and a UK pediatric ward, and note striking similarities in their form and usage, despite the large differences in setting.     

Contracting, prompting, and reinforcing substance use disorder continuing care: A randomized clinical trial.

Although continuing care is strongly related to positive treatment outcomes for substance use disorder (SUD), participation rates are low and few effective interventions are available. In a randomized clinical trial with 150 participants (97% men), 75 graduates of a residential Veterans Affairs Medical Center SUD program who received an aftercare contract, attendance prompts, and reinforcers (CPR) were compared to 75 graduates who received standard treatment (STX). Among CPR participants, 55% completed at least 3 months of aftercare, compared to 36% in STX. Similarly, CPR participants remained in treatment longer than those in STX (5.5 vs. 4.4 months). Additionally, CPR participants were more likely to be abstinent compared to STX (57% vs. 37%) after 1 year. The CPR intervention offers a practical means to improve adherence among individuals in SUD treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Saving time or innovating practice: Investigating perceptions and uses of Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are web-based systems that allow instructors and/or students to share materials, submit and return assignments, and communicate online. In this study, we explored the uses and perceived benefits of using a LMS to support traditional classroom teaching as reported by instructors and students at a large American Midwestern university. We examined two years of survey data focusing on specific uses of the LMS that emphasized either efficient communication or interactive teaching and learning practices. We matched aggregate user log data with corresponding survey items to see if system use was consistent with patterns seen in the survey results. Findings suggest that instructors and students value tools and activities for efficient communication more than interactive tools for innovating existing practices. However, survey item analysis reveals that instructors and students also highly value the teaching and learning tools within the LMS.     

Developing Sustainable Research Networks in Graduate Education

The traditional modes of knowledge production and circulation in academia are (slowly but surely) shifting from the hierarchical, top-down systems of print to the distributed, bottom-up systems of the Web. It is in the context of these shifts and the rapid development of Web 2.0 tools and methods that we argue for a concomitant shift in the predominant practices of graduate education in rhetoric—particularly for students of digital rhetoric. In this article, we describe the development of a research network that combines the power of digital networking with the collaborative facilitation offered by communities of practice and consider how research networks can be grown and sustained as part of the graduate education of technorhetoricians.     

Psychometric properties of the Hawaiian Culture Scale—Adolescent Version.

This article reports on the psychometric properties of a newly constructed Hawaiian Culture Scale—Adolescent Version. A total of 2,272 Native Hawaiian and 1,170 non-Hawaiian adolescents were administered this 50-item inventory that measures the source of learning the Hawaiian way of life, how much Hawaiian beliefs are valued and important to maintain, how much non-Hawaiian beliefs are valued, Hawaiian blood quantum, and specific cultural traditions (seven subscales?=?Lifestyles, Customs, Activities, Folklore, Causes—Locations, Causes—Access, and Language Proficiency). The results strongly supported the internal consistency and validity of the measures for both the Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian groups. On the basis of the demographic data, partial support was offered for cross-cultural theories of ethnic identity. More consistent support was found for multiculturalism in Hawai'i's adolescents. Further research is needed to link these measures with indicators of psychological adjustment (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Designing a supply network artifact for data,process, and people integration

E-procurement and supplier-relationship management systems have helped to substantially advance process execution in supply management. However, current supply network systems still face challenges of high data integration efforts, as well as the decoupling of structured data and processes from the growing amount of digitalized unstructured interactions of supply management professionals. Inspired by the room for improvement posed by this challenges, our research proposes a design for a supply network artifact in supplier qualification that addresses these problems by enabling holistic integration of data, processes, and people. The artifact is developed following an action design research approach. Building on a set of meta-requirements derived from literature and practice explorations, we conceptualize two design principles and derive corresponding design decisions that have been implemented in an software artifact. Finally, we formulate testable hypotheses and evaluate the artifact and its design in the context of supplier qualification. Our results show that the proposed design reduces mental effort of supply management professionals and significantly increases efficiency when performing typical supply network tasks such as supplier qualification.     

Dynamic effects of self-efficacy on smoking lapse and relapse.

Self-efficacy (SE) is thought to be critical to success in smoking cessation both as an individual difference and as a dynamic process after a quit attempt. In this study, 214 smokers used palm-top computers to record day-to-day variations in SE during 4 weeks after quitting. SE remained at high and stable levels prior to a 1st lapse but decreased and became more variable thereafter. The authors used event history models with time-varying covariates to assess the effect of daily SE on lapse and relapse risk. Daily SE measures predicted an initial lapse on the subsequent day. However, this relationship was accounted for by stable baseline differences in SE (assessed by questionnaire), rather than by day-to-day dynamics in SE. Progression from 1st lapse to relapse was also examined. In this instance, daily SE predicted subsequent relapse risk, even when baseline SE and concurrent smoking were accounted for, suggesting the importance of SE dynamics for this stage of the relapse process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal depression and early positive parenting predict future conduct problems in young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for adverse outcomes such as substance abuse and criminality, particularly if they develop conduct problems. Little is known about early predictors of the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD, however. Parental psychopathology and parenting were assessed in 108 children who first met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for ADHD at 4-7 years old. When demographic variables and baseline ADHD and conduct problems were controlled, maternal depression predicted conduct problems 2-8 years following the initial assessment, whereas positive parenting during the structured parent- child interaction task predicted fewer future conduct problems. These findings suggest that maternal depression is a risk factor, whereas early positive parenting is a protective factor, for the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially engage the lateral orbitofrontal cortex": Correction.

Reports an error in "What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially engage the lateral orbitofrontal cortex" by Nelly Alia-Klein, Rita Z. Goldstein, Dardo Tomasi, Lei Zhang, Stephanie Fagin-Jones, Frank Telang, Gene-Jack Wang, Joanna S. Fowler and Nora D. Volkow (Emotion, 2007[Aug], Vol 7[3], 649-659). The supplemental materials link should appear as follows: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.649.supp. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-11660-018.) The words "No" and "Yes" are involved in conditioning to prohibit or encourage behavior, respectively. The authors, therefore, hypothesized that these words would be attributed to endogenous valence, activating neuronal circuits involved with valence and emotional control. Functional MRI (fMRI) at 4 Tesla was used to record regional brain activity while participants were exposed to emphatic vocalizations of the words. Results showed that No and Yes were associated with opposite brain-behavior responses; while No was negatively valenced, produced slower response times, and evoked a negative signal in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), Yes was positively valenced, produced faster response times, and evoked a positive signal in a contiguous region of the OFC. Attribution of negative valence to No and trait anger control were associated with increased responsivity of the OFC to No. Inasmuch as sensitivity to the prohibitive command No develops during childhood through interaction with primary caregivers as the first social objects, our findings may implicate the lateral OFC in the neurobiology of emotion regulation and subsequent social development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proteomics in ocular fluids

The focus of this article is to review recent techniques in proteomic analysis of ocular fluids. These fluids include tears, aqueous humor, and vitreous, they will also be compared to serum analysis. Furthermore, we attempt to summarize some disease correlated biomarkers in ocular fluids that were discovered through different proteomic techniques in eye diseases like dry eye, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, uveitis, or diabetic retinopathy. This review is trying to point out the importance of these biomarkers for clinical applications.