The time course of attentional and oculomotor capture reveals a common cause

Eye movements are often misdirected toward a distractor when it appears abruptly, an effect known as oculomotor capture. Fundamental differences between eye movements and attention have led to questions about the relationship of oculomotor capture to the more general effect of sudden onsets on performance, known as attentional capture. This study explores that issue by examining the time course of eye movements and manual localization responses to targets in the presence of sudden-onset distractors. The results demonstrate that for both response types, the proportion of trials on which responses are erroneously directed to sudden onsets reflects the quality of information about the visual display at a given point in time. Oculomotor capture appears to be a specific instance of a more general attentional capture effect. Differences and similarities between the two types of capture can be explained by the critical idea that the quality of information about a visual display changes over time and that different response systems tend to access this information at different moments in time

An Uncommon Textbook: Review of \u3cem\u3eCommon Sense Mathematics\u3c/em\u3e by Ethan Bolker and Maura Mast

Ethan D. Bolker and Maura B. Mast. 2016. Common Sense Mathematics.(Washington DC.: Mathematics Association of America) ISBN-13: 978-1-93951-210-9. Common Sense Mathematics is an integrative quantitative reasoning (QR) textbook that is built around scores of exercises derived from authentic circumstances from public media and other public sources. The exercises elicit responses from students requiring extensive communication and analyses and distinguish the book from ones typically encountered in a mathematics or science course. Responses to exercises often require one-half page or more of writing and can occupy considerable class time in discussion. The book has material for a one- or two-semester course. Use of the Internet for information is assumed, and the use of spreadsheet technology is incorporated but can be avoided for portions of the latter chapters

The Basic Surgical Skills course in sub-Saharan Africa: an observational study of effectiveness

Background: The Basic Surgical Skills (BSS) course is a common component of postgraduate surgical training programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, but was originally designed in a UK context, and its efficacy and relevance have not been formally assessed in Africa. Methods: An observational study was carried out during a BSS course delivered to early-stage surgical trainees from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Technical skill in a basic wound closure task was assessed in a formal Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSAT) before and after course completion. Participants completed a pre-course questionnaire documenting existing surgical experience and self-perceived confidence levels in surgical skills which were to be taught during the course. Participants repeated confidence ratings and completed course evaluation following course delivery. Results: A cohort of 17 participants had completed a pre-course median of 150 Caesarean sections as primary operator. Performance on the OSAT improved from a mean of 10.5/17 pre-course to 14.2/17 post-course (mean of paired differences 3.7, p < 0.001). Improvements were seen in 15/17 components of wound closure. Pre-course, only 47% of candidates were forming hand-tied knots correctly and 38% were appropriately crossing hands with each throw, improving to 88 and 76%, respectively, following the course (p = 0.01 for both components). Confidence levels improved significantly in all technical skills taught, and the course was assessed as highly relevant by trainees. Conclusion: The Basic Surgical Skills course is effective in improving the basic surgical technique of surgical trainees from sub-Saharan Africa and their confidence in key technical skills

Early and late complications of bariatric operation.

Weight loss surgery is one of the fastest growing segments of the surgical discipline. As with all medical procedures, postoperative complications will occur. Acute care surgeons need to be familiar with the common problems and their management. Although general surgical principles generally apply, diagnoses specific to the various bariatric operations must be considered. There are anatomic considerations which alter management priorities and options for these patients in many instances. These problems present both early or late in the postoperative course. Bariatric operations, in many instances, result in permanent alteration of a patient\u27s anatomy, which can lead to complications at any time during the course of a patient\u27s life. Acute care surgeons diagnosing surgical emergencies in postbariatric operation patients must be familiar with the type of surgery performed, as well as the common postbariatric surgical emergencies. In addition, surgeons must not overlook the common causes of an acute surgical abdomen-acute appendicitis, acute diverticulitis, acute pancreatitis, and gallstone disease-for these are still among the most common etiologies of abdominal pathology in these patients

Using Popular Media and a Collaborative Approach to Teaching Grounded Theory Research Methods

Popular movies were used in a doctoral-level qualitative research methods course as a way to help students learn about how to collect and analyze qualitative observational data in order to develop a grounded theory. The course was designed in such a way that collaboration was central to the generation of knowledge. Using media depictions had the practical advantage of enabling the group to create fieldnotes from a common set of data collected simultaneously in a short period of time. Fictional representations in popular media can provide the basis to learn about both the methods and foundational assumptions for conducting qualitative research, including the challenges of bracketing prior assumptions

Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Pre-deployment and Orientation Courses in Europe, part 1.

In this article I would like to give a short summary about CIMIC pre-deployment and orientation courses available in Europe, and in the European Union at different institutions and training centers. The descriptions are based on some personal experience, also some are collected across interviews from other participants, and of course via open sources, like course catalogues. The aim of the article is to collect the special kind of courses and demonstrate the wide range of similarities as fact of integration and harmonization, but also try to highlight some small differencies. I would like to make a short list of institutions, course thematic, lecturers and duration of these courses. There are no scientific result in this article as standing alone, but my wider research area a comparative essey on the European Union member states and compare their relation to Common Security and Defence Policy, their participation in EUFOR (ongoing, military) missions, CIMIC activity and institutions and try to find the similarities and differences

Using Hybrid Effectively in Christian Higher Education

Hybrid is just one of a number of terms used for the convergence of face-to-face and online learning, At the University of Central Florida (UCF) they are called mixed mode courses, In the corporate world the most common language used for hybrid is blended learning, Blended learning, says Bob Mosher, is about using multiple learning modalities, which include, but are not limited to, the Web.7 The blended learning term is also being used more frequently within academic circles,8 Because of the inconsistency in how blended learning is employed, though, and because our goal is not to describe learning in general but to focus on individual courses, this article will use the term hybrid and will apply it more narrowly to mean a course in which face-to-face and online learning are integrated in such a way that the seat time of the course is reduced

Assessment Plan and Design: A Model for Enhancing Instruction in Economics Courses

This paper develops a systematic approach to course assessment that aims to identify strengths and weaknesses in student achievement and course design that can be addressed through instructional change. We develop seven distinct steps for course assessment and explain these procedures with an assessment tool that was developed for an economics foundation course. Our assessment tool includes twenty five common multiple-choice questions that were developed to evaluate student achievement and assess an economics course through yearly evaluation. During a seven year process, student data were collected first to revise the assessment tool and later to evaluate the program and student performance. The analysis of student data by topic, question, and level of difficulty enabled faculty to gain a better understanding of student weaknesses and address these in the classroom through the adoption of a variety of different teaching approaches. This process strengthened both the foundation course and individual lectures and resulted in a positive impact on student performance. Continuous reinforcement of these strategies by faculty is expected to benefit both the course and students.