Factors Effecting Parental Decision-making in Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine Determination: An Integrative Review of the Literature

Background: Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) are diseases that can be vaccinated against but have had a recent increase in incidence. The vaccination is not mandatory allowing parents to decide whether or not to vaccinate their child. Health decision-making is multifaceted including many sources of information and factors that surround it. This complicates the decision making especially regarding the MMR vaccination. Objectives: This integrative literature review explored the factors and appraisal that parents conduct to make an informed decision regarding the MMR vaccination for their child. Methods: A search from CINAHL Complete and PsychINFO, where the terms vaccination, decision making, and MMR were used, yielded 15 unique articles after exclusion criteria was applied. Articles were evaluated and the Health Belief Model was used to identify factors that effect decision-making Results: Main themes that were drawn from the literature include general safety concerns, risks of the disease, individualized factors of the child, and many aspects surrounding healthcare professionals. These factors are both negative causing a rejection of the vaccine and positive causing engagement depending on the parents’ interpretation. Conclusion: The most prevalent factor for influencing a parents’ view on the MMR vaccination involves the healthcare provider and the relationship that is formed. When a trusting relationship is formed with a child-centered focus parents have more intention to vaccinate their child. Socioeconomic status and education have an inverse relationship with vaccine intentions indicating that an increase in recourses provides a more vaccine critical view. Acknowledging this information can make healthcare professionals aware of their personal influence on this decision. Future research should be aimed at linking the factors that influence decisions with the actual vaccine uptake rates to better understand this association. Keywords: Vaccination, MMR, Decision Making, Appraisa

Transport dynamics of ultracold atoms in a triple-well transistor-like potential

The transport of atoms is experimentally studied in a transistor-like triple-well potential consisting of a narrow gate well surrounded by source and drain wells. Atoms are initially loaded into the source well with pre-determined temperature and chemical potential. Energetic atoms flow from the source, across the gate, and into the drain where they are removed using a resonant light beam. The manifestation of atom-atom interactions and dissipation is evidenced by a rapid population growth in the initially vacant gate well. The transport dynamics are shown to depend strongly on a feedback parameter determined by the relative heights of the two barriers forming the gate region. For a range of feedback parameter values, experiments establish that the gate atoms develop a larger chemical potential and lower temperature than those in the source.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in NJ

Comparing Weblogs to Threaded Discussion Tools in Online Educational Contexts.

Weblogs or blogs are being heralded as the “next big thing” in education. In this article we examine the advantages and disadvantages of this form of Internet-based interaction using the Community of Inquiry model with its focus on social, cognitive and teaching presences. We conclude that blogging has distinct advantages over more common threaded discussion in its support of style, ownership and identity, and its public nature may enhance resolution phases of cognitive presence. However, its lack of safety and the current inefficiencies of linking and threading messages present greater challenges than the more familiar threaded discussion or email list. Perhaps the blog’s greatest relative advantage is for non formal and open education that takes learning beyond the traditional course

The downside of looking like a leader: power, nonverbal confidence, and participative decision-making

An abundance of evidence suggests that exhibiting a confident nonverbal demeanor helps individuals ascend social hierarchies. The current research examines some of the implications of having individuals in positions of power who exhibit such nonverbal confidence. Three studies examined dyads that worked together on decision-making tasks. It was found that people participated less in a discussion when they interacted with a powerful individual who exhibited confidence than when a powerful individual did not exhibit confidence. Moreover, people who interacted with a confident powerful individual participated less because they viewed that individual to be more competent. People even deferred to the confident powerful individual's opinions when that individual was wrong, leading to suboptimal joint decisions. Moderation analyses suggest that the powerful individual was able to mitigate the effects of a confident demeanor somewhat by also showing an open nonverbal demeanor

Undamped nonequilibrium dynamics of a nondegenerate Bose gas in a 3D isotropic trap

We investigate anomalous damping of the monopole mode of a non-degenerate 3D Bose gas under isotropic harmonic confinement as recently reported by the JILA TOP trap experiment [D. S. Lob- ser, A. E. S. Barentine, E. A. Cornell, and H. J. Lewandowski (in preparation)]. Given a realistic confining potential, we develop a model for studying collective modes that includes the effects of anharmonic corrections to a harmonic potential. By studying the influence of these trap anharmonicities throughout a range of temperatures and collisional regimes, we find that the damping is caused by the joint mechanisms of dephasing and collisional relaxation. Furthermore, the model is complimented by Monte Carlo simulations which are in fair agreement with data from the JILA experiment.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure