Comparisons of Blog Engagement in the Professional World

The central idea of our project is focusing on the effects that companies have on the public through blog engagement. Companies we researched want to produce a blog in which the internal and external public can comment and produce their own opinions. We researched the comparisons between smaller businesses and larger corporations. We will be comparing Designer Desserts and Kernel Kones to Google and Apple. The importance of blogging is that while not as many people blog, social media is usually included on these blogs in order to gain better engagement for the public to voice their concerns and give feedback. Theoretically, blogging is not used as much as other tools such as social media to gain knowledge of the company. In order to collect data, we will have to analyze the companies we have chosen based on their reputation with the public and how often they use blogging to engage with the public, by going on their websites to find their blog posts. We have found that larger companies have a better blog engagement system because they have the specialized staff to maintain their blogs and keep up with the feedback responses. There is a growing need for companies to blog in a better way to engage with their followers

Influences on Pregnancy: An Exploration of Maternal Discrimination, an Alternative Model of Prenatal Care and Health Information Online

In the United States metrics of perinatal health lag far behind peer countries and is characterized by stark disparities. The studies that make up this dissertation seek to elucidate factors influencing perinatal health. The first and second chapters provide an introduction and extensive review of the literature of factors contributing to perinatal health with specific focus on discrimination and perinatal health; group prenatal care and digital pregnancy health information. The third chapter introduces the methodology to be used by each of the following studies. Subsequent chapters are formatted as individual manuscripts, each presenting background, methodology, results, and discussion. The fourth chapter (Manuscript 1) sought to explore pregnant persons intersectional experience of discrimination and the association with adverse perinatal health outcomes. This study was a secondary analysis of data collected in a randomized controlled trial of pregnant persons at a single practice (CRADLE study). Latent class analysis was used to identify distinct subgroups of discrimination experience based on patterns of response to Everyday Discrimination Scale items and between subgroup differences in rate of adverse perinatal health outcomes examined utilizing a BCH three-step approach. Four discrimination subgroups were identified among racial and ethnic groups. The general discrimination latent class was associated with elevated risk of postpartum depression symptoms (among Black and White participants) and low infant birthweight (among White participants) relative to the no discrimination latent class. No significant subgroup differences were observed among Hispanic participants. Findings demonstrate the importance of intersectional discrimination exposure in shaping perinatal health. The fifth chapter (Manuscript 2) applied a concurrent mixed methods approach in the examination of patient characteristics associated with group prenatal care and the exploration of patient experiences in group compared to individual prenatal care. This study was a secondary analysis of data collected in the CRADLE study, as well as patient interviews collected in a coordinated process evaluation. The association of patient sociodemographic, psychosocial and health characteristics with group prenatal care session attendance were examined using zero-inflated poison regression models. Thematic analysis of patient interviews was conducted. Varied patient characteristics were found to be associated with session attendance. Group prenatal care was identified to offer alternative opportunities for education, engagement, and peer support. Findings offer insight into model modifications, recruitment, and retention strategies. The sixth chapter (Manuscript 3) utilized topic modeling to describe topics of discussion in online pregnancy forums. Data was gathered from three active online pregnancy forums for a one-year period. Discussion threads were processed, converted to a document term matrix and Latent Dirichlet Allocation performed. Forty-six percent of threads were determined to be health related. The largest health-related topic categories included fertility, planning for delivery, miscarriage and pregnancy symptoms. Findings offer insight into dominant health related topics being discussed among online peer communities, potentially reflecting unmet information needs during pregnancy

Paid Sick Days Campaign and Toolkit for College Activism with CWEALF

This Community Action Gateway project team worked with the Connecticut Women\u27s Legal and Education Fund (CWEALF) on the paid sick days campaign and toolkit for college activism. They gathered data on the ways Hartford residents have been impacted by policies related to paid sick days and gathered names of people interested in joining CWEALF\u27s action network. They also created a toolkit that can be used by CWEALF to engage with more college students and help these students participate in legislative issues on and off campus

The effect of presentation level on spectral weights for sentences

Psychophysical data indicate that spectral weights tend to increase with increasing presentation level at high frequencies. The present study examined whether spectral weights for speech perception are similarly affected by presentation level. Stimuli were sentences filtered into five contiguous frequency bands and presented at each of two levels (75 and 95 dB sound pressure level [SPL]). For the highest band (2807–10 000 Hz), normal-hearing listeners' weights were higher for the higher presentation level. Weights for the 95-dB-SPL level resembled those previously estimated for hearing-impaired listeners tested at comparably high levels, suggesting that hearing loss itself may not play a large role in spectral weighting for a sentence recognition task

Commercial Airline Pilots\u27 Attitudinal Data on Controlled Rest in Position: A Qualitative Inquiry

Fatigue is a significant contributor to accidents in aviation, in commercial, private, and military aircraft, and is defined as “extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017, n.p.). Typical fatigue mitigation techniques include work and rest scheduling, obtaining required minimum rest before a flight, and pharmacological countermeasures (Caldwell & Caldwell, 2005; Caldwell, Mallis, Caldwell, Paul, Miller, & Neri, 2009). However, Controlled Rest in Position (CRIP), or in-flight sleep, may be another potential way to mitigate pilot fatigue. Prior research has investigated consumer perceptions relating to CRIP, revealing unfavorable perceptions (Winter, Carryl, & Rice, 2015). However, it is likely that pilots feel differently about CRIP owing to their experience with fatigue in the cockpit and their knowledge of standard aviation practices. The purpose of this study is to understand commercial airline pilots’ attitudes regarding controlled rest in position using a qualitative method and a phenomenological approach

Diffuse Gastric Ganglioneuromatosis: Novel Presentation of PTEN

Gastrointestinal ganglioneuromatous proliferations are rare, most often found in the colon, and are three types: polypoid ganglioneuromas, ganglioneuromatous polyposis, and diffuse ganglioneuromatosis. We present a case of diffuse ganglioneuromatosis in the posterior gastric wall in a nine-year-old female. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of diffuse ganglioneuromatosis located in the stomach. Only six cases of gastric ganglioneuromatous proliferations have previously been reported, two in English and none were diffuse ganglioneuromatosis. A diagnosis of diffuse ganglioneuromatosis is relevant for patient care because, unlike sporadic polypoid ganglioneuromas or ganglioneuromatous polyposis, most are syndromic. Diffuse ganglioneuromatosis is commonly associated with neurofibromatosis type 1, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b, and Cowden Syndrome, one of the phenotypes of PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome. The patient had the noted gastric diffuse ganglioneuromatosis, as well as other major and minor criteria for Cowden syndrome. Genetic testing revealed a novel frameshift mutation in the PTEN gene in the patient, her father, paternal aunt, and the aunt’s son who is a paternal first cousin of the patient

Cohort profile:The Scottish SHARE Mental Health (SHARE-MH) cohort - linkable survey, genetic and routinely collected data for mental health research

PURPOSE: The SHARE Mental Health (SHARE-MH) cohort was established to address the paucity of clinical and genetic data available for mental health research. The cohort brings together detailed mental health questionnaire responses, routinely collected electronic health data and genetic data to provide researchers with an unprecedented linkable dataset. This combination of data sources allows researchers to track mental health longitudinally, across multiple settings. It will be of interest to researchers investigating the genetic and environmental determinants of mental health, the experiences of those interacting with healthcare services, and the overlap between self-reported and clinically derived mental health outcomes.PARTICIPANTS: The cohort consists of individuals sampled from the Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE). To register for SHARE, individuals had to be over the age of 16 years and living in Scotland. Cohort participants were recruited by email and invited to take part in an online mental health survey. When signing up for SHARE, participants also provided written consent to the use of their electronic health records and genetic data-derived from spare blood samples-for research purposes.FINDINGS TO DATE: From 5 February 2021 to 27 November 2021, 9829 individuals completed a survey of various mental health topics, capturing information on symptoms, diagnoses, impact and treatment. Survey responses have been made linkable to electronic health records and genetic data using a single patient identifier. Linked data have been used to describe the cohort in terms of their demographics, self-reported mental health, inpatient and outpatient hospitalisations and dispensed prescriptions.FUTURE PLANS: The cohort will be improved through linkage to a broader variety of routinely collected data and to increasing amounts of genetic data obtained through blood sample diversion. We see the SHARE-MH cohort being used to drive forward novel areas of mental health research and to contribute to global efforts in psychiatric genetics.</p

Developing and evaluating online COVID-centric advance care planning training and information resources for nursing staff and family members in nursing homes:The necessary discussions study protocol

Background: Nursing home residents are typically older adults with high levels of chronic illness and impairment. As such, they are particularly susceptible to severe complications and mortality from COVID-19. Since all nursing home residents are at increased risk, nursing home care staff need to know what residents would want to happen should they become infected with COVID-19. This study aims to develop and evaluate advance care planning (ACP) COVID-centric online training and information resources for nursing home staff and family members of residents, to improve care at the end of life during a COVID-19 outbreak. Based on the findings we will develop implementation guidelines for nursing homes to ensure wider impact and application during the pandemic and beyond. Methods: The content of the training and information resources will be based on a rapid review of literature and guidance on ACP in the context of COVID-19 and consultation with the study expert reference group. An integrated communications company will then work alongside the research team to design the online training and information resources. To evaluate the resources, we will employ a multiple case study design where a nursing home (defined as an institutional setting in which nursing care is provided to older adults on-site 24 hours a day) will be the unit of analysis or ‘case’. The RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance) framework will guide the evaluation of implementation of the training and information resources. We will recruit and interview staff and family members from between 6-9 nursing homes across Northern Ireland, England and Scotland and gather quantitative data from a feedback survey included in the training and information resources. Discussion: The Necessary Discussions study is very timely given the challenging experiences of nursing homes, their staff, residents and their family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. It meets a key need and addresses an important gap in research and practice. The training and information resources will be ‘COVID-centric’, but they will also have a longstanding relevance for future ACP practice in UK care home

Using fNIRS to Identify Transparency- and Reliability-Sensitive Markers of Trust Across Multiple Timescales in Collaborative Human-Human-Agent Triads

Intelligent agents are rapidly evolving from assistants into teammates as they perform increasingly complex tasks. Successful human-agent teams leverage the computational power and sensory capabilities of automated agents while keeping the human operator's expectation consistent with the agent's ability. This helps prevent over-reliance on and under-utilization of the agent to optimize its effectiveness. Research at the intersection of human-computer interaction, social psychology, and neuroergonomics has identified trust as a governing factor of human-agent interactions that can be modulated to maintain an appropriate expectation. To achieve this calibration, trust can be monitored continuously and unobtrusively using neurophysiological sensors. While prior studies have demonstrated the potential of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a lightweight neuroimaging technology, in the prediction of social, cognitive, and affective states, few have successfully used it to measure complex social constructs like trust in artificial agents. Even fewer studies have examined the dynamics of hybrid teams of more than 1 human or 1 agent. We address this gap by developing a highly collaborative task that requires knowledge sharing within teams of 2 humans and 1 agent. Using brain data obtained with fNIRS sensors, we aim to identify brain regions sensitive to changes in agent behavior on a long- and short-term scale. We manipulated agent reliability and transparency while measuring trust, mental demand, team processes, and affect. Transparency and reliability levels are found to significantly affect trust in the agent, while transparency explanations do not impact mental demand. Reducing agent communication is shown to disrupt interpersonal trust and team cohesion, suggesting similar dynamics as human-human teams. Contrasts of General Linear Model analyses identify dorsal medial prefrontal cortex activation specific to assessing the agent's transparency explanations and characterize increases in mental demand as signaled by dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar activation. Short scale event-level data is analyzed to show that predicting whether an individual will trust the agent, with data from 15 s before their decision, is feasible with fNIRS data. Discussing our results, we identify targets and directions for future neuroergonomics research as a step toward building an intelligent trust-modulation system to optimize human-agent collaborations in real time. &nbsp;</p

Deconstruction of Holistic Rubrics into Analytic Rubrics for Large-Scale Assessments of Students’ Reasoning of Complex Science Concepts

Constructed responses can be used to assess the complexity of student thinking and can be evaluated using rubrics. The two most typical rubric types used are holistic and analytic. Holistic rubrics may be difficult to use with expert-level reasoning that has additive or overlapping language. In an attempt to unpack complexity in holistic rubrics at a large scale, we have developed a systematic approach called deconstruction. We define deconstruction as the process of converting a holistic rubric into defining individual conceptual components that can be used for analytic rubric development and application. These individual components can then be recombined into the holistic score which keeps true to the holistic rubric purpose, while maximizing the benefits and minimizing the shortcomings of each rubric type. This paper outlines the deconstruction process and presents a case study that shows defined concept definitions for a hierarchical holistic rubric developed for an undergraduate physiology-content reasoning context. These methods can be used as one way for assessment developers to unpack complex student reasoning, which may ultimately improve reliability and validation of assessments that are targeted at uncovering large-scale complex scientific reasoning. Accessed 398 times on https://pareonline.net from September 05, 2019 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right