Mood, Attention, and the Aha! Moment

Although research has generally shown that positive affect broadens attentional scope and enhances creativity, recent evidence suggests that the mood-attention relationship depends on the present dominant attentional focus. The current research seeks to extend these findings to the ability to solve insight problems. Undergraduates were primed to focus globally or locally and induced with a mood before completing insight problems. Contrary to past research, participants primed with a local, as opposed to global, focus of attention solved significantly more insight problems. There was no significant mood-attention interaction on insight problem-solving ability. This suggests that convergent thinking may play as substantial a role as divergent thinking in insight problem solving. Moreover, at least in the realm of insight, mood does not act as a signal that determines if a dominant attentional focus is acted upon or not

Karektor guru pendidikan khas aliran kemahiran berlandaskan nilai retorik dari perspektif pelajar pendidikan khas masalah pendengaran di Malaysia

Latar Belakang: Pendidikan Khas di Malaysia adalah satu usaha yang berterusan untuk melahirkan insan yang berkemahiran, berpandangan jauh, berupaya, beriman, berdikari, mampu merancang dan menguruskan kehidupan harian serta menyedari potensi diri sendiri yang selaras dengan Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan. Aliran pendidikan teknikal dan vokasional juga tidak dikecualikan pelajar yang mempunyai keperluan khas. Oleh itu, guru pendidikan khas aliran kemahiran harus mempunyai karektor yang istimewa untuk mendidik pelajar golongan ini. Namun begitu, masih belum wujudnya satu model standard guru pendidikan khas terutamanya aliran kemahiran. Objektif: Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti tahap penerapan elemen dan dimensi nilai retorik dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran guru aliran kemahiran bagi pelajar pendidikan khas masalah pendengaran. Keputusan: Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan penerapan elemen nilai retorik ethos dan logos dalam kalangan guru berada pada tahap tinggi, diikuti dengan pathos pada tahap sederhana. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan penerapan nilai retorik bagi kebanyakan dimensi pada tahap tinggi, hanya dimensi perasaan dan visualisasi pada tahap sederhana. Kesimpulan: Umumnyaa, guru pendidikan khas aliran kemahiran telah menerapkan nilai retorik pada tahap yang tinggi. Setiap guru digalak untuk menguasai nilai retorik supaya dapat membantu para pelajar menerokai ilmu pengetahuan yang disampaikan oleh mereka dengan berkesan dan seterusnya memberi impak yang positif terhadap pencapaian pelajar

The readiness among the polytechnic engineering and non-engineering lecturers towards implementation of 4C in teaching

The paper discusses the readiness level of the 4C polytechnics lecturer (creative, critical, communication & collaboration) from the cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains. By using questionnaires as an instrument, this research employed the survey as research design. A total of 332 lecturers in polytechnics were randomly selected randomly as respondents. The results show that polytechnic lecturers tend to have a high level of readiness for 4C for all three domains. Findings also show that, except for the psychomotor and affective domain, there is no substantial difference in cognitive domain for 4C between engineering and non-engineering lecturers. In short, the preparation of 4C skills among the polytechnic lecturers is necessary to ensure that graduates are successful in today's workplace

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ‘ECO-FRIENDLY’ CONCRETE USING SILICA FUME WITH HIGH ECONOMIC VALUES

The world’s yearly cement production of 2 billion tons emits about 7% of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Producing a ton of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) produces a ton of CO2. In concrete production, OPC should not only be considered as the main high strength contributor. Aggregate gradings and types of admixtures should be taken into serious consideration. Major concrete issues such as pre-structural deterioration, durability in marine environment and natural resources depletion should be concerned. Silica Fume (SF), the by-products of metal industries attracts the attention of many parties. SF abundance availability has become an environmental issue but being a potential high strength contributor has attracted many parties into applying its application into the concrete technology and construction industry. This research is to produce concrete that is high performance and high strength from 50MPa-80MPa having the ‘Eco-Green’ characteristics. The research was conducted using the Trial Laboratory Test method. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses were conducted to analyze the chemical compositions of OPC and SF. SF is then added 5% and 10% into 2 types of aggregate mixes namely ‘Designed’ and ‘As-supplied’ with fixed 0.5w/c. Excel worksheets were produced to determine the cement efficiency and cost effectiveness. It is concluded that by adding SF, the strength of concrete has increase by 15%-20%. With comparisons from other research, cement consumption is reduced by 15%-20%. CO2 emissions were reduced by 15%-20%, energy efficient during production and have enhanced durability. This can be justified from Excel worksheets produced. OPC content is not the main contributor to the high strength of concrete. This is part of an effort to produce the ideal building material that delivers many positive traits

Cryptococcal infection of the ventriculoperitoneal shunt in an immunocompetent patient

Patient: Male, 52 Final Diagnosis: Cryptococcal ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection Symptoms: Confusion • fever • Lethargy Medication: Amphotericin B • Flucytosine Clinical Procedure: Ventriculoperitoneal shunt removal Specialty: Infectious disease OBJECTIVE: Rare disease BACKGROUND: Ventriculoperitoneal shunting is an effective treatment for hydrocephalus. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) infection is a common complication. Cryptococcus neoformans as an implicated organism is rare. In this report, we describe a patient with cryptococcal VPS infection. CASE REPORT: A 52-year-old male with normal pressure hydrocephalus, status post implantation of VPS one year prior to the presentation; who was admitted with a fever, lethargy and confusion for three days. He was treated empirically with intravenous cefepime and vancomycin for VPS infection. The CSF analysis from both the lumbar puncture and the VPS was significant for a low white blood count, low glucose and high protein. Other work-up including India ink and cryptococcal antigen was unrevealing. He remained febrile despite antibiotic treatment for 5 days. The CSF from the shunt was sent for analysis again and it demonstrated similar results from the prior study, but the culture was now positive for Cryptococcus neoformans. The patient was started on oral flucytosine and intravenous liposomal amphotericin B. The VPS was removed and an externalized ventricular catheter was placed. The patient showed rapid resolution of the symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: To date, there was a total of nine reported cases of cryptococcal VPS infection upon review of the literature. Our presenting case and the literature review highlight the difficulties in making an accurate diagnosis of cryptococcal shunt infection. There were case reports of false negative cryptococcal antigen tests with culture proven cryptococcal meningitis. The CSF culture from the shunt remains a mainstay for identifying cryptococcal shunt infection. Cryptococcal shunt infections are rare and early diagnosis and treatment is essential for patient management which involves shunt replacement with concomitant administration of intravenous antifungal medication. High clinical suspicion is crucial and shunt culture preferably from the valve is recommended

A Follow-Up Study On Drug Addicts After Treatment And Rehabilitation.

This is a prospective six months follow up study on drug addicts after treatment and rehabilitation. The main concern is to find out during this critical period, whether the addicts were able to stay off drugs or fall back to drugs and what happened during the process

The effects of worked examples presentation on sub-cognitive loads

One promising technique for helping students in fulfilling complex problem solving tasks is through learning with worked example. Although worked example approach is the most prominent technique discussed in the literature of cognitive load theory, there is still very little scientific understanding of managing the students’ sub-cognitive load, namely intrinsic, extraneous and germane load on different complexity of worked example approach especially in engineering domain. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the effects worked examples presentation on sub-cognitive loads among electrical engineering students. In this research, the worked examples were presented in three different sequences: (i) all examples were of same level of difficulty (ii) from difficult to easy example; (iii) from easy to difficult example. Data were collected from 82 students (Condition (i) =27; Condition (ii) = 34; condition (iii) = 21) of Diploma in Electrical Engineering Program at three selected polytechnics. The inventory tool of sub cognitive load were given to students after each teaching and learning session ends. The findings suggested that worked examples presented in easy to difficult format could be one of the approaches that is more efficient to manage students’ cognitive load and effective to be applied in engineering lesson

Complex Block Floating-Point Format with Box Encoding For Wordlength Reduction in Communication Systems

We propose a new complex block floating-point format to reduce implementation complexity. The new format achieves wordlength reduction by sharing an exponent across the block of samples, and uses box encoding for the shared exponent to reduce quantization error. Arithmetic operations are performed on blocks of samples at time, which can also reduce implementation complexity. For a case study of a baseband quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) transmitter and receiver, we quantify the tradeoffs in signal quality vs. implementation complexity using the new approach to represent IQ samples. Signal quality is measured using error vector magnitude (EVM) in the receiver, and implementation complexity is measured in terms of arithmetic complexity as well as memory allocation and memory input/output rates. The primary contributions of this paper are (1) a complex block floating-point format with box encoding of the shared exponent to reduce quantization error, (2) arithmetic operations using the new complex block floating-point format, and (3) a QAM transceiver case study to quantify signal quality vs. implementation complexity tradeoffs using the new format and arithmetic operations.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers 201

Conceptual design of equipment to excavate and transport regolith from the lunar maria

NASA hopes to have a manned lunar outpost completed by 2005. In order to establish the base, regolith must be excavated from the lunar surface. Regolith will be used as a source for life-supporting elements and as radiation shielding for the lunar outpost. The design team from the University of Texas at Austin designed excavation and transportation equipment for initial operations of the lunar base. The design team also characterized the elements to be found in the regolith and determined the power required to excavate regolith. The characterization of the soil was based on a literature review of lunar geography. Power requirements for excavation were developed by adapting terrestrial equations for excavation power requirements and adapting them to lunar soil conditions. The design of the excavation and transportation equipment was broken into three functions: loosing, collecting, and transporting. A scarifier was selected to loosen, a bucket was selected to collect, and a load-haul system was selected to transport. The functions are powered by a modular fuel cell powered vehicle that provides power for motion of the equipment

A glimpse into nursing discursive behaviour in interprofessional online learning

Background: The importance of interprofessional learning to provide quality patient care has resulted in the increasing use of asynchronous computer mediated conferencing in healthcare programmes within universities. The asynchronicity based on typed-written discussions in a virtual learning environment which provided flexibility in learning was used to increase opportunities for nurses and other allied healthcare professionals to participate in interprofessional learning in higher education. However, successful online learning relies on discursive practices in the virtual learning environment, embedded within discursive exchanges in practice are power relations in nursing language use; which had a negative impact on interprofessional learning and working relationships amongst nurses, between nurses and other allied healthcare professionals. This paper presents an analysis of the discursive practices of registered nurses in interprofessional learning based on asynchronous computer mediated conferencing. It aimed to ascertain if power relations were implicit in nursing language. Methods: Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was used to analyse eight hundred and ninety typewritten online messages created in a 100% text-based online learning module at Master’s level in a University in North England between September 2004 and September 2009. Although the messages were created by 9 registered nurses and 4 other allied healthcare professionals undertaking interprofessional learning to learn about the issues surrounding e-learning in healthcare settings, this paper is part of a larger study focused on the messages by the nurses. Results: Nurses’ messages tended to appear as the first few responses in the discussion threads and their language was formal and objectifying. The genres resembled those found either in written assignment within higher education or in nursing documentation within practice. The virtual learning environment was an alternative social space for clinical practice where dominance of nurses was created, maintained and reinforced. Conclusions: Existing literature highlighted the incidents of problematic issues of interprofessional learning. In contrast, this paper explains the way nurses, through discursive practices, construct themselves in relation to their nursing and allied healthcare colleagues. Nurses need to be aware of the power-relations embedded in their language use and future research could usefully focus on the discursive aspect of interprofessional learning