Interactive Gaming Reduces Experimental Pain With or Without a Head Mounted Display

While virtual reality environments have been shown to reduce pain, the precise mechanism that produces the pain attenuating effect has not been established. It has been suggested that it may be the ability to command attentional resources with the use of head mounted displays (HMDs) or the interactivity of the environment. Two experiments compared participants’ pain ratings to high and low levels of electrical stimulation while engaging in interactive gaming with an HMD. In the first, gaming with the HMD was compared to a positive emotion induction condition; and in the second experiment the HMD was compared to a condition in which the game was projected onto a wall. Interactive gaming significantly reduced numerical ratings of painful stimuli when compared to the baseline and affect condition. However, when the two gaming conditions were directly compared, they equally reduced participants’ pain ratings. These data are consistent with past research showing that interactive gaming can attenuate experimentally induced pain and its effects are comparable whether presented in a head mounted display or projected on a wall

Access by Part-Time Students: A Question of Openness in Canadian Universities

Canadian universities employ a variety of methods to increase access, especially for adult students unable to attend regular day classes because of employment or family commitments. How effective are such methods? Is the large increase in part-time enrolment during the past twenty-five years due to such policies and practices? This study examines the evening credit programs of seven middle-size to large universities. Such programs can be viewed as one specific method by which institutions attempt to implement the general organizational value of "openness. " In particular, an effort is made to trace the effect on access of two different approaches to the internal organization and administration of evening sessions at the institutions studied. Policies and practices which facilitate part-time study are also discussed. The paper is exploratory and does not attempt to offer definitive conclusions. Nonetheless, suggestions are offered for further research and for institutional practices which promote part-time study. The issue of accessibility for part-time students is expected to become of increasing concern in the light of predictions that the traditional student body — those 18-22 years old who predominantly register for full-time study in daytime courses — will decline in the 1990s. Additionally, universities will be required to accommodate large numbers of adult learners returning for further studies and training as a lifelong learn- ing or recurrent education model is developed by society. The importance of such a model continues to receive attention at both federal and provincial levels in Canada.Les établissments universitaires canadiens utilisent divers moyens pour pro-mouvoir l'accessibilité aux études, particulièrement auprès des clientèles adultes qui à cause d'obligations professionnelles ou familiales ne peuvent bénéficier de la programmation académique de jour. Ces méthodes sont-elles efficaces? Et l'augmentation massive des clientèles à temps partiel résulte-t'elle des efforts délibérés de promotion mis en place par les établissements? Cette étude examine les programmes crédités offerts en soirée par sept (7) établissements de moyenne et de grande taille. On suggère comme hypothèse que ces programmes représent pour les établissements un moyen de promouvoir la valeur organisationelle "d'ouverture " aux clientèles non traditionnelles. En particulier, on tente d'évaluer les effets sur l'accessibilité de deux modèles d'organisation interne et d'administration des programmes du soir observés dans ces institutions. Les politiques générales et les pratiques de promotion des études à temps partiel sont également abordées. Cette analyse se veut avant tout exploratoire et ne tente pas d'apporter des réponses définitives aux questions posées. Par ailleurs, elle permet de suggérer certaines voies de recherche privilégées et certaines pratiques institutionelles visant à promouvoir les études à temps partiel

Sex-, Diet-, and Cancer-Dependent Epistatic Effects on Complex Traits in Mice

The genetic basis of quantitative traits such as body weight and obesity is complex, with several hundred quantitative trait loci (QTLs) known to affect these and related traits in humans and mice. It also has become increasingly evident that the single-locus effects of these QTLs vary considerably depending on factors such as the sex of the individuals and their dietary environment, and we were interested to know whether this context-dependency also applies to two-locus epistatic effects of QTLs as well. We therefore conducted a genome scan to search for epistatic effects on 13 different weight and adiposity traits in an F2 population of mice (created from an original intercross of the FVB strain with M16i, a polygenic obesity model) that were fed either a control or a high-fat diet and half of which harbored a transgene (PyMT) that caused the development of metastatic mammary cancer. We used a conventional interval mapping approach with SNPs to scan all 19 autosomes, and found extensive epistasis affecting all of these traits. More importantly, we also discovered that the majority of these epistatic effects exhibited significant interactions with sex, diet, and/or presence of PyMT. Analysis of these interactions showed that many of them appeared to involve QTLs previously identified as affecting these traits, but whose single-locus effects were variously modified by two-locus epistatic effects of other QTLs depending on the sex, diet, or PyMT environment. It was concluded that this context-dependency of epistatic effects is an important component of the genetic architecture of complex traits such as those contributing to weight and obesity

Study of the Effects of the Enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Standards on the Industrial Arts Program of Oklahoma Public Schools

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the adoption and enforcement of "The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970" on the Industrial Arts Program of Oklahoma Public Schools. At the present time, there is no occupational safety and health standards covering state agencies of Oklahoma. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the present safety situation and conditions of the Industrial Arts School Shops. The primary question of the questionnaire covered the areas that would be effected by the enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules. Questionnaires were sent to 233 Oklahoma Public School Industrial Arts Teachers.Industrial Arts Educatio