"Distracters" do not always distract : Visual working memory for angry faces is enhanced by incidental emotional words.

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

What works for whom and in which circumstances? : a realist evaluation of a complex intervention for pregnant women with obesity

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Health.[Background] Maternal obesity (BMI≥30kg/m²) is a global public health concern, impacting negatively on the health of women and their babies. Women who are obese are more likely than women of normal weight (BMI<25kg/m²) to gain excessive weight during pregnancy, increasing their risk of adverse outcomes. Evidence supports the view that gestational weight gain can be influenced through lifestyle intervention, but few antenatal services with this specific aim exist in Australia. This study describes a realist evaluation of a complex healthcare intervention designed to support obese women to achieve a healthy weight gain during pregnancy. [Setting] The intervention was introduced simultaneously in 2 locations in Sydney, Australia and these provided comparative case studies for the evaluation. Antenatal care was provided in a group setting, and focussed on supporting obese pregnant women to achieve a ‘healthy’ gestational weight during pregnancy, according to the Institute of Medicine gestational weight gain guidelines. [Design] A theory-driven evaluation approach, employing the realist evaluation framework, was used to develop theory around what worked for whom and in which circumstances, for clinicians, managers and women who participated in the intervention. The intervention strategies were supported by initial theory (self-efficacy), described by Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) configurations. These configurations were examined and refined during analysis, enabling the development of middle range theory. [Methods] A mixed method approach was utilised, employing both quantitative and qualitative data. The analysis involved a two-phase sequential process; comparative analysis followed by thematic analysis. [Findings] The findings highlighted that context has a strong influence on outcomes, and that unseen mechanisms can act as both barriers and enablers. Self-efficacy does play an important part in predicting positive gestational weight gain behaviour, for both clinicians and obese pregnant women. However, the refined theory underpinning the intervention was more complex than originally hypothesised. A theoretical model was developed to describe the interplay between intention, ability and opportunity in predicting individuals’ response to the intervention and the possibility of change. The Theory of Planned Behaviour and Social Learning Theory are the middle range theories underpinning this model. [Implications for practice] Group antenatal care designed to support women to achieve a healthy gestational weight gain has not previously been identified as an intervention to address the risks presented by maternal obesity. The theoretical model developed through the process of realist evaluation highlights key features that would enable a similar intervention to ‘work’ in an alternative setting

Angry expressions strengthen the encoding and maintenance of face identity representations in visual working memory

This work was funded by a BBSRC grant (BB/G021538/2) to all authors.Peer reviewedPreprin

Circulation, stratification and seamounts in the Southwest Indian Ocean

Circulation in the vicinity of six seamounts along the Southwest Indian Ridge was studied as part of a multidisciplinary survey in November 2009. Examination of altimetric data shows that several of the seamounts lie in the area of slow mean westward flow between the southern tip of Madagascar (25 °S) and the Agulhas Return Current (ARC) flowing eastward between 37–40 °S. The mean westward drift of mesoscale features was 4.1±0.9 cm s−1. Integrated between Madagascar and 37 °S, this westward drift can account for 50 Sv (1 Sv=106m3s−1), which, added to 25 Sv of southward flow past Madagascar, is sufficient to account for the total Agulhas Current transport of 70±21 Sv. The transport of the ARC was also measured, at two longitudes, down to 2000 m. Combined with earlier crossings of the ARC in 1986 and 1995, the full depth transport of the ARC is estimated at 71–85 Sv at longitudes 40–50 °E, indicating that the Agulhas Current then ARC transport continues unreduced as far as 50 °E before beginning to recirculate in the Southwest Indian Ocean subtropical gyre. The primary control on the circulation near each seamount was its position relative to any mesoscale eddy at the time of the survey. Melville lay on the flank of a cyclonic eddy that had broken off the ARC and was propagating west before remerging with the next meander of the ARC. Nearby Sapmer, on the other hand, was in the centre of an anticyclonic eddy, resulting in very weak stratification over the seamount at the time of the survey. Middle of What lies most often on the northern flank of the ARC, in strong currents, but was at the time of the survey near the edge of the same eddy as Sapmer. Coral, in the Subtropical Front south of the ARC, was in waters much colder, fresher, denser and more oxygenated than all the other seamounts. Walter was close to the path of eddies propagating southwest from east of Madagascar, while Atlantis, the furthest east and north seamount, experienced the weakest eddy currents

Born in the USA: Exceptionalism in Maternity Care Organisation Among High-Income Countries

In lay terms, childbirth is regarded as a purely biological event: what is more natural than birth and death? On the other hand, social scientists have long understood that \'natural\' events are socially structured. In the case of birth, sociologists have examined the social and cultural shaping of its timing, outcome, and the organization of care throughout the perinatal period. Continuing in this tradition, we examine the peculiar social design of birth in the United States of America, contrasting this design with the ways birth is organised in Europe. We begin by showing how several key characteristics of the US health care system – including its inherent social inequality, its high level of medicalisation, and the substantial influence of private medical practice and insurance companies – influence the organization of maternity care there. We then explore how cultural characteristics of American society – its emphasis on individuality, the influence of moral conservatism in US politics, and the ease with which ordinary people take court action (the so-called \'litigation culture\') – shape the delivery of care at birth. We conclude with a consideration of the implications of US maternity care exceptionalism for comparative sociological analysis.Pregnancy, Comparative Studies, Exceptionalism, United States, Midwifery, Maternity Care, Birth

Incentive value and spatial certainty combine additively to determine visual priorities

How does the brain combine information predictive of the value of a visually guided task (incentive value) with information predictive of where task-relevant stimuli may occur (spatial certainty)? Human behavioural evidence indicates that these two predictions may be combined additively to bias visual selection (Additive Hypothesis), whereas neuroeconomic studies posit that they may be multiplicatively combined (Expected Value Hypothesis). We sought to adjudicate between these two alternatives. Participants viewed two coloured placeholders that specified the potential value of correctly identifying an imminent letter target if it appeared in that placeholder. Then, prior to the target’s presentation, an endogenous spatial cue was presented indicating the target’s more likely location. Spatial cues were parametricallymanipulated with regard to the information gained (in bits). Across two experiments, performance was better for targets appearing in high versus low value placeholders and better when targets appeared in validly cued locations. Interestingly, as shown with a Bayesian model selection approach, these effects did not interact, clearly supporting the Additive Hypothesis. Even when conditions were adjusted to increase the optimality of a multiplicative operation, support for it remained. These findings refute recent theories that expected value computations are the singular mechanism driving the deployment of endogenous spatial attention. Instead, incentive value and spatial certainty seem to act independently to influence visual selection

Classroom and the Cloze Procedure: Interaction in Imagery

The paper will give the background research concerning cloze techniques, detail the steps teachers would follow to use Interactive Cloze, report behavioral observations within the classroom setting, and indicate direction for research into the efficacy of this procedure

Introduction

This edition of University of Dayton Review contains the revisions of papers read at the 16th annual Philosophy Colloquium on the theme Aristotle\u27s Ethics and Metaphysics. Six papers address issues in Aristotle\u27s ethics; six address issues in his metaphysics. We are grateful to colloquium presenters for permission to publish these papers as a whole. We especially thank the editors of Philosophical Topics for permission to use portions of materials appearing in Alan Code\u27s paper, and the editors of Classical Quarterly for permission to use the paper of Christopher Shields published in the Classical Quarterly, N.S. 38 (1988), 140-149. Tim Maudlin\u27s paper is a revision of material to be published in a larger work in the philosophy of science and appears with the author\u27s and editors\u27 permission. Regrettably, not all of the papers could be made available for publication at this time. The papers of Lynne Spellman and Randall R. Curren have been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of the History of Philosophy Quarterly. Stephen White\u27s paper is to appear elsewhere, and Alfonso Gomez-Lobo\u27s paper is being revised

Young women's accounts of factors influencing their use and non-use of emergency contraception: in-depth interview study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore young women's accounts of their use and non-use of emergency contraception. DESIGN: Qualitative study using in-depth interviews. PARTICIPANTS: 30 women aged 16-25; participants from socially deprived inner city areas were specifically included. SETTING: Community, service, and educational settings in England. RESULTS: Young women's accounts of their non-use of emergency contraception principally concerned evaluations of the risk conferred by different contraceptive behaviours, their evaluations of themselves in needing emergency contraception, and personal difficulties in asking for emergency contraception. CONCLUSIONS: The attitudes and concerns of young women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, may make them less able or willing than others to take advantage of recent increases in access to emergency contraception. Interventions that aim to increase the use of emergency contraception need to address the factors that influence young women's non-use of emergency contraception