An Enactive Theory of Need Satisfaction

In this paper, based on the predictive processing approach to cognition, an enactive theory of need satisfaction is discussed. The theory can be seen as a first step towards a computational cognitive model of need satisfaction

Developing ODP student placements

In a similar way to nursing and other health professions, elements of the education of operating department practitioners (ODPs) can only be contextualised by clinical practice involvement (Stockhausen and Strutt, 2005; Higginson, 2006; Morgan, 2006). The importance of high-quality placement experiences for all UK health professions is widely acknowledged (Quality Assurance Agency, 2001). Prior to 2009, students on the Diploma in Higher Education ODP programme undertook four clinical placements in the same Trust or organisation. At the time of the project there was a shortfall in the number of placements available and, although the university explored placing students in different clinical areas, such as private healthcare providers and new areas in the NHS, none could provide the full learning experience for students to achieve the required competencies. The course team developed a system that uses placements in a variety of settings and ensures students can gain the required outcomes. The new approach involves auditing for individual placements, instead of for the full course duration. Students are now informed throughout recruitment and selection events that they should be undertaking placements in a minimum of three different organisations. Students now move to a different organisation with every experience, to gain a variety of clinical knowledge. This has resulted in the greater use of clinical placements and the development of new areas for students to gain experience. The benefits of students’ experiences have increased, as they can develop skills and understanding of the ODP role from different perspectives

Validating an adapted questionnaire to measure belongingness of medical students in clinical settings

Introduction: Belongingness is a key factor that influences learner development and wellbeing, but no previous research has been performed to evaluate perceived belongingness in medical students whilst on their placements. Method: The Belongingness Scale-Clinical Placement Experience (BES-CPE) for nursing students was adapted for use with medical students. Following a face validity assessment, 490 undergraduate medical students in years three to five at a UK university were invited to participate and 302 completed the adapted questionnaire. The factor structure was explored using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: A three-component structure was identified (Esteem, Connectedness, and Efficacy), which was aligned to the original theoretical model underpinning the scale, and the instrument had high internal consistency. Four items were discarded and the final adapted version had a total of 30. Conclusions: The adapted BES-CPE instrument for medical students in our sample of UK undergraduate medical students had an appropriate factor structure and high internal consistency. This context-specific instrument can be used for future research as a valid instrument to measure the role of belongingness in medical education and to support developing belongingness in medical students during clinical placements

Z teorija

The translated article analyzes the question of the features of self-transcending people. The transgressors are being compared to nontransgressors and 24 differences are presented.Pristatomame verstiniame straipsnyje nagrinėjamas save transcenduojančių (save peržengiančių) asmenų ypatumų klausimas. Peržengėjai lyginami su neperžengėjais ir pateikiama 24 jų skirtumai

Bullying and the need to belong: Early adolescents’ bullying-related behavior and the acceptance they desire and receive from particular classmates

Based on the notion that one of the motives underlying children's antisocial behavior is their need to belong to particular peers, it was examined how each of four types of bullying-related behavior would be related to the acceptance that 10 to 13-year-old children desired and received from same- and other-sex children with different bullying-related behavioral styles. Bullying-related behavior was assessed using a peer nomination procedure. Children rated the importance of being accepted by each particular classmate and their own acceptance of these same classmates. Among boys, antisocial involvement in bullying was related to a desire to be accepted by other antisocial boys and to actually being rejected by boys in general. Among girls, antisocial involvement in bullying was related to a desire to be accepted by boys in general. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2007

Supporting Worth Mapping with Sentence Completion

Expectations for design and evaluation approaches are set by the development practices within which they are used. Worth Centred Development (WCD) seeks to both shape and fit such practices. We report a study that combined two WCD approaches. Sentence completion gathered credible quantitative data on user values, which were used to identify relevant values and aversions of two player groups for an online gambling site. These values provided human value elements for a complementary WCD approach of worth mapping. Initial worth maps were extended in three workshops, which focused on outcomes and user experiences that could be better addressed in the current product and associated marketing materials. We describe how worth maps were prepared for, and presented in, workshops, and how product owners and associated business roles evaluated the combination of WCD approaches. Based on our experiences, we offer practical advice on this combinination

Use of a Social Marketing Campaign to Promote Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Low-Income Caregivers

Social marketing is a community and public health approach used in nutrition education that helps to complement programming. Researchers evaluated an eight-week social marketing campaign to promote healthy eating behaviors and encourage fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income caregivers. The campaign focused on the benefits of modeling healthy fruit and vegetable intake behaviors for caregivers of young children through television, radio, digital media, billboards, gas pump toppers, posters, and promotional materials. A survey was conducted to measure campaign awareness. Online data tracked digital reach, frequency, and total impressions. The main study findings were campaign awareness and correctly understanding the campaign’s tagline. We used descriptive analyses to evaluate the social marketing campaign. Data were collected by calling 7,802 phone numbers, 192 respondents agreed to participate in the baseline survey. Among those, 101 remembered seeing/hearing the campaign, and 70 agreed to complete the survey. Sixty-six out of 70 respondents correctly understood the campaign’s message. The campaign was effective in creating awareness of campaign messages. More than 50% of respondents recognized the campaign. Future studies should consider having pre-and post-test surveys, longer-term campaigns, and placing marketing ads at locations that “prompt” behavior change

Diversity, Dilemmas and Transformation in Post-Compulsory Education: an Introduction to the Special Issue on Work Based Research

As governments recognize the central place of post-compulsory education in regenerating and modernizing the economic and social fabric of society (BIS 2008), it is appropriate for us as educational researchers to question whether this recognition beckons a different role for research in post-compulsory education. Much of this research is work based, using a broad interpretation of this term, and the majority of articles received by this journal (though the proportion published is a lower one) reflect this balance. Work based research in education poses particular challenges for the researcher and the practitioner, whether the focus is practitioner research, in which case the dilemmas can centre on potential role conflict between practitioner and researcher roles, or whether the work based research is observational – analyzing others’ professional practice, in which case the dilemmas can centre on power relations between researcher and researched, the politics of research, and ethical questions around care for participants and the degree of their involvement or non-involvement in the total research enterprise. This article reviews the prospects for work based research in post-compulsory education and introduces the articles in this special issue

Cooperation and defection in ghetto

We consider ghetto as a community of people ruled against their will by an external power. Members of the community feel that their laws are broken. However, attempts to leave ghetto makes their situation worse. We discuss the relation of the ghetto inhabitants to the ruling power in context of their needs, organized according to the Maslow hierarchy. Decisions how to satisfy successive needs are undertaken in cooperation with or defection the ruling power. This issue allows to construct the tree of decisions and to adopt the pruning technique from the game theory. Dynamics of decisions can be described within the formalism of fundamental equations. The result is that the strategy of defection is stabilized by the estimated payoff.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Characterization of thioredoxin y, a new type of thioredoxin identified in the genome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

AbstractThe sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome revealed a multiplicity of thioredoxins (TRX), ubiquitous protein disulfide oxido-reductases. We have analyzed the TRX family in the genome of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and identified eight different thioredoxins for which we have cloned and sequenced the corresponding cDNAs. One of these TRXs represents a new type that we named TRX y. This most probably chloroplastic TRX is highly conserved in photosynthetic organisms. The biochemical characterization of the recombinant protein shows that it exhibits a thermal stability profile and specificity toward target enzymes completely different from those of TRXs characterized so far