Lexical Frequency Effects in Dual-Task Picture Naming

Lexical frequency effects were examined in the context of the central bottleneck (CB) model of dual-task performance. Two dual-task experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, picture naming was the primary task and tone identification was secondary. Lexical frequency affected reaction time (RT) to both tasks similarly. In Experiment 2, task order was reversed, and, after controlling for variables including name and image agreement, frequency affected naming RT similarly at all levels of stimulus onset asynchrony. These results are consistent with prior studies localizing frequency effects in word naming to the central, response selection stage of the CB model

Strategic sourcing:a combined QFD and AHP approach in manufacturing

Purpose – This paper aims to develop an integrated analytical approach, combining quality function deployment (QFD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, to enhance the effectiveness of sourcing decisions. Design/methodology/approach – In the approach, QFD is used to translate the company stakeholder requirements into multiple evaluating factors for supplier selection, which are used to benchmark the suppliers. AHP is used to determine the importance of evaluating factors and preference of each supplier with respect to each selection criterion. Findings – The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a UK-based automobile manufacturing company. With QFD, the evaluating factors are related to the strategic intent of the company through the involvement of concerned stakeholders. This ensures successful strategic sourcing. The application of AHP ensures consistent supplier performance measurement using benchmarking approach. Research limitations/implications – The proposed integrated approach can be principally adopted in other decision-making scenarios for effective management of the supply chain. Practical implications – The proposed integrated approach can be used as a group-based decision support system for supplier selection, in which all relevant stakeholders are involved to identify various quantitative and qualitative evaluating criteria, and their importance. Originality/value – Various approaches that can deal with multiple and conflicting criteria have been adopted for the supplier selection. However, they fail to consider the impact of business objectives and the requirements of company stakeholders in the identification of evaluating criteria for strategic supplier selection. The proposed integrated approach outranks the conventional approaches to supplier selection and supplier performance measurement because the sourcing strategy and supplier selection are derived from the corporate/business strategy

Mechanisms affecting the implementation of a national antimicrobial stewardship programme; multi-professional perspectives explained using normalisation process theory.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) describes activities concerned with safe-guarding antibiotics for the future, reducing drivers for the major global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), whereby antibiotics are less effective in preventing and treating infections. Appropriate antibiotic prescribing is central to AMS. Whilst previous studies have explored the effectiveness of specific AMS interventions, largely from uni-professional perspectives, our literature search could not find any existing evidence evaluating the processes of implementing an integrated national AMS programme from multi-professional perspectives. Methods: This study sought to explain mechanisms affecting the implementation of a national antimicrobial stewardship programme, from multi-professional perspectives. Data collection involved in-depth qualitative telephone interviews with 27 implementation lead clinicians from 14/15 Scottish Health Boards and 15 focus groups with doctors, nurses and clinical pharmacists (n = 72) from five Health Boards, purposively selected for reported prescribing variation. Data was first thematically analysed, barriers and enablers were then categorised, and Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) was used as an interpretive lens to explain mechanisms affecting the implementation process. Analysis addressed the NPT questions 'which group of actors have which problems, in which domains, and what sort of problems impact on the normalisation of AMS into everyday hospital practice'. Results: Results indicated that major barriers relate to organisational context and resource availability. AMS had coherence for implementation leads and prescribing doctors; less so for consultants and nurses who may not access training. Conflicting priorities made obtaining buy-in from some consultants difficult; limited role perceptions meant few nurses or clinical pharmacists engaged with AMS. Collective individual and team action to implement AMS could be constrained by lack of medical continuity and hierarchical relationships. Reflexive monitoring based on audit results was limited by the capacity of AMS Leads to provide direct feedback to practitioners. Conclusions: This study provides original evidence of barriers and enablers to the implementation of a national AMS programme, from multi-professional, multi-organisational perspectives. The use of a robust theoretical framework (NPT) added methodological rigour to the findings. Our results are of international significance to healthcare policy makers and practitioners seeking to strengthen the sustainable implementation of hospital AMS programmes in comparable contexts

Renovasculopathies of nephrosclerosis in relation to atherosclerosis at ages 25 to 54 years

Renovasculopathies of nephrosclerosis in relation to atherosclerosis at ages 25 to 54 years. Renovasculopathies of hypertension include arteriolar hyalinization and arterial intimal fibroplasia. Atherosclerotic features of coronary arteries and aorta include fatty streaks and raised lesions. Data were obtained from a series of 573 autopsies of black and Caucasian males and females aged 25 to 54 years, who died of violent and natural causes unrelated to atherosclerosis. Analysis showed positive correlations of coronary and aortic raised lesions with arteriolar hyalinization. Arterial intimal fibroplasia correlated positively with raised lesions in the aorta but only weakly and inconsistently in the coronary arteries. The extent of fatty streaks in the coronaries, as in the aorta, did not correlate with either form of renovasculopathy. These results provide evidence that hyalinization of renal arterioles may be a marker for young people who have the most advanced coronary atherosclerosis, and who therefore have an early start upon a course toward coronary heart disease later in life

Antimicrobial point prevalence surveys in two Ghanaian hospitals : opportunities for antimicrobial stewardship

Background: Improved knowledge regarding antimicrobial use in Ghana is urgently needed to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This includes point prevalence studies (PPS) in hospitals. Objectives were: (i) provide baseline data in two hospitals (Keta Municipal Hospital – KMH and Ghana Police Hospital – GPH) and identify priorities for improvement; (ii) assess the feasibility of conducting PPS; (iii) compare results with others. Methods: Standard PPS design using the Global PPS paper forms, subsequently transferred to their template. Training undertaken by the Scottish team. Quality indicators included rationale for use; stop and review dates, and guideline compliance. Results: Prevalence of antibiotic use was 65.0% in GPH and 82.0% in KMH. Penicillins and other beta-lactam antibiotics were the most prescribed in both hospitals, with third generation cephalosporins mainly used in GPH. Antibiotic treatment was mainly empirical and commonly administered intravenously (IV), duration was generally short with timely oral switching, and infections were mainly community acquired. Encouragingly, good documentation of the indications for antibiotic use in both hospitals and 50.0-66.0% guideline compliance (although for many indications no guideline existed). In addition, almost all prescribed antibiotics had stop dates and there appeared no missed doses. The duration of use for surgical prophylaxis was generally more than one day (69.0% in GPH and 77.0% in KMH). Conclusions: These two hospitals were the first in Ghana to use the Global PPS system. We found the PPS was feasible and relatively rapid, achieved with limited training. Targets for improvement identified included broad-spectrum antibiotics, duration of treatment and high empiric use

High-Speed Operation of Interband Cascade Lasers

Optical sources operating in the atmospheric window of 3-5 microns are of particular interest for the development of free-space optical communication link. It is more advantageous to operate the free-space optical communication link in 3-5-microns atmospheric transmission window than at the telecom wavelength of 1.5 m due to lower optical scattering, scintillation, and background radiation. However, the realization of optical communications at the longer wavelength has encountered significant difficulties due to lack of adequate optical sources and detectors operating in the desirable wavelength regions. Interband Cascade (IC) lasers are novel semiconductor lasers that have a great potential for the realization of high-power, room-temperature optical sources in the 3-5-microns wavelength region, yet no experimental work, until this one, was done on high-speed direct modulation of IC lasers. Here, highspeed interband cascade laser, operating at wavelength 3.0 m, has been developed and the first direct measurement of the laser modulation bandwidth has been performed using a unique, highspeed quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP). The developed laser has modulation bandwidth exceeding 3 GHz. This constitutes a significant increase of the IC laser modulation bandwidth over currently existing devices. This result has demonstrated suitability of IC lasers as a mid-IR light source for multi-GHz free-space optical communications link

Is the digital rectal exam any good as a prostate cancer screening test?

© The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/There is no shortage of references in popular culture to the prostate examination, with many a laugh built on the punchline of the finger up the bum. Interestingly, while cervical, breast, or bowel screening share barriers to uptake around the intimacy of the examination, ‘ick-factor’, or cultural taboos, they have never become comedy tropes — reflecting the uniquely emasculating perception of the rectal examination.Peer reviewe

Dual-Task Lexical Processing in the Psychological Refractory Period Method: Evidence for Capacity Sharing

The predictions of the central bottleneck and resource allocation models of dual-task performance were examined in a psychological refractory period dual-task experiment. Cloze picture-naming was the primary task and the secondary task was either tone identification or lexical category identification. The nature of the secondary task significantly affected primary task naming RTs and stimulus onset asynchrony affected naming RTs only when the secondary task was lexical categorization. These findings are more consistent with the resource model than the bottleneck model

The Golden Age of European Cabaret

Program for the second annual RISD Cabaret held in the Cellar in the Pit. Design and layout by Anne Johnson, Susan Sellers and Georgie Stout.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_cabaret_programs/1001/thumbnail.jp