HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS CASE STUDY: WHAT IS INFORMATION SYSTEMS?

Although the demand for professionals in the field of Information Systems continues to grow, attracting students into Information Systems programs is a challenge. Today’s high school students belong to Gen Z, one of the largest, most educated, and diverse generations. Because this group is just beginning to graduate high school and enter the workforce, understanding what influences their career choices and their perception of Information Systems is of great importance. This research investigates 237 high school students’ perceptions of Information Systems. The authors used a qualitative coding process to explain what influences them when considering classes or a career in Information Systems. Five categories emerged from the analysis: Occupation, Ambivalence, Situation, Self-Efficacy and Unspecified/Blank. These findings may provide insight into the career-making processes of current high school students and contribute to meeting the growing market demands for Information Systems professionals by identifying and promoting pathways into the field for a new generation of Information Systems professionals

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CYBERSECURITY: AN EXPLANATORY CASE STUDY

The need for additional cybersecurity experts is greater than ever before. Research has been conducted on how to increase the number of security specialists, improve cybersecurity curriculum, identify the needed skills of a cybersecurity professional, and overcome negative perceptions in organizations. It appears, however, there is limited research regarding perceptions of high school students that may prevent them from exploring this occupation. While there are undoubtedly many reasons students choose to pursue other occupations, this study examined 237 high school students at one of the highest performing secondary schools in the Mountain State Region of the United States in attempt to explain what perceptions influence a high school student’s choice to pursue a career in cybersecurity. The qualitative coding process produced seven unique categories. These key categories provide insight into the careermaking processes of secondary students regarding cybersecurity. Our findings also reveal significant gender differences in perceptions of the field

Assessment of data consistency through cascades of independently recurrent inference machines for fast and robust accelerated MRI reconstruction.

Health and self-regulatio

Lumbar position sense acuity during an electrical shock stressor

BACKGROUND: Optimal motor control of the spine depends on proprioceptive input as a prerequisite for co-ordination and the stability of the spine. Muscle spindles are known to play an important role in proprioception. Animal experiments suggest that an increase in sympathetic outflow can depress muscle spindle sensitivity. As the muscle spindle may be influenced by sympathetic modulation, we hypothesized that a state of high sympathetic activity as during mental stress would affect the proprioceptive output from the muscle spindles in the back muscles leading to alterations in proprioception and position sense acuity. The aim was to investigate the effect of mental stress, in this study the response to an electrical shock stressor, on position sense acuity in the rotational axis of the lumbar spine. METHODS: Passive and active position sense acuity in the rotational plane of the lumbar spine was investigated in the presence and absence of an electrical shock stressor in 14 healthy participants. An electrical shock-threat stressor lasting for approximately 12 minutes was used as imposed stressor to build up a strong anticipatory arousal: The participants were told that they were going to receive 8 painful electrical shocks however the participants never received the shocks. To quantify the level of physiological arousal and the level of sympathetic outflow continuous beat-to-beat changes in heart rate (beats*min(-1)) and systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure (mmHg) were measured. To quantify position sense acuity absolute error (AE) expressed in degrees was measured. Two-way analysis of variance with repeated measurements (subjects as random factor and treatments as fixed factors) was used to compare the different treatments. RESULTS: Significant increases were observed in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate during the stress sessions indicating elevated sympathetic activity (15, 14 and 10%, respectively). Despite pronounced changes in the sympathetic activity and subjective experiences of stress no changes were found in position sense acuity in the rotational plane of the lumbar spine in the presence of the electrical shock stressor compared to the control period. CONCLUSION: The present findings indicate that position sense acuity in the rotational plane of the spine was unaffected by the electrical shock stressor

Multiplicity dependence of the pion source in S + A collisions at the CERN SPS

The emission of pions from relativistic heavy-ion collisions of S + S, S + Ag and S + Pb at 200 GeV/nucleon is characterized using two-particle interferometry. The multiplicity dependence of the pion source parameters near mid-rapidity is studied. The transversal and longitudinal source parameters, $R_t$ and $R_l$, show a clear increase with the particle multiplicity. The multiplicity dependence is weaker than that expected from a simple model of a freeze-out at a constant density. % The transversal and longitudinal source parameters $R_t$ and $R_l$, show % a clear increase with the particle multiplicity, consistent with the model % of freeze-out at a constant density

Treatment decision-making and the added value of the general practitioner: A qualitative exploration of cancer patients' perspectives

OBJECTIVE: Cancer patients are increasingly involved in decision-making for cancer treatment. General practitioners' (GPs) support in this process is advocated. Therefore, GPs need to be aware of patients' treatment decision-making process and their potential role. We aim to understand the treatment decision-making process and to explore the added value of GP involvement, from the perspective of cancer patients treated with curative intent. METHODS: An explorative qualitative study was performed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 purposively sampled Dutch cancer patients treated with curative intent. RESULTS: Patients' treatment decision-making process was dominated by a focus on 'safeguarding survival'. Patients generally followed the treatment plan as proposed by their physician and did not always experience having a treatment choice. The majority of patients expressed added value for GP involvement, mainly to provide psychological support, but also for providing shared decision-making (SDM) support. CONCLUSION: The treatment decision-making process of cancer patients treated with curative intent is dominated by the urge to 'safeguard survival'. GPs should be aware of their added value in providing psychological support and their potential role to support SDM following a cancer diagnosis