Internship directors\u27 perspectives on psychological assessment training: current status and emerging trends

The psychological assessment literature has consistently reflected the importance of psychological assessment competency for professional psychologists across all training and practice settings. Past surveys of pre-doctoral internship directors have highlighted a troublesome misalignment between internship directors’ assessment-related expectations of students and the actual competencies demonstrated by many beginning pre-doctoral psychology interns. The purpose of the present study was to survey psychology internship directors within the United States to examine their perspectives regarding current practices, emerging trends, and desired modifications in psychological assessment training at the internship level. A 32-item, online questionnaire was developed for this study that consisted of five distinct sections: (a) administration instructions; (b) respondent demographics; (c) characteristics of the internship program, including assessment training methods, role/function of assessment, and director’s satisfaction with assessment-related preparation of incoming interns; (d) training expectations and current psychological assessment measures used within the internship program; and (e) future directions of psychological assessment practices. The present dissertation maintained a particular focus on the fourth section, while two co-investigators addressed the other sections. Participants included 182 directors of pre-doctoral internships nationwide (26% response rate), as identified in the 2014-2015 APPIC directory of approved internship programs. The majority of the 182 responders identified as Caucasian (88%), with a mean age of 46.88 years; 66% were female and 34% were male. The results revealed broad similarities with past studies, including the continued importance of psychological assessment as a core competency and varying usage patterns of specific psychological measures across different types of internship settings. Likewise, a handful of measures were found to be relatively stable regarding high use by interns compared to earlier studies, including several Wechsler scales, the MMPI-2, and the BDI-II. Reported BAI and PAI use increased compared to earlier surveys. Results also revealed a significant decline in internship directors’ reported use of projective instruments by interns, as well as a remarkable decrease in projective assessment emphasis overall. However, the Rorschach remained a highly valued assessment measure for pre-internship experience. These findings present significant implications for academic curriculum and practicum-level training in assessment. Other findings, recommendations, study limitations, and suggestions for future research are explored

The Effectiveness of Smoflipid on Liver Function in Pediatric Patients with Intestinal Failure Related Parenteral Nutrition Associated Liver Disease (PNALD)

Abstract Background:Parenteral nutrition (PN) is a treatment that supplies one\u27s nutrition and hydration needs intravenously. Intravenous soybean lipid emulsions have been associated with Parenteral Nutrition Associated Liver Disease (PNALD), due to its high phytosterol content and high n-6:n-3 ratio and its propensity to mitigate inflammatory eicosanoid pathways. Composed of soybean oil, medium chain fatty acids, olive oil, and fish oil, Smoflipid may ameliorate PNALD and mitigate anti-inflammatory eicosanoid pathways. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of Smoflipid on improving liver function and bilirubin levels on home PN-dependent children with intestinal failure related PNALD. Design: A prospective electronic medical record review was conducted from 2016-2018 at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital (LLUCH). Participants: Charts of thirteen outpatient children (8.1±4.2 years, 6 females and 7 males) with intestinal failure who either have completed six-months of Smoflipid or are currently taking Smoflipid. Main outcomes: Preventing or reducing the severity of PNALD. Secondary outcomes: Sustaining growth, reducing TPN infection rates and measuring Smoflipid tolerance by assessing essential fatty acid status, fasting glucose levels, hemoglobin A1C, total cholesterol, and serum triglycerides. Statistics: A Mixed Model was used to account missing values and measure changes in continuous variables. Values were summarized by calculating the mean and standard deviation, before and after Smoflipid treatment. Results: Although there was a decreasing trend in ALT (N=11, 23.2% after six-months) and AST (N=11, 8.3% after six-months), Smoflipid did not have a statistical significant impact on ALT, AST, and total bilirubin. There was a significant impact on central line infection rates (n= 5, p=0.032) and hemoglobin A1C (n=3, p=0.001). Conclusion: Smoflipid may yield biochemical effects in reducing elevated liver enzymes associated with PNALD and enhance the quality of life by improving liver function, sustaining growth, and reducing infection rates, and hemoglobin A1C. Smoflipid may be a beneficial alternative to the standard soybean-based lipid emulsion

Teachers and information literacy: Understandings and perceptions of the concept

Building on our 2017 article focussing on school library staff perceptions of teachers’ information literacy, this article reports on the information literacy (IL) understandings and skills of teachers in post-primary schools (the age range for pupils in post-primary schools is 11–18) throughout Northern Ireland. Results of a comprehensive online teacher survey (n=426) indicated that, despite misplaced confidence in their own skills, teachers’ IL understandings and skills were underdeveloped. The majority of respondents had neither received IL training nor included IL instruction in their teaching. The significance of these findings for theory, practice and policy relating to the teaching of IL skills, which are intended to equip young people to become active citizens and members of a skilled workforce, is discussed

Synthesis, structure and electrical properties of N-doped Li3VO4

N-doped Li3VO4 of general formula Li3+xVO4−xNx was prepared by solid state reaction of Li3N, V2O5 and either Li2CO3 or LiOH·H2O. A solid solution based on the low temperature β polymorph of Li3VO4 was obtained with composition 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2. Structural studies by X-ray and neutron powder diffraction confirmed the partial replacement of oxygen on the O(1) sites by N together with creation of an equal number of Li+ ions which are located off-centre in adjacent octahedral Li(3) sites. Electrical property measurements on sintered pellets using impedance spectroscopy showed that the solid solutions are modest conductors of Li+ ions, consistent with the partial occupancy of Li+ ions in the interstitial octahedral sites. The activation energy for conduction of samples prepared using LiOH·H2O, ∼1.91 eV, is much greater than for samples prepared at higher temperature, using Li2CO3, ∼0.78 eV; it is speculated that this is due to ion trapping in Lii˙/N0′ defect clusters. This study represents a relatively new method for doping Li+ ions into a structure by aliovalent anion doping: partial replacement of O by N is compensated by creation of interstitial Li+ ions

Elephants can determine ethnicity, gender, and age from acoustic cues in human voices

Animals can accrue direct fitness benefits by accurately classifying predatory threat according to the species of predator and the magnitude of risk associated with an encounter. Human predators present a particularly interesting cognitive challenge, as it is typically the case that different human subgroups pose radically different levels of danger to animals living around them. Although a number of prey species have proved able to discriminate between certain human categories on the basis of visual and olfactory cues, vocalizations potentially provide a much richer source of information. We now use controlled playback experiments to investigate whether family groups of free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Amboseli National Park, Kenya can use acoustic characteristics of speech to make functionally relevant distinctions between human subcategories differing not only in ethnicity but also in sex and age. Our results demonstrate that elephants can reliably discriminate between two different ethnic groups that differ in the level of threat they represent, significantly increasing their probability of defensive bunching and investigative smelling following playbacks of Maasai voices. Moreover, these responses were specific to the sex and age of Maasai presented, with the voices of Maasai women and boys, subcategories that would generally pose little threat, significantly less likely to produce these behavioral responses. Considering the long history and often pervasive predatory threat associated with humans across the globe, it is likely that abilities to precisely identify dangerous subcategories of humans on the basis of subtle voice characteristics could have been selected for in other cognitively advanced animal species

Information literacy curriculum mapping in the health sciences

Instructional medical librarians are uniquely positioned in a context governed by multiple instructional frameworks emerging from librarianship and the professions with which they liaise. Yet very little literature exists on medical librarians’ use of curriculum mapping to align their instruction with these frameworks. This review illuminates the current state of curriculum mapping in medical librarianship.We searched five bibliographic databases for articles published between 2010 and August 2021 and centred on information literacy(IL)curriculum mapping within a health sciences university context. Studies were included based upon pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted using an instrument developed primarily a priori, with some codes developed emergently in response to preliminary review of the data.We included 127 studies focused on curriculum mapping, of which only 24 included structures which might be considered “curriculum maps”. Across all 127 studies included, The Association of College & Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Libraries for Higher Education was the most-used ILframework, though versions of evidence-based practice were used more often, with a great deal of diversity and incomplete reporting on how these frames informed instruction of discrete concepts and skills. Within the 24 articles containing figurative curriculum maps, the same diversity of concepts and incomplete reporting was present, with librarians mapping IL frameworks to classroom activities more often than learning outcomes or competencies.Development of curricular maps aligning discrete IL concepts and skills with different disciplinary contexts is needed to provide instructors with a modular structure they might implement in their own contexts. To further the identification of best practices, future research should examine existing curricular maps made by librarian

An Artificial Sweating System for Sweat Sensor Testing Applications

This research proposes a completely automated, computer-controlled fluid mixing and dispensing system, which is suitable for testing sweat sensing devices, as an alternative to requiring human trials during the development phase of a sweat sensor device. An arm mold was designed and implemented with dragon skin and pores to simulate sweating action. The relay controlled mixing tanks allow for the different concentration of fluid solutions at various rates of fluid dispensing through pores. The onboard single board computer controls a dozen electronic relays and it switches and presents an easy to use graphical user interface to allow end users to conduct the experiments with ease and not require further programming. With the recent advances in sweat sensors, this platform offers a unique way of testing sensing devices during development, allowing for researchers to focus on their design parameters one at a time before actual validation through human trials are conducted. The current device can provide sweat rates from 1 µL/min to 500 µL/min. Furthermore, concentrations of 10 mM up to 200 mM of salt concentrations were able to be repeatedly produced. In an ANOVA test with salt concentrations varying from 40–60 mM, a p-value of 0.365 shows that the concentration does not have any effect on the flow rate. Similarly, a p-value of 0.329 and 0.167 for different relative humidity and temperature shows that the system does not present a statistical difference. Lastly, when the interactions among all the factors were considered, a p-value of 0.416 clearly presents that the system performance is insensitive to different factors, thus validating the system reliability

Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians

Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. He interacted regularly with most of the main figures on the British cybernetics scene, forming close friendships and collaborations with several, as well as mentoring others. Many of these interactions stemmed from a 1949 visit to London during which he gave the opening talk at the inaugural meeting of the Ratio Club, a gathering of brilliant, mainly young, British scientists working in areas related to cybernetics. This paper traces some of these relationships and interaction

Interspecific hybridization explains rapid gorget colour divergence in Heliodoxa hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae)

Hybridization is a known source of morphological, functional and communicative signal novelty in many organisms. Although diverse mechanisms of established novel ornamentation have been identified in natural populations, we lack an understanding of hybridization effects across levels of biological scales and upon phylogenies. Hummingbirds display diverse structural colours resulting from coherent light scattering by feather nanostructures. Given the complex relationship between feather nanostructures and the colours they produce, intermediate coloration does not necessarily imply intermediate nanostructures. Here, we characterize nanostructural, ecological and genetic inputs in a distinctive Heliodoxa hummingbird from the foothills of eastern Peru. Genetically, this individual is closely allied with Heliodoxa branickii and Heliodoxa gularis, but it is not identical to either when nuclear data are assessed. Elevated interspecific heterozygosity further suggests it is a hybrid backcross to H. branickii. Electron microscopy and spectrophotometry of this unique individual reveal key nanostructural differences underlying its distinct gorget colour, confirmed by optical modelling. Phylogenetic comparative analysis suggests that the observed gorget coloration divergence from both parentals to this individual would take 6.6–10 My to evolve at the current rate within a single hummingbird lineage. These results emphasize the mosaic nature of hybridization and suggest that hybridization may contribute to the structural colour diversity found across hummingbirds