Early interventions following exposure to traumatic events: psychological debriefing and the law

Defines Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and discusses the advantages of providing "Critical Incident Stress Debriefing" (CISD) to those who have witnessed traumatic events to prevent them developing PTSD. Outlines the development of CISD, the procedure itself and concerns arising from medical studies into its effectiveness. Examines the legal implications, including the existence of a duty of care to provide CISD or liability for debriefings which are negligently provided. Sets out briefly the status of psychological debriefing amongst support organisations

A Kosloff/Basal method, 3D migration program implemented on the CYBER 205 supercomputer

Conventional finite difference migration has relied on approximations to the acoustic wave equation which allow energy to propagate only downwards. Although generally reliable, such approaches usually do not yield an accurate migration for geological structures with strong lateral velocity variations or with steeply dipping reflectors. An earlier study by D. Kosloff and E. Baysal (Migration with the Full Acoustic Wave Equation) examined an alternative approach based on the full acoustic wave equation. The 2D, Fourier type algorithm which was developed was tested by Kosloff and Baysal against synthetic data and against physical model data. The results indicated that such a scheme gives accurate migration for complicated structures. This paper describes the development and testing of a vectorized, 3D migration program for the CYBER 205 using the Kosloff/Baysal method. The program can accept as many as 65,536 zero offset (stacked) traces

Developing a model of distributed sensemaking: a case study of military analysis

In this paper, we examine the role of representational artefacts in sensemaking. Embodied within representational media, such as maps, charts and lists, are a number of affordances, which can furnish sensemakers with the ability to perform tasks that may be difficult to do inside the head. Presented here is a study of sensemaking in action. We conducted a study of military intelligence analysts carrying out a training exercise, the analysis of which focuses on the use of external task-specific representations. We present a discussion of the findings of our study in the form of a model of distributed sensemaking. Our model concentrates on the interaction of information and various representational artefacts, leading to the generation of insights and a situation picture. We also introduce a number of levels of description for examining the properties and affordances offered by representational artefacts and their role in the sensemaking process

THE INFLUENCE OF CLUB SHAFT CHARACTERISTICS ON THE HIP-SHOULDER SEPARATION ANGLE DURING THE GOLF DRIVE

The way in which club head speed is generated during the golf swing has often been explained using the 'double pendulum model' (e.g. Budney and Bellow, 1992). However, recent research has suggested that club head speed generation is related to the separation angle between transverse plane hip and shoulder rotations (e.g. Cheetham et aI., 2001). It is possible that the shaft characteristics of golf drivers may affect swing mechanics and alter the magnitude of the hip-shoulder separation angle. Generally, it is now recognised that single-individual designs are valuable in sports science research (Bates, 1996). The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the effect of club shaft characteristics on the hipshoulder separation angle during the golf drive using a single-individual desig

A depth camera-based system for estimating cyclist-bike projected frontal area

A major component of total resistive force in cycling is aerodynamic drag. For speeds greater than ~14 m/s aerodynamic drag accounts for approximately 90% of total resistive force (Debraux et al., 2009: International Journal of Sports Medicine, 30, 266-272). Together with the air density, the coefficient of drag and the velocity of the cyclist-bike, an important determinant of aerodynamic drag is projected frontal area. Several techniques have been used to estimate the projected frontal area of a cyclist-bike, including the weighing of photographs and image digitising (Debraux et al., 2009). These techniques are similar as they involve extracting the cyclist-bike from a two-dimensional (2D) image and using scaling information from a plane of known dimensions. With the weighing photographs method this is done physically using sensitive weighing scales whereas image processing software is used for the image digitising technique. Both techniques require the collection of a calibration plane, involve considerable post-processing and cannot be performed in real time. We have developed a depth camera-based system for estimating cyclist-bike projected frontal area which addresses these issues. The depth camera algorithm works by creating a metrically scaled, three-dimensional point cloud of the cyclist-bike. The point cloud is projected on to a 2D representation of the scene and the area of the point cloud is calculated using a technique similar to ‘voxelization’; points in the cloud occupy spaces in a fine grid – the sum of the occupied grid spaces gives total area. The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement between our new method and the image digitising technique.After institutional ethics approval, eight regular cyclists volunteered to participate and provided written informed consent. Participants wore their normal cycling clothing and their bicycle was mounted on a stationary indoor trainer. The bicycle was positioned against a white background to help with the image digitising method. Participants placed their feet on the pedals and held the cranks parallel to the floor. A digital camera (Canon EOS 400D, 10.1 megapixel) and Kinect depth camera (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) were mounted on tripods at a height of 1.1 m and positioned 5 m and 2.2 m in front of the participant, respectively. Similar to Debraux et al. (2009), participants adopted two positions on the bike: 1. Upright – upright torso with hands close to the stem and 2. Drops Position – hands on the drops. Three repeat captures were performed in each position, with the participant relaxing between each capture. The digitising method was performed as described by Debraux et al. (2009). Agreement between methods was assessed using limits of agreement (LOA - Bland and Altman, 1986: Lancet, 1, 307-310). A two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (method by position) was used to assess the effect of cyclist position on the systematic difference between measurement methods.There was no interaction between cyclist position and measurement method (p = 0.201) indicating that the same effect of cyclist position was observed using both measurement techniques. A significant main effect for cyclist position (p = 0.017) indicated that projected frontal area was smaller with hands on the drops (upright: 0.485 m2, drops: 0.434 m2). There was also a significant main effect for measurement method (p < 0.001) indicating a significantly smaller estimation of projected frontal area using the Kinect (Kinect: 0.416 m2, Image: 0.503 m2). A predominantly systematic difference between methods was also suggested by the LOA analysis (upright: 0.086 ± 0.029 m2, drops: 0.090 ± 0.033 m2).The aim of this study was to assess the agreement between a common method of estimating cyclist-bike frontal area and a new depth camera-based technique. The new technique estimated systematically smaller projected frontal area than the image digitisation method but there was relatively little random variation and the same effect of cyclist position was observed with both techniques. Which technique gives the most accurate estimate of projected frontal area is not clear as the image digitisation technique - to which the new technique was compared - has associated errors e.g. identification of the cyclist-bike outline and out-of-plane errors. However, it was apparent during testing that the depth camera-based system often failed to identify parts of the bike and this is most likely the cause of the difference between techniques. Regardless, the results of this study suggest that the new technique can be used to assess changes in projected frontal area – as the cyclist changes position, for example. Further, the new technique offers the possibility of analysing changes in projected frontal area in real time – there is no requirement for calibration or post-processing

CHANGES IN COMPENSATORY VARIABILITY AS A FUNCTION OF TASK EXPERTISE AND DISTANCE DURING BASKETBALL SHOOTING

The purpose of this study was to identify how compensatory control of the shooting arm changed under the interacting constraints of task expertise and shooting distance. Expert, intermediate and novice male basketball players (n=10 in each group) performed 30 shots from three distances (4.25, 5.25 and 6.25 metres). The dependent variables included shooting performance together with variability of the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints at the instant of ball release. A significant main effect for expertise was observed for both shooting performance and shoulder joint variability at ball release. No significant main effects for expertise were found for either wrist or elbow joint variability at release. Quadratic regression analyses revealed greater compensatory control of the shooting arm for the expert participants compared to their intermediate and novice counterparts. The level of compensatory control shown also persisted with increasing shooting distance regardless of level of expertise. Findings are harmonious with existing data on movement variability during dynamic throwing tasks, specifically demonstrating how expert performers exploited variability in a functional manner to satisfy the constraints of the task

Expanding the Role of Social Class in Multicultural Counselor Education Curricula

Although professional counselors are called to develop Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2016), and social and cultural diversity are highly researched (e.g., Barrio Minton et al., 2014), social class as a multicultural construct has received less attention and is often reduced to being defined as socioeconomic status (SES). Therefore, this article provides a brief historical context of social class, explores the current state of social class research in counseling and counselor education, and suggests methods for increasing inclusion of social class in counselor educators’ multicultural pedagogy

EXPERTISE AND DISTANCE AS CONSTRAINTS ON COORDINATION STABILITY DURING A DISCRETE MULTI-ARTICULAR ACTION

The purpose of this study was to identify how coordination variability of the shooting arm varied as a function of interacting task constraints of expertise and shooting distance. Skilled, intermediate and novice male basketball players (n=9 in each group) performed 30 shots from three distances (4.25, 5.25 and 6.25 metres). The dependent variables included shooting performance scores and measures of coordination variability in three joint couplings: wrist-elbow, elbow-shoulder and wrist-shoulder. A main effect for distance was observed for shooting performance, with a reduction in score occurring with increasing distance. Significant main effects for expertise were also apparent for shooting performance together with coordination variability for all three joint couplings. Regression analyses revealed significant, negative relationships between shooting performance and coordination variability for all three joint couplings irrespective of shooting distance. The findings corroborated extant data on changes in movement variability with practice, demonstrating how skilled performers assemble stable movement solutions to satisfy changing task constraints, in contrast to novices and intermediates

Developing Effective Faculty Competencies For Teaching International Business Topics

Faculty are increasingly called upon to teach topics in international business. To ensure teaching success, faculty need to develop knowledge of countries, international organizations, economies, culture, interpersonal skills in international settings, and foreign business practices. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how faculty can obtain the skills and knowledge necessary to teach international topics efficiently and cost effectively