Food as Experience A Design and Evaluation Methodology

This research, conducted for Frito Lay-North America, Inc, demonstrates how new product designs, package designs, concepts, and prototypes can be created based on the social, emotional, cognitive, and sensory information gathered through a combined methodology based on activity theory, Kansei Engineering and the ZMET process. The study examines how activity theory can be used to observe situational settings mediated by products for the purpose of collecting significant social and behavioral data. It also examines how Kansei methods can be used to evaluate sensory experiences and how the ZMET process can be used to gather demographic and marketing data. The outcome of this research concludes that activity theory, Kansei engineering, and ZMET are each useful, however, none of these methods used in isolation are sufficient to inform all aspects of marketing, new product development, and package design decisions. However, as a combined design and evaluation methodology they can provide more useful data for these processes. Keywords: Experience Design, Kansei Assessment, Food, Activity Theory</p

An experimental study of the effect of caffeine upon athletic performance

The improvement of physical performance has long been a problem of great importance to athletes, coaches, and physical educators. Many different methods and techniques of coaching, conditioning, and motivation have been utilized in an effort to push the participant to his top or ultimate performance. There is much conjecture as to whether this optimum or top level of performance can be raised by artificial stimulation after peak condition has been reached and the skills involved in the performance have been mastered. According to Boke, stimulants are widely used today by athletes in all types of competition. He groups the substances used into four classes: (a Food preparations, including the sugars, vitamins, phosphates, and salts; (b) Oxygen; (c) Artificial sunshine; and (d) Pharmaceutical substances, including the ‘dopes’ which influence the nervous system, heart, and circulation

Acquisition of procedural skills in pre-registration physiotherapy education comparing mental practice against no mental practice: The Learning of Procedures in Physiotherapy Education Trial - a development of concept study

Kavi Jagadamma - ORCID 0000-0003-2011-0744 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2011-0744Gillian Baer - ORCID 0000-0002-1528-2851 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1528-2851Introduction: Procedural skills are a central element in the education of physiotherapists. Procedural skills relate to the execution of a practical task. An educational intervention, which can be used to support skill acquisition of procedural skills, is mental practice (MP). Several studies have investigated the use of MP or imaging in medical education. This pilot study evaluated the application of MP on the acquisition of procedural skills in physiotherapy education.Methods: This pilot randomised controlled study recruited a convenience sample of 37 BSc physiotherapy student participants. Two different complex task procedures (transfer and vestibular rehabilitation) were trained during this study. Participants in both the transfer (task procedure 1) and the vestibular rehabilitation (task procedure 2) arm of the study were randomly assigned to either MP or no MP.Results: For the transfer task, median performance at post-acquisition testing showed a moderate effect size in favour of the group using MP (r: −0.3), but the findings were not statistically significant (P: 0.2). Similar results were found for the vestibular rehabilitation task (r: 0.29; P: 0.21). In addition, the self-reported confidence was higher in the MP group.Conclusion: Moderate effect sizes were identified in favour of MP at post-acquisition testing. In addition, the between-group difference was higher than the minimally important difference. The feasibility of the study was high based on quantitative feasibility measures such as the recruitment rate. Both these findings suggest larger well-powered studies should be considered to confirm the findings of this pilot study.https://doi.org/10.1177/23821205209273827pubpu

The assessment of procedural skills in physiotherapy education: A measurement study using the Rasch model

Gillian Baer - ORCID 0000-0002-1528-2851 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1528-2851Replaced AM with VoR 2020-05-26Background: Procedural skills are a key element in the training of future physiotherapists. Procedural skills relate to the acquisition of appropriate motor skills, which allow the safe application of clinical procedures to patients. In order to evaluate procedural skills in physiotherapy education validated assessment instruments are required. Recently the assessment of procedural skills in physiotherapy education (APSPT) tool was developed. The overall aim of this study was to establish the structural validity of the APSPT. In order to do this the following objectives were examined: i) the fit of the items of APSPT to the Rasch-model, ii) the fit of the overall score to the Rasch model, iii) the difficulty of each test item and iv) whether the difficulty levels of the individual test items cover the whole capacity spectrum of students in pre-registration physiotherapy education.Methods: For this observational cross-sectional measurement properties study a convenience sample of 69 undergraduate pre-registration physiotherapy students of the HES-SO Valais-Wallis was recruited. Participants were instructed to perform a task procedure on a simulated patient. The performance was evaluated with the APSPT. A conditional maximum likelihood approach was used to estimate the parameters of a partial credit model for polytomous item responses. Item fit, ordering of thresholds, targeting and goodness of fit to the Rasch model was assessed.Results: Item fit statistics showed that 25 items of the APSPT showed adequate fit to the Rasch model. Disordering of item thresholds did not occur and the targeting of the APSPT was adequate to measure the abilities of the included participants. Undimensionality and subgroup homogeneity were confirmed.Conclusion: This study presented evidence for the structural validity of the APSPT. Undimensionality of the APSPT was confirmed and therefore presents evidence that the latent dimension of procedural skills in physiotherapy education consists of several subcategories. However, the results should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40945-020-00080-010pubpu

Assessment von prozeduralen Fähigkeiten in der physiotherapeutischen Ausbildung: Ein systematischer Review

Introduction: Learning of procedural skills is important in the education of physiotherapists. It is the aim of physiotherapy degree programmes that graduates are able to practice selected procedures safely and efficiently. Procedural competency is threatened by an increasing and diverse amount of procedures that are incorporated in university curricula. As a consequence, less time is available for the learning of each specific procedure. Incorrectly performed procedures in physiotherapy might be ineffective and may result in injuries to patients and physiotherapists. The aim of this review was to synthesise relevant literature systematically to appraise current knowledge relating to assessments for procedural skills in physiotherapy education. Method: A systematic search strategy was developed to screen five relevant databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Central, SportDISCUS, ERIC and MEDLINE) for eligible studies. The included assessments were evaluated for evidence of their reliability and validity. Results: The search of electronic databases identified 560 potential records. Seven studies were included into this systematic review. The studies reported eight assessments of procedural skills. Six of the assessments were designed for a specific procedure and two assessments were considered for the evaluation of more than one procedure. Evidence to support the measurement properties of the assessment was not available for all categories. Discussion: It was not possible to recommend a single assessment of procedural skills in physiotherapy education following this systematic review. There is a need for further development of new assessments to allow valid and reliable assessments of the broad spectrum of physiotherapeutic practice.https://doi.org/10.1515/ijhp-2017-0008sch_phy4pub4685pub

Vertebrate Natural History Notes from Arkansas, 2020

Smaller details of natural history often go undocumented to science if those details are not parts of larger studies, but small details can provide insights that lead to interesting questions about ecological relationships or environmental change. We have compiled recent important observations of distribution and reproduction of fishes and mammals. Included are new distributional records of mammals, and observations of reproduction in several mammals for which few data exist in Arkansas. A rare record of the Long-tailed weasel, a special of special concern in Arkansas, is documented from Newton Co. We also provide evidence that Seminole bats likely reproduce in Arkansas

Win or lose the battle for creativity: The power and perils of intergroup competition

Integrating and refining social interdependence theory and structural adaptation theory, we examined the effects of intergroup competition on the creativity of 70 four-person groups engaged in two idea generation tasks. We manipulated both group membership change (change, no change) and intergroup competition level (low, intermediate, high). Competition had the expected U-shaped relation with creativity in open (membership change) groups but failed to produce the hypothesized inverted U-shaped pattern in closed (no membership change) groups. In the latter, effects were positive for low to intermediate competition and flat for intermediate to high levels. Within-group collaboration mediated these effects

Pancreatic stone protein as a novel marker for neonatal sepsis

Purpose: Early-onset sepsis (EOS) is one of the main causes for the admission of newborns to the neonatal intensive care unit. However, traditional infection markers are poor diagnostic markers of EOS. Pancreatic stone protein (PSP) is a promising sepsis marker in adults. The aim of this study was to investigate whether determining PSP improves the diagnosis of EOS in comparison with other infection markers. Methods: This was a prospective multicentre study involving 137 infants with a gestational age of >34weeks who were admitted with suspected EOS. PSP, procalcitonin (PCT), soluble human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1), macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at admission. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Results: The level of PSP in infected infants was significantly higher than that in uninfected ones (median 11.3 vs. 7.5ng/ml, respectively; p=0.001). The ROC area under the curve was 0.69 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.59-0.80; p9ng/ml) and PCT (>2ng/ml) was the best predictor of EOS (0.83; 95% CI 0.74-0.93; p<0.001) and resulted in a negative predictive value of 100% and a positive predictive value of 71%. Conclusions: In this prospective study, the diagnostic performance of PSP and PCT was superior to that of traditional markers and a combination bioscore improved the diagnosis of sepsis. Our findings suggest that PSP is a valuable biomarker in combination with PCT in EO

Intergroup Competition as a Double-edged Sword: How Sex Composition Regulates the Effects of Competition on Group Creativity

Building on social role theory, we extend a contingency perspective on intergroup competition proposing that having groups compete against one another is stimulating to the creativity of groups composed largely or exclusively of men but detrimental to the creativity of groups composed largely or exclusively of women. We tested this idea in two separate studies: a laboratory experiment (Study 1) and a field study (Study 2). Study 1 showed that competition had the expected positive effects on the creativity of groups composed mostly or exclusively of men and produced the predicted negative effects on the creativity of groups composed of women, even though the latter effects emerged at the high end of the competition spectrum and for sex-homogeneous groups only. Results of Study 1 also revealed that within-group collaboration mediated the joint effects of competition and sex composition on group creativity. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 in a field setting involving research and development teams. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice. </jats:p