bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Task Familiarity and Interactional Feedback in Child ESL Classrooms
Authors: MACKEY ALISON , KANGANAS ALEC PETER , OLIVER RHONDA
Published: October 2015

In this article we report on a study undertaken with ESL children between 7 and 8 years old. They carried out communicative tasks in pairs in second language classrooms. We examined patterns of their task‐based conversational interactions while we manipulated their familiarity with the procedure and content of the tasks. We found that learners working through unfamiliar tasks (in terms of both content and procedure) produced more clarification requests and confirmation checks and provided more corrective feedback on nontargetlike utterances to each other. However, learners engaged in procedurally familiar tasks had more opportunities to use feedback, and learners engaged in tasks that were familiar in both content and procedure showed more actual use of feedback.
Form‐Focused Instruction: Isolated or Integrated?
Authors: SPADA NINA , LIGHTBOWN PATSY M.
Published: October 2015

There is increasing consensus that form‐focused instruction helps learners in communicative or content‐based instruction to learn features of the target language that they may not acquire without guidance. The subject of this article is the role of instruction that is provided in separate (isolated) activities or within the context of communicative activities (integrated). Research suggests that both types of instruction can be beneficial, depending on the language feature to be learned, as well as characteristics of the learner and the learning conditions. For example, isolated lessons may be necessary to help learners who share the same first language (L1) overcome problems related to L1 influence on their interlanguage; integrated instruction may be best for helping learners develop the kind of fluency and automaticity that are needed for communication outside the classroom. The evidence suggests that teachers and students see the benefits of both types of instruction. Explanations for the effectiveness of each type of instruction are drawn from theoretical work in second language acquisition and cognitive psychology as well as from empirical research.
Japanese Learners' Self Revisions and Peer Revisions of Their Written Compositions in English
Authors: SUZUKI MANAMI
Published: October 2015

The current study examined 24 Japanese university students' processes of negotiation in conditions of self revision and of peer revision about their English as a foreign language (EFL) writing. Analyzing their negotiation episodes and text changes, I categorized within a common coding scheme the types of negotiation from (a) think‐aloud protocols of participants' self revisions, (b) transcriptions of their discussions during peer revisions, and (c) changes students made to their written texts in both conditions of revising. Other data included stimulated recall interviews with individual students. More episodes of negotiation appeared during peer revisions (682 episodes) than during self revisions (522 episodes), but approximately twice as many text changes occurred during participants' self revisions (287 text changes) as occurred during their peer revisions (166 text changes). Peer revisions had more metatalk than self revisions. Self revision tended to involve brief solitary searches for word choices or self‐corrections of grammar based on individual memory searches or repetitions. Several pedagogical suggestions for second language (L2) learning and writing arise from these results.
Learner Outcomes for English Language Learner Low Readers in an Early Intervention
Authors: KELLY PATRICIA R. , GÓMEZ‐BELLENGÉ FRANCISCO‐XAVIER , CHEN JING , SCHULZ MELISSA M.
Published: October 2015

This study investigated the efficacy of Reading Recovery® (RR) with first grade English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools by examining the literacy outcomes of ELLs compared with their native English‐speaking (NES) peers, who were also enrolled in RR. We also explored how ELLs' fall oral English proficiency levels were related to their spring literacy levels. Pre‐ and post‐test measures included tests of text reading and phonemic awareness, because text reading is the broadest measure of reading ability and phonemic awareness is an important aspect of reading and oral English proficiency. Results indicated that 76.42% of NES and 69% of ELLs who had a complete program of intervention successfully achieved grade‐level performance. These differences were statistically significant but the effect size was small. Overall, the differences between RR NESs and RR ELLs are not sufficient, when they exist, to warrant excluding ELL students from the RR intervention. In schools where students do not have access to bilingual education, Reading Recovery is an appropriate addition to the range of best‐practice services available to ELLs.
Phonology in Second Language Reading: Not an Optional Extra
Authors: WALTER CATHERINE
Published: October 2015

In examining reading comprehension in a second language (L2), I have demonstrated that the prevailing metaphor of transfer of skills is misleading, and that what happens is access to an already existing general cognitive skill. There is evidence in first language (L1) and in L2 that accessing this skill when reading in an alphabetic language involves efficient use of verbal working memory (VWM). This article reports a study of a component of VWM, the phonological loop, which serves to hold recently read material available in a phonological form. The study investigated whether the unreliability of learners' mental L2 phonological inventories contributed to reading comprehension problems. Lower intermediate learners with L2 reading comprehension problems attempted to recall similar and dissimilar sequences of words in L1 (French) and L2 (English). Their performance was consistent with their having unreliable L2 phonological inventories; their upper intermediate counterparts, who had no L2 reading comprehension problems, had significantly more reliable L2 phonological inventories. This finding has important implications for the classroom: Rather than attempting to teach components of a cognitive skill that learners already possess, teachers would do better to spend the equivalent time increasing exposure to the spoken language, and improving receptive and productive phonology.
Assessing Text Readability Using Cognitively Based Indices
Authors: CROSSLEY SCOTT A. , GREENFIELD JERRY , McNAMARA DANIELLE S.
Published: October 2015

Many programs designed to compute the readability of texts are narrowly based on surface‐level linguistic features and take too little account of the processes which a reader brings to the text. This study is an exploratory examination of the use of Coh‐Metrix, a computational tool that measures cohesion and text difficulty at various levels of language, discourse, and conceptual analysis. It is suggested that Coh‐Metrix provides an improved means of measuring English text readability for second language (L2) readers, not least because three Coh‐Metrix variables, one employing lexical coreferentiality, one measuring syntactic sentence similarity, and one measuring word frequency, have correlates in psycholinguistic theory. The current study draws on the validation exercise conducted by Greenfield (1999) with Japanese EFL students, which partially replicated Bormuth's (1971) study with American students. It finds that Coh‐Metrix, with its inclusion of the three variables, yields a more accurate prediction of reading difficulty than traditional readability measures. The finding indicates that linguistic variables related to cognitive reading processes contribute significantly to better readability prediction than the surface variables used in traditional formulas. Additionally, because these Coh‐Metrix variables better reflect psycholinguistic factors in reading comprehension such as decoding, syntactic parsing, and meaning construction, the formula appears to be more soundly based and avoids criticism on the grounds of construct validity.
Privileging of Speech in EAP and Mainstream University Classrooms: A Critical Evaluation of Participation
Authors: ELLWOOD CONSTANCE , NAKANE IKUKO
Published: October 2015

Perceptions of Asian students as silent have been widely debated in the disciplines of applied linguistics and education. These debates have been largely concerned with the extent to which essentialised notions of Japanese culture are in operation and the consequences for teaching and learning. The silences of students and the expectations of their teachers for speech have been viewed as a clash of perceptions and understandings based on intercultural difference. The two studies presented here complexify this view. Drawing on data from interviews with Japanese students and their Australian teachers, we compare and contrast their perceptions of talk and silence in English for academic purposes classrooms and mainstream university seminars. We discuss a common expectation on the part of both parties for speech and a common frustration over an ongoing tendency to silence on the part of the Japanese students. We also show, in a comparison of the two groups, the students' varying attitudes toward oral participation. Our discussion implies the need for a re‐examination of the devaluation of silence, with the aim of contributing to improved communication practices between teachers and students in intercultural classrooms.
Institutionalized Inclusion: A Case Study on Support for Immigrants in English Learning
Authors: HAN HUAMEI
Published: October 2015

Based on a three‐year ethnography, this article illuminates how institutions and individuals can support immigrants' language learning and settlement in today's globalized, multicultural societies. It focuses on how a Mandarin—English bilingual Chinese church's practices fostered a young couple's English learning and social economic inclusion into the evangelical Christian Chinese community in Canada. Drawing on the conceptualization of learning as legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991), concretized by concepts of region and stage (Goffman, 1959) and social capital (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986), I illustrate the multiple effects of this couple's increased participation in their church community. I then analyze how institutionalized, multiple forms of mediation (Vygotsky, 1978) opened up spaces for and assisted their increased participation. I argue that allowing ethnolinguistic minority immigrants a legitimate speaking position, at interpersonal, institutional, and ideological levels, facilitates immigrant language learning and integration.
A Conversation Analysis—Informed Test of L2 Aural Pragmatic Comprehension
Authors: WALTERS F. SCOTT
Published: October 2015

Speech act theory–based, second language pragmatics testing (SLPT) raises test‐validation issues owing to a lack of correspondence with empirical conversational data. On the assumption that conversation analysis (CA) provides a more accurate account of language use, it is suggested that CA serve as a more empirically valid basis for SLPT development. The current study explores this notion by administering a pilot CA‐informed test (CAIT) of listening comprehension to learners of English as second language (ESL) and to a control group of native speakers of English. The listening CAIT protocol involved participants' addressing multiple‐choice items after listening to audiotaped conversational sequences derived from the CA literature. Statistical analyses of pilot‐test responses, correlations of test score with participant demographic variables, and CA‐informed, qualitative analyses of nonnative and native speaker responses with reference to operationalized pragmatic norms provided tentative evidence that the CAIT aural‐comprehension measure possesses some utility in SLPT.
Current Issues in English Language Teacher‐Based Assessment
Authors: DAVISON CHRIS , LEUNG CONSTANT
Published: October 2015

Teacher‐based assessment (TBA) is increasingly being promoted in educational policies internationally, with English language teachers being called on to plan and/or implement appropriate assessment procedures to monitor and evaluate student progress in their own classrooms. However, there has been a lack of theorization of TBA in the English language teaching field, with researchers pointing to much variability, a lack of systematic principles and procedures, and a reliance on traditional, but now outdated, psychometric assumptions. This article provides an overview of some of the current issues in TBA, including its definition and key characteristics, and the complex but significant questions which its implementation pose for our understandings of language, learning, and assessment.
How Do Teachers Observe and Evaluate Elementary School Students' Foreign Language Performance? A Case Study from South Korea
Authors: BUTLER YUKO GOTO
Published: October 2015

This study investigates how teachers observe and assess elementary school students' foreign language performance in class and how such assessments vary among teachers. Twenty‐six elementary school teachers and 23 English teachers at secondary schools in South Korea watched videotapes of 6th‐grade students' group activities in English and were asked to assess the students' performance as if they were in their own classrooms. The study found that the teachers varied substantially in their overall evaluations both within and across school levels. A discussion held among the teachers after the individual assessments were completed showed that the elementary school teachers and secondary school teachers differed with respect to (1) their views toward assessment criteria, (2) how to evaluate student confidence and motivation; and (3) how to gauge students' potential ability to communicate competently in a foreign language. Such differences between the elementary and secondary school teachers appeared to be deeply rooted in their respective teaching contexts. Using Davison's (2004) framework for analyzing teachers' beliefs and practices in teacher‐based assessment, the current study suggests that both groups of teachers need to negotiate assessment criteria while paying close attention to the local context and adapting their teaching practices to fit therein.
What Health Care Providers Know
Authors: GROLL DANIEL
Published: October 2015

Some assume that respecting patient autonomy means clinicians should refrain from expressing opinions about what's in a patient's best interests. But depending on the kind of medical decision the patient is making, a clinician may have expertise vital to the patient's best interests—and even if she doesn't, she may still know what is best.
Gallows Humor in Medicine
Authors: WATSON KATIE
Published: October 2015

Medical professionals regularly joke about their patients' problems. Some of these jokes are clearly wrong, but are all jokes wrong?
Anorexia Nervosa and the Language of Authenticity
Authors: HOPE TONY , TAN JACINTA , STEWART ANNE , FITZPATRICK RAY
Published: October 2015

People with anorexia nervosa struggle with questions of authenticity. More attention should be paid this concept—both how patients think about it, and how clinicians should think about it.
Evaluating Addictions Counseling Programs: Promoting Best Practices, Accountability, and Advocacy
Authors: Astramovich Randall L. , Hoskins Wendy J.
Published: October 2015

Program evaluation offers several benefits to addictions counselors, including identifying best practices, providing accountability to stakeholders, and advocating for minority client populations. This article reviews the benefits of addictions counseling program evaluation and outlines main steps in the evaluation process.
Counselor Competence With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients: Differences Among Practice Settings
Authors: Farmer Laura B. , Welfare Laura E. , Burge Penny L.
Published: October 2015

Counselors from school and community practice, counseling students, and counselor educators (N= 468) participated in this study of competence to serve lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. Participants reported high LGB‐affirmative attitudes but lower knowledge and skills. School counselors reported significantly lower LGB competence than did counselors in other settings. Implications include the importance of graduate and postgraduate training to improve LGB knowledge and skills and the hope that LGB‐affirmative attitudes suggest receptivity toward such growth.

Consejeros que trabajan en prácticas escolares y de comunidad, estudiantes de consejería y educadores de consejería (N= 468) participaron en este estudio sobre la competencia para servir a clientes lesbianas, gays y bisexuales (LGB). Los participantes comunicaron un nivel elevado de actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB, pero menores conocimientos y habilidades. Los consejeros escolares indicaron niveles de competencia en LGB significativamente menores que los consejeros en otros escenarios. Las implicaciones incluyen la importancia de la formación de estudiantes de grado y posgrado para mejorar sus conocimientos y habilidades sobre LGB y la esperanza de que las actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB sugieren receptividad hacia dicha formación.
1.3.2 Behavioral Economics and the Design of Systems Engineering Measures
Authors: Brown Barclay
Published: October 2015

The design of measures is an art and a science. Taking a systems thinking perspective in designing a measure requires considering how the measure will be used, what it means, what kind of behavior it will produce, and the results of that behavior. Treating the implementation of a measure as a move in a game can give new insights into what will happen when the measure is introduced. Measures may be ignored if it is not clear what they mean, or if there are no standards or goals for the measure. Measures that are published, evaluated and used to determine performance levels of people and groups, and which have standards, norms and goals, in turn affect behavior and are subject to gaming. It is these measures which must be analyzed for unintended, or worse yet, adverse consequences. Short of finding perfect measures, the practice of balancing measures can be used to mitigate such consequences.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. (Yogi Berra)

In pursuing a comprehensive approach to the measurement of systems engineering and systems development work, we must face difficulties in both theory and practice. The central questions we must answer are,

What should we measure?

How should we measure it?

What does it mean?

How will measuring this affect behavior?

Most work in the area of measures focuses on the first two questions. The field of data analytics and interpretation focuses on the third, and the field of behavioral economics is interested in the fourth. This paper will present some key ideas about how measures can be designed and conducted, applying some insights from these diverse fields.

Part I will focus on current practice, as assessed in a series of informal interviews conducted by the author in 2011–2012 with several active, senior practitioners in systems engineering measurement, mostly in the aerospace and defense industry. The goal was to understand how systems engineering is measured in current practice and how those measures are used. Part II looks at the question of how measures are designed, their component parts and how meaning for measures can be determined. In Part III the focus is on unintended consequences of applying measures—the behavioral economics perspective. Some guidelines will be suggested for the successful design of measures that avoid or minimize unintended consequences. This paper aims to suggest a new way of thinking about and designing measures and does not claim to present an explicit solution to any or all measurements needs. In fact, it is likely that the topic of measurement will appear more problematic after understanding what follows, than before.
4.3.1 Systems Engineering Tradeoff Study Process Framework
Authors: Cilli Matthew V. , Parnell Gregory S.
Published: October 2015

Tradeoff studies are a critical tool to provide information to support decision making for discipline engineers, systems engineers, and program managers throughout the system life cycle. Unfortunately, the quality of trade studies is inconsistent between organizations and within organizations. This paper reports on part of an INCOSE effort to improve tradeoff studies and discusses a proposed INCOSE Decision Management Process aligned with ISO/IEC 15288. The proposed process discussed in this paper integrates decision analysis best practices with systems engineering activities to create a baseline from which future papers can explore possible innovations to further enhance tradeoff study quality. The process enables enterprises to develop an in‐depth understanding of the complex relationship between requirements, the design choices made to address each requirement, and the system level consequences of the sum of design choices across the full set of performance requirements as well as other elements of stakeholder value to include cost and schedule. Through data visualization techniques, decision makers can quickly understand and crisply communicate a complex trade‐space and converge on recommendations that are robust in the presence of uncertainty.
4.4.1 On Motivating People to Implement Systems Engineering
Authors: Hoehne Oliver M.
Published: October 2015

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible1. This paper concentrates on the human aspect in Systems Engineering (SE), and describes the tailored SE approach the California High‐Speed Train System (CHSTS) project took in introducing and implementing SE principles while working with various stakeholders including federal regulators, state agencies, consultants, contractors, managers, peers and suppliers.

Today the CHSTS project is applying various SE tools and methods, such as stakeholder management, concept documents, operational scenarios, requirements management (RM) including RM tools, requirements verification traceability matrices (RVTM), system architectures, interface management, verification and validation, version management, process tailoring, and others.

The CHSTS is considered a large infrastructure project (LIP). Numerous studies have been performed, and papers written, about the value of Systems Engineering [1]. However, LIPs in general follow a different path, using the construction industry specific Plans, Specifications and Estimates (PS&E) approach. Large infrastructure projects have been reluctant to fully embrace and implement Systems Engineering principles, often for reasons similar to that depicted in Figure 1.

Applying Systems Engineering to Large Infrastructure Projects [2]

image

This paper builds on technical papers previously submitted to INCOSE [3, 4], but focuses rather on the soft skills that were used to lead the client, management and peers to introduce and implement Systems Engineering principles. The paper will also address the gradual development of individual SE activities into a comprehensive Systems Engineering approach that will achieve the necessary, the possible and, ultimately, the impossible.
7.2.1 Towards a 4‐D Systems Engineering Cognitive Competency Model
Authors: Frank Moti
Published: October 2015

Much activity to develop systems engineering competency models has been done in recent years. This paper focuses on SE cognitive competencies. First, twelve SE competency models are presented, chronology sorted according to the published year. Then, only the cognitive competencies are extracted from each model and finally an integrated list of cognitive competencies is presented. The integrated list contains twenty cognitive competencies all related to systems thinking. This list is one dimension of a 4‐D SE Cognitive Competency Model. The other three dimensions are role, proficiency level and competency level. The model once validated may be used for systems engineering workforce selection and development, developing systems engineering curriculum and education programs and developing a tool for assessing systems engineering cognitive competencies.
8.4.2 Fundamentals of Agile Systems Engineering – Part 2
Authors: Dove Rick , LaBarge Ralph
Published: October 2015

Agile systems‐engineering and agile‐systems engineering are two different concepts that share the word agile. In the first case the system of interest is an engineering process, and in the second case the system of interest is what is produced by an engineering process. The word agile refers to the adaptability and the sustainment of adaptability in both types of systems. Sustained adaptability is enabled by an architectural pattern and a set of system design principles that are fundamental and common to both types of systems. Research that identified this architectural pattern and design principles is reported, updated, and applied here in two Parts. Part 1 focuses on agile‐systems engineering, reviewing the origins, values, and core concepts that define and enable domain independent agility in any type of system. Part 2 focuses on agile systems‐engineering, identifying core agility‐enabling concepts in the software‐development domain‐specific practice known as Scrum, reviewing an agile hardware/software satellite‐development systems‐engineering case for its source of agility, and then suggesting the development of an agile systems‐engineering life cycle model as a natural next step.
9.1.1 Semantic Platforms for Cyber‐Physical Systems
Authors: Petnga Leonard , Austin Mark
Published: October 2015

This paper describes the development of semantic platforms to support the modeling, architectural design, realization, and operation of cyber‐physical systems. Platform architectures work directly with formal models of domain knowledge (not just raw data) that are determinate, provable (ambiguity free), executable, and with semantic parameters and rule engines that reason with physical quantities and across domains. These concepts are exercised in a case study application: the “decision‐dilemma problem” for traffic systems.
9.2.1 The Many Faces of Systems Engineering
Authors: Zonnenshain Avigdor , Stauber Shuki
Published: October 2015

This article “The Many Faces of Systems Engineering” is based on a qualitative study that included, at its core, dozens of in‐depth interviews with prominent experts in the field. We have conversed with lead systems engineers, high ranking executives, academic experts and experienced consultants. Roughly one half of the study's participants are Israelis, with the other half hailing from a multitude of other countries. We felt it was important to present a wide spectrum of perspectives on this field, as it pertains to the different features of various industries and organizations.

The main findings of this study are:

Systems engineering is a profession in the making that links the classical engineering disciplines with managerial and organizational systems.

since the early 1970's, the need to create integration, both between the various engineering disciplines and between engineering disciplines in general and non‐engineering systems grew constantly.

The importance of early planning has increased greatly

There is growing in the complexity of technological systems, along with the growing demand for suitable solutions to the needs of customers. This combination requires engineering teams that develop technological products that take into account non‐technological constraints, namely economic and managerial constraints.

The systems engineer's work of integration does not begin and end only with a technological context, but is also required in the “human” field, more than ever before

A systems engineer is an integrator of people who come from different disciplines, so as to promote technological project. The systems engineer should be essentially people‐oriented with “soft skills” like leadership, communication, teamwork and risk taking.

Systems engineers are people who are willing to enter into areas that are outside of their natural territory and they own multidisciplinary capabilities.

Systems engineering is a discipline in the making and it is not obvious that organizations will adopt it. Each industry may adopt it in different way. The difference in ‘systemic’ work patterns is not exclusive to comparisons between different industries. Each company has its own unique organizational culture, which affects the working patterns of systems engineering in the same company.

It is apparent that the main trends that created the need for systems engineering methodologies (the increase in the complexity of the systems, time and budget constraints and the level of customer involvement) will only expand with time, which will subsequently increase the need for systems engineering as well, especially in high‐tech organizations. Also, we expect that it will be adopted in non technological domains like education, healthcare.

This article is part of a study carried out within the “Gordon Center for Systems Engineering” – “The Technion, Israeli Institute of Technology”. This study seeks to examine questions of identity and nature in areas of content and of interest to systems engineers.
Managing IT Change—A New Role for HR
Authors: Worster Art , Weirich, Thomas R. , Andera Frank
Published: October 2015

This article presents some new and different approaches to workforce management during the times of dramatic change introduced by the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. It requires strong leadership from a combination of both HR and financial leadership to develop and sell these programs; and once the outlines are developed, tools to monitor and promote program progress should be developed by HR. We have found that often there is resistance to these programs by functional leaders if two things are missing: (a) HR fails to define and oversee the program; and (b) financial leaders fail to develop the cost benefit justification and do not manage the cash reserves necessary to fund it. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An Investigation Into Social Media Usage of Publicly Traded Companies
Authors: Uyar Ali , Boyar Ender
Published: October 2015

Social media is the recent years' phenomenon; however, it is becoming an increasingly important platform of business organizations for communication with stakeholders. Firms that explore the power of this new way of communication gain advantages in the marketplace, since it enables fast interaction with employees and customers. In the accounting field, it is providing opportunities for communication with stockholders and other stakeholders, and can be used as vehicle of corporate reporting. Thus, the topic deserves to be researched from an accounting perspective as well as from other disciplines' perspectives. This article investigates the social media usage of listed companies at Borsa Istanbul, Turkey. The findings indicate that although some firms use social media, the usage is not at satisfactory level. Therefore, significance of social media should be brought to the attention of managers and board members of firms. They should develop a road map to use social media for the execution of firm strategy and for effective communication with stockholders and other stakeholders. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bombesin Receptor‐Activated Protein (BRAP) Modulates NF‐κB Activation in Bronchial Epithelial Cells by Enhancing HDAC Activity
Authors: Liu Ying , Qin Xiao‐Qun , Weber Horst Christian , Xiang Yang , Liu Chi , Liu Hui‐Jun , Yang Huan , Jiang Jianxin , Qu Xiangping
Published: October 2015

Our previous studies provided evidence that bombesin receptor‐activated protein (BRAP), encoded by C6ORF89, is widely expressed in human airway epithelial cells and may play a role in the stress response of lung epithelia. In this study, we demonstrated that BRAP has a regulatory effect on NF‐κB transcriptional activity in cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs). BRAP overexpression by gene transfer inhibited both basal and inducible NF‐κB transcriptional activity in HBECs, whereas BRAP knockdown had the opposite effect. BRAP was shown to regulate NF‐κB activity by enhancing histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. In addition, BRAP might increase HDAC activity that leads to NF‐κB activation via its putative C‐terminal domain. Our study suggests that the BRAP protein is an important regulator of immune and inflammatory responses in the human airway epithelium. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 1069–1077, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
THE EFFECTS OF TV AND FILM EXPOSURE ON KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND ATTITUDES TOWARD MENTAL DISORDERS
Authors: Kimmerle Joachim , Cress Ulrike
Published: October 2015

Two empirical studies examined whether the portrayal of mental disorders on television and in films has an effect on people's knowledge about and attitudes toward the mentally ill. Study 1 found that the more often people watched television, the poorer their knowledge was about schizophrenia and obsessive‐compulsive disorder. This finding did not apply to major depression. Study 2 demonstrated that people who watched a documentary film acquired more knowledge about schizophrenia than people who watched a fictional film, despite identical information in both films. Moreover, people who watched a fictional film had more negative emotional reactions (rejecting and unpleasant feelings) toward schizophrenia patients.
FEELING SAFE: INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND NEIGHBORHOOD DISORGANIZATION AMONG URBAN AND RURAL AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH
Authors: Brevard Joshua , Maxwell Morgan , Hood Kristina , Belgrave Faye
Published: October 2015

Neighborhood disorganization and the perception of neighborhood disorganization are linked to several adverse outcomes for youth. Disorganized communities often lack the social structures to promote well‐being, maintain social control, and provide an environment in which youth feel safe. Intergenerational connections, similar to cultural attributes of collectiveness and extended family found among people of African ancestry, was expected to be linked to less perceived neighborhood disorganization. Neighborhood type, rural versus urban, was also investigated as a moderator of the relationship between intergenerational connections and perceived neighborhood disorganization. Participants were 564 elementary, middle, and high school students who were recruited from urban and rural schools in a mid‐Atlantic region of the United States. Students completed measures of Intergenerational Connections and Neighborhood Disorganization along with demographic items. The findings indicated that higher levels of intergenerational connections were associated with perceptions of less disorganized neighborhoods. A significant interaction was found between neighborhood type and intergenerational connections. Intergenerational connections lowered perceptions of disorganization in urban neighborhoods such that youth in neighborhoods with high intergenerational connections reported lower disorganization than those in areas of low intergenerational connections. This effect was not found for youth in rural neighborhoods. Benefits and methods for increasing intergenerational connections among African American youth are discussed.
ESTAMOS TRAUMADOS: THE EFFECT OF ANTI‐IMMIGRANT SENTIMENT AND POLICIES ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF MEXICAN IMMIGRANT FAMILIES
Authors: Salas Lorraine Moya , Ayón Cecilia , Gurrola Maria
Published: October 2015

This study examines the effects of immigration legislation on Mexican immigrant families’ health and mental health. Focus groups were completed with youth and adult participants who were immigrants or children of immigrants (N = 43). Participants shared the risky conditions that are part of their everyday life and feelings of isolation, powerlessness, frustration, fear, stress and chronic trauma they experience. Major themes are as follows: (a) Arriesgando la vida (risking our lives)–participants shared the dangers involved in migrating to the United States; (b) Mirando por la ventana (looking out the window)–participants live in a constant state of fear, of being arrested and deported, which significantly restricts how they live their lives; (c) and Estamos traumados (we are traumatized)– participants share the effects on children, how women's stress is manifested, and men's feelings of powerlessness. Further research is needed on the effect of prolonged trauma particularly on children's development.
A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF MENTOR EXPERIENCES: PERCEPTIONS, STRATEGIES, AND OUTCOMES
Authors: Weiler Lindsey M. , Zarich Kalyca J. , Haddock Shelley A. , Krafchick Jennifer L. , Zimmerman Toni S.
Published: October 2015

To date, little is understood about the mentors’ experience of mentoring at‐risk youth. The current study sought to enrich this understanding by exploring how mentors within a structured mentoring community perceive their experience and determining what strategies they employ to optimally navigate their mentoring relationship. Due to the need to cultivate a deeper understanding, the present study utilized grounded theory methodology to uncover common themes within the experience. Data from focus group transcripts and written reflections of 123 mentors resulted in a comprehensive model of mentor experiences, including a largely positive experience in which mentors hold perceptions of themselves, their mentee, the mentoring relationship, and the mentoring program–Campus Corps: Therapeutic Mentoring for At‐Risk Youth. Mentors described a series of strategies utilized during the experience and described potential outcomes of mentoring youth. Results hold important implications for mentors and programs struggling to recruit, support, or sustain mentors.
CHANGING DELAY DISCOUNTING IN THE LIGHT OF THE COMPETING NEUROBEHAVIORAL DECISION SYSTEMS THEORY: A REVIEW
Authors: Koffarnus Mikhail N. , Jarmolowicz David P. , Mueller E. Terry , Bickel Warren K.
Published: October 2015

Excessively devaluing delayed reinforcers co‐occurs with a wide variety of clinical conditions such as drug dependence, obesity, and excessive gambling. If excessive delay discounting is a trans‐disease process that underlies the choice behavior leading to these and other negative health conditions, efforts to change an individual's discount rate are arguably important. Although discount rate is often regarded as a relatively stable trait, descriptions of interventions and environmental manipulations that successfully alter discount rate have begun to appear in the literature. In this review, we compare published examples of procedures that change discount rate and classify them into categories of procedures, including therapeutic interventions, direct manipulation of the executive decision‐making system, framing effects, physiological state effects, and acute drug effects. These changes in discount rate are interpreted from the perspective of the competing neurobehavioral decision systems theory, which describes a combination of neurological and behavioral processes that account for delay discounting. We also suggest future directions that researchers could take to identify the mechanistic processes that allow for changes in discount rate and to test whether the competing neurobehavioral decision systems view of delay discounting is correct.
Sustaining the Pipeline: Experiences of International Female Engineers in U.S. Graduate Programs
Authors: Dutta Debalina
Published: October 2015

Background

Research regarding international female engineering graduate students tends to be aggregated with that about the experiences of international students in the United States or as the struggles of female engineers in engineering disciplines. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the unique experiences of international female students in U.S. engineering graduate programs.

Purpose/Hypothesis

This study examined the theoretical intersections of sustainability and liminality in the experiences of international female graduate students in U.S. engineering programs. The study explored the tensions and challenges faced by international female engineering students in navigating engineering graduate programs.

Design/Method

Using qualitative detailed interviews and focus groups conducted with 49 participants, I explored the ways international female engineering students understood the tensions they experienced and developed strategies of persistence in responding to their liminal status within the engineering graduate programs.

Results

Three themes on the practices of sustainability in navigating liminality emerged from the data: constructing inclusion, challenging invisibility, and reengineering professional efficacy. The themes reflect the everyday strategies of survival the students participate in amid the challenging environment of the academic organizations.

Conclusions

International female engineers in U.S. graduate engineering programs exist in liminal spaces where their identities are continually being challenged. Through reconstructing inclusion, challenging their invisibility, and reengineering professional efficacy, they transform these liminal spaces to their advantage and persist in their struggles with the challenges they experience.
The effect of inpatient stress testing on subsequent emergency department visits, readmissions, and costs
Authors: Mallidi Jaya , Penumetsa Srikanth , Friderici Jennifer L. , Saab Fadi , Rothberg Michael B.
Published: October 2015

BACKGROUND

Patients with low‐risk chest pain are frequently readmitted for evaluation of recurrent chest pain. It is unknown whether stress testing during the first admission for chest pain is a cost‐effective means of reducing readmissions.

METHODS

Using a hospital administrative database, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients aged ≥18 years admitted under “observation status” to Baystate Medical Center between January 2007 and July 2009 for chest pain without acute coronary syndrome. We compared subsequent emergency department (ED) visits, readmissions, and costs within 1 year for patients who had a stress test at index admission to those who did not, adjusting for age, gender, race, insurance, and comorbidities.

RESULTS

The cohort included 3315 patients. Most (n = 2376, 71.7%) had a stress test during the index admission. Within 1 year, 256 (7.7%) patients returned to the ED at least once with chest pain. Of these, 112 (43.8%) were admitted during their first return visit. In the multivariable model, return visits for chest pain were negatively associated with previous stress testing (odds ratio [OR]: 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.5 to 0.9). Once in the ED, however, the risk of admission did not vary by stress test during index admission (OR: 0.8, 95% CI: 0.4 to 1.4). Overall costs, including index admission and follow‐up visits for chest pain, were higher for patients with stress testing at index admission.

CONCLUSION

Inpatient stress testing reduced subsequent resource utilization in terms of ED visits and resultant readmissions, but the savings were not enough to offset the cost of initial testing. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2013;8:564–568. © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine
Provider‐to‐provider electronic communication in the era of meaningful use: A review of the evidence
Authors: Walsh Colin , Siegler Eugenia L. , Cheston Erin , O'Donnell Heather , Collins Sarah , Stein Daniel , Vawdrey David K. , Stetson Peter D. ,   for the Informatics Intervention Research Collaboration (I2RC)
Published: October 2015

BACKGROUND

Electronic communication between providers occurs daily in clinical practice but has not been well studied.

PURPOSE

To assess the impact of provider‐to‐provider electronic communication tools on communication and healthcare outcomes through literature review.

DATA SOURCES

Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Google Scholar, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Academic Search Premier.

STUDY SELECTION

Publication in English‐language peer‐reviewed journals. Studies provided quantitative provider‐to‐provider communication data, provider satisfaction statistics, or electronic health record (EHR) communication data.

DATA EXTRACTION

Literature review.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Two reviewers conducted the title review to determine eligible studies from initial search results. Three reviewers independently reviewed titles, abstracts, and full text (where appropriate) against inclusion and exclusion criteria.

LIMITATIONS

Small number of eligible studies; few described trial design (20%). Homogeneous provider type (physicians). English‐only studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Of 25 included studies, all focused on physicians; most were observational (68%). Most (60%) described electronic specialist referral tools. Although overall use has been measured, there were no studies of the effectiveness of intra‐EHR messaging. Literature describing the effectiveness of provider‐to‐provider electronic communications is sparse and narrow in scope. Complex care, such as that envisioned for the Patient Centered Medical Home, necessitates further research. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2013;8:589–597. © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine
Postdischarge clinics: Hospitalist attitudes and experiences
Authors: Burke Robert E. , Ryan Patrick
Published: October 2015

Novel methods for improving transitions of care are needed. Hospitalist‐run postdischarge clinics (PDCs) may improve access to postdischarge care, but require practice change from providers. We conducted a Web‐based cross‐sectional survey of hospitalists at 37 academic medical centers across the United States and a large private employer of hospitalists to assess the attitudes of hospitalists toward postdischarge care and PDCs. Two hundred twenty‐eight of 814 hospitalists responded to the survey (28%). Responding hospitalists commonly (55%) experienced difficulty arranging outpatient follow‐up, and felt that lack of access was responsible for most patient problems after discharge (61%). Despite this, 62% felt hospitalists should not provide postdischarge care in a clinic, and 77% felt they would require extra compensation for work in a PDC. However, 74% thought such a clinic would decrease emergency department visits. Practicing in a PDC was associated with a trend toward positive attitudes about providing postdischarge care (P = 0.054). Responding hospitalists expressed difficulty arranging appropriate postdischarge care, confidence that PDCs would reduce postdischarge utilization, and reservations about working in a PDC, perhaps because of practical or financial concerns. These results are important given the current emphasis on reducing hospital readmissions. Further work evaluating the experience of hospitalists in PDCs is needed. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2013;8:578–581. © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine