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PubMedDate not supplied

Pre-test and post-test evaluation of students' perceptions of a collaborative clinical education model on the learning environment.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the impact of a collaborative clinical education model on students' perception of the psycho-social learning environment. DESIGN: A pre-test and post-test quasi experimental design. SETTING: A tertiary referral centre. SUBJECTS: Second and third year undergraduate nursing students were asked to rate their perceptions of the psycho-social learning environment at the completion of the clinical practicum. TOOL: The tool used to measure psycho-social perceptions of the clinical learning environment was the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory previously validated in Australian health care contexts. INTERVENTION: A collaborative arrangement with the university and ward staff where eight students are placed on a ward and a ward staff member is paid by the university to be 'off-line' from a clinical workload to supervise the students. This is in contrast to the standard facilitation model where students are placed with registered nurses in different localities under the supervision of a 'roving' registered nurse paid by the university. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in pre-test mean scores when comparing wards. Significant differences in post-test scores for the intervention group were identified in the sub scales of Student Involvement, Satisfaction, Personalisation and Task Orientation. CONCLUSIONS: The adoption of a collaborative clinical education model where students are integrated into the ward team and the team is responsible for student learning can positively enhance capacity for student learning during their clinical practicum.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed2000

Binaural gap duration discrimination in listeners with impaired hearing and normal hearing.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to measure the ability of listeners with and without sensorineural hearing loss to discriminate silent gaps between noise band markers of different frequencies presented in an anechoic and a reverberant listening environment. DESIGN: A two-interval, two-alternative, forced-choice paradigm was used to measure gap discrimination ability for six listeners with normal-hearing and six listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment. Marker stimuli were narrow bands of noise centered at frequencies from 500 to 7000 Hz. The center frequency of the leading marker was held constant at 2000 Hz and the center frequency of the trailing marker was varied randomly across runs. Stimuli were presented in two virtual listening environments (anechoic and reverberant). The listeners' task was to indicate which interval contained the marker pair separated by the larger silent gap. Gap discrimination was measured as a function of the center frequency of the trailing marker and as a function of listening environment. RESULTS: Gap discrimination thresholds (msec) varied as a function of the center frequency of the trailing marker. As the trailing marker frequency increased above and decreased below the leading marker frequency (2000 Hz), gap thresholds increased significantly. Hearing loss and listening environment did not have a significant effect on gap discrimination thresholds. Analysis of the gap discrimination functions revealed significantly steeper slopes for trailing marker frequencies below 2000 Hz than for trailing marker frequencies above 2000 Hz. A possible age effect was observed in the data and significant correlations were found between age and function slopes for several conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Gap discrimination becomes more difficult as the frequency disparity between leading and trailing noise bands increases. This pattern of results occurs independent of hearing loss but may be influenced by listener age.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The meaning of food in our lives: a cross-cultural perspective on eating and well-being.

Humans are biologically adapted to their ancestral food environment in which foods were dispersed and energy expenditure was required to obtain them. The modern developed world has a surplus of very accessible, inexpensive food. Amid the enormous variety of different foods are "super" foods, such as chocolate, which are particularly appealing and calorie dense. Energy output can be minimal to obtain large amounts of food. In terms of education (eg, in nutrition and risk-benefit thinking) and environment design, modern cultures have not kept pace with changes in the food world. Overweight and worrying about food result from this mismatch between human biological predispositions and the current food environment. The French have coped with this mismatch better than Americans. Although at least as healthy as Americans, they focus more on the experience of eating and less on the health effects of eating. They spend more time eating, but they eat less, partly because of smaller portion sizes. French traditions of moderation (versus American abundance), focus on quality (versus quantity), and emphasis on the joys of the moment (rather than making life comfortable and easy) support a healthier lifestyle. The French physical environment encourages slow, moderate social eating, minimal snacking, and more physical activity in daily life.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed1995

Changes in student learning styles and adaptive learning competencies following a senior preceptorship experience.

The purpose of this pre-post comparison study was to examine the effect of the preceptorship experience on the learning styles (the manner in which individuals process information from the environment), adaptive competencies (the congruences between personal skills and task demands) and environmental press perceptions (the subjects' perceptions of the importance of each adaptive competency to effective functioning in a designated environment) of 37 fourth-year baccalaureate nursing students. Using Kolb's theory of experiential learning as the theoretical framework for the study, it was found that the students' learning styles were inconsistently categorized by two versions of Kolb's learning style inventory. The preceptorship experience was perceived by students to have significantly (P < 0.05) improved the development of their adaptive learning competencies. Students perceived the importance of divergent, accommodative and convergent learning competencies to be lower after the preceptorship experience, with the only significant difference (P < 0.05) being between pre- and post-convergent competencies. The preceptorship experience, however, was found to contribute significantly more (P < 0.001) to the students' development of most adaptive competencies than their weekly clinical experiences. The findings support the notion that a senior preceptorship programme is a valuable and worthwhile learning experience to include in baccalaureate nursing curricula.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of age, dietary restriction and germ-free environment on glutathione-related enzymes in Lobund-Wistar rats.

The effects of age, dietary restriction and germ-free environment on glutathione peroxidase (GP), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione-S-transerases (GT) were studied in 48 Lobund-Wistar male rats obtained through the Lobund Aging Study. The treatment design was a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial design (environment x food level x age). Four rats were killed at 6, 18 and 30 months for each of the following groups of rats: conventional ad libitum (CV-A), conventional restricted (CV-R), germ-free ad libitum (GF-A) and germ-free restricted (GF-R). The dietary restriction (DR) was 30%. The activities of the three enzymes in the liver cytosolic fraction were determined. The activities of DR and GT were not affected by age, and were significantly lower in the rats raised in the GF environment than in those raised in the CV environment. DR significantly increased GR in the GF environment. The total GP activity was not affected by age but significantly increased by DR and a GF environment, suggesting that these life prolonging conditions provide greater protection against organic hydroperoxides and low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Impact of an orally administered insect growth regulator (lufenuron) on flea infestations of dogs in a controlled simulated home environment.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of lufenuron to control cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis) populations on dogs under conditions simulating a naturally infested home environment. DESIGN: 2 treatment and 2 control groups of dogs. Treated dogs received lufenuron in tablet form monthly, and controls received excipient. Dogs had unrestricted access to indoor (carpeted) and outdoor (grassy) environments in which self-propagating flea populations had been established. ANIMALS: 17 adult female Beagles. PROCEDURE: Dogs were monitored for 77 days after initial infestation with fleas and 70 days after initial treatment. Efficacy of the drug was calculated on the basis of absolute reduction in flea counts and as a percentage of control. RESULTS: Lufenuron administration caused a statistically significant (P < 0.05) reduction in flea burdens in treated dogs, compared with controls. Initiation of treatment 7 days after infestation resulted in 75% control of F1-generation and 97% control of F2-generation fleas over a 70-day posttreatment period. CONCLUSIONS: Lufenuron was highly effective in reducing flea populations on dogs. The time required for control will vary with the duration (generation time) of the flea reproductive cycle and, hence, the geographic area in which the product will be used. The experimental results are most relevant to use of the product for control of an existing flea population in the Midwest.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1996

Asthma in goldminers.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether asthma in goldminers is caused by or contributed to by their working environment. DESIGN: A case-control study in which men with asthma working underground in goldmines were compared with underground goldminers without asthma in relation to their age, duration of exposure to the underground environment, atopy and family history of asthma. SETTING: An in- and outpatient facility providing for the medical needs of approximately 90 000 miners employed on goldmines in the Free State. OUTCOME MEASURES: Occupational history, atopy and family history of asthma were compared in the two groups. The age of onset of asthma and duration of occupational exposure were examined in the men with asthma. RESULTS: The study sample included 78 underground miners with asthma and 46 without asthma. The men in the two groups were of similar age, but those with asthma had worked underground for a longer period than the men without asthma. Twenty of the asthmatic and none of the control group had been exposed to paint and cement in the course of their work. Fifty of the asthmatic and only 3 of the control group were atopic. The mean age of onset of asthma (+/-SD) was 30.6 +/- 10.73 years. Six of the men had developed asthma before starting to work in the mines, and the disease had developed 13.4 +/- 8.22 years after starting to work underground in the remaining 72. CONCLUSION: The late age of onset and the onset after exposure to the underground environment suggest that the disease was work-related.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The design of design teams in high-technology industries.

Every design enterprise in high-technology involves a large multi-disciplinary team. In the context of man-machine interaction there are two related issues concerning the design system. Firstly, the team must be divided into sub-teams which can complete separate tasks within the context of the total system concept. Secondly, there are human factors design issues which often run across the work of the sub-teams. The division of a design effort into separate tasks is a considerable art but there are some general principles such as the minimisation of communication across interfaces and the standardisation of procedures for consolidating, communicating and recording design decisions. A human factors service must be available on a wide range of issues, including coding and storage of information concerning progress to date, the man-machine interfaces, work space and working environment design, and the design of instruction manuals. The ergonomist cannot confine his solutions within design. There are complementary issues of training which are usually organisationally separated. The ergonomist must cooperate with personnel specialists responsible for staffing levels and training. In recent years useful bridges have developed in the form of common interests in task analysis and simulation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1983

Group home designs for initiating community-based treatment with mentally retarded adolescent offenders.

Increasingly, mentally retarded adolescent offenders are being diverted into community-based residential treatment. Thus, many of these aggressive youths, who would previously have been institutionalized are now diverted into available group home settings. Implementing restrictive aspects of treatment regimens with this population frequently evokes intense escape/avoidance behaviors which cannot be controlled at those open sites. As a result, in traditional group homes these adolescents readily avoid therapy, run away recurrently, and thus pose serious risks to themselves and the community. The authors describe two secure group home designs which seem to promote consistent treatment of this difficult population, while protecting the local community. Preliminary evidence is presented indicating that these specially designed environments are essential adjuncts to the initial phase of treatment of mentally retarded adolescent offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Blending problem-based learning with Web technology positively impacts student learning outcomes in acid-base physiology.

World Wide Web (Web)-based learning (WBL), problem-based learning (PBL), and collaborative learning are at present the most powerful educational options in higher education. A blended (hybrid) course combines traditional face-to-face and WBL approaches in an educational environment that is nonspecific as to time and place. To provide educational services for an undergraduate second-year elective course in acid-base physiology, a rich, student-centered educational Web-environment designed to support PBL was created by using Web Course Tools courseware. The course is designed to require students to work in small collaborative groups using problem solving activities to develop topic understanding. The aim of the study was to identify the impact of the blended WBL-PBL-collaborative learning environment on student learning outcomes. Student test scores and satisfaction survey results from a blended WBL-PBL-based test group (n = 37) were compared with a control group whose instructional opportunities were from a traditional in-class PBL model (n = 84). WBL students scored significantly (t = 3.3952; P = 0.0009) better on the final acid-base physiology examination and expressed a positive attitude to the new learning environment in the satisfaction survey. Expressed in terms of a difference effect, the mean of the treated group (WBL) is at the 76th percentile of the untreated (face-to-face) group, which stands for a "medium" effect size. Thus student progress in the blended WBL-PBL collaborative environment was positively affected by the use of technology.

Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
PubMed2004

Performance of mouse lines divergently selected for heat loss when exposed to different environmental temperatures. I. Reproductive performance, pup survival, and metabolic hormones.

Mouse populations differing in metabolic rate have been developed through selection for high (MH) and low (ML) heat loss, along with the unselected controls (MC). Objectives of the study were to compare the MH, ML, and MC lines for reproductive performance, pup survival, and metabolic hormones when reared at 12, 22, and 31 degrees C, and to search for line x environment interactions. Conception and litter size were recorded on the parent generation mice introduced to the environments at 11 wk of age and bred after a 3-wk acclimatization period. Survival of pups (preweaning to 3 wk; postweaning from 3 to 9 wk of age) was measured with continuous exposure in the designated environment from birth to the time of measurement. Corticosterone, triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) serum concentrations were measured on the parent generation after producing litters and on the pup generation at 9 wk. No line x environment interaction was detected for conception rate, preweaning mortality, postweaning survival, pup weaning weight, or body temperature. There were no differences in conception rate among lines and environments. Environments affected survival of pups, but there were no line differences. Rectal body temperatures were greater for MH than ML mice, and MC mice were intermediate; body temperature of mice did not differ among the environments. Lines differed significantly in litter size only in the 22 degrees C environment. No significant line differences were found for serum corticosterone or serum T3 or T4. Line x environment interaction was detected only for litter size and for serum corticosterone concentration in dams. Contrary to the other two lines, ML dam performance relative to MH and MC was not affected negatively by either of the thermal environments. Results from this study do not raise concern that selection to decrease maintenance requirements will produce livestock with any greater liability to cope and perform under an array of environmental temperatures.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Readability and sensitivity of a new faecal occult blood test in a hospital ward environment. Comparison with an established test.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the readability and sensitivity of a new guaiac faecal occult blood test, HemoccultSENSA, with those of a standard guaiac-based test, Hemoccult, in a normal working environment. DESIGN: The two tests were performed in parallel on routine clinical and contrived faecal specimens; those developing the tests were blinded as to the test type. SETTING: All tests were carried out in the hospital ward environment under normal conditions by nurses working in the ward. SAMPLES: Fifty faecal samples from healthy volunteer subjects (low concentrations of haemoglobin were added to 40 of these samples) and 145 faecal samples from 65 inpatients likely to have gastrointestinal bleeding. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Test positivity rate, and graded measures of colour intensity, colour stability and colour pattern. RESULTS: With patients' samples, the new test gave a greater number of positive results than the standard test (73.1% v. 65.5%; 95% confidence interval of the difference, 3.3%-11.9%). With contrived samples, the blue colour produced during development was more intense (P less than 0.0003), more stable (P less than 0.0025) and covered a larger area (P less than 0.01) with the new test compared with the standard test. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate the better readability and slightly higher sensitivity of the new test. They justify its use in the ward environment or doctor's office. Patients being tested should consume a low peroxidase diet until the specificity of the new test has been fully evaluated.

Color↗
PubMed1996

Smoking in the workplace: do smoking patterns and attitudes reflect the legislative environment?

OBJECTIVE: With regard to the workplace, to examine restrictions on smoking, smoking at work, attitudes toward and reactions to restrictions, and workplace programmes in the context of the legislative environment. DESIGN: Population-based telephone interview survey of adult residents of the jurisdictions of Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada. SUBJECTS: Workers within the City of Toronto (n = 374) were compared with other workers (n = 536), because their legislative environments with regard to workplace smoking were markedly different, with workplaces in the City of Toronto being covered by a much more stringent bylaw. RESULTS: In comparison with other workers, City of Toronto workers reported workplace restrictions to be more common and widespread. These workers were also less likely to smoke at work, and more likely to smoke less at work and to have cut down on smoking at work. Quit-smoking rates, however, were similar. There was evidence of some compensatory smoking outside work, but additional compensation in association with more stringent restrictions was not found. City workers and other workers were similar in their support for smoke-free workplaces, in their attitudes to the role of governments in regulating workplace smoking, and in their perceptions of conflict between smokers and non-smokers. Reports of quit-smoking programmes and educational interventions in the workplace were similarly uncommon, although both groups of workers indicated strong support for the role of business and industry in helping people quit. CONCLUSIONS: Restrictions on smoking and smoking patterns reflected the legislative environment; a more stringent environment was associated with more restrictions and less smoking at work.

Canada↗
PubMed2001

Pigeons encode relative geometry.

Pigeons were trained to search for hidden food in a rectangular environment designed to eliminate any external cues. Following training, the authors administered unreinforced test trials in which the geometric properties of the apparatus were manipulated. During tests that preserved the relative geometry but altered the absolute geometry of the environment, the pigeons continued to choose the geometrically correct corners, indicating that they encoded the relative geometry of the enclosure. When tested in a square enclosure, which distorted both the absolute and relative geometry, the pigeons randomly chose among the 4 corners, indicating that their choices were not based on cues external to the apparatus. This study provides new insight into how metric properties of an environment are encoded by pigeons.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Responses of gametes to the oviductal environment.

Spermatozoa and oocytes are separately formed in highly specialized biological compartments (testes and epididymis, ovarian follicle), then deposited communally in the oviduct in an environment designed to facilitate their final maturation, promote their union, and nurture the resultant zygotes and early embryos. The mammalian oviduct undergoes hormonally-mediated cyclical modifications that climax during the periovulatory period thus ensuring production of the specialized environment required for the gametes. While the number of potential bioeffectors present in the oviduct is immense, there are four classes of modulators that are of particular note for the 'capacitation' or maturation of both the spermatozoa and the eggs or early embryos: beta-amino acids, bicarbonate ion, progesterone, and oviductins. Only the oviductins are unique to the oviduct, while the other three are present either at higher concentrations than in other tissues or arrive within the oviductal milieu coordinately with the gametes. For spermatozoa, beta-amino acids, bicarbonate ion, and progesterone work interactively to promote motility, capacitation, and the acrosome reaction, while oviductins facilitate capacitation and species-specific zona pellucida recognition and adhesion. For embryonic development, progesterone works indirectly by promoting a permissive oviductal environment, bicarbonate ion is required for cleavage, and beta-amino acids, acting as organic osmolytes, membrane stabilizers, and/or antioxidants, are facilitatory. Oviductins adhere to the zona pellucida of the ovulated egg thereby increasing sperm adhesion and speed of sperm penetration. Oviductins in the perivitelline space or endocytosed by the pre-implantation embryo may regulate differentiation during the morula to blastocyst transition. The roles of these mediators and their mechanisms of action for the gametes and early embryos are reviewed and discussed.

Bicarbonates↗
PubMed1998

Modeling and simulating morphological evolution in an artificial life environment.

This paper presents a computer-based environment designed to study biological evolution considering morphological aspects. It was inspired on cellular automata and evolutionary algorithm principles. Simple rules are used to determine the genotype and phenotype of individuals and their relationships with behavioral aspects in a square matrix environment, where individuals can evolve. Two methods to simulate mutational errors and to introduce variability of mutations are discussed. A series of four simulations show that the model promotes phenotype evolution depending on the distribution of food over the environment; morphology evolved as to favor movement of the individuals towards the portion of the environment in which the food has been distributed or to capture falling food.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Is a low leptin concentration, a low resting metabolic rate, or both the expression of the "thrifty genotype"? Results from Mexican Pima Indians.

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in some populations is believed to be the expression of a "thrifty genotype," which conferred survival advantages during periods of harsh environmental conditions, but has become a liability in industrialized environments of abundance. Low plasma leptin concentrations and a low metabolic rate may be the phenotypic expression of this genotype. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that plasma leptin concentrations and resting metabolic rate would be lower in Mexican Pima Indians not yet exposed to an affluent lifestyle than in non-Pima Mexicans living in the same environment. DESIGN: We studied 208 nondiabetic Pima Indians (105 women and 103 men) living a traditional lifestyle in a remote, mountainous area of northwest Mexico and 183 nondiabetic non-Pima Mexicans (90 women and 93 men) living in the same environment. A subset of 40 (17 women and 23 men) Pima Indians and 40 (19 women and 21 men) non-Pima Mexicans was selected for studies of energy metabolism with a ventilated-hood system. RESULTS: Leptin concentrations were strongly correlated with percentage body fat in both groups (r = 0.83, P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference in plasma leptin concentration between groups in absolute value (P = 0.90) or after adjustment for percentage body fat, waist circumference, age, and sex (P = 0.40). Similarly, there was no significant difference in resting metabolic rate between groups in absolute value (P = 0.27) or after adjustment for fat-free mass (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: These results do not support the hypothesis that hypoleptinemia, a relatively low resting metabolic rate, or both are expressions of the thrifty genotype.

Adult↗