Audiovisual Presentation Research Articles

Poetic Objects or Open Data? Challenges and Changes to Contemporary MA programmes in Audio-Visual Archiving, Preservation and Presentation

This article describes the rise of MA programmes in audio-visual archiving, preservation and presentation. It distinguishes between two key developments that are transforming the contemporary graduation education in AV heritage: digital developments that significantly impact the professional field, and new governance structures that comprise a (forced) move away from film studies as disciplinary home. It is the latter, this article argues, that poses the real threat for the future of professional education in preservation and presentation of moving images.

Bilingualism affects audiovisual phoneme identification.

We all go through a process of perceptual narrowing for phoneme identification. As we become experts in the languages we hear in our environment we lose the ability to identify phonemes that do not exist in our native phonological inventory. This research examined how linguistic experience—i.e., the exposure to a double phonological code during childhood—affects the visual processes involved in non-native phoneme identification in audiovisual speech perception. We conducted a phoneme identification experiment with bilingual and monolingual adult participants. It was an ABX task involving a Bengali dental-retroflex contrast that does not exist in any of the participants' languages. The phonemes were presented in audiovisual (AV) and audio-only (A) conditions. The results revealed that in the audio-only condition monolinguals and bilinguals had difficulties in discriminating the retroflex non-native phoneme. They were phonologically “deaf” and assimilated it to the dental phoneme that exists in their native languages. In the audiovisual presentation instead, both groups could overcome the phonological deafness for the retroflex non-native phoneme and identify both Bengali phonemes. However, monolinguals were more accurate and responded quicker than bilinguals. This suggests that bilinguals do not use the same processes as monolinguals to decode visual speech.

Enhancing Speech Intelligibility: Interactions Among Context, Modality, Speech Style, and Masker

The authors sought to investigate interactions among intelligibility-enhancing speech cues (i.e., semantic context, clearly produced speech, and visual information) across a range of masking conditions. Sentence recognition in noise was assessed for 29 normal-hearing listeners. Testing included semantically normal and anomalous sentences, conversational and clear speaking styles, auditory-only (AO) and audiovisual (AV) presentation modalities, and 4 different maskers (2-talker babble, 4-talker babble, 8-talker babble, and speech-shaped noise). Semantic context, clear speech, and visual input all improved intelligibility but also interacted with one another and with masking condition. Semantic context was beneficial across all maskers in AV conditions but only in speech-shaped noise in AO conditions. Clear speech provided the most benefit for AV speech with semantically anomalous targets. Finally, listeners were better able to take advantage of visual information for meaningful versus anomalous sentences and for clear versus conversational speech. Because intelligibility-enhancing cues influence each other and depend on masking condition, multiple maskers and enhancement cues should be used to accurately assess individuals' speech-in-noise perception.

Rhythmicity and cross-modal temporal cues facilitate detection

Temporal structure in the environment often has predictive value for anticipating the occurrence of forthcoming events. In this study we investigated the influence of two types of predictive temporal information on the perception of near-threshold auditory stimuli: 1) intrinsic temporal rhythmicity within an auditory stimulus stream and 2) temporally-predictive visual cues. We hypothesized that combining predictive temporal information within- and across-modality should decrease the threshold at which sounds are detected, beyond the advantage provided by each information source alone. Two experiments were conducted in which participants had to detect tones in noise. Tones were presented in either rhythmic or random sequences and were preceded by a temporally predictive visual signal in half of the trials. We show that detection intensities are lower for rhythmic (vs. random) and audiovisual (vs. auditory-only) presentation, independent from response bias, and that this effect is even greater for rhythmic audiovisual presentation. These results suggest that both types of temporal information are used to optimally process sounds that occur at expected points in time (resulting in enhanced detection), and that multiple temporal cues are combined to improve temporal estimates. Our findings underscore the flexibility and proactivity of the perceptual system which uses within- and across-modality temporal cues to anticipate upcoming events and process them optimally.

The level of audiovisual print–speech integration deficits in dyslexia

The classical phonological deficit account of dyslexia is increasingly linked to impairments in grapho-phonological conversion, and to dysfunctions in superior temporal regions associated with audiovisual integration. The present study investigates mechanisms of audiovisual integration in typical and impaired readers at the critical developmental stage of adolescence.Congruent and incongruent audiovisual as well as unimodal (visual only and auditory only) material was presented. Audiovisual presentations were single letters and three-letter (consonant–vowel–consonant) stimuli accompanied by matching or mismatching speech sounds. Three-letter stimuli exhibited fast phonetic transitions as in real-life language processing and reading. Congruency effects, i.e. different brain responses to congruent and incongruent stimuli were taken as an indicator of audiovisual integration at a phonetic level (grapho-phonological conversion). Comparisons of unimodal and audiovisual stimuli revealed basic, more sensory aspects of audiovisual integration. By means of these two criteria of audiovisual integration, the generalizability of audiovisual deficits in dyslexia was tested. Moreover, it was expected that the more naturalistic three-letter stimuli are superior to single letters in revealing group differences. Electrophysiological and hemodynamic (EEG and fMRI) data were acquired simultaneously in a simple target detection task. Applying the same statistical models to event-related EEG potentials and fMRI responses allowed comparing the effects detected by the two techniques at a descriptive level.Group differences in congruency effects (congruent against incongruent) were observed in regions involved in grapho-phonological processing, including the left inferior frontal and angular gyri and the inferotemporal cortex. Importantly, such differences also emerged in superior temporal key regions. Three-letter stimuli revealed stronger group differences than single letters. No significant differences in basic measures of audiovisual integration emerged. Convergence of hemodynamic and electrophysiological signals appeared to be limited and mainly occurred for highly significant and large effects in visual cortices.The findings suggest efficient superior temporal tuning to audiovisual congruency in controls. In impaired readers, however, grapho-phonological conversion is effortful and inefficient, although basic audiovisual mechanisms seem intact. This unprecedented demonstration of audiovisual deficits in adolescent dyslexics provides critical evidence that the phonological deficit might be explained by impaired audiovisual integration at a phonetic level, especially for naturalistic and word-like stimulation.

Diagnosis Coding for Clinicians: Core Knowledge and Transition to ICD-10

OPEN ACCESSJune 18, 2014Diagnosis Coding for Clinicians: Core Knowledge and Transition to ICD-10 Davoren Chick, MD, Margie Andreae, MD Davoren Chick, MD University of Michigan Medical School Google Scholar More articles by this author , Margie Andreae, MD University of Michigan Medical School Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9823 SectionsAbout ToolsDownload Citations ShareFacebookTwitterEmail Abstract Introduction: Graduate medical education programs and academic health systems have long struggled with providing sufficient training in the regulatory and business aspects of health care. Needs assessments confirm that medical students, medical residents, surgical residents, and faculty all rank the topic of billing and coding as an area of curricular need. Indeed, data demonstrates that incorrect coding by academic medical center learners leads to large financial losses and that educational content is needed to address the financial needs of academic institutions. Nationally, internal medicine curricular milestones have recognized the understanding of coding and reimbursement principles as a curricular milestone toward development of competence in systems-based practice. Superimposed upon these chronic concerns, the national transition to ICD-10 coding increases the need for immediately available teaching content on the importance of diagnosis coding. Methods: In response, Diagnosis Coding for Clinicians: Core Knowledge and Transition to ICD-10 provides succinct educational content that can be individually reviewed by graduate medical and continuing medical learners. The content is specifically designed to assist training programs and learners with the transition to ICD-10 coding in a manner that supports accurate and specific medical coding practices. The content is provided as an interactive audiovisual presentation that automatically launches on standard personal computers or handheld devices. The presentation can be loaded on learning management systems or provided on a training website. An accompanying examination may be used to document minimum knowledge achievement for inclusion in a learning portfolio. Results: Diagnosis Coding for Clinicians: Core Knowledge and Transition to ICD-10 is now mandatory for all billing physicians, house officers, and midlevel providers at the University of Michigan Health System, where each mandated learner must pass a content exam with a minimum 80% correct score. Discussion: The content has been peer-reviewed and approved by a series of physician leaders, hospital executives, and coding specialists at the University of Michigan Health System. Focus groups of learners have found the information clear, relevant, appropriately succinct, and engaging. Educational Objectives By completion of this module, learners will be able to: Describe the origins and uses of diagnosis codes.Acknowledge financial, clinical, and reporting implications of diagnosis code selection.Acknowledge clinical documentation implications of the national transition to the ICD-10 code system.Describe the medical necessity rule.Describe the origins and uses of service codes. Sign up for the latest publications from MedEdPORTAL Add your email below FILES INCLUDEDReferencesRelatedDetails FILES INCLUDED Included in this publication: Instructor's Guide Diagnosis Coding.pdf Diagnosis Coding For Clinicians Folder Exam Diagnosis Coding.docx To view all publication components, extract (i.e., unzip) them from the downloaded .zip file. Download editor’s noteThis publication may contain technology or a display format that is no longer in use. CitationChick D, Andreae M. Diagnosis Coding for Clinicians: Core Knowledge and Transition to ICD-10. MedEdPORTAL. 2014;10:9823. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9823 Copyright & Permissions© 2014 Chick and Andreae. This is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license.KeywordsICD-10-CMBusinessComplianceICD-10-PCSCommerceCodingInternational Classification of DiseasesDiagnosis CodingBillingICD-10Clinical CodingSystems-Based PracticeICD Disclosures None to report. Funding/Support None to report. tabs.loading

They are laughing at me: cerebral mediation of cognitive biases in social anxiety.

The fear of embarrassment and humiliation is the central element of social anxiety. This frequent condition is associated with cognitive biases indicating increased sensitivity to signals of social threat, which are assumed to play a causal role in the maintenance of social anxiety. Here, we employed laughter, a potent medium for the expression of acceptance and rejection, as an experimental stimulus in participants selected for varying degrees of social anxiety to identify cerebral mediators of cognitive biases in social anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with mediation analysis. We directly demonstrated that cerebral activation patterns within the dorsal attention network including the left dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex mediate the influence of social anxiety on laughter perception. This mediation proved to be specific for social anxiety after correction for measures of general state and trait anxiety and occurred most prominently under bimodal audiovisual laughter presentation when compared with monomodal auditory or visual laughter cues. Considering the possibility to modulate cognitive biases and cerebral activity by neuropsychological trainings, non-invasive electrophysiological stimulation and psychotherapy, this study represents a starting point for a whole line of translational research projects and identifies promising targets for electrophysiological interventions aiming to alleviate cognitive biases and symptom severity in social anxiety.

Audio-visual presentation of information for informed consent for participation in clinical trials.

Informed consent is a critical component of clinical research. Different methods of presenting information to potential participants of clinical trials may improve the informed consent process. Audio-visual interventions (presented, for example, on the Internet or on DVD) are one such method. We updated a 2008 review of the effects of these interventions for informed consent for trial participation. To assess the effects of audio-visual information interventions regarding informed consent compared with standard information or placebo audio-visual interventions regarding informed consent for potential clinical trial participants, in terms of their understanding, satisfaction, willingness to participate, and anxiety or other psychological distress. We searched: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), The Cochrane Library, issue 6, 2012; MEDLINE (OvidSP) (1946 to 13 June 2012); EMBASE (OvidSP) (1947 to 12 June 2012); PsycINFO (OvidSP) (1806 to June week 1 2012); CINAHL (EbscoHOST) (1981 to 27 June 2012); Current Contents (OvidSP) (1993 Week 27 to 2012 Week 26); and ERIC (Proquest) (searched 27 June 2012). We also searched reference lists of included studies and relevant review articles, and contacted study authors and experts. There were no language restrictions. We included randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing audio-visual information alone, or in conjunction with standard forms of information provision (such as written or verbal information), with standard forms of information provision or placebo audio-visual information, in the informed consent process for clinical trials. Trials involved individuals or their guardians asked to consider participating in a real or hypothetical clinical study. (In the earlier version of this review we only included studies evaluating informed consent interventions for real studies). Two authors independently assessed studies for inclusion and extracted data. We synthesised the findings using meta-analysis, where possible, and narrative synthesis of results. We assessed the risk of bias of individual studies and considered the impact of the quality of the overall evidence on the strength of the results. We included 16 studies involving data from 1884 participants. Nine studies included participants considering real clinical trials, and eight included participants considering hypothetical clinical trials, with one including both. All studies were conducted in high-income countries.There is still much uncertainty about the effect of audio-visual informed consent interventions on a range of patient outcomes. However, when considered across comparisons, we found low to very low quality evidence that such interventions may slightly improve knowledge or understanding of the parent trial, but may make little or no difference to rate of participation or willingness to participate. Audio-visual presentation of informed consent may improve participant satisfaction with the consent information provided. However its effect on satisfaction with other aspects of the process is not clear. There is insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about anxiety arising from audio-visual informed consent. We found conflicting, very low quality evidence about whether audio-visual interventions took more or less time to administer. No study measured researcher satisfaction with the informed consent process, nor ease of use.The evidence from real clinical trials was rated as low quality for most outcomes, and for hypothetical studies, very low. We note, however, that this was in large part due to poor study reporting, the hypothetical nature of some studies and low participant numbers, rather than inconsistent results between studies or confirmed poor trial quality. We do not believe that any studies were funded by organisations with a vested interest in the results. The value of audio-visual interventions as a tool for helping to enhance the informed consent process for people considering participating in clinical trials remains largely unclear, although trends are emerging with regard to improvements in knowledge and satisfaction. Many relevant outcomes have not been evaluated in randomised trials. Triallists should continue to explore innovative methods of providing information to potential trial participants during the informed consent process, mindful of the range of outcomes that the intervention should be designed to achieve, and balancing the resource implications of intervention development and delivery against the purported benefits of any intervention.More trials, adhering to CONSORT standards, and conducted in settings and populations underserved in this review, i.e. low- and middle-income countries and people with low literacy, would strengthen the results of this review and broaden its applicability. Assessing process measures, such as time taken to administer the intervention and researcher satisfaction, would inform the implementation of audio-visual consent materials.

The interaction between stimulus factors and cognitive factors during multisensory integration of audiovisual speech.

The interaction between stimulus factors and cognitive factors during multisensory integration of audiovisual speech.

Navigating virtual mazes: The benefits of audiovisual landmarks

It has been shown that multisensory presentation can improve perception, attention, and object memory compared with unisensory presentation. Consequently, we expect that multisensory presentation of landmarks can improve spatial memory and navigation.In this study we tested the effect of visual, auditory and combined landmark presentations in virtual mazes on spatial memory and spatial navigation. Nineteen participants explored four different virtual mazes consisting of nodes with landmarks and corridors connecting them. Each maze was explored for 90s. After each exploration, participants performed the following tasks in fixed order: (1) draw a map of the maze, (2) recall adjacent landmarks for three given landmarks, (3) place all landmarks on the map of the maze, and (4) find their way through the maze to locate five given landmarks in fixed order.Our study shows significant effects of multisensory versus unisensory landmarks for the maze drawing task, the adjacency task, and the wayfinding task. Our results suggest that audiovisual landmark presentations improve spatial memory and spatial navigation performance in virtual environments.

The Effect of Evaluation Strategy and Music Performance Presentation Format on Score Variability of Music Students’ Performance Assessment

The present study aims to investigate the score variability of music performance evaluation according to two factors: the music performance presentation format (audio versus audio-visual presentation of students’ music performance) and the evaluation strategy (global versus segmented evaluation of students’ music performance). A growing body of literature has previously suggested that these two factors tend to significantly modify the scores of music performance evaluations. We recorded 50 undergraduate music students in standard conditions and we used a panel of expert evaluators in order to assess them by combining two conditions: audio/audio-visual presentation and global/segmented evaluation strategy. Results have shown that the use of segmented scale determines higher ratings for the technical level and lower ratings for the expression of music performance.

Informed Consent for Cardiac Procedures: Deficiencies in Patient Comprehension With Current Methods

Patients who undergo cardiac catheterization or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) often have a poor understanding of their disease and of related therapeutic risks, benefits, and alternatives. This pilot study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of 2 preprocedural educational approaches to enhance patients' knowledge of standard consent elements. Patients undergoing first-time elective, outpatient cardiac catheterization and possible PCI were randomly assigned to a scripted verbal or written consent process (group I) or a web-based, audiovisual presentation (group II). Preconsent and postconsent questionnaires were administered to evaluate changes in patients' self-reported understanding of standard consent elements. One hundred and two patients enrolled at a single institution completed the pre- and postconsent surveys (group I=48; group II=54). Changes in patient comprehension rates were similar between groups for risk and benefit consent elements, but group II had significantly greater improvement in the identification of treatment alternatives than group I (p=0.028). Independent of intervention, correct identification of all risks and alternatives increased significantly after consent (p<0.05); 4 of 5 queried risks were correctly identified by greater than 90% of respondents. However, misperceptions of benefits persisted after consent; increased survival and prevention of future myocardial infarction were identified as PCI-related benefits by 83% and 46% of respondents, respectively. Although both scripted verbal and audiovisual informed consent improved patient comprehension, important patient misperceptions regarding PCI-related outcomes and alternatives persist, independent of informed consent approach, and considerable challenges still exist in educating patients about contemplated medical procedures. Future research appears warranted to improve patient comprehension.

Hyperscanning MEG for understanding mother–child cerebral interactions

Child development is seriously affected by social interactions with caregivers, which may lead to forming social minds in our daily life afterward. However, the underlying neural mechanism for such interactions has not yet been revealed. This article introduces a magnetoencephalographic (MEG) hyperscanning system to examine brain-to-brain interactions between a mother and her child. We used two whole-head MEG systems placed in the same magnetically-shielded room. One is a 160-channel gradiometer system for an adult and the other is a 151-channel gradiometer system for a child. We developed an audio-visual presentation system, which enabled a mother and her child to look at each other in real time. In each MEG system, a video camera was placed behind a half-mirror screen for visual presentation to obtain the subjects' facial expressions. The visual presentation system is capable of displaying not only real-time facial expression but also processed facial expression such as a still face or delayed facial expressions. A projector system displays the side-by-side face images of the mother and child, and the images are divided into each face using splitting mirrors and each face is displayed on the half-mirror screen in front of the other subject. To the best of our knowledge, our system is the first MEG hyperscanning system in a single shielded room, and may contribute to elucidating brain-to-brain interactions not only between a mother and her child but also in general inter-individual, brain-to-brain interactions.

Crossmodal Binding Rivalry: An Alternative Hypothesis for the Double Flash Illusion

Extensive research on multisensory processing has established that temporal and/or spatial proximity of sensory information lead to the percept of a unified multisensory event, both at a behavioral and neuronal level (e.g., Stein, Huneycutt, & Meredith, 1988). Binding of multiple sensory inputs has also been demonstrated for stimuli presented with a certain degree of temporal disparity (e.g., Vatakis & Spence, 2010). A classical example of crossmodal interaction is the well-known sound induced flash illusion (SIFI; whereby a brief flash paired with two auditory beeps is actually perceived as two distinct flashes; Shams, Kamitani, & Shimojo, 2000). SIFI is considered an example of auditory dominance, where auditory stimulation modulates visual perception for audiovisual presentations that fall within the temporal window of integration. Studies on the SIFI (Andersen, Tiipana, & Sams, 2004; Shams, Kamitani, & Shimojo, 2002) have shown diminished performance in 1 flash-2 beeps (SIFI illusion) and 2 flash-1 beep presentations (considered different from SIFI but as yet not elucidated), while the performance in 1 flash-1 beep is excellent. That is, the close in time-space presence of 2 versus 1 input from different sensory modalities affects participant performance, while this is not the case for presentations of equal number of sensory stimulus inputs. We claim that the diminished performance in 1 flash-2 beeps and 2 flash-1 beep conditions are not two different illusions but they both represent examples of the crossmodal binding rivalry between the unequal number of sensory inputs presented. That is, presentations of multiple sensory inputs in close spatial and temporal proximity lead to a rivalry between the sensory inputs that are to be integrated. This rivalry will be weaker or stronger depending on a number of findings related to multisensory integration.As has been previously shown, a unified multisensory percept is more robust if the visual input is presented slightly before or in synchrony with the auditory input (Keetels & Vroomen, 2012; van Wassenhove, Grant, & Poeppel, 2007; Vatakis & Spence, 2007, 2008). In cases where the auditory input precedes the visual, binding is weaker leading to a less integrated percept. Moreover, binding is highly dependent on timing with temporally proximal presentations taking precedence over distal presentations (e.g., Vatakis & Spence, 2010). Thus, presentations of asynchronous stimuli even if presented within the temporal window of integration represent binding types of different strength with synchronous presentations being the ones leading to higher binding. These findings drive our crossmodal binding rivalry hypothesis and we support that the rivalry between the unequal number of sensory inputs will vary according to their binding robustness. So, for inputs where the visual is in synchrony or leading the auditory input, the binding is robust leading to a stronger rivalry with the spare stimulus. This rivalry results to a lower percent of illusory percepts and slower reaction times. On the other hand, if the binding between the auditory and visual inputs is weak, then the rivalry between them and the spare stimulus is less intense, thus resulting in quicker responding and higher illusory experiences. Generally, during illusion conditions, we expect to have slower reaction times than in conditions with equal number of visual and auditory inputs and in bimodal conditions (equal number of inputs) more accurate responses than in unimodal conditions.We have tested directly the rivalry hypothesis by utilizing the classical SIFI but with multiple timing presentations (never tested before in one experimental set-up). More specifically, we have used 0, 25, 50, and 100ms onset asynchronies of auditory beep before and after the visual flash. Illusion conditions and test conditions were intermixed in order to avoid biased responding (in terms of the number of flashes) and to be sure that the task is not too difficult for the participants to carry out. The proposed project will allow us to evaluate the rivalry hypothesis for multiple audiovisual inputs, which will provide a common explanation for both 1 flash-2 beeps and 2 flash-1 beep presentations, while at the same time it will allow the revisiting of the role of auditory dominance in the double flash illusion.

Supporting physiology learning: the development of interactive concept-based video clips

the accommodation of diverse student learning approaches and maintenance of good academic outcomes are often difficult to achieve in university courses, particularly where large classes are concerned. These issues become even more significant when dealing with first-year students in science courses

Multimedia Performances for Pragmatic Tourism

The impact of audiovisual and digital techniques are becoming main resources in everyday life, and interdisciplinary transformation of tourism promotion and animation is already applied in the modern tourism. Tourism offers and services should be complete, current, and qualitative through all phases of the planning process, starting from preparation to implementation. The modern tourist offer of services involves production of multivalorized natural, anthropogenic, communicative and receptive values of a particular facility or geographic area as a tourist destination target. The tourist or client should experience complete tour - re tour, or as stated in the toursm I came, saw, took, in order to come back again, through all the stages, from the preparation of the travel, the stay, up to the departure. Tourism, in near future, or the tourist dialectical development in order to be completely realized, it must pass through the so called tourist triad from audiovisual or real, to virtual or imagined, to virtuous or perfect. In that case, an ecstasy of admiration, enhancement, prowes, joy, pleasure, excitement, success and happiness. In order to experience the previously mentioned states, arrangement from professionals, tourist managers and animators from various areas is of great importance. These people perfectly will be preparing various audiovisual, virtual and virtuous multimedia animations and presentations of numerous content performances in natural environment and closed space through mediums and various digital devices. The primary goal will be the promotion, animation, and development of masterful, profitable, qualitative, practical, and pragmatic tourism. Summering, the various programmed audiovisual compilations, presentations, and performances in real nature, anthropogenic, communicative, and receptive area must include virtual and virtuous contents of various multimedia performances of promotion, reproduction, reconstruction and revitalization. All of these events are intended for the main subject or the tourist, and as a secondary are the professional tourist animators as known as tourist guides, artists, animators, statists, live models and others who are professionally hired for realization of the tourist mission. This development and application of the modern media and digitization in all areas of social life involves practise of perfectly profitable, qualitative, and pragmatic tourism. The tourism which exercises valorized travel, recreation, leisure, education, and entertainment, over the principle of protection and sustainability of the natural environment

Adding odor: Less distress and enhanced attention for 6-month-olds

The effect of odor on cognitive and emotional processes has been studied in adults and children, but less so in infants. In this study twenty-seven six-month-olds were presented with a video while in either an odor (pine or baby-powder) or a no odor control condition. The video was a 92-s audiovisual presentation of a woman expressing happiness and sadness, with the order of emotion counterbalanced. Infant attention (looking time) and emotional expression (smiling, crying, mouthing) were coded. Infants looked longer in the presence of odor and expressed less crying and mouthing but more smiling behavior. Presence of odor markedly reduced infant emotional distress and increased attention, suggesting that the olfactory sensory system provides cues to infants that support mood regulation and maintain attention. These results have implications for optimizing infant environments for emotional health and cognitive development.

A Case Study of Multimodal Presentation of Selected Stage Play Literature in a Multimedia Environment

The intention of this study is to document the response of a selected group of students to the audio-visual presentation of a literary work in a multimedia environment. The study attempts to identify the key elements of students’ learning experience such as acquisition of knowledge gained through the study of stage play literature by audio-visual text and observation. The main results of the study substantiated the view that students are able to transfer knowledge reinforced through multiple context learning in audio and visual media.

Caregivers Like Me: Cuidadores Como Yo (SA509-A)

1.Describing how an educational module can increase awareness of end-of-life (EOL) concepts and caretaker fatigue, especially in the Latino population.2.Illustrate the importance of recognition of caregiver stress and need of utilization of outside resources for the EOL Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. This population has encountered language barriers, financial hardships, higher education disparities, unique family dynamics, and underutilization of community resources such as hospice and nursing homes. These factors have led to a lower end-of-life (EOL) care quality of life. This pilot study focuses on the Latino population proposing an intervention to improve EOL care. 1. Describe how an educational module increases knowledge and awareness on EOL resources in the Latino population. 2. Describe how a video focusing on informal caregivers and patients living at home can change attitudes towards EOL care. 3. Illustrate the importance of recognition of caregiver stress and need of utilization of outside resources for EOL. This is a multicentered, cross-sectional pre-/posttest study design. Three different Latino communities were selected with the assistance of community leaders. An educational module was provided to informal caregivers of terminally ill Latino patients using a 45-minute audiovisual presentation that also addressed EOL caregiver burden topics. Educational intervention was culturally appropriate and bilingual, including a soap opera case-based video. Pre- and posttest questionnaires were administered to participants to evaluate knowledge and attitude changes. One hundred forty-four subjects participated in this study, mostly female (79%), mean age 53 years. Ninety-two percent of participants were satisfied with the study experience and 91% admitted to learning from the video. Caregiver stress alertness increased significantly (t[107]=-3.6, P=.001), whereas their awareness of help needed during caregiving remained the same ( t[108]= -1.2, P=.22). Acceptance of professional help from four of five agencies improved significantly. After the video presentation, 72% of subjects correctly defined EOL concepts discussed in the module. Findings were similar among three sites. By means of a video-based education module, Latino caregivers were able to increase their self-awareness about caregiver stress and the need for looking for and accepting professional assistance while caring for their loved one. Educational modules such as ours can be easily modified and dispersed among other minority populations to prevent caregiver exhaustion and improve quality of life for both patients and caregivers.

Taking a Great Leap Forward on a Blue Horse

The year of the blue horse has begun. In the Chinese zodiac, 2014 is the year of the blue horse. Horse symbolizes success and leaps, and blue symbolizes hope and luck. The color blue is especially meaningful to our journal because it is also the representative color of the Korean Journal of Urology (KJU). Together, we expect that KJU will make successful contributions and bring a hopeful future to the field of urology this year by taking a great, dynamic leap forward on a blue horse. Beginning with the January issue of 2014, the KJU will be an official journal of three societies: the Korean Urological Association, the Korean Endourological Society, and the Korean Society of Pediatric Urology. The Korean Endourological Society has published the Korean Journal of Endourology since 2001 and the Korean Society of Pediatric Urology has published the Korean Journal of Pediatric Urology since 2009. The main reason for merging the journals was the overlap in scope and members among the three societies. Instead of individual publications, the Korean Endourological Society and Korean Society of Pediatric Urology will be authorized to take over editing in the Endourology and Pediatric Urology sections, respectively, within the larger body of KJU. In the long term, the merging of the three individual journals is expected to provide more in-depth knowledge in the sections of Endourology and Pediatric Urology and to improve the overall quality of the journal. The goal of KJU this year is to be a cutting-edge international journal with open access, audio-video contents, and high quality research in the field of urology. First, to accomplish this, we will broaden the article contributors and members of the editorial board to include the Asia-Pacific region and maintain the open access policy to provide widespread dissemination of knowledge. Second, the KJU will promote upload and access of the visual clips to further aid users in delivering both academic knowledge and skills. Video clips related to minimally invasive surgery and advanced surgical technique can be submitted for placement on the journal website. There is also a 'Video Interview with the Author' corner on the journal's homepage where authors give audiovisual presentations of their data. Last, one of the most important aspects of the journal is improving the quality of the journal to solidify its global status as an international journal. For this, the KJU will provide readers with an up-to-date guide to international developments in urology. The impact factor from the Web of Science and impact index from SCImago Journal of the KJU began to increase dramatically beginning in 2011. Huh [1] commented that the KJU has already been established as an international journal, because more than 85% of the citations come from international researchers. In addition, the research and publication ethics should be regarded as an integral part of a qualified journal [2]. The editorial team of KJU screens published and submitted content for originality by using Crosscheck to prevent plagiarism and also checks submitted articles to see whether they meet the criteria of publication ethics. In order to achieve our New Year's pledge of making the KJU an internationally renowned journal, the editorial team of the KJU will work hard by taking in the promising energy of the blue horse. We look forward to making great leaps toward creative academic achievements this year.