Situational Demands Research Articles

Contextual factors influence the selection of specific and broad types of emotion regulation strategies.

An emerging focus in the emotion regulation (ER) literature is to consider the importance of context for people's ER strategy choice, given that ER responses that adapt to situational demands have been found to be highly beneficial. However, it remains unclear what (and in what way) contextual factors impact people's ER strategy selections. Also, only a limited number of ER strategies have been extensively studied and little is known about people's selection of broad ER strategy categories (we focus on covert vs. overt ER strategies based on Aldao & Dixon-Gordon's [2014] conceptualization). In the current study, 203 participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk to imagine experiencing either positive or negative emotion in various contextual settings (location: home, social, vs. professional setting×social context: alone vs. with others) and to identify from 16 ER strategies the ones that they would in general deem applicable for each context. Results showed that the aforementioned factors, in various ways, uniquely or interactively predicted the selection of specific and broad ER strategies. Furthermore, personality (neuroticism and extraversion) also influenced participants' ER strategy selection. Overall, this study underscores the importance of including diverse strategies and considering context in the study of ER strategy choices.

Detecting Damage in Thin Plates by Processing Infrared Thermographic Data with Topological Derivatives

A thermogram is a color image produced by a thermal camera where each color level represents a different radiation intensity (temperature). In this paper, we study the use of steady and time-harmonic thermograms for structural health monitoring of thin plates. Since conductive heat transfer is short range and the associated signal–to–noise ratio is not much favorable, efficient data processing tools are required to successfully interpret thermograms. We will process thermograms by a mathematical tool called topological derivative, showing its efficiency in very demanding situations where thermograms are highly polluted by noise, and/or when the parameters of the medium fluctuate randomly. An exhaustive gallery of numerical simulations will be presented to assess the performance and limitations of this tool.

Neki aspekti senzorne disfunkcije kod mladih osoba sa poremećajem iz spektra autizma

Sensory dysfunction is characterized by difficulty in receiving, processing, and integrating sensory stimuli, resulting in an unusual response to sensory stimulations. An altered sensory reactivity is observed in a large number of people with autism spectrum disorder. The aims of this study were to determine: a) the relationship between the severity of autistic disorder and sensory dysfunctions; b) the relationship between different sensory modalities; c) the relationship between age and functioning on sensory modalities; d) the modalities in which respondents have the most pronounced sensory dysfunctions. The sample included 60 participants with autism spectrum disorder, aged 11 to 26. The adolescent and adult sensory profile (The Adolescent / Adult Sensory Profile, Brown & Dunn, 2002) was used to measure sensory responses of the subjects. For the purposes of determining the severity of autistic disorder, a PDD-MRS scale was used (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Mental Retardation Scale, PDD-MRS, Kraijer & de Bildt, 2005). The results obtained show that in young people with autism spectrum disorder there is no statistically significant relationship between the severity of autistic disorder and the sensory dysfunction. Almost all sensory modalities were mutually correlated significantly. Significant correlations were missing between the participants` age and the altered sensory responses. The results show that subjects achieved significantly higher scores on the Activity Engagement subscale compared with all other subscales, which leads us to conclude that the participants from our sample had the most difficulty in adjusting their activity level to the demands of everyday situations. These findings have significant practical implications, both on the planning and realization of sensory interventions in these individuals, as well as on the need to harmonize the characteristics of the environment in which they reside, the tasks delegated to them, and their sensory specifcities.

Dynamic functional connectivity changes in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease.

We studied the dynamic functional connectivity profile of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to controls, how it differs between the two dementia subtypes, and a possible relation between dynamic connectivity alterations and temporally transient clinical symptoms in DLB.Resting state fMRI data from 31 DLB, 29 AD, and 31 healthy control participants were analyzed using dual regression to determine between-network functional connectivity. Subsequently, we used a sliding window approach followed by k-means clustering and dynamic network analyses to study dynamic functional connectivity. Dynamic connectivity measures that showed significant group differences were tested for correlations with clinical symptom severity.Our results show that AD and DLB patients spent more time than controls in sparse connectivity configurations with absence of strong positive and negative connections and a relative isolation of motor networks from other networks. Additionally, DLB patients spent less time in a more strongly connected state and the variability of global brain network efficiency was reduced in DLB compared to controls. There were no significant correlations between dynamic connectivity measures and clinical symptom severity.An inability to switch out of states of low inter-network connectivity into more highly and specifically connected network configurations might be related to the presence of dementia in general as it was observed in both AD and DLB. In contrast, the loss of global efficiency variability in DLB might indicate the presence of an abnormally rigid brain network and the lack of economical dynamics, factors which could contribute to cognitive slowing and an inability to respond appropriately to situational demands.

OXTR rs53576 polymorphism impacts interpersonal adaptability: Dispositional forgiveness as a mediator

Polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene have been shown to be related to individual differences in social skills that are important for building and maintaining social relationships, such as the capability to efficiently process social information and regulate emotions. However, what remains unclear is the potential roles of OXTR polymorphisms in interpersonal adaptability, namely the ability to cope with the situational demands of interpersonal interactions. In this study, we examined the roles of OXTR rs53576 polymorphism in interpersonal adaptability, empathic perception, and dispositional forgiveness in a cohort of 573 college freshmen. The results indicated that the scores on interpersonal adaptability and dispositional forgiveness, apart from empathic perception, increased as functions of the number of G alleles of OXTR rs53576. Moreover, dispositional forgiveness, but not empathic perception, mediated the association between OXTR rs53576 and interpersonal adaptability. The findings highlight the influences of the OXTR gene on adaptive interpersonal interactions, especially when individuals face changing social situations.

Lexical Development in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): How ASD May Affect Intake From the Input.

Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7324013.

Role conceptions, crises, and Georgia’s foreign policy

This article explores the scope conditions of national role conceptions as reference points for foreign policy decision making during crises. It aims to contribute to a refined perspective of the agency of new states undergoing socialization processes in relations with significant others. Drawing on a primary material consisting of interviews with Georgian and US officials, the article analyzes the significance of Georgia’s role conceptions in the country’s relations with the USA in relation to two major crises: the 2007 riots in Tbilisi and the 2008 war with Russia. The article posits that crises provide situational circumstances where the requirements of appropriate behavior associated with role expectations may enter into conflict with the demands of the immediate situation. In order to resolve ensuing role conflicts, actors face the need to both rationalize role expectations, and to compensate for departures from them. In turn, these strategies relate to the possibility for change and stability in role conceptions, and by extension their enactment in foreign policy. The analysis of the Georgian government’s management of the two crises demonstrates actions that implied both rationalization and compensation, aiming to retain the credibility of its existing role conceptions in the eyes of its US counterparts.

The use of syntax and information structure during language comprehension: Evidence from structural priming

ABSTRACTStructural priming in comprehension seems to be more variable than in production. Sometimes it occurs without lexical overlap, sometimes it does not. This raises questions about the use of abstract syntactic structure and how it varies across tasks. We use a visual-world eye-tracking judgment task and observe two kinds of priming effects. First, participants were more likely to switch to looking at the target referent immediately after the word when the syntactic structure of the target matched that of the prime. Second, participants also looked more to referents that could take on the thematic role that was in sentence-final position in the prime sentence, and thus in discourse focus. Critically, neither effect depended upon lexical overlap. Our results suggest that structural priming in comprehension manifests itself differently depending on situational demands, reflecting the activation of different levels of representation under different pressures.

How metacontrol biases and adaptivity impact performance in cognitive search tasks

Cognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter- and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive search tasks from various cognitive domains that require continuous switching between persistence and flexibility. For each task, clustering and switching scores were derived to assess persistence and flexibility, respectively, as well as a total performance score to reflect general performance. We compared two, not mutually exclusive accounts according to which the balance between clustering and switching scores is affected by (1) individual, trait-like metacontrol biases towards persistence or flexibility and/or (2) the metacontrol adaptivity to bias states according to changing situational demands. We found that clustering and switching scores failed to generalize across tasks. However, clustering and switching were inversely related and predicted the total performance scores in most of the tasks, which in turn partially generalized across tasks and task domains. We conclude that metacontrol-biases towards persistence or flexibility can be adapted easily to specific task demands and individual resources, possibly overwriting individual metacontrol trait biases. Moreover, we suggest that total performance scores might serve to measure metacontrol adaptivity in future studies if task-restrictions and resources are known and/or well balanced.

Dynamic Functional Connectivity Changes in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer's Disease

We studied the dynamic functional connectivity profile of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to controls, how it differs between the two dementia subtypes, and a possible relation between dynamic connectivity alterations and temporally transient clinical symptoms in DLB. Resting state fMRI data from 31 DLB, 29 AD, and 31 healthy control participants were analysed using dual regression to determine between-network functional connectivity. Subsequently, we used a sliding window approach followed by k-means clustering and dynamic network analyses to study dynamic functional connectivity. Dynamic connectivity measures that showed significant group differences were tested for correlations with clinical symptom severity. Our results show that AD and DLB patients spent more time than controls in sparse connectivity configurations with absence of strong positive and negative connections and a relative isolation of motor networks from other networks. Additionally, DLB patients spent less time in a more strongly connected state and the variability of global brain network efficiency was reduced in DLB compared to controls. There were no significant correlations between dynamic connectivity measures and clinical symptom severity. An inability to switch out of states of low inter-network connectivity into more highly and specifically connected network configurations might be related to the presence of dementia in general as it was observed in both AD and DLB. In contrast, the loss of global efficiency variability in DLB might indicate the presence of an abnormally rigid brain network and the lack of economical dynamics, factors which could contribute to cognitive slowing and an inability to respond appropriately to situational demands.

Indonesian Translation and Appropriation of the Works of Shariati and Hanafi in the New Order’s Islamic Discourses

This paper discusses the discourses of Indonesian Muslim intellectuals on the works of Ali Shariati and Hassan Hanafi in Indonesia’s New Order. The literature discussed here consists primarily of the articles written by prominent Indonesian Muslim intellectuals, and most of the articles were introductions to the translated books of Shariati and Hanafi. The articles shows us that Shariati’s and Hanafi’s ideas were received, interpreted, criticized, and appropriated by the intellectuals in order to make them relevant to the Indonesian context.The idealization of Shariati as an intellectual, a more open attitude towards Shi’ism, and the discussion of his socialist tendencies could not be separated from the demands of the Indonesian political situation during the New Order. Likewise, Hanafi’s ideas on the relation between religion, ideology and development, and the Islamic Left and Occidentalism found their relevance to the Indonesian socio-political context.Therefore, the discourses are elements of the New Order’s Islamic discourses.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v25i2.7181

Preparation and Management of Teaching Practice Process at University of Nairobi, Kenya: Appropriateness of Methods and Resources

Preparation and management of teaching practice allows for adequate allocation of resources and effective utilization of instructional strategies that permit teacher trainees to adjust to varying situational demands of learning tasks.  Teacher trainees with adequate preparation to work facilitate learning process and guide learners in discerning appropriate application of knowledge, skills and attitudes for professional competency. In addition, effective teaching practice begins with authentic preparation through; identifying teaching practice school, attending to briefing prior to posting for teaching practice, gathering teaching practice preparation materials, preparing teaching learning resources and identifying appropriate assessment methods. However, proficiency in preparation and management of teaching practice are among weak areas of professional development in universities in Kenya. If combined with failure in identifying appropriate teaching practice schools, inadequate resources and inefficient class management skills, teaching practice may result in detrimental instructional organization with little concern over learners’ needs. This study determined preparation and management of teaching practice process at the University of Nairobi. Anchored on descriptive survey design, the study targeted 68 trainee teachers on teaching practice from 17 Counties sampled randomly. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules to collect data from trainee teachers. For data analysis, the study relied on descriptive and inferential statistics, with data presented using tables and graphs. The results indicated that teacher trainees are adequately prepared for teaching practice. Recommendations advocate for teacher educators to examine relevant preparation strategies and adjustment to ensure that teaching practice is appropriately managed to achieve professional development.  Further, Universities and government should create suitable, dependable, diversified and sustainable mechanisms for financing teaching practice exercise. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.17.8.7

Differential innervation of tissues located at traditional acupuncture points in the rat forehead and face

ObjectivesTo compare the neural pathways associated with the tissues located at different traditional acupuncture points in the rat forehead and face using the cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) neural tracing...

A pathway for wisdom-focused education

ABSTRACTInterest in the topic of wisdom-focused education has so far not resulted in empirically validated programs for teaching wisdom. To start filling this void, we explore the emerging empirical evidence concerning the fundamental elements required for understanding how one can foster wisdom, with a particular focus on wise reasoning. We define wise reasoning through a combination of intellectual humility, recognition of world in flux/change, open-mindedness to diverse viewpoints, and search for compromise/integration of diverse perspectives. In this article, we review evidence concerning how wise reasoning can be facilitated through experiences, teaching materials, environments and cognitive strategies. We also focus on educators, reviewing emerging evidence on how the process of explaining and guiding others impacts one’s wisdom. We conclude by discussing the development of wisdom-focused education, proposing that greater attention to the situational demands and the variability in wisdom-related characteristics across social contexts should play a critical role in its development.

A Framework for Managing Team Processes in Healthcare Delivery

Relevant to the conference theme, we explore team processes in this symposium proposal to improve patient well-being. Specifically, interactions among team members play a fundamental role in the delivery of healthcare services. An understanding of interactions in critical events (Klein et al., 2006), such as medical trauma teams, which tend to be task-focused, will provide relevant and pragmatic insights to improving communications. Although patients are increasingly participating in their own care, including them in team- based care is fraught with ethical tensions in terms of respect for patient autonomy, beneficence, and justice. We explore ways in which healthcare providers can balance these principles to shape the information they convey to patients and improve shared decision making. In addition to the importance of communication in patient safety, coordination among team members to complete tasks is another important dynamic in team process. Coordination is most challenged in multidisciplinary ad hoc medical teams that involve individuals from different disciplines with fluid memberships. We discuss a conceptual framework of coordination for multidisciplinary ad hoc teams that face different task requirements and situational demands. Finally, as healthcare becomes more specialized, resulting in more inter-disciplinary handoffs in patient transfers where different units require different information with differing levels of fidelity, handoffs have become a high-risk factor for lapses in patient safety. We explore the use of Machine Learning (ML) to understand the factors that make electronic handoff systems (in)effective clinical tools for team-based inpatient care. We conclude with theoretical and practical suggestions to better manage teams. Does being nice matter in a crisis? Civility during trauma team activations Presenter: Sandy Lim; National U. of Singapore Presenter: Jeremy Choon Peng We; Singapore General Hospital Presenter: Ting Hway Wong; Singapore General Hospital Presenter: Seo Kiat Goh; Singapore General Hospital Presenter: Yew Kwan Tong; National U. of Singapore Presenter: Jeremy Chung Fai Ng; Singapore General Hospital Presenter: Marcus Eng Hock Ong; Singapore General Hospital Social Preferences in Healthcare Dilemmas Presenter: Sebastiano Massaro; U. of Warwick Improving Coordination in Ad hoc Multidisciplinary Hospital Teams Presenter: Soo-Hoon Lee; Old Dominion U. Predicting Safe Clinical Handoffs Using Machine Learning Presenter: Phillip Phan; Johns Hopkins U.

The adaptive medical curriculum: A model for continuous improvement

This paper describes the medical curriculum designed to foster adaptive expertise. Engaging in the formal and informal curriculum, students learn to achieve desired outcomes in novel situations, perform comfortably with uncertainty, and are often recognized for creative problem-solving. Students learn by asking and answering their own and others’ questions. They readily operate at the metacognitive level, anticipating events, self-monitoring, and checking decisions and emotions. A key function of the reflective process is to identify gaps or shortcomings in the thinking process. The adaptive learner shifts into reflective thinking when confronted with complex contextual and situational demands. We are only beginning to understand how to create educational pathways to foster adaptive learning. An essential focus is the adaptive teacher who frames learning and assessment around predictive analytics, reflective spaced practice, and authentic learning material. To be effective, the teacher must engage the learner outside the formal classroom in the parallel curriculum. A major premise is that learning occurs individually and together with peers, teachers, and team members in multiple contexts. During the learning process, the learner readily operates at the metacognitive level, anticipating behavior, self-monitoring and assessing, and checking theirs and others decisions and emotions. The adaptive medical curriculum provides the pathway for such learning.

Where the optimal balance is between public and private jobs: a qualitative study of graduates from university of Jaffna

Throughout the qualitative study, researchers examined how graduates are demanding jobs to settle an optimal balance between public and private jobs. Findings are based on in-depth interviews with recently and earlier passed out graduates from University of Jaffna. In this study, researchers revealed how a job of graduates is finding an optimal balance, engaged in public and private jobs. Data were collected from 25 recently passed out and 25 earlier passed out graduates. First, researchers explored the situational and beneficial demands placed on those public and private jobs, along with the optimal balance that often results from those demands. Researchers then specified new model that reforms those job demands. To produce results, researchers developed a theoretical model of optimal balance between public and private jobs for graduates. Key findings of this study are the gaining of consciousness regarding to job selection underpinning stimuli and discover the balancing points between private and public jobs through inductive codes developed by researchers in this qualitative exploratory study.

Secondary task engagement and disengagement in the context of highly automated driving

During highly automated driving (level 3 automation according to SAE International, 2014) people are likely to increase the frequency of secondary task interactions. However, the driver must still be able to take over control within a reasonable amount of time. Previous studies mainly investigated take-over behavior by forcing participants to engage in secondary tasks prior to take over, and barely addressed how drivers voluntarily schedule secondary task processing according to the availability and predictability of automated driving modes. In the current simulator study 20 participants completed a test drive with alternating sections of manual and highly automated driving. One group had a preview on the availability of the automated driving system in upcoming sections of the track (predictive HMI), while the other drivers served as a control group. A texting task was offered during both driving modes and also prior to take-over situations. Participants were free to accept or reject a given task, taking the situational demands into account. Drivers accepted more tasks during highly automated driving. Furthermore, tasks were rejected more often prior to take-over situations in the predictive HMI group. This was accompanied by safer take-over performance. However, once engaged in a task, drivers tended to continue texting even in take-over situations. The results indicate the need to discriminate different aspects of task handling regarding self-regulation: task engagement and disengagement.

Формирование поликультурной образовательной среды (в процессе изучения русского языка как иностранного) средствами межнациональной и этнокультурной коммуникации в рамках экономического дискурса

The article actualizes the problem of increasing the effectiveness of training foreign students in the economic profile in the context of the subsequent provision of the labor market with highly qualified professionals that meet the growing demands of the current economic situation. The quality of students' training is considered from the point of view of the conditions for organizing a multicultural educational environment that meets the requirements of regional interaction and international cooperation. Aspects of the organization of the multicultural educational environment are considered on the basis of the multinational culture of the peoples of Russia, which is due to the economic discourse of the regions, appealing to the resources of interethnic adaptation during the training of students of economic specialties in higher education institutions, the factor of improving professional communication (as one of the most important competencies of the future specialist) interethnic and ethno-cultural dialogue in the process of education and the subsequent professional activities. The potential of the discipline «Russian as a foreign language» has been revealed in achieving the goals of organizing a multicultural environment through means of interethnic and ethno-cultural communication, taking into account its main components, among which special attention is given to discursive and strategic aspects. The main characteristics of skills and competences whose development is mediated by didactic-methodological means of the discipline «Russian as a foreign language» with a more profound mastery of the language of the specialty, taking into account the features of interethnic and ethno-cultural communication, are revealed. Their importance for successful professional socialization in conditions of interaction and cooperation of regions is shown.

From Believing to Belief: A General Theoretical Model.

Cognitive neuroscience research has begun to explore the mental processes underlying what a belief and what believing are. Recent evidence suggests that believing involves fundamental brain functions that result in meaningful probabilistic representations, called beliefs. When relatively stable, these beliefs allow for guidance of behavior in individuals and social groups. However, they are also fluid and can be modified by new relevant information, interpersonal contact, social pressure, and situational demands. We present a theoretical model of believing that can account for the formation of both empirically grounded and metaphysical beliefs.