Incidental Information Research Articles

Continuous supplementary tactile feedback can be applied (and then removed) to enhance precision manipulation

BackgroundHuman sensorimotor control of dexterous manipulation relies on afferent sensory signals. Explicit tactile feedback is generally not available to prosthetic hand users, who have to rely on incidental information sources to partly close the control loop, resulting in suboptimal performance and manipulation difficulty. Recent studies on non-invasive supplementary sensory feedback indicated that time-discrete vibrational feedback delivered upon relevant mechanical events outperforms continuous tactile feedback. However, we hypothesize that continuous tactile feedback can be more effective in non-routine manipulation tasks (i.e., tasks where the grip force is modified reactively in response to the sensory feedback due to the unpredictable behavior of the manipulated object, such as picking and holding a virtual fragile object) if delivered to highly sensitive areas. We further hypothesize that this continuous tactile feedback is not necessary during all the duration of the manipulation task, since adaptation occurs.MethodsWe investigated the effectiveness of continuous tactile feedback in precision manipulation, together with a new sensory feedback policy, where the continuous tactile feedback is gradually removed when the grasp reaches a steady state (namely, transient tactile feedback). We carried out an experiment in a virtual-reality setting with custom tactile feedback devices, which can apply continuous pressure and vibrations, attached to the thumb and index finger. We enrolled 24 healthy participants and instructed them to pick and hold a fragile virtual cube without breaking it. We compared their manipulation performance when using four different sensory feedback methods, i.e., no tactile feedback, discrete vibrations, continuous tactile feedback, and transient tactile feedback. The latter consisted of gradually removing the continuous feedback in the static phase of the grasp.ResultsContinuous tactile feedback leads to a significantly larger number of successful trials than discrete vibrational cues and no feedback conditions, yet the gradual removal of the continuous feedback yields to comparable outcomes. Moreover, the participants preferred the continuous stimuli over the vibrational cues and the removal in the static phase did not significantly impact their appreciation of the continuous tactile feedback.ConclusionsThese results advocate for the use of continuous supplementary tactile feedback for fine manipulation control and indicate that it can seamlessly be removed in the static phase of the grasp, possibly due to the mechanism of sensory adaptation. This encourages the development of energy-efficient supplementary feedback devices for prosthetic and telemanipulation applications, where encumbrance and power consumption are burdensome constraints.

Educating Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students During COVID-19: What Parents Need to Know

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the concept of normal in the United States: education became homebound, social interactions moved behind the protection of digital screens and masks, the general population became non-essential workers as U.S. states went into lockdown, and regular activities were substantially modified to be conducted with physical distancing. To learn more about the changing education of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children during the pandemic, researchers at Kent State University and Texas Women's University recently conducted a national survey involving 133 parents of DHH children. Based on the survey results, here are five recommendations that parents should know about educating DHH children during this new normal. 1. Be assertive in getting the services that your DHH child requires. Of the 133 survey respondents, only six reported that their DHH child received all services mandated by their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan, even if the minutes of service they received were greatly reduced. Some parents expressed frustration over services not being provided and/or taking too long to get set up. Only 23 respondents reported that their child received services from a teacher of the deaf, and only two reported receiving interpreting services. Reach out to professionals in deaf education and hearing care as needed; they will likely want to help in any way they can. 2. Look for universal design in online education programs. Many parents reported that the design of online education programs provided by schools for their DHH children was inaccessible. DHH children struggle following the speaker during virtual meetings and videoconferences when many faces appeared on the screen simultaneously. Additional challenges included hearing teachers over computer speakers, lack of captioning for videos and announcements, background noise either on the speaker or child's end, and captions that were too fast or at too high of a reading level. Suggesting speakers on a videoconference to raise their hand and monitoring the existence, reading level, and speed of captioning make a big difference in increasing accessibility. 3. Provide opportunities for DHH children to socialize. One respondent commented: “Our children need socialization and I feel that our teachers are so worried about the academics that they forget about the other things that happen at school like socialization.” While opportunities for socialization are limited for most children right now, for DHH children, the problem is especially intense. Most DHH children tend to be the only people with hearing loss in their families, making the stay-at-home experience even more isolating. DHH children using American Sign Language (ASL) may have no one in their households with whom they can fluently communicate. Creating online and physically distanced interactive opportunities with their DHH peers is essential to maintaining the mental health of DHH children through this pandemic. 4. Find opportunities for exposure to DHH role models. Having DHH adult role models can help DHH children learn how to navigate challenges during this difficult time. Reach out to deaf education professionals and advocacy groups such as Hands and Voices and the American Society for Deaf Children to find role models who can help your child learn how to thrive in the new normal as a DHH individual. 5. Keep communicating! Regardless of the assistive listening devices used or their preferred language, all DHH children need access to communication. Ensure that DHH children are actively involved in conversations at home during mealtimes, etc. Relay incidental information that is accessible to other children at home and, most importantly, let them know that their thoughts, feelings, and anxieties are important and worthy of discussion. One survey respondent effectively advised: “Parents, while we may know our kids best, we are not trained in every little technique that professionals use to help educate our kids. Teachers—you have the training and knowledge, but do not expect parents to either have that knowledge already or be able to quickly grasp what you are doing. It takes both groups—parents and teachers—working together the best they can to provide kids with great education.” Despite its overuse in the last few months, the phrase “we are all in this together” has truth to it. The combined efforts of parents and professionals in deaf education and hearing care are needed to guide DHH children successfully through this pandemic.

A review of mentoring deaf and hard-of-hearing scholars

ABSTRACT Diversification of the scientific workforce usually focuses on recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities but often overlooks deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) persons. Usually classified as a disability group, such persons are often members of their own sociocultural linguistic minority and deserve unique support. For them, access to technical and social information is often hindered by communication- and/or language-centered barriers, but securing and using communication access services is just a start. Critical aspects of training D/HH scientists as part of a diversified workforce necessitates: (a) educating hearing persons in cross-cultural dynamics pertaining to deafness, sign language, and Deaf culture; (b) ensuring access to formal and incidental information to support development of professional soft skills; and (c) understanding that institutional infrastructure change may be necessary to ensure success. Mentorship and training programs that implement these criteria are now creating a new generation of D/HH scientists.

Information encountering re-encountered

PurposeIn order to understand the totality, diversity and richness of human information behavior, increasing research attention has been paid to examining serendipity in the context of information acquisition. However, several issues have arisen as this research subfield has tried to find its feet; we have used different, inconsistent terminology to define this phenomenon (e.g. information encountering, accidental information discovery, incidental information acquisition), the scope of the phenomenon has not been clearly defined and its nature was not fully understood or fleshed-out.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, information encountering (IE) was proposed as the preferred term for serendipity in the context of information acquisition.FindingsA reconceptualized definition and scope of IE was presented, a temporal model of IE and a refined model of IE that integrates the IE process with contextual factors and extends previous models of IE to include additional information acquisition activities pre- and postencounter.Originality/valueBy providing a more precise definition, clearer scope and richer theoretical description of the nature of IE, there was hope to make the phenomenon of serendipity in the context of information acquisition more accessible, encouraging future research consistency and thereby promoting deeper, more unified theoretical development.

Censorship’s Effect on Incidental Exposure to Information: Evidence From Wikipedia

The fast-growing body of research on internet censorship has examined the effects of censoring selective pieces of political information and the unintended consequences of censorship of entertainment. However, we know very little about the broader consequences of coarse censorship or censorship that affects a large array of information such as an entire website or search engine. In this study, we use China’s complete block of Chinese language Wikipedia ( zh.wikipedia.org ) on May 19, 2015, to disaggregate the effects of coarse censorship on proactive consumption of information—information users seek out—and on incidental consumption of information—information users are not actively seeking but consume when they happen to come across it. We quantify the effects of censorship of Wikipedia not only on proactive information consumption but also on opportunities for exploration and incidental consumption of information. We find that users from mainland China were much more likely to consume information on Wikipedia about politics and history incidentally rather than proactively, suggesting that the effects of censorship on incidental information access may be politically significant.

The Alfred Wallenstein Collection at UNT: Uncovering the Hidden Labor of a Radio Orchestra

ABSTRACT The informational and evidential value of a radio orchestra collection goes well above and beyond its stated contents. Union copyist stamps and other pieces of incidental information restore the context of human activity to the essential, but largely hidden work that kept a station supplied with live music during the Golden Age of Radio. Processing the Alfred Wallenstein/WOR Radio Library Music Manuscripts Collection at the University of North Texas Music Library has provided enlightening examples of the stories waiting to be told in radio orchestra collections, and their usefulness for researchers and performers.

Lýtron. Okup za odstąpienie od oblężenia miasta jako element strategii wojennej Chosroesa I w "De bello Persico" Prokopiusza z Cezarei

The author analysed the description of Chosroes’s military campaign as presented by Procopius of Caesarea. Consecutive stages of the war in the years 540–542 are discussed with the main focus on the amounts of ransoms which the Persian king imposed on cities located on the route his army had taken towards Antiochia. Procopius mentions that the shares in the collection were proportionate to the estates and gold reserves owned by inhabitants of a city the ransom was demanded from. It is difficult to estimate the validity of such accounts. Unfortunately, there is no incidental information which could confirm their correctness. The ransom amounts listed by Procopius do, however, raise certain reservations. The author analyses the ransom amounts cited by Procopius and juxtaposes them with the size of a besieged city. The implemented comparison allows for expressing reasonable doubts as far as parts of Procopius’s accounts are concerned. It is confirmed in the instance of Antiochia, from which a considerably small ransom was demanded, whereas much larger sums were demanded from other, much smaller and less affluent towns. Thus, one may doubt the genuineness of some of the data provided by Procopius.

Drone Use for Environmental Research [Perspectives

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have generated a great deal of controversy, partly because of their use for military and police purposes and because of concerns that they pose threats to privacy and safety. At the same time, environmental scientists are finding drones to be a powerful research tool. Because the use of drones has the potential to generate sensitive and incidental information (especially about human activities), environmental scientists must think carefully about how to handle these findings in ethically appropriate ways that do not generate a backlash against their use.

Desperation, Hopelessness, and Suicide: An Initial Consideration of Self-Murder by Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Crimean Society

Suicide, a new issue in Crimean social history research, has not been dealt with in terms of the status of free persons and slaves. It is difficult to find reliable and detailed primary source about slaves’ private lives and their expectations apart from some cases which focus on slaves as merchandise to be bought and sold, and examples of their release and escape. However, the Crimean Shari’a court records, which recently became available, provide researchers with such information on slaves as well as some incidental information on many topics such as their living conditions, their hopes for release, and reasons for their suicide. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of society on slave suicides by examining the Shari’a court records of the Crimean Khanate from 1650 to 1675.

Managing ethical challenges around misattributed parentage within the clinical context: Insights from an African moral theory.

This study argues the thesis that a set of guidelines - firmly rooted in a particular interpretation of African moral theory, specifically, Ubuntu - will do a better job than current medical ethics frameworks, in addressing ethical challenges around misattributed parentage within the clinical context. Incidental information such as information with significant personal/health implications raises unique challenges for medical professionals. For example, withholding information of misattributed paternity accidentally discovered in clinical interactions may be seen by a patient as a violation of his/her right-to-know. Contrarily, disclosure where a patient has not requested information - or where establishing paternity is not the purpose of clinical visit/interaction - may be taken by the patient as a violation of his/her right 'not-to-know'. Resolving these challenges remain a herculean task. African moral theory contains an under-emphasized value for addressing such ethical challenges around misattributed parentage in the field of transplant. I seek to contribute this knowledge; and enhance clinician-patient relationship. This study builds off three completed systematic reviews, which aimed to answer the following questions: "what are the ethical challenges regarding information health professionals face within the clinical contest?" and "what core aspects (or common themes) of Ubuntu can be identified in existing literature describing the same?" In this present study, I applied the definition of Ubuntu which captures the core aspects of the theory in ethical literature on the same, to address ethical issues around unsought information of misattributed parentage in the field of transplant.

Relational uncertainty management in adult children of divorce

ABSTRACTUtilizing uncertainty management theory (UMT) and a multiple goals theory of personal relationships (MGPR) the present study examined how adult children of divorce (ACOD) manage relational uncertainty following parental divorce. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 25 adult children who had experienced parental divorce when they were 18 years of age or older revealed two, broad types of information acquisition strategies: deliberate (i.e. information-seeking and information-avoiding) and incidental (i.e. incidental information acquisition). Deliberate information acquisition strategies were animated by several goals, including reducing and maintaining uncertainty, avoiding feeling caught, and protection. Alongside goals, various constraints (e.g. target efficacy, coping efficacy) played a role in ACOD’s relational uncertainty management. We discuss these results in relation to their theoretical and practical applications.

Information Literacy in the Internet Age: Making Space for Students' Intentional and Incidental Knowledge

AbstractThe authors argue that nonfiction reading and writing instruction in K–12 settings must include authentic opportunities for students to seek information online. To that end, the authors provide two frameworks for thinking about information acquisition in the 21st century. The first, the intentional and incidental information continuum, describes how adults encounter information. On one end is the information that adults actively seek, often by going online; on the other is information that is encountered passively. In between is information that could be considered semi‐incidental: The specific information is not actively sought, but the source was accessed purposefully. The second framework, a graphic for thinking about why adults actively seek information, proposes that searches should be thought of in terms of the seeker's education or preparation and the importance of the search. The authors contend that these frameworks can be used to rethink nonfiction reading and writing instruction.

Reduced recognition and priming in older relative to young adults for incidental and intentional information.

Older adults often show greater implicit/unconscious memory than young adults for incidental information that was task-irrelevant during its acquisition. Shallow/perceptual encoding by older adults may boost performance on implicit tasks that reinstate this type of processing, whereas deeper/conceptual encoding by young adults may support greater explicit/conscious memory. To test this, young and older participants were exposed to incidental words in a text color identification task before the trial-by-trial capture of priming and recognition. In Experiments 1-3 priming and recognition were significantly greater in young than older adults, providing evidence against age differences in encoding style. In Experiments 2-3 older adults were more liberal than young adults in making positive recognition judgments to incidental relative to intentional items, even though source memory was poor in both groups. Findings pinpoint age differences in the utilization of previously incidental versus intentional information on different types of task.

An Assessment of the Quality of CT Radiation Dose Information on the Internet

ObjectivesOur goal was to ascertain the quality of health information related to CT radiation exposure using a simulated Internet search and from incident information that may be available during day-to-day Internet usage. MethodsWe entered 14 terms relating to information on CT dose into the most commonly used Internet search engine and analyzed the first 100 web page results for each. A Rich Search Site (RSS) feed search was also used to evaluate incidental information over a 12-week period in 2014. Each web page was classified as being “completely accurate,” “somewhat accurate,” or “inaccurate.” ResultsOf 1,400 web pages, 290 were relevant and accessible. We deemed 12.8% of these pages as inaccurate and 67.2% of pages as completely accurate. The highest proportion of web pages was from media sources, which, along with discussion forums, commercial websites, and blogs, were found to have proportionally the largest amount of inaccurate information. Of 1,943 posts, 136 (7.0%) identified by the RSS were relevant, 9.6% were deemed inaccurate, and only 29.9% were deemed completely accurate. The results of our simulated query highlight the importance of public education regarding Internet usage when researching topics relating to radiation exposure associated with CT.

Stakeholders in psychiatry and their attitudes toward receiving pertinent and incident findings in genomic research.

Increasingly more psychiatric research studies use whole genome sequencing or whole exome sequencing. Consequently, researchers face difficult questions, such as which genomic findings to return to research participants and how. This study aims to gain more knowledge on the attitudes among potential research participants and health professionals toward receiving pertinent and incidental findings. A cross‐sectional online survey was developed to investigate the attitudes among research participants toward receiving genomic findings. A total of 2,637 stakeholders responded: 241 persons with mental disorders, 671 relatives, 1,623 blood donors, 74 psychiatrists, and 28 clinical geneticists. Stakeholders wanted both pertinent findings (95%) and incidental findings (91%) to be made available for research participants. The majority (77%) stated that researchers should not actively search for incidental findings. Persons with mental disorders and relatives were generally more positive about receiving any kind of findings than clinical geneticists and psychiatrists. Compared with blood donors, persons with mental disorders reported to be more positive about receiving raw genomic data and information that is not of serious health importance. Psychiatrists and clinical geneticists were less positive about receiving genomic findings compared with blood donors. The attitudes toward receiving findings were very positive. Stakeholders were willing to refrain from receiving incidental information if it could compromise the research. Our results suggest that research participants consider themselves as altruistic participants. This study offers valuable insight, which may inform future programs aiming to develop new strategies to target issues relating to the return of findings in genomic research.

‘By the charitie of good people’: poverty and neighbourly support in seventeenth century Lancashire

Historians of early-modern poverty have emphasized the ways in which the poor ‘made shift’, reducing or even preventing their dependence on formal poor relief. This article looks at one aspect of that ‘economy of makeshifts’: the casual support of the poor by their neighbours. It uses evidence from a uniquely extensive archive of pauper petitions from Lancashire (1626–1710), many of which contain incidental information about strategies of making shift. The petitions suggest that neighbourly support for the needy was common in Lancashire, both through localized begging and in more stable supportive relationships. Nonetheless, the charity of neighbours could easily be exhausted, leaving those in poverty forced to call upon the more formalized support of the Poor Law.

Facilitation effects of background incidental information on paired-associate learning

Facilitation effects of background incidental information on paired-associate learning

Abstract 3879: Patient preferences for disclosure of incidental genetic information discovered through high-throughput sequencing

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Several high throughput next generation sequencing platforms that search for targetable genetic alterations in cancer are now available in the clinic. However, a large number of germline variants may also be detected during testing, some of which may predispose a patient to diseases other than cancer. If, and how, to disclose these incidental genetic findings is controversial. The purpose of this study was to assess patient preferences regarding disclosure of incidental genetic findings. METHODS: We developed a cross-sectional questionnaire study of ambulatory breast oncology patients. Patients completed a 45 item questionnaire, including their disclosure preferences about various hypothetical scenarios of incidental genetic findings found during tumor profiling. Basic descriptive statistics and the proportional odds logistic regression were used for analysis. RESULTS: Of 351 patients approached between February-May 2014, 199 (56%) responded. Participants had a mean age of 55 (29-80), and most were Caucasian (75%), had Stage 0-III disease (61%), were college-educated (53%) and comfortable with basic genetic information (69%). Sixty-eight percent of respondents desired tumor profiling even if they were found to carry a mutation that could cause a disease other than cancer. While 74% initially indicated they would want to know all genetic information found, only 47% of respondents wanted to know about variants of uncertain significance when specifically questioned. Only 12% expressed preference not to learn about a mutation that was potentially heritable. Most patients (82%) preferred to know if they had a mutation that increased their risk of a serious but preventable illness (eg heart disease), but only 57% desired information for mutations that always caused a serious and unpreventable illness (eg Alzheimers dementia). Interestingly, 62% of patients desired tumor profiling even if there was only a 1% chance it would help their treatment, yet 54% endorsed significant concern about the potential risk of incidental findings impacting their ability to obtain health insurance. Ultimately, 59% of respondents indicated that they would agree to undergo tumor profiling if offered by their doctor; Caucasians (OR 4.1, CI 2-8.3) and those with prior knowledge of tumor profiling (OR 2.6, CI 1.3-5.1) were more likely to agree, while cancer stage, treatment, marital status, education, income, family history and other demographic factors were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of breast cancer patients express interest in pursuing tumor profiling. The potential for incidental genetic findings does not appear to significantly dissuade patients from pursuing this technology, nor does the potential for learning about germline traits that could impact family members. However, there is remarkable variability in disclosure preferences of specific types of incidental findings. Citation Format: Melinda L. Yushak, Sara Bouberhan, Gang Han, Lianne Epstein, Sarah Mougalian, Maysa Abu-Khalaf, Gina Chung, Michael DiGiovanna, Tara Sanft, Lajos Pusztai, Erin Hofstatter. Patient preferences for disclosure of incidental genetic information discovered through high-throughput sequencing. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3879. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3879

Disorders of sex development: effect of molecular diagnostics.

Disorders of sex development (DSDs) are a diverse group of conditions that can be challenging to diagnose accurately using standard phenotypic and biochemical approaches. Obtaining a specific diagnosis can be important for identifying potentially life-threatening associated disorders, as well as providing information to guide parents in deciding on the most appropriate management for their child. Within the past 5 years, advances in molecular methodologies have helped to identify several novel causes of DSDs; molecular tests to aid diagnosis and genetic counselling have now been adopted into clinical practice. Occasionally, genetic profiling of embryos prior to implantation as an adjunct to assisted reproduction, prenatal diagnosis of at-risk pregnancies and confirmatory testing of positive results found during newborn biochemical screening are performed. Of the available genetic tests, the candidate gene approach is the most popular. New high-throughput DNA analysis could enable a genetic diagnosis to be made when the aetiology is unknown or many differential diagnoses are possible. Nonetheless, concerns exist about the use of genetic tests. For instance, a diagnosis is not always possible even using new molecular approaches (which can be worrying for the parents) and incidental information obtained during the test might cause anxiety. Careful selection of the genetic test indicated for each condition remains important for good clinical practice. The purpose of this Review is to describe advances in molecular biological techniques for diagnosing DSDs.

Beyond BRCA1 and BRCA2

A hereditary breast cancer syndrome can present in a variety of ways ranging from an index case of early-onset breast cancer to an incidental finding during an endoscopy or a dermatological examination. A comprehensive review of the patient’s personal and family history is essential to accurately assess the risk for a hereditary cancer syndrome. Clinicians should be aware of the wide variety of hereditary breast cancer syndromes beyond BRCA1 and BRCA2-associated HBOC. Failure to identify a rare hereditary breast cancer syndrome can lead to additional cancer diagnoses in the patient or relatives that might have been prevented with appropriately aggressive management and screening. Effective identification and management of patients with a hereditary breast cancer syndrome requires a team approach. The use of cancer gene panels, although they can be beneficial in many cases, may also reveal incidental information, unexpected diagnoses, and inconclusive findings. Patients should be offered comprehensive counseling about the potential impact of this type of genetic testing before deciding to pursue a gene panel test. This counseling should include information about the numerous genetic syndromes analyzed. When performed in the context of thorough pretest and posttest counseling, genetic testing is a powerful tool that can aid the patient, his or her family members, and their physicians in making appropriate medical management decisions.