Mixed Feedback Research Articles

Characteristics of positive feedback provided by UK health service users: content analysis of examples from two databases

BackgroundMost feedback received by health services is positive. Our systematic scoping review mapped all available empirical evidence for how positive patient feedback creates healthcare change. Most included papers did not...

Multi-degree-of-freedom ultra-low frequency vibration isolation system for precision devices with decoupled control

High precision devices are sensitive to low frequency background vibration. In order to meet the requirement of vibration isolation and adaptation to different working modes, a multi-DOF (Degree-of-Freedom) ultra-low frequency vibration isolation system is proposed. The system uses diaphragm bellow isolators to bear static load and electromagnetic actuators to exert control forces. Auxiliary isolators of variable stiffness are used to make the system adaptive to operation and transportation. The dynamic model of the vibration isolation system is established to analyze vibration characteristics and investigate control laws. A broadband control law based on the actuation-measurement state decoupling is proposed and the mixed feedback and feedforward control is adopted to realize ultra-low frequency vibration isolation. Numerical and experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed system is able to isolate ground vibration effectively. The initial vibration isolation frequency is reduced to 0.5 Hz and the transmissibility reaches −8.3 dB at 1 Hz and −21.9 dB at 2 Hz.

Exploring the challenges faced by Dutch truck drivers in the era of technological advancement.

Despite their important role in the economy, truck drivers face several challenges, including adapting to advancing technology. The current study investigated the occupational experiences of Dutch truck drivers to detect common patterns. A questionnaire was distributed to professional drivers in order to collect data on public image, traffic safety, work pressure, transport crime, driver shortage, and sector improvements. The findings based on 3,708 respondents revealed a general dissatisfaction with the image of the industry and reluctance to recommend the profession. A factor analysis of the questionnaire items identified two primary factors: 'Work Pressure', more common among national drivers, and 'Safety & Security Concerns', more common among international drivers. A ChatGPT-assisted analysis of textbox comments indicated that vehicle technology received mixed feedback, with praise for safety and fuel-efficiency improvements, but concerns about reliability and intrusiveness. In conclusion, Dutch professional truck drivers indicate a need for industry improvements. While the work pressure for truck drivers in general may not be high relative to certain other occupational groups, truck drivers appear to face a deficit of support and respect.

Contribution of peer-feedback to the development of teamwork skills

Peer-feedback is a widely-used strategy at the university level for its positive impact on student learning and its multifaceted advantages encompassing social, cognitive, and metacognitive development. However, few studies have assessed its contribution to the development of teamwork skills. This study analyzes students’ perception of how peer-feedback contributes to the development of teamwork skills by comparing the results of two class groups that have taken the same subject, though with different feedback experience designs (face-to-face and mixed feedback vs. non-face-to-face and written feedback, with or without consensus among group members). At the end of the study, 82 participants completed a questionnaire to assess their perception of the peer-feedback experience and its impact on learning and the development of teamwork skills. The findings reveal that students perceive that giving and receiving feedback in face-to-face mixed modality contributes more to developing teamwork skills; however, the presence or absence of consensus among group members to give or receive feedback does not appear to exert a clear impact on the development of these skills. Additionally, the findings suggest that students perceive a greater development of teamwork skills by giving feedback rather than receiving it. These results highlight the importance for teachers to consider such aspects when designing peer-feedback experiences, aiming to maximize the impact on the development of teamwork skills.

Dominant Mixed Feedback Design for Stable Oscillations

We present a design framework that combines positive and negative feedback for robust stable oscillations in closed loop. The design is initially based on graphical methods, to guide the selection of the overall strength of the feedback (gain) and of the relative proportion of positive and negative feedback (balance). The design is then generalized via linear matrix inequalities. The goal is to guarantee robust oscillations to bounded dynamic uncertainties and to extend the approach to passive interconnections. The results of the paper provide a system-theoretic justification to several observations from system biology and neuroscience pointing at mixed feedback as a fundamental enabler for robust oscillations.

Investigating the Effect of Perceived Workplace Climate on the Well-being of Academic Staff at Makerere University

The purpose of this study was to analyse how workplace climate affects the well-being of academic staff at Makerere University. The study was prompted by the reportedly persistent ill-being of academic staff at Makerere University in the recent past. The study followed a concurrent design, where the quantitative approach partook a cross-sectional survey design and the qualitative used a phenomenological survey design. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of 383 academic staff and interviewing four heads of departments and four academic staff distributed in three colleges and one school. The respondents were selected using stratified random sampling and purposive sampling. The qualitative data was analysed through thematic and content analysis inductively. Later, both data sets converged during interpretation to obtain common implications. Qualitative findings indicated participants had varying perspectives on the workplace climate for instance, participants' voices ranged from challenging to supportive and adaptable, stressful and rewarding. This implied that such mixed feedback from different voices had different implications and consequences for individual participants. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, (r = .529, n = 286, p = .000> 0.05), and multiple analysed by linear regression R2 = 0.281, p =0,000 >.05). F statistic = 37.550, p= 0.00>0.05, Beta= 0.350, p= 0.00>0.05. The findings indicated a statistically significant positive relationship and effect between well-being and workplace climate in terms of work pleasure, job rewards, and career growth opportunities.

Mixed policy feedback and evolution of environmental regulation: analysing instrument recalibration and layering in Danish nitrogen policy

ABSTRACT Recent research has demonstrated that positive and negative feedback can occur simultaneously within environmental policy. This tends to occur when policy has multiple purposes. We engage with the concept of mixed feedback to highlight aspects of the phenomenon that have hitherto not been explored in detail and thus add more nuance to the feedback argument to improve our understanding of environmental policy evolution. Our first argument is that single-purpose policies may generate mixed feedback. Each instrument generates distinct feedback. Secondly, we challenge the assumption that negative feedback undermine policy and suggest that negative feedback may indeed contribute to maintaining policy. For policy to endure over longer periods, it needs to respond to feedback. Thirdly, we argue that mixed instrument feedback can result in a substantial reshuffling of an environmental policy mix through the recalibration of instruments. We use the trajectory of Danish regulation aimed at nitrogen run-offs to coastal waters over almost three decades to illustrate the three arguments.

A weighted average mixed feedback control method based on LCL‐type grid‐connected inverter

SummaryThe weighted average current (WAC) control method has gained recognition for its order reduction characteristics and broad control bandwidth. However, the interaction of digital control delay and grid impedance introduces an inverse resonance peak in the system loop gain, challenging the order reduction properties of conventional WAC control and system passivity across a wide frequency range. Conventional approaches, such as lead compensator‐based delay compensation or weighting coefficient redesign, improve system stability to some extent but fail to retain order reduction characteristics. To address these limitations, this article proposes a new control method known as weighted average mixed feedback, incorporating distinct voltage feedforward paths. By introducing a voltage feedback path, the proposed method reconfigures the system's zero positions, enabling the pole‐zero cancelation in the open‐loop characteristics independent of grid impedance. Additionally, this supplementary path offers impedance reshaping capabilities, enhancing system passivity and adaptability to weak grids. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is verified through simulations and experiments.

Performance variability and affordance perception: practice effects on perceptual judgments for walking versus throwing.

To judge whether an action is possible, people must perceive "affordances"-the fit between features of the environment and aspects of their own bodies and motor skills that make the action possible or not. But for some actions, performance is inherently variable. That is, people cannot consistently perform the same action under the same environmental conditions with the same level of success. Decades of research show that practice performing an action improves perception of affordances. However, prior work did not address whether practice with more versus less variable actions is equally effective at improving perceptual judgments. Thirty adults judged affordances for walking versus throwing a beanbag through narrow doorways before and after 75 practice trials walking and throwing beanbags through doorways of different widths. We fit a "success" function through each participant's practice data in each task and calculated performance variability as the slope of the function. Performance for throwing was uniformly more variable than for walking. Accordingly, absolute judgment error was larger for throwing than walking at both pretest and posttest. However, absolute error reduced proportionally in both tasks with practice, suggesting that practice improves perceptual judgments equally well for more and less variable actions. Moreover, individual differences in variability in performance were unrelated to absolute, constant, and variable error in perceptual judgments. Overall, results indicate that practice is beneficial for calibrating perceptual judgments, even when practice provides mixed feedback about success under the same environmental conditions.

Exploring the use of large language models (LLMs) in chemical engineering education: Building core course problem models with Chat-GPT

This study highlights the potential benefits of integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into chemical engineering education. In this study, Chat-GPT, a user-friendly LLM, is used as a problem-solving tool. Chemical engineering education has traditionally focused on fundamental knowledge in the classroom with limited opportunities for hands-on problem-solving. To address this issue, our study proposes an LLMs-assisted problem-solving procedure. This approach promotes critical thinking, enhances problem-solving abilities, and facilitates a deeper understanding of core subjects. Furthermore, incorporating programming into chemical engineering education prepares students with vital Industry 4.0 skills for contemporary industrial practices. During our experimental lecture, we introduced a simple example of building a model to calculate steam turbine cycle efficiency, and assigned projects to students for exploring the possible use of LLMs in solving various aspect of chemical engineering problems. Although it received mixed feedback from students, it was found to be an accessible and practical tool for improving problem-solving efficiency. Analyzing the student projects, we identified five common difficulties and misconceptions and provided helpful suggestions for overcoming them. Our course has limitations regarding using advanced tools and addressing complex problems. We further provide two additional examples to better demonstrate how to integrate LLMs into core courses. We emphasize the importance of universities, professors, and students actively embracing and utilizing LLMs as tools for chemical engineering education. Students must develop critical thinking skills and a thorough understanding of the principles behind LLMs, taking responsibility for their use and creations. This study provides valuable insights for enhancing chemical engineering education's learning experience and outcomes by integrating LLMs.

EFL Students' Reactions to Peer versus Teacher Feedback to Improve Writing Skills: A Study at Intermediate School Level

Feedback is crucial for assisting EFL writers since writing in English is challenging for them. Although numerous research studies have been done on the usefulness of peer and teacher feedback in EFL writing, studies that show the differences between the effectiveness of teacher's feedback versus peer's feedback and the student's reactions to mixing feedback are generally rare. This study was thus conducted on the peer and teacher feedback and both feedback model in three writing paragraphs for twenty students at an intermediate school in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, where English is taught as a foreign language. To identify the students' reactions in the pre-post application of the questionnaire and the pre-post test design for one group of students, the study used a semi-experimental approach. The findings indicated no significant differences at a significance level of less than 0.05 between the mean scores of the peers and the teacher feedback. The experiment had success in terms of students’ positive attitudes towards mixing feedback models, the usefulness of peer comments, high percentages of feedback incorporations, and high overall writing scores. Therefore, based on the study results, the researcher confirms the usefulness of mixed feedback and recommends using it to improve student's' English writing skills.

Exploring individual differences in the prediction of awareness and improvement in trainee interpreters: an aptitude-treatment interaction approach

ABSTRACT The research on interpreting aptitude has focused on the abilities, skills and personal traits of individuals in order to predict their future interpreting performance. However, an important variable between the personal characteristics and success of trainee interpreters in interpreter training, which is instructional practices, is overlooked. Consequently, the different outcomes that were seen in trainees with various characteristics could be attributed to their adaptations to different instructional conditions. In order to address this gap in the literature, this exploratory study used the aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) paradigm to examine the interactions between individual differences in trainee interpreters and feedback treatment. The findings of regression analyses suggested that working memory capacity predicted interpreting improvement under explicit and mixed feedback conditions rather than implicit conditions, and motivation predicted performance in the mixed group. Working memory capacity also predicted trainees’ awareness in the explicit and mixed feedback groups, but not the implicit group. The results also showed that feedback awareness predicted interpreting progress, and error awareness predicted an improvement in the mixed group. Based on these findings, this study highlighted the importance of instruction-related factors in the relationship between aptitude and interpreter training success.

An Attempt to Examine Digital Native and Digital Immigrant Macau Graphic Designers' Perceptions of Adopting Generative Design

The manifestation of generating digital visuals through an algorithm is gaining worldwide attention in the graphic design industry. It is a new form of computing that visualizes data input by the designer or collected in the physical environment and turns them into artwork. The generative design of ‘Macau Design Award 2019' was the first of its kind being adopted locally. This key visual design received mixed feedback in the field. There is concern that erroneous perceptions of such a new way of designing could detach Macau from the global design trend. The purpose of this paper, in the form of an exploratory case study combined with a survey, is to understand local graphic designers' perspectives of generative design. The authors want to examine how digital native and digital immigrant designers perceive the phenomenon and their degree of acceptance. The data were obtained through an online questionnaire shared with the Macau Designers Association members. UTAUT2 model was employed to analyse the main obstacles to their attitudes towards adopting generative design in their artwork.

A Wearable Mixed Reality Platform to Augment Overground Walking: A Feasibility Study.

Humans routinely modify their walking speed to adapt to functional goals and physical demands. However, damage to the central nervous system (CNS) often results in abnormal modulation of walking speed and increased risk of falls. There is considerable interest in treatment modalities that can provide safe and salient training opportunities, feedback about walking performance, and that may augment less reliable sensory feedback within the CNS after injury or disease. Fully immersive virtual reality technologies show benefits in boosting training-related gains in walking performance; however, they lack views of the real world that may limit functional carryover. Augmented reality and mixed reality head-mount displays (MR-HMD) provide partially immersive environments to extend the virtual reality benefits of interacting with virtual objects but within an unobstructed view of the real world. Despite this potential advantage, the feasibility of using MR-HMD visual feedback to promote goal-directed changes in overground walking speed remains unclear. Thus, we developed and evaluated a novel mixed reality application using the Microsoft HoloLens MR-HMD that provided real-time walking speed targets and augmented visual feedback during overground walking. We tested the application in a group of adults not living with disability and examined if they could use the targets and visual feedback to walk at 85%, 100%, and 115% of each individual’s self-selected speed. We examined whether individuals were able to meet each target gait speed and explored differences in accuracy across repeated trials and at the different speeds. Additionally, given the importance of task-specificity to therapeutic interventions, we examined if walking speed adjustment strategies were consistent with those observed during usual overground walking, and if walking with the MR-HMD resulted in increased variability in gait parameters. Overall, participants matched their overground walking speed to the target speed of the MR-HMD visual feedback conditions (all p-values > 0.05). The percent inaccuracy was approximately 5% across all speed matching conditions and remained consistent across walking trials after the first overall walking trial. Walking with the MR-HMD did not result in more variability in walking speed, however, we observed more variability in stride length and time when walking with feedback from the MR-HMD compared to walking without feedback. The findings offer support for mixed reality-based visual feedback as a method to provoke goal-specific changes in overground walking behavior. Further studies are necessary to determine the clinical safety and efficacy of this MR-HMD technology to provide extrinsic sensory feedback in combination with traditional treatments in rehabilitation.

Spiking Control Systems

Spikes and rhythms organize control and communication in the animal world, in contrast to the bits and clocks of digital technology. As continuous-time signals that can be counted, spikes have a mixed nature. This article reviews ongoing efforts to develop a control theory of spiking systems. The central thesis is that the mixed nature of spiking results from a mixed feedback principle, and a control theory of mixed feedback can be grounded in the operator theoretic concept of maximal monotonicity. As a nonlinear generalization of passivity, maximal monotonicity acknowledges at once the physics of electrical circuits, the algorithmic tractability of convex optimization, and the feedback control theory of incremental passivity. We discuss the relevance of a theory of spiking control systems in the emerging age of event-based technology.

Promoter methylation in a mixed feedback loop circadian clock model.

We investigate how epigenetic modifications to clock gene promoters affect transcriptomic activity in the circadian clock. Motivated by experimental observations that link DNA methylation with the behavior of the clock, we introduce and analyze an extension of the mixed feedback loop (MFL) model of François and Hakim. We extend the original model to include an additional methylated promoter state and allow for reversible protein sequestration, an important feature for circadian applications. First, working with the general form of the MFL model, we find that the qualitative behavior of the model is dictated by the promoter state with the highest transcription rate. We then build on the work of Kim and Forger, who analyzed the stability of the mammalian circadian clock by using a reduced form of the MFL model. We present a rigorous procedure for translating between the MFL model and the reduction of Kim and Forger. We then propose a model reduction more appropriate for the study of oscillatory promoter states, making use of a fully coupled quasi-steady-state approximation rather than the standard partially uncoupled quasi-steady-state approach. Working with the novel reduced form of the model, we find substantial differences in the transcription function and show that, although methylation contributes to period control, excessive methylation can abolish rhythmicity. Altogether our results show that even in a minimal clock model, DNA methylation has a nontrivial influence on the system's ability to oscillate.

Success and Satisfaction with Virtual Hematology Curriculum Implemented in Response to COVID-19

Introduction: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon Health and Science University Blood & Host Defense medical school pre-clinical block was reformatted to a completely online curriculum. In previous years, the curriculum consisted of traditional 1-hour lectures from Monday to Wednesday, with small group review sessions on Thursday prior to weekly assessments on Friday. Changes for the virtual curriculum included shortened, pre-recorded lectures divided into modules by topic, with follow-up questions to test comprehension in real-time. These were followed by live, 1-hour Q&A sessions each day. Weekly, 2-3-hour case-based review sessions were also held virtually in real-time. We aimed to study student performance in this new curriculum, and to learn about the satisfaction of both students and instructors with these changes.Methods: To measure performance, class testing averages across graded components were compared to previous years. To measure satisfaction, first-year medical students and course instructors were polled via anonymous, voluntary Qualtrics® surveys after course completion. Answers were given on a 5-point Likert scale. Students were also asked to answer four free-response questions.Results: Class testing averages were similar to previous years across all graded components of the curriculum. Following remediation, the pass rate for the course was 100%. Fifty eight out of 150 students completed the satisfaction survey, a response rate of 39%. Most students found pre-recorded lectures and weekly live review sessions “useful” or “very useful,” but responses were more varied for daily Q&A sessions. Most students either “somewhat preferred” or “greatly preferred” the module-based format over hour-long lectures and indicated they would like a similar format in future virtual blocks. Themes from qualitative questions included a preference for virtual curriculum for its increased flexibility. A small subset of students described a preference for in-person lecture due to increased engagement. Thirteen out of 31 instructors completed the survey, for a response rate of 42%. Six of the respondents indicated that they would prefer the traditional version of the curriculum for the following year, while 5 selected the new virtual-only format. Twelve instructors completed Likert-scale questions comparing the two curriculums. There was no statistically significant difference in satisfaction with lecture format, time and effort to prepare lectures, amount of interaction with students, and overall teaching experience. However, there was a significant increase in dissatisfaction with the quality of student interaction and student engagement with the new virtual curriculum.Conclusions: Students successfully learned in the new, virtual curriculum as demonstrated by summative assessments. Trends that emerged from student feedback included a preference for module-based format over hour-long lectures, and pre-recorded lectures over live sessions. Most respondents enjoyed the weekly live review sessions, but were mixed regarding daily live Q&A sessions. We suspect this mixed feedback for the daily reviews was due to constraints on the schedule and the necessity of viewing all modules each morning prior to the session. From the perspective of instructors, there was perhaps unsurprisingly decreased satisfaction with student engagement in the virtual setting. However, overall, there was no meaningful difference in preference regarding lecture format. When combining this with the diverse needs and preferences of medical students, future versions of the course should consider incorporating more virtual elements. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Breath-Triggered Haptic and Acoustic Guides to Support Effortless Calm Breathing.

Stress is a common issue in today's society and can be caused by a variety of triggers in activities such as work or driving. Various negative consequences can arise of stress such as reduced job productivity, sleep disorders, or physiological diseases like depression or anxiety. A popular approach to manage stress is voluntary deep and slow breathing. However, deliberate deep breathing requires conscious attention and effort, and thus often interferes with daily activities such as working and driving. We present a system that monitors the user's breathing in real-time and provides rhythmical feedback to support effortless and unconscious slow breathing in everyday-life. Our system comprises three feedback modes: 1.) acoustic feedback, 2.) haptic feedback, and 3.) mixed feedback combining both modalities. We apply our system in a driver setting and conduct a user study with twelve participants to evaluate the effects of our intervention on users' physiology and perception. We find that acoustic and mixed guiding can reduce breathing pace without affecting focus, which suggests that subtle rhythmical feedback is a promising approach to reduce breathing pace and thus counteract stress.

P660 The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of care for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A cross sectional survey

BackgroundCOVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic in March of 2020. Since its onset, the focus of many healthcare systems shifted toward limiting non-essential visits to hospitals in order to prioritize and allocate resources toward treating those affected by COVID-19. Those with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) have been particularly impacted. We aimed to survey IBD patients to determine how they have been affected by changes to the provision of care due to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA mixed methods survey was conducted with patients with an IBD diagnosis who received care for their IBD since March 17, 2019 in Canada. The primary aims of the survey were to evaluate any differences in access to or usage of IBD-related care including medications, clinic visits in addition to patient experience with virtual care.ResultsA total of 135 complete or partial responses were received, of which 90 responses were included for having answered >50% of questions. The majority of respondents were from Ontario, with a mean age of 42 years, and over 75% being female. 67% had Crohn’s Disease, and 69% were on a biologic.Three percent of respondents stopped taking all IBD-related medications without the advice of their gastroenterologist due to pandemic-related concerns while 8% reported difficulty obtaining their medications. Thirty-eight percent reported a delay in being able to see their gastroenterologist, with a majority reporting a delay >4 weeks (n=21). Twenty-three percent required a visit to the emergency department due to IBD-related concerns, and 13% of participants were admitted to hospital. 33% reported a delay in endoscopy, with a majority reporting a delay greater than 3 months (n=17).Thirty-eight percent reported receiving poorer care since the pandemic began, while 36% reported no change. 76% of respondents used Telehealth for their appointments. 66% reported they were able to speak with their gastroenterologist within 15 minutes of their appointment time. Thirty percent preferred telehealth appointments to in-person visits. Half reported no change with their quality of interaction with their gastroenterologists.ConclusionPreliminary data highlight that patients have experienced significant delays in IBD care during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than one third reporting a reduction in the quality of that care. Interestingly, only a minority of patients stopped medication or had reduced access during the pandemic. Further studies will help define whether there were a significant change in the number of hospitalizations due to this delay. Virtual care is a useful tool during the pandemic, but its mixed feedback raises questions about how it can be effectively utilized in the future.

Teaching Note—Lessons From Designing and Teaching an Antioppression Capstone Course

ABSTRACT A capstone experience is a final opportunity for master’s of social work students to practice competencies they will apply in the field. To support the transition, we designed and evaluated a capstone course using ethically challenging cases in the Decision Case Method approach, as well as integrating active, embodied participation through Theatre of the Oppressed Forum Theatre. Feedback from students was mixed, with more positive feedback for the Decision Case Method classes. In this teaching note, we present how we researched and designed the course, feedback we received, reasons for the mixed feedback, and lessons learned that will likely be helpful to other social work programs designing capstone experiences.