Regular Peer Research Articles

WITHDRAWN: Are Diagnostic Radiographers Image Acquisition Experts Within the General Radiographic Environment?

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. Shortly after appearing In Press, this article was flagged as having an unacceptable amount of duplicate text from a recently published article in another journal. In consultation with the author, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of both journals, the article has been removed from the production queue and is being withdrawn from In Press. The author expressed regret at misunderstanding this aspect of the publication process, and plans to resubmit after removing all instances of text recycling; ensuring that the hypotheses between the two papers are separate (i.e., papers not split by outcomes); and referencing the previously published paper. Any resulting resubmission will undergo the journal's regular double-blind peer review process. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

Exploration of Participation in Student Software Engineering Teams

Employers require software engineers to work in teams when developing software systems. It is therefore important for graduates to have experienced teamwork before they enter the job market. We describe an experiential learning exercise that we designed to teach the software engineering process in conjunction with teamwork skills. The underlying teaching strategy applied in the exercise maximises risks in order to provide maximal experiential learning opportunities. The students are expected to work in fairly large, yet short-lived, instructor-assigned teams to complete software engineering tasks. After undergoing the exercise our students form self-selected teams for their capstone projects. In this article, we determine and report on the influence the teaching exercise had on the formation of teams for the capstone project. By analysing data provided by the students through regular peer reviews we gain insight into the team dynamics as well as to what extent the members contributed to the team effort. We develop and present a graphical model of a capstone project team which highlights participation of individuals during the teaching exercise. The participatory history of the members is visualised using segmented concentric rings. We consider how this visualisation can aid the identification of capstone project teams that are at risk. In our experience the composition of the team and the behaviour of other members in the team may have a marked impact on the behaviour of each individual in the team. We established a team classification in order to model information about teams. We use a statistical clustering method to classify teams. For this we use team profiles that are based on the participatory levels of its members. The team types that emerge from the clustering are used to derive migration models. When we consider migration, we build spring models to visualise the teams through which individuals migrate. We colour code the teams to characterise them according to the team types that were identified during the cluster classification of the teams. Owing to the complexity of the resulting model, only migrations for capstone team members who have worked together during the exercise or for solitary capstone team members are modelled. These models support the identification of areas of interest that warrant further investigation. To conclude, we present our observations from the analysis of team compositions, team types, and team migrations and provide directions for future work and collaborations.

Does the removal of results from a submitted paper reduce publication bias?

A recent paper by Findley et al. (2016) in Comparative Political Studies suggests that the removal of results from a paper may decrease publication bias. However, in the biomedical sciences, a paper without results is not interpretable; therefore, such a solution is not viable for addressing the reproducibility crisis. Instead, Findley et al.’s proposal should form a pre-submission step that enables colleagues and peers to evaluate a paper's experimental design and protocol prior to submission to a journal for regular peer review. Introducing a new, data-free model for peer review would only dilute the efficacy of current models and weaken efforts to improve existing publication practices.

The fate of triaged and rejected manuscripts.

In 2011, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation (NDT) established a more restrictive selection process for manuscripts submitted to the journal, reducing the acceptance rate from 25% (2008-2009) to currently about 12-15%. To achieve this goal, we decided to score the priority of manuscripts submitted to NDT and to reject more papers at triage than in the past. This new scoring system allows a rapid decision for the authors without external review. However, the risk of such a restrictive policy may be that the journal might fail to capture important studies that are eventually published in higher-ranked journals. To look into this problem, we analysed random samples of papers (∼10%) rejected by NDT in 2012. Of the papers rejected at triage and those rejected after regular peer review, 59 and 61%, respectively, were accepted in other journals. A detailed analysis of these papers showed that only 4 out of 104 and 7 out of 93 of the triaged and rejected papers, respectively, were published in journals with an impact factor higher than that of NDT. Furthermore, for all these papers, independent assessors confirmed the evaluation made by the original reviewers. The number of citations of these papers was similar to that typically obtained by publications in the corresponding journals. Even though the analyses seem reassuring, previous observations made by leading journals warn that the risk of 'big misses', resulting from selective editorial policies, remains a real possibility. We will therefore continue to maintain a high degree of alertness and will periodically track the history of manuscripts rejected by NDT, particularly papers that are rejected at triage by our journal.

G52(P) Evaluating a safeguarding peer review and reflective supervision intervention: exploring paediatricians’ participation and learning

Aims To establish regular peer review and reflective supervision for paediatricians at both sites of an NHS Trust for a six month period and evaluate participation and learning. Methods An action research methodology was chosen. Morrison’s 4 × 4 × 4 reflective supervision model was selected because of its focus of improving safeguarding outcomes for children. New documentary output was developed for peer review sessions. To support participation, peer review and supervision sessions were scheduled during monthly clinical governance half-days. Attendance at clinical governance sessions is expected for all available paediatricians. Participation in the evaluation of learning was optional. There are 21 paediatricians permanently employed by the Trust. Their participation, any resultant learning and impact was to be explored through examination of documentary outputs from the sessions including attendance registers and from semi-structured interviews. This service evaluation project was registered with the NHS organisation. The evaluation of learning has approval from a university ethics committee. Results Experienced supervisors were secured and a steering group established. Six sessions were planned at each site beginning with supervisee training for reflective supervision. Then there was to be alternating sessions of reflective supervision or peer review at each site. For the site with 13 paediatricians, six (6/13, 46.2%) were present for training. Of the subsequent five sessions, only one session has taken place. There were four attendees (4/13, 30.8%) at the reflective supervision session, only two of whom had attended the training. Four of the sessions did not take place. For the site with 8 paediatricians, three (3/8, 37.5%) attended training and none of the five planned sessions happened. Of the nine missed sessions, analysis indicates that unavailability of the Named Doctors for Child Protection accounted for four missed sessions, unavailability of other paediatricians for an additional four and an administrative error for one. The details of the barriers to participation will be presented. Conclusions Scheduling peer review and reflective supervision during clinical governance half-days did not secure paediatricians’ participation. There has been insufficient participation to evaluate learning or impact on outcomes for children. Future options to support participation will be discussed.

Creating a peer-led acceptance and commitment therapy consultation group: The Portland model

Regular peer consultation can be an important means to continually develop clinical skills. This paper describes our journey in creating a peer consultation group aimed at helping people learn and practice Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Across several years, we have refined and shaped our meeting format, created documents outlining the format and roles, and begun to disseminate this model to others interested in beginning their own ACT peer consultation groups. This paper presents our model for running ACT consult groups, explains the history of it, and provides context for the choices we made in its development.

Outcome-and-behavior-based safety incentive program to reduce accidents: A case study of a fluid manufacturing plant

The study proposed an outcome-and-behavior-based safety incentive program (OBBSIP). The study addressed the limitation of outcome-based program, i.e. accidents underreporting and behavior-based safety program, i.e. not having direct link to safety performance. The OBBSIP has two principles, i.e. an outcome-based approach through tiered incentives and a behavior-based approach through regular peer monitoring and feedbacks on compliance with safety precautions and safe behaviors (SPSB). Its effectiveness is validated through a case study i.e. a field experiment in dairy fluid plants. An AB (baseline-treatment) method was used to compare an experimental plant with a control plant. Results show that the program reduced the number of accident by 75% (measured by claims). The program created a positive work environment through (1) social influence where there was peer pressure to comply with the SPSB to help reduce accidents; (2) outcome feedback from the Bingo board updates, and positive and negative feedbacks on compliance/non-compliance with the SPSB; and (3) social recognition e.g. team members’ praises and small incentive awards. Prior literature provided explanation for the program’s effectiveness, i.e. the combination of social influence, feedback and tiered incentive awards with achievable goals. The program is low cost, easy to understand and effective in reducing accidents.

Preface: Workshop in fluid mechanics and population dynamics

The Workshop in Fluid Mechanics and Population Dynamics: Models, Existence Problems, Stability and Numerical Methods took place in Hadath (Lebanon), at the Laboratory of mathematics in the Doctoral School of Science and Technology of the Lebanese University, during the week September 10 - September 14, 2012 The workshop was held with the support of the Ecole Centrale de Nantes, the Laboratoire de mathématiques Jean Leray of Nantes university and the universities of Paris 13 and Poitiers, and was organized by Samer Israwi, Basam Kojok, Ayman Mourad, Mazen Saad, Zaynab Salloum and Raafat Talhouk. It was attended by about 60 PhD students and Mathematicians coming from universities from different countries, such as Algeria, France, Lebanon and Tunisia. The workshop included courses tutorials and sessions around specific themes in which participants presented their works. It was open to any scientist interested in academic or industrial applications. It was aimed at doctoral students in mathematics, as well as senior researchers. Its objective was firstly to present a synthesis of various partial differential equations involved in fluid mechanics and populations dynamics, and on the other hand to present more recent advances in research topics such as asymptotic models in fluid mechanics, homogenization and the finite volume method. All the contributions to this special volume were submitted to regular peer review, according to the rules of the journal Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series S. We deeply thank all the authors for their high quality papers and the Editors of the journal for their interest in the topics of the workshop. We express our heartfelt thanks to the following sponsors: Ecole Central de Nantes and Laboratoire de Mathématques Jean Leray, Nantes University, represented by Mazen Saad, Université de Poitiers, represented by Alain Miranville, Université Paris 13, represented by Mikhael Balabane, Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Lebanese University. Finally, we express our sincere thanks to the Dean of the Doctoral School of Science and Technology at the Lebanese University, Professor Zeinab Saad, for her support throughout the workshop and to the French Embassy in Beirut, represented by its Scientific Counselor, Mr. Gilles Théodet.

Use of interactive teaching techniques to introduce mental health training to medical schools in a resource poor setting

There are currently no practising psychiatrists in Somaliland. In 2007 the first medical students graduated from universities in Somaliland without mental health training. We aimed to pilot an intensive but flexible package of mental health training to all senior medical students and interns using interactive training techniques and to evaluate its effectiveness by assessing knowledge, skills and attitudes. Teaching techniques included didactic lectures, case based discussion groups and role playing. Informal feedback informed a flexible teaching package. Assessment tools designed specifically for this course included a pre and post course MCQ exam and an OSCE. Changes in students' attitudes were evaluated using a questionnaire administered before and after the course. In addition, a questionnaire administered following the course evaluated the changes students perceived in their knowledge and attitudes to mental health. The MCQ improved from 50.7% pre course to 64.4% post course (p = 9.73 E-08). Students achieved an average overall OSCE mark of 71%. The pre and post attitudes questionnaire was most significantly different for statements relevant to aetiology, stigma and the overlap between mental and physical health. The statement most strongly agreed with after the course was 'I now understand more about the overlap between mental and physical health'. Interactive teaching provided a learning experience for both students and trainers. On site and distance learning based on the teaching described here has widened the scope of the training possible in psychiatry and allowed the provision of regular teaching, supervision and peer support in Somaliland. However, the current lack of local expertise means that important issues of sustainability need to be considered in future work.

Uses and abuses of education assessment in Brazil

Starting in the 1970s, Brazil developed a very complex system of quantitative assessments of education at all levels, making extensive use of statistical information and tests, in an effort to improve and maintain the quality of its education. However, with some exceptions, particularly at the graduate level, Brazilian education standards remain low, with few signs of improvement. After reviewing the existing assessment systems and their evolution, this Viewpoint argues that, although these assessments are a necessary component of any successful policy for educational improvement, they may fail without the appropriate technical and institutional considerations. Technical considerations include the need to avoid situations of reification, when the indicators, rather than education itself, become the main goal to be pursued; when obscure statistical estimations replace well-grounded psychometric measures aligned with existing curricula; when low-stakes tests are used for high-stakes purposes; and when the pedagogical, psychometric, and statistical procedures are not open to regular outside peer review. Institutional considerations include the need to make the assessment agency independent from government and other stakeholders, and to consider the large differences across the country’s regions and populations.

Primary Nursing in the Peri-Anesthesia Setting: “I'll Be Here When You Wake Up”

care orientation. In addition to precepted clinical experiences, the orientation includes the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Essentials of Critical Care Orientation (ECCO) course, PACU specific content, and regular progress evaluations, Peer support, additional clinical and professional content is also provided in monthly NRP classes. In January 2012, the first four Nurse Residents were welcomed into the PACUs. 100% (4 of 4) Nurse Residents successfully completed their six month orientation in the PACUs. Qualitative and quantitative data from Nurse Residents and their preceptors highlight the successes and lessons learned of integrating new graduates into the PACU. In the future, the NRP will continue in the PACU with the hiring of Nurse Residents.

Can missed breast cancer be recognized by regular peer auditing on screening mammography?

BackgroundThis study was conducted to investigate whether detectable missed breast cancers could be distinguished from truly false negative images in a mammographic screening by a regular peer auditing. MethodsBetween 2004 and 2007, a total of 311,193 free nationwide biennial mammographic screenings were performed for 50- to 69-year-old women in Taiwan. Retrospectively comparing the records in Taiwan's Cancer registry, 1283 cancers were detected (4.1 per 1000). Of the total, 176 (0.6 per 1000) initial mammographic negative assessments were reported to have cancers (128 traditional films and 48 laser-printed digital images). We selected 186 true negative films (138 traditional films and 48 laser-printed ones) as control group. These were seeded into 4815 films of 2008 images to be audited in 2009. Thirty-four auditors interpreted all the films in a single-blind, randomized, pair-control study. The performance of 34 auditors was analyzed by chi-square test. A p value of <0.05 was considered significant. ResultsEight (6 traditional and 2 digital films) of the 176 false negative films were not reported by the auditors (missing rate of 4.5%). Of this total, 87 false negatives were reassessed as positive, while 29 of the 186 true negatives were reassessed as positive, making the overall performance of the 34 auditors in interpreting the false negatives and true negatives a specificity of 84.4% and sensitivity of 51.8%. The specificity and sensitivity in traditional films and laser-printed films were 98.6% versus 43.8% and 41.8% versus 78.3%, respectively. Almost 42% of the traditional false negative films had positive reassessment by the auditors, showing a significant difference from the initial screeners (p < 0.001). The specificity of their reinterpretation of laser-printed films was obviously low. ConclusionAlmost 42% of the false negative traditional films were judged as missed cancers in this study. A peer auditing should reduce the probability of missed cancers.

Prevalence, Prediction, and Prevention of Psychologist Misconduct

Studies of psychologist misconduct generally focus on unethical sexual behaviours. In contrast, the following study reports on all complaints by the public against psychologists reported to the New South Wales Psychologists Registration Board over a 4‐year period. There were 248 independent notifications of misconduct about 224 registered psychologists, out of a total sample of 9,489 registered psychologists. The most frequent type of misconduct reported was in relation to poor communication standards (35.5%). Other complaints were in relation to professional incompetency (16.5%), poor report writing (14.1%), poor business practices (12.5%), boundary violations (9.7%), poor character (5.6%), registration status (3.2%), impairment (1.6%), and the inappropriate use of specialist titles (1.2%). Males were 2.5 times more likely to have a misconduct complaint made about them than females. Senior highly qualified psychologists attracted a greater number of complaints, but these were generally of a less serious nature. Over a 30‐year career, about 20 out of every 100 psychologists can expect to receive a complaint from the public, and two will receive a serious misconduct complaint that might lead to deregistration. Strategies for preventing malpractice arising from these results include regular peer consultation, developing quality practise standards, and maintaining professional boundaries.

Evaluating USOC Sport Psychology Consultant Effectiveness: A Philosophical and Practical Imperative at the Olympic Games

This article describes the rationale, the process, and the tools used by the sport psychology staff of the United States Olympic Committee to evaluate our efforts as applied sport psychologists working with Olympic athletes and coaches. We discuss how we use a modified version of the Consultant Evaluation Form at the end of an Olympic cycle, and regular workshop evaluations, single-session evaluations, and peer consulting to document effectiveness, facilitate improvement, strive for excellence, and reinvigorate purpose and status within the organization. We end with reflections on our evaluation efforts and their benefits for our work and professional development. [Supplemental material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action for the following free supplemental resources: the modified Consultant Evaluation Form—Athlete Version, the modified Consultant Evaluation Form—Coach Version, and The Sport Psychology Seminar Evaluation Form.]

Leadership in politics and science within the Antarctic Treaty

For over 50 years the Antarctic has been governed through the Antarctic Treaty, an international agreement now between 49 nations of whom 28 Consultative Parties (CPs) undertake the management role. Ostensibly, these Parties have qualified for their position on scientific grounds, though diplomacy also plays a major role. This paper uses counts of policy papers and science publications to assess the political and scientific outputs of all CPs over the last 18 years. We show that a subset of the original 12 Treaty signatories, consisting of the seven claimant nations, the USA and Russia, not only set the political agenda for the continent but also provide most of the science, with those CPs producing the most science generally having the greatest political influence. None of the later signatories to the Treaty appear to play a major role in managing Antarctica compared with this group, with half of all CPs collectively producing only 7% of the policy papers. Although acceptance as a CP requires demonstration of a substantial scientific programme, the Treaty has no formal mechanism to review whether a CP continues to meet this criterion. As a first step to addressing this deficiency, we encourage the CPs collectively to resolve to hold regular international peer reviews of their individual science programmes and to make the results available to the other CPs. Keywords: Governance; claimant states; Antarctic policy; scientific publications. (Published: 12 April 2012) Read the press release here . Citation: Polar Research 2012, 31 , 11075, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v31i0.11075

P26 The UK paediatric sleep videoconferencing circuit: from idea to reality!

BackgroundPaediatric sleep medicine is an expanding area of clinical practice. A recent report1 highlighted the heterogeneity in both service provision and training between UK paediatric sleep centres. It was felt...

Introduction to this Special Issue

Over the past two decades, there have been two annual workshops that convened researchers and practitioners in the field of fire suppression. The Halon Options Technical Working Conferences began in 1990 under the sponsorship of the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute and continued under the leadership of the Next Generation Fire Suppression Technology Program (NGP). The focus of the conferences was to bring together the world s leaders in developing and implementing the technology to replace ozone depleting fire suppressants. The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) began holding its Fire Detection and Suppression Symposia in 1997. These technologically broader-based meetings were designed to promote interchange of ideas in the fields contributing to fire control. When the NGP completed its mission in 2006, there was clear evidence of continuing interest in following any new developments and applications in fire suppression science and engineering. Thus, the organizers of the two conferences agreed to merge their programs under the FPRF aegis. The result was the first Fire Suppression and Detection Research and Applications—A Technical Working Conference (SUPDET). Some 150 experts gathered in Orlando, Florida, March 5–8, 2007 to hear and discuss 24 papers on fire suppression and 21 papers on fire detection. This issue contains six of the best fire suppression papers from SUPDET 2007. They have been enhanced and subjected to the regular peer review process of this journal. In process is a similar issue containing fire detection papers. The full complement of the original SUPDET 2007 papers can be found at http://www. nfpa.org/Foundation.

Infant Imitation From Televised Peer and Adult Models.

Developmental changes in learning from peers and adults during the second year of life were assessed using an imitation paradigm. Independent groups of 15- and 24-month-old infants watched a prerecorded video of an unfamiliar child or adult model demonstrating a series of actions with objects. When learning was assessed immediately, 15-month-old infants imitated the target actions from the adult, but not the peer whereas 24-month-old infants imitated the target actions from both models. When infants' retention was assessed after a 10-min delay, only 24-month-old infants who had observed the peer model exhibited imitation. Across both ages, there was a significant positive correlation between the number of actions imitated from the peer and the length of regular peer exposure reported by caregivers. Length of peer exposure was not related to imitation from the adult model. Taken together, these findings indicate that a peer-model advantage develops as a function of age and experience during the second year of life.

Young Practitioners Group

We currently have an excellent GP specialty training programme where trainees are very well supported in all aspects. Once qualified, however, many GPs not only feel isolated but also have to face challenges such as looking for a job, organizing locum work, understanding quality and outcomes framework, etc, while also dealing with the real, exciting and rewarding work that is general practice. Additionally, this often involves a move to a new area, where there is a need to get to know the local services and medical community. These problems together with the new and important revalidation and relicensing hoops to jump through can induce great uncertainty, vulnerability and sense of isolation in the initial stages of your life as an independent practitioner. This is a far cry from the regular educational and supportive peer group meetings that most of you have in your training.

The Spectrum Clozaril Clinic

Clozaril (generic form Clozapine) is an atypical antipsychotic medication that is appropriate for use with a subset of individuals with psychotic disorders who have not benefited from conventional antipsychotic medications. This article provides an overview of a unique agency-based integrated outpatient model for treating consumers with Clozaril and reports on twelve years of outcome findings (n=114). These are the outcomes for the first twelve years of the Spectrum Clozaril Clinic for the period of 1993 to 2005. The Spectrum Clozaril Clinic model is built on an interdisciplinary team approach that emphasizes the importance of regular peer interaction, at-site provision of ancillary services, and full coordination by the team of all other treatment, rehabilitation, and support services, including specialized case management. Results indicate that Clozaril delivered within this model promotes an unusually high level of recovery from serious mental illness, including a dramatic level of relief from psychotic symptoms, shielding of suicidal impulses, and reducing inpatient hospitalizations.