Target Situation Research Articles

An explorative single-arm clinical study to assess craving in patients with alcohol use disorder using Virtual Reality exposure (CRAVE)—study protocol

BackgroundAlcohol use disorder (AUD) belongs to the most burdensome clinical disorders worldwide. Current treatment approaches yield unsatisfactory long-term effects with relapse rates up to 85%. Craving for alcohol is a major predictor for relapse and can be intentionally induced via cue exposure in real life as well as in Virtual Reality (VR). The induction and habituation of craving via conditioned cues as well as extinction learning is used in Cue Exposure Therapy (CET), a long-known but rarely used strategy in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) of AUD. VR scenarios with alcohol related cues offer several advantages over real life scenarios and are within the focus of current efforts to develop new treatment options. As a first step, we aim to analyze if the VR scenarios elicit a transient change in craving levels and if this is measurable via subjective and psychophysiological parameters.MethodsA single-arm clinical study will be conducted including n = 60 patients with AUD. Data on severity of AUD and craving, comorbidities, demographics, side effects and the feeling of presence in VR will be assessed. Patients will use a head-mounted display (HMD) to immerse themselves into three different scenarios (neutral vs. two target situations: a living room and a bar) while heart rate, heart rate variability, pupillometry and electrodermal activity will be measured continuously. Subjective craving levels will be assessed before, during and after the VR session.DiscussionResults of this study will yield insight into the induction of alcohol craving in VR cue exposure paradigms and its measurement via subjective and psychophysiological parameters. This might be an important step in the development of innovative therapeutic approaches in the treatment of patients with AUD.Trial registrationThis study was approved by the Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin Institutional Review Board (EA1/190/22, 23.05.2023). It was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05861843).

Model of target situation for building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication of prospective ecologists

The article deals with an analysis of target situation for building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication of prospective ecologists. Purpose of the article is to elaborate a model of target situation for building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication of prospective ecologists, to select and analyze the data and find out the factors of effectiveness of this process. Methods: theoretical ones (analysis of research sources, content of syllabuses for disciplines of professional prospective ecologists’ training in order to reveal the essence of concept “analysis of target situation” and outline its components of building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication of prospective ecologists); empirical ones (survey, questionnaire, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data). Results. It has been proved that an analysis of target situation provides the factors of effectiveness of this process and achievement of objectives and outcomes of the teaching. Conclusion. The model of target situation for building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication of prospective ecologists has been designed that includes: the objectives of teaching (development of the system of lexical knowledge, skills and awareness, speaking and listening skills), learning interests (in topics and organization of instruction), learning needs (acquisition of basic glossary in ecology and speech clichés, selection of learning material), teaching methods (projects, presentations, cases, role-plays), teaching tools (a need for developing course books, workbooks and manuals for building lexical competence in English professionally oriented oral communication), content of teaching (topics, issues, typical and topical situations of English professionally oriented oral communication) and outcomes (high level of target competence).

Students’ Needs Analysis of Business English At ESP Class For Business Administration Department At Nommensen HKBP University

Nowadays, practically all job profession criteria demand job candidates to be proficient in the language of their preferred professional industry, particularly English. This research was conducted to examine the challenges faced by the Business Administration Department, specifically the second-semester students at Nommensen HKBP University, in using English and their need for Business English in ESP classes. It follows Hutchinson and Waters' theory, which consists of target situation needs and learning needs. Target situation needs include "necessities," "lacks," and "wants," while learning needs refer to how learners learn the language. The method used in this research is qualitative. Data was collected through a Semi-structured interview with the lecturer, as well as questionnaires given to the students via Google form. In collecting and analyzing the data, the researcher followed Miles, Huberman, & Saldana's concepts are data collecting, data reduction, data display, and conclusion. The researcher also used some tables and charts to describe and calculate the data accurately. The result of this research showed that Business administration students struggle with English learning due to lack of vocabulary, mispronunciation, and incorrect sentence structure. These issues cause anxiety and hinder effective communication. To improve, students should learn to comprehend reports in curves or tables. On the other hand, Business Administration students need to master four English language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. 96% prefer an English for Business class to understand its value in their professional field. Lessons should be weekly, small, and include oral presentations, group discussions, and writing.

Improving Chinese nursing undergraduates’ nurse-patient clinical communication competence in English: A study based on a target situation needs analysis

BackgroundThe internationalization of higher education has stimulated an ever-increasing demand for English for Medical Purposes (EMP) courses for nursing undergraduates in China. EMP courses are designed to provide learner-centered language instruction to satisfy students’ English communication needs in the future workplace. To date, far too little attention has been paid to developing a well-rounded and theory-guided nurse–patient communication teaching model based on target needs analysis in nurse–patient communication. ObjectiveTo develop an EMP teaching framework to improve Chinese nursing undergraduates’ nurse–patient communicative competence in clinical settings based on target situation needs analysis. MethodsA survey of nurses' target situation needs analysis in clinical nurse–patient communication was conducted among nurses in five teaching hospitals in China. A teaching model was developed based on the survey analysis to improve nursing undergraduates’ nurse–patient communicative competence. ResultsA total of 411 nurses participated in this study. There were no significant differences in the overall satisfaction in target-situation communication and self-assessment in three-aspect communicative competence in clinical communication among nurses with different sociodemographic characteristics. Nurses with better self-assessment in the three-aspect communicative competence are more likely to satisfy their needs of nurse–patient clinical communication in target situation. Nurses self-reported the tasks and language skills commonly involved in nurse–patient clinical communication. A four-step teaching model was developed to respond to the findings of the target situation needs analysis. ConclusionThis study provides important insights into the essential role of employing and integrating a language communicative competence framework and a target-situation analysis framework in formulating a needs-driven and tailor-made EMP teaching model. Based on the previous framework, the teaching model is adapted and characterized by systematic and interconnected teaching steps, core target-situation topics, and a complete set of task forms, providing EMP instructors with operable scaffolds to help nursing students observe, analyze, practice, and assess nurse–patient communication. The study will be of significance for EMP researchers and instructors simulated to conduct further research and practice in English communication in the wider medical field.

Learning Situation Analysis For Hotel Accommodation Students’ At Vocational High School

English is a language that is needed by many people, one of which is vocational high school, especially hotel accommodation students. Based on pre-observation, it was found that there are still many students who have difficulty speaking English. For this reason, this research was conducted with the aim of analyzing the desire of hotel accommodation students in learning English by using qualitative descriptive methods and random sampling to determine the respondents. The respondents of this study were 22 students of class XI hospitality accommodation (Ph2). Researchers collected data by distributing questionnaires to students. The stages that researchers use to analyze data are Reading, Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting. The researcher used six indicators from Learning Situation Analysis with the following results; 1) Hotel accommodation students learn English to be able to fluently communicate with local guests and foreigners. 2) Hotel accommodation students need diverse learning activities that can fulfill their purpose of learning English. 3) Hotel Accommodation Students' want teachers who understand their needs and can fulfill them. 4) The majority of Hotel Accommodation Students' use Minang as their mother tongue, making it difficult to speak English. 5) Hotel accommodation students' want a comfortable and quiet place with complete facilities to study. 6) Hotel accommodation students' choose to learn English in the morning with a duration of no more than 2 hours/day and more than once a week. From the above results it can be concluded that Target Situation Analysis can help teachers know the desire of hospitality accommodation students in learning English. So teachers should do a needs analysis before teaching.Kata kunci: Target Situation Analysis, Hotel Accommodation Students’

The Need of English for Specific Purposes in Vocational High School

This research focuses on the Need Analysis components in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), which are Target Situation Analysis (TSA), Learning Situation Analysis (LSA), and Present Situation Analysis (PSA) based on students and an English teacher at first-grade Electronic Industrial Engineering in learning English for Specific Purpose. The research was conducted using mixed-method as the design. The participants are twelve first-grade students and their English teacher at Electronical Industrial Engineering. The instruments are questionnaires and interviews for both students and the teacher. The result of this research shows in the dimension course preferences 83% wanted to learn English following the material they need in engineering. Then 92% of them need to have good negotiation and instruction understanding proficiency for future occupation. Then, they are weak in speaking, with mastery categorized as low. This result is also supported by their teacher, She has a problem in preparing the appropriate materials because she only followed the previous pattern. Moreover, the students are weak in speaking and reading aspects, thus, they need to improve their skills for their future needs. The conclusion is that the school is required to fulfill students’ needs for improving their skills in ESP.

Developing Need Analysis Instruments to Create Economics English Instructional Material Based on Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

This article aims at cultivating the need analysis instrument which consists of questionnaire and interview as a requirement to construct English instructional material for economics faculty students based on Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). Researcher wishes to develop an appropriate instructional material for economics students since they have been in ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and 4.0 eras that enable the students with knowledge of technology, pedagogy and content of economics at once. To achieve this goal, it requires the need analysis instrument to elicit information concern on the need about English material, technology used and also the way to learn the subject matter. This instrument was developed by adapting and modifying ESP and TPACK theory of Basturkmen issued in 2010 & 2018 and theory of Koehler & Mishra in 2009. This elaboration generates eleven indicators to be established; target situation analysis, discourse analysis, present situation analysis, learner factor analysis, teaching context analysis, Technological Knowledge (TK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Content Knowledge (CK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and the last but not least is Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). There are seventy statements for questionnaire and two questions for interview composed from the eleven indicators. The questionnaire statement and interview questions cover about the need of language skills, language components, and the subject matter of economics, the technology used and language pedagogy.

A needs analysis for an english for occupational purposes (EOP) accounting course

The teaching of English for occupational purposes relies on the insights that a detailed needs analysis on the student-client population provides. The following paper reports the findings of a Needs Analysis conducted on the occupational purposes of accountants in Golfito county in the southern region of Costa Rica, describes the participant population, and narrates the historical development of this academic project. Some NA theoretical principles have been considered during the design and implementation of questionnaires, interviews, a desk analysis, and a focus group. The main objective has been to identify the communicative target situations that accountants and accounting employees face in their workplaces in this rural area. Therefore, adult learners with diverse English language proficiency levels enriched this NA by answering three questionnaires, providing two interviews, and contributing in a focus group. The main findings include the participants’ needs to explain financial statements in English, boost their L2 accounting vocabulary, and describe Costa Rican tax procedures to their stakeholders, especially those who are foreign business owners. In brief, this paper yields promising insights on their occupational needs that would support the language curriculum design process of a twelve-week EOP accounting course.

Demystifying Educational Demands: Analyzing the Needs for the Online Comprehensive Test Application at Islamic University

This study aims to identify the needs for developing an online comprehensive test application at one of the Islamic universities in Indonesia. The needs assessment includes target situation analysis, user needs analysis, reality analysis, and gap analysis. This is a descriptive quantitative research involving 135 examiners and students who are taking comprehensive examinations from all four faculties at IAIN Bone as samples. Sampling technique used a stratified random sampling. Questionnaires and interview techniques were utilized for data collection, followed by a descriptive analysis. The findings reveal several weaknesses in the comprehensive test system. These include the lack of integration among all faculties, partial implementation, a highly flexible exam schedule, a paper-based test administration method, a lack of standardized instrument development, and suboptimal utilization of comprehensive test results for mapping student competencies. To conclude, it is necessary to develop an online comprehensive test application which is expected to be able to make the implementation of the comprehensive test at IAIN Bone more integrated, programmed, and effective. Keywords: Need Analysis, Online Comprehensive Test, Online-Based Assessment

Lacks, Necessities and Wants of Prospective English Teachers in ELT Departments: A Needs Analysis and Sustainability

Abstract This study aims to determine the needs of prospective English teachers in ELT departments throughout Turkey within three dimensions as lacks, necessities and wants from the perspectives of both insiders and outsiders. In the light of Target Situation Analysis (TSA), qualitative research design was administered to reach more detailed and in-depth conclusions with the help of open-ended interview questions. In order to generalize the results of the study, and do a comprehensive needs analysis, all teacher trainers and seniors in ELT departments were contacted via internet or face to face. Totally, 14 state and foundation universities throughout Turkey, 41 teacher trainers whose rankings varies from lecturer to professor, and 85 prospective English teachers attending the last year of their education took part in this study. The collected qualitative data by online, printed forms and interview recordings were analyzed by coding and categorizing. It can be concluded according to the findings that from the outsiders’ perspective, lacks are mainly clustered around four titles as more practice, prospective teachers’ qualifications, extrinsic and intrinsic needs. There are four main necessities put forward by insiders as the exterior, interior, practical and occupational necessities. The results also reveal that only 23 percent of the prospective teachers feel themselves ready to teach: however, the rest thought vice versa. To feel ready to teach, they need some supports under the title of “wants” as individual, pedagogical, linguistic and structural support.

Case-based prediction – A survey

This paper clarifies the relation between case-based prediction and analogical transfer. Case-based prediction consists in predicting the outcome associated with a new case directly from its comparison with a set of cases retrieved from a case base, by relying solely on a structured memory and some similarity measures. Analogical transfer is a cognitive process that allows to derive some new information about a target situation by applying a plausible inference principle, according to which if two situations are similar with respect to some criteria, then it is plausible that they are also similar with respect to other criteria. Case-based prediction algorithms are known to apply analogical transfer to make predictions, but the existing approaches are diverse, and developing a unified theory of case-based prediction remains a challenge. In this paper, we show that a common principle underlying case-based prediction methods is that they interpret the plausible inference as a transfer of similarity knowledge from a situation space to an outcome space. Among all potential outcomes, the predicted outcome is the one that optimizes this transfer, i.e., that makes the similarities in the outcome space most compatible with the observed similarities in the situation space. Based on this observation, a systematic analysis of the different theories of case-based prediction is presented, where the approaches are distinguished according to the type of knowledge used to measure the compatibility between the two sets of similarity relations.

Evaluating the Appropriateness of English Textbook Used for Teaching English for Specific Purposes

One of the steps in creating a course that delivers validity and relevance for all course design activities is analyzing the needs of the students. Need analysis helps teachers to identify students’ needs in learning English based on their daily needs and future needs. This study intends to evaluate the English textbook appropriateness for students and the school’s needs in ESP in the office administration program at SMK Setiabudhi Semarang. Hutchison and Waters (1987) proposed the theory that was employed in this research. The theory elaborates on the concept of need analysis in ESP that should contribute to the target and learning needs. Target needs are linked to what the students need to accomplish in the target situation, while learning needs refer to what the students need to do to learn effectively. This study applied a descriptive qualitative research approach to analyze the information gained via student surveys, teacher interviews, and document observations. The study's findings demonstrate that the English textbook used was deemed appropriate for meeting both the students and the school’s needs. The degree of appropriateness revealed that, on average, the textbook satisfied 77% of school needs and 87% of student needs. The result is expected to give a contribution to both teachers and students to evaluate their English materials in the textbook used in learning ESP.

High School EFL Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development: Target Needs, Reflection and Challenges

This research investigated the high school EFL teachers’ continuous professional development target needs, reflection and challenges. Further, the target needs of the EFL teachers were analyzed by adapting Hutchinson and Waters’ model (1987). The data were collected using a test, questionnaire (consisted of five parts), and interview; these were administered to 20 high school EFL teachers. A test was administered to identify EFL teachers' present situation and difficulties, and questionnaire parts 1, 2 and 4 dealt with the EFL teachers' difficulties, needs and purposes in the program. Moreover, these were used to identify EFL teachers’ target needs centered on their lacks, necessities, and wants to function in the target situation effectively. Parts 3 and 5 concerned high school EFL teachers' reflection and challenges in the professional development program they are involved in.Additionally, interviews were conducted with the high school EFL teachers to gather data to examine in-depth results of the target needs, reflections and challenges. The results suggested that the high school EFL teachers have different views of their lacks, wants and necessities. The findings also demonstrated that the high school EFL teachers reflected that the current professional development program practicing in their school was never conducted to help EFL teachers develop their profession. Finally, the result revealed that high school EFL teachers face various challenges in the current program they are taking. Therefore, the professional development should be revised according to EFL teachers’ target needs, reflections and challenges.

Frames, framing and framing effects in cognitive CDA

In this paper I provide an account of frames, framing and framing effects from the perspective of cognitive linguistics as it is applied in critical discourse analysis. Frames, here, are understood as structured bundles of concepts accessed by linguistic expressions to constitute the meaning of an utterance or linguistic formulation. I describe frames at two levels: event-frames representing basic patterns of experience in domains like action and motion and frames representing areas of experience cultivated as members of a given culture. I show how the linguistic expressions selected in media discourses of political protests access frames and event-frames to construe the activities of social movements in a particular ideologically vested fashion, including figuratively as familiar frames such as the WAR frame are recruited to provide structure in the apprehension of the target situation. I show how such framing efforts are manifested in visual depictions as well as verbal descriptions of political protests. Finally, I describe recent experimental studies that provide evidence for metaphorical framing effects in audiences.

High School EFL Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development: Target Needs, Reflection and Challenges

This research investigated the high school EFL teachers’ continuous professional development target needs, reflection and challenges. Further, the target needs of the EFL teachers were analyzed by adapting Hutchinson and Waters’ model (1987). The data were collected using a test, questionnaire (consisted of five parts), and interview; these were administered to 20 high school EFL teachers. A test was administered to identify EFL teachers' present situation and difficulties, and questionnaire parts 1, 2 and 4 dealt with the EFL teachers' difficulties, needs and purposes in the program. Moreover, these were used to identify EFL teachers’ target needs centered on their lacks, necessities, and wants to function in the target situation effectively. Parts 3 and 5 concerned high school EFL teachers' reflection and challenges in the professional development program they are involved in. Additionally, interviews were conducted with the high school EFL teachers to gather data to examine in-depth results of the target needs, reflections and challenges. The results suggested that the high school EFL teachers have different views of their lacks, wants and necessities. The findings also demonstrated that the high school EFL teachers reflected that the current professional development program practicing in their school was never conducted to help EFL teachers develop their profession. Finally, the result revealed that high school EFL teachers face various challenges in the current program they are taking. Therefore, the professional development should be revised according to EFL teachers’ target needs, reflections and challenges.

Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação na análise contextual da situação-alvo: aprimorando o desenho de cursos de CEAP online em países em desenvolvimento

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the benefits of information and communications technology (ICT) in the contextual target situation analysis at a distance to design online critical English for academic purposes (CEAP) courses. A contextual investigation of the publishing process of high-impact journals in computer science is presented, which is aimed at identifying issues that might influence the publication of Brazilian researchers’ papers. The beliefs and experiences of Brazilian authors in the aforementioned process were analyzed through electronic questionnaires and remote interviews. Moreover, research articles’ reviews were studied to identify the community´s criteria for accepting or rejecting papers. Via ICT, a wider contextual analysis was possible with participants located in different parts of the world. Results provided relevant information about researching and publishing in the field, which may substantiate the design of tasks aimed at improving students’ critical academic literacy. For developing continental countries such as Brazil, saving time and resources through ICT in CEAP courses’ design means the possibility of investing in a more relevant instruction, which better attends to students’ contextual needs and wants.

On Maximum Likelihood Quantile Matching CFAR Detection in Weibull Clutter and Multiple Rayleigh Target Situations: A Comparison

On Maximum Likelihood Quantile Matching CFAR Detection in Weibull Clutter and Multiple Rayleigh Target Situations: A Comparison

Developing the motivation to enrich active vocabulary in the process of teaching English to students majoring in Economics

This paper deals with teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), focused on the professional training of prospective economists of various fields of activity: managers, accountants, sociologists, specialists in the sphere of economic security. The authors indicate that the most difficult aspect of foreign language for students is the lexical aspect, the problem of enriching the active vocabulary precisely, since being under permanent growing flow of information; the students who already possess basic knowledge are not always motivated to memorize and actively use new lexical units. They prefer using the constructions, words, concepts and terms which they have learned before. It concerns mostly idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs, which differ in specific semantic characteristics and structure, as well as the complexity of their practical application. However, the use of such structures in speech ensures a successful improvement of a foreign language communicative competence and an integrative approach is proposed for the development and strengthening of motivation in the preparation of methodological textbooks and tasks. It is underlined that when preparing individual stages of the educational course, orientation to the professional use of a foreign language should be taken into account with the analysis of target situations and subsequent consideration of the compliance of tasks and applied forms of work with the needs of prospective economists in specific situations of their professional activities.

다채널 시계열 신호 기반 3 차원 측위를 위한 심층강화학습

Several fields employ a method for estimating the source position of a multichannel time series signal received via multiple sensors. This requires an algorithm to estimate the position from the propagation time difference between the signals. Moreover, the algorithm needs to be modified according to the geometric condition of the propagation space, propagation speed in the medium, and noise caused by the reflector. However, since it is difficult to supplement the algorithm to respond individually to various propagation conditions, the more complex the propagation conditions, the less precise the source localization. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes a reinforcement learning algorithm to estimate the source location using simulations that generate multi-channel timeseries signals from random locations, which are propagated through three-dimensional space and received by multiple sensors. The reinforcement learning model estimates the source position by inputting the difference between the target signals and the signals generated from the random position as well as moving the positions to a new expected source positions where the differences can be minimized. By repeating the movement of the expected source positions, if the changes are repeated within the allowable minimum value in which the position retains in a specific region, the corresponding position can be estimated to be the source position. The proposed reinforcement learning model uses 300 samples from seven sensor positions at a sampling rate of 0.5 kHz and a propagation speed of 5000 m/s in a space with dimension of 1000 mm width, 1000 mm length, and 1000 mm height. From estimation of 1000 random source positions with the condition, the error was less than 50 mm in 90% or more. Thus, by reconfiguring the simulation environment to conform to a new target situation and learning the model, source localization models can be developed.

MPC-based thermal management for water-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The proper operating temperature is inextricably linked to the efficient operation of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In this study, a model predictive control (MPC) method for PEMFC water cooling system was proposed to control fans and pump. Firstly, the electrochemical model of PEMFC and thermal model of the system were established, and the electrochemical model was verified by experimental data. Then the MPC controller is designed by linearizing and discretizing the thermal model, and a joint simulation model was built through MATLAB/Simulink and GT Suite. Finally, the performance of MPC controller was evaluated under three different operating conditions (step load, dynamic load, and variable target situation), and its effectiveness was compared to that of a rule-based controller. From the co-simulation results, the MPC controller can accurately adjust the speed of the pump and fans, keep the stack temperature within ±0.5 °C of the setpoint, and realize the tracking control of the change target.