Unfamiliar Context Research Articles

Designing imminent threat messages for an unfamiliar hazard

Course: This assignment is a unit activity designed for use in a skills-focused undergraduate public relations, organizational communication, or crisis communication course.Objective: The goal of this activity is to increase students’ understanding and ability to apply message design concepts in an unfamiliar context. Students will work collaboratively to craft messages that include key message features in response to an unfamiliar threat.

Dogs don't always prefer their owners and can quickly form strong preferences for certain strangers over others.

The unique relationship between dog and owner has been demonstrated in several experimental procedures, including tests in which dogs are left alone or with a stranger, tests of dogs' appeasement or social approach when petted by their owner or a stranger, and their ability to learn when taught by their owner or a stranger. In all cases, dogs responded differently to their owner, which has been referred to as a specific attachment, and likely a product of a prolonged history of reinforcement. In the current study, we used a concurrent choice paradigm in which dogs could interact with two people, both of whom provided the same petting interaction, to test whether owned dogs would prefer their owner over a stranger and whether the familiarity of the testing context would influence preference. We also investigated whether shelter and owned dogs tested with two strangers would show a preference between strangers and whether that preference would be similar in magnitude to any preference between the owner and stranger. Owned dogs preferred to interact with their owners when in an unfamiliar context, but allocated more time to the stranger in a familiar context. Both shelter and owned dogs tested with two strangers showed a magnitude of preference for one stranger over the other similar to owned dogs' preference for owners in an unfamiliar context. These results parallel what has been found in strange situation tests with owned dogs tested with their owners, but the strength of preference shown for one of two strangers indicates dogs can form a preference for one person quickly.

Transnational social workers’ transition into receiving countries: what lessons can be learned from nursing and teaching?

ABSTRACTAppropriate interventions for assisting transnational social workers (TSWs), nurses and teachers in their transition into the receiving country are significant for enabling competent and safe professional practice. These professionals form a significant part of the professional workforce of many countries as globalisation and liberal migration policies encourage many to cross borders for professional practice. Engaging in employment overseas, however, is a challenging process for them as it entails relocating to a new country and working in unfamiliar sociocultural and practice contexts. While some form of profession-wide assistance is found in nursing and teaching, social workers rarely receive any such interventions. This article discusses existing support offered to transnational nurses and teachers in English-speaking countries such as the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada and suggests how a similar approach to social workers can assist their transitioning into the receiving country. It draws on the findings of a thematic review of the literature addressing support for transnational nurses, teachers and social workers. The imperative of interventions to assist transition of TSWs into host countries is explored and the article concludes with recommendations for some intervention strategies and mechanisms.

Generative mechanistic explanation building in undergraduate molecular and cellular biology

ABSTRACTWhen conducting scientific research, experts in molecular and cellular biology (MCB) use specific reasoning strategies to construct mechanistic explanations for the underlying causal features of molecular phenomena. We explored how undergraduate students applied this scientific practice in MCB. Drawing from studies of explanation building among scientists, we created and applied a theoretical framework to explore the strategies students use to construct explanations for ‘novel’ biological phenomena. Specifically, we explored how students navigated the multi-level nature of complex biological systems using generative mechanistic reasoning. Interviews were conducted with introductory and upper-division biology students at a large public university in the United States. Results of qualitative coding revealed key features of students’ explanation building. Students used modular thinking to consider the functional subdivisions of the system, which they ‘filled in’ to varying degrees with mechanistic elements. They also hypothesised the involvement of mechanistic entities and instantiated abstract schema to adapt their explanations to unfamiliar biological contexts. Finally, we explored the flexible thinking that students used to hypothesise the impact of mutations on multi-leveled biological systems. Results revealed a number of ways that students drew mechanistic connections between molecules, functional modules (sets of molecules with an emergent function), cells, tissues, organisms and populations.

Following the Template: Transferring Modeling Skills to Nonstandard Problems

This study seeks to analyze how students apply a mathematical modeling skill that was previously learned by solving standard word problems to the solution of word problems with nonstandard contexts. During the course of an experiment involving 106 freshmen, we assessed how well they were able to transfer the mathematical modeling skill that is used to solve standard problems to the solution of nonstandard ones that had an analogous structure. The results of our research show that students had varying degrees of success applying the different stages of modeling depending on whether they were solving a familiar problem (involving near transfer) or one that had an unfamiliar context (involving far transfer): in cases of near transfer, students applied the template formally even though it did not align with the text of the new word problem, which complicated further interpretation. In cases of far transfer, students chose to solve the problem by using an ordinary method of selecting a solution by trial and error in preference to the use of modeling. Thus, the application of the modeling skill as a multistage process is complicated when solving nonstandard problems involving either near or far transfer.

Dentate Gyrus Contributes to Retrieval as well as Encoding: Evidence from Context Fear Conditioning, Recall, and Extinction.

Dentate gyrus (DG) is widely thought to provide a teaching signal that enables hippocampal encoding of memories, but its role during retrieval is poorly understood. Some data and models suggest that DG plays no role in retrieval; others encourage the opposite conclusion. To resolve this controversy, we evaluated the effects of optogenetic inhibition of dorsal DG during context fear conditioning, recall, generalization, and extinction in male mice. We found that (1) inhibition during training impaired context fear acquisition; (2) inhibition during recall did not impair fear expression in the training context, unless mice had to distinguish between similar feared and neutral contexts; (3) inhibition increased generalization of fear to an unfamiliar context that was similar to a feared one and impaired fear expression in the conditioned context when it was similar to a neutral one; and (4) inhibition impaired fear extinction. These effects, as well as several seemingly contradictory published findings, could be reproduced by BACON (Bayesian Context Fear Algorithm), a physiologically realistic hippocampal model positing that acquisition and retrieval both involve coordinated activity in DG and CA3. Our findings thus suggest that DG contributes to retrieval and extinction, as well as to the initial establishment of context fear.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Despite abundant evidence that the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) plays a critical role in memory, it remains unclear whether the role of DG relates to memory acquisition or retrieval. Using contextual fear conditioning and optogenetic inhibition, we show that DG contributes to both of these processes. Using computational simulations, we identify specific mechanisms through which the suppression of DG affects memory performance. Finally, we show that DG contributes to fear extinction learning, a process in which learned fear is attenuated through exposures to a fearful context in the absence of threat. Our data resolve a long-standing question about the role of DG in memory and provide insight into how disorders affecting DG, including aging, stress, and depression, influence cognitive processes.

Drinking among strangers: A meta-analysis examining familiarity as a moderator of alcohol's rewarding effects.

Drinking in unfamiliar social settings has long been linked to alcohol problems. A large body of indirect evidence has accumulated to suggest that alcohol's rewarding subjective effects-both tension relieving and positive-mood enhancing-will be magnified when it is consumed among strangers versus among familiar individuals. But the link between social familiarity and alcohol reward has never been examined. I conducted a meta-analysis of 21 alcohol-administration studies featuring social context (total N = 2,046), examining the effects of alcohol on self-reports of mood and social outcomes and on behaviors in the context of social interactions. Studies were classified according to whether participants involved in the social interaction were previously acquainted prior to study participation (familiarity condition) and also according to other characteristics of the social interaction and alcohol-dosing procedure. Results of random effects metaregression models revealed a significant effect of familiarity in moderating alcohol response, Q(1) = 9.80, p = .0002. Alcohol-related social-emotional enhancement was significantly larger when studies examined interactions among strangers (d = .48, 95% confidence interval [CI: .34, .61]) versus when they examined interactions among familiar individuals (d = .09, 95% CI [-.12, .29]). Of note, in analyses examining self-reports and behaviors separately, findings indicated that alcohol consumption leads to similar behavioral disinhibition across familiar and unfamiliar contexts but that the consequences of this disinhibition for internal subjective experience may differ depending on familiarity. Overall, results suggest that individuals may gain more subjective reward from alcohol in unfamiliar social contexts, pointing to familiarity as a potentially promising line of inquiry for research examining mechanisms of risk for alcohol problems. (PsycINFO Database Record

Reflection and our professional lives

Despite the concept's lack of familiarity to many veterinary surgeons, reflection should be an important aspect of our professional lives, both during our daily work and when we have opportunities to take stock of what we have achieved. Reflection aids the transfer of existing skills to unfamiliar contexts, informs learning, and supports continued enhancement of the quality of the work we undertake. In contrast to scientific analysis, reflection embraces our actions and ourselves as actors, and both the rational and emotional aspects of our thinking. Importantly, reflection is appreciative as well as critical and, through cognitive reappraisal, it helps us to judge what we can reasonably expect of ourselves. Ultimately, this contributes to reduced stress and enhanced personal wellbeing.

Reflection and our professional lives

Despite the concept's lack of familiarity to many veterinary surgeons, reflection should be an important aspect of our professional lives, both during our daily work and when we have opportunities to take stock of what we have achieved. Reflection aids the transfer of existing skills to unfamiliar contexts, informs learning, and supports continued enhancement of the quality of the work we undertake. In contrast to scientific analysis, reflection embraces our actions and ourselves as actors, and both the rational and emotional aspects of our thinking. Importantly, reflection is appreciative as well as critical and, through cognitive reappraisal, it helps us to judge what we can reasonably expect of ourselves. Ultimately, this contributes to reduced stress and enhanced personal wellbeing.

The effect of shyness on children's formation and retention of novel word-object mappings.

This study set out to examine whether shyness, an aversion to novelty and unfamiliar social situations, can affect the processes that underlie early word learning. Twenty-four-month-old children (n =32) were presented with sets of one novel and two familiar objects, and it was found that shyer children were less likely to select a novel object as the referent of a novel label. Furthermore, not-shy children then showed evidence of retaining these novel mappings, but shy children did not. These findings suggest that shy children's aversion to novelty and to the unfamiliar context can impact on their word learning.

University students’ understanding of the electromotive force concept in the context of electromagnetic induction

In this work, we present research on university students’ understanding of the concept of electromotive force (emf). The work presented here is a continuation of previous research by Garzón et al (2014 Am. J. Phys. 82 72–6) in which university students’ understanding of emf in the contexts of transient current and direct current circuits was analyzed. In the work we present here the investigation focuses on electromagnetic induction phenomena. Three open-ended questions from a broader questionnaire were analyzed in depth. We used phenomenography to define categories and detect lines of reasoning and difficulties in conceptual understanding. Very few students showed a good understanding of the emf concept in electromagnetic induction circuits or an ability to distinguish it from potential difference. Although the prevalences of the responses in the different categories are different, we find that the difficulties are the same in the three universities. Standard instruction does not allow most students to analyze unfamiliar contexts where the answer requires a systemic explanatory model.

Aspectos emocionais e cognitivos do usuário na interação com a informação: um estudo de caso no Laboratório de Inovações Tecnológicas para Ambientes de Experiência (ITAE)

RESUMO É uma experiência realizada no Laboratório de Inovações Tecnológicas para Ambientes de Experiência (ITAE) com estudantes de disciplinas do grupo de pesquisa Fatores Humanos na Interação e Comunicação da Informação (FHICI), do Programa de Pós-Graduação da Faculdade de Ciência da Informação (FCI) da Universidade de Brasília (UnB). O objetivo principal deste estudo é identificar a percepção dos aspectos emocionais e cognitivos do usuário na interação com a informação. Tem uma abordagem qualitativa na qual é realizada uma experiência que consiste na interação dos participantes com um jogo chamado JogoItae. A metodologia consiste de um caso de estudo onde os alunos da disciplina Design Centrado no Usuário da Informação (DCUI) são submetidos a uma experiência sem qualquer explanação ou conhecimento prévio do que se trata. E na disciplina Fator Emocional na Interação entre o Usuário e a Informação (FEIUI) os alunos foram submetidos à mesma experiência, mas tendo antes todas as explicações necessárias, sendo contextualizados antes do jogo começar. Os resultados indicam que as turmas de estudantes, que não receberam explicações prévias, tiveram algumas vezes uma percepção equivocada do jogo. Nessas turmas, quase todos os estudantes demostraram muito desconforto percebendo de forma clara como o usuário se sente diante de um sistema que lhe foi imposto sem diálogo. As turmas que tiveram todas as explicações necessárias antes do jogo, já não apresentaram sugestões de mudanças, apenas relatando aspectos agradáveis em relação à experiência e uma abertura aos aspectos cognitivos. A conclusão é que os estudantes de ambas as disciplinas adquiriram uma maior percepção e sensibilização quanto à relevância e necessidade de diminuir a distância existente entre a representação cognitiva, o fator emocional e a representação computacional na comunicação e mediação entre o usuário e a informação.

Multi-modal Virtual Scenario Enhances Neurofeedback Learning

In the past decade neurofeedback has become the focus of a growing body of research. With real-time fMRI enabling on-line monitoring of emotion related areas such as the amygdala, many have begun testing its therapeutic benefits. However most existing neurofeedback procedures still use monotonic uni-modal interfaces, thus possibly limiting user engagement and weakening learning efficiency. The current study tested a novel multi-sensory neurofeedback animated scenario aimed at enhancing user experience and improving learning. We examined whether relative to a simple uni-modal 2D interface, learning via an interface of complex multi-modal 3D scenario will result in improved neurofeedback learning. As a neural-probe, we used the recently developed fMRI-inspired EEG model of amygdala activity (amygdala-EEG finger print”; amygdala-EFP), enabling low-cost and mobile limbic neurofeedback training. Amygdala-EFP was reflected in the animated scenario by the unrest level of a hospital waiting-room in which virtual characters become impatient, approach the admission-desk and complain loudly. Successful down-regulation was reflected as an ease in the room unrest-level. We tested whether relative to a standard uni-modal 2D graphic thermometer interface, this animated scenario could facilitate more effective learning and improve the training experience. Thirty participants underwent two separated neurofeedback sessions (one-week apart) practicing down-regulation of the amygdala-EFP signal. In the first session, half trained via the animated scenario and half via a thermometer interface. Learning efficiency was tested by three parameters: (a) effect-size of the change in amygdala-EFP following training, (b) sustainability of the learned down-regulation in the absence of online feedback, and (c) transferability to an unfamiliar context. Comparing amygdala-EFP signal amplitude between the last and the first neurofeedback trials revealed that the animated scenario produced a higher effect size. In addition, neurofeedback via the animated scenario showed better sustainability, as indicated by a no-feedback trial conducted in session 2 and better transferability to a new unfamiliar interface. Lastly, participants reported that the animated scenario was more engaging and more motivating than the thermometer. Together, these results demonstrate the promising potential of integrating realistic virtual environments in neurofeedback to enhance learning and improve user's experience.

New Setting, Same Skill: Teaching Geography Students to Transfer Information Literacy Skills From Familiar to Unfamiliar Contexts

Existing research shows that high school students do not possess information literacy skills adequate to function in a high-tech society that relies so heavily on information. If students are taught these skills, they struggle to apply them. This small-scale intervention focused on helping Geography students at a low-socioeconomic high school in Auckland, New Zealand to transfer information literacy skills from familiar to unfamiliar topics. It tested whether teaching information literacy skills via direct instruction, and then giving students the opportunity to use these skills in structured practice sessions online, would help them transfer those skills. The need for the study arose from a gap in existing research into teaching information literacy for transfer. The findings of this study indicated that it was relatively easy for the students to learn to formulate search queries, but they need more help evaluating information sources. The findings also showed that direct feedback from a teacher is vital to teaching information literacy. The findings are significant in that they add to a growing body of research that teaching information literacy through practical research projects is potentially more effective than decontextualising the skills and teaching them as a standalone topic. Furthermore, the findings support existing research that teacher feedback is a necessary component of teaching information literacy. Keywords: Geography education, Information literacy skills

Losing Touch with Nature: Literature and the New Science in Sixteenth-Century England. Mary Thomas Crane. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Pp. ix+227.

<i>Losing Touch with Nature: Literature and the New Science in Sixteenth-Century England</i>. Mary Thomas Crane. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Pp. ix+227.

The experiences of Indian migrant care home staff working with people with dementia: a pilot study exploring cultural perspectives

Purpose – Little is known about migrant Indian care workers working in long-term care facilities for people with dementia in England and the purpose of this paper is to remedy this lack of information in the light of political interest in immigration to the UK and continued staff shortages in parts of the social care sector. Design/methodology/approach – This pilot study investigated the experiences of workplace acculturation among 12 migrant Indian care workers who were employed in English care homes. Qualitative face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2013. Analysis of the interviews was conducted using principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings – Following analysis five themes emerged along an acculturation timeline. First, during the first six months of their employment, the migrant care workers recalled feeling vulnerable, seemingly marked by a sense of insecurity and an overwhelming state of cognitive burden within an unfamiliar cultural context. Second, simultaneously, the migrants felt perturbed about their new role as direct care workers. Third, few had been able to draw on their networks of friends and relatives to build up knowledge of their new work environments before starting care home employment. Fourth, two years into the work, although they reported feeling better adapted, psychological and socio-cultural adjustments were still thought to be needed. Fifth, most participants retained their ambition to be recognised as a qualified nurse in the UK and to pursue a nursing career outside the social care sector. Research limitations/implications – This is a pilot study in which 12 migrant Indian care home workers were interviewed. Further interviews might provide a greater range of views and experiences. The care homes that participated in this research were in the London region where staff shortages are common in dementia services such as care homes. Practical implications – The findings suggest a need for employers and human resource managers to respond to the specific needs of Indian and other migrants working with older people who are resident in care homes. Such responses should reflect the timeline of their acculturation and employers need also to acknowledge and address aspirations to move on to NHS work. Originality/value – This study is unique to the best of the authors’ knowledge in addressing Indian care workers specifically as a substantial part of the migrant care workforce in the UK. It offers information about their perceptions and suggests practical human response and managerial initiatives.

Scripts and information units in future planning: Interactions between a past and a future planning task.

Research on future thinking has emphasized how episodic details from memories are combined to create future thoughts, but has not yet examined the role of semantic scripts. In this study, participants recalled how they planned a past camping trip in Australia (past planning task) and imagined how they would plan a future camping trip (future planning task), set either in a familiar (Australia) or an unfamiliar (Antarctica) context. Transcripts were segmented into information units that were coded according to semantic category (e.g., where, when, transport, material, actions). Results revealed a strong interaction between tasks and their presentation order. Starting with the past planning task constrained the future planning task when the context was familiar. Participants generated no new information when the future camping trip was set in Australia and completed second (after the past planning task). Conversely, starting with the future planning task facilitated the past planning task. Participants recalled more information units of their past plan when the past planning task was completed second (after the future planning task). These results shed new light on the role of scripts in past and future thinking and on how past and future thinking processes interact.

Familiar environments enhance object and spatial memory in both younger and older adults.

Recent evidence suggests that familiarity with an environment may protect against spatial memory decline for familiar objects in older adults. We investigated whether a familiar context also reduces age-related decline in spatial memory for novel objects. Twenty-four younger and 23 older participants viewed a virtual rendering of a local environment along two different routes, each through a well-known (West) or lesser-known (East) area within the environment. Older and younger participants reported being more familiar with one (i.e. West) area than the other. In each trial, participants were presented with one route and were instructed to learn ten novel objects and their locations along the route. Following learning, participants immediately completed five test blocks: an object recognition task, an egocentric spatial processing (direction judgement) task, an allocentric spatial processing (proximity judgement) task and two pen-and-paper tests to measure cognitive mapping abilities. First we found an age effect with worse performance by older than younger adults in all spatial tasks, particularly in allocentric spatial processing. However, our results suggested better memory for objects and directions, but not proximity judgements, when the task was associated with more familiar than unfamiliar contexts, in both age groups. There was no benefit of context when a separate young adult group (N=24) was tested, who reported being equally familiar with both areas. These results suggest an important facilitatory role of context familiarity on object recognition, and in particular egocentric spatial memory, and have implications for enhancing spatial memory in older adults.

Ethical and cultural striving: Lived experiences of minority nurses in dementia care.

Nursing workforce in Western European health institutions has become more diverse because of immigration and recruitment from Asian, African, and East-European countries. Minority healthcare providers may experience communication problems in interaction with patients and coworkers, and they are likely to experience conflict or uncertainty when confronted with different cultural traditions and values. Persons with dementia are a vulnerable group, and the consequences of their illness challenge the ability to understand and express oneself verbally. The large number of minority healthcare providers in nursing homes underlines the importance to obtain better knowledge about this group's experiences with the care challenges in dementia care units. Can you tell about any challenges in the experiences in the encounter with persons suffering from dementia? Participants and research context: Five minority healthcare providers in a nursing home, in a dementia unit. All guidelines for research ethic were followed. Ethical consideration: The participants were informed that participation was voluntary, and they were guarantied anonymity. We used a qualitative method, conducting individual interviews, using a narrative approach. In the analysis, we applied a phenomenological-hermeneutical method, developed for researching life experiences. One theme and four subthemes: striving to understand the quality of care for persons with dementia. The subthemes: sensitivity to understand the patients' verbal and nonverbal expressions. To understand gratefulness, understand the patient as an adult and autonomous person, and understand the patient as a patient in a nursing home. Challenges comprise both ethical and cultural striving to understand persons with dementia. To care for persons with dementia in an unfamiliar context may be understood as a striving for acting ethically, when at the same time striving to adapt and acculturate to new cultural norms, in order to practice good dementia care.

Using eDelphi to identify capability requisites for postgraduate certificate in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing

Specialty clinical areas, such as Neonatal Intensive Care (NIC), require proficient nurses with skills specific to the job who demonstrate “fitness of and for purpose” (Stephenson, 1998). Neonatal healthcare employs a global workforce and is an industry that is constantly transforming with new and evolving therapies and technologies. These characteristics require it to employ graduates capable of and effective in working in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts, and taking into account existing and emerging cultures, technologies and phenomena (O'Connell et al., 2014; Stephenson, 1998).This paper will discuss the results of research exploring Stephenson's (1992) concept of capability. This heuristic research utilised the Delphi technique to identify capability requisites in students (qualified Registered Nurses and/or Midwives) enrolled any Postgraduate Certificate in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing (PG Cert NICN) at any Tertiary Education Institution (TEI) in Australia.