Wrapped Into Sound: Development of the Immersive Audio Quality Inventory (IAQI)

Although virtual reality, video entertainment, and computer games are dependent on the three-dimensional reproduction of sound (including front, rear, and height channels), it remains unclear whether 3D-audio formats actually intensify the emotional listening experience. There is currently no valid inventory for the objective measurement of immersive listening experiences resulting from audio playback formats with decreasing degrees of immersion (from mono to stereo, 5.1, and 3D). The development of the Immersive Audio Quality Inventory (IAQI) could close this gap. An initial item list (N = 25) was derived from studies in virtual reality and spatial audio, supplemented by researcher-developed items and items extracted from historical descriptions. Psychometric evaluation was conducted by an online study (N = 222 valid cases). Based on controlled headphone playback, participants listened to four songs/pieces, each in the three formats of mono, stereo, and binaural 3D audio. The latent construct “immersive listening experience” was determined by probabilistic test theory (item response theory, IRT) and by means of the many-facet Rasch measurement (MFRM). As a result, the specified MFRM model showed good model fit (62.69% of explained variance). The final one-dimensional inventory consists of 10 items and will be made available in English and German.

Shopping and Basket Analysis by Using an Improved Apriori Algorithm in WEKA

In the past years, e-commerce and online shopping grew fast. It became more helpful by letting people buy the desired product online. Also, to help their users to find the product of their desire easily and make the process simpler, the online shopping websites use some kinds of an algorithm to provide recommendation systems. Often, these systems use techniques like basket analyzing and association rules which is finding the relation between the products together or between users too, so apriori algorithm is one of the famous ones among the recommendation systems. Although it has some limitations while implementing which makes the algorithm less confident or even useless, Let us assume we have 100K records in the sold item list in a system in which about 10K refers to the customers buying only one or two items in their purchase. Therefore, this ten per cent will not affect finding the relation between the items, at the same time these records will make the system less efficient and take more time to analyze, in this paper, we try to show how we can improve the apriori algorithm efficiency and accuracy by some preprocessing on the dataset before applying apriori algorithm by eliminating the unnecessary records, this process helps to make the algorithm better because of reducing the number of transactions, hence finding strong relationships between items easier for the rest of the records.

A more comprehensive measure of vaccine hesitancy: Creation of the Multidimensional Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (MVHS)

This article aimed to develop the Multidimensional Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (MVHS). In Study 1 ( n = 336), we identified 13 possible vaccine hesitancy dimensions and developed an item list. In Study 2 ( n = 444), we performed an exploratory factor analysis that supported an eight-dimension structure and reduced our measure to 32 items. We supported its validity by establishing relations with associated variables, even while controlling for measures of the same and similar constructs. In Study 3 ( n = 575), we confirmed its factor structure and replicated its validity results. Support was provided for the psychometric properties and validity of the MVHS.

What Is Time Good for in Working Memory?

Giving people more time to process information in working memory improves their performance on working memory tasks. It is often assumed that free time given after presentation of an item enables maintenance processes to counteract forgetting of this item, suggesting that time has a retroactive benefit. Two other hypotheses—short-term consolidation and temporal distinctiveness—entail a local effect of time on immediately preceding and following items. Here, we show instead a novel global and proactive benefit of time in working memory. In three serial-recall experiments ( Ns = 21, 25, and 26 young adults, respectively), we varied the position and duration of the free time within a seven-item list of consonants. Experiment 1 showed that the effect is global and not local. Experiments 2a and 2b showed that increased interitem time benefited performance only for the subsequent items, implying a proactive benefit. This finding rules out maintenance processes, short-term consolidation, and temporal distinctiveness as explanations of the free-time benefit but is consistent with the proposal of a gradually recovering encoding resource.

Development of a List of Competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities for Resident Physicians During Death Pronouncement: A Modified Delphi Study

Purpose: Appropriate delivery of death pronouncements potentially affects bereaved families’ wellbeing positively. Younger physicians need to learn death pronouncement skills; currently, the competencies and entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in death pronouncement practice have not been clarified.Therefore, this study aimed to develop a list of competencies and EPAs necessary for death pronouncement practice, which resident physicians need to acquire by the end of their residency training (postgraduate year 2).Methods: An anonymous modified Delphi study was conducted with a panel of 31 experts. The experts were invited online from general wards in hospitals with resident physicians across Japan to participate in the study using the purposive and snowball sampling method. A non-anonymous web conference was held with three additional external evaluators to finalize the item list. The consensus criterion was defined as a mean response of at least 4 points on a 5-point Likert scale for each competency and EPA item and a rating of 4 or 5 points by at least 80% of the participants.Results: Consensus was achieved, with consistently high levels of agreement across panel members, on 11 competencies and 9 EPA items. Additionally, a correspondence matrix table between competencies and EPAs was developed.Conclusions: This study clarified the standardized educational outcomes for knowledge, skills, and attitudes in death pronouncement practice and the level of physicians who can perform this practice independently, serving as a blueprint to aid the development of an educational model and evaluation method for clinical educational institutions and developers of medical school curriculums.

An audit on admission clerkings across Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT)

AimsFollowing a Care Quality Commission (CQC) outcome showing that capacity assessments were not routinely completed on admission of patients we decided to complete an audit on current practice. We planned to review admission clerkings at Chorley Mental Health Inpatient Unit to assess quality, with the overall aim of putting measures in place to improve standards. We planned to make the results reflective of all psychiatry wards within Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) with the addition of a qualitative survey.BackgroundWe are aware the standard of clerkings can vary and affect patient care. CQC outcome showed that that capacity assessment was not routinely documented and consultants have stated that clinical impressions are rarely documented in junior doctor clerkings. This audit allowed us to objectively assess these observations. We believed the results may show common themes throughout psychiatric practice more generally.MethodThe gold standard was a 20 item list of expected components of a clerking, based on trust guidelines. A snapshot of current inpatients (n = 30) on 31/10/19 was taken. An Excel sheet was used for information gathering. Data were analysed and graphs created. A qualitative questionnaire on current practice was sent to trainees (n = 8) on different sites for an overview of practice across LSCFT. Therefore, a mixed-methods model was employed.ResultItems with the highest completion included clerking within 6 hours, face-to-face review with consultant completed within a week and current medication documentation. The items with the lowest completion included clinical impression documentation, bloods completed within 24 hours and documentation of capacity assessment and smoking/substances history. Common factors between clerkings with fewer completed items included poor patient engagement and patient transfer from another ward.Qualitative survey (n = 8) showed that junior doctors across the health board are not using uniform methods for capacity documentation or an official checklist for clerking.ConclusionWe concluded that the low rate of capacity assessment completion was an important finding due to legal implications, and that there should be a uniform place for documentation of this. Physical health consequences of other missing components were explored. We will introduce standardisation of capacity assessment documentation and use of a clerking checklist, before re-auditing. The results were presented at local teaching and recommendations sent to Site Tutors for inclusion in local inductions.

Design and Development of Optical Waveguide Architectures for Real-Time Temperature Monitoring in Extreme Environments

This dissertation prompts on the research and development of a new real-time, reusable, and reversible optical sensor for integrated temperature monitoring in harsh environments. This is achieved through integrating the photonic properties of optical waveguides/optical fiber and the phase change properties of chalcogenide glasses (ChGs). ChG materials have very specific crystallization temperatures beyond which these materials transform from being a dielectric material to a metallic material. When such ChG material is coated over a dielectric optical waveguide, in the crystalline phase, highly localized surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes are generated at the waveguide: metallic ChG interface. In this case, the modes are characterized by very large propagation losses compared to that when the ChG is in its amorphous phase. By monitoring the output power in the two different phases of ChG, ambient temperature can be determined. In ChG materials, the crystalline state of ChGs can be reverted back to its initial amorphous condition through the application of a short intense voltage pulse that melts the material, facilitating multiple time use of the sensors. Based on the phase change property of ChG glasses, and light confinement offered by optical waveguides, we proposed to construct two types of sensor architectures for sensing temperature: Architecture 1: An optical fiber based reflection mode sensor. Architecture 2: An integrated silicon waveguide:ChG based compact plasmonic temperature sensor. These sensors are typically suitable for the real-time monitoring of component temperatures up to 500 ˚C, although with specific adjustment of the composition of the ChG material, these sensors can become useful for metallic or ceramic SFR reactors where the cladding temperature can reach 650 ˚C. This will provide a temperature monitoring method for multiple components in the reactor design domain of multiple reactors. It can be further employed as in a number of hybrid electron/photonic tandem ChG/Si solutions (for example, when non-volatile memory is necessary to be introduced based also on the phase changes in the ChG) in the nuclear facilities since the chalcogenide glasses are radiation hard materials.

Measuring barriers to fistula care: investigating composite measures for targeted fistula programming in Nigeria and Uganda

Background Accessing surgical repair poses challenges to women living with female genital fistula who experience intersectional vulnerabilities including poverty, gender, stigma and geography. Barriers to fistula care have been described qualitatively in several low- and middle-income countries, but limited effort has been made to quantify these factors. This study aimed to develop and validate composite measures to assess barriers to accessing fistula repair in Nigeria and Uganda. Methods This quantitative study built on qualitative findings to content validate composite measures and investigates post-repair client surveys conducted at tertiary hospitals in Northern and Southern Nigeria and Central Uganda asking women about the degree to which a range of barriers affected their access. An iterative scale development approach included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of two samples (n = 315 and n = 142, respectively) using STATA 13 software. Reliability, goodness-of-fit, and convergent and predictive validity were assessed. Results A preliminary 43-item list demonstrated face and content validity, triangulated with qualitative data collected prior to and concurrently with survey data. The iterative item reduction approach resulted in the validation of a set of composite measures, including two indices and three sub-scales. These include a Financial/Transport Inaccessibility Index (6 items) and a multidimensional Barriers to Fistula Care Index of 17 items comprised of three latent sub-scales: Limited awareness (4 items), Social abandonment (6 items), and Internalized stigma (7 items). Factor analyses resulted in favorable psychometric properties and good reliability across measures (ordinal thetas: 0.70–0.91). Higher levels of barriers to fistula care are associated with a woman living with fistula for longer periods of time, with age and geographic settings as potential confounders. Conclusions This set of composite measures that quantitatively captures barriers to fistula care can be used separately or together in research and programming in low- and middle-income countries.

Validierung der deutschen Übersetzung des Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ2)

Zusammenfassung. Der Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ; Dencker, Taft, Bergqvist, Lilja & Berg, 2010 ) ist ein reliables und valides Instrument zur Erfassung der Geburtserfahrung. Ziel der Studie war, die revidierte Fassung des CEQ (CEQ2) ins Deutsche zu übersetzen und an einer Stichprobe aus 295 Wöchnerinnen zu validieren. In einer konfirmatorischen Faktorenanalyse konnte die 4-faktorielle Struktur der Originalversion nicht repliziert werden. Stattdessen wurden in einer explorativen Faktorenanalyse vier neue Faktoren gewonnen, die ähnlichen übergeordneten Facetten des Geburtserlebens zugeordnet wurden. Für die neu gewonnenen Skalen erwiesen sich die internen Konsistenzen als überwiegend zufriedenstellend bis gut. Der Zusammenhang zwischen dem CEQ2 und der konstruktnahen Salmon′s Item List ( Stadlmayr et al., 2001 ) spricht zudem für die konvergente Validität. Ebenso zeigten sich auch die erwarteten Zusammenhänge mit relevanten Außenkriterien. Die Ergebnisse dieser ersten Validierungsstudie sind somit vielversprechend, wobei weitere Studien in anderen Settings sowie im Längsschnitt wünschenswert sind.