Perception of Academic Stressors Among Dental Undergraduate Students

OBJECTIVE: Present study was conducted to assess the perceived academic sources of stress among undergraduate dental students and determine its association with gender, year of study, pre-university education and accommodation. METHODOLOGY: This study was conducted in dental section, Islamabad Medical and Dental college, Islamabad from July to November 2016. BDS students were asked to rate their perceived stress on four point Likert scale of modified version of Dental Environment Stress (DES) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to find the mean scores and SD on all items. Using SPSS v.21, Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare stress levels among different undergraduate professional years and Mann-Whitney U test was applied to determine the association and stress sources and demographic variables. RESULTS: A total of 172/200 participants responded (86%) to the survey. Overall stress in undergraduate dental students was in moderate range. Majority of students (93%) reported that syllabus load was either stressful or very stressful (3.53±0.64), 85% students reported lack of relaxation time as stressful or very stressful (3.42±0.86) and fear of failing was reported as stressful or very stressful by 82.5% (3.34±0.87). When stress scores of all classes were compared third year reported more mean stress scores than other years (2.50±0.50). Females were more stressed compared to males with mean score of (2.37±0.39), students living at home were more stressed than hosteilites (2.38±0.38) and those with GCE A-levels had higher stress (2.40±0.38) compared to HSC background students. Academic performance was the most stressful of the five stress domains (3.07±0.74). CONCLUSION: Syllabus load followed by lack of time for relaxation and fear of failing were the most perceived sources of stress. Academic performance was the most stressful of the five stress domains and third year BDS was the most stressed class. KEY WORDS: Dental Education; Dental Students; Psychological Stress, Stressor, Undergraduate,.

High Performance Tailored Mechanically Enhanced Cement Slurry Helped in Delivering Dependable Barriers Across HPHT Reservoir: Case Study from UAE Offshore

The concept of zonal isolation has evolved recently addressing new industry challenges to provide dependable barriers throughout the life of the well. This helps ensure long term well integrity for safer and more efficient hydrocarbon production, especially for the fields predicted to have a long lifetime. This leads to tailoring of cement slurry designs for superior mechanical parameters to avoid deteriorating them under post cementing operational loads. Following cementing best practices is a key parameter to achieve a successful cementing job, however adequate mechanical properties will help a cement slurry to withstand all the cyclic loads that the well will experience during its lifetime. Determining these properties and tailoring cement slurry designs to meet these properties will help ensure that the cement slurry will still survive these loads, all the way from placement until it has experienced all the post cementing operational loads including but not limited to multiple pressure testing, unloading the well, perforations, various thermal loads during well production, hydraulic fracturing etc. The tailored cement slurry was able to provide an adequate solution of such challenges faced by an operator in Offshore UAE under a high pressure – high temperature (HPHT) environment. Stress modelling was performed for the life of the well considering post cementing operations. This helped in determining optimum mechanical properties required for the cement slurries considered. Specialized testing was performed in both lab and yard to achieve such properties for field execution. Based on various stress and hydraulic modelling, slurries ranging from 13 to 17.5 ppg were designed and pumped successfully in the wellbore. Post cementing bond logs showed adequate placement of a tailored dependable barrier across a complete wellbore including an HPHT reservoir section. This approach can be used for wells with similar challenges around the world for long term zonal isolation.

Brazilian Version of the Dental Environment Stress Questionnaire

Aims: To perform cross-cultural adaptation of the Dental Environment Stress Questionnaire (DES) for use in Portuguese-speaking populations, evaluate its psychometric properties, and determine the effects of gender and educational level in the perception of stress sources in dental students. Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study design was implemented to examine face and content validity. 466 Brazilian students participated in the study in 2015 (UNESP students response rate=79.2%; UNIARA students response rate=82.4%). Construct validity was assessed via the determination of factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity. Reliability was estimated using Cronbach's α, and composite reliability. A model was designed using structural equation modeling, to verify the effects of gender and educational level on the perception of stress sources. Results: The complete model purposed was not a good fit to the sample (λs=0.358–0.955, ꭙ2/df=3.36, CFI=0.881, TLI=0.870, RMSEA=0.071, r=0.426–0.664, AVE=0.366–0.856). After the removal of item 12 and insertion of a correlation between the errors for items 1 and 2 (LM=399.154) and Items 14 and 16 (LM=146.216) the model fitted the sample (λs=0.411–0.955, ꭙ2/df=2.54, CFI=0.926, TLI=0.919, RMSEA=0.058, AVE=0.363–0.850). Adequate content validity ratios were observed for 23 items. Gender affected all DES factors, and educational level influenced four factors. Conclusion: Cross-cultural adaptation process provided an instrument that was easy to understand, with adequate idiomatic and cultural equivalence. The Portuguese version of the DES showed good psychometric properties and reliability in the study sample. Gender and educational level exerted significant effects on seven and four factors, respectively.

Stille: The Art of Being Silent

<p>This thesis discusses the importance for people within the confines of high-density, metropolitan cities to find a collective moment of retreat through an architectural landscape of silence. Silence is becoming a desired and yet difficult to obtain commodity in modern western society. Due to intensified work and home commitments combined with overwhelming sensory manipulation in the urban environment, stress and psychological overloading is common. Stress and psychological overloading is problematic with regards to a sense of connectivity to other people. With constant sensory onslaught it is becoming increasingly important to create moments of stillness, which in the course of controlling and manipulating external stimuli allows for mental and physical retreat through contemplation. Historically places of silence and contemplation in western urban settings were places of worship. These spaces are designed to encourage groups of people to congregate and experience internal reflection while establishing a sense of togetherness. As western society moves towards secularisation, finding moments of silence collectively becomes even more significant in harvesting and maintaining a sense of belonging. Through referencing Juhani Pallasmaa and philosopher Max Picard an in-depth exploration into sensory design and what silence embodies is established. This, in combination with a critique of the detrimental current situation in modern society, asserts reasons for the need to revert to simplified sensory experiences in order to increase personal awareness of self and others. Nature and its pivotal role in stimulating a sense of silence is investigated through current theory and personal design explorations. This research is reinforced by case studies into successful modern places of retreat, for example Dominique Perrault’s Bibliothéque Nationale de France. Such schemes are used to understand notions of ritual and removal within a city setting. By incorporating silence (both visually and aurally) into an everyday city park in London, opportunities are created for the wider public to encounter and benefit from Stille.(1) (1) — German: English translation is Silence</p>

Stille: The Art of Being Silent

<p>This thesis discusses the importance for people within the confines of high-density, metropolitan cities to find a collective moment of retreat through an architectural landscape of silence. Silence is becoming a desired and yet difficult to obtain commodity in modern western society. Due to intensified work and home commitments combined with overwhelming sensory manipulation in the urban environment, stress and psychological overloading is common. Stress and psychological overloading is problematic with regards to a sense of connectivity to other people. With constant sensory onslaught it is becoming increasingly important to create moments of stillness, which in the course of controlling and manipulating external stimuli allows for mental and physical retreat through contemplation. Historically places of silence and contemplation in western urban settings were places of worship. These spaces are designed to encourage groups of people to congregate and experience internal reflection while establishing a sense of togetherness. As western society moves towards secularisation, finding moments of silence collectively becomes even more significant in harvesting and maintaining a sense of belonging. Through referencing Juhani Pallasmaa and philosopher Max Picard an in-depth exploration into sensory design and what silence embodies is established. This, in combination with a critique of the detrimental current situation in modern society, asserts reasons for the need to revert to simplified sensory experiences in order to increase personal awareness of self and others. Nature and its pivotal role in stimulating a sense of silence is investigated through current theory and personal design explorations. This research is reinforced by case studies into successful modern places of retreat, for example Dominique Perrault’s Bibliothéque Nationale de France. Such schemes are used to understand notions of ritual and removal within a city setting. By incorporating silence (both visually and aurally) into an everyday city park in London, opportunities are created for the wider public to encounter and benefit from Stille.(1) (1) — German: English translation is Silence</p>

Assessment of Short Term Memory and Perception among Homemakers and Office Going Ladies

Background: Short term memory is the capacity of holding but not manipulating a small amount of information in the mind which is readily available in an active state for a short period of time. It is essential to analyze the frequency of short term memory and perception in working women and homemakers. Aim: To comparatively evaluate short term memory and perception changes in home makers and working women Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was done alone in home makers and working women under the range 25- 57years above.to assess the frequency type duration of exposure to stress at home and work environment, stress symptoms and short-term memory changes. Results: The results of the present study showed that respondents were homemakers and had high amounts of stress which led them to have low short term, memory and perception. Working women have better short term memory and perception and respondents in the age group of 46-56 years had better short memory and perception Conclusion: The study concluded an innovative finding that stress is more in home makers compared to working women and are prone to memory loss, which they are ignorant. A proper education and awareness of stress relaxation reduction methods can help them to improve their quality in life.

Pelt Biting as a Practical Indicator of Social and Environment Stress in Farmed Red Deer

Agonistic behavioural interactions play a decisive role in the competition for food, space, mating opportunities, and establishing social rank. We used pelt biting (number of bites on an animal’s body) as a proxy for assessing the intensity of agonistic animal interactions and how it responded to social, population, and heat stress factors. We modelled a 14-year time series of pelt biting records and observational data of agonistic interactions on a population of captive Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus). We found that (i) the higher the social rank of deer, the lower the number of pelt bites received; (ii) increasing heat stress conditions caused deer to suffer more pelt bites; (iii) males received more bites than females; (iv) the heavier the deer, the lower the number of bites on their bodies; (v) the bigger the group, the more bites exhibited on its members; (vi) deer 5–6 years old suffered greater rate of pelt biting than younger or older deer; and (vii) hinds that gave birth earlier in the parturition period suffered less pelt biting than those that gave birth around the peak of the parturition season (p < 0.01 for all effects). Pelt biting is useful to predict management situations in which deer welfare could be at stake.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRESS RESISTANCE OF ADOLESCENTS

Обозначена необходимость развития стрессоустойчивости подростков, характеризующаяся степенью адаптации личности к воздействию экстремальных факторов социальной среды. Стрессоустойчивость подростков представлена как органично взаимосвязанное единство трех структурных компонентов - когнитивного, эмоционально-волевого, поведенческого. Представлены результаты проведенного психологического исследования по реализации программы психолого-педагогического сопровождения развития стрессоустойчивости подростков. The authors indicate the need for the development of stress resistance in adolescents, characterized by the necessary degree of her (personality) adaptation to the impact of extreme factors of the social environment. Stress resistance of adolescents is presented as an organically interconnected unity of three structural components - cognitive, emotional-volitional, and behavioral. The results of the psychological research on the implementation of the program of psychological and pedagogical support for the development of stress resistance in adolescents are presented.