Academic literature on the topic 'Stimulus-seeking (StimuS)'

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is a popular measure of psychosocial functioning and psychopathology in the assessment of individuals in a variety of settings. However, the method of construction employed with the MMPI more than 60 years ago with psychiatric patients challenges the applicability of the scales for determining the psychosocial functioning of individuals from different settings. The restandardisation conducted in 1987 made no effort to eradicate the item overlap that was a result of the criterion keying method with contrasted groups. Although restandardized and updated with more contemporary language and content, the original psychiatric constructs were retained in order to maintain continuity with its predecessor. The aims of this investigation were to develop a new structure for the MMPI-2 constructed at the item-level, empirically derived and which specifically represents the dimensions that are relevant and appropriate in evaluating the psychosocial functioning of personal injury claimants. This task included comparisons with a comparable scale-level analysis and developing optimal scoring strategies where items in components and facets are allocated weightings based upon their strength of association. Study 1 was conducted using a sample of 2989 personal injury claimants assessed in Australia and the United States of America. The final sample of 3230, included 241 normal individuals, was utilized to develop a scale-level structure from 79 standard MMPI-2 scales and subscales. A nine-component solution consisting of General Maladjustment /Emotional Distress, Asocial Beliefs, Social Vulnerability, Somatic Complaints, Psychological Disturbance, Impulsive Expression, Antisocial Practices, Stereotypic Fears and Family Difficulties was derived using principal component analysis. However, intercorrelation between components in the structure signaled the need to develop a structure that would eradicate problems that were perpetuated by item overlap. The second study was conducted with a set of best practice procedures with the same clinical sample of 2989 personal injury claimants as Study 1. Forty-one components were derived through principal component analysis. Through the application of a set of criteria, a 35-component solution was retained. The pattern coefficients from the allocation of items to components determined the weightings to be applied to each item. Further analysis of the 35 components derived a substructure of 37 facets. The 35 components included only 442 of the 567 items, with the reliability coefficients of the first 25 components that ranged between .5 and .97, and the remaining 10 components that ranged from .29 to .49. The latter unreliable components were not included in the final Structural Summary, leaving 25 components (400 items) and their 33 facets for interpretation. Hence, in demonstrating the utility of the newly-derived structure, only 25 components and their 33 facets were interpreted. The 25 components were grouped conceptually into six domains. In the emotional domain were Psychological Distress (PsyDist), Anger, Fears, Psychotic Symptoms (PsyS), Paranoia (Par), Irritability (Irrit), Elation (Elat), Fear of the Dark (FD), and Financial Worry (FinWo). Somatic Complaints (SomC), Sexual Concerns (SexCon), and Gastrointestinal Problems (GasP) made up the measures in the physiological domain. In the behavioural domain were Cognitive Difficulties (CogDiff), Stimulus-Seeking (StimuS), Discipline (Dis), and Delinquency (Del) whilst the interpersonal domain was formed by Social Withdrawal (SoW), Negative Interpersonal Attitude (NIA), Timidity (Tim), Lie, Dissatisfaction with Self (DWS) and Family Relationship Difficulties (FReD). Alcoholism (Alco) was the only measure in the substance abuse domain, and the gender domain was comprised of Masculinity (Mas) and Femininity (Fem). The third study established preliminary normative means and standard deviations using a small opportunistic Australian university student sample (N = 219). No substantial gender differences were found but gender norms were maintained to facilitate comparisons with the traditional MMPI-2 approach. Comparisons of frequency of 'true' item response between the Australian university student sample and the U.S. restandardisation sample found relatively little differences and permitted evaluation of between sample differences on components and facets. The utility of the structure was demonstrated with the illustration of two clinical case examples, and a comparison was made with the standard MMPI-2 scales and subscales. The Structural Summary for the MMPI-2 demonstrated discriminative measures of psychosocial functioning that were a result of no item overlap, and the ability to attend to the different levels of intensity of self-report items because of differential weightings.

A better understanding of the psychological mechanisms underpinning addiction will facilitate its remediation. Some evidence suggests that the emotional properties of drug-paired stimuli themselves drive drug-procurement, while other evidence indicates that the expectation of reward elicited by the stimuli is sufficient to control drug-seeking. The current series of experiments aimed to explicate these seemingly contradictory data, by characterising the roles played in reward seeking by conditioned-stimulus-elicited emotion and expectation in non-dependent samples, before assessing their contribution in smokers. Further data suggest a role of personality in addictive behaviours, thus personality was assessed as a moderator of reward-seeking. Variations of a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer design, which tests the ability of reward-associated stimuli to modulate reward seeking, together with questionnaires of personality were applied. It was shown that outcome expectation was consistently necessary for cue-potentiated monetary-reward seeking, and similarly in smokers, cigarette outcome expectation was sufficient for cue-potentiated cigarette-reward seeking. Tentative evidence for the role of conditioned-stimulus emotional value in monetary-reward seeking was found, although this latter result requires scrutiny through additional research. Moderating influences of Extraversion and Neuroticism were found for cue-elicited emotion and outcome expectation, respectively. It is therefore proposed that reward expectancy is necessary for conditioned stimuli to control behaviour. The emotional properties of reward-predictive stimuli may be important for reward seeking in the absence of addiction, but when addiction to reward is present, control of reward seeking can occur via reward expectation only. Data from the role of personality, in moderating the effects of stimulus-elicited emotion or outcome expectation on reward-seeking behaviour, suggest that the control of behaviour by emotion may be facilitated by Extraversion, due to its propensity towards emotional processes, whereas control by expectation may be facilitated by Neuroticism, due to its inclination towards predictive learning.

This case study of a Bronx, New York charter school drew upon Emdin’s (2016) book on pursuing school improvement as a secondary analysis of existing data from the school. The Principal Investigator is currently a teacher at the school and was participant-observer. The overall study can be considered an integration of qualitative fieldwork and survey methods. A strong implication from the highly significant quantitative results for 18 paired t-tests for nine Behaviors pre-/post-training is that professional development and special trainings had a strong positive effect. With Bonferroni Adjustment Significance (.05/18, p=.0003) level of .003, paired t-tests showed that staff ratings (knowledge and self-efficacy ratings) for all nine Behaviors exhibited a significant increase in mean rating from pre-training to post-training; thus, the intervention of professional development and special trainings had significant impact. Quantitative data supported the conclusion that significant progress was made toward the school’s original goal of transforming toward greater cultural competence and changing school climate to better meet the needs of urban learners from varied cultural backgrounds. Independent t-tests on dichotomous groups found one (of three) comparisons to be statistically significant (t= -.392, df=41.55, p= .000; Bonferroni Adjustment Significance, .05/3, p=.016) when comparing the means for people of color staff (n=29) of 8.934 (SD=1.254) versus for White staff (n=18) of 7.63 (SD=1.023). People of color staff had a significantly higher post-training self-efficacy for performing all nine specified behaviors compared to White staff. Qualitative data from five research questions produced via coding on 64 Emergent Themes, 15 Categories, and 12 Hierarchical Emergent themes—the last effectively coalescing all data into short statements to summarize all that school staff and teachers expressed about the training using Emdin’s book and other special training activities and discussions: acknowledge many book benefits; accept less ready White peers; learn bias, empathy; incomplete training, need to continue/action; impact of expanded awareness; retain many strengths to training model; plan to address barriers to success of training model; evidence of many improvements at school; ending oppression/biased discipline; training challenge of staff in different stages; expert facilitation of difficult conversations; and action for curriculum modifications.

The body’s response to an exertional stimulus, if performed adequately to meet the imposed demand, is an orchestrated response predominantly among the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and skeletal systems. These physiological systems work together to ensure that up-titrated energy and force production demands are met. The magnitude of the exertional stimulus these systems are able to respond to, when an individual is in a true state of physiological health, is influenced by multiple factors including age, sex, biomechanics, genomics, and exercise training history. When one or more of these systems suffers from dysfunction, as is the case when an individual is at risk for (i.e. unhealthy lifestyle history) or diagnosed with a chronic disease, the response to a physical stimulus ultimately fails and exertional capacity is limited. There is a clear and well-established clinical relevance to the cardiovascular response to an exertional stimulus, commonly assessed through a graded aerobic exercise test on a treadmill or cycle ergometer. In fact, aerobic capacity has been referred to a key vital sign. We are also gaining an appreciation of how communication and presentation of information between health professionals and individuals receiving care significantly impacts comprehension and adherence to a plan of care. This chapter addresses these areas, beginning with a brief granular description of exertional cardiovascular physiology, transitioning to practical clinical implications of this information for health professionals, and ending with how the individuals seeking healthcare receive, process, and comprehend this information with the ultimate goal being real-world application and improved health outcomes.

The body’s response to an exertional stimulus, if performed adequately to meet the imposed demand, is an orchestrated response predominantly among the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and skeletal systems. These physiological systems work together to ensure that up-titrated energy and force production demands are met. The magnitude of the exertional stimulus these systems are able to respond to, when an individual is in a true state of physiological health, is influenced by multiple factors including age, sex, biomechanics, genomics, and exercise training history. When one or more of these systems suffers from dysfunction, as is the case when an individual is at risk for (i.e. unhealthy lifestyle history) or diagnosed with a chronic disease, the response to a physical stimulus ultimately fails and exertional capacity is limited. There is a clear and well-established clinical relevance to the cardiovascular response to an exertional stimulus, commonly assessed through a graded aerobic exercise test on a treadmill or cycle ergometer. In fact, aerobic capacity has been referred to a key vital sign. We are also gaining an appreciation of how communication and presentation of information between health professionals and individuals receiving care significantly impacts comprehension and adherence to a plan of care. This chapter addresses these areas, beginning with a brief granular description of exertional cardiovascular physiology, transitioning to practical clinical implications of this information for health professionals, and ending with how the individuals seeking healthcare receive, process, and comprehend this information with the ultimate goal being real-world application and improved health outcomes.

“Entrepreneurial spirit has been described as the most important economic development stimulus in recent decades” (Chalhoub, 2011, p. 67). In the early 1990s it was estimated that small to medium sized enterprises SMEs employed 22% of the adult population in developing countries and the role of SMEs is viewed as increasingly important in developing countries because of their capacity to create jobs (Okello-Obura, Minishi-Majanja, Cleote, & Ikoja-Odongo, 2007, p. 369). According to Lingelback, de la Viña and Asel (2005), even though entrepreneurship has been linked to wealth and poverty in developing countries and has played an important role in growth and poverty alleviation, it is the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon in the world today. Examining how the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs from developing countries may differ from entrepreneurs in developed countries is important as it has been suggested that “entrepreneurship in developing countries is distinctive from that practice in developed countries and that understanding these distinctions is critical to private sector development in developing countries” (Lingelback, de la Vina, & Asel, 2005, p. 2). A review of the studies produced thus serves as a beginning for designing information packages and information services that can benefit a global population. Consequently, this chapter targets the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs revealed in studies associated with SMEs in both developed and developing countries and offers conclusions and recommendations for meeting the information needs of this population.

“Entrepreneurial spirit has been described as the most important economic development stimulus in recent decades” (Chalhoub, 2011, p. 67). In the early 1990s it was estimated that small to medium sized enterprises SMEs employed 22% of the adult population in developing countries and the role of SMEs is viewed as increasingly important in developing countries because of their capacity to create jobs (Okello-Obura, Minishi-Majanja, Cleote, & Ikoja-Odongo, 2007, p. 369). According to Lingelback, de la Viña and Asel (2005), even though entrepreneurship has been linked to wealth and poverty in developing countries and has played an important role in growth and poverty alleviation, it is the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon in the world today. Examining how the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs from developing countries may differ from entrepreneurs in developed countries is important as it has been suggested that “entrepreneurship in developing countries is distinctive from that practice in developed countries and that understanding these distinctions is critical to private sector development in developing countries” (Lingelback, de la Vina, & Asel, 2005, p. 2). A review of the studies produced thus serves as a beginning for designing information packages and information services that can benefit a global population. Consequently, this chapter targets the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs revealed in studies associated with SMEs in both developed and developing countries and offers conclusions and recommendations for meeting the information needs of this population.

Faced with the present transformation of the world economy, steam turbine manufacturers are seeking ways to remain competitive in their respective markets. Having longer Low Pressure (LP) blades and seeking for higher rotating speeds have always been two effective methods to improve the Steam Turbine efficiency, therefore to reduce steam consumption and related plant costs. Both trends have increased the risk of failure for forced response due to the occurrence of resonance or to the decrease of alternating stress margins. Because of large uncertainties in the estimation of friction damping and aerodynamic excitation, the prediction of dynamic response of the long blades in the LP section is still a challenge for the analytical tools; therefore, expensive activities for experimental validation are usually required. In order to reduce design costs and time, a set of tools has been developed and validated using the test data collected during a full-scale test vehicle campaign in steam (Low Pressure Development Turbine - LPDT). In this study, the validation activity related to the blade response due to nozzle stimulus is reported. As a first step, a steady state CFD analysis was performed at the operating conditions where significant response was observed, caused by the resonance with the Nozzle Passing Frequency (NPF). Then, an unsteady CFD analysis of the bucket blade was conducted considering the perturbation due to the nozzles. Subsequently, the computed unsteady pressure distribution on the blade airfoil was mapped onto a finite element model and forced response analyses were performed to estimate the bucket dynamic response. The predicted response was compared against measured test data and good correlation was found.