Symposium: Neuroergonomics, technology, and cognition

This symposium describes collaborative research on neuroergonomics, technology, and cognition being conducted at George Mason University and the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) as part of the Center of Excellence in Neuroergonomics, Technology, and Cognition (CENTEC). Six presentations describe the latest developments in neuroergonomics research conducted by CENTEC scientists. The individual papers cover studies of: (1) adaptive learning systems; (2) neurobehavioral synchronicity during team performance; (3) genetics and individual differences in decision making; (4) vigilance and mindlessness; (5) interruptions and multi-tasking; and (6) development of a simulation capability that integrates measures across these domains and levels of analysis.     

Linking urban form, land cover pattern, and hydrologic flow regime in the Puget Sound Lowland

The mismatch between political and watershed boundaries, jurisdictional differences in urban form, and data availability can limit the utility of past research findings that relate measures of urban development to urban stream function. This research complements existing research by building a quantitative link between urban form, land cover pattern, and the resulting hydrologic flow regime. Five land cover pattern measurements responded to urban form and were found to be resistant to the influence of watershed size and shape. Lot coverage had the strongest association with hydrological metrics measuring flashiness. The land cover metrics associated with hydrologic impacts were the interspersion and juxtaposition index for grass, aggregation index of high urban, and percent forest cover.     

The effects of family therapies for adolescent delinquency and substance abuse: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis summarizes results from k = 24 studies comparing either Brief Strategic Family Therapy, Functional Family Therapy, Multidimensional Family Therapy, or Multisystemic Therapy to either treatment-as-usual, an alternative therapy, or a control group in the treatment of adolescent substance abuse and delinquency. Additionally, the authors reviewed and applied three advanced meta-analysis methods including influence analysis, multivariate meta-analysis, and publication bias analyses. The results suggested that as a group the four family therapies had statistically significant, but modest effects as compared to treatment-as-usual (d = 0.21; k = 11) and as compared to alternative therapies (d = 0.26; k = 11). The effect of family therapy compared to control was larger (d = 0.70; k = 4) but was not statistically significant probably because of low power. There was insufficient evidence to determine whether the various models differed in their effectiveness relative to each other. Influence analyses suggested that three studies had a large effect on aggregate effect sizes and heterogeneity statistics. Moderator and multivariate analyses were largely underpowered but will be useful as this literature grows.     

Access to Interprofessional Continuing Education in Integrated Care Through Digital Instructional Technology

ABSTRACT

In preparing the workforce for integrated care, continuing professional education serves a critical role. Within a rapidly changing health care landscape, matriculated students now benefit from pedagogical innovations supporting integrated care, particularly interprofessional education, and working professionals must not be excluded from this transformation. University-based digital instructional programs can support the learning needs of working professionals, providing an alternative and complement to brick-and-mortar classrooms and ad hoc onsite trainings. This paper describes the structure, content, digital approach, and outcomes of a continuing education program in integrated behavioral health and primary care, housed in a school of social work at a major university. The challenges of interprofessional digital education are described and future directions are suggested.     

Legislators of the world

In ‘The Defence of Poetry’ 1821, Shelley claimedthat ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of theworld’. This has been taken to suggest that simply byvirtue of composing verse, they exert some exemplary moral power,in a vague unthreatening way. In fact, in his earlier politicalessay, ‘A Philosophic View of Reform’, he had writtenthat ‘Poets and philosophers are the unacknowledged’,etc. The philosophers, he was talking about, were revolutionary-minded:Thomas Paine, William Godwin, Voltaire and Mary Wollstonecraft. In addition, Shelley was, no mistake, out to change the legislationof his time. For him, there was no contradiction between poetry,political philosophy and active     

Bus rapid transit identity meets universal design

As bus rapid transit (BRT) systems continue to become more popular and as capital expenditure for such projects continues to grow, careful consideration of BRT identity design becomes ever more necessary. Properly considered identity systems can ensure accessibility to and usability of physical features and can also ensure that BRT systems are accessible and practical to use. Based on the seven principles of universal design, this article proposes a basic means to evaluate existing and planned BRT identity systems. The article concludes with recommendations for evaluators and guidelines for designers of BRT identity systems that will help to ensure the practical usability of BRT identity systems by a broad audience of diverse users, regardless of physical, cognitive or situational ability.     

Relationship among grip strength,functional outcomes,and work performance following hand trauma

This study examined the relationship among the recovery grip strength, functional outcomes, and work performance following occupational therapy intervention for hand trauma. This study had a sample size of 15 participants whose recovery grip strength was measured using a Jamar dynamometer, whose satisfaction with outcomes was measured by the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ), and whose compliance with the home therapy program was measured by a visual analog scale (VAS). A Pearson r correlation demonstrated a significant relationship between recovery grip strength and two MHQ subset scores: overall hand function (r = 0.59, p = 0.019) and activities of daily living (ADL) performance (r = 0.61, p = 0.016). The participants' self-rating of compliance did not predict or influence either recovery grip strength or MHQ scores. A moderate positive correlation approaching significance (r = 0.51, p = 0.052) was found between grip strength and overall MHQ scores. The researchers concluded that a recovery grip strength measure should be used along with functional measures to appropriately assess overall hand function following hand trauma.     

ENTRY AND ASYMMETRIC LOBBYING: WHY GOVERNMENTS PICK LOSERS

Governments frequently intervene to support domestic industries, but a surprising amount of this support goes to ailing sectors. We explain this with a lobbying model that allows for entry and sunk costs. Specifically, policy is influenced by pressure groups that incur lobbying expenses to create rents. In expanding industries, entry tends to erode such rents, but in declining industries, sunk costs rule out entry as long as the rents are not too high. This asymmetric appropriability of rents means losers lobby harder. Thus it is not that government policy picks losers, it is that losers pick government policy. JEL: H32, P16.     

Mediating Effects Between Objective and Subjective Indicators of Urban Quality of Life: Testing Specific Models for Safety and Access

Enhancing the urban quality of life (QoL) is an explicit policy goal of many countries, yet it is rarely studied using models that relate objective measures of the urban environment to the subjective evaluations of residents. It thus often remains unclear how planning interventions in the urban environment may influence residents’ satisfaction with their living conditions. In particular, during periods of significant urban growth, such as those recently observed in Switzerland, which result in diverse, unwanted threats to the local QoL (e.g., loss of green spaces, traffic congestions, and fear of crime). This study uses data from a sample of 1,693 residents that participated in a postal survey about urban QoL. The responses were combined with objective attributes of residential conditions, using geographic information systems. Structural equation models were calibrated to examine the direct and indirect effects of important indicators of urban QoL, namely safety in public spaces and access to central urban facilities. The study sheds further light on the mediating effects between objective characteristics and subjective evaluations that influence the urban QoL. The results showed predominantly low correlations between objective characteristics and subjective evaluations of urban QoL, which confirmed the findings of the few previous studies on this topic. Surprisingly, this study also found a strong link between objective access and perceived accessibility. This relation was explained by the spatial scope of the study region and suggested that the scale discordance theory should be tested in future research. The findings implied that variations in objective measures do not reliably represent differences as evaluated by residents.