Appearances deceiving in salt marsh recovery

Once-depleted salt marshes in Cape Cod may be growing green and tall now, but that does not mean they are protecting the land from erosion, according to a new study by University researchers.

These results concern ecologists because the metric of a recovered habitat should not be Does it look like a recovered habitat? but Does it restore the ecosystem services? said Mark Bertness, professor of biology and senior author of the study, in a University press release.

Bertness worked with two former students to measure a wide array of Cape Cod salt marshes abilities to protect the land behind them. They set up chalk posts and noted how much the chalk waned after waves passed through the salt marshes in order to model the erosion of the land behind the marshes. They next compared the results to the biomass and height of the marsh grass in front of the area.

The results, published in the journal Biological Conservation, indicate that the marshes protection ability has increased more sluggishly than plant mass and height in these areas, which has implications for how conservationists should approach protecting Cape Cods shores, according to the release.

We need to prevent the die-off or understand the recovery enough to do management conservation tasks, such as fertilization, that would enhance the recovery, Bertness said in the release.

Private intensive care unit rooms forinfants boost health, study suggests

Though many hospitals boast intensive care units with lines of beds facing the center, a new study led by University researchers suggests that private family rooms in neonatal intensive care units may have a positive impact on the health of the babies leaving the hospital.

Infants hosted in private rooms generally needed fewer medical procedures, displaying increased attention as well as less lethargy and less pain, the researchers wrote. Additionally, underweight babies leaving the hospital from private rooms tended to be heavier and showed more rapid weight gain than those in communal rooms.

See the article here:
Science & Research Roundup: Sept. 24, 2014

Surprising psychology poses an obstacle on thoughts about global warming

Science can solve problems Credit: Thinkstock

Donald Trump probably leaves the water running while brushing his teeth. Heck, he probably leaves it running while hes at work. After all, turning faucets can be mildly inconvenient and if science has taught him anything, its that our planet is doing just fine when it comes to conserving its natural resources and its long-term environmental prospects. Indeed, given his very high profile remarks questioning climate change and the science upon which it is based, I think we can safely assume he doesnt lose any sleep over his consumption habits or the size of his carbon footprint.

But this is the kind of attitude we expect from individuals who have a fundamental mistrust (and misunderstanding) of science. Climate denialism seems to fit squarely with a disinterest towards cultivating environmentally friendly habits. We dont expect people who roll coal to have a sophisticated appreciation for the importance of scientific progress. Those who do demonstrate environmentally friendly behavior, however, seem more like the kind of folks who understand that science has much to teach us about addressing global problems.

But a new paper from researchers at The University of Amsterdam has thrown a wrench into this folk understanding of the relationship between environmental concern and scientific appreciation. Their provocative hypothesis suggests that increasing peoples belief in the efficacy of scientific progress actually reduces environmentally friendly behavior. In other words: the more likely we are to believe in the power of science, the more likely we are to trade in our hybrids for hummers.

Why? The authors ground their hypothesis in a well-validated theory called compensatory control. This argues that all people are highly motivated to see the world as an orderly and predictable place. Indeed, any suggestions to the contrary (e.g. seemingly random catastrophes) elicit stress and anxiety. One way in which people alleviate such stress is to believe in the power of external sources to make sense of, and control, the world. For example, belief in a God that can exert control over worldly events has been found to satisfy the motivation to perceive order. The authors suggest that belief in science can serve a similar function.

But if this is the case if greater belief in science allows us to see the world as controllable and orderly then the personal motivation to exert such control diminishes. Simply put, if science is going to figure out this whole climate change business, then why do I have to take shorter showers?

The authors tested this hypothesis in a series of four studies. They first sought to establish a link between beliefs about scientific progress and perceptions of the world as orderly, predicting that the more people believed, the more order they would perceive. Indeed, simply reading an article that affirmed the power of scientific progress to successfully address global issues such as climate change (vs. reading an article which questioned its efficacy in doing so) was enough to significantly increase the degree to which participants saw order in the world.

Next, they tested whether such feelings of control would predict individuals environmentally friendly behavior. Again their hypothesis was supported. Priming participants with thoughts of order vs. disorder influenced their reported willingness to engage in environmentally friendly behavior, with order-primes decreasing this behavioral tendency.

The final study brought these preliminary findings together to test the authors main hypothesis: that affirming belief in scientific progress would diminish feelings of worldly disorder, and in turn reduce environmentally friendly behavior. And in a total bummer for science-lovers everywhere, the more participants believed in the power of scientific progress, the more they saw the world as orderly and controllable, and the less likely they were to act in an environmentally friendly way.

Read more:
Trust in Science Reduces Concerns about Climate Change

Surprising psychology poses an obstacle on thoughts about global warming

Science can solve problems Credit: Thinkstock

Donald Trump probably leaves the water running while brushing his teeth. Heck, he probably leaves it running while hes at work. After all, turning faucets can be mildly inconvenient and if science has taught him anything, its that our planet is doing just fine when it comes to conserving its natural resources and its long-term environmental prospects. Indeed, given his very high profile remarks questioning climate change and the science upon which it is based, I think we can safely assume he doesnt lose any sleep over his consumption habits or the size of his carbon footprint.

But this is the kind of attitude we expect from individuals who have a fundamental mistrust (and misunderstanding) of science. Climate denialism seems to fit squarely with a disinterest towards cultivating environmentally friendly habits. We dont expect people who roll coal to have a sophisticated appreciation for the importance of scientific progress. Those who do demonstrate environmentally friendly behavior, however, seem more like the kind of folks who understand that science has much to teach us about addressing global problems.

But a new paper from researchers at The University of Amsterdam has thrown a wrench into this folk understanding of the relationship between environmental concern and scientific appreciation. Their provocative hypothesis suggests that increasing peoples belief in the efficacy of scientific progress actually reduces environmentally friendly behavior. In other words: the more likely we are to believe in the power of science, the more likely we are to trade in our hybrids for hummers.

Why? The authors ground their hypothesis in a well-validated theory called compensatory control. This argues that all people are highly motivated to see the world as an orderly and predictable place. Indeed, any suggestions to the contrary (e.g. seemingly random catastrophes) elicit stress and anxiety. One way in which people alleviate such stress is to believe in the power of external sources to make sense of, and control, the world. For example, belief in a God that can exert control over worldly events has been found to satisfy the motivation to perceive order. The authors suggest that belief in science can serve a similar function.

But if this is the case if greater belief in science allows us to see the world as controllable and orderly then the personal motivation to exert such control diminishes. Simply put, if science is going to figure out this whole climate change business, then why do I have to take shorter showers?

The authors tested this hypothesis in a series of four studies. They first sought to establish a link between beliefs about scientific progress and perceptions of the world as orderly, predicting that the more people believed, the more order they would perceive. Indeed, simply reading an article that affirmed the power of scientific progress to successfully address global issues such as climate change (vs. reading an article which questioned its efficacy in doing so) was enough to significantly increase the degree to which participants saw order in the world.

Next, they tested whether such feelings of control would predict individuals environmentally friendly behavior. Again their hypothesis was supported. Priming participants with thoughts of order vs. disorder influenced their reported willingness to engage in environmentally friendly behavior, with order-primes decreasing this behavioral tendency.

The final study brought these preliminary findings together to test the authors main hypothesis: that affirming belief in scientific progress would diminish feelings of worldly disorder, and in turn reduce environmentally friendly behavior. And in a total bummer for science-lovers everywhere, the more participants believed in the power of scientific progress, the more they saw the world as orderly and controllable, and the less likely they were to act in an environmentally friendly way.

View original post here:
Faith in Science Reduces Concerns about Climate Change

But this is the kind of attitude we expect from individuals who have a fundamental mistrust (and misunderstanding) of science. Climate denialism seems to fit squarely with a disinterest towards cultivating environmentally friendly habits. We dont expect people who roll coalto have a sophisticated appreciation for the importance of scientific progress. Those who do demonstrate environmentally friendly behavior, however, seem more like the kind of folks who understand that science has much to teach us about addressing global problems.

Buta new paperfrom researchers at The University of Amsterdam has thrown a wrench into this folk understanding of the relationship between environmental concern and scientific appreciation. Their provocative hypothesis suggests that increasing peoples belief in the efficacy of scientific progress actually reduces environmentally friendly behavior. In other words: the more likely we are to believe in the power of science, the more likely we are to trade in our hybrids for hummers.

Why? The authors ground their hypothesis in a well-validated theory calledcompensatory control. This argues that all people are highly motivated to see the world as an orderly and predictable place. Indeed, any suggestions to the contrary (e.g. seemingly random catastrophes) elicit stress and anxiety. One way in which people alleviate such stress is to believe in the power of external sources to make sense of, and control, the world. For example, belief in a God that can exert control over worldly eventshas been foundto satisfy the motivation to perceive order.The authors suggest that belief in science can serve a similar function.

But if this is the case if greater belief in science allows us to see the world as controllable and orderly then the personal motivation to exert such control diminishes. Simply put, if science is going to figure out this whole climate change business, then why do I have to take shorter showers?

The authors tested this hypothesis in a series of four studies. They first sought to establish a link between beliefs about scientific progress and perceptions of the world as orderly, predicting that the more people believed, the more order they would perceive. Indeed, simply reading an article that affirmed the power of scientific progress to successfully address global issues such as climate change (vs. reading an article which questioned its efficacy in doing so) was enough to significantly increase the degree to which participants saw order in the world.

Next, they tested whether such feelings of control would predict individuals environmentally friendly behavior. Again their hypothesis was supported. Priming participants with thoughts of order vs. disorder influenced their reported willingness to engage in environmentally friendly behavior, with order-primes decreasing this behavioral tendency.

The final study brought these preliminary findings together to test the authors main hypothesis: that affirming belief in scientific progress would diminish feelings of worldly disorder, and in turn reduce environmentally friendly behavior. And in a total bummer for science-lovers everywhere, the more participants believed in the power of scientific progress, the more they saw the world as orderly and controllable, and the less likely they were to act in an environmentally friendly way.

This leaves us in a bit of a quandary. Is our individual motivation to help solve environmental problems undermined by our belief that such a chore can be outsourced to science? Should science be portrayed as less able to deal with such important global issues? Fortunately, the answer is simple and it does not require a diminished understanding of science, but actually an increased appreciation of its nuance. Specifically,science is not about certainty.

Read the original post:
Global warmings dire psychology: Why pro-science climate deniers are more common than you think

Proficient in Georgia doesnt really mean proficient in the rest of the world. Thats one of the findings from a study released this week by the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit behavioral and social science research group.

Georgia considered 87 percent of eighth-graders to be proficient in math in 2011, according to the study. But, using international measures, only 24 percent of the states eighth-graders were proficient in math, the study found. No state had a larger gap.

AIR used data the state reported to the federal government under the No Child Left Behind education law.

The study found that Georgia, like other states, gave a falsely positive impression of student achievement. It seemed to be arguing in favor of the new set of national academic standards known as Common Core. Fifty states going in 50 different directions is not a strategy for national success in a globally competitive world, AIR vice president Gary Phillips said in a summary of the study. It may look good for federal reporting purposes, but it denies students the best opportunity to learn college-ready and career-ready skills.

Georgia has moved to Common Core and to a new standardized test called Georgia Milestones. The state is raising the threshold students must clear to meet the state standard on the new test.

State education officials argue the Common Core standards and the new test will be more rigorous and will do a better job of getting students ready for college and careers.

Common Core has been controversial in Georgia, as it has been in other states. Opponents argue the standards are lower than the ones they are replacing and that the state did not have enough input in creating them.

Officials in business, higher education and the military say the standards improve education by increasing the rigor of academic material and by harmonizing when students across the country are introduced to that material.

Continued here:
Study found state proficiency threshold too low

Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues have built the first smartphone app that automatically reveals students' mental health, academic performance and behavioral trends. In other words, your smartphone knows your state of mind -- even if you don't -- and how that affects you.

The StudentLife app, which compares students' happiness, stress, depression and loneliness to their academic performance, also may be used in the general population -- for example, to monitor mental health, trigger intervention and improve productivity in workplace employees.

"The StudentLife app is able to continuously make mental health assessment 24/7, opening the way for a new form of assessment," says computer science Professor Andrew Campbell, the study's senior author. "This is a very important and exciting breakthrough."

The researchers presented their findings on Wednesday at the ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. The paper has been nominated for best paper at UbiComp, the top conference mobile computing. They also released an anonymized version of the dataset in the hope that other social and behavioral scientists will use it in further studies.

The researchers built an Android app that monitored readings from smartphone sensors carried by 48 Dartmouth students during a 10-week term to assess their mental health (depression, loneliness, stress), academic performance (grades across all their classes, term GPA and cumulative GPA) and behavioral trends (how stress, sleep, visits to the gym, etc., change in response to college workload -- assignments, midterms, finals -- as the term progresses).

They used computational method and machine learning algorithms on the phone to assess sensor data and make higher level inferences (i.e., sleep, sociability, activity, etc.) The app that ran on students phones automatically measured the following behaviors 24/7 without any user interaction: sleep duration, the number and duration of conversations per day, physical activity (walking, sitting, running, standing), where they were located and how long they stayed there (i.e., dorm, class, party, gym), stress level, how good they felt about themselves, eating habits and more. The researchers used a number of well known pre- and post-mental health surveys and spring and cumulative GPAs for evaluation of mental health and academic performance, respectively.

The results show that passive and automatic sensor data from the Android phones significantly correlated with the students' mental health and their academic performance over the term.

Some specific findings: Students who sleep more or have more conversations are less likely to be depressed; students who are more physically active are less likely to feel lonely; students who are around other students are less likely to be depressed. Also, surprisingly, there was no correlation between students' academic performance and their class attendance; students who are more social (had more conversations) have a better GPA; students who have higher GPAs tend to be less physically active, have lower indoor mobility at night and are around more people.

The results open the door to the following breakthroughs for the first time:

"Under similar conditions, why do some individuals excel while others fail?" Campbell says. "What is the impact of stress, mood, workload, sociability, sleep and mental health on academic performance? Much of the stress and strain of student life remains hidden. In reality faculty, student deans, clinicians know little about their students in and outside of the classroom. Students might know about their own circumstances and patterns but know little about classmates. To shine a light on student life, we developed the first of a kind smartphone app and sensing system to automatically infer human behavior."

Continued here:
Smartphone app reveals users' mental health, performance, behavior

Psychologists say spanking and other forms of corporal punishment don't get children to change their behavior for the better. Science Photo Library/Corbis hide caption

Psychologists say spanking and other forms of corporal punishment don't get children to change their behavior for the better.

There's plenty of evidence that spanking, paddling or hitting children doesn't improve their behavior in the long run and actually makes it worse.

But the science never trumps emotion, according to Alan Kazdin, head of the Yale Parenting Center and author of The Everyday Parenting Toolkit.

After NFL star Adrian Peterson was indicted for child abuse after disciplining his 4-year-old son by hitting him with a switch, there's been a lot of conversation about how race and culture affect parents' approach to discipline. OK, what about the science? Behavioral psychologists say that people respond very predictably to others' words and actions, and parents can use that predictability to improve children's behavior without shouting or hitting.

We talked with Kazdin by phone about why parents use corporal punishment and what options they have for teaching good behavior. Here are highlights of that conversation.

Why do parents use physical discipline?

There are three reasons, Kazdin says. "The brain is hard-wired to pick up negative things in the environment; this is just how humans and mammals are." So parents naturally pay more attention to a child's bad behavior, rather than to all the good things they may be doing the rest of the day.

Second, there is increasing evidence that watching or engaging in aggressive behavior excites the reward centers in the brain, giving an incentive for aggression.

"And the third context is the Bible," Kazdin says. "Some religions view hitting the child, use of the rod, not just as all right but obligatory. You're not living up to your responsibility if you're not hitting your child.

Continue reading here:
How To Get Children To Behave Without Hitting Them

Update Alexithymia is not a condition that many outside the world of behavioral science are familiar with but its the focus of Indiana University School of Medicine Assistant Research Professor Dawn Neumanns work. She recently received an SBIR grant for her business EmotEd for a therapeutic intervention tool that functions as a video game, which shes developing with Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University School of Informatics, and Indiana software design and developer business, DeveloperTown.

She offered an explanation of her work in a phone interview with MedCity News.

The intervention will focus on helping brain injured adults in rehabilitation hospitals identify and understand when they are angry, upset, have anxiety or are depressed and eventually learn to perceive those emotions in others as well. Alexithymia, is present in about 10 percent of the typical population, and in 30 percent to 60 percent of patients with brain injury, Neumann said.

Just so were clear, this isnt World of Warcraft. Its a video game, but it focuses on scenarios as a teaching tool.

Neumann offers a couple of the scenarios the video game may embrace, though she emphasizes it is early days in the development phase. For example, you have a dentist appointment in the morning. You set the alarm the night before and wake up immediately the next day, only to realize the clock is one hour behind. Patients are given cues in a series of steps designed to trigger a response on how they feel. They are rewarded with points for these responses the more specific they can be, the more points they get. They also get additional points for things like empathy and demonstrating emotional intelligence. The long-term goal is to build an emotional foundation.

Another scenario could involve making dinner for your boyfriend/girlfriend and theyre one hour late. The person may say some mean things to their significant other but they may not even realize theyre angry or upset. The game is all about getting to a point where the patient knows what they are feeling and why. Even more importantly, they may come to understand how the other person may be feeling.

So why video games? Neumann points out that its more effective than role-playing in person because it offers more opportunities to freeze and replay the action and discuss it without throwing the participants off or requiring them to recall something that happened several minutes ago. EmotEds customers will include rehab centers and neuropsychologists.

The virtual environments Neumanns program envisions will create a platform for training patients. The emotion builder will also allow patients to dig deeper so they can process what they are feeling and give them tools and strategies to be better aware of them.

One of the biggest problems Neumann currently sees with this group of patients is that as soon as insurers decide members have reached the end of their recovery, the reimbursement for therapy ends. So theres no way to ensure that patients keep re-enforcing the progress they have made. Neumann said she has seen people that have lost the skills they built in recovery. The longterm vision is for the interactive scenario video game to be accessible online. So the skills learned in rehab can be reinforced. As a result, there is a movement to classify brain injury as a chronic condition, since it affects many stages and capacities of living.

Long-term, Neumann hopes to build app modules onto the program to focus on different scenarios, particularly for improving patients grasp of empathy.

Here is the original post:
EmotEds therapeutic intervention tool will use video games to help patients relearn emotions

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

18-Sep-2014

Contact: John Cramer John.Cramer@Dartmouth.edu 603-646-9130 Dartmouth College @dartmouth

Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues have built the first smartphone app that automatically reveals students' mental health, academic performance and behavioral trends. In other words, your smartphone knows your state of mind -- even if you don't -- and how that affects you.

The StudentLife app, which compares students' happiness, stress, depression and loneliness to their academic performance, also may be used in the general population for example, to monitor mental health, trigger intervention and improve productivity in workplace employees.

"The StudentLife app is able to continuously make mental health assessment 24/7, opening the way for a new form of assessment," says computer science Professor Andrew Campbell, the study's senior author. "This is a very important and exciting breakthrough."

The researchers presented their findings on Wednesday at the ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. The paper has been nominated for best paper at UbiComp, the top conference mobile computing. A PDF of the paper and a summary of the findings are available on request. They also released an anonymized version of the dataset in the hope that other social and behavioral scientists will use it in further studies.

The researchers built an Android app that monitored readings from smartphone sensors carried by 48 Dartmouth students during a 10-week term to assess their mental health (depression, loneliness, stress), academic performance (grades across all their classes, term GPA and cumulative GPA) and behavioral trends (how stress, sleep, visits to the gym, etc., change in response to college workload -- assignments, midterms, finals -- as the term progresses).

They used computational method and machine learning algorithms on the phone to assess sensor data and make higher level inferences (i.e., sleep, sociability, activity, etc.) The app that ran on students phones automatically measured the following behaviors 24/7 without any user interaction: sleep duration, the number and duration of conversations per day, physical activity (walking, sitting, running, standing), where they were located and how long they stayed there (i.e., dorm, class, party, gym), stress level, how good they felt about themselves, eating habits and more. The researchers used a number of well known pre- and post-mental health surveys and spring and cumulative GPAs for evaluation of mental health and academic performance, respectively.

The results show that passive and automatic sensor data from the Android phones significantly correlated with the students' mental health and their academic performance over the term.

Read more from the original source:
New Dartmouth smartphone app reveals users' mental health, performance, behavior

When Peter Hames complained to doctors about his insomnia, they responded by pulling out a prescription pad. Then came the inevitable: more sleeping pills.

But Hames, who is the CEO of health care company Big Health and has a background in experimental psychology, believed there was a way to train the insomnia out of him. "Out of desperation, I got a self-help book," he tells Fast Company. The Englishman picked up a copy of Overcoming Insomnia and Sleep Problems by Colin Espie, a professor at the University of Glasgow, and within six weeks, he claimed his insomnia was cured.

"My first reaction was it's totally amazing," said Hames, who recently moved from London to San Francisco. "My second reaction was this is totally insane. You have millions of people worldwide who are suffering from problems with behavioral solutions."

Then Hames did what any logical, entrepreneurial person might do: He traveled to Scotland and asked Espie to start up a digital medicine company with him to treat disorders using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. That was four years ago, and since then, Big Health has published findings of its customized sleep program Sleepio in medical journals, including the Associated Professional Sleep Societies's SLEEP, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and Sleep Medicine Clinics.

Hames declined to disclose user numbers, but said Sleepio has logged more than a million hours of sleep data. The company struck a partnership with Jawbone in April, allowing users to import data from the Up band into its dashboard. Beginning with iOS 8, which launches today, it'll capture that data using the iPhone's M8 motion coprocessor chip. Though it's lacked a mobile presence until now, Sleepio decided to make its foray into iOS 8 to integrate with HealthKit and create a customized sleep program for insomniacs, who, out of habit, are reaching for their smartphones in the late hours of the night anyway.

"We can take all that and reach a whole different scale of users," Hames said. "We'll never do the tracking. Other people can do that better than us. I think the opportunity here is digital medicine."

A randomized trial involving a control and a placebo found Sleepio's web app helped three-quarters of people who reported persistent sleep problems improve their sleep to healthy levels in six weeks. Overall, Big Health said the program is comparable in effect with face-to-face therapy, helping long-term poor sleepers hit the sack 56% faster and boost daytime energy by 58%.

Sleepio loosely models its central character, the Prof, on Espie. A personal sleep expert, the animated professor doles out step-by-step directions to set users' bodies back on course to healthier sleep. The app essentially repurposes the content from its web app, which repackages the chapters from Espie's book into short video segments. But the technology behind it can tailor the experience to individuals based on their historical sleep data. "We know even exposure in just a short period of time can help people with their sleep," said Hames. "The more you work with it, the more data is in the system, the more refined it is to you."

When users enter the Sleepio app, the Prof begins by asking if they're looking to fall asleep at that moment. If so, users can consult him through the Help Me Now feature, and the Prof will offer suggestions, such as focusing on a spot in the ceiling or wall. If users indicate they're not trying to sleep, the Prof will ask what problems ail them (falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, waking up too early, not feeling refreshed), how long it's persisted, and assign them a sleep score.

Though users know they're interacting with an animated character, having someone or something stand in the role of a therapist makes the experience feel a little more real to them. If the Prof notices a rough night, he'll follow up with a text message. At the end of each session, the Prof tries to schedule another appointment ("Same time next week?"), sending email reminders. If you're running late for your appointment, he'll shoot you a worried text message. And if he receives no word after several hours, he'll send another one, this time conveying disappointment. In general, 70% of users interact with the Prof, said Hames, and some even write back apologetically when they miss a session.

Excerpt from:
Conquer Insomnia In 6 Weeks? There's An App For That--And It Could Change Your Life

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Sep-2014

Contact: Shilo Rea shilo@cmu.edu 412-268-6094 Carnegie Mellon University @CMUScience

PITTSBURGHThe public dialogue surrounding whether to vaccinate children is one example of how poor communication of science can cause confusion and worsen people's health and lives. Many other issues from climate change to nuclear power to using "smart" electricity grids also require accurate, understandable scientific communication so that policymakers and the general public can make informed decisions.

To mobilize best practices and stimulate research in "the science of science communication," the National Academy of Sciences has held two interdisciplinary Sackler Colloquia on the topic. Both were co-organized by Carnegie Mellon University's Baruch Fischhoff, a leader in bringing together the social, behavioral and decision sciences into this emerging area.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has published two special issues on the events. The second was published online Sept.15, with papers based on the September 2013 meeting that attracted nearly 500 scientists and communicators with more than 10,000 viewers watching the live webcast. Fischhoff co-wrote the issue's introduction and, along with CMU's Alex Davis, wrote a paper on "Communicating Scientific Uncertainty." CMU's Julie Downs authored a paper on "Prescriptive Scientific Narratives for Communicating Usable Science."

"Better communication to the public and policymakers can help scientists send clearer signals regarding accomplishments, promises and uncertainties of their work. Better communication from the public and policymakers can provide scientists with clearer signals regarding the public's concern and science's role in addressing them," said Fischhoff, the Howard Heinz University Professor of Social and Decision Sciences and Engineering and Public Policy. "The result would be a more productive dialogue about the science and the political, social and moral implications of its application."

In their paper, Fischhoff and Davis, a research scientist in engineering and public policy who received his Ph.D. from CMU in social and decision sciences, outline the challenges of explaining the uncertainty that is part of all scientific research findings. They argue that communications must address the decisions that people face. Are they looking for a signal, such as whether to evacuate before a hurricane? Are they choosing among fixed options, such as which medical treatment is best? Or, are they learning how things work, so that they can create options, such as how to regulate nanotechnology?

Fischhoff and Davis offer a communication protocol that entails identifying the facts relevant to the recipients' decisions, characterizing the relevant uncertainties, assessing their magnitude, drafting possible messages and evaluating their success.

Downs, associate researcher in social and decision sciences, describes how a narrative approach to science communication may help audiences more fully understand how science is relevant to their lives. She argues that scientific narratives can help people to reconsider long-held beliefs in the face of new findings.

Follow this link:
Recommendations to improve scientific decision-making

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Sep-2014

Contact: Jesslyn Chew ChewJ@missouri.edu 573-882-8353 University of Missouri-Columbia @mizzounews

COLUMBIA, Mo. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 6 percent of children younger than five have been diagnosed with asthma, the fastest-growing and most common chronic illness affecting children in the United States. Studies have shown that asthma is associated with attention and behavioral issues in children, yet little existing research examines how socioeconomic status may influence the ultimate effects of these difficulties. Now, an MU researcher has found that the overall outcomes for children with asthma are influenced by socioeconomic inequalities.

"As with all chronic illnesses, there is a biological mechanism behind asthma, but asthmatic children's prognoses depend heavily on parental management, and successful management often relies on social circumstances," said Jen-Hao Chen, an assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions. "My research indicated that there is a profound socioeconomic difference in these outcomes, with the poor consequences of asthma concentrated among children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds."

Chen's study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, which includes 5,750 children in the United States and documents changes in their behavioral skills during important developmental periods in early childhood. Chen looked at behavioral measures affected by asthma, including attention levels, social skills and aggressiveness, and found that although all asthmatic children are at risk for difficulties in these areas the negative consequences disappeared for children who had never experienced poverty and had highly educated parents.

"Family environment, which is affected by factors including parental stress and positive parenting behaviors, plays a huge role in the effective management of asthma," Chen said. "Poverty results in great additional strain for parents who are trying to manage an already stressful illness, often with inadequate access to resources. No matter what indicators were used to define poverty, children of lower socioeconomic status consistently performed worse than other children on behavioral development measures, and these differences already were apparent by very critical stages of early development."

Chen said that in order to help parents provide the best care for their asthmatic children, programs should offer information on positive parenting techniques and include assistance with managing parental stress and depression, which are common in individuals struggling with poverty.

"All children, those who have asthma and those who do not, live in a stratified society," Chen said. "Many interventions are designed to help manage physical asthmatic symptoms, but rarely do they address the social and behavioral consequences of asthma. To effectively prepare asthmatic children for later successes in life, existing programs also must treat the non-medical consequences of asthma through social, emotional and educational supports for families from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds."

###

See the original post here:
Long-term effects of childhood asthma influenced by socioeconomic status

Back in mid-July, a two-way walking lane appeared in Washington, D.C. One side was a dedicated path for smartphone users and the other for people not hunched over their devices.

It wasn't put there by the city, rather it was part of a National Geographic behavioral science show "Mind Over Masses." However, now it would seem one city in China doesn't think it's such a bad idea. Engadget reports that Chongqing has co-opted NatGeo's safety experiment for one part of the city known as "Foreigner Street."

The act of smartphone-obsessed pedestrianism (which I learned just now) is known as "phubbing," a portmanteau of the phrase "phone snubbing." Although a dedicated walking path seems like a needless idea, smartphone-related pedestrian injuries are a real problem. A report last March from the University of Buffalo stated that there are more distracted walking injuries per mile than injuries from distracted driving, including everything from falling down stairs to stepping into oncoming traffic.

Whether this will be a permanent feature of Chongqing's streets is uncertain, but a dedicated smartphone lane wouldn't be the first measure a city's taken to protect people from their own (de)vices. Back in 2008, Britain created a "Safe Text" street by wrapping padding around lampposts to help prevent distracted texting injuries. So a smartphone lane might seem ridiculous, or as a throwaway behavioral experiment as it was intended, but statistics would suggest that in some areasthey just might be needed. [Engadget]

Image via news.cn

Continued here:
A Smartphone Sidewalk Pops Up on a Busy Street in China

Waco, TX. (PRWEB) September 11, 2014

Talent management solutions provider, Profiles International, announced that Dr. Scott Hamilton, chief science officer at Profiles International, will address hundreds of global business leaders as he hosts certification training, and offers a keynote presentation to attendees at the 2nd International Talent Assessment and Development Conference.

The 2nd International Talent Assessment and Development Conference (ITADC2014) will take place at the Pullman Saigon Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on September 11 and 12.

The event is hosted by Profiles International South East Asia, and managed by National Director Rick Yvanovich. Dr. Scott Hamilton and Deiric McCann, executive vice president of the International Division at Profiles International, will both be featured as keynote speakers.

The ITADC is an annual conference with the goal and mission of helping organization leaders optimize their HR function, boost sales performance, and improve leadership skills. Leaders from around the world will attend and share their knowledge on issues faced by executive leaders, HR specialists, and sales managers. The second annual event of its kind, the conference features three days of presentations and networking.

A highlight of the event will be certification training that outlines all elements of the science behind employment assessments, while attendees will learn from how to utilize assessments for maximum impact in their own organization from Dr. Hamilton himself.

Attendees will also be treated to a personal session titled, "A Psychologist Looks at Leadership Styles in Business."

Learn more by visiting http://www.profilesinternational.com, or http://itadc2014.profiles-sea.com/.

ABOUT PROFILES INTERNATIONAL Profiles International is the best source for talent management solutions, with over 20 years' experience and more than 40,000 clients in over 120 countries. Profiles knows how people work and what motivates them. Their data-driven talent management solutions--built on complex behavioral science, yet simple to administer and read--help organizations find the right people, shape them into a winning team, and lead them to their full potential. http://www.profilesinternational.com

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Profiles International Chief Science Officer to Present Keynote at International Talent Assessment and Development ...

Denver, CO (PRWEB) September 11, 2014

Three internationally recognized addiction and mental health experts will speak at conferences this fall that are co-hosted by Promises Treatment Centers and produced by the Ben Franklin Institute:

Dr. Pamela Peeke, senior science adviser for Elements Behavioral Health, will present new research in the areas of nutrition, addiction and epigenetics. Well explore ground-breaking research in a number of areas, including the trauma-food-addiction triad, how food, thoughts, behavior and environment can influence gene expression, and how toxic shame can fuel disordered eating, Dr. Peeke says. Well also look at ways to translate these concepts into holistic, integrative treatment plans.

Dr. Christine Courtois, national clinical trauma consultant for Elements Behavioral Health and Promises Malibu, will present information on complex developmental trauma and her sequenced, relationship-based treatment model for addressing it. The treatment of complex trauma is uniquely challenging, she says. Well look at how it results in a host of aftereffects, including spiritual challenges and addictions. Well review treatment strategies for the concurrent treatment of addictions and other aftereffects and explore how the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship impact both client and therapist.

Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S, an international expert in sexual addiction and senior vice president of clinical development for Elements Behavioral Health, will look at the rapidly evolving world of digital technology and how online porn and virtual sexuality are affecting social engagement. With alarming frequency, were seeing addictive online sexual activity exacting a huge toll in terms of lost jobs and relationships, Weiss says. Well look at these issues and offer practical solutions for men and women struggling with sex and pornography addictions.

The agendas are as follows:

Young Adult Conference: Failure to Launch (Denver Sept. 18-20)

Dr. Pamela Peeke

Brain Matters: Mindfulness, Trauma and Process Addictions (Atlanta Oct. 9-12)

Dr. Pamela Peeke

Read more from the original source:
Elements Behavioral Health Experts to Speak at BFI Summits This Fall

An interview with Sally Rogers about Infant Start
Sally Rogers, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the UC Davis MIND Institute, discusses her new research in infants as young as 6 months old w...

By: UC Davis Health System

More here:
An interview with Sally Rogers about Infant Start - Video

I bet youve got opinions about marijuana; everybody does.

I bet youve got opinions about marijuana; everybody does.

But I also bet you dont have much knowledge about it; few of us do.

How addictive is dope? Does it have health benefits and if so, which ones, and in what context? How about health drawbacks, physical or mental?

I dont know and neither do you, and no wonder. The effects of bogarting that joint (to use terminology from my youth) can be tough to pin down; thats true even for a man who has done at least as much of that pinning-down as anybody in New Hampshire.

When youre talking about smoked marijuana, its not easy to do good research. Its tough to interpret. Its tough to run the studies. Its tough to have a placebo. Its tough to get people in your studies that arent already smoking marijuana. Its tough to try to dose it, said Alan Budney, a professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, who has written lots of papers about cannabis use disorders in adults and adolescents.

But New Hampshire is ramping up to allow medical marijuana, so it behooves us as residents of the state to know more.

Happily, Budneys going to help us learn.

He is one of two panelists who will answer all your questions about the science of marijuana at Science Cafe New Hampshire in Nashua, a week from Wednesday, Sept. 17. Stacy Gruber, director of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core at McLean Hospitals Brain Imaging Center in Cambridge, will also be there; her lab has done a slew of research into the results of substance use and abuse, especially cannabis.

As always, I will moderate the free, two-hour session, which starts at 6 p.m. at Killarneys Irish Pub.

Read more here:
Want to know more about marijuana? Science cafes (yes, plural) to the rescue

San Diego Mesa College has received more than $3.7 million in grants to support underrepresented students wanting to pursue careers in biomedical or behavioral science as well helping improve the academic success of low-income Hispanic students.

The college was awarded $2.62 million from the U.S. Department of Education to improve retention and academic success for low-income Hispanic students under a five-year Title V grant. Mesa was one of about 20 colleges and universities selected for the funding through a competitive process.

Mesa Colleges grant proposal, called Proyecto Exito or Project Success, calls for the college to offer more tutoring, mentoring, summer programs and career development. Officials say they will be redesigning courses, strengthening student support and expanding training for faculty and staff.

This is the first Title V grant received by Mesa College. About 32 percent of the colleges fall enrollment was of Hispanic or Latino descent, officials said.

Mesa is thrilled to receive this grant, which will enable the college to create the conditions that lead to higher student retention and completion for our Latino students, college President Pamela Luster said in a statement. Our student population mirrors that of the greater San Diego area, and as such our commitment to our growing population of Latino students is critical. Their success is our success, and as educated citizens our students contribute to greater economic advances for our community and the region.

Julianna Barnes, vice president of student services, said in a statement that the grant will strengthen the college's institutional capacity to better support Latino students and will level the odds for success for all students.

Mesa also recently learned it would be getting nearly $1.1 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to extend a program that helps underrepresented groups studying biomedical or behavioral sciences to pursue careers in research.

The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program has been in place since 2005 and is the result of a partnership between Mesa College and UC San Diego. Officials say 97 of the 102 Mesa College students participating in the program have transferred or plan to transfer to a four-year college or university and some students are en route to earning a doctorate.

The program focuses on academic research and provides for faculty mentors, tutors, counselors and training workshops.

Students participate in an eight-week, full-time undergraduate summer internship at UC San Diego that includes six hours a day of laboratory training with top research scientists. They also attend lectures and seminars with faculty from UCSD, the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

The rest is here:
Mesa College lands $3.7 million

16 hours ago by Alex Gitterman Alex Gitterman, professor of social work, meets with graduate students at the School of Social Work. Credit: Peter Morenus

Social workers currently face growing demands for measurable behavioral outcomes, reflecting a shift in the profession toward "scientific" proof to demonstrate its effectiveness. While agreeing that practitioners should embrace strategies proven to be effective in helping people, Alex Gitterman, Zachs professor of social work and director of the doctoral program at UConn's School of Social Work, disagrees with the so-called "evidence-based practice" approach, noting that deeply rooted social problems do not neatly lend themselves to empirically-based interventions.

UConn Today recently spoke with Gitterman about his advocacy for "evidence-guided" social work practice, in which research, theory, and accumulated practice wisdom receive equal weight and respect.

Q. Social work has struggled to prove itself worthy of professional identity, status, and respect. Why?

In society's division of labor among professions, some such as education, law, and police are assigned the function of building a stronger and better-integrated society. Others such as medicine, psychiatry, and psychology are assigned the purpose of strengthening the individual. Social work is the only profession where both people and environments require equal attention. Its purpose is broad: to improve clients' social and psychological functioning; to enhance the transactions between people and their environments; and to influence communities, organizations, and legislation to be more socially just. Social work relies heavily on principles drawn from medicine and science that provide certain credibility, but their application may have clouded the profession's distinctive purpose to consider forces within and outside of the client as sources of problems and targets for intervention.

Q. Is the social work profession based primarily on science?

Evidence-based social work practice says specific interventions exist to solve most types of problems, and that practitioners can find and then use the most effective the "best" intervention. But focusing exclusively on measurable behavioral change in the real world ignores the struggles people experience in dealing with and surviving day-to-day life challenges, struggles that the social work profession is committed to addressing. The evidence-based approach assumes a linear relationship between research and practice, when in actuality the connections between theory, research, and practice are complex and often elusive. Our work takes place amidst poverty, unemployment, oppression,homelessness, racism, and community violence. Complex social problems such as these do not lend themselves to narrow interventions that are the foundation of evidence-based practice. The social work help process is rarely as linear and simple as the advocates of evidence-based practice suggest.

Q. How do you characterize the social work profession?

Social work can and should serve both client and community. In contrast to evidence-based practice, I advocate an "evidence-guided" approach in which interventions are suggested, rather than prescribed by research findings. Social workers must have autonomy and flexibility to improvise and to be spontaneous. The worlds of theory and research are logical, orderly, and sequential. In contrast, the lives of people are confusing, disorderly, and contemporaneous. The very act of finding connections among theory, research, and practice often requires a great deal of curiosity and creativity.

Q. Do you see a unique challenge to the social work profession?

See more here:
In social work practice, one size doesn't fit all

Clara Maass Medical Center has announced Randi Hershkowitz, RN-BC, BSN as program director of Behavioral Health Services.

A registered nurse certified in psychiatric and mental health, Hershkowitz will be an integral part of the hospitals multidisciplinary treatment teams and will help carefully develop strategies, interventions and support systems to best meet the needs of each patient.

"Clara Maass Medical Center is excited to welcome Randi as the new program director for Behavioral Health Services. Her wealth of knowledge in the field and past experiences will be an asset for Clara Maass and the patients we serve," said Mary Ellen Clyne, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, Clara Maass Medical Center.

Hershkowitz has experience working in a variety of behavioral health care settings with a range of patients, including providing child/adolescent psychiatric care, managing psychiatric nursing departments, and supervising staff.

Prior to joining Clara Maass, Hershkowitz served as program director for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Care Point Health at Christ Hospital in Jersey City, where she was responsible for all levels of programming and ensuring the program adhered to state regulations and other compliances for inpatient psychiatry, outpatient psychiatry clinic, and affiliated emergency services. She also was responsible for multiple psychiatric grants.

Hershkowitz earned a bachelor of science in nursing from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Link:
Clara Maass in Belleville names new Behavioral Health director