Teaching Responsible Research and Innovation: A Phronetic Perspective

Science and Engineering Ethics - Across the European research area and beyond, efforts are being mobilized to align research and innovation processes and products with societal values and needs,...     

Which children benefit from letter names in learning letter sounds?

Typical U.S. children use their knowledge of letters' names to help learn the letters' sounds. They perform better on letter sound tests with letters that have their sounds at the beginnings of their names, such as v, than with letters that have their sounds at the ends of their names, such as m, and letters that do not have their sounds in their names, such as h. We found this same pattern among children with speech sound disorders, children with language impairments as well as speech sound disorders, and children who later developed serious reading problems. Even children who scored at chance on rhyming and sound matching tasks performed better on the letter sound task with letters such as v than with letters such as m and h. Our results suggest that a wide range of children use the names of letters to help learn the sounds and that phonological awareness, as conventionally measured, is not required in order to do so.     

Psychological well-being: its relation to work personality, vocational identity, and career thoughts

The authors examined the impact of the 6 dimensions of psychological well-being on participants' career thoughts, vocational identity, and developmental work personality. Undergraduates (N = 91) completed 4 measures: (a) C. D. Ryff's (1989, 1995) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB), (b) J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, and D. E. Saunders's (1996) Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI), (c) the Vocational Identity (VI) subscale of J. L. Holland, D. C. Daiger, and G. Power's (1980) My Vocational Situation, and (d) D. R. Strauser and J. M. Keim's (2002) Developmental Work Personality Scale (DWPS). The authors then conducted multiple regression analyses to examine the relations between psychological well-being and the 3 career variables. Results indicated the following: (a) Psychological well-being accounted for a significant portion of the variance in all 3 career variables; (b) scores on the Purpose in Life subscale of the SPWB made a unique contribution to scores on the Commitment Anxiety subscale of the CTI (CTI-CA) and to VI; (c) scores on the Personal Growth subscale of the SPWB made a unique contribution to CTI-CA scores; and (d) scores on the Self-Acceptance and Environmental Mastery subscales of the SPWB each made a unique contribution to DWPS scores.     

Dimensions of Acculturation and Work Hope in International Students

Work hope is an emerging and important factor in the career development process of international students. In this study, the authors focused on the work hope of international students and examined its relation to dimensions of acculturation (i.e., dominant society immersion, ethnic identity, ethnic society immersion, individualism, and collectivism). A total of 340 international students completed an online survey. Results of a correlation analysis revealed associations in the expected directions. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that horizontal collectivism, horizontal individualism, and vertical collectivism had a significant and unique contribution in explaining work hope. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Much anecdotal evidence suggests that sleep deprivation not only impairs performance, but also brings about other extraordinary effects like hallucinations. However, knowledge about how sleep deprivation may trigger hallucinations is limited. To qualitatively describe hallucinatory experiences during sleep deprivation 12 male military officers from the Norwegian Armed Forces who all had experienced at least one sleep loss-induced hallucinatory experience were recruited. Data were collected and analyzed by semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification of three distinct main themes: (1) Modalities, (2) circumstances/triggers and (3) reactions to hallucinations. Hallucinations were experienced in several modalities (visual, auditory and multi-modality), although visual hallucinations seemed to dominate. Typical reported circumstances/triggers were sleep loss, physical exhaustion, time-of-day, low calorie intake, mental exhaustion and lack of external stimuli (low sensory and social input, boring situations, and monotonous activity). Negative emotions were dominant during the hallucinatory episodes. Often some reasoning and checking on behalf of the officers were necessary to differentiate between real percepts and hallucinations. In some cases the hallucinations caused erroneous actions. Retrospectively, most officers viewed their hallucinatory experiences in light of positive emotions and several emphasized having learned something from them. The results are discussed in relation to the existing literature and suggestions for future studies are outlined.     

Perception of Organizational Ethical Climate by University Staff and Students in Medicine and Humanities: A Cross Sectional Study

Science and Engineering Ethics - We assessed students’ and employees’ perception of ethical climate at a university school of medicine compared to that of social sciences and...