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Learning a new language is an important goal that many individuals find difficult to achieve, particularly during adulthood. Several factors have related this variability to different extrinsic (learning condition, difficulty of the materials) and intrinsic (cognitive abilities) factors, but the interaction between them is barely known. In two experiments, participants learned English grammar rules in intentional (Experiment 1) or explicit (Experiment 2), and incidental learning-contexts. Overall, results of this study indicated that intentional-explicit conditions benefitted rule-learning, as compared to incidental conditions. This benefit was mainly present when participants were learning an easy-rule; explicit and incidental learning did not differ in the case of participants learning a difficult rule (Experiment 2). Moreover, individual differences in executive functioning predicted successful learning in interaction with difficulty. When learning an easy-rule, proactive control facilitated intentional learning. In contrast, when participants were learning a complex-rule, incidental learning was enhanced by lower involvement of proactive control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Point of care ultrasonography (POCUS) is being increasingly recognized as an adjunct to physical examination in the field of nephrology. However, paucity of trained faculty and standardized curricula remain key barriers to widespread adoption of this skill as well as development of reliable quality assessment programs at the institutional level. Herein, we sought to explore the utility of Twitter polls to gain insights into knowledge deficits of the learners for making curricular improvements while simultaneously disseminating POCUS pearls and pitfalls. Methods: A series of 57 single-question polls were tweeted over a 12-month period, each containing an ultrasound image or a video asking for correct interpretation. These were sent out from the Twitter handle of NephroPOCUS.com (@NephroP), an online POCUS education tool. The answer and a brief explanation were shared in a subsequent tweet at the end of the voting period. Information on the percentage of correct answers, Tweet impressions, and engagements was collected and analyzed by the pre-determined difficulty level (I-III) and the organ/learning objective being tested. Results: The number of responses per poll was 228 ± 94.6 (mean ± SD), and the percentage of correct responses was 57.9 ± 17.5 (mean ± SD). 16 (of 57) polls received less than 50% correct responses, of which 8 belonged to level III difficulty. The learning objectives that received the least number of correct responses in the kidney, cardiac, lung, vascular, and other categories were identification of end-stage kidney (16.2% correct answers), right pleural effusion on the parasternal short axis view of the heart (29%), right pleural effusion from the subxiphoid window (39%), grading of systemic venous congestion (27.3%), and identification of ascites on the right lateral chest window (15%), respectively. The overall engagement rate was 6.96%, which was above the median for health and higher education-related tweets on Twitter. Targeted didactic material was developed based on these results, published on various open-access nephrology education platforms. Conclusions: Twitter polls aid in identifying the knowledge gaps among POCUS learners. Information obtained from the polls can be used to improve POCUS-related curricula and develop targeted educational material to facilitate remote learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stereotype that children who are more able solve tasks quicker than their less capable peers exists both in and outside education. The F > C phenomenon and the distance–difficulty hypothesis offer alternative explanations of the time needed to complete a task; the former by the response correctness and the latter by the relative difference between the difficulty of the task and the ability of the examinee. To test these alternative explanations, we extracted IRT-based ability estimates and task difficulties from a sample of 514 children, 53% girls, M(age) = 10.3 years; who answered 29 Piagetian balance beam tasks. We used the answer correctness and task difficulty as predictors in multilevel regression models when controlling for children's ability levels. Our results challenge the 'faster equals smarter' stereotype. We show that ability levels predict the time needed to solve a task when the task is solved incorrectly, though only with moderately and highly difficult items. Moreover, children with higher ability levels take longer to answer items incorrectly, and tasks equal to children's ability levels take more time than very easy or difficult tasks. We conclude that the relationship between ability, task difficulty, and answer correctness is complex, and warn education professionals against basing their professional judgment on students' quickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study appraised male and female students' levels of terrorism‐related resilience, its effect on emotion and achievement, and assessed gender differences. The sample size was 180 junior and high school students of which 66 females (36.3%) and 114 males (62.6%) in the Sahel. Participants' ages ranged from 13 to 24 with a mean of 17.1 (SD = 2.04). Descriptive, multiple linear regression, and t‐test analyses were implemented to test for the size of resilience, its effects on students' emotional health and achievement, and to assess gender differences. Students had low level of resilience. Academic performance did not predict resilience, though regression analyses were statistically significant. Furthermore, no gender differences were found. Low level of resilience implies that students possess high level of difficulties in coping with terrorism. Psychological services are suggested to help secondary school students cope with the adverse effects of the stated violence. Practitioner points: Recent rise in terrorism in Burkina Faso, West Africa, has had significant impact on secondary school students' emotional health and learning.Students' academic performance did not predict their terrorism‐related resilience.Female and male students showed similar low level of resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When children practice a new task, they need to learn both the task procedure and the materials tested. It is often unclear if improvements with practice reflect learning of the task procedure or familiarity with the materials. We sought to examine learning of the task procedure by switching from one set of materials to another in a working memory recognition task. We recruited 70 children (34 female, M = 11.27 years, SD = 0.62, ranging from 10.08 to 12.39) in the United States who were to remember sequences of orientations and of shapes for recognition immediately following the list. Half of the children began with orientation, an easier task, and the other half began with difficult-to-name shapes, a harder task. When children began with the easier task, the acquisition of the recognition task skill in the easy condition transferred to the more difficult task, optimizing the mean performance across tasks. Transfer was less potent when children began with the more difficult task. The results showed that sufficient practice is crucial to avoid poor initial performance, which might be important for the student's rate of progress and task engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical learning (SL), the ability to pick up patterns in sensory input, serves as one of the building blocks of language acquisition. Although SL has been studied extensively in developmental dyslexia (DD), much less is known about the way SL evolves over time. The handful of studies examining this question were all limited to the acquisition of motor sequential knowledge or highly learned segmented linguistic units. Here we examined memory consolidation of statistical regularities in adults with DD and typically developed (TD) readers by using auditory SL requiring the segmentation of units from continuous input, which represents one of the earliest learning challenges in language acquisition. DD and TD groups were exposed to tones in a probabilistically determined sequential structure varying in difficulty and subsequently tested for recognition of novel short sequences that adhered to this statistical pattern in immediate and delayed-recall sessions separated by a night of sleep. SL performance of the DD group at the easy and hard difficulty levels was poorer than that of the TD group in the immediate-recall session. Importantly, DD participants showed a significant overnight deterioration in SL performance at the medium difficulty level compared to TD, who instead showed overnight stabilization of the learned information. These findings imply that SL difficulties in DD may arise not only from impaired initial learning but also due to a failure to consolidate statistically structured information into long-term memory. We hypothesize that these deficits disrupt the typical course of language acquisition in those with DD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with autism may struggle to develop the academic skills necessary for success in school and beyond. Understanding and improving academic skills performance requires appropriate measurement approaches. One such option that has been minimally studied with students with autism is curriculum‐based measurement (CBM). Coinciding with the need to study different approaches to academic skills measurement for students with autism was the global pandemic which forced a shift to remote service delivery with little warning. While some autistic students struggled with this shift, others thrived, raising questions about how to further support students with autism in virtual formats. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using remotely administered CBM for autistic students by studying both the practicality and acceptability of this approach. Five students with autism (Grades 2–5) participated in this pilot study, completing reading, math, and writing CBMs at three time points. Student behavior and assessor fidelity were collected to examine practicality; assessor ratings of usability provided insight regarding the acceptability of the approach. Results indicated that remotely administered CBM is feasible for some students with autism: all participants completed the study tasks with minimal behavioral difficulties, and assessor ratings of acceptability were high. Highlights: Curriculum‐based measurement (CBM) is a rarely explored but potentially useful approach to measuring academic skills for students on the autism spectrum.Remote administration is an innovative, convenient, and based on these pilot findings, feasible way to use CBM for elementary students with autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has shown that various cues are exploited to reactively adjust attention, and such adjustments depend on learning associations between cues and proportion congruence. This raises the intriguing question of what will be learned when more than one cue is available, a question that has implications for understanding which cue(s) will dominate in guiding reactive adjustments. Evidence from a picture-word Stroop task demonstrated that item learning dominated over location learning in a location-specific proportion congruence (LSPC) paradigm, a pattern that may explain the difficulty researchers have faced in replicating and reproducing the LSPC effect. One goal was to reproduce this pattern using a non-overlapping two-item set design that more closely matched prior studies, and another goal was to examine generalisability of the pattern to two other tasks. Using a prime-probe, colour–word Stroop task (Experiment 1), and a flanker task (Experiment 2), we again found clear dominance of item learning. In Experiment 3, we attempted to disrupt item learning and promote location learning by using a counting procedure that directed participants' attention to location. Once again, we found the same pattern of item dominance. In addition, in none of the experiments did we find evidence for conjunctive (location–item) learning. Collectively, the findings suggest item learning is neither design- or task-specific; rather, it is robust, reliable, and not easily disrupted. Discussion centres on factors dictating dominance of item- over location-based adjustments and implications for the broader literature on LSPC effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although core in the teaching of academic language skills, little research to date has investigated what makes video‐recorded lectures difficult for language learners. As part of a larger program to develop automated videotext complexity measures, this study reports on selected dimensions of linguistic complexity to understand how they contribute to overall videotext difficulty. Based on the ratings of English language learners of 320 video lectures, we built regression models to predict subjective estimates of video lecture difficulty. The results of our analysis demonstrate that a 4‐component partial least square regression model explains 52% of the variance in video difficulty and significantly outperformed a baseline model in predicting the difficulty of videos in an out‐of‐sample testing set. The results of our study point to the use of linguistic complexity features for predicting overall videotext difficulty and raise the possibility of developing automated systems for measuring video difficulty, akin to those already available for estimating the readability of written materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, Gateway Community College reported that of its 5950 students who enrolled that year, 49% had classified themselves as minority. Roughly 28% of those students reported speaking a language other than English in the home setting. 1 Developing course material and assignments that assist all students in the first semesters of a healthcare program are difficult. Successfully accomplishing this task with students whose first language is not English adds to that level of difficulty. This study examined the global classroom achievements of first semester respiratory program students when additional vocabulary and purposeful terminology assignments are given, where the concentrated emphasis is on those students who speak English as a second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to self-determination theory, both provision of choice and reduced task difficulty facilitate learners' motivation via an increase in 2 basic psychological needs. This study examines the moderating role of the autonomy-changing effect of choice on the competence-altering effect of differences in perceived task difficulty in a multimedia learning setting. To measure this, 2 experiments (N1 = 108; N2 = 86) with secondary school (Experiment 1) and university (Experiment 1) students were conducted using a 2 (with a choice vs. without a choice of an additional topic before learning) × 2 (induced low vs. high perceived task difficulty) between-subjects design. While learners read texts about geographical data about Antarctica, 1 group was able to choose a subject matter of a second learning material's content. Learning performance, judgments of learning, and cognitive and motivational processes after the first learning material were measured in both experiments, while Experiment 1 additionally measured perceived autonomy and perceived competence. Results showed that induced differences in perceived task difficulty did not yield learning differences. However, the autonomy-enhancing effect of choice moderated differences in perceived task difficulty. Overall, this experiment provides evidence for an interaction between possibilities of autonomy and competence support defined in the self-determination theory. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: When learners perceive their learning material to be difficult, their motivation to further process the instructional material decreases. In contrast, providing a choice of learning topic can help to increase learners' motivation. This study revealed that both the autonomy-enhancing effect of choice and the competence-enhancing effect of reduced perceived task difficulty lead to an increase in learning outcomes. Moreover, the negative effects of high-perceived task difficulty were reduced when earners were given a task-related choice before learning. Instructional designers and teachers should be aware of their learners' perceptions of task difficulty in order to counteract the possible risks of highly perceived difficulty through a choice for future learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this investigation we describe an individualized approach in the assessment of athletes' experiences associated with successful and poor performances. Two studies were conducted to develop a profiling procedure to assess eight modalities of performance-related states. In Study 1, six high-level athletes assessed their states before most successful and unsuccessful performances using a preliminary 71-item stimulus list developed by a panel of four emotion researchers. They also rated the intensity of their states on a modified Borg's CR-10 scale. In Study 2, five top-level divers assessed their states before multiple dives (three successful and three unsuccessful) using a revised 74-item list. The perceived impact on performance was also examined using an open-ended question. Individual profiles reflected two typical curves discriminating successful and unsuccessful performances. High individual variability in item content and intensity was found. Athletes reported a wide range of interrelated experiences associated with their performances. Our findings support the practical utility of individualized profiling to assess athletes' performance-related states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to review Foucault's main elaborations on the notion of problematization and its methodological difficulties, in order to later make a composition that can account for both instances. The work is divided into three sections; I) in the first, the origin and the space of emergence of the concept of problematization are determined; II) in the second, a typology of the different notions of problematization is made together with the different mentions of the term in different registers; III) Finally, a composition of the main characteristics highlighted in the previous points is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporation of Human Factors (HF) into the mathematical car-following (CF) models has always been the research hotspot. Ignorance of such inclusion would inevitably hinder us from acquiring a comprehensive understanding of traffic flow phenomena. This paper proposed a novel CF model in order to bridge three existing research gaps: the demand for more inclusion of HF into the Longitudinal Control Model (LCM); the requirement for a more desirable underlying CF model for the Task Capability Interface (TCI) model; the ignorance of the fuzziness of human brains when modeling Task Difficulty (TD). Specifically, in order to imitate driver's natural or subjective uncertainty and ambiguity of his TD, the fuzzy logic approach is introduced, and the TD is then incorporated into the LCM. Thereafter, both numerical simulation and field-data validation have been performed. Results indicate that our proposed model is more capable of accommodating HF and exhibits better performance than its predecessor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ preferences and engagement with online educational resources and activities are crucial for academic success in the context of online medical education. This study investigated the preferences of Chinese medical students regarding the teaching strategies used by instructors and their relationship with course difficulty level, student’s academic performance, and perceived effectiveness. Survey data (n = 375) were collected from the medical students from one of the largest medical schools in Southern China during the spring semester of 2020. First, exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that there were three latent factors behind online teaching strategies, including teacher-led instructional strategies, supervised and monitored learning strategies, and self-directed learning strategies. Instructional activities under teacher supervision and monitoring received the highest rating while teacher-led strategies received the lowest ratings. Second, the popularity of the three online instructional strategies we have identified was positively associated with students’ perceived effectiveness of online teaching and their self-reported academic performance. Third, analysis of the quantified answers to the open-ended question reported a positive association between the perceived difficulty level of the courses and students’ preference of teacher-led strategies. It also manifested a positive correlation between perceived effectiveness level of the online teaching and the use of self-directed learning strategies before their online lectures. Further implications of the findings are fully discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contending with talker variability has been found to lead to processing costs but also benefits by focusing learners on invariant properties of the signal, indicating that talker variability acts as a desirable difficulty. That is, talker variability may lead to initial costs followed by long‐term benefits for retention and generalization. Adult participants learned an artificial grammar affording learning of multiple components in two experiments varying in difficulty. They learned from one, two, or eight talkers and were tested at three time points. The eight‐talker condition did not impact learning. The two‐talker condition negatively impacted some aspects of learning, but only under more difficult conditions. Generalization of the grammatical dependency was difficult. Thus, we discovered that high and limited talker variability can differentially impact artificial grammar learning. However, talker variability did not act as a desirable difficulty in the current paradigm as the few evidenced costs were not related to long‐term benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task difficulty is an important but complex phenomenon in Applied Linguistics, for which there is relatively little empirical research. This article discusses approaches to defining task difficulty and focuses on objective task difficulty derived from ratings of performances and on difficulty derived from an error count in the performances, thus taking errors as indicators of writing task difficulty. Errors are described in terms of the Scope–Substance error taxonomy in writing performances from the Slovene General Matura examination in English. The most frequent errors are located at word and phrase level. Generally, error frequency decreases as writing proficiency increases, but some error types do not conform to this trend. This is the case for punctuation errors, which gain prominence at higher levels of mastery. The results of this study are relevant for assessment, particularly for rating scale development or revision, and for rater training. They are equally relevant for teaching, since knowing sources of difficulty in tasks is a prerequisite for effective pedagogical action. More generally, if applied to performances based on a wider range of tasks, viewing errors as indicators of difficulty can lead to a better understanding of difficulty‐generating task features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated visual direction discrimination under the influence of motion aftereffect (MAE). Participants in each experiment first adapted to a horizontally drifting grating before deciding whether a drifting test grating moved to the left or right. A psychometric function was obtained as a function of the velocity of the test. Interestingly, in addition to the horizontal shift of the psychometric function that typified the MAE, the slope of the psychometric function became shallower after adaptation, indicating decreased discrimination sensitivity. However, this decrease was only observed in psychophysically experienced participants. Motivated, but psychophysically inexperienced participants only showed this effect after weeks of perceptual learning. This shallowing effect transferred to the untrained adaptation direction (e.g., from leftward adaptation to rightward), although perceptual learning of improved discrimination could not transfer. When the test duration was lengthened to reduce task difficulty, less training was needed to produce the same effect. These results indicate that, post-adaptation and when steady measurements could be obtained, left-right motion direction discrimination sensitivity was reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess difficulties in filling the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Bladder Diary (ICIQ-BD), determining the most troublesome items and patients' characteristics (age, education level, and professional activity) related to these difficulties.Methods: A text composed of a clinical history of a fictitious patient with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) was designed. 95 healthy volunteers (49 females, 46 males, mean age 45.6 ± 17.3 years) were asked to fill in the ICIQ-BD according to the data from the fictitious clinical history. Filling errors were analyzed, and patients' demographic characteristics tested as predictors.Results: Bladder Sensation Score is the most problematic item of the ICIQ-BD, with only 38% of patients accurately filling this item. No association was found between total number of errors and age or education level, but participants working in less specialized professions had more difficulty in filling the BD (mean: 7.00 vs 3.94 errors, P= .002).Conclusion: ICIQ-BD is a reliable tool to assess for LUTS, but filling the Bladder Sensation Score item was more likely to be incorrectly filled by manual workers and volunteers with less intellectually demanding current professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been suggested to counteract the oxidative stress and inflammation that characterize asthma. We aimed to assess the association between vegetable and fruit diversity consumption and asthma and its related outcomes in school‐aged children. Methods: Participants included 647 children (49% females, aged 7‐12 years) recruited from 20 public schools across the city of Porto, in Portugal. Vegetable intake and fruit intake were ascertained using a single self‐reported 24‐hour recall questionnaire. A diversity score was built taking into account the different number of individual vegetables and fruits consumed and categorized into two groups based on the total reported median consumption, which was rounded to the nearest whole number (≤3 and >3, for vegetables; and ≤1 and >1, for fruits). A questionnaire was used to enquire about self‐reported medical diagnosis of asthma and respiratory symptoms. Airway inflammation was assessed measuring exhaled fractional nitric oxide concentration (eNO) and was categorized into two groups (<35 and ≥35 ppb). The association between fruit and vegetable diversity and respiratory outcomes was examined using logistic regression models, adjusting for confounders. Results: A higher vegetable diversity consumption per day was negatively associated with having self‐reported asthma (OR = 0.67; 95% CI 0.47, 0.95), while having a vegetable diversity consumption superior to 3 items per day was negatively associated with levels of eNO ≥ 35 ppb (OR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.16, 0.88) and breathing difficulties (OR = 0.39; 95% CI 0.16, 0.97). Conclusion: Eating a greater variety of vegetables was associated with a lower chance of airway inflammation and prevalence of self‐reported asthma in school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research examined the calculation methods used by pupils in Grades 3–6 when they were presented with problems that could be worked out efficiently and flexibly by applying number sense. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 179 pupils between the ages 7 years and 10 months to 12 years and 10 months. in mainstream education in Israel, who attended schools belonging to different sectors and situated in different areas of the country with varied socioeconomic profiles. The test included addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems that pupils were asked to solve mentally, in writing and by identifying correctly and incorrectly solved problem. Some of the problems presented pupils with opportunities to apply number sense. As expected, the research findings showed significant differences in calculation accuracy between pupils with and without learning difficulties, especially in multiplication and division tasks. Still, the performance of pupils with difficulties in the accuracy variable was above average, and there was high variance within this group. We found significant differences between pupils with and without difficulties in the calculation-speed variable in all tasks and in all calculation modalities. One of the implications is that pupils, and especially those with difficulties, should be afforded enough time to work out problems, and should be presented with tasks that would enable them to use number sense in order to retrieve prior knowledge and apply it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple choice questions (MCQs) — also known as an item — is a common tool used in assessment. Objectives: to determine the post examination validity and reliability by item analysis of a multidisciplinary units in a problem-based learning curriculum. This includes the difficulty index (DIF-I), the discrimination index (DI) and the Distractor effectiveness (DE). Design: Cross sectional, retrospective Study. Setting: College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University Method: Item analysis of 700 items and 2800 distractors were analyzed Result: The mean DIF-I and DI were acceptable while the mean DE was variable. The reliability was in the acceptable ranges between 0.8 and 0.9. 53.68% of the distractors were non-functional distractors (NFDs). 49.81% were easy, 44.35% was acceptable and only 5.82% were difficult. The acceptable and excellent DI was almost equal; 39.79% and 42.07% respectively, whereas the poor DI was 18.13%. 37% of the items were considered ideal with acceptable difficulty and discrimination. The DI was maximum with DIF-I in the acceptable range. DE was indirectly related to the DIF-I. However, there was no relation between DE and DI. Conclusion: The mean DIF-I, DI, and DE were in acceptable ranges. A high percentage of items was easy, and a high percentage of distractors was NFS. These distractors need to be revised to improve the DIF-I, DI and DE parameters. The reliability of the exams was acceptable. We recommend doing item analysis after each examination to identify areas of potential weakness in each item and to improve the standard of students' assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear whether task representation generated in imagery simulates performance demands in reacting to stimuli. This study investigated whether perceptual and motor control processes used to react to unpredictable stimuli and initiate an ipsilateral movement were replicated during imagery. Fifty-nine undergraduate students (M age = 27.01 years, SD = 8.30) completed 30 simple, two-choice congruent and two-choice incongruent ipsilateral finger–foot movement trials in response to a physically presented or imagined stimulus. The results appear to indicate that participants were reacting to imagined and actual stimuli, as the ipsilateral finger–foot programming rule was maintained and reaction time initially slowed as task difficulty increased. These findings support theoretical similarities between imagery and physical performance of reaction tasks, with imagers generating and reacting to unpredictable stimuli. Slower imagery performance than physical performance on the two-choice incongruent task may indicate that task complexity is limited during imagery. Variation in results between the imagery and physical conditions potentially supports that imagers were able to react to the imagined stimulus. However, exploratory processes used to react to stimuli were not replicated during imagery. The present findings have potentially significant implications for the functional and applied use of imagery for skill acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generated information is better recognized and recalled than information that is read. This so‐called generation effect has been replicated several times for different types of material, including texts. Perhaps the most influential demonstration was by McDaniel et al. (1986, Journal of Memory and Language, 25, 645–656; henceforth MEDC). This group tested whether the generation effect occurs only if the generation task stimulates cognitive processes not already stimulated by the text. Numerous studies, however, report difficulties replicating this text by generation‐task interaction, which suggests that the effect might only be found under conditions closer to the original method of MEDC. To test this assumption, we will closely replicate MEDC's Experiment 2 in German and English‐speaking samples. Replicating the effect would suggest that it can be reproduced, at least under limited conditions, which will provide the necessary foundation for future investigations into the boundary conditions of this effect, with an eye towards its utility in applied contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory not only temporarily stores information but also actively processes information to perform complex cognitive tasks. Working memory components have different functions such as storing specific verbal and auditive information, visual and spatial information storage areas and there are components that control both systems. One way to retrieve stored information is by recall technique. This study used twelve concrete nouns tested in the form of 12 sequence formats. The twelve formats were tested on 120 people so that each format was tested on 10 participants. Each word produces scores based on achievement tests in each sequence. The participants of this study were adult individuals aged 19-30 years, consisting of 24 male and 96 female participants. Difficulty level (p) of each word, i.e the number of correct answers is divided by the number of total answerers, calculated in each order format. For each sequence a word is chosen with the difficulty level of p = 0.03-0.05. The participants of this study were adult individuals aged 19-30 years, consisting of 24 male and 96 female participants. This study developed a memory test of Indonesian nouns that had psychometric parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical education in Saudi medical colleges is delivered to students through a completely English language curriculum, whereas the practice that students face in the hospital is generally conducted in Arabic language settings. We suggest that the linguistic gap between the adopted medical curriculum and actual practice could influence students’ confidence and level of difficulty in history taking in Arabic. The study aimed to identify the effects of learning history taking in the English language on applying it in the medical student’s native language. Methods: This cross‑sectional design study was held in the College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU‑HS). The targeted sample size was 377 medical students from the fourth to the sixth year, and stratified random sampling was used. The questionnaire used was self‑developed, validated, and pilot tested in other medical colleges. The questionnaire asked about students’ confidence, the difficulty of Arabic history taking, and suggested strategies to improve the current curriculum. Results: The response rate was 290 participants (76.9%), males were 205 (71%), and 136 (47%) were in the fourth year. Agreement on feeling confident while taking history taking in Arabic was 98 (33.8%), 102 (35.2%) were neutral, and 90 (31%) disagreed. Moreover, 138 (47.6%) of students preferred training for Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in Arabic more than English, 86 (29.7%) were neutral, while 66 (22.8%) disagreed. The mean level of difficulty was 2.1 ± 0.7 (range 1‑ 5). Additionally, 198 (68%) of students suggested adding short Arabic history courses. Conclusion: Students considered history taking in Arabic as easy, even though they were not completely confident. Further efforts are needed to uplift students’ of confidence to optimal levels. Advances in Knowledge: Communication is the cornerstone of medical education as well as clinical practice. The study explores the impact of instruction language on the physician‑patient communication dynamic, providing better infrastructure for evidence‑based educational practice. Application to Patient Care: This study gives insight into the students’ level of preparation to practice in their local community and language. Furthermore, the study addresses strategies to enhance students communication skills and alleviate linguistic barriers in the physician‑patient encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many video games require complex, rapid sequences of skilled bodily movements in order to complete game-world tasks. It is not unreasonable to think that this might interfere with our ability to aesthetically appreciate such video games. I present two versions of this argument from extreme difficulty: a strong version and a weak version. While extant treatments of the aesthetics of video games can be used to rebut the strong version, the weak version remains recalcitrant. I develop a reply to the weak version, use it to clarify key features of reasons used by video-game critics to argue in favor of their critical judgments, and to illuminate the development of video games over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Practicing a motor task at a high difficulty level hindered skill consolidation. • Older adults were able to learn a motor skill after practice at lower difficulties. • Task difficulty modulated changes in brain activation after practice. • Alpha TR-Power only increased after practice with a low or medium difficulty level. While the difficulty of a motor task can act as a stimulus for learning in younger adults, it is unknown how task difficulty interacts with age-related reductions in motor performance and altered brain activation. We examined the effects of task difficulty on motor performance and used electroencephalography (EEG) to probe task-related brain activation after acquisition and 24-h retention of a mirror star-tracing skill in healthy older adults (N = 36, 65–86 years). The results showed that the difficulty of the motor skill affected both the magnitude of motor skill learning and the underlying neural mechanisms. Behavioral data revealed that practicing a motor task at a high difficulty level hindered motor skill consolidation. The EEG data indicated that task difficulty modulated changes in brain activation after practice. Specifically, a decrease in task-related alpha power in frontal and parietal electrodes was only present after practice of the skill at the low and medium, but not the high difficulty level. Taken together, our findings show that a failure to engage neural plasticity through practice of a high-difficulty task is accompanied by reduced motor skill retention in older adults. The data help us better understand how older adults learn new motor skills and might have implications for prescribing motor skill practice according to its difficulty in rehabilitation settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is emerging interest in performing regression between distributions. In contrast to prediction on single instances, these machine learning methods can be useful for population-based studies or on problems that are inherently statistical in nature. The recently proposed distribution regression network (DRN) [13] has shown superior performance for the distribution-to-distribution regression task compared to conventional neural networks. However, in Kou et al. [13] and some other works on distribution regression, there is a lack of comprehensive comparative study on both the theoretical basis and generalization abilities of the methods. We derive some mathematical properties of DRN and compare it to conventional neural networks. We also perform comprehensive experiments to study the generalizability of distribution regression models, by studying their performance with limited training data, data sampling noise and varying task difficulty. DRN consistently outperforms conventional neural networks, requiring fewer training data and maintaining strong performance with noise. Furthermore, the theoretical properties of DRN can be used to provide some explanations on the ability of DRN to achieve better generalization performance than conventional neural networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical behavior of a classifier depends strongly on the characteristics of the underlying imbalanced dataset; therefore, an analysis of intrinsic data complexity would appear to be vital in order to choose classifiers suitable for particular problems. Data complexity metrics (CMs), a fairly recent proposal, identify dataset features which imply some difficulty for the classification task and identify relationships with classifier accuracy. In this paper, we introduce two CMs for imbalanced datasets, which help in explaining the factors responsible for the deterioration in classifier performance. These metrics are based on the weighted k‐nearest neighbors approach. The experiments are performed in MATLAB software using 48 simulated datasets and 22 real‐world datasets for different choices of neighborhood size k considered as 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. The results help to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transection of rectum and fashioning of anastomosis is a crucial step in laparoscopic total mesorectal excision (TME) and the double-stapling technique (DST) is often employed. This study aimed to evaluate the factors that were associated with difficult DST.Method: Cases of laparoscopic TME were retrospectively reviewed. The clinico-anatomical parameters were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database. In addition, pelvic dimensions were taken by reviewing the magnetic resonance imaging scan. The number of stapler cartridges used for intracorporeal transection of rectum was used as a surrogate for the level of difficulty of DST and its relationship with various parameters were evaluated.Results: There were a total of 121 consecutive cases analyzed. The mean number of stapler cartridges used was 2.1 ± 0.7. Pelvic inlet (p = 0.002) and tumor height (p = 0.015) were predictors of the number of cartridges used, R2 = 0.366. A model was developed to predict the likelihood of transecting the rectum with two or less stapler cartridges, which included the following parameters: gender, pelvic inlet, interspinous distance, intertuberous distance, and tumor height. The predicted probability also correlated with overall operation time (p = 0.009) and anastomotic leakage (p = 0.023).Conclusion: The difficulty of DST was associated with patient's clinico-anatomical factors. Surgeons can consider other feasible alternatives, like transanal anastomosis, when a technically challenging DST is anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) suggests that performance increases if instructions fit with sportspersons' dispositions. Sportspersons who chronically focus on wins (i.e., promotion-oriented individuals) perform best if instructions frame the objective as a promotion goal (e.g., "Try to hit!"). By contrast, sportspersons who chronically focus on losses (i.e., prevention-oriented individuals) perform best if instructions frame the objective as a prevention goal (e.g., "Try not to miss!"). Recent theorizing also suggests that regulatory focus interacts with task difficulty. In an experiment, we assessed soccer performance as a function of chronic focus, instructional focus, and task difficulty. Results support that task difficulty moderates the effects of fit on performance; fitting instructions to match the sportsperson's chronic regulatory focus improved performance in the easy rather than the difficult task. Findings are discussed regarding the role of regulatory fit in altering subjective pressure during sports performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study evaluated the effect of task difficulty on feedback processing as measured by the feedback related event related potentials (ERPs) in 7–11-years-old children. Children completed two declarative learning tasks that differed in the number of object-name pairs they were required to learn, deeming the task with twice as many pairs as more difficult. EEG was recorded during the tasks, and event related potentials time-locked to the feedback presentation were analyzed. Additionally, Accuracy was measured in test block at the end of each task. Behaviorally, children achieved better accuracy on the easy task than on the difficult task. In line with previous findings in adults, the FRN was not found sensitive to task difficulty. However, a feedback-related P300 and a fronto-central positivity that followed the FRN were found sensitive to task difficulty such that their amplitudes were larger in the easy task. This pattern is opposite to that reported previously in adults and may reflect the effect of motivation on attention allocation in children. • The FRN was found sensitive to feedback valence, but not to task difficulty in children. • The FCP was found sensitive to valence and task difficulty, with large FCP following negative feedback in the easy task. • The P300 was found sensitive to feedback valence and to task difficulty (larger in the easy task). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting upcoming events using past observations is a crucial component of an efficient allocation of attentional resources. Therefore, the deployment of attention is sensitive to different types of cues predicting upcoming events. Here we investigated probabilistic inference abilities in spatial and feature-based attentional, as well as in motor-intentional subsystems, focusing specifically on the age-related changes in these abilities. In two behavioral experiments, younger and older adults (20 younger and 20 older adults for each experiment) performed three versions of a cueing paradigm, where spatial, feature, or motor cues predicted the location, color, or motor response of a target stimulus. The percentage of cue validity (i.e., the probability of the cue being valid) changed over time, thereby creating a volatile environment. A Bayesian hierarchical model was used to estimate trial-wise beliefs concerning the cue validity from reaction times and to derive a subject-specific belief updating parameter ω in each task version. We also manipulated task difficulty: participants performed an easier version of the task in Experiment 1 and a more difficult version in Experiment 2. Results from Experiment 1 suggested a preserved ability of older adults to use the three different cues to generate predictions. However, the increased task demands of Experiment 2 uncovered a difference in belief updating between the two age groups, indicating moderate evidence for a reduction of the ability to update predictions with motor intention cues in older adults. These results point at a distinction of attentional and motor-intentional subsystems, with age-related differences tackling especially the motor-intentional subsystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examines gender differences in challenge-seeking behavior in different work environments. We address the bottom end of the job spectrum with typical low-skill entry-level jobs, where the willingness to embrace new challenges is an important driver for professional advancement. The experimental results are based on a lab-in-the-field experiment with workers from a Swiss commercial cleaning company. Women are 43 percentage points less likely than men to accept a high-paying challenge in the control treatment with two levels of difficulty. In a slightly re-framed decision environment that offers a third, even more extreme, challenge to choose, female challenge-seeking increases by nearly 80%, while men's challenge-seeking remains at very high levels. This significantly reduces the gender wage gap in our setting. We discuss anchoring and the compromise effect as potential reasons for our result. This study contributes to the present debate on affirmative action, and suggests that minimally invasive interventions, like the presentation of challenges, may be a fruitful option to promote the success of women in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that addition and subtraction induce horizontal shifts of attention. Previous studies used single-digit (1d) problems or verification paradigms that lend themselves to alternative solution strategies beyond mental arithmetic. To measure spatial attention during the active production of solutions to complex two-digit arithmetic problems (2d) without manual motor involvement, we used a temporal order judgement (TOJ) paradigm in which two lateralised targets were sequentially presented on screen with a varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). Participants verbally indicated which target appeared first. By varying the delay between the arithmetic problem presentation and the TOJ task, we investigated how arithmetically induced attention shifts develop over time (Experiment 1, n = 31 and Experiment 2, n = 58). In Experiment 2, we additionally varied the carry property of the arithmetic task to examine how task difficulty modulates the effects. In the arithmetic task, participants were first presented with the arithmetic problem via headphones and performed the TOJ task after the delay before responding to the arithmetic task. To account for spontaneous attentional biases, a baseline TOJ was run without arithmetic processing. Both experiments revealed that addition induces shifts of spatial attention to the right suggesting that visuospatial attention mechanisms are recruited during complex arithmetic. We observed no difference in spatial attention between the carry and noncarry condition (Experiment 2). No shifts were observed for subtraction problems. No common and conclusive influence of delay was observed across experiments. Qualitative differences between addition and subtraction and the role of task difficulty are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bsml and multi-ml languages have been designed for programming, à laml, algorithms of the respectively bsp and multi-bsp bridging models. multi-bsp is an extension of the well-know bsp model by taking into account the different levels of networks and memories of modern hierarchical architectures. This is a rather new model, as well as multi-ml is a new language, while bsp and bsml have been used for a long time in many different domains. Intuitively, designing and programming multi-bsp algorithms seems more complex than with bsp, and one can ask whether it is beneficial to rewrite bsp algorithms using the multi-bsp model. In this paper, we thus investigate the pro and cons of the aforementioned models and languages by experimenting with them on different typical applications. For this, we use a methodology to measure the level of difficulty of writing code and we also benchmark them in order to show whether writing multi-ml code is worth the effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: While better technical performance correlates with improved outcomes, there is a lack of procedure-specific tools to perform video-based assessment (VBA). SAGES is developing a series of VBA tools with enough validity evidence to allow reliable measurement of surgeon competence. A task force was established to develop a VBA tool for laparoscopic fundoplication using an evidence-based process that can be replicated for additional procedures. The first step in this process was to seek content validity evidence.Methods: Forty-two subject matter experts (SME) in laparoscopic fundoplication were interviewed to obtain consensus on procedural steps, identify potential variations in technique, and to generate an inventory of required skills and common errors. The results of these interviews were used to inform creation of a task inventory questionnaire (TIQ) that was delivered to a larger SME group (n = 188) to quantify the criticality and difficulty of the procedural steps, the impact of potential errors associated with each step, the technical skills required to complete the procedure, and the likelihood that future techniques or technologies may change the presence or importance of any of these factors. Results of the TIQ were used to generate a list of steps, skills, and errors with strong validity evidence.Results: Initial SMEs interviewed included fellowship program directors (45%), recent fellows (24%), international surgeons (19%), and highly experienced super SMEs with quality outcomes data (12%). Qualitative analysis of interview data identified 6 main procedural steps (visualization, hiatal dissection, fundus mobilization, esophageal mobilization, hiatal repair, and wrap creation) each with 2-5 sub steps. Additionally, the TIQ identified 5-10 potential errors for each step and 11 key technical skills required to perform the procedure. Based on the TIQ, the mean criticality and difficulty scores for the 11/21 sub steps included in the final scoring rubric is 4.66/5 (5 = absolutely essential for patient outcomes) and 3.53/5 (5 = difficulty level requires significant experience and use of alternative strategies to accomplish consistently), respectively. The mean criticality and frequency scores for the 9/11 technical skills included is 4.51/5 and 4.51/5 (5 = constantly used ≥ 80% of the time), respectively. The mean impact score of the 42/47 errors incorporated into the final rubric is 3.85/5 (5 = significant error that is unrecoverable, or even if recovered, likely to have a negative impact on patient outcome).Conclusions: A rigorous, multi-method process has documented the content validity evidence for the SAGES video-based assessment tool for laparoscopic fundoplication. Work is ongoing to pilot the assessment tool on recorded fundoplication procedures to establish reliability and further validity evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to diagnose mathematical abilities in preschool children aged 5 to 7 on the basis of geometry and, subject to the results obtained, to recommend targeted pedagogical interventions with respect to the preschoolers found to have deficits in knowledge and skills. The research was conducted in the Biała Podlaska Laboratory of Psycho-Motor Skills in Poland in June 2018. A SensoMotoric Instrument eye-tracking device and the i ViewX platform registering data with a frame rate of 250 Hz was used. Using a special measurement system, the device can track and record the eye movements of an analysed person in a sequence and at a specific speed. The analysis of the data was performed with the application of the BeGaze 3.4 software. To demonstrate the differences between the correctness of task performance and the age and gender of the children, a Pearson's Chi squared test was performed. To analyse the time that children from the study group needed to perform specific tasks, Student's t test was employed. In all analysed cases, the significance level p =.05 was assumed. The results of the research involving the studied group of children (N = 176) demonstrated differences in the level of geometric skills. Regarding biological variables, such as gender and age, statistically significant differences were observed with respect to the age of the studied group. Distinguishing between plane shapes did not cause any problems in comparison with the tasks which required analytical thinking. The most evident distinctions were observed between children aged 5 and older children (6 and 7 years old). The level of difficulty of the tasks was a factor that affected the time needed to provide answers irrespective of gender. The level of geometric performance of the majority of the studied children was normal. Nonetheless, individual targeted interventions should be considered with respect to certain children with mathematical problems in order to improve their geometric skills before they start school education. The development of pedagogical interventions should be preceded by a targeted diagnosis of unsatisfactory performance and progress with respect to elementary mathematical skill acquisition. Teachers should be inspired to use innovative methods and techniques in their didactic practise in order to motivate children to study geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regularity of acoustic rhythms allows predicting a target embedded within a stream thereby improving detection performance and reaction times in spectral detection tasks. In two experiments we examine whether temporal regularity enhances perceptual sensitivity and reduces reaction times using a temporal shift detection task. Participants detected temporal shifts embedded at different positions within a sequence of quintet–sounds. Narrowband quintets were centered around carrier frequencies of 200 Hz, 1100 Hz, or 3100 Hz and presented at presentation rates between 1–8 Hz. We compared rhythmic sequences to control conditions where periodicity was reduced or absent and tested whether perceptual benefits depend on the presentation rate, the spectral content of the sounds, and task difficulty. We found that (1) the slowest rate (1 Hz) led to the largest behavioral effect on sensitivity. (2) This sensitivity improvement is carrier-dependent, such that the largest improvement is observed for low-frequency (200 Hz) carriers compared to 1100 Hz and 3100 Hz carriers. (3) Moreover, we show that the predictive value of a temporal cue and that of a temporal rhythm similarly affect perceptual sensitivity. That is, both the cue and the rhythm induce confident temporal expectancies in contrast to an aperiodic rhythm, and thereby allow to effectively prepare and allocate attentional resources in time. (4) Lastly, periodic stimulation reduces reaction times compared to aperiodic stimulation, both at perceptual threshold as well as above threshold. Similarly, a temporal cue allowed participants to optimally prepare and thereby respond fastest. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that periodicity leads to optimized predictions and processing of forthcoming input and thus to behavioral benefits. Predictable temporally cued sounds provide a similar perceptual benefit to periodic rhythms, despite an additional uncertainty of target position within periodic sequences. Several neural mechanisms may underlie our findings, including the entrainment of oscillatory activity of neural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The usefulness of discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to inform clinical guidelines rests on the assumption that patients facing the same treatment choice at different points in time will express the same preferences. This study provides the first investigation, to our knowledge, to specifically focus on the stability of patients' treatment preferences over the course of a clinical trial.Methods: The same DCE was completed by participants at baseline and final post-treatment assessment in a trial of the efficacy of alternative topical treatments for actinic keratosis as a means for the prevention of skin cancer. The study assesses both the consistency of stated treatment choices and the stability of population-level preference parameter estimates and analyzes how the former is influenced by design aspects of the DCE.Results: No evidence was found of population-level preference parameter instability over the course of the trial despite only a moderate strength of choice consistency. Choice consistency is negatively related to task difficulty with weak evidence of the existence of ordering effects over the sequence of choice tasks.Conclusions: The results provide no evidence that the timing of a DCE within a clinical trial significantly influences population-level treatment preference estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature suggests that simple expert (mathematical) models can improve the quality of decisions, but people are not always eager to accept and endorse such models. We ran three online experiments to test the receptiveness to advice from computerized expert models. Middle‐ and high‐school teachers (N = 435) evaluated student profiles that varied in several personal and task relevant factors. They were offered (Studies I and II), or could ask for (Study III), advice from either expert models or human advisors. Overall, teachers requested and followed advice of expert models less frequently than advice from humans. Task‐relevant factors (task difficulty) seem to be more salient than personal factors for teachers' willingness to receive advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increased risk of falling is associated with changes in gait while dual-tasking. The degree to which gait stability is altered during walking is influenced by an individual's cognitive and postural capacity, and the difficulty of the presented tasks. However, it is unknown how greater walking task difficulty affects gait stability in younger and older adults when dual-tasking. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of walking task difficulty on gait stability in younger and older adults while performing a difficult audiospatial task. Ten younger [mean (SD) age 30.8 (6.6) years; 5 women] and 10 older [66.8 (5.7) years; 6 women] healthy adults walked on a treadmill at their preferred walking speed [younger 4.8 (0.4) ms−1, older 4.5 (0.5) ms−1) on either a level, or downhill slope both with and without responding to an audiospatial task. Step width, step width SD and mediolateral centre of mass displacement were calculated to determine changes in gait, and response time and accuracy were calculated to determine secondary task performance. Results indicated that older adults displayed a consistently greater step width (p ≤ 0.015) and maintained their mediolateral centre of mass displacement (p > 0.05) while walking downhill and responding to the audiospatial task, compared to downhill walking only. In contrast, younger adults maintained a regular step width during both level and downhill dual-tasking compared to level and downhill walking only (p > 0.05), however displayed a lower mediolateral centre of mass displacement during level dual-task walking compared to level walking only (p = 0.013). When the difficulty of the walking task was greater, older adults increased their step width, which increased their stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Bipartite network analyses are increasingly being used to better understand mutualistic and antagonistic plant–insect interactions at the community level. As a result of taxonomic limitations, it is usually very difficult to identify all nodes of a network down to the species level and many studies leave some specimens identified as lower resolution taxa. Accordingly, we do not know how much a lower resolution taxonomic representation changes the network structure compared with a representation with all nodes at species level. 2. The present study aimed to test whether insect–plant networks built using different combinations of taxonomic levels can still preserve the same basic structure of networks built only with species. 3. In total, 73 bipartite published interaction networks (mutualistic and antagonistic) were selected, which were turned into binary networks and reconstructed using the nodes classified as species, genus, family or order (representing different levels of classification difficulty). The network structures were compared using their binary representations mainly using connectance, NODF (Nestedness metric based on Overlap and Decreasing Fill) and modularity. 4. The mutualistic network structure was strongly linearly related to the original network structures if all nodes were grouped up to genus level. In antagonistic networks, the structure was related to the original network only if nodes were only grouped at the species level. 5. The findings of the present study are especially helpful for comparative network studies, such as those assessing the effects of environmental gradients. For mutualistic networks, Citizen Science programmes can provide useful ecological indicators, even with its taxonomic limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Endodontic treatment works as a successful treatment modality in several cases. However, it may fail due to some reasons unforeseeable by the dentist. Many failures can be prevented by carefully assessing the difficulty level of the case before initiating treatment or by referral to a specialist. This study presents an approach using machine learning to generate an algorithm which can help predict the difficulty level of the case and decide about a referral, with the help of the standard American Association of Endodontists (AAE) Endodontic Case Difficulty Assessment Form. Materials and methods: Using the AAE Endodontic Case Difficulty Form after obtaining the patients' consent, 500 potential root canal patients were diagnosed. The filled forms were assessed by two pre-calibrated endodontists, and, in cases of conflicting opinion, a third endodontist's opinion was taken. Artificial neural network was used for generating the algorithm. Results: Using 500 filled AAE forms, a sensitivity of 94.96% was achieved by the machine learning algorithm. Conclusion: This study provides an option for automation to the conventional method of predicting the difficulty level of a case, thus increasing the speed of decision-making and referrals if necessary. Clinical relevance: An AAE Endodontic Case Difficulty Assessment Form when utilized along with machine learning can assist general dentists in rapid assessment of the case difficulty. This is a helpful tool in developing countries, where endodontic treatment and referral guidelines are often neglected. It also helps to make difficulty level assessments easier for novice practitioners, when they are in doubt about the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A recent study analysing the experience of fellowship‐trained early adopting surgeons during stage 3 of the IDEAL paradigm demonstrated that the learning curve (LC) of minimally invasive hepatectomy (MIH) can be shortened compared to the long steep LC of pioneering surgeons. In this study, we aimed to critically appraise the contemporary learning experience with MIH of a 'self‐taught' early adopter during stage 3 of the IDEAL paradigm. Methods: A review of the first 200 patients who underwent MIH over an 88‐month period since 2011 by a single surgeon who had no prior training in MIH was conducted. The cohort was divided into four groups of 50 patients. Risk‐adjusted cumulative sum analysis of the LC was performed. Results: Two hundred patients underwent MIH and there were 13 (6.5%) open conversions. There were 55 (27.5%) major resections and 94 (47.0%) were graded as high/expert difficulty according to the Iwate criteria. Fifty‐one (25.5%) patients had cirrhosis and 98 (49%) had previous abdominal surgery including 28 (14%) with previous liver resections. There were five (2.5%) major (Grade 3b–5) morbidities, zero 30‐day mortality and one (0.5%) 90‐day mortality. Comparison across the four groups demonstrated a significant trend towards increased adoption of total MIH, increased multifocal tumours, increased performance of major hepatectomies and decreased blood loss. Risk‐adjusted cumulative sum analysis demonstrated that the LC in terms of blood loss, blood transfusion rate, open conversion rate, operation time and post‐operative length of stay to be 65 cases. The LC for MIH of Iwate low/intermediate difficulty and of Iwate high/expert difficulty were 35 and 30 cases, respectively. Conclusion: MIH of all difficulty levels is feasible and can be safely adopted today even by surgeons with no prior formal training. The LC of the 'self‐taught' early adopter is about 65 cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine if using a standing desk would affect the productivity of workers, based on the type of work they perform.Background: Standing desks are a promising new health intervention in the workplace, but users and employers often require more specific recommendations related to productivity, such as the type of work that is more suited for the standing desk.Method: Thirty-seven young and healthy adults performed eight cognitive tasks in a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subject design of the following independent variables: posture (sitting/standing), task difficulty (easy/hard), and input device (computer mouse/tactile screen) in a counterbalanced order.Results: Our results revealed that using a standing desk had no negative effect on performance or perception, but it did lead to increased brain activity in the alpha band for the parietal region (β = 0.186, p = .001).Conclusion: We conclude that users of standing desks can freely stand for any level of task difficulty for work that involves working memory. However, more research is needed to generalize these results to other types of cognitive abilities and prolonged use of standing desks.Application: Our results simplify recommendations for workers as they do not need to worry about the type of work they are performing when using a standing desk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]