Background Although, moral distress presents a serious problem among critical care nurses in many countries, limited research has been conducted on it. A validated scale has been developed to evaluate moral distress and has enabled cross-cultural comparison for seeking its root causes. Research aims This study aimed to (1) clarify the current status of moral distress among nurses who worked in critical care areas in Japan, (2) compare the moral distress levels among nurses in Japan with previously reported results from (...) the United States (US), and (3) explore the factors associated with moral distress. Research design A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants and research context We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey using the Measure of Moral Distress–Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) among critical care nurses who were randomly selected from hospitals across Japan. The mean differences between the two countries were compared using a Student's t-test with summary statistics. The factors associated with higher levels of moral distress were examined using a multiple regression analysis. Ethical considerations The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214 and M2019-045). Results We obtained 955 valid responses from 94 facilities. In Japan, the items with the highest moral distress scores were those related to aggressive/inappropriate treatment. The total MMD-HP score was significantly higher in Japanese nurses compared to US nurses (122.8 ± 70.8 vs 112.3 ± 73.2). Some factors, such as leadership experience, were associated with higher moral distress. Discussion The top root causes of moral distress were similar to potentially inappropriate treatments in both countries. Conclusion This study revealed the factors associated with higher moral distress and its characteristics in each country. These results can be used for reducing moral distress in the future. (shrink)

Background: Moral distress has various adverse effects on nurses working in critical care. Differences in personal values, and between values and self-perception of behaviour are factors that may cause moral distress. Research aims: The aims of this study were (1) to identify ethical values and self-perception of behaviour of critical care nurses in Japan and (2) to determine the items with a large difference between value and behaviour and the items with a large difference in value from others. Research design: (...) A nationwide, cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants and research context: We developed a self-administered questionnaire with 28 items, which was completed by 1014 critical care nurses in Japan. The difference between value and self-perception of behaviour was calculated from the score of each value item minus the score of each self-perception of behaviour item. The size of the difference in value from the others was judged by the standard deviation of each item. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214, M2019-045). Results: The items with a large difference between value and behaviour sources were related to the working environment and decision-making support. The items with a large difference in value from others were related to hospital management and disclosure of information to patients. Discussion: Improving the working environment for nurses is important for reducing moral distress. Nurses are faced with a variety of choices, including advocating for patients and protecting the fair distribution of medical resources, and each nurse’s priorities might diverge from those of other team members, which can lead to conflict within the team. Conclusion: This study revealed items with particularly high risks of moral distress for nurses. The results provide foundational information that can guide the development of strategies to mitigate moral distress. (shrink)

This work deals with some important questions about the begginings of Greek prose. Ionian prose, as the more significative literary tradition in philosophy and history, is usually connected to the emergence of rational and critical thinking in Greece. However, the beginnings of Greek prose is involved in many institutional, social, technical and intellectual problems in the sixth century BC.

A total of 366 UK children in four different schools, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and two in England, were asked to respond to 20 potentially stressful life experiences. Each event was rated on a scale ranging from 7 to 1 , and the scale value and interquartile range were calculated. In addition, whether or not a given event was actually experienced was noted. Across the groups, there was a very high degree of agreement on all three measures, (...) the median correlations being 0.95 for scale values, 0.70 for interquartile ranges, and 0.92 for incidence. Furthermore, the pooled UK results were found to correlate equally closely with the figures previously obtained in the USA and five other countries. The possibility of a prevalent ‘culture of childhood’, cutting across geo‐political boundaries and ethnic groupings, appears to receive further support. (shrink)

In a typical reversal-learning experiment, one learns stimulus–outcome contingencies that then switch without warning. For instance, participants might have to repeatedly choose between two faces, one of which yields points whereas the other does not, with a reversal at some point in which face yields points. The current study examined age differences in the effects of outcome type on reversal learning. In the first experiment, the participants’ task was either to select the person who would be in a better mood (...) or to select the person who would yield more points. Reversals in which face was the correct option occurred several times. Older adults did worse in blocks in which the correct response was to select the person who would not be angry than in blocks in which the correct response was to select the person who would smile. Younger adults did not show a difference by emotional valence. In the second study, the negative condition was switched to have the same format as the positive condition (to select who will be angry). Again, older adults did worse with negative than positive outcomes, whereas younger adults did not show a difference by emotional valence. A third experiment replicated the lack of valence effects in younger adults with a harder probabilistic reversal-learning task. In the first two experiments, older adults performed about as well as younger adults in the positive conditions but performed worse in the negative conditions. These findings suggest that negative emotional outcomes selectively impair older adults’ reversal learning. (shrink)

「カワイイ」価値をめぐる冒険の旅へ。「カワイイ」に代表されるポピュラーな感性的価値に、一流の研究者たちが学問領域の枠を超えて真摯に向き合う。社会のダイナミズムとメカニズムの実態に迫る、シリーズ第二弾。 .

Experimental phenomenology has demonstrated that perception is much richer than stimulus. As is seen in color perception, one and the same stimulus provides more than several modes of appearance or perceptual dimensions. Similarly, there are various perceptual dimensions in form perception. Even a simple geometrical figure inducing visual illusion gives not only perceptual impressions of size, shape, slant, depth, and orientation, but also affective or aesthetic impressions. The present study reviews our experimental phenomenological work on visual illusion and experimental aesthetics, (...) and examines how aesthetic preference is influenced by stimulus factors determining visual illusions including anomalous surface and transparency as well as geometrical illusion. Along with line figures producing geometrical illusions, illusory surface figures inducing neon color spreading and transparency effects were used as test patterns. Participants made both of psychophysical judgments and of aesthetic judgments for the same test pattern. Both of geometrical illusions and aesthetic preferences were found to change similarly as a function of stimulus variables such as the number of filling lines and the size ratio of the inner and outer figural components. Also, following specific stimulus variables such as lightness contrast ratio and spatial interval between inducing figural elements (so called ``packmen''), strong effects of color spreading and transparency were accompanied with strong preferences. It seems that the paradigm to investigate aesthetic phenomena along with perceptual dimensions is useful to bridge the gap between experimental phenomenology and experimental aesthetics. (shrink)

In a legal expert system based on CBR (Case-Based Reasoning), legal statute rules are interpreted on the basis of precedents. This interpretation, because of its vagueness and uncertainty of the interpretation cannot be handled with the means used for crisp cases. In our legal expert system, on the basis of the facts of precedents, the statute rule is interpreted as a form of case rule, the application of which involves the concepts of membership and vagueness. The case rule is stored (...) in a data base by means of fuzzy frames. The inference based on a case rule is made by fuzzy YES and fuzzy NO, and the degree of similarity of cases. The system proposed here will be used for legal education; its main area of application is contract, especially in relation to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). (shrink)

Japanese English learners have difficulty speaking Double Object (DO; give B A) than Prepositional Object (PO; give A to B) structures which neural underpinning is unknown. In speaking, syntactic and phonological processing follow semantic encoding, conversion of non-verbal mental representation into a structure suitable for expression. To test whether DO difficulty lies in linguistic or prelinguistic process, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty participants described cartoons using DO or PO, or simply named them. Greater reaction times and error rates (...) indicated DO difficulty. DO compared with PO showed parieto-frontal activation including left inferior frontal gyrus, reflecting linguistic process. Psychological priming in PO produced immediately after DO and vice versa compared to after control, indicated shared process between PO and DO. Cross-structural neural repetition suppression was observed in occipito-parietal regions, overlapping the linguistic system in pre-SMA. Thus DO and PO share prelinguistic process, whereas linguistic process imposes overload in DO. (shrink)

The progression of research and scholarly inquiry does not occur in isolation and is wholly dependent on accurate reporting of methods and results, and successful replication of prior work. Without mechanisms to correct the literature, much time and money is wasted on research based on a crumbling foundation. These guidelines serve to outline the respective responsibilities of researchers, institutions, agencies, and publishers or editors in maintaining the integrity of the research record. Delineating these complementary roles and proposing solutions for common (...) barriers provide a foundation for best practices. (shrink)