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Troubleshooting is an important part of experimental research, but graduate students rarely receive formal training in this skill. In this article, we describe an initiative called Pipettes and Problem Solving that we developed to teach troubleshooting skills to graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. An experienced researcher presents details of a hypothetical experiment that has produced unexpected results, and students have to propose new experiments that will help identify the source of the problem. We also provide slides and other resources that can be used to facilitate problem solving and teach troubleshooting skills at other institutions.

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Background: Due to the lack of complexity and variety of stimuli, conventional housing conditions of laboratory mice do not allow these animals to fully express their behavioral repertoire, including manipulative and cognitive activities. Therefore, we designed mechanical puzzles, so-called lockboxes, for mice that can be provided in their home cages. We investigated the impact of the lockbox enrichment on their phenotype and affective state when compared to conventional housing (CH) and super-environmental enrichment (SEE). Methods: Young adult female C57BL/6JCrl mice were examined before and after 2-month exposure to the different types of enrichment in a phenotyping test battery, including tests for trait and state anxiety-related behavior, calorimetric measurements, body weight measurements, the analysis of stress hormone metabolite concentrations, and sequential problem-solving abilities with a novel lockbox. At the end of the study, adrenal gland weights were determined and pathohistological evaluation was performed. For all continuous variables, the relative variability was calculated. Results: While the different types of enrichment affected trait anxiety-related behavior, neither state anxiety-related behavior nor physiological variables (i.e., bodyweight, resting metabolic rate, stress hormone metabolite concentrations, adrenal gland weights) were influenced. LE improved sequential problem-solving (i.e., solving novel lockboxes) when compared to SEE. Regardless of the housing condition, the relative variability increased in most variables over time, although the coefficient of variation decreased for some variables, especially in animals with access to LE. There was no evidence of toxicopathological effects associated with the material from which the lockboxes were made. Conclusions: All lockboxes are available as open-source tool. LE revealed beneficial effects on the affective state of laboratory mice and their performance in solving novel lockboxes. Neither relevant phenotype of the mice nor reproducibility of the data were compromised by LE, similar to SEE. The lockboxes may also be used as novel approach for assessing cognition in mice.

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Individuals revise their beliefs based on the evidential strength of others' claims. Unlike English, in languages such as Turkish evidential marking is obligatory; speakers must express whether their claims are based on direct observation or not. We investigated whether Turkish- and English-speaking 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 146; 72 girls; based in Turkey and Canada) differed in their belief revision after hearing claims based on direct observation, indirect observation, or inference. We found the same pattern in both linguistic groups; the 3-year-olds revised their beliefs more often when they heard claims based on direct observation and inference than on indirect observation, whereas the 5-year-olds showed no difference across different claims. By age 3, Turkish- and English-speaking children are sensitive to the strength of claims when revising their beliefs.

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Due to consistent cassava cultivation, small-scale processing centers rely heavily on the cassava grater. However, these machines face stagnation in innovation and design evolution, leading to inefficiencies, limited capacity, and inconsistent output. Adding to these challenges is the competitive global market, demanding a focus on design enhancements. This study employs a multi-faceted approach involving the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) to prioritize customer requirements, propose technically aligned solutions, and offer innovative design options for cassava graters. A total of 10 customer requirements (CR), 21 technical solutions (TS), and 63 innovative design options (IDO) were established and prioritized, aiming for easy adoption by fabricators, engineers, manufacturers, and artisans. Implementing these insights boosts cassava grater efficiency and productivity and significantly advances knowledge. This work presents a thorough scientific framework for product design, empowering local manufacturers to remain viable and relevant in the rapidly changing field of product enhancement.

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OBJECTIVE: Aim: To assess the initial results of using 3 Tesla contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging in Ukraine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and Methods: Our study included 498 diagnostic breast magnetic resonance imaging performed in Neuromed medical center in Kyiv, between March 2020 and December 2022. Patients were positioned prone, with breasts suspended in a dedicated 7-channel bilateral breast coil. MR-images were acquired with the PHILIPS Achieva 3.0Tesla x-series scanner. All studies were made by standard protocol: localizer, morphological and dynamic studies were performed. RESULTS: Results: Our study revealed a statistically significant increase in problem-solving contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance examinations compared to other indications. Additionally, we observed a higher incidence of women with a greater amount of fibroglandular tissue (p-value<0.05). CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The utilization of 3Tesla contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging has become prevalent in Ukraine as a problem-solving tool for inconclusive findings in ultrasound (US) or/and mammography (MG). It is particularly useful in preoperative local breast cancer staging for women with a significant amount of fibroglandular breast tissue. However, the implementation of breast magnetic resonance imaging in Ukraine is in its nascent stages and requires further investigation, especially in middle-income country settings.

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OBJECTIVE: Cognitive function may contribute to variability in older adults' ability to cope with chronic stress; however, limited research has evaluated this relationship. This study investigated the relationship between theoretically derived coping domains and cognitive function in 165 middle-to-older adults during the Omicron stage of COVID-19. METHOD: Participants completed a clinical interview and self-report measures of health. The National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set neuropsychological battery was used to evaluate memory, language, executive function/speed, and working memory. Structural equation modeling evaluated the underlying factor structure of the Brief COPE adapted for COVID-19. RESULTS: The data supported the proposed second-order Approach factor comprised of Problem-Solving and Emotion Regulation (ER) strategies and a first-order Avoidance factor. Higher Avoidance was associated with greater depression symptoms, lower income and worse memory, executive function, working memory, and verbal fluency performance. Higher Problem-Solving was associated with better verbal fluency performance. ER strategies were not significantly associated with cognitive function. The use of Problem-Solving was not associated with less Avoidance. Greater use of Problem-Solving, ER, and Avoidance were all associated with higher levels of stress. Post-hoc analyses found that higher Acceptance was the only coping strategy associated with less stress. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that older adults with worse cognitive function were more likely to use Avoidance during the pandemic, which could result in prolonged stress and adverse health consequences. Future research is warranted to investigate whether acceptance-based interventions reduce the avoidance and impact of stress on health in vulnerable older adults.

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BACKGROUND: ChatGPT has been tested in health care, including the US Medical Licensing Examination and specialty exams, showing near-passing results. Its performance in the field of anesthesiology has been assessed using English board examination questions; however, its effectiveness in Korea remains unexplored. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the problem-solving performance of ChatGPT in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine in the Korean language context, highlighted advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), and explored its potential applications in medical education. METHODS: We investigated the performance (number of correct answers/number of questions) of GPT-4, GPT-3.5, and CLOVA X in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine, using in-training examinations that have been administered to Korean anesthesiology residents over the past 5 years, with an annual composition of 100 questions. Questions containing images, diagrams, or photographs were excluded from the analysis. Furthermore, to assess the performance differences of the GPT across different languages, we conducted a comparative analysis of the GPT-4's problem-solving proficiency using both the original Korean texts and their English translations. RESULTS: A total of 398 questions were analyzed. GPT-4 (67.8%) demonstrated a significantly better overall performance than GPT-3.5 (37.2%) and CLOVA-X (36.7%). However, GPT-3.5 and CLOVA X did not show significant differences in their overall performance. Additionally, the GPT-4 showed superior performance on questions translated into English, indicating a language processing discrepancy (English: 75.4% vs Korean: 67.8%; difference 7.5%; 95% CI 3.1%-11.9%; P=.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores the potential of AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in medical education and practice but emphasizes the need for cautious application and further refinement, especially in non-English medical contexts. The findings suggest that although AI advancements are promising, they require careful evaluation and development to ensure acceptable performance across diverse linguistic and professional settings.

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Creative problem-solving can be impeded by mental impasses which are caused by fixation on associated but misguiding ideas. Recently, research has focused on the question of which processes might be involved in overcoming fixation and how it can be prevented from occurring altogether. In the present study, we investigated whether initially encoded fixation words can be forgotten by means of item-method directed forgetting, a procedure in which participants are presented with a series of items that are each followed by a remember cue or forget cue. Here, the series of items partly consisted of words that were misleadingly associated with compound remote associate problems that had to be solved later on. Two groups were compared: For one group, fixation words were followed by forget cues (fixation-F), whereas for the other group, they were followed by a remember cue (fixation-R). Results revealed three major findings: (1) The fixation-R group showed typical detrimental effects of fixation (i.e., impaired problem-solving performance), whereas there was no significant fixation effect in the fixation-F group, and (2) the magnitude of fixation was positively related to memory for fixation words. The present findings add to existing literature about how fixation negatively affects creative problem-solving and how it can be prevented by reducing the activation level of misleading thoughts.

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BACKGROUND: Health professionals need to be prepared for interdisciplinary research collaborations aimed at the development and implementation of medical technology. Expertise is highly domain-specific, and learned by being immersed in professional practice. Therefore, the approaches and results from one domain are not easily understood by experts from another domain. Interdisciplinary collaboration in medical research faces not only institutional, but also cognitive and epistemological barriers. This is one of the reasons why interdisciplinary and interprofessional research collaborations are so difficult. To explain the cognitive and epistemological barriers, we introduce the concept of disciplinary perspectives. Making explicit the disciplinary perspectives of experts participating in interdisciplinary collaborations helps to clarify the specific approach of each expert, thereby improving mutual understanding. METHOD: We developed a framework for making disciplinary perspectives of experts participating in an interdisciplinary research collaboration explicit. The applicability of the framework has been tested in an interdisciplinary medical research project aimed at the development and implementation of diffusion MRI for the diagnosis of kidney cancer, where the framework was applied to analyse and articulate the disciplinary perspectives of the experts involved. RESULTS: We propose a general framework, in the form of a series of questions, based on new insights from the philosophy of science into the epistemology of interdisciplinary research. We explain these philosophical underpinnings in order to clarify the cognitive and epistemological barriers of interdisciplinary research collaborations. In addition, we present a detailed example of the use of the framework in a concrete interdisciplinary research project aimed at developing a diagnostic technology. This case study demonstrates the applicability of the framework in interdisciplinary research projects. CONCLUSION: Interdisciplinary research collaborations can be facilitated by a better understanding of how an expert's disciplinary perspectives enables and guides their specific approach to a problem. Implicit disciplinary perspectives can and should be made explicit in a systematic manner, for which we propose a framework that can be used by disciplinary experts participating in interdisciplinary research project. Furthermore, we suggest that educators can explore how the framework and philosophical underpinning can be implemented in HPE to support the development of students' interdisciplinary expertise.

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Evidence of detour ability to reach a salient goal in marine fishes (Chromis viridis, Chrysiptera parasema, Dascyllus aruanus) and freshwater fishes (Xenotoca eiseni, Danio rerio) has been observed using a "four-compartment box task" with an opaque barrier. The first experiment investigated this ability in marine fishes (Chromis viridis, Chrysiptera parasema, Dascyllus aruanus). Fish were placed in a four-compartment box, with social stimuli not accessible due to an opaque barrier. Two symmetrical apertures midline in the corridor allowed the fish to temporarily abandon the goal's view and attempt to circumvent the barrier. Marine fish showed searching behavior in the two compartments near the social stimuli. In the second experiment, the detour abilities of a marine fish (Dascyllus aruanus) and two freshwater fishes (Xenotoca eiseni, Danio rerio) were compared using a modified version of the apparatus, with elongated compartments continuing further from the obstacle barrier and social stimuli. This enabled the evaluation of the dependence on effective distance to achieve the social goal. Both marine and freshwater fish exhibited detour skills. Additionally, Danio rerio's differential spatial explorations inside compartments supported an active interest in searching for conspecifics, suggesting possible social object permanence retention. Overall, these results highlight the ecological salience of detour skills in fishes, irrespective of species-specific adaptations.

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The process data in computer-based problem-solving evaluation is rich in valuable implicit information. However, its diverse and irregular structure poses challenges for effective feature extraction, leading to varying degrees of information loss in existing methods. Process-response behavior exhibits similarities to textual data in terms of the key units and contextual relationships. Despite the scarcity of relevant research, exploring text analysis methods for feature recognition in process data is significant. This study investigated the efficacy of Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) and Word to Vector (Word2vec) in extracting response behavior features and compared the predictive, analytical, and clustering effects of classical machine learning methods (supervised and unsupervised) on response behavior. An analysis of the PISA 2012 computer-based problem-solving dataset revealed that TF-IDF effectively extracted key response behaviors, whereas Word2vec captured effective features from sequenced response behaviors. In addition, in supervised machine learning using both methods, the random forest model based on TF-IDF performed the best, followed by the SVM model based on Word2vec. Word2vec-based models outperformed TF-IDF-based ones in the F1-score, accuracy, and recall (except for precision) across the logistic regression, k-nearest neighbor, and support vector machine algorithms. In unsupervised machine learning, the k-means algorithm effectively clustered different response behavior patterns extracted by these methods. The findings underscore the theoretical and methodological transferability of these text analysis methods in educational and psychological assessment contexts. This study offers valuable insights for research and practice in similar domains by yielding rich feature representations, supplementing fine-grained assessment evidence, fostering personalized learning, and introducing novel insights for educational assessment.

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BACKGROUND: Negative role models can significantly impact nursing students' adherence to standard infection control precautions (SP) but there has been limited research on impacts and relevant strategies. PURPOSE: This review examined the impact of negative role models on nursing students' adherence to SP and explored strategies that nursing instructors could use to help students effectively manage the influence of negative role models. METHODS: An integrative review was conducted, guided by Whittemore and Knafl's methodology (2005). PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus were searched for articles from 2008-2023. Research studies were critically appraised using appropriate tools. RESULTS: Fourteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The literature indicates that nursing students frequently encounter negative role models during their clinical placements and that such negative encounters detrimentally impact their adherence to SP. Five strategies to potentially mitigate the impact of negative role models were identified. CONCLUSION: To address the issue of negative role models, nursing instructors can help students learn specific strategies to manage encounters with negative role models, promote discussion of role modeling with students and clinical staff, and act as role models themselves. Further research is needed to inform specific strategies.

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[Purpose] No established method for appropriately developing clinical thinking in physical therapy currently exists. This study examined whether clinical thinking can be appropriately developed using a problem-solving model. [Participants and Methods] Physical therapy students were asked to develop clinical thinking in the same two cases: one class using the problem-solving model and the other class using International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health concepts. Each clinical thought was scored and compared based on consistency. [Results] In both cases, students who used the problem-solving model scored higher. [Conclusion] The hierarchical structure of the problem-solving model clarified the relationship between each element and this was easy to maintain, suggesting that it facilitated appropriate clinical thinking.

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BACKGROUND: Elderly home caregivers are among the first and most important people involved in elderly care. Since the process of caring for the elderly affects the mental, physical, and life conditions of the caregivers, it is of utmost importance to study interpersonal problem-solving methods and the role they play in the resilience of caregivers. In this regard, the study was conducted to predict the resilience of adults aged 25-65 years compared to the elderly according to their interpersonal problem-solving methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a descriptive correlational study. Two-hundred and sixty-two adults aged 25-65 living in Iran in different genders, marital status, majors, and occupations participated in this study. The data obtained from responding to questionnaires of resilience and interpersonal problem solving of respondents were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and linear regression correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between resilience and some problem-solving methods (frankness and transparency, realism, exposure, sympathy, pursuit and challenge, and incentive agreement) of elderly home caregivers. According to the result of linear regression, among the respondents' interpersonal problem-solving methods, realism was the only predictive variable for resilience (P = 0.006). That is, being more realistic is related to more resilience in caring for the elderly. CONCLUSIONS: Some interpersonal problem-solving methods of adults are related to their resilience in caring for the elderly. Paying attention to these resilient practices and behaviors can be effective in improving the quality of care for the elderly and reducing their difficulties. The results of this study can be used in long-term and practical planning for elderly home caregivers.

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The purpose of the current study was to extend the research on the possible role of verbal mediation in the establishment of comparative relations. We conducted four experiments in which 14 participants received conditional discrimination training with nonarbitrary and arbitrary stimuli, followed by derived comparative and transformation of function tests. Participants learned to select the smallest or biggest comparison across multiple exemplars in the presence of abstract samples. Next, participants learned to select arbitrary comparisons in the presence of contextual cues to establish a size ranking among comparisons. To assess verbal mediation during mutual and combinatorial entailment tests, participants were instructed to talk out loud. When they failed to perform correctly during derived relations tests, participants were trained to tact and intraverbally relate stimuli. The results suggest that relational training alone was not sufficient to establish comparative relations and that adult participants engaged in problem solving consistent with intraverbal bidirectional naming during emergent relations tests.

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BACKGROUND: Young adults with cancer diagnosed between the ages of 18 to 39 are recognized as a vulnerable group with unique emotional, social, and practical needs that put them at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study describes the protocol of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of Bright IDEAS-Young Adults (Bright IDEAS-YA), a problem-solving skills training intervention, on psychosocial outcomes of young adults newly diagnosed with cancer. METHODS: Bright IDEAS-YA is a two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled trial. Young adults are eligible if they are 18-39 years of age, within four months of a first cancer diagnosis, and receiving systemic therapy with life expectancy of at least six months. Participants are randomized 1:1 to Bright IDEAS-YA or enhanced usual care. Survey measures are completed at enrollment and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The primary endpoint will be the estimated change from baseline to 6 months in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychosocial HRQOL. The other time points are secondary endpoints. Mediators and moderators will be examined. CONCLUSIONS: This randomized trial will determine the efficacy of Bright IDEAS-YA on psychosocial outcomes for young adults newly diagnosed with cancer. Analyses will also examine mechanisms of action and potentially identify subgroups for whom the intervention is particularly useful. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov #NCT04585269.

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical performance and financial costs of breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) as a biopsy-reducing problem-solving strategy in patients with inconclusive diagnostic imaging findings. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all patients for whom BSGI was utilized for inconclusive imaging findings following complete diagnostic mammographic and sonographic evaluation between January 2013 and December 2018 was performed. Positive BSGI findings were correlated and biopsied with either US or stereotactic technique with confirmation by clip location and pathology. After a negative BSGI result, patients were followed for a minimum of 24 months or considered lost to follow-up and excluded (22 patients). Results of further imaging studies, biopsies, and pathology results were analyzed. Net savings of avoided biopsies were calculated based on average Medicare charges. RESULTS: Four hundred and forty female patients from 30 to 95 years (mean 55 years) of age were included in our study. BSGI demonstrated a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98.4% (314/319) and a positive predictive value for biopsy of 35.5% (43/121). The overall sensitivity was 89.6% (43/48), and the specificity was 80.1% (314/392). In total, 78 false positive but only 5 false negative BSGI findings were identified. Six hundred and twenty-one inconclusive imaging findings were analyzed with BSGI and a total of 309 biopsies were avoided. Estimated net financial savings from avoided biopsies were $646 897. CONCLUSION: In the management of patients with inconclusive imaging findings on mammography or ultrasonography, BSGI is a problem-solving imaging modality with high NPV that helps avoid costs of image-guided biopsies.

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There are few reliable and feasible quality assurance methods to support scaling up of psychological interventions delivered by non-specialist providers. This paper reports on the phased development and validation of a digitally administered Knowledge of Problem Solving (KOPS) measure to assess competencies associated with a "task-shared" problem-solving intervention for adolescents with diverse mental health problems in India. Phase 1 established key competencies required to deliver the intervention, followed by item generation for a corresponding knowledge-based competency measure that could be administered efficiently through e-learning systems. In phase 2, items were refined based on responses from an "experienced" reference sample comprising 17 existing counsellors with direct experience of the problem-solving intervention, and a "novice" sample with 14 untrained university students and NGO staff. In phase 3, we evaluated two parallel versions of the measure in a validation sample (N = 277) drawn from universities and NGOs. The resulting 17-item measure was structured around a hypothetical case, followed by multiple-choice questions that asked about the most appropriate response to a practice-based scenario. The difficulty level of the test items was well matched to the ability level of participants (i.e. most items being of moderate difficulty and few items being easy or difficult). Only one item showed a negative discrimination index and was removed from the 17-item forms. The final 16-item version of the KOPS measure provides a scalable digital method to assess key psychotherapeutic competencies among non-specialists, particularly in relation to a transdiagnostic problem-solving intervention. Similar formats could be deployed more widely alongside e-learning programmes to expand the global workforce capable of delivering evidence-based psychological interventions. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41347-023-00356-9.

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One of the most ancient and widely used forms of cognitive offloading is the outsourcing of cognitive operations onto other humans. Here, we explore whether humans preferentially seek out and use information from more competent compared with less competent others in an ongoing cognitive task. Participants (N = 120) completed a novel computerised visuospatial working memory task where each trial required them to remember either one, five, or ten target locations and recall them after a brief delay. Next, participants watched two virtual people compete in a distinct memory game, where one performed relatively well, demonstrating a stronger memory, and the other performed relatively poorly, demonstrating a weaker memory. Finally, participants completed the initial memory task again, but this time, either the strong-memory person or the weak-memory person was available to help with recall on each trial. Our results showed that, through observation and without direct instruction, participants acquired beliefs about the virtual people's cognitive proficiencies and could readily draw upon these beliefs to inform offloading decisions. Participants were typically more likely to ask for help from the strong-memory person, and this tendency was independent from other factors known to drive cognitive offloading more generally, like task difficulty, unaided cognitive ability, and metacognitive confidence.

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The KidGen Collaborative's Policy Implementation Workshop 2023 celebrated the 10th anniversary of Australia's first kidney genetics clinic in Brisbane. This event marked the establishment of a national network now comprising 19 kidney genetics clinics across Australia, all dedicated to providing equitable access to genomic testing for families affected by genetic kidney diseases. The workshop reflected on past progress and outlined future objectives for kidney genetics in Australia, recognising the collaborative efforts of clinical teams, researchers, and patients. Key insights from the workshop are documented in the proceedings.

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