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Jennifer Pollard,1 Michal Tombs2 1Highland Medical Education Centre, University of Aberdeen, Inverness, UK; 2Centre for Medical Education, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UKCorrespondence: Michal Tombs, Centre for Medical Education, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, Email TombsM2@cardiff.ac.ukPurpose: Research suggests that medical students in the UK report a need to be better prepared for the non-technical skills required for the role of a junior doctor. A Simulated Ward Experience was developed in an attempt to address this need. The purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Simulated Ward Experiences by examining students’ reactions regarding the quality of teaching and (2) to examine the main drivers of learning and the extent to which students felt it helped them prepare for their future training.Methods: A mixed method evaluation study was conducted using a questionnaire and focus groups. Final year students who participated in the Simulated Ward Experience were invited to contribute to the evaluation, out of which 25 completed the questionnaire and 13 took part in focus group interviews. Data analysis were conducted by means of descriptive statistics for questionnaire data and thematic analysis of focus group transcripts.Results: The median Likert scores for quality of teaching Non-Technical Skills were either very good or excellent, demonstrating that students were highly satisfied with the way in which these were taught. Qualitative data provided further insights into the aspects of the intervention that promoted learning, and these were categorised into four themes, including realism of the simulation; relevance for the role and responsibilities of the Foundation Year 1 Doctor (including Non-Technical Skills); learning from and with others; and supportive learning environment.Conclusion: This evaluation study provides further evidence of the value of learning in a simulated setting, particularly when it is closely aligned to the real clinical context and creates opportunities to practice skills that are perceived to be relevant by the learner. Study limitations are recognised and suggestions for further studies are provided.Keywords: evaluation, simulation, non-technical skills, preparedness

Michael A Singer1, Nancy Amir2, Angela Herro3, Salman S Porbandarwalla3, Joseph Pollard11Medical Center Ophthalmology Associates, San Antonio, TX, USA; 2Santa Rosa Low Vision Clinic, San Antonio, TX, USA; 3University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USAAbstract: Low vision devices in the past have been mainly extraocular. There are now four new devices in different stages of development and implementation that are currently available. Three of them, the Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, Saratoga, CA), Intraocular Lens for Visually Impaired People (IOL-VIP, IOL-VIP System, Soleko, Pontecorvo, Italy), and Lipschitz Mirror Implant (LMI, Optolight Vision Technology, Herzlia, Israel) are implanted into the anterior segment while the Argus II (Second Sight Medical Products, Sylmar, CA) is implanted into the posterior segment. The goal of these devices is to increase the patient quality of life which has been measured by Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ) scales. The IMT is the only device that has been shown to increase the VFQ score by seven points at 6 months compared to baseline. It is the only FDA-approved device in the US while the Argus has been approved in Europe. Each of these prosthetics has potential benefits for patients.Keywords: IMT, IOL-VIP, LMI, Argus II

Diversity in behavior is important for migratory birds in adapting to dynamic environmental and habitat conditions and responding to global change. Migratory behavior can be described by a variety of factors that comprise migration strategies. We characterized variation in migration strategies in American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), a migratory gamebird experiencing long-term population decline, using GPS data from ~300 individuals tracked throughout eastern North America. We classified woodcock migratory movements using a step-length threshold, and calculated characteristics of migration related to distance, path, and stopping events. We then used principal components analysis (PCA) to ordinate variation in migration characteristics along axes that explained different fundamental aspects of migration, and tested effects of body condition, age-sex class, and starting and ending location on PCA results. The PCA did not show evidence for clustering, suggesting a lack of discrete strategies among groups of individuals; rather, woodcock migration strategies existed along continuous gradients driven most heavily by metrics associated with migration distance and duration, departure timing, and stopping behavior. Body condition did not explain variation in migration strategy during the fall or spring, but during spring adult males and young females differed in some characteristics related to migration distance and duration. Starting and ending latitude and longitude, particularly the northernmost point of migration, explained up to 61% of the variation in any one axis of migration strategy. Our results reveal gradients in migration behavior of woodcock, and this variability should increase the resilience of woodcock to future anthropogenic landscape and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the phenology of migration is fundamental to management of migratory gamebirds, in part because of the role migratory timing plays in setting harvest regulations. Migratory timing is particularly important for determining appropriate dates for hunting seasons, which may be selected to coincide with major periods of migration, according to local management objectives. We used global positioning system (GPS)‐transmitters to track American woodcock (Scolopax minor), characterize the timing of woodcock migration, and identify sources of variation in timing relative to current hunting season structures in eastern North America. We captured 304 woodcock in 3 Canadian provinces and 12 states from 2017 to 2020, primarily within the Eastern Woodcock Management Region. Using locations collected every 1.7 days on average, we assessed whether initiation, termination, or stopover timing of woodcock migration during fall and early spring varied geographically, differed among age and sex classes, or was influenced by individual body condition. During fall, woodcock migrating from summer use areas farther north and west (e.g., Ontario, Quebec, Canada) initiated and terminated migration earlier than woodcock migrating from areas farther south and east (e.g., Rhode Island, USA). Adult woodcock made multiday stopovers that were 3 days longer on average than juveniles and females made more stopovers on average (8.0 stopovers) compared to males (6.1 stopovers). During the onset of spring migration, woodcock that wintered farther west initiated migration before birds that spent the winter farther east, and males initiated migration on average 6 days earlier than females. Under the current 45‐day harvest regulatory framework in the United States, hunting seasons in northern breeding and southern wintering areas are generally consistent with migration phenology. At more intermediate latitudes, however, periods of migration are generally longer than 45 days, resulting in many circumstances where migrating woodcock are present during periods when hunting seasons are closed. Managers in mid‐latitude states could consider opening hunting seasons later, allowing hunters to harvest more migrant woodcock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dataare presented which give cross cultural generality to the observation by Langlois and Roggman (1990) that young southwest American college students found composite faces more attractive than the individual faces from which they were derived. These authors attributed the phenomenon to a cognitive mechanism of prototypicality originating in an evolutionary process of stabilising selection towards facial averageness. In this study New Zealand Caucasian and New Zealand Chinese students, together with indigenous students in China, Nigeria and India chose composite New Zealand Caucasian faces as more attractive than the individual faces from which they were constructed. The preference was greater for female than for male faces. Caution is expressed over attributing the phenomenon  to either typicality or stabilising selection.