A CHAT Approach of Light and Colors in Science Teaching for the Early Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolokouri, Eleni; Plakitsi, Katerina

2016-01-01

This article describes a research study on the connection of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) with Science Education in the early grades. The research study took place in the University of Ioannina, Greece with the support of the @fise research group. Within this frame, a narrative about light, colors and shadows was written as part of…

Understanding and Dismantling Barriers for Partnerships for Inclusive Education: A Cultural Historical Activity Theory Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waitoller, Federico R.; Kozleski, Elizabeth B.

2013-01-01

Increasingly, universities and school districts share responsibility for teacher and student learning. Sharing responsibility demands that both institutions work to develop closer relationships through ongoing engagement, dialogue and negotiation. Drawing from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), we examined one school/university…

Dialogue--Missing in Action Competence: A Cultural Historical Activity Theory Approach in a Botswana School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silo, Nthalivi

2013-01-01

An in-depth case study on children's participation in environmental management activities in a primary school in Botswana was undertaken, drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the action competence model. This research revealed that due to a lack of dialogue between teachers and children, teachers tended to view children's…

Chat reference service in medical libraries: part 2--Trends in medical school libraries.

PubMed

Dee, Cheryl R

2003-01-01

An increasing number of medical school libraries offer chat service to provide immediate, high quality information at the time and point of need to students, faculty, staff, and health care professionals. Part 2 of Chat Reference Service in Medical Libraries presents a snapshot of the current trends in chat reference service in medical school libraries. In late 2002, 25 (21%) medical school libraries provided chat reference. Trends in chat reference services in medical school libraries were compiled from an exploration of medical school library Web sites and informal correspondence from medical school library personnel. Many medical libraries are actively investigating and planning new chat reference services, while others have decided not to pursue chat reference at this time. Anecdotal comments from medical school library staff provide insights into chat reference service.

High affinity choline uptake (HACU) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity in neuronal cultures for mechanistic and drug discovery studies

PubMed Central

Ray, Balmiki; Bailey, Jason A.; Simon, Jay R.; Lahiri, Debomoy K.

2012-01-01

Acetylcholine (ACh) is the neurotransmitter used by cholinergic neurons at the neuromuscular junction and in parasympathetic nerve terminals in the periphery, as well as important memory-related circuits in the brain and also takes part in several critical functions. ACh is synthesized from choline and acetyl coenzyme-A by the enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). The formation of acetylcholine in cholinergic nerve terminals requires both the transport of choline into the cells from the extracellular space, and the activity of ChAT. High affinity choline uptake (HACU) represents the majority of choline uptake into the nerve terminal, and is the acutely regulated, rate-limiting step in ACh synthesis. The HACU component of choline uptake can be differentiated from non-specific choline uptake by inhibition of the choline transporter with hemicholinium. Several methods have been described previously to measure HACU and ChAT simultaneously in synaptosomes, but a well-documented protocol for cultured cells is lacking. We describe a procedure to simultaneously measure HACU and ChAT in cultured cells by simple radionuclide-based techniques. In this procedure we have quantitatively determined HACU and ChAT activity in cholinergically differentiated human neuroblastoma (SK-N-SH) cells. These simple methods can be used for neurochemical and drug discovery studies relevant to several disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, myasthenia gravis, and cardiovascular disease. PMID:22752895

"You Focus, I'm Talking": A CHAT Analysis of Mobile Dictionary Use in an Advanced EFL Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lilley, Warren; Hardman, Joanne

2017-01-01

This article discusses how students and teachers in an Advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class in Cape Town, South Africa, construct meaning through mobile phones. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), mobile phones are viewed as cultural artefacts that learners and teachers engage in the construction of meaning-making…

Learning on the Job: A Cultural Historical Activity Theory Approach to Initial Teacher Education across Four Secondary School Subject Departments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, Alaster Scott

2011-01-01

This article considers how one may integrate ethnographic data generation with research questions and an analytic framework that are strongly theoretically informed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Generating data through participant observation of school-based, student teacher education activity and interviewing all those involved…

Multiparticipant Chat Analysis: A Survey

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-26

language variation (e.g., regional speech in Germany [6]; code-switching in German-speaking regions of Switzerland [84] and Indian IRC channels [77]), and...messages which may be missed in high- tempo situations [19], and automated analysis of chat messages [13]. Finally, the high number of chat messages can...Androutsopoulos, E. Ziegler, Exploring language variation on the internet: Regional speech in a chat community, in: Proceedings of the Second International

in e-mail and in chat.

PubMed

Stommel, Wyke; Van Der Houwen, Fleur

2015-01-01

In this article, we examine problem presentations in e-mail and chat counseling. Previous studies of online counseling have found that the medium (e.g., chat, email) impacts the unfolding interaction. However, the implications for counseling are unclear. We focus on problem presentations and use conversation analysis to compare 15 chat and 22 e-mail interactions from the same counseling program. We find that in e-mail counseling, counselors open up the interactional space to discuss various issues, whereas in chat, counselors restrict problem presentations and give the client less space to elaborate. We also find that in e-mail counseling, clients use narratives to present their problem and orient to its seriousness and legitimacy, while in chat counseling, they construct problem presentations using a symptom or a diagnosis. Furthermore, in email counseling, clients close their problem presentations stating completeness, while in chat counseling, counselors treat clients’ problem presentations as incomplete. Our findings shed light on how the medium has implications for counseling.

Prisons and Primary Schools: Using CHAT to Analyse the Relationship between Developing Identity, Developing Musicianship and Transformative Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henley, Jennie

2015-01-01

This paper draws on three different research projects to demonstrate the use of an expanded model of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), developed as part of a doctoral research study. The first project is an evaluation of the impacts of a Music Partnership Project within Primary and Secondary schools. The second project is an evaluation…

Emotional persistence in online chatting communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garas, Antonios; Garcia, David; Skowron, Marcin; Schweitzer, Frank

2012-05-01

How do users behave in online chatrooms, where they instantaneously read and write posts? We analyzed about 2.5 million posts covering various topics in Internet relay channels, and found that user activity patterns follow known power-law and stretched exponential distributions, indicating that online chat activity is not different from other forms of communication. Analysing the emotional expressions (positive, negative, neutral) of users, we revealed a remarkable persistence both for individual users and channels. I.e. despite their anonymity, users tend to follow social norms in repeated interactions in online chats, which results in a specific emotional ``tone'' of the channels. We provide an agent-based model of emotional interaction, which recovers qualitatively both the activity patterns in chatrooms and the emotional persistence of users and channels. While our assumptions about agent's emotional expressions are rooted in psychology, the model allows to test different hypothesis regarding their emotional impact in online communication.

Emotional persistence in online chatting communities

PubMed Central

Garas, Antonios; Garcia, David; Skowron, Marcin; Schweitzer, Frank

2012-01-01

How do users behave in online chatrooms, where they instantaneously read and write posts? We analyzed about 2.5 million posts covering various topics in Internet relay channels, and found that user activity patterns follow known power-law and stretched exponential distributions, indicating that online chat activity is not different from other forms of communication. Analysing the emotional expressions (positive, negative, neutral) of users, we revealed a remarkable persistence both for individual users and channels. I.e. despite their anonymity, users tend to follow social norms in repeated interactions in online chats, which results in a specific emotional “tone” of the channels. We provide an agent-based model of emotional interaction, which recovers qualitatively both the activity patterns in chatrooms and the emotional persistence of users and channels. While our assumptions about agent's emotional expressions are rooted in psychology, the model allows to test different hypothesis regarding their emotional impact in online communication. PMID:22577512

Learner Interaction Management in an Avatar and Chat-Based Virtual World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Mark

2006-01-01

In this paper, I report on the findings of a study that investigated non-native speaker interaction in a three dimensional (3D) virtual world that incorporates avatars and text chat known as "Active Worlds." Analysis of the chat transcripts indicated that the 24 intermediate level EFL participants were able to undertake a variety of tasks through…

Extending Prior Posts in Dyadic Online Text Chat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tudini, Vincenza

2015-01-01

This study explores whether chat users are able to extend prior, apparently completed posts in the dyadic online text chat context. Dyadic text chat has a unique turn-taking system, and most chat softwares do not permit users to monitor one another's written messages-in-progress. This is likely to impact on their use of online extensions as an…

Effects of AF64A on gene expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the septo-hippocampal pathway and striatum in vivo.

PubMed

Fan, Q I; Hanin, I

1999-01-01

AF64A (ethylcholine mustard aziridinium ion) was stereotaxically administered bilaterally (1 nmol/side) into rat lateral cerebral ventricles. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and ChAT mRNA levels were measured at predetermined time points in the septo-hippocampal pathway and striatum, both well identified as rich in cholinergic neurons. AF64A caused a rapid but transient increase in ChAT mRNA (167%, P < 0.05) and ChAT activity (164%, P < 0.01) in the septum. By day 7 post treatment, there was a significant decrease in ChAT mRNA (42.5% of control, P < 0.05) in the septum although the ChAT activity still stayed high. This decreased ChAT mRNA level in the septum lasted for at least four weeks, and was paralleled by a long-lasting decrease in ChAT activity in the hippocampus. In the striatum, on the other hand, there were no observed changes in either ChAT activity or ChAT mRNA. These data suggest that the long term effect of AF64A on the septo-hippocampal cholinergic pathway may, at least in part, be due to an action of AF64A on gene expression in the cholinergic neuron. The difference in the response to AF64A between the septo-hippocampal and striatal cholinergic systems might be due to their difference in neuron types.

Visualization of Expert Chat Development in a World of Warcraft Player Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Mark

2009-01-01

This article describes expertise development in a player group in the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft using visualization of chat log data. Charts were created to get a general sense of chat trends in a specific player group engaged in "high-end raiding", a 40-person collaborative activity. These charts helped identify patterns…

R-U-Typing-2-Me? Evolving a Chat Tool to Increase Understanding in Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuks, Hugo; Pimentel, Mariano; Lucena, Carlos Jose Pereira de

2006-01-01

Very often, when using a chat tool where more than one participant is talking simultaneously, it is difficult to follow the conversation, read all the different messages and work out who is talking to whom about what. This problem has been dubbed "Chat Confusion." This article investigates this problem in debate sessions in an online university…

Re-Shaping the Faculty: Emergence and Development of "Permanent-Contingent" Roles through the Lens of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tkachenko, Oleksandr; Louis, Karen Seashore

2017-01-01

This study retrospectively examines the emergence and development of a new class of full-time non-tenure track employees in a large land grant research university in the U.S., which created the employment category in 1980. We employ cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to explore how this class of employees became institutionalized within…

Live chat alternative security protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, J. P. R.; Nugraha, E.; Febriany, A.

2018-05-01

Indonesia is one of the largest e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia, as many as 5 million people do transactions in e-commerce, therefore more and more people use live chat service to communicate with customer service. In live chat, the customer service often asks customers’ data such as, full name, address, e-mail, transaction id, which aims to verify the purchase of the product. One of the risks that will happen is sniffing which will lead to the theft of confidential information that will cause huge losses to the customer. The anticipation that will be done is build an alternative security protocol for user interaction in live chat by using a cryptographic algorithm that is useful for protecting confidential messages. Live chat requires confidentiality and data integration with encryption and hash functions. The used algorithm are Rijndael 256 bits, RSA, and SHA256. To increase the complexity, the Rijndael algorithm will be modified in the S-box and ShiftRow sections based on the shannon principle rule, the results show that all pass the Randomness test, but the modification in Shiftrow indicates a better avalanche effect. Therefore the message will be difficult to be stolen or changed.

Semiotic Processes in Chat-Based Problem-Solving Situations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreiber, Christof

2013-01-01

This article seeks to illustrate the analysis of episodes of chat sessions based on Charles Sanders Peirce's triadic sign relation. The episodes are from a project called "Math-Chat", which is based on the use of mathematical inscriptions in an experimental setting. What is characteristic of this chat setting is that pupils are required to…

Automatic Association of Chats and Video Tracks for Activity Learning and Recognition in Aerial Video Surveillance

PubMed Central

Hammoud, Riad I.; Sahin, Cem S.; Blasch, Erik P.; Rhodes, Bradley J.; Wang, Tao

2014-01-01

We describe two advanced video analysis techniques, including video-indexed by voice annotations (VIVA) and multi-media indexing and explorer (MINER). VIVA utilizes analyst call-outs (ACOs) in the form of chat messages (voice-to-text) to associate labels with video target tracks, to designate spatial-temporal activity boundaries and to augment video tracking in challenging scenarios. Challenging scenarios include low-resolution sensors, moving targets and target trajectories obscured by natural and man-made clutter. MINER includes: (1) a fusion of graphical track and text data using probabilistic methods; (2) an activity pattern learning framework to support querying an index of activities of interest (AOIs) and targets of interest (TOIs) by movement type and geolocation; and (3) a user interface to support streaming multi-intelligence data processing. We also present an activity pattern learning framework that uses the multi-source associated data as training to index a large archive of full-motion videos (FMV). VIVA and MINER examples are demonstrated for wide aerial/overhead imagery over common data sets affording an improvement in tracking from video data alone, leading to 84% detection with modest misdetection/false alarm results due to the complexity of the scenario. The novel use of ACOs and chat messages in video tracking paves the way for user interaction, correction and preparation of situation awareness reports. PMID:25340453

Automatic association of chats and video tracks for activity learning and recognition in aerial video surveillance.

PubMed

Hammoud, Riad I; Sahin, Cem S; Blasch, Erik P; Rhodes, Bradley J; Wang, Tao

2014-10-22

We describe two advanced video analysis techniques, including video-indexed by voice annotations (VIVA) and multi-media indexing and explorer (MINER). VIVA utilizes analyst call-outs (ACOs) in the form of chat messages (voice-to-text) to associate labels with video target tracks, to designate spatial-temporal activity boundaries and to augment video tracking in challenging scenarios. Challenging scenarios include low-resolution sensors, moving targets and target trajectories obscured by natural and man-made clutter. MINER includes: (1) a fusion of graphical track and text data using probabilistic methods; (2) an activity pattern learning framework to support querying an index of activities of interest (AOIs) and targets of interest (TOIs) by movement type and geolocation; and (3) a user interface to support streaming multi-intelligence data processing. We also present an activity pattern learning framework that uses the multi-source associated data as training to index a large archive of full-motion videos (FMV). VIVA and MINER examples are demonstrated for wide aerial/overhead imagery over common data sets affording an improvement in tracking from video data alone, leading to 84% detection with modest misdetection/false alarm results due to the complexity of the scenario. The novel use of ACOs and chat Sensors 2014, 14 19844 messages in video tracking paves the way for user interaction, correction and preparation of situation awareness reports.

The Chat Is Coming from inside the House: An Analysis of Perceived Chat Behavior and Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berndt-Morris, Elizabeth; Minnis, Samantha M.

2014-01-01

When looking for ways to improve library services, we considered what data sources were readily available to us and how we could harvest and use this data. We investigated three years of chat reference statistics at Central Michigan University, a large research institution, to gain a better understanding of our patrons' chat behavior. We then…

Comparative loneliness of users versus nonusers of online chatting.

PubMed

Ong, Chorng-Shyong; Chang, Shu-Chen; Wang, Chih-Chien

2011-01-01

Online chatting is an important component of improving interpersonal relationships online, but it may reduce participants' communication time with family members. We conducted a study of the relationship between participants' intent to engage in online chatting and three dimensions of loneliness: social, familial, and romantic. This study was designed to show the effect of online chatting on each of these three dimensions of loneliness. The participants in the study were 709 students at two universities in Taiwan who were classified on the basis of whether or not they had ever engaged in online chatting. Of the participants, 651 (91.82%) fully completed the questionnaires that served as the study instruments and were included in data analysis. The study found that individuals who had participated in online chatting exhibited greater familial loneliness than those who had not because the time spent in online chatting reduced the time spent in familial relationships. Social loneliness was related to the quality of Internet relationships rather than to the time spent online. Individuals who participated in online chatting had less romantic loneliness because of a greater ease of maintaining romantic relationships online. We conclude that online chatting can reduce social loneliness through high-quality Internet relationships but may exacerbate familial loneliness.

TESTING AND ANALYSES OF CHAT AND ASPHALT-CONTAINING CHAT

EPA Science Inventory

Granular mine waste are generated from the extraction and beneficiation of lead/zinc minerals. The fine gravel waste, commonly known as chat, in the Tristate Mining District contains elevated levels of lead, zinc and cadmium which can result in potentially serious human health a...

Expanding Suicide Crisis Services to Text and Chat.

PubMed

Predmore, Zachary; Ramchand, Rajeev; Ayer, Lynsay; Kotzias, Virginia; Engel, Charles; Ebener, Patricia; Kemp, Janet E; Karras, Elizabeth; Haas, Gretchen L

2017-07-01

Crisis support services have historically been offered by phone-based suicide prevention hotlines, but are increasingly becoming available through alternative modalities, including Internet chat and text messaging. To better understand differences in the use of phone and chat/text services. We conducted semistructured interviews with call responders at the Veterans Crisis Line who utilize multimodal methods to respond to veterans in crisis. Responders indicated that veterans may access the chat/text service primarily for reasons that included a desire for anonymity and possible inability to use the phone. Responders were divided on whether callers and chatters presented with different issues or risk of suicide; however, they suggested that veterans frequently use chat/text to make their first contact with mental health services. We spoke with call responders, not the veterans themselves. Additionally, as this is qualitative research, applicability to other settings may be limited. While new platforms offer promise, participants also indicated that chat services can supplement phone lines, but not replace them.

A Study on the Mobile Learning of English and American Literature Based on WeChat Public Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dai, Guiyu; Liu, Yang; Cui, Shanmeng

2018-01-01

This paper uses Edgar Dale's Audio-visual Learning Theory and Jean Piaget's Constructionist Learning Theory as the theoretical framework to conduct two control experimental tests and a questionnaire research to investigate students' impression and expectations toward WeChat public account based mobile learning mode as well as its validity,…

Assessing the Language of Chat for Teamwork Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shibani, Antonette; Koh, Elizabeth; Lai, Vivian; Shim, Kyong Jin

2017-01-01

In technology-enhanced language learning, many pedagogical activities involve students in online discussion such as synchronous chat, in order to help them practice their language skills. Besides developing the language competency of students, it is also crucial to nurture their teamwork competencies for today's global and complex environment.…

Going Prime Time with Live Chat Reference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoag, Tara J.; Cichanowicz, Edana McCaffrey

2001-01-01

Describes the development of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System's live, online chat reference service, a pilot project for public libraries in Suffolk County (New York). Topics include chat software selection; a virtual reference collection; marketing; funding; staffing; evaluation; expanded hours of service; email; and extracting data from…

TESTING AND ANALYSES OF CHAT AND ASPHALT-CONTAINING CHAT (PRESENTATION)

EPA Science Inventory

Granular mine waste are generated from the extraction and beneficiation of lead/zinc minerals. The fine gravel waste, commonly known as chat, in the Tristate Mining District contains elevated levels of lead, zinc and cadmium which can result in potentially serious human health a...

Social Media–Promoted Weight Loss Among an Occupational Population: Cohort Study Using a WeChat Mobile Phone App-Based Campaign

PubMed Central

Zhao, Yingying; Li, Zheng; Zhang, Yanyan; Le, Jia; Wang, Lei; Wan, Siyang; Li, Changqing; Li, Yindong

2017-01-01

Background Being overweight and obese are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high throughout the world and these issues are very serious in the Shunyi District in China. As mobile technologies have rapidly developed, mobile apps such as WeChat are well accepted and have the potential to improve health behaviors. Objective This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app (WeChat) as an intervention on weight loss behavior. Methods This study was conducted among an occupational population from August 2015 to February 2016 in the Shunyi District of Beijing. Before the intervention, the Shunyi District Government released an official document for weight loss to all 134 government agencies and enterprises in Shunyi District. Participants willing to use our official WeChat account were enrolled in a WeChat group and received 6 months of interventions for weight loss; those who were not willing to use the account were in a control group given routine publicity on weight loss. Results In total, 15,310 occupational participants including 3467 participants (22.65%) in the control group and 11,843 participants (77.35%) in the WeChat group were enrolled. Participants in the WeChat group lost more weight (mean 2.09, SD 3.43 kg) than people in the control group (mean 1.78, SD 2.96 kg), and the difference in mean weight loss between the two groups for males was significant based on the stratification of age and educational level. To control for confounding factors and to explore the effects of WeChat on weight loss, the propensity score method with a multinominal logistic regression was utilized. For males, this showed that the WeChat group (with both active and inactive subgroups) had a higher probability of maintaining weight, weight loss from 1 to 2 kg, or weight loss more than 2 kg than the control group. However, the control group had higher probability of weight loss from

Influence of WeChat on sleep quality among undergraduates in Chongqing, China: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Xu, Xianglong; Lin, Qianyi; Zhang, Yan; Zhu, Runzhi; Sharma, Manoj; Zhao, Yong

2016-01-01

Previous studies showed that social media is associated with sleep quality. WeChat (a native social media in China) is very popular in China, especially among the youth. In the second quarter of 2016, Tencent's WeChat had 806 million monthly active users. The study sought to identify the influence of WeChat on the sleep quality among undergraduate students. A cross-sectional survey adopted a multi-stage stratified sampling survey to investigate undergraduates in Chongqing, China. Data were collected on 1979 eligible adults, aged 20.27 (SD: 1.26) years old, using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality. Respondents aged 20.27 ± 1.26 years included 535 (27.0%) males, and 1311 (66.3%) reported as having poor sleep quality. Of the 1979 participants, 1320 (66.70%) were WeChat users. In multivariable analyses, gender, grade, nationality, living costs, the student leader, the only child, type of university, WeChat usage was associated with domains of PSQI among undergraduates ( p  < 0.05 for all). Compared with non-users, WeChat users had a lower score of subjective quality of sleep, sleep latency, use of sleeping medication, daytime dysfunction, and global PSQI score ( p  < 0.05 for all). WeChat users may have better sleep quality than non-WeChat users among undergraduates. To determine causal relationships, further longitudinal studies will be required to test for the association between WeChat users and sleep quality. This study may also provide some implications for health promotion on sleep quality of undergraduate students.

The usability of WeChat as a mobile and interactive medium in student-centered medical teaching.

PubMed

Wang, Juan; Gao, Furong; Li, Jiao; Zhang, Jieping; Li, Siguang; Xu, Guo-Tong; Xu, Lei; Chen, Jianjun; Lu, Lixia

2017-09-01

Biochemistry and cellular biology courses for medical students at Tongji University include the assessment that provides students with feedback to enhance their learning, which is a type of formative assessment. However, frequent instant feedback and guidance for students is often absent or inconsistently included in the teaching process. WeChat, the most popular Chinese social media, was introduced in biochemistry and cellular biology course. A WeChat official account (OA) was set up as an instant interactive platform. Over a period of two semesters, OA sent 73 push notifications. The components included course notices, preclass thought questions, after-class study materials, answer questions and feedback, simulation exercises, teacher-student interaction, and research progress relevant to the course. WeChat OA served as an active-learning teaching tool, provided more frequent feedback and guidance to students, and facilitated better student-centered communication in the teaching process. Using the WeChat OA in medical teaching emphasized interactive, interoperable, effective, engaging, adaptable, and more participatory teaching styles. As a new platform, WeChat OA was free, Internet-reliant, and easily managed. Using this new medium as a communication tool accelerated further advancement of instant feedback and improvement in teaching activities. Notifications and interactive feedback via the mobile social medium WeChat OA anytime and anywhere facilitated a student-centered teaching mode. Use of WeChat OA significantly increased the proportion of students interactively participating and resulted in a high degree of student satisfaction. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(5):421-425, 2017. © 2017 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Investigating L2 Performance in Text Chat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sauro, Shannon; Smith, Bryan

2010-01-01

This study examines the linguistic complexity and lexical diversity of both overt and covert L2 output produced during synchronous written computer-mediated communication, also referred to as chat. Video enhanced chatscripts produced by university learners of German (N = 23) engaged in dyadic task-based chat interaction were coded and analyzed for…

A cultural historical activity theory perspective to understand preservice science teachers' reflections on and tensions during a microteaching experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezen-Barrie, Asli; Tran, Minh-Dan; McDonald, Scott P.; Kelly, Gregory J.

2014-09-01

This study draws from cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to analyze preservice teachers' reflections on a microteaching activity. Microteaching activities involved preservice educators teaching middle school students from local schools. The study was conducted with 23 preservice teachers enrolled in a large university's teacher education program. During this secondary science teaching methods course, every pair of preservice teachers engaged in 20 minute microteaching activity with 3-5 middle school students. The microteaching was videotaped, and the teachers subsequently provided voice-over reflections on a second audio track. Transcriptions of the microteaching events were analyzed through the formation of event maps showing the phases of activity and the organizational sequence of actions. Event maps were used to investigate the focus of preservice teachers' reflections. The results showed that while learning from their microteaching, preservice teachers focused primarily on the mediating artifacts and gave least attention to the larger teaching community surrounding these activities. Use of CHAT helped to identify challenges in different elements of the microteaching activity. The study contributes to how reflective practice can be enhanced through attention to the social and cultural dimensions of the teaching.

An expert system for headache diagnosis: the Computerized Headache Assessment tool (CHAT).

PubMed

Maizels, Morris; Wolfe, William J

2008-01-01

Migraine is a highly prevalent chronic disorder associated with significant morbidity. Chronic daily headache syndromes, while less common, are less likely to be recognized, and impair quality of life to an even greater extent than episodic migraine. A variety of screening and diagnostic tools for migraine have been proposed and studied. Few investigators have developed and evaluated computerized programs to diagnose headache. To develop and determine the accuracy and utility of a computerized headache assessment tool (CHAT). CHAT was designed to identify all of the major primary headache disorders, distinguish daily from episodic types, and recognize medication overuse. CHAT was developed using an expert systems approach to headache diagnosis, with initial branch points determined by headache frequency and duration. Appropriate clinical criteria are presented relevant to brief and longer-lasting headaches. CHAT was posted on a web site using Microsoft active server pages and a SQL-server database server. A convenience sample of patients who presented to the adult urgent care department with headache, and patients in a family practice waiting room, were solicited to participate. Those who completed the on-line questionnaire were contacted for a diagnostic interview. One hundred thirty-five patients completed CHAT and 117 completed a diagnostic interview. CHAT correctly identified 35/35 (100%) patients with episodic migraine and 42/49 (85.7%) of patients with transformed migraine. CHAT also correctly identified 11/11 patients with chronic tension-type headache, 2/2 with episodic tension-type headache, and 1/1 with episodic cluster headache. Medication overuse was correctly recognized in 43/52 (82.7%). The most common misdiagnoses by CHAT were seen in patients with transformed migraine or new daily persistent headache. Fifty patients were referred to their primary care physician and 62 to the headache clinic. Of 29 patients referred to the PCP with a confirmed

Will online chat help alleviate mood loneliness?

PubMed

Hu, Mu

2009-04-01

The present study examines the relationship between social Internet use and loneliness and reviews the studies about this topic from both social psychology and computer-mediated communication literature, as a response to the call for interdisciplinary research from scholars in these two areas. Two hundred thirty-four people participated in both the survey testing trait loneliness and a 5-condition (face-to-face chatting, instant message chatting, watching video, writing assignments, and "do nothing") experiment. Participants reported increase of mood loneliness after chatting online. The level of mood loneliness after online chat was higher than that in face-to-face communication. For people with high trait loneliness, the mood loneliness increase in the computer-mediated communication condition was significantly higher than in the face-to-face communication condition. The author of the current study hopes to help clarify the mixed research findings in previous social Internet use literature about this topic and reminds communication researchers of the need to explore the constructs included in "psychological well-being" in terms of their nature, mechanism, causes, consequences, and furthermore, how they are related to communication.

Internet Relay Chat.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Carol

2000-01-01

Describes Internet Relay Chats (IRCs), electronic conversations over the Internet that allow multiple users to write messages, and their applications to educational settings such as teacher collaboration and conversations between classes. Explains hardware and software requirements, IRC organization into nets and channels, and benefits and…

Social Media-Promoted Weight Loss Among an Occupational Population: Cohort Study Using a WeChat Mobile Phone App-Based Campaign.

PubMed

He, Chao; Wu, Shiyan; Zhao, Yingying; Li, Zheng; Zhang, Yanyan; Le, Jia; Wang, Lei; Wan, Siyang; Li, Changqing; Li, Yindong; Sun, Xinying

2017-10-23

Being overweight and obese are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high throughout the world and these issues are very serious in the Shunyi District in China. As mobile technologies have rapidly developed, mobile apps such as WeChat are well accepted and have the potential to improve health behaviors. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app (WeChat) as an intervention on weight loss behavior. This study was conducted among an occupational population from August 2015 to February 2016 in the Shunyi District of Beijing. Before the intervention, the Shunyi District Government released an official document for weight loss to all 134 government agencies and enterprises in Shunyi District. Participants willing to use our official WeChat account were enrolled in a WeChat group and received 6 months of interventions for weight loss; those who were not willing to use the account were in a control group given routine publicity on weight loss. In total, 15,310 occupational participants including 3467 participants (22.65%) in the control group and 11,843 participants (77.35%) in the WeChat group were enrolled. Participants in the WeChat group lost more weight (mean 2.09, SD 3.43 kg) than people in the control group (mean 1.78, SD 2.96 kg), and the difference in mean weight loss between the two groups for males was significant based on the stratification of age and educational level. To control for confounding factors and to explore the effects of WeChat on weight loss, the propensity score method with a multinominal logistic regression was utilized. For males, this showed that the WeChat group (with both active and inactive subgroups) had a higher probability of maintaining weight, weight loss from 1 to 2 kg, or weight loss more than 2 kg than the control group. However, the control group had higher probability of weight loss from 0 to 1 kg. Being active in WeChat was

Making sense of interactions between mental health and criminal justice services: the utility of cultural historical activity systems theory.

PubMed

Hean, Sarah; Willumsen, Elisabeth; Ødegård, Atle

2018-06-11

Purpose Effective collaboration between mental health services (MHS) and criminal justice services (CJS) impacts on mental illness and reduces reoffending rates. This paper proposes the change laboratory model (CLM) of workplace transformation as a potential tool to support interagency collaborative practice that has potential to complement current integration tools used in this context. The purpose of this paper is to focus specifically on the theoretical dimension of the model: the cultural historical activity systems theory (CHAT) as a theoretical perspective that offers a framework with which interactions between the MHS and CJS can be better understood. Design/methodology/approach The structure and rationale behind future piloting of the change laboratory in this context is made. Then CHAT theory is briefly introduced and then its utility illustrated in the presentation of the findings of a qualitative study of leaders from MHS and CJS that explored their perspectives of the characteristics of collaborative working between MHS and prison/probation services in a Norwegian context and using CHAT as an analytical framework. Findings Leaders suggested that interactions between the two services, within the Norwegian system at least, are most salient when professionals engage in the reintegration and rehabilitation of the offender. Achieving effective communication within the boundary space between the two systems is a focus for professionals engaging in interagency working and this is mediated by a range of integration tools such as coordination plans and interagency meetings. Formalised interagency agreements and informal, unspoken norms of interaction governed this activity. Key challenges limiting the collaboration between the two systems included resource limitations, logistical issues and differences in professional judgments on referral and confidentiality. Originality/value Current tools with which MHS/CJS interactions are understood and managed, fail to

Peer Interaction in Text Chat: Qualitative Analysis of Chat Transcripts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golonka, Ewa M.; Tare, Medha; Bonilla, Carrie

2017-01-01

Prior research has shown that intermediate-level adult learners of Russian who worked interactively with partners using text chat improved their vocabulary and oral production skills more than students who worked independently (Tare et al., 2014). Drawing on the dataset from Tare et al. (2014), the current study follows up to explore the nature of…

You Are There: No Budget for Travel? Try Video Chat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langhorst, Eric

2009-01-01

The author discusses how he used video chat as an alternative to a physical trip. Any teacher with an Internet hookup and a $30 webcam can connect with anyone in the world using video chat. Programs like Skype Video and the Google Mail's video chat function make it easy and, best of all, are completely free. The author discusses how to get started…

Brain stem hypoplasia associated with Cri-du-Chat syndrome.

PubMed

Hong, Jin Ho; Lee, Ha Young; Lim, Myung Kwan; Kim, Mi Young; Kang, Young Hye; Lee, Kyung Hee; Cho, Soon Gu

2013-01-01

Cri-du-Chat syndrome, also called the 5p-syndrome, is a rare genetic abnormality, and only few cases have been reported on its brain MRI findings. We describe the magnetic resonance imaging findings of a 1-year-old girl with Cri-du-Chat syndrome who showed brain stem hypoplasia, particularly in the pons, with normal cerebellum and diffuse hypoplasia of the cerebral hemispheres. We suggest that Cri-du-Chat syndrome chould be suspected in children with brain stem hypoplasia, particularly for those with high-pitched cries.

Harnessing the Power of Informal Learning: Using WeChat, the Semi-Synchronous Group Chat, to Enhance Spoken Fluency in Chinese Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadoux, Marion

2017-01-01

This research is an exploratory study that seeks to evaluate the potentials of the Chinese app WeChat to enhance the spoken fluency of learners of French in China, who report having limited and insufficient opportunities to practice speaking in their daily life. WeChat is an extremely popular instant messenger facilitating communication through a…

Building Community Through a #pulmcc Twitter Chat to Advocate for Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep.

PubMed

Carroll, Christopher L; Bruno, Kristi; Ramachandran, Pradeep

2017-08-01

Social media sites such as Twitter can significantly enhance education and advocacy efforts. In 2013, the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) launched a Twitter chat series using the hashtag #pulmcc to educate and advocate for topics related to pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. To assess the reach of these chats, we analyzed the metrics using Symplur analytics, and compared data from each chat, as well as participant data. Since December 19, 2013, there have been 12 Twitter chats: six have been on critical care-related topics, four have been on pulmonary-/sleep-related topics, and two have been conducted during the CHEST annual meeting on more general topics. During these 1-h Twitter chats, there were a total of 4,212 tweets by 418 participants, resulting in 9,361,519 impressions (ie, views). There were similar numbers of participants and tweets in the three categories of Twitter chats, but there was a significantly greater reach during the more general Twitter chats conducted at the CHEST annual meeting, with 1,596,013 ± 126,472 impressions per chat session at these chats, compared with 739,203 ± 73,109 impressions per chat session during the critical care Twitter chats and 621,965 ± 123,933 impressions per chat session in the pulmonary/sleep chats. Seventy-five participants participated in two or more #pulmcc Twitter chats, and the average percent of return participants in each chat was 30% ± 7%. Most of the return participants were health-care providers. Twitter chats can be a powerful tool for the widespread engagement of a medical audience. Copyright © 2017 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Opinions of Female Juvenile Delinquents about Their Interactions in Chat Rooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanger, Dixie; Long, Amie; Ritzman, Mitzi; Stofer, Keri; Davis, Candy

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study was to survey the opinions of 62 adolescent females residing in a correctional facility about their use of the Internet to participate in chat room conversations. Findings indicated that 54 of 62 girls (87.09%), with a mean age of 16.72 years, participated in chat room interactions. Most (n = 47) interacted in chat rooms…

Drug Facts Chat Day: NIH Experts Answer Students' Drug Questions

MedlinePlus

... Home Current Issue Past Issues Drug Facts Chat Day: NIH Experts Answer Students' Drug Questions Past Issues / ... Drug Abuse during their first Drug Facts Chat Day. Photo courtesy of NIDA The questions poured in… ...

The Value of Chat Reference Services: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacoby, JoAnn; Ward, David; Avery, Susan; Marcyk, Emilia

2016-01-01

This article explores student, instructor, and librarian perceptions of chat reference in the context of an introductory composition course. Participants in a mixed-method study responded to an anonymized chat transcript. While student respondents valued speed and efficiency, they were willing to receive instruction and open to questions that…

Teacher Twitter Chats: Gender Differences in Participants' Contributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Stacey L.; Schmeichel, Mardi J.

2018-01-01

Gender differences in participation were examined across four Twitter chats for social studies teachers. Analyses drawing on mixed methods revealed that while there was parity across most kinds of tweets, participants identified as men were more likely to use the examined Twitter chats to share resources, give advice, boast, promote their own…

Twitter Chats: Connect, Foster, and Engage Internal Extension Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seger, Jamie; Hill, Paul; Stafne, Eric; Swadley, Emy

2017-01-01

The eXtension Educational Technology Learning Network (EdTechLN) has found Twitter to be an effective form of informal communication for routinely engaging network members. Twitter chats provide Extension professionals an opportunity to reach and engage one other. As the EdTechLN's experimentation with Twitter chats has demonstrated, the use of…

WeChat Addiction Suppresses the Impact of Stressful Life Events on Life Satisfaction.

PubMed

Li, Bi; Wu, Yan; Jiang, Shengyi; Zhai, Huizhen

2018-03-01

The current study examined the influences of stressful life events and WeChat addiction on life satisfaction, and investigated the mediating role of WeChat addiction on the relationship between the two research variables. A total of 463 undergraduates completed self-reported scales for stressful life events, WeChat addiction, and life satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the questionnaire data. The results showed the suppressing effect of WeChat addiction on the negative impact of stressful life events on life satisfaction. Stressful life events affect life satisfaction both directly and indirectly. Stressful life events are positively associated with WeChat addiction, which exerts positive impact on life satisfaction. The contributions of the findings are discussed.

Optical test course teaching practice on WeChat public platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Yuegang; Liu, Zhiying

2017-08-01

With the development of information technological progress, M-Learning and Micro-learning is becoming more and more popular among learners as a new micro-learning resources. Micro-curriculum is playing a more and more important role in daily learning. The students can create a new way of optical course learning through "WeChat". Under the mutual interaction of two or more parties, the use of "WeChat" can fully arouse the students' interest in learning, make the subjective initiative of students, and achieve the ultimate goal of improving the level of students. In this paper, through the analysis of the current situation of college students using the "WeChat", a new teaching model suitable for "optics" teaching is summarized, and the use of "WeChat" has been infiltrated into the teaching process, using science and technology to assist teaching. Students' interest in autonomous learning.

A Cooperative Human-Adaptive Traffic Simulation (CHATS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, Charles T.; Ballin, Mark G.

1999-01-01

NASA is considering the development of a Cooperative Human-Adaptive Traffic Simulation (CHATS), to examine and evaluate performance of the National Airspace System (NAS) as the aviation community moves toward free flight. CHATS will be specifically oriented toward simulating strategic decision-making by airspace users and by the service provider s traffic management personnel, within the context of different airspace and rules assumptions. It will use human teams to represent these interests and make decisions, and will rely on computer modeling and simulation to calculate the impacts of these decisions. The simulation objectives will be to examine: 1. evolution of airspace users and the service provider s strategies, through adaptation to new operational environments; 2. air carriers competitive and cooperative behavior; 3. expected benefits to airspace users and the service provider as compared to the current NAS; 4. operational limitations of free flight concepts due to congestion and safety concerns. This paper describes an operational concept for CHATS, and presents a high-level functional design which would utilize a combination of existing and new models and simulation capabilities.

Effects of Interactive Chat versus Independent Writing on L2 Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tare, Medha; Golonka, Ewa M.; Vatz, Karen; Bonilla, Carrie L.; Crooks, Carolyn; Strong, Rachel

2014-01-01

This study examines the importance of interaction for second language (L2) acquisition by analyzing outcomes from two types of out-of-class activities. The study compared: (a) interactive homework, completed via text chat, and (b) individual homework, completed via independent writing. In a between-subjects design, participants in two…

Immunity status of adults and children against poliomyelitis virus type 1 strains CHAT and Sabin (LSc-2ab) in Germany.

PubMed

Eggers, Maren; Terletskaia-Ladwig, Elena; Rabenau, Holger F; Doerr, Hans W; Diedrich, Sabine; Enders, Gisela; Enders, Martin

2010-12-09

In October 2007, the working group CEN/TC 216 of the European Committee for standardisation suggested that the Sabin oral poliovirus vaccine type 1 strain (LSc-2ab) presently used for virucidal tests should be replaced by another attenuated vaccine poliovirus type 1 strain, CHAT. Both strains were historically used as oral vaccines, but the Sabin type 1 strain was acknowledged to be more attenuated. In Germany, vaccination against poliomyelitis was introduced in 1962 using the oral polio vaccine (OPV) containing Sabin strain LSc-2ab. The vaccination schedule was changed from OPV to an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) containing wild polio virus type 1 strain Mahoney in 1998. In the present study, we assessed potential differences in neutralising antibody titres to Sabin and CHAT in persons with a history of either OPV, IPV, or OPV with IPV booster. Neutralisation poliovirus antibodies against CHAT and Sabin 1 were measured in sera of 41 adults vaccinated with OPV. Additionally, sera from 28 children less than 10 years of age and immunised with IPV only were analysed. The neutralisation assay against poliovirus was performed according to WHO guidelines. The neutralisation activity against CHAT in adults with OPV vaccination history was significantly lower than against Sabin poliovirus type 1 strains (Wilcoxon signed-rank test P < 0.025). In eight sera, the antibody titres measured against CHAT were less than 8, although the titre against Sabin 1 varied between 8 and 64. Following IPV booster, anti-CHAT antibodies increased rapidly in sera of CHAT-negative adults with OPV history. Sera from children with IPV history neutralised CHAT and Sabin 1 strains equally. The lack of neutralising antibodies against the CHAT strain in persons vaccinated with OPV might be associated with an increased risk of reinfection with the CHAT polio virus type 1, and this implies a putative risk of transmission of the virus to polio-free communities. We strongly suggest that laboratory

Autism Screening With Online Decision Support by Primary Care Pediatricians Aided by M-CHAT/F.

PubMed

Sturner, Raymond; Howard, Barbara; Bergmann, Paul; Morrel, Tanya; Andon, Lindsay; Marks, Danielle; Rao, Patricia; Landa, Rebecca

2016-09-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often go undetected in toddlers. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) With Follow-up Interview (M-CHAT/F) has been shown to improve detection and reduce over-referral. However, there is little evidence supporting the administration of the interview by a primary care pediatrician (PCP) during typical checkups. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, validity, and reliability of the M-CHAT/F by PCPs with online prompts at the time of a positive M-CHAT screen. Forty-seven PCPs from 22 clinics completed 197 M-CHAT/Fs triggered by positive M-CHAT screens via the same secure Web-based platform that parents used to complete M-CHATs before an 18- or 24-month well-child visit. A second M-CHAT/F was administered live or by telephone by trained research assistants (RAs) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute Center for Autism and Related Disorders. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition, and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning were administered as criterion measures. Measures of agreement between PCPs and RAs were calculated, and measures of test performance compared. There was 86.6% agreement between PCPs and RAs, with a Cohen's κ of 0.72. Comparison of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and overall accuracy for M-CHAT/F between PCPs and RAs showed significant equivalence for all measures. Use of the M-CHAT/F by PCPs resulted in significant improvement in PPV compared with the M-CHAT alone. Minimally trained PCPs can administer the M-CHAT/F reliably and efficiently during regular well-child visits, increasing PPV without compromising detection. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

PA6 Death chat: engaging with dying and death.

PubMed

Goodhead, Andrew; Hartley, Nigel

2015-04-01

Talking about death continues to be a social taboo. St Christopher's has a large, welcoming social space, (The Anniversary Centre) and is committed to opening up its buildings in a number of ways. The St Christopher's social programme, of which Death Chat is part, aims to break down social taboos. Hospices have a responsibility to engage creatively with patients, family members, carers and the wider community. Death Chat, held in the hospice buildings, enables honest discussion about dying and death and topics surrounding these themes. Death Chat meets weekly and is an open meeting that takes a different subject each week as the starting point for conversation. Cheese and wine are shared and participants quickly find a place in the group. Death Chat has attracted patients, family members, bereaved relatives and the community since September 2013. Attendees have reflected that coming has broken taboos. Peter said, 'it's nowhere near as depressing as it sounds; it's a nice, friendly atmosphere - a convivial place.' Molly found Death Chat to be a welcoming, open and challenging space, 'I have learnt that death is more about my attitude to life than anything else. It has been by far the most important lesson I have learnt since dealing with bereavement.' Death Chat provides a forum in which discussion of dying and death for recognises that these are social events and reclaims them from being taboo, to being a normal part of life's experience. © 2015, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Talking with text: communication in therapist-led, live chat cancer support groups.

PubMed

Stephen, Joanne; Collie, Kate; McLeod, Deborah; Rojubally, Adina; Fergus, Karen; Speca, Michael; Turner, Jill; Taylor-Brown, Jill; Sellick, Scott; Burrus, Kimberly; Elramly, Mai

2014-03-01

CancerChatCanada is a pan-Canadian initiative with a mandate to make professionally led cancer support groups available to more people in Canada. Although online support groups are becoming increasingly popular, little is known about therapist-led, synchronous groups using live chat. The purpose of this study was to generate a rich descriptive account of communication experiences in CancerChatCanada groups and to gain an understanding of processes associated with previously-reported benefits. We used interpretive description to analyze interview segments from 102 patients, survivors and family caregivers who participated in CancerChatCanada groups between 2007 and 2011. The analysis yielded four inter-related process themes (Reaching Out From Home, Feeling Safe, Emotional Release, and Talking With Text) and one outcome theme (Resonance and Kinship). The findings extend previous research about text-only online support groups and provide novel insights into features of facilitated, live chat communication that are valued by group members. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotion Chat: A Web Chatroom with Emotion Regulation for E-Learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Deli; Tian, Feng; Liu, Jun; Zheng, Qinghua; Qin, Jiwei

In order to compensate for lack of emotion communication between teachers and students in e-learning systems, we have designed and implemented the EmotionChat -- a web chatroom with emotion regulation. EmotionChat perceives e-learners' emotional states based on interactive text. And it recommends resources such as music, cartoons, and mottos to an e-learner when it detects negative emotional states. Meanwhile, it recommends emotion regulation cases to the e-learner's listeners and teachers. The result of our initial experiment shows that EmotionChat can recommend valuable emotion regulation policies for e-learners.

Profiling of Participants in Chat Conversations Using Creativity-Based Heuristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiru, Costin-Gabriel; Rebedea, Traian

2017-01-01

This article proposes a new fully automated method for identifying creativity that is manifested in a divergent task. The task is represented by chat conversations in small groups, each group having to debate on the same topics, with the purpose of better understanding the discussed concepts. The chat conversations were created by undergraduate…

"Live Chat" Clients at Kids Help Phone: Individual Characteristics and Problem Topics.

PubMed

Haner, Dilys; Pepler, Debra

2016-01-01

Young people in Canada prefer to use the Internet over face-to-face contact when seeking help for problems of daily living and mental health problems. Kids Help Phone (KHP) provides on-demand, anonymous help to young people via telephone and Live Chat technologies. Two hundred thirty-two phone clients and 230 Live Chat clients responded to a questionnaire at this otherwise anonymous service, providing previously inaccessible data about their individual characteristics and characterizations of the problems for which they sought help. There was a larger proportion of weighty problems (mental health and suicide) among chatters than callers. There were also more non-heterosexual youth, and those who identified as Asian and Black African or Caribbean, using Live Chat than phone. Implications for training Live Chat counsellors to respond effectively to chatters are discussed.

"Las Charlas" como expresion oral diaria ["Chats" as Daily Oral Practice].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borden, Matt

2002-01-01

An oral practice system of "chats" in the classroom functions as an extemporaneous speaking exercise or chat (without notes or prompt sheets), occurring between two students for a minute or so at the beginning of class, following which the presenters respond to other students' questions. (CNP)

"PolyCAFe"--Automatic Support for the Polyphonic Analysis of CSCL Chats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trausan-Matu, Stefan; Dascalu, Mihai; Rebedea, Traian

2014-01-01

Chat conversations and other types of online communication environments are widely used within CSCL educational scenarios. However, there is a lack of theoretical and methodological background for the analysis of collaboration. Manual assessing of non-moderated chat discussions is difficult and time-consuming, having as a consequence that learning…

Curtain Time 20:00 GMT: Experiments in Virtual Theater on Internet Relay Chat.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danet, Brenda; And Others

1995-01-01

Analyzes the substantive and stylistic features of the "Hamnet" script (an 80-line parody of "Hamlet") as performed on Internet Relay Chat. Explicates the logistics of virtual production. Finds evidence for the democratization and globalization of culture in Hamnet productions. Suggests that Hamnet activities appeal primarily…

An Assessment of Joint Chat Requirements From Current Usage Patterns

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-01

Army Special Forces firebases always had SATCOM connectivity with the text 35 messaging capability running and most business within the firebases was...overreact, or proactive action on bad information, and points to the need for good business rules. Some, organizations, like USCENTAF, have already...developed chat business rules. Users like how chat facilitates understanding with written text. Time and effort is saved from repeating questions

Stats Don't Tell the Whole Story: Using Qualitative Data Analysis of Chat Reference Transcripts to Assess and Improve Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mungin, Michael

2017-01-01

In the five years following implementation of a chat reference service at James Madison University (JMU), the service proved very popular but was not closely assessed for quality of service. Using grounded theory and qualitative data analysis techniques, a comprehensive assessment effort was begun in earnest and is in progress. Preliminary results…

Resource Delivery and Teaching in Live Chat Reference: Comparing Two Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dempsey, Paula R.

2017-01-01

This study investigates how reference staff at two libraries balance teaching with resource delivery in live chat reference. Analysis of 410 transcripts from one week shows that one library tends to deliver more resources from a wider range of database suggestions, to take more time in chat interactions, and to incorporate more teaching behavior…

Modelling of information diffusion on social networks with applications to WeChat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Liang; Qu, Bo; Chen, Bin; Hanjalic, Alan; Wang, Huijuan

2018-04-01

Traces of user activities recorded in online social networks open new possibilities to systematically understand the information diffusion process on social networks. From the online social network WeChat, we collected a large number of information cascade trees, each of which tells the spreading trajectory of a message/information such as which user creates the information and which users view or forward the information shared by which neighbours. In this work, we propose two heterogeneous non-linear models, one for the topologies of the information cascade trees and the other for the stochastic process of information diffusion on a social network. Both models are validated by the WeChat data in reproducing and explaining key features of cascade trees. Specifically, we apply the Random Recursive Tree (RRT) to model the growth of cascade trees. The RRT model could capture key features, i.e. the average path length and degree variance of a cascade tree in relation to the number of nodes (size) of the tree. Its single identified parameter quantifies the relative depth or broadness of the cascade trees and indicates that information propagates via a star-like broadcasting or viral-like hop by hop spreading. The RRT model explains the appearance of hubs, thus a possibly smaller average path length as the cascade size increases, as observed in WeChat. We further propose the stochastic Susceptible View Forward Removed (SVFR) model to depict the dynamic user behaviour including creating, viewing, forwarding and ignoring a message on a given social network. Beside the average path length and degree variance of the cascade trees in relation to their sizes, the SVFR model could further explain the power-law cascade size distribution in WeChat and unravel that a user with a large number of friends may actually have a smaller probability to read a message (s)he receives due to limited attention.

Location based chat application for iPhone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rana, Pradeep

With the increasing use of mobile devices everywhere in the world, there is a lack of social interaction between people. The objective of this thesis project is to create a location based chat application, which will help users to interact with other people around them. It will provide an opportunity to meet people when someone visits a new place. The app will use GPS coordinates of the user and will show him a list of other users based on his location. The user can then choose any of the other users from the list and start chatting with them. This app will consist of a frontend and backend. The frontend will be an iOS application and the backend will be a PHP/MYSQL server.

Reviving a Digital Dinosaur: Text-Only Synchronous Online Chats and Peer Tutoring in Communication Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartzman, Roy

2013-01-01

A qualitative and quantitative content analysis was conducted of all text-based synchronous online chats at an oral communication peer tutoring center throughout a semester. As a comparative benchmark, chats at the same university's main library were analyzed over the same time period. The library's chats were much more heavily weighted toward…

Chat Widgets for Science Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meier, John J.

2008-01-01

This paper describes chat widgets, chunks of code that can be embedded on a web site to appear as an instant messaging system, and how they can be used on a science library web site to better serve library users. Interviews were conducted concerning experiences at science and humanities libraries and more similarities than differences were…

Online Chat Dependency: The Influence of Social Anxiety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chih-Chien; Chang, Shu-Chen

Recent developments in information technology have made it easy for people to “chat” online with others in real time, and many do so regularly. “Virtual” relationships can be attractive, especially for people with social interaction problems in the “real world”. This study examines the influence on online chat dependency of three dimensions of social anxiety: general social situation fear, negative evaluation fear, and novel social situation fear. Participants of this study were 454 college students. The survey results show that negative evaluation fear and general social situation fear are relative to online chat dependency, while novel social situation fear does not seem to be a relevant factor.

Genetics Home Reference: cri-du-chat syndrome

MedlinePlus

... Pinkel D. High-resolution mapping of genotype-phenotype relationships in cri du chat syndrome using array comparative ... for Links Data Files & API Site Map Subscribe Customer Support USA.gov Copyright Privacy Accessibility FOIA Viewers & ...

Using a book chat to improve attitudes and perceptions of long-term care staff about dementia.

PubMed

Larocque, Natasha; Schotsman, Chloe; Kaasalainen, Sharon; Crawshaw, Diane; McAiney, Carrie; Brazil, Emma

2014-05-01

This study sought to evaluate a book chat intervention based on Lisa Genova's novel, Still Alice, to influence long-term care (LTC) staff perceptions and attitudes when caring for individuals with dementia. A qualitative descriptive design was used. Eleven participants partook in a 2.5-hour book chat at a southern Ontario LTC facility. Following the book chat, participants answered two open-ended questions to assess how the book chat influenced their views on dementia. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative questionnaire. Content analysis of the participants' responses revealed that the book chat positively influenced their attitudes and perceptions toward dementia, particularly by providing more insight into the individual's personal struggle with the disease. Furthermore, participants found that the book chat influenced their care practices. By creating innovative learning opportunities, attitudes and perceptions about dementia care can be transcended and greatly benefit staff, family, and residents. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Goethe Gossips with Grass: Using Computer Chatting Software in an Introductory Literature Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fraser, Catherine C.

1999-01-01

Students in a third-year introduction to German literature course chatted over networked computers, using "FirstClass" software. A brief description of the course design is provided with detailed information on how the three chat sessions were organized. (Author/VWL)

[Dental education for college students based on WeChat public platform].

PubMed

Chen, Chuan-Jun; Sun, Tan

2016-06-01

The authors proposed a model for dental education based on WeChat public platform. In this model, teachers send various kinds of digital teaching information such as PPT，word and video to the WeChat public platform and students share the information for preview before class and differentiate the key-point knowledge from those information for in-depth learning in class. Teachers also send reference materials for expansive learning after class. Questionaire through the WeChat public platform is used to evaluate teaching effect of teachers and improvement may be taken based on the feedback questionnaire. A discussion and interaction based on WeCchat between students and teacher can be aroused on a specific topic to reach a proper solution. With technique development of mobile terminal, mobile class will come true in near future.

Learning in Activity: Exploring the Methodological Potential of Action Research in Activity Theorising of Social Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darwin, Stephen

2011-01-01

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), founded on the seminal work of Vygotsky and evolving in the subsequent work of Leont'ev and Engestrom, continues to emerge as a robust and increasingly widely used conceptual framework for the research and analysis of the complex social mediation of human learning and development. Yet there remains…

A simple and rapid radiochemical choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) assay screening test.

PubMed

Shiba, Kazuhiro; Ogawa, Kazuma; Kinuya, Seigo; Yajima, Kazuyoshi; Mori, Hirofumi

2006-10-15

A simple radiochemical choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) assay screening test was developed by measuring for [(3)H]acetylcholine ([(3)H]ACh) formed from 0.2 mM [(3)H]acetyl-coenzyme A ([(3)H]acetyl-CoA) and 1 mM choline by 0.2 mg of rat brain homogenates containing ChAT into 96-well microplates. A simple and rapid procedure for isolating [(3)H]ACh from the incubation mixture into 96-well microplates was achieved by using a sodium tetraphenylboron (Kalibor) solution (in ethyl acetate, 0.75%, w/v) and a hydrophobic liquid scintillator mixture (1:5, v/v, 0.2 mL) as an extraction solvent. The benefits of this radiochemical method using 96-well microplates are as follows: (1) this method is reliable and reproducible; (2) many samples can be examined at the same time by this method; (3) this method is economical and effective in reducing radioactive waste. The development of a new simple radiochemical ChAT assay screening test is the first stage of development of radiolabeled ChAT mapping agent.

Chat-Line Interaction and Negative Feedback.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwasaki, Junko; Oliver, Rhonda

2003-01-01

Examines communicative interactions between native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) of Japanese on Internet relay chat, with a special focus on implicit negative feedback in the interactions. Reports that NSs of Japanese gave implicit negative feedback to their NNS partners and NNSs used the feedback in their subsequent production, but…

Turbulent pressure fluctuations measured during CHATS

Treesearch

Steven P. Oncley; William J. Massman; Edward G. Patton

2008-01-01

Fast-response pressure fluctuations were included in the Canopy Horizontal Array of Turbulence Study (CHATS) at several heights within and just above the canopy in a walnut orchard. Two independent systems were intercompared and then separated. We present an evaluation of turbulence statistics - including the pressure transport term in the turbulence kinetic energy...

Video chat technology to remotely quantify dietary, supplement and medication adherence in clinical trials.

PubMed

Peterson, Courtney M; Apolzan, John W; Wright, Courtney; Martin, Corby K

2016-11-01

We conducted two studies to test the validity, reliability, feasibility and acceptability of using video chat technology to quantify dietary and pill-taking (i.e. supplement and medication) adherence. In study 1, we investigated whether video chat technology can accurately quantify adherence to dietary and pill-taking interventions. Mock study participants ate food items and swallowed pills, while performing randomised scripted 'cheating' behaviours to mimic non-adherence. Monitoring was conducted in a cross-over design, with two monitors watching in-person and two watching remotely by Skype on a smartphone. For study 2, a twenty-two-item online survey was sent to a listserv with more than 20 000 unique email addresses of past and present study participants to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the technology. For the dietary adherence tests, monitors detected 86 % of non-adherent events (sensitivity) in-person v. 78 % of events via video chat monitoring (P=0·12), with comparable inter-rater agreement (0·88 v. 0·85; P=0·62). However, for pill-taking, non-adherence trended towards being more easily detected in-person than by video chat (77 v. 60 %; P=0·08), with non-significantly higher inter-rater agreement (0·85 v. 0·69; P=0·21). Survey results from study 2 (n 1076 respondents; ≥5 % response rate) indicated that 86·4 % of study participants had video chatting hardware, 73·3 % were comfortable using the technology and 79·8 % were willing to use it for clinical research. Given the capability of video chat technology to reduce participant burden and outperform other adherence monitoring methods such as dietary self-report and pill counts, video chatting is a novel and promising platform to quantify dietary and pill-taking adherence.

Video chat technology to remotely quantify dietary, supplement, and medication adherence in clinical trials

PubMed Central

Peterson, Courtney M.; Apolzan, John W.; Wright, Courtney; Martin, Corby K.

2017-01-01

We conducted a pair of studies to test the validity, reliability, feasibility, and acceptability of using video chat technology as a novel method to quantify dietary and pill-taking (i.e., supplement and medication) adherence. In the first study, we investigated whether video chat technology can accurately quantify adherence to dietary and pill-taking interventions. Mock study participants ate food items and swallowed pills while performing randomized scripted “cheating” behaviors design to mimic non-adherence. Monitoring was conducted in a crossover design, with two monitors watching in-person and two watching remotely by Skype on a smartphone. For the second study, a 22-question online survey was sent to an email listserv with more than 20,000 unique email addresses of past and present study participants to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the technology. For the dietary adherence tests, monitors detected 86% of non-adherent events (sensitivity) in-person versus 78% of events via video chat monitoring (p=0.12), with comparable inter-rater agreement (0.88 vs. 0.85; p=0.62). However, for pill-taking, non-adherence trended towards being more easily detected in-person than by video chat (77% vs. 60%; p=0.08), with non-significantly higher inter-rater agreement (0.85 vs. 0.69; p=0.21). Survey results from the second study (N=1,076 respondents; at least a 5% response rate) indicated that 86.4% of study participants had video chatting hardware, 73.3% were comfortable using the technology; and 79.8% were willing to use it for clinical research. Given the capability of video chat technology to reduce participant burden and to outperform other adherence monitoring methods such as dietary self-report and pill counts, video chatting is a novel and highly promising platform to quantify dietary and pill-taking adherence. PMID:27753427

Technological tearoom trade: characteristics of Swedish men visiting gay Internet chat rooms.

PubMed

Tikkanen, Ronny; Ross, Michael W

2003-04-01

This study compares differences among Swedish men who never, occasionally, and frequently use Internet sexual chat rooms. The data indicate that Internet sexual chat room users are significantly different from those who never visit chat rooms. The users were younger, more likely to live at home or with a female partner, bisexual, less open about their homosexuality, less likely to be members of gay organizations, and more likely to engage in unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners. The Internet might be a mean's of approximating homosexual contact. These data suggest that the Internet may be a useful place to reach younger and bisexual men, and those who make sexual assignations, with HIV/STD preventive messages, often before they have publicly come out.

Does the Use of WeChat Lead to Subjective Well-Being?: The Effect of Use Intensity and Motivations.

PubMed

Wen, Zhengbao; Geng, Xiaowei; Ye, Yinghua

2016-10-01

Recently, WeChat has been widely used in China. The positive and negative effects of WeChat on users have received attention from researchers gradually. Using the questionnaire method, we recruited 339 undergraduates and graduates as participants, and tested the effects of WeChat on their subjective well-being (SWB) in terms of intensity. In addition, we confirmed the mediating effects of WeChat with respect to motivation. The results showed that the participants' WeChat use intensity was at a mid-level, 85.3 percent of them spending no more than 2 hours on WeChat every day. Furthermore, there have been no demographic differences in the variables of gender, place of residence, or grade. Participants' WeChat use intensity can significantly predict their use motivation and life satisfaction, and intrinsic use motivation was the mediator between the use intensity and SWB, while the other three types of motivation (external, introjection, and identification) cannot predict SWB significantly. The user's ultimate emotional experience is primarily derived from why and how they use it. We also tested whether the use motivation can be shaped.

Evaluation of the 113Online Suicide Prevention Crisis Chat Service: Outcomes, Helper Behaviors and Comparison to Telephone Hotlines.

PubMed

Mokkenstorm, Jan K; Eikelenboom, Merijn; Huisman, Annemiek; Wiebenga, Jasper; Gilissen, Renske; Kerkhof, Ad J F M; Smit, Johannes H

2017-06-01

Recognizing the importance of digital communication, major suicide prevention helplines have started offering crisis intervention by chat. To date there is little evidence supporting the effectiveness of crisis chat services. To evaluate the reach and outcomes of the 113Online volunteer-operated crisis chat service, 526 crisis chat logs were studied, replicating the use of measures that were developed to study telephone crisis calls. Reaching a relatively young population of predominantly females with severe suicidality and (mental) health problems, chat outcomes for this group were found to be comparable to those found for crisis calls to U.S. Lifeline Centers in 2003-2004, with similar but not identical associations with specific helpers' styles and attitudes. Our findings support a positive effect of the 113Online chat service, to be enhanced by practice standards addressing an apparent lack of focus on the central issue of suicidality during chats, as well as by the development of best practices specific for online crisis intervention. © 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

Excessive use of WeChat, social interaction and locus of control among college students in China

PubMed Central

Jiang, Yingying; Ye, Zi; Wang, Ying; Yang, Lizhuang; Li, Xiaoming; Zhang, Yongjun; Pang, Liangjun; Kong, Yan; Xu, Fei; Zhang, Xiaochu

2017-01-01

In China, the number of college students using mobile phone based messaging and social networking applications like WeChat is increasing rapidly. However, there has been minimal research into the addictive nature of these applications and the psychological characteristics associate with their excessive use. There is also no published scale available for assessing excessive use of WeChat and similar applications. In the current study, we collected data from 1,245 college students in China (715 females) and developed the WeChat Excessive Use Scale (WEUS). We then assessed the relationship between excessive use of WeChat and excessive use of a social networking application-Weibo, problematic use of mobile phones, external locus of control, and social interaction skills. Our 10-item scale featured three factors, namely- “mood modification,” “salience” and ‘‘conflict”- critical factors in assessing different forms of addiction. The WEUS was found to be a reliable instrument in assessing excessive use of WeChat as it showed good internal consistency and correlated with other measures of problematic use social networking and mobile phone addiction. Our results showed that excessive users of WeChat are more likely to excessively use Weibo than they are to problematically use mobile phones. Our study also showed that greater excessive use of WeChat is associated with higher external locus of control and greater online social interaction skills. These results reveal that WeChat has unique and strong appeal among college students in China. Further, practitioners should consider dealing with malleable factors like locus of control and real life social skills in treating people with problematic messaging and social networking. PMID:28817710

Excessive use of WeChat, social interaction and locus of control among college students in China.

PubMed

Hou, Juan; Ndasauka, Yamikani; Jiang, Yingying; Ye, Zi; Wang, Ying; Yang, Lizhuang; Li, Xiaoming; Zhang, Yongjun; Pang, Liangjun; Kong, Yan; Xu, Fei; Zhang, Xiaochu

2017-01-01

In China, the number of college students using mobile phone based messaging and social networking applications like WeChat is increasing rapidly. However, there has been minimal research into the addictive nature of these applications and the psychological characteristics associate with their excessive use. There is also no published scale available for assessing excessive use of WeChat and similar applications. In the current study, we collected data from 1,245 college students in China (715 females) and developed the WeChat Excessive Use Scale (WEUS). We then assessed the relationship between excessive use of WeChat and excessive use of a social networking application-Weibo, problematic use of mobile phones, external locus of control, and social interaction skills. Our 10-item scale featured three factors, namely- "mood modification," "salience" and ''conflict"- critical factors in assessing different forms of addiction. The WEUS was found to be a reliable instrument in assessing excessive use of WeChat as it showed good internal consistency and correlated with other measures of problematic use social networking and mobile phone addiction. Our results showed that excessive users of WeChat are more likely to excessively use Weibo than they are to problematically use mobile phones. Our study also showed that greater excessive use of WeChat is associated with higher external locus of control and greater online social interaction skills. These results reveal that WeChat has unique and strong appeal among college students in China. Further, practitioners should consider dealing with malleable factors like locus of control and real life social skills in treating people with problematic messaging and social networking.

First Things First: Internet Relay Chat Openings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rintel, E. Sean; Mulholland, Joan; Pittam, Jeffery

2001-01-01

Argues that Internet Relay Chat (IRC) research needs to systematically address links between interaction structures, technological mediation and the instantiation and development of interpersonal relationships. Finds that openings that occur directly following user's entries into public IRC channels are often ambiguous, can disrupt relationship…

Synchronous Discussion in Online Courses: A Pedagogical Strategy for Taming the Chat Beast

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Craig W.

2006-01-01

Many online classes use synchronous communication--chat--as a way to conduct class discussion. However, chat can quickly disintegrate into nonproductive chaos if allowed to flow unchecked. The tools provided by course management systems such as Blackboard provide one solution to this problem by allowing instructors to grant or deny access to…

Clinical and Genetic Features of Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes due to CHAT Mutations: Case Report and Literature Review.

PubMed

Arican, Pinar; Gencpinar, Pinar; Cavusoglu, Dilek; Olgac Dundar, Nihal

2018-05-21

Congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) are neuromuscular transmission disorders caused by mutations in genes encoding neuromuscular junction proteins. CMS due to choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) gene is characterized by episodic apnea. We report a case of a 12-month-old female patient presented with recurrent episodic apnea carrying a mutation in CHAT gene, p.I336T. Furthermore, we describe the genetic and clinical findings in 44 CMS patients due to CHAT mutations in the literature up to date. Episodes of apnea and respiratory insufficiency are the hallmarks of CHAT mutations. Clinical manifestations usually provoked by infections and fever. CMS due to CHAT mutations are rare, but it is important to diagnosis. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can improve morbidity and mortality. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Chat (Catha edulis): a socio economic crop in Harar Region, Eastern Ethiopia.

PubMed

Kandari, Laxman S; Yadav, Hiranmai R; Thakur, Ashok K; Kandari, Tripti

2014-01-01

Chat (Catha edulis) is an important perennial crop and its leaves are chewed for a stimulating effect. It is widely cultivated in the Ethiopian highlands of Oromia region and is figured as Ethiopia's second largest foreign exchange earner. Its cultivation accounts for about 70% of farmer's income in the study area. The common effect of its consumption leads to insomnia, a condition that the users sometimes try to overcome with sedatives or alcohol. The present study is an attempt to survey and assess the impact of crop on the community. It has been observed to implicate health problems, reduces savings and nutritional standards of the family members. The chat yields in the area ranges from 1500-1800 kg/ha through monoculture. During the study, the average monthly income of the family practicing chat cultivation was from Birr 8, 533.00 to 13, 166.00 kg/ha per year in Baate and Genede cultivating areas. When the average cost per/ha was rupees 60/kg. The present study shows that during the recent past, leaf consumption has increased significantly. Chat growers are not only producers but also traders and consumers. Its consumption has become a widespread habit from secondary schools. Highest number of consumers was found to be among drivers followed by students and shopkeepers. The consumption of the plant is not considered a taboo but on contrary a status symbol in the region. It has no legal or moral implications and is considered as a part of custom and habit of local people. High value cash crop like vegetables and orchard fruits needs to be used as a replacement for chat which could be a regular source of income to farmers. Alternative sources of income for farmers needs to be scientifically worked out and proposed keeping in view the proportion of agricultural land reserved under chat cultivation and to increase the production of food grains being produced.

Measuring Audience Engagement for Public Health Twitter Chats: Insights From #LiveFitNOLA

PubMed Central

Croston, Merriah A

2017-01-01

Background Little empirical evidence exists on the effectiveness of using Twitter as a two-way communication tool for public health practice, such as Twitter chats. Objective We analyzed whether Twitter chats facilitate engagement in two-way communications between public health entities and their audience. We also describe how to measure two-way communications, incoming and outgoing mentions, between users in a protocol using free and publicly available tools (Symplur, OpenRefine, and Gephi). Methods We used a mixed-methods approach, social network analysis, and content analysis. The study population comprised individuals and organizations participating or who were mentioned in the first #LiveFitNOLA chat, during a 75-min period on March 5, 2015, from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM Central Time. We assessed audience engagement in two-way communications with two metrics: engagement ratio and return on engagement (ROE). Results The #LiveFitNOLA chat had 744 tweets and 66 participants with an average of 11 tweets per participant. The resulting network had 134 network members and 474 engagements. The engagement ratios and ROEs for the #LiveFitNOLA organizers were 1:1, 40% (13/32) (@TulanePRC) and 2:1, −40% (−25/63) (@FitNOLA). Content analysis showed information sharing (63.9%, 314/491) and health information (27.9%, 137/491) as the most salient theme and sub-theme, respectively. Conclusions Our findings suggest Twitter chats facilitate audience engagement in two-way communications between public health entities and their audience. The #LiveFitNOLA organizers’ engagement ratios and ROEs indicated a moderate level of engagement with their audience. The practical significance of the engagement ratio and ROE depends on the audience, context, scope, scale, and goal of a Twitter chat or other organized hashtag-based communications on Twitter. PMID:28596149

Association between Fatigue and Autistic Symptoms in Children with Cri du Chat Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Claro, Anthony; Cornish, Kim; Gruber, Reut

2011-01-01

In the current study, the authors examined whether the fatigue level of children diagnosed with cri du chat syndrome was associated with the expression of autistic symptoms. Sixty-nine children with cri du chat syndrome were compared with 47 children with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities who did not differ on intellectual severity.…

Exploring the Affordances of WeChat for Facilitating Teaching, Social and Cognitive Presence in Semi-Synchronous Language Exchange

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yuping; Fang, Wei-Chieh; Han, Julia; Chen, Nian-Shing

2016-01-01

This research is an exploratory study that evaluates the affordances of WeChat for the development of a community of inquiry (CoI) in semi-synchronous language exchange supported by WeChat. WeChat is an instant messenger that facilitates a multimodal environment in which interaction can happen synchronously, semi-synchronously and asynchronously…

Adding a Feature: Can a Pop-Up Chat Box Enhance Virtual Reference Services?

PubMed

Fan, Suhua Caroline; Fought, Rick L; Gahn, Paul C

2017-01-01

Online users seek help from virtual reference services via email, phone, texting, and live chat. Technologies have enabled new features in library websites to help make this service more accessible and effective. This article is an evaluation of an experimental pop-up live chat box on the website of a health sciences library to see whether the feature would enhance virtual reference services.

Evaluating a Chat Reference Service at the University of South Alabama's Baugh Biomedical Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clanton, Clista C.; Staggs, Geneva B.; Williams, Thomas L.

2006-01-01

The University of South Alabama's Baugh Biomedical Library recently initiated a chat reference service targeted at distance education students in the biomedical sciences. After one year of service, the library conducted an evaluation of the chat reference to assess the success of this mode of reference service. Both traditional reference and…

Online Chats to Assess Stakeholder Perceptions of Meat Chicken Intensification and Welfare

PubMed Central

Howell, Tiffani J.; Rohlf, Vanessa I.; Coleman, Grahame J.; Rault, Jean-Loup

2016-01-01

Simple Summary Most people care about animal welfare. Nevertheless, divergent views remain on what constitutes animal welfare, despite a growing body of scientific evidence. We used online chats to trigger discussion among participants from various stakeholder groups: general public, animal advocacy group, meat chicken industry-affiliated, and researchers or veterinarians who were not industry-affiliated but had experience with chickens. The aim of this pilot study was to assess reasons for divergence in opinions or conversely agreement between participants, using the topic of the welfare implications of meat chicken farming intensification. Participants also completed a pre- and post-chat survey to evaluate their perceptions and knowledge of chicken farming. Reasons for supporting intensification included perceptions of better health for the chickens and the sustainability of the system. Reasons for opposition included perceptions of the large number of animals kept together, and limited ability to perform natural behaviours. Misunderstandings about current practices were clarified in chats which contained industry-affiliated participants. Participants agreed on the need for enforceable standards and industry transparency. On average, objective knowledge of intensification increased after participating in the chat, but support for intensification did not change over the course of the study, counter to assertions that lack of knowledge results in lack of support for some practices. Engaging stakeholders can provide valuable information to anyone interested in the relationship between perception and knowledge of specific farming practices. Abstract Evidence suggests that there is variation in support for specific chicken farming practices amongst stakeholder groups, and this should be explored in more detail to understand the nature of these differences and work towards convergence. Online focus groups were used to assess attitudes to animal welfare in meat chicken

[Influence of WeChat platform on the compliance of continuous treatment of scar in adult burn patients].

PubMed

Wang, F; Zhang, H L

2018-03-20

Objective: To explore influence of the WeChat platform on the compliance of continuous treatment of scar in adult burn patients. Methods: A total of 124 adult burn patients, conforming to the study criteria, admitted in the Department of Burns of our hospital from January 2015 to January 2016 were divided into WeChat group ( n =63) and control group ( n =61) according to the random number table. Patients in control group only received regular discharging rehabilitation guide, while patients in WeChat group received regular discharging rehabilitation guide and joined WeChat platform after being discharged from hospital. Through pushing rehabilitation plan and rehabilitation related knowledge, organizing support discussion of burn patients, answering the patients' questions, members of WeChat platform intervention group conducted continuous treatment for 6 months on patients of WeChat group. The compliance of functional exercise of patients in two groups in one week before discharge and 3 and 6 months after discharge was evaluated by using the self-made functional exercise compliance log sheet. The compliance of using anti-scar drug and appliance of patients in two groups in 3 and 6 months after discharge was evaluated by using self-made anti-scar drug and appliance usage log sheets. Data were processed with chi-square test, independent sample t test, non-parametric rank sum test of independent sample, and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results: (1) The compliance ratio of functional exercise of patients in WeChat group (95.24%, 60/63) was close to 93.44% (57/61) in control group in one week before discharge ( χ (2)=0.188, P >0.05). The compliance ratios of functional exercise of patients in WeChat group were respectively 93.65% (59/63) and 87.30% (55/63) in 3 and 6 months after discharge, which were higher than 68.85% (42/61) and 65.57% (40/61) in control group ( χ (2)=12.615, 8.166, P <0.01). (2) The compliance of using anti-scar drug of patients in WeChat group was

Twitter journal clubs and continuing professional development: An analysis of a #MedRadJClub tweet chat.

PubMed

Bolderston, A; Watson, J; Woznitza, N; Westerink, A; Di Prospero, L; Currie, G; Beardmore, C; Hewis, J

2018-02-01

Online Twitter journal clubs are a recent and popular innovation with the potential to increase research awareness and inform practice. The medical radiation sciences' MedRadJournalClub (MJRC) is a Twitter-based event that attracts a global group of participants at the monthly chats. An analysis of a recent MedRadJournalClub discussion evaluated the perceived benefits and limitations of medical radiation practitioners participating in an online journal club. The February 2017 chat used for analysis was based on the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences article by Currie et al. "Twitter Journal Club in Medical Radiation Science" that examines the educational theory behind learning and evidencing professional development through MRJC and social media. The data consisted of chat tweets which were collated using the Twitter advanced search function using the #medradjclub. An initial reviewed was performed to exclude irrelevant content. A second review was then undertaken to categorize the main theme of the tweet. The data were then subjected to thematic analysis which yielded seven different categories. The main benefits included global access due to the online nature of MRJC that has facilitated networking and collaboration. Open access to recently published research was another key benefit. The character limitation of a tweet was the most common constraint, and the dynamic nature of the twitter conversation requires multi-tasking that may be difficult. Our analysis indicated that participants use MedRadJournalClub as a source of continuing professional development with some evidence that this is directly informing clinical and educational practice. Copyright © 2017 The College of Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring Audience Engagement for Public Health Twitter Chats: Insights From #LiveFitNOLA.

PubMed

Rabarison, Kristina M; Croston, Merriah A; Englar, Naomi K; Bish, Connie L; Flynn, Shelbi M; Johnson, Carolyn C

2017-06-08

Little empirical evidence exists on the effectiveness of using Twitter as a two-way communication tool for public health practice, such as Twitter chats. We analyzed whether Twitter chats facilitate engagement in two-way communications between public health entities and their audience. We also describe how to measure two-way communications, incoming and outgoing mentions, between users in a protocol using free and publicly available tools (Symplur, OpenRefine, and Gephi). We used a mixed-methods approach, social network analysis, and content analysis. The study population comprised individuals and organizations participating or who were mentioned in the first #LiveFitNOLA chat, during a 75-min period on March 5, 2015, from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM Central Time. We assessed audience engagement in two-way communications with two metrics: engagement ratio and return on engagement (ROE). The #LiveFitNOLA chat had 744 tweets and 66 participants with an average of 11 tweets per participant. The resulting network had 134 network members and 474 engagements. The engagement ratios and ROEs for the #LiveFitNOLA organizers were 1:1, 40% (13/32) (@TulanePRC) and 2:1, -40% (-25/63) (@FitNOLA). Content analysis showed information sharing (63.9%, 314/491) and health information (27.9%, 137/491) as the most salient theme and sub-theme, respectively. Our findings suggest Twitter chats facilitate audience engagement in two-way communications between public health entities and their audience. The #LiveFitNOLA organizers' engagement ratios and ROEs indicated a moderate level of engagement with their audience. The practical significance of the engagement ratio and ROE depends on the audience, context, scope, scale, and goal of a Twitter chat or other organized hashtag-based communications on Twitter. ©Kristina M Rabarison, Merriah A Croston, Naomi K Englar, Connie L Bish, Shelbi M Flynn, Carolyn C Johnson. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http

Evaluating the Quality of a Chat Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Julie; Kaske, Neal K.

2005-01-01

A quantitative study of a university chat reference service (online synchronous) addresses the following research questions: (1) What types of questions are being asked? (2) Who is asking the questions of the service? and (3) Did the customers get correct answers to their questions? All the transcripts (351) from January through August 2002 were…

Look at That! Video Chat and Joint Visual Attention Development among Babies and Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClure, Elisabeth R.; Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia E.; Holochwost, Steven J.; Parrott, W. G.; Barr, Rachel

2018-01-01

Although many relatives use video chat to keep in touch with toddlers, key features of adult-toddler interaction like joint visual attention (JVA) may be compromised in this context. In this study, 25 families with a child between 6 and 24 months were observed using video chat at home with geographically separated grandparents. We define two types…

Assessment of orofacial characteristics and oral pathology associated with cri-du-chat syndrome.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Caballero, A; Torres-Lagares, D; Yáñez-Vico, R-M; Gutiérrez-Pérez, J-L; Machuca-Portillo, G

2012-03-01

To obtain a deeper insight into the difficulties individuals with cri-du-chat syndrome experience by means of the analysis of the most common features and oral pathology observed in the subjects enrolled in the study. Intra-oral and extra-oral features of a total of 33 patients with cri-du-chat syndrome (the larger sample so far analyzed) through their clinical and photographic examination. Models, orthopantomographies, and teleradiographies have been collected to establish a pattern as accurate as possible of the oral pathology associated with these patients. The present descriptive study shows that patients with cri-du-chat syndrome present with a series of orofacial features such as mandibular retrognathism, high palate, and variable malocclusion, more commonly anterior open-bite. Most patients also present with perioral muscle relaxation with labial incompetence and short philtrum. As regards oral pathology, these patients suffer dental erosions provoked by gastroesophageal reflux and attritions because of intense day-and-night bruxism. The odontologists' familiarity with the orofacial pathology associated with cri-du-chat syndrome and with the specific needs such disorder conveys should improve the quality of the buccodental treatment these professionals may offer to these patients. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Development of Communication Conventions in Instructional Electronic Chats.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Mauri P.; Murphy, Karen L.

1997-01-01

This study used content analysis to identify the communication conventions and protocols that real-time, interactive electronic chat users developed in instructional settings. Most frequently used conventions included sharing information/techniques for conveying meaning and indicating interest in a topic, using keywords and names of individuals,…

Chat Reference Training after One Decade: The Results of a National Survey of Academic Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devine, Christopher; Paladino, Emily Bounds; Davis, John A.

2011-01-01

The first comprehensive national survey of all academic libraries in the United States which were conducting chat reference service was carried out to determine: what practices were being used to prepare personnel for chat reference service, what competencies were being taught, how and why training practices may have changed over time, and what…

Speaking Math: Using Chat in the Multicultural Math Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Janet; Hodgson, Ted

2008-01-01

Electronic communication is a powerful tool teachers can leverage to improve learning. In this article, the authors explain how they used chat and discussion forums to improve their mathematics classes, and how others can adapt their strategies across the curriculum.

Weibo or WeChat? Assessing Preference for Social Networking Sites and Role of Personality Traits and Psychological Factors.

PubMed

Hou, Juan; Ndasauka, Yamikani; Pan, Xuefei; Chen, Shuangyi; Xu, Fei; Zhang, Xiaochu

2018-01-01

Research trying to understand individual difference in the use of different social networking sites (SNSs) is minimal. In the present study, we collected data from 714 college students in China (273 males) to assess how personality traits and psychological factors relate to excessive use of WeChat and Weibo. We found that excessive use of Weibo and WeChat correlated positively with neuroticism, loneliness, and external locus of control and negatively with agreeableness, social support, and social interaction. Furthermore, people that scored high on loneliness, lack of social support, and poor social interaction skills excessively used Weibo more than WeChat. These results entail that by fulfilling different needs, WeChat and Weibo attract different kinds of people; significant lesson for future development of SNSs.

Weibo or WeChat? Assessing Preference for Social Networking Sites and Role of Personality Traits and Psychological Factors

PubMed Central

Hou, Juan; Ndasauka, Yamikani; Pan, Xuefei; Chen, Shuangyi; Xu, Fei; Zhang, Xiaochu

2018-01-01

Research trying to understand individual difference in the use of different social networking sites (SNSs) is minimal. In the present study, we collected data from 714 college students in China (273 males) to assess how personality traits and psychological factors relate to excessive use of WeChat and Weibo. We found that excessive use of Weibo and WeChat correlated positively with neuroticism, loneliness, and external locus of control and negatively with agreeableness, social support, and social interaction. Furthermore, people that scored high on loneliness, lack of social support, and poor social interaction skills excessively used Weibo more than WeChat. These results entail that by fulfilling different needs, WeChat and Weibo attract different kinds of people; significant lesson for future development of SNSs. PMID:29755384

Characterization of the mississippian chat in South-central Kansas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Watney, W.L.; Guy, W.J.; Byrnes, A.P.

2001-01-01

To understand production from low resistivity-high porosity Mississippian chat reservoirs in south-central Kansas it is necessary to understand the nature of deposition and diagenesis, how tectonics is a factor, the lithofacies controls on petrophysical properties, and log response to these properties. The initial mudstones to sponge-spicule wacke-packstones were deposited in transgressive-regressive (T-R) cycles on a shelf to shelf margin setting, resulting in a series of shallowing-upward cycles. Sponge-spicule content appears to increase upward with increasing cycle thickness. After early silicification, inter- and post-Mississippian subaerial exposure resulted in further diagenesis, including sponge-spicule dissolution, vuggy porosity development in moldic-rich rocks, and autobrecciation. Meteoric water infiltration is limited in depth below the exposure surface and in distance downdip into unaltered, cherty Cowley Formation facies. Areas of thicker preserved chat and increased diagenesis can be correlated with structural lineaments and, in some areas, with recurrent basement block movement. Combination of folding or block fault movement prior to or during development of the basal Pennsylvanian unconformity, sponge-spicule concentration, and possibly thickness of overlying bioclastic wacke-grainstones resulted in variable reservoir properties and the creation of pods of production separated by nonproductive cherty dolomite mudstones. These events also resulted in alteration of the depositional cycles to produce a series of lithofacies that exhibit unique petrophysical properties. From bottom to top in a complete cycle seven lithofacies are present: (1) argillaceous dolomite mudstone, (2) argillaceous dolomite mudstone that has chert nodules, (3) clean dolomite mudstone that has nodular chert, (4) nodular to bedded chert, (5) autoclastic chert, (6) autoclastic chert that has clay infill, and (7) bioclastic wacke-grainstone. The uppermost cycle was terminated by

Estimation of volume and mass and of changes in volume and mass of selected chat piles in the Picher mining district, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, 2005-10

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, S. Jerrod

2013-01-01

From the 1890s through the 1970s the Picher mining district in northeastern Ottawa County, Oklahoma, was the site of mining and processing of lead and zinc ore. When mining ceased in about 1979, as much as 165–300 million tons of mine tailings, locally referred to as “chat,” remained in the Picher mining district. Since 1979, some chat piles have been mined for aggregate materials and have decreased in volume and mass. Currently (2013), the land surface in the Picher mining district is covered by thousands of acres of chat, much of which remains on Indian trust land owned by allottees. The Bureau of Indian Affairs manages these allotted lands and oversees the sale and removal of chat from these properties. To help the Bureau of Indian Affairs better manage the sale and removal of chat, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, estimated the 2005 and 2010 volumes and masses of selected chat piles remaining on allotted lands in the Picher mining district. The U.S. Geological Survey also estimated the changes in volume and mass of these chat piles for the period 2005 through 2010. The 2005 and 2010 chat-pile volume and mass estimates were computed for 34 selected chat piles on 16 properties in the study area. All computations of volume and mass were performed on individual chat piles and on groups of chat piles in the same property. The Sooner property had the greatest estimated volume (4.644 million cubic yards) and mass (5.253 ± 0.473 million tons) of chat in 2010. Five of the selected properties (Sooner, Western, Lawyers, Skelton, and St. Joe) contained estimated chat volumes exceeding 1 million cubic yards and estimated chat masses exceeding 1 million tons in 2010. Four of the selected properties (Lucky Bill Humbah, Ta Mee Heh, Bird Dog, and St. Louis No. 6) contained estimated chat volumes of less than 0.1 million cubic yards and estimated chat masses of less than 0.1 million tons in 2010. The total volume of all

Use of lidar point cloud data to support estimation of residual trace metals stored in mine chat piles in the Old Lead Belt of southeastern, Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Witt, Emitt C.

2016-01-01

Historic lead and zinc (Pb-Zn) mining in southeast Missouri’s ―Old Lead Belt‖ has left large chat piles dominating the landscape where prior to 1972 mining was the major industry of the region. As a result of variable beneficiation methods over the history of mining activity, these piles remain with large quantities of unrecovered Pb and Zn and to a lesser extent cadmium (Cd). Quantifying the residual content of trace metals in chat piles is problematic because of the extensive field effort that must go into collecting elevation points for volumetric analysis. This investigation demonstrates that publicly available lidar point data from the U.S. Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) can be used to effectively calculate chat pile volumes as a method of more accurately estimating the total residual trace metal content in these mining wastes. Five chat piles located in St. Francois County, Missouri, were quantified for residual trace metal content. Utilizing lidar point cloud data collected in 2011 and existing trace metal concentration data obtained during remedial investigations, residual content of these chat piles ranged from 9247 to 88,579 metric tons Pb, 1925 to 52,306 metric tons Zn, and 51 to 1107 metric tons Cd. Development of new beneficiation methods for recovering these constituents from chat piles would need to achieve current Federal soil screening standards. To achieve this for the five chat piles investigated, 42 to 72% of residual Pb would require mitigation to the 1200 mg/kg Federal non-playground standard, 88 to 98% of residual Zn would require mitigation to the Ecological Soil Screening level (ESSL) for plant life, and 70% to 98% of Cd would require mitigation to achieve the ESSL. Achieving these goals through an existing or future beneficiation method(s) would remediate chat to a trace metal concentration level that would support its use as a safe agricultural soil amendment.

Online Chats to Assess Stakeholder Perceptions of Meat Chicken Intensification and Welfare.

PubMed

Howell, Tiffani J; Rohlf, Vanessa I; Coleman, Grahame J; Rault, Jean-Loup

2016-10-27

Evidence suggests that there is variation in support for specific chicken farming practices amongst stakeholder groups, and this should be explored in more detail to understand the nature of these differences and work towards convergence. Online focus groups were used to assess attitudes to animal welfare in meat chicken farming in this pilot study. Across six online chats, 25 participants (general public, n = 8; animal advocacy group, n = 11, meat chicken industry, n = 3; research or veterinary practice who had experience with poultry but no declared industry affiliation, n = 3) discussed meat chicken intensification and welfare. Of those, 21 participants completed pre- and post-chat surveys gauging perceptions and objective knowledge about meat chicken management. Main reasons for intensification support were perceptions of improved bird health, and perceptions that it is a cost-effective, sustainable farming system. Reasons for opposition included perceptions that a large number of birds kept are in close proximity and have limited ability to perform natural behaviours. Misunderstandings about current practices were clarified in chats which contained industry representation. Participants agreed on the need for enforceable standards and industry transparency. Industry-affiliated members rated welfare of meat chickens higher, and gave lower ratings for the importance of natural living, than other stakeholder groups (both p = 0.001). On average, while objective knowledge of intensification increased after chat participation (p = 0.03), general welfare ratings and support for intensification did not change over time, counter to assertions that lack of knowledge results in lack of support for some practices.

Design and development of data acquisition system based on WeChat hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhitao; Ding, Lei

2018-06-01

Data acquisition system based on WeChat hardware provides methods for popularization and practicality of data acquisition. The whole system is based on WeChat hardware platform, where the hardware part is developed on DA14580 development board and the software part is based on Alibaba Cloud. We designed service module, logic processing module, data processing module and database module. The communication between hardware and software uses AirSync Protocal. We tested this system by collecting temperature and humidity data, and the result shows that the system can aquisite the temperature and humidity in real time according to settings.

Effects of Face-to-Face versus Chat Communication on Performance in a Collaborative Inquiry Modeling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sins, Patrick H. M.; Savelsbergh, Elwin R.; van Joolingen, Wouter R.; van Hout-Wolters, Bernadette H. A. M.

2011-01-01

In many contemporary collaborative inquiry learning environments, chat is being used as a means for communication. Still, it remains an open issue whether chat communication is an appropriate means to support the deep reasoning process students need to perform in such environments. Purpose of the present study was to compare the impact of chat…

Perfume formulation: words and chats.

PubMed

Ellena, Céline

2008-06-01

What does it mean to create fragrances with materials from chemistry and/or from nature? How are they used to display their characteristic differences, their own personality? Is it easier to create with synthetic raw materials or with essential oils? This review explains why a perfume formulation corresponds in fact to a conversation, an interplay between synthetic and natural perfumery materials. A synthetic raw material carries a single information, and usually is very linear. Its smell is uniform, clear, and faithful. Natural raw materials, on the contrary, provide a strong, complex and generous image. While a synthetic material can be seen as a single word, a natural one such as rose oil could be compared to chatting: cold, warm, sticky, heavy, transparent, pepper, green, metallic, smooth, watery, fruity... full of information. Yet, if a very small amount of the natural material is used, nothing happens, the fragrance will not change. However, if a large amount is used, the rose oil will swallow up everything else. The fragrance will smell of nothing else except rose! To formulate a perfume is not to create a culinary recipe, with only dosing the ingredients in well-balanced amounts. To formulate rather means to flexibly knit materials together with a lively stitch, meeting or repelling each other, building a pleasant form, which is neither fixed, nor solid, nor rigid. A fragrance has an overall structure, which ranges from a clear sound, made up of stable, unique, and linear items, to a background chat, comfortable and reassuring. But that does, of course, not mean that there is only one way of creating a fragrance!

About Collaboration, Interaction, and the Negotiation of Meaning in Synchronous Written Chats in L2-German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fredriksson, Christine

2012-01-01

In this paper I will show the preliminary findings from my study of the discourse in synchronous written chats performed by students who study modern German literature within their first term of German studies. The focus of the study is on learning strategies and discourse strategies and how the Swedish learners make use of them when chatting with…

Observations of Chat Room Conversations on the Internet: Implications for Educators Addressing the Needs of Female Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanger, Dixie; Ritzman, Mitzi; LaCost, Barbara; Stofer, Keri; Long, Amie; Grady, Marilyn

2005-01-01

This qualitative study explored the meanings of chat room conversations through observations of teenagers using the Internet. Adolescent girls were a focus because of their shaky sense of self. Participants in ten chat rooms included 534 individuals. Six themes, emerging from analyzing 2526 utterances [descriptive statements], included (a)…

Effects of intense tone exposure on choline acetyltransferase activity in the hamster cochlear nucleus.

PubMed

Jin, Yong-Ming; Godfrey, Donald A; Wang, Jie; Kaltenbach, James A

2006-01-01

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity has been mapped in the cochlear nucleus (CN) of control hamsters and hamsters that had been exposed to an intense tone. ChAT activity in most CN regions of hamsters was only a third or less of the activity in rat CN, but in granular regions ChAT activity was similar in both species. Eight days after intense tone exposure, average ChAT activity increased on the tone-exposed side as compared to the opposite side, by 74% in the anteroventral CN (AVCN), by 55% in the granular region dorsolateral to it, and by 74% in the deep layer of the dorsal CN (DCN). In addition, average ChAT activity in the exposed-side AVCN and fusiform soma layer of DCN was higher than in controls, by 152% and 67%, respectively. Two months after exposure, average ChAT activity was still 53% higher in the exposed-side deep layer of DCN as compared to the opposite side. Increased ChAT activity after intense tone exposure may indicate that this exposure leads to plasticity of descending cholinergic innervation to the CN, which might affect spontaneous activity in the DCN that has been associated with tinnitus.

Effects of using WeChat-assisted perioperative care instructions for parents of pediatric patients undergoing day surgery for herniorrhaphy.

PubMed

Liu, Jun; Zheng, Xin; Chai, Shouxia; Lei, Meirong; Feng, Zehui; Zhang, Xuelin; Lopez, Violeta

2018-02-19

This study examined the effects of WeChat-assisted perioperative instructions for parents whose children were to undergo herniorrhaphy. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a day surgery center in China. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (WeChat) group (n = 209) and the control (Leaflet) group (n = 209). The primary outcomes of this study were parents' knowledge regarding hernia and rate of cancellation of children's surgery. The secondary outcomes were the rate of lost-to-follow-up and the rate of complications and adverse events during the seventh postoperative follow-up day. There was a significant difference in the rate of cancelling the surgery and the mean knowledge score between the WeChat group and leaflet groups. The lost-to-follow-up rate was significantly lower in the WeChat group (0.54%) than in the leaflet group (3.66%). The incidence of postoperative complications were higher in the control group. WeChat-assisted perioperative care instructions enhanced parents' knowledge on perioperative instructions and promoted the preparation of their children for day surgery resulting in lower rate of cancelling the surgery. WeChat has the ability to expand health services outside the hospital confines and could be used as an important low-cost health educational medium in China. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Teen CHAT: Development and Utilization of a Web-Based Intervention to Improve Physician Communication with Adolescents About Healthy Weight

PubMed Central

Bravender, Terrill; Tulsky, James A.; Farrell, David; Alexander, Stewart C.; Østbye, Truls; Lyna, Pauline; Dolor, Rowena J.; Coffman, Cynthia J.; Bilheimer, Alicia; Lin, Pao-Hwa; Pollak, Kathryn I.

2013-01-01

Objective To describe the theoretical basis, use, and satisfaction with Teen CHAT, an online educational intervention designed to improve physician-adolescent communication about healthy weight. Methods Routine health maintenance encounters between pediatricians and family practitioners and their overweight adolescent patients were audio recorded, and content was coded to summarize adherence with motivational interviewing techniques. An online educational intervention was developed using constructs from social cognitive theory and using personalized audio recordings. Physicians were randomized to the online intervention or not, and completed post-intervention surveys. Results Forty-six physicians were recruited, and 22 physicians were randomized to view the intervention website. The educational intervention took an average of 54 minutes to complete, and most physicians thought it was useful, that they would use newly acquired skills with their patients, and would recommend it to others. Fewer physicians thought it helped them address confidentiality issues with their adolescent patients. Conclusion The Teen CHAT online intervention shows potential for enhancing physician motivational interviewing skills in an acceptable and time-efficient manner. Practice Implications If found to be effective in enhancing motivational interviewing skills and changing adolescent weight-related behaviors, wide dissemination will be feasible and indicated. PMID:24021419

Teen CHAT: Development and utilization of a web-based intervention to improve physician communication with adolescents about healthy weight.

PubMed

Bravender, Terrill; Tulsky, James A; Farrell, David; Alexander, Stewart C; Østbye, Truls; Lyna, Pauline; Dolor, Rowena J; Coffman, Cynthia J; Bilheimer, Alicia; Lin, Pao-Hwa; Pollak, Kathryn I

2013-12-01

To describe the theoretical basis, use, and satisfaction with Teen CHAT, an online educational intervention designed to improve physician-adolescent communication about healthy weight. Routine health maintenance encounters between pediatricians and family practitioners and their overweight adolescent patients were audio recorded, and content was coded to summarize adherence with motivational interviewing techniques. An online educational intervention was developed using constructs from social cognitive theory and using personalized audio recordings. Physicians were randomized to the online intervention or not, and completed post-intervention surveys. Forty-six physicians were recruited, and 22 physicians were randomized to view the intervention website. The educational intervention took an average of 54min to complete, and most physicians thought it was useful, that they would use newly acquired skills with their patients, and would recommend it to others. Fewer physicians thought it helped them address confidentiality issues with their adolescent patients. The Teen CHAT online intervention shows potential for enhancing physician motivational interviewing skills in an acceptable and time-efficient manner. If found to be effective in enhancing motivational interviewing skills and changing adolescent weight-related behaviors, wide dissemination will be feasible and indicated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

"Siamo Vicini, No?": Negotiating Commonality for Rapport Building in Italian L1-L2 Online Text Chat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tudini, Vincenza; Strambi, Antonella

2017-01-01

Focusing specifically on the negotiation of commonality, this study explores rapport building (Spencer-Oatey, 2000) in online intercultural text chat, where Australian students of Italian interact with L1 Italian speakers. Although the initial purpose of the examined chat exchanges is to facilitate L2 acquisition, analysis of transcripts indicates…

Activity Theory and Ontology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peim, Nick

2009-01-01

This paper seeks to re-examine Yrio Engestrom's activity theory as a technology of knowledge designed to enable positive transformations of specific practices. The paper focuses on a key paper where Engestrom defines the nature and present state of activity theory. Beginning with a brief account of the relations between activity theory and…

Interaction Management Strategies on IRC and Virtual Chat Rooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altun, Arif

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an electronic medium that combines orthographic form with real time, synchronous transmission in an unregulated global multi-user environment. The orthographic letters mediate the interaction in that users can only access the IRC session through reading and writing; they have no access to any visual representations at…

Effects of short-term hormonal replacement on learning and on basal forebrain ChAT and TrkA content in ovariectomized rats.

PubMed

Espinosa-Raya, Judith; Plata-Cruz, Noemí; Neri-Gómez, Teresa; Camacho-Arroyo, Ignacio; Picazo, Ofir

2011-02-23

It has been proposed that sex steroid hormones improve performance in some cognitive tasks by regulating the basal forebrain cholinergic function. However, the molecular basis of such influence still remains unknown. Current study analyzed the performance of ovariectomized rats in an autoshaping learning task after a short-term treatment with 17β-estradiol (E2: 4 and 40μg/kg) and/or progesterone (P4: 4mg/kg). These results were correlated with basal forebrain choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and TrkA protein content. The high dose of E2 enhanced both acquisition in the autoshaping task and the content of ChAT and TrkA. P4 treatment increased ChAT and TrkA content without affecting performance of rats in the autoshaping learning task. Interestingly, the continuous and simultaneous administration of E2 plus P4 did not significantly modify behavioral and biochemical evaluated parameters. These results address the influence of both E2 and P4 on cholinergic and TrkA activity and suggest that the effects of ovarian hormones on cognitive performance involve basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigating the Building of a WeChat-Based Community of Practice for Language Teachers' Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qi, Grace Yue; Wang, Yuping

2018-01-01

This study explores the process of Community of Practice (CoP) building for language teachers' professional development through the support of a WeChat group. WeChat is an instant messenger app that provides a multimodal platform for one-on-one and group interactions through text, audio and video. In order to support the implementation of flipped…

Untangling Topic Threads in Chat-Based Communication: A Case Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

learning techniques such as clustering are very popular for analyzing text for topic identification (Anjewierden,, Kollöffel and Hulshof 2007; Adams...Anjewierden, A., Kollöffel, B., and Hulshof , C. (2007). Towards educational data mining: Using data mining methods for automated chat analysis to

Habitat patch size and nesting success of yellow-breasted chats

Treesearch

Dick E. Burhans; Frank R. Thompson III

1999-01-01

We measured vegetation at shrub patches used for nesting by Yellow-breasted Chats (Icteria virens) to evaluate the importance of nesting habitat patch features on nest predation, cowbird parasitism, and nest site selection. Logistic regression models indicated that nests in small patches (average diameter

Mobile Chatting Behaviour of Arts and Science College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramakrishnan, N.; Priya, J. Johnsi

2016-01-01

Mobile connectivity is the order of the day. Personas irrespective of their socio-economic status possess mobile device either basic or advanced android or windows or IOS. The chat applications have become popular with younger generation. It has started trickling down to children below the age of eighteen. The behaviour has influenced the aged…

Learning patterns of life from intelligence analyst chat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Michael K.; Alford, Mark; Babko-Malaya, Olga; Blasch, Erik; Chen, Lingji; Crespi, Valentino; HandUber, Jason; Haney, Phil; Nagy, Jim; Richman, Mike; Von Pless, Gregory; Zhu, Howie; Rhodes, Bradley J.

2016-05-01

Our Multi-INT Data Association Tool (MIDAT) learns patterns of life (POL) of a geographical area from video analyst observations called out in textual reporting. Typical approaches to learning POLs from video make use of computer vision algorithms to extract locations in space and time of various activities. Such approaches are subject to the detection and tracking performance of the video processing algorithms. Numerous examples of human analysts monitoring live video streams annotating or "calling out" relevant entities and activities exist, such as security analysis, crime-scene forensics, news reports, and sports commentary. This user description typically corresponds with textual capture, such as chat. Although the purpose of these text products is primarily to describe events as they happen, organizations typically archive the reports for extended periods. This archive provides a basis to build POLs. Such POLs are useful for diagnosis to assess activities in an area based on historical context, and for consumers of products, who gain an understanding of historical patterns. MIDAT combines natural language processing, multi-hypothesis tracking, and Multi-INT Activity Pattern Learning and Exploitation (MAPLE) technologies in an end-to-end lab prototype that processes textual products produced by video analysts, infers POLs, and highlights anomalies relative to those POLs with links to "tracks" of related activities performed by the same entity. MIDAT technologies perform well, achieving, for example, a 90% F1-value on extracting activities from the textual reports.

STS-79 MISSION SPECIALIST JOHN E. BLAHA AND COMMANDER WILLIAM F. READDY CHAT DURING EMERGENCY EGRESS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

STS-79 Mission Specialist John E. Blaha (left) and Mission Commander William F. Readdy chat during emergency egress training at the 195-foot (59-meter) level of Launch Pad 39A. The training is part of their Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities. A dress rehearsal for launch, the TCDT culminates with a simulated countdown. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is undergoing preparations for liftoff on STS-79 no earlier than Sept. 12.

Internet Communication Disorder and the structure of the human brain: initial insights on WeChat addiction.

PubMed

Montag, Christian; Zhao, Zhiying; Sindermann, Cornelia; Xu, Lei; Fu, Meina; Li, Jialin; Zheng, Xiaoxiao; Li, Keshuang; Kendrick, Keith M; Dai, Jing; Becker, Benjamin

2018-02-01

WeChat represents one of the most popular smartphone-based applications for communication. Although the application provides several useful features that simplify daily life, a growing number of users spend excessive amounts of time on the application. This may lead to interferences with everyday life and even to addictive patterns of use. In the context of the ongoing discussion on Internet Communication Disorder (ICD), the present study aimed to better characterize the addictive potential of communication applications, using WeChat as an example, by examining associations between individual variations in tendencies towards WeChat addiction and brain structural variations in fronto-striatal-limbic brain regions. To this end levels of addictive tendencies, frequency of use and structural MRI data were assessed in n = 61 healthy participants. Higher tendencies towards WeChat addiction were associated with smaller gray matter volumes of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, a key region for monitoring and regulatory control in neural networks underlying addictive behaviors. Moreover, a higher frequency of the paying function was associated with smaller nucleus accumbens volumes. Findings were robust after controlling for levels of anxiety and depression. The present results are in line with previous findings in substance and behavioral addictions, and suggest a similar neurobiological basis in ICD.

Real-time reference: the use of chat technology to improve point of need assistance.

PubMed

Connor, Elizabeth

2002-01-01

Chat reference refers to the use of instant messaging and call center software to support interactive text or voice communication with library patrons. Instant messaging has been integrated into many e-commerce environments, and into the social lives of many teenagers and young adults, affording a level of immediacy and intimacy not possible with e-mail applications. The convergence and interoperability of new and emerging technologies can be used to develop new communities of users that view libraries as being essential to their education, patient care, and research activities.

Cyberbullying among Adolescents: A General Strain Theory Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paez, Gabriel R.

2018-01-01

Cyber bullying has become more pervasive as a result of advances in communication technology such as email, text messaging, chat rooms, and social media sites. Despite the growth in research on correlates associated with engagement in cyber bullying, few studies test the applicability of criminological theories to explain engagement in cyber…

Optimizing Fracture Treatments in a Mississippian "Chat" Reservoir, South-Central Kansas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

K. David Newell; Saibal Bhattacharya; Alan Byrnes

2005-10-01

This project is a collaboration of Woolsey Petroleum Corporation (a small independent operator) and the Kansas Geological Survey. The project will investigate geologic and engineering factors critical for designing hydraulic fracture treatments in Mississippian ''chat'' reservoirs. Mississippian reservoirs, including the chat, account for 159 million m3 (1 billion barrels) of the cumulative oil produced in Kansas. Mississippian reservoirs presently represent {approx}40% of the state's 5.6*106m3 (35 million barrels) annual production. Although geographically widespread, the ''chat'' is a heterogeneous reservoir composed of chert, cherty dolomite, and argillaceous limestone. Fractured chert with micro-moldic porosity is the best reservoir in this 18- tomore » 30-m-thick (60- to 100-ft) unit. The chat will be cored in an infill well in the Medicine Lodge North field (417,638 m3 [2,626,858 bbls] oil; 217,811,000 m3 [7,692,010 mcf] gas cumulative production; discovered 1954). The core and modern wireline logs will provide geological and petrophysical data for designing a fracture treatment. Optimum hydraulic fracturing design is poorly defined in the chat, with poor correlation of treatment size to production increase. To establish new geologic and petrophysical guidelines for these treatments, data from core petrophysics, wireline logs, and oil-field maps will be input to a fracture-treatment simulation program. Parameters will be established for optimal size of the treatment and geologic characteristics of the predicted fracturing. The fracturing will be performed and subsequent wellsite tests will ascertain the results for comparison to predictions. A reservoir simulation program will then predict the rate and volumetric increase in production. Comparison of the predicted increase in production with that of reality, and the hypothetical fracturing behavior of the reservoir with that of its actual behavior, will serve as tests of the geologic and petrophysical

Past Tense Morphology in Cri Du Chat Syndrome: Experimental Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wium, Kristin; Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil

2008-01-01

It has been observed that persons with Cri du chat syndrome (CDCS) have poor language production. However, very few studies have addressed the question whether all aspects of language production are equally afflicted, or whether there are differences between for instance phonological and morphological abilities. The present study was aimed at…

Polymorphisms of CHAT but not TFAM or VR22 are Associated with Alzheimer Disease Risk.

PubMed

Gao, Lili; Zhang, Yan; Deng, Jinghua; Yu, Wenbing; Yu, Yunxia

2016-06-07

BACKGROUND Alzheimer disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that is one of the most prevalent health problems among seniors. The cause of AD has not yet been elucidated, but many risk factors have been identified that might contribute to the pathogenesis and prognosis of AD. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies involving CHAT, TFAM, and VR22 polymorphisms and AD susceptibility to further understand the pathogenesis of AD. MATERIAL AND METHODS PubMed/Medline, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched for relevant articles. Rs1880676, rs2177369, rs3810950, and rs868750 of CHAT; rs1937 and rs2306604 of TFAM; and rs10997691 and rs7070570 of VR22 are studied in this meta-analysis. RESULTS A total of 51 case-control studies with 16 446 cases and 16 057 controls were enrolled. For CHAT, rs2177369 (G>A) in whites and rs3810950 (G>A) in Asians were found to be associated with AD susceptibility. No association was detected between rs1880676 and rs868750 and AD risk. For TFAM and VR22, no significant association was detected in studied single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). CONCLUSIONS Rs2177369 and rs3810950 of CHAT are associated with AD susceptibility, but rs1880676 and rs868750 are not. Rs1937 and rs2306604 of TFAM, and rs10997691 and rs7070570 of VR22 are not significantly associated with AD risk.

Contextual Hub Analysis Tool (CHAT): A Cytoscape app for identifying contextually relevant hubs in biological networks.

PubMed

Muetze, Tanja; Goenawan, Ivan H; Wiencko, Heather L; Bernal-Llinares, Manuel; Bryan, Kenneth; Lynn, David J

2016-01-01

Highly connected nodes (hubs) in biological networks are topologically important to the structure of the network and have also been shown to be preferentially associated with a range of phenotypes of interest. The relative importance of a hub node, however, can change depending on the biological context. Here, we report a Cytoscape app, the Contextual Hub Analysis Tool (CHAT), which enables users to easily construct and visualize a network of interactions from a gene or protein list of interest, integrate contextual information, such as gene expression or mass spectrometry data, and identify hub nodes that are more highly connected to contextual nodes (e.g. genes or proteins that are differentially expressed) than expected by chance. In a case study, we use CHAT to construct a network of genes that are differentially expressed in Dengue fever, a viral infection. CHAT was used to identify and compare contextual and degree-based hubs in this network. The top 20 degree-based hubs were enriched in pathways related to the cell cycle and cancer, which is likely due to the fact that proteins involved in these processes tend to be highly connected in general. In comparison, the top 20 contextual hubs were enriched in pathways commonly observed in a viral infection including pathways related to the immune response to viral infection. This analysis shows that such contextual hubs are considerably more biologically relevant than degree-based hubs and that analyses which rely on the identification of hubs solely based on their connectivity may be biased towards nodes that are highly connected in general rather than in the specific context of interest. CHAT is available for Cytoscape 3.0+ and can be installed via the Cytoscape App Store ( http://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/chat).

Pilot Susan L. Still chats with white room closeout crew member

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-83 Pilot Susan L. Still chats with white room closeout crew member Rene Arriens as she prepares to enter the Space Shuttle Columbia at Launch Pad 39A with assistance from closeout crew worker Bob Saulnier (behind Still).

Constructing Sexuality and Identity in an Online Teen Chat Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Subrahmanyam, K.; Greenfield, P. M.; Tynes, B.

2004-01-01

In this article, we propose that adolescents' online interactions are both a literal and a metaphoric screen for representing major adolescent developmental issues, such as sexuality and identity. Because of the public nature of Internet chat rooms, they provide an open window into the expression of adolescent concerns. Our study utilizes this…

Online Chats: A Strategy to Enhance Learning in Large Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mtshali, Muntuwenkosi Abraham; Maistry, Suriamurthee Moonsamy; Govender, Desmond Wesley

2015-01-01

Online-supported teaching and learning is a technological innovation in education that integrates face-to-face teaching in plenary lectures, with an online component using a learning management system. This extends opportunities to students to interact with one another via online chats in the process of transacting their learning. There is a need…

Metaphors of Synchrony: Emergence and Differentiation of Online Chat Devices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latzko-Toth, Guillaume

2010-01-01

Through a detailed account of the history of online chat devices, this article shows the emergence, over time, of two distinct interactional formats underlying these social media. They may be captured by two generic metaphors of synchrony: "conference" (a gathering in a virtual place where unfocused interactions and group sociability occur) and…

Organizing for Teacher Agency in Curricular Co-Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Severance, Samuel; Penuel, William R.; Sumner, Tamara; Leary, Heather

2016-01-01

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) approaches to intervention aim for transformative agency, that is, collective actions that expand and bring about new possibilities for activity. In this article, we draw on CHAT as a resource for organizing design research that promotes teachers' agency in designing new science curriculum materials. We…

Baby FaceTime: Can Toddlers Learn from Online Video Chat?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Lauren J.; LeWitt, Rachel B.; Gallo, Renee E.; Maselli, Nicole M.

2017-01-01

There is abundant evidence for the "video deficit": children under 2 years old learn better in person than from video. We evaluated whether these findings applied to video chat by testing whether children aged 12-25 months could form relationships with and learn from on-screen partners. We manipulated social contingency: children…

Mobile-Based Chatting for Meaning Negotiation in Foreign Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castrillo, María Dolores; Martín-Monje, Elena; Bárcena, Elena

2014-01-01

This paper analyzes the adequacy of mobile chatting via Whatsapp for the enhancement of a type of spontaneous and colloquial written interaction which has a strong connection with oral discourse. This is part of a research project undertaken with Spanish students of German as a foreign language with a beginner's or quasi-beginner's level. The…

Variable Omission of "ne" in Real-Time French Chat: A Corpus-Driven Comparison of Educational and Non-Educational Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Compernolle, Remi A.; Williams, Lawrence

2009-01-01

This article reports on the variable omission of the French negative particle "ne" (the first marker of verbal negation) in synchronous (i.e., real-time) electronic communication environments. Patterns of variation in a corpus of non-educational chat (i.e., free, public-access Internet chat) are analyzed and compared to data produced by first-,…

Baby FaceTime: can toddlers learn from online video chat?

PubMed

Myers, Lauren J; LeWitt, Rachel B; Gallo, Renee E; Maselli, Nicole M

2017-07-01

There is abundant evidence for the 'video deficit': children under 2 years old learn better in person than from video. We evaluated whether these findings applied to video chat by testing whether children aged 12-25 months could form relationships with and learn from on-screen partners. We manipulated social contingency: children experienced either real-time FaceTime conversations or pre-recorded Videos as the partner taught novel words, actions and patterns. Children were attentive and responsive in both conditions, but only children in the FaceTime group responded to the partner in a temporally synced manner. After one week, children in the FaceTime condition (but not the Video condition) preferred and recognized their Partner, learned more novel patterns, and the oldest children learned more novel words. Results extend previous studies to demonstrate that children under 2 years show social and cognitive learning from video chat because it retains social contingency. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/rTXaAYd5adA. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Bringing Japan and Taiwan Closer Electronically: A Look at an Intercultural Online Synchronic Chat Task and Its Effect on Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freiermuth, Mark R.; Huang, Hsin-chou

2012-01-01

This study examines the motivation of 20 Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) who chatted electronically with 19 Taiwanese EFL students using online synchronous chat software. In particular, we were interested in four factors that affect task-based motivation: the willingness to communicate, task attractiveness, task…

Accuracy of "Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers" ("M-CHAT") in Detecting Autism and Other Developmental Disorders in Community Clinics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toh, Teck-Hock; Tan, Vivian Wee-Yen; Lau, Peter Sie-Teck; Kiyu, Andrew

2018-01-01

This study determined the accuracy of "Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers" ("M-CHAT") in detecting toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders (DD) in community mother and child health clinics. We analysed 19,297 eligible toddlers (15-36 months) who had "M-CHAT" performed in…

Collaborative Learning through Chat Discussions and Argument Diagrams in Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marttunen, Miika; Laurinen, Leena

2007-01-01

This study clarifies whether secondary school students develop their argumentation skills through reading and collaboration. The students first constructed an individual argument diagram on genetically modified organisms, read three articles, and improved their diagrams. Next, they engaged in a chat debate, reflected on their debate by…

Interactions between Text Chat and Audio Modalities for L2 Communication and Feedback in the Synthetic World "Second Life"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wigham, Ciara R.; Chanier, Thierry

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a study of the interactions between text chat and audio modalities in L2 communication in a synthetic (virtual) world and observes whether the text chat modality was used for corrective feedback and the characteristics of the latter. This is examined within the context of a hybrid content and language integrated learning…

Internet Relay Chat: a window of opportunity for healthcare quality.

PubMed

Harris, C S

1998-01-01

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) program is a medium that can provide low-cost interactive conferencing for healthcare organizations. This article analyzes IRC in the context of the many facets of the Internet, discusses some precautions regarding IRC use, and lists some sources of help for the user. IRC is an extremely powerful adjunct to other Internet programs.

What Makes Sports Fans Interactive? Identifying Factors Affecting Chat Interactions in Online Sports Viewing

PubMed Central

Yeo, Jaeryong; Lee, Juyeong

2016-01-01

Sports fans are able to watch games from many locations using TV services while interacting with other fans online. In this paper, we identify the factors that affect sports viewers’ online interactions. Using a large-scale dataset of more than 25 million chat messages from a popular social TV site for baseball, we extract various game-related factors, and investigate the relationships between these factors and fans’ interactions using a series of multiple regression analyses. As a result, we identify several factors that are significantly related to viewer interactions. In addition, we determine that the influence of these factors varies according to the user group; i.e., active vs. less active users, and loyal vs. non-loyal users. PMID:26849568

Mitochondrial DNA and retroviral RNA analyses of archival oral polio vaccine (OPV CHAT) materials: evidence of macaque nuclear sequences confirms substrate identity.

PubMed

Berry, Neil; Jenkins, Adrian; Martin, Javier; Davis, Clare; Wood, David; Schild, Geoffrey; Bottiger, Margareta; Holmes, Harvey; Minor, Philip; Almond, Neil

2005-02-25

Inoculation of live experimental oral poliovirus vaccines (OPV CHAT) during the 1950s in central Africa has been proposed to account for the introduction of HIV into human populations. For this to have occurred, it would have been necessary for chimpanzee rather than macaque kidney epithelial cells to have been included in the preparation of early OPV materials. Theoretically, this could have led to contamination with a progenitor of HIV-1 derived from a related simian immunodeficiency virus of chimpanzees (SIVCPZ). In this article we present further detailed analyses of two samples of OPV, CHAT 10A-11 and CHAT 6039/Yugo, which were used in early human trials of poliovirus vaccination. Recovery of poliovirus by culture techniques confirmed the biological viability of the vaccines and sequence analysis of poliovirus RNA specifically identified the presence of the CHAT strain. Independent nested sets of oligonucleotide primers specific for HIV-1/SIVCPZ and HIV-2/SIVMAC/SIVSM phylogenetic lineages, respectively, indicated no evidence of HIV/SIV RNA in either vaccine preparation, at a sensitivity of 100 RNA equivalents/ml. Analysis of cellular substrate by the amplification of two distinct regions of mitochondrial DNA (D-loop control region and 12S ribosomal sequences) revealed no evidence of chimpanzee cellular sequences. However, this approach positively identified rhesus and cynomolgus macaque DNA for the CHAT 10A-11 and CHAT 6039/Yugo vaccine preparations, respectively. Analysis of multiple clones of mtDNA 12S rDNA indicated a relatively high number of nuclear mitochondrial DNA sequences (numts) in the CHAT 10A-11 material, but confirmed the macaque origin of cellular substrate used in vaccine preparation. These data reinforce earlier findings on this topic providing no evidence to support the contention that poliovirus vaccination was responsible for the introduction of HIV into humans and sparking the AIDS pandemic.

Internet Relay Chat as a Tool in the Autonomous Development of ESL Learners' English Language Ability: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coniam, David; Wong, Richard

2004-01-01

This pilot study explores the use of Internet Relay Chat facilities such as ICQ in an independent-use mode, as a vehicle for potential English language enhancement. In a small-scale study, a number of Hong Kong secondary school students (Grades 7-10) agreed to participate in an on-line "chatting" programme (in a text-only mode) for a minimum of 20…

Conversation Thread Extraction and Topic Detection in Text-Based Chat

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

conversation extraction task. Multiple conversations in a session are interleaved. The goal in extraction is to select only those posts that belong...others. Our first-phase experiments quite clearly show the value of using time-distance as a feature in conversation thread extraction . In this set of... EXTRACTION AND TOPIC DETECTION IN TEXT-BASED CHAT by Paige Holland Adams September 2008 Thesis Advisor

The usability of a WeChat-based electronic questionnaire for collecting participant-reported data in female pelvic floor disorders: a comparison with the traditional paper-administered format.

PubMed

Sun, Zhi-Jing; Zhu, Lan; Liang, Maolian; Xu, Tao; Lang, Jing-He

2016-08-01

WeChat is a promising tool for capturing electronic data; however, no research has examined its use. This study evaluates the reliability and feasibility of WeChat for administering the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire Short Form 7 questionnaire to women with pelvic floor disorders. Sixty-eight pelvic floor rehabilitation women were recruited between June and December 2015 and crossover randomized to two groups. All participants completed two questionnaire formats. One group completed the paper version followed by the WeChat version; the other group completed the questionnaires in reverse order. Two weeks later, each group completed the two versions in reverse order. The WeChat version's reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and test-retest reliability. Forty-two women (61.8%) preferred the WeChat to the paper format, eight (11.8%) preferred the paper format, and 18 (26.5%) had no preference. The younger women preferred WeChat. Completion time was 116.5 (61.3) seconds for the WeChat version and 133.4 (107.0) seconds for the paper version, with no significant difference (P = 0.145). Age and education did not impact completion time (P > 0.05). Consistency between the WeChat and paper versions was excellent. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire Short Form 7 and the three subscales ranged from 0.915 to 0.980. The Bland-Altman analysis and linear regression results also showed high consistency. The test-retest study had a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.908, demonstrating a strong correlation. WeChat-based questionnaires were well accepted by women with pelvic floor disorders and had good data quality and reliability.

Chatting in L2 Spanish: Interactivity, Self-Efficacy and Interpersonal Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez-Castro, Olga; Mrowa-Hopkins, Colette

2012-01-01

This study seeks to examine variations in patterns of interactivity as they are displayed in the ongoing discourse construction of high and low self-efficacy learners of Spanish in the context of computer-mediated-communication. The paper specifically focuses on the analysis of synchronous text chats of six university students of Spanish at…

Sleep in Individuals with Cri du Chat Syndrome: A Comparative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maas, A. P. H. M.; Didden, R.; Korzilius, H.; Braam, W.; Smits, M. G.; Curfs, L. M. G.

2009-01-01

Background: Sleep problems are common in individuals with intellectual disability. Little is known about sleep in children and adults with Cri du Chat syndrome (CDC). Method: Sleep was investigated in 30 individuals with CDC using a sleep questionnaire. Sleep problems and sleep behaviours in individuals with CDC were compared with individuals with…

Comparing Six Video Chat Tools: A Critical Evaluation by Language Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eroz-Tuga, Betil; Sadler, Randall

2009-01-01

This article presents a critical comparison of the usefulness and practicality of six CMC video chat tools (CUworld, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Paltalk, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger) from the perspective of language teaching professionals. This comparison is based on the results of a semester-long project between graduate students at an American university…

Chaotic Traversal (CHAT): Very Large Graphs Traversal Using Chaotic Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Changaival, Boonyarit; Rosalie, Martin; Danoy, Grégoire; Lavangnananda, Kittichai; Bouvry, Pascal

2017-12-01

Graph Traversal algorithms can find their applications in various fields such as routing problems, natural language processing or even database querying. The exploration can be considered as a first stepping stone into knowledge extraction from the graph which is now a popular topic. Classical solutions such as Breadth First Search (BFS) and Depth First Search (DFS) require huge amounts of memory for exploring very large graphs. In this research, we present a novel memoryless graph traversal algorithm, Chaotic Traversal (CHAT) which integrates chaotic dynamics to traverse large unknown graphs via the Lozi map and the Rössler system. To compare various dynamics effects on our algorithm, we present an original way to perform the exploration of a parameter space using a bifurcation diagram with respect to the topological structure of attractors. The resulting algorithm is an efficient and nonresource demanding algorithm, and is therefore very suitable for partial traversal of very large and/or unknown environment graphs. CHAT performance using Lozi map is proven superior than the, commonly known, Random Walk, in terms of number of nodes visited (coverage percentage) and computation time where the environment is unknown and memory usage is restricted.

After Action Review Tools For Team Training with Chat Communications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-01

collaborative learning environments. The most relevant work is being done by the CALO ( Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes) project, a joint...emoticons, and other common stylistic practices. To a lesser degree, some research has yielded methods and tools to analyze or visualize chat...information sources, and overall cognitive effort. AAR Challenges The most significant challenge to conducting an effective after action review of

"De-humanised females and Amazonians": British wartime fashion and its representation in Home chat, 1914-1918.

PubMed

Buckley, Cheryl

2002-01-01

Popular representations of the fashionably dressed female body between 1914 and 1918 were highly contradictory and, as this essay will show, were sharply delineated in Home Chat, one of a growing number of relatively new women's magazines which addressed the needs of an expanding skilled working-class and lower-middle-class female readership. Aiming to provide women with practical advice about all aspects of their daily lives, from the traditional concerns of fashion and beauty, marriage and children, to the more contentious issue of women's aspirations beyond the home, Home Chat was uniquely placed to reflect shifting gender and class relations.

Administrator Bridenstine Chats with Astronauts on This Week @NASA – June 15, 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-06-15

Administrator Bridenstine chats with a couple of our astronauts, a massive dust storm on Mars, and astronauts at work outside the space station … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Positive screening on the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in extremely low gestational age newborns.

PubMed

Kuban, Karl C K; O'Shea, T Michael; Allred, Elizabeth N; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Goldstein, Donald J; Leviton, Alan

2009-04-01

To test the hypothesis that children born preterm are more likely to screen positive on the M-CHAT for an autism spectrum disorder. We compared the M-CHAT positive rate of those with cerebral palsy, cognitive impairment, and vision and hearing impairments to those without such deficits. Relative to children who could walk, the odds for screening positive on the M-CHAT were increased 23-fold for those unable to sit or stand independently and more than 7-fold for those requiring assistance to walk. Compared with children without a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, those with quadriparesis were 13 times more likely to screen positive, and those with hemiparesis were 4 times more likely to screen positive. Children with major vision or hearing impairments were 8 times more likely to screen positive than those without such impairments. Relative to those with a Mental Development Index (MDI) of >70, the odds for screening positive were increased 13-fold for those with an MDI of <55 and more than 4-fold for those with an MDI of 55 to 69. Major motor, cognitive, visual, and hearing impairments appear to account for more than half of the positive M-CHAT screens in extremely low gestational age newborns. Even after those with such impairments were eliminated, 10% of children--nearly double the expected rate--screened positive.

Effects of surgical lesions on choline acetyltransferase activity in the cat cochlea.

PubMed

Frilling, Mark J; Wiet, Gregory J; Godfrey, Donald A; Parli, Judy A; Dunn, Jon D; Ross, C David

2017-12-01

Although it is well established that the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT, the enzyme for acetylcholine synthesis) in the mammalian cochlea is associated with its olivocochlear innervation, the distribution of this innervation in the cochlea varies somewhat among mammalian species. The quantitative distribution of ChAT activity in the cochlea has been reported for guinea pigs and rats. The present study reports the distribution of ChAT activity within the organ of Corti among the three turns of the cat cochlea and the effects of removing olivocochlear innervation either by a lateral cut aimed to totally transect the left olivocochlear bundle or a more medial cut additionally damaging the superior olivary complex on the same side. Similarly to results for guinea pig and rat, the distribution of ChAT activity in the cat outer hair cell region showed a decrease from base to apex, but, unlike in the guinea pig and rat, the cat inner hair cell region did not. As in the rat, little ChAT activity was measured in the outer supporting cell region. As previously reported for whole cat cochlea and for rat cochlear regions, transection of the olivocochlear bundle resulted in almost total loss of ChAT activity in the hair cell regions of the cat cochlea. Lesions of the superior olivary complex resulted in loss of ChAT activity in the inner hair cell region of all cochlear turns only on the lesion side but bilateral losses in the outer hair cell region of all turns. The results are consistent with previous evidence that virtually all cholinergic synapses in the mammalian cochlea are associated with its olivocochlear innervation, that the olivocochlear innervation to the inner hair cell region is predominantly ipsilateral, and that the olivocochlear innervation to the outer hair cells is bilateral. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

WeChat Public Account Use Improves Clinical Control of Cough-Variant Asthma: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Cao, Yuan; Lin, Shi-Hua; Zhu, Ding; Xu, Feng; Chen, Zhi-Hua; Shen, Hua-Hao; Li, Wen

2018-03-14

BACKGROUND WeChat is a convenient and popular social medium, and it seems to be an appropriate platform for education and management of patients. This study sought to identify usefulness in clinical control of cough-variant asthma (CVA). MATERIAL AND METHODS A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 80 CVA patients. After being assigned to either the traditional group (TG) or the WeChat group (WG), they received the same inhalation therapy, but patients in WG received additional education and instruction via our public account on the WeChat application. Questionnaires on asthma and chronic cough, data on pulmonary function, blood-related items, follow-up adherence, and Emergency Department (ED) visits were collected at the initial visit and at 3 months. RESULTS A total of 67 participants completed the trial for analysis. FEV1/predicted and FEV1/FVC were significantly increased in WG (p<0.001; p=0.012) after 3 months. PD20-FEV1 was increased in both groups compared with baseline, but more pronounced in WG (p=0.004). ACQ-7 scores were improved in both groups (p=0.024; p<0.001). Participants allocated to WG experienced a greater improvement in AQLQ and LCQ scores, and between-group differences were significant at 3 months (p=0.040; p=0.001). Furthermore, we observed decreases in blood eosinophil count and FeNO in WG (p=0.048; p=0.014), and WG presented better follow-up compliance (p=0.034). CONCLUSIONS Using WeChat as part of treatment and management of CVA can help patients learn about their disease and medications, as well as improve disease control and therapy outcomes.

WeChat Public Account Use Improves Clinical Control of Cough-Variant Asthma: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Cao, Yuan; Lin, Shi-Hua; Zhu, Ding; Xu, Feng; Chen, Zhi-Hua

2018-01-01

Background WeChat is a convenient and popular social medium, and it seems to be an appropriate platform for education and management of patients. This study sought to identify usefulness in clinical control of cough-variant asthma (CVA). Material/Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 80 CVA patients. After being assigned to either the traditional group (TG) or the WeChat group (WG), they received the same inhalation therapy, but patients in WG received additional education and instruction via our public account on the WeChat application. Questionnaires on asthma and chronic cough, data on pulmonary function, blood-related items, follow-up adherence, and Emergency Department (ED) visits were collected at the initial visit and at 3 months. Results A total of 67 participants completed the trial for analysis. FEV1/predicted and FEV1/FVC were significantly increased in WG (p<0.001; p=0.012) after 3 months. PD20-FEV1 was increased in both groups compared with baseline, but more pronounced in WG (p=0.004). ACQ-7 scores were improved in both groups (p=0.024; p<0.001). Participants allocated to WG experienced a greater improvement in AQLQ and LCQ scores, and between-group differences were significant at 3 months (p=0.040; p=0.001). Furthermore, we observed decreases in blood eosinophil count and FeNO in WG (p=0.048; p=0.014), and WG presented better follow-up compliance (p=0.034). Conclusions Using WeChat as part of treatment and management of CVA can help patients learn about their disease and medications, as well as improve disease control and therapy outcomes. PMID:29536984

Frequency and Content of Chat Questions by Time of Semester at the University of Central Florida: Implications for Training, Staffing and Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goda, Donna; Bishop, Corinne

2008-01-01

The more than 4,000 "chats" received by the University of Central Florida's (UCF) Ask-A-Librarian digital reference service are the subject of this practitioner-based, descriptive case study. Question content from chats received during four semesters between January 2005 and May 2006 are categorized and plotted, by semester, to show the…

Chat It Up: Backchanneling to Promote Reflective Practice among In-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kassner, Laura D.; Cassada, Kate M.

2017-01-01

In a graduate education course geared toward developing reflective teaching practice in in-service teachers, backchannels, in the form of chat rooms, were employed in small groups to facilitate peer feedback during viewings of video recorded instruction. This study examined the nature and quality of peer feedback exchanged in the digital medium…

Conceptualisation and development of the Conversational Health Literacy Assessment Tool (CHAT).

PubMed

O'Hara, Jonathan; Hawkins, Melanie; Batterham, Roy; Dodson, Sarity; Osborne, Richard H; Beauchamp, Alison

2018-03-22

The aim of this study was to develop a tool to support health workers' ability to identify patients' multidimensional health literacy strengths and challenges. The tool was intended to be suitable for administration in healthcare settings where health workers must identify health literacy priorities as the basis for person-centred care. Development was based on a qualitative co-design process that used the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) as a framework to generate questions. Health workers were recruited to participate in an online consultation, a workshop, and two rounds of pilot testing. Participating health workers identified and refined ten questions that target five areas of assessment: supportive professional relationships, supportive personal relationships, health information access and comprehension, current health behaviours, and health promotion barriers and support. Preliminary evidence suggests that application of the Conversational Health Literacy Assessment Tool (CHAT) can support health workers to better understand the health literacy challenges and supportive resources of their patients. As an integrated clinical process, the CHAT can supplement existing intake and assessment procedures across healthcare settings to give insight into patients' circumstances so that decisions about care can be tailored to be more appropriate and effective.

Collaboration via E-Mail and Internet Relay Chat: Understanding Time and Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duin, Ann Hill; Archee, Ray

1996-01-01

Examines how college students working across distances used e-mail and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to facilitate their collaboration and decision-making processes. Finds that students came to a decision more quickly using e-mail than with IRC, and when IRC was slow, students reverted to a series of rapid-fire e-mail messages. (RS)

Look At That! Video Chat and Joint Visual Attention Development Among Babies and Toddlers.

PubMed

McClure, Elisabeth R; Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia E; Holochwost, Steven J; Parrott, W G; Barr, Rachel

2018-01-01

Although many relatives use video chat to keep in touch with toddlers, key features of adult-toddler interaction like joint visual attention (JVA) may be compromised in this context. In this study, 25 families with a child between 6 and 24 months were observed using video chat at home with geographically separated grandparents. We define two types of screen-mediated JVA (across- and within-screen) and report age-related increases in the babies' across-screen JVA initiations, and that family JVA usage was positively related to babies' overall attention during video calls. Babies today are immersed in a digital world where formative relationships are often mediated by a screen. Implications for both infant social development and developmental research are discussed. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Can human-like Bots control collective mood: agent-based simulations of online chats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadić, Bosiljka; Šuvakov, Milovan

2013-10-01

Using an agent-based modeling approach, in this paper, we study self-organized dynamics of interacting agents in the presence of chat Bots. Different Bots with tunable ‘human-like’ attributes, which exchange emotional messages with agents, are considered, and the collective emotional behavior of agents is quantitatively analyzed. In particular, using detrended fractal analysis we determine persistent fluctuations and temporal correlations in time series of agent activity and statistics of avalanches carrying emotional messages of agents when Bots favoring positive/negative affects are active. We determine the impact of Bots and identify parameters that can modulate that impact. Our analysis suggests that, by these measures, the emotional Bots induce collective emotion among interacting agents by suitably altering the fractal characteristics of the underlying stochastic process. Positive emotion Bots are slightly more effective than negative emotion Bots. Moreover, Bots which periodically alternate between positive and negative emotion can enhance fluctuations in the system, leading to avalanches of agent messages that are reminiscent of self-organized critical states.

NASA Hosts Live Science Chat about Europa Findings

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-14

NASA hosted a Science Chat May 14 to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life. The event aired live on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter/Periscope and the agency's website. Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because beneath its icy crust lies a salty, liquid water ocean. NASA’s Europa Clipper, targeted to launch in 2022, will be equipped with the instruments necessary to determine whether Europa possesses the ingredients necessary to support life as we know it.

Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind.

PubMed

du Castel, Bertrand

2015-01-01

In his 2012 book How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil defines a "Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind" that states that the brain uses millions of pattern recognizers, plus modules to check, organize, and augment them. In this article, I further the theory to go beyond pattern recognition and include also pattern activation, thus encompassing both sensory and motor functions. In addition, I treat checking, organizing, and augmentation as patterns of patterns instead of separate modules, therefore handling them the same as patterns in general. Henceforth I put forward a unified theory I call "Pattern Activation/Recognition Theory of Mind." While the original theory was based on hierarchical hidden Markov models, this evolution is based on their precursor: stochastic grammars. I demonstrate that a class of self-describing stochastic grammars allows for unifying pattern activation, recognition, organization, consistency checking, metaphor, and learning, into a single theory that expresses patterns throughout. I have implemented the model as a probabilistic programming language specialized in activation/recognition grammatical and neural operations. I use this prototype to compute and present diagrams for each stochastic grammar and corresponding neural circuit. I then discuss the theory as it relates to artificial network developments, common coding, neural reuse, and unity of mind, concluding by proposing potential paths to validation.

AskNow!--Evaluating an Australian Collaborative Chat Reference Service: A Project Manager's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Fran; Keys, Jacki

2004-01-01

AskNow! online answers Australia-wide, the first nation-wide chat reference service, has been a successful exercise in collaboration and cooperation. This article examines some of the lessons learnt, the challenges of collaboration and possible future directions. AskNow!, an initiative of the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), commenced…

Text Chat during Video/Audio Conferencing Lessons: Scaffolding or Getting in the Way?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozar, Olga

2016-01-01

Private online language tutoring is growing in popularity. An important prerequisite for development of effective pedagogies in this context is a good understanding of how different modalities can be combined. This study provides a detailed account of how several experienced private online teachers use text chat in their Skype-based English…

Preservice Teachers' Participation and Perceptions of Twitter Live Chats as Personal Learning Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Tian; Sickel, Jamie; Cheng, Li

2017-01-01

This study presents two cases in which undergraduates were introduced to Twitter in their teacher preparation program as a means of developing a personal learning network. Twitter live chats are synchronous discussions that allow education stakeholders to discuss issues and share resources, engaging on potentially a global scale via the social…

Comparing Protest Movements in Chile and California: Interculturality in an Internet Chat Exchange

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menard-Warwick, Julia

2009-01-01

This paper is based on an analysis of chat transcripts from an English-language telecollaboration project between students at universities in Chile and California. This research found that the richest intercultural interactions involved events that could not have been foreseen: the immigrant rights demonstrations in the USA and the massive student…

Effects of cochlear ablation on choline acetyltransferase activity in the rat cochlear nucleus and superior olive.

PubMed

Jin, Yong-Ming; Godfrey, Donald A; Sun, Yizhe

2005-07-01

Using microdissection and quantitative microassay, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was mapped in the cochlear nucleus (CN) and in the source nuclei of the olivocochlear bundle, the lateral superior olive and ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body. In control rats, gradients of ChAT activity were found within the major subdivisions of the CN and in the lateral superior olive. These gradients correlated with the known tonotopic organizations, with higher activities corresponding to locations representing higher sound frequencies. No gradient was found in the ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body. In rats surviving 7 days or 1 or 2 months after cochlear ablation, ChAT activity was increased 1 month after ablation in the anteroventral CN by 30-50% in most parts of the lesion-side and by 40% in the contralateral ventromedial part. ChAT activity in the lesion-side posteroventral CN was increased by approximately 40-50% at all survival times. Little change was found in the dorsal CN. Decreases of ChAT activity were also found ipsilaterally in the lateral superior olive and bilaterally in the ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body. Our results suggest that cholinergic neurons are involved in plasticity within the CN and superior olive following cochlear lesions. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Status Quo and Prospective of WeChat in Improving Chinese English Learners' Pronunciation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Kanghui

2017-01-01

With the ubiquitous usage of wireless, portable, and handheld devices gaining popularity in 21st century, the revolutionary mobile technology introduces digital new media to educational settings, which has changed the way of traditional teaching and learning. WeChat is one of the most popular social networking applications in China featured by its…

Outcomes of Chat and Discussion Board Use in Online Learning: A Research Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackmon, Stephanie J.

2012-01-01

Online discussion boards are often used in traditional courses, hybrid courses, and fully online courses. Online chats and discussions can be particularly useful in fully online courses, as these communication connections are often students' only means of connecting with each other and sharing ideas in an open forum. While traditional face-to-face…

Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind

PubMed Central

du Castel, Bertrand

2015-01-01

In his 2012 book How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil defines a “Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind” that states that the brain uses millions of pattern recognizers, plus modules to check, organize, and augment them. In this article, I further the theory to go beyond pattern recognition and include also pattern activation, thus encompassing both sensory and motor functions. In addition, I treat checking, organizing, and augmentation as patterns of patterns instead of separate modules, therefore handling them the same as patterns in general. Henceforth I put forward a unified theory I call “Pattern Activation/Recognition Theory of Mind.” While the original theory was based on hierarchical hidden Markov models, this evolution is based on their precursor: stochastic grammars. I demonstrate that a class of self-describing stochastic grammars allows for unifying pattern activation, recognition, organization, consistency checking, metaphor, and learning, into a single theory that expresses patterns throughout. I have implemented the model as a probabilistic programming language specialized in activation/recognition grammatical and neural operations. I use this prototype to compute and present diagrams for each stochastic grammar and corresponding neural circuit. I then discuss the theory as it relates to artificial network developments, common coding, neural reuse, and unity of mind, concluding by proposing potential paths to validation. PMID:26236228

First evaluation of the NHS direct online clinical enquiry service: a nurse-led web chat triage service for the public.

PubMed

Eminovic, Nina; Wyatt, Jeremy C; Tarpey, Aideen M; Murray, Gerard; Ingrams, Grant J

2004-06-02

NHS Direct is a telephone triage service used by the UK public to contact a nurse for any kind of health problem. NHS Direct Online (NHSDO) extends NHS Direct, allowing the telephone to be replaced by the Internet, and introducing new opportunities for informing patients about their health. One NHSDO service under development is the Clinical Enquiry Service (CES), which uses Web chat as the communication medium. To identify the opportunities and possible risks of such a service by exploring its safety, feasibility, and patient perceptions about using Web chat to contact a nurse. During a six-day pilot performed in an inner-city general practice in Coventry, non-urgent patients attending their GP were asked to test the service. After filling out three Web forms, patients used a simple Web chat application to communicate with trained NHS Direct triage nurses, who responded with appropriate triage advice. All patients were seen by their GP immediately after using the Web chat service. Safety was explored by comparing the nurse triage end point with the GP's recommended end point. In order to check the feasibility of the service, we measured the duration of the chat session. Patient perceptions were measured before and after using the service through a modified Telemedicine Perception Questionnaire (TMPQ) instrument. All patients were observed by a researcher who captured any comments and, if necessary, to assisted with the process. A total of 25 patients (mean age 48 years; 57% female) agreed to participate in the study. An exact match between the nurse and the GP end point was found in 45% (10/22) of cases. In two cases, the CES nurse proposed a less urgent end point than the GP. The median duration of Web chat sessions was 30 minutes, twice the median for NHS Direct telephone calls for 360 patients with similar presenting problems. There was a significant improvement in patients' perception of CES after using the service (mean pre-test TMPQ score 44/60, post-test 49

"Nous" versus "on": Pronouns with First-Person Plural Reference in Synchronous French Chat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Compernolle, Remi A.

2008-01-01

This article explores variation in the use of the pronouns "nous" and "on" for first-person plural reference in a substantial corpus of French-language Internet chat discourse. The results indicate that "on" is nearly categorically preferred to "nous," which is in line with previous research on informal spoken French. A qualitative analysis of…

Experience in the United States with public deliberation about health insurance benefits using the small group decision exercise, CHAT.

PubMed

Danis, Marion; Ginsburg, Marjorie; Goold, Susan

2010-01-01

"Choosing Healthplans All Together" (CHAT) is a small group decision exercise designed to give the public a voice in priority setting in the face of unsustainable health care costs. It has been used for research, policy, and teaching purposes. Departments of insurance in various states in the United States have used CHAT to determine public opinion about what should be included in basic health insurance packages for the uninsured. Some municipalities have used it to assess public priorities for direct service delivery to the uninsured. Setting up the exercise requires substantial preparation, but the public finds it simple to use and understand.

Integration of Three CBI Models and WeChat Mobile Learning in Business English Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siqi, Che

2017-01-01

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is considered effective not only in mastering language skills, but also in acquiring the content knowledge of business subjects. WeChat, a popular communicative and interactive platform, is acknowledged as a new instrument to improve verbal teaching proficiency and obtain relevant information. The integration of…

The efficacy of interviewing young drug users through online chat.

PubMed

Barratt, Monica J

2012-06-01

Despite the fact that most young people who use 'party drugs' also use the Internet, accounts of drugs research involving qualitative interviewing using real-time instant messaging or online chat are yet to be published. This paper assesses the efficacy of conducting qualitative research interviews with young party drug users through instant messaging. In 2007-2008, 837 Australian residents who reported recent use of psychostimulants and/or hallucinogens and participated in online drug discussion completed a web survey and a subsample of 27 completed online interviews (median age 21, range 17-37, 59% male). Experienced drug users were more likely to volunteer to be interviewed than novices. The time and space flexibility provided by the online interviews was convenient; however, interviews were more prone to interruption. Establishing legitimacy, personal disclosure, appropriate linguistic style and humour facilitated the development of rapport and enabled the production of more detailed and in-depth data. These strategies were not successful in all cases and when unsuccessful, interviewees were more easily able to exit the interview by choosing not to respond. Young drug users already using the Internet to chat about drugs find online interviewing an acceptable and convenient way to contribute to research. With adequate preparation to develop technical and cultural competencies, online interviewing offers an effective way of engaging with young people that is worthy of consideration by researchers in the alcohol and other drug field. © 2011 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Office Hours as You Like Them: Integrating Real-Time Chats into the Course Media Mix.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKeage, Kim

2001-01-01

Reports on one professor's use of integrated synchronous electronic office hours (i.e., a "chat room") with asynchronous course conferencing (i.e., email) in a class on introductory marketing. Describes its uses, limitations, benefits, potential problems, and results from a student survey. (EV)

A 3-Arm randomised controlled trial of Communicating Healthy Beginnings Advice by Telephone (CHAT) to mothers with infants to prevent childhood obesity.

PubMed

Wen, Li Ming; Rissel, Chris; Baur, Louise A; Hayes, Alison J; Xu, Huilan; Whelan, Anna; Hua, Myna; Shaw, Miranda; Phongsavan, Philayrath

2017-01-14

With an increasing prevalence of obesity in young children globally, there is an urgent need for the development of effective early interventions. A previous Healthy Beginnings Trial using a nurse-led home visiting program has demonstrated that providing mothers with evidence-based advice can improve maternal practice regarding obesity prevention, and can reduce Body Mass Index (BMI) in the first few years of life. However, the costs for scale-up of home visiting limit its population reach. This trial aims to determine the efficacy of Communicating Healthy Beginnings Advice by Telephone (CHAT) to mothers with infants in improving infant feeding practices and preventing the early onset of childhood overweight and obesity. We propose a 3-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a consecutive sample of 1056 mothers with their newborn children in New South Wales (NSW) Australia. Pregnant women who are between weeks 28 and 34 of their pregnancy will be invited to participate in the CHAT trial. Informed consent will be obtained, and after baseline data collection, participants will be randomly allocated to the telephone intervention, text messaging intervention, or the control group. The intervention comprises telephone consultations or text messages, together with 6 intervention packages being mailed at specific times from the third trimester of pregnancy until 12 months post birth. The main trial outcome measures include a) duration of breastfeeding, b) timing of introduction of solids, c) nutrition behaviours, physical activity and television viewing, and d) weight and BMI z-score at 12 and 24 months, e) cost-effectiveness, as well as f) feasibility and acceptability of the interventions. The results will ascertain whether early intervention using telephone consultation or text messaging together with staged mailed intervention resources can be feasible and effective in improving infant feeding practices, physical activity and reducing children's BMI in the early

Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Phenomenology in Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat Syndromes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, Joanna F.; Oliver, Chris; Berg, Katy; Kaur, Gurmeash; Jephcott, Lesley; Cornish, Kim

2008-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder characteristics have not been evaluated in Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat syndromes using robust assessments. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Social Communication Questionnaire were administered to 34 participants with Cornelia de Lange syndrome and a comparison group of 23 participants with Cri du Chat…

Streamflow, Water Quality, and Metal Loads from Chat Leachate and Mine Outflow into Tar Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, 2005

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cope, Caleb C.; Becker, Mark F.; Andrews, William J.; DeHay, Kelli

2008-01-01

Picher mining district is an abandoned lead and zinc mining area located in Ottawa County, northeastern Oklahoma. During the first half of the 20th century, the area was a primary producer of lead and zinc in the United States. Large accumulations of mine tailings, locally referred to as chat, produce leachate containing cadmium, iron, lead, and zinc that enter drainages within the mining area. Metals also seep to local ground water and streams from unplugged shafts, vent holes, seeps, and abandoned mine dewatering wells. Streamflow measurements were made and water-quality samples were collected and analyzed from two locations in Picher mining district from August 16 to August 29 following a rain event beginning on August 14, 2005, to determine likely concentrations and loads of metals from tailings and mine outflows in the part of Picher mining district near Tar Creek. Locations selected for sampling included a tailings pile with an adjacent mill pond, referred to as the Western location, and a segment of Tar Creek from above the confluence with Lytle Creek to below Douthat bridge, referred to as Tar Creek Study Segment. Measured streamflow was less than 0.01 cubic foot per second at the Western location, with streamflow only being measurable at that site on August 16, 2005. Measured streamflows ranged from <0.01 to 2.62 cubic feet per second at Tar Creek Study Segment. One water-quality sample was collected from runoff at the Western location. Total metals concentrations in that sample were 95.3 micrograms per liter cadmium, 182 micrograms per liter iron, 170 micrograms per liter lead, 1,760 micrograms per liter zinc. Total mean metals concentrations in 29 water-quality samples collected from Tar Creek Study Segment from August 16-29, 2005, were 21.8 micrograms per liter cadmium, 7,924 micrograms per liter iron, 7.68 micrograms per liter lead, and 14,548 micrograms per liter zinc. No metals loading values were calculated for the Western location. Metals loading

What Are Youth Asking about Drugs? A Report of NIDA Drug Facts Chat Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morton, Cory M.; Hoefinger, Heidi; Linn-Walton, Rebecca; Aikins, Ross; Falkin, Gregory P.

2015-01-01

The current study analyzes a sample of questions about drugs asked online by youth who participated in the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) "Drug Facts Chat Day." The types of drugs youth asked about were coded into 17 substance categories, and the topics they raised were coded into seven thematic categories. The top five…

Parent-Endorsed Sex Differences in Toddlers with and without ASD: Utilizing the M-CHAT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Øien, Roald A.; Hart, Logan; Schjølberg, Synnve; Wall, Carla A.; Kim, Elizabeth S.; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders; Eisemann, Martin R.; Chawarska, Katarzyna; Volkmar, Fred R.; Shic, Frederick

2017-01-01

Sex differences in typical development can provide context for understanding ASD. Baron-Cohen ("Trends Cogn Sci" 6(6):248-254, 2002) suggested ASD could be considered an extreme expression of normal male, compared to female, phenotypic profiles. In this paper, sex-specific M-CHAT scores from N = 53,728 18-month-old toddlers, including n…

STEM learning activity among home-educating families

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachman, Jennifer

2011-12-01

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning was studied among families in a group of home-educators in the Pacific Northwest. Ethnographic methods recorded learning activity (video, audio, fieldnotes, and artifacts) which was analyzed using a unique combination of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Mediated Action (MA), enabling analysis of activity at multiple levels. Findings indicate that STEM learning activity is family-led, guided by parents' values and goals for learning, and negotiated with children to account for learner interests and differences, and available resources. Families' STEM education practice is dynamic, evolves, and influenced by larger societal STEM learning activity. Parents actively seek support and resources for STEM learning within their home-school community, working individually and collectively to share their funds of knowledge. Home-schoolers also access a wide variety of free-choice learning resources: web-based materials, museums, libraries, and community education opportunities (e.g. afterschool, weekend and summer programs, science clubs and classes, etc.). A lesson-heuristic, grounded in Mediated Action, represents and analyzes home STEM learning activity in terms of tensions between parental goals, roles, and lesson structure. One tension observed was between 'academic' goals or school-like activity and 'lifelong' goals or everyday learning activity. Theoretical and experiential learning was found in both activity, though parents with academic goals tended to focus more on theoretical learning and those with lifelong learning goals tended to be more experiential. Examples of the National Research Council's science learning strands (NRC, 2009) were observed in the STEM practices of all these families. Findings contribute to the small but growing body of empirical CHAT research in science education, specifically to the empirical base of family STEM learning practices at home. It also fills a

Activity Theory and Situated Learning Theory: Contrasting Views of Educational Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnseth, Hans Christian

2008-01-01

The purpose of this article is to offer a critical discussion of the practice turn in contemporary educational research. In order to make the discussion specific, I use two influential theories, namely activity theory and situated learning theory. They both turn to the notion of practice in order to overcome the limitations of mentalist and…

Dan Goldin chats with First Lady Hillary Clinton

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the Apollo/Saturn V Center, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin (right) chats with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and others while waiting for the launch of STS-93. Much attention has been generated over STS-93 due to Commander Eileen M. Collins, the first woman to serve as commander of a Shuttle mission. The primary payload of the five-day mission is the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which will allow scientists from around the world to study some of the most distant, powerful and dynamic objects in the universe. The new telescope is 20 to 50 times more sensitive than any previous X-ray telescope and is expected to unlock the secrets of supernovae, quasars and black holes. Liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia is scheduled for 12:36 a.m. EDT July 20.

Hello Harlie: Enabling Speech Monitoring Through Chat-Bot Conversations.

PubMed

Ireland, David; Atay, Christina; Liddle, Jacki; Bradford, Dana; Lee, Helen; Rushin, Olivia; Mullins, Thomas; Angus, Dan; Wiles, Janet; McBride, Simon; Vogel, Adam

2016-01-01

People with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and dementia are known to have difficulties in language and communication. This paper presents initial testing of an artificial conversational agent, called Harlie. Harlie runs on a smartphone and is able to converse with the user on a variety of topics. A description of the application and a sample dialog are provided to illustrate the various roles chat-bots can play in the management of neurological conditions. Harlie can be used for measuring voice and communication outcomes during the daily life of the user, and for gaining information about challenges encountered. Moreover, it is anticipated that she may also have an educational and support role.

Smartphone Application WeChat for Clinical Follow-up of Discharged Patients with Head and Neck Tumors: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Lyu, Ke-Xing; Zhao, Jing; Wang, Bin; Xiong, Guan-Xia; Yang, Wei-Qiang; Liu, Qi-Hong; Zhu, Xiao-Lin; Sun, Wei; Jiang, Ai-Yun; Wen, Wei-Ping; Lei, Wen-Bin

2016-12-05

Nowadays, social media tools such as short message service, Twitter, video, and web-based systems are more and more used in clinical follow-up, making clinical follow-up much more time- and cost-effective than ever before. However, as the most popular social media in China, little is known about the utility of smartphone WeChat application in follow-up. In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility and superiority of WeChat application in clinical follow-up. A total of 108 patients diagnosed with head and neck tumor were randomized to WeChat follow-up (WFU) group or telephone follow-up (TFU) group for 6-month follow-up. The follow-ups were delivered by WeChat or telephone at 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, and 6 months to the patients after being discharged. The study measurements were time consumption for follow-up delivery, total economic cost, lost-to-follow-up rate, and overall satisfaction for the follow-up method. Time consumption in WFU group for each patient (23.36 ± 6.16 min) was significantly shorter than that in TFU group (42.89 ± 7.15 min) (P < 0.001); total economic cost in WFU group (RMB 90 Yuan) was much lower than that in TFU group (RMB 196 Yuan). Lost-to-follow-up rate in the WFU group was 7.02% (4/57) compared with TFU group, 9.80% (5/51), while no significance was observed (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.176-2.740; P = 0.732). The overall satisfaction rate in WFU group was 94.34% (50/53) compared with 80.43% (37/46) in TFU group (95% CI: 0.057-0.067; P = 0.034). The smartphone WeChat application was found to be a viable option for follow-up in discharged patients with head and neck tumors. WFU was time-effective, cost-effective, and convenient in communication. This doctor-led follow-up model has the potential to establish a good physician-patient relationship by enhancing dynamic communications and providing individual health instructions. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IOR-15007498; http://www.chictr.org.cn/ showproj.aspx?proj=12613.

Smartphone Application WeChat for Clinical Follow-up of Discharged Patients with Head and Neck Tumors: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Lyu, Ke-Xing; Zhao, Jing; Wang, Bin; Xiong, Guan-Xia; Yang, Wei-Qiang; Liu, Qi-Hong; Zhu, Xiao-Lin; Sun, Wei; Jiang, Ai-Yun; Wen, Wei-Ping; Lei, Wen-Bin

2016-01-01

Background: Nowadays, social media tools such as short message service, Twitter, video, and web-based systems are more and more used in clinical follow-up, making clinical follow-up much more time- and cost-effective than ever before. However, as the most popular social media in China, little is known about the utility of smartphone WeChat application in follow-up. In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility and superiority of WeChat application in clinical follow-up. Methods: A total of 108 patients diagnosed with head and neck tumor were randomized to WeChat follow-up (WFU) group or telephone follow-up (TFU) group for 6-month follow-up. The follow-ups were delivered by WeChat or telephone at 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, and 6 months to the patients after being discharged. The study measurements were time consumption for follow-up delivery, total economic cost, lost-to-follow-up rate, and overall satisfaction for the follow-up method. Results: Time consumption in WFU group for each patient (23.36 ± 6.16 min) was significantly shorter than that in TFU group (42.89 ± 7.15 min) (P < 0.001); total economic cost in WFU group (RMB 90 Yuan) was much lower than that in TFU group (RMB 196 Yuan). Lost-to-follow-up rate in the WFU group was 7.02% (4/57) compared with TFU group, 9.80% (5/51), while no significance was observed (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.176–2.740; P = 0.732). The overall satisfaction rate in WFU group was 94.34% (50/53) compared with 80.43% (37/46) in TFU group (95% CI: 0.057–0.067; P = 0.034). Conclusions: The smartphone WeChat application was found to be a viable option for follow-up in discharged patients with head and neck tumors. WFU was time-effective, cost-effective, and convenient in communication. This doctor-led follow-up model has the potential to establish a good physician-patient relationship by enhancing dynamic communications and providing individual health instructions. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, Chi

More than "Hello" and "Bye-Bye": Opening and Closing the Online Chats in Mandarin Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, De

2014-01-01

Reporting on a descriptive study on the first semester Chinese language learners' openings and closings in online chats with age-peer native speakers of Chinese, this paper demonstrates the great promise that telecollaboration holds for foreign language education, and argues for an increasing role of pragmatics in Chinese language instruction, and…

From "Hello" to Higher-Order Thinking: The Effect of Coaching and Feedback on Online Chats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, David S.; Wanstreet, Constance E.; Slagle, Paula; Trinko, Lynn A.; Lutz, Michelle

2013-01-01

This exploratory study examined the effect of a coaching and feedback intervention in teaching presence and social presence on higher-order thinking in an online community of inquiry. Coaching occurred before each chat, and feedback was provided immediately afterwards. The findings suggest that over time, the frequency of higher-order thinking…

Analysis of chats on French internet forums about drugs and pregnancy.

PubMed

Palosse-Cantaloube, Lucie; Lacroix, Isabelle; Rousseau, Vanessa; Bagheri, Haleh; Montastruc, Jean-Louis; Damase-Michel, Christine

2014-12-01

Some pregnant women use the internet to search for medical information. However, online information is not controlled. The objectives were to describe French online chats about drugs and pregnancy and evaluate the quality and reliability of information shared by internet users. This French descriptive study was performed in November 2012. In order to identify drugs and pregnancy-related forum websites, we used three French key words: forum, pregnancy and drug. We explored the first 10 websites from the search result. Diseases were described using the International Classification of Diseases and drugs classified with the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical codes and the FDA risk classification. We selected 115 questions that were mainly posted by pregnant internet users in French forums. Drugs raising questions were mostly "nervous system," "anti-infective for systemic use" and "respiratory system" drugs. The risk during pregnancy for nearly half of these drugs had not been evaluated properly. Health professionals were only involved in 7% of the 214 answers. Internet users advised to take a drug in 21% of their answers. Thirty-four percent of those recommended drugs had not been well-evaluated or were potentially at risk during pregnancy. Finally, 12% of the answers could be at risk for pregnant woman. This study shows that information related to drugs and pregnancy in online chats could be at risk for pregnant women. Internet users must be aware that online forums are not reliable sources of information. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Combining IM and Vendor-Based Chat: A Report from the Frontlines of an Integrated Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, David; Kern, M. Kathleen

2006-01-01

Driven by studies showing that Millennials (ages 18-24) have adopted IM (instant messaging) as a standard communications medium, many libraries are reaching out to their own patrons in this way. At the same time, some of these libraries have invested thousands of dollars in vendor-based chat reference solutions that provide duplicate…

Two, Three, Many Strands of Activity Theory!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levant, Alex

2018-01-01

This piece critically follows David Bakhurst's 2009 article "Reflections on Activity Theory" in light of recent developments in the field. It sketches three directions for further research. First, it examines his identification of "two strands" of activity theory (AT)--the philosophical, which he associates with E.V. Ilyenkov…

From to : Nicknames, Play and Identity on Internet Relay Chat.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bechar-Israeli, Haya

1995-01-01

Examines nicknames of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) users, whose identities are condensed into a single line which states their nicknames, the electronic address, and a slogan or the users' real names. Demonstrates that although people play games with their nicknames, the nicknames they choose are an inherent part of their Net identity and their…

Screening for Autism in Iranian Preschoolers: Contrasting M-CHAT and a Scale Developed in Iran

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samadi, Sayyed Ali; McConkey, Roy

2015-01-01

Suitable screening instruments for the early diagnosis of autism are not readily available for use with preschoolers in non-Western countries. This study evaluated two tools: M-CHAT which is widely used internationally and one developed in Iran called Hiva. A population sample was recruited of nearly 3000 preschoolers in one Iranian city. Parents…

Mediated Group Development and Dynamics: An Examination of Video Chatting, Twitter, and Facebook in Group Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frisby, Brandi N.; Kaufmann, Renee; Beck, Anna-Carrie

2016-01-01

Instructors incorporate technological tools into the classroom to address short attention spans, appeal to technologically savvy students, and to increase engagement. This study used both quantitative descriptive and qualitative embedded assessment data to examine the use of three popular tools (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, and video chatting) in…

Pre-Service Teachers' Greater Power to Act in the Classroom: Analysis of the Circumstances for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moussay, Sylvie; Flavier, Eric; Zimmermann, Philipe; Meard, Jacques

2011-01-01

This case study analysed the circumstances during a one-year work placement in which a pre-service teacher showed professional development, with a focus on the impact of her interactions with various interlocutors. The study was conducted within the framework of the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and of activity theory with its methods…

Deutsch, Doyc or Doitsch? Chatters as Languagers--The Case of a German-Turkish Chat Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hinnenkamp, Volker

2008-01-01

The paper looks at the process of online-languaging of adolescents with a migratory and ethnic Turkish background in a diasporic chat room. The multiple resources and voices used are analysed. One particular example is looked at more thoroughly to illustrate the process of languaging and how it is legitimised by the chatters themselves. Finally,…

Intercomprehension between Romance Languages and the Role of English: A Study of Multilingual Chat Rooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melo-Pfeifer, Sílvia

2014-01-01

In this article, we focus on the role English plays in multilingual chat rooms in Romance Languages. We intend to demonstrate how English, even as forbidden language in this particular setting, is a mediation and a remediation tool. Our conclusions point out that: (1) English is an constructive resource in multilingual communication; (2) it has a…

The Usability of WeChat as a Mobile and Interactive Medium in Student-Centered Medical Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Juan; Gao, Furong; Li, Jiao; Zhang, Jieping; Li, Siguang; Xu, Guo-tong; Xu, Lei; Chen, Jianjun; Lu, Lixia

2017-01-01

Biochemistry and cellular biology courses for medical students at Tongji University include the assessment that provides students with feedback to enhance their learning, which is a type of formative assessment. However, frequent instant feedback and guidance for students is often absent or inconsistently included in the teaching process. WeChat,…

Combining Live Video and Audio Broadcasting, Synchronous Chat, and Asynchronous Open Forum Discussions in Distance Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teng, Tian-Lih; Taveras, Marypat

2004-01-01

This article outlines the evolution of a unique distance education program that began as a hybrid--combining face-to-face instruction with asynchronous online teaching--and evolved to become an innovative combination of synchronous education using live streaming video, audio, and chat over the Internet, blended with asynchronous online discussions…

Changes in Reference Question Complexity Following the Implementation of a Proactive Chat System: Implications for Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maloney, Krisellen; Kemp, Jan H.

2015-01-01

There has been longstanding debate about whether the level of complexity of questions received at reference desks and via online chat services requires a librarian's expertise. Continued decreases in the number and complexity of reference questions have all but ended the debate; many academic libraries no longer staff service points with…

Protection motivation theory: is this a worthwhile theory for physical activity promotion?

PubMed

Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Trinh, Linda

2010-04-01

This article reviews the published studies in the physical activity domain, which include novel hypothesis from our laboratory, that have tested Rogers' Protection Motivation Theory. Across the various population groups, the theory's coping appraisal is generally supported; however, there is limited support for the theory's threat components. Implications of these findings are discussed from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Making and Missing Connections: Exploring Twitter Chats as a Learning Tool in a Preservice Teacher Education Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, Betina

2017-01-01

Research on social media use in education indicates that network-based connections can enable powerful teacher learning opportunities. Using a connectivist theoretical framework (Siemens, 2005), this study focuses on secondary teacher candidates (TCs) who completed, archived, and reflected upon 1-hour Twitter chats (N = 39) to explore the promise…

That Man Behind the Curtain: Investigating the Sexual Online Dating Behavior of Men Who Have Sex With Men but Hide Their Same-Sex Sexual Attraction in Offline Surroundings.

PubMed

Lemke, Richard; Weber, Mathias

2017-01-01

This study investigates how men who have sex with men (MSM) use chat and dating sites based on theories of stigma-related offline behavior and online self-disclosure. We hypothesize that hidden MSM (those who self-label as heterosexual or who hide their same-sex sexual attraction from family, friends, acquaintances, or a female romantic partner) differ from open MSM in how they behave on gay chat and dating sites and in offline gay venues. Drawing on a survey of 12,002 MSM, we show that hidden MSM tend to mask their identity on gay chat and dating sites while avoiding offline gay venues. They also focus more strongly on online sexual activities (e.g., masturbating during online chats) when using gay chat and dating sites. However, they spend the same amount of time on these sites, and they use them to initiate offline sexual encounters as often and as fast as open MSM.

Development of the Thai healthy aging model: A grounded theory study.

PubMed

Thiamwong, Ladda; McManus, Michael S; Suwanno, Jom

2013-06-01

To develop a model of healthy aging from the perspective of Thais, a grounded theory approach, including in-depth interviews and focus groups, was used. A purposive sample of 39 community-dwelling adults aged 40-85 years old was interviewed. The Thai healthy aging model composed of three themes: normality, nature, and dharma. In Thai, they are called tham-ma-da, tham-ma-chat, and tham-ma, or "Thai 3Ts". The theme of normality encompasses subthemes of staying physically active by being involved in plenty of physical activities, and being mentally active with creative and thoughtful hobbies and work. The theme of nature encompasses subthemes of living simply and being careful with money. The theme of dharma encompasses subthemes of enjoyment through helping family and participating in community activities, staying away from stress and worries by talking openly and honestly with someone, making merit, and helping other people without expecting anything in return. A greater understanding of healthy aging is a benefit for older adults and healthcare providers in an intervention-design process. Research can contribute valuable information to shape policy for healthy aging as well. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

An Application of Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marken, James A.

2006-01-01

Activity Theory has often been used in workplace settings to gain new theoretical understandings about work and the humans who engage in work, but rarely has there been sufficient detail in the literature to allow HPT practitioners to do their own activity analysis. The detail presented in this case is sufficient for HPT practitioners to begin to…

Wind conditions on migration influence the annual survival of a neotropical migrant, the western yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens auricollis).

PubMed

Huang, Andrew C; Bishop, Christine A; McKibbin, René; Drake, Anna; Green, David J

2017-08-10

Long-distance migratory birds in North America have undergone precipitous declines over the past half-century. Although the trend is clear, for many migrating species underpinning the exact causes poses a challenge to conservation due to the numerous stressors that they encounter. Climate conditions during all phases of their annual cycle can have important consequences for their survival. Here, using 15 years of capture-recapture dataset, we determined the effects of various climate factors during the breeding, wintering, and migrating stages on the annual survival of a western yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens auricollis) population breeding in southwestern Canada. El Niño effects over the entire annual cycle had little influence on the annual apparent survival of yellow-breasted chats. However, we found evidence that wind conditions during migration, specifically average westerly wind speed or the frequency of storm events, had significant adverse effects on adult annual apparent survival. In comparison, precipitation levels on wintering ground had little to no influence on adult annual apparent survival, whereas growing degree days on the breeding ground had moderate but positive effects. In the face of climate change and its predicted impacts on climate processes, understanding the influence of weather conditions on the survival of migrating birds can allow appropriate conservation strategies to be adopted for chats and other declining neotropical migrants.

Transforming Language Ideologies through Action Research: A Case Study of Bilingual Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Eunah

2012-01-01

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed…

Gendered Dimensions of Mobile Phone Usage: The Case of a Group of Romani Women from Southwestern Bulgaria and Their Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hristova, Adelina

2016-01-01

This participatory and grounded theory ethnography focuses on mobile learning practices of a group of adult Romani women and their families. Framed through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and technofeminism, these practices challenge existing integration programs with their binary approach as insufficient to analyze informal…

Hydrodynamic theory of active matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jülicher, Frank; Grill, Stephan W.; Salbreux, Guillaume

2018-07-01

We review the general hydrodynamic theory of active soft materials that is motivated in particular by biological matter. We present basic concepts of irreversible thermodynamics of spatially extended multicomponent active systems. Starting from the rate of entropy production, we identify conjugate thermodynamic fluxes and forces and present generic constitutive equations of polar active fluids and active gels. We also discuss angular momentum conservation which plays a role in the the physics of active chiral gels. The irreversible thermodynamics of active gels provides a general framework to discuss the physics that underlies a wide variety of biological processes in cells and in multicellular tissues.

Doing Being Reprehensive: Some Interactional Features of English as a Lingua Franca in a Chat Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenks, Christopher Joseph

2012-01-01

Great diversity exists in the way English is being used in the world today. It is now not uncommon to hear a Korean and a Brazilian do business in English, or a Syrian and a Norwegian debating politics in an English-speaking chat room. As opportunities to use English increase and evolve, researchers are left with the difficult challenge of…

Cri du Chat syndrome

PubMed Central

Cerruti Mainardi, Paola

2006-01-01

The Cri du Chat syndrome (CdCS) is a genetic disease resulting from a deletion of variable size occurring on the short arm of chromosome 5 (5p-). The incidence ranges from 1:15,000 to 1:50,000 live-born infants. The main clinical features are a high-pitched monochromatic cry, microcephaly, broad nasal bridge, epicanthal folds, micrognathia, abnormal dermatoglyphics, and severe psychomotor and mental retardation. Malformations, although not very frequent, may be present: cardiac, neurological and renal abnormalities, preauricular tags, syndactyly, hypospadias, and cryptorchidism. Molecular cytogenetic analysis has allowed a cytogenetic and phenotypic map of 5p to be defined, even if results from the studies reported up to now are not completely in agreement. Genotype-phenotype correlation studies showed a clinical and cytogenetic variability. The identification of phenotypic subsets associated with a specific size and type of deletion is of diagnostic and prognostic relevance. Specific growth and psychomotor development charts have been established. Two genes, Semaphorin F (SEMAF) and δ-catenin (CTNND2), which have been mapped to the "critical regions", are potentially involved in cerebral development and their deletion may be associated with mental retardation in CdCS patients. Deletion of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene, localised to 5p15.33, could contribute to the phenotypic changes in CdCS. The critical regions were recently refined by using array comparative genomic hybridisation. The cat-like cry critical region was further narrowed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and three candidate genes were characterised in this region. The diagnosis is based on typical clinical manifestations. Karyotype analysis and, in doubtful cases, FISH analysis will confirm the diagnosis. There is no specific therapy for CdCS but early rehabilitative and educational interventions improve the prognosis and considerable progress has been made in

Effectiveness of a web-based solution-focused brief chat treatment for depressed adolescents and young adults: randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Kramer, Jeannet; Conijn, Barbara; Oijevaar, Pien; Riper, Heleen

2014-05-29

Up to 9% of young people suffer from depression. Unfortunately, many in need of help remain untreated. The Internet offers anonymous ways to help depressed youth, especially those who are reluctant to search for help because of fear of stigma. Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of an individual chat treatment based on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to young individuals aged 12-22 years with depressive symptoms by comparing it to a waiting list control group. For this study, 263 young people with depressive symptoms were randomized to the Web-based SFBT intervention, PratenOnline, or to a waiting list control condition. The chat treatment was delivered by trained professionals. Groups were compared on depressive complaints as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) after 9 weeks and 4.5 months. For the chat group only, changes in depressive symptoms at 7.5 months after baseline were explored. The experimental SFBT condition (n=131) showed significantly greater improvement than the waiting list condition (n=132) in depressive symptoms at 9 weeks and 4.5 months on the CES-D, with a small between group effect size at 9 weeks (d=0.18, 95% CI -0.10 to 0.47) and a large effect size at 4.5 months (d=0.79, 95% CI 0.45-1.08). The percentage of participants showing a reliable and clinically significant change in depression was significantly larger for the SFBT intervention at 4.5 months only (28.2% vs 11.4% for the waiting list, P<.001, number needed to treat=6). At 7.5 months, the SFBT group showed further improvements. However, results have to be considered carefully because of high attrition rates. The Web-based SFBT chat intervention of PratenOnline was more effective than a waiting list control group in reducing depressive symptoms, and effects were larger at follow-up then at post-treatment. More studies are needed to find out if outcomes will be replicated, especially for those younger than 18 year old. Netherlands Trial

Psychological Well-Being in Parents of Children with Angelman, Cornelia de Lange and Cri du Chat Syndromes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffith, G. M.; Hastings, R. P.; Oliver, C.; Howlin, P.; Moss, J.; Petty, J.; Tunnicliffe, P.

2011-01-01

Background: The current study focuses on mothers and fathers of children with three rare genetic syndromes that are relatively unexplored in terms of family experience: Angelman syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome and Cri du Chat syndrome. Method: Parents of children with Angelman syndrome (n = 15), Cornelia de Lange syndrome (n = 16) and Cri du…

Korean immigrant women's physical activity experience: a situation-specific theory.

PubMed

Im, Eun-Ok; Chang, Sun Ju; Nguyen, Giang; Stringer, Lynn; Chee, Wonshik; Chee, Eunice

2015-01-01

To develop successful physical activity promotion programs for midlife immigrant women, especially for Korean immigrant midlife women, concrete theoretical bases are needed. However, virtually no theoretical frameworks and/or theories exist that can explain the influences of immigration transition on the physical activity experience of midlife immigrant women in general or Korean immigrant midlife women in specific. The purpose of this article is to present a situation-specific theory on physical activity experience of Korean immigrant midlife women (SPAKIM) with its development process. An integrative approach was used to develop the theory based on the midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity (MAPA) theory, the transitions theory, a review of the relevant literature, and two studies on midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity. The proposed theory includes nature of transitions, nonmodifiable and modifiable transition conditions, contexts of daily life, patterns of response, and nursing therapeutics as major concepts, and each major concept includes several related subconcepts. Because several concepts of the theory were developed mainly based on the literature review, the major concepts and related subconcepts need to be further developed and evaluated in future studies.

Capturing the Transformation and Dynamic Nature of an Elementary Teacher Candidate's Identity Development as a Teacher of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidoo, Kara

2017-01-01

This study examines the transformation and dynamic nature of one teacher candidate's (Susan) identity as a learner and teacher of science throughout an innovative science methods course. The goal of this paper is to use theoretically derived themes grounded in cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and situated learning theory to determine the…

When do online sexual fantasies become reality? The contribution of erotic chatting via the Internet to sexual risk-taking in gay and other men who have sex with men.

PubMed

Adam, Philippe C G; Murphy, Dean A; de Wit, John B F

2011-06-01

Seeking sexual partners online is associated with sexual risk-taking among men who have sex with men (MSM), but it is not well understood how this use of the Internet is implicated in potential sexual risks. The present study explores whether fantasizing about unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) during online chatting is associated with UAI with partners met online. An online survey of 2058 MSM in France included assessments of UAI with partners met online, responses to erotic chatting about UAI, intentions to use condoms, attitudes regarding UAI, practicing UAI with casual partners, alcohol and drug use with sex and biographical characteristics. While intentions to use condoms with casual partners were high, one-third (32.1%) of respondents reported UAI with partners met online. Responding positively to online chatting about UAI was significantly associated with UAI with partners met online, controlling for intentions, attitudes, behavior and biographic characteristics. These findings suggest that, while MSM may not go online to seek UAI, some engage in online fantasizing about UAI that is associated with possible sexual risk-taking. This speaks critically to the assumption that online fantasizing has no behavioral implications, and underscores the importance of human immunodeficiency virus prevention that addresses the dynamics of online chatting.

Cri du Chat Syndrome and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia: A Common Genetic Cause on Chromosome 5p

PubMed Central

Shapiro, Adam J.; Weck, Karen E.; Chao, Kay C.; Rosenfeld, Margaret; Nygren, Anders O. H.; Knowles, Michael R.; Leigh, Margaret W.; Zariwala, Maimoona A.

2014-01-01

Cri du chat syndrome (CdCS) and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) are rare diseases that present with frequent respiratory symptoms. PCD can be caused by hemizygous DNAH5 mutation in combination with a 5p segmental deletion attributable to CdCS on the opposite chromosome. Chronic oto-sino-pulmonary symptoms or organ laterality defects in CdCS should prompt an evaluation for PCD. PMID:25066065

A Multi-Label Classification Approach for Coding Cancer Information Service Chat Transcripts

PubMed Central

Rios, Anthony; Vanderpool, Robin; Shaw, Pam

2017-01-01

National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Information Service (CIS) offers online instant messaging based information service called LiveHelp to patients, family members, friends, and other cancer information consumers. A cancer information specialist (IS) ‘chats’ with a consumer and provides information on a variety of topics including clinical trials. After a LiveHelp chat session is finished, the IS codes about 20 different elements of metadata about the session in electronic contact record forms (ECRF), which are to be later used for quality control and reporting. Besides straightforward elements like age and gender, more specific elements to be coded include the purpose of contact, the subjects of interaction, and the different responses provided to the consumer, the latter two often taking on multiple values. As such, ECRF coding is a time consuming task and automating this process could help ISs to focus more on their primary goal of helping consumers with valuable cancer related information. As a first attempt in this task, we explored multi-label and multi-class text classification approaches to code the purpose, subjects of interaction, and the responses provided based on the chat transcripts. With a sample dataset of about 673 transcripts, we achieved example-based F-scores of 0.67 (for subjects) and 0.58 (responses). We also achieved label-based micro F-scores of 0.65 (for subjects), 0.62 (for responses), and 0.61 (for purpose). To our knowledge this is the first attempt in automatic coding of Live-Help transcripts and our initial results on the smaller corpus indicate promising future directions in this task. PMID:28736775

Determining who responds better to a computer- vs. human-delivered physical activity intervention: results from the community health advice by telephone (CHAT) trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Little research has explored who responds better to an automated vs. human advisor for health behaviors in general, and for physical activity (PA) promotion in particular. The purpose of this study was to explore baseline factors (i.e., demographics, motivation, interpersonal style, and external resources) that moderate intervention efficacy delivered by either a human or automated advisor. Methods Data were from the CHAT Trial, a 12-month randomized controlled trial to increase PA among underactive older adults (full trial N = 218) via a human advisor or automated interactive voice response advisor. Trial results indicated significant increases in PA in both interventions by 12 months that were maintained at 18-months. Regression was used to explore moderation of the two interventions. Results Results indicated amotivation (i.e., lack of intent in PA) moderated 12-month PA (d = 0.55, p < 0.01) and private self-consciousness (i.e., tendency to attune to one’s own inner thoughts and emotions) moderated 18-month PA (d = 0.34, p < 0.05) but a variety of other factors (e.g., demographics) did not (p > 0.12). Conclusions Results provide preliminary evidence for generating hypotheses about pathways for supporting later clinical decision-making with regard to the use of either human- vs. computer-delivered interventions for PA promotion. PMID:24053756

Effects of mobile phone WeChat services improve adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis after functional endoscopic sinus surgery: a 3-month follow-up study.

PubMed

Feng, Shaoyan; Liang, Zibin; Zhang, Rongkai; Liao, Wei; Chen, Yuan; Fan, Yunping; Li, Huabin

2017-03-01

The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of receiving daily WeChat services on one's cell phone on adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). This study was a two-arm, randomized, follow-up investigation. Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with/without nasal polyps following bilateral FESS were randomised to receive, or to not receive, daily WeChat service on their cell phone to take corticosteroid nasal spray treatment. A prescription of budesonide aqueous nasal spray 128 µg bid was given to all the subjects. Then they returned to the clinic after 30, 60, 90 days. The primary study outcome was adherence to nasal spray treatment, whereas secondary outcomes were change in endoscopic findings and SinoNasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20). On the whole, there was a significant inter-group difference in the change of adherence rate (F = 90.88, p = 0.000). The WeChat group had much higher adherence rate than the control group during the follow-up. In terms of postoperative endoscopic scores and SNOT-20, except granulation score, no significant differences were observed between the two randomization groups. WeChat services are already after a short period of observation associated with improved adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment in CRS patients after FESS.

Dynamo theory prediction of solar activity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schatten, Kenneth H.

1988-01-01

The dynamo theory technique to predict decadal time scale solar activity variations is introduced. The technique was developed following puzzling correlations involved with geomagnetic precursors of solar activity. Based upon this, a dynamo theory method was developed to predict solar activity. The method was used successfully in solar cycle 21 by Schatten, Scherrer, Svalgaard, and Wilcox, after testing with 8 prior solar cycles. Schatten and Sofia used the technique to predict an exceptionally large cycle, peaking early (in 1990) with a sunspot value near 170, likely the second largest on record. Sunspot numbers are increasing, suggesting that: (1) a large cycle is developing, and (2) that the cycle may even surpass the largest cycle (19). A Sporer Butterfly method shows that the cycle can now be expected to peak in the latter half of 1989, consistent with an amplitude comparable to the value predicted near the last solar minimum.

A situation-specific theory of Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity (MAPA).

PubMed

Im, Eun-Ok; Stuifbergen, Alexa K; Walker, Lorraine

2010-01-01

This paper presents a situation specific theory-the Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity (MAPA) theory-that explains how women's attitudes toward physical activity influence their participation in physical activity. Using the integrative approach of Im, the theory was developed based on the Attitude, Social Influence, and Self Efficacy Model; a review of the related literature; and a study of women's attitudes toward physical activity. As a situation-specific theory, the MAPA theory can be linked easily to nursing practice and research projects related to physical activity in midlife women, especially interventions aimed at increasing midlife women's participation in physical activity. Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Guided Inquiry Activity for Teaching Ligand Field Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Brian J.; Graham, Kate J.

2015-01-01

This paper will describe a guided inquiry activity for teaching ligand field theory. Previous research suggests the guided inquiry approach is highly effective for student learning. This activity familiarizes students with the key concepts of molecular orbital theory applied to coordination complexes. Students will learn to identify factors that…

Social Behavior and Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Angelman, Cornelia de Lange, and Cri du Chat Syndromes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, Joanna; Howlin, Patricia; Hastings, Richard Patrick; Beaumont, Sarah; Griffith, Gemma M.; Petty, Jane; Tunnicliffe, Penny; Yates, Rachel; Villa, Darrelle; Oliver, Chris

2013-01-01

We evaluated autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristics and social behavior in Angelman (AS; "n" ?=? 19; mean age ?=?10.35 years), Cornelia de Lange (CdLS; "n" ?=? 15; mean age ?=?12.40 years), and Cri du Chat (CdCS, also known as 5 p-syndrome; "n" ?=? 19; mean age ?=? 8.80 years) syndromes. The proportion of…

Examination of the Properties of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in a Population Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yama, Brie; Freeman, Tom; Graves, Erin; Yuan, Su; Campbell, M. Karen

2012-01-01

This study examines the following properties of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in an unselected low-risk sample: (a) the maximum age for screen administration; (b) the positive screen rate in the absence of follow-up telephone interviews and; (c) the distributional properties of positive screens. Data came from a…

Activation Theory and Uses and Gratifications Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tate, E. D.

Uses and gratifications research involves a critical appraisal of conceptual and theoretical issues in mass communication and is concerned with what audience members do with the media. Activation theory understands people as active manipulators of their environment. (Activation refers to that level of psychological and physiological excitement an…

Cri du chat syndrome and primary ciliary dyskinesia: a common genetic cause on chromosome 5p.

PubMed

Shapiro, Adam J; Weck, Karen E; Chao, Kay C; Rosenfeld, Margaret; Nygren, Anders O H; Knowles, Michael R; Leigh, Margaret W; Zariwala, Maimoona A

2014-10-01

Cri du chat syndrome (CdCS) and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) are rare diseases that present with frequent respiratory symptoms. PCD can be caused by hemizygous DNAH5 mutation in combination with a 5p segmental deletion attributable to CdCS on the opposite chromosome. Chronic oto-sino-pulmonary symptoms or organ laterality defects in CdCS should prompt an evaluation for PCD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neurological abnormalities in the `cri-du-chat' syndrome 1

PubMed Central

Colover, Jack; Lucas, Mary; Comley, J. A.; Roe, A. M.

1972-01-01

An unusual case of the cri-du-chat syndrome is described in a 6½ year old boy, who, as well as attacks of stridor and choking, showed disorders of spatial perception and cerebellar signs in the form of nystagmus, clumsiness of the hands, and ataxia. Pyramidal signs were also present. He was only mildly retarded mentally. Psychological testing showed that he had a severe deficit for number processing, and also constructional apraxia. Surprisingly, his vocabulary was quite good, as was his reading capacity. Chromosome analysis showed a very small deletion of the short arm of the group B chromosome. In infancy this diagnosis may be suspected because of the high-pitched cry and attacks of stridor and choking. In late childhood, when the signs may be only of a neurological disorder, its recognition may be difficult without confirmation from chromosome studies. The neurological features of this disease are reviewed. Images PMID:5084140

Teaching Sociological Theory through Active Learning: The Irrigation Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holtzman, Mellisa

2005-01-01

For students, theory is often one of the most daunting aspects of sociology--it seems abstract, removed from the concrete events of their everyday lives, and therefore intimidating. In an attempt to break down student resistance to theory, instructors are increasingly turning to active learning approaches. Active learning exercises, then, appear…

Using activity theory to study cultural complexity in medical education.

PubMed

Frambach, Janneke M; Driessen, Erik W; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

2014-06-01

There is a growing need for research on culture, cultural differences and cultural effects of globalization in medical education, but these are complex phenomena to investigate. Socio-cultural activity theory seems a useful framework to study cultural complexity, because it matches current views on culture as a dynamic process situated in a social context, and has been valued in diverse fields for yielding rich understandings of complex issues and key factors involved. This paper explains how activity theory can be used in (cross-)cultural medical education research. We discuss activity theory's theoretical background and principles, and we show how these can be applied to the cultural research practice by discussing the steps involved in a cross-cultural study that we conducted, from formulating research questions to drawing conclusions. We describe how the activity system, the unit of analysis in activity theory, can serve as an organizing principle to grasp cultural complexity. We end with reflections on the theoretical and practical use of activity theory for cultural research and note that it is not a shortcut to capture cultural complexity: it is a challenge for researchers to determine the boundaries of their study and to analyze and interpret the dynamics of the activity system.

Effects of Treatment Length and Chat-Based Counseling in a Web-Based Intervention for Cannabis Users: Randomized Factorial Trial.

PubMed

Jonas, Benjamin; Tensil, Marc-Dennan; Tossmann, Peter; Strüber, Evelin

2018-05-08

Digital interventions show promise in reducing problematic cannabis use. However, little is known about the effect of moderators in such interventions. The therapist-guided internet intervention Quit the Shit provides 50 days of chat-based (synchronous) and time-lagged (asynchronous) counseling. In the study, we examined whether the effectiveness of Quit the Shit is reduced by shortening the program or by removing the chat-based counseling option. We conducted a purely Web-based randomized experimental trial using a two-factorial design (factor 1: real-time-counseling via text-chat: yes vs no; factor 2: intervention duration: 50 days vs 28 days). Participants were recruited on the Quit the Shit website. Follow-ups were conducted 3, 6, and 12 months after randomization. Primary outcome was cannabis-use days during the past 30 days using a Timeline Followback procedure. Secondary outcomes were cannabis quantity, cannabis-use events, cannabis dependency (Severity of Dependence Scale), treatment satisfaction (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire), and working alliance (Working Alliance Inventory-short revised). In total, 534 participants were included in the trial. Follow-up rates were 47.2% (252/534) after 3 months, 38.2% (204/534) after 6 months, and 25.3% (135/534) after 12 months. Provision of real-time counseling (factor 1) was not significantly associated with any cannabis-related outcome but with higher treatment satisfaction (P=.001, d=0.34) and stronger working alliance (P=.008, d=0.22). In factor 2, no significant differences were found in any outcome. The reduction of cannabis use among all study participants was strong (P<.001, d≥1.13). The reduction of program length and the waiver of synchronous communication have no meaningful impact on the effectiveness of Quit the Shit. It therefore seems tenable to abbreviate the program and to offer a self-guided start into Quit the Shit. Due to its positive impact on treatment satisfaction and working alliance, chat

Voice vs. Text Chats: Their Efficacy for Learning Probing Questions by Non-Native Speaking Medical Professionals in Online Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Olga

2012-01-01

Through an English for Specific Purposes (ESP): Communication in Nursing online course, the present study examines the efficacy of synchronous voice-based and text-based chats as instructional and communicative modes in learning to use open questions for probing in therapeutic dialogues by non-native speaking (NNS) participants, students of a…

Attitudes of Jordanian University Students towards Using Online Chat Discourse with Native Speakers of English for Improving Their Language Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahfouz, Safi M.; Ihmeideh, Fathi M.

2009-01-01

This study aims to investigate Jordanian university students' attitudes towards using video and text chat discourse with anonymous native speakers of English to improve their English proficiency. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire was designed. The study sample consisted of 320 university students enrolled in two Jordanian universities. Results…

Technology, Mathematics and Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lerman, Stephen

2013-01-01

This article describes 11 papers in which the authors report their research on technology as enhancement in the teaching and learning of mathematics, in the context of the application of activity theory for design and/or analysis. There is considerable diversity across the papers in how the authors have interpreted their task and in particular how…

Developing a "Leading Identity": The Relationship between Students' Mathematical Identities and Their Career and Higher Education Aspirations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Laura; Williams, Julian; Hernandez-Martinez, Paul; Davis, Pauline; Pampaka, Maria; Wake, Geoff

2010-01-01

The construct of identity has been used widely in mathematics education in order to understand how students (and teachers) relate to and engage with the subject (Kaasila, 2007; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Boaler, 2002). Drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), this paper adopts Leont'ev's notion of "leading activity" in order to explore…

Let's chat: developmental neural bases of social motivation during real-time peer interaction.

PubMed

Warnell, Katherine Rice; Sadikova, Eleonora; Redcay, Elizabeth

2018-05-01

Humans are motivated to interact with each other, but the neural bases of social motivation have been predominantly examined in non-interactive contexts. Understanding real-world social motivation is of special importance during middle childhood (ages 8-12), a period when social skills improve, social networks grow, and social brain networks specialize. To assess interactive social motivation, the current study used a novel fMRI paradigm in which children believed they were chatting with a peer. The design targeted two phases of interaction: (1) Initiation, in which children engaged in a social bid via sharing a like or hobby, and (2) Reply, in which children received either an engaged ("Me too") or non-engaged ("I'm away") reply from the peer. On control trials, children were told that their answers were not shared and that they would receive either engaged ("Matched") or non-engaged ("Disconnected") replies from the computer. Results indicated that during Initiation and Reply, key components of reward circuitry (e.g., ventral striatum) were more active for the peer than the computer trials. In addition, during Reply, social cognitive regions were more activated by the peer, and this social cognitive specialization increased with age. Finally, the effect of engagement type on reward circuitry activation was larger for social than non-social trials, indicating developmental sensitivity to social contingency. These findings demonstrate that both reward and social cognitive brain systems support real-time social interaction in middle childhood. An interactive approach to understanding social reward has implications for clinical disorders, where social motivation is more affected in real-world contexts. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and Domain Analysis: Metatheoretical Implications for Information Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Lin

2013-01-01

Background: Cultural-historical activity theory is an important theory in modern psychology. In recent years, it has drawn more attention from related disciplines including information science. Argument: This paper argues that activity theory and domain analysis which uses the theory as one of its bases could bring about some important…

Activity Theory in Empirical Higher Education Research: Choices, Uses and Values

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bligh, Brett; Flood, Michelle

2017-01-01

This paper contributes to discussion of theory application in higher education research. We examine 59 empirical research papers from specialist journals that use a particular theory: activity theory. We scrutinise stated reasons for choosing the theory, functions played by the theory, and how the theory is valorised. We find that the theory is…

Sexual Revictimization: A Routine Activity Theory Explanation.

PubMed

Culatta, Elizabeth; Clay-Warner, Jody; Boyle, Kaitlin M; Oshri, Assaf

2017-04-01

Research has shown that victims of sexual assault are at a significant risk of revictimization. We use routine activity theory to predict how sexual victimization in adolescence relates to depression, substance use, and ultimately revictimization as a young adult. We frame our research within routine activity theory and predict that sexual victimization increases substance use and depressive symptoms, both of which increase the likelihood of revictimization. We test the hypotheses with three waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Violence Against Women. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the direct and indirect effects of previous sexual victimization, depressive symptoms, and substance use on the odds of victimization during the sophomore year of college. Results suggest that sexual victimization during the sophomore year of college is predicted directly by previous sexual victimization and also indirectly through depressive symptomology, though not substance use. Although understudied in the literature, depression is shown to mediate the relationship between victimization and revictimization, and this finding is consistent with routine activity theory, as well as the state dependence perspective on revictimization. Our findings suggest that depressive symptoms, a long acknowledged consequence of sexual victimization, should also be understood as a source of revictimization risk, indicating the importance of depression screening and intervention for decreasing sexual victimization.

Less Words, More Action: Using On-the-Fly Videos and Screenshots in Your Library's IM/Chat and Email Reference Transactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sekyere, Kwabena

2010-01-01

Email and chat/IM reference services have become a convenient and easily accessible option for the online community and libraries, particularly with increasing amounts of library resources now available electronically. This article gives an overview of Jing, which can be used to produce videos and screenshots on-the-fly, and demonstrates how to…

Moving beyond the Reflectivity of Post-Lesson Mentoring Conferences in Teacher Education and Creating Learning/development Opportunities for Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ciavaldini-Cartaut, Solange

2015-01-01

This longitudinal case study suggests ways to move beyond the reflective process usually associated with post-lesson mentoring conferences by describing the modalities likely to generate real learning/development opportunities. Based on cultural-historical activity theories (CHAT) and using methodologies from sociodiscursive interactionism, this…

Rigidity Sensing Explained by Active Matter Theory

PubMed Central

Marcq, Philippe; Yoshinaga, Natsuhiko; Prost, Jacques

2011-01-01

The magnitude of traction forces exerted by living animal cells on their environment is a monotonically increasing and approximately sigmoidal function of the stiffness of the external medium. We rationalize this observation using active matter theory, and propose that adaptation to substrate rigidity results from an interplay between passive elasticity and active contractility. PMID:21943439

Online communication predicts Belgian adolescents' initiation of romantic and sexual activity.

PubMed

Vandenbosch, Laura; Beyens, Ine; Vangeel, Laurens; Eggermont, Steven

2016-04-01

Online communication is associated with offline romantic and sexual activity among college students. Yet, it is unknown whether online communication is associated with the initiation of romantic and sexual activity among adolescents. This two-wave panel study investigated whether chatting, visiting dating websites, and visiting erotic contact websites predicted adolescents' initiation of romantic and sexual activity. We analyzed two-wave panel data from 1163 Belgian adolescents who participated in the MORES Study. We investigated the longitudinal impact of online communication on the initiation of romantic relationships and sexual intercourse using logistic regression analyses. The odds ratios of initiating a romantic relationship among romantically inexperienced adolescents who frequently used chat rooms, dating websites, or erotic contact websites were two to three times larger than those of non-users. Among sexually inexperienced adolescents who frequently used chat rooms, dating websites, or erotic contact websites, the odds ratios of initiating sexual intercourse were two to five times larger than that among non-users, even after a number of other relevant factors were introduced. This is the first study to demonstrate that online communication predicts the initiation of offline sexual and romantic activity as early as adolescence. Practitioners and parents need to consider the role of online communication in adolescents' developing sexuality. • Adolescents increasingly communicate online with peers. • Online communication predicts romantic and sexual activity among college students. What is New: • Online communication predicts adolescents' offline romantic activity over time. • Online communication predicts adolescents' offline sexual activity over time.

A Situation-specific Theory of Midlife Women's Attitudes toward Physical Activity (MAPA)

PubMed Central

Im, Eun-Ok; Stuifbergen, Alexa K.; Walker, Lorraine

2010-01-01

This paper presents a situation specific theory—the Midlife Women's Attitudes toward Physical Activity (MAPA) theory—that explains how women's attitudes toward physical activity influence their participation in physical activity. Using the integrative approach of Im, the theory was developed based on the Attitude, Social Influence, and Self Efficacy Model, a review of the related literature, and a study of women's attitudes toward physical activity. As a situation-specific theory, the MAPA theory can be easily linked to nursing practice and research projects related to physical activity in midlife women, especially interventions aimed at increasing midlife women's participation in physical activity. PMID:20113755

Emotion at Work: A Contribution to Third-Generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2007-01-01

Second-generation cultural-historical activity theory, which drew its inspiration from Leont'ev's work, constituted an advance over Vygotsky's first-generation theory by explicitly articulating the dialectical relation between individual and collective. As part of an effort to develop third-generation-historical activity theory, I propose in this…

Rethinking Protocol Analysis from a Cultural Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smagorinsky, Peter

2001-01-01

Outlines a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) perspective that accounts for protocol analysis along three key dimensions: the relationship between thinking and speech from a representational standpoint; the social role of speech in research methodology; and the influence of speech on thinking and data collection. (Author/VWL)

Vamos a Jugar Counters! Learning Mathematics through Funds of Knowledge, Play, and the Third Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Razfar, Aria

2012-01-01

Drawing on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), funds of knowledge, and third space, this article presents a model for practitioners and researchers to think about how Latina/o, bilingual children develop explicit mathematics strategies through multilingual and multigenerational interactions. Using data collected through fieldwork in an…

A Sociocultural Reflection on Formative Assessment and Collaborative Challenges in the States of Jersey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossouard, Barbara

2009-01-01

Drawing upon data arising from an evaluation carried out for the Jersey educational authority, this article discusses the interaction of two professional development initiatives, formative assessment and critical skills thinking, bringing the two initiatives together from the perspective of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). This allows…

The Concept of Situation and the Microgenesis of the Conscious Purpose in Cultural Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clara M.

2013-01-01

The importance of the specific environment for understanding the microgenesis of psychological processes is well documented. It can be argued, however, that the theoretical framework of cultural psychology which is usually referred to as cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) underconceptualizes this aspect, thereby hampering its ability to…

Innovating in the Real World: Exploring Institutional Effects on Tertiary Teacher Innovations in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Belinda

2018-01-01

Innovation is a key goal of many tertiary education and distance learning providers. This research explores how teachers and educational designers across three New Zealand tertiary institutions worked to innovatively achieve teaching goals. A longitudinal design using the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework explored the influence…

Developing Interactive E-Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Ryan

2005-01-01

Although e-learning can offer interactive and engaging learning experiences, the creative ideas that are necessary to create such environments are not always easy to come up with when designing, developing, or teaching e-learning courses. E-learning activities use online technologies such as chat rooms, discussion boards, or email to facilitate…

Pedagogical Distance: Explaining Misalignment in Student-Driven Online Learning Activities Using Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westberry, Nicola; Franken, Margaret

2015-01-01

This paper provides an Activity Theory analysis of two online student-driven interactive learning activities to interrogate assumptions that such groups can effectively learn in the absence of the teacher. Such an analysis conceptualises learning tasks as constructed objects that drive pedagogical activity. The analysis shows a disconnect between…

Divisions of Labour: Activity Theory, Multi-Professional Working and Intervention Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warmington, Paul

2011-01-01

This article draws upon, but also critiques, activity theory by combining analysis of how an activity theory derived research intervention attempted to address both everyday work practices and organisational power relationships among children's services professionals. It offers two case studies of developmental work research (DWR) interventions in…

A Test of Concept Study of At-Home, Self-Administered HIV Testing With Web-Based Peer Counseling Via Video Chat for Men Who Have Sex With Men.

PubMed

Maksut, Jessica L; Eaton, Lisa A; Siembida, Elizabeth J; Driffin, Daniel D; Baldwin, Robert

2016-12-14

Men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly MSM who identify as African-American or Black (BMSM), are the sociodemographic group that is most heavily burdened by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in the United States. To meet national HIV testing goals, there must be a greater emphasis on novel ways to promote and deliver HIV testing to MSM. Obstacles to standard, clinic-based HIV testing include concerns about stigmatization or recognition at in-person testing sites, as well as the inability to access a testing site due to logistical barriers. This study examined the feasibility of self-administered, at-home HIV testing with Web-based peer counseling to MSM by using an interactive video chatting method. The aims of this study were to (1) determine whether individuals would participate in at-home HIV testing with video chat-based test counseling with a peer counselor, (2) address logistical barriers to HIV testing that individuals who report risk for HIV transmission may experience, and (3) reduce anticipated HIV stigma, a primary psychosocial barrier to HIV testing. In response to the gap in HIV testing, a pilot study was developed and implemented via mailed, at-home HIV test kits, accompanied by HIV counseling with a peer counselor via video chat. A total of 20 MSM were enrolled in this test of concept study, 80% of whom identified as BMSM. All participants reported that at-home HIV testing with a peer counseling via video chat was a satisfying experience. The majority of participants (13/18, 72%) said they would prefer for their next HIV testing and counseling experience to be at home with Web-based video chat peer counseling, as opposed to testing in an office or clinic setting. Participants were less likely to report logistical and emotional barriers to HIV testing at the 6-week and 3-month follow-ups. The results of this study suggest that self-administered HIV testing with Web-based peer counseling is feasible and that MSM find it to be a

Rigidity sensing explained by active matter theory.

PubMed

Marcq, Philippe; Yoshinaga, Natsuhiko; Prost, Jacques

2011-09-21

The magnitude of traction forces exerted by living animal cells on their environment is a monotonically increasing and approximately sigmoidal function of the stiffness of the external medium. We rationalize this observation using active matter theory, and propose that adaptation to substrate rigidity results from an interplay between passive elasticity and active contractility. Copyright © 2011 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Finding Inquiry in Discourses of Audit and Reform in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Julian; Corbin, Brian; McNamara, Olwen

2007-01-01

In this paper we examine the discourses of Primary school numeracy coordinators responsible for auditing, monitoring and supporting their colleagues in relation to the introduction and embedding of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) in the UK. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) focuses our analysis on the contradictory coupling of…

Using WeChat official accounts to improve malaria health literacy among Chinese expatriates in Niger: an intervention study.

PubMed

Li, Wei; Han, Le Qiang; Guo, Yan Jun; Sun, Jing

2016-11-24

Malaria is the main health risk for Chinese expatriates working in Niger. Health education is a recommended intervention for prevention of malaria among non-immune travellers and expatriate workers. It is urgent to develop an effective and feasible way for these populations to obtain information about the prevention and treatment of malaria. An individually randomized, unblinded, controlled trial was used to evaluate the effectiveness of using WeChat official accounts for health education to improve malaria health literacy among Chinese expatriates in Niger. A total 1441 participants completed a baseline malaria health literacy questionnaire and were randomly assigned to an intervention or comparison group in a ratio of 1:1. From July to October 2014, 50 malaria prevention and treatment messages were sent to the intervention group; 50 health news messages were concurrently sent to the control group. Both groups completed the malaria health literacy questionnaire again 4 months after the start of the education intervention. A questionnaire addressing satisfaction with the health education programme was completed by the intervention group. Malaria morbidity data for 2013 and 2014 were also collected. At baseline, participant health literacy rates were 58.29, 62, 54, and 34% for skills, knowledge, practice, and attitude, respectively. After the intervention, rates for all four aspects of malaria literacy were above 70%. There was greater change in knowledge, attitude, practice, skills, and overall health literacy among the intervention group compared with the controls, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01). This was especially true for acquisition of malaria-related knowledge, practice and attitude; comprehensive intervention practices; and, correct use of rapid diagnostic tests (p < 0.001). The reported malaria morbidity during the study period decreased from 23.72 to 15.40%. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the WeChat

Testing Theory of Planned Behavior and Neo-Socioanalytic Theory models of trait activity, industriousness, exercise social cognitions, exercise intentions, and physical activity in a representative U.S. sample.

PubMed

Vo, Phuong T; Bogg, Tim

2015-01-01

Prior research identified assorted relations between trait and social cognition models of personality and engagement in physical activity. Using a representative U.S. sample (N = 957), the goal of the present study was to test two alternative structural models of the relationships among the extraversion-related facet of activity, the conscientiousness-related facet of industriousness, social cognitions from the Theory of Planned Behavior (perceived behavioral control, affective attitudes, subjective norms, intentions), Social Cognitive Theory (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), and the Transtheoretical Model (behavioral processes of change), and engagement in physical activity. Path analyses with bootstrapping procedures were used to model direct and indirect effects of trait and social cognition constructs on physical activity through two distinct frameworks - the Theory of Planned Behavior and Neo-Socioanalytic Theory. While both models showed good internal fit, comparative model information criteria showed the Theory-of-Planned-Behavior-informed model provided a better fit. In the model, social cognitions fully mediated the relationships from the activity facet and industriousness to intentions for and engagement in physical activity, such that the relationships were primarily maintained by positive affective evaluations, positive expected outcomes, and confidence in overcoming barriers related to physical activity engagement. The resultant model - termed the Disposition-Belief-Motivation model- is proposed as a useful framework for organizing and integrating personality trait facets and social cognitions from various theoretical perspectives to investigate the expression of health-related behaviors, such as physical activity. Moreover, the results are discussed in terms of extending the application of the Disposition-Belief-Motivation model to longitudinal and intervention designs for physical activity engagement.

Promoting physical activity in rheumatoid arthritis: a narrative review of behaviour change theories.

PubMed

Larkin, Louise; Kennedy, Norelee; Gallagher, Stephen

2015-01-01

Despite physical activity having significant health benefits for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), current levels of physical activity in this population are suboptimal. Changing behaviour is challenging and interventions aimed at increasing physical activity in this context have had varying levels of success. This review provides an overview of common behaviour change theories used in interventions to promote physical activity and their application for promoting physical activity in people with RA. A scoping, narrative review was conducted of English language literature, using the search terms "physical activity/exercise" and keywords, which are associated with behaviour change interventions. The theoretical basis of such interventions in people with RA was assessed using the "theory coding scheme". Six theories which have been used in physical activity research are discussed. Further, four studies which aimed to increase physical activity levels in people with RA are explored in detail. To date, behaviour change interventions conducted in RA populations to increase physical activity levels have not had a strong theoretical underpinning. It is proposed that an intervention utilising the theory of planned behaviour is developed with the aim of increasing physical activity in people with RA. Implications for Rehabilitation Interventions to promote physical activity in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) population have failed to change participants' behaviour. A small number of studies have used behaviour change theories in the development and delivery of interventions. The theory of planned behaviour is recommended as the theoretical basis for an intervention to promote physical activity in the RA population.

Identity development in pre-service teachers who are explainers in a science center: Dialectically developing theory and praxis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Preeti

This dissertation investigates how teaching in a hands-on science center contributes to re/shaping one's teaching identity. Situated at the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) in Queens, New York, my research approach is to conduct a critical ethnography where the focus is on improving the teaching and learning of science for all involved. In particular, Explainers, floor staff at NYHS, who are studying to be science teachers, are invited to become co-researchers with me. Written as a manuscript style, this dissertation consists of six chapters. Each chapter foregrounds certain events and phenomena, and theory and method are woven in to theorize identity construction. Grounded in cultural sociology, the frameworks of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and the sociology of emotions, illuminate key understandings about the construction of teaching identity. Multiple data sources including field notes, transcribed audio and videotapes, and cogenerative dialogues are used. I employ a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to data analysis. This research has salient implications for museum-university partnerships, and training for museum floor staff and has the potential to inform policy-making for pre-service teaching clinical fieldwork experiences.

2012 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit: Fireside Chat with Steven Chu and Bill Gates

ScienceCinema

Chu, Steven; Gates, Bill; Podesta, John

2018-05-14

The third annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit was held in Washington D.C. in February, 2012. The event brought together key players from across the energy ecosystem - researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and government officials - to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of energy technologies. This video captures a session called Fireside Chat that featured Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, and Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation. The session is moderated by John Podesta, Chair of the Center for American Progress. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Microsoft Founder and Chairman Bill Gates exchanged ideas about how small businesses and innovators can overcome the challenges that face many startups.

2012 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit: Fireside Chat with Steven Chu and Bill Gates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chu, Steven; Gates, Bill; Podesta, John

2012-02-28

The third annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit was held in Washington D.C. in February, 2012. The event brought together key players from across the energy ecosystem - researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and government officials - to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of energy technologies. This video captures a session called Fireside Chat that featured Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, and Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation. The session is moderated by John Podesta, Chair of the Center for American Progress. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Microsoft Founder and Chairman Bill Gates exchanged ideas aboutmore » how small businesses and innovators can overcome the challenges that face many startups.« less

Using behavioural activation in the treatment of depression: a control theory perspective.

PubMed

McEvoy, P; Law, A; Bates, R; Hylton, K; Mansell, W

2013-12-01

Behavioural activation is an intervention that can be used to counteract the typical patterns of withdrawal, avoidance and inactivity that characterize depression. This paper examines the processes of change that may occur during behavioural activation from the perspective of control theory. Some of the key concepts that are associated with control theory are introduced and the process of change that may occur during behavioural activation is illustrated using two case studies. The case studies provide anecdotal evidence which supports the hypothesis that the effective implementation of behavioural activation may depend upon clients being able to retain or regain the sense of control that they value. The differences between a control-theory-based approach and more orthodox behavioural and cognitive approaches are highlighted and the implications of these differences are discussed. Flexible approaches that are informed by control theory, may offer a useful alternative to the more established behavioural and cognitive approaches towards behavioural activation. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Teachers and Facebook: Using Online Groups to Improve Students' Communication and Engagement in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rezende da Cunha, Fernando, Jr.; van Kruistum, Claudia; van Oers, Bert

2016-01-01

This paper reports on how teachers, from different cities in Brazil, used groups on Facebook and how communication between teachers and students was affected by using such groups. This study is framed under the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) perspective, and is conceived from a methodological background that invites participants to…

Older Workers' Workplace Learning in Manufacturing Industries: Subjectivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Migliore, Maria-Cristina Giovanna

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to older workers (OWs)' subjective engagement in working and learning in the manufacturing industry. Workplace learning (WPL) literature rarely considers the subjective side of learning from a cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) account. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a…

Black Boxes in Workplace Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Julian; Wake, Geoff

2007-01-01

We ground Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) in studies of workplace practices from a mathematical point of view. We draw on multiple case study visits by college students and teacher-researchers to workplaces. By asking questions that "open boxes", we "outsiders and boundary-crossers" sought to expose contradictions between College and…

CHAT: development and validation of a computer-delivered, self-report, substance use assessment for adolescents.

PubMed

Lord, Sarah E; Trudeau, Kimberlee J; Black, Ryan A; Lorin, Lucy; Cooney, Elizabeth; Villapiano, Albert; Butler, Stephen F

2011-01-01

The current study was conducted to construct and validate a computer-delivered, multimedia, substance use self-assessment for adolescents. Reliability and validity of six problem dimensions were evaluated in two studies, conducted from 2003 to 2008. Study 1 included 192 adolescents from five treatment settings throughout the United States (N = 142) and two high schools from Greater Boston, Massachusetts (N = 50). Study 2 included 356 adolescents (treatment: N = 260; school: N = 94). The final version of Comprehensive Health Assessment for Teens (CHAT) demonstrated relatively strong psychometric properties. The limitations and implications of this study are noted. This study was supported by an SBIR grant.

Testing Theory of Planned Behavior and Neo-Socioanalytic Theory models of trait activity, industriousness, exercise social cognitions, exercise intentions, and physical activity in a representative U.S. sample

PubMed Central

Vo, Phuong T.; Bogg, Tim

2015-01-01

Prior research identified assorted relations between trait and social cognition models of personality and engagement in physical activity. Using a representative U.S. sample (N = 957), the goal of the present study was to test two alternative structural models of the relationships among the extraversion-related facet of activity, the conscientiousness-related facet of industriousness, social cognitions from the Theory of Planned Behavior (perceived behavioral control, affective attitudes, subjective norms, intentions), Social Cognitive Theory (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), and the Transtheoretical Model (behavioral processes of change), and engagement in physical activity. Path analyses with bootstrapping procedures were used to model direct and indirect effects of trait and social cognition constructs on physical activity through two distinct frameworks – the Theory of Planned Behavior and Neo-Socioanalytic Theory. While both models showed good internal fit, comparative model information criteria showed the Theory-of-Planned-Behavior-informed model provided a better fit. In the model, social cognitions fully mediated the relationships from the activity facet and industriousness to intentions for and engagement in physical activity, such that the relationships were primarily maintained by positive affective evaluations, positive expected outcomes, and confidence in overcoming barriers related to physical activity engagement. The resultant model – termed the Disposition-Belief-Motivation model– is proposed as a useful framework for organizing and integrating personality trait facets and social cognitions from various theoretical perspectives to investigate the expression of health-related behaviors, such as physical activity. Moreover, the results are discussed in terms of extending the application of the Disposition-Belief-Motivation model to longitudinal and intervention designs for physical activity engagement. PMID:26300811

Physical Activity Motivation: A Practitioner's Guide to Self-Determination Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilpatrick, Marcus; Hebert, Edward; Jacobsen, Dee

2002-01-01

Describes the relationship of self-determination theory to elective physical activity motivation, offering the following recommendations for physical activity practitioners: give positive feedback, promote moderately difficult goals, provide choice of activities, provide a rational for activities, promote the development of social relationships,…

Predicting vigorous physical activity using social cognitive theory.

PubMed

Petosa, R Lingyak; Suminski, Rick; Hortz, Brian

2003-01-01

To test Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) in predicting future vigorous physical activity among college students. College students (n=350) completed a set of instruments measuring SCT constructs. Their vigorous physical activity was tracked for 4 weeks. Exercise role identity, self-regulation, outcome expectancy value, social support, self-efficacy, and positive exercise experience accounted for 27% of the variance in days of vigorous physical activity. The results supported the use of SCT in understanding factors associated with vigorous physical activity rates among college students.

Linking Complexity with Cultural Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMurtry, Angus

2006-01-01

This paper explores the similarities and differences between complexity science's and cultural-historical activity theory's understandings of human learning. Notable similarities include their emphasis on the importance of social systems or collectives in understanding human knowledge and practices, as well as their characterization of systems'…

Optimized Two-Party Video Chat with Restored Eye Contact Using Graphics Hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumont, Maarten; Rogmans, Sammy; Maesen, Steven; Bekaert, Philippe

We present a practical system prototype to convincingly restore eye contact between two video chat participants, with a minimal amount of constraints. The proposed six-fold camera setup is easily integrated into the monitor frame, and is used to interpolate an image as if its virtual camera captured the image through a transparent screen. The peer user has a large freedom of movement, resulting in system specifications that enable genuine practical usage. Our software framework thereby harnesses the powerful computational resources inside graphics hardware, and maximizes arithmetic intensity to achieve over real-time performance up to 42 frames per second for 800 ×600 resolution images. Furthermore, an optimal set of fine tuned parameters are presented, that optimizes the end-to-end performance of the application to achieve high subjective visual quality, and still allows for further algorithmic advancement without loosing its real-time capabilities.

A Brief History and a Framework for Understanding Commonalities and Differences of Community College Student Success Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatch, Deryl K.

2016-01-01

This chapter reviews ways that researchers have presented variously narrow and broad groupings of special student success programs over the course of decades. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is proposed as a way to conceptualize various kinds of community college student success programs as instances of a more general type of program.

Investigating Everyday Measures through Exploratory Talk: Whole Class Plenary Intervention and Landscape Study at Grade Four

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gade, Sharada; Blomqvist, Charlotta

2018-01-01

We report an exploratory talk based, whole class plenary intervention, in relation to students' understanding of everyday measures and measurement, in a grade four classroom at a grade 4-6 school in Sweden. Extended, project related, teacher-researcher collaboration forms basis for such cultural historical activity theory or CHAT based efforts. As…

Health Behavior Theory in Physical Activity Game Apps: A Content Analysis.

PubMed

Payne, Hannah E; Moxley, Victor Ba; MacDonald, Elizabeth

2015-07-13

Physical activity games developed for a mobile phone platform are becoming increasingly popular, yet little is known about their content or inclusion of health behavior theory (HBT). The objective of our study was to quantify elements of HBT in physical activity games developed for mobile phones and to assess the relationship between theoretical constructs and various app features. We conducted an analysis of exercise and physical activity game apps in the Apple App Store in the fall of 2014. A total of 52 apps were identified and rated for inclusion of health behavior theoretical constructs using an established theory-based rubric. Each app was coded for 100 theoretical items, containing 5 questions for 20 different constructs. Possible total theory scores ranged from 0 to 100. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlations were used to describe the HBT score and association with selected app features, respectively. The average HBT score in the sample was 14.98 out of 100. One outlier, SuperBetter, scored higher than the other apps with a score of 76. Goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-reward were the most-reported constructs found in the sample. There was no association between either app price and theory score (P=.5074), or number of gamification elements and theory score (P=.5010). However, Superbetter, with the highest HBT score, was also the most expensive app. There are few content analyses of serious games for health, but a comparison between these findings and previous content analyses of non-game health apps indicates that physical activity mobile phone games demonstrate higher levels of behavior theory. The most common theoretical constructs found in this sample are known to be efficacious elements in physical activity interventions. It is unclear, however, whether app designers consciously design physical activity mobile phone games with specific constructs in mind; it may be that games lend themselves well to inclusion of theory and any

Can reduce--the effects of chat-counseling and web-based self-help, web-based self-help alone and a waiting list control program on cannabis use in problematic cannabis users: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Schaub, Michael P; Haug, Severin; Wenger, Andreas; Berg, Oliver; Sullivan, Robin; Beck, Thilo; Stark, Lars

2013-11-14

In European countries, including Switzerland, as well as in many states worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol and tobacco. Although approximately one in ten users develop serious problems of dependency, only a minority attends outpatient addiction counseling centers. The offer of a combined web-based self-help and chat counseling treatment could potentially also reach those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers and help them to reduce their cannabis use. This paper presents the protocol for a three-armed randomized controlled trial that will test the effectiveness of a web-based self-help intervention in combination with, or independent of, tailored chat counseling compared to a waiting list in reducing or enabling the abstention from cannabis use in problematic users. The primary outcome will be the weekly quantity of cannabis used. Secondary outcome measures will include the number of days per week on which cannabis is used, the severity of cannabis use disorder, the severity of cannabis dependence, cannabis withdrawal symptoms, cannabis craving, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other non-cannabis illicit drugs, changes in mental health symptoms, and treatment retention. The self-help intervention will consist of 8 modules designed to reduce cannabis use based on the principles of motivational interviewing, self-control practices, and methods of cognitive behavioral therapy. The two additional individual chat-counseling sessions in the additional chat condition will be based on the same therapy approaches and tailored to participants' self-help information data and personal problems. The predictive validity of participants' baseline characteristics on treatment retention and outcomes will be explored. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of online self-help therapy in combination or without chat counseling in reducing or enabling the

Can reduce - the effects of chat-counseling and web-based self-help, web-based self-help alone and a waiting list control program on cannabis use in problematic cannabis users: a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In European countries, including Switzerland, as well as in many states worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol and tobacco. Although approximately one in ten users develop serious problems of dependency, only a minority attends outpatient addiction counseling centers. The offer of a combined web-based self-help and chat counseling treatment could potentially also reach those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers and help them to reduce their cannabis use. Methods/design This paper presents the protocol for a three-armed randomized controlled trial that will test the effectiveness of a web-based self-help intervention in combination with, or independent of, tailored chat counseling compared to a waiting list in reducing or enabling the abstention from cannabis use in problematic users. The primary outcome will be the weekly quantity of cannabis used. Secondary outcome measures will include the number of days per week on which cannabis is used, the severity of cannabis use disorder, the severity of cannabis dependence, cannabis withdrawal symptoms, cannabis craving, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other non-cannabis illicit drugs, changes in mental health symptoms, and treatment retention. The self-help intervention will consist of 8 modules designed to reduce cannabis use based on the principles of motivational interviewing, self-control practices, and methods of cognitive behavioral therapy. The two additional individual chat-counseling sessions in the additional chat condition will be based on the same therapy approaches and tailored to participants’ self-help information data and personal problems. The predictive validity of participants’ baseline characteristics on treatment retention and outcomes will be explored. Discussion To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of online self-help therapy in combination or without chat

What propels sexual murderers: a proposed integrated theory of social learning and routine activities theories.

PubMed

Chan, Heng Choon Oliver; Heide, Kathleen M; Beauregard, Eric

2011-04-01

Despite the great interest in the study of sexual homicide, little is known about the processes involved in an individual's becoming motivated to sexually kill, deciding to sexually kill, and acting on that desire, intention, and opportunity. To date, no comprehensive model of sexual murdering from the offending perspective has been proposed in the criminological literature. This article incorporates the works of Akers and Cohen and Felson regarding their social learning theory and routine activities theory, respectively, to construct an integrated conceptual offending framework in sexual homicide. This integrated model produces a stronger and more comprehensive explanation of sexual murder than any single theory currently available.

Acquirement and Interpretation of Public Documentation of Cultural Heritage - WeChat & Post-disaster Rebuilding of Shangri-La Ancient City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huo, X. W.; Zhang, G.; Shang, J.; Qi, X. J.; Li, G. L.; Huang, Z. Y.

2015-09-01

The essay introduces the methodology and reflection upon the acquirement and interpretation of public documentation supporting the post-disaster reconstruction of the Shangri-La historic town after struck by fire in 2014. The proposed acquirement platform is developed on the basis of WeChat, a popular mobile communication App on smart phones in China. Historic photos and related documents of the burnt historic area are then accumulated to be analytically interpreted to inform post-disaster reconstruction planning.

"Vygotsky's Neglected Legacy": Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Lee, Yew-Jin

2007-01-01

The authors describe an evolving theoretical framework that has been called one of the best kept secrets of academia: cultural-historical activity theory, the result of proposals Lev Vygotsky first articulated but that his students and followers substantially developed to constitute much expanded forms in its second and third generations. Besides…

A Re-Examination of Information Seeking Behaviour in the Context of Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, T. D.

2006-01-01

Introduction: Activity theory, developed in the USSR as a Marxist alternative to Western psychology, has been applied widely in educational studies and increasingly in human-computer interaction research. Argument: The key elements of activity theory, Motivation, Goal, Activity, Tools, Object, Outcome, Rules, Community and Division of labour are…

The Influence of Group Formation on Learner Participation, Language Complexity, and Corrective Behaviour in Synchronous Written Chat as Part of Academic German Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fredriksson, Christine

2015-01-01

Synchronous written chat and instant messaging are tools which have been used and explored in online language learning settings for at least two decades. Research literature has shown that such tools give second language (L2) learners opportunities for language learning, e.g. , the interaction in real time with peers and native speakers, the…

Replacement of the Project Manager Reflected Through Activity Theory and Work-System Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartiainen, Tero; Aramo-Immonen, Heli; Jussila, Jari; Pirhonen, Maritta; Liikamaa, Kirsi

Replacement of the project manager (RPM) is a known phenomenon in information systems (IS) projects, but scant attention is given to it in the project management or IS literature. Given its critical effects on the project business, the organization, the project team, and the project manager, it should be studied in more depth. We identified factors which make RPM occurrences inherently different and we show that work-system theory and activity theory give comprehensive lenses to advance research on RPM. For the future research on RPM we identified three objectives: experiences on RPM, process model for RPM, and organizational culture's influence on RPM occurrences.

The Systemic-Structural Theory of Activity: Applications to the Study of Human Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedny, Gregory Z.; Harris, Steven Robert

2005-01-01

This article offers an introduction to the central concepts and principles of the Systemic-Structural Theory of Activity (SSTA), an activity-theoretical approach specifically tailored to the analysis and design of human work. In activity theory, cognition is understood both as a process and as a structured system of actions. Building on the…

Capturing the Object of Initial Teacher Education by Studying Tools-in-Use in Four School Subject Departments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, Alaster Scott

2012-01-01

This paper makes the claim that student teachers' learning depends a great deal on the individual school department where they are working, its social practices and the relationships of the teachers involved in initial teacher education (ITE). The paper considers how using a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens to view data generated on…

Activity Theory as a Framework for Designing the Model of College English Listening

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jianfeng

2014-01-01

Activity theory signifies that activities are at the centre of human behaviour and it has been used to study cognitive process in many fields. Nowadays, college English listening learning is time-consuming but less effective in China, so enhancing the performance of listening instruction is a very hot topic. Theoretically, activity theory is able…

Social Cognitive Theory and Physical Activity Among Korean Male High-School Students.

PubMed

Lee, Chung Gun; Park, Seiyeong; Lee, Seung Hwan; Kim, Hyunwoo; Park, Ji-Won

2018-02-01

The most critical step in developing and implementing effective physical activity interventions is to understand the determinants and correlates of physical activity, and it is strongly suggested that such effort should be based on theories. The purpose of this study is to test the direct, indirect, and total effect of social cognitive theory constructs on physical activity among Korean male high-school students. Three-hundred and forty-one 10th-grade male students were recruited from a private single-sex high school located in Seoul, South Korea. Structural equation modeling was used to test the expected relationships among the latent variables. The proposed model accounted for 42% of the variance in physical activity. Self-efficacy had the strongest total effect on physical activity. Self-efficacy for being physically active was positively associated with physical activity ( p < .01). Self-efficacy also had positive indirect effects on physical activity through perceived benefits ( p < .05) and goal setting ( p < .01). The results of this study indicated that the social cognitive theory is a useful framework to understand physical activity among Korean male adolescents. Physical activity interventions targeting Korean male high-school students should focus on the major sources of efficacy.

Text chat as a tool for referential questioning in Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Rajendran, Gnanathusharan; Mitchell, Peter

2006-02-01

This article reports a study in which referential communication in 11 individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS) and 11 controls was compared between text chat and telephone, using a route-solving task. Participants deduced routes by asking closed questions, and the dependent variables were (a) accuracy in working out the route, (b) number of questions posed (turns taken), and (c) time taken to complete the task. Generally, individuals with AS were equally competent in solving the task in both media but less efficient than the typically developing comparison group. Individuals with AS who had higher measured executive ability adopted a similar approach to the comparison group, asking about landmarks on the map to deduce the route taken. In contrast, AS participants with lower executive ability used an inefficient left/right questioning strategy, which occupied more time, required more conversational turns, and was associated with a higher rate of error. Individuals with AS, who also have problems of executive functioning, may have difficulty communicating with others to use a route-solving task.

Health Behavior Theory in Physical Activity Game Apps: A Content Analysis

PubMed Central

Moxley, Victor BA; MacDonald, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Background Physical activity games developed for a mobile phone platform are becoming increasingly popular, yet little is known about their content or inclusion of health behavior theory (HBT). Objective The objective of our study was to quantify elements of HBT in physical activity games developed for mobile phones and to assess the relationship between theoretical constructs and various app features. Methods We conducted an analysis of exercise and physical activity game apps in the Apple App Store in the fall of 2014. A total of 52 apps were identified and rated for inclusion of health behavior theoretical constructs using an established theory-based rubric. Each app was coded for 100 theoretical items, containing 5 questions for 20 different constructs. Possible total theory scores ranged from 0 to 100. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlations were used to describe the HBT score and association with selected app features, respectively. Results The average HBT score in the sample was 14.98 out of 100. One outlier, SuperBetter, scored higher than the other apps with a score of 76. Goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-reward were the most-reported constructs found in the sample. There was no association between either app price and theory score (P=.5074), or number of gamification elements and theory score (P=.5010). However, Superbetter, with the highest HBT score, was also the most expensive app. Conclusions There are few content analyses of serious games for health, but a comparison between these findings and previous content analyses of non-game health apps indicates that physical activity mobile phone games demonstrate higher levels of behavior theory. The most common theoretical constructs found in this sample are known to be efficacious elements in physical activity interventions. It is unclear, however, whether app designers consciously design physical activity mobile phone games with specific constructs in mind; it may be that games lend

Using activity-based costing and theory of constraints to guide continuous improvement in managed care.

PubMed

Roybal, H; Baxendale, S J; Gupta, M

1999-01-01

Activity-based costing and the theory of constraints have been applied successfully in many manufacturing organizations. Recently, those concepts have been applied in service organizations. This article describes the application of activity-based costing and the theory of constraints in a managed care mental health and substance abuse organization. One of the unique aspects of this particular application was the integration of activity-based costing and the theory of constraints to guide process improvement efforts. This article describes the activity-based costing model and the application of the theory of constraint's focusing steps with an emphasis on unused capacities of activities in the organization.

Exploring detection of contact vs. fantasy online sexual offenders in chats with minors: Statistical discourse analysis of self-disclosure and emotion words.

PubMed

Chiu, Ming Ming; Seigfried-Spellar, Kathryn C; Ringenberg, Tatiana R

2018-07-01

This exploratory study is the first to identify content differences between youths' online chats with contact child sex offenders (CCSOs; seek to meet with youths) and those with fantasy child sex offenders (FCSOs; do not meet with youths) using statistical discourse analysis (SDA). Past studies suggest that CCSOs share their experiences and emotions with targeted youths (self-disclosure grooming tactic) and encourage them to reciprocate, to build trust and closer relationships through a cycle of self-disclosures. In this study, we examined 36,029 words in 4,353 messages within 107 anonymized online chat sessions by 21 people, specifically 12 youths and 9 arrested sex offenders (5 CCSOs and 4 FCSOs), using SDA. Results showed that CCSOs were more likely than FCSOs to write online messages with specific words (first person pronouns, negative emotions and positive emotions), suggesting the use of self-disclosure grooming tactics. CCSO's self-disclosure messages elicited corresponding self-disclosure messages from their targeted youths. These results suggest that CCSOs use grooming tactics that help engender youths' trust to meet in the physical world, but FCSOs do not. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls

PubMed Central

Fawkner, Samantha

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose: Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. Methods: A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls’ perspectives of how significant others’ influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Results: Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. Conclusion: The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls’ perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity. PMID:29405881

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls.

PubMed

Laird, Yvonne; Fawkner, Samantha; Niven, Ailsa

2018-12-01

Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls' perspectives of how significant others' influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls' perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity.

What Are Youth Asking About Drugs? A Report of NIDA Drug Facts Chat Day

PubMed Central

Morton, Cory M.; Hoefinger, Heidi; Linn-Walton, Rebecca; Aikins, Ross; Falkin, Gregory P.

2016-01-01

The current study analyzes a sample of questions about drugs asked online by youth who participated in the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) “Drug Facts Chat Day.” The types of drugs youth asked about were coded into 17 substance categories, and the topics they raised were coded into seven thematic categories. The top five queried drugs were marijuana (16.4%), alcohol (8.5%), tobacco (6%), cocaine (5.7), and pharmaceutical drugs (4.5%). The effects of drug use, experience of being high, the addictiveness of drugs, pharmacology, and drug sales were among the more common types of questions to emerge but varied depending on the substance. These findings show the types of information young people are seeking about drugs and have clear implications to inform youth drug education programs. PMID:26862133

Use of activity theory-based need finding for biomedical device development.

PubMed

Rismani, Shalaleh; Ratto, Matt; Machiel Van der Loos, H F

2016-08-01

Identifying the appropriate needs for biomedical device design is challenging, especially for less structured environments. The paper proposes an alternate need-finding method based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory and expanded to explicitly examine the role of devices within a socioeconomic system. This is compared to a conventional need-finding technique in a preliminary study with engineering student teams. The initial results show that the Activity Theory-based technique allows teams to gain deeper insights into their needs space.

Continuum theory of phase separation kinetics for active Brownian particles.

PubMed

Stenhammar, Joakim; Tiribocchi, Adriano; Allen, Rosalind J; Marenduzzo, Davide; Cates, Michael E

2013-10-04

Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically compared to large-scale direct simulations of ABPs and accurately accounts for domain growth kinetics, domain topologies, and coexistence densities.

A Test of Concept Study of At-Home, Self-Administered HIV Testing With Web-Based Peer Counseling Via Video Chat for Men Who Have Sex With Men

PubMed Central

Eaton, Lisa A; Siembida, Elizabeth J; Driffin, Daniel D; Baldwin, Robert

2016-01-01

Background Men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly MSM who identify as African-American or Black (BMSM), are the sociodemographic group that is most heavily burdened by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in the United States. To meet national HIV testing goals, there must be a greater emphasis on novel ways to promote and deliver HIV testing to MSM. Obstacles to standard, clinic-based HIV testing include concerns about stigmatization or recognition at in-person testing sites, as well as the inability to access a testing site due to logistical barriers. Objective This study examined the feasibility of self-administered, at-home HIV testing with Web-based peer counseling to MSM by using an interactive video chatting method. The aims of this study were to (1) determine whether individuals would participate in at-home HIV testing with video chat–based test counseling with a peer counselor, (2) address logistical barriers to HIV testing that individuals who report risk for HIV transmission may experience, and (3) reduce anticipated HIV stigma, a primary psychosocial barrier to HIV testing.   Methods In response to the gap in HIV testing, a pilot study was developed and implemented via mailed, at-home HIV test kits, accompanied by HIV counseling with a peer counselor via video chat. A total of 20 MSM were enrolled in this test of concept study, 80% of whom identified as BMSM. Results All participants reported that at-home HIV testing with a peer counseling via video chat was a satisfying experience. The majority of participants (13/18, 72%) said they would prefer for their next HIV testing and counseling experience to be at home with Web-based video chat peer counseling, as opposed to testing in an office or clinic setting. Participants were less likely to report logistical and emotional barriers to HIV testing at the 6-week and 3-month follow-ups. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that self-administered HIV testing with Web-based peer

Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae).

PubMed

Sangster, George; Alström, Per; Forsmark, Emma; Olsson, Urban

2010-10-01

The chats and flycatchers (Muscicapidae) represent an assemblage of 275 species in 48 genera. Defining natural groups within this assemblage has been challenging because of its high diversity and a paucity of phylogenetically informative morphological characters. We assessed the phylogenetic relationships of 124 species and 34 genera of Muscicapidae, and 20 species of Turdidae, using molecular sequence data from one mitochondrial gene and three nuclear loci, in total 3240bp. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses yielded a well-resolved tree in which nearly all basal nodes were strongly supported. The traditionally defined Muscicapidae, Muscicapinae and Saxicolinae were paraphyletic. Four major clades are recognized in Muscicapidae: Muscicapinae, Niltavinae (new family-group name), Erithacinae and Saxicolinae. Interesting relationships recovered by this analysis include: (i) a clade comprising the 'blue' flycatcher genera Niltava, Cyornis, Cyanoptila and Eumyias and some species of Rhinomyias; (ii) the position of Erithacus rubecula in a clade of otherwise exclusively African species; (iii) a close relationship between the shortwing Heinrichia calligyna and the flycatcher Rhinomyias insignis; (iv) a sister-relationship between forktails Enicurus and whistling thrushes Myophonus; and (v) a sister relationship of Ficedula and the 'chats'Monticola, Phoenicurus, Saxicola and Oenanthe. A high number of traditionally defined genera was found to be paraphyletic or polyphyletic. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mode-coupling theory for active Brownian particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liluashvili, Alexander; Ónody, Jonathan; Voigtmann, Thomas

2017-12-01

We present a mode-coupling theory (MCT) for the slow dynamics of two-dimensional spherical active Brownian particles (ABPs). The ABPs are characterized by a self-propulsion velocity v0 and by their translational and rotational diffusion coefficients Dt and Dr, respectively. Based on the integration-through-transients formalism, the theory requires as input only the equilibrium static structure factors of the passive system (where v0=0 ). It predicts a nontrivial idealized-glass-transition diagram in the three-dimensional parameter space of density, self-propulsion velocity, and rotational diffusivity that arise because at high densities, the persistence length of active swimming ℓp=v0/Dr interferes with the interaction length ℓc set by the caging of particles. While the low-density dynamics of ABPs is characterized by a single Péclet number Pe=v02/DrDt , close to the glass transition the dynamics is found to depend on Pe and ℓp separately. At fixed density, increasing the self-propulsion velocity causes structural relaxation to speed up, while decreasing the persistence length slows down the relaxation. The active-MCT glass is a nonergodic state that is qualitatively different from the passive glass. In it, correlations of initial density fluctuations never fully decay, but also an infinite memory of initial orientational fluctuations is retained in the positions.

Theory-Based Active Ingredients of Effective Treatments for Substance Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Moos, Rudolf H.

2007-01-01

This paper describes four related theories that specify common social processes that protect individuals from developing substance use disorders and may underlie effective psychosocial treatments for these disorders: social control theory, behavioral economics and behavioral choice theory, social learning theory, and stress and coping theory. It then provides an overview of the rationale and evidence for four effective psychosocial treatments for substance use disorders: motivational interviewing and motivational enhancement therapy, 12-step facilitation treatment, cognitive-behavioral treatment and behavioral family counseling, and contingency management and community reinforcement approaches. The presumed active ingredients of these treatments are described in terms of how they exemplify the social processes highlighted by the four theories. The identified common components of effective treatment include support, goal direction, and structure; an emphasis on rewards that compete with substance use, a focus on abstinence-oriented norms and models, and attempts to develop self-efficacy and coping skills. Several issues that need to be addressed to enhance our understanding of the active ingredients involved in effective treatment are discussed, including how to develop measures of these ingredients, how well the ingredients predict outcomes and influence conceptually comparable aspects of clients’ life contexts, and how much their influence varies depending upon clients’ demographic and personal characteristics. PMID:17129682

Theory-based active ingredients of effective treatments for substance use disorders.

PubMed

Moos, Rudolf H

2007-05-11

This paper describes four related theories that specify common social processes that protect individuals from developing substance use disorders and may underlie effective psychosocial treatments for these disorders: social control theory, behavioral economics and behavioral choice theory, social learning theory, and stress and coping theory. It then provides an overview of the rationale and evidence for four effective psychosocial treatments for substance use disorders: motivational interviewing and motivational enhancement therapy, 12-step facilitation treatment, cognitive-behavioral treatment and behavioral family counseling, and contingency management and community reinforcement approaches. The presumed active ingredients of these treatments are described in terms of how they exemplify the social processes highlighted by the four theories. The identified common components of effective treatment include support, goal direction, and structure; an emphasis on rewards that compete with substance use, a focus on abstinence-oriented norms and models, and attempts to develop self-efficacy and coping skills. Several issues that need to be addressed to enhance our understanding of the active ingredients involved in effective treatment are discussed, including how to develop measures of these ingredients, how well the ingredients predict outcomes and influence conceptually comparable aspects of clients' life contexts, and how much their influence varies depending upon clients' demographic and personal characteristics.

Using Active-Learning Pedagogy to Develop Essay-Writing Skills in Introductory Political Theory Tutorials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Michael P. A.

2017-01-01

Building on prior research into active learning pedagogy in political science, I discuss the development of a new active learning strategy called the "thesis-building carousel," designed for use in political theory tutorials. This use of active learning pedagogy in a graduate student-led political theory tutorial represents the overlap…

An experimental test of control theory-based interventions for physical activity.

PubMed

Prestwich, Andrew; Conner, Mark; Hurling, Robert; Ayres, Karen; Morris, Ben

2016-11-01

To provide an experimental test of control theory to promote physical activity. Parallel groups, simple randomized design with an equal chance of allocation to any group. Participants not meeting recommended levels of physical activity but physically safe to do so (N = 124) were recruited on a UK university campus and randomized to goal-setting + self-monitoring + feedback (GS + SM + F, n = 40), goal-setting + self-monitoring (GS + SM, n = 40), or goal-setting only (GS, n = 44) conditions that differentially tapped the key features of control theory. Accelerometers assessed physical activity (primary outcome) as well as self-report over a 7-day period directly before/after the start of the intervention. The participants in the GS + SM + F condition significantly outperformed those in the GS condition, d = 0.62, 95% CI d = 0.15-1.08, and marginally outperformed those in the GS + SM condition in terms of total physical activity at follow-up on the accelerometer measure, d = 0.33, 95% CI d = -0.13 to 0.78. The feedback manipulation (GS + SM + F vs. GS + SM and GS) was most effective when baseline intentions were weak. These patterns did not emerge on the self-report measure but, on the basis of this measure, the feedback manipulation increased the risk that participants coasted in relation to their goal in the first few days of the intervention period. Using behaviour change techniques consistent with control theory can lead to significant short-term improvements on objectively assessed physical activity. Further research is needed to examine the underlying theoretical principles of the model. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Interventions incorporating more techniques that are consistent with control theory are associated with larger positive changes in health behaviours and related outcomes (see reviews by Dombrowski et al., ; Michie et al., ). However, none of the studies included in these

Comparing Educational Tools Using Activity Theory: Clickers and Flashcards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Edward; De Leone, Charles; Lasry, Nathaniel

2010-10-01

Physics educators and researchers have recently begun to distinguish between pedagogical approaches and the educational technologies that are used to implement them. For instance, peer instruction has been shown to be equally effective, in terms of student learning outcomes, when implemented with clickers or flashcards. Therefore, technological tools (clickers and flashcards) can be viewed as means to mediate pedagogical techniques (peer instruction or traditional instruction). In this paper, we use activity theory to examine peer instruction, with particular attention to the role of tools. This perspective helps clarify clickers' and flashcards' differences, similarities, impacts in the classroom, and utility to education researchers. Our analysis can suggest improvements and new uses. Finally, we propose activity theory as a useful approach in understanding and improving the use of technology in the physics classroom.

Engestrom's Version of Activity Theory: A Conservative Praxis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avis, James

2007-01-01

This article examines Engestrom's version of activity theory, one rooted in Marxism. It is argued that whilst this approach holds progressive possibilities, its radicalism is undermined by a restricted conceptualisation of transformation and the marginalisation of a politicised notion of social antagonism. As a consequence, this approach to…

A chat with Congress, from space on This Week @NASA – December 4, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-04

A Dec. 2 event with the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, featured a live chat with NASA’s Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren from onboard the International Space Station. Kelly and Lindgren answered questions from Texas Representative and Chairperson Lamar Smith and other committee members, about life on the station and the research on the orbital laboratory. Kelly is in the ninth month of his year-long mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to gather biomedical data that will help formulate a human mission to Mars, while Lindgren is preparing to return to Earth Dec. 11 to complete a 141-day mission. Also, Next space station crew preparing for launch, Orion powerhouse ready for testing, Anniversary of Orion’s first flight test, Your planet is changing. We’re on it, and Preparing Earth observation tool for space station!

Middle-Range Theory: Coping and Adaptation with Active Aging.

PubMed

Salazar-Barajas, Martha Elba; Salazar-González, Bertha Cecilia; Gallegos-Cabriales, Esther Carlota

2017-10-01

Various disciplines focus on a multiplicity of aspects of aging: lifestyles, personal biological factors, psychological conditions, health conditions, physical environment, and social and economic factors. The aforementioned are all related to the determinants of active aging. The aim is to describe the development of a middle-range theory based on coping and adaptation with active aging. Concepts and relationships derived from Roy's model of adaptation are included. The proposed concepts are hope, health habits, coping with aging, social relations, and active aging.

Transgressing the norm: Transformative agency in community-based learning for sustainability in southern African contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lotz-Sisitka, Heila; Mukute, Mutizwa; Chikunda, Charles; Baloi, Aristides; Pesanayi, Tichaona

2017-12-01

Environment and sustainability education processes are often oriented to change and transformation, and frequently involve the emergence of new forms of human activity. However, not much is known about how such change emerges from the learning process, or how it contributes to the development of transformative agency in community contexts. The authors of this article present four cross-case perspectives of expansive learning and transformative agency development in community-based education in southern Africa, studying communities pursuing new activities that are more socially just and sustainable. The four cases of community learning and transformative agency focus on the following activities: (1) sustainable agriculture in Lesotho; (2) seed saving and rainwater harvesting in Zimbabwe; (3) community-based irrigation scheme management in Mozambique; and (4) biodiversity conservation co-management in South Africa. The case studies all draw on cultural-historical activity theory to guide learning and change processes, especially third-generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), which emphasises expansive learning in collectives across interacting activity systems. CHAT researchers, such as the authors of this article, argue that expansive learning can lead to the emergence of transformative agency. The authors extend their transformative agency analysis to probe if and how expansive learning might also facilitate instances of transgressing norms - viewed here as embedded practices which need to be reframed and changed in order for sustainability to emerge.

Narratives and Activity Theory as Reflective Tools in Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuart, Kaz

2012-01-01

Narratives and activity theory are useful as socially constructed data collection tools that allow a researcher access to the social, cultural and historical meanings that research participants place on events in their lives. This case study shows how these tools were used to promote reflection within a cultural-historical activity theoretically…

Psychosocial factors and theory in physical activity studies in minorities.

PubMed

Mama, Scherezade K; McNeill, Lorna H; McCurdy, Sheryl A; Evans, Alexandra E; Diamond, Pamela M; Adamus-Leach, Heather J; Lee, Rebecca E

2015-01-01

To summarize the effectiveness of interventions targeting psychosocial factors to increase physical activity (PA) among ethnic minority adults and explore theory use in PA interventions. Studies (N = 11) were identified through a systematic review and targeted African American/Hispanic adults, specific psychosocial factors, and PA. Data were extracted using a standard code sheet and the Theory Coding Scheme. Social support was the most common psychosocial factor reported, followed by motivational readiness, and self-efficacy, as being associated with increased PA. Only 7 studies explicitly reported using a theoretical framework. Future efforts should explore theory use in PA interventions and how integration of theoretical constructs, including psychosocial factors, increases PA.

Modeling of active transmembrane transport in a mixture theory framework.

PubMed

Ateshian, Gerard A; Morrison, Barclay; Hung, Clark T

2010-05-01

This study formulates governing equations for active transport across semi-permeable membranes within the framework of the theory of mixtures. In mixture theory, which models the interactions of any number of fluid and solid constituents, a supply term appears in the conservation of linear momentum to describe momentum exchanges among the constituents. In past applications, this momentum supply was used to model frictional interactions only, thereby describing passive transport processes. In this study, it is shown that active transport processes, which impart momentum to solutes or solvent, may also be incorporated in this term. By projecting the equation of conservation of linear momentum along the normal to the membrane, a jump condition is formulated for the mechano-electrochemical potential of fluid constituents which is generally applicable to nonequilibrium processes involving active transport. The resulting relations are simple and easy to use, and address an important need in the membrane transport literature.

Raman Optical Activity Spectra from Density Functional Perturbation Theory and Density-Functional-Theory-Based Molecular Dynamics.

PubMed

Luber, Sandra

2017-03-14

We describe the calculation of Raman optical activity (ROA) tensors from density functional perturbation theory, which has been implemented into the CP2K software package. Using the mixed Gaussian and plane waves method, ROA spectra are evaluated in the double-harmonic approximation. Moreover, an approach for the calculation of ROA spectra by means of density functional theory-based molecular dynamics is derived and used to obtain an ROA spectrum via time correlation functions, which paves the way for the calculation of ROA spectra taking into account anharmonicities and dynamic effects at ambient conditions.

Distributed Leadership through the Lens of Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuen, Jeanne Ho Pau; Victor Chen, Der-Thanq; Ng, David

2016-01-01

Purpose: Using Activity Theory as an interpretive lens to examine the distribution of leadership, this paper shares a case study on how leadership for an ICT project was distributed in a Singapore school. Method: The case study involved observations of 49 meetings and 34 interviews of leaders and the teachers who were involved in the ICT project.…

Practice and Evaluation of Ability Grouping Lecture on Information Literacy Using a Chat Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujinaga, Kiyohisa

A teaching methodology on information literacy that skilled and inexperienced students learn through different specific contents in a class is proposed. Skilled students collaboratively work using an e-Learning environment while a conventional projector-based lecture on how to use a computer is given for inexperienced students. The methodology had been put into practice for two years. Skilled students were divided into a few groups and members in a group collaboratively made a PowerPoint slide show using a chat tool as the communication media. The slide shows were evaluated by means of questionnaire to the inexperienced students. The results were nearly the same as those of teachers. The practice of the methodology resulted in that the concentration of the skilled students was promoted and the learning attitude of the inexperienced students was improved, compared with the case that the both skilled and inexperienced students learned through the same contents.

Blogs and Social Network Sites as Activity Systems: Exploring Adult Informal Learning Process through Activity Theory Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heo, Gyeong Mi; Lee, Romee

2013-01-01

This paper uses an Activity Theory framework to explore adult user activities and informal learning processes as reflected in their blogs and social network sites (SNS). Using the assumption that a web-based space is an activity system in which learning occurs, typical features of the components were investigated and each activity system then…

A Systematic Review of Rural, Theory-based Physical Activity Interventions.

PubMed

Walsh, Shana M; Meyer, M Renée Umstattd; Gamble, Abigail; Patterson, Megan S; Moore, Justin B

2017-05-01

This systematic review synthesized the scientific literature on theory-based physical activity (PA) interventions in rural populations. PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify studies with a rural study sample, PA as a primary outcome, use of a behavioral theory or model, randomized or quasi-experimental research design, and application at the primary and/or secondary level of prevention. Thirty-one studies met our inclusion criteria. The Social Cognitive Theory (N = 14) and Transtheoretical Model (N = 10) were the most frequently identified theories; however, most intervention studies were informed by theory but lacked higher-level theoretical application and testing. Interventions largely took place in schools (N = 10) and with female-only samples (N = 8). Findings demonstrated that theory-based PA interventions are mostly successful at increasing PA in rural populations but require improvement. Future studies should incorporate higher levels of theoretical application, and should explore adapting or developing rural-specific theories. Study designs should employ more rigorous research methods to decrease bias and increase validity of findings. Follow-up assessments to determine behavioral maintenance and/or intervention sustainability are warranted. Finally, funding agencies and journals are encouraged to adopt rural-urban commuting area codes as the standard for defining rural.

Chapter 2: Theoretical Models for Understanding Physical Activity Behavior among Children and Adolescents--Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Determination Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Motl, Robert W.

2007-01-01

The study of physical activity behavior in youth generally lacks a sufficient theoretical foundation for examining variables that influence that behavior. This is a major limitation because theory guides the search for determinants of behavior and the subsequent interplay between research findings and application. Theory offers a systematically…

Job Search and Social Cognitive Theory: The Role of Career-Relevant Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zikic, Jelena; Saks, Alan M.

2009-01-01

Social cognitive theory was used to explain the relationships between career-relevant activities (environmental and self career exploration, career resources, and training), self-regulatory variables (job search self-efficacy and job search clarity), variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (job search attitude, subjective norm, job search…

The French Version of the Modified-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT): A Validation Study on a French Sample of 24 Month-Old Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baduel, Sophie; Guillon, Quentin; Afzali, Mohammad H.; Foudon, Nadège; Kruck, Jeanne; Rogé, Bernadette

2017-01-01

Early ASD screening has the potential to reduce delays between initial parental concerns and diagnosis, and promote early intervention. The aim of this study was to validate the M-CHAT on a French population sample of 24 month-old children. This study included a low-risk sample of 1,227 children. A total of 20 children screened positive on the…

Psychosocial Factors and Theory in Physical Activity Studies in Minorities

PubMed Central

Mama, Scherezade K.; McNeill, Lorna H.; McCurdy, Sheryl A.; Evans, Alexandra E.; Diamond, Pamela M.; Adamus-Leach, Heather J.; Lee, Rebecca E.

2015-01-01

Objectives To summarize the effectiveness of interventions targeting psychosocial factors to increase physical activity (PA) among ethnic minority adults and explore theory use in PA interventions. Methods Studies (N = 11) were identified through a systematic review and targeted African American/Hispanic adults, specific psychosocial factors, and PA. Data were extracted using a standard code sheet and the Theory Coding Scheme. Results Social support was the most common psychosocial factor reported, followed by motivational readiness, and self-efficacy, as being associated with increased PA. Only 7 studies explicitly reported using a theoretical framework. Conclusions Future efforts should explore theory use in PA interventions and how integration of theoretical constructs, including psychosocial factors, increases PA. PMID:25290599

Using 'WeChat' online social networking in a real-world needs analysis of family members of youths at clinical high risk of psychosis.

PubMed

Zhang, TianHong; Xu, LiHua; Tang, YingYing; Cui, HuiRu; Li, HuiJun; Wei, YanYan; Xu, YangYang; Jiang, LiJuan; Zhu, YiKang; Li, ChunBo; Jiang, KaiDa; Xiao, ZePing; Wang, JiJun

2018-04-01

The argument surrounding the safety and effectiveness of interventions for the population of individuals at a clinical high risk of developing psychosis has been ongoing for the past 30 years. However, few studies have assessed the needs of this special young population, who are struggling with the recent onset of psychotic symptoms. The sample consisted of 171 family members of 108 clinical high-risk individuals included from the ShangHai at Risk for Psychosis research programme. A 'WeChat' group was established to provide mutual support. There were 22,007 valid messages sent within the group between 1 April 2015 and 27 June 2016. Chat records were subsequently analysed to determine the needs of families during intervention at the early stages of psychosis. Families of clinical high-risk individuals were highly involved in the entire medical process, and the major concerns of the families of clinical high-risk individuals focused on both functional recovery and medication. The themes of 'take medication', 'go to school' and 'study in school' were often discussed within the group. A family-focused intervention targeting functional recovery and real-time professional explanations of medication would meet the major needs of families of Chinese clinical high-risk individuals.

Adolescents Online: The Importance of Internet Activity Choices to Salient Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blais, Julie J.; Craig, Wendy M.; Pepler, Debra; Connolly, Jennifer

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether using the Internet for different activities affects the quality of close adolescent relationships (i.e., best friendships and romantic relationships). In a one-year longitudinal study of 884 adolescents (Mean age = 15, 46% male), we examined whether visiting chat rooms, using ICQ, using the…

From pen pals to chat rooms: the impact of social media on Middle Eastern Society.

PubMed

Hatfield, Elaine; Rapson, Richard L

2015-01-01

In this article, we will discuss what is known about a surprisingly popular phenomenon in the Middle East-the use of social media to communicate. We will begin with a discussion of what "social media" sites are (sites such as Facebook, Your Middle East, YouTube, Flickr, Muslima.com, chat rooms, and instant messaging) and point out how common they are in the Middle East. Next, we will discuss the reasons why men and women are currently using Internet and social media. Finally, we will discuss what impact social media have had on politics, political dissent, education, and men's and women's relationships-and the impact they might be expected to have in future years. Finally, we will focus on the impact of such media on men's and women's relationships-including cross-gender friendships, romantic relationships, and sexual relationships.

The Effectiveness of WhatsApp Mobile Learning Activities Guided by Activity Theory on Students' Knowledge Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barhoumi, Chokri

2015-01-01

This research paper explores the effectiveness of using mobile technologies to support a blended learning course titled Scientific Research Methods in Information Science. Specifically, it discusses the effects of WhatsApp mobile learning activities guided by activity theory on students' knowledge Management (KM). During the 2014 academic year,…

High-resolution mapping of genotype-phenotype relationships in cridu chat syndrome using array comparative genomic hybridization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Xiaoxiao; Snijders, Antoine; Segraves, Richard

2007-07-03

We have used array comparative genomic hybridization to map DNA copy-number changes in 94 patients with cri du chat syndrome who had been carefully evaluated for the presence of the characteristic cry, speech delay, facial dysmorphology, and level of mental retardation (MR). Most subjects had simple deletions involving 5p (67 terminal and 12 interstitial). Genotype-phenotype correlations localized the region associated with the cry to 1.5 Mb in distal 5p15.31, between bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) containing markers D5S2054 and D5S676; speech delay to 3.2 Mb in 5p15.32-15.33, between BACs containing D5S417 and D5S635; and the region associated with facial dysmorphology tomore » 2.4 Mb in 5p15.2-15.31, between BACs containing D5S208 and D5S2887. These results overlap and refine those reported in previous publications. MR depended approximately on the 5p deletion size and location, but there were many cases in which the retardation was disproportionately severe, given the 5p deletion. All 15 of these cases, approximately two-thirds of the severely retarded patients, were found to have copy-number aberrations in addition to the 5p deletion. Restriction of consideration to patients with only 5p deletions clarified the effect of such deletions and suggested the presence of three regions, MRI-III, with differing effect on retardation. Deletions including MRI, a 1.2-Mb region overlapping the previously defined cri du chat critical region but not including MRII and MRIII, produced a moderate level of retardation. Deletions restricted to MRII, located just proximal to MRI, produced a milder level of retardation, whereas deletions restricted to the still-more proximal MRIII produced no discernible phenotype. However, MR increased as deletions that included MRI extended progressively into MRII and MRIII, and MR became profound when all three regions were deleted.« less

Brain activity and cognition: a connection from thermodynamics and information theory.

PubMed

Collell, Guillem; Fauquet, Jordi

2015-01-01

The connection between brain and mind is an important scientific and philosophical question that we are still far from completely understanding. A crucial point to our work is noticing that thermodynamics provides a convenient framework to model brain activity, whereas cognition can be modeled in information-theoretical terms. In fact, several models have been proposed so far from both approaches. A second critical remark is the existence of deep theoretical connections between thermodynamics and information theory. In fact, some well-known authors claim that the laws of thermodynamics are nothing but principles in information theory. Unlike in physics or chemistry, a formalization of the relationship between information and energy is currently lacking in neuroscience. In this paper we propose a framework to connect physical brain and cognitive models by means of the theoretical connections between information theory and thermodynamics. Ultimately, this article aims at providing further insight on the formal relationship between cognition and neural activity.

Brain activity and cognition: a connection from thermodynamics and information theory

PubMed Central

Collell, Guillem; Fauquet, Jordi

2015-01-01

The connection between brain and mind is an important scientific and philosophical question that we are still far from completely understanding. A crucial point to our work is noticing that thermodynamics provides a convenient framework to model brain activity, whereas cognition can be modeled in information-theoretical terms. In fact, several models have been proposed so far from both approaches. A second critical remark is the existence of deep theoretical connections between thermodynamics and information theory. In fact, some well-known authors claim that the laws of thermodynamics are nothing but principles in information theory. Unlike in physics or chemistry, a formalization of the relationship between information and energy is currently lacking in neuroscience. In this paper we propose a framework to connect physical brain and cognitive models by means of the theoretical connections between information theory and thermodynamics. Ultimately, this article aims at providing further insight on the formal relationship between cognition and neural activity. PMID:26136709

Theory-Driven Intervention for Changing Personality: Expectancy Value Theory, Behavioral Activation, and Conscientiousness

PubMed Central

Magidson, Jessica F.; Roberts, Brent; Collado-Rodriguez, Anahi; Lejuez, C.W.

2013-01-01

Considerable evidence suggests that personality traits may be changeable, raising the possibility that personality traits most linked to health problems can be modified with intervention. A growing body of research suggests that problematic personality traits may be altered with behavioral intervention using a bottom-approach. That is, by targeting core behaviors that underlie personality traits with the goal of engendering new, healthier patterns of behavior that over time become automatized and manifest in changes in personality traits. Nevertheless, a bottom-up model for changing personality traits is somewhat diffuse and requires clearer integration of theory and relevant interventions to enable real clinical application. As such, this manuscript proposes a set of guiding principles for theory-driven modification of targeted personality traits using a bottom-up approach, focusing specifically on targeting the trait of conscientiousness using a relevant behavioral intervention, Behavioral Activation (BA), considered within the motivational framework of Expectancy Value Theory (EVT). We conclude with a real case example of the application of BA to alter behaviors counter to conscientiousness in a substance dependent patient, highlighting the EVT principles most relevant to the approach and the importance and viability of a theoretically-driven, bottom-up approach to changing personality traits. PMID:23106844

Theory-driven intervention for changing personality: expectancy value theory, behavioral activation, and conscientiousness.

PubMed

Magidson, Jessica F; Roberts, Brent W; Collado-Rodriguez, Anahi; Lejuez, C W

2014-05-01

Considerable evidence suggests that personality traits may be changeable, raising the possibility that personality traits most linked to health problems can be modified with intervention. A growing body of research suggests that problematic personality traits may be altered with behavioral intervention using a bottom-up approach. That is, by targeting core behaviors that underlie personality traits with the goal of engendering new, healthier patterns of behavior that, over time, become automatized and manifest in changes in personality traits. Nevertheless, a bottom-up model for changing personality traits is somewhat diffuse and requires clearer integration of theory and relevant interventions to enable real clinical application. As such, this article proposes a set of guiding principles for theory-driven modification of targeted personality traits using a bottom-up approach, focusing specifically on targeting the trait of conscientiousness using a relevant behavioral intervention, Behavioral Activation (BA), considered within the motivational framework of expectancy value theory (EVT). We conclude with a real case example of the application of BA to alter behaviors counter to conscientiousness in a substance-dependent patient, highlighting the EVT principles most relevant to the approach and the importance and viability of a theoretically driven, bottom-up approach to changing personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Statistical analysis of activation and reaction energies with quasi-variational coupled-cluster theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, Joshua A.; Knowles, Peter J.

2018-06-01

The performance of quasi-variational coupled-cluster (QV) theory applied to the calculation of activation and reaction energies has been investigated. A statistical analysis of results obtained for six different sets of reactions has been carried out, and the results have been compared to those from standard single-reference methods. In general, the QV methods lead to increased activation energies and larger absolute reaction energies compared to those obtained with traditional coupled-cluster theory.

Ethanolic extract Ocimum sanctum. Enhances cognitive ability from young adulthood to middle aged mediated by increasing choline acetyl transferase activity in rat model.

PubMed

Kusindarta, Dwi Liliek; Wihadmadyatami, Hevi; Jadi, Arvendi R; Karnati, Srikanth; Lochnit, Guenter; Hening, Puspa; Haryanto, Aris; Auriva, Made B; Purwaningrum, Medania

2018-06-01

Patients with dementia are increasing steadily, cognitive impairment by dementia not only exclusively suffers by old people but also young to middle aged individuals. However, the mechanism of cognitive impairment occurs in young people is not understood. Further, current medication to impairment did not provide satisfactory results. Therefore, we investigated the potential role of Ocimum sanctum ethanolic extract to enhance cognitive ability in the rat in vivo model. Young to middle aged rats were divided into 3 groups (3, 6, 9 months old) were treated with (0, 50 and 100 mg/kg b.w.) O. sanctum for 45 days. We employed a behavioral assay to assess cognitive ability. Further, Nissl staining was performed to analyze hippocampus formation in dentate gyrus (DG), cornu ammonis 1 (CA1), cornu ammonis 3 (CA3). The expression and activity of ChAT in brain was analyzed by RT-PCR and ELISA. Our results showed that treatment of O. sanctum with a dosage of 100 mg/kg b.w. for 45 days induced the cognitive ability in nine months old rats. Further, we observed a significant increase in density of granular and pyramidal cells in DG, CA1, and CA3. These results were corroborated by an increase in the ChAT activity and gene expression in the rat model as well as HEK 293 cell culture model. Taken together, the administration of 100 mg/kg b.w. O.sanctum induced the expression of ChAT. The increased ChAT expression and activity may enhance the cognitive ability in 9 months old rats mimicking young and middle aged condition in humans. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the Effect of Water Activity on Ice Formation Using a New Theory of Nucleation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barahona, Donifan

2013-01-01

In this work a new theory of nucleation is developed and used to investigate the effect of water activity on the formation of ice within super-cooled droplets. The new theory is based on a novel concept where the interface is assumed to be made of liquid molecules trapped by the solid matrix. Using this concept new expressions are developed for the critical ice germ size and the nucleation work, with explicit dependencies on temperature and water activity. However unlike previous approaches, the new theory does not depend on the interfacial tension between liquid and ice. Comparison against experimental results shows that the new theory is able to reproduce the observed effect of water activity on nucleation rate and freezing temperature. It allows for the first time a theoretical derivation of the constant shift in water activity between melting and nucleation. The new theory offers a consistent thermodynamic view of ice nucleation, simple enough to be applied in atmospheric models of cloud formation.

Changing Investment in Activities and Interests in Elders' Lives: Theory and Measurement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Kathryn Betts

2004-01-01

Socioemotional selectivity and gerotranscendence, newer theories with roots in the disengagement theory of aging, provided the theoretical framework for a new measure of perceived change in investment in a variety of pursuits. The 30-item Change in Activity and Interest Index (CAII) was given to a sample of 327 outpatients aged 65-94. Items with…

Building inhabitant feedback: Creating a reflective practice for environmental design using activity theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunningham, Dara Suzanne

The way buildings are designed now, there is little feedback from use involved in the design process. Attempts to correct this problem have been made in the form of Post Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) for 50-years but have largely failed. POEs are the accepted method for environmental designers to collect feedback about buildings in use. They are infrequently conducted, after the building is built, in a one-time only evaluation, and not funded as part of the build process. Other products receive feedback about the design in use from online critiques. Online critiques could provide a platform for feedback from actors engaged with buildings in use for environmental designers to utilize in developing reflective design rationale to avoid adverse consequences in future designs or correct consequences in past and current designs. Since buildings constitute such a large part of the human environment, it's important to research the effects of buildings on their inhabitants. In order for environmental designers to act on feedback from situated use, designers need to have access to that feedback and all actors interacting with the building design need to have an easy, inexpensive, and accessible method to submit feedback. These needs can be addressed by utilizing modern networked and mobile computing to collect and access building feedback. The analysis presented in this dissertation is informed by a thorough evaluation of the theory of reflective practice, activity theory, environmental design, and cognitive science research. From this analysis, I developed the following contributions. First, I expanded Schon's reflective practice by combining his theory with a modified version of activity theory, using activity theory to enrich reflective practice and create Reflective Activity Systems Theory (RAST), which provides a new framework to develop design rationale based on feedback from use and a focus on the activity. Second, I suggest the design of an activity information system

Middle-aged women's preferred theory-based features in mobile physical activity applications.

PubMed

Ehlers, Diane K; Huberty, Jennifer L

2014-09-01

The purpose of this study was to describe which theory-based behavioral and technological features middle-aged women prefer to be included in a mobile application designed to help them adopt and maintain regular physical activity (PA). Women aged 30 to 64 years (N = 120) completed an online survey measuring their demographics and mobile PA application preferences. The survey was developed upon behavioral principles of Social Cognitive Theory, recent mobile app research, and technology adoption principles of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Frequencies were calculated and content analyses conducted to identify which features women most preferred. Behavioral features that help women self-regulate their PA (PA tracking, goal-setting, progress monitoring) were most preferred. Technological features that enhance perceived effort expectancy and playfulness were most preferred. Many women reported the desire to interact and compete with others through the application. Theory-based PA self-regulation features and theory-based design features that improve perceived effort expectancy and playfulness may be most beneficial in a mobile PA application for middle-aged women. Opportunities to interact with other people and the employment of social, game-like activities may also be attractive. Interdisciplinary engagement of experts in PA behavior change, technology adoption, and software development is needed.

Spatial/Temporal Variations of Crime: A Routine Activity Theory Perspective.

PubMed

de Melo, Silas Nogueira; Pereira, Débora V S; Andresen, Martin A; Matias, Lindon Fonseca

2018-05-01

Temporal and spatial patterns of crime in Campinas, Brazil, are analyzed considering the relevance of routine activity theory in a Latin American context. We use geo-referenced criminal event data, 2010-2013, analyzing spatial patterns using census tracts and temporal patterns considering seasons, months, days, and hours. Our analyses include difference in means tests, count-based regression models, and Kulldorff's scan test. We find that crime in Campinas, Brazil, exhibits both temporal and spatial-temporal patterns. However, the presence of these patterns at the different temporal scales varies by crime type. Specifically, not all crime types have statistically significant temporal patterns at all scales of analysis. As such, routine activity theory works well to explain temporal and spatial-temporal patterns of crime in Campinas, Brazil. However, local knowledge of Brazilian culture is necessary for understanding a portion of these crime patterns.

Using Expectancy Value Theory as a Framework to Reduce Student Resistance to Active Learning: A Proof of Concept.

PubMed

Cooper, Katelyn M; Ashley, Michael; Brownell, Sara E

2017-01-01

There has been a national movement to transition college science courses from passive lectures to active learning environments. Active learning has been shown to be a more effective way for students to learn, yet there is concern that some students are resistant to active learning approaches. Although there is much discussion about student resistance to active learning, few studies have explored this topic. Furthermore, a limited number of studies have applied theoretical frameworks to student engagement in active learning. We propose using a theoretical lens of expectancy value theory to understand student resistance to active learning. In this study, we examined student perceptions of active learning after participating in 40 hours of active learning. We used the principal components of expectancy value theory to probe student experience in active learning: student perceived self-efficacy in active learning, value of active learning, and potential cost of participating in active learning. We found that students showed positive changes in the components of expectancy value theory and reported high levels of engagement in active learning, which provide proof of concept that expectancy value theory can be used to boost student perceptions of active learning and their engagement in active learning classrooms. From these findings, we have built a theoretical framework of expectancy value theory applied to active learning.

Evaluation of physical activity web sites for use of behavior change theories.

PubMed

Doshi, Amol; Patrick, Kevin; Sallis, James F; Calfas, Karen

2003-01-01

Physical activity (PA) Web sites were assessed for their use of behavior change theories, including constructs of the health belief model, Transtheoretical Model, social cognitive theory, and the theory of reasoned action and planned behavior. An evaluation template for assessing PA Web sites was developed, and content validity and interrater reliability were demonstrated. Two independent raters evaluated 24 PA Web sites. Web sites varied widely in application of theory-based constructs, ranging from 5 to 48 on a 100-point scale. The most common intervention strategies were general information, social support, and realistic goal areas. Coverage of theory-based strategies was low, varying from 26% for social cognitive theory to 39% for health belief model. Overall, PA Web sites provided little assessment, feedback, or individually tailored assistance for users. They were unable to substantially tailor the on-line experience for users at different stages of change or different demographic characteristics.

Testing a Longitudinal Integrated Self-Efficacy and Self-Determination Theory Model for Physical Activity Post-Cardiac Rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Sweet, Shane N.; Fortier, Michelle S.; Strachan, Shaelyn M.; Blanchard, Chris M.; Boulay, Pierre

2014-01-01

Self-determination theory and self-efficacy theory are prominent theories in the physical activity literature, and studies have begun integrating their concepts. Sweet, Fortier, Strachan and Blanchard (2012) have integrated these two theories in a cross-sectional study. Therefore, this study sought to test a longitudinal integrated model to predict physical activity at the end of a 4-month cardiac rehabilitation program based on theory, research and Sweet et al.’s cross-sectional model. Participants from two cardiac rehabilitation programs (N=109) answered validated self-report questionnaires at baseline, two and four months. Data were analyzed using Amos to assess the path analysis and model fit. Prior to integration, perceived competence and self-efficacy were combined, and labeled as confidence. After controlling for 2-month physical activity and cardiac rehabilitation site, no motivational variables significantly predicted residual change in 4-month physical activity. Although confidence at two months did not predict residual change in 4-month physical activity, it had a strong positive relationship with 2-month physical activity (β=0.30, P<0.001). The overall model retained good fit indices. In conclusion, results diverged from theoretical predictions of physical activity, but self-determination and self-efficacy theory were still partially supported. Because the model had good fit, this study demonstrated that theoretical integration is feasible. PMID:26973926

AIDS wars.

PubMed

Several evidences were presented during the meeting in London entitled "Origins of AIDS and the HIV epidemic," debating the idea that AIDS was an accidental result of a polio vaccination campaign conducted by a virologist, Hilary Koprowski, and colleagues in the late 1950s among thousands of people in the Belgian Congo. The meeting carefully examined the CHAT theory presented by a writer, Edward Hooper, in his book "The River" and has raised questions on the correlation between vaccination sites and early records of HIV-1, and on the estimated amount of HIV particles that would get through each stage of the process of creating CHAT. Overall, the meeting agreed to reject the CHAT theory of AIDS for it has no basis, since Koprowski and colleagues denied the use of chimpanzee kidneys, which Hooper openly suggests in his book. The meeting noted that the disease's origins remain a mystery.

Sex differences in neurochemical markers that correlate with behavior in aging mice.

PubMed

Frick, K M; Burlingame, L A; Delaney, S S; Berger-Sweeney, J

2002-01-01

Sex differences in neurochemical markers that correlate with behavior in aging mice NEUROBIOL AGING. We examined whether the enzymatic activities of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) were altered similarly with age in male and female mice, and whether these changes were correlated with age-related alterations in memory and anxiety. ChAT and GAD activities were measured in neocortex, hippocampus, and striatum of behaviorally characterized male and female C57BL/6 mice (5, 17, and 25 months). Generally, ChAT activity was increased, and GAD activity decreased, with age. However, disparate changes were revealed between the sexes; activities of both enzymes were decreased in 17-month males, whereas alterations in females were not observed until 25-months. Furthermore, enzyme-behavior correlations differed between the sexes; in males, ChAT activity was related to one behavioral task, whereas in females, activities of both enzymes were correlated with multiple tasks. Significant enzyme-behavior correlations were most evident at 17 months of age, likely the result of behavioral and enzymatic sex differences at this age. These data represent the first comprehensive report illustrating differential alterations of ChAT and GAD activities in aging male and female mice.

Testing a self-determination theory model of children's physical activity motivation: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Sebire, Simon J; Jago, Russell; Fox, Kenneth R; Edwards, Mark J; Thompson, Janice L

2013-09-26

Understanding children's physical activity motivation, its antecedents and associations with behavior is important and can be advanced by using self-determination theory. However, research among youth is largely restricted to adolescents and studies of motivation within certain contexts (e.g., physical education). There are no measures of self-determination theory constructs (physical activity motivation or psychological need satisfaction) for use among children and no previous studies have tested a self-determination theory-based model of children's physical activity motivation. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of scores derived from scales adapted to measure self-determination theory constructs among children and test a motivational model predicting accelerometer-derived physical activity. Cross-sectional data from 462 children aged 7 to 11 years from 20 primary schools in Bristol, UK were analysed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity of adapted behavioral regulation and psychological need satisfaction scales. Structural equation modelling was used to test cross-sectional associations between psychological need satisfaction, motivation types and physical activity assessed by accelerometer. The construct validity and reliability of the motivation and psychological need satisfaction measures were supported. Structural equation modelling provided evidence for a motivational model in which psychological need satisfaction was positively associated with intrinsic and identified motivation types and intrinsic motivation was positively associated with children's minutes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The study provides evidence for the psychometric properties of measures of motivation aligned with self-determination theory among children. Children's motivation that is based on enjoyment and inherent satisfaction of physical activity is associated with their objectively-assessed physical

Problematic Internet Use among Turkish University Students: A Multidimensional Investigation Based on Demographics and Internet Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekinarslan, Erkan; Gurer, Melih Derya

2011-01-01

This study investigated the Turkish undergraduate university students' problematic Internet use (PIU) levels on different dimensions based on demographics (e.g., gender, Internet use by time of day), and Internet activities (e.g., chat, entertainment, social networking, information searching, etc.). Moreover, the study explored some predictors of…

Using Expectancy Value Theory as a Framework to Reduce Student Resistance to Active Learning: A Proof of Concept

PubMed Central

Cooper, Katelyn M.; Ashley, Michael; Brownell, Sara E.

2017-01-01

There has been a national movement to transition college science courses from passive lectures to active learning environments. Active learning has been shown to be a more effective way for students to learn, yet there is concern that some students are resistant to active learning approaches. Although there is much discussion about student resistance to active learning, few studies have explored this topic. Furthermore, a limited number of studies have applied theoretical frameworks to student engagement in active learning. We propose using a theoretical lens of expectancy value theory to understand student resistance to active learning. In this study, we examined student perceptions of active learning after participating in 40 hours of active learning. We used the principal components of expectancy value theory to probe student experience in active learning: student perceived self-efficacy in active learning, value of active learning, and potential cost of participating in active learning. We found that students showed positive changes in the components of expectancy value theory and reported high levels of engagement in active learning, which provide proof of concept that expectancy value theory can be used to boost student perceptions of active learning and their engagement in active learning classrooms. From these findings, we have built a theoretical framework of expectancy value theory applied to active learning. PMID:28861130

Prediction of attendance at fitness center: a comparison between the theory of planned behavior, the social cognitive theory, and the physical activity maintenance theory

PubMed Central

Jekauc, Darko; Völkle, Manuel; Wagner, Matthias O.; Mess, Filip; Reiner, Miriam; Renner, Britta

2015-01-01

In the processes of physical activity (PA) maintenance specific predictors are effective, which differ from other stages of PA development. Recently, Physical Activity Maintenance Theory (PAMT) was specifically developed for prediction of PA maintenance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictability of the future behavior by the PAMT and compare it with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Participation rate in a fitness center was observed for 101 college students (53 female) aged between 19 and 32 years (M = 23.6; SD = 2.9) over 20 weeks using a magnetic card. In order to predict the pattern of participation TPB, SCT and PAMT were used. A latent class zero-inflated Poisson growth curve analysis identified two participation patterns: regular attenders and intermittent exercisers. SCT showed the highest predictive power followed by PAMT and TPB. Impeding aspects as life stress and barriers were the strongest predictors suggesting that overcoming barriers might be an important aspect for working out on a regular basis. Self-efficacy, perceived behavioral control, and social support could also significantly differentiate between the participation patterns. PMID:25717313

Hippocampal neurodegeneration in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE): potential role of inflammation activated myeloperoxidase.

PubMed

Sajad, Mir; Zargan, Jamil; Chawla, Raman; Umar, Sadiq; Sadaqat, Mir; Khan, Haider A

2009-08-01

Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a well-established animal model of human multiple sclerosis (MS). The effect of this inflammatory disease on hippocampus has not been addressed. Keeping in view the above consideration an attempt was made to delineate the effect of EAE on the hippocampus of Wistar rats. The assessment of the damage to the hippocampus was done 16 days post induction by the immunolocalization of ChAT (choline acetyl transferase). ChAT decreased remarkably after induction that revealed cholinergic neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus. Subsequently, many biochemical parameters were assessed to ascertain inflammatory activation of nitric oxide and associated oxidative damage as a putative mechanism of the cholinergic degeneration. Nitric oxide metabolites increased significantly (P < 0.05) with enhancement of MPO (Myeloperoxidase activity) (P < 0.001) in the MOG (myelin oligodendrocyte protein) group as compared to the controls. Peroxidation of biomembranes increased (P < 0.001), while reduced glutathione depleted (P < 0.001) with parallel decrease in catalase (P < 0.01) and superoxide dismutase enzyme activity (P < 0.001) in the MOG group. Our results show a strong role of peroxidase dependent oxidation of nitrite and oxidative stress in cholinergic degeneration in EAE.

Anthropological Approach and Activity Theory: Culture, Communities and Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lagrange, Jean-Baptiste

2013-01-01

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of the anthropological approach (AA) concurrently to Activity Theory (AT) in view of overarching questions about classroom use of technology for teaching and learning mathematics. I will do it first from a philosophical point of view, presenting the main notions of AA that have been used to…

Theory-based interventions in physical activity: a systematic review of literature in Iran.

PubMed

Abdi, Jalal; Eftekhar, Hassan; Estebsari, Fatemeh; Sadeghi, Roya

2014-11-30

Lack of physical activity is ranked fourth among the causes of human death and chronic diseases. Using models and theories to design, implement, and evaluate the health education and health promotion interventions has many advantages. Using models and theories of physical activity, we decided to systematically study the educational and promotional interventions carried out in Iran from 2003 to 2013.Three information databases were used to systematically select papers using key words including Iranian Magazine Database (MAGIRAN), Iran Medical Library (MEDLIB), and Scientific Information Database (SID). Twenty papers were selected and studied .Having been applied in 9 studies, The Trans Theoretical Model (TTM) was the most widespread model in Iran (PENDER in 3 studies, BASNEF in 2, and the Theory of Planned Behavior in 2 studies). With regards to the educational methods, almost all studies used a combination of methods. The most widely used Integrative educational method was group discussion. Only one integrated study was done. Behavior maintenance was not addressed in 75% of the studies. Almost all studies used self-reporting instruments. The effectiveness of educational methods was assessed in none of the studies. Most of the included studies had several methodological weaknesses, which hinder the validity and applicability of their results. According to the findings, the necessity of need assessment in using models, epidemiology and methodology consultation, addressing maintenance of physical activity, using other theories and models such as social marketing and social-cognitive theory, and other educational methods like empirical and complementary are suggested.

The Bourgeoisie Dream Factory: Teaching Marx's Theory of Alienation through an Experiential Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windsor, Elroi J.; Carroll, Alana M.

2015-01-01

Effectively teaching sociological theories to undergraduate students is challenging. Students often enroll in theory courses due to major requirements, not personal interest. Consequently, many students approach the study of theory with anxiety. This study examined the effectiveness of an experiential learning activity designed to teach Karl…

The Relationship between Leisure and Life Satisfaction: Application of Activity and Need Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Ariel; Latkova, Pavlina; Sun, Ya-Yen

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to better understand the complex relationship between leisure and life satisfaction. Components of two distinct, but potentially integrative, theoretical frameworks (i.e., activity theory and need theory) predicting the relationship between leisure and life satisfaction were tested with a sample of residents from a…

Coping with the Usual Family Diet: Eating Behaviour and Food Choices of Children with Down's Syndrome, Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Cri du Chat Syndrome and Comparison Groups of Siblings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Margaret S. R.; Kyle, Rosalind; Smith, Suzanne; Laverty, Anne; Roberts, Sylvia; Eaton-Evans, Jill

2003-01-01

A study of 405 Irish children (ages 2-18) with Down syndrome, autism, and cri du chat syndrome, and 280 siblings found most had some level of self-feeding skills. Chewing problems were reported for some children, including siblings of children with Down syndrome and autism. Behavioral problems at meals were common. (Contains references.)…

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoelectron microscopy distinguishes at least three types of efferent synapses in the organ of Corti.

PubMed

Eybalin, M; Pujol, R

1987-01-01

Using anatomical criteria, the olivo-cochlear fibers ending in the organ of Corti (efferent fibers) have recently been separated into two systems: a lateral system innervating principally the inner hair cell (IHC) area and a medial system innervating mainly the outer hair cells (OHCs). Electrophysiological and biochemical experiments suggest that acetylcholine may be a neurotransmitter of these efferent fibers. However, efferent synapses that use acetylcholine as neurotransmitter have not yet been identified at the electron microscopic level. Using a pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopic technique with a monoclonal antibody against choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), we localized ChAT-immunostained fibers below both the IHCs and OHCs. In the inner spiral bundle, one type of ChAT-immunostained fibers was vesiculated and formed axo-dendritic synapses with the afferent auditory dendrites contacting the inner hair cells. A second type of ChAT-immunostained fibers seen in the inner spiral bundle was unvesiculated. Unstained vesiculated varicosities synapsing with the auditory dendrites were also seen in the inner spiral bundle. At the OHC level, ChAT immunostaining was found in nearly all the terminals synapsing with the OHCs. The finding of two types of ChAT-immunostained efferent synapses in the organ of Corti, i.e. axo-dendritic synapses in the inner spiral bundle and axo-somatic synapses with the OHCs, supports the hypothesis that both the lateral and the medial olivo-cochlear systems use acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter. The finding of numerous unstained synapses in the inner spiral bundle, and some below OHCs, together with previous data about putative cochlear neurotransmitters, suggests the possibility of additional non-cholinergic olivo-cochlear systems. It might soon appear useful to reclassify efferents according to the nature of the different neurotransmitters/co-transmitters found in the various efferent synapses of the organ of Corti.

Second-Order Perturbation Theory for Generalized Active Space Self-Consistent-Field Wave Functions.

PubMed

Ma, Dongxia; Li Manni, Giovanni; Olsen, Jeppe; Gagliardi, Laura

2016-07-12

A multireference second-order perturbation theory approach based on the generalized active space self-consistent-field (GASSCF) wave function is presented. Compared with the complete active space (CAS) and restricted active space (RAS) wave functions, GAS wave functions are more flexible and can employ larger active spaces and/or different truncations of the configuration interaction expansion. With GASSCF, one can explore chemical systems that are not affordable with either CASSCF or RASSCF. Perturbation theory to second order on top of GAS wave functions (GASPT2) has been implemented to recover the remaining electron correlation. The method has been benchmarked by computing the chromium dimer ground-state potential energy curve. These calculations show that GASPT2 gives results similar to CASPT2 even with a configuration interaction expansion much smaller than the corresponding CAS expansion.

Instructional Transaction Theory: Knowledge Relationships among Processes, Entities, and Activities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merrill, M. David; And Others

1993-01-01

Discussion of instructional transaction theory focuses on knowledge representation in an automated instructional design expert system. A knowledge structure called PEA-Net (processes, entities, and activities) is explained; the refrigeration process is used as an example; text resources and graphic resources are described; and simulations are…

Cri du Chat syndrome: Characteristics of 73 Brazilian patients.

PubMed

Honjo, R S; Mello, C B; Pimenta, L S E; Nuñes-Vaca, E C; Benedetto, L M; Khoury, R B F; Befi-Lopes, D M; Kim, C A

2018-06-01

Cri du Chat syndrome (CdCS) is a genetic syndrome caused by deletions in the short arm of chromosome 5. Although the main clinical features of CdCS are well known, the neurocognitive and behavioural characteristics of the phenotype are rarely described in detail in the literature. In this study, we analysed the main phenotypic features of CdCS from a parental perspective. A questionnaire was sent to 700 Brazilian families that were registered in the Brazilian Association of CdCS. The questions involved specific domains of CdCS, such as pregnancy and birth conditions, recurrence of the disease in the family, current major health problems, and aspects of cognitive development. In total, 73 questionnaires were completed: 44 females and 29 males, ranging from 9.5 months old to 40 years old (mean = 13.8 years; median = 12 years). Most of the parents noticed the typical cat-like cry at birth (94.4%). The age at diagnosis of CdCS ranged from the time of birth to 180 months (mean = 14 months; median = 6 months), while one case was diagnosed during pregnancy. In all of the cases, the diagnosis of CdCS was made by G-banding karyotype analysis. In 66.2% of the cases, the parents underwent cytogenetic investigation. A total of 52.1% of the parents answered that they did not remember what the recurrence risk of CdCS was in their family. The main health problems that were reported were as follows: swallowing problems (80.3%), feeding problems (80.3%), congenital heart disease (31.5%), spine abnormalities (28.8%), and neurological symptoms (20.5%), including seizures (11%). The behavioural problems that were reported were as follows: aggressive behaviour, stereotypies, anxiety, phobias, and genital manipulation/masturbation. Neurodevelopmental delay was reported in all of the cases. Independent walking was achieved in 72.2% of the patients. Approximately 50% of the patients never presented expressive language, and most of the patients are dependent on others for

INCORPORATING ROUTINE ACTIVITIES, ACTIVITY SPACES, AND SITUATIONAL DEFINITIONS INTO THE SOCIAL SCHEMATIC THEORY OF CRIME.

PubMed

Simons, Ronald L; Burt, Callie H; Barr, Ashley B; Lei, Man-Kit; Stewart, Eric

2014-11-01

Simons and Burt's (2011) social schematic theory (SST) of crime posits that adverse social factors are associated with offending because they promote a set of social schemas (i.e., a criminogenic knowledge structure) that elevates the probability of situational definitions favorable to crime. This study extends the SST model by incorporating the role of contexts for action. Furthermore, the study advances tests of the SST by incorporating a measure of criminogenic situational definitions to assess whether such definitions mediate the effects of schemas and contexts on crime. Structural equation models using 10 years of panel data from 582 African American youth provided strong support for the expanded theory. The results suggest that childhood and adolescent social adversity fosters a criminogenic knowledge structure as well as selection into criminogenic activity spaces and risky activities, all of which increase the likelihood of offending largely through situational definitions. Additionally, evidence shows that the criminogenic knowledge structure interacts with settings to amplify the likelihood of situational definitions favorable to crime.

Theory of activated glassy dynamics in randomly pinned fluids.

PubMed

Phan, Anh D; Schweizer, Kenneth S

2018-02-07

We generalize the force-level, microscopic, Nonlinear Langevin Equation (NLE) theory and its elastically collective generalization [elastically collective nonlinear Langevin equation (ECNLE) theory] of activated dynamics in bulk spherical particle liquids to address the influence of random particle pinning on structural relaxation. The simplest neutral confinement model is analyzed for hard spheres where there is no change of the equilibrium pair structure upon particle pinning. As the pinned fraction grows, cage scale dynamical constraints are intensified in a manner that increases with density. This results in the mobile particles becoming more transiently localized, with increases of the jump distance, cage scale barrier, and NLE theory mean hopping time; subtle changes of the dynamic shear modulus are predicted. The results are contrasted with recent simulations. Similarities in relaxation behavior are identified in the dynamic precursor regime, including a roughly exponential, or weakly supra-exponential, growth of the alpha time with pinning fraction and a reduction of dynamic fragility. However, the increase of the alpha time with pinning predicted by the local NLE theory is too small and severely so at very high volume fractions. The strong deviations are argued to be due to the longer range collective elasticity aspect of the problem which is expected to be modified by random pinning in a complex manner. A qualitative physical scenario is offered for how the three distinct aspects that quantify the elastic barrier may change with pinning. ECNLE theory calculations of the alpha time are then presented based on the simplest effective-medium-like treatment for how random pinning modifies the elastic barrier. The results appear to be consistent with most, but not all, trends seen in recent simulations. Key open problems are discussed with regard to both theory and simulation.

Theory of activated glassy dynamics in randomly pinned fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, Anh D.; Schweizer, Kenneth S.

2018-02-01

We generalize the force-level, microscopic, Nonlinear Langevin Equation (NLE) theory and its elastically collective generalization [elastically collective nonlinear Langevin equation (ECNLE) theory] of activated dynamics in bulk spherical particle liquids to address the influence of random particle pinning on structural relaxation. The simplest neutral confinement model is analyzed for hard spheres where there is no change of the equilibrium pair structure upon particle pinning. As the pinned fraction grows, cage scale dynamical constraints are intensified in a manner that increases with density. This results in the mobile particles becoming more transiently localized, with increases of the jump distance, cage scale barrier, and NLE theory mean hopping time; subtle changes of the dynamic shear modulus are predicted. The results are contrasted with recent simulations. Similarities in relaxation behavior are identified in the dynamic precursor regime, including a roughly exponential, or weakly supra-exponential, growth of the alpha time with pinning fraction and a reduction of dynamic fragility. However, the increase of the alpha time with pinning predicted by the local NLE theory is too small and severely so at very high volume fractions. The strong deviations are argued to be due to the longer range collective elasticity aspect of the problem which is expected to be modified by random pinning in a complex manner. A qualitative physical scenario is offered for how the three distinct aspects that quantify the elastic barrier may change with pinning. ECNLE theory calculations of the alpha time are then presented based on the simplest effective-medium-like treatment for how random pinning modifies the elastic barrier. The results appear to be consistent with most, but not all, trends seen in recent simulations. Key open problems are discussed with regard to both theory and simulation.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Live-Chat Social Media Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men

PubMed Central

Pachankis, John E.; Gamarel, Kristi E.; Surace, Anthony; Golub, Sarit A.; Parsons, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

Given the popularity of social media among young men who have sex with men (YMSM), and in light of YMSM’s elevated and increasing HIV rates, we tested the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a live chat intervention delivered on Facebook in reducing condomless anal sex and substance use within a group of high risk YMSM in a pre-post design with no control group. Participants (N = 41; 18–29 years old) completed up to eight one-hour motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral skills-based online live chat intervention sessions, and reported on demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral characteristics at baseline and immediately post-intervention. Analyses indicated that participation in the intervention (n = 31) was associated with reductions of days of drug and alcohol use in the past month and instances of anal sex without a condom (including under the influence of substances), as well as increases in knowledge of HIV-related risks at 3-month follow-up. This pilot study argues for the potential of this social media-delivered intervention to reduce HIV risk among a most vulnerable group in the United States, in a manner that was highly acceptable to receive and feasible to execute. A future randomized controlled trial could generate an intervention blueprint for providers to support YMSM’s wellbeing by reaching them regardless of their geographical location, at a low cost. PMID:25256808

STS-87 Payload Specialist Leonid Kadenyuk chats with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin shortly after

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

STS-87 Payload Specialist Leonid Kadenyuk of the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU), at left, chats with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin shortly after the landing of Columbia at Kennedy Space Center. Looking on is back-up Payload Specialist Yaroslav Pustovyi, also of NSAU. STS-87 concluded its mission with a main gear touchdown at 7:20:04 a.m. EST Dec. 5, at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility Runway 33, drawing the 15-day, 16-hour and 34- minute-long mission of 6.5 million miles to a close. Also onboard the orbiter were Commander Kevin Kregel; Pilot Steven Lindsey; and Mission Specialists Winston Scott, Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D., and Takao Doi, Ph.D., of the National Space Development Agency of Japan. During the 88th Space Shuttle mission, the crew performed experiments on the United States Microgravity Payload-4 and pollinated plants as part of the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment. This was the 12th landing for Columbia at KSC and the 41st KSC landing in the history of the Space Shuttle program.

Elder Fraud and Financial Exploitation: Application of Routine Activity Theory.

PubMed

DeLiema, Marguerite

2017-03-10

Elder financial exploitation, committed by individuals in positions of trust, and elder fraud, committed by predatory strangers, are two forms of financial victimization that target vulnerable older adults. This study analyzes differences between fraud and financial exploitation victims and tests routine activity theory as a contextual model for victimization. Routine activity theory predicts that criminal opportunities arise when a motivated offender and suitable target meet in the absence of capable guardians. Fifty-three financial exploitation and fraud cases were sampled from an elder abuse forensic center. Data include law enforcement and caseworker investigation reports, victim medical records, perpetrator demographic information, and forensic assessments of victim health and cognitive functioning. Fraud and financial exploitation victims performed poorly on tests of cognitive functioning and financial decision making administered by a forensic neuropsychologist following the allegations. Based on retrospective record review, there were few significant differences in physical health and cognitive functioning at the time victims' assets were taken, although their social contexts were different. Significantly more fraud victims were childless compared with financial exploitation victims. Fraud perpetrators took advantage of elders when they had no trustworthy friends or relatives to safeguard their assets. Findings support an adapted routine activity theory as a contextual model for financial victimization. Fraud most often occurred when a vulnerable elder was solicited by a financial predator in the absence of capable guardians. Prevention efforts should focus on reducing social isolation to enhance protection. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Theory of active galactic nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shields, G. A.

1986-01-01

The involvement of accretion disks around supermassive black holes in the theory of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is discussed. The physics of thin and thick accretion disks is discussed and the partition between thermal and nonthermal energy production in supermassive disks is seen as uncertain. The thermal limit cycle may operate in supermassive disks (Shields, 1985), with accumulation of gas in the disk for periods of 10 to the 4th to 10 to the 7th years, punctuated by briefer outbursts during which the mass is rapidly transferred to smaller radii. An extended X-ray source in AGN is consistent with observations (Tennant and Mushotsky, 1983), and a large wind mass loss rate exceeding the central accretion rate means that only a fraction of the mass entering the disk will reach the central object; the rest being lost to the wind. Controversy in the relationship between the broad lines and the disk is also discussed.

The lymphocytic cholinergic system and its contribution to the regulation of immune activity.

PubMed

Kawashima, Koichiro; Fujii, Takeshi

2003-12-26

Lymphocytes express most of the cholinergic components found in the nervous system, including acetylcholine (ACh), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), high affinity choline transporter, muscarinic and nicotinic ACh receptors (mAChRs and nAChRs, respectively), and acetylcholinesterase. Stimulation of T and B cells with ACh or another mAChR agonist elicits intracellular Ca2+ signaling, up-regulation of c-fos expression, increased nitric oxide synthesis and IL-2-induced signal transduction, probably via M3 and M5 mAChR-mediated pathways. Acute stimulation of nAChRs with ACh or nicotine causes rapid and transient Ca2+ signaling in T and B cells, probably via alpha7 nAChR subunit-mediated pathways. Chronic nicotine stimulation, by contrast, down-regulates nAChR expression and suppresses T cell activity. Activation of T cells with phytohemagglutinin or antibodies against cell surface molecules enhances lymphocytic cholinergic transmission by activating expression of ChAT and M5 mAChR, which is suggestive of local cholinergic regulation of immune system activity. This idea is supported by the facts that lymphocytic cholinergic activity reflects well the changes in immune system function seen in animal models of immune deficiency and immune acceleration. Collectively, these data provide a compelling picture in which lymphocytes constitute a cholinergic system that is independent of cholinergic nerves, and which is involved in the regulation of immune function.

The theory of an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barclay, J. A.

1983-01-01

The adiabatic temperature change with field which is limited to about 2 K/Tesla for ferromagnets near their Curie temperatures by the change of magnetization with temperature and the lattice heat capacity is discussed. Practical magnetic refrigerators operate on a regenerative cycle such as the Brayton cycle. This cycle can be executed through the use of an active magnetic regenerator, i.e., a regenerator composed of magnetic material that is cycled in an out of a magnetic field with appropriate fluid flows. The theory of these devices is predicted by solving the partial differential equations that describe fluid and the magnetic solid. The active magnetic regenerator is described along with the method of calculation. Temperature profiles for a normal regenerator and a magnetic regenerative refrigerator are shown.

Testing a self-determination theory model of children’s physical activity motivation: a cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Understanding children’s physical activity motivation, its antecedents and associations with behavior is important and can be advanced by using self-determination theory. However, research among youth is largely restricted to adolescents and studies of motivation within certain contexts (e.g., physical education). There are no measures of self-determination theory constructs (physical activity motivation or psychological need satisfaction) for use among children and no previous studies have tested a self-determination theory-based model of children’s physical activity motivation. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of scores derived from scales adapted to measure self-determination theory constructs among children and test a motivational model predicting accelerometer-derived physical activity. Methods Cross-sectional data from 462 children aged 7 to 11 years from 20 primary schools in Bristol, UK were analysed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity of adapted behavioral regulation and psychological need satisfaction scales. Structural equation modelling was used to test cross-sectional associations between psychological need satisfaction, motivation types and physical activity assessed by accelerometer. Results The construct validity and reliability of the motivation and psychological need satisfaction measures were supported. Structural equation modelling provided evidence for a motivational model in which psychological need satisfaction was positively associated with intrinsic and identified motivation types and intrinsic motivation was positively associated with children’s minutes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Conclusions The study provides evidence for the psychometric properties of measures of motivation aligned with self-determination theory among children. Children’s motivation that is based on enjoyment and inherent satisfaction of physical activity is

Insider Threat Indicator Ontology

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-25

sometimes a subtle and debatable offense. The activities of employees or other insiders, such as reading the newspaper, playing games , or chatting in the...intent. We again relied on existing schema for the human domain [48] and also consulted theories of human intent [49]. We also drew inspiration for our...medical history None ModificationAc tion DigitalAction To change a file or system None MoneyAsset FinancialAsset An officially issued legal tender

Understanding Preschool Emergent Science in a Cultural Historical Context through Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sundberg, Bodil; Areljung, Sofie; Due, Karin; Ekström, Kenneth; Ottander, Christina; Tellgren, Britt

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to explore how cultural factors interact with preschool teachers' shaping of activities with science content, and also how Activity Theory (AT) as a theoretical framework can be useful for examining interrelations within preschool systems. Qualitative data was collected from three preschools in the form of guided group…

Web-Assisted Vocational Test Interpretation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, W. Paul; Harbach, Robert L.; Coker, J. Kelly; Staples, Pamela A.

2002-01-01

Compares the effectiveness of a specific employment counseling activity, vocational interest inventory interpretation, across 3 delivery modalities: online text chat; online text chat with video cues; and traditional face-to-face interpretation. The difference in ratings of session value between text chat and video and face-to-face modalities was…

Novel ligands of Choline Acetyltransferase designed by in silico molecular docking, hologram QSAR and lead optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Rajnish; Långström, Bengt; Darreh-Shori, Taher

2016-08-01

Recent reports have brought back the acetylcholine synthesizing enzyme, choline acetyltransferase in the mainstream research in dementia and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. Here we report, a specific strategy for the design of novel ChAT ligands based on molecular docking, Hologram Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (HQSAR) and lead optimization. Molecular docking was performed on a series of ChAT inhibitors to decipher the molecular fingerprint of their interaction with the active site of ChAT. Then robust statistical fragment HQSAR models were developed. A library of novel ligands was generated based on the pharmacophoric and shape similarity scoring function, and evaluated in silico for their molecular interactions with ChAT. Ten of the top scoring invented compounds are reported here. We confirmed the activity of α-NETA, the only commercially available ChAT inhibitor, and one of the seed compounds in our model, using a new simple colorimetric ChAT assay (IC50 ~ 88 nM). In contrast, α-NETA exhibited an IC50 of ~30 μM for the ACh-degrading cholinesterases. In conclusion, the overall results may provide useful insight for discovering novel ChAT ligands and potential positron emission tomography tracers as in vivo functional biomarkers of the health of central cholinergic system in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Active Space Dependence in Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory.

PubMed

Sharma, Prachi; Truhlar, Donald G; Gagliardi, Laura

2018-02-13

In multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), multiconfiguration self-consistent-field calculations and on-top density functionals are combined to describe both static and dynamic correlation. Here, we investigate how the MC-PDFT total energy and its components depend on the active space choice in the case of the H 2 and N 2 molecules. The active space dependence of the on-top pair density, the total density, the ratio of on-top pair density to half the square of the electron density, and the satisfaction of the virial theorem are also explored. We find that the density and on-top pair density do not change significantly with changes in the active space. However, the on-top ratio does change significantly with respect to active space change, and this affects the on-top energy. This study provides a foundation for designing on-top density functionals and automatizing the active space choice in MC-PDFT.

The Transformation of Learning: Advances in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Oers, Bert, Ed.; Wardekker, Wim, Ed.; Elbers, Ed, Ed.; van der Veer, Rene, Ed.

2010-01-01

Learning is a changing phenomenon, depending on the advances in theory and research. This book presents a relatively new approach to learning, based on meaningful human activities in cultural practices and in collaboration with others. It draws extensively from the ideas of Lev Vygotsky and his recent followers. The book presents ideas that…

Improving management of student clinical placements: insights from activity theory.

PubMed

O'Keefe, Maree; Wade, Victoria; McAllister, Sue; Stupans, Ieva; Burgess, Teresa

2016-08-24

An approach to improve management of student clinical placements, the Building Teams for Quality Learning project, was trialed in three different health services. In a previous paper the authors explored in some detail the factors associated with considerable success of this approach at one of these services. In this paper, the authors extend this work with further analysis to determine if the more limited outcomes observed with participants at the other two services could be explained by application of activity theory and in particular the expansive learning cycle. Staff at three health services participated in the Building Teams for Quality Learning project: a dental clinic, a community aged care facility and a rural hospital. At each site a team of seven multi-disciplinary staff completed the project over 9 to 12 months (total 21 participants). Evaluation data were collected through interviews, focus groups and direct observation of staff and students. Following initial thematic analysis, further analysis was conducted to compare the processes and outcomes at each participating health service drawing on activity theory and the expansive learning cycle. Fifty-one interview transcripts, 33 h of workplace observation and 31 sets of workshop field notes (from 36 h of workshops) were generated. All participants were individually supportive of, and committed to, high quality student learning experiences. As was observed with staff at the dental clinic, a number of potentially effective strategies were discussed at the aged care facility and the rural hospital workshops. However, participants in these two health services could not develop a successful implementation plan. The expansive learning cycle element of modeling and testing new solutions was not achieved and participants were unable, collectively to reassess and reinterpret the object of their activities. The application of activity theory and the expansive learning cycle assisted a deeper understanding of

Increasing Children's Voluntary Physical Activity Outside of School Hours Through Targeting Social Cognitive Theory Variables.

PubMed

Annesi, James J; Walsh, Stephanie M; Greenwood, Brittney L

2016-10-01

Volume of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity completed during the elementary school day is insufficient, and associated with health risks. Improvements in theory-based psychosocial factors might facilitate increased out-of-school physical activity. A behaviorally based after-school care protocol, Youth Fit 4 Life, was tested for its association with increased voluntary, out-of-school physical activity and improvements in its theory-based psychosocial predictors in 9- to 12-year-olds. Increases over 12 weeks in out-of-school physical activity, and improvements in self-regulation for physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, and mood, were significantly greater in the Youth Fit 4 Life group (n = 88) when contrasted with a typical care control group (n = 57). Changes in the 3 psychosocial variables significantly mediated the group-physical activity change relationship (R(2) = .31, P < .001). Change in self-regulation was a significant independent mediator, and had a reciprocal relationship with change in out-of-school physical activity. In the Youth Fit 4 Life group, occurrence of 300 min/wk of overall physical activity increased from 41% to 71%. Targeting theory-based psychosocial changes within a structured after-school care physical activity program was associated with increases in children's overall time being physically active. After replication, large scale application will be warranted. © The Author(s) 2016.

Application of Eyring's thermal activation theory to constitutive equations for polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zerilli, Frank J.; Armstrong, Ronald W.

2000-04-01

The application of a constitutive model based on the thermal activation theory of Eyring to the yield stress of polymethylmethacrylate at various temperatures and strain rates, as measured by Bauwens-Crowet, shows that the yield stress may reasonably well be described by a thermal activation equation in which the volume of activation is inversely proportional to the yield stress. It is found that, to obtain an accurate model, the dependence of the cold (T=0 K) yield stress on the shear modulus must be taken into account.

Nitrergic ventro-medial medullary neurons activated during cholinergically induced active (REM) sleep in the cat

PubMed Central

Pose, Inés; Sampogna, Sharon; Chase, Michael H.; Morales, Francisco R.

2010-01-01

The rostral ventro-medial medullary reticular formation is a complex structure that is involved with a variety of motor functions. It contains glycinergic neurons that are activated during active (REM) sleep (AS); these neurons appear to be responsible for the postsynaptic inhibition of motoneurons that occurs during this state. We have reported that neurons in this same region contain nitric oxide (NO) synthase and that they innervate brainstem motor pools. In the present study we examined the c-fos expression of these neurons after carbachol-induced active sleep (C-AS). Three control and four experimental cats were employed to identify c-fos expressing nitrergic neurons using immunocytochemical techniques to detect the Fos protein together with neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) or NADPH-diaphorase activity. The classical neurotransmitter content of the nitrergic cells in this region was examined through the combination of immunocytochemical techniques for the detection of glutamate, glycine, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), tyrosine hydroxilase (TH) or GABA together with nNOS. During C-AS, there was a 1074% increase in the number of nitrergic neurons that expressed c-fos. These neurons did not contain glycine, ChAT, TH or GABA, but a subpopulation (15%) of them displayed glutamate-like immunoreactivity. Therefore, some of these neurons contain both an excitatory neurotransmitter (glutamate) and an excitatory neuromodulator (NO); the neurotransmitter content of the rest of them remains to be determined. Because some of the nitrergic neurons innervate brainstem motoneurons it is possible that they participate in the generation of tonic and excitatory phasic motor events that occur during AS. We also suggest that these nitrergic neurons may be involved in autonomic regulation during this state. In addition, because NO has trophic effects on target neurons, the present findings represent the first, albeit indirect, evidence for a possible trophic function of

Development and Evaluation of a Theory-Based Physical Activity Guidebook for Breast Cancer Survivors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vallance, Jeffrey K.; Courneya, Kerry S.; Taylor, Lorian M.; Plotnikoff, Ronald C.; Mackey, John R.

2008-01-01

This study's objective was to develop and evaluate the suitability and appropriateness of a theory-based physical activity (PA) guidebook for breast cancer survivors. Guidebook content was constructed based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) using salient exercise beliefs identified by breast cancer survivors in previous research. Expert…

Moderators of Theory-Based Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in 77 Randomized Controlled Trials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernard, Paquito; Carayol, Marion; Gourlan, Mathieu; Boiché, Julie; Romain, Ahmed Jérôme; Bortolon, Catherine; Lareyre, Olivier; Ninot, Gregory

2017-01-01

A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has recently showed that theory-based interventions designed to promote physical activity (PA) significantly increased PA behavior. The objective of the present study was to investigate the moderators of the efficacy of these theory-based interventions. Seventy-seven RCTs evaluating…

The Predictive Effects of Protection Motivation Theory on Intention and Behaviour of Physical Activity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

PubMed Central

Ali Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad; Abdolkarimi, Mahdi; Asadpour, Mohammad; Fathollahi, Mahmood Sheikh; Balaee, Parisa

2018-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Theory-based education tailored to target behaviour and group can be effective in promoting physical activity. AIM: The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive power of Protection Motivation Theory on intent and behaviour of Physical Activity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted on 250 patients in Rafsanjan, Iran. To examine the scores of protection motivation theory structures, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Its validity and reliability were confirmed. The level of physical activity was also measured by the International Short - form Physical Activity Inventory. Its validity and reliability were also approved. Data were analysed by statistical tests including correlation coefficient, chi-square, logistic regression and linear regression. RESULTS: The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between all the protection motivation theory constructs and the intention to do physical activity. The results showed that the Theory structures were able to predict 60% of the variance of physical activity intention. The results of logistic regression demonstrated that increase in the score of physical activity intent and self - efficacy increased the chance of higher level of physical activity by 3.4 and 1.5 times, respectively OR = (3.39, 1.54). CONCLUSION: Considering the ability of protection motivation theory structures to explain the physical activity behaviour, interventional designs are suggested based on the structures of this theory, especially to improve self -efficacy as the most powerful factor in predicting physical activity intention and behaviour. PMID:29731945

The Predictive Effects of Protection Motivation Theory on Intention and Behaviour of Physical Activity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

PubMed

Ali Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad; Abdolkarimi, Mahdi; Asadpour, Mohammad; Fathollahi, Mahmood Sheikh; Balaee, Parisa

2018-04-15

Theory-based education tailored to target behaviour and group can be effective in promoting physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive power of Protection Motivation Theory on intent and behaviour of Physical Activity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. This descriptive study was conducted on 250 patients in Rafsanjan, Iran. To examine the scores of protection motivation theory structures, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Its validity and reliability were confirmed. The level of physical activity was also measured by the International Short - form Physical Activity Inventory. Its validity and reliability were also approved. Data were analysed by statistical tests including correlation coefficient, chi-square, logistic regression and linear regression. The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between all the protection motivation theory constructs and the intention to do physical activity. The results showed that the Theory structures were able to predict 60% of the variance of physical activity intention. The results of logistic regression demonstrated that increase in the score of physical activity intent and self - efficacy increased the chance of higher level of physical activity by 3.4 and 1.5 times, respectively OR = (3.39, 1.54). Considering the ability of protection motivation theory structures to explain the physical activity behaviour, interventional designs are suggested based on the structures of this theory, especially to improve self -efficacy as the most powerful factor in predicting physical activity intention and behaviour.

Toward a theory of patient and consumer activation.

PubMed

Hibbard, Judith H; Mahoney, Eldon

2010-03-01

The purpose of this study is to begin the process of developing a theory of activation, to inform educational efforts and the design of interventions. Because the experience of positive emotions in daily life, tends to widen the individual's array of behavioral responses and increase their openness to new information, we examine how emotions relate to activation levels. A web survey was carried out in 2008 with a National sample of respondents between the ages of 25-75. The study achieved a 63% response rate with a final sample size of 843. The findings indicate that activation is linked with the experience of positive and negative emotion in daily life. Those low in activation are weighted down by negative affect and negative self-perception. Bringing about change in activation, likely means breaking this cycle of negative self-perception and emotions. Experiencing success can start a positive upward cycle, just like failure produces the opposite. By encouraging small steps toward improving health, ones that are realistic, given the individuals level of activation, it is possible to start that positive cycle. Effective educational efforts should focus on improving self-efficacy and the individual's self-concept as a self-manager. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous locomotor activity and life span. A test of the rate of living theory in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Lints, F A; Le Bourg, E; Lints, C V

1984-01-01

The spontaneous locomotor activity and life span of approximately 600 individuals of both sexes and of three widely different genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster have been measured. Neither at the individual nor at the populational level could a significant correlation between spontaneous locomotor activity and life span be found. The results are discussed in relation with Pearl's [The rate of living, London University Press, London 1928] rate of living theory. That theory has been tested in relation with environmental temperature, oxygen consumption and activity. It is shown that the theory has received no definite confirmation until now.

Difficulties in everyday life: young persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders perspectives. A chat-log analysis.

PubMed

Ahlström, Britt H; Wentz, Elisabet

2014-01-01

This study focuses on the everyday life of young persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are follow-up studies describing ADHD, and ASD in adults, and residual impairments that affect life. Few qualitative studies have been conducted on the subject of their experiences of everyday life, and even fewer are from young persons' perspectives. This study's aim was to describe how young persons with ADHD and ASD function and how they manage their everyday life based on analyses of Internet-based chat logs. Twelve young persons (7 males and 5 females aged 15-26) diagnosed with ADHD and ASD were included consecutively and offered 8 weeks of Internet-based Support and Coaching (IBSC). Data were collected from 12 chat logs (445 pages of text) produced interactively by the participants and the coaches. Qualitative content analysis was applied. The text was coded and sorted into subthemes and further interpreted into themes. The findings revealed two themes: "fighting against an everyday life lived in vulnerability" with the following subthemes: "difficult things," "stress and rest," and "when feelings and thoughts are a concern"; and the theme "struggling to find a life of one's own" with the following subthemes: "decide and carry out," "making life choices," and "taking care of oneself." Dealing with the problematic situations that everyday encompasses requires personal strength and a desire to find adequate solutions, as well as to discover a role in society. This study, into the provision of support and coaching over the Internet, led to more in-depth knowledge about these young persons' everyday lives and revealed their ability to use IBSC to express the complexity of everyday life for young persons with ADHD and ASD. The implications of the findings are that using online coaching makes available new opportunities for healthcare professionals to acknowledge these young persons' problems.

Active matter beyond mean-field: ring-kinetic theory for self-propelled particles.

PubMed

Chou, Yen-Liang; Ihle, Thomas

2015-02-01

Recently, Hanke et al. [Phys. Rev. E 88, 052309 (2013)] showed that mean-field kinetic theory fails to describe collective motion in soft active colloids and that correlations must not be neglected. Correlation effects are also expected to be essential in systems of biofilaments driven by molecular motors and in swarms of midges. To obtain correlations in an active matter system from first principles, we derive a ring-kinetic theory for Vicsek-style models of self-propelled agents from the exact N-particle evolution equation in phase space. The theory goes beyond mean-field and does not rely on Boltzmann's approximation of molecular chaos. It can handle precollisional correlations and cluster formation, which are both important to understand the phase transition to collective motion. We propose a diagrammatic technique to perform a small-density expansion of the collision operator and derive the first two equations of the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) hierarchy. An algorithm is presented that numerically solves the evolution equation for the two-particle correlations on a lattice. Agent-based simulations are performed and informative quantities such as orientational and density correlation functions are compared with those obtained by ring-kinetic theory. Excellent quantitative agreement between simulations and theory is found at not-too-small noises and mean free paths. This shows that there are parameter ranges in Vicsek-like models where the correlated closure of the BBGKY hierarchy gives correct and nontrivial results. We calculate the dependence of the orientational correlations on distance in the disordered phase and find that it seems to be consistent with a power law with an exponent around -1.8, followed by an exponential decay. General limitations of the kinetic theory and its numerical solution are discussed.

Videogames, Tools for Change: A Study Based on Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Méndez, Laura; Lacasa, Pilar

2015-01-01

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to provide a framework for analysis from which to interpret the transformations that take place, as perceived by the participants, when commercial video games are used in the classroom. We will show how Activity Theory (AT) is able to explain and interpret these changes. Method: Case studies are…

INCORPORATING ROUTINE ACTIVITIES, ACTIVITY SPACES, AND SITUATIONAL DEFINITIONS INTO THE SOCIAL SCHEMATIC THEORY OF CRIME*

PubMed Central

BARR, ASHLEY B.; LEI, MAN-KIT; STEWART, ERIC

2014-01-01

Simons and Burt’s (2011) social schematic theory (SST) of crime posits that adverse social factors are associated with offending because they promote a set of social schemas (i.e., a criminogenic knowledge structure) that elevates the probability of situational definitions favorable to crime. This study extends the SST model by incorporating the role of contexts for action. Furthermore, the study advances tests of the SST by incorporating a measure of criminogenic situational definitions to assess whether such definitions mediate the effects of schemas and contexts on crime. Structural equation models using 10 years of panel data from 582 African American youth provided strong support for the expanded theory. The results suggest that childhood and adolescent social adversity fosters a criminogenic knowledge structure as well as selection into criminogenic activity spaces and risky activities, all of which increase the likelihood of offending largely through situational definitions. Additionally, evidence shows that the criminogenic knowledge structure interacts with settings to amplify the likelihood of situational definitions favorable to crime. PMID:26392633

Theory-based physical activity beliefs by race and activity levels among older adults.

PubMed

Kosma, Maria; Cardinal, Bradley J

2016-01-01

Given the benefits of physical activity and the high proportion of inactivity among older adults, the purpose was to elicit theory-based behavioral, normative, and control physical activity beliefs among 140 educationally and economically diverse older adults and compare their beliefs by race (Blacks vs. Whites) and physical activity levels (inactive/underactive vs. highly active individuals). This was an elicitation study that took place in eight, mostly rural community settings in a Southeastern US state, such as Council of Aging Offices, retirement centers, and churches. Participants' behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were elicited via in person interviews. A valid and reliable questionnaire was also used to assess their physical activity levels. According to the content analysis, inactive/underactive participants reported fewer physical activity advantages than highly active participants. Common physical activity advantages between the two groups were overall health, emotional functioning, and physical functioning. Similar physical activity advantages were reported among Blacks and Whites with overall health being the most important advantage. The most common physical activity disadvantages and barriers for all four groups were falls, injuries, pain, and health issues. Inactive/underactive individuals and Blacks tended to report more disadvantages and barriers than their peers. Common physical activity supporters were family members, friends and peers, and health-care professionals. In their physical activity motivational programs, health promoters should reinforce physical activity benefits, social support, access to activity programs, and safety when intervening among older adults.

Non-neuronal cardiac cholinergic system influences CNS via the vagus nerve to acquire a stress-refractory propensity.

PubMed

Oikawa, Shino; Kai, Yuko; Tsuda, Masayuki; Ohata, Hisayuki; Mano, Asuka; Mizoguchi, Naoko; Sugama, Shuei; Nemoto, Takahiro; Suzuki, Kenji; Kurabayashi, Atsushi; Muramoto, Kazuyo; Kaneda, Makoto; Kakinuma, Yoshihiko

2016-11-01

We previously developed cardiac ventricle-specific choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) gene-overexpressing transgenic mice (ChAT tgm), i.e. an in vivo model of the cardiac non-neuronal acetylcholine (NNA) system or non-neuronal cardiac cholinergic system (NNCCS). By using this murine model, we determined that this system was responsible for characteristics of resistance to ischaemia, or hypoxia, via the modulation of cellular energy metabolism and angiogenesis. In line with our previous study, neuronal ChAT-immunoreactivity in the ChAT tgm brains was not altered from that in the wild-type (WT) mice brains; in contrast, the ChAT tgm hearts were the organs with the highest expression of the ChAT transgene. ChAT tgm showed specific traits in a central nervous system (CNS) phenotype, including decreased response to restraint stress, less depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviours and anti-convulsive effects, all of which may benefit the heart. These phenotypes, induced by the activation of cardiac NNCCS, were dependent on the vagus nerve, because vagus nerve stimulation (VS) in WT mice also evoked phenotypes similar to those of ChAT tgm, which display higher vagus nerve discharge frequency; in contrast, lateral vagotomy attenuated these traits in ChAT tgm to levels observed in WT mice. Furthermore, ChAT tgm induced several biomarkers of VS responsible for anti-convulsive and anti-depressive-like effects. These results suggest that the augmentation of the NNCCS transduces an effective and beneficial signal to the afferent pathway, which mimics VS. Therefore, the present study supports our hypothesis that activation of the NNCCS modifies CNS to a more stress-resistant state through vagus nerve activity. © 2016 The Author(s). published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

Motoneurons regulate the central pattern generator during drug-induced locomotor-like activity in the neonatal mouse

PubMed Central

Falgairolle, Melanie; Puhl, Joshua G; Pujala, Avinash; Liu, Wenfang; O’Donovan, Michael J

2017-01-01

Motoneurons are traditionally viewed as the output of the spinal cord that do not influence locomotor rhythmogenesis. We assessed the role of motoneuron firing during ongoing locomotor-like activity in neonatal mice expressing archaerhopsin-3 (Arch), halorhodopsin (eNpHR), or channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) in Choline acetyltransferase neurons (ChAT+) or Arch in LIM-homeodomain transcription factor Isl1+ neurons. Illumination of the lumbar cord in mice expressing eNpHR or Arch in ChAT+ or Isl1+ neurons, depressed motoneuron discharge, transiently decreased the frequency, and perturbed the phasing of the locomotor-like rhythm. When the light was turned off motoneuron firing and locomotor frequency both transiently increased. These effects were not due to cholinergic neurotransmission, persisted during partial blockade of gap junctions and were mediated, in part, by AMPAergic transmission. In spinal cords expressing ChR2, illumination increased motoneuron discharge and transiently accelerated the rhythm. We conclude that motoneurons provide feedback to the central pattern generator (CPG) during drug-induced locomotor-like activity. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26622.001 PMID:28671548

THEOR"ACTIVE" Learning: How "Theory" and "Practice" Meet. Perception of Students at the University of Tampere, Finland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajbhandari, Mani Man Singh; Basaran, Kenan; Hujala, Eeva; Kinos, Jarmo

2011-01-01

THEOR"ACTIVE" learning is a multi dimensional attachment of theories and practices. The study explores to identify the implementation of theories into practices and how it is being perceived by the students. The research on THEOR"ACTIVE" was conducted with the master degree student coming from different countries at the…

Social-cognitive theories for predicting physical activity behaviours of employed women with and without young children.

PubMed

Tavares, Leonor S; Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Loucaides, Constantinos

2009-03-01

Chronic disease interventions for women have been understudied in the workplace domain. Understanding the role of cognitions in individual behaviour can help motivate change and suggest directions for achieving improvements in health. The purpose of this study was to identify psychosocial constructs and social-cognitive theories [e.g. Transtheoretical model (TTM), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)] that are most salient for explaining physical activity behaviour among employed women (n = 1183). Demographic information, and social-cognitive measures related to physical activity, intention and behaviours (e.g. stage of change, energy expenditure) were assessed. A series of multiple regression analyses predicting intention, energy expenditure and stage of change were conducted separately for: (1) women with young children (n = 302), and (2) women without young children (n = 881) for each of the respective social-cognitive theories. Although taken as a whole the results were relatively similar between the two sub-groups of women for each of the socio-cognitive theories examined in this study, differences were observed in the relative contributions of the theoretical constructs between the two sub-groups. Results also indicate that self-efficacy and intention were the strongest predictors of behaviour among both women with and without young children. The explained variances (R(2)) for the theories examined in this study for different sub-groups ranged from 16 to 60%, generally reflecting what has been reported in other studies within the physical activity domain. The results of this study could be useful in guiding future research and in designing physical activity intervention programs for these specific population groups. Integrating approaches of individual lifestyle change while addressing issues related to creating supportive environments for women in various life stages is a suggested strategy

Social skills differences among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder types in a chat room assessment task.

PubMed

Mikami, Amori Yee; Huang-Pollock, Cynthia L; Pfiffner, Linda J; McBurnett, Keith; Hangai, Dana

2007-08-01

This study assessed social skills in 116 children aged 7-12 with ADHD-Combined Type (ADHD-C; n=33), ADHD-Inattentive Type (ADHD-I; n=45), and comparison children (n=38), with consideration of the role sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms play in distinguishing profiles. Social skills were assessed using a novel computerized chat room task, in which participants were encouraged to join a conversation and type messages to interact with four computer-simulated peers. Every participant received the identical stimulus from the simulated peers, but was free to respond to it in his or her own unique way. Relative to comparison children, children with ADHD-C made off-topic and hostile responses; children with ADHD-I made off-topic responses, few responses and showed poor memory for the conversation. ADHD subtype differences remained after statistical control of IQ, reading achievement, typing skill, and comorbid disruptive behavior disorders. SCT symptoms, most prevalent among children with ADHD-I, predicted a distinct pattern of social withdrawal and lower hostility. Parent and teacher ratings and in-vivo observations of social skills correlate with this new measure.

Brain cholinergic involvement during the rapid development of tolerance to morphine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wahba, Z. Z.; Oriaku, E. T.; Soliman, S. F. A.

1987-01-01

The effect of repeated administration of morphine on the activities of the cholinergic enzymes, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE), in specific brain regions were studied in rats treated with 10 mg/kg morphine for one or two days. Repeated administration of morphine was associated with a decline in the degree of analgesia produced and with a significant increase of AChE activity of the medulla oblongata. A single injection of morphine resulted in a significant decline in ChAT activity in the hypothalamus, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata regions. After two consecutive injections, no decline in ChAT was observed in these regions, while in the cerebral cortex the second administration elicited a significant decline. The results suggest that the development of tolerance to morphine may be mediated through changes in ChAT activity and lend support to the involvement of the central cholinergic system in narcotic tolerance.

Active-Passive-Intuitive Learning Theory: A Unified Theory of Learning and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sigette, Tyson

2009-01-01

This paper addresses many theories of learning and human development which are very similar with regards as to how they suggest learning occurs. The differences in most of the theories exist in how they treat the development of the learner compared to methods of teaching. Most of the major learning theories taught to educators today are based on…

The Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT): Rationale, Design, and Challenges of a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating a Standard Surgical Procedure in a Pediatric Population

PubMed Central

Redline, Susan; Amin, Raouf; Beebe, Dean; Chervin, Ronald D.; Garetz, Susan L.; Giordani, Bruno; Marcus, Carole L.; Moore, Renee H.; Rosen, Carol L.; Arens, Raanan; Gozal, David; Katz, Eliot S.; Mitchell, Ronald B.; Muzumdar, Hiren; Taylor, H.G.; Thomas, Nina; Ellenberg, Susan

2011-01-01

Each year, over 500,000 adenotonsillectomies (AT), mostly for the treatment of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are performed in the US in children under 15 years of age. No definitive study, however, has been yet conducted that has rigorously evaluated the effectiveness of AT for not only improving sleep disordered breathing, but also for improving clinically relevant outcomes, such as neurocognitive function, behavior, and quality of life. The Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT) was designed to assess neuropsychological and health outcomes in children randomized to receive early AT (eAT) as compared to Watchful Waiting with Supportive Care (WWSC). Important secondary goals of the study are to evaluate outcomes in subgroups defined by obesity and race. This paper addresses key elements in the design and implementation of a controlled trial for a widely used “standard practice” surgical intervention in a pediatric population, that include establishment of standardized data collection procedures across sites for a wide variety of data types, establishment of equipoise, and approaches for minimizing unblinding of selected key personnel. The study framework that was established should provide a useful template for other pediatric controlled studies or other studies that evaluate surgical interventions. Citation: Redline S; Amin R; Beebe D; Chervin RD; Garetz SL; Giordani B; Marcus CL; Moore RH; Rosen CL; Arens R; Gozal D; Katz ES; Mitchell RB; Muzumdar H; Taylor HG; Thomas N; Ellenberg S. The Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT): rationale, design, and challenges of a randomized controlled trial evaluating a standard surgical procedure in a pediatric population. SLEEP 2011;34(11):1509-1517. PMID:22043122

Teaching Theory X and Theory Y in Organizational Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noland, Carey

2014-01-01

The purpose of the activity described here is to integrate McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y into a group application: design a syllabus that embodies either Theory X or Theory Y tenets. Students should be able to differentiate between Theory X and Theory Y, create a syllabus based on Theory X or Theory Y tenets, evaluate the different syllabi…

Production Workers' Literacy and Numeracy Practices: Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as an Analytical Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yasukawa, Keiko; Brown, Tony; Black, Stephen

2013-01-01

Public policy discourses claim that there is a "crisis" in the literacy and numeracy levels of the Australian workforce. In this paper, we propose a methodology for examining this "crisis" from a critical perspective. We draw on findings from an ongoing research project by the authors which investigates production workers'…

Geographical Theories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golledge, Reginald G.

1996-01-01

Discusses the origin of theories in geography and particularly the development of location theories. Considers the influence of economic theory on agricultural land use, industrial location, and geographic location theories. Explores a set of interrelated activities that show how the marketing process illustrates process theory. (MJP)

Exploration of Tensions in a Mobile-Technology Supported Fieldtrip: An Activity Theory Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai, Chih-Hung; Chen, Fei-Ching; Yang, Jie-Chi

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze how mobile technologies were incorporated and implemented in an outdoor learning activity. Two classes of primary school students participated in the experiment. Using activity theory as an analytical framework, it is found that underlying tensions provided rich insights into system dynamics and that…

The Active plus protocol: systematic development of two theory- and evidence-based tailored physical activity interventions for the over-fifties.

PubMed

van Stralen, Maartje M; Kok, Gerjo; de Vries, Hein; Mudde, Aart N; Bolman, Catherine; Lechner, Lilian

2008-12-04

Limited data are available on the development, implementation and evaluation processes of physical activity promotion programmes among older adults. More integrative insights into interventions describing the planned systematic development, implementation and evaluation are needed. The purpose of this study is to give an integrative insight into the development of the Active plus programme applying the six-step Intervention Mapping protocol. The Active plus programme consisted of two theory- and evidence-based tailored physical activity promotion interventions, both comprising three tailored letters delivered over four months and aimed at raising awareness of insufficient physical activity, and stimulating physical activity initiation and maintenance among the over-fifties. The first intervention, the basic tailored intervention, provided tailored letters that intervened on the psychosocial determinants of physical activity. The second intervention, the intervention plus, provided the same tailored information but additionally provided tailored information about physical activity opportunities in the specific environment in which the older adults lived. This environment-based component also provided access to a forum and e-buddy system on a website. A plan for implementation and evaluation is also described. The planned development of the Active plus programme resulted in two theory- and evidence-based tailored physical activity interventions targeted at the over-fifties. Dutch Trial Register NTR 920.

Person-based differences in pay reactions: A compensation-activation theory and integrative conceptual review.

PubMed

Fulmer, Ingrid Smithey; Shaw, Jason D

2018-06-07

Compensation research has focused traditionally on how pay design characteristics (e.g., pay level, individual or group incentives) relate to average employee outcomes and, in toto, on how these outcomes affect organizational performance. Recently, scholars have begun to pay more attention to how individuals vary in the strength of their reactions to pay. Empirical research in several disciplines examines how the interplay of pay systems and person-based characteristics (psychological individual differences, demographics, and relative performance or position in a group) relate to important work-related outcomes. We develop a compensation-activation theory that frames compensation design characteristics as workplace "situations" providing cues that activate individuals' corresponding fundamental social motives made salient due to chronic or transient person-based characteristics. Where activation occurs, stronger-than-average responses to the compensation "situation" are expected. Using the theory as a lens, we synthesize and reinterpret existing research on person-based reactions to pay characteristics, including sorting, incentive/motivational effects, and effects on collective pay system reactions and unit/organizational outcomes. We conclude with a research agenda aimed at refining compensation-activation theory and advancing the study of compensation as it affects individual and organizational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Transition path theory analysis of c-Src kinase activation

PubMed Central

Meng, Yilin; Shukla, Diwakar; Pande, Vijay S.; Roux, Benoît

2016-01-01

Nonreceptor tyrosine kinases of the Src family are large multidomain allosteric proteins that are crucial to cellular signaling pathways. In a previous study, we generated a Markov state model (MSM) to simulate the activation of c-Src catalytic domain, used as a prototypical tyrosine kinase. The long-time kinetics of transition predicted by the MSM was in agreement with experimental observations. In the present study, we apply the framework of transition path theory (TPT) to the previously constructed MSM to characterize the main features of the activation pathway. The analysis indicates that the activating transition, in which the activation loop first opens up followed by an inward rotation of the αC-helix, takes place via a dense set of intermediate microstates distributed within a fairly broad “transition tube” in a multidimensional conformational subspace connecting the two end-point conformations. Multiple microstates with negligible equilibrium probabilities carry a large transition flux associated with the activating transition, which explains why extensive conformational sampling is necessary to accurately determine the kinetics of activation. Our results suggest that the combination of MSM with TPT provides an effective framework to represent conformational transitions in complex biomolecular systems. PMID:27482115

GM1 ganglioside counteracts cholinergic and behavioral deficits induced in the rat by intracerebral injection of vincristine.

PubMed

Di Patre, P L; Abbamondi, A; Bartolini, L; Pepeu, G

1989-03-14

The intracerebroventricular injection of 0.5 mg of vincristine sulphate in adult male Wistar rats caused within 11 days the impairment of motor and reflexive behavior, evaluated by the elevated platform and hanging wire tests, a decrease in food consumption and loss of body weight, a 45% decrease in hippocampal choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and a 35% decrease in the rate of high-affinity choline uptake (HACU) in the injected side. The latter effects are due to the death of neurons in the respective hemiseptum. Intrafimbrial injection of vincristine caused the same decrease in ChAT activity without behavioral alterations. Daily i.p. administration of GM1 ganglioside, beginning immediately after the vincristine injection, prevented dose dependently the decrease in ChAT activity and HACU rate. Prevention was complete with the 60 mg/kg dose. The same dose was equally active on ChAT activity when given s.c. but was inactive p.o. The ChAT decrease was also prevented when GM1 treatment began 5 days after vincristine. GM1 60 mg/kg i.p. also reduced the behavioral toxicity of vincristine. The possibility that GM1 might prevent vincristine toxicity by antagonizing its disruption of neurofilaments and axonal flow is discussed.

Recurrent Deletions and Reciprocal Duplications of 10q11.21q11.23 Including CHAT and SLC18A3 are Likely Mediated by Complex Low-Copy Repeats

PubMed Central

Stankiewicz, Paweł; Kulkarni, Shashikant; Dharmadhikari, Avinash V.; Sampath, Srirangan; Bhatt, Samarth S.; Shaikh, Tamim H.; Xia, Zhilian; Pursley, Amber N.; Cooper, M. Lance; Shinawi, Marwan; Paciorkowski, Alex R.; Grange, Dorothy K.; Noetzel, Michael J.; Saunders, Scott; Simons, Paul; Summar, Marshall; Lee, Brendan; Scaglia, Fernando; Fellmann, Florence; Martinet, Danielle; Beckmann, Jacques S.; Asamoah, Alexander; Platky, Kathryn; Sparks, Susan; Martin, Ann S.; Madan-Khetarpal, Suneeta; Hoover, Jacqueline; Medne, Livija; Bonnemann, Carsten G.; Moeschler, John B.; Vallee, Stephanie E.; Parikh, Sumit; Irwin, Polly; Dalzell, Victoria P.; Smith, Wendy E.; Banks, Valerie C.; Flannery, David B.; Lovell, Carolyn M.; Bellus, Gary A.; Golden-Grant, Kathryn; Gorski, Jerome L.; Kussmann, Jennifer L.; McGregor, Tracy L.; Hamid, Rizwan; Pfotenhauer, Jean; Ballif, Blake C.; Shaw, Chad A.; Kang, Sung-Hae L.; Bacino, Carlos A.; Patel, Ankita; Rosenfeld, Jill A.; Cheung, Sau Wai; Shaffer, Lisa G.

2013-01-01

We report 24 unrelated individuals with deletions and 17 additional cases with duplications at 10q11.21q21.1 identified by chromosomal microarray analysis. The rearrangements range in size from 0.3 to 12 Mb. Nineteen of the deletions and eight duplications are flanked by large, directly oriented segmental duplications of >98% sequence identity, suggesting that nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR) caused these genomic rearrangements. Nine individuals with deletions and five with duplications have additional copy number changes. Detailed clinical evaluation of 20 patients with deletions revealed variable clinical features, with developmental delay (DD) and/or intellectual disability (ID) as the only features common to a majority of individuals. We suggest that some of the other features present in more than one patient with deletion, including hypotonia, sleep apnea, chronic constipation, gastroesophageal and vesicoureteral refluxes, epilepsy, ataxia, dysphagia, nystagmus, and ptosis may result from deletion of the CHAT gene, encoding choline acetyltransferase, and the SLC18A3 gene, mapping in the first intron of CHAT and encoding vesicular acetylcholine transporter. The phenotypic diversity and presence of the deletion in apparently normal carrier parents suggest that subjects carrying 10q11.21q11.23 deletions may exhibit variable phenotypic expressivity and incomplete penetrance influenced by additional genetic and nongenetic modifiers. PMID:21948486

A theory of how active behavior stabilises neural activity: Neural gain modulation by closed-loop environmental feedback

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

During active behaviours like running, swimming, whisking or sniffing, motor actions shape sensory input and sensory percepts guide future motor commands. Ongoing cycles of sensory and motor processing constitute a closed-loop feedback system which is central to motor control and, it has been argued, for perceptual processes. This closed-loop feedback is mediated by brainwide neural circuits but how the presence of feedback signals impacts on the dynamics and function of neurons is not well understood. Here we present a simple theory suggesting that closed-loop feedback between the brain/body/environment can modulate neural gain and, consequently, change endogenous neural fluctuations and responses to sensory input. We support this theory with modeling and data analysis in two vertebrate systems. First, in a model of rodent whisking we show that negative feedback mediated by whisking vibrissa can suppress coherent neural fluctuations and neural responses to sensory input in the barrel cortex. We argue this suppression provides an appealing account of a brain state transition (a marked change in global brain activity) coincident with the onset of whisking in rodents. Moreover, this mechanism suggests a novel signal detection mechanism that selectively accentuates active, rather than passive, whisker touch signals. This mechanism is consistent with a predictive coding strategy that is sensitive to the consequences of motor actions rather than the difference between the predicted and actual sensory input. We further support the theory by re-analysing previously published two-photon data recorded in zebrafish larvae performing closed-loop optomotor behaviour in a virtual swim simulator. We show, as predicted by this theory, that the degree to which each cell contributes in linking sensory and motor signals well explains how much its neural fluctuations are suppressed by closed-loop optomotor behaviour. More generally we argue that our results demonstrate the dependence

A theory of how active behavior stabilises neural activity: Neural gain modulation by closed-loop environmental feedback.

PubMed

Buckley, Christopher L; Toyoizumi, Taro

2018-01-01

During active behaviours like running, swimming, whisking or sniffing, motor actions shape sensory input and sensory percepts guide future motor commands. Ongoing cycles of sensory and motor processing constitute a closed-loop feedback system which is central to motor control and, it has been argued, for perceptual processes. This closed-loop feedback is mediated by brainwide neural circuits but how the presence of feedback signals impacts on the dynamics and function of neurons is not well understood. Here we present a simple theory suggesting that closed-loop feedback between the brain/body/environment can modulate neural gain and, consequently, change endogenous neural fluctuations and responses to sensory input. We support this theory with modeling and data analysis in two vertebrate systems. First, in a model of rodent whisking we show that negative feedback mediated by whisking vibrissa can suppress coherent neural fluctuations and neural responses to sensory input in the barrel cortex. We argue this suppression provides an appealing account of a brain state transition (a marked change in global brain activity) coincident with the onset of whisking in rodents. Moreover, this mechanism suggests a novel signal detection mechanism that selectively accentuates active, rather than passive, whisker touch signals. This mechanism is consistent with a predictive coding strategy that is sensitive to the consequences of motor actions rather than the difference between the predicted and actual sensory input. We further support the theory by re-analysing previously published two-photon data recorded in zebrafish larvae performing closed-loop optomotor behaviour in a virtual swim simulator. We show, as predicted by this theory, that the degree to which each cell contributes in linking sensory and motor signals well explains how much its neural fluctuations are suppressed by closed-loop optomotor behaviour. More generally we argue that our results demonstrate the dependence

Cholinoceptive and cholinergic properties of cardiomyocytes involving an amplification mechanism for vagal efferent effects in sparsely innervated ventricular myocardium.

PubMed

Kakinuma, Yoshihiko; Akiyama, Tsuyoshi; Sato, Takayuki

2009-09-01

Our recent studies have shown that, as indicated by vagal stimulation, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil, an anti-Alzheimer's disease drug, prevents progression of heart failure in rats with myocardial infarction, and activates a common cell survival signal shared by acetylcholine (ACh) in vitro. On the basis of this and evidence that vagal innervation is extremely poor in the left ventricle, we assessed the hypothesis that ACh is produced by cardiomyocytes, which promotes its synthesis via a positive feedback mechanism. Rat cardiomyocytes expressed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the cytoplasm and vesicular acetylcholine transporter with the vesicular structure identified by immunogold electron microscopy, suggesting that cardiomyocytes possess components for ACh synthesis. Intracellular ACh in rat cardiomyocytes was identified with physostigmine or donepezil. However, with atropine, the basal ACh content was reduced. In response to exogenous ACh or pilocarpine, cardiomyocytes increased the transcriptional activity of the ChAT gene through a muscarinic receptor and ChAT protein expression, and, finally, the intracellular ACh level was upregulated by pilocarpine. Knockdown of ChAT by small interfering RNA accelerated cellular energy metabolism, which is suppressed by ACh. Although physostigmine had a minimal effect on the ChAT promoter activity by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, donepezil resulted in elevation of the activity, protein expression and intracellular ACh level even in the presence of sufficient physostigmine. Orally administered donepezil in mice increased the ChAT promoter activity in a reporter gene-transferred quadriceps femoris muscle and the amount of cardiac ChAT protein. These findings suggest that cardiomyocytes possess an ACh synthesis system, which is positively modulated by cholinergic stimuli. Such an amplification system in cardiomyocytes may contribute to the beneficial effects of vagal stimulation on the ventricles.

An Activity Theory Perspective on Student-Reported Contradictions in International Telecollaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basharina, Olga K.

2007-01-01

This process-oriented study focuses on contradictions that emerged in a WebCT bulletin board collaboration among English learners from Japan, Mexico and Russia, and explains them from the perspective of activity theory (Leont'ev, 1978, 1981; Engestrom, 1987, 1999). The study identified a) two "intra-cultural" contradictions--to post or…

Large-Scale Investigation of the Role of Trait Activation Theory for Understanding Assessment Center Convergent and Discriminant Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lievens, Filip; Chasteen, Christopher S.; Day, Eric Anthony; Christiansen, Neil D.

2006-01-01

This study used trait activation theory as a theoretical framework to conduct a large-scale test of the interactionist explanation of the convergent and discriminant validity findings obtained in assessment centers. Trait activation theory specifies the conditions in which cross-situationally consistent and inconsistent candidate performances are…

How Work Positions Affect the Research Activity and Information Behaviour of Laboratory Scientists in the Research Lifecycle: Applying Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, Nahyun

2017-01-01

Introduction: This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of research and information activities of laboratory scientists in different work positions throughout a research lifecycle. Activity theory was applied as the conceptual and analytical framework. Method: Taking a qualitative research approach, in-depth interviews and field…

Cultural-historical activity theory: Vygotsky's forgotten and suppressed legacy and its implication for mathematics education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2012-03-01

Cultural-historical activity theory—with historical roots in dialectical materialism and the social psychology to which it has given rise—has experienced exponential growth in its acceptance by scholars interested in understanding knowing and learning writ large. In education, this theory has constituted something like a well kept secret that is only in the process of gaining larger levels of acceptance. Mathematics educators are only beginning to realise the tremendous advantages that the theory provides over other theories. In this review essay, I articulate the theory as it may relate to the issues that concern mathematics education and educators with a particular focus on the way in which it addresses logical contradictions in existing theories.

Phishing for suitable targets in the Netherlands: routine activity theory and phishing victimization.

PubMed

Leukfeldt, E Rutger

2014-08-01

This article investigates phishing victims, especially the increased or decreased risk of victimization, using data from a cybercrime victim survey in the Netherlands (n=10,316). Routine activity theory provides the theoretical perspective. According to routine activity theory, several factors influence the risk of victimization. A multivariate analysis was conducted to assess which factors actually lead to increased risk of victimization. The model included background and financial data of victims, their Internet activities, and the degree to which they were "digitally accessible" to an offender. The analysis showed that personal background and financial characteristics play no role in phishing victimization. Among eight Internet activities, only "targeted browsing" led to increased risk. As for accessibility, using popular operating systems and web browsers does not lead to greater risk, while having up-to-date antivirus software as a technically capable guardian has no effect. The analysis showed no one, clearly defined group has an increased chance of becoming a victim. Target hardening may help, but opportunities for prevention campaigns aimed at a specific target group or dangerous online activities are limited. Therefore, situational crime prevention will have to come from a different angle. Banks could play the role of capable guardian.

Influences of personality traits and continuation intentions on physical activity participation within the theory of planned behaviour.

PubMed

Chatzisarantis, Nikos L D; Hagger, Martin S

2008-01-01

Previous research has suggested that the theory of planned behaviour is insufficient in capturing all the antecedents of physical activity participation and that continuation intentions or personality traits may improve the predictive validity of the model. The present study examined the combined effects of continuation intentions and personality traits on health behaviour within the theory of planned behaviour. To examine these effects, 180 university students (N = 180, Male = 87, Female = 93, Age = 19.14 years, SD = 0.94) completed self-report measures of the theory of planned behaviour, personality traits and continuation intentions. After 5 weeks, perceived achievement of behavioural outcomes and actual participation in physical activities were assessed. Results supported discriminant validity between continuation intentions, conscientiousness and extroversion and indicated that perceived achievement of behavioural outcomes and continuation intentions of failure predicted physical activity participation after controlling for personality effects, past behaviour and other variables in the theory of planned behaviour. In addition, results indicated that conscientiousness moderated the effects of continuation intentions of failure on physical activity such that continuation intentions of failure predicted physical activity participation among conscientious and not among less conscientious individuals. These findings suggest that the effects of continuation intentions on health behaviour are contingent on personality characteristics.

Generalized-active-space pair-density functional theory: an efficient method to study large, strongly correlated, conjugated systems.

PubMed

Ghosh, Soumen; Cramer, Christopher J; Truhlar, Donald G; Gagliardi, Laura

2017-04-01

Predicting ground- and excited-state properties of open-shell organic molecules by electronic structure theory can be challenging because an accurate treatment has to correctly describe both static and dynamic electron correlation. Strongly correlated systems, i.e. , systems with near-degeneracy correlation effects, are particularly troublesome. Multiconfigurational wave function methods based on an active space are adequate in principle, but it is impractical to capture most of the dynamic correlation in these methods for systems characterized by many active electrons. We recently developed a new method called multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), that combines the advantages of wave function theory and density functional theory to provide a more practical treatment of strongly correlated systems. Here we present calculations of the singlet-triplet gaps in oligoacenes ranging from naphthalene to dodecacene. Calculations were performed for unprecedently large orbitally optimized active spaces of 50 electrons in 50 orbitals, and we test a range of active spaces and active space partitions, including four kinds of frontier orbital partitions. We show that MC-PDFT can predict the singlet-triplet splittings for oligoacenes consistent with the best available and much more expensive methods, and indeed MC-PDFT may constitute the benchmark against which those other models should be compared, given the absence of experimental data.

A Psychometric Approach to Theory-Based Behavior Change Intervention Development: Example From the Colorado Meaning-Activity Project.

PubMed

Masters, Kevin S; Ross, Kaile M; Hooker, Stephanie A; Wooldridge, Jennalee L

2018-05-18

There has been a notable disconnect between theories of behavior change and behavior change interventions. Because few interventions are both explicitly and adequately theory-based, investigators cannot assess the impact of theory on intervention effectiveness. Theory-based interventions, designed to deliberately engage the theory's proposed mechanisms of change, are needed to adequately test theories. Thus, systematic approaches to theory-based intervention development are needed. This article will introduce and discuss the psychometric method of developing theory-based interventions. The psychometric approach to intervention development utilizes basic psychometric principles at each step of the intervention development process in order to build a theoretically driven intervention to, subsequently, be tested in process (mechanism) and outcome studies. Five stages of intervention development are presented as follows: (i) Choice of theory; (ii) Identification and characterization of key concepts and expected relations; (iii) Intervention construction; (iv) Initial testing and revision; and (v) Empirical testing of the intervention. Examples of this approach from the Colorado Meaning-Activity Project (COMAP) are presented. Based on self-determination theory integrated with meaning or purpose, and utilizing a motivational interviewing approach, the COMAP intervention is individually based with an initial interview followed by smart phone-delivered interventions for increasing daily activity. The psychometric approach to intervention development is one method to ensure careful consideration of theory in all steps of intervention development. This structured approach supports developing a research culture that endorses deliberate and systematic operationalization of theory into behavior change intervention from the outset of intervention development.

Trust Development With the Spanish-Speaking Mexican American Patient: A Grounded Theory Study.

PubMed

Jones, Sharon M

2018-06-01

Interpersonal trust between patient and nurse is important in patient-centered care. Trust development may be more difficult if the patient and nurse do not speak the same language. In this grounded theory study, Spanish-speaking Mexican American adults ( n = 20) hospitalized on a medical-surgical or obstetric unit in the Midwestern United States were interviewed. Through data analysis, a model of how trust develops between nurse and patient revealed eight categories and the core category Caring for Me Well Even When Not Understanding Me. The beginning phase had four categories: Asking for Help, Bothering, Communicating, and Understanding. The middle phase had two categories: Platicando (chatting) and Being Available. The end point category was Having Trust, and outcomes were Feeling Comfortable and Feeling Supported. The language barrier was a hindrance to trust development but the nurse's way of being (personality) was more important. Therefore, the patient did develop trust with nurses who did not speak Spanish.

Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory Predicts Spin-State Ordering in Iron Complexes with the Same Accuracy as Complete Active Space Second-Order Perturbation Theory at a Significantly Reduced Computational Cost.

PubMed

Wilbraham, Liam; Verma, Pragya; Truhlar, Donald G; Gagliardi, Laura; Ciofini, Ilaria

2017-05-04

The spin-state orderings in nine Fe(II) and Fe(III) complexes with ligands of diverse ligand-field strength were investigated with multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT). The performance of this method was compared to that of complete active space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) and Kohn-Sham density functional theory. We also investigated the dependence of CASPT2 and MC-PDFT results on the size of the active-space. MC-PDFT reproduces the CASPT2 spin-state ordering, the dependence on the ligand field strength, and the dependence on active space at a computational cost that is significantly reduced as compared to CASPT2.

Activity Theory, Complexity and Sports Coaching: An Epistemology for a Discipline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Robyn L.; Edwards, Christian; Filho, I. A. Tuim Viotto

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is twofold. First, it is to advance the case for activity theory (AT) as a credible and alternative lens to view and research sports coaching. Second, it is to position this assertion within the wider debate about the epistemology of coaching. Following a framing introduction, a more comprehensive review of the development…

The activation strain model and molecular orbital theory

PubMed Central

Wolters, Lando P; Bickelhaupt, F Matthias

2015-01-01

The activation strain model is a powerful tool for understanding reactivity, or inertness, of molecular species. This is done by relating the relative energy of a molecular complex along the reaction energy profile to the structural rigidity of the reactants and the strength of their mutual interactions: ΔE(ζ) = ΔEstrain(ζ) + ΔEint(ζ). We provide a detailed discussion of the model, and elaborate on its strong connection with molecular orbital theory. Using these approaches, a causal relationship is revealed between the properties of the reactants and their reactivity, e.g., reaction barriers and plausible reaction mechanisms. This methodology may reveal intriguing parallels between completely different types of chemical transformations. Thus, the activation strain model constitutes a unifying framework that furthers the development of cross-disciplinary concepts throughout various fields of chemistry. We illustrate the activation strain model in action with selected examples from literature. These examples demonstrate how the methodology is applied to different research questions, how results are interpreted, and how insights into one chemical phenomenon can lead to an improved understanding of another, seemingly completely different chemical process. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2015, 5:324–343. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1221 PMID:26753009

Randomized controlled trial of physical activity, cognition, and walking in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Sandroff, Brian M; Klaren, Rachel E; Pilutti, Lara A; Dlugonski, Deirdre; Benedict, Ralph H B; Motl, Robert W

2014-02-01

The present study adopted a randomized controlled trial design and examined the effect of a physical activity behavioral intervention on cognitive and walking performance among persons with MS who have mild or moderate disability status. A total of 82 MS patients were randomly allocated into intervention or wait-list control conditions. The intervention condition received a theory-based program for increasing physical activity behavior that was delivered via the Internet, and one-on-one video chat sessions with a behavior-change coach. Participants completed self-report measures of physical activity and disability status, and underwent the oral Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and 6-minute walk (6MW) test before and after the 6-month period. Analysis using mixed-model ANOVA indicated a significant time × condition × disability group interaction on SDMT scores (p = 0.02, partial-η (2) = 0.08), such that persons with mild disability in the intervention condition demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement in SDMT scores (~6 point change). There was a further significant time × condition interaction on 6MW distance (p = 0.02, partial-η (2) = 0.07), such that those in the intervention condition demonstrated an increase in 6MW distance relative to those in the control group. The current study supports physical activity as a promising tool for managing cognitive impairment and impaired walking performance in persons with MS, and suggests that physical activity might have specific effects on cognition and non-specific effects on walking performance in this population.

Generalized-active-space pair-density functional theory: an efficient method to study large, strongly correlated, conjugated systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ghosh, Soumen; Cramer, Christopher J.; Truhlar, Donald G.

Predicting ground- and excited-state properties of open-shell organic molecules by electronic structure theory can be challenging because an accurate treatment has to correctly describe both static and dynamic electron correlation. Strongly correlated systems, i.e., systems with near-degeneracy correlation effects, are particularly troublesome. Multiconfigurational wave function methods based on an active space are adequate in principle, but it is impractical to capture most of the dynamic correlation in these methods for systems characterized by many active electrons. Here, we recently developed a new method called multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), that combines the advantages of wave function theory and density functionalmore » theory to provide a more practical treatment of strongly correlated systems. Here we present calculations of the singlet–triplet gaps in oligoacenes ranging from naphthalene to dodecacene. Calculations were performed for unprecedently large orbitally optimized active spaces of 50 electrons in 50 orbitals, and we test a range of active spaces and active space partitions, including four kinds of frontier orbital partitions. We show that MC-PDFT can predict the singlet–triplet splittings for oligoacenes consistent with the best available and much more expensive methods, and indeed MC-PDFT may constitute the benchmark against which those other models should be compared, given the absence of experimental data.« less

Generalized-active-space pair-density functional theory: an efficient method to study large, strongly correlated, conjugated systems

DOE PAGES

Ghosh, Soumen; Cramer, Christopher J.; Truhlar, Donald G.; ...

2017-01-19

Predicting ground- and excited-state properties of open-shell organic molecules by electronic structure theory can be challenging because an accurate treatment has to correctly describe both static and dynamic electron correlation. Strongly correlated systems, i.e., systems with near-degeneracy correlation effects, are particularly troublesome. Multiconfigurational wave function methods based on an active space are adequate in principle, but it is impractical to capture most of the dynamic correlation in these methods for systems characterized by many active electrons. Here, we recently developed a new method called multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), that combines the advantages of wave function theory and density functionalmore » theory to provide a more practical treatment of strongly correlated systems. Here we present calculations of the singlet–triplet gaps in oligoacenes ranging from naphthalene to dodecacene. Calculations were performed for unprecedently large orbitally optimized active spaces of 50 electrons in 50 orbitals, and we test a range of active spaces and active space partitions, including four kinds of frontier orbital partitions. We show that MC-PDFT can predict the singlet–triplet splittings for oligoacenes consistent with the best available and much more expensive methods, and indeed MC-PDFT may constitute the benchmark against which those other models should be compared, given the absence of experimental data.« less

A Multiscale Survival Process for Modeling Human Activity Patterns.

PubMed

Zhang, Tianyang; Cui, Peng; Song, Chaoming; Zhu, Wenwu; Yang, Shiqiang

2016-01-01

Human activity plays a central role in understanding large-scale social dynamics. It is well documented that individual activity pattern follows bursty dynamics characterized by heavy-tailed interevent time distributions. Here we study a large-scale online chatting dataset consisting of 5,549,570 users, finding that individual activity pattern varies with timescales whereas existing models only approximate empirical observations within a limited timescale. We propose a novel approach that models the intensity rate of an individual triggering an activity. We demonstrate that the model precisely captures corresponding human dynamics across multiple timescales over five orders of magnitudes. Our model also allows extracting the population heterogeneity of activity patterns, characterized by a set of individual-specific ingredients. Integrating our approach with social interactions leads to a wide range of implications.

Assessment of factors that predict physical activity among Oklahoma clergy: a theory of planned behavior approach.

PubMed

Gwin, Shannon; Taylor, E Laurette; Branscum, Paul; Hofford, Craig

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of physical activity among clergy members in Oklahoma, using the theory of planned behavior. A 51-item valid and reliable instrument, measuring theory of planned behavior constructs and physical activity, was developed and administered to 141 clergy members. Results indicated that the majority of those surveyed were white (93%), college educated (97%), and overweight or obese (84%). Stepwise multiple regression analysis found that intentions accounted for 13.8% of the variance of physical activity whereas attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control accounted for 54.8% of the variance of intention. Implications for intervention development are discussed.

Strongly contracted canonical transformation theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuscamman, Eric; Yanai, Takeshi; Chan, Garnet Kin-Lic

2010-01-01

Canonical transformation (CT) theory describes dynamic correlation in multireference systems with large active spaces. Here we discuss CT theory's intruder state problem and why our previous approach of overlap matrix truncation becomes infeasible for sufficiently large active spaces. We propose the use of strongly and weakly contracted excitation operators as alternatives for dealing with intruder states in CT theory. The performance of these operators is evaluated for the H2O, N2, and NiO molecules, with comparisons made to complete active space second order perturbation theory and Davidson-corrected multireference configuration interaction theory. Finally, using a combination of strongly contracted CT theory and orbital-optimized density matrix renormalization group theory, we evaluate the singlet-triplet gap of free base porphin using an active space containing all 24 out-of-plane 2p orbitals. Modeling dynamic correlation with an active space of this size is currently only possible using CT theory.

An active inference theory of allostasis and interoception in depression

PubMed Central

Quigley, Karen S.; Hamilton, Paul

2016-01-01

In this paper, we integrate recent theoretical and empirical developments in predictive coding and active inference accounts of interoception (including the Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding model) with working hypotheses from the theory of constructed emotion to propose a biologically plausible unified theory of the mind that places metabolism and energy regulation (i.e. allostasis), as well as the sensory consequences of that regulation (i.e. interoception), at its core. We then consider the implications of this approach for understanding depression. We speculate that depression is a disorder of allostasis, whose myriad symptoms result from a ‘locked in’ brain that is relatively insensitive to its sensory context. We conclude with a brief discussion of the ways our approach might reveal new insights for the treatment of depression. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Interoception beyond homeostasis: affect, cognition and mental health’. PMID:28080969

Language-Learning Motivation during Short-Term Study Abroad: An Activity Theory Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Heather Willis

2010-01-01

This study investigated the development of language-learning motivation during short-term study abroad (SA) for six intermediate-level students of French. Taking an activity theory perspective, findings demonstrated that one of two orientations motivated participants to study or continue studying French at the college level: linguistic motives or…

An Activity Theory Approach to Research of ICT Integration in Singapore Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Cher Ping; Hang, David

2003-01-01

This paper explains how activity theory is used as a framework to study the information and communication technologies (ICT) integration processes in Singapore schools, both from the sociocultural and pedagogical perspectives. The research study addresses the pertinent question of "How has ICT been integrated in Singapore schools such that…

A RE-AIM evaluation of theory-based physical activity interventions.

PubMed

Antikainen, Iina; Ellis, Rebecca

2011-04-01

Although physical activity interventions have been shown to effectively modify behavior, little research has examined the potential of these interventions for adoption in real-world settings. The purpose of this literature review was to evaluate the external validity of 57 theory-based physical activity interventions using the RE-AIM framework. The physical activity interventions included were more likely to report on issues of internal, rather than external validity and on individual, rather than organizational components of the RE-AIM framework, making the translation of many interventions into practice difficult. Furthermore, most studies included motivated, healthy participants, thus reducing the generalizability of the interventions to real-world settings that provide services to more diverse populations. To determine if a given intervention is feasible and effective in translational research, more information should be reported about the factors that affect external validity.

Short- and Long-Term Theory-Based Predictors of Physical Activity in Women Who Participated in a Weight-Management Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasserkampf, A.; Silva, M. N.; Santos, I. C.; Carraça, E. V.; Meis, J. J. M.; Kremers, S. P. J.; Teixeira, P. J.

2014-01-01

This study analyzed psychosocial predictors of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and evaluated their associations with short- and long-term moderate plus vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and lifestyle physical activity (PA) outcomes in women who underwent a weight-management program. 221 participants (age…

Structural reliability analysis under evidence theory using the active learning kriging model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xufeng; Liu, Yongshou; Ma, Panke

2017-11-01

Structural reliability analysis under evidence theory is investigated. It is rigorously proved that a surrogate model providing only correct sign prediction of the performance function can meet the accuracy requirement of evidence-theory-based reliability analysis. Accordingly, a method based on the active learning kriging model which only correctly predicts the sign of the performance function is proposed. Interval Monte Carlo simulation and a modified optimization method based on Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions are introduced to make the method more efficient in estimating the bounds of failure probability based on the kriging model. Four examples are investigated to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

An Activity Theory Approach to Analyze Barriers to a Virtual Management Information Systems (MIS) Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaradat, Suhair; Qablan, Ahmad; Barham, Areej

2011-01-01

This paper explains how the activity theory is used as a framework to analyze the barriers to a virtual Management Information Stream (MIS) Curriculum in Jordanian schools, from both the sociocultural and pedagogical perspectives. Taking the activity system as a unit of analysis, this study documents the processes by which activities shape and are…

A silk peptide fraction restores cognitive function in AF64A-induced Alzheimer disease model rats by increasing expression of choline acetyltransferase gene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cha, Yeseul

This study investigated the effects of a silk peptide fraction obtained by incubating silk proteins with Protease N and Neutrase (SP-NN) on cognitive dysfunction of Alzheimer disease model rats. In order to elucidate underlying mechanisms, the effect of SP-NN on the expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) mRNA was assessed in F3.ChAT neural stem cells and Neuro2a neuroblastoma cells; active amino acid sequence was identified using HPLC-MS. The expression of ChAT mRNA in F3.ChAT cells increased by 3.79-fold of the control level by treatment with SP-NN fraction. The active peptide in SP-NN was identified as tyrosine-glycine with 238.1 of molecular weight.more » Male rats were orally administered with SP-NN (50 or 300 mg/kg) and challenged with a cholinotoxin AF64A. As a result of brain injury and decreased brain acetylcholine level, AF64A induced astrocytic activation, resulting in impairment of learning and memory function. Treatment with SP-NN exerted recovering activities on acetylcholine depletion and brain injury, as well as cognitive deficit induced by AF64A. The results indicate that, in addition to a neuroprotective activity, the SP-NN preparation restores cognitive function of Alzheimer disease model rats by increasing the release of acetylcholine. - Highlights: • Cognition-enhancing effects of SP-NN, a silk peptide preparation, were investigated. • SP-NN enhanced ChAT mRNA expression in F3.ChAT neural stem cells and Neuro-2a neuroblastoma cells. • Active molecule was identified as a dipeptide composed of tyrosine-glycine. • SP-NN reversed cognitive dysfunction elicited by AF64A. • Neuroprotection followed by increased acetylcholine level was achieved with SP-NN.« less

Inhibition of choline acetyltransferase as a mechanism for cholinergic dysfunction induced by amyloid-β peptide oligomers.

PubMed

Nunes-Tavares, Nilson; Santos, Luís Eduardo; Stutz, Bernardo; Brito-Moreira, Jordano; Klein, William L; Ferreira, Sérgio T; de Mello, Fernando G

2012-06-01

Dysregulated cholinergic signaling is an early hallmark of Alzheimer disease (AD), usually ascribed to degeneration of cholinergic neurons induced by the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ). It is now generally accepted that neuronal dysfunction and memory deficits in the early stages of AD are caused by the neuronal impact of soluble Aβ oligomers (AβOs). AβOs build up in AD brain and specifically attach to excitatory synapses, leading to synapse dysfunction. Here, we have investigated the possibility that AβOs could impact cholinergic signaling. The activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT, the enzyme that carries out ACh production) was inhibited by ~50% in cultured cholinergic neurons exposed to low nanomolar concentrations of AβOs. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction, lactate dehydrogenase release, and [(3)H]choline uptake assays showed no evidence of neuronal damage or loss of viability that could account for reduced ChAT activity under these conditions. Glutamate receptor antagonists fully blocked ChAT inhibition and oxidative stress induced by AβOs. Antioxidant polyunsaturated fatty acids had similar effects, indicating that oxidative damage may be involved in ChAT inhibition. Treatment with insulin, previously shown to down-regulate neuronal AβO binding sites, fully prevented AβO-induced inhibition of ChAT. Interestingly, we found that AβOs selectively bind to ~50% of cultured cholinergic neurons, suggesting that ChAT is fully inhibited in AβO-targeted neurons. Reduction in ChAT activity instigated by AβOs may thus be a relevant event in early stage AD pathology, preceding the loss of cholinergic neurons commonly observed in AD brains.

How Does an Activity Theory Model Help to Know Better about Teaching with Electronic-Exercise-Bases?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abboud-Blanchard, Maha; Cazes, Claire

2012-01-01

The research presented in this paper relies on Activity Theory and particularly on Engestrom's model, to better understand the use of Electronic-Exercise-Bases (EEB) by mathematics teachers. This theory provides a holistic approach to illustrate the complexity of the EEB integration. The results highlight reasons and ways of using EEB and show…

Use of Theory in Behavior Change Interventions: An Analysis of Programs to Increase Physical Activity in Posttreatment Breast Cancer Survivors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bluethmann, Shirley M.; Bartholomew, L. Kay; Murphy, Caitlin C.; Vernon, Sally W.

2017-01-01

Objective: Theory use may enhance effectiveness of behavioral interventions, yet critics question whether theory-based interventions have been sufficiently scrutinized. This study applied a framework to evaluate theory use in physical activity interventions for breast cancer survivors. The aims were to (1) evaluate theory application intensity and…

The theory of active involvement: processes underlying interventions that engage adolescents in message planning and/or production.

PubMed

Greene, Kathryn

2013-01-01

Adolescence is a time of increased risk taking, and recent intervention strategies have included adolescents planning or producing antirisk messages for their peers. Although these projects may generate enthusiasm, we know little about message planning or production as a strategy for changing adolescent decision-making and behavior. This article articulates the Theory of Active Involvement (TAI) to describe and explain the processes through which these active involvement interventions influence adolescents. TAI is based on social cognitive theory's notion of self-regulation and examines multiple perspective taking and activating the self-reflection processes. The theory specifically describes the process of cognitive changes experienced by participants in active involvement interventions. The sequence is conceptualized as starting when engagement with the intervention (arousal and involvement) produces skill and knowledge gains (immediate outcomes) that lead to reflection (perceived discrepancy) and then other cognitions (expectancies, norms, intentions), with the ultimate outcome being behavior change. Engaging the target audience in a process of self-reflection is conceptualized as the crucial ingredient for meaningful and sustainable change in cognitions and behavior. This article provides valuable insight into how active involvement strategies function and how to best design these interventions, particularly those targeting adolescents.

Communication: Extended multi-state complete active space second-order perturbation theory: Energy and nuclear gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiozaki, Toru; Győrffy, Werner; Celani, Paolo; Werner, Hans-Joachim

2011-08-01

The extended multireference quasi-degenerate perturbation theory, proposed by Granovsky [J. Chem. Phys. 134, 214113 (2011)], is combined with internally contracted multi-state complete active space second-order perturbation theory (XMS-CASPT2). The first-order wavefunction is expanded in terms of the union of internally contracted basis functions generated from all the reference functions, which guarantees invariance of the theory with respect to unitary rotations of the reference functions. The method yields improved potentials in the vicinity of avoided crossings and conical intersections. The theory for computing nuclear energy gradients for MS-CASPT2 and XMS-CASPT2 is also presented and the first implementation of these gradient methods is reported. A number of illustrative applications of the new methods are presented.

Sesquiterpenes and a monoterpenoid with acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitory activity from Valeriana officinalis var. latiofolia in vitro and in vivo.

PubMed

Chen, Heng-Wen; He, Xuan-Hui; Yuan, Rong; Wei, Ben-Jun; Chen, Zhong; Dong, Jun-Xing; Wang, Jie

2016-04-01

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor (AchEI) is the most extensive in all anti-dementia drugs. The extracts and isolated compounds from the Valeriana genus have shown anti-dementia bioactivity. Four new sesquiterpenoids (1-4) and a new monoterpenoid (5) were isolated from the root of Valeriana officinalis var. latiofolia. The acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitory activity of isolates was evaluated by modified Ellman method in vitro. Learning and memory ability of compound 4 on mice was evaluated by the Morris water maze. The contents of acetylcholine (Ach), acetylcholine transferase (ChAT) and AchE in mice brains were determined by colorimetry. The results showed IC50 of compound 4 was 0.161 μM in vitro. Compared with the normal group, the learning and memory ability of mice and the contents of Ach and ChAT decreased in model group mice (P<0.01), while the AchE increased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, Ach and ChAT in the positive control group, the high-dose group and the medium-dose group increased (P<0.01), while the AchE decreased (P<0.01). Compound 4 can improve the learning and memory abilities of APPswe/PSΔE9 double-transgenic mice, and the mechanism may be related to the regulation of the relative enzyme in the cholinergic system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Segmentation of breast ultrasound images based on active contours using neutrosophic theory.

PubMed

Lotfollahi, Mahsa; Gity, Masoumeh; Ye, Jing Yong; Mahlooji Far, A

2018-04-01

Ultrasound imaging is an effective approach for diagnosing breast cancer, but it is highly operator-dependent. Recent advances in computer-aided diagnosis have suggested that it can assist physicians in diagnosis. Definition of the region of interest before computer analysis is still needed. Since manual outlining of the tumor contour is tedious and time-consuming for a physician, developing an automatic segmentation method is important for clinical application. The present paper represents a novel method to segment breast ultrasound images. It utilizes a combination of region-based active contour and neutrosophic theory to overcome the natural properties of ultrasound images including speckle noise and tissue-related textures. First, due to inherent speckle noise and low contrast of these images, we have utilized a non-local means filter and fuzzy logic method for denoising and image enhancement, respectively. This paper presents an improved weighted region-scalable active contour to segment breast ultrasound images using a new feature derived from neutrosophic theory. This method has been applied to 36 breast ultrasound images. It generates true-positive and false-positive results, and similarity of 95%, 6%, and 90%, respectively. The purposed method indicates clear advantages over other conventional methods of active contour segmentation, i.e., region-scalable fitting energy and weighted region-scalable fitting energy.