Dynamic Modulation of Human Motor Activity When Observing Actions

PubMed Central

Press, Clare; Cook, Jennifer; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Kilner, James

2012-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that when we observe somebody else executing an action many areas of our own motor systems are active. It has been argued that these motor activations are evidence that we motorically simulate observed actions; this motoric simulation may support various functions such as imitation and action understanding. However, whether motoric simulation is indeed the function of motor activations during action observation is controversial, due to inconsistency in findings. Previous studies have demonstrated dynamic modulations in motor activity when we execute actions. Therefore, if we do motorically simulate observed actions, our motor systems should also be modulated dynamically, and in a corresponding fashion, during action observation. Using magnetoencephalography, we recorded the cortical activity of human participants while they observed actions performed by another person. Here, we show that activity in the human motor system is indeed modulated dynamically during action observation. The finding that activity in the motor system is modulated dynamically when observing actions can explain why studies of action observation using functional magnetic resonance imaging have reported conflicting results, and is consistent with the hypothesis that we motorically simulate observed actions. PMID:21414901

A Conceptual Approach to the Problem of Action-Angle Variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zung, Nguyen Tien

2018-02-01

In this paper we develop a general conceptual approach to the problem of existence of action-angle variables for dynamical systems, which establishes and uses the fundamental conservation property of associated torus actions: anything which is preserved by the system is also preserved by the associated torus actions. This approach allows us to obtain, among other things: (a) the shortest and most easy-to-understand conceptual proof of the classical Arnold-Liouville-Mineur theorem; (b) basically all known results in the literature about the existence of action-angle variables in various contexts can be recovered in a unifying way, with simple proofs, using our approach; (c) new results on action-angle variables in many different contexts, including systems on contact manifolds, systems on presymplectic and Dirac manifolds, action-angle variables near singularities, stochastic systems, and so on. Even when there are no natural action variables, our approach still leads to useful normal forms for dynamical systems, which are not necessarily integrable.

Apollo experience report: Problem reporting and corrective action system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, T. J.

1974-01-01

The Apollo spacecraft Problem Reporting and Corrective Action System is presented. The evolution from the early system to the present day system is described. The deficiencies and the actions taken to correct them are noted, as are management controls for both the contractor and NASA. Significant experience gained from the Apollo Problem Reporting and Corrective Action System that may be applicable to future manned spacecraft is presented.

Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 271: Areas 25, 26, and 27 Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

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

R. B. Jackson

2003-05-01

The Areas 25, 26 and 27 Septic Systems are in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) of 1996 as Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 271. This Corrective Action Plan (CAP) provides selected corrective action alternatives and proposes the closure methodology for CAU 271. CAU 271 is located on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) approximately 105 kilometers (65 miles) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, and consists of the following 15 Corrective Action Sites (CAS): CAS 25-04-1, Septic System; CAS 25-04-03, Septic System; CAS25-04-04, Septic System; CAS 25-04-08, Septic System; CAS 25-04-09, Septic System; CAS 25-04-10, Septic System; CAS 25-04-11, Septicmore » System; CAS 26-03-01, Contaminated Water Reservoir; CAS 26-04-1, Septic System; CAS 26-04-02, Septic System; CAS 26-05-01, Radioactive Leachfield; CAS-26-05-03, Septic System; CAS 26-05-04, Septic System; CAS 26-05-05, Septic System; and CAS 27-05-02, Leachfield.« less

40 CFR 264.304 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... into the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate for any sump, the owner or operator must... thereafter, as long as the flow rate in the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate, the owner... forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate has been exceeded. At a minimum, the response...

40 CFR 264.253 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... rate into the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate for any sump, the owner or operator... thereafter, as long as the flow rate in the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate, the owner... must set forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate has been exceeded. At a minimum, the...

A Mean Field Approach to Self-Organization in Spatially Extended Perception-Action and Psychological Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Till; Beek, Peter

It is argued that perception-action systems should be considered as spatially extended systems on account of (i) the presence of spatially distributed synchronized brain activity during the performance of perceptual-motor tasks, and (ii) the failure of conventional zero-dimensional theoretical approaches to deal with multistable perception-action systems and hysteresis in the presence of noise. It is shown that in spatially extended systems self-organization can arise due to the emergence of mean field attractors. This mean field approach is exemplified for a particular class of perception-action systems, namely, rhythmic movements. In addition, clinical implications of the mean field approach and the notion of spatially extended perception-action systems are briefly discussed in the context of psychotherapy and Parkinson's disease.

Information processing in decision-making systems.

PubMed

van der Meer, Matthijs; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Redish, A David

2012-08-01

Decisions result from an interaction between multiple functional systems acting in parallel to process information in very different ways, each with strengths and weaknesses. In this review, the authors address three action-selection components of decision-making: The Pavlovian system releases an action from a limited repertoire of potential actions, such as approaching learned stimuli. Like the Pavlovian system, the habit system is computationally fast but, unlike the Pavlovian system permits arbitrary stimulus-action pairings. These associations are a "forward'' mechanism; when a situation is recognized, the action is released. In contrast, the deliberative system is flexible but takes time to process. The deliberative system uses knowledge of the causal structure of the world to search into the future, planning actions to maximize expected rewards. Deliberation depends on the ability to imagine future possibilities, including novel situations, and it allows decisions to be taken without having previously experienced the options. Various anatomical structures have been identified that carry out the information processing of each of these systems: hippocampus constitutes a map of the world that can be used for searching/imagining the future; dorsal striatal neurons represent situation-action associations; and ventral striatum maintains value representations for all three systems. Each system presents vulnerabilities to pathologies that can manifest as psychiatric disorders. Understanding these systems and their relation to neuroanatomy opens up a deeper way to treat the structural problems underlying various disorders.

Information Processing in Decision-Making Systems

PubMed Central

van der Meer, Matthijs; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Redish, A. David

2015-01-01

Decisions result from an interaction between multiple functional systems acting in parallel to process information in very different ways, each with strengths and weaknesses. In this review, the authors address three action-selection components of decision-making: The Pavlovian system releases an action from a limited repertoire of potential actions, such as approaching learned stimuli. Like the Pavlovian system, the habit system is computationally fast but, unlike the Pavlovian system permits arbitrary stimulus-action pairings. These associations are a “forward” mechanism; when a situation is recognized, the action is released. In contrast, the deliberative system is flexible but takes time to process. The deliberative system uses knowledge of the causal structure of the world to search into the future, planning actions to maximize expected rewards. Deliberation depends on the ability to imagine future possibilities, including novel situations, and it allows decisions to be taken without having previously experienced the options. Various anatomical structures have been identified that carry out the information processing of each of these systems: hippocampus constitutes a map of the world that can be used for searching/imagining the future; dorsal striatal neurons represent situation-action associations; and ventral striatum maintains value representations for all three systems. Each system presents vulnerabilities to pathologies that can manifest as psychiatric disorders. Understanding these systems and their relation to neuroanatomy opens up a deeper way to treat the structural problems underlying various disorders. PMID:22492194

Sustaining Competitive Advantage: Mental Models and Organizational Learning for Future Marines

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

Soft Systems Methodology : Other Voices.” Systemic Practice and Action Research. 13, no. 6, (2000): 773. Larsen, Kai R. T., Claire McInerney...30. Mingers, John. “An Idea Ahead of Its Time: The History and Development of Soft Systems Methodology .” Systemic Practice and Action...Soft System Dynamics Methodology (SSDM): Combinging Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and System Dynamics (SD).” Systemic Practice and Action

Shared resource control between human and computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hendler, James; Wilson, Reid

1989-01-01

The advantages of an AI system of actively monitoring human control of a shared resource (such as a telerobotic manipulator) are presented. A system is described in which a simple AI planning program gains efficiency by monitoring human actions and recognizing when the actions cause a change in the system's assumed state of the world. This enables the planner to recognize when an interaction occurs between human actions and system goals, and allows maintenance of an up-to-date knowledge of the state of the world and thus informs the operator when human action would undo a goal achieved by the system, when an action would render a system goal unachievable, and efficiently replans the establishment of goals after human intervention.

42 CFR 431.836 - Corrective action under the MQC claims processing assessment system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... assessment system. 431.836 Section 431.836 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT... ADMINISTRATION Quality Control Medicaid Quality Control (mqc) Claims Processing Assessment System § 431.836 Corrective action under the MQC claims processing assessment system. The agency must— (a) Take action to...

48 CFR 750.7104 - Types of actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Types of actions. 750.7104 Section 750.7104 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

Evaluation of Corrective Action Team (CAT) Leader Training in Aeronautical Systems Division

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

00A DI EVALUATION OF CORRECTIVE ACTION TEAM ( CAT ) LEADER TRAINING IN AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS DIVISION CA THESIS Kirk J. Streitrater, Captain, USAF AFIT...EVALUATION OF CORRECTIVE ACTION TEAM ( CAT ) LEADER TRAINING IN AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS DIVISION THESIS Kirk J. Streitmater, Captain, USAF AFIT/GSM/LSR/91S-25...8217, , C- s :C AFIT/GSM/LSR/91S-25 EVALUATION OF CORRECTIVE ACTION TEAM ( CAT ) LEADER TRAINING IN AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS DIVISION THESIS Presented to the

Models of morality

PubMed Central

Crockett, Molly J.

2013-01-01

Moral dilemmas engender conflicts between two traditions: consequentialism, which evaluates actions based on their outcomes, and deontology, which evaluates actions themselves. These strikingly resemble two distinct decision-making architectures: a model-based system that selects actions based on inferences about their consequences; and a model-free system that selects actions based on their reinforcement history. Here, I consider how these systems, along with a Pavlovian system that responds reflexively to rewards and punishments, can illuminate puzzles in moral psychology. PMID:23845564

76 FR 12550 - Lavatory Oxygen Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-08

... Lavatory Oxygen Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Interim final rule... related to the provisioning of supplemental oxygen inside lavatories. This action is necessitated by other mandatory actions that temporarily render such oxygen systems inoperative. DATES: This interim rule is...

48 CFR 232.616 - Compromise actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Compromise actions. 232.616 Section 232.616 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE ACQUISITION REGULATIONS SYSTEM... actions. Only the department/agency contract financing offices (see 232.070(c)) are authorized to...

Action learning across the decades.

PubMed

Eason, Ken

2017-05-02

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how action learning concepts were used in two healthcare projects undertaken many decades apart. The specific purpose in both cases was to examine how action learning can contribute to shared learning across key stakeholders in a complex socio-technical system. In each case study, action learning supported joint design programmes and the sharing of perspectives about the complex system under investigation. Design/methodology/approach Two action learning projects are described: first, the Hospital Internal Communications (HIC) project led by Reg Revans in the 1960s. Senior staff in ten London hospitals formed action learning teams to address communication issues. Second, in the Better Outcomes for People with Learning Disabilities: Transforming Care (BOLDTC) project, videoconferencing equipment enabled people with learning disabilities to increase their opportunities to communicate. A mutual learning process was established to enable stakeholders to explore the potential of the technical system to improve individual care. Findings The HIC project demonstrated the importance of evidence being shared between team members and that action had to engage the larger healthcare system outside the hospital. The BOLDTC project confirmed the continuing relevance of action learning to healthcare today. Mutual learning was achieved between health and social care specialists and technologists. Originality/value This work draws together the socio-technical systems tradition (considering both social and technical issues in organisations) and action learning to demonstrate that complex systems development needs to be undertaken as a learning process in which action provides the fuel for learning and design.

Automatic Imitation of Intransitive Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Press, Clare; Bird, Geoffrey; Walsh, Eamonn; Heyes, Cecilia

2008-01-01

Previous research has indicated a potential discontinuity between monkey and human ventral premotor-parietal mirror systems, namely that monkey mirror systems process only transitive (object-directed) actions, whereas human mirror systems may also process intransitive (non-object-directed) actions. The present study investigated this discontinuity…

The mirror neuron system is more active during complementary compared with imitative action.

PubMed

Newman-Norlund, Roger D; van Schie, Hein T; van Zuijlen, Alexander M J; Bekkering, Harold

2007-07-01

We assessed the role of the human mirror neuron system (MNS) in complementary actions using functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants prepared to execute imitative or complementary actions. The BOLD signal in the right inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior parietal lobes was greater during preparation of complementary than during imitative actions, suggesting that the MNS may be essential in dynamically coupling action observation to action execution.

Outdoor Education Gives Fewer Demands for Action Regulation and an Increased Variability of Affordances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiskum, Tove Anita; Jacobsen, Karl

2013-01-01

In children's lives there are a lot of instigators for actions in every milieu and situation. When children grow older, the cortical activity starts to regulate the action instigation from the limbic system. The school system makes demands of action regulation for children. In outdoor education the many instigators for actions are not under the…

Understanding intentional actions from observers' viewpoints: A social neuroscience perspective.

PubMed

Isoda, Masaki

2016-11-01

When we see others, we also try to 'see' their unobservable states of minds, such as beliefs, desires, and intentions. We carefully monitor others' actions, as we assume that those actions are outward manifestations of their internal states. Actors and observers can have divergent views on the cause of the same actions. Critically, it is often the observers' view that affects important decisions in social life, from deciding the optimal level of cooperation to judging moral responsibility and court's decisions. Thus, the judgment about intentionality and agency in others' actions determines the way in which the observer deals with the actor. The primate brain has two separate neural systems that function in understanding others' actions and intentions. The mirror system is activated by others' visible actions and predicts their physical consequences in goal terms, whereas the mentalizing system is primarily involved in the prediction of others' intentions and upcoming actions regardless of whether others' actions are directly observable or not. The functional roles of the two systems have sometimes been described as mutually independent or even oppositional. I propose a hypothesis that the two systems may collaborate closely for judging the sense of other-agency. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

CORRRECTIVE ACTION DECISION DOCUMENT FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION UNIT 427: AREA 3 SEPTIC WASTE SYSTEMS 2 AND 6, TONOPAH TEST RANGE, NEVADA, REVISION 0, JUNE 1998

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

ITLV.

1998-06-01

This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for the Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 2 and 6 (Corrective Action Unit 427) in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order of 1996 (FFACO, 1996). Corrective Action Unit 427 is located at the Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, and is comprised of the following Corrective Action Sites, each an individual septic waste system (DOE/NV, 1996a): Septic Waste System 2 is Corrective Action Site Number 03-05-002-SW02. Septic Waste System 6 is Corrective Action Site Number 03-05-002-SW06. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide a rationalemore » for the selection of a recommended corrective action alternative for each Corrective Action Site. The scope of this Correction Action Decision Document consists of the following tasks: Develop corrective action objectives. Identify corrective action alternative screening criteria. Develop corrective action alternatives. Perform detailed and comparative evaluations of the corrective action alternatives in relation to the corrective action objectives and screening criteria. Recommend and justify a preferred corrective action alternative for each CAS. From November 1997 through January 1998, a corrective action investigation was performed as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit No. 427: Area 3 Septic Waste System Numbers 2 and 6, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada (DOE/NV, 1997b). Details can be found in Appendix A of this document. The results indicated that contamination is present in some portions of the CAU and not in others as described in Table ES-1 and shown in Figure A.2-2 of Appendix A. Based on the potential exposure pathways, the following corrective action objectives have been identified for Corrective Action Unit 427: Prevent or mitigate human exposure to subsurface soils containing TPH at concentrations greater than 100 milligrams per kilogram (NAC, 1996b). Close Septic Tank 33-5 in accordance with Nevada Administrative Code 459 (NAC, 1996c). Prevent adverse impacts to groundwater quality. Based on the review of existing data, future land use, and current operations at the Tonopah Test Range, the following alternatives were developed for consideration at the Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 2 and 6: Alternative 1 - No Further Action Alternative 2 - Closure of Septic Tank 33-5 and Administrative Controls Alternative 3 - Closure of Septic Tank 33-5, Excavation, and Disposal The corrective action alternatives were evaluated based on four general corrective action standards and five remedy selection decision factors. Based on the results of this evaluation, the preferred alternative for Corrective Action Unit 427 is Alternative 2, Closure of Septic Tank 33-5 and Administrative Controls. The preferred corrective action alternative was evaluated on technical merit, focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, and safety. The alternative was judged to meet all requirements for the technical components evaluated. The alternative meets all applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the site and will reduce potential future exposure pathways to the contaminated soils. During corrective action implementation, this alternative will present minimal potential threat to site workers who come in contact with the waste. However, procedures will be developed and implemented to ensure worker health and safety.« less

Strategic orientations of small multihospital systems.

PubMed Central

Luke, R D; Begun, J W

1988-01-01

Strategic behaviors of organizations can be classified along two dimensions--growth orientations, or patterns of evolution over time, and action orientations, or strategic aggressiveness in undertaking a particular growth orientation. We create measures of growth and action orientations for small multihospital systems and test the validity of the growth and action orientation typologies, using data from a sample of small multihospital systems. Growth and action orientations do appear to exist independently of each other, and they are related to the ownership status of the systems. Not-for-profit and church-other systems exhibit similar strategic orientations, unlike those of Catholic and investor-owned systems. PMID:3060448

TransFormers in Knowledge Production: Building Science-Practice Collaborations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoes, Anne-Charlotte; Regeer, Barbara J.; Bunders, Joske F. G.

2008-01-01

This article places action learning in the context of system innovation, as it studies the potential use of action learning for system change. In order to effect such system change, collaboration between actors from different institutional backgrounds is essential. To gain insight into if and how action learning can be applied for system change,…

48 CFR 522.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 522.804 Section 522.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 22.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 22.804 Section 22.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 422.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 422.804 Section 422.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 522.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 522.804 Section 522.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 22.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 22.804 Section 22.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 422.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 422.804 Section 422.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 922.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 922.804 Section 922.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SOCIOECONOMIC... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 922.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 922.804 Section 922.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SOCIOECONOMIC... Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 1522.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Affirmative action programs. 1522.804 Section 1522.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY....804 Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 1522.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 1522.804 Section 1522.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY....804 Affirmative action programs. ...

Affirmative Action Data Collection and Reporting System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, Marquita; And Others

A computerized Affirmative Action Data Collection and Reporting System was implemented at the University of Cincinnati to assist in monitoring the progress of the University's Affirmative Action program. The benefits derived from the system were definitely a contributing factor in the University's successful attempt to have its Affirmative Action…

20 CFR 658.416 - Action on JS-related complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Action on JS-related complaints. 658.416... ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS GOVERNING THE JOB SERVICE SYSTEM Job Service Complaint System State Agency Js Complaint System § 658.416 Action on JS-related complaints. (a) The appropriate State agency official handling an...

Co-production of knowledge-action systems in urban sustainable governance: The KASA approach

Treesearch

T.A. Munoz-Erickson

2014-01-01

This paper examines how knowledge-action-systems the networks of actors involved in the production, sharing and use of policy-relevant knowledge - work in the process of developing sustainable strategies for cities. I developed an interdisciplinary framework- the knowledge-action system analysis (KASA) framework ...

48 CFR 1422.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 1422.804 Section 1422.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR....804 Affirmative action programs. ...

48 CFR 1422.804 - Affirmative action programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative action programs. 1422.804 Section 1422.804 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR....804 Affirmative action programs. ...

Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 428: Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada

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

U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office

2000-02-08

This Corrective Action Decision Document identifies and rationalizes the US Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's selection of a recommended corrective action alternative (CAA) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 428, Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located in Area 3 at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) in Nevada, CAU 428 is comprised of two Corrective Action Sites (CASs): (1) CAS 03-05-002-SW01, Septic Waste System 1 and (2) CAS 03-05-002- SW05, Septic Waste System 5. A corrective action investigation performed in 1999 detected analyte concentrations that exceeded preliminarymore » action levels; specifically, contaminants of concern (COCs) included benzo(a) pyrene in a septic tank integrity sample associated with Septic Tank 33-1A of Septic Waste System 1, and arsenic in a soil sample associated with Septic Waste System 5. During this investigation, three Corrective Action Objectives (CAOs) were identified to prevent or mitigate exposure to contents of the septic tanks and distribution box, to subsurface soil containing COCs, and the spread of COCs beyond the CAU. Based on these CAOs, a review of existing data, future use, and current operations in Area 3 of the TTR, three CAAs were developed for consideration: Alternative 1 - No Further Action; Alternative 2 - Closure in Place with Administrative Controls; and Alternative 3 - Clean Closure by Excavation and Disposal. These alternatives were evaluated based on four general corrective action standards and five remedy selection decision factors. Based on the results of the evaluation, the preferred CAA was Alternative 3. This alternative meets all applicable state and federal regulations for closure of the site and will eliminate potential future exposure pathways to the contaminated soils at the Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5.« less

Observing complex action sequences: The role of the fronto-parietal mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan; Kaplan, Jonas; Greenfield, Patricia M; Iacoboni, Marco

2006-11-15

A fronto-parietal mirror neuron network in the human brain supports the ability to represent and understand observed actions allowing us to successfully interact with others and our environment. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we wanted to investigate the response of this network in adults during observation of hierarchically organized action sequences of varying complexity that emerge at different developmental stages. We hypothesized that fronto-parietal systems may play a role in coding the hierarchical structure of object-directed actions. The observation of all action sequences recruited a common bilateral network including the fronto-parietal mirror neuron system and occipito-temporal visual motion areas. Activity in mirror neuron areas varied according to the motoric complexity of the observed actions, but not according to the developmental sequence of action structures, possibly due to the fact that our subjects were all adults. These results suggest that the mirror neuron system provides a fairly accurate simulation process of observed actions, mimicking internally the level of motoric complexity. We also discuss the results in terms of the links between mirror neurons, language development and evolution.

A piece of the action: Modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors

PubMed Central

Desai, Rutvik H.; Conant, Lisa L.; Binder, Jeffrey R.; Park, Haeil; Seidenberg, Mark S.

2013-01-01

The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms. Abstract sentences served as a baseline. The result showed involvement of sensory-motor areas for literal and metaphoric action sentences, but not for idiomatic ones. A trend of increasing sensory-motor activation from abstract to idiomatic to metaphoric to literal sentences was seen. These results support a gradual abstraction process whereby the reliance on sensory-motor systems is reduced as the abstractness of meaning as well as conventionalization is increased, highlighting the context sensitive nature of semantic processing. PMID:23891645

A piece of the action: modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors.

PubMed

Desai, Rutvik H; Conant, Lisa L; Binder, Jeffrey R; Park, Haeil; Seidenberg, Mark S

2013-12-01

The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms. Abstract sentences served as a baseline. The result showed involvement of sensory-motor areas for literal and metaphoric action sentences, but not for idiomatic ones. A trend of increasing sensory-motor activation from abstract to idiomatic to metaphoric to literal sentences was seen. These results support a gradual abstraction process whereby the reliance on sensory-motor systems is reduced as the abstractness of meaning as well as conventionalization is increased, highlighting the context sensitive nature of semantic processing. © 2013.

48 CFR 246.470 - Government contract quality assurance actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... quality assurance actions. 246.470 Section 246.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE ACQUISITION REGULATIONS SYSTEM, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE Government Contract Quality Assurance 246.470 Government contract quality assurance actions. ...

CCSDS Mission Operations Action Service Core Capabilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reynolds, Walter F.; Lucord, Steven A.; Stevens, John E.

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the operations concepts of the command (action) services. Since the consequences of sending the wrong command are unacceptable, the command system provides a collaborative and distributed work environment for flight controllers and operators. The system prescribes a review and approval process where each command is viewed by other individuals before being sent to the vehicle. The action service needs additional capabilities to support he operations concepts of manned space flight. These are : (1) Action Service methods (2) Action attributes (3) Action parameter/argument attributes (4 ) Support for dynamically maintained action data. (5) Publish subscri be capabilities.

Using Mu Rhythm Desynchronization to Measure Mirror Neuron Activity in Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nystrom, Par; Ljunghammar, Therese; Rosander, Kerstin; von Hofsten, Claes

2011-01-01

The Mirror Neuron System hypothesis stating that observed actions are projected onto the observer's own action system assigns an important role to development, because only actions mastered by the observer can be mirrored. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether there is evidence of a functioning mirror neuron system (MNS) in…

Reactive oxygen species: players in the cardiovascular effects of testosterone

PubMed Central

Carneiro, Fernando S.; Carvalho, Maria Helena C.; Reckelhoff, Jane F.

2015-01-01

Androgens are essential for the development and maintenance of male reproductive tissues and sexual function and for overall health and well being. Testosterone, the predominant and most important androgen, not only affects the male reproductive system, but also influences the activity of many other organs. In the cardiovascular system, the actions of testosterone are still controversial, its effects ranging from protective to deleterious. While early studies showed that testosterone replacement therapy exerted beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease, some recent safety studies point to a positive association between endogenous and supraphysiological levels of androgens/testosterone and cardiovascular disease risk. Among the possible mechanisms involved in the actions of testosterone on the cardiovascular system, indirect actions (changes in the lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, and hemostatic mechanisms, modulation of the sympathetic nervous system and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system), as well as direct actions (modulatory effects on proinflammatory enzymes, on the generation of reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide bioavailability, and on vasoconstrictor signaling pathways) have been reported. This mini-review focuses on evidence indicating that testosterone has prooxidative actions that may contribute to its deleterious actions in the cardiovascular system. The controversial effects of testosterone on ROS generation and oxidant status, both prooxidant and antioxidant, in the cardiovascular system and in cells and tissues of other systems are reviewed. PMID:26538238

State-dependent resource harvesting with lagged information about system states

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Fred A.; Fackler, Paul L.; Boomer, G Scott; Zimmerman, Guthrie S.; Williams, Byron K.; Nichols, James D.; Dorazio, Robert

2016-01-01

Markov decision processes (MDPs), which involve a temporal sequence of actions conditioned on the state of the managed system, are increasingly being applied in natural resource management. This study focuses on the modification of a traditional MDP to account for those cases in which an action must be chosen after a significant time lag in observing system state, but just prior to a new observation. In order to calculate an optimal decision policy under these conditions, possible actions must be conditioned on the previous observed system state and action taken. We show how to solve these problems when the state transition structure is known and when it is uncertain. Our focus is on the latter case, and we show how actions must be conditioned not only on the previous system state and action, but on the probabilities associated with alternative models of system dynamics. To demonstrate this framework, we calculated and simulated optimal, adaptive policies for MDPs with lagged states for the problem of deciding annual harvest regulations for mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in the United States. In this particular example, changes in harvest policy induced by the use of lagged information about system state were sufficient to maintain expected management performance (e.g. population size, harvest) even in the face of an uncertain system state at the time of a decision.

Research in Natural Language Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-08-31

REFERENCES 159 APPENDIX A 1 A. 2 A. 3 A. 4 A. 5 A. PLAN-RELATED INFERENCE PROCEDURES ACTION -topian: ACTION -toplanrecog: S-REQUEST-INFORMlF...speech acts and attached procedures> The system’s model of its display actions . Taxonomy of display actions . The display scope after sentence 3...34. At various points the system is in a state where it needs to determine which of a large number of possible rules of action are applicable to its

Automated Interactive Simulation Model (AISIM) VAX Version 5.0 Training Manual.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-29

action, activity, decision , etc. that consumes time. The entity is automatically created by the system when an ACTION Primitive is placed. 1.3.2.4 The...MODELED SYSTEM 1.3.2.1 The Process Entity. A Process is used to represent the operations, decisions , actions or activities that can be decomposed and...is associated with the Action entity described below, is included in Process definitions to indicate the time a certain Action (or process, decision

Action observation as a tool for neurorehabilitation to moderate motor deficits and aphasia following stroke

PubMed Central

Ertelt, Denis; Binkofski, Ferdinand

2012-01-01

The mirror neuron system consists of a set of brain areas capable of matching action observation with action execution. One core feature of the mirror neuron system is the activation of motor areas by action observation alone. This unique capacity of the mirror neuron system to match action perception and action execution stimulated the idea that mirror neuron system plays a crucial role in the understanding of the content of observed actions and may participate in procedural learning. These features bear a high potential for neurorehabilitation of motor deficits and of aphasia following stroke. Since the first articles exploring this principle were published, a growing number of follow-up studies have been conducted in the last decade. Though, the combination of action observation with practice of the observed actions seems to constitute the most powerful approach. In the present review, we present the existing studies analyzing the effects of this neurorehabilitative approach in clinical settings especially in the rehabilitation of stroke associated motor deficits and give a perspective on the ongoing trials by our research group. The data obtained up to date showed significant positive effect of action observation on recovery of motor functions of the upper limbs even in the chronic state after stroke, indicating that our approach might become a new standardized add-on feature of modern neurorehabilitative treatment schemes. PMID:25624838

Monitoring others' errors: The role of the motor system in early childhood and adulthood.

PubMed

Meyer, Marlene; Braukmann, Ricarda; Stapel, Janny C; Bekkering, Harold; Hunnius, Sabine

2016-03-01

Previous research demonstrates that from early in life, our cortical sensorimotor areas are activated both when performing and when observing actions (mirroring). Recent findings suggest that the adult motor system is also involved in detecting others' rule violations. Yet, how this translates to everyday action errors (e.g., accidentally dropping something) and how error-sensitive motor activity for others' actions emerges are still unknown. In this study, we examined the role of the motor system in error monitoring. Participants observed successful and unsuccessful pincer grasp actions while their electroencephalography was registered. We tested infants (8- and 14-month-olds) at different stages of learning the pincer grasp and adults as advanced graspers. Power in Alpha- and Beta-frequencies was analysed to assess motor and visual processing. Adults showed enhanced motor activity when observing erroneous actions. However, neither 8- nor 14-month-olds displayed this error sensitivity, despite showing motor activity for both actions. All groups did show similar visual activity, that is more Alpha-suppression, when observing correct actions. Thus, while correct and erroneous actions were processed as visually distinct in all age groups, only the adults' motor system was sensitive to action correctness. Functionality of different brain oscillations in the development of error monitoring and mirroring is discussed. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Blindness in designing intelligent systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denning, Peter J.

1988-01-01

New investigations of the foundations of artificial intelligence are challenging the hypothesis that problem solving is the cornerstone of intelligence. New distinctions among three domains of concern for humans--description, action, and commitment--have revealed that the design process for programmable machines, such as expert systems, is based on descriptions of actions and induces blindness to nonanalytic action and commitment. Design processes focusing in the domain of description are likely to yield programs like burearcracies: rigid, obtuse, impersonal, and unable to adapt to changing circumstances. Systems that learn from their past actions, and systems that organize information for interpretation by human experts, are more likely to be successful in areas where expert systems have failed.

The specificity of action knowledge in sensory and motor systems

PubMed Central

Watson, Christine E.; Cardillo, Eileen R.; Bromberger, Bianca; Chatterjee, Anjan

2014-01-01

Neuroimaging studies have found that sensorimotor systems are engaged when participants observe actions or comprehend action language. However, most of these studies have asked the binary question of whether action concepts are embodied or not, rather than whether sensory and motor areas of the brain contain graded amounts of information during putative action simulations. To address this question, we used repetition suppression (RS) functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine if functionally-localized motor movement and visual motion regions-of-interest (ROI) and two anatomical ROIs (inferior frontal gyrus, IFG; left posterior middle temporal gyrus, pMTG) were sensitive to changes in the exemplar (e.g., two different people “kicking”) or representational format (e.g., photograph or schematic drawing of someone “kicking”) within pairs of action images. We also investigated whether concrete versus more symbolic depictions of actions (i.e., photographs or schematic drawings) yielded different patterns of activation throughout the brain. We found that during a conceptual task, sensory and motor systems represent actions at different levels of specificity. While the visual motion ROI did not exhibit RS to different exemplars of the same action or to the same action depicted by different formats, the motor movement ROI did. These effects are consistent with “person-specific” action simulations: if the motor system is recruited for action understanding, it does so by activating one's own motor program for an action. We also observed significant repetition enhancement within the IFG ROI to different exemplars or formats of the same action, a result that may indicate additional cognitive processing on these trials. Finally, we found that the recruitment of posterior brain regions by action concepts depends on the format of the input: left lateral occipital cortex and right supramarginal gyrus responded more strongly to symbolic depictions of actions than concrete ones. PMID:24904506

Functional Requirements and the Theory of Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hills, R. Jean

1982-01-01

Responding to Willower's earlier questioning of the concept of systems' functional requirements, the author outlines the Parsonian theory of action, discussing action systems' components (values, norms, organizations, and facilities) and their functional imperatives or requirements (pattern maintenance, integration, goal attainment, and…

48 CFR 432.616 - Compromise actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Compromise actions. 432.616 Section 432.616 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Contract Debts 432.616 Compromise actions. Compromise of a debt...

Neural Correlates of Human Action Observation in Hearing and Deaf Subjects

PubMed Central

Corina, David; Chiu, Yi-Shiuan; Knapp, Heather; Greenwald, Ralf; Jose-Robertson, Lucia San; Braun, Allen

2007-01-01

Accumulating evidence has suggested the existence of a human action recognition system involving inferior frontal, parietal, and superior temporal regions that may participate in both the perception and execution of actions. However, little is known about the specificity of this system in response to different forms of human action. Here we present data from PET neuroimaging studies from passive viewing of three distinct action types, intransitive self-oriented actions (e.g., stretching, rubbing one’s eyes, etc.), transitive object-oriented actions (e.g., opening a door, lifting a cup to the lips to drink), and the abstract, symbolic actions–signs used in American Sign Language. Our results show that these different classes of human actions engage a frontal/parietal/STS human action recognition system in a highly similar fashion. However, the results indicate that this neural consistency across motion classes is true primarily for hearing subjects. Data from deaf signers shows a non-uniform response to different classes of human actions. As expected, deaf signers engaged left-hemisphere perisylvian language areas during the perception of signed language signs. Surprisingly, these subjects did not engage the expected frontal/parietal/STS circuitry during passive viewing of non-linguistic actions, but rather reliably activated middle-occipital temporal-ventral regions which are known to participate in the detection of human bodies, faces, and movements. Comparisons with data from hearing subjects establish statistically significant contributions of middle-occipital temporal-ventral during the processing of non-linguistic actions in deaf signers. These results suggest that during human motion processing, deaf individuals may engage specialized neural systems that allow for rapid, online differentiation of meaningful linguistic actions from non-linguistic human movements. PMID:17459349

Serotonin affects association of aversive outcomes to past actions.

PubMed

Tanaka, Saori C; Shishida, Kazuhiro; Schweighofer, Nicolas; Okamoto, Yasumasa; Yamawaki, Shigeto; Doya, Kenji

2009-12-16

Impairment in the serotonergic system has been linked to action choices that are less advantageous in a long run. Such impulsive choices can be caused by a deficit in linking a given reward or punishment with past actions. Here, we tested the effect of manipulation of the serotonergic system by tryptophan depletion and loading on learning the association of current rewards and punishments with past actions. We observed slower associative learning when actions were followed by a delayed punishment in the low serotonergic condition. Furthermore, a model-based analysis revealed a positive correlation between the length of the memory trace for aversive choices and subjects' blood tryptophan concentration. Our results suggest that the serotonergic system regulates the time scale of retrospective association of punishments to past actions.

Minutes of the Rapid Action Fire Protection System Seminar Held at Rock Island, Illinois on 23-24 October 1984

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-01

A\\5AI5?? 93<» MINUTES OF THE RAPID ACTION FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM SEMINAR AMCCOM SAFETY OFFICE 23-24 OCTOBER 1984 PREFACE This seminar was...held as a medium by which there could be a free exchange of information on rapid action fire protection systems used in munition production operations...The objectives of the seminar were- - Discuss system operating principles & system components. - Exchange latest technical data, developments, and

Neurocognitive mechanisms of perception-action coordination: a review and theoretical integration.

PubMed

Ridderinkhof, K Richard

2014-10-01

The present analysis aims at a theoretical integration of, and a systems-neuroscience perspective on, a variety of historical and contemporary views on perception-action coordination (PAC). We set out to determine the common principles or lawful linkages between sensory and motor systems that explain how perception is action-oriented and how action is perceptually guided. To this end, we analyze the key ingredients to such an integrated framework, examine the architecture of dual-system conjectures of PAC, and endeavor in an historical analysis of the key characteristics, mechanisms, and phenomena of PACs. This analysis will reveal that dual-systems views are in need of fundamental re-thinking, and its elements will be amalgamated with current views on action-oriented predictive processing into a novel integrative theoretical framework (IMPPACT: Impetus, Motivation, and Prediction in Perception-Action Coordination theory). From this framework and its neurocognitive architecture we derive a number of non-trivial predictions regarding conative, motive-driven PAC. We end by presenting a brief outlook on how IMPPACT might present novel insights into certain pathologies and into action expertise. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Becoming Reactive by Concretization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prieditis, Armand; Janakiraman, Bhaskar

1992-01-01

One way to build a reactive system is to construct an action table indexed by the current situation or stimulus. The action table describes what course of action to pursue for each situation or stimulus. This paper describes an incremental approach to constructing the action table through achieving goals with a hierarchical search system. These hierarchies are generated with transformations called concretizations, which add constraints to a problem and which can reduce the search space. The basic idea is that an action for a state is looked up in the action table and executed whenever the action table has an entry for that state; otherwise, a path is found to the nearest (cost-wise in a graph with costweighted arcs) state that has a mappring from a state in the next highest hierarchy. For each state along the solution path, the successor state in the path is cached in the action table entry for that state. Without caching, the hierarchical search system can logarithmically reduce search. When the table is complete the system no longer searches: it simply reacts by proceeding to the state listed in the table for each state. Since the cached information is specific only to the nearest state in the next highest hierarchy and not the goal, inter-goal transfer of reactivity is possible. To illustrate our approach, we show how an implemented hierarchical search system can completely reactive.

48 CFR 323.7002 - Actions required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Actions required. 323.7002 Section 323.7002 Federal Acquisition Regulations System HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS... WORKPLACE Safety and Health 323.7002 Actions required. (a) Contracting activities. The Contracting Officer...

The Criticality of Norms to the Functional Imperatives of the Social Action System of College and University Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braxton, John M.

2010-01-01

In this article, I assert that the work of colleges and universities forms a social action system. I array the critical positions represented in this issue according to the four functional imperatives of social action systems: adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance. I discuss the role of normative structures for these…

Error, rather than its probability, elicits specific electrocortical signatures: a combined EEG-immersive virtual reality study of action observation.

PubMed

Pezzetta, Rachele; Nicolardi, Valentina; Tidoni, Emmanuele; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2018-06-06

Detecting errors in one's own actions, and in the actions of others, is a crucial ability for adaptable and flexible behavior. Studies show that specific EEG signatures underpin the monitoring of observed erroneous actions (error-related negativity, error-positivity, mid-frontal theta oscillations). However, the majority of studies on action observation used sequences of trials where erroneous actions were less frequent than correct actions. Therefore, it was not possible to disentangle whether the activation of the performance monitoring system was due to an error - as a violation of the intended goal - or a surprise/novelty effect, associated with a rare and unexpected event. Combining EEG and immersive virtual reality (IVR-CAVE system), we recorded the neural signal of 25 young adults who observed in first-person perspective, simple reach-to-grasp actions performed by an avatar aiming for a glass. Importantly, the proportion of erroneous actions was higher than correct actions. Results showed that the observation of erroneous actions elicits the typical electro-cortical signatures of error monitoring and therefore the violation of the action goal is still perceived as a salient event. The observation of correct actions elicited stronger alpha suppression. This confirmed the role of the alpha frequency band in the general orienting response to novel and infrequent stimuli. Our data provides novel evidence that an observed goal error (the action slip) triggers the activity of the performance monitoring system even when erroneous actions, which are, typically, relevant events, occur more often than correct actions and thus are not salient because of their rarity.

Action-based flood forecasting for triggering humanitarian action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coughlan de Perez, Erin; van den Hurk, Bart; van Aalst, Maarten K.; Amuron, Irene; Bamanya, Deus; Hauser, Tristan; Jongma, Brenden; Lopez, Ana; Mason, Simon; Mendler de Suarez, Janot; Pappenberger, Florian; Rueth, Alexandra; Stephens, Elisabeth; Suarez, Pablo; Wagemaker, Jurjen; Zsoter, Ervin

2016-09-01

Too often, credible scientific early warning information of increased disaster risk does not result in humanitarian action. With financial resources tilted heavily towards response after a disaster, disaster managers have limited incentive and ability to process complex scientific data, including uncertainties. These incentives are beginning to change, with the advent of several new forecast-based financing systems that provide funding based on a forecast of an extreme event. Given the changing landscape, here we demonstrate a method to select and use appropriate forecasts for specific humanitarian disaster prevention actions, even in a data-scarce location. This action-based forecasting methodology takes into account the parameters of each action, such as action lifetime, when verifying a forecast. Forecasts are linked with action based on an understanding of (1) the magnitude of previous flooding events and (2) the willingness to act "in vain" for specific actions. This is applied in the context of the Uganda Red Cross Society forecast-based financing pilot project, with forecasts from the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS). Using this method, we define the "danger level" of flooding, and we select the probabilistic forecast triggers that are appropriate for specific actions. Results from this methodology can be applied globally across hazards and fed into a financing system that ensures that automatic, pre-funded early action will be triggered by forecasts.

Where is the action? Action sentence processing in Parkinson's disease

PubMed Central

Fernandino, Leonardo; Conant, Lisa L.; Binder, Jeffrey R.; Blindauer, Karen; Hiner, Bradley; Spangler, Katie; Desai, Rutvik H.

2013-01-01

According to an influential view of conceptual representation, action concepts are understood through motoric simulations, involving motor networks of the brain. A stronger version of this embodied account suggests that even figurative uses of action words (e.g., grasping the concept) are understood through motoric simulations. We investigated these claims by assessing whether Parkinson's disease (PD), a disorder affecting the motor system, is associated with selective deficits in comprehending action-related sentences. Twenty PD patients and 21 age-matched controls performed a sentence comprehension task, where sentences belonged to one of four conditions: literal action, non-idiomatic metaphoric action, idiomatic action, and abstract. The same verbs (referring to hand/arm actions) were used in the three action-related conditions. Patients, but not controls, were slower to respond to literal and idiomatic action than to abstract sentences. These results indicate that sensory-motor systems play a functional role in semantic processing, including processing of figurative action language. PMID:23624313

Do endogenous and exogenous action control compete for perception?

PubMed

Pfister, Roland; Heinemann, Alexander; Kiesel, Andrea; Thomaschke, Roland; Janczyk, Markus

2012-04-01

Human actions are guided either by endogenous action plans or by external stimuli in the environment. These two types of action control seem to be mediated by neurophysiologically and functionally distinct systems that interfere if an endogenously planned action suddenly has to be performed in response to an exogenous stimulus. In this case, the endogenous representation has to be deactivated first to give way to the exogenous system. Here we show that interference of endogenous and exogenous action control is not limited to motor-related aspects but also affects the perception of action-related stimuli. Participants associated two actions with contingent sensory effects in learning blocks. In subsequent test blocks, preparing one of these actions specifically impaired responding to the associated effect in an exogenous speeded detection task, yielding a blindness-like effect for arbitrary, learned action effects. In accordance with the theory of event coding, this finding suggests that action planning influences perception even in the absence of any physical similarities between action and to-be-perceived stimuli.

Extreme trajectory approach to the problem of determining the degree of stability of a laser surface scanning system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikitin, V. N.; Chemodanov, V. B.

2018-02-01

The degree of stability of a laser system for surface scanning with nonlinear multiplicative crosstalks is discussed. To determine its stability, the action functional is introduced, which is defined on the set of virtual (achievable) trajectories. The action functional is a measure of external action, which should be applied to a system to move it along a predetermined trial trajectory in the state space.The degree of stability of the system depends on the minimum value of the action functional which is reached on the extreme trajectory transferring the laser scanning system from equilibrium to the limit of the normal operation range. Numerical methods are proposed for calculating the degree of stability.

42 CFR 433.138 - Identifying liable third parties.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...) Integration with the State mechanized claims processing and information retrieval system. Basic requirement—Development of an action plan. (1) If a State has a mechanized claims processing and information retrieval... processing and information retrieval system. (2) The action plan must describe the actions and methodologies...

42 CFR 433.138 - Identifying liable third parties.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...) Integration with the State mechanized claims processing and information retrieval system. Basic requirement—Development of an action plan. (1) If a State has a mechanized claims processing and information retrieval... processing and information retrieval system. (2) The action plan must describe the actions and methodologies...

77 FR 40735 - Unique Device Identification System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-10

... Identification System AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Food and... Regulatory Action This rule is intended to substantially reduce existing obstacles to the adequate... appropriate, better-focused, corrective action. The rule will also require dates on medical device labels to...

Action perception in individuals with congenital blindness or deafness: how does the loss of a sensory modality from birth affect perception-induced motor facilitation?

PubMed

Alaerts, Kaat; Swinnen, Stephan P; Wenderoth, Nicole

2011-05-01

Seeing or hearing manual actions activates the mirror neuron system, that is, specialized neurons within motor areas which fire when an action is performed but also when it is passively perceived. Using TMS, it was shown that motor cortex of typically developed subjects becomes facilitated not only from seeing others' actions, but also from merely hearing action-related sounds. In the present study, TMS was used for the first time to explore the "auditory" and "visual" responsiveness of motor cortex in individuals with congenital blindness or deafness. TMS was applied over left primary motor cortex (M1) to measure cortico-motor facilitation while subjects passively perceived manual actions (either visually or aurally). Although largely unexpected, congenitally blind or deaf subjects displayed substantially lower resonant motor facilitation upon action perception compared to seeing/hearing control subjects. Moreover, muscle-specific changes in cortico-motor excitability within M1 appeared to be absent in individuals with profound blindness or deafness. Overall, these findings strongly argue against the hypothesis that an increased reliance on the remaining sensory modality in blind or deaf subjects is accompanied by an increased responsiveness of the "auditory" or "visual" perceptual-motor "mirror" system, respectively. Moreover, the apparent lack of resonant motor facilitation for the blind and deaf subjects may challenge the hypothesis of a unitary mirror system underlying human action recognition and may suggest that action perception in blind and deaf subjects engages a mode of action processing that is different from the human action recognition system recruited in typically developed subjects.

The Representation of Motor (Inter)action, States of Action, and Learning: Three Perspectives on Motor Learning by Way of Imagery and Execution

PubMed Central

Frank, Cornelia; Schack, Thomas

2017-01-01

Learning in intelligent systems is a result of direct and indirect interaction with the environment. While humans can learn by way of different states of (inter)action such as the execution or the imagery of an action, their unique potential to induce brain- and mind-related changes in the motor action system is still being debated. The systematic repetition of different states of action (e.g., physical and/or mental practice) and their contribution to the learning of complex motor actions has traditionally been approached by way of performance improvements. More recently, approaches highlighting the role of action representation in the learning of complex motor actions have evolved and may provide additional insight into the learning process. In the present perspective paper, we build on brain-related findings and sketch recent research on learning by way of imagery and execution from a hierarchical, perceptual-cognitive approach to motor control and learning. These findings provide insights into the learning of intelligent systems from a perceptual-cognitive, representation-based perspective and as such add to our current understanding of action representation in memory and its changes with practice. Future research should build bridges between approaches in order to more thoroughly understand functional changes throughout the learning process and to facilitate motor learning, which may have particular importance for cognitive systems research in robotics, rehabilitation, and sports. PMID:28588510

48 CFR 501.404-70 - Contract action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract action. 501.404... Contract action. Contract action. A contract action, for the purpose of determining whether an individual or class deviation is appropriate, has the same meaning as that used for reporting contract actions...

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 428: Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, REVISION 0, march 1999

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

ITLV.

1999-03-01

The Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 428, Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, has been developed in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the U. S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office; the State of Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; and the U. S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 428 consists of Corrective Action Sites 03- 05- 002- SW01 and 03- 05- 002- SW05, respectively known as Area 3 Septic Waste System 1 and Septic Waste System 5. This Corrective Action Investigation Plan is used inmore » combination with the Work Plan for Leachfield Corrective Action Units: Nevada Test Site and Tonopah Test Range, Nevada , Rev. 1 (DOE/ NV, 1998c). The Leachfield Work Plan was developed to streamline investigations at leachfield Corrective Action Units by incorporating management, technical, quality assurance, health and safety, public involvement, field sampling, and waste management information common to a set of Corrective Action Units with similar site histories and characteristics into a single document that can be referenced. This Corrective Action Investigation Plan provides investigative details specific to Corrective Action Unit 428. A system of leachfields and associated collection systems was used for wastewater disposal at Area 3 of the Tonopah Test Range until a consolidated sewer system was installed in 1990 to replace the discrete septic waste systems. Operations within various buildings at Area 3 generated sanitary and industrial wastewaters potentially contaminated with contaminants of potential concern and disposed of in septic tanks and leachfields. Corrective Action Unit 428 is composed of two leachfield systems in the northern portion of Area 3. Based on site history collected to support the Data Quality Objectives process, contaminants of potential concern for the site include oil/ diesel range total petroleum hydrocarbons, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act characteristic volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, and metals. A limited number of samples will be analyzed for gamma- emitting radionuclides and isotopic uranium from four of the septic tanks and if radiological field screening levels are exceeded. Additional samples will be analyzed for geotechnical and hydrological properties and a bioassessment may be performed. The technical approach for investigating this Corrective Action Unit consists of the following activities: Perform video surveys of the discharge and outfall lines. Collect samples of material in the septic tanks. Conduct exploratory trenching to locate and inspect subsurface components. Collect subsurface soil samples in areas of the collection system including the septic tanks and outfall end of distribution boxes. Collect subsurface soil samples underlying the leachfield distribution pipes via trenching. Collect surface and near- surface samples near potential locations of the Acid Sewer Outfall if Septic Waste System 5 Leachfield cannot be located. Field screen samples for volatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and radiological activity. Drill boreholes and collect subsurface soil samples if required. Analyze samples for total volatile organic compounds, total semivolatile organic compounds, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (oil/ diesel range organics). Limited number of samples will be analyzed for gamma- emitting radionuclides and isotopic uranium from particular septic tanks and if radiological field screening levels are exceeded. Collect samples from native soils beneath the distribution system and analyze for geotechnical/ hydrologic parameters. Collect and analyze bioassessment samples at the discretion of the Site Supervisor if total petroleum hydrocarbons exceed field- screening levels.« less

Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action 405: Area 3 Septic Systems, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada Rev. No.: 0, April 2002

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

IT Coroporation, Las Vegas, NV

2002-04-17

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 405, Area 3 Septic Systems, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located on the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) approximately 235 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada, CAU 405 consists of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 03-05-002-SW03, Septic Waste System (aka: Septic Waste System [SWS] 3); 03-05-002-SW04, Septic Waste System (aka: SWS 4); 03-05-002-SW07, Septic Waste System (aka: SWS 7). The CADD and CR have been combined into one report because no further action is recommended for this CAU, and this reportmore » provides specific information necessary to support this recommendation. The CAU consists of three leachfields and associated collection systems that were installed in or near Area 3 for wastewater disposal. These systems were used until a consolidated sewer system was installed in 1990. Historically, operations within various buildin gs in and near Area 3 of the TTR generated sanitary and industrial wastewaters. There is a potential that contaminants of concern (COCs) were present in the wastewaters and were disposed of in septic tanks and leachfields. The justification for closure of this CAU without further action is based on process knowledge and the results of the investigative activities. Closure activities were performed at these CASs between January 14 and February 2, 2002, and included the removal and proper disposal of media containing regulated constituents and proper closure of septic tanks. No further action is appropriate because all necessary activities have been completed. No use restrictions are required to be imposed for these sites since the investigation showed no evidence of COCs identified in the soil for CAU 405.« less

Development and Testing of a M-Learning System for the Professional Development of Academics through Design-Based Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keskin, Nilgun Ozdamar; Kuzu, Abdullah

2015-01-01

In the present study, a mobile learning system for the professional development of academics was developed by design based action research, and the perceptions and experiences of the academics using this system were examined. In the first phase of this design-based action research, the research question was defined. In the second phase, a…

40 CFR 265.259 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... response action plan must set forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate has been exceeded... section. (b) If the flow rate into the leak determination system exceeds the action leakage rate for any... notification that the action leakage rate has been exceeded, submit to the Regional Administrator the results...

Playing Action Video Games Improves Visuomotor Control.

PubMed

Li, Li; Chen, Rongrong; Chen, Jing

2016-08-01

Can playing action video games improve visuomotor control? If so, can these games be used in training people to perform daily visuomotor-control tasks, such as driving? We found that action gamers have better lane-keeping and visuomotor-control skills than do non-action gamers. We then trained non-action gamers with action or nonaction video games. After they played a driving or first-person-shooter video game for 5 or 10 hr, their visuomotor control improved significantly. In contrast, non-action gamers showed no such improvement after they played a nonaction video game. Our model-driven analysis revealed that although different action video games have different effects on the sensorimotor system underlying visuomotor control, action gaming in general improves the responsiveness of the sensorimotor system to input error signals. The findings support a causal link between action gaming (for as little as 5 hr) and enhancement in visuomotor control, and suggest that action video games can be beneficial training tools for driving. © The Author(s) 2016.

Alaska State Legislature

Science.gov Websites

Teleconferencing Handouts Directory of State Officials ($3 plus s&h) Bill Action & Status Inquiry System - (BASIS) Each of the LIOs has computer access to information on floor and committee action as it occurs via BASIS (Bill Action Status Inquiry System). For each bill introduced, a file is created in BASIS

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 219: Septic Systems and Injection Wells, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

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

David A. Strand

The Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 219, Septic Systems and Injection Wells, has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. The purpose of the investigation is to ensure that adequate data are collected to provide sufficient and reliable information to identify, evaluate, and select technically viable corrective actions. Corrective Action Unit 219 is located in Areas 3, 16, and 23 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest ofmore » Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 219 is comprised of the six Corrective Action Sites (CASs) listed below: (1) 03-11-01, Steam Pipes and Asbestos Tiles; (2) 16-04-01, Septic Tanks (3); (3) 16-04-02, Distribution Box; (4) 16-04-03, Sewer Pipes; (5) 23-20-01, DNA Motor Pool Sewage and Waste System; and (6) 23-20-02, Injection Well. These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation prior to evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document.« less

Exact relations between homoclinic and periodic orbit actions in chaotic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jizhou; Tomsovic, Steven

2018-02-01

Homoclinic and unstable periodic orbits in chaotic systems play central roles in various semiclassical sum rules. The interferences between terms are governed by the action functions and Maslov indices. In this article, we identify geometric relations between homoclinic and unstable periodic orbits, and derive exact formulas expressing the periodic orbit classical actions in terms of corresponding homoclinic orbit actions plus certain phase space areas. The exact relations provide a basis for approximations of the periodic orbit actions as action differences between homoclinic orbits with well-estimated errors. This enables an explicit study of relations between periodic orbits, which results in an analytic expression for the action differences between long periodic orbits and their shadowing decomposed orbits in the cycle expansion.

Feasibility of Gathering Depreciation Information from Existing Sources for US Army Installation Accrual Accounting Systems.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-01

concerning actions needed to prevent destruction of existing information, correct property accounting systems so that future information is recorded...concerning actions needed to prevent destruction of existing informa- tion, correct property accounting systems so that future ii~formation is recorded...destroyed unless certain Department of the Army regulations are changed. Five of the fourteen recommendations address the actions needed to ensure that an

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-16

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce Challenges...Armed Services, U.S. Senate March 16, 2016 UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce ...High-performing organizations use complete and current data to inform their strategic human capital planning and remain open to reevaluating workforce

Through the looking glass: counter-mirror activation following incompatible sensorimotor learning.

PubMed

Catmur, Caroline; Gillmeister, Helge; Bird, Geoffrey; Liepelt, Roman; Brass, Marcel; Heyes, Cecilia

2008-09-01

The mirror system, comprising cortical areas that allow the actions of others to be represented in the observer's own motor system, is thought to be crucial for the development of social cognition in humans. Despite the importance of the human mirror system, little is known about its origins. We investigated the role of sensorimotor experience in the development of the mirror system. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure neural responses to observed hand and foot actions following one of two types of training. During training, participants in the Compatible (control) group made mirror responses to observed actions (hand responses were made to hand stimuli and foot responses to foot stimuli), whereas the Incompatible group made counter-mirror responses (hand to foot and foot to hand). Comparison of these groups revealed that, after training to respond in a counter-mirror fashion, the relative action observation properties of the mirror system were reversed; areas that showed greater responses to observation of hand actions in the Compatible group responded more strongly to observation of foot actions in the Incompatible group. These results suggest that, rather than being innate or the product of unimodal visual or motor experience, the mirror properties of the mirror system are acquired through sensorimotor learning.

[Environmental investigation of ground water contamination at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio]. Volume 9, Removal action system design

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

Not Available

1992-04-01

This Removal Action System Design has been prepared as a Phase I Volume for the implementation of the Phase II removal action at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) near Dayton, Ohio. The objective of the removal action is to prevent, to the extent practicable, the migration of ground water contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCS) across the southwest boundary of Area C. The Phase 1, Volume 9 Removal Action System Design compiles the design documents prepared for the Phase II Removal Action. These documents, which are presented in Appendices to Volume 9, include: Process Design, which presents the 30more » percent design for the ground water treatment system (GWTS); Design Packages 1 and 2 for Earthwork and Road Construction, and the Discharge Pipeline, respectively; no drawings are included in the appendix; Design Package 3 for installation of the Ground Water Extraction Well(s); Design Package 4 for installation of the Monitoring Well Instrumentation; and Design Package 5 for installation of the Ground Water Treatment System; this Design Package is incorporated by reference because of its size.« less

The mirror neuron system and treatment of stroke.

PubMed

Small, Steven L; Buccino, Giovanni; Solodkin, Ana

2012-04-01

Mirror neurons discharge during the execution of ecological goal-directed manual and oral actions, as well as during the observation of the same actions done by other individuals. These neurons were first identified in the ventral premotor cortex (PMv; area F5) and later on in the inferior parietal lobule (areas PF and PFG) of monkey brain, constituting a "mirror neuron" system. Several pieces of experimental data suggest that a mirror neuron system devoted to hand, mouth, and foot actions might also be present in humans. In the present paper, we review the experimental evidence on the role of the mirror neuron system in action understanding and imitation, both in hand motor function and speech. Based on the features of the mirror neuron system and its role in action understanding and imitation, we discuss the use of action observation and imitation as an approach for systematic training in the rehabilitation of patients with motor impairment of the upper limb and aphasia following stroke. We present the results of some preliminary studies to test this concept, and a discussion of network models as a measure of neurobiological change. Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Intelligent Decentralized Control In Large Distributed Computer Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

decentralized. The goal is to find a way for the agents to coordinate their actions to maximize some index of system performance. (Our main...shown in Figure 4.13. The controller observes the environ- ment through sensors, and then may issue a command (i.e., take action ) to affect the...the Hypothesis Generator and the Belief Manager, and finally actions are issued by the Action Generator, the Experiment Generator, or the Reflex

Understanding the process of fascial unwinding.

PubMed

Minasny, Budiman

2009-09-23

Fascial or myofascial unwinding is a process in which a client undergoes a spontaneous reaction in response to the therapist's touch. It can be induced by using specific techniques that encourage a client's body to move into areas of ease. Unwinding is a popular technique in massage therapy, but its mechanism is not well understood. In the absence of a scientific explanation or hypothesis of the mechanism of action, it can be interpreted as "mystical." This paper proposes a model that builds on the neurobiologic, ideomotor action, and consciousness theories to explain the process and mechanism of fascial unwinding. HYPOTHETICAL MODEL: During fascial unwinding, the therapist stimulates mechanoreceptors in the fascia by applying gentle touch and stretching. Touch and stretching induce relaxation and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. They also activate the central nervous system, which is involved in the modulation of muscle tone as well as movement. As a result, the central nervous system is aroused and thereby responds by encouraging muscles to find an easier, or more relaxed, position and by introducing the ideomotor action. Although the ideomotor action is generated via normal voluntary motor control systems, it is altered and experienced as an involuntary response. Fascial unwinding occurs when a physically induced suggestion by a therapist prompts ideomotor action that the client experiences as involuntary. This action is guided by the central nervous system, which produces continuous action until a state of ease is reached. Consequently, fascial unwinding can be thought of as a neurobiologic process employing the self-regulation dynamic system theory.

Lateralization in motor facilitation during action observation: a TMS study.

PubMed

Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa; Maeda, Fumiko; Zaidel, Eran; Mazziotta, John; Iacoboni, Marco

2002-05-01

Action observation facilitates corticospinal excitability. This is presumably due to a premotor neural system that is active when we perform actions and when we observe actions performed by others. It has been speculated that this neural system is a precursor of neural systems subserving language. If this theory is true, we may expect hemispheric differences in the motor facilitation produced by action observation, with the language-dominant left hemisphere showing stronger facilitation than the right hemisphere. Furthermore, it has been suggested that body parts are recognized via cortical regions controlling sensory and motor processing associated with that body part. If this is true, then corticospinal facilitation during action observation should be modulated by the laterality of the observed body part. The present study addressed these two issues using TMS for each motor cortex separately as participants observed actions being performed by a left hand, a right hand, or a control stimulus on the computer screen. We found no overall difference between the right and left hemisphere for motor-evoked potential (MEP) size during action observation. However, when TMS was applied to the left motor cortex, MEPs were larger while observing right hand actions. Likewise, when TMS was applied to the right motor cortex, MEPs were larger while observing left hand actions. Our data do not suggest left hemisphere superiority in the facilitating effects of action observation on the motor system. However, they do support the notion of a sensory-motor loop according to which sensory stimulus properties (for example, the image of a left hand or a right hand) directly affect motor cortex activity, even when no motor output is required. The pattern of this effect is congruent with the pattern of motor representation in each hemisphere.

40 CFR 265.224 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... action plan. The response action plan must set forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate... paragraph (b) of this section. (b) If the flow rate into the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate for any sump, the owner or operator must: (1) Notify the Regional Administrator in writing of...

40 CFR 264.223 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) If the flow rate into the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate for any sump, the... action plan must set forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate has been exceeded. At a... action leakage rate has been exceeded, submit to the Regional Administrator the results of the analyses...

40 CFR 265.303 - Response actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... section. (b) If the flow rate into the leak detection system exceeds the action leakage rate for any sump... response action plan must set forth the actions to be taken if the action leakage rate has been exceeded... notification that the action leakage rate has been exceeded, submit to the Regional Administrator the results...

Rapid Ca2+ flux through the transverse tubular membrane, activated by individual action potentials in mammalian skeletal muscle

PubMed Central

Launikonis, Bradley S; Stephenson, D George; Friedrich, Oliver

2009-01-01

Periods of low frequency stimulation are known to increase the net Ca2+ uptake in skeletal muscle but the mechanism responsible for this Ca2+ entry is not known. In this study a novel high-resolution fluorescence microscopy approach allowed the detection of an action potential-induced Ca2+ flux across the tubular (t-) system of rat extensor digitorum longus muscle fibres that appears to be responsible for the net uptake of Ca2+ in working muscle. Action potentials were triggered in the t-system of mechanically skinned fibres from rat by brief field stimulation and t-system [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]t-sys) and cytoplasmic [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]cyto) were simultaneously resolved on a confocal microscope. When initial [Ca2+]t-sys was ≥ 0.2 mm a Ca2+ flux from t-system to the cytoplasm was observed following a single action potential. The action potential-induced Ca2+ flux and associated t-system Ca2+ permeability decayed exponentially and displayed inactivation characteristics such that further Ca2+ entry across the t-system could not be observed after 2–3 action potentials at 10 Hz stimulation rate. When [Ca2+]t-sys was closer to 0.1 mm, a transient rise in [Ca2+]t-sys was observed almost concurrently with the increase in [Ca2+]cyto following the action potential. The change in direction of Ca2+ flux was consistent with changes in the direction of the driving force for Ca2+. This is the first demonstration of a rapid t-system Ca2+ flux associated with a single action potential in mammalian skeletal muscle. The properties of this channel are inconsistent with a flux through the L-type Ca2+ channel suggesting that an as yet unidentified t-system protein is conducting this current. This action potential-activated Ca2+ flux provides an explanation for the previously described Ca2+ entry and accumulation observed with prolonged, intermittent muscle activity. PMID:19332499

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 516: Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. 0, Including Record of Technical Change No. 1

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

None

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Sites Office's (NNSA/NSO's) approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 516, Septic Systems and Discharge Points, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. CAU 516 consists of six Corrective Action Sites: 03-59-01, Building 3C-36 Septic System; 03-59-02, Building 3C-45 Septic System; 06-51-01, Sump Piping, 06-51-02, Clay Pipe and Debris; 06-51-03, Clean Out Box and Piping; and 22-19-04, Vehicle Decontamination Area. Located in Areasmore » 3, 6, and 22 of the NTS, CAU 516 is being investigated because disposed waste may be present without appropriate controls, and hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present or migrating at concentrations and locations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information and process knowledge on the expected nature and extent of contamination of CAU 516 are insufficient to select preferred corrective action alternatives; therefore, additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation. The results of this field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document. Record of Technical Change No. 1 is dated 3/2004.« less

Action observation has a positive impact on rehabilitation of motor deficits after stroke.

PubMed

Ertelt, Denis; Small, Steven; Solodkin, Ana; Dettmers, Christian; McNamara, Adam; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Buccino, Giovanni

2007-01-01

Evidence exists that the observation of actions activates the same cortical motor areas that are involved in the performance of the observed actions. The neural substrate for this is the mirror neuron system. We harness this neuronal system and its ability to re-enact stored motor representations as a means for rehabilitating motor control. We combined observation of daily actions with concomitant physical training of the observed actions in a new neurorehabilitative program (action observation therapy). Eight stroke patients with moderate, chronic motor deficit of the upper limb as a consequence of medial artery infarction participated. A significant improvement of motor functions in the course of a 4-week treatment, as compared to the stable pre-treatment baseline, and compared with a control group have been found. The improvement lasted for at least 8 weeks after the end of the intervention. Additionally, the effects of action observation therapy on the reorganization of the motor system were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), using an independent sensorimotor task consisting of object manipulation. The direct comparison of neural activations between experimental and control groups after training with those elicited by the same task before training yielded a significant rise in activity in the bilateral ventral premotor cortex, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the contralateral supramarginal gyrus. Our results provide pieces of evidence that action observation has a positive additional impact on recovery of motor functions after stroke by reactivation of motor areas, which contain the action observation/action execution matching system.

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 563: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, with Errata Sheet, Revision 0 (in English; Afrikaans)

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

Alfred Wickline

Corrective Action Unit 563, Septic Systems, is located in Areas 3 and 12 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 563 is comprised of the four corrective action sites (CASs) below: • 03-04-02, Area 3 Subdock Septic Tank • 03-59-05, Area 3 Subdock Cesspool • 12-59-01, Drilling/Welding Shop Septic Tanks • 12-60-01, Drilling/Welding Shop Outfalls These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective actionmore » investigation (CAI) before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document.« less

LOGISTIC MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM - MANUAL DATA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM.

DTIC Science & Technology

Logistics Management Information System . The procedures are applicable to manual storage and retrieval of all data used in the Logistics Management ... Information System (LMIS) and include the following: (1) Action Officer data source file. (2) Action Officer presentation format file. (3) LMI Coordination

Predictive sufficiency and the use of stored internal state

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Musliner, David J.; Durfee, Edmund H.; Shin, Kang G.

1994-01-01

In all embedded computing systems, some delay exists between sensing and acting. By choosing an action based on sensed data, a system is essentially predicting that there will be no significant changes in the world during this delay. However, the dynamic and uncertain nature of the real world can make these predictions incorrect, and thus, a system may execute inappropriate actions. Making systems more reactive by decreasing the gap between sensing and action leaves less time for predictions to err, but still provides no principled assurance that they will be correct. Using the concept of predictive sufficiency described in this paper, a system can prove that its predictions are valid, and that it will never execute inappropriate actions. In the context of our CIRCA system, we also show how predictive sufficiency allows a system to guarantee worst-case response times to changes in its environment. Using predictive sufficiency, CIRCA is able to build real-time reactive control plans which provide a sound basis for performance guarantees that are unavailable with other reactive systems.

Teacher's In-Service Education: A Proposal for Turning Teachers into Teacher-Researchers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereira, Ruth Da Cunha

1999-01-01

Focuses on the contribution of action research to teachers' inservice education at elementary schools in the Rio de Janeiro local system of education, linking thought and action. The development of this action research has brought to light ethical, scientific, and political questions in the school system. Contains 15 references. (AMA)

CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION UNIT 516: SEPTIC SYSTEMS AND DISCHARGE POINTS, NEVADA TEST SITE, NEVADA

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

BECHTEL NEVADA; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION NEVADA SITE OFFICE

2005-08-01

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 516, Septic Systems and Discharge Points, is listed in the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) of 1996 (FFACO, 1996). CAU 516 consists of six Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Areas 3, 6, and 22 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is located approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1). CAU 516 is comprised of the following six CASs: (1) 03-59-01 Building 3C-36 Septic System; (2) 03-59-02 Building 3C-45 Septic System; (3) 06-51-01 Sump and Piping; (4) 06-51-02 Clay Pipe and Debris; (5) 06-51-03 Clean-Out Box and Piping; and (6)more » 22-19-04 Vehicle Decontamination Area. Details on site history and site characterization results for CAU 516 are provided in the approved Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP), (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office [NNSA/NSO], 2003), and the approved Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) (NNSA/NSO, 2004).« less

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Decomposing the Processes Underlying Action Preparation.

PubMed

Bestmann, Sven; Duque, Julie

2016-08-01

Preparing actions requires the operation of several cognitive control processes that influence the state of the motor system to ensure that the appropriate behavior is ultimately selected and executed. For example, some form of competition resolution ensures that the right action is chosen among alternatives, often in the presence of conflict; at the same time, impulse control ought to be deployed to prevent premature responses. Here we review how state-changes in the human motor system during action preparation can be studied through motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation over the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1). We discuss how the physiological fingerprints afforded by MEPs have helped to decompose some of the dynamic and effector-specific influences on the motor system during action preparation. We focus on competition resolution, conflict and impulse control, as well as on the influence of higher cognitive decision-related variables. The selected examples demonstrate the usefulness of MEPs as physiological readouts for decomposing the influence of distinct, but often overlapping, control processes on the human motor system during action preparation. © The Author(s) 2015.

Applying Organization Development to Coast Guard Affirmative Action for Black Officers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-12-01

systems approach in the HRM area which includes significant attention to equal opportunity and affirmative action issues. Its present affirmative action...systems approach to the most funda- mental objective of managers - the acquisition and development of people - is needed, not only to meet soci.i and legal...strategy will not produce change, it will largely maintain the status quo. A total systems approach offers the hope of changing the present pattern

Summary of Federal Aviation Administration Responses to National Transportation Safety Board Safety Recommendations.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

reconsiderations, status reports, and followup actions. The NTSB system of priority classification for action provides for documented NTSB followup action for...controllers transmitted information to the flightcrew regarding the location and intensity of the thunderstorm system in the path of the flight, although other... system . Testimony given at a public hearing held in Omaha, Nebraska, during September 1980 indicated that the full extent of the area of precipitation and

ROSSTEP v1.3

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

Allevato, Adam

2016-07-21

ROSSTEP is a system for sequentially running roslaunch, rosnode, and bash scripts automatically, for use in Robot Operating System (ROS) applications. The system consists of YAML files which define actions and conditions. A python file parses the code and runs actions sequentially using the sys and subprocess python modules. Between actions, it uses various ROS-based code to check conditions required to proceed, and only moves on to the next action when all the necessary conditions have been met. Included is rosstep-creator, a QT application designed to create the YAML files required for ROSSTEP. It has a nearly one-to-one mapping frommore » interface elements to YAML output, and serves as a convenient GUI for working with the ROSSTEP system.« less

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 151: Septic Systems and Discharge Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

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

David A. Strand

2004-06-01

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 151: Septic Systems and Discharge Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. Information presented in this CAIP includes facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for the selection and evaluation of environmental corrective action alternatives. Corrective Action Unit 151 is located in Areas 2, 12, 18, and 20 of the Nevada Test Site, which is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 151 is comprised of the nine Corrective Action Sites (CAS) listed below: (1) 02-05-01, UE-2ce Pond; (2)more » 12-03-01, Sewage Lagoons (6); (3) 12-04-01, Septic Tanks; (4) 12-04-02, Septic Tanks; (5) 12-04-03, Septic Tank; (6) 12-47-01, Wastewater Pond; (7) 18-03-01, Sewage Lagoon; (8) 18-99-09, Sewer Line (Exposed); and (9) 20-19-02, Photochemical Drain. The CASs within CAU 151 are discharge and collection systems. Corrective Action Site 02-05-01 is located in Area 2 and is a well-water collection pond used as a part of the Nash test. Corrective Action Sites 12-03-01, 12-04-01, 12-04-02, 12-04-03, and 12-47-01 are located in Area 12 and are comprised of sewage lagoons, septic tanks, associated piping, and two sumps. The features are a part of the Area 12 Camp housing and administrative septic systems. Corrective Action Sites 18-03-01 and 18-99-09 are located in the Area 17 Camp in Area 18. These sites are sewage lagoons and associated piping. The origin and terminus of CAS 18-99-09 are unknown; however, the type and configuration of the pipe indicates that it may be a part of the septic systems in Area 18. Corrective Action Site 20-19-02 is located in the Area 20 Camp. This site is comprised of a surface discharge of photoprocessing chemicals.« less

Intelligent flight control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stengel, Robert F.

1993-01-01

The capabilities of flight control systems can be enhanced by designing them to emulate functions of natural intelligence. Intelligent control functions fall in three categories. Declarative actions involve decision-making, providing models for system monitoring, goal planning, and system/scenario identification. Procedural actions concern skilled behavior and have parallels in guidance, navigation, and adaptation. Reflexive actions are spontaneous, inner-loop responses for control and estimation. Intelligent flight control systems learn knowledge of the aircraft and its mission and adapt to changes in the flight environment. Cognitive models form an efficient basis for integrating 'outer-loop/inner-loop' control functions and for developing robust parallel-processing algorithms.

An fMRI Study of Perception and Action in Deaf Signers

PubMed Central

Okada, Kayoko; Rogalsky, Corianne; O’Grady, Lucinda; Hanaumi, Leila; Bellugi, Ursula; Corina, David; Hickok, Gregory

2016-01-01

Since the discovery of mirror neurons, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the relationship between perception and action, and the role of the human mirror system in language comprehension and production. Two questions have dominated research. One concerns the role of Broca’s area in speech perception. The other concerns the role of the motor system more broadly in understanding action-related language. The current study investigates both of these questions in a way that bridges research on language with research on manual actions. We studied the neural basis of observing and executing American Sign Language (ASL) object and action signs. In an fMRI experiment, deaf signers produced signs depicting actions and objects as well as observed/comprehended signs of actions and objects. Different patterns of activation were found for observation and execution although with overlap in Broca’s area, providing prima facie support for the claim that the motor system participates in language perception. In contrast, we found no evidence that action related signs differentially involved the motor system compared to object related signs. These findings are discussed in the context of lesion studies of sign language execution and observation. In this broader context, we conclude that the activation in Broca’s area during ASL observation is not causally related to sign language understanding. PMID:26796716

An fMRI study of perception and action in deaf signers.

PubMed

Okada, Kayoko; Rogalsky, Corianne; O'Grady, Lucinda; Hanaumi, Leila; Bellugi, Ursula; Corina, David; Hickok, Gregory

2016-02-01

Since the discovery of mirror neurons, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the relationship between perception and action, and the role of the human mirror system in language comprehension and production. Two questions have dominated research. One concerns the role of Broca's area in speech perception. The other concerns the role of the motor system more broadly in understanding action-related language. The current study investigates both of these questions in a way that bridges research on language with research on manual actions. We studied the neural basis of observing and executing American Sign Language (ASL) object and action signs. In an fMRI experiment, deaf signers produced signs depicting actions and objects as well as observed/comprehended signs of actions and objects. Different patterns of activation were found for observation and execution although with overlap in Broca's area, providing prima facie support for the claim that the motor system participates in language perception. In contrast, we found no evidence that action related signs differentially involved the motor system compared to object related signs. These findings are discussed in the context of lesion studies of sign language execution and observation. In this broader context, we conclude that the activation in Broca's area during ASL observation is not causally related to sign language understanding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Mirroring Systems: Exploring the EEG Mu Rhythm in Human Infancy

PubMed Central

Marshall, Peter J.; Meltzoff, Andrew N.

2010-01-01

How do human children come to understand the actions of other people? What neural systems are associated with the processing of others’ actions and how do these systems develop, starting in infancy? These questions span cognitive psychology and developmental cognitive neuroscience, and addressing them has important implications for the study of social cognition. A large amount of research has used behavioral measures to investigate infants’ imitation of the actions of other people; a related but smaller literature has begun to use neurobiological measures to study of infants’ action representation. Here we focus on experiments employing electroencephalographic (EEG) techniques for assessing mu rhythm desynchronization in infancy, and analyze how this work illuminates the links between action perception and production prior to the onset of language. PMID:21528008

77 FR 26071 - Revisions to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR 3) for Public Water Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-02

... 142 Revisions to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR 3) for Public Water Systems... (UCMR 3) for Public Water Systems AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final rule... action are public water systems (PWSs). All large community and non-transient non-community water systems...

Space-time modeling using environmental constraints in a mobile robot system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slack, Marc G.

1990-01-01

Grid-based models of a robot's local environment have been used by many researchers building mobile robot control systems. The attraction of grid-based models is their clear parallel between the internal model and the external world. However, the discrete nature of such representations does not match well with the continuous nature of actions and usually serves to limit the abilities of the robot. This work describes a spatial modeling system that extracts information from a grid-based representation to form a symbolic representation of the robot's local environment. The approach makes a separation between the representation provided by the sensing system and the representation used by the action system. Separation allows asynchronous operation between sensing and action in a mobile robot, as well as the generation of a more continuous representation upon which to base actions.

Watching novice action degrades expert motor performance: Causation between action production and outcome prediction of observed actions by humans

PubMed Central

Ikegami, Tsuyoshi; Ganesh, Gowrishankar

2014-01-01

Our social skills are critically determined by our ability to understand and appropriately respond to actions performed by others. However despite its obvious importance, the mechanisms enabling action understanding in humans have remained largely unclear. A popular but controversial belief is that parts of the motor system contribute to our ability to understand observed actions. Here, using a novel behavioral paradigm, we investigated this belief by examining a causal relation between action production, and a component of action understanding - outcome prediction, the ability of a person to predict the outcome of observed actions. We asked dart experts to watch novice dart throwers and predict the outcome of their throws. We modulated the feedbacks provided to them, caused a specific improvement in the expert's ability to predict watched actions while controlling the other experimental factors, and exhibited that a change (improvement) in their outcome prediction ability results in a progressive and proportional deterioration in the expert's own darts performance. This causal relationship supports involvement of the motor system in outcome prediction by humans of actions observed in others. PMID:25384755

48 CFR 9901.314 - Informal actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Informal actions. 9901.314... actions. The Chairman may take actions on behalf of the Board on administrative issues, as determined by the Chairman, without holding an official meeting of the members. However, details of the actions so...

48 CFR 9901.314 - Informal actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Informal actions. 9901.314... actions. The Chairman may take actions on behalf of the Board on administrative issues, as determined by the Chairman, without holding an official meeting of the members. However, details of the actions so...

A model for Entropy Production, Entropy Decrease and Action Minimization in Self-Organization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgiev, Georgi; Chatterjee, Atanu; Vu, Thanh; Iannacchione, Germano

In self-organization energy gradients across complex systems lead to change in the structure of systems, decreasing their internal entropy to ensure the most efficient energy transport and therefore maximum entropy production in the surroundings. This approach stems from fundamental variational principles in physics, such as the principle of least action. It is coupled to the total energy flowing through a system, which leads to increase the action efficiency. We compare energy transport through a fluid cell which has random motion of its molecules, and a cell which can form convection cells. We examine the signs of change of entropy, and the action needed for the motion inside those systems. The system in which convective motion occurs, reduces the time for energy transmission, compared to random motion. For more complex systems, those convection cells form a network of transport channels, for the purpose of obeying the equations of motion in this geometry. Those transport networks are an essential feature of complex systems in biology, ecology, economy and society.

Systems Thinking, Lean Production and Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seddon, John; Caulkin, Simon

2007-01-01

Systems thinking underpins "lean" management and is best understood through action-learning as the ideas are counter-intuitive. The Toyota Production System is just that--a system; the failure to appreciate that starting-place and the advocacy of "tools" leads many to fail to grasp what is, without doubt, a significant…

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 555: Septic Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0 with Errata

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

Pastor, Laura

2005-12-01

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains project-specific information including facility descriptions, environmental sample collection objectives, and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 555: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. This CAIP has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 555 is located in Areas 1, 3 and 6 of the NTS, which is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada,more » and is comprised of the five corrective action sites (CASs) shown on Figure 1-1 and listed below: (1) CAS 01-59-01, Area 1 Camp Septic System; (2) CAS 03-59-03, Core Handling Building Septic System; (3) CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well; (4) CAS 06-59-01, Birdwell Septic System; and (5) CAS 06-59-02, National Cementers Septic System. An FFACO modification was approved on December 14, 2005, to include CAS 06-20-05, Birdwell Dry Well, as part of the scope of CAU 555. The work scope was expanded in this document to include the investigation of CAS 06-20-05. The Corrective Action Investigation (CAI) will include field inspections, radiological surveys, geophysical surveys, sampling of environmental media, analysis of samples, and assessment of investigation results, where appropriate. Data will be obtained to support corrective action alternative evaluations and waste management decisions. The CASs in CAU 555 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI before the evaluation and selection of corrective action alternatives.« less

Curriculum Design and Evaluation: An Employer-Centered Action Approach. AIR Forum 1980 Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehallis, Mantha Vlahos

The development and validation of an employer-centered action system for curriculum development and evaluation are described. The system used a descriptive/action research design whereby a research team interviewed all major employers in Broward County Florida in a two-year period. Results of an employer needs assessment and task analyses were…

Action Learning for Organizational and Systemic Development: Towards a "Both-and" Understanding of "I" and "We"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rigg, Clare

2008-01-01

In public services delivery, action learning is increasingly employed in the hope of improving capacity to address complex, multi-casual and "wicked" social issues to improve the lives of citizens. Yet the understanding of how and why action learning might have potential for enhancing organizational or systemic capability rarely goes…

Effects of Brief Imitative Experience on EEG Desynchronization during Action Observation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Peter J.; Bouquet, Cedric A.; Shipley, Thomas F.; Young, Thomas

2009-01-01

There is a good deal of evidence that observing the actions of other people is associated with activation of the observer's motor system, which may reflect involvement of the mirror neuron system (MNS) in certain aspects of action processing in humans. Furthermore, variation in the extent of this activation appears to be partly dependent on…

Predictive Mechanisms Are Not Involved the Same Way during Human-Human vs. Human-Machine Interactions: A Review

PubMed Central

Sahaï, Aïsha; Pacherie, Elisabeth; Grynszpan, Ouriel; Berberian, Bruno

2017-01-01

Nowadays, interactions with others do not only involve human peers but also automated systems. Many studies suggest that the motor predictive systems that are engaged during action execution are also involved during joint actions with peers and during other human generated action observation. Indeed, the comparator model hypothesis suggests that the comparison between a predicted state and an estimated real state enables motor control, and by a similar functioning, understanding and anticipating observed actions. Such a mechanism allows making predictions about an ongoing action, and is essential to action regulation, especially during joint actions with peers. Interestingly, the same comparison process has been shown to be involved in the construction of an individual's sense of agency, both for self-generated and observed other human generated actions. However, the implication of such predictive mechanisms during interactions with machines is not consensual, probably due to the high heterogeneousness of the automata used in the experimentations, from very simplistic devices to full humanoid robots. The discrepancies that are observed during human/machine interactions could arise from the absence of action/observation matching abilities when interacting with traditional low-level automata. Consistently, the difficulties to build a joint agency with this kind of machines could stem from the same problem. In this context, we aim to review the studies investigating predictive mechanisms during social interactions with humans and with automated artificial systems. We will start by presenting human data that show the involvement of predictions in action control and in the sense of agency during social interactions. Thereafter, we will confront this literature with data from the robotic field. Finally, we will address the upcoming issues in the field of robotics related to automated systems aimed at acting as collaborative agents. PMID:29081744

Mirror system activity for action and language is embedded in the integration of dorsal and ventral pathways.

PubMed

Arbib, Michael A

2010-01-01

We develop the view that the involvement of mirror neurons in embodied experience grounds brain structures that underlie language, but that many other brain regions are involved. We stress the cooperation between the dorsal and ventral streams in praxis and language. Both have perceptual and motor schemas but the perceptual schemas in the dorsal path are affordances linked to specific motor schemas for detailed motor control, whereas the ventral path supports planning and decision making. This frames the hypothesis that the mirror system for words evolved from the mirror system for actions to support words-as-phonological-actions, with semantics provided by the linkage to neural systems supporting perceptual and motor schemas. We stress the importance of computational models which can be linked to the parametric analysis of data and conceptual analysis of these models to support new patterns of understanding of the data. In the domain of praxis, we assess the FARS model of the canonical system for grasping, the MNS models for the mirror system for grasping, and the Augmented Competitive Queuing model that extends the control of action to the opportunistic scheduling of action sequences and also offers a new hypothesis on the role of mirror neurons in self action. Turning to language, we use Construction Grammar as our linguistic framework to get beyond single words to phrases and sentences, and initiate analysis of what brain functions must complement mirror systems to support this functionality. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 560: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada with ROTC1, Revision 0

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

Grant Evenson

2008-05-01

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 560 is located in Areas 3 and 6 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 560 is comprised of the seven corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: • 03-51-01, Leach Pit • 06-04-02, Septic Tank • 06-05-03, Leach Pit • 06-05-04, Leach Bed • 06-59-03, Building CP-400 Septic System • 06-59-04, Office Trailer Complex Sewage Pond • 06-59-05, Control Point Septic System These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend correctivemore » action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on January 22, 2008, by representatives from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and National Security Technologies, LLC. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions for CAU 560.« less

Classical Renin-Angiotensin System in Kidney Physiology

PubMed Central

Sparks, Matthew A.; Crowley, Steven D.; Gurley, Susan B.; Mirotsou, Maria; Coffman, Thomas M.

2014-01-01

The renin-angiotensin system has powerful effects in control of the blood pressure and sodium homeostasis. These actions are coordinated through integrated actions in the kidney, cardio-vascular system and the central nervous system. Along with its impact on blood pressure, the renin-angiotensin system also influences a range of processes from inflammation and immune responses to longevity. Here, we review the actions of the “classical” renin-angiotensin system, whereby the substrate protein angiotensinogen is processed in a two-step reaction by renin and angiotensin converting enzyme, resulting in the sequential generation of angiotensin I and angiotensin II, the major biologically active renin-angiotensin system peptide, which exerts its actions via type 1 and type 2 angiotensin receptors. In recent years, several new enzymes, peptides, and receptors related to the renin-angiotensin system have been identified, manifesting a complexity that was previously unappreciated. While the functions of these alternative pathways will be reviewed elsewhere in this journal, our focus here is on the physiological role of components of the “classical” renin-angiotensin system, with an emphasis on new developments and modern concepts. PMID:24944035

Somatotopic Semantic Priming and Prediction in the Motor System

PubMed Central

Grisoni, Luigi; Dreyer, Felix R.; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2016-01-01

The recognition of action-related sounds and words activates motor regions, reflecting the semantic grounding of these symbols in action information; in addition, motor cortex exerts causal influences on sound perception and language comprehension. However, proponents of classic symbolic theories still dispute the role of modality-preferential systems such as the motor cortex in the semantic processing of meaningful stimuli. To clarify whether the motor system carries semantic processes, we investigated neurophysiological indexes of semantic relationships between action-related sounds and words. Event-related potentials revealed that action-related words produced significantly larger stimulus-evoked (Mismatch Negativity-like) and predictive brain responses (Readiness Potentials) when presented in body-part-incongruent sound contexts (e.g., “kiss” in footstep sound context; “kick” in whistle context) than in body-part-congruent contexts, a pattern reminiscent of neurophysiological correlates of semantic priming. Cortical generators of the semantic relatedness effect were localized in areas traditionally associated with semantic memory, including left inferior frontal cortex and temporal pole, and, crucially, in motor areas, where body-part congruency of action sound–word relationships was indexed by a somatotopic pattern of activation. As our results show neurophysiological manifestations of action-semantic priming in the motor cortex, they prove semantic processing in the motor system and thus in a modality-preferential system of the human brain. PMID:26908635

The vascular endothelium in diabetes--a therapeutic target?

PubMed

Mather, Kieren J

2013-03-01

Insulin resistance affects the vascular endothelium, and contributes to systemic insulin resistance by directly impairing the actions of insulin to redistribute blood flow as part of its normal actions driving muscle glucose uptake. Impaired vascular function is a component of the insulin resistance syndrome, and is a feature of type 2 diabetes. On this basis, the vascular endothelium has emerged as a therapeutic target where the intent is to improve systemic metabolic state by improving vascular function. We review the available literature presenting studies in humans, evaluating the effects of metabolically targeted and vascular targeted therapies on insulin action and systemic metabolism. Therapies that improve systemic insulin resistance exert strong concurrent effects to improve vascular function and vascular insulin action. RAS-acting agents and statins have widely recognized beneficial effects on vascular function but have not uniformly produced the hoped-for metabolic benefits. These observations support the notion that systemic metabolic benefits can arise from therapies targeted at the endothelium, but improving vascular insulin action does not result from all treatments that improve endothelium-dependent vasodilation. A better understanding of the mechanisms of insulin's actions in the vascular wall will advance our understanding of the specificity of these responses, and allow us to better target the vasculature for metabolic benefits.

Human action quality evaluation based on fuzzy logic with application in underground coal mining.

PubMed

Ionica, Andreea; Leba, Monica

2015-01-01

The work system is defined by its components, their roles and the relationships between them. Any work system gravitates around the human resource and the interdependencies between human factor and the other components of it. Researches in this field agreed that the human factor and its actions are difficult to quantify and predict. The objective of this paper is to apply a method of human actions evaluation in order to estimate possible risks and prevent possible system faults, both at human factor level and at equipment level. In order to point out the importance of the human factor influence on all the elements of the working systems we propose a fuzzy logic based methodology for quality evaluation of human actions. This methodology has a multidisciplinary character, as it gathers ideas and methods from: quality management, ergonomics, work safety and artificial intelligence. The results presented refer to a work system with a high degree of specificity, namely, underground coal mining and are valuable for human resources risk evaluation pattern. The fuzzy logic evaluation of the human actions leads to early detection of possible dangerous evolutions of the work system and alarm the persons in charge.

Database management systems for process safety.

PubMed

Early, William F

2006-03-17

Several elements of the process safety management regulation (PSM) require tracking and documentation of actions; process hazard analyses, management of change, process safety information, operating procedures, training, contractor safety programs, pre-startup safety reviews, incident investigations, emergency planning, and compliance audits. These elements can result in hundreds of actions annually that require actions. This tracking and documentation commonly is a failing identified in compliance audits, and is difficult to manage through action lists, spreadsheets, or other tools that are comfortably manipulated by plant personnel. This paper discusses the recent implementation of a database management system at a chemical plant and chronicles the improvements accomplished through the introduction of a customized system. The system as implemented modeled the normal plant workflows, and provided simple, recognizable user interfaces for ease of use.

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 428: Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, REVISION 0, march 1999

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

DOE /NV

1999-03-26

The Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 428, Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 1 and 5, has been developed in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the U. S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office; the State of Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; and the U. S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 428 consists of Corrective Action Sites 03- 05- 002- SW01 and 03- 05- 002- SW05, respectively known as Area 3 Septic Waste System 1 and Septic Waste System 5. This Corrective Action Investigation Plan is used inmore » combination with the Work Plan for Leachfield Corrective Action Units: Nevada Test Site and Tonopah Test Range, Nevada , Rev. 1 (DOE/ NV, 1998c). The Leachfield Work Plan was developed to streamline investigations at leachfield Corrective Action Units by incorporating management, technical, quality assurance, health and safety, public involvement, field sampling, and waste management information common to a set of Corrective Action Units with similar site histories and characteristics into a single document that can be referenced. This Corrective Action Investigation Plan provides investigative details specific to Corrective Action Unit 428. A system of leachfields and associated collection systems was used for wastewater disposal at Area 3 of the Tonopah Test Range until a consolidated sewer system was installed in 1990 to replace the discrete septic waste systems. Operations within various buildings at Area 3 generated sanitary and industrial wastewaters potentially contaminated with contaminants of potential concern and disposed of in septic tanks and leachfields. Corrective Action Unit 428 is composed of two leachfield systems in the northern portion of Area 3. Based on site history collected to support the Data Quality Objectives process, contaminants of potential concern for the site include oil/ diesel range total petroleum hydrocarbons, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act characteristic volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, and metals. A limited number of samples will be analyzed for gamma- emitting radionuclides and isotopic uranium from four of the septic tanks and if radiological field screening levels are exceeded. Additional samples will be analyzed for geotechnical and hydrological properties and a bioassessment may be performed. The technical approach for investigating this Corrective Action Unit consists of the following activities: (1) Perform video surveys of the discharge and outfall lines. (2) Collect samples of material in the septic tanks. (3) Conduct exploratory trenching to locate and inspect subsurface components. (4) Collect subsurface soil samples in areas of the collection system including the septic tanks and outfall end of distribution boxes. (5) Collect subsurface soil samples underlying the leachfield distribution pipes via trenching. (6) Collect surface and near- surface samples near potential locations of the Acid Sewer Outfall if Septic Waste System 5 Leachfield cannot be located. (7) Field screen samples for volatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and radiological activity. (8) Drill boreholes and collect subsurface soil samples if required. (9) Analyze samples for total volatile organic compounds, total semivolatile organic compounds, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (oil/ diesel range organics). Limited number of samples will be analyzed for gamma- emitting radionuclides and isotopic uranium from particular septic tanks and if radiological field screening levels are exceeded. (10) Collect samples from native soils beneath the distribution system and analyze for geotechnical/ hydrologic parameters. (11) Collect and analyze bioassessment samples at the discretion of the Site Supervisor if total petroleum hydrocarbons exceed field- screening levels.« less

The mirror-neuron system.

PubMed

Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Craighero, Laila

2004-01-01

A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others' actions: imitation learning. Unlike most species, we are able to learn by imitation, and this faculty is at the basis of human culture. In this review we present data on a neurophysiological mechanism--the mirror-neuron mechanism--that appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation. We describe first the functional properties of mirror neurons in monkeys. We review next the characteristics of the mirror-neuron system in humans. We stress, in particular, those properties specific to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity to learn by imitation. We conclude by discussing the relationship between the mirror-neuron system and language.

Semantic embodiment, disembodiment or misembodiment? In search of meaning in modules and neuron circuits.

PubMed

Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2013-10-01

"Embodied" proposals claim that the meaning of at least some words, concepts and constructions is grounded in knowledge about actions and objects. An alternative "disembodied" position locates semantics in a symbolic system functionally detached from sensorimotor modules. This latter view is not tenable theoretically and has been empirically falsified by neuroscience research. A minimally-embodied approach now claims that action-perception systems may "color", but not represent, meaning; however, such minimal embodiment (misembodiment?) still fails to explain why action and perception systems exert causal effects on the processing of symbols from specific semantic classes. Action perception theory (APT) offers neurobiological mechanisms for "embodied" referential, affective and action semantics along with "disembodied" mechanisms of semantic abstraction, generalization and symbol combination, which draw upon multimodal brain systems. In this sense, APT suggests integrative-neuromechanistic explanations of why both sensorimotor and multimodal areas of the human brain differentially contribute to specific facets of meaning and concepts. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classifying Facial Actions

PubMed Central

Donato, Gianluca; Bartlett, Marian Stewart; Hager, Joseph C.; Ekman, Paul; Sejnowski, Terrence J.

2010-01-01

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) [23] is an objective method for quantifying facial movement in terms of component actions. This system is widely used in behavioral investigations of emotion, cognitive processes, and social interaction. The coding is presently performed by highly trained human experts. This paper explores and compares techniques for automatically recognizing facial actions in sequences of images. These techniques include analysis of facial motion through estimation of optical flow; holistic spatial analysis, such as principal component analysis, independent component analysis, local feature analysis, and linear discriminant analysis; and methods based on the outputs of local filters, such as Gabor wavelet representations and local principal components. Performance of these systems is compared to naive and expert human subjects. Best performances were obtained using the Gabor wavelet representation and the independent component representation, both of which achieved 96 percent accuracy for classifying 12 facial actions of the upper and lower face. The results provide converging evidence for the importance of using local filters, high spatial frequencies, and statistical independence for classifying facial actions. PMID:21188284

7 CFR 275.18 - Project area/management unit corrective action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Project area/management unit corrective action plan... SYSTEM Corrective Action § 275.18 Project area/management unit corrective action plan. (a) The State agency shall ensure that corrective action plans are prepared at the project area/management unit level...

Evidence for the Automatic Evaluation of Self-Generated Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarts, Kristien; De Houwer, Jan; Pourtois, Gilles

2012-01-01

The accuracy of simple actions is swiftly determined through specific monitoring brain systems. However, it remains unclear whether this evaluation is accompanied by a rapid and compatible emotional appraisal of the action that allows to mark incorrect actions as negative/bad and conversely correct actions as positive/good. In this study, we used…

Do Endogenous and Exogenous Action Control Compete for Perception?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfister, Roland; Heinemann, Alexander; Kiesel, Andrea; Thomaschke, Roland; Janczyk, Markus

2012-01-01

Human actions are guided either by endogenous action plans or by external stimuli in the environment. These two types of action control seem to be mediated by neurophysiologically and functionally distinct systems that interfere if an endogenously planned action suddenly has to be performed in response to an exogenous stimulus. In this case, the…

7 CFR 275.18 - Project area/management unit corrective action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Project area/management unit corrective action plan... SYSTEM Corrective Action § 275.18 Project area/management unit corrective action plan. (a) The State agency shall ensure that corrective action plans are prepared at the project area/management unit level...

7 CFR 275.18 - Project area/management unit corrective action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Project area/management unit corrective action plan... SYSTEM Corrective Action § 275.18 Project area/management unit corrective action plan. (a) The State agency shall ensure that corrective action plans are prepared at the project area/management unit level...

7 CFR 275.18 - Project area/management unit corrective action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Project area/management unit corrective action plan... SYSTEM Corrective Action § 275.18 Project area/management unit corrective action plan. (a) The State agency shall ensure that corrective action plans are prepared at the project area/management unit level...

7 CFR 275.18 - Project area/management unit corrective action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Project area/management unit corrective action plan... SYSTEM Corrective Action § 275.18 Project area/management unit corrective action plan. (a) The State agency shall ensure that corrective action plans are prepared at the project area/management unit level...

Manipulation Action Understanding for Observation and Execution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Yezhou

2015-01-01

Modern intelligent agents will need to learn the actions that humans perform. They will need to recognize these actions when they see them and they will need to perform these actions themselves. We want to propose a cognitive system that interprets human manipulation actions from perceptual information (image and depth data) and consists of…

The ecology of human fear: survival optimization and the nervous system

PubMed Central

Mobbs, Dean; Hagan, Cindy C.; Dalgleish, Tim; Silston, Brian; Prévost, Charlotte

2015-01-01

We propose a Survival Optimization System (SOS) to account for the strategies that humans and other animals use to defend against recurring and novel threats. The SOS attempts to merge ecological models that define a repertoire of contextually relevant threat induced survival behaviors with contemporary approaches to human affective science. We first propose that the goal of the nervous system is to reduce surprise and optimize actions by (i) predicting the sensory landscape by simulating possible encounters with threat and selecting the appropriate pre-encounter action and (ii) prevention strategies in which the organism manufactures safe environments. When a potential threat is encountered the (iii) threat orienting system is engaged to determine whether the organism ignores the stimulus or switches into a process of (iv) threat assessment, where the organism monitors the stimulus, weighs the threat value, predicts the actions of the threat, searches for safety, and guides behavioral actions crucial to directed escape. When under imminent attack, (v) defensive systems evoke fast reflexive indirect escape behaviors (i.e., fight or flight). This cascade of responses to threat of increasing magnitude are underwritten by an interconnected neural architecture that extends from cortical and hippocampal circuits, to attention, action and threat systems including the amygdala, striatum, and hard-wired defensive systems in the midbrain. The SOS also includes a modulatory feature consisting of cognitive appraisal systems that flexibly guide perception, risk and action. Moreover, personal and vicarious threat encounters fine-tune avoidance behaviors via model-based learning, with higher organisms bridging data to reduce face-to-face encounters with predators. Our model attempts to unify the divergent field of human affective science, proposing a highly integrated nervous system that has evolved to increase the organism's chances of survival. PMID:25852451

The SAM framework: modeling the effects of management factors on human behavior in risk analysis.

PubMed

Murphy, D M; Paté-Cornell, M E

1996-08-01

Complex engineered systems, such as nuclear reactors and chemical plants, have the potential for catastrophic failure with disastrous consequences. In recent years, human and management factors have been recognized as frequent root causes of major failures in such systems. However, classical probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) techniques do not account for the underlying causes of these errors because they focus on the physical system and do not explicitly address the link between components' performance and organizational factors. This paper describes a general approach for addressing the human and management causes of system failure, called the SAM (System-Action-Management) framework. Beginning with a quantitative risk model of the physical system, SAM expands the scope of analysis to incorporate first the decisions and actions of individuals that affect the physical system. SAM then links management factors (incentives, training, policies and procedures, selection criteria, etc.) to those decisions and actions. The focus of this paper is on four quantitative models of action that describe this last relationship. These models address the formation of intentions for action and their execution as a function of the organizational environment. Intention formation is described by three alternative models: a rational model, a bounded rationality model, and a rule-based model. The execution of intentions is then modeled separately. These four models are designed to assess the probabilities of individual actions from the perspective of management, thus reflecting the uncertainties inherent to human behavior. The SAM framework is illustrated for a hypothetical case of hazardous materials transportation. This framework can be used as a tool to increase the safety and reliability of complex technical systems by modifying the organization, rather than, or in addition to, re-designing the physical system.

78 FR 23313 - Privacy Act of 1974: New System of Records

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-18

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Privacy Act of 1974: New System of Records AGENCY: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). ACTION: Notice of amendment to system of records. SUMMARY: OPM has amended an... carriers that are outside of the scope of existing OPM systems. DATES: This action will be effective...

Learning from Action Evaluation of the Use of Multimedia Case Studies in Management Information Systems Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kawulich, Barbara B.

2011-01-01

This manuscript shares lessons learned from conducting an action evaluation of the use of multimedia case studies in Management Information Systems (MIS) courses. Three undergraduate MIS classes took part in the study. The purpose for using case studies in these classes was to teach students about the role of MIS in business. An action evaluation…

Least action and entropy considerations of self-organization in Benard cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgiev, Georgi; Iannacchione, Germano

We study self-organization in complex systems using first principles in physics. Our approach involves the principle of least action and the second law of thermodynamics. In far from equilibrium systems, energy gradients cause internal ordering to facilitate the dissipation of energy in the environment. This internal ordering decreases their internal entropy in order to obey the principle of least action, minimizing the product of time and energy for transport through the system. We are considering the connection between action and entropy decrease inside Benard cells in order to derive some general features of self-organization. We are developing mathematical treatment of this coupling and comparing it to results from experiments and simulations.

Mu rhythm suppression demonstrates action representation in pianists during passive listening of piano melodies.

PubMed

Wu, C Carolyn; Hamm, Jeff P; Lim, Vanessa K; Kirk, Ian J

2016-08-01

Musicians undergo extensive training which enhances established neural links between auditory and motor areas of the brain. Long-term training develops, strengthens and enables flexibility in these connections allowing proficiency in performance. Previous research has indicated that passive listening of trained music results in the recruitment of premotor areas. It has been argued that this sound-action representation may rely on activity in mirror neuron systems and that these systems are heavily dependent on actual sensorimotor experience. Action observation studies using electroencephalography have associated changes in mu rhythm activity with the mirror neuron system in the visuomotor domain. We aimed to investigate similar effects in the audiomotor domain. We utilised a mu suppression method in our action-listening study to detect involuntary motor coactivation when pianists passively listened to piano melodies. Wavelet analysis revealed sensorimotor mu rhythm suppression while pianists listened passively to piano melodies. Thus, we show that this spectral analysis method can also be used to demonstrate that auditory stimuli can activate the human mirror neuron system when sounds are linked to actions. Mu suppression could be a useful index for further research on action representation and training-induced plasticity.

Measuring the performance of telephone-based disease surveillance systems in local health departments.

PubMed

Dausey, David J; Chandra, Anita; Schaefer, Agnes G; Bahney, Ben; Haviland, Amelia; Zakowski, Sarah; Lurie, Nicole

2008-09-01

We tested telephone-based disease surveillance systems in local health departments to identify system characteristics associated with consistent and timely responses to urgent case reports. We identified a stratified random sample of 74 health departments and conducted a series of unannounced tests of their telephone-based surveillance systems. We used regression analyses to identify system characteristics that predicted fast connection with an action officer (an appropriate public health professional). Optimal performance in consistently connecting callers with an action officer in 30 minutes or less was achieved by 31% of participating health departments. Reaching a live person upon dialing, regardless of who that person was, was the strongest predictor of optimal performance both in being connected with an action officer and in consistency of connection times. Health departments can achieve optimal performance in consistently connecting a caller with an action officer in 30 minutes or less and may improve performance by using a telephone-based disease surveillance system in which the phone is answered by a live person at all times.

Cognitive training with action-related verbs induces neural plasticity in the action representation system as assessed by gray matter brain morphometry.

PubMed

Ghio, Marta; Locatelli, Matteo; Tettamanti, Andrea; Perani, Daniela; Gatti, Roberto; Tettamanti, Marco

2018-06-01

Embodied cognition theories of semantic memory still face the need for multiple sources of converging evidence in support of the involvement of sensory-motor systems in action-related knowledge. Previous studies showed that training manual actions improves semantic processing of verbs referring to the trained actions. The present work aimed to provide complementary evidence by measuring the brain plasticity effects of a cognitive training requiring sustained lexical-semantic processing of action-related verbs. We included two groups of participants, namely the Proximal Group (PG) and the Distal Group (DG), which underwent a 3-week training with verbs referring to actions involving the proximal and the distal upper limb musculature, respectively. Before and after training, we measured gray matter voxel brain morphometry based on T1 structural magnetic resonance imaging. By means of this 2 (Group: PG, DG) × 2 (Time: pre-, post-training) factorial design, we tested whether sustained cognitive experience with specific action-related verbs induces congruent brain plasticity modifications in target regions of interest pertaining to the action representation system. We found significant post- versus pre-training gray matter volume increases, specifically for PG in the left dorsal precentral gyrus, and for DG in the right cerebellar lobule VIIa. These preliminary results suggest that a cognitive training can induce structural plasticity modifications in brain regions specifically coding for the distal and proximal motor actions the trained verbs refer to. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pro- and anticonvulsant actions of morphine and the endogenous opioids: involvement and interactions of multiple opiate and non-opiate systems.

PubMed

Frenk, H

1983-10-01

The proconvulsant actions of high doses of systemic morphine are probably mediated by 3 different systems. One of them produces non-convulsant electrographic seizures and can be activated separately from the others both by intracerebroventricular injections as well as microinjections into discrete subcortical areas. The enkephalins and beta-endorphin, when administered to the same loci, produce similar effects. Pharmacological evidence suggests that specific opiate receptors of the delta-subtype mediate the epileptiform effects produced by this system. The second system mediating proconvulsant effects of systemic morphine is not mediated by stereo-specific opiate receptors. It produces behavioral convulsions, and the GABA-ergic system has been implicated in its action. A third proconvulsant action of systemic morphine can be activated separately from the other two systems by administering this compound with other convulsive agents or manipulations. Specific mu-type opiate receptors are implicated in this effect. In addition to potent proconvulsant effects, systemic morphine also has anticonvulsant properties which are mediated by specific opiate mu-receptors. The conditions under which morphine acts as a proconvulsant rather than an anticonvulsant agent are, as yet, not understood.

A word in the hand: action, gesture and mental representation in humans and non-human primates

PubMed Central

Cartmill, Erica A.; Beilock, Sian; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2012-01-01

The movements we make with our hands both reflect our mental processes and help to shape them. Our actions and gestures can affect our mental representations of actions and objects. In this paper, we explore the relationship between action, gesture and thought in both humans and non-human primates and discuss its role in the evolution of language. Human gesture (specifically representational gesture) may provide a unique link between action and mental representation. It is kinaesthetically close to action and is, at the same time, symbolic. Non-human primates use gesture frequently to communicate, and do so flexibly. However, their gestures mainly resemble incomplete actions and lack the representational elements that characterize much of human gesture. Differences in the mirror neuron system provide a potential explanation for non-human primates' lack of representational gestures; the monkey mirror system does not respond to representational gestures, while the human system does. In humans, gesture grounds mental representation in action, but there is no evidence for this link in other primates. We argue that gesture played an important role in the transition to symbolic thought and language in human evolution, following a cognitive leap that allowed gesture to incorporate representational elements. PMID:22106432

The organization of an autonomous learning system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kanerva, Pentti

1988-01-01

The organization of systems that learn from experience is examined, human beings and animals being prime examples of such systems. How is their information processing organized. They build an internal model of the world and base their actions on the model. The model is dynamic and predictive, and it includes the systems' own actions and their effects. In modeling such systems, a large pattern of features represents a moment of the system's experience. Some of the features are provided by the system's senses, some control the system's motors, and the rest have no immediate external significance. A sequence of such patterns then represents the system's experience over time. By storing such sequences appropriately in memory, the system builds a world model based on experience. In addition to the essential function of memory, fundamental roles are played by a sensory system that makes raw information about the world suitable for memory storage and by a motor system that affects the world. The relation of sensory and motor systems to the memory is discussed, together with how favorable actions can be learned and unfavorable actions can be avoided. Results in classical learning theory are explained in terms of the model, more advanced forms of learning are discussed, and the relevance of the model to the frame problem of robotics is examined.

NOAA Stratospheric Ozone Webpage

Science.gov Websites

Stratospheric Ozone Banner Home Data Science NOAA in Action In the Press FAQ NOAA Homepage In the Action In the Press FAQ Earth System Research Laboratory - CSD Homepage Earth System Research Laboratory

Bend it like Beckham: Embodying the motor skills of famous athletes

PubMed Central

Bach, Patric; Tipper, Steven P.

2007-01-01

Observing an action activates the same representations as does the actual performance of the action. Here we show for the first time that the action system can also be activated in the complete absence of action perception. When the participants had to identify the faces of famous athletes, the responses were influenced by their similarity to the motor skills of the athletes. Thus, the motor skills of the viewed athletes were retrieved automatically during person identification and had a direct influence on the action system of the observer. However, our results also indicated that motor behaviours that are implicit characteristics of other people are represented differently from when actions are directly observed. That is, unlike the facilitatory effects reported when actions were seen, the embodiment of the motor behaviour that is not concurrently perceived gave rise to contrast effects where responses similar to the behaviour of the athletes were inhibited. PMID:17095484

Bend it like Beckham: embodying the motor skills of famous athletes.

PubMed

Bach, Patric; Tipper, Steven P

2006-12-01

Observing an action activates the same representations as does the actual performance of the action. Here we show for the first time that the action system can also be activated in the complete absence of action perception. When the participants had to identify the faces of famous athletes, the responses were influenced by their similarity to the motor skills of the athletes. Thus, the motor skills of the viewed athletes were retrieved automatically during person identification and had a direct influence on the action system of the observer. However, our results also indicated that motor behaviours that are implicit characteristics of other people are represented differently from when actions are directly observed. That is, unlike the facilitatory effects reported when actions were seen, the embodiment of the motor behaviour that is not concurrently perceived gave rise to contrast effects where responses similar to the behaviour of the athletes were inhibited.

A device for emulating cuff recordings of action potentials propagating along peripheral nerves.

PubMed

Rieger, Robert; Schuettler, Martin; Chuang, Sheng-Chih

2014-09-01

This paper describes a device that emulates propagation of action potentials along a peripheral nerve, suitable for reproducible testing of bio-potential recording systems using nerve cuff electrodes. The system is a microcontroller-based stand-alone instrument which uses established nerve and electrode models to represent neural activity of real nerves recorded with a nerve cuff interface, taking into consideration electrode impedance, voltages picked up by the electrodes, and action potential propagation characteristics. The system emulates different scenarios including compound action potentials with selectable propagation velocities and naturally occurring nerve traffic from different velocity fiber populations. Measured results from a prototype implementation are reported and compared with in vitro recordings from Xenopus Laevis frog sciatic nerve, demonstrating that the electrophysiological setting is represented to a satisfactory degree, useful for the development, optimization and characterization of future recording systems.

The Central Nervous System Sites Mediating the Orexigenic Actions of Ghrelin

PubMed Central

Mason, B.L.; Wang, Q.; Zigman, J.M.

2014-01-01

The peptide hormone ghrelin is important for both homeostatic and hedonic eating behaviors, and its orexigenic actions occur mainly via binding to the only known ghrelin receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). GHSRs are located in several distinct regions of the central nervous system. This review discusses those central nervous system sites that have been found to play critical roles in the orexigenic actions of ghrelin, including hypothalamic nuclei, the hippocampus, the amygdala, the caudal brain stem, and midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Hopefully, this review can be used as a stepping stone for the reader wanting to gain a clearer understanding of the central nervous system sites of direct ghrelin action on feeding behavior, and as inspiration for future studies to provide an even-more-detailed map of the neurocircuitry controlling eating and body weight. PMID:24111557

Object-Driven and Temporal Action Rules Mining

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hajja, Ayman

2013-01-01

In this thesis, I present my complete research work in the field of action rules, more precisely object-driven and temporal action rules. The drive behind the introduction of object-driven and temporally based action rules is to bring forth an adapted approach to extract action rules from a subclass of systems that have a specific nature, in which…

Event-Related Potentials Discriminate Familiar and Unusual Goal Outcomes in 5-Month-Olds and Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michel, Christine; Kaduk, Katharina; Ní Choisdealbha, Áine; Reid, Vincent M.

2017-01-01

Previous event-related potential (ERP) work has indicated that the neural processing of action sequences develops with age. Although adults and 9-month-olds use a semantic processing system, perceiving actions activates attentional processes in 7-month-olds. However, presenting a sequence of action context, action execution and action conclusion…

CLEANing the Reward: Counterfactual Actions to Remove Exploratory Action Noise in Multiagent Learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

HolmesParker, Chris; Taylor, Mathew E.; Tumer, Kagan; Agogino, Adrian

2014-01-01

Learning in multiagent systems can be slow because agents must learn both how to behave in a complex environment and how to account for the actions of other agents. The inability of an agent to distinguish between the true environmental dynamics and those caused by the stochastic exploratory actions of other agents creates noise in each agent's reward signal. This learning noise can have unforeseen and often undesirable effects on the resultant system performance. We define such noise as exploratory action noise, demonstrate the critical impact it can have on the learning process in multiagent settings, and introduce a reward structure to effectively remove such noise from each agent's reward signal. In particular, we introduce Coordinated Learning without Exploratory Action Noise (CLEAN) rewards and empirically demonstrate their benefits

Induction patterns of structural mutations in barley leaf meristem upon the combined action of ionizing radiation and heavy metals

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

Geras`kin, S.A.; Dikarev, V.G.; Udalova, A.A.

1995-07-01

Environmental protection requires the development of principles, universal methods, and quantitative criteria for estimating the ecological risk of the combined effects of various factors on natural ecosystems. The combined action of these factors may induce complex multidirectional processes, e.g., the induction and inhibition of separation systems that result in a broad spectrum of cell responses (from antagonism to synergism), depending on the relative involvement of the factors. This was confirmed by numerous examples of nonlinear responses of biological systems to alterations in the order and level of damaging agents, as well as in the duration of their action. For thismore » reason, the response of a biological system to the combined action of various damaging factors cannot be predicted from the data on the separate action of factors. 7 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.« less

A manual for addressing ineffectiveness within a Corrective Action System and driving on-time dispositions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallari, Lawrence Anthony Castro

This project proposes a manual specifically for remedying an ineffective Corrective Action Request System for Company ABC by providing dispositions within the company's quality procedure. A Corrective Action Request System is a corrective action tool that provides a means for employees to engage in the process improvement, problem elimination cycle. At Company ABC, Corrective Action Recommendations (CARs) are not provided with timely dispositions; CARs are being ignored due to a lack of training and awareness of Company ABC's personnel and quality procedures. In this project, Company ABC's quality management software database is scrutinized to identify the number of delinquent, non-dispositioned CARs in 2014. These CARs are correlated with the number of nonconformances generated for the same issue while the CAR is still open. Using secondary data, the primary investigator finds that nonconformances are being remediated at the operational level. However, at the administrative level, CARS are being ignored and forgotten.

Development of a System to Display and Record Slack Action in Freight Trains

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-08-01

This report summarizes the development of a system which senses, displays and records the slack action or inter-car movement in freight trains. The system, called the Draft-Buff Indicator (DBI), was developed to serve as a train-handling aid. It prov...

49 CFR 385.705 - Expedited action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Expedited action. 385.705 Section 385.705... Safety Monitoring System for Non-North American Carriers § 385.705 Expedited action. (a) A non-North America-domiciled motor carrier committing any of the following actions identified through roadside...

Rise and fall of the two visual systems theory.

PubMed

Rossetti, Yves; Pisella, Laure; McIntosh, Robert D

2017-06-01

Among the many dissociations describing the visual system, the dual theory of two visual systems, respectively dedicated to perception and action, has yielded a lot of support. There are psychophysical, anatomical and neuropsychological arguments in favor of this theory. Several behavioral studies that used sensory and motor psychophysical parameters observed differences between perceptive and motor responses. The anatomical network of the visual system in the non-human primate was very readily organized according to two major pathways, dorsal and ventral. Neuropsychological studies, exploring optic ataxia and visual agnosia as characteristic deficits of these two pathways, led to the proposal of a functional double dissociation between visuomotor and visual perceptual functions. After a major wave of popularity that promoted great advances, particularly in knowledge of visuomotor functions, the guiding theory is now being reconsidered. Firstly, the idea of a double dissociation between optic ataxia and visual form agnosia, as cleanly separating visuomotor from visual perceptual functions, is no longer tenable; optic ataxia does not support a dissociation between perception and action and might be more accurately viewed as a negative image of action blindsight. Secondly, dissociations between perceptive and motor responses highlighted in the framework of this theory concern a very elementary level of action, even automatically guided action routines. Thirdly, the very rich interconnected network of the visual brain yields few arguments in favor of a strict perception/action dissociation. Overall, the dissociation between motor function and perceptive function explored by these behavioral and neuropsychological studies can help define an automatic level of action organization deficient in optic ataxia and preserved in action blindsight, and underlines the renewed need to consider the perception-action circle as a functional ensemble. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A stroboscopic technique for using CCD cameras in flow visualization systems for continuous viewing and stop action photography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Franke, John M.; Rhodes, David B.; Jones, Stephen B.; Dismond, Harriet R.

1992-01-01

A technique for synchronizing a pulse light source to charge coupled device cameras is presented. The technique permits the use of pulse light sources for continuous as well as stop action flow visualization. The technique has eliminated the need to provide separate lighting systems at facilities requiring continuous and stop action viewing or photography.

Operating and Maintaining Energy Smart Schools Action Plan Template - All Action Plans

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

none,

2009-07-01

EnergySmart Schools action plan templates for benchmarking, lighting, HVAC, water heating, building envelope, transformer, plug loads, kitchen equipment, swimming pool, building automation system, other.

Pen-Based Interface Using Hand Motions in the Air

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Yu; Misue, Kazuo; Tanaka, Jiro

A system which employs a stylus as an input device is suitable for creative activities like writing and painting. However, such a system does not always provide the user with a GUI that is easy to operate using the stylus. In addition, system usability is diminished because the stylus is not always integrated into the system in a way that takes into consideration the features of a pen. The purpose of our research is to improve the usability of a system which uses a stylus as an input device. We propose shortcut actions, which are interaction techniques for operation with a stylus that are controlled through a user's hand motions made in the air. We developed the Context Sensitive Stylus as a device to implement the shortcut actions. The Context Sensitive Stylus consists of an accelerometer and a conventional stylus. We also developed application programs to which we applied the shortcut actions; e.g., a drawing tool, a scroll supporting tool, and so on. Results from our evaluation of the shortcut actions indicate that users can concentrate better on their work when using the shortcut actions than when using conventional menu operations.

Hybrid Cascading Outage Analysis of Extreme Events with Optimized Corrective Actions

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

Vallem, Mallikarjuna R.; Vyakaranam, Bharat GNVSR; Holzer, Jesse T.

2017-10-19

Power system are vulnerable to extreme contingencies (like an outage of a major generating substation) that can cause significant generation and load loss and can lead to further cascading outages of other transmission facilities and generators in the system. Some cascading outages are seen within minutes following a major contingency, which may not be captured exclusively using the dynamic simulation of the power system. The utilities plan for contingencies either based on dynamic or steady state analysis separately which may not accurately capture the impact of one process on the other. We address this gap in cascading outage analysis bymore » developing Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool (DCAT) that can analyze hybrid dynamic and steady state behavior of the power system, including protection system models in dynamic simulations, and simulating corrective actions in post-transient steady state conditions. One of the important implemented steady state processes is to mimic operator corrective actions to mitigate aggravated states caused by dynamic cascading. This paper presents an Optimal Power Flow (OPF) based formulation for selecting corrective actions that utility operators can take during major contingency and thus automate the hybrid dynamic-steady state cascading outage process. The improved DCAT framework with OPF based corrective actions is demonstrated on IEEE 300 bus test system.« less

23 CFR 470.115 - Approval authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal... Federal-aid highway system actions involving the designation, or revision, of routes on the Interstate...) The Federal Highway Administrator will approve functional classification actions. ...

10 CFR 205.351 - Reporting requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... electric power supply system. (2) Equipment failures/system operational actions attributable to the loss of...) Loss of Firm System Loads, caused by: (1) Any load shedding actions resulting in the reduction of over... with a previous year recorded peak load of over 3000 MW are required for all such losses of firm loads...

39 CFR 501.13 - False representations of Postal Service actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTE POSTAGE EVIDENCING SYSTEMS § 501.13 False representations of Postal Service actions... Evidencing Systems. The Postal Service reserves the right to suspend and/or revoke the authorization to manufacture or distribute Postage Evidencing Systems throughout the United States or any part thereof pursuant...

20 CFR 658.704 - Remedial actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... specific operating systems or procedures for a specified time; (4) Requirement of special training for... PROVISIONS GOVERNING THE JOB SERVICE SYSTEM Federal Application of Remedial Action to State Agencies § 658... seq.) or the JS complaint system (20 CFR 658.400 et seq.), a copy of said notice shall be sent to the...

49 CFR 385.105 - Expedited action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Expedited action. 385.105 Section 385.105... Safety Monitoring System for Mexico-Domiciled Carriers § 385.105 Expedited action. (a) A Mexico-domiciled... required to submit a written response demonstrating corrective action: (1) Using drivers not possessing, or...

The development of motor behavior

PubMed Central

Adolph, Karen E.; Franchak, John M.

2016-01-01

This article reviews research on the development of motor behavior from a developmental systems perspective. We focus on infancy when basic action systems are acquired. Posture provides a stable base for locomotion, manual actions, and facial actions. Experience facilitates improvements in motor behavior and infants accumulate immense amounts of experience with all of their basic action systems. At every point in development, perception guides motor behavior by providing feedback about the results of just prior movements and information about what to do next. Reciprocally, the development of motor behavior provides fodder for perception. More generally, motor development brings about new opportunities for acquiring knowledge about the world, and burgeoning motor skills can instigate cascades of developmental changes in perceptual, cognitive, and social domains. PMID:27906517

Action languages: Dimensions, effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayes, Daniel G.; Streeter, Gordon

1989-01-01

Dimensions of action languages are discussed for communication between humans and machines, and the message handling capabilities of object oriented programming systems are examined. Design of action languages is seen to be very contextual. Economical and effective design will depend on features of situations, the tasks intended to be accomplished, and the nature of the devices themselves. Current object oriented systems turn out to have fairly simple and straightforward message handling facilities, which in themselves do little to buffer action or even in some cases to handle competing messages. Even so, it is possible to program a certain amount of discretion about how they react to messages. Such thoughtfulness and perhaps relative autonomy of program modules seems prerequisite to future systems to handle complex interactions in changing situations.

The Case for Durative Actions: A Commentary on PDDL2.1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, David E.

2003-01-01

The addition of durative actions to PDDL2.1 sparked some controversy. Fox and Long argued that actions should be considered as instantaneous, but can start and stop processes. Ultimately, a limited notion of durative actions was incorporated into the language. I argue that this notion is impoverished, and that the underlying philosophical position of regarding durative actions as being a shorthand for a start action, process, and stop action ignores the realities of modelling and execution for complex systems.

Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 224: Decon Pad and Septic Systems Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

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

David A. Strand

2005-05-01

This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 224, Decon Pad and Septic Systems, in Areas 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, and 23 of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit 224 is comprised of the following corrective action sites (CASs): (1) 02-04-01, Septic Tank (Buried); (2) 03-05-01, Leachfield; (3) 05-04-01, Septic Tanks (4)/Discharge Area; (4) 06-03-01, Sewage Lagoons (3); (5) 06-05-01, Leachfield; (6) 06-17-04, Decon Pad and Wastewater Catch; (7) 06-23-01, Decon Pad Discharge Piping; (8) 11-04-01, Sewage Lagoon; and (9) 23-05-02,more » Leachfield. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of a corrective action alternative for the nine CASs within CAU 224. Corrective action investigation activities were performed from August 10, 2004, through January 18, 2005, as set forth in the CAU 224 Corrective Action Investigation Plan.« less

Actionable Capability for Social and Economic Systems (ACSES)

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

Fernandez, Steven J; Brecke, Peter K; Carmichael, Theodore D

The foundation of the Actionable Capability for Social and Economic Systems (ACSES) project is a useful regional-scale social-simulation system. This report is organized into five chapters that describe insights that were gained concerning the five key feasibility questions pertaining to such a system: (1) Should such a simulation system exist, would the current state of data sets or collectible data sets be adequate to support such a system? (2) By comparing different agent-based simulation systems, is it feasible to compare simulation systems and select one appropriate for a given application with agents behaving according to modern social theory rather thanmore » ad hoc rule sets? (3) Provided that a selected simulation system for a region of interest could be constructed, can the simulation system be updated with new and changing conditions so that the universe of potential outcomes are constrained by events on the ground as they evolve? (4) As these results are constrained by evolving events on the ground, is it feasible to still generate surprise and emerging behavior to suggest outcomes from novel courses of action? (5) As these systems may for the first time require large numbers (hundreds of millions) of agents operating with complexities demanded of modern social theories, can results still be generated within actionable decision cycles?« less

(Environmental investigation of ground water contamination at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio)

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

Not Available

1992-04-01

This Removal Action System Design has been prepared as a Phase I Volume for the implementation of the Phase II removal action at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) near Dayton, Ohio. The objective of the removal action is to prevent, to the extent practicable, the migration of ground water contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCS) across the southwest boundary of Area C. The Phase 1, Volume 9 Removal Action System Design compiles the design documents prepared for the Phase II Removal Action. These documents, which are presented in Appendices to Volume 9, include: Process Design, which presents the 30more » percent design for the ground water treatment system (GWTS); Design Packages 1 and 2 for Earthwork and Road Construction, and the Discharge Pipeline, respectively; no drawings are included in the appendix; Design Package 3 for installation of the Ground Water Extraction Well(s); Design Package 4 for installation of the Monitoring Well Instrumentation; and Design Package 5 for installation of the Ground Water Treatment System; this Design Package is incorporated by reference because of its size.« less

Supervision of dynamic systems: Monitoring, decision-making and control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, T. N.

1982-01-01

Effects of task variables on the performance of the human supervisor by means of modelling techniques are discussed. The task variables considered are: The dynamics of the system, the task to be performed, the environmental disturbances and the observation noise. A relationship between task variables and parameters of a supervisory model is assumed. The model consists of three parts: (1) The observer part is thought to be a full order optimal observer, (2) the decision-making part is stated as a set of decision rules, and (3) the controller part is given by a control law. The observer part generates, on the basis of the system output and the control actions, an estimate of the state of the system and its associated variance. The outputs of the observer part are then used by the decision-making part to determine the instants in time of the observation actions on the one hand and the controls actions on the other. The controller part makes use of the estimated state to derive the amplitude(s) of the control action(s).

Action-based effects on music perception

PubMed Central

Maes, Pieter-Jan; Leman, Marc; Palmer, Caroline; Wanderley, Marcelo M.

2013-01-01

The classical, disembodied approach to music cognition conceptualizes action and perception as separate, peripheral processes. In contrast, embodied accounts of music cognition emphasize the central role of the close coupling of action and perception. It is a commonly established fact that perception spurs action tendencies. We present a theoretical framework that captures the ways in which the human motor system and its actions can reciprocally influence the perception of music. The cornerstone of this framework is the common coding theory, postulating a representational overlap in the brain between the planning, the execution, and the perception of movement. The integration of action and perception in so-called internal models is explained as a result of associative learning processes. Characteristic of internal models is that they allow intended or perceived sensory states to be transferred into corresponding motor commands (inverse modeling), and vice versa, to predict the sensory outcomes of planned actions (forward modeling). Embodied accounts typically refer to inverse modeling to explain action effects on music perception (Leman, 2007). We extend this account by pinpointing forward modeling as an alternative mechanism by which action can modulate perception. We provide an extensive overview of recent empirical evidence in support of this idea. Additionally, we demonstrate that motor dysfunctions can cause perceptual disabilities, supporting the main idea of the paper that the human motor system plays a functional role in auditory perception. The finding that music perception is shaped by the human motor system and its actions suggests that the musical mind is highly embodied. However, we advocate for a more radical approach to embodied (music) cognition in the sense that it needs to be considered as a dynamical process, in which aspects of action, perception, introspection, and social interaction are of crucial importance. PMID:24454299

Action-based effects on music perception.

PubMed

Maes, Pieter-Jan; Leman, Marc; Palmer, Caroline; Wanderley, Marcelo M

2014-01-03

The classical, disembodied approach to music cognition conceptualizes action and perception as separate, peripheral processes. In contrast, embodied accounts of music cognition emphasize the central role of the close coupling of action and perception. It is a commonly established fact that perception spurs action tendencies. We present a theoretical framework that captures the ways in which the human motor system and its actions can reciprocally influence the perception of music. The cornerstone of this framework is the common coding theory, postulating a representational overlap in the brain between the planning, the execution, and the perception of movement. The integration of action and perception in so-called internal models is explained as a result of associative learning processes. Characteristic of internal models is that they allow intended or perceived sensory states to be transferred into corresponding motor commands (inverse modeling), and vice versa, to predict the sensory outcomes of planned actions (forward modeling). Embodied accounts typically refer to inverse modeling to explain action effects on music perception (Leman, 2007). We extend this account by pinpointing forward modeling as an alternative mechanism by which action can modulate perception. We provide an extensive overview of recent empirical evidence in support of this idea. Additionally, we demonstrate that motor dysfunctions can cause perceptual disabilities, supporting the main idea of the paper that the human motor system plays a functional role in auditory perception. The finding that music perception is shaped by the human motor system and its actions suggests that the musical mind is highly embodied. However, we advocate for a more radical approach to embodied (music) cognition in the sense that it needs to be considered as a dynamical process, in which aspects of action, perception, introspection, and social interaction are of crucial importance.

A Decade of New Opportunity: Affirmative Action in the 1970s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammerman, Herbert

This study investigates whether there were significant changes in the employment patterns of minorities and women in the 1970s, whether any such changes resulted from affirmative action, and whether affirmative action brought about fundamental changes in discriminatory personnel practices and systems. (Affirmative action here refers to that…

Inferences about Action Engage Action Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Lawrence J.; Lev-Ari, Shiri; Zwaan, Rolf A.

2008-01-01

Verbal descriptions of actions activate compatible motor responses [Glenberg, A. M., & Kaschak, M. P. (2002). Grounding language in action. "Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9", 558-565]. Previous studies have found that the motor processes for manual rotation are engaged in a direction-specific manner when a verb disambiguates the direction of…

48 CFR 52.222-25 - Affirmative Action Compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative Action....222-25 Affirmative Action Compliance. As prescribed in 22.810(d), insert the following provision: Affirmative Action Compliance (APR 1984) The offeror represents that (a) it □ has developed and has on file...

48 CFR 52.222-25 - Affirmative Action Compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative Action....222-25 Affirmative Action Compliance. As prescribed in 22.810(d), insert the following provision: Affirmative Action Compliance (APR 1984) The offeror represents that (a) it □ has developed and has on file...

15 CFR 700.6 - Official actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Official actions. 700.6 Section 700.6... PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Overview § 700.6 Official actions. When necessary, Commerce takes specific official actions to implement or enforce the provisions of this regulation and to provide special...

9 CFR 417.3 - Corrective actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Corrective actions. 417.3 Section 417... ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS § 417.3 Corrective actions. (a) The written HACCP plan shall identify the corrective action to be followed in response to a deviation from a critical limit...

15 CFR 700.6 - Official actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Official actions. 700.6 Section 700.6... PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Overview § 700.6 Official actions. When necessary, Commerce takes specific official actions to implement or enforce the provisions of this regulation and to provide special...

48 CFR 9901.310 - Board action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Board action. 9901.310... PROCUREMENT POLICY, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ADMINISTRATION RULES AND PROCEDURES 9901.310 Board action. Board action shall be by majority vote of the members present and voting, except that any vote to...

20 CFR 658.704 - Remedial actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Remedial actions. 658.704 Section 658.704... GOVERNING THE JOB SERVICE SYSTEM Federal Application of Remedial Action to State Agencies § 658.704 Remedial actions. (a) If a State agency fails to correct violations as determined pursuant to § 658.702, the...

20 CFR 658.704 - Remedial actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Remedial actions. 658.704 Section 658.704... GOVERNING THE JOB SERVICE SYSTEM Federal Application of Remedial Action to State Agencies § 658.704 Remedial actions. (a) If a State agency fails to correct violations as determined pursuant to § 658.702, the...

48 CFR 9901.310 - Board action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Board action. 9901.310... PROCUREMENT POLICY, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ADMINISTRATION RULES AND PROCEDURES 9901.310 Board action. Board action shall be by majority vote of the members present and voting, except that any vote to...

Descriptive Case Study of Theories of Action, Strategic Objectives, and Strategic Initiatives Used by California Female County Superintendents to Move Their Organizations from Current State to Desired Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Valerie Darlene

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the theories of action, strategic objectives, and strategic initiatives of school systems led by female county superintendents in California and examine their impact on improving system outcomes. Additionally, the factors influencing theory of action, strategic objective, and initiative development were…

DPADL: An Action Language for Data Processing Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, Keith; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents DPADL (Data Processing Action Description Language), a language for describing planning domains that involve data processing. DPADL is a declarative object-oriented language that supports constraints and embedded Java code, object creation and copying, explicit inputs and outputs for actions, and metadata descriptions of existing and desired data. DPADL is supported by the IMAGEbot system, which will provide automation for an ecosystem forecasting system called TOPS.

48 CFR 750.7103 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Definitions. 750.7103 Section 750.7103 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7105 - Approving authorities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Approving authorities. 750.7105 Section 750.7105 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign...

48 CFR 750.7108 - Contractual requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contractual requirements. 750.7108 Section 750.7108 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign...

5 CFR 9701.603 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY-OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Adverse Actions General § 9701.603 Definitions. In this subpart: Adverse action means a...

5 CFR 9701.604 - Coverage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY-OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Adverse Actions General § 9701.604 Coverage. (a) Actions covered. This subpart covers...

A human mirror neuron system for language: Perspectives from signed languages of the deaf.

PubMed

Knapp, Heather Patterson; Corina, David P

2010-01-01

Language is proposed to have developed atop the human analog of the macaque mirror neuron system for action perception and production [Arbib M.A. 2005. From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics (with commentaries and author's response). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 105-167; Arbib M.A. (2008). From grasp to language: Embodied concepts and the challenge of abstraction. Journal de Physiologie Paris 102, 4-20]. Signed languages of the deaf are fully-expressive, natural human languages that are perceived visually and produced manually. We suggest that if a unitary mirror neuron system mediates the observation and production of both language and non-linguistic action, three prediction can be made: (1) damage to the human mirror neuron system should non-selectively disrupt both sign language and non-linguistic action processing; (2) within the domain of sign language, a given mirror neuron locus should mediate both perception and production; and (3) the action-based tuning curves of individual mirror neurons should support the highly circumscribed set of motions that form the "vocabulary of action" for signed languages. In this review we evaluate data from the sign language and mirror neuron literatures and find that these predictions are only partially upheld. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The coordination of plural logics of action and its consequences: Evidence from plural medical systems

PubMed Central

Shim, Jae-Mahn

2017-01-01

Drawing on the theory of social action in organizational and institutional sociology, this paper examines the behavioral consequences of plural logics of action. It addresses the question based on the empirical case of plural medical systems that are composed of both biomedicine and alternative medicine. Applying mixed methods of a cross-national panel data analysis and a content analysis of medical journal articles, it finds that plural systems affect health outcomes negatively when tensions between biomedicine and alternative medicine are unaddressed. In contrast, plural systems produce tangible health benefits when biomedicine and alternative medicine are coordinated through government policies or by health care organizations/professionals. This paper proposes plurality coordination as an important mechanism that modifies the behavioral consequences of plural logics. This proposition contributes to providing theoretical answers to the sociological puzzle that plural logics of action produce inconsistent behavioral consequences. PMID:29253867

Hebbian learning and predictive mirror neurons for actions, sensations and emotions

PubMed Central

Keysers, Christian; Gazzola, Valeria

2014-01-01

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is considered the neurophysiological basis of Hebbian learning and has been shown to be sensitive to both contingency and contiguity between pre- and postsynaptic activity. Here, we will examine how applying this Hebbian learning rule to a system of interconnected neurons in the presence of direct or indirect re-afference (e.g. seeing/hearing one's own actions) predicts the emergence of mirror neurons with predictive properties. In this framework, we analyse how mirror neurons become a dynamic system that performs active inferences about the actions of others and allows joint actions despite sensorimotor delays. We explore how this system performs a projection of the self onto others, with egocentric biases to contribute to mind-reading. Finally, we argue that Hebbian learning predicts mirror-like neurons for sensations and emotions and review evidence for the presence of such vicarious activations outside the motor system. PMID:24778372

Hebbian learning and predictive mirror neurons for actions, sensations and emotions.

PubMed

Keysers, Christian; Gazzola, Valeria

2014-01-01

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is considered the neurophysiological basis of Hebbian learning and has been shown to be sensitive to both contingency and contiguity between pre- and postsynaptic activity. Here, we will examine how applying this Hebbian learning rule to a system of interconnected neurons in the presence of direct or indirect re-afference (e.g. seeing/hearing one's own actions) predicts the emergence of mirror neurons with predictive properties. In this framework, we analyse how mirror neurons become a dynamic system that performs active inferences about the actions of others and allows joint actions despite sensorimotor delays. We explore how this system performs a projection of the self onto others, with egocentric biases to contribute to mind-reading. Finally, we argue that Hebbian learning predicts mirror-like neurons for sensations and emotions and review evidence for the presence of such vicarious activations outside the motor system.

Experimental recovery of quantum correlations in absence of system-environment back-action

PubMed Central

Xu, Jin-Shi; Sun, Kai; Li, Chuan-Feng; Xu, Xiao-Ye; Guo, Guang-Can; Andersson, Erika; Lo Franco, Rosario; Compagno, Giuseppe

2013-01-01

Revivals of quantum correlations in composite open quantum systems are a useful dynamical feature against detrimental effects of the environment. Their occurrence is attributed to flows of quantum information back and forth from systems to quantum environments. However, revivals also show up in models where the environment is classical, thus unable to store quantum correlations, and forbids system-environment back-action. This phenomenon opens basic issues about its interpretation involving the role of classical environments, memory effects, collective effects and system-environment correlations. Moreover, an experimental realization of back-action-free quantum revivals has applicative relevance as it leads to recover quantum resources without resorting to more demanding structured environments and correction procedures. Here we introduce a simple two-qubit model suitable to address these issues. We then report an all-optical experiment which simulates the model and permits us to recover and control, against decoherence, quantum correlations without back-action. We finally give an interpretation of the phenomenon by establishing the roles of the involved parties. PMID:24287554

Developing UGVs for the FCS program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamsickas, Gary M.; Ward, John N.

2003-09-01

The FCS Operational Requirements Document (ORD) identifies unmanned systems as a key component of the FCS Unit of Action. FCS unmanned systems include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) and Unattended Munitions (UM). Unmanned systems are intended to enhance the Unit of Action across the full range of operations when integrated with manned platforms. Unmanned systems will provide the commander with tools to gather battlespace information while significantly reducing overall soldier risk. Unmanned systems will be used in some cases to augment or replace human intervention to perform many of the dirty, dull and dangerous missions presently performed by soldiers and to serve as a combat multiplier for mission performance, force protection and survivability. This paper focuses on the application of UGVs within the FCS Unit of Action. There are three different UGVs planned to support the FCS Unit of Action; the Soldier Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV); The Multi-role Utility Logistics Equipment (MULE) platform; and the Armed Robotic Vehicle (ARV).

Learning of spatial relationships between observed and imitated actions allows invariant inverse computation in the frontal mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Oh, Hyuk; Gentili, Rodolphe J; Reggia, James A; Contreras-Vidal, José L

2011-01-01

It has been suggested that the human mirror neuron system can facilitate learning by imitation through coupling of observation and action execution. During imitation of observed actions, the functional relationship between and within the inferior frontal cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, and the superior temporal sulcus can be modeled within the internal model framework. The proposed biologically plausible mirror neuron system model extends currently available models by explicitly modeling the intraparietal sulcus and the superior parietal lobule in implementing the function of a frame of reference transformation during imitation. Moreover, the model posits the ventral premotor cortex as performing an inverse computation. The simulations reveal that: i) the transformation system can learn and represent the changes in extrinsic to intrinsic coordinates when an imitator observes a demonstrator; ii) the inverse model of the imitator's frontal mirror neuron system can be trained to provide the motor plans for the imitated actions.

Experimental recovery of quantum correlations in absence of system-environment back-action.

PubMed

Xu, Jin-Shi; Sun, Kai; Li, Chuan-Feng; Xu, Xiao-Ye; Guo, Guang-Can; Andersson, Erika; Lo Franco, Rosario; Compagno, Giuseppe

2013-01-01

Revivals of quantum correlations in composite open quantum systems are a useful dynamical feature against detrimental effects of the environment. Their occurrence is attributed to flows of quantum information back and forth from systems to quantum environments. However, revivals also show up in models where the environment is classical, thus unable to store quantum correlations, and forbids system-environment back-action. This phenomenon opens basic issues about its interpretation involving the role of classical environments, memory effects, collective effects and system-environment correlations. Moreover, an experimental realization of back-action-free quantum revivals has applicative relevance as it leads to recover quantum resources without resorting to more demanding structured environments and correction procedures. Here we introduce a simple two-qubit model suitable to address these issues. We then report an all-optical experiment which simulates the model and permits us to recover and control, against decoherence, quantum correlations without back-action. We finally give an interpretation of the phenomenon by establishing the roles of the involved parties.

Distinct neural substrates for visual short-term memory of actions.

PubMed

Cai, Ying; Urgolites, Zhisen; Wood, Justin; Chen, Chuansheng; Li, Siyao; Chen, Antao; Xue, Gui

2018-06-26

Fundamental theories of human cognition have long posited that the short-term maintenance of actions is supported by one of the "core knowledge" systems of human visual cognition, yet its neural substrates are still not well understood. In particular, it is unclear whether the visual short-term memory (VSTM) of actions has distinct neural substrates or, as proposed by the spatio-object architecture of VSTM, shares them with VSTM of objects and spatial locations. In two experiments, we tested these two competing hypotheses by directly contrasting the neural substrates for VSTM of actions with those for objects and locations. Our results showed that the bilateral middle temporal cortex (MT) was specifically involved in VSTM of actions because its activation and its functional connectivity with the frontal-parietal network (FPN) were only modulated by the memory load of actions, but not by that of objects/agents or locations. Moreover, the brain regions involved in the maintenance of spatial location information (i.e., superior parietal lobule, SPL) was also recruited during the maintenance of actions, consistent with the temporal-spatial nature of actions. Meanwhile, the frontoparietal network (FPN) was commonly involved in all types of VSTM and showed flexible functional connectivity with the domain-specific regions, depending on the current working memory tasks. Together, our results provide clear evidence for a distinct neural system for maintaining actions in VSTM, which supports the core knowledge system theory and the domain-specific and domain-general architectures of VSTM. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

40 CFR 141.563 - What follow-up action is my system required to take based on continuous turbidity monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Individual Filter Turbidity Requirements § 141.563 What follow-up action is my system required to take based...: If * * * Your system must * * * (a) The turbidity of an individual filter (or the turbidity of combined filter effluent (CFE) for systems with 2 filters that monitor CFE in lieu of individual filters...

40 CFR 141.563 - What follow-up action is my system required to take based on continuous turbidity monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Individual Filter Turbidity Requirements § 141.563 What follow-up action is my system required to take based...: If * * * Your system must * * * (a) The turbidity of an individual filter (or the turbidity of combined filter effluent (CFE) for systems with 2 filters that monitor CFE in lieu of individual filters...

40 CFR 141.563 - What follow-up action is my system required to take based on continuous turbidity monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Individual Filter Turbidity Requirements § 141.563 What follow-up action is my system required to take based...: If * * * Your system must * * * (a) The turbidity of an individual filter (or the turbidity of combined filter effluent (CFE) for systems with 2 filters that monitor CFE in lieu of individual filters...

40 CFR 141.563 - What follow-up action is my system required to take based on continuous turbidity monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Individual Filter Turbidity Requirements § 141.563 What follow-up action is my system required to take based...: If * * * Your system must * * * (a) The turbidity of an individual filter (or the turbidity of combined filter effluent (CFE) for systems with 2 filters that monitor CFE in lieu of individual filters...

40 CFR 141.563 - What follow-up action is my system required to take based on continuous turbidity monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Individual Filter Turbidity Requirements § 141.563 What follow-up action is my system required to take based...: If * * * Your system must * * * (a) The turbidity of an individual filter (or the turbidity of combined filter effluent (CFE) for systems with 2 filters that monitor CFE in lieu of individual filters...

Investigating action understanding: inferential processes versus action simulation.

PubMed

Brass, Marcel; Schmitt, Ruth M; Spengler, Stephanie; Gergely, György

2007-12-18

In our daily life, we continuously monitor others' behaviors and interpret them in terms of goals, intentions, and reasons. Despite their central importance for predicting and interpreting each other's actions, the functional mechanisms and neural circuits involved in action understanding remain highly controversial. Two alternative accounts have been advanced. Simulation theory assumes that we understand actions by simulating the observed behavior through a direct matching process that activates the mirror-neuron circuit. The alternative interpretive account assumes that action understanding is based on specialized inferential processes activating brain areas with no mirror properties. Although both approaches recognize the central role of contextual information in specifying action intentions, their respective accounts of this process differ in significant respects. Here, we investigated the role of context in action understanding by using functional brain imaging while participants observed an unusual action in implausible versus plausible contexts. We show that brain areas that are part of a network involved in inferential interpretive processes of rationalization and mentalization but that lack mirror properties are more active when the action occurs in an implausible context. However, no differential activation was found in the mirror network. Our findings support the assumption that action understanding in novel situations is primarily mediated by an inferential interpretive system rather than the mirror system.

Blueprint for action: steps toward a high-quality, high-value maternity care system.

PubMed

Angood, Peter B; Armstrong, Elizabeth Mitchell; Ashton, Diane; Burstin, Helen; Corry, Maureen P; Delbanco, Suzanne F; Fildes, Barbara; Fox, Daniel M; Gluck, Paul A; Gullo, Sue Leavitt; Howes, Joanne; Jolivet, R Rima; Laube, Douglas W; Lynne, Donna; Main, Elliott; Markus, Anne Rossier; Mayberry, Linda; Mitchell, Lynn V; Ness, Debra L; Nuzum, Rachel; Quinlan, Jeffrey D; Sakala, Carol; Salganicoff, Alina

2010-01-01

Childbirth Connection hosted a 90th Anniversary national policy symposium, Transforming Maternity Care: A High Value Proposition, on April 3, 2009, in Washington, DC. Over 100 leaders from across the range of stakeholder perspectives were actively engaged in the symposium work to improve the quality and value of U.S. maternity care through broad system improvement. A multi-disciplinary symposium steering committee guided the strategy from its inception and contributed to every phase of the project. The "Blueprint for Action: Steps Toward a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System", issued by the Transforming Maternity Care Symposium Steering Committee, answers the fundamental question, "Who needs to do what, to, for, and with whom to improve the quality of maternity care over the next five years?" Five stakeholder workgroups collaborated to propose actionable strategies in 11 critical focus areas for moving expeditiously toward the realization of the long term "2020 Vision for a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System", also published in this issue. Following the symposium these workgroup reports and recommendations were synthesized into the current blueprint. For each critical focus area, the "Blueprint for Action" presents a brief problem statement, a set of system goals for improvement in that area, and major recommendations with proposed action steps to achieve them. This process created a clear sightline to action that if enacted could improve the structure, process, experiences of care, and outcomes of the maternity care system in ways that when anchored in the culture can indeed transform maternity care. Copyright 2010 Jacobs Institute of Women

"Winsight"™ Assessment System: Preliminary Theory of Action. Research Report. ETS RR-17-26

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wylie, E. Caroline

2017-01-01

The "Winsight"™Assessment System integrates summative, interim (including both benchmark assessments and testlets), and formative assessment components initially focused on mathematics and English language arts (ELA) in Grades 3-8 and high school.This report provides a preliminary theory of action for the Winsight Assessment System. A…

Development of a body motion interactive system with a weight voting mechanism and computer vision technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Chern-Sheng; Chen, Chia-Tse; Shei, Hung-Jung; Lay, Yun-Long; Chiu, Chuang-Chien

2012-09-01

This study develops a body motion interactive system with computer vision technology. This application combines interactive games, art performing, and exercise training system. Multiple image processing and computer vision technologies are used in this study. The system can calculate the characteristics of an object color, and then perform color segmentation. When there is a wrong action judgment, the system will avoid the error with a weight voting mechanism, which can set the condition score and weight value for the action judgment, and choose the best action judgment from the weight voting mechanism. Finally, this study estimated the reliability of the system in order to make improvements. The results showed that, this method has good effect on accuracy and stability during operations of the human-machine interface of the sports training system.

Sign language processing and the mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Corina, David P; Knapp, Heather

2006-05-01

In this paper we review evidence for frontal and parietal lobe involvement in sign language comprehension and production, and evaluate the extent to which these data can be interpreted within the context of a mirror neuron system for human action observation and execution. We present data from three literatures--aphasia, cortical stimulation, and functional neuroimaging. Generally, we find support for the idea that sign language comprehension and production can be viewed in the context of a broadly-construed frontal-parietal human action observation/execution system. However, sign language data cannot be fully accounted for under a strict interpretation of the mirror neuron system. Additionally, we raise a number of issues concerning the lack of specificity in current accounts of the human action observation/execution system.

78 FR 67133 - Information Collection Requirement; Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-08

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Defense Acquisition Regulations System [Docket Number DARS-2013-0038] Information Collection Requirement; Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Publicizing Contract Actions AGENCY: Defense Acquisition Regulation System, Department of Defense (DoD). ACTION: Notice and...

48 CFR 750.7106-3 - Mistakes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Mistakes. 750.7106-3 Section 750.7106-3 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7110 - Processing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Processing cases. 750.7110 Section 750.7110 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7106-1 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false General. 750.7106-1 Section 750.7106-1 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7102 - General policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false General policy. 750.7102 Section 750.7102 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

Urban transportation : challenges to widespread deployment of intelligent transportation systems : report to Congressional committees

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

The federal government can take programmatic and financial actions to : promote the deployment of intelligent transportation systems. The : programmatic actions include providing technical assistance and training : to state and local officials, disse...

Privacy Impact Assessment for the Enforcement Action Response System

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Enforcement Action Response System collects waste transaction information, and liability determination information. Learn how this data is collected, how it will be used, access to the data, the purpose of data collection, and record retention policies

Orange County intelligent vehicle/highway systems study : IVHS action plan

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-21

This report is a result of the efforts undertaken for Task 6 of the Orange County : Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS) Study, the development of an Action Plan for : implementation of the Orange County IVHS Master Plan.

Rural applications of advanced traveler information systems : recommended actions

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-07-01

The Recommended Action Plan is one in a series of interim documents for the Rural Applications of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) project. Based on the investigation of user needs, a technology review, and concept development and assessm...

[Motivation as a basis of mental activity].

PubMed

Sudakov, K V

2006-01-01

Motivation is considered as a key component of systemic organization of mental activity. Forming on the stage of afferent synthesis, motivation determines activity of the subsequent systemic architectonic stages of mental acts: decision-making, construction of an acceptor of resulting actions, efferent synthesis and the very purposeful action. It is shown that motivation acts as an energy basis of mental activity. The foresight instrument of required resulting actions--an acceptor of resulting actions that, strongly linked to dominating motivation, is a leading guiding component of mental actions. A role of motivation in the processes of perception, memory, movement organization, intellectual and creative activity and their relationship to emotions are considered. A conception of motivation as a basis of intellect is formulated.

Modeling reality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denning, Peter J.

1990-01-01

Although powerful computers have allowed complex physical and manmade hardware systems to be modeled successfully, we have encountered persistent problems with the reliability of computer models for systems involving human learning, human action, and human organizations. This is not a misfortune; unlike physical and manmade systems, human systems do not operate under a fixed set of laws. The rules governing the actions allowable in the system can be changed without warning at any moment, and can evolve over time. That the governing laws are inherently unpredictable raises serious questions about the reliability of models when applied to human situations. In these domains, computers are better used, not for prediction and planning, but for aiding humans. Examples are systems that help humans speculate about possible futures, offer advice about possible actions in a domain, systems that gather information from the networks, and systems that track and support work flows in organizations.

A novel video recommendation system based on efficient retrieval of human actions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramezani, Mohsen; Yaghmaee, Farzin

2016-09-01

In recent years, fast growth of online video sharing eventuated new issues such as helping users to find their requirements in an efficient way. Hence, Recommender Systems (RSs) are used to find the users' most favorite items. Finding these items relies on items or users similarities. Though, many factors like sparsity and cold start user impress the recommendation quality. In some systems, attached tags are used for searching items (e.g. videos) as personalized recommendation. Different views, incomplete and inaccurate tags etc. can weaken the performance of these systems. Considering the advancement of computer vision techniques can help improving RSs. To this end, content based search can be used for finding items (here, videos are considered). In such systems, a video is taken from the user to find and recommend a list of most similar videos to the query one. Due to relating most videos to humans, we present a novel low complex scalable method to recommend videos based on the model of included action. This method has recourse to human action retrieval approaches. For modeling human actions, some interest points are extracted from each action and their motion information are used to compute the action representation. Moreover, a fuzzy dissimilarity measure is presented to compare videos for ranking them. The experimental results on HMDB, UCFYT, UCF sport and KTH datasets illustrated that, in most cases, the proposed method can reach better results than most used methods.

Agent Reward Shaping for Alleviating Traffic Congestion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Kagan; Agogino, Adrian

2006-01-01

Traffic congestion problems provide a unique environment to study how multi-agent systems promote desired system level behavior. What is particularly interesting in this class of problems is that no individual action is intrinsically "bad" for the system but that combinations of actions among agents lead to undesirable outcomes, As a consequence, agents need to learn how to coordinate their actions with those of other agents, rather than learn a particular set of "good" actions. This problem is ubiquitous in various traffic problems, including selecting departure times for commuters, routes for airlines, and paths for data routers. In this paper we present a multi-agent approach to two traffic problems, where far each driver, an agent selects the most suitable action using reinforcement learning. The agent rewards are based on concepts from collectives and aim to provide the agents with rewards that are both easy to learn and that if learned, lead to good system level behavior. In the first problem, we study how agents learn the best departure times of drivers in a daily commuting environment and how following those departure times alleviates congestion. In the second problem, we study how agents learn to select desirable routes to improve traffic flow and minimize delays for. all drivers.. In both sets of experiments,. agents using collective-based rewards produced near optimal performance (93-96% of optimal) whereas agents using system rewards (63-68%) barely outperformed random action selection (62-64%) and agents using local rewards (48-72%) performed worse than random in some instances.

30 CFR 57.22237 - Actions at 2.0 to 2.5 percent methane in bleeder systems (I-A and III mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Actions at 2.0 to 2.5 percent methane in...-UNDERGROUND METAL AND NONMETAL MINES Safety Standards for Methane in Metal and Nonmetal Mines Ventilation § 57.22237 Actions at 2.0 to 2.5 percent methane in bleeder systems (I-A and III mines). If methane reaches 2...

75 FR 74457 - Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases: Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-30

...EPA is promulgating a regulation to require monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum and natural gas systems. This action adds this source category to the list of source categories already required to report greenhouse gas emissions. This action applies to sources with carbon dioxide equivalent emissions above certain threshold levels as described in this regulation. This action does not require control of greenhouse gases.

A new approach to the characterization of subtle errors in everyday action: implications for mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Seligman, Sarah C; Giovannetti, Tania; Sestito, John; Libon, David J

2014-01-01

Mild functional difficulties have been associated with early cognitive decline in older adults and increased risk for conversion to dementia in mild cognitive impairment, but our understanding of this decline has been limited by a dearth of objective methods. This study evaluated the reliability and validity of a new system to code subtle errors on an established performance-based measure of everyday action and described preliminary findings within the context of a theoretical model of action disruption. Here 45 older adults completed the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT) and neuropsychological measures. NAT performance was coded for overt errors, and subtle action difficulties were scored using a novel coding system. An inter-rater reliability coefficient was calculated. Validity of the coding system was assessed using a repeated-measures ANOVA with NAT task (simple versus complex) and error type (overt versus subtle) as within-group factors. Correlation/regression analyses were conducted among overt NAT errors, subtle NAT errors, and neuropsychological variables. The coding of subtle action errors was reliable and valid, and episodic memory breakdown predicted subtle action disruption. Results suggest that the NAT can be useful in objectively assessing subtle functional decline. Treatments targeting episodic memory may be most effective in addressing early functional impairment in older age.

Conceptual framework of public health surveillance and action and its application in health sector reform.

PubMed

McNabb, Scott J N; Chungong, Stella; Ryan, Mike; Wuhib, Tadesse; Nsubuga, Peter; Alemu, Wondi; Carande-Kulis, Vilma; Rodier, Guenael

2002-01-01

Because both public health surveillance and action are crucial, the authors initiated meetings at regional and national levels to assess and reform surveillance and action systems. These meetings emphasized improved epidemic preparedness, epidemic response, and highlighted standardized assessment and reform. To standardize assessments, the authors designed a conceptual framework for surveillance and action that categorized the framework into eight core and four support activities, measured with indicators. In application, country-level reformers measure both the presence and performance of the six core activities comprising public health surveillance (detection, registration, reporting, confirmation, analyses, and feedback) and acute (epidemic-type) and planned (management-type) responses composing the two core activities of public health action. Four support activities - communications, supervision, training, and resource provision - enable these eight core processes. National, multiple systems can then be concurrently assessed at each level for effectiveness, technical efficiency, and cost. This approach permits a cost analysis, highlights areas amenable to integration, and provides focused intervention. The final public health model becomes a district-focused, action-oriented integration of core and support activities with enhanced effectiveness, technical efficiency, and cost savings. This reform approach leads to sustained capacity development by an empowerment strategy defined as facilitated, process-oriented action steps transforming staff and the system.

48 CFR 52.222-36 - Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Affirmative Action for... Provisions and Clauses 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities. As prescribed in 22.1408(a), insert the following clause: Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities (OCT 2010) (a) General. (1...

48 CFR 52.222-36 - Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Affirmative Action for... Provisions and Clauses 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities. As prescribed in 22.1408(a), insert the following clause: Affirmative Action for Workers With Disabilities (OCT 2010) (a) General. (1...

49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

Learning robot actions based on self-organising language memory.

PubMed

Wermter, Stefan; Elshaw, Mark

2003-01-01

In the MirrorBot project we examine perceptual processes using models of cortical assemblies and mirror neurons to explore the emergence of semantic representations of actions, percepts and concepts in a neural robot. The hypothesis under investigation is whether a neural model will produce a life-like perception system for actions. In this context we focus in this paper on how instructions for actions can be modeled in a self-organising memory. Current approaches for robot control often do not use language and ignore neural learning. However, our approach uses language instruction and draws from the concepts of regional distributed modularity, self-organisation and neural assemblies. We describe a self-organising model that clusters actions into different locations depending on the body part they are associated with. In particular, we use actual sensor readings from the MIRA robot to represent semantic features of the action verbs. Furthermore, we outline a hierarchical computational model for a self-organising robot action control system using language for instruction.

Role of time in symbiotic systems

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

Agrawala, A.K.

1996-12-31

All systems have a dynamics which reflects the changes in the system in time and, therefore, have to maintain a notion of time, either explicitly or implicitly. Traditionally, the notion of time in constructed systems has been implicitly specified at design time through rigid structures such as sampled data systems which operate with a fixed time tick, feedback systems which are designed reflecting a fixed time scale for the dynamics of the system as well as the controller responses, etc. In biological systems, the sense of time is a key element but it is not rigidly structured, even though allmore » such systems have a clear notion of time. We define the notion of time in systems in terms of temporal locality, time scale and time horizon. Temporal locality gives the notion of the accuracy with which the system knows about the current time. Time scale reflects the scale indicating the smallest and the largest granularity considered. It also reflects the reaction time. The time horizon indicates the time beyond which the system considers to be distant future and may not take it into account in its actions. Note that the temporal locality, time scale and the time horizon may be different for different types of actions of a system, thereby permitting the system to use multiple notions of time concurrently. In multi agent systems each subsystem may have its own notion of time but when intentions take place a coordination is necessary. Such coordination requires that the notions of time for different agents of the system be consistent. Clearly, the consistency requirement in this case does not mean exactly identical but implies that different agents can coordinate their actions which must take place in time. When the actions only require a determinate ordering the required coordination is much less severe than the case requiring actions to take place at the same time.« less

Co-development of manner and path concepts in language, action, and eye-gaze behavior.

PubMed

Lohan, Katrin S; Griffiths, Sascha S; Sciutti, Alessandra; Partmann, Tim C; Rohlfing, Katharina J

2014-07-01

In order for artificial intelligent systems to interact naturally with human users, they need to be able to learn from human instructions when actions should be imitated. Human tutoring will typically consist of action demonstrations accompanied by speech. In the following, the characteristics of human tutoring during action demonstration will be examined. A special focus will be put on the distinction between two kinds of motion events: path-oriented actions and manner-oriented actions. Such a distinction is inspired by the literature pertaining to cognitive linguistics, which indicates that the human conceptual system can distinguish these two distinct types of motion. These two kinds of actions are described in language by more path-oriented or more manner-oriented utterances. In path-oriented utterances, the source, trajectory, or goal is emphasized, whereas in manner-oriented utterances the medium, velocity, or means of motion are highlighted. We examined a video corpus of adult-child interactions comprised of three age groups of children-pre-lexical, early lexical, and lexical-and two different tasks, one emphasizing manner more strongly and one emphasizing path more strongly. We analyzed the language and motion of the caregiver and the gazing behavior of the child to highlight the differences between the tutoring and the acquisition of the manner and path concepts. The results suggest that age is an important factor in the development of these action categories. The analysis of this corpus has also been exploited to develop an intelligent robotic behavior-the tutoring spotter system-able to emulate children's behaviors in a tutoring situation, with the aim of evoking in human subjects a natural and effective behavior in teaching to a robot. The findings related to the development of manner and path concepts have been used to implement new effective feedback strategies in the tutoring spotter system, which should provide improvements in human-robot interaction. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Positives and pathologies of natural resource management on private land-conservation areas.

PubMed

Clements, Hayley S; Cumming, Graeme S

2017-06-01

In managed natural resource systems, such as fisheries and rangelands, there is a recognized trade-off between managing for short-term benefits and managing for longer term resilience. Management actions that stabilize ecological attributes or processes can improve productivity in the supply of ecosystem goods and services in the short term but erode system resilience at longer time scales. For example, fire suppression in rangelands can increase grass biomass initially but ultimately result in an undesirable, shrub-dominated system. Analyses of this phenomenon have focused largely on how management actions influence slow-changing biophysical system attributes (such as vegetation composition). Data on the frequency of management actions that reduce natural ecological variation on 66 private land-conservation areas (PLCAs) in South Africa were used to investigate how management actions are influenced by manager decision-making approaches, a largely ignored part of the problem. The pathology of natural resource management was evident on some PLCAs: increased focus on revenue-generation in decision making resulted in an increased frequency of actions to stabilize short-term variation in large mammal populations, which led to increased revenues from ecotourism or hunting. On many PLCAs, these management actions corresponded with a reduced focus on ecological monitoring and an increase in overstocking of game (i.e., ungulate species) and stocking of extralimitals (i.e., game species outside their historical range). Positives in natural resource management also existed. Some managers monitored slower changing ecological attributes, which resulted in less-intensive management, fewer extralimital species, and lower stocking rates. Our unique, empirical investigation of monitoring-management relationships illustrates that management decisions informed by revenue monitoring versus ecological monitoring can have opposing consequences for natural resource productivity and sustainability. Promoting management actions that maintain resilience in natural resource systems therefore requires cognizance of why managers act the way they do and how these actions can gradually shift managers toward unsustainable strategies. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Is the Motor System Necessary for Processing Action and Abstract Emotion Words? Evidence from Focal Brain Lesions

PubMed Central

Dreyer, Felix R.; Frey, Dietmar; Arana, Sophie; von Saldern, Sarah; Picht, Thomas; Vajkoczy, Peter; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2015-01-01

Neuroimaging and neuropsychological experiments suggest that modality-preferential cortices, including motor- and somatosensory areas, contribute to the semantic processing of action related concrete words. Still, a possible role of sensorimotor areas in processing abstract meaning remains under debate. Recent fMRI studies indicate an involvement of the left sensorimotor cortex in the processing of abstract-emotional words (e.g., “love”) which resembles activation patterns seen for action words. But are the activated areas indeed necessary for processing action-related and abstract words? The current study now investigates word processing in two patients suffering from focal brain lesion in the left frontocentral motor system. A speeded Lexical Decision Task on meticulously matched word groups showed that the recognition of nouns from different semantic categories – related to food, animals, tools, and abstract-emotional concepts – was differentially affected. Whereas patient HS with a lesion in dorsolateral central sensorimotor systems next to the hand area showed a category-specific deficit in recognizing tool words, patient CA suffering from lesion centered in the left supplementary motor area was primarily impaired in abstract-emotional word processing. These results point to a causal role of the motor cortex in the semantic processing of both action-related object concepts and abstract-emotional concepts and therefore suggest that the motor areas previously found active in action-related and abstract word processing can serve a meaning-specific necessary role in word recognition. The category-specific nature of the observed dissociations is difficult to reconcile with the idea that sensorimotor systems are somehow peripheral or ‘epiphenomenal’ to meaning and concept processing. Rather, our results are consistent with the claim that cognition is grounded in action and perception and based on distributed action perception circuits reaching into modality-preferential cortex. PMID:26617535

THE mPER2 CLOCK GENE MODULATES COCAINE ACTIONS IN THE MOUSE CIRCADIAN SYSTEM

PubMed Central

Brager, Allison J.; Stowie, Adam C.; Prosser, Rebecca A.; Glass, J. David

2014-01-01

Cocaine is a potent disruptor of photic and non-photic pathways for circadian entrainment of the master circadian clock of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). These actions of cocaine likely involve its modulation of molecular (clock gene) components for SCN clock timekeeping. At present, however, the physiological basis of such an interaction is unclear. To address this question, we compared photic and non-photic phase-resetting responses between wild-type (WT) and Per2 mutant mice expressing nonfunctional PER2 protein to systemic and intra-SCN cocaine administrations. In the systemic trials, cocaine was administered i.p. (20 mg/kg) either at midday or prior to a light pulse in the early night to assess its non-photic and photic behavioral phase-resetting actions, respectively. In the intra-SCN trial, cocaine was administered by reverse microdialysis at midday to determine if the SCN is a direct target for its non-photic phase-resetting action. Non-photic phase-advancing responses to i.p. cocaine at midday were significantly (~3.5-fold) greater in Per2 mutants than WTs. However, the phase-advancing action of intra-SCN cocaine perfusion at midday did not differ between genotypes. In the light pulse trial, Per2 mutants exhibited larger photic phase-delays than did WTs, and the attenuating action of cocaine on this response was proportionately larger than in WTs. These data indicate that the Per2 clock gene is a potent modulator of cocaine’s actions in the circadian system. With regard to non-photic phase-resetting, the SCN is confirmed as a direct target of cocaine action; however, Per2 modulation of this effect likely occurs outside of the SCN. PMID:23333842

Sensitivity to perception level differentiates two subnetworks within the mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Simon, Shiri; Mukamel, Roy

2017-05-01

Mirror neurons are a subset of brain cells that discharge during action execution and passive observation of similar actions. An open question concerns the functional role of their ability to match observed and executed actions. Since understanding of goals requires conscious perception of actions, we expect that mirror neurons potentially involved in action goal coding, will be modulated by changes in action perception level. Here, we manipulated perception level of action videos depicting short hand movements and measured the corresponding fMRI BOLD responses in mirror regions. Our results show that activity levels within a network of regions, including the sensorimotor cortex, primary motor cortex, dorsal premotor cortex and posterior superior temporal sulcus, are sensitive to changes in action perception level, whereas activity levels in the inferior frontal gyrus, ventral premotor cortex, supplementary motor area and superior parietal lobule are invariant to such changes. In addition, this parcellation to two sub-networks manifest as smaller functional distances within each group of regions during task and resting state. Our results point to functional differences between regions within the mirror neurons system which may have implications with respect to their possible role in action understanding. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Optical mapping of optogenetically shaped cardiac action potentials.

PubMed

Park, Sarah A; Lee, Shin-Rong; Tung, Leslie; Yue, David T

2014-08-19

Light-mediated silencing and stimulation of cardiac excitability, an important complement to electrical stimulation, promises important discoveries and therapies. To date, cardiac optogenetics has been studied with patch-clamp, multielectrode arrays, video microscopy, and an all-optical system measuring calcium transients. The future lies in achieving simultaneous optical acquisition of excitability signals and optogenetic control, both with high spatio-temporal resolution. Here, we make progress by combining optical mapping of action potentials with concurrent activation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) or halorhodopsin (eNpHR3.0), via an all-optical system applied to monolayers of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM). Additionally, we explore the capability of ChR2 and eNpHR3.0 to shape action-potential waveforms, potentially aiding the study of short/long QT syndromes that result from abnormal changes in action potential duration (APD). These results show the promise of an all-optical system to acquire action potentials with precise temporal optogenetics control, achieving a long-sought flexibility beyond the means of conventional electrical stimulation.

Optical mapping of optogenetically shaped cardiac action potentials

PubMed Central

Park, Sarah A.; Lee, Shin-Rong; Tung, Leslie; Yue, David T.

2014-01-01

Light-mediated silencing and stimulation of cardiac excitability, an important complement to electrical stimulation, promises important discoveries and therapies. To date, cardiac optogenetics has been studied with patch-clamp, multielectrode arrays, video microscopy, and an all-optical system measuring calcium transients. The future lies in achieving simultaneous optical acquisition of excitability signals and optogenetic control, both with high spatio-temporal resolution. Here, we make progress by combining optical mapping of action potentials with concurrent activation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) or halorhodopsin (eNpHR3.0), via an all-optical system applied to monolayers of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM). Additionally, we explore the capability of ChR2 and eNpHR3.0 to shape action-potential waveforms, potentially aiding the study of short/long QT syndromes that result from abnormal changes in action potential duration (APD). These results show the promise of an all-optical system to acquire action potentials with precise temporal optogenetics control, achieving a long-sought flexibility beyond the means of conventional electrical stimulation. PMID:25135113

"Ordinary men" or "evil monsters"? An action systems model of genocidal actions and characteristics of perpetrators.

PubMed

Hollows, Kerrilee; Fritzon, Katarina

2012-10-01

This study aimed to address the limitations of the existing genocide literature with the development of an empirically based classification system. Using Shye's (1985) action systems model, it was hypothesized that four types of perpetrators would exist and would be distinguishable by differences in the sources and target of individual criminal actions. Court transcripts from 80 perpetrators sentenced by the international courts were subject to content analysis and revealed 39 offense action variables, 17 perpetrator characteristic variables, and 6 perpetrator motive variables. A smallest space analysis using the Jaccard coefficient of association was conducted on the offense variables. The results supported the proposed framework, producing four distinct types of genocidal perpetrators. Correlational analyses were then conducted to examine the relationships between each of the perpetrator types and the remaining variables. The results of those correlations provided further support for the proposed framework. The implications of these findings are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Potential role of monkey inferior parietal neurons coding action semantic equivalences as precursors of parts of speech.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Yumiko; Yokochi, Hiroko; Tanaka, Michio; Okanoya, Kazuo; Iriki, Atsushi

2010-01-01

The anterior portion of the inferior parietal cortex possesses comprehensive representations of actions embedded in behavioural contexts. Mirror neurons, which respond to both self-executed and observed actions, exist in this brain region in addition to those originally found in the premotor cortex. We found that parietal mirror neurons responded differentially to identical actions embedded in different contexts. Another type of parietal mirror neuron represents an inverse and complementary property of responding equally to dissimilar actions made by itself and others for an identical purpose. Here, we propose a hypothesis that these sets of inferior parietal neurons constitute a neural basis for encoding the semantic equivalence of various actions across different agents and contexts. The neurons have mirror neuron properties, and they encoded generalization of agents, differentiation of outcomes, and categorization of actions that led to common functions. By integrating the activities of these mirror neurons with various codings, we further suggest that in the ancestral primates' brains, these various representations of meaningful action led to the gradual establishment of equivalence relations among the different types of actions, by sharing common action semantics. Such differential codings of the components of actions might represent precursors to the parts of protolanguage, such as gestural communication, which are shared among various members of a society. Finally, we suggest that the inferior parietal cortex serves as an interface between this action semantics system and other higher semantic systems, through common structures of action representation that mimic language syntax.

Potential role of monkey inferior parietal neurons coding action semantic equivalences as precursors of parts of speech

PubMed Central

Yamazaki, Yumiko; Yokochi, Hiroko; Tanaka, Michio; Okanoya, Kazuo; Iriki, Atsushi

2010-01-01

The anterior portion of the inferior parietal cortex possesses comprehensive representations of actions embedded in behavioural contexts. Mirror neurons, which respond to both self-executed and observed actions, exist in this brain region in addition to those originally found in the premotor cortex. We found that parietal mirror neurons responded differentially to identical actions embedded in different contexts. Another type of parietal mirror neuron represents an inverse and complementary property of responding equally to dissimilar actions made by itself and others for an identical purpose. Here, we propose a hypothesis that these sets of inferior parietal neurons constitute a neural basis for encoding the semantic equivalence of various actions across different agents and contexts. The neurons have mirror neuron properties, and they encoded generalization of agents, differentiation of outcomes, and categorization of actions that led to common functions. By integrating the activities of these mirror neurons with various codings, we further suggest that in the ancestral primates' brains, these various representations of meaningful action led to the gradual establishment of equivalence relations among the different types of actions, by sharing common action semantics. Such differential codings of the components of actions might represent precursors to the parts of protolanguage, such as gestural communication, which are shared among various members of a society. Finally, we suggest that the inferior parietal cortex serves as an interface between this action semantics system and other higher semantic systems, through common structures of action representation that mimic language syntax. PMID:20119879

48 CFR 750.7100 - Scope of subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Scope of subpart. 750.7100 Section 750.7100 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7100 - Scope of subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Scope of subpart. 750.7100 Section 750.7100 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7100 - Scope of subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Scope of subpart. 750.7100 Section 750.7100 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy...

48 CFR 750.7109-1 - Filing requests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Filing requests. 750.7109-1 Section 750.7109-1 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign...

48 CFR 750.7106-2 - Amendments without consideration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Amendments without consideration. 750.7106-2 Section 750.7106-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect...

48 CFR 750.7106 - Standards for deciding cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Standards for deciding cases. 750.7106 Section 750.7106 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect...

48 CFR 750.7106-4 - Informal commitments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Informal commitments. 750.7106-4 Section 750.7106-4 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign...

48 CFR 5.002 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Policy. 5.002 Section 5.002 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION ACQUISITION PLANNING PUBLICIZING CONTRACT ACTIONS 5.002 Policy. Contracting officers must publicize contract actions in order to...

48 CFR 5.002 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Policy. 5.002 Section 5.002 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION ACQUISITION PLANNING PUBLICIZING CONTRACT ACTIONS 5.002 Policy. Contracting officers must publicize contract actions in order to...

5 CFR 9701.604 - Coverage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Coverage. 9701.604 Section 9701.604 Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DEPARTMENT OF... MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Adverse Actions General § 9701.604 Coverage. (a) Actions covered. This subpart covers...

5 CFR 9701.604 - Coverage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Coverage. 9701.604 Section 9701.604 Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DEPARTMENT OF... MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Adverse Actions General § 9701.604 Coverage. (a) Actions covered. This subpart covers...

5 CFR 9701.604 - Coverage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Coverage. 9701.604 Section 9701.604 Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DEPARTMENT OF... MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Adverse Actions General § 9701.604 Coverage. (a) Actions covered. This subpart covers...

Asymptotics of action variables near semi-toric singularities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wacheux, Christophe

2015-12-01

The presence of focus-focus singularities in semi-toric integrables Hamiltonian systems is one of the reasons why there cannot exist global Action-Angle coordinates on such systems. At focus-focus critical points, the Liouville-Arnold-Mineur theorem does not apply. In particular, the affine structure of the image of the moment map around has non-trivial monodromy. In this article, we establish that the singular behavior and the multi-valuedness of the Action integrals is given by a complex logarithm. This extends a previous result by San Vũ Ngọc to any dimension. We also calculate the monodromy matrix for these systems.

ECASTAR: Energy Conservation; an Assessment of Systems, Technologies and Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A methodology for a systems approach display and assessment of the potential for energy conservation actions and the impacts of those actions was presented. The U.S. economy is divided into four sectors: energy industry, industry, residential/commercial and transportation. Each sector is assessed with respect to energy conservation actions and impacts. The four sectors are combined and three strategies for energy conservation actions for the combined sectors are assessed. The three strategies (national energy conservation, electrification and diversification) represent energy conservation actions for the near term (now to 1985), the mid term (1985 to 2000) and the far term (2000 and beyond). The assessment procedure includes input/output analysis to bridge the flows between the sectors, and net economics and net energetics as performance criteria for the conservation actions. Targets of opportunity for large net energy net energy savings and the application of technology to achieve these savings are discussed.

Language comprehension warps the mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Zarr, Noah; Ferguson, Ryan; Glenberg, Arthur M

2013-01-01

Is the mirror neuron system (MNS) used in language understanding? According to embodied accounts of language comprehension, understanding sentences describing actions makes use of neural mechanisms of action control, including the MNS. Consequently, repeatedly comprehending sentences describing similar actions should induce adaptation of the MNS thereby warping its use in other cognitive processes such as action recognition and prediction. To test this prediction, participants read blocks of multiple sentences where each sentence in the block described transfer of objects in a direction away or toward the reader. Following each block, adaptation was measured by having participants predict the end-point of videotaped actions. The adapting sentences disrupted prediction of actions in the same direction, but (a) only for videos of biological motion, and (b) only when the effector implied by the language (e.g., the hand) matched the videos. These findings are signatures of the MNS.

Action perception as hypothesis testing.

PubMed

Donnarumma, Francesco; Costantini, Marcello; Ambrosini, Ettore; Friston, Karl; Pezzulo, Giovanni

2017-04-01

We present a novel computational model that describes action perception as an active inferential process that combines motor prediction (the reuse of our own motor system to predict perceived movements) and hypothesis testing (the use of eye movements to disambiguate amongst hypotheses). The system uses a generative model of how (arm and hand) actions are performed to generate hypothesis-specific visual predictions, and directs saccades to the most informative places of the visual scene to test these predictions - and underlying hypotheses. We test the model using eye movement data from a human action observation study. In both the human study and our model, saccades are proactive whenever context affords accurate action prediction; but uncertainty induces a more reactive gaze strategy, via tracking the observed movements. Our model offers a novel perspective on action observation that highlights its active nature based on prediction dynamics and hypothesis testing. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Language comprehension warps the mirror neuron system

PubMed Central

Zarr, Noah; Ferguson, Ryan; Glenberg, Arthur M.

2013-01-01

Is the mirror neuron system (MNS) used in language understanding? According to embodied accounts of language comprehension, understanding sentences describing actions makes use of neural mechanisms of action control, including the MNS. Consequently, repeatedly comprehending sentences describing similar actions should induce adaptation of the MNS thereby warping its use in other cognitive processes such as action recognition and prediction. To test this prediction, participants read blocks of multiple sentences where each sentence in the block described transfer of objects in a direction away or toward the reader. Following each block, adaptation was measured by having participants predict the end-point of videotaped actions. The adapting sentences disrupted prediction of actions in the same direction, but (a) only for videos of biological motion, and (b) only when the effector implied by the language (e.g., the hand) matched the videos. These findings are signatures of the MNS. PMID:24381553

Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning Model for Effective Action Selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youk, Sang Jo; Lee, Bong Keun

Reinforcement learning is a sub area of machine learning concerned with how an agent ought to take actions in an environment so as to maximize some notion of long-term reward. In the case of multi-agent, especially, which state space and action space gets very enormous in compared to single agent, so it needs to take most effective measure available select the action strategy for effective reinforcement learning. This paper proposes a multi-agent reinforcement learning model based on fuzzy inference system in order to improve learning collect speed and select an effective action in multi-agent. This paper verifies an effective action select strategy through evaluation tests based on Robocop Keep away which is one of useful test-beds for multi-agent. Our proposed model can apply to evaluate efficiency of the various intelligent multi-agents and also can apply to strategy and tactics of robot soccer system.

Aspect-Oriented Programming is Quantification and Obliviousness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Filman, Robert E.; Friedman, Daniel P.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

This paper proposes that the distinguishing characteristic of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) systems is that they allow programming by making quantified programmatic assertions over programs written by programmers oblivious to such assertions. Thus, AOP systems can be analyzed with respect to three critical dimensions: the kinds of quantifications allowed, the nature of the actions that can be asserted, and the mechanism for combining base-level actions with asserted actions. Consequences of this perspective are the recognition that certain systems are not AOP and that some mechanisms are expressive enough to allow programming an AOP system within them. A corollary is that while AOP can be applied to Object-Oriented Programming, it is an independent concept applicable to other programming styles.

The mirror neuron system: a neural substrate for methods in stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Garrison, Kathleen A; Winstein, Carolee J; Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa

2010-06-01

Mirror neurons found in the premotor and parietal cortex respond not only during action execution, but also during observation of actions being performed by others. Thus, the motor system may be activated without overt movement. Rehabilitation of motor function after stroke is often challenging due to severity of impairment and poor to absent voluntary movement ability. Methods in stroke rehabilitation based on the mirror neuron system--action observation, motor imagery, and imitation--take advantage of this opportunity to rebuild motor function despite impairments, as an alternative or complement to physical therapy. Here the authors review research into each condition of practice, and discuss the relevance of the mirror neuron system to stroke recovery.

75 FR 27401 - List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NUHOMS® HD System Revision 1; Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-17

... Storage Casks: NUHOMS[reg] HD System Revision 1; Correction AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION... HD spent fuel storage cask system. This action is necessary to correctly specify the effective date... on May 6, 2010 (75 FR 24786), that amends the regulations that govern storage of spent nuclear fuel...

Learning Messages Notification System to Mobile Devices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jimenez, M. Lourdes

2005-01-01

The work presents a new method to send educational messages in e-learning systems. The communication tools are one of the main characteristics of the virtual formative actions, in addition of the contents and the evaluation. The system must help to motivate the students, mainly those who do not leave the formative action and continue it until the…

Hierarchically Structured Recommender System for Improving NPS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuang, Jieyan

2016-01-01

Net Promoter System (NPS) is well known as an evaluation measure of the growth engine of big companies in the business area. The ultimate goal of my research is to build an action rules and meta-actions based recommender system for improving NPS scores of 34 companies (clients) dealing with similar businesses in the US and Canada. With the given…

Application of the luciferin-luciferase enzyme system for determination of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to studies on the mechanisms of herbicide action

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St.john, J. B.

1975-01-01

The luciferin-luciferase enzyme system for determination of ATP is valuable for studies on the mechanisms of herbicide action. Investigations using this system have shown that certain herbicides may act by interfering with ATP production or by blocking ATP use, or by both mechanisms.

78 FR 18334 - New York Independent System Operator, Inc.; Notice of Motion for Tariff Waiver and Expedited Action

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-26

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER13-1124-000] New York Independent System Operator, Inc.; Notice of Motion for Tariff Waiver and Expedited Action On March 15, 2013, New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) filed a motion for limited tariff waivers of...

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 405: Area 3 Septic Systems, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada(April 2001, Rev. 0) with Record of Technical Change No. 1

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

DOE /NV

2001-04-26

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's) approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 405, Area 3 Septic Systems, Tonopah Test Range (TTR), under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 405 consists of Corrective Action Sites 03-05-002-SW03, 03-05-002-SW04, and 03-05-002-SW07 (also collectively known as: Septic Waste Systems [SWSs] 3, 4, and 7). Located in Area 3 in the northwest section of the TTR, approximately 140 miles northwest of Las Vegas, this location was historically (betweenmore » 1960 and 1990) used as a research facility with the mission to perform defense-related projects, and whose operations generated sanitary and industrial wastewaters potentially contaminated with COPCs and disposed of in septic tanks and leachfields. Though Septic Waste Systems 3, 4, and 7 were origin ally constructed to receive sanitary sewage, they may have inadvertently received effluent containing potentially hazardous and radiological constituents containing acetone, benzene, ethylbenzene, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, toluene, xylenes, volatile organic compound constituents, phenols, arsenic, barium, lead, mercury, hydrocarbons of oil and grease, and uranium-234, -235, and -238. The Area 3 septic systems were documented in a DOE/NV 1996 report as being included in the septic tank abandonment program conducted by Sandia National Laboratories in 1993; however, this program was not completed and the possibility exists that some of the Area 3 septic tanks may not have been abandoned. Even though all of the SWSs addressed in this CAIP are inactive, geophysical surveys conducted in 1993 were generally inconclusive and did not provide useful data for the purposes of this investigation. The scope of this current investigation, therefore, will be to determine the existence of the identified CO PCs and excavation will be the primary investigation method employed for these leachfield systems, but this effort may be limited by existing facilities and utilities. The results of this field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the subsequent corrective action decision document.« less

Cancer surviving patients' rehabilitation – understanding failure through application of theoretical perspectives from Habermas

PubMed Central

Mikkelsen, Thorbjørn H; Soendergaard, Jens; Jensen, Anders B; Olesen, Frede

2008-01-01

This study aims to analyze whether the rehabilitation of cancer surviving patients (CSPs) can be better organized. The data for this paper consists of focus group interviews (FGIs) with CSPs, general practitioners (GPs) and hospital physicians. The analysis draws on the theoretical framework of Jürgen Habermas, utilizing his notions of 'the system and the life world' and 'communicative and strategic action'. In Habermas' terminology, the social security system and the healthcare system are subsystems that belong to what he calls the 'system', where actions are based on strategic actions activated by the means of media such as money and power which provide the basis for other actors' actions. The social life, on the other hand, in Habermas' terminology, belongs to what he calls the 'life world', where communicative action is based on consensual coordination among individuals. Our material suggests that, within the hospital world, the strategic actions related to diagnosis, treatment and cure in the biomedical discourse dominate. They function as inclusion/exclusion criteria for further treatment. However, the GPs appear to accept the CSPs' previous cancer diagnosis as a precondition sufficient for providing assistance. Although the GPs use the biomedical discourse and often give biomedical examples to exemplify rehabilitation needs, they find psychosocial aspects, so-called lifeworld aspects, to be an important component of their job when helping CSPs. In this way, they appear more open to communicative action in relation to the CSPs' lifeworld than do the hospital physicians. Our data also suggests that the CSPs' lifeworld can be partly colonized by the system during hospitalization, making it difficult for CSPs when they are discharged at the end of treatment. This situation seems to be crucial to our understanding of why CSPs often feel left in limbo after discharge. We conclude that the distinction between the system and the lifeworld and the implications of a possible colonization during hospitalization offers an important theoretical framework for determining and addressing different types of rehabilitation needs. PMID:18538001

Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 151: Septic Systems and Discharge Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

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

Grant Evenson

2006-05-01

This Corrective Action Decision Document has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 151, Septic Systems and Discharge Area, at the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, according to the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996). Corrective Action Unit 151 is comprised of eight corrective action sites (CASs): (1) CAS 02-05-01, UE-2ce Pond; (2) CAS 12-03-01, Sewage Lagoons (6); (3) CAS 12-04-01, Septic Tanks; (4) CAS 12-04-02, Septic Tanks; (5) CAS 12-04-03, Septic Tank; (6) CAS 12-47-01, Wastewater Pond; (7) CAS 18-03-01, Sewage Lagoon; and (8) CAS 18-99-09, Sewer Line (Exposed). The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document ismore » to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of corrective action alternatives (CAAs) for each of the eight CASs within CAU 151. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from September 12 through November 18, 2005, as set forth in the CAU 151 Corrective Action Investigation Plan and Record of Technical Change No. 1. Additional confirmation sampling was performed on December 9, 2005; January 10, 2006; and February 13, 2006. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against appropriate final action levels (FALs) to identify the contaminants of concern for each CAS. The results of the CAI identified contaminants of concern at two of the eight CASs in CAU 151 and required the evaluation of CAAs. Assessment of the data generated from investigation activities conducted at CAU 151 revealed the following: (1) Soils at CASs 02-05-01, 12-04-01, 12-04-02, 12-04-03, 12-47-01, 18-03-01, 18-99-09, and Lagoons B through G of CAS 12-03-01 do not contain contamination at concentrations exceeding the FALs. (2) Lagoon A of CAS 12-03-01 has arsenic above FALs in shallow subsurface soils. (3) One of the two tanks of CAS 12-04-01, System No.1, has polychlorinated biphenyls (aroclor-1254), trichloroethane, and cesium-137 above FALs in the sludge. Both CAS 12-04-01, System No.1 tanks contain trichloroethane and 1,4-dichlorobenzene above ''Resource Conservation and Recovery Act'' toxicity characteristic limits. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at the eight CASs, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following corrective actions are recommended for CAU 151. No Further Action is the recommended corrective action for soils at CASs 02-05-01, 12-04-01, 12-04-02, 12-04-03, 18-03-01, and 18-99-09; and Lagoons C, D, F, and G of CAS 12-03-01. No Further Action with implementation of a best management practice (BMP) is recommended for soils at CAS 12-47-01 and Lagoons B and E of CAS 12-03-01. To be protective of future workers should the present scenario used to calculate FALs change, an administrative use restriction will be recorded per the FFACO agreement as a BMP. Close in Place with Administrative Controls is the recommended corrective action for Lagoon A of CAS 12-03-01. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI; review of future and current operations at CASs 12-04-01, 12-04-02, and 12-04-03; and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following corrective actions are recommended for the septic tanks at these CASs. No Further Action with implementation of BMPs is the recommended corrective action for septic tanks that do not contain potential source material from CAS 12-04-01, System No.4 (four tanks); CAS 12-04-02, System No.5 (six tanks); and CAS 12-04-03, System No.3 (four tanks). Clean Closure with implementation of BMPs is the recommended corrective action for the septic tanks from CAS 12-04-01, System No.1 (two tanks). The preferred CAAs were evaluated on technical merit focusing on performance, reliability, feasibility, safety, and cost. The alternatives were judged to meet all requirements for the technical components evaluated. The alternatives meet all applicable federal and state regulations for closure of the site and will reduce potential exposure pathways to the contaminated media to an acceptable level at CAU 151.« less

The busy social brain: evidence for automaticity and control in the neural systems supporting social cognition and action understanding.

PubMed

Spunt, Robert P; Lieberman, Matthew D

2013-01-01

Much social-cognitive processing is believed to occur automatically; however, the relative automaticity of the brain systems underlying social cognition remains largely undetermined. We used functional MRI to test for automaticity in the functioning of two brain systems that research has indicated are important for understanding other people's behavior: the mirror neuron system and the mentalizing system. Participants remembered either easy phone numbers (low cognitive load) or difficult phone numbers (high cognitive load) while observing actions after adopting one of four comprehension goals. For all four goals, mirror neuron system activation showed relatively little evidence of modulation by load; in contrast, the association of mentalizing system activation with the goal of inferring the actor's mental state was extinguished by increased cognitive load. These results support a dual-process model of the brain systems underlying action understanding and social cognition; the mirror neuron system supports automatic behavior identification, and the mentalizing system supports controlled social causal attribution.

48 CFR 750.7109 - Submission of requests by contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Submission of requests by contractors. 750.7109 Section 750.7109 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect...

48 CFR 750.7109-3 - Facts and evidence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Facts and evidence. 750.7109-3 Section 750.7109-3 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign...

48 CFR 1450.104 - Residual powers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Residual powers. 1450.104 Section 1450.104 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.104 Residual powers. ...

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization : an overview of legislative action in the 111th Congress

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-10-08

This report tracks the status of ongoing legislative action and debate related to FAA : reauthorization. It is organized into six major program areas: aviation system finance; airport : financing; FAA management and organizational issues; system capa...

Comparative Actions of Barbiturates Studied by Pollen Grain Germination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kordan, Herbert A.; Mumford, Pauline M.

1979-01-01

Describes a simple experimental system whereby the comparative actions of long, medium, and short-acting barbiturates can be demonstrated in a relatively short period of time under optical microscopy using pollen grains as the biological test or assay system. (Author/HM)

48 CFR 1450.104 - Residual powers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Residual powers. 1450.104 Section 1450.104 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.104 Residual powers. ...

48 CFR 1350.102-1 - Delegation of authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Delegation of authority. 1350.102-1 Section 1350.102-1 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1350.102-1 Delegation of...

48 CFR 32.409 - Contracting officer action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contracting officer action. 32.409 Section 32.409 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION GENERAL... contracting officer shall recommend approval or disapproval and transmit the request and recommendation to the...

25 CFR 700.273 - Request for notification of existence of records: Action on.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... records were compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action or proceeding or (ii) the system of.... (2) If the records were compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action or proceeding or the...

Planning for Multiagent Using ASP-Prolog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, Tran Cao; Pontelli, Enrico; Nguyen, Ngoc-Hieu

This paper presents an Answer Set Programming based approach to multiagent planning. The proposed methodology extends the action language \\cal B in [12] to represent and reason about plans with cooperative actions of an individual agent operating in a multiagent environment. This language is used to formalize multiagent planning problems and the notion of a joint plan for multiagent in the presence of cooperative actions. Finally, the paper presents a system for computing joint plans based on the ASP-Prolog system.

Action principle for overdetermined systems of nonlinear field equations

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

Nissimov, E.; Pacheva, S.; Solomon, S.

1989-01-01

The authors propose a general scheme for constructing an action principle for arbitrary consistent overdetermined systems of nonlinear field equations. The principal tool is the BFV-BRST formalism. There is no need for star-product nor Chern-Simons forms. The main application of this general construction is the derivation of a superspace action in terms of unconstrained superfields for the D = 10N = 1 Super-Yang-Mills theory. The latter contains cubic as well as quartic interactions.

A Tutor That's Up to the Task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

With assistance from NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center, a new breed of ITS for technical training and complex problem-solving has hit the market to provide students and trainees with the decision-making skills necessary to succeed to the next level. The Task Tutor Toolkit (T3), developed by Stottler Henke Associates, Inc., of San Mateo, California, is a generic tutoring system shell and scenario authoring tool that emulates expert instructors and lowers the cost and difficulty of creating scenario-based ITS for technical training. The functionality of Stottler Henke Associates T3 far exceeds that of traditional computer-based training systems, which test factual recall and narrow skills by prompting students to answer multiple-choice or fill-inthe- blank questions. The T3, on the contrary, lets students assess situations, generate solutions, make decisions, and carry out actions in realistically complex scenarios.At the beginning of each scenario, the T3 tutoring system presents a briefing that describes the situation and the goals the students should pursue. Each scenario contains a solution template that specifies a partially-ordered sequence of action patterns that match correct sequences of student actions. During each scenario, the built-in simulator notifies the tutoring system of each student action. The T3 uses this information to evaluate the student action by comparing it with the scenario s solution template and with error rules that detect incorrect actions.

Two different streams form the dorsal visual system: anatomy and functions.

PubMed

Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Matelli, Massimo

2003-11-01

There are two radically different views on the functional role of the dorsal visual stream. One considers it as a system involved in space perception. The other is of a system that codes visual information for action organization. On the basis of new anatomical data and a reconsideration of previous functional and clinical data, we propose that the dorsal stream and its recipient parietal areas form two distinct functional systems: the dorso-dorsal stream (d-d stream) and the ventro-dorsal stream (v-d stream). The d-d stream is formed by area V6 (main d-d extrastriate visual node) and areas V6A and MIP of the superior parietal lobule. Its major functional role is the control of actions "on line". Its damage leads to optic ataxia. The v-d stream is formed by area MT (main v-d extrastriate visual node) and by the visual areas of the inferior parietal lobule. As the d-d stream, v-d stream is responsible for action organization. It, however, also plays a crucial role in space perception and action understanding. The putative mechanisms linking action and perception in the v-d stream is discussed.

Signed language and human action processing: evidence for functional constraints on the human mirror-neuron system.

PubMed

Corina, David P; Knapp, Heather Patterson

2008-12-01

In the quest to further understand the neural underpinning of human communication, researchers have turned to studies of naturally occurring signed languages used in Deaf communities. The comparison of the commonalities and differences between spoken and signed languages provides an opportunity to determine core neural systems responsible for linguistic communication independent of the modality in which a language is expressed. The present article examines such studies, and in addition asks what we can learn about human languages by contrasting formal visual-gestural linguistic systems (signed languages) with more general human action perception. To understand visual language perception, it is important to distinguish the demands of general human motion processing from the highly task-dependent demands associated with extracting linguistic meaning from arbitrary, conventionalized gestures. This endeavor is particularly important because theorists have suggested close homologies between perception and production of actions and functions of human language and social communication. We review recent behavioral, functional imaging, and neuropsychological studies that explore dissociations between the processing of human actions and signed languages. These data suggest incomplete overlap between the mirror-neuron systems proposed to mediate human action and language.

The human mirror neuron system: A link between action observation and social skills

PubMed Central

Pineda, Jaime A.; Ramachandran, Vilayanur S.

2007-01-01

The discovery of the mirror neuron system (MNS) has led researchers to speculate that this system evolved from an embodied visual recognition apparatus in monkey to a system critical for social skills in humans. It is accepted that the MNS is specialized for processing animate stimuli, although the degree to which social interaction modulates the firing of mirror neurons has not been investigated. In the current study, EEG mu wave suppression was used as an index of MNS activity. Data were collected while subjects viewed four videos: (1) Visual White Noise: baseline, (2) Non-interacting: three individuals tossed a ball up in the air to themselves, (3) Social Action, Spectator: three individuals tossed a ball to each other and (4) Social Action, Interactive: similar to video 3 except occasionally the ball would be thrown off the screen toward the viewer. The mu wave was modulated by the degree of social interaction, with the Non-interacting condition showing the least suppression, followed by the Social Action, Spectator condition and the Social Action, Interactive condition showing the most suppression. These data suggest that the human MNS is specialized not only for processing animate stimuli, but specifically stimuli with social relevance. PMID:18985120

Corticospinal excitability during the observation of social behavior.

PubMed

Bucchioni, Giulia; Cavallo, Andrea; Ippolito, Davide; Marton, Gianluca; Castiello, Umberto

2013-03-01

Evidence suggests that the observation of an action induces in the observers an enhancement of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded by the observer's muscles corresponding to those involved in the observed action. Although this is a well-studied phenomenon, it remains still unclear how the viewer's motor facilitation is influenced by the social content characterizing the observed scene. In the present study we investigated the facilitation of the corticospinal system during the observation of either an action that does not imply a social interaction (i.e., an actor throwing a ball against a wall), or an action which implies a social interaction (i.e., an actor passing a ball to a partner). Results indicate that MEPs amplitude is enhanced during the observation of a social rather than an individual action. We contend that the increase in MEPs activation might reflect an enhancement of the simulative activity stemming from the mirror system during the observation of social interactions. Altogether these findings show that the human corticospinal system is sensitive to social interactions and may support the role of the mirror neurons system in social cognition. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stratospheric ozone loss, ultraviolet effects and action spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coohill, Thomas P.

The major effect of stratospheric ozone loss will be an increase in the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the ground. This increase will be entirely contained within the UV-B (290-320nm). How this will impact life on Earth will be determined by the UV-B photobiology of exposed organisms, including humans. One of the analytical methods useful in estimating these effects is Action Spectroscopy (biological effect as a function of wavelength). Carefully constructed action spectra will allow us to partially predict the increase in bio-effect due to additional UV exposure. What effect this has on the organism and the system in which the organism resides is of paramount importance. Suitable action spectra already exist for human skin cancer, human cell mutation and killing, and for one immune response. Comprehensive and widely applicable action spectra for terrestrial and aquatic plant responses are being generated but are not yet suitable for extensive analysis. There is little data available for animals, other than those experiments completed in the laboratory as model systems for human studies. Some polychromatic action spectra have proven useful in determining the possible impact of ozone loss on biological systems. The pitfalls and limits of this approach will be addressed.

Efficient computation of optimal actions.

PubMed

Todorov, Emanuel

2009-07-14

Optimal choice of actions is a fundamental problem relevant to fields as diverse as neuroscience, psychology, economics, computer science, and control engineering. Despite this broad relevance the abstract setting is similar: we have an agent choosing actions over time, an uncertain dynamical system whose state is affected by those actions, and a performance criterion that the agent seeks to optimize. Solving problems of this kind remains hard, in part, because of overly generic formulations. Here, we propose a more structured formulation that greatly simplifies the construction of optimal control laws in both discrete and continuous domains. An exhaustive search over actions is avoided and the problem becomes linear. This yields algorithms that outperform Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning, and thereby solve traditional problems more efficiently. Our framework also enables computations that were not possible before: composing optimal control laws by mixing primitives, applying deterministic methods to stochastic systems, quantifying the benefits of error tolerance, and inferring goals from behavioral data via convex optimization. Development of a general class of easily solvable problems tends to accelerate progress--as linear systems theory has done, for example. Our framework may have similar impact in fields where optimal choice of actions is relevant.

Technology assessment and citizen action

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mottur, E. R.

1972-01-01

The importance of citizen participation in the assessment process is discussed, and a system for citizen assessment action is proposed. A national assessment system is outlined. Citizen participation is considered essential in the assessment process, and impediments to effective action taken by citizens are discussed. These impediments are finance, organization and motivation, and information. The establishment of citizens' assessment associations is proposed, whose functioning would be fostered and regulated by the Citizens' Assessment Administration. The organization, functions, and financing of these associations are described. The implications of citizen action are indicated as the extensive use of class action suits, the broad interpretation of associated costs of litigation, and the use of present scientific research as evidence to assert that it is reasonable to conclude that certain consequences are probable to occur in the future.

The Mirror Neuron System and Action Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buccino, Giovanni; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Riggio, Lucia

2004-01-01

Mirror neurons, first described in the rostral part of monkey ventral premotor cortex (area F5), discharge both when the animal performs a goal-directed hand action and when it observes another individual performing the same or a similar action. More recently, in the same area mirror neurons responding to the observation of mouth actions have been…

Deactivation in the Sensorimotor Area during Observation of a Human Agent Performing Robotic Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shimada, Sotaro

2010-01-01

It is well established that several motor areas, called the mirror-neuron system (MNS), are activated when an individual observes other's actions. However, whether the MNS responds similarly to robotic actions compared with human actions is still controversial. The present study investigated whether and how the motor area activity is influenced by…

Child Care and Education: The Critical Connection. Action Plan [and] Policy Statement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Child Care Action Campaign, New York, NY.

This document presents the action plan of the Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC) for improving the quantity and quality of child care services. The document also provides a policy statement on linking education and child care efforts. The action plan describes CCAC's vision of a streamlined system providing child care to infants and toddlers,…

Action learning for health system governance: the reward and challenge of co-production.

PubMed

Lehmann, Uta; Gilson, Lucy

2015-10-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is centrally concerned with people, their relationships and the actions and practices they can implement towards better health systems. These concerns suggest that HPS researchers must work in direct engagement with the practitioners and practice central to the inquiry, acknowledging their tacit knowledge and drawing it into generating new insights into health system functioning. Social science perspectives are of particular importance in this field because health policies and health systems are themselves social and political constructs. However, how can social science methodologies such as action research and narrative and appreciative enquiry enable such research, and how can methodologies from different disciplines be woven together to construct and make meaning of evidence for 'this' field? This article seeks to present 'methodological musings' on these points, to prompt wider discussion on the practice of HPSR. It draws on one long-term collaborative action learning research project being undertaken in Cape Town, South Africa. The District Innovation and Action Learning for Health System Development project is an action research partnership between two South African academic institutions and two health authorities focused, ultimately, on strengthening governance in primary health care.Drawing on this experience, the article considers three interrelated issues: The diversity and complexities of practitioner and research actors involved in co-producing HPSR; The nature of co-production and the importance of providing space to grapple across different systems of meaning;The character of evidence and data in co-production. There is much to be learnt from research traditions outside the health sector, but HPSR must work out its own practices--through collaboration and innovation among researchers and practitioners. In this article, we provide one set of experiences to prompt wider reflection and stimulate engagement on the practice of HPSR for people-centred health systems. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

Inferior frontal oscillations reveal visuo-motor matching for actions and speech: evidence from human intracranial recordings.

PubMed

Halje, Pär; Seeck, Margitta; Blanke, Olaf; Ionta, Silvio

2015-12-01

The neural correspondence between the systems responsible for the execution and recognition of actions has been suggested both in humans and non-human primates. Apart from being a key region of this visuo-motor observation-execution matching (OEM) system, the human inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is also important for speech production. The functional overlap of visuo-motor OEM and speech, together with the phylogenetic history of the IFG as a motor area, has led to the idea that speech function has evolved from pre-existing motor systems and to the hypothesis that an OEM system may exist also for speech. However, visuo-motor OEM and speech OEM have never been compared directly. We used electrocorticography to analyze oscillations recorded from intracranial electrodes in human fronto-parieto-temporal cortex during visuo-motor (executing or visually observing an action) and speech OEM tasks (verbally describing an action using the first or third person pronoun). The results show that neural activity related to visuo-motor OEM is widespread in the frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Speech OEM also elicited widespread responses partly overlapping with visuo-motor OEM sites (bilaterally), including frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Interestingly a more focal region, the inferior frontal gyrus (bilaterally), showed both visuo-motor OEM and speech OEM properties independent of orolingual speech-unrelated movements. Building on the methodological advantages in human invasive electrocorticography, the present findings provide highly precise spatial and temporal information to support the existence of a modality-independent action representation system in the human brain that is shared between systems for performing, interpreting and describing actions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation.

PubMed

Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

2016-01-05

Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others' actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation--an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions.

Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation

PubMed Central

Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

2016-01-01

Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others’ actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation—an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions. PMID:26699468

The neural career of sensory-motor metaphors.

PubMed

Desai, Rutvik H; Binder, Jeffrey R; Conant, Lisa L; Mano, Quintino R; Seidenberg, Mark S

2011-09-01

The role of sensory-motor systems in conceptual understanding has been controversial. It has been proposed that many abstract concepts are understood metaphorically through concrete sensory-motor domains such as actions. Using fMRI, we compared neural responses with literal action (Lit; The daughter grasped the flowers), metaphoric action (Met; The public grasped the idea), and abstract (Abs; The public understood the idea) sentences of varying familiarity. Both Lit and Met sentences activated the left anterior inferior parietal lobule, an area involved in action planning, with Met sentences also activating a homologous area in the right hemisphere, relative to Abs sentences. Both Met and Abs sentences activated the left superior temporal regions associated with abstract language. Importantly, activation in primary motor and biological motion perception regions was inversely correlated with Lit and Met familiarity. These results support the view that the understanding of metaphoric action retains a link to sensory-motor systems involved in action performance. However, the involvement of sensory-motor systems in metaphor understanding changes through a gradual abstraction process whereby relatively detailed simulations are used for understanding unfamiliar metaphors, and these simulations become less detailed and involve only secondary motor regions as familiarity increases. Consistent with these data, we propose that anterior inferior parietal lobule serves as an interface between sensory-motor and conceptual systems and plays an important role in both domains. The similarity of abstract and metaphoric sentences in the activation of left superior temporal regions suggests that action metaphor understanding is not completely based on sensory-motor simulations but relies also on abstract lexical-semantic codes.

What is an affordance? 40 years later.

PubMed

Osiurak, François; Rossetti, Yves; Badets, Arnaud

2017-06-01

About 40 years ago, James J. Gibson coined the term "affordance" to describe the action possibilities offered to an animal by the environment with reference to the animal's action capabilities. Since then, this notion has acquired a multitude of meanings, generating confusion in the literature. Here, we offer a clear operationalization of the concept of affordances and related concepts in the field of tool use. Our operationalization is organized around the distinction between the physical (what is objectively observable) and neurocognitive (what is subjectively experienced) levels. This leads us to propose that motor control (dorso-dorsal system), mechanical knowledge (ventro-dorsal system) and function knowledge (ventral system) could be neurocognitive systems respectively involved in the perception of affordances, the understanding of mechanical actions and the storage of contextual relationships (three action-system model; 3AS). We end by turning to two key issues that can be addressed within 3AS. These issues concern the link between affordances and tool incorporation, and the constraints posed by affordances for tool use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

48 CFR 609.405-70 - Termination action decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Termination action decision. 609.405-70 Section 609.405-70 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF STATE... default clause is appropriate when the circumstances giving rise to the debarment or suspension also...

48 CFR 750.7109-2 - Form of requests by contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Form of requests by contractors. 750.7109-2 Section 750.7109-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect...

Developing an effective corrective action process : lessons learned from operating a confidential close call reporting system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-05

In 2007, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched : C3RS, the Confidential Close Call Reporting System, as a : demonstration project to learn how to facilitate the effective : reporting and implementation of corrective actions, and assess t...

48 CFR 3405.270 - Notices to perform market surveys.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Notices to perform market surveys. 3405.270 Section 3405.270 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ACQUISITION REGULATION GENERAL PUBLICIZING CONTRACT ACTIONS Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions 3405.270...

Elastic resistance change and action potential generation of non-faradaic Pt/TiO2/Pt capacitors.

PubMed

Lim, Hyungkwang; Jang, Ho Won; Lee, Doh-Kwon; Kim, Inho; Hwang, Cheol Seong; Jeong, Doo Seok

2013-07-21

Electric current in the mixed ionic-electronic conductor TiO2 is hysteretic, i.e. history-dependent, and its use is versatile in electronic devices. Nowadays, biologically inspired, analogue-type computing systems, known as neuromorphic systems, are being actively investigated owing to their new and intriguing physical concepts. The realization of artificial synapses is important for constructing neuromorphic systems. In mammalians' brains, the plasticity of synapses between neighbouring nerve cells arises from action potential firing. Emulating action potential firing via inorganic systems has therefore become important in neuromorphic engineering. In this work, the current-voltage hysteresis of TiO2-based non-faradaic capacitors is investigated to primarily focus on the correlation between the blocking contact and the elasticity, i.e. non-plasticity, of the capacitors' resistance change, in experimental and theoretical methods. The similarity between the action potential firing behaviour in nerve cells and the elasticity of the non-faradaic capacitors is addressed.

Nondeducibility-Based Analysis of Cyber-Physical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gamage, Thoshitha; McMillin, Bruce

Controlling information flow in a cyber-physical system (CPS) is challenging because cyber domain decisions and actions manifest themselves as visible changes in the physical domain. This paper presents a nondeducibility-based observability analysis for CPSs. In many CPSs, the capacity of a low-level (LL) observer to deduce high-level (HL) actions ranges from limited to none. However, a collaborative set of observers strategically located in a network may be able to deduce all the HL actions. This paper models a distributed power electronics control device network using a simple DC circuit in order to understand the effect of multiple observers in a CPS. The analysis reveals that the number of observers required to deduce all the HL actions in a system increases linearly with the number of configurable units. A simple definition of nondeducibility based on the uniqueness of low-level projections is also presented. This definition is used to show that a system with two security domain levels could be considered “nondeducibility secure” if no unique LL projections exist.

Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 274: Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Rev. No.: 0

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

Grant Evenson

2006-09-01

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit 274, Septic Systems, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (1996). Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 274 is comprised of five corrective action sites (CASs): (1) CAS 03-02-01, WX-6 ETS Building Septic System; (2) CAS 06-02-01, Cesspool; (3) CAS 09-01-01, Spill Site; (4) CAS 09-05-01, Leaching Pit; and (5) CAS 20-05-01, Septic System. The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report is to provide justification and documentation supporting the closure of CAU 274 with no further corrective action. Tomore » achieve this, corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from November 14 through December 17, 2005 as set forth in the CAU 274 Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill the following data needs as defined during the data quality objective (DQO) process: (1) Determine whether contaminants of concern (COCs) are present. (2) If contaminants of concern are present, determine their nature and extent. (3) Provide sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions. The CAU 274 dataset from the investigation results was evaluated based on the data quality indicator parameters. This evaluation demonstrated the quality and acceptability of the dataset for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Analytes detected during the CAI were evaluated against final action levels (FALs) established in this document. No analytes were detected at concentrations exceeding the FALs. No COCs have been released to the soil at CAU 274, and corrective action is not required. Therefore, the DQO data needs were met, and it was determined that no corrective action based on risk to human receptors is necessary for the site. All FALs were calculated using the industrial site worker scenario except for benzo(a)pyrene, which was calculated based on the occasional use scenario. Benzo(a)pyrene was detected above the preliminary action level at CAS 20-05-01; however, it was not identified as a COC because the concentration was below the FAL. As a best management practice and to ensure that future site workers are not exposed to this site contaminant for more than this decision-basis exposure duration, an administrative use restriction was established around the leachfield at CAS 20-05-01. In addition, the removal of the septic tanks and septic tank contents at CASs 03-02-01, 06-02-01, and 20-05-01 was performed.« less

The generic world-sheet action of irrational conformal field theory

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

Clubok, K.; Halpern, M.B.

1995-05-01

We review developments in the world-sheet action formulation of the generic irrational conformal field theory, including the non-linear and the linearized forms of the action. These systems form a large class of spin-two gauged WZW actions which exhibit exotic gravitational couplings. Integrating out the gravitational field, we also speculate on a connection with sigma models.

Learning Associations between Action and Perception: Effects of Incompatible Training on Body Part and Spatial Priming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiggett, Alison J.; Hudson, Matt; Tipper, Steve P.; Downing, Paul E.

2011-01-01

Observation of another person executing an action primes the same action in the observer's motor system. Recent evidence has shown that these priming effects are flexible, where training of new associations, such as making a foot response when viewing a moving hand, can reduce standard action priming effects (Gillmeister, Catmur, Liepelt, Brass,…

Object words modulate the activity of the mirror neuron system during action imitation.

PubMed

Wu, Haiyan; Tang, Honghong; Ge, Yue; Yang, Suyong; Mai, Xiaoqin; Luo, Yue-Jia; Liu, Chao

2017-11-01

Although research has demonstrated that the mirror neuron system (MNS) plays a crucial role in both action imitation and action-related semantic processing, whether action-related words can inversely modulate the MNS activity remains unclear. Here, three types of task-irrelevant words (body parts, verbs, and manufactured objects) were presented to examine the modulation effect of these words on the MNS activity during action observation and imitation. Twenty-two participants were recruited for the fMRI scanning and remaining data from 19 subjects were reported here. Brain activity results showed that word types elicited different modulation effects over nodes of the MNS (i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and STS), especially during the imitation stage. Compared with other word conditions, action imitation following manufactured objects words induced stronger activation in these brain regions during the imitation stage. These results were consistent in both task-dependent and -independent ROI analysis. Our findings thus provide evidence for the unique effect of object words on the MNS during imitation of action, which may also confirm the key role of goal inference in action imitation.

A quality system for PET: An industry perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zigler, Steven S.; Breslow, Kenneth; Nazerias, Michael

2005-12-01

Quality systems have been employed in a variety of industries to develop and supply products that meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Most quality systems address organizational structure, design controls, production, complaints, audits, corrective actions and preventive actions. This paper describes PETNET's efforts to develop a quality system for use in the production of PET tracers. Our goal is to ensure quality products and to facilitate compliance with impending PET good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulations.

Optimum periodicity of repeated contractile actions applied in mass transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, Sungsook; Lee, Sang Joon

2015-01-01

Dynamically repeated periodic patterns are abundant in natural and artificial systems, such as tides, heart beats, stock prices, and the like. The characteristic repeatability and periodicity are expected to be optimized in effective system-specific functions. In this study, such optimum periodicity is experimentally evaluated in terms of effective mass transport using one-valve and multi-valve systems working in contractile fluid flows. A set of nanoscale gating functions is utilized, operating in nanocomposite networks through which permeates selectively pass under characteristic contractile actions. Optimized contractile periodicity exists for effective energy impartment to flow in a one-valve system. In the sequential contractile actions for a multi-valve system, synchronization with the fluid flow is critical for effective mass transport. This study provides fundamental understanding on the various repeated periodic patterns and dynamic repeatability occurring in nature and mechanical systems, which are useful for broad applications.

41 CFR 101-30.101-14 - Maintenance action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Maintenance action. 101-30.101-14 Section 101-30.101-14 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS SUPPLY AND PROCUREMENT 30-FEDERAL CATALOG SYSTEM 30...

Groundwater Site Characterization: A Systems Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, Frederick

1994-01-01

Groundwater remedial actions are highly complex projects. During the past 10 years, many remedial actions have begun, but very few have been successfully completed. This paper describes the complexity of groundwater remediation and offers an alternative management approach involving systems movement successfully utilized at a site in the…

Systems Biology & Mode of Action Based Risk Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

The application of systems biology for risk assessment of environmental chemicals is a national extension of its use in pharmaceutical research. The basis for this is the concept of a key event network that builds on existing mode of action frameworks for risk assessment. The a...

Social interaction enhances motor resonance for observed human actions.

PubMed

Hogeveen, Jeremy; Obhi, Sukhvinder S

2012-04-25

Understanding the neural basis of social behavior has become an important goal for cognitive neuroscience and a key aim is to link neural processes observed in the laboratory to more naturalistic social behaviors in real-world contexts. Although it is accepted that mirror mechanisms contribute to the occurrence of motor resonance (MR) and are common to action execution, observation, and imitation, questions remain about mirror (and MR) involvement in real social behavior and in processing nonhuman actions. To determine whether social interaction primes the MR system, groups of participants engaged or did not engage in a social interaction before observing human or robotic actions. During observation, MR was assessed via motor-evoked potentials elicited with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Compared with participants who did not engage in a prior social interaction, participants who engaged in the social interaction showed a significant increase in MR for human actions. In contrast, social interaction did not increase MR for robot actions. Thus, naturalistic social interaction and laboratory action observation tasks appear to involve common MR mechanisms, and recent experience tunes the system to particular agent types.

Learning Multirobot Hose Transportation and Deployment by Distributed Round-Robin Q-Learning.

PubMed

Fernandez-Gauna, Borja; Etxeberria-Agiriano, Ismael; Graña, Manuel

2015-01-01

Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) algorithms face two main difficulties: the curse of dimensionality, and environment non-stationarity due to the independent learning processes carried out by the agents concurrently. In this paper we formalize and prove the convergence of a Distributed Round Robin Q-learning (D-RR-QL) algorithm for cooperative systems. The computational complexity of this algorithm increases linearly with the number of agents. Moreover, it eliminates environment non sta tionarity by carrying a round-robin scheduling of the action selection and execution. That this learning scheme allows the implementation of Modular State-Action Vetoes (MSAV) in cooperative multi-agent systems, which speeds up learning convergence in over-constrained systems by vetoing state-action pairs which lead to undesired termination states (UTS) in the relevant state-action subspace. Each agent's local state-action value function learning is an independent process, including the MSAV policies. Coordination of locally optimal policies to obtain the global optimal joint policy is achieved by a greedy selection procedure using message passing. We show that D-RR-QL improves over state-of-the-art approaches, such as Distributed Q-Learning, Team Q-Learning and Coordinated Reinforcement Learning in a paradigmatic Linked Multi-Component Robotic System (L-MCRS) control problem: the hose transportation task. L-MCRS are over-constrained systems with many UTS induced by the interaction of the passive linking element and the active mobile robots.

Sensorimotor learning configures the human mirror system.

PubMed

Catmur, Caroline; Walsh, Vincent; Heyes, Cecilia

2007-09-04

Cells in the "mirror system" fire not only when an individual performs an action but also when one observes the same action performed by another agent [1-4]. The mirror system, found in premotor and parietal cortices of human and monkey brains, is thought to provide the foundation for social understanding and to enable the development of theory of mind and language [5-9]. However, it is unclear how mirror neurons acquire their mirror properties -- how they derive the information necessary to match observed with executed actions [10]. We address this by showing that it is possible to manipulate the selectivity of the human mirror system, and thereby make it operate as a countermirror system, by giving participants training to perform one action while observing another. Before this training, participants showed event-related muscle-specific responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation over motor cortex during observation of little- and index-finger movements [11-13]. After training, this normal mirror effect was reversed. These results indicate that the mirror properties of the mirror system are neither wholly innate [14] nor fixed once acquired; instead they develop through sensorimotor learning [15, 16]. Our findings indicate that the human mirror system is, to some extent, both a product and a process of social interaction.

Spatiotemporal Phase Synchronization in Adaptive Reconfiguration from Action Observation Network to Mentalizing Network for Understanding Other's Action Intention.

PubMed

Zhang, Li; Gan, John Q; Zheng, Wenming; Wang, Haixian

2018-05-01

In action intention understanding, the mirror system is involved in perception-action matching process and the mentalizing system underlies higher-level intention inference. By analyzing the dynamic functional connectivity in α (8-12 Hz) and β (12-30 Hz) frequency bands over a "hand-cup interaction" observation task, this study investigates the topological transition from the action observation network (AON) to the mentalizing network (MZN), and estimates their functional relevance for intention identification from other's different action kinematics. Sequential brain microstates were extracted based on event-related potentials (ERPs), in which significantly differing neuronal responses were found in N170-P200 related to perceptually matching kinematic profiles and P400-700 involved in goal inference. Inter-electrode weighted phase lag index analysis on the ERP microstates revealed a shift of hub centrality salient in α frequency band, from the AON dominated by left-lateral frontal-premotor-temporal and temporal-parietooccipital synchronizations to the MZN consisting of more bilateral frontal-parietal and temporal-parietal synchronizations. As compared with usual actions, intention identification of unintelligible actions induces weaker synchronizations in the AON but dramatically increased connectivity in right frontal-temporal-parietal regions of the MZN, indicating a spatiotemporally complementary effect between the functional network configurations involved in mirror and mentalizing processes. Perceptual processing in observing usual/unintelligible actions decreases/increases requirements for intention inference, which would induce less/greater functional network reorganization on the way to mentalization. From the comparison, our study suggests that the adaptive topological changes from the AON to the MZN indicate implicit causal association between the mirror and mentalizing systems for decoding others' intentionality.

Involvement of opioid and other systems in ethanol abstinence audiogenic seizures in the rat?

PubMed

Kotlińska, J; Langwiński, R

1985-01-01

The action of opiate receptor agonists: (D-Ala2)-methionine enkephalinamide (D-MEA), morphine, heroin, etorphine, and antagonists: naloxone and diprenorphine on audiogenic seizures was tested during ethanol abstinence. The action of diazepam and clonidine was also tested Morphine (5 and 20 mg/kg), but not heroin and etorphine, given intraperitoneally inhibited the seizures, similarly as intraventricularly administered D-MEA did. However, morphine given by this route was ineffective. Diazepam and clonidine inhibited audiogenic seizures: the action of clonidine was counteracted by yohimbine, but not by prazosin. The results may be considered as supporting the hypothesis on the participation of opioid system in ethanol abstinence. However, the participation of gabergic and noradrenergic systems cannot be ruled out: these systems may possibly interact with the opioid system in evoking the symptoms of ethanol abstinence.

GA-based fuzzy reinforcement learning for control of a magnetic bearing system.

PubMed

Lin, C T; Jou, C P

2000-01-01

This paper proposes a TD (temporal difference) and GA (genetic algorithm)-based reinforcement (TDGAR) learning method and applies it to the control of a real magnetic bearing system. The TDGAR learning scheme is a new hybrid GA, which integrates the TD prediction method and the GA to perform the reinforcement learning task. The TDGAR learning system is composed of two integrated feedforward networks. One neural network acts as a critic network to guide the learning of the other network (the action network) which determines the outputs (actions) of the TDGAR learning system. The action network can be a normal neural network or a neural fuzzy network. Using the TD prediction method, the critic network can predict the external reinforcement signal and provide a more informative internal reinforcement signal to the action network. The action network uses the GA to adapt itself according to the internal reinforcement signal. The key concept of the TDGAR learning scheme is to formulate the internal reinforcement signal as the fitness function for the GA such that the GA can evaluate the candidate solutions (chromosomes) regularly, even during periods without external feedback from the environment. This enables the GA to proceed to new generations regularly without waiting for the arrival of the external reinforcement signal. This can usually accelerate the GA learning since a reinforcement signal may only be available at a time long after a sequence of actions has occurred in the reinforcement learning problem. The proposed TDGAR learning system has been used to control an active magnetic bearing (AMB) system in practice. A systematic design procedure is developed to achieve successful integration of all the subsystems including magnetic suspension, mechanical structure, and controller training. The results show that the TDGAR learning scheme can successfully find a neural controller or a neural fuzzy controller for a self-designed magnetic bearing system.

Knowledge into action for child survival.

PubMed

Claeson, M; Gillespie, D; Mshinda, H; Troedsson, H; Victora, C G

2003-07-26

The child survival revolution of the 1980s contributed to steady decreases in child mortality in some populations, but much remains to be done. More than 10 million children will die this year, almost all of whom are poor. Two-thirds of these deaths could have been prevented if effective child survival interventions had reached all children and mothers who needed them. Translation of current knowledge into effective action for child survival will require leadership, strong health systems, targeted human and financial resources, and modified health system to ensure that poor children and mothers benefit. A group of concerned scientists and policy-makers issues a call to action to leaders, governments, and citizens to translate knowledge into action for child survival.

Mirror neuron system as the joint from action to language.

PubMed

Chen, Wei; Yuan, Ti-Fei

2008-08-01

Mirror neuron system (MNS) represents one of the most important discoveries of cognitive neuroscience in the past decade, and it has been found to involve in multiple aspects of brain functions including action understanding, imitation, language understanding, empathy, action prediction and speech evolution. This manuscript reviewed the function of MNS in action understanding as well as language evolution, and specifically assessed its roles as the bridge from body language to fluent speeches. Then we discussed the speech defects of autism patients due to the disruption of MNS. Finally, given that MNS is plastic in adult brain, we proposed MNS targeted therapy provides an efficient rehabilitation approach for brain damages conditions as well as autism patients.

The canonical Lagrangian approach to three-space general relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shyam, Vasudev; Venkatesh, Madhavan

2013-07-01

We study the action for the three-space formalism of general relativity, better known as the Barbour-Foster-Ó Murchadha action, which is a square-root Baierlein-Sharp-Wheeler action. In particular, we explore the (pre)symplectic structure by pulling it back via a Legendre map to the tangent bundle of the configuration space of this action. With it we attain the canonical Lagrangian vector field which generates the gauge transformations (3-diffeomorphisms) and the true physical evolution of the system. This vector field encapsulates all the dynamics of the system. We also discuss briefly the observables and perennials for this theory. We then present a symplectic reduction of the constrained phase space.

The (un)coupling between action execution and observation. Comment on "Grasping synergies: A motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by D'Ausilio, Bartoli and Maffongelli

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavallo, Andrea; Ansuini, Caterina; Becchio, Cristina

2015-03-01

When we observe actions performed by others, our motor system resonates along with that of the observed agent [1]. The exact features of this resonant motor response, however, are unclear. Do we mirror the goal of others' actions or rather the low-kinematic features of their movements? D'Ausilio et al. suggest that this is an ill-defined problem: the mirror system plausibly replicates the same computational mechanisms implicated by motor control. Accordingly, motor synergies may not only constitute a pervasive element of motor control, but also form the fundamental unit of action observation.

Effect of Exogenous Extracellular Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD⁺) on Bioelectric Activity of the Pacemaker and Conduction System of the Heart.

PubMed

Pustovit, K B; Kuz'min, V S; Sukhova, G S

2015-06-01

In rat sinoatrial node, NAD(+) (10 μM) reduced the rate of spontaneous action potentials, duration of action potentials, and the velocity of slow diastolic depolarization, but the rate of action potential front propagation increases. In passed rabbit Purkinje fibers, NAD(+) (10 μM) reduced the duration of action potentials. Under conditions of spontaneous activity of Purkinje fibers, NAD(+) reduced the fi ring rate and the rate of slow diastolic depolarization. The effects of extracellular NAD(+) on bioelectric activity of the pacemaker (sinoatrial node) and conduction system of the heart (Purkinje fibers) are probably related to activation of P1 and P2 purinoceptors.

Where neuroscience and dynamic system theory meet autonomous robotics: a contracting basal ganglia model for action selection.

PubMed

Girard, B; Tabareau, N; Pham, Q C; Berthoz, A; Slotine, J-J

2008-05-01

Action selection, the problem of choosing what to do next, is central to any autonomous agent architecture. We use here a multi-disciplinary approach at the convergence of neuroscience, dynamical system theory and autonomous robotics, in order to propose an efficient action selection mechanism based on a new model of the basal ganglia. We first describe new developments of contraction theory regarding locally projected dynamical systems. We exploit these results to design a stable computational model of the cortico-baso-thalamo-cortical loops. Based on recent anatomical data, we include usually neglected neural projections, which participate in performing accurate selection. Finally, the efficiency of this model as an autonomous robot action selection mechanism is assessed in a standard survival task. The model exhibits valuable dithering avoidance and energy-saving properties, when compared with a simple if-then-else decision rule.

Modulation of the mirror system by social relevance.

PubMed

Kilner, James M; Marchant, Jennifer L; Frith, Chris D

2006-09-01

When we observe the actions of others, certain areas of the brain are activated in a similar manner as to when we perform the same actions ourselves. This 'mirror system' includes areas in the ventral premotor cortex and the inferior parietal lobule. Experimental studies suggest that action observation automatically elicits activity in the observer, which precisely mirrors the activity observed. In this case we would expect this activity to be independent of observer's viewpoint. Here we use whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) to record cortical activity of human subjects whilst they watched a series of videos of an actor making a movement recorded from different viewpoints. We show that one cortical response to action observation (oscillatory activity in the 7-12 Hz frequency range) is modulated by the relationship between the observer and the actor. We suggest that this modulation reflects a mechanism that filters information into the 'mirror system', allowing only socially relevant information to pass.

Optogenetic stimulation of infralimbic PFC reproduces ketamine's rapid and sustained antidepressant actions.

PubMed

Fuchikami, Manabu; Thomas, Alexandra; Liu, Rongjian; Wohleb, Eric S; Land, Benjamin B; DiLeone, Ralph J; Aghajanian, George K; Duman, Ronald S

2015-06-30

Ketamine produces rapid and sustained antidepressant actions in depressed patients, but the precise cellular mechanisms underlying these effects have not been identified. Here we determined if modulation of neuronal activity in the infralimbic prefrontal cortex (IL-PFC) underlies the antidepressant and anxiolytic actions of ketamine. We found that neuronal inactivation of the IL-PFC completely blocked the antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of systemic ketamine in rodent models and that ketamine microinfusion into IL-PFC reproduced these behavioral actions of systemic ketamine. We also found that optogenetic stimulation of the IL-PFC produced rapid and long-lasting antidepressant and anxiolytic effects and that these effects are associated with increased number and function of spine synapses of layer V pyramidal neurons. The results demonstrate that ketamine infusions or optogenetic stimulation of IL-PFC are sufficient to produce long-lasting antidepressant behavioral and synaptic responses similar to the effects of systemic ketamine administration.

Review: Intracardiac intracellular angiotensin system in diabetes

PubMed Central

Kumar, Rajesh; Yong, Qian Chen; Thomas, Candice M.

2012-01-01

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has mainly been categorized as a circulating and a local tissue RAS. A new component of the local system, known as the intracellular RAS, has recently been described. The intracellular RAS is defined as synthesis and action of ANG II intracellularly. This RAS appears to differ from the circulating and the local RAS, in terms of components and the mechanism of action. These differences may alter treatment strategies that target the RAS in several pathological conditions. Recent work from our laboratory has demonstrated significant upregulation of the cardiac, intracellular RAS in diabetes, which is associated with cardiac dysfunction. Here, we have reviewed evidence supporting an intracellular RAS in different cell types, ANG II's actions in cardiac cells, and its mechanism of action, focusing on the intracellular cardiac RAS in diabetes. We have discussed the significance of an intracellular RAS in cardiac pathophysiology and implications for potential therapies. PMID:22170614

5 CFR 532.413 - Simultaneous action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Simultaneous action. 532.413 Section 532.413 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS Pay Administration § 532.413 Simultaneous action. (a) If an employee becomes entitled to more than...

78 FR 50322 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Point Thomson, AK

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-19

... Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures have been established at the airport. This action enhances the safety and management of aircraft operations... Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This action modifies the airspace at Point...

48 CFR 1450.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Records. 1450.101-3... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.101-3 Records. The records of actions taken under FAR Part 50 shall be maintained by the Director, PAM. ...

48 CFR 1450.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Records. 1450.101-3... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.101-3 Records. The records of actions taken under FAR Part 50 shall be maintained by the Director, PAM. ...

48 CFR 1450.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Records. 1450.101-3... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.101-3 Records. The records of actions taken under FAR Part 50 shall be maintained by the Director, PAM. ...

48 CFR 1450.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Records. 1450.101-3... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 1450.101-3 Records. The records of actions taken under FAR Part 50 shall be maintained by the Director, PAM. ...

48 CFR 217.7401 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Definitions. 217.7401... Actions 217.7401 Definitions. As used in this subpart— (a) Contract action means an action which results... of the contract, e.g., engineering change proposals, value engineering change proposals, and over and...

48 CFR 423.506 - Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions. 423.506 Section 423.506 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY...

48 CFR 423.506 - Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions. 423.506 Section 423.506 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY...

48 CFR 423.506 - Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions. 423.506 Section 423.506 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY...

48 CFR 423.506 - Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions. 423.506 Section 423.506 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY...

48 CFR 423.506 - Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Suspension of payments, termination of contract, and debarment and suspension actions. 423.506 Section 423.506 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY...

48 CFR 750.7110-2 - Office of General Counsel coordination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Office of General Counsel coordination. 750.7110-2 Section 750.7110-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy Interests of th...

Home Interactive Media: An Analysis of Potential Abusers of Privacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wegner, John M.

1985-01-01

Examines potential threats to privacy posed by development of unified interaction systems in the home. Applicability of existing federal laws, constitutional provisions, and regulatory actions, and the possible technical and legislative actions that may be useful in curtailing possible privacy abuses in these systems are analyzed. (Author/MBR)

Temperature-dependent errors in nuclear lattice simulations

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

Lee, Dean; Thomson, Richard

2007-06-15

We study the temperature dependence of discretization errors in nuclear lattice simulations. We find that for systems with strong attractive interactions the predominant error arises from the breaking of Galilean invariance. We propose a local 'well-tempered' lattice action which eliminates much of this error. The well-tempered action can be readily implemented in lattice simulations for nuclear systems as well as cold atomic Fermi systems.

Emergence of self and other in perception and action: an event-control approach.

PubMed

Jordan, J Scott

2003-12-01

The present paper analyzes the regularities referred to via the concept 'self.' This is important, for cognitive science traditionally models the self as a cognitive mediator between perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs. This leads to the assertion that the self causes action. Recent findings in social psychology indicate this is not the case and, as a consequence, certain cognitive scientists model the self as being epiphenomenal. In contrast, the present paper proposes an alternative approach (i.e., the event-control approach) that is based on recently discovered regularities between perception and action. Specifically, these regularities indicate that perception and action planning utilize common neural resources. This leads to a coupling of perception, planning, and action in which the first two constitute aspects of a single system (i.e., the distal-event system) that is able to pre-specify and detect distal events. This distal-event system is then coupled with action (i.e., effector-control systems) in a constraining, as opposed to 'causal' manner. This model has implications for how we conceptualize the manner in which one infers the intentions of another, anticipates the intentions of another, and possibly even experiences another. In conclusion, it is argued that it may be possible to map the concept 'self' onto the regularities referred to in the event-control model, not in order to reify 'the self' as a causal mechanism, but to demonstrate its status as a useful concept that refers to regularities that are part of the natural order.

The Ontario Food and Nutrition Strategy: identifying indicators of food access and food literacy for early monitoring of the food environment.

PubMed

Boucher, Beatrice A; Manafò, Elizabeth; Boddy, Meaghan R; Roblin, Lynn; Truscott, Rebecca

2017-09-01

To address challenges Canadians face within their food environments, a comprehensive, multistakeholder, intergovernmental approach to policy development is essential. Food environment indicators are needed to assess population status and change. The Ontario Food and Nutrition Strategy (OFNS) integrates the food, agriculture and nutrition sectors, and aims to improve the health of Ontarians through actions that promote healthy food systems and environments. This report describes the process of identifying indicators for 11 OFNS action areas in two strategic directions (SDs): Healthy Food Access, and Food Literacy and Skills. The OFNS Indicators Advisory Group used a five-step process to select indicators: (1) potential indicators from national and provincial data sources were identified; (2) indicators were organized by SD, action area and data type; (3) selection criteria were identified, pilot tested and finalized; (4) final criteria were applied to refine the indicator list; and (5) indicators were prioritized after reapplication of selection criteria. Sixty-nine potential indicators were initially identified; however, many were individual-level rather than system-level measures. After final application of the selection criteria, one individual-level indicator and six system-level indicators were prioritized in five action areas; for six of the action areas, no indicators were available. Data limitations suggest that available data may not measure important aspects of the food environment, highlighting the need for action and resources to improve system-level indicators and support monitoring of the food environment and health in Ontario and across Canada.

Self-organizing neural integration of pose-motion features for human action recognition

PubMed Central

Parisi, German I.; Weber, Cornelius; Wermter, Stefan

2015-01-01

The visual recognition of complex, articulated human movements is fundamental for a wide range of artificial systems oriented toward human-robot communication, action classification, and action-driven perception. These challenging tasks may generally involve the processing of a huge amount of visual information and learning-based mechanisms for generalizing a set of training actions and classifying new samples. To operate in natural environments, a crucial property is the efficient and robust recognition of actions, also under noisy conditions caused by, for instance, systematic sensor errors and temporarily occluded persons. Studies of the mammalian visual system and its outperforming ability to process biological motion information suggest separate neural pathways for the distinct processing of pose and motion features at multiple levels and the subsequent integration of these visual cues for action perception. We present a neurobiologically-motivated approach to achieve noise-tolerant action recognition in real time. Our model consists of self-organizing Growing When Required (GWR) networks that obtain progressively generalized representations of sensory inputs and learn inherent spatio-temporal dependencies. During the training, the GWR networks dynamically change their topological structure to better match the input space. We first extract pose and motion features from video sequences and then cluster actions in terms of prototypical pose-motion trajectories. Multi-cue trajectories from matching action frames are subsequently combined to provide action dynamics in the joint feature space. Reported experiments show that our approach outperforms previous results on a dataset of full-body actions captured with a depth sensor, and ranks among the best results for a public benchmark of domestic daily actions. PMID:26106323

The role of handedness-dependent sensorimotor experience in the development of mirroring.

PubMed

Mori, Hirotaka; Yamamoto, Shinji; Aihara, Tsuyoshi; Uehara, Shintaro

2015-01-01

In daily life, we often try to learn motor actions by imitating others' actions. Motor imitation requires us to simultaneously map an observed action onto a motor program used to perform that action. This sensorimotor associative experience can plastically modulate the mirror property of the human mirror system, which has a role in matching observed actions directly with the observer's motor programs, to enhance the association between observed and performed actions. In the present study, we investigated the effects of handedness on the mirror property. Healthy left- and right-handed individuals performed a motor imitation task. They were required to imitate hand actions with their dominant hand as quickly and accurately as possible in response to pictures of a left and right hand. Reaction times (RTs) for imitating the hand actions were evaluated. Under the condition where the hand pictures were presented as if facing the participant, we found that, in left-handed participants, RTs for imitating right-handed actions were significantly shorter than those for imitating left-handed actions. Under the same conditions in right-handers, similar differences in RTs when presented left- and right-handed actions were not observed. These findings demonstrate that the imitative responses for left- and right-handed actions are differently facilitated depending on the handedness of the observer, indicating an effect of handedness on the development of mirror systems. The mirror property in left- and right-handers is likely modulated in a different manner by different sensorimotor associative experiences throughout their daily lives. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring and accountability for the Pacific response to the non-communicable diseases crisis.

PubMed

Tolley, Hilary; Snowdon, Wendy; Wate, Jillian; Durand, A Mark; Vivili, Paula; McCool, Judith; Novotny, Rachel; Dewes, Ofa; Hoy, Damian; Bell, Colin; Richards, Nicola; Swinburn, Boyd

2016-09-10

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of premature death and disability in the Pacific. In 2011, Pacific Forum Leaders declared "a human, social and economic crisis" due to the significant and growing burden of NCDs in the region. In 2013, Pacific Health Ministers' commitment to 'whole of government' strategy prompted calls for the development of a robust, sustainable, collaborative NCD monitoring and accountability system to track, review and propose remedial action to ensure progress towards the NCD goals and targets. The purpose of this paper is to describe a regional, collaborative framework for coordination, innovation and application of NCD monitoring activities at scale, and to show how they can strengthen accountability for action on NCDs in the Pacific. A key component is the Dashboard for NCD Action which aims to strengthen mutual accountability by demonstrating national and regional progress towards agreed NCD policies and actions. The framework for the Pacific Monitoring Alliance for NCD Action (MANA) draws together core country-level components of NCD monitoring data (mortality, morbidity, risk factors, health system responses, environments, and policies) and identifies key cross-cutting issues for strengthening national and regional monitoring systems. These include: capacity building; a regional knowledge exchange hub; innovations (monitoring childhood obesity and food environments); and a robust regional accountability system. The MANA framework is governed by the Heads of Health and operationalised by a multi-agency technical Coordination Team. Alliance membership is voluntary and non-conditional, and aims to support the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories to improve the quality of NCD monitoring data across the region. In establishing a common vision for NCD monitoring, the framework combines data collected under the WHO Global Framework for NCDs with a set of action-orientated indicators captured in a NCD Dashboard for Action. Viewing NCD monitoring as a multi-component system and providing a robust, transparent mutual accountability mechanism helps align agendas, roles and responsibilities of countries and support organisations. The dashboard provides a succinct communication tool for reporting progress on implementation of agreed policies and actions and its flexible methodology can be easily expanded, or adapted for other regions.

Effect of mode of administration on guaifenesin pharmacokinetics and expectorant action in the rat model.

PubMed

Kagan, Leonid; Lavy, Eran; Hoffman, Amnon

2009-06-01

Guaifenesin is a very commonly used and prescribed oral expectorant drug. However, its mechanism of action is not completely elucidated and the available information is limited. The purpose was to evaluate whether guaifenesin action on respiratory tract secretion is mediated through a reflex stimulation of the gastric mucosa or by the systemic exposure due to the absorption of the drug to the blood circulation. Guaifenesin was administered to rats by various routes: intravenous bolus, oral gavage, and gastric, jejunal or cecal infusions (through surgically implanted catheters). Phenol red respiratory tract secretion (after intraperitoneal or intravenous injection) was used as a marker for degree of expectorant action. Administration of saline by gavage was used as control. Respiratory secretion following oral bolus was approximately 2-fold higher (p<0.05) than that of control. Following IV administration the increase of respiratory secretion did not occur despite the fact that systemic exposure to guaifenesin was 1.5-fold higher than following oral administration. The abdominal surgery was found to eliminate the effect of guaifenesin although it did not change systemic absorption. Guaifenesin was equally absorbed from all parts of the gastrointestinal tract. It was demonstrated that expectorant action of guaifenesin is mediated by stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract and not by the systemic exposure to the drug.

The activity of spontaneous action potentials in developing hair cells is regulated by Ca(2+)-dependence of a transient K+ current.

PubMed

Levic, Snezana; Lv, Ping; Yamoah, Ebenezer N

2011-01-01

Spontaneous action potentials have been described in developing sensory systems. These rhythmic activities may have instructional roles for the functional development of synaptic connections. The importance of spontaneous action potentials in the developing auditory system is underpinned by the stark correlation between the time of auditory system functional maturity, and the cessation of spontaneous action potentials. A prominent K(+) current that regulates patterning of action potentials is I(A). This current undergoes marked changes in expression during chicken hair cell development. Although the properties of I(A) are not normally classified as Ca(2+)-dependent, we demonstrate that throughout the development of chicken hair cells, I(A) is greatly reduced by acute alterations of intracellular Ca(2+). As determinants of spike timing and firing frequency, intracellular Ca(2+) buffers shift the activation and inactivation properties of the current to more positive potentials. Our findings provide evidence to demonstrate that the kinetics and functional expression of I(A) are tightly regulated by intracellular Ca(2+). Such feedback mechanism between the functional expression of I(A) and intracellular Ca(2+) may shape the activity of spontaneous action potentials, thus potentially sculpting synaptic connections in an activity-dependent manner in the developing cochlea. © 2011 Levic et al.

End or Means--The "What" and "How" of Observed Intentional Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hesse, Maike D.; Sparing, Roland; Fink, Gereon R.

2009-01-01

Action understanding and learning are suggested to be mediated, at least in part, by the human mirror neuron system (hMNS). Static images as well as videos of actions with the outcome occluded have been shown to activate the hMNS. However, whether the hMNS preferentially responds to "end" or "means" of an action remains to be investigated. We,…

CAD/CAM data management needs, requirements and options

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lopatka, R. S.; Johnson, T. G.

1978-01-01

The requirements for a data management system in support of technical or scientific applications and possible courses of action were reviewed. Specific requirements were evolved while working towards higher level integration impacting all phases of the current design process and through examination of commercially marketed systems and related data base research. Arguments are proposed for varied approaches in implementing data base systems ranging from no action necessary to immediate procurement of an existing data base management system.

The human mirror neuron system and embodied representations.

PubMed

Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa; Ivry, Richard B

2009-01-01

Mirror neurons are defined as neurons in the monkey cortex which respond to goal oriented actions, whether the behavior is self-generated or produced by another. Here we briefly review this literature and consider evidence from behavioral, neuropsychological, and brain imaging studies for a similar mirror neuron system in humans. Furthermore, we review functions of this system related to action comprehension and motor imagery, as well as evidence for speculations on the system's ties with conceptual knowledge and language.

Contact Hamiltonian systems and complete integrability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Visinescu, Mihai

2017-12-01

We summarize recent results on the integrability of Hamiltonian systems on contact manifolds. We explain how to extend the classical formulation of action-angle variables to contact integrable systems. Using the Jacobi brackets defined on contact manifolds, we discuss the commutativity of first integrals for contact Hamiltonian systems and present the construction of generalized contact action-angle variables. We illustrate the integrability in the contact geometry on the five-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein spaces T1,1 and Yp,q.

Potential effect of CAD systems on the detection of actionable nodules in chest CT scans during routine reporting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wormanns, Dag; Beyer, Florian; Butzbach, Arnauld; Zierott, Livia; Heindel, Walter

2006-03-01

The purpose of the presented study was to determine the impact of two different CAD systems used as concur-rent reader for detection of actionable nodules (>4 mm) on the interpretation of chest CT scans during routine reporting. Fifty consecutive MDCT scans (1 mm or 1.25 mm slice thickness, 0.8 mm reconstruction increment) were se-lected from clinical routine. All cases were read by a resident and a staff radiologist, and a written report was available in the radiology information system (RIS). The RIS report mentioned at least one actionable pulmonary nodule in 18 cases (50%) and did not report any pulmonary nodule in the remaining 32 cases. Two different recent CAD systems were independently applied to the 50 CT scans as concurrent reader with two radiologists: Siemens LungCare NEV and MEDIAN CAD-Lung. Two radiologists independently reviewed the CAD results and determined if a CAD result was a true positive or a false positive finding. Patients were classified into two groups: in group A if at least one actionable nodule was detected and in group B if no actionable nodules were found. The effect of CAD on routine reporting was simulated as set union of the findings of routine reporting and CAD thus applying CAD as concurrent reader. According to the RIS report group A (patients with at least one actionable nodule) contained 18 cases (36% of all 50 cases), and group B contained 32 cases. Application of a CAD system as concurrent reader resulted in detec-tion of additional CT scans with actionable nodules and reclassification into group A in 16 resp. 18 cases (radi-ologist 1 resp. radiologist 2) with Siemens NEV and in 19 resp. 18 cases with MEDIAN CAD-Lung. In seven cases MEDIAN CAD-Lung and in four cases Siemens NEV reclassified a case into group A while the other CAD system missed the relevant finding. Sensitivity on a nodule (>4 mm) base was .45 for Siemens NEV and .55 for MEDIAN CAD-Lung; the difference was not yet significant (p=.077). In our study use of CAD as second reader in routine reporting doubled the percentage of patients with actionable nodules larger than 4 mm.

Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 562: Waste Systems, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

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

NSTec Environmental Restoration

2011-04-30

This Corrective Action Plan has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 562, Waste Systems, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (1996; as amended March 2010). CAU 562 consists of 13 Corrective Action Sites (CASs) located in Areas 2, 23, and 25 of the Nevada National Security Site. Site characterization activities were performed in 2009 and 2010, and the results are presented in Appendix A of the Corrective Action Decision Document for CAU 562. The scope of work required to implement the recommended closure alternatives is summarized. (1) CAS 02-26-11, Lead Shot, will be clean closedmore » by removing shot. (2) CAS 02-44-02, Paint Spills and French Drain, will be clean closed by removing paint and contaminated soil. As a best management practice (BMP), asbestos tile will be removed. (3) CAS 02-59-01, Septic System, will be clean closed by removing septic tank contents. As a BMP, the septic tank will be removed. (4) CAS 02-60-01, Concrete Drain, contains no contaminants of concern (COCs) above action levels. No further action is required; however, as a BMP, the concrete drain will be removed. (5) CAS 02-60-02, French Drain, was clean closed. Corrective actions were completed during corrective action investigation activities. As a BMP, the drain grates and drain pipe will be removed. (6) CAS 02-60-03, Steam Cleaning Drain, will be clean closed by removing contaminated soil. As a BMP, the steam cleaning sump grate and outfall pipe will be removed. (7) CAS 02-60-04, French Drain, was clean closed. Corrective actions were completed during corrective action investigation activities. (8) CAS 02-60-05, French Drain, will be clean closed by removing contaminated soil. (9) CAS 02-60-06, French Drain, contains no COCs above action levels. No further action is required. (10) CAS 02-60-07, French Drain, requires no further action. The french drain identified in historical documentation was not located during corrective action investigation activities. (11) CAS 23-60-01, Mud Trap Drain and Outfall, will be clean closed by removing sediment from the mud trap. As a BMP, the mud trap and outfall pipe will be removed. (12) CAS 23-99-06, Grease Trap, will be clean closed by removing sediment from the grease trap and backfilling the grease trap with grout. (13) CAS 25-60-04, Building 3123 Outfalls, will be clean closed by removing contaminated soil and the sludge-containing outfall pipe.« less

Protective Actions of 17β-Estradiol and Progesterone on Oxidative Neuronal Injury Induced by Organometallic Compounds

PubMed Central

Ishihara, Yasuhiro; Takemoto, Takuya; Yamazaki, Takeshi

2015-01-01

Steroid hormones synthesized in and secreted from peripheral endocrine glands pass through the blood-brain barrier and play a role in the central nervous system. In addition, the brain possesses an inherent endocrine system and synthesizes steroid hormones known as neurosteroids. Increasing evidence shows that neuroactive steroids protect the central nervous system from various harmful stimuli. Reports show that the neuroprotective actions of steroid hormones attenuate oxidative stress. In this review, we summarize the antioxidative effects of neuroactive steroids, especially 17β-estradiol and progesterone, on neuronal injury in the central nervous system under various pathological conditions, and then describe our recent findings concerning the neuroprotective actions of 17β-estradiol and progesterone on oxidative neuronal injury induced by organometallic compounds, tributyltin, and methylmercury. PMID:25815107

Detecting alerts, notifying the physician, and offering action items: a comprehensive alerting system.

PubMed Central

Kuperman, G. J.; Teich, J. M.; Bates, D. W.; Hiltz, F. L.; Hurley, J. M.; Lee, R. Y.; Paterno, M. D.

1996-01-01

We developed and evaluated a system to automatically identify serious clinical conditions in inpatients. The system notifies the patient's covering physician via his pager that an alert is present and offers potential therapies for the patient's condition (action items) at the time he views the alert information. Over a 6 month period, physicians responded to 1214 (70.2%) of 1730 alerts for which they were paged; they responded to 1002 (82.5% of the 1214) in less than 15 minutes. They said they would take action in 71.5% of the alerts, and they placed an order directly from the alert display screen in 39.4%. Further study is needed to determine if this alerting system improves processes or outcomes of care. PMID:8947756

Commentary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Eleanor J.

1993-01-01

Comments on the article by von Hofsten in this issue by examining four of von Hofsten's propositions: (1) physical actions are expressions of self-organizing systems composed of bodily, task-related, motivational, and environmental factors; (2) the ability to perform actions develops with age; (3) action is situated in a total postural background;…

76 FR 79563 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Sheridan, WY

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-22

...: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). SUMMARY: This action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Sheridan County Airport, Sheridan, WY. Decommissioning of the Sheridan Tactical Air Navigation System (TACAN) has made this action necessary for the safety and...

40 CFR 63.1382 - Emission standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... complete corrective actions in a timely manner according to the procedures in the operations, maintenance... or operator must initiate corrective action within 1 hour of an alarm from a bag leak detection system and complete corrective actions in a timely manner according to the procedures in the operations...

46 CFR 307.17 - Distress messages and hostile action reports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 8 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Distress messages and hostile action reports. 307.17 Section 307.17 Shipping MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION POSITION REPORTING SYSTEM... reports. (a) AWVER reports shall not replace distress messages and hostile action reports prescribed by...

The Role of Gender Consciousness in Challenging Patriarchy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.

2003-01-01

In an action research project, eight women explored their development of gender consciousness, finding that a hidden curriculum taught subordination to the patriarchal system. Connected learning fostered gender consciousness and led to connected action. Action included teaching others about gender issues, making the invisible visible, and adopting…

9 CFR 417.3 - Corrective actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Corrective actions. 417.3 Section 417.3 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS § 417.3 Corrective actions. (a) The written HACCP plan...

9 CFR 417.3 - Corrective actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Corrective actions. 417.3 Section 417.3 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS § 417.3 Corrective actions. (a) The written HACCP plan...

9 CFR 417.3 - Corrective actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Corrective actions. 417.3 Section 417.3 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS § 417.3 Corrective actions. (a) The written HACCP plan...

9 CFR 417.3 - Corrective actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Corrective actions. 417.3 Section 417.3 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS § 417.3 Corrective actions. (a) The written HACCP plan...

48 CFR 209.571-4 - Mitigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Mitigation. 209.571-4... of Interest 209.571-4 Mitigation. (a) Mitigation is any action taken to minimize an organizational conflict of interest. Mitigation may require Government action, contractor action, or a combination of both...

48 CFR 209.571-4 - Mitigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Mitigation. 209.571-4... of Interest 209.571-4 Mitigation. (a) Mitigation is any action taken to minimize an organizational conflict of interest. Mitigation may require Government action, contractor action, or a combination of both...

48 CFR 209.571-4 - Mitigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Mitigation. 209.571-4... of Interest 209.571-4 Mitigation. (a) Mitigation is any action taken to minimize an organizational conflict of interest. Mitigation may require Government action, contractor action, or a combination of both...

48 CFR 209.571-4 - Mitigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Mitigation. 209.571-4... of Interest 209.571-4 Mitigation. (a) Mitigation is any action taken to minimize an organizational conflict of interest. Mitigation may require Government action, contractor action, or a combination of both...

41 CFR 101-8.723 - Remedial action by recipient.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Regulations System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 8-NONDISCRIMINATION IN PROGRAMS RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 8.7-Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 101-8.723 Remedial action... remedial action that GSA may require to overcome the effects of the discrimination. If another recipient...

41 CFR 101-8.723 - Remedial action by recipient.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Regulations System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 8-NONDISCRIMINATION IN PROGRAMS RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 8.7-Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 101-8.723 Remedial action... remedial action that GSA may require to overcome the effects of the discrimination. If another recipient...

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 516: Septic Systems and Discharge Points

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

NSTec Environmental Restoration

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 516 is located in Areas 3, 6, and 22 of the Nevada Test Site. CAU 516 is listed in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order of 1996 as Septic Systems and Discharge Points, and is comprised of six Corrective Action Sites (CASs): {sm_bullet} CAS 03-59-01, Bldg 3C-36 Septic System {sm_bullet} CAS 03-59-02, Bldg 3C-45 Septic System {sm_bullet} CAS 06-51-01, Sump and Piping {sm_bullet} CAS 06-51-02, Clay Pipe and Debris {sm_bullet} CAS 06-51-03, Clean Out Box and Piping {sm_bullet} CAS 22-19-04, Vehicle Decontamination Area The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP)-approved corrective action alternative for CASsmore » 06-51-02 and 22-19-04 is no further action. The NDEP-approved corrective action alternative for CASs 03-59-01, 03-59-02, 06-51-01, and 06-51-03 is clean closure. Closure activities included removing and disposing of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)-impacted septic tank contents, septic tanks, distribution/clean out boxes, and piping. CAU 516 was closed in accordance with the NDEP-approved CAU 516 Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The closure activities specified in the CAP were based on the recommendations presented in the CAU 516 Corrective Action Decision Document (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, 2004). This Closure Report documents CAU 516 closure activities. During closure activities, approximately 186 tons of hydrocarbon waste in the form of TPH-impacted soil and debris, as well as 89 tons of construction debris, were generated and managed and disposed of appropriately. Waste minimization techniques, such as field screening of soil samples and the utilization of laboratory analysis to characterize and classify waste streams, were employed during the performance of closure work.« less

A two-channel action-potential generator for testing neurophysiologic data acquisition/analysis systems.

PubMed

Lisiecki, R S; Voigt, H F

1995-08-01

A 2-channel action-potential generator system was designed for use in testing neurophysiologic data acquisition/analysis systems. The system consists of a personal computer controlling an external hardware unit. This system is capable of generating 2 channels of simulated action potential (AP) waveshapes. The AP waveforms are generated from the linear combination of 2 principal-component template functions. Each channel generates randomly occurring APs with a specified rate ranging from 1 to 200 events per second. The 2 trains may be independent of one another or the second channel may be made to be excited or inhibited by the events from the first channel with user-specified probabilities. A third internal channel may be made to excite or inhibit events in both of the 2 output channels with user-specified rate parameters and probabilities. The system produces voltage waveforms that may be used to test neurophysiologic data acquisition systems for recording from 2 spike trains simultaneously and for testing multispike-train analysis (e.g., cross-correlation) software.

Melatonin, mitochondria and hypertension.

PubMed

Baltatu, Ovidiu C; Amaral, Fernanda G; Campos, Luciana A; Cipolla-Neto, Jose

2017-11-01

Melatonin, due to its multiple means and mechanisms of action, plays a fundamental role in the regulation of the organismal physiology by fine tunning several functions. The cardiovascular system is an important site of action as melatonin regulates blood pressure both by central and peripheral interventions, in addition to its relation with the renin-angiotensin system. Besides, the systemic management of several processes, melatonin acts on mitochondria regulation to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system. Hypertension affects target organs in different ways and cellular energy metabolism is frequently involved due to mitochondrial alterations that include a rise in reactive oxygen species production and an ATP synthesis decrease. The discussion that follows shows the role played by melatonin in the regulation of mitochondrial physiology in several levels of the cardiovascular system, including brain, heart, kidney, blood vessels and, particularly, regulating the renin-angiotensin system. This discussion shows the putative importance of using melatonin as a therapeutic tool involving its antioxidant potential and its action on mitochondrial physiology in the cardiovascular system.

Cofactor Role of Iodide in Peroxidase Antimicrobial Action Against Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Thomas, Edwin L.; Aune, Thomas M.

1978-01-01

The mechanism of antimicrobial activity of the peroxidase-hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-iodide (I−) system was investigated. Inhibition of respiration and loss of viability of Escherichia coli were used as measures of antimicrobial activity. Because the bacteria destroyed H2O2, peroxidase antimicrobial action depended on the competition for H2O2 between the bacteria and the peroxidase. Utilization of H2O2 by the peroxidase was favored by (i) increasing either the peroxidase or the I− concentration, so as to increase the rate of oxidation of I−, (ii) lowering the temperature to lower the rate of destruction of H2O2 by the bacteria, and (iii) adding H2O2 in small increments so as to avoid a large excess of H2O2 relative to I−. When utilization of H2O2 by the peroxidase system was favored, the peroxidase system and iodine (I2) were equivalent. That is, antimicrobial action per mole of H2O2 equaled that per mole of I2. Also, identical antimicrobial action was obtained either by incubating the bacteria directly with the peroxidase system or by preincubating the peroxidase system so as to form I2 and then adding the bacteria. On the other hand, peroxidase antimicrobial action could be obtained at low I− concentrations. These I− concentrations were lower than the concentration of I2 that was required for antimicrobial action. It is proposed that peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of I− yields I2, which reacts with bacterial components to yield the oxidized components and I−. The I− that is released can be reoxidized and participate again in the oxidation of bacterial components. In this way, I− acts as a cofactor in the peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of bacterial components. PMID:354514

Altered Brain Activation During Action Imitation and Observation in Schizophrenia: A Translational Approach to Investigating Social Dysfunction in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Thakkar, Katharine N.; Peterman, Joel S.; Park, Sohee

2015-01-01

Objective Social impairments are a key feature of schizophrenia, but their underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Imitation, a process through which we understand the minds of others, involves the so-called mirror neuron system, a network comprising the inferior parietal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, and posterior superior temporal sulcus. The authors examined mirror neuron system function in schizophrenia. Method Sixteen medicated schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy comparison subjects performed an action imitation/ observation task during functional MRI. Participants saw a video of a moving hand or spatial cue and were instructed to either execute finger movements associated with the stimulus or simply observe. Activation in the mirror neuron system was measured during imitative versus nonimitative actions and observation of a moving hand versus a moving spatial cue. These contrasts were compared across groups. Results Activation in the mirror neuron system was less specific for imitation in schizophrenia. Relative to healthy subjects, patients had reduced activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus during imitation and greater activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and inferior parietal lobe during nonimitative action. Patients also showed reduced activity in these regions during action observation. Mirror neuron system activation was related to symptom severity and social functioning in patients and to schizotypal syndrome in comparison subjects. Conclusions Given the role of the inferior parietal lobe and posterior superior temporal sulcus in imitation and social cognition, impaired imitative ability in schizophrenia may stem from faulty perception of biological motion and transformations from perception to action. These findings extend our understanding of social dysfunction in schizophrenia. PMID:24626638

Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 262: Area 25 Septic Systems and Underground Discharge Point, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

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

K. B. Campbell

This Corrective Action Plan (CAP) provides selected corrective action alternatives and proposes the closure methodology for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 262, Area 25 Septic Systems and Underground Discharge Point. CAU 262 is identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) of 1996. Remediation of CAU 262 is required under the FFACO. CAU 262 is located in Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), approximately 100 kilometers (km) (62 miles [mi]) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The nine Corrective Action Sites (CASs) within CAU 262 are located in the Nuclear Rocket Development Station complex. Individual CASs are locatedmore » in the vicinity of the Reactor Maintenance, Assembly, and Disassembly (R-MAD); Engine Maintenance, Assembly, and Disassembly (E-MAD); and Test Cell C compounds. CAU 262 includes the following CASs as provided in the FFACO (1996); CAS 25-02-06, Underground Storage Tank; CAS 25-04-06, Septic Systems A and B; CAS 25-04-07, Septic System; CAS 25-05-03, Leachfield; CAS 25-05-05, Leachfield; CAS 25-05-06, Leachfield; CAS 25-05-08, Radioactive Leachfield; CAS 25-05-12, Leachfield; and CAS 25-51-01, Dry Well. Figures 2, 3, and 4 show the locations of the R-MAD, the E-MAD, and the Test Cell C CASs, respectively. The facilities within CAU 262 supported nuclear rocket reactor engine testing. Activities associated with the program were performed between 1958 and 1973. However, several other projects used the facilities after 1973. A significant quantity of radioactive and sanitary waste was produced during routine operations. Most of the radioactive waste was managed by disposal in the posted leachfields. Sanitary wastes were disposed in sanitary leachfields. Septic tanks, present at sanitary leachfields (i.e., CAS 25-02-06,2504-06 [Septic Systems A and B], 25-04-07, 25-05-05,25-05-12) allowed solids to settle out of suspension prior to entering the leachfield. Posted leachfields do not contain septic tanks. All CASs located in CAU 262 are inactive or abandoned. However, some leachfields may still receive liquids from runoff during storm events. Results from the 2000-2001 site characterization activities conducted by International Technology (IT) Corporation, Las Vegas Office are documented in the Corrective Action Investigation Report for Corrective Action Unit 262: Area 25 Septic Systems and Underground Discharge Point, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. This document is located in Appendix A of the Corrective Action Decision Document for CAU 262. Area 25 Septic Systems and Underground Discharge Point, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. (DOE/NV, 2001).« less

To bind or not to bind? Different temporal binding effects from voluntary pressing and releasing actions.

PubMed

Zhao, Ke; Chen, Yu-Hsin; Yan, Wen-Jing; Fu, Xiaolan

2013-01-01

Binding effect refers to the perceptual attraction between an action and an outcome leading to a subjective compression of time. Most studies investigating binding effects exclusively employ the "pressing" action without exploring other types of actions. The present study addresses this issue by introducing another action, releasing action or the voluntary lifting of the finger/wrist, to investigate the differences between voluntary pressing and releasing actions. Results reveal that releasing actions led to robust yet short-lived temporal binding effects, whereas pressing condition had steady temporal binding effects up to super-seconds. The two actions also differ in sensitivity to changes in temporal contiguity and contingency, which could be attributed to the difference in awareness of action. Extending upon current models of "willed action," our results provide insights from a temporal point of view and support the concept of a dual system consisting of predictive motor control and top-down mechanisms.

Sex hormones, immune responses, and autoimmune diseases. Mechanisms of sex hormone action.

PubMed Central

Ansar Ahmed, S.; Penhale, W. J.; Talal, N.

1985-01-01

Immune reactivity is greater in females than in males. In both experimental animals and in man there is a greater preponderance of autoimmune diseases in females, compared with males. Studies in many experimental models have established that the underlying basis for this sex-related susceptibility is the marked effects of sex hormones. Sex hormones influence the onset and severity of immune-mediated pathologic conditions by modulating lymphocytes at all stages of life, prenatal, prepubertal, and postpubertal. However, despite extensive studies, the mechanisms of sex hormone action are not precisely understood. Earlier evidence suggested that the sex hormones acted via the thymus gland. In recent years it has become apparent that sex hormones can also influence the immune system by acting on several nonclassic target sites such as the immune system itself (nonthymic lymphoid organs), the central nervous system, the macrophage-macrocyte system, and the skeletal system. Immunoregulatory T cells appear to be most sensitive to sex hormone action among lymphoid cells. Several mechanisms of action of sex hormones are discussed in this review. The possibility of using sex hormone modulation of immune responses for the treatment of autoimmune disorders is a promising area for future investigation. Images Figure 1 PMID:3907369

Sex hormones, immune responses, and autoimmune diseases. Mechanisms of sex hormone action.

PubMed

Ansar Ahmed, S; Penhale, W J; Talal, N

1985-12-01

Immune reactivity is greater in females than in males. In both experimental animals and in man there is a greater preponderance of autoimmune diseases in females, compared with males. Studies in many experimental models have established that the underlying basis for this sex-related susceptibility is the marked effects of sex hormones. Sex hormones influence the onset and severity of immune-mediated pathologic conditions by modulating lymphocytes at all stages of life, prenatal, prepubertal, and postpubertal. However, despite extensive studies, the mechanisms of sex hormone action are not precisely understood. Earlier evidence suggested that the sex hormones acted via the thymus gland. In recent years it has become apparent that sex hormones can also influence the immune system by acting on several nonclassic target sites such as the immune system itself (nonthymic lymphoid organs), the central nervous system, the macrophage-macrocyte system, and the skeletal system. Immunoregulatory T cells appear to be most sensitive to sex hormone action among lymphoid cells. Several mechanisms of action of sex hormones are discussed in this review. The possibility of using sex hormone modulation of immune responses for the treatment of autoimmune disorders is a promising area for future investigation.

Adolescents' cognition of projectile motion: a pilot study.

PubMed

Zhao, Jun-Yan; Yu, Guoliang

2009-04-01

Previous work on the development of intuitive knowledge about projectile motion has shown a dissociation between action knowledge expressed on an action task and conceptual knowledge expressed on a judgment task for young children. The research investigated the generality of dissociation for adolescents. On the action task, participants were asked to swing Ball A of a bifilar pendulum to some height then release it to collide with Ball B, which was projected to hit a target. On the judgment task, participants indicated orally the desired swing angle at which Ball A should be released so that Ball B would strike a target. Unlike previous findings with adults, the adolescents showed conceptual difficulties on the judgment task and well-developed action knowledge on the action task, which suggests dissociation between the two knowledge systems is also present among adolescents. The result further supports the hypothesis that the two knowledge systems follow different developmental trajectories and at different speeds.

Concepts Within Reach: Action Performance Predicts Action Language Processing in Stroke

PubMed Central

Desai, Rutvik H.; Herter, Troy; Riccardi, Nicholas; Rorden, Chris; Fridriksson, Julius

2015-01-01

The relationship between the brain’s conceptual or semantic and sensory-motor systems remains controversial. Here, we tested manual and conceptual abilities of 41 chronic stroke patients in order to examine their relationship. Manual abilities were assed through a reaching task using an exoskeleton robot. Semantic abilities were assessed with implicit as well as explicit semantic tasks, for both verbs and nouns. The results show that that the degree of selective impairment for action word processing was predicted by the degree of impairment in reaching performance. Moreover, the implicit semantic measures showed a correlation with a global reaching parameter, while the explicit semantic similarity judgment task predicted performance in action initiation. These results indicate that action concepts are dynamically grounded through motoric simulations, and that more details are simulated for more explicit semantic tasks. This is evidence for a close and causal relationship between sensory-motor and conceptual systems of the brain. PMID:25858602

What are you doing? How active and observational experience shape infants' action understanding

PubMed Central

Hunnius, Sabine; Bekkering, Harold

2014-01-01

From early in life, infants watch other people's actions. How do young infants come to make sense of actions they observe? Here, we review empirical findings on the development of action understanding in infancy. Based on this review, we argue that active action experience is crucial for infants' developing action understanding. When infants execute actions, they form associations between motor acts and the sensory consequences of these acts. When infants subsequently observe these actions in others, they can use their motor system to predict the outcome of the ongoing actions. Also, infants come to an understanding of others’ actions through the repeated observation of actions and the effects associated with them. In their daily lives, infants have plenty of opportunities to form associations between observed events and learn about statistical regularities of others’ behaviours. We argue that based on these two forms of experience—active action experience and observational experience—infants gradually develop more complex action understanding capabilities. PMID:24778386

On the development of a reactive sensor-based robotic system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hexmoor, Henry H.; Underwood, William E., Jr.

1989-01-01

Flexible robotic systems for space applications need to use local information to guide their action in uncertain environments where the state of the environment and even the goals may change. They have to be tolerant of unexpected events and robust enough to carry their task to completion. Tactical goals should be modified while maintaining strategic goals. Furthermore, reactive robotic systems need to have a broader view of their environments than sensory-based systems. An architecture and a theory of representation extending the basic cycles of action and perception are described. This scheme allows for dynamic description of the environment and determining purposive and timely action. Applications of this scheme for assembly and repair tasks using a Universal Machine Intelligence RTX robot are being explored, but the ideas are extendable to other domains. The nature of reactivity for sensor-based robotic systems and implementation issues encountered in developing a prototype are discussed.

An automated system using spatial oversampling for optical mapping in murine atria. Development and validation with monophasic and transmembrane action potentials.

PubMed

Yu, Ting Yue; Syeda, Fahima; Holmes, Andrew P; Osborne, Benjamin; Dehghani, Hamid; Brain, Keith L; Kirchhof, Paulus; Fabritz, Larissa

2014-08-01

We developed and validated a new optical mapping system for quantification of electrical activation and repolarisation in murine atria. The system makes use of a novel 2nd generation complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera with deliberate oversampling to allow both assessment of electrical activation with high spatial and temporal resolution (128 × 2048 pixels) and reliable assessment of atrial murine repolarisation using post-processing of signals. Optical recordings were taken from isolated, superfused and electrically stimulated murine left atria. The system reliably describes activation sequences, identifies areas of functional block, and allows quantification of conduction velocities and vectors. Furthermore, the system records murine atrial action potentials with comparable duration to both monophasic and transmembrane action potentials in murine atria. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Integrating Public Health Policy, Practice, Evaluation, Surveillance, and Research: The School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System

PubMed Central

Cameron, Roy; Manske, Stephen; Brown, K. Stephen; Jolin, Mari Alice; Murnaghan, Donna; Lovato, Chris

2007-01-01

The Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute of Canada have charged their Centre for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation with contributing to the development of the country’s systemic capacity to link research, policy, and practice related to population-level interventions. Local data collection and feedback systems are integral to this capacity. Canada’s School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System (SHAPES) allows data to be collected from all of a school’s students, and these data are used to produce computer-generated school “health profiles.” SHAPES is being used for intervention planning, evaluation, surveillance, and research across Canada. Strong demand and multipartner investment suggest that SHAPES is adding value in all of these domains. Such systems can contribute substantially to evidence-informed public health practice, public engagement, participatory action research, and relevant, timely population intervention research. PMID:17329662

Auditory object salience: human cortical processing of non-biological action sounds and their acoustic signal attributes

PubMed Central

Lewis, James W.; Talkington, William J.; Tallaksen, Katherine C.; Frum, Chris A.

2012-01-01

Whether viewed or heard, an object in action can be segmented as a distinct salient event based on a number of different sensory cues. In the visual system, several low-level attributes of an image are processed along parallel hierarchies, involving intermediate stages wherein gross-level object form and/or motion features are extracted prior to stages that show greater specificity for different object categories (e.g., people, buildings, or tools). In the auditory system, though relying on a rather different set of low-level signal attributes, meaningful real-world acoustic events and “auditory objects” can also be readily distinguished from background scenes. However, the nature of the acoustic signal attributes or gross-level perceptual features that may be explicitly processed along intermediate cortical processing stages remain poorly understood. Examining mechanical and environmental action sounds, representing two distinct non-biological categories of action sources, we had participants assess the degree to which each sound was perceived as object-like versus scene-like. We re-analyzed data from two of our earlier functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task paradigms (Engel et al., 2009) and found that scene-like action sounds preferentially led to activation along several midline cortical structures, but with strong dependence on listening task demands. In contrast, bilateral foci along the superior temporal gyri (STG) showed parametrically increasing activation to action sounds rated as more “object-like,” independent of sound category or task demands. Moreover, these STG regions also showed parametric sensitivity to spectral structure variations (SSVs) of the action sounds—a quantitative measure of change in entropy of the acoustic signals over time—and the right STG additionally showed parametric sensitivity to measures of mean entropy and harmonic content of the environmental sounds. Analogous to the visual system, intermediate stages of the auditory system appear to process or extract a number of quantifiable low-order signal attributes that are characteristic of action events perceived as being object-like, representing stages that may begin to dissociate different perceptual dimensions and categories of every-day, real-world action sounds. PMID:22582038

Advanced Launch System (ALS) Space Transportation Expert System Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

goal (i.e. it develops a plan). The expert system checks the configuration, issues control commands, and reads sensor inputs to determine facts. The...than a conceptual design issue - a statement does not imply consequences, and only invokes database slot-filler actions such as inheriting an ancestor’s...Subclasses all other classes Private Components Public Components Functions Flatten -> storableForm Action : Creates a flat storable form of the object

A unique concept for automatically controlling the braking action of wheeled vehicles during minimum distance stops

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barthlome, D. E.

1975-01-01

Test results of a unique automatic brake control system are outlined and a comparison is made of its mode of operation to that of an existing skid control system. The purpose of the test system is to provide automatic control of braking action such that hydraulic brake pressure is maintained at a near constant, optimum value during minimum distance stops.

Gender differences in the mu rhythm of the human mirror-neuron system.

PubMed

Cheng, Yawei; Lee, Po-Lei; Yang, Chia-Yen; Lin, Ching-Po; Hung, Daisy; Decety, Jean

2008-05-07

Psychologically, females are usually thought to be superior in interpersonal sensitivity than males. The human mirror-neuron system is considered to provide the basic mechanism for social cognition. However, whether the human mirror-neuron system exhibits gender differences is not yet clear. We measured the electroencephalographic mu rhythm, as a reliable indicator of the human mirror-neuron system activity, when female (N = 20) and male (N = 20) participants watched either hand actions or a moving dot. The display of the hand actions included androgynous, male, and female characteristics. The results demonstrate that females displayed significantly stronger mu suppression than males when watching hand actions. Instead, mu suppression was similar across genders when participants observed the moving dot and between the perceived sex differences (same-sex vs. opposite-sex). In addition, the mu suppressions during the observation of hand actions positively correlated with the personal distress subscale of the interpersonal reactivity index and negatively correlated with the systemizing quotient. The present findings indirectly lend support to the extreme male brain theory put forward by Baron-Cohen (2005), and may cast some light on the mirror-neuron dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. The mu rhythm in the human mirror-neuron system can be a potential biomarker of empathic mimicry.

Collective learning for the emergence of social norms in networked multiagent systems.

PubMed

Yu, Chao; Zhang, Minjie; Ren, Fenghui

2014-12-01

Social norms such as social rules and conventions play a pivotal role in sustaining system order by regulating and controlling individual behaviors toward a global consensus in large-scale distributed systems. Systematic studies of efficient mechanisms that can facilitate the emergence of social norms enable us to build and design robust distributed systems, such as electronic institutions and norm-governed sensor networks. This paper studies the emergence of social norms via learning from repeated local interactions in networked multiagent systems. A collective learning framework, which imitates the opinion aggregation process in human decision making, is proposed to study the impact of agent local collective behaviors on the emergence of social norms in a number of different situations. In the framework, each agent interacts repeatedly with all of its neighbors. At each step, an agent first takes a best-response action toward each of its neighbors and then combines all of these actions into a final action using ensemble learning methods. Extensive experiments are carried out to evaluate the framework with respect to different network topologies, learning strategies, numbers of actions, influences of nonlearning agents, and so on. Experimental results reveal some significant insights into the manipulation and control of norm emergence in networked multiagent systems achieved through local collective behaviors.

29 CFR 1910.38 - Emergency action plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS Means of Egress § 1910.38 Emergency action plans. (a) Application. An... plans. An emergency action plan must be in writing, kept in the workplace, and available to employees... information about the plan or an explanation of their duties under the plan. (d) Employee alarm system. An...

7 CFR 1730.25 - Corrective action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Corrective action. 1730.25 Section 1730.25... AGRICULTURE ELECTRIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE Operations and Maintenance Requirements § 1730.25 Corrective action. (a) For any items on the RUS Form 300 rated unsatisfactory (i.e., 0 or 1) by the borrower...

Participatory Action Research and Environmental Learning: Implications for Resilient Forests and Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballard, Heidi L.; Belsky, Jill M.

2010-01-01

How can a participatory approach to research promote environmental learning and enhance social-ecological systems resilience? Participatory action research (PAR) is an approach to research that its' supporters claim can foster new knowledge, learning, and action to support positive social and environmental change through reorienting the standard…

40 CFR 73.83 - Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Reserve § 73.83 Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications. (a... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Secretary of Energy's action on net...

40 CFR 73.83 - Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Reserve § 73.83 Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications. (a... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Secretary of Energy's action on net...

40 CFR 73.83 - Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Reserve § 73.83 Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications. (a... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Secretary of Energy's action on net...

40 CFR 73.83 - Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Reserve § 73.83 Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications. (a... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Secretary of Energy's action on net...

40 CFR 73.83 - Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Reserve § 73.83 Secretary of Energy's action on net income neutrality applications. (a... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Secretary of Energy's action on net...

Infants' Grip Strength Predicts Mu Rhythm Attenuation during Observation of Lifting Actions with Weighted Blocks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Upshaw, Michaela B.; Bernier, Raphael A.; Sommerville, Jessica A.

2016-01-01

Research has established that the body is fundamentally involved in perception: bodily experience influences activation of the shared neural system underlying action perception and production during action observation, and bodily characteristics influence perception of the spatial environment. However, whether bodily characteristics influence…

Improving Cancer-Related Outcomes with Connected Health - Action Items at a Glance

Cancer.gov

Action Item 1.1: Health IT stakeholder groups should continue to collaborate to overcome policy and technical barriers to a nationwide, interoperable health IT system. Action Item 1.2: Technical standards for information related to cancer care across the continuum should be developed, tested, disseminated, and adopted.

48 CFR 50.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Records. 50.101-3 Section... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 50.101-3 Records. Agencies shall maintain complete records of all actions taken under this Subpart 50.1. For each request for...

48 CFR 50.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Records. 50.101-3 Section... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 50.101-3 Records. Agencies shall maintain complete records of all actions taken under this Subpart 50.1. For each request for...

48 CFR 50.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Records. 50.101-3 Section... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 50.101-3 Records. Agencies shall maintain complete records of all actions taken under this Subpart 50.1. For each request for...

48 CFR 50.101-3 - Records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Records. 50.101-3 Section... EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT Extraordinary Contractual Actions 50.101-3 Records. Agencies shall maintain complete records of all actions taken under this Subpart 50.1. For each request for...

Social Operational Information, Competence, and Participation in Online Collective Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antin, Judd David

2010-01-01

Recent advances in interactive web technologies, combined with widespread broadband and mobile device adoption, have made online collective action commonplace. Millions of individuals work together to aggregate, annotate, and share digital text, audio, images, and video. Given the prevalence and importance of online collective action systems,…

"Hoffman v. Monsanto": Courts, Class Actions, and Perceptions of the Problem of GM Drift

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLeod-Kilmurray, Heather

2007-01-01

"Hoffman v. Monsanto" raises questions about the civil litigation system. Are courts appropriate institutions, and are class actions the appropriate procedure, for resolving disputes about genetically modified organisms (GMOs)? After addressing the institutional question, this article focuses on procedure. Although class actions are…

Resolving Ethical Issues when Conducting Sexuality Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruess, Clint E.; Greenberg, Jerrold S.

2008-01-01

Ethical issues about conducting sexuality education often arise. This paper describes one system of ethics and how the sexuality educator can use that system to determine whether an action is moral or immoral and, therefore, the appropriate action to take for that sexuality educator to be consistent with his or her values. Ethical principles are…

40 CFR 63.1087 - What actions must I take if a leak is detected?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations Repair Requirements for Heat Exchange Systems § 63.1087 What actions must I take if a... within 7 calendar days of the repair or startup, whichever is later, to confirm that the heat exchange...

40 CFR 63.1087 - What actions must I take if a leak is detected?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations Repair Requirements for Heat Exchange Systems § 63.1087 What actions must I take if a... within 7 calendar days of the repair or startup, whichever is later, to confirm that the heat exchange...

40 CFR 63.1087 - What actions must I take if a leak is detected?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations Repair Requirements for Heat Exchange Systems § 63.1087 What actions must I take if a... within 7 calender days of the repair or startup, whichever is later, to confirm that the heat exchange...

40 CFR 63.1087 - What actions must I take if a leak is detected?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations Repair Requirements for Heat Exchange Systems § 63.1087 What actions must I take if a... within 7 calendar days of the repair or startup, whichever is later, to confirm that the heat exchange...

40 CFR 63.1087 - What actions must I take if a leak is detected?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations Repair Requirements for Heat Exchange Systems § 63.1087 What actions must I take if a... within 7 calender days of the repair or startup, whichever is later, to confirm that the heat exchange...

78 FR 7993 - Amendment of Class D and E Airspace; Tri-Cities, TN; Revocation of Class E Airspace; Tri-City, TN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-05

... of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations within the National Airspace System. This action also updates the geographic coordinates, airport name, and airspace designation. Also, this action corrects... controlled airspace within the National Airspace System. The FAA has determined that this regulation only...

[Essential guidelines for Quality Management System].

PubMed

Daunizeau, A

2013-06-01

The guidelines describe the essential parts of the quality management system to fulfil the requirements of the standard EN ISO 15 189. It includes mainly the organisation, the definition of responsibilities, training of personnel, the document control, the quality control, identification and control of nonconformities, corrective actions, preventive actions and evaluation, as audits and the management review.

The Adiabatic Invariance of the Action Variable in Classical Dynamics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Clive G.; Siklos, Stephen T. C.

2007-01-01

We consider one-dimensional classical time-dependent Hamiltonian systems with quasi-periodic orbits. It is well known that such systems possess an adiabatic invariant which coincides with the action variable of the Hamiltonian formalism. We present a new proof of the adiabatic invariance of this quantity and illustrate our arguments by means of…

DQC 2009-10 Annual Survey Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Data Quality Campaign, 2010

2010-01-01

This report presents survey results of the 10 State Actions including status of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These State Actions include: (1) Link P-20/workforce data systems; (2) Create stable, sustained support for robust state longitudinal data systems; (3) Develop governance structures to guide data collection,…

75 FR 80493 - Public Water System Supervision Program Approval for the State of Wisconsin

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-22

... the State of Wisconsin AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of tentative... implementation. This approval action does not extend to public water systems (PWSs) in Indian Country, as the... and the Regional Administrator does not elect to hold a hearing on his own motion, this determination...

77 FR 15367 - Public Water System Supervision Program Approval for the State of Minnesota

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-15

... the State of Minnesota AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of tentative.... This approval action does not extend to public water systems in Indian Country, as the term is defined... hold a hearing on her own motion, this determination shall become final and effective on April 16, 2012...

Collaborative Leadership for State Systems Building: New Mexico's Early Childhood Action Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vermilya, Lois

2009-01-01

The Early Childhood Action Network (ECAN) provides an example of successful state systems building in New Mexico. The far-reaching scope of ECAN's coalition and accomplishments identifies promising collaborative leadership practices that have relevance for early childhood leaders in other states. The author describes the accomplishments of ECAN's…

Agricultural Extension, Collective Action and Innovation Systems: Lessons on Network Brokering from Peru and Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hellin, Jon

2012-01-01

Purpose: New approaches to extension service delivery are needed that stimulate increased agricultural production, contribute to collective action and which also foster the emergence of agricultural innovation systems. Research in Peru and Mexico explores some of these new approaches. Design/methodology/approach: In both countries, a qualitative…

AAAS: Automated Affirmative Action System. General Description, Phase 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Services to Education, Inc., Washington, DC. TACTICS Management Information Systems Directorate.

This document describes phase 1 of the Automated Affirmative Action System (AAAS) of the Tuskegee Institute, which was designed to organize an inventory of any patterns of job classification and assignment identifiable by sex or minority group; any job classification or organizational unit where women and minorities are not employed or are…

30 CFR 57.22237 - Actions at 2.0 to 2.5 percent methane in bleeder systems (I-A and III mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....22237 Actions at 2.0 to 2.5 percent methane in bleeder systems (I-A and III mines). If methane reaches 2... reduced to less than 2.0 percent within 30 minutes, or if methane levels reach 2.5 percent, all persons...

Supporting the Knowledge-to-Action Process: A Systems-Thinking Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cherney, Adrian; Head, Brian

2011-01-01

The processes for moving research-based knowledge to the domains of action in social policy and professional practice are complex. Several disciplinary research traditions have illuminated several key aspects of these processes. A more holistic approach, drawing on systems thinking, has also been outlined and advocated by recent contributors to…

Speech-Associated Gestures, Broca's Area, and the Human Mirror System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skipper, Jeremy I.; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Nusbaum, Howard C.; Small, Steven L.

2007-01-01

Speech-associated gestures are hand and arm movements that not only convey semantic information to listeners but are themselves actions. Broca's area has been assumed to play an important role both in semantic retrieval or selection (as part of a language comprehension system) and in action recognition (as part of a "mirror" or…

Linking Language with Embodied and Teleological Representations of Action for Humanoid Cognition

PubMed Central

Lallee, Stephane; Madden, Carol; Hoen, Michel; Dominey, Peter Ford

2010-01-01

The current research extends our framework for embodied language and action comprehension to include a teleological representation that allows goal-based reasoning for novel actions. The objective of this work is to implement and demonstrate the advantages of a hybrid, embodied-teleological approach to action–language interaction, both from a theoretical perspective, and via results from human–robot interaction experiments with the iCub robot. We first demonstrate how a framework for embodied language comprehension allows the system to develop a baseline set of representations for processing goal-directed actions such as “take,” “cover,” and “give.” Spoken language and visual perception are input modes for these representations, and the generation of spoken language is the output mode. Moving toward a teleological (goal-based reasoning) approach, a crucial component of the new system is the representation of the subcomponents of these actions, which includes relations between initial enabling states, and final resulting states for these actions. We demonstrate how grammatical categories including causal connectives (e.g., because, if–then) can allow spoken language to enrich the learned set of state-action-state (SAS) representations. We then examine how this enriched SAS inventory enhances the robot's ability to represent perceived actions in which the environment inhibits goal achievement. The paper addresses how language comes to reflect the structure of action, and how it can subsequently be used as an input and output vector for embodied and teleological aspects of action. PMID:20577629

Slip of the tongue: Implications for evolution and language development.

PubMed

Forrester, Gillian S; Rodriguez, Alina

2015-08-01

A prevailing theory regarding the evolution of language implicates a gestural stage prior to the emergence of speech. In support of a transition of human language from a gestural to a vocal system, articulation of the hands and the tongue are underpinned by overlapping left hemisphere dominant neural regions. Behavioral studies demonstrate that human adults perform sympathetic mouth actions in imitative synchrony with manual actions. Additionally, right-handedness for precision manual actions in children has been correlated with the typical development of language, while a lack of hand bias has been associated with psychopathology. It therefore stands to reason that sympathetic mouth actions during fine precision motor action of the hands may be lateralized. We employed a fine-grained behavioral coding paradigm to provide the first investigation of tongue protrusions in typically developing 4-year old children. Tongue protrusions were investigated across a range of cognitive tasks that required varying degrees of manual action: precision motor action, gross motor action and no motor actions. The rate of tongue protrusions was influenced by the motor requirements of the task and tongue protrusions were significantly right-biased for only precision manual motor action (p<.001). From an evolutionary perspective, tongue protrusions can drive new investigations regarding how an early human communication system transitioned from hand to mouth. From a developmental perspective, the present study may serve to reveal patterns of tongue protrusions during the motor development of typically developing children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Participatory action as a research method with public health nurses.

PubMed

Cusack, Cheryl; Cohen, Benita; Mignone, Javier; Chartier, Mariette J; Lutfiyya, Zana

2018-02-28

This article explores and describes participatory action research (PAR) as a preferred method in addressing nursing practice issues. This is the first study that used PAR with public health nurses (PHNs) in Canada to develop a professional practice model. Participatory action research is a sub-category of action research that incorporates feminist and critical theory with foundations in the field of social psychology. For nurses, critical analysis of long-established beliefs and practices through PAR contributes to emancipatory knowledge regarding the impact of traditional hierarchies on their practice. This study used participatory action, a non-traditional but systematic research method, which assisted participants to develop a solution to a long-standing organizational issue. The stages of generating concerns, participatory action, acting on concerns, reflection and evaluation were implemented from 2012 - 2013 in an urban Canadian city, to develop a professional practice model for PHNs. Four sub-themes specific to PAR are discussed. These are "participatory action research engaged PHNs in development of a professional practice model;" "the participatory action research cycles of "Look, Think, Act" expanded participants' views;" "participatory action research increased awareness of organizational barriers;" and "participatory action research promoted individual empowerment and system transformation." This study resulted in individual and system change that may not have been possible without the use of PAR. The focus was engagement of participants and recognition of their lived experience, which facilitated PHNs' empowerment, leadership and consciousness-raising. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A modular telerobotic task execution system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Backes, Paul G.; Tso, Kam S.; Hayati, Samad; Lee, Thomas S.

1990-01-01

A telerobot task execution system is proposed to provide a general parametrizable task execution capability. The system includes communication with the calling system, e.g., a task planning system, and single- and dual-arm sensor-based task execution with monitoring and reflexing. A specific task is described by specifying the parameters to various available task execution modules including trajectory generation, compliance control, teleoperation, monitoring, and sensor fusion. Reflex action is achieved by finding the corresponding reflex action in a reflex table when an execution event has been detected with a monitor.

Hand Path Priming in Manual Obstacle Avoidance: Evidence that the Dorsal Stream Does Not Only Control Visually Guided Actions in Real Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jax, Steven A.; Rosenbaum, David A.

2007-01-01

According to a prominent theory of human perception and performance (M. A. Goodale & A. D. Milner, 1992), the dorsal, action-related stream only controls visually guided actions in real time. Such a system would be predicted to show little or no action priming from previous experience. The 3 experiments reported here were designed to determine…

Quick Reaction Report on DoD Procurements Through the Tennessee Valley Authority

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-04-03

from non-DoD agencies that includes sections to be completed and signed by a contracting officer. Recommendations for Corrective Actions We recommend...in the DD 350 Individual Contract Action Reporting System. The Assistant Secretary did not provide planned dates for completing the corrective actions ...will be reprocured. Tentative milestones for completion of the corrective actions were not identified. Defense Logistics Agency comments. The Deputy

Mirroring "meaningful" actions: sensorimotor learning modulates imitation of goal-directed actions.

PubMed

Catmur, Caroline; Heyes, Cecilia

2017-06-19

Imitation is important in the development of social and technological skills throughout the lifespan. Experiments investigating the acquisition and modulation of imitation (and of its proposed neural substrate, the mirror neuron system) have produced evidence that the capacity for imitation depends on associative learning in which connections are formed between sensory and motor representations of actions. However, evidence that the development of imitation depends on associative learning has been found only for non-goal-directed actions. One reason for the lack of research on goal-directed actions is that imitation of such actions is commonly confounded with the tendency to respond in a spatially compatible manner. However, since the most prominent account of mirror neuron function, and hence of imitation, suggests that these cells encode goal-directed actions, it is important to establish whether sensorimotor learning can also modulate imitation of goal-directed actions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that imitation of goal-directed grasping can be measured while controlling for spatial compatibility, and Experiment 2 showed that this imitation effect can be modulated by sensorimotor training. Together these data support the hypothesis that the capacity for behavioural imitation, and the properties of the mirror neuron system, are constructed in the course of development through associative learning.

Visual-motor recalibration in geographical slant perception

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhalla, M.; Proffitt, D. R.; Kaiser, M. K. (Principal Investigator)

1999-01-01

In 4 experiments, it was shown that hills appear steeper to people who are encumbered by wearing a heavy backpack (Experiment 1), are fatigued (Experiment 2), are of low physical fitness (Experiment 3), or are elderly and/or in declining health (Experiment 4). Visually guided actions are unaffected by these manipulations of physiological potential. Although dissociable, the awareness and action systems were also shown to be interconnected. Recalibration of the transformation relating awareness and actions was found to occur over long-term changes in physiological potential (fitness level, age, and health) but not with transitory changes (fatigue and load). Findings are discussed in terms of a time-dependent coordination between the separate systems that control explicit visual awareness and visually guided action.

Computational Model of Human and System Dynamics in Free Flight: Studies in Distributed Control Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corker, Kevin M.; Pisanich, Gregory; Lebacqz, J. Victor (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

This paper presents a set of studies in full mission simulation and the development of a predictive computational model of human performance in control of complex airspace operations. NASA and the FAA have initiated programs of research and development to provide flight crew, airline operations and air traffic managers with automation aids to increase capacity in en route and terminal area to support the goals of safe, flexible, predictable and efficient operations. In support of these developments, we present a computational model to aid design that includes representation of multiple cognitive agents (both human operators and intelligent aiding systems). The demands of air traffic management require representation of many intelligent agents sharing world-models, coordinating action/intention, and scheduling goals and actions in a potentially unpredictable world of operations. The operator-model structure includes attention functions, action priority, and situation assessment. The cognitive model has been expanded to include working memory operations including retrieval from long-term store, and interference. The operator's activity structures have been developed to provide for anticipation (knowledge of the intention and action of remote operators), and to respond to failures of the system and other operators in the system in situation-specific paradigms. System stability and operator actions can be predicted by using the model. The model's predictive accuracy was verified using the full-mission simulation data of commercial flight deck operations with advanced air traffic management techniques.

Assessing Human Mirror Activity With EEG Mu Rhythm: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Fox, Nathan A.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Yoo, Kathryn H.; Bowman, Lindsay C.; Cannon, Erin N.; Vanderwert, Ross E.; Ferrari, Pier F.; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.

2016-01-01

A fundamental issue in cognitive neuroscience is how the brain encodes others’ actions and intentions. In recent years, a potential advance in our knowledge on this issue is the discovery of mirror neurons in the motor cortex of the nonhuman primate. These neurons fire to both execution and observation of specific types of actions. Researchers use this evidence to fuel investigations of a human mirror system, suggesting a common neural code for perceptual and motor processes. Among the methods used for inferring mirror system activity in humans are changes in a particular frequency band in the electroencephalogram (EEG) called the mu rhythm. Mu frequency appears to decrease in amplitude (reflecting cortical activity) during both action execution and action observation. The current meta-analysis reviewed 85 studies (1,707 participants) of mu that infer human mirror system activity. Results demonstrated significant effect sizes for mu during execution (Cohen’s d = 0.46, N = 701) as well as observation of action (Cohen’s d = 0.31, N = 1,508), confirming a mirroring property in the EEG. A number of moderators were examined to determine the specificity of these effects. We frame these meta-analytic findings within the current discussion about the development and functions of a human mirror system, and conclude that changes in EEG mu activity provide a valid means for the study of human neural mirroring. Suggestions for improving the experimental and methodological approaches in using mu to study the human mirror system are offered. PMID:26689088

The national response for preventing healthcare-associated infections: infrastructure development.

PubMed

Mendel, Peter; Siegel, Sari; Leuschner, Kristin J; Gall, Elizabeth M; Weinberg, Daniel A; Kahn, Katherine L

2014-02-01

In 2009, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs). The Action Plan adopted national targets for reduction of specific infections, making HHS accountable for change across the healthcare system over which federal agencies have limited control. This article examines the unique infrastructure developed through the Action Plan to support adoption of HAI prevention practices. Interviews of federal (n=32) and other stakeholders (n=38), reviews of agency documents and journal articles (n=260), and observations of interagency meetings (n=17) and multistakeholder conferences (n=17) over a 3-year evaluation period. We extract key progress and challenges in the development of national HAI prevention infrastructure--1 of the 4 system functions in our evaluation framework encompassing regulation, payment systems, safety culture, and dissemination and technical assistance. We then identify system properties--for example, coordination and alignment, accountability and incentives, etc.--that enabled or hindered progress within each key development. The Action Plan has developed a model of interagency coordination (including a dedicated "home" and culture of cooperation) at the federal level and infrastructure for stimulating change through the wider healthcare system (including transparency and financial incentives, support of state and regional HAI prevention capacity, changes in safety culture, and mechanisms for stakeholder engagement). Significant challenges to infrastructure development included many related to the same areas of progress. The Action Plan has built a foundation of infrastructure to expand prevention of HAIs and presents useful lessons for other large-scale improvement initiatives.

What Is the Contribution of City-Scale Actions to the Overall Food System's Environmental Impacts?: Assessing Water, Greenhouse Gas, and Land Impacts of Future Urban Food Scenarios.

PubMed

Boyer, Dana; Ramaswami, Anu

2017-10-17

This paper develops a methodology for individual cities to use to analyze the in- and trans-boundary water, greenhouse gas (GHG), and land impacts of city-scale food system actions. Applied to Delhi, India, the analysis demonstrates that city-scale action can rival typical food policy interventions that occur at larger scales, although no single city-scale action can rival in all three environmental impacts. In particular, improved food-waste management within the city (7% system-wide GHG reduction) matches the GHG impact of preconsumer trans-boundary food waste reduction. The systems approach is particularly useful in illustrating key trade-offs and co-benefits. For instance, multiple diet shifts that can reduce GHG emissions have trade-offs that increase water and land impacts. Vertical farming technology (VFT) with current applications for fruits and vegetables can provide modest system-wide water (4%) and land reductions (3%), although implementation within the city itself may raise questions of constraints in water-stressed cities, with such a shift in Delhi increasing community-wide direct water use by 16%. Improving the nutrition status for the bottom 50% of the population to the median diet is accompanied by proportionally smaller increases of water, GHG, and land impacts (4%, 9%, and 8%, systemwide): increases that can be offset through simultaneous city-scale actions, e.g., improved food-waste management and VFT.

Use of artificial intelligence in supervisory control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, Aaron; Erickson, Jon D.

1989-01-01

Viewgraphs describing the design and testing of an intelligent decision support system called OFMspert are presented. In this expert system, knowledge about the human operator is represented through an operator/system model referred to as the OFM (Operator Function Model). OFMspert uses the blackboard model of problem solving to maintain a dynamic representation of operator goals, plans, tasks, and actions given previous operator actions and current system state. Results of an experiment to assess OFMspert's intent inferencing capability are outlined. Finally, the overall design philosophy for an intelligent tutoring system (OFMTutor) for operators of complex dynamic systems is summarized.

Hierarchical processing in music, language, and action: Lashley revisited.

PubMed

Fitch, W Tecumseh; Martins, Mauricio D

2014-05-01

Sixty years ago, Karl Lashley suggested that complex action sequences, from simple motor acts to language and music, are a fundamental but neglected aspect of neural function. Lashley demonstrated the inadequacy of then-standard models of associative chaining, positing a more flexible and generalized "syntax of action" necessary to encompass key aspects of language and music. He suggested that hierarchy in language and music builds upon a more basic sequential action system, and provided several concrete hypotheses about the nature of this system. Here, we review a diverse set of modern data concerning musical, linguistic, and other action processing, finding them largely consistent with an updated neuroanatomical version of Lashley's hypotheses. In particular, the lateral premotor cortex, including Broca's area, plays important roles in hierarchical processing in language, music, and at least some action sequences. Although the precise computational function of the lateral prefrontal regions in action syntax remains debated, Lashley's notion-that this cortical region implements a working-memory buffer or stack scannable by posterior and subcortical brain regions-is consistent with considerable experimental data. © 2014 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals Inc. on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.

Androgenic signaling systems and their role in behavioral evolution.

PubMed

Fuxjager, Matthew J; Schuppe, Eric R

2018-06-05

Sex steroids mediate the organization and activation of masculine reproductive phenotypes in diverse vertebrate taxa. However, the effects of sex steroid action in this context vary tremendously, in that steroid action influences reproductive physiology and behavior in markedly different ways (even among closely related species). This leads to the idea that the mechanisms underlying sex steroid action similarly differ across vertebrates in a manner that supports diversification of important sexual traits. Here, we highlight the Evolutionary Potential Hypothesis as a framework for understanding how androgen-dependent reproductive behavior evolves. This idea posits that the cellular mechanisms underlying androgenic action can independently evolve within a given target tissue to adjust the hormone's functional effects. The result is a seemingly endless number of permutations in androgenic signaling pathways that can be mapped onto the incredible diversity of reproductive phenotypes. One reason this hypothesis is important is because it shifts current thinking about the evolution of steroid-dependent traits away from an emphasis on circulating steroid levels and toward a focus on molecular mechanisms of hormone action. To this end, we also provide new empirical data suggesting that certain cellular modulators of androgen action-namely, the co-factors that dynamically adjust transcritpional effects of steroid action either up or down-are also substrates on which evolution can act. We then close the review with a detailed look at a case study in the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus). Work in this tropical bird shows how androgenic signaling systems are modified in specific parts of the skeletal muscle system to enhance motor performance necessary to produce acrobatic courtship displays. Altogether, this paper seeks to develop a platform to better understand how steroid action influences the evolution of complex animal behavior. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling the Development of Goal-Specificity in Mirror Neurons.

PubMed

Thill, Serge; Svensson, Henrik; Ziemke, Tom

2011-12-01

Neurophysiological studies have shown that parietal mirror neurons encode not only actions but also the goal of these actions. Although some mirror neurons will fire whenever a certain action is perceived (goal-independently), most will only fire if the motion is perceived as part of an action with a specific goal. This result is important for the action-understanding hypothesis as it provides a potential neurological basis for such a cognitive ability. It is also relevant for the design of artificial cognitive systems, in particular robotic systems that rely on computational models of the mirror system in their interaction with other agents. Yet, to date, no computational model has explicitly addressed the mechanisms that give rise to both goal-specific and goal-independent parietal mirror neurons. In the present paper, we present a computational model based on a self-organizing map, which receives artificial inputs representing information about both the observed or executed actions and the context in which they were executed. We show that the map develops a biologically plausible organization in which goal-specific mirror neurons emerge. We further show that the fundamental cause for both the appearance and the number of goal-specific neurons can be found in geometric relationships between the different inputs to the map. The results are important to the action-understanding hypothesis as they provide a mechanism for the emergence of goal-specific parietal mirror neurons and lead to a number of predictions: (1) Learning of new goals may mostly reassign existing goal-specific neurons rather than recruit new ones; (2) input differences between executed and observed actions can explain observed corresponding differences in the number of goal-specific neurons; and (3) the percentage of goal-specific neurons may differ between motion primitives.

Developing an Action Model for Integration of Health System Response to HIV/AIDS and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) in Developing Countries

PubMed Central

Haregu, Tilahun Nigatu; Setswe, Geoffrey; Elliott, Julian; Oldenburg, Brian

2014-01-01

Introduction: Although there are several models of integrated architecture, we still lack models and theories about the integration process of health system responses to HIV/AIDS and NCDs. Objective: The overall purpose of this study is to design an action model, a systematic approach, for the integration of health system responses to HIV/AIDS and NCDs in developing countries. Methods: An iterative and progressive approach of model development using inductive qualitative evidence synthesis techniques was applied. As evidence about integration is spread across different fields, synthesis of evidence from a broad range of disciplines was conducted. Results: An action model of integration having 5 underlying principles, 4 action fields, and a 9-step action cycle is developed. The INTEGRATE model is an acronym of the 9 steps of the integration process: 1) Interrelate the magnitude and distribution of the problems, 2) Navigate the linkage between the problems, 3) Testify individual level co-occurrence of the problems, 4) Examine the similarities and understand the differences between the response functions, 5) Glance over the health system’s environment for integration, 6) Repackage and share evidence in a useable form, 7) Ascertain the plan for integration, 8) Translate the plan in to action, 9) Evaluate and Monitor the integration. Conclusion: Our model provides a basis for integration of health system responses to HIV/AIDS and NCDs in the context of developing countries. We propose that future empirical work is needed to refine the validity and applicability of the model. PMID:24373260

New Sides of Aldosterone Action in Cardiovascular System as Potential Targets for Therapeutic Intervention.

PubMed

Kolodziejczyk, Patrycjusz; Gromotowicz-Poplawska, Anna; Aleksiejczuk, Michal; Chabielska, Ewa; Tutka, Piotr; Miltyk, Wojciech

2018-03-26

Aldosterone, the main mineralocorticoid hormone, plays a crucial role in the regulation of electrolyte homeostasis and blood pressure. Although, this role is undoubtedly important, it is not a hormonal action that attracts the most attention. Aldosterone seems to be very important important as a local messenger in the pathology of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In the last few years, the attention was focused on the correlation between raised aldosterone level and increased risk of cardiovascular events. It has been demonstrated that aldosterone contributes to fibrosis, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, fibrinolytic disordes, and oxidative stress leading to CVD development and progression. It used to be thought that the effects of aldosterone are mediated via classic nuclear receptors - mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). Now we know that the mechanism of aldosterone action in cardiovascular system is much more complex, since experimental and clinical studies indicate that MR blockade may be not sufficient to abolish aldosterone-incuced harmful effects in the cardiovascular system. Therefore, the involvement of some other than MR, receptors and factors is suggested. Moreover, in addition to the generally known genomic action of aldosterone, which involves MR activation, the nongenomic pathways are postulated in the mode of hormone action. More and more attention is focused on the membrane-coupled receptors, which mediate the rapid effects of aldosterone and have been already confirmed in different cells and tissues of a cardiovascular system. The confirmation of multiple mechanisms of aldosterone action opens a new perspective for more effective therapeutic intervention in aldosterone-related CVD. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Action, outcome, and value: a dual-system framework for morality.

PubMed

Cushman, Fiery

2013-08-01

Dual-system approaches to psychology explain the fundamental properties of human judgment, decision making, and behavior across diverse domains. Yet, the appropriate characterization of each system is a source of debate. For instance, a large body of research on moral psychology makes use of the contrast between "emotional" and "rational/cognitive" processes, yet even the chief proponents of this division recognize its shortcomings. Largely independently, research in the computational neurosciences has identified a broad division between two algorithms for learning and choice derived from formal models of reinforcement learning. One assigns value to actions intrinsically based on past experience, while another derives representations of value from an internally represented causal model of the world. This division between action- and outcome-based value representation provides an ideal framework for a dual-system theory in the moral domain.

40 CFR 142.312 - What EPA action is necessary when a State proposes to grant a small system variance to a public...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What EPA action is necessary when a State proposes to grant a small system variance to a public water system serving a population of more than 3,300 and fewer than 10,000 persons? 142.312 Section 142.312 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAM...

40 CFR 142.312 - What EPA action is necessary when a State proposes to grant a small system variance to a public...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false What EPA action is necessary when a State proposes to grant a small system variance to a public water system serving a population of more than 3,300 and fewer than 10,000 persons? 142.312 Section 142.312 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAM...

Facial expressions as a model to test the role of the sensorimotor system in the visual perception of the actions.

PubMed

Mele, Sonia; Ghirardi, Valentina; Craighero, Laila

2017-12-01

A long-term debate concerns whether the sensorimotor coding carried out during transitive actions observation reflects the low-level movement implementation details or the movement goals. On the contrary, phonemes and emotional facial expressions are intransitive actions that do not fall into this debate. The investigation of phonemes discrimination has proven to be a good model to demonstrate that the sensorimotor system plays a role in understanding actions acoustically presented. In the present study, we adapted the experimental paradigms already used in phonemes discrimination during face posture manipulation, to the discrimination of emotional facial expressions. We submitted participants to a lower or to an upper face posture manipulation during the execution of a four alternative labelling task of pictures randomly taken from four morphed continua between two emotional facial expressions. The results showed that the implementation of low-level movement details influence the discrimination of ambiguous facial expressions differing for a specific involvement of those movement details. These findings indicate that facial expressions discrimination is a good model to test the role of the sensorimotor system in the perception of actions visually presented.

Integrating human and natural systems in community psychology: an ecological model of stewardship behavior.

PubMed

Moskell, Christine; Allred, Shorna Broussard

2013-03-01

Community psychology (CP) research on the natural environment lacks a theoretical framework for analyzing the complex relationship between human systems and the natural world. We introduce other academic fields concerned with the interactions between humans and the natural environment, including environmental sociology and coupled human and natural systems. To demonstrate how the natural environment can be included within CP's ecological framework, we propose an ecological model of urban forest stewardship action. Although ecological models of behavior in CP have previously modeled health behaviors, we argue that these frameworks are also applicable to actions that positively influence the natural environment. We chose the environmental action of urban forest stewardship because cities across the United States are planting millions of trees and increased citizen participation in urban tree planting and stewardship will be needed to sustain the benefits provided by urban trees. We used the framework of an ecological model of behavior to illustrate multiple levels of factors that may promote or hinder involvement in urban forest stewardship actions. The implications of our model for the development of multi-level ecological interventions to foster stewardship actions are discussed, as well as directions for future research to further test and refine the model.

Weapons Acquisition System Reform Through Enhancing Technical Knowledge and Oversight Act of 2009

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Rep. Skelton, Ike [D-MO-4

2009-04-27

House - 05/13/2009 Laid on the table. See S.454 for further action. (All Actions) Notes: For further action, see S.454, which became Public Law 111-23 on 5/22/2009. Tracker: This bill has the status Passed HouseHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Agroecology Education: Action-Oriented Learning and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieblein, Geir; Breland, Tor Arvid; Francis, Charles; Ostergaard, Edvin

2012-01-01

Purpose: This article examines and evaluates the potential contributions from action learning and action research with stakeholders to higher education in agriculture and food systems. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on our experiences over the past two decades of running PhD courses and an MSc degree programme in Agroecology in…

78 FR 37133 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Petroleum Refineries

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-20

... systems that would allow owners and operators at existing sources to monitor quarterly using a leak action... option, which requires monitoring monthly at a leak action level defined as a total strippable... monitoring alternative and the modeling indicates that quarterly monitoring at the lower leak action level...

33 CFR 326.5 - Legal action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... directly to the U.S. Attorney. Because of the unique legal system in the Trust Territories, all cases over... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Legal action. 326.5 Section 326.5... § 326.5 Legal action. (a) General. For cases the district engineer determines to be appropriate, he will...

Functional Dissociation between Perception and Action Is Evident Early in Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadad, Bat-Sheva; Avidan, Galia; Ganel, Tzvi

2012-01-01

The functional distinction between vision for perception and vision for action is well documented in the mature visual system. Ganel and colleagues recently provided direct evidence for this dissociation, showing that while visual processing for perception follows Weber's fundamental law of psychophysics, action violates this law. We tracked the…

30 CFR 75.1103-5 - Automatic fire warning devices; actions and response.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Automatic fire warning devices; actions and... Protection § 75.1103-5 Automatic fire warning devices; actions and response. (a) When the carbon monoxide... fire sensor and warning device systems shall provide an effective warning signal at the following...

30 CFR 75.1103-5 - Automatic fire warning devices; actions and response.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Automatic fire warning devices; actions and... Protection § 75.1103-5 Automatic fire warning devices; actions and response. (a) When the carbon monoxide... fire sensor and warning device systems shall provide an effective warning signal at the following...

Engineering a future for amphibians under climate change

Treesearch

Luke P. Shoo; Deanna H. Olson; Sarah K. McMenamin; Kris A. Murray; Monique VanSluys; Maureen A. Donnelly; Danial Stratford; Juhani Terhivuo; Andres Merino-Viteri; Sarah M. Herbert; Phillip J. Bishop; Paul Stephen Corn; Liz Dovey; Richard A. Griffiths; Katrin Lowe; Michael Mahony; Hamish McCallum; Jonathan D. Shuker; Clay Simpkins; Lee F. Skerratt; Stephen E. Williams; Jean-Marc Hero

2011-01-01

Altered global climates in the 21st century pose serious threats for biological systems and practical actions are needed to mount a response for species at risk. We identify management actions from across the world and from diverse disciplines that are applicable to minimizing loss of amphibian biodiversity under climate change. Actions were...

Exploring perceptual processing of ASL and human actions: Effects of inversion and repetition priming

PubMed Central

Corina, David P.; Grosvald, Michael

2011-01-01

In this paper, we compare responses of deaf signers and hearing non-signers engaged in a categorization task of signs and non-linguistic human actions. We examine the time it takes to make such categorizations under conditions of 180-degree stimulus inversion and as a function of repetition priming, in an effort to understand whether the processing of sign language forms draws upon special processing mechanisms or makes use of mechanisms used in recognition of non-linguistic human actions. Our data show that deaf signers were much faster in the categorization of both linguistic and non-linguistic actions, and relative to hearing non-signers, show evidence that they were more sensitive to the configural properties of signs. Our study suggests that sign expertise may lead to modifications of a general-purpose human action recognition system rather than evoking a qualitatively different mode of processing, and supports the contention that signed languages make use of perceptual systems through which humans understand or parse human actions and gestures more generally. PMID:22153323

The Effects of Optical Illusions in Perception and Action in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space.

PubMed

Shim, Jaeho; van der Kamp, John

2017-09-01

While the two visual system hypothesis tells a fairly compelling story about perception and action in peripersonal space (i.e., within arm's reach), its validity for extrapersonal space is very limited and highly controversial. Hence, the present purpose was to assess whether perception and action differences in peripersonal space hold in extrapersonal space and are modulated by the same factors. To this end, the effects of an optic illusion in perception and action in both peripersonal and extrapersonal space were compared in three groups that threw balls toward a target at a distance under different target eccentricity (i.e., with the target fixated and in peripheral field), viewing (i.e., binocular and monocular viewing), and delay conditions (i.e., immediate and delayed action). The illusory bias was smaller in action than in perception in peripersonal space, but this difference was significantly reduced in extrapersonal space, primarily because of a weakening bias in perception. No systematic modulation of target eccentricity, viewing, and delay arose. The findings suggest that the two visual system hypothesis is also valid for extra personal space.

Putting responsive behaviours in place: Examining how formal and informal carers understand the actions of people with dementia.

PubMed

Herron, R V; Wrathall, M A

2018-05-01

Living alongside and working with people with dementia who yell or strike out can be very demanding and sometimes harmful. It is generally understood that such actions may be a response to the social and physical environment, yet very little attention has been paid to understanding what role the environment plays in eliciting and responding to these actions across different settings. Drawing on 27 semi-structured interviews with formal and informal carers, this article examines how carers understand the actions of people with dementia in relation to their environment. We identify individual, interpersonal, local environmental, macro-scale and temporal dynamics that influence the actions of people with dementia and carers' capacities to work with them. Drawing on relational thinking and the concept of structural violence, we argue that many of the problems and solutions associated with aggressive actions are located outside the person with dementia in broader relations and systems of care. We conclude with a discussion of how these understandings can inform developments in the systems of home and community care. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance monitoring in the medial frontal cortex and related neural networks: From monitoring self actions to understanding others' actions.

PubMed

Ninomiya, Taihei; Noritake, Atsushi; Ullsperger, Markus; Isoda, Masaki

2018-04-27

Action is a key channel for interacting with the outer world. As such, the ability to monitor actions and their consequences - regardless as to whether they are self-generated or other-generated - is of crucial importance for adaptive behavior. The medial frontal cortex (MFC) has long been studied as a critical node for performance monitoring in nonsocial contexts. Accumulating evidence suggests that the MFC is involved in a wide range of functions necessary for one's own performance monitoring, including error detection, and monitoring and resolving response conflicts. Recent studies, however, have also pointed to the importance of the MFC in performance monitoring under social conditions, ranging from monitoring and understanding others' actions to reading others' mental states, such as their beliefs and intentions (i.e., mentalizing). Here we review the functional roles of the MFC and related neural networks in performance monitoring in both nonsocial and social contexts, with an emphasis on the emerging field of a social systems neuroscience approach using macaque monkeys as a model system. Future work should determine the way in which the MFC exerts its monitoring function via interactions with other brain regions, such as the superior temporal sulcus in the mentalizing system and the ventral premotor cortex in the mirror system. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Using Work Action Analysis to Identify Web-Portal Requirements for a Professional Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickles, George

2007-01-01

This article describes using Work Action Analysis (WAA) as a method for identifying requirements for a web-based portal that supports a professional development program. WAA is a cognitive systems engineering method for modeling multi-agent systems to support design and evaluation. A WAA model of the professional development program of the…

A Human Mirror Neuron System for Language: Perspectives from Signed Languages of the Deaf

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knapp, Heather Patterson; Corina, David P.

2010-01-01

Language is proposed to have developed atop the human analog of the macaque mirror neuron system for action perception and production [Arbib M.A. 2005. From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics (with commentaries and author's response). "Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28", 105-167; Arbib…

40 CFR Table 2 to Subpart Kkkkk of... - Operating Limits

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... stack. 2. Kiln equipped with a DIFF or DLS/FF a. If you use a bag leak detection system, initiate corrective action within 1 hour of a bag leak detection system alarm and complete corrective actions in... to the scrubber water, maintain the average scrubber chemical feed rate for each 3-hour block period...

Researching the Impact of Teacher Professional Development Programmes Based on Action Research, Constructivism, and Systems Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zehetmeier, Stefan; Andreitz, Irina; Erlacher, Willibald; Rauch, Franz

2015-01-01

This paper deals with the topic of professional development programmes' impact. Concepts and ideas of action research, constructivism, and systems theory are used as a theoretical framework and are combined to describe and analyse an exemplary professional development programme in Austria. Empirical findings from both quantitative and qualitative…