Non-action effect binding: A critical re-assessment.

PubMed

Weller, Lisa; Kunde, Wilfried; Pfister, Roland

2017-10-01

Humans typically act to cause effects in their environment, but at times they also voluntarily omit an action to cause a predictable effect. These effects may become bound to the causing non-actions, just as actions and their effects can become associated. In three experiments, we provide a critical re-assessment of previous reports of non-action effect binding. Following this work, participants completed an acquisition phase to associate actions and non-actions with particular effects. In a subsequent test phase, the former effects were presented as stimuli and participants were allowed to choose an action or non-action freely as a response. Binding should lead to more effect-consistent choices than predicted by chance. Previous studies, however, did not control for deliberate strategies of participants that might inflate the consistency bias and, also, did not address overall preferences for either acting or non-acting, which might introduce additional artifacts. We show that these confounds have a strong impact in common experimental designs and introduce ways to mitigate these effects. This improved assessment still corroborated evidence of binding between non-actions and their effects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Children Perseverate to a Human's Actions but Not to a Robot's Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moriguchi, Yusuke; Kanda, Takayuki; Ishiguro, Hiroshi; Itakura, Shoji

2010-01-01

Previous research has shown that young children commit perseverative errors from their observation of another person's actions. The present study examined how social observation would lead children to perseverative tendencies, using a robot. In Experiment 1, preschoolers watched either a human model or a robot sorting cards according to one…

40 CFR 152.93 - Citation of a previously submitted valid study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Data Submitters' Rights § 152.93 Citation of a previously submitted valid study. An applicant may demonstrate compliance for a data requirement by citing a valid study previously submitted to the Agency. The... the original data submitter, the applicant may cite the study only in accordance with paragraphs (b...

Examination of mechanisms underlying enhanced memory performance in action video game players: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Li, Xianchun; Cheng, Xiaojun; Li, Jiaying; Pan, Yafeng; Hu, Yi; Ku, Yixuan

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown enhanced memory performance resulting from extensive action video game playing. The mechanisms underlying the cognitive benefit were investigated in the current study. We presented two types of retro-cues, with variable intervals to memory array (Task 1) or test array (Task 2), during the retention interval in a change detection task. In Task 1, action video game players demonstrated steady performance while non-action video game players showed decreased performance as cues occurred later, indicating their performance difference increased as the cue-to-memory-array intervals became longer. In Task 2, both participant groups increased their performance at similar rates as cues presented later, implying the performance difference in two groups were irrespective of the test-array-to-cue intervals. These findings suggested that memory benefit from game plays is not attributable to the higher ability of overcoming interference from the test array, but to the interactions between the two processes of protection from decay and resistance from interference, or from alternative hypotheses. Implications for future studies were discussed. PMID:26136720

Examination of mechanisms underlying enhanced memory performance in action video game players: a pilot study.

PubMed

Li, Xianchun; Cheng, Xiaojun; Li, Jiaying; Pan, Yafeng; Hu, Yi; Ku, Yixuan

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown enhanced memory performance resulting from extensive action video game playing. The mechanisms underlying the cognitive benefit were investigated in the current study. We presented two types of retro-cues, with variable intervals to memory array (Task 1) or test array (Task 2), during the retention interval in a change detection task. In Task 1, action video game players demonstrated steady performance while non-action video game players showed decreased performance as cues occurred later, indicating their performance difference increased as the cue-to-memory-array intervals became longer. In Task 2, both participant groups increased their performance at similar rates as cues presented later, implying the performance difference in two groups were irrespective of the test-array-to-cue intervals. These findings suggested that memory benefit from game plays is not attributable to the higher ability of overcoming interference from the test array, but to the interactions between the two processes of protection from decay and resistance from interference, or from alternative hypotheses. Implications for future studies were discussed.

14 CFR 302.413 - Evidence of previous violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Evidence of previous violations. 302.413 Section 302.413 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... proceeding or criminal or civil action may, if relevant and material, be admitted in any enforcement...

14 CFR 302.413 - Evidence of previous violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Evidence of previous violations. 302.413 Section 302.413 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... proceeding or criminal or civil action may, if relevant and material, be admitted in any enforcement...

14 CFR 302.413 - Evidence of previous violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Evidence of previous violations. 302.413 Section 302.413 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... proceeding or criminal or civil action may, if relevant and material, be admitted in any enforcement...

14 CFR 302.413 - Evidence of previous violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Evidence of previous violations. 302.413 Section 302.413 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... proceeding or criminal or civil action may, if relevant and material, be admitted in any enforcement...

14 CFR 302.413 - Evidence of previous violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Evidence of previous violations. 302.413 Section 302.413 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... proceeding or criminal or civil action may, if relevant and material, be admitted in any enforcement...

Social Action As An Objective of Social Studies Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curtis, Charles K.

This paper presents a rationale for making social action a major goal of elementary and secondary school social studies education. In addition, it describes social action models, suggests social action approaches appropriate for students at various grade levels, and reviews literature on social action by public school students. Social action is…

From conscious thought to automatic action: A simulation account of action planning.

PubMed

Martiny-Huenger, Torsten; Martiny, Sarah E; Parks-Stamm, Elizabeth J; Pfeiffer, Elisa; Gollwitzer, Peter M

2017-10-01

We provide a theoretical framework and empirical evidence for how verbally planning an action creates direct perception-action links and behavioral automaticity. We argue that planning actions in an if (situation)-then (action) format induces sensorimotor simulations (i.e., activity patterns reenacting the event in the sensory and motor brain areas) of the anticipated situation and the intended action. Due to their temporal overlap, these activity patterns become linked. Whenever the previously simulated situation is encountered, the previously simulated action is partially reactivated through spreading activation and thus more likely to be executed. In 4 experiments (N = 363), we investigated the relation between specific if-then action plans worded to activate simulations of elbow flexion versus extension movements and actual elbow flexion versus extension movements in a subsequent, ostensibly unrelated categorization task. As expected, linking a critical stimulus to intended actions that implied elbow flexion movements (e.g., grabbing it for consumption) subsequently facilitated elbow flexion movements upon encountering the critical stimulus. However, linking a critical stimulus to actions that implied elbow extension movements (e.g., pointing at it) subsequently facilitated elbow extension movements upon encountering the critical stimulus. Thus, minor differences (i.e., exchanging the words "point at" with "grab") in verbally formulated action plans (i.e., conscious thought) had systematic consequences on subsequent actions. The question of how conscious thought can induce stimulus-triggered action is illuminated by the provided theoretical framework and the respective empirical evidence, facilitating the understanding of behavioral automaticity and human agency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Body posture modulates action perception.

PubMed

Zimmermann, Marius; Toni, Ivan; de Lange, Floris P

2013-04-03

Recent studies have highlighted cognitive and neural similarities between planning and perceiving actions. Given that action planning involves a simulation of potential action plans that depends on the actor's body posture, we reasoned that perceiving actions may also be influenced by one's body posture. Here, we test whether and how this influence occurs by measuring behavioral and cerebral (fMRI) responses in human participants predicting goals of observed actions, while manipulating postural congruency between their own body posture and postures of the observed agents. Behaviorally, predicting action goals is facilitated when the body posture of the observer matches the posture achieved by the observed agent at the end of his action (action's goal posture). Cerebrally, this perceptual postural congruency effect modulates activity in a portion of the left intraparietal sulcus that has previously been shown to be involved in updating neural representations of one's own limb posture during action planning. This intraparietal area showed stronger responses when the goal posture of the observed action did not match the current body posture of the observer. These results add two novel elements to the notion that perceiving actions relies on the same predictive mechanism as planning actions. First, the predictions implemented by this mechanism are based on the current physical configuration of the body. Second, during both action planning and action observation, these predictions pertain to the goal state of the action.

Memory for Self-Performed Actions in Individuals with Asperger Syndrome

PubMed Central

Zalla, Tiziana; Daprati, Elena; Sav, Anca-Maria; Chaste, Pauline; Nico, Daniele; Leboyer, Marion

2010-01-01

Memory for action is enhanced if individuals are allowed to perform the corresponding movements, compared to when they simply listen to them (enactment effect). Previous studies have shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have difficulties with processes involving the self, such as autobiographical memories and self performed actions. The present study aimed at assessing memory for action in Asperger Syndrome (AS). We investigated whether adults with AS would benefit from the enactment effect when recalling a list of previously performed items vs. items that were only visually and verbally experienced through three experimental tasks (Free Recall, Old/New Recognition and Source Memory). The results showed that while performance on Recognition and Source Memory tasks was preserved in individuals with AS, the enactment effect for self-performed actions was not consistently present, as revealed by the lower number of performed actions being recalled on the Free Recall test, as compared to adults with typical development. Subtle difficulties in encoding specific motor and proprioceptive signals during action execution in individuals with AS might affect retrieval of relevant personal episodic information. These disturbances might be associated to an impaired action monitoring system. PMID:20967277

Memory for self-performed actions in individuals with Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Zalla, Tiziana; Daprati, Elena; Sav, Anca-Maria; Chaste, Pauline; Nico, Daniele; Leboyer, Marion

2010-10-12

Memory for action is enhanced if individuals are allowed to perform the corresponding movements, compared to when they simply listen to them (enactment effect). Previous studies have shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have difficulties with processes involving the self, such as autobiographical memories and self performed actions. The present study aimed at assessing memory for action in Asperger Syndrome (AS). We investigated whether adults with AS would benefit from the enactment effect when recalling a list of previously performed items vs. items that were only visually and verbally experienced through three experimental tasks (Free Recall, Old/New Recognition and Source Memory). The results showed that while performance on Recognition and Source Memory tasks was preserved in individuals with AS, the enactment effect for self-performed actions was not consistently present, as revealed by the lower number of performed actions being recalled on the Free Recall test, as compared to adults with typical development. Subtle difficulties in encoding specific motor and proprioceptive signals during action execution in individuals with AS might affect retrieval of relevant personal episodic information. These disturbances might be associated to an impaired action monitoring system.

Action observation network in childhood: a comparative fMRI study with adults.

PubMed

Biagi, Laura; Cioni, Giovanni; Fogassi, Leonardo; Guzzetta, Andrea; Sgandurra, Giuseppina; Tosetti, Michela

2016-11-01

Very little is known about the action observation network and the mirror neuron system (AON/MNS) in children and its age-related properties compared with those observed in adults. In the present fMRI study we explored the activation of areas belonging to the AON/MNS in children and adults during observation of complex hand-grasping actions, as compared to observation of simple grasping acts executed with the left and the right hand, seen from a first person perspective. The results indicate that during the action observation tasks in children there was activation of a cortical network similar to that found in adults, including the premotor cortex, the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior parietal lobe. However, the activation in children was more widespread and showed a higher inter-subject variability compared with adults. Furthermore, the activated network seems more lateralized to the left hemisphere in adults and more bilateral in children, with a linear growth of lateralization index as a function of age. Finally, in children the activation in the anterior intraparietal cortex (AIP) of each hemisphere was higher during observation of the contralateral hand (hand identity effect) and during the observation of complex actions relative to simple grasping acts, confirming the role of AIP for action-related hand identity previously described in adults. These results support the assumption that structure and size of action representations are sensitive to mechanisms of development and show physiological plasticity. These properties of the AON/MNS could constitute a powerful tool for spontaneous reorganization and recovery of motor deficits after brain injury in children and in adults, as well as for specific rehabilitation programmes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Model of relationship between personal factors and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management toward unsafe actions: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syamtinningrum, M. D. P.; Partiwi, S. G.; Dewi, D. S.

2018-04-01

One indicator of a good company is when a safe business environment can be well maintained. In this work environment, the number of industrial accidents is minimum. Industrial accidents are the incidents that occurred in the workplace, especially in industrial area. Industrial accidents are generally caused by two main reasons, unsafe actions & unsafe conditions. Some research indicates that unsafe actions significantly affect the incidence in the workplace. Unsafe action is a failure to follow the proper procedures and requirements, which is led into accidents. From several previous studies it can be concluded that personal factors & OHS management are two most influential factors that affect unsafe actions. However, their relationship in influencing unsafe actions is not fully understood. Based on this reason the authors want to investigate the effect of personal factors and OHS management toward unsafe actions to workers. For this purpose, a company is selected as a case study. In this research, analyses were done by using univariate test, bivariate correlation and linear regression. The results of this study proves that two indicators of personal factors (i.e. knowledge of OHS & OHS training) and OHS management have significant effect on unsafe actions but in negative direction, while two indicators of personal factors (i.e. workload & fatigue) have positive direction of effect on unsafe actions. In addition, this research has developed a mathematical model that can be used to calculate and predict the value of unsafe actions performed by the worker. By using this model, the company will able to take preventive actions toward unsafe actions to reduce workers accidents.

Leadership development through action learning sets: an evaluation study.

PubMed

Walia, Surinder; Marks-Maran, Di

2014-11-01

This article examines the use of action learning sets in a leadership module delivered by a university in south east England. An evaluation research study was undertaking using survey method to evaluate student engagement with action learning sets, and their value, impact and sustainability. Data were collected through a questionnaire with a mix of Likert-style and open-ended questions and qualitative and quantitative data analysis was undertaken. Findings show that engagement in the action learning sets was very high. Action learning sets also had a positive impact on the development of leadership knowledge and skills and are highly valued by participants. It is likely that they would be sustainable as the majority would recommend action learning to colleagues and would consider taking another module that used action learning sets. When compared to existing literature on action learning, this study offers new insights as there is little empirical literature on student engagement with action learning sets and even less on value and sustainability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity to structure in action sequences: An infant event-related potential study.

PubMed

Monroy, Claire D; Gerson, Sarah A; Domínguez-Martínez, Estefanía; Kaduk, Katharina; Hunnius, Sabine; Reid, Vincent

2017-05-06

Infants are sensitive to structure and patterns within continuous streams of sensory input. This sensitivity relies on statistical learning, the ability to detect predictable regularities in spatial and temporal sequences. Recent evidence has shown that infants can detect statistical regularities in action sequences they observe, but little is known about the neural process that give rise to this ability. In the current experiment, we combined electroencephalography (EEG) with eye-tracking to identify electrophysiological markers that indicate whether 8-11-month-old infants detect violations to learned regularities in action sequences, and to relate these markers to behavioral measures of anticipation during learning. In a learning phase, infants observed an actor performing a sequence featuring two deterministic pairs embedded within an otherwise random sequence. Thus, the first action of each pair was predictive of what would occur next. One of the pairs caused an action-effect, whereas the second did not. In a subsequent test phase, infants observed another sequence that included deviant pairs, violating the previously observed action pairs. Event-related potential (ERP) responses were analyzed and compared between the deviant and the original action pairs. Findings reveal that infants demonstrated a greater Negative central (Nc) ERP response to the deviant actions for the pair that caused the action-effect, which was consistent with their visual anticipations during the learning phase. Findings are discussed in terms of the neural and behavioral processes underlying perception and learning of structured action sequences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors affecting collective action for forest fire management: a comparative study of community forest user groups in central Siwalik, Nepal.

PubMed

Sapkota, Lok Mani; Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad; Jourdain, Damien; Shivakoti, Ganesh P

2015-01-01

The attributes of social ecological systems affect the management of commons. Strengthening and enhancing social capital and the enforcement of rules and sanctions aid in the collective action of communities in forest fire management. Using a set of variables drawn from previous studies on the management of commons, we conducted a study across 20 community forest user groups in Central Siwalik, Nepal, by dividing the groups into two categories based on the type and level of their forest fire management response. Our study shows that the collective action in forest fire management is consistent with the collective actions in other community development activities. However, the effectiveness of collective action is primarily dependent on the complex interaction of various variables. We found that strong social capital, strong enforcement of rules and sanctions, and users' participation in crafting the rules were the major variables that strengthen collective action in forest fire management. Conversely, users' dependency on a daily wage and a lack of transparency were the variables that weaken collective action. In fire-prone forests such as the Siwalik, our results indicate that strengthening social capital and forming and enforcing forest fire management rules are important variables that encourage people to engage in collective action in fire management.

Suggested early onset of true action of antidepressant drugs may be artefactual: a heuristic study.

PubMed

Parker, Gordon; Paterson, Amelia; Blanch, Bianca

2013-01-01

In recent decades, there have been many studies reporting that antidepressants have a rapid onset of action, with improvement occurring in the first week. The current pilot study questions whether such findings reflect an artefact emerging from high rates of 'nonspecific' improvement and evaluates the phenomenon in a small sample of melancholic patients seemingly lacking nonspecific improvement propensities. Twenty-nine patients with a well-defined melancholic depression completed a 12-week treatment study comparing drug therapy versus cognitive behaviour therapy. The primary outcome measure was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and a self-report measure of depressed mood severity (the Daily Rating Scale) was completed daily. Analyses seeking time till onset of action were limited to those receiving drug therapies. The lack of improvement in the first 4 weeks for those receiving cognitive behaviour therapy argued for the melancholic patients lacking the capacity for a nonspecific response to therapy. Formal 12-week responder status in those receiving the antidepressant could not be predicted from improvement status until day 12 of the study, and not in the first week as reported in most previous studies of those with major depression. This pilot study argues for any study seeking to quantify the specific interval for onset of action of antidepressant drugs focusing on only those with well-defined melancholia.

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.

Representation of action in occipito-temporal cortex.

PubMed

Wiggett, Alison J; Downing, Paul E

2011-07-01

A fundamental question for social cognitive neuroscience is how and where in the brain the identities and actions of others are represented. Here we present a replication and extension of a study by Kable and Chatterjee [Kable, J. W., & Chatterjee, A. Specificity of action representations in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 1498-1517, 2006] examining the role of occipito-temporal cortex in these processes. We presented full-cue movies of actors performing whole-body actions and used fMRI to test for action- and identity-specific adaptation effects. We examined a series of functionally defined regions, including the extrastriate and fusiform body areas, the fusiform face area, the parahippocampal place area, the lateral occipital complex, the right posterior superior temporal sulcus, and motion-selective area hMT+. These regions were analyzed with both standard univariate measures as well as multivoxel pattern analyses. Additionally, we performed whole-brain tests for significant adaptation effects. We found significant action-specific adaptation in many areas, but no evidence for identity-specific adaptation. We argue that this finding could be explained by differences in the familiarity of the stimuli presented: The actions shown were familiar but the actors performing the actions were unfamiliar. However, in contrast to previous findings, we found that the action adaptation effect could not be conclusively tied to specific functionally defined regions. Instead, our results suggest that the adaptation to previously seen actions across identities is a widespread effect, evident across lateral and ventral occipito-temporal cortex.

A database of whole-body action videos for the study of action, emotion, and untrustworthiness.

PubMed

Keefe, Bruce D; Villing, Matthias; Racey, Chris; Strong, Samantha L; Wincenciak, Joanna; Barraclough, Nick E

2014-12-01

We present a database of high-definition (HD) videos for the study of traits inferred from whole-body actions. Twenty-nine actors (19 female) were filmed performing different actions-walking, picking up a box, putting down a box, jumping, sitting down, and standing and acting-while conveying different traits, including four emotions (anger, fear, happiness, sadness), untrustworthiness, and neutral, where no specific trait was conveyed. For the actions conveying the four emotions and untrustworthiness, the actions were filmed multiple times, with the actor conveying the traits with different levels of intensity. In total, we made 2,783 action videos (in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional format), each lasting 7 s with a frame rate of 50 fps. All videos were filmed in a green-screen studio in order to isolate the action information from all contextual detail and to provide a flexible stimulus set for future use. In order to validate the traits conveyed by each action, we asked participants to rate each of the actions corresponding to the trait that the actor portrayed in the two-dimensional videos. To provide a useful database of stimuli of multiple actions conveying multiple traits, each video name contains information on the gender of the actor, the action executed, the trait conveyed, and the rating of its perceived intensity. All videos can be downloaded free at the following address: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~neb506/databases.html. We discuss potential uses for the database in the analysis of the perception of whole-body actions.

Enactment versus Observation: Item-Specific and Relational Processing in Goal-Directed Action Sequences (and Lists of Single Actions)

PubMed Central

Schult, Janette; von Stülpnagel, Rul; Steffens, Melanie C.

2014-01-01

What are the memory-related consequences of learning actions (such as “apply the patch”) by enactment during study, as compared to action observation? Theories converge in postulating that enactment encoding increases item-specific processing, but not the processing of relational information. Typically, in the laboratory enactment encoding is studied for lists of unrelated single actions in which one action execution has no overarching purpose or relation with other actions. In contrast, real-life actions are usually carried out with the intention to achieve such a purpose. When actions are embedded in action sequences, relational information provides efficient retrieval cues. We contrasted memory for single actions with memory for action sequences in three experiments. We found more reliance on relational processing for action-sequences than single actions. To what degree can this relational information be used after enactment versus after the observation of an actor? We found indicators of superior relational processing after observation than enactment in ordered pair recall (Experiment 1A) and in emerging subjective organization of repeated recall protocols (recall runs 2–3, Experiment 2). An indicator of superior item-specific processing after enactment compared to observation was recognition (Experiment 1B, Experiment 2). Similar net recall suggests that observation can be as good a learning strategy as enactment. We discuss possible reasons why these findings only partly converge with previous research and theorizing. PMID:24927279

75 FR 66822 - Study on Extraterritorial Private Rights of Action

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-29

... Extraterritorial Private Rights of Action AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission. ACTION: Request for Comments... and thereafter conduct a study to determine the extent to which private rights of action under the... United States to bring actions under Section 10(b) in cases involving transnational securities fraud...

[Prevalence of previously diagnosed diabetes mellitus in Mexico.

PubMed

Rojas-Martínez, Rosalba; Basto-Abreu, Ana; Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos A; Zárate-Rojas, Emiliano; Villalpando, Salvador; Barrientos-Gutiérrez, Tonatiuh

2018-01-01

To compare the prevalence of previously diagnosed diabetes in 2016 with previous national surveys and to describe treatment and its complications. Mexico's national surveys Ensa 2000, Ensanut 2006, 2012 and 2016 were used. For 2016, logistic regression models and measures of central tendency and dispersion were obtained. The prevalence of previously diagnosed diabetes in 2016 was 9.4%. The increase of 2.2% relative to 2012 was not significant and only observed in patients older than 60 years. While preventive measures have increased, the access to medical treatment and lifestyle has not changed. The treatment has been modified, with an increase in insulin and decrease in hypoglycaemic agents. Population aging, lack of screening actions and the increase in diabetes complications will lead to an increase on the burden of disease. Policy measures targeting primary and secondary prevention of diabetes are crucial.

How much does emotional valence of action outcomes affect temporal binding?

PubMed

Moreton, Joshua; Callan, Mitchell J; Hughes, Gethin

2017-03-01

Temporal binding refers to the compression of the perceived time interval between voluntary actions and their sensory consequences. Research suggests that the emotional content of an action outcome can modulate the effects of temporal binding. We attempted to conceptually replicate these findings using a time interval estimation task and different emotionally-valenced action outcomes (Experiments 1 and 2) than used in previous research. Contrary to previous findings, we found no evidence that temporal binding was affected by the emotional valence of action outcomes. After validating our stimuli for equivalence of perceived emotional valence and arousal (Experiment 3), in Experiment 4 we directly replicated Yoshie and Haggard's (2013) original experiment using sound vocalizations as action outcomes and failed to detect a significant effect of emotion on temporal binding. These studies suggest that the emotional valence of action outcomes exerts little influence on temporal binding. The potential implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The action-sentence compatibility effect in Japanese sentences.

PubMed

Awazu, Shunji

2011-10-01

The action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) is a phenomenon in which a reader's response to a sentence is made faster when there is congruity between the action described in the sentence and the action that makes up the response. Previous studies showed the ACE occurs in action-related sentences in several languages. However, all these were SVO (verb-object) languages, in which verbs are placed before object nouns; this order is reversed in SOV languages. Moreover, those studies investigated hand responses. This study assessed the existence of the ACE in Japanese, an SOV language, and in foot responses. 24 female participants judged the sensibility of Japanese sentences that described actions and responded with either their foot or hand as an effector. Reaction times were significantly faster when there was congruity between the effector described in the sentences and the effector actually used for the response. However, sentence dependency was also found in the foot responses.

Studying Action Representation in Children via Motor Imagery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabbard, Carl

2009-01-01

The use of motor imagery is a widely used experimental paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action planning and control in adults. Furthermore, there are indications that motor imagery provides a window into the process of action representation. These notions complement internal model theory suggesting that such representations allow…

Individual differences in action co-representation: not personal distress or subclinical psychotic experiences but sex composition modulates joint action performance.

PubMed

van der Weiden, Anouk; Aarts, Henk; Prikken, Merel; van Haren, Neeltje E M

2016-02-01

Successful social interaction requires the ability to integrate as well as distinguish own and others' actions. Normally, the integration and distinction of self and other are a well-balanced process, occurring without much effort or conscious attention. However, not everyone is blessed with the ability to balance self-other distinction and integration, resulting in personal distress in reaction to other people's emotions or even a loss of self [e.g., in (subclinical) psychosis]. Previous research has demonstrated that the integration and distinction of others' actions cause interference with one's own action performance (commonly assessed with a social Simon task). The present study had two goals. First, as previous studies on the social Simon effect employed relatively small samples (N < 50 per test), we aimed for a sample size that allowed us to test the robustness of the action interference effect. Second, we tested to what extent action interference reflects individual differences in traits related to self-other distinction (i.e., personal distress in reaction to other people's emotions and subclinical psychotic symptoms). Based on a questionnaire study among a large sample (N = 745), we selected a subsample (N = 130) of participants scoring low, average, or high on subclinical psychotic symptoms, or on personal distress. The selected participants performed a social Simon task. Results showed a robust social Simon effect, regardless of individual differences in personal distress or subclinical psychotic symptoms. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the sex composition of interaction pairs modulated social Simon effects. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Rational action selection in 1½- to 3-year-olds following an extended training experience.

PubMed

Klossek, Ulrike M H; Dickinson, Anthony

2012-02-01

Previous studies failed to find evidence for rational action selection in children under 2 years of age. The current study investigated whether younger children required more training to encode the relevant causal relationships. Children between 1½ and 3 years of age were trained over two sessions to perform actions on a touch-sensitive screen to obtain video clips as outcomes. Subsequently, a visual habituation procedure was employed to devalue one of the training outcomes. As in previous studies, 2- and 3-year-olds chose actions associated with an expected valued outcome significantly more often during a subsequent choice test. Moreover, analysis of children's first responses in the post-devaluation test revealed evidence of rational action selection even in the youngest age group (18-23 months). Consistent with dual-process accounts of action control, the findings support the view that the ability to make rational action choices develops gradually. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Middle School Responses to Cyberbullying: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zidack, Astri Marie

2013-01-01

This action research study engaged a small public middle school in the northwest United States in a collaborative process to address cyberbullying issues that often lead to academic and behavior problems in schools (Hinduja, 2010; Olweus, 2010). The specific purpose of this action research study was to address the middle school's cyberbullying…

Student Voice in High School: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Termini, Lorraine

2013-01-01

This action research study examined the effects of student voice in one high school and the self-reflection of the researcher-administrator involved in the effort. Using three cycles of action research, the researcher-administrator completed a pilot study, implemented a student voice project in one class, and developed a professional development…

Action potentials reliably invade axonal arbors of rat neocortical neurons

PubMed Central

Cox, Charles L.; Denk, Winfried; Tank, David W.; Svoboda, Karel

2000-01-01

Neocortical pyramidal neurons have extensive axonal arborizations that make thousands of synapses. Action potentials can invade these arbors and cause calcium influx that is required for neurotransmitter release and excitation of postsynaptic targets. Thus, the regulation of action potential invasion in axonal branches might shape the spread of excitation in cortical neural networks. To measure the reliability and extent of action potential invasion into axonal arbors, we have used two-photon excitation laser scanning microscopy to directly image action-potential-mediated calcium influx in single varicosities of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in acute brain slices. Our data show that single action potentials or bursts of action potentials reliably invade axonal arbors over a range of developmental ages (postnatal 10–24 days) and temperatures (24°C-30°C). Hyperpolarizing current steps preceding action potential initiation, protocols that had previously been observed to produce failures of action potential propagation in cultured preparations, were ineffective in modulating the spread of action potentials in acute slices. Our data show that action potentials reliably invade the axonal arbors of neocortical pyramidal neurons. Failures in synaptic transmission must therefore originate downstream of action potential invasion. We also explored the function of modulators that inhibit presynaptic calcium influx. Consistent with previous studies, we find that adenosine reduces action-potential-mediated calcium influx in presynaptic terminals. This reduction was observed in all terminals tested, suggesting that some modulatory systems are expressed homogeneously in most terminals of the same neuron. PMID:10931955

Early Combinations of Words and Actions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shore, Cecilia

Previous research has shown a similar starting time for early combinations of words and play actions in children and has suggested that similar cognitive processes underlie the transition to combining activities in language, symbolic play, and manipulative play. A study was undertaken to investigate combining activities in these three domains and…

Comprehending Sentences with the Body: Action Compatibility in British Sign Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vinson, David; Perniss, Pamela; Fox, Neil; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2017-01-01

Previous studies show that reading sentences about actions leads to specific motor activity associated with actually performing those actions. We investigate how sign language input may modulate motor activation, using British Sign Language (BSL) sentences, some of which explicitly encode direction of motion, versus written English, where motion…

Embodied Learning and Creative Writing: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tobin, Jennifer Ann

2012-01-01

This action research study used narrative analysis to explore the role of the body in the writing process of creative writers. Specifically, the purpose of this action research study was threefold: it was first to examine how professional creative writers describe their writing process with particular attention to their perceptions of the role and…

Culture-specific familiarity equally mediates action representations across cultures.

PubMed

Umla-Runge, Katja; Fu, Xiaolan; Wang, Lamei; Zimmer, Hubert D

2014-01-01

Previous studies have shown that we need to distinguish between means and end information about actions. It is unclear how these two subtypes of action information relate to each other with theoretical accounts postulating the superiority of end over means information and others linking separate means and end routes of processing to actions of differential meaningfulness. Action meaningfulness or familiarity differs between cultures. In a cross-cultural setting, we investigated how action familiarity influences recognition memory for means and end information. Object directed actions of differential familiarity were presented to Chinese and German participants. Action familiarity modulated the representation of means and end information in both cultures in the same way, although the effects were based on different stimulus sets. Our results suggest that, in the representation of actions in memory, end information is superordinate to means information. This effect is independent of culture whereas action familiarity is not.

75 FR 1084 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Reinstatement With Change of a Previously...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-08

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Office of Justice Programs [OMB Number 1105-0071] Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Reinstatement With Change of a Previously Approved Collection; Comments Requested ACTION: 30[dash]Day notice of information collection under review: extension with change of a previously approved collection national drug...

Neuroanatomical substrates of action perception and understanding: an anatomic likelihood estimation meta-analysis of lesion-symptom mapping studies in brain injured patients

PubMed Central

Urgesi, Cosimo; Candidi, Matteo; Avenanti, Alessio

2014-01-01

Several neurophysiologic and neuroimaging studies suggested that motor and perceptual systems are tightly linked along a continuum rather than providing segregated mechanisms supporting different functions. Using correlational approaches, these studies demonstrated that action observation activates not only visual but also motor brain regions. On the other hand, brain stimulation and brain lesion evidence allows tackling the critical question of whether our action representations are necessary to perceive and understand others’ actions. In particular, recent neuropsychological studies have shown that patients with temporal, parietal, and frontal lesions exhibit a number of possible deficits in the visual perception and the understanding of others’ actions. The specific anatomical substrates of such neuropsychological deficits however, are still a matter of debate. Here we review the existing literature on this issue and perform an anatomic likelihood estimation meta-analysis of studies using lesion-symptom mapping methods on the causal relation between brain lesions and non-linguistic action perception and understanding deficits. The meta-analysis encompassed data from 361 patients tested in 11 studies and identified regions in the inferior frontal cortex, the inferior parietal cortex and the middle/superior temporal cortex, whose damage is consistently associated with poor performance in action perception and understanding tasks across studies. Interestingly, these areas correspond to the three nodes of the action observation network that are strongly activated in response to visual action perception in neuroimaging research and that have been targeted in previous brain stimulation studies. Thus, brain lesion mapping research provides converging causal evidence that premotor, parietal and temporal regions play a crucial role in action recognition and understanding. PMID:24910603

Final corrective action study for the former CCC/USDA facility in Ramona, Kansas.

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

LaFreniere, L. M.

Past operations at a grain storage facility formerly leased and operated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) in Ramona, Kansas, resulted in low concentrations of carbon tetrachloride in groundwater that slightly exceed the regulatory standard in only one location. As requested by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the CCC/USDA has prepared a Corrective Action Study (CAS) for the facility. The CAS examines corrective actions to address groundwater impacted by the former CCC/USDA facility but not releases caused by other potential groundwater contamination sources in Ramona. Four remedial alternatives were considered in themore » CAS. The recommended remedial alternative in the CAS consists of Environmental Use Control to prevent the inadvertent use of groundwater as a water supply source, coupled with groundwater monitoring to verify the continued natural improvement in groundwater quality. The Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) has directed Argonne National Laboratory to prepare a Corrective Action Study (CAS), consistent with guidance from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE 2001a), for the CCC/USDA grain storage facility formerly located in Ramona, Kansas. This effort is pursuant to a KDHE (2007a) request. Although carbon tetrachloride levels at the Ramona site are low, they remain above the Kansas Tier 2 risk-based screening level (RBSL) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 5 {micro}g/L (Kansas 2003, 2004). In its request for the CAS, the KDHE (2007a) stated that, because of these levels, risk is associated with potential future exposure to contaminated groundwater. The KDHE therefore determined that additional measures are warranted to limit future use of the property and/or exposure to contaminated media as part of site closure. The KDHE further requested comparison of at least two

Action Researchers' Perspectives about the Distinguishing Characteristics of Action Research: A Delphi and Learning Circles Mixed-Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowell, Lonnie L.; Polush, Elena Yu; Riel, Margaret; Bruewer, Aaron

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify distinguishing characteristics of action research within the Action Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. The authors sought to delineate the foundational framework endorsed by this community. The study was conducted during January-April 2012 and employed an…

41 CFR 60-20.6 - Affirmative action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Affirmative action. 60-20... 20-SEX DISCRIMINATION GUIDELINES § 60-20.6 Affirmative action. (a) The employer shall take affirmative action to recruit women to apply for those jobs where they have been previously excluded. Note...

Feedback in action within bedside teaching encounters: a video ethnographic study.

PubMed

Rizan, Chantelle; Elsey, Christopher; Lemon, Thomas; Grant, Andrew; Monrouxe, Lynn V

2014-09-01

Feedback associated with teaching activities is often synonymous with reflection on action, which comprises the evaluative assessment of performance out of its original context. Feedback in action (as correction during clinical encounters) is an underexplored, complementary resource facilitating students' understanding and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactional patterns and correction modalities utilised in feedback sequences between doctors and students within general practice-based bedside teaching encounters (BTEs). A qualitative video ethnographic approach was used. Participants were recorded in their natural settings to allow interactional practices to be contextually explored. We examined 12 BTEs recorded across four general practices and involving 12 patients, four general practitioners and four medical students (209 minutes and 20 seconds of data) taken from a larger corpus. Data analysis was facilitated by Transana video analysis software and informed by previous conversation analysis research in ordinary conversation, classrooms and health care settings. A range of correction strategies across a spectrum of underlying explicitness were identified. Correction strategies classified at extreme poles of this scale (high or low explicitness) were believed to be less interactionally effective. For example, those using abrupt closing of topics (high explicitness) or interactional ambiguity (low explicitness) were thought to be less effective than embedded correction strategies that enabled the student to reach the correct answer with support. We believe that educators who are explicitly taught linguistic strategies for how to manage feedback in BTEs might manage learning more effectively. For example, clinicians might maximise learning moments during BTEs by avoiding abrupt or ambiguous feedback practices. Embedded correction strategies can enhance student participation by guiding students towards the correct answer. Clinician

Studying Studies on Teacher Reflection and Action: An Appraisal of Research Contributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcos, Juan Jose Mena; Tillema, Harm

2006-01-01

For decades a substantial body of research on teacher reflection and action has been conducted. This research contains a wealth of information on teachers' thinking about their daily work in classrooms. But what do these studies tell us about the linkage between thought and action in actual teaching? How do they contribute to our understanding, or…

Habitual action video game playing is associated with caudate nucleus-dependent navigational strategies.

PubMed

West, Greg L; Drisdelle, Brandi Lee; Konishi, Kyoko; Jackson, Jonathan; Jolicoeur, Pierre; Bohbot, Veronique D

2015-06-07

The habitual playing of video games is associated with increased grey matter and activity in the striatum. Studies in humans and rodents have shown an inverse relationship between grey matter in the striatum and hippocampus. We investigated whether action video game playing is also associated with increased use of response learning strategies during navigation, known to be dependent on the caudate nucleus of the striatum, when presented in a dual solution task. We tested 26 action video game players (actionVGPs) and 33 non-action video game players (nonVGPs) on the 4-on-8 virtual maze and a visual attention event-related potential (ERP) task, which elicits a robust N-2-posterior-controlateral (N2pc) component. We found that actionVGPs had a significantly higher likelihood of using a response learning strategy (80.76%) compared to nonVGPs (42.42%). Consistent with previous evidence, actionVGPs and nonVGPs differed in the way they deployed visual attention to central and peripheral targets as observed in the elicited N2pc component during an ERP visual attention task. Increased use of the response strategy in actionVGPs is consistent with previously observed increases in striatal volume in video game players (VGPs). Using response strategies is associated with decreased grey matter in the hippocampus. Previous studies have shown that decreased volume in the hippocampus precedes the onset of many neurological and psychiatric disorders. If actionVGPs have lower grey matter in the hippocampus, as response learners normally do, then these individuals could be at increased risk of developing neurological and psychiatric disorders during their lifetime. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Habitual action video game playing is associated with caudate nucleus-dependent navigational strategies

PubMed Central

West, Greg L.; Drisdelle, Brandi Lee; Konishi, Kyoko; Jackson, Jonathan; Jolicoeur, Pierre; Bohbot, Veronique D.

2015-01-01

The habitual playing of video games is associated with increased grey matter and activity in the striatum. Studies in humans and rodents have shown an inverse relationship between grey matter in the striatum and hippocampus. We investigated whether action video game playing is also associated with increased use of response learning strategies during navigation, known to be dependent on the caudate nucleus of the striatum, when presented in a dual solution task. We tested 26 action video game players (actionVGPs) and 33 non-action video game players (nonVGPs) on the 4-on-8 virtual maze and a visual attention event-related potential (ERP) task, which elicits a robust N-2-posterior-controlateral (N2pc) component. We found that actionVGPs had a significantly higher likelihood of using a response learning strategy (80.76%) compared to nonVGPs (42.42%). Consistent with previous evidence, actionVGPs and nonVGPs differed in the way they deployed visual attention to central and peripheral targets as observed in the elicited N2pc component during an ERP visual attention task. Increased use of the response strategy in actionVGPs is consistent with previously observed increases in striatal volume in video game players (VGPs). Using response strategies is associated with decreased grey matter in the hippocampus. Previous studies have shown that decreased volume in the hippocampus precedes the onset of many neurological and psychiatric disorders. If actionVGPs have lower grey matter in the hippocampus, as response learners normally do, then these individuals could be at increased risk of developing neurological and psychiatric disorders during their lifetime. PMID:25994669

Habits as action sequences: hierarchical action control and changes in outcome value

PubMed Central

Dezfouli, Amir; Lingawi, Nura W.; Balleine, Bernard W.

2014-01-01

Goal-directed action involves making high-level choices that are implemented using previously acquired action sequences to attain desired goals. Such a hierarchical schema is necessary for goal-directed actions to be scalable to real-life situations, but results in decision-making that is less flexible than when action sequences are unfolded and the decision-maker deliberates step-by-step over the outcome of each individual action. In particular, from this perspective, the offline revaluation of any outcomes that fall within action sequence boundaries will be invisible to the high-level planner resulting in decisions that are insensitive to such changes. Here, within the context of a two-stage decision-making task, we demonstrate that this property can explain the emergence of habits. Next, we show how this hierarchical account explains the insensitivity of over-trained actions to changes in outcome value. Finally, we provide new data that show that, under extended extinction conditions, habitual behaviour can revert to goal-directed control, presumably as a consequence of decomposing action sequences into single actions. This hierarchical view suggests that the development of action sequences and the insensitivity of actions to changes in outcome value are essentially two sides of the same coin, explaining why these two aspects of automatic behaviour involve a shared neural structure. PMID:25267824

Superfund Removal Guidance for Preparing Action Memoranda

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Dated September 2009, this updates and replaces previous documents. An Action Memo (AM) should substantiate need for removal action based upon criteria in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). Includes AM template.

Central Nervous System-Toxic Lidocaine Concentrations Unmask L-Type Ca²⁺ Current-Mediated Action Potentials in Rat Thalamocortical Neurons: An In Vitro Mechanism of Action Study.

PubMed

Putrenko, Igor; Ghavanini, Amer A; Meyer Schöniger, Katrin S; Schwarz, Stephan K W

2016-05-01

High systemic lidocaine concentrations exert well-known toxic effects on the central nervous system (CNS), including seizures, coma, and death. The underlying mechanisms are still largely obscure, and the actions of lidocaine on supraspinal neurons have received comparatively little study. We recently found that lidocaine at clinically neurotoxic concentrations increases excitability mediated by Na-independent, high-threshold (HT) action potential spikes in rat thalamocortical neurons. Our goal in this study was to characterize these spikes and test the hypothesis that they are generated by HT Ca currents, previously implicated in neurotoxicity. We also sought to identify and isolate the specific underlying subtype of Ca current. We investigated the actions of lidocaine in the CNS-toxic concentration range (100 μM-1 mM) on ventrobasal thalamocortical neurons in rat brain slices in vitro, using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings aided by differential interference contrast infrared videomicroscopy. Drugs were bath applied; action potentials were generated using current clamp protocols, and underlying currents were identified and isolated with ion channel blockers and electrolyte substitution. Lidocaine (100 μM-1 mM) abolished Na-dependent tonic firing in all neurons tested (n = 46). However, in 39 of 46 (85%) neurons, lidocaine unmasked evoked HT action potentials with lower amplitudes and rates of de-/repolarization compared with control. These HT action potentials remained during the application of tetrodotoxin (600 nM), were blocked by Cd (50 μM), and disappeared after superfusion with an extracellular solution deprived of Ca. These features implied that the unmasked potentials were generated by high-voltage-activated Ca channels and not by Na channels. Application of the L-type Ca channel blocker, nifedipine (5 μM), completely blocked the HT potentials, whereas the N-type Ca channel blocker, ω-conotoxin GVIA (1 μM), had little effect. At clinically CNS

Re-construction of action awareness depends on an internal model of action-outcome timing.

PubMed

Stenner, Max-Philipp; Bauer, Markus; Machts, Judith; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Haggard, Patrick; Dolan, Raymond J

2014-04-01

The subjective time of an instrumental action is shifted towards its outcome. This temporal binding effect is partially retrospective, i.e., occurs upon outcome perception. Retrospective binding is thought to reflect post-hoc inference on agency based on sensory evidence of the action - outcome association. However, many previous binding paradigms cannot exclude the possibility that retrospective binding results from bottom-up interference of sensory outcome processing with action awareness and is functionally unrelated to the processing of the action - outcome association. Here, we keep bottom-up interference constant and use a contextual manipulation instead. We demonstrate a shift of subjective action time by its outcome in a context of variable outcome timing. Crucially, this shift is absent when there is no such variability. Thus, retrospective action binding reflects a context-dependent, model-based phenomenon. Such top-down re-construction of action awareness seems to bias agency attribution when outcome predictability is low. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Re-construction of action awareness depends on an internal model of action-outcome timing

PubMed Central

Stenner, Max-Philipp; Bauer, Markus; Machts, Judith; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Haggard, Patrick; Dolan, Raymond J.

2014-01-01

The subjective time of an instrumental action is shifted towards its outcome. This temporal binding effect is partially retrospective, i.e., occurs upon outcome perception. Retrospective binding is thought to reflect post-hoc inference on agency based on sensory evidence of the action – outcome association. However, many previous binding paradigms cannot exclude the possibility that retrospective binding results from bottom-up interference of sensory outcome processing with action awareness and is functionally unrelated to the processing of the action – outcome association. Here, we keep bottom-up interference constant and use a contextual manipulation instead. We demonstrate a shift of subjective action time by its outcome in a context of variable outcome timing. Crucially, this shift is absent when there is no such variability. Thus, retrospective action binding reflects a context-dependent, model-based phenomenon. Such top-down re-construction of action awareness seems to bias agency attribution when outcome predictability is low. PMID:24555983

Mode of Action for Reproductive and Hepatic Toxicity Inferred from a Genomic Study of Triazole Antifungals

EPA Science Inventory

The mode of action for the reproductive toxicity of triazole antifungals have been previously characterized by an observed increased in serum testosterone, hepatotoxicity, and reduced insemination and fertility indices. In order to refine our mechanistic understanding of these m...

Shared Mechanisms in the Estimation of Self-Generated Actions and the Prediction of Other's Actions by Humans.

PubMed

Ikegami, Tsuyoshi; Ganesh, Gowrishankar

2017-01-01

The question of how humans predict outcomes of observed motor actions by others is a fundamental problem in cognitive and social neuroscience. Previous theoretical studies have suggested that the brain uses parts of the forward model (used to estimate sensory outcomes of self-generated actions) to predict outcomes of observed actions. However, this hypothesis has remained controversial due to the lack of direct experimental evidence. To address this issue, we analyzed the behavior of darts experts in an understanding learning paradigm and utilized computational modeling to examine how outcome prediction of observed actions affected the participants' ability to estimate their own actions. We recruited darts experts because sports experts are known to have an accurate outcome estimation of their own actions as well as prediction of actions observed in others. We first show that learning to predict the outcomes of observed dart throws deteriorates an expert's abilities to both produce his own darts actions and estimate the outcome of his own throws (or self-estimation). Next, we introduce a state-space model to explain the trial-by-trial changes in the darts performance and self-estimation through our experiment. The model-based analysis reveals that the change in an expert's self-estimation is explained only by considering a change in the individual's forward model, showing that an improvement in an expert's ability to predict outcomes of observed actions affects the individual's forward model. These results suggest that parts of the same forward model are utilized in humans to both estimate outcomes of self-generated actions and predict outcomes of observed actions.

Do Not Resonate with Actions: Sentence Polarity Modulates Cortico-Spinal Excitability during Action-Related Sentence Reading

PubMed Central

Liuzza, Marco Tullio; Candidi, Matteo; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2011-01-01

Background Theories of embodied language suggest that the motor system is differentially called into action when processing motor-related versus abstract content words or sentences. It has been recently shown that processing negative polarity action-related sentences modulates neural activity of premotor and motor cortices. Methods and Findings We sought to determine whether reading negative polarity sentences brought about differential modulation of cortico-spinal motor excitability depending on processing hand-action related or abstract sentences. Facilitatory paired-pulses Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (pp-TMS) was applied to the primary motor representation of the right-hand and the recorded amplitude of induced motor-evoked potentials (MEP) was used to index M1 activity during passive reading of either hand-action related or abstract content sentences presented in both negative and affirmative polarity. Results showed that the cortico-spinal excitability was affected by sentence polarity only in the hand-action related condition. Indeed, in keeping with previous TMS studies, reading positive polarity, hand action-related sentences suppressed cortico-spinal reactivity. This effect was absent when reading hand action-related negative polarity sentences. Moreover, no modulation of cortico-spinal reactivity was associated with either negative or positive polarity abstract sentences. Conclusions Our results indicate that grammatical cues prompting motor negation reduce the cortico-spinal suppression associated with affirmative action sentences reading and thus suggest that motor simulative processes underlying the embodiment may involve even syntactic features of language. PMID:21347305

77 FR 71830 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension of a Previously Approved Information...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-04

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-0100] Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension of a Previously Approved Information Collection; Comments Requested Monitoring Information Collections ACTION: 30-Day Notice. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing...

[Itraconazole action on Toxoplasma gondii].

PubMed

Jamra, L M; Amato Neto, V; Braz, L M; Camargo, M E

1992-01-01

With the purpose to increase our knowledge about the spectrum of therapeutic action of itraconazole, the activity of a new triazolic derivative against Toxoplasma gondii was studied in vivo and in vitro with the aid of an experimental infection model in mice. The trial also aimed at a possible improvement of the therapy of toxoplasmosis in regard to safety and dosing easiness. The present study has not shown significant activity of itraconazole against Toxoplasma gondii, differing from a previous observation that showed it's activity against Trypanosoma cruzi.

Acceptable Risk? The Nuclear Age in the United States. Study/Action Guide [and] Companion to Study/Action Guide for Congregations and Religious Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, PA. National Action/Research on the Military Industrial Complex.

A study-action guide and a companion guide are intended to help citizens explore some of the challenging dilemmas of U.S. nuclear policy. The two guides place strong emphasis on group discussion and participation as well as action citizens might want to take to bring about a non-nuclear world. The companion guide is intended for congregations and…

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.

Women's reflections and actions regarding working after breast cancer surgery - a focus group study.

PubMed

Nilsson, M I; Olsson, M; Wennman-Larsen, A; Petersson, L-M; Alexanderson, K

2013-07-01

To better understand processes affecting return to work (RTW) after breast cancer, more knowledge from the perspective of sickness absentees is warranted. Still, research based on women's own reasoning and actions in RTW is very scarce. This study aims to elucidate how women with breast cancer reflect and act on work-related issues. Thematic analyses of data from four focus group interviews with 23 women who had had breast cancer surgery in the previous 3-13 months were carried out. The five following themes of reflections regarding RTW were identified: 'health and functioning', 'self-esteem/integrity', 'value of work', 'relationships at work', and 'social circumstances'. These reflections were associated with the three identified themes of actions taken by the women: 'to work or to be sickness absent', 'to adjust work according to own needs or not', and 'to disclose or to hide one's cancer'. There was a distinct difference between women who experienced work as a source of well-being and those who needed a respite from work. This study adds knowledge to the process of RTW after breast cancer and focuses on factors that lead the women to an active role in this process. We point to the interplay between women's own preferences, perceived competence, outer opportunities, and the actions each woman take with regard to RTW, which need to be recognized by all stakeholders involved. Furthermore, it continues to be essential to address the specific issue of disclosure in the workplace because this may be distressing for women. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

75 FR 69151 - Agency Request for Revision of Previously Approved Information Collections: Uniform...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-10

... Previously Approved Information Collections: Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative... Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Nonprofit Organizations AGENCY: Office of the Secretary. ACTION....C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted...

77 FR 17405 - Notice of Intent To Revise a Previously Approved Information Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-26

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE National Agricultural Statistics Service Notice of Intent To Revise a Previously Approved Information Collection AGENCY: National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. ACTION... notice announces the intent of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to seek reinstatement...

77 FR 69504 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Emergency Reinstatement of Previously Approved Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-19

... MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD Agency Information Collection Activities; Emergency Reinstatement of Previously Approved Collection AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection Board. ACTION: Notice of emergency reinstatement. SUMMARY: The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is requesting approval from the Office of...

An action research study of secondary science assessment praxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, Thomas Gerald

This practical participatory action research study illuminates the assessment praxes of four Ontario secondary level science teachers at one school using a facilitative approach. Participants were joined by a thematic concern, that is, a commitment to inform and improve assessment. Hence, two distinct sets of research questions emerged. The first involves the nature of assessment as we asked, what was the current state of assessment practice in secondary science? What were participants' initial understandings of assessment and actual practices at the onset of this research? To what extent did these initial understandings and actual practices change due to the illumination of assessment praxes through action research involvement? What was their level of awareness of current Ontario government pronouncements and in what ways did they implement this knowledge? The second theme, concerning the nature of action research, was realised by asking what did participants learn about action research? What other learning and professional gains were realised during this study? And, what did I learn about action research and assessment through my involvement in this study? Data were collected via supportive discussion groups, individual interviews, classroom visitations, journals and documentation. This professional development experience facilitated 'interactive professionalism' as teachers worked in a small group and interacted frequently in the course of planning, testing new ideas, attempting to solve different problems, and assess the effectiveness of those ideas. In addition, this action research effort was strategic and systematic, to attain a high degree of specific interactions, (personal interviews, group meetings, classroom observations, evidence collection). This series of deliberate and planned intentions helped participants solve assessment dilemmas. We developed an awareness and understanding of the need for more preservice and inservice assessment training

Moments of action provide insight into critical times for advection-diffusion-reaction processes.

PubMed

Ellery, Adam J; Simpson, Matthew J; McCue, Scott W; Baker, Ruth E

2012-09-01

Berezhkovskii and co-workers introduced the concept of local accumulation time as a finite measure of the time required for the transient solution of a reaction-diffusion equation to effectively reach steady state [Biophys J. 99, L59 (2010); Phys. Rev. E 83, 051906 (2011)]. Berezhkovskii's approach is a particular application of the concept of mean action time (MAT) that was introduced previously by McNabb [IMA J. Appl. Math. 47, 193 (1991)]. Here, we generalize these previous results by presenting a framework to calculate the MAT, as well as the higher moments, which we call the moments of action. The second moment is the variance of action time, the third moment is related to the skew of action time, and so on. We consider a general transition from some initial condition to an associated steady state for a one-dimensional linear advection-diffusion-reaction partial differential equation (PDE). Our results indicate that it is possible to solve for the moments of action exactly without requiring the transient solution of the PDE. We present specific examples that highlight potential weaknesses of previous studies that have considered the MAT alone without considering higher moments. Finally, we also provide a meaningful interpretation of the moments of action by presenting simulation results from a discrete random-walk model together with some analysis of the particle lifetime distribution. This work shows that the moments of action are identical to the moments of the particle lifetime distribution for certain transitions.

Untrained Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) Fail to Imitate Novel Actions

PubMed Central

Tennie, Claudio; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2012-01-01

Background Social learning research in apes has focused on social learning in the technical (problem solving) domain - an approach that confounds action and physical information. Successful subjects in such studies may have been able to perform target actions not as a result of imitation learning but because they had learnt some technical aspect, for example, copying the movements of an apparatus (i.e., different forms of emulation learning). Methods Here we present data on action copying by non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees when physical information is removed from demonstrations. To date, only one such study (on gesture copying in a begging context) has been conducted – with negative results. Here we have improved this methodology and have also added non-begging test situations (a possible confound of the earlier study). Both familiar and novel actions were used as targets. Prior to testing, a trained conspecific demonstrator was rewarded for performing target actions in view of observers. All but one of the tested chimpanzees already failed to copy familiar actions. When retested with a novel target action, also the previously successful subject failed to copy – and he did so across several contexts. Conclusion Chimpanzees do not seem to copy novel actions, and only some ever copy familiar ones. Due to our having tested only non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees, the performance of our test subjects speak more than most other studies of the general (dis-)ability of chimpanzees to copy actions, and especially novel actions. PMID:22905102

Temporal prediction restores the evaluative processing of delayed action feedback: an electrophysiological study.

PubMed

Kimura, Kenta; Kimura, Motohiro

2016-09-28

The evaluative processing of the valence of action feedback is reflected by an event-related brain potential component called feedback-related negativity (FRN) or reward positivity (RewP). Recent studies have shown that FRN/RewP is markedly reduced when the action-feedback interval is long (e.g. 6000 ms), indicating that an increase in the action-feedback interval can undermine the evaluative processing of the valence of action feedback. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether or not such undermined evaluative processing of delayed action feedback could be restored by improving the accuracy of the prediction in terms of the timing of action feedback. With a typical gambling task in which the participant chose one of two cards and received an action feedback indicating monetary gain or loss, the present study showed that FRN/RewP was significantly elicited even when the action-feedback interval was 6000 ms, when an auditory stimulus sequence was additionally presented during the action-feedback interval as a temporal cue. This result suggests that the undermined evaluative processing of delayed action feedback can be restored by increasing the accuracy of the prediction on the timing of the action feedback.

Feedback about action performed can alter the sense of self-agency

PubMed Central

Kumar, Neeraj; Manjaly, Jaison A.; Miyapuram, Krishna P.

2014-01-01

Sense of agency refers to the sense of authorship of an action and its outcome. Sense of agency is often explained through computational models of motor control (e.g., the comparator model). Previous studies using the comparator model have manipulated action-outcome contingency to understand its effect on the sense of agency. More recent studies have shown that cues related to outcome, priming outcome and priming action have an effect on agency attribution. However, relatively few studies have focused on the effect of recalibrating internal predictions on the sense of agency. This study aims to investigate how feedback about action can recalibrate prediction and modulates the sense of agency. While participants performed a Flanker task, we manipulated the feedback about the validity of the action performed, independent of their responses. When true feedback is given, the sense of agency would reflect congruency between the sensory outcome and the action performed. The results show an opposite effect on the sense of agency when false feedback was given. We propose that feedback about action performed can recalibrate the prediction of sensory outcome and thus alter the sense of agency. PMID:24611059

Vitality Forms Processing in the Insula during Action Observation: A Multivoxel Pattern Analysis

PubMed Central

Di Cesare, Giuseppe; Valente, Giancarlo; Di Dio, Cinzia; Ruffaldi, Emanuele; Bergamasco, Massimo; Goebel, Rainer; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2016-01-01

Observing the style of an action done by others allows the observer to understand the cognitive state of the agent. This information has been defined by Stern “vitality forms”. Previous experiments showed that the dorso-central insula is selectively active both during vitality form observation and execution. In the present study, we presented participants with videos showing hand actions performed with different velocities and asked them to judge either their vitality form (gentle, neutral, rude) or their velocity (slow, medium, fast). The aim of the present study was to assess, using multi-voxel pattern analysis, whether vitality forms and velocities of observed goal-directed actions are differentially processed in the insula, and more specifically whether action velocity is encoded per se or it is an element that triggers neural populations of the insula encoding the vitality form. The results showed that, consistently across subjects, in the dorso-central sector of the insula there were voxels selectively tuned to vitality forms, while voxel tuned to velocity were rare. These results indicate that the dorso-central insula, which previous data showed to be involved in the vitality form processing, contains voxels specific for the action style processing. PMID:27375461

Vitality Forms Processing in the Insula during Action Observation: A Multivoxel Pattern Analysis.

PubMed

Di Cesare, Giuseppe; Valente, Giancarlo; Di Dio, Cinzia; Ruffaldi, Emanuele; Bergamasco, Massimo; Goebel, Rainer; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2016-01-01

Observing the style of an action done by others allows the observer to understand the cognitive state of the agent. This information has been defined by Stern "vitality forms". Previous experiments showed that the dorso-central insula is selectively active both during vitality form observation and execution. In the present study, we presented participants with videos showing hand actions performed with different velocities and asked them to judge either their vitality form (gentle, neutral, rude) or their velocity (slow, medium, fast). The aim of the present study was to assess, using multi-voxel pattern analysis, whether vitality forms and velocities of observed goal-directed actions are differentially processed in the insula, and more specifically whether action velocity is encoded per se or it is an element that triggers neural populations of the insula encoding the vitality form. The results showed that, consistently across subjects, in the dorso-central sector of the insula there were voxels selectively tuned to vitality forms, while voxel tuned to velocity were rare. These results indicate that the dorso-central insula, which previous data showed to be involved in the vitality form processing, contains voxels specific for the action style processing.

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The functional subdivision of the visual brain: Is there a real illusion effect on action? A multi-lab replication study.

PubMed

Kopiske, Karl K; Bruno, Nicola; Hesse, Constanze; Schenk, Thomas; Franz, Volker H

2016-06-01

It has often been suggested that visual illusions affect perception but not actions such as grasping, as predicted by the "two-visual-systems" hypothesis of Milner and Goodale (1995, The Visual Brain in Action, Oxford University press). However, at least for the Ebbinghaus illusion, relevant studies seem to reveal a consistent illusion effect on grasping (Franz & Gegenfurtner, 2008. Grasping visual illusions: consistent data and no dissociation. Cognitive Neuropsychology). Two interpretations are possible: either grasping is not immune to illusions (arguing against dissociable processing mechanisms for vision-for-perception and vision-for-action), or some other factors modulate grasping in ways that mimic a vision-for perception effect in actions. It has been suggested that one such factor may be obstacle avoidance (Haffenden Schiff & Goodale, 2001. The dissociation between perception and action in the Ebbinghaus illusion: nonillusory effects of pictorial cues on grasp. Current Biology, 11, 177-181). In four different labs (total N = 144), we conducted an exact replication of previous studies suggesting obstacle avoidance mechanisms, implementing conditions that tested grasping as well as multiple perceptual tasks. This replication was supplemented by additional conditions to obtain more conclusive results. Our results confirm that grasping is affected by the Ebbinghaus illusion and demonstrate that this effect cannot be explained by obstacle avoidance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of chemical spraying and environmental management efficacy in areas with minor previous application of integrated control actions for visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil.

PubMed

Lara-Silva, Fabiana de Oliveira; Michalsky, Érika Monteiro; Fortes-Dias, Consuelo Latorre; Fiuza, Vanessa de Oliveira Pires; Dias, Edelberto Santos

2017-12-01

Leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases that are transmitted to humans through the bite of Leishmania-infected phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera:Psychodidae). The main proved vector of visceral leishmaniais (VL) in the New World - Lutzomyia longipalpis - is well-adapted to urban areas and has extensive distribution within the five geographical regions of Brazil. Integrated public health actions directed for the vector, domestic reservoir and humans for the control of VL are preferentially applied in municipalities with higher epidemiological risk of transmission. In this study, we evaluated the individual impact of two main vector control actions - chemical spraying and environmental management - in two districts with no reported cases of human VL. Although belonging to an endemic municipality for VL in Brazil, the integrated control actions have not been applied in these districts due to the absence of human cases. The number of L. longipalpis captured in a two-year period was used as indicator of the population density of the vector. After chemical spraying a tendency of reduction in L. longipalpis was observed but with no statistical significance compared to the control. Environmental management was effective in that reduction and it may help in the control of VL by reducing the population density of the vector in a preventive and more permanent action, perhaps associated with chemical spraying. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Matched cohort study of external cephalic version in women with previous cesarean delivery.

PubMed

Keepanasseril, Anish; Anand, Keerthana; Soundara Raghavan, Subrahmanian

2017-07-01

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of external cephalic version (ECV) among women with previous cesarean delivery. A retrospective study was conducted using data for women with previous cesarean delivery and breech presentation who underwent ECV at or after 36 weeks of pregnancy during 2011-2016. For every case, two multiparous women without previous cesarean delivery who underwent ECV and were matched for age and pregnancy duration were included. Characteristics and outcomes were compared between groups. ECV was successful for 32 (84.2%) of 38 women with previous cesarean delivery and 62 (81.6%) in the control group (P=0.728). Multivariate regression analysis confirmed that previous cesarean was not associated with ECV success (odds ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval 0.19-18.47; P=0.244). Successful vaginal delivery after successful ECV was reported for 19 (59.4%) women in the previous cesarean delivery group and 52 (83.9%) in the control group (P<0.001). No ECV-associated complications occurred in women with previous cesarean delivery. To avoid a repeat cesarean delivery, ECV can be offered to women with breech presentation and previous cesarean delivery who are otherwise eligible for a trial of labor. © 2017 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Developmental Advising for Marginalized Community College Students: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Terrica S.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this action research study was to understand, evaluate, and improve the developmental advising practices used at a Washington State community college. This action research study endeavored to strengthen the developmental advising model originally designed to support the college's marginalized students. Guiding questions for the…

Artist-Teachers' In-Action Mental Models While Teaching Visual Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russo-Zimet, Gila

2017-01-01

Studies have examined the assumption that teachers have previous perceptions, beliefs and knowledge about learning (Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2015). This study presented the In-Action Mental Model of twenty leading artist-teachers while teaching Visual Arts in three Israeli art institutions of higher Education. Data was collected in two…

Through a Feminist Poststructuralist Lens: Embodied Subjectivites and Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chesnay, Catherine T.

2016-01-01

An emerging literature has been building bridges between poststructuralism and participatory action research, highlighting the latter's potential for transformative action. Using examples from participative action research projects with incarcerated or previously incarcerated women, this article discusses how participatory action research is a…

Shared Mechanisms in the Estimation of Self-Generated Actions and the Prediction of Other’s Actions by Humans

PubMed Central

Ganesh, Gowrishankar

2017-01-01

Abstract The question of how humans predict outcomes of observed motor actions by others is a fundamental problem in cognitive and social neuroscience. Previous theoretical studies have suggested that the brain uses parts of the forward model (used to estimate sensory outcomes of self-generated actions) to predict outcomes of observed actions. However, this hypothesis has remained controversial due to the lack of direct experimental evidence. To address this issue, we analyzed the behavior of darts experts in an understanding learning paradigm and utilized computational modeling to examine how outcome prediction of observed actions affected the participants’ ability to estimate their own actions. We recruited darts experts because sports experts are known to have an accurate outcome estimation of their own actions as well as prediction of actions observed in others. We first show that learning to predict the outcomes of observed dart throws deteriorates an expert’s abilities to both produce his own darts actions and estimate the outcome of his own throws (or self-estimation). Next, we introduce a state-space model to explain the trial-by-trial changes in the darts performance and self-estimation through our experiment. The model-based analysis reveals that the change in an expert’s self-estimation is explained only by considering a change in the individual’s forward model, showing that an improvement in an expert’s ability to predict outcomes of observed actions affects the individual’s forward model. These results suggest that parts of the same forward model are utilized in humans to both estimate outcomes of self-generated actions and predict outcomes of observed actions. PMID:29340300

Environmental Identity Development through Social Interactions, Action, and Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapleton, Sarah Riggs

2015-01-01

This article uses sociocultural identity theory to explore how practice, action, and recognition can facilitate environmental identity development. Recognition, a construct not previously explored in environmental identity literature, is particularly examined. The study is based on a group of diverse teens who traveled to South Asia to participate…

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.

Is Action Naming Better Preserved (than Object Naming) in Alzheimer's Disease and Why Should We Ask?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Druks, Judit; Masterson, Jackie; Kopelman, Michael; Clare, Linda; Rose, Anita; Rai, Gucharan

2006-01-01

The present study compared object and action naming in patients with Alzheimer's dementia. We tested the hypothesis put forward in (some) previous studies that in Alzheimer's dementia the production of verbs, that is required in action naming, is better preserved than the production of nouns, that is required in object naming. The possible reason…

A Self-Study of the Teaching of Action Research in a University Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Jung-ah

2011-01-01

Despite the potential benefits of action research, teaching action research in a university setting can present challenges. Analyzing my own experiences of teaching a university-based course on action research, this self-study investigates what my students (all classroom teachers) did and did not understand about action research and what hindered…

Transformational leadership and shared governance: an action study.

PubMed

Bamford-Wade, Anita; Moss, Cheryle

2010-10-01

The present study demonstrates the practical relevance of the concepts of transformational leadership as a Director of Nursing working with structure (shared governance) and active processes, informed by action research, to achieve the incremental breakthroughs associated with culture change in nursing. Responding to the context of a decade of health reforms in a New Zealand tertiary hospital, the leadership challenge, as a Director of Nursing, was to find ways of transforming the nursing workforce. How could nursing evolve from a relatively disempowered position within the organization (impact of the reforms) and reshape to achieve effectiveness within the new organizational culture? Interwoven with transformational leadership are action processes progressively moving forward through cycles of reconnaissance, planning, implementation and evaluation. The principles of shared governance 'partnership', 'equity', 'accountability' and 'ownership' underpin and work synchronically with the active processes in advancing the effectiveness of nursing. It is leadership for and in action. This study is descriptive and exploratory overall, and more specifically it uses reflective practice and self-reporting as methods. The outcomes of transformational leadership are evident in a confident, competent and committed nursing workforce which embraces continuous learning and expresses a professional respect for each other. The practical inter-weaving of the concepts of transformational leadership, shared governance and action processes provide a framework for sustainable change processes both at a unit and organizational level. It is the interplay between the three concepts that generates a process of creative innovation, questioning and challenging existing structures to try and reach a new level of excellence through the participation and valuing of nurses and nursing practice. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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Rational Action Selection in 1 1/2- to 3-Year-Olds Following an Extended Training Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klossek, Ulrike M. H.; Dickinson, Anthony

2012-01-01

Previous studies failed to find evidence for rational action selection in children under 2 years of age. The current study investigated whether younger children required more training to encode the relevant causal relationships. Children between 1 1/2 and 3 years of age were trained over two sessions to perform actions on a touch-sensitive screen…

Dirac-Born-Infeld actions and tachyon monopoles

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

Calo, Vincenzo; Tallarita, Gianni; Thomas, Steven

2010-04-15

We investigate magnetic monopole solutions of the non-Abelian Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action describing two coincident non-BPS D9-branes in flat space. Just as in the case of kink and vortex solitonic tachyon solutions of the full DBI non-BPS actions, as previously analyzed by Sen, these monopole configurations are singular in the first instance and require regularization. We discuss a suitable non-Abelian ansatz that describes a pointlike magnetic monopole and show it solves the equations of motion to leading order in the regularization parameter. Fluctuations are studied and shown to describe a codimension three BPS D6-brane, and a formula is derived for itsmore » tension.« less

Hitting Is Contagious: Experience and Action Induction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Rob; Beilock, Sian L.

2011-01-01

In baseball, it is believed that "hitting is contagious," that is, probability of success increases if the previous few batters get a hit. Could this effect be partially explained by action induction--that is, the tendency to perform an action related to one that has just been observed? A simulation was used to investigate the effect of inducing…

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Comprehending Sentences With the Body: Action Compatibility in British Sign Language?

PubMed

Vinson, David; Perniss, Pamela; Fox, Neil; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2017-05-01

Previous studies show that reading sentences about actions leads to specific motor activity associated with actually performing those actions. We investigate how sign language input may modulate motor activation, using British Sign Language (BSL) sentences, some of which explicitly encode direction of motion, versus written English, where motion is only implied. We find no evidence of action simulation in BSL comprehension (Experiments 1-3), but we find effects of action simulation in comprehension of written English sentences by deaf native BSL signers (Experiment 4). These results provide constraints on the nature of mental simulations involved in comprehending action sentences referring to transfer events, suggesting that the richer contextual information provided by BSL sentences versus written or spoken English may reduce the need for action simulation in comprehension, at least when the event described does not map completely onto the signer's own body. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Neural Action Fields for Optic Flow Based Navigation: A Simulation Study of the Fly Lobula Plate Network

PubMed Central

Borst, Alexander; Weber, Franz

2011-01-01

Optic flow based navigation is a fundamental way of visual course control described in many different species including man. In the fly, an essential part of optic flow analysis is performed in the lobula plate, a retinotopic map of motion in the environment. There, the so-called lobula plate tangential cells possess large receptive fields with different preferred directions in different parts of the visual field. Previous studies demonstrated an extensive connectivity between different tangential cells, providing, in principle, the structural basis for their large and complex receptive fields. We present a network simulation of the tangential cells, comprising most of the neurons studied so far (22 on each hemisphere) with all the known connectivity between them. On their dendrite, model neurons receive input from a retinotopic array of Reichardt-type motion detectors. Model neurons exhibit receptive fields much like their natural counterparts, demonstrating that the connectivity between the lobula plate tangential cells indeed can account for their complex receptive field structure. We describe the tuning of a model neuron to particular types of ego-motion (rotation as well as translation around/along a given body axis) by its ‘action field’. As we show for model neurons of the vertical system (VS-cells), each of them displays a different type of action field, i.e., responds maximally when the fly is rotating around a particular body axis. However, the tuning width of the rotational action fields is relatively broad, comparable to the one with dendritic input only. The additional intra-lobula-plate connectivity mainly reduces their translational action field amplitude, i.e., their sensitivity to translational movements along any body axis of the fly. PMID:21305019

Simplicial Palatini action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khatsymovsky, V. M.

2018-01-01

We consider the piecewise flat spacetime and a simplicial analog of the Palatini form of the general relativity (GR) action where the discrete Christoffel symbols are given on the tetrahedra as variables that are independent of the metric. Excluding these variables with the help of the equations of motion gives exactly the Regge action. This paper continues our previous work. Now, we include the parity violation term and the analog of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter introduced in the orthogonal connection form of GR. We consider the path integral and the functional integration over the connection. The result of the latter (for certain limiting cases of some parameters) is compared with the earlier found result of the functional integration over the connection for the analogous orthogonal connection representation of Regge action. These results, mainly as some measures on the lengths/areas, are discussed for the possibility of the diagram technique where the perturbative diagrams for the Regge action calculated using the measure obtained are finite. This finiteness is due to these measures providing elementary lengths being mostly bounded and separated from zero, just as the finiteness of a theory on a lattice with an analogous probability distribution of spacings.

Barriers to postpartum screening for type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study of women with previous gestational diabetes.

PubMed

Rafii, Forough; Rahimparvar, Seyedeh Fatemeh Vasegh; Mehrdad, Neda; Keramat, Afsaneh

2017-01-01

Risk of developing type 2 diabetes is increased in women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Postpartum glycemic screening is recommended in women with recent GDM. But this screening rate is low and the reasons are unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of Iranian women with recent GDM on barriers of postpartum screening for diabetes. This qualitative study was conducted in Tehran, Iran in 2016. Semi-structured interview was used for data collection. 22 women with recent GDM were interviewed. These women gave birth in Tehran hospitals at a minimum of 6 months before interview. The missed screening defined as not attending to laboratory for Fasting Blood Sugar and/or Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, 6 week to 6 month after their child birthing. The data was analyzed by content analysis method. Themes and sub-themes that illustrated the barriers to postpartum diabetes screening were: inadequate education (about developing diabetes in the future, implementation of the screening, and glucometer validity in diagnosis of diabetes), perceiving the screening as difficult (feeling comfortable with the glucometer, poor laboratory conditions, issues related to the baby/babies, and financial problems), improper attitudes toward the screening (unwilling to get diagnosed, not giving priority to oneself, having false beliefs) and procrastination (gap to intention and action, self-deception and self-regulation failure). Women with recent GDM reported several barriers for postpartum diabetes screening. This study help to develop the evidence-based interventions for improving this screening rate.

A study of actions in operative notes.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Pakhomov, Serguei; Burkart, Nora E; Ryan, James O; Melton, Genevieve B

2012-01-01

Operative notes contain rich information about techniques, instruments, and materials used in procedures. To assist development of effective information extraction (IE) techniques for operative notes, we investigated the sublanguage used to describe actions within the operative report 'procedure description' section. Deep parsing results of 362,310 operative notes with an expanded Stanford parser using the SPECIALIST Lexicon resulted in 200 verbs (92% coverage) including 147 action verbs. Nominal action predicates for each action verb were gathered from WordNet, SPECIALIST Lexicon, New Oxford American Dictionary and Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Coverage gaps were seen in existing lexical, domain, and semantic resources (Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, SPECIALIST Lexicon, WordNet and FrameNet). Our findings demonstrate the need to construct surgical domain-specific semantic resources for IE from operative notes.

The validity of different measures of automatic alcohol action tendencies.

PubMed

Kersbergen, Inge; Woud, Marcella L; Field, Matt

2015-03-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that automatic alcohol action tendencies are related to alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking. These action tendencies are measured with reaction time tasks in which the latency to make an approach response to alcohol pictures is compared with the latency to make an avoidance response. In the literature, 4 different tasks have been used, and these tasks differ on whether alcohol is a relevant (R) or irrelevant (IR) feature for categorization and on whether participants must make a symbolic approach response (stimulus-response compatibility [SRC] tasks) or an overt behavioral response (approach avoidance tasks [AAT]) to the pictures. Previous studies have shown positive correlations between measures of action tendencies and hazardous drinking and weekly alcohol consumption. However, results have been inconsistent and the different measures have not been directly compared with each other. Therefore, it is unclear which task is the best predictor of hazardous drinking and alcohol consumption. In the present study, 80 participants completed all 4 measures of action tendencies (i.e., R-SRC, IR-SRC, R-AAT, and IR-AAT) and measures of alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking. Stepwise regressions showed that the R-SRC and R-AAT were the only significant predictors of hazardous drinking, whereas the R-AAT was the only reliable predictor of alcohol consumption. Our results confirm that drinking behavior is positively correlated with automatic alcohol approach tendencies, but only if alcohol-relatedness is the relevant feature for categorization. Theoretical implications and methodological issues are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Action history influences subsequent movement via two distinct processes

PubMed Central

Poh, Eugene; de Rugy, Aymar

2017-01-01

The characteristics of goal-directed actions tend to resemble those of previously executed actions, but it is unclear whether such effects depend strictly on action history, or also reflect context-dependent processes related to predictive motor planning. Here we manipulated the time available to initiate movements after a target was specified, and studied the effects of predictable movement sequences, to systematically dissociate effects of the most recently executed movement from the movement required next. We found that directional biases due to recent movement history strongly depend upon movement preparation time, suggesting an important contribution from predictive planning. However predictive biases co-exist with an independent source of bias that depends only on recent movement history. The results indicate that past experience influences movement execution through a combination of temporally-stable processes that are strictly use-dependent, and dynamically-evolving and context-dependent processes that reflect prediction of future actions. PMID:29058670

76 FR 61114 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Revision of a Previously Approved Collection, With...

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Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching.

PubMed

Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

2017-01-01

The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects ). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode.

Virtual Action Learning: A Pilot in Building Leadership Capacity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radcliff, Phil

2017-01-01

This account of practice encompasses a pilot virtual action learning programme with a small group of learners. This was an 18-month extension to the one-week Leadership Open Programme that the participants had previously completed at the Business School. It includes insights from an evaluation study completed in early 2016. It considers in…

A case study of the development of environmental action projects from the framework of participatory action research within two middle school classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charmatz, Kim

The purpose of this study was to understand student and teacher empowerment through a socially critical environmental education perspective. The main research question guiding this study was: How do participants make sense of a learning experience in which students design and carry out an environmental action project in their community? This study used participatory action research and critical theory as practical and theoretical frameworks. These frameworks were relevant as this study sought to examine social change, power, and relationships through participants' experiences. The context of this study was within one seventh and one eighth grade classroom participating in environmental projects. The study was conducted in spring 2005 with an additional follow-up data collection period during spring 2006. The school was located in a densely populated metropolitan suburb. Fifty-three students, a teacher researcher, and three science teachers participated. Data sources were written surveys, scores on Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey Instrument (MSELI), observations, interviews, and student work. This study used a mixed methodological approach. Quantitative data analysis involved dependent samples t-test scores on the MSELI before and after the completion of the projects. Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. This study has implications for educators interested in democratic education. Environmental action projects provide a context for students and teachers to learn interdisciplinary content knowledge, develop personal beliefs, and learn ways to take action in their communities. This pedagogy has the potential to increase cooperation, communication, and tensions within school communities. Students' participation in the development of environmental action projects may lead to feelings of empowerment or being able to make a difference in their community, as an individual or member of a group. Future research is needed to discern

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Action Learning in ActionAid Nepal: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lustig, Patricia; Rai, Deep Ranjani

2009-01-01

This article describes an example of how action learning was used as a framework for an organisational intervention to fundamentally change the organisational culture over a period of time. It also identifies our learning over that period of time and what worked well (and not so well) in an International Non-Governmental Organisation in Nepal.

Motor mapping of implied actions during perception of emotional body language.

PubMed

Borgomaneri, Sara; Gazzola, Valeria; Avenanti, Alessio

2012-04-01

Perceiving and understanding emotional cues is critical for survival. Using the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) previous TMS studies have found that watching humans in emotional pictures increases motor excitability relative to seeing landscapes or household objects, suggesting that emotional cues may prime the body for action. Here we tested whether motor facilitation to emotional pictures may reflect the simulation of the human motor behavior implied in the pictures occurring independently of its emotional valence. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) to single-pulse TMS of the left motor cortex were recorded from hand muscles during observation and categorization of emotional and neutral pictures. In experiment 1 participants watched neutral, positive and negative IAPS stimuli, while in experiment 2, they watched pictures depicting human emotional (joyful, fearful), neutral body movements and neutral static postures. Experiment 1 confirms the increase in excitability for emotional IAPS stimuli found in previous research and shows, however, that more implied motion is perceived in emotional relative to neutral scenes. Experiment 2 shows that motor excitability and implied motion scores for emotional and neutral body actions were comparable and greater than for static body postures. In keeping with embodied simulation theories, motor response to emotional pictures may reflect the simulation of the action implied in the emotional scenes. Action simulation may occur independently of whether the observed implied action carries emotional or neutral meanings. Our study suggests the need of controlling implied motion when exploring motor response to emotional pictures of humans. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quenching the XXZ spin chain: quench action approach versus generalized Gibbs ensemble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mestyán, M.; Pozsgay, B.; Takács, G.; Werner, M. A.

2015-04-01

Following our previous work (Pozsgay et al 2014 Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 117203) we present here a detailed comparison of the quench action approach and the predictions of the generalized Gibbs ensemble, with the result that while the quench action formalism correctly captures the steady state, the GGE does not give a correct description of local short-distance correlation functions. We extend our studies to include another initial state, the so-called q-dimer state. We present important details of our construction, including new results concerning exact overlaps for the dimer and q-dimer states, and we also give an exact solution of the quench-action-based overlap-TBA for the q-dimer. Furthermore, we extend our computations to include the xx spin correlations besides the zz correlations treated previously, and give a detailed discussion of the underlying reasons for the failure of the GGE, especially in the light of new developments.

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chien-hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-01-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies,…

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2012-06-15

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-0102] Agency Information Collection Activities: COPS Progress Report, Revision of a Previously Approved Collection, With Change; Comments Requested ACTION: 60-Day notice of information collection under review. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community...

N400 ERPs for actions: building meaning in context

PubMed Central

Amoruso, Lucía; Gelormini, Carlos; Aboitiz, Francisco; Alvarez González, Miguel; Manes, Facundo; Cardona, Juan F.; Ibanez, Agustín

2013-01-01

Converging neuroscientific evidence suggests the existence of close links between language and sensorimotor cognition. Accordingly, during the comprehension of meaningful actions, our brain would recruit semantic-related operations similar to those associated with the processing of language information. Consistent with this view, electrophysiological findings show that the N400 component, traditionally linked to the semantic processing of linguistic material, can also be elicited by action-related material. This review outlines recent data from N400 studies that examine the understanding of action events. We focus on three specific domains, including everyday action comprehension, co-speech gesture integration, and the semantics involved in motor planning and execution. Based on the reviewed findings, we suggest that both negativities (the N400 and the action-N400) reflect a common neurocognitive mechanism involved in the construction of meaning through the expectancies created by previous experiences and current contextual information. To shed light on how this process is instantiated in the brain, a testable contextual fronto-temporo-parietal model is proposed. PMID:23459873

STUDIES ON THE ANTIPYRETIC ACTION OF CORTISONE IN PYROGEN-INDUCED FEVER

PubMed Central

Atkins, Elisha; Allison, Fred; Smith, Mary Ruth; Wood, W. Barry

1955-01-01

The mode of action of cortisone as an antipyretic has been studied in rabbits challenged with intravenous injections of bacterial pyrogens. The fever induced by pyromen or dextran was found to be markedly suppressed when cortisone was administered in liberal amounts (25 mg. twice daily) for 3 days prior to the challenge. Although the cortisone effectively blocked the febrile response to both pyrogens, it failed to influence the transient but marked leucopenia which characteristically precedes the onset of fever. The antipyretic action of the drug also was shown to bear no relation to the activity of the serum factor recently demonstrated by Farr, Grant, and others to be involved in the production of pyrogen-induced fever. In preliminary experiments with typhoid vaccine as the inciting pyrogen, the presence of serum factor activity in normal blood and its absence in the blood of pyrogen-tolerant rabbits was confirmed. Subsequently the blood of rabbits treated with antipyretically effective doses of cortisone was shown to contain just as much serum factor activity as that of normal rabbits. In addition, previous incubation of the pyrogen with serum factor failed to influence the antipyretic effect of the drug. It is concluded from these findings that in suppressing pyrogen fever, cortisone acts neither upon the leucopenic reaction nor upon the fever-accelerating factor of the serum. By exclusion it would appear that the drug must influence some later stage of the fever-producing process. The mechanisms involved in the later stages of the response to exogenous pyrogen remain undefined, and the need for determining whether they are related to the prefebrile leucopenia is emphasized. PMID:14354106

76 FR 62048 - ConocoPhillips Company; Application for Blanket Authorization To Export Previously Imported...

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2011-10-06

... Authorization To Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas on a Short-Term Basis AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department...), Office of Natural Gas Regulatory Activities, Office of Fossil Energy, P.O. Box 44375, Washington, DC...

Effective Use of Action-Oriented Studies in Pakistan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, M.

1991-01-01

This article summarizes results from action-oriented studies carried out at the Mental Heath Centre in Peshawar, Pakistan, dealing with such topics as attitudes toward disability, casual integration, and trends in polio paralysis. The article also considers problems associated with the dissemination of special education and rehabilitation research…

[Instrumental, communicative and strategic actions: a descriptive study of nursing practice according to critical theory].

PubMed

Rich-Ruiz, Manuel

2011-01-01

According to the literature consulted, the biomedical approach continues dominating the ways in which nurses think, work and inform. In order to study whether this situation also occurs in our context, this research proposes to 1) describe the value or weight nurses give to the different instrumental, strategic and communicative actions, according to Habermas' Theory of the Communicative Action; as well as 2) analyse its possible relationship with the type of unit in which nurses work. It is a descriptive study including 89 nurses, conducted in medical, surgical and onco-haematological hospital wards in the Hospital Reina Sofia of Cordoba. For the data collection, a questionnaire was created specifically for the study, made up of 4 instrumental actions, 4 strategic actions and 4 communicative actions that were scored 1-5 according to their value or importance. The questionnaire was self-administered and collected after one week. The instrumental actions obtain the highest scores in the area of thoughts (19.49) and practice (18.9), followed by the communicative actions. Nevertheless, the strategic actions exceeded the communicative actions in the record (17.27 vs 14.49). Only in the onco-haematology units, communicative actions maintained high scores (17.26). The results from the present study emphasise the hegemony of the biomedical model, represented by instrumental and strategic actions, and draw a difficult situation for the communicative action, which has to find its place in the professional speech. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Choosing Actions

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, David A.; Chapman, Kate M.; Coelho, Chase J.; Gong, Lanyun; Studenka, Breanna E.

2013-01-01

Actions that are chosen have properties that distinguish them from actions that are not. Of the nearly infinite possible actions that can achieve any given task, many of the unchosen actions are irrelevant, incorrect, or inappropriate. Others are relevant, correct, or appropriate but are disfavored for other reasons. Our research focuses on the question of what distinguishes actions that are chosen from actions that are possible but are not. We review studies that use simple preference methods to identify factors that contribute to action choices, especially for object-manipulation tasks. We can determine which factors are especially important through simple behavioral experiments. PMID:23761769

Dance Education Action Research: A Twin Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giguere, Miriam

2015-01-01

In this article, the author compares the practices, philosophy, and history of action research, also known as participatory action research, to the purposes and practices of dance education. The comparison yields connections in four categories, enhancing self-reflective teaching and curriculum design, taking responsibility for teaching outcomes,…

Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching

PubMed Central

Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

2018-01-01

The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode. PMID:29387027

Attitudes Regarding Action Learning: Undergraduate vs. Graduate Business Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenstein, Alvin; Ashley, Allan; Gupta, Rakesh; Ulin, Kristin

2008-01-01

Previous research in our Action Learning Program demonstrated that although undergraduates preferred the Action Learning mode to the traditional lecture and discussion mode of instruction, they missed the familiar structure of the more traditional pedagogy. Consequently increased structure was implemented in both an undergraduate and graduate…

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.

Minesweeper and Hypothetical Thinking Action Research & Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Jacob J.

2010-01-01

This Action Research project and Pilot Study was designed and implemented to improve students' hypothetical thinking abilities by exploring the possibility that learning and playing the computer game Minesweeper may inherently help improve hypothetical thinking. One objective was to use educational tools to make it easier for students to learn the…

LAPAROSCOPY AFTER PREVIOUS LAPAROTOMY

PubMed Central

Godinjak, Zulfo; Idrizbegović, Edin; Begić, Kerim

2006-01-01

Following the abdominal surgery, extensive adhesions often occur and they can cause difficulties during laparoscopic operations. However, previous laparotomy is not considered to be a contraindication for lap-aroscopy. The aim of this study is to present that an insertion of Veres needle in the region of umbilicus is a safe method for creating a pneumoperitoneum for laparoscopic operations after previous laparotomy. In the last three years, we have performed 144 laparoscopic operations in patients that previously underwent one or two laparotomies. Pathology of digestive system, genital organs, Cesarean Section or abdominal war injuries were the most common causes of previous laparotomy. During those operations or during entering into abdominal cavity we have not experienced any complications, while in 7 patients we performed conversion to laparotomy following the diagnostic laparoscopy. In all patients an insertion of Veres needle and trocar insertion in the umbilical region was performed, namely a technique of closed laparoscopy. Not even in one patient adhesions in the region of umbilicus were found, and no abdominal organs were injured. PMID:17177649

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2012-05-01

... Authorization To Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas on a Short-Term Basis AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department... Activities, Office of Fossil Energy, P.O. Box 44375, Washington, DC 20026-4375. Hand Delivery or Private...

Barriers to postpartum screening for type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study of women with previous gestational diabetes

PubMed Central

Rafii, Forough; Rahimparvar, Seyedeh Fatemeh Vasegh; Mehrdad, Neda; Keramat, Afsaneh

2017-01-01

Introduction Risk of developing type 2 diabetes is increased in women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Postpartum glycemic screening is recommended in women with recent GDM. But this screening rate is low and the reasons are unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of Iranian women with recent GDM on barriers of postpartum screening for diabetes. Methods This qualitative study was conducted in Tehran, Iran in 2016. Semi-structured interview was used for data collection. 22 women with recent GDM were interviewed. These women gave birth in Tehran hospitals at a minimum of 6 months before interview. The missed screening defined as not attending to laboratory for Fasting Blood Sugar and/or Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, 6 week to 6 month after their child birthing. The data was analyzed by content analysis method. Results Themes and sub-themes that illustrated the barriers to postpartum diabetes screening were: inadequate education (about developing diabetes in the future, implementation of the screening, and glucometer validity in diagnosis of diabetes), perceiving the screening as difficult (feeling comfortable with the glucometer, poor laboratory conditions, issues related to the baby/babies, and financial problems), improper attitudes toward the screening (unwilling to get diagnosed, not giving priority to oneself, having false beliefs) and procrastination (gap to intention and action, self-deception and self-regulation failure). Conclusion Women with recent GDM reported several barriers for postpartum diabetes screening. This study help to develop the evidence-based interventions for improving this screening rate. PMID:28451031

Use of an action-selection framework for human-carnivore conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans.

PubMed

Barlow, Adam C D; Greenwood, Christina J; Ahmad, Ishtiaq U; Smith, James L D

2010-10-01

Human-carnivore conflict is manifested in the death of humans, livestock, and carnivores. The resulting negative local attitudes and retribution killings imperil the future of many endangered carnivores. We tailored existing management tools to create a framework to facilitate the selection of actions to alleviate human-carnivore conflict and applied the framework to the human-tiger conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. We identified potential actions that consider previous management efforts, local knowledge, cost-effectiveness, fieldwork experience of authors and project staff, previous research on tiger ecology by the authors, and recommendations from human-carnivore conflict studies in other countries. Our framework includes creation of a profile to improve understanding of the nature of the conflict and its underlying causality. Identified actions include deterrents, education, direct tiger management, and response teams. We ranked actions by their potential to reduce conflict and the monetary cost of their implementation. We ranked tiger-response teams and monitoring problem tigers as the two best actions because both had relatively high impact and cost-effectiveness. We believe this framework could be used under a wide range of human-wildlife conflict situations because it provides a structured approach to selection of mitigating actions. © 2010 Society for Conservation Biology.

Action Video Gaming and Cognitive Control: Playing First Person Shooter Games Is Associated with Improved Action Cascading but Not Inhibition

PubMed Central

Steenbergen, Laura; Sellaro, Roberta; Stock, Ann-Kathrin; Beste, Christian; Colzato, Lorenza S.

2015-01-01

There is a constantly growing interest in developing efficient methods to enhance cognitive functioning and/or to ameliorate cognitive deficits. One particular line of research focuses on the possibly cognitive enhancing effects that action video game (AVG) playing may have on game players. Interestingly, AVGs, especially first person shooter games, require gamers to develop different action control strategies to rapidly react to fast moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to flexibly adapt their behaviour to the ever-changing context. This study investigated whether and to what extent experience with such videogames is associated with enhanced performance on cognitive control tasks that require similar abilities. Experienced action videogame-players (AVGPs) and individuals with little to no videogame experience (NVGPs) performed a stop-change paradigm that provides a relatively well-established diagnostic measure of action cascading and response inhibition. Replicating previous findings, AVGPs showed higher efficiency in response execution, but not improved response inhibition (i.e. inhibitory control), as compared to NVGPs. More importantly, compared to NVGPs, AVGPs showed enhanced action cascading processes when an interruption (stop) and a change towards an alternative response were required simultaneously, as well as when such a change had to occur after the completion of the stop process. Our findings suggest that playing AVGs is associated with enhanced action cascading and multi-component behaviour without affecting inhibitory control. PMID:26655929

Action Video Gaming and Cognitive Control: Playing First Person Shooter Games Is Associated with Improved Action Cascading but Not Inhibition.

PubMed

Steenbergen, Laura; Sellaro, Roberta; Stock, Ann-Kathrin; Beste, Christian; Colzato, Lorenza S

2015-01-01

There is a constantly growing interest in developing efficient methods to enhance cognitive functioning and/or to ameliorate cognitive deficits. One particular line of research focuses on the possibly cognitive enhancing effects that action video game (AVG) playing may have on game players. Interestingly, AVGs, especially first person shooter games, require gamers to develop different action control strategies to rapidly react to fast moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to flexibly adapt their behaviour to the ever-changing context. This study investigated whether and to what extent experience with such videogames is associated with enhanced performance on cognitive control tasks that require similar abilities. Experienced action videogame-players (AVGPs) and individuals with little to no videogame experience (NVGPs) performed a stop-change paradigm that provides a relatively well-established diagnostic measure of action cascading and response inhibition. Replicating previous findings, AVGPs showed higher efficiency in response execution, but not improved response inhibition (i.e. inhibitory control), as compared to NVGPs. More importantly, compared to NVGPs, AVGPs showed enhanced action cascading processes when an interruption (stop) and a change towards an alternative response were required simultaneously, as well as when such a change had to occur after the completion of the stop process. Our findings suggest that playing AVGs is associated with enhanced action cascading and multi-component behaviour without affecting inhibitory control.

Action Video Game Training for Healthy Adults: A Meta-Analytic Study

PubMed Central

Wang, Ping; Liu, Han-Hui; Zhu, Xing-Ting; Meng, Tian; Li, Hui-Jie; Zuo, Xi-Nian

2016-01-01

Action video game (AVG) has attracted increasing attention from both the public and from researchers. More and more studies found video game training improved a variety of cognitive functions. However, it remains controversial whether healthy adults can benefit from AVG training, and whether young and older adults benefit similarly from AVG training. In the present study, we aimed to quantitatively assess the AVG training effect on the cognitive ability of adults and to compare the training effects on young and older adults by conducting a meta-analysis on previous findings. We systematically searched video game training studies published between January 1986 and July 2015. Twenty studies were included in the present meta-analysis, for a total of 313 participants included in the training group and 323 participants in the control group. The results demonstrate that healthy adults achieve moderate benefit from AVG training in overall cognitive ability and moderate to small benefit in specific cognitive domains. In contrast, young adults gain more benefits from AVG training than older adults in both overall cognition and specific cognitive domains. Age, education, and some methodological factors, such as the session duration, session number, total training duration, and control group type, modulated the training effects. These meta-analytic findings provide evidence that AVG training may serve as an efficient way to improve the cognitive performance of healthy adults. We also discussed several directions for future AVG training studies. PMID:27378996

Action Video Game Training for Healthy Adults: A Meta-Analytic Study.

PubMed

Wang, Ping; Liu, Han-Hui; Zhu, Xing-Ting; Meng, Tian; Li, Hui-Jie; Zuo, Xi-Nian

2016-01-01

Action video game (AVG) has attracted increasing attention from both the public and from researchers. More and more studies found video game training improved a variety of cognitive functions. However, it remains controversial whether healthy adults can benefit from AVG training, and whether young and older adults benefit similarly from AVG training. In the present study, we aimed to quantitatively assess the AVG training effect on the cognitive ability of adults and to compare the training effects on young and older adults by conducting a meta-analysis on previous findings. We systematically searched video game training studies published between January 1986 and July 2015. Twenty studies were included in the present meta-analysis, for a total of 313 participants included in the training group and 323 participants in the control group. The results demonstrate that healthy adults achieve moderate benefit from AVG training in overall cognitive ability and moderate to small benefit in specific cognitive domains. In contrast, young adults gain more benefits from AVG training than older adults in both overall cognition and specific cognitive domains. Age, education, and some methodological factors, such as the session duration, session number, total training duration, and control group type, modulated the training effects. These meta-analytic findings provide evidence that AVG training may serve as an efficient way to improve the cognitive performance of healthy adults. We also discussed several directions for future AVG training studies.

Lessons Learnt from Applying Action Research to Support Strategy Formation Processes in Long-Term Care Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramer, Hendrik; Dewulf, Geert; Voordijk, Hans

2015-01-01

This study demonstrates how action research (AR) that is aimed at scaling-up experiments can be applied to support a strategy formation process (SFP) in a subsidized long-term care network. Previous research has developed numerous AR frameworks to support experiments in various domains, but has failed to explain how to apply AR and action learning…

Testing the role of action and inaction anticipated regret on intentions and behaviour.

PubMed

Sandberg, Tracy; Hutter, Russell; Richetin, Juliette; Conner, Mark

2016-09-01

Anticipated regret (AR) has been suggested as a useful addition to the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that captures affective influences. However, previous research has generally (1) assessed the impact of AR in relation to one behaviour (action or inaction) when considering TPB variables in relation to the alternative behaviour, (2) not controlled for affective attitudes or past behaviour, and (3) examined only one or two behaviours. In two studies across several behaviours, the present research showed that even when controlling for affective attitudes, past behaviour, and other TPB variables towards action, action and inaction AR each added to the prediction of intentions across multiple behaviours. The two studies also showed that inaction regret was generally the stronger predictor, although action regret was important for some types of behaviour. Implications and issues for further research are discussed. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Eunah

2012-01-01

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

Investigation of antibacterial mode of action for traditional and amphiphilic aminoglycosides.

PubMed

Udumula, Venkatareddy; Ham, Young Wan; Fosso, Marina Y; Chan, Ka Yee; Rai, Ravi; Zhang, Jianjun; Li, Jie; Chang, Cheng-Wei Tom

2013-03-15

Aminoglycoside represents a class of versatile and broad spectrum antibacterial agents. In an effort to revive the antibacterial activity against aminoglycoside resistant bacteria, our laboratory has developed two new classes of aminoglycoside, pyranmycin and amphiphilic neomycin (NEOF004). The former resembles the traditional aminoglycoside, neomycin. The latter, albeit derived from neomycin, appears to exert antibacterial action via a different mode of action. In order to discern that these aminoglycoside derivatives have distinct antibacterial mode of action, RNA-binding affinity and fluorogenic dye were employed. These studies, together with our previous investigation, confirm that pyranmycin exhibit the traditional antibacterial mode of action of aminoglycosides by binding toward the bacterial rRNA. On the other hand, the amphiphilic neomycin, NEOF004 disrupts the bacterial cell wall. In a broader perspective, it verifies that structurally modified neomycin can exert different antibacterial mode of action leading to the revival of activity against aminoglycoside resistant bacteria. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A New Approach for Resolving Conflicts in Actionable Behavioral Rules

PubMed Central

Zhu, Dan; Zeng, Daniel

2014-01-01

Knowledge is considered actionable if users can take direct actions based on such knowledge to their advantage. Among the most important and distinctive actionable knowledge are actionable behavioral rules that can directly and explicitly suggest specific actions to take to influence (restrain or encourage) the behavior in the users' best interest. However, in mining such rules, it often occurs that different rules may suggest the same actions with different expected utilities, which we call conflicting rules. To resolve the conflicts, a previous valid method was proposed. However, inconsistency of the measure for rule evaluating may hinder its performance. To overcome this problem, we develop a new method that utilizes rule ranking procedure as the basis for selecting the rule with the highest utility prediction accuracy. More specifically, we propose an integrative measure, which combines the measures of the support and antecedent length, to evaluate the utility prediction accuracies of conflicting rules. We also introduce a tunable weight parameter to allow the flexibility of integration. We conduct several experiments to test our proposed approach and evaluate the sensitivity of the weight parameter. Empirical results indicate that our approach outperforms those from previous research. PMID:25162054

Simulating an Enactment Effect: Pronouns Guide Action Simulation during Narrative Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ditman, Tali; Brunye, Tad T.; Mahoney, Caroline R.; Taylor, Holly A.

2010-01-01

Recent research has suggested that reading involves the mental simulation of events and actions described in a text. It is possible however that previous findings did not tap into processes engaged during natural reading but rather those triggered by task demands. The present study examined whether readers spontaneously mentally simulate the…

Action video game training reduces the Simon Effect.

PubMed

Hutchinson, Claire V; Barrett, Doug J K; Nitka, Aleksander; Raynes, Kerry

2016-04-01

A number of studies have shown that training on action video games improves various aspects of visual cognition including selective attention and inhibitory control. Here, we demonstrate that action video game play can also reduce the Simon Effect, and, hence, may have the potential to improve response selection during the planning and execution of goal-directed action. Non-game-players were randomly assigned to one of four groups; two trained on a first-person-shooter game (Call of Duty) on either Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo DS, one trained on a visual training game for Nintendo DS, and a control group who received no training. Response times were used to contrast performance before and after training on a behavioral assay designed to manipulate stimulus-response compatibility (the Simon Task). The results revealed significantly faster response times and a reduced cost of stimulus-response incompatibility in the groups trained on the first-person-shooter game. No benefit of training was observed in the control group or the group trained on the visual training game. These findings are consistent with previous evidence that action game play elicits plastic changes in the neural circuits that serve attentional control, and suggest training may facilitate goal-directed action by improving players' ability to resolve conflict during response selection and execution.

Beneficial effects of previous exercise training on renal changes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic female rats

PubMed Central

Amaral, Liliany S de Brito; Silva, Fernanda A; Correia, Vicente B; Andrade, Clara EF; Dutra, Bárbara A; Oliveira, Márcio V; de Magalhães, Amélia CM; Volpini, Rildo A; Seguro, Antonio C; Coimbra, Terezila M

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the effects of aerobic exercise performed both previously and after the induction of diabetes mellitus on changes of renal function and structure in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Female wistar rats were divided into five groups: sedentary control (C + Se); trained control (C + Ex); sedentary diabetic (D + Se); trained diabetic (D + Ex) and previously trained diabetic (D + PEx). The previous exercise consisted of treadmill running for four weeks before the induction of diabetes mellitus. After induction of diabetes mellitus with streptozotocin, the D + PEx, D + Ex and C + Ex groups were submitted to eight weeks of aerobic exercise. At the end of the training protocol, we evaluate the serum glucose, insulin and 17β-estradiol levels, renal function and structure, proteinuria, and fibronectin, collagen IV and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) renal expressions. Induction of diabetes mellitus reduced the insulin and did not alter 17β-estradiol levels, and exercise did not affect any of these parameters. Previous exercise training attenuated the loss of body weight, the blood glucose, the increase of glomerular filtration rate and prevented the proteinuria in the D + PEx group compared to D + Se group. Previous exercise also reduced glomerular hypertrophy, tubular and glomerular injury, as well as the expressions of fibronectin and collagen IV. These expressions were associated with reduced expression of TGF-β1. In conclusion, our study shows that regular aerobic exercise especially performed previously to induction of diabetes mellitus improved metabolic control and has renoprotective action on the diabetic kidney. PMID:26490345

Beneficial effects of previous exercise training on renal changes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic female rats.

PubMed

Amaral, Liliany S de Brito; Silva, Fernanda A; Correia, Vicente B; Andrade, Clara E F; Dutra, Bárbara A; Oliveira, Márcio V; de Magalhães, Amélia C M; Volpini, Rildo A; Seguro, Antonio C; Coimbra, Terezila M; Soares, Telma de J

2016-02-01

This study evaluated the effects of aerobic exercise performed both previously and after the induction of diabetes mellitus on changes of renal function and structure in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Female wistar rats were divided into five groups: sedentary control (C + Se); trained control (C + Ex); sedentary diabetic (D + Se); trained diabetic (D + Ex) and previously trained diabetic (D + PEx). The previous exercise consisted of treadmill running for four weeks before the induction of diabetes mellitus. After induction of diabetes mellitus with streptozotocin, the D + PEx, D + Ex and C + Ex groups were submitted to eight weeks of aerobic exercise. At the end of the training protocol, we evaluate the serum glucose, insulin and 17β-estradiol levels, renal function and structure, proteinuria, and fibronectin, collagen IV and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) renal expressions. Induction of diabetes mellitus reduced the insulin and did not alter 17β-estradiol levels, and exercise did not affect any of these parameters. Previous exercise training attenuated the loss of body weight, the blood glucose, the increase of glomerular filtration rate and prevented the proteinuria in the D + PEx group compared to D + Se group. Previous exercise also reduced glomerular hypertrophy, tubular and glomerular injury, as well as the expressions of fibronectin and collagen IV. These expressions were associated with reduced expression of TGF-β1. In conclusion, our study shows that regular aerobic exercise especially performed previously to induction of diabetes mellitus improved metabolic control and has renoprotective action on the diabetic kidney. © 2016 by the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.

Further studies on the mode of action of psychotomimetic drugs

PubMed Central

Bradley, P.B.; Briggs, I.

1974-01-01

1 The actions of 5-methoxytryptamine (5-MeOT), N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (bufotenine, 5-HODMT) and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeODMT), and their interactions with 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), acetylcholine, (-)-noradrenaline, and glutamate were studied by microiontophoresis on single neurones in the brain stem of rats anaesthetized with urethane or decerebrate cats. 2 Like D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25) the three psychotomimetic derivatives (DMT, 5-HODMT, 5-MeODMT) specifically antagonized 5-HT excitations of single neurones, but the non-psychotomimetic 5-MeOT had no antagonistic effects. 3 In contrast to LSD 25, the psychotomimetic tryptamines only rarely antagonized glutamate effects, indicating that the excitatory 5-HT receptors and the glutamate receptors on the same neurones may be closely related spatially, but are separate. 4 The methylated tryptamine derivatives were able to mimic the actions of 5-HT on neurones. The non-psychotomimetic 5-MeOT was most potent in this respect, while the other three derivatives which are psychotomimetic, were less active. 5 The 5-HT mimicking actions of 5-MeOT were the same in rats pretreated with p-chlorophenylalanine or reserpine as in untreated rats. It therefore seems that the 5-HT mimicking actions are unlikely to be due to release of 5-HT, but are due to direct actions on 5-HT receptors. 6 The evidence presented supports the hypothesis that LSD-like psychotomimetics act by an antagonism of 5-HT in the lower brain stem, and is not compatible with the suggestion that the psychotomimetic action of these drugs is related to 5-HT receptor stimulation. PMID:4277490

A case-crossover study of transient risk factors influence on occupational injuries: a study protocol based on a review of previous studies.

PubMed

Oesterlund, Anna H; Lander, Flemming; Lauritsen, Jens

2016-10-01

The occupational injury incident rate remains relatively high in the European Union. The case-crossover study gives a unique opportunity to study transient risk factors that normally would be very difficult to approach. Studies like this have been carried out in both America and Asia, but so far no relevant research has been conducted in Europe. Case-crossover studies of occupational injuries were collected from PubMed and Embase and read through. Previous experiences concerning method, exposure and outcome, time-related measurements and construction of the questionnaire were taken into account in the preparation of a pilot study. Consequently, experiences from the pilot study were used to design the study protocol. Approximately 2000 patients with an occupational injury will be recruited from the emergency departments in Herning and Odense, Denmark. A standardised questionnaire will be used to collect basic demographic data and information on eight transient risk factors. Based on previous studies and knowledge on occupational injuries the transient risk factors we chose to examine were: time pressure, performing a task with a different method/using unaccustomed technique, change in working surroundings, using a phone, disagreement, feeling ill, being distracted and using malfunctioning machinery/tools or work material. Exposure time 'just before the injury' will be compared with two control periods, 'previous day at the same time of the injury' (pair match) and the previous work week (usual frequency). This study protocol describes a unique opportunity to calculate the effect of transient risk factors on occupational injuries in a European setting. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

DNA secondary structure of the released strand stimulates WRN helicase action on forked duplexes without coordinate action of WRN exonuclease

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

Ahn, Byungchan, E-mail: bbccahn@mail.ulsan.ac.kr; Bohr, Vilhelm A.

2011-08-12

Highlights: {yields} In this study, we investigated the effect of a DNA secondary structure on the two WRN activities. {yields} We found that a DNA secondary structure of the displaced strand during unwinding stimulates WRN helicase without coordinate action of WRN exonuclease. {yields} These results imply that WRN helicase and exonuclease activities can act independently. -- Abstract: Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive premature aging disorder characterized by aging-related phenotypes and genomic instability. WS is caused by mutations in a gene encoding a nuclear protein, Werner syndrome protein (WRN), a member of the RecQ helicase family, that interestingly possessesmore » both helicase and exonuclease activities. Previous studies have shown that the two activities act in concert on a single substrate. We investigated the effect of a DNA secondary structure on the two WRN activities and found that a DNA secondary structure of the displaced strand during unwinding stimulates WRN helicase without coordinate action of WRN exonuclease. These results imply that WRN helicase and exonuclease activities can act independently, and we propose that the uncoordinated action may be relevant to the in vivo activity of WRN.« less

Peer Observation Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandt, Fred-Ole

2012-01-01

This paper outlines the initial findings of an action research project that focuses on the possible contribution of peer observation to a more collaborative environment and teachers' professional growth at The University High School. The research component played a significant part as previous attempts to change the culture at the school were…

Black hole perturbation under a 2 +2 decomposition in the action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ripley, Justin L.; Yagi, Kent

2018-01-01

Black hole perturbation theory is useful for studying the stability of black holes and calculating ringdown gravitational waves after the collision of two black holes. Most previous calculations were carried out at the level of the field equations instead of the action. In this work, we compute the Einstein-Hilbert action to quadratic order in linear metric perturbations about a spherically symmetric vacuum background in Regge-Wheeler gauge. Using a 2 +2 splitting of spacetime, we expand the metric perturbations into a sum over scalar, vector, and tensor spherical harmonics, and dimensionally reduce the action to two dimensions by integrating over the two sphere. We find that the axial perturbation degree of freedom is described by a two-dimensional massive vector action, and that the polar perturbation degree of freedom is described by a two-dimensional dilaton massive gravity action. Varying the dimensionally reduced actions, we rederive covariant and gauge-invariant master equations for the axial and polar degrees of freedom. Thus, the two-dimensional massive vector and massive gravity actions we derive by dimensionally reducing the perturbed Einstein-Hilbert action describe the dynamics of a well-studied physical system: the metric perturbations of a static black hole. The 2 +2 formalism we present can be generalized to m +n -dimensional spacetime splittings, which may be useful in more generic situations, such as expanding metric perturbations in higher dimensional gravity. We provide a self-contained presentation of m +n formalism for vacuum spacetime splittings.

Community actions against alcohol drinking in Slovenia--a Delphi study.

PubMed

Susic, Tonka Poplas; Svab, Igor; Kolsek, Marko

2006-07-27

To define the national strategy and public actions to reduce alcohol related harm, based on societal consensus. Alcohol abuse is an avoidable behaviour that can threaten health. In Slovenia, only a few public campaigns against drinking alcohol are under way. It is important to establish which community measures are acceptable to society in Slovenia in order to reduce alcohol-related risks. A Delphi study with 45 professionals from different disciplines was conducted. Participants offered many suggestions to improve the current situation. After three rounds of questionnaires, 86 participant statements were accepted as a consensus. Actions such as: state monopolies, alcohol taxation, legislative restrictions on availability and purchase of alcohol, age-related restriction on sales, drink-driving laws, school-based alcohol education and media information campaigns are most likely to be achieved by consensus. The main target populations for implementation of alcohol-related educational programs are children, young people and employees. As a result of the study, a number of community actions against drinking alcohol that could be acceptable for society can now be suggested. They vary across different target populations, change agents (individuals, organizations and institutions) and methods of implementation.

77 FR 53874 - The Dow Chemical Company; Application for Blanket Authorization To Export Previously Imported...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-04

... Authorization To Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas on a Short-Term Basis AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department... Security and Supply, Office of Fossil Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 3E-042, 1000 Independence Avenue SW...

77 FR 76013 - Sempra LNG Marketing, LLC; Application for Blanket Authorization To Export Previously Imported...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-26

... Authorization To Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas on a Short-Term Basis AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department.... Department of Energy (FE-34), Office of Oil and Gas Global Security and Supply, Office of Fossil Energy...

ParticipACTION: Baseline assessment of the capacity available to the 'New ParticipACTION': A qualitative study of Canadian organizations.

PubMed

Faulkner, Guy; McCloy, Cora; Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Bauman, Adrian; Brawley, Larry R; Chad, Karen; Gauvin, Lise; Spence, John C; Tremblay, Mark S

2009-12-09

Evaluation of the original ParticipACTION campaign effects focused on individual awareness, recall, and understanding. Less studied has been the impact such campaigns have had on the broader organizational capacity to mobilize and advocate for physical activity. With the relaunch of ParticipACTION, the purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore baseline organizational capacity to promote physical activity messages, programs, and services within the Canadian context. Using a purposeful sampling strategy, we conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 49 key informants representing a range of national, provincial, and local organizations with a mandate to promote physical activity. Interview data were analysed using a thematic analytic approach. Key informants painted a generally positive picture of current organizational capacity to promote physical activity messages, programs, and services in Canada. Will and leadership were clear strengths while infrastructure limitations remained the greatest concern. Some specific challenges included: 1) funding issues: the absence of core funding in a climate of shifting funding priorities; 2) the difficulty of working without a national physical activity policy (lack of leadership); 3) inconsistent provincial and educational sector level policies; and 4) a persistent focus on obesity rather than physical inactivity. The data generated here can be utilized to monitor the future impact of ParticipACTION on enhancing and utilizing this organizational capacity. A range of indicators are suggested that could be used to illustrate ParticipACTION's impact on the broad field of physical activity promotion in the future.

How actions shape perception: learning action-outcome relations and predicting sensory outcomes promote audio-visual temporal binding

PubMed Central

Desantis, Andrea; Haggard, Patrick

2016-01-01

To maintain a temporally-unified representation of audio and visual features of objects in our environment, the brain recalibrates audio-visual simultaneity. This process allows adjustment for both differences in time of transmission and time for processing of audio and visual signals. In four experiments, we show that the cognitive processes for controlling instrumental actions also have strong influence on audio-visual recalibration. Participants learned that right and left hand button-presses each produced a specific audio-visual stimulus. Following one action the audio preceded the visual stimulus, while for the other action audio lagged vision. In a subsequent test phase, left and right button-press generated either the same audio-visual stimulus as learned initially, or the pair associated with the other action. We observed recalibration of simultaneity only for previously-learned audio-visual outcomes. Thus, learning an action-outcome relation promotes temporal grouping of the audio and visual events within the outcome pair, contributing to the creation of a temporally unified multisensory object. This suggests that learning action-outcome relations and the prediction of perceptual outcomes can provide an integrative temporal structure for our experiences of external events. PMID:27982063

How actions shape perception: learning action-outcome relations and predicting sensory outcomes promote audio-visual temporal binding.

PubMed

Desantis, Andrea; Haggard, Patrick

2016-12-16

To maintain a temporally-unified representation of audio and visual features of objects in our environment, the brain recalibrates audio-visual simultaneity. This process allows adjustment for both differences in time of transmission and time for processing of audio and visual signals. In four experiments, we show that the cognitive processes for controlling instrumental actions also have strong influence on audio-visual recalibration. Participants learned that right and left hand button-presses each produced a specific audio-visual stimulus. Following one action the audio preceded the visual stimulus, while for the other action audio lagged vision. In a subsequent test phase, left and right button-press generated either the same audio-visual stimulus as learned initially, or the pair associated with the other action. We observed recalibration of simultaneity only for previously-learned audio-visual outcomes. Thus, learning an action-outcome relation promotes temporal grouping of the audio and visual events within the outcome pair, contributing to the creation of a temporally unified multisensory object. This suggests that learning action-outcome relations and the prediction of perceptual outcomes can provide an integrative temporal structure for our experiences of external events.

The Development of Attention Skills in Action Video Game Players

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dye, M. W. G.; Green, C. S.; Bavelier, D.

2009-01-01

Previous research suggests that action video game play improves attentional resources, allowing gamers to better allocate their attention across both space and time. In order to further characterize the plastic changes resulting from playing these video games, we administered the Attentional Network Test (ANT) to action game players and…

Propagandizing Social Studies Education through Media Production: An Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altun, Adnan

2015-01-01

This study was carried out with 44 students attending the Social Studies Education Department of Faculty of Education at Abant Izzet Baysal University, who chose the elective Media Literacy Course. In the study, that was planned as an action research, the assistant professor of the course acted as "researcher" and the students (teacher…

76 FR 58488 - Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP; Application for Blanket Authorization to Export Previously Imported...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-21

... Blanket Authorization to Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of... Natural Gas Regulatory Activities, Office of Fossil Energy, P.O. Box 44375, Washington, DC 20026-4375...

Activity-Based Teaching in Social Studies Education: An Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akkus, Zekerya

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine pre-service social studies teachers' skills to plan and apply the activity-based teaching and contribute to their development of these skills. In the study, the action research design of qualitative research was used. The sample of the study consisted of 6 pre-service teachers who were 4th year students at…

Efficiency in Rule- vs. Plan-Based Movements Is Modulated by Action-Mode

PubMed Central

Scheib, Jean P. P.; Stoll, Sarah; Thürmer, J. Lukas; Randerath, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The rule/plan motor cognition (RPMC) paradigm elicits visually indistinguishable motor outputs, resulting from either plan- or rule-based action-selection, using a combination of essentially interchangeable stimuli. Previous implementations of the RPMC paradigm have used pantomimed movements to compare plan- vs. rule-based action-selection. In the present work we attempt to determine the generalizability of previous RPMC findings to real object interaction by use of a grasp-to-rotate task. In the plan task, participants had to use prospective planning to achieve a comfortable post-handle rotation hand posture. The rule task used implementation intentions (if-then rules) leading to the same comfortable end-state. In Experiment A, we compare RPMC performance of 16 healthy participants in pantomime and real object conditions of the experiment, within-subjects. Higher processing efficiency of rule- vs. plan-based action-selection was supported by diffusion model analysis. Results show a significant response-time increase in the pantomime condition compared to the real object condition and a greater response-time advantage of rule-based vs. plan-based actions in the pantomime compared to the real object condition. In Experiment B, 24 healthy participants performed the real object RPMC task in a task switching vs. a blocked condition. Results indicate that plan-based action-selection leads to longer response-times and less efficient information processing than rule-based action-selection in line with previous RPMC findings derived from the pantomime action-mode. Particularly in the task switching mode, responses were faster in the rule compared to the plan task suggesting a modulating influence of cognitive load. Overall, results suggest an advantage of rule-based action-selection over plan-based action-selection; whereby differential mechanisms appear to be involved depending on the action-mode. We propose that cognitive load is a factor that modulates the advantageous

Efficiency in Rule- vs. Plan-Based Movements Is Modulated by Action-Mode.

PubMed

Scheib, Jean P P; Stoll, Sarah; Thürmer, J Lukas; Randerath, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The rule/plan motor cognition (RPMC) paradigm elicits visually indistinguishable motor outputs, resulting from either plan- or rule-based action-selection, using a combination of essentially interchangeable stimuli. Previous implementations of the RPMC paradigm have used pantomimed movements to compare plan- vs. rule-based action-selection. In the present work we attempt to determine the generalizability of previous RPMC findings to real object interaction by use of a grasp-to-rotate task. In the plan task, participants had to use prospective planning to achieve a comfortable post-handle rotation hand posture. The rule task used implementation intentions (if-then rules) leading to the same comfortable end-state. In Experiment A, we compare RPMC performance of 16 healthy participants in pantomime and real object conditions of the experiment, within-subjects. Higher processing efficiency of rule- vs. plan-based action-selection was supported by diffusion model analysis. Results show a significant response-time increase in the pantomime condition compared to the real object condition and a greater response-time advantage of rule-based vs. plan-based actions in the pantomime compared to the real object condition. In Experiment B, 24 healthy participants performed the real object RPMC task in a task switching vs. a blocked condition. Results indicate that plan-based action-selection leads to longer response-times and less efficient information processing than rule-based action-selection in line with previous RPMC findings derived from the pantomime action-mode. Particularly in the task switching mode, responses were faster in the rule compared to the plan task suggesting a modulating influence of cognitive load. Overall, results suggest an advantage of rule-based action-selection over plan-based action-selection; whereby differential mechanisms appear to be involved depending on the action-mode. We propose that cognitive load is a factor that modulates the advantageous

The study of progesterone action in human myometrial explants

PubMed Central

Georgiou, E.X.; Lei, K.; Lai, P.F.; Yulia, A.; Herbert, B.R.; Castellanos, M.; May, S.T.; Sooranna, S.R.; Johnson, M.R.

2016-01-01

STUDY HYPOTHESIS Myometrial explants represent a superior model compared with cell culture models for the study of human myometrial progesterone (P4) signalling in parturition. STUDY FINDING Gene expression analysis showed myometrial explants closely resemble the in vivo condition and the anti-inflammatory action of P4 is not lost with labour onset. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Circulating P4 levels decline before the onset of parturition in most animals, but not in humans. This has led to the suggestion that there is a functional withdrawal of P4 action at the myometrial level prior to labour onset. However, to date, no evidence of a loss of P4 function has been provided, with studies hampered by a lack of a physiologically relevant model. STUDY DESIGN, SAMPLES/MATERIALS, METHODS Myometrial biopsies obtained at Caesarean section were dissected into explants after a portion was immediately snap frozen (t = 0). Microarray analysis was used to compare gene expression of t = 0 with paired (i) explants, (ii) passage 4 myometrial cell cultures or (iii) the hTERT myometrial cell line. Western blotting and chemokine/cytokine assays were used to study P4 signalling in myometrial explants. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Gene expression comparison of t = 0 to the three models demonstrated that explants more closely resemble the in vivo status. At the protein level, explants maintain both P4 receptor (PR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) levels versus t = 0 whereas cells only maintain GR levels. Additionally, treatment with 1 µM P4 led to a reduction in interleukin-1 (IL-1) β-driven cyclooxygenase-2 in explants but not in cells. P4 signalling in explants was PR-mediated and associated with a repression of p65 and c-Jun phosphorylation. Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory action of P4 was maintained after labour onset. LIMITATIONS/REASONS FOR CAUTION There is evidence of basal inflammation in the myometrial explant model. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Myometrial explants

Preparing School Leaders: Action Research on the Leadership Study Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamler, Estelle

2016-01-01

This article reports an action research study that examined the Leadership Study Group, one learning activity designed to build knowledge and skills for aspiring school leaders and implemented in a six-credit introductory course for school leader certification. Through analysis of a variety of qualitative data collected over nine semesters, I…

Distributed Leadership: Developing a New Practice. An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chamberland, Lorie

2009-01-01

This action research study examines the development of distributed leadership practice among a new team of teacher leaders and their principal at an elementary school. Using a qualitative approach including a series of interviews, observations and journal entries, this study analyzes the interactions and changing roles of teacher leaders and their…

Applicability of action planning and coping planning to dental flossing among Norwegian adults: a confirmatory factor analysis approach.

PubMed

Astrøm, Anne Nordrehaug

2008-06-01

Using a prospective design and a representative sample of 25-yr-old Norwegians, this study hypothesized that action planning and coping planning will add to the prediction of flossing at 4 wk of follow-up over and above the effect of intention and previous flossing. This study tested the validity of a proposed 3-factor structure of the measurement model of intention, action planning, and coping planning and for its invariance across gender. A survey was conducted in three Norwegian counties, and 1,509 out of 8,000 randomly selected individuals completed questionnaires assessing the constructs of action planning and coping planning related to daily flossing. A random subsample of 500 participants was followed up at 4 wk with a telephone interview to assess flossing. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the proposed 3-factor model after respecification. Although the chi-square test was statistically significant [chi(2) = 58.501, degrees of freedom (d.f.) = 17), complementary fit indices were satisfactory [goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = 0.99, root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04]. Multigroup CFA provided evidence of complete invariance of the measurement model across gender. After controlling for previous flossing, intention (beta = 0.08) and action planning (beta = 0.11) emerged as independent predictors of subsequent flossing, accounting for 2.3% of its variance. Factorial validity of intention, action planning and coping planning, and the validity of action planning in predicting flossing prospectively, was confirmed by the present study.

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chien-Hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-02-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies, the incorporation of technology and project-based learning could motivate students in self-directed exploration. The students were excited about the autonomy over what to learn and the use of PPT to express what they learned. Differing from previous studies, the findings pointed to the lack information literacy among students. The students lacked information evaluation skills, note-taking and information synthesis. All these findings imply the importance of teaching students about information literacy and visual literacy when introducing information technology into the classroom. The authors suggest that further research should focus on how to break the culture of "copy-and-paste" by teaching the skills of note-taking and synthesis through inquiry projects for science learning. Also, further research on teacher professional development should focus on using collaboration action research as a framework for re-designing graduate courses for science teachers in order to enhance classroom technology integration.

Possible Mechanism of Action of the Electromagnetic Fields of Ultralow Frequency on G-protein

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nava, J. J. Godina; Segura, M. A. Rodríguez; García, M. N. Jiménez; Cadena, M. S. Reyes

2008-08-01

Based in several clinical achievements and mathematical simulation of the immune sytem, previously studied, permit us to establish that a possible Mechanism of Action of ultralow frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF) is on G-protein as it has been proposed in specialized literature.

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.

A Participatory Action Research Study of Nature Education in Nature: Towards Community-Based Eco-Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eryaman, Mustafa Yunus; Yalcin-Ozdilek, Sukran; Okur, Emel; Cetinkaya, Zeynep; Uygun, Selcuk

2010-01-01

Contemporary nature education is exploring different ways to develop awareness for change and initiate action. Such educational activities go beyond creating understanding and awareness in order to develop a sense of commitment for individual and collective action. This participatory action research study aimed to improve teachers' sensitiveness…

77 FR 66597 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.; Application for Blanket Authorization To Export Previously Imported...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-06

... Authorization To Export Previously Imported Liquefied Natural Gas on a Short-Term Basis AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of application. SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department.... Department of Energy (FE-34), Office of Oil and Gas Global Security and Supply, Office of Fossil Energy...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Eunah

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed how one teacher and I, the researcher, collaboratively reflected on classroom language practices during the video analysis meetings and focus groups. Further, I analyzed twelve videos that we coded together to see the changes in the teacher's language practices over time. My unit of analysis was the discourse practice mediated by additive language ideologies. Throughout the collaborative action research process, we both critically reflected on the classroom language use. We also developed a critical consciousness about the participatory shifts and learning of focal English Learner (EL) students. Finally, the teacher made changes to her classroom language practices. The results of this study will contribute to the literacy education research field for theoretical, methodological, and practical insights. The integration of language ideologies, CHAT, and action research can help educational practitioners, researchers, and policy makers understand the importance of transforming teachers' language ideologies in designing additive learning contexts for ELs. From a methodological perspective, the transformative language ideologies through researcher and teacher collaborated video analysis process provide a unique contribution to the language ideologies in education literature, with analytic triangulation. As a practical implication, this study suggests action research can be one of the teacher education tools to help the teachers transform language ideologies for EL education.

Developing Critical Thinking through Socratic Questioning: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahamid, Husniah

2016-01-01

An action research study was conducted among 24 Form 4 level Malaysian students, aged 16. The duration of the study was five months and constituted 16 one-hour literature lessons (short stories from the secondary level Malaysian English Language Upper Secondary Level school syllabus). This paper describes my experience as a teacher-as-researcher…

Mechanistic studies of anti-hyperpigmentary compounds: elucidating their inhibitory and regulatory actions.

PubMed

Lam, Rosanna Y Y; Lin, Zhi-Xiu; Sviderskaya, Elena V; Cheng, Christopher H K

2014-08-21

Searching for depigmenting agents from natural sources has become a new direction in the cosmetic industry as natural products are generally perceived as relatively safer. In our previous study, selected Chinese medicines traditionally used to treat hyperpigmentation were tested for anti-hyperpigmentary effects using a melan-a cell culture model. Among the tested chemical compounds, 4-ethylresorcinol, 4-ethylphenol and 1-tetradecanol were found to possess hypopigmentary effects. Western blot analysis, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) assay, protein kinase A (PKA) activity assay, tyrosinase inhibition assay and lipid peroxidation inhibition assay were performed to reveal the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the hypopigmentary effects. 4-Ethylresorcinol and 4-ethylphenol attenuated mRNA and protein expression of tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-2, and possessed antioxidative effect by inhibiting lipid peroxidation. 1-Tetradecanol was able to attenuate protein expression of tyrosinase. The hypopigmentary actions of 4-ethylresorcinol, 4-ethylphenol and 1-tetradecanol were associated with regulating downstream proteins along the PKA pathway. 4-Ethylresorcinol was more effective in inhibiting melanin synthesis when compared to 4-ethylphenol and 1-tetradecanol.

Influence of endogenous opiates on the hypotensive action of taurine in DOCA-salt rats.

PubMed

Sato, Y; Fujita, T

1988-12-01

We studied the role of endogenous opiate activation in the hypotensive action of taurine, a sulphur amino acid, in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats. Previous work had shown that supplementation with 1% taurine reduced blood pressure when given after DOCA-salt hypertension had been established. In the present study, in conscious rats, intraperitoneal injection of naloxone, an opiate antagonist, increased blood pressure in taurine-supplemented DOCA-salt rats, but not in DOCA-salt rats or vehicle-treated control rats. These results suggest that activation of an endogenous opiate might contribute to the hypotensive action of taurine in DOCA-salt hypertensive rats.

Spontaneous Facial Actions Map onto Emotional Experiences in a Non-social Context: Toward a Component-Based Approach

PubMed Central

Namba, Shushi; Kabir, Russell S.; Miyatani, Makoto; Nakao, Takashi

2017-01-01

While numerous studies have examined the relationships between facial actions and emotions, they have yet to account for the ways that specific spontaneous facial expressions map onto emotional experiences induced without expressive intent. Moreover, previous studies emphasized that a fine-grained investigation of facial components could establish the coherence of facial actions with actual internal states. Therefore, this study aimed to accumulate evidence for the correspondence between spontaneous facial components and emotional experiences. We reinvestigated data from previous research which secretly recorded spontaneous facial expressions of Japanese participants as they watched film clips designed to evoke four different target emotions: surprise, amusement, disgust, and sadness. The participants rated their emotional experiences via a self-reported questionnaire of 16 emotions. These spontaneous facial expressions were coded using the Facial Action Coding System, the gold standard for classifying visible facial movements. We corroborated each facial action that was present in the emotional experiences by applying stepwise regression models. The results found that spontaneous facial components occurred in ways that cohere to their evolutionary functions based on the rating values of emotional experiences (e.g., the inner brow raiser might be involved in the evaluation of novelty). This study provided new empirical evidence for the correspondence between each spontaneous facial component and first-person internal states of emotion as reported by the expresser. PMID:28522979

From Affective Experience to Motivated Action: Tracking Reward-Seeking and Punishment-Avoidant Behaviour in Real-Life

PubMed Central

Wichers, Marieke; Kasanova, Zuzana; Bakker, Jindra; Thiery, Evert; Derom, Catherine; Jacobs, Nele; van Os, Jim

2015-01-01

Many of the decisions and actions in everyday life result from implicit learning processes. Important to psychopathology are, for example, implicit reward-seeking and punishment-avoidant learning processes. It is known that when specific actions get associated with a rewarding experience, such as positive emotions, that this will increase the likelihood that an organism will engage in similar actions in the future. Similarly, when actions get associated with punishing experiences, such as negative emotions, this may reduce the likelihood that the organism will engage in similar actions in the future. This study examines whether we can observe these implicit processes prospectively in the flow of daily life. If such processes take place then we expect that current behaviour can be predicted by how similar behaviour was experienced (in terms of positive and negative affect) at previous measurement moments. This was examined in a sample of 621 female individuals that had participated in an Experience Sampling data collection. Measures of affect and behaviour were collected at 10 semi-random moments of the day for 5 consecutive days. It was examined whether affective experience that was paired with certain behaviours (physical activity and social context) at previous measurements modified the likelihood to show similar behaviours at next measurement moments. Analyses were performed both at the level of observations (a time scale with units of ± 90 min) and at day level (a time scale with units of 24 h). As expected, we found that affect indeed moderated the extent to which previous behaviour predicted similar behaviour later in time, at both beep- and day-level. This study showed that it is feasible to track reward-seeking and punishment-avoidant behaviour prospectively in humans in the flow of daily life. This opens up a new toolbox to examine processes determining goal-oriented behaviour in relation to psychopathology in humans. PMID:26087323

From Affective Experience to Motivated Action: Tracking Reward-Seeking and Punishment-Avoidant Behaviour in Real-Life.

PubMed

Wichers, Marieke; Kasanova, Zuzana; Bakker, Jindra; Thiery, Evert; Derom, Catherine; Jacobs, Nele; van Os, Jim

2015-01-01

Many of the decisions and actions in everyday life result from implicit learning processes. Important to psychopathology are, for example, implicit reward-seeking and punishment-avoidant learning processes. It is known that when specific actions get associated with a rewarding experience, such as positive emotions, that this will increase the likelihood that an organism will engage in similar actions in the future. Similarly, when actions get associated with punishing experiences, such as negative emotions, this may reduce the likelihood that the organism will engage in similar actions in the future. This study examines whether we can observe these implicit processes prospectively in the flow of daily life. If such processes take place then we expect that current behaviour can be predicted by how similar behaviour was experienced (in terms of positive and negative affect) at previous measurement moments. This was examined in a sample of 621 female individuals that had participated in an Experience Sampling data collection. Measures of affect and behaviour were collected at 10 semi-random moments of the day for 5 consecutive days. It was examined whether affective experience that was paired with certain behaviours (physical activity and social context) at previous measurements modified the likelihood to show similar behaviours at next measurement moments. Analyses were performed both at the level of observations (a time scale with units of ± 90 min) and at day level (a time scale with units of 24 h). As expected, we found that affect indeed moderated the extent to which previous behaviour predicted similar behaviour later in time, at both beep- and day-level. This study showed that it is feasible to track reward-seeking and punishment-avoidant behaviour prospectively in humans in the flow of daily life. This opens up a new toolbox to examine processes determining goal-oriented behaviour in relation to psychopathology in humans.

Temporal prediction modulates the evaluative processing of "good" action feedback: An electrophysiological study.

PubMed

Kimura, Kenta; Kimura, Motohiro; Iwaki, Sunao

2016-10-01

The present study aimed to investigate whether or not the evaluative processing of action feedback can be modulated by temporal prediction. For this purpose, we examined the effects of the predictability of the timing of action feedback on an ERP effect that indexed the evaluative processing of action feedback, that is, an ERP effect that has been interpreted as a feedback-related negativity (FRN) elicited by "bad" action feedback or a reward positivity (RewP) elicited by "good" action feedback. In two types of experimental blocks, the participants performed a gambling task in which they chose one of two cards and received an action feedback that indicated monetary gain or loss. In fixed blocks, the time interval between the participant's choice and the onset of the action feedback was fixed at 0, 500, or 1,000 ms in separate blocks; thus, the timing of action feedback was predictable. In mixed blocks, the time interval was randomly chosen from the same three intervals with equal probability; thus, the timing was less predictable. The results showed that the FRN/RewP was smaller in mixed than fixed blocks for the 0-ms interval trial, whereas there was no difference between the two block types for the 500-ms and 1,000-ms interval trials. Interestingly, the smaller FRN/RewP was due to the modulation of gain ERPs rather than loss ERPs. These results suggest that temporal prediction can modulate the evaluative processing of action feedback, and particularly good feedback, such as that which indicates monetary gain. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Automatic imitation effects are influenced by experience of synchronous action in children.

PubMed

O'Sullivan, Eoin P; Bijvoet-van den Berg, Simone; Caldwell, Christine A

2018-07-01

By their fourth year of life, children are expert imitators, but it is unclear how this ability develops. One approach suggests that certain types of experience might forge associations between the sensory and motor representations of an action that may facilitate imitation at a later time. Sensorimotor experience of this sort may occur when an infant's action is imitated by a caregiver or when socially synchronous action occurs. This learning approach, therefore, predicts that the strength of sensory-motor associations should depend on the frequency and quality of previous experience. Here, we tested this prediction by examining automatic imitation, that is, the tendency of an action stimulus to facilitate the performance of that action and interfere with the performance of an incompatible action. We required children (aged between 3 years 8 months and 7 years 11 months) to respond to actions performed by an experimenter (e.g., two hands clapping) with both compatible actions (i.e., two hands clapping) and incompatible actions (i.e., two hands waving) at different stages in the experimental procedure. As predicted by a learning account, actions thought to be performed in synchrony (i.e., clapping/waving) produced stronger automatic imitation effects when compared with actions where previous sensorimotor experience is likely to be more limited (e.g., pointing/hand closing). Furthermore, these automatic imitation effects were not found to vary with age, with both compatible and incompatible responses quickening with age. These findings suggest a role for sensorimotor experience in the development of imitative ability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain systems for visual perspective taking and action perception.

PubMed

Mazzarella, Elisabetta; Ramsey, Richard; Conson, Massimiliano; Hamilton, Antonia

2013-01-01

Taking another person's viewpoint and making sense of their actions are key processes that guide social behavior. Previous neuroimaging investigations have largely studied these processes separately. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how the brain incorporates another person's viewpoint and actions into visual perspective judgments. Participants made a left-right judgment about the location of a target object from their own (egocentric) or an actor's visual perspective (altercentric). Actor location varied around a table and the actor was either reaching or not reaching for the target object. Analyses examined brain regions engaged in the egocentric and altercentric tasks, brain regions where response magnitude tracked the orientation of the actor in the scene and brain regions sensitive to the action performed by the actor. The blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was sensitive to actor orientation in the altercentric task, whereas the response in right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was sensitive to actor orientation in the egocentric task. Thus, dmPFC and right IFG may play distinct but complementary roles in visual perspective taking (VPT). Observation of a reaching actor compared to a non-reaching actor yielded activation in lateral occipitotemporal cortex, regardless of task, showing that these regions are sensitive to body posture independent of social context. By considering how an observed actor's location and action influence the neural bases of visual perspective judgments, the current study supports the view that multiple neurocognitive "routes" operate during VPT.

Summary of Previous Chamber or Controlled Anthrax Studies and Recommendations for Possible Additional Studies

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

Piepel, Gregory F.; Amidan, Brett G.; Morrow, Jayne B.

2010-12-29

This report and an associated Excel file(a) summarizes the investigations and results of previous chamber and controlled studies(b) to characterize the performance of methods for collecting, storing and/or transporting, extracting, and analyzing samples from surfaces contaminated by Bacillus anthracis (BA) or related simulants. This report and the Excel are the joint work of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate. The report was originally released as PNNL-SA-69338, Rev. 0 in November 2009 with limited distribution, but was subsequently cleared for release withmore » unlimited distribution in this Rev. 1. Only minor changes were made to Rev. 0 to yield Rev. 1. A more substantial update (including summarizing data from other studies and more condensed summary tables of data) is underway« less

A rabbit ventricular action potential model replicating cardiac dynamics at rapid heart rates.

PubMed

Mahajan, Aman; Shiferaw, Yohannes; Sato, Daisuke; Baher, Ali; Olcese, Riccardo; Xie, Lai-Hua; Yang, Ming-Jim; Chen, Peng-Sheng; Restrepo, Juan G; Karma, Alain; Garfinkel, Alan; Qu, Zhilin; Weiss, James N

2008-01-15

Mathematical modeling of the cardiac action potential has proven to be a powerful tool for illuminating various aspects of cardiac function, including cardiac arrhythmias. However, no currently available detailed action potential model accurately reproduces the dynamics of the cardiac action potential and intracellular calcium (Ca(i)) cycling at rapid heart rates relevant to ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. The aim of this study was to develop such a model. Using an existing rabbit ventricular action potential model, we modified the L-type calcium (Ca) current (I(Ca,L)) and Ca(i) cycling formulations based on new experimental patch-clamp data obtained in isolated rabbit ventricular myocytes, using the perforated patch configuration at 35-37 degrees C. Incorporating a minimal seven-state Markovian model of I(Ca,L) that reproduced Ca- and voltage-dependent kinetics in combination with our previously published dynamic Ca(i) cycling model, the new model replicates experimentally observed action potential duration and Ca(i) transient alternans at rapid heart rates, and accurately reproduces experimental action potential duration restitution curves obtained by either dynamic or S1S2 pacing.

Influence of action-effect associations acquired by ideomotor learning on imitation.

PubMed

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J; Quandt, Lorna C; Bouquet, Cedric A

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants' hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation.

Influence of Action-Effect Associations Acquired by Ideomotor Learning on Imitation

PubMed Central

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J.; Quandt, Lorna C.; Bouquet, Cedric A.

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants’ hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation. PMID:25793755

Data Integrity-A Study of Current Regulatory Thinking and Action.

PubMed

Shafiei, Nader; De Montardy, Regis; Rivera-Martinez, Edwin

2015-01-01

In reaction to breaches of data integrity in the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory authorities have introduced inspection approaches or initiatives with the aim of reducing occurrences of data integrity problems. This review article-based on study of 65 cases of regulatory action from 2002 to 2014-provides an overview of current regulatory thinking and action on breaches of data integrity affecting GxP (health-related regulations) processes supporting non-clinical studies, clinical studies, laboratory controls, and production controls. These case studies largely represent position of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the regulatory agencies affiliated with the European Medicines Agency. Also discussed is the role of human factors as a potential source of data integrity problems. The article concludes by recommending some remedial controls that could be established to avoid or reduce occurrences of data integrity problems.Lay Abstract: In fulfilling their mission to protect public health, regulatory agencies (e.g., U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency) must establish confidence that medical products they approve are fit for their intended use. In so doing they rely on scientific and operational data generated during research, development, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, and post-marketing surveillance activities. The level of confidence they build is directly proportional to the scientific validity and integrity of data presented to them by the sponsors of medical products. In this article we present analysis of 65 case studies that document regulatory action taken by various regulatory agencies on breach of data integrity between 2002 and 2014. The ensuing discussion on current trends largely represents position of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency. The article concludes by proposing some remedial controls that could be established by pharmaceutical companies to avoid or reduce

Do previous sports experiences influence the effect of an enrichment programme in basketball skills?

PubMed

Santos, Sara; Mateus, Nuno; Sampaio, Jaime; Leite, Nuno

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of an enrichment programme in motor, technical and tactical basketball skills, when accounting for the age of youth sport specialisation. Seventy-six college students (age: M = 20.4, SD = 1.9) were allocated according to three different paths: (i) non-structured (n = 14), (ii) early specialisation (n = 34), and (iii) late specialisation (n = 28), according to information previously provided by the participants about the quantity and type of sporting activities performed throughout their sporting careers. Then, the participants of each path were randomly distributed across control and experimental groups. Variables under study included agility, technical skills circuit, as well as tactical actions performed in a 4-on-4 full-court basketball game. The results indicated improvements in the early and late specialisation paths namely in the experimental training groups. However, the late specialisation path revealed larger benefits, in contrast with the non-structured path, which showed less sensitivity to the enrichment programme, mostly sustained in physical literacy and differential learning. Higher improvements were observed in agility, and also in reducing the number of unsuccessful actions performed during the game. Overall, this study provided evidence of how early sports experiences affect basketball skill acquisition and contribute to adapt to new contexts with motor and technical-tactical challenges. In addition, a path supported by late specialisation might present several advantages in sport performance achievement.

Evidence from immunoneutralization and antisense studies that the inhibitory actions of glucocorticoids on growth hormone release in vitro require annexin 1 (lipocortin 1)

PubMed Central

Taylor, A D; Christian, H C; Morris, J F; Flower, R J; Buckingham, J C

2000-01-01

Our previous studies have identified a role for annexin 1 as a mediator of glucocorticoid action in the neuroendocrine system. The present study centred on growth hormone (GH) and exploited antisense and immunoneutralization strategies to examine in vitro the potential role of annexin 1 in effecting the regulatory actions of glucocorticoids on the secretion of this pituitary hormone. Rat anterior pituitary tissue responded in vitro to growth hormone releasing hormone, forskolin, 8-Bromo-cyclic adenosine 3′5′-monophosphate (8-Br-cyclic AMP) and an L-Ca2+ channel opener (BAY K8644) with concentration-dependent increases GH release which were readily inhibited by corticosterone and dexamethasone. The inhibitory actions of the steroids on GH release elicited by the above secretagogues were effectively reversed by an annexin 1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), but not by control (sense or scrambled) ODNs, as also were the glucocorticoid-induced increases in annexin 1. Similarly, a specific anti-annexin 1 monoclonal antibody quenched the corticosterone-induced suppression of secretagogue-evoked GH release while an isotype matched control antibody was without effect. Transmission electron micrographs showed that the integrity and ultrastructural morphology of the pituitary cells were well preserved at the end of the incubation and unaffected by exposure to the ODNs, antibodies, steroids or secretagogues. The results provide novel evidence for a role for annexin 1 as a mediator of the inhibitory actions of glucocorticoids on the secretion of GH by the anterior pituitary gland and suggest that its actions are effected at a point distal to the formation of cyclic AMP and Ca2+ entry. PMID:11090102

Evidence from immunoneutralization and antisense studies that the inhibitory actions of glucocorticoids on growth hormone release in vitro require annexin 1 (lipocortin 1).

PubMed

Taylor, A D; Christian, H C; Morris, J F; Flower, R J; Buckingham, J C

2000-12-01

1. Our previous studies have identified a role for annexin 1 as a mediator of glucocorticoid action in the neuroendocrine system. The present study centred on growth hormone (GH) and exploited antisense and immunoneutralization strategies to examine in vitro the potential role of annexin 1 in effecting the regulatory actions of glucocorticoids on the secretion of this pituitary hormone. 2. Rat anterior pituitary tissue responded in vitro to growth hormone releasing hormone, forskolin, 8-Bromo-cyclic adenosine 3'5'-monophosphate (8-Br-cyclic AMP) and an L-Ca(2+) channel opener (BAY K8644) with concentration-dependent increases GH release which were readily inhibited by corticosterone and dexamethasone. 3. The inhibitory actions of the steroids on GH release elicited by the above secretagogues were effectively reversed by an annexin 1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), but not by control (sense or scrambled) ODNs, as also were the glucocorticoid-induced increases in annexin 1. Similarly, a specific anti-annexin 1 monoclonal antibody quenched the corticosterone-induced suppression of secretagogue-evoked GH release while an isotype matched control antibody was without effect. 4. Transmission electron micrographs showed that the integrity and ultrastructural morphology of the pituitary cells were well preserved at the end of the incubation and unaffected by exposure to the ODNs, antibodies, steroids or secretagogues. 5. The results provide novel evidence for a role for annexin 1 as a mediator of the inhibitory actions of glucocorticoids on the secretion of GH by the anterior pituitary gland and suggest that its actions are effected at a point distal to the formation of cyclic AMP and Ca(2+) entry.

The left inferior parietal lobe represents stored hand-postures for object use and action prediction

PubMed Central

van Elk, Michiel

2014-01-01

Action semantics enables us to plan actions with objects and to predict others' object-directed actions as well. Previous studies have suggested that action semantics are represented in a fronto-parietal action network that has also been implicated to play a role in action observation. In the present fMRI study it was investigated how activity within this network changes as a function of the predictability of an action involving multiple objects and requiring the use of action semantics. Participants performed an action prediction task in which they were required to anticipate the use of a centrally presented object that could be moved to an associated target object (e.g., hammer—nail). The availability of actor information (i.e., presenting a hand grasping the central object) and the number of possible target objects (i.e., 0, 1, or 2 target objects) were independently manipulated, resulting in different levels of predictability. It was found that making an action prediction based on actor information resulted in an increased activation in the extrastriate body area (EBA) and the fronto-parietal action observation network (AON). Predicting actions involving a target object resulted in increased activation in the bilateral IPL and frontal motor areas. Within the AON, activity in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and the left premotor cortex (PMC) increased as a function of the level of action predictability. Together these findings suggest that the left IPL represents stored hand-postures that can be used for planning object-directed actions and for predicting other's actions as well. PMID:24795681

Exploring Coaching Actions Based on Developed Values: A Case Study of a Female Hockey Coach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callary, Bettina; Werthner, Penny; Trudel, Pierre

2013-01-01

There are few empirical studies that demonstrate how values are developed and how they are linked to coaching actions. There can be a discrepancy between the statement of coaches' values and their actual coaching actions. In order to examine how coaching actions are influenced by values that are developed over a lifetime, the purpose of this…

Case Studies of Action Research in Various Adult Education Settings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhne, Gary W.; Weirauch, Drucie; Fetterman, David J.; Mearns, Raiana M.; Kalinosky, Kathy; Cegles, Kathleen A.; Ritchey, Linda

1997-01-01

Six case studies illustrate action research in adult education: faculty development in a museum, participation in a church congregation, retention of literacy volunteers in a corrections center, learner participation in a homeless shelter, technology innovation in a university, and infection control in a hospital. (SK)

Outcomes after Stroke in Patients with Previous Pressure Ulcer: A Nationwide Matched Retrospective Cohort Study.

PubMed

Lee, Shang-Yi; Chou, Chia-Lun; Hsu, Sanford P C; Shih, Chun-Chuan; Yeh, Chun-Chieh; Hung, Chih-Jen; Chen, Ta-Liang; Liao, Chien-Chang

2016-01-01

Factors associated with poststroke adverse events were not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether stroke patients with previous pressure ulcers had more adverse events after stroke. Using the claims data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we conducted a retrospective cohort study matched by propensity score. Three thousand two first-ever stroke patients with previous pressure ulcer and 3002 first-ever stroke patients without pressure ulcer were investigated between 2002 and 2009. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of complications and 30-day mortality after stroke associated with previous pressure ulcer were calculated in the multivariate logistic regressions. Patients with pressure ulcer had significantly higher risk than control for poststroke urinary tract infection (OR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.38-1.78), pneumonia (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.16-1.58), gastrointestinal bleeding (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.04-1.66), and epilepsy (OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.83-1.85). Stroke patients with pressure ulcer had increased 30-day poststroke mortality (OR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.55-2.61), particularly in those treated with debridement (OR: 2.87, 95% CI: 1.85-4.44) or high quantity of antibiotics (OR: 4.01, 95% CI: 2.10-7.66). Pressure ulcer was associated with poststroke mortality in both genders and patients aged 60 years or older. This study showed increased poststroke complications and mortality in patients with previous pressure ulcer, which suggests the urgent need for monitoring stroke patients for pressure ulcer history. Copyright © 2015 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Putting Action in Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lozano, Sandra C.; Hard, Bridgette Martin; Tversky, Barbara

2007-01-01

Embodied approaches to cognition propose that our own actions influence our understanding of the world. Do other people's actions also have this influence? The present studies show that perceiving another person's actions changes the way people think about objects in a scene. In Study 1, participants viewed a photograph and answered a question…

The Relative Influences of Phosphometabolites and pH on Action Potential Morphology during Myocardial Reperfusion: A Simulation Study

PubMed Central

Roberts, Byron N.; Christini, David J.

2012-01-01

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury represents a constellation of pathological processes that occur when ischemic myocardium experiences a restoration of perfusion. Reentrant arrhythmias, which represent a particularly lethal manifestation of IR injury, can result when ischemic tissue exhibits decreased excitability and/or changes of action potential duration (APD), conditions that precipitate unidirectional conduction block. Many of the cellular components that are involved with IR injury are modulated by pH and/or phosphometabolites such as ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr), all of which can be manipulated in vivo and potentially in the clinical setting. Using a mathematical model of the cardiomyocyte that we previously developed to study ischemia and reperfusion, we performed a series of simulations with the aim of determining whether pH- or phosphometabolite-related processes play a more significant role in generating changes in excitability and action potential morphology that are associated with the development of reentry. In our simulations, persistent shortening of APD, action potential amplitude (APA), and depolarization of the resting membrane potential were more severe when ATP and PCr availability were suppressed during reperfusion than when extracellular pH recovery was inhibited. Reduced phosphometabolite availability and pH recovery affected multiple ion channels and exchangers. Some of these effects were the result of direct modulation by phosphometabolites and/or acidosis, while others resulted from elevated sodium and calcium loads during reperfusion. In addition, increasing ATP and PCr availability during reperfusion was more beneficial in terms of increasing APD and APA than was increasing the amount of pH recovery. Together, these results suggest that therapies directed at increasing ATP and/or PCr availability during reperfusion may be more beneficial than perturbing pH recovery with regard to mitigating action potential changes that

Do good actions inspire good actions in others?

PubMed

Capraro, Valerio; Marcelletti, Alessandra

2014-12-12

Actions such as sharing food and cooperating to reach a common goal have played a fundamental role in the evolution of human societies. Despite the importance of such good actions, little is known about if and how they can spread from person to person to person. For instance, does being recipient of an altruistic act increase your probability of being cooperative with a third party? We have conducted an experiment on Amazon Mechanical Turk to test this mechanism using economic games. We have measured willingness to be cooperative through a standard Prisoner's dilemma and willingness to act altruistically using a binary Dictator game. In the baseline treatments, the endowments needed to play were given by the experimenters, as usual; in the control treatments, they came from a good action made by someone else. Across four different comparisons and a total of 572 subjects, we have never found a significant increase of cooperation or altruism when the endowment came from a good action. We conclude that good actions do not necessarily inspire good actions in others. While this is consistent with the theoretical prediction, it challenges the majority of other experimental studies.

The role of shared visual information for joint action coordination.

PubMed

Vesper, Cordula; Schmitz, Laura; Safra, Lou; Sebanz, Natalie; Knoblich, Günther

2016-08-01

Previous research has identified a number of coordination processes that enable people to perform joint actions. But what determines which coordination processes joint action partners rely on in a given situation? The present study tested whether varying the shared visual information available to co-actors can trigger a shift in coordination processes. Pairs of participants performed a movement task that required them to synchronously arrive at a target from separate starting locations. When participants in a pair received only auditory feedback about the time their partner reached the target they held their movement duration constant to facilitate coordination. When they received additional visual information about each other's movements they switched to a fundamentally different coordination process, exaggerating the curvature of their movements to communicate their arrival time. These findings indicate that the availability of shared perceptual information is a major factor in determining how individuals coordinate their actions to obtain joint outcomes. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental Education for Behaviour Change: Which actions should be targeted?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyes, Edward; Stanisstreet, Martin

2012-07-01

One aim of environmental education is to enable people to make informed decisions about their environmental behaviour; this is particularly significant with environmental problems that are believed to be both major and imminent, such as climate change resulting from global warming. Previous research suggests no strong link between a person's general environmental attitudes and knowledge, and his or her willingness to undertake pro-environmental actions, so this study focuses on some specific issues. Using survey methods to produce quantitative data about students' beliefs concerning the usefulness of specific actions and their willingness to adopt them, novel indices have been constructed that indicate the potential of education to increase students' willingness to undertake those actions. The findings imply that altering a student's belief about certain issues will have little effect on their willingness to act. This can be because most students, even those with only a weak belief in the efficacy, are prepared to take action anyway. Conversely, it can be because a majority, including those convinced about the efficacy, are not prepared to take action. Education about such actions, where there is only a weak link between believed effectiveness and willingness to act, may be ineffective in terms of changing practice, because other factors such as social norms and situational influences dominate. For such actions other strategies may be required. For another set of actions, however, the benefits of education in changing practice seemed more positive; increasing recycling, reducing the use of artificial fertilisers and planting more trees are examples.

41 CFR 60-20.6 - Affirmative action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... considered equally with men for jobs. (b) Women have not been typically found in significant numbers in... Contracts OFFICE OF FEDERAL CONTRACT COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR... affirmative action to recruit women to apply for those jobs where they have been previously excluded. Note...

From Outcome Prediction to Action Selection: Developmental Change in the Role of Action-Effect Bindings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verschoor, Stephan A.; Spapé, Michiel; Biro, Szilvia; Hommel, Bernhard

2013-01-01

Ideomotor theory considers bidirectional action-effect associations to be the fundamental building blocks for intentional action. The present study employed a novel pupillometric and oculomotor paradigm to study developmental changes in the role of action-effects in the acquisition of voluntary action. Our findings suggest that both 7- and…

Uncovering effects of self-control and stimulus-driven action selection on the sense of agency.

PubMed

Wang, Yuru; Damen, Tom G E; Aarts, Henk

2017-10-01

The sense of agency refers to feelings of causing one's own action and resulting effect. Previous research indicates that voluntary action selection is an important factor in shaping the sense of agency. Whereas the volitional nature of the sense of agency is well documented, the present study examined whether agency is modulated when action selection shifts from self-control to a more automatic stimulus-driven process. Seventy-two participants performed an auditory Simon task including congruent and incongruent trials to generate automatic stimulus-driven vs. more self-control driven action, respectively. Responses in the Simon task produced a tone and agency was assessed with the intentional binding task - an implicit measure of agency. Results showed a Simon effect and temporal binding effect. However, temporal binding was independent of congruency. These findings suggest that temporal binding, a window to the sense of agency, emerges for both automatic stimulus-driven actions and self-controlled actions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Medial Frontal Cortex in Action Anticipation in Professional Badminton Players.

PubMed

Xu, Huan; Wang, Pin; Ye, Zhuo'er; Di, Xin; Xu, Guiping; Mo, Lei; Lin, Huiyan; Rao, Hengyi; Jin, Hua

2016-01-01

Some studies show that the medial frontal cortex is associated with more skilled action anticipation, while similar findings are not observed in some other studies, possibly due to the stimuli employed and the participants used as the control group. In addition, no studies have investigated whether there is any functional connectivity between the medial frontal cortex and other brain regions in more skilled action anticipation. Therefore, the present study aimed to re-investigate how the medial frontal cortex is involved in more skilled action anticipation by circumventing the limitations of previous research and to investigate that the medial frontal cortex functionally connected with other brain regions involved in action processing in more skilled action anticipation. To this end, professional badminton players and novices were asked to anticipate the landing position of the shuttlecock while watching badminton match videos or to judge the gender of the players in the matches. The video clips ended right at the point that the shuttlecock and the racket came into contact to reduce the effect of information about the trajectory of the shuttlecock. Novices who lacked training and watching experience were recruited for the control group to reduce the effect of sport-related experience on the medial frontal cortex. Blood oxygenation level-dependent activation was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to novices, badminton players exhibited stronger activation in the left medial frontal cortex during action anticipation and greater functional connectivity between left medial frontal cortex and some other brain regions (e.g., right posterior cingulate cortex). Therefore, the present study supports the position that the medial frontal cortex plays a role in more skilled action anticipation and that there is a specific brain network for more skilled action anticipation that involves right posterior cingulate cortex, right fusiform gyrus

Narrative, emotion and action: analysing 'most memorable' professionalism dilemmas.

PubMed

Rees, Charlotte E; Monrouxe, Lynn V; McDonald, Laura A

2013-01-01

Although previous studies have explored medical learners''most memorable' experiences, these have typically focused on patient deaths or mistakes. Drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives to understand the interplay between narrative, emotion and action, this paper aims to explore the whats and hows of written narratives of most memorable professionalism dilemmas: what types of dilemma are most memorable? When and where do they take place? How do students act? What characteristics relate to these dilemmas? How are dilemmas narrated? A total of 680 students from 29 of 32 UK medical schools provided a written narrative of their most memorable dilemma as part of their responses to an online questionnaire exploring the impact of professionalism dilemmas on moral distress. We employed quantitative thematic and discourse analysis of all narratives using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count software (LIWC) and conducted a narrative analysis of one exemplar. The most common themes across all narratives concerned dilemmas that related to issues of patient care with reference to the actions of health care professionals or students, student abuse, and consent and intimate examination. A total of 41.1% of experiences had occurred over 6 months previously and 80.1% had taken place in hospital settings. Overall, 54.9% of narrators reported having done something in the face of their dilemma, although only 13.2% described taking obvious or direct action. Numerous characteristics were related to most memorable dilemmas (e.g. narratives citing intimate examinations were more likely to take place in surgical settings). A total of 92.6% of narratives included negative emotion talk and numerous significant relationships emerged between types of emotion talk and most memorable dilemmas (e.g. more anger talk in abuse narratives). Our narrative analysis of one exemplar illustrates the richness of emotion talk and more subtle devices to establish emotional tone. Findings extend previous

Learning and exploration in action-perception loops.

PubMed

Little, Daniel Y; Sommer, Friedrich T

2013-01-01

Discovering the structure underlying observed data is a recurring problem in machine learning with important applications in neuroscience. It is also a primary function of the brain. When data can be actively collected in the context of a closed action-perception loop, behavior becomes a critical determinant of learning efficiency. Psychologists studying exploration and curiosity in humans and animals have long argued that learning itself is a primary motivator of behavior. However, the theoretical basis of learning-driven behavior is not well understood. Previous computational studies of behavior have largely focused on the control problem of maximizing acquisition of rewards and have treated learning the structure of data as a secondary objective. Here, we study exploration in the absence of external reward feedback. Instead, we take the quality of an agent's learned internal model to be the primary objective. In a simple probabilistic framework, we derive a Bayesian estimate for the amount of information about the environment an agent can expect to receive by taking an action, a measure we term the predicted information gain (PIG). We develop exploration strategies that approximately maximize PIG. One strategy based on value-iteration consistently learns faster than previously developed reward-free exploration strategies across a diverse range of environments. Psychologists believe the evolutionary advantage of learning-driven exploration lies in the generalized utility of an accurate internal model. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that agents which learn more efficiently during exploration are later better able to accomplish a range of goal-directed tasks. We will conclude by discussing how our work elucidates the explorative behaviors of animals and humans, its relationship to other computational models of behavior, and its potential application to experimental design, such as in closed-loop neurophysiology studies.

THE GERMICIDAL AND HEMOLYTIC ACTION OF α-BROM SOAPS

PubMed Central

Eggerth, Arnold H.

1929-01-01

1. The soaps of the α-brom fatty acids are usually more germicidal than the unsubstituted soaps. Only when B. typhosus was the test organism was there no increase in germicidal action. 2. For any test organism, germicidal action of the brominated soaps increases rapidly with increasing molecular weight up to a certain point, then diminishes. This is likewise true of the hemolytic titer. The point of maximal germicidal action varies with the different species of tests organisms. In the series studied, brominated soaps of 12 and 14 carbon atoms were most germicidal for the Gram-negative organisms, while soaps of 16 and 18 carbon atoms were most germicidal for Gram-positive organisms. 3. The brominated soaps are, in general, more active in acid that in neutral or alkaline reactions. The reasons for this have been discussed in a previous paper, in which a similar phenomenon with unsubstituted soaps was observed. 4. For certain organisms, the brominated soaps are among the most rapid and potent germicides known. PMID:19869537

21 CFR 314.160 - Approval of an application or abbreviated application for which approval was previously refused...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications and Abbreviated... of an applicant, FDA may, on the basis of new data, approve an application or abbreviated application which it had previously refused, suspended, or withdrawn approval. FDA will publish a notice in the...

21 CFR 314.160 - Approval of an application or abbreviated application for which approval was previously refused...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications and Abbreviated... of an applicant, FDA may, on the basis of new data, approve an application or abbreviated application which it had previously refused, suspended, or withdrawn approval. FDA will publish a notice in the...

21 CFR 314.160 - Approval of an application or abbreviated application for which approval was previously refused...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications and Abbreviated... of an applicant, FDA may, on the basis of new data, approve an application or abbreviated application which it had previously refused, suspended, or withdrawn approval. FDA will publish a notice in the...

21 CFR 314.160 - Approval of an application or abbreviated application for which approval was previously refused...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications and Abbreviated... of an applicant, FDA may, on the basis of new data, approve an application or abbreviated application which it had previously refused, suspended, or withdrawn approval. FDA will publish a notice in the...

21 CFR 314.160 - Approval of an application or abbreviated application for which approval was previously refused...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications and Abbreviated... of an applicant, FDA may, on the basis of new data, approve an application or abbreviated application which it had previously refused, suspended, or withdrawn approval. FDA will publish a notice in the...

75 FR 75159 - Airworthiness Directives; 328 Support Services GmbH (Type Certificate Previously Held by AvCraft...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-02

... Services GmbH (Type Certificate Previously Held by AvCraft Aerospace GmbH; Fairchild Dornier GmbH; Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH) Model 328-100 and -300 Airplanes AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION... Services GmbH, Global Support Center, P.O. Box 1252, D-82231 Wessling, Federal Republic of Germany...

Mood as Embodied Action: A Phenomenological Study of Interaction between Self and the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manley, Dolores R.

2009-01-01

This phenomenological study explored the interaction between the affective phenomenon of mood (Davidson, et al., 2003) and embodied action (Varela, et al., 1993) experienced during interaction between self and the environment. Exploring the complementarity of mood and embodied action for organizations, teams, or individuals provided insightful…

Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching: An Action-Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calvert, Megan; Sheen, Younghee

2015-01-01

The creation, implementation, and evaluation of language learning tasks remain a challenge for many teachers, especially those with limited experience with using tasks in their teaching. This action-research study reports on one teacher's experience of developing, implementing, critically reflecting on, and modifying a language learning task…

Simulation of action potential propagation in plants.

PubMed

Sukhov, Vladimir; Nerush, Vladimir; Orlova, Lyubov; Vodeneev, Vladimir

2011-12-21

Action potential is considered to be one of the primary responses of a plant to action of various environmental factors. Understanding plant action potential propagation mechanisms requires experimental investigation and simulation; however, a detailed mathematical model of plant electrical signal transmission is absent. Here, the mathematical model of action potential propagation in plants has been worked out. The model is a two-dimensional system of excitable cells; each of them is electrically coupled with four neighboring ones. Ion diffusion between excitable cell apoplast areas is also taken into account. The action potential generation in a single cell has been described on the basis of our previous model. The model simulates active and passive signal transmission well enough. It has been used to analyze theoretically the influence of cell to cell electrical conductivity and H(+)-ATPase activity on the signal transmission in plants. An increase in cell to cell electrical conductivity has been shown to stimulate an increase in the length constant, the action potential propagation velocity and the temperature threshold, while the membrane potential threshold being weakly changed. The growth of H(+)-ATPase activity has been found to induce the increase of temperature and membrane potential thresholds and the reduction of the length constant and the action potential propagation velocity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intergroup Contact and Social Change: Implications of Negative and Positive Contact for Collective Action in Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups.

PubMed

Reimer, Nils Karl; Becker, Julia C; Benz, Angelika; Christ, Oliver; Dhont, Kristof; Klocke, Ulrich; Neji, Sybille; Rychlowska, Magdalena; Schmid, Katharina; Hewstone, Miles

2017-01-01

Previous research has shown that (a) positive intergroup contact with an advantaged group can discourage collective action among disadvantaged-group members and (b) positive intergroup contact can encourage advantaged-group members to take action on behalf of disadvantaged outgroups. Two studies investigated the effects of negative as well as positive intergroup contact. Study 1 ( n = 482) found that negative but not positive contact with heterosexual people was associated with sexual-minority students' engagement in collective action (via group identification and perceived discrimination). Among heterosexual students, positive and negative contacts were associated with, respectively, more and less LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) activism. Study 2 ( N = 1,469) found that only negative contact (via perceived discrimination) predicted LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) students' collective action intentions longitudinally while only positive contact predicted heterosexual/cisgender students' LGBT activism. Implications for the relationship between intergroup contact, collective action, and social change are discussed.

Chronologic Trends in Studies on Fluoride Mechanisms of Action.

PubMed

Oh, H J; Oh, H W; Lee, D W; Kim, C H; Ahn, J Y; Kim, Y; Shin, H B; Kim, C Y; Park, S H; Jeon, J G

2017-11-01

Fluoride has been widely used for the prevention of dental caries since the mid-20th century. The aim of this study was to investigate the chronologic trends in studies on fluoride mechanisms of action against dental caries during the years 1950 to 2015. To this aim, queries such as "fluoride," "fluoride and demineralization," "fluoride and remineralization," "fluoride and (plaque or biofilms)," and "fluoride and (bacteria or microbials)" were submitted to PubMed to collect research article information, including titles, abstracts, publication dates, author affiliations, and publication journals. The article information that PubMed produced was then collected by an automatic web crawler and examined through informetrics and linguistic analyses. We found that the number of articles concerned with fluoride mechanisms of action against dental caries was 6,903 and gradually increased over time during the years 1950 to 2015. They were published by 1,136 journals-most notably, Caries Research and Journal of Dental Research. Of the articles published, those related to bacteria/microbials had a higher percentage (44%) than those dealing with plaque/biofilms, demineralization, and remineralization. With regard to the geographic distribution of authors, Europe and North America accounted for 65% of the articles during the years 1987 to 2015, although the number of authors in Asia sharply increased in recent years. Among the fluoride compounds, NaF was mentioned more frequently than SnF 2 , Na 2 PO 3 F, amine fluoride, and acidulated phosphate fluoride during the years 1986 to 2015. Water fluoridation received the most attention among the various fluoride application methods (toothpastes, mouthwashes, fluoride varnishes, and fluoride gels) during the same period. These results, obtained from employing informetrics and linguistic analyses, suggest that in studies on fluoride mechanisms of action, 1) the unbalanced geographic distribution of articles and 2) the heavy

Thought-action fusion in individuals with OCD symptoms.

PubMed

Amir, N; Freshman, M; Ramsey, B; Neary, E; Brigidi, B

2001-07-01

Rachman (Rachman, S. (1993). Obsessions, responsibility, and guilt. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 149-154) suggested that patients with OCD may interpret thoughts as having special importance, thus experiencing thought-action fusion (TAF). Shafran, Thordarson and Rachman (Shafran, R., Thordarson, D. S. & Rachman, S. (1996). Thought-action fusion in obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 710, 379-391) developed a questionnaire (TAF) and found that obsessives scored higher than non-obsessives on the measure. In the current study, we modified the TAF to include a scale that assessed the "likelihood of events happening to others" as well as ratings of the responsibility and cost for having these thoughts. Replicating previous findings, we found that individuals with OC symptoms gave higher ratings to the likelihood of negative events happening as a result of their negative thoughts. Individuals with OC symptoms also rated the likelihood that they would prevent harm by their positive thoughts higher than did individuals without OC symptoms. These results suggest that the role of thought-action fusion in OCs may extend to exaggerated beliefs about thoughts regarding the reduction of harm.

Fronto-parietal coding of goal-directed actions performed by artificial agents.

PubMed

Kupferberg, Aleksandra; Iacoboni, Marco; Flanagin, Virginia; Huber, Markus; Kasparbauer, Anna; Baumgartner, Thomas; Hasler, Gregor; Schmidt, Florian; Borst, Christoph; Glasauer, Stefan

2018-03-01

With advances in technology, artificial agents such as humanoid robots will soon become a part of our daily lives. For safe and intuitive collaboration, it is important to understand the goals behind their motor actions. In humans, this process is mediated by changes in activity in fronto-parietal brain areas. The extent to which these areas are activated when observing artificial agents indicates the naturalness and easiness of interaction. Previous studies indicated that fronto-parietal activity does not depend on whether the agent is human or artificial. However, it is unknown whether this activity is modulated by observing grasping (self-related action) and pointing actions (other-related action) performed by an artificial agent depending on the action goal. Therefore, we designed an experiment in which subjects observed human and artificial agents perform pointing and grasping actions aimed at two different object categories suggesting different goals. We found a signal increase in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and the premotor cortex when tool versus food items were pointed to or grasped by both agents, probably reflecting the association of hand actions with the functional use of tools. Our results show that goal attribution engages the fronto-parietal network not only for observing a human but also a robotic agent for both self-related and social actions. The debriefing after the experiment has shown that actions of human-like artificial agents can be perceived as being goal-directed. Therefore, humans will be able to interact with service robots intuitively in various domains such as education, healthcare, public service, and entertainment. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cancer, Employment, and American Indians: A Participatory Action Research Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Sharon R.; Finifrock, DeAnna; Marshall, Catherine A.; Jaakola, Julia; Setterquist, Janette; Burross, Heidi L.; Hodge, Felicia Schanche

2011-01-01

American Indian cancer survivors are an underserved and understudied group. In this pilot study we attempted to address, through participatory action research, missing information about those factors that serve to either facilitate employment or hinder it for adult cancer survivors. One task of the study was to develop and/or modify…

Reconstructing a Community, Reclaiming a Playground: A Participatory Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutzel, Karen

2007-01-01

This article describes a participatory action research study that examined participant's perceptions of community and of the West End neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the study took place. It is argued that oppressive situations have developed strong collective identities and social capital among residents, which can lead to the development…

Affirmative Action in Brazil: How Students' Field of Study Choice Reproduces Social Inequalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dias Lopes, Alice

2017-01-01

This paper aims to understand which fields of study affirmative action students graduated at the undergraduate level in public universities in Brazil in 2009 and 2010. Public universities began expanding access for underrepresented groups through racial, economic, and social affirmative action policies in 2001. The existing literature on…

Relations between 18-month-olds' gaze pattern and target action performance: a deferred imitation study with eye tracking.

PubMed

Óturai, Gabriella; Kolling, Thorsten; Knopf, Monika

2013-12-01

Deferred imitation studies are used to assess infants' declarative memory performance. These studies have found that deferred imitation performance improves with age, which is usually attributed to advancing memory capabilities. Imitation studies, however, are also used to assess infants' action understanding. In this second research program it has been observed that infants around the age of one year imitate selectively, i.e., they imitate certain kinds of target actions and omit others. In contrast to this, two-year-olds usually imitate the model's exact actions. 18-month-olds imitate more exactly than one-year-olds, but more selectively than two-year-olds, a fact which makes this age group especially interesting, since the processes underlying selective vs. exact imitation are largely debated. The question, for example, if selective attention to certain kinds of target actions accounts for preferential imitation of these actions in young infants is still open. Additionally, relations between memory capabilities and selective imitation processes, as well as their role in shaping 18-month-olds' neither completely selective, nor completely exact imitation have not been thoroughly investigated yet. The present study, therefore, assessed 18-month-olds' gaze toward two types of actions (functional vs. arbitrary target actions) and the model's face during target action demonstration, as well as infants' deferred imitation performance. Although infants' fixation times to functional target actions were not longer than to arbitrary target actions, they imitated the functional target actions more frequently than the arbitrary ones. This suggests that selective imitation does not rely on selective gaze toward functional target actions during the demonstration phase. In addition, a post hoc analysis of interindividual differences suggested that infants' attention to the model's social-communicative cues might play an important role in exact imitation, meaning the imitation

Pedagogical Leadership in Action: Two Case Studies in English Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Male, Trevor; Palaiologou, Ioanna

2017-01-01

This paper explores the construct of pedagogical leadership in action in two case-study schools in England. Both schools investigated had headteachers who were recognized as excellent practitioners who had led their schools from a failing position to being judged as "outstanding" and had successfully sustained and extended this status.…

Incidental and Context-Responsive Activation of Structure- and Function-Based Action Features during Object Identification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chia-lin; Middleton, Erica; Mirman, Daniel; Kalenine, Solene; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

2013-01-01

Previous studies suggest that action representations are activated during object processing, even when task-irrelevant. In addition, there is evidence that lexical-semantic context may affect such activation during object processing. Finally, prior work from our laboratory and others indicates that function-based ("use") and structure-based…

Doing Without Schema Hierarchies: A Recurrent Connectionist Approach to Normal and Impaired Routine Sequential Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Botvinick, Matthew; Plaut, David C.

2004-01-01

In everyday tasks, selecting actions in the proper sequence requires a continuously updated representation of temporal context. Previous models have addressed this problem by positing a hierarchy of processing units, mirroring the roughly hierarchical structure of naturalistic tasks themselves. The present study considers an alternative framework,…

76 FR 19721 - Airworthiness Directives; 328 Support Services GmbH (Type Certificate Previously Held by AvCraft...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-08

... Services GmbH (Type Certificate Previously Held by AvCraft Aerospace GmbH; Fairchild Dornier GmbH; Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH) Model 328-100 and -300 Airplanes AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION... information identified in this proposed AD, contact 328 Support Services GmbH, Global Support Center, P.O. Box...

Risk of retained placenta in women previously delivered by caesarean section: a population-based cohort study.

PubMed

Belachew, J; Cnattingius, S; Mulic-Lutvica, A; Eurenius, K; Axelsson, O; Wikström, A K

2014-01-01

To evaluate whether women with a caesarean section at their first delivery have an increased risk of retained placenta at their second delivery. Population-based cohort study. Sweden. All women with their first and second singleton deliveries in Sweden during the years 1994-2006 (n = 258,608). Women with caesarean section or placental abruption in their second pregnancy were not included in the study population. The risk of retained placenta at second delivery was estimated for women with a first delivery by caesarean section (n = 19,458), using women with a first vaginal delivery as reference (n = 239,150). Risks were calculated as odds ratios by unconditional logistic regression analysis with 95% confidence intervals (95%) after adjustments for maternal, delivery, and infant characteristics. Retained placenta with normal (≤1000 ml) and heavy (>1000 ml) bleeding. The overall rate of retained placenta was 2.07%. In women with a previous caesarean section and in women with previous vaginal delivery, the corresponding rates were 3.44% and 1.96%, respectively. Compared with women with a previous vaginal delivery, women with a previous caesarean section had an increased risk of retained placenta (adjusted OR 1.45; 95% CI 1.32-1.59), and the association was more pronounced for retained placenta with heavy bleeding (adjusted OR 1.61; 95% CI 1.44-1.79). Our report shows an increased risk for retained placenta in women previously delivered by caesarean section, a finding that should be considered in discussions of mode of delivery. © 2013 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Action preparation modulates sensory perception in unseen personal space: An electrophysiological investigation.

PubMed

Job, Xavier E; de Fockert, Jan W; van Velzen, José

2016-08-01

Behavioural and electrophysiological evidence has demonstrated that preparation of goal-directed actions modulates sensory perception at the goal location before the action is executed. However, previous studies have focused on sensory perception in areas of peripersonal space. The present study investigated visual and tactile sensory processing at the goal location of upcoming movements towards the body, much of which is not visible, as well as visible peripersonal space. A motor task cued participants to prepare a reaching movement towards goals either in peripersonal space in front of them or personal space on the upper chest. In order to assess modulations of sensory perception during movement preparation, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to task-irrelevant visual and tactile probe stimuli delivered randomly at one of the goal locations of the movements. In line with previous neurophysiological findings, movement preparation modulated visual processing at the goal of a movement in peripersonal space. Movement preparation also modulated somatosensory processing at the movement goal in personal space. The findings demonstrate that tactile perception in personal space is subject to similar top-down sensory modulation by motor preparation as observed for visual stimuli presented in peripersonal space. These findings show for the first time that the principles and mechanisms underlying adaptive modulation of sensory processing in the context of action extend to tactile perception in unseen personal space. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Venetoclax in Patients with Previously Treated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

PubMed

Roberts, Andrew W; Stilgenbauer, Stephan; Seymour, John F; Huang, David C S

2017-08-15

Venetoclax is the first BCL2 inhibitor to enter routine clinical practice. It is an orally bioavailable small molecule that binds BCL2 very specifically. Acting as a pharmacologic mimic of the proteins that initiate apoptosis (a so-called BH3 mimetic), venetoclax rapidly induces apoptosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, which express high levels of BCL2 and rely on it to maintain their survival. As a single agent, daily venetoclax treatment induced durable responses in 79% of patients with relapsed or refractory CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma in a phase I study, including complete remissions in 20% of patients. Its use was approved by the FDA in April 2016 for patients with previously treated del(17p) CLL on the basis of a single-arm phase II trial demonstrating a 79% response rate and an estimated 1-year progression-free survival of 72% with 400 mg/day continuous therapy. This review focuses on venetoclax, its mechanism of action, pharmacology, and clinical trial data and seeks to place it in the context of rapid advances in therapy for patients with relapsed CLL, especially those with del(17p) CLL. Clin Cancer Res; 23(16); 4527-33. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

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.

Tonic or Phasic Stimulation of Dopaminergic Projections to Prefrontal Cortex Causes Mice to Maintain or Deviate from Previously Learned Behavioral Strategies

PubMed Central

Ellwood, Ian T.; Patel, Tosha; Wadia, Varun; Lee, Anthony T.; Liptak, Alayna T.

2017-01-01

Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) encode reward prediction errors and can drive reinforcement learning through their projections to striatum, but much less is known about their projections to prefrontal cortex (PFC). Here, we studied these projections and observed phasic VTA–PFC fiber photometry signals after the delivery of rewards. Next, we studied how optogenetic stimulation of these projections affects behavior using conditioned place preference and a task in which mice learn associations between cues and food rewards and then use those associations to make choices. Neither phasic nor tonic stimulation of dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections elicited place preference. Furthermore, substituting phasic VTA–PFC stimulation for food rewards was not sufficient to reinforce new cue–reward associations nor maintain previously learned ones. However, the same patterns of stimulation that failed to reinforce place preference or cue–reward associations were able to modify behavior in other ways. First, continuous tonic stimulation maintained previously learned cue–reward associations even after they ceased being valid. Second, delivering phasic stimulation either continuously or after choices not previously associated with reward induced mice to make choices that deviated from previously learned associations. In summary, despite the fact that dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections exhibit phasic increases in activity that are time locked to the delivery of rewards, phasic activation of these projections does not necessarily reinforce specific actions. Rather, dopaminergic VTA–PFC activity can control whether mice maintain or deviate from previously learned cue–reward associations. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Dopaminergic inputs from ventral tegmental area (VTA) to striatum encode reward prediction errors and reinforce specific actions; however, it is currently unknown whether dopaminergic inputs to prefrontal cortex (PFC) play similar or distinct

Insight and Action Analytics: Three Case Studies to Consider

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milliron, Mark David; Malcolm, Laura; Kil, David

2014-01-01

Civitas Learning was conceived as a community of practice, bringing together forward-thinking leaders from diverse higher education institutions to leverage insight and action analytics in their ongoing efforts to help students learn well and finish strong. We define insight and action analytics as drawing, federating, and analyzing data from…

Intact imitation of emotional facial actions in autism spectrum conditions.

PubMed

Press, Clare; Richardson, Daniel; Bird, Geoffrey

2010-09-01

It has been proposed that there is a core impairment in autism spectrum conditions (ASC) to the mirror neuron system (MNS): If observed actions cannot be mapped onto the motor commands required for performance, higher order sociocognitive functions that involve understanding another person's perspective, such as theory of mind, may be impaired. However, evidence of MNS impairment in ASC is mixed. The present study used an 'automatic imitation' paradigm to assess MNS functioning in adults with ASC and matched controls, when observing emotional facial actions. Participants performed a pre-specified angry or surprised facial action in response to observed angry or surprised facial actions, and the speed of their action was measured with motion tracking equipment. Both the ASC and control groups demonstrated automatic imitation of the facial actions, such that responding was faster when they acted with the same emotional expression that they had observed. There was no difference between the two groups in the magnitude of the effect. These findings suggest that previous apparent demonstrations of impairments to the MNS in ASC may be driven by a lack of visual attention to the stimuli or motor sequencing impairments, and therefore that there is, in fact, no MNS impairment in ASC. We discuss these findings with reference to the literature on MNS functioning and imitation in ASC, as well as theories of the role of the MNS in sociocognitive functioning in typical development. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Increasing High School Student Interest in Science: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vartuli, Cindy A.

2016-01-01

An action research study was conducted to determine how to increase student interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career. The study began by exploring 10th-grade student and teacher perceptions of student interest in science in order to design an instructional strategy for stimulating student interest in learning and pursuing science.…

The influence of action observation on action execution: Dissociating the contribution of action on perception, perception on action, and resolving conflict.

PubMed

Deschrijver, Eliane; Wiersema, Jan R; Brass, Marcel

2017-04-01

For more than 15 years, motor interference paradigms have been used to investigate the influence of action observation on action execution. Most research on so-called automatic imitation has focused on variables that play a modulating role or investigated potential confounding factors. Interestingly, furthermore, a number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have tried to shed light on the functional mechanisms and neural correlates involved in imitation inhibition. However, these fMRI studies, presumably due to poor temporal resolution, have primarily focused on high-level processes and have neglected the potential role of low-level motor and perceptual processes. In the current EEG study, we therefore aimed to disentangle the influence of low-level perceptual and motoric mechanisms from high-level cognitive mechanisms. We focused on potential congruency differences in the visual N190 - a component related to the processing of biological motion, the Readiness Potential - a component related to motor preparation, and the high-level P3 component. Interestingly, we detected congruency effects in each of these components, suggesting that the interference effect in an automatic imitation paradigm is not only related to high-level processes such as self-other distinction but also to more low-level influences of perception on action and action on perception. Moreover, we documented relationships of the neural effects with (autistic) behavior.

Behavioral Recommendations in Health Research News as Cues to Action: Self-Relevancy and Self-Efficacy Processes.

PubMed

Chang, Chingching

2016-08-01

This study argues that behavioral recommendations in health news function as cues to action. A proposed self-oriented model seeks to explore the impacts of behavioral recommendations in health research news as cues to action through their influences on self-relevancy and self-efficacy. A content analysis (Study 1) first establishes that health research news commonly features behavioral recommendations. A message experiment (Study 2) then explores the utility of behavioral recommendations as cues to action by demonstrating a self-relevancy effect: Health research news with, as opposed to without, behavioral recommendations increases the self-relevancy of advocated health behaviors, which then improve people's attitudes toward and intentions to adopt those behaviors. A second message experiment (Study 3) tests whether varying presentations of behavioral recommendations alter their effectiveness as cues to action and thus people's behavioral intentions through a dual effect process. In addition to the previously demonstrated self-relevancy effect, this experiment shows that concrete, as opposed to abstract, behavioral recommendations trigger a self-efficacy effect, increasing perceived self-efficacy and further improving behavioral intentions.

The Action Observation System when Observing Hand Actions in Autism and Typical Development.

PubMed

Pokorny, Jennifer J; Hatt, Naomi V; Colombi, Costanza; Vivanti, Giacomo; Rogers, Sally J; Rivera, Susan M

2015-06-01

Social impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be in part due to difficulty perceiving and recognizing the actions of others. Evidence from imitation studies, which involves both observation and execution of an action, suggests differences, in individuals with ASD, between the ability to imitate goal-directed actions involving objects (transitive actions) and the ability to imitate actions that do not involve objects (intransitive actions). In the present study, we examined whether there were differences in how ASD adolescents encoded transitive and intransitive actions compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents, by having participants view videos of a hand reaching across a screen toward an object or to where an object would be while functional magnetic resonance images were collected. Analyses focused on areas within the action observation network (AON), which is activated during the observation of actions performed by others. We hypothesized that the AON would differentiate transitive from intransitive actions only in the ASD group. However, results revealed that object presence modulated activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus of the TD group, a differentiation that was not seen in the ASD group. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences between the TD and ASD groups in any of the conditions. This suggests that there is not a global deficit of the AON in individuals with ASD while observing transitive and intransitive actions. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Representation of Object-Directed Action and Function Knowledge in the Human Brain

PubMed Central

Chen, Quanjing; Garcea, Frank E.; Mahon, Bradford Z.

2016-01-01

The appropriate use of everyday objects requires the integration of action and function knowledge. Previous research suggests that action knowledge is represented in frontoparietal areas while function knowledge is represented in temporal lobe regions. Here we used multivoxel pattern analysis to investigate the representation of object-directed action and function knowledge while participants executed pantomimes of familiar tool actions. A novel approach for decoding object knowledge was used in which classifiers were trained on one pair of objects and then tested on a distinct pair; this permitted a measurement of classification accuracy over and above object-specific information. Region of interest (ROI) analyses showed that object-directed actions could be decoded in tool-preferring regions of both parietal and temporal cortex, while no independently defined tool-preferring ROI showed successful decoding of object function. However, a whole-brain searchlight analysis revealed that while frontoparietal motor and peri-motor regions are engaged in the representation of object-directed actions, medial temporal lobe areas in the left hemisphere are involved in the representation of function knowledge. These results indicate that both action and function knowledge are represented in a topographically coherent manner that is amenable to study with multivariate approaches, and that the left medial temporal cortex represents knowledge of object function. PMID:25595179

Neurological Principles and Rehabilitation of Action Disorders: Common Clinical Deficits

PubMed Central

Sathian, K.; Buxbaum, Laurel J.; Cohen, Leonardo G.; Krakauer, John W.; Lang, Catherine E.; Corbetta, Maurizio; Fitzpatrick, Susan M.

2014-01-01

In this paper we use the CAP principles to consider the impact of common clinical problems on action. We focus on three major syndromes: paresis, apraxia and ataxia. We also review mechanisms that could account for spontaneous recovery, using what is known about the best studied clinical dysfunction, paresis, and also ataxia. Together, this and the previous paper lay the groundwork for the third paper in this series, which reviews the relevant rehabilitative interventions. PMID:21613535

The role of action control and action planning on fruit and vegetable consumption.

PubMed

Zhou, Guangyu; Gan, Yiqun; Miao, Miao; Hamilton, Kyra; Knoll, Nina; Schwarzer, Ralf

2015-08-01

Globally, fruit and vegetable intake is lower than recommended despite being an important component to a healthy diet. Adopting or maintaining a sufficient amount of fruit and vegetables in one's diet may require not only motivation but also self-regulatory processes. Action control and action planning are two key volitional determinants that have been identified in the literature; however, it is not fully understood how these two factors operate between intention and behavior. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore the roles of action control and action planning as mediators between intentions and dietary behavior. A longitudinal study with three points in time was conducted. Participants (N = 286) were undergraduate students and invited to participate in a health behavior survey. At baseline (Time 1), measures of intention and fruit and vegetable intake were assessed. Two weeks later (Time 2), action control and action planning were assessed as putative sequential mediators. At Time 3 (two weeks after Time 2), fruit and vegetable consumption was measured as the outcome. The results revealed action control and action planning to sequentially mediate between intention and subsequent fruit and vegetable intake, controlling for baseline behavior. Both self-regulatory constructs, action control and action planning, make a difference when moving from motivation to action. Our preliminary evidence, therefore, suggests that planning may be more proximal to fruit and vegetable intake than action control. Further research, however, needs to be undertaken to substantiate this conclusion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal display of action words interferes with motor planning: a combined EEG and kinematic study.

PubMed

Boulenger, Véronique; Silber, Beata Y; Roy, Alice C; Paulignan, Yves; Jeannerod, Marc; Nazir, Tatjana A

2008-01-01

Recent evidence has shown that processing action-related language and motor action share common neural representations to a point that the two processes can interfere when performed concurrently. To support the assumption that language-induced motor activity contributes to action word understanding, the present study aimed at ruling out that this activity results from mental imagery of the movements depicted by the words. For this purpose, we examined cross-talk between action word processing and an arm reaching movement, using words that were presented too fast to be consciously perceived (subliminally). Encephalogram (EEG) and movement kinematics were recorded. EEG recordings of the "Readiness potential" ("RP", indicator of motor preparation) revealed that subliminal displays of action verbs during movement preparation reduced the RP and affected the subsequent reaching movement. The finding that motor processes were modulated by language processes despite the fact that words were not consciously perceived, suggests that cortical structures that serve the preparation and execution of motor actions are indeed part of the (action) language processing network.

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…

Using goal- and grip-related information for understanding the correctness of other's actions: an ERP study.

PubMed

van Elk, Michiel; Bousardt, Roel; Bekkering, Harold; van Schie, Hein T

2012-01-01

Detecting errors in other's actions is of pivotal importance for joint action, competitive behavior and observational learning. Although many studies have focused on the neural mechanisms involved in detecting low-level errors, relatively little is known about error-detection in everyday situations. The present study aimed to identify the functional and neural mechanisms whereby we understand the correctness of other's actions involving well-known objects (e.g. pouring coffee in a cup). Participants observed action sequences in which the correctness of the object grasped and the grip applied to a pair of objects were independently manipulated. Observation of object violations (e.g. grasping the empty cup instead of the coffee pot) resulted in a stronger P3-effect than observation of grip errors (e.g. grasping the coffee pot at the upper part instead of the handle), likely reflecting a reorienting response, directing attention to the relevant location. Following the P3-effect, a parietal slow wave positivity was observed that persisted for grip-errors, likely reflecting the detection of an incorrect hand-object interaction. These findings provide new insight in the functional significance of the neurophysiological markers associated with the observation of incorrect actions and suggest that the P3-effect and the subsequent parietal slow wave positivity may reflect the detection of errors at different levels in the action hierarchy. Thereby this study elucidates the cognitive processes that support the detection of action violations in the selection of objects and grips.

The influence of action on episodic memory: a virtual reality study.

PubMed

Plancher, Gaën; Barra, Julien; Orriols, Eric; Piolino, Pascale

2013-01-01

A range of empirical findings suggest that active learning is important for memory. However, few studies have focused on the mechanisms underlying this enactment effect in episodic memory using complex environments. Research using virtual reality has yielded inconsistent results. We postulated that the effect of action depends on the degree of interaction with the environment and freedom in the planning of an itinerary. To test these hypotheses, we disentangled the interaction and planning components of action to investigate whether each enhances factual and spatial memory. Seventy-two participants (36 male and 36 female) explored a virtual town in one of three experimental conditions: (a) a passive condition where participants were immersed as passenger of the car (no interaction, no planning); (b) a planning-only condition (the subject chose the itinerary but did not drive the car); (c) an interaction-only condition (the subject drove the car but the itinerary was fixed). We found that itinerary choice and motor control both enhanced spatial memory, while factual memory was impaired by online motor control. The role of action in memory is discussed.

Objects tell us what action we can expect: dissociating brain areas for retrieval and exploitation of action knowledge during action observation in fMRI

PubMed Central

Schubotz, Ricarda I.; Wurm, Moritz F.; Wittmann, Marco K.; von Cramon, D. Yves

2014-01-01

Objects are reminiscent of actions often performed with them: knife and apple remind us on peeling the apple or cutting it. Mnemonic representations of object-related actions (action codes) evoked by the sight of an object may constrain and hence facilitate recognition of unrolling actions. The present fMRI study investigated if and how action codes influence brain activation during action observation. The average number of action codes (NAC) of 51 sets of objects was rated by a group of n = 24 participants. In an fMRI study, different volunteers were asked to recognize actions performed with the same objects presented in short videos. To disentangle areas reflecting the storage of action codes from those exploiting them, we showed object-compatible and object-incompatible (pantomime) actions. Areas storing action codes were considered to positively co-vary with NAC in both object-compatible and object-incompatible action; due to its role in tool-related tasks, we here hypothesized left anterior inferior parietal cortex (aIPL). In contrast, areas exploiting action codes were expected to show this correlation only in object-compatible but not incompatible action, as only object-compatible actions match one of the active action codes. For this interaction, we hypothesized ventrolateral premotor cortex (PMv) to join aIPL due to its role in biasing competition in IPL. We found left anterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) to co-vary with NAC. In addition to these areas, action codes increased activity in object-compatible action in bilateral PMv, right IPS, and lateral occipital cortex (LO). Findings suggest that during action observation, the brain derives possible actions from perceived objects, and uses this information to shape action recognition. In particular, the number of expectable actions quantifies the activity level at PMv, IPL, and pMTG, but only PMv reflects their biased competition while observed action unfolds

Extending experiences of voluntary action by association

PubMed Central

Khalighinejad, Nima; Haggard, Patrick

2016-01-01

“Sense of agency” refers to the experience that links one’s voluntary actions to their external outcomes. It remains unclear whether this ubiquitous experience is hardwired, arising from specific signals within the brain’s motor systems, or rather depends on associative learning, through repeated cooccurrence of voluntary movements and their outcomes. To distinguish these two models, we asked participants to trigger a tone by a voluntary keypress action. The voluntary action was always associated with an involuntary movement of the other hand. We then tested whether the combination of the involuntary movement and tone alone might now suffice to produce a sense of agency, even when the voluntary action was omitted. Sense of agency was measured using an implicit marker based on time perception, namely a shift in the perceived time of the outcome toward the action that caused it. Across two experiments, repeatedly pairing an involuntary movement with a voluntary action induced key temporal features of agency, with the outcome now perceived as shifted toward the involuntary movement. This shift required involuntary movements to have been previously associated with voluntary actions. We show that some key aspects of agency may be transferred from voluntary actions to involuntary movements. An internal volitional signal is required for the primary acquisition of agency but, with repeated association, the involuntary movement in itself comes to produce some key temporal features of agency over the subsequent outcome. This finding may explain how humans can develop an enduring sense of agency in nonnatural cases, like brain–machine interfaces. PMID:27436902

Immediate movement history influences reach-to-grasp action selection in children and adults.

PubMed

Kent, Samuel W; Wilson, Andrew D; Plumb, Mandy S; Williams, Justin H G; Mon-Williams, Mark

2009-01-01

Action selection is subject to many biases. Immediate movement history is one such bias seen in young infants. Is this bias strong enough to affect adult behavior? Adult participants reached and grasped a cylinder positioned to require either pronation or supination of the hand. Successive cylinder positions changed either randomly or systematically between trials. Random positioning led to optimized economy of movement. In contrast, systematic changes in position biased action selection toward previously selected actions at the expense of movement economy. Thus, one switches to a new movement only when the savings outweigh the costs of the switch. Immediate movement history had an even larger influence on children aged 7-15 years. This suggests that switching costs are greater in children, which is consistent with their reduced grasping experience. The presence of this effect in adults suggests that immediate movement history exerts a more widespread and pervasive influence on patterns of action selection than researchers had previously recognized.

Heavy-Meson Spectrum Tests of the Oktay--Kronfeld Action

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

Bailey, Jon A.; Jang, Yong-Chull; Lee, Weonjong

2014-11-07

We present heavy-meson spectrum results obtained using the Oktay--Kronfeld (OK) action on MILC asqtad lattices. The OK action was designed to improve the heavy-quark action of the Fermilab formulation, such that heavy-quark discretization errors are reduced. The OK action includes dimension-6 and -7 operators necessary for tree-level matching to QCD through ordermore » $$\\mathrm{O}(\\Lambda^3/m_Q^3)$$ for heavy-light mesons and $$\\mathrm{O}(v^6)$$ for quarkonium, or, equivalently, through $$\\mathrm{O}(a^2)$$ with some $$\\mathrm{O}(a^3)$$ terms with Symanzik power counting. To assess the improvement, we extend previous numerical tests with heavy-meson masses by analyzing data generated on a finer ($$a \\approx 0.12\\;$$fm) lattice with the correct tadpole factors for the $$c_5$$ term in the action. We update the analyses of the inconsistency parameter and the hyperfine splittings for the rest and kinetic masses.« less

Do Affirmative Action Bans Lower Minority College Enrollment and Attainment?: Evidence from Statewide Bans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Backes, Ben

2012-01-01

Using institutional data on race-specific college enrollment and completion, I examine whether minority students were less likely to enroll in a four-year public college or receive a degree following a statewide affirmative action ban. As in previous studies, I find that black and Hispanic enrollment dropped at the top institutions; however, there…

From action to abstraction: Using the hands to learn math

PubMed Central

Novack, Miriam A.; Congdon, Eliza L.; Hemani-Lopez, Naureen; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that children benefit from gesturing during math instruction. Here we ask whether gesturing promotes learning because it is itself a physical action, or because it uses physical action to represent abstract ideas. To address this question, we taught third-grade children a strategy for solving mathematical equivalence problems that was instantiated in one of three ways: (1) in the physical action children performed on objects, (2) in a concrete gesture miming that action, or (3) in an abstract gesture. All three types of hand movements helped children learn how to solve the problems on which they were trained. However, only gesture led to success on problems that required generalizing the knowledge gained. The results provide the first evidence that gesture promotes transfer of knowledge better than action, and suggest that the beneficial effects gesture has on learning may reside in the features that differentiate it from action. PMID:24503873

Action Monitoring Cortical Activity Coupled to Submovements

PubMed Central

Sobolewski, Aleksander

2017-01-01

Numerous studies have examined neural correlates of the human brain’s action-monitoring system during experimentally segmented tasks. However, it remains unknown how such a system operates during continuous motor output when no experimental time marker is available (such as button presses or stimulus onset). We set out to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of action monitoring when hand position has to be repeatedly monitored and corrected. For this, we recorded high-density electroencephalography (EEG) during a visuomotor tracking task during which participants had to follow a target with the mouse cursor along a visible trajectory. By decomposing hand kinematics into naturally occurring periodic submovements, we found an event-related potential (ERP) time-locked to these submovements and localized in a sensorimotor cortical network comprising the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the precentral gyrus. Critically, the amplitude of the ERP correlated with the deviation of the cursor, 110 ms before the submovement. Control analyses showed that this correlation was truly due to the cursor deviation and not to differences in submovement kinematics or to the visual content of the task. The ERP closely resembled those found in response to mismatch events in typical cognitive neuroscience experiments. Our results demonstrate the existence of a cortical process in the SMA, evaluating hand position in synchrony with submovements. These findings suggest a functional role of submovements in a sensorimotor loop of periodic monitoring and correction and generalize previous results from the field of action monitoring to cases where action has to be repeatedly monitored. PMID:29071301

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

A Narrative Study of Iranian EFL Teachers' Experiences of Doing Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehrani, Mehdi B.

2017-01-01

The present narrative study examined the purposes that language teachers pursue in their research studies. The study also explored the opportunities and challenges that teachers experience while doing action research. Data were collected through a survey of narrative frames among 68 teachers, reflective essays written by 9 teachers and individual…

Studies on the cardiac actions of flosequinan in vitro.

PubMed Central

Gristwood, R. W.; Beleta, J.; Bou, J.; Cardelús, I.; Fernández, A. G.; Llenas, J.; Berga, P.

1992-01-01

1. We have investigated the in vitro cardiac actions of flosequinan and of its major metabolite in man, BTS 53554. 2. Positive inotropic activity was seen with flosequinan in guinea-pig isolated ventricles, the threshold concentration for effect being less than 1 x 10(-5) M. BTS 53554 was approximately half as potent as the parent compound. 3. In guinea-pig working whole hearts flosequinan increased left ventricular dp/dtmax, indicating a positive inotropic action. This effect was accompanied by increases in heart rate, cardiac output and stroke volume. 4. The virtual complete inhibition of inotropic responses to flosequinan and BTS 53554 by carbachol suggests that these responses are adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP)-mediated. 5. Flosequinan was shown to increase calcium inward current in guinea-pig ventricle, an action consistent with a cyclic AMP involvement in the response. 6. The inotropic activity of flosequinan was not potentiated by the selective phosphodiesterase (PDE) III inhibitor SK&F 94120, a result which indicates that flosequinan does not increase cyclic AMP concentrations via stimulation of adenylate cyclase. 7. Flosequinan inotropic responses were potentiated by rolipram, a selective PDE IV inhibitor, a result consistent with flosequinan being itself a PDE III inhibitor. 8. Biochemical studies with purified enzymes confirmed that flosequinan and BTS 53554 are relatively selective inhibitors of PDE III. 9. A comparison of pharmacological and biochemical data for both flosequinan and BTS 53554 indicates that their PDE III inhibitory potency is sufficient to account for their inotropic activity. PMID:1324061

3-D Computer Animation vs. Live-Action Video: Differences in Viewers' Response to Instructional Vignettes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Dennie; McLaughlin, Tim; Brown, Irving

2012-01-01

This study explored computer animation vignettes as a replacement for live-action video scenarios of classroom behavior situations previously used as an instructional resource in teacher education courses in classroom management strategies. The focus of the research was to determine if the embedded behavioral information perceived in a live-action…

Effective Teaching and Learning Environments and Principal Self-Efficacy in Oklahoma: Replication of a Previous Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Kathryn

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to replicate a previous study by Smith et al. (2006) that explored principal self-efficacy beliefs for facilitating effective instructional environments at their schools. There has been limited research conducted on principal's self-efficacy, and the studies that have been completed on the topic have not been…

Priorities for Action in a Rural Older Adults Study

PubMed Central

Averill, Jennifer B.

2013-01-01

This article reports the findings from a recent study of older adults in the rural southwestern United States and discusses practice and research implications. The aim of the study was to analyze health disparities and strengths in the contexts of rurality, aging, a depressed economy, and limited health resources. Identified themes needing action included sustained access to prescriptions, transportation solutions for older adults in isolated communities, inadequate access to care, poor infrastructure and coordination of services, scarce assisted living and in-home care for frail older adults, and barriers related to culture, language, and economics. PMID:22929381

The anesthetic action of some polyhalogenated ethers-Monte Carlo method based QSAR study.

PubMed

Golubović, Mlađan; Lazarević, Milan; Zlatanović, Dragan; Krtinić, Dane; Stoičkov, Viktor; Mladenović, Bojan; Milić, Dragan J; Sokolović, Dušan; Veselinović, Aleksandar M

2018-04-13

Up to this date, there has been an ongoing debate about the mode of action of general anesthetics, which have postulated many biological sites as targets for their action. However, postoperative nausea and vomiting are common problems in which inhalational agents may have a role in their development. When a mode of action is unknown, QSAR modelling is essential in drug development. To investigate the aspects of their anesthetic, QSAR models based on the Monte Carlo method were developed for a set of polyhalogenated ethers. Until now, their anesthetic action has not been completely defined, although some hypotheses have been suggested. Therefore, a QSAR model should be developed on molecular fragments that contribute to anesthetic action. QSAR models were built on the basis of optimal molecular descriptors based on the SMILES notation and local graph invariants, whereas the Monte Carlo optimization method with three random splits into the training and test set was applied for model development. Different methods, including novel Index of ideality correlation, were applied for the determination of the robustness of the model and its predictive potential. The Monte Carlo optimization process was capable of being an efficient in silico tool for building up a robust model of good statistical quality. Molecular fragments which have both positive and negative influence on anesthetic action were determined. The presented study can be useful in the search for novel anesthetics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Translational studies of goal-directed action as a framework for classifying deficits across psychiatric disorders

PubMed Central

Griffiths, Kristi R.; Morris, Richard W.; Balleine, Bernard W.

2014-01-01

The ability to learn contingencies between actions and outcomes in a dynamic environment is critical for flexible, adaptive behavior. Goal-directed actions adapt to changes in action-outcome contingencies as well as to changes in the reward-value of the outcome. When networks involved in reward processing and contingency learning are maladaptive, this fundamental ability can be lost, with detrimental consequences for decision-making. Impaired decision-making is a core feature in a number of psychiatric disorders, ranging from depression to schizophrenia. The argument can be developed, therefore, that seemingly disparate symptoms across psychiatric disorders can be explained by dysfunction within common decision-making circuitry. From this perspective, gaining a better understanding of the neural processes involved in goal-directed action, will allow a comparison of deficits observed across traditional diagnostic boundaries within a unified theoretical framework. This review describes the key processes and neural circuits involved in goal-directed decision-making using evidence from animal studies and human neuroimaging. Select studies are discussed to outline what we currently know about causal judgments regarding actions and their consequences, action-related reward evaluation, and, most importantly, how these processes are integrated in goal-directed learning and performance. Finally, we look at how adaptive decision-making is impaired across a range of psychiatric disorders and how deepening our understanding of this circuitry may offer insights into phenotypes and more targeted interventions. PMID:24904322

[Effects of sustained and stopped hand actions on sensible/nonsensible judgments of verbal phrase of action: comparison between actual action and viewing a movie].

PubMed

Yamamoto, Yukiko; Hakoda, Yuji

2002-04-01

The present study investigated how an actual action or viewing a movie of an action influences the subsequent semantic processing of a verbal phrase concerning the action (e.g., holding a bag with a hand). Forty participants made sensible/nonsensible judgments about the target phrase which were preceded by one of the four prime conditions: sustained action, stopped action, sustained viewing movie, and stopped viewing movie. A facilitatory priming effect was observed in the sustained action condition. Whereas an inhibitory effect was observed in the stopped action condition. These results suggest that the kinetic information affects on the semantic processing of a verbal phrase of action.

Metastability and emergent performance of dynamic interceptive actions.

PubMed

Pinder, Ross A; Davids, Keith; Renshaw, Ian

2012-09-01

Adaptive patterning of human movement is context specific and dependent on interacting constraints of the performer-environment relationship. Flexibility of skilled behaviour is predicated on the capacity of performers to move between different states of movement organisation to satisfy dynamic task constraints, previously demonstrated in studies of visual perception, bimanual coordination, and an interceptive combat task. Metastability is a movement system property that helps performers to remain in a state of relative coordination with their performance environments, poised between multiple co-existing states (stable and distinct movement patterns or responses). The aim of this study was to examine whether metastability could be exploited in externally paced interceptive actions in fast ball sports, such as cricket. Here we report data on metastability in performance of multi-articular hitting actions by skilled junior cricket batters (n=5). Participants' batting actions (key movement timings and performance outcomes) were analysed in four distinct performance regions varied by ball pitching (bounce) location. Results demonstrated that, at a pre-determined distance to the ball, participants were forced into a meta-stable region of performance where rich and varied patterns of functional movement behaviours emerged. Participants adapted the organisation of responses, resulting in higher levels of variability in movement timing in this performance region, without detrimental effects on the quality of interceptive performance outcomes. Findings provide evidence for the emergence of metastability in a dynamic interceptive action in cricket batting. Flexibility and diversity of movement responses were optimised using experiential knowledge and careful manipulation of key task constraints of the specific sport context. Copyright © 2012 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creative Expression as a Way of Knowing in Diabetes Adult Health Education: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuckey, Heather L.

2009-01-01

This action research study explores the meaning-making process using forms of creative expression for eight women with insulin-dependent diabetes. The study is theoretically informed by arts-based ways of knowing and aspects of feminist poststructuralism, and explains the process of creativity used in the action research process. The findings…

Action Learning: Avoiding Conflict or Enabling Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corley, Aileen; Thorne, Ann

2006-01-01

Action learning is based on the premise that action and learning are inextricably entwined and it is this potential, to enable action, which has contributed to the growth of action learning within education and management development programmes. However has this growth in action learning lead to an evolution or a dilution of Revan's classical…

A Case Study Examining Change in Teacher Beliefs Through Collaborative Action Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaino, Katrin; Holbrook, Jack; Rannikmäe, Miia

2013-01-01

The main goal of this study was to explore the role of collaborative action research in eliciting change in teacher beliefs. The beliefs were those of five chemistry teachers in implementing a new teaching approach, geared to enhancing students' scientific and technological literacy (STL). The teacher beliefs were analysed based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour (2005) by looking at the teacher's (a) attitude towards implementing STL modules, (b) perceived subjective norms, and (c) behavioural control regarding the new teaching approach. After an introductory year, when teachers familiarised themselves with the new approach, a collaborative action research project was initiated in the second year of the study, helping teachers to minimise or overcome initially perceived constraints when implementing STL modules in their classroom. The processes of teacher change and the course of the project were investigated by teacher interviews, teacher informal commentaries, and meeting records. The formation of positive beliefs towards a STL approach increased continuously, although its extent and character varied depending on the teacher. The close cooperation, in the format of collaborative action research and especially through teacher group reflections and perceived collegial support, did support teacher professional development including change in their beliefs towards the new teaching approach. Additionally, positive feedback gained from other teachers through running a two-day in-service course in year three helped to strengthen all five teachers' existing beliefs towards the new approach. The current research demonstrated that perceived constraints, where identified, can be meaningfully addressed by teachers, through undertaking collaborative action research.

The Role of Medial Frontal Cortex in Action Anticipation in Professional Badminton Players

PubMed Central

Xu, Huan; Wang, Pin; Ye, Zhuo’er; Di, Xin; Xu, Guiping; Mo, Lei; Lin, Huiyan; Rao, Hengyi; Jin, Hua

2016-01-01

Some studies show that the medial frontal cortex is associated with more skilled action anticipation, while similar findings are not observed in some other studies, possibly due to the stimuli employed and the participants used as the control group. In addition, no studies have investigated whether there is any functional connectivity between the medial frontal cortex and other brain regions in more skilled action anticipation. Therefore, the present study aimed to re-investigate how the medial frontal cortex is involved in more skilled action anticipation by circumventing the limitations of previous research and to investigate that the medial frontal cortex functionally connected with other brain regions involved in action processing in more skilled action anticipation. To this end, professional badminton players and novices were asked to anticipate the landing position of the shuttlecock while watching badminton match videos or to judge the gender of the players in the matches. The video clips ended right at the point that the shuttlecock and the racket came into contact to reduce the effect of information about the trajectory of the shuttlecock. Novices who lacked training and watching experience were recruited for the control group to reduce the effect of sport-related experience on the medial frontal cortex. Blood oxygenation level-dependent activation was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to novices, badminton players exhibited stronger activation in the left medial frontal cortex during action anticipation and greater functional connectivity between left medial frontal cortex and some other brain regions (e.g., right posterior cingulate cortex). Therefore, the present study supports the position that the medial frontal cortex plays a role in more skilled action anticipation and that there is a specific brain network for more skilled action anticipation that involves right posterior cingulate cortex, right fusiform gyrus

Infant Manipulative Actions upon Customary and Uncustomary Objects in Independent and Joint Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aureli, Tiziana; De Tommasi, Emilia

1999-01-01

Observed 12-month olds, with their mothers and independently, acting on objects from home and objects brought by the experimenter as new exemplars of previous toys. Found that conventional actions were more frequent in joint than in independent activity. In independent activity, conventional actions were more frequent with customary than with…

The CARN/ARNA Inaugural Study Day Inquiry: What Happens to Action Research after the Master's Degree?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shosh, Joseph M.; McAteer, Mary

2016-01-01

The Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) held its first American study day on the east coast of the United States in conjunction with the Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) 2014 conference in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. Study day participants visited three American secondary schools, one each in Pennsylvania, New York, and…

The Influence of Action Perception on Object Recognition: A Developmental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mounoud, Pierre; Duscherer, Katia; Moy, Guenael; Perraudin, Sandrine

2007-01-01

Two experiments explored the existence and the development of relations between action representations and object representations. A priming paradigm was used in which participants viewed an action pantomime followed by the picture of a tool, the tool being either associated or unassociated with the preceding action. Overall, we observed that the…

Turning to Case Studies as a Mechanism for Learning in Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Leary, Denise; Coughlan, Paul; Rigg, Clare; Coghlan, David

2017-01-01

Case studies are a useful means of capturing and sharing experiential knowledge by allowing researchers to explore the social, organisational and political contexts of a specific case. Although accounts of action learning are often reported using a case study approach, it is not common to see individual case studies being used as a learning…

Online Action Monitoring and Memory for Self-Performed Actions in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grainger, Catherine; Williams, David M.; Lind, Sophie E.

2014-01-01

This study explored whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with action monitoring. Two experimental tasks examined whether adults with ASD are able to monitor their own actions online, and whether they also show a typical enactment effects in memory (enhanced memory for actions they have performed compared…

Entrepreneurial Learning through Action: A Case Study of the Six-Squared Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pittaway, Luke; Missing, Caroline; Hudson, Nigel; Maragh, Dean

2009-01-01

This paper explores the role of "action" in entrepreneurial learning and illustrates how programs designed to support action learning can enhance management development in entrepreneurial businesses. The paper begins by exploring action learning and the way "action" is conceived in different types of program. In the second part, the paper details…

Sequence learning in Parkinson's disease: Focusing on action dynamics and the role of dopaminergic medication.

PubMed

Ruitenberg, Marit F L; Duthoo, Wout; Santens, Patrick; Seidler, Rachael D; Notebaert, Wim; Abrahamse, Elger L

2016-12-01

Previous studies on movement sequence learning in Parkinson's disease (PD) have produced mixed results. A possible explanation for the inconsistent findings is that some studies have taken dopaminergic medication into account while others have not. Additionally, in previous studies the response modalities did not allow for an investigation of the action dynamics of sequential movements as they unfold over time. In the current study we investigated sequence learning in PD by specifically considering the role of medication status in a sequence learning task where mouse movements were performed. The focus on mouse movements allowed us to examine the action dynamics of sequential movement in terms of initiation time, movement time, movement accuracy, and velocity. PD patients performed the sequence learning task once on their regular medication, and once after overnight withdrawal from their medication. Results showed that sequence learning as reflected in initiation times was impaired when PD patients performed the task ON medication compared to OFF medication. In contrast, sequence learning as reflected in the accuracy of movement trajectories was enhanced when performing the task ON compared to OFF medication. Our findings suggest that while medication enhances execution processes of movement sequence learning, it may at the same time impair planning processes that precede actual execution. Overall, the current study extends earlier findings on movement sequence learning in PD by differentiating between various components of performance, and further refines previous dopamine overdose effects in sequence learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

The organization of the posterior parietal cortex devoted to upper limb actions: An fMRI study

PubMed Central

Ferri, Stefania; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2015-01-01

Abstract The present fMRI study examined whether upper‐limb action classes differing in their motor goal are encoded by different PPC sectors. Action observation was used as a proxy for action execution. Subjects viewed actors performing object‐related (e.g., grasping), skin‐displacing (e.g., rubbing the skin), and interpersonal upper limb actions (e.g., pushing someone). Observation of the three action classes activated a three‐level network including occipito‐temporal, parietal, and premotor cortex. The parietal region common to observing all three action classes was located dorsally to the left intraparietal sulcus (DIPSM/DIPSA border). Regions specific for observing an action class were obtained by combining the interaction between observing action classes and stimulus types with exclusive masking for observing the other classes, while for regions considered preferentially active for a class the interaction was exclusively masked with the regions common to all observed actions. Left putative human anterior intraparietal was specific for observing manipulative actions, and left parietal operculum including putative human SII region, specific for observing skin‐displacing actions. Control experiments demonstrated that this latter activation depended on seeing the skin being moved and not simply on seeing touch. Psychophysiological interactions showed that the two specific parietal regions had similar connectivities. Finally, observing interpersonal actions preferentially activated a dorsal sector of left DIPSA, possibly the homologue of ventral intraparietal coding the impingement of the target person's body into the peripersonal space of the actor. These results support the importance of segregation according to the action class as principle of posterior parietal cortex organization for action observation and by implication for action execution. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3845–3866, 2015. © 2015 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley

Domains of unprofessional behavior during medical school associated with future disciplinary action by a state medical board.

PubMed

Teherani, Arianne; Hodgson, Carol S; Banach, Mary; Papadakis, Maxine A

2005-10-01

In a previous study, we showed that unprofessional behavior in medical school was associated with subsequent disciplinary action. This study expands on that work by identifying the domains of unprofessional behavior that are most problematic. In this retrospective case-control study, negative comments were extracted from student files for 68 case (disciplined) and 196 matched control (nondisciplined) physicians. Comments were analyzed qualitatively and subsequently quantified. The relationship between domains of behavior and disciplinary action was established through chi-square tests and multivariate analysis of variance. Three domains of unprofessional behavior emerged that were related significantly to later disciplinary outcome: (1) poor reliability and responsibility, (2) lack of self-improvement and adaptability, and (3) poor initiative and motivation. Three critical domains of professionalism associated with future disciplinary action have been defined. These findings could lead to focused remediation strategies and policy decisions.

Failing Schools: A Study of Corrective Actions in Relation to Underperforming Elementary Schools in California

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Francine A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to find out which corrective actions have a positive impact on improving students' learning and achievement and ultimately moving underperforming elementary schools out of Program Improvement (PI) status in California. Some common corrective actions include, but are not limited to, instructional program, instructional…

Reduced Mu Power in Response to Unusual Actions Is Context-Dependent in 1-Year-Olds

PubMed Central

Langeloh, Miriam; Buttelmann, David; Matthes, Daniel; Grassmann, Susanne; Pauen, Sabina; Hoehl, Stefanie

2018-01-01

During social interactions infants predict and evaluate other people’s actions. Previous behavioral research found that infants’ imitation of others’ actions depends on these evaluations and is context-dependent: 1-year-olds predominantly imitated an unusual action (turning on a lamp with one’s forehead) when the model’s hands were free compared to when the model’s hands were occupied or restrained. In the present study, we adapted this behavioral paradigm to a neurophysiological study measuring infants’ brain activity while observing usual and unusual actions via electroencephalography. In particular, we measured differences in mu power (6 – 8 Hz) associated with motor activation. In a between-subjects design, 12- to 14-month-old infants watched videos of adult models demonstrating that their hands were either free or restrained. Subsequent test frames showed the models turning on a lamp or a soundbox by using their head or their hand. Results in the hands-free condition revealed that 12- to 14-month-olds displayed a reduction of mu power in frontal regions in response to unusual and thus unexpected actions (head touch) compared to usual and expected actions (hand touch). This may be explained by increased motor activation required for updating prior action predictions in response to unusual actions though alternative explanations in terms of general attention or cognitive control processes may also be considered. In the hands-restrained condition, responses in mu frequency band did not differ between action outcomes. This implies that unusual head-touch actions compared to hand-touch actions do not necessarily evoke a reduction of mu power. Thus, we conclude that reduction of mu frequency power is context-dependent during infants’ action perception. Our results are interpreted in terms of motor system activity measured via changes in mu frequency band as being one important neural mechanism involved in action prediction and evaluation from early

[The hypotriglyceridemic action of the combination of L-carnitine + simvastatin vs. L-carnitine and vs. simvastatin].

PubMed

Savica, V; Bellinghieri, G; Lamanna, F

1992-01-01

Previous studies had determined the role played by L-carnitine and simvastatin in the treatment of altered lipidemia in dialyzed patients with chronic uremia. The authors carried out a study on the above substances either singly or together administered to the same patients with chronic uremia in hemodialysis. This study was aimed at demonstrating the possible synergic normolipidemic action of both substances in comparison with their single administration, because their different mechanism of action could be metabolically enhanced. The obtained results demonstrated that the therapeutic association proposed is preferable to the use of the single substances. Moreover, a higher and more rapid normolipidemic effect was obtained after using L-carnitina associated with simvastatin with respect to the separated substances.

Action Recognition and Movement Direction Discrimination Tasks Are Associated with Different Adaptation Patterns

PubMed Central

de la Rosa, Stephan; Ekramnia, Mina; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.

2016-01-01

The ability to discriminate between different actions is essential for action recognition and social interactions. Surprisingly previous research has often probed action recognition mechanisms with tasks that did not require participants to discriminate between actions, e.g., left-right direction discrimination tasks. It is not known to what degree visual processes in direction discrimination tasks are also involved in the discrimination of actions, e.g., when telling apart a handshake from a high-five. Here, we examined whether action discrimination is influenced by movement direction and whether direction discrimination depends on the type of action. We used an action adaptation paradigm to target action and direction discrimination specific visual processes. In separate conditions participants visually adapted to forward and backward moving handshake and high-five actions. Participants subsequently categorized either the action or the movement direction of an ambiguous action. The results showed that direction discrimination adaptation effects were modulated by the type of action but action discrimination adaptation effects were unaffected by movement direction. These results suggest that action discrimination and direction categorization rely on partly different visual information. We propose that action discrimination tasks should be considered for the exploration of visual action recognition mechanisms. PMID:26941633

Action-perception coupling in violinists.

PubMed

Kajihara, Takafumi; Verdonschot, Rinus G; Sparks, Joseph; Stewart, Lauren

2013-01-01

The current study investigates auditory-motor coupling in musically trained participants using a Stroop-type task that required the execution of simple finger sequences according to aurally presented number sequences (e.g., "2," "4," "5," "3," "1"). Digital remastering was used to manipulate the pitch contour of the number sequences such that they were either congruent or incongruent with respect to the resulting action sequence. Conservatoire-level violinists showed a strong effect of congruency manipulation (increased response time for incongruent vs. congruent trials), in comparison to a control group of non-musicians. In Experiment 2, this paradigm was used to determine whether pedagogical background would influence this effect in a group of young violinists. Suzuki trained violinists differed significantly from those with no musical background, while traditionally trained violinists did not. The findings extend previous research in this area by demonstrating that obligatory audio-motor coupling is directly related to a musicians' expertise on their instrument of study and is influenced by pedagogy.

An Exploratory Study of Undergraduates' Attitudes toward Affirmative Action Policies for Asian Americans in College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartlep, Nicholas Daniel; Lowinger, Robert Jay

2014-01-01

This exploratory study examined white undergraduate students' (a) racial attitudes towards Asian Americans, (b) principled policy attitudes toward affirmative action, and (c) self-interest in relation to their support for college-based affirmative action policies for Asian Americans at a Midwestern university. A sample (n = 264, 28% male, 72%…

The Representation of Object-Directed Action and Function Knowledge in the Human Brain.

PubMed

Chen, Quanjing; Garcea, Frank E; Mahon, Bradford Z

2016-04-01

The appropriate use of everyday objects requires the integration of action and function knowledge. Previous research suggests that action knowledge is represented in frontoparietal areas while function knowledge is represented in temporal lobe regions. Here we used multivoxel pattern analysis to investigate the representation of object-directed action and function knowledge while participants executed pantomimes of familiar tool actions. A novel approach for decoding object knowledge was used in which classifiers were trained on one pair of objects and then tested on a distinct pair; this permitted a measurement of classification accuracy over and above object-specific information. Region of interest (ROI) analyses showed that object-directed actions could be decoded in tool-preferring regions of both parietal and temporal cortex, while no independently defined tool-preferring ROI showed successful decoding of object function. However, a whole-brain searchlight analysis revealed that while frontoparietal motor and peri-motor regions are engaged in the representation of object-directed actions, medial temporal lobe areas in the left hemisphere are involved in the representation of function knowledge. These results indicate that both action and function knowledge are represented in a topographically coherent manner that is amenable to study with multivariate approaches, and that the left medial temporal cortex represents knowledge of object function. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Kanbay's Global Leadership Development Program: A Case Study of Virtual Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Catherine; Johnson, Carrie

2005-01-01

This study examines action learning as a vehicle for the transfer of organizational values in a multi-cultural, virtual-team based leadership development process. A Case Study of Kanbay International's Global Leadership Development Program is used as a lens through which HRD researchers and practitioners may glimpse new possibilities for the…

No Further Action Decision Under CERCLA, Study Area 14, Landfill No. 10, Fort Devens, Massachusetts

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-01-01

I I I U.S. ArmyEnvironmentalCenter NO FURTHER ACTION DECISION UNDER 5 CERCLA * STUDY AREA 14 LANDFILL NO. 10 U FORT DEVENS , MASSACHUSETTS CONTRACT...45, 1 Feb 93 replaces THAMA Form 45 which is obsolete. U 1I NO FURTHER ACTION DECISION UNDER CERCLA STUDY AREA 14 LANDFILL NO. 10 3 FORT DEVENS ... FORT DEVENS , MASSACHUSETTS 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Title Page No. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................... ES-1 I 1.0

How Perception Guides Action: Figure-Ground Segmentation Modulates Integration of Context Features into S-R Episodes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frings, Christian; Rothermund, Klaus

2017-01-01

Perception and action are closely related. Responses are assumed to be represented in terms of their perceptual effects, allowing direct links between action and perception. In this regard, the integration of features of stimuli (S) and responses (R) into S-R bindings is a key mechanism for action control. Previous research focused on the…

Action understanding as inverse planning.

PubMed

Baker, Chris L; Saxe, Rebecca; Tenenbaum, Joshua B

2009-12-01

Humans are adept at inferring the mental states underlying other agents' actions, such as goals, beliefs, desires, emotions and other thoughts. We propose a computational framework based on Bayesian inverse planning for modeling human action understanding. The framework represents an intuitive theory of intentional agents' behavior based on the principle of rationality: the expectation that agents will plan approximately rationally to achieve their goals, given their beliefs about the world. The mental states that caused an agent's behavior are inferred by inverting this model of rational planning using Bayesian inference, integrating the likelihood of the observed actions with the prior over mental states. This approach formalizes in precise probabilistic terms the essence of previous qualitative approaches to action understanding based on an "intentional stance" [Dennett, D. C. (1987). The intentional stance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press] or a "teleological stance" [Gergely, G., Nádasdy, Z., Csibra, G., & Biró, S. (1995). Taking the intentional stance at 12 months of age. Cognition, 56, 165-193]. In three psychophysical experiments using animated stimuli of agents moving in simple mazes, we assess how well different inverse planning models based on different goal priors can predict human goal inferences. The results provide quantitative evidence for an approximately rational inference mechanism in human goal inference within our simplified stimulus paradigm, and for the flexible nature of goal representations that human observers can adopt. We discuss the implications of our experimental results for human action understanding in real-world contexts, and suggest how our framework might be extended to capture other kinds of mental state inferences, such as inferences about beliefs, or inferring whether an entity is an intentional agent.

Weaving Curricular Standards into the Language Classroom: An Action Research Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamada, Yuko; Moeller, Aleidine J.

2001-01-01

This action research study examines the perspectives and voices of students in a postsecondary Japanese class through an authentic project--a pen pal letter exchange. The project's effects on student motivation and learning are analyzed through the lens of the five goals of the national standards: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons,…

Using Goal- and Grip-Related Information for Understanding the Correctness of Other’s Actions: An ERP Study

PubMed Central

van Elk, Michiel; Bousardt, Roel; Bekkering, Harold; van Schie, Hein T.

2012-01-01

Detecting errors in other’s actions is of pivotal importance for joint action, competitive behavior and observational learning. Although many studies have focused on the neural mechanisms involved in detecting low-level errors, relatively little is known about error-detection in everyday situations. The present study aimed to identify the functional and neural mechanisms whereby we understand the correctness of other’s actions involving well-known objects (e.g. pouring coffee in a cup). Participants observed action sequences in which the correctness of the object grasped and the grip applied to a pair of objects were independently manipulated. Observation of object violations (e.g. grasping the empty cup instead of the coffee pot) resulted in a stronger P3-effect than observation of grip errors (e.g. grasping the coffee pot at the upper part instead of the handle), likely reflecting a reorienting response, directing attention to the relevant location. Following the P3-effect, a parietal slow wave positivity was observed that persisted for grip-errors, likely reflecting the detection of an incorrect hand-object interaction. These findings provide new insight in the functional significance of the neurophysiological markers associated with the observation of incorrect actions and suggest that the P3-effect and the subsequent parietal slow wave positivity may reflect the detection of errors at different levels in the action hierarchy. Thereby this study elucidates the cognitive processes that support the detection of action violations in the selection of objects and grips. PMID:22606261

Incidental and context-responsive activation of structure- and function-based action features during object identification

PubMed Central

Lee, Chia-lin; Middleton, Erica; Mirman, Daniel; Kalénine, Solène; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

2012-01-01

Previous studies suggest that action representations are activated during object processing, even when task-irrelevant. In addition, there is evidence that lexical-semantic context may affect such activation during object processing. Finally, prior work from our laboratory and others indicates that function-based (“use”) and structure-based (“move”) action subtypes may differ in their activation characteristics. Most studies assessing such effects, however, have required manual object-relevant motor responses, thereby plausibly influencing the activation of action representations. The present work utilizes eyetracking and a Visual World Paradigm task without object-relevant actions to assess the time course of activation of action representations, as well as their responsiveness to lexical-semantic context. In two experiments, participants heard a target word and selected its referent from an array of four objects. Gaze fixations on non-target objects signal activation of features shared between targets and non-targets. The experiments assessed activation of structure-based (Experiment 1) or function-based (Experiment 2) distractors, using neutral sentences (“S/he saw the …”) or sentences with a relevant action verb (Experiment 1: “S/he picked up the……”; Experiment 2: “S/he used the….”). We observed task-irrelevant activations of action information in both experiments. In neutral contexts, structure-based activation was relatively faster-rising but more transient than function-based activation. Additionally, action verb contexts reliably modified patterns of activation in both Experiments. These data provide fine-grained information about the dynamics of activation of function-based and structure-based actions in neutral and action-relevant contexts, in support of the “Two Action System” model of object and action processing (e.g., Buxbaum & Kalénine, 2010). PMID:22390294

Technology consumption and cognitive control: Contrasting action video game experience with media multitasking

PubMed Central

Cardoso-Leite, Pedro; Kludt, Rachel; Vignola, Gianluca; Ma, Wei Ji; Green, C. Shawn; Bavelier, Daphne

2015-01-01

Technology has the potential to impact cognition in many ways. Here we contrast two forms of technology usage: 1) media multitasking (i.e., the simultaneous consumption of multiple streams of media, such a texting while watching TV) and 2) playing action video games (a particular sub-type of video game). Previous work has outlined an association between high levels of media multitasking and specific deficits in handling distracting information, while playing action video games has been associated with enhanced attentional control. As these two factors are linked with reasonably opposing effects, failing to take them jointly into account may result in inappropriate conclusions as to the impact of technology use on attention. Across four experiments (AX-CPT, N-back, Task-switching and Filter task), testing different aspects of attention and cognition, we show that heavy media multitaskers perform worse than light media multitaskers. Contrary to previous reports though, the performance deficit was not specifically tied to distractors, but was instead more global in nature. Interestingly, participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking occasionally performed better than both light and heavy media multitaskers suggesting that the effects of increasing media multitasking are not monotonic. Action video game players, as expected, outperformed non-video game players on all tasks. However, surprisingly this was true only for participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking, suggesting that playing action video games does not protect against the deleterious effect of heavy media multitasking. Taken together this study shows that media consumption can have complex and counter-intuitive effects on attentional control. PMID:26474982

Cytokine modulation by glucocorticoids: mechanisms and actions in cellular studies.

PubMed

Brattsand, R; Linden, M

1996-01-01

Glucocorticoids inhibit the expression and action of most cytokines. This is part of the in vivo feed-back system between inflammation-derived cytokines and CNS-adrenal produced corticosteroids with the probable physiological relevance to balance parts of the host defence and anti-inflammatory systems of the body. Glucocorticoids modulate cytokine expression by a combination of genomic mechanisms. The activated glucocorticoid-receptor complex can (i) bind to and inactivate key proinflammatory transcription factors (e.g. AP-1, NF kappa B). This takes place at the promotor responsive elements of these factors, but has also been reported without the presence of DNA; (ii) via glucocorticoid responsive elements (GRE), upregulate the expression of cytokine inhibitory proteins, e.g. I kappa B, which inactivates the transcription factor NF kappa B and thereby the secondary expression of a series of cytokines; (iii) reduce the half-life time and utility of cytokine mRNAs. In studies with triggered human blood mononuclear cells in culture, glucocorticoids strongly diminish the production of the 'initial phase' cytokines IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha and the 'immunomodulatory' cytokines IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12 and IFN-gamma, as well as of IL-6, IL-8 and the growth factor GM-CSF. While steroid treatment broadly attenuates cytokine production, it cannot modulate it selectively, e.g. just the TH0, the TH1 or the TH2 pathways. The production of the 'anti-inflammatory' IL-10 is also inhibited. The exceptions of steroid down-regulatory activity on cytokine expression seem to affect 'repair phase' cytokines like TGF-beta and PDGF. These are even reported to be upregulated, which may explain the rather weak steroid dampening action on healing and fibrotic processes. Some growth factors, e.g. G-CSF and M-CSF, are only weakly affected. In addition to diminishing the production of a cytokine, steroids can also often inhibit its subsequent actions. Because cytokines work in

Biomarkers of Selenium Action in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

without BPH) transition zone tissue of a 42-year-old man ac- cording to previously described methods [4]. The pre- sence of contaminating epithelial...protein secreted by cells using a sensitive ELISA method . Replicating the conditions used for the microarray analyses, cells were fed fresh medium...4 Introduction Biomarkers of selenium actions in prostate tissue would be of great value in stratifying patients

Rural Community Action: A Series of Case Studies of Action Projects in Small New York State Communities. Miscellaneous Bulletin 116.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, James C.; Halton, Katherine B.

The report presents case studies of 7 community action projects which were undertaken by New York communities with populations under 10,000 and which show how local leaders can improve the quality of life in their communities. The report describes the background, initiation, expansion, implementation, consequences, and highlights of the projects,…

A Biologically Inspired Computational Model of Basal Ganglia in Action Selection.

PubMed

Baston, Chiara; Ursino, Mauro

2015-01-01

The basal ganglia (BG) are a subcortical structure implicated in action selection. The aim of this work is to present a new cognitive neuroscience model of the BG, which aspires to represent a parsimonious balance between simplicity and completeness. The model includes the 3 main pathways operating in the BG circuitry, that is, the direct (Go), indirect (NoGo), and hyperdirect pathways. The main original aspects, compared with previous models, are the use of a two-term Hebb rule to train synapses in the striatum, based exclusively on neuronal activity changes caused by dopamine peaks or dips, and the role of the cholinergic interneurons (affected by dopamine themselves) during learning. Some examples are displayed, concerning a few paradigmatic cases: action selection in basal conditions, action selection in the presence of a strong conflict (where the role of the hyperdirect pathway emerges), synapse changes induced by phasic dopamine, and learning new actions based on a previous history of rewards and punishments. Finally, some simulations show model working in conditions of altered dopamine levels, to illustrate pathological cases (dopamine depletion in parkinsonian subjects or dopamine hypermedication). Due to its parsimonious approach, the model may represent a straightforward tool to analyze BG functionality in behavioral experiments.

A Biologically Inspired Computational Model of Basal Ganglia in Action Selection

PubMed Central

Baston, Chiara

2015-01-01

The basal ganglia (BG) are a subcortical structure implicated in action selection. The aim of this work is to present a new cognitive neuroscience model of the BG, which aspires to represent a parsimonious balance between simplicity and completeness. The model includes the 3 main pathways operating in the BG circuitry, that is, the direct (Go), indirect (NoGo), and hyperdirect pathways. The main original aspects, compared with previous models, are the use of a two-term Hebb rule to train synapses in the striatum, based exclusively on neuronal activity changes caused by dopamine peaks or dips, and the role of the cholinergic interneurons (affected by dopamine themselves) during learning. Some examples are displayed, concerning a few paradigmatic cases: action selection in basal conditions, action selection in the presence of a strong conflict (where the role of the hyperdirect pathway emerges), synapse changes induced by phasic dopamine, and learning new actions based on a previous history of rewards and punishments. Finally, some simulations show model working in conditions of altered dopamine levels, to illustrate pathological cases (dopamine depletion in parkinsonian subjects or dopamine hypermedication). Due to its parsimonious approach, the model may represent a straightforward tool to analyze BG functionality in behavioral experiments. PMID:26640481

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.

Cortical regions recruited for complex active-learning strategies and action planning exhibit rapid reactivation during memory retrieval.

PubMed

Voss, Joel L; Galvan, Ashley; Gonsalves, Brian D

2011-12-01

Memory retrieval can involve activity in the same sensory cortical regions involved in perception of the original event, and this neural "reactivation" has been suggested as an important mechanism of memory retrieval. However, it is still unclear if fragments of experience other than sensory information are retained and later reactivated during retrieval. For example, learning in non-laboratory settings generally involves active exploration of memoranda, thus requiring the generation of action plans for behavior and the use of strategies deployed to improve subsequent memory performance. Is information pertaining to action planning and strategic processing retained and reactivated during retrieval? To address this question, we compared ERP correlates of memory retrieval for objects that had been studied in an active manner involving action planning and strategic processing to those for objects that had been studied passively. Memory performance was superior for actively studied objects, and unique ERP retrieval correlates for these objects were identified when subjects remembered the specific spatial locations at which objects were studied. Early-onset frontal shifts in ERP correlates of retrieval were noted for these objects, which parallel the recruitment of frontal cortex during learning object locations previously identified using fMRI with the same paradigm. Notably, ERPs during recall for items studied with a specific viewing strategy localized to the same supplementary motor cortex region previously identified with fMRI when this strategy was implemented during study, suggesting rapid reactivation of regions directly involved in strategic action planning. Collectively, these results implicate neural populations involved in learning in important retrieval functions, even for those populations involved in strategic control and action planning. Notably, these episodic features are not generally reported during recollective experiences, suggesting that

The Early Development of Object Knowledge: A Study of Infants' Visual Anticipations during Action Observation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunnius, Sabine; Bekkering, Harold

2010-01-01

This study examined the developing object knowledge of infants through their visual anticipation of action targets during action observation. Infants (6, 8, 12, 14, and 16 months) and adults watched short movies of a person using 3 different everyday objects. Participants were presented with objects being brought either to a correct or to an…

Creating Safe Learning Zones: Invisible Threats, Visible Actions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2002

This report is a follow-up to the first publication of the Child Proofing Our Communities Campaign, titled "Poisoned Schools: Invisible Threats, Visible Actions." The previous report looked at the problems of public schools built on contaminated land years ago, the trend of proposing new schools on contaminated land, and the threat of…

Stereoscopically Observing Manipulative Actions

PubMed Central

Ferri, S.; Pauwels, K.; Rizzolatti, G.; Orban, G. A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of stereopsis to the processing of observed manipulative actions. To this end, we first combined the factors “stimulus type” (action, static control, and dynamic control), “stereopsis” (present, absent) and “viewpoint” (frontal, lateral) into a single design. Four sites in premotor, retro-insular (2) and parietal cortex operated specifically when actions were viewed stereoscopically and frontally. A second experiment clarified that the stereo-action-specific regions were driven by actions moving out of the frontoparallel plane, an effect amplified by frontal viewing in premotor cortex. Analysis of single voxels and their discriminatory power showed that the representation of action in the stereo-action-specific areas was more accurate when stereopsis was active. Further analyses showed that the 4 stereo-action-specific sites form a closed network converging onto the premotor node, which connects to parietal and occipitotemporal regions outside the network. Several of the specific sites are known to process vestibular signals, suggesting that the network combines observed actions in peripersonal space with gravitational signals. These findings have wider implications for the function of premotor cortex and the role of stereopsis in human behavior. PMID:27252350

Action potentials and ion conductances in wild-type and CALHM1-knockout type II taste cells

PubMed Central

Saung, Wint Thu; Foskett, J. Kevin

2017-01-01

Taste bud type II cells fire action potentials in response to tastants, triggering nonvesicular ATP release to gustatory neurons via voltage-gated CALHM1-associated ion channels. Whereas CALHM1 regulates mouse cortical neuron excitability, its roles in regulating type II cell excitability are unknown. In this study, we compared membrane conductances and action potentials in single identified TRPM5-GFP-expressing circumvallate papillae type II cells acutely isolated from wild-type (WT) and Calhm1 knockout (KO) mice. The activation kinetics of large voltage-gated outward currents were accelerated in cells from Calhm1 KO mice, and their associated nonselective tail currents, previously shown to be highly correlated with ATP release, were completely absent in Calhm1 KO cells, suggesting that CALHM1 contributes to all of these currents. Calhm1 deletion did not significantly alter resting membrane potential or input resistance, the amplitudes and kinetics of Na+ currents either estimated from action potentials or recorded from steady-state voltage pulses, or action potential threshold, overshoot peak, afterhyperpolarization, and firing frequency. However, Calhm1 deletion reduced the half-widths of action potentials and accelerated the deactivation kinetics of transient outward currents, suggesting that the CALHM1-associated conductance becomes activated during the repolarization phase of action potentials. NEW & NOTEWORTHY CALHM1 is an essential ion channel component of the ATP neurotransmitter release mechanism in type II taste bud cells. Its contribution to type II cell resting membrane properties and excitability is unknown. Nonselective voltage-gated currents, previously associated with ATP release, were absent in cells lacking CALHM1. Calhm1 deletion was without effects on resting membrane properties or voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels but contributed modestly to the kinetics of action potentials. PMID:28202574

Action potentials and ion conductances in wild-type and CALHM1-knockout type II taste cells.

PubMed

Ma, Zhongming; Saung, Wint Thu; Foskett, J Kevin

2017-05-01

Taste bud type II cells fire action potentials in response to tastants, triggering nonvesicular ATP release to gustatory neurons via voltage-gated CALHM1-associated ion channels. Whereas CALHM1 regulates mouse cortical neuron excitability, its roles in regulating type II cell excitability are unknown. In this study, we compared membrane conductances and action potentials in single identified TRPM5-GFP-expressing circumvallate papillae type II cells acutely isolated from wild-type (WT) and Calhm1 knockout (KO) mice. The activation kinetics of large voltage-gated outward currents were accelerated in cells from Calhm1 KO mice, and their associated nonselective tail currents, previously shown to be highly correlated with ATP release, were completely absent in Calhm1 KO cells, suggesting that CALHM1 contributes to all of these currents. Calhm1 deletion did not significantly alter resting membrane potential or input resistance, the amplitudes and kinetics of Na + currents either estimated from action potentials or recorded from steady-state voltage pulses, or action potential threshold, overshoot peak, afterhyperpolarization, and firing frequency. However, Calhm1 deletion reduced the half-widths of action potentials and accelerated the deactivation kinetics of transient outward currents, suggesting that the CALHM1-associated conductance becomes activated during the repolarization phase of action potentials. NEW & NOTEWORTHY CALHM1 is an essential ion channel component of the ATP neurotransmitter release mechanism in type II taste bud cells. Its contribution to type II cell resting membrane properties and excitability is unknown. Nonselective voltage-gated currents, previously associated with ATP release, were absent in cells lacking CALHM1. Calhm1 deletion was without effects on resting membrane properties or voltage-gated Na + and K + channels but contributed modestly to the kinetics of action potentials. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Feature-Specific Event-Related Potential Effects to Action- and Sound-Related Verbs during Visual Word Recognition

PubMed Central

Popp, Margot; Trumpp, Natalie M.; Kiefer, Markus

2016-01-01

Grounded cognition theories suggest that conceptual representations essentially depend on modality-specific sensory and motor systems. Feature-specific brain activation across different feature types such as action or audition has been intensively investigated in nouns, while feature-specific conceptual category differences in verbs mainly focused on body part specific effects. The present work aimed at assessing whether feature-specific event-related potential (ERP) differences between action and sound concepts, as previously observed in nouns, can also be found within the word class of verbs. In Experiment 1, participants were visually presented with carefully matched sound and action verbs within a lexical decision task, which provides implicit access to word meaning and minimizes strategic access to semantic word features. Experiment 2 tested whether pre-activating the verb concept in a context phase, in which the verb is presented with a related context noun, modulates subsequent feature-specific action vs. sound verb processing within the lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, ERP analyses revealed a differential ERP polarity pattern for action and sound verbs at parietal and central electrodes similar to previous results in nouns. Pre-activation of the meaning of verbs in the preceding context phase in Experiment 2 resulted in a polarity-reversal of feature-specific ERP effects in the lexical decision task compared with Experiment 1. This parallels analogous earlier findings for primed action and sound related nouns. In line with grounded cognitions theories, our ERP study provides evidence for a differential processing of action and sound verbs similar to earlier observation for concrete nouns. Although the localizational value of ERPs must be viewed with caution, our results indicate that the meaning of verbs is linked to different neural circuits depending on conceptual feature relevance. PMID:28018201

Feature-Specific Event-Related Potential Effects to Action- and Sound-Related Verbs during Visual Word Recognition.

PubMed

Popp, Margot; Trumpp, Natalie M; Kiefer, Markus

2016-01-01

Grounded cognition theories suggest that conceptual representations essentially depend on modality-specific sensory and motor systems. Feature-specific brain activation across different feature types such as action or audition has been intensively investigated in nouns, while feature-specific conceptual category differences in verbs mainly focused on body part specific effects. The present work aimed at assessing whether feature-specific event-related potential (ERP) differences between action and sound concepts, as previously observed in nouns, can also be found within the word class of verbs. In Experiment 1, participants were visually presented with carefully matched sound and action verbs within a lexical decision task, which provides implicit access to word meaning and minimizes strategic access to semantic word features. Experiment 2 tested whether pre-activating the verb concept in a context phase, in which the verb is presented with a related context noun, modulates subsequent feature-specific action vs. sound verb processing within the lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, ERP analyses revealed a differential ERP polarity pattern for action and sound verbs at parietal and central electrodes similar to previous results in nouns. Pre-activation of the meaning of verbs in the preceding context phase in Experiment 2 resulted in a polarity-reversal of feature-specific ERP effects in the lexical decision task compared with Experiment 1. This parallels analogous earlier findings for primed action and sound related nouns. In line with grounded cognitions theories, our ERP study provides evidence for a differential processing of action and sound verbs similar to earlier observation for concrete nouns. Although the localizational value of ERPs must be viewed with caution, our results indicate that the meaning of verbs is linked to different neural circuits depending on conceptual feature relevance.

Increasing High School Student Interest in Science: An Action Research Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartuli, Cindy A.

An action research study was conducted to determine how to increase student interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career. The study began by exploring 10th-grade student and teacher perceptions of student interest in science in order to design an instructional strategy for stimulating student interest in learning and pursuing science. Data for this study included responses from 270 students to an on-line science survey and interviews with 11 students and eight science teachers. The action research intervention included two iterations of the STEM Career Project. The first iteration introduced four chemistry classes to the intervention. The researcher used student reflections and a post-project survey to determine if the intervention had influence on the students' interest in pursuing science. The second iteration was completed by three science teachers who had implemented the intervention with their chemistry classes, using student reflections and post-project surveys, as a way to make further procedural refinements and improvements to the intervention and measures. Findings from the exploratory phase of the study suggested students generally had interest in learning science but increasing that interest required including personally relevant applications and laboratory experiences. The intervention included a student-directed learning module in which students investigated three STEM careers and presented information on one of their chosen careers. The STEM Career Project enabled students to explore career possibilities in order to increase their awareness of STEM careers. Findings from the first iteration of the intervention suggested a positive influence on student interest in learning and pursuing science. The second iteration included modifications to the intervention resulting in support for the findings of the first iteration. Results of the second iteration provided modifications that would allow the project to be used for different academic levels

The Development of Action Planning in a Joint Action Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulus, Markus

2016-01-01

The ability to act jointly with another person is a fundamental requirement for participation in social life. The current study examines the development of action planning in a joint action context. In 4 experiments, 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old children as well as a group of adults (n = 196) interacted with another person to operate a novel apparatus.…

Action understanding in the superior temporal sulcus region.

PubMed

Wyk, Brent C Vander; Hudac, Caitlin M; Carter, Elizabeth J; Sobel, David M; Pelphrey, Kevin A

2009-06-01

The posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) region plays an important role in the perception of social acts, although its full role has not been completely clarified. This functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment examined activity in the STS region as participants viewed actions that were congruent or incongruent with intentions established by a previous emotional context. Participants viewed an actress express either a positive or a negative emotion toward one of two objects and then subsequently pick up one of them. If the object that was picked up had received positive regard, or if the object that was not picked up had received negative regard, the action was congruent; otherwise, the action was incongruent. Activity in the right posterior STS region was sensitive to the congruency between the action and the actress's emotional expression (i.e., STS activity was greater on incongruent than on congruent trials). These findings suggest that the posterior STS represents not only biological motion, but also how another person's motion is related to his or her intentions.

Final Corrective Action Study for the Former CCC/USDA Facility in Hanover, Kansas

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

LaFreniere, Lorraine M.

Low concentrations of carbon tetrachloride in groundwater and vapor intrusion into a limited number of residences (attributable to the contaminant concentrations in groundwater) have been identified in Hanover, Kansas, at and near a grain storage facility formerly leased and operated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA). At the request of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE 2009h), the CCC/USDA has prepared this Corrective Action Study (CAS) for the facility. The CAS examines corrective actions to address the contamination in groundwater and soil vapor.

Matters of accuracy and conventionality: prior accuracy guides children's evaluations of others' actions.

PubMed

Scofield, Jason; Gilpin, Ansley Tullos; Pierucci, Jillian; Morgan, Reed

2013-03-01

Studies show that children trust previously reliable sources over previously unreliable ones (e.g., Koenig, Clément, & Harris, 2004). However, it is unclear from these studies whether children rely on accuracy or conventionality to determine the reliability and, ultimately, the trustworthiness of a particular source. In the current study, 3- and 4-year-olds were asked to endorse and imitate one of two actors performing an unfamiliar action, one actor who was unconventional but successful and one who was conventional but unsuccessful. These data demonstrated that children preferred endorsing and imitating the unconventional but successful actor. Results suggest that when the accuracy and conventionality of a source are put into conflict, children may give priority to accuracy over conventionality when estimating the source's reliability and, ultimately, when deciding who to trust.

Patient Factors Influencing Respiratory-Related Clinician Actions in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Screening.

PubMed

Wadland, William C; Zubek, Valentina Bayer; Clerisme-Beaty, Emmanuelle M; Ríos-Bedoya, Carlos F; Yawn, Barbara P

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify patient-related factors that may explain the increased likelihood of receiving a respiratory-related clinician action in patients identified to be at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a U.S.-based pragmatic study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening. This post hoc analysis (conducted in 2014-2015) of the Screening, Evaluating and Assessing Rate Changes of Diagnosing Respiratory Conditions in Primary Care 1 (SEARCH1) study (conducted in 2010-2011), used the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Population Screener questionnaire in 112 primary care practices. Anyone with a previous chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosis was excluded. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to assess patient factors associated with the likelihood of receiving an respiratory-related clinician action following positive screening. Overall, 994 of 6,497 (15%) screened positive and were considered at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, only 187 of the 994 patients (19%) who screened positive received a respiratory-related clinician action. The chances of receiving a respiratory-related clinician action were significantly increased in patients who visited their physician with a respiratory issue (p<0.05) or had already been prescribed a respiratory medication (p<0.05). Most (81%) patients who screened positive or had a respiratory-related clinician action had one or more comorbidity, including cardiovascular disease (68%), diabetes (30%), depression/anxiety (26%), asthma (11%), and cancer (9%). Routine chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening appears to promote respiratory-related clinician actions in patients with a high likelihood for disease who have respiratory complaints or already use prescribed respiratory medication. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reafferent copies of imitated actions in the right superior temporal cortex

PubMed Central

Iacoboni, Marco; Koski, Lisa M.; Brass, Marcel; Bekkering, Harold; Woods, Roger P.; Dubeau, Marie-Charlotte; Mazziotta, John C.; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2001-01-01

Imitation is a complex phenomenon, the neural mechanisms of which are still largely unknown. When individuals imitate an action that already is present in their motor repertoire, a mechanism matching the observed action onto an internal motor representation of that action should suffice for the purpose. When one has to copy a new action, however, or to adjust an action present in one's motor repertoire to a different observed action, an additional mechanism is needed that allows the observer to compare the action made by another individual with the sensory consequences of the same action made by himself. Previous experiments have shown that a mechanism that directly matches observed actions on their motor counterparts exists in the premotor cortex of monkeys and humans. Here we report the results of functional magnetic resonance experiments, suggesting that in the superior temporal sulcus, a higher order visual region, there is a sector that becomes active both during hand action observation and during imitation even in the absence of direct vision of the imitator's hand. The motor-related activity is greater during imitation than during control motor tasks. This newly identified region has all the requisites for being the region at which the observed actions, and the reafferent motor-related copies of actions made by the imitator, interact. PMID:11717457

Modeling Interdependent and Periodic Real-World Action Sequences

PubMed Central

Kurashima, Takeshi; Althoff, Tim; Leskovec, Jure

2018-01-01

Mobile health applications, including those that track activities such as exercise, sleep, and diet, are becoming widely used. Accurately predicting human actions in the real world is essential for targeted recommendations that could improve our health and for personalization of these applications. However, making such predictions is extremely difficult due to the complexities of human behavior, which consists of a large number of potential actions that vary over time, depend on each other, and are periodic. Previous work has not jointly modeled these dynamics and has largely focused on item consumption patterns instead of broader types of behaviors such as eating, commuting or exercising. In this work, we develop a novel statistical model, called TIPAS, for Time-varying, Interdependent, and Periodic Action Sequences. Our approach is based on personalized, multivariate temporal point processes that model time-varying action propensities through a mixture of Gaussian intensities. Our model captures short-term and long-term periodic interdependencies between actions through Hawkes process-based self-excitations. We evaluate our approach on two activity logging datasets comprising 12 million real-world actions (e.g., eating, sleep, and exercise) taken by 20 thousand users over 17 months. We demonstrate that our approach allows us to make successful predictions of future user actions and their timing. Specifically, TIPAS improves predictions of actions, and their timing, over existing methods across multiple datasets by up to 156%, and up to 37%, respectively. Performance improvements are particularly large for relatively rare and periodic actions such as walking and biking, improving over baselines by up to 256%. This demonstrates that explicit modeling of dependencies and periodicities in real-world behavior enables successful predictions of future actions, with implications for modeling human behavior, app personalization, and targeting of health interventions. PMID

Human-Robot Cooperation with Commands Embedded in Actions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Kazuki; Yamada, Seiji

In this paper, we first propose a novel interaction model, CEA (Commands Embedded in Actions). It can explain the way how some existing systems reduce the work-load of their user. We next extend the CEA and build ECEA (Extended CEA) model. The ECEA enables robots to achieve more complicated tasks. On this extension, we employ ACS (Action Coding System) which can describe segmented human acts and clarifies the relationship between user's actions and robot's actions in a task. The ACS utilizes the CEA's strong point which enables a user to send a command to a robot by his/her natural action for the task. The instance of the ECEA led by using the ACS is a temporal extension which has the user keep a final state of a previous his/her action. We apply the temporal extension of the ECEA for a sweeping task. The high-level task, a cooperative task between the user and the robot can be realized. The robot with simple reactive behavior can sweep the region of under an object when the user picks up the object. In addition, we measure user's cognitive loads on the ECEA and a traditional method, DCM (Direct Commanding Method) in the sweeping task, and compare between them. The results show that the ECEA has a lower cognitive load than the DCM significantly.

Rhetoric to action: a study of stakeholder perceptions of aging well in two local communities.

PubMed

Everingham, Jo-Anne; Lui, Chi-Wai; Bartlett, Helen; Warburton, Jeni; Cuthill, Michael

2010-11-01

This qualitative study of local perceptions of policy goals and action in relation to aging reports 31 stakeholder interviews within 2 Australian communities exploring (a) the meaning of aging well; and (b) preferred policy actions to achieve positive aging outcomes. Findings suggest that community perceptions of aging well are broadly consistent with the goals of national and international policy frameworks in focusing on 3 dimensions--health, social engagement, and security. Further, participants believe that achievement of positive aging outcomes requires a mix of self-help, community action, and government intervention--particularly government support and encouragement for aging well initiatives.

Mode of action characterization for adverse effect of propranolol in Daphnia magna based on behavior and physiology monitoring and metabolite profiling.

PubMed

Jeong, Tae-Yong; Yoon, Dahye; Kim, Suhkmann; Kim, Hyun Young; Kim, Sang Don

2018-02-01

Studies are underway to gather information about the mode of action (MOA) of emerging pollutants that could guide practical environmental decision making. Previously, we showed that propranolol, an active pharmaceutical ingredient, had adverse effects on Daphnia magna that were similar to its pharmaceutical action. In order to characterize the mode of action of propranolol in D. magna, which is suspected to be organ-specific pharmaceutical action or baseline toxicity, we performed time-series monitoring of behavior along with heart rate measurements and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabolite profiling. Principle component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering were used to categorize the mode of action of propranolol among 5 chemicals with different modes of action. The findings showed that the mode of action of propranolol in D. magna is organ-specific and vastly different from those of narcotics, even though metabolite regulation is similar between narcotic and non-narcotic candidates. The method applied in this study seems applicable to rapid characterization of the MOA of other cardiovascular pharmaceutical ingredients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experience of action depends on intention, not body movement: an experiment on memory for mens rea.

PubMed

Jensen, Mads; Vagnoni, Eleonora; Overgaard, Morten; Haggard, Patrick

2014-03-01

How do we know whether our own actions were voluntary or involuntary? Intentional theories of sense of agency suggest that we consciously perceive the intentions that accompany our actions, but reconstructive theories suggest that we perceive our actions only through the body movements and other effects that they produce. Intentions would then be mere confabulations, and not bona fide experiences. Previous work on voluntary action has focused on immediate experiences of authorship, and few studies have considered memory for voluntary actions. We devised an experiment in which both voluntary action and involuntary movement always occurred at the same time, but could either involve the same hand (congruent condition), or different hands (incongruent condition). When signals from the voluntary and involuntary movements involved different hands, they could therefore potentially interfere in memory. We found that recall of a voluntary action was unaffected by an incongruent involuntary movement. In contrast, recall of an involuntary movement was strongly influenced by an incongruent voluntary action. Our results demonstrate an "intentional capture" of body movement by voluntary actions, in support of intentional theories of agency, but contrary to reconstructive theories. When asked to recall both actions and movements, people's responses are shaped by memory of what they intended to do, rather than by how their body moved. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Meta-Action Research with Pre-Service Teachers: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villacañas de Castro, Luis Sebastián

2014-01-01

This article analyses a case of action research collaboratively conducted by a university teacher and 50 students in a master's course in teacher training. Its originality resides in the socio-economic, academic, and conceptual nature of the obstacles encountered in the module; in the meta-theoretical orientation of the action research that was…

The costs of changing an intended action: movement planning, but not execution, interferes with verbal working memory.

PubMed

Spiegel, M A; Koester, D; Weigelt, M; Schack, T

2012-02-16

How much cognitive effort does it take to change a movement plan? In previous studies, it has been shown that humans plan and represent actions in advance, but it remains unclear whether or not action planning and verbal working memory share cognitive resources. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we combined in two experiments a grasp-to-place task with a verbal working memory task. Participants planned a placing movement toward one of two target positions and subsequently encoded and maintained visually presented letters. Both experiments revealed that re-planning the intended action reduced letter recall performance; execution time, however, was not influenced by action modifications. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that the action's interference with verbal working memory arose during the planning rather than the execution phase of the movement. Together, our results strongly suggest that movement planning and verbal working memory share common cognitive resources. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors That Influence Faculty Actions: A Study on Faculty Responses to Academic Dishonesty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coalter, Terry; Lim, Chi Lo; Wanorie, Tekle

2007-01-01

Persistent academic dishonesty has perplexed researchers who focus their studies on why students cheat. There are limited studies regarding the faculty perspective of this issue. This study explores factors that influence faculty action when faced with dishonesty or evidence of dishonesty. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-five items was sent…

Harnessing a Hurricane: Social Studies in Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Floyd, Kathleen L.

1991-01-01

Describes how a sixth grade class in Findlay, Ohio, became involved in events in McClellanville, South Carolina, where Hurricane Hugo severely damaged a school. After students viewed a videotape of the damage, they planned actions to provide relief that ultimately involved their entire school. Underscores the project's meaningfulness and…

Enhanced visual short-term memory in action video game players.

PubMed

Blacker, Kara J; Curby, Kim M

2013-08-01

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is critical for acquiring visual knowledge and shows marked individual variability. Previous work has illustrated a VSTM advantage among action video game players (Boot et al. Acta Psychologica 129:387-398, 2008). A growing body of literature has suggested that action video game playing can bolster visual cognitive abilities in a domain-general manner, including abilities related to visual attention and the speed of processing, providing some potential bases for this VSTM advantage. In the present study, we investigated the VSTM advantage among video game players and assessed whether enhanced processing speed can account for this advantage. Experiment 1, using simple colored stimuli, revealed that action video game players demonstrate a similar VSTM advantage over nongamers, regardless of whether they are given limited or ample time to encode items into memory. Experiment 2, using complex shapes as the stimuli to increase the processing demands of the task, replicated this VSTM advantage, irrespective of encoding duration. These findings are inconsistent with a speed-of-processing account of this advantage. An alternative, attentional account, grounded in the existing literature on the visuo-cognitive consequences of video game play, is discussed.

Minocycline inhibits D-amphetamine-elicited action potential bursts in a central snail neuron.

PubMed

Chen, Y-H; Lin, P-L; Wong, R-W; Wu, Y-T; Hsu, H-Y; Tsai, M-C; Lin, M-J; Hsu, Y-C; Lin, C-H

2012-10-25

Minocycline is a second-generation tetracycline that has been reported to have powerful neuroprotective properties. In our previous studies, we found that d-amphetamine (AMPH) elicited action potential bursts in an identifiable RP4 neuron of the African snail, Achatina fulica Ferussac. This study sought to determine the effects of minocycline on the AMPH-elicited action potential pattern changes in the central snail neuron, using the two-electrode voltage clamping method. Extracellular application of AMPH at 300 μM elicited action potential bursts in the RP4 neuron. Minocycline dose-dependently (300-900 μM) inhibited the action potential bursts elicited by AMPH. The inhibitory effects of minocycline on AMPH-elicited action potential bursts were restored by forskolin (50 μM), an adenylate cyclase activator, and by dibutyryl cAMP (N(6),2'-O-Dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate; 1mM), a membrane-permeable cAMP analog. Co-administration of forskolin (50 μM) plus tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA; 5mM) or co-administration of TEA (5mM) plus dibutyryl cAMP (1mM) also elicited action potential bursts, which were prevented and inhibited by minocycline. In addition, minocycline prevented and inhibited forskolin (100 μM)-elicited action potential bursts. Notably, TEA (50mM)-elicited action potential bursts in the RP4 neuron were not affected by minocycline. Minocycline did not affect steady-state outward currents of the RP4 neuron. However, minocycline did decrease the AMPH-elicited steady-state current changes. Similarly, minocycline decreased the effects of forskolin-elicited steady-state current changes. Pretreatment with H89 (N-[2-(p-Bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride; 10 μM), a protein kinase A inhibitor, inhibited AMPH-elicited action potential bursts and decreased AMPH-elicited steady-state current changes. These results suggest that the cAMP-protein kinase A signaling pathway and the steady-state current are involved in

Stereoscopically Observing Manipulative Actions.

PubMed

Ferri, S; Pauwels, K; Rizzolatti, G; Orban, G A

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of stereopsis to the processing of observed manipulative actions. To this end, we first combined the factors "stimulus type" (action, static control, and dynamic control), "stereopsis" (present, absent) and "viewpoint" (frontal, lateral) into a single design. Four sites in premotor, retro-insular (2) and parietal cortex operated specifically when actions were viewed stereoscopically and frontally. A second experiment clarified that the stereo-action-specific regions were driven by actions moving out of the frontoparallel plane, an effect amplified by frontal viewing in premotor cortex. Analysis of single voxels and their discriminatory power showed that the representation of action in the stereo-action-specific areas was more accurate when stereopsis was active. Further analyses showed that the 4 stereo-action-specific sites form a closed network converging onto the premotor node, which connects to parietal and occipitotemporal regions outside the network. Several of the specific sites are known to process vestibular signals, suggesting that the network combines observed actions in peripersonal space with gravitational signals. These findings have wider implications for the function of premotor cortex and the role of stereopsis in human behavior. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Facilitating the Learning Process in Design-Based Learning Practices: An Investigation of Teachers' Actions in Supervising Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gómez Puente, S. M.; van Eijck, M.; Jochems, W.

2013-01-01

Background: In research on design-based learning (DBL), inadequate attention is paid to the role the teacher plays in supervising students in gathering and applying knowledge to design artifacts, systems, and innovative solutions in higher education. Purpose: In this study, we examine whether teacher actions we previously identified in the DBL…

Learning Sustainability Leadership: An Action Research Study of a Graduate Leadership Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Heather L.

2016-01-01

This study used action research methodology to examine the development of sustainability leadership in a graduate leadership course. The research investigated the impact of this leadership course, which was designed using transformative learning theory with attention to integrating thematic content, multiple and nondominant perspectives, a…

Understanding the Impact of Affirmative Action Bans in Different Graduate Fields of Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garces, Liliana M.

2013-01-01

This study examines the effects of affirmative action bans in four states (California, Florida, Texas, and Washington) on the enrollment of underrepresented students of color within six different graduate fields of study: the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, business, education, and humanities. Findings show that affirmative action…

Examining intention in simulated actions: are children and young adults different?

PubMed

Gabbard, Carl; Caçola, Priscila

2014-10-01

Previous work with adults provides evidence that 'intention' used in processing simulated actions is similar to that used in planning and processing overt movements. The present study compared young adults and children on their ability to estimate distance reachability using a NOGO/GO paradigm in conditions of imagery only (IO) and imagery with actual execution (IE). Our initial thoughts were that whereas intention is associated with motivation and commitment to act, age-related differences could impact planning. Results indicated no difference in overall accuracy by condition within groups, and as expected adults were more accurate. These findings support an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the neurocognitive processes (in this case, intention) driving motor imagery and overt actions are similar, and as evidenced here, functioning by age 7. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Areas Recruited during Action Understanding Are Not Modulated by Auditory or Sign Language Experience.

PubMed

Fang, Yuxing; Chen, Quanjing; Lingnau, Angelika; Han, Zaizhu; Bi, Yanchao

2016-01-01

The observation of other people's actions recruits a network of areas including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). These regions have been shown to be activated through both visual and auditory inputs. Intriguingly, previous studies found no engagement of IFG and IPL for deaf participants during non-linguistic action observation, leading to the proposal that auditory experience or sign language usage might shape the functionality of these areas. To understand which variables induce plastic changes in areas recruited during the processing of other people's actions, we examined the effects of tasks (action understanding and passive viewing) and effectors (arm actions vs. leg actions), as well as sign language experience in a group of 12 congenitally deaf signers and 13 hearing participants. In Experiment 1, we found a stronger activation during an action recognition task in comparison to a low-level visual control task in IFG, IPL and pMTG in both deaf signers and hearing individuals, but no effect of auditory or sign language experience. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results of the first experiment using a passive viewing task. Together, our results provide robust evidence demonstrating that the response obtained in IFG, IPL, and pMTG during action recognition and passive viewing is not affected by auditory or sign language experience, adding further support for the supra-modal nature of these regions.

Generation of action potentials in a mathematical model of corticotrophs.

PubMed Central

LeBeau, A P; Robson, A B; McKinnon, A E; Donald, R A; Sneyd, J

1997-01-01

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is an important regulator of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) secretion from pituitary corticotroph cells. The intracellular signaling system that underlies this process involves modulation of voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channel activity, which leads to the generation of Ca2+ action potentials and influx of Ca2+. However, the mechanisms by which Ca2+ channel activity is modulated in corticotrophs are not currently known. We investigated this process in a Hodgkin-Huxley-type mathematical model of corticotroph plasma membrane electrical responses. We found that an increase in the L-type Ca2+ current was sufficient to generate action potentials from a previously resting state of the model. The increase in the L-type current could be elicited by either a shift in the voltage dependence of the current toward more negative potentials, or by an increase in the conductance of the current. Although either of these mechanisms is potentially responsible for the generation of action potentials, previous experimental evidence favors the former mechanism, with the magnitude of the shift required being consistent with the experimental findings. The model also shows that the T-type Ca2+ current plays a role in setting the excitability of the plasma membrane, but does not appear to contribute in a dynamic manner to action potential generation. Inhibition of a K+ conductance that is active at rest also affects the excitability of the plasma membrane. PMID:9284294

Community Action for Recreation Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christiansen, Rudolph A.; And Others

Examples of projects, notably those using watersheds, that local community action groups can promote in planning and developing needed recreational facilities are discussed in this study report. Objectives of the report are to create an awareness of group action in obtaining recreational development, to emphasize that community action is important…

Action and object processing in brain-injured speakers of Chinese.

PubMed

Arévalo, Analia L; Lu, Ching-Ching; Huang, Lydia B-Y; Bates, Elizabeth A; Dronkers, Nina F

2011-11-01

To see whether action and object processing across different tasks and modalities differs in brain-injured speakers of Chinese with varying fluency and lesion locations within the left hemisphere. Words and pictures representing actions and objects were presented to a group of 33 participants whose native and/or dominant language was Mandarin Chinese: 23 patients with left-hemisphere lesions due to stroke and 10 language-, age- and education-matched healthy control participants. A set of 120 stimulus items was presented to each participant in three different forms: as black and white line drawings (for picture-naming), as written words (for reading) and as aurally presented words (for word repetition). Patients were divided into groups for two separate analyses: Analysis 1 divided and compared patients based on fluency (Fluent vs. Nonfluent) and Analysis 2 compared patients based on lesion location (Anterior vs. Posterior). Both analyses yielded similar results: Fluent, Nonfluent, Anterior, and Posterior patients all produced significantly more errors when processing action (M = 0.73, SD = 0.45) relative to object (M = 0.79, SD = 0.41) stimuli, and this effect was strongest in the picture-naming task. As in our previous study with English-speaking participants using the same experimental design (Arévalo et al., 2007, Arévalo, Moineau, Saygin, Ludy, & Bates, 2005), we did not find evidence for a double-dissociation in action and object processing between groups with different lesion and fluency profiles. These combined data bring us closer to a more informed view of action/object processing in the brain in both healthy and brain-injured individuals.

A Cross-Species Mode of Action (Moa) Information Assessment: A Case Study of Bisphenol a (BPA)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has released a report entitled, A Cross-Species Mode of Action Information Assessment: A Case Study of Bisphenol A [EPA/600/R-50/044F] . This report describes an approach to predict chemical effects and mode of action (MOA) for animal species without data from MOA i...

The Effect of Substrate Stiffness on Cardiomyocyte Action Potentials.

PubMed

Boothe, Sean D; Myers, Jackson D; Pok, Seokwon; Sun, Junping; Xi, Yutao; Nieto, Raymond M; Cheng, Jie; Jacot, Jeffrey G

2016-12-01

The stiffness of myocardial tissue changes significantly at birth and during neonatal development, concurrent with significant changes in contractile and electrical maturation of cardiomyocytes. Previous studies by our group have shown that cardiomyocytes generate maximum contractile force when cultured on a substrate with a stiffness approximating native cardiac tissue. However, effects of substrate stiffness on the electrophysiology and ion currents in cardiomyocytes have not been fully characterized. In this study, neonatal rat ventricular myocytes were cultured on the surface of flat polyacrylamide hydrogels with elastic moduli ranging from 1 to 25 kPa. Using whole-cell patch clamping, action potentials and L-type calcium currents were recorded. Cardiomyocytes cultured on hydrogels with a 9 kPa elastic modulus, similar to that of native myocardium, had the longest action potential duration. Additionally, the voltage at maximum calcium flux significantly decreased in cardiomyocytes on hydrogels with an elastic modulus higher than 9 kPa, and the mean inactivation voltage decreased with increasing stiffness. Interestingly, the expression of the L-type calcium channel subunit α gene and channel localization did not change with stiffness. Substrate stiffness significantly affects action potential length and calcium flux in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes in a manner that may be unrelated to calcium channel expression. These results may explain functional differences in cardiomyocytes resulting from changes in the elastic modulus of the extracellular matrix, as observed during embryonic development, in ischemic regions of the heart after myocardial infarction, and during dilated cardiomyopathy.

[Pharmacological action and clinical aspects of salmeterol].

PubMed

Oguri, Kojiro

2003-09-01

Previous systemic beta(2) agonists such as procatrol tablets and tulobuterol patch were developed in Japan to address nocturnal symptoms and maintenance of lung function in asthmatic patients. Salmeterol, a potent and highly selective in beta(2) adrenocepter agonist with a duration of action greater than 12 h, was developed to provide long duration of bronchodilation with binding to a non-active site in the beta(2)-adrenocepter. Salmeterol is administrated via dry power inhalation and clinical studies have showed it has a good efficacy and a good safety profile, similar to inhaled steroids. Indeed, many clinical studies showed that salmeterol demonstrated better efficacy than long-acting beta(2)-agonist oral bronchodilators, theophyllines, and leukotriene-receptor antagonists in asthmatic patients and anticholinergic agents and theophyllines in COPD patients. Salmeterol will provide clinical benefits for Japanese asthma and COPD patients.

The minimalist grammar of action

PubMed Central

Pastra, Katerina; Aloimonos, Yiannis

2012-01-01

Language and action have been found to share a common neural basis and in particular a common ‘syntax’, an analogous hierarchical and compositional organization. While language structure analysis has led to the formulation of different grammatical formalisms and associated discriminative or generative computational models, the structure of action is still elusive and so are the related computational models. However, structuring action has important implications on action learning and generalization, in both human cognition research and computation. In this study, we present a biologically inspired generative grammar of action, which employs the structure-building operations and principles of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme as a reference model. In this grammar, action terminals combine hierarchically into temporal sequences of actions of increasing complexity; the actions are bound with the involved tools and affected objects and are governed by certain goals. We show, how the tool role and the affected-object role of an entity within an action drives the derivation of the action syntax in this grammar and controls recursion, merge and move, the latter being mechanisms that manifest themselves not only in human language, but in human action too. PMID:22106430

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

Industrial action by healthcare workers in Nigeria in 2013-2015: an inquiry into causes, consequences and control-a cross-sectional descriptive study.

PubMed

Oleribe, Obinna Ositadimma; Ezieme, Iheaka Paul; Oladipo, Olabisi; Akinola, Ezinne Patience; Udofia, Deborah; Taylor-Robinson, Simon D

2016-07-27

Nigeria has suffered from several healthcare workers' strikes in the past 36 months, involving all categories of health workers. Frequent healthcare workers' strikes result in the closure of public healthcare institutions preventing Nigerians' access to quality health services. The purpose of this study was to identify the root cause(s) of strikes by healthcare workers, their effects on the health system and possible solutions to prevent, or at least reduce, industrial action. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was used to execute this study between February and March 2015. A self-administered questionnaire with both closed- and open-ended questions was used for this study. Data were analysed using EpiData™ and SPSS 21. Simple frequencies and chi-square analysis were carried out. A total of 150 healthcare workers participated in the study. Sixty-two (41.3 %) participants were males, 86 (57.3 %) married, 90 (60.0 %) Christians and 119 (79.3 %) graduates, and about half of the participants earn less than N129 000.00 (US$ 737.00) per month. Less than half of the participants (43.6 %) supported industrial actions. Poor healthcare leadership and management were cited as the most common (92 %), as well as the most important (43.3 %), cause of healthcare worker strikes in Nigeria. Other causes cited were a demand for higher salaries and wages (82 %), infrastructural issues (63.3 %) and inter-personal issues (61.3 %). Only 2.0 % rated current healthcare management as excellent, while 24.0 % rated it as very good. Several strategies were cited towards improving healthcare management. The findings of this study differ from previous studies that identified demand for increased salaries and wages as the most common cause of healthcare workers' strikes in Nigeria. Identified causes of these continued strikes, especially inadequate healthcare leadership/management, must be tackled in order to eliminate industrial action by healthcare workers. Training doctors

Inside the Black Box: Tracking Decision-Making in an Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Cathryn

2017-01-01

Action research has been described as "designing the plane while flying it" (Herr & Anderson, 2005, p. 69). A black box documented the researcher's decisions while facilitating leadership development sessions with teacher leaders. Ten process folio steps informed the study through six iterations. Planning steps included a design…

Practice in Planning and Planning in Practice: Re-Assessing and Clarifying Action Research in a Multi-National Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kusch, Jim; Rebolledo, Geisha; Ryan, Charly

2005-01-01

This paper responds to a call seeking presenters for an action-research event for elementary-school science teachers in Venezuela. The authors planned on the assumption that the participants would wish to leave with plans for introducing action-research approaches into their practice. In previous writing on action research, the various protocols…

Does Causal Action Facilitate Causal Perception in Infants Younger than 6 Months of Age?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rakison, David H.; Krogh, Lauren

2012-01-01

Previous research has established that infants are unable to perceive causality until 6 1/4 months of age. The current experiments examined whether infants' ability to engage in causal action could facilitate causal perception prior to this age. In Experiment 1, 4 1/2-month-olds were randomly assigned to engage in causal action experience via…

Burnout among rural hospital doctors in the Western Cape: Comparison with previous South African studies.

PubMed

Liebenberg, Andrew R; Coetzee Jnr, Johan F; Conradie, Hofmeyr H; Coetzee, Johan F

2018-05-24

Burnout among doctors negatively affects health systems and, ultimately,patient care. To determine the prevalence of burnout among doctors working in the district health system in the Overberg and Cape Winelands districts of the Western Cape Province and to compare the findings with those of previous South African studies. Rural district hospitals. During 2013, a validated questionnaire (Maslach Burnout Inventory) was sent to 42 doctors working in the district health system within the referral area of the Worcester Hospital, consisting of the Overberg health district and the eastern half of the Cape Winelands. Response rate was 85.7%. Clinically significant burnout was found among 81% of respondents. High levels of burnout on all three subscales were present in 31% of participants.Burnout rates were similar to those of a previous study conducted among doctors working in the Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality primary health care facilities. Scores for emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalisation (DP) were greater than those of a national survey;however, the score for personal accomplishment (PA) was greater. EE and PA scores weresimilar to that of a study of junior doctors working in the Red Cross Children's Hospital;however, EE was smaller. This study demonstrates high burnout rates among doctors working at district level hospitals, similar to the prevalence thereof in the Cape Town Metropolitan primary health care facilities. Health services planning should include strategies to address and prevent burnout of which adequate staffing and improved work environment are of prime importance.

Perceptions of Barriers to Effective Obesity Care: Results from the National ACTION Study.

PubMed

Kaplan, Lee M; Golden, Angela; Jinnett, Kimberly; Kolotkin, Ronette L; Kyle, Theodore K; Look, Michelle; Nadglowski, Joseph; O'Neil, Patrick M; Parry, Thomas; Tomaszewski, Kenneth J; Stevenin, Boris; Lilleøre, Søren Kruse; Dhurandhar, Nikhil V

2018-01-01

ACTION (Awareness, Care, and Treatment in Obesity maNagement) examined obesity-related perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors among people with obesity (PwO), health care providers (HCPs), and employer representatives (ERs). A total of 3,008 adult PwO (BMI ≥ 30 by self-reported height and weight), 606 HCPs, and 153 ERs completed surveys in a cross-sectional design. Despite several weight loss (WL) attempts, only 23% of PwO reported 10% WL during the previous 3 years. Many PwO (65%) recognized obesity as a disease, but only 54% worried their weight may affect future health. Most PwO (82%) felt "completely" responsible for WL; 72% of HCPs felt responsible for contributing to WL efforts; few ERs (18%) felt even partially responsible. Only 50% of PwO saw themselves as "obese," and 55% reported receiving a formal diagnosis of obesity. Despite HCPs' reported comfort with weight-related conversations, time constraints deprioritized these efforts. Only 24% of PwO had a scheduled follow-up to initial weight-related conversations. Few PwO (17%) perceived employer-sponsored wellness offerings as helpful in supporting WL. Although generally perceived as a disease, obesity is not commonly treated as such. Divergence in perceptions and attitudes potentially hinders better management. This study highlights inconsistent understanding of the impact of obesity and need for both self-directed and medical management. © 2017 The Obesity Society.

Corrective Action Glossary

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

Not Available

1992-07-01

The glossary of technical terms was prepared to facilitate the use of the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) issued by OSWER on November 14, 1986. The CAP presents model scopes of work for all phases of a corrective action program, including the RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI), Corrective Measures Study (CMS), Corrective Measures Implementation (CMI), and interim measures. The Corrective Action Glossary includes brief definitions of the technical terms used in the CAP and explains how they are used. In addition, expected ranges (where applicable) are provided. Parameters or terms not discussed in the CAP, but commonly associated with site investigations ormore » remediations are also included.« less

Dual actions for massless, partially-massless and massive gravitons in (A)dS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boulanger, N.; Campoleoni, A.; Cortese, I.

2018-07-01

We provide a unified treatment of electric-magnetic duality, at the action level and with manifest Lorentz invariance, for massive, massless as well as partially-massless gravitons propagating in maximally symmetric spacetimes of any dimension n > 3. For massive and massless fields, we complete previous analyses that use parent-action techniques by giving dual descriptions that enable direct counting of physical degrees of freedom in the flat and massless limit. The same treatment is extended to the partially-massless case, where the duality has been previously discussed in covariant form only at the level of the equations of motion. The nature of the dual graviton is therefore clarified for all values of the mass and of the cosmological constant.

An Action Learning Method for Increased Innovation Capability in Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsson, Annika; Wadell, Carl; Odenrick, Per; Norell Bergendahl, Margareta

2010-01-01

Product innovation in highly complex and technological areas, such as medical technology, puts high requirements on the innovation capability of an organisation. Previous research and publications have highlighted organisational issues and learning matters as important and necessary for the development of innovation capability. Action learning…

National Rates of Uterine Rupture are not Associated with Rates of Previous Caesarean Delivery: Results from the Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study.

PubMed

Colmorn, Lotte B; Langhoff-Roos, Jens; Jakobsson, Maija; Tapper, Anna-Maija; Gissler, Mika; Lindqvist, Pelle G; Källen, Karin; Gottvall, Karin; Klungsøyr, Kari; Bøhrdahl, Per; Bjarnadóttir, Ragnhild I; Krebs, Lone

2017-05-01

Previous caesarean delivery and intended mode of delivery after caesarean are well-known individual risk factors for uterine rupture. We examined if different national rates of uterine rupture are associated with differences in national rates of previous caesarean delivery and intended mode of delivery after a previous caesarean delivery. This study is an ecological study based on data from a retrospective cohort in the Nordic countries. Data on uterine rupture were collected prospectively in each country as part of the Nordic obstetric surveillance study and included 91% of all Nordic deliveries. Information on the comparison population was retrieved from the national medical birth registers. Incidence rate ratios by previous caesarean delivery and intended mode of delivery after caesarean were modelled using Poisson regression. The incidence of uterine rupture was 7.8/10 000 in Finland and 4.6/10 000 in Denmark. Rates of caesarean (21.3%) and previous caesarean deliveries (11.5%) were highest in Denmark, while the rate of intended vaginal delivery after caesarean was highest in Finland (72%). National rates of uterine rupture were not associated with the population rates of previous caesarean but increased by 35% per 1% increase in the population rate of intended vaginal delivery and in the subpopulation of women with previous caesarean delivery by 4% per 1% increase in the rate of intended vaginal delivery. National rates of uterine rupture were not associated with national rates of previous caesarean, but increased with rates of intended vaginal delivery after caesarean. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exploring possible mechanisms of action for the nanotoxicity and protein binding of decorated nanotubes: interpretation of physicochemical properties from optimal QSAR models

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

Esposito, Emilio Xavier, E-mail: emilio@exeResearch.com; The Chem21 Group, Inc., 1780 Wilson Drive, Lake Forest, IL 60045; Hopfinger, Anton J., E-mail: hopfingr@gmail.com

2015-10-01

Carbon nanotubes have become widely used in a variety of applications including biosensors and drug carriers. Therefore, the issue of carbon nanotube toxicity is increasingly an area of focus and concern. While previous studies have focused on the gross mechanisms of action relating to nanomaterials interacting with biological entities, this study proposes detailed mechanisms of action, relating to nanotoxicity, for a series of decorated (functionalized) carbon nanotube complexes based on previously reported QSAR models. Possible mechanisms of nanotoxicity for six endpoints (bovine serum albumin, carbonic anhydrase, chymotrypsin, hemoglobin along with cell viability and nitrogen oxide production) have been extracted frommore » the corresponding optimized QSAR models. The molecular features relevant to each of the endpoint respective mechanism of action for the decorated nanotubes are also discussed. Based on the molecular information contained within the optimal QSAR models for each nanotoxicity endpoint, either the decorator attached to the nanotube is directly responsible for the expression of a particular activity, irrespective of the decorator's 3D-geometry and independent of the nanotube, or those decorators having structures that place the functional groups of the decorators as far as possible from the nanotube surface most strongly influence the biological activity. These molecular descriptors are further used to hypothesize specific interactions involved in the expression of each of the six biological endpoints. - Highlights: • Proposed toxicity mechanism of action for decorated nanotubes complexes • Discussion of the key molecular features for each endpoint's mechanism of action • Unique mechanisms of action for each of the six biological systems • Hypothesized mechanisms of action based on QSAR/QNAR predictive models.« less

Relationship of Metabolism and Cell Proliferation to the Mode of Action of Fluensulfone-Induced Mouse Lung Tumors. II: Additional Mechanistic Studies.

PubMed

Strupp, Christian; Bomann, Werner; Cohen, Samuel M; Weber, Klaus

2016-12-01

Fluensulfone is a nematicide for agricultural use. Chronic dietary exposure led to bronchiolo-alveolar hyperplasia and bronchiolo-alveolar adenomas in CD-1 mice but not in rats. Genotoxicity could be excluded as a mode of action (MOA). An earlier publication (Strupp, C., Banas, D. A., Cohen, S. M., Gordon, E. B., Jaeger, M., and Weber, K. (2012). Relationship of metabolism and cell proliferation to the mode of action of fluensulfone-induced mouse lung tumors: analysis of their human relevance using the IPCS framework. Toxicol. Sci. 128, 284-294.) reported MOA studies identifying the following key events: increased metabolism of fluensulfone by CYP2f2 in mouse lung Club cells, followed by local proliferation, finally leading to adenoma formation. Human lung microsomes were found not to metabolize fluensulfone. The Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues has reviewed the previous data and concluded that the MOA is plausible however some areas of uncertainty were identified. This publication provides additional data to address these. New cell proliferation studies in mice showed that the MOA is functionally independent of sex. A threshold of cell proliferation in Club cells correlating with the dose response for adenoma formation was shown. CYP2f2 knockout mice did not react to fluensulfone exposure with cell proliferation like wild-type mice, confirming the key role of this enzyme. The collective data for fluensulfone were evaluated according to the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) Mode of Action Framework which leads to the conclusion that the mouse-specific lung tumors after fluensulfone are not relevant to humans. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Human Securitability: A Participatory Action Research Study Involving Novice Teachers and Youngsters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kravale-Paulina, Marite; Olehnovica, Eridiana

2015-01-01

Civic participation, initiative and interest in current events can bridge the alienation felt towards national and municipal institutions, thereby enabling individuals to improve their quality of life and contribute to all-round sustainable development of their resident state. This paper reports on a participatory action research study into civic…

Distractor Repetitions Retrieve Previous Responses and Previous Targets: Experimental Dissociations of Distractor-Response and Distractor-Target Bindings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giesen, Carina; Rothermund, Klaus

2014-01-01

Even an irrelevant distractor stimulus is integrated into event files. Subsequently repeating the distractor triggers retrieval of the event file; however, an unresolved issue concerns the question of "what" is retrieved by the distractor. While recent studies predominantly assume that the distractor retrieves the previous response, it…

Effects of boundaries and geometry on the spatial distribution of action potential duration in cardiac tissue

PubMed Central

Cherry, Elizabeth M.; Fenton, Flavio H.

2011-01-01

Increased dispersion of action potential duration across cardiac tissue has long been considered an important substrate for the development of most electrical arrhythmias. Although this dispersion has been studied previously by characterizing the static intrinsic gradients in cellular electrophysiology and dynamical gradients generated by fast pacing, few studies have concentrated on dispersions generated solely by structural effects. Here we show how boundaries and geometry can produce spatially dependent changes in action potential duration (APD) in homogeneous and isotropic tissue, where all the cells have the same APD in the absence of diffusion. Electrotonic currents due to coupling within the tissue and at the tissue boundaries can generate dispersion, and the profile of this dispersion can change dramatically depending on tissue size and shape, action potential morphology, tissue dimensionality, and stimulus frequency and location. The dispersion generated by pure geometrical effects can be on the order of tens of milliseconds, enough under certain conditions to produce conduction blocks and initiate reentrant waves. PMID:21762703

Post-determined emotion: motor action retrospectively modulates emotional valence of visual images

PubMed Central

Sasaki, Kyoshiro; Yamada, Yuki; Miura, Kayo

2015-01-01

Upward and downward motor actions influence subsequent and ongoing emotional processing in accordance with a space–valence metaphor: positive is up/negative is down. In this study, we examined whether upward and downward motor actions could also affect previous emotional processing. Participants were shown an emotional image on a touch screen. After the image disappeared, they were required to drag a centrally located dot towards a cued area, which was either in the upper or lower portion of the screen. They were then asked to rate the emotional valence of the image using a 7-point scale. We found that the emotional valence of the image was more positive when the cued area was located in the upper portion of the screen. However, this was the case only when the dragging action was required immediately after the image had disappeared. Our findings suggest that when somatic information that is metaphorically associated with an emotion is linked temporally with a visual event, retrospective emotional integration between the visual and somatic events occurs. PMID:25808884

Effects of tacrolimus on action potential configuration and transmembrane ion currents in canine ventricular cells.

PubMed

Szabó, László; Szentandrássy, Norbert; Kistamás, Kornél; Hegyi, Bence; Ruzsnavszky, Ferenc; Váczi, Krisztina; Horváth, Balázs; Magyar, János; Bányász, Tamás; Pál, Balázs; Nánási, Péter P

2013-03-01

Tacrolimus is a commonly used immunosuppressive agent which causes cardiovascular complications, e.g., hypertension and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In spite of it, there is little information on the cellular cardiac effects of the immunosuppressive agent tacrolimus in larger mammals. In the present study, therefore, the concentration-dependent effects of tacrolimus on action potential morphology and the underlying ion currents were studied in canine ventricular cardiomyocytes. Standard microelectrode, conventional whole cell patch clamp, and action potential voltage clamp techniques were applied in myocytes enzymatically dispersed from canine ventricular myocardium. Tacrolimus (3-30 μM) caused a concentration-dependent reduction of maximum velocity of depolarization and repolarization, action potential amplitude, phase-1 repolarization, action potential duration, and plateau potential, while no significant change in the resting membrane potential was observed. Conventional voltage clamp experiments revealed that tacrolimus concentrations ≥3 μM blocked a variety of ion currents, including I(Ca), I(to), I(K1), I(Kr), and I(Ks). Similar results were obtained under action potential voltage clamp conditions. These effects of tacrolimus developed rapidly and were fully reversible upon washout. The blockade of inward currents with the concomitant shortening of action potential duration in canine myocytes is the opposite of those observed previously with tacrolimus in small rodents. It is concluded that although tacrolimus blocks several ion channels at higher concentrations, there is no risk of direct interaction with cardiac ion channels when applying tacrolimus in therapeutic concentrations.

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.

Numbers in Action.

PubMed

Rugani, Rosa; Sartori, Luisa

2016-01-01

Humans show a remarkable tendency to describe and think of numbers as being placed on a mental number line (MNL), with smaller numbers located on the left and larger ones on the right. Faster responses to small numbers are indeed performed on the left side of space, while responses to large numbers are facilitated on the right side of space (spatial-numerical association of response codes, SNARC effect). This phenomenon is considered the experimental demonstration of the MNL and has been extensively replicated throughout a variety of paradigms. Nevertheless, the majority of previous literature has mainly investigated this effect by means of response times and accuracy, whereas studies considering more subtle and automatic measures such as kinematic parameters are rare (e.g., in a reaching-to-grasp movement, the grip aperture is enlarged in responding to larger numbers than in responding to small numbers). In this brief review we suggest that numerical magnitude can also affect the what and how of action execution (i.e., temporal and spatial components of movement). This evidence could have large implications in the strongly debated issue concerning the effect of experience and culture on the orientation of MNL.

Action video games do not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.

PubMed

van Ravenzwaaij, Don; Boekel, Wouter; Forstmann, Birte U; Ratcliff, Roger; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2014-10-01

Previous research suggests that playing action video games improves performance on sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks. For instance, Green, Pouget, and Bavelier (2010) used the diffusion model to decompose data from a motion detection task and estimate the contribution of several underlying psychological processes. Their analysis indicated that playing action video games leads to faster information processing, reduced response caution, and no difference in motor responding. Because perceptual learning is generally thought to be highly context-specific, this transfer from gaming is surprising and warrants corroborative evidence from a large-scale training study. We conducted 2 experiments in which participants practiced either an action video game or a cognitive game in 5 separate, supervised sessions. Prior to each session and following the last session, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task. In the second experiment, we included a third condition in which no video games were played at all. Behavioral data and diffusion model parameters showed similar practice effects for the action gamers, the cognitive gamers, and the nongamers and suggest that, in contrast to earlier reports, playing action video games does not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.

Action Video Games Do Not Improve the Speed of Information Processing in Simple Perceptual Tasks

PubMed Central

van Ravenzwaaij, Don; Boekel, Wouter; Forstmann, Birte U.; Ratcliff, Roger; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2015-01-01

Previous research suggests that playing action video games improves performance on sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks. For instance, Green, Pouget, and Bavelier (2010) used the diffusion model to decompose data from a motion detection task and estimate the contribution of several underlying psychological processes. Their analysis indicated that playing action video games leads to faster information processing, reduced response caution, and no difference in motor responding. Because perceptual learning is generally thought to be highly context-specific, this transfer from gaming is surprising and warrants corroborative evidence from a large-scale training study. We conducted 2 experiments in which participants practiced either an action video game or a cognitive game in 5 separate, supervised sessions. Prior to each session and following the last session, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task. In the second experiment, we included a third condition in which no video games were played at all. Behavioral data and diffusion model parameters showed similar practice effects for the action gamers, the cognitive gamers, and the nongamers and suggest that, in contrast to earlier reports, playing action video games does not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks. PMID:24933517

Path integrals with higher order actions: Application to realistic chemical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindoy, Lachlan P.; Huang, Gavin S.; Jordan, Meredith J. T.

2018-02-01

Quantum thermodynamic parameters can be determined using path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations. These simulations, however, become computationally demanding as the quantum nature of the system increases, although their efficiency can be improved by using higher order approximations to the thermal density matrix, specifically the action. Here we compare the standard, primitive approximation to the action (PA) and three higher order approximations, the Takahashi-Imada action (TIA), the Suzuki-Chin action (SCA) and the Chin action (CA). The resulting PIMC methods are applied to two realistic potential energy surfaces, for H2O and HCN-HNC, both of which are spectroscopically accurate and contain three-body interactions. We further numerically optimise, for each potential, the SCA parameter and the two free parameters in the CA, obtaining more significant improvements in efficiency than seen previously in the literature. For both H2O and HCN-HNC, accounting for all required potential and force evaluations, the optimised CA formalism is approximately twice as efficient as the TIA formalism and approximately an order of magnitude more efficient than the PA. The optimised SCA formalism shows similar efficiency gains to the CA for HCN-HNC but has similar efficiency to the TIA for H2O at low temperature. In H2O and HCN-HNC systems, the optimal value of the a1 CA parameter is approximately 1/3 , corresponding to an equal weighting of all force terms in the thermal density matrix, and similar to previous studies, the optimal α parameter in the SCA was ˜0.31. Importantly, poor choice of parameter significantly degrades the performance of the SCA and CA methods. In particular, for the CA, setting a1 = 0 is not efficient: the reduction in convergence efficiency is not offset by the lower number of force evaluations. We also find that the harmonic approximation to the CA parameters, whilst providing a fourth order approximation to the action, is not optimal for these

Teaching Science and Engineering-Related Topics Using Experiential Methods: An Action-Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aleong, Chandra; Aleong, John

2007-01-01

This article describes a portion of a long-term action-research project investigating the teaching of the science of transportation to high school students using the case study or experiential method. Other aspects integrated with the project-oriented study are the use of Constructivist theory, the Socratic Method, and the incorporation of…

Learning to Control Actions: Transfer Effects following a Procedural Cognitive Control Computerized Training

PubMed Central

Shahar, Nitzan; Meiran, Nachshon

2015-01-01

Few studies have addressed action control training. In the current study, participants were trained over 19 days in an adaptive training task that demanded constant switching, maintenance and updating of novel action rules. Participants completed an executive functions battery before and after training that estimated processing speed, working memory updating, set-shifting, response inhibition and fluid intelligence. Participants in the training group showed greater improvement than a no-contact control group in processing speed, indicated by reduced reaction times in speeded classification tasks. No other systematic group differences were found across the different pre-post measurements. Ex-Gaussian fitting of the reaction-time distribution revealed that the reaction time reduction observed among trained participants was restricted to the right tail of the distribution, previously shown to be related to working memory. Furthermore, training effects were only found in classification tasks that required participants to maintain novel stimulus-response rules in mind, supporting the notion that the training improved working memory abilities. Training benefits were maintained in a 10-month follow-up, indicating relatively long-lasting effects. The authors conclude that training improved action-related working memory abilities. PMID:25799443

A Case of Hand Waving: Action Synchrony and Person Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macrae, C. Neil; Duffy, Oonagh K.; Miles, Lynden K.; Lawrence, Julie

2008-01-01

While previous research has demonstrated that people's movements can become coordinated during social interaction, little is known about the cognitive consequences of behavioral synchrony. Given intimate links between the systems that regulate perception and action, we hypothesized that the synchronization of movements during a dyadic interaction…

43 CFR 2091.1 - Action on applications and mining claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Segregation and Opening of Lands § 2091.1 Action on applications and mining claims. (a) Except where the law... lessee exclusive use of the lands; (4) Classifications existing under appropriate law: (5) Segregation due to an application previously filed under appropriate law and regulations; (6) Segregation...

Everyday robotic action: lessons from human action control

PubMed Central

de Kleijn, Roy; Kachergis, George; Hommel, Bernhard

2014-01-01

Robots are increasingly capable of performing everyday human activities such as cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. This requires the real-time planning and execution of complex, temporally extended sequential actions under high degrees of uncertainty, which provides many challenges to traditional approaches to robot action control. We argue that important lessons in this respect can be learned from research on human action control. We provide a brief overview of available psychological insights into this issue and focus on four principles that we think could be particularly beneficial for robot control: the integration of symbolic and subsymbolic planning of action sequences, the integration of feedforward and feedback control, the clustering of complex actions into subcomponents, and the contextualization of action-control structures through goal representations. PMID:24672474

Broca's area processes the hierarchical organization of observed action

PubMed Central

Wakita, Masumi

2014-01-01

Broca's area has been suggested as the area responsible for the domain-general hierarchical processing of language and music. Although meaningful action shares a common hierarchical structure with language and music, the role of Broca's area in this domain remains controversial. To address the involvement of Broca's area in the processing action hierarchy, the activation of Broca's area was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy. Measurements were taken while participants watched silent movies that featured hand movements playing familiar and unfamiliar melodies. The unfamiliar melodies were reversed versions of the familiar melodies. Additionally, to investigate the effect of a motor experience on the activation of Broca's area, the participants were divided into well-trained and less-trained groups. The results showed that Broca's area in the well-trained participants demonstrated a significantly larger activation in response to the hand motion when an unfamiliar melody was played than when a familiar melody was played. However, Broca's area in the less-trained participants did not show a contrast between conditions despite identical abilities of the two participant groups to identify the melodies by watching key pressing actions. These results are consistent with previous findings that Broca's area exhibits increased activation in response to grammatically violated sentences and musically deviated chord progressions as well as the finding that this region does not represent the processing of grammatical structure in less-proficient foreign language speakers. Thus, the current study suggests that Broca's area represents action hierarchy and that sufficiently long motor training is necessary for it to become sensitive to motor syntax. Therefore, the notion that hierarchical processing in Broca's area is a common function shared between language and music may help to explain the role of Broca's area in action perception. PMID:24478668

Recall of Others' Actions after Incidental Encoding Reveals Episodic-like Memory in Dogs.

PubMed

Fugazza, Claudia; Pogány, Ákos; Miklósi, Ádám

2016-12-05

The existence of episodic memory in non-human animals is a debated topic that has been investigated using different methodologies that reflect diverse theoretical approaches to its definition. A fundamental feature of episodic memory is recalling after incidental encoding, which can be assessed if the recall test is unexpected [1]. We used a modified version of the "Do as I Do" method [2], relying on dogs' ability to imitate human actions, to test whether dogs can rely on episodic memory when recalling others' actions from the past. Dogs were first trained to imitate human actions on command. Next, they were trained to perform a simple training exercise (lying down), irrespective of the previously demonstrated action. This way, we substituted their expectation to be required to imitate with the expectation to be required to lie down. We then tested whether dogs recalled the demonstrated actions by unexpectedly giving them the command to imitate, instead of lying down. Dogs were tested with a short (1 min) and a long (1 hr) retention interval. They were able to recall the demonstrated actions after both intervals; however, their performance declined more with time compared to conditions in which imitation was expected. These findings show that dogs recall past events as complex as human actions even if they do not expect the memory test, providing evidence for episodic-like memory. Dogs offer an ideal model to study episodic memory in non-human species, and this methodological approach allows investigating memory of complex, context-rich events. VIDEO ABSTRACT. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mixed heavy–light matching in the Universal One-Loop Effective Action

DOE PAGES

Ellis, Sebastian A. R.; Quevillon, Jérémie; You, Tevong; ...

2016-11-10

Recently, a general result for evaluating the path integral at one loop was obtained in the form of the Universal One-Loop Effective Action. It may be used to derive effective field theory operators of dimensions up to six, by evaluating the traces of matrices in this expression, with the mass dependence encapsulated in the universal coefficients. In this study we show that it can account for loops of mixed heavy–light particles in the matching procedure. Our prescription for computing these mixed contributions to the Wilson coefficients is conceptually simple. Moreover it has the advantage of maintaining the universal structure ofmore » the effective action, which we illustrate using the example of integrating out a heavy electroweak triplet scalar coupling to a light Higgs doublet. Finally we also identify new structures that were previously neglected in the universal results.« less

Understanding the internal states of others by listening to action verbs.

PubMed

Di Cesare, G; Fasano, F; Errante, A; Marchi, M; Rizzolatti, G

2016-08-01

The internal state of others can be understood observing their actions or listening to their voice. While the neural bases of action style (vitality forms) have been investigated, there is no information on how we recognize others' internal state by listening to their speech. Here, using fMRI technique, we investigated the neural correlates of auditory vitality forms while participants listened to action verbs in three different conditions: human voice pronouncing the verbs in a rude and gentle way, robot voice pronouncing the same verbs without vitality forms, and a scrambled version of the same verbs pronounced by human voice. In agreement with previous studies on vitality forms encoding, we found specific activation of the central part of insula during listening to human voice conveying specific vitality forms. In addition, when listening both to human and robot voices there was an activation of the posterior part of the left inferior frontal gyrus and of the parieto-premotor circuit typically described to be activated during observation and execution of arm actions. Finally, the superior temporal gyrus was activated bilaterally in all three conditions. We conclude that, the central part of insula is a key region for vitality forms processing allowing the understanding of the vitality forms regardless of the modality by which they are conveyed. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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.

Seek Help from Teachers or Fight Back? Student Perceptions of Teachers' Actions during Conflicts and Responses to Peer Victimization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aceves, Mario J.; Hinshaw, Stephen P.; Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo; Page-Gould, Elizabeth

2010-01-01

Previous research has shown that teachers' actions when addressing conflict on school grounds can shape adolescent perceptions regarding how well the school manages victimization. Our objective in this study was to determine how these perceptions influenced the likelihood that adolescent students would react to victimization scenarios by either…

The early postpartum experience of previously infertile mothers.

PubMed

Ladores, Sigrid; Aroian, Karen

2015-01-01

To explore the lived experience of becoming a new mother from the unique perspectives of previously infertile women. A descriptive phenomenological design was used to extract the fundamental structure of the postpartum experience of previously infertile mothers. Central Florida. Twelve first-time, previously infertile mothers age 27 to 43 years. Face-to-face interviews were conducted twice with each participant. Recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Colaizzi's approach. Two main themes emerged that described the early postpartum experience of first-time, previously infertile mothers: (a) lingering identity as infertile and (b) gratitude for the gift of motherhood. Participants reported that their lingering identities as infertile and immense gratitude for the gift of motherhood propelled them to establish unrealistic expectations to be perfect mothers. When they were unable to live up this expectation, they censored their feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and shame. Findings from this study may help to sensitize health care providers to the difficulties faced by previously infertile women during their transition to motherhood. © 2015 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

Action Learning in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marquardt, Michael J.

2015-01-01

Action learning was introduced into China less than 20 years ago, but has rapidly become a valuable tool for organizations seeking to solve problems, develop their leaders, and become learning organizations. This article provides an historical overview of action learning in China, its cultural underpinnings, and five case studies. It concludes…

From recording discrete actions to studying continuous goal-directed behaviours in team sports.

PubMed

Correia, Vanda; Araújo, Duarte; Vilar, Luís; Davids, Keith

2013-01-01

This paper highlights the importance of examining interpersonal interactions in performance analysis of team sports, predicated on the relationship between perception and action, compared to the traditional cataloguing of actions by individual performers. We discuss how ecological dynamics may provide a potential unifying theoretical and empirical framework to achieve this re-emphasis in research. With reference to data from illustrative studies on performance analysis and sport expertise, we critically evaluate some of the main assumptions and methodological approaches with regard to understanding how information influences action and decision-making during team sports performance. Current data demonstrate how the understanding of performance behaviours in team sports by sport scientists and practitioners may be enhanced with a re-emphasis in research on the dynamics of emergent ongoing interactions. Ecological dynamics provides formal and theoretically grounded descriptions of player-environment interactions with respect to key performance goals and the unfolding information of competitive performance. Developing these formal descriptions and explanations of sport performance may provide a significant contribution to the field of performance analysis, supporting design and intervention in both research and practice.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of action-effect associations in oculomotor control.

PubMed

Riechelmann, Eva; Pieczykolan, Aleksandra; Horstmann, Gernot; Herwig, Arvid; Huestegge, Lynn

2017-10-01

While there is ample evidence that actions are guided by anticipating their effects (ideomotor control) in the manual domain, much less is known about the underlying characteristics and dynamics of effect-based oculomotor control. Here, we address three open issues. 1) Is action-effect anticipation in oculomotor control reflected in corresponding spatial saccade characteristics in inanimate environments? 2) Does the previously reported dependency of action latency on the temporal effect delay (action-effect interval) also occur in the oculomotor domain? 3) Which temporal effect delay is optimally suited to develop strong action-effect associations over time in the oculomotor domain? Participants executed left or right free-choice saccades to peripheral traffic lights, causing an (immediate or delayed) action-contingent light switch in the upper vs. lower part of the traffic light. Results indicated that saccades were spatially shifted toward the location of the upcoming change, indicating anticipation of the effect (location). Saccade latency was affected by effect delay, suggesting that corresponding time information is integrated into event representations. Finally, delayed (vs. immediate) effects were more effective in strengthening action-effect associations over the course of the experiment, likely due to greater saliency of perceptual changes occurring during target fixation as opposed to changes during saccades (saccadic suppression). Overall, basic principles underlying ideomotor control appear to generalize to the oculomotor domain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated grouping of action potentials of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

PubMed

Gorospe, Giann; Zhu, Renjun; Millrod, Michal A; Zambidis, Elias T; Tung, Leslie; Vidal, Rene

2014-09-01

Methods for obtaining cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are improving at a significant rate. However, the characterization of these cardiomyocytes (CMs) is evolving at a relatively slower rate. In particular, there is still uncertainty in classifying the phenotype (ventricular-like, atrial-like, nodal-like, etc.) of an hESC-derived cardiomyocyte (hESC-CM). While previous studies identified the phenotype of a CM based on electrophysiological features of its action potential, the criteria for classification were typically subjective and differed across studies. In this paper, we use techniques from signal processing and machine learning to develop an automated approach to discriminate the electrophysiological differences between hESC-CMs. Specifically, we propose a spectral grouping-based algorithm to separate a population of CMs into distinct groups based on the similarity of their action potential shapes. We applied this method to a dataset of optical maps of cardiac cell clusters dissected from human embryoid bodies. While some of the nine cell clusters in the dataset are presented with just one phenotype, the majority of the cell clusters are presented with multiple phenotypes. The proposed algorithm is generally applicable to other action potential datasets and could prove useful in investigating the purification of specific types of CMs from an electrophysiological perspective.

Automated Grouping of Action Potentials of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

PubMed Central

Gorospe, Giann; Zhu, Renjun; Millrod, Michal A.; Zambidis, Elias T.; Tung, Leslie; Vidal, René

2015-01-01

Methods for obtaining cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are improving at a significant rate. However, the characterization of these cardiomyocytes is evolving at a relatively slower rate. In particular, there is still uncertainty in classifying the phenotype (ventricular-like, atrial-like, nodal-like, etc.) of an hESC-derived cardiomyocyte (hESC-CM). While previous studies identified the phenotype of a cardiomyocyte based on electrophysiological features of its action potential, the criteria for classification were typically subjective and differed across studies. In this paper, we use techniques from signal processing and machine learning to develop an automated approach to discriminate the electrophysiological differences between hESC-CMs. Specifically, we propose a spectral grouping-based algorithm to separate a population of cardiomyocytes into distinct groups based on the similarity of their action potential shapes. We applied this method to a dataset of optical maps of cardiac cell clusters dissected from human embryoid bodies (hEBs). While some of the 9 cell clusters in the dataset presented with just one phenotype, the majority of the cell clusters presented with multiple phenotypes. The proposed algorithm is generally applicable to other action potential datasets and could prove useful in investigating the purification of specific types of cardiomyocytes from an electrophysiological perspective. PMID:25148658

Reconnecting with Your Passion: An Action Research Study Exploring Humanities and Professional Nursing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Melissa J.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this action research study was two-fold. The first purpose was to examine the process of how nurses engaged in a professional development program that drew upon reading and creative writing related to their lives and work as nurses. Secondly, this study examined the nurses' perspectives on how their involvement in the process…

A pharmacy leadership action study.

PubMed

Louie, Clifton; Mertz, Elizabeth; Penfil, Brett; O'Neil, Edward

2009-01-01

To report on the creation of a leadership development program targeted exclusively at pharmacists working in management in the professional community. Large staff-model health maintenance organization (HMO) in California between 2004 and 2008. The Pharmacy Leadership Institute (PLI; a joint effort of the School of Pharmacy and the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco) tested a program in a large staff-model HMO with hundreds of pharmacists in leadership roles. This program included learning seminars, psychometric assessments, leadership goals, intersession activities, coaching/mentoring, and leadership projects. Not applicable. PLI collected survey data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the institute's leadership development program. In addition, an external evaluator was hired to conduct interviews with the pharmacy directors of the organization which chose to pilot the program. The evaluations from the participants indicate that the leadership development program met many but not all of its initial objectives. Consistent with action research methodology, the faculty of the institute met to redesign some sections of the program in order to meet the established goals. Adjustments were made to different components of the program over the next 4 years. Evaluation data show that these revisions were successful. In addition, follow-up evaluations with participants showed a lasting impact of the program on both individual leadership skills and organizational outcomes. Given the positive outcomes indicated by the evaluation data used in this study, the work of PLI indicates that broader leadership skills can be identified and enhanced within a group of pharmacy managers.

The effect of previous traumatic injury on homicide risk.

PubMed

Griffin, Russell L; Davis, Gregory G; Levitan, Emily B; MacLennan, Paul A; Redden, David T; McGwin, Gerald

2014-07-01

Research has reported that a strong risk factor for traumatic injury is having a previous injury (i.e., recidivism). To date, the only study examining the relationship between recidivism and homicide reported strong associations, but was limited by possible selection bias. The current matched case-control study utilized coroner's data from 2004 to 2008. Subjects were linked to trauma registry data to determine whether the person had a previous traumatic injury. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between homicide and recidivism. Homicide risk was increased for those having a previous traumatic injury (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.09-2.99) or a previous intentional injury (OR 2.53, 95% CI 1.24-5.17). These results suggest an association between homicide and injury recidivism, and that trauma centers may be an effective setting for screening individuals for secondary prevention efforts of homicide through violence prevention programs. © 2014 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Individual differences in impulsive action and dopamine transporter function in rat orbitofrontal cortex.

PubMed

Yates, J R; Darna, M; Beckmann, J S; Dwoskin, L P; Bardo, M T

2016-01-28

Impulsivity, which can be subdivided into impulsive action and impulsive choice, is implicated as a factor underlying drug abuse vulnerability. Although previous research has shown that dopamine (DA) systems in prefrontal cortex are involved in impulsivity and substance abuse, it is not known if inherent variation in DA transporter (DAT) function contributes to impulsivity. The current study determined if individual differences in either impulsive action or impulsive choice are related to DAT function in orbitofrontal (OFC) and/or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Rats were first tested both for impulsive action in a cued go/no-go task and for impulsive choice in a delay-discounting task. Following behavioral evaluation, in vitro [(3)H]DA uptake assays were performed in OFC and mPFC isolated from individual rats. Vmax in OFC, but not mPFC, was correlated with performance in the cued go/no-go task, with decreased OFC DAT function being associated with high impulsive action. In contrast, Vmax in OFC and mPFC was not correlated with performance in the delay-discounting task. The current results demonstrate that impulsive behavior in cued go/no-go performance is associated with decreased DAT function in OFC, suggesting that hyperdopaminergic tone in this prefrontal subregion mediates, at least in part, increased impulsive action. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grasping actions and social interaction: neural bases and anatomical circuitry in the monkey

PubMed Central

Rozzi, Stefano; Coudé, Gino

2015-01-01

The study of the neural mechanisms underlying grasping actions showed that cognitive functions are deeply embedded in motor organization. In the first part of this review, we describe the anatomical structure of the motor cortex in the monkey and the cortical and sub-cortical connections of the different motor areas. In the second part, we review the neurophysiological literature showing that motor neurons are not only involved in movement execution, but also in the transformation of object physical features into motor programs appropriate to grasp them (through visuo-motor transformations). We also discuss evidence indicating that motor neurons can encode the goal of motor acts and the intention behind action execution. Then, we describe one of the mechanisms—the mirror mechanism—considered to be at the basis of action understanding and intention reading, and describe the anatomo-functional pathways through which information about the social context can reach the areas containing mirror neurons. Finally, we briefly show that a clear similarity exists between monkey and human in the organization of the motor and mirror systems. Based on monkey and human literature, we conclude that the mirror mechanism relies on a more extended network than previously thought, and possibly subserves basic social functions. We propose that this mechanism is also involved in preparing appropriate complementary response to observed actions, allowing two individuals to become attuned and cooperate in joint actions. PMID:26236258

Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons.

PubMed

Kohler, Evelyne; Keysers, Christian; Umiltà, M Alessandra; Fogassi, Leonardo; Gallese, Vittorio; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2002-08-02

Many object-related actions can be recognized by their sound. We found neurons in monkey premotor cortex that discharge when the animal performs a specific action and when it hears the related sound. Most of the neurons also discharge when the monkey observes the same action. These audiovisual mirror neurons code actions independently of whether these actions are performed, heard, or seen. This discovery in the monkey homolog of Broca's area might shed light on the origin of language: audiovisual mirror neurons code abstract contents-the meaning of actions-and have the auditory access typical of human language to these contents.

Aristotelian Action Research: Its Value for Studying Character Education in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanderse, Wouter

2016-01-01

This article explores what it means for teachers to engage in and evaluate students' character education, by examining the connections between action research and Aristotelian virtue ethics. These connections are explored in two ways. Firstly, the article examines what perspective action research has on how moral education, understood in an…

Virtual action and real action have different impacts on comprehension of concrete verbs

PubMed Central

Repetto, Claudia; Cipresso, Pietro; Riva, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

In the last decade, many results have been reported supporting the hypothesis that language has an embodied nature. According to this theory, the sensorimotor system is involved in linguistic processes such as semantic comprehension. One of the cognitive processes emerging from the interplay between action and language is motor simulation. The aim of the present study is to deepen the knowledge about the simulation of action verbs during comprehension in a virtual reality setting. We compared two experimental conditions with different motor tasks: one in which the participants ran in a virtual world by moving the joypad knob with their left hand (virtual action performed with their feet plus real action performed with the hand) and one in which they only watched a video of runners and executed an attentional task by moving the joypad knob with their left hand (no virtual action plus real action performed with the hand). In both conditions, participants had to perform a concomitant go/no-go semantic task, in which they were asked to press a button (with their right hand) when presented with a sentence containing a concrete verb, and to refrain from providing a response when the verb was abstract. Action verbs described actions performed with hand, foot, or mouth. We recorded electromyography (EMG) latencies to measure reaction times of the linguistic task. We wanted to test if the simulation occurs, whether it is triggered by the virtual or the real action, and which effect it produces (facilitation or interference). Results underlined that those who virtually ran in the environment were faster in understanding foot-action verbs; no simulation effect was found for the real action. The present findings are discussed in the light of the embodied language framework, and a hypothesis is provided that integrates our results with those in literature. PMID:25759678

Region and Domain Dependent Action of Nomifensine

PubMed Central

Shu, Zhan; Taylor, I. Mitch; Walters, Seth H.; Michael, Adrian C.

2014-01-01

The dopamine (DA) terminal fields in the rat dorsal striatum (DS) and nucleus accumbens core (NAcc) are organized as patchworks of domains that exhibit distinct kinetics of DA release and clearance. The present study used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry recordings of electrically evoked DA overflow to test the hypothesis that nomifensine might exhibit domain-dependent actions within the NAcc, as we previously found to be the case within the DS. Within the NAcc, nomifensine preferentially enhanced evoked dopamine overflow in the slow compared to the fast domains. To seek a kinetic explanation for nomifensine’s selective actions, we quantified the apparent KM of DA clearance by numerically evaluating the derivative of the descending phase of the DA signal after the end of the stimulus. For comparison, we likewise quantified apparent KM in the domains of the DS. As expected because it is a competitive inhibitor, nomifensine significantly increased the apparent KM in both the fast and slow domains of both the NAcc and DS. However, our analysis also leads to the novel finding that nomifensine preferentially increases the apparent KM in the NAcc compared to the DS: apparent KM increased by ~500% in the NAcc and ~200% in the DS. PMID:24766210

How the mind shapes action: Offline contexts modulate involuntary episodic retrieval.

PubMed

Frings, Christian; Koch, Iring; Moeller, Birte

2017-11-01

Involuntary retrieval of previous stimulus-response episodes is a centerpiece of many theories of priming, episodic binding, and action control. Typically it is assumed that by repeating a stimulus from trial n-1 to trial n, involuntary retrieval is triggered in a nearly automatic fashion, facilitating (or interfering with) the to-be-executed action. Here we argue that changes in the offline context weaken the involuntary retrieval of previous episodes (the offline context is defined to be the information presented before or after the focal stimulus). In four conditions differing in cue modality and target modality, retrieval was diminished if participants changed the target selection criterion (as indicated by a cue presented before the selection took place) while they still performed the same task. Thus, solely through changes in the offline context (cue or selection criterion), involuntary retrieval can be weakened in an effective way.

49 CFR 27.11 - Remedial action, voluntary action and compliance planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Remedial action, voluntary action and compliance....11 Remedial action, voluntary action and compliance planning. (a) Remedial action. (1) If the... discrimination not occurred. (b) Voluntary action. A recipient may take steps, in addition to any action that is...

Infants Prefer Motionese to Adult-Directed Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brand, Rebecca J.; Shallcross, Wendy L.

2008-01-01

In two studies, we investigated infants' preference for infant-directed (ID) action or "motionese" (Brand, Baldwin & Ashburn, 2002) relative to adult-directed (AD) action. In Study 1, full-featured videos were shown to 32 6- to 8-month-olds, who demonstrated a strong preference for ID action. In Study 2, infants at 6-8 months (n= 28) and 11-13…

Organic Chemistry in Action! Developing an Intervention Program for Introductory Organic Chemistry to Improve Learners' Understanding, Interest, and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Dwyer, Anne; Childs, Peter

2014-01-01

The main areas of difficulty experienced by those teaching and learning organic chemistry at high school and introductory university level in Ireland have been identified, and the findings support previous studies in Ireland and globally. Using these findings and insights from chemistry education research (CER), the Organic Chemistry in Action!…

Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition.

PubMed

Feng, Jing; Spence, Ian; Pratt, Jay

2007-10-01

We demonstrate a previously unknown gender difference in the distribution of spatial attention, a basic capacity that supports higher-level spatial cognition. More remarkably, we found that playing an action video game can virtually eliminate this gender difference in spatial attention and simultaneously decrease the gender disparity in mental rotation ability, a higher-level process in spatial cognition. After only 10 hr of training with an action video game, subjects realized substantial gains in both spatial attention and mental rotation, with women benefiting more than men. Control subjects who played a non-action game showed no improvement. Given that superior spatial skills are important in the mathematical and engineering sciences, these findings have practical implications for attracting men and women to these fields.

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

Action Research in Schools: The Practitioners' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Liyan; Kenton, Jeffrey M.

2010-01-01

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of an action research model from the perspectives of school educators as action researchers. The study design followed seven action researchers--inservice teachers and school library media specialists--as they completed research projects in their schools. Data came from three different sources:…

Action Learning in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stappenbelt, Brad

2017-01-01

In the present action learning implementation, twelve action learning sets were conducted over eight years. The action learning sets consisted of students involved in undergraduate engineering research thesis work. The concurrent study accompanying this initiative investigated the influence of the action learning environment on student approaches…

Teacher and student actions to construct biology literacy at a community college: A bounded case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griesel, Patricia

2000-10-01

Science content area literacy, particularly literacy development in college level biology, is the focus of this study. The study investigates the actions and activities of an instructor and six students over the course of 16 weeks. The study is in response to interest in the literate practices in science classes (NSES, 1996) and to the call for contextual studies that facilitate the learning of science (Borasi & Siegel, 1999; Moje, 1996; Nist & Holschuh, 1996; Prentiss, 1998). A collaborative study between the biology teacher and the researcher, this study investigates the practices believed to be effective for the development of biology literacy. Data sources, in the qualitative bounded case study (Bogdin & Biklin, 1982; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Miles & Huberman, 1994), include: field notes of classroom observations, in-depth interviews (Seidman, 1992), class surveys, and literate artifacts. The data were coded and analyzed using a constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The six students reveal similarities and differences regarding the actions, patterns, practices and use of materials and their beliefs about effective practice in the development of biology literacy. The results indicate that a variety of actions and activities are needed to facilitate the development of biology literacy. The common themes to develop from the students' data about effective teacher actions are the following: (a) involves and engages students in inquiry learning through group projects, hands-on, and group discussions; (b) relates examples, experiences, and stories; (c) exhibits expertise; (d) encourages a relaxed classroom atmosphere; (e) facilitates and coaches students; and (f) credits creativity. Further, students report their teacher to be an expert, in terms of science knowledge and literate practices, and that her expertise contributes to their understanding of biology literacy. The teachers' data reveals three themes embedded in her classroom actions: science as

Determining skill transferability of action games as a method to reduce in-vehicle phone distractions.

PubMed

Rupp, M; McConnell, D S; Smither, J A

2012-01-01

Distracted driving has been shown to be a safety issue in numerous studies. To combat this problem, in-vehicle technology, legislation, media interventions, and other methods have been proposed and attempted. However research indicates that the drivers themselves may circumvent, ignore, or not be able to react in time for these interventions to be effective. Therefore research into training programs for drivers may improve reaction time under distraction. Research indicates that action game players have faster reaction times and more attentional resources than non-players on paper-based tests. However, transferability to driving has not been studied yet. This paper outlines a study to determine if action game players perform better at a driving task based on frequency of game-play. Participants will be placed into two groups of play (high vs. low) and tested against two levels of distraction (none vs. phone conversation). It is expected that participants who play higher frequency of action games will perform better under distraction than lower frequency players. Driver performance, conversation recall, frequency and durations of eye fixations will be analyzed based on previous research which has validated those variables as a measure of distraction and higher workload.

A survey regarding acceptability of oral emergency contraception according to the posited mechanism of action.

PubMed

Willetts, S J; MacDougall, M; Cameron, S T

2017-08-01

The objective was to determine the acceptability to women of oral emergency contraception (EC) that works by inhibiting ovulation, preventing implantation or disrupting implantation, and also to determine the characteristics of women associated with the acceptability of each posited mechanism of action. Women completed a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire asking whether they would consider using an EC pill based on each of three hypothetical mechanisms of action: inhibiting ovulation, preventing implantation or disrupting implantation. The questionnaire was distributed among women in Edinburgh, UK, (a) presenting for EC at a community pharmacy, (b) attending a clinic for insertion of intrauterine contraception (IUC) or (c) attending a clinic for an induced abortion. Descriptive analyses stratified women according to healthcare setting and personal characteristics. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to establish factors which may predict acceptability of each EC pill's mechanism of action. Four hundred and nineteen out of 458 (91%) women responded to the survey. Overall, women reported that EC would be acceptable if it worked by inhibiting ovulation (89%), preventing implantation (83%) or disrupting implantation (75%). Among women seeking abortion, more would accept an EC pill which disrupted implantation compared to women seeking IUC (odds ratio, 2.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-3.69; p=.004). Based on multivariable analyses, factors associated with acceptability included previous use of EC, previously holding strong views against abortion and having had a previous abortion. For each of the posited mechanisms of action, a majority of women surveyed would be willing to consider oral EC to prevent unintended pregnancy. The scope of the study was limited, and further work on the views of women in the wider population is needed. This is important as the development of such drugs to prevent pregnancy is likely to raise political and ethical

Youth suicide: an insight into previous hospitalisation for injury and sociodemographic conditions from a nationwide cohort study.

PubMed

Zambon, Francesco; Laflamme, Lucie; Spolaore, Paolo; Visentin, Cristiana; Hasselberg, Marie

2011-06-01

This study investigates the degree to which a previous hospitalisation for injury of any intent is a risk of subsequent youth suicide and whether this association is influenced by family socioeconomic status or economic stress. A nationwide register-based cohort study was conducted covering all Swedish subjects born between January 1977 and December 1991 (N=1,616,342, male/female ratio=1.05). The cohort subjects were followed-up from January 1998 to December 2003, when aged 7-26 years. Poisson regression and the likelihood ratio test (95% CI) were used to assess the age-adjusted effect of hospitalisation for injuries of various intent on youth suicide and its effect once adjusted for family sociodemographic and social circumstances. Each set of exposures was associated independently and significantly with suicide mortality. Being hospitalised for self-inflicted injuries or injuries of undetermined intent was associated with a risk of suicide 36 to 47 times, respectively, that of subjects never hospitalised in the period under study (95% CI 28.36 to 45.58 and 26.67 to 83.87 for self-inflicted injuries and for events of undetermined intent, respectively; overall p<0.01). Similarly, previous events of unintentional injury markedly increased the risk of suicide (RR 3.08; 95% CI 2.26 to 4.19). These effects were solid and not substantially altered after adjustment for family demographic and socioeconomic circumstances. A strong association exists between previous hospitalisation for injury of any intent and youth suicide. The association is robust and unaltered by family socioeconomic circumstances.

An Unlikely Alliance: Re-Examining the Architecture of Affirmative Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graves, Karen

2014-01-01

The "Bakke" decision marked a turning point in higher education. Tested again most recently in "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin," affirmative action policy remains in place even as the Roberts Court shakes its foundation by demanding a degree of administrative oversight not pursued by previous Courts. In spite of…

Neither action nor phonological video games make dyslexic children read better.

PubMed

Łuniewska, Magdalena; Chyl, Katarzyna; Dębska, Agnieszka; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Plewko, Joanna; Szczerbiński, Marcin; Szewczyk, Jakub; Grabowska, Anna; Jednoróg, Katarzyna

2018-01-11

The prevalence and long-term consequences of dyslexia make it crucial to look for effective and efficient ways of its therapy. Action video games (AVG) were implied as a possible remedy for difficulties in reading in Italian and English-speaking children. However, the studies examining the effectiveness of AVG application in dyslexia suffered from significant methodological weaknesses such as small sample sizes and lack of a control group with no intervention. In our study, we tested how two forms of training: based on AVG and on phonological non-action video games (PNAVG), affect reading in a group of fifty-four Polish children with dyslexia. Both speed and accuracy of reading increased in AVG as much as in PNAVG group. Moreover, both groups improved in phonological awareness, selective attention and rapid naming. Critically, the reading progress in the two groups did not differ from a dyslexic control group which did not participate in any training. Thus, the observed improvement in reading in AVG and PNAVG can be attributed either to the normal reading development related to schooling or to test practice effect. Overall, we failed to replicate previous studies: Neither AVG nor PNAVG remedy difficulties in reading in school children.

Learning How to Manage Bias: A Case Study of Youth Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirshner, Ben; Pozzoboni, Kristen; Jones, Hannah

2011-01-01

Youth programs that are organized around intellectually challenging, socially relevant projects create opportunities for deep cognitive engagement. One type of authentic project that deserves attention from applied developmental scientists is youth participatory action research (YPAR), in which participants study a problem relevant to young…

Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Assistive Technology: Action Research Case Study of Reading Supports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindsey, Pam

2012-01-01

This descriptive action research experience with case study procedures examined the use of best practices paired with assistive technologies as interventions to individualize fiction reading instruction for a high-functioning elementary student, JB (pseudonym), diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. JB's instructional, reading goals were to…

Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure, diabetes and endogenous hormones: a cross-sectional study in men previously employed at a capacitor manufacturing plant

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Studies have shown associations of diabetes and endogenous hormones with exposure to a wide variety of organochlorines. We have previously reported positive associations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and inverse associations of selected steroid hormones with diabetes in postmenopausal women previously employed in a capacitor manufacturing plant. Methods This paper examines associations of PCBs with diabetes and endogenous hormones in 63 men previously employed at the same plant who in 1996 underwent surveys of their exposure and medical history and collection of bloods and urine for measurements of PCBs, lipids, liver function, hematologic markers and endogenous hormones. Results PCB exposure was positively associated with diabetes and age and inversely associated with thyroid stimulating hormone and triiodothyronine-uptake. History of diabetes was significantly related to total PCBs and all PCB functional groupings, but not to quarters worked and job score, after control for potential confounders. None of the exposures were related to insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in non-diabetic men. Conclusions Associations of PCBs with specific endogenous hormones differ in some respects from previous findings in postmenopausal women employed at the capacitor plant. Results from this study, however, do confirm previous reports relating PCB exposure to diabetes and suggest that these associations are not mediated by measured endogenous hormones. PMID:22931295

Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure, diabetes and endogenous hormones: a cross-sectional study in men previously employed at a capacitor manufacturing plant.

PubMed

Persky, Victoria; Piorkowski, Julie; Turyk, Mary; Freels, Sally; Chatterton, Robert; Dimos, John; Bradlow, H Leon; Chary, Lin Kaatz; Burse, Virlyn; Unterman, Terry; Sepkovic, Daniel W; McCann, Kenneth

2012-08-29

Studies have shown associations of diabetes and endogenous hormones with exposure to a wide variety of organochlorines. We have previously reported positive associations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and inverse associations of selected steroid hormones with diabetes in postmenopausal women previously employed in a capacitor manufacturing plant. This paper examines associations of PCBs with diabetes and endogenous hormones in 63 men previously employed at the same plant who in 1996 underwent surveys of their exposure and medical history and collection of bloods and urine for measurements of PCBs, lipids, liver function, hematologic markers and endogenous hormones. PCB exposure was positively associated with diabetes and age and inversely associated with thyroid stimulating hormone and triiodothyronine-uptake. History of diabetes was significantly related to total PCBs and all PCB functional groupings, but not to quarters worked and job score, after control for potential confounders. None of the exposures were related to insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in non-diabetic men. Associations of PCBs with specific endogenous hormones differ in some respects from previous findings in postmenopausal women employed at the capacitor plant. Results from this study, however, do confirm previous reports relating PCB exposure to diabetes and suggest that these associations are not mediated by measured endogenous hormones.

Corrective Action Decision Document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 97: Yucca Flat/Climax Mine Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 1

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

Farnham, Irene

This corrective action decision document (CADD)/corrective action plan (CAP) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 97, Yucca Flat/Climax Mine, Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), Nevada. The Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU is located in the northeastern portion of the NNSS and comprises 720 corrective action sites. A total of 747 underground nuclear detonations took place within this CAU between 1957 and 1992 and resulted in the release of radionuclides (RNs) in the subsurface in the vicinity of the test cavities. The CADD portion describes the Yucca Flat/Climax Mine CAU data-collection and modeling activities completed during the corrective action investigationmore » (CAI) stage, presents the corrective action objectives, and describes the actions recommended to meet the objectives. The CAP portion describes the corrective action implementation plan. The CAP presents CAU regulatory boundary objectives and initial use-restriction boundaries identified and negotiated by DOE and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP). The CAP also presents the model evaluation process designed to build confidence that the groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling results can be used for the regulatory decisions required for CAU closure. The UGTA strategy assumes that active remediation of subsurface RN contamination is not feasible with current technology. As a result, the corrective action is based on a combination of characterization and modeling studies, monitoring, and institutional controls. The strategy is implemented through a four-stage approach that comprises the following: (1) corrective action investigation plan (CAIP), (2) CAI, (3) CADD/CAP, and (4) closure report (CR) stages.« less