Comparative Actions of Barbiturates Studied by Pollen Grain Germination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kordan, Herbert A.; Mumford, Pauline M.

1979-01-01

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

Dynamic Modulation of Human Motor Activity When Observing Actions

PubMed Central

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

2012-01-01

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

Studying action representation in children via motor imagery.

PubMed

Gabbard, Carl

2009-12-01

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 predictions (estimates) about the mapping of the self to parameters of the external world; processes that enable successful planning and execution of action. The ability to mentally represent action is important to the development of motor control. This paper presents a critical review of motor imagery research conducted with children (typically developing and special populations) with focus on its merits and possible shortcomings in studying action representation. Included in the review are age-related findings, possible brain structures involved, experimental paradigms, and recommendations for future work. The merits of this review are associated with the apparent increasing attraction for using and studying motor imagery to understand the developmental aspects of action processing in children.

Beginning and Becoming: Hannah Arendt's Theory of Action and Action Research in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Carrie

2014-01-01

This paper demonstrates the importance and implications of Hannah Arendt's theory of action for action research. Using examples from my teaching experience I demonstrate the relevance of her ideas in understanding the purpose and aims of action research in the classroom.

Memory for actions in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Wojcik, D Z; Allen, R J; Brown, C; Souchay, C

2011-08-01

This study explored how memory for actions in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children might benefit from self-performance and experimenter demonstration, and whether these groups possess metamemory knowledge of their performance levels in this task. Children with autism were less accurate on the action memory task when they carried out each action themselves during encoding, or when no actions were implemented during this phase, but this difference was abolished when the experimenter demonstrated each action during encoding. Despite clear difficulties in the self-performed condition relative to typical children, the group with ASD also showed a beneficial effect of performing the actions themselves during instruction. Finally, children with autism were as accurate as typical children in judging the accuracy of their own memory performance, indicating an absence of metamemory difficulties for this task.

Subliminal action priming modulates the perceived intensity of sensory action consequences☆

PubMed Central

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

2014-01-01

The sense of control over the consequences of one’s actions depends on predictions about these consequences. According to an influential computational model, consistency between predicted and observed action consequences attenuates perceived stimulus intensity, which might provide a marker of agentic control. An important assumption of this model is that these predictions are generated within the motor system. However, previous studies of sensory attenuation have typically confounded motor-specific perceptual modulation with perceptual effects of stimulus predictability that are not specific to motor action. As a result, these studies cannot unambiguously attribute sensory attenuation to a motor locus. We present a psychophysical experiment on auditory attenuation that avoids this pitfall. Subliminal masked priming of motor actions with compatible prime–target pairs has previously been shown to modulate both reaction times and the explicit feeling of control over action consequences. Here, we demonstrate reduced perceived loudness of tones caused by compatibly primed actions. Importantly, this modulation results from a manipulation of motor processing and is not confounded by stimulus predictability. We discuss our results with respect to theoretical models of the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation and subliminal motor priming. PMID:24333539

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…

Demonstrating and Evaluating an Action Learning Approach to Building Project Management Competence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kotnour, Tim; Starr, Stan; Steinrock, T. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This paper contributes a description of an action-learning approach to building project management competence. This approach was designed, implemented, and evaluated for use with the Dynacs Engineering Development Contract at the Kennedy Space Center. The aim of the approach was to improve three levels of competence within the organization: individual project management skills, project team performance. and organizational capabilities such as the project management process and tools. The overall steps to the approach, evaluation results, and lessons learned are presented. Managers can use this paper to design a specific action-learning approach for their organization.

Subliminal action priming modulates the perceived intensity of sensory action consequences.

PubMed

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

2014-02-01

The sense of control over the consequences of one's actions depends on predictions about these consequences. According to an influential computational model, consistency between predicted and observed action consequences attenuates perceived stimulus intensity, which might provide a marker of agentic control. An important assumption of this model is that these predictions are generated within the motor system. However, previous studies of sensory attenuation have typically confounded motor-specific perceptual modulation with perceptual effects of stimulus predictability that are not specific to motor action. As a result, these studies cannot unambiguously attribute sensory attenuation to a motor locus. We present a psychophysical experiment on auditory attenuation that avoids this pitfall. Subliminal masked priming of motor actions with compatible prime-target pairs has previously been shown to modulate both reaction times and the explicit feeling of control over action consequences. Here, we demonstrate reduced perceived loudness of tones caused by compatibly primed actions. Importantly, this modulation results from a manipulation of motor processing and is not confounded by stimulus predictability. We discuss our results with respect to theoretical models of the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation and subliminal motor priming. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Industrial Fuel Gas Demonstration Plant Program. Volume 1. Demonstration plant environmental analysis (Deliverable No. 27)

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

Gray, Robert W.; Swift, Richard J.; Krause, Arthur J.

1979-08-01

This environmental report describes the proposed action to construct, test and operate a coal gasification demonstration plant in Memphis, Tennessee, under the co-sponsorship of the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division (MLGW) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). This document is Volume I of a three-volume Environmental Report. Volume I consists of the Summary, Introduction and the Description of the Proposed Action. Volume II consists of the Description of the Existing Environment. Volume III contains the Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action, Mitigating Measures and Alternatives to the Proposed Action.

Action-State Orientation and the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Study of Job Search in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Zhaoli; Wanberg, Connie; Niu, Xiongying; Xie, Yizhong

2006-01-01

Job search is an important element of people's careers and is especially critical for unemployed individuals. The current study surveyed a sample of 328 unemployed job seekers in China to test hypotheses related to the theory of planned behavior and action-state orientation theory. Results of the three-wave longitudinal study demonstrated that the…

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.

Action learning across the decades.

PubMed

Eason, Ken

2017-05-02

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

Over-imitation is not automatic: context sensitivity in children's overimitation and action interpretation of causally irrelevant actions.

PubMed

Keupp, Stefanie; Behne, Tanya; Zachow, Joanna; Kasbohm, Alina; Rakoczy, Hannes

2015-02-01

Recent research has documented the robust tendency of children to "over-imitate," that is, to copy causally irrelevant action elements in goal-directed action sequences. Different explanations for over-imitation have been proposed. Causal accounts claim that children mistakenly perceive such action elements as causally relevant and, therefore, imitate them. Affiliation accounts claim that children over-imitate to affiliate with the model. Normative accounts claim that children conceive of causally irrelevant actions as essential parts of an overarching conventional activity. These different accounts generally hold the same predictions regarding children's imitative response. However, it is possible to distinguish between them when one considers additional parameters. The normative account predicts wide-ranging flexibility with regard to action interpretation and the occurrence of over-imitation. First, it predicts spontaneous protest against norm violators who omit the causally irrelevant actions. Second, children should perform the causally irrelevant actions less frequently, and criticize others less frequently for omitting them, when the actions take place in a different context from the one of the initial demonstration. Such flexibility is not predicted by causal accounts and is predicted for only a limited range of contexts by affiliation accounts. Study 1 investigated children's own imitative response and found less over-imitation when children acted in a different context from when they acted in the same context as the initial demonstration. In Study 2, children criticized a puppet less frequently for omitting irrelevant actions when the puppet acted in a different context. The results support the notion that over-imitation is not an automatic and inflexible phenomenon. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

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.

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.

Civil Society, Adult Learning and Action in India.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tandon, Rajesh

2000-01-01

Five case studies of individual and collective learning projects in India demonstrate that (1) the impetus for civic action arises from local conditions; (2) transformative action requires sustained adult learning; and (3) civil society is a complex concept reflecting diverse priorities and perspectives. (SK)

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

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.

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...

Preferential Affirmative Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Derrick A., Jr.

1982-01-01

Discusses the philosophical rationale for preferential affirmative action presented by Daniel C. Maguire in "A New American Justice." Maintains that self-interest bars present society's acceptance of Maguire's theories of justice, as demonstrated in negative reactions to the Harvard Law Review's affirmative action plan. (MJL)

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

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

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…

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2014-01-01

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

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.

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…

Relational information processing of novel unrelated actions by infants.

PubMed

Knopf, Monika; Kraus, Uta; Kressley-Mba, Regina A

2006-01-01

Declarative memory in infants is often assessed via deferred imitation. Not much is known about the information processing basis of the memory effect found in these experiments. While in the typical deferred imitation study the order of actions remains the same during demonstration and retrieval, in two experiments with n=30 respective n=25, 10- and 11-month-old infants, the order of novel unrelated actions in demonstration and retrieval was varied (same, reversed, mixed). This allowed a separation of item-specific from item-relational information processing. In both experiments best memory performance was found when the order of target actions remained the same during encoding and recall, demonstrating that infants seem to rely on item-specific as well as item-relational information which has to be ad hoc constructed while encoding.

Everyday action in schizophrenia: performance patterns and underlying cognitive mechanisms.

PubMed

Kessler, Rachel K; Giovannetti, Tania; MacMullen, Laura R

2007-07-01

Everyday action is impaired among individuals with schizophrenia, yet few studies have characterized the nature of this deficit using performance-based measures. This study examined the performance of 20 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder on the Naturalistic Action Test (M. F. Schwartz, L. J. Buxbaum, M. Ferraro, T. Veramonti, & M. Segal, 2003). Performance was coded to examine overall impairment, task accomplishment, and error patterns and was compared with that of healthy controls (n = 28) and individuals with mild dementia (n = 23). Additionally, 2 competing accounts of everyday action deficits, the resource theory and an executive account, were evaluated. When compared with controls, the participants with schizophrenia demonstrated impaired performance. Relative to dementia patients, participants with schizophrenia obtained higher accomplishment scores but committed comparable rates of errors. Moreover, distributions of error types for the 2 groups differed, with the participants with schizophrenia demonstrating greater proportions of errors associated with executive dysfunction. This is the 1st study to show different Naturalistic Action Test performance patterns between 2 neurologically impaired populations. The distinct performance pattern demonstrated by individuals with schizophrenia reflects specific deficits in executive function.

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…

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.

Advanced system demonstration for utilization of biomass as an energy source. Technical Appendix J: alternatives studies. Environmental report

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

McCollom, M.

1979-01-01

A comprehensive review of a wide range of alternatives to the proposed action, the commercial demonstration of an industrial cogenerating facility fired with wood fuels is provided. An extensive effort has been devoted to the evaluation of all reasonable alternatives to this project. A number of possible actions were also briefly considered, but, for various reasons, they were found not to be appropriate at present for a commercial-scale demonstration of an alternative energy source. The critical characteristics of the wood-fueled commercial demonstration project at Westbrook are considered to be: industrial cogeneration of power; the production of 510,000 pounds per hourmore » of industrial process steam; the production of approximately twenty-five megawatts of electric generating capacity, some of which would be available to a public utility in southern Maine; and the consumption of 2,000 tons of wood fuel per day. Each of the alternatives examined in this appendix offers a different option for one or several of the characteristics of the project listed above. As a whole, the appendix describes the range of possible actions that the US Department of Energy and its contractors have considered.« less

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…

THE NET IMPACT OF THE CARDOZA AREA DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM, 1964-1965. FIRST YEAR REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FISHMAN, JACOB R.; JONES, ROY J.

A 1ST-YEAR REPORT OF AN EVALUATION STUDY OF ACTION AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS FOR DELINQUENCY PREVENTION AMONG URBAN GHETTO YOUTH IS PRESENTED. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE NET EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERVENTION EFFORTS OF WASHINGTON ACTION FOR YOUTH IN A SCHOOL DISTRICT WITH A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF LOW-INCOME NEGRO YOUTH. THE…

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

The impact of testimony on children's moralization of novel actions.

PubMed

Rottman, Joshua; Young, Liane; Kelemen, Deborah

2017-08-01

What leads children to moralize actions that cause no apparent harm? We hypothesized that adults' verbal instruction ("testimony"), as well as emotions such as disgust, would influence children's moralization of apparently harmless actions. To test this hypothesis, 7-year-old children were asked to render moral judgments of novel, seemingly victimless, body-directed or nature-directed actions after being exposed to adults' testimony or to an emotional induction. Study 1 demonstrated that children became more likely to judge actions as "wrong" upon being verbally presented with testimony about disgust or anger-but not upon being directly induced to feel disgusted. Study 2 established that principle-based testimony is an even more powerful source of moralization, and additionally found long-term retention of newly formed moral beliefs. These studies also indicated that children frequently lack introspective insight into the sources of their newly acquired moral reactions; they often invoked welfare-based concerns in their explanations regardless of experimental condition. In sum, this research demonstrates that children rapidly and enduringly moralize entirely unfamiliar, apparently innocuous actions upon exposure to a diverse array of morally relevant testimony. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Specific Features of the Response of Cerium to Pulsed Actions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atroshenko, S. A.; Zubareva, A. N.; Morozov, V. A.; Savenkov, G. G.; Utkin, A. V.

2018-02-01

Experimental studies of cerium at high rates and nanosecond durations of action have been performed. The isomorphic phase transition was studied upon shock compression. The spall strength of cerium has been determined. Cerium demonstrates anomalous compressibility upon dynamic loading. Stress waves dampen under action of a high-current electron beam due to the energy dissipation during fragmentation and twinning.

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…

Action Recognition Using Nonnegative Action Component Representation and Sparse Basis Selection.

PubMed

Wang, Haoran; Yuan, Chunfeng; Hu, Weiming; Ling, Haibin; Yang, Wankou; Sun, Changyin

2014-02-01

In this paper, we propose using high-level action units to represent human actions in videos and, based on such units, a novel sparse model is developed for human action recognition. There are three interconnected components in our approach. First, we propose a new context-aware spatial-temporal descriptor, named locally weighted word context, to improve the discriminability of the traditionally used local spatial-temporal descriptors. Second, from the statistics of the context-aware descriptors, we learn action units using the graph regularized nonnegative matrix factorization, which leads to a part-based representation and encodes the geometrical information. These units effectively bridge the semantic gap in action recognition. Third, we propose a sparse model based on a joint l2,1-norm to preserve the representative items and suppress noise in the action units. Intuitively, when learning the dictionary for action representation, the sparse model captures the fact that actions from the same class share similar units. The proposed approach is evaluated on several publicly available data sets. The experimental results and analysis clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Action anticipation in human infants reveals assumptions about anteroposterior body-structure and action.

PubMed

Hernik, Mikolaj; Fearon, Pasco; Csibra, Gergely

2014-04-22

Animal actions are almost universally constrained by the bilateral body-plan. For example, the direction of travel tends to be constrained by the orientation of the animal's anteroposterior axis. Hence, an animal's behaviour can reliably guide the identification of its front and back, and its orientation can reliably guide action prediction. We examine the hypothesis that the evolutionarily ancient relation between anteroposterior body-structure and behaviour guides our cognitive processing of agents and their actions. In a series of studies, we demonstrate that, after limited exposure, human infants as young as six months of age spontaneously encode a novel agent as having a certain axial direction with respect to its actions and rely on it when anticipating the agent's further behaviour. We found that such encoding is restricted to objects exhibiting cues of agency and does not depend on generalization from features of familiar animals. Our research offers a new tool for investigating the perception of animate agency and supports the proposal that the underlying cognitive mechanisms have been shaped by basic biological adaptations in humans.

Assessment as Action Research: Bridging Academic Scholarship and Everyday Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malenfant, Kara J.; Hinchliffe, Lisa Janicke; Gilchrist, Debra

2016-01-01

This introductory essay to this special issue demonstrates that action research has a vital role in evidence-informed practice in academic libraries. This special issue of "College and Research Libraries" ("C&RL") proudly features a selection of action research studies by participants of the Association of College and…

Encoding of human action in Broca's area.

PubMed

Fazio, Patrik; Cantagallo, Anna; Craighero, Laila; D'Ausilio, Alessandro; Roy, Alice C; Pozzo, Thierry; Calzolari, Ferdinando; Granieri, Enrico; Fadiga, Luciano

2009-07-01

Broca's area has been considered, for over a century, as the brain centre responsible for speech production. Modern neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence have suggested a wider functional role is played by this area. In addition to the evidence that it is involved in syntactical analysis, mathematical calculation and music processing, it has recently been shown that Broca's area may play some role in language comprehension and, more generally, in understanding actions of other individuals. As shown by functional magnetic resonance imaging, Broca's area is one of the cortical areas activated by hand/mouth action observation and it has been proposed that it may form a crucial node of a human mirror-neuron system. If, on the one hand, neuroimaging studies use a correlational approach which cannot offer a final proof for such claims, available neuropsychological data fail to offer a conclusive demonstration for two main reasons: (i) they use tasks taxing both language and action systems; and (ii) they rarely consider the possibility that Broca's aphasics may also be affected by some form of apraxia. We administered a novel action comprehension test--with almost no linguistic requirements--on selected frontal aphasic patients lacking apraxic symptoms. Patients, as well as matched controls, were shown short movies of human actions or of physical events. Their task consisted of ordering, in a temporal sequence, four pictures taken from each movie and randomly presented on the computer screen. Patient's performance showed a specific dissociation in their ability to re-order pictures of human actions (impaired) with respect to physical events (spared). Our study provides a demonstration that frontal aphasics, not affected by apraxia, are specifically impaired in their capability to correctly encode observed human actions.

49 CFR 385.105 - Expedited action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

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

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

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.

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

Predictability of action sub-steps modulates motor system activation during the observation of goal-directed actions.

PubMed

Braukmann, Ricarda; Bekkering, Harold; Hidding, Margreeth; Poljac, Edita; Buitelaar, Jan K; Hunnius, Sabine

2017-08-01

Action perception and execution are linked in the human motor system, and researchers have proposed that this action-observation matching system underlies our ability to predict observed behavior. If the motor system is indeed involved in the generation of action predictions, activation should be modulated by the degree of predictability of an observed action. This study used EEG and eye-tracking to investigate whether and how predictability of an observed action modulates motor system activation as well as behavioral predictions in the form of anticipatory eye-movements. Participants were presented with object-directed actions (e.g., making a cup of tea) consisting of three action steps which increased in their predictability. While the goal of the first step was ambiguous (e.g., when making tea, one can first grab the teabag or the cup), the goals of the following steps became predictable over the course of the action. Motor system activation was assessed by measuring attenuation of sensorimotor mu- and beta-oscillations. We found that mu- and beta-power were attenuated during observation, indicating general activation of the motor system. Importantly, predictive motor system activation, indexed by beta-band attenuation, increased for each action step, showing strongest activation prior to the final (i.e. most predictable) step. Sensorimotor activity was related to participants' predictive eye-movements which also showed a modulation by action step. Our results demonstrate that motor system activity and behavioral predictions become stronger for more predictable action steps. The functional roles of sensorimotor oscillations in predicting other's actions are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Transient stimulation of distinct subpopulations of striatal neurons mimics changes in action value

PubMed Central

Tai, Lung-Hao; Lee, A. Moses; Benavidez, Nora; Bonci, Antonello; Wilbrecht, Linda

2012-01-01

In changing environments animals must adaptively select actions to achieve their goals. In tasks involving goal-directed action selection, striatal neural activity has been shown to represent the value of competing actions. Striatal representations of action value could potentially bias responses toward actions of higher value. However, no study to date has demonstrated the direct impact of distinct striatal pathways in goal-directed action selection. Here we show in mice that transient optogenetic stimulation of dorsal striatal dopamine D1 and D2 receptor-expressing neurons during decision-making introduces opposing biases in the distribution of choices. The effect of stimulation on choice is dependent on recent reward history and mimics an additive change in the action value. While stimulation prior to and during movement initiation produces a robust bias in choice behavior, this bias is significantly diminished when stimulation is delayed after response initiation. Together, our data demonstrate the role of striatal activity in goal-directed action selection. PMID:22902719

Improving multi-tasking ability through action videogames.

PubMed

Chiappe, Dan; Conger, Mark; Liao, Janet; Caldwell, J Lynn; Vu, Kim-Phuong L

2013-03-01

The present study examined whether action videogames can improve multi-tasking in high workload environments. Two groups with no action videogame experience were pre-tested using the Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB). It consists of two primary tasks; tracking and fuel management, and two secondary tasks; systems monitoring and communication. One group served as a control group, while a second played action videogames a minimum of 5 h a week for 10 weeks. Both groups returned for a post-assessment on the MATB. We found the videogame treatment enhanced performance on secondary tasks, without interfering with the primary tasks. Our results demonstrate action videogames can increase people's ability to take on additional tasks by increasing attentional capacity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

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…

Using Discrepant Events in Science Demonstrations to Promote Student Engagement in Scientific Investigations: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mancuso, Vincent J.

2010-01-01

Students' scientific investigations have been identified in national standards and related reform documents as a critical component of students' learning experiences in school, yet it is not easy to implement them in science classrooms. Could science demonstrations help science teachers put this recommendation into practice? While demonstrations…

California: A Case Study in the Loss of Affirmative Action. A Policy Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gandara, Patricia

2012-01-01

This paper briefly reviews the various efforts undertaken by the University of California to maintain diversity in the institution, and especially at its highly competitive flagship campuses, UCLA and Berkeley, in the face of the loss of affirmative action during the mid-1990s. It demonstrates the continuing decline in representation of…

Distinctive laterality of neural networks supporting action understanding in left- and right-handed individuals: An EEG coherence study.

PubMed

Kelly, Rachel; Mizelle, J C; Wheaton, Lewis A

2015-08-01

Prior work has demonstrated that perspective and handedness of observed actions can affect action understanding differently in right and left-handed persons, suggesting potential differences in the neural networks underlying action understanding between right and left-handed individuals. We sought to evaluate potential differences in these neural networks using electroencephalography (EEG). Right- and left-handed participants observed images of tool-use actions from egocentric and allocentric perspectives, with right- and left-handed actors performing the actions. Participants judged the outcome of the observed actions, and response accuracy and latency were recorded. Behaviorally, the highest accuracy and shortest latency was found in the egocentric perspective for right- and left-handed observers. Handedness of subject showed an effect on accuracy and latency also, where right-handed observers were faster to respond than left-handed observers, but on average were less accurate. Mu band (8-10 Hz) cortico-cortical coherence analysis indicated that right-handed observers have coherence in the motor dominant left parietal-premotor networks when looking at an egocentric right or allocentric left hands. When looking in an egocentric perspective at a left hand or allocentric right hand, coherence was lateralized to right parietal-premotor areas. In left-handed observers, bilateral parietal-premotor coherence patterns were observed regardless of actor handedness. These findings suggest that the cortical networks involved in understanding action outcomes are dependent on hand dominance, and notably right handed participants seem to utilize motor systems based on the limb seen performing the action. The decreased accuracy for right-handed participants on allocentric images could be due to asymmetrical lateralization of encoding action and motoric dominance, which may interfere with translating allocentric limb action outcomes. Further neurophysiological studies will

Cultural variation in the focus on goals versus processes of actions.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Yuri; Knoepfler, Christopher A; Ishii, Keiko; Ji, Li-Jun

2013-06-01

Everyday actions (e.g., riding a bike) can be described in ways that emphasize either the goals of the action by adapting a higher level identification (e.g., getting exercise) or the processes of the action by adapting a lower level identification (e.g., pedaling). In Studies 1 and 2, we demonstrate cultural differences in focusing on the process or goal of actions at the individual level: Americans are more likely than Japanese to focus on the goal (rather than the process) of actions. Study 3 recruited Chinese participants in addition to American and Japanese participants and found that cultural differences in action identification are partly explained by cultural differences in self-consistency. Study 4 further showed cultural differences at the collective level: American media presents more goal-oriented information and less process-oriented information than does Japanese media. These findings highlight the role of culture in shaping how people attend to different aspects of actions.

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

The effect of action video game experience on task-switching

PubMed Central

Green, C.Shawn; Sugarman, Michael A.; Medford, Katherine; Klobusicky, Elizabeth; Daphne Bavelier

2012-01-01

There is now a substantial body of work demonstrating that action video game experience results in enhancements in a wide variety of perceptual skills. More recently, several groups have also demonstrated improvements in abilities that are more cognitive in nature, in particular, the ability to efficiently switch between tasks. In a series of four experiments, we add to this body of work, demonstrating that the action video game player advantage is not exclusively due to an ability to map manual responses onto arbitrary buttons, but rather generalizes to vocal responses, is not restricted to tasks that are perceptual in nature (e.g. respond to a physical dimension of the stimulus such as its color), but generalizes to more cognitive tasks (e.g. is a number odd or even), and is present whether the switch requires a goal-switch or only a motor switch. Finally, a training study establishes that the relationship between the reduction in switch cost and action game playing is causal. PMID:22393270

Understanding communicative actions: a repetitive TMS study.

PubMed

Stolk, Arjen; Noordzij, Matthijs L; Volman, Inge; Verhagen, Lennart; Overeem, Sebastiaan; van Elswijk, Gijs; Bloem, Bas; Hagoort, Peter; Toni, Ivan

2014-02-01

Despite the ambiguity inherent in human communication, people are remarkably efficient in establishing mutual understanding. Studying how people communicate in novel settings provides a window into the mechanisms supporting the human competence to rapidly generate and understand novel shared symbols, a fundamental property of human communication. Previous work indicates that the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is involved when people understand the intended meaning of novel communicative actions. Here, we set out to test whether normal functioning of this cerebral structure is required for understanding novel communicative actions using inhibitory low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). A factorial experimental design contrasted two tightly matched stimulation sites (right pSTS vs left MT+, i.e., a contiguous homotopic task-relevant region) and tasks (a communicative task vs a visual tracking task that used the same sequences of stimuli). Overall task performance was not affected by rTMS, whereas changes in task performance over time were disrupted according to TMS site and task combinations. Namely, rTMS over pSTS led to a diminished ability to improve action understanding on the basis of recent communicative history, while rTMS over MT+ perturbed improvement in visual tracking over trials. These findings qualify the contributions of the right pSTS to human communicative abilities, showing that this region might be necessary for incorporating previous knowledge, accumulated during interactions with a communicative partner, to constrain the inferential process that leads to action understanding. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Effects of Formal Corrective Feedback on Off-Task/On-Task Behavior of Mild Intellectually Disabled Students: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, Kevin

2016-01-01

The off-task behavior demonstrated by the study participants appears to interfere with classroom instruction, contribute to poor academic performance and in many instances lead to disciplinary actions such as suspension. The purpose of the study entailed determining if formal corrective feedback has an effect on the off-task/on-task behavior of…

Embodied Action Improves Cognition in Children: Evidence from a Study Based on Piagetian Conservation Tasks.

PubMed

Lozada, Mariana; Carro, Natalia

2016-01-01

Converging evidence highlights the relevance of embodied cognition in learning processes. In this study we evaluate whether embodied action (enaction) improves cognitive understanding in children. Using the Piagetian conservation tasks in 6-7 year olds, we analyzed quantity conservation conceptualization in children who were active participants in the transformation process and compared these results to those of children who were mere observers of an adult's demonstration (as traditionally conducted). The investigation was performed with 105 first-graders. Conservation tasks were demonstrated to half the children, while the other half actively carried out the transformation of matter. Our findings showed that active manipulation of the material helped children recognize quantity invariance in a higher proportion than when the demonstration was only observed. That is, their enactive experience enabled them to comprehend conservation phenomena more easily than if they were merely passive observers. The outcome of this research thus emphasizes how active participation benefits cognitive processes in learning contexts, promoting autonomy, and agency during childhood.

Embodied Action Improves Cognition in Children: Evidence from a Study Based on Piagetian Conservation Tasks

PubMed Central

Lozada, Mariana; Carro, Natalia

2016-01-01

Converging evidence highlights the relevance of embodied cognition in learning processes. In this study we evaluate whether embodied action (enaction) improves cognitive understanding in children. Using the Piagetian conservation tasks in 6–7 year olds, we analyzed quantity conservation conceptualization in children who were active participants in the transformation process and compared these results to those of children who were mere observers of an adult's demonstration (as traditionally conducted). The investigation was performed with 105 first-graders. Conservation tasks were demonstrated to half the children, while the other half actively carried out the transformation of matter. Our findings showed that active manipulation of the material helped children recognize quantity invariance in a higher proportion than when the demonstration was only observed. That is, their enactive experience enabled them to comprehend conservation phenomena more easily than if they were merely passive observers. The outcome of this research thus emphasizes how active participation benefits cognitive processes in learning contexts, promoting autonomy, and agency during childhood. PMID:27047420

Designing and Implementing Collaborative Improvement in the Extended Manufacturing Enterprise: Action Learning and Action Research (ALAR) in CO-IMPROVE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David; Coughlan, Paul

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a design and implementation framework for ALAR (action learning action research) programme which aims to address collaborative improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. Design/methodology/approach: This article demonstrates the design of a programme in which action learning and action…

Beyond Event Segmentation: Spatial- and Social-Cognitive Processes in Verb-to-Action Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friend, Margaret; Pace, Amy

2011-01-01

The present article investigates spatial- and social-cognitive processes in toddlers' mapping of concepts to real-world events. In 2 studies we explore how event segmentation might lay the groundwork for extracting actions from the event stream and conceptually mapping novel verbs to these actions. In Study 1, toddlers demonstrated the ability to…

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.

Literate Bodies: Multigenerational Participatory Action Research and Embodied Methodologies as Critical Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Madeline

2012-01-01

The recent study Polling for Justice (PFJ) used a multigenerational participatory action research approach with embodied methodologies to document youth experiences of education, criminal justice, and public health in New York City. Through an exploration of the PFJ project, this column demonstrates how participatory action research and embodied…

Fathers Show Modifications of Infant-Directed Action Similar to that of Mothers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutherford, M. D.; Przednowek, Malgorzata

2012-01-01

Mothers' actions are more enthusiastic, simple, and repetitive when demonstrating novel object properties to their infants than to adults, a behavioral modification called "infant-directed action" by Brand and colleagues (2002). The current study tested whether fathers also tailor their behavior when interacting with infants and whether this…

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

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…

A Playbook for Data: Real-Life Scenario Demonstrates Learning Forward's Data Standard in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirsh, Stephanie; Hord, Shirley

2012-01-01

This article is an excerpt from "A Playbook for Professional Learning: Putting the Standards Into Action" (Learning Forward, 2012). Written by Learning Forward Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh and Scholar Laureate Shirley Hord, "A Playbook for Professional Learning" provides those who work in professional learning with readily accessible…

Effective Rotations: Action Effects Determine the Interplay of Mental and Manual Rotations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janczyk, Markus; Pfister, Roland; Crognale, Michael A.; Kunde, Wilfried

2012-01-01

The last decades have seen a growing interest in the impact of action on perception and other concurrent cognitive processes. One particularly interesting example is that manual rotation actions facilitate mental rotations in the same direction. The present study extends this research in two fundamental ways. First, Experiment 1 demonstrates that…

The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner "This" in Upper-Level Student Writing: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rustipa, Katharina

2015-01-01

Demonstrative "this" is worthy to investigate because of the role of "this" as a common cohesive device in academic writing. This study attempted to find out the variables underlying the realization of demonstrative "this" in graduate-student writing of Semarang State University, Indonesia. The data of the study were…

Advanced Demonstration and Test Reactor Options Study

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

Petti, David Andrew; Hill, R.; Gehin, J.

Global efforts to address climate change will require large-scale decarbonization of energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Nuclear power already provides 20% of electricity production in the United States (U.S.) and is increasing in countries undergoing rapid growth around the world. Because reliable, grid-stabilizing, low emission electricity generation, energy security, and energy resource diversity will be increasingly valued, nuclear power’s share of electricity production has a potential to grow. In addition, there are non electricity applications (e.g., process heat, desalination, hydrogen production) that could be better served by advanced nuclear systems. Thus, the timely development, demonstration, and commercializationmore » of advanced nuclear reactors could diversify the nuclear technologies available and offer attractive technology options to expand the impact of nuclear energy for electricity generation and non-electricity missions. The purpose of this planning study is to provide transparent and defensible technology options for a test and/or demonstration reactor(s) to be built to support public policy, innovation and long term commercialization within the context of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) broader commitment to pursuing an “all of the above” clean energy strategy and associated time lines. This planning study includes identification of the key features and timing needed for advanced test or demonstration reactors to support research, development, and technology demonstration leading to the commercialization of power plants built upon these advanced reactor platforms. This planning study is consistent with the Congressional language contained within the fiscal year 2015 appropriation that directed the DOE to conduct a planning study to evaluate “advanced reactor technology options, capabilities, and requirements within the context of national needs and public policy to support innovation in nuclear energy�

The visual analysis of emotional actions.

PubMed

Chouchourelou, Arieta; Matsuka, Toshihiko; Harber, Kent; Shiffrar, Maggie

2006-01-01

Is the visual analysis of human actions modulated by the emotional content of those actions? This question is motivated by a consideration of the neuroanatomical connections between visual and emotional areas. Specifically, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), known to play a critical role in the visual detection of action, is extensively interconnected with the amygdala, a center for emotion processing. To the extent that amygdala activity influences STS activity, one would expect to find systematic differences in the visual detection of emotional actions. A series of psychophysical studies tested this prediction. Experiment 1 identified point-light walker movies that convincingly depicted five different emotional states: happiness, sadness, neutral, anger, and fear. In Experiment 2, participants performed a walker detection task with these movies. Detection performance was systematically modulated by the emotional content of the gaits. Participants demonstrated the greatest visual sensitivity to angry walkers. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that local velocity cues to anger may account for high false alarm rates to the presence of angry gaits. These results support the hypothesis that the visual analysis of human action depends upon emotion processes.

Do as I … Did! Long-term memory of imitative actions in dogs (Canis familiaris).

PubMed

Fugazza, Claudia; Pogány, Ákos; Miklósi, Ádám

2016-03-01

This study demonstrates long-term declarative memory of imitative actions in a non-human animal species. We tested 12 pet dogs for their ability to imitate human actions after retention intervals ranging from 1 to 24 h. For comparison, another 12 dogs were tested for the same actions without delay between demonstration and recall. Our test consisted of a modified version of the Do as I Do paradigm, combined with the two-action procedure to control for non-imitative processes. Imitative performance of dogs remained consistently high independent of increasing retention intervals, supporting the idea that dogs are able to retain mental representations of human actions for an extended period of time. The ability to imitate after such delays supports the use of long-term declarative memory.

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.

The Cognitive Representation of Intending Not to Act: Evidence for Specific Non-Action-Effect Binding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhn, Simone; Brass, Marcel

2010-01-01

The question how we represent voluntary action on a cognitive level has recently become of increasing interest to researchers studying motor control. However, so far it has been neglected how we represent the voluntary omission of an action. In our attempt to investigate the representation of voluntary non-actions we demonstrated binding effects…

Mirroring "meaningful" actions: sensorimotor learning modulates imitation of goal-directed actions.

PubMed

Catmur, Caroline; Heyes, Cecilia

2017-06-19

Imitation is important in the development of social and technological skills throughout the lifespan. Experiments investigating the acquisition and modulation of imitation (and of its proposed neural substrate, the mirror neuron system) have produced evidence that the capacity for imitation depends on associative learning in which connections are formed between sensory and motor representations of actions. However, evidence that the development of imitation depends on associative learning has been found only for non-goal-directed actions. One reason for the lack of research on goal-directed actions is that imitation of such actions is commonly confounded with the tendency to respond in a spatially compatible manner. However, since the most prominent account of mirror neuron function, and hence of imitation, suggests that these cells encode goal-directed actions, it is important to establish whether sensorimotor learning can also modulate imitation of goal-directed actions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that imitation of goal-directed grasping can be measured while controlling for spatial compatibility, and Experiment 2 showed that this imitation effect can be modulated by sensorimotor training. Together these data support the hypothesis that the capacity for behavioural imitation, and the properties of the mirror neuron system, are constructed in the course of development through associative learning.

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

Numerical Affordance Influences Action Execution: A Kinematic Study of Finger Movement

PubMed Central

Rugani, Rosa; Betti, Sonia; Sartori, Luisa

2018-01-01

Humans represent symbolic numbers as oriented from left to right: the mental number line (MNL). Up to now, scientific studies have mainly investigated the MNL by means of response times. However, the existing knowledge on the MNL can be advantaged by studies on motor patterns while responding to a number. Cognitive representations, in fact, cannot be fully understood without considering their impact on actions. Here we investigated whether a motor response can be influenced by number processing. Participants seated in front of a little soccer goal. On each trial they were visually presented with a numerical (2, 5, 8) or a non-numerical ($) stimulus. They were instructed to kick a small ball with their right index toward a frontal soccer goal as soon as a stimulus appeared on a screen. However, they had to refrain from kicking when number five was presented (no-go signal). Our main finding is that performing a kicking action after observation of the larger digit proved to be more efficient: the trajectory path was shorter and lower on the surface, velocity peak was anticipated. The smaller number, instead, specifically altered the temporal and spatial aspects of trajectories, leading to more prolonged left deviations. This is the first experimental demonstration that the reaching component of a movement is influenced by number magnitude. Since this paradigm does not require any verbal skill and non-symbolic stimuli (array of dots) can be used, it could be fruitfully adopted to evaluate number abilities in children and even preschoolers. Notably, this is a self-motivating and engaging task, which might help children to get involved and to reduce potential arousal connected to institutional paper-and-pencil examinations. PMID:29765348

The effects of an action video game on visual and affective information processing.

PubMed

Bailey, Kira; West, Robert

2013-04-04

Playing action video games can have beneficial effects on visuospatial cognition and negative effects on social information processing. However, these two effects have not been demonstrated in the same individuals in a single study. The current study used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the effects of playing an action or non-action video game on the processing of emotion in facial expression. The data revealed that 10h of playing an action or non-action video game had differential effects on the ERPs relative to a no-contact control group. Playing an action game resulted in two effects: one that reflected an increase in the amplitude of the ERPs following training over the right frontal and posterior regions that was similar for angry, happy, and neutral faces; and one that reflected a reduction in the allocation of attention to happy faces. In contrast, playing a non-action game resulted in changes in slow wave activity over the central-parietal and frontal regions that were greater for targets (i.e., angry and happy faces) than for non-targets (i.e., neutral faces). These data demonstrate that the contrasting effects of action video games on visuospatial and emotion processing occur in the same individuals following the same level of gaming experience. This observation leads to the suggestion that caution should be exercised when using action video games to modify visual processing, as this experience could also have unintended effects on emotion processing. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cellular and Molecular Targets of Menthol Actions

PubMed Central

Oz, Murat; El Nebrisi, Eslam G.; Yang, Keun-Hang S.; Howarth, Frank C.; Al Kury, Lina T.

2017-01-01

Menthol belongs to monoterpene class of a structurally diverse group of phytochemicals found in plant-derived essential oils. Menthol is widely used in pharmaceuticals, confectionary, oral hygiene products, pesticides, cosmetics, and as a flavoring agent. In addition, menthol is known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. Recently, there has been renewed awareness in comprehending the biological and pharmacological effects of menthol. TRP channels have been demonstrated to mediate the cooling actions of menthol. There has been new evidence demonstrating that menthol can significantly influence the functional characteristics of a number of different kinds of ligand and voltage-gated ion channels, indicating that at least some of the biological and pharmacological effects of menthol can be mediated by alterations in cellular excitability. In this article, we examine the results of earlier studies on the actions of menthol with voltage and ligand-gated ion channels. PMID:28769802

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.

Robots show us how to teach them: feedback from robots shapes tutoring behavior during action learning.

PubMed

Vollmer, Anna-Lisa; Mühlig, Manuel; Steil, Jochen J; Pitsch, Karola; Fritsch, Jannik; Rohlfing, Katharina J; Wrede, Britta

2014-01-01

Robot learning by imitation requires the detection of a tutor's action demonstration and its relevant parts. Current approaches implicitly assume a unidirectional transfer of knowledge from tutor to learner. The presented work challenges this predominant assumption based on an extensive user study with an autonomously interacting robot. We show that by providing feedback, a robot learner influences the human tutor's movement demonstrations in the process of action learning. We argue that the robot's feedback strongly shapes how tutors signal what is relevant to an action and thus advocate a paradigm shift in robot action learning research toward truly interactive systems learning in and benefiting from interaction.

Robots Show Us How to Teach Them: Feedback from Robots Shapes Tutoring Behavior during Action Learning

PubMed Central

Vollmer, Anna-Lisa; Mühlig, Manuel; Steil, Jochen J.; Pitsch, Karola; Fritsch, Jannik; Rohlfing, Katharina J.; Wrede, Britta

2014-01-01

Robot learning by imitation requires the detection of a tutor's action demonstration and its relevant parts. Current approaches implicitly assume a unidirectional transfer of knowledge from tutor to learner. The presented work challenges this predominant assumption based on an extensive user study with an autonomously interacting robot. We show that by providing feedback, a robot learner influences the human tutor's movement demonstrations in the process of action learning. We argue that the robot's feedback strongly shapes how tutors signal what is relevant to an action and thus advocate a paradigm shift in robot action learning research toward truly interactive systems learning in and benefiting from interaction. PMID:24646510

Experimental realization of dynamo action: present status and prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giesecke, André; Stefani, Frank; Gundrum, Thomas; Gerbeth, Gunter; Nore, Caroline; Léorat, Jacques

2013-07-01

In the last decades, the experimental study of dynamo action has made great progress. However, after the dynamo experiments in Karlsruhe and Riga, the von-Kármán-Sodium (VKS) dynamo is only the third facility that has been able to demonstrate fluid flow driven self-generation of magnetic fields in a laboratory experiment. Further progress in the experimental examination of dynamo action is expected from the planned precession driven dynamo experiment that will be designed in the framework of the liquid sodium facility DRESDYN (DREsden Sodium facility for DYNamo and thermohydraulic studies). In this paper, we briefly present numerical models of the VKS dynamo that demonstrate the close relation between the axisymmetric field observed in that experiment and the soft iron material used for the flow driving impellers. We further show recent results of preparatory water experiments and design studies related to the precession dynamo and delineate the scientific prospects for the final set-up.

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…

Mechanisms of action of an implementation intervention in stroke rehabilitation: a qualitative interview study.

PubMed

Connell, Louise A; McMahon, Naoimh E; Tyson, Sarah F; Watkins, Caroline L; Eng, Janice J

2016-09-30

Despite best evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of increased intensity of exercise after stroke, current levels of therapy continue to be below those required to optimise motor recovery. We developed and tested an implementation intervention that aims to increase arm exercise in stroke rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to illustrate the use of a behaviour change framework, the Behaviour Change Wheel, to identify the mechanisms of action that explain how the intervention produced change. We implemented the intervention at three stroke rehabilitation units in the United Kingdom. A purposive sample of therapy team members were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews to explore their perceptions of how the intervention produced change at their work place. Audio recordings were transcribed and imported into NVivo 10 for content analysis. Two coders separately analysed the transcripts and coded emergent mechanisms. Mechanisms were categorised using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) (an extension of the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour model (COM-B) at the hub of the Behaviour Change Wheel). We identified five main mechanisms of action: 'social/professional role and identity', 'intentions', 'reinforcement', 'behavioural regulation' and 'beliefs about consequences'. At the outset, participants viewed the research team as an external influence for whom they endeavoured to complete the study activities. The study design, with a focus on implementation in real world settings, influenced participants' intentions to implement the intervention components. Monthly meetings between the research and therapy teams were central to the intervention and acted as prompt or reminder to sustain implementation. The phased approach to introducing and implementing intervention components influenced participants' beliefs about the feasibility of implementation. The Behaviour Change Wheel, and in particular the Theoretical Domains Framework

[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 Contribution to Competence Judgments: The Use of the Journey Schema

PubMed Central

Horchak, Oleksandr V.; Giger, Jean-Christophe; Garrido, Margarida V.

2016-01-01

The current research considered the question of how performing an action, or merely preparing the body for action, can have an impact on social judgments related to person perception. Participants were asked to ascribe competence and warmth characteristics to a target person by reading a metaphoric text while their body was manipulated to be prepared for the processing of action-congruent information. In Experiment 1, participants whose forward body action matched the metaphoric action described in the text ascribed more competence characteristics to a politician than did control participants. In Experiment 2, participants whose body was merely prepared for forward movement also ascribed more competence characteristics to a politician than did control participants. In addition, the data from Experiment 2 ruled out an alternative non-embodied explanation (i.e., that effect is due to basic associative processes) grounded in the existing literatures on attitudes by demonstrating that body manipulation had no effect on competence when a non-metaphoric text was used. Finally, no evidence was found that body manipulation affects warmth judgments. These studies converge in demonstrating that forward body movements enhance the favorability of competence judgments when these match the metaphoric forward movements described by text. PMID:27065918

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…

Action Experience Changes Attention to Kinematic Cues

PubMed Central

Filippi, Courtney A.; Woodward, Amanda L.

2016-01-01

The current study used remote corneal reflection eye-tracking to examine the relationship between motor experience and action anticipation in 13-months-old infants. To measure online anticipation of actions infants watched videos where the actor’s hand provided kinematic information (in its orientation) about the type of object that the actor was going to reach for. The actor’s hand orientation either matched the orientation of a rod (congruent cue) or did not match the orientation of the rod (incongruent cue). To examine relations between motor experience and action anticipation, we used a 2 (reach first vs. observe first) × 2 (congruent kinematic cue vs. incongruent kinematic cue) between-subjects design. We show that 13-months-old infants in the observe first condition spontaneously generate rapid online visual predictions to congruent hand orientation cues and do not visually anticipate when presented incongruent cues. We further demonstrate that the speed that these infants generate predictions to congruent motor cues is correlated with their own ability to pre-shape their hands. Finally, we demonstrate that following reaching experience, infants generate rapid predictions to both congruent and incongruent hand shape cues—suggesting that short-term experience changes attention to kinematics. PMID:26913012

Inferences about Action Engage Action Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2008-01-01

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

Statistical learning of action: the role of conditional probability.

PubMed

Meyer, Meredith; Baldwin, Dare

2011-12-01

Identification of distinct units within a continuous flow of human action is fundamental to action processing. Such segmentation may rest in part on statistical learning. In a series of four experiments, we examined what types of statistics people can use to segment a continuous stream involving many brief, goal-directed action elements. The results of Experiment 1 showed no evidence for sensitivity to conditional probability, whereas Experiment 2 displayed learning based on joint probability. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that additional exposure to the input failed to engender sensitivity to conditional probability. However, the results of Experiment 4 showed that a subset of adults-namely, those more successful at identifying actions that had been seen more frequently than comparison sequences-were also successful at learning conditional-probability statistics. These experiments help to clarify the mechanisms subserving processing of intentional action, and they highlight important differences from, as well as similarities to, prior studies of statistical learning in other domains, including language.

Neural substrates of interpreting actions and emotions from body postures.

PubMed

Kana, Rajesh K; Travers, Brittany G

2012-04-01

Accurately reading the body language of others may be vital for navigating the social world, and this ability may be influenced by factors, such as our gender, personality characteristics and neurocognitive processes. This fMRI study examined the brain activation of 26 healthy individuals (14 women and 12 men) while they judged the action performed or the emotion felt by stick figure characters appearing in different postures. In both tasks, participants activated areas associated with visual representation of the body, motion processing and emotion recognition. Behaviorally, participants demonstrated greater ease in judging the physical actions of the characters compared to judging their emotional states, and participants showed more activation in areas associated with emotion processing in the emotion detection task, whereas they showed more activation in visual, spatial and action-related areas in the physical action task. Gender differences emerged in brain responses, such that men showed greater activation than women in the left dorsal premotor cortex in both tasks. Finally, participants higher in self-reported empathy demonstrated greater activation in areas associated with self-referential processing and emotion interpretation. These results suggest that empathy levels and sex of the participant may affect neural responses to emotional body language.

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…

Nursing resistance as ethical action: literature review.

PubMed

Peter, Elizabeth; Lunardi, Valeria Lerch; Macfarlane, Amy

2004-05-01

Much has been written about nursing as a predominantly female profession whose members display passivity, submission, obedience and powerlessness. Alternatively, some authors have presented evidence of nurses' capacity to exercise power, revealing the possible relationship between powerlessness and ethical compromise. Thus, empowerment strategies for nurses can yield ethical action. The aim of this paper is to use analysis of the literature to demonstrate how the actions and responses of nurses to ethical concerns are examples of nurses exercising power. Empirical studies published in the nursing literature between 1990 and 2003 have been analysed to illustrate how nurses' actions of resistance can ensure that moral values are realized in practice. Foucauldian notions of power relations and feminist ethics provide the theoretical framework. Nurses were found to resist in situations where they experienced moral conflicts in relation to the actions of health professionals; however, instances were cited where they did not. Consequently, strategies for nursing education and management are proposed to increase nurses' understanding of the potential acts of resistance that they could employ in situations of moral conflict or concern.

Building a Lego wall: Sequential action selection.

PubMed

Arnold, Amy; Wing, Alan M; Rotshtein, Pia

2017-05-01

The present study draws together two distinct lines of enquiry into the selection and control of sequential action: motor sequence production and action selection in everyday tasks. Participants were asked to build 2 different Lego walls. The walls were designed to have hierarchical structures with shared and dissociated colors and spatial components. Participants built 1 wall at a time, under low and high load cognitive states. Selection times for correctly completed trials were measured using 3-dimensional motion tracking. The paradigm enabled precise measurement of the timing of actions, while using real objects to create an end product. The experiment demonstrated that action selection was slowed at decision boundary points, relative to boundaries where no between-wall decision was required. Decision points also affected selection time prior to the actual selection window. Dual-task conditions increased selection errors. Errors mostly occurred at boundaries between chunks and especially when these required decisions. The data support hierarchical control of sequenced behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Mapping perception to action in piano practice: a longitudinal DC-EEG study

PubMed Central

Bangert, Marc; Altenmüller, Eckart O

2003-01-01

Background Performing music requires fast auditory and motor processing. Regarding professional musicians, recent brain imaging studies have demonstrated that auditory stimulation produces a co-activation of motor areas, whereas silent tapping of musical phrases evokes a co-activation in auditory regions. Whether this is obtained via a specific cerebral relay station is unclear. Furthermore, the time course of plasticity has not yet been addressed. Results Changes in cortical activation patterns (DC-EEG potentials) induced by short (20 minute) and long term (5 week) piano learning were investigated during auditory and motoric tasks. Two beginner groups were trained. The 'map' group was allowed to learn the standard piano key-to-pitch map. For the 'no-map' group, random assignment of keys to tones prevented such a map. Auditory-sensorimotor EEG co-activity occurred within only 20 minutes. The effect was enhanced after 5-week training, contributing elements of both perception and action to the mental representation of the instrument. The 'map' group demonstrated significant additional activity of right anterior regions. Conclusion We conclude that musical training triggers instant plasticity in the cortex, and that right-hemispheric anterior areas provide an audio-motor interface for the mental representation of the keyboard. PMID:14575529

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.

Master of Puppets: An Animation-by-Demonstration Computer Puppetry Authoring Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Yaoyuan; Mousas, Christos

2018-03-01

This paper presents Master of Puppets (MOP), an animation-by-demonstration framework that allows users to control the motion of virtual characters (puppets) in real time. In the first step, the user is asked to perform the necessary actions that correspond to the character's motions. The user's actions are recorded, and a hidden Markov model is used to learn the temporal profile of the actions. During the runtime of the framework, the user controls the motions of the virtual character based on the specified activities. The advantage of the MOP framework is that it recognizes and follows the progress of the user's actions in real time. Based on the forward algorithm, the method predicts the evolution of the user's actions, which corresponds to the evolution of the character's motion. This method treats characters as puppets that can perform only one motion at a time. This means that combinations of motion segments (motion synthesis), as well as the interpolation of individual motion sequences, are not provided as functionalities. By implementing the framework and presenting several computer puppetry scenarios, its efficiency and flexibility in animating virtual characters is demonstrated.

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.

Studying the Greenhouse Effect: A Simple Demonstration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papageorgiou, G.; Ouzounis, K.

2000-01-01

Studies the parameters involved in a presentation of the greenhouse effect and describes a simple demonstration of this effect. Required equipment includes a 100-120 watt lamp, a 250mL beaker, and a thermometer capable of recording 0-750 degrees Celsius together with a small amount of chloroform. (Author/SAH)

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

Visual Feedback Dominates the Sense of Agency for Brain-Machine Actions

PubMed Central

Evans, Nathan; Gale, Steven; Schurger, Aaron; Blanke, Olaf

2015-01-01

Recent advances in neuroscience and engineering have led to the development of technologies that permit the control of external devices through real-time decoding of brain activity (brain-machine interfaces; BMI). Though the feeling of controlling bodily movements (sense of agency; SOA) has been well studied and a number of well-defined sensorimotor and cognitive mechanisms have been put forth, very little is known about the SOA for BMI-actions. Using an on-line BMI, and verifying that our subjects achieved a reasonable level of control, we sought to describe the SOA for BMI-mediated actions. Our results demonstrate that discrepancies between decoded neural activity and its resultant real-time sensory feedback are associated with a decrease in the SOA, similar to SOA mechanisms proposed for bodily actions. However, if the feedback discrepancy serves to correct a poorly controlled BMI-action, then the SOA can be high and can increase with increasing discrepancy, demonstrating the dominance of visual feedback on the SOA. Taken together, our results suggest that bodily and BMI-actions rely on common mechanisms of sensorimotor integration for agency judgments, but that visual feedback dominates the SOA in the absence of overt bodily movements or proprioceptive feedback, however erroneous the visual feedback may be. PMID:26066840

The One that Does, Leads: Action Relations Influence the Perceived Temporal Order of Graspable Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Katherine L.; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2010-01-01

Perception and action are influenced by the "possibilities for action" in the environment. Neuropsychological studies (e.g., Riddoch, Humphreys, Edwards, Baker, & Willson, 2003) have demonstrated that objects that are perceived to be interacting (e.g., a corkscrew going toward the top of a wine bottle) are perceptually integrated…

Prejudice is about politics: a collective action perspective.

PubMed

Drury, John

2012-12-01

In line with Dixon et al.'s argument, I contend that prejudice should be understood in broadly political rather than in narrowly psychological terms. First, what counts as prejudice is a political judgement. Second, studies of collective action demonstrate that it is in "political" struggles, where subordinate groups together oppose dominant groups, that prejudice can be overcome.

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.

Impairments in action-outcome learning in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Morris, Richard W; Cyrzon, Chad; Green, Melissa J; Le Pelley, Mike E; Balleine, Bernard W

2018-03-03

Learning the causal relation between actions and their outcomes (AO learning) is critical for goal-directed behavior when actions are guided by desire for the outcome. This can be contrasted with habits that are acquired by reinforcement and primed by prevailing stimuli, in which causal learning plays no part. Recently, we demonstrated that goal-directed actions are impaired in schizophrenia; however, whether this deficit exists alongside impairments in habit or reinforcement learning is unknown. The present study distinguished deficits in causal learning from reinforcement learning in schizophrenia. We tested people with schizophrenia (SZ, n = 25) and healthy adults (HA, n = 25) in a vending machine task. Participants learned two action-outcome contingencies (e.g., push left to get a chocolate M&M, push right to get a cracker), and they also learned one contingency was degraded by delivery of noncontingent outcomes (e.g., free M&Ms), as well as changes in value by outcome devaluation. Both groups learned the best action to obtain rewards; however, SZ did not distinguish the more causal action when one AO contingency was degraded. Moreover, action selection in SZ was insensitive to changes in outcome value unless feedback was provided, and this was related to the deficit in AO learning. The failure to encode the causal relation between action and outcome in schizophrenia occurred without any apparent deficit in reinforcement learning. This implies that poor goal-directed behavior in schizophrenia cannot be explained by a more primary deficit in reward learning such as insensitivity to reward value or reward prediction errors.

An Ontology for Requesting Distant Robotic Action: A Case Study in Naming and Action Identification for Planning on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wales, Roxana C.; Shalin, Valerie L.; Bass, Deborah S.

2004-01-01

This paper focuses on the development and use of the abbreviated names as well as an emergent ontology associated with making requests for action of a distant robotic rover during the 2003-2004 NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, run by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The infancy of the domain of Martian telerobotic science, in which specialists request work from a rover moving through the landscape, as well as the need to consider the interdisciplinary teams involved in the work required an empirical approach. The formulation of this ontology is grounded in human behavior and work practice. The purpose of this paper is to identify general issues for an ontology of action (specifically for requests for action), while maintaining sensitivity to the users, tools and the work system within a specific technical domain. We found that this ontology of action must take into account a dynamic environment, changing in response to the movement of the rover, changes on the rover itself, as well as be responsive to the purposeful intent of the science requestors. Analysis of MER mission events demonstrates that the work practice and even robotic tool usage changes over time. Therefore, an ontology must adapt and represent both incremental change and revolutionary change, and the ontology can never be more than a partial agreement on the conceptualizations involved. Although examined in a rather unique technical domain, the general issues pertain to the control of any complex, distributed work system as well as the archival record of its accomplishments.

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.

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.

Dynamic nigrostriatal dopamine biases action selection

PubMed Central

Howard, Christopher D.; Li, Hao; Geddes, Claire E.; Jin, Xin

2017-01-01

Summary Dopamine is thought to play a critical role in reinforcement learning and goal-directed behavior, but its function in action selection remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that nigrostriatal dopamine biases ongoing action selection. When mice were trained to dynamically switch the action selected at different time points, changes in firing rate of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons, as well as dopamine signaling in the dorsal striatum, were found to be associated with action selection. This dopamine profile is specific to behavioral choice, scalable with interval duration, and doesn’t reflect reward prediction error, timing, or value as single factors alone. Genetic deletion of NMDA receptors on dopamine or striatal neurons, or optogenetic manipulation of dopamine concentration, alters dopamine signaling and biases action selection. These results unveil a crucial role of nigrostriatal dopamine in integrating diverse information for regulating upcoming actions and have important implications for neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease and substance dependence. PMID:28285820

Dynamic Nigrostriatal Dopamine Biases Action Selection.

PubMed

Howard, Christopher D; Li, Hao; Geddes, Claire E; Jin, Xin

2017-03-22

Dopamine is thought to play a critical role in reinforcement learning and goal-directed behavior, but its function in action selection remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that nigrostriatal dopamine biases ongoing action selection. When mice were trained to dynamically switch the action selected at different time points, changes in firing rate of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons, as well as dopamine signaling in the dorsal striatum, were found to be associated with action selection. This dopamine profile is specific to behavioral choice, scalable with interval duration, and doesn't reflect reward prediction error, timing, or value as single factors alone. Genetic deletion of NMDA receptors on dopamine or striatal neurons or optogenetic manipulation of dopamine concentration alters dopamine signaling and biases action selection. These results unveil a crucial role of nigrostriatal dopamine in integrating diverse information for regulating upcoming actions, and they have important implications for neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease and substance dependence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

Case studies for GSHP demonstration projects in the US

DOE PAGES

Liu, Xiaobing; Malhotra, Mini; Im, Piljae

2015-07-01

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , twenty-six ground source heat pump (GSHP) projects were competitively selected and carried out to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. This article gives an overview of the case studies for six of the systems. These case studies evaluated efficiencies, energy savings, and costs of the demonstrated systems. In addition, it was found that more energy savings could be achieved if controls of GSHP system are improved.

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

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…

Early action on HFCs mitigates future atmospheric change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurwitz, Margaret M.; Fleming, Eric L.; Newman, Paul A.; Li, Feng; Liang, Qing

2016-11-01

As countries take action to mitigate global warming, both by ratifying the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and enacting the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to manage hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), it is important to consider the relative importance of the pertinent greenhouse gases and the distinct structure of their atmospheric impacts, and how the timing of potential greenhouse gas regulations would affect future changes in atmospheric temperature and ozone. HFCs should be explicitly considered in upcoming climate and ozone assessments, since chemistry-climate model simulations demonstrate that HFCs could contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change by the mid-21st century, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere i.e., global average warming up to 0.19 K at 80 hPa. The HFC mitigation scenarios described in this study demonstrate the benefits of taking early action in avoiding future atmospheric change: more than 90% of the climate change impacts of HFCs can be avoided if emissions stop by 2030.

Early Action on Hfcs Mitigates Future Atmospheric Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurwitz, Margaret M.; Fleming, Eric L.; Newman, Paul A.; Li, Feng; Liang, Qing

2016-01-01

As countries take action to mitigate global warming, both by ratifying theUNFCCCParis Agreement and enacting the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to manage hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), it is important to consider the relative importance of the pertinent greenhouse gases and the distinct structure of their atmospheric impacts, and how the timing of potential greenhouse gas regulations would affect future changes in atmospheric temperature and ozone. HFCs should be explicitly considered in upcoming climate and ozone assessments, since chemistry-climate model simulations demonstrate that HFCs could contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change by the mid- 21st century, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere i.e., global average warming up to 0.19 Kat 80 hPa. The HFCmitigation scenarios described in this study demonstrate the benefits of taking early action in avoiding future atmospheric change: more than 90% of the climate change impacts of HFCs can be avoided if emissions stop by 2030.

Electric thermal storage demonstration program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

In early 1989, MMWEC, a joint action agency comprised of 30 municipal light departments in Massachusetts and on affiliate in Rhode Island, responded to a DOE request to proposal for the Least Cost Utility Planning Program. The MMWEC submission was for the development of a program, focused on small rural electric utilities, to promote the use of electric thermal storage heating systems in residential applications. This report discusses the demonstration of ETS equipment at four member light departments.

The meaning of recovery in a regional mental health service: an action research study.

PubMed

Kidd, Susan; Kenny, Amanda; McKinstry, Carol

2015-01-01

To explore the meaning of the term recovery to people with experience providing and receiving mental health services. Internationally, governments have proposed recovery-oriented mental health policy. In practice, people managing mental health difficulties struggle to recover, self-manage, or improve their quality of life. Mental health services increasingly provide acutely focused and poorly coordinated services to people experiencing mental health difficulties, with self-management, wellness and recovery overlooked. A cooperative enquiry, action research design guided the study. Participants were people with experience of mental health difficulties from consumer, carer and clinician perspectives. Data were collected between August 2012-July 2013. Analysis was conducted using an iterative process for the duration of the study. A thematic network was developed that reflected key organizing themes. The overarching theme developed from the participants' group discussions, reflections, actions and observations was recovery as an ongoing quest in life. This global theme was constructed from five organizing themes: 'finding meaning', 'an invisible disability', 'empowerment and agency' 'connection' and 'the passage of time'. Participatory approaches support the inclusion of lived experience perspectives. Structured processes are needed to bring different perspectives together to find solutions, through dialogue, and acknowledge the barriers to participation that people who use mental health services experience. The lack of integration of lived experience perspectives demonstrates forms of discrimination that inhibit consumer participation and prevent the recovery-oriented transformation required in mental health systems. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The perception-action dynamics of action competency are altered by both physical and observational training.

PubMed

Buchanan, John J; Ramos, Jorge; Robson, Nina

2015-04-01

Action competency is defined as the ability of an individual to self-evaluate their own performance capabilities. The current experiment demonstrated that physical and observational training with a motor skill alters action competency ratings in a similar manner. Using a pre-test and post-test protocol, the results revealed that action competency is constrained prior to training by the intrinsic dynamics of relative phase (ϕ), with in-phase (ϕ = 0°) and anti-phase (ϕ = 180°) patterns receiving higher competency ratings than other relative phase patterns. After 2 days of training, action competency ratings for two trained relative phase patterns, +60° and +120°, increased following physical practice or observational practice. A transfer test revealed that both physical performance ability and action competency ability transferred to the symmetry partners (-60° and -120°) of the two trained relative phase patterns following physical or observational training. The findings also revealed that relative motion direction acts as categorical information that helps to organize action production and facilitate action competency. The results are interpreted based on the coordination dynamics theory of perception-action coupling, and extend this theory by showing that visual perception, action production, and action competency are all constrained in a consistent manner by the dynamics of the order parameter relative phase. As a whole, the findings revealed that relative motion, relative phase, and possibly relative amplitude information are all distinct sources of information that contribute to the emergence of a kinematic understanding of action in the nervous system.

Role of cyclophilins in somatolactogenic action.

PubMed

Rycyzyn, M A; Clevenger, C V

2000-01-01

Prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) are members of the somatolactogenic hormone family, the pleiotropic actions of which are necessary for vertebrate growth and mammary differentiation. The basis for the specific function of these hormones has remained uncertain; however, their action is associated with internalization and translocation into the nucleus. A yeast two-hybrid screen identified an interaction between PRL and cyclophilin B (CypB), a peptidyl prolyl isomerase (PPI) found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), extracellular space, and nucleus. The interaction between CypB and PRL/GH was confirmed in vitro and in vivo through the use of recombinant proteins and coimmunoprecipitation studies. The exogenous addition of CypB potentiated the proliferation of PRL- and GH-dependent cell lines 18- and 40-fold, respectively. The potentiation of PRL action by CypB was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the nuclear retrotranslocation of PRL. Immunogold electron microscopy has revealed this retrotransport to occur via a vesicular pathway. A CypB mutant, termed CypB-NT, was generated that lacked the putative wild-type N-terminal nuclear localization sequence. Although CypB-NT demonstrated levels of PRL binding and PPI activity equivalent to wild-type CypB, it was incapable of mediating the nuclear retrotranslocation of PRL or enhancing PRL-driven proliferation. These studies reveal CypB as an important chaperone facilitating the nuclear retrotransport and action of the somatolactogenic hormone family.

40 CFR 257.13 - Deadline for making demonstrations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...-Hazardous Waste Disposal Units Location Restrictions § 257.13 Deadline for making demonstrations. Existing..., 1998, must not accept CESQG hazardous waste for disposal. Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action ... WASTES CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFICATION OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES AND PRACTICES Disposal Standards...

Action observation and mirror neuron network: a tool for motor stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Sale, P; Franceschini, M

2012-06-01

Mirror neurons are a specific class of neurons that are activated and discharge both during observation of the same or similar motor act performed by another individual and during the execution of a motor act. Different studies based on non invasive neuroelectrophysiological assessment or functional brain imaging techniques have demonstrated the presence of the mirror neuron and their mechanism in humans. Various authors have demonstrated that in the human these networks are activated when individuals learn motor actions via execution (as in traditional motor learning), imitation, observation (as in observational learning) and motor imagery. Activation of these brain areas (inferior parietal lobe and the ventral premotor cortex, as well as the caudal part of the inferior frontal gyrus [IFG]) following observation or motor imagery may thereby facilitate subsequent movement execution by directly matching the observed or imagined action to the internal simulation of that action. It is therefore believed that this multi-sensory action-observation system enables individuals to (re) learn impaired motor functions through the activation of these internal action-related representations. In humans, the mirror mechanism is also located in various brain segment: in Broca's area, which is involved in language processing and speech production and not only in centres that mediate voluntary movement, but also in cortical areas that mediate visceromotor emotion-related behaviours. On basis of this finding, during the last 10 years various studies were carry out regarding the clinical use of action observation for motor rehabilitation of sub-acute and chronic stroke patients.

Neural substrates of interpreting actions and emotions from body postures

PubMed Central

Travers, Brittany G.

2012-01-01

Accurately reading the body language of others may be vital for navigating the social world, and this ability may be influenced by factors, such as our gender, personality characteristics and neurocognitive processes. This fMRI study examined the brain activation of 26 healthy individuals (14 women and 12 men) while they judged the action performed or the emotion felt by stick figure characters appearing in different postures. In both tasks, participants activated areas associated with visual representation of the body, motion processing and emotion recognition. Behaviorally, participants demonstrated greater ease in judging the physical actions of the characters compared to judging their emotional states, and participants showed more activation in areas associated with emotion processing in the emotion detection task, whereas they showed more activation in visual, spatial and action-related areas in the physical action task. Gender differences emerged in brain responses, such that men showed greater activation than women in the left dorsal premotor cortex in both tasks. Finally, participants higher in self-reported empathy demonstrated greater activation in areas associated with self-referential processing and emotion interpretation. These results suggest that empathy levels and sex of the participant may affect neural responses to emotional body language. PMID:21504992

Mimicking and anticipating others’ actions is linked to Social Information Processing

PubMed Central

Klomfar, Sophie; d’Haene, Ine; Brass, Marcel

2018-01-01

It is widely known that individuals frequently imitate each other in social situations and that such mimicry fulfills an important social role in the sense that it functions as a social glue. With reference to the anticipated action effect, it has recently been demonstrated that individuals do not only imitate others, but also engage in anticipated action before the observed person starts engaging in that action. Interestingly, both phenomena (i.e., mimicry and anticipated action) rely on tracking others’ social behavior. Therefore, in the present research we investigated whether mimicry and anticipated action are related to social abilities as indicated by measures of social intelligence. The results demonstrate for the first time that mimicry as well as anticipated action is correlated with an important aspect of social intelligence—namely the ability to process social information. Theoretical implications and limitations are discussed. PMID:29590127

Mimicking and anticipating others' actions is linked to Social Information Processing.

PubMed

Genschow, Oliver; Klomfar, Sophie; d'Haene, Ine; Brass, Marcel

2018-01-01

It is widely known that individuals frequently imitate each other in social situations and that such mimicry fulfills an important social role in the sense that it functions as a social glue. With reference to the anticipated action effect, it has recently been demonstrated that individuals do not only imitate others, but also engage in anticipated action before the observed person starts engaging in that action. Interestingly, both phenomena (i.e., mimicry and anticipated action) rely on tracking others' social behavior. Therefore, in the present research we investigated whether mimicry and anticipated action are related to social abilities as indicated by measures of social intelligence. The results demonstrate for the first time that mimicry as well as anticipated action is correlated with an important aspect of social intelligence-namely the ability to process social information. Theoretical implications and limitations are discussed.

Combining Critical Reflection and Action Research to Improve Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badia, Giovanna

2017-01-01

Educators need to reflect critically on their instruction to continue to be effective. This paper will employ case studies to demonstrate how librarians can improve their teaching by applying critical reflection and action research to their information literacy (IL) sessions. The four lenses model of Stephen Brookfield, an adult education expert,…

Orientation to Language Code and Actions in Group Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aline, David; Hosoda, Yuri

2009-01-01

This conversation analytic study reveals how learners themselves, as speakers and listeners, demonstrate their own orientation to language code and actions on a moment by moment basis during collaborative tasks in English as a foreign language classrooms. The excerpts presented in this article were drawn from 23 hours of audio- and video-recorded…

Demonstrating Electrical Activity in Nerve and Muscle. Part I

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, D. J.

1975-01-01

Describes a demonstration for showing the electrical activity in nerve and muscle including action potentials, refractory period of a nerve, and fatigue. Presents instructions for constructing an amplifier, electronic stimulator, and force transducer. (GS)

Imitation of Intentional and Accidental Actions by Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Entremont, Barbara; Yazbek, Aimee

2007-01-01

To determine whether children with autism (CWA) would selectively imitate intentional, as opposed to accidental actions, an experimenter demonstrated either an "intentional" and an "accidental" action or two "intentional" actions on the same toy [Carpenter, Akhtar, & Tomasello ("1998a") "Infant Behavior and Development, 21," 315-330]. CWA tended…

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…

Action preferences and the anticipation of action outcomes.

PubMed

Mann, David L; Schaefers, Teuntje; Cañal-Bruland, Rouwen

2014-10-01

Skilled performers of time-constrained motor actions acquire information about the action preferences of their opponents in an effort to better anticipate the outcome of that opponent's actions. However, there is reason to doubt that knowledge of an opponent's action preferences would unequivocally influence anticipatory responses in a positive way. It is possible that overt information about an opponent's actions could distract skilled performers from using the advance kinematic information they would usually rely on to anticipate actions, particularly when the opponent performs an 'unexpected' action that is not in accordance with his or her previous behaviour. The aim of this study was to examine how the ability to anticipate the outcome of an opponent's actions can be influenced by exposure to the action preferences of that opponent. Two groups of skilled handball goalkeepers anticipated the direction of penalty throws performed by opponents before and after a training intervention that provided situational probability information in the form of action preferences (AP). During the training phase participants in an AP-training group anticipated the action outcomes of two throwers who had a strong preference to throw in one particular direction, whilst participants in a NP-training group viewed players who threw equally to all directions. Exposure to opponents who did have an action preference during the training phase resulted in improved anticipatory performance if the opponent continued to bias their throws towards their preferred direction, but decreased performance if the opponent did not. These findings highlight that skilled observers use information about action preferences to enhance their anticipatory ability, but that doing so can be disadvantageous when the outcomes are no longer consistent with their generated expectations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Future of Pedagogical Action Research in Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormack, Sophie; Bourne, Victoria; Deuker, Charmaine; Norton, Lin; O'Siochcru, Cathal; Watling, Rosamond

2014-01-01

Psychology lecturers are well-qualified to carry out action research which would contribute to the theoretical understanding of learning as well as having practical benefits for students. Pedagogical action research demonstrates how knowledge of psychology can be applied to solve practical problems, providing role models of psychological literacy…

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.

U.S. EPA's Ultraviolet Disinfection Technologies Demonstration Study

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will give a background on USEPA's Disinfection Technologies Demonstration Study. This will include regulatory background, science background, goals of the project, and ultimate expected outcome of the project. This presentation will preceed a panel discussion ...

Habits, action sequences, and reinforcement learning

PubMed Central

Dezfouli, Amir; Balleine, Bernard W.

2012-01-01

It is now widely accepted that instrumental actions can be either goal-directed or habitual; whereas the former are rapidly acquire and regulated by their outcome, the latter are reflexive, elicited by antecedent stimuli rather than their consequences. Model-based reinforcement learning (RL) provides an elegant description of goal-directed action. Through exposure to states, actions and rewards, the agent rapidly constructs a model of the world and can choose an appropriate action based on quite abstract changes in environmental and evaluative demands. This model is powerful but has a problem explaining the development of habitual actions. To account for habits, theorists have argued that another action controller is required, called model-free RL, that does not form a model of the world but rather caches action values within states allowing a state to select an action based on its reward history rather than its consequences. Nevertheless, there are persistent problems with important predictions from the model; most notably the failure of model-free RL correctly to predict the insensitivity of habitual actions to changes in the action-reward contingency. Here, we suggest that introducing model-free RL in instrumental conditioning is unnecessary and demonstrate that reconceptualizing habits as action sequences allows model-based RL to be applied to both goal-directed and habitual actions in a manner consistent with what real animals do. This approach has significant implications for the way habits are currently investigated and generates new experimental predictions. PMID:22487034

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…

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.

Action potential influences spatial perception: Evidence for genuine top-down effects on perception.

PubMed

Witt, Jessica K

2017-08-01

The action-specific account of spatial perception asserts that a perceiver's ability to perform an action, such as hitting a softball or walking up a hill, impacts the visual perception of the target object. Although much evidence is consistent with this claim, the evidence has been challenged as to whether perception is truly impacted, as opposed to the responses themselves. These challenges have recently been organized as six pitfalls that provide a framework with which to evaluate the empirical evidence. Four case studies of action-specific effects are offered as evidence that meets the framework's high bar, and thus that demonstrates genuine perceptual effects. That action influences spatial perception is evidence that perceptual and action-related processes are intricately and bidirectionally linked.

Power effects on cognitive control: Turning conflict into action.

PubMed

Schmid, Petra C; Kleiman, Tali; Amodio, David M

2015-06-01

Power is known to promote effective goal pursuit, especially when it requires one to overcome distractions or bias. We proposed that this effect involves the ability to engage and implement cognitive control. In Study 1, we demonstrated that power enhances behavioral performance on a response conflict task and that it does so by enhancing controlled processing rather than by reducing automatic processing. In Study 2, we used an event-related potential index of anterior cingulate activity to test whether power effects on control were due to enhanced conflict sensitivity or action implementation. Power did not significantly affect neural sensitivity to conflict; rather, high power was associated with a stronger link between conflict processing and intended action, relative to low power. These findings suggest a new perspective on how social factors can affect controlled processing and offer new evidence regarding the transition between conflict detection and the implementation of action control. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

Action-reaction at a distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brand, Howard

2002-03-01

Lenz's law is used to demonstrate that Newton's third law includes forces acting at a distance. The action-reaction pair is the force on a magnet falling through a conducting tube at terminal velocity, and a force on the tube.

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…

Studies on promoting action in skin carcinogenesis

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

Saffiotti, U.; Shubik, P.

1963-01-01

A number of substances were tested for carcinogenic promoting activity in Swiss mice by applying them twice weekly to the clipped dorsal skin, beginning 1 wk after a single application of 9,10-dimethyl-1, 2-benzanthracene (DMBA; 1 to 1.5% in mineral oil). Tests with silver nitrate (10% aqueous), iodoacetic acid (0.9% in acetone, fumaric acid (1% in acetone), ethylphenylpropiolate (5% in acetone), trihydroxymethylanthraquinone. (Emodin; 0.5% in acetone), oleic alcohol, monostearin (5% in acetone) and sorbitan monolaurate were essentially negative; when a single application of croton oil (5% in mineral oil) was interspersed between the carcinogen and silver nitrate, 6/20 mice developed 14more » benign tumors and 1 carcinoma. N-Dodecane showed moderate promoting activity (26 tumors, with 2 carcinomas, in 12/30 mice). Tests of several petroleum fractions showed high initial promoting activity (404 tumors, with 31 carcinomas, in 36/50 mice), but the activity disappeared on storage; while there was no carcinogenic activity in mice, in New Zealand albino rabbits the petroleum fractions alone produced considerable numbers of tumors. One application of DMBA, however, did increase tumor incidence and shorten the latent period. The hexane-eluted fraction of a methanolic extract of croton seeds (which had little vesicant activity), had all the promoting activity of the original croton oil; this could be demonstrated with uethan (20 mg/day ip for 5 days) as the initiator as well as with DMBA. In conclusion, the authors distinguish sharply between the promoting activity of compounds such as croton oil, which lead mostly to benign tumors (many of which regress spontaneously), and the additive effects of carcinogenic substances which may have a stimulatory effect on the second stage of carcinogenesis; for this additive carcinogenic effect, they suggest the term developing action. Other studies on croton oil are also reviewed.« less

The theory of reasoned action in prediction of breast self-examination: a comparison of two studies.

PubMed

Powell-Cope, G M; Lierman, L M; Kasprzyk, D; Young, H M; Benoliel, J Q

1991-01-01

The purpose of this article is to report the application of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to predict breast self-examination (BSE) intention and frequency in two studies with middle-aged and older women. The sample in Study 1 consisted of 93 volunteers from church groups; the second sample consisted of 175 randomly selected subscribers to a large health maintenance organization. Questionnaires to measure attitudinal and subjective normative influences relevant to BSE were developed using guidelines specified by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). The attitudinal components predicted BSE intention in both studies and BSE frequency in Study 1. In contrast, the subjective norm contributed significantly only to the prediction of frequency in Study 1. Findings demonstrate varying degrees of success for the TRA in predicting BSE intention and behavior. Explanations for the inconsistency in the predictive ability of the TRA can be related to differences between the two studies regarding sample and design characteristics.

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

Random lasing actions in self-assembled perovskite nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuai; Sun, Wenzhao; Li, Jiankai; Gu, Zhiyuan; Wang, Kaiyang; Xiao, Shumin; Song, Qinghai

2016-05-01

Solution-based perovskite nanoparticles have been intensively studied in the past few years due to their applications in both photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices. Here, based on the common ground between solution-based perovskite and random lasers, we have studied the mirrorless lasing actions in self-assembled perovskite nanoparticles. After synthesis from a solution, discrete lasing peaks have been observed from optically pumped perovskites without any well-defined cavity boundaries. We have demonstrated that the origin of the random lasing emissions is the scattering between the nanostructures in the perovskite microplates. The obtained quality (Q) factors and thresholds of random lasers are around 500 and 60 μJ/cm2, respectively. Both values are comparable to the conventional perovskite microdisk lasers with polygon-shaped cavity boundaries. From the corresponding studies on laser spectra and fluorescence microscope images, the lasing actions are considered random lasers that are generated by strong multiple scattering in random gain media. In additional to conventional single-photon excitation, due to the strong nonlinear effects of perovskites, two-photon pumped random lasers have also been demonstrated for the first time. We believe this research will find its potential applications in low-cost coherent light sources and biomedical detection.

Nonlinear dynamo action in a precessing cylindrical container.

PubMed

Nore, C; Léorat, J; Guermond, J-L; Luddens, F

2011-07-01

It is numerically demonstrated by means of a magnetohydrodynamics code that precession can trigger the dynamo effect in a cylindrical container. When the Reynolds number, based on the radius of the cylinder and its angular velocity, increases, the flow, which is initially centrosymmetric, loses its stability and bifurcates to a quasiperiodic motion. This unsteady and asymmetric flow is shown to be capable of sustaining dynamo action in the linear and nonlinear regimes. The magnetic field thus generated is unsteady and quadrupolar. These numerical evidences of dynamo action in a precessing cylindrical container may be useful for an experiment now planned at the Dresden sodium facility for dynamo and thermohydraulic studies in Germany.

Potential of Plant Essential Oils and Their Components in Animal Agriculture - in vitro Studies on Antibacterial Mode of Action.

PubMed

O'Bryan, Corliss A; Pendleton, Sean J; Crandall, Philip G; Ricke, Steven C

2015-01-01

The antimicrobial activity of essential oils and their components has been recognized for several years. Essential oils are produced as secondary metabolites by many plants and can be distilled from all different portions of plants. The recent emergence of bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics has spurred research into the use of essential oils as alternatives. Recent research has demonstrated that many of these essential oils have beneficial effects for livestock, including reduction of foodborne pathogens in these animals. Numerous studies have been made into the mode of action of essential oils, and the resulting elucidation of bacterial cell targets has contributed to new perspectives on countering antimicrobial resistance and pathogenicity of these bacteria. In this review, an overview of the current knowledge about the antibacterial mode of action of essential oils and their constituents is provided.

Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study.

PubMed

Abramson, José Z; Hernández-Lloreda, Mª Victoria; Esteban, José-Antonio; Colmenares, Fernando; Aboitiz, Francisco; Call, Josep

2017-01-01

Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a "Do as other does" paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned "Do as the other does" command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal "Do what-the-other-does"; (2) exhibited high matching accuracy for trained behaviors (mean = 84% of correct performance) after making the first successful copy on command; (3) copied successfully the new set of three familiar generalization behaviors that were untrained to the copy command (range of first copy = 12 to 35 trials); and (4) deployed a high level of matching accuracy (mean = 83%) after making the first copy of an untrained behavior on command. This is the first evidence of contextual imitation of intransitive (body-oriented) movements in the beluga and adds to the reported findings on production imitation of sounds in this species and production imitation of sounds and motor actions in several cetaceans, especially dolphins and killer whales. Collectively these findings highlight the notion that cetaceans have a natural propensity at skillfully and proficiently matching the sounds and body movements demonstrated by conspecifics, a fitness-enhancing propensity in the context of cooperative hunting and anti-predatory defense tactics, and of alliance formation strategies that have been documented in these species' natural habitats. Future work should determine if the beluga can also imitate

Culture Influences Action Understanding in Infancy: Prediction of Actions Performed With Chopsticks and Spoons in Chinese and Swedish Infants.

PubMed

Green, Dorota; Li, Qi; Lockman, Jeffrey J; Gredebäck, Gustaf

2016-05-01

The cultural specificity of action prediction was assessed in 8-month-old Chinese and Swedish infants. Infants were presented with an actor eating with a spoon or chopsticks. Predictive goal-directed gaze shifts were examined using eye tracking. The results demonstrate that Chinese infants only predict the goal of eating actions performed with chopsticks, whereas Swedish infants exclusively predict the goal of eating actions performed with a spoon. Infants in neither culture predicted the goal of object manipulation actions (e.g., picking up food) performed with a spoon or chopsticks. The results support the view that multiple processes (both visual/cultural learning and motor-based direct matching processes) facilitate goal prediction during observation of other peoples' actions early in infancy. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

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…

Linking Language with Embodied and Teleological Representations of Action for Humanoid Cognition

PubMed Central

Lallee, Stephane; Madden, Carol; Hoen, Michel; Dominey, Peter Ford

2010-01-01

The current research extends our framework for embodied language and action comprehension to include a teleological representation that allows goal-based reasoning for novel actions. The objective of this work is to implement and demonstrate the advantages of a hybrid, embodied-teleological approach to action–language interaction, both from a theoretical perspective, and via results from human–robot interaction experiments with the iCub robot. We first demonstrate how a framework for embodied language comprehension allows the system to develop a baseline set of representations for processing goal-directed actions such as “take,” “cover,” and “give.” Spoken language and visual perception are input modes for these representations, and the generation of spoken language is the output mode. Moving toward a teleological (goal-based reasoning) approach, a crucial component of the new system is the representation of the subcomponents of these actions, which includes relations between initial enabling states, and final resulting states for these actions. We demonstrate how grammatical categories including causal connectives (e.g., because, if–then) can allow spoken language to enrich the learned set of state-action-state (SAS) representations. We then examine how this enriched SAS inventory enhances the robot's ability to represent perceived actions in which the environment inhibits goal achievement. The paper addresses how language comes to reflect the structure of action, and how it can subsequently be used as an input and output vector for embodied and teleological aspects of action. PMID:20577629

[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.

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.

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.

75 FR 15693 - Extension of Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program Demonstration Project

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-30

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Extension of Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program Demonstration Project AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD). ACTION: Notice of a Web-Based TRICARE Assistance... States Code, Section 1092, entitled Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program. This demonstration was...

The role of action representations in thematic object relations

PubMed Central

Tsagkaridis, Konstantinos; Watson, Christine E.; Jax, Steven A.; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

2014-01-01

A number of studies have explored the role of associative/event-based (thematic) and categorical (taxonomic) relations in the organization of object representations. Recent evidence suggests that thematic information may be particularly important in determining relationships between manipulable artifacts. However, although sensorimotor information is on many accounts an important component of manipulable artifact representations, little is known about the role that action may play during the processing of semantic relationships (particularly thematic relationships) between multiple objects. In this study, we assessed healthy and left hemisphere stroke participants to explore three questions relevant to object relationship processing. First, we assessed whether participants tended to favor thematic relations including action (Th+A, e.g., wine bottle—corkscrew), thematic relationships without action (Th-A, e.g., wine bottle—cheese), or taxonomic relationships (Tax, e.g., wine bottle—water bottle) when choosing between them in an association judgment task with manipulable artifacts. Second, we assessed whether the underlying constructs of event relatedness, action relatedness, and categorical relatedness determined the choices that participants made. Third, we assessed the hypothesis that degraded action knowledge and/or damage to temporo-parietal cortex, a region of the brain associated with the representation of action knowledge, would reduce the influence of action on the choice task. Experiment 1 showed that explicit ratings of event, action, and categorical relatedness were differentially predictive of healthy participants' choices, with action relatedness determining choices between Th+A and Th-A associations above and beyond event and categorical ratings. Experiment 2 focused more specifically on these Th+A vs. Th-A choices and demonstrated that participants with left temporo-parietal lesions, a brain region known to be involved in sensorimotor processing

The role of action representations in thematic object relations.

PubMed

Tsagkaridis, Konstantinos; Watson, Christine E; Jax, Steven A; Buxbaum, Laurel J

2014-01-01

A number of studies have explored the role of associative/event-based (thematic) and categorical (taxonomic) relations in the organization of object representations. Recent evidence suggests that thematic information may be particularly important in determining relationships between manipulable artifacts. However, although sensorimotor information is on many accounts an important component of manipulable artifact representations, little is known about the role that action may play during the processing of semantic relationships (particularly thematic relationships) between multiple objects. In this study, we assessed healthy and left hemisphere stroke participants to explore three questions relevant to object relationship processing. First, we assessed whether participants tended to favor thematic relations including action (Th+A, e.g., wine bottle-corkscrew), thematic relationships without action (Th-A, e.g., wine bottle-cheese), or taxonomic relationships (Tax, e.g., wine bottle-water bottle) when choosing between them in an association judgment task with manipulable artifacts. Second, we assessed whether the underlying constructs of event relatedness, action relatedness, and categorical relatedness determined the choices that participants made. Third, we assessed the hypothesis that degraded action knowledge and/or damage to temporo-parietal cortex, a region of the brain associated with the representation of action knowledge, would reduce the influence of action on the choice task. Experiment 1 showed that explicit ratings of event, action, and categorical relatedness were differentially predictive of healthy participants' choices, with action relatedness determining choices between Th+A and Th-A associations above and beyond event and categorical ratings. Experiment 2 focused more specifically on these Th+A vs. Th-A choices and demonstrated that participants with left temporo-parietal lesions, a brain region known to be involved in sensorimotor processing, were

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

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Decomposing the Processes Underlying Action Preparation.

PubMed

Bestmann, Sven; Duque, Julie

2016-08-01

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

A simple demonstration when studying the equivalence principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayer, Valery; Varaksina, Ekaterina

2016-06-01

The paper proposes a lecture experiment that can be demonstrated when studying the equivalence principle formulated by Albert Einstein. The demonstration consists of creating stroboscopic photographs of a ball moving along a parabola in Earth's gravitational field. In the first experiment, a camera is stationary relative to Earth's surface. In the second, the camera falls freely downwards with the ball, allowing students to see that the ball moves uniformly and rectilinearly relative to the frame of reference of the freely falling camera. The equivalence principle explains this result, as it is always possible to propose an inertial frame of reference for a small region of a gravitational field, where space-time effects of curvature are negligible.

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…

Obstacles to action in arthritis: a community case-control study.

PubMed

Hutton, Ingrid; Gamble, Greg; McLean, Grant; Butcher, Hugh; Gow, Peter; Dalbeth, Nicola

2009-07-01

Despite the benefits of physical activity, people with arthritis are less active than the general population. The aim of this study was to determine the motivators and obstacles to physical activity for adults with arthritis. Participants were identified from the Obstacles to Action Study, a community based study of 8163 adults, which explored barriers and motivators to physical activity. A 1:1 case-control study was designed; cases were identified as those participants who reported arthritis (n = 1106). Each case was matched with an age, sex and ethnicity-matched non-arthritis control (n = 1106). Cases were less likely to achieve recommended physical activity targets (58.8% vs. 68.1% P = 0.00001). Furthermore, fewer people with arthritis believed that physical activity would help them lead healthy lives (86.7% vs. 91.3% P = 0.006) or viewed physical activity as a priority (53.8% vs. 59.8% P = 0.005). Cases were less confident in their abilities to try a new activity (37.1% vs. 43.7% P = 0.002) or maintain a healthy weight (65.0% vs. 74.3% P = 0.00001). Cases also reported greater negative impact scores for barriers to activity, particularly arthritis, accessibility, cost and discomfort while exercising. Motivators and environmental barriers to activity were similar for cases and controls. These findings persisted after adjusting for educational level, body mass index and comorbidities. People with arthritis are less active and demonstrate different attitudes toward physical activity. Although people with arthritis identify similar environmental barriers, they have different psychosocial barriers. In order to design effective physical activity programs for people with arthritis, these barriers must be specifically addressed.

Aircraft accident investigation: the decision-making in initial action scenario.

PubMed

Barreto, Marcia M; Ribeiro, Selma L O

2012-01-01

In the complex aeronautical environment, the efforts in terms of operational safety involve the adoption of proactive and reactive measures. The process of investigation begins right after the occurrence of the aeronautical accident, through the initial action. Thus, it is in the crisis scenario, that the person responsible for the initial action makes decisions and gathers the necessary information for the subsequent phases of the investigation process. Within this scenario, which is a natural environment, researches have shown the fragility of rational models of decision making. The theoretical perspective of naturalistic decision making constitutes a breakthrough in the understanding of decision problems demanded by real world. The proposal of this study was to verify if the initial action, after the occurrence of an accident, and the decision-making strategies, used by the investigators responsible for this activity, are characteristic of the naturalistic decision making theoretical approach. To attend the proposed objective a descriptive research was undertaken with a sample of professionals that work in this activity. The data collected through individual interviews were analyzed and the results demonstrated that the initial action environment, which includes restricted time, dynamic conditions, the presence of multiple actors, stress and insufficient information is characteristic of the naturalistic decision making. They also demonstrated that, when the investigators make their decisions, they use their experience and the mental simulation, intuition, improvisation, metaphors and analogues cases, as strategies, all of them related to the naturalistic approach of decision making, in order to satisfy the needs of the situation and reach the objectives of the initial action in the accident scenario.

Offering Behavioral Assistance to Latino Students Demonstrating Challenging Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreno, Gerardo; Bullock, Lyndal M.

2015-01-01

Challenging behaviors can significantly alter the learning environment of any classroom. Traditionally, schools have implemented practices that remove the offending student from the classroom, deliver punitive disciplinary actions, or refer the student to special education evaluation. Unfortunately, such practices have demonstrated little…

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)

76 FR 12073 - Extension of Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program Demonstration Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-04

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Extension of Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program Demonstration Program AGENCY: Department of Defense. ACTION: Notice of a Two Year Extension of the Web-Based..., entitled Web-Based TRICARE Assistance Program. This demonstration was effective August 1, 2009, as...

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…

[Action-oriented versus state-oriented reactions to experimenter-induced failures].

PubMed

Brunstein, J C

1989-01-01

The present study assessed different effects of action-oriented versus state-oriented styles of coping with failure on achievement-related performance and cognition. In a learned helplessness experiment, students were exposed to an academic failure situation and were then tested on a series of problem-solving tasks, either immediately after the pretreatment or after a delay of 24 hours. Performance and cognitive concomitants were measured during both experimental periods. Results demonstrated that action orientation was associated with self-immunizing cognitions during helplessness training. Action-oriented participants improved their performance level even after repeated failure feedbacks. Moreover, action-oriented students assigned to the delayed test condition responded with increased striving for success and showed performance increments, even in comparison with control subjects. In contrast, state-oriented participants developed symptoms of helplessness and showed impaired performance during failure inductions. In later tests on problem-solving tasks, state-oriented groups responded with increased fear of failure. Independent of immediate or delayed test conditions, they soon lapsed into new performance decrements.

Does Joe influence Fred's action? Not if Fred has autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Welsh, Timothy N; Ray, Matthew C; Weeks, Daniel J; Dewey, Deborah; Elliott, Digby

2009-01-12

It has been proposed that the deficits in social interaction seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) arise from problems in action perception stemming from a dysfunction of the mirror neuron system (MNS)--a neural network that becomes active during the performance and observation of action. A dysfunction of this system could have a cascading effect leading to deficits in social cognition because poor activation of the MNS during action observation may lead to an incomplete understanding of another person's actions, intentions and, ultimately, mental states. The present study tested the MNS dysfunction explanation by determining if people with ASD demonstrate a between-person inhibition of return (BP-IOR) effect. The BP-IOR effect, longer reaction times to targets presented at the location of another person's previous response relative to an unresponded-to location, has been hypothesized to be the result of the MNS co-representing the observed response and subsequently activating the mechanisms that cause IOR when individuals respond on their own (within-person IOR [WP-IOR]). Consistent with the MNS dysfunction hypothesis, participants with ASD did not demonstrate a BP-IOR effect in a condition in which they only observed the movement of the partner. The participants with ASD did demonstrate a WP-IOR effect suggesting that the mechanisms underlying IOR are intact in ASD. The contrast between the BP- and WP-IOR effects in the participants with ASD provides significant behavioural evidence for MNS dysfunction in ASD and has important implications for understanding this disorder.

The Activation of the Mirror Neuron System during Action Observation and Action Execution with Mirror Visual Feedback in Stroke: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jack J. Q.; Welage, Nandana

2018-01-01

Objective To evaluate the concurrent and training effects of action observation (AO) and action execution with mirror visual feedback (MVF) on the activation of the mirror neuron system (MNS) and its relationship with the activation of the motor cortex in stroke individuals. Methods A literature search using CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Science, and SCOPUS to find relevant studies was performed. Results A total of 19 articles were included. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies reported that MVF could activate the ipsilesional primary motor cortex as well as the MNS in stroke individuals, whereas two other fMRI studies found that the MNS was not activated by MVF in stroke individuals. Two clinical trials reported that long-term action execution with MVF induced a shift of activation toward the ipsilesional hemisphere. Five fMRI studies showed that AO activated the MNS, of which, three found the activation of movement-related areas. Five electroencephalography (EEG) studies demonstrated that AO or MVF enhanced mu suppression over the sensorimotor cortex. Conclusions MVF may contribute to stroke recovery by revising the interhemispheric imbalance caused by stroke due to the activation of the MNS. AO may also promote motor relearning in stroke individuals by activating the MNS and motor cortex. PMID:29853839

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.

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…

Miscellaneous Lasing Actions in Organo-Lead Halide Perovskite Films.

PubMed

Duan, Zonghui; Wang, Shuai; Yi, Ningbo; Gu, Zhiyuan; Gao, Yisheng; Song, Qinghai; Xiao, Shumin

2017-06-21

Lasing actions in organo-lead halide perovskite films have been heavily studied in the past few years. However, due to the disordered nature of synthesized perovskite films, the lasing actions are usually understood as random lasers that are formed by multiple scattering. Herein, we demonstrate the miscellaneous lasing actions in organo-lead halide perovskite films. In addition to the random lasers, we show that a single or a few perovskite microparticles can generate laser emissions with their internal resonances instead of multiple scattering among them. We experimentally observed and numerically confirmed whispering gallery (WG)-like microlasers in polygon shaped and other deformed microparticles. Meanwhile, owing to the nature of total internal reflection and the novel shape of the nanoparticle, the size of the perovskite WG laser can be significantly decreased to a few hundred nanometers. Thus, wavelength-scale lead halide perovskite lasers were realized for the first time. All of these laser behaviors are complementary to typical random lasers in perovskite film and will help the understanding of lasing actions in complex lead halide perovskite systems.

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…

Potential of Plant Essential Oils and Their Components in Animal Agriculture – in vitro Studies on Antibacterial Mode of Action

PubMed Central

O’Bryan, Corliss A.; Pendleton, Sean J.; Crandall, Philip G.; Ricke, Steven C.

2015-01-01

The antimicrobial activity of essential oils and their components has been recognized for several years. Essential oils are produced as secondary metabolites by many plants and can be distilled from all different portions of plants. The recent emergence of bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics has spurred research into the use of essential oils as alternatives. Recent research has demonstrated that many of these essential oils have beneficial effects for livestock, including reduction of foodborne pathogens in these animals. Numerous studies have been made into the mode of action of essential oils, and the resulting elucidation of bacterial cell targets has contributed to new perspectives on countering antimicrobial resistance and pathogenicity of these bacteria. In this review, an overview of the current knowledge about the antibacterial mode of action of essential oils and their constituents is provided. PMID:26664964

Neural mechanisms and models underlying joint action.

PubMed

Chersi, Fabian

2011-06-01

Humans, in particular, and to a lesser extent also other species of animals, possess the impressive capability of smoothly coordinating their actions with those of others. The great amount of work done in recent years in neuroscience has provided new insights into the processes involved in joint action, intention understanding, and task sharing. In particular, the discovery of mirror neurons, which fire both when animals execute actions and when they observe the same actions done by other individuals, has shed light on the intimate relationship between perception and action elucidating the direct contribution of motor knowledge to action understanding. Up to date, however, a detailed description of the neural processes involved in these phenomena is still mostly lacking. Building upon data from single neuron recordings in monkeys observing the actions of a demonstrator and then executing the same or a complementary action, this paper describes the functioning of a biologically constraint neural network model of the motor and mirror systems during joint action. In this model, motor sequences are encoded as independent neuronal chains that represent concatenations of elementary motor acts leading to a specific goal. Action execution and recognition are achieved through the propagation of activity within specific chains. Due to the dual property of mirror neurons, the same architecture is capable of smoothly integrating and switching between observed and self-generated action sequences, thus allowing to evaluate multiple hypotheses simultaneously, understand actions done by others, and to respond in an appropriate way.

76 FR 12081 - Notice of Two-Year Continuation of Disease Management Demonstration Project for TRICARE Standard...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-04

... Management Demonstration Project for TRICARE Standard Beneficiaries AGENCY: Department of Defense. ACTION: Notice of Two-Year Continuation of Disease Management Demonstration Project for TRICARE Standard... System (MHS) demonstration project entitled ``Disease Management Demonstration Project for TRICARE...

Participatory Evaluation with Youth Leads to Community Action Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashton, Carolyn; Arnold, Mary E.; Wells, Elissa E.

2010-01-01

4-H has long emphasized the importance of civic engagement and community service for positive youth development. One pathway to this ideal is youth action research and evaluation. This article demonstrates how participatory youth research and evaluation can lead to the successful implementation of community action projects. It describes the…

Critical Literacy for School Improvement: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Karyn; White, Robert E.

2008-01-01

This article provides an overview of the integrative process of initiating an action research project on literacy for students "at risk" in a Canadian urban elementary school. As the article demonstrates, this requires development of a school-wide framework, which informs the action research project and desired outcomes, and a shared…

In the land of the free, interdependent action undermines motivation.

PubMed

Hamedani, Maryam G; Markus, Hazel Rose; Fu, Alyssa S

2013-02-01

Today's most pressing social challenges require people to recognize their shared fate and work together--to think and act interdependently. In the three studies reported here, we found that appeals for increased interdependence may undermine the very motivation they seek to inspire. We examined the hypothesis that invoking interdependent action undermines motivation for chronically independent European Americans but not for bicultural Asian Americans who are both chronically independent and chronically interdependent. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that priming interdependent rather than independent action undermined European Americans' motivation to perform challenging mental and physical tasks. Study 3 showed that framing an appeal for environmental sustainability in terms of interdependent rather than independent action led to decreased motivation and resource allocation among European Americans. Motivation was not undermined for Asian Americans, which reveals how behavior is divergently shaped, in the land of the free, by foundational sociocultural schemas of independence and interdependence. This research has the novel implication that it may be necessary to invoke independent behaviors in order to successfully motivate interdependence.

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…

Incorporating gender, equity, and human rights into the action planning process: moving from rhetoric to action

PubMed Central

Sridharan, Sanjeev; Maplazi, Joanna; Shirodkar, Apurva; Richardson, Emma; Nakaima, April

2016-01-01

Background Mainstreaming of gender, equity, and human rights (GER) is an important focus of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN organizations. This paper explores the role of action plans in mainstreaming GER. This paper is informed by a theory-driven evaluation lens. Design A theory of change framework explored the following seven dimensions of how action plans can implement mainstreaming of GER: awareness of the foundations of GER; understanding of context; planning to impact GER; implementation for GER; monitoring, evaluation, and learning; planning for sustainability; agenda setting and buy-in. The seven dimensions were used to analyze the action plans. Reviewers also explored innovations within each of the action plans for the seven dimensions. Results GER mainstreaming is more prominent in the foundation, background, and planning components of the plan but becomes less so along the theory of change including implementation; monitoring and evaluation; sustainability; and agenda setting and buy-in. Conclusions Our analysis demonstrates that much more can be done to incorporate GER considerations into the action planning process. Nine specific recommendations are identified for WHO and other organizations. A theory-driven approach as described in the paper is potentially helpful for developing clarity by which action plans can help with mainstreaming GER considerations. PMID:27606968

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…

Espousing Democratic Leadership Practices: A Study of Values in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devereaux, Lorraine

2003-01-01

This article examines principals' espoused values and their values in action. It provides a reanalysis of previously collected data through a values lens. The original research study was an international quantitative and qualitative investigation of principals' leadership approaches that was based in 15 schools. This particular excerpt of the…

Inferences about action engage action systems.

PubMed

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

2008-10-01

Verbal descriptions of actions activate compatible motor responses [Glenberg, A. M., & Kaschak, M. P. (2002). Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 558-565]. Previous studies have found that the motor processes for manual rotation are engaged in a direction-specific manner when a verb disambiguates the direction of rotation [e.g. "unscrewed;" Zwaan, R. A., & Taylor, L. (2006). Seeing, acting, understanding: Motor resonance in language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 1-11]. The present experiment contributes to this body of work by showing that verbs that leave direction ambiguous (e.g. "turned") do not necessarily yield such effects. Rather, motor resonance is associated with a word that disambiguates some element of an action, as meaning is being integrated across sentences. The findings are discussed within the context of discourse processes, inference generation, motor activation, and mental simulation.

COMPARATIVE DIABETOGENIC ACTION OF THE HYPOPHYSIS FROM VARIOUS ANIMALS

PubMed Central

Houssay, B. A.; Smyth, F. S.; Foglia, V. G.; Houssay, A. B.

1942-01-01

Of all the anterior hypophyses tested, those of the human produced the most marked diabetogenic action in the dog with its pancreatic tissue reduced to 4 gm., and in the hypophysectomized and pancreatectomized toad. The human hypophysis also produced diabetogenic action in the normal dog on daily doses of 1.26 mg. per kilo per day for 2 days. The hypophysectomized dog with its pancreas reduced to 4 gm. is very sensitive to the anterior hypophyseal diabetogenic action and is the best test animal for demonstrating such action in mammals. The anterior hypophysis of man, toad, rat, and chicken produces in such animals a diabetogenic action with doses of from 10 to 15 mg. per kilo per day. The bovine anterior hypophysis has identical action in 20 mg. doses. That of canine origin was much less active in a few though inconclusive experiments. It was impossible to demonstrate a diabetogenic action with either guinea pig hypophysis or with that of fish probably because insufficient doses were injected. The diabetogenic action was not obtained by the injection of other organ extracts of toads, dogs and oxen, of corticosterone (30, 40, and 60 mg. in 4 days) or of desoxycorticosterone (80 mg. and 200 mg. in 4 days). The toad (Bufo arenarum Hensel), deprived of its hypophysis and pancreas is the most sensitive biological reactor for testing the diabetogenic action. In this animal the diabetogenic action of anterior hypophyses from varied sources decreased in the following order: man, dog, toad (Bufo arenarum Hensel), white rat, guinea pig, chicken (whole hypophysis), ox, serpent (Constrictor constrictor (L.)), the fish "corvina" Micropogon opercularis (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824), and "merluza" Merlucius hubbsi (Marini, 1933). PMID:19871171

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

Bodily action penetrates affective perception

PubMed Central

Rigutti, Sara; Gerbino, Walter

2016-01-01

Fantoni & Gerbino (2014) showed that subtle postural shifts associated with reaching can have a strong hedonic impact and affect how actors experience facial expressions of emotion. Using a novel Motor Action Mood Induction Procedure (MAMIP), they found consistent congruency effects in participants who performed a facial emotion identification task after a sequence of visually-guided reaches: a face perceived as neutral in a baseline condition appeared slightly happy after comfortable actions and slightly angry after uncomfortable actions. However, skeptics about the penetrability of perception (Zeimbekis & Raftopoulos, 2015) would consider such evidence insufficient to demonstrate that observer’s internal states induced by action comfort/discomfort affect perception in a top-down fashion. The action-modulated mood might have produced a back-end memory effect capable of affecting post-perceptual and decision processing, but not front-end perception. Here, we present evidence that performing a facial emotion detection (not identification) task after MAMIP exhibits systematic mood-congruent sensitivity changes, rather than response bias changes attributable to cognitive set shifts; i.e., we show that observer’s internal states induced by bodily action can modulate affective perception. The detection threshold for happiness was lower after fifty comfortable than uncomfortable reaches; while the detection threshold for anger was lower after fifty uncomfortable than comfortable reaches. Action valence induced an overall sensitivity improvement in detecting subtle variations of congruent facial expressions (happiness after positive comfortable actions, anger after negative uncomfortable actions), in the absence of significant response bias shifts. Notably, both comfortable and uncomfortable reaches impact sensitivity in an approximately symmetric way relative to a baseline inaction condition. All of these constitute compelling evidence of a genuine top-down effect on

Identity and collective action among European Kurds.

PubMed

Ufkes, Elze G; Dovidio, John F; Tel, Gulizar

2015-03-01

This research investigated the role of group-based anger and efficacy in explaining the effects of subgroup (ethnic) and common (European) identity on collective action among Kurds in Europe responding to different types of disadvantage. Whereas stronger Kurdish identity positively predicted intentions for collective action (mediated by anger and efficacy), stronger common ingroup identity was negatively related to collective action intentions. This effect occurred primarily when structural disadvantage was salient, not when attention was drawn to a specific incident of disadvantage, and was mediated by anger but not efficacy. The findings complement recent work demonstrating that intergroup harmony can undermine social change, suggesting that stronger common-group identification reduces collective action by reducing minority-group members' sensitivity to potential bias against them. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Parallels between Action-Object Mapping and Word-Object Mapping in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riggs, Kevin J.; Mather, Emily; Hyde, Grace; Simpson, Andrew

2016-01-01

Across a series of four experiments with 3- to 4-year-olds we demonstrate how cognitive mechanisms supporting noun learning extend to the mapping of actions to objects. In Experiment 1 (n = 61) the demonstration of a novel action led children to select a novel, rather than a familiar object. In Experiment 2 (n = 78) children exhibited long-term…

The Attack on Affirmative Action: Lives in Parallel Universes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivas, Michael A.

1993-01-01

In response to criticism of affirmative action in higher education, it is argued that affirmative action has brought demonstrable improvements in U.S. society. The debate, and the related research and literature, are reviewed from both perspectives, and it is concluded that the time has come to end white male privilege. (MSE)

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…

Bruner's Three Forms of Representation Revisited: Action, Pictures and Words for Effective Computer Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Presno, Caroline

1997-01-01

Discusses computer instruction in light of Bruner's theory of three forms of representation (action, icons, and symbols). Examines how studies regarding Paivio's dual-coding theory and studies focusing on procedural knowledge support Bruner's theory. Provides specific examples for instruction in three categories: demonstrations, pictures and…

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.…

Student-Industry Plan for Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of Manufacturers, New York, NY. Education Committee.

The guidelines for a student-industry action committee represent an attempt by the authors to reverse the trend of mistrust demonstrated by the American public toward business and industry. Twelve chapter presidents of Delta Sigma Pi, a university business fraternity, met initially with representatives of the National Association of Manufacturers…

Dual formulation of covariant nonlinear duality-symmetric action of kappa-symmetric D3-brane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanichchapongjaroen, Pichet

2018-02-01

We study the construction of covariant nonlinear duality-symmetric actions in dual formulation. Essentially, the construction is the PST-covariantisation and nonlinearisation of Zwanziger action. The covariantisation made use of three auxiliary scalar fields. Apart from these, the construction proceed in a similar way to that of the standard formulation. For example, the theories can be extended to include interactions with external fields, and that the theories possess two local PST symmetries. We then explicitly demonstrate the construction of covariant nonlinear duality-symmetric actions in dual formulation of DBI theory, and D3-brane. For each of these theories, the twisted selfduality condition obtained from duality-symmetric actions are explicitly shown to match with the duality relation between field strength and its dual from the one-potential actions. Their on-shell actions between the duality-symmetric and the one-potential versions are also shown to match. We also explicitly prove kappa-symmetry of the covariant nonlinear duality-symmetric D3-brane action in dual formulation.

[Study on the overall implementation status of the National Demonstration Areas for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases].

PubMed

Li, J J; Li, J L; Zhang, J; Jin, R R; Ma, S; Deng, G J; Su, X W; Bian, F; Qu, Y M; Hu, L L; Jiang, Y

2018-04-10

Objective: To understand the current overall status of implementation on the National Demonstration Areas of Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases. Methods: According to the scheme design of the questionnaires, all the National Demonstration Areas were involved in this study. For each National Demonstration Areas, eight departments were selected to complete a total of 12 questionnaires. Results: Scores related to the implementation of the National Demonstration Areas accounted for 71.8% of the total 170 points. Based on the scores gathered from this study, the 23-items-index-system that represented the status of project implementation was classified into seven categories. Categories with higher percentile scores would include: monitoring (88.0%), safeguard measures (75.0%), health education and health promotion (75.0%). Categories with lower percentile scores would include: the national health lifestyle actions (67.7%), community diagnosis (66.7%), discovery and intervention of high-risk groups (64.7%), and patient management (60.9%). There were significant differences noticed among the eastern, central and western areas on items as safeguard measures, health education/promotion, discovery and intervention of high-risk groups. In all, the implementation programs in the eastern Demonstration Areas seemed better than in the central or western regions. As for the 23 items, five of the highest scores appeared on policy support, mortality surveillance, tumor registration, reporting system on cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events, and on tobacco control, respectively. However, the lowest five scores fell on healthy diet, patient self-management program, oral hygiene, setting up the demonstration units and promotion on basic public health services, respectively. The overall scores in the eastern region was higher than that in the central or the western regions. The scores in the central and western regions showed basically the same. Conclusions

High Reliability Engine Control Demonstrated for Aircraft Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guo, Ten-Huei

1999-01-01

For a dual redundant-control system, which is typical for short-haul aircraft, if a failure is detected in a control sensor, the engine control is transferred to a safety mode and an advisory is issued for immediate maintenance action to replace the failed sensor. The safety mode typically results in severely degraded engine performance. The goal of the High Reliability Engine Control (HREC) program was to demonstrate that the neural-network-based sensor validation technology can safely operate an engine by using the nominal closed-loop control during and after sensor failures. With this technology, engine performance could be maintained, and the sensor could be replaced as a conveniently scheduled maintenance action.

Action video games make dyslexic children read better.

PubMed

Franceschini, Sandro; Gori, Simone; Ruffino, Milena; Viola, Simona; Molteni, Massimo; Facoetti, Andrea

2013-03-18

Learning to read is extremely difficult for about 10% of children; they are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder called dyslexia [1, 2]. The neurocognitive causes of dyslexia are still hotly debated [3-12]. Dyslexia remediation is far from being fully achieved [13], and the current treatments demand high levels of resources [1]. Here, we demonstrate that only 12 hr of playing action video games-not involving any direct phonological or orthographic training-drastically improve the reading abilities of children with dyslexia. We tested reading, phonological, and attentional skills in two matched groups of children with dyslexia before and after they played action or nonaction video games for nine sessions of 80 min per day. We found that only playing action video games improved children's reading speed, without any cost in accuracy, more so than 1 year of spontaneous reading development and more than or equal to highly demanding traditional reading treatments. Attentional skills also improved during action video game training. It has been demonstrated that action video games efficiently improve attention abilities [14, 15]; our results showed that this attention improvement can directly translate into better reading abilities, providing a new, fast, fun remediation of dyslexia that has theoretical relevance in unveiling the causal role of attention in reading acquisition. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introducing a new COST Action: ES1306: Connecting European Connectivity Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keesstra, Saskia; Cerda, Artemi; Parsons, Tony; Vericat, Damià; Wainwright, John; Heckmann, Tobias; Mueller, Eva; Poeppl, Ronald; Brazier, Richard; Nunes, Joao; Brardinoni, Francesco; Marques, Maria Jose

2014-05-01

In November 2013 a new COST Action entitled 'Connecting European Connectivity Research' was approved by the European Union. This Action aims to connect researchers across Europe (and beyond) that study the concept of water and sediment connectivity. Successful prediction of pathways of storm runoff generation and associated soil erosion is of considerable societal importance, including off-site impacts such as water quality and the provision of related ecosystem services. Recently, the role of connectivity in controlling runoff and erosion has received significant and increasing scientific attention, though in a disparate and uncoordinated way. There is a wealth of experience and expertise in connectivity across Europe that could be harnessed to ensure that the potential already demonstrated in key studies can be more widely fulfilled; to move forward along agreed lines and identify emerging goals, and to benefit from cross-fertilization of ideas from the fields of Hydrology, Soil Science, Geomorphology and Ecology. The key benefit of this Action will be to establish connectivity as a research paradigm. The Action will then permit transfer of current understanding into useable science, by developing it's conceptual basis and transferring it into a series of monitoring and modelling tools that will provide the platform for indices that will inform holistic management of catchment systems. In this presentation we want to show you the planned actions of this new COST Action.

RADON MITIGATION STUDIES: NASHVILLE DEMONSTRATION

EPA Science Inventory

The report gives results of an EPA radon mitigation demonstration project involving 14 houses in the Nashville, TN, area with indoor radon levels of 5.6-47.6 pCi/L, using a variety of techniques, designed to be the most cost effective methods possible to implement, and yet adequa...

Minireview: Mode of action of meta-diamide insecticides.

PubMed

Nakao, Toshifumi; Banba, Shinichi

2015-06-01

Meta-diamides [3-benzamido-N-(4-(perfluoropropan-2-yl)phenyl)benzamides] are a distinct class of RDL GABA receptor noncompetitive antagonists showing high insecticidal activity against Spodoptera litura. The mode of action of the meta-diamides was demonstrated to be distinct from that of conventional noncompetitive antagonists (NCAs) such as fipronil, picrotoxin, lindane, dieldrin, and α-endosulfan. It was suggested that meta-diamides act at or near G336 in the M3 region of the Drosophila RDL GABA receptor. Although the site of action of the meta-diamides appears to overlap with that of macrocyclic lactones including avermectins and milbemycins, differential effects of mutations on the actions of the meta-diamides and the macrocyclic lactones were observed. Molecular modeling studies revealed that the meta-diamides may bind to an inter-subunit pocket near G336 in the Drosophila RDL GABA receptor better when in the closed state, which is distinct from the NCA-binding site, which is in a channel formed by M2s. In contrast, the macrocyclic lactones were suggested to bind to an inter-subunit pocket near G336 in the Drosophila RDL GABA receptor when in the open state. Furthermore, mechanisms underlying the high selectivity of meta-diamides are discussed. This minireview highlights the unique features of novel meta-diamide insecticides and demonstrates why meta-diamides are anticipated to become prominent insecticides that are effective against pests resistant to cyclodienes and fipronil. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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…

Tested Demonstrations: Visualization of Buffer Action and the Acidifying Effect of Carbon Dioxide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, George L., Ed.

1985-01-01

Presents a buffer demonstration which features visualization of the effects of carbon dioxide on pH. Background information, list of materials needed, procedures used, and a discussion of results obtained are included. (JN)

49 CFR 385.105 - Expedited action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS SAFETY FITNESS PROCEDURES... required to submit a written response demonstrating corrective action: (1) Using drivers not possessing, or operating without, a valid Licencia Federal de Conductor. An invalid Licencia Federal de Conductor includes...

49 CFR 385.105 - Expedited action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS SAFETY FITNESS PROCEDURES... required to submit a written response demonstrating corrective action: (1) Using drivers not possessing, or operating without, a valid Licencia Federal de Conductor. An invalid Licencia Federal de Conductor includes...

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.

The Use of Demonstration Lessons to Support Curriculum Implementation: Invitation or Intrusion?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Paor, Cathal

2015-01-01

Lesson demonstration within the context of school-based coaching can give teachers practical examples of a new curriculum in action, thereby reinforcing the key messages introduced in initial in-service training. At the same time, the demonstration needs to be sufficiently invitational so that teachers feel positively about the new programme and…

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.

Skeletal muscle membrane lipid composition is related to adiposity and insulin action.

PubMed Central

Pan, D A; Lillioja, S; Milner, M R; Kriketos, A D; Baur, L A; Bogardus, C; Storlien, L H

1995-01-01

The cellular basis of insulin resistance is still unknown; however, relationships have been demonstrated between insulin action in muscle and the fatty acid profile of the major membrane structural lipid (phospholipid). The present study aimed to further investigate the hypothesis that insulin action and adiposity are associated with changes in the structural lipid composition of the cell. In 52 adult male Pima Indians, insulin action (euglycemic clamp), percentage body fat (pFAT; underwater weighing), and muscle phospholipid fatty acid composition (percutaneous biopsy of vastus lateralis) were determined. Insulin action (high-dose clamp; MZ) correlated with composite measures of membrane unsaturation (% C20-22 polyunsaturated fatty acids [r= 0.463, P < 0.001], unsaturation index [r= -0.369, P < 0.01]), a number of individual fatty acids and with delta5 desaturase activity (r= 0.451, P < 0.001). pFAT (range 14-53%) correlated with a number of individual fatty acids and delta5 desaturase activity (r= -0.610, P < 0.0001). Indices of elongase activity (r= -0.467, P < 0.001), and delta9 desaturase activity (r= 0.332, P < 0.05) were also related to pFAT but not insulin action. The results demonstrate that delta5 desaturase activity is independently related to both insulin resistance and obesity. While determining the mechanisms underlying this relationship is important for future investigations, strategies aimed at restoring "normal" enzyme activities, and membrane unsaturation, may have therapeutic importance in the "syndromes of insulin resistance." PMID:8675650

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.

Demonstrator study for micro-ranging-laser device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henkel, Hartmut; Bernhardt, Bodo; Pereira do Carmo, J.

2017-11-01

Within ESA's Innovation Triangle Initiative (ITI) a demonstrator breadboard for a micro-ranging-laser device "MYLRAD" has been developed. Its working principle is the measurement of the round-trip delay time of a laser beam as a phase shift. The demonstrator consists of the laser diode (30 mW, square wave AM), optics, APD detector, narrowband preamplifier, limiter, and a phase digitiser based on a novel noise-shaping synchroniser (NSS) circuit; this works without ADCs and can be built from rad-hard components for space. The system timing and the digitiser algorithm are performed by an FPGA. The demonstrator has been tested at ranges from 1 m to 30 m. With a static non-cooperative target an RMS noise of 1 mm at a result rate of 60 Hz was reached. The demonstrator needs less than 2.5 W power.

A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of an Environmental Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rioux, Liliane; Pasquier, Daniel

2013-01-01

In a previous study, we investigated the impact of an awareness-raising campaign on the behaviour of secondary school children in the Centre Region of France, regarding the recycling of used batteries. But, was it a question of pro-environmental behaviour or simply an environmental action? To answer this question, a three-year longitudinal study…

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

Predictive gaze during observation of irrational actions in adults with autism spectrum conditions.

PubMed

Marsh, L E; Pearson, A; Ropar, D; Hamilton, A F de C

2015-01-01

Understanding irrational actions may require the observer to make mental state inferences about why an action was performed. Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have well documented difficulties with mentalizing; however, the degree to which rationality understanding is impaired in autism is not yet clear. The present study uses eye-tracking to measure online understanding of action rationality in individuals with ASC. Twenty adults with ASC and 20 typically developing controls, matched for age and IQ watched movies of rational and irrational actions while their eye movements were recorded. Measures of looking time, scan path and saccade latency were calculated. Results from looking time and scan path analyses demonstrate that participants with ASC have reduced visual attention to salient action features such as the action goal and the hand performing the action, regardless of action rationality. However, when participants with ASC do attend to these features, they are able to make anticipatory goal saccades as quickly as typically developing controls. Taken together these results indicate that individuals with autism have reduced attention to observed actions, but when attention is maintained, goal prediction is typical. We conclude that the basic mechanisms of action understanding are intact in individuals with ASC although there may be impairment in the top-down, social modulation of eye movements.

Children's Representation and Imitation of Events: How Goal Organization Influences 3-Year-Old Children's Memory for Action Sequences.

PubMed

Loucks, Jeff; Mutschler, Christina; Meltzoff, Andrew N

2017-09-01

Children's imitation of adults plays a prominent role in human cognitive development. However, few studies have investigated how children represent the complex structure of observed actions which underlies their imitation. We integrate theories of action segmentation, memory, and imitation to investigate whether children's event representation is organized according to veridical serial order or a higher level goal structure. Children were randomly assigned to learn novel event sequences either through interactive hands-on experience (Study 1) or via storybook (Study 2). Results demonstrate that children's representation of observed actions is organized according to higher level goals, even at the cost of representing the veridical temporal ordering of the sequence. We argue that prioritizing goal structure enhances event memory, and that this mental organization is a key mechanism of social-cognitive development in real-world, dynamic environments. It supports cultural learning and imitation in ecologically valid settings when social agents are multitasking and not demonstrating one isolated goal at a time. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Interference Effects Demonstrate Distinct Roles for Visual and Motor Imagery during the Mental Representation of Human Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, J.A.

2005-01-01

Four experiments were completed to characterize the utilization of visual imagery and motor imagery during the mental representation of human action. In Experiment 1, movement time functions for a motor imagery human locomotion task conformed to a speed-accuracy trade-off similar to Fitts' Law, whereas those for a visual imagery object motion task…

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

Unaware Processing of Tools in the Neural System for Object-Directed Action Representation.

PubMed

Tettamanti, Marco; Conca, Francesca; Falini, Andrea; Perani, Daniela

2017-11-01

The hypothesis that the brain constitutively encodes observed manipulable objects for the actions they afford is still debated. Yet, crucial evidence demonstrating that, even in the absence of perceptual awareness, the mere visual appearance of a manipulable object triggers a visuomotor coding in the action representation system including the premotor cortex, has hitherto not been provided. In this fMRI study, we instantiated reliable unaware visual perception conditions by means of continuous flash suppression, and we tested in 24 healthy human participants (13 females) whether the visuomotor object-directed action representation system that includes left-hemispheric premotor, parietal, and posterior temporal cortices is activated even under subliminal perceptual conditions. We found consistent activation in the target visuomotor cortices, both with and without perceptual awareness, specifically for pictures of manipulable versus non-manipulable objects. By means of a multivariate searchlight analysis, we also found that the brain activation patterns in this visuomotor network enabled the decoding of manipulable versus non-manipulable object picture processing, both with and without awareness. These findings demonstrate the intimate neural coupling between visual perception and motor representation that underlies manipulable object processing: manipulable object stimuli specifically engage the visuomotor object-directed action representation system, in a constitutive manner that is independent from perceptual awareness. This perceptuo-motor coupling endows the brain with an efficient mechanism for monitoring and planning reactions to external stimuli in the absence of awareness. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Our brain constantly encodes the visual information that hits the retina, leading to a stimulus-specific activation of sensory and semantic representations, even for objects that we do not consciously perceive. Do these unconscious representations encompass the motor

Action-based effects on music perception

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

Action-based effects on music perception.

PubMed

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

2014-01-03

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

Cognitive framing in action.

PubMed

Huhn, John M; Potts, Cory Adam; Rosenbaum, David A

2016-06-01

Cognitive framing effects have been widely reported in higher-level decision-making and have been ascribed to rules of thumb for quick thinking. No such demonstrations have been reported for physical action, as far as we know, but they would be expected if cognition for physical action is fundamentally similar to cognition for higher-level decision-making. To test for such effects, we asked participants to reach for a horizontally-oriented pipe to move it from one height to another while turning the pipe 180° to bring one end (the "business end") to a target on the left or right. From a physical perspective, participants could have always rotated the pipe in the same angular direction no matter which end was the business end; a given participant could have always turned the pipe clockwise or counter-clockwise. Instead, our participants turned the business end counter-clockwise for left targets and clockwise for right targets. Thus, the way the identical physical task was framed altered the way it was performed. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that cognition for physical action is fundamentally similar to cognition for higher-level decision-making. A tantalizing possibility is that higher-level decision heuristics have roots in the control of physical action, a hypothesis that accords with embodied views of cognition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

Action recognition is sensitive to the identity of the actor.

PubMed

Ferstl, Ylva; Bülthoff, Heinrich; de la Rosa, Stephan

2017-09-01

Recognizing who is carrying out an action is essential for successful human interaction. The cognitive mechanisms underlying this ability are little understood and have been subject of discussions in embodied approaches to action recognition. Here we examine one solution, that visual action recognition processes are at least partly sensitive to the actor's identity. We investigated the dependency between identity information and action related processes by testing the sensitivity of neural action recognition processes to clothing and facial identity information with a behavioral adaptation paradigm. Our results show that action adaptation effects are in fact modulated by both clothing information and the actor's facial identity. The finding demonstrates that neural processes underlying action recognition are sensitive to identity information (including facial identity) and thereby not exclusively tuned to actions. We suggest that such response properties are useful to help humans in knowing who carried out an action. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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.

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 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.

Infant discrimination of faces in naturalistic events: actions are more salient than faces.

PubMed

Bahrick, Lorraine E; Newell, Lisa C

2008-07-01

Despite the fact that faces are typically seen in the context of dynamic events, there is little research on infants' perception of moving faces. L. E. Bahrick, L. J. Gogate, and I. Ruiz (2002) demonstrated that 5-month-old infants discriminate and remember repetitive actions but not the faces of the women performing the actions. The present research tested an attentional salience explanation for these findings: that dynamic faces are discriminable to infants, but more salient actions compete for attention. Results demonstrated that 5-month-old infants discriminated faces in the context of actions when they had longer familiarization time (Experiment 1) and following habituation to a single person performing 3 different activities (Experiment 2). Further, 7-month-old infants who have had more experience with social events also discriminated faces in the context of actions. Overall, however, discrimination of actions was more robust and occurred earlier in processing time than discrimination of dynamic faces. These findings support an attentional salience hypothesis and indicate that faces are not special in the context of actions in early infancy.

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…

Game-XP: Action Games as Experimental Paradigms for Cognitive Science.

PubMed

Gray, Wayne D

2017-04-01

Why games? How could anyone consider action games an experimental paradigm for Cognitive Science? In 1973, as one of three strategies he proposed for advancing Cognitive Science, Allen Newell exhorted us to "accept a single complex task and do all of it." More specifically, he told us that rather than taking an "experimental psychology as usual approach," we should "focus on a series of experimental and theoretical studies around a single complex task" so as to demonstrate that our theories of human cognition were powerful enough to explain "a genuine slab of human behavior" with the studies fitting into a detailed theoretical picture. Action games represent the type of experimental paradigm that Newell was advocating and the current state of programming expertise and laboratory equipment, along with the emergence of Big Data and naturally occurring datasets, provide the technologies and data needed to realize his vision. Action games enable us to escape from our field's regrettable focus on novice performance to develop theories that account for the full range of expertise through a twin focus on expertise sampling (across individuals) and longitudinal studies (within individuals) of simple and complex tasks. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Motor Execution Affects Action Prediction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Springer, Anne; Brandstadter, Simone; Liepelt, Roman; Birngruber, Teresa; Giese, Martin; Mechsner, Franz; Prinz, Wolfgang

2011-01-01

Previous studies provided evidence of the claim that the prediction of occluded action involves real-time simulation. We report two experiments that aimed to study how real-time simulation is affected by simultaneous action execution under conditions of full, partial or no overlap between observed and executed actions. This overlap was analysed by…

COGNITION, ACTION, AND OBJECT MANIPULATION

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, David A.; Chapman, Kate M.; Weigelt, Matthias; Weiss, Daniel J.; van der Wel, Robrecht

2012-01-01

Although psychology is the science of mental life and behavior, it has paid little attention to the means by which mental life is translated into behavior. One domain where links between cognition and action have been explored is the manipulation of objects. This article reviews psychological research on this topic, with special emphasis on the tendency to grasp objects differently depending on what one plans to do with the objects. Such differential grasping has been demonstrated in a wide range of object manipulation tasks, including grasping an object in a way that reveals anticipation of the object's future orientation, height, and required placement precision. Differential grasping has also been demonstrated in a wide range of behaviors, including one-hand grasps, two-hand grasps, walking, and transferring objects from place to place as well as from person to person. The populations in whom the tendency has been shown are also diverse, including nonhuman primates as well as human adults, children, and babies. Meanwhile, the tendency is compromised in a variety of clinical populations and in children of a surprisingly advanced age. Verbal working memory is compromised as well if words are memorized while object manipulation tasks are performed; the recency portion of the serial position curve is reduced in this circumstance. In general, the research reviewed here points to rich connections between cognition and action as revealed through the study of object manipulation. Other implications concern affordances, Donders' Law, and naturalistic observation and the teaching of psychology. PMID:22448912

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…

Experimental demonstration of the vertical spin existence in evanescent waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maksimyak, P. P.; Maksimyak, A. P.; Ivanskyi, D. I.

2018-01-01

Physical existence of the recently discovered vertical spin arising in an evanescent light wave due to the total internal reflection of a linearly polarized probing beam with azimuthal angle 45° is experimentally verified. Mechanical action, caused by optical force, associated with the extraordinary transverse component of the spin in evanescent wave is demonstrated. The motion of a birefringent plate in a direction controlled by simultaneous action of the canonical momentum and the transversal spin momentum is observed. The contribution of the canonical and spin momenta in determination of the trajectory of the resulting motion occur commensurable under exceptionally delicately determined experimental conditions.

Effect of an educational game on university students' learning about action potentials.

PubMed

Luchi, Kelly Cristina Gaviao; Montrezor, Luís Henrique; Marcondes, Fernanda K

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an educational game that is used for teaching the mechanisms of the action potentials in cell membranes. The game was composed of pieces representing the intracellular and extracellular environments, ions, ion channels, and the Na + -K + -ATPase pump. During the game activity, the students arranged the pieces to demonstrate how the ions move through the membrane in a resting state and during an action potential, linking the ion movement with a graph of the action potential. To test the effect of the game activity on student understanding, first-year dental students were given the game to play at different times in a series of classes teaching resting membrane potential and action potentials. In all experiments, students who played the game performed better in assessments. According to 98% of the students, the game supported the learning process. The data confirm the students' perception, indicating that the educational game improved their understanding about action potentials. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

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…

Speech-Action Coordination in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balamore, Usha; Wozniak, Robert H.

1984-01-01

Speech-action coordination in 100 three and four year olds was measured according to a modified version of Wozniak's hammering-board task. Four instructional conditions (instructional, demonstration, vocalization, no vocalization) were presented in a numerical task ("Hit four times") and in two spatial tasks: three-color ("Hit red,…

Are you approaching me? Motor execution influences perceived action orientation.

PubMed

Manera, Valeria; Cavallo, Andrea; Chiavarino, Claudia; Schouten, Ben; Verfaillie, Karl; Becchio, Cristina

2012-01-01

Human observers are especially sensitive to the actions of conspecifics that match their own actions. This has been proposed to be critical for social interaction, providing the basis for empathy and joint action. However, the precise relation between observed and executed actions is still poorly understood. Do ongoing actions change the way observers perceive others' actions? To pursue this question, we exploited the bistability of depth-ambiguous point-light walkers, which can be perceived as facing towards the viewer or as facing away from the viewer. We demonstrate that point-light walkers are perceived more often as facing the viewer when the observer is walking on a treadmill compared to when the observer is performing an action that does not match the observed behavior (e.g., cycling). These findings suggest that motor processes influence the perceived orientation of observed actions: Acting observers tend to perceive similar actions by conspecifics as oriented towards themselves. We discuss these results in light of the possible mechanisms subtending action-induced modulation of perception.

Congruent leadership: values in action.

PubMed

Stanley, David

2008-07-01

To discuss the significance of an appropriate leadership theory in order to develop an understanding of clinical leadership. Leadership theories developed from management and related paradigms, particularly transformational leadership, may be ineffective in supporting nurses to gain insights into clinical leadership or to develop and implement clinical leadership skills. Instead, congruent leadership theory, based on a match between the clinical leaders' actions and their values and beliefs about care and nursing, may offer a more firm theoretical foundation on which clinical nurses can build an understanding of and capacity to implement clinical leadership or become clinical leaders. Evaluation The information used is drawn from the contemporary literature and a study conducted by the author. Leadership can be better understood when an appropriate theoretical foundation is employed. With regard to clinical leadership, congruent leadership is proposed as the most appropriate theory. It is important to recognize that leadership theories based on a management paradigm may not be appropriate for all clinical applications. Education should be aimed specifically at clinical leaders, recognizing that clinical leaders are followed not for their vision or creativity (even if they demonstrate these), but because they translate their values and beliefs about care into action.

I control therefore I do: judgments of agency influence action selection.

PubMed

Karsh, N; Eitam, B

2015-05-01

Our sense of being agents, that is of willingly controlling both our own bodies and the external environment is ubiquitous if thin. Empirical and theoretical work on this 'sense of agency' has documented motivational, cognitive and neural influences on implicit (out of awareness) and explicit (conscious) judgments of agency. For example, fluency of action selection processes has been recently shown to affect judgments of one's degree of control over an external event. However, it is an open question whether and how such judgments of agency act as input to other processes. In this study we demonstrate that the opposite relationship between action selection and judgment of agency also exists. Specifically, we show that manipulating one's objective control over the environment influences both the speed and the frequency of performing an action associated with that control. This pattern bears a striking resemblance to the effect that tangible rewards have on action selection and suggests that positive control feedback is rewarding to the organism, consequently affecting action selection. If further corroborated this 'reward from control' may explain everyday addictions such as prolonged engagement in arcade games and pathological behaviors, such as stereotypy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative synthesis and antimicrobial action of silver nanoparticles and silver nitrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosselhy, Dina A.; El-Aziz, Mohamed Abd; Hanna, Magdy; Ahmed, Mohamed A.; Husien, Mona M.; Feng, Qingling

2015-12-01

The high wave of antibiotic bacterial resistance has addressed an importance for administration of different antibacterial agents, as silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). However, many investigators still suffer conflict in the mechanistic antimicrobial action of Ag NPs and Ag+ ions. In this regard, our study investigated the comparative antimicrobial action of different sizes of Ag NPs as 8 (nAg1) and 29 (nAg2) nm, in comparison with silver nitrate (AgNO3) against five different bacterial species; Aeromonas hydrophila ( A. hydrophila), Pseudomonas putida ( Ps. putida), Escherichia coli ( E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus), and Bacillus subtilis ( B. subtilis) using agar diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The key role of the size of nanomaterials was detected, as the smaller Ag NPs (nAg1) showed more antimicrobial action than the larger particles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies demonstrated the different mechanistic antibacterial actions of Ag NPs and AgNO3. The effect of combining Ag NPs with antibiotics was also investigated. Synergistic effect of combining Ag NPs with ampicillin was detected against S. aureus, in a size-dependent manner as well. To summarize, our results point towards the major role played by the size of Ag NPs in their antimicrobial effects and the different toxic mechanisms of actions induced by Ag NPs and AgNO3.

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social learning in infancy: infants' neural processing of the effects of others' actions.

PubMed

Paulus, Markus; Hunnius, Sabine; Bekkering, Harold

2013-10-01

Social transmission of knowledge is one of the reasons for human evolutionary success, and it has been suggested that already human infants possess eminent social learning abilities. However, nothing is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms that subserve infants' acquisition of novel action knowledge through the observation of other people's actions and their consequences in the physical world. In an electroencephalogram study on social learning in infancy, we demonstrate that 9-month-old infants represent the environmental effects of others' actions in their own motor system, although they never achieved these effects themselves before. The results provide first insights into the neurocognitive basis of human infants' unique ability for social learning of novel action knowledge.

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%…

Prototypes reflect normative perceptions: implications for the development of reasoned action theory.

PubMed

Hennessy, Michael; Bleakley, Amy; Ellithorpe, Morgan

2018-03-01

The reasoned action approach is one of the most successful behavioral theories in the history of social psychology. This study outlines the theoretical principles of reasoned action and considers when it is appropriate to augment it with a new variable. To demonstrate, we use survey data collected from a 4 to 17 year old U.S. adolescents to test how the 'prototype' variables fit into reasoned action approach. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we find that the prototype measures are normative pressure measures and when treated as a separate theoretical construct, prototype identity is not completely mediated by the proximal predictors of behavioral intention. We discuss the assumptions of the two theories and finally consider the distinction between augmenting a specific theory versus combining measures derived from different theoretical perspectives.

Prototypes Reflect Normative Perceptions: Implications for the Development of Reasoned Action Theory

PubMed Central

Hennessy, Michael; Bleakley, Amy; Ellithorpe, Morgan

2017-01-01

The reasoned action approach is one of the most successful behavioral theories in the history of social psychology. This study outlines the theoretical principles of reasoned action and considers when it is appropriate to augment it with a new variable. To demonstrate, we use survey data collected from a 4–17 year old U.S. adolescents to test how the “prototype” variables fit into reasoned action approach. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we find that the prototype measures are normative pressure measures and when treated as a separate theoretical construct, prototype identity is not completely mediated by the proximal predictors of behavioral intention. We discuss the assumptions of the two theories and finally consider the distinction between augmenting a specific theory versus combining measures derived from different theoretical perspectives. PMID:28612624

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

Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A “do as other does” study

PubMed Central

Hernández-Lloreda, Mª Victoria; Esteban, José-Antonio; Colmenares, Fernando; Aboitiz, Francisco; Call, Josep

2017-01-01

Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a “Do as other does” paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned “Do as the other does” command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal “Do what-the-other-does”; (2) exhibited high matching accuracy for trained behaviors (mean = 84% of correct performance) after making the first successful copy on command; (3) copied successfully the new set of three familiar generalization behaviors that were untrained to the copy command (range of first copy = 12 to 35 trials); and (4) deployed a high level of matching accuracy (mean = 83%) after making the first copy of an untrained behavior on command. This is the first evidence of contextual imitation of intransitive (body-oriented) movements in the beluga and adds to the reported findings on production imitation of sounds in this species and production imitation of sounds and motor actions in several cetaceans, especially dolphins and killer whales. Collectively these findings highlight the notion that cetaceans have a natural propensity at skillfully and proficiently matching the sounds and body movements demonstrated by conspecifics, a fitness-enhancing propensity in the context of cooperative hunting and anti-predatory defense tactics, and of alliance formation strategies that have been documented in these species’ natural habitats. Future work should determine if the beluga can

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

78 FR 57623 - TRICARE Over-the-Counter Drug Demonstration Project

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-19

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary TRICARE Over-the-Counter Drug Demonstration Project AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DoD. ACTION: Notice of modification to the TRICARE Over-the-Counter Drug...) drugs to be included on the TRICARE uniform formulary. The Department has been engaged in a...

Action potentials drive body wall muscle contractions in Caenorhabditis elegans

PubMed Central

Gao, Shangbang; Zhen, Mei

2011-01-01

The sinusoidal locomotion exhibited by Caenorhabditis elegans predicts a tight regulation of contractions and relaxations of its body wall muscles. Vertebrate skeletal muscle contractions are driven by voltage-gated sodium channel–dependent action potentials. How coordinated motor outputs are regulated in C. elegans, which does not have voltage-gated sodium channels, remains unknown. Here, we show that C. elegans body wall muscles fire all-or-none, calcium-dependent action potentials that are driven by the L-type voltage-gated calcium and Kv1 voltage-dependent potassium channels. We further demonstrate that the excitatory and inhibitory motoneuron activities regulate the frequency of action potentials to coordinate muscle contraction and relaxation, respectively. This study provides direct evidence for the dual-modulatory model of the C. elegans motor circuit; moreover, it reveals a mode of motor control in which muscle cells integrate graded inputs of the nervous system and respond with all-or-none electrical signals. PMID:21248227

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,…

From social talk to social action: shaping the social triad with emotion sharing.

PubMed

Peters, Kim; Kashima, Yoshihisa

2007-11-01

Seemingly trivial social talk provides fertile ground for emotion sharing (a narrator and audience's realization that they experience the same emotional response toward a target), which in turn creates a coalition between the narrator and the audience, configures the narrator and audience's relationship with the target, and coordinates their target-directed action. In this article, the authors use 4 studies to investigate this thesis. In Studies 1 and 2--where participants rated scenarios in which narrators told them anecdotes--the authors found that when there was emotion sharing (a) participants were more bonded with narrators, (b) the narrator and audience's relationship with the target (as reflected in action tendencies) was determined by the emotionality of the anecdotes, and (c) they coordinated their target-directed actions. Study 3 demonstrated that this effect was indeed due to emotion sharing. Study 4 provided behavioral evidence for the effects of emotion sharing using a 2-person trust game. Together, these studies reveal that the everyday act of social talk is a powerful act that is able to shape the social triad of the narrator, the audience, and the social target, with powerful consequences for social structure and group action. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

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

Controlling Attention through Action: Observing Actions Primes Action-Related Stimulus Dimensions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagioli, Sabrina; Ferlazzo, Fabio; Hommel, Bernhard

2007-01-01

Previous findings suggest that planning an action "backward-primes" perceptual dimension related to this action: planning a grasp facilitates the processing of visual size information, while planning a reach facilitates the processing of location information. Here we show that dimensional priming of perception through action occurs even in the…

Further characterization of Bacillus subtilis antibiotic biosensors and their use for antibacterial mode-of-action studies.

PubMed

Mariner, Katherine R; Ooi, Nicola; Roebuck, Deborah; O'Neill, Alex J; Chopra, Ian

2011-04-01

We further examined the usefulness of previously reported Bacillus subtilis biosensors for antibacterial mode-of-action studies. The biosensors could not detect the tRNA synthetase inhibitors mupirocin, indolmycin, and borrelidin, some inhibitors of peptidoglycan synthesis, and most membrane-damaging agents. However, the biosensors confirmed the modes of action of several RNA polymerase inhibitors and DNA intercalators and provided new insights into the possible modes of action of ciprofloxacin, anhydrotetracycline, corralopyronin, 8-hydroxyquinoline, and juglone.

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

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,…

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.

The mirror neuron system: grasping others' actions from birth?

PubMed

Lepage, Jean-François; Théoret, Hugo

2007-09-01

In the adult human brain, the presence of a system matching the observation and the execution of actions is well established. This mechanism is thought to rely primarily on the contribution of so-called 'mirror neurons', cells that are active when a specific gesture is executed as well as when it is seen or heard. Despite the wealth of evidence detailing the existence of a mirror neuron system (MNS) in the adult brain, little is known about its normal development. Yet, a better understanding of the MNS in infants would be of considerable theoretical and clinical interest, as dysfunctions within the MNS have been demonstrated in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. Arguments in favor of an innate, or very early, mechanism underlying action understanding mainly come from studies of neonatal imitation, the existence of which has been questioned by some. Here, we review evidence suggesting the presence of an MNS in the human child, as well as work that suggests, although indirectly, the existence of a mechanism matching the perception and the execution of actions in the human newborn.

Action Prediction Allows Hypothesis Testing via Internal Forward Models at 6 Months of Age

PubMed Central

Gredebäck, Gustaf; Lindskog, Marcus; Juvrud, Joshua C.; Green, Dorota; Marciszko, Carin

2018-01-01

We propose that action prediction provides a cornerstone in a learning process known as internal forward models. According to this suggestion infants’ predictions (looking to the mouth of someone moving a spoon upward) will moments later be validated or proven false (spoon was in fact directed toward a bowl), information that is directly perceived as the distance between the predicted and actual goal. Using an individual difference approach we demonstrate that action prediction correlates with the tendency to react with surprise when social interactions are not acted out as expected (action evaluation). This association is demonstrated across tasks and in a large sample (n = 118) at 6 months of age. These results provide the first indication that infants might rely on internal forward models to structure their social world. Additional analysis, consistent with prior work and assumptions from embodied cognition, demonstrates that the latency of infants’ action predictions correlate with the infant’s own manual proficiency. PMID:29593600

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…

Label-free optical detection of action potential in mammalian neurons (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batabyal, Subrata; Satpathy, Sarmishtha; Bui, Loan; Kim, Young-Tae; Mohanty, Samarendra K.; Davé, Digant P.

2017-02-01

Electrophysiology techniques are the gold standard in neuroscience for studying functionality of a single neuron to a complex neuronal network. However, electrophysiology techniques are not flawless, they are invasive nature, procedures are cumbersome to implement with limited capability of being used as a high-throughput recording system. Also, long term studies of neuronal functionality with aid of electrophysiology is not feasible. Non-invasive stimulation and detection of neuronal electrical activity has been a long standing goal in neuroscience. Introduction of optogenetics has ushered in the era of non-invasive optical stimulation of neurons, which is revolutionizing neuroscience research. Optical detection of neuronal activity that is comparable to electro-physiology is still elusive. A number of optical techniques have been reported recording of neuronal electrical activity but none is capable of reliably measuring action potential spikes that is comparable to electro-physiology. Optical detection of action potential with voltage sensitive fluorescent reporters are potential alternatives to electrophysiology techniques. The heavily rely on secondary reporters, which are often toxic in nature with background fluorescence, with slow response and low SNR making them far from ideal. The detection of one shot (without averaging)-single action potential in a true label-free way has been elusive so far. In this report, we demonstrate the optical detection of single neuronal spike in a cultured mammalian neuronal network without using any exogenous labels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of label free optical detection of single action potentials in a mammalian neuronal network, which was achieved using a high-speed phase sensitive interferometer. We have carried out stimulation and inhibition of neuronal firing using Glutamate and Tetrodotoxin respectively to demonstrate the different outcome (stimulation and inhibition) revealed in

Proposed actions are no actions: re-modeling an ontology design pattern with a realist top-level ontology.

PubMed

Seddig-Raufie, Djamila; Jansen, Ludger; Schober, Daniel; Boeker, Martin; Grewe, Niels; Schulz, Stefan

2012-09-21

Ontology Design Patterns (ODPs) are representational artifacts devised to offer solutions for recurring ontology design problems. They promise to enhance the ontology building process in terms of flexibility, re-usability and expansion, and to make the result of ontology engineering more predictable. In this paper, we analyze ODP repositories and investigate their relation with upper-level ontologies. In particular, we compare the BioTop upper ontology to the Action ODP from the NeOn an ODP repository. In view of the differences in the respective approaches, we investigate whether the Action ODP can be embedded into BioTop. We demonstrate that this requires re-interpreting the meaning of classes of the NeOn Action ODP in the light of the precepts of realist ontologies. As a result, the re-design required clarifying the ontological commitment of the ODP classes by assigning them to top-level categories. Thus, ambiguous definitions are avoided. Classes of real entities are clearly distinguished from classes of information artifacts. The proposed approach avoids the commitment to the existence of unclear future entities which underlies the NeOn Action ODP. Our re-design is parsimonious in the sense that existing BioTop content proved to be largely sufficient to define the different types of actions and plans. The proposed model demonstrates that an expressive upper-level ontology provides enough resources and expressivity to represent even complex ODPs, here shown with the different flavors of Action as proposed in the NeOn ODP. The advantage of ODP inclusion into a top-level ontology is the given predetermined dependency of each class, an existing backbone structure and well-defined relations. Our comparison shows that the use of some ODPs is more likely to cause problems for ontology developers, rather than to guide them. Besides the structural properties, the explanation of classification results were particularly hard to grasp for 'self-sufficient' ODPs as

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.

One School's Approach to Overcoming Resistance and Improving Appraisal: Organizational Learning in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piggot-Irvine, Eileen

2010-01-01

This article reports on the action research (AR) approach adopted by one New Zealand (NZ) primary school to review and improve its appraisal system. Historically the staff had demonstrated considerable negativity towards appraisal. The classic reconnaissance, implementation and evaluation phases of AR were adopted by the case study school as a…

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

Whirl Flutter Studies for a SSTOL Transport Demonstrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acree, C. W., Jr.; Hoffman, Krishna

2004-01-01

A proposed new class of aircraft - the Advanced Theater Transport (ATT) will combine strategic range and high payload with 'Super-STOL' (short take-off and landing) capability. It is also proposed to modify a YC-15 into a technology demonstrator with a 20-deg tilt wing; four, eight-bladed propellers; cross-shafted gearboxes and V-22 engines. These constitute a unique combination of design features that potentially affect performance, loads and whirl-mode stability (whirl flutter). NASA Ames Research Center is working with Boeing and Hamilton Sundstrand on technology challenges presented by the concept; the purpose of NASA involvement is to establish requirements for the demonstrator and for early design guidance, with emphasis on whirl flutter. CAMRAD II is being used to study the effects of various design features on whirl flutter, with special attention to areas where such features differ from existing aircraft, notably tiltrotors. Although the stability margins appear to be more than adequate, the concept requires significantly different analytical methods, principally including far more blade modes, than typically used for tiltrotors.

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.…

From the Cover: Fenretinide, Troglitazone, and Elmiron Add to Weight of Evidence Support for Hemangiosarcoma Mode-of-Action From Studies in Mice.

PubMed

Cook, Jon C; Obert, Leslie A; Koza-Taylor, Petra; Coskran, Timothy M; Opsahl, Alan C; Ziemek, Daniel; Roy, Marc; Qian, Jessie; Lawton, Michael P; Criswell, Kay A

2018-01-01

Pharmaceuticals and chemicals produce hemangiosarcomas (HS) in mice, often by nongenotoxic, proliferative mechanisms. A mode-of-action (MOA) for hemangiosarcoma was proposed based on information presented at an international workshop (Cohen et al., Hemangiosarcoma in rodents: Mode-of-action evaluation and human relevance. Toxicol. Sci. 111, 4-18.). Five key elements of the MOA were articulated and included hypoxia, macrophage activation, increased angiogenic growth factors, dysregulated angiogenesis/erythropoiesis, and endothial cell proliferation. The goal of the current study was to add to the weight-of-evidence for the proposed MOA by assessing these key elements with 3 different compounds of varying potency for HS induction: fenretinide (high), troglitazone (intermediate), and elmiron (low). Multiple endpoints, including hypoxia (hyproxyprobe, transcriptomics), endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, and clinical and anatomic pathology, were assessed after 2, 4, and 13-weeks of treatment in B6C3F1 mice. All 3 compounds demonstrated strong evidence for dysregulated erythropoiesis (decrease in RBC and a failure to increase reticulocytes) and macrophage activation (4- to 11-fold increases); this pattern of hematological changes in mice might serve as an early biomarker to evaluate EC proliferation in suspected target organs for potential HS formation. Fenretinide demonstrated all 5 key elements, while troglitazone demonstrated 4 and elmiron demonstrated 3. Transcriptomics provided support for the 5 elements of the MOA, but was not any more sensitive than hypoxyprobe immunohistochemistry for detecting hypoxia. The overall transcriptional evidence for the key elements of the proposed MOA was also consistent with the potency of HS induction. These data, coupled with the previous work with 2-butoxyethanol and pregablin, increase the weight-of-evidence for the proposed MOA for HS formation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the

Interference from related actions in spoken word production: Behavioural and fMRI evidence.

PubMed

de Zubicaray, Greig; Fraser, Douglas; Ramajoo, Kori; McMahon, Katie

2017-02-01

Few investigations of lexical access in spoken word production have investigated the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in action naming. These are likely to be more complex than the mechanisms involved in object naming, due to the ways in which conceptual features of action words are represented. The present study employed a blocked cyclic naming paradigm to examine whether related action contexts elicit a semantic interference effect akin to that observed with categorically related objects. Participants named pictures of intransitive actions to avoid a confound with object processing. In Experiment 1, body-part related actions (e.g., running, walking, skating, hopping) were named significantly slower compared to unrelated actions (e.g., laughing, running, waving, hiding). Experiment 2 employed perfusion functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural mechanisms involved in this semantic interference effect. Compared to unrelated actions, naming related actions elicited significant perfusion signal increases in frontotemporal cortex, including bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and hippocampus, and decreases in bilateral posterior temporal, occipital and parietal cortices, including intraparietal sulcus (IPS). The findings demonstrate a role for temporoparietal cortex in conceptual-lexical processing of intransitive action knowledge during spoken word production, and support the proposed involvement of interference resolution and incremental learning mechanisms in the blocked cyclic naming paradigm. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interactive chemistry management system (ICMS); Field demonstration results at United Illuminating

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

Noto, F.A.; Farrell, D.M.; Lombard, E.V.

1988-01-01

The authors report on a field demonstration of the interactive chemistry management system (ICMS) performed in the late summer of 1987 at the New Haven Harbor Station of United Illuminating Co. This demonstration was the first installation of the ICMS at an actual plant site. The ICMS is a computer-based system designed to monitor, diagnose, and provide optional automatic control of water and steam chemistry throughout the steam generator cycle. It is one of the diagnostic modules that comprises CE-TOPS (combustion engineering total on-line performance system), which continuously monitors operating conditions and suggests priority actions to increase operation efficiency, extendmore » the performance life of boiler components and reduce maintenance costs. By reducing the number of forced outages through early identification of potentially detrimental conditions, diagnosis of possible causes, and execution of corrective actions, improvements in unit availability and reliability will result.« less

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.

Nonlinear analysis of saccade speed fluctuations during combined action and perception tasks

PubMed Central

Stan, C.; Astefanoaei, C.; Pretegiani, E.; Optican, L.; Creanga, D.; Rufa, A.; Cristescu, C.P.

2014-01-01

Background: Saccades are rapid eye movements used to gather information about a scene which requires both action and perception. These are usually studied separately, so that how perception influences action is not well understood. In a dual task, where the subject looks at a target and reports a decision, subtle changes in the saccades might be caused by action-perception interactions. Studying saccades might provide insight into how brain pathways for action and for perception interact. New method: We applied two complementary methods, multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and Lempel-Ziv complexity index to eye peak speed recorded in two experiments, a pure action task and a combined action-perception task. Results: Multifractality strength is significantly different in the two experiments, showing smaller values for dual decision task saccades compared to simple-task saccades. The normalized Lempel-Ziv complexity index behaves similarly i.e. is significantly smaller in the decision saccade task than in the simple task. Comparison with existing methods: Compared to the usual statistical and linear approaches, these analyses emphasize the character of the dynamics involved in the fluctuations and offer a sensitive tool for quantitative evaluation of the multifractal features and of the complexity measure in the saccades peak speeds when different brain circuits are involved. Conclusion: Our results prove that the peak speed fluctuations have multifractal characteristics with lower magnitude for the multifractality strength and for the complexity index when two neural pathways are simultaneously activated, demonstrating the nonlinear interaction in the brain pathways for action and perception. PMID:24854830

Neural representations of kinematic laws of motion: evidence for action-perception coupling.

PubMed

Dayan, Eran; Casile, Antonino; Levit-Binnun, Nava; Giese, Martin A; Hendler, Talma; Flash, Tamar

2007-12-18

Behavioral and modeling studies have established that curved and drawing human hand movements obey the 2/3 power law, which dictates a strong coupling between movement curvature and velocity. Human motion perception seems to reflect this constraint. The functional MRI study reported here demonstrates that the brain's response to this law of motion is much stronger and more widespread than to other types of motion. Compliance with this law is reflected in the activation of a large network of brain areas subserving motor production, visual motion processing, and action observation functions. Hence, these results strongly support the notion of similar neural coding for motion perception and production. These findings suggest that cortical motion representations are optimally tuned to the kinematic and geometrical invariants characterizing biological actions.

Children perseverate to a human's actions but not to a robot's actions.

PubMed

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 dimension (e.g. shape), after which they were asked to sort according to a different dimension (e.g. colour). The results showed that children's behaviours in the task were significantly influenced by the human model's actions but not by the robot's actions. Experiment 2 excluded the possibility that children's behaviours were not affected by the robot's actions because they did not observe its actions. We concluded that children's perseverative errors from social observation resulted, in part, from their socio-cognitive ability.

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.

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…

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…

Action video game play facilitates the development of better perceptual templates.

PubMed

Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Zhang, Ruyuan; Li, Renjie; Pouget, Alexandre; Green, C Shawn; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Bavelier, Daphne

2014-11-25

The field of perceptual learning has identified changes in perceptual templates as a powerful mechanism mediating the learning of statistical regularities in our environment. By measuring threshold-vs.-contrast curves using an orientation identification task under varying levels of external noise, the perceptual template model (PTM) allows one to disentangle various sources of signal-to-noise changes that can alter performance. We use the PTM approach to elucidate the mechanism that underlies the wide range of improvements noted after action video game play. We show that action video game players make use of improved perceptual templates compared with nonvideo game players, and we confirm a causal role for action video game play in inducing such improvements through a 50-h training study. Then, by adapting a recent neural model to this task, we demonstrate how such improved perceptual templates can arise from reweighting the connectivity between visual areas. Finally, we establish that action gamers do not enter the perceptual task with improved perceptual templates. Instead, although performance in action gamers is initially indistinguishable from that of nongamers, action gamers more rapidly learn the proper template as they experience the task. Taken together, our results establish for the first time to our knowledge the development of enhanced perceptual templates following action game play. Because such an improvement can facilitate the inference of the proper generative model for the task at hand, unlike perceptual learning that is quite specific, it thus elucidates a general learning mechanism that can account for the various behavioral benefits noted after action game play.

Action video game play facilitates the development of better perceptual templates

PubMed Central

Bejjanki, Vikranth R.; Zhang, Ruyuan; Li, Renjie; Pouget, Alexandre; Green, C. Shawn; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Bavelier, Daphne

2014-01-01

The field of perceptual learning has identified changes in perceptual templates as a powerful mechanism mediating the learning of statistical regularities in our environment. By measuring threshold-vs.-contrast curves using an orientation identification task under varying levels of external noise, the perceptual template model (PTM) allows one to disentangle various sources of signal-to-noise changes that can alter performance. We use the PTM approach to elucidate the mechanism that underlies the wide range of improvements noted after action video game play. We show that action video game players make use of improved perceptual templates compared with nonvideo game players, and we confirm a causal role for action video game play in inducing such improvements through a 50-h training study. Then, by adapting a recent neural model to this task, we demonstrate how such improved perceptual templates can arise from reweighting the connectivity between visual areas. Finally, we establish that action gamers do not enter the perceptual task with improved perceptual templates. Instead, although performance in action gamers is initially indistinguishable from that of nongamers, action gamers more rapidly learn the proper template as they experience the task. Taken together, our results establish for the first time to our knowledge the development of enhanced perceptual templates following action game play. Because such an improvement can facilitate the inference of the proper generative model for the task at hand, unlike perceptual learning that is quite specific, it thus elucidates a general learning mechanism that can account for the various behavioral benefits noted after action game play. PMID:25385590

Building words on actions: verb enactment and verb recognition in children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Levi, Gabriel; Colonnello, Valentina; Giacchè, Roberta; Piredda, Maria Letizia; Sogos, Carla

2014-05-01

Recent studies have shown that language processing is grounded in actions. Multiple independent research findings indicate that children with specific language impairment (SLI) show subtle difficulties beyond the language domain. Uncertainties remain on possible association between body-mediated, non-linguistic expression of verbs and early manifestation of SLI during verb acquisition. The present study was conducted to determine whether verb production through non-linguistic modalities is impaired in children with SLI. Children with SLI (mean age 41 months) and typically developing children (mean age 40 months) were asked to recognize target verbs while viewing video clips showing the action associated with the verb (verb-recognition task) and to enact the action corresponding to the verb (verb-enacting task). Children with SLI performed more poorly than control children in both tasks. The present study demonstrates that early language impairment emerges at the bodily level. These findings are consistent with the embodied theories of cognition and underscore the role of action-based representations during language development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Absence of spontaneous action anticipation by false belief attribution in children with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Senju, Atsushi; Southgate, Victoria; Miura, Yui; Matsui, Tomoko; Hasegawa, Toshikazu; Tojo, Yoshikuni; Osanai, Hiroo; Csibra, Gergely

2010-05-01

Recently, a series of studies demonstrated false belief understanding in young children through completely nonverbal measures. These studies have revealed that children younger than 3 years of age, who consistently fail the standard verbal false belief test, can anticipate others' actions based on their attributed false beliefs. The current study examined whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who are known to have difficulties in the verbal false belief test, may also show such action anticipation in a nonverbal false belief test. We presented video stimuli of an actor watching an object being hidden in a box. The object was then displaced while the actor was looking away. We recorded children's eye movements and coded whether they spontaneously anticipated the actor's subsequent behavior, which could only have been predicted if they had attributed a false belief to her. Although typically developing children correctly anticipated the action, children with ASD failed to show such action anticipation. The results suggest that children with ASD have an impairment in false belief attribution, which is independent of their verbal ability.

Coordinating resources for prospective medication risk management of older home care clients in primary care: procedure development and RCT study design for demonstrating its effectiveness.

PubMed

Toivo, Terhi; Dimitrow, Maarit; Puustinen, Juha; Savela, Eeva; Pelkonen, Katariina; Kiuru, Valtteri; Suominen, Tuula; Kinnunen, Sirkka; Uunimäki, Mira; Kivelä, Sirkka-Liisa; Leikola, Saija; Airaksinen, Marja

2018-03-16

The magnitude of safety risks related to medications of the older adults has been evidenced by numerous studies, but less is known of how to manage and prevent these risks in different health care settings. The aim of this study was to coordinate resources for prospective medication risk management of home care clients ≥ 65 years in primary care and to develop a study design for demonstrating effectiveness of the procedure. Health care units involved in the study are from primary care in Lohja, Southern Finland: home care (191 consented clients), the public healthcare center, and a private community pharmacy. System based risk management theory and action research method was applied to construct the collaborative procedure utilizing each profession's existing resources in medication risk management of older home care clients. An inventory of clinical measures in usual clinical practice and systematic review of rigorous study designs was utilized in effectiveness study design. The new coordinated medication management model (CoMM) has the following 5 stages: 1) practical nurses are trained to identify clinically significant drug-related problems (DRPs) during home visits and report those to the clinical pharmacist. Clinical pharmacist prepares the cases for 2) an interprofessional triage meeting (50-70 cases/meeting of 2 h) where decisions are made on further action, e.g., more detailed medication reviews, 3) community pharmacists conduct necessary medication reviews and each patients' physician makes final decisions on medication changes needed. The final stages concern 4) implementation and 5) follow-up of medication changes. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) was developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedure. The developed procedure is feasible for screening and reviewing medications of a high number of older home care clients to identify clients with severe DRPs and provide interventions to solve them utilizing existing primary care resources

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.

Explaining radical group behavior: Developing emotion and efficacy routes to normative and nonnormative collective action.

PubMed

Tausch, Nicole; Becker, Julia C; Spears, Russell; Christ, Oliver; Saab, Rim; Singh, Purnima; Siddiqui, Roomana N

2011-07-01

A recent model of collective action distinguishes 2 distinct pathways: an emotional pathway whereby anger in response to injustice motivates action and an efficacy pathway where the belief that issues can be solved collectively increases the likelihood that group members take action (van Zomeren, Spears, Fischer, & Leach, 2004). Research supporting this model has, however, focused entirely on relatively normative actions such as participating in demonstrations. We argue that the relations between emotions, efficacy, and action differ for more extreme, nonnormative actions and propose (a) that nonnormative actions are often driven by a sense of low efficacy and (b) that contempt, which, unlike anger, entails psychological distancing and a lack of reconciliatory intentions, predicts nonnormative action. These ideas were tested in 3 survey studies examining student protests against tuition fees in Germany (N = 332), Indian Muslims' action support in relation to ingroup disadvantage (N = 156), and British Muslims' responses to British foreign policy (N = 466). Results were generally supportive of predictions and indicated that (a) anger was strongly related to normative action but overall unrelated or less strongly related to nonnormative action, (b) contempt was either unrelated or negatively related to normative action but significantly positively predicted nonnormative action, and (c) efficacy was positively related to normative action and negatively related to nonnormative action. The implications of these findings for understanding and dealing with extreme intergroup phenomena such as terrorism are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Rapid Antidepressant Actions of Scopolamine: Role of Medial Prefrontal Cortex and M1-subtype Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors

PubMed Central

Navarria, Andrea; Wohleb, Eric S.; Voleti, Bhavya; Ota, Kristie T.; Dutheil, Sophie; Lepack, Ashley E.; Dwyer, Jason M.; Fuchikami, Manabu; Becker, Astrid; Drago, Filippo; Duman, Ronald S.

2015-01-01

Clinical studies demonstrate that scopolamine, a nonselective muscarinic acetycholine receptor (mAchR) antagonist, produces rapid therapeutic effects in depressed patients, and preclinical studies report that the actions of scopolamine require glutamate receptor activation and the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The present study extends these findings to determine the role of the mPFC and specific muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M-AchR) subtypes in the actions of scopolamine. Administration of scopolamine increases the activity marker Fos in the mPFC, including the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PrL) subregions. Microinfusions of scopolamine into either the IL or PrL produced significant antidepressant responses in the forced swim test, and neuronal silencing of IL or PrL blocked the antidepressant effects of systemic scopolamine. The results also demonstrate that systemic administration of a selective M1-AChR antagonist, VU0255035 produced an antidepressant response and stimulated mTORC1 signaling in the PFC, similar to the actions of scopolamine. Finally, we used a chronic unpredictable stress model as a more rigorous test of rapid antidepressant actions, and found that scopolamine or VU0255035 administration blocked the anhedonic response caused by CUS, an effect that requires chronic administration of typical antidepressants. Taken together, these findings indicate that mPFC is a critical mediator of the behavioral actions of scopolamine, and identify the M1-AChR as a therapeutic target for the development of novel and selective rapid-acting antidepressants. PMID:26102021

Rapid antidepressant actions of scopolamine: Role of medial prefrontal cortex and M1-subtype muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.

PubMed

Navarria, Andrea; Wohleb, Eric S; Voleti, Bhavya; Ota, Kristie T; Dutheil, Sophie; Lepack, Ashley E; Dwyer, Jason M; Fuchikami, Manabu; Becker, Astrid; Drago, Filippo; Duman, Ronald S

2015-10-01

Clinical studies demonstrate that scopolamine, a non-selective muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAchR) antagonist, produces rapid therapeutic effects in depressed patients, and preclinical studies report that the actions of scopolamine require glutamate receptor activation and the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). The present study extends these findings to determine the role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and specific muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M-AchR) subtypes in the actions of scopolamine. The administration of scopolamine increases the activity marker Fos in the mPFC, including the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PrL) subregions. Microinfusions of scopolamine into either the IL or the PrL produced significant antidepressant responses in the forced swim test, and neuronal silencing of IL or PrL blocked the antidepressant effects of systemic scopolamine. The results also demonstrate that the systemic administration of a selective M1-AChR antagonist, VU0255035, produced an antidepressant response and stimulated mTORC1 signaling in the PFC, similar to the actions of scopolamine. Finally, we used a chronic unpredictable stress model as a more rigorous test of rapid antidepressant actions and found that a single dose of scopolamine or VU0255035 blocked the anhedonic response caused by CUS, an effect that requires the chronic administration of typical antidepressants. Taken together, these findings indicate that mPFC is a critical mediator of the behavioral actions of scopolamine and identify the M1-AChR as a therapeutic target for the development of novel and selective rapid-acting antidepressants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The dorsal "action" pathway.

PubMed

Gallivan, Jason P; Goodale, Melvyn A

2018-01-01

In 1992, Goodale and Milner proposed a division of labor in the visual pathways of the primate cerebral cortex. According to their account, the ventral pathway, which projects to occipitotemporal cortex, constructs our visual percepts, while the dorsal pathway, which projects to posterior parietal cortex, mediates the visual control of action. Although the framing of the two-visual-system hypothesis has not been without controversy, it is clear that vision for action and vision for perception have distinct computational requirements, and significant support for the proposed neuroanatomic division has continued to emerge over the last two decades from human neuropsychology, neuroimaging, behavioral psychophysics, and monkey neurophysiology. In this chapter, we review much of this evidence, with a particular focus on recent findings from human neuroimaging and monkey neurophysiology, demonstrating a specialized role for parietal cortex in visually guided behavior. But even though the available evidence suggests that dedicated circuits mediate action and perception, in order to produce adaptive goal-directed behavior there must be a close coupling and seamless integration of information processing across these two systems. We discuss such ventral-dorsal-stream interactions and argue that the two pathways play different, yet complementary, roles in the production of skilled behavior. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. 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.

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

Functional Deficits in the Extrastriate Body Area During Observation of Sports-Related Actions in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Takahashi, Hidehiko; Kato, Motoichiro; Sassa, Takeshi; Shibuya, Tomohisa; Koeda, Michihiko; Yahata, Noriaki; Matsuura, Masato; Asai, Kunihiko; Suhara, Tetsuya; Okubo, Yoshiro

2010-01-01

Exercise and sports are increasingly being implemented in the management of schizophrenia. The process of action perception is as important as that of motor execution for learning and acquiring new skills. Recent studies have suggested that body-selective extrastriate body area (EBA) in the posterior temporal-occipital cortex is involved not only in static visual perception of body parts but also in the planning, imagination, and execution of actions. However, functional abnormality of the EBA in schizophrenia has yet to be investigated. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a task designed to activate the EBA by sports-related actions, we aimed to elucidate functional abnormality of the EBA during observation of sports-related actions in patients with schizophrenia. Twelve schizophrenia patients and 12 age-sex–matched control participants participated in the study. Using sports-related motions as visual stimuli, we examined brain activations during observation of context-congruent actions relative to context-incongruent actions by fMRI. Compared with controls, the patients with schizophrenia demonstrated diminished activation in the EBA during observation of sports-related context-congruent actions. Furthermore, the EBA activation in patients was negatively correlated with the severity of negative and general psychopathology symptoms measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Dysfunction of the EBA might reflect a difficulty in representing dynamic aspects of human actions and possibly lead to impairments of simulation, learning, and execution of actions in schizophrenia. PMID:18927345

Early Action on HFCs Mitigates Future Atmospheric Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurwitz, Margaret M.; Fleming, Eric L.; Newman, Paul A.; Li, Feng; Liang, Qing

2017-01-01

As countries take action to mitigate global warming, both by ratifying the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and enacting the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to manage hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), it is important to consider the relative importance of the pertinent greenhouse gases (GHGs), the distinct structure of their atmospheric impacts, and how the timing of potential GHG regulations would affect future changes in atmospheric temperature and ozone. Chemistry-climate model simulations demonstrate that HFCs could contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change by the mid-21st century, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere i.e., global average warming up to 0.19K at 80hPa. Three HFC mitigation scenarios demonstrate the benefits of taking early action in avoiding future atmospheric change: more than 90 of the climate change impacts of HFCs can be avoided if emissions stop by 2030.

Early Action on HFCs Mitigates Future Atmospheric Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurwitz, Margaret; Fleming, Eric; Newman, Paul; Li, Feng; Liang, Qing

2017-04-01

As countries take action to mitigate global warming, both by ratifying the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and enacting the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to manage hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), it is important to consider the relative importance of the pertinent greenhouse gases (GHGs), the distinct structure of their atmospheric impacts, and how the timing of potential GHG regulations would affect future changes in atmospheric temperature and ozone. Chemistry-climate model simulations demonstrate that HFCs could contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change by the mid-21st century, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere i.e., global average warming up to 0.19K at 80hPa. Three HFC mitigation scenarios demonstrate the benefits of taking early action in avoiding future atmospheric change: more than 90% of the climate change impacts of HFCs can be avoided if emissions stop by 2030.

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…

What Three-Year-Olds Remember from Their Past: Long-Term Memory for Persons, Objects, and Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirte, Monika; Graf, Frauke; Kim, Ziyon; Knopf, Monika

2017-01-01

From birth on, infants show long-term recognition memory for persons. Furthermore, infants from six months onwards are able to store and retrieve demonstrated actions over long-term intervals in deferred imitation tasks. Thus, information about the model demonstrating the object-related actions is stored and recognition memory for the objects as…

34 CFR 426.7 - What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Agriculture Action Centers? 426.7 Section 426.7 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM General § 426.7 What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers? The Secretary supports model Agriculture Action Centers that provide improved access to...

34 CFR 426.7 - What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Agriculture Action Centers? 426.7 Section 426.7 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM General § 426.7 What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers? The Secretary supports model Agriculture Action Centers that provide improved access to...

34 CFR 426.7 - What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Agriculture Action Centers? 426.7 Section 426.7 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM General § 426.7 What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers? The Secretary supports model Agriculture Action Centers that provide improved access to...

34 CFR 426.7 - What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Agriculture Action Centers? 426.7 Section 426.7 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM General § 426.7 What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers? The Secretary supports model Agriculture Action Centers that provide improved access to...

34 CFR 426.7 - What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Agriculture Action Centers? 426.7 Section 426.7 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM General § 426.7 What activities does the Secretary fund under the Agriculture Action Centers? The Secretary supports model Agriculture Action Centers that provide improved access to...

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 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.

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...

Orbital construction demonstration study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

A conceptual design and program plan for an Orbital Construction Demonstration Article (OCDA) was developed that can be used for evaluating and establishing practical large structural assembly operations. A flight plan for initial placement and continued utility is presented as a basic for an entirely new shuttle payload line-item having great future potential benefit for space applications. The OCDA is a three-axis stabilized platform in low-earth orbit with many structural nodals for mounting large construction and fabrication equipments. This equipment would be used to explore methods for constructing the large structures for future missions. The OCDA would be supported at regular intervals by the shuttle. Construction experiments and consumables resupply are performed during shuttle visit periods. A 250 kw solar array provides sufficient power to support the shuttle while attached to the OCDA and to run construction experiments at the same time. Wide band communications with a Telemetry and Data Relay Satellite compatible high gain antenna can be used between shuttle revisits to perform remote controlled, TV assisted construction experiments.

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

The one that does, leads: action relations influence the perceived temporal order of graspable objects.

PubMed

Roberts, Katherine L; Humphreys, Glyn W

2010-06-01

Perception and action are influenced by the "possibilities for action" in the environment. Neuropsychological studies (e.g., Riddoch, Humphreys, Edwards, Baker, & Willson, 2003) have demonstrated that objects that are perceived to be interacting (e.g., a corkscrew going toward the top of a wine bottle) are perceptually integrated into a functional unit, facilitating report of both objects. In addition, patients with parietal damage tend to report the "active" item of the pair (the corkscrew in the above example) when the objects are positioned for action, overriding their spatial bias toward the ipsilesional side. Using a temporal order judgment task we show for the first time that normal viewers judge that active objects appear earlier when they are positioned correctly for action. This effect is not dependent on a learned relationship between objects, or on the active object being integrated at a perceptual level with the object it is paired with. The data suggest that actions afforded by a correctly positioned active object permeate normal perceptual judgments.

Demonstration Report: ESTCP UXO Discrimination Study ESTCP PROJECT # MM-0838

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

Gasperikova, Erika

2010-02-15

In 2003, the Defense Science Board observed: 'The problem is that instruments that can detect the buried UXOs also detect numerous scrap metal objects and other artifacts, which leads to an enormous amount of expensive digging. Typically 100 holes may be dug before a real UXO is unearthed! The Task Force assessment is that much of this wasteful digging can be eliminated by the use of more advanced technology instruments that exploit modern digital processing and advanced multi-mode sensors to achieve an improved level of discrimination of scrap from UXOs.' Significant progress has been made in discrimination technology. To date,more » testing of these approaches has been primarily limited to test sites with only limited application at live sites. Acceptance of discrimination technologies requires demonstration of system capabilities at real UXO sites under real world conditions. Any attempt to declare detected anomalies to be harmless and requiring no further investigation will require demonstration to regulators of not only individual technologies, but of an entire decision making process. This characterization study was be the second phase in what is expected to be a continuing effort that will span several years. The FY06 Defense Appropriation contained funding for the 'Development of Advanced, Sophisticated, Discrimination Technologies for UXO Cleanup' in the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). ESTCP responded by conducting a UXO Discrimination Study at the former Camp Sibert, AL. The results of this first demonstration were very encouraging. Although conditions were favorable at this site, a single target of interest (4.2-in mortar) and benign topography and geology, all of the classification approaches demonstrated were able to correctly identify a sizable fraction of the anomalies as arising from non-hazardous items that could be safely left in the ground. To build upon the success of the first phase of this study, ESTCP

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…

Continuous Human Action Recognition Using Depth-MHI-HOG and a Spotter Model

PubMed Central

Eum, Hyukmin; Yoon, Changyong; Lee, Heejin; Park, Mignon

2015-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new method for spotting and recognizing continuous human actions using a vision sensor. The method is comprised of depth-MHI-HOG (DMH), action modeling, action spotting, and recognition. First, to effectively separate the foreground from background, we propose a method called DMH. It includes a standard structure for segmenting images and extracting features by using depth information, MHI, and HOG. Second, action modeling is performed to model various actions using extracted features. The modeling of actions is performed by creating sequences of actions through k-means clustering; these sequences constitute HMM input. Third, a method of action spotting is proposed to filter meaningless actions from continuous actions and to identify precise start and end points of actions. By employing the spotter model, the proposed method improves action recognition performance. Finally, the proposed method recognizes actions based on start and end points. We evaluate recognition performance by employing the proposed method to obtain and compare probabilities by applying input sequences in action models and the spotter model. Through various experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient for recognizing continuous human actions in real environments. PMID:25742172

Priming of reach trajectory when observing actions: Hand-centred effects

PubMed Central

Griffiths, Debra; Tipper, Steven P.

2009-01-01

When another person's actions are observed it appears that these actions are simulated, such that similar motor processes are triggered in the observer. Much evidence suggests that such simulation concerns the achievement of behavioural goals, such as grasping a particular object, and is less concerned with the specific nature of the action, such as the path the hand takes to reach the goal object. We demonstrate that when observing another person reach around an obstacle, an observer's subsequent reach has an increased curved trajectory, reflecting motor priming of reach path. This priming of reach trajectory via action observation can take place under a variety of circumstances: with or without a shared goal, and when the action is seen from a variety of perspectives. However, of most importance, the reach path priming effect is only evoked if the obstacle avoided by another person is within the action (peripersonal) space of the observer. PMID:19731190

The affordance-matching hypothesis: how objects guide action understanding and prediction

PubMed Central

Bach, Patric; Nicholson, Toby; Hudson, Matthew

2014-01-01

Action understanding lies at the heart of social interaction. Prior research has often conceptualized this capacity in terms of a motoric matching of observed actions to an action in one’s motor repertoire, but has ignored the role of object information. In this manuscript, we set out an alternative conception of intention understanding, which places the role of objects as central to our observation and comprehension of the actions of others. We outline the current understanding of the interconnectedness of action and object knowledge, demonstrating how both rely heavily on the other. We then propose a novel framework, the affordance-matching hypothesis, which incorporates these findings into a simple model of action understanding, in which object knowledge—what an object is for and how it is used—can inform and constrain both action interpretation and prediction. We will review recent empirical evidence that supports such an object-based view of action understanding and we relate the affordance matching hypothesis to recent proposals that have re-conceptualized the role of mirror neurons in action understanding. PMID:24860468

Biological mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant: case study

PubMed Central

Przybysz, Arkadiusz; Gawrońska, Helena; Gajc-Wolska, Janina

2014-01-01

The challenges facing modern plant production involve (i) responding to the demand for food and resources of plant origin from the world's rapidly growing population, (ii) coping with the negative impact of stressful conditions mainly due to anthropopressure, and (iii) meeting consumers' new requirements and preferences for food that is high in nutritive value, natural, and free from harmful chemical additives. Despite employing the most modern plant cultivation technologies and the progress that has been made in breeding programs, the genetically-determined crop potential is still far from being fully exploited. Consequently yield and quality are often reduced, making production less, both profitable and attractive. There is an increasing desire to reduce the chemical input in agriculture and there has been a change toward integrated plant management and sustainable, environmentally-friendly systems. Biostimulants are a category of relatively new products of diverse formulations that positively affect a plant's vital processes and whose impact is usually more evident under stressful conditions. In this paper, information is provided on the mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant, Atonik, in model species and economically important crops grown under both field and controlled conditions in a growth chamber. The effects of Atonik on plant morphology, physiology, biochemistry (crops and model plant) and yield and yield parameters (crops) is demonstrated. Effects of other biostimulants on studied in this work processes/parameters are also presented in discussion. PMID:25566287

Biological mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant: case study.

PubMed

Przybysz, Arkadiusz; Gawrońska, Helena; Gajc-Wolska, Janina

2014-01-01

The challenges facing modern plant production involve (i) responding to the demand for food and resources of plant origin from the world's rapidly growing population, (ii) coping with the negative impact of stressful conditions mainly due to anthropopressure, and (iii) meeting consumers' new requirements and preferences for food that is high in nutritive value, natural, and free from harmful chemical additives. Despite employing the most modern plant cultivation technologies and the progress that has been made in breeding programs, the genetically-determined crop potential is still far from being fully exploited. Consequently yield and quality are often reduced, making production less, both profitable and attractive. There is an increasing desire to reduce the chemical input in agriculture and there has been a change toward integrated plant management and sustainable, environmentally-friendly systems. Biostimulants are a category of relatively new products of diverse formulations that positively affect a plant's vital processes and whose impact is usually more evident under stressful conditions. In this paper, information is provided on the mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant, Atonik, in model species and economically important crops grown under both field and controlled conditions in a growth chamber. The effects of Atonik on plant morphology, physiology, biochemistry (crops and model plant) and yield and yield parameters (crops) is demonstrated. Effects of other biostimulants on studied in this work processes/parameters are also presented in discussion.

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).

"We're Trying to Take Action": Transformative Agency, Role Re-Mediation, and the Complexities of Youth Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertrand, Melanie; Durand, E. Sybil; Gonzalez, Taucia

2017-01-01

This article seeks to illuminate the complexity of youth participatory action research (YPAR) through the use of two concepts: (1) transformative agency, a collective initiative to address conflicts and contradictions in activity systems, and (2) role re-mediation, the disruption of power relations. We demonstrate that these concepts, in…

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

Joint-action coordination in transferring objects

PubMed Central

Bosga, Jurjen; Hulstijn, Majken; Miedl, Stephan

2007-01-01

Here we report a study of joint-action coordination in transferring objects. Fourteen dyads were asked to repeatedly reposition a cylinder in a shared workspace without using dialogue. Variations in task constraints concerned the size of the two target regions in which the cylinder had to be (re)positioned and the size and weight of the transferred cylinder. Movements of the wrist, index finger and thumb of both actors were recorded by means of a 3D motion-tracking system. Data analyses focused on the interpersonal transfer of lifting-height and movement-speed variations. Whereas the analyses of variance did not reveal any interpersonal transfer effects targeted data comparisons demonstrated that the actor who fetched the cylinder from where the other actor had put it was systematically less surprised by cylinder-weight changes than the actor who was first confronted with such changes. In addition, a moderate, accuracy-constraint independent adaptation to each other’s movement speed was found. The current findings suggest that motor resonance plays only a moderate role in collaborative motor control and confirm the independency between sensorimotor and cognitive processing of action-related information. PMID:17256158

Differential effects of others' emotional cues on 18-month-olds' preferential reproduction of observed actions.

PubMed

Patzwald, Christiane; Curley, Charlotte A; Hauf, Petra; Elsner, Birgit

2018-05-01

Infants use others' emotional signals to regulate their own object-directed behavior and action reproduction, and they typically produce more actions after having observed positive as compared to negative emotional cues. This study explored infants' understanding of the referential specificity of others' emotional cues when being confronted with two actions that are accompanied by different emotional displays. Selective action reproduction was measured after 18-month-olds (N = 42) had observed two actions directed at the same object, one of which was modeled with a positive emotional expression and the other with a negative emotional expression. Across four trials with different objects, infants' first actions matched the positively-emoted actions more often than the negatively-emoted actions. In comparison with baseline-level, infants' initial performance changed only for the positively-emoted actions, in that it increased during test. Latencies to first object-touch during test did not differ when infants reproduced the positively- or negatively-emoted actions, respectively, indicating that infants related the cues to the respective actions rather than to the object. During demonstration, infants looked relatively longer at the object than at the model's face, with no difference in positive or negative displays. Infants during their second year of life thus capture the action-related referential specificity of others' emotional cues and seem to follow positive signals more readily when actively selecting which of two actions to reproduce preferentially. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishing Single-Case Research Design Studies That Do Not Demonstrate Experimental Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tincani, Matt; Travers, Jason

2018-01-01

Demonstration of experimental control is considered a hallmark of high-quality single-case research design (SCRD). Studies that fail to demonstrate experimental control may not be published because researchers are unwilling to submit these papers for publication and journals are unlikely to publish negative results (i.e., the file drawer effect).…

Episodic Reasoning for Vision-Based Human Action Recognition

PubMed Central

Martinez-del-Rincon, Jesus

2014-01-01

Smart Spaces, Ambient Intelligence, and Ambient Assisted Living are environmental paradigms that strongly depend on their capability to recognize human actions. While most solutions rest on sensor value interpretations and video analysis applications, few have realized the importance of incorporating common-sense capabilities to support the recognition process. Unfortunately, human action recognition cannot be successfully accomplished by only analyzing body postures. On the contrary, this task should be supported by profound knowledge of human agency nature and its tight connection to the reasons and motivations that explain it. The combination of this knowledge and the knowledge about how the world works is essential for recognizing and understanding human actions without committing common-senseless mistakes. This work demonstrates the impact that episodic reasoning has in improving the accuracy of a computer vision system for human action recognition. This work also presents formalization, implementation, and evaluation details of the knowledge model that supports the episodic reasoning. PMID:24959602

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

Transit Pricing Demonstration in Bridgeport, Connecticut : A Case Study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1986-03-01

Sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Office of Service and Management Demonstrations, the Bridgeport Pricing Demonstration began in September 1979 and ended in June 1985. It was one element of a broader brokerage demonstration a...

The role of consensus and culture in children's imitation of inefficient actions.

PubMed

DiYanni, Cara J; Corriveau, Kathleen H; Kurkul, Katelyn; Nasrini, Jad; Nini, Deniela

2015-09-01

A significant body of work has demonstrated children's imitative abilities when learning novel actions. Although some research has examined the role of cultural background in children's imitation of inefficient actions, to our knowledge no research has explored how culture and conformity interact when engaging in imitation. In Study 1, 87 Caucasian American and Chinese American preschoolers were presented with either one model or three models performing an inefficient action. Whereas there were no cultural differences in imitation in the Single Model condition, Chinese Americans were significantly more likely to copy the model's preference for an inefficient tool in the Consensus condition. Children's tool choice was associated with their justification for their choice as well as their memory for the model's action. Study 2 explored the impact of immigration status on the cultural differences in children's tool choice by including 16 first-generation Caucasian American children. When comparing the findings with the rates from Study 1, both groups of Caucasian American preschoolers imitated at rates significantly lower than the Chinese American preschoolers. We suggest that the tool choices of Caucasian American children relate to a tendency to engage in a perceptually driven mode of learning, whereas the choices of the Chinese American children reflect a greater likelihood to use a socially driven mode. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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…

Introducing the Action Potential to Psychology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon-Dack, Stephanie L.

2014-01-01

For this simple active learning technique for teaching, students are assigned "roles" and act out the process of the action potential (AP), including the firing threshold, ion-specific channels for ions to enter and leave the cell, diffusion, and the refractory period. Pre-post test results indicated that students demonstrated increased…

Striatal action-value neurons reconsidered.

PubMed

Elber-Dorozko, Lotem; Loewenstein, Yonatan

2018-05-31

It is generally believed that during economic decisions, striatal neurons represent the values associated with different actions. This hypothesis is based on studies, in which the activity of striatal neurons was measured while the subject was learning to prefer the more rewarding action. Here we show that these publications are subject to at least one of two critical confounds. First, we show that even weak temporal correlations in the neuronal data may result in an erroneous identification of action-value representations. Second, we show that experiments and analyses designed to dissociate action-value representation from the representation of other decision variables cannot do so. We suggest solutions to identifying action-value representation that are not subject to these confounds. Applying one solution to previously identified action-value neurons in the basal ganglia we fail to detect action-value representations. We conclude that the claim that striatal neurons encode action-values must await new experiments and analyses. © 2018, Elber-Dorozko et al.

Multi-task learning with group information for human action recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Li; Wu, Song; Pu, Nan; Xu, Shulin; Xiao, Guoqiang

2018-04-01

Human action recognition is an important and challenging task in computer vision research, due to the variations in human motion performance, interpersonal differences and recording settings. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-task learning framework with group information (MTL-GI) for accurate and efficient human action recognition. Specifically, we firstly obtain group information through calculating the mutual information according to the latent relationship between Gaussian components and action categories, and clustering similar action categories into the same group by affinity propagation clustering. Additionally, in order to explore the relationships of related tasks, we incorporate group information into multi-task learning. Experimental results evaluated on two popular benchmarks (UCF50 and HMDB51 datasets) demonstrate the superiority of our proposed MTL-GI framework.

Kinesthetic working memory and action control within the dorsal stream.

PubMed

Fiehler, Katja; Burke, Michael; Engel, Annerose; Bien, Siegfried; Rösler, Frank

2008-02-01

There is wide agreement that the "dorsal (action) stream" processes visual information for movement control. However, movements depend not only on vision but also on tactile and kinesthetic information (=haptics). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigates to what extent networks within the dorsal stream are also utilized for kinesthetic action control and whether they are also involved in kinesthetic working memory. Fourteen blindfolded participants performed a delayed-recognition task in which right-handed movements had to be encoded, maintained, and later recognized without any visual feedback. Encoding of hand movements activated somatosensory areas, superior parietal lobe (dorsodorsal stream), anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) and adjoining areas (ventrodorsal stream), premotor cortex, and occipitotemporal cortex (ventral stream). Short-term maintenance of kinesthetic information elicited load-dependent activity in the aIPS and adjacent anterior portion of the superior parietal lobe (ventrodorsal stream) of the left hemisphere. We propose that the action representation system of the dorsodorsal and ventrodorsal stream is utilized not only for visual but also for kinesthetic action control. Moreover, the present findings demonstrate that networks within the ventrodorsal stream, in particular the left aIPS and closely adjacent areas, are also engaged in working memory maintenance of kinesthetic information.

Stimulus-dependent deliberation process leading to a specific motor action demonstrated via a multi-channel EEG analysis

PubMed Central

Henz, Sonja; Kutz, Dieter F.; Werner, Jana; Hürster, Walter; Kolb, Florian P.; Nida-Ruemelin, Julian

2015-01-01

The aim of the study was to determine whether a deliberative process, leading to a motor action, is detectable in high density EEG recordings. Subjects were required to press one of two buttons. In a simple motor task the subject knew which button to press, whilst in a color-word Stroop task subjects had to press the right button with the right index finger when meaning and color coincided, or the left button with the left index finger when meaning and color were disparate. EEG recordings obtained during the simple motor task showed a sequence of positive (P) and negative (N) cortical potentials (P1-N1-P2) which are assumed to be related to the processing of the movement. The sequence of cortical potentials was similar in EEG recordings of subjects having to deliberate over how to respond, but the above sequence (P1-N1-P2) was preceded by slowly increasing negativity (N0), with N0 being assumed to represent the end of the deliberation process. Our data suggest the existence of neurophysiological correlates of deliberative processes. PMID:26190987

Attention and Memory for Faces and Actions in Infancy: The Salience of Actions over Faces in Dynamic Events.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahrick, Lorraine E.; Gogate, Lakshmi J.; Ruiz, Ivonne

2002-01-01

Three experiments investigated discrimination and memory of 5.5-month-olds for videotapes of women performing different activities (blowing bubbles, brushing hair, brushing teeth) or static displays after a 1-minute and a 7-week delay. Findings demonstrate the attentional salience of actions over faces in dynamic events to 5.5-month-olds. Findings…

The Oligo-Acyl Lysyl Antimicrobial Peptide C12K-2β12 Exhibits a Dual Mechanism of Action and Demonstrates Strong In Vivo Efficacy against Helicobacter pylori

PubMed Central

Makobongo, Morris O.; Gancz, Hanan; Carpenter, Beth M.; McDaniel, Dennis P.

2012-01-01

Helicobacter pylori has developed antimicrobial resistance to virtually all current antibiotics. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop new anti-H. pylori therapies. We recently described a novel oligo-acyl-lysyl (OAK) antimicrobial peptidomimetic, C12K-2β12, that shows potent in vitro bactericidal activity against H. pylori. Herein, we define the mechanism of action and evaluate the in vivo efficacy of C12K-2β12 against H. pylori after experimental infection of Mongolian gerbils. We demonstrate using a 1-N-phenylnaphthylamine (fluorescent probe) uptake assay and electron microscopy that C12K-2β12 rapidly permeabilizes the bacterial membrane and creates pores that cause bacterial cell lysis. Furthermore, using nucleic acid binding assays, Western blots, and confocal microscopy, we show that C12K-2β12 can cross the bacterial membranes into the cytoplasm and tightly bind to bacterial DNA, RNA, and proteins, a property that may result in inhibition of enzymatic activities and macromolecule synthesis. To define the in vivo efficacy of C12K-2β12, H. pylori-infected gerbils were orogastrically treated with increasing doses and concentrations of C12K-2β12 1 day or 1 week postinfection. The efficacy of C12K-2β12 was strongest in animals that received the largest number of doses at the highest concentration, indicating dose-dependent activity of the peptide (P < 0.001 by analysis of variance [ANOVA]) regardless of the timing of the treatment with C12K-2β12. Overall, our results demonstrate a dual mode of action of C12K-2β12 against the H. pylori membrane and cytoplasmic components. Moreover, and consistent with the previously reported in vitro efficacy, C12K-2β12 shows significant in vivo efficacy against H. pylori when used as monotherapy. Therefore, OAK peptides may be a valuable resource for therapeutic treatment of H. pylori infection. PMID:22064541

Coupling between perception and action timing during sensorimotor synchronization.

PubMed

Serrien, Deborah J; Spapé, Michiel M

2010-12-17

Time is an important parameter in behaviour, especially when synchronization with external events is required. To evaluate the nature of the association between perception and action timing, this study introduced pitch accented tones during performance of a sensorimotor tapping task. Furthermore, regularity of the pacing cues was modified by small (subliminal) or large (conscious) timing perturbations. A global analysis across the intervals showed that repeated accented tones increased the tap-tone asynchrony in the regular (control) and irregular (subliminal) trials but not in the irregular trials with awareness of the perturbations. Asynchrony variability demonstrated no effect of accentuation in the regular and subliminal irregular trials, whereas it increased in the conscious irregular trials. A local analysis of the intervals showed that pitch accentuation lengthened the duration of the tapping responses, but only in the irregular trials with large timing perturbations. These data underline that common timing processes are automatically engaged for perception and action, although this arrangement can be overturned by cognitive intervention. Overall, the findings highlight a flexible association between perception and action timing within a functional information processing framework. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Dynamics of representational change: entropy, action, and cognition.

PubMed

Stephen, Damian G; Dixon, James A; Isenhower, Robert W

2009-12-01

Explaining how the cognitive system can create new structures has been a major challenge for cognitive science. Self-organization from the theory of nonlinear dynamics offers an account of this remarkable phenomenon. Two studies provide an initial test of the hypothesis that the emergence of new cognitive structure follows the same universal principles as emergence in other domains (e.g., fluids, lasers). In both studies, participants initially solved gear-system problems by manually tracing the force across a system of gears. Subsequently, they discovered that the gears form an alternating sequence, thereby demonstrating a new cognitive structure. In both studies, dynamical analyses of action during problem solving predicted the spontaneous emergence of the new cognitive structure. Study 1 showed that a peak in entropy, followed by negentropy, key indicators of self-organization, predicted discovery of alternation. Study 2 replicated these effects, and showed that increasing environmental entropy accelerated discovery, a classic prediction from dynamics. Additional analyses based on the relationship between phase transitions and power-law behavior provide converging evidence. The studies provide an initial demonstration of the emergence of cognitive structure through self-organization.

Low-energy effective action in two-dimensional SQED: a two-loop analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samsonov, I. B.

2017-07-01

We study two-loop quantum corrections to the low-energy effective actions in N=(2,2) and N=(4,4) SQED on the Coulomb branch. In the latter model, the low-energy effective action is described by a generalized Kähler potential which depends on both chiral and twisted chiral superfields. We demonstrate that this generalized Kähler potential is one-loop exact and corresponds to the N=(4,4) sigma-model with torsion presented by Roček, Schoutens and Sevrin [1]. In the N=(2,2) SQED, the effective Kähler potential is not protected against higher-loop quantum corrections. The two-loop quantum corrections to this potential and the corresponding sigma-model metric are explicitly found.

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…

Antidepressant drugs can modify cytotoxic action of temozolomide.

PubMed

Bielecka, A M; Obuchowicz, E

2017-09-01

Cancer patients often require antidepressant treatment due to comorbid depressive disorder. However, recent studies have demonstrated that antidepressant drugs affect the efficacy of chemotherapy and promote progression of cancer. Apart from the main mood-improving effect, antidepressant drugs also produce analgesic, anxiolytic, hypnotic and pro-cognitive actions. Patients suffering from brain cancer constitute the greatest percentage of depressive cancer patients. However, vital safety and efficacy issues related to combined therapy with temozolomide, the first-line cytostatic in patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, and antidepressant drugs have yet to be addressed. The aim of the present studies was to evaluate the effect of three antidepressant drugs (imipramine, fluoxetine and tranylcypromine) on the cytotoxic efficacy of temozolomide on T98G cells, a human glioblastoma cell line. In our experiments, we used a complex experimental in vitro system to mimic the instability of a tumour's oxygen supply, thereby reproducing conditions that occur inside the tumour. The effect of the interaction between temozolomide and antidepressant drugs on viability, apoptosis and intensity of divisions of glioblastoma cells was evaluated under different oxygen conditions. The results of our studies demonstrated that imipramine and tranylcypromine reduced the cytotoxic efficacy of temozolomide under some oxygen conditions while fluoxetine did not demonstrate such effects. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program Case Studies: Demonstrating Program Outcomes, Volume III

EPA Science Inventory

This booklet, ETV Program Case Studies: Demonstrating Program Outcomes, Volume III contains two case studies, addressing verified environmental technologies for decentalized wastewater treatment and converting animal waste to energy. Each case study contains a brief description ...

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

Orbital construction demonstration study. Volume 3: Requirements document

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

A comprehensive set of requirements that defines the objective, scope and configuration of the orbital test facility needed to demonstrate the necessary automated fabrication, construction and assembly technology is provided. In addition to the requirements for the orbital demonstration facility, a detailed list of experiment requirements is included for various areas of technology.

An exploratory study demonstrating the diagnostic ability of healthcare professionals in primary care using online case studies for common skin conditions.

PubMed

Tucker, Rod; Patel, Mahendra; Layton, Alison L; Walton, Shernaz

2014-04-01

To compare the diagnostic ability of pharmacists, nurses and general practitioners (GPs) for a range of skin conditions. An online study comprising 10 specifically developed dermatological case studies containing a digital image of the skin condition and a short case history. A total of 60 participants (20 representing each of pharmacists, GPs and primary care nurses) were required to identify the skin condition as well as the features in the case history that supported the diagnosis and the recommended first-line management approach for the condition. The mean diagnostic scores for each group were GPs = 8.8 (95% confidence interval, CI, 7.9-9.6), pharmacists = 6.2 (95% CI, 5.4-6.9) and nurses = 7.0 (95% CI, 6.1-7.9). Post hoc analysis revealed that the difference in mean diagnostic scores was significant (P < 0.05) between GPs and both pharmacists and nurses. However, pharmacists' diagnostic accuracy was similar to GPs' for some skin conditions such as tinea corporis, scabies and plantar warts and overall at least 40% of pharmacists correctly identified all conditions. This small study has demonstrated that for all of the skin conditions considered, pharmacists' overall diagnostic scores were significantly different from those of GPs but similar to those of nurses for the conditions assessed. However, further work with a larger sample is required to determine the accuracy of these preliminary findings and to establish whether advice given by pharmacists in practice results in the appropriate course of action being taken. © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The Relationship between Promotions Committees' Identification of Problem Medical Students and Subsequent State Medical Board Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santen, Sally A.; Petrusa, Emil; Gruppen, Larry D.

2015-01-01

Studies have found unprofessional behavior in medical school was associated with disciplinary action by state medical boards. For medical schools, promotions committees are responsible for identifying which students do not demonstrate academic performance and professional behavior acceptable for promotion and graduation. The objective of this…

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.

Perspectives on object manipulation and action grammar for percussive actions in primates

PubMed Central

Hayashi, Misato

2015-01-01

The skill of object manipulation is a common feature of primates including humans, although there are species-typical patterns of manipulation. Object manipulation can be used as a comparative scale of cognitive development, focusing on its complexity. Nut cracking in chimpanzees has the highest hierarchical complexity of tool use reported in non-human primates. An analysis of the patterns of object manipulation in naive chimpanzees after nut-cracking demonstrations revealed the cause of difficulties in learning nut-cracking behaviour. Various types of behaviours exhibited within a nut-cracking context can be examined in terms of the application of problem-solving strategies, focusing on their basis in causal understanding or insightful intentionality. Captive chimpanzees also exhibit complex forms of combinatory manipulation, which is the precursor of tool use. A new notation system of object manipulation was invented to assess grammatical rules in manipulative actions. The notation system of action grammar enabled direct comparisons to be made between primates including humans in a variety of object-manipulation tasks, including percussive-tool use. PMID:26483528

Perspectives on object manipulation and action grammar for percussive actions in primates.

PubMed

Hayashi, Misato

2015-11-19

The skill of object manipulation is a common feature of primates including humans, although there are species-typical patterns of manipulation. Object manipulation can be used as a comparative scale of cognitive development, focusing on its complexity. Nut cracking in chimpanzees has the highest hierarchical complexity of tool use reported in non-human primates. An analysis of the patterns of object manipulation in naive chimpanzees after nut-cracking demonstrations revealed the cause of difficulties in learning nut-cracking behaviour. Various types of behaviours exhibited within a nut-cracking context can be examined in terms of the application of problem-solving strategies, focusing on their basis in causal understanding or insightful intentionality. Captive chimpanzees also exhibit complex forms of combinatory manipulation, which is the precursor of tool use. A new notation system of object manipulation was invented to assess grammatical rules in manipulative actions. The notation system of action grammar enabled direct comparisons to be made between primates including humans in a variety of object-manipulation tasks, including percussive-tool use. © 2015 The Author(s).

Prefrontal involvement in imitation learning of hand actions: effects of practice and expertise.

PubMed

Vogt, Stefan; Buccino, Giovanni; Wohlschläger, Afra M; Canessa, Nicola; Shah, N Jon; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B; Freund, Hans-Joachim; Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Fink, Gereon R

2007-10-01

In this event-related fMRI study, we demonstrate the effects of a single session of practising configural hand actions (guitar chords) on cortical activations during observation, motor preparation and imitative execution. During the observation of non-practised actions, the mirror neuron system (MNS), consisting of inferior parietal and ventral premotor areas, was more strongly activated than for the practised actions. This finding indicates a strong role of the MNS in the early stages of imitation learning. In addition, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was selectively involved during observation and motor preparation of the non-practised chords. This finding confirms Buccino et al.'s [Buccino, G., Vogt, S., Ritzl, A., Fink, G.R., Zilles, K., Freund, H.-J., Rizzolatti, G., 2004a. Neural circuits underlying imitation learning of hand actions: an event-related fMRI study. Neuron 42, 323-334] model of imitation learning: for actions that are not yet part of the observer's motor repertoire, DLPFC engages in operations of selection and combination of existing, elementary representations in the MNS. The pattern of prefrontal activations further supports Shallice's [Shallice, T., 2004. The fractionation of supervisory control. In: Gazzaniga, M.S. (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences, Third edition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 943-956] proposal of a dominant role of the left DLPFC in modulating lower level systems and of a dominant role of the right DLPFC in monitoring operations.

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.

Critical by Design: Enacting Critical Action Learning in a Small Business Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ram, Monder; Trehan, Kiran

2009-01-01

A small but growing strand of literature is beginning to make the case for "critical action learning" (CAL). Much of this interest operates on theoretical terrain, speculating on the extent to which it might differ from more conventional notions of action learning. This paper draws on insights from (CAL) to demonstrate the importance of being…

Study of the Vermont Manpower Experimental and Demonstration Program. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vermont State Employment Service, Montpelier. Dept. of Employment Security.

The purpose of this experimental and demonstration project was to provide work experience to unemployed, low-income clients to improve their employability so they can be moved into permanent, unsubsidized employment. Changes of attitudes and motivations as a result of project experience were studied. Study findings indicated that the post-project…

Belief-desire reasoning in the explanation of behavior: do actions speak louder than words?

PubMed

Wertz, Annie E; German, Timsin C

2007-10-01

The mechanisms underwriting our commonsense psychology, or 'theory of mind', have been extensively investigated via reasoning tasks that require participants to predict the action of agents based on information about beliefs and desires. However, relatively few studies have investigated the processes contributing to a central component of 'theory of mind' - our ability to explain the action of agents in terms of underlying beliefs and desires. In two studies, we demonstrate a novel phenomenon in adult belief-desire reasoning, capturing the folk notion that 'actions speak louder than words'. When story characters were described as searching in the wrong place for a target object, adult subjects often endorsed mental state explanations referencing a distracter object, but only when that object was approached. We discuss how this phenomenon, alongside other reasoning "errors" (e.g., hindsight bias; the curse of knowledge) can be used to illuminate the architecture of domain specific belief-desire reasoning processes.

Case Study for the ARRA-funded GSHP Demonstration at University at Albany

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

Liu, Xiaobing; Malhotra, Mini; Xiong, Zeyu

High initial costs and lack of public awareness of ground-source heat pump (GSHP) technology are the two major barriers preventing rapid deployment of this energy-saving technology in the United States. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), 26 GSHP projects have been competitively selected and carried out to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. This report highlights the findings of a case study of one of the ARRA-funded GSHP demonstration projects—a distributed GSHP system at a new 500-bed apartment-style student residence hall at the University at Albany. This case studymore » is based on the analysis of detailed design documents, measured performance data, published catalog data of heat pump equipment, and actual construction costs. Simulations with a calibrated computer model are performed for both the demonstrated GSHP system and a baseline heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (HVAC) system to determine the energy savings and other related benefits achieved by the GSHP system. The evaluated performance metrics include the energy efficiency of the heat pump equipment and the overall GSHP system, as well as the pumping performance, energy savings, carbon emission reductions, and cost-effectiveness of the demonstrated GSHP system compared with the baseline HVAC system. This case study also identifies opportunities for improving the operational efficiency of the demonstrated GSHP system.« less

ARCH: Adaptive recurrent-convolutional hybrid networks for long-term action recognition

PubMed Central

Xin, Miao; Zhang, Hong; Wang, Helong; Sun, Mingui; Yuan, Ding

2017-01-01

Recognition of human actions from digital video is a challenging task due to complex interfering factors in uncontrolled realistic environments. In this paper, we propose a learning framework using static, dynamic and sequential mixed features to solve three fundamental problems: spatial domain variation, temporal domain polytrope, and intra- and inter-class diversities. Utilizing a cognitive-based data reduction method and a hybrid “network upon networks” architecture, we extract human action representations which are robust against spatial and temporal interferences and adaptive to variations in both action speed and duration. We evaluated our method on the UCF101 and other three challenging datasets. Our results demonstrated a superior performance of the proposed algorithm in human action recognition. PMID:29290647

Prolonged action potential duration in cardiac ablation of PDK1 mice.

PubMed

Han, Zhonglin; Jiang, Yu; Yang, Zhongzhou; Cao, Kejiang; Wang, Dao W

2015-01-01

The involvement of the AGC protein kinase family in regulating arrhythmia has drawn considerable attention, but the underlying mechanisms are still not clear. The aim of this study is to explore the role of 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1), one of upstream protein kinases of the AGC protein kinase family, in the pathogenesis of dysregulated electrophysiological basis. PDK1(F/F) αMHC-Cre mice and PDK1(F/F) mice were divided into experiment group and control group. Using patch clamping technology, we explored action potential duration in both groups, and investigated the functions of transient outward potassium channel and L-type Ca(2+) channel to explain the abnormal action potential duration. Significant prolongation action potential duration was found in mice with PDK1 deletion. Further, the peak current of transient outward potassium current and L-type Ca(2+) current were decreased by 84% and 49% respectively. In addition, dysregulation of channel kinetics lead to action potential duration prolongation further. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that PDK1 participates in action potential prolongation in cardiac ablation of PDK1 mice. This effect is likely to be mediated largely through downregulation of transient outward potassium current. These findings indicate the modulation of the PDK1 pathway could provide a new mechanism for abnormal electrophysiological basis.

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…

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.

Demonstration of the Low-Cost Virtual Collaborative Environment (VCE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowers, David; Montes, Leticia; Ramos, Angel; Joyce, Brendan; Lumia, Ron

1997-01-01

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a low-cost approach of remotely controlling equipment. Our demonstration system consists of a PC, the PUMA 560 robot with Barrett hand, and commercially available controller and teleconferencing software. The system provides a graphical user interface which allows a user to program equipment tasks and preview motions i.e., simulate the results. Once satisfied that the actions are both safe and accomplish the task, the remote user sends the data over the Internet to the local site for execution on the real equipment. A video link provides visual feedback to the remote sight. This technology lends itself readily to NASA's upcoming Mars expeditions by providing remote simulation and control of equipment.

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

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.

Disability, disparate impact, and class actions.

PubMed

Stein, Michael Ashley; Waterstone, Michael E

2006-12-01

Following Title VII's enactment, group-based employment discrimination actions flourished due to disparate impact theory and the class action device. Courts recognized that subordination that defined a group's social identity was also sufficient legally to bind members together, even when relief had to be issued individually. Woven through these cases was a notion of panethnicity that united inherently unrelated groups into a common identity, for example, Asian Americans. Stringent judicial interpretation subsequently eroded both legal frameworks and it has become increasingly difficult to assert collective employment actions, even against discriminatory practices affecting an entire group. This deconstruction has immensely disadvantaged persons with disabilities. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), individual employee claims to accommodate specific impairments, such as whether to install ramps or replace computer screens, have all but eclipsed a coherent theory of disability-based disparate impact law. Moreover, the class action device has been virtually nonexistent in disability discrimination employment cases. The absence of collective action has been especially harmful because the realm of the workplace is precisely where group-based remedies are needed most. Specifically, a crucial but overlooked issue in disability integration is the harder-to-reach embedded norms that require job and policy modifications. The Article argues that pandisability theory serves as an analogue to earlier notions of panethnicity and provides an equally compelling heuristic for determining class identity. It shows that pandisability undergirds ADA public service and public accommodation class actions in which individualized remedy assessments have been accepted as part of group-based challenges to social exclusion. The Article also demonstrates that this broader vision of collective action is consistent with the history underlying the class action device. Taking

Multi-Lab EV Smart Grid Integration Requirements Study. Providing Guidance on Technology Development and Demonstration

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

Markel, T.; Meintz, A.; Hardy, K.

2015-05-28

The report begins with a discussion of the current state of the energy and transportation systems, followed by a summary of some VGI scenarios and opportunities. The current efforts to create foundational interface standards are detailed, and the requirements for enabling PEVs as a grid resource are presented. Existing technology demonstrations that include vehicle to grid functions are summarized. The report also includes a data-based discussion on the magnitude and variability of PEVs as a grid resource, followed by an overview of existing simulation tools that vi This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratorymore » (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. can be used to explore the expansion of VGI to larger grid functions that might offer system and customer value. The document concludes with a summary of the requirements and potential action items that would support greater adoption of VGI.« less

Yeast Model Uncovers Dual Roles of Mitochondria in the Action of Artemisinin

PubMed Central

Li, Wei; Mo, Weike; Shen, Dan; Sun, Libo; Wang, Juan; Lu, Shan; Gitschier, Jane M; Zhou, Bing

2005-01-01

Artemisinins, derived from the wormwood herb Artemisia annua, are the most potent antimalarial drugs currently available. Despite extensive research, the exact mode of action of artemisinins has not been established. Here we use yeast, Saccharamyces cerevisiae, to probe the core working mechanism of this class of antimalarial agents. We demonstrate that artemisinin's inhibitory effect is mediated by disrupting the normal function of mitochondria through depolarizing their membrane potential. Moreover, in a genetic study, we identify the electron transport chain as an important player in artemisinin's action: Deletion of NDE1 or NDI1, which encode mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenases, confers resistance to artemisinin, whereas overexpression of NDE1 or NDI1 dramatically increases sensitivity to artemisinin. Mutations or environmental conditions that affect electron transport also alter host's sensitivity to artemisinin. Sensitivity is partially restored when the Plasmodium falciparum NDI1 ortholog is expressed in yeast ndi1 strain. Finally, we showed that artemisinin's inhibitory effect is mediated by reactive oxygen species. Our results demonstrate that artemisinin's effect is primarily mediated through disruption of membrane potential by its interaction with the electron transport chain, resulting in dysfunctional mitochondria. We propose a dual role of mitochondria played during the action of artemisinin: the electron transport chain stimulates artemisinin's effect, most likely by activating it, and the mitochondria are subsequently damaged by the locally generated free radicals. PMID:16170412

76 FR 29228 - Funding Down Slate; Demonstration Grants for Indian Children Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-20

... Children Program AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education. ACTION... Indian Children program authorized by 20 U.S.C. 7441 to make new grant awards in FY 2011. The Secretary... notice inviting applications for new awards under the Demonstration Grants for Indian Children program...

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.

Vitamin free radicals and their anticancer action. Review.

PubMed

Getoff, Nikola

2009-01-01

The antimumor effect of antioxidant vitamins (C, E and beta-carotene) as well as of the vitamins B1 up to B6 and B11 under the action of oxidizing (OH, O(2)(*-)) and reducing free radicals (e(aq)(-), H) is discussed. In addition, the synergistic action of vitamins on cytostatic agents under the influence of free radicals and the involved reaction mechanisms are briefly discussed. The very fast kinetics of electron transfer taking place within a biological molecule (vitamin B11) is shown for demonstration of the complicated free radical processes in the organism.

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

"Should I or shouldn't I?" Imitation of undesired versus allowed actions from peer and adult models by 18- and 24-month-old toddlers.

PubMed

Seehagen, Sabine; Schneider, Silvia; Miebach, Kristin; Frigge, Katharina; Zmyj, Norbert

2017-11-01

Imitation is a common way of acquiring novel behaviors in toddlers. However, little is known about toddlers' imitation of undesired actions. Here we investigated 18- and 24-month-olds' (N=110) imitation of undesired and allowed actions from televised peer and adult models. Permissiveness of the demonstrated actions was indicated by the experimenter's response to their execution (angry or neutral). Analyses revealed that toddlers' imitation scores were higher after demonstrations of allowed versus undesired actions, regardless of the age of the model. In agreement with prior research, these results suggest that third-party reactions to a model's actions can be a powerful cue for toddlers to engage in or refrain from imitation. In the context of the present study, third-party reactions were more influential on imitation than the model's age. Considering the relative influence of different social cues for imitation can help to gain a fuller understanding of early observational learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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...

Corrective Action Decision Document for Corrective Action Unit 568. Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada Revision 0

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

Matthews, Patrick

The purpose of this Corrective Action Decision Document is to identify and provide the rationale for the recommendation of corrective action alternatives (CAAs) for the 14 CASs within CAU 568. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from April 2014 through May 2015, as set forth in the Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 568: Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan, which establishes requirements, technical planning, and general quality practices. The purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during themore » DQO process. The CAU 568 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated that the dataset is complete and acceptable for use in fulfilling the DQO data needs. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations at the 14 CASs, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following corrective actions are recommended for CAU 568: • No further action is the preferred corrective action for CASs 03-23-17, 03-23-22, 03-23-26. • Closure in place is the preferred corrective action for CAS 03-23-19; 03-45-01; the SE DCBs at CASs 03-23-20, 03-23-23, 03-23-31, 03-23-32, 03-23-33, and 03-23-34; and the Pascal-BHCA at CAS 03-23-31. • Clean closure is the preferred corrective action for CASs 03-08-04, 03-23-30, and 03-26-04; and the four well head covers at CASs 03-23-20, 03-23-23, 03-23-31, and 03-23-33.« less