Design of a Golf Swing Injury Detection and Evaluation open service platform with Ontology-oriented clustering case-based reasoning mechanism.

PubMed

Ku, Hao-Hsiang

2015-01-01

Nowadays, people can easily use a smartphone to get wanted information and requested services. Hence, this study designs and proposes a Golf Swing Injury Detection and Evaluation open service platform with Ontology-oritened clustering case-based reasoning mechanism, which is called GoSIDE, based on Arduino and Open Service Gateway initative (OSGi). GoSIDE is a three-tier architecture, which is composed of Mobile Users, Application Servers and a Cloud-based Digital Convergence Server. A mobile user is with a smartphone and Kinect sensors to detect the user's Golf swing actions and to interact with iDTV. An application server is with Intelligent Golf Swing Posture Analysis Model (iGoSPAM) to check a user's Golf swing actions and to alter this user when he is with error actions. Cloud-based Digital Convergence Server is with Ontology-oriented Clustering Case-based Reasoning (CBR) for Quality of Experiences (OCC4QoE), which is designed to provide QoE services by QoE-based Ontology strategies, rules and events for this user. Furthermore, GoSIDE will automatically trigger OCC4QoE and deliver popular rules for a new user. Experiment results illustrate that GoSIDE can provide appropriate detections for Golfers. Finally, GoSIDE can be a reference model for researchers and engineers.

Social Justice Leadership and Inclusion: Exploring Challenges in an Urban District Struggling to Address Inequities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeMatthews, David; Mawhinney, Hanne

2014-01-01

Research Approach: This cross case study describes the challenges that two principals working in one urban school district addressed while attempting to transform their school cultures to embrace an inclusion model. Analysis of interviews and observations in each school revealed the actions, values, and orientations of the individual leaders and…

Instructional Strategies for Face-to-Face, Internet-Based, and Hybrid Education: An Action Oriented Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naffziger, Loren Benjamin

2012-01-01

With the advent of the Internet and the rapid growth of educational software, high schools are applying new instructional strategies with their students, including online and hybrid education. Hybrid education combines face-to-face encounters with online methods; students attend classroom sessions with their teachers and peers, and they engage…

SOAP in Practice: Learning Outcomes of a Cross-Institutional Innovation Project Conducted by Teachers, Student Teachers, and Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seezink, Audrey; Poell, Rob; Kirschner, Paul

2010-01-01

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross-institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates "S"chooling of teachers, "O"rganisational development of schools, "A"ction- and development-oriented research, and…

Cholesteric-nematic transitions induced by a shear flow and a magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakhlevnykh, A. N.; Makarov, D. V.; Novikov, A. A.

2017-10-01

The untwisting of the helical structure of a cholesteric liquid crystal under the action of a magnetic field and a shear flow has been studied theoretically. Both factors can induce the cholesteric-nematic transition independently; however, the difference in the orienting actions of the magnetic field and the shear flow leads to competition between magnetic and hydrodynamic mechanisms of influence on the cholesteric liquid crystal. We have analyzed different orientations of the magnetic field relative to the direction of the flow in the shear plane. In a number of limiting cases, the analytic dependences are obtained for the pitch of the cholesteric helix deformed by the shear flow. The phase diagrams of the cholesteric-nematic transitions and the pitch of the cholesteric helix are calculated for different values of the magnetic field strength and the angle of orientation, the flow velocity gradient, and the reactive parameter. It is shown that the magnetic field stabilizes the orientation of the director in the shear flow and expands the boundaries of orientability of cholesterics. It has been established that the shear flow shifts the critical magnetic field strength of the transition. It is shown that a sequence of reentrant orientational cholesteric-nematic-cholesteric transitions can be induced by rotating the magnetic field in certain intervals of its strength and shear flow velocity gradients.

Neighborhood walkability and walking behavior: the moderating role of action orientation.

PubMed

Friederichs, Stijn A H; Kremers, Stef P J; Lechner, Lilian; de Vries, Nanne K

2013-05-01

In promoting physical activity, it is important to gain insight into environmental factors that facilitate or hinder physical activity and factors that may influence this environment-behavior relationship. As the personality factor of action orientation reflects an individual's capacity to regulate behavior it may act as a moderator in the environment-behavior relationship. The current study addressed the relationship between neighborhood walkability and walking behavior and the influence of action orientation on this relationship. Three hundred and forty-seven Dutch inhabitants [mean age 43.1 (SD 17.1)] completed a web based questionnaire assessing demographic variables, neighborhood walkability (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale), variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior, action orientation, and walking behavior. The results show that high levels of neighborhood walkability are positively associated with walking behavior and that this influence is largely unmediated by cognitive processes. A positive influence of neighborhood walkability on walking behavior was identified in the action-oriented subpopulation, whereas in the state-oriented part of the population, this influence was absent. The findings suggest that the influence of neighborhood environment on walking behavior has a relatively large unconscious, automatic component. In addition, the results suggest that the walkability-walking relationship is moderated by action orientation.

Religious Expression in High School Valedictory Addresses: Guidry v. Calcasieu Parish School Board.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vile, John R.

1989-01-01

Summarizes court cases bearing on religion in the school setting and the use of the three-part "Lemon" test in Establishment Clause cases; and examines a Louisiana District Court decision that affirmed the action of a school principal prohibiting a religiously oriented valedictory address. (MLF)

An intracellular analysis of the visual responses of neurones in cat visual cortex.

PubMed Central

Douglas, R J; Martin, K A; Whitteridge, D

1991-01-01

1. Extracellular and intracellular recordings were made from neurones in the visual cortex of the cat in order to compare the subthreshold membrane potentials, reflecting the input to the neurone, with the output from the neurone seen as action potentials. 2. Moving bars and edges, generated under computer control, were used to stimulate the neurones. The membrane potential was digitized and averaged for a number of trials after stripping the action potentials. Comparison of extracellular and intracellular discharge patterns indicated that the intracellular impalement did not alter the neurones' properties. Input resistance of the neurone altered little during stable intracellular recordings (30 min-2 h 50 min). 3. Intracellular recordings showed two distinct patterns of membrane potential changes during optimal visual stimulation. The patterns corresponded closely to the division of S-type (simple) and C-type (complex) receptive fields. Simple cells had a complex pattern of membrane potential fluctuations, involving depolarizations alternating with hyperpolarizations. Complex cells had a simple single sustained plateau of depolarization that was often followed but not preceded by a hyperpolarization. In both simple and complex cells the depolarizations led to action potential discharges. The hyperpolarizations were associated with inhibition of action potential discharge. 4. Stimulating simple cells with non-optimal directions of motion produced little or no hyperpolarization of the membrane in most cases, despite a lack of action potential output. Directional complex cells always produced a single plateau of depolarization leading to action potential discharge in both the optimal and non-optimal directions of motion. The directionality could not be predicted on the basis of the position of the hyperpolarizing inhibitory potentials found in the optimal direction. 5. Stimulation of simple cells with non-optimal orientations occasionally produced slight hyperpolarizations and inhibition of action potential discharge. Complex cells, which had broader orientation tuning than simple cells, could show marked hyperpolarization for non-optimal orientations, but this was not generally the case. 6. The data do not support models of directionality and orientation that rely solely on strong inhibitory mechanisms to produce stimulus selectivity. PMID:1804981

Gender and ergonomics: a case study on the 'non-formal' work of women nurses.

PubMed

Salerno, Silvana; Livigni, Lucilla; Magrini, Andrea; Talamanca, Irene Figà

2012-01-01

Women's work activities are often characterised by 'non-formal actions' (such as giving support). Gender differences in ergonomics may be due to this peculiarity. We applied the method of organisational congruencies (MOC) to ascertain the 'non-formal' work portion of nurses employed in three hospital units (haematology, emergency room and general medicine) during the three work shifts in a major University Hospital in Rome, Italy. We recorded a total of 802 technical actions performed by nine nurses in 72 h of work. Twenty-six percent of the actions in direct patient's care were communicative actions (mainly giving psychological support) while providing physical care. These 'double actions' are often not considered to be a formal part of the job by hospital management. In our case study, the 'non-formal' work of nurses (psychological support) is mainly represented by double actions while taking physical care of the patients. The dual task paradigm in gender oriented research is discussed in terms of its implications in prevention in occupational health. The main purpose of the study was to assess all the formal and non-formal activities of women in the nursing work setting. Offering psychological support to patients is often not considered to be a formal part of the job. Our case study found that nurses receive no explicit guidelines on this activity and no time is assigned to perform it. In measuring the burden of providing psychological support to patients, we found that this is often done while nurses are performing tasks of physical care for the patients (double actions). The article discusses the significance of non-formal psychological work load of women nurses through double actions from the ergonomic point view.

Web-GIS oriented systems viability for municipal solid waste selective collection optimization in developed and transient economies

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

Rada, E.C., E-mail: Elena.Rada@ing.unitn.it; Ragazzi, M.; Fedrizzi, P.

Highlights: ► As an appropriate solution for MSW management in developed and transient countries. ► As an option to increase the efficiency of MSW selective collection. ► As an opportunity to integrate MSW management needs and services inventories. ► As a tool to develop Urban Mining actions. - Abstract: Municipal solid waste management is a multidisciplinary activity that includes generation, source separation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and recovery, and, last but not least, disposal. The optimization of waste collection, through source separation, is compulsory where a landfill based management must be overcome. In this paper, a few aspectsmore » related to the implementation of a Web-GIS based system are analyzed. This approach is critically analyzed referring to the experience of two Italian case studies and two additional extra-European case studies. The first case is one of the best examples of selective collection optimization in Italy. The obtained efficiency is very high: 80% of waste is source separated for recycling purposes. In the second reference case, the local administration is going to be faced with the optimization of waste collection through Web-GIS oriented technologies for the first time. The starting scenario is far from an optimized management of municipal solid waste. The last two case studies concern pilot experiences in China and Malaysia. Each step of the Web-GIS oriented strategy is comparatively discussed referring to typical scenarios of developed and transient economies. The main result is that transient economies are ready to move toward Web oriented tools for MSW management, but this opportunity is not yet well exploited in the sector.« less

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…

Gestalt Computing and the Study of Content-Oriented User Behavior on the Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandari, Roja

2013-01-01

Elementary actions online establish an individual's existence on the web and her/his orientation toward different issues. In this sense, actions truly define a user in spaces like online forums and communities and the aggregate of elementary actions shape the atmosphere of these online spaces. This observation, coupled with the unprecedented scale…

Recovery-oriented care in a secure mental health setting: "striving for a good life".

PubMed

McKenna, Brian; Furness, Trentham; Dhital, Deepa; Park, Malcolm; Connally, Fiona

2014-01-01

Recovery-oriented care acknowledges the unique journey of the consumer to regain control of his or her life in order to live a good life. Recovery has become a dominant policy-directed model of mental health service delivery. Even services that have traditionally been institutional and custodial have been challenged to embrace a recovery-oriented model. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide a description of service delivery in a secure in-patient mental health service, which has developed a self-professed recovery-oriented model of service delivery. An in-depth case study of the secure in-patient service using an exploratory research design was undertaken to meet the aim of this study. Qualitative data was gathered from interviews with consumers and staff (n = 15) and a focus group with carers (n = 5). Data were analyzed using a content analysis approach. Ethical approval for the study was obtained. The stakeholders readily described the secure service within recovery domains. They described a common vision; ways to promote hope and autonomy; examples of collaborative partnership which enhanced the goal of community integration; a focus on strength-based, holistic care; and the management of risk by taking calculated risks. Discrepancies in the perceptions of stakeholders were determined. This case study research provides a demonstrable example of recovery-in-action in one secure mental health service in Australia. It is intended to assist mental health services and clinicians seeking guidance in developing strategies for building and maintaining partnerships with consumers and carers in order for secure services to become truly recovery-oriented.

Self-regulation and recovery: approaching an understanding of the process of recovery from stress.

PubMed

Beckmann, Jürgen; Kellmann, Michael

2004-12-01

Stress has been studied extensively in psychology. Only recently, however, has research started to address the question of how individuals manage to recover from stress. Recovery from stress is analyzed as a process of self-regulation. Several individual difference variables which affect the efficiency of self-regulation have been integrated into a structured model of the recovery process. Such variables are action versus state orientation (a tendency to ruminate, e.g., about a past experience) and volitional components, such as self-determination, self-motivation, emotion control, rumination, and self-discipline. Some of these components are assumed to promote recovery from stress, whereas others are assumed to further the perseverance of stress. The model was supported by the empirical findings of three independent studies (Study 1, N=58; Study 2, N=221; Study 3, N= 105). Kuhl's Action Control Scale measured action versus state orientation. Volitional components were assessed with Kuhl and Fuhrmann's Volitional Components Questionnaire. The amounts of experienced stress and recovery from stress was assessed with Kellmann and Kallus's Recovery-Stress Questionnaire. As hypothesized in the model, the disposition towards action versus state orientation was a more distant determinant of the recovery from stress and perseverance of stress. The volitional components are more proximal determinants in the recovery process. Action orientation promotes recovery from stress via adequate volitional skills, e.g., self-determination, self-motivation, emotion control, whereas state orientation furthers a perseverance of stress through rumination and self-discipline.

The cognitive neuroscience of prehension: recent developments.

PubMed

Grafton, Scott T

2010-08-01

Prehension, the capacity to reach and grasp, is the key behavior that allows humans to change their environment. It continues to serve as a remarkable experimental test case for probing the cognitive architecture of goal-oriented action. This review focuses on recent experimental evidence that enhances or modifies how we might conceptualize the neural substrates of prehension. Emphasis is placed on studies that consider how precision grasps are selected and transformed into motor commands. Then, the mechanisms that extract action relevant information from vision and touch are considered. These include consideration of how parallel perceptual networks within parietal cortex, along with the ventral stream, are connected and share information to achieve common motor goals. On-line control of grasping action is discussed within a state estimation framework. The review ends with a consideration about how prehension fits within larger action repertoires that solve more complex goals and the possible cortical architectures needed to organize these actions.

Strategic orientations of small multihospital systems.

PubMed Central

Luke, R D; Begun, J W

1988-01-01

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

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…

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.

Examining Preschool Teachers' Attitudes, Comfort, Action Orientation and Preparation to Work with Children Reared by Gay and Lesbian Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hegde, Archana V.; Averett, Paige; Parker White, Carmel; Deese, Shannon

2014-01-01

The present study assessed preschool teachers' attitudes towards homosexuality, their comfort levels in working with same sex parents and their children, their action orientation and preparedness to work on this topic. Twenty teachers from public schools and 20 from private child care settings in North Carolina, USA, participated in the study. Two…

Action versus Result-Oriented Schemes in a Grassland Agroecosystem: A Dynamic Modelling Approach

PubMed Central

Sabatier, Rodolphe; Doyen, Luc; Tichit, Muriel

2012-01-01

Effects of agri-environment schemes (AES) on biodiversity remain controversial. While most AES are action-oriented, result-oriented and habitat-oriented schemes have recently been proposed as a solution to improve AES efficiency. The objective of this study was to compare action-oriented, habitat-oriented and result-oriented schemes in terms of ecological and productive performance as well as in terms of management flexibility. We developed a dynamic modelling approach based on the viable control framework to carry out a long term assessment of the three schemes in a grassland agroecosystem. The model explicitly links grazed grassland dynamics to bird population dynamics. It is applied to lapwing conservation in wet grasslands in France. We ran the model to assess the three AES scenarios. The model revealed the grazing strategies respecting ecological and productive constraints specific to each scheme. Grazing strategies were assessed by both their ecological and productive performance. The viable control approach made it possible to obtain the whole set of viable grazing strategies and therefore to quantify the management flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem. Our results showed that habitat and result-oriented scenarios led to much higher ecological performance than the action-oriented one. Differences in both ecological and productive performance between the habitat and result-oriented scenarios were limited. Flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem in the result-oriented scenario was much higher than in that of habitat-oriented scenario. Our model confirms the higher flexibility as well as the better ecological and productive performance of result-oriented schemes. A larger use of result-oriented schemes in conservation may also allow farmers to adapt their management to local conditions and to climatic variations. PMID:22496746

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation.

PubMed

Bryant, Jessica; Winer, E Samuel; Salem, Taban; Nadorff, Michael R

2017-01-01

Anhedonia, or the loss of interest and/or pleasure, is a core symptom of depression. Individuals experiencing anhedonia have difficulty motivating themselves to pursue rewarding stimuli, which can result in dysfunction. Action orientation is a motivational factor that might interact with anhedonia to potentially buffer against this dysfunction, as action-oriented individuals upregulate positive affect to quickly motivate themselves to complete goals in the face of stress. The Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) is a promising new method for examining differences in motivation in individuals experiencing anhedonia. In the EEfRT, participants choose either easier tasks associated with smaller monetary rewards or harder tasks associated with larger monetary rewards. We examined the relationship between action orientation and EEfRT performance following a negative mood induction in a sample with varying levels of anhedonia. There were two competing hypotheses: (1) action orientation would act as a buffer against anhedonia such that action-oriented individuals, regardless of anhedonic symptoms, would be motivated to pursue greater rewards despite stress, or (2) anhedonia would act as a debilitating factor such that individuals with elevated anhedonic symptoms, regardless of action orientation, would not pursue greater rewards. We examined these hypotheses via Generalized Estimating Equations and found an interaction between anhedonia and action orientation. At low levels of anhedonia, action orientation was associated with effort for reward, but this relationship was not present at high levels of anhedonia. Thus, at low levels of anhedonia, action orientation acted as a buffer against stress, but at high levels, anhedonia debilitated action orientation so that it was no longer a promotive factor.

Action-Oriented Population Nutrition Research: High Demand but Limited Supply

PubMed Central

Pham, Judy; Pelletier, David

2015-01-01

Background: The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions—what we refer to as action-oriented research. To date, action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking. Methods: We conducted a survey of selected journals in nutrition and public health to assess the extent and nature of population nutrition research published in 2012 that embodied 5 defined characteristics of action-oriented research in relation to: (1) topic(s) of study, (2) processes/influences, (3) actors, (4) methods, and (5) approaches. We identified 762 articles from the 6 selected nutrition journals and 77 nutrition-related articles from the 4 selected public health journals that met our search criteria. Results: Only 7% of the 762 papers in nutrition journals had at least 1 of the 5 action-oriented research characteristics, compared with 36% of the 77 nutrition-related papers in the public health journals. Of all 80 articles that had at least 1 action-oriented research characteristic, only 5 articles (6.25%) embodied all 5 characteristics. Articles with action-oriented research covered a broad range of topics and processes/influences, including policy, workforce development, and schools, as well as actors, such as program staff, store owners, parents, and school staff. In addition, various research methods were used, such as stakeholder analysis, ethnographic narrative, iterative action research, and decision tree modeling, as well as different approaches, including participant-observer and community-based participatory research. Conclusions: Action-oriented research represents a small fraction of articles published in nutrition journals, especially compared with public health journals. This reinforces recent calls to expand population nutrition research agendas to more effectively inform and guide the initiation, development, implementation, and governance of policies, programs, and interventions to address the varied forms of nutrition-related problems. With heightened attention to the magnitude and importance of nutrition problems worldwide, there are substantial reasons and opportunities to incentivize and support such expansion. PMID:26085024

The interaction between reflection and practice in the professional development of a secondary education science teachers: Case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vazquez Bernal, Bartolome

The work that we describe here is a case study of two secondary education science teachers about how action-oriented reflection and action itself interact, and their influence on professional development. The study was carried out from two different viewpoints: a study with a qualitative orientation on the one hand, using diverse data collection and analysis instruments, and collaborative action research on the other, to form the backbone of professional development. In our theoretical outline, we stress the concepts of reflection which sustain the theoretical-practical dialectic, and of complexity which is seen to be a progression hypothesis of central importance, and in which we distinguish three dimensions: technique, practice, and criticism. The reflection data collection instruments were the teacher's diaries and memos, transcriptions of the work group meetings, questionnaires, and interviews. For the classroom practice the ethnographic notes and extracts from the videotapes of the class sessions, and other documentary sources such. The fundamental instrument for data analysis, both for reflection and practice, was the System of Categories that includes six analytical frames: ideological, teacher education, psychological, contextual, epistemological, and curricular. We also used third-order instruments for the representation, such as complexity spheres for reflection and practice and the reflection-practice integration horizon, which allowed the evolution of the teachers to be viewed over the course of the two school years that the research lasted, as well as giving an overall representation of the integration of reflection and practice. The results showed the teachers to be in transition from a technical to a practical dimension, with both her reflection and her classroom practice in the process of becoming more complex, and with the two being closely integrated. It was also found that she had a hard core of obstacles impeding her professional development. We believe that the action-research program has had a very positive impact on the professional development of all the participating teachers. The results, however, far from meaning the end of the process, are merely the beginning of a new cycle in the action-research process, now with far solider starting data.

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…

Using Science to Take a Stand: Action-Oriented Learning in an Afterschool Science Club

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagenah, Sara

This dissertation study investigates what happens when students participate in an afterschool science club designed around action-oriented science instruction, a set of curriculum design principles based on social justice pedagogy. Comprised of three manuscripts written for journal publication, the dissertation includes 1) Negotiating community-based action-oriented science teaching and learning: Articulating curriculum design principles, 2) Middle school girls' socio-scientific participation pathways in an afterschool science club, and 3) Laughing and learning together: Productive science learning spaces for middle school girls. By investigating how action-oriented science design principles get negotiated, female identity development in and with science, and the role of everyday social interactions as students do productive science, this research fills gaps in the understanding of how social justice pedagogy gets enacted and negotiated among multiple stakeholders including students, teachers, and community members along what identity development looks like across social and scientific activity. This study will be of interest to educators thinking about how to enact social justice pedagogy in science learning spaces and those interested in identity development in science.

Developing a Conceptual Framework: The Case of MAGICC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Natri, Teija; Räsänen, Anne

2015-01-01

This paper reports the steps taken to develop the conceptual framework of the MAGICC project (2013), which aimed to provide action-oriented descriptions of multilingual and multicultural academic and professional communication competence, instructional designs to promote these in higher education language teaching, and multidimensional forms of…

Generational differences in young adults' life goals, concern for others, and civic orientation, 1966-2009.

PubMed

Twenge, Jean M; Campbell, W Keith; Freeman, Elise C

2012-05-01

Three studies examined generational differences in life goals, concern for others, and civic orientation among American high school seniors (Monitoring the Future; N = 463,753, 1976-2008) and entering college students (The American Freshman; N = 8.7 million, 1966-2009). Compared to Baby Boomers (born 1946-1961) at the same age, GenX'ers (born 1962-1981) and Millennials (born after 1982) considered goals related to extrinsic values (money, image, fame) more important and those related to intrinsic values (self-acceptance, affiliation, community) less important. Concern for others (e.g., empathy for outgroups, charity donations, the importance of having a job worthwhile to society) declined slightly. Community service rose but was also increasingly required for high school graduation over the same time period. Civic orientation (e.g., interest in social problems, political participation, trust in government, taking action to help the environment and save energy) declined an average of d = -.34, with about half the decline occurring between GenX and the Millennials. Some of the largest declines appeared in taking action to help the environment. In most cases, Millennials slowed, though did not reverse, trends toward reduced community feeling begun by GenX. The results generally support the "Generation Me" view of generational differences rather than the "Generation We" or no change views.

Evidence for the role of self-priming in epistemic action: expertise and the effective use of memory.

PubMed

Maglio, Paul P; Wenger, Michael J; Copeland, Angelina M

2008-01-01

Epistemic actions are physical actions people take to simplify internal problem solving rather than to move closer to an external goal. When playing the video game Tetris, for instance, experts routinely rotate falling shapes more than is strictly needed to place the shapes. Maglio and Kirsh [Kirsh, D., & Maglio, P. (1994). On distinguishing epistemic from pragmatic action. Cognitive Science, 18, 513-549; Maglio, P. P. (1995). The computational basis of interactive skill. PhD thesis, University of California, San Diego] proposed that such actions might serve the purpose of priming memory by external means, reducing the need for internal computation (e.g., mental rotation), and resulting in performance improvements that exceed the cost of taking additional actions. The present study tests this priming hypothesis in a set of four experiments. The first three explored precisely the conditions under which priming produces benefits. Results showed that presentation of multiple orientations of a shape led to faster responses than did presentation of a single orientation, and that this effect depended on the interval between preview and test. The fourth explored whether the benefit of seeing shapes in multiple orientations outweighs the cost of taking the extra actions to rotate shapes physically. Benefits were measured using a novel statistical method for mapping reaction-time data onto an estimate of the increase in processing capacity afforded by seeing multiple orientations. Cost was measured using an empirical estimate of time needed to take action in Tetris. Results showed that indeed the increase in internal processing capacity obtained from seeing shapes in multiple orientations outweighed the time to take extra actions.

Object-oriented software design in semiautomatic building extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guelch, Eberhard; Mueller, Hardo

1997-08-01

Developing a system for semiautomatic building acquisition is a complex process, that requires constant integration and updating of software modules and user interfaces. To facilitate these processes we apply an object-oriented design not only for the data but also for the software involved. We use the unified modeling language (UML) to describe the object-oriented modeling of the system in different levels of detail. We can distinguish between use cases from the users point of view, that represent a sequence of actions, yielding in an observable result and the use cases for the programmers, who can use the system as a class library to integrate the acquisition modules in their own software. The structure of the system is based on the model-view-controller (MVC) design pattern. An example from the integration of automated texture extraction for the visualization of results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.

Top-down contingent feature-specific orienting with and without awareness of the visual input.

PubMed

Ansorge, Ulrich; Horstmann, Gernot; Scharlau, Ingrid

2011-01-01

In the present article, the role of endogenous feature-specific orienting for conscious and unconscious vision is reviewed. We start with an overview of orienting. We proceed with a review of masking research, and the definition of the criteria of experimental protocols that demonstrate endogenous and exogenous orienting, respectively. Against this background of criteria, we assess studies of unconscious orienting and come to the conclusion that so far studies of unconscious orienting demonstrated endogenous feature-specific orienting. The review closes with a discussion of the role of unconscious orienting in action control.

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

Going beyond STS: Towards a Curriculum for Sociopolitical Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodson, Derek

2004-01-01

This article asserts that STS-oriented curricula, while of value in presenting a more authentic view of scientific practice and its cultural context, are too timid in their approach towards the political interests and social values that underpin scientific and technological developments. A case is made for politicizing students through an…

How the Process of the CSR Activities Works on Private Hospitals and Pharmaceutical Firms: Multiple Case Study from Strategic Perspective.

PubMed

Yıldırım, Mustafa; Dinçer, Mustafa Abdül Metin

2018-06-23

The phenomenon of corporate social responsibility "CSR" has stimulated lots of debates and disagreement among the business scholars. One of the most howling sounds comes from strategy and CSR thinkers. Strategic thinkers of this debate believe that CSR is not only an accountability action but also it is countability action. Due to this countability action heavily based on profit, the scholar of strategy field stated that strategic thinking lens should revise the phenomenon of CSR and the result of its activities. To this end in this study, we examine the CSR activities, especially philanthropy activities (sports, art sponsorships, etc.) from strategy perspectives. And the question of this study is "How the process of the CSR activities work on private hospitals and pharmaceutical firms?" In this framework, private hospitals, pharmaceutical firms in Turkey, and their CSR activity and global compact reports are used as the cases of the study. We make qualitative content analysis, and the documents in this study are analyzed with qualitative analysis software (MAXQDA). The results which were obtained from the analysis are considered important by the researchers since it is shown in this multiple case study that private hospitals and pharmaceutical firms have to focus on some specific points in their social responsibility activities to get competitive superiority for themselves and gain profit in the long term. While the CSR orientation of the private hospitals concentrates on sports dimension, the direction of pharmaceutical firms is on education dimension. In both fields, the cases construct their CSR activities on these two dimensions or relate their other CSR activities with these dimensions.

Proximal antecedents and correlates of adopted error approach: a self-regulatory perspective.

PubMed

Van Dyck, Cathy; Van Hooft, Edwin; De Gilder, Dick; Liesveld, Lillian

2010-01-01

The current study aims to further investigate earlier established advantages of an error mastery approach over an error aversion approach. The two main purposes of the study relate to (1) self-regulatory traits (i.e., goal orientation and action-state orientation) that may predict which error approach (mastery or aversion) is adopted, and (2) proximal, psychological processes (i.e., self-focused attention and failure attribution) that relate to adopted error approach. In the current study participants' goal orientation and action-state orientation were assessed, after which they worked on an error-prone task. Results show that learning goal orientation related to error mastery, while state orientation related to error aversion. Under a mastery approach, error occurrence did not result in cognitive resources "wasted" on self-consciousness. Rather, attention went to internal-unstable, thus controllable, improvement oriented causes of error. Participants that had adopted an aversion approach, in contrast, experienced heightened self-consciousness and attributed failure to internal-stable or external causes. These results imply that when working on an error-prone task, people should be stimulated to take on a mastery rather than an aversion approach towards errors.

Action-Oriented Population Nutrition Research: High Demand but Limited Supply.

PubMed

Pham, Judy; Pelletier, David

2015-05-27

The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions-what we refer to as action-oriented research. To date, action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking. We conducted a survey of selected journals in nutrition and public health to assess the extent and nature of population nutrition research published in 2012 that embodied 5 defined characteristics of action-oriented research in relation to: (1) topic(s) of study, (2) processes/influences, (3) actors, (4) methods, and (5) approaches. We identified 762 articles from the 6 selected nutrition journals and 77 nutrition-related articles from the 4 selected public health journals that met our search criteria. Only 7% of the 762 papers in nutrition journals had at least 1 of the 5 action-oriented research characteristics, compared with 36% of the 77 nutrition-related papers in the public health journals. Of all 80 articles that had at least 1 action-oriented research characteristic, only 5 articles (6.25%) embodied all 5 characteristics. Articles with action-oriented research covered a broad range of topics and processes/influences, including policy, workforce development, and schools, as well as actors, such as program staff, store owners, parents, and school staff. In addition, various research methods were used, such as stakeholder analysis, ethnographic narrative, iterative action research, and decision tree modeling, as well as different approaches, including participant-observer and community-based participatory research. Action-oriented research represents a small fraction of articles published in nutrition journals, especially compared with public health journals. This reinforces recent calls to expand population nutrition research agendas to more effectively inform and guide the initiation, development, implementation, and governance of policies, programs, and interventions to address the varied forms of nutrition-related problems. With heightened attention to the magnitude and importance of nutrition problems worldwide, there are substantial reasons and opportunities to incentivize and support such expansion. © Pham et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly cited. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

For the Love of Learning Science: Connecting Learning Orientation and Career Productivity in Physics and Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Tai, Robert H.; Almarode, John

2010-01-01

An individual's motivational orientation serves as a drive to action and can influence their career success. This study examines how goal orientation toward the pursuit of a graduate degree in physics and chemistry influences later success outcomes of practicing physicists and chemists. Two main categories of goal orientation are examined in this…

The Role of Self-Study Time in Freshmen's Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doumen, Sarah; Broeckmans, Jan; Masui, Chris

2014-01-01

Although invested study time is expected to relate to exam performance, research findings have been mixed. Therefore, the current study examined (a) the role of self-study time above and beyond relevant student characteristics, affective-motivational processes (i.e. academic self-efficacy, learning goal orientation, and action-state orientation)…

NASULGC Council on Extension, Committee on Program Innovation and Action Oriented Research; 1968 Report. Part 1. Program Innovations. Part 2. Action Oriented Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, Washington, DC.

This report on extension activities of member institutions of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges describes 91 program innovations and action oriented research activities. Objectives, sponsorship, program evaluations, and other data are cited for program innovations in such areas as continuing medical education,…

A Doctoral Student of Physics Writing for Publication: A Sociopolitically-Oriented Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yongyan

2006-01-01

This is a sociopolitically-oriented qualitative case study [Casanave, C. P. (2003). Looking ahead to more sociopolitically-oriented case study research in L2 writing scholarship (But should it be called "post-process"?). "Journal of Second Language Writing," 12, 85-102.] of the writing-for-publication experience of an NNSE (nonnative speaker of…

[INAIL recourse in occupational diseases].

PubMed

Zavallonil, Marco; Astengo, Rossana; Battaglia, Alessandra; Lenzi, Anna Maria

2014-01-01

The following paper examines the issue of the specific action of recourse brought by the National Insurance Accidents at work (INAIL) for occupational diseases by examining the regulatory framework and the diachronic evolution of the Court's legitimacy in the matter. The authors focus on the most frequent cases and highlight the orientation adopted by the administrative office in the matter.

The Action Event (Notes on the Development of Object-Oriented Actions II)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elkonin, B. D.

2015-01-01

The article critically rethinks and refashions conceptions of object-oriented actions. The author introduces the concept of an action event, which relies on the work of D. B. Elkonin. The essence of an action event lies in its transition to a new form of activity, that is, an action mediated by a pattern that is given to a child by an adult. An…

Sex, sexual orientation, and sexism: what influence do these factors have on verdicts in a crime-of-passion case?

PubMed

Ragatz, Laurie L; Russell, Brenda

2010-01-01

This study investigated the influence of defendant sex, sexual orientation, and participant sex on perceptions of a crime-of-passion. An online sample of 458 individuals read a scenario describing a homicide and provided judgments of verdict, sentence length, legal elements, and sexism. We hypothesized heterosexual female defendants would most likely receive a verdict of manslaughter, be found less guilty, and receive shorter sentences. We were also interested in whether benevolent sexism would contribute to defendant culpability decisions. Lastly, perceptions of legal elements for manslaughter (e.g., great provocation) and murder (e.g., intentionality of actions) were explored. Results demonstrated heterosexual female defendants were less guilty and received the shortest sentences. Also, heterosexual defendants were most likely to meet the manslaughter legal elements. Benevolent sexism contributed significantly to guilt perceptions.

Differences in clinical reasoning among nurses working in highly specialised paediatric care.

PubMed

Andersson, Nina; Klang, Birgitta; Petersson, Gunilla

2012-03-01

The aim of the study was to examine differences in clinical reasoning among novice, experienced and specialist paediatric nurses. Highly specialised paediatric care requires specific knowledge and ongoing skill performance of the nurses employed. There is a lack of research in how paediatric nurses manage the daily care problems they encounter and how they acquire the skills required to give patients the best possible care. More knowledge is needed about how paediatric nurses with different experience and education reason and communicate about paediatric patient situations. The study was based on six recorded group discussions of a fictitious, but realistic paediatric case. Three categories of nurses: novices (n = 7), experienced (n = 7) and specialists (n = 7) from a paediatric hospital participated. A qualitative content analysis approach was chosen to examine differences in clinical reasoning. Several themes were uncovered: child's social situation, child abuse and the child's illness, qualitative differences emerged in how the nurses discussed the case. Three approaches were identified: a task-oriented approach (novices and experienced), an action-oriented approach (novices and experienced) and hypothesis-oriented approach (specialists) while discussing the case. When comparing nurses in three competence groups, it was established that the groups with extensive experience and specialist education reasoned differently than the other groups. Between the novice and experienced groups, no obvious differences were found. Thus, the importance of experience alone for the development of competence is still an open question. Experience combined with further education appears important for developing professional competence in paediatric care. Nurses' reasoning in clinical paediatric care is related to experience and training. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Action-Oriented Research: Models and Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Small, Stephen A.

1995-01-01

Four models of action-oriented research, a research approach that can inform policy and practice, are described: action, participatory, empowerment, and feminism research. Discusses historical roots, epistemological assumptions, agendas, and methodological strategies of each, and presents implications for family researchers. (JPS)

[Emotional regulation in aspect of action vs. state orientation, stress and self - injurious behavior among people with borderline personality disorder].

PubMed

Blasczyk-Schiep, Sybilla; Rabska, Ewelina; Jaworska-Andryszewska, Paulina; Laso, Agnieszka

2015-06-01

In the bordeline personality disorder a large role ascribe to biopsychosocial factors. Studies have shown that more than 70% patients BPD reported experiencing traumatic events in childhood. The findings are confirming that making self-harming is a frequent symptom of bordeline disorder and 70-75% patients show at least one act of self-harming. Selfharming can be a reaction to maladaptive emotional regulation. Moreover a lowered tolerance level is characteristic of them to the stress and determined course learning dysfunctional patterns of behavior. The aim of this study is to determine the level of emotional regulation through the variable action vs state orientation and to investigate their relation to stress, self-harming and suicidal behavior. In study participated 45 persons with emotionally unstable borderline personality diagnosis. In the group was 33 women and 12 men in age 19-43. A Polish adaptation of standardized questionnaires was used to measure stress and action vs state orientation (SSI-K), self-injurious behavior (SHI) and suicidal tendencies (RFL-I). By patients with borderline personality disorder the level of action control, reasons for living and stress are predictors of selfharming behavior. The mediation analyze showed, that stress and reasons for living are mediators between action vs. state control and the level of self-harming behavior. A high level of stress correlates positively with self-harming and negatively with action control in patients with borderline personality disorder, and a high level of reasons for living correlates positively with action control and negatively with self-harming in people with BPD. © 2015 MEDPRESS.

PCK in Action: Examining One Chemistry Teacher's Practice through the Lens of Her Orientation toward Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boesdorfer, Sarah; Lorsbach, Anthony

2014-01-01

A teacher's orientation toward science teaching has been proposed as very influential to a teacher's pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and teaching practice. Experienced teachers' orientation toward science teaching and its connections to their practice has not been well explored. Focusing on a unit about the periodic table, this study provides…

Psychological model for judicial decision making in emergency or temporary child placement.

PubMed

Ballou, M; Barry, J; Billingham, K; Boorstein, B W; Butler, C; Gershberg, R; Heim, J; Lirianio, D; McGovern, S; Nicastro, S; Romaniello, J; Vazquez-Nuttall, K; White, C

2001-10-01

In emergencies, family court judges must often make rapid decisions, without benefit of thorough information, that have significant impact on people's lives. Action-oriented research was used to develop a model that would bring psychosocial factors to the legal system for the purpose of enhancing the judicial decision-making process in emergency and temporary child placement cases.

Relaxation of polar order in suspensions with Quincke effect.

PubMed

Belovs, M; Cēbers, A

2014-05-01

The Quincke effect--spontaneous rotation of dielectric particles in a liquid with low conductivity under the action of an electric field--is considered. The distribution functions for the orientation of particle rotation planes are introduced and a set of nonlinear kinetic equations is derived in the mean field approximation considering the dynamics of their orientation in the flow induced by rotating particles. As a result the nonequilibrium phase transition to the polar order, if the concentration of the particles is sufficiently high, is predicted and the condition of the synchronization of particle rotations is established. Two cases are considered: the layer of the Quincke suspension with one free boundary and the ensemble of the particles rolling on the solid wall under the action of a torque in an electric field. It is shown that in both cases the synchronization of particle rotations occurs due to the hydrodynamic interactions. In the limit of small spatial nonhomogeneity a set of nonlinear partial differential equations for the macroscopic variables--the concentration and the director of the polar order--is derived from the kinetic equation. Its properties are analyzed and compared with available recent experimental results.

Relaxation of polar order in suspensions with Quincke effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belovs, M.; CÄ`bers, A.

2014-05-01

The Quincke effect—spontaneous rotation of dielectric particles in a liquid with low conductivity under the action of an electric field—is considered. The distribution functions for the orientation of particle rotation planes are introduced and a set of nonlinear kinetic equations is derived in the mean field approximation considering the dynamics of their orientation in the flow induced by rotating particles. As a result the nonequilibrium phase transition to the polar order, if the concentration of the particles is sufficiently high, is predicted and the condition of the synchronization of particle rotations is established. Two cases are considered: the layer of the Quincke suspension with one free boundary and the ensemble of the particles rolling on the solid wall under the action of a torque in an electric field. It is shown that in both cases the synchronization of particle rotations occurs due to the hydrodynamic interactions. In the limit of small spatial nonhomogeneity a set of nonlinear partial differential equations for the macroscopic variables—the concentration and the director of the polar order—is derived from the kinetic equation. Its properties are analyzed and compared with available recent experimental results.

Encouraging the strengths of women patients. A case study from general practice on empowering dialogues.

PubMed

Malterud, K; Hollnagel, H

1999-12-01

This case study illustrates how the use of empowering dialogues in general practice can contribute to alternative images of women, by identifying and emphasizing their strong points. It is a single case study, sampled theoretically from a series of 37 consultations during which key questions about self-assessed health resources were put to women patients. Two women GPs and their consultations were studied. An 18-min dialogue between a 52-year-old woman GP and a 69-year-old woman patient with asthma and back pain was audiotaped and transcribed according to Nessa's principles, supported by pragmatic linguistic theory. The woman's answers changed the doctor's perception of the patient, from that of a passive and resigned sufferer, to that of a strong woman who was active in spite of her pain. Acknowledging this, alternative paths of management could be chosen. In conclusion, disempowering medicalization of women patients can be opposed by resource oriented dialogues in clinical work. However, to change cultural images requires more than individual action.

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.

Piaget and Active Cognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bickhard, Mark H.

1997-01-01

Notes that the pragmatist approach to the study of mind is represented in psychology by Piaget's action orientation. Believes, however, that American empiricists regularly misinterpreted Piaget's approach. Generally supports Barrouillet and Poirier's advocacy of Piaget's orientation, but presents some disagreements with Barrouillet and Poirier as…

When death is not a problem: Regulating implicit negative affect under mortality salience.

PubMed

Lüdecke, Christina; Baumann, Nicola

2015-12-01

Terror management theory assumes that death arouses existential anxiety in humans which is suppressed in focal attention. Whereas most studies provide indirect evidence for negative affect under mortality salience by showing cultural worldview defenses and self-esteem strivings, there is only little direct evidence for implicit negative affect under mortality salience. In the present study, we assume that this implicit affective reaction towards death depends on people's ability to self-regulate negative affect as assessed by the personality dimension of action versus state orientation. Consistent with our expectations, action-oriented participants judged artificial words to express less negative affect under mortality salience compared to control conditions whereas state-oriented participants showed the reversed pattern. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Supporting parent-child interactions: music therapy as an intervention for promoting mutually responsive orientation.

PubMed

Pasiali, Varvara

2012-01-01

Music therapists working with families address relationship and interpersonal communication issues. Few controlled studies exist in the literature but a growing body of documented practice is emerging. This study makes a contribution by documenting how music therapy supports mutuality and reciprocity in parent-child interactions. This study investigated mutually responsive orientation (MRO) behaviors of young children (aged 3-5) and their family members during music therapy. Participants were 4 families with low income and history of maternal depression as common risk factors. Data were collected by videotaping sessions, creating field notes and analytic memos, conducting parent interviews and reviewing parent journals. A cross-case analysis using MRO theory as a conceptualizing framework was used for the purpose of data reduction. Greeting and farewell rituals, and the flexibility of music-based therapeutic applications facilitated development of coordinated routines. Therapist's actions (e.g., encouraging and modeling musical interactions) and bidirectional parent-child actions (e.g., joint attention, turn-taking, being playful) facilitated harmonious communication. Behaviors promoting mutual cooperation were evident when adults attempted to scaffold a child's participation or when children sought comfort from parents, engaged in social referencing and made requests that shaped the direction of the session. The novelty of musical tasks captivated attention, increasing impulse inhibition. Parent actions (e.g., finding delight in watching their child participate, acting silly) and parent-child interactions (e.g., play exploration, shared excitement, cuddling) contributed to positive emotional ambiance. Music therapy assisted development of MRO within parent-child dyads by providing opportunities to rehearse adaptive ways of connecting with each other. Results of this study may serve as an archetypal model guiding clinical treatment planning.

A trap for the unwary: jury decision making in cases involving the entrapment defense.

PubMed

Peters, Christopher S; Lampinen, James Michael; Malesky, L Alvin

2013-02-01

This article examines the opinions of jury-eligible participants regarding entrapment-related issues in online sex offender sting operations. Participants provided lower guilt ratings when the undercover officer initiated the online sexual solicitation than when the defendant initiated the online sexual solicitation. This effect was mediated by the causal attributions (situational vs. dispositional) made by mock jurors for the defendant's actions. The results also suggested that the entrapment defense was less successful for participants with a crime control orientation than for participants with a due process orientation. Based on the results, it is implied that law enforcement should exercise caution when performing these types of sting operations. Furthermore, defense and prosecuting attorneys should take into account the originators of the sexual solicitation when deciding whether to plea bargain or take a case to trial.

Using Social Justice Vignettes to Prepare Students for Social Action Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burrell Storms, Stephanie

2014-01-01

One of the learning goals for social justice education courses is to prepare students for social action engagement. Teaching students about issues related to social justice is complex. Prior studies have found a positive relationship between student enrollment in social justice education courses and action-oriented outcomes. While these findings…

The Nature of Pre-service Science Teachers' Argumentation in Inquiry-oriented Laboratory Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozdem, Yasemin; Ertepinar, Hamide; Cakiroglu, Jale; Erduran, Sibel

2013-10-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the kinds of argumentation schemes generated by pre-service elementary science teachers (PSTs) as they perform inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks, and to explore how argumentation schemes vary by task as well as by experimentation and discussion sessions. The model of argumentative and scientific inquiry was used as a design framework in the present study. According to the model, the inquiry of scientific topics was employed by groups of participants through experimentation and critical discussion sessions. The participants of the study were 35 PSTs, who teach middle school science to sixth through eighth grade students after graduation. The data were collected through video- and audio-recordings of the discussions made by PSTs in six inquiry-oriented laboratory sessions. For the analysis of data, pre-determined argumentation schemes by Walton were employed. The results illustrated that PSTs applied varied premises rather than only observations or reliable sources to ground their claims or to argue for a case or an action. It is also worthy of notice that the construction and evaluation of scientific knowledge claims resulted in different numbers and kinds of arguments. Results of this study suggest that designing inquiry-oriented laboratory environments, which are enriched with critical discussion, provides discourse opportunities that can support argumentation. Moreover, PSTs can be encouraged to support and promote argumentation in their future science classrooms if they engage in argumentation integrated instructional strategies.

Center for Science and Technology Policy Research

Science.gov Websites

Expect Surprise: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Beyond Ten Essentials for Action-Oriented and Second Goldstein Bruce Goldstein Ten Essentials for Action-Oriented and Second Order Energy Transitions

Brain systems for visual perspective taking and action perception.

PubMed

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

2013-01-01

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

The Conflict between On-Task and Off-Task Actions in the Classroom and Its Consequences for Motivation and Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilian, Britta; Hofer, Manfred; Fries, Stefan; Kuhnle, Claudia

2010-01-01

The relations between students' value orientations, decisions in conflicts between on-task and off-task actions in the classroom, and experiences of motivational interference following these conflicts were investigated. It was expected that well-being value orientation was positively linked and achievement value orientation was negatively linked…

Assessing domestic water use habits for more effective water awareness campaigns during drought periods: a case study in Alicante, eastern Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

March, H.; Hernández, M.; Saurí, D.

2015-05-01

The design of water awareness campaigns could benefit from knowledge of the specific characteristics of domestic water use and the factors that may influence certain water consumption habits. This paper investigates water use in 450 households in 10 municipalities of drought-prone Alicante (Spain). We aim to increase knowledge about existing domestic water behaviors and therefore help to improve the design and implementation of future water awareness campaigns and even to consolidate reductions in water use after drought periods. The survey suggests that awareness campaigns should revise their scope and their channels of diffusion on a regular basis. In a more specific way, for the Alicante case we propose policy-oriented recommendations on the scope of action for further reductions.

For the Love of Science: Learning Orientation and Physical Science Success

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Tai, Robert; Almarode, John

2010-02-01

An individual's motivational orientation serves as a drive to action and can influence their productivity. This study examines how the goal orientation of students towards the pursuit of their graduate degree in physics and chemistry influences their future success outcomes as practicing scientists. Two main orientations are focused on: performance (or ego/ability) orientation and learning (or task/mastery) orientation. The data was obtained as part of Project Crossover, which applied a mixed methodological approach to studying the transition from graduate student to scientist in the physical sciences. Using regression analysis on survey data from 2353 PhD holders in physics and chemistry, we found that individuals exhibiting a learning orientation were more productive than those exhibiting a performance orientation in terms of first-author publications and grant funding. Furthermore, given equal salary, learning-oriented physical scientists produced more first-author publications than average. )

"Street Life" as a Site of Resiliency: How Street Life-Oriented Black Men Frame Opportunity in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arafat Payne, Yasser

2008-01-01

This study organized a participatory action research team of four street life-oriented Black men to examine attitudes toward opportunity in a community sample of street life-oriented Black men ranging between the ages of 16 and 65. Data were collected in the form of 371 surveys and two group interviews. Most of the data collection took place…

Processing of Visual--Action Codes by Deaf and Hearing Children: Coding Orientation or "M"-Capacity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todman, John; Cowdy, Natascha

1993-01-01

Results from a study in which 25 deaf children and 25 hearing children completed a vocabulary test and a compound stimulus visual information task support the hypothesis that performance on cognitive tasks is dependent on compatibility of task demands with a coding orientation. (SLD)

Developing Practice Oriented Undergraduate Courses in a Quality Framework. A Case Study: Bachelor of Event Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitelaw, Paul A.; Wrathall, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the stakeholder, scholarly, academic and jurisdictional influences on course development for a vocationally oriented bachelor's degree. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes the form of a case study. Findings: Vocationally oriented bachelor's courses can be developed, especially when…

Motor planning in different grasping tasks by capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.).

PubMed

Sabbatini, Gloria; Meglio, Giusy; Truppa, Valentina

2016-10-01

Studies on motor planning and action selection in object use reveal that what we choose to do in the present moment depends on our next planned action. In particular, many studies have shown that adult humans initially adopt uncomfortable hand postures to accommodate later task demands (i.e., the end-state comfort effect). Recent studies on action planning in different non-human primates species have provided contrasting results. Here, we tested whether capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.), natural tool users, would show planning abilities in two tasks with varying complexity: (i) an object-retrieval task involving self-directed actions (Experiment 1) and (ii) a tool-using task involving actions directed toward an external target (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, six of 10 monkeys preferentially used a radial grip (i.e., with the thumb-side oriented towards the baited end) to grasp a horizontal dowel with either the left- or right-end baited and bring it to their mouth. In Experiment 2, all six tested capuchins preferentially used a radial grip (i.e., with the thumb-side oriented towards the center of the dowel) to grasp a dowel that was positioned horizontally at different orientations and to dislodge an out-of-reach food reward. Thus, we found that the capuchins showed second-order planning abilities in both tasks, but performance differences emerged in relation to hand preference and learning across sessions. Our findings support the idea that second-order motor planning occurred in an early stage of the primate lineage. Factors affecting the ability of nonhuman primates to estimate motor costs in action selection are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Work Process in Primary Health Care: action research with Community Health Workers.

PubMed

Cordeiro, Luciana; Soares, Cassia Baldini

2015-11-01

The aim of this article was to describe and analyze the work of community health workers (CHW). The main objective of study was to analyze the development process of primary health care practices related to drug consumption. The study is based on the Marxist theoretical orientation and the action research methodology, which resulted in the performance of 15 emancipatory workshops. The category work process spawned the content analysis. It exposed the social abandonment of the environment in which the CHWs work is performed. The latter had an essential impact on the identification of the causes of drug-related problems. These findings made it possible to criticize the reiterative, stressful actions that are being undertaken there. Such an act resulted in raising of the awareness and creating the means for political action. The CHWs motivated themselves to recognize the object of the work process in primary health care, which they found to be the disease or addiction in the case of drug users. They have criticized this categorization as well as discussed the social division of work and the work itself whilst recognizing themselves as mere instruments in the work process. The latter has inspired the CHW to become subjects, or co-producers of transformations of social needs.

Towards an organisation-wide process-oriented organisation of care: A literature review

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Many hospitals have taken actions to make care delivery for specific patient groups more process-oriented, but struggle with the question how to deal with process orientation at hospital level. The aim of this study is to report and discuss the experiences of hospitals with implementing process-oriented organisation designs in order to derive lessons for future transitions and research. Methods A literature review of English language articles on organisation-wide process-oriented redesigns, published between January 1998 and May 2009, was performed. Results Of 329 abstracts identified, 10 articles were included in the study. These articles described process-oriented redesigns of five hospitals. Four hospitals tried to become process-oriented by the implementation of coordination measures, and one by organisational restructuring. The adoption of the coordination mechanism approach was particularly constrained by the functional structure of hospitals. Other factors that hampered the redesigns in general were the limited applicability of and unfamiliarity with process improvement techniques. Conclusions Due to the limitations of the evidence, it is not known which approach, implementation of coordination measures or organisational restructuring (with additional coordination measures), produces the best results in which situation. Therefore, more research is needed. For this research, the use of qualitative methods in addition to quantitative measures is recommended to contribute to a better understanding of preconditions and contingencies for an effective application of approaches to become process-oriented. Hospitals are advised to take the factors for failure described into account and to take suitable actions to counteract these obstacles on their way to become process-oriented organisations. PMID:21247491

Towards an organisation-wide process-oriented organisation of care: a literature review.

PubMed

Vos, Leti; Chalmers, Sarah E; Dückers, Michel La; Groenewegen, Peter P; Wagner, Cordula; van Merode, Godefridus G

2011-01-19

Many hospitals have taken actions to make care delivery for specific patient groups more process-oriented, but struggle with the question how to deal with process orientation at hospital level. The aim of this study is to report and discuss the experiences of hospitals with implementing process-oriented organisation designs in order to derive lessons for future transitions and research. A literature review of English language articles on organisation-wide process-oriented redesigns, published between January 1998 and May 2009, was performed. Of 329 abstracts identified, 10 articles were included in the study. These articles described process-oriented redesigns of five hospitals. Four hospitals tried to become process-oriented by the implementation of coordination measures, and one by organisational restructuring. The adoption of the coordination mechanism approach was particularly constrained by the functional structure of hospitals. Other factors that hampered the redesigns in general were the limited applicability of and unfamiliarity with process improvement techniques. Due to the limitations of the evidence, it is not known which approach, implementation of coordination measures or organisational restructuring (with additional coordination measures), produces the best results in which situation. Therefore, more research is needed. For this research, the use of qualitative methods in addition to quantitative measures is recommended to contribute to a better understanding of preconditions and contingencies for an effective application of approaches to become process-oriented. Hospitals are advised to take the factors for failure described into account and to take suitable actions to counteract these obstacles on their way to become process-oriented organisations.

Why be moral? Children's explicit motives for prosocial-moral action

PubMed Central

Sengsavang, Sonia; Willemsen, Kayleen; Krettenauer, Tobias

2015-01-01

Recent research on young children's morality has stressed the autonomous and internal nature of children's moral motivation. However, this research has mostly focused on implicit moral motives, whereas children's explicit motives have not been investigated directly. This study examined children's explicit motives for why they want to engage in prosocial actions and avoid antisocial behavior. A total of 195 children aged 4–12 years were interviewed about their motives for everyday prosocial-moral actions, as well as reported on their relationship with their parents. Children's explicit motives to abstain from antisocial behavior were found to be more external and less other-oriented than their motives for prosocial action. Motives that reflected higher levels of internal motivation became more frequent with age. Moreover, positive parent-child relationships predicted more other-oriented motives and greater explication of moral motives. Overall, the study provides evidence that children's explicit moral motivation is far more heterogeneous than prominent theories of moral development (past and present) suggest. PMID:25999880

Why be moral? Children's explicit motives for prosocial-moral action.

PubMed

Sengsavang, Sonia; Willemsen, Kayleen; Krettenauer, Tobias

2015-01-01

Recent research on young children's morality has stressed the autonomous and internal nature of children's moral motivation. However, this research has mostly focused on implicit moral motives, whereas children's explicit motives have not been investigated directly. This study examined children's explicit motives for why they want to engage in prosocial actions and avoid antisocial behavior. A total of 195 children aged 4-12 years were interviewed about their motives for everyday prosocial-moral actions, as well as reported on their relationship with their parents. Children's explicit motives to abstain from antisocial behavior were found to be more external and less other-oriented than their motives for prosocial action. Motives that reflected higher levels of internal motivation became more frequent with age. Moreover, positive parent-child relationships predicted more other-oriented motives and greater explication of moral motives. Overall, the study provides evidence that children's explicit moral motivation is far more heterogeneous than prominent theories of moral development (past and present) suggest.

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

PubMed

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

2014-07-01

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

The role of innovative global institutions in linking knowledge and action.

PubMed

van Kerkhoff, Lorrae; Szlezák, Nicole A

2016-04-26

It is becoming increasingly recognized that our collective ability to tackle complex problems will require the development of new, adaptive, and innovative institutional arrangements that can deal with rapidly changing knowledge and have effective learning capabilities. In this paper, we applied a knowledge-systems perspective to examine how institutional innovations can affect the generation, sharing, and application of scientific and technical knowledge. We report on a case study that examined the effects that one large innovative organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is having on the knowledge dimensions of decision-making in global health. The case study shows that the organization created demand for new knowledge from a range of actors, but it did not incorporate strategies for meeting this demand into their own rules, incentives, or procedures. This made it difficult for some applicants to meet the organization's dual aims of scientific soundness and national ownership of projects. It also highlighted that scientific knowledge needed to be integrated with managerial and situational knowledge for success. More generally, the study illustrates that institutional change targeting implementation can also significantly affect the dynamics of knowledge creation (learning), access, distribution, and use. Recognizing how action-oriented institutions can affect these dynamics across their knowledge system can help institutional designers build more efficient and effective institutions for sustainable development.

It's All about Baxter: Task Orientation in the Effective Teaching of Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gadd, Murray; Parr, Judy M.

2016-01-01

This New Zealand-based study of the classroom practice of nine exemplary teachers of writing to upper primary-age students explored the significance of task orientation as a component of effective teacher instruction and the instructional strategies or actions that effective teachers utilise to promote such. Effectiveness pertains to teachers…

Route Planning and Route Choice: An Empirical Investigation into Information Processing and Decision Making in Orienteering.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seiler, Roland

1989-01-01

Investigates kinds of map information selected and supplementary information desired by experienced orienteers. Reports that, based on lab and field studies, that contour lines were the most important map information, followed by information reducing physical or technical requirements. Concludes action theory is applicable to decision-making…

Promoting recovery-oriented practice in mental health services: a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study.

PubMed

Gilburt, Helen; Slade, Mike; Bird, Victoria; Oduola, Sheri; Craig, Tom K J

2013-06-13

Recovery has become an increasingly prominent concept in mental health policy internationally. However, there is a lack of guidance regarding organisational transformation towards a recovery orientation. This study evaluated the implementation of recovery-orientated practice through training across a system of mental health services. The intervention comprised four full-day workshops and an in-team half-day session on supporting recovery. It was offered to 383 staff in 22 multidisciplinary community and rehabilitation teams providing mental health services across two contiguous regions. A quasi-experimental design was used for evaluation, comparing behavioural intent with staff from a third contiguous region. Behavioural intent was rated by coding points of action on the care plans of a random sample of 700 patients (400 intervention, 300 control), before and three months after the intervention. Action points were coded for (a) focus of action, using predetermined categories of care; and (b) responsibility for action. Qualitative inquiry was used to explore staff understanding of recovery, implementation in services and the wider system, and the perceived impact of the intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 intervention group team leaders post-training and an inductive thematic analysis undertaken. A total of 342 (89%) staff received the intervention. Care plans of patients in the intervention group had significantly more changes with evidence of change in the content of patient's care plans (OR 10.94. 95% CI 7.01-17.07) and the attributed responsibility for the actions detailed (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.68-5.18). Nine themes emerged from the qualitative analysis split into two superordinate categories. 'Recovery, individual and practice', describes the perception and provision of recovery orientated care by individuals and at a team level. It includes themes on care provision, the role of hope, language of recovery, ownership and multidisciplinarity. 'Systemic implementation', describes organizational implementation and includes themes on hierarchy and role definition, training approaches, measures of recovery and resources. Training can provide an important mechanism for instigating change in promoting recovery-orientated practice. However, the challenge of systemically implementing recovery approaches requires further consideration of the conceptual elements of recovery, its measurement, and maximising and demonstrating organizational commitment.

Transit-Oriented Development and Ports: National Analysis across the United States and a Case Study of New Orleans

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-11-01

The aim of this study is to examine the extent that freight and passenger transportation planning overlap within the context of transit-oriented developments (TODs) near ports. This study also includes a case study of New Orleans. Research questions ...

Preventive home care of frail older people: a review of recent case management studies.

PubMed

Hallberg, Ingalill Rahm; Kristensson, Jimmie

2004-09-01

Preventive actions targeting community-dwelling frail older people will be increasingly important with the growing number of very old and thereby also frail older people. This study aimed to explore and summarize the empirical literature on recent studies of case/care management interventions for community-dwelling frail older people and especially with regard to the content of the interventions and the nurse's role and outcome of it. Very few of the interventions took either a preventive or a rehabilitative approach using psycho-educative interventions focusing, for instance, on self-care activities, risk prevention, health complaints management or how to preserve or strengthen social activities, community involvement and functional ability. Moreover, it was striking that very few included a family-oriented approach also including support and education for informal caregivers. Thus it seems that the content of case/care management needs to be expanded and more influenced by a salutogenic health care perspective. Targeting frail older people seemed to benefit from a standardized two-stage strategy for inclusion and for planning the interventions. A comprehensive geriatric assessment seemed useful as a base. Nurses, preferably trained in gerontological practice, have a key role in case/care management for frail older people. This approach calls for developing the content of case/care management so that it involves a more salutogenic, rehabilitative and family-oriented approach. To this end it may be useful for nurses to strengthen their psychosocial skills or develop close collaboration with social workers. The outcome measures examined in this study represented one of three perspectives: the consumer's perspective, the perspective of health care consumption or the recipient's health and functional ability. Perhaps effects would be expected in all three areas and thus these should be included in evaluative studies in addition to measures for family and/or informal caregiver's strain and satisfaction.

Findings of the Work Improvement on Board (WIB) programme by the Fishery Agency in Japan.

PubMed

Hisamune, Shuji; Kogi, Kazutaka

2015-01-01

Concerns are growing about the safety and health of seamen exposed to high risks while working on vessels. Their accident rate in 2013 was 9.9 per 1000 workers, 5 times higher than that in industry. In order to mitigate the risks of seamen, we developed the Work Improvement on Board (WIB) programme by applying participatory action-oriented training (PAOT) methods that have proven effective for reducing work-related risks in small enterprises, construction sites, and agriculture. We analysed which features of the WIB programme would be most effective for facilitating the planning and implementation of practical improvements on vessels. We examined action -oriented tools used, including a WIB action checklist and good examples, and practical improvements proposed by the participants in 1-day or half-day WIB workshops. To study the effectiveness of the WIB programme, we analysed 1121 replies of a questionnaire distributed to 1459 participants of the programme. We compared the types of improvements achieved and the improvement costs in the WIB programme with those in other PAOT programmes. The impact of the WIB programme on promoting primary prevention by seamen and fishermen was discussed. The action checklist listing practical improvements on board and good example photos apparently facilitated the planning and implementation of improvements feasible on board. The participating crews could propose readily applicable improvements of their vessels within short time. In the case of workshops held in 10 harbours between August and October 2014, participants coming from 110 vessels presented 228 improvement proposals which were mostly feasible at low cost. Among the 1121 questionnaire replies from participants of the WIB programme, over 75% evaluated the programme as necessary, practical and easy-to-understand. These positive results led to the adoption of the WIB programme for training fishermen and seamen on commercial vessels by the Fishery Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The Fishery Agency adopted plans to improve the working environment on fishing vessels by training 500 fishermen per year in the WIB programme from 2013 to 2018. The participatory work improvement programme can work in vessels when it utilises in a flexible manner local good practices and low-cost improvements as guides. The use of action-oriented tools such as a WIB action checklist and good examples seems important. We recommend the wide use of WIB methods in occupational safety and health management systems on board vessels in Japan and other countries.

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.

Practical ways to facilitate ergonomics improvements in occupational health practice.

PubMed

Kogi, Kazutaka

2012-12-01

Recent advances in participatory programs for improving workplace conditions are discussed to examine practical ways to facilitate ergonomics improvements. Participatory training programs are gaining importance, particularly in promoting occupational health and safety in small-scale workplaces. These programs have led to many improvements that can reduce work-related risks in varied situations. Recent experiences in participatory action-oriented training programs in small workplaces and agriculture are reviewed.The emphasis of the review is on training steps, types of improvements achieved, and the use of action tools by trainers and training participants. Immediate improvements in multiple technical areas are targeted, including materials handling,workstation design, physical environment, welfare facilities, and work organization. In facilitating ergonomics improvements in each local situation, it is important to focus on (a) building on local good practices; (b) applying practical, simple improvements that apply the basic principles of ergonomics; and (c) developing action-oriented toolkits for direct use by workers and managers. This facilitation process is effective when locally designed action toolkits are used by trainers, including local good examples, action checklists, and illustrated how-to guides. Intervention studies demonstrate the effectiveness of participatory steps that use these toolkits in promoting good practices and reducing work-related risks. In facilitating ergonomics improvements in small-scale workplaces, it is important to focus on practical, low-cost improvements that build on local good practices. The use of action-oriented toolkits reflecting basic ergonomics principles is helpful.The promotion of the intercountry networking of positive experiences in participatory training is suggested.

Adolescent Decision-Making Processes regarding University Entry: A Model Incorporating Cultural Orientation, Motivation and Occupational Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Jae Yup

2013-01-01

This study tested a newly developed model of the cognitive decision-making processes of senior high school students related to university entry. The model incorporated variables derived from motivation theory (i.e. expectancy-value theory and the theory of reasoned action), literature on cultural orientation and occupational considerations. A…

Service Learning: An Action Oriented Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, George

2013-01-01

Service learning is an academic discipline that provides students with "hands-on" opportunities for developing skills in real-world, community-based projects that serve and benefit community members. This dissertation reflects an action-oriented process for improving the quality of the Service Learning Program at City University of…

Palm boards are not action measures: an alternative to the two-systems theory of geographical slant perception.

PubMed

Durgin, Frank H; Hajnal, Alen; Li, Zhi; Tonge, Natasha; Stigliani, Anthony

2010-06-01

Whereas most reports of the perception of outdoor hills demonstrate dramatic overestimation, estimates made by adjusting a palm board are much closer to the true hill orientation. We test the dominant hypothesis that palm board accuracy is related to the need for motor action to be accurately guided and conclude instead that the perceptual experience of palm-board orientation is biased and variable due to poorly calibrated proprioception of wrist flexion. Experiments 1 and 3 show that wrist-flexion palm boards grossly underestimate the orientations of near, reachable surfaces whereas gesturing with a free hand is fairly accurate. Experiment 2 shows that palm board estimates are much lower than free hand estimates for an outdoor hill as well. Experiments 4 shows that wrist flexion is biased and noisy compared to elbow flexion, while Experiment 5 shows that small changes in palm board height produce large changes in palm board estimates. Together, these studies suggest that palm boards are biased and insensitive measures. The existing literature arguing that there are two systems in the perception of geographical slant is re-evaluated, and a new theoretical framework is proposed in which a single exaggerated representation of ground-surface orientation guides both action and perception. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of playing video games on pain response during a cold pressor task.

PubMed

Raudenbush, Bryan; Koon, Jerrod; Cessna, Trevor; McCombs, Kristin

2009-04-01

Two studies assessed whether playing video games would significantly distract participants from painful stimulation via a cold pressor test. In Study 1, participants (8 men, 22 women, M age = 18.5 yr., SD = 1.3) in an action-oriented game condition tolerated pain for a longer time period and reported lower pain intensity ratings than those in a nonaction-oriented game or a nongame control condition. No differences were found on scores of aggressiveness, competitiveness, or prior video game experience, suggesting that these factors play little role. In Study 2, participants (14 men, 13 women, M age = 19.7 yr., SD = 1.3) engaged in six video game conditions (action, fighting, puzzle, sports, arcade, and boxing) and a nongame control condition. Video game play produced an increase in pulse, which was greatest during the action, fighting, sports, and boxing games. Pain tolerance was greatest during the sports and fighting games. Thus, certain games produce greater distraction, which may have implications for the medical field as an adjunct to pain management.

Identifying competitive strategies to improve the performance of hospitals in a competitive environment.

PubMed

Chang, Chuan-Hui; Chiao, Yu-Ching; Tsai, Yafang

2017-11-21

This study is based on competitive dynamics theory, and discusses competitive actions (including their implementation requirements, strategic orientation, and action complexity) that influence hospitals' performance, while also meeting the requirements of Taiwan's "global budget" insurance payment policy. In order to investigate the possible actions of hospitals, the study was conducted in two stages. The first stage investigated the actions of hospitals from March 1 to May 31, 2009. Semi-structured questionnaires were used, which included in-depth interviews with senior supervisors of 10 medium- and large-scale hospitals in central Taiwan. This stage collected data related to the types of actions adopted by the hospitals in previous years. The second stage was based on the data collected from the first stage and on developed questionnaires, which were distributed from June 29 to November 1, 2009. The questionnaires were given to 20 superintendents, deputy superintendents, and supervisors responsible for the management of a hospital, and focused on medical centers and regional hospitals in central Taiwan in order to determine the types and number of competitive actions. First, the strategic orientation of an action has a significantly positive influence on subjective performance. Second, action complexity has a significantly positive influence on the subjective and the objective performance of a hospital. Third, the implementation requirements of actions do not have a significantly positive impact on the subjective or the objective performance of a hospital. Managers facing a competitive healthcare environment should adopt competitive strategies to improve the performance of the hospital.

Towards Improving Content and Instruction of the "TESOL/TEFL for Special Needs" Course: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdallah, Mahmoud M. S.

2017-01-01

Action research (AR)--as a participatory, problem-oriented methodology--has been employed recently in Egypt to resolve complicated classroom and learning problems, and provide context-based solutions. Simultaneously, new "special education" courses have been included recently in the university bylaws of Egyptian colleges of education.…

For the love of learning science: Connecting learning orientation and career productivity in physics and chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Tai, Robert H.; Almarode, John

2010-06-01

An individual’s motivational orientation serves as a drive to action and can influence their career success. This study examines how goal orientation toward the pursuit of a graduate degree in physics and chemistry influences later success outcomes of practicing physicists and chemists. Two main categories of goal orientation are examined in this paper: performance orientation or motivation to demonstrate one’s ability or performance to others, and learning orientation or motivation through the desire to learn about a topic. The data were obtained as part of Project Crossover, a mixed-methods study which focused on studying the transition from graduate student to scientist in the physical sciences and included a survey of members of two national professional physical science organizations. Using regression analysis on data from 2353 physicists and chemists, results indicate that physicists and chemists who reported a learning orientation as their motivation for going to graduate school were more productive, in terms of total career primary and/or first-author publications and grant funding, than those reporting a performance orientation. Furthermore, given equal salary, learning-oriented individuals produced more primary and/or first-author publications than their nonlearning oriented counterparts.

Multiple case studies of STEM teachers' orientations to science teaching through engineering design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rupp, Madeline

The following master's thesis is composed of two manuscripts describing STEM teachers' orientations to science teaching through engineering within the context of the Science Learning through Engineering Design (SLED) partnership. The framework guiding both studies was science teaching orientations, a component of pedagogical content knowledge. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, multi-day classroom observations, pre- and post-observation interviews, implementation plans, and written reflections. Data sources were analyzed to generate two orientations to science teaching through engineering design for each participant. The first manuscript illustrates a single case study conducted with a sixth grade STEM teacher. Results of this study revealed a detailed picture of the teacher's goals, practices, assessments, and general views when teaching science through engineering design. Common themes across the teacher's instruction were used to characterize her orientations to science teaching through engineering design. Overall, the teacher's orientations showed a shift in her practice from didactic to student-centered methods of teaching as a result of integrating engineering design-based curriculum. The second manuscript describes a comparative case study of two sixth grade SLED participants. Results of this study revealed more complex and diverse relationships between the teachers' orientations to teaching science through engineering design and their instruction. Participants' orientations served as filters for instruction, guided by their divergent purposes for science teaching. Furthermore, their orientations and resulting implementation were developed from knowledge gained in teacher education, implying that teacher educators and researchers can use this framework to learn more about how teachers' knowledge is used to integrate engineering and science practices in the K-12 classroom.

Future orientation: a construct with implications for adolescent health and wellbeing.

PubMed

Johnson, Sarah R Lindstrom; Blum, Robert W; Cheng, Tina L

2014-01-01

Multidisciplinary research has supported a relationship between adolescent future orientation (the ability to set future goals and plans) and positive adolescent health and development outcomes. Many preventive strategies - for example, contracepting, exercising - are based on taking actions in the present to avoid unwanted or negative future consequences. However, research has been hampered by unclear and often divergent conceptualizations of the future orientation construct. The present paper aims to integrate previous conceptual and operational definitions into a conceptual framework that can inform programs and services for youth and efforts to evaluate future orientation as a target for intervention. Recommendations focus on furthering the study of the construct through measurement synthesis as well as studies of the normative development of future orientation. Also suggested is the need to pair environmental intervention strategies with individual level efforts to improve future orientation in order to maximize benefits.

Future Orientation: A Construct with Implications for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing

PubMed Central

Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah; Blum, Robert W; Cheng, Tina L.

2016-01-01

Multi-disciplinary research has supported a relationship between adolescent future orientation (the ability to set future goals and plans) and positive adolescent health and development outcomes. Many preventive strategies—for example contracepting, exercising—are based on taking actions in the present to avoid unwanted or negative future consequences. However, research has been hampered by unclear and often divergent conceptualizations of the future orientation construct. The present paper aims to integrate previous conceptual and operational definitions into a conceptual framework that can inform programs and services for youth and efforts to evaluate future orientation as a target for intervention. Recommendations focus on furthering the study of the construct through measurement synthesis as well as studies of the normative development of future orientation. Also suggested is the need to pair environmental intervention strategies with individual level efforts to improve future orientation in order to maximize benefits. PMID:24523304

Aspect-Oriented Programming is Quantification and Obliviousness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2000-01-01

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

The utility of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in systems-oriented obesity intervention projects: The selection of comparable study sites for a quasi-experimental intervention design--TX CORD

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project (TX CORD) uses a systems-oriented approach to address obesity that includes individual and family interventions, community-level action, as well as environmental and policy initiatives. Given that randomization is seldom possible in communit...

Reading Comprehension Course through a Genre-Oriented Approach at a School in Colombia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodríguez Sánchez, Andrés

2017-01-01

This paper reports on an action-research study aimed at identifying the problems and needs of a specific group of tenth graders at a school in Colombia in relation to their reading comprehension in English in order to design, partially implement, and evaluate a genre-oriented syllabus. Findings show that the explicit instruction of metacognitive…

Complex Problem Solving in Teams: The Impact of Collective Orientation on Team Process Demands.

PubMed

Hagemann, Vera; Kluge, Annette

2017-01-01

Complex problem solving is challenging and a high-level cognitive process for individuals. When analyzing complex problem solving in teams, an additional, new dimension has to be considered, as teamwork processes increase the requirements already put on individual team members. After introducing an idealized teamwork process model, that complex problem solving teams pass through, and integrating the relevant teamwork skills for interdependently working teams into the model and combining it with the four kinds of team processes (transition, action, interpersonal, and learning processes), the paper demonstrates the importance of fulfilling team process demands for successful complex problem solving within teams. Therefore, results from a controlled team study within complex situations are presented. The study focused on factors that influence action processes, like coordination, such as emergent states like collective orientation, cohesion, and trust and that dynamically enable effective teamwork in complex situations. Before conducting the experiments, participants were divided by median split into two-person teams with either high ( n = 58) or low ( n = 58) collective orientation values. The study was conducted with the microworld C3Fire, simulating dynamic decision making, and acting in complex situations within a teamwork context. The microworld includes interdependent tasks such as extinguishing forest fires or protecting houses. Two firefighting scenarios had been developed, which takes a maximum of 15 min each. All teams worked on these two scenarios. Coordination within the team and the resulting team performance were calculated based on a log-file analysis. The results show that no relationships between trust and action processes and team performance exist. Likewise, no relationships were found for cohesion. Only collective orientation of team members positively influences team performance in complex environments mediated by action processes such as coordination within the team. The results are discussed in relation to previous empirical findings and to learning processes within the team with a focus on feedback strategies.

Complex Problem Solving in Teams: The Impact of Collective Orientation on Team Process Demands

PubMed Central

Hagemann, Vera; Kluge, Annette

2017-01-01

Complex problem solving is challenging and a high-level cognitive process for individuals. When analyzing complex problem solving in teams, an additional, new dimension has to be considered, as teamwork processes increase the requirements already put on individual team members. After introducing an idealized teamwork process model, that complex problem solving teams pass through, and integrating the relevant teamwork skills for interdependently working teams into the model and combining it with the four kinds of team processes (transition, action, interpersonal, and learning processes), the paper demonstrates the importance of fulfilling team process demands for successful complex problem solving within teams. Therefore, results from a controlled team study within complex situations are presented. The study focused on factors that influence action processes, like coordination, such as emergent states like collective orientation, cohesion, and trust and that dynamically enable effective teamwork in complex situations. Before conducting the experiments, participants were divided by median split into two-person teams with either high (n = 58) or low (n = 58) collective orientation values. The study was conducted with the microworld C3Fire, simulating dynamic decision making, and acting in complex situations within a teamwork context. The microworld includes interdependent tasks such as extinguishing forest fires or protecting houses. Two firefighting scenarios had been developed, which takes a maximum of 15 min each. All teams worked on these two scenarios. Coordination within the team and the resulting team performance were calculated based on a log-file analysis. The results show that no relationships between trust and action processes and team performance exist. Likewise, no relationships were found for cohesion. Only collective orientation of team members positively influences team performance in complex environments mediated by action processes such as coordination within the team. The results are discussed in relation to previous empirical findings and to learning processes within the team with a focus on feedback strategies. PMID:29033886

Visual-vestibular integration as a function of adaptation to space flight and return to Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reschke, Millard R.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Harm, Deborah L.; Huebner, William P.; Krnavek, Jody M.; Paloski, William H.; Berthoz, Alan

1999-01-01

Research on perception and control of self-orientation and self-motion addresses interactions between action and perception . Self-orientation and self-motion, and the perception of that orientation and motion are required for and modified by goal-directed action. Detailed Supplementary Objective (DSO) 604 Operational Investigation-3 (OI-3) was designed to investigate the integrated coordination of head and eye movements within a structured environment where perception could modify responses and where response could be compensatory for perception. A full understanding of this coordination required definition of spatial orientation models for the microgravity environment encountered during spaceflight.

At Least I Tried: The Relationship between Regulatory Focus and Regret Following Action vs. Inaction

PubMed Central

Itzkin, Adi; Van Dijk, Dina; Azar, Ofer H.

2016-01-01

Regret is an unpleasant feeling that may arise following decisions that ended poorly, and may affect the decision-maker's well-being and future decision making. Some studies show that a decision to act leads to greater regret than a decision not to act when both resulted in failure, because the latter is usually the norm. In some cases, when the norm is to act, this pattern is reversed. We suggest that the decision maker's regulatory focus, affects regret after action or inaction. Specifically, promotion-focused individuals, who tend to be more proactive, view action as more normal than prevention-focused individuals, and therefore experience regulatory fit when an action decision is made. Hence, we hypothesized that promotion-focused individuals will feel less regret than prevention-focused individuals when a decision to act ended poorly. In addition, we hypothesized that a trigger for change implied in the situation, decreases the level of regret following action. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 330 participants enrolled in an online survey. The participants received six decision scenarios, in which they were asked to evaluate the level of regret following action and inaction. Individual regulatory focus was measured by two different scales. Promotion-focused individuals attributed less regret than prevention-focused individuals to action decisions. Regret following inaction was not affected by regulatory focus. In addition, a trigger for change decreases regret following action. Orthodox people tend to attribute more regret than non-orthodox to a person who made an action decision. The results contribute to the literature by showing that not only the situation but also the decision maker's orientation affects the regret after action vs. inaction. PMID:27833581

On how Watson and Crick discovered what Watson and Crick had suggested: the "folk" concept of discovery rediscovered.

PubMed

Charpa, Ulrich

2008-01-01

This article opens with general and historical remarks on philosophy of science's problems with the concept of discovery. Then, drawing upon simple examples of Watson's and Crick's non-philosophical usage, I characterize phrases of the type "x discovers y" semantically. It will subsequently be shown how widespread philosophical discussion on discovery violates the semantic constraints of phrases of the type "x discovers y." Then I provide a philosophical reconstruction of "x discovers y" that is in keeping with the "folk" notion of discovery. The philosophical ingredients of this approach are taken from a certain aspect of action theory and from epistemological reliabilism. The approach draws upon the concept of superior action and connects this concept to progressive research. In contrast to normal actions, superior actions are primarily explained by competencies. This perspective includes reminders of what some nineteenth-century philosopher-scientists had advocated as a competence-oriented view on scientific research. Finally, this approach is applied to the case of Watson's and Crick's discovery.

Chemistry Teachers' Views on Teaching "Climate Change"--An Interview Case Study from Research-Oriented Learning in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feierabend, Timo; Jokmin, Sebastian; Eilks, Ingo

2011-01-01

This paper presents a case study from research-oriented learning in chemistry teacher education. The study evaluates the views of twenty experienced German chemistry teachers about the teaching of climate change in chemistry education. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews about the teachers' experiences and their views about…

Educational Action Research to Generate Ecological Wisdom of Insight for Inclusion and Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gedžune, Inga; Gedžune, Ginta; Skrinda, Astrida; Micule, Ilona

2011-01-01

This study relates the experience of educational action research with pre-service teachers aimed at exploring their views on ecological identity, which is considered the basis for a person's life activity, and its orientation towards inclusion in or exclusion from the global community of life. Through gradual opening of communicative space and…

Knowledge Exchange: Capacity Building in a Small University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Sally Fowler

2009-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine an early articulation of some of the key factors in building capacity and the potential for knowledge exchange (KE) within a small, learning and teaching-oriented organization. Design/methodology/approach: An action research study is planned as a practical enquiry. In common with other action research,…

Is There Any Hope? How Climate Change News Imagery and Text Influence Audience Emotions and Support for Climate Mitigation Policies.

PubMed

Feldman, Lauren; Hart, P Sol

2018-03-01

Using a national sample, this study experimentally tests the effects of news visuals and texts that emphasize either the causes and impacts of climate change or actions that can be taken to address climate change. We test the effects of variations in text and imagery on discrete emotions (i.e., hope, fear, and anger) and, indirectly, on support for climate mitigation policies. Political ideology is examined as a moderator. The findings indicate that news images and texts that focus on climate-oriented actions can increase hope and, in the case of texts, decrease fear and anger, and these effects generally hold across the ideological spectrum. In turn, the influence of emotions on policy support depends on ideology: Hope and fear increase support for climate policies for all ideological groups but particularly conservatives, whereas anger polarizes the opinions of liberals and conservatives. Implications for climate change communication that appeals to emotions are discussed. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991: Affirmative Action, Disparate Impact, and Employment Quotas?

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

personal worth and making equal treatment and equal opportunity matters of simple fairness." ᝼> But change, especially in the areas where it can be said...employer’s legitimate business goals." > Some of the articles > quote the Court’s language out of context and state the analysis has been realigned...This clearly is a misstatement of the Court’s refinement and is the result of viewing the case from a purely plaintiff-oriented,

Reorienting health services with capacity building: a case study of the Core Skills in Health Promotion Project.

PubMed

Yeatman, H R; Nove, T

2002-12-01

This paper presents a case study of the application of a framework for capacity building [Hawe, P., King, L., Noort, M., Jordens, C. and Lloyd, B. (2000) Indicators to Help with Capacity Building in Health Promotion. NSW Health, Sydney] to describe actions aimed at building organizational support for health promotion within an area health service in New South Wales, Australia. The Core Skills in Health Promotion Project (CSHPP) arose from an investigation which reported that participants of a health promotion training course had increased health promotion skills but that they lacked the support to apply their skills in the workplace. The project was action-research based. It investigated and facilitated the implementation of a range of initiatives to support community health staff to apply a more preventive approach in their practice and it contributed to the establishment of new organizational structures for health promotion. An evaluation was undertaken 4 years after the CSHPP was established, and 2 years after it had submitted its final report. Interviews with senior managers, document analysis of written reports, and focus groups with middle managers and service delivery staff were undertaken. Change was achieved in the three dimensions of health infrastructure, program maintenance and problem solving capacity of the organization. It was identified that the critically important elements in achieving the aims of the project-partnership, leadership and commitment-were also key elements of the capacity building framework. This case study provides a practical example of the usefulness of the capacity building framework in orienting health services to be supportive of health promotion.

C++ and operating systems performance - A case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russo, Vincent F.; Madany, Peter W.; Campbell, Roy H.

1990-01-01

Object-oriented design and programming has many software engineering advantages. Its application to large systems, however, has previously been constrained by performance concerns. The Choices operating system, which has over 75,000 lines of code, is object-oriented and programmed in C++. This paper is a case study of the performance of Choices.

Orienteering: A Thinging Man's Sport or It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

August, Irwin

1974-01-01

Orienteering is land navigation through unknown countryside with map and compass. This article describes an orienteering program in the Action Education Curriculum, State University of New York, College at Purchase. (KM)

Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Success and Life-Satisfaction.

PubMed

Przepiorka, Aneta M

2017-01-01

The presented study focused on different stages of the entrepreneurial process. The first group comprised those starting a new business and the second group those who have been through the whole process of creating a new business and have now been operating in the market. The general aim of the article was to examine the relationship between action orientation, hope, goal commitment, entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction, and to determine the role of psychological characteristics (hope, action orientation) in the entrepreneurial process. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 344 potential entrepreneurs in the prelaunch stage and 127 actual entrepreneurs in the post-launch stage. To analyze these relationships, multiple-group analysis was conducted.

Evolutionary programming for goal-driven dynamic planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaccaro, James M.; Guest, Clark C.; Ross, David O.

2002-03-01

Many complex artificial intelligence (IA) problems are goal- driven in nature and the opportunity exists to realize the benefits of a goal-oriented solution. In many cases, such as in command and control, a goal-oriented approach may be the only option. One of many appropriate applications for such an approach is War Gaming. War Gaming is an important tool for command and control because it provides a set of alternative courses of actions so that military leaders can contemplate their next move in the battlefield. For instance, when making decisions that save lives, it is necessary to completely understand the consequences of a given order. A goal-oriented approach provides a slowly evolving tractably reasoned solution that inherently follows one of the principles of war: namely concentration on the objective. Future decision-making will depend not only on the battlefield, but also on a virtual world where military leaders can wage wars and determine their options by playing computer war games much like the real world. The problem with these games is that the built-in AI does not learn nor adapt and many times cheats, because the intelligent player has access to all the information, while the user has access to limited information provided on a display. These games are written for the purpose of entertainment and actions are calculated a priori and off-line, and are made prior or during their development. With these games getting more sophisticated in structure and less domain specific in scope, there needs to be a more general intelligent player that can adapt and learn in case the battlefield situations or the rules of engagement change. One such war game that might be considered is Risk. Risk incorporates the principles of war, is a top-down scalable model, and provides a good application for testing a variety of goal- oriented AI approaches. By integrating a goal-oriented hybrid approach, one can develop a program that plays the Risk game effectively and move one step closer to solving more difficult real-world AI problems. Using a hybrid approach that includes adaptation via evolutionary computation for the intelligent planning of a Risk player's turn provides better dynamic intelligent planning than more uniform approaches.

Environmental Studies Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, David R.

1986-01-01

Presents a model of an environmental studies course that reflects a spaceship earth philosophy. Includes a rationale and a listing of concepts and processes for this action oriented program. Suggests several interdisciplinary experiences that emphasize problem-solving and decision-making skills. (ML)

Perceptions of Sexual Orientation From Minimal Cues.

PubMed

Rule, Nicholas O

2017-01-01

People derive considerable amounts of information about each other from minimal nonverbal cues. Apart from characteristics typically regarded as obvious when encountering another person (e.g., age, race, and sex), perceivers can identify many other qualities about a person that are typically rather subtle. One such feature is sexual orientation. Here, I review the literature documenting the accurate perception of sexual orientation from nonverbal cues related to one's adornment, acoustics, actions, and appearance. In addition to chronicling studies that have demonstrated how people express and extract sexual orientation in each of these domains, I discuss some of the basic cognitive and perceptual processes that support these judgments, including how cues to sexual orientation manifest in behavioral (e.g., clothing choices) and structural (e.g., facial morphology) signals. Finally, I attend to boundary conditions in the accurate perception of sexual orientation, such as the states, traits, and group memberships that moderate individuals' ability to reliably decipher others' sexual orientation.

Development and process evaluation of the participatory and action-oriented empowerment model facilitated by occupational health nurses for workplace health promotion in small and medium-sized enterprises.

PubMed

Nishikido, Noriko; Matsuda, Kazumi; Fukuda, Eiko; Motoki, Chiharu; Tsutaki, Miho; Kawakami, Yuko; Yuasa, Akiko; Iijima, Miyoko; Tanaka, Mika; Hirata, Mamoru; Hojoh, Minoru; Ikeda, Tomoko; Maeda, Kazutoshi; Miyoshi, Yukari; Arai, Sumiko; Mitsuhashi, Hiroyuki

2007-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop an available empowerment model for workplace health promotion (WHP) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to evaluate its applicability and feasibility. Semi-structured interviews with employers and workers in SMEs were conducted to assess their actual requirements for support. The structure of our new empowerment model was discussed and established through several rounds of focus group meetings with occupational safety and health researchers and practitioners on the basis of results of our interviews. We developed a new participatory and action-oriented empowerment model based on needs for support of employers and workers in SMEs. This new model consists of three originally developed tools: an action checklist, an information guidebook, and a book of good practices. As the facilitators, occupational health nurses (OHNs) from health insurance associations were trained to empower employers and workers using these tools. Approximately 80 SMEs (with less than 300 employees) were invited to participate in the model project. With these tools and continued empowerment by OHNs, employers and workers were able to smoothly work on WHP. This newly developed participatory and action-oriented empowerment model that was facilitated by trained OHNs appears to be both applicable and feasible for WHP in SMEs in Japan.

Socioeconomic School Segregation in a Market-Oriented Educational System. The Case of Chile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valenzuela, Juan Pablo; Bellei, Cristian; de los Ríos, Danae

2014-01-01

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status (SES) school segregation in Chile, whose educational system is regarded as an extreme case of a market-oriented education. The study estimated the magnitude and evolution of the SES segregation of schools at both national and local levels, and it studied the relationship between…

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students.

PubMed

Cervelló, Eduardo M; Jiménez, Ruth; del Villar, Fernando; Ramos, Luis; Santos-Rosa, Francisco J

2004-08-01

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.

Location-coding account versus affordance-activation account in handle-to-hand correspondence effects: Evidence of Simon-like effects based on the coding of action direction.

PubMed

Pellicano, Antonello; Koch, Iring; Binkofski, Ferdinand

2017-09-01

An increasing number of studies have shown a close link between perception and action, which is supposed to be responsible for the automatic activation of actions compatible with objects' properties, such as the orientation of their graspable parts. It has been observed that left and right hand responses to objects (e.g., cups) are faster and more accurate if the handle orientation corresponds to the response location than when it does not. Two alternative explanations have been proposed for this handle-to-hand correspondence effect : location coding and affordance activation. The aim of the present study was to provide disambiguating evidence on the origin of this effect by employing object sets for which the visually salient portion was separated from, and opposite to the graspable 1, and vice versa. Seven experiments were conducted employing both single objects and object pairs as visual stimuli to enhance the contextual information about objects' graspability and usability. Notwithstanding these manipulations intended to favor affordance activation, results fully supported the location-coding account displaying significant Simon-like effects that involved the orientation of the visually salient portion of the object stimulus and the location of the response. Crucially, we provided evidence of Simon-like effects based on higher-level cognitive, iconic representations of action directions rather than based on lower-level spatial coding of the pure position of protruding portions of the visual stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Application of the critical pathway and integrated case teaching method to nursing orientation.

PubMed

Goodman, D

1997-01-01

Nursing staff development programs must be responsive to current changes in healthcare. New nursing staff must be prepared to manage continuous change and to function competently in clinical practice. The orientation pathway, based on a case management model, is used as a structure for the orientation phase of staff development. The integrated case is incorporated as a teaching strategy in orientation. The integrated case method is based on discussion and analysis of patient situations with emphasis on role modeling and integration of theory and skill. The orientation pathway and integrated case teaching method provide a useful framework for orientation of new staff. Educators, preceptors and orientees find the structure provided by the orientation pathway very useful. Orientation that is developed, implemented and evaluated based on a case management model with the use of an orientation pathway and incorporation of an integrated case teaching method provides a standardized structure for orientation of new staff. This approach is designed for the adult learner, promotes conceptual reasoning, and encourages the social and contextual basis for continued learning.

The coaching on lifestyle (CooL) intervention for obesity, a study protocol for an action-oriented mixed-methods study.

PubMed

van Rinsum, Celeste E; Gerards, Sanne M P L; Rutten, Geert M; van de Goor, Ien A M; Kremers, Stef P J

2018-01-08

Combined lifestyle interventions (CLIs) have proved to be effective in changing and maintaining behavioural lifestyle changes and reducing overweight and obesity, in clinical and real-world settings. In this CLI, lifestyle coaches are expected to promote lifestyle changes of participants regarding physical activity and diet. In the Coaching on Lifestyle (CooL) intervention, which takes a period of 8 to 10 months, lifestyle coaches counsel adults and children aged 4 years and older (and their parents) who are obese or are overweight with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases or type II diabetes. In group and individual sessions, themes such as physical activity, dietary behaviours, sleep and stress are addressed. The aim of the present study is to monitor the implementation process of the CooL intervention and to examine how the lifestyle coaches contribute to a healthier lifestyle of the participants. This action-oriented study involves monitoring the implementation process of the CooL intervention and examining the lifestyle changes achieved by participants over time, in a one-group pre-post design using mixed methods. Methods include semi-structured interviews, observations, document analysis, biomedical parameters and questionnaires. The added value of the CooL study lies in its action-oriented approach and the use of mixed methods, including both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The long-term coaching used in the CooL intervention is expected to have beneficial effects on sustained lifestyle changes. NTR6208 ; date registered: 13-01-2017.

Analysis of Cutmarks on Bone: Can Light Microscopy Be of Any Help?

PubMed

Cerutti, Elisa; Spagnoli, Laura; Araujo, Nadezhda; Gibelli, Daniele; Mazzarelli, Debora; Cattaneo, Cristina

2016-12-01

One of the main issues in forensic anthropology consists of the identification of signs of trauma in skeletal remains, including sharp-force injuries. So far, several studies have been performed to assess differences between injuries caused by different instruments, not, however, through light microscopy.In this study, 152 sharp-force injuries were performed by 5 different tools through 2 different orientations on 2 humeral diaphyses and were analyzed by stereo and light microscopy to assess possible morphological differences.This study showed that although W-shaped injuries are frequently reported in cases of wood-cutting saws, other shapes are often observed; lesions due to metal-cutting saws are almost always U shaped, whereas injuries caused by knives are V shaped. Although cut marks may represent a variable range of features, the present study was able to highlight typical profiles that may be of some help for the diagnosis of weapon and the intentionality of the action.

Feeling Better When Someone Is Alike: Poor Emotion Regulators Profit From Pro-Social Values and Priming for Similarities With Close Others.

PubMed

Chatterjee, Monischa B; Baumann, Nicola; Koole, Sander L

2017-12-01

The dispositional inability to self-regulate one's own emotions intuitively is described as state orientation and has been associated with numerous psychological impairments. The necessity to search for buffering effects against negative outcomes of state orientation is evident. Research suggests that state-oriented individuals can benefit from feeling close to others. Yet, there are individual differences in the extent to which supportive relationships are valued. The objective of the present article was to examine whether high importance of relatedness increases the utilization of its situational activation among state-oriented individuals. In two studies, we examined whether situational activation of relatedness (by priming for similarities with a close other) is particularly advantageous for state-oriented individuals who attach high importance to relatedness (i.e., benevolence values). The sample consisted of 170 psychology undergraduates in Study 1 and 177 in Study 2. In both studies, state-oriented participants high in benevolence had reduced negative mood after thinking about similarities (vs. differences). State-oriented participants low in benevolence did not benefit from priming for similarities. In Study 2, physical presence of a close other did not boost priming effects for state-oriented participants but stimulated action-oriented participants to attune their self-regulatory efforts to the context. The results show that state-oriented individuals who value benevolence do benefit from a situational activation of relatedness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Potential of Deweyan-Inspired Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stark, Jody L.

2014-01-01

In its broadest sense, pragmatism could be said to be the philosophical orientation of all action research. Action research is characterized by research, action, and participation grounded in democratic principles and guided by the aim of social improvement. Furthermore, action research is an active process of inquiry that does not admit…

Children's Agentive Orientations in Play-Based and Academically Focused Preschools in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng Pui-Wah, Doris; Reunamo, Jyrki; Cooper, Paul; Liu, Karen; Vong, Keang-ieng Peggy

2015-01-01

The article describes a comparative case study on children's agentive orientations in two Hong Kong preschools, one is play-based and the other is academically focused. Agentive orientations were measured using Reunamo's interview tool, which focuses on children's uses of accommodative and agentive orientations in everyday situations. The findings…

Peer Support in Full-Service Partnerships: A Multiple Case Study Analysis.

PubMed

Siantz, Elizabeth; Henwood, Benjamin; Gilmer, Todd

2017-07-01

Peer providers are integral to Full Service Partnerships (FSPs), which are team-based mental health service models. Peer providers use principles of recovery to engage clients, but FSPs can vary in their recovery orientation. Whether and how peer recovery orientation reflects the organizational environments of FSPs is unclear. This qualitative study explored peer provider attitudes towards recovery within the organizational contexts of FSPs where they are employed. Case study analysis was conducted on eight purposively sampled FSPs using qualitative interviews with peer providers and program directors. In two cases, peer recovery attitudes diverged from those of their organizational context. In these cases, peer providers were champions for recovery, and used practice-based strategies to promote client autonomy despite working in settings with lower recovery orientation. Peer providers could be uniquely positioned to promote client autonomy in settings where organizational factors limit consumer choice.

Employing a Case Study Approach to Capture Motivation and Self-Regulation of Young Students with Learning Disabilities in Authentic Educational Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lichtinger, Einat; Kaplan, Avi

2015-01-01

Recent theory and research suggest that self-regulation is not a unitary set of strategies, and that students may employ different types of self-regulation strategies in ways that correspond with different motivational orientations. In this paper, we describe a situated case study approach to investigate the motivational orientation and…

Transitioning from Marketing-Oriented Design to User-Oriented Design: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laster, Shari; Stitz, Tammy; Bove, Frank J.; Wise, Casey

2011-01-01

The transition to a new architecture and design for an academic library Web site does not always proceed smoothly. In this case study, a library at a large research university hired an outside Web development contractor to create a new architecture and design for the university's Web site using dotCMS, an open-source content management system. The…

Scientific literacy and the ontology of science education: A case study of learning in the outdoors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gleason, Tristan

This dissertation seeks to articulate a framework for critiquing and reconstructing science education by fleshing out the relationships between science education, its ontological commitments to nature, and educational practices that promote justice and democracy. Drawing on theoretical and methodological resources from American Pragmatism and science studies, I offer a case study that evokes the practices of a residential outdoor science program in the Pacific Northwest. I suggest that these practices provide an opportunity to imagine how science education emerges differently when it abandons its commitments to a singular and authoritative Nature, and explore how this program provides empirical resources for building a theory of science education that is multinatural. Grasping the plurality of nature diminishes the tension between experiences and the world, recognizing the importance of the sciences to democratic action without positioning them as a singular source of authority. Multinaturalism then becomes an orienting concept for imagining and reconstructing more democratic and just practices of science education, practices that move away from the transmission of a cannon of white, Eurocentric knowledge, and towards the navigation of problems in dynamic worlds.

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…

Neural Correlates of Human Action Observation in Hearing and Deaf Subjects

PubMed Central

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

2007-01-01

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

Both right- and left-handers show a bias to attend others' right arm.

PubMed

Marzoli, Daniele; Lucafò, Chiara; Pagliara, Alessandra; Cappuccio, Romina; Brancucci, Alfredo; Tommasi, Luca

2015-02-01

The common-coding hypothesis suggests that the more similar an observed action is to the way the observer would perform it, the stronger is the ensuing activation of motor representations. Therefore, producing actions could prime perception so that observers would be particularly responsive to (i.e. biased to perceive) actions that are related to, and share features with, their own actions. If this similarity principle also applies to handedness, right- and left-handers should be more likely to perceive actions as performed with their dominant rather than non-dominant hand. In two experiments, participants were required to indicate the perceived orientation (front or back view) of pictures of ambiguous human silhouettes performing one-handed manual actions. Experiment 1, in which 300 right-handers and 60 left-handers reported the orientation of a single silhouette seen for as much as they wished, showed that participants perceived the figures more frequently in an orientation congruent with a movement performed with the right rather than the left hand. Experiment 2, in which 12 right-handers and 12 left-handers reported the orientation of 52 silhouettes seen for 300 ms, showed similar results when multiple responses per participant were collected rather than only one. Contrary to our expectations, no difference was observed between right- and left-handers, which might suggest an attentional bias towards the right arm of human bodies in both groups. Moreover, participants were more likely to perceive the figure as front-facing than as back-facing, possibly due to the greater adaptive relevance of approaching compared to receding individuals.

An analytic approach to resolving problems in medical ethics.

PubMed Central

Candee, D; Puka, B

1984-01-01

Education in ethics among practising professionals should provide a systematic procedure for resolving moral problems. A method for such decision-making is outlined using the two classical orientations in moral philosophy, teleology and deontology. Teleological views such as utilitarianism resolve moral dilemmas by calculating the excess of good over harm expected to be produced by each feasible alternative for action. The deontological view focuses on rights, duties, and principles of justice. Both methods are used to resolve the 1971 Johns Hopkins case of a baby born with Down's syndrome and duodenal atresia. PMID:6234395

Pilot study comparing market orientation culture of businesses and schools of business.

PubMed

Harmon, Harry A; Webster, Robert L; Hammond, Kevin L

2003-08-01

A market orientation culture has been described as one that blends an organization's commitment to customer value with a process of continuously creating superior value for customers. Developing such a culture is further described as (1) obtaining information about customers, competitors, and markets, (2) examining the gathered information from a total organizational perspective, (3) deciding how to deliver superior customer value, and (4) implementing actions to provide value to customers. A market orientation culture focuses on the customer, identifies issues in the competitive environment, and coordinates all functional areas to achieve organizational objectives. Research has found businesses with higher market orientation are more successful in achieving organizational objectives. The measurement of market orientation within businesses has been empirically tested and validated. However, empirical research on market orientation in nonprofit organizations such as universities has not been examined. This study investigated market orientation within the university setting, specifically Schools of Business Administration, and compared these data with previously published data within the business sector. Data for comparative purposes were collected via a national survey. Hypothesis testing was conducted. Results indicated significantly lower market orientation culture within the schools of business as reported by AACSB Business School Deans vis-à-vis managers of business enterprises.

Developing actionable dietary guidance messages: dietary fat as a case study.

PubMed

Borra, S; Kelly, L; Tuttle, M; Neville, K

2001-06-01

Although consumers say they are concerned about nutrition and are aware that eating a healthful diet is important for good health, this knowledge does not always translate into healthful diet behaviors or motivate behavior change. In an effort to better understand consumer attitudes about nutrition and to explore alternatives for communicating dietary advice in language that is meaningful and motivates behavior change, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) conducted qualitative research with consumers (using focus groups) and registered dietitians (using telephone interviews) in 1998 and 1999. Results of the research are presented using dietary fat as a case study. Findings from the IFIC research were reported to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to assist the Committee in developing meaningful and action-oriented dietary advice related to dietary fat for inclusion in the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that would be motivating and easy for consumers to implement. The recommendation to moderate fat intake in the new dietary guideline, "Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat" is consistent with communication recommendations in the IFIC research. Further, the moderate fat message is empowering because it suggests an achievable dietary regimen and reduces guilt and worry about foods. It allows flexibility to enjoy desired foods and promotes using common sense when it comes to diet. Several issues emerged from the IFIC research that apply to general nutrition communications with consumers, whether it be through national nutrition recommendations or in one-on-one counseling situations: to be effective, messages to consumers about nutrition, and specifically dietary fat, must address sources of discomfort about dietary choices; they must engender a sense of empowerment; and they should motivate both by providing clear information that propels toward taking action and appeals to the need to make personal choices.

Using action research to build mentor capacity to improve orientation and quality of nursing students' aged care placements: what to do when the phone rings.

PubMed

Lea, Emma J; Andrews, Sharon; Stronach, Megan; Marlow, Annette; Robinson, Andrew L

2017-07-01

To describe whether an action research approach can be used to build capacity of residential aged care facility staff to support undergraduate nursing students' clinical placements in residential aged care facilities, using development of an orientation programme as an exemplar. Aged care facilities are unpopular sites for nursing students' clinical placements. A contributing factor is the limited capacity of staff to provide students with a positive placement experience. Strategies to build mentor capability to shape student placements and support learning and teaching are critical if nursing students are to have positive placements that attract them to aged care after graduation, an imperative given the increasing care needs of the ageing population worldwide. Action research approach employing mixed-methods data collection (primarily qualitative with a quantitative component). Aged care facility staff (n = 32) formed a mentor group at each of two Tasmanian facilities and met regularly to support undergraduate nursing students (n = 40) during placements. Group members planned, enacted, reviewed and reflected on orientation procedures to welcome students, familiarise them with the facility and prepare them for their placement. Data comprised transcripts from these and parallel student meetings, and orientation data from student questionnaires from two successive placement periods (2011/2012). Problems were identified in the orientation processes for the initial student placements. Mentors implemented a revised orientation programme. Evaluation demonstrated improved programme outcomes for students regarding knowledge of facility operations, their responsibilities and emergency procedures. Action research provides an effective approach to engage aged care facility staff to build their capacity to support clinical placements. Building capacity in the aged care workforce is vital to provide appropriate care for residents with increasing care needs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Rapid realist review of the evidence: achieving lasting change when mental health rehabilitation staff undertake recovery-oriented training.

PubMed

Gee, Melanie; Bhanbhro, Sadiq; Cook, Sarah; Killaspy, Helen

2017-08-01

The aim of this study was to identify the factors contributing to lasting change in practice following a recovery-based training intervention for inpatient mental health rehabilitation staff. Staff training may help nurses and other staff groups in inpatient mental health rehabilitative settings to increase their recovery-oriented practice. There are no published reviews on the effectiveness of such training and few long-term evaluations. This review informed a realist evaluation of a specific intervention (GetREAL). Rapid realist review methodology was used to generate and prioritize programme theories. ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science and grey literature searches were performed in September 2014-March 2015 with no date restrictions. Stakeholders suggested further documents. GetREAL project documentation was consulted. Programme theory development took place iteratively with literature identification. Stakeholders validated and prioritized emerging programme theories and the prioritized theories were refined using literature case studies. Fifty-one relevant documents fed into 49 programme theories articulating seven mechanisms for lasting change. Prioritized mechanisms were: staff receptiveness to change; and staff feeling encouraged, motivated and supported by colleagues and management to change. Seven programme theories were prioritized and refined using data from four case studies. Lasting change can be facilitated by collaborative action planning, regular collaborative meetings, appointing a change agent, explicit management endorsement and prioritization and modifying organizational structures. Conversely, a challenging organizational climate, or a prevalence of 'change fatigue', may block change. Pre-intervention exploration may help identify any potential barriers to embedding recovery in the organizational culture. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Amount and Preferred Orientation of Simple-shear in a Deformation Tensor: Implications for Detecting Shear Zones and Faults with GPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, A. M.; Griffiths, J. H.

2007-05-01

At the 2005 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Griffiths and Johnson [2005] introduced a method of extracting from the deformation-gradient (and velocity-gradient) tensor the amount and preferred orientation of simple-shear associated with 2-D shear zones and faults. Noting the 2-D is important because the shear zones and faults in Griffiths and Johnson [2005] were assumed non-dilatant and infinitely long, ignoring the scissors- like action along strike associated with shear zones and faults of finite length. Because shear zones and faults can dilate (and contract) normal to their walls and can have a scissors-like action associated with twisting about an axis normal to their walls, the more general method of detecting simple-shear is introduced and called MODES "method of detecting simple-shear." MODES can thus extract from the deformation-gradient (and velocity- gradient) tensor the amount and preferred orientation of simple-shear associated with 3-D shear zones and faults near or far from the Earth's surface, providing improvements and extensions to existing analytical methods used in active tectonics studies, especially strain analysis and dislocation theory. The derivation of MODES is based on one definition and two assumptions: by definition, simple-shear deformation becomes localized in some way; by assumption, the twirl within the deformation-gradient (or the spin within the velocity-gradient) is due to a combination of simple-shear and twist, and coupled with the simple- shear and twist is a dilatation of the walls of shear zones and faults. The preferred orientation is thus the orientation of the plane containing the simple-shear and satisfying the mechanical and kinematical boundary conditions. Results from a MODES analysis are illustrated by means of a three-dimensional diagram, the cricket- ball, which is reminiscent of the seismologist's "beach ball." In this poster, we present the underlying theory of MODES and illustrate how it works by analyzing the three- dimensional displacements measured with the Global Positioning System across the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake ground rupture in Taiwan. In contrast to the deformation zone in the upper several meters of the ground below the surface detected by Yu et al. [2001], MODES determines the orientation and direction of shift of a shear zone representing the earthquake fault within the upper several hundred or thousand meters of ground below the surface. Thus, one value of the MODES analysis in this case is to provide boundary conditions for dislocation solutions for the subsurface shape of the main rupture during the earthquake.

Missional Imaginations for Theological Education: Mixed Model, Exploratory, Action-Oriented Research Mapping the Theological Identity and Organizational Readiness for Change of Five Theological School Systems in the United States Originating after 1945

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Small, Kyle J. A.

2009-01-01

This dissertation explores the formal theologies and organizational readiness for change with a view towards adopting missional prototypes for theological education across a school's (system's) tradition, curriculum, and structure. The research assessed five theological schools in the United States through an exploratory, action-oriented,…

[Research study regarding the benefits of nursing care in the twilight syndrome].

PubMed

Corrias, Anna; Federici, Anna

2012-01-01

The twilight syndrome manifests with the appearance of a severe confusional state which damages the patient's cognitive potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether nursing care focused on the patient's space-time orientation could reduce or even prevent the onset of this syndrome. The study comprised 48 patients, 17 in the action group and 31 in the control group. The results of the study showed that the nursing strategies implemented, aimed at maintaining the patient's cognitive, perceptive and orientation functions, not only slowed down the progression of the syndrome but also made early recognition possible.

"Wuwei" (Non-Action) Philosophy and Actions: Rethinking "Actions" in School Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moon, Seungho

2015-01-01

This inquiry aims to enrich conversation regarding school reform. The author asks about what other discourses are possible when the action-oriented question of how to "act" is a major approach to "fix" current educational problems. Drawing from Taoist philosophy of "wuwei" (non-action), the author provides a frame to…

Implementing a Case-Based E-Learning Environment in a Lecture-Oriented Anaesthesiology Class: Do Learning Styles Matter in Complex Problem Solving over Time?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Ikseon; Lee, Sang Joon; Kang, Jeongwan

2009-01-01

This study explores how students' learning styles influence their learning while solving complex problems when a case-based e-learning environment is implemented in a conventional lecture-oriented classroom. Seventy students from an anaesthesiology class at a dental school participated in this study over a 3-week period. Five learning-outcome…

A Model of Human Orientation and Self Motion Perception during Body Acceleration: The Orientation Modeling System

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-28

previous research and modeling results. The OMS and Perception Toolbox were used to perform a case study of an F18 mishap. Model results imply that...request documents from DTIC. Change of Address Organizations receiving reports from the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory on automatic...54  Coriolis head movement during a coordinated turn. .............................................55  Case Study

Requirements Modeling with the Aspect-oriented User Requirements Notation (AoURN): A Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mussbacher, Gunter; Amyot, Daniel; Araújo, João; Moreira, Ana

The User Requirements Notation (URN) is a recent ITU-T standard that supports requirements engineering activities. The Aspect-oriented URN (AoURN) adds aspect-oriented concepts to URN, creating a unified framework that allows for scenario-based, goal-oriented, and aspect-oriented modeling. AoURN is applied to the car crash crisis management system (CCCMS), modeling its functional and non-functional requirements (NFRs). AoURN generally models all use cases, NFRs, and stakeholders as individual concerns and provides general guidelines for concern identification. AoURN handles interactions between concerns, capturing their dependencies and conflicts as well as the resolutions. We present a qualitative comparison of aspect-oriented techniques for scenario-based and goal-oriented requirements engineering. An evaluation carried out based on the metrics adapted from literature and a task-based evaluation suggest that AoURN models are more scalable than URN models and exhibit better modularity, reusability, and maintainability.

Tangled paths: Three experienced teachers' growth in understanding during an extended science community of practice professional development effort

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Nancy Melamed

This qualitative investigation extends the study of teacher learning within a reform-based community of practice model of professional development. This long-term, multiple case study examined three experienced teachers' transformations in thinking about science instruction. Data were collected during the three years of the Guided Inquiry supporting Multiple Literacies research project, designed to develop instructional practices informed by a socio-cultural, inquiry-based orientation. Data sources included: transcripts of semi-structured interviews collected at strategic points, the teacher's journals, initial application information, and teachers' written case studies. Using an interpretive case study approach, tenets of the teachers' orientations were identified through a recursive process. Results are organized to reflect two principles that were integral to the design of the professional development community. The first principle describes changes in teachers' orientations about the goals and characteristics of science instruction in the elementary grades. The second describes changes about teachers' knowledge about themselves as learners and the influence of this knowledge on their thinking about science instruction and student learning. Illustrative findings indicate that: (a) it is possible for teachers' language regarding conceptions of their practice to change with only superficial change in their orientations, (b) teachers can hold dualistic ways of thinking about their practice, (c) in some cases, teachers use a significant amount of autobiography about their own learning to explain their practice; over time, this was replaced with warrants using the language that developed within the professional development community, and (d) long-term case studies revealed differences in orientations that emerged and were refined over time. These findings provide strong support for communities of practice as a model of professional development and hold implications for advancing teacher learning.

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…

Action in External Studies. Division of External Studies Occasional Papers No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riverina Coll. of Advanced Education, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia).

Developments in distance education are addressed in four papers. In "A Practical Winery Experience," Malcolm Allen discusses Riverina College of Advanced Education's Bachelor of Applied Science (wine science) course, which is vocationally oriented, mainly enrolls students from the wine industry, and primarily uses correspondence study.…

Case study on the orientation of phaco hand pieces during steam sterilization processes.

PubMed

van Doornmalen Gomez Hoyos, J P C M; van Wezel, R A C; van Doornmalen, H W J M

2015-05-01

Steam sterilization is an essential part of infection prevention. The literature shows that sterilization of medical instruments containing channels is not trivial. Phaco hand pieces have a simple configuration: a device contains a channel with a constant radius. No literature was found indicating whether the sterilization conditions on the inner surface of a phaco hand piece are influenced by the orientation of the hand piece. To determine whether the orientation of a phaco hand piece influences the results of a sterilization process of this device. A qualitative case study, including experiments, is performed with a protocolled combination of steam sterilizer, process, phaco hand piece, orientation of the phaco hand piece, and wrapping. In this specific case, the orientation of the hand piece influenced the result of the steam sterilization process; in vertically (upright) oriented phaco hand pieces with free water drainage, sterilization conditions are reproducibly established. In the same process, in horizontally oriented or vertically oriented hand pieces without free drainage, these conditions are not established in a reproducible way. In the investigated combination of sterilizer, process, load, loading pattern and wrapping, phaco hand pieces have to be oriented vertically (upright) with free water drainage to obtain steam sterilization conditions on the inner surface. It is likely that instruments with comparable configuration and dimensions will yield comparable results. It is therefore recommended that this issue is considered during the development of medical instruments and during performance qualifications of such instruments. Copyright © 2015 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissipative and nonunitary solutions of operator commutation relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makarov, K. A.; Tsekanovskii, E.

2016-01-01

We study the (generalized) semi-Weyl commutation relations UgAU* g = g(A) on Dom(A), where A is a densely defined operator and G ∋ g ↦ Ug is a unitary representation of the subgroup G of the affine group G, the group of affine orientation-preserving transformations of the real axis. If A is a symmetric operator, then the group G induces an action/flow on the operator unit ball of contracting transformations from Ker(A* - iI) to Ker(A* + iI). We establish several fixed-point theorems for this flow. In the case of one-parameter continuous subgroups of linear transformations, self-adjoint (maximal dissipative) operators associated with the fixed points of the flow yield solutions of the (restricted) generalized Weyl commutation relations. We show that in the dissipative setting, the restricted Weyl relations admit a variety of representations that are not unitarily equivalent. For deficiency indices (1, 1), the basic results can be strengthened and set in a separate case.

GREENIFY: A Real-World Action Game for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Joey J.; Ceyhan, Pinar; Jordan-Cooley, William; Sung, Woonhee

2013-01-01

The literature on climate change education recommends social, accessible action-oriented learning that is specifically designed to resonate with a target audience's values and worldview. This article discusses GREENIFY, a real-world action game designed to teach adult learners about climate change and motivate informed action. A pilot study…

Ethics and proposals: A case study

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

Agnew, M.J.

1992-01-01

Who can read about ethics in technical communication at 2 a.m. when you have to face an ethical problem the next day at work In the middle of ethical turmoil, examining the balance of power can be helpful in finding the best course of action, particularly if the situation is sales- or marketing-related. The author points out that it never hurts to examine honestly all sides of a situation, including checking the balance of power, to see what you would do. In fact, it's the only way to start preparing yourself for your next dilemma. And because all communication canmore » be seen as at least persuasive, if not downright marketing-oriented, each of us may have the opportunity to face our own ethical issues.« less

Ethics and proposals: A case study

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

Agnew, M.J.

1992-08-01

Who can read about ethics in technical communication at 2 a.m. when you have to face an ethical problem the next day at work? In the middle of ethical turmoil, examining the balance of power can be helpful in finding the best course of action, particularly if the situation is sales- or marketing-related. The author points out that it never hurts to examine honestly all sides of a situation, including checking the balance of power, to see what you would do. In fact, it`s the only way to start preparing yourself for your next dilemma. And because all communication canmore » be seen as at least persuasive, if not downright marketing-oriented, each of us may have the opportunity to face our own ethical issues.« less

Action recognition using multi-scale histograms of oriented gradients based depth motion trail Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Guanxi; Tie, Yun; Qi, Lin

2017-07-01

In this paper, we propose a novel approach based on Depth Maps and compute Multi-Scale Histograms of Oriented Gradient (MSHOG) from sequences of depth maps to recognize actions. Each depth frame in a depth video sequence is projected onto three orthogonal Cartesian planes. Under each projection view, the absolute difference between two consecutive projected maps is accumulated through a depth video sequence to form a Depth Map, which is called Depth Motion Trail Images (DMTI). The MSHOG is then computed from the Depth Maps for the representation of an action. In addition, we apply L2-Regularized Collaborative Representation (L2-CRC) to classify actions. We evaluate the proposed approach on MSR Action3D dataset and MSRGesture3D dataset. Promising experimental result demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Sport Education: Case Studies of Experienced In-Service Teachers with Teaching Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, YuChun; Curtner-Smith, Matthew

2013-01-01

Research has revealed that while pre-service teachers (PTs) with coaching orientations reinforce sexism and masculine bias, those with teaching orientations combat and reject it. The purpose of this study was to examine four sport education (SE) seasons taught by two experienced in-service teachers for the presence or absence of sexism and…

Hegemonic Masculinity in Sport Education: Case Studies of Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers with Teaching Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, YuChun; Curtner-Smith, Matthew D.

2015-01-01

Previous research had indicated that pre-service teachers (PTs) with coaching orientations reinforced sexism and masculine bias while employing the sport education (SE) model. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether or not and the degree to which SE delivered by PTs with teaching orientations served to combat or reinforce sexism…

Social values and biodiversity conservation in a dynamic world.

PubMed

Dietsch, Alia M; Teel, Tara L; Manfredo, Michael J

2016-12-01

Understanding what shape values (which ultimately shape human behavior) will help improve the effectiveness of conservation solutions that depend on public support. To contribute to this understanding, we investigated the influence of societal-level changes, such as modernization, on values in a multilevel framework. We collected survey responses (n = 4183) to questionnaires mailed to a random selection of households within each county in Washington (U.S.A.) (response rate 32%). We used multilevel modeling to determine the relationship between modernization (e.g., county-level urbanization, wealth, and education) and wildlife value orientations (values that shape thought about wildlife) while controlling for individual-level sociodemographics. We then explored how values influence conservation support at different levels (e.g., individual and county) and how values explain conservation support in a case study of public responses to wolf (Canis lupis) recovery. We found positive associations between county-level examples of modernization and mutualism (a wildlife value orientation that prioritizes the perceived needs of wildlife) independent of a respondent's sociodemographics, and negative associations between modernization and domination (a wildlife value orientation that prioritizes human needs). Our results suggest that context has an additive impact on one's values; certain locations exhibited domination values, whereas others exhibited a mix of value types. This finding is important because actions that restrict human interests to promote biodiversity were negatively associated with domination and positively associated with mutualism. In the wolf case study, mutualism was strongly correlated with less social conflict over wolf recovery in many, but not all, counties (e.g., Pearson's r correlation = 0.59 in one county and a nonsignificant correlation in another). Our findings suggest that modernization operates on values within a state with implications for biodiversity, but other factors in addition to values must be investigated to fully understand what leads to proconservation behavior. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Improving the Quality of Maternal and Neonatal Care: the Role of Standard Based Participatory Assessments

PubMed Central

Tamburlini, Giorgio; Yadgarova, Klara; Kamilov, Asamidin; Bacci, Alberta

2013-01-01

Background Gaps in quality of care are seriously affecting maternal and neonatal health globally but reports of successful quality improvement cycles implemented at large scale are scanty. We report the results of a nation-wide program to improve quality of maternal and neonatal hospital care in a lower-middle income country focusing on the role played by standard-based participatory assessments. Methods Improvements in the quality of maternal and neonatal care following an action-oriented participatory assessment of 19 areas covering the whole continuum from admission to discharge were measured after an average period of 10 months in four busy referral maternity hospitals in Uzbekistan. Information was collected by a multidisciplinary national team with international supervision through visit to hospital services, examination of medical records, direct observation of cases and interviews with staff and mothers. Scores (range 0 to 3) attributed to over 400 items and combined in average scores for each area were compared with the baseline assessment. Results Between the first and the second assessment, all four hospitals improved their overall score by an average 0.7 points out of 3 (range 0.4 to 1), i.e. by 22%. The improvements occurred in all main areas of care and were greater in the care of normal labor and delivery (+0.9), monitoring, infection control and mother and baby friendly care (+0.8) the role of the participatory action-oriented approach in determining the observed changes was estimated crucial in 6 out of 19 areas and contributory in other 8. Ongoing implementation of referral system and new classification of neonatal deaths impede the improved process of care to be reflected in current statistics. Conclusions Important improvements in the quality of hospital care provided to mothers and newborn babies can be achieved through a standard-based action-oriented and participatory assessment and reassessment process. PMID:24167616

Crisis Management Systems: A Case Study for Aspect-Oriented Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kienzle, Jörg; Guelfi, Nicolas; Mustafiz, Sadaf

The intent of this document is to define a common case study for the aspect-oriented modeling research community. The domain of the case study is crisis management systems, i.e., systems that help in identifying, assessing, and handling a crisis situation by orchestrating the communication between all parties involved in handling the crisis, by allocating and managing resources, and by providing access to relevant crisis-related information to authorized users. This document contains informal requirements of crisis management systems (CMSs) in general, a feature model for a CMS product line, use case models for a car crash CMS (CCCMS), a domain model for the CCCMS, an informal physical architecture description of the CCCMS, as well as some design models of a possible object-oriented implementation of parts of the CCCMS backend. AOM researchers who want to demonstrate the power of their AOM approach or technique can hence apply the approach at the most appropriate level of abstraction.

Orienting Student Using a Case-Based Instructional Approach: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agbor-Baiyee, W.

2009-01-01

Purpose: Orientation facilitates the transition to a new academic program to meet the need of new students to know programmatic items such as academic expectations, courses, policies and procedures. We used a problem based learning (PBL) approach to introduce our students to the expectations of our intensive 10-week Medical College Admission Test…

75 FR 35816 - Establishment of the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Advisory Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-23

... (CO-OP) Advisory Board AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight. ACTION: Federal Register Notice. Authority: The Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO... (PPACA) that calls for the establishment of the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OP) Program...

Orientation priming of grasping decision for drawings of objects and blocks, and words.

PubMed

Chainay, Hanna; Naouri, Lucie; Pavec, Alice

2011-05-01

This study tested the influence of orientation priming on grasping decisions. Two groups of 20 healthy participants had to select a preferred grasping orientation (horizontal, vertical) based on drawings of everyday objects, geometric blocks or object names. Three priming conditions were used: congruent, incongruent and neutral. The facilitating effects of priming were observed in the grasping decision task for drawings of objects and blocks but not object names. The visual information about congruent orientation in the prime quickened participants' responses but had no effect on response accuracy. The results are discussed in the context of the hypothesis that an object automatically potentiates grasping associated with it, and that the on-line visual information is necessary for grasping potentiation to occur. The possibility that the most frequent orientation of familiar objects might be included in object-action representation is also discussed.

Gravity orientation tuning in macaque anterior thalamus.

PubMed

Laurens, Jean; Kim, Byounghoon; Dickman, J David; Angelaki, Dora E

2016-12-01

Gravity may provide a ubiquitous allocentric reference to the brain's spatial orientation circuits. Here we describe neurons in the macaque anterior thalamus tuned to pitch and roll orientation relative to gravity, independently of visual landmarks. We show that individual cells exhibit two-dimensional tuning curves, with peak firing rates at a preferred vertical orientation. These results identify a thalamic pathway for gravity cues to influence perception, action and spatial cognition.

Creating and connecting recommended practices for reproducible research through collaborative culture and consensus in the Research Data Alliance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parsons, M. A.; Yarmey, L.; Dillo, I.

2017-12-01

Data are the foundation of a robust, efficient, and reproducible scientific enterprise. The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is a community-driven, action-oriented, virtual organization committed to enabling open sharing and reuse of data by building social and technical bridges. The international RDA community includes almost 6000 members bringing diverse perspectives, domain knowledge, and expertise to a common table for identification of common challenges and holistic solutions. RDA members work together to identify common interests and form exploratory Interest Groups and outcome-oriented Working Groups. Participants exchange knowledge, share discoveries, discuss barriers and potential solutions, articulate policies, and align standards to enhance and facilitate global data sharing within and across domains and communities. With activities defined and led by members, RDA groups have organically been addressing issues across the full research cycle with community-ratified Recommendations and other outputs that begin to create the components of a global, data-sharing infrastructure. This paper examines how multiple RDA Recommendations can be implemented together to improve data and information discoverability, accessibility, and interconnection by both people and machines. For instance, the Persistent Identifier Types can support moving data across platforms through the Data Description Registry Interoperability framework following the RDA/WDS Publishing Data Workflows model. The Scholix initiative connects scholarly literature and data across numerous stakeholders can draw on the Practical Policy best practices for machine-actionable data policies. Where appropriate, we use a case study approach built around several flagship data sets from the Deep Carbon Observatory to examine how multiple RDA Recommendations can be implemented in actual practice.

Web-GIS oriented systems viability for municipal solid waste selective collection optimization in developed and transient economies.

PubMed

Rada, E C; Ragazzi, M; Fedrizzi, P

2013-04-01

Municipal solid waste management is a multidisciplinary activity that includes generation, source separation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and recovery, and, last but not least, disposal. The optimization of waste collection, through source separation, is compulsory where a landfill based management must be overcome. In this paper, a few aspects related to the implementation of a Web-GIS based system are analyzed. This approach is critically analyzed referring to the experience of two Italian case studies and two additional extra-European case studies. The first case is one of the best examples of selective collection optimization in Italy. The obtained efficiency is very high: 80% of waste is source separated for recycling purposes. In the second reference case, the local administration is going to be faced with the optimization of waste collection through Web-GIS oriented technologies for the first time. The starting scenario is far from an optimized management of municipal solid waste. The last two case studies concern pilot experiences in China and Malaysia. Each step of the Web-GIS oriented strategy is comparatively discussed referring to typical scenarios of developed and transient economies. The main result is that transient economies are ready to move toward Web oriented tools for MSW management, but this opportunity is not yet well exploited in the sector. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The processing of linear perspective and binocular information for action and perception.

PubMed

Bruggeman, Hugo; Yonas, Albert; Konczak, Jürgen

2007-04-08

To investigate the processing of linear perspective and binocular information for action and for the perceptual judgment of depth, we presented viewers with an actual Ames trapezoidal window. The display, when presented perpendicular to the line of sight, provided perspective information for a rectangular window slanted in depth, while binocular information specified a planar surface in the fronto-parallel plane. We compared pointing towards the display-edges with perceptual judgment of their positions in depth as the display orientation was varied under monocular and binocular view. On monocular trials, pointing and depth judgment were based on the perspective information and failed to respond accurately to changes in display orientation because pictorial information did not vary sufficiently to specify the small differences in orientation. For binocular trials, pointing was based on binocular information and precisely matched the changes in display orientation whereas depth judgment was short of such adjustment and based upon both binocular and perspective-specified slant information. The finding, that on binocular trials pointing was considerably less responsive to the illusion than perceptual judgment, supports an account of two separate processing streams in the human visual system, a ventral pathway involved in object recognition and a dorsal pathway that produces visual information for the control of actions. Previously, similar differences between perception and action were explained by an alternate explanation, that is, viewers selectively attend to different parts of a display in the two tasks. The finding that under monocular view participants responded to perspective information in both the action and the perception task rules out the attention-based argument.

Behavioral evidence for left-hemisphere specialization of motor planning

PubMed Central

Meulenbroek, Ruud G. J.; Steenbergen, Bert

2010-01-01

Recent studies suggest that the left hemisphere is dominant for the planning of motor actions. This left-hemisphere specialization hypothesis was proposed in various lines of research, including patient studies, motor imagery studies, and studies involving neurophysiological techniques. However, most of these studies are primarily based on experiments involving right-hand-dominant participants. Here, we present the results of a behavioral study with left-hand-dominant participants, which follows up previous work in right-hand-dominant participants. In our experiment, participants grasped CD casings and replaced them in a different, pre-cued orientation. Task performance was measured by the end-state comfort effect, i.e., the anticipated degree of physical comfort associated with the posture that is planned to be adopted at movement completion. Both left- and right-handed participants showed stronger end-state comfort effects for their right hand compared to their left hand. These results lend behavioral support to the left-hemisphere-dominance motion-planning hypothesis. PMID:21184219

Ten Inquiry Methods Used in Curriculum Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Short, Edmund C.

Ten different methods of inquiry are outlined in this overview of research methodologies currently being employed in the field of curriculum studies: (1) philosophical, (2) historical, (3) scientific, (4) artistic, (5) moral, (6) religious, (7) interpretive, (8) instrumental, (9) deliberative, and (10) action oriented. Each of the 10 methods is…

Studying and Designing for Equity-Oriented Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teeters, Leah Anne

2016-01-01

1.) Relationships "de Confianza" and the Organization of Collective Social Action: We examine the relational elements of community change, focusing on how community health workers ("promotoras") build relationships "de confianza." The analysis demonstrates how relationships "de confianza" have laid a…

Self-identity and the theory of planned behaviour: between- and within-participants analyses.

PubMed

Hagger, Martin S; Chatzisarantis, Nikos L D

2006-12-01

Two studies addressed the hypothesis that a minority of people are more oriented towards their self-identity when forming intentions to act than the traditional antecedents of intentional action; attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC). In Study 1, participants (N=241) completed measures of an augmented version of theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that included self-identity for 30 behaviours. Using within-participants multiple regression analyses, the sample was classified into self-identity-oriented (SI-oriented) and TPB-oriented groups. Between-participants multiple regression analyses revealed that self-identity was a significantly stronger predictor of intentions and accounted for significantly more incremental variance in intentions in the SI-oriented sample compared with the TPB-oriented sample across the 30 behaviours. In Study 2, participants (N=250) completed the same TPB and self-identity measures used in Study 1 as well as measures of generalized self-concept and social physique anxiety for dieting behaviour. Results indicated that self-identity was significantly associated with the generalized self-related measures, and self-concept and social physique anxiety moderated the self-identity-intention relationship. This investigation provides some preliminary evidence to support the effect of individual differences in self-identity on the formation of intentions to act.

Does case-mix based reimbursement stimulate the development of process-oriented care delivery?

PubMed

Vos, Leti; Dückers, Michel L A; Wagner, Cordula; van Merode, Godefridus G

2010-11-01

Reimbursement based on the total care of a patient during an acute episode of illness is believed to stimulate management and clinicians to reduce quality problems like waiting times and poor coordination of care delivery. Although many studies already show that this kind of case-mix based reimbursement leads to more efficiency, it remains unclear whether care coordination improved as well. This study aims to explore whether case-mix based reimbursement stimulates development of care coordination by the use of care programmes, and a process-oriented way of working. Data for this study were gathered during the winter of 2007/2008 in a survey involving all Dutch hospitals. Descriptive and structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses were conducted. SEM reveals that adoption of the case-mix reimbursement within hospitals' budgeting processes stimulates hospitals to establish care programmes by the use of process-oriented performance measures. However, the implementation of care programmes is not (yet) accompanied by a change in focus from function (the delivery of independent care activities) to process (the delivery of care activities as being connected to a chain of interdependent care activities). This study demonstrates that hospital management can stimulate the development of care programmes by the adoption of case-mix reimbursement within hospitals' budgeting processes. Future research is recommended to confirm this finding and to determine whether the establishment of care programmes will in time indeed lead to a more process-oriented view of professionals. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Place-based and data-rich citizen science as a precursor for conservation action.

PubMed

Haywood, Benjamin K; Parrish, Julia K; Dolliver, Jane

2016-06-01

Environmental education strategies have customarily placed substantial focus on enhancing ecological knowledge and literacy with the hope that, upon discovering relevant facts and concepts, participants will be better equipped to process and dissect environmental issues and, therefore, make more informed decisions. The assumption is that informed citizens will become active citizens--enthusiastically lobbying for, and participating in, conservation-oriented action. We surveyed and interviewed and used performance data from 432 participants in the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a scientifically rigorous citizen science program, to explore measurable change in and links between understanding and action. We found that participation in rigorous citizen science was associated with significant increases in participant knowledge and skills; a greater connection to place and, secondarily, to community; and an increasing awareness of the relative impact of anthropogenic activities on local ecosystems specifically through increasing scientific understanding of the ecosystem and factors affecting it. Our results suggest that a place-based, data-rich experience linked explicitly to local, regional, and global issues can lead to measurable change in individual and collective action, expressed in our case study principally through participation in citizen science and community action and communication of program results to personal acquaintances and elected officials. We propose the following tenets of conservation literacy based on emergent themes and the connections between them explicit in our data: place-based learning creates personal meaning making; individual experience nested within collective (i.e., program-wide) experience facilitates an understanding of the ecosystem process and function at local and regional scales; and science-based meaning making creates informed concern (i.e., the ability to discern both natural and anthropogenic forcing), which allows individuals to develop a personalized prioritization schema and engage in conservation action. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

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…

The Case of Design-Oriented Pedagogy: What Students' Digital Video Stories Say about Emerging Learning Ecosystems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anu, Liljeström; Jorma, Enkenberg; Sinikka, Pöllänen

2014-01-01

This paper presents a case study in which multi-age students (aged 6-12, N?=?32) in small groups made autonomous inquiries about the phenomenon of winter fishing within the framework of design-oriented pedagogy. The research analyzed storytelling videos that the students produced as learning objects. These videos revealed a picture of the…

Self-Authoring a Civic Identity: A Qualitative Analysis of Change-Oriented Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iverson, Susan V.; James, Jennifer H.

2013-01-01

This qualitative case study explored how undergraduate students' involvement with change-oriented service-learning contributed to their civic-political development. Using Baxter Magolda's notion of self-authorship as an analytic lens, findings suggested that students' involvement with change-oriented service-learning led to (a)…

Policy-Oriented Foresight as Evidence for Policy Making: Conditions of (Mis)Match

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fobé, Ellen; Brans, Marleen

2013-01-01

This article approaches policy-oriented foresight as a particular kind of evidence aimed at supporting and developing policies. Through a comparative case study, the article investigates the different ways in which evidence from policy-oriented foresight is used by policy makers. In explaining the factors behind differences in use between the…

You Have One Hour: Developing a Standardized Library Orientation and Evaluating Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Library orientations continue to excite, or plague, instruction librarians everywhere. Reaching first year students early can preempt academic heartache and research woes, yet the question of "what students really need" continues to evolve. This article presents a case study of a large-scale implementation of library orientations. The…

Market Orientation in University: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuster, Ines; Aviles-Valenzuela, Maria Elena

2010-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to analyse the relationship between market orientation (MO) and results in the field of higher education, considering the importance of university teaching staff MO in relation to satisfaction and establishing that this orientation is directly and positively affected by the MO of the upper hierarchical levels. The focus is…

Beam orientation optimization for intensity-modulated radiation therapy using mixed integer programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Ruijie; Dai, Jianrong; Yang, Yong; Hu, Yimin

2006-08-01

The purpose of this study is to extend an algorithm proposed for beam orientation optimization in classical conformal radiotherapy to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and to evaluate the algorithm's performance in IMRT scenarios. In addition, the effect of the candidate pool of beam orientations, in terms of beam orientation resolution and starting orientation, on the optimized beam configuration, plan quality and optimization time is also explored. The algorithm is based on the technique of mixed integer linear programming in which binary and positive float variables are employed to represent candidates for beam orientation and beamlet weights in beam intensity maps. Both beam orientations and beam intensity maps are simultaneously optimized in the algorithm with a deterministic method. Several different clinical cases were used to test the algorithm and the results show that both target coverage and critical structures sparing were significantly improved for the plans with optimized beam orientations compared to those with equi-spaced beam orientations. The calculation time was less than an hour for the cases with 36 binary variables on a PC with a Pentium IV 2.66 GHz processor. It is also found that decreasing beam orientation resolution to 10° greatly reduced the size of the candidate pool of beam orientations without significant influence on the optimized beam configuration and plan quality, while selecting different starting orientations had large influence. Our study demonstrates that the algorithm can be applied to IMRT scenarios, and better beam orientation configurations can be obtained using this algorithm. Furthermore, the optimization efficiency can be greatly increased through proper selection of beam orientation resolution and starting beam orientation while guaranteeing the optimized beam configurations and plan quality.

Cost and quality trends in direct contracting arrangements.

PubMed

Lyles, Alan; Weiner, Jonathan P; Shore, Andrew D; Christianson, Jon; Solberg, Leif I; Drury, Patricia

2002-01-01

This paper presents the first empirical analysis of a 1997 initiative of the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) known as Choice Plus. This initiative entailed direct contracts with provider-controlled delivery systems; annual care system bidding; public reports of consumer satisfaction and quality; uniform benefits; and risk-adjusted payment. After case-mix adjustment, hospital costs decreased, ambulatory care costs rose modestly, and pharmacy costs increased substantially. Process-oriented quality indicators were stable or improved. The BHCAG employer-to-provider direct contracting and consumer choice model appeared to perform reasonably well in containing costs, without measurable adverse effects on quality.

How to include the variability of TMS responses in simulations: a speech mapping case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Geeter, N.; Lioumis, P.; Laakso, A.; Crevecoeur, G.; Dupré, L.

2016-11-01

When delivered over a specific cortical site, TMS can temporarily disrupt the ongoing process in that area. This allows mapping of speech-related areas for preoperative evaluation purposes. We numerically explore the observed variability of TMS responses during a speech mapping experiment performed with a neuronavigation system. We selected four cases with very small perturbations in coil position and orientation. In one case (E) a naming error occurred, while in the other cases (NEA, B, C) the subject appointed the images as smoothly as without TMS. A realistic anisotropic head model was constructed of the subject from T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI. The induced electric field distributions were computed, associated to the coil parameters retrieved from the neuronavigation system. Finally, the membrane potentials along relevant white matter fibre tracts, extracted from DTI-based tractography, were computed using a compartmental cable equation. While only minor differences could be noticed between the induced electric field distributions of the four cases, computing the corresponding membrane potentials revealed different subsets of tracts were activated. A single tract was activated for all coil positions. Another tract was only triggered for case E. NEA induced action potentials in 13 tracts, while NEB stimulated 11 tracts and NEC one. The calculated results are certainly sensitive to the coil specifications, demonstrating the observed variability in this study. However, even though a tract connecting Broca’s with Wernicke’s area is only triggered for the error case, further research is needed on other study cases and on refining the neural model with synapses and network connections. Case- and subject-specific modelling that includes both electromagnetic fields and neuronal activity enables demonstration of the variability in TMS experiments and can capture the interaction with complex neural networks.

Early socialization of prosocial behavior: Patterns in parents' encouragement of toddlers' helping in an everyday household task.

PubMed

Waugh, Whitney; Brownell, Celia; Pollock, Brianna

2015-05-01

Patterns in parents' socialization of prosocial behavior in 18- and 24-month-olds (n=46) were investigated during an everyday household chore that parents were asked to complete with their toddlers. Two socialization approaches were distinguished, one focused on specific requests for concrete actions needed to complete an immediate, concrete goal ("action-oriented"), and a second focused on the more abstract needs and emotions of the parent and the child's role as a helper ("need-oriented'). Parents were equally active at both ages in trying to elicit children's help but used different strategies with younger and older toddlers. With 18-month-olds they used more action-oriented approaches, whereas with 24-month-olds they increased their use of need-oriented approaches. They also regulated the attention of younger toddlers more, and more often socially approved older toddlers' helping. Thus, how parents prompt, support, and encourage prosocial behavior changes over the second year from utilizing primarily concrete, goal-directed requests in the service of the immediate task, to increasingly emphasizing more abstract needs and emotions of the recipient and the child's role as a helper. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The clinician in the driver's seat: part 2 - intelligent uses of space in a drag/drop user-composable electronic health record.

PubMed

Senathirajah, Yalini; Kaufman, David; Bakken, Suzanne

2014-12-01

User-composable approaches provide clinicians with the control to design and assemble information elements on screen via drag/drop. They hold considerable promise for enhancing the electronic-health-records (EHRs) user experience. We previously described this novel approach to EHR design and our illustrative system, MedWISE. The purpose of this paper is to describe clinician users' intelligent uses of space during completion of real patient case studies in a laboratory setting using MedWISE. Thirteen clinicians at a quaternary academic medical center used the system to review four real patient cases. We analyzed clinician utterances, behaviors, screen layouts (i.e., interface designs), and their perceptions associated with completing patient case studies. Clinicians effectively used the system to review all cases. Two coding schemata pertaining to human-computer interaction and diagnostic reasoning were used to analyze the data. Users adopted three main interaction strategies: rapidly gathering items on screen and reviewing ('opportunistic selection' approach); creating highly structured screens ('structured' approach); and interacting with small groups of items in sequence as their case review progressed ('dynamic stage' approach). They also used spatial arrangement in ways predicted by theory and research on workplace spatial arrangement. This includes assignment of screen regions for particular purposes (24% of spatial codes), juxtaposition to facilitate calculation or other cognitive tasks ('epistemic action'), and grouping elements with common meanings or relevance to the diagnostic facets of the case (20.3%). A left-to-right progression of orienting materials, data, and action items or reflection space was a commonly observed pattern. Widget selection was based on user assessment of what information was useful or relevant. We developed and tested an illustrative system that gives clinicians greater control of the EHR, and demonstrated its feasibility for case review by typical clinicians. Producing the simplifying inventions, such as user-composable platforms that shift control to the user, may serve to promote productive EHR use and enhance its value as an instrument of patient care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Theory of liquid crystal orientation under action of light wave field and aligning surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dadivanyan, A. K.; Chausov, D. N.; Belyaev, V. V.; Barabanova, N. N.; Chausova, O. V.; Kuleshova, Yu D.

2018-03-01

Theoretical models developed in the MRSU group under leadership of Professor Artem Dadivanyan in area of the LC orientation and photo-induced effects are presented. Angular distribution functions of the dye and liquid crystal molecules under action of intensive light beam have been derived. The number of molecules in cluster is estimated. A model of dimers formation in the photoalignment dye is suggested that explains influence of the dye molecular structure on both polar and azimuthal anchoring energy.

The Nevada Family: Political Crisis Leadership and Resilience Narratives in the Silver State

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

incidents. The analysis in the case studies focuses primarily on the actions of political leaders. Through the actions of political leaders during...which are all applied to and examined through case studies from recent crises within the state of Nevada. These incidents are both man-made and natural...disasters, and they occur over long and short time periods. These case studies allow for the actions and decisions of political leaders during

Validating agent oriented methodology (AOM) for netlogo modelling and simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WaiShiang, Cheah; Nissom, Shane; YeeWai, Sim; Sharbini, Hamizan

2017-10-01

AOM (Agent Oriented Modeling) is a comprehensive and unified agent methodology for agent oriented software development. AOM methodology was proposed to aid developers with the introduction of technique, terminology, notation and guideline during agent systems development. Although AOM methodology is claimed to be capable of developing a complex real world system, its potential is yet to be realized and recognized by the mainstream software community and the adoption of AOM is still at its infancy. Among the reason is that there are not much case studies or success story of AOM. This paper presents two case studies on the adoption of AOM for individual based modelling and simulation. It demonstrate how the AOM is useful for epidemiology study and ecological study. Hence, it further validate the AOM in a qualitative manner.

The human mirror neuron system and embodied representations.

PubMed

Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa; Ivry, Richard B

2009-01-01

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

Using Case Studies in the Introductory Public Relations Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, William C.

The case study method has received increased attention at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in a number of public relations programs. Unlike the Harvard managerial-oriented case studies, the approach useful in large, introductory public relations courses stems from a simplified team approach to classroom projects, case studies in the…

Orientations of the Bronze Age Villa Complex at Vathypetro in Crete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blomberg, M.; Henriksson, G.

We present the results of our archaeoastronomical study of the villa and the tripartite shrine at Vathypetro. We found orientations to three major celestial events (counting the equinoxes as one): to sunrise at the equinoxes and the winter solstice in the case of the villa and to sunset at the summer solstice in the case of the tripartite stone. The axis of symmetry of the major room of the villa was oriented to sunrise of the 22nd of October in the Late Minoan period. This was also the orientation of the axis of symmetry of the main cult room in the west wing of the palace at Malia. We propose that this orientation marked the time for planting and thus the beginning of the agricultural year. It is unusual that archaeoastronomical studies make contributions to historical debates. However certain orientations dating after Late Minoan I seem to reflect the Mycenaean presence in Crete. The orientation of the tripartite shrine to sunset at the summer solstice is the same as the orientations of the small shrines at Malia and Agia Triada, all of which we argue to have been built for Mycenaeans. We propose that there are two types of orientations in the island: those to the east within the limits for sunrise - made by Minoans, and some to the west - made by (or for) Mycenaeans.

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

PubMed

Ridderinkhof, K Richard

2014-10-01

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

The effects of proportional representation and gender orientation of the task on emergent leadership behavior in mixed-gender work groups.

PubMed

Karakowsky, L; Siegel, J P

1999-08-01

Much of the research that has examined the behavioral consequences of membership in mixed-gender work groups suggests that men are more participative and influential in task-related behavior. Drawing from elements of sociological, structural, and psychological perspectives, this study examined the effects of group gender composition and gender orientation of the group's task on patterns of emergent leadership behavior. Participants were assigned to male-dominated, female-dominated, or balanced-gender groups for the purpose of discussing and generating solutions for two business-related cases--each case emphasized either male-oriented or female-oriented expertise. The findings suggest that the proportional representation of men and women in a work group, along with the gender orientation of the group's task, can significantly influence the level of leadership behavior exhibited in group activity.

Reducing Stereotype Threat With Embodied Triggers: A Case of Sensorimotor-Mental Congruence.

PubMed

Chalabaev, Aïna; Radel, Rémi; Masicampo, E J; Dru, Vincent

2016-08-01

In four experiments, we tested whether embodied triggers may reduce stereotype threat. We predicted that left-side sensorimotor inductions would increase cognitive performance under stereotype threat, because such inductions are linked to avoidance motivation among right-handers. This sensorimotor-mental congruence hypothesis rests on regulatory fit research showing that stereotype threat may be reduced by avoidance-oriented interventions, and motor congruence research showing positive effects when two parameters of a motor action activate the same motivational system (avoidance or approach). Results indicated that under stereotype threat, cognitive performance was higher when participants contracted their left hand (Study 1) or when the stimuli were presented on the left side of the visual field (Studies 2-4), as compared with right-hand contraction or right-side visual stimulation. These results were observed on math (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and Stroop (Study 3) performance. An indirect effect of congruence on math performance through subjective fluency was also observed. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Programa de fortalecimiento de capacidades: reflections on a case study of community-based teacher education set in rural northern Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsop, Steve; Ames, Patricia; Arroyo, Graciela Cordero; Dippo, Don

2010-12-01

This article explores distinctive features of a 5-year international education development project set in rural northern Peru (PROMEB, the Proyecto de Mejoramiento de la Educación Básica). Grounded within a partnership between teacher educators from Peru, Mexico and Canada, and rural Peruvian teachers, students and their communities, we offer reflections on a teacher education initiative which sought to support action-orientated inquiries as a mechanism for school/community development. Set against a background of poverty, hunger, isolation and an "educational crisis", we outline our pedagogy and describe two projects. We then reflect on the influences of our engagements and on associated tensions and ambiguities in our methods. We hope that such discussions might offer insights for others involved in international school/community development projects of this type.

Tutorial: Crystal orientations and EBSD — Or which way is up?

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

Britton, T.B., E-mail: b.britton@imperial.ac.uk; Jiang, J.; Guo, Y.

2016-07-15

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is an automated technique that can measure the orientation of crystals in a sample very rapidly. There are many sophisticated software packages that present measured data. Unfortunately, due to crystal symmetry and differences in the set-up of microscope and EBSD software, there may be accuracy issues when linking the crystal orientation to a particular microstructural feature. In this paper we outline a series of conventions used to describe crystal orientations and coordinate systems. These conventions have been used to successfully demonstrate that a consistent frame of reference is used in the sample, unit cell, pole figuremore » and diffraction pattern frames of reference. We establish a coordinate system rooted in measurement of the diffraction pattern and subsequently link this to all other coordinate systems. A fundamental outcome of this analysis is to note that the beamshift coordinate system needs to be precisely defined for consistent 3D microstructure analysis. This is supported through a series of case studies examining particular features of the microscope settings and/or unambiguous crystallographic features. These case studies can be generated easily in most laboratories and represent an opportunity to demonstrate confidence in use of recorded orientation data. Finally, we include a simple software tool, written in both MATLAB® and Python, which the reader can use to compare consistency with their own microscope set-up and which may act as a springboard for further offline analysis. - Highlights: • Presentation of conventions used to describe crystal orientations • Three case studies that outline how conventions are consistent • Demonstrates a pathway for calibration and validation of EBSD based orientation measurements • EBSD computer code supplied for validation by the reader.« less

Creating customer-oriented employees: the case in home health care.

PubMed

Hoffman, K D; Ingram, T N

1991-06-01

Little empirical research has examined the organizational factors that influence the extent to which health care providers engage in customer-oriented behaviors. The authors examine the influence of role ambiguity, role conflict, and job satisfaction on the customer-oriented behaviors of home health care representatives. Managerial implications based on the study findings are discussed.

Evaluating child care in the Family Health Strategy.

PubMed

da Silva, Simone Albino; Fracolli, Lislaine Aparecida

2016-01-01

to evaluate the healthcare provided to children under two years old by the Family Health Strategy. evaluative, quantitative, cross-sectional study that used the Primary Care Assessment Tool - Child Version for measuring the access, longitudinality, coordination, integrality, family orientation and community orientation. a total of 586 adults responsible for children under two years old and linked to 33 health units in eleven municipalities of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, were interviewed. The evaluation was positive for the attributes longitudinality and coordination, and negative for access, integrality, Family orientation and community orientation. there are discrepancies between health needs of children and what is offered by the service; organizational barriers to access; absence of counter-reference; predominance of curative and long-standing and individual preventive practices; verticalization in organization of actions; and lack of good communication between professionals and users.

Grounding the Meanings in Sensorimotor Behavior using Reinforcement Learning

PubMed Central

Farkaš, Igor; Malík, Tomáš; Rebrová, Kristína

2012-01-01

The recent outburst of interest in cognitive developmental robotics is fueled by the ambition to propose ecologically plausible mechanisms of how, among other things, a learning agent/robot could ground linguistic meanings in its sensorimotor behavior. Along this stream, we propose a model that allows the simulated iCub robot to learn the meanings of actions (point, touch, and push) oriented toward objects in robot’s peripersonal space. In our experiments, the iCub learns to execute motor actions and comment on them. Architecturally, the model is composed of three neural-network-based modules that are trained in different ways. The first module, a two-layer perceptron, is trained by back-propagation to attend to the target position in the visual scene, given the low-level visual information and the feature-based target information. The second module, having the form of an actor-critic architecture, is the most distinguishing part of our model, and is trained by a continuous version of reinforcement learning to execute actions as sequences, based on a linguistic command. The third module, an echo-state network, is trained to provide the linguistic description of the executed actions. The trained model generalizes well in case of novel action-target combinations with randomized initial arm positions. It can also promptly adapt its behavior if the action/target suddenly changes during motor execution. PMID:22393319

Brain Function Overlaps When People Observe Emblems, Speech, and Grasping

PubMed Central

Andric, Michael; Solodkin, Ana; Buccino, Giovanni; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Small, Steven L.

2013-01-01

A hand grasping a cup or gesturing ‘thumbs-up’, while both manual actions, have different purposes and effects. Grasping directly affects the cup, whereas gesturing ‘thumbs-up’ has an effect through an implied verbal (symbolic) meaning. Because grasping and emblematic gestures (‘emblems’) are both goal-oriented hand actions, we pursued the hypothesis that observing each should evoke similar activity in neural regions implicated in processing goal-oriented hand actions. However, because emblems express symbolic meaning, observing them should also evoke activity in regions implicated in interpreting meaning, which is most commonly expressed in language. Using fMRI to test this hypothesis, we had participants watch videos of an actor performing emblems, speaking utterances matched in meaning to the emblems, and grasping objects. Our results show that lateral temporal and inferior frontal regions respond to symbolic meaning, even when it is expressed by a single hand action. In particular, we found that left inferior frontal and right lateral temporal regions are strongly engaged when people observe either emblems or speech. In contrast, we also replicate and extend previous work that implicates parietal and premotor responses in observing goal-oriented hand actions. For hand actions, we found that bilateral parietal and premotor regions are strongly engaged when people observe either emblems or grasping. These findings thus characterize converging brain responses to shared features (e.g., symbolic or manual), despite their encoding and presentation in different stimulus modalities. PMID:23583968

Transfer of Training: 1988-2011 with the Practitioner in Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lionetti, Patsy

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive, integrated review of transfer of training literature from 1988 to 2011 and to consolidate the findings to provide action oriented suggestions for practitioners. Research questions for this study were: (a) What characteristics in the transfer of training literature influence transfer of…

Changing Concepts of Health and Illness among Children of Primary School Age in Western Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Onyango-Ouma, W.; Aagaard-Hansen, J.; Jensen, B. B.

2004-01-01

This paper examines changes in children's concepts of health and illness following an action-oriented health education intervention in Bondo district of Western Kenya. The study is a feasibility study exploring a specific educational approach, and it combines elements of health education research and anthropological research. Forty primary…

Parent-child mealtime interactions in racially/ethnically diverse families with preschool-age children.

PubMed

Kong, Angela; Jones, Blake L; Fiese, Barbara H; Schiffer, Linda A; Odoms-Young, Angela; Kim, Yoonsang; Bailey, Lauren; Fitzgibbon, Marian L

2013-12-01

Family meals may improve diet and weight outcomes in children; however, results from nationally representative samples suggest that these relationships vary by race/ethnicity. Observing parent-child mealtime interactions may lend insight to why racial/ethnic differences exist. In this pilot study, a multi-ethnic sample of low-income families (n = 30) with a preschool-age child was videotaped during a dinner in their home. A global coding scheme was used to assess the following: 'Action' (behaviors that divert attention from eating), 'Behavior Control' (behaviors intended to modify another person's behavior), and 'Communication' (i.e., meal-oriented, interpersonal, and critical). All families spent a significant amount of time in 'action' oriented behaviors that diverted their attention from eating. We also observed racial/ethnic differences in communication (i.e. critical) and behavior patterns (i.e. behavior control). This study demonstrated that this approach for observing parent-child mealtime interactions in a naturalistic setting among a diverse study sample was feasible; however, future studies should address how these patterns relate to dietary intake and weight status. © 2013.

Parent-child mealtime interactions in racially/ethnically diverse families with preschool-age children

PubMed Central

Kong, Angela; Jones, Blake L.; Fiese, Barbara H.; Schiffer, Linda A.; Odoms-Young, Angela; Kim, Yoonsang; Bailey, Lauren; Fitzgibbon, Marian L.

2013-01-01

Family meals may improve diet and weight outcomes in children; however, results from nationally representative samples suggest these relationships vary by race/ethnicity. Observing parent-child mealtime interactions may lend insight to why racial/ethnic differences exist. In this pilot study, a multi-ethnic sample of low-income families (n=30) with a preschool-age child were videotaped during a dinner in their home. A global coding scheme was used to assess the following: `Action' (behaviors that divert attention from eating), `Behavior Control' (behaviors intended to modify another person's behavior), and `Communication' (i.e., meal-oriented, interpersonal, and critical). All families spent a significant amount of time in `action' oriented behaviors that diverted their attention from eating. We also observed racial/ethnic differences in communication (i.e. critical) and behavior patterns (i.e. behavior control). This study demonstrated that this approach for observing parent-child mealtime interactions in a naturalistic setting among a diverse study sample was feasible; however, future studies should address how these patterns relate to dietary intake and weight status. PMID:24183134

Action Spotting and Recognition Based on a Spatiotemporal Orientation Analysis.

PubMed

Derpanis, Konstantinos G; Sizintsev, Mikhail; Cannons, Kevin J; Wildes, Richard P

2013-03-01

This paper provides a unified framework for the interrelated topics of action spotting, the spatiotemporal detection and localization of human actions in video, and action recognition, the classification of a given video into one of several predefined categories. A novel compact local descriptor of video dynamics in the context of action spotting and recognition is introduced based on visual spacetime oriented energy measurements. This descriptor is efficiently computed directly from raw image intensity data and thereby forgoes the problems typically associated with flow-based features. Importantly, the descriptor allows for the comparison of the underlying dynamics of two spacetime video segments irrespective of spatial appearance, such as differences induced by clothing, and with robustness to clutter. An associated similarity measure is introduced that admits efficient exhaustive search for an action template, derived from a single exemplar video, across candidate video sequences. The general approach presented for action spotting and recognition is amenable to efficient implementation, which is deemed critical for many important applications. For action spotting, details of a real-time GPU-based instantiation of the proposed approach are provided. Empirical evaluation of both action spotting and action recognition on challenging datasets suggests the efficacy of the proposed approach, with state-of-the-art performance documented on standard datasets.

The Physical Burdens of Secrecy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slepian, Michael L.; Masicampo, E. J.; Toosi, Negin R.; Ambady, Nalini

2012-01-01

The present work examined whether secrets are experienced as physical burdens, thereby influencing perception and action. Four studies examined the behavior of people who harbored important secrets, such as secrets concerning infidelity and sexual orientation. People who recalled, were preoccupied with, or suppressed an important secret estimated…

BioFET-SIM web interface: implementation and two applications.

PubMed

Hediger, Martin R; Jensen, Jan H; De Vico, Luca

2012-01-01

We present a web interface which allows us to conveniently set up calculations based on the BioFET-SIM model. With the interface, the signal of a BioFET sensor can be calculated depending on its parameters, as well as the signal dependence on pH. As an illustration, two case studies are presented. In the first case, a generic peptide with opposite charges on both ends is inverted in orientation on a semiconducting nanowire surface leading to a corresponding change in sign of the computed sensitivity of the device. In the second case, the binding of an antibody/antigen complex on the nanowire surface is studied in terms of orientation and analyte/nanowire surface distance. We demonstrate how the BioFET-SIM web interface can aid in the understanding of experimental data and postulate alternative ways of antibody/antigen orientation on the nanowire surface.

From goal motivation to goal progress: the mediating role of coping in the Self-Concordance Model.

PubMed

Gaudreau, Patrick; Carraro, Natasha; Miranda, Dave

2012-01-01

The present studies examined the mediating role of self-regulatory mechanisms in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress in the Self-Concordance Model. First, a systematic review, using meta-analytical path analysis, supported the mediating role of effort and action planning in the positive association between autonomous goal motivation and goal progress. Second, results from two additional empirical studies, using structural equation modeling, lent credence to the mediating role of coping in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress of university students. Autonomous goal motivation was positively associated with task-oriented coping, which predicted greater goal progress during midterm exams (Study 1, N=702) and at the end of the semester in a different sample (Study 2, N=167). Controlled goal motivation was associated with greater disengagement-oriented coping (Study 1 and Study 2) and lesser use of task-oriented coping (Study 2), which reduced goal progress. These results held up after controlling for perceived stress (Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of coping in the "inception-to-attainment" goal process because autonomous goal motivation indirectly rather than directly predicts goal progress of university students through their usage of task-oriented coping.

Explaining process orientation failure and success in health care--three case studies.

PubMed

Hellman, Stefan; Kastberg, Gustaf; Siverbo, Sven

2015-01-01

In order to improve cooperation and collaboration between units, clinics and departments, many health care organizations (HCOs) have introduced process orientation. Several studies indicate problems in realizing these ambitions. The purpose of this paper is to explain and understand the success and failure of process orientation in HCOs. The authors conducted three case studies and applied Actor-Network Theory as an analytic lens. The realization of process orientation is hindered by neglect or resistance from physicians, who find the process targets to be of low medical priority. However, the authors also see that medical priorities are no stable entities but are susceptible to negotiations. Over time, process organization, process mapping, process measurement activities and the acting of enroled actors may have impact on medical priorities. Contrary to previous research, the findings indicate that New Public Management may not be the main obstacle against processes, that accounting figures may not be hard to disregard and that the role of leadership is not paramount.

Dyadic heart failure care types: qualitative evidence for a novel typology.

PubMed

Buck, Harleah G; Kitko, Lisa; Hupcey, Judith E

2013-01-01

Compared with other chronic illness populations, relatively little is known about heart failure (HF) patient and caregiver spousal/partner dyads and what effect dyadic interactions have on self-care. The aim of this study was to present a new typology of patient and caregiver dyadic interdependence in HF care, presenting exemplar cases of each type: patient oriented, caregiver oriented, collaboratively oriented, complementarily oriented. Stake's instrumental case study methodology was used. Interviews were unstructured, consisting of open-ended questions exploring dyad's experiences with HF, audiorecorded, and transcribed. Cases were selected because they exhibited the necessary characteristics and also highlighted a unique, little understood variation in self-care practice. Each case represents a dyad's discussion of caring for HF in their normal environment. From 19 dyads, 5 exemplar case studies illustrate the 4 dyadic types. A fifth, incongruent case, defined as a case where the patient and caregiver indicated incongruent dyadic types, was included to highlight that not all dyads agree on their type. A major theme of Sharing Life infused all of the dyad's narratives. This typology advances the science of dyadic interdependence in HF self-care, explains possible impact on outcomes, and is an early theoretical conceptualization of these complex and dynamic phenomena. The cases illustrate how long-term dyads attempt to share the patient's HF care according to established patterns developed over the trajectory of their relationship. In keeping with the interdependence theory, these couples react to the patient's declining ability to contribute to his/her own care by maintaining their habitual pattern until forced to shift. This original pattern may or may not have involved the dyad working together. As the patient's dependence on the caregiver increases, the caregiver must decide whether to react out of self-interest or the patient's interest. Continued study of the typology is needed in nonspousal/partner dyads.

Outcomes of an illness self-management group using wellness recovery action planning.

PubMed

Starnino, Vincent R; Mariscal, Susana; Holter, Mark C; Davidson, Lori J; Cook, Karen S; Fukui, Sadaaki; Rapp, Charles A

2010-01-01

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine the impact of participation in an illness self-management recovery program (Wellness Recovery Action Planning-WRAP) on the ability of individuals with severe mental illnesses to achieve key recovery related outcomes. A total of 30 participants from three mental health centers were followed immediately before and after engaging in a 12-week WRAP program. Three paired sample t-tests were conducted to determine the effectiveness of WRAP on hope, recovery orientation, and level of symptoms. A significant positive time effect was found for hope and recovery orientation. Participants showed improvement in symptoms, but the change was slightly below statistical significance. These preliminary results offer promising evidence that the use of WRAP has a positive effect on self-reported hope and recovery-related attitudes, thereby providing an effective complement to current mental health treatment.

Promoting justice or perpetuating prejudice? Interrupting external motivation in multicultural training.

PubMed

Gushue, George V; Hinman, Kimberly A

2018-01-01

The effects of responding to social pressure (external motivation) are short-lived. Multicultural training, however, seeks to promote change in students and trainees that will be transformative and long-lasting. To this end, understanding the motivational factors that inform training is key. The present study was an investigation of the factors underlying external motivation to respond without prejudice for White individuals from the perspective of Higgins's regulatory focus (promotion and prevention) and regulatory mode (assessment and locomotion) theories. The results indicate that locomotion was negatively associated with external motivation to respond without prejudice, while assessment and prevention were positively associated with external motivation. Taken together, findings highlight the importance of cultivating locomotion (action oriented) motivation and inhibiting prevention (loss oriented) and assessment (preoccupation with finding the correct answer) motivations in multicultural training. Implications for training, effective action for justice, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Towards a Service-Oriented Enterprise: The Design of a Cloud Business Integration Platform in a Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stamas, Paul J.

2013-01-01

This case study research followed the two-year transition of a medium-sized manufacturing firm towards a service-oriented enterprise. A service-oriented enterprise is an emerging architecture of the firm that leverages the paradigm of services computing to integrate the capabilities of the firm with the complementary competencies of business…

Taking two to tango: fMRI analysis of improvised joint action with physical contact

PubMed Central

Belyk, Michel; Brown, Steven

2018-01-01

Many forms of joint action involve physical coupling between the participants, such as when moving a sofa together or dancing a tango. We report the results of a novel two-person functional MRI study in which trained couple dancers engaged in bimanual contact with an experimenter standing next to the bore of the magnet, and in which the two alternated between being the leader and the follower of joint improvised movements. Leading showed a general pattern of self-orientation, being associated with brain areas involved in motor planning, navigation, sequencing, action monitoring, and error correction. In contrast, following showed a far more sensory, externally-oriented pattern, revealing areas involved in somatosensation, proprioception, motion tracking, social cognition, and outcome monitoring. We also had participants perform a “mutual” condition in which the movement patterns were pre-learned and the roles were symmetric, thereby minimizing any tendency toward either leading or following. The mutual condition showed greater activity in brain areas involved in mentalizing and social reward than did leading or following. Finally, the analysis of improvisation revealed the dual importance of motor-planning and working-memory areas. We discuss these results in terms of theories of both joint action and improvisation. PMID:29324862

Skill transfer specificity shapes perception and action under varying environmental constraints.

PubMed

Seifert, Ludovic; Wattebled, Léo; Orth, Dominic; L'Hermette, Maxime; Boulanger, Jérémie; Davids, Keith

2016-08-01

Using an ecological dynamics framework, this study investigated the generality and specificity of skill transfer processes in organisation of perception and action using climbing as a task vehicle. Fluency of hip trajectory and orientation was assessed using normalized jerk coefficients exhibited by participants as they adapted perception and action under varying environmental constraints. Twelve recreational climbers were divided into two groups: one completing a 10-m high route on an indoor climbing wall; a second undertaking a 10-m high route on an icefall in a top-rope condition. We maintained the same level of difficulty between these two performance environments. An inertial measurement unit was attached each climber's hips to collect 3D acceleration and 3D orientation data to compute jerk coefficient values. Video footage was used to record the ratio of exploratory/performatory movements. Results showed higher jerk coefficient values and number of exploratory movements for performance on the icefall route, perhaps due to greater functional complexity in perception and action required when climbing icefalls, which involves use of specific tools for anchorage. Findings demonstrated how individuals solve different motor problems, exploiting positive general transfer processes enabling participants to explore the pick-up of information for the perception of affordances specific to icefall climbing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A qualitative study on the ethics of transforming care: examining the development and implementation of Canada's first mental health strategy.

PubMed

Park, Melissa M; Lencucha, Raphael; Mattingly, Cheryl; Zafran, Hiba; Kirmayer, Laurence J

2015-08-19

The Mental Health Commission of Canada worked collaboratively with stakeholders to create a new framework for a federal mental health strategy, which is now mandated for implementation by 2017. The proposed strategies have been written into provincial health plans, hospital accreditation standards, and the annual objectives of psychiatric departments and community organizations. This project will explore the decision-making process among those who contributed to Canada's first federal mental health policy and those implementing this policy in the clinical setting. Despite the centrality of ethical reasoning to the successful uptake of the recent national guidelines for recovery-oriented care, to date, there are no studies focused exclusively on the ethical tensions that emerged and continue to emerge during the creation and implementation of the new standards for recovery-oriented practice. This two-year Canadian Institute of Health Research Catalyst Grant in Ethics (2015-2017) consists of three components. C-I, a retrospective, qualitative study consisting of document analysis and interviews with key policy-makers of the ethical tensions that arose during the development of Canada's Mental Health Strategy will be conducted in parallel to C-II, a theory-based, focused ethnography of how mental health practitioners in a psychiatric setting reason about and act upon new standards in everyday practice. Case-based scenarios of ethical tensions will be developed from C-I/II and fed-forward to C-III: participatory forums with policy-makers, mental health practitioners, and other stakeholders in recovery-oriented services to collectively identify and prioritize key ethical concerns and generate action steps to close the gap between the policy-making process and its implementation at the local level. Policy-makers and clinicians make important everyday decisions that effect the creation and implementation of new practice standards. Particularly, there is a need to understand how ethical dilemmas that arise during this decision-making process and the reasoning and resources they use to resolve these tensions impact on the implementation process. This catalyst grant in ethics will (1) introduce a novel line of inquiry focusing on the ethical tensions that arose in the development of Canada's first mental health strategy, while (2) intensifying our focus on the ethical aspects of moving policy into action.

A Micromagnetic Study of Medium Orientation Ratio Effects in High Areal Density Recording

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plumer, Martin; van Ek, Johannes

2000-03-01

An extensive analysis of written tracks on granular media with anisotropy axes preferentially oriented either in the down-track or cross-track direction was performed with a newly developed micromagnetic model of magnetic recording [1]. The response of planar media to writer head fields, derived from the Finite-Element-Method, is calculated by solving the LLG equations. Signal from the written transitions is determined through a micromagnetic model of a GMR spin-valve device. Using fields from a generic 10Gb/in2 head (TPWG=0.6um, gap=0.2um, 1.8T materials around the gap), dibits were written at high linear density. Relative to the isotropic case, both erase bands and read-back voltage deteriorate for cross-track oriented media and improve in the down-track orientation case. For an orientation ratio of 1.23, the read-back signal at 200 kbpi drops by 15% in the radial case and increases by 15% in the circumferential case. Although the cross-track coercivity is smaller for down-track oriented media, and thus easier to write with the corners of the head, the remnant cross-track magnetization is correspondingly smaller. Track edge distortion is thus less severe than for isotropic media. Oriented media is of interest due to enhanced thermal stability and faster switching times [2]. [1] J. van Ek, M.L. Plumer, H. Zhou and H.N. Bertram, ``A Micromagnetic Recording Model for Write and Read-back," in preparation. Also see the GMAG symposium, this conference. [2] E.N. Abarra, I. Okamoto and M. Shinohara, IEEE Trans. Mag. 35, 2709 (1999).

With you or against you: social orientation dependent learning signals guide actions made for others.

PubMed

Christopoulos, George I; King-Casas, Brooks

2015-01-01

In social environments, it is crucial that decision-makers take account of the impact of their actions not only for oneself, but also on other social agents. Previous work has identified neural signals in the striatum encoding value-based prediction errors for outcomes to oneself; also, recent work suggests that neural activity in prefrontal cortex may similarly encode value-based prediction errors related to outcomes to others. However, prior work also indicates that social valuations are not isomorphic, with social value orientations of decision-makers ranging on a cooperative to competitive continuum; this variation has not been examined within social learning environments. Here, we combine a computational model of learning with functional neuroimaging to examine how individual differences in orientation impact neural mechanisms underlying 'other-value' learning. Across four experimental conditions, reinforcement learning signals for other-value were identified in medial prefrontal cortex, and were distinct from self-value learning signals identified in striatum. Critically, the magnitude and direction of the other-value learning signal depended strongly on an individual's cooperative or competitive orientation toward others. These data indicate that social decisions are guided by a social orientation-dependent learning system that is computationally similar but anatomically distinct from self-value learning. The sensitivity of the medial prefrontal learning signal to social preferences suggests a mechanism linking such preferences to biases in social actions and highlights the importance of incorporating heterogeneous social predispositions in neurocomputational models of social behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc.

With you or against you: Social orientation dependent learning signals guide actions made for others

PubMed Central

Christopoulos, George I.; King-Casas, Brooks

2014-01-01

In social environments, it is crucial that decision-makers take account of the impact of their actions not only for oneself, but also on other social agents. Previous work has identified neural signals in the striatum encoding value-based prediction errors for outcomes to oneself; also, recent work suggests neural activity in prefrontal cortex may similarly encode value-based prediction errors related to outcomes to others. However, prior work also indicates that social valuations are not isomorphic, with social value orientations of decision-makers ranging on a cooperative to competitive continuum; this variation has not been examined within social learning environments. Here, we combine a computational model of learning with functional neuroimaging to examine how individual differences in orientation impact neural mechanisms underlying ‘other-value’ learning. Across four experimental conditions, reinforcement learning signals for other-value were identified in medial prefrontal cortex, and were distinct from self-value learning signals identified in striatum. Critically, the magnitude and direction of the other-value learning signal depended strongly on an individual’s cooperative or competitive orientation towards others. These data indicate that social decisions are guided by a social orientation-dependent learning system that is computationally similar but anatomically distinct from self-value learning. The sensitivity of the medial prefrontal learning signal to social preferences suggests a mechanism linking such preferences to biases in social actions and highlights the importance of incorporating heterogeneous social predispositions in neurocomputational models of social behavior. PMID:25224998

Cross-boundary cooperation in a watershed context: the sentiments of private forest landowners.

PubMed

Rickenbach, Mark G; Reed, A Scott

2002-10-01

Ecosystem management and sustainable forestry on mixed ownership landscapes will require some level of cross-boundary coordination or management. Oregon's experiment with local, voluntary, collaborative forums, called watershed councils, is one mechanism to foster cross-boundary management. Fifty qualitative, in-depth interviews in three study areas were conducted with nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners, watershed council members, and agency employees to learn how and why landowners participate (or not) on watershed councils. Study areas were located in three different areas of the state to reflect different ecological and organizational settings. Our case study identified three themes-stewardship ethic, property rights amid uncertainty, and action orientation-that were most salient among landowners when deciding to participate in their local watershed council. Other factors related to competing opportunities were also identified. Our results relate to the social psychological antecedents to cooperation of perceived consensus, group identity, and legitimacy of authority as well as to applied situations where cross-boundary coordination and management are goals.

Theoretical orientations in environmental planning: An inquiry into alternative approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briassoulis, Helen

1989-07-01

In the process of devising courses of action to resolve problems arising at the society-environment interface, a variety of planning approaches are followed, whose adoption is influenced by—among other things—the characteristics of environmental problems, the nature of the decision-making context, and the intellectual traditions of the disciplines contributing to the study of these problems. This article provides a systematic analysis of six alternative environmental planning approaches—comprehensive/rational, incremental, adaptive, contingency, advocacy, and participatory/consensual. The relative influence of the abovementioned factors is examined, the occurrence of these approaches in real-world situations is noted, and their environmental soundness and political realism is evaluated. Because of the disparity between plan formulation and implementation and between theoretical form and empirical reality, a synthetic view of environmental planning approaches is taken and approaches in action are identified, which characterize the totality of the planning process from problem definition to plan implementation, as well as approaches in the becoming, which may be on the horizon of environmental planning of tomorrow. The suggested future research directions include case studies to verify and detail the presence of the approaches discussed, developing measures of success of a given approach in a given decision setting, and an intertemporal analysis of environmental planning approaches.

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...

Goal-oriented training affects decision-making processes in virtual and simulated fire and rescue environments.

PubMed

Cohen-Hatton, Sabrina R; Honey, R C

2015-12-01

Decisions made by operational commanders at emergency incidents have been characterized as involving a period of information gathering followed by courses of action that are often generated without explicit plan formulation. We examined the efficacy of goal-oriented training in engendering explicit planning that would enable better communication at emergency incidents. While standard training mirrored current operational guidance, goal-oriented training incorporated "decision controls" that highlighted the importance of evaluating goals, anticipated consequences, and risk/benefit analyses once a potential course of action has been identified. In Experiment 1, 3 scenarios (a house fire, road traffic collision, and skip fire) were presented in a virtual environment, and in Experiment 2 they were recreated on the fireground. In Experiment 3, the house fire was recreated as a "live burn," and incident commanders and their crews responded to this scenario as an emergency incident. In all experiments, groups given standard training showed the reported tendency to move directly from information gathering to action, whereas those given goal-oriented training were more likely to develop explicit plans and show anticipatory situational awareness. These results indicate that training can be readily modified to promote explicit plan formulation that could facilitate plan sharing between incident commanders and their teams. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Agroecology Education: Action-Oriented Learning and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieblein, Geir; Breland, Tor Arvid; Francis, Charles; Ostergaard, Edvin

2012-01-01

Purpose: This article examines and evaluates the potential contributions from action learning and action research with stakeholders to higher education in agriculture and food systems. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on our experiences over the past two decades of running PhD courses and an MSc degree programme in Agroecology in…

Influence of time orientation on food choice: Case study with cookie labels.

PubMed

Tórtora, Giuliana; Ares, Gastón

2018-04-01

Time orientation can influence health-related behaviors, including food consumption. The aim of the present work was to study the influence of time orientation on food choice, using cookie labels as case study. A choice-conjoint task was designed using labels differing in type of cookie (chocolate chips vs. granola), front-of-pack nutrition information (nutritional warnings vs. Facts Up Front system) and nutritional claim (no claim vs. "0% cholesterol. 0% trans fat"). An online study was conducted, in which 155 participants evaluated 8 pairs of cookie labels and selected the one they would buy if they were in the supermarket. Then, they were asked to complete a consideration of future consequences scale (CFC) adapted to eating habits, as well as a questionnaire about socio-demographic characteristics. Time orientation influenced participants' choices of cookies labels; particularly the importance attached to type of cookie. Participants with greater consideration of future consequences preferred the granola cookies, associated with health, while those who prioritized immediate consequences preferred chocolate chip cookies. In addition, nutritional warnings discouraged choice regardless of participants' time orientation. Results from the present work provide additional evidence of the influence of time preferences on food choices and suggest that strategies to stimulate and generate a more future-oriented perspective on eating habits could contribute to more healthful food choices. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Dynamics of tuning to orientation of cross-like figures in neurons from the cat visual cortex].

PubMed

Lazareva, N A; Tsutskiridze, D Iu; Shevelev, I A; Novikova, R V; Tikhomirov, A S; Sharaev, G A

2003-01-01

Dynamics of tuning to orientation of flashing light bar and to orientation of cross-like figure was studied by a temporal slices method in 87 neurons of the cat primary visual cortex. Tuning was plotted by spikes number in the entire response and in its successive fragments with a step of 20 ms. It was found that successive dynamic shift of preferred orientation of a bar was typical for 87% units, white such shift of preferred orientation of a cross was met in 75% of cases. Comparison of tuning dynamics for bar and cross allowed to separate units into three groups: the first one (58.6% of cases) with larger dynamic shift of a bar preferred orientation then of a cross (74.9 +/- 5.8 degrees [symbol: see text] 29.8 +/- 4.1 degrees, correspondingly, p < 0.00001), the second group (21.5%) with opposite effect (24.2 +/- 5.2 degrees and 69.2 +/- 10.0 degrees, p < 0.0002) and the third group (19.8%) without significant shift of preferred orientation of bar and cross and without difference in their dynamics. Possible mechanisms of the preferred orientation dynamics and its difference for bar and cross are discussed.

The anatomy of object recognition--visual form agnosia caused by medial occipitotemporal stroke.

PubMed

Karnath, Hans-Otto; Rüter, Johannes; Mandler, André; Himmelbach, Marc

2009-05-06

The influential model on visual information processing by Milner and Goodale (1995) has suggested a dissociation between action- and perception-related processing in a dorsal versus ventral stream projection. It was inspired substantially by the observation of a double dissociation of disturbed visual action versus perception in patients with optic ataxia on the one hand and patients with visual form agnosia (VFA) on the other. Unfortunately, almost all cases with VFA reported so far suffered from inhalational intoxication, the majority with carbon monoxide (CO). Since CO induces a diffuse and widespread pattern of neuronal and white matter damage throughout the whole brain, precise conclusions from these patients with VFA on the selective role of ventral stream structures for shape and orientation perception were difficult. Here, we report patient J.S., who demonstrated VFA after a well circumscribed brain lesion due to stroke etiology. Like the famous patient D.F. with VFA after CO intoxication studied by Milner, Goodale, and coworkers (Goodale et al., 1991, 1994; Milner et al., 1991; Servos et al., 1995; Mon-Williams et al., 2001a,b; Wann et al., 2001; Westwood et al., 2002; McIntosh et al., 2004; Schenk and Milner, 2006), J.S. showed an obvious dissociation between disturbed visual perception of shape and orientation information on the one side and preserved visuomotor abilities based on the same information on the other. In both hemispheres, damage primarily affected the fusiform and the lingual gyri as well as the adjacent posterior cingulate gyrus. We conclude that these medial structures of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex are integral for the normal flow of shape and of contour information into the ventral stream system allowing to recognize objects.

Problem Oriented Literacy Materials Preparation: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tripathi, Virendra

1975-01-01

One of the recent innovations of significance in developing nations is the concept of linking literacy education to problems related to socio-economic development. The article describes the Problem Oriented Materials Preparation Project of Literacy House, Lucknow, India. (Author/BP)

Career Orientations and Career Route Preferences in R&D Organisations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petroni, Alberto

2000-01-01

A survey of 151 Italian scientists and engineers and case studies of a career development system for technical professionals revealed that career orientation (as measured by Schein's career anchors) is a useful predictor of career route preferences. (Author/JOW)

Gifted Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brigandi, Carla B.; Siegle, Del; Weiner, Jennie M.; Gubbins, E. Jean; Little, Catherine A.

2016-01-01

Grounded in the Enrichment Triad and Achievement Orientation Models, this qualitative case study builds understanding of the relationship between participation in Type III Enrichment and the achievement orientation attitude of goal valuation in gifted secondary school students. Participants included 10 gifted secondary school students, their…

Measurement of seismometer orientation using the tangential P-wave receiver function based on harmonic decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Hobin; Kim, YoungHee; Song, Teh-Ru Alex; Shen, Xuzhang

2018-03-01

Accurate determination of the seismometer orientation is a prerequisite for seismic studies including, but not limited to seismic anisotropy. While borehole seismometers on land produce seismic waveform data somewhat free of human-induced noise, they might have a drawback of an uncertain orientation. This study calculates a harmonic decomposition of teleseismic receiver functions from the P and PP phases and determines the orientation of a seismometer by minimizing a constant term in a harmonic expansion of tangential receiver functions in backazimuth near and at 0 s. This method normalizes the effect of seismic sources and determines the orientation of a seismometer without having to assume for an isotropic medium. Compared to the method of minimizing the amplitudes of a mean of the tangential receiver functions near and at 0 s, the method yields more accurate orientations in cases where the backazimuthal coverage of earthquake sources (even in the case of ocean bottom seismometers) is uneven and incomplete. We apply this method to data from the Korean seismic network (52 broad-band velocity seismometers, 30 of which are borehole sensors) to estimate the sensor orientation in the period of 2005-2016. We also track temporal changes in the sensor orientation through the change in the polarity and the amplitude of the tangential receiver function. Six borehole stations are confirmed to experience a significant orientation change (10°-180°) over the period of 10 yr. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method by estimating the orientation of ocean bottom sensors, which are known to have high noise level during the relatively short deployment period.

Measuring subjective resilience despite adversity due to family, peers and teachers.

PubMed

Alonso-Tapia, Jesús; Nieto, Carmen; Ruíz, Miguel A

2013-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop and validate a scale of subjective resilience for students 12-17 years old. Items covered adverse situations due to parents', peers' and teachers' actions. The validation process included the analysis on the generalizability of the factor structure and of relationships of resilience scores with different kinds of protective and vulnerability factors -goal orientations and learning-oriented classroom motivational climate (CMC)-. A total of 471 students answered four questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analysis and correlation and regression analyses were carried out. Results showed: (a) that factor structure was well defined; (b) that resilience scale had good reliability; (c) that scores correlated as expected with protective-vulnerability factors such as goal orientations and CMC defined by teachers' teaching-patterns, and (d) that students' attribution of perceived change in resilience to teachers' work depended on the degree in which CMC was learning oriented. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

An Action-Oriented Approach to Gifted Education: Evidence from the Field of Scientific Creativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jinghuan; Liu, Guirong; Lin, Chongde

2012-01-01

Eight years ago, the authors carried out a study on scientific creativity. Thirty-four eminent scientists, who had gained great creative scientific achievements in five fields--mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography and life science--were chosen and interviewed. In the study, the authors tried to find out what made a person demonstrate…

The Reduction of Bullying in an Elementary Program: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brock, Jacqueline M.

2013-01-01

Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Support (BP-PBS) is a prevention-oriented program created to support students with strategies to combat bullying. BP-PBS supports the idea that all students should have access to positive behavior support to minimize problem behavior at school (Horner, 2011). The goal of this study was to investigate the…

Teacher Educators as Researchers: A Profile of Research in Israeli Teacher Colleges Versus University Departments of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yogev, Sima; Yogev, Abraham

2006-01-01

The teacher research movement has encouraged the development of "practitioner research" action-oriented and reflective studies among teachers and teacher educators alike. This study compares the profile of research conducted in the Israeli academic teacher colleges with that performed by university faculty. A content analysis of the 204…

Social Studies Education and Public Art: The Detroit Billboard Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Julie Anne; Iroha, Okezie

2015-01-01

The aim of this action-research project was to evaluate the impact of high school students' involvement in community-oriented, art-based work in the social studies. In Detroit, high school students engaged in persuasive writing and design while exploring community issues. The project culminated in the installation of student artwork on a billboard…

Omission P3 after voluntary action indexes the formation of action-driven prediction.

PubMed

Kimura, Motohiro; Takeda, Yuji

2018-02-01

When humans frequently experience a certain sensory effect after a certain action, a bidirectional association between neural representations of the action and the sensory effect is rapidly acquired, which enables action-driven prediction of the sensory effect. The present study aimed to test whether or not omission P3, an event-related brain potential (ERP) elicited by the sudden omission of a sensory effect, is sensitive to the formation of action-driven prediction. For this purpose, we examined how omission P3 is affected by the number of possible visual effects. In four separate blocks (1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-stimulus blocks), participants successively pressed a right button at an interval of about 1s. In all blocks, each button press triggered a bar on a display (a bar with square edges, 85%; a bar with round edges, 5%), but occasionally did not (sudden omission of a visual effect, 10%). Participants were required to press a left button when a bar with round edges appeared. In the 1-stimulus block, the orientation of the bar was fixed throughout the block; in the 2-, 4-, and 8-stimulus blocks, the orientation was randomly varied among two, four, and eight possibilities, respectively. Omission P3 in the 1-stimulus block was greater than those in the 2-, 4-, and 8-stimulus blocks; there were no significant differences among the 2-, 4-, and 8-stimulus blocks. This binary pattern nicely fits the limitation in the acquisition of action-effect association; although an association between an action and one visual effect is easily acquired, associations between an action and two or more visual effects cannot be acquired concurrently. Taken together, the present results suggest that omission P3 is highly sensitive to the formation of action-driven prediction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Student Perceptions of a Comprehensive Orientation Program for Online Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robichaud, Wendy

2016-01-01

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study of students enrolled in online courses and how they perceived the orientation program they completed before starting these courses. The study was based on the perspectives of students enrolled in a fully online program at a small community college in western Maine. They were interviewed…

Interaction between Science Teaching Orientation and Pedagogical Content Knowledge Components

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demirdögen, Betül

2016-01-01

The purpose of this case study is to delve into the complexities of how preservice science teachers' science teaching orientations, viewed as an interrelated set of beliefs, interact with the other components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Eight preservice science teachers participated in the study. Qualitative data were collected in the…

Toward actionable science: Empowering ecologists to engage in the process of translation through decision-maker and stakeholder partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enquist, C.; Jackson, S. T.; Garfin, G. M.

2017-12-01

Translational ecology is an approach by which ecologists, stakeholders, and decision-makers work collaboratively to develop and deliver ecological research that, ideally, results in actionable science that leads to improved environmental decision-making. We analyzed a diverse array of real-world case studies and distilled six principles that characterize the practice of translational ecology: communication, commitment, collaboration, engagement, process, and decision-framing. In this talk, we highlight a subset of the case studies that illustrate these principles. Notably, we found that translational ecology is distinct from both basic and applied ecological research. As a practice, the approach deliberately extends research beyond theory or opportunistic applications, motivated by a search for outcomes that directly serve the needs of natural resource managers and decision-makers. Translational ecology is also distinct from knowledge co-production in that it does not require deep engagement between collaborators, although incorporating differing modes of co-production relative to the decision context, associated time frame, and available financial resources can greatly enhance the translational approach. Although there is a need for incentives to pursue in this type of work, we found that the creativity and context-specific knowledge of resource managers, practitioners, and decision-makers informs and enriches the scientific process, helping shape actionable science. Moreover, the process of addressing research questions arising from on-the-ground management issues, rather than from the top-down or expert-oriented perspectives of traditional science, can foster the long-term trust and commitment that is critical for long-term, sustained engagement between partners. Now, perhaps more than ever, the climate and environmental issues facing society are complex, often politicized, and value-laden. We argue that ecological science should play a key role in informing these problems and ecologists can engage as important partners committed to finding solutions. More broadly, scientists that embrace translational approaches are poised to make science-informed decision-making a reality in the face of a rapidly changing global environment.

75 FR 14183 - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-24

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-NEW] Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comments Requested ACTION: 60-day notice of information collection under review: COPS' Rural Law Enforcement National Training Assessment. The Department...

75 FR 75697 - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-06

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-0098] Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities: Revision of a Previously Approved Collection, With Change; Comments Requested ACTION: 60-Day Notice of Information Collection Under Review: COPS Application Package...

78 FR 66953 - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-07

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-0110] Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities: Revision of a Previously Approved Collection, With Change; Comments Requested COPS Grant Status Implementation Facsimile ACTION: 60-Day notice. The Department of...

75 FR 77904 - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-14

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [OMB Number 1103-0102] Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension of a Previously Approved Collection; Comments Requested ACTION: 60-Day Notice of Information Collection Under Review: COPS Non Hiring Progress Report. The...

The mandibular third molar position as a predictive criteria for risk for pericoronitis: a retrospective study.

PubMed

Halverson, B A; Anderson, W H

1992-03-01

During the 6-month period from mid February 1988 to mid August 1988, 148 patients presented with 154 diagnosed cases of mandibular third molar pericoronitis. All patients were members of the recruit population stationed at the Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. Selected clinical parameters relating to the orientation and eruption status of these third molars were collected and analyzed. The goal was to obtain a predictive clinical profile of the impacted mandibular third molar (MTM) at greatest risk for pericoronitis in the young naval and Marine Corps personnel. The majority of pericoronitis cases, 120 of 148 or 81.0%, involved vertically oriented MTMs; of this total, 79.1% were erupted to the approximate height of the occlusal plane of the arch. The remaining 20.9% were at or below the height of contour of the adjacent tooth. Mesioangular impacted MTMs accounted for only 11.2% of pericoronitis cases. The remaining cases comprised distoangular and horizontally impacted MTMs (3.4% and 3.8%, respectively). Involvement by impinging maxillary dentition was observed in 39.7% of the vertically oriented MTMs, 56.2% of the mesioangular oriented MTMs, 40.0% of the distoangular MTMs, and 14.0% of the horizontally impacted MTMs. The mean value for occlusal coverage by a soft tissue operculum observed for all MTMs in this study was 49%. In the population studied, risk for pericoronitis appears to increase with greater vertical orientation and height of eruption. The absence of impinging maxillary dentition did not eliminate the risk of mandibular third molar pericoronitis. These data have implications for targeting treatment needs of naval and Marine Corps personnel who may be without dental support for extended periods of time.

Historical Experiments in Students' Hands: Unfragmenting Science through Action and History

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavicchi, Elizabeth Mary

2008-08-01

Two students, meeting together with a teacher, redid historical experiments. Unlike conventional instruction where science topics and practices often fragment, they experienced interrelatedness among phenomena, participants’ actions, and history. This study narrates actions that fostered an interrelated view. One action involved opening up historical telephones to examine interior circuitry. Another made sound visible in a transparent air column filled with Styrofoam bits and through Lissajous figures produced by reflecting light off orthogonal nineteenth century tuning forks crafted by Koenig and Kohl. Another involved orienting magnetic compasses to reveal the magnetism of conducting wires, historically investigated by Oersted and Schweigger. Replicating Homberg’s triboluminescent compound elicited students’ reflective awareness of history. These actions bore pedagogical value in recovering some of the interrelatedness inherent in the history and reintroducing the wonder of science phenomena to students today.

Interplanetary Magnetic Flux Ropes as Agents Connecting Solar Eruptions and Geomagnetic Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marubashi, K.; Cho, K.-S.; Ishibashi, H.

2017-12-01

We investigate the solar wind structure for 11 cases that were selected for the campaign study promoted by the International Study of Earth-affecting Solar Transients (ISEST) MiniMax24 Working Group 4. We can identify clear flux rope signatures in nine cases. The geometries of the nine interplanetary magnetic flux ropes (IFRs) are examined with a model-fitting analysis with cylindrical and toroidal force-free flux rope models. For seven cases in which magnetic fields in the solar source regions were observed, we compare the IFR geometries with magnetic structures in their solar source regions. As a result, we can confirm the coincidence between the IFR orientation and the orientation of the magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL) for six cases, as well as the so-called helicity rule as regards the handedness of the magnetic chirality of the IFR, depending on which hemisphere of the Sun the IFR originated from, the northern or southern hemisphere; namely, the IFR has right-handed (left-handed) magnetic chirality when it is formed in the southern (northern) hemisphere of the Sun. The relationship between the orientation of IFRs and PILs can be taken as evidence that the flux rope structure created in the corona is in most cases carried through interplanetary space with its orientation maintained. In order to predict magnetic field variations on Earth from observations of solar eruptions, further studies are needed about the propagation of IFRs because magnetic fields observed at Earth significantly change depending on which part of the IFR hits the Earth.

Teaching Object Permanence: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruce, Susan M.; Vargas, Claudia

2013-01-01

"Object permanence," also known as "object concept" in the field of visual impairment, is one of the most important early developmental milestones. The achievement of object permanence is associated with the onset of representational thought and language. Object permanence is important to orientation, including the recognition of landmarks.…

Orientations to Action: A Study of Attendance Area Policies. A Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingram, E. J.; And Others

Intended to help a rural Alberta (Canada) school district improve its policies on school attendance areas, this report delineates (1) current policies and procedures; (2) the institutional, social, and environmental context of these policies; (3) parents' concerns; (4) alternatives for improving the district's policies; and (5) recommendations.…

Teaching as a Way of Knowing: Observing and Responding to Students' Abilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wansart, William L.

1995-01-01

This article describes action-oriented teacher research in which teachers use information students reveal about the competent aspects of their lives as learners to direct their teaching efforts. The article notes methodological considerations of this approach and applications to the study of special education. (Author/DB)

Characteristics of the Research Supervision of Postgraduate Teachers' Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornelissen, Frank; van den Berg, Ellen

2014-01-01

Today, many institutions of higher education support students in conducting practice-oriented research. This research refers to a broad array of approaches geared toward practitioners' practice. The supervision of such research is of crucial importance, but little is known about its nature and characteristics. This study examined what research…

Priorities for Action-Oriented Psychological Studies of Television and Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comstock, George

Violence and advertising are the most visible of many issues receiving attention in the formulation of policy by govermental agencies, the television industry, and advocacy groups. The role in policy formulation of empirical research that identifies relationships between television viewing, individual thought, and behavior is growing in several…

The Potential for U.S.-Asia Research Collaboration: Two Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Diane E., Ed.

1991-01-01

Two articles explore possibilities for collaboration between American and Asian researchers addressing disabilities in a worldwide context. The first article, by Mike Miles, is titled "Using Action-Oriented Disability Studies in Pakistan." It focuses on how information can be disseminated in informal, nontraditional (non-Western) ways.…

Principals and Teachers as Partners in Critical, Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nixon, Rhonda

2016-01-01

This article reports on a two-year study of one principal's professional learning practices in "Transform," a professional learning program in Edmonton Catholic Schools, Alberta, Canada. Transform was designed to be a bottom-up, morally-oriented professional learning approach in which principals and teachers worked as partners on…

Hand and Grasp Selection in a Preferential Reaching Task: The Effects of Object Location, Orientation, and Task Intention.

PubMed

Scharoun, Sara M; Scanlan, Kelly A; Bryden, Pamela J

2016-01-01

As numerous movement options are available in reaching and grasping, of particular interest are what factors influence an individual's choice of action. In the current study a preferential reaching task was used to assess the propensity for right handers to select their preferred hand and grasp a coffee mug by the handle in both independent and joint action object manipulation contexts. Mug location (right-space, midline, and left-space) and handle orientation (toward, away, to left, and to right of the participant) varied in four tasks that differed as a function of intention: (1) pick-up (unimanual, independent); (2) pick-up and pour (bimanual, independent); (3) pick-up and pass (unimanual, joint action); and (4) pick-up, pour and pass (bimanual, joint action). In line with previous reports, a right-hand preference for unimanual tasks was observed. Furthermore, extending existing literature to a preferential reaching task, role differentiation between the hands in bimanual tasks (i.e., preferred hand mobilizing, non-preferred hand stabilizing) was displayed. Finally, right-hand selection was greatest in right space, albeit lower in bimanual tasks compared to what is typically reported in unimanual tasks. Findings are attributed to the desire to maximize biomechanical efficiency in reaching. Grasp postures were also observed to reflect consideration of efficiency. More specifically, within independent object manipulation (pick-up; pick-up and pour) participants only grasped the mug by the handle when it afforded a comfortable posture. Furthermore, in joint action (pick-up and pass; pick-up, pour and pass), the confederate was only offered the handle if the intended action of the confederate was similar or required less effort than that of the participant. Together, findings from the current study add to our knowledge of hand and grasp selection in unimanual and bimanual object manipulation, within the context of both independent and joint action tasks.

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.

Which Design Components of Nutrition Infographics Make Them Memorable and Compelling?

PubMed

Wansink, Brian; Robbins, Rebecca

2016-11-01

Which design features of nutrition infographics make them memorable and compelling? First, we conducted 3 focus groups with a total of 28 participants to understand preferred infographic characteristics of adults who were mostly in their early 20s. Second, using between subject design, a slide show of single-image infographics was displayed to an independent sample of college students and young career university employees (N = 50). We assigned participants randomly to either active or passive processing conditions. We conducted correlation and regression analyses to examine differences in recall and intention by infographic characteristics and processing conditions. Regardless of whether a person was actively or passively viewing the infographics, the most robust predictor of recall was an action-oriented title (p = .003). Surprisingly, infographics in color (vs black-and-white), humorous, or simply worded were no more memorable or effective than if they simply had actionable titles. Action-oriented titles make infographics memorable and compelling. Regardless of how involved a person is in processing an infographic, cartoon, or illustration, time spent on perfecting an action-oriented title will be time better spent than on making the infographic colorful, humorous, or detailed. Whereas content and detail of the infographic are important, effectiveness might be improved by the command given in its title or subtitle.

Recruiting from within: Action-Oriented Research Solutions to Internal Student Recruitment in Collegiate Aviation Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Brent; Carstenson, Larry; Hansen, Frederick

1999-01-01

Discusses student recruitment in aviation education and establishes that internal recruitment methods are the most productive and cost effective. Provides examples of recruitment strategies based on a model of action research. (JOW)

Do I feel ill because I crave for work or do I crave for work because I feel ill? A longitudinal analysis of work craving, self-regulation, and health

PubMed Central

Wojdylo, Kamila; Karlsson, Wilhelm; Baumann, Nicola

2016-01-01

Background The theory of work craving defines workaholism as a pathological work addiction which comprises: (a) obsessive–compulsive desire to work, (b) anticipation of self-worth compensatory incentives from working, (c) anticipation of reduction of negative emotions or withdrawal symptoms from working, and (d) neurotic perfectionism. Research has shown that workaholism is associated with adverse health outcomes. However, the antecedents of workaholism and the causal direction of the relationship with health have been largely neglected. Aims In the present longitudinal study, we expect that work craving is predicted by deficits in emotional self-regulation (i.e., low action orientation) and mediates the relationship between self-regulation deficits and symptoms of psychological distress. We expected work craving to have an effect on later psychological distress symptoms, but not psychological distress symptoms to have an effect on later work craving. Methods In a sample of 170 German employees, a half-longitudinal design using two times of measurement was implemented to specify the paths of two different structural equation models of mediation: (a) action orientation to later work craving and work craving to later psychological distress, and alternatively, (b) the temporal order of action orientation to later distress and distress to later work craving. Results Our data indicated that work craving partially mediated the relationship between self-regulation deficits and psychological distress, but psychological distress symptoms were not found to increase later work craving. Conclusions The presented longitudinal study indicates important mechanisms of work craving, especially by highlighting the influence of self-regulation deficits on work craving and, in turn, psychological distress. PMID:28092192

Do I feel ill because I crave for work or do I crave for work because I feel ill? A longitudinal analysis of work craving, self-regulation, and health.

PubMed

Wojdylo, Kamila; Karlsson, Wilhelm; Baumann, Nicola

2016-03-01

Background The theory of work craving defines workaholism as a pathological work addiction which comprises: (a) obsessive-compulsive desire to work, (b) anticipation of self-worth compensatory incentives from working, (c) anticipation of reduction of negative emotions or withdrawal symptoms from working, and (d) neurotic perfectionism. Research has shown that workaholism is associated with adverse health outcomes. However, the antecedents of workaholism and the causal direction of the relationship with health have been largely neglected. Aims In the present longitudinal study, we expect that work craving is predicted by deficits in emotional self-regulation (i.e., low action orientation) and mediates the relationship between self-regulation deficits and symptoms of psychological distress. We expected work craving to have an effect on later psychological distress symptoms, but not psychological distress symptoms to have an effect on later work craving. Methods In a sample of 170 German employees, a half-longitudinal design using two times of measurement was implemented to specify the paths of two different structural equation models of mediation: (a) action orientation to later work craving and work craving to later psychological distress, and alternatively, (b) the temporal order of action orientation to later distress and distress to later work craving. Results Our data indicated that work craving partially mediated the relationship between self-regulation deficits and psychological distress, but psychological distress symptoms were not found to increase later work craving. Conclusions The presented longitudinal study indicates important mechanisms of work craving, especially by highlighting the influence of self-regulation deficits on work craving and, in turn, psychological distress.

Data Communities are Stronger Together: RDA and the broader landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yarmey, L.

2016-12-01

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is a community-driven, action-oriented, virtual organization committed to enabling open sharing of data by building social and technical bridges. The international RDA community includes over 4000 members, each bringing diverse perspectives, domains, and expertise. RDA members work together to identify common interests and form exploratory Interest Groups and outcome-oriented Working Groups. Participants exchange knowledge, share discoveries, discuss barriers and potential solutions, articulate policies, and align standards to enhance and facilitate global data sharing within and across domains and communities. RDA is an organization of action. 18 months after the 2013 RDA launch, the first Working Groups had already produced a series of well-defined, endorsed, and adopted Recommendations publically available for wider integration. The adopted and endorsed RDA Recommendations at time of writing include Persistent Identifier Information Types, Foundational Terminology query tool, Machine Actionable Policy Templates, and Data Type Model and Registry. Other Recommendations, including bibliometrics, metadata standards, and repository audit and certification are currently under community review on their way to endorsement. The number of RDA Working Groups and resulting Recommendations is expected to increase over time. RDA members are individuals and organizations who subscribe to RDA's Guiding Principles including Openness, Consensus, and Balance. In most (if not all) cases, RDA members also participate in other communities and/or partnerships. This raises important considerations for RDA in terms of scope, sustainability, realistic volunteer engagement, facilitation, and coordinated partnerships across the data landscape. By identifying common interests and maintaining ongoing partnerships and collaboration, individuals and data communities alike can increase our collective ability to create and maintain critical, integrated, and usable data infrastructure.

Informal learning processes in support of clinical service delivery in a service-oriented community pharmacy.

PubMed

Patterson, Brandon J; Bakken, Brianne K; Doucette, William R; Urmie, Julie M; McDonough, Randal P

The evolving health care system necessitates pharmacy organizations' adjustments by delivering new services and establishing inter-organizational relationships. One approach supporting pharmacy organizations in making changes may be informal learning by technicians, pharmacists, and pharmacy owners. Informal learning is characterized by a four-step cycle including intent to learn, action, feedback, and reflection. This framework helps explain individual and organizational factors that influence learning processes within an organization as well as the individual and organizational outcomes of those learning processes. A case study of an Iowa independent community pharmacy with years of experience in offering patient care services was made. Nine semi-structured interviews with pharmacy personnel revealed initial evidence in support of the informal learning model in practice. Future research could investigate more fully the informal learning model in delivery of patient care services in community pharmacies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of Competency-Based and Target-Oriented Training on Employee Performance: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan, Ridvan; Uzaslan, N. Tufan

2017-01-01

Some firms have applied different in-house training models to keep up with new technological innovations in their specific fields. This study investigated how a target-oriented in-house training programme should be developed and how it should be evaluated for effectiveness. The aim of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a…

Evidence for a distributed hierarchy of action representation in the brain

PubMed Central

Grafton, Scott T.; de C. Hamilton, Antonia F.

2007-01-01

Complex human behavior is organized around temporally distal outcomes. Behavioral studies based on tasks such as normal prehension, multi-step object use and imitation establish the existence of relative hierarchies of motor control. The retrieval errors in apraxia also support the notion of a hierarchical model for representing action in the brain. In this review, three functional brain imaging studies of action observation using the method of repetition suppression are used to identify a putative neural architecture that supports action understanding at the level of kinematics, object centered goals and ultimately, motor outcomes. These results, based on observation, may match a similar functional anatomic hierarchy for action planning and execution. If this is true, then the findings support a functional anatomic model that is distributed across a set of interconnected brain areas that are differentially recruited for different aspects of goal oriented behavior, rather than a homogeneous mirror neuron system for organizing and understanding all behavior. PMID:17706312

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,…

Brief Report: Attentional Cueing to Images of Social Interactions is Automatic for Neurotypical Individuals But Not Those with ASC.

PubMed

Morrisey, Marcus Neil; Reed, Catherine L; McIntosh, Daniel N; Rutherford, M D

2018-04-25

Human actions induce attentional orienting toward the target of the action. We examined the influence of action cueing in social (man throwing toward a human) and non-social (man throwing toward a tree) contexts in observers with and without autism spectrum condition (ASC). Results suggested that a social interaction enhanced the cueing effect for neurotypical participants. Participants with ASC did not benefit from non-predictive cues and were slower in social contexts, although they benefitted from reliably predictive cues. Social orienting appears to be automatic in the context of an implied social interaction for neurotypical observers, but not those with ASC. Neurotypical participants' behavior may be driven by automatic processing, while participants with ASC use an alternative, effortful strategy.

Vision for perception and vision for action: normal and unusual development.

PubMed

Dilks, Daniel D; Hoffman, James E; Landau, Barbara

2008-07-01

Evidence suggests that visual processing is divided into the dorsal ('how') and ventral ('what') streams. We examined the normal development of these streams and their breakdown under neurological deficit by comparing performance of normally developing children and Williams syndrome individuals on two tasks: a visually guided action ('how') task, in which participants posted a card into an oriented slot, and a perception ('what') task, in which they matched a card to the slot's orientation. Results showed that all groups performed worse on the action task than the perception task, but the disparity was more pronounced in WS individuals and in normal 3-4-year-olds than in older children. These findings suggest that the 'how' system may be relatively slow to develop and more vulnerable to breakdown than the 'what' system.

Determinants of HMO success: the case of Complete Health.

PubMed

Widra, L S; Fottler, M D

1992-01-01

The health maintenance organization (HMO) industry has experienced a variety of difficulties and criticisms in recent years. Various hybrid models have been proposed to alleviate these problems. This article presents an in-depth case study of factors associated with the success of one such hybrid: an individual practice association (IPA)-model HMO affiliated with an academic health center. The major success factors identified include the plan design/structure, the strategic orientation/practices, and the stakeholder management orientation practices.

Orientation Programs and Student Retention in Distance Learning: The Case of University of Cape Coast

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arhin, Vera; Wang'eri, Tabitha

2018-01-01

This study investigated how orientation programs predict student retention in distance learning at the University of Cape Coast. A correlational research design was employed for the study. The target population was level-200 students in the distance education program at the university. Seven hundred and twenty-seven participants were selected from…

Predicting Teacher Emotional Labour Based on Multi-Frame Leadership Orientations: A Case from Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özdemir, Murat; Koçak, Seval

2018-01-01

Human behaviours in organisations are closely associated with leadership styles. The main purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between teachers' perception about multi-frame leadership orientations of principals and teachers' emotional labour. The study is based on Bolman and Deal's Four Frames Model, and, therefore, the…

What We Gain by Combining Variationist and Concept-Oriented Approaches: The Case of Acquiring Spanish Future-Time Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanwit, Matthew

2017-01-01

This study aimed to advance research on first and second language future-time expression in Spanish and to demonstrate the strengths of combining functionalist, concept-oriented approaches (e.g., Andersen, 1984; Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Shirai, 1995; von Stutterheim & Klein, 1987) with variationist approaches. The study targeted 140 participants…

Controlled interaction: strategies for using virtual reality to study perception.

PubMed

Durgin, Frank H; Li, Zhi

2010-05-01

Immersive virtual reality systems employing head-mounted displays offer great promise for the investigation of perception and action, but there are well-documented limitations to most virtual reality systems. In the present article, we suggest strategies for studying perception/action interactions that try to depend on both scale-invariant metrics (such as power function exponents) and careful consideration of the requirements of the interactions under investigation. New data concerning the effect of pincushion distortion on the perception of surface orientation are presented, as well as data documenting the perception of dynamic distortions associated with head movements with uncorrected optics. A review of several successful uses of virtual reality to study the interaction of perception and action emphasizes scale-free analysis strategies that can achieve theoretical goals while minimizing assumptions about the accuracy of virtual simulations.

Hierarchical human action recognition around sleeping using obscured posture information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudo, Yuta; Sashida, Takehiko; Aoki, Yoshimitsu

2015-04-01

This paper presents a new approach for human action recognition around sleeping with the human body parts locations and the positional relationship between human and sleeping environment. Body parts are estimated from the depth image obtained by a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor using oriented 3D normal vector. Issues in action recognition of sleeping situation are the demand of availability in darkness, and hiding of the human body by duvets. Therefore, the extraction of image features is difficult since color and edge features are obscured by covers. Thus, first in our method, positions of four parts of the body (head, torso, thigh, and lower leg) are estimated by using the shape model of bodily surface constructed by oriented 3D normal vector. This shape model can represent the surface shape of rough body, and is effective in robust posture estimation of the body hidden with duvets. Then, action descriptor is extracted from the position of each body part. The descriptor includes temporal variation of each part of the body and spatial vector of position of the parts and the bed. Furthermore, this paper proposes hierarchical action classes and classifiers to improve the indistinct action classification. Classifiers are composed of two layers, and recognize human action by using the action descriptor. First layer focuses on spatial descriptor and classifies action roughly. Second layer focuses on temporal descriptor and classifies action finely. This approach achieves a robust recognition of obscured human by using the posture information and the hierarchical action recognition.

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...

The Structured Intuitive Model for Product Line Economics (SIMPLE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-02-01

units are features and use cases. A feature is just as nebulous as a requirement, but techniques such as feature-oriented domain analysis ( FODA ) [Kang 90...cost avoidance DM design modified DOCU degree of documentation GQM Goal Question Metric FODA feature-oriented domain analysis IM integration effort...Hess, J.; Novak, W.; & Peterson, A. Feature- Oriented Domain Analysis ( FODA ) Feasibility Study (CMU/SEI- 90-TR-02 1, ADA235785). Pittsburgh, PA

"..., But I Cannot Do Research": Action-Research and Early Childhood Teachers. A Case Study from Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magos, Kostas

2012-01-01

Although action-research is a well-known research methodology in the field of education, in the case of Greece there are few actions-researches carried out by early childhood teachers. The absence of action-research in early childhood education settings is related to the way many early childhood teachers shape their professional role as well as…

Making It Happen: A Positive Guide to the Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, John M., Jr., Ed.

This compilation of articles, photographs, commentaries, diagrams, and political cartoons presents positive, practical, and action-oriented core ideas on which to base future-oriented thinking and creative activity. The first of 10 parts presents articles on traditional American principles, ways of facing the future, America's character and…

Lusting after Children: The Tobacco Industry's Investment in a Profitable Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tye, Joe B.

1988-01-01

Argues that the tobacco industry deliberately uses advertising to influence young people to experiment with tobacco. Advertisements in sports, entertainment and sex-oriented magazines, outdoor advertising, and promotions in youth-oriented movies are all intended to influence young people. Lists actions individuals can take to reduce the influence…

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.

"Street Love": How Street Life Oriented U. S. Born African Men Frame Giving Back to One Another and the Local Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Yasser Arafat; Hamdi, Hanaa A.

2009-01-01

This Participatory Action Research (PAR) project worked with four active street life oriented U. S. born African men, to document how a community sample of street life oriented U. S. born African men between the ages of 16-65, frame and use "street life" as a Site of Resiliency (Payne, Dissertation, 2005; "Journal of Black Psychology" 34(1):3-31,…

The influence of gender on the relationship between wildlife value orientations, beliefs, and the acceptability of lethal deer control in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dougherty, E.M.; Fulton, D.C.; Anderson, D.H.

2003-01-01

This study examines how wildlife value orientations, attitudes, and gender influence acceptance of lethal actions to control deer in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. Data were collected from female and male residents (n = 659) in a nine-county area, the primary service area of the park. Females and males demonstrated significant differences in their wildlife value orientations, attitudes toward lethal deer control, beliefs about the outcome of lethal deer control, and perceived personal impacts of lethal deer control. Gender also acted as a moderator of the relationship between values, beliefs and attitudes. Results indicate that a focus on understanding differences between males and females is essential to public participation in decision making concerning this and similar issues.

Light Steel-Timber Frame with Composite and Plaster Bracing Panels

PubMed Central

Scotta, Roberto; Trutalli, Davide; Fiorin, Laura; Pozza, Luca; Marchi, Luca; De Stefani, Lorenzo

2015-01-01

The proposed light-frame structure comprises steel columns for vertical loads and an innovative bracing system to efficiently resist seismic actions. This seismic force resisting system consists of a light timber frame braced with an Oriented Strand Board (OSB) sheet and an external technoprene plaster-infilled slab. Steel brackets are used as foundation and floor connections. Experimental cyclic-loading tests were conduced to study the seismic response of two shear-wall specimens. A numerical model was calibrated on experimental results and the dynamic non-linear behavior of a case-study building was assessed. Numerical results were then used to estimate the proper behavior factor value, according to European seismic codes. Obtained results demonstrate that this innovative system is suitable for the use in seismic-prone areas thanks to the high ductility and dissipative capacity achieved by the bracing system. This favorable behavior is mainly due to the fasteners and materials used and to the correct application of the capacity design approach. PMID:28793642

Light Steel-Timber Frame with Composite and Plaster Bracing Panels.

PubMed

Scotta, Roberto; Trutalli, Davide; Fiorin, Laura; Pozza, Luca; Marchi, Luca; De Stefani, Lorenzo

2015-11-03

The proposed light-frame structure comprises steel columns for vertical loads and an innovative bracing system to efficiently resist seismic actions. This seismic force resisting system consists of a light timber frame braced with an Oriented Strand Board (OSB) sheet and an external technoprene plaster-infilled slab. Steel brackets are used as foundation and floor connections. Experimental cyclic-loading tests were conduced to study the seismic response of two shear-wall specimens. A numerical model was calibrated on experimental results and the dynamic non-linear behavior of a case-study building was assessed. Numerical results were then used to estimate the proper behavior factor value, according to European seismic codes. Obtained results demonstrate that this innovative system is suitable for the use in seismic-prone areas thanks to the high ductility and dissipative capacity achieved by the bracing system. This favorable behavior is mainly due to the fasteners and materials used and to the correct application of the capacity design approach.

Brain-oriented care in the NICU: a case study.

PubMed

Bader, Lisa

2014-01-01

With the advances of technology and treatment in the field of neonatal care, researchers can now study how the brains of preterm infants are different from full-term infants. The differences are significant, and the outcomes are poor overall for premature infants as a whole. Caregivers at the bedside must know that every interaction with the preterm infant affects brain development-it is critical to the developmental outcome of the infant. The idea of neuroprotection is not new to the medical field but is a fairly new idea to the NICU. Neuroprotection encompasses all interventions that promote normal development of the brain. The concept of brain-oriented care is a necessary extension of developmental care in the NICU. By following the journey of 26-week preterm twin infants through a case study, one can better understand the necessity of brain-oriented care at the bedside.

A Case Study of Curriculum Implementation in Hong Kong.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carless, David R.

1998-01-01

Describes and analyzes the perceptions and reactions of a well-qualified, positively oriented primary-school English teacher to Hong Kong's target-oriented curriculum (TOC) initiative, a major government-sponsored innovation. The analysis encompasses teacher attitudes, teacher training and support, teachers' understanding of an innovation, teacher…

[Disciplinary verdicts in cases of child abuse; lessons for paediatricians].

PubMed

Berkers, Gitte; Biesaart, Monique C I H; Leeuwenburgh-Pronk, Wendela G

2015-01-01

To give an overview of disciplinary cases regarding action taken by paediatricians and paediatric residents in cases of (suspected) child abuse and to discuss the considerations of the disciplinary board in these cases. Retrospective, descriptive study. We considered all disciplinary cases instigated from 2001 to 2013 against paediatricians or paediatric residents and selected complaints regarding action taken in cases of (suspected) child abuse. We divided these complaints into six categories and studied the considerations of the disciplinary board in these cases. From 33 disciplinary cases instigated from 2001 to 2013, we selected 76 complaints regarding action taken by paediatricians or paediatric residents in cases of (suspected) child abuse. The majority of these complaints concerned the reporting or requesting of information in the context of (suspected) child abuse. All of the complaints in the category 'unwarranted reporting of child abuse' were declared unfounded by the disciplinary judge. The disciplinary board declared all complaints unfounded in cases where the paediatrician or paediatric resident had followed the Dutch national protocol regarding reporting of child abuse and domestic violence. The disciplinary board examines whether action was taken in accordance with reasonable standards of professional competence and considers that paediatricians have an important role in identifying child abuse.

"Speedy Action over Goal Orientation": Cognitive Impulsivity in Male Forensic Patients with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daderman, Anna M.; Meurling, Ann Wirsen; Levander, Sten

2012-01-01

Previous neuropsychiatric studies suggest a relationship between reading disability and cognitive impulsivity. This relationship is not entirely explained by the high comorbidity between reading disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as children with a co-occurrence of these disorders tend to be more impulsive than those…

University Efficiency: Complementariness versus Trade-Off between Teaching, Research and Administrative Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sellers-Rubio, Ricardo; Mas-Ruiz, Francisco J.; Casado-Diaz, Ana B.

2010-01-01

University managers should be aware of the importance that efficiency has for their own universities, orientating their actions towards research and teaching excellence. This study estimates teaching and research efficiency of the different departments of a university and tests the complementariness versus trade-off between them. The results…

Merging a Metalinguistic Grammar Approach with L2 Academic Process Writing: ELLs in Community College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camhi, Paul J.; Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein

2008-01-01

This action research study evaluates a classroom approach incorporating a reflective, metacognitive component within a second language process-oriented writing environment. Inspired by the literature and developed by the first author, this approach seeks to provide English language learners (ELLs) with a command of metalinguistic principles…

Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds: Youth Violence Prevention for Acculturating Latino Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smokowski, Paul R.; Bacallao, Martica

2009-01-01

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy of Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds (EDM) prevention for Latino adolescents. Method: In an experimental trial to compare implementation formats, 41 Latino families were randomly assigned to EDM action-oriented skills training groups, and 47 families were randomly assigned to unstructured EDM support…

Risk and ReORIENTations: An Asianist Approach to Teaching Afro-Haitian Dance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Angeline

2018-01-01

I present an action research study that enacts an Asianist somatic movement education approach to teaching Afro-Haitian dance at Arizona State University as a response to my Chinese American body's experience of hegemony in postsecondary dance curriculum. My pedagogical framework uses an intercultural teaching approach that applies a somatic…

Selection, Alignment, and Their Interplay: Origins of Lifestyle Homogamy in Couple Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Oliver Arranz; Lois, Daniel

2010-01-01

The present study examines different processes leading to lifestyle homogamy in married and cohabiting couples using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (n = 3,490 couples). The analyses first suggest that alignment over time promotes homogamy of leisure-related lifestyles, especially with respect to action-oriented activities. However,…

Anti-Pollution Behavior: A Function of Perceived Outcome and Locus of Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trigg, Linda J.; And Others

1976-01-01

This study investigated the moderating effects of perceived outcome on the relationship between activism (social action) in the form of anti-pollution behavior and locus of control (I-E). Among subjects optimistic about future levels of pollution, internally-oriented individuals engaged in more anti-pollution activities and had more accurate…

Designing action games for appealing to buyers.

PubMed

Hsu, Shang Hwa; Lee, Feng-Liang; Wu, Muh-Cherng

2005-12-01

This study aims to identify design features for action games that would appeal to game-buyers, rather than game-players. Sixteen frequent-buyers of computer games identified 39 design features that appeal to buyers by contrasting different versions of Pacman games. Twenty-eight versions of Pacman were then evaluated in terms of the identified design features by 45 participants (27 male and 18 female college students). Qnet2000 neural network software was used to determine the relative importance of these design features. The results indicated that the top 10 most important design features could account for more than 50% of "perceived fun" among these 39 design features. The feature of avatar is important to game-buyers, yet not revealed in previous player-oriented studies. Moreover, six design factors underlying the 39 features were identified through factor analysis. These factors included "novelty and powerfulness," "appealing presentation," "interactivity," "challenging," "sense of control," and "rewarding," and could account for 54% of total variance. Among these six factors, appealing presentation has not been emphasized by player-oriented research. Implications of the findings were discussed.

Investigating Approaches to Achieve Modularity Benefits in the Acquisition Ecosystem

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

actions and that of others, and how the assessments are affected by their actions. • Case study approach based on best practices, tacit knowledge... case study -derived exemplars, and items requiring further research on identifying additional enablers and useful knowledge constructs. All of these... case studies that document the effective use of modularity in system design for some or all of innovation, competition, cost, technology and

Protection as care: moral reasoning and moral orientation among ethnically and socioeconomically diverse older women.

PubMed

Dakin, Emily

2014-01-01

This study examined moral reasoning among ethnically and socioeconomically diverse older women based on the care and justice moral orientations reflecting theoretical frameworks developed by Carol Gilligan and Lawrence Kohlberg, respectively. A major gap in this area of research and theory development has been the lack of examination of moral reasoning in later life. This study addressed this gap by assessing socioeconomically and ethnically diverse older women's reasoning in response to ethical dilemmas showing conflict between autonomy, representative of Kohlberg's justice orientation, and protection, representative of Gilligan's care orientation. The dilemmas used in this study came from adult protective services (APS), the U.S. system that investigates and intervenes in cases of elder abuse and neglect. Subjects were 88 African American, Latina, and Caucasian women age 60 or over from varying socioeconomic status backgrounds who participated in eight focus groups. Overall, participants favored protection over autonomy in responding to the case scenarios. Their reasoning in responding to these dilemmas reflected an ethic of care and responsibility and a recognition of the limitations of autonomy. This reasoning is highly consistent with the care orientation. Variations in the overall ethic of care and responsibility based on ethnicity and SES also are discussed. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A simulation of orientation dependent, global changes in camera sensitivity in ECT

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

Bieszk, J.A.; Hawman, E.G.; Malmin, R.E.

1984-01-01

ECT promises the abilities to: 1) observe radioisotope distributions in a patient without the summation of overlying activity to reduce contrast, and 2) measure quantitatively these distributions to further and more accurately assess organ function. Ideally, camera-based ECT systems should have a performance that is independent of camera orientation or gantry angle. This study is concerned with ECT quantitation errors that can arise from angle-dependent variations of camera sensitivity. Using simulated phantoms representative of heart and liver sections, the effects of sensitivity changes on reconstructed images were assessed both visually and quantitatively based on ROI sums. The sinogram for eachmore » test image was simulated with 128 linear digitization and 180 angular views. The global orientation-dependent sensitivity was modelled by applying an angular sensitivity dependence to the sinograms of the test images. Four sensitivity variations were studied. Amplitudes of 0% (as a reference), 5%, 10%, and 25% with a costheta dependence were studied as well as a cos2theta dependence with a 5% amplitude. Simulations were done with and without Poisson noise to: 1) determine trends in the quantitative effects as a function of the magnitude of the variation, and 2) to see how these effects are manifested in studies having statistics comparable to clinical cases. For the most realistic sensitivity variation (costheta, 5% ampl.), the ROIs chosen in the present work indicated changes of <0.5% in the noiseless case and <5% for the case with Poisson noise. The effects of statistics appear to dominate any effects due to global, sinusoidal, orientation-dependent sensitivity changes in the cases studied.« less

Using VCL as an Aspect-Oriented Approach to Requirements Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amálio, Nuno; Kelsen, Pierre; Ma, Qin; Glodt, Christian

Software systems are becoming larger and more complex. By tackling the modularisation of crosscutting concerns, aspect orientation draws attention to modularity as a means to address the problems of scalability, complexity and evolution in software systems development. Aspect-oriented modelling (AOM) applies aspect-orientation to the construction of models. Most existing AOM approaches are designed without a formal semantics, and use multi-view partial descriptions of behaviour. This paper presents an AOM approach based on the Visual Contract Language (VCL): a visual language for abstract and precise modelling, designed with a formal semantics, and comprising a novel approach to visual behavioural modelling based on design by contract where behavioural descriptions are total. By applying VCL to a large case study of a car-crash crisis management system, the paper demonstrates how modularity of VCL's constructs, at different levels of granularity, help to tackle complexity. In particular, it shows how VCL's package construct and its associated composition mechanisms are key in supporting separation of concerns, coarse-grained problem decomposition and aspect-orientation. The case study's modelling solution has a clear and well-defined modular structure; the backbone of this structure is a collection of packages encapsulating local solutions to concerns.

Profiles of Motor Laterality in Young Athletes' Performance of Complex Movements: Merging the MOTORLAT and PATHoops Tools

PubMed Central

Castañer, Marta; Andueza, Juan; Hileno, Raúl; Puigarnau, Silvia; Prat, Queralt; Camerino, Oleguer

2018-01-01

Laterality is a key aspect of the analysis of basic and specific motor skills. It is relevant to sports because it involves motor laterality profiles beyond left-right preference and spatial orientation of the body. The aim of this study was to obtain the laterality profiles of young athletes, taking into account the synergies between the support and precision functions of limbs and body parts in the performance of complex motor skills. We applied two instruments: (a) MOTORLAT, a motor laterality inventory comprising 30 items of basic, specific, and combined motor skills, and (b) the Precision and Agility Tapping over Hoops (PATHoops) task, in which participants had to perform a path by stepping in each of 14 hoops arranged on the floor, allowing the observation of their feet, left-right preference and spatial orientation. A total of 96 young athletes performed the PATHoops task and the 30 MOTORLAT items, allowing us to obtain data about limb dominance and spatial orientation of the body in the performance of complex motor skills. Laterality profiles were obtained by means of a cluster analysis and a correlational analysis and a contingency analysis were applied between the motor skills and spatial orientation actions performed. The results obtained using MOTORLAT show that the combined motor skills criterion (for example, turning while jumping) differentiates athletes' uses of laterality, showing a clear tendency toward mixed laterality profiles in the performance of complex movements. In the PATHoops task, the best spatial orientation strategy was “same way” (same foot and spatial wing) followed by “opposite way” (opposite foot and spatial wing), in keeping with the research assumption that actions unfolding in a horizontal direction in front of an observer's eyes are common in a variety of sports. PMID:29930527

Explicit knowledge of stimulus-outcome contingencies and stimulus control of selective attention and instrumental action in human smoking behaviour.

PubMed

Hogarth, Lee; Dickinson, Anthony; Duka, Theodora

2005-02-01

External stimuli (S+) that reliably signal that addictive drugs are available command the focus of selective attention and control instrumental action that procures the drug. According to incentive salience theory, as the contingency between the S+ and the drug is learned the magnitude of attentional orienting towards the S+ increases. By contrast, alternative theories propose that processing of the S+ becomes more efficient with training such that the measured attentional orienting response elicited by the S+ decreases. The aim of the present study was to prompt half of participants to acquire explicit knowledge of the stimulus-reinforcer contingencies arranged in training, to examine the impact of this manipulation on the magnitude of attentional orienting towards the S+. Smokers (n=32) completed an instrumental discrimination training procedure in which a set of stimuli were established as differential predictors that an instrumental response would yield tobacco-smoke reinforcement. During training, attention for the stimuli and performance of the instrumental tobacco-seeking response were measured in parallel. One group (n=16) was prompted to develop explicit knowledge of the discriminative contingencies in training whereas another group (n=16) underwent discrimination training without prompting. The prompted group reported accurate knowledge of the contingencies and showed no attentional orienting response towards the S+. By contrast, the unprompted group reported inaccurate knowledge of the contingencies and showed an attentional orienting response towards the S+. The S+ appeared to control the instrumental tobacco-seeking response in both groups equally. The results suggest that attention for drug paired S+ is associated with the process of learning about the relationship between those cues and the drug.

Seeking high reliability in primary care: Leadership, tools, and organization.

PubMed

Weaver, Robert R

2015-01-01

Leaders in health care increasingly recognize that improving health care quality and safety requires developing an organizational culture that fosters high reliability and continuous process improvement. For various reasons, a reliability-seeking culture is lacking in most health care settings. Developing a reliability-seeking culture requires leaders' sustained commitment to reliability principles using key mechanisms to embed those principles widely in the organization. The aim of this study was to examine how key mechanisms used by a primary care practice (PCP) might foster a reliability-seeking, system-oriented organizational culture. A case study approach was used to investigate the PCP's reliability culture. The study examined four cultural artifacts used to embed reliability-seeking principles across the organization: leadership statements, decision support tools, and two organizational processes. To decipher their effects on reliability, the study relied on observations of work patterns and the tools' use, interactions during morning huddles and process improvement meetings, interviews with clinical and office staff, and a "collective mindfulness" questionnaire. The five reliability principles framed the data analysis. Leadership statements articulated principles that oriented the PCP toward a reliability-seeking culture of care. Reliability principles became embedded in the everyday discourse and actions through the use of "problem knowledge coupler" decision support tools and daily "huddles." Practitioners and staff were encouraged to report unexpected events or close calls that arose and which often initiated a formal "process change" used to adjust routines and prevent adverse events from recurring. Activities that foster reliable patient care became part of the taken-for-granted routine at the PCP. The analysis illustrates the role leadership, tools, and organizational processes play in developing and embedding a reliable-seeking culture across an organization. Progress toward a reliability-seeking, system-oriented approach to care remains ongoing, and movement in that direction requires deliberate and sustained effort by committed leaders in health care.

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

PubMed

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

2002-01-01

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

Sarah's Story: One Teacher's Enactment of TPACK+ in a History Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Vaerenewyck, Leah M.; Shinas, Valerie Harlow; Steckel, Barbara

2017-01-01

This article presents a descriptive case study that describes a secondary history teacher's expression of sociocultural-oriented technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in the classroom, the execution of which we describe as TPACK+. TPACK+ describes sociocultural-oriented teacher knowledge requisite for the dynamic execution of TPACK…

Practices of Compassionate, Critical, Justice-Oriented Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conklin, Hilary G.; Hughes, Hilary E.

2016-01-01

In this cross-institutional, qualitative case study, two teacher educators in urban teacher education programs identify and analyze the components of our teacher education practice in relation to a vision of compassionate, critical, justice-oriented teacher education. Using Grossman et al.'s concepts of preparation for professional practice as an…

Task-Oriented Versus Emotion-Oriented Coping Strategies: The Case of College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kariv, Dafna; Heiman, Tali

2005-01-01

The study examined the relationships between stress and coping strategies among 283 college students. Participants completed questionnaires relating to their stress perceptions, actual academic loads and their coping strategies. The main objective was to explore the effect of stress perceptions on coping behavior while accounting for objective…

Contrasting motivational orientation and evaluative coding accounts: on the need to differentiate the effectors of approach/avoidance responses.

PubMed

Kozlik, Julia; Neumann, Roland; Lozo, Ljubica

2015-01-01

Several emotion theorists suggest that valenced stimuli automatically trigger motivational orientations and thereby facilitate corresponding behavior. Positive stimuli were thought to activate approach motivational circuits which in turn primed approach-related behavioral tendencies whereas negative stimuli were supposed to activate avoidance motivational circuits so that avoidance-related behavioral tendencies were primed (motivational orientation account). However, recent research suggests that typically observed affective stimulus-response compatibility phenomena might be entirely explained in terms of theories accounting for mechanisms of general action control instead of assuming motivational orientations to mediate the effects (evaluative coding account). In what follows, we explore to what extent this notion is applicable. We present literature suggesting that evaluative coding mechanisms indeed influence a wide variety of affective stimulus-response compatibility phenomena. However, the evaluative coding account does not seem to be sufficient to explain affective S-R compatibility effects. Instead, several studies provide clear evidence in favor of the motivational orientation account that seems to operate independently of evaluative coding mechanisms. Implications for theoretical developments and future research designs are discussed.

Contrasting motivational orientation and evaluative coding accounts: on the need to differentiate the effectors of approach/avoidance responses

PubMed Central

Kozlik, Julia; Neumann, Roland; Lozo, Ljubica

2015-01-01

Several emotion theorists suggest that valenced stimuli automatically trigger motivational orientations and thereby facilitate corresponding behavior. Positive stimuli were thought to activate approach motivational circuits which in turn primed approach-related behavioral tendencies whereas negative stimuli were supposed to activate avoidance motivational circuits so that avoidance-related behavioral tendencies were primed (motivational orientation account). However, recent research suggests that typically observed affective stimulus–response compatibility phenomena might be entirely explained in terms of theories accounting for mechanisms of general action control instead of assuming motivational orientations to mediate the effects (evaluative coding account). In what follows, we explore to what extent this notion is applicable. We present literature suggesting that evaluative coding mechanisms indeed influence a wide variety of affective stimulus–response compatibility phenomena. However, the evaluative coding account does not seem to be sufficient to explain affective S–R compatibility effects. Instead, several studies provide clear evidence in favor of the motivational orientation account that seems to operate independently of evaluative coding mechanisms. Implications for theoretical developments and future research designs are discussed. PMID:25983718

Graduating Physical Education Student Teachers Perceptions of a Critically Oriented HPE Curriculum: (Re)Constructing Constructivist Frameworks in PETE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fyall, Glenn

2017-01-01

This study investigated the beliefs of a cohort of graduating Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers regarding their understanding of the critically oriented HPE Curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this case study research, data were gathered through a survey questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews as the students neared…

Nurse educators' experiences of case-based education in a South African nursing programme.

PubMed

Daniels, Felicity M; Fakude, Lorraine P; Linda, Ntombizodwa S; Marie Modeste, Rugira R

2015-12-09

A school of nursing at a university in the Western Cape experienced an increase in student enrolments from an intake of 150 students to 300 students in the space of one year. This required a review of the teaching and learning approach to ensure that it was appropriate for effective facilitation of large classes. The case-based education (CBE) approach was adopted for the delivery of the Bachelor of Nursing programme in 2005. The aim of the study was to explore nurse educators' experiences, current practices and possible improvements to inform best practice of CBE at the nursing school in the Western Cape. A participatory action research method was applied in a two day workshop conducted with nurse educators in the undergraduate nursing programme. The nominal group technique was used to collect the data. Three themes emerged from the final synthesis of the findings, namely: teaching and learning related issues, student issues and teacher issues. Amongst other aspects, theory and practice integration, as well as the need for peer support in facilitation of CBE, were identified as requiring strengthening. It was concluded that case-based education should continue to be used in the school, however, more workshops should be arranged to keep educators updated and new staff orientated in respect of this teaching and learning approach.

From Power to Inaction.

PubMed

Durso, Geoffrey R O; Briñol, Pablo; Petty, Richard E

2016-12-01

Research has shown that people who feel powerful are more likely to act than those who feel powerless, whereas people who feel ambivalent are less likely to act than those whose reactions are univalent (entirely positive or entirely negative). But what happens when powerful people also are ambivalent? On the basis of the self-validation theory of judgment, we hypothesized that power and ambivalence would interact to predict individuals' action. Because power can validate individuals' reactions, we reasoned that feeling powerful strengthens whatever reactions people have during a decision. It can strengthen univalent reactions and increase action orientation, as shown in past research. Among people who hold an ambivalent judgment, however, those who feel powerful would be less action oriented than those who feel powerless. Two experiments provide evidence for this hypothesized interactive effect of power and ambivalence on individuals' action tendencies during both positive decisions (promoting an employee; Experiment 1) and negative decisions (firing an employee; Experiment 2). In summary, when individuals' reactions are ambivalent, power increases the likelihood of inaction.

Corporate social responsibility and the future health care manager.

PubMed

Collins, Sandra K

2010-01-01

The decisions and actions of health care managers are oftentimes heavily scrutinized by the public. Given the current economic climate, managers may feel intense pressure to produce higher results with fewer resources. This could inadvertently test their moral fortitude and their social consciousness. A study was conducted to determine what corporate social responsibility orientation and viewpoint future health care managers may hold. The results of the study indicate that future health care managers may hold patient care in high regard as opposed to profit maximization. However, the results of the study also show that future managers within the industry may continue to need rules, laws, regulations, and legal sanctions to guide their actions and behavior.

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…

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)

Action recognition via cumulative histogram of multiple features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Xunshi; Luo, Yupin

2011-01-01

Spatial-temporal interest points (STIPs) are popular in human action recognition. However, they suffer from difficulties in determining size of codebook and losing much information during forming histograms. In this paper, spatial-temporal interest regions (STIRs) are proposed, which are based on STIPs and are capable of marking the locations of the most ``shining'' human body parts. In order to represent human actions, the proposed approach takes great advantages of multiple features, including STIRs, pyramid histogram of oriented gradients and pyramid histogram of oriented optical flows. To achieve this, cumulative histogram is used to integrate dynamic information in sequences and to form feature vectors. Furthermore, the widely used nearest neighbor and AdaBoost methods are employed as classification algorithms. Experiments on public datasets KTH, Weizmann and UCF sports show that the proposed approach achieves effective and robust results.

Linking Failure Feedback to Individual Creativity: The Moderation Role of Goal Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

He, Yimin; Yao, Xiang; Wang, Shuhong; Caughron, Jay

2016-01-01

The sense-making theory of creativity is extended by identifying failure feedback as a process that shapes creative interpretations and actions. We also consider the moderating effect of goal orientation on the relationship between failure feedback and individual creativity, according to the sense-making theory. A 2-waves survey data from…

Program of policy studies in science and technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mayo, L. H.

1973-01-01

The application of an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented capability to the performance of total social impact evaluations is discussed. The consequences of introducing new configurations, technological or otherwise into future social environments are presented. The primary characteristics of the program are summarized: (1) emphasis on interdisciplinary, problem-oriented analysis; (2) development of intra- and inter-institutional arrangements for the purpose of analyzing social problems, evaluating existing programs, and assessing the social impacts of prospective policies, programs, and other public actions; (3) focus on methodological approaches to the projection of alternative future social environments, the identification of the effects of the introduction of new policies, programs, or other actions into the social system, and the evaluation of the social impacts of such effects; (4) availability of analytical resources for advisory and research tasks, and provision for use of program facilities as a neutral forum for the discussion of public issues involving involving the impact of advancing technology on social value-institutional processes.

Discretization independence implies non-locality in 4D discrete quantum gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dittrich, Bianca; Kamiński, Wojciech; Steinhaus, Sebastian

2014-12-01

The 4D Regge action is invariant under 5-1 and 4-2 Pachner moves, which define a subset of (local) changes of the triangulation. Given this fact, one might hope to find a local path integral measure that makes the quantum theory invariant under these moves and hence makes the theory partially triangulation invariant. We show that such a local invariant path integral measure does not exist for the 4D linearized Regge theory. To this end we uncover an interesting geometric interpretation for the Hessian of the 4D Regge action. This geometric interpretation will allow us to prove that the determinant of the Hessian of the 4D Regge action does not factorize over four-simplices or subsimplices. It furthermore allows us to determine configurations where this Hessian vanishes, which only appears to be the case in degenerate backgrounds or if one allows for different orientations of the simplices. We suggest a non-local measure factor that absorbs the non-local part of the determinant of the Hessian under 5-1 moves as well as a local measure factor that is preserved for very special configurations.

Expert reasoning within an object-oriented framework

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

Bohn, S.J.; Pennock, K.A.

1991-10-01

A large number of contaminated waste sites across the United States await site remediation efforts. These sites can be physically complex, composed of multiple, possibly interacting, contaminants distributed throughout one or more media. The Remedial Action Assessment System (RAAS) is being designed and developed to support decisions concerning the selection of remediation alternatives. The goal of this system is to broaden the consideration of remediation alternatives, while reducing the time and cost of making these considerations. The Remedial Action Assessment System was designed and constructed using object-oriented techniques. It is a hybrid system which uses a combination of quantitative andmore » qualitative reasoning to consider and suggest remediation alternatives. the reasoning process that drives this application is centered around an object-oriented organization of remediation technology information. This paper briefly describes the waste remediation problem and then discusses the information structure and organization RAAS utilizes to address it. 4 refs., 4 figs.« less

[Nurturing fair play in competitive sports. Results from a study on competitively oriented youth soccer].

PubMed

Pilz, G A

2005-08-01

Apologists of sports praise them as an ideal way to prevent addiction and violence. Sports critics see it rather as a socialization authority on the morals of the fair foul. This contradiction was investigated based on an examination of fairness behaviour and fairness education in youth soccer as well as the question of the connection between sports and violence and the preventive possibilities of sports. Our results point to differences in understanding fairness according to age, sex and primarily performance/success orientation. Teenagers learn al ready at the latest in the C youth that it is important and right in the interest of success to break rules. Thus it applies that the more distinctive the success orientation, the more in formal and formal fair play degenerate into fictitious action morals of competitive sport and make way for morals of the "fair foul". The coaches play an important, even quite obviously the central role as socialization agents. In stead of learning fairness, the opposite is often conveyed to many young people in the organizations. However, our examinations also show that coach es can positively influence both fairness understanding and fairness behaviour of young footballers. Coach es are thus challenged as role models to exemplify fair play by their own actions.

A Framework to Move Forward on the Path to Eco-innovation in the Construction Industry: Implications to Improve Firms' Sustainable Orientation.

PubMed

Segarra-Oña, María-del-Val; Peiró-Signes, Angel; Cervelló-Royo, Roberto

2015-12-01

This paper examines key aspects in the innovative behavior of the construction firms that determine their environmental orientation while innovating. Structural equation modeling was used and data of 222 firms retrieved from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for 2010 to analyse the drivers of environmental orientation of the construction firms during the innovation process. The results show that the environmental orientation is positively affected by the product and process orientation of construction firms during the innovation process. Furthermore, the positive relation between the importance of market information sources and environmental orientation, mediated by process and product orientation, is discussed. Finally, a model that explains these relations is proposed and validated. Results have important managerial implications for those companies worried about their eco-innovative focus as the types of actions and relations within firms most suitable for improving their eco-innovative orientation are highlighted.

OTF CCSDS Mission Operations Prototype. Directory and Action Service. Phase I: Exit Presentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2009-01-01

This slide presentation describes the phase I directory and action service prototype for the CCSDS system. The project goals are to: (1) Demonstrate the use of Mission Operations standards to implement Directory and Action Services (2) Investigate Mission Operations language neutrality (3) Investigate C3I XML interoperability concepts (4) Integrate applicable open source technologies in a Service Oriented Architecture

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Indirect Effect of Violence Exposure on Future Orientation Through Perceived Stress and the Buffering Effect of Family Participation.

PubMed

Schmidt, Carissa J; Zimmerman, Marc A; Stoddard, Sarah A

2018-06-07

Exposure to violence (ETV) during adolescence has been associated with negative effects in later life, and may negatively affect an individual's future orientation. Future orientation has important health implications and warrants being studied. Yet, few researchers have examined how ETV affects an individual's future orientation as a young adult. The purpose of this study was to examine the indirect effect of ETV during adolescence on future orientation as a young adult through perceived stress. We also tested the moderating effect of family participation on the relationship between perceived stress and future orientation. Longitudinal data from a sample of 316 African American participants (42.10% male and 57.90% female, Mage = 14.76 at Wave 1) from low socioeconomic backgrounds recruited from a Midwestern school district were used in the analysis. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test our hypotheses. Our findings indicated that greater ETV during adolescence is associated with higher levels of perceived stress and, in turn, a more negative outlook on one's future as a young adult. This indirect effect occurred for individuals with lower family participation, but was not evident for individuals with greater family participation. These findings provide important implications for youth development interventions. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

The Relationship between Goal Orientations, Motivational Climate and Selfreported Discipline in Physical Education

PubMed Central

Moreno-Murcia, Juan A.; Sicilia, Alvaro; Cervelló, Eduardo; Huéscar, Elisa; Dumitru, Delia C.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test a motivational model on the links between situational and dispositional motivation and self-reported indiscipline/discipline based on the achievement goals theory. The model postulates that a task-involving motivational climate facilitates self-reported discipline, either directly or mediated by task orientation. In contrast, an ego-involving motivational climate favors self-reported indiscipline, either directly or by means of ego orientation. An additional purpose was to examine gender differences according to the motivational model proposed. Children (n = 565) from a large Spanish metropolitan school district were participants in this study and completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations, motivational climates and self-reported discipline. The results from the analysis of structural equation model showed the direct effect of motivational climates on self-reported discipline and provided support to the model. Furthermore, the gender differences found in self-reported discipline were associated with the differences found in the students’ dispositional and situational motivation pursuant to the model tested. The implications of these results with regard to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes are discussed. Key points A task-involving motivational climate predicts self-reported discipline behaviors, either directly or mediated by task orientation. An ego-involving motivational climate favors self-reported undisciplined, either directly or mediated by ego orientation. A significant gender difference was found in the motivational disposition perceived climate and self-reported discipline. PMID:24149304

Region-specificity of GABAA receptor mediated effects on orientation and direction selectivity in cat visual cortical area 18.

PubMed

Jirmann, Kay-Uwe; Pernberg, Joachim; Eysel, Ulf T

2009-01-01

The role of GABAergic inhibition in orientation and direction selectivity has been investigated with the GABA(A)-Blocker bicuculline in the cat visual cortex, and results indicated a region specific difference of functional contributions of GABAergic inhibition in areas 17 and 18. In area 17 inhibition appeared mainly involved in sculpturing orientation and direction tuning, while in area 18 inhibition seemed more closely associated with temporal receptive field properties. However, different types of stimuli were used to test areas 17 and 18 and further studies performed in area 17 suggested an important influence of the stimulus type (single light bars vs. moving gratings) on the evoked responses (transient vs. sustained) and inhibitory mechanisms (GABA(A) vs. GABA(B)) which in turn might be more decisive for the specific results than the cortical region. To insert the missing link in this chain of arguments it was necessary to study GABAergic inhibition in area 18 with moving light bars, which has not been done so far. Therefore, in the present study we investigated area 18 cells responding to oriented moving light bars with extracellular recordings and reversible microiontophoretic blockade of GABAergig inhibition with bicuculline methiodide. The majority of neurons was characterized by a pronounced orientation specificity and variable degrees of direction selectivity. GABA(A)ergic inhibition significantly influenced preferred orientation and preferred direction in area 18. During the action of bicuculline orientation tuning width increased and orientation and direction selectivity indices decreased. Our results obtained in area 18 with moving bar stimuli, although in the proportion of affected cells similar to those described in area 17, quantitatively matched the findings for direction and orientation specificity obtained with moving gratings in area 18. Accordingly, stimulus type is not decisive in area 18 and the GABA(A) dependent, inhibitory intracortical computations involved in orientation specificity are indeed region-specific and in comparison to area 17 less effective in area 18.

Characterization of muscle contraction with second harmonic generation microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prent, Nicole

Muscle cells have the ability to change length and generate force due to orchestrated action of myosin nanomotors that cause sliding of actin filaments along myosin filaments in the sarcomeres, the fundamental contractile units, of myocytes. The correlated action of hundreds of sarcomeres is needed to produce the myocyte contractions. This study probes the molecular structure of the myofilaments and investigates the movement correlations between sarcomeres during contraction. In this study, second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is employed for imaging striated myocytes. Myosin filaments in striated myocytes inherently have a nonzero second-order susceptibility, [special characters omitted] and therefore generate efficient SHG. Employing polarization-in polarization-out (PIPO) SHG microscopy allows for the accurate determination of the characteristic ratio, [special characters omitted] in birefringent myocytes, which describes the structure of the myosin filament. Analysis shows that the b value at the centre of the myosin filament, where the nonlinear dipoles are better aligned, is slightly lower than the value at the edges of the filament, where there is more disorder in orientation of the nonlinear dipoles from the myosin heads. Forced stretching of myocytes resulted in an SHG intensity increase with the elongation of the sarcomere. SHG microscopy captured individual sarcomeres during contraction, allowing for the measurement of sarcomere length (SL) and SHG intensity (SI) fluctuations. The fluctuations also revealed higher SHG intensity in elongated sarcomeres. The sarcomere synchronization model (SSM) for contracting and quiescent myocytes was developed, and experimentally verified for three cases (isolated cardiomyocyte, embryonic chicken cardiomyocyte, and larva myocyte). During contraction, the action of SLs and SIs between neighbouring sarcomeres partially correlated, whereas in quiescent myocytes the SLs show an anti-correlation and the SIs have no correlations. The characteristic correlation coefficients and amplitudes were obtained for each case, allowing for the characterization of the synchronization of sarcomere movement during muscle contraction. These investigations constitute the basis for studying the structure and physiology of muscle cell contractions with polarization SHG microscopy. Live dynamic imaging of myocytes is applicable for contractility research, drug discovery, and as a diagnostic tool for monitoring muscular diseases.

Aspect-Oriented Programming is Quantification and Implicit Invocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Filman, Robert E.; Friedman, Daniel P.; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We propose that the distinguishing characteristic of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) languages is that they allow programming by making quantified programmatic assertions over programs that lack local notation indicating the invocation of these assertions. This suggests that AOP systems can be analyzed with respect to three critical dimensions: the kinds of quantifications allowed, the nature of the interactions that can be asserted, and the mechanism for combining base-level actions with asserted actions. Consequences of this perspective are the recognition that certain systems are not AOP and that some mechanisms are metabolism: they are sufficiently expressive to allow straightforwardly programming an AOP system within them.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Assistive Technology: Action Research Case Study of Reading Supports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindsey, Pam

2012-01-01

This descriptive action research experience with case study procedures examined the use of best practices paired with assistive technologies as interventions to individualize fiction reading instruction for a high-functioning elementary student, JB (pseudonym), diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. JB's instructional, reading goals were to…

Quantum back-action-evading measurement of motion in a negative mass reference frame

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Møller, Christoffer B.; Thomas, Rodrigo A.; Vasilakis, Georgios; Zeuthen, Emil; Tsaturyan, Yeghishe; Balabas, Mikhail; Jensen, Kasper; Schliesser, Albert; Hammerer, Klemens; Polzik, Eugene S.

2017-07-01

Quantum mechanics dictates that a continuous measurement of the position of an object imposes a random quantum back-action (QBA) perturbation on its momentum. This randomness translates with time into position uncertainty, thus leading to the well known uncertainty on the measurement of motion. As a consequence of this randomness, and in accordance with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the QBA puts a limitation—the so-called standard quantum limit—on the precision of sensing of position, velocity and acceleration. Here we show that QBA on a macroscopic mechanical oscillator can be evaded if the measurement of motion is conducted in the reference frame of an atomic spin oscillator. The collective quantum measurement on this hybrid system of two distant and disparate oscillators is performed with light. The mechanical oscillator is a vibrational ‘drum’ mode of a millimetre-sized dielectric membrane, and the spin oscillator is an atomic ensemble in a magnetic field. The spin oriented along the field corresponds to an energetically inverted spin population and realizes a negative-effective-mass oscillator, while the opposite orientation corresponds to an oscillator with positive effective mass. The QBA is suppressed by -1.8 decibels in the negative-mass setting and enhanced by 2.4 decibels in the positive-mass case. This hybrid quantum system paves the way to entanglement generation and distant quantum communication between mechanical and spin systems and to sensing of force, motion and gravity beyond the standard quantum limit.

Quantum back-action-evading measurement of motion in a negative mass reference frame.

PubMed

Møller, Christoffer B; Thomas, Rodrigo A; Vasilakis, Georgios; Zeuthen, Emil; Tsaturyan, Yeghishe; Balabas, Mikhail; Jensen, Kasper; Schliesser, Albert; Hammerer, Klemens; Polzik, Eugene S

2017-07-12

Quantum mechanics dictates that a continuous measurement of the position of an object imposes a random quantum back-action (QBA) perturbation on its momentum. This randomness translates with time into position uncertainty, thus leading to the well known uncertainty on the measurement of motion. As a consequence of this randomness, and in accordance with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the QBA puts a limitation-the so-called standard quantum limit-on the precision of sensing of position, velocity and acceleration. Here we show that QBA on a macroscopic mechanical oscillator can be evaded if the measurement of motion is conducted in the reference frame of an atomic spin oscillator. The collective quantum measurement on this hybrid system of two distant and disparate oscillators is performed with light. The mechanical oscillator is a vibrational 'drum' mode of a millimetre-sized dielectric membrane, and the spin oscillator is an atomic ensemble in a magnetic field. The spin oriented along the field corresponds to an energetically inverted spin population and realizes a negative-effective-mass oscillator, while the opposite orientation corresponds to an oscillator with positive effective mass. The QBA is suppressed by -1.8 decibels in the negative-mass setting and enhanced by 2.4 decibels in the positive-mass case. This hybrid quantum system paves the way to entanglement generation and distant quantum communication between mechanical and spin systems and to sensing of force, motion and gravity beyond the standard quantum limit.

Systematic assessment of the various controversies, difficulties, and current trends in the reestablishment of lost occlusal planes in edentulous patients.

PubMed

Sahoo, S; Singh, D; Raghav, D; Singh, G; Sarin, A; Kumar, P

2014-05-01

Accurate occlusal plane orientation is an essential factor in the fabrication of complete denture prosthesis. Over the years, it has received a number of methodologies by several researchers utilizing various anatomical landmarks however none of them is considered as perfect that could orient ideal occlusal plane. The presented literature review is an attempt to enlighten historical perspectives, pioneer researches, different controversies, difficulties and current trends for re-establishment of lost occlusal plane in edentulous patients. An extensive literature search was performed using Medline/PubMed interface and other scholarly research bibliographic databases using Medical Subject Headings. Studies describing research studies, case series and assorted clinical reports were retrieved and evaluated from 1963 to 2013. Most of the studies have suggest and evidence to consider Camper's plane for artificial orientation of occlusal plane however there is a substantial lack of genuine long term studies and authentic data that could recommend a single reliable landmark for perfect occlusal plane reorientation in a variety of cases.

A general melt-injection-decomposition route to oriented metal oxide nanowire arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Dongqiang; Zhang, Xinwei; Hua, Zhenghe; Yang, Shaoguang

2016-12-01

In this manuscript, a general melt-injection-decomposition (MID) route has been proposed and realized for the fabrication of oriented metal oxide nanowire arrays. Nitrate was used as the starting materials, which was injected into the nanopores of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane through the capillarity action in its liquid state. At higher temperature, the nitrate decomposed into corresponding metal oxide within the nanopores of the AAO membrane. Oriented metal oxide nanowire arrays were formed within the AAO membrane as a result of the confinement of the nanopores. Four kinds of metal oxide (CuO, Mn2O3, Co3O4 and Cr2O3) nanowire arrays are presented here as examples fabricated by this newly developed process. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies showed clear evidence of the formations of the oriented metal oxide nanowire arrays. Formation mechanism of the metal oxide nanowire arrays is discussed based on the Thermogravimetry and Differential Thermal Analysis measurement results.

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.

Career moves of urban science teachers: Negotiating constancy, change, and confirmation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rinke, Carol Riegelman

2007-12-01

This dissertation addresses the issue of teacher retention in urban science classrooms, in which a revolving door of new teachers leads to an inexperienced teaching force and reduced academic attainment for students. Urban science teachers are particularly susceptible to attrition due to extensive professional opportunities outside the classroom. This study follows eight case study teachers in an urban school district in order to better understand how today's urban science teachers think about their careers and career moves. Based on traditional research on teacher retention and existing literature on teachers' professional lives, this study focuses in particular on urban science teachers' professional priorities, community participation, and process of career decision making in order to determine the ways in which these factors may be consequential for their career paths. The study uses a qualitative case study methodology. Data collection methods include a survey of all first, second, and third year science teachers in one urban district followed by the selection of eight case study teachers using a variety of demographic, certification, and workplace characteristics. In-depth case studies included monthly interviews and professional observations over parts of two school years. The experiences and perspectives of the eight case study teachers revealed three patterns. First, the eight case study teachers followed two distinct paths through the profession, those who aimed to integrate and were oriented toward the educational system and those who wanted to participate and oriented themselves away from the educational system. These professional trajectories were influential in shaping case study teachers' experiences in schools as well as their career directions. Second, the eight case study teachers continually considered their professional alternatives, either within or outside of the educational system. Finally, the case study teachers aimed to get past the challenges inherent in urban teaching and reach professional confirmation before moving on to new roles and responsibilities. These themes indicate the centrality of urban science teachers' professional orientations for recruitment, preparation, and retention, demonstrate the need for in-depth and longitudinal research on teacher retention, and suggest the pivotal nature of professional growth in career mobility.

Action-oriented colour-coded foot length calliper for primary healthcare workers as a proxy for birth weight & gestational period.

PubMed

Pratinidhi, Asha K; Bagade, Abhijit C; Kakade, Satish V; Kale, Hemangi P; Kshirsagar, Vinayak Y; Babar, Rohini; Bagal, Shilpa

2017-03-01

Foot length of the newborn has a good correlation with the birth weight and is recommended to be used as a proxy measure. There can be variations in the measurement of foot length. A study was, therefore, carried out to develop a foot length calliper for accurate foot length measurement and to find cut-off values for birth weight and gestational age groups to be used by primary healthcare workers. This study was undertaken on 645 apparently healthy newborn infants with known gestational age. Nude birth weight was taken within 24 h of birth on a standard electronic weighing machine. A foot length calliper was developed. Correlation between foot length and birth weight as well as gestational age was calculated. Correctness of cut-off values was tested using another set of 133 observations on the apparently healthy newborns. Action-oriented colour coding was done to make it easy for primary healthcare workers to use it. There was a significant correlation of foot length with birth weight (r=0.75) and gestational age (r=0.63). Cut-off values for birth weight groups were 6.1, 6.8 and 7.3 cm and for gestational age of 6.1, 6.8 and 7.0 cm. Correctness of these cut-off values ranged between 77.1 and 95.7 per cent for birth weight and 60-93.3 per cent for gestational age. Considering 2.5 kg as cut-off between normal birth weight and low birth weight (LBW), cut-off values of 6.1, 6.8 and 7.3 were chosen. Action-oriented colour coding was done by superimposing the colours on the scale of the calliper, green indicating home care, yellow indicating supervised home care, orange indicating care at newborn care units at primary health centres and red indicating Neonatal Intensive Care Unit care for infants. A simple device was developed so that the primary health care workers and trained Accredited Social Health Activist workers can identify the risk of LBW in the absence of accurate weighing facilities and decide on the type of care needed by the newborn and take action accordingly.

Exposure fluctuations of astronauts due to orientation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, John W.; Nealy, John E.; Wood, James S.; Qualls, Gary; Atwell, William; Shinn, Judy L.; Simonsen, Lisa C.

1993-01-01

The dose incurred in an anisotropic environment depends on the orientation of the astronaut's body relative to the direction of the radiation field. The fluctuations in exposure of specific organs due to astronaut orientation are found to be a factor of 2 or more in a typical space habitation module and typical space radiations. An approximation function is found that overestimates astronaut exposure in most cases studied and is recommended as a shield design guide for future space missions.

Innovation Adoption as Facilitated by a Change-Oriented Workplace

PubMed Central

Becan, Jennifer Edwards; Knight, Danica K.; Flynn, Patrick M.

2011-01-01

One of the unique contributions of the current study is a glimpse into the process by which counselors decide to try new innovations in their clinical work. Data were collected from 421 counseling staff from 71 outpatient treatment programs in 4 US regions. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results reveal that the propensity to adopt workshop-based interventions is facilitated by two important mechanisms (1) an innovative organization with creative leadership and (2) change-oriented staff attributes (i.e., seeking professional growth, efficacy, adaptability, and influence on others). Innovative leaders and a climate receptive to change also bolster the development of these change-oriented attributes. One implication of these findings is the cascading effect of leaders’ support of innovative thinking and action resulting in employees strengthening their own adaptive skills and carrying this innovative thinking into individual adoption. PMID:22154030

Orientation of Zn3P2 films via phosphidation of Zn precursors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katsube, Ryoji; Nose, Yoshitaro

2017-02-01

Orientation of solar absorber is an important factor to achieve high efficiency of thin film solar cells. In the case of Zn3P2 which is a promising absorber of low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells, (110)/(001) orientation was only reported in previous studies. We have successfully prepared (101)-oriented Zn3P2 films by phosphidation of (0001)-oriented Zn films at 350 °C. The phosphidation mechanism of Zn is discussed through STEM observations on the partially-reacted sample and the consideration of the relationship between the crystal structures of Zn and Zn3P2 . We revealed that (0001)-oriented Zn led to nucleation of (101)-oriented Zn3P2 due to the similarity in atomic arrangement between Zn and Zn3P2 . The electrical resistivity of the (101)-oriented Zn3P2 film was lower than those of (110)/(001)-oriented films, which is an advantage of the phosphidation technique to the growth processes in previous works. The results in this study demonstrated that well-conductive Zn3P2 films could be obtained by controlling orientations of crystal grains, and provide a guiding principle for microstructure control in absorber materials.

Discovery of Action Patterns and User Correlations in Task-Oriented Processes for Goal-Driven Learning Recommendation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Xiaokang; Chen, Jian; Wu, Bo; Jin, Qun

2014-01-01

With the high development of social networks, collaborations in a socialized web-based learning environment has become increasing important, which means people can learn through interactions and collaborations in communities across social networks. In this study, in order to support the enhanced collaborative learning, two important factors, user…

Social Justice through Literacy: Integrating Digital Video Cameras in Reading Summaries and Responses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Rong; Unger, John A.; Scullion, Vicki A.

2014-01-01

Drawing data from an action-oriented research project for integrating digital video cameras into the reading process in pre-college courses, this study proposes using digital video cameras in reading summaries and responses to promote critical thinking and to teach social justice concepts. The digital video research project is founded on…

Variations in Form and Skill: Supporting Multiple Orientations to Reflective Thinking in Leadership Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carver, Cynthia L; Klein, C. Suzanne

2016-01-01

Drawing on data collected as part of a qualitative action research study, our analysis examines the reflective thinking skill of candidates as they begin a two-year principal preparation program. As leadership educators, we noticed that our highest performing students were also the most skilled at thinking reflectively. Using candidates' writing…

Who Is White? Assessing Students' Perceptions of Whiteness through Active-Learning Effectiveness and the Construction of Racial Doubt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cherry, Stephen M.; Lucas, Amy; Case, Kim A.; Hoston, William T.

2014-01-01

Building on previous studies on action-oriented strategies for teaching race-related courses, we explore the general effectiveness of teaching about racial stereotypes and racial/ethnic identity construction in two undergraduate race and ethnicity courses. Given that race and the term "White" are culturally constructed and serve to…

An Action-Oriented Perspective on Caring Leadership: A Qualitative Study of Higher Education Administrators' Positive Leadership Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uusiautti, Satu

2013-01-01

Interest in human experiences, especially positive experiences, has been increasing ever since positive psychology gained a foothold in public attention. In this research, higher education administrators from Finland and the USA ("N"?=?13) were asked to describe positive or successful situations or chains of events in which their…

(Re)Considering Foucault for Science Education Research: Considerations of Truth, Power and Governance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazzul, Jesse; Carter, Lyn

2017-01-01

This article is a response to Anna Danielsonn, Maria Berge, and Malena Lidar's paper, "Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action," and an appeal to science educators of all epistemological orientations to (re)consider the work of Michel Foucault for research in science…

Responding to the Needs of the Contemporary Marketplace: The Use of the Cross-Pollination Class Projects in the Undergraduate Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, Daniel R.

2015-01-01

In light of the current emphasis on adequate preparation of college graduates for the 21st century marketplace, this action research study recounted and examined two experiential cross-pollination team-oriented projects, incorporated into the classroom at a small (1100 students), private university's marketing educational program. Tailoring…

Actualizing the Environment: A Study of First-Year Composition Student MOO Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

English, Joel A.

This paper describes the use of technology in a first year college writing class. The class utilizes a multi-user object-oriented domain (MOO) which allows participants to talk, perform actions, thoughts, and emotions, manipulate objects and furniture, and altogether control the online environment. The class holds discussions on the computer in…

Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Behaviour through the Life-Orientation Curriculum: Teachers' Perceptions of the HealthKick Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Jillian; Draper, Catherine E.; De Villiers, Anniza; Fourie, Jean M.; Mohamed, Suraya; Parker, Whadi-ah; Steyn, Nelia

2015-01-01

This study explores the feasibility of implementing the curriculum and action-planning components of the HealthKick (HK) intervention in eight low-resourced schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Process evaluation comprising workshops and personal interactions with teachers and principals were followed up with semi-structured interviews and…

Leadership Styles of Oxford House Officers

PubMed Central

Komer, Anne C; Jason, Leonard A; Harvey, Ronald; Olson, Brad

2015-01-01

Oxford House recovery homes are unusual compared to most recovery homes in that they function entirely without the use of staff; instead members are elected to officer positions. The aim of this study was to perform preliminary analysis of the types of leadership styles utilized by members of oxford house. Twentynine house residents of five Oxford Houses were asked to rate their own leadership styles using the leader behavior description questionnaire and the multifactor leader questionnaire. Results showed that participants were more likely to use person-oriented behaviors above task-oriented actions. Transformational leadership was associated with higher outcomes than Transactional leadership. Implications for future research are discussed. PMID:26380329

Leadership Styles of Oxford House Officers.

PubMed

Komer, Anne C; Jason, Leonard A; Harvey, Ronald; Olson, Brad

Oxford House recovery homes are unusual compared to most recovery homes in that they function entirely without the use of staff; instead members are elected to officer positions. The aim of this study was to perform preliminary analysis of the types of leadership styles utilized by members of oxford house. Twentynine house residents of five Oxford Houses were asked to rate their own leadership styles using the leader behavior description questionnaire and the multifactor leader questionnaire. Results showed that participants were more likely to use person-oriented behaviors above task-oriented actions. Transformational leadership was associated with higher outcomes than Transactional leadership. Implications for future research are discussed.

A Synthesis Model of Sustainable Market Orientation: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Influence on Academic Accreditation--A Case Study of Egyptian-Accredited Faculties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abou-Warda, Sherein H.

2014-01-01

Higher education institutions are increasingly concerned about accreditation. Although sustainable market orientation (SMO) bears on academic accreditation, to date, no study has developed a valid scale of SMO or assessed its influence on accreditation. The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate an SMO scale that was developed in…

Professional development for primary science teaching in Thailand: Knowledge, orientations, and practices of professional developers and professional development participants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musikul, Kusalin

The purpose of this study was to examine an entire PD project as a case to understand the dynamic nature of science PD in a holistic manner. I used a pedagogical content knowledge model by Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko (1999) as my theoretical framework in examining the professional developers' and teacher participants' knowledge, orientation, and practice for professional development and elementary science teaching. The case study is my research tradition; I used grounded theory for data analysis. The primary data sources were interview, card sort activity, and observation field notes collected during the PD and subsequently in teacher participants' classrooms. Secondary data sources were documents and artifacts that I collected from the professional developers and teachers. An analysis of the data led me to interpret the following findings: (a) the professional developers displayed multiple orientations. These orientations included activity-driven, didactic, discovery, and pedagogy-driven orientations. The orientations that were found among the professional developers deviated from the reformed Thai Science Education Standards; (b) the professional developers had limited PCK for PD, which were knowledge of teachers' learning, knowledge of PD strategies, knowledge of PD curriculum, and knowledge of assessment.; (c) the professional developers' knowledge and orientations influenced their decisions in selecting PD activities and teaching approaches; (d) their orientations and PCK as well as the time factor influenced the design and implementation of the professional development; (e) the elementary teachers displayed didactic, activity-driven, and academic rigor orientations. The orientations that the teachers displayed deviated from the reformed Thai Science Education Standards; and (f) the elementary teachers exhibited limited PCK. It is evident that the limitation of one type of knowledge resulted in an ineffective use of other components of PCK. This study demonstrates the nature of PD in the context of Thailand in a holistic view to understand knowledge, orientation, and implementation of professional developers and professional development participants. Furthermore, the findings have implications for professional development and professional developers in Thailand and include worldwide with respect to promoting sustain and intensive professional development and developing professional developers.

Reading Students' Minds: Design Assessment in Distance Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Derek

2014-01-01

This paper considers the design of assessment for students of design according to behaviourist versus experiential pedagogical approaches, relating these to output-oriented as opposed to process-oriented assessment methods. It is part case study and part recognition of the importance of process in design education and how this might be applied in…

Science-Technology Coupling: The Case of Mathematical Logic and Computer Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner-Dobler, Roland

1997-01-01

In the history of science, there have often been periods of sudden rapprochements between pure science and technology-oriented branches of science. Mathematical logic as pure science and computer science as technology-oriented science have experienced such a rapprochement, which is studied in this article in a bibliometric manner. (Author)

Socially Oriented Student Entrepreneurship: A Study of Student Change Agency in the Academic Capitalism Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mars, Matthew M.; Rhoades, Gary

2012-01-01

This paper presents two clarifying cases of socially oriented student entrepreneurship. The findings illuminate an overlooked organizational space located at the intersection of the public good and academic capitalist knowledge/learning regimes (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004) that provides students with the entrepreneurial agency to create social…

Reimagining Non-Formal Science Education: A Case of Ecojustice-Oriented Citizenship Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sperling, Erin; Bencze, J. Lawrence

2015-01-01

This article presents a study of youth participating in a program that engages in a form of ecojustice education, addressing social inequities, along with science-linked concepts, through a localized and culturally oriented food-based curriculum. A community-based food justice organization provides a rich space for encountering and examining the…

Three Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Tell Why People Do Right

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardman, Elizabeth L.

2012-01-01

This paper presents the results of a small preliminary investigation of the moral judgment of three children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) using case study research methodology to describe their moral orientations and explore how their reasoning patterns might affect the development of a cooperative moral orientation. Data were…

Taking It with You: Teacher Education and the Baggage of Cultural Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frkovich, Ann

2015-01-01

This case study contributes to counterpoints made to world culture theory and underscores that at the micro, classroom-level, rural Chinese teachers in a reform-oriented professional development course, and reform-oriented U.S. teacher trainers, understand educational reform, and the realities of education in these two cultures, very differently.…

An eCommerce Development Case: Your Company's eCommerce Web Site

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballenger, Robert M.

2007-01-01

This case provides a real-world semester long project-oriented case study for students enrolled in an electronic commerce course that has a significant development component. The case provides the technical framework in the form of functional requirements for students to design and build a fully functional transaction processing e-commerce Web…

A Database Design and Development Case: NanoTEK Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballenger, Robert M.

2010-01-01

This case provides a real-world project-oriented case study for students enrolled in a management information systems, database management, or systems analysis and design course in which database design and development are taught. The case consists of a business scenario to provide background information and details of the unique operating…

Administrators in Action--Managing Public Monies and Processing Emotion in School Activities: A Teaching Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tenuto, Penny L.; Gardiner, Mary E.; Yamamoto, Julie K.

2015-01-01

This teaching case describes school administrators in action performing day-to-day leadership tasks, managing public funds in school activities, and interacting with others appropriately. The case focuses on administrative challenges in handling and managing school activity funds. A method for processing emotion is discussed to assist…

Spatial Instability of the Linearly Polarized Plane Wave in a Cubic Crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuz'mina, M. S.; Khazanov, E. A.

2016-12-01

We study theoretically the development of a small-scale spatial instability of a plane wave in a cubic crystal with [111], [001] and [101] orientations. It is shown that in the [111] oriented crystals the instability develops at lower intensities than in the [001] and [101] oriented crystals. In the latter two crystals, the instability can significantly be suppressed by choosing the optimal radiation polarization. It is found that in the case of a small B integral, the method of temporal contrast enhancement of laser pulses by generating an orthogonal polarization achieves the largest efficiency with the [101] orientation, while the [001] orientation is more preferable for B > 3.

Epitaxy versus oriented heterogeneous nucleation of organic crystals on ionic substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarma, K. R.; Shlichta, P. J.; Wilcox, W. R.; Lefever, R. A.

1997-04-01

It is plausible to assume that epitaxy is a special case of heterogeneous nucleation in which a restrictive crystallographic relationship exists between substrate and deposit orientations. This would mean that epitaxial substrates should always induce a perceptible reduction in the critical supercooling for nucleation of the deposit. To test this hypothesis, the critical supercoolings of six organic compounds were measured on glass and 11 single-crystal cleaved substrates including (0001) graphite, (001) mica, (111) BaF 2, SrF 2, and CaF 2, and (100) KCl, KBr, KI, NaCl, NaF, and LiF. Reductions in supercooling (with reference to glass substrates) were checked many times for repeatability and reproducibility and shown in almost all cases to have a standard deviation of 1 C or less. Acetanilide, benzoic acid, and p-bromochlorobenzene showed a wide range of supercooling reductions and were oriented on all crystalline substrates. Naphthalene and p-dibromobenzene showed only slight supercooling reductions but were oriented on all substrates, including glass. Benzil showed strong supercooling reductions only for mica and KI but was oriented not only in these cases but also with KI, BaF 2, CaF 2, and graphite. There was little correlation between degree of lattice match and either supercooling reduction or degree of preferred orientation. These results suggest that, for the systems and geometry studied, forces such as molecular dipole binding and growth anisotropy had a stronger effect than lattice match.

The first powerful steps in strategic development.

PubMed

Chang, Y N; Platt, W

1986-11-01

In an ever-changing business climate, the need for strategically oriented management increases, for the organization that is insensitive and unresponsive to its environment will not survive. The authors of this "Action Plan" examine the challenges facing the health industry and outline a series of actions for initiating strategic-driven management.

Inferring Action Structure and Causal Relationships in Continuous Sequences of Human Action

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

language processing literature (e.g., Brent, 1999; Venkataraman , 2001), and which were also used by Goldwater et al. (2009). Precision (P) is the...trees in oriented linear graphs. Simon Stevin: Wis-en Natuurkundig Tijdschrift, 28 , 203. Venkataraman , A. (2001). A statistical model for word discovery

Democratic School Health Education in a Post-Communist Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boberova, Zuzana; Paakkari, Leena; Ropovik, Ivan; Liba, Jozef

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the findings of an intervention program built on the concept of children's health literacy, particularly on its citizenship component. This intervention program employed the Investigation-Vision-Action-Change model for action-oriented teaching, where children were supported to investigate different…

Leadership Development in SMEs: An Action Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leitch, Claire M.; McMullan, Christel; Harrison, Richard T.

2009-01-01

In this paper we evaluate an action learning-based, leadership development programme designed for founders and leaders of growth-oriented, entrepreneurial small to medium-sized enterprises. Based on in-depth, qualitative interviews with participants on one cohort, undertaken two years after completion of the seven-month programme, we demonstrate…

Earthly Matters: Learning Occurs When You Hear the Grass Singing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birt, Deborah; Krug, Don H.; Sheridan, Mary

1997-01-01

Discusses the actions and approaches advanced during the 1996 Summer Colloquium, "Art and Ecology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Curriculum." Illustrates how action-oriented inquiry makes learning relevant to all people through exploring the poetry of place. The colloquium identified community ecological issues that could be examined through…

Carrying Out Collaborative Action Research in a Practicum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Belinda

2013-01-01

To help in-service English teachers improve their teaching practices and pupils' learning opportunities through an enquiry-oriented and cooperative approach, the author carried out collaborative action research during a practicum in a teacher education course at a university in Hong Kong. This article describes how the collaborative research…

Transmural Ultrasound-based Visualization of Patterns of Action Potential Wave Propagation in Cardiac Tissue

PubMed Central

Luther, Stefan; Singh, Rupinder; Gilmour, Robert F.

2010-01-01

The pattern of action potential propagation during various tachyarrhythmias is strongly suspected to be composed of multiple re-entrant waves, but has never been imaged in detail deep within myocardial tissue. An understanding of the nature and dynamics of these waves is important in the development of appropriate electrical or pharmacological treatments for these pathological conditions. We propose a new imaging modality that uses ultrasound to visualize the patterns of propagation of these waves through the mechanical deformations they induce. The new method would have the distinct advantage of being able to visualize these waves deep within cardiac tissue. In this article, we describe one step that would be necessary in this imaging process—the conversion of these deformations into the action potential induced active stresses that produced them. We demonstrate that, because the active stress induced by an action potential is, to a good approximation, only nonzero along the local fiber direction, the problem in our case is actually overdetermined, allowing us to obtain a complete solution. Use of two- rather than three-dimensional displacement data, noise in these displacements, and/or errors in the measurements of the fiber orientations all produce substantial but acceptable errors in the solution. We conclude that the reconstruction of action potential-induced active stress from the deformation it causes appears possible, and that, therefore, the path is open to the development of the new imaging modality. PMID:20499183

NATO Guide for Judgment-Based Operational Analysis in Defence Decision Making (Guide OTAN pour l’analyse operationnelle basee sur le jugement dans la prise de decision de defense). Client-Oriented Volume

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

disputed thus leading to informed debate about the actions to take. The advice will lead to an informed debate about the pros and cons of...his preferred courses of action, compare pros and cons . Figure 4 illustrates how each phase may include tasks (and methods) that are typical of...options. Output: A compilation of the pros and cons of the three options. An example of presenting the data for this generic acquisition study is

Efficient strategy for detecting gene × gene joint action and its application in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Won, Sungho; Kwon, Min-Seok; Mattheisen, Manuel; Park, Suyeon; Park, Changsoon; Kihara, Daisuke; Cichon, Sven; Ophoff, Roel; Nöthen, Markus M; Rietschel, Marcella; Baur, Max; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Hofmann, A; Lange, Christoph

2014-01-01

We propose a new approach to detect gene × gene joint action in genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for case-control designs. This approach offers an exhaustive search for all two-way joint action (including, as a special case, single gene action) that is computationally feasible at the genome-wide level and has reasonable statistical power under most genetic models. We found that the presence of any gene × gene joint action may imply differences in three types of genetic components: the minor allele frequencies and the amounts of Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium may differ between cases and controls, and between the two genetic loci the degree of linkage disequilibrium may differ between cases and controls. Using Fisher's method, it is possible to combine the different sources of genetic information in an overall test for detecting gene × gene joint action. The proposed statistical analysis is efficient and its simplicity makes it applicable to GWASs. In the current study, we applied the proposed approach to a GWAS on schizophrenia and found several potential gene × gene interactions. Our application illustrates the practical advantage of the proposed method. © 2013 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

[Evidence-based medicine - the current self-reflection of an individualised approach to medicine as an action science].

PubMed

Behrens, Johann

2010-01-01

Evidence-based Medicine (EbM) is the ongoing self-reflection of an individualised approach to medicine in terms of a science that originates from and focuses on clinical decision-making (pragmatic science="Handlungswissenschaft"). EbM is particularly suitable for self-reflecting individualised medicine on the basis of decision-oriented pragmatic science because it consistently distinguishes between external evidence (i.e., other subjects' experience gained through "qualitative" and "quantitative" scientific methods) and internal evidence, i.e., the individual user's, or patient's, own experience manifesting and developing in the individual contact between therapist and patient. Therefore, internal evidence is completely different from the individual clinical experience, expertise, and conviction which therapists contribute to the encounter with clients. A deeper understanding of internal evidence as a result of this encounter has emerged only in the past 15 years. However, it is an integral part of the logic of evidence-based professional decision-making. Scientifically justified beneficial and effective treatment in the individual case cannot be deduced from external evidence but can only be gathered from internal evidence for which the best external evidence available has been utilised. In the past 15 years nursing science has not only carved out the decision-oriented scientific core of evidence-based practice but has also tried to increase the validity of studies on external evidence by employing a combination of 'qualitative' social science studies and clinical epidemiological methods. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

I Know What Not to Do. Now What? Rethinking Business Ethics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Ryan; Swicegood, Philip; Williams, Nancy

2013-01-01

Most business ethics classes are supplemented with cases, the majority of which have a negative orientation. We empirically measure the preponderance of negative-oriented cases found in the top selling textbooks used in many business ethics courses. However, neuroscience research indicates that a negative orientation is less effective than a…

3 CFR 8834 - Proclamation 8834 of June 1, 2012. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2012

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... From brave men and women who came out and spoke out, to union and faith leaders who rallied for... have taken action to end housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We... equally, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Moving forward, my Administration will...

Contextualizing Black Boys' Use of a Street Identity in High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Yasser Arafat; Starks, Brian Chad; Gibson, LaMar Rashad

2009-01-01

This participatory action research project worked with four street-life-oriented black men to document how a community sample of street-life-oriented black adolescents between the ages of sixteen and nineteen frame street life as a site of resiliency inside schools based on 156 surveys, 10 individual interviews, and 1 group interview. Data…

Teacher Teams That Get Results: 61 Strategies for Sustaining and Renewing Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregory, Gayle H.; Kuzmich, Lin

2007-01-01

Sustaining results-oriented team efforts is hard work, and achieving diversified solutions to complex issues over time requires commitment an creativity. To support the momentum of learning communities, this book provides an illustrated collection of ready-to-use tools and examples of plans in action for results-oriented faculty and staff.…

Cognitive problem solving patterns of medical students correlate with success in diagnostic case solutions.

PubMed

Kiesewetter, Jan; Ebersbach, René; Görlitz, Anja; Holzer, Matthias; Fischer, Martin R; Schmidmaier, Ralf

2013-01-01

Problem-solving in terms of clinical reasoning is regarded as a key competence of medical doctors. Little is known about the general cognitive actions underlying the strategies of problem-solving among medical students. In this study, a theory-based model was used and adapted in order to investigate the cognitive actions in which medical students are engaged when dealing with a case and how patterns of these actions are related to the correct solution. Twenty-three medical students worked on three cases on clinical nephrology using the think-aloud method. The transcribed recordings were coded using a theory-based model consisting of eight different cognitive actions. The coded data was analysed using time sequences in a graphical representation software. Furthermore the relationship between the coded data and accuracy of diagnosis was investigated with inferential statistical methods. The observation of all main actions in a case elaboration, including evaluation, representation and integration, was considered a complete model and was found in the majority of cases (56%). This pattern significantly related to the accuracy of the case solution (φ = 0.55; p<.001). Extent of prior knowledge was neither related to the complete model nor to the correct solution. The proposed model is suitable to empirically verify the cognitive actions of problem-solving of medical students. The cognitive actions evaluation, representation and integration are crucial for the complete model and therefore for the accuracy of the solution. The educational implication which may be drawn from this study is to foster students reasoning by focusing on higher level reasoning.

[Health situation assessment by primary care workers based on geographic information systems].

PubMed

Ritter, Fernando; Rosa, Roger dos Santos; Flores, Rui

2013-12-01

Primary healthcare has made little use of information systems to assess the population's health situation due to the difficulty in understanding the reports. Generic definitions of actions are common, based on empirical observations. The current study aimed to evaluate whether the introduction of georeferenced indicators can serve to better identify individuals' health situation, which would help planning actions by health teams. Healthcare workers from eight teams answered a questionnaire at three different moments: the first, before reading the information system's reports; the second after reading; and the third after using georeferencing. The results showed a significant difference in the classification of the health situation using georeferencing when compared to the previous moments (p < 0.05). Georeferencing facilitated analysis of the health situation, fostering better monitoring of work processes. Finally, use of the data points to rationalization of actions and possible upgrading of healthcare. The study suggests the use of georeferencing in the work agenda to become an effective tool for orienting actions.

DPADL: An Action Language for Data Processing Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, Keith; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

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

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.…

Environmental Education in Action - III: Case Studies of Public Involvement in Environmental Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoenfeld, Clay, Comp.; Desinger, John F., Comp.

Presented here are 27 case studies of public involvement in environmental policy. These are examples of environmental education or communications programs developed by local, state, regional or national environmental action groups. The reports tell how the groups have successfully, or unsuccessfully, mobilized public opinion in favor of beneficent…

Application of Single Crystal Failure Criteria: Theory and Turbine Blade Case Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sayyah, Tarek; Swanson, Gregory R.; Schonberg, W. P.

1999-01-01

The orientation of the single crystal material within a structural component is known to affect the strength and life of the part. The first stage blade of the High Pressure Fuel Turbopump (HPFTP)/ Alternative Turbopump Development (ATD), of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) was used to study the effects of secondary axis'orientation angles on the failure rate of the blade. A new failure criterion was developed based on normal and shear strains on the primary crystallographic planes. The criterion was verified using low cycle fatigue (LCF) specimen data and a finite element model of the test specimens. The criterion was then used to study ATD/HPFTP first stage blade failure events. A detailed ANSYS finite element model of the blade was used to calculate the failure parameter for the different crystallographic orientations. A total of 297 cases were run to cover a wide range of acceptable orientations within the blade. Those orientations are related to the base crystallographic coordinate system that was created in the ANSYS finite element model. Contour plots of the criterion as a function of orientation for the blade tip and attachment were obtained. Results of the analysis revealed a 40% increase in the failure parameter due to changing of the primary and secondary axes of material orientations. A comparison between failure criterion predictions and actual engine test data was then conducted. The engine test data comes from two ATD/HPFTP builds (units F3- 4B and F6-5D), which were ground tested on the SSME at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Both units experienced cracking of the airfoil tips in multiple blades, but only a few cracks grew all the way across the wall of the hollow core airfoil.

Dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles.

PubMed

Dolinsky, Yu; Elperin, T

2012-02-01

We study the behavior of particles having a finite electric permittivity and conductivity in a weakly conducting fluid under the action of the external electric field. We consider the case when the strength of the external electric field is above the threshold, and particles rotate due to the Quincke effect. We determine the magnitude of the dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles and the shift of frequency of the Quincke rotation caused by the dipole interaction between the particles. It is demonstrated that depending on the mutual orientation of the vectors of angular velocities of particles, vector-directed along the straight line between the centers of the particles and the external electric field strength vector, particles can attract or repel each other. In contrast to the case of nonrotating particles when the magnitude of the dipole interaction increases with the increase of the strength of the external electric field, the magnitude of the dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles either does not change or decreases with the increase of the strength of the external electric field depending on the strength of the external electric field and electrodynamic parameters of the particles.

Dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dolinsky, Yu.; Elperin, T.

2012-02-01

We study the behavior of particles having a finite electric permittivity and conductivity in a weakly conducting fluid under the action of the external electric field. We consider the case when the strength of the external electric field is above the threshold, and particles rotate due to the Quincke effect. We determine the magnitude of the dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles and the shift of frequency of the Quincke rotation caused by the dipole interaction between the particles. It is demonstrated that depending on the mutual orientation of the vectors of angular velocities of particles, vector-directed along the straight line between the centers of the particles and the external electric field strength vector, particles can attract or repel each other. In contrast to the case of nonrotating particles when the magnitude of the dipole interaction increases with the increase of the strength of the external electric field, the magnitude of the dipole interaction of the Quincke rotating particles either does not change or decreases with the increase of the strength of the external electric field depending on the strength of the external electric field and electrodynamic parameters of the particles.

Supply chain dynamics in healthcare services.

PubMed

Samuel, Cherian; Gonapa, Kasiviswanadh; Chaudhary, P K; Mishra, Ananya

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to analyse health service supply chain systems. A great deal of literature is available on supply chain management in finished goods inventory situations; however, little research exists on managing service capacity when finished goods inventories are absent. System dynamics models for a typical service-oriented supply chain such as healthcare processes are developed, wherein three service stages are presented sequentially. Just like supply chains with finished goods inventory, healthcare service supply chains also show dynamic behaviour. Comparing options, service reduction, and capacity adjustment delays showed that reducing capacity adjustment and service delays gives better results. The study is confined to health service-oriented supply chains. Further work includes extending the study to service-oriented supply chains with parallel processing, i.e. having more than one stage to perform a similar operation and also to study the behaviour in service-oriented supply chains that have re-entrant orders and applications. Specific case studies can also be developed to reveal factors relevant to particular service-oriented supply chains. The paper explains the bullwhip effect in healthcare service-oriented supply chains. Reducing stages and capacity adjustment are strategic options for service-oriented supply chains. The paper throws light on policy options for managing healthcare service-oriented supply chain dynamics.

Impairments in Site-Specific AS160 Phosphorylation and Effects of Exercise Training

PubMed Central

Consitt, Leslie A.; Van Meter, Jessica; Newton, Christopher A.; Collier, David N.; Dar, Moahad S.; Wojtaszewski, Jørgen F.P.; Treebak, Jonas T.; Tanner, Charles J.; Houmard, Joseph A.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if site-specific phosphorylation at the level of Akt substrate of 160 kDa (AS160) is altered in skeletal muscle from sedentary humans across a wide range of the adult life span (18–84 years of age) and if endurance- and/or strength-oriented exercise training could rescue decrements in insulin action and skeletal muscle AS160 phosphorylation. A euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp and skeletal muscle biopsies were performed in 73 individuals encompassing a wide age range (18–84 years of age), and insulin-stimulated AS160 phosphorylation was determined. Decrements in whole-body insulin action were associated with impairments in insulin-induced phosphorylation of skeletal muscle AS160 on sites Ser-588, Thr-642, Ser-666, and phospho-Akt substrate, but not Ser-318 or Ser-751. Twelve weeks of endurance- or strength-oriented exercise training increased whole-body insulin action and reversed impairments in AS160 phosphorylation evident in insulin-resistant aged individuals. These findings suggest that a dampening of insulin-induced phosphorylation of AS160 on specific sites in skeletal muscle contributes to the insulin resistance evident in a sedentary aging population and that exercise training is an effective intervention for treating these impairments. PMID:23801578

Comparing catch orientation among Minnesota walleye, northern pike, and bass anglers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schroeder, Susan A.; Fulton, David C.

2013-01-01

We compared the catch orientations of Minnesota walleye (Sander vitreus), northern pike (Esox lucius), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) anglers. Results were derived from 2009, 2010, and 2012 surveys of anglers targeting these different species. Consistent with previous research, we identified four dimensions of anglers’ catch orientation: (a) catching something, (b) catching big fish, (c) catching many fish, and (d) keeping fish. Walleye anglers were the most motivated to keep fish, while northern pike anglers were more oriented toward catching big fish. Largemouth bass anglers, and to a lesser extent smallmouth bass anglers, were also oriented toward catching big fish. Bass anglers reported the lowest interest in keeping fish. An orientation to keep fish was negatively related to more restrictive management actions, regardless of species. A stronger orientation to catch big fish was associated with support for increased harvest restrictions only for northern pike and smallmouth bass.

Promoting Student Achievement: A Case Study of Change Actions Employed by an Urban School Superintendent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bealer, David E.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the change strategies and actions taken by an urban district superintendent to improve student achievement. In a qualitative case study of a large urban school district, one research question and three subquestions focused on: 10 specific reform strategies to improve student achievement, how the quality and…

Equity, social determinants and public health programmes--the case of oral health.

PubMed

Petersen, Poul Erik; Kwan, Stella

2011-12-01

The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health issued the 2008 report 'Closing the gap within a generation - health equity through action on the social determinants of health' in response to the widening gaps, within and between countries, in income levels, opportunities, life expectancy, health status, and access to health care. Most individuals and societies, irrespective of their philosophical and ideological stance, have limits as to how much unfairness is acceptable. In 2010, WHO published another important report on 'Equity, Social Determinants and Public Health Programmes', with the aim of translating knowledge into concrete, workable actions. Poor oral health was flagged as a severe public health problem. Oral disease and illness remain global problems and widening inequities in oral health status exist among different social groupings between and within countries. The good news is that means are available for breaking poverty and reduce if not eliminate social inequalities in oral health. Whether public health actions are initiated simply depends on the political will. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) and subsequent charters have emphasized the importance of policy for health, healthy environments, healthy lifestyles, and the need for orientation of health services towards health promotion and disease prevention. This report advocates that oral health for all can be promoted effectively by applying this philosophy and some major public health actions are outlined. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Natural selective attention: Orienting and emotion

PubMed Central

BRADLEY, MARGARET M.

2013-01-01

The foundations of orienting and attention are hypothesized to stem from activation of defensive and appetitive motivational systems that evolved to protect and sustain the life of the individual. Motivational activation initiates a cascade of perceptual and motor processes that facilitate the selection of appropriate behavior. Among these are detection of significance, indexed by a late centro-parietal positivity in the event-related potential, enhanced perceptual processing, indexed by a initial cardiac deceleration, and preparation for action, indexed by electrodermal changes. Data exploring the role of stimulus novelty and significance in orienting are presented that indicate different components of the orienting response habituate at different rates. Taken together, it is suggested that orienting is mediated by activation of fundamental motivational systems that have evolved to support survival. PMID:18778317

Donations and dependence: Individual contributor strategies in house elections.

PubMed

Heerwig, Jennifer A

2016-11-01

Despite the importance of individual contributors to financing federal candidates, past work has largely neglected this crucial financial constituency in favor of research on corporate and trade political action committees (PACs). By contrast, in this study I offer the first analysis of aggregate contributions from the population of individual contributors to House candidates. Using an original big dataset constructed from over fifteen million Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure records, I identify individual contributors (rather than contributions) and trace the variation in their strategies across types of House candidates. I distinguish between frequent donors, who are theorized to have more contact with members of Congress, versus infrequent donors in these elections. I find evidence that the character of aggregate donations from repeat donors is more access-oriented even while controlling for other salient candidate characteristics. Funds from infrequent donors, in contrast, appear more ideologically motivated. By also examining the percentage of funds that House candidates receive from repeat donors, I show that the fundraising coalitions of candidates may reproduce reliance on more access-oriented, repeat donors despite the influx of dollars from infrequent donors. I suggest that my findings provide a persuasive case for re-evaluating the diversity of roles individual contributors play in the campaign finance system, and for systematically analyzing variation in contributor strategies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategic Orientation and Nursing Home Response to Public Reporting of Quality Measures: An Application of the Miles and Snow Typology

PubMed Central

Zinn, Jacqueline S; Spector, William D; Weimer, David L; Mukamel, Dana B

2008-01-01

Objective To assess whether differences in strategic orientation of nursing homes as identified by the Miles and Snow typology are associated with differences in their response to the publication of quality measures on the Nursing Home Compare website. Data Sources Administrator survey of a national 10 percent random sample (1,502 nursing homes) of all facilities included in the first publication of the Nursing Home Compare report conducted in May–June 2004; 724 responded, yielding a response rate of 48.2 percent. Study Design The dependent variables are dichotomous, indicating whether or not action was taken and the type of action taken. Four indicator variables were created for each of the four strategic types: Defender, Analyzer, Prospector, and Reactor. Other variables were included in the seven logistic regression models to control for factors other than strategic type that could influence nursing home response to public disclosure of their quality of care. Data Collection/Extraction Methods Survey data were merged with data on quality measures and organizational characteristics from the first report (November 2002). Principal Findings About 43 percent of surveyed administrators self-typed as Defenders, followed by Analyzers (33 percent), and Prospectors (19 percent). The least self-selected strategic type was the Reactor (6.6 percent). In general, results of the regression models indicate differences in response to quality measure publication by strategic type, with Prospectors and Analyzers more likely, and Reactors less likely, to respond than Defenders. Conclusions While almost a third of administrators took no action at all, our results indicate that whether, when, and how nursing homes reacted to publication of federally reported quality measures is associated with strategic orientation. PMID:18370969

Integral Equation Study of Molecular Fluids and Liquid Crystals in Two Dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, David Atlee

The Ornstein-Zernike (OZ) equation is solved with a Percus-Yevick (PY) closure for the hard ellipse and hard planar dumbell fluids in two dimensions. The correlation functions, including the orientation correlation function, are expanded in a set of orthogonal functions and the coefficients are solved for using an iterative algorithm developed by Lado. The pressure, compressibility, and orientation coefficients are computed for a variety of densities and molecular elongations. The hard planar dumbell fluid shows no orientational ordering. The PY values for the pressure differ from the corresponding Monte Carlo (MC) values by as much as 8% for the cases studied. The hard ellipse fluid exhibits some orientational ordering. Ordering is much more pronounced for ellipses with an axis ratio larger than 2.0. Pressure values computed for the hard ellipse fluid from the PY theory differ from the corresponding MC values by as much as 11% for the cases studied. As the PY solutions do exhibit a nematic character in the hard ellipse fluid, we find it to be a viable reference system for further studies of the nematic liquid crystal phase, though the isotropic-nematic (I-N) phase transition found by Vieillard-Baron was not observed in the PY solutions. The Maier-Saupe theory was reformulated based on the density functional formalism of Sluckin and Shukla. Using PY data of the hard ellipse as input for the direct correlation function in the isotropic phase, the orientational distribution was calculated. The values obtained showed only extremely weak nematic behavior.

Implementation of Virtualization Oriented Architecture: A Healthcare Industry Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, G. Subrahmanya Vrk; Parthasarathi, Jinka; Karthik, Sundararaman; Rao, Gvn Appa; Ganesan, Suresh

This paper presents a Virtualization Oriented Architecture (VOA) and an implementation of VOA for Hridaya - a Telemedicine initiative. Hadoop Compute cloud was established at our labs and jobs which require a massive computing capability such as ECG signal analysis were submitted and the study is presented in this current paper. VOA takes advantage of inexpensive community PCs and provides added advantages such as Fault Tolerance, Scalability, Performance, High Availability.

Using systems thinking to support clinical system transformation.

PubMed

Best, Allan; Berland, Alex; Herbert, Carol; Bitz, Jennifer; van Dijk, Marlies W; Krause, Christina; Cochrane, Douglas; Noel, Kevin; Marsden, Julian; McKeown, Shari; Millar, John

2016-05-16

Purpose - The British Columbia Ministry of Health's Clinical Care Management initiative was used as a case study to better understand large-scale change (LSC) within BC's health system. Using a complex system framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine mechanisms that enable and constrain the implementation of clinical guidelines across various clinical settings. Design/methodology/approach - Researchers applied a general model of complex adaptive systems plus two specific conceptual frameworks (realist evaluation and system dynamics mapping) to define and study enablers and constraints. Focus group sessions and interviews with clinicians, executives, managers and board members were validated through an online survey. Findings - The functional themes for managing large-scale clinical change included: creating a context to prepare clinicians for health system transformation initiatives; promoting shared clinical leadership; strengthening knowledge management, strategic communications and opportunities for networking; and clearing pathways through the complexity of a multilevel, dynamic system. Research limitations/implications - The action research methodology was designed to guide continuing improvement of implementation. A sample of initiatives was selected; it was not intended to compare and contrast facilitators and barriers across all initiatives and regions. Similarly, evaluating the results or process of guideline implementation was outside the scope; the methods were designed to enable conversations at multiple levels - policy, management and practice - about how to improve implementation. The study is best seen as a case study of LSC, offering a possible model for replication by others and a tool to shape further dialogue. Practical implications - Recommended action-oriented strategies included engaging local champions; supporting local adaptation for implementation of clinical guidelines; strengthening local teams to guide implementation; reducing change fatigue; ensuring adequate resources; providing consistent communication especially for front-line care providers; and supporting local teams to demonstrate the clinical value of the guidelines to their colleagues. Originality/value - Bringing a complex systems perspective to clinical guideline implementation resulted in a clear understanding of the challenges involved in LSC.

Market Socialism Meets the Lost Generation: Motivational Orientations of Adult Learners in Shanghai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boshier, Roger; Huang, Yan; Song, Qihui; Song, Lei

2006-01-01

In Western countries, women and men, young and old, enroll in adult education for different reasons. This is even more the case in China. This study helps Shanghai program planners better appreciate learners by understanding how motivational orientations vary as a function of gender and age. The Chinese version of the Education Participation Scale…

The Students Satisfaction Oriented: Academic Service Improvement Strategy, Department of Aquatic Resources Management, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Widaryanti; Daryanto, Arief; Fauzi, Anas Miftah

2016-01-01

Higher education institutions must have a strategy change management in the increasingly competitive business environment. A continous performance improvement should be made accordingly. This study was conducted with the case of MSP-IPB, to analyze the priority of academic services improvement which were oriented in student satisfaction. This…

Intentional Families: Fictive Kin Ties between Cross-Gender, Different Sexual Orientation Friends

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muraco, Anna

2006-01-01

This study explores the nature of intentional family relationships between friends of different genders and different sexual orientations. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 46 members of 23 friendship dyads, I first make the case that the friends considered one another family and I specify the criteria they use for making such designations. I…

The Cultural Orientations of Entrepreneurs and Employees' Job Satisfaction: The Turkish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yetim, Nalan; Yetim, Unsal

2006-01-01

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether cultural orientations which were pervasive and salient in the society of SMEs' entrepreneurs predict employees' job satisfaction. Paternalism, collectivism, individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance were assessed as pervasive and salient attributes for Turkish society. Data were…

A Model of Identity and Language Orientations: The Case of Immigrant Students from the Former Soviet Union in Israel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golan-Cook, Pnina; Olshtain, Elite

2011-01-01

A theoretical model featuring the relationship between identity and language orientations within the broader constellation of variables impacting immigration and acculturation processes was proposed within the framework of the current study and its applicability was tested with regards to 152 immigrant university students from the Former Soviet…

Mastering Social and Organization Goals: Strategy Use by Two Children with Asperger Syndrome during Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodger, Sylvia; Vishram, Alysha

2010-01-01

Preliminary data supports the effectiveness of Cognitive Orientation to (daily) Occupational Performance (CO-OP) for children with Asperger syndrome (AS). Children with AS often experience social and organizational difficulties spanning daily occupations. This case study explored the pattern of Global Strategies and Domain-Specific Strategies…

'It'll Look Good on Your Personal Statement': Self-Marketing amongst University Applicants in the United Kingdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shuker, Lucie

2014-01-01

"Selling yourself" through personal statements and interviews is now a standard practice for university applicants. This article draws on a multi-case-study research project to report on the self-marketing orientations of students within three 16-19 institutions in England. These orientations (active/passive; internal/external;…

Geometric visual hallucinations, Euclidean symmetry and the functional architecture of striate cortex.

PubMed

Bressloff, P C; Cowan, J D; Golubitsky, M; Thomas, P J; Wiener, M C

2001-03-29

This paper is concerned with a striking visual experience: that of seeing geometric visual hallucinations. Hallucinatory images were classified by Klüver into four groups called form constants comprising (i) gratings, lattices, fretworks, filigrees, honeycombs and chequer-boards, (ii) cobwebs, (iii) tunnels, funnels, alleys, cones and vessels, and (iv) spirals. This paper describes a mathematical investigation of their origin based on the assumption that the patterns of connection between retina and striate cortex (henceforth referred to as V1)-the retinocortical map-and of neuronal circuits in V1, both local and lateral, determine their geometry. In the first part of the paper we show that form constants, when viewed in V1 coordinates, essentially correspond to combinations of plane waves, the wavelengths of which are integral multiples of the width of a human Hubel-Wiesel hypercolumn, ca. 1.33-2 mm. We next introduce a mathematical description of the large-scale dynamics of V1 in terms of the continuum limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself comprises a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. We then show that the patterns of interconnection in V1 exhibit a very interesting symmetry, i.e. they are invariant under the action of the planar Euclidean group E(2)-the group of rigid motions in the plane-rotations, reflections and translations. What is novel is that the lateral connectivity of V1 is such that a new group action is needed to represent its properties: by virtue of its anisotropy it is invariant with respect to certain shifts and twists of the plane. It is this shift-twist invariance that generates new representations of E(2). Assuming that the strength of lateral connections is weak compared with that of local connections, we next calculate the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the cortical dynamics, using Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory. The result is that in the absence of lateral connections, the eigenfunctions are degenerate, comprising both even and odd combinations of sinusoids in straight phi, the cortical label for orientation preference, and plane waves in r, the cortical position coordinate. 'Switching-on' the lateral interactions breaks the degeneracy and either even or else odd eigenfunctions are selected. These results can be shown to follow directly from the Euclidean symmetry we have imposed. In the second part of the paper we study the nature of various even and odd combinations of eigenfunctions or planforms, the symmetries of which are such that they remain invariant under the particular action of E(2) we have imposed. These symmetries correspond to certain subgroups of E(2), the so-called axial subgroups. Axial subgroups are important in that the equivariant branching lemma indicates that when a symmetrical dynamical system becomes unstable, new solutions emerge which have symmetries corresponding to the axial subgroups of the underlying symmetry group. This is precisely the case studied in this paper. Thus we study the various planforms that emerge when our model V1 dynamics become unstable under the presumed action of hallucinogens or flickering lights. We show that the planforms correspond to the axial subgroups of E(2), under the shift-twist action. We then compute what such planforms would look like in the visual field, given an extension of the retinocortical map to include its action on local edges and contours. What is most interesting is that, given our interpretation of the correspondence between V1 planforms and perceived patterns, the set of planforms generates representatives of all the form constants. It is also noteworthy that the planforms derived from our continuum model naturally divide V1 into what are called linear regions, in which the pattern has a near constant orientation, reminiscent of the iso-orientation patches constructed via optical imaging. The boundaries of such regions form fractures whose points of intersection correspond to the well-known 'pinwheels'. To complete the study we then investigate the stability of the planforms, using methods of nonlinear stability analysis, including Liapunov-Schmidt reduction and Poincaré-Lindstedt perturbation theory. We find a close correspondence between stable planforms and form constants. The results are sensitive to the detailed specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest an interesting possibility, that the cortical mechanisms by which geometric visual hallucinations are generated, if sited mainly in V1, are closely related to those involved in the processing of edges and contours.

Case management: developing practice through action research.

PubMed

Smith, Annetta; Mackay, Seonaid; McCulloch, Kathleen

2013-09-01

This article is a report of an action research study carried out with community nurses to help develop case management within their practice. Using action research principles, nurses reviewed and analysed their current practice and developed recommendations for further embedding case management as a means of supporting patients with complex care needs in their own homes. Findings indicate that a number of factors can influence the community nurse's ability to implement case management. These factors include approaches to case finding, availability of resources and interprofessional working. Important considerations for nurses were the influence of the context of care, the geographical location and the health needs of the local patient population, which meant that case management may need to be adapted to meet local circumstances.

Facilitating Successful Outdoor O&M Instruction of Multihandicapped Blind Travelers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehresman, Paul

1994-01-01

An orientation and mobility (O&M) instructor presents a case study of a blind 14 year old with mild cognitive deficits and emotional and behavioral problems. The case study demonstrates the importance of individualizing the O&M curriculum, including changing the usual sequence of instruction. (DB)

Case Studies of Altruistic Persons: AERA Roundtable.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, William N.

This document presents information from a body of research called Lives of Service, a collection of case studies of 32 altruistic adults. It begins with a review of the research on altruism, service orientation, giving, helpfulness, social responsibility, and voluntarism. Research on altruism in psychology and in other disciplines is included,…

The biological basis of human sexual orientation: is there a role for epigenetics?

PubMed

Ngun, Tuck C; Vilain, Eric

2014-01-01

Sexual orientation is one of the largest sex differences in humans. The vast majority of the population is heterosexual, that is, they are attracted to members of the opposite sex. However, a small but significant proportion of people are bisexual or homosexual and experience attraction to members of the same sex. The origins of the phenomenon have long been the subject of scientific study. In this chapter, we will review the evidence that sexual orientation has biological underpinnings and consider the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms. We will first discuss studies that show that sexual orientation has a genetic component. These studies show that sexual orientation is more concordant in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic ones and that male sexual orientation is linked to several regions of the genome. We will then highlight findings that suggest a link between sexual orientation and epigenetic mechanisms. In particular, we will consider the case of women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). These women were exposed to high levels of testosterone in utero and have much higher rates of nonheterosexual orientation compared to non-CAH women. Studies in animal models strongly suggest that the long-term effects of hormonal exposure (such as those experienced by CAH women) are mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. We conclude by describing a hypothetical framework that unifies genetic and epigenetic explanations of sexual orientation and the continued challenges facing sexual orientation research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pharmaceutical orientation at hospital discharge of transplant patients: strategy for patient safety

PubMed Central

Lima, Lívia Falcão; Martins, Bruna Cristina Cardoso; de Oliveira, Francisco Roberto Pereira; Cavalcante, Rafaela Michele de Andrade; Magalhães, Vanessa Pinto; Firmino, Paulo Yuri Milen; Adriano, Liana Silveira; da Silva, Adriano Monteiro; Flor, Maria Jose Nascimento; Néri, Eugenie Desirée Rabelo

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe and analyze the pharmaceutical orientation given at hospital discharge of transplant patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and retrospective study that used records of orientation given by the clinical pharmacist in the inpatients unit of the Kidney and Liver Transplant Department, at Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio, in the city of Fortaleza (CE), Brazil, from January to July, 2014. The following variables recorded at the Clinical Pharmacy Database were analyzed according to their significance and clinical outcomes: pharmaceutical orientation at hospital discharge, drug-related problems and negative outcomes associated with medication, and pharmaceutical interventions performed. Results: The first post-transplant hospital discharge involved the entire multidisciplinary team and the pharmacist was responsible for orienting about drug therapy. The mean hospital discharges/month with pharmaceutical orientation during the study period was 10.6±1.3, totaling 74 orientations. The prescribed drug therapy had a mean of 9.1±2.7 medications per patient. Fifty-nine drug-related problems were identified, in which 67.8% were related to non-prescription of medication needed, resulting in 89.8% of risk of negative outcomes associated with medications due to untreated health problems. The request for inclusion of drugs (66.1%) was the main intervention, and 49.2% of the medications had some action in the digestive tract or metabolism. All interventions were classified as appropriate, and 86.4% of them we able to prevent negative outcomes. Conclusion: Upon discharge of a transplanted patient, the orientation given by the clinical pharmacist together with the multidisciplinary team is important to avoid negative outcomes associated with drug therapy, assuring medication reconciliation and patient safety. PMID:27759824

The role of motor simulation in action perception: a neuropsychological case study.

PubMed

Eskenazi, Terry; Grosjean, Marc; Humphreys, Glyn W; Knoblich, Guenther

2009-07-01

Research on embodied cognition stresses that bodily and motor processes constrain how we perceive others. Regarding action perception the most prominent hypothesis is that observed actions are matched to the observer's own motor representations. Previous findings demonstrate that the motor laws that constrain one's performance also constrain one's perception of others' actions. The present neuropsychological case study asked whether neurological impairments affect a person's performance and action perception in the same way. The results showed that patient DS, who suffers from a frontal brain lesion, not only ignored target size when performing movements but also when asked to judge whether others can perform the same movements. In other words DS showed the same violation of Fitts's law when performing and observing actions. These results further support the assumption of close perception action links and the assumption that these links recruit predictive mechanisms residing in the motor system.

Preparing Social Justice Oriented Teachers: The Potential Role of Action Research in the PDS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodman, Stephanie L.; Lai, Kerri; Campet, Melissa; Cavallero-Lotocki, Renee; Hopkins, Aaron; Onidi, Christine

2014-01-01

Deliberate investigation into practice is an essential of the National Association for Professional Development Schools' defining elements of a Professional Development School (PDS). This article reports on the pilot efforts of one PDS as it initiated deliberate investigation through action research with a small group of teacher candidates. The…

Adult Environmental Education: A Workbook To Move from Words to Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camozzi, Anne

This workbook, developed for an international workshop held in the Philippines in 1994, is designed to enrich adult environmental education worldwide and to ensure that the International Treaty on Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility is implemented in an action-oriented program. The workbook is organized in…

Function and Content of Maternal Demands: Developmental Significance of Early Demands for Competent Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuczynski, Leon; Kochanska, Grazyna

1995-01-01

Examined mothers' demands during mothers' interactions with their 1.5- to 3.5-year olds. Mothers with authoritative child-rearing attitudes emphasized proactive, competence-oriented demands and avoided regulatory control. Maternal demands for competent action predicted fewer behavior problems in their children at age five; maternal demands focused…

Neural Bases of Sequence Processing in Action and Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carota, Francesca; Sirigu, Angela

2008-01-01

Real-time estimation of what we will do next is a crucial prerequisite of purposive behavior. During the planning of goal-oriented actions, for instance, the temporal and causal organization of upcoming subsequent moves needs to be predicted based on our knowledge of events. A forward computation of sequential structure is also essential for…

Perception-action map learning in controlled multiscroll systems applied to robot navigation.

PubMed

Arena, Paolo; De Fiore, Sebastiano; Fortuna, Luigi; Patané, Luca

2008-12-01

In this paper a new technique for action-oriented perception in robots is presented. The paper starts from exploiting the successful implementation of the basic idea that perceptual states can be embedded into chaotic attractors whose dynamical evolution can be associated with sensorial stimuli. In this way, it can be possible to encode, into the chaotic dynamics, environment-dependent patterns. These have to be suitably linked to an action, executed by the robot, to fulfill an assigned mission. This task is addressed here: the action-oriented perception loop is closed by introducing a simple unsupervised learning stage, implemented via a bio-inspired structure based on the motor map paradigm. In this way, perceptual meanings, useful for solving a given task, can be autonomously learned, based on the environment-dependent patterns embedded into the controlled chaotic dynamics. The presented framework has been tested on a simulated robot and the performance have been successfully compared with other traditional navigation control paradigms. Moreover an implementation of the proposed architecture on a Field Programmable Gate Array is briefly outlined and preliminary experimental results on a roving robot are also reported.

A Neural Dynamic Model Generates Descriptions of Object-Oriented Actions.

PubMed

Richter, Mathis; Lins, Jonas; Schöner, Gregor

2017-01-01

Describing actions entails that relations between objects are discovered. A pervasively neural account of this process requires that fundamental problems are solved: the neural pointer problem, the binding problem, and the problem of generating discrete processing steps from time-continuous neural processes. We present a prototypical solution to these problems in a neural dynamic model that comprises dynamic neural fields holding representations close to sensorimotor surfaces as well as dynamic neural nodes holding discrete, language-like representations. Making the connection between these two types of representations enables the model to describe actions as well as to perceptually ground movement phrases-all based on real visual input. We demonstrate how the dynamic neural processes autonomously generate the processing steps required to describe or ground object-oriented actions. By solving the fundamental problems of neural pointing, binding, and emergent discrete processing, the model may be a first but critical step toward a systematic neural processing account of higher cognition. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Topics in Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Cognitive Science Society.

Echoes of a Reading: Genre as Social Action as Formative Influence on Genres and Ideology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schryer, Catherine F.

2015-01-01

The author became aware of the extraordinary influence of the Problem Oriented Veterinary Medical Record (POVMR) system while working on a dissertation of an ethnographic study of literacy at a veterinary college. However, finding literature on advanced literacies in the profession that touched on how a text type could have such an influence was…

Activity Theory in Spanish Mixed Classrooms: Exploring Corrective Feedback as an Artifact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentín-Rivera, Laura

2016-01-01

This study draws upon activity theory to better understand the implications of corrective feedback (CF) as an artifact on (1) the coconstruction of knowledge and (2) the action-oriented decisions of 10 mixed pairs comprising a foreign language learner (FLL) and a heritage language learner (HLL) of Spanish. To this end, the dyads were divided into…

A Comparison Study of Personality and Vocational Interests of Disadvantaged and Advantaged Youths.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soares, Anthony T.; Soares, Louise M.

In comparing the personality traits of disadvantaged youths to advantaged from an urban high school, as indicated on the IPAT Jr.-Sr. HSPQ, it was found that both groups of boys tended toward a pattern of group-dependency and restraint. They tended to be somewhat detached, less oriented to intellectual pursuits, showing a zest for action and…

The Effect of Executive Function on Science Achievement among Normally Developing 10-Year Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lederman, Sheri G.

2012-01-01

Executive function (EF) is an umbrella term used to identify a set of discrete but interrelated cognitive abilities that enable individuals to engage in goal-directed, future-oriented action in response to a novel context. Developmental studies indicate that EF is predictive of reading and math achievement in middle childhood. The purpose of this…

Signs of Taste for Science: A Methodology for Studying the Constitution of Interest in the Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderhag, P.; Wickman, P.-O.; Hamza, K. M.

2015-01-01

In this paper we present a methodological approach for analyzing the transformation of interest in science through classroom talk and action. To this end, we use the construct of "taste for science" as a social and communicative operationalization, or proxy, to the more psychologically oriented construct of interest. To gain a taste for…

Targeting Information to Market Segments: An Action Oriented Study of Attitudes Toward Vocational Education Among Target Populations. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sikorski, Linda A.; And Others

Research was conducted to show how segments of the population of minority and disadvantaged youth might be positively influenced by selective information campaigns to participate in vocational education programs. The first-year effort (stage 1) undertook to measure student attitudes and to develop recommendations for using this information in…

Still holding after all these years: An action-perception dissociation in patient DF.

PubMed

Ganel, Tzvi; Goodale, Melvyn A

2017-09-23

Patient DF, who has bilateral damage in the ventral visual stream, is perhaps the best known individual with visual form agnosia in the world, and has been the focus of scores of research papers over the past twenty-five years. The remarkable dissociation she exhibits between a profound deficit in perceptual report and a preserved ability to generate relatively normal visuomotor behaviour was early on a cornerstone in Goodale and Milner's (1992) two visual systems hypothesis. In recent years, however, there has been a greater emphasis on the damage that is evident in the posterior regions of her parietal cortex in both hemispheres. Deficits in several aspects of visuomotor control in the visual periphery have been demonstrated, leading some researchers to conclude that the double dissociation between vision-for-perception and vision-for-action in DF and patients with classic optic ataxia can no longer be assumed to be strong evidence for the division of labour between the dorsal and ventral streams of visual processing. In this short review, we argue that this is not the case. Indeed, after evaluating DF's performance and the location of her brain lesions, a clear picture of a double dissociation between DF and patients with optic ataxia is revealed. More than quarter of a century after the initial presentation of DF's unique case, she continues to provide compelling evidence for the idea that the ventral stream is critical for the perception of the shape and orientation of objects but not the visual control of skilled actions directed at those objects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2006-03-01

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

Teaching the Societal Dimension of Chemistry Using a Socio-Critical and Problem-Oriented Lesson Plan Based on Bioethanol Usage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feierabend, Timo; Eilks, Ingo

2011-01-01

This paper discusses a chemistry lesson plan based on the use of ethanol as an alternative and renewable energy source. The lessons were developed by participatory action research and follow a socio-critical and problem-oriented approach to chemistry teaching. This approach specifically focuses on the handling of scientific and technological…

Transformation to a Customer-Oriented Perspective through Action Learning in Product and Service Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsson, Annika

2007-01-01

Customer orientation is strongly visible in the visions and strategies of most organizations, but how do these visions and strategies move from intentions to practice? This question provides the focus for this research which aims to acquire deeper insights into this process. The point of departure is the change in perspective from a product to a…

Neuropsychological development of cognitive abilities: a new research strategy and some preliminary evidence for a sexual orientation model.

PubMed

Sanders, G; Ross-Field, L

1987-09-01

The organizing action that prenatal sex hormones exert on the brain has been implicated in the aetiology of sex differences in cognitive abilities and cerebral asymmetries. Prenatal sex hormones are known to determine neuroendocrine responses and subsequent adult sexual behaviour in nonhuman animals and these hormones may also influence human sexual orientation. To unify these observations, we elaborate a sexual orientation model of neuropsychological development which predicts that sex differences in neuroendocrine responses, cerebral asymmetries, and cognitive abilities are related to sexual orientation rather than to sex per se. A common problem in the study of sex differences is that biological and sociocultural explanations are confounded. The sexual orientation model suggests a new research strategy, the comparison of homosexual and heterosexual groups, for which explanations in terms of sociocultural factors would be more difficult to sustain. The available evidence supports the model: In terms of a neuroendocrine response, cerebral asymmetry, and cognitive abilities, homosexual males resemble heterosexual females rather than heterosexual males. Our conclusions lead to questions that further research in this area should address, and to a consideration of problems which such research may have to face.

Longitudinal patient-oriented outcomes in neuropathy

PubMed Central

Kerber, Kevin; Langa, Kenneth M.; Banerjee, Mousumi; Rodgers, Ann; McCammon, Ryan; Burke, James; Feldman, Eva

2015-01-01

Objective: To evaluate longitudinal patient-oriented outcomes in peripheral neuropathy over a 14-year time period including time before and after diagnosis. Methods: The 1996–2007 Health and Retirement Study (HRS)–Medicare Claims linked database identified incident peripheral neuropathy cases (ICD-9 codes) in patients ≥65 years. Using detailed demographic information from the HRS and Medicare claims, a propensity score method identified a matched control group without neuropathy. Patient-oriented outcomes, with an emphasis on self-reported falls, pain, and self-rated health (HRS interview), were determined before and after neuropathy diagnosis. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess differences in longitudinal outcomes between cases and controls. Results: We identified 953 peripheral neuropathy cases and 953 propensity-matched controls. The mean (SD) age was 77.4 (6.7) years for cases, 76.9 (6.6) years for controls, and 42.1% had diabetes. Differences were detected in falls 3.0 years before neuropathy diagnosis (case vs control; 32% vs 25%, p = 0.008), 5.0 years for pain (36% vs 27%, p = 0.002), and 5.0 years for good to excellent self-rated health (61% vs 74%, p < 0.0001). Over time, the proportion of fallers increased more rapidly in neuropathy cases compared to controls (p = 0.002), but no differences in pain (p = 0.08) or self-rated health (p = 0.9) were observed. Conclusions: In older persons, differences in falls, pain, and self-rated health can be detected 3–5 years prior to peripheral neuropathy diagnosis, but only falls deteriorates more rapidly over time in neuropathy cases compared to controls. Interventions to improve early peripheral neuropathy detection are needed, and future clinical trials should incorporate falls as a key patient-oriented outcome. PMID:26019191

Fulfilment of administrative and professional organisational obligations and nurses' customer-oriented behaviours.

PubMed

Trybou, Jeroen; Gemmel, Paul

2016-07-01

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the perceived quality of organisational exchange and nurses' customer-oriented behaviours. Hospitals face increasing competitive market conditions. Registered nurses interact closely with patients and therefore play an important front-office role towards patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Registered nurses (n = 151) of a Belgian hospital received a questionnaire to assess the fulfilment of administrative and professional organisational obligations and their customer-oriented behaviours. We found a positive relationship between psychological contract fulfilment and nurses' customer-oriented behaviours. More precisely administrative and professional psychological contract fulfilment relates significantly to nurses' service delivery and external representation. In case of internal influence only administrative psychological contract fulfilment was significantly related. Nurses' perceptions of the fulfilment of administrative and professional obligations are important to their customer-oriented behaviours. Nurse managers must be aware of the impact of fulfilling both administrative and professional obligations of registered nurses in order to optimise their customer-oriented behaviours. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Competition, integration, and diversification: seven hospitals of Growthville, U.S.A.

PubMed

Starkweather, D B

1990-01-01

Summing up across the three phases of this case, the pattern of evolution was (1) emergence of a market orientation by hospitals as the industry moved away from regulation; (2) steady expansion of what the hospitals considered to be their business, to include nonacute hospital and medical services as well as insurance, with vertical integration and concentric diversification serving as the vehicles for accomplishing this expansion; (3) remarkable change with respect to who was competing with whom, stemming from restructuring of hospital relationships away from open competition among many toward domination by a few; (4) a shift in the market from one of consumer choices among physicians and hospitals toward one of competitive choice among health plans; and (5) the emergence of negotiated pricing within the context of the new oligopoly, stemming from the heightened and organized power of corporate purchasers. Finally, we return to a concept presented in the introduction to this case: strategic alignment. The case has described the substantial realignment of our study hospitals to their new and changing environment. And it has highlighted their managers' use of boundary scanning, competitor analysis, and strategy to achieve this realignment. James Thompson's word for this process is "co-alignment," referring to "the most critical managerial function, and the skill closest to creativity." This case has illustrated this management skill, defined as "the discernment of hitherto unnoticed relationships in the complex environment, calculating their cause-effect relationships, and translating them into appropriate programs of action". This is both a summary of the performances of our case study managers and a powerful prescription for those who might face similar circumstances and challenges.

Implementing Strategic Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Arthur K.; Brownback, Sarah

2012-01-01

An HRM case dealing with problems and issues of setting up orientation programs which align with corporate strategy. Discussion concerns how such a case can be used to exhibit the alignment between HRM and business strategy.

Correlations of oriented ice and precipitation in marine midlatitude low clouds using collocated CloudSat, CALIOP, and MODIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, Alexa; Holz, Robert E.; Ackerman, Steven A.

2017-08-01

In April 2006, the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) launched aboard the CALIPSO satellite and into the A-Train constellation of satellites with its transmitter pointed near nadir. This proved problematic due to specular reflection from horizontally oriented ice crystals occurring more frequently than expected. Because the specular backscatter from oriented ice crystals has large attenuated backscatter and almost no depolarization, the standard lidar inversions cannot be applied. To mitigate this issue, the CALIOP transmitter was moved to 3° off nadir in November 2007. Though problematic for global CALIOP retrievals, the sensitivity to oriented ice during the first year of observations provides a unique data set to investigate scenes of this ice crystal signature. This study focuses on the CALIOP-oriented signature that occurs in midlatitude ocean regions whose cloud tops are relatively warm and low, existing below 6 km. A significant seasonal dependence is found in the Northern Hemisphere with up to 19% of clouds below 6 km yielding specular reflection by CALIOP during the colder months. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere lacks such seasonal dependence and sees fewer oriented ice crystals. Using collocated CloudSat observations with both CALIOP and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), we investigate the correlations of the oriented signature with MODIS cloud properties. Comparing with CloudSat precipitation retrievals, we find that the oriented signature is strongly correlated with surface precipitation with 64% of CALIOP-oriented ice crystal cases precipitating compared to 40% for nonoriented cases.

Support Plan for Implementation: Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-30

regarding.discrimination.based.on.“sex.stereotyping”.and/or.“harassment.” 5. Collection and Retention of Sexual Orientation Data The. Working. Group...someone.other.than.a.person.in.the.priority.list.set.by.law...This.could.include. an. unmarried . partner,. significant. other,. friend,. or. distant. relative.. . . Service. members.must. be...take.action.on.complaints.that.allege.discrimination.based.on.sexual.orientation.. 5. Collection and Retention of Sexual Orientation Data

Just-in-Time Feedback in Diet and Physical Activity Interventions: Systematic Review and Practical Design Framework

PubMed Central

Robertson, Michael C; Dunton, Genevieve Fridlund; Kerr, Jacqueline; Haffey, Meghan E; Burnett, Taylor; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Hicklen, Rachel S

2018-01-01

Background The integration of body-worn sensors with mobile devices presents a tremendous opportunity to improve just-in-time behavioral interventions by enhancing bidirectional communication between investigators and their participants. This approach can be used to deliver supportive feedback at critical moments to optimize the attainment of health behavior goals. Objective The goals of this systematic review were to summarize data on the content characteristics of feedback messaging used in diet and physical activity (PA) interventions and to develop a practical framework for designing just-in-time feedback for behavioral interventions. Methods Interventions that included just-in-time feedback on PA, sedentary behavior, or dietary intake were eligible for inclusion. Feedback content and efficacy data were synthesized descriptively. Results The review included 31 studies (15/31, 48%, targeting PA or sedentary behavior only; 13/31, 42%, targeting diet and PA; and 3/31, 10%, targeting diet only). All studies used just-in-time feedback, 30 (97%, 30/31) used personalized feedback, and 24 (78%, 24/31) used goal-oriented feedback, but only 5 (16%, 5/31) used actionable feedback. Of the 9 studies that tested the efficacy of providing feedback to promote behavior change, 4 reported significant improvements in health behavior. In 3 of these 4 studies, feedback was continuously available, goal-oriented, or actionable. Conclusions Feedback that was continuously available, personalized, and actionable relative to a known behavioral objective was prominent in intervention studies with significant behavior change outcomes. Future research should determine whether all or some of these characteristics are needed to optimize the effect of feedback in just-in-time interventions. PMID:29567638

The development of an acute care case manager orientation.

PubMed

Strzelecki, S; Brobst, R

1997-01-01

The authors describe the development of an inpatient acute care case manager orientation in a community hospital. Benner's application of the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition provides the basis for the orientation program. The candidates for the case manager position were expert clinicians. Because of the role change it was projected that they would function as advanced beginners. It was also predicted that, as the case managers progressed within the role, the educational process would need to be adapted to facilitate progression of skills to the proficient level. Feedback from participants reinforced that the model supported the case manager in the role transition. In addition, the model provided a predictive framework for ongoing educational activities.

Tackling health inequalities: moving theory to action

PubMed Central

Signal, Louise; Martin, Jennifer; Reid, Papaarangi; Carroll, Christopher; Howden-Chapman, Philippa; Ormsby, Vera Keefe; Richards, Ruth; Robson, Bridget; Wall, Teresa

2007-01-01

Background This paper reports on health inequalities awareness-raising workshops conducted with senior New Zealand health sector staff as part of the Government's goal of reducing inequalities in health, education, employment and housing. Methods The workshops were based on a multi-method needs assessment with senior staff in key health institutions. The workshops aimed to increase the knowledge and skills of health sector staff to act on, and advocate for, eliminating inequalities in health. They were practical, evidence-based, and action oriented and took a social approach to the causes of inequalities in health. The workshops used ethnicity as a case study and explored racism as a driver of inequalities. They focused on the role of institutionalized racism, or racism that is built into health sector institutions. Institutional theory provided a framework for participants to analyse how their institutions create and maintain inequalities and how they can act to change this. Results Participants identified a range of institutional mechanisms that promote inequalities and a range of ways to address them including: undertaking further training, using Māori (the indigenous people) models of health in policy-making, increasing Māori participation and partnership in decision making, strengthening sector relationships with iwi (tribes), funding and supporting services provided 'by Māori for Māori', ensuring a strategic approach to intersectoral work, encouraging stronger community involvement in the work of the institution, requiring all evaluations to assess impact on inequalities, and requiring the sector to report on progress in addressing health inequalities. The workshops were rated highly by participants, who indicated increased commitment to tackle inequalities as a result of the training. Discussion Government and sector leadership were critical to the success of the workshops and subsequent changes in policy and practice. The use of locally adapted equity tools, requiring participants to develop action plans, and using a case study to focus discussion were important to the success for the training. Using institutional theory was helpful in analysing how drivers of inequalities, such as racism, are built into health institutions. This New Zealand experience provides a model that may be applicable in other jurisdictions. PMID:17910778

Tackling health inequalities: moving theory to action.

PubMed

Signal, Louise; Martin, Jennifer; Reid, Papaarangi; Carroll, Christopher; Howden-Chapman, Philippa; Ormsby, Vera Keefe; Richards, Ruth; Robson, Bridget; Wall, Teresa

2007-10-03

This paper reports on health inequalities awareness-raising workshops conducted with senior New Zealand health sector staff as part of the Government's goal of reducing inequalities in health, education, employment and housing. The workshops were based on a multi-method needs assessment with senior staff in key health institutions. The workshops aimed to increase the knowledge and skills of health sector staff to act on, and advocate for, eliminating inequalities in health. They were practical, evidence-based, and action oriented and took a social approach to the causes of inequalities in health. The workshops used ethnicity as a case study and explored racism as a driver of inequalities. They focused on the role of institutionalized racism, or racism that is built into health sector institutions. Institutional theory provided a framework for participants to analyse how their institutions create and maintain inequalities and how they can act to change this. Participants identified a range of institutional mechanisms that promote inequalities and a range of ways to address them including: undertaking further training, using Māori (the indigenous people) models of health in policy-making, increasing Māori participation and partnership in decision making, strengthening sector relationships with iwi (tribes), funding and supporting services provided 'by Māori for Māori', ensuring a strategic approach to intersectoral work, encouraging stronger community involvement in the work of the institution, requiring all evaluations to assess impact on inequalities, and requiring the sector to report on progress in addressing health inequalities. The workshops were rated highly by participants, who indicated increased commitment to tackle inequalities as a result of the training. Government and sector leadership were critical to the success of the workshops and subsequent changes in policy and practice. The use of locally adapted equity tools, requiring participants to develop action plans, and using a case study to focus discussion were important to the success for the training. Using institutional theory was helpful in analysing how drivers of inequalities, such as racism, are built into health institutions. This New Zealand experience provides a model that may be applicable in other jurisdictions.

Large perceptual distortions of locomotor action space occur in ground-based coordinates: Angular expansion and the large-scale horizontal-vertical illusion.

PubMed

Klein, Brennan J; Li, Zhi; Durgin, Frank H

2016-04-01

What is the natural reference frame for seeing large-scale spatial scenes in locomotor action space? Prior studies indicate an asymmetric angular expansion in perceived direction in large-scale environments: Angular elevation relative to the horizon is perceptually exaggerated by a factor of 1.5, whereas azimuthal direction is exaggerated by a factor of about 1.25. Here participants made angular and spatial judgments when upright or on their sides to dissociate egocentric from allocentric reference frames. In Experiment 1, it was found that body orientation did not affect the magnitude of the up-down exaggeration of direction, suggesting that the relevant orientation reference frame for this directional bias is allocentric rather than egocentric. In Experiment 2, the comparison of large-scale horizontal and vertical extents was somewhat affected by viewer orientation, but only to the extent necessitated by the classic (5%) horizontal-vertical illusion (HVI) that is known to be retinotopic. Large-scale vertical extents continued to appear much larger than horizontal ground extents when observers lay sideways. When the visual world was reoriented in Experiment 3, the bias remained tied to the ground-based allocentric reference frame. The allocentric HVI is quantitatively consistent with differential angular exaggerations previously measured for elevation and azimuth in locomotor space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

DOPI and PALM imaging of single carbohydrate binding modules bound to cellulose nanocrystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dagel, D. J.; Liu, Y.-S.; Zhong, L.; Luo, Y.; Zeng, Y.; Himmel, M.; Ding, S.-Y.; Smith, S.

2011-03-01

We use single molecule imaging methods to study the binding characteristics of carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) to cellulose crystals. The CBMs are carbohydrate specific binding proteins, and a functional component of most cellulase enzymes, which in turn hydrolyze cellulose, releasing simple sugars suitable for fermentation to biofuels. The CBM plays the important role of locating the crystalline face of cellulose, a critical step in cellulase action. A biophysical understanding of the CBM action aids in developing a mechanistic picture of the cellulase enzyme, important for selection and potential modification. Towards this end, we have genetically modified cellulose-binding CBM derived from bacterial source with green fluorescent protein (GFP), and photo-activated fluorescence protein PAmCherry tags, respectively. Using the single molecule method known as Defocused Orientation and Position Imaging (DOPI), we observe a preferred orientation of the CBM-GFP complex relative to the Valonia cellulose nanocrystals. Subsequent analysis showed the CBMs bind to the opposite hydrophobic <110> faces of the cellulose nanocrystals with a welldefined cross-orientation of about { 70°. Photo Activated Localization Microscopy (PALM) is used to localize CBMPAmCherry with a localization accuracy of { 10nm. Analysis of the nearest neighbor distributions along and perpendicular to the cellulose nanocrystal axes are consistent with single-file CBM binding along the fiber axis, and microfibril bundles consisting of close packed { 20nm or smaller cellulose microfibrils.

Large perceptual distortions of locomotor action space occur in ground-based coordinates: Angular expansion and the large-scale horizontal-vertical illusion

PubMed Central

Klein, Brennan J.; Li, Zhi; Durgin, Frank H.

2015-01-01

What is the natural reference frame for seeing large-scale spatial scenes in locomotor action space? Prior studies indicate an asymmetric angular expansion in perceived direction in large-scale environments: Angular elevation relative to the horizon is perceptually exaggerated by a factor of 1.5, whereas azimuthal direction is exaggerated by a factor of about 1.25. Here participants made angular and spatial judgments when upright or on their sides in order to dissociate egocentric from allocentric reference frames. In Experiment 1 it was found that body orientation did not affect the magnitude of the up-down exaggeration of direction, suggesting that the relevant orientation reference frame for this directional bias is allocentric rather than egocentric. In Experiment 2, the comparison of large-scale horizontal and vertical extents was somewhat affected by viewer orientation, but only to the extent necessitated by the classic (5%) horizontal-vertical illusion (HVI) that is known to be retinotopic. Large-scale vertical extents continued to appear much larger than horizontal ground extents when observers lay sideways. When the visual world was reoriented in Experiment 3, the bias remained tied to the ground-based allocentric reference frame. The allocentric HVI is quantitatively consistent with differential angular exaggerations previously measured for elevation and azimuth in locomotor space. PMID:26594884

An ecological process model of systems change.

PubMed

Peirson, Leslea J; Boydell, Katherine M; Ferguson, H Bruce; Ferris, Lorraine E

2011-06-01

In June 2007 the American Journal of Community Psychology published a special issue focused on theories, methods and interventions for systems change which included calls from the editors and authors for theoretical advancement in this field. We propose a conceptual model of systems change that integrates familiar and fundamental community psychology principles (succession, interdependence, cycling of resources, adaptation) and accentuates a process orientation. To situate our framework we offer a definition of systems change and a brief review of the ecological perspective and principles. The Ecological Process Model of Systems Change is depicted, described and applied to a case example of policy driven systems level change in publicly funded social programs. We conclude by identifying salient implications for thinking and action which flow from the Model.

EQUIP Healthcare: An overview of a multi-component intervention to enhance equity-oriented care in primary health care settings.

PubMed

Browne, Annette J; Varcoe, Colleen; Ford-Gilboe, Marilyn; Wathen, C Nadine

2015-12-14

The primary health care (PHC) sector is increasingly relevant as a site for population health interventions, particularly in relation to marginalized groups, where the greatest gains in health status can be achieved. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of an innovative multi-component, organizational-level intervention designed to enhance the capacity of PHC clinics to provide equity-oriented care, particularly for marginalized populations. The intervention, known as EQUIP, is being implemented in Canada in four diverse PHC clinics serving populations who are impacted by structural inequities. These PHC clinics serve as case studies for the implementation and evaluation of the EQUIP intervention. We discuss the evidence and theory that provide the basis for the intervention, describe the intervention components, and discuss the methods used to evaluate the implementation and impact of the intervention in diverse contexts. Research and theory related to equity-oriented care, and complexity theory, are central to the design of the EQUIP intervention. The intervention aims to enhance capacity for equity-oriented care at the staff level, and at the organizational level (i.e., policy and operations) and is novel in its dual focus on: (a) Staff education: using standardized educational models and integration strategies to enhance staff knowledge, attitudes and practices related to equity-oriented care in general, and cultural safety, and trauma- and violence-informed care in particular, and; (b) Organizational integration and tailoring: using a participatory approach, practice facilitation, and catalyst grants to foster shifts in organizational structures, practices and policies to enhance the capacity to deliver equity-oriented care, improve processes of care, and shift key client outcomes. Using a mixed methods, multiple case-study design, we are examining the impact of the intervention in enhancing staff knowledge, attitudes and practices; improving processes of care; shifting organizational policies and structures; and improving selected client outcomes. The multiple case study design provides an ideal opportunity to study the contextual factors shaping the implementation, uptake and impact of our tailored intervention within diverse PHC settings. The EQUIP intervention illustrates the complexities involved in enhancing the PHC sector's capacity to provide equity-oriented care in real world clinical contexts.

Vortex Escape from Columnar Defect in a Current-Loaded Superconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedirko, V. A.; Kasatkin, A. L.; Polyakov, S. V.

2018-06-01

The problem of Abrikosov vortices depinning from extended linear (columnar) defect in 3D-anisotropic superconductor film under non-uniformly distributed Lorentz force is studied for the case of low temperatures, disregarding thermal activation processes. We treat it as a problem of mechanical behavior of an elastic vortex string settled in a potential well of a linear defect and exerted to Lorentz force action within the screening layer about the London penetration depth near the specimen surface. The stability problem for the vortex pinning state is investigated by means of numerical modeling, and conditions for the instability threshold are obtained as well as the critical current density j_c and its dependence on the film thickness and magnetic field orientation. The instability leading to vortex depinning from extended linear defect first emerges near the surface and then propagates inside the superconductor. This scenario of vortex depinning mechanism at low temperatures is strongly supported by some recent experiments on high-Tc superconductors and other novel superconducting materials, containing columnar defects of various nature.

Patient involvement in drug licensing: a case study.

PubMed

Britten, Nicky; Denford, Sarah; Harris-Golesworthy, Faith; Jibson, Steph; Pyart, Nigel; Stein, Ken

2015-04-01

Embodied health movements work on the boundary between lay and expert knowledge. Consumer groups, depending on their goals, may increase or decrease pharmaceuticalization. This paper reports a small case study about the retrospective evaluation of a specific second line treatment for type 2 diabetes by an existing patient involvement group. The group is part of a research collaboration between academia and the health service in England, and shares some characteristics of embodied health movements. We used the case study to explore whether an institutionally funded non activist patient group can make a more balanced contribution to drug licensing decisions than that made by either access-oriented or injury-oriented consumer groups, without being co-opted by an institutional agenda. The questions we wished to address were how this group evaluated existing mechanisms for licensing drugs; how they balanced scientific and lay knowledge; how they made their decisions; and how they viewed their experiences as panel members. The five panel members were interviewed before and after the panel discussion in July 2013. They were critical of current licensing processes, and used their own embodied experiences of medicines to evaluate expert knowledge. Their decisions on the panel were informed either by a balancing of benefits and harms, or by trust in experts. The case study suggests that such a group may have the potential both to balance the pro-pharmaceuticalization impact of access-oriented groups and to influence forms of pharmaceutical governance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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…

Systematic Assessment of the Various Controversies, Difficulties, and Current Trends in the Reestablishment of Lost Occlusal Planes in Edentulous Patients

PubMed Central

Sahoo, S; Singh, D; Raghav, D; Singh, G; Sarin, A; Kumar, P

2014-01-01

Accurate occlusal plane orientation is an essential factor in the fabrication of complete denture prosthesis. Over the years, it has received a number of methodologies by several researchers utilizing various anatomical landmarks however none of them is considered as perfect that could orient ideal occlusal plane. The presented literature review is an attempt to enlighten historical perspectives, pioneer researches, different controversies, difficulties and current trends for re-establishment of lost occlusal plane in edentulous patients. An extensive literature search was performed using Medline/PubMed interface and other scholarly research bibliographic databases using Medical Subject Headings. Studies describing research studies, case series and assorted clinical reports were retrieved and evaluated from 1963 to 2013. Most of the studies have suggest and evidence to consider Camper's plane for artificial orientation of occlusal plane however there is a substantial lack of genuine long term studies and authentic data that could recommend a single reliable landmark for perfect occlusal plane reorientation in a variety of cases. PMID:24971200

Agent Based Modeling of Collaboration and Work Practices Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acquisti, Alessandro; Sierhuis, Maarten; Clancey, William J.; Bradshaw, Jeffrey M.; Shaffo, Mike (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The International Space Station is one the most complex projects ever, with numerous interdependent constraints affecting productivity and crew safety. This requires planning years before crew expeditions, and the use of sophisticated scheduling tools. Human work practices, however, are difficult to study and represent within traditional planning tools. We present an agent-based model and simulation of the activities and work practices of astronauts onboard the ISS based on an agent-oriented approach. The model represents 'a day in the life' of the ISS crew and is developed in Brahms, an agent-oriented, activity-based language used to model knowledge in situated action and learning in human activities.

Training to Improve New Product Sales Performance: The Case of Samsung in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fu, Frank Q.; Yi, Hong; Zhai, Nanji

2013-01-01

The authors report a case study conducted with over 8,000 Samsung salespeople in the Chinese market. Using research-oriented, evidence-based, and systematic approaches, training professionals contributed to Samsung's business outcomes at multiple levels. The case highlights the valuable impacts of training on salespeople's behaviors and new…

Statistical Analysis of Sport Movement Observations: the Case of Orienteering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amouzandeh, K.; Karimipour, F.

2017-09-01

Study of movement observations is becoming more popular in several applications. Particularly, analyzing sport movement time series has been considered as a demanding area. However, most of the attempts made on analyzing movement sport data have focused on spatial aspects of movement to extract some movement characteristics, such as spatial patterns and similarities. This paper proposes statistical analysis of sport movement observations, which refers to analyzing changes in the spatial movement attributes (e.g. distance, altitude and slope) and non-spatial movement attributes (e.g. speed and heart rate) of athletes. As the case study, an example dataset of movement observations acquired during the "orienteering" sport is presented and statistically analyzed.

Sexual orientation and gender identity in youth suicide victims: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Renaud, Johanne; Berlim, Marcelo T; Begolli, Melissa; McGirr, Alexander; Turecki, Gustavo

2010-01-01

Our study was designed to explore additional outcome variables of a suicide case-control study to determine the association between sexual orientation and gender identity in suicide completion in children and adolescents. Fifty-five child and adolescent suicide victims and 55 community control subjects were assessed using semi-structured, proxy-based interviews and questionnaires regarding sexual orientation and gender issues, psychopathological diagnoses, and service use. In our sample, no significant differences between suicide victims and control subjects were found regarding same-sex sexual orientation nor intimidation related to same-sex sexual orientation. Suicide victims with same-sex sexual orientation were more likely than suicide victims without same-sex sexual orientation, to meet criteria for anxiety disorders. Within the month preceding their deaths, these youth were more likely to have consulted a health professional, a psychiatrist, as well as having been hospitalized, and were more likely to have consulted a psychiatrist in the last year. In our sample, same-sex sexual orientation and gender identity issues do not appear to be more prevalent among youth who die by suicide, compared with youth recruited from the general population, nor for same-sex sexual-related intimidation. While exhibiting comparable levels of general psychopathological diagnoses associated with suicide, suicide victims with same-sex sexual orientation were more likely to meet criteria for anxiety disorders and to have consulted mental health professionals before their deaths.

Using a Participatory Action Research Approach to Create a Universally Designed Inclusive High School Science Course: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dymond, Stacy K.; Renzaglia, Adelle; Rosenstein, Amy; Chun, Eul Jung; Banks, Ronald A.; Niswander, Vicki; Gilson, Christie L.

2006-01-01

Case study methodology was used in combination with a participatory action research (PAR) approach to examine the process of redesigning one high school science course to incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and to promote access to the general curriculum. The participants included one general education teacher and two…

A Community Organizes for Action: A Case Study of the Mon-Yough Region in Pennsylvania.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avery, Robert W.; Chesler, Herbert A.

This case study examines the development and problems of the Mon-Yough Community Action Committee, Inc. (MYCAC), one of the local anti-poverty agencies in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The agency's major effort is to overcome problems created by the decline of the local steel industry by supporting existing welfare agencies, and through such…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callary, Bettina; Werthner, Penny; Trudel, Pierre

2013-01-01

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

Enabling and enacting 'practical action' in catchments: responding to the 'wicked problem' of nonpoint source pollution in coastal subtropical Australia.

PubMed

Patterson, James J; Smith, Carl; Bellamy, Jennifer

2015-02-01

Enabling and enacting 'practical action' (i.e., purposeful and concerted collective action) in catchments is a key challenge in responding to a wide range of pressing catchment and natural resource management (NRM) issues. It is particularly a challenge in responding to 'wicked problems,' where generating action is not straightforward and cannot be brought about solely by any single actor, policy or intervention. This paper responds to the critical need to better understand how practical action can be generated in catchments, by conducting an in-depth empirical case study of efforts to manage nonpoint source (NPS) pollution in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. SEQ has seen substantial concerted efforts to manage waterway and catchment issues over two decades, yet NPS pollution remains a major problem for waterway health. A novel framework was applied to empirically analyze practical action in three local catchment cases embedded within the broader SEQ region. The analysis focuses on 'enabling capacities' underpinning practical action in catchments. Findings reveal that capacities manifested in different ways in different cases, yet many commonalities also occurred across cases. Interplay between capacities was critical to the emergence of adaptive and contextual forms of practical action in all cases. These findings imply that in order to enable and enact practical action in catchments, it is vital to recognize and support a diversity of enabling capacities across both local and regional levels of decision making and action. This is likely to have relevance for other 'wicked' catchment and NRM problems requiring local responses within broader multiscalar regional problem situations.

The Performance Blueprint: An Integrated Logic Model Developed To Enhance Performance Measurement Literacy: The Case of Performance-Based Contract Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longo, Paul J.

This study explored the mechanics of using an enhanced, comprehensive multipurpose logic model, the Performance Blueprint, as a means of building evaluation capacity, referred to in this paper as performance measurement literacy, to facilitate the attainment of both service-delivery oriented and community-oriented outcomes. The application of this…

Closing the Gap between Beliefs and Practice: Change of Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers' Orientations during a PCK-Based NOS Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demirdögen, Betül; Uzuntiryaki-Kondakçi, Esen

2016-01-01

The purpose of this case study was to investigate how pre-service chemistry teachers' science teaching orientations change during a two-semester intervention designed to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching the nature of science (NOS). Moreover, the way that pre-service chemistry teachers translated their change in…

Contested Values in Further Education: Findings from a Case Study of the Management of Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliott, Geoffrey; Crossley, Michael

1997-01-01

The recent trend toward development of a radical, market-oriented educational policy with seemingly contradictory pressures for centralization and decentralization has been well-documented. Based on a case study of a large urban (British) college, this paper considers implications, suggesting that contemporary policy thrusts have spawned…

The India Education Project: A Case Study of Institution Building and Organizational Conflict.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhola, Harbans S.

This monograph, relating to events that happened during 1966-68, is a case study of a voluntary, educational, and intercultural organization that had been service oriented for almost 15 years. The organization had been organizing literacy classes, opening rural libraries, providing health extension, and conducting a small program of publication…

"Gaikokugo" Communication in an Intensive Course Format: Case Study Report and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rausch, Anthony; Altizer, Roger, Jr.; Parry, Andrew

2000-01-01

This paper is a pedagogically-oriented case study of a "Gaikokugo" Communication course conducted in an intensive format. After a brief introduction and consideration of the intensive course format, the pedagogical approach guiding the course (together with samples of the materials used in the course provided in the appendix) is…

Does Online Game-Based Learning Work in Formal Education at School? A Case Study of VISOLE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris S. Y.

2015-01-01

VISOLE (Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Environment) is a teacher-facilitated pedagogical approach to integrating constructivist online game-based learning into formal curriculum teaching in school education. This paper reports a case study on the implementation of VISOLE in secondary Geography education. We compared the pedagogical…

Improving the Quality of Teaching in a State-Owned, Regional University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballerini, Aldo A.; Albarran, Manuel I.

2013-01-01

The authors present a case study discussing student-oriented initiatives to enhance academic achievement. They focus on the academic, psychosocial and motivational weaknesses of students showing how these can be overcome with strategic projects to aid students in their first year of higher education. The case study, a multi-million US dollar…

Introducing integrated product and process development into the education of science and engineering undergraduates: a lecture course with an accompanying case-study programme at the ETH chemistry department.

PubMed

Fenner, K; Jödicke, G; Alean-Kirkpatrick, P; Hungerbühler, K

2001-04-01

Increased quality requirements in the development of chemical products and a growing awareness within society of the activities of chemical companies present a new challenge to the education of young scientists. Nowadays, the teaching of chemists, chemical engineers and environmental scientists at universities has to go beyond the traditional, discipline-orientated knowledge acquisition. The students also have to learn to work and communicate in interdisciplinary teams, to solve application-oriented tasks and to integrate scientific, economical, ecological and social aspects into their work. For this reason, a case-study programme was launched at the chemistry department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In this paper, we describe the organisational aspects of the programme, its inclusion into academic and industrial environments and summarise some of the scientific methodologies applied. One of the seven case-studies, an assessment of a modern insecticide, is presented in more detail. Finally, we discuss how far the case-study programme is suitable for introducing a new mode of knowledge production to universities.

When big brother is watching: goal orientation shapes reactions to electronic monitoring during online training.

PubMed

Watson, Aaron M; Foster Thompson, Lori; Rudolph, Jane V; Whelan, Thomas J; Behrend, Tara S; Gissel, Amanda L

2013-07-01

Web-based training is frequently used by organizations as a convenient and low-cost way to teach employees new knowledge and skills. As web-based training is typically unproctored, employees may be held accountable to the organization by computer software that monitors their behaviors. The current study examines how the introduction of electronic performance monitoring may provoke negative emotional reactions and decrease learning among certain types of e-learners. Through motivated action theory and trait activation theory, we examine the role of performance goal orientation when e-learners are exposed to asynchronous and synchronous monitoring. We show that some e-learners are more susceptible than others to evaluation apprehension when they perceive their activities are being monitored electronically. Specifically, e-learners higher in avoid performance goal orientation exhibited increased evaluation apprehension if they believed asynchronous monitoring was present, and they showed decreased skill attainment as a result. E-learners higher on prove performance goal orientation showed greater evaluation apprehension if they believed real-time monitoring was occurring, resulting in decreased skill attainment. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

[From virtue bioethics to bioethics personalistic: is integration possible?].

PubMed

Pastor, Luis Miguel

2013-01-01

In this article we analyze how the idea of virtue as an important element of human ethical action is slowly being lost. There are proposals both in ethics and in bioethics to rehabilitate virtue and to consider it as a very important element of human morality. In particular, in the health sector the rehabilitation of virtue, would imply greater focus on the ethical character of professionals and personal improvement rather than on training for the resolution of ethical cases. Such guidance would also improve the health professional-patient relationship with an increase not only in the technical quality but also in human dimension of health sciences. However, this orientation or tendency in bioethics suffers from a deficit in reasoning due to lack of a complete theory of human action that covers the good and also norms. The second part of the article looks at the relation between of virtue and personalistic bioethics. Virtue is considered as an important element of human action and is integrated with the good and norms. After analyzing and distinguishing between what is today considered personalistic bioethics and the contributions of personalism to bioethics, the paper concludes that the integration of virtue in personalistic bioethics is not only possible but desirable to overcome the ethical minimalism that has resulted from modern day principlism driven bioethics.

Anticlockwise or clockwise? A dynamic Perception-Action-Laterality model for directionality bias in visuospatial functioning.

PubMed

Karim, A K M Rezaul; Proulx, Michael J; Likova, Lora T

2016-09-01

Orientation bias and directionality bias are two fundamental functional characteristics of the visual system. Reviewing the relevant literature in visual psychophysics and visual neuroscience we propose here a three-stage model of directionality bias in visuospatial functioning. We call this model the 'Perception-Action-Laterality' (PAL) hypothesis. We analyzed the research findings for a wide range of visuospatial tasks, showing that there are two major directionality trends in perceptual preference: clockwise versus anticlockwise. It appears these preferences are combinatorial, such that a majority of people fall in the first category demonstrating a preference for stimuli/objects arranged from left-to-right rather than from right-to-left, while people in the second category show an opposite trend. These perceptual biases can guide sensorimotor integration and action, creating two corresponding turner groups in the population. In support of PAL, we propose another model explaining the origins of the biases - how the neurogenetic factors and the cultural factors interact in a biased competition framework to determine the direction and extent of biases. This dynamic model can explain not only the two major categories of biases in terms of direction and strength, but also the unbiased, unreliably biased or mildly biased cases in visuosptial functioning. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Scattering by randomly oriented ellipsoids: Application to aerosol and cloud problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asano, S.; Sato, M.; Hansen, J. E.

1979-01-01

A program was developed for computing the scattering and absorption by arbitrarily oriented and randomly oriented prolate and oblate spheroids. This permits examination of the effect of particle shape for cases ranging from needles through spheres to platelets. Applications of this capability to aerosol and cloud problems are discussed. Initial results suggest that the effect of nonspherical particle shape on transfer of radiation through aerosol layers and cirrus clouds, as required for many climate studies, can be readily accounted for by defining an appropriate effective spherical particle radius.

Meeting needs of Muslim girls in school sport: case studies exploring cultural and religious diversity.

PubMed

Benn, Tansin; Pfister, Gertrud

2013-01-01

This paper contains a sociocultural analysis of school sport experiences of Muslim girls in two countries with different gender policies in physical education (PE) classes: England and Denmark. In Denmark, PE lessons take place in co-educative classes, in England schools are more diverse, with predominantly co-educational but also single-sex and faith schools offering different learning contexts. Two case studies from Denmark and England are used to explore the experiences of migrant Muslim girls in these different settings. A social constructionist approach to gender underpins the interpretation of stakeholders' voices on the inclusion of Muslim girls and the analysis of PE discourses in these countries. Findings illustrate similarities and differences at the interface of cultural diversity, political rhetoric of inclusion and realities of sport experiences for Muslim girls in both countries. Complex influences on PE experiences include gender stereotypes, cultural and religious orientations and practices, as well as actions and expectations of parents, communities and coaches/teachers. The studies provide insights into the ways participants managed their identities as Muslim girls in different sport environments to enable participation and retention of their cultural identities. Highlighted throughout the paper are the ways in which school sport policy and practice, providers and gatekeepers, can include or exclude groups, in this case Muslim girls. Too often coaches and teachers are unaware of crucial facts about their learners, not only in terms of their physical development and capabilities but also in terms of their cultural needs. Mistakes in creating conducive learning environments leave young people to negotiate a way to participate or refrain from participation.

An Action-Oriented Research Approach to Privatized Special Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendoza, Kathryn

2014-01-01

Bright Horizons, a private school located in Florida, specializes in working with students of varying exceptionalities and is founded on the principles of action research. It began as an effort to create an alternative educational opportunity for a few specific children and grew into a special education school open to the community. The purpose of…

University of California, Irvine, Student Affirmative Action Five-Year Plan and Planning Process, 1986-1987. Volume IV.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galligani, Dennis J.

The University of California, Irvine, 1986-1987 Student Affirmative Action (SAA) Plan is presented. An introductory section covers the organizational structure of SAA efforts, progress toward SAA goals, persistence and graduation rates for new SAA high school freshmen through spring 1985, and an overview of SAA education-oriented and…

Infant Eye-Tracking in the Context of Goal-Directed Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbetta, Daniela; Guan, Yu; Williams, Joshua L.

2012-01-01

This paper presents two methods that we applied to our research to record infant gaze in the context of goal-oriented actions using different eye-tracking devices: head-mounted and remote eye-tracking. For each type of eye-tracking system, we discuss their advantages and disadvantages, describe the particular experimental setups we used to study…

[Forensic procedures for interview physical exam and evidence collection in children and young people victims of physical and/or sexual abuse].

PubMed

Magalhães, Teresa; Ribeiro, Cristina Silveira; Jardim, Patrícia; Vieira, Duarte Nuno

2011-01-01

The public nature of child abuse crime (domestic violence, maltreatment and sexual crimes) implies the opening of a criminal enquiry as soon as facts likely to be considered as such are known. Professionals who suspect of these cases are considered mandatory reporters as is the case of health care professionals. The work with abused children and youth involves several courses of action between institutions, namely as to the starting procedures to follow in case triage, reporting of suspicion, diagnosis and preservation of evidence for penal purposes, as well as to the protection of the victim(s), all of which still lack a clear definition in Portugal. Several professionals often take part simultaneously in these early procedures and it is crucial that their own personal intervention be articulated with one another's. With the aim of promoting that adequate articulation between the professionals and the acting services, technical orientations to be followed have to be established, namely as far as the articulation between the medicolegal services and the health care services are concerned. These orientations should aim at: ruling the reporting of the occurrence in good time; guarantee an appropriate collection of evidence; guarantee good medical procedures in medical exams and evidence collection; avoid repetition of exams of the victims, preventing secondary victimisation and cross-contamination of child report. Based on the internationally accepted rules for the matter and taking into consideration the Portuguese reality, namely in legal terms, the authors made a proposition concerning the procedures for the intervention in such cases that are herewith presented and were approved as General Recommendations for the Examination in Cases of Suspicion of Domestic Violence, Maltreatment or Sexual Crime Against Children by the National Institute of Legal Medicine, in January 2010. These were later confirmed by the Specialty College of Legal Medicine of the Medical Board Association.

Mental Spatial Transformations in 14-and 16-Month-Old Infants: Effects of Action and Observational Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frick, Andrea; Wang, Su-hua

2014-01-01

Infants' ability to mentally track the orientation of an object during a hidden rotation was investigated (N = 28 in each experiment). A toy on a turntable was fully covered and then rotated 90°. When revealed, the toy had turned with the turntable (probable event), remained at its starting orientation (improbable event in Experiment 1), or…

Passive motion paradigm: an alternative to optimal control.

PubMed

Mohan, Vishwanathan; Morasso, Pietro

2011-01-01

IN THE LAST YEARS, OPTIMAL CONTROL THEORY (OCT) HAS EMERGED AS THE LEADING APPROACH FOR INVESTIGATING NEURAL CONTROL OF MOVEMENT AND MOTOR COGNITION FOR TWO COMPLEMENTARY RESEARCH LINES: behavioral neuroscience and humanoid robotics. In both cases, there are general problems that need to be addressed, such as the "degrees of freedom (DoFs) problem," the common core of production, observation, reasoning, and learning of "actions." OCT, directly derived from engineering design techniques of control systems quantifies task goals as "cost functions" and uses the sophisticated formal tools of optimal control to obtain desired behavior (and predictions). We propose an alternative "softer" approach passive motion paradigm (PMP) that we believe is closer to the biomechanics and cybernetics of action. The basic idea is that actions (overt as well as covert) are the consequences of an internal simulation process that "animates" the body schema with the attractor dynamics of force fields induced by the goal and task-specific constraints. This internal simulation offers the brain a way to dynamically link motor redundancy with task-oriented constraints "at runtime," hence solving the "DoFs problem" without explicit kinematic inversion and cost function computation. We argue that the function of such computational machinery is not only restricted to shaping motor output during action execution but also to provide the self with information on the feasibility, consequence, understanding and meaning of "potential actions." In this sense, taking into account recent developments in neuroscience (motor imagery, simulation theory of covert actions, mirror neuron system) and in embodied robotics, PMP offers a novel framework for understanding motor cognition that goes beyond the engineering control paradigm provided by OCT. Therefore, the paper is at the same time a review of the PMP rationale, as a computational theory, and a perspective presentation of how to develop it for designing better cognitive architectures.

Magnetism and electronic structure of (001)- and (111)-oriented LaTiO3 bilayers sandwiched in LaScO3 barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng, Yakui; Dong, Shuai

2015-05-01

In this study, the magnetism and electronic structure of LaTiO3 bilayers along both the (001) and (111) orientations are calculated using the density functional theory. The band insulator LaScO3 is chosen as the barrier layer and substrate to obtain the isolating LaTiO3 bilayer. For both the (001)- and (111)-oriented cases, LaTiO3 demonstrates the G-type antiferromagnetism as the ground state, similar to the bulk material. However, the electronic structure is significantly changed. The occupied bands of Ti are much narrower in the (111) case, giving a nearly flat band. As a result, the exchange coupling between nearest-neighbor Ti ions is reformed in these superlattices, which will affect the Néel temperature significantly.

Health for All? Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Implementation of the Right to Access to Health Care in South Africa.

PubMed

Müller, Alexandra

2016-12-01

The framework of health and human rights provides for a comprehensive theoretical and practical application of general human rights principles in health care contexts that include the well-being of patients, providers, and other individuals within health care. This is particularly important for sexual and gender minority individuals, who experience historical and contemporary systematical marginalization, exclusion, and discrimination in health care contexts. In this paper, I present two case studies from South Africa to (1) highlight the conflicts that arise when sexual and gender minority individuals seek access to a heteronormative health system; (2) discuss the international, regional, and national human rights legal framework as it pertains to sexual orientation, gender identity, and health; and (3) analyze the gap between legislative frameworks that offer protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and their actual implementation in health service provision. These case studies highlight the complex and intersecting discrimination and marginalization that sexual and gender minority individuals face in health care in this particular context. The issues raised in the case studies are not unique to South Africa, however; and the human rights concerns illustrated therein, particularly around the right to health, have wide resonance in other geographical and social contexts.

Health for All? Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Implementation of the Right to Access to Health Care in South Africa

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Abstract The framework of health and human rights provides for a comprehensive theoretical and practical application of general human rights principles in health care contexts that include the well-being of patients, providers, and other individuals within health care. This is particularly important for sexual and gender minority individuals, who experience historical and contemporary systematical marginalization, exclusion, and discrimination in health care contexts. In this paper, I present two case studies from South Africa to (1) highlight the conflicts that arise when sexual and gender minority individuals seek access to a heteronormative health system; (2) discuss the international, regional, and national human rights legal framework as it pertains to sexual orientation, gender identity, and health; and (3) analyze the gap between legislative frameworks that offer protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and their actual implementation in health service provision. These case studies highlight the complex and intersecting discrimination and marginalization that sexual and gender minority individuals face in health care in this particular context. The issues raised in the case studies are not unique to South Africa, however; and the human rights concerns illustrated therein, particularly around the right to health, have wide resonance in other geographical and social contexts. PMID:28559686

A systematic composite service design modeling method using graph-based theory.

PubMed

Elhag, Arafat Abdulgader Mohammed; Mohamad, Radziah; Aziz, Muhammad Waqar; Zeshan, Furkh

2015-01-01

The composite service design modeling is an essential process of the service-oriented software development life cycle, where the candidate services, composite services, operations and their dependencies are required to be identified and specified before their design. However, a systematic service-oriented design modeling method for composite services is still in its infancy as most of the existing approaches provide the modeling of atomic services only. For these reasons, a new method (ComSDM) is proposed in this work for modeling the concept of service-oriented design to increase the reusability and decrease the complexity of system while keeping the service composition considerations in mind. Furthermore, the ComSDM method provides the mathematical representation of the components of service-oriented design using the graph-based theoryto facilitate the design quality measurement. To demonstrate that the ComSDM method is also suitable for composite service design modeling of distributed embedded real-time systems along with enterprise software development, it is implemented in the case study of a smart home. The results of the case study not only check the applicability of ComSDM, but can also be used to validate the complexity and reusability of ComSDM. This also guides the future research towards the design quality measurement such as using the ComSDM method to measure the quality of composite service design in service-oriented software system.

A Systematic Composite Service Design Modeling Method Using Graph-Based Theory

PubMed Central

Elhag, Arafat Abdulgader Mohammed; Mohamad, Radziah; Aziz, Muhammad Waqar; Zeshan, Furkh

2015-01-01

The composite service design modeling is an essential process of the service-oriented software development life cycle, where the candidate services, composite services, operations and their dependencies are required to be identified and specified before their design. However, a systematic service-oriented design modeling method for composite services is still in its infancy as most of the existing approaches provide the modeling of atomic services only. For these reasons, a new method (ComSDM) is proposed in this work for modeling the concept of service-oriented design to increase the reusability and decrease the complexity of system while keeping the service composition considerations in mind. Furthermore, the ComSDM method provides the mathematical representation of the components of service-oriented design using the graph-based theoryto facilitate the design quality measurement. To demonstrate that the ComSDM method is also suitable for composite service design modeling of distributed embedded real-time systems along with enterprise software development, it is implemented in the case study of a smart home. The results of the case study not only check the applicability of ComSDM, but can also be used to validate the complexity and reusability of ComSDM. This also guides the future research towards the design quality measurement such as using the ComSDM method to measure the quality of composite service design in service-oriented software system. PMID:25928358

Handling Emergency Management in [an] Object Oriented Modeling Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tokgoz, Berna Eren; Cakir, Volkan; Gheorghe, Adrian V.

2010-01-01

It has been understood that protection of a nation from extreme disasters is a challenging task. Impacts of extreme disasters on a nation's critical infrastructures, economy and society could be devastating. A protection plan itself would not be sufficient when a disaster strikes. Hence, there is a need for a holistic approach to establish more resilient infrastructures to withstand extreme disasters. A resilient infrastructure can be defined as a system or facility that is able to withstand damage, but if affected, can be readily and cost-effectively restored. The key issue to establish resilient infrastructures is to incorporate existing protection plans with comprehensive preparedness actions to respond, recover and restore as quickly as possible, and to minimize extreme disaster impacts. Although national organizations will respond to a disaster, extreme disasters need to be handled mostly by local emergency management departments. Since emergency management departments have to deal with complex systems, they have to have a manageable plan and efficient organizational structures to coordinate all these systems. A strong organizational structure is the key in responding fast before and during disasters, and recovering quickly after disasters. In this study, the entire emergency management is viewed as an enterprise and modelled through enterprise management approach. Managing an enterprise or a large complex system is a very challenging task. It is critical for an enterprise to respond to challenges in a timely manner with quick decision making. This study addresses the problem of handling emergency management at regional level in an object oriented modelling environment developed by use of TopEase software. Emergency Operation Plan of the City of Hampton, Virginia, has been incorporated into TopEase for analysis. The methodology used in this study has been supported by a case study on critical infrastructure resiliency in Hampton Roads.

Affirmative Action Compliance Program for Fiscal Year 1980

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

Not Available

Eleven chapters are used to delineate Lawrence Berkeley Lab's compliance, namely: (1) a description of LBL's facility, history, staff, mission, etc; (2) Affirmative Action policy statement; (3) dissemination (internal and external) per the implementation regulations; (4) identification of Affirmative Action responsibilities; (5) personnel policies; (6) past goal-setting process and accomplishment; (7) work-force array, job groups, availability determinations, identification of underutilization, and goals and timetables; (8) identification of problem areas and action-oriented programs; (9) listing and brief description of specific LBL Affirmative Action programs; (10) compliance with sex-discrimination guidelines; and (11) compliance with guidelines on discrimination because of religion or nationalmore » origin.« less

The Orientation of Gastric Biopsy Samples Improves the Inter-observer Agreement of the OLGA Staging System.

PubMed

Cotruta, Bogdan; Gheorghe, Cristian; Iacob, Razvan; Dumbrava, Mona; Radu, Cristina; Bancila, Ion; Becheanu, Gabriel

2017-12-01

Evaluation of severity and extension of gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia is recommended to identify subjects with a high risk for gastric cancer. The inter-observer agreement for the assessment of gastric atrophy is reported to be low. The aim of the study was to evaluate the inter-observer agreement for the assessment of severity and extension of gastric atrophy using oriented and unoriented gastric biopsy samples. Furthermore, the quality of biopsy specimens in oriented and unoriented samples was analyzed. A total of 35 subjects with dyspeptic symptoms addressed for gastrointestinal endoscopy that agreed to enter the study were prospectively enrolled. The OLGA/OLGIM gastric biopsies protocol was used. From each subject two sets of biopsies were obtained (four from the antrum, two oriented and two unoriented, two from the gastric incisure, one oriented and one unoriented, four from the gastric body, two oriented and two unoriented). The orientation of the biopsy samples was completed using nitrocellulose filters (Endokit®, BioOptica, Milan, Italy). The samples were blindly examined by two experienced pathologists. Inter-observer agreement was evaluated using kappa statistic for inter-rater agreement. The quality of histopathology specimens taking into account the identification of lamina propria was analyzed in oriented vs. unoriented samples. The samples with detectable lamina propria mucosae were defined as good quality specimens. Categorical data was analyzed using chi-square test and a two-sided p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 350 biopsy samples were analyzed (175 oriented / 175 unoriented). The kappa index values for oriented/unoriented OLGA 0/I/II/III and IV stages have been 0.62/0.13, 0.70/0.20, 0.61/0.06, 0.62/0.46, and 0.77/0.50, respectively. For OLGIM 0/I/II/III stages the kappa index values for oriented/unoriented samples were 0.83/0.83, 0.88/0.89, 0.70/0.88 and 0.83/1, respectively. No case of OLGIM IV stage was found in the present case series. Good quality histopathology specimens were described in 95.43% of the oriented biopsy samples, and in 89.14% of the unoriented biopsy samples, respectively (p=0.0275). The orientation of gastric biopsies specimens improves the inter-observer agreement for the assessment of gastric atrophy.

Artificial Immune System Approach for Airborne Vehicle Maneuvering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaneshige, John T. (Inventor); Krishnakumar, Kalmanje S. (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A method and system for control of a first aircraft relative to a second aircraft. A desired location and desired orientation are estimated for the first aircraft, relative to the second aircraft, at a subsequent time, t=t2, subsequent to the present time, t=t1, where the second aircraft continues its present velocity during a subsequent time interval, t1.ltoreq.t.ltoreq.t2, or takes evasive action. Action command sequences are examined, and an optimal sequence is chosen to bring the first aircraft to the desired location and desired orientation relative to the second aircraft at time t=t2. The method applies to control of combat aircraft and/or of aircraft in a congested airspace.

Do Human Fetuses Anticipate Self-Oriented Actions? A Study by Four-Dimensional (4D) Ultrasonography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myowa-Yamakoshi, Masako; Takeshita, Hideko

2006-01-01

Using four-dimensional (4D) ultrasonography, arm and hand movements toward the face were examined in 27 human fetuses at 19 to 35 weeks of gestation, thereby enabling the continuous monitoring of their faces and other surface features such as the extremities. More than half of the observed arm movements resulted in the hand touching the mouth…

"When Did I Learn and When Shall I Act?": The Developmental Relationship between Episodic Future Thinking and Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naito, Mika; Suzuki, Toshiko

2011-01-01

This study investigated the development of the ability to reflect on one's personal past and future. A total of 64 4- to 6-year-olds received tasks of delayed self-recognition, source memory, delay of gratification, and a newly developed task of future-oriented action timing. Although children's performance on delayed self-recognition, source…

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

Miao, Yinbin; Mo, Kun; Yao, Tiankai

Here coordinated experimental efforts to quantitatively correlate crystallographic orientation and surface faceting features in UO2 are reported upon. A sintered polycrystalline UO2 sample was thermally etched to induce the formation of surface faceting features. Synchrotron Laue microdiffraction was used to obtain a precise crystallographic orientation map for the UO2 surface grains. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to collect the detailed information on the surface morphology of the sample. The surface faceting features were found to be highly dependent on the crystallographic orientation. In most cases, Triple-plane structures containing one {100} plane and two {111} planes were found to dominatemore » the surface of UO2. The orientation-faceting relationship established in this study revealed a practical and efficient method of determining crystallographic orientation based on the surface features captured by SEM images.« less

Interactions between Auxin Transport and the Actin Cytoskeleton in Developmental Polarity of Fucus distichus Embryos in Response to Light and Gravity1

PubMed Central

Sun, Haiguo; Basu, Swati; Brady, Shari R.; Luciano, Randy L.; Muday, Gloria K.

2004-01-01

Land plants orient their growth relative to light and gravity through complex mechanisms that require auxin redistribution. Embryos of brown algae use similar environmental stimuli to orient their developmental polarity. These studies of the brown algae Fucus distichus examined whether auxin and auxin transport are also required during polarization in early embryos and to orient growth in already developed tissues. These embryos polarize with the gravity vector in the absence of a light cue. The auxin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and auxin efflux inhibitors, such as naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA), reduced environmental polarization in response to gravity and light vectors. Young rhizoids are negatively phototropic, and NPA also inhibits rhizoid phototropism. The effect of IAA and NPA on gravity and photopolarization is maximal within 2.5 to 4.5 h after fertilization (AF). Over the first 6 h AF, auxin transport is relatively constant, suggesting that developmentally controlled sensitivity to auxin determines the narrow window during which NPA and IAA reduce environmental polarization. Actin patches were formed during the first hour AF and began to photolocalize within 3 h, coinciding with the time of NPA and IAA action. Treatment with NPA reduced the polar localization of actin patches but not patch formation. Latrunculin B prevented environmental polarization in a time frame that overlaps the formation of actin patches and IAA and NPA action. Latrunculin B also altered auxin transport. Together, these results indicate a role for auxin in the orientation of developmental polarity and suggest interactions between the actin cytoskeleton and auxin transport in F. distichus embryos. PMID:15122028

Social dominance and ethical ideology: the end justifies the means?

PubMed

Wilson, Marc Stewart

2003-10-01

Although many social psychological researchers have tried to identify the antecedents of unethical or immoral behavior, investigators have little considered the content of ethical beliefs that associate with important personality variables such as authoritarianism (B. Altemeyer, 1981, 1996) and social dominance orientation (SDO; J. Sidanius, 1993). Previous studies suggest that authoritarianism is associated with the rejection of relativistic standards for moral actions and--to a lesser extent--the idealistic belief that moral actions should not harm others (J. W. McHoskey, 1996). In the present study, 160 New Zealand University students completed measures of SDO (J. Sidanius), Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA, B. Altemeyer, 1981), and two subscales of ethical ideology: Relativism and Idealism (D. R. Forsyth, 1980). As expected, SDO showed a negative relationship with Idealism, a belief that actions should not harm others. But, contrary to expectations, SDO showed no consistent association with relativism, a belief that the moralities of actions are not comparable. On the basis of those findings, people with high SDO might be described as "ruthless" in their pursuit of desirable goals and are indifferent about whether the morality of different actions can be compared or even matter.

Hospital-acquired fever in oriental medical hospitals.

PubMed

Moon, Soo-Youn; Park, Ki-Ho; Lee, Mi Suk; Son, Jun Seong

2018-02-07

Traditional Oriental medicine is used in many Asian countries and involves herbal medicines, acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping. We investigated the incidence and causes of hospital-acquired fever (HAF) and the characteristics of febrile inpatients in Oriental medical hospitals (OMHs). Patients hospitalized in two OMHs of a university medical institute in Seoul, Korea, were retrospectively reviewed from 2006 to 2013. Adult patients with HAF were enrolled. There were 560 cases of HAF (5.0%). Infection, non-infection, and unknown cause were noted in 331 cases (59.1%), 109 cases (19.5%), and 120 cases (21.4%) of HAF, respectively. Respiratory tract infection was the most common cause (51.2%) of infectious fever, followed by urinary tract infection. Drug fever due to herbal medicine was the most common cause of non-infectious fever (53.1%), followed by procedure-related fever caused by oriental medical procedures. The infection group had higher white blood cell count (WBC) (10,400/mm 3 vs. 7000/mm 3 , p < 0.001) and more frequent history of antibiotic therapy (29.6% vs. 15.1%, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that older age (odds ratio (OR) 1.67, 95% confidence interval (C.I.) 1.08-2.56, p = 0.020), history of antibiotic therapy (OR 3.17, C.I. 1.85-5.41, p < 0.001), and WBC > 10,000/mm 3 (OR 2.22, C.I. 1.85-3.32, p < 0.001) were associated with infection. Compared to previous studies on HAF in Western medicine, the incidence of HAF in OMHs was not high. However, Oriental medical treatment does play some role in HAF. Fever in patients with history of antibiotic therapy, or high WBC was more likely of infectious origin.

Higher Education and Employability: A Case Study of Debt and Justice in the Process to Becoming A Work College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolger, Andrew T.

2017-01-01

This study presents the findings that emerged in a qualitative policy-oriented case study of an institution's transition to a work college. Using Resource Dependence Theory as the theoretical framework, 32 individual interviews were collected, along with other observational data and institutional archives to understand the appeal of federal policy…