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Sample records for embodied energy analysis

  1. Energy embodied in the international trade of China. An energy input-output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Hongtao; Xi, Youmin; Guo, Ju'e; Li, Xia

    2010-01-01

    Growing international trade has not only positively affected the People's Republic of China's (China's) economic development, but also expanded the exportation of energy embodied in goods during their production. This energy flow out will pose risks to China's rational utilization of natural resources as well as environmental protection. In this paper, we evaluate the energy embodied in goods produced in China during 1992-2005 and use input-output structural decomposition analysis to identify five key factors causing the changes of energy embodied in exports. (Direct primary energy efficiency, primary energy consumption structure, structure of intermediate inputs, structure of exports, and scale of exports.) For the three sub-periods of 1992-1997, 1997-2002, and 2002-2005, results show that China is a net exporter of energy, and the energy embodied in exports tends to increase over time. The expanding total volume of exports and increasing exports of energy-intensive goods tend to enlarge the energy embodied in exports within all three sub-periods, but these driving forces were offset by a considerable improvement of energy efficiency and changes in primary energy consumption structure from 1992 to 2002 and the effects of structure of intermediate input only in the sub-period from 1992 to 1997. From 2002 to 2005, the sharp augmentation of energy embodied in exports was driven by all the five factors. Our research has practical implications for the Chinese economy. Results of this study suggest that the energy embodied in trade should receive special attentions in energy policies design to limit the energy resource out-flow and pollution generation. (author)

  2. Comparative Embodied Energy Analysis of a Steel and Concrete Structural System in Ireland

    OpenAIRE

    Acquaye, Adolf; Duffy, Aidan; Basu, Biswajit

    2007-01-01

    Engineering building design focuses on optimising operational energy use and ignores the energy required to procure and construct a building. This energy, termed ‘embodied energy’, can be very significant when compared to operational energy. Therefore, it is important to minimise the embodied in buildings; this must be done at the design stage. This paper presents a comparative embodied energy analysis of two structural design solutions for a modern office building: one in concrete and one in...

  3. Embodied energy use in China's industrial sectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zhu; Geng Yong; Lindner, Soeren; Zhao Hongyan; Fujita, Tsuyoshi; Guan Dabo

    2012-01-01

    As the world’s top energy consumer, China is facing a great challenge to solve its energy supply issue. In this paper energy use from all industrial sectors in China’s economy of 2007 was explored by conducting an extended environmental input–output analysis. We compare the energy consumption embodied in the final demand for goods and services from 29 sectors with the energy demand required for the actual production process in each sector. Two different viewpoints for sectoral energy use have been presented: energy use is directly allocated to the producer entity, and energy use is reallocated to sector’s supply chain from consumption perspective. Our results show that considerable amount of energy use is embodied in the supply chain, especially for “Construction” and “Other Service Activities” sectors, which is not detected if energy use is allocated on a production basis. When further dividing embodied energy consumption into direct energy consumption and indirect energy consumption, total indirect energy consumption is much higher than that of total direct energy consumption, accounting for 80.6% of total embodied energy consumption in 2007. Our results provide a more holistic picture on sectoral energy consumption and therefore can help decision-makers make more appropriate policies. - Highlights: ► A hybrid IO-LCA model was employed to analyze China’s energy use at sectoral level. ► A case study on China’s sectoral energy consumption is done. ► Construction and service sectors are actually energy intensive from the supply chain perspectives. ► Upstream and downstream ectoral collaboration along the whole supply chain is necessary. ► Energy conservation policies should be based upon a comprehensive analysis on sectoral energy use.

  4. Multi-regional input–output model and ecological network analysis for regional embodied energy accounting in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yan; Zheng, Hongmei; Yang, Zhifeng; Su, Meirong; Liu, Gengyuan; Li, Yanxian

    2015-01-01

    Chinese regions frequently exchange materials, but regional differences in economic development create unbalanced flows of these resources. In this study, we examined energy by assessing embodied energy consumption to describe the energy-flow structure in China's seven regions. Based on multi-regional monetary input–output tables and energy statistical yearbooks for Chinese provinces in 2002 and 2007, we accounted for both direct and indirect energy consumption, respectively, and the integral input and output of the provinces. Most integral inputs of energy flowed from north to south or from east to west, whereas integral output flows were mainly from northeast to southwest. This differed from the direct flows, which were predominantly from north to south and west to east. This demonstrates the importance of calculating both direct and indirect energy flows. Analysis of the distance and direction traveled by the energy consumption centers of gravity showed that the centers for embodied energy consumption and inputs moved southeast because of the movements of the centers of the Eastern region. However, the center for outputs moved northeast because the movement of the Central region. These analyses provide a basis for identifying how regional economic development policies influence the embodied energy consumption and its flows among regions. - Highlights: • We integrated multi-regional input–output analysis with ecological network analysis. • We accounted for both direct and indirect energy consumption. • The centers of gravity for embodied energy flows moved southeast from 2002 to 2007. • The results support planning of energy consumption and energy flows among regions.

  5. The embodied energy in trade: What role does specialization play?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gasim, Anwar A.

    2015-01-01

    Many industrialized countries are net importers of embodied energy and emissions, while many developing countries are net exporters. We examine the role of specialization in driving these trade patterns by conducting a spatial index decomposition analysis on the embodied energy in net exports for 41 economies. The results reveal that industrialized countries have generally offshored energy intensive production, which many developing countries specialize in. We find that specialization, on average, makes the biggest contribution, accounting for roughly 50% of a country's embodied energy in net exports. However, other factors, namely energy intensity and the trade balance, combine to make an equally important contribution. In summary, specialization, despite its significant role, is not the only cause of the embodied energy trade patterns observed between industrialized and developing countries. - Highlights: • The embodied energy in net exports is decomposed into three contributors. • The three contributors are intensity, specialization, and the trade balance. • On average, specialization accounts for roughly 50% of embodied energy flows. • The combination of intensity and trade balance effects is equally important.

  6. Resource Distribution, Interprovincial Trade, and Embodied Energy: A Case Study of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanmang Wu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Based on data from 2007 input-output tables for each province, we estimated the energy embodied in China’s interprovincial trade through input-output analysis. The results show that a sizable transfer of energy is embodied in China’s interprovincial trade, and the transfer goes from the central and western provinces, which have higher energy endowments, to the eastern and coastal provinces, which have more developed economies. The provinces with the greatest net inflow of embodied energy via interprovincial trade were Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, Shandong, and Jiangsu. The provinces with the greatest net outflow of embodied energy were Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang. To effectively reduce China’s energy consumption, it is vital to adhere not only to the producer responsibility principle but also to the consumer responsibility principle. In particular, the economically developed provinces with substantial net inflows of embodied energy in interprovincial trade should provide support to the provinces from which the embodied energy outflows come.

  7. Embodied Energy Optimization of Prestressed Concrete Slab Bridge Decks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julián Alcalá

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents one approach to the analysis and design of post-tensioned cast-in-place concrete slab bridge decks. A Simulated Annealing algorithm is applied to two objective functions: (i the economic cost; and (ii the embodied energy at different stages of production materials, transport, and construction. The problem involved 33 discrete design variables: five geometrical ones dealing with the thickness of the slab, the inner and exterior web width, and two flange thicknesses; concrete type; prestressing cables, and 26 variables for the reinforcement set-up. The comparison of the results obtained shows two different optimum families, which indicates that the traditional criteria of economic optimization leads to inefficient designs considering the embodied energy. The results indicate that the objectives are not competing functions, and that optimum energy designs are close to the optimum cost designs. The analysis also showed that the savings of each kW h of energy consumed carries an extra cost of 0.49€. The best cost solution presents 5.3% more embodied energy. The best energy solution is 9.7% more expensive than that of minor cost. In addition, the results have showed that the best cost solutions are not the best energy solutions.

  8. Embodied Energy and CO2 Analyses of Mud-brick and Cement-block Houses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abanda F.Henry

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In building projects, the extraction of vast quantities of materials is too common. The extraction of materials and the erection of buildings consume embodied energy and emit carbon dioxide (CO2 that impact negatively on the environment. Therefore it is necessary to consider embodied energy and CO2 amongst other factors in selecting building materials for use in building projects. In most developing countries, building environmental performance analysis has yet to gain interest from the construction community. However, with recent increase in sustainability awareness, both developed and developing nations have engaged in efforts to tackle this challenge. Embodied energy and CO2 are among the leading parameters in assessing environmental building performance. In Cameroon, studies about the assessment of embodied energy and CO2 of building projects are scarce. Hence, professionals find it difficult to make alternative choices for building materials to use in their different building projects. This study uses a detailed process analysis approach supported by two popular housing types in Cameroon (mud-brick and cement-block houses to assess the embodied energy and CO2 impacts from building materials. The emerging Building Information Modelling (BIM tool was used to validate the computational results of the process analysis method. The findings revealed the embodied energy and CO2 for the mud-brick houses are 137934.91 MJ (2007.8 MJ/m2 and 15665.56 Kg CO2 (228.03 Kg CO2/m2; the cement-block houses are 292326.81 MJ (3065.51 MJ/m2 and 37829.19 Kg CO2 (396.7 Kg CO2/m2 respectively. Thus, the cement-block house expends at least 1.5 times more embodied energy and emits at least 1.7 times more embodied CO2 than mud-brick house. Although these findings cannot be generalized, they nonetheless indicate the importance of considering embodied energy and CO2 in making alternative choices for use in different building projects.

  9. Quantifying the supplier-portfolio diversity of embodied energy: Strategic implications for strengthening energy resilience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Masahiro; Kharrazi, Ali; Nakayama, Hirofumi; Kraines, Steven; Yarime, Masaru

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates energy resilience of countries by quantifying the supplier diversification of both direct and embodied energy import. In particular, we quantify two approaches to diversify a country's supplier portfolio: by lowering the dependency on each supplier (portfolio diversification) and by having embodied energy suppliers that are different from its direct energy suppliers (portfolio differentiation). We examine possibilities for strategic utilization of embodied energy trade to compensate for low diversity of direct energy trade for three types of fossil resources: coal, oil, and gas. We find that the diversity of embodied energy import is much greater than that of direct energy import. Of the three energy resources, coal enables countries to adopt portfolio diversification and portfolio differentiation more than gas and oil. Our results suggest embodied energy can be considered as a transfer of energy resources across national borders that can directly benefit from the diversity of the world energy production by “skipping” the limited diversity of the world energy export. - Highlights: • We quantify the diversity of countries’ supplier-portfolios of embodied energy. • The diversities of embodied energy import are greater than direct energy import. • Embodied energy is energy transfer that “skips” limited diversity of energy trade.

  10. Embodied energy analysis of photovoltaic (PV) system based on macro- and micro-level

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nawaz, I.; Tiwari, G.N.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper the energy payback time and CO 2 emissions of photovoltaic (PV) system have been analyzed. The embodied energy for production of PV module based on single crystal silicon, as well as for the manufacturing of other system components have been computed at macro- and micro-level assuming irradiation of 800-1200 W/m 2 in different climatic zones in India for inclined surface. The energy payback time with and without balance-of-system for open field and rooftop has been evaluated. It is found that the embodied energy at micro-level is significantly higher than embodied energy at macro-level. The effect of insolation, overall efficiency, lifetime of PV system on energy pay back time and CO 2 emissions have been studied with and without balance of system. A 1.2 kW p PV system of SIEMENS for mudhouse at IIT, Delhi based on macro- and micro-level has been evaluated. The CO 2 mitigation potential, the importance and role of PV system for sustainable development are also highlighted

  11. Negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a materially structured environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel E. Scherr

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available We provide evidence that a learning activity called Energy Theater engages learners with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including disambiguating matter flow and energy flow and theorizing mechanisms for energy transformation. A participationist theory of learning, in which learning is indicated by changes in speech and behavior, supports ethnographic analysis of learners’ embodied interactions with each other and the material setting. We conduct detailed analysis to build plausible causal links between specific features of Energy Theater and the conceptual engagement that we observe. Disambiguation of matter and energy appears to be promoted especially by the material structure of the Energy Theater environment, in which energy is represented by participants, while objects are represented by areas demarcated by loops of rope. Theorizing mechanisms of energy transformation is promoted especially by Energy Theater’s embodied action, which necessitates modeling the time ordering of energy transformations.

  12. Embodied energy and emergy analyses of a concentrating solar power (CSP) system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Meimei; Wang Zhifeng; Xu Chao; Jiang Hui

    2012-01-01

    Although concentrating solar power (CSP) technology has been projected as one of the most promising candidates to replace conventional power plants burning fossil fuels, the potential advantages and disadvantages of the CSP technology have not been thoroughly evaluated. To better understand the performance of the CSP technology, this paper presents an ecological accounting framework based on embodied energy and emergy analyses methods. The analyses are performed for the 1.5 MW Dahan solar tower power plant in Beijing, China and different evaluation indices used in the embodied energy and emergy analyses are employed to evaluate the plant performance. Our analysis of the CSP plant are compared with six Italian power plants with different energy sources and an American PV plant, which demonstrates the CSP is the superior technology. - Highlights: ► Embodied energy and emergy analyses are employed to evaluate the first solar tower power plant in China. ► Different evaluation indices are quantitatively analyzed to show the advantages of CSP technology. ► This analysis provides insights for making energy policy and investment decisions about CSP technology.

  13. Primary energy and greenhouse gases embodied in Australian final consumption: an input-output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lenzen, M.

    1998-01-01

    Input-output modeling of primary energy and greenhouse gas embodiments in goods and services is a useful technique for designing greenhouse gas abatement policies. The present paper describes direct and indirect primary energy and greenhouse gas requirements for a given set of Australian final consumption. It considers sectoral disparities in energy prices, capital formation and international trade flows and it accounts for embodiments in the Gross National Expenditure as well as the Gross Domestic Product. Primary energy and greenhouse gas intensities in terms of MJ/$ and kg CO 2 -e/$ are reported, as well as national balance of primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. (author)

  14. Calculation of embodied energy in Sino-USA trade: 1997–2011

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Ranran; Long, Ruyin; Yue, Ting; Shi, Haihong

    2014-01-01

    In order to find efficient trade measures to reduce China's energy consumption and to provide theoretical support for the climate talks between China and America, we investigate the impact of Sino-USA trade on energy consumption from the perspective of embodied energy. An Environmental Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) model was established to calculate the total energy consumption coefficient, the direct consumption coefficient and the complete consumption coefficient of the sectors of the national economies of China and America. After taking into consideration the data of every sector of the national economy in Sino-USA trade, energy embodied in the import and export trade between China and America was calculated to verify the real energy flows in Sino-USA trade. The research results suggest the following: China is the net exporter of embodied energy in Sino-USA trade, and coal, crude oil and natural gas are the major components. In 1997–2011, the net exports of China's embodied energy totaled 1523,082,200 t of standard coal, the amount of China's energy consumption increased by 895,527,900 t of standard coal, and America's energy consumption decreased by 11,871,200 t of standard coal as a result of Sino-USA trade. On this basis, corresponding policies and recommendations are proposed. - Highlights: • An EIO-LCA model is established to examine China's embodied energy in Sino-USA trade. • Embodied energy is calculated from the perspective of energy sources. • China is found to be the net exporter of embodied energy in Sino-USA trade. • Coal, crude oil and natural gas are the major components of China's net embodied energy exports. • China's energy consumption has increased and America's has shifted to China in Sino-USA trade

  15. 3D-mapping optimization of embodied energy of transportation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pearce, Joshua M.; Johnson, Sara J. [Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Physics Department, Clarion, PA 16214 (United States); Grant, Gabriel B. [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States)

    2007-08-15

    The recent development of Google Earth, an information service that provides imagery and three-dimensional data depicting the entire Earth, provides an opportunity to use a new method of navigating information to save energy in the real world. Google Earth uses Keyhole Markup Language (KML) for modeling and storing geographic features and information for display in the Google Earth Client. This paper will analyze the potential of this novel and free geographic mapping service to reduce embodied energy of transportation in two ways. First, at the consumer level, Google Earth will be studied to map the automobile route that uses the least fuel and maintains vehicle velocities at their individual maximum fuel efficiency. The same analysis for single destination trips could be used to optimize fleet vehicle routes such as garbage or recycling collection trucks. The secondary benefit of ecological education will also be explored. Fuel used could be converted into monetary units based on the current price of gas, pollution/greenhouse gas emissions, or ecological footprints to improve driving habits. Secondly, KML overlays will be analyzed for use of determining: (1) raw material and products availability as a function of location, and (2) modes of transportation as a function of emissions. These overlays would enable manufacturers access to an easily navigable method to optimize the life cycle of their products by minimizing embodied energy of transportation. The most efficient transportation methods and travel routes could be calculated. This same tool would be useful for architects to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating points for the green design of buildings. Overall, the analysis completed finds that the flexibility and visual display of quantitative information made available by Google Earth could have a significant impact at conserving fuel resources by reducing the embodied energy of transportation on a global scale. (author)

  16. How much Energy is Embodied in your Central Heating Boiler?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koubogiannis, D.; Nouhou, C.

    2016-11-01

    Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is an important tool in current research to quantitatively assess energy consumption and environmental impact of a building. In the context of LCA, the Embodied Energy (EE) related to the building and the corresponding Embodied CO2 emissions are valuable data. In such a case, these data concern the constitutive materials of the building and any subsystem, component or equipment in it. Usually, after calculating the mass of these materials, embodied energy values are estimated multiplying them by the corresponding EE coefficients concerning the production of these materials (EEMP). However, apart from transportation energy costs, another part of EE is that consumed for the manufacturing of any item as a finished product. The present work focuses on the manufacturing EE (EEMFG) of central heating boilers in Hellenic dwellings. Six typical boilers of different types are studied. Each of them is analyzed to its constitutive materials and its EEMP is estimated. For four of them, the boiler house where it was constructed in Greece was visited and data were collected. Based on them the corresponding boiler EEMFG values are estimated. The results concerning the EE for material production and manufacturing, as well as the results concerning the corresponding ECO2 values are discussed and assessed. Benchmark values correlating EE and ECO2 with the mass or the heat rate of the boiler are extracted.

  17. Embodied energy of construction materials: integrating human and capital energy into an IO-based hybrid model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixit, Manish K; Culp, Charles H; Fernandez-Solis, Jose L

    2015-02-03

    Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly to the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon. The total life cycle energy use of a building is composed of embodied and operating energy. Embodied energy includes all energy required to manufacture and transport building materials, and construct, maintain, and demolish a building. For a systemic energy and carbon assessment of buildings, it is critical to use a whole life cycle approach, which takes into account the embodied as well as operating energy. Whereas the calculation of a building's operating energy is straightforward, there is a lack of a complete embodied energy calculation method. Although an input-output-based (IO-based) hybrid method could provide a complete and consistent embodied energy calculation, there are unresolved issues, such as an overdependence on price data and exclusion of the energy of human labor and capital inputs. This paper proposes a method for calculating and integrating the energy of labor and capital input into an IO-based hybrid method. The results demonstrate that the IO-based hybrid method can provide relatively complete results. Also, to avoid errors, the total amount of human and capital energy should not be excluded from the calculation.

  18. Analysing methodological choices in calculations of embodied energy and GHG emissions from buildings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Freja Nygaard; Malmqvist, Tove; Moncaster, Alice

    2018-01-01

    The importance of embodied energy and embodied greenhouse gas emissions (EEG) from buildings is gaining increased interest within building sector initiatives and on a regulatory level. In spite of recent har- monisation efforts, reported results of EEG from building case studies display large...... obtained, thus providing a framework for reinterpretation and more effective comparison. The collection of over 80 international case studies developed within the International Energy Agency’s EBC Annex 57 research programme is used as the quantitative foundation to present a comprehensive analysis......, and the combination potentials between these many parameters signifies a multitude of ways in which the outcome of EEG studies are affected....

  19. Influence of embodied energy in the energy efficiency of optical transport networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mata, Javier; Ye, Yabin; Lopez, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    An energy model including both operational and embodied energy is proposed to evaluate the performance evolution of optical transport networks in a multi-period study up to 15 years. Significant improvements in energy efficiency per GHz and energy reductions can be achieved for flexi-grid OFDM-ba...

  20. Role of embodied energy in the European manufacturing industry: Application to short-term impacts of a carbon tax

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bordigoni, Mathieu; Hita, Alain; Le Blanc, Gilles

    2012-01-01

    Role of energy in the manufacturing industry is a major concern for energy and environmental policy design. Issues like energy prices, security of supply and carbon mitigation are often connected to the industry and its competitiveness. This paper examines the role and consequences of embodied energy in the European industry. To this end, a multi-regional input–output analysis including 59 industrial sectors for all European Union countries and 17 more aggregated industries for other regions of the World is developed. Other segments of the economy are not included. This base is combined with energy consumption, carbon emission as well as bilateral trade data for every sector in all included countries. Our main result is that embodied energy in manufactured products' imports represents a significant aspect of the energy situation in European industries, with quantities close to the direct energy consumption. These flows can further be broken down for detailed analysis at the sector level thanks to the number of distinct industries included. Results demonstrate that an important part of embodied energy inside European products is not concerned with domestic energy price changes. In addition, a European-wide carbon tax would induce an unbalanced burden on industries and countries. - Highlights: ► We calculate embodied energy and carbon flows in the European and World industry. ► A multi-regional input–output analysis is used with a detailed nomenclature. ► National industries' energy prices dependence is a domestic issue. ► With a European carbon tax energy-intensive industries would be penalised. ► Such a tax may also induce competition distortion among EU countries.

  1. Material selection and embodied energy

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Ampofo-Anti, N

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available mix concrete apron Non reinforced, ready mix concrete strip foundation Non reinforced, ready mix ground floor slab Concrete block Modular, hollow concrete block Solid concrete block Finishes Floor screed Insulated ceiling panel Perlite... Predicting the embodied energy contribution of a single material is however not as easy as green building practices assume. As illustrated by the example in Box 1, the choice of a material implies the choice of integral constituents such as insulation...

  2. IEA EBC Annex 57 ‘Evaluation of Embodied Energy and CO2eq for Building Construction’

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Birgisdottir, Harpa; Moncaster, Alice; Houlihan Wiberg, Aoife

    2017-01-01

    The current regulations to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from buildings have focused on operational energy consumption. Thus legislation excludes measurement and reduction of the embodied energy and embodied GHG emissions over the building life cycle. Embodied impac...

  3. IEA EBC Annex 57 ‘Evaluation of Embodied Energy and CO2eq for Building Construction’

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Birgisdottir, Harpa; Moncaster, Alice; Houlihan Wiberg, Aoife

    2017-01-01

    The current regulations to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from buildings have focused on operational energy consumption. Thus legislation excludes measurement and reduction of the embodied energy and embodied GHG emissions over the building life cycle. Embodied impacts...

  4. Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil. An input-output approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machado, G; Schaeffer, R.; Worrell, E.

    2001-01-01

    All goods and services produced in an economy are directly and/or indirectly associated with energy use and, according to the type of fuel utilized, with CO2 emissions as well. International trade is an important factor in shaping the industrial structure of a country and, consequently, in affecting a country's energy use and CO2 emissions. This study applies input-output techniques to the Brazilian economy to evaluate the total impacts of international trade on its energy use and CO2 emissions. A commodity-by-industry IO model in hybrid units (energy commodities in physical units and non-energy commodities in monetary units) is applied to the Brazilian economy in 1995. Results show that total energy embodied in the exports of non-energy goods of Brazil equals 831 PJ, while total carbon embodied is 13.5 MtC. These amounts are larger than the relevant amounts embodied in the imports of non-energy goods, respectively 679 PJ and 9.9 MtC. These figures are better understood by contrasting them with the total energy use and the corresponding total carbon emissions of the Brazilian economy in 1995 estimated by this work: 6781 PJ and 99.4 MtC, respectively. This means that international inflows and outflows of energy embodied in non-energy goods are in the order of 10 and 12% of the total energy use, while inflows and outflows of carbon embodied in non-energy goods are approximately 10 and 14% of the corresponding total carbon emissions of the Brazilian economy in 1995. The general picture is that Brazil is not only a net exporter of energy (153 PJ) and of carbon (3.6 MtC) embodied in the non-energy goods internationally traded by the country in 1995, but also that each dollar earned with exports embodied 40% more energy and 56% more carbon than each dollar spent on imports. These findings suggest that Brazilian policy-makers should be concerned about the extra impacts international trade policy may have on energy use and carbon emissions of the country. 71 refs

  5. Assessing Embodied Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Infrastructure Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Krantz

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Greenhouse gas (GHG emissions from construction processes are a serious concern globally. Of the several approaches taken to assess emissions, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA based methods do not just take into account the construction phase, but consider all phases of the life cycle of the construction. However, many current LCA approaches make general assumptions regarding location and effects, which do not do justice to the inherent dynamics of normal construction projects. This study presents a model to assess the embodied energy and associated GHG emissions, which is specifically adapted to address the dynamics of infrastructure construction projects. The use of the model is demonstrated on the superstructure of a prefabricated bridge. The findings indicate that Building Information Models/Modeling (BIM and Discrete Event Simulation (DES can be used to efficiently generate project-specific data, which is needed for estimating the embodied energy and associated GHG emissions in construction settings. This study has implications for the advancement of LCA-based methods (as well as project management as a way of assessing embodied energy and associated GHG emissions related to construction.

  6. Progress towards the specification of embodied energy performance criteria for New Zealand buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baird, G.; Alcorn, A.; Wood, P.; Storey, J. B. [Victoria Univ., Wellington (New Zealand). School of Architecture; Jaques, R. [Building Research Association of New Zealand, Inc. (New Zealand)

    1998-11-01

    Incorporation of embodied energy performance criteria into New Zealand`s recently adopted performance-based building code is discussed. The paper also describes the concept of the Building Code and its energy related clauses and standards, work done to date to update the building materials` energy coefficients, and the progress made in using an embodied energy database. The purpose, desirability and likely pitfalls of such criteria, ways of specifying minimum performance, and relationships with operating energy criteria are also reviewed.

  7. Urban energy consumption: Different insights from energy flow analysis, input–output analysis and ecological network analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Shaoqing; Chen, Bin

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Urban energy consumption was assessed from three different perspectives. • A new concept called controlled energy was developed from network analysis. • Embodied energy and controlled energy consumption of Beijing were compared. • The integration of all three perspectives will elucidate sustainable energy use. - Abstract: Energy consumption has always been a central issue for sustainable urban assessment and planning. Different forms of energy analysis can provide various insights for energy policy making. This paper brought together three approaches for energy consumption accounting, i.e., energy flow analysis (EFA), input–output analysis (IOA) and ecological network analysis (ENA), and compared their different perspectives and the policy implications for urban energy use. Beijing was used to exemplify the different energy analysis processes, and the 42 economic sectors of the city were aggregated into seven components. It was determined that EFA quantifies both the primary and final energy consumption of the urban components by tracking the different types of fuel used by the urban economy. IOA accounts for the embodied energy consumption (direct and indirect) used to produce goods and services in the city, whereas the control analysis of ENA quantifies the specific embodied energy that is regulated by the activities within the city’s boundary. The network control analysis can also be applied to determining which economic sectors drive the energy consumption and to what extent these sectors are dependent on each other for energy. So-called “controlled energy” is a new concept that adds to the analysis of urban energy consumption, indicating the adjustable energy consumed by sectors. The integration of insights from all three accounting perspectives further our understanding of sustainable energy use in cities

  8. Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade. The effects of sector aggregation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, Bin; Huang, H.C.; Ang, B.W.; Zhou, P.

    2010-01-01

    Energy-related CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade have been widely studied by researchers using the input-output analysis framework. These studies are often conducted at a specific level of sector aggregation and the choice made to a large extent is dictated by economic and energy data availability. We investigate analytically the possible effects of sector aggregation on the study results. We conduct empirical studies using the data of China and Singapore where energy-related CO 2 emissions embodied in their exports are estimated at different levels of sector aggregation. A finding from the studies is that levels around 40 sectors appear to be sufficient to capture the overall share of emissions embodied in a country's exports. Another finding is that in approximating the 'ideal' situation the hybrid data treatment approach produces better results than the uniformly distributed data treatment approach. Other findings and some recommendations are also presented. (author)

  9. Embodied energy use in China's infrastructure investment from 1992 to 2007: calculation and policy implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hongtao; Xi, Youmin; Ren, Bingqun; Zhou, Heng

    2012-01-01

    Infrastructure has become an important topic in a variety of areas of the policy debate, including energy saving and climate change. In this paper, we use an energy input-output model to evaluate the amounts of China's embodied energy use in infrastructure investment from 1992 to 2007. We also use the structure decomposition model to analyze the factors impacting the embodied energy use in infrastructure investment for the same time period. The results show that embodied energy use in infrastructure investment accounted for a significant proportion of China's total energy use with an increasing trend and reflect that improper infrastructure investment represents inefficient use of energy and other resources. Some quantitative information is provided for further determining the low carbon development potentials of China's economy.

  10. CO2 emissions embodied in China-US trade: Input-output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Du Huibin; Guo Jianghong; Mao Guozhu; Smith, Alexander M.; Wang Xuxu; Wang, Yuan

    2011-01-01

    To gain insight into changes in CO 2 emissions embodied in China-US trade, an input-output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio (EDR) is used to estimate embodied CO 2 emissions; a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) is employed to analyze the driving factors for changes in CO 2 emissions embodied in China's exports to the US during 2002-2007. The results of the input-output analysis show that net export of CO 2 emissions increased quickly from 2002 to 2005 but decreased from 2005 to 2007. These trends are due to a reduction in total CO 2 emission intensity, a decrease in the exchange rate, and small imports of embodied CO 2 emissions. The results of the SDA demonstrate that total export volume was the largest driving factor for the increase in embodied CO 2 emissions during 2002-2007, followed by intermediate input structure. Direct CO 2 emissions intensity had a negative effect on changes in embodied CO 2 emissions. The results suggest that China should establish a framework for allocating emission responsibilities, enhance energy efficiency, and improve intermediate input structure. - Highlights: → An input-output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio estimated embodied CO 2 . → A structural decomposition analysis analyzed the driving factors. → Net export of CO 2 increased from 2002 to 2005 but decreased from 2005 to 2007. → Total export volume was the largest driving factor. → A framework for allocating emission responsibilities.

  11. A first empirical comparison of energy Footprints embodied in trade. MRIO versus PLUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiedmann, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    The Ecological Footprint as an indicator that accounts for human demand on global bioproductivity sets out to quantify the impacts associated with consumption in a given country, including the impacts associated with trade. The National Footprint Accounts (NFA) by Global Footprint Network (GFN) calculate trade-embodied Footprints by multiplying yield and embodied energy factors with mass volumes of traded goods in a 'Product Land Use Matrix (PLUM)'. This article compares energy Footprints embodied in trade from and to the United Kingdom in 2002 as calculated by the NFA-PLUM with the results from a recently developed multi-region input-output model (MRIO) for the UK. Although totals for imports and exports are comparable, breaking down the results by economic sectors reveals large differences and hardly any correlation between the two methods. The omission of trade in services (especially transport services) and upstream impacts of energy goods (fossil fuels) and the use of inappropriate embodied energy factors in the NFA-PLUM method are identified as the main reasons for these differences. In the light of the results it seems that a comprehensive Footprint account of trade can better be achieved with an input-output based approach. I conclude that MRIO models - once fully developed - will be particularly suitable in the future to estimate the Ecological Footprints of imports and exports of nations with the possibility to track their origin via inter-industry linkages, international supply chains and multi-national trade flows. (author)

  12. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the embodiment of artificial limbs.

    OpenAIRE

    Murray, Craig

    2004-01-01

    Purpose: To gain an understanding of the embodied perceptual experience of successful prosthesis. Method: The data for this study were transcripts derived from in-depth semi-structured e-mail (n=21) and face-to-face (n=14) interviews, and the documentary analysis of an e-mail discussion group for prosthesis users. This qualitative data was subject to an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Analysis of the research data identified six themes in the perceptually embodied experienc...

  13. Hidden costs of a typical embodied energy analysis: Brazilian sugarcane ethanol as a case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agostinho, Feni; Siche, Raul

    2014-01-01

    Worldwide human production systems are tightly coupled to fossil-based energy, the source of which will not be available at low cost in the foreseeable future. Alternative energy sources are being sought for, among which those derived from biomass are considered to have great potential. Brazilian ethanol sugarcane produced at a large scale is being classified in scientific papers and politics as a renewable energy source. However, only the energy return on investment (EROI) and/or the amount of CO 2 released to atmosphere have been considered as indicators of renewability. This work aims to discuss some theoretical points, within an embodied energy analysis, that make its use inappropriate for answering all issues related to the concept of renewability. Emergy accounting (with an “m”) is used as a comparative tool and the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is evaluated as case study. An EROI of 6.7 for ethanol was obtained, showing that for each unit of “commercial energy” invested within the process, 6.7 units of another kind of energy is obtained – this index shows an excellent value for energy efficiency, but it does not reflect the renewability of ethanol. On the other hand, emergy accounting shows a renewability index of 19%, indicating a low rating for sugarcane ethanol. All scientific methodologies available to assess potential energy sources have their pros and cons, but the analyst must be aware that each methodology supplies different indicators with different meanings. Energy analysts should use methodologies appropriately, avoiding wider conclusions not actually represented by indices calculated. - Highlights: • The renewability discourse of biofuels is discussed focusing on the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol. • Both energy efficiency and CO 2 emitted hardly indicate the renewability of biofuels. • Emergy evaluation is introduced as a potential tool when assessing renewability. • Analysts must use methodologies accordingly and avoid general

  14. Methane emissions by Chinese economy. Inventory and embodiment analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Bo; Chen, G.Q.

    2010-01-01

    Concrete inventories for methane emissions and associated embodied emissions in production, consumption, and international trade are presented in this paper for the mainland Chinese economy in 2007 with most recent availability of relevant environmental resources statistics and the input-output table. The total CH 4 emission by Chinese economy 2007 estimated as 39,592.70 Gg is equivalent to three quarters of China's CO 2 emission from fuel combustion by the global thermodynamic potentials, and even by the commonly referred lower IPCC global warming potentials is equivalent to one sixth of China's CO 2 emission from fuel combustion and greater than the CO 2 emissions from fuel combustion of many economically developed countries such as UK, Canada, and Germany. Agricultural activities and coal mining are the dominant direct emission sources, and the sector of Construction holds the top embodied emissions in both production and consumption. The emission embodied in gross capital formation is more than those in other components of final demand characterized by extensive investment and limited consumption. China is a net exporter of embodied CH 4 emissions with the emission embodied in exports of 14,021.80 Gg, in magnitude up to 35.42% of the total direct emission. China's exports of textile products, industrial raw materials, and primary machinery and equipment products have a significant impact on its net embodied emissions of international trade balance. Corresponding policy measures such as agricultural carbon-reduction strategies, coalbed methane recovery, export-oriented and low value added industry adjustment, and low carbon energy polices to methane emission mitigation are addressed. (author)

  15. Assessment of nuclear energy embodied in international trade following a world multi-regional input–output approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cortés-Borda, D.; Guillén-Gosálbez, G.; Jiménez, L.

    2015-01-01

    Nuclear power can contribute to cover the increasing demand of energy while keeping the carbon emissions within the desired limits. Many countries are reluctant to implement nuclear technologies in their territories, but might still use them through imports of products that embody nuclear energy in their life cycle. This work quantifies the difference between the production-based (territorial) and consumption-based (global) nuclear energy use in the main 40 economies of the world (85% of the world's GDP) through the application of a multi-regional environmentally extended input–output model. The mismatch between the direct (territorial) and total (global) use of nuclear energy varies from −237% to 44% in the top economies. From a consumption-based viewpoint, 10 out of the 40 countries reduced the per-capita use of nuclear energy in the period 1995–2009, and 7 when following a production-based approach. The per-capita nuclear energy use could differ in up to 26.2 GJ/inhabitant·year, depending on whether the assessment is consumption or production based. It was also found that around 3.5% of the world's nuclear energy production is trade-embodied and that this amount is growing along with the global production of nuclear energy. Our findings might help to develop more effective environmental regulations worldwide. - Highlights: • Global and territorial nuclear energy could differ up to 237% in the main economies. • Trade-embodied nuclear energy has increased from 1.4% to 2.5% in 15 years. • Nuclear energy production has rised in tandem with trade-embodied nuclear energy. • Nuclear production decrease in 7 countries does not counteract the increase in others.

  16. Analysis of changing hidden energy flow in Vietnam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet; Ishihara, Keiichi N.

    2006-01-01

    The energy consumption in production process is changing especially in developing countries by substituting technology. Input-output analysis for energy flows has been developing and is one of the best solutions for investigating macroscopic exchanges of both economy and energy. Since each element in the Leontief inverse contains both direct and indirect effects of any change in final demand, to separate those direct and indirect effects, the power series expansion is available. In this work, the changes of embodied energy intensity in Vietnam from 1996 to 2000 were analyzed using the structural decomposition and its power series expansion. By illustrating the change of causal relationship between direct energy consumption and embodied energy consumption, the change of hidden energy flow, which indicates how the changing embodied energy builds up the change of direct energy consumption in every sector, can be seen. In the case study, the rice processing sector, which is one of the important food processing sectors in Vietnam, is focused. By drawing a diagrammatic map for the change of hidden energy flow, it is clarified that in the case of raising embodied energy intensity, cultivation sector and trade and repaired service sector are the main contributors, and, on the contrary, in the case of reducing embodied energy intensity, paper pulp sector is the main contributor

  17. Energy embodiment in Brazilian agriculture: an overview of 23 crops

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Paulo Soto Veiga

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The amount of energy required to produce a commodity or to supply a service varies from one production system to another and consequently giving rise to differing levels of environmental efficiency. Moreover, since energy prices have been continuously increasing over time, this energy amount may be a factor that has economic worth. Biomass production has a variety of end-products such as food, energy, and fiber; thus, taking into account the similarity in end-product of different crops (e.g.: sunflower, peanuts, or soybean for oil it is possible to evaluate which crops require less energy per functional unit, such as starch, oil, and protein. This information can be used in decision-making about policies for food safety or bioenergy. In this study, 23 crops were evaluated allowing for a comparison in terms of energy embodied per functional unit. Crops were grouped as follows: starch, oil, horticultural, perennial and fiber, to provide for a deeper analysis of alternatives for the groups, and subsidize further studies comparing conventional and alternative production systems such as organic or genetically modified organisms, in terms of energy. The best energy balance observed was whole sugarcane (juice, bagasse and straw with a surplus of 268 GJ ha−1 yr−1; palm shows the highest energy return on investment with a ratio of approximately 30:1. For carbohydrates and protein production, cassava and soybean, respectively, emerged as the crops offering the greatest energy savings in the production of these functional foods.

  18. Embodied water analysis for Hebei Province, China by input-output modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Siyuan; Han, Mengyao; Wu, Xudong; Wu, Xiaofang; Li, Zhi; Xia, Xiaohua; Ji, Xi

    2018-03-01

    With the accelerating coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, regional economic integration is recognized as a national strategy. As water scarcity places Hebei Province in a dilemma, it is of critical importance for Hebei Province to balance water resources as well as make full use of its unique advantages in the transition to sustainable development. To our knowledge, related embodied water accounting analysis has been conducted for Beijing and Tianjin, while similar works with the focus on Hebei are not found. In this paper, using the most complete and recent statistics available for Hebei Province, the embodied water use in Hebei Province is analyzed in detail. Based on input-output analysis, it presents a complete set of systems accounting framework for water resources. In addition, a database of embodied water intensity is proposed which is applicable to both intermediate inputs and final demand. The result suggests that the total amount of embodied water in final demand is 10.62 billion m3, of which the water embodied in urban household consumption accounts for more than half. As a net embodied water importer, the water embodied in the commodity trade in Hebei Province is 17.20 billion m3. The outcome of this work implies that it is particularly urgent to adjust industrial structure and trade policies for water conservation, to upgrade technology and to improve water utilization. As a result, to relieve water shortages in Hebei Province, it is of crucial importance to regulate the balance of water use within the province, thus balancing water distribution in the various industrial sectors.

  19. Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade. The effects of spatial aggregation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, Bin; Ang, B.W.

    2010-01-01

    Energy-related CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade have been widely studied by researchers using the environmental input-output analysis framework. It is well known that both sector aggregation and spatial aggregation affect the results obtained in such studies. With regard to the latter, past studies are often conducted at the national level irrespective of country or economy size. For a large economy with the needed data, studies may be conducted at different levels of spatial aggregation. We examine this problem analytically by extending the work of Su et al. ([Su, B., Huang, H.C., Ang, B.W., Zhou, P., 2010. Input-output analysis of CO 2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of sector aggregation. Energy Economics 32 (1), 166-175.]) on sector aggregation. We present a numerical example using the data of China and by dividing the country into eight regions. It is found that the results are highly dependent on spatial aggregation. Our study shows that for a large country like China it is meaningful to look into the effect of spatial aggregation. (author)

  20. Measuring the embodied energy in drinking water supply systems: a case study in the Great Lakes region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Weiwei; Nasiri, Fuzhan; Eckelman, Matthew J; Zhang, Qiong; Zimmerman, Julie B

    2010-12-15

    A sustainable supply of both energy and water is critical to long-term national security, effective climate policy, natural resource sustainability, and social wellbeing. These two critical resources are inextricably and reciprocally linked; the production of energy requires large volumes of water, while the treatment and distribution of water is also significantly dependent upon energy. In this paper, a hybrid analysis approach is proposed to estimate embodied energy and to perform a structural path analysis of drinking water supply systems. The applicability of this approach is then tested through a case study of a large municipal water utility (city of Kalamazoo) in the Great Lakes region to provide insights on the issues of water-energy pricing and carbon footprints. Kalamazoo drinking water requires approximately 9.2 MJ/m(3) of energy to produce, 30% of which is associated with indirect inputs such as system construction and treatment chemicals.

  1. Embodiment without bodies? Analysis of embodiment in US-based pro-breastfeeding and anti-male circumcision movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, Harmony D; Carpenter, Laura M

    2014-06-01

    This article uses the cases of pro-breastfeeding and anti-circumcision activism to complicate the prevailing conceptualisation of embodiment in research on embodied health movements (EHMs). Whereas most EHM activists draw on their own bodily experiences, in the breastfeeding and circumcision movements, embodiment by proxy is common. Activists use embodiment as a strategy but draw on physical sensations that they imagine for other people's bodies, rather than on those they experience themselves. Pro-breastfeeding activists, who seldom disclose whether they were themselves breastfed, target mothers, encouraging them to breastfeed rather than to formula feed their children in order to reduce their child's risk of disease. Anti-circumcision activists, only some of whom are circumcised men, urge parents to leave their sons' penises intact in order to avoid illness and disfigurement and to preserve the sons' rights to make their own informed decisions as adults. In both movements activists use embodiment as a persuasive strategy even though they themselves do not necessarily embody the risks of the negative health outcomes with which they are concerned. Future research on EHMs should reconceptualise EHMs to include embodiment by proxy and examine whether this important phenomenon systematically affects movement strategies and outcomes.

  2. Interprovincial transfer of embodied energy between the Jing-Jin-Ji area and other provinces in China: A quantification using interprovincial input-output model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Weiming; Wu, Sanmang; Lei, Yalin; Li, Shantong

    2017-04-15

    Commodity trade between regions implies a large amount of energy transfer. As an important economic growth pole of China, the Jing-Jin-Ji area (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) is also one of the areas with the largest energy consumption in China. Moreover, the primary energy consumer goods in this area are fossil fuels, such as coal. This has led to serious air pollution in the area. Therefore, the reduction of energy consumption under the premise of maintaining sustained economic growth is an important task of the Jing-Jin-Ji area. In this study, an interprovincial input-output model was applied to quantitatively estimate the embodied energy transfer between Jing-Jin-Ji area and other provinces in China. The results indicated that the Metal and nonmetal mineral processing industry and the Electrical, gas and water industry in the Jing-Jin-Ji area exported a large amount of embodied energy to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. However, the embodied energy export of the Jing-Jin-Ji area mainly exported by Hebei province. Beijing and Tianjin even have some net import of embodied energy. The embodied energy transfer between Tianjin, Hebei and other provinces was mainly driven by investment, while the main media of embodied energy transfer between Beijing and other provinces was consumption. Therefore, we suggest that the Jing-Jin-Ji area should further increase the degree of dependence on other provinces' energy-intensive products and reduce the export of energy-intensive products. In addition, there should be difference in the energy and industrial policies among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and the problems of high energy consumption and high proportion of heavy industry in Hebei should be first resolved. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. CO2 emissions embodied in China's exports from 2002 to 2008: A structural decomposition analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Ming; Li Ran; Crittenden, John C.; Chen Yongsheng

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the annual CO 2 emissions embodied in China's exports from 2002 to 2008 using environmental input-output analysis. Four driving forces, including emission intensity, economic production structure, export composition, and total export volume, are compared for their contributions to the increase of embodied CO 2 emissions using a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) technique. Although offset by the decrease in emission intensity, the increase of embodied CO 2 emissions was driven by changes of the other three factors. In particular, the change of the export composition was the largest driver, primarily due to the increasing fraction of metal products in China's total export. Relevant policy implications and future research directions are discussed at the end of the paper. - Highlights: → We investigate annual CO 2 emission embodied in China's exports from 2002 to 2008 using environmental input-output analysis. → We conduct a structural decomposition analysis to measure contributions from different driving forces. → Change of export composition was the largest driver for the increase of CO 2 emissions embodied in China's exports. → Increasing fraction of metal products in exports is the key change in export composition.

  4. Net oil exports embodied in China's international trade: An input–output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Xu; Zhang, Baosheng; Feng, Lianyong; Snowden, Simon; Höök, Mikael

    2012-01-01

    As the world's second largest oil importer, China has been one of the important factors which affect the global oil market. In recent years, China has attained great international trade surplus through exporting a large number of “Made in China” products even during the global economic crisis. Due to direct and indirect effects in production chain, each 'Made in China' product contains oil directly or indirectly. China is exporting much oil through “Made in China” products, which is not often considered even within China. An input–output model is established to calculate oil embodied in the international trade of China. The research results suggest the following: China's net oil exports embodied in the international trade were 87.02 million tonnes in 2007; manufacture of communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment is the largest sector to export embodied oil; United States, China Hong Kong SAR and Netherlands are the top three countries and regions which benefit most from the embodied oil in “Made in China” products. China's adjusted degree of dependence on foreign oil is 24.9% in 2007, and 38.4% in 2011 if net oil exports embodied in international trade are considered. -- Highlights: ► Model is established based on IO analysis to calculate the net oil exports embodied in China's international trade. ► China's net oil exports through “Made in China” products are 87 million tones in 2007. ► United States, China Hong Kong SAR and Netherlands benefit most from the embodied oil in China's international trade. ► China's degree of dependence on foreign oil can be reduced obviously if oil embodied in international trade are considered.

  5. Energy and Exergy Analysis of the Danish Industry Sector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bühler, Fabian; Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Elmegaard, Brian

    2015-01-01

    % to 56% in 2012. Industries with high-temperature processes, such as the cement and metal production sectors, present the highest exergy efficiencies but the lowest energy ones. The opposite conclusion is drawn for the food, paper and chemical industries. The exergy losses, which indicate the potential......A detailed analysis of the Danish industry is presented in this paper using the energy, exergy and embodied exergy methods. The 22 most energy-intensive process industries, which represent about 80% of the total primary energy use of the industry, were modelled and analysed in details for the years...... is not seen with the embodied exergy efficiency, which remains at around 29% for the Danish industry. This analysis shows that there are still large potentials to recover waste heat in most Danish industrial sectors and thus to increase their efficiencies....

  6. Multimodal Corpus Analysis as a Method for Ensuring Cultural Usability of Embodied Conversational Agents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nakano, Yukiko; Rehm, Matthias

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we propose the method of multimodal corpus analysis to collect enough empirical data for modeling the behavior of embodied conversational agents. This is a prerequisite to ensure the usability of such complex interactive systems. So far, the development of embodied agents suffers fr...

  7. Embodying analysis: the body and the therapeutic process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Salvatore

    2016-02-01

    This paper considers the transfer of somatic effects from patient to analyst, which gives rise to embodied countertransference, functioning as an organ of primitive communication. By means of processes of projective identification, the analyst experiences somatic disturbances within himself or herself that are connected to the split-off complexes of the analysand. The analysty's own attempt at mind-body integration ushers the patient towards a progressive understanding and acceptance of his or her inner suffering. Such experiences of psychic contagion between patient and analyst are related to Jung's 'psychology of the transference' and the idea of the 'subtle body' as an unconscious shared area. The re-attribution of meaning to pre-verbal psychic experiences within the 'embodied reverie' of the analyst enables the analytic dyad to reach the archetypal energies and structuring power of the collective unconscious. A detailed case example is presented of how the emergence of the vitalizing connection between the psyche and the soma, severed through traumatic early relations with parents or carers, allows the instinctual impulse of the Self to manifest, thereby reactivating the process of individuation. © 2016, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

  8. Assessing environmental impacts embodied in manufacturing and labor input for the China-U.S. trade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ming; Williams, Eric; Allenby, Braden

    2010-01-15

    Previous studies on environmental impacts embodied in trade have paid little attention to the impacts of labor input, or environmental overhead of labor input (EOLI). EOLI occurs to support lifestyles both in the purchase of goods and services and in the consumption of fuels and electricity by workers. This research investigates both supply chain manufacturing and EOLI energy use and carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions embodied in the 2002 China-U.S. trade. EOLI is substantial in scale: 24% of manufacturing energy in the U.S. and 6% for China. The higher share of EOLI in the U.S. is the result of higher energy use to support worker lifestyles. Analysis shows China's EOLI is dominated by the manufacturing of products consumed by workers, while EOLI on the U.S. side is primarily from workers' direct consumption. The total manufacturing and EOLI energy and CO(2) embodied in the eastbound trade from China to the U.S. are 6.5 exajoules (EJ) of energy (6% EOLI) and 440 million tons (Mt) of CO(2) (8% EOLI). The total manufacturing and EOLI energy and CO(2) embodied in the westbound trade from the U.S. to China are 424 petajoules (PJ) of energy (19% EOLI) and 25.3 Mt of CO(2) (21% EOLI).

  9. The embodied energy and environmental emissions of construction projects in China: An economic input-output LCA model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang Yuan; Ries, Robert J.; Wang Yaowu

    2010-01-01

    A complete understanding of the resource consumption, embodied energy, and environmental emissions of civil projects in China is difficult due to the lack of comprehensive national statistics. To quantitatively assess the energy and environmental impacts of civil construction at a macro-level, this study developed a 24 sector environmental input-output life-cycle assessment model (I-O LCA) based on 2002 Chinese national economic and environmental data. The model generates an economy-wide inventory of energy use and environmental emissions. Estimates based on the level of economic activity related to planned future civil works in 2015 are made. Results indicate that the embodied energy of construction projects accounts for nearly one-sixth of the total economy's energy consumption in 2007, and may account for approximately one-fifth of the total energy use by 2015. This energy consumption is dominated by coal and oil consumptions. Energy-related emissions are the main polluters of the country's atmosphere and environment. If the industry's energy use and manufacturing techniques remain the same as in 2002, challenges to the goals for total energy consumption in China will appear in the next decade. Thus, effective implementation of efficient energy technologies and regulations are indispensable for achieving China's energy and environmental quality goals.

  10. Energy and Carbon Embodied in the International Trade of Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tolmasquim, M.T.; Machado, G.

    2003-01-01

    Shifting the economic structure of a country towards energy-intensive industries may lead to significant effect on the environment. One of the major environmental impacts associated to such changes is the increase of the Carbon Dioxide emissions - the main factor behind the greenhouse effect. In the last decades, structural changes in the Brazilian economy were close related to changes in the country's trade specialization. This paper analyzes to what extent energy use and its associated CO2 emissions of Brazil in the 90's may be overloaded by changes in the country's trade specialization towards a more energy-intensive mix. This study finds that Brazil exported, in net terms, significant amounts of energy and carbon (C) embodied in goods traded with the rest of the world in the 90's. In fact, some 6.6% of the final energy used by the industrial sector and around 7.1% of its C emissions are prompted by international trade. By overloading the country's energy use and its associated environmental damage (both local and global), this situation seems to contribute to increase not only local but also global environmental damage, since C leakage from non-Annex I countries due to international trade may lead to higher C concentration in the atmosphere

  11. Environmental Impacts and Embodied Energy of Construction Methods and Materials in Low-Income Tropical Housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arman Hashemi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper evaluates the current conditions of Ugandan low-income tropical housing with a focus on construction methods and materials in order to identify the key areas for improvement. Literature review, site visits and photographic surveys are carried out to collect relevant information on prevailing construction methods/materials and on their environmental impacts in rural areas. Low quality, high waste, and energy intensive production methods, as well as excessive soil extraction and deforestation, are identified as the main environmental damage of the current construction methods and materials. The embodied energy is highlighted as the key area which should be addressed to reduce the CO2 emissions of low-income tropical housing. The results indicate that the embodied energy of fired bricks in Uganda is up to 5.7 times more than general clay bricks. Concrete walling is identified as a much more environmentally friendly construction method compared to brick walling in East African countries. Improving fuel efficiency and moulding systems, increasing access to renewable energy sources, raising public awareness, educating local manufacturers and artisans, and gradual long-term introduction of innovative construction methods and materials which are adapted to local needs and conditions are some of the recommended actions to improve the current conditions.

  12. Embodied Visions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grodal, Torben Kragh

    Embodied Visions presents a groundbreaking analysis of film through the lens of bioculturalism, revealing how human biology as well as human culture determine how films are made and experienced. Throughout the book the author uses the breakthroughs of modern brain science to explain general featu...

  13. Embodiment of Legged Robots Emerged in Evolutionary Design: Pseudo Passive Dynamic Walkers

    OpenAIRE

    Matsushita, Kojiro; Yokoi, Hiroshi

    2008-01-01

    An objective of this paper is to illustrate a physical representation of the embodiment on legged locomotion. Embodiment is here defined as physical features that reduce control complexity and energy consumption of legged robots. In this method, the embodiment of

  14. GHGs and air pollutants embodied in China's international trade: Temporal and spatial index decomposition analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhengyan; Mao, Xianqiang; Song, Peng

    2017-01-01

    Temporal index decomposition analysis and spatial index decomposition analysis were applied to understand the driving forces of the emissions embodied in China's exports and net exports during 2002-2011, respectively. The accumulated emissions embodied in exports accounted for approximately 30% of the total emissions in China; although the contribution of the sectoral total emissions intensity (technique effect) declined, the scale effect was largely responsible for the mounting emissions associated with export, and the composition effect played a largely insignificant role. Calculations of the emissions embodied in net exports suggest that China is generally in an environmentally inferior position compared with its major trade partners. The differences in the economy-wide emission intensities between China and its major trade partners were the biggest contribution to this reality, and the trade balance effect played a less important role. However, a lower degree of specialization in pollution intensive products in exports than in imports helped to reduce slightly the emissions embodied in net exports. The temporal index decomposition analysis results suggest that China should take effective measures to optimize export and supply-side structure and reduce the total emissions intensity. According to spatial index decomposition analysis, it is suggested that a more aggressive import policy was useful for curbing domestic and global emissions, and the transfer of advanced production technologies and emission control technologies from developed to developing countries should be a compulsory global environmental policy option to mitigate the possible leakage of pollution emissions caused by international trade.

  15. Maternal experiences of embodied emotional sensations during breast feeding: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watkinson, Marcelina; Murray, Craig; Simpson, Jane

    2016-05-01

    the purpose of this study was to explore mothers׳ experiences of embodied emotional sensations during breast feeding and to understand the meaning and consequences that such experiences may have on mothers' sense of self and the relationships they form with their children. a qualitative design was applied to this study as it was judged as the most appropriate approach to this novel field of enquiry. the study was conducted in United Kingdom using a sample of mothers drawn from five different countries from Europe, America and Australia. the sample consisted of 11 mothers who reported experiencing or having experienced negative embodied emotional sensations associated with breast feeding in the past five years. semi-structured interviews were conducted with the mothers and interviews were transcribed to enable the process of data analysis. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; Smith et al., 2009a, 2009b) was chosen as a method of data analysis, enabling in depth understanding and interpretation of the meaning of mothers' experiences. IPA was chosen due to its idiographic commitment and particular interest in sense-making, phenomenology and hermeneutics. three themes were generated reflecting the multifaceted nature of breast feeding experiences (i) 'Breast feeding: An unexpected trigger of intense embodied emotional sensations incongruent with view of self', (ii) 'Fulfilling maternal expectations and maintaining closeness with the child', (iii) 'Making sense of embodied emotional sensations essential to acceptance and coping'. breast feeding has the potential to trigger a range of conflicting cognitions and emotions in mothers that may impact on how mothers view themselves and relate to their children. increasing awareness about emotional breast feeding experiences and recognising the multifaceted, individual nature of difficulties around breast feeding enables professionals to offer mothers person-centred care and avoid making clinical decisions and

  16. Design and construction strategies for reducing embodied impacts from buildings – Case study analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malmqvist, Tove; Nehasilova, Marie; Moncaster, Alice

    2018-01-01

    , individual building projects. This is done by a systematic analysis of the Annex 57 case study collection as well as additional scientific literature. While it should be noted that the actual EEG savings at building level illustrated in this collection of studies are only applicable to each specific case...... of national energy mixes. Stakeholders therefore have a growing interest in understanding the possibilities for reducing em- bodied impacts in buildings. In the IEA EBC project ‘Annex 57’ a broad call for case studies was launched with the aim to identify design strategies for reducing embodied energy and GHG...... emissions (EEG) from buildings. The aim of this paper is to identify and provide a collected and comprehensive overview of quantitative reduction potentials of the particular EEG reduction strategies which should be considered by the stakeholders engaged in, and with the capacity to influence the outcome of...

  17. GHGs and air pollutants embodied in China's international trade: Temporal and spatial index decomposition analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhengyan Liu

    Full Text Available Temporal index decomposition analysis and spatial index decomposition analysis were applied to understand the driving forces of the emissions embodied in China's exports and net exports during 2002-2011, respectively. The accumulated emissions embodied in exports accounted for approximately 30% of the total emissions in China; although the contribution of the sectoral total emissions intensity (technique effect declined, the scale effect was largely responsible for the mounting emissions associated with export, and the composition effect played a largely insignificant role. Calculations of the emissions embodied in net exports suggest that China is generally in an environmentally inferior position compared with its major trade partners. The differences in the economy-wide emission intensities between China and its major trade partners were the biggest contribution to this reality, and the trade balance effect played a less important role. However, a lower degree of specialization in pollution intensive products in exports than in imports helped to reduce slightly the emissions embodied in net exports. The temporal index decomposition analysis results suggest that China should take effective measures to optimize export and supply-side structure and reduce the total emissions intensity. According to spatial index decomposition analysis, it is suggested that a more aggressive import policy was useful for curbing domestic and global emissions, and the transfer of advanced production technologies and emission control technologies from developed to developing countries should be a compulsory global environmental policy option to mitigate the possible leakage of pollution emissions caused by international trade.

  18. An analysis of the driving forces of CO2 emissions embodied in Japan-China trade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong Yanli; Ishikawa, Masanobu; Liu Xianbing; Wang Can

    2010-01-01

    By using the latest China-Japan input-output data sets and the index decomposition analysis (IDA) approach, this article analyzes the driving forces of CO 2 emissions embodied in trade between the two countries during 1990-2000. We found that the growth of trade volume had a large influence on the increase of CO 2 emissions embodiments in bilateral trade. The dramatic decline in carbon intensity of the Chinese economy is a primary cause in offsetting CO 2 emissions exported from China to Japan over 1995-2000. We argue that a better understanding of the factors affecting CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade will assist in seeking more effective climate policies with wider participation in the post-Kyoto regime.

  19. Energy-dominated local carbon emissions in Beijing 2007: inventory and input-output analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Shan; Liu, J B; Shao, Ling; Li, J S; An, Y R

    2012-01-01

    For greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by Beijing economy 2007, a concrete emission inventory covering carbon dioxide (CO(2)), methane (CH(4)), and nitrous oxide (N(2)O) is presented and associated with an input-output analysis to reveal the local GHG embodiment in final demand and trade without regard to imported emissions. The total direct GHG emissions amount to 1.06E + 08 t CO(2)-eq, of which energy-related CO(2) emissions comprise 90.49%, non-energy-related CO(2) emissions 6.35%, CH(4) emissions 2.33%, and N(2)O emissions 0.83%, respectively. In terms of energy-related CO(2) emissions, the largest source is coal with a percentage of 53.08%, followed by coke with 10.75% and kerosene with 8.44%. Sector 26 (Construction Industry) holds the top local emissions embodied in final demand of 1.86E + 07 t CO(2)-eq due to its considerable capital, followed by energy-intensive Sectors 27 (Transport and Storage) and 14 (Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals). The GHG emissions embodied in Beijing's exports are 4.90E + 07 t CO(2)-eq, accounting for 46.01% of the total emissions embodied in final demand. The sound scientific database totally based on local emissions is an important basis to make effective environment and energy policies for local decision makers.

  20. Enacting Conceptual Metaphor through Blending: Learning activities embodying the substance metaphor for energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Close, Hunter G.; Scherr, Rachel E.

    2015-04-01

    We demonstrate that a particular blended learning space is especially productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. In this blended space, naturally occurring learner interactions like body movement, gesture, and metaphorical speech are blended with a conceptual metaphor of energy as a substance in a class of activities called Energy Theater. We illustrate several mechanisms by which the blended aspect of the learning environment promotes productive intellectual engagement with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including distinguishing among energy processes, disambiguating matter and energy, identifying energy transfer, and representing energy as a conserved quantity. Conceptual advancement appears to be promoted especially by the symbolic material and social structure of the Energy Theater environment, in which energy is represented by participants and objects are represented by areas demarcated by loops of rope, and by Energy Theater's embodied action, including body locomotion, gesture, and coordination of speech with symbolic spaces in the Energy Theater arena. Our conclusions are (1) that specific conceptual metaphors can be leveraged to benefit science instruction via the blending of an abstract space of ideas with multiple modes of concrete human action, and (2) that participants' structured improvisation plays an important role in leveraging the blend for their intellectual development.

  1. GHGs and air pollutants embodied in China’s international trade: Temporal and spatial index decomposition analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhengyan; Mao, Xianqiang; Song, Peng

    2017-01-01

    Temporal index decomposition analysis and spatial index decomposition analysis were applied to understand the driving forces of the emissions embodied in China’s exports and net exports during 2002–2011, respectively. The accumulated emissions embodied in exports accounted for approximately 30% of the total emissions in China; although the contribution of the sectoral total emissions intensity (technique effect) declined, the scale effect was largely responsible for the mounting emissions associated with export, and the composition effect played a largely insignificant role. Calculations of the emissions embodied in net exports suggest that China is generally in an environmentally inferior position compared with its major trade partners. The differences in the economy-wide emission intensities between China and its major trade partners were the biggest contribution to this reality, and the trade balance effect played a less important role. However, a lower degree of specialization in pollution intensive products in exports than in imports helped to reduce slightly the emissions embodied in net exports. The temporal index decomposition analysis results suggest that China should take effective measures to optimize export and supply-side structure and reduce the total emissions intensity. According to spatial index decomposition analysis, it is suggested that a more aggressive import policy was useful for curbing domestic and global emissions, and the transfer of advanced production technologies and emission control technologies from developed to developing countries should be a compulsory global environmental policy option to mitigate the possible leakage of pollution emissions caused by international trade. PMID:28441399

  2. Narrative and embodiment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Køster, Allan

    2016-01-01

    Recent work on the relation between narrative and selfhood has emphasized embodiment as an indispensable foundation for selfhood. This has occasioned an interesting debate on the relation between embodiment and narrative. In this paper, I attempt to mediate the range of conflicting intuitions......) strictly is or is not; rather, we need to see narrative as an attribute admitting of degrees. I suggest that the relation between narrative and embodiment should be seen along these lines, proposing three levels of the narrativity of embodied experiencing: 1) the unnarratable, 2) the narratable and 3...

  3. Multicriteria Decision Analysis of Material Selection of High Energy Performance Residential Building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Čuláková, Monika; Vilčeková, Silvia; Katunská, Jana; Krídlová Burdová, Eva

    2013-11-01

    In world with limited amount of energy sources and with serious environmental pollution, interest in comparing the environmental embodied impacts of buildings using different structure systems and alternative building materials will be increased. This paper shows the significance of life cycle energy and carbon perspective and the material selection in reducing energy consumption and emissions production in the built environment. The study evaluates embodied environmental impacts of nearly zero energy residential structures. The environmental assessment uses framework of LCA within boundary: cradle to gate. Designed alternative scenarios of material compositions are also assessed in terms of energy effectiveness through selected thermal-physical parameters. This study uses multi-criteria decision analysis for making clearer selection between alternative scenarios. The results of MCDA show that alternative E from materials on nature plant base (wood, straw bales, massive wood panel) present possible way to sustainable perspective of nearly zero energy houses in Slovak republic

  4. A WIMS E analysis of zero energy experiments performed on the Dragon reactor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lancefield, M. J.; Broadhouse, B.; Woloch, F.

    1974-10-15

    UKAEA methods embodied in the WINS-E modular scheme of codes are described in their application to the analysis of zero energy experiments performed on the DRAGON reactor. Measured reactivity and reaction rate distributions are compared with the predictions of the analysis.

  5. Energy-Dominated Local Carbon Emissions in Beijing 2007: Inventory and Input-Output Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shan Guo

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available For greenhouse gas (GHG emissions by Beijing economy 2007, a concrete emission inventory covering carbon dioxide (CO2, methane (CH4, and nitrous oxide (N2O is presented and associated with an input-output analysis to reveal the local GHG embodiment in final demand and trade without regard to imported emissions. The total direct GHG emissions amount to 1.06E + 08 t CO2-eq, of which energy-related CO2 emissions comprise 90.49%, non-energy-related CO2 emissions 6.35%, CH4 emissions 2.33%, and N2O emissions 0.83%, respectively. In terms of energy-related CO2 emissions, the largest source is coal with a percentage of 53.08%, followed by coke with 10.75% and kerosene with 8.44%. Sector 26 (Construction Industry holds the top local emissions embodied in final demand of 1.86E + 07 t CO2-eq due to its considerable capital, followed by energy-intensive Sectors 27 (Transport and Storage and 14 (Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals. The GHG emissions embodied in Beijing's exports are 4.90E + 07 t CO2-eq, accounting for 46.01% of the total emissions embodied in final demand. The sound scientific database totally based on local emissions is an important basis to make effective environment and energy policies for local decision makers.

  6. Embodied-self-monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bagalkot, Naveen L.

    -hardware drove this co-evolution in collaboration with the rehabilitees, their spouses, and their professional therapists. The explorations resulted in a ‘compositional whole’. This compositional whole is constituted by the theoretical concept of embodied-self-monitoring; the various scenarios of possible...... for compliance. I formulate the theoretical concept of ‘embodied-self-monitoring’ to orient the design towards embracing the embodied actions of the rehabilitees through which they make sense of complying with the therapy. The central argument of this thesis is that the theoretical concept of embodied....... I follow a concept-driven interaction design research process. This is a dialectic process where both the understanding of what is embodied-self-monitoring and what prospects it offers co-evolved through the two groups of design explorations presented in this thesis. A process of sketching -in...

  7. Variations in embodied energy and carbon emission intensities of construction materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wan Omar, Wan-Mohd-Sabki [Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland 4222 (Australia); School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600 Arau, Perlis (Malaysia); Doh, Jeung-Hwan, E-mail: j.doh@griffith.edu.au [Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland 4222 (Australia); Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak [Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland 4222 (Australia)

    2014-11-15

    Identification of parameter variation allows us to conduct more detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy and carbon emission material over their lifecycle. Previous research studies have demonstrated that hybrid LCA (HLCA) can generally overcome the problems of incompleteness and accuracy of embodied energy (EE) and carbon (EC) emission assessment. Unfortunately, the current interpretation and quantification procedure has not been extensively and empirically studied in a qualitative manner, especially in hybridising between the process LCA and I-O LCA. To determine this weakness, this study empirically demonstrates the changes in EE and EC intensities caused by variations to key parameters in material production. Using Australia and Malaysia as a case study, the results are compared with previous hybrid models to identify key parameters and issues. The parameters considered in this study are technological changes, energy tariffs, primary energy factors, disaggregation constant, emission factors, and material price fluctuation. It was found that changes in technological efficiency, energy tariffs and material prices caused significant variations in the model. Finally, the comparison of hybrid models revealed that non-energy intensive materials greatly influence the variations due to high indirect energy and carbon emission in upstream boundary of material production, and as such, any decision related to these materials should be considered carefully. - Highlights: • We investigate the EE and EC intensity variation in Australia and Malaysia. • The influences of parameter variations on hybrid LCA model were evaluated. • Key significant contribution to the EE and EC intensity variation were identified. • High indirect EE and EC content caused significant variation in hybrid LCA models. • Non-energy intensive material caused variation between hybrid LCA models.

  8. Variations in embodied energy and carbon emission intensities of construction materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Omar, Wan-Mohd-Sabki; Doh, Jeung-Hwan; Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak

    2014-01-01

    Identification of parameter variation allows us to conduct more detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy and carbon emission material over their lifecycle. Previous research studies have demonstrated that hybrid LCA (HLCA) can generally overcome the problems of incompleteness and accuracy of embodied energy (EE) and carbon (EC) emission assessment. Unfortunately, the current interpretation and quantification procedure has not been extensively and empirically studied in a qualitative manner, especially in hybridising between the process LCA and I-O LCA. To determine this weakness, this study empirically demonstrates the changes in EE and EC intensities caused by variations to key parameters in material production. Using Australia and Malaysia as a case study, the results are compared with previous hybrid models to identify key parameters and issues. The parameters considered in this study are technological changes, energy tariffs, primary energy factors, disaggregation constant, emission factors, and material price fluctuation. It was found that changes in technological efficiency, energy tariffs and material prices caused significant variations in the model. Finally, the comparison of hybrid models revealed that non-energy intensive materials greatly influence the variations due to high indirect energy and carbon emission in upstream boundary of material production, and as such, any decision related to these materials should be considered carefully. - Highlights: • We investigate the EE and EC intensity variation in Australia and Malaysia. • The influences of parameter variations on hybrid LCA model were evaluated. • Key significant contribution to the EE and EC intensity variation were identified. • High indirect EE and EC content caused significant variation in hybrid LCA models. • Non-energy intensive material caused variation between hybrid LCA models

  9. Clinical cognition and embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paley, John

    2004-01-01

    I first identify two different distinctions: between Cartesian cognition and embodied cognition, and between calculative rationality and intuitive know-how. I then suggest that, in the nursing literature, these two distinctions are run together, to create an opposition between 'Cartesian rationality' and 'embodied know-how'. However, it is vital to keep the two distinctions apart, because 'embodied knowing' is very frequently rational. In separating the idea of embodied cognition from non-rational intuition, I show how 'embodiment' leads to the concepts of distributed cognition and distributed expertise. This has extensive and important implications for how we understand clinical cognition in nursing.

  10. China’s provincial CO2 emissions embodied in international and interprovincial trade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Ju’e; Zhang Zengkai; Meng Lei

    2012-01-01

    Trades create a mechanism of embodied CO 2 emissions transfer among regions, causing distortion on the total emissions. As the world’s second largest economy, China has a large scale of trade, which results in the serious problem of embodied CO 2 emissions transfer. This paper analyzes the characteristics of China’s CO 2 emissions embodied in international and interprovincial trade from the provincial perspective. The multi-regional Input–Output Model is used to clarify provincial CO 2 emissions from geographical and sectoral dimensions, including 30 provinces and 28 sectors. Two calculating principles (production accounting principle and consumption accounting principle, ) are applied. The results show that for international trade, the eastern area accounts for a large proportion in China’s embodied CO 2 emissions. The sectors as net exporters and importers of embodied CO 2 emissions belong to labor-intensive and energy-intensive industries, respectively. For interprovincial trade, the net transfer of embodied CO 2 emissions is from the eastern area to the central area, and energy-intensive industries are the main contributors. With the largest amount of direct CO 2 emissions, the eastern area plays an important role in CO 2 emissions reduction. The central and western areas need supportive policies to avoid the transfer of industries with high emissions. - Highlights: ► China’s embodied CO 2 emissions are analyzed from the provincial perspective. ► Eastern provinces have larger CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade. ► Embodied CO 2 emissions are mainly transferred from eastern area to central area. ► Coastal provinces play important roles in CO 2 emissions reduction. ► Inland provinces need supportive policies on emissions reduction.

  11. Embodiment and Interface

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gregersen, Andreas Lindegaard; Grodal, Torben Kragh

    2008-01-01

    The article discusses – based on neurological and phenomenological theory - how the human embodiment supports and constrains the interaction between players and video games. It analyses embodied interaction with the specific hardware/software configuration of the Nintendo Wii and Wii Tennis as well...... as other game system configurations. The article argues that playing video games may provide experiences of extended embodiment where players may experience ownership of both actions and virtual bodies related to the represented game world. The article shows how ownership may be related to differences...... of the player as patient, i.e. being the object of another agent’s actions.  Keywords: Video games, embodiment, interface, agency, action, control, cognition  ...

  12. Ritual and embodied cognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.; Klocová, Eva Kundtová

    2017-01-01

    Dette kapitel introducerer et embodied cognition tilgang til studiet af religiøse ritualer. Da tilgangen rummer forskellige elementer fra forskellige discipliner bliver disse opsummeret i "4E approach", nemlig kognition som embodied, embedded, extended og enactive.......Dette kapitel introducerer et embodied cognition tilgang til studiet af religiøse ritualer. Da tilgangen rummer forskellige elementer fra forskellige discipliner bliver disse opsummeret i "4E approach", nemlig kognition som embodied, embedded, extended og enactive....

  13. An overview of energy consumption of the globalized world economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Z.M.; Chen, G.Q.

    2011-01-01

    For the globalized world economy with intensive international trade, an overview of energy consumption is presented by an embodied energy analysis to track both direct and indirect energy uses based on a systems input-output simulation. In 2004, the total amounts of energy embodied in household consumption, government consumption, and investment are 7749, 874, and 2009 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent), respectively. The United States is shown as the world's biggest embodied energy importer (683 Mtoe) and embodied energy surplus receiver (290 Mtoe), in contrast to China as the biggest exporter (662 Mtoe) and deficit receiver (274 Mtoe). Energy embodied in consumption per capita varies from 0.05 (Uganda) to 19.54 toe (Rest of North America). Based on a forecast for 2005-2035, China is to replace the United States as the world's leading embodied energy consumer in 2027, when its per capita energy consumption will be one quarter of that of the United States. - Highlights: → We present an overview of global energy profile in terms of embodied energy. → The US and China are top embodied energy consumers as well as traders in 2004. → Equality issue is studied by analyzing per capita embodied energy consumption. → The US remains to be the leading energy consumer until replaced by China in 2027.

  14. Controversial Embodiment: Sport, Masculinity, Dis/Ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marilena Parlati

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This essay is an attempt at investigating visible forms of complex, indeed controversial embodiment, with the specific intention of concentrating on the ways they interrogate delicate issues such as disability, masculinity and prosthetic sport performance. I intend to sound the shifting boundaries between dis-ability and super-ability as manifested in iconic figures such as Stelarc and, in other fields, Oscar Pistorius, whose unsteady position as privileged/disabled bladerunner seems to require – and indeed to gather – particularly intense scrutiny. I shall introduce a few contemporary discourses on corporeality and embodiment, which focus on the ‘troubling’ nature of auxiliary organs Freud refers to in the much contended paragraph I adopt as epigraph and guiding procedural light; I shall move from Butler and Giddens to Jean-Luc Nancy’s work on transplants and/as prostheses to include theoretical debates on disintegrating embodiment and disability studies, in order to proceed towards an analysis of the short-circuiting of allegedly secure practices of (masculine embodiment in sport culture and theory.

  15. The Mechanics of Embodiment: A Dialog on Embodiment and Computational Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pezzulo, Giovanni; Barsalou, Lawrence W.; Cangelosi, Angelo; Fischer, Martin H.; McRae, Ken; Spivey, Michael J.

    2011-01-01

    Embodied theories are increasingly challenging traditional views of cognition by arguing that conceptual representations that constitute our knowledge are grounded in sensory and motor experiences, and processed at this sensorimotor level, rather than being represented and processed abstractly in an amodal conceptual system. Given the established empirical foundation, and the relatively underspecified theories to date, many researchers are extremely interested in embodied cognition but are clamoring for more mechanistic implementations. What is needed at this stage is a push toward explicit computational models that implement sensorimotor grounding as intrinsic to cognitive processes. In this article, six authors from varying backgrounds and approaches address issues concerning the construction of embodied computational models, and illustrate what they view as the critical current and next steps toward mechanistic theories of embodiment. The first part has the form of a dialog between two fictional characters: Ernest, the “experimenter,” and Mary, the “computational modeler.” The dialog consists of an interactive sequence of questions, requests for clarification, challenges, and (tentative) answers, and touches the most important aspects of grounded theories that should inform computational modeling and, conversely, the impact that computational modeling could have on embodied theories. The second part of the article discusses the most important open challenges for embodied computational modeling. PMID:21713184

  16. Compilation of an Embodied CO2 Emission Inventory for China Using 135-Sector Input-Output Tables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Zhang

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available A high-quality carbon dioxide (CO2 inventory is the cornerstone of climate change mitigation. Most of the previously reported embodied CO2 inventories in China have no more than 42 sectors, and this limitation may introduce apparent inaccuracy into the analysis at the sector level. To improve the quality of input-output (IO-based CO2 inventories for China, we propose a practical energy allocation approach to link the energy statistics to the 135-sector IO tables for China and compiled a detailed embodied CO2 intensity and inventory for 2007 using a single-region IO model. Interpretation of embodied CO2 intensities by fuel category, direct requirement, and total requirement in the sectors were conducted to identify, from different perspectives, the significant contributors. The total embodied CO2 emissions in 2007 was estimated to be 7.1 Gt and was separated into the industrial sector and final demand sector. Although the total CO2 estimations by the 42-sector and 135-sector analyses are equivalent, the allocations in certain groups of sectors differ significantly. Our compilation methodologies address indirect environmental impacts from industrial sectors, including the public utility and tertiary sectors. This method of interpretation could be utilized for better communication with stakeholders.

  17. Beyond different levels: embodiment and the developmental system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Peter J

    2014-01-01

    The value of studying a phenomenon at multiple levels of analysis is often emphasized in psychology, but a lack of clarity about the nature of levels and the relations among them remains an impediment to progress. The suggestion here is that an approach combining the tenets of embodiment with the construct of the developmental system provides a way forward. Embodiment opposes the splitting off and elevation of a level of mechanisms that has characterized much of cognitive science. In contrast, a constructivist embodied approach places a level of mechanisms in the context of a formal or systems level of analysis, with developmental process framing the interpenetrating relations between levels. Such an approach stems from a relational worldview that opposes conceptual splits and posits that levels of structure and process comprise an indissociable complementarity. The combination of embodiment and developmental systems within a relational worldview is discussed and elaborated through outlining the integrative approach of relational developmental systems, which has been proposed as a scientific paradigm within which formulations of the interrelations among brain, body, and mind can be advanced.

  18. The intersubjectivity of embodiment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Introduction: The Intersubjectivity of Embodiment by Fusaroli, R; Demuru, P. & Borghi, A Embodied Human Intersubjectivity: Imaginative Agency, To Share Meaning by Trevarthen, C How Our Bodies Become Us: Embodiment, Semiosis, and Intersubjectivity by Violi, P Intersubjectivity at Close Quarters: H......-at-Onceness’ of Embodied, Face-to-Face Interaction by Quaeghebeur, L Fleshing Out Language and Intersubjectivity: An Exploration of Merleau-Ponty’s Legacy to Cognitive Linguistics by Sambre, P Enactivism and Social Cognition: In Search of the Whole Story by de Bruin, L & de Haan, S...... Dancers of Tango Argentino Use Imagery for Interaction and Improvisation by Kimmel, M Intersubjectivity and Embodied Communication Systems by Gentilucci, Gianelli, Campione & Ferri The Social World Within Reach: Intersubjective Manifestations of Action Completion by Andren, M The ‘All...

  19. Embodiment, agency, and attitude change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Cheryl A; Lord, Charles G; Bond, Charles F

    2009-12-01

    Attitude embodiment effects occur when the position or movement of a person's physical body changes the way the person evaluates an object. The present research investigated whether attitude embodiment effects depend more on biomechanical factors or on inferential cues to causal agency. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not necessary to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply agency for another person's physical movements. Experiment 3 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not sufficient to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply nonagency for those movements. In all 3 experiments, inferential cues to agency played a more important role in attitude embodiment effects than did actual agency, suggesting that theories of embodiment and attitude embodiment need to consider inferential cues to agency alongside biomechanical mechanisms.

  20. Embodied social cognition

    CERN Document Server

    Lindblom, Jessica

    2015-01-01

    This book clarifies the role and relevance of the body in social interaction and cognition from an embodied cognitive science perspective. Theories of embodied cognition have during the last decades offered a radical shift in explanations of the human mind, from traditional computationalism, to emphasizing the way cognition is shaped by the body and its sensorimotor interaction with the surrounding social and material world. This book presents a theoretical framework for the relational nature of embodied social cognition, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach that ranges historically in time and across different disciplines. It includes work in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, phenomenology, ethology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, social psychology, linguistics, communication, and gesture studies. The theoretical framework is illustrated by empirical work that provides some detailed observational fieldwork on embodied actions captured in three different episodes of spontaneous s...

  1. Telecommunications energy and greenhouse gas emissions management for future network growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chan, Chien Aun; Gygax, André F.; Leckie, Christopher; Wong, Elaine; Nirmalathas, Ampalavanapillai; Hinton, Kerry

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Model to evaluate key interdependencies of a fast growing telecommunications network. • Network growth analysis using real data and Monte Carlo simulation. • Importance of both operational and embodied energy efficiency improvements. • Embodied energy expected to dominate in the future under current energy efficiency trends. • Carbon footprint and energy management through optimum network replacement cycle. - Abstract: A key aspect of greener network deployment is how to achieve sustainable growth of a telecommunications network, both in terms of operational and embodied energy. Hence, in this paper we investigate how the overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of a fast growing telecommunications network can be minimized. Due to the complexities in modeling the embodied energy of networks, this aspect of energy consumption has received limited attention by network operators. Here, we present the first model to evaluate the interdependencies of the four main contributing factors in managing the sustainable growth of a telecommunications network: (i) the network’s operational energy consumption; (ii) the embodied energy of network equipment; (iii) network traffic growth; and (iv) the expected energy efficiency improvements in both the operational and embodied phases. Using Monte Carlo techniques with real network data, our results demonstrate that under the current trends in overall energy efficiency improvements the network embodied energy will account for over 40% of the total network energy in 2025 compared to 20% in 2015. Further, we find that the optimum equipment replacement cycle, which will result in the lowest total network life cycle energy, is directly dependent on the technological progress in energy efficiency improvements of both operational and embodied phases. Our model and analysis highlight the need for a comprehensive approach to better understand the interactions between network growth, technological

  2. Use of Natural-Fiber Bio-Composites in Construction versus Traditional Solutions: Operational and Embodied Energy Assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galan-Marin, Carmen; Rivera-Gomez, Carlos; Garcia-Martinez, Antonio

    2016-06-13

    During the last decades natural polymers have become more and more frequent to replace traditional inorganic stabilizers in building materials. The purpose of this research is to establish a comparison between the most conventional building material solutions for load-bearing walls and a type of biomaterial. This comparison will focus on load-bearing walls as used in a widespread type of twentieth century dwelling construction in Europe and still used in developing countries nowadays. To carry out this analysis, the structural and thermal insulation characteristics of different construction solutions are balanced. The tool used for this evaluation is the life cycle assessment throughout the whole lifespan of these buildings. This research aims to examine the environmental performance of each material assessed: fired clay brick masonry walls (BW), concrete block masonry walls (CW), and stabilized soil block masonry walls (SW) stabilized with natural fibers and alginates. These conventional and new materials are evaluated from the point of view of both operational and embodied energy.

  3. Embodiment in social psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Brian P; Schnall, Simone; Schwarz, Norbert; Bargh, John A

    2012-10-01

    Psychologists are increasingly interested in embodiment based on the assumption that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are grounded in bodily interaction with the environment. We examine how embodiment is used in social psychology, and we explore the ways in which embodied approaches enrich traditional theories. Although research in this area is burgeoning, much of it has been more descriptive than explanatory. We provide a critical discussion of the trajectory of embodiment research in social psychology. We contend that future researchers should engage in a phenomenon-based approach, highlight the theoretical boundary conditions and mediators involved, explore novel action-relevant outcome measures, and address the role of individual differences broadly defined. Such research will likely provide a more explanatory account of the role of embodiment in general terms as well as how it expands the knowledge base in social psychology. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  4. A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective on Embodied Language for Human-Robot Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2010-01-01

    This article addresses issues in embodied sentence processing from a "cognitive neural systems" approach that combines analysis of the behavior in question, analysis of the known neurophysiological bases of this behavior, and the synthesis of a neuro-computational model of embodied sentence processing that can be applied to and tested in the…

  5. Embodiment and Human Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Peter J

    2016-12-01

    We are recognizing increasingly that the study of cognitive, social, and emotional processes must account for their embodiment in living, acting beings. The related field of embodied cognition (EC) has coalesced around dissatisfaction with the lack of attention to the body in cognitive science. For developmental scientists, the emphasis in the literature on adult EC on the role of the body in cognition may not seem particularly novel, given that bodily action was central to Piaget's theory of cognitive development. However, as the influence of the Piagetian account waned, developmental notions of embodiment were shelved in favor of mechanical computational approaches. In this article, I argue that by reconsidering embodiment, we can address a key issue with computational accounts: how meaning is constructed by the developing person. I also suggest that the process-relational approach to developmental systems can provide a system of concepts for framing a fully embodied, integrative developmental science.

  6. Energy metrics analysis of hybrid - photovoltaic (PV) modules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tiwari, Arvind [Department of Electronics and Communication, Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology, 13 k.m. stone, Ghaziabad - Meerut Road, Ghaziabad 201 206, UP (India); Barnwal, P.; Sandhu, G.S.; Sodha, M.S. [Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016 (India)

    2009-12-15

    In this paper, energy metrics (energy pay back time, electricity production factor and life cycle conversion efficiency) of hybrid photovoltaic (PV) modules have been analyzed and presented for the composite climate of New Delhi, India. For this purpose, it is necessary to calculate (1) the energy consumption in making different components of the PV modules and (2) the annual energy (electrical and thermal) available from the hybrid-PV modules. A set of mathematical relations have been reformulated for computation of the energy metrics. The manufacturing energy, material production energy, energy use and distribution energy of the system have been taken into account, to determine the embodied energy for the hybrid-PV modules. The embodied energy and annual energy outputs have been used for evaluation of the energy metrics. For hybrid PV module, it has been observed that the EPBT gets significantly reduced by taking into account the increase in annual energy availability of the thermal energy in addition to the electrical energy. The values of EPF and LCCE of hybrid PV module become higher as expected. (author)

  7. China's regional disparities in energy consumption: An input–output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Zheng; Pan, Lingying; Fu, Feng; Liu, Pei; Ma, Linwei; Amorelli, Angelo

    2014-01-01

    While most of previous studies on China's energy conservation took the huge country as a whole, this manuscript revealed the obvious regional disparities in energy consumption of China's 30 provinces. Based on a hybrid energy input–output model, the total energy consumption of different regions was decomposed and compared using three measurements of embodied energy in inter-regional trade: 1) only considered inter-regional energy trade; 2) considered embodied energy in flow-out of final goods and services; 3) considered embodied energy in flow-in of final goods and services. Based on the second and third measurements, the 30 regions were categorized into four groups by their energy intensity and per capita GDP (gross domestic production). Common characteristics of decomposed regional energy intensity are discussed, and policy implication for regional energy conservation is provided. For developed regions with low energy intensities, such as Shanghai, energy conservation should focus on promoting low energy-consuming life style. For under-developed regions with low energy intensities, such as Guangxi, economic development is more urgent than energy conservation. For developing and energy absorbing regions, improving energy efficiency in industries is significant. For developing and energy exporting regions, transforming primary energy into high value-added products would be beneficial for economic development and energy conservation. - Highlights: • A hybrid input–output model for the decomposition of regional energy consumption. • A discussion of China's regional disparities in energy consumption by model results. • Regional energy consumption was compared by three measurements of embodied energy. • 30 regions of China were categorized into four groups by energy intensity and GDP

  8. Embodiment as First Affordance: Tinkering, Tuning, Tracking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ben Spatz

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article begins from a discussion of philosophical realism and the turn towards close analysis of skilled material practices that characterizes many recent critical interventions. I examine the roots of this turn and suggest that skilled practice is a privileged site for the enactment and testing of realist ontologies. However, I question the extent to which realist thinkers have emphasized practices in which materials outside the human body are central over those in which embodiment itself is the primary medium of practice. Thinkers of realist ontology, I argue, have neglected embodiment as the primary site of an engagement with the fine-grained detail of the world. In contrast, I propose that realist ontologies developed through reference to technological engagements not only apply equally well to embodied practices but actually find their original and primary manifestation there. The body itself is the ‘first affordance’ and the site at which questions of realism and objectivity are first encountered and resolved in practice. I illustrate this point by considering how three modes of material engagement — tinkering, tuning, and tracking — manifest in embodied practices ranging from dance and sport to those of everyday life. I conclude by emphasizing the continuing political importance of embodiment as first affordance and its crucial place as a ‘fragile junction’ between ecology and technology.

  9. Embodied Design Ideation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilde, Danielle; Vallgårda, Anna; Tomico, Oscar

    Embodied design ideation (EDI) practices work with relationships between body, material and context to enliven design and research potential. Methods are often idiosyncratic and – due to their physical nature – not easily transferred. As independent researchers, and as collaborators, we have been...... engaging with this problematic for some time. At CHI2017 we will present a framework that enables designers to understand, describe and contextualise EDI practices in ways that can be understood by peers, as well as those new to embodied ideation. Our framework affords discussion of embodied design actions...... individual approaches to EDI, developed over many years of research practice and (3) an inspirational catalogue demonstrating the diversity of ideas that EDI methods can foster....

  10. Structure analysis and core community detection of embodied resources networks among regional industries

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Xijun; Dong, Yanbo; Wu, Yuying; Wei, Guodan; Xing, Lizhi; Yan, Jia

    2017-08-01

    To address the double pressure of scarce resources and regional industrial isomorphism, this paper applied the concepts of exergy and embodied resources based on economic input-output (I-O) data. We constructed the embodied resources networks among the regional industries of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (also known as Jing-Jin-Ji) in China. We analyzed the rules of embodied resources consumption in the area's industries, identified the core community structures, and studied the characteristics of industrial homogeneity through regional comparisons. The results showed that the dependence on scarce resources of industrial operations in Beijing was less than in Jin-Ji, while the dependence on finance, technology, information, and other service resources in Beijing was higher than in Jin-Ji. The I-O efficiency of embodied resources among industries and the agglomeration of correlation relationships in industries with large embodied resources were higher than in Jin-Ji. The industrial coincidence degree in the ;bridge; industries and in the core community in Jin-Ji was higher than in Jing-Jin and Jing-Ji, which means the industrial homogeneous competition of Jin-Ji was higher, too. This study makes a significant contribution toward promoting the dislocation development of regional industries, accelerating the coordination of resources, and reducing homogeneity competition.

  11. The poverty of embodied cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldinger, Stephen D; Papesh, Megan H; Barnhart, Anthony S; Hansen, Whitney A; Hout, Michael C

    2016-08-01

    In recent years, there has been rapidly growing interest in embodied cognition, a multifaceted theoretical proposition that (1) cognitive processes are influenced by the body, (2) cognition exists in the service of action, (3) cognition is situated in the environment, and (4) cognition may occur without internal representations. Many proponents view embodied cognition as the next great paradigm shift for cognitive science. In this article, we critically examine the core ideas from embodied cognition, taking a "thought exercise" approach. We first note that the basic principles from embodiment theory are either unacceptably vague (e.g., the premise that perception is influenced by the body) or they offer nothing new (e.g., cognition evolved to optimize survival, emotions affect cognition, perception-action couplings are important). We next suggest that, for the vast majority of classic findings in cognitive science, embodied cognition offers no scientifically valuable insight. In most cases, the theory has no logical connections to the phenomena, other than some trivially true ideas. Beyond classic laboratory findings, embodiment theory is also unable to adequately address the basic experiences of cognitive life.

  12. Analysis of the energy metabolism of urban socioeconomic sectors and the associated carbon footprints: Model development and a case study for Beijing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yan; Zheng, Hongmei; Fath, Brian D.

    2014-01-01

    Cities consume 80% of the world's energy; therefore, analyzing urban energy metabolism and the resulting carbon footprint provides basic data for formulating target carbon emission reductions. While energy metabolism includes both direct and indirect consumptions among sectors, few researchers have studied indirect consumption due to a lack of data. In this study, we used input–output analysis to calculate the energy flows among directly linked sectors. Building on this, we used ecological network analysis to develop a model of urban energy flows and also account for energy consumption embodied by the flows among indirectly linked sectors (represented numerically as paths with a length of 2 or more). To illustrate the model, monetary input–output tables for Beijing from 2000 to 2010 were analyzed to determine the embodied energy consumption and associated carbon footprints of these sectors. This analysis reveals the environmental pressure based on the source (energy consumption) and sink (carbon footprint) values. Indirect consumption was Beijing's primary form, and the carbon footprint therefore resulted mainly from indirect consumption (both accounting for ca. 60% of the total, though with considerable variation among sectors). To reduce emissions, the utilization efficiency of indirect consumption must improve. - Highlights: • We quantified the embodied energy transfers among Beijing's socioeconomic sectors. • We calculated the sectors' intensity of energy consumption and carbon footprint. • The indirect energy consumption was higher than the direct for all sectors. • The high-indirect-consumption sectors are at the end of industrial supply chains. • High-indirect-consumption sectors can improve upstream products energy efficiency

  13. Routes to embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Körner, Anita; Topolinski, Sascha; Strack, Fritz

    2015-01-01

    Research on embodiment is rich in impressive demonstrations but somewhat poor in comprehensive explanations. Although some moderators and driving mechanisms have been identified, a comprehensive conceptual account of how bodily states or dynamics influence behavior is still missing. Here, we attempt to integrate current knowledge by describing three basic psychological mechanisms: direct state induction, which influences how humans feel or process information, unmediated by any other cognitive mechanism; modal priming, which changes the accessibility of concepts associated with a bodily state; sensorimotor simulation, which affects the ease with which congruent and incongruent actions are performed. We argue that the joint impact of these mechanisms can account for most existing embodiment effects. Additionally, we summarize empirical tests for distinguishing these mechanisms and suggest a guideline for future research about the mechanisms underlying embodiment effects.

  14. Embodied Cognition is Not What You Think It Is

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew D Wilson

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The most exciting hypothesis in cognitive science right now is the theory that cognition is embodied. Like all good ideas in cognitive science, however, embodiment immediately came to mean six different things. The most common definitions involve the straightforward claim that ‘states of the body modify states of the mind’. However, the implications of embodiment are actually much more radical than this. If cognition can span the brain, body and the environment, then the ‘states of mind’ of disembodied cognitive science won’t exist to be modified. Cognition will instead be an extended system assembled from a broad array of resources.Taking embodiment seriously therefore requires both new methods and theory. Here we outline four key steps that research programmes should follow in order to fully engage with the implications of embodiment. The first step is to conduct a task analysis, which characterises from a first person perspective the specific task that a perceiving-acting cognitive agent is faced with. The second step is to identify the task-relevant resources the agent has access to in order to solve the task. These resources can span brain, body and environment. The third step is to identify how the agent can assemble these resources into a system capable of solving the problem at hand. The last step is to test the agent’s performance to confirm that agent is actually using the solution identified in step 3. We explore these steps in more detail with reference to two useful examples (the outfielder problem and the A-not-B error, and introduce how to apply this analysis to the thorny question of language use. Embodied cognition is more than we think it is, and we have the tools we need to realise its full potential.

  15. An Exploration of the Relationship between Improvements in Energy Efficiency and Life-Cycle Energy and Carbon Emissions using the BIRDS Low-Energy Residential Database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kneifel, Joshua; O'Rear, Eric; Webb, David; O'Fallon, Cheyney

    2018-02-01

    To conduct a more complete analysis of low-energy and net-zero energy buildings that considers both the operating and embodied energy/emissions, members of the building community look to life-cycle assessment (LCA) methods. This paper examines differences in the relative impacts of cost-optimal energy efficiency measure combinations depicting residential buildings up to and beyond net-zero energy consumption on operating and embodied flows using data from the Building Industry Reporting and Design for Sustainability (BIRDS) Low-Energy Residential Database. Results indicate that net-zero performance leads to a large increase in embodied flows (over 40%) that offsets some of the reductions in operational flows, but overall life-cycle flows are still reduced by over 60% relative to the state energy code. Overall, building designs beyond net-zero performance can partially offset embodied flows with negative operational flows by replacing traditional electricity generation with solar production, but would require an additional 8.34 kW (18.54 kW in total) of due south facing solar PV to reach net-zero total life-cycle flows. Such a system would meet over 239% of operational consumption of the most energy efficient design considered in this study and over 116% of a state code-compliant building design in its initial year of operation.

  16. The Role of Embodiment in the Perception of Music

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc Leman

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Since its breakthrough at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the embodied music cognition theory has inspired empirical research on the role of actionperception couplings in musical activities. The integration of novel technologies and analysis methods inspired empirical research advancing knowledge regarding the role of embodiment in music perception and musical signification processes. In this paper, we present recent and on-going research in the field of embodied music cognition, with a focus on studies conducted at IPEM, the research laboratory in systematic musicology at Ghent University, Belgium. Attention is devoted to encoding/decoding principles underlying musical expressiveness, synchronization and entrainment, and action-based effects on music perception. The discussed empirical findings demonstrate that embodiment is only one component in an interconnected network of sensory, motor, affective, and cognitive systems involved in music perception. Currently, these findings drive the embodiment theory towards a more dynamical approach in which the interaction between various internal processes and the external environment are of central importance. Additionally, this approach envisions practical outcomes in the field of music affect research, wellbeing, healing, sports, music engineering, and brain studies.

  17. Embodied carbon dioxide flow in international trade: A comparative analysis based on China and Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Ruyin; Li, Jinqiu; Chen, Hong; Zhang, Linling; Li, Qianwen

    2018-03-01

    Carbon dioxide embodied flow in international trade has become an important factor in defining global carbon emission responsibility and climate policy. We conducted an empirical analysis for China and Japan for the years 2000-2014, using a multi-region input-output model and considering the rest of the world as a comparison group. We compared the two countries' direct and complete carbon dioxide emissions intensity and bilateral economic activities such as imports and exports, production and consumption to analyze the difference between China and Japan. The results showed that the intensities of carbon emissions in all sectors of China were higher than that in Japan and that China's annual production-based emissions were greater than consumption-based emissions, the opposite of these relationships in Japan. China was a typical net carbon export country, and carbon embodied in its imports and exports continued to increase throughout the study period. In contrast, Japan's volume and growth rate of embodied carbon emissions were far less than China's and Japan was a typical net carbon import country. Finally, the conclusions of this study support recommendations for the formulation of international carbon emission responsibility allocation, domestic abatement policy as well as China's trade policy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Understanding the influence of climate change on the embodied energy of water supply.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Weiwei; Wang, Haiying; Jacobs, Jennifer M

    2016-05-15

    The current study aims to advance understandings on how and to what degree climate change will affect the life cycle chemical and energy uses of drinking water supply. A dynamic life cycle assessment was performed to quantify historical monthly operational embodied energy of a selected water supply system located in northeast US. Comprehensive multivariate and regression analyses were then performed to understand the statistical correlation among monthly life cycle energy consumptions, three water quality indicators (UV254, pH, and water temperature), and five climate indicators (monthly mean temperature, monthly mean maximum/minimum temperatures, total precipitation, and total snow fall). Thirdly, a calculation was performed to understand how volumetric and total life cycle energy consumptions will change under two selected IPCC emission scenarios (A2 and B1). It was found that volumetric life cycle energy consumptions are highest in winter months mainly due to the higher uses of natural gas in the case study system, but total monthly life cycle energy consumptions peak in both July and January because of the increasing water demand in summer months. Most of the variations in chemical and energy uses can be interpreted by water quality and climate variations except for the use of soda ash. It was also found that climate change might lead to an average decrease of 3-6% in the volumetric energy use of the case study system by the end of the century. This result combined with conclusions reached by previous climate versus water supply studies indicates that effects of climate change on drinking water supply might be highly dependent on the geographical location and treatment process of individual water supply systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Urban food-energy-water nexus: a case study of Beijing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Z.; Shao, L.

    2017-12-01

    The interactions between the food, energy and water sectors are of great importance to urban sustainable development. This work presents a framework to analyze food-energy-water (FEW) nexus of a city. The method of multi-scale input-output analysis is applied to calculate consumption-based energy and water use that is driven by urban final demand. It is also capable of accounting virtual energy and water flows that is embodied in trade. Some performance indicators are accordingly devised for a comprehensive understanding of the urban FEW nexus. A case study is carried out for the Beijing city. The embodied energy and water use of foods, embodied water of energy industry and embodied energy of water industry are analyzed. As a key node of economic network, Beijing exchanges a lot of materials and products with external economic systems, especially other Chinese provinces, which involves massive embodied energy and water flows. As a result, Beijing relies heavily on outsourcing energy and water to meet local people's consumption. It is revealed that besides the apparent supply-demand linkages, the underlying interconnections among food, water and energy sectors are critical to create sustainable urban areas.

  20. An Embodied Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frances Downing

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available An architecture of the body is emerging out of theories of biology, complexity, and systems through the use of an evolving organism as its metaphor. Autopoiesis is the term used by biologists to describe the realm of existence for a living organism as it slides between the interchange of structure and information. Incoming information is filtered through the organism for its usefulness in the art of staying alive. Structural or organizational changes evolve as the organism adjusts to new information. To remain a viable organism—to survive—means that an entity must keep evolving without surrendering identity. Humans must maintain an embodied identity, often referred to as an organized self (Maturana & Varela, 1980, 1987, while viably exchanging information with other entities and the environment. This operation creates a topological boundary across which the communication takes place. Cognitive theorists and researchers have proposed that the animal condition is one of Embodied Realism; that is, animals such as we humans, are embodied, using our bodies to create basic metaphors, and, that we do this in a“real” world. The role of cognition in this equation is to allow humans the use of embodiment to explore abstract ideas through metaphor—such as “grasping an idea” (Lakoff &Johnson, 2003. In doing so, it allows the invention of an evolving language that refers to things “outside” our skin,like other entities and places. Autopoiesis describes the activities at the “edge” or boundary of an organism. The linguistic act can, therefore, be identified as fundamental medium for communication in the edge, between inside and outside, that assures the autopoiesis of place.In our own bodies, flesh is the biological manifest of the edge or boundary condition. Our understanding of flesh is that it is another of our organs; and at the same time, all organs are also bounded by flesh. It serves as a porous filter, delicate and complicated

  1. Embodiment and psychopathology: a phenomenological perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, Thomas; Schlimme, Jann E

    2009-11-01

    To survey recent developments in phenomenological psychopathology. We present the concept of embodiment as a key paradigm of recent interdisciplinary approaches from the areas of philosophy, psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience. This requires a short overview on the phenomenological concept of embodiment; in particular, on the distinction of subject and object body. A psychopathology of embodiment may be based on these and other distinctions, in particular on a polarity of disembodiment and hyperembodiment, which is illustrated by the examples of schizophrenia and depression. Recent contributions to phenomenological accounts of these disorders are presented. Finally, the study discusses the relationship of phenomenological and neuropsychiatric perspectives on embodiment. A phenomenology of embodiment may be combined with enactive approaches to cognitive neuroscience in order to overcome dualist concepts of the mind as an inner realm of representations that mirror the outside world. Phenomenological and ecological concepts of embodiment should also be conjoined to enable a new, advanced understanding of mental illness.

  2. Embodying Soft Wearables Research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tomico, Oscar; Wilde, Danielle

    2016-01-01

    of soft wearables. Throughout, we will experiment with how embodied design research techniques might be shared, developed, and used as direct and unmediated vehicles for their own reporting. Rather than engage in oral presentations, participants will lead each other through a proven embodied method...... and knowledge transfer in the context of soft wearables....

  3. Embodied cognition: Taking the next step

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roel M Willems

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Recent years have seen a large amount of empirical studies related to ‘embodied cognition’. While interesting and valuable, there is something dissatisfying with the current state of affairs in this research domain. Hypotheses tend to be underspecified, testing in general terms for embodied versus disembodied processing. The lack of specificity of current hypotheses can easily lead to an erosion of the embodiment concept, and result in a situation in which essentially any effect is taken as positive evidence. Such erosion is not helpful to the field and does not do justice to the importance of embodiment. Here we want to take stock, and formulate directions for how it can be studied in a more fruitful fashion. As an example we will describe few example studies that have investigated the role of sensori-motor systems in the coding of meaning (‘embodied semantics’. Instead of focusing on the dichotomy between embodied and disembodied theories, we suggest that the field move forward and ask how and when sensori-motor systems and behavior are involved in cognition.

  4. Embodied carbon mitigation and reduction in the built environment - What does the evidence say?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pomponi, Francesco; Moncaster, Alice

    2016-10-01

    Of all industrial sectors, the built environment puts the most pressure on the natural environment, and in spite of significant efforts the International Energy Agency suggests that buildings-related emissions are on track to double by 2050. Whilst operational energy efficiency continues to receive significant attention by researchers, a less well-researched area is the assessment of embodied carbon in the built environment in order to understand where the greatest opportunities for its mitigation and reduction lie. This article approaches the body of academic knowledge on strategies to tackle embodied carbon (EC) and uses a systematic review of the available evidence to answer the following research question: how should we mitigate and reduce EC in the built environment? 102 journal articles have been reviewed systematically in the fields of embodied carbon mitigation and reduction, and life cycle assessment. In total, 17 mitigation strategies have been identified from within the existing literature which have been discussed through a meta-analysis on available data. Results reveal that no single mitigation strategy alone seems able to tackle the problem; rather, a pluralistic approach is necessary. The use of materials with lower EC, better design, an increased reuse of EC-intensive materials, and stronger policy drivers all emerged as key elements for a quicker transition to a low carbon built environment. The meta-analysis on 77 LCAs also shows an extremely incomplete and short-sighted approach to life cycle studies. Most studies only assess the manufacturing stages, often completely overlooking impacts occurring during the occupancy stage and at the end of life of the building. The LCA research community have the responsibility to address such shortcomings and work towards more complete and meaningful assessments. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Bodies, embodiment and ubiquitous computing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schick, Lea; Malmborg, Lone

    2010-01-01

    how these are to an increasing extent focusing on sociality, context-awareness, relations, affects, connectedness and collectivity, we will examine how these new technological movements can change our perception of embodiment towards a distributed and shared one. By examining interactive textiles...... as part of a future rising landscape of multi-sensory networks, we will exemplify how the new technologies can shutter dichotomies and challenge traditional notions of embodiment and the subject. Finally, we show how this 'new embodiment' manifests Deleuze's philosophy of the body as something unstable...

  6. Compositions of professionalism in counselling work: An embodied and embedded intersectionality framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamson, Maria; Johansson, Marjana

    2016-12-01

    This article explores the embodied compositions of professionalism in the context of the counselling psychology profession in Russia. Specifically, we develop an embodied intersectionality framework for theorizing compositions of professionalism, which allows us to explain how multiple embodied categories of difference intersect and are relationally co-constitutive in producing credible professionals, and, importantly, how these intersections are contingent on intercorporeal encounters that take place in localized professional settings. Our exploration of how professionalism and professional credibility are established in Russian counselling shows that, rather than assuming that a hegemonic 'ideal body' is given preference in a professional context, different embodied compositions may be deemed credible in various work settings within the same profession. An embodied intersectionality framework allows us to challenge the notion of a single professional ideal and offer a dynamic and contextually situated analysis of the lived experiences of professional privilege and disadvantage.

  7. Embodiment of activity progress: The temporalities of service evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oshima, Sae

    2017-01-01

    their satisfaction. Yet, an efficient progress of this activity is crucial, as there are often subsequent customers waiting. My analysis shows that this dilemma of taking enough time without taking too much time is managed by the participants’ embodiment of valid activity progress, which is realized through...... their (sometimes asynchronous) mobilization of multimodal resources. I argue that such activity organization helps participants not only to embody the meaningful (versus wasted) consumption of time, but also to secure the customer’s enhanced appreciation of the service outcome....

  8. Intersectional embodiment and power

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elg, Camilla; Jensen, Sune Qvotrup

    Through almost two decades the term ‘intersectionality' has gained influence in post colonial studies, gender studies, feminist theory and other research fields occupied with how social differences are distributed and how individuals are socially constructed  in stratified societies. The ‘interse......Through almost two decades the term ‘intersectionality' has gained influence in post colonial studies, gender studies, feminist theory and other research fields occupied with how social differences are distributed and how individuals are socially constructed  in stratified societies...... not seem to gain much attention in social stratification research in general. In our paper we will present our work on an embodied approach to intersectionality, which is inspired by Pierre Bourdieu and other thinkers of embodiment. We will argue for the importance of a focus on the embodiment of social...

  9. Measuring Cognitive Load in Embodied Learning Settings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Skulmowski

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, research on embodied cognition has inspired a number of studies on multimedia learning and instructional psychology. However, in contrast to traditional research on education and multimedia learning, studies on embodied learning (i.e., focusing on bodily action and perception in the context of education in some cases pose new problems for the measurement of cognitive load. This review provides an overview over recent studies on embodied learning in which cognitive load was measured using surveys, behavioral data, or physiological measures. The different methods are assessed in terms of their success in finding differences of cognitive load in embodied learning scenarios. At the same time, we highlight the most important challenges for researchers aiming to include these measures into their study designs. The main issues we identified are: (1 Subjective measures must be appropriately phrased to be useful for embodied learning; (2 recent findings indicate potentials as well as problematic aspects of dual-task measures; (3 the use of physiological measures offers great potential, but may require mobile equipment in the context of embodied scenarios; (4 meta-cognitive measures can be useful extensions of cognitive load measurement for embodied learning.

  10. Measuring Cognitive Load in Embodied Learning Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skulmowski, Alexander; Rey, Günter Daniel

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, research on embodied cognition has inspired a number of studies on multimedia learning and instructional psychology. However, in contrast to traditional research on education and multimedia learning, studies on embodied learning (i.e., focusing on bodily action and perception in the context of education) in some cases pose new problems for the measurement of cognitive load. This review provides an overview over recent studies on embodied learning in which cognitive load was measured using surveys, behavioral data, or physiological measures. The different methods are assessed in terms of their success in finding differences of cognitive load in embodied learning scenarios. At the same time, we highlight the most important challenges for researchers aiming to include these measures into their study designs. The main issues we identified are: (1) Subjective measures must be appropriately phrased to be useful for embodied learning; (2) recent findings indicate potentials as well as problematic aspects of dual-task measures; (3) the use of physiological measures offers great potential, but may require mobile equipment in the context of embodied scenarios; (4) meta-cognitive measures can be useful extensions of cognitive load measurement for embodied learning.

  11. The Embodied Brain: Towards a Radical Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julian eKiverstein

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available In this programmatic paper we explain why a radical embodied cognitive neuroscience is needed. We argue for such a claim based on problems that have arisen in cognitive neuroscience for the project of localizing function to specific brain structures. The problems come from research concerned with functional and structural connectivity that strongly suggests that the function a brain region serves is dynamic, and changes over time. We argue that in order to determine the function of a specific brain area, neuroscientists need to zoom out and look at the larger organism-environment system. We therefore argue that instead of looking to cognitive psychology for an analysis of psychological functions, cognitive neuroscience should look to an ecological dynamical psychology. A second aim of our paper is to develop an account of embodied cognition based on the inseparability of cognitive and emotional processing in the brain. We argue that emotions are best understood in terms of action readiness (Frijda 1986, 2007 in the context of the organism’s ongoing skillful engagement with the environment (Rietveld 2008; Bruineberg & Rietveld 2014; Kiverstein & Rietveld 2015. States of action readiness involve the whole living body of the organism, and are elicited by possibilities for action in the environment that matter to the organism. Since emotion and cognition are inseparable processes in the brain it follows that what is true of emotion is also true of cognition. Cognitive processes are likewise processes taking place in the whole living body of an organism as it engages with relevant possibilities for action.

  12. SA54. The Structure of Embodied Emotions in Schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Seok Jin; Snodgress, Matthew A.; Nichols, Heathman S.; Nummenmaa, Lauri; Glerean, Enrico; Park, Sohee

    2017-01-01

    are not only different in intensity but also in where they are felt in SZ. While an important first step, our analysis was exploratory and limited by the small sample size. Future direction includes probing the specific contents of the underlying dimensions that give rise to embodied emotions.

  13. Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijie Wang

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the Global Thermodynamic Potential (GTP indicator to perform a unified assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions, and to systematically reveal the emission embodiment in the production, consumption, and international trade of the Chinese economy in 2007 as the most recent year available with input-output table and updated inventory data. The results show that the estimated total direct GHG emissions by the Chinese economy in 2007 amount to 10,657.5 Mt CO2-eq by the GTPs with 40.6% from CH4 emissions in magnitude of the same importance as CO2 emissions. The five sectors of Electric Power/Steam and Hot Water Production and Supply, Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals, Nonmetal Mineral Products, Agriculture, and Coal Mining and Dressing, are responsible for 83.3% of the total GHG emissions with different emission structures. The demands of coal and coal-electricity determine the structure of emission embodiment to an essential extent. The Construction sector holds the top GHG emissions embodied in both domestic production and domestic consumption. The GHG emission embodied in gross capital formation is more than those in other components of final demand characterized by extensive investment and limited household consumption. China is a net exporter of embodied GHG emissions, with a remarkable share of direct emission induced by international trade, such as textile products, industrial raw materials, and primary machinery and equipment products exports. The fractions of CH4 in the component of embodied GHG emissions in the final demand are much greater than those fractions calculated by the Global Warming Potentials, which highlight the importance of CH4 emissions for the case of China and indicate the essential effect of CH4 emissions on global climate change. To understand the full context to achieve GHG emission mitigation, this study provides a new insight to address China’s GHG emissions status and

  14. Embodiment and aging in contemporary physiotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hay, Melissa E; Connelly, Denise M; Kinsella, Elizabeth Anne

    2016-05-01

    Contemporary discourses in the health sciences vary in their treatment of aging bodies and the mind-body relationship, yet our understanding of aging experiences and health care practices can be limited by an overreliance on biomedical or social constructionist approaches alone. This paper offers a conceptual exploration of embodiment as an innovative approach to enhance our understandings of aging bodies and health in physiotherapy practice. Embodiment attends to body and mind, nature and culture, structure and agency, while appreciating differences in aging bodies and health in aging. Conclusions consider embodiment in the practice and disciplinary discourse of contemporary physiotherapy, specifically, considering the ways embodied perspectives can support therapists in their health care practice and relationships with people with aging bodies.

  15. Teaching Design of Emerging Embodied Technologies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Majgaard, Gunver

    2014-01-01

    How does design of emerging embodied technologies enrich the HCI learning processes? We introduce a model for embodied interaction and use it in the development of a painting app for children, based on the motion sensor Asus Xtion Pro (similar to Kinect). The development of the app was part....... Subsequently, we introduce a physical-digital toolbox, illustrating the span of parameters within the model for embodied interaction: Robot Technology, Tangibles, Wearables, Interactive Surroundings, and Bigger Objects....

  16. Avatar Embodiment. Towards a Standardized Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mar Gonzalez-Franco

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Inside virtual reality, users can embody avatars that are collocated from a first-person perspective. When doing so, participants have the feeling that the own body has been substituted by the self-avatar, and that the new body is the source of the sensations. Embodiment is complex as it includes not only body ownership over the avatar, but also agency, co-location, and external appearance. Despite the multiple variables that influence it, the illusion is quite robust, and it can be produced even if the self-avatar is of a different age, size, gender, or race from the participant's own body. Embodiment illusions are therefore the basis for many social VR experiences and a current active research area among the community. Researchers are interested both in the body manipulations that can be accepted, as well as studying how different self-avatars produce different attitudinal, social, perceptual, and behavioral effects. However, findings suggest that despite embodiment being strongly associated with the performance and reactions inside virtual reality, the extent to which the illusion is experienced varies between participants. In this paper, we review the questionnaires used in past experiments and propose a standardized embodiment questionnaire based on 25 questions that are prevalent in the literature. We encourage future virtual reality experiments that include first-person virtual avatars to administer this questionnaire in order to evaluate the degree of embodiment.

  17. Embodied carbon dioxide emission at supra-national scale: A coalition analysis for G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Z.M.; Chen, G.Q.

    2011-01-01

    Presented in this study is an empirical analysis of embodied carbon dioxide emissions induced by fossil fuel combustion for the world divided into three supra-national coalitions, i.e., G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world (ROW), via the application of a multi-region input-output modeling for 2004. Embodied emission intensities for the three coalitions are calculated and compared, with market exchange rate and purchase power parity separately used to investigate the difference between nominal and real production efficiencies. Emissions embodied in different economic activities such as production, consumption, import, and export are calculated and analyzed accordingly, and remarkable carbon trade imbalances associated with G7 (surplus of 1.53 billion tons, or 36% its traded emissions) and BRIC (deficit of 1.37 billion tons, or 51% its traded emissions) and approximate balance with ROW (deficit of 0.16 billion tons, or 3% its traded emissions) are concretely revealed. Carbon leakages associated with industry transfer and international trades are illustrated in terms of impacts on global climate policies. The last but not least, per capita consumption based emissions for G7, BRIC, and ROW are determined as 12.95, 1.53, and 2.22 tons, respectively, and flexible abatement policies as well as equity on per capita entitlement are discussed. - Research highlights: → We compare the embodied CO 2 emissions in 2004 for G7, BRIC, and ROW. → Emissions embodied in production, consumption, import, and export are investigated. → Considerable CO 2 trade surplus and deficit are obtained by G7 and BRIC, respectively. → Per head embodied emissions are 13, 1.5, and 2.2 tons for G7, BRIC, and ROW, respectively.

  18. Examining drivers of the emissions embodied in trade.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leying Wu

    Full Text Available Emissions embodied in provincial trade (EEPT have important effects on provinces' responsibilities for carbon emission reductions. Based on a multi-regional input-output model, we calculated EEPT for China's 30 provinces in 2002, 2007 and 2010, and we attempted to determine the drivers of EEPT. The results showed that, during this period, the ratio of EEPT to production-based emissions increased over time, reaching 40.24% in 2010. In consideration of its important role in carbon emissions, we analyzed the factors attributable to EEPT through structure decomposition analysis. The decomposition results showed that final demand and carbon emission intensity were two major factors in EEPT, while the final demand in other provinces and the carbon emission intensity in the local province were major factors for Emissions embodied in provincial exports and the final demand in the local province and the carbon emission intensity in other provinces were major factors for Emissions embodied in provincial imports. Regarding the differences among the EEPT of different provinces, changes in the structure of trade were the primary reason.

  19. Embodied labour in music work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettinger, Lynne

    2015-06-01

    This paper frames the work of performance as embodied labour in order to understand the contingent production of particular music performances. It is an interdisciplinary account that sits at the intersection of the sociology of work, culture and the body. The concept of embodied labour is developed with reference to the complex account of materiality - of bodies and things - present in Tim Ingold's account of skill. This material account of skill is used to inform use to develop already of well established conceptualizations of body labour: craft, emotional and aesthetic labour through a reading of how these dimensions of embodied labour make possible the work of performance. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2015.

  20. The relationship between house size and life cycle energy demand: Implications for energy efficiency regulations for buildings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stephan, André; Crawford, Robert H.

    2016-01-01

    House size has significantly increased over the recent decades in many countries. Larger houses often have a higher life cycle energy demand due to their increased use of materials and larger area to heat, cool and light. Yet, most energy efficiency regulations for buildings fail to adequately include requirements for addressing the energy demand associated with house size. This study quantifies the effect of house size on life cycle energy demand in order to inform future regulations. It uses a parametric model of a typical detached house in Melbourne, Australia and varies its floor area from 100 to 392 m"2 for four different household sizes. Both initial and recurrent embodied energy requirements are quantified using input-output-based hybrid analysis and operational energy is calculated in primary energy terms over 50 years. Results show that the life cycle energy demand increases at a slower rate compared to house size. Expressing energy efficiency per m"2 therefore favours large houses while these require more energy. Also, embodied energy represents 26–50% across all variations. Building energy efficiency regulations should incorporate embodied energy, correct energy intensity thresholds for house size and use multiple functional units to measure efficiency. These measures may help achieve greater net energy reductions. - Highlights: • The life cycle energy demand (LCE) is calculated for 90 house sizes and 4 household sizes. • The LCE is sublinearly correlated with house size. • Larger houses appear to be more energy efficient per m"2 while they use more energy overall. • Embodied energy (EE) represents up to 52% of the LCE over 50 years. • Building energy efficiency regulations need to consider house size and EE.

  1. Finnegans Wake & embodied cognition. A joycean reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Rebora

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This contribution proposes an interpretation of the language theory in Finnegans Wake, identifying its potential matches with the embodied cognition thesis. First, are revised critical texts about the relations between joycean writings, the sciences of the mind and the evolution of technology and informatics. Then, through the close analysis of four excerpt, are outlined the traits of joycean poetics closer to the recent acquisitions in the cognitive sciences. In particular: the bodily roots of the formation of language and the inexhaustible process of interpretation. The first convergence is detected in neurosciences, with reference to the recent proposals of Vittorio Gallese, about “embodiment of language comprehension.” The second convergence is identified in the studies on Artificial Life, referring to the writings of Christopher Langton and the Research Group of Los Alamos.

  2. Teachers' Embodied Presence in Online Teaching Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolldén, Karin

    2016-01-01

    This study aims to examine teachers' embodiments online. The analysis is based on online ethnographic data from two online courses in higher education settings using different information and communication technologies. The perspective of practice theory and the concepts of being a body, having a body and the instrumental body were used to analyse…

  3. The embodied nurse: Interdisciplinary knowledge exchange between compassionate nursing and recent developments in embodied leadership studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koya, Kushwanth; Anderson, Jane; Sice, Petia

    2017-12-01

    To report a potential knowledge exchange between nursing studies and the results obtained from a study conducted into the attributes of embodied leadership. Leadership theories have been applied to evaluate, improve, and train nursing practitioners in several previous studies. However, leadership research has entered a new phase where the focus is to produce sustainable leaders through authenticity and compassion, the same two characteristics identified as being of most success in emergent nursing practice. There are few studies that have indicated a knowledge exchange between the latest developments in leadership studies and nursing. An exploratory and qualitative study. Between February 2012 - July 2012, a focused sample of 14 medical care professionals was interviewed across a chain of hospitals. The aim was to evaluate embodied leadership characteristics and understand the factors that contribute to the manifestation of these characteristics. The transcribed interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Several factors that contribute to the characteristics of embodied leadership have been identified in the interviews and in subsequent literature searches on the characteristics and contributing factors found to be associated with nursing research. These could prompt a knowledge exchange. The results suggest common ground between nursing and contemporary leadership research in the exposition of behaviours; namely, being non-judgmental, listening actively, reflective practice and embracing uncertainty. Several implications can therefore be expected through the exchange of knowledge resulting from collaboration between researchers in the two disciplines. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. CO2 emissions embodied in international trade: evidence for Spain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanchez-Choliz, Julio; Duarte, Rosa

    2004-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to analyse the sectoral impacts that Spanish international trade relations have on present levels of atmospheric pollution using an input-output model. We try to evaluate the exports and imports of the Spanish economy in terms of the direct and indirect CO 2 emissions (CO 2 embodied) generated in Spain and abroad. The results show a slightly exporting behaviour in the Spanish economy which, nevertheless, hides important pollution interchanges. Moreover, the sectors transport material, mining and energy, non-metallic industries, chemical and metals are the most relevant CO 2 exporters and other services, construction, transport material and food the biggest CO 2 importers, and those whose final demands also embody more than 70% of the CO 2 emissions

  5. Embodied Experience in Educational Practice and Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bengtsson, Jan

    2013-01-01

    The intention of this article is to make an educational analysis of Merleau-Ponty's theory of experience in order to see what it implicates for educational practice as well as educational research. In this way, we can attain an understanding what embodied experience might mean both in schools and other educational settings and in researching…

  6. Embodied Emotion—Turn from Traditional to Post-Cognitive Perspectives

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Chao-Ju Tang

    2017-01-01

    This literature review on the research of embodied emotion addresses the aspects of the concepts of embodied emotion, the various theories or theses on the embodied emotion abroad and at home, some comments based on the literature are elicited and the discussions about the future research topics on embodied emotion are proposed.

  7. Embodied Understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Leonard Johnson

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Western culture has inherited a view of understanding as an intellectual cognitive operation of grasping of concepts and their relations. However, cognitive science research has shown that this received intellectualist conception is substantially out of touch with how humans actually make and experience meaning. The view emerging from the mind sciences recognizes that understanding is profoundly embodied, insofar as our conceptualization and reasoning recruit sensory, motor, and affective patterns and processes to structure our understanding of, and engagement with, our world. A psychologically realistic account of understanding must begin with the patterns of ongoing interaction between an organism and its physical and cultural environments and must include both our emotional responses to changes in our body and environment, and also the actions by which we continuously transform our experience. Consequently, embodied understanding is not merely a conceptual/propositional activity of thought, but rather constitutes our most basic way of being in, and engaging with, our surroundings in a deep visceral manner.

  8. Embodied neurofeedback with an anthropomorphic robotic hand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun, Niclas; Emkes, Reiner; Thorne, Jeremy D.; Debener, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    Neurofeedback-guided motor imagery training (NF-MIT) has been suggested as a promising therapy for stroke-induced motor impairment. Whereas much NF-MIT research has aimed at signal processing optimization, the type of sensory feedback given to the participant has received less attention. Often the feedback signal is highly abstract and not inherently coupled to the mental act performed. In this study, we asked whether an embodied feedback signal is more efficient for neurofeedback operation than a non-embodiable feedback signal. Inspired by the rubber hand illusion, demonstrating that an artificial hand can be incorporated into one’s own body scheme, we used an anthropomorphic robotic hand to visually guide the participants’ motor imagery act and to deliver neurofeedback. Using two experimental manipulations, we investigated how a participant’s neurofeedback performance and subjective experience were influenced by the embodiability of the robotic hand, and by the neurofeedback signal’s validity. As pertains to embodiment, we found a promoting effect of robotic-hand embodiment in subjective, behavioral, electrophysiological and electrodermal measures. Regarding neurofeedback signal validity, we found some differences between real and sham neurofeedback in terms of subjective and electrodermal measures, but not in terms of behavioral and electrophysiological measures. This study motivates the further development of embodied feedback signals for NF-MIT. PMID:27869190

  9. Embodied neurofeedback with an anthropomorphic robotic hand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun, Niclas; Emkes, Reiner; Thorne, Jeremy D; Debener, Stefan

    2016-11-21

    Neurofeedback-guided motor imagery training (NF-MIT) has been suggested as a promising therapy for stroke-induced motor impairment. Whereas much NF-MIT research has aimed at signal processing optimization, the type of sensory feedback given to the participant has received less attention. Often the feedback signal is highly abstract and not inherently coupled to the mental act performed. In this study, we asked whether an embodied feedback signal is more efficient for neurofeedback operation than a non-embodiable feedback signal. Inspired by the rubber hand illusion, demonstrating that an artificial hand can be incorporated into one's own body scheme, we used an anthropomorphic robotic hand to visually guide the participants' motor imagery act and to deliver neurofeedback. Using two experimental manipulations, we investigated how a participant's neurofeedback performance and subjective experience were influenced by the embodiability of the robotic hand, and by the neurofeedback signal's validity. As pertains to embodiment, we found a promoting effect of robotic-hand embodiment in subjective, behavioral, electrophysiological and electrodermal measures. Regarding neurofeedback signal validity, we found some differences between real and sham neurofeedback in terms of subjective and electrodermal measures, but not in terms of behavioral and electrophysiological measures. This study motivates the further development of embodied feedback signals for NF-MIT.

  10. The Linguistic and Embodied Nature of Conceptual Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Louwerse, Max M.; Jeuniaux, Patrick

    2010-01-01

    Recent theories of cognition have argued that embodied experience is important for conceptual processing. Embodiment can be contrasted with linguistic factors such as the typical order in which words appear in language. Here, we report four experiments that investigated the conditions under which embodiment and linguistic factors determine…

  11. CO2 embodiment in China–Australia trade: The drivers and implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tan, Hao; Sun, Aijun; Lau, Henry

    2013-01-01

    This study focuses on CO 2 emissions ‘embodied’ in the characteristic China–Australia bilateral trade, which refer to the CO 2 emissions due to the production of goods traded between the two countries. We perform an assessment of the CO 2 embodiment in the trade during the period between 2002 and 2010. We find that the scale effect has been a dominant effect contributing to an increase of CO 2 emissions embodied in the bilateral trade through the years; while the composition effect seems to be a major driver for reducing CO 2 embodiment in the exports of Australia to China. Based on an analysis of the difference between the amounts of actual CO 2 embodiment and those in a hypothetical ‘no-trade’ scenario, we estimate that the ‘net’ CO 2 emissions due to the bilateral trade declined from around 10 Mt of CO 2 emissions in 2002 to −10 Mt in 2010; that is, the bilateral trade contributed to a reduction of the global carbon emissions in the recent years. This finding suggests that the rapid growth of exports of carbon-intensive goods from Australia to China has helped in reducing carbon emissions globally because carbon intensity factors of those goods are much lower in Australia than those in China. - Highlights: • This research focuses on CO 2 emissions embodied in China–Australia trade. • Australia is mainly a resource provider while China exports manufacturing goods. • The scale effect is a dominant effect for increasing the CO 2 embodiments. • The composition effect is a major driver for reducing the CO 2 embodiments. • The trade contributed to a reduction of the global carbon emissions in 2010

  12. Development of integrated models for energy-economy systems analysis at JAERI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasukawa, Shigeru; Mankin, Shuichi; Sato, Osamu; Yonese, Hiromi

    1984-08-01

    This report, being a revision of the preprint for distribution to participants at IEA/ETSAP Workshop held, at JAERI, Tokyo, March 1984, describes the concept of the integrated models for energy-economy systems analysis now being carried out at JAERI. In this model system, there contains four different categories of computer codes. The first one is a series of computer codes named as E 3 -SD representatively, which are utilized to develop a dynamic scenario generation in a long-term energy economy evolution. The second one, of which the main constituents are the MARKAL, i.e. an optimal energy flow analizer, and the TRANS-I/O, i.e. a multi-sectoral economy analyzer, has been developed for the analysis of structural characteristics embodied in our energy-economy system. The third one is for a strategy analysis on nuclear power reactor installation and fuel cycle development, and its main constituent is the JALTES. The fourth one is for a cost-benefit-risk analysis including various kinds of data bases. As the model system being still under development, but the idea of application of it to such a problem as '' the role of the HTGR in the prospects of future energy supply'' is also explained in the report. (author)

  13. Energy-saving implications from supply chain improvement: An exploratory study on China's consumer goods retail system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Xi; Cai, Hua; Florig, H. Keith

    2016-01-01

    Despite significant public attentions to green supply chain management, few studies have explicitly addressed the energy implications of consumer-goods supply surplus, especially in developing countries like China. This study explored the energy-saving potential from improving supply chain efficiencies and reducing excess inventory in China's retail system from a life-cycle perspective. Through embodied energy analysis, we found that energy invested pre-manufacture contributed 80–95% of the total energy embodied in consumer products. Although embodied energy intensities had declined by 60–90% since the mid-1990s, the lessened marginal improvements implied that 'low hanging fruits' have largely been captured, and the search for new opportunities for energy-saving is in demand. Positive correlations between total economic inputs and embodied energy in consumer goods indicated possible synergy effect between cost-reduction and energy-saving in supply system management. And structural path analysis identified sector-specific energy management priorities for each retail-related sector. This study suggested that improving supply chain efficiencies provides a promising supplement to China's current industrial energy-efficient projects which target reducing direct energy use per se as an intra-firm cost-saving measure. From the life-cycle perspective, the definition of 'green sector' might have to be reconsidered in China towards a more energy-efficient economy and society.

  14. Embodied Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stolz, Steven A.

    2015-01-01

    This article argues that psychological discourse fails miserably to provide an account of learning that can explain how humans come to understand, particularly understanding that has been grasped meaningfully. Part of the problem with psychological approaches to learning is that they are disconnected from the integral role embodiment plays in how…

  15. Embodied Writing: Choreographic Composition as Methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulmer, Jasmine B.

    2015-01-01

    This paper seeks to examine how embodied methodological approaches might inform dance education practice and research. Through a series of examples, this paper explores how choreographic writing might function as an embodied writing methodology. Here, choreographic writing is envisioned as a form of visual word choreography in which words move,…

  16. Embodied Protest in Occupy London

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Costas, Jana; Reinecke, Juliane

    In this paper we discuss the relation of embodied protest and public space in Occupy London. We draw on Agamben’s notion of the homo sacer – the excluded included life embodied by the figure of the homeless, refugee and so forth – to analyze how in protest camps embodied protest relates...... with the general public and media. Particularly, tensions became manifest as the homines sacri of the homeless people joined the camp. We discuss the implications of Agamben’s biopolitical insights for the relation of resistance, public space and community building in protest movements....... sacri – “bare life” challenging sovereign power. Yet, we also show how protesters struggled to navigate tensions between representing such “bare life” of the homo sacer and the biopolitical body. This lead not only to various difficulties in building protest community but also in the interactions...

  17. The embodiment of birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cosans, C

    2001-01-01

    This paper rejects dualism between mind and body to view the self as an embodied biological entity. Rather than seeing the body operating by passive mechanisms as Descartes argues, it holds it actively moves in and even defines its world. Carrying this perspective to medicine presents an attempt to incorporate or work with internal processes of the body; it is sensitive to how patients identify with their bodies. The current discussion over the extent to which women should try to have natural childbirths provides a concrete example of the differences between mechanistic and embodied approaches to medicine.

  18. Observational cinema and embodied vision

    OpenAIRE

    Uslu, Ayşe

    2011-01-01

    Ankara : The Department of Communication and Design, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2011. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2011. Includes bibliographical references leaves 87-89. The aim of this study is to discuss the notion of embodiment in respect of Merleau Ponty's philosophy of phenomenology and its relation to observational cinema. For this aim, this thesis dwells on the embodied nature of perception of seeing and its relation to epistemological approaches...

  19. Embodied Evolution in Collective Robotics: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Bredeche

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This article provides an overview of evolutionary robotics techniques applied to online distributed evolution for robot collectives, namely, embodied evolution. It provides a definition of embodied evolution as well as a thorough description of the underlying concepts and mechanisms. This article also presents a comprehensive summary of research published in the field since its inception around the year 2000, providing various perspectives to identify the major trends. In particular, we identify a shift from considering embodied evolution as a parallel search method within small robot collectives (fewer than 10 robots to embodied evolution as an online distributed learning method for designing collective behaviors in swarm-like collectives. This article concludes with a discussion of applications and open questions, providing a milestone for past and an inspiration for future research.

  20. Embodiment and sense-making in autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Jaegher, Hanne

    2013-01-01

    In this article, I sketch an enactive account of autism. For the enactive approach to cognition, embodiment, experience, and social interaction are fundamental to understanding mind and subjectivity. Enaction defines cognition as sense-making: the way cognitive agents meaningfully connect with their world, based on their needs and goals as self-organizing, self-maintaining, embodied agents. In the social realm, the interactive coordination of embodied sense-making activities with others lets us participate in each other's sense-making (social understanding = participatory sense-making). The enactive approach provides new concepts to overcome the problems of traditional functionalist accounts of autism, which can only give a piecemeal and disintegrated view because they consider cognition, communication, and perception separately, do not take embodied into account, and are methodologically individualistic. Applying the concepts of enaction to autism, I show: How embodiment and sense-making connect, i.e., how autistic particularities of moving, perceiving, and emoting relate to how people with autism make sense of their world. For instance, restricted interests or preference for detail will have certain sensorimotor correlates, as well as specific meaning for autistic people.That reduced flexibility in interactional coordination correlates with difficulties in participatory sense-making. At the same time, seemingly irrelevant “autistic behaviors” can be quite attuned to the interactive context. I illustrate this complexity in the case of echolalia. An enactive account of autism starts from the embodiment, experience, and social interactions of autistic people. Enaction brings together the sensorimotor, cognitive, social, experiential, and affective aspects of autism in a coherent framework based on a complex non-linear multi-causality. This foundation allows to build new bridges between autistic people and their often non-autistic context, and to improve quality

  1. Embodiment and sense-making in autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Jaegher, Hanne

    2013-01-01

    In this article, I sketch an enactive account of autism. For the enactive approach to cognition, embodiment, experience, and social interaction are fundamental to understanding mind and subjectivity. Enaction defines cognition as sense-making: the way cognitive agents meaningfully connect with their world, based on their needs and goals as self-organizing, self-maintaining, embodied agents. In the social realm, the interactive coordination of embodied sense-making activities with others lets us participate in each other's sense-making (social understanding = participatory sense-making). The enactive approach provides new concepts to overcome the problems of traditional functionalist accounts of autism, which can only give a piecemeal and disintegrated view because they consider cognition, communication, and perception separately, do not take embodied into account, and are methodologically individualistic. Applying the concepts of enaction to autism, I show: How embodiment and sense-making connect, i.e., how autistic particularities of moving, perceiving, and emoting relate to how people with autism make sense of their world. For instance, restricted interests or preference for detail will have certain sensorimotor correlates, as well as specific meaning for autistic people.That reduced flexibility in interactional coordination correlates with difficulties in participatory sense-making. At the same time, seemingly irrelevant "autistic behaviors" can be quite attuned to the interactive context. I illustrate this complexity in the case of echolalia. An enactive account of autism starts from the embodiment, experience, and social interactions of autistic people. Enaction brings together the sensorimotor, cognitive, social, experiential, and affective aspects of autism in a coherent framework based on a complex non-linear multi-causality. This foundation allows to build new bridges between autistic people and their often non-autistic context, and to improve quality of

  2. Embodied Spirituality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trousdale, Ann

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the concept of embodied spirituality from early Celtic traditions through the British medieval mystic Julian of Norwich to the present day. A "high theology" of the body in early Christianity and early Christian understandings of the relation among body, soul and spirit gave way to the influences of Greek thought with its…

  3. Body ownership and embodiment: vestibular and multisensory mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, C; Halje, P; Blanke, O

    2008-06-01

    Body ownership and embodiment are two fundamental mechanisms of self-consciousness. The present article reviews neurological data about paroxysmal illusions during which body ownership and embodiment are affected differentially: autoscopic phenomena (out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, autoscopic hallucination, feeling-of-a-presence) and the room tilt illusion. We suggest that autoscopic phenomena and room tilt illusion are related to different types of failures to integrate body-related information (vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile cues) in addition to a mismatch between vestibular and visual references. In these patients, altered body ownership and embodiment has been shown to occur due to pathological activity at the temporoparietal junction and other vestibular-related areas arguing for a key importance of vestibular processing. We also review the possibilities of manipulating body ownership and embodiment in healthy subjects through exposition to weightlessness as well as caloric and galvanic stimulation of the peripheral vestibular apparatus. In healthy subjects, disturbed self-processing might be related to interference of vestibular stimulation with vestibular cortex leading to disintegration of bodily information and altered body ownership and embodiment. We finally propose a differential contribution of the vestibular cortical areas to the different forms of altered body ownership and embodiment.

  4. Mechanisms of embodiment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katinka eDijkstra

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper is a critical review of recent studies demonstrating the mechanism of sensorimotor simulation in different cognitive domains. Empirical studies that specify conditions under which embodiment occurs in different domains will be discussed and evaluated. Examples of relevant domains are language comprehension (Tucker & Ellis, 2004, autobiographical memory (Dijkstra, Kaschak, & Zwaan, 2007, gestures (Alibali, Boncoddo, & Hostetter, 2014, facial mimicry (Stel & Vonk, 2010, and problem solving (Wiemers, Bekkering, & Lindemann, 2014. The focus of the review is on supporting claims regarding sensorimotor simulation as well as on factors that modulate dynamic relationships between sensorimotor components in action and cognitive domains, such as expertise (Boschker, Bakker, & Michaels, 2002. This discussion takes place within the context of currently debated issues, specifically the need to specify the underlying mechanisms of embodied representations (Zwaan, 2014; Körner, Topolinski, & Strack, 2015.

  5. Mechanisms of embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dijkstra, Katinka; Post, Lysanne

    2015-01-01

    This paper is a critical review of recent studies demonstrating the mechanism of sensorimotor simulation in different cognitive domains. Empirical studies that specify conditions under which embodiment occurs in different domains will be discussed and evaluated. Examples of relevant domains are language comprehension (Tucker and Ellis, 1998), autobiographical memory (Dijkstra et al., 2007), gestures (Alibali et al., 2014), facial mimicry (Stel and Vonk, 2010), and problem solving (Wiemers et al., 2014). The focus of the review is on supporting claims regarding sensorimotor simulation as well as on factors that modulate dynamic relationships between sensorimotor components in action and cognitive domains, such as expertise (Boschker et al., 2002). This discussion takes place within the context of currently debated issues, specifically the need to specify the underlying mechanisms of embodied representations (Zwaan, 2014; Körner et al., 2015).

  6. Energy-Based Evaluations on Eucalyptus Biomass Production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiago L. Romanelli

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Dependence on finite resources brings economic, social, and environmental concerns. Planted forests are a biomass alternative to the exploitation of natural forests. In the exploitation of the planted forests, planning and management are key to achieve success, so in forestry operations, both economic and noneconomic factors must be considered. This study aimed to compare eucalyptus biomass production through energy embodiment of anthropogenic inputs and resource embodiment including environmental contribution (emergy for the commercial forest in the Sao Paulo, Brazil. Energy analyses and emergy synthesis were accomplished for the eucalyptus production cycles. It was determined that emergy synthesis of eucalyptus production and sensibility analysis for three scenarios to adjust soil acidity (lime, ash, and sludge. For both, energy analysis and emergy synthesis, harvesting presented the highest input demand. Results show the differences between energy analysis and emergy synthesis are in the conceptual underpinnings and accounting procedures. Both evaluations present similar trends and differ in the magnitude of the participation of an input due to its origin. For instance, inputs extracted from ores, which represent environmental contribution, are more relevant for emergy synthesis. On the other hand, inputs from industrial processes are more important for energy analysis.

  7. Greenhouse gases embodied in the international trade and final consumption of Finland: An input-output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maeenpaeae, Ilmo; Siikavirta, Hanne

    2007-01-01

    The estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with international trade and final consumption gives a more complete and balanced picture of the responsibilities of various countries for the emissions that cause the climate change. The aim of this study was to look at the impact of the coverage of the GHGs and their sources and assumptions regarding the emissions of imports on the results of GHG emissions associated with international trade and final consumption of Finland. In addition to a single year study, a trend covering years 1990-2003 was produced for Finland to study the development of the GHG emissions associated with domestic consumption and the reasons behind the development. According to our results Finland was in 1999 a net exporter of CO 2 from fossil fuel combustion, CO 2 from all sources and GHGs of 4(4.2), 5 or 7 Gkg, respectively. The impact of different assumptions concerning the emissions embodied in imports in the case of Finland was tested by using the domestic emission intensities and the ratios of embodied emissions in imports in relation to domestic products by utilizing the data from the study by (OECD, 2003b. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in International Trade of Goods, STI Working Paper 2003/15, OECD, Paris). In the case of Finland, the differences of results calculated with these two methods remained rather small. The total emissions embodied in the imports changed from 33.8 to 34.4 Gkg and consequently the net export of CO 2 from fossil fuel combustion changed from 4.2 to 3.6 Gkg. The results for 1990-2003 show that the GHG emissions embodied in the exports have exceeded the GHG emissions embodied in the imports from early 1990s. The reason for the increasingly positive GHG trade balance in the case of Finland has been the change in the magnitude of trade rather than the changes in its structure. The results show also that the impact of international transport on the emission intensity of imports is significant and

  8. Evaluating the Effects of Immersive Embodied Interaction on Cognition in Virtual Reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parmar, Dhaval

    Virtual reality is on its advent of becoming mainstream household technology, as technologies such as head-mounted displays, trackers, and interaction devices are becoming affordable and easily available. Virtual reality (VR) has immense potential in enhancing the fields of education and training, and its power can be used to spark interest and enthusiasm among learners. It is, therefore, imperative to evaluate the risks and benefits that immersive virtual reality poses to the field of education. Research suggests that learning is an embodied process. Learning depends on grounded aspects of the body including action, perception, and interactions with the environment. This research aims to study if immersive embodiment through the means of virtual reality facilitates embodied cognition. A pedagogical VR solution which takes advantage of embodied cognition can lead to enhanced learning benefits. Towards achieving this goal, this research presents a linear continuum for immersive embodied interaction within virtual reality. This research evaluates the effects of three levels of immersive embodied interactions on cognitive thinking, presence, usability, and satisfaction among users in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Results from the presented experiments show that immersive virtual reality is greatly effective in knowledge acquisition and retention, and highly enhances user satisfaction, interest and enthusiasm. Users experience high levels of presence and are profoundly engaged in the learning activities within the immersive virtual environments. The studies presented in this research evaluate pedagogical VR software to train and motivate students in STEM education, and provide an empirical analysis comparing desktop VR (DVR), immersive VR (IVR), and immersive embodied VR (IEVR) conditions for learning. This research also proposes a fully immersive embodied interaction metaphor (IEIVR) for learning of computational

  9. Building Energy and Cost Performance: An Analysis of Thirty Melbourne Case Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Lay Langston

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the energy and cost performance of thirty recent buildings in Melbourne, Australia. Commonly, building design decisions are based on issues pertaining to construction cost, and consideration of energy performance is made only within the context of the initial project budget. Even where energy is elevated to more importance, operating energy is seen as the focus and embodied energy is nearly always ignored. For the first time, a large sample of buildings has been assembled and analyzed to improve the understanding of both energy and cost performance over their full life cycle, which formed the basis of a wider doctoral study into the inherent relationship between energy and cost. The aim of this paper is to report on typical values for embodied energy, operating energy, capital cost and operating cost per square metre for a range of building functional types investigated in this research. The conclusion is that energy and cost have quite different profiles across projects, and yet the mean GJ/m2 or cost/m2 have relatively low coefficients of variation and therefore may be useful as benchmarks of typical building performance.  

  10. Are temporal concepts embodied? A challenge for cognitive neuroscience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander eKranjec

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Is time an embodied concept? People often talk and think about temporal concepts in terms of space. This observation, along with linguistic and experimental behavioral data documenting a close conceptual relation between space and time, is often interpreted as evidence that temporal concepts are embodied. However, there is little neural data supporting the idea that our temporal concepts are grounded in sensorimotor representations. This lack of evidence may be because it is still unclear how an embodied concept of time should be expressed in the brain. The present paper sets out to characterize the kinds of evidence that would support or challenge embodied accounts of time. Of main interest are theoretical issues concerning (1 whether space, as a mediating concept for time, is itself best understood as embodied and (2 whether embodied theories should attempt to bypass space by investigating temporal conceptual grounding in neural systems that instantiate time perception.

  11. Mechanisms of embodiment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    K. Dijkstra (Katinka); L.S. Post (Lysanne)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractThis paper is a critical review of recent studies demonstrating the mechanism of sensorimotor simulation in different cognitive domains. Empirical studies that specify conditions under which embodiment occurs in different domains will be discussed and evaluated. Examples of relevant

  12. The embodied performance pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Rick

    2017-01-01

    This article proposes that acting is a valuable area of research for the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Simulated Behaviour. This suggestion is supported through applying theories and findings from the field of embodied cognition to the performance pedagogy of French acting teacher Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999). Embodied cognition proposes that thinking and behaviour are properties of the whole human organism, not the brain alone, and that body, brain and cognition are "situated" - engaged with the surrounding environment. This thesis arises from findings that show that sensorial and motor experiences form the neural foundations for mental concepts and that sensorimotor neural networks are partially re-activated by mental and linguistic activity, leading to the concept of "embodied simulation". I give examples of the ways in which Lecoq's conceptualisation of acting technique is implicitly congruent with the principles of embodied cognition, and often explicitly anticipates its precepts.

  13. Troubling an embodied pedagogy in science education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Otrel-Cass, Kathrin; Kristensen, Liv Kondrup

    2017-01-01

    This chapter explores the idea of using an embodied pedagogy for science teaching following the mandated introduction of physical activity across all subjects in Danish primary schools. While there is research available that explores the different ways of utilizing movement in school, very little...... for the intertwined relationship between the body and mind. Based on observations that were conducted in science lessons at a Danish primary school, and from talking with the students, we examine how an embodied pedagogy in science was implemented. We explore a specific instance where a group of 14-16 year old...... of that which is available applies to science education. The argument is made that an embodied pedagogy recognises and validates the centrality of the body in learning, but it is about more than making students move. Utilising such an approach requires one to recognise that embodiment shapes interactions...

  14. Enhanced embodied response following ambiguous emotional processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beffara, Brice; Ouellet, Marc; Vermeulen, Nicolas; Basu, Anamitra; Morisseau, Tiffany; Mermillod, Martial

    2012-08-01

    It has generally been assumed that high-level cognitive and emotional processes are based on amodal conceptual information. In contrast, however, "embodied simulation" theory states that the perception of an emotional signal can trigger a simulation of the related state in the motor, somatosensory, and affective systems. To study the effect of social context on the mimicry effect predicted by the "embodied simulation" theory, we recorded the electromyographic (EMG) activity of participants when looking at emotional facial expressions. We observed an increase in embodied responses when the participants were exposed to a context involving social valence before seeing the emotional facial expressions. An examination of the dynamic EMG activity induced by two socially relevant emotional expressions (namely joy and anger) revealed enhanced EMG responses of the facial muscles associated with the related social prime (either positive or negative). These results are discussed within the general framework of embodiment theory.

  15. Robots Social Embodiment in Autonomous Mobile Robotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian Duffy

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available This work aims at demonstrating the inherent advantages of embracing a strong notion of social embodiment in designing a real-world robot control architecture with explicit ?intelligent? social behaviour between a collective of robots. It develops the current thinking on embodiment beyond the physical by demonstrating the importance of social embodiment. A social framework develops the fundamental social attributes found when more than one robot co-inhabit a physical space. The social metaphors of identity, character, stereotypes and roles are presented and implemented within a real-world social robot paradigm in order to facilitate the realisation of explicit social goals.

  16. Incremental Embodied Chaotic Exploration of Self Organised Motor Behaviours with Proprioceptor Adaptation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phil eHusbands

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a general and fully dynamic embodied neural system, which incrementallyexplores and learns motor behaviours through an integrated combination of chaotic search andreflex learning. The former uses adaptive bifurcation to exploit the intrinsic chaotic dynamicsarising from neuro-body-environment interactions, while the latter is based around proprioceptoradaptation. The architecture developed here allows realtime goal-directed exploration andlearning of the possible motor patterns (e.g. for locomotion of embodied systems of arbitrarymorphology. Examples of its successful application to a simple biomechanical model and asimulated 3D swimming robot are given. The tractability of the biomechanical systems allowsdetailed analysis of the overall dynamics of the search process. This analysis points out strongparallels with evolutionary search.

  17. Extended, Embodied Cognition and Second Language Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Dwight

    2010-01-01

    A "cognitivist" approach to cognition has traditionally dominated second language acquisition (SLA) studies. In this article, I examine two alternative approaches--"extended cognition" and "embodied cognition"--for how they might help us conceptualize SLA. More specifically, I present: (i) summaries of extended and embodied cognition, followed by…

  18. Embodied Involvement in Virtual Worlds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ekdahl, David; Ravn, Susanne

    2018-01-01

    eSports practice designates a unique set of activities tethered to competitive, virtual environments or worlds. This correlation between eSports practitioner and virtual world, we argue, is inadequately accounted for solely in terms of something physical or intellectual. Instead, we favor...... a perspective on eSports practice to be analyzed as a perceptual and embodied phenomenon. In this article, we present the phenomenological approach and focus on the embodied sensations of eSports practitioners as they cope with and perceive within their virtual worlds. By approaching eSports phenomenologically...

  19. Embodiment and Schizophrenia: A Review of Implications and Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tschacher, Wolfgang; Giersch, Anne; Friston, Karl

    2017-07-01

    In recent decades, embodiment has become an influential concept in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Embodiment denotes the study of the reciprocal (causal) relationships between mind and body, with the mind not only affecting the body but also vice versa. Embodied cognition comes to the fore in sensorimotor coupling, predictive coding, and nonverbal behavior. Additionally, the embodiment of the mind constitutes the basis of social interaction and communication, as evident in research on nonverbal synchrony and mimicry. These theoretical and empirical developments portend a range of implications for schizophrenia research and treatment. Sensorimotor dysfunctions are closely associated with affective and psychotic psychopathology, leading to altered timing in the processing of stimuli and to disordered appraisals of the environment. Problems of social cognition may be newly viewed as disordered embodied communication. The embodiment perspective suggests novel treatment strategies through psychotherapy and body-oriented interventions, and may ultimately provide biomarkers for diagnosis. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Bi-lateral CO_2 emissions embodied in Australia–China trade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu; Liu, Ying

    2016-01-01

    This paper quantifies the CO_2 emissions embodied in bi-lateral trade between Australia and China using a sectoral input–output model. The results revealed: (1) that China performs lower than Australia in clean technology in the primary, manufacturing, energy sectors due to their overuse of coal and inefficient sectoral production processes, and (2) that China had a 30.94 Mt surplus of bi-lateral CO_2 emissions in 2010–2011 and (3) overall global emissions were reduced by 20.19 Mt through Australia–China trade in 2010–2011. The result indicates that the greater the energy efficient a country among the trading partners the lower will be the overall global CO_2 emissions. Global emissions decreased mainly because China consumed Australian primary products rather than producing them. Australia is an energy efficient producer of primary products relative to China. The bilateral trade compositions and trade volume played an important role in lowering global emissions and therefore one can view proposed China Australia Free trade Agreement positively in reducing global emissions. However, for the sustainable development, China should strengthen clean energy use and both countries should adopt measures to create an emission trading scheme in order to avoid protectionism in the form of future border price adjustments. - Highlights: •Primary (Australia) and manufactured (China) exports are a unique combination. •Quantifies CO_2 emissions embodied in bi-lateral trade between Australia and China. •Global emissions reduce because China consume Australian primary. •Australia is energy efficient producer of primary products relative to China. •Results support more trade with appropriate trade composition and volume.

  1. A comprehensive assessment of the life cycle energy demand of passive houses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stephan, André; Crawford, Robert H.; Myttenaere, Kristel de

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • The life cycle energy demand of a passive house (PH) is measured over 100 years. • Embodied, operational and user transport energy demand are considered. • Embodied energy represents the highest energy consumption in all variations. • A PH might not save energy compared to a standard house. • A poorly insulated city apartment can use less energy than a best case suburban PH. - Abstract: Certifications such as the Passive House aim to reduce the final space heating energy demand of residential buildings. The latter are responsible for a significant share of final energy consumption in Europe of which nearly 70% is associated with space conditioning, notably heating. The improvement of the energy efficiency of residential buildings, in terms of space heating, can therefore reduce their total energy demand. However, most certifications totally overlook other energy requirements associated with residential buildings. Studies on passive houses do not take into consideration the embodied energy required to manufacture the building materials, especially the large amount of insulation required to achieve high operational efficiencies. At an urban scale, most passive houses are single family detached houses located in low density suburbs with a high car usage, resulting in considerable transport related energy demand. This paper analyses the total life cycle energy demand of a typical Belgian passive house, comprising embodied, operational and transport energy. It relies on a comprehensive technique developed by Stephan et al. [1] and conducts a parametric analysis as well as a comparison to alternative building types. Results show that current building energy efficiency certifications might not ensure a lower energy demand and can, paradoxically result in an increased energy consumption because of their limited scope. More comprehensive system boundaries should be used to make sure that net energy savings do occur. The embodied energy of passive

  2. Embodiment in the aging mind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehn, Esther; Perez-Lopez, Mario Borja; Diersch, Nadine; Döhler, Juliane; Wolbers, Thomas; Riemer, Martin

    2018-03-01

    Bodily awareness is a central component of human sensation, action, and cognition. The human body is subject to profound changes over the adult lifespan. We live in an aging society: the mean age of people living in industrialized countries is currently over 40 years, and further increases are expected. Nevertheless, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge that links changes in embodiment that occur with age to neuronal mechanisms and associated sensorimotor and cognitive deficits in older adults. Here, we synthesize existing evidence and introduce the NFL Framework of Embodied Aging, which links basic neuronal (N) mechanisms of age-related sensorimotor decline to changes in functional (F) bodily impairments, including deficits in higher-level cognitive functions, and impairments in daily life (L). We argue that cognitive and daily life impairments associated with old age are often due to deficits in embodiment, which can partly be linked to neuronal degradation at the sensorimotor level. The framework may encourage the development of novel approaches to improve autonomous living for older adults. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Inventory of CO2 emissions driven by energy consumption in Hubei Province: a time-series energy input-output analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jiashuo; Luo, Ran; Yang, Qing; Yang, Haiping

    2016-12-01

    Based on an input-output analysis, this paper compiles inventories of fuel-related CO2 emissions of Hubei economy in the years of 2002, 2005, and 2007. Results show that calculated total direct CO2 emissions rose from 114,462.69 kt (2002) to 196,650.31 kt (2005), reaching 210,419.93 kt in 2007, with an average 22.50% rate of increase. Raw coal was the dominant source of the direct emissions throughout the three years. The sector of Electric Power, Heat Production, and Supply was the main direct emissions contributor, with the largest intensities observed from 2002 (1192.97 g/CNY) to 2007 (1739.15 g/ CNY). From the industrial perspective, the secondary industry, which is characterized as manufacture of finished products, was still the pillar of the Hubei economy during this period concerned, contributing more than 80% of the total direct emissions. As a net exporter of embodied CO2 emissions in 2002 and 2007, Hubei reported net-exported emissions of 4109.00 kt and 17,871.77 kt respectively; however, Hubei was once a net importer of CO2 emissions in 2005 (2511.93 kt). The CO2 emissions embodied in export and fixed capital formation had the two leading fractions of emissions embodied in the final use. The corresponding countermeasures, such as promoting renewable and clean energy and properly reducing the exports of low value added and carbon-intensive products are suggestions for reducing CO2 emissions in Hubei.

  4. Grounding social embodiment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lakens, D.

    2014-01-01

    Social embodiment research examines how thoughts, affect, and behavior is influenced by sensory, motor, and perceptual cues in the environment. It has repeatedly received criticism due to a focus on demonstration studies. Here, I aim to identify some of the possible reasons underlying the lack of

  5. Dynamical Intention: Integrated Intelligence Modeling for Goal-directed Embodied Agents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Aaron

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Intelligent embodied robots are integrated systems: As they move continuously through their environments, executing behaviors and carrying out tasks, components for low-level and high-level intelligence are integrated in the robot's cognitive system, and cognitive and physical processes combine to create their behavior. For a modeling framework to enable the design and analysis of such integrated intelligence, the underlying representations in the design of the robot should be dynamically sensitive, capable of reflecting both continuous motion and micro-cognitive influences, while also directly representing the necessary beliefs and intentions for goal-directed behavior. In this paper, a dynamical intention-based modeling framework is presented that satisfies these criteria, along with a hybrid dynamical cognitive agent (HDCA framework for employing dynamical intentions in embodied agents. This dynamical intention-HDCA (DI-HDCA modeling framework is a fusion of concepts from spreading activation networks, hybrid dynamical system models, and the BDI (belief-desire-intention theory of goal-directed reasoning, adapted and employed unconventionally to meet entailments of environment and embodiment. The paper presents two kinds of autonomous agent learning results that demonstrate dynamical intentions and the multi-faceted integration they enable in embodied robots: with a simulated service robot in a grid-world office environment, reactive-level learning minimizes reliance on deliberative-level intelligence, enabling task sequencing and action selection to be distributed over both deliberative and reactive levels; and with a simulated game of Tag, the cognitive-physical integration of an autonomous agent enables the straightforward learning of a user-specified strategy during gameplay, without interruption to the game. In addition, the paper argues that dynamical intentions are consistent with cognitive theory underlying goal-directed behavior, and

  6. The embodied mind

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bondebjerg, Ib

    2015-01-01

    Since the 1980s the study of the brain has developed from a primarily biological field to a significant interdisciplinary area with an already strong influence on the humanities and social sciences. In this article I describe fundamental elements in what I call the embodied mind paradigm and the ...

  7. Reading embodied consciousness in "Emma".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harbus, Antonina

    2011-01-01

    The language of Emma (1815) reflects Jane Austen's developing view of embodied consciousness and her particular interest in this novel in the physical manifestations of emotions, such as blushes and nervous responses. The discursive exploration of the inner life in Emma is the product of a cultural context that features emerging brain science and Austen's own conceptualization of the psychophysical nature of emotions. This article analyzes the language of mind and emotion in Emma, to contend that Austen grapples with the implications of the idea of embodied consciousness in a narrative that contrasts mind reading with interpreting the body.

  8. Embodied masculinity and androgen deprivation therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliffe, John

    2006-05-01

    This paper describes the findings from an ethnographic study of 16 Anglo-Australian men treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for advanced prostate cancer. Utilising a social constructionist gendered analysis, participants' experiences, particularly in relation to embodied masculinity, are described in the context of reduced testosterone that accompany ADT. The findings indicated that participants reformulated many ideals of hegemonic masculinity in response to functional body changes. However, hegemonic masculinity strongly influenced participants' philosophical resolve to "fight" prostate cancer. The findings are considered in broader ongoing debates about essentialist sex and the social construction of gender.

  9. Theoretical behaviorism meets embodied cognition : Two theoretical analyses of behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keijzer, F.A.

    2005-01-01

    This paper aims to do three things: First, to provide a review of John Staddon's book Adaptive dynamics: The theoretical analysis of behavior. Second, to compare Staddon's behaviorist view with current ideas on embodied cognition. Third, to use this comparison to explicate some outlines for a

  10. Embodied Subjectivities: Nine Young Women Talking Dance

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Flynn, Gabrielle; Pryor, Zoe; Gray, Tonia

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine nine Australian young women's embodied experiences of dance. The young women were all amateur dancers involved in weekly jazz, tap, and ballet dance classes at the same dance studio. In this paper, embodiment is defined as multidimensional (Burkitt 1999). The authors explore the ways the corporeal and the…

  11. Embodiment and Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bessell, Jacquelyn; Riddell, Patricia

    2016-01-01

    Evidence suggests that some cognitive processes are based on sensorimotor systems in the brain (embodied cognition). The premise of this is that "Biological brains are first and foremost the control systems for biological bodies". It has therefore been suggested that both online cognition (processing as we move through the world) and…

  12. Estimation and Minimization of Embodied Carbon of Buildings: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Akbarnezhad

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Building and construction is responsible for up to 30% of annual global greenhouse gas (GHG emissions, commonly reported in carbon equivalent unit. Carbon emissions are incurred in all stages of a building’s life cycle and are generally categorised into operating carbon and embodied carbon, each making varying contributions to the life cycle carbon depending on the building’s characteristics. With recent advances in reducing the operating carbon of buildings, the available literature indicates a clear shift in attention towards investigating strategies to minimize embodied carbon. However, minimizing the embodied carbon of buildings is challenging and requires evaluating the effects of embodied carbon reduction strategies on the emissions incurred in different life cycle phases, as well as the operating carbon of the building. In this paper, the available literature on strategies for reducing the embodied carbon of buildings, as well as methods for estimating the embodied carbon of buildings, is reviewed and the strengths and weaknesses of each method are highlighted.

  13. Scott Skipworth Torrens PhD Embodiment Diagrams.pdf

    OpenAIRE

    Skipworth, Scott

    2017-01-01

    Disseminated Embodiment: My term for a repositioning of human embodiment for the 21st Century: no longer a distinct figure in relation to the built environment, but an expanding and contracting satellite system of the local and global built environment itself.

  14. Embodiment Meets Metamemory: Weight as a Cue for Metacognitive Judgments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alban, Michael W.; Kelley, Colleen M.

    2013-01-01

    Weight is conceptualized as an embodiment of importance, according to recent research on embodied cognition (Ackerman, Nocera, & Bargh, 2010; Jostmann, Lakens, & Schubert, 2009). Is importance as embodied by weight used as a cue that items are memorable? Four experiments varied participants' perceptual experiences of weight as they studied…

  15. Embodied niche construction in the hominin lineage: semiotic structure and sustained attention in human embodied cognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stutz, Aaron J.

    2014-01-01

    Human evolution unfolded through a rather distinctive, dynamically constructed ecological niche. The human niche is not only generally terrestrial in habitat, while being flexibly and extensively heterotrophic in food-web connections. It is also defined by semiotically structured and structuring embodied cognitive interfaces, connecting the individual organism with the wider environment. The embodied dimensions of niche-population co-evolution have long involved semiotic system construction, which I hypothesize to be an evolutionarily primitive aspect of learning and higher-level cognitive integration and attention in the great apes and humans alike. A clearly pre-linguistic form of semiotic cognitive structuration is suggested to involve recursively learned and constructed object icons. Higher-level cognitive iconic representation of visually, auditorily, or haptically perceived extrasomatic objects would be learned and evoked through indexical connections to proprioceptive and affective somatic states. Thus, private cognitive signs would be defined, not only by their learned and perceived extrasomatic referents, but also by their associations to iconically represented somatic states. This evolutionary modification of animal associative learning is suggested to be adaptive in ecological niches occupied by long-lived, large-bodied ape species, facilitating memory construction and recall in highly varied foraging and social contexts, while sustaining selective attention during goal-directed behavioral sequences. The embodied niche construction (ENC) hypothesis of human evolution posits that in the early hominin lineage, natural selection further modified the ancestral ape semiotic adaptations, favoring the recursive structuration of concise iconic narratives of embodied interaction with the environment. PMID:25136323

  16. Embodied affectivity: On moving and being moved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas eFuchs

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing body of research indicating that bodily sensation and behaviour strongly influences one’s emotional reaction towards certain situations or objects. On this background, a framework model of embodied affectivity is suggested: we regard emotions as resulting from the circular interaction between affective qualities or affordances in the environment and the subject’s bodily resonance, be it in the form of sensations, postures, expressive movements or movement tendencies. Motion and emotion are thus intrinsically connected: one is moved by movement (perception; impression; affection and moved to move (action; expression; e-motion. Through its resonance, the body functions as a medium of emotional perception: it colours or charges self-experience and the environment with affective valences while it remains itself in the background of one’s own awareness. This model is then applied to emotional social understanding or interaffectivity which is regarded as an intertwinement of two cycles of embodied affectivity, thus continuously modifying each partner’s affective affordances and bodily resonance. We conclude with considerations of how embodied affectivity is altered in psychopathology and can be addressed in psychotherapy of the embodied self.

  17. Centrality of Body and Embodiment in Nursing Care: A Scoping Study of the Italian Literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchetti, Anna; Piredda, Michela; De Marinis, Maria Grazia

    2016-01-01

    Nursing has based its practical work on contact and a relationship with the patient's body and embodiment; however, the international theoretical and empirical researches on these concepts are still neglected. The purpose of this scoping study is to map the breadth and depth with which body and embodiment are addressed in the Italian nursing literature, identifying the key concepts and the main sources and types of evidence available. Scoping study with qualitative content analysis. It was conducted in accordance with the framework outlined by Arksey and O'Malley and following the recommendations by Levac, Colquhoun, and O'Brien. The qualitative content analysis process was conducted according to Elo and Kyngäs. Lincoln and Guba's technique was followed to ensure trustworthiness. Searches were conducted within seven electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature, one electronic Italian database, six electronic database searches of grey literature, four free online nursing journals, four Internet search engines, and 10 key hard-copy Italian nursing journals. Through these searches, 2,536 records were identified, from which 18 were selected for the final review. Three generic categories emerged from qualitative content analysis: the conceptual category, the nursing care category, and the education category, each including eight, seven, and two subcategories, respectively. The central nursing concepts of body and embodiment definitely require greater and more continuous efforts of theoretical study and empirical research within the nursing discipline, both in Italy and internationally. A greater awareness of body and embodiment should guide nursing practice in caring for and supporting patients and also guide approaches to teaching and learning. Moreover, body and embodiment are concepts firmly rooted in nursing practice, and they are also ripe for future research and able to generate more holistic and complex ways of understanding patients. © 2015 Sigma Theta Tau

  18. Mentalization, embodiment and narrative

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Køster, Allan

    2017-01-01

    of a strong interactive focus, it remains fundamentally rooted in a Cartesian ontology, overlooking embodied, expressive, enactive and sociocultural dimensions of social cognition. Furthermore, since mentalization theory was originally developed as a framework for understanding Borderline Personality Disorder...

  19. Embodied Cultures of Mobilities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ole B.

    2010-01-01

    and material artifacts. The paper target the complex relationship between the moving, sensing body and the material and built environment of infrastructures and mobility modes in order to explore what norms, and meanings, and everyday life mobility cultures are being produced and re-produced in this process....... A particular emphasis is put on how mobilities produce and re-produce norms, meanings and cultures in relation to the Everyday life perspective. By looking into walking, running, cycling, driving and mass transit mobilities different modes of embodied mobility is identified. The theoretical framework is based...... and interaction (Lynch). The argument is thus that understanding embodied cultures of mobilities from the vantage point of this paper lend is self to new interpretations, explorations and understandings of what it means to move within and between other social agents in particular material and physical...

  20. Embodied selfhood and narrative

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Køster, Allan

    The dissertation, consisting of an introductory essay and four independent articles, provides phenomenological investigations into the relation between embodied selfhood and narrative. More precisely, it investigates this relation in regards to three specifying questions: (1) What is the relation...

  1. The missing link in the embodiment of syntax: prosody.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreiner, Hamutal; Eviatar, Zohar

    2014-10-01

    Neurolinguistic theories are challenged by the amodal abstract representations assumed by linguists. Embodied linguistics offers a conceptualization of the relationship between linguistic representation, experience, and the brain. Findings correlating brain activation patterns with referential features of words (e.g., body parts), suggest that the mechanism underlying linguistic embodiment is an "action-perception simulation". This mechanism accounts for embodied representation of words, but is harder to adapt to syntactic abstractions. We suggest that prosody is the missing link. Prosody is a sensory-motor phenomenon that can evoke an "action-perception simulation" that underpins the syntax-experience-brain association. Our review discusses different embodiment models and then integrates psycholinguistic and neurocognitive studies into a new approach to linguistic embodiment. We propose a novel implementation of the syntax-experience-brain relationship via the mapping between the temporo-spectral aspects of speech prosody and temporo-spectral patterns of synchronized behavior of neural populations. We discuss the potential implications for psycho- and neuro-linguistic research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Avoided emissions of a fuel-efficient biomass cookstove dwarf embodied emissions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D.L. Wilson

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Three billion people cook their food on biomass-fueled fires. This practice contributes to the anthropogenic radiative forcing. Fuel-efficient biomass cookstoves have the potential to reduce CO2-equivalent emissions from cooking, however, cookstoves made from modern materials and distributed through energy-intensive supply chains have higher embodied CO2-equivalent than traditional cookstoves. No studies exist examining whether lifetime emissions savings from fuel-efficient biomass cookstoves offset embodied emissions, and if so, by what margin. This paper is a complete life cycle inventory of “The Berkeley–Darfur Stove,” disseminated in Sudan by the non-profit Potential Energy. We estimate the embodied CO2-equivalent in the cookstove associated with materials, manufacturing, transportation, and end-of-life is 17 kg of CO2-equivalent. Assuming a mix of 55% non-renewable biomass and 45% renewable biomass, five years of service, and a conservative 35% reduction in fuel use relative to a three-stone fire, the cookstove will offset 7.5 tonnes of CO2-equivalent. A one-to-one replacement of a three-stone fire with the cookstove will save roughly 440 times more CO2-equivalent than it “costs” to create and distribute. Over its five-year life, we estimate the total use-phase emissions of the cookstove to be 13.5 tonnes CO2-equivalent, and the use-phase accounts for 99.9% of cookstove life cycle emissions. The dominance of use-phase emissions illuminate two important insights: (1 without a rigorous program to monitor use-phase emissions, an accurate estimate of life cycle emissions from biomass cookstoves is not possible, and (2 improving a cookstove's avoided emissions relies almost exclusively on reducing use-phase emissions even if use-phase reductions come at the cost of substantially increased non-use-phase emissions.

  3. Embodied Niche Construction in the Hominin Lineage: Semiotic Structure and Sustained Attention in Human Embodied Cognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aaron Jonas Stutz

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Human evolution unfolded through a rather distinctive, dynamically constructed ecological niche. The human niche is not only generally terrestrial in habitat, while being flexibly and extensively heterotrophic in food-web connections. It is also defined by semiotically structured and structuring embodied cognitive interfaces, connecting the individual organism with the wider environment. The embodied dimensions of niche-population co-evolution have long involved semiotic system construction, which I hypothesize to be an evolutionarily primitive aspect of learning and higher-level cognitive integration and attention in the great apes and humans alike. A clearly pre-linguistic form of semiotic cognitive structuration is suggested to involve recursively learned and constructed object icons. Higher-level cognitive iconic representation of visually, auditorily, or haptically perceived extrasomatic objects would be learned and evoked through indexical connections to proprioceptive and affective somatic states. Thus, private cognitive signs would be defined, not only by their learned and perceived extrasomatic referents, but also by their associations to iconically represented somatic states. This evolutionary modification of animal associative learning is suggested to be adaptive in ecological niches occupied by long-lived, large-bodied ape species, facilitating memory construction and recall in highly varied foraging and social contexts, while sustaining selective attention during goal-directed behavioral sequences. The embodied niche construction (ENC hypothesis of human evolution posits that in the early hominin lineage, natural selection further modified the ancestral ape semiotic adaptations, favoring the recursive structuration of concise iconic narratives of embodied interaction with the environment.

  4. Carbon dioxide emissions embodied in international trade in Central Europe between 1995 and 2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlčková Jana

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Climate change and environmental policies are widely discussed, but much less is known about emissions embodied in goods traded internationally, and the distinction between emission producers and consumers. The carbon dioxide emissions embodied in international trade in Central European countries are subject to examination in this paper. As a result of industrial restructuring and environmental legislation, air pollution has improved significantly in Central European countries since the 1989 transition. On the other hand, economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in consumerism. Despite the increasing role of exports, the Visegrad group countries have become net importers of carbon dioxide emissions between 1995 and 2008. This seems to be the ‘standard trajectory’ of a country’s transition toward a more developed and consumption-oriented economy. The global patterns of carbon dioxide emissions embodied in manufacturing exports are also mapped, using network analysis and constructing ‘product space’. The analysis confirms that industrial re-structuring played an important role in lowering the production of carbon dioxide emissions in the Visegrad countries.

  5. Embodied Design Ideation methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilde, Danielle; Vallgårda, Anna; Tomico, Oscar

    2017-01-01

    Embodied design ideation practices work with relationships between body, material and context to enliven design and research potential. Methods are often idiosyncratic and – due to their physical nature – not easily transferred. This presents challenges for designers wishing to develop and share ...

  6. "Three in the Room": Embodiment, Disclosure, and Vulnerability in Qualitative Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Magdalena

    2015-12-01

    The researcher's body in qualitative research is often absented, an absence that can render deceptively tidy research accounts. In this article, I reflect on the interplay of embodiment and disclosure in the interview dynamic and the way in which my body became an object of inquiry in the research process. Three qualitative studies inform the article: the first exploring the experiences of 40 people living with hepatitis C in New Zealand and Australia, the second comprising life-history interviews with 38 people who inject drugs in London, and the third following 27 people through hepatitis C treatment in London. Bodily and verbal disclosures of my history, as someone with/without hepatitis C and a former heroin user, affected the energy of the interview dynamic, also embodied understandings of illness and drug use. Disclosure can enhance researcher vulnerability and I close with reflection on the ethical implications of "enhanced rapport" in the research situation. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. Core Cognition and Embodied Agency in Gaming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gregersen, Andreas Lindegaard

    The dissertation is premised on the assumption that video game structure is geared towards the functionality of challenging interaction by embodied human individuals. The first chapter introduces "core cognition", referring to a stable and common human embodiment of cognitive powers related...... to perception and cognition. The next chapter analyses intentional goal-related action and embodied awareness of action in depth. This is followed by a discussion of play and related phenomena leading to the preliminary conclusion that play and playfulness may involve goal-related actions in several ways...... that of the game world, or virtual world. Games are, in accordance with previous claims, defined as simulations of game worlds which are recruited for game functionalities of challenges of control in relation to artificial conflict. On the basis of core cognition, intentional agency, and play-related phenomena...

  8. Simple analytical model reveals the functional role of embodied sensorimotor interaction in hexapod gaits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoi, Shinya; Nachstedt, Timo; Manoonpong, Poramate; Wörgötter, Florentin; Matsuno, Fumitoshi

    2018-01-01

    Insects have various gaits with specific characteristics and can change their gaits smoothly in accordance with their speed. These gaits emerge from the embodied sensorimotor interactions that occur between the insect’s neural control and body dynamic systems through sensory feedback. Sensory feedback plays a critical role in coordinated movements such as locomotion, particularly in stick insects. While many previously developed insect models can generate different insect gaits, the functional role of embodied sensorimotor interactions in the interlimb coordination of insects remains unclear because of their complexity. In this study, we propose a simple physical model that is amenable to mathematical analysis to explain the functional role of these interactions clearly. We focus on a foot contact sensory feedback called phase resetting, which regulates leg retraction timing based on touchdown information. First, we used a hexapod robot to determine whether the distributed decoupled oscillators used for legs with the sensory feedback generate insect-like gaits through embodied sensorimotor interactions. The robot generated two different gaits and one had similar characteristics to insect gaits. Next, we proposed the simple model as a minimal model that allowed us to analyze and explain the gait mechanism through the embodied sensorimotor interactions. The simple model consists of a rigid body with massless springs acting as legs, where the legs are controlled using oscillator phases with phase resetting, and the governed equations are reduced such that they can be explained using only the oscillator phases with some approximations. This simplicity leads to analytical solutions for the hexapod gaits via perturbation analysis, despite the complexity of the embodied sensorimotor interactions. This is the first study to provide an analytical model for insect gaits under these interaction conditions. Our results clarified how this specific foot contact sensory

  9. Yoga and positive body image: A test of the Embodiment Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahlo, Leeann; Tiggemann, Marika

    2016-09-01

    The study aimed to test the Embodiment Model of Positive Body Image (Menzel & Levine, 2011) within the context of yoga. Participants were 193 yoga practitioners (124 Iyengar, 69 Bikram) and 127 university students (non-yoga participants) from Adelaide, South Australia. Participants completed questionnaire measures of positive body image, embodiment, self-objectification, and desire for thinness. Results showed yoga practitioners scored higher on positive body image and embodiment, and lower on self-objectification than non-yoga participants. In support of the embodiment model, the relationship between yoga participation and positive body image was serially mediated by embodiment and reduced self-objectification. Although Bikram practitioners endorsed appearance-related reasons for participating in yoga more than Iyengar practitioners, there were no significant differences between Iyengar and Bikram yoga practitioners on body image variables. It was concluded that yoga is an embodying activity that can provide women with the opportunity to cultivate a favourable relationship with their body. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. The Role of Embodiment and Individual Empathy Levels in Gesture Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jospe, Karine; Flöel, Agnes; Lavidor, Michal

    2017-01-01

    Research suggests that the action-observation network is involved in both emotional-embodiment (empathy) and action-embodiment (imitation) mechanisms. Here we tested whether empathy modulates action-embodiment, hypothesizing that restricting imitation abilities will impair performance in a hand gesture comprehension task. Moreover, we hypothesized that empathy levels will modulate the imitation restriction effect. One hundred twenty participants with a range of empathy scores performed gesture comprehension under restricted and unrestricted hand conditions. Empathetic participants performed better under the unrestricted compared to the restricted condition, and compared to the low empathy participants. Remarkably however, the latter showed the exactly opposite pattern and performed better under the restricted condition. This pattern was not found in a facial expression recognition task. The selective interaction of embodiment restriction and empathy suggests that empathy modulates the way people employ embodiment in gesture comprehension. We discuss the potential of embodiment-induced therapy to improve empathetic abilities in individuals with low empathy.

  11. Life-cycle energy implications of different residential settings: Recognizing buildings, travel, and public infrastructure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nichols, Brice G.; Kockelman, Kara M.

    2014-01-01

    The built environment can be used to influence travel demand, but very few studies consider the relative energy savings of such policies in context of a complex urban system. This analysis quantifies the day-to-day and embodied energy consumption of four different neighborhoods in Austin, Texas, to examine how built environment variations influence various sources of urban energy consumption. A microsimulation combines models for petroleum use (from driving) and residential and commercial power and natural gas use with rigorously measured building stock and infrastructure materials quantities (to arrive at embodied energy). Results indicate that the more suburban neighborhoods, with mostly detached single-family homes, consume up to 320% more embodied energy, 150% more operational energy, and about 160% more total life-cycle energy (per capita) than a densely developed neighborhood with mostly low-rise-apartments and duplexes. Across all neighborhoods, operational energy use comprised 83 to 92% of total energy use, and transportation sources (including personal vehicles and transit, plus street, parking structure, and sidewalk infrastructure) made up 44 to 47% of the life-cycle energy demands tallied. Energy elasticity calculations across the neighborhoods suggest that increased population density and reduced residential unit size offer greatest life-cycle energy savings per capita, by reducing both operational demands from driving and home energy use, and from less embodied energy from construction. These results provide measurable metrics for comparing different neighborhood styles and develop a framework to anticipate energy-savings from changes in the built environment versus household energy efficiency. - Highlights: • Total energy demands (operational and embodied) of 5 Austin settings were studied here. • Suburban settings consume much more energy than densely developed neighborhoods. • Transportation sources make up 44 to 47% of the total energy

  12. Genre, technology and embodied interaction: The evolution of digital game genres and motion gaming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Gregersen

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Technology has been given relatively little attention in genre theory, but this article argues that material technologies can be important components in genre development. The argument is based on a historically informed analysis of digital games, with special attention paid to home console video games and recent genre developments within this domain commonly referred to as motion gaming. The main point is that digital game genres imply structured embodied activity. A constitutive element of digital game mediation is a control interface geared to player embodiment, and I propose the concept of ‘interaction modes’ to describe the coupling of technology and player embodiment and show how this can be integrated with genre theory. The resulting framework allows for increased attention to continuity and change in game and communication genres, material and digital technologies, and the related interaction modes.

  13. Embodied Resistance to Persuasion in Advertising

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewinski, Peter; Fransen, Marieke L.; Tan, Ed S.

    2016-01-01

    From the literature on resistance to persuasion in advertising, much is known about how people can resist advertising by adopting resistance strategies, such as avoidance, counter-arguing, and selective attention (e.g., Fransen et al., 2015b). However, the role of emotion regulation and bodily expression in resisting persuasion is so far underexplored. This is a surprising observation if one considers that at least 40% of advertisements use positive emotions (i.e., happiness) to persuade people to like the ad, brand, and product (Weinberger et al., 1995). In this article we present a framework in which we apply previous knowledge and theories on emotion regulation and embodiment to the process of resistance to persuasion. In doing so, we specifically address the role of facial expression in the course of resistance. The literature and findings from our own research lead us to propose that people can resist persuasion by controlling their facial expression of emotion when exposed to an advertisement. Controlling the expression of emotions elicited by an ad (for example refusing to smile) might be a fruitful way to resist the ad’s persuasive potential. Moreover, we argue that co-viewers can affect embodied resistance to persuasion. Showing the viability of embodied resistance to persuasion is relevant in view of the fact that ads trying to persuade us by addressing our positive emotions are ubiquitous. Embodied resistance might help people to cope with these induced positive emotions in order to resist advertisements and might therefore work as a novel and effective strategy to resist persuasion. PMID:27574512

  14. Embodied Resistance to Persuasion in Advertising

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Lewinski

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available From the literature on resistance to persuasion in advertising, much is known about how people can resist advertising by adopting resistance strategies, such as avoidance, counter-arguing and selective attention (e.g., Fransen, Verlegh, Kirmani, & Smit, 2015a. However, the role of emotion regulation and bodily expression in resisting persuasion is so far underexplored. This is a surprising observation if one considers that at least 40% of advertisements use positive emotions (i.e., happiness to persuade people to like the ad, brand, and product (Weinberger et al., 1995. In this article we present a framework in which we apply previous knowledge and theories on emotion regulation and embodiment to the process of resistance to persuasion. In doing so, we specifically address the role of facial expression in the course of resistance. Based on the literature and findings largely established in our own research, we propose that people can resist persuasion by controlling their facial expression of emotion when exposed to an advertisement. Controlling the expression of emotions elicited by an ad (for example refusing to smile might be a fruitful way to resist the ad’s persuasive potential. Moreover, we argue that co-viewers can affect embodied resistance to persuasion. Showing the viability of embodied resistance to persuasion is relevant in view of the fact that ads trying to persuade us by addressing our positive emotions are ubiquitous. Embodied resistance might help people to cope with these induced positive emotions in order to resist advertisements and might therefore work as a novel and effective strategy to resist persuasion.

  15. Embodied Resistance to Persuasion in Advertising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewinski, Peter; Fransen, Marieke L; Tan, Ed S

    2016-01-01

    From the literature on resistance to persuasion in advertising, much is known about how people can resist advertising by adopting resistance strategies, such as avoidance, counter-arguing, and selective attention (e.g., Fransen et al., 2015b). However, the role of emotion regulation and bodily expression in resisting persuasion is so far underexplored. This is a surprising observation if one considers that at least 40% of advertisements use positive emotions (i.e., happiness) to persuade people to like the ad, brand, and product (Weinberger et al., 1995). In this article we present a framework in which we apply previous knowledge and theories on emotion regulation and embodiment to the process of resistance to persuasion. In doing so, we specifically address the role of facial expression in the course of resistance. The literature and findings from our own research lead us to propose that people can resist persuasion by controlling their facial expression of emotion when exposed to an advertisement. Controlling the expression of emotions elicited by an ad (for example refusing to smile) might be a fruitful way to resist the ad's persuasive potential. Moreover, we argue that co-viewers can affect embodied resistance to persuasion. Showing the viability of embodied resistance to persuasion is relevant in view of the fact that ads trying to persuade us by addressing our positive emotions are ubiquitous. Embodied resistance might help people to cope with these induced positive emotions in order to resist advertisements and might therefore work as a novel and effective strategy to resist persuasion.

  16. Metaphor: Bridging embodiment to abstraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamrozik, Anja; McQuire, Marguerite; Cardillo, Eileen R; Chatterjee, Anjan

    2016-08-01

    Embodied cognition accounts posit that concepts are grounded in our sensory and motor systems. An important challenge for these accounts is explaining how abstract concepts, which do not directly call upon sensory or motor information, can be informed by experience. We propose that metaphor is one important vehicle guiding the development and use of abstract concepts. Metaphors allow us to draw on concrete, familiar domains to acquire and reason about abstract concepts. Additionally, repeated metaphoric use drawing on particular aspects of concrete experience can result in the development of new abstract representations. These abstractions, which are derived from embodied experience but lack much of the sensorimotor information associated with it, can then be flexibly applied to understand new situations.

  17. Embodied Creativity Training Practice in East and West Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, ChaoYing; Hu, Weipin; Wang, Canming

    2016-01-01

    Embodied creativity training is action-based and aims to improve participants’ creative ability rather than delivery knowledge or information of creative theories. This paper introduced embodied creativity training practices in Denmark, United States, and China. This paper categorizes the related...

  18. 'The moment when it al comes together': embodied experiences in ballet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aalten, A.

    2004-01-01

    This article is both an elaborated critique on the one-sided analysis of the misogynist nature of ballet as a cultural practice, and a contribution to a more embodied feminist theory. Based on empirical material, that was brought together by observing the body practices in ballet and listening to

  19. Embodying soft wearables research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tomico Plasencia, O.; Wilde, D.

    2016-01-01

    The value of engaging sensory motor skills in the design and use of smart systems is increasingly recognized. Yet robust and reliable methods for development, reporting and transfer are not fully understood. This workshop investigates the role of embodied design research techniques in the context of

  20. Impact of Trade Openness and Sector Trade on Embodied Greenhouse Gases Emissions and Air Pollutants

    OpenAIRE

    Islam, Moinul; Kanemoto, Keiichiro; Managi, Shunsuke

    2016-01-01

    The production of goods and services generates greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollution both directly and through the activities of the supply chains on which they depend. The analysis of the latter—called embodied emissions—in the cause of internationally traded goods and services is the subject of this paper. We find that trade openness increases embodied emissions in international trade (EET). We also examine the impact of sector trade on EET. By applying a fixed-effect model using large...

  1. Tacit knowledge of caring and embodied selfhood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kontos, Pia C; Naglie, Gary

    2009-07-01

    The tacit knowledge paradigm is gaining recognition as an important source of knowledge that informs clinical decision-making. It is, however, limited by an exclusive focus on knowledge acquired through clinical practice, and a consequent neglect of the primordial and socio-cultural significance of embodied selfhood, precisely what provides the foundational structure of tacit knowledge of caring and facilitates its manifestation. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study of 43 dementia care practitioners in Ontario, Canada that utilised research-based drama and focus group methodology, we argue that embodied selfhood is fundamental to tacit knowledge of caring. Results are analysed drawing upon the theoretical precepts of embodied selfhood that are rooted in Merleau-Ponty's (1962) reconceptualisation of perception and Bourdieu's (1977, 1990) notion of habitus. We conclude with a call for further exploration of the body as a site of the production of tacit knowledge.

  2. Storytelling in dementia: embodiment as a resource.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hydén, Lars-Christer

    2013-05-01

    In narrative research about persons with dementia, much research focuses on individual storytellers and their stories often stressing the discursive or textual aspects of stories. As persons with Alzheimer's disease generally have difficulties in telling stories according to often implicit narrative norms, they may appear to be less competent and agentive than what is actually the case. In the article, I argue for a change of focus from the textual aspects of narratives and the story as a product, to a focus on performative aspects and the embodied aspects of storytelling. A focus on the storytelling activity implies a change from the individual storyteller to the interaction with other participants in the storytelling situation. Drawing on two particular cases of storytelling, I stress the collaborative and embodied aspects of storytelling and argue that embodiment is less an individual expressive phenomenon than it is an interactive resource.

  3. Full-energy-chain analysis of greenhouse gas emissions for solar thermal electric power generation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norton, B.; Lawson, W.R.

    1997-01-01

    Technical attributes and environmental impacts of solar thermal options for centralized electricity generation are discussed. In particular, the full-energy-chain, including embodied energy and energy production, is considered in relation to greenhouse gas emission arising from solar thermal electricity generation. Central receiver, parabolic dish, parabolic trough and solar pond systems are considered. (author)

  4. Bodies of Knowledge: Definitions, Delineations, and Implications of Embodied Writing in the Academy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knoblauch, A. Abby

    2012-01-01

    This article differentiates three primary ways scholars in Composition and Rhetoric talk about embodiment as it relates to knowledge production and writing in the academy: embodied language, embodied knowledge, and embodied rhetoric. While these categories overlap and inform each other, clarifying the definitions themselves is important as there…

  5. Flexibility in embodied language understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willems, Roel M; Casasanto, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Do people use sensori-motor cortices to understand language? Here we review neurocognitive studies of language comprehension in healthy adults and evaluate their possible contributions to theories of language in the brain. We start by sketching the minimal predictions that an embodied theory of language understanding makes for empirical research, and then survey studies that have been offered as evidence for embodied semantic representations. We explore four debated issues: first, does activation of sensori-motor cortices during action language understanding imply that action semantics relies on mirror neurons? Second, what is the evidence that activity in sensori-motor cortices plays a functional role in understanding language? Third, to what extent do responses in perceptual and motor areas depend on the linguistic and extra-linguistic context? And finally, can embodied theories accommodate language about abstract concepts? Based on the available evidence, we conclude that sensori-motor cortices are activated during a variety of language comprehension tasks, for both concrete and abstract language. Yet, this activity depends on the context in which perception and action words are encountered. Although modality-specific cortical activity is not a sine qua non of language processing even for language about perception and action, sensori-motor regions of the brain appear to make functional contributions to the construction of meaning, and should therefore be incorporated into models of the neurocognitive architecture of language.

  6. Flexibility in embodied language understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roel M Willems

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Do people use sensori-motor cortices to understand language? Here we review neurocognitive studies of language comprehension in healthy adults and evaluate their possible contributions to theories of language in the brain. We start by sketching the minimal predictions that an embodied theory of language understanding makes for empirical research, and then survey studies that have been offered as evidence for embodied semantic representations. We explore four debated issues: first, does activation of sensori-motor cortices during action language understanding imply that action semantics relies on mirror neurons? Second, what is the evidence that activity in sensori-motor cortices plays a functional role in understanding language? Third, to what extent do responses in perceptual and motor areas depend on the linguistic and extra-linguistic context? And finally, can embodied theories accommodate language about abstract concepts? Based on the available evidence, we conclude that sensori-motor cortices are activated during a variety of language comprehension tasks, for both concrete and abstract language. Yet, this activity depends on the context in which perception and action words are encountered. Although modality-specific cortical activity is not a sine qua non of language processing even for language about perception and action, sensori-motor regions of the brain appear to make functional contributions to the construction of meaning, and should therefore be incorporated into models of the neurocognitive architecture of language.

  7. Emboldened by Embodiment: Six Precepts for Research on Embodied Learning and Mixed Reality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lindgren, R.; Johnson-Glenberg, M.C.

    2013-01-01

    The authors describe an emerging paradigm of educational research that pairs theories of embodied learning with a class of immersive technologies referred to as mixed reality (MR). MR environments merge the digital with the physical, where, for example, students can use their bodies to simulate an

  8. Integrated energy, environmental and financial analysis of ethanol production from cellulosic switchgrass

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Felix, Erika; Tilley, David R.

    2009-01-01

    Ethanol production from cellulosic sources such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) requires the use of natural resources, fossil fuels, electricity, and human-derived goods and services. We used emergy accounting to integrate the ultimate amount of environmental, fossil fuel, and human-derived energy required to produce ethanol from switchgrass. Emergy is the total amount of energy of one form required directly and indirectly to make another form of energy. Forty-four percent of required emergy came from the environment either directly or embodied in purchased goods, 30% came from fossil fuels either directly or embodied in purchased goods, and 25% came from human-derived services indirectly. Ethanol production per petroleum use (emergy/emergy) was 4.0-to-1 under our Baseline Scenario, but dropped to 0.5-to-1 under a scenario that assumed higher input prices, lower conversion efficiencies and less waste recycling. At least 75% of total emergy was from non-renewable sources. Energy 'hidden' in indirect paths such as goods and services was 65% of the total. Cellulosic-ethanol is not a primary fuel source that substitutes for petroleum because its production relies heavily on non-renewable energy and purchased inputs. It is a means for converting natural resources to liquid fuel. (author)

  9. Dynamic hybrid life cycle assessment of energy and carbon of multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, Pei; Williams, Eric D

    2010-10-15

    This paper advances the life cycle assessment (LCA) of photovoltaic systems by expanding the boundary of the included processes using hybrid LCA and accounting for the technology-driven dynamics of embodied energy and carbon emissions. Hybrid LCA is an extended method that combines bottom-up process-sum and top-down economic input-output (EIO) methods. In 2007, the embodied energy was 4354 MJ/m(2) and the energy payback time (EPBT) was 2.2 years for a multicrystalline silicon PV system under 1700 kWh/m(2)/yr of solar radiation. These results are higher than those of process-sum LCA by approximately 60%, indicating that processes excluded in process-sum LCA, such as transportation, are significant. Even though PV is a low-carbon technology, the difference between hybrid and process-sum results for 10% penetration of PV in the U.S. electrical grid is 0.13% of total current grid emissions. Extending LCA from the process-sum to hybrid analysis makes a significant difference. Dynamics are characterized through a retrospective analysis and future outlook for PV manufacturing from 2001 to 2011. During this decade, the embodied carbon fell substantially, from 60 g CO(2)/kWh in 2001 to 21 g/kWh in 2011, indicating that technological progress is realizing reductions in embodied environmental impacts as well as lower module price.

  10. Let's take this conversation outside: supporting embodied embedded memory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dijk, van J.; Lugt, van der R.; Overbeeke, C.J.

    2009-01-01

    In a research-through-design project we developed NOOT, a tangible interaction device that links conversational context to texts and sketches generated during creative sessions. We assumed an embodied embedded cognition perspective; i.e.: cognition was assumed to be embodied in human activity and

  11. Energy and exergy utilizations of the Jordanian SMEs industries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Ghandoor, A.; Al Salaymeh, M.; Al-Abdallat, Y.; Al-Rawashdeh, M.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► We analyze the energy and exergy utilizations of the Jordanian SMEs industries. ► We developed an energy balance for the Jordanian SMEs industries. ► The low efficiencies values suggest that many opportunities for better industrial energy utilizations still exist. - Abstract: This study presents detailed analysis of the energy and exergy utilizations of the Jordanian Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by considering the flows of energy and exergy through the main end uses in the Jordanian industrial sector. To achieve this purpose, a survey covering 180 facilities was conducted and energy consumption data was gathered to establish detailed end-use balance for the Jordanian industrial sector. The energy end-use balance provides a starting point to estimate the site and embodied energy and exergy efficiencies. The average site energy and exergy efficiencies of the Jordanian SMEs industries sector are estimated as 78.3% and 37.9% respectively, while the embodied energy and exergy efficiencies are estimated as 58.9% and 21.2% respectively. The low efficiencies values suggest that many opportunities for better industrial energy utilizations still exist.

  12. Global warming agreements, international trade and energy/carbon embodiments: an input-output approach to the Italian case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mongelli, I.; Tassielli, G.; Notarnicola, B.

    2006-01-01

    In the Kyoto Protocol the absence of Green House Gases (GHGs) commitments of developing countries (non-Annex I) and the more flexible terms of implementation which are allowed to countries shifting toward a market economy (transition economies) naturally lead to the absence or to less constraining national measures and policies of reduction of the GHGs emissions which, in turn, may determine a comparative advantage in the production of the highest energy/carbon intensive commodities for these countries. These arguments are valid also considering the future implementation of the European Emission Allowance Trading Scheme (EATS). Thus, developing countries may become a haven for the production of not environmental-friendly commodities; in this case, the so-called Pollution Haven Hypothesis, stating that due to freer international trade the comparative advantage may change the economic structure and consequently the trade patterns of the countries linked by trade relationships, could occur. This would lead to the increase of the transfers of energy and carbon embodied in traded commodities from developing countries and transition economies toward Kyoto or EATS constrained countries. The aim of this paper is to verify if for Italy, as a Kyoto and EATS complying country, evidence of a change in the trade patterns, occurred on the basis of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis, does exist and to estimate the magnitude of the under-estimation of the carbon actually emitted: the carbon leakage. The Input-Output model has been used to calculate the intensities of energy consumption and the related Green House Gases emission, for each Italian economic sector

  13. Maintaining the Identify of Dynamically Embodied Agents

    OpenAIRE

    Martin, Alan; O'Hare, Gregory; Duffy, Brian; Schoen-Phelan, Bianca; Bradley, John

    2005-01-01

    Virtual agents are traditionally constrained in their embod- iment, as they are restricted to one form of body. We propose allowing them to change their embodiment in order to expand their capabili- ties. This presents users with a number of di±culties in maintaining the identity of the agents, but these can be overcome by using identity cues, certain features that remain constant across embodiment forms. This pa- per outlines an experiment that examines these identity cues, and shows that th...

  14. Embodied greenhouse gas emission by Macao

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, J.S.; Chen, G.Q.; Lai, T.M.; Ahmad, B.; Chen, Z.M.; Shao, L.; Ji, Xi

    2013-01-01

    Comprehensive inventory of cities' greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is the basis for cities to make appropriate mitigation plans. However, previous studies on cities' GHG emissions consider emissions occurring within the city boundary (Scope 1) and out of boundary electricity emissions (Scope 2), but neglect indirect emissions associated with commodities consumed by cities (Scope 3), resulting in emission leakage. To cope with this problem, a systematic accounting covering all 3 scopes is presented in a case study of Macao for the years 2005–2009, based on the latest embodied emission intensity databases for China and for the world. The results show that total emissions are dominated by indirect emissions mainly embodied in imports, which is 3–4 times direct emissions during the period concerned. It is verified that accounting under Scopes 1 and 2 cannot capture the full picture of cities' emissions, especially cities like Macao which are dominated by service industry and inevitably sustained by massive materials and services from other regions. Our study suggests that Macao should adjust its current GHG mitigation policies which consider only its emissions occurring within its border, as Macao is a net GHG emissions importer. This work is the first assessment of Macao's embodied GHG emissions. - Highlights: • A systematic accounting procedure is presented to inventory a city's GHG emissions. • A comprehensive review of GHG emissions is performed for Macao. • Indirect GHG emissions dominate Macao's embodied GHG emissions. • Macao induced large amount of GHG emissions in other regions through trade. • The variation in GHG emission structure against socio-economic changes is revealed

  15. Narrating Embodied Experience: Sharing Stories of Trauma and Recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carless, David; Douglas, Kitrina

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we explore our use of a dialogical storytelling approach to alleviate some of the tensions involved in researching another person's embodied experience. These tensions concern the problems of (a) how to "access" another's embodied experience and (b) how to "represent" that experience. We consider these issues…

  16. Carbon emissions and resources use by Chinese economy 2007: A 135-sector inventory and input-output embodiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, G. Q.; Chen, Z. M.

    2010-11-01

    A 135-sector inventory and embodiment analysis for carbon emissions and resources use by Chinese economy 2007 is presented in this paper by an ecological input-output modeling based on the physical entry scheme. Included emissions and resources belong to six categories as: (1) greenhouse gas (GHG) in terms of CO 2, CH 4, and N 2O; (2) energy in terms of coal, crude oil, natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and firewood; (3) water in terms of freshwater; (4) exergy in terms of coal, crude oil, natural gas, grain, bean, tuber, cotton, peanut, rapeseed, sesame, jute, sugarcane, sugar beet, tobacco, silkworm feed, tea, fruits, vegetables, wood, bamboo, pulp, meat, egg, milk, wool, aquatic products, iron ore, copper ore, bauxite, lead ore, zinc ore, pyrite, phosphorite, gypsum, cement, nuclear fuel, and hydropower; (5) and (6) solar and cosmic emergies in terms of sunlight, wind power, deep earth heat, chemical power of rain, geopotential power of rain, chemical power of stream, geopotential power of stream, wave power, geothermal power, tide power, topsoil loss, coal, crude oil, natural gas, ferrous metal ore, non-ferrous metal ore, non-metal ore, cement, and nuclear fuel. Accounted based on the embodied intensities are carbon emissions and resources use embodied in the final use as rural consumption, urban consumption, government consumption, gross fixed capital formation, change in inventories, and export, as well as in the international trade balance. The resulted database is basic to environmental account of carbon emissions and resources use at various levels.

  17. Embodied possibilities and disruptions: The emergence of the Experience of Embodiment construct from qualitative studies with girls and women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piran, Niva

    2016-09-01

    There are multiple indicators of disruption in the way girls and women inhabit their bodies. The qualitative research program examined lived experiences of embodiment among girls and women by conducting 171 interviews with 69 girls and women in three different studies: (a) A life history study of 30 interviews with 11 women, ages 20-27; (b) A 5-year prospective interview study of 87 interviews with 27 girls, ages 9-14 in the first phase of the study; and (c) A life history study of 54 interviews with 31 women, ages 50-68. Data analyses used a constructivist grounded theory approach. In all three studies the emergent core construct of Experience of Embodiment had five central dimensions, each with a positive and negative pole. These dimensions included: body-self connection, agency, desire, self-attunement, and resisting objectification. The Experience of Embodiment provides a new, integrated perspective on ways girls and women inhabit their bodies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The Meaning of Pain during the Process of Embodiment: A Case Study of Trainee Modern Dancers' Experiences of Pain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Sourabh

    2011-01-01

    A large number of sociologists have adopted the notion of the embodied subject to escape the trappings of the rational choice theory in sociological analysis. From a phenomenological perspective, the notion of an embodied subject refers to a subject who is in unity with the world. In this paper, I will present my ethnographic study of a group of…

  19. Decoupling Analysis of China’s Product Sector Output and Its Embodied Carbon Emissions—An Empirical Study Based on Non-Competitive I-O and Tapio Decoupling Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianbo Hu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper uses the non-competitive I-O model and the Tapio decoupling model to comprehensively analyze the decoupling relationship between the output of the product sector in China and its embodied carbon emissions under trade openness. For this purpose, the Chinese input and output data in 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2012 are used. This approach is beneficial to identify the direct mechanism for the increased carbon emission in China from a micro perspective and provides a new perspective for the subsequent study about low-carbon economy. The obtained empirical results are as follows: (1 From overall perspective, the decoupling elasticity between the output of the product sector and its embodied carbon emissions decreased. Output and embodied carbon emissions showed a growth link from 2002 to 2005 and a weak decoupling relationship for the rest of the study period. (2 Among the 28 industries in the product sector, the increased growth rate of output in more and more product sectors was no longer accompanied by large CO2 emissions. The number of industries with strong decoupling relationships between output and embodied carbon emissions increased. (3 From the perspective of three industries, the output and embodied carbon emissions in the second and third industries exhibited a growth link only from 2002 to 2005; the three industries presented weak or strong decoupling for the rest of the study period. Through empirical analysis, this paper mainly through the construction of ecological and environmental protection of low carbon agriculture, low carbon cycle industrial system, as well as intensive and efficient service industry to reduce the carbon emissions of China’s product sector.

  20. Embodiment during Reading: Simulating a Story Character's Linguistic Actions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunraj, Danielle N.; Drumm-Hewitt, April M.; Klin, Celia M.

    2014-01-01

    According to theories of embodied cognition, a critical element in language comprehension is the formation of sensorimotor simulations of the actions and events described in a text. Although much of the embodied cognition research has focused on simulations of motor actions, we ask whether readers form simulations of story characters' linguistic…

  1. Analyses of CO2 emissions embodied in Japan-China trade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Xianbing; Ishikawa, Masanobu; Wang Can; Dong Yanli; Liu Wenling

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines CO 2 emissions embodied in Japan-China trade. Besides directly quantifying the flow of CO 2 emissions between the two countries by using a traditional input-output (IO) model, this study also estimates the effect of bilateral trade to CO 2 emissions by scenario analysis. The time series of quantifications indicate that CO 2 emissions embodied in exported goods from Japan to China increased overall from 1990 to 2000. The exported CO 2 emissions from China to Japan greatly increased in the first half of the 1990s. However, by 2000, the amount of emissions had reduced from 1995 levels. Regardless, there was a net export of CO 2 emissions from China to Japan during 1990-2000. The scenario comparison shows that the bilateral trade has helped the reduction of CO 2 emissions. On average, the Chinese economy was confirmed to be much more carbon-intensive than Japan. The regression analysis shows a significant but not perfect correlation between the carbon intensities at the sector level of the two countries. In terms of CO 2 emission reduction opportunities, most sectors of Chinese industry could benefit from learning Japanese technologies that produce lower carbon intensities.

  2. Embodying Learning: Post-Cartesian Pedagogy and the Academic Study of Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lelwica, Michelle Mary

    2009-01-01

    This paper explores the concept and practice of "embodied pedagogy" as an alternative to the Cartesian approach to knowledge that is tacitly embedded in traditional modes of teaching and learning about religion. My analysis highlights a class I co-teach that combines the study of Aikido (a Japanese martial art) with seminar-style discussions of…

  3. Virtual water embodied in international trade of soybean

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Caro, Dario; Thomsen, Marianne

    This study focuses on hidden water flows embodied in the international trade of soybean. The virtual water content embedded in soybean imported and exported by 174 countries during the period 2000-2013 is estimated.......This study focuses on hidden water flows embodied in the international trade of soybean. The virtual water content embedded in soybean imported and exported by 174 countries during the period 2000-2013 is estimated....

  4. Emboldened by Embodiment: Six Precepts for Research on Embodied Learning and Mixed Reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindgren, Robb; Johnson-Glenberg, Mina

    2013-01-01

    The authors describe an emerging paradigm of educational research that pairs theories of embodied learning with a class of immersive technologies referred to as "mixed reality" (MR). MR environments merge the digital with the physical, where, for example, students can use their bodies to simulate an orbit around a virtual planet. Recent…

  5. Austerity and the embodiment of neoliberalism as ill-health: Towards a theory of biological sub-citizenship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparke, Matthew

    2017-08-01

    This article charts the diverse pathways through which austerity and other policy shifts associated with neoliberalism have come to be embodied globally in ill-health. It combines a review of research on these processes of embodiment with the development of a theory of the resulting forms of biological sub-citizenship. This theory builds on other studies that have already sought to complement and complicate the concept of biological citizenship with attention to the globally uneven experience and embodiment of bioinequalities. Focused on the unevenly embodied sequelae of austerity, the proceeding theorization of biological sub-citizenship is developed in three stages of review and conceptualization: 1) Biological sub-citizenship through exclusion and conditionalization; 2) Biological sub-citizenship through extraction and exploitation; and 3) Biological sub-citizenship through financialized experimentation. In conclusion the paper argues that the analysis of biological sub-citizenship needs to remain open-ended and relational in order to contribute to socially-searching work on the social determinants of health. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Development of a methodology for life cycle building energy ratings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez, Patxi; Kenny, Paul

    2011-01-01

    Traditionally the majority of building energy use has been linked to its operation (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.), and much attention has been directed to reduce this energy use through technical innovation, regulatory control and assessed through a wide range of rating methods. However buildings generally employ an increasing amount of materials and systems to reduce the energy use in operation, and energy embodied in these can constitute an important part of the building's life cycle energy use. For buildings with 'zero-energy' use in operation the embodied energy is indeed the only life cycle energy use. This is not addressed by current building energy assessment and rating methods. This paper proposes a methodology to extend building energy assessment and rating methods accounting for embodied energy of building components and systems. The methodology is applied to the EU Building Energy Rating method and, as an illustration, as implemented in Irish domestic buildings. A case study dwelling is used to illustrate the importance of embodied energy on life cycle energy performance, particularly relevant when energy use in operation tends to zero. The use of the Net Energy Ratio as an indicator to select appropriate building improvement measures is also presented and discussed. - Highlights: → The definitions for 'zero energy buildings' and current building energy ratings are examined. → There is a need to integrate a life cycle perspective within building energy ratings. → A life cycle building energy rating method (LC-BER), including embodied energy is presented. → Net Energy Ratio is proposed as an indicator to select building energy improvement options.

  7. Embodiment and sense-making in autism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanne eDe Jaegher

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Traditional functionalist approaches to autism consider cognition, communication, and perception separately, and can only provide piecemeal accounts of autism. Basing an integrative explanation on a single cause or common factor has proven difficult. Traditional theories are also disembodied and methodologically individualistic. In order to overcome these problems, I propose an enactive account of autism.For the enactive approach to cognition embodiment, interaction, and personal experience are central to understanding mind and subjectivity. Enaction defines cognition as sense-making: the way cognitive agents meaningfully connect with their world, based on their needs and goals as self-organizing, self-maintaining, embodied agents. In the social realm, when we interactively coordinate our embodied sense-making, we participate in each other’s sense-making. Thus, social understanding is defined as participatory sense-making.Applying the concepts of enaction to autism, I propose that1Sensorimotor particularities in autism translate into a different sense-making and vice versa. Autistic behaviors, e.g. restricted interests, will have sensorimotor correlates, as well as specific significance for autistic people in their context. 2Socially, a reduced flexibility in interactional coordination can lead to difficulties in participatory sense-making. At the same time, however, seemingly irrelevant autistic behavior can be quite attuned to the interactive context. I illustrate this complexity in the case of echolalia. An enactive account of autism starts from the embodiment, experience, and social interactions of autistic people. Enaction brings together the cognitive, social, experiential, and affective aspects of autism in a coherent framework based on a complex, non-linear multi-causality. On this foundation, bridges can be built between autistic people and their often non-autistic context, and quality of life prospects can be improved.

  8. Using Video for Microanalysis of Teachers' Embodied Pedagogical Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobin, Joseph; Hayashi, Akiko

    2015-01-01

    This paper briefly reviews theories of embodiment and then provides an example from our recent work on how we use video in our comparative studies of preschools to highlight embodied and implicit cultural pedagogies. The example we present focuses on how Japanese preschool teachers use the Japanese cultural practice of "mimamoru"…

  9. Embodiment in tests of cognitive functioning: A study of an interpreter-mediated dementia evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majlesi, Ali Reza; Plejert, Charlotta

    2018-02-01

    This study explores how manners of mediation, and the use of embodiment in interpreter-mediated conversation have an impact on tests of cognitive functioning in a dementia evaluation. By a detailed analysis of video recordings, we show how participants-an occupational therapist, an interpreter, and a patient-use embodied practices to make the tasks of a test of cognitive functioning intelligible, and how participants collaboratively put the instructions of the tasks into practice. We demonstrate that both instructions and instructed actions-and the whole procedure of accomplishing the tasks-are shaped co-operatively by embodied practices of all three participants involved in the test situation. Consequently, the accomplishment of the tasks should be viewed as the outcome of a collaborative achievement of instructed actions, rather than an individual product. The result of the study calls attention to issues concerning interpretations of, and the reliability of interpreter-mediated tests and their bearings for diagnostic procedures in dementia evaluations.

  10. Embodied science and mixed reality: How gesture and motion capture affect physics education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson-Glenberg, Mina C; Megowan-Romanowicz, Colleen

    2017-01-01

    A mixed design was created using text and game-like multimedia to instruct in the content of physics. The study assessed which variables predicted learning gains after a 1-h lesson on the electric field. The three manipulated variables were: (1) level of embodiment; (2) level of active generativity; and (3) presence of story narrative. Two types of tests were administered: (1) a traditional text-based physics test answered with a keyboard; and (2) a more embodied, transfer test using the Wacom large tablet where learners could use gestures (long swipes) to create vectors and answers. The 166 participants were randomly assigned to four conditions: (1) symbols and text; (2) low embodied; (3) high embodied/active; or (4) high embodied/active with narrative. The last two conditions were active because the on-screen content could be manipulated with gross body gestures gathered via the Kinect sensor. Results demonstrated that the three groups that included embodiment learned significantly more than the symbols and text group on the traditional keyboard post-test. When knowledge was assessed with the Wacom tablet format that facilitated gestures, the two active gesture-based groups scored significantly higher. In addition, engagement scores were significantly higher for the two active embodied groups. The Wacom results suggest test sensitivity issues; the more embodied test revealed greater gains in learning for the more embodied conditions. We recommend that as more embodied learning comes to the fore, more sensitive tests that incorporate gesture be used to accurately assess learning. The predicted differences in engagement and learning for the condition with the graphically rich story narrative were not supported. We hypothesize that a narrative effect for motivation and learning may be difficult to uncover in a lab experiment where participants are primarily motivated by course credit. Several design principles for mediated and embodied science education are proposed.

  11. Conceptual and Biofunctional Embodiment: A Long Story on the Transience of the Enduring Mind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iran-Nejad, Asghar; Irannejad, Auriana B

    2016-01-01

    We examine how embodiment in biological activity is different from conceptual embodiment as reflected in classic, modern, and postmodern perspectives on tacit knowledge. The central theme of the essay is how understanding is embodied conceptually and biofunctionally. We focus (a) on how biofunctional understanding (BU) is different from conceptual understanding (CU) and (b) on how the overall differences between these two types of embodied understanding are complementary. We show here from a conceptual perspective that embodiment theories have diverged on the meaning of embodiment; but convergence may be more likely across future perspectives if we first redefine the construct of tacit knowledge as tacit understanding and then define (explicit) CU as being directly grounded in tacit understanding, for the purpose of comparison with BU defined as being grounded in biological activity. We illustrate the complementary differences between conceptual and biofunctional embodiment of understanding first in the absence of language and then using a particular statement format and the implicit analogy of biofunctional embodiment in other bodily systems. We conclude with a suggestion about the directly uncovered but highly related embodiment of language in a section on future research.

  12. Embodied Music Listening

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonde, Lars Ole

    2017-01-01

    The chapter presents the receptive music therapy model "Guided Imagery of Music (GIM)" as an embodied way of music listening with documented effects on a number of physiological and psychological symptoms and problems. Relaxation, guiding and (classical) music stimulates and supports the work......, underlying theories, selected research/evidence and illustrative clinical vignettes. Based on a study of cancer survivors’ GIM therapy, grounded theories of the therapeutic process and music’s role in the process are presented and discussed....

  13. Contextualizing Embodied Resources in Global Food Trade

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, G. K.; Brauman, K. A.; Sun, S.; West, P. C.; Carlson, K. M.; Cassidy, E. S.; Gerber, J. S.; Ray, D. K.

    2014-12-01

    Trade in agricultural commodities has created increasingly complex linkages between resource use and food supplies across national borders. Understanding the degree to which food production and consumption relies on trade is vital to understanding how to sustainably meet growing food demands across scales. We use detailed bilateral trade statistics and data on agricultural management to examine the land use and water consumption embodied in agricultural trade, which we relate to basic nutritional indicators to show how trade contributes to food availability worldwide. Agricultural trade carries enough calories to provide >1.7 billion people a basic diet each year. We identify key commodities and producer-consumer relationships that disproportionately contribute to embodied resource use and flows of food nutrition at the global scale. For example, just 15 disproportionately large soybean trades comprised ~10% the total harvested area embodied in export production. We conclude by framing these results in terms of the fraction of each country's food production and consumption that is linked to international trade. These findings help to characterize how countries allocate resources to domestic versus foreign food demand.

  14. [Perspectives on body: embodiment and body image].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shiow-Ru; Chao, Yu-Mei Yu

    2007-06-01

    "Body" is a basic concept of both the natural and human sciences. This extensive review of the literature explores the various philosophical approaches to the body, including empiricism, idealism, existentialism and phenomenology, as well as the relationship between body and mind. Embodiment and body image are the two main concepts of body addressed in this article. Merleau-Ponty's perspective on embodiment, an important new area of theory development, emphasizes that embodiment research must focus on life experiences, such as the study of body image. Using Schilder's framework of psychosocialology, this article provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept of body image and women's perspectives on the "body" in both Western culture and Eastern cultures. Body size and shape significantly influence the self-image of women. Body image is something that develops and changes throughout one's life span and is continually being constructed, destructed, and reconstructed. Personal body image has important psychological effects on the individual, especially women. This integrative review can make a significant contribution to knowledge in this area and, consequently, to related practice and research.

  15. A High Level Model of a Conscious Embodied Agent

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Wiedermann, Jiří

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 2, č. 3 (2010), s. 62-78 ISSN 1942-9045 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP202/10/1333 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : embodied agent * internal world models * higher cognitive function Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science http://www.igi-global.com/article/high-level-model-conscious-embodied/46147

  16. Embodied Cognition, Organization and Innovation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nooteboom, B.

    2006-01-01

    This chapter explains and employs a constructivist, interactionist theory of knowledge that has come to be known as the perspective of 'embodied cognition'. That view has roots in earlier developmental psychology, and in sociology, and more recently has received further substance from neural

  17. Embodied cognition and science criticism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schilhab, Theresa

    2017-01-01

    provided by Nietzsche seem relevant to contemporary biologically inspired approaches to cognition found within biosemiotics, as well as the embodied cognition paradigm. Here, I discuss how Nietzsche’s biological conception of our relation to what is, incessantly emphasises a critical approach to our...

  18. Comparative Analysis of Power Plant Options for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mengying Li

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS extract heat from underground hot dry rock (HDR by first fracturing the HDR and then circulating a geofluid (typically water into it and bringing the heated geofluid to a power plant to generate electricity. This study focuses on analysis, examination, and comparison of leading geothermal power plant configurations with a geofluid temperature from 200 to 800 °C, and also analyzes the embodied energy of EGS surface power plants. The power generation analysis is focused on flash type cycles for using subcritical geofluid (<374 °C and expansion type cycles for using supercritical geofluid (>374 °C. Key findings of this study include: (i double-flash plants have 24.3%–29.0% higher geofluid effectiveness than single-flash ones, and 3%–10% lower specific embodied energy; (ii the expansion type plants have geofluid effectiveness > 750 kJ/kg, significantly higher than flash type plants (geofluid effectiveness < 300 kJ/kg and the specific embodied energy is lower; (iii to increase the turbine outlet vapor fraction from 0.75 to 0.90, we include superheating by geofluid but that reduces the geofluid effectiveness by 28.3%; (iv for geofluid temperatures above 650 °C, double-expansion plants have a 2% higher geofluid effectiveness and 5%–8% lower specific embodied energy than single-expansion ones.

  19. Price Corrected Domestic Technology Assumption-A Method To Assess Pollution Embodied in Trade Using Primary Official Statistics Only. With a Case on CO2 Emissions Embodied in Imports to Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tukker, Arnold; de Koning, Arjan; Wood, Richard; Moll, Stephan; Bouwmeester, Maaike C.

    2013-01-01

    Environmentally extended input output (EE IO) analysis is increasingly used to assess the carbon footprint of final consumption. Official EE IO data are, however, at best available for single countries or regions such as the EU27. This causes problems in assessing pollution embodied in imported

  20. The impact of domestic trade on China's regional energy uses: A multi-regional input–output modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Bo; Chen, Z.M.; Xia, X.H.; Xu, X.Y.; Chen, Y.B.

    2013-01-01

    To systematically reveal how domestic trade impacts on China's regional energy uses, an interprovincial input–output modeling is carried out to address demand-derived energy requirements for the regional economies in 2007 based on the recently available data. Both the energy uses embodied in final demand and interregional trade are investigated from the regional and sectoral insights. Significant net transfers of embodied energy flows are identified from the central and western areas to the eastern area via interregional trade. Shanxi is the largest energy producer and interregional embodied energy deficit receiver, in contrast to Guangdong as the largest energy user and surplus receiver. By considering the impacts of interregional trade, the energy uses of most eastern regions increase remarkably. For instance, Shanghai, Hainan, Zhejiang, Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangdong have their embodied energy requirements 87.49, 19.97, 13.64, 12.60, 6.46 and 6.38 times of their direct energy inputs, respectively. In contrast, the embodied energy uses of some central and western regions such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Shaanxi and Guizhou decrease largely. The results help understand the hidden network linkages of interregional embodied energy flows and provide critical insight to amend China's current end-reduction-oriented energy policies by addressing the problem of regional responsibility transfer. - Highlights: • Demand-derived energy requirements for China's regional economies are addressed. • Significant interregional transfers of embodied energy flows are identified. • Energy surpluses are obtained by 19 regions and deficits by the other 11 regions. • The eastern regions should take more responsibility for reducing China's energy uses

  1. Whole systems appraisal of a UK Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system: Energy, environmental, and economic evaluations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammond, Geoffrey P.; Harajli, Hassan A.; Jones, Craig I.; Winnett, Adrian B.

    2012-01-01

    Energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) and economic appraisals have been utilised to study the performance of a domestic building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system on a ‘whole systems’ basis. Energy analysis determined that the system paid back its embodied energy in just 4.5 years. LCA revealed that the embodied impacts were offset by the electricity generated to provide a net environmental benefit in most categories. Only carcinogens, ecotoxicity and minerals had a small net lifetime burden. A financial analysis was undertaken from the householder's perspective, alongside cost-benefit analysis from a societal perspective. The results of both indicated that the systems are unlikely to pay back their investment over the 25 year lifetime. However, the UK is in an important period (2010/11) of policy transition with a move away from the ‘technology subsidies’ of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) and towards a ‘market development policy’ of feed-in tariffs. Representing the next stage on an innovation S-curve this is expected to facilitate rapid PV uptake, as experienced in countries such as Germany, Denmark, and Spain. The results of the present study clearly demonstrate the importance of the new government support scheme to the future uptake of BIPV. - Highlights: ► LCA and economic appraisals of a UK domestic building integrated PV system. ► Energy analysis determined that the system paid back its embodied energy in 4.5 years. ► UK moved towards a market development policy of feed-in tariffs. ► Financial analysis shows the importance of the new FiT scheme to the uptake of PV.

  2. Energy, economic and environmental analysis of metal oxides nanofluid for flat-plate solar collector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faizal, M.; Saidur, R.; Mekhilef, S.; Alim, M.A.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • By using nanofluid, smaller and compact solar collector can be produced. • The average value of 220 MJ embodied energy can be saved. • The payback period of using nanofluid solar collector is around 2.4 years. • Around 170 kg less CO 2 emissions in average for nanofluid solar collector. • Environmental damage cost is lower with the nanofluid based solar collector. - Abstract: For a solar thermal system, increasing the heat transfer area can increase the output temperature of the system. However, this approach leads to a bigger and bulkier collector. It will then increase the cost and energy needed to manufacture the solar collector. This study is carried out to estimate the potential to design a smaller solar collector that can produce the same desired output temperature. This is possible by using nanofluid as working fluid. By using numerical methods and data from literatures, efficiency, size reduction, cost and embodied energy savings are calculated for various nanofluids. From the study, it was estimated that 10,239 kg, 8625 kg, 8857 kg and 8618 kg total weight for 1000 units of solar collectors can be saved for CuO, SiO 2 , TiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 nanofluid respectively. The average value of 220 MJ embodied energy can be saved for each collector, 2.4 years payback period can be achieved and around 170 kg less CO 2 emissions in average can be offset for the nanofluid based solar collector compared to a conventional solar collector. Finally, the environmental damage cost can also be reduced with the nanofluid based solar collector

  3. Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Andy

    2006-08-01

    Embodied agents use bodily actions and environmental interventions to make the world a better place to think in. Where does language fit into this emerging picture of the embodied, ecologically efficient agent? One useful way to approach this question is to consider language itself as a cognition-enhancing animal-built structure. To take this perspective is to view language as a kind of self-constructed cognitive niche: a persisting but never stationary material scaffolding whose crucial role in promoting thought and reason remains surprisingly poorly understood. It is the very materiality of this linguistic scaffolding, I suggest, that gives it some key benefits. By materializing thought in words, we create structures that are themselves proper objects of perception, manipulation, and (further) thought.

  4. Culture and Embodied Cognition: Moral Discourses in Internet Support Groups for Overeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ignatow, Gabriel

    2009-01-01

    This article argues that a modified version of Bourdieu's "habitus" concept can generate insights into moral culture and the ways people use culture to make changes in their lives. If revised in light of recent findings from cognitive neuroscience, the habitus allows for the analysis of culture as embodied cognitive structures linking individuals…

  5. Embodied Interaction Design in Engineering Education using Asus Xtion Pro

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Majgaard, Gunver

    2013-01-01

    How does a design of emerging embodied technologies, such as Asus Xtion Pro, enrich the HCI learning processes in Engineering Education? The fifth semester engineering students used the motion sensing input device, Asus Xtion Pro (similar to Microsoft’s Kinect), for the design of an embodied...

  6. Sensing the Sentence: An Embodied Simulation Approach to Rhetorical Grammar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rule, Hannah J.

    2017-01-01

    This article applies the neuroscientific concept of embodied simulation--the process of understanding language through visual, motor, and spatial modalities of the body--to rhetorical grammar and sentence-style pedagogies. Embodied simulation invigorates rhetorical grammar instruction by attuning writers to the felt effects of written language,…

  7. Effects of relative embodiment in lexical and semantic processing of verbs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, David M; Kwan, Rachel; Pexman, Penny M; Siakaluk, Paul D

    2014-06-01

    Research examining semantic richness effects in visual word recognition has shown that multiple dimensions of meaning are activated in the process of word recognition (e.g., Yap et al., 2012). This research has, however, been limited to nouns. In the present research we extended the semantic richness approach to verb stimuli in order to investigate how verb meanings are represented. We characterized a dimension of relative embodiment for verbs, based on the bodily sense described by Borghi and Cimatti (2010), and collected ratings on that dimension for 687 English verbs. The relative embodiment ratings revealed that bodily experience was judged to be more important to the meanings of some verbs (e.g., dance, breathe) than to others (e.g., evaporate, expect). We then tested the effects of relative embodiment and imageability on verb processing in lexical decision (Experiment 1), action picture naming (Experiment 2), and syntactic classification (Experiment 3). In all three experiments results showed facilitatory effects of relative embodiment, but not imageability: latencies were faster for relatively more embodied verbs, even after several other lexical variables were controlled. The results suggest that relative embodiment is an important aspect of verb meaning, and that the semantic richness approach holds promise as a strategy for investigating other aspects of verb meaning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. The Concept of Embodied Knowledge for Understanding Organisational Knowledge Creation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsudaira, Yoshito; Fujinami, Tsutomu

    Our goal in this paper is to understand, in the light of intuition and emotion, the problem-finding and value judgments by organisational members that are part of organisational knowledge creation. In doing so, we emphasise the importance of embodied knowledge of organisations as an explanatory concept. We propose ways of approaching intuition and sense of value as these are posited as objects of research. Approaches from the first, second, and third-person viewpoints result in a deeper grasp of embodied knowledge of organisations. Important in organisational knowledge creation is embodied knowledge of organisations, which has a bearing on problem-finding before any problem-solving or decision making takes place, and on value judgments about the importance of problems that have been found. This article proposes the concept of embodied knowledge, and, by introducing it, gives a profound understanding of that facet of organisational knowledge creation characterised by tacit knowledge held by organisational individuals.

  9. Embodied energy and environmental impacts of a biomass boiler: a life cycle approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Longo

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, proposed by the European Commission, aims towards the reduction of European greenhouse gas emissions by 40% in comparison to the 1990 level and to increase the share of renewable energy of at least the 27% of the European's energy consumption of 2030. The use of biomass as sustainable and renewable energy source may be a viable tool for achieving the above goals. However, renewable energy technologies are not totally clean because they cause energy and environmental impacts during their life cycle, and in particular they are responsible of air pollutant emissions. In this context, the paper assesses the energy and environmental impacts of a 46 kW biomass boiler by applying the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, as regulated by the international standards of series ISO 14040, ISO 21930 and EN 15804. The following life-cycle steps are included in the analysis: raw materials and energy supply, manufacturing, installation, operation, transport, and end-of-life. The results of the analysis, showing a life-cycle primary energy consumption of about 2,622 GJ and emissions of about 21,664 kg CO2eq, can be used as a basis for assessing the real advantages due to the use of biomass boilers for heating and hot water production.

  10. Humor and Embodied Conversational Agents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus

    This report surveys the role of humor in human-to-human interaction and the possible role of humor in human-computer interaction. The aim is to see whether it is useful for embodied conversational agents to integrate humor capabilities in their internal model of intelligence, emotions and

  11. Engineered embodiment: Comment on "The embodiment of assistive devices-from wheelchair to exoskeleton" by M. Pazzaglia and M. Molinari

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kannape, Oliver Alan; Lenggenhager, Bigna

    2016-03-01

    From brain-computer interfaces to wearable robotics and bionic prostheses - intelligent assistive devices have already become indispensable in the therapy of people living with reduced sensorimotor functioning of their physical body, be it due to spinal cord injury, amputation or brain lesions [1]. Rapid technological advances will continue to fuel this field for years to come. As Pazzaglia and Molinari [2] rightly point out, progress in this domain should not solely be driven by engineering prowess, but utilize the increasing psychological and neuroscientific understanding of cortical body-representations and their plasticity [3]. We argue that a core concept for such an integrated embodiment framework was introduced with the formalization of the forward model for sensorimotor control [4]. The application of engineering concepts to human movement control paved the way for rigorous computational and neuroscientific analysis. The forward model has successfully been adapted to investigate principles underlying aspects of bodily awareness such as the sense of agency in the comparator framework [5]. At the example of recent advances in lower limb prostheses, we propose a cross-disciplinary, integrated embodiment framework to investigate the sense of agency and the related sense of body ownership for such devices. The main onus now is on the engineers and cognitive scientists to embed such an approach into the design of assistive technology and its evaluation battery.

  12. Toward a Model of Embodied Environmental Education: Perspectives from Theatre and Indigenous Knowledges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Julia

    2012-01-01

    This paper suggests a model of embodied environmental education grounded in participant interviews, fieldwork, scholarly literature, and the author's own embodied relationship with the natural world. In this article, embodiment refers to a process that stems from Indigenous Knowledges and theatre. Although Indigenous Knowledges and theatre…

  13. Disturbances of Embodiment as Core Phenomena of Depression in Clinical Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doerr-Zegers, Otto; Irarrázaval, Leonor; Mundt, Adrian; Palette, Virginie

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposes a phenomenological approach to the diagnosis of depression, with the aim of overcoming the broadness and nonspecificity of the concept of major depressive disorder (MDD) in current systems of diagnostic classification of mental disorders. Firstly, we outline the methodological limitations of the current classification systems for the diagnosis of MDD. Secondly, we offer a conceptual differentiation between a "symptomatological" versus a "phenomenological" diagnosis of depression. Thirdly, we propose characteristic "disturbances of embodiment" as the fundamental phenomena of "core depression", which manifest themselves in 3 dimensions: embodied self, embodied intentionality, and embodied time. A more useful diagnosis of depression may be achieved by describing the phenomena that constitute a core depression, in order to avoid the overdiagnosis of MDD and its negative consequences in clinical practice. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  14. On the Evolution of Behaviors through Embodied Imitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erbas, Mehmet D; Bull, Larry; Winfield, Alan F T

    2015-01-01

    This article describes research in which embodied imitation and behavioral adaptation are investigated in collective robotics. We model social learning in artificial agents with real robots. The robots are able to observe and learn each others' movement patterns using their on-board sensors only, so that imitation is embodied. We show that the variations that arise from embodiment allow certain behaviors that are better adapted to the process of imitation to emerge and evolve during multiple cycles of imitation. As these behaviors are more robust to uncertainties in the real robots' sensors and actuators, they can be learned by other members of the collective with higher fidelity. Three different types of learned-behavior memory have been experimentally tested to investigate the effect of memory capacity on the evolution of movement patterns, and results show that as the movement patterns evolve through multiple cycles of imitation, selection, and variation, the robots are able to, in a sense, agree on the structure of the behaviors that are imitated.

  15. Embodied crop calories in animal products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pradhan, Prajal; Lüdeke, Matthias K B; Reusser, Dominik E; Kropp, Jürgen P

    2013-01-01

    Increases in animal products consumption and the associated environmental consequences have been a matter of scientific debate for decades. Consequences of such increases include rises in greenhouse gas emissions, growth of consumptive water use, and perturbation of global nutrients cycles. These consequences vary spatially depending on livestock types, their densities and their production system. In this letter, we investigate the spatial distribution of embodied crop calories in animal products. On a global scale, about 40% of the global crop calories are used as livestock feed (we refer to this ratio as crop balance for livestock) and about 4 kcal of crop products are used to generate 1 kcal of animal products (embodied crop calories of around 4). However, these values vary greatly around the world. In some regions, more than 100% of the crops produced is required to feed livestock requiring national or international trade to meet the deficit in livestock feed. Embodied crop calories vary between less than 1 for 20% of the livestock raising areas worldwide and greater than 10 for another 20% of the regions. Low values of embodied crop calories are related to production systems for ruminants based on fodder and forage, while large values are usually associated with production systems for non-ruminants fed on crop products. Additionally, we project the future feed demand considering three scenarios: (a) population growth, (b) population growth and changes in human dietary patterns and (c) changes in population, dietary patterns and feed conversion efficiency. When considering dietary changes, we project the global feed demand to be almost doubled (1.8–2.3 times) by 2050 compared to 2000, which would force us to produce almost equal or even more crops to raise our livestock than to directly nourish ourselves in the future. Feed demand is expected to increase over proportionally in Africa, South-Eastern Asia and Southern Asia, putting additional stress on

  16. Motor heuristics and embodied choices: how to choose and act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raab, Markus

    2017-08-01

    Human performance requires choosing what to do and how to do it. The goal of this theoretical contribution is to advance understanding of how the motor and cognitive components of choices are intertwined. From a holistic perspective I extend simple heuristics that have been tested in cognitive tasks to motor tasks, coining the term motor heuristics. Similarly I extend the concept of embodied cognition, that has been tested in simple sensorimotor processes changing decisions, to complex sport behavior coining the term embodied choices. Thus both motor heuristics and embodied choices explain complex behavior such as studied in sport and exercise psychology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Environmental benefit analysis of strategies for potable water savings in residential buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marinoski, Ana Kelly; Rupp, Ricardo Forgiarini; Ghisi, Enedir

    2018-01-15

    The objective of this study is to assess the environmental benefit of using rainwater, greywater, water-efficient appliances and their combinations in low-income houses. The study was conducted surveying twenty households located in southern Brazil, which resulted in water end-uses estimation. Then, embodied energy, potential for potable water savings and sewage reduction when using the different strategies were estimated. The environmental benefit analysis of these strategies was performed using an indicator that includes embodied energy, potable water savings, reduction of sewage and energy consumption in the water utility, and sewage production during the life cycle of the system. The results indicated that the strategy with the greatest environmental benefit is the use of water-efficient appliances, which resulted in substantial water savings and reduction of sewage, causing low environmental impact due to lower embodied energy over the life cycle. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Adolescent Boys, Embodied Heteromasculinities and Sexual Violence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James W. Messerschmidt

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the author summarizes several life history case studies of adolescent boys who were identified at school as “wimps” and who eventually engaged in various forms of sexual violence. Such boys rarely are— if at all—discussed in the childhood, education and feminist literatures on sexual violence. The life stories reveal the interrelationship among inschool bullying, reflexivity, embodied structured action, and the social construction of heteromasculinities in the commission of sexual violence by subordinated boys. The author concludes by considering the implications the research has to the evolving discourses on social scientific conceptualizations of reflexive embodiment and heteromasculinities.

  19. Racial Embodiment and the Affectivity of Racism in Young People’s Film

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vitus, Kathrine

    2015-01-01

    This article uses a bodily and affective perspective to explore racial minority young people’s experiences of racism, as enacted (on film) through disgust and enjoyment. Applying Žižek’s ideology critical psychoanalytical perspective and Kristeva’s concept of “abjection”, the article considers race...... embodied, that is the racial body both partly Real (in the Lacanian sense) and a mean for the projection of ideological meanings and discursive structures, which are sustained by specific fantasies. From this perspective, the film’s affective racism is “symptomatic” of the discrepancies between, on the one...... hand, Danish social democratic welfare state ideology and a dominating race discourse of “equality-as-sameness”, on the other, the Real of racial embodiment, which makes the encounter with the Other traumatic and obscene. The analysis exposes the bodily and affective underside of race relations (which...

  20. Energy-Water Modeling and Analysis | Energy Analysis | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Generation (ReEDS Model Analysis) U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Modeling and Analysis Energy-Water Modeling and Analysis NREL's energy-water modeling and analysis vulnerabilities from various factors, including water. Example Projects Renewable Electricity Futures Study

  1. Sensing Place: Embodiment, Sensoriality, Kinesis, and Children behind the Camera

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Kathy; Comber, Barbara; Kelly, Pippa

    2013-01-01

    This article is a call to literacy teachers and researchers to embrace the possibility of attending more consciously to the senses in digital media production. Literacy practices do not occur only in the mind, but involve the sensoriality, embodiment, co-presence, and movement of bodies. This paper theorises the sensorial and embodied dimension of…

  2. Women's Construction of Embodiment and the Abject Sexual Body After Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parton, Chloe M; Ussher, Jane M; Perz, Janette

    2016-03-01

    Cancer and cancer treatments can cause significant changes to women's sexual well-being. We explored how women construct a sense of their bodies and sexual "selves" in the context of cancer. Sixteen women, across a range of ages (20-71 years), cancer types, and cancer stages, took part in in-depth semistructured interviews. We conducted a thematic discourse analysis, drawing on feminist poststructuralist theory, identifying "the abject body" as a dominant theme. Participants constructed abject bodies as being "beyond abnormality," "outside idealized discourses of embodied femininity," and "out of control." The women's accounts varied in management and resistance of the abject body discourse, through bodily practices of concealment, resisting discourses of feminine beauty, and repositioning the body as a site of personal transformation. The corporeality of the cancerous body can be seen to disrupt hegemonic discourses of femininity and sexuality, with implications for how women practice and make meaning of embodied sexual subjectivity. © The Author(s) 2015.

  3. Incarnation: Radicalizing Embodiment of Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Wolff-Michael

    2010-01-01

    As the end result of metaphysics, the Kantian and constructivist mind is not present in the world but withdrawn into the netherworld of its representations and constructions. First phenomenology then the embodied cognition research showed how there could be no cognition without the human body. There is something unsatisfying and lacking, however,…

  4. The complexities of 'otherness': reflections on embodiment of a young White British woman engaged in cross-generation research involving older people in Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norris, Meriel

    2015-05-01

    If interviews are to be considered embodied experiences, than the potential influence of the embodied researcher must be explored. A focus on specific attributes such as age or ethnicity belies the complex and negotiated space that both researcher and participant inhabit simultaneously. Drawing on empirical research with stroke survivors in an ethnically mixed area of Indonesia, this paper highlights the importance of considering embodiment as a specific methodological concern. Three specific interactions are described and analysed, illustrating the active nature of the embodied researcher in narrative production and development. The intersectionality of embodied features is evident, alongside their fluctuating influence in time and place. These interactions draw attention to the need to consider the researcher within the interview process and the subsequent analysis and presentation of narrative findings. The paper concludes with a reinforcement of the importance of ongoing and meaningful reflexivity in research, a need to consider the researcher as the other participant, and specifically a call to engage with and present the dynamic nature of embodiment.

  5. EMBODIMENT OF CAPOEIRA SKILLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urska Habjan

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This article is the result of twenty-one months of fieldwork among the capoeiristas in Brazil, primarily in the city of Salvador, between 2003 and 2013. The fieldwork methodology was based on participant observation. It also included conducting interviews and informal conversations, listening to life stories of locals, and writing a diary. My personal experiences within capoeira and the improvement of my own skills enabled me to better grasp what capoeira is about. By participating, I more fully understood the corporeal strain and pleasure involved in this particular embodied practice. The socio-economic situation of Brazilian society based on racial and gender discrimination enhances the cultivation of capoeiristic habitus and dictates the need for the acquisition of capoeiristic skills and attitudes in order to cope with, understand, and live within an unequal world. Capoeiristic habitus consists of knowledge, attitudes and skills enabling capoeiristas to stay in tune with the environment of lurking danger, to face with an ambiguous, unstable and uncertain environment. Capoeiristic habitus can be embodied early in life or learnt and acquired as a by-product of capoeira training. But it remains important whether the environment in which a capoeirista practises tolerates or inhibits the cultivation of capoeiristic skills.

  6. Noise from Aft Deck Exhaust Nozzles: Differences in Experimental Embodiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridges, James E.

    2014-01-01

    Two embodiments of a rectangular nozzle on an aft deck are compared. In one embodiment the lower lip of the nozzle was extended with the sidewalls becoming triangles. In a second embodiment a rectangular nozzle was fitted with a surface that fit flush to the lower lip and extended outward from the sides of the nozzle, approximating a semi-infinite plane. For the purpose of scale-model testing, making the aft deck an integral part of the nozzle is possible for relatively short deck lengths, but a separate plate model is more flexible, accounts for the expanse of deck to the sides of the nozzle, and allows the nozzle to stand off from the deck. Both embodiments were tested and acoustic far-field results were compared. In both embodiments the extended deck introduces a new noise source, but the amplitude of the new source was dependent upon the span (cross-stream dimension) of the aft deck. The noise increased with deck length (streamwise dimension), and in the case of the beveled nozzle it increased with increasing aspect ratio. In previous studies of slot jets in wings it was noted that the increased noise from the extended aft deck appears as a dipole at the aft deck trailing edge, an acoustic source type with different dependence on velocity than jet mixing noise. The extraneous noise produced by the aft deck in the present studies also shows this behavior both in directivity and in velocity scaling.

  7. Tendency of Embodied Carbon Change in the Export Trade of Chinese Manufacturing Industry from 2000 to 2015 and Its Driving Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji Guo

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The manufacturing industry is an important part of the national industrial system, and is usually an industry with high carbon content. However, few studies have been carried out on the total amount, structure and the trend of the embodied carbon emission in the international trade of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Based on the input–output method, the thesis proposes the coefficient of direct carbon emission and complete carbon emission and a method for calculating the embodied carbon of the export trade. It also calculates the coefficient of direct carbon emission and complete carbon emission for the Chinese manufacturing sector from 2000 to 2015 and breaks down the embodied carbon change of export trade in the manufacturing industry to a technological effect, structural effect and scale effect by using the method of structural decomposition. Several inspiring conclusions could be drawn from the thesis. For example: (1 the coefficient of both the direct carbon emission and the complete carbon emission has been decreasing significantly, indicating the achievements of the energy saving and emission reduction of the Chinese manufacturing industry. (2 The embodied carbon emission from the manufacturing exports remains high and presents a rising tendency. The main sectors that export the embodied carbon includes “S10 mechanical equipment and instruments”, “S9 metal products”, “S6 chemical industry”, etc., which should be the key sectors on reducing embodied carbon in exports. (3 The driving force of the embodied carbon exports lies in the scale effect of the manufacturing industry, on which the technical effect of the industry has a significant negative effect. The structural effect should have a positive influence that takes on a rising tendency; generally, this effect is only two-thirds of the scale effect. Finally, the corresponding policy suggestions have been made.

  8. Embodied Anticipation: A Neurodevelopmental Interpretation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinsbourne, Marcel; Jordan, J. Scott

    2009-01-01

    This article proposes an approach to the brain's role in communication that treats the brain as the vehicle of a multi-scale embodiment of anticipation. Instead of conceptualizing anticipation as something a brain is able to do when circumstances seem to require it, this study proposes that anticipation is continuous and ongoing because to…

  9. Persuasive Embodied Agents: Using Embodied Agents to Change People's Behavior, Beliefs, and Assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickard, Matthew David

    2012-01-01

    Embodied Conversational Agents (i.e., avatars; ECAs) are appearing in increasingly many everyday contexts, such as e-commerce, occupational training, and airport security. Also common to a typical person's daily life is persuasion. Whether being persuaded or persuading, the ability to change another person's attitude or behavior is a…

  10. Bodies Matter: Professional Bodies and Embodiment in Institutional Sport Contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Amsterdam, Noortje; Claringbould, Inge; Knoppers, Annelies

    2017-08-01

    Bodies are always present in organizations, yet they frequently remain unacknowledged or invisible including in sport organizations and sport management research. We therefore argue for an embodied turn in sport management research. The purpose of this article is to present possible reasons why scholars have rarely paid attention to bodies in sport organizations; to offer arguments why they should do so; and to give suggestions for what scholarship on bodies and embodiment might look like using various theoretical frameworks. Using the topic of diversity as an example, we explore what insights into embodiment and bodily practices the theoretical frameworks of Foucault, Bourdieu, Merleau-Ponty and Butler have to offer researchers and how these insights may lead to better understandings of organizational processes in sport.

  11. Toward a radically embodied neuroscience of attachment and relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckes, Lane; IJzerman, Hans; Tops, Mattie

    2015-01-01

    Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982) posits the existence of internal working models as a foundational feature of human bonds. Radical embodied approaches instead suggest that cognition requires no computation or representation, favoring a cognition situated in a body in an environmental context with affordances for action (Chemero, 2009; Barrett, 2011; Wilson and Golonka, 2013; Casasanto and Lupyan, 2015). We explore whether embodied approaches to social soothing, interpersonal warmth, separation distress, and support seeking could replace representational constructs such as internal working models with a view of relationship cognition anchored in the resources afforded to the individual by their brain, body, and environment in interaction. We review the neurobiological bases for social attachments and relationships and attempt to delineate how these systems overlap or don't with more basic physiological systems in ways that support or contradict a radical embodied explanation. We suggest that many effects might be the result of the fact that relationship cognition depends on and emerges out of the action of neural systems that regulate several clearly physically grounded systems. For example, the neuropeptide oxytocin appears to be central to attachment and pair-bond behavior (Carter and Keverne, 2002) and is implicated in social thermoregulation more broadly, being necessary for maintaining a warm body temperature (for a review, see IJzerman et al., 2015b). Finally, we discuss the most challenging issues around taking a radically embodied perspective on social relationships. We find the most crucial challenge in individual differences in support seeking and responses to social contact, which have long been thought to be a function of representational structures in the mind (e.g., Baldwin, 1995). Together we entertain the thought to explain such individual differences without mediating representations or computations, but in the end propose a hybrid model of

  12. Toward a Radically Embodied Neuroscience of Attachment and Relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lane eBeckes

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982 posits that internal working models are a foundational feature of human bonds. Radical embodied approaches suggest that cognition requires no computation or representation, favoring a cognition situated in a body in context with affordances for action (Barrett, 2011; Chemero, 2009; Wilson & Golonka, 2013. We explore whether embodied approaches to social soothing, interpersonal warmth, separation distress, and support seeking could replace representational constructs such as internal working models with a view of relationship cognition anchored in the resources afforded to the individual by their brain, body, and environment interacting. We review the neurobiological bases for social attachments and relationships and attempt to delineate how these systems overlap or don’t with more basic physiological systems in ways that support or contradict a radical embodied explanation. We suggest that many effects might be the result of the fact that relationship cognition depends on and emerges out of the action of neural systems that regulate several clearly physically grounded systems. For example, the neuropeptide oxytocin appears to be central to attachment and pair-bond behavior (Carter & Keverne, 2002 and is implicated in social thermoregulation, being necessary for maintaining a warm body temperature in rats (Kasahara et al., 2007 and humans (Beck et al., 1979.Finally, we discuss the most challenging issues around taking a radically embodied perspective on social relationships. We find the most crucial challenge in individual differences in support seeking and responses to social contact, which have long been thought to be a function of representational structures in the mind (e.g., Baldwin, 1995. Together we entertain the thought to explain such individual differences without mediating representations or computations ending with a discussion of how representational approaches might be integrated with embodied

  13. Embodied Pronunciation Learning: Research and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Marsha J.

    2018-01-01

    This article summarizes research on body language, embodiment, and the incorporation of proprioception, physical movement, gestures, and touch into second language education, particularly with regard to the pronunciation of English. It asserts that careful attention to breathing, vocalization, articulatory positions, pulmonic and tactile…

  14. The embodied and relational nature of the mind: implications for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rejeski, W Jack; Gauvin, Lise

    2013-01-01

    Considerable research over the past decade has garnered support for the notion that the mind is both embodied and relational. Jointly, these terms imply that the brain, physical attributes of the self, and features of our interpersonal relationships and of the environments in which we live jointly regulate energy and information flow; they codetermine how we think, feel, and behave both individually and collectively. In addition to direct experience, evidence supports the view that stimuli embedded within past memories trigger multimodal simulations throughout the body and brain to literally recreate lived experience. In this paper, we review empirical support for the concept of an embodied and relational mind and then reflect on the implications of this perspective for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations. Data suggest that environmental influences literally "get under the skin" with aging; that musculoskeletal and visceral sensations become more prominent in activities of the mind due to aging biological systems and chronic disease. We argue that conceiving the mind as embodied and relational will grow scientific inquiry in aging, transform how we think about the self-system and well-being, and lead us to rethink health promotion interventions aimed at aging individuals and populations.

  15. Deploying Embodied AI into Virtual Worlds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burden, David J. H.

    The last two years have seen the start of commercial activity within virtual worlds. Unlike computer games where Non-Player-Character avatars are common, in most virtual worlds they are the exception — and until recently in Second Life they were non-existent. However there is real commercial scope for Als in these worlds — in roles from virtual sales staff and tutors to personal assistants. Deploying an embodied AI into a virtual world offers a unique opportunity to evaluate embodied Als, and to develop them within an environment where human and computer are on almost equal terms. This paper presents an architecture being used for the deployment of chatbot driven avatars within the Second Life virtual world, looks at the challenges of deploying an AI within such a virtual world, the possible implications for the Turing Test, and identifies research directions for the future.

  16. Embodiment design of soft continuum robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rongjie Kang

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the results of a multidisciplinary project where mechatronic engineers worked alongside biologists to develop a soft robotic arm that captures key features of octopus anatomy and neurophysiology. The concept of embodiment (the dynamic coupling between sensory-motor control, anatomy, materials and environment that allows for the animal to achieve adaptive behaviours is used as a starting point for the design process but tempered by current engineering technologies and approaches. In this article, the embodied design requirements are first discussed from a robotic viewpoint by taking into account real-life engineering limitations; then, the motor control schemes inspired by octopus nervous system are investigated. Finally, the mechanical and control design of a prototype is presented that appropriately blends bio-inspiration and engineering limitations. Simulated and experimental results show that the developed continuum robotic arm is able to reproduce octopus-like motions for bending, reaching and grasping.

  17. An embodied view of octopus neurobiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hochner, Binyamin

    2012-10-23

    Octopuses have a unique flexible body and unusual morphology, but nevertheless they are undoubtedly a great evolutionary success. They compete successfully with vertebrates in their ecological niche using a rich behavioral repertoire more typical of an intelligent predator which includes extremely effective defensive behavior--fast escape swimming and an astonishing ability to adapt their shape and color to their environment. The most obvious characteristic feature of an octopus is its eight long and flexible arms, but these pose a great challenge for achieving the level of motor and sensory information processing necessary for their behaviors. First, coordinating motion is a formidable task because of the infinite degrees of freedom that have to be controlled; and second, it is hard to use body coordinates in this flexible animal to represent sensory information in a central control system. Here I will review experimental results suggesting that these difficulties, arising from the animal's morphology, have imposed the evolution of unique brain/body/behavior relationships best explained as intelligent behavior which emerges from the octopus's embodied organization. The term 'intelligent embodiment' comes from robotics and refers to an approach to designing autonomous robots in which the behavior emerges from the dynamic physical and sensory interactions of the agent's materials, morphology and environment. Consideration of the unusual neurobiology of the octopus in the light of its unique morphology suggests that similar embodied principles are instrumental for understanding the emergence of intelligent behavior in all biological systems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Embodied Appraisals and Non-emotional States

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hvorecký, Juraj

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 20, č. 3 (2010), s. 215-223 ISSN 1210-3055 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR(CZ) KJB900090802 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90090514 Keywords : embodied appraisal * non-emotional mental states * valence * emotion Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

  19. Unfolding and Refolding Embodiment into the Landscape of Ubiquitous Computing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schick, Lea; Malmborg, Lone

    2009-01-01

    This paper advocates the future of the body as a distributed and shared embodiment; an unfolded body that doesn’t end at one's skin, but emerges as intercorporeality between bodies and the technological environment. Looking at new tendencies within interaction design and ubiquitous computing to see...... how these are to an increasing extent focusing on sociality, context-awareness, relations, affects, connectedness, and collectivity we will examine how these new technological movements can change our perception of embodiment towards a distributed and shared one. By examining interactive textiles...... as part of a future rising landscape of multi-sensory networks we will exemplify how the new technologies can shutter dichotomies and challenge traditional notions of embodiment and the subject. Finally, we show how this ‘new embodiment’ manifests Deleuze’s philosophy of the body as something unstable...

  20. Childhood trauma and anorexia nervosa: From body image to embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malecki, Jennifer; Rhodes, Paul; Ussher, Jane

    2018-02-27

    Contemporary understandings of anorexia nervosa are framed by the body image paradigm. The body-image framework considers that women's bodily experiences are reflected through distorted mental images of their bodies or disordered thinking and behavior around food and eating. Body image has come to symbolize all that can go wrong with women's relationship with their bodies, food and eating. The problem with this approach is its failure to consider the experience of women who survived childhood abuse. Women's bodily disturbances are not easily discernible through objective measures as they lie within the inner subjective realm of the embodied 'self', and embodied emotional experience. Consideration of the different ways that women inhabit their bodies inform this paper's examination of the conceptual framework embodiment as an alternate to the body image paradigm.

  1. Artistic understanding as embodied simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Raymond W

    2013-04-01

    Bullot & Reber (B&R) correctly include historical perspectives into the scientific study of art appreciation. But artistic understanding always emerges from embodied simulation processes that incorporate the ongoing dynamics of brains, bodies, and world interactions. There may not be separate modes of artistic understanding, but a continuum of processes that provide imaginative simulations of the artworks we see or hear.

  2. Embodied Imagination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Lone Koefoed; Kozel, Susan

    2007-01-01

    ituated in the domain of research into mobile, wireless, networked and wearable computing, this exploratory paperintroduces the embodied imagination method and explains how it can contribute to the design process by creating an elastic space of performance that incorporates daily life and persona...... imagination into the design process. It is based on a study called Placebo Sleeves which was an experiential design phase of a larger project in wearable computing called whisper[s]. The innovation offered by this research is twofold: an integration of previously distinct methodologies......, and an interdisciplinary theoretical framework relevant to the design of devices for affective, networked communication. The methodologies are shaped both by user experience models and by performance practices. We also articulate a domain of public dreaming, located at the conjunction of the private, public and secret...

  3. An Algorithm for Integrated Subsystem Embodiment and System Synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Kemper

    1997-01-01

    Consider the statement,'A system has two coupled subsystems, one of which dominates the design process. Each subsystem consists of discrete and continuous variables, and is solved using sequential analysis and solution.' To address this type of statement in the design of complex systems, three steps are required, namely, the embodiment of the statement in terms of entities on a computer, the mathematical formulation of subsystem models, and the resulting solution and system synthesis. In complex system decomposition, the subsystems are not isolated, self-supporting entities. Information such as constraints, goals, and design variables may be shared between entities. But many times in engineering problems, full communication and cooperation does not exist, information is incomplete, or one subsystem may dominate the design. Additionally, these engineering problems give rise to mathematical models involving nonlinear functions of both discrete and continuous design variables. In this dissertation an algorithm is developed to handle these types of scenarios for the domain-independent integration of subsystem embodiment, coordination, and system synthesis using constructs from Decision-Based Design, Game Theory, and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization. Implementation of the concept in this dissertation involves testing of the hypotheses using example problems and a motivating case study involving the design of a subsonic passenger aircraft.

  4. From naturalistic neuroscience to modeling radical embodiment with narrative enactive systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tikka, Pia; Kaipainen, Mauri Ylermi

    2014-01-01

    Mainstream cognitive neuroscience has begun to accept the idea of embodied mind, which assumes that the human mind is fundamentally constituted by the dynamical interactions of the brain, body, and the environment. In today’s paradigm of naturalistic neurosciences, subjects are exposed to rich contexts, such as video sequences or entire films, under relatively controlled conditions, against which researchers can interpret changes in neural responses within a time window. However, from the point of view of radical embodied cognitive neuroscience, the increasing complexity alone will not suffice as the explanatory apparatus for dynamical embodiment and situatedness of the mind. We suggest that narrative enactive systems with dynamically adaptive content as stimuli, may serve better to account for the embodied mind engaged with the surrounding world. Among the ensuing challenges for neuroimaging studies is how to interpret brain data against broad temporal contexts of previous experiences that condition the unfolding experience of nowness. We propose means to tackle this issue, as well as ways to limit the exponentially growing combinatoria of narrative paths to a controllable number. PMID:25339890

  5. Embodiment Mediates the Relationship between Avoidant Attachment and Eating Disorder Psychopathology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monteleone, Alessio Maria; Castellini, Giovanni; Ricca, Valdo; Volpe, Umberto; De Riso, Francesco; Nigro, Massimiliano; Zamponi, Francesco; Mancini, Milena; Stanghellini, Giovanni; Monteleone, Palmiero; Treasure, Janet; Maj, Mario

    2017-11-01

    The overvaluation of body shape and weight of persons with eating disorders (EDs) is putatively explained by a disturbance in the way they experience their own body (embodiment). Moreover, attachment disorders seem to promote the use of body as source for self-definition. Therefore, we assessed the role of embodiment in the connection between attachment styles and ED psychopathology. One-hundred and thirteen ED patients and 117 healthy subjects completed the Identity and Eating Disorders (IDEA) Questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Eating disorder patients displayed IDEA, EDI-2 and Experiences in Close Relationships scores significantly higher than controls. IDEA total and subtotal scores mediated entirely the influence of avoidant attachment on EDI-2 interoceptive awareness and impulsivity. These findings demonstrate a relationship between insecure attachment and disorders of identity and embodiment and point to embodiment as a possible mediator between avoidant attachment and specific ED psychopathological traits. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

  6. From naturalistic neuroscience to modeling radical embodiment with narrative enactive systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tikka, Pia; Kaipainen, Mauri Ylermi

    2014-01-01

    Mainstream cognitive neuroscience has begun to accept the idea of embodied mind, which assumes that the human mind is fundamentally constituted by the dynamical interactions of the brain, body, and the environment. In today's paradigm of naturalistic neurosciences, subjects are exposed to rich contexts, such as video sequences or entire films, under relatively controlled conditions, against which researchers can interpret changes in neural responses within a time window. However, from the point of view of radical embodied cognitive neuroscience, the increasing complexity alone will not suffice as the explanatory apparatus for dynamical embodiment and situatedness of the mind. We suggest that narrative enactive systems with dynamically adaptive content as stimuli, may serve better to account for the embodied mind engaged with the surrounding world. Among the ensuing challenges for neuroimaging studies is how to interpret brain data against broad temporal contexts of previous experiences that condition the unfolding experience of nowness. We propose means to tackle this issue, as well as ways to limit the exponentially growing combinatoria of narrative paths to a controllable number.

  7. Women's collective constructions of embodied practices through memory work: Cartesian dualism in memories of sweating and pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillies, Val; Harden, Angela; Johnson, Katherine; Reavey, Paula; Strange, Vicki; Willig, Carla

    2004-03-01

    The research presented in this paper uses memory work as a method to explore six women's collective constructions of two embodied practices, sweating and pain. The paper identifies limitations in the ways in which social constructionist research has theorized the relationship between discourse and materiality, and it proposes an approach to the study of embodiment which enjoins, rather than bridges, the discursive and the non-discursive. The paper presents an analysis of 25 memories of sweating and pain which suggests that Cartesian dualism is central to the women's accounts of their experiences. However, such dualism does not operate as a stable organizing principle. Rather, it offers two strategies for the performance of a split between mind and body. The paper traces the ways in which dualism can be both functional and restrictive, and explores the tensions between these two forms. The paper concludes by identifiying opportunities and limitations associated with memory work as a method for studying embodiment.

  8. Let’s Improv It: The Embodied Investigation of Social Collaboration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klara Łucznik

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available How do we share embodied knowledge? How do we understand the world through our bodies? How can we effectively interpret and communicate somatic experiences to a wider audience? These questions emerged during a collaborative research project Let’s Improv It (August 2016, Plymouth University, which set out to explore how kinaesthetic empathy and multisensory perception help us to understand our own actions, intentions and emotions, as well as those of others. We additionally questioned the role and perception of physical and emotional touch within embodied knowledge. After a five-day practice-led investigation, a 20-minute improvised somatic movement score was developed with the aim of providing a novel experience of touch and movement. The authors collectively delivered the score and reflected on the outcomes of this experience over the course of a year (2016–2017. In this paper, we explore how our research project expanded the boundaries of the conventional concepts of knowledge and cognition. We see such participatory sessions, in which movement and embodied experience freely unfold in time and space, as a ‘laboratory’ in which we examine the underlying mechanisms of collaboration. We reflect on how such an experience can be seen as a creative process, or as an emergent, collaborative artwork. The participants are both the creators and, simultaneously, the audience of our improvised experience. The experience provided a non-judgmental context for physical engagement and observation, which is an outcome that will be introduced alongside participants’ feedback. Overall, the project revealed that shared embodied knowledge is highly appreciated, particularly among those without previous experience with embodied enquiry or movement research.

  9. Embodied Voices: Using Applied Theatre for Co-Creation with Marginalised Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vettraino, Elinor; Linds, Warren; Jindal-Snape, Divya

    2017-01-01

    In this article, we take a strength-based approach to understand how applied theatre as a vehicle provides opportunities for embodied voices to have a positive influence on the well-being, and attitudes to health, of young people who have been "pushed" to the margins. We begin by explaining the concepts of well-being, embodiment and…

  10. A mathematical model of embodied consciousness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rudrauf, D.; Bennequin, D.; Granic, I.; Landini, G.; Friston, K.; Williford, K.

    2017-01-01

    We introduce a mathematical model of embodied consciousness, the Projective Consciousness Model (PCM), which is based on the hypothesis that the spatial field of consciousness (FoC) is structured by a projective geometry and under the control of a process of active inference. The FoC in the PCM

  11. Developing Models for Embodied Learning with Live Interactive Simulations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gjedde, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    Live simulations may offer a natural form of multimodal learning through embodied action, which can be engaging to a variety of learners and provide a platform for inclusion of special needs learners across the classroom. In this approach to interactive learning, the subject matter is embedded...... learning design is available that provides for interactive and embodied learning, which appeals to the segment of boys that are often difficult to motivate with ordinary uni-modal teaching methods. The paper will present preliminary results from an action research project carried out in collaboration...

  12. Socio-technological impact analysis using an energy IO approach to GHG emissions issues in South Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Whan-Sam; Tohno, Susumu; Choi, Ki-Hong

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Using the Sato-Vartia index for the three periods of 1985-1995, 1995-2000, and 2000-2005, the changes in three factors affecting GHG emissions in South Korea were analyzed. → A total emission matrix including both direct and indirect GHG emissions showed plain shape; however, ripple effects were observed in some sectors. → This process is useful in measuring national energy policies. → Several limitations of the Divisia decomposition analysis were pointed out. -- Abstract: Through energy input-output (E-IO) analyses from 1985 to 2005, the changes in three factors affecting GHG emissions in South Korea were analyzed. Based on the E-IO results, the changes in the direct and total (embodied) GHG emissions from the pertinent sectors were decomposed into three factors-the energy consumption effect, the social effect, and the technological effect-using the Sato-Vartia index for the three periods of 1985-1995, 1995-2000, and 2000-2005. The decomposition analysis demonstrated that a total emission matrix including both direct and indirect GHG emissions showed an evolution pattern that was very similar to the changes in direct GHG emissions; however, ripple effects were observed in the case of emissions from sector number -59 (Synthetic resins, synthetic rubber-p). The results showed that national energy policies such as those pertaining to the diversification of energy sources, shifts in the energy consumption structure (social effect), and the transformation to a low-carbon energy economy (technology effect) were effective. Finally, several limitations of the Divisia decomposition analysis were pointed out.

  13. The Nature of Memorisation for Embodiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardaker, Glenn; Sabki, Aishah

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the interconnectedness of the Muslim community, madrasah and memorisation in realising the process of embodiment. Design/methodology/approach: Our anthropological study was conducted in 2011 at a prominent madrasah for higher education in England. The madrasah has approximately 400 adult…

  14. Exploring the relationship between energy consumption and GDP: Evidence from Croatia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borozan, Djula

    2013-01-01

    The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between total energy consumption and real gross domestic product (GDP) covering the period between 1992 and 2010 in Croatia. The methodology employed in this paper is based on the bivariate vector autoregression (VAR) and Granger causality tests. Moreover, the impulse response function and variance decomposition analysis are employed to trace the dynamic response paths of shocks to the system. The empirical analysis shows that, when it is allowed for any deterministic component in the data, total energy consumption and real GDP are not co-integrated in the period observed. Furthermore, there is a unidirectional causality running from total energy consumption to GDP, and an impulse response to GDP caused by energy consumption, being mainly embodied in the first years. The results indicate that total energy consumption is an important component determining economic growth in Croatia and that energy conservation policy should be formulated and implemented wisely. This paper also tests the causality between real GDP and consumption of the five energy variables by using the bivariate VAR. The main implication of these tests is that individual energy forms matter when it comes to energy policy formulation. - Highlights: • There is a unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to real GDP in Croatia. • There is an impulse response to real GDP caused by energy consumption, being mainly embodied in the first years. • Energy consumption is an important component determining economic growth. • Individual energy forms matter when it comes to energy policy formulation

  15. Strategic Embodiment in Virtual Spaces: Exploring an On-Line Discussion about Sexualities Equality in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Depalma, Renee; Atkinson, Elizabeth

    2007-01-01

    This paper analyses patterns of participation on a voluntary anonymous Web-based discussion forum, open to students and faculty in one UK university, concerning sexualities equality in schools. Analysis revealed that participants often rejected the security of anonymity and strategically embodied themselves and others (as gay, straight, parents,…

  16. Imperfect/I'm Perfect: Bodies/Embodiment in Post-Secondary and Elementary Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winters, Kari-Lynn; Code, Mary

    2017-01-01

    Using researched perspectives of bodies and embodiment, alongside dramatic structures, where bodies are foregrounded, this article looks closely at bodies and embodiment inside of school settings. Specifically, it investigates a community in Southern Ontario and the perceived, affective, relational, and critical ways that study participants story…

  17. The influence of embodiment on multisensory integration using the mirror box illusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medina, Jared; Khurana, Priya; Coslett, H Branch

    2015-12-01

    We examined the relationship between subcomponents of embodiment and multisensory integration using a mirror box illusion. The participants' left hand was positioned against the mirror, while their right hidden hand was positioned 12″, 6″, or 0″ from the mirror - creating a conflict between visual and proprioceptive estimates of limb position in some conditions. After synchronous tapping, asynchronous tapping, or no movement of both hands, participants gave position estimates for the hidden limb and filled out a brief embodiment questionnaire. We found a relationship between different subcomponents of embodiment and illusory displacement towards the visual estimate. Illusory visual displacement was positively correlated with feelings of deafference in the asynchronous and no movement conditions, whereas it was positive correlated with ratings of visual capture and limb ownership in the synchronous and no movement conditions. These results provide evidence for dissociable contributions of different aspects of embodiment to multisensory integration. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. A template model of embodiment while dreaming: Proposal of a mini-me.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koppehele-Gossel, Judith; Klimke, Ansgar; Schermelleh-Engel, Karin; Voss, Ursula

    2016-11-01

    Dreams are usually centered around a dream self capable of tasks generally impossible in waking, e.g. flying or walking through walls. Moreover, the bodily dream self appears relatively stable and insensitive to changes of the embodied wake self, raising the question of whether and to what extent the dream self is embodied. To further explore its determinants, we tested whether the dream self would be affected by either pre-sleep focused attention to a body part or by its experimental alteration during the day. Choosing a repeated-measures design, we analyzed how often key words reflecting the experimental manipulations appeared in the dream reports. Results suggest that the dream self is not affected by these manipulations, strengthening the hypothesis that, in the majority of dreams, the dream self is only weakly embodied, utilizing a standard template of embodiment akin to a prototype of self operating independently from the physical waking self. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. First- and Third-Person Perspectives in Immersive Virtual Environments: Presence and Performance Analysis of Embodied Users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoffrey Gorisse

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Current design of virtual reality (VR applications relies essentially on the transposition of users’ viewpoint in first-person perspective (1PP. Within this context, our research aims to compare the impact and the potentialities enabled via the integration of the third-person perspective (3PP in immersive virtual environments (IVE. Our empirical study is conducted in order to assess the sense of presence, the sense of embodiment, and performance of users confronted with a series of tasks presenting a case of potential use for the video game industry. Our results do not reveal significant differences concerning the sense of spatial presence with either point of view. Nonetheless, they provide evidence confirming the relevance of using the first-person perspective to induce a sense of embodiment toward a virtual body, especially in terms of self-location and ownership. However, no significant differences were observed concerning the sense of agency. Concerning users’ performance, our results demonstrate that the first-person perspective enables more accurate interactions, while the third-person perspective provides better space awareness.

  20. Cultivating Collaborations: Site Specific Design for Embodied Science Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, Katherine; Glazier, Jocelyn; Towns, Betsy

    2018-05-21

    Immersion in well-designed outdoor environments can foster the habits of mind that enable critical and authentic scientific questions to take root in students' minds. Here we share two design cases in which careful, collaborative, and intentional design of outdoor learning environments for informal inquiry provide people of all ages with embodied opportunities to learn about the natural world, developing the capacity for understanding ecology and the ability to empathize, problem-solve and reflect. Embodied learning, as facilitated by and in well-designed outdoor learning environments, leads students to develop new ways of seeing, new scientific questions, new ways to connect with ideas, with others and new ways of thinking about the natural world. Using examples from our collaborative practices as experiential learning designers, we illustrate how creating the habits of mind critical to creating scientists, science-interested, and science-aware individuals benefits from providing students spaces to engage in embodied learning in nature. We show how public landscapes designed in creative partnerships between educators, scientists, designers and the public have potential to amplify science learning for all.

  1. Effects of motor action on affective preferences in autism spectrum disorders: different influences of embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Rosset, Delphine; Col Cozzari, Ghislaine; da Fonseca, David; Deruelle, Christine

    2015-11-01

    In the embodied cognition framework, sensory, motor and emotional experiences are encoded along with sensorimotor cues from the context in which information was acquired. As such, representations retain an initial imprint of the manner in which information was acquired. The current study reports results indicating a lack of embodiment effects in ASD and, further, an association between embodiment differences and ASD symptomatology. The current results are consistent with an embodied account of ASD that goes beyond social experiences and could be driven by subtle deficits in sensorimotor coordination. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. The interaction between embodiment and empathy in facial expression recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jospe, Karine; Flöel, Agnes; Lavidor, Michal

    2018-02-01

    Previous research has demonstrated that the Action-Observation Network (AON) is involved in both emotional-embodiment (empathy) and action-embodiment mechanisms. In this study, we hypothesized that interfering with the AON will impair action recognition and that this impairment will be modulated by empathy levels. In Experiment 1 (n = 90), participants were asked to recognize facial expressions while their facial motion was restricted. In Experiment 2 (n = 50), we interfered with the AON by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to the motor cortex. In both experiments, we found that interfering with the AON impaired the performance of participants with high empathy levels; however, for the first time, we demonstrated that the interference enhanced the performance of participants with low empathy. This novel finding suggests that the embodiment module may be flexible, and that it can be enhanced in individuals with low empathy by simple manipulation of motor activation.

  3. Sexual abuse and the problem of embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, L

    1992-01-01

    In this paper, trauma, sexual abuse, and some of the potential resulting long-term effects, are explored in terms of the problem of embodiment and the formation of personal identity and psychological integrity. That is, what effect does severe sexual abuse have on an individual's, particularly a child's, sense of living in his or her body and, by extension, living in the world? First, trauma and dissociation are analyzed and linked to the development and maintenance of a "posttraumatic" sense of personal identity. Then, several disorders associated with sexual abuse--dissociation, multiple personality disorder, eating disorders, somatization disorder, self-mutilation, suicide, and suicide attempts--are examined in terms of their phenomenological coherence and relation to the problem of embodiment. This conceptual framework may be of use to clinicians and researchers assessing and treating the survivors of sexual abuse.

  4. Improvements in high energy computed tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burstein, P.; Krieger, A.; Annis, M.

    1984-01-01

    In computerized axial tomography employed with large relatively dense objects such as a solid fuel rocket engine, using high energy x-rays, such as a 15 MeV source, a collimator is employed with an acceptance angle substantially less than 1 0 , in a preferred embodiment 7 minutes of a degree. In a preferred embodiment, the collimator may be located between the object and the detector, although in other embodiments, a pre-collimator may also be used, that is between the x-ray source and the object being illuminated. (author)

  5. Sketches in Embodied Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Erkut, Cumhur; Dahl, Sofia; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

    2014-01-01

    and provide a simple example as a design outcome. The variety and the qualities of the initial ideas indicate that this approach might provide a better foundation for our participants, compared to the approaches that focus only on technologies. The interactive sketches were demonstrated at the conference.......We present an approach for teaching and designing embodied interaction based on interactive sketches. We have combined the mover perspective and felt experiences of movement with advanced technologies (multi-agents, physical simulations) in a generative design session. We report our activities...

  6. Foreword: Biology/embodiment/desire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terry, Jennifer; Willey, Angela

    2018-04-03

    The sexological roots of "lesbian" and the "queer" turn from biologized categories of sexual difference pose an exciting set of questions and tensions for thinking about queer feminism and biological meanings. This issue seeks to open space to explore how we might reconcile assumptions about "female same-sex sexuality" that often accompany "lesbian" with queer and trans-feminist treatments of science, embodiment, and desiring, while at the same time insisting on the importance of an undertheorized dyke legacy for thinking the at-once material and political nature of sexuality.

  7. Embodied harms: gender, shame, and technology-facilitated sexual violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Nicola; Powell, Anastasia

    2015-06-01

    Criminality in cyberspace has been the subject of much debate since the 1990s, yet comparatively little attention has been paid to technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment (TFSV). The aim of this article is to explore the ways in which retraditionalized gender hierarchies and inequalities are manifested in online contexts, and to conceptualize the cause and effects of TFSV as "embodied harms." We argue that problematic mind/body and online/off-line dualisms result in a failure to grasp the unique nature of embodied harms, precluding an adequate understanding and theorization of TFSV. © The Author(s) 2015.

  8. Seven principles to design for embodied sensemaking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hummels, C.C.M.; Dijk, van J.

    2015-01-01

    The TEI-community is based a various paradigms. We believe that the community matures by scrutinising these different paradigms and unravelling the consequences for designing for tangible, embedded and embodied interaction. In this paper we explore the consequences and possibilities of

  9. Simulation approach towards energy flexible manufacturing systems

    CERN Document Server

    Beier, Jan

    2017-01-01

    This authored monograph provides in-depth analysis and methods for aligning electricity demand of manufacturing systems to VRE supply. The book broaches both long-term system changes and real-time manufacturing execution and control, and the author presents a concept with different options for improved energy flexibility including battery, compressed air and embodied energy storage. The reader will also find a detailed application procedure as well as an implementation into a simulation prototype software. The book concludes with two case studies. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of green manufacturing systems. .

  10. Reduced embodied simulation in psychopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mier, Daniela; Haddad, Leila; Diers, Kersten; Dressing, Harald; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Kirsch, Peter

    2014-08-01

    Psychopathy is characterized by severe deficits in emotion processing and empathy. These emotional deficits might not only affect the feeling of own emotions, but also the understanding of others' emotional and mental states. The present study aims on identifying the neurobiological correlates of social-cognitive related alterations in psychopathy. We applied a social-cognitive paradigm for the investigation of face processing, emotion recognition, and affective Theory of Mind (ToM) to 11 imprisoned psychopaths and 18 healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure task-related brain activation. While showing no overall behavioural deficit, psychopathy was associated with altered brain activation. Psychopaths had reduced fusiform activation related to face processing. Related to affective ToM, psychopaths had hypoactivation in amygdala, inferior prefrontal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus, areas associated with embodied simulation of emotions and intentions. Furthermore, psychopaths lacked connectivity between superior temporal sulcus and amygdala during affective ToM. These results replicate findings of alterations in basal face processing in psychopathy. In addition, they provide evidence for reduced embodied simulation in psychopathy in concert with a lack of communication between motor areas and amygdala which might provide the neural substrate of reduced feeling with others during social cognition.

  11. Chinese air pollution embodied in trade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, S. J.

    2014-12-01

    Rapid economic development in China has been accompanied by high levels of air pollution in many areas of China. Although researchers have applied a range of methods to monitor and track pollutant emissions in the atmosphere, studies of the underlying economic and technological drivers of this pollution have received considerably less attention. I will present results of a series of studies that have quantified the air pollutants embodied in goods being traded both within China and internationally. The results show that trade is facilitating the concentration of pollution in less economically developed areas, which in turn export pollution-intensive goods to more affluent areas. However, the export-related pollution itself is sometimes transported long distances; for instance, we have quantified the impacts of the Chinese pollution embodied in internationally-exported goods on air quality in the US. These findings important implications for Chinese efforts to curb CO2 emissions and improve air quality. The research to be presented reflects the efforts of a multiple year, ongoing collaboration among interdisciplinary researchers in China, the US and the UK.

  12. Embodying cognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martiny, Kristian Møller Moltke; Aggerholm, Kenneth

    2016-01-01

    During the last decades, research on cognition has undergone a reformation, which is necessary to take into account when evaluating the cognitive and behavioural aspects of therapy. This reformation is due to the research programme called Embodied Cognition (EC). Although EC may have become...... the theoretical authority in current cognitive science, there are only sporadic examples of EC-based therapy, and no established framework. We aim to build such a framework on the aims, methods and techniques of the current third-wave of CBT. There appears to be a possibility for cross-fertilization between EC...... and CBT that could contribute to the development of theory and practice for both of them. We present a case-study of an EC-based model of intervention for working with self-control in cerebral palsy.We centre the results of the study and its discussion on how we should understand and work with self...

  13. Yoga Communities and Eating Disorders: Creating Safe Space for Positive Embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook-Cottone, Catherine; Douglass, Laura Lee

    2017-11-01

    With adequate education and guidance, yoga communities, as part of the therapeutic landscape in the 21st century, can play a significant role promoting positive embodiment for those with, and at-risk for, eating disorders (EDs). To do this, yoga teachers need to know how to create a body-positive community and be able to recognize and respond to those at risk and struggling with EDs in their communities. In order to address yoga teaching methods associated with EDs and ED risk, broader conceptual approaches and specific practices associated with positive embodiment are offered. These include the broader conceptual approaches of: intentional inclusion and acceptance, experiential emphasis, supporting positive embodiment and inquiry. Studio pragmatics are also detailed as related to the body, breath, emotions, and community. Assessment, referral, and community engagement are also addressed.

  14. Activating Metaphors: Exploring the Embodied Nature of Metaphorical Mapping in Political Discourse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovanelli, Marcello

    2016-01-01

    Metaphor is generally understood as the process of understanding one thing in terms of another. The activity described here is designed to make use of the principles of embodied cognition and meaning, and specifically the embodied nature of metaphor, to explore political discourse and communication. With high-school junior or senior students in…

  15. Psychological distance modulates the performance of the embodiment effect: Evidence from behavioral and ERP studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hanlin; Mo, Lei; Luo, Qiuling; Xiang, Yanhui; Hu, Yunyang

    2016-04-01

    Research on embodied cognition suggests the ubiquity of embodiment effects during interaction with the environment. However, construal level theory (CLT) holds that these effects could be moderated by the psychological distance between self and objects and are attenuated by higher-level mental construal. The current research explored the "action-evaluation" embodiment effect in the evaluation of words located at different spatial distances. Results showed that for "short-distance" words, the response model conflicted with this embodiment effect slower reaction time and induced a larger P2 component than the opposite response model. However, evaluation of "long-distance" words was not significantly influenced by the response model. The results are consistent with CLT and suggest that the action-evaluation embodiment effect influences the coding and execution of evaluating actions, but only for stimuli at close psychological distance locations. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  16. Optimization of thermal insulation to achieve energy savings in low energy house (refurbishment)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bojić, Milorad; Miletić, Marko; Bojić, Ljubiša

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • For buildings that require heating, a thickness of their thermal insulation is optimized. • The objective was to improve energy efficiency of the building. • The optimization is performed by using EnergyPlus and Hooke–Jeeves method. • The embodied energy of thermal insulation and the entire life cycle of the house are taken into account. - Abstract: Due to the current environmental situation, saving energy and reducing CO 2 emission have become the leading drive in modern research. For buildings that require heating, one of the solutions is to optimize a thickness of their thermal insulation and thus improve energy efficiency and reduce energy needs. In this paper, for a small residential house in Serbia, an optimization in the thickness of its thermal insulation layer is investigated by using EnergyPlus software and Hooke–Jeeves direct search method. The embodied energy of thermal insulation is taken into account. The optimization is done for the entire life cycle of thermal insulation. The results show the optimal thickness of thermal insulation that yields the minimum primary energy consumption

  17. The Active Inference Approach to Ecological Perception: General Information Dynamics for Natural and Artificial Embodied Cognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Linson

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The emerging neurocomputational vision of humans as embodied, ecologically embedded, social agents—who shape and are shaped by their environment—offers a golden opportunity to revisit and revise ideas about the physical and information-theoretic underpinnings of life, mind, and consciousness itself. In particular, the active inference framework (AIF makes it possible to bridge connections from computational neuroscience and robotics/AI to ecological psychology and phenomenology, revealing common underpinnings and overcoming key limitations. AIF opposes the mechanistic to the reductive, while staying fully grounded in a naturalistic and information-theoretic foundation, using the principle of free energy minimization. The latter provides a theoretical basis for a unified treatment of particles, organisms, and interactive machines, spanning from the inorganic to organic, non-life to life, and natural to artificial agents. We provide a brief introduction to AIF, then explore its implications for evolutionary theory, ecological psychology, embodied phenomenology, and robotics/AI research. We conclude the paper by considering implications for machine consciousness.

  18. The embodied and relational nature of the mind: implications for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rejeski WJ

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available W Jack Rejeski,1 Lise Gauvin2 1Department of Health and Exercise Science and Department of Geriatric Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA; 2Research Center of the University of Montréal Hospital Center, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada Abstract: Considerable research over the past decade has garnered support for the notion that the mind is both embodied and relational. Jointly, these terms imply that the brain, physical attributes of the self, and features of our interpersonal relationships and of the environments in which we live jointly regulate energy and information flow; they codetermine how we think, feel, and behave both individually and collectively. In addition to direct experience, evidence supports the view that stimuli embedded within past memories trigger multimodal simulations throughout the body and brain to literally recreate lived experience. In this paper, we review empirical support for the concept of an embodied and relational mind and then reflect on the implications of this perspective for clinical interventions in aging individuals and populations. Data suggest that environmental influences literally “get under the skin” with aging; that musculoskeletal and visceral sensations become more prominent in activities of the mind due to aging biological systems and chronic disease. We argue that conceiving the mind as embodied and relational will grow scientific inquiry in aging, transform how we think about the self-system and well-being, and lead us to rethink health promotion interventions aimed at aging individuals and populations. Keywords: behavior change, gerontology, disablement, well-being, embodiment

  19. Claiming peaceful embodiment through yoga in the aftermath of trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhodes, Alison M

    2015-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of practicing yoga and its role within processes of healing for adult women with complex trauma histories. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological method, data were analyzed from interviews with 39 women. Results showed that the core meaning of participants' experience of healing through yoga is claiming peaceful embodiment. This is an ongoing process occurring on a continuum whereby women experienced improved connections with and sense of ownership and control over their bodies, emotions and thoughts, and a greater sense of well-being, calmness, and wholeness in their bodies and minds. A number of interconnected essential themes related to this core meaning were also identified, illuminating processes that supported claiming peaceful embodiment and capabilities that were enabled by being more peacefully embodied. Additional themes were identified highlighting factors that facilitated or impeded participants' engagement with yoga and their experiences of healing through yoga. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. From Vesalius to virtual reality: How embodied cognition facilitates the visualization of anatomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Susan

    This study examines the facilitative effects of embodiment of a complex internal anatomical structure through three-dimensional ("3-D") interactivity in a virtual reality ("VR") program. Since Shepard and Metzler's influential 1971 study, it has been known that 3-D objects (e.g., multiple-armed cube or external body parts) are visually and motorically embodied in our minds. For example, people take longer to rotate mentally an image of their hand not only when there is a greater degree of rotation, but also when the images are presented in a manner incompatible with their natural body movement (Parsons, 1987a, 1994; Cooper & Shepard, 1975; Sekiyama, 1983). Such findings confirm the notion that our mental images and rotations of those images are in fact confined by the laws of physics and biomechanics, because we perceive, think and reason in an embodied fashion. With the advancement of new technologies, virtual reality programs for medical education now enable users to interact directly in a 3-D environment with internal anatomical structures. Given that such structures are not readily viewable to users and thus not previously susceptible to embodiment, coupled with the VR environment also affording all possible degrees of rotation, how people learn from these programs raises new questions. If we embody external anatomical parts we can see, such as our hands and feet, can we embody internal anatomical parts we cannot see? Does manipulating the anatomical part in virtual space facilitate the user's embodiment of that structure and therefore the ability to visualize the structure mentally? Medical students grouped in yoked-pairs were tasked with mastering the spatial configuration of an internal anatomical structure; only one group was allowed to manipulate the images of this anatomical structure in a 3-D VR environment, whereas the other group could only view the manipulation. The manipulation group outperformed the visual group, suggesting that the interactivity

  1. Exploring the Convergence of Sequences in the Embodied World Using GeoGebra

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Moura Fonseca, Daila Silva Seabra; de Oliveira Lino Franchi, Regina Helena

    2016-01-01

    This study addresses the embodied approach of convergence of numerical sequences using the GeoGebra software. We discuss activities that were applied in regular calculus classes, as a part of a research which used a qualitative methodology and aimed to identify contributions of the development of activities based on the embodiment of concepts,…

  2. M.E.366-J embodiment design project: Portable foot restraint

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heaton, Randall; Meyer, Eikar; Schmidt, Davey; Enders, Kevin

    1994-01-01

    During space shuttle operations, astronauts require support to carry out tasks in the weightless environment. In the past, portable foot restraints (PFR) with orientations adjustable in pitch, roll, and yaw provided this support for payload bay operations. These foot restraints, however, were designed for specific tasks with a load limit of 111.2 Newtons. Since the original design, new applications for foot restraints have been identified. New designs for the foot restraints have been created to boost the operational work load to 444.8 Newtons and decrease setup times. What remains to be designed is an interface between the restraint system and the extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) boots. NASA provided a proposed locking device involving a spring-loaded mechanism. This locking mechanism must withstand loads of 1334.4 Newtons in any direction and weigh less than 222.4 Newtons. This paper develops an embodiment design for the interface between the PFR and the EMU boots. This involves design of the locking mechanism and a removable cleat that allows the boot to interface with this mechanism. The design team used the Paul Beitz engineering methodology to present the systematic development, structural analysis, and production considerations of the embodiment design. This methodology provides a basis for understanding the justification behind the decisions made in the design.

  3. Linguistic embodiment and verbal constraints: human cognition and the scales of time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowley, Stephen J.

    2014-01-01

    Using radical embodied cognitive science, the paper offers the hypothesis that language is symbiotic: its agent-environment dynamics arise as linguistic embodiment is managed under verbal constraints. As a result, co-action grants human agents the ability to use a unique form of phenomenal experience. In defense of the hypothesis, I stress how linguistic embodiment enacts thinking: accordingly, I present auditory and acoustic evidence from 750 ms of mother-daughter talk, first, in fine detail and, then, in narrative mode. As the parties attune, they use a dynamic field to co-embody speech with experience of wordings. The latter arise in making and tracking phonetic gestures that, crucially, mesh use of artifice, cultural products and impersonal experience. As observers, living human beings gain dispositions to display and use social subjectivity. Far from using brains to “process” verbal content, linguistic symbiosis grants access to diachronic resources. On this distributed-ecological view, language can thus be redefined as: “activity in which wordings play a part.” PMID:25324799

  4. It's Not "All in Your Head": Understanding Religion From an Embodied Cognition Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soliman, Tamer M; Johnson, Kathryn A; Song, Hyunjin

    2015-11-01

    Theorists and researchers in the psychology of religion have often focused on the mind as the locus of religion. In this article, we suggest an embodied cognition perspective as a new dimension in studies of religion as a complement to previous research and theorizing. In contrast to the Cartesian view of the mind operating distinctly from the body, an embodied cognition framework posits religion as being grounded in an integrated and dynamic sensorimotor complex (which includes the brain). We review relevant but disparate literature in cognitive and social psychology to demonstrate that embodied cognition shapes the way that people represent the divine and other spiritual beings, guides people's moral intuitions, and facilitates bonding within religious groups. Moreover, commitments to a religious worldview are sometimes manifested in the body. We suggest several promising future directions in the study of religion from an embodied cognition perspective. © The Author(s) 2015.

  5. China's energy consumption under the global economic crisis: Decomposition and sectoral analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Fangyi; Song, Zhouying; Liu, Weidong

    2014-01-01

    It is now widely recognized that there is a strong relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. Most countries′ energy demands declined during the economic depression of 2008–2009 when a worldwide economic crisis occurred. As an export-oriented economy, China suffered a serious exports decline in the course of the crisis. However, it was found that energy consumption continued to increase. Against such a background, this paper aims to assess and explain the factors causing the growth of energy consumption in China. First, we will explain the impact of domestic final use and international trade on energy consumption by using decomposition analysis. Second, embodied energy and its variation across sectors are quantified to identify the key sectors contributing to the growth. Lastly, the policy implications for long-term energy conservation are discussed. The results show that the decline in exports was one of the driving forces for energy consumption reduction in the crisis, but that the growth of domestic demand in manufacturing and construction, largely stimulated by economic stimulus plans, had the opposite effect on energy consumption. International trade contributed to decreasing energy consumption of China during and after the crisis because the structure of exports and imports changed in this period. - Highlights: • We analyze the reasons for China's energy consumption change under the global economic crisis during 2007–2010. • Domestic final use growth, especially in construction and manufacturing of machinery and equipment, resulted in energy consumption increase. • International trade is identified as a driver of energy consumption reduction during and after the crisis. • Increasing China's share of consumption or reducing its share of investment in the GDP can reduce national energy intensity

  6. Holism and embodiment in nursing: using Goethean science to join 2 perspectives on patient care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Deanna M

    2014-01-01

    Holism is a central concept in nursing theory, yet recently, embodiment has become prominent in the literature. Epistemological foundations from modern and contemporary philosophy are discussed and their relationship to nursing practice is explored to investigate the concepts of holism and embodiment. Nurses practice holistic care within the patient encounter while patients live an embodied experience. This creates inherent dissonance in the nurse-patient interaction. Goethean science is presented as a way to reconcile this discrepancy, to allow the nurse to better understand the patient's embodiment and, by default, his or her own embodiment. A new perspective of how nursing practice can use Goethean science and an embodied perspective are presented as a means to actualize Carper's fundamental pattern of knowing of personal knowledge within the nurse-patient interaction. With this approach, the nurse is able to examine the phenomenon of the patient with the patient to explore the essential nature that makes the patient who he or she is and what he or she is trying to become. During this exploration, the nurse uses the senses, language, and a critical mind to do what no machine or test could-to see the underlying meaningfulness and internal coherence of the patient. The intuitive revelation would expose nursing interventions simultaneously. Moving beyond the myopic perspective of how to keep "person" central to the nursing metaparadigm, nursing is beginning to see the embodiment of the patient as a means for understanding and providing care for patients. The challenge that remains is for nurses to see their own embodiment and reflect on if or how it is at odds with the necessity of providing holistic care to patients.

  7. Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Pietrzak

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available We make the case for the possible integration of affect experience induced via embodiment techniques with CBT for the treatment of emotional disorders in clinical settings. Theoretically we propose a possible integration of cognitive behavioural theory, neuroscience, embodied cognition and important processes of client change outcomes such as the therapeutic alliance to enhance client outcomes. We draw from evidence of bidirectional effects between embodiment modes of bottom-up (sensory-motor simulations giving rise to important basis of knowledge and top-down (abstract mental representations of knowledge processes such as CBT in psychotherapy. The paper first describes the dominance and success of CBT for the treatment of a wide range of clinical disorders. Some limitations of CBT, particularly for depression are also outlined. There is a growing body of evidence for the added value of experiential affect-focused interventions combined with CBT. Evidence for the embodied model of cognition and emotion is reviewed. Advantages of embodiment is highlighted as a complimentary process model to deepen the intensity and valence of affective experience. It is suggested that an integrated embodiment approach with CBT enhances outcomes across a wide range of emotional disorders. A description of our embodiment method integrated with CBT for inducing affective experience, emotional regulation, acceptance of unwanted emotions and emotional mastery is given. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a critical component of the change process. The paper ends with a case study highlighting some clinical strategies that may aid the therapist to integrate embodiment techniques in CBT that can further explore in future research on affective experience in CBT for a wider range of clinical disorders.

  8. Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietrzak, Tania; Lohr, Christina; Jahn, Beverly; Hauke, Gernot

    2018-02-26

    We make the case for the possible integration of affect experience induced via embodiment techniques with CBT for the treatment of emotional disorders in clinical settings. Theoretically we propose a possible integration of cognitive behavioural theory, neuroscience, embodied cognition and important processes of client change outcomes such as the therapeutic alliance to enhance client outcomes. We draw from evidence of bidirectional effects between embodiment modes of bottom-up (sensory-motor simulations giving rise to important basis of knowledge) and top-down (abstract mental representations of knowledge) processes such as CBT in psychotherapy. The paper first describes the dominance and success of CBT for the treatment of a wide range of clinical disorders. Some limitations of CBT, particularly for depression are also outlined. There is a growing body of evidence for the added value of experiential affect-focused interventions combined with CBT. Evidence for the embodied model of cognition and emotion is reviewed. Advantages of embodiment is highlighted as a complimentary process model to deepen the intensity and valence of affective experience. It is suggested that an integrated embodiment approach with CBT enhances outcomes across a wide range of emotional disorders. A description of our embodiment method integrated with CBT for inducing affective experience, emotional regulation, acceptance of unwanted emotions and emotional mastery is given. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a critical component of the change process. The paper ends with a case study highlighting some clinical strategies that may aid the therapist to integrate embodiment techniques in CBT that can further explore in future research on affective experience in CBT for a wider range of clinical disorders.

  9. Quantification of variables that determine the carbon footprint and energy embodied of structural clay products (cradle to gate with options); Cuantificacion de las variables que determinan la huella de carbono y energia embebida de los distintos productos de ceramica estructural (cuna a puerta con opciones)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Diaz Rubio, R.; Rio Merino, M. del

    2014-07-01

    The production and transport of structural ceramic products involves an important energy consumption, which leads to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The aim of the research is to demonstrate the existence of significant differences in the value of the environmental impact of structural ceramic products manufactured in Spain. To achieve this objective, is developed a method of identifying and quantifying of variables that determine the Carbon Footprint and Embodied Energy of ceramic products, depending on the type of product. The necessary information is obtained mainly with a data collection in factories. It is established six variables with a global influence in the environmental impact, 44 primary and 39 secondary variables, establishing calculation formula from these variables. The results determined that, for same manufacturing conditions, the differences between ceramic products reach 27 % for carbon footprint and 35 % for Embodied Energy. The relevance that reaches the impact of transport can reach 40 % of the total. It is considered that the research and its results can contribute to reduce the environmental impact of the buildings. (Author)

  10. Disappearing computers, social actors and embodied agents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus; Kunii, T.L.; Hock Soon, S.; Sourin, A.

    2003-01-01

    Presently, there are user interfaces that allow multimodal interactions. Many existing research and prototype systems introduced embodied agents, assuming that they allow a more natural conversation or dialogue between user and computer. Here we will first take a look at how in general people react

  11. Energy management for cost reduction in the production. TEEM - Total Energy Efficiency Management; Energiemanagement zur Kostensenkung in der Produktion. TEEM - Total Energy Efficiency Management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Westkaemper, Engelbert; Verl, Alexander (eds.)

    2009-07-01

    Within the workshop of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA (Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany) at 6th October, 2009, in Stuttgart the following lectures were held: (1) Presentation of Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA (Engelbert Westkaemper); (2) TEEM - Total Energy Efficiency Management - ''With energy management to an energy efficient production'' (Alexander Schloske); (3) DIN EN 16001 Introduction of an energy management system - utilization and advantages for companies (Sylvia Wahren); (4) Analysis of the energy efficiency with power flow - Support and implementation at factory planning and optimization of production (Klaus Erlach); (5) Total Energy Efficiency Management - Approaches at the company Kaercher in injection moulding for example (Axel Leschtar); (6) Modelling the embodied product energy (Shahin Rahimifard); (7) Acquisition of energy data in the production - Technologies and possibilities (Joachim Neher); (8) Active energy management by means of an ''energy control centre'' - Analysis of the real situation and upgrading measures in the production using coating plants as an example (Wolfgang Klein); (9) Visualisation and simulation of energy values in the digital factory (Carmen Constantinescu, Axel Bruns).

  12. Inter-embodiment and the experience of genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Nicholas; Lawton, Julia; Douglas, Margaret; Hallowell, Nina

    2013-05-01

    In this article we explore the concept of inter-embodiment and its potential for advancing sociological research into illness biography and genetic identity. Inter-embodiment theory views embodied knowledge as produced through relations between bodies, as opposed to originating from within the body or as the product of relations between disembodied selves. Drawing on a qualitative study in which we interviewed 38 individuals about their experiences of discovering they had high cholesterol and undergoing genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), we discuss how their narratives may be understood from an inter-embodiment perspective. The participants frequently talked at length about their family histories of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. Through these accounts, we develop the concept of the family corpus in order to highlight the role body networks play in shaping lay constructions of genetic identity and a familial disease biography. The notion of a family corpus, we argue, is useful in understanding why genetic testing for FH was experienced as either biographical re-enforcement or as biographical disruption. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future sociological research into illness biography and genetic identity. © 2012 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2012 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  13. Think3d!: Improving mathematics learning through embodied spatial training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burte, Heather; Gardony, Aaron L; Hutton, Allyson; Taylor, Holly A

    2017-01-01

    Spatial thinking skills positively relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) outcomes, but spatial training is largely absent in elementary school. Elementary school is a time when children develop foundational cognitive skills that will support STEM learning throughout their education. Spatial thinking should be considered a foundational cognitive skill. The present research examined the impact of an embodied spatial training program on elementary students' spatial and mathematical thinking. Students in rural elementary schools completed spatial and math assessments prior to and after participating in an origami and pop-up paper engineering-based program, called Think3d!. Think3d! uses embodied tasks, such as folding and cutting paper, to train two-dimensional to three-dimensional spatial thinking. Analyses explored spatial thinking gains, mathematics gains - specifically for problem types expected to show gains from spatial training - and factors predicting mathematics gains. Results showed spatial thinking gains in two assessments. Using a math categorization to target problems more and less likely to be impacted by spatial training, we found that all students improved on real-world math problems and older students improved on visual and spatial math problems. Further, the results are suggestive of developmental time points for implementing embodied spatial training related to applying spatial thinking to math. Finally, the spatial thinking assessment that was most highly related to training activities also predicted math performance gains. Future research should explore developmental issues related to how embodied spatial training might support STEM learning and outcomes.

  14. Has energy conservation been an effective policy for Thailand? An input–output structural decomposition analysis from 1995 to 2010

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Supasa, Tharinya; Hsiau, Shu-San; Lin, Shih-Mo; Wongsapai, Wongkot; Wu, Jiunn-Chi

    2016-01-01

    Thailand has depended heavily on imported fossil fuels since the 1990s, which hindered the nation's economic development because it created uncertainty in the nation's fuel supply. An energy conservation policy was implemented in 1995 to require industries to reduce their energy intensity (EI) and consumption immediately. This study investigates the effectiveness of the policy between 1995 and 2010 using the hybrid input–output approach. Surprisingly, EI improvement was observed in only a few sectors, such as transportation, non-metallic, paper, and textile. An embodied energy decomposition analysis revealed that while households were the largest energy consumer in 1995, energy consumption in exports exceeded that of households in 2000, 2005 and 2010. In addition, structural decomposition analysis revealed the final demand effect was the strongest factor in determining the efficacy of energy conservation, whereas the energy efficiency effect was not an effective factor as expected for decreasing energy consumption. Policy barriers and conflicting economic plans were factors that affected the outcome of these energy policies. - Highlights: • The hybrid IO technique was employed to analyse energy intensity of Thailand. • No clear evident of EI improvement in most of industries, thus fail to achieve the policy target. • Household and export sector had played a crucial role in energy consumption increase. • IO SDA method found that energy efficiency was not an offset factor for consumption increase. • Policy barriers were conflicting economic plans, fuel subsidy policies and inefficient process.

  15. Practical theology as embodiment of Christopraxis-servant leadership in Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gordon E. Dames

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This article proceeds from the aim to revitalise the value of a service ethic for human well-being and the common good of all. The service delivery crisis in South Africa and Africa forms the context. A contemporary example of an embodied practical theology of service is offered, followed by a theological and social analysis of service delivery in South Africa. A theoretical service ethic framework with special reference to practical theology as a living Christopraxis is discussed. Finally, the value of diaconology as a science of service is presented, followed by the conclusion.

  16. Exploring Women’s Embodied Experiences of ‘The Gaze’ in a Mix-Gendered UK Gym

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy Clark

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Feminist and gaze researchers have conducted ongoing discussions surrounding issues relating to the gaze and its impact on female experience. Women have the ‘to-be-looked-atness’ characteristic, with the gaze being directed at the female body, commonly by a male. To date, the focus of feminist research surrounding men looking at women and the analysis how women make sense of looks between women remains limited and scattered. Drawing upon ethnographic data obtained from a PhD research project, this paper delves into the embodied experiences of female exercisers within a UK ‘working-class’ gym. By exploring the women’s own accounts of their living, breathing and sensing bodies as they exercise, I attempt to understand how they make sense of this physical culture, their embodied selves as well as broader constructions of the gendered body. Utilising a feminist phenomenological approach, I explore the social-structural position of women in a patriarchal system of gender relations, whilst simultaneously acknowledging and analysing the structural, cultural and historical forces and location, upon individual lived body experiences and gendered embodiment. Discussion is provided on how women make sense and interpret specific ‘gazes’ encountered within the gym culture from both men and women.

  17. The embodied turn in research on language and social interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nevile, Maurice

    2015-01-01

    I use the term the embodied turn to mean the point when interest in the body became established among researchers on language and social interaction, exploiting the greater ease of video-recording. This review paper tracks the growth of "embodiment" in over 400 papers published in Research...... on Language and Social Interaction from 1987-2013. I consider closely two areas where analysts have confronted challenges, and how they have responded: settling on precise and analytically helpful terminology for the body; and transcribing and representing the body, particularly its temporality and manner....

  18. Gestalt descriptions embodiments and medical image interpretation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friis, Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen

    2017-01-01

    In this paper I will argue that medical specialists interpret and diagnose through technological mediations like X-ray and fMRI images, and by actualizing embodied skills tacitly they are determining the identity of objects in the perceptual field. The initial phase of human interpretation of vis...

  19. Design- and Craft thinking analysed as Embodied Cognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camilla Groth

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Through the concept of design thinking the act of designing is presented as an intellectual activity, and the act of planning the design is elevated over the making process. However, the importance of materiality and the embodied sense-making that occurs in this context should not be forgotten. In this study, embodied cognition in design and craft practices was investigated through three case studies. The study takes on an enhanced tactile perspective as a methodological platform; thus, the cases involve 1 deafblind makers in ceramics, 2 a practice-led self-study report on tactile experiences while working with clay and 3 a study on design students’ use of their tactile sense during material exploration. The results show that the act of thinking design involves the body as a knowledge provider.

  20. Is the Prosthetic Homologue Necessary for Embodiment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dornfeld, Chelsea; Swanston, Michelle; Cassella, Joseph; Beasley, Casey; Green, Jacob; Moshayev, Yonatan; Wininger, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Embodiment is the process by which patients with limb loss come to accept their peripheral device as a natural extension of self. However, there is little guidance as to how exacting the prosthesis must be in order for embodiment to take place: is it necessary for the prosthetic hand to look just like the absent hand? Here, we describe a protocol for testing whether an individual would select a hand that looks like their own from among a selection of five hands, and whether the hand selection (regardless of homology) is consistent across multiple exposures to the same (but reordered) set of candidate hands. Pilot results using healthy volunteers reveals that hand selection is only modestly consistent, and that selection of the prosthetic homologue is atypical (61 of 192 total exposures). Our protocol can be executed in minutes, and makes use of readily available equipment and softwares. We present both a face-to-face and a virtual protocol, for maximum flexibility of implementation.

  1. AN EMBODIED SPIRITUALITY: PERSPECTIVES FOR A BODILY ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    One of the images portrayed is that of a praying man holding his heart in ... a further trichotomy between body, soul and spirit, while others only viewed the spiritual ... are characterized by a capacity for self-transcendence toward ultimate value ... emphasis in an embodied pastoral anthropology on spiritual consciousness,.

  2. The Embodied Performance of Congolese Masculinities in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In short, the creation of Congolese gendered ways of being in the receiving country of South Africa is a dialogic process that refers to the Congolese cultural habitus, yet is created within the specificities of the South African socio-cultural landscape. Keywords: Embodiment, Masculinities, Congolese, Transmigrants, Habitus, ...

  3. Einfühlung as the breath of art: six modes of embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esrock, Ellen J

    2017-09-25

    Robert Vischer's concept of Einfühlung, feeling-into, translated as empathy, serves as the departure point for a proposal about viewing art using the body for a non-imitative form of empathy termed a transomatization and for other embodied operations. A transomatization occurs when viewers reinterpret a component or process of their own bodies to serve as a non-imitative stand-in, or correlate, for something outside of the self, specifically, some quality of an art work or its production. This creates an overlap of the self and other that might be experienced subjectively as a feeling of projection, an operation characteristic of empathy. Transomatizations and other embodied experiences are grounded in empathic, intersubjective modes of engaging others that begin in early life. As applications of the proposed concepts, six different embodiments of the viewer's breathing are explored in regard to Friedrich E. Church's 1848 oil painting Morning, Looking East over the Hudson Valley from the Catskill Mountains. Support for elements of the proposed concepts and applications is drawn from research in the biological and social sciences and from first person, embodied accounts of viewing.

  4. Greenhouse gas emissions in China 2007: Inventory and input-output analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, G.Q.; Zhang Bo

    2010-01-01

    For greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the Chinese economy in 2007 with the most recent statistics availability, a concrete inventory covering CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O is composed and associated with an input-output analysis to reveal the emission embodiment in final consumption and international trade. The estimated total direct GHG emission amounts to 7456.12 Mt CO 2 -eq by the commonly referred IPCC global warming potentials, with 63.39% from energy-related CO 2 , 22.31% from non-energy-related CO 2 , 11.15% from CH 4 and 3.15% from N 2 O. Responsible for 81.32% of the total GHG emissions are the five sectors of the Electric Power/Steam and Hot Water Production and Supply, Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals, Nonmetal Mineral Products, Agriculture, and Coal Mining and Dressing, with distinctive emission structures. The sector of Construction holds the top GHG emissions embodied in both domestic production and consumption, and the emission embodied in gross capital formation is prominently more than those in other components of the final consumption characterized by extensive investment in contrast to limited household consumption. China is a net exporter of embodied GHG emissions, with emissions embodied in exports of 3060.18 Mt CO 2 -eq, in magnitude up to 41.04% of the total direct emission.

  5. Perceptual embodiment of prosthetic limbs by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulvey, Matthew R; Fawkner, Helen J; Radford, Helen E; Johnson, Mark I

    2012-01-01

      In able-bodied participants, it is possible to induce a sense of perceptual embodiment in an artificial hand using a visual-tactile illusion. In amputee patients, electrical stimulation of sensory afferents using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been shown to generate somatic sensations in an amputee's phantom limb(s). However, the effects of TENS on the perceptual embodiment of an artificial limb are not known. Our objective was to investigate the effects of TENS on the perceptual embodiment of an artificial limb in fully intact able-bodied participants.   We used a modified version of the rubber hand illusion presented to 30 able-bodied participants (16 women, 14 men) to convey TENS paresthesia to an artificial hand. TENS electrodes were located over superficial radial nerve on the lateral aspect of the right forearm (1 cm proximal to the wrist), which was hidden from view. TENS intensity was increased to a strong non-painful TENS sensation (electrical paresthesia) was felt beneath the electrodes and projecting into the fingers of the hand. The electrical characteristics of TENS were asymmetric biphasic electrical pulsed waves, continuous pulse pattern, 120 Hz pulse frequency (rate), and 80 µs pulse duration (width).   Participants reported significantly higher intensities of the rubber hand illusion during the two TENS conditions (mean = 5.8, standard deviation = 1.9) compared with the two non-TENS conditions (mean = 4.9, standard deviation = 1.7), p embodiment of an artificial hand. Further exploratory studies involving an amputee population are warranted. © 2011 International Neuromodulation Society.

  6. An embodiment effect in computer-based learning with animated pedagogical agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Richard E; DaPra, C Scott

    2012-09-01

    How do social cues such as gesturing, facial expression, eye gaze, and human-like movement affect multimedia learning with onscreen agents? To help address this question, students were asked to twice view a 4-min narrated presentation on how solar cells work in which the screen showed an animated pedagogical agent standing to the left of 11 successive slides. Across three experiments, learners performed better on a transfer test when a human-voiced agent displayed human-like gestures, facial expression, eye gaze, and body movement than when the agent did not, yielding an embodiment effect. In Experiment 2 the embodiment effect was found when the agent spoke in a human voice but not in a machine voice. In Experiment 3, the embodiment effect was found both when students were told the onscreen agent was consistent with their choice of agent characteristics and when inconsistent. Students who viewed a highly embodied agent also rated the social attributes of the agent more positively than did students who viewed a nongesturing agent. The results are explained by social agency theory, in which social cues in a multimedia message prime a feeling of social partnership in the learner, which leads to deeper cognitive processing during learning, and results in a more meaningful learning outcome as reflected in transfer test performance.

  7. Studying cerebral organization through embodied artificial evolution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, J.H.; Goosen, A.E.A.; Sprinkhuizen-Kuyper, I.G.; Haselager, W.F.G.; Goosen, A.E.A.; Janssen, J.H.

    2007-01-01

    In this study embodied embedded agents are evolved in order to gain a better understanding of the distribution of cognitive functions in the brain. We found that the evolution of the two hemispheres is influenced by the structure of the body plan. Furthermore, it is seen that individuals with an

  8. Investigating the Effect of Social Robot Embodiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whelan, Sally; Kouroupetroglou, Christos; Santorelli, Adam; Raciti, Massimiliano; Barrett, Eva; Casey, Dympna

    2017-01-01

    The experiment described in this paper is an early assessment to identify if the embodiment of a verbal and visual user interaction system in a robot is more effective in people with dementia than when using the same system in a simple laptop. This study provides input for the robot's design.

  9. The Embodiment of Masculinity: From Techniques to Dance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zala Pezdir

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This article surveys a palette of various theories of the body – from biology to cultural determinism – and it anchors itself in the concepts of body agency and the gendered body. The gender theme reduces its focus to the male body and those practices that continuously confirm this body’s masculinity; special attention is dedicated to the embodiment of masculinities in sports and techniques. An examination of dance follows. To reveal why the masculinity of dancing men is so often questioned in Western culture, certain aspects of Western theater dance history are discussed and there is a brief commentary on the SNG Opera and Ballet. This article reveals where embodiment techniques of hegemonic masculinities restrain the dancing male body, and it points to their wider social consequences, which the author believes are worth changing.

  10. Diving into the Wreck: Embodied Experience in the Interpretation of Allegory

    OpenAIRE

    Okonski, Lacey

    2015-01-01

    Allegory refers to a narrative that can be interpreted to reveal an additional layer of symbolic meaning beyond what appears on the surface. More specifically, an embodied allegory is created when the target domain is never explicitly mentioned and the source domain draws upon embodied concepts. For example, the poem, “Diving Into the Wreck,” by Adrienne Rich, describes a scuba diver going down to explore a wrecked ship. Although the poem describes the diverse, specific actions, it also invi...

  11. Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietrzak, Tania; Lohr, Christina; Jahn, Beverly; Hauke, Gernot

    2018-01-01

    We make the case for the possible integration of affect experience induced via embodiment techniques with CBT for the treatment of emotional disorders in clinical settings. Theoretically we propose a possible integration of cognitive behavioural theory, neuroscience, embodied cognition and important processes of client change outcomes such as the therapeutic alliance to enhance client outcomes. We draw from evidence of bidirectional effects between embodiment modes of bottom-up (sensory-motor simulations giving rise to important basis of knowledge) and top-down (abstract mental representations of knowledge) processes such as CBT in psychotherapy. The paper first describes the dominance and success of CBT for the treatment of a wide range of clinical disorders. Some limitations of CBT, particularly for depression are also outlined. There is a growing body of evidence for the added value of experiential affect-focused interventions combined with CBT. Evidence for the embodied model of cognition and emotion is reviewed. Advantages of embodiment is highlighted as a complimentary process model to deepen the intensity and valence of affective experience. It is suggested that an integrated embodiment approach with CBT enhances outcomes across a wide range of emotional disorders. A description of our embodiment method integrated with CBT for inducing affective experience, emotional regulation, acceptance of unwanted emotions and emotional mastery is given. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a critical component of the change process. The paper ends with a case study highlighting some clinical strategies that may aid the therapist to integrate embodiment techniques in CBT that can further explore in future research on affective experience in CBT for a wider range of clinical disorders. PMID:29495377

  12. Embodied prosthetic arm stabilizes body posture, while unembodied one perturbs it.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imaizumi, Shu; Asai, Tomohisa; Koyama, Shinichi

    2016-10-01

    Senses of ownership (this arm belongs to me) and agency (I am controlling this arm) originate from sensorimotor system. External objects can be integrated into the sensorimotor system following long-term use, and recognized as one's own body. We examined how an (un)embodied prosthetic arm modulates whole-body control, and assessed the components of prosthetic embodiment. Nine unilateral upper-limb amputees participated. Four frequently used their prosthetic arm, while the others rarely did. Their postural sway was measured during quiet standing with or without their prosthesis. The frequent users showed greater sway when they removed the prosthesis, while the rare users showed greater sway when they fitted the prosthesis. Frequent users reported greater everyday feelings of postural stabilization by prosthesis and a larger sense of agency over the prosthesis. We suggest that a prosthetic arm maintains or perturbs postural control, depending on the prosthetic embodiment, which involves sense of agency rather than ownership. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. The Embodied Life Course: Post-ageism or the Renaturalization of Gender?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara L. Marshall

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper argues that the sociology of the body must take more account of embodiment as an ongoing process that occurs over the life course, and it suggests that a critical perspective is required that emphasizes the material processes of embodiment by which physical changes in age and time are culturally mediated. We take the concept of the embodied life course as a starting point for probing the temporal aspects of bodily life, for exploring the ways in which biological, biographical and socio-historical time intersect, and for grasping the ways that temporality is materialized and mobilized through bodies. Taking the example of the biomedical reconfiguration of sexual function across the life course, we demonstrate how aging bodies have been opened to new forms of intervention that situate them within new understandings of nature and culture. Conclusions reflect on the contradictions of ‘post-ageist’ discourses and practices that promise to liberate bodies from chronological age, while simultaneously re-naturalizing gender in sexed bodies.

  14. Like the breathability of air: Embodied embedded communication

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haselager, W.F.G.

    2012-01-01

    I present experimental and computational research, inspired by the perspective of Embodied Embedded Cognition, concerning various aspects of language as supporting Everett’s interactionist view of language. Based on earlier and ongoing work, I briefly illustrate the contribution of the environment

  15. Embodied agents in virtual environments: The Aveiro project

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leiviska, K.; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Nijholt, Antinus; Poel, Mannes

    2001-01-01

    We present current and envisaged work on the AVEIRO project of our research group concerning virtual environments inhabited by autonomous embodied agents. These environments are being built for researching issues in human-computer interactions and intelligent agent applications. We describe the

  16. Designing to support reasoned imagination through embodied metaphor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Antle, A.N. (Alissa); Corness, G.; Bakker, S.; Droumeva, M.; Hoven, van den E.A.W.H.; Bevans, A.; Bryan-Kinns, N.

    2009-01-01

    Supporting users' reasoned imagination in sense making during interaction with tangible and embedded computation involves supporting the application of their existing mental schemata in understanding new forms of interaction. Recent studies that include an embodied metaphor in the interaction model,

  17. Embodying Meaning: Qualities, Feelings, Selective Attention, and Habits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersson, Joacim; Garrison, Jim

    2016-01-01

    Recently, there has been increasing pedagogical interest in the qualities and characteristics of movement. This article examines these qualities and characteristics in terms of John Dewey's distinction between abstract, linguistic "significant" meanings and concrete, embodied "imminent" meanings. Imminent meanings are comprised…

  18. Linguistic embodiment and verbal constraints: human cognition and the scales of time

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cowley, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    Using radical embodied cognitive science, the paper offers the hypothesis that language is symbiotic: its agent-environment dynamics arise as linguistic embodiment is managed under verbal constraints. As a result, co-action grants human agents the ability to use a unique form of phenomenal......, linguistic symbiosis grants access to diachronic resources. On this distributed-ecological view, language can thus be redefined as: “activity in which wordings play a part.”...

  19. Embodied and exbodied mind in clinical psychology. A proposal for a psycho-social interpretation of mental disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zatti, Alberto; Zarbo, Cristina

    2015-01-01

    A brief theoretical review of the current state of the art of embodiment research in clinical psychology has been expounded in order to highlight the key role that embodied conceptualization has on the understanding and explanation of several mental disorders, such as eating disorders, schizophrenia and depression. Evidence has suggested that mental disorders may be explained as disturbances of embodiment, from the disembodiment to the hyperembodiment. In order to understand how some clinical conditions are affected by cultural models, we propose and define a new framework called Exbodiment, complementary to the Embodiment approach to cognition. Mental disorder is strictly related to the subject-culture interaction that may be explained as a two way process in which embodiment and exbodiment are complementary points of view. In this perspective, embodiment may be seen as the “top-down” process, while exbodiment the “bottom-up” one. The introduction of exbodiment conceptualization highlights how subject is both receiver and interpreter of social influence. Subject is the target of a cultural pressure and, at the same time, enacts its own embodied culture in world. Exbodiment conceptualization may help clinicians to better understand and explain the role of culture in the onset and maintenance of mental disorders. PMID:25784894

  20. EMBODIED AND EXBODIED MIND IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY. A PROPOSAL FOR A PSYCHO-SOCIAL INTERPRETATION OF MENTAL DISORDERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto eZatti

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available A brief theoretical review of the current state of the art of embodiment research in clinical psychology has been expounded in order to highlight the key role that embodied conceptualization has on the understanding and explanation of several mental disorders, such as eating disorders, schizophrenia and depression. Evidence has suggested that mental disorders may be explained as disturbances of embodiment, from the disembodiment to the hyperembodiment. In order to understand how some clinical conditions are affected by cultural models, we propose and define a new framework called Exbodiment, complementary to the Embodiment approach to cognition. Mental disorder is strictly related to the subject-culture interaction that may be explained as a two way process in which embodiment and exbodiment are complementary points of view. In this perspective, embodiment may be seen as the top-down process, while exbodiment the bottom-up one. The introduction of exbodiment conceptualization highlights how subject is both receiver and interpreter of social influence. Subject is the target of a cultural pressure and, at the same time, enacts its own embodied culture in world. Exbodiment conceptualization may help clinicians to better understand and explain the role of culture in the onset and maintenance of mental disorders.

  1. Engineered Geothermal Systems Energy Return On Energy Investment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mansure, A J

    2012-12-10

    Energy Return On Investment (EROI) is an important figure of merit for assessing the viability of energy alternatives. Too often comparisons of energy systems use efficiency when EROI would be more appropriate. For geothermal electric power generation, EROI is determined by the electricity delivered to the consumer compared to the energy consumed to construct, operate, and decommission the facility. Critical factors in determining the EROI of Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) are examined in this work. These include the input energy embodied into the system. Embodied energy includes the energy contained in the materials, as well as, that consumed in each stage of manufacturing from mining the raw materials to assembling the finished system. Also critical are the system boundaries and value of the energy heat is not as valuable as electrical energy. The EROI of an EGS depends upon a number of factors that are currently unknown, for example what will be typical EGS well productivity, as well as, reservoir depth, temperature, and temperature decline rate. Thus the approach developed is to consider these factors as parameters determining EROI as a function of number of wells needed. Since the energy needed to construct a geothermal well is a function of depth, results are provided as a function of well depth. Parametric determination of EGS EROI is calculated using existing information on EGS and US Department of Energy (DOE) targets and is compared to the minimum EROI an energy production system should have to be an asset rather than a liability.

  2. Embodied pollution in trade: Estimating the "environmental load displacement" of the industrial countries

    OpenAIRE

    Muradian, Roldan; O'Connor, Martin; Martinez-Alier, Joan

    2001-01-01

    The present paper sets out to aid in the development of "environmental load displacement" indicators. Developing the notion of the "environmental memory" of physical flows, we estimated embodied pollution in trade of 18 industrialized countries with a) the rest of the world and b) developing countries, from 1976 to 1994. We found that in the last years of analysis, total imports of Japan, USA and Western Europe have entailed, in general, larger air pollutant emissions than local exports. The ...

  3. An endogenous growth model with embodied energy-saving technical change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Zon, A.; Yetkiner, I. H.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper, we extend the Romer [Journal of Political Economy 98 (Part 2) (1990) S271] model in two ways. First we include energy consumption of intermediates. Second, intermediates become heterogeneous due to endogenous energy-saving technical change. We show that the resulting model can still generate steady state growth, but the growth rate depends negatively on the growth of real energy prices. The reason is that real energy price rises will lower the profitability of using new intermediate goods, and hence, the profitability of doing research, and therefore have a negative impact on growth. We also show that the introduction of an energy tax that is recycled in the form of an R and D subsidy may increase growth. We conclude that in order to have energy efficiency growth and output growth under rising real energy prices, a combination of R and D and energy policy is called for

  4. Staying 'in the zone' but not passing the 'point of no return': embodiment, gender and drinking in mid-life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Antonia C; Emslie, Carol; Hunt, Kate

    2014-02-01

    Public health approaches have frequently conceptualised alcohol consumption as an individual behaviour resulting from rational choice. We argue that drinking alcohol needs to be understood as an embodied social practice embedded in gendered social relationships and environments. We draw on data from 14 focus groups with pre-existing groups of friends and work colleagues in which men and women in mid-life discussed their drinking behaviour. Analysis demonstrated that drinking alcohol marked a transitory time and space that altered both women's and men's subjective embodied experience of everyday gendered roles and responsibilities. The participants positioned themselves as experienced drinkers who, through accumulated knowledge of their own physical bodies, could achieve enjoyable bodily sensations by reaching a desired level of intoxication (being in the zone). These mid-life adults, particularly women, discussed knowing when they were approaching their limit and needed to stop drinking. Experiential and gendered embodied knowledge was more important in regulating consumption than health promotion advice. These findings foreground the relational and gendered nature of drinking and reinforce the need to critically interrogate the concept of alcohol consumption as a simple health behaviour. Broader theorising around notions of gendered embodiment may be helpful for more sophisticated conceptualisations of health practices. © 2014 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2014 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. CO2 embodied in international trade with implications for global climate policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters, Glen P; Hertwich, Edgar G

    2008-03-01

    The flow of pollution through international trade flows has the ability to undermine environmental policies, particularly for global pollutants. In this article we determine the CO2 emissions embodied in international trade among 87 countries for the year 2001. We find that globally there are over 5.3 Gt of CO2 embodied in trade and that Annex B countries are net importers of CO2 emissions. Depending on country characteristics--such as size variables and geographic location--there are considerable variations in the embodied emissions. We argue that emissions embodied in trade may have a significant impact on participation in and effectiveness of global climate policies such as the Kyoto Protocol. We discuss several policy options to reduce the impact of trade in global climate policy. If countries take binding commitments as a part of a coalition, instead of as individual countries, then the impacts of trade can be substantially reduced. Adjusting emission inventories for trade gives a more consistent description of a country's environmental pressures and circumvents many trade related issues. It also gives opportunities to exploit trade as a means of mitigating emissions. Not least, a better understanding of the role that trade plays in a country's economic and environmental development will help design more effective and participatory climate policy post-Kyoto.

  6. Building embodied agents that experience and express emotions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bui, T.D.; Magnenat-Thalmann, N.; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Joslin, C.; Nijholt, Antinus; Kim, H.S.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we presented Obie, an embodied agent that experiences and expresses emotions. Obie has an adaptive, quantitative and domain-independent emotion component which appraises events to trigger emotions. Obie’s emotions are expressed via his utterances or his facial expressions. The

  7. Atomic Energy Commission Act, 1963

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1963-01-01

    Promulgated in 1963, the Atomic Energy Commission Act (204) established and vested in the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission the sole responsibility for all matters relating to the peaceful uses of atomic energy in the country. Embodied in the Act are provisions relating to the powers, duties, rights and liabilities of the Commission. (EAA)

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2013-10-01

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

  9. Human-vehicle embodiment when predictability is violated.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanida, Koji; Paolini, Marco; Silveira, Sarita

    2017-09-01

    Embodiment in human-vehicle interaction is higher for perceived safety than for perceived risk. When operational anticipations are violated, experiencing a vehicle as body-extension is negatively correlated with operational effort as indicated by neural activation in the motor system. © 2017 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

  10. Wearing embodied emotions a practice based design research on wearable technology

    CERN Document Server

    Ugur, Seçil

    2013-01-01

    Today, people are in an era of digitally mediated Human-to-Human Interaction, which cannot provide full sensorial contact and therefore, emotions cannot be communicated completely. The intimate cover of the human body, i.e. garment is the interface, where many personal traits are embodied. With the improvements in textile and electronics industry, this embodiment can be carried on a higher level, where the garments become dynamic interfaces and extensions of the human body. This book consists of a research on skin, clothes and technology as extensions of human body, emotions, technology-mediat

  11. Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning by Embodying Words through Physical Activity and Gesturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toumpaniari, Konstantina; Loyens, Sofie; Mavilidi, Myrto-Foteini; Paas, Fred

    2015-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that physical activity involving gross motor activities can lead to better cognitive functioning and higher academic achievement scores. In addition, research within the theoretical framework of embodied cognition has shown that embodying knowledge through the use of more subtle motor activities, such as task-relevant…

  12. The gendered embodiment of shame: Intersections of acquaintance rape, trauma and self-blame in Pompidou posse by Sarah Lotz

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica Murray

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available This article offers a feminist literary analysis of the gendered embodiment of shame in Pompidou posse by Sarah Lotz. In this novel, Lotz depicts female characters who are sexually assaulted by acquaintances and the resultant shame and trauma reside in their bodies. I will demonstrate that the embodied shame of these characters is distinctly gendered and that this shapes their attempts to cope with the aftermath of the sexual assaults. A close reading of the text reveals that the characters are exposed to overwhelming social messages of female culpability in a larger context that is rife with misogyny. As a result, they anticipate blame to such an extent that they blame themselves and internalise this blame as shame. By focusing on the bodies of the survivors, Lotz demonstrates the embodiment of shame, but she also suggests a corporeal challenge to silencing. The bodies of these characters speak loudly, albeit sometimes in the halting language of trauma, and they function to alert them to danger, to help them excavate memories that are made inaccessible and to testify to traumatic sexual assault.

  13. The Hidden Burden of Food Waste: The Double Energy Waste in Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matteo Vittuari

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The energy intensity of modern food systems represents a major issue in a scenario of decreasing oil resources and increasing population. Beside the use of renewable energy, an increased efficiency in food systems could contribute to reduce fossil fuels dependence. In this sense, food losses and waste (FLW have crucial consequences on the energy balance. Based on the concept of “embodied energy”, food wastage can be framed as a double waste of energy, both in terms of non-consumed food energy and the inputs used for production. Secondary data regarding direct and indirect energy inputs and FLW have been collected for the Italian food chain to estimate the embodied energy of food waste. Since in 2011 the production and distribution of food implied the use of 822 PJ and 18 Mt of food was discarded, 67 PJ of food energy and 100 PJ of embodied energy were wasted. These figures are equivalent to 12.2% of the total nutritional energy output and to 1.3% of the final energy use in Italy, respectively. The concept of double energy waste sheds new light on the intertwined relationship between energy and food security, suggesting that appropriate food waste reduction policies could result in a higher food production level and relevant energy savings.

  14. The embodiment of assistive devices-from wheelchair to exoskeleton

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazzaglia, Mariella; Molinari, Marco

    2016-03-01

    Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) place a heavy burden on the healthcare system and have a high personal impact and marked socio-economic consequences. Clinically, no absolute cure for these conditions exists. However, in recent years, there has been an increased focus on new robotic technologies that can change the frame we think about the prognosis for recovery and for treating some functions of the body affected after SCIs. This review has two goals. The first is to assess the possibility of the embodiment of functional assistive tools after traumatic disruption of the neural pathways between the brain and the body. To this end, we will examine how altered sensorimotor information modulates the sense of the body in SCI. The second goal is to map the phenomenological experience of using external tools that typically extend the potential of the body physically impaired by SCI. More specifically, we will focus on the difference between the perception of one's physically augmented and non-augmented affected body based on observable and measurable behaviors. We discuss potential clinical benefits of enhanced embodiment of the external objects by way of multisensory interventions. This review argues that the future evolution of human robotic technologies will require adopting an embodied approach, taking advantage of brain plasticity to allow bionic limbs to be mapped within the neural circuits of physically impaired individuals.

  15. Body and Embodiment in Theatre: from semiotics to neurosciences. A Short Interdisciplinary Glossary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco De Marinis

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available This text covers the concepts of body and embodiment, creating a lexicon of words serving as instruments to think about the latest theatre studies. It discusses the distinction between body and flesh and their theoretical-practical combination in the notion of embodiment. Likewise, it is supported by works by Marcel Jousse, Richard Schechner, JeanMarie Pradier, among others, to extend the spectrum of possibilities of thinking about the body in the contemporary scene. Connections are made between Neurosciences, Ethnoscenology and Performance Studies, in particular from the concept of mirror neurons as an embodied simulation of actions and intentions, showing possibilities to expand theatrology by including the study of the relationship between actor and spectator in an interdisciplinary perspective.

  16. Hybrid LCA model for assessing the embodied environmental impacts of buildings in South Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Minho; Hong, Taehoon; Ji, Changyoon

    2015-01-01

    The assessment of the embodied environmental impacts of buildings can help decision-makers plan environment-friendly buildings and reduce environmental impacts. For a more comprehensive assessment of the embodied environmental impacts of buildings, a hybrid life cycle assessment model was developed in this study. The developed model can assess the embodied environmental impacts (global warming, ozone layer depletion, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical ozone creation, abiotic depletion, and human toxicity) generated directly and indirectly in the material manufacturing, transportation, and construction phases. To demonstrate the application and validity of the developed model, the environmental impacts of an elementary school building were assessed using the developed model and compared with the results of a previous model used in a case study. The embodied environmental impacts from the previous model were lower than those from the developed model by 4.6–25.2%. Particularly, human toxicity potential (13 kg C 6 H 6 eq.) calculated by the previous model was much lower (1965 kg C 6 H 6 eq.) than what was calculated by the developed model. The results indicated that the developed model can quantify the embodied environmental impacts of buildings more comprehensively, and can be used by decision-makers as a tool for selecting environment-friendly buildings. - Highlights: • The model was developed to assess the embodied environmental impacts of buildings. • The model evaluates GWP, ODP, AP, EP, POCP, ADP, and HTP as environmental impacts. • The model presents more comprehensive results than the previous model by 4.6–100%. • The model can present the HTP of buildings, which the previous models cannot do. • Decision-makers can use the model for selecting environment-friendly buildings

  17. Humans' Relationship to Flowers as an Example of the Multiple Components of Embodied Aesthetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huss, Ephrat; Bar Yosef, Kfir; Zaccai, Michele

    2018-03-01

    This paper phenomenologically and qualitatively explores the relationship between humans and flowers as a relationship that throws light on the synergetic dynamics of embodied aesthetics. Its methods include qualitative description and thematic analyses of preferred flower types, as well as concept maps of the general term 'flower' by 120 students in Israel. The results revealed the interactive perceptual-compositional elements, as well as embodied, relational, and socially embedded elements of the aesthetic pleasure associated with flowers. Implications of this case study are generalized to understand the multiple and interactive components of embodied aesthetic experiences as a deep source of pleasure through interactive stimulation by and connection to the natural world.

  18. Preschool children’s foreign language vocabulary learning by embodying words through physical activity and gesturing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    K. Toumpaniari (Konstantina); S.M.M. Loyens (Sofie); M.-F. Mavilidi (Myrto-Foteini); G.W.C. Paas (Fred)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractResearch has demonstrated that physical activity involving gross motor activities can lead to better cognitive functioning and higher academic achievement scores. In addition, research within the theoretical framework of embodied cognition has shown that embodying knowledge through the

  19. An Embodiment Perspective on Number-Space Mapping in 3.5-year-old Dutch Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noordende, Jaccoline E.; Volman, M(Chiel). J. M.; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H.

    2017-01-01

    Previous research suggests that block adding, subtracting and counting direction are early forms of number-space mapping. In this study, an embodiment perspective on these skills was taken. Embodiment theory assumes that cognition emerges through sensory-motor interaction with the environment. In line with this assumption, it was investigated if…

  20. Energy Returned On Investment of Engineered Geothermal Systems Annual Report FY2011

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mansure, A.J.

    2011-12-31

    Energy Return On Investment (EROI) is an important figure of merit for assessing the viability of energy alternatives. For geothermal electric power generation, EROI is determined by the electricity delivered to the consumer compared to the energy consumed to construct, operate, and decommission the facility. Critical factors in determining the EROI of Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) are examined in this work. These include the input energy embodied into the system. The embodied energy includes the energy contained in the materials, as well as, that consumed in each stage of manufacturing from mining the raw materials to assembling the finished plant. Also critical are the system boundaries and value of the energy - heat is not as valuable as electrical energy.

  1. Transforming Classroom Norms as Social Change: Pairing Embodied Exercises with Collaborative Participation in the WGS Classroom (with Syllabus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cara E Jones

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This article explores tensions between critical feminist pedagogy and the neoliberal corporate university, asking how engaging the body and redistributing student agency highlights larger questions of power that haunt the academy as a whole. Including specific embodied exercises used in WGS classrooms, this essay argues that as students and professors engage within an increasingly corporate university system, embodied activities that incorporate the body as a site of learning and critical analysis can access situated knowledges while projects that de-center power and responsibility are viewed with skepticism. I attribute this discrepancy to the neoliberal structure in which we teach and learn, arguing that we need to value and make visible the labor that goes into critical pedagogy.

  2. Beyond the EPBD: The low energy residential settlement Borgo Solare

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aste, Niccolo; Adhikari, R.S.; Buzzetti, Michela

    2010-01-01

    The European Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) imposes the adoption of measures for improving the energy efficiency in buildings. These measures should take into account the local weather conditions as well as internal thermal environment and cost-effectiveness. In this respect, Italy is a very interesting benchmark. For Northern Italy, the climatic context is particularly difficult to deal with cold winters and hot summers. The legislations are changing very rapidly, but has not fully adapted to the local context. The considered methodology still involves winter heating while summer cooling is addressed in incomplete and inadequate ways. The energy issue is addressed only partially as final energy consumption, but with little attention to LCA. Moreover, the belief that the buildings with high energy savings are too expensive, and therefore not attractive from economic point of view. For these reasons, it is very important to develop case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable energy in architecture, according to a holistic approach. This paper describes a detailed techno-economic analysis for Borgo Solare project, an extremely advanced and innovative residential settlement designed on sustainable architecture concepts. One of the most innovative aspects of the project is that it is not just an experimental operation but Borgo Solare is a real urban district, which will be built without public funds and should be inhabited by common people. Excellent energy performance, therefore, must be accompanied by affordable market prices. The energy and economical analysis is presented taking into account also the embodied energy of the building. The results on the performance of a sample building (case study) of this settlement are reported, according to different construction standards: prior to EPBD, present from the EPBD and more efficient developed specifically for the project. It has been shown that using the better design practices

  3. Embodied HANPP. Mapping the spatial disconnect between global biomass production and consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erb, Karl-Heinz; Krausmann, Fridolin; Haberl, Helmut; Lucht, Wolfgang

    2009-01-01

    Biomass trade results in a growing spatial disconnect between environmental impacts due to biomass production and the places where biomass is being consumed. The pressure on ecosystems resulting from the production of traded biomass, however, is highly variable between regions and products. We use the concept of embodied human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) to map the spatial disconnect between net-producing and net-consuming regions. Embodied HANPP comprises total biomass withdrawals and land use induced changes in productivity resulting from the provision of biomass products. International net transfers of embodied HANPP are of global significance, amounting to 1.7 PgC/year. Sparsely populated regions are mainly net producers, densely populated regions net consumers, independent of development status. Biomass consumption and trade are expected to surge over the next decades, suggesting a need to sustainably manage supply and demand of products of ecosystems on a global level. (author)

  4. Virtual scarce water embodied in inter-provincial electricity transmission in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Chao; Zhong, Lijin; Liang, Sai; Sanders, Kelly T.; Wang, Jiao; Xu, Ming

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Virtual water in inter-provincial electricity transmission in China is calculated. • A Water Stress Index is used to reflect relative scarcity of water consumption. • West Inner Mongolia is the largest exporter of scarce water. • Hebei, Beijing and Shandong are the three largest receivers of scarce water. - Abstract: Intra-national electricity transmission drives virtual water transfer from electricity production regions to electricity consumption regions. In China, the water-intensive thermoelectric power industry is expanding quickly in many water-scarce energy production hubs in northern and northwestern provinces. This study constructed a node-flow model of inter-provincial electricity transmission to investigate the virtual water and scarcity-adjusted virtual water (or virtual scarce water) embodied in the electricity transmission network. It is revealed that total inter-provincial virtual water transfer embodied in electricity transmission was 623 million m"3 in 2011, equivalent to 12.7% of the national total thermoelectric water consumption. The top three largest single virtual water flows are West Inner Mongolia-to-Beijing (44 million m"3), East Inner Mongolia-to-Liaoning (39 million m"3), and Guizhou-to-Guangdong (37 million m"3). If the actual volumes of consumptive water use are translated into scarcity-adjusted water consumption based on Water Stress Index, West Inner Mongolia (81 million m"3), Shanxi (63 million m"3) and Ningxia (30 million m"3) become the top three exporters of virtual scarce water. Many ongoing long-distance electricity transmission projects in China will enlarge the scale of scarce water outflows from northwestern regions and potentially increase their water stress.

  5. Embodied modeling of the organization of the brain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, J.H.; Goosen, A.E.A.; Sprinkhuizen-Kuyper, I.G.; Haselager, W.F.G.

    2007-01-01

    In this study embodied embedded agents are evolved in order to gain a better understanding of aspects of the distribution of cognitive functions in the brain. We found that a symmetrical body plan facilitates the evolution of two hemispheres. Furthermore, individuals with an asymmetrical body plan,

  6. Solar fashion: An embodied approach to wearable technology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smelik, A.M.; Toussaint, L.; Dongen, P. van

    2016-01-01

    Using Pauline van Dongen’s ‘Wearable Solar’ project as a case study, the authors argue that materiality and embodiment should be taken into account both in the design of and the theoretical reflection on wearable technology. Bringing together a fashion designer and scholars from cultural studies,

  7. A General Mathematical Framework for Calculating Systems-Scale Efficiency of Energy Extraction and Conversion: Energy Return on Investment (EROI and Other Energy Return Ratios

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam R. Brandt

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The efficiencies of energy extraction and conversion systems are typically expressed using energy return ratios (ERRs such as the net energy ratio (NER or energy return on investment (EROI. A lack of a general mathematical framework prevents inter-comparison of NER/EROI estimates between authors: methods used are not standardized, nor is there a framework for succinctly reporting results in a consistent fashion. In this paper we derive normalized mathematical forms of four ERRs for energy extraction and conversion pathways. A bottom-up (process model formulation is developed for an n-stage energy harvesting and conversion pathway with various system boundaries. Formations with the broadest system boundaries use insights from life cycle analysis to suggest a hybrid process model/economic input output based framework. These models include indirect energy consumption due to external energy inputs and embodied energy in materials. Illustrative example results are given for simple energy extraction and conversion pathways. Lastly, we discuss the limitations of this approach and the intersection of this methodology with “top-down” economic approaches.

  8. Emotion, Embodied Mind and the Therapeutic Aspects of Musical Experience in Everyday Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dylan van der Schyff

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The capacity for music to function as a force for bio-cognitive organisation is considered in clinical and everyday contexts. Given the deeply embodied nature of such therapeutic responses to music, it is argued that cognitivist approaches may be insufficient to fully explain music’s affective power. Following this, an embodied approach is considered, where the emotional-affective response to music is discussed in terms of primary bodily systems and the innate cross-modal perceptive capacities of the embodied human mind. It is suggested that such an approach may extend the largely cognitivist view taken by much of contemporary music psychology and philosophy of music by pointing the way towards a conception of musical meaning that begins with our most primordial interactions with the world.

  9. Embodied mind and phenomenal consciousness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria VENIERI

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, a central debate in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science concerns the role of the body in perception and cognition. For many contemporary philosophers, not only cognition but also perception is connected mainly with the brain, where the processing of input from the senses takes place; whereas for the proponents of ‘embodied cognition’ other aspects of the body beyond the brain, including the environment, play a constitutive role in cognitive processes. In terms of perception, a new theory has emerged which stresses percep‑ tion’s active character and claims that the embodied subject and the environment, with which it interacts, form a dynamic system. Supporters of ‘enactive perception’ such as Susan Hurley and Alva Noë maintain that the physical substrate or the supervenience basis of perceptual experience and phenomenal consciousness may include besides the brain and the nervous system other bodily and environmental features. Yet, it will be argued in this paper that the interaction between the subject and the environment forms a system of causal relations, so we can theoretically interfere in the causal chains and create hallucinations, which cannot be distinguished from veridical perception, or a virtual reality as in the film Matrix (1999. This kind of argument and its related thought experiments aim to stress the primacy of the brain in determining phenomenal states, and show that the body and certain interactions with the environment have a causal, but not a constitutive or essential role, in forming phenomenal consciousness.

  10. Hybrid LCA model for assessing the embodied environmental impacts of buildings in South Korea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jang, Minho, E-mail: minmin40@hanmail.net [Asset Management Division, Mate Plus Co., Ltd., 9th Fl., Financial News Bldg. 24-5 Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, 150-877 (Korea, Republic of); Hong, Taehoon, E-mail: hong7@yonsei.ac.kr [Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Ji, Changyoon, E-mail: chnagyoon@yonsei.ac.kr [Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-01-15

    The assessment of the embodied environmental impacts of buildings can help decision-makers plan environment-friendly buildings and reduce environmental impacts. For a more comprehensive assessment of the embodied environmental impacts of buildings, a hybrid life cycle assessment model was developed in this study. The developed model can assess the embodied environmental impacts (global warming, ozone layer depletion, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical ozone creation, abiotic depletion, and human toxicity) generated directly and indirectly in the material manufacturing, transportation, and construction phases. To demonstrate the application and validity of the developed model, the environmental impacts of an elementary school building were assessed using the developed model and compared with the results of a previous model used in a case study. The embodied environmental impacts from the previous model were lower than those from the developed model by 4.6–25.2%. Particularly, human toxicity potential (13 kg C{sub 6}H{sub 6} eq.) calculated by the previous model was much lower (1965 kg C{sub 6}H{sub 6} eq.) than what was calculated by the developed model. The results indicated that the developed model can quantify the embodied environmental impacts of buildings more comprehensively, and can be used by decision-makers as a tool for selecting environment-friendly buildings. - Highlights: • The model was developed to assess the embodied environmental impacts of buildings. • The model evaluates GWP, ODP, AP, EP, POCP, ADP, and HTP as environmental impacts. • The model presents more comprehensive results than the previous model by 4.6–100%. • The model can present the HTP of buildings, which the previous models cannot do. • Decision-makers can use the model for selecting environment-friendly buildings.

  11. Mental rotation and the motor system: embodiment head over heels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krüger, Markus; Amorim, Michel-Ange; Ebersbach, Mirjam

    2014-01-01

    We examined whether body parts attached to abstract stimuli automatically force embodiment in a mental rotation task. In Experiment 1, standard cube combinations reflecting a human pose were added with (1) body parts on anatomically possible locations, (2) body parts on anatomically impossible locations, (3) colored end cubes, and (4) simple end cubes. Participants (N=30) had to decide whether two simultaneously presented stimuli, rotated in the picture plane, were identical or not. They were fastest and made less errors in the possible-body condition, but were slowest and least accurate in the impossible-body condition. A second experiment (N=32) replicated the results and ruled out that the poor performance in the impossible-body condition was due to the specific stimulus material. The findings of both experiments suggest that body parts automatically trigger embodiment, even when it is counterproductive and dramatically impairs performance, as in the impossible-body condition. It can furthermore be concluded that body parts cannot be used flexibly for spatial orientation in mental rotation tasks, compared to colored end cubes. Thus, embodiment appears to be a strong and inflexible mechanism that may, under certain conditions, even impede performance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. The embodiment of assistive devices-from wheelchair to exoskeleton.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazzaglia, Mariella; Molinari, Marco

    2016-03-01

    Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) place a heavy burden on the healthcare system and have a high personal impact and marked socio-economic consequences. Clinically, no absolute cure for these conditions exists. However, in recent years, there has been an increased focus on new robotic technologies that can change the frame we think about the prognosis for recovery and for treating some functions of the body affected after SCIs. This review has two goals. The first is to assess the possibility of the embodiment of functional assistive tools after traumatic disruption of the neural pathways between the brain and the body. To this end, we will examine how altered sensorimotor information modulates the sense of the body in SCI. The second goal is to map the phenomenological experience of using external tools that typically extend the potential of the body physically impaired by SCI. More specifically, we will focus on the difference between the perception of one's physically augmented and non-augmented affected body based on observable and measurable behaviors. We discuss potential clinical benefits of enhanced embodiment of the external objects by way of multisensory interventions. This review argues that the future evolution of human robotic technologies will require adopting an embodied approach, taking advantage of brain plasticity to allow bionic limbs to be mapped within the neural circuits of physically impaired individuals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Embodiment and fundamental motor skills in eSports

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hilvoorde, I.M.; Pot, J.N.

    2016-01-01

    Electronic sports (eSports) and other variants of ‘digital sports’ have increased in popularity all over the world and may even come to challenge hegemonic concepts of sport. More relevant than the apparent opposition between ‘physical’ and ‘non-physical’ is the question what kind of embodiment is

  14. CH4 and N2O emissions embodied in international trade of meat

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caro, Dario; Caldeira, Ken; LoPresti, Anna; Davis, Steven J; Bastianoni, Simone

    2014-01-01

    Although previous studies have quantified carbon dioxide emissions embodied in products traded internationally, there has been limited attention to other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Following IPCC guidelines, we estimate non-CO 2 emissions from beef, pork and chicken produced in 237 countries over the period 1990–2010, and assign these emissions to the country where the meat is ultimately consumed. We find that, between 1990 and 2010, an average of 32.8 Mt CO 2 -eq emissions (using 100 year global warming potentials) are embodied in beef, pork and chicken traded internationally. Further, over the 20 year period, the quantity of CO 2 -eq emissions embodied in traded meat increased by 19%. The largest trade flows of emissions embodied in meat were from Brazil and Argentina to Russia (2.8 and 1.4 Mt of CO 2 -eq, respectively). Trade flows within the European region are also substantial: beef and pork exported from France embodied 3.3 Mt and 0.4 Mt of CO 2 -eq, respectively. Emissions factor of meat production (i.e. CO 2 -eq emissions per kg of meat) produced depend on ambient temperature, development level, livestock category (e.g. cattle, pork, and chicken) and livestock management practices. Thus, trade may result in an overall increase of GHG emissions when meat-consuming countries import meat from countries with a greater emissions intensity of meat production rather than producing the meat domestically. Comparing the emissions intensity of meat production of trading partners, we assess trade flows according to whether they tend to reduce or increase global emissions from meat production. (letter)

  15. Effects of Embodied Learning and Digital Platform on the Retention of Physics Content: Centripetal Force.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson-Glenberg, Mina C; Megowan-Romanowicz, Colleen; Birchfield, David A; Savio-Ramos, Caroline

    2016-01-01

    Embodiment theory proposes that knowledge is grounded in sensorimotor systems, and that learning can be facilitated to the extent that lessons can be mapped to these systems. This study with 109 college-age participants addresses two overarching questions: (a) how are immediate and delayed learning gains affected by the degree to which a lesson is embodied, and (b) how do the affordances of three different educational platforms affect immediate and delayed learning? Six 50 min-long lessons on centripetal force were created. The first factor was the degree of embodiment with two levels: (1) low and (2) high. The second factor was platform with three levels: (1) a large scale "mixed reality" immersive environment containing both digital and hands-on components called SMALLab , (2) an interactive whiteboard system, and (3) a mouse-driven desktop computer. Pre-tests, post-tests, and 1-week follow-up (retention or delayed learning gains) tests were administered resulting in a 2 × 3 × 3 design. Two knowledge subtests were analyzed, one that relied on more declarative knowledge and one that relied on more generative knowledge, e.g., hand-drawing vectors. Regardless of condition, participants made significant immediate learning gains from pre-test to post-test. There were no significant main effects or interactions due to platform or embodiment on immediate learning. However, from post-test to follow-up the level of embodiment interacted significantly with time, such that participants in the high embodiment conditions performed better on the subtest devoted to generative knowledge questions. We posit that better retention of certain types of knowledge can be seen over time when more embodiment is present during the encoding phase. This sort of retention may not appear on more traditional factual/declarative tests. Educational technology designers should consider using more sensorimotor feedback and gestural congruency when designing and opportunities for instructor

  16. Effects of Embodied Learning and Digital Platform on the Retention of Physics Content: Centripetal Force

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson-Glenberg, Mina C.; Megowan-Romanowicz, Colleen; Birchfield, David A.; Savio-Ramos, Caroline

    2016-01-01

    Embodiment theory proposes that knowledge is grounded in sensorimotor systems, and that learning can be facilitated to the extent that lessons can be mapped to these systems. This study with 109 college-age participants addresses two overarching questions: (a) how are immediate and delayed learning gains affected by the degree to which a lesson is embodied, and (b) how do the affordances of three different educational platforms affect immediate and delayed learning? Six 50 min-long lessons on centripetal force were created. The first factor was the degree of embodiment with two levels: (1) low and (2) high. The second factor was platform with three levels: (1) a large scale “mixed reality” immersive environment containing both digital and hands-on components called SMALLab, (2) an interactive whiteboard system, and (3) a mouse-driven desktop computer. Pre-tests, post-tests, and 1-week follow-up (retention or delayed learning gains) tests were administered resulting in a 2 × 3 × 3 design. Two knowledge subtests were analyzed, one that relied on more declarative knowledge and one that relied on more generative knowledge, e.g., hand-drawing vectors. Regardless of condition, participants made significant immediate learning gains from pre-test to post-test. There were no significant main effects or interactions due to platform or embodiment on immediate learning. However, from post-test to follow-up the level of embodiment interacted significantly with time, such that participants in the high embodiment conditions performed better on the subtest devoted to generative knowledge questions. We posit that better retention of certain types of knowledge can be seen over time when more embodiment is present during the encoding phase. This sort of retention may not appear on more traditional factual/declarative tests. Educational technology designers should consider using more sensorimotor feedback and gestural congruency when designing and opportunities for instructor

  17. Energy Sector Market Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arent, D.; Benioff, R.; Mosey, G.; Bird, L.; Brown, J.; Brown, E.; Vimmerstedt, L.; Aabakken, J.; Parks, K.; Lapsa, M.; Davis, S.; Olszewski, M.; Cox, D.; McElhaney, K.; Hadley, S.; Hostick, D.; Nicholls, A.; McDonald, S.; Holloman, B.

    2006-10-01

    This paper presents the results of energy market analysis sponsored by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Weatherization and International Program (WIP) within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The analysis was conducted by a team of DOE laboratory experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), with additional input from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The analysis was structured to identify those markets and niches where government can create the biggest impact by informing management decisions in the private and public sectors. The analysis identifies those markets and niches where opportunities exist for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

  18. Researching Embodiment in Movement Contexts: A Phenomenological Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Standal, Oyvind F.; Engelsrud, Gunn

    2013-01-01

    This article takes a phenomenological approach to understanding embodiment in relation to teaching and learning taking place in movement contexts. Recently a number of studies have pointed to the potential that phenomenology has to understand the meanings and experiences of moving subjects. By presenting two examples of our own work on embodied…

  19. Chilled to the bone: embodied countertransference and unspoken traumatic memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoppi, Luisa

    2017-11-01

    Starting from a deeply challenging experience of early embodied countertransference in a first encounter with a new patient, the author explores the issues it raised. Such moments highlight projective identification as well as what Stone (2006) has described as 'embodied resonance in the countertransference'. In these powerful experiences linear time and subject boundaries are altered, and this leads to central questions about analytic work. As well as discussing the uncanny experience at the very beginning of an analytic encounter and its challenges for the analytic field, the author considers 'the time horizon of analytic process' (Hogenson ), the relationship between 'moments of complexity and analytic boundaries' (Cambray ) and the role of mirror neurons in intersubjective experience. © 2017, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

  20. Developing Dynamic Field Theory Architectures for Embodied Cognitive Systems with cedar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomp, Oliver; Richter, Mathis; Zibner, Stephan K U; Schöner, Gregor

    2016-01-01

    Embodied artificial cognitive systems, such as autonomous robots or intelligent observers, connect cognitive processes to sensory and effector systems in real time. Prime candidates for such embodied intelligence are neurally inspired architectures. While components such as forward neural networks are well established, designing pervasively autonomous neural architectures remains a challenge. This includes the problem of tuning the parameters of such architectures so that they deliver specified functionality under variable environmental conditions and retain these functions as the architectures are expanded. The scaling and autonomy problems are solved, in part, by dynamic field theory (DFT), a theoretical framework for the neural grounding of sensorimotor and cognitive processes. In this paper, we address how to efficiently build DFT architectures that control embodied agents and how to tune their parameters so that the desired cognitive functions emerge while such agents are situated in real environments. In DFT architectures, dynamic neural fields or nodes are assigned dynamic regimes, that is, attractor states and their instabilities, from which cognitive function emerges. Tuning thus amounts to determining values of the dynamic parameters for which the components of a DFT architecture are in the specified dynamic regime under the appropriate environmental conditions. The process of tuning is facilitated by the software framework cedar , which provides a graphical interface to build and execute DFT architectures. It enables to change dynamic parameters online and visualize the activation states of any component while the agent is receiving sensory inputs in real time. Using a simple example, we take the reader through the workflow of conceiving of DFT architectures, implementing them on embodied agents, tuning their parameters, and assessing performance while the system is coupled to real sensory inputs.

  1. Embodied Agents, E-SQ and Stickiness: Improving Existing Cognitive and Affective Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Diesbach, Pablo Brice

    This paper synthesizes results from two previous studies of embodied virtual agents on commercial websites. We analyze and criticize the proposed models and discuss the limits of the experimental findings. Results from other important research in the literature are integrated. We also integrate concepts from profound, more business-related, analysis that deepens on the mechanisms of rhetoric in marketing and communication, and the possible role of E-SQ in man-agent interaction. We finally suggest a refined model for the impacts of these agents on web site users, and limits of the improved model are commented.

  2. 'The body remembers': narrating embodied reconciliations of eating disorder and recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eli, Karin

    2016-01-01

    After severe illness, there are stories: narrative strands to suture discontinuities of identities, practices, and lives. But within these narratives of illness and recovery, the body's discontinuities stand apart, striking in the materiality of change, in the tangible multiplicity of bodies - healthy, ill, recovering, recovered - that a person can call one's own. Based on longitudinal research interviews with Israeli women who identified as recovered from long-term eating disorders (fieldwork conducted in 2005-2006 and in 2011), this paper explores how these bodily discontinuities are expressed, drawing particular attention to the narrative role of embodied memory in linking past and present-tense bodies and selves. Embodied memory, as narrated by the participants, is deeply, sometimes surprisingly, embedded in lived experience, imbuing recovered bodies with moments of sensory continuity, the past coming into presence through forms of sensation and perception learned at the height of disorder. Examining narrative moments of sensory remembrance, this paper analyses how participants narrate embodied memory as a mode of reflection, self-protection, and dynamic integration, wherein the experience of disorder informs practices of recovery, and the body becomes a site for the reconciliation of past and present.

  3. Exploring embodied methodologies for transformative practice in early childhood and youth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cahill Helen

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The development of gendered identities during early childhood and youth occurs in a context of ‘body culture’ and the hyper-visibility of ‘perfect’ bodies, which align with traditional gender ideals. Embodied methods can assist to make complexity more visible, and to allow participants to see fluidity, shifts, and becoming. Whilst there has been significant theoretical development, further methodological innovations are needed to enable children and youth to articulate their perceptions of the way multiple influences shape their relations with their own bodies. Informed by ‘new materialist’ feminist theory this article will examine the work of Australian educators exploring use of creative and embodied drama-based play. The chapter advances methodologies to support pedagogical engagement with young children and youth about gender, identity and social change. The authors explore how embodied creative play can be used across ages to support children and young people to articulate the ways social norms and expectations influence their desires, imaginings, fears and actions and their perceptions of what is possible, desirable or appropriate in relation to performances of gender in their everyday worlds.

  4. System to induce and measure embodiment of an artificial hand with programmable convergent visual and tactile stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benz, Heather L; Sieff, Talia R; Alborz, Mahsa; Kontson, Kimberly; Kilpatrick, Elizabeth; Civillico, Eugene F

    2016-08-01

    The sense of prosthesis embodiment, or the feeling that the device has been incorporated into a user's body image, may be enhanced by emerging technology such as invasive electrical stimulation for sensory feedback. In turn, prosthesis embodiment may be linked to increased prosthesis use and improved functional outcomes. We describe the development of a tool to assay artificial hand embodiment in a quantitative way in people with intact limbs, and characterize its operation. The system delivers temporally coordinated visual and tactile stimuli at a programmable latency while recording limb temperature. When programmed to deliver visual and tactile stimuli synchronously, recorded latency between the two was 33 ± 24 ms in the final pilot subject. This system enables standardized assays of the conditions necessary for prosthesis embodiment.

  5. Are Cortical Motor Maps Based on Body Parts or Coordinated Actions? Implications for Embodied Semantics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandino, Leonardo; Iacoboni, Marco

    2010-01-01

    The embodied cognition approach to the study of the mind proposes that higher order mental processes such as concept formation and language are essentially based on perceptual and motor processes. Contrary to the classical approach in cognitive science, in which concepts are viewed as amodal, arbitrary symbols, embodied semantics argues that…

  6. "Differently normal" and "normally different": negotiations of female embodiment in women's accounts of 'atypical' sex development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guntram, Lisa

    2013-12-01

    During recent decades numerous feminist scholars have scrutinized the two-sex model and questioned its status in Western societies and medicine. Along the same line, increased attention has been paid to individuals' experiences of atypical sex development, also known as intersex or 'disorders of sex development' (DSD). Yet research on individuals' experiences of finding out about their atypical sex development in adolescence has been scarce. Against this backdrop, the present article analyses 23 in-depth interviews with women who in their teens found out about their atypical sex development. The interviews were conducted during 2009-2012 and the interviewees were all Swedish. Drawing on feminist research on female embodiment and social scientific studies on diagnosis, I examine how the women make sense of their bodies and situations. First, I aim to explore how the women construe normality as they negotiate female embodiment. Second, I aim to investigate how the divergent manners in which these negotiations are expressed can be further understood via the women's different access to a diagnosis. Through a thematic and interpretative analysis, I outline two negotiation strategies: the "differently normal" and the "normally different" strategy. In the former, the women present themselves as just slightly different from 'normal' women. In the latter, they stress that everyone is different in some manner and thereby claim normalcy. The analysis shows that access to diagnosis corresponds to the ways in which the women present themselves as "differently normal" and "normally different", thus shedding light on the complex role of diagnosis in their negotiations of female embodiment. It also reveals that the women make use of what they do have and how alignments with and work on norms interplay as normality is construed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Embodied Conversational Agents in Clinical Psychology : A Scoping Review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Provoost, Simon; Lau, Ho Ming; Ruwaard, Jeroen; Riper, Heleen

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are computer-generated characters that simulate key properties of human face-to-face conversation, such as verbal and nonverbal behavior. In Internet-based eHealth interventions, ECAs may be used for the delivery of automated human support factors.

  8. Re-Examining Embodied SO2 and CO2 Emissions in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Huang

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available CO2 and SO2, while having different environmental impacts, are both linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Research on joint patterns of CO2 emissions and SO2 emissions may provide useful information for decision-makers to reduce these emissions effectively. This study analyzes both CO2 emissions and SO2 emissions embodied in interprovincial trade in 2007 and 2010 using multi-regional input–output analysis. Backward and forward linkage analysis shows that Production and Supply of Electric Power and Steam, Non-metal Mineral Products, and Metal Smelting and Pressing are key sectors for mitigating SO2 and CO2 emissions along the national supply chain. The total SO2 emissions and CO2 emissions of these sectors accounted for 81% and 76% of the total national SO2 emissions and CO2 emissions, respectively.

  9. Embodying a cognitive model in a mobile robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benjamin, D. Paul; Lyons, Damian; Lonsdale, Deryle

    2006-10-01

    The ADAPT project is a collaboration of researchers in robotics, linguistics and artificial intelligence at three universities to create a cognitive architecture specifically designed to be embodied in a mobile robot. There are major respects in which existing cognitive architectures are inadequate for robot cognition. In particular, they lack support for true concurrency and for active perception. ADAPT addresses these deficiencies by modeling the world as a network of concurrent schemas, and modeling perception as problem solving. Schemas are represented using the RS (Robot Schemas) language, and are activated by spreading activation. RS provides a powerful language for distributed control of concurrent processes. Also, The formal semantics of RS provides the basis for the semantics of ADAPT's use of natural language. We have implemented the RS language in Soar, a mature cognitive architecture originally developed at CMU and used at a number of universities and companies. Soar's subgoaling and learning capabilities enable ADAPT to manage the complexity of its environment and to learn new schemas from experience. We describe the issues faced in developing an embodied cognitive architecture, and our implementation choices.

  10. Wind energy analysis system

    OpenAIRE

    2014-01-01

    M.Ing. (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) One of the most important steps to be taken before a site is to be selected for the extraction of wind energy is the analysis of the energy within the wind on that particular site. No wind energy analysis system exists for the measurement and analysis of wind power. This dissertation documents the design and development of a Wind Energy Analysis System (WEAS). Using a micro-controller based design in conjunction with sensors, WEAS measure, calcu...

  11. Building energy analysis tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brackney, Larry; Parker, Andrew; Long, Nicholas; Metzger, Ian; Dean, Jesse; Lisell, Lars

    2016-04-12

    A building energy analysis system includes a building component library configured to store a plurality of building components, a modeling tool configured to access the building component library and create a building model of a building under analysis using building spatial data and using selected building components of the plurality of building components stored in the building component library, a building analysis engine configured to operate the building model and generate a baseline energy model of the building under analysis and further configured to apply one or more energy conservation measures to the baseline energy model in order to generate one or more corresponding optimized energy models, and a recommendation tool configured to assess the one or more optimized energy models against the baseline energy model and generate recommendations for substitute building components or modifications.

  12. Self-Reconfiguration Planning of Robot Embodiment for Inherent Safe Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uchida, Masafumi; Nozawa, Akio; Asano, Hirotoshi; Onogaki, Hitoshi; Mizuno, Tota; Park, Young-Il; Ide, Hideto; Yokoyama, Shuichi

    In the situation in which a robot and a human work together by collaborating with each other, a robot and a human share one working environment, and each interferes in each other. In other ward, it is impossible to avoid the physical contact and the interaction of force between a robot and a human. The boundary of each complex dynamic occupation area changes in the connection movement which is the component of collaborative works at this time. The main restraint condition which relates to the robustness of that connection movement is each physical charactristics, that is, the embodiment. A robot body is variability though the embodiment of a human is almost fixed. Therefore, the safe and the robust connection movement is brought when a robot has the robot body which is well suitable for the embodiment of a human. A purpose for this research is that the colaboration works between the self-reconfiguration robot and a human is realized. To achieve this purpose, a self-reconfiguration algorithm based on some indexes to evaluate a robot body in the macroscopic point of view was examined on a modular robot system of the 2-D lattice structure. In this paper, it investigated effect specially that the object of learning of each individual was limited to the cooperative behavior between the adjoining modules toward the macroscopic evaluation index.

  13. Metaphor and embodied cognition Metáfora e cognição corpórea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raymond W. Gibbs Jr

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The present paper briefly describes recent advances in cognitive science on the embodied nature of human cognition with the aim to better situating contemporary work on embodied metaphor in language and thought. We do this by talking about key experimental findings in five areas main areas of research in cognitive science: perception, concepts, mental imagery, memory, and language processing (Gibbs 2006a We also describe some psycholinguistic studies on embodied metaphor understanding, and offer some details on one series of experiments in regard to people's embodied understanding of the DIFFICULTIES ARE WEIGHTS primary metaphor. Our conclusion draws connections between the research on embodied cognition and contemporary linguistic and psychological work on embodied metaphor.O presente trabalho descreve sucintamente avanços na ciência cognitiva a respeito da natureza corpórea da cognição humana com o objetivo de melhor situar o trabalho contemporâneo sobre metáforas corpóreas na linguagem e no pensamento. Fazemos isso por discutir achados de experimentos centrais em cinco áreas principais de pesquisa em ciência cognitiva: percepção, conceitos, imagem mental, memória e processamento da linguagem (Gibbs 2006a. Descrevemos também alguns estudos psicolinguísticos sobre a compreensão de metáforas corpóreas e detalhamos uma série de experimentos desenhados para investigar a compreensão corporificada de pessoas a respeito da metáfora primária DIFICULDADES SÃO PESOS. Nossa conclusão busca pontos de interesse comum entre a pesquisa sobre cognição corpórea e trabalhos na área da lingüística e psicologia sobre metáfora corpórea.

  14. Social and Emotional Turn Taking for Embodied Conversational Agents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruijnes, Merijn

    2012-01-01

    In this doctoral consortium paper I describe the theme of my research, the model-based generation of consistent emotional turn taking behavior in virtual human conversations and the evaluation of this behavior. My goal is to investigate and generate convincing social behavior in embodied

  15. The Role of Theatre and Embodied Knowledge in Addressing Race in South African Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutherland, Alexandra

    2013-01-01

    This article examines the role of theatrical performance as a means of addressing the embodied and spatio-temporal manifestations of race and racism within South African higher education. As part of Jansen's proposal for a post-conflict pedagogy in South Africa, the article argues for the development and inclusion of embodied knowledges as an…

  16. Embodiment of intersubjective time: relational dynamics as attractors in the temporal coordination of interpersonal behaviors and experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laroche, Julien; Berardi, Anna Maria; Brangier, Eric

    2014-01-01

    This paper addresses the issue of "being together," and more specifically the issue of "being together in time." We provide with an integrative framework that is inspired by phenomenology, the enactive approach and dynamical systems theories. To do so, we first define embodiment as a living and lived phenomenon that emerges from agent-world coupling. We then show that embodiment is essentially dynamical and therefore we describe experiential, behavioral and brain dynamics. Both lived temporality and the temporality of the living appear to be complex, multiscale phenomena. Next we discuss embodied dynamics in the context of interpersonal interactions, and briefly review the empirical literature on between-persons temporal coordination. Overall, we propose that being together in time emerges from the relational dynamics of embodied interactions and their flexible co-regulation.

  17. Is Moving More Memorable than Proving? Effects of Embodiment and Imagined Enactment on Verb Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, David M; Pexman, Penny M

    2016-01-01

    Theories of embodied cognition propose that sensorimotor information is simulated during language processing (e.g., Barsalou, 1999). Previous studies have demonstrated that differences in simulation can have implications for word processing; for instance, lexical processing is facilitated for verbs that have relatively more embodied meanings (e.g., Sidhu et al., 2014). Here we examined the effects of these differences on memory for verbs. We observed higher rates of recognition (Experiments 1a-2a) and recall accuracy (Experiments 2b-3b) for verbs with a greater amount of associated bodily information (i.e., an embodiment effect). We also examined how this interacted with the imagined enactment effect: a memory benefit for actions that one imagines performing (e.g., Ditman et al., 2010). We found that these two effects did not interact (Experiment 3b), suggesting that the memory benefits of automatic simulation (i.e., the embodiment effect) and deliberate simulation (i.e., the imagined enactment effect) are distinct. These results provide evidence for the role of simulation in language processing, and its effects on memory.

  18. "Peeling an onion": Layering as a methodology to understand learning as an embodied assemblage of practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Liv Kondrup

    2017-01-01

    This paper considers science learning as an embodied assemblages of practices and seeks to propose a methodology to systematically analyze the multiple layers that shape how students’ do and learn science. Science learning as an embodied assemblage of practices sensitizes us towards the dimension...

  19. Developing dynamic field theory architectures for embodied cognitive systems with cedar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oliver Lomp

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Embodied artificial cognitive systems such as autonomous robots or intelligent observers connect cognitive processes to sensory and effector systems in real time. Prime candidates for such embodied intelligence are neurally inspired architectures. While components such as forward neural networks are well established, designing pervasively autonomous neural architectures remains a challenge. This includes the problem of tuning the parameters of such architectures so that they deliver specified functionality under variable environmental conditions and retain these functions as the architectures are expanded. The scaling and autonomy problems are solved, in part, by dynamic field theory (DFT, a theoretical framework for the neural grounding of sensorimotor and cognitive processes. In this paper, we address how to efficiently build DFT architectures that control embodied agents and how to tune their parameters so that the desired cognitive functions emerge while such agents are situated in real environments. In DFT architectures, dynamic neural fields or nodes are assigned dynamic regimes, that is, attractor states and their instabilities, from which cognitive function emerges. Tuning thus amounts to determining values of the dynamic parameters for which the components of a DFT architecture are in the specified dynamic regime under the appropriate environmental conditions. The process of tuning is facilitated by the software framework cedar, which provides a graphical interface to build and execute DFT architectures. It enables to change dynamic parameters online and visualize the activation states of any component while the agent is receiving sensory inputs in real-time. Using a simple example, we take the reader through the workflow of conceiving of DFT architectures, implementing them on embodied agents, tuning their parameters, and assessing performance while the system is coupled to real sensory inputs.

  20. Mirror neurons, language, and embodied cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perlovsky, Leonid I; Ilin, Roman

    2013-05-01

    Basic mechanisms of the mind, cognition, language, its semantic and emotional mechanisms are modeled using dynamic logic (DL). This cognitively and mathematically motivated model leads to a dual-model hypothesis of language and cognition. The paper emphasizes that abstract cognition cannot evolve without language. The developed model is consistent with a joint emergence of language and cognition from a mirror neuron system. The dual language-cognition model leads to the dual mental hierarchy. The nature of cognition embodiment in the hierarchy is analyzed. Future theoretical and experimental research is discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  1. New Directions, New Questions? Social Theory, Education and Embodiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, John; Davies, Brian

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces the contents of the special issue whose authors, in our view, together demonstrate the need for transdisciplinary study of body pedagogies focussed on embodiment, emplacement, enactment and subjectivity. We celebrate theoretical and methodological diversity in the social sciences while calling for "border crossings" between…

  2. Ubuntu and the body: A perspective from theological anthropology as embodied sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob J.S. Meiring

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The author asks whether the notion of ubuntu truly exists within contemporary South African society and how the experiencing of South Africans� embodiment can be connected to ubuntu � especially amongst black people. The notion of ubuntu is briefly explored within law and theology. The author has recently proposed a model for a contemporary theological anthropology as �embodied sensing� which functions within the intimate relationship of the lived body, experiencing in a concrete life-world, language, and the �more than�. It is from this perspective that the notion of ubuntu is explored.

  3. Theology in the flesh – a model for theological anthropology as embodied sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob Meiring

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The author proposes a model for theological anthropology as embodied sensing that is based on an interdisciplinary exploration of the corporeal turn from a southern African perspective. The work of James B. Nelson is acknowledged, stating that body theology starts with the concrete, the bodily expressions of life and not with doctrines about God and humanity. The theological anthropology of David H. Kelsey is evaluated as a theological anthropology with a sentiment of the flesh. Based on clearings in the work of David Kelsey and an interdisciplinary research, the author proposes a model for theological anthropology as embodied sensing which functions within the intricate and complex connection of the living body, language and experiencing in a concrete lifeworld with an openness to the ‘more than’. The author considers the use of bodymapping within narrative therapy as a way in which to uncover the intimate and intricate connection between the living body, experience and language, and implementing insights from theological anthropology as embodied sensing.

  4. "We are Arabs:" The Embodiment of Virginity Through Arab and Arab American Women's Lived Experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abboud, Sarah; Jemmott, Loretta Sweet; Sommers, Marilyn S

    2015-12-01

    Virginity is part of our existence in the world as embodied sexual subjects. While many meanings are associated with virginity, in most of the Arab world virginity relates to the presence of a hymen and extends to encompass the honor of the Arab community, and virginity loss commonly relate to first vaginal intercourse. This study explored the meanings of virginity from the perspectives of Arab and Arab American women. A qualitative phenomenological approach, informed by the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, was used to conduct in-depth interviews with ten women. We identified one over-arching theme Virginity as Identity , and two major themes Embodiment of Virginity and "We are Arabs." To reach an embodied virginity, participants went through a disembodied virginity process, reflecting society's perceptions and values of virginity related to anatomical presence of a hymen and society's honor. "We are Arabs" describes the ways women identified with the Arab ethnic identity as a shared overall identification, but differed from one lived experience to another, and influenced how participants embodied virginity. Our participants provided a better understanding of the diverse meanings of virginity that move beyond the binary of virginity and virginity loss, and into a spectrum of embodied meanings. Findings suggest the need for future research around sexuality in Arab Americans with attention to socio-political contexts in order to understand the nature and context of sexual initiation and its impact on sexual behaviors and well-being.

  5. Uncovering driving forces on greenhouse gas emissions in China’ aluminum industry from the perspective of life cycle analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Zhe; Geng, Yong; Adams, Michelle; Dong, Liang; Sun, Lina; Zhao, Jingjing; Dong, Huijuan; Wu, Jiao; Tian, Xu

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Energy-related GHG emission trajectories, features and driving forces of CAI are analyzed from the perspective of LCA. • CAI experienced a rapid growth of energy-related GHG emissions from 2004 to 2013. • Energy-scale effect is the main driving force for energy-related GHG emissions increase in CAI. • Construction and transportation-related activities account for more than 40% of the total embodied emissions. • Policy implications such as developing secondary aluminum industry, improving energy mix etc, are raised. - Abstract: With the rapid growth of aluminum production, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in China’s aluminum industry (CAI) is posing a significant challenge. In this study, the energy-related GHG emission trajectories, features and driving forces of CAI are analyzed from the perspective of life cycle analysis (LCA) from 2004 to 2013. Results indicate that CAI experienced a rapid growth of energy-related GHG emissions with an average annual growth of 28.5 million tons CO_2e from 2004 to 2013. Energy-scale effect is the main driving force for energy-related GHG emissions increase in CAI, while emission-factor effect of secondary aluminum production plays a marginal effect. Construction and transportation-related activities account for the bulk of the embodied emissions, accounting for more than 40% of the total embodied emissions from CAI. Policy implications for GHG mitigation within the CAI, such as developing secondary aluminum industry, improving energy mix and optimizing resource efficiency of production, are raised.

  6. Process energy analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaiser, V.

    1993-01-01

    In Chapter 2 process energy cost analysis for chemical processing is treated in a general way, independent of the specific form of energy and power production. Especially, energy data collection and data treatment, energy accounting (metering, balance setting), specific energy input, and utility energy costs and prices are discussed. (R.P.) 14 refs., 4 figs., 16 tabs

  7. Mastery, Isolation, or Acceptance: Gay and Bisexual Men's Construction of Aging in the Context of Sexual Embodiment After Prostate Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ussher, Jane M; Rose, Duncan; Perz, Janette

    2017-01-01

    Age is the predominant risk factor for developing prostate cancer, leading to its description as an "older man's disease." Changed sexual embodiment is a concern for men who develop prostate cancer, often compounding experiences of age-related sexual decline. Although research has examined heterosexual men's experiences of aging in the context of sexual embodiment after prostate cancer, gay and bisexual men have received little attention. This qualitative study used a material-discursive analysis, drawing on positioning theory and intersectionality, to explore constructions of aging following prostate cancer in 46 gay or bisexual men. Thematic decomposition of one-to-one interviews identified three subject positions: "mastering youth," involving maintaining an active sex life through biomedical interventions, accessing commercial sex venues, or having sex with younger men; "the lonely old recluse," involving self-positioning as prematurely aged and withdrawal from a gay sexual scene; and "accepting embodied aging," involving the incorporation of changed sexual function into intimate relationships and finding pleasure through nonsexual activities. These subject positions are conceptualized as the product of intersecting masculine and gay identities, interpreted in relation to broader cultural discourses of "new aging" and "sexual health," in which sexual activity is conceptualized as a lifelong goal.

  8. An approach to research on embodiment and forms of knowledge : methodological challenges for interpretation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Lars Emmerik Damgaard

    argues. Studying a teacher training program, specifically the relation between placement and teaching, this presentation argues for a ‘meeting point’ and theoretical frame of Merleau-Ponty, Aristotle and Højrup that all dialectally grasps the relations between researcher and interviewee by understanding......Abstract: This paper is on the researcher’s role and the status of the data s/he is inclined to use. The outset is theories on embodied knowledge and knowledge forms such as Pierre Bourdieu, Hubert & Stuart Dreyfus and Jean Lave who all have troubles of how to view embodiment from either...... them as either bodily interwoven, life-mode or virtuously related. The inclusion of subjective perspectives and cultural conditions enlightens educational research as a process of interpretation where the embodied and life mode structured observation both opens and closes ways of interpretation...

  9. Mirror Neurons, Embodied Cognitive Agents and Imitation Learning

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Wiedermann, Jiří

    2003-01-01

    Roč. 22, č. 6 (2003), s. 545-559 ISSN 1335-9150 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/02/1456 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1030915 Keywords : complete agents * mirror neurons * embodied cognition * imitation learning * sensorimotor control Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.254, year: 2003 http://www.cai.sk/ojs/index.php/cai/article/view/468

  10. Physical Embodiment can Produce Robot Operator’s Pseudo Presence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuaki eTanaka

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies have focused on humanoid robots for improving distant communication. When a user talks with a remote conversation partner through a humanoid robot, the user can see the remote partner’s body motions with physical embodiment but not the partner’s current appearance. The physical embodiment existing in the same room with the user is the main feature of humanoid robots, but the effects on social telepresence, i.e. the sense of resembling face-to-face interaction, had not yet been well demonstrated. To find the effects, we conducted an experiment in which subjects talked with a partner through robots and various existing communication media (e.g. voice, avatar and video chats. As a result, we found that the physical embodiment enhances social telepresence. However, in terms of the degree of social telepresence, the humanoid robot remained at the same level as the partner’s live-video, since presenting partner’s appearance also enhances social telepresence. To utilize the anonymity of a humanoid robot, we proposed the way that produces pseudo presence that is the sense of interacting with a remote partner when they are actually interacting with an autonomous robot. Through the second experiment, we discovered that the subjects tended to evaluate the degree of pseudo presence of a remote partner based on their prior experience of watching the partner’s body motions reproduced by a robot. When a subject interacted with an autonomous robot after interacting with a teleoperated robot (i.e., a remote operator that is identical with the autonomous robot, the subjects tended to feel as if they were talking with a remote operator.

  11. Energy Management Curriculum Starter Kit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Turner, W.C.

    1987-02-01

    The Energy Management Curriculum Starter Kit was designed to help engineering educators develop and teach energy management courses. Montana State University and Oklahoma State University courses are embodied in the model curriculum given. The curricula offered at many other universities throughout the United States are also presented. The kit was designed specifically to train engineering students to be good energy managers. Courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level are presented.

  12. When Kids Act Out: A Comparison of Embodied Methods to Improve Children's Memory for a Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berenhaus, Molly; Oakhill, Jane; Rusted, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    Over the last decade, embodied cognition, the idea that sensorimotor processes facilitate higher cognitive processes, has proven useful for improving children's memory for a story. In order to compare the benefits of two embodiment techniques, active experiencing (AE) and indexing, for children's memory for a story, we compared the immediate…

  13. Embodied experiences associated with obesity and the management of bodyweight

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smith, Louise; Holm, Lotte

    2012-01-01

    In many affluent Western societies the less educated are at higher risk of developing obesity. Within a conceptual framework of sociology of embodiment, this study analyzed the embodied experiences associated with obesity and the management of body weight among women and men with different social...... backgrounds. Qualitative in depth interviews were conducted with 20 Danish middle-aged men and women who were categorized as clinically obese in a national dietary survey. The study found a devastating impact of obesity in the lives of highly educated women related to motherhood, career and wifehood which...... had experienced weight-related disease, which interrelated with less commitment to, and variation in, weight-loss activities. These findings may help to explain why obesity is least prevalent among highly educated women in Danish society as well as other western societies. A marked difference between...

  14. Embodied neurofeedback with an anthropomorphic robotic hand

    OpenAIRE

    Braun, Niclas; Emkes, Reiner; Thorne, Jeremy D.; Debener, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    Neurofeedback-guided motor imagery training (NF-MIT) has been suggested as a promising therapy for stroke-induced motor impairment. Whereas much NF-MIT research has aimed at signal processing optimization, the type of sensory feedback given to the participant has received less attention. Often the feedback signal is highly abstract and not inherently coupled to the mental act performed. In this study, we asked whether an embodied feedback signal is more efficient for neurofeedback operation t...

  15. Time series analysis of embodied interaction: Movement variability and complexity matching as dyadic properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Zapata-Fonseca

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing consensus that a fuller understanding of social cognition depends on more systematic studies of real-time social interaction. Such studies require methods that can deal with the complex dynamics taking place at multiple interdependent temporal and spatial scales, spanning sub-personal, personal, and dyadic levels of analysis. We demonstrate the value of adopting an extended multi-scale approach by re-analyzing movement time series generated in a study of embodied dyadic interaction in a minimal virtual reality environment (a perceptual crossing experiment. Reduced movement variability revealed an interdependence between social awareness and social coordination that cannot be accounted for by either subjective or objective factors alone: it picks out interactions in which subjective and objective conditions are convergent (i.e. elevated coordination is perceived as clearly social, and impaired coordination is perceived as socially ambiguous. This finding is consistent with the claim that interpersonal interaction can be partially constitutive of direct social perception. Clustering statistics (Allan Factor of salient events revealed fractal scaling. Complexity matching defined as the similarity between these scaling laws was significantly more pronounced in pairs of participants as compared to surrogate dyads. This further highlights the multi-scale and distributed character of social interaction and extends previous complexity matching results from dyadic conversation to nonverbal social interaction dynamics. Trials with successful joint interaction were also associated with an increase in local coordination. Consequently, a local coordination pattern emerges on the background of complex dyadic interactions in the PCE task and makes joint successful performance possible.

  16. Embodiment: A New Perspective for Evaluating Physicality in Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Insook

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to provide a new perspective for evaluating physicality in learning with a preliminary experimental study based on embodied cognition. While there are studies showing no superiority of physical manipulation over virtual manipulation, there are also studies that seem to advocate adding more physicality in simulations…

  17. Secrecy as embodied practice: beyond the confessional imperative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardon, Anita; Posel, Deborah

    2012-01-01

    This introduction to this special issue of Culture, Health & Sexuality aims to intervene critically in debates in public health about sexual rights and ways of de-stigmatising HIV/AIDS, in which silence and secrets are seen to undermine well-being and perpetuate stigma. It presents key insights from collaborative studies on HIV/AIDS and youth sexual health, arguing that advocates of disclosure and sexual rights need to think more contextually and tactically in promoting truth-telling. The authors aim to enhance current thinking on secrecy, which examines it primarily as a social practice, by emphasising the centrality of the body and the experience of embodiment in the making and unmaking of secrets. To understand secrecy as embodied practice requires understanding how it simultaneously involves the body as subject - as the basis from which we experience the world - and the body as object - that can be actively manipulated, silenced and 'done'. The authors show how tensions emerge when bodies reveal reproductive mishaps and describe how the dissonances are resolved through a variety of silencing practices. The paper ends by discussing the implications of these insights for sexual-health programmes.

  18. Urban Form Energy Use and Emissions in China: Preliminary Findings and Model Proof of Concept

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aden, Nathaniel; Qin, Yining; Fridley, David

    2010-12-15

    Urbanization is reshaping China's economy, society, and energy system. Between 1990 and 2008 China added more than 300 million new urban residents, bringing the total urbanization rate to 46%. The ongoing population shift is spurring energy demand for new construction, as well as additional residential use with the replacement of rural biomass by urban commercial energy services. This project developed a modeling tool to quantify the full energy consequences of a particular form of urban residential development in order to identify energy- and carbon-efficient modes of neighborhood-level development and help mitigate resource and environmental implications of swelling cities. LBNL developed an integrated modeling tool that combines process-based lifecycle assessment with agent-based building operational energy use, personal transport, and consumption modeling. The lifecycle assessment approach was used to quantify energy and carbon emissions embodied in building materials production, construction, maintenance, and demolition. To provide more comprehensive analysis, LBNL developed an agent-based model as described below. The model was applied to LuJing, a residential development in Jinan, Shandong Province, to provide a case study and model proof of concept. This study produced results data that are unique by virtue of their scale, scope and type. Whereas most existing literature focuses on building-, city-, or national-level analysis, this study covers multi-building neighborhood-scale development. Likewise, while most existing studies focus exclusively on building operational energy use, this study also includes embodied energy related to personal consumption and buildings. Within the boundaries of this analysis, food is the single largest category of the building energy footprint, accounting for 23% of the total. On a policy level, the LCA approach can be useful for quantifying the energy and environmental benefits of longer average building lifespans. In

  19. Sensorimotor Grounding of Musical Embodiment and the Role of Prediction: A Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maes, Pieter-Jan

    2016-01-01

    In a previous article, we reviewed empirical evidence demonstrating action-based effects on music perception to substantiate the musical embodiment thesis (Maes et al., 2014). Evidence was largely based on studies demonstrating that music perception automatically engages motor processes, or that body states/movements influence music perception. Here, we argue that more rigorous evidence is needed before any decisive conclusion in favor of a "radical" musical embodiment thesis can be posited. In the current article, we provide a focused review of recent research to collect further evidence for the "radical" embodiment thesis that music perception is a dynamic process firmly rooted in the natural disposition of sounds and the human auditory and motor system. Though, we emphasize that, on top of these natural dispositions, long-term processes operate, rooted in repeated sensorimotor experiences and leading to learning, prediction, and error minimization. This approach sheds new light on the development of musical repertoires, and may refine our understanding of action-based effects on music perception as discussed in our previous article (Maes et al., 2014). Additionally, we discuss two of our recent empirical studies demonstrating that music performance relies on similar principles of sensorimotor dynamics and predictive processing.

  20. Embodying compassion: a virtual reality paradigm for overcoming excessive self-criticism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falconer, Caroline J; Slater, Mel; Rovira, Aitor; King, John A; Gilbert, Paul; Antley, Angus; Brewin, Chris R

    2014-01-01

    Virtual reality has been successfully used to study and treat psychological disorders such as phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder but has rarely been applied to clinically-relevant emotions other than fear and anxiety. Self-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be treated by increasing levels of self-compassion. We exploited the known effects of identification with a virtual body to arrange for healthy female volunteers high in self-criticism to experience self-compassion from an embodied first-person perspective within immersive virtual reality. Whereas observation and practice of compassionate responses reduced self-criticism, the additional experience of embodiment also increased self-compassion and feelings of being safe. The results suggest potential new uses for immersive virtual reality in a range of clinical conditions.

  1. Animation, embodiment, and digital media human experience of technological liveliness

    CERN Document Server

    Chow, K

    2013-01-01

    Animation, Embodiment and Digital Media articulates the human experience of technology-mediated animated phenomena in terms of sensory perception, bodily action and imaginative interpretation, suggesting a new theoretical framework with analyses of exemplary user interfaces, video games and interactive artworks.

  2. Embodied perception: A proposal to reconcile affordance and spatial perception

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Canal Bruland, R.; van der Kamp, J.

    2015-01-01

    Proffitt's embodied approach to perception is deeply indebted to Gibson's ecological approach to visual perception, in particular the idea that the primary objects of perception are affordances or what the environment offers for action. Yet, rather than directly addressing affordance perception,

  3. Differential effects of perceived hand location on the disruption of embodiment by apparent physical encroachment of the limb.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preston, Catherine; Newport, Roger

    2011-01-01

    while much is known about the processes underlying the embodiment of non-corporeal objects, less research has been conducted to explore the mechanisms that prevent embodiment. The current study investigates the effect of violation of the human body template on embodiment of fake limbs by appearing to encroach the fake limb with a solid object. Encroachment of the limb disrupted embodiment, but only when the limb was far from the body. When the encroached limb was close to the body, it was not disembodied despite such clear violations of knowledge related to the body. The representation of the limb in the body schema was similarly robust to near-hand violations, suggesting that competing representations of the limb that are close to the body are preferred to those that are far from the body.

  4. A workout for virtual bodybuilders (design issues for embodiment in multi-actor virtual environments)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benford, Steve; Bowers, John; Fahlen, Lennart E.; Greenhalgh, Chris; Snowdon, Dave

    1994-01-01

    This paper explores the issue of user embodiment within collaborative virtual environments. By user embodiment we mean the provision of users with appropriate body images so as to represent them to others and also to themselves. By collaborative virtual environments we mean multi-user virtual reality systems which support cooperative work (although we argue that the results of our exploration may also be applied to other kinds of collaborative systems). The main part of the paper identifies a list of embodiment design issues including: presence, location, identity, activity, availability, history of activity, viewpoint, action point, gesture, facial expression, voluntary versus involuntary expression, degree of presence, reflecting capabilities, manipulating the user's view of others, representation across multiple media, autonomous and distributed body parts, truthfulness and efficiency. Following this, we show how these issues are reflected in our own DIVE and MASSIVE prototype collaborative virtual environments.

  5. Commercial Building Energy Saver: An energy retrofit analysis toolkit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann; Chen, Yixing; Lee, Sang Hoon; Taylor-Lange, Sarah C.; Zhang, Rongpeng; Sun, Kaiyu; Price, Phillip

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Commercial Building Energy Saver is a powerful toolkit for energy retrofit analysis. • CBES provides benchmarking, load shape analysis, and model-based retrofit assessment. • CBES covers 7 building types, 6 vintages, 16 climates, and 100 energy measures. • CBES includes a web app, API, and a database of energy efficiency performance. • CBES API can be extended and integrated with third party energy software tools. - Abstract: Small commercial buildings in the United States consume 47% of the total primary energy of the buildings sector. Retrofitting small and medium commercial buildings poses a huge challenge for owners because they usually lack the expertise and resources to identify and evaluate cost-effective energy retrofit strategies. This paper presents the Commercial Building Energy Saver (CBES), an energy retrofit analysis toolkit, which calculates the energy use of a building, identifies and evaluates retrofit measures in terms of energy savings, energy cost savings and payback. The CBES Toolkit includes a web app (APP) for end users and the CBES Application Programming Interface (API) for integrating CBES with other energy software tools. The toolkit provides a rich set of features including: (1) Energy Benchmarking providing an Energy Star score, (2) Load Shape Analysis to identify potential building operation improvements, (3) Preliminary Retrofit Analysis which uses a custom developed pre-simulated database and, (4) Detailed Retrofit Analysis which utilizes real-time EnergyPlus simulations. CBES includes 100 configurable energy conservation measures (ECMs) that encompass IAQ, technical performance and cost data, for assessing 7 different prototype buildings in 16 climate zones in California and 6 vintages. A case study of a small office building demonstrates the use of the toolkit for retrofit analysis. The development of CBES provides a new contribution to the field by providing a straightforward and uncomplicated decision

  6. Language Learning in Preschool Children: An Embodied Learning Account

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ionescu, Thea; Ilie, Adriana

    2018-01-01

    In Romanian preschool settings, there is a tendency to use abstract strategies in language-learning activities. The present study explored if strategies based on an embodied cognition approach facilitate learning more than traditional strategies that progress from concrete to abstract. Twenty-five children between 4 and 5 years of age listened to…

  7. Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shan Zhong

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The growth of both plastic consumption and prosumer 3-D printing are driving an interest in producing 3-D printer filaments from waste plastic. This study quantifies the embodied energy of a vertical DC solar photovoltaic (PV powered recyclebot based on life cycle energy analysis and compares it to horizontal AC recyclebots, conventional recycling, and the production of a virgin 3-D printer filament. The energy payback time (EPBT is calculated using the embodied energy of the materials making up the recyclebot itself and is found to be about five days for the extrusion of a poly lactic acid (PLA filament or 2.5 days for the extrusion of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS filament. A mono-crystalline silicon solar PV system is about 2.6 years alone. However, this can be reduced by over 96% if the solar PV system powers the recyclebot to produce a PLA filament from waste plastic (EPBT is only 0.10 year or about a month. Likewise, if an ABS filament is produced from a recyclebot powered by the solar PV system, the energy saved is 90.6–99.9 MJ/kg and 26.33–29.43 kg of the ABS filament needs to be produced in about half a month for the system to pay for itself. The results clearly show that the solar PV system powered recyclebot is already an excellent way to save energy for sustainable development.

  8. Making sense of movement in embodied design for mathematics learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abrahamson, Dor; Bakker, A.

    2016-01-01

    Embodiment perspectives from the cognitive sciences offer a rethinking of the role of sensorimotor activity in human learning, knowing, and reasoning. Educational researchers have been evaluating whether and how these perspectives might inform the theory and practice of STEM instruction. Some of

  9. Social implications arise in embodied music cognition research which can counter musicological "individualism".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran, Nikki

    2014-01-01

    The agenda in music research that is broadly recognized as embodied music cognition has arrived hand-in-hand with a social interpretation of music, focusing on the real-world basis of its performance, and fostering an empirical approach to musician movement regarding the communicative function and potential of those movements. However, embodied cognition emerged from traditional cognitivism, which produced a body of scientific explanation of music-theoretic concepts. The analytical object of this corpus is based on the particular imagined encounter of a listener responding to an idealized "work." Although this problem of essentialism has been identified within mainstream musicology, the lingering effects may spill over into interdisciplinary, empirical research. This paper defines the situation according to its legacy of individualism, and offers an alternative sketch of musical activity as performance event, a model that highlights the social interaction processes at the heart of musical behavior. I describe some recent empirical work based on interaction-oriented approaches, arguing that this particular focus - on the social interaction process itself - creates a distinctive and promising agenda for further research into embodied music cognition.

  10. The second me: Seeing the real body during humanoid robot embodiment produces an illusion of bi-location.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aymerich-Franch, Laura; Petit, Damien; Ganesh, Gowrishankar; Kheddar, Abderrahmane

    2016-11-01

    Whole-body embodiment studies have shown that synchronized multi-sensory cues can trick a healthy human mind to perceive self-location outside the bodily borders, producing an illusion that resembles an out-of-body experience (OBE). But can a healthy mind also perceive the sense of self in more than one body at the same time? To answer this question, we created a novel artificial reduplication of one's body using a humanoid robot embodiment system. We first enabled individuals to embody the humanoid robot by providing them with audio-visual feedback and control of the robot head movements and walk, and then explored the self-location and self-identification perceived by them when they observed themselves through the embodied robot. Our results reveal that, when individuals are exposed to the humanoid body reduplication, they experience an illusion that strongly resembles heautoscopy, suggesting that a healthy human mind is able to bi-locate in two different bodies simultaneously. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. How nervous systems evolve in relation to their embodiment: what we can learn from octopuses and other molluscs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hochner, Binyamin

    2013-01-01

    Cephalopods such as the octopus show the most advanced behavior among invertebrates, which they accomplish with an exceptionally flexible body plan. In this review I propose that the embodied organization approach, developed by roboticists to design efficient autonomous robots, is useful for understanding the evolution and development of the efficient adaptive interaction of animals with their environment, using the octopus as the leading example. The embodied organization approach explains adaptive behavior as emerging from the continuous dynamical and reciprocal physical and informational interactions between four elements: the controller, the mechanical and the sensory systems and the environment. In contrast to hierarchical organization, in embodied organization, self-organization processes can take part in the emergence of the adaptive properties. I first discuss how the embodiment concept explains covariation of body form, nervous system organization, and level of behavioral complexity using the Mollusca as an example. This is an ideal phylum to test such a qualitative correlation between body/brain/behavior, because they show the greatest variations of body plan within a single phylum. In some cases the covariation of nervous system and body structure seems to arise independently of close phylogenetic relationships. Next, I dwell on the octopus as an ideal model to test the embodiment concept within a single biological system. Here, the unusual body morphology of the octopus exposes the uniqueness of the four components comprising the octopus' embodiment. Considering together the results from behavioral, physiological, anatomical, and motor control research suggests that these four elements mutually influence each other. It is this mutual interactions and self-organization which have led to their unique evolution and development to create the unique and highly efficient octopus embodiment. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. The carbon footprint and embodied energy of construction material ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    climate change in terms of vehicle designs, fuel consumption and air- pollution ..... The station base acts as an energy and water resource store, while securely ..... Switch, a BRT terminal as change generator at Pretoria. Main Station.

  13. Analysis of Project Finance | Energy Analysis | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Analysis of Project Finance Analysis of Project Finance NREL analysis helps potential renewable energy developers and investors gain insights into the complex world of project finance. Renewable energy project finance is complex, requiring knowledge of federal tax credits, state-level incentives, renewable

  14. Embodiment and Emotional Memory in First vs. Second Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumeister, Jenny C; Foroni, Francesco; Conrad, Markus; Rumiati, Raffaella I; Winkielman, Piotr

    2017-01-01

    Language and emotions are closely linked. However, previous research suggests that this link is stronger in a native language (L1) than in a second language (L2) that had been learned later in life. The present study investigates whether such reduced emotionality in L2 is reflected in changes in emotional memory and embodied responses to L2 in comparison to L1. Late Spanish/English bilinguals performed a memory task involving an encoding and a surprise retrieval phase. Facial motor resonance and skin conductance (SC) responses were recorded during encoding. The results give first indications that the enhanced memory for emotional vs. neutral content (EEM effect) is stronger in L1 and less present in L2. Furthermore, the results give partial support for decreased facial motor resonance and SC responses to emotional words in L2 as compared to L1. These findings suggest that embodied knowledge involved in emotional memory is associated to increased affective encoding and retrieval of L1 compared to L2.

  15. A methodology for energy performance classification of residential building stock of Hamirpur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aniket Sharma

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In India, there are various codes, standards, guidelines and rating systems launched to make energy intensive and large sized buildings energy efficient whereas independent residential buildings are not covered even though they exist most in numbers of total housing stock. This paper presents a case study methodology for energy performance assessment of existing residential stock of Hamirpur that can be used to develop suitable energy efficiency regulations. The paper discusses the trend of residential development in Hamirpur followed by classification based on usage, condition, predominant material use, ownership size and number of rooms, source of lighting, assets available, number of storey and plot sizes using primary and secondary data. It results in identification of predominant materials used and other characteristics in each of urban and rural area. Further cradle to site embodied energy index of various dominant building materials and their market available alternative materials is calculated from secondary literature and by calculating transportation energy. One representative existing building is selected in each of urban and rural area and their energy performance is evaluated for material embodied energy and operational energy using simulation. Further alternatives are developed based on other dominant materials in each area and evaluated for change in embodied and operational energy. This paper identifies the energy performance of representative houses for both areas and in no way advocates the preference of one type over another. The paper demonstrates a methodology by which energy performance assessment of houses shall be done and also highlights further research.

  16. Sticking your neck out and burying the hatchet: what idioms reveal about embodied simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kacinik, Natalie A

    2014-01-01

    Idioms are used in conventional language twice as frequently as metaphors, but most research, particularly recent work on embodiment has focused on the latter. However, idioms have the potential to significantly deepen our understanding of embodiment because their meanings cannot be derived from their component words. To determine whether sensorimotor states could activate idiomatic meaning, participants were instructed to engage in postures/actions reflecting various idioms (e.g., sticking your neck out) relative to non-idiomatic control postures/actions while reading and responding to statements designed to assess idiomatic meaning. The results showed that statements were generally more strongly endorsed after idiom embodiment than control conditions, indicating that the meaning of idiomatic expressions may not be as disconnected from perceptual and motor experiences than previously thought. These findings are discussed in terms of the mirror neuron system and the necessity of pluralistic contributions from both sensorimotor and amodal linguistic systems to fully account for the representation and processing of idioms and other figurative expressions.

  17. Sticking your neck out and burying the hatchet: What idioms reveal about embodied simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie A Kacinik

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Idioms are used in conventional language twice as frequently as metaphors, but most research, particularly recent work on embodiment has focused on the latter. However, idioms have the potential to significantly deepen our understanding of embodiment because their meanings cannot be derived from their component words. To determine whether sensorimotor states could activate idiomatic meaning, participants were instructed to engage in postures/actions reflecting various idioms (e.g., sticking your neck out relative to non-idiomatic control postures/actions while reading and responding to statements designed to assess idiomatic meaning. The results showed that statements were generally more strongly endorsed after idiom embodiment than control conditions, indicating that the meaning of idiomatic expressions may not be as disconnected from perceptual and motor experiences than previously thought. These findings are discussed in terms of the mirror neuron system and the necessity of pluralistic contributions from both sensorimotor and amodal linguistic systems to fully account for the representation and processing of idioms and other figurative expressions.

  18. Sticking your neck out and burying the hatchet: what idioms reveal about embodied simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kacinik, Natalie A.

    2014-01-01

    Idioms are used in conventional language twice as frequently as metaphors, but most research, particularly recent work on embodiment has focused on the latter. However, idioms have the potential to significantly deepen our understanding of embodiment because their meanings cannot be derived from their component words. To determine whether sensorimotor states could activate idiomatic meaning, participants were instructed to engage in postures/actions reflecting various idioms (e.g., sticking your neck out) relative to non-idiomatic control postures/actions while reading and responding to statements designed to assess idiomatic meaning. The results showed that statements were generally more strongly endorsed after idiom embodiment than control conditions, indicating that the meaning of idiomatic expressions may not be as disconnected from perceptual and motor experiences than previously thought. These findings are discussed in terms of the mirror neuron system and the necessity of pluralistic contributions from both sensorimotor and amodal linguistic systems to fully account for the representation and processing of idioms and other figurative expressions. PMID:25309381

  19. Embodiment, Virtual Space, Temporality and Interpersonal Relations in Online Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Catherine; van Manen, Max

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we discuss how online seminar participants experience dimensions of embodiment, virtual space, interpersonal relations, and temporality; and how interacting through reading-writing, by means of online technologies, creates conditions, situations, and actions of pedagogical influence and relational affectivities. We investigate what…

  20. Embodying compassion: a virtual reality paradigm for overcoming excessive self-criticism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline J Falconer

    Full Text Available Virtual reality has been successfully used to study and treat psychological disorders such as phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder but has rarely been applied to clinically-relevant emotions other than fear and anxiety. Self-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be treated by increasing levels of self-compassion. We exploited the known effects of identification with a virtual body to arrange for healthy female volunteers high in self-criticism to experience self-compassion from an embodied first-person perspective within immersive virtual reality. Whereas observation and practice of compassionate responses reduced self-criticism, the additional experience of embodiment also increased self-compassion and feelings of being safe. The results suggest potential new uses for immersive virtual reality in a range of clinical conditions.

  1. PEMBADANAN (EMBODYING KEBIJAKAN BERBASIS KAPASITAS DALAM PEMBERDAYAAN DIFABEL UNTUK PENANGGULANGAN KEMISKINAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andina Elok Maharani

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This empirical law research is aimed at embodying the capacity-based policy to the difable. The instrument for data’s collection was conducted by structured interview and observation which were supported by literature data. Capacity-based Approach is a model that recognizes disability based on the value of ability and function. This approach provides a framework for learning disability, particularly analyzing the defects of existing paradigms and assessing economic sources along with the disability consequences. The key point of operational level on Capacity-based Approach to the empowerment of the disable in poverty prevention includes four points: Inclusion, Participation, Access, and Quality. This study suggests a holistic approach to reform the policy to empower the disable to be free from poverty.   Key words: embodying, difable, poverty alleviation

  2. Non-invasive brain stimulation of motor cortex induces embodiment when integrated with virtual reality feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassolino, M; Franza, M; Bello Ruiz, J; Pinardi, M; Schmidlin, T; Stephan, M A; Solcà, M; Serino, A; Blanke, O

    2018-04-01

    Previous evidence highlighted the multisensory-motor origin of embodiment - that is, the experience of having a body and of being in control of it - and the possibility of experimentally manipulating it. For instance, an illusory feeling of embodiment towards a fake hand can be triggered by providing synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation to the hand of participants and to a fake hand or by asking participants to move their hand and observe a fake hand moving accordingly (rubber hand illusion). Here, we tested whether it is possible to manipulate embodiment not through stimulation of the participant's hand, but by directly tapping into the brain's hand representation via non-invasive brain stimulation. To this aim, we combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to activate the hand corticospinal representation, with virtual reality (VR), to provide matching (as contrasted to non-matching) visual feedback, mimicking involuntary hand movements evoked by TMS. We show that the illusory embodiment occurred when TMS pulses were temporally matched with VR feedback, but not when TMS was administered outside primary motor cortex, (over the vertex) or when stimulating motor cortex at a lower intensity (that did not activate peripheral muscles). Behavioural (questionnaires) and neurophysiological (motor-evoked-potentials, TMS-evoked-movements) measures further indicated that embodiment was not explained by stimulation per se, but depended on the temporal coherence between TMS-induced activation of hand corticospinal representation and the virtual bodily feedback. This reveals that non-invasive brain stimulation may replace the application of external tactile hand cues and motor components related to volition, planning and anticipation. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Standards Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silver, E.G.

    1980-01-01

    The policy with respect to the development and use of standards in the Department of Energy (DOE) programs concerned with maintaining and developing the nuclear option for the civilian sector (both in the form of the currently used light water reactors and for advanced concepts including the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor), is embodied in a Nuclear Standards Policy, issued in 1978, whose perspectives and philosophy are discussed

  4. An embodied spirituality: Perspectives for a bodily pastoral anthoplogy

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    As part of a re-described spiritual embodied anthropology, it is claimed that the mind-body dualism is outdated and that the roots of human corporeality are to be rediscovered. The article investigates the effect of an emphasis on the biological for a pastoral anthropology in terms of its implications for one's concept of God, ...

  5. Transforming creativity: Personalized manufacturing meets embodied computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan B. Craig

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses aspects of a collaborative investigation of embodied computing and personal manufacturing. We describe the NeuroMaker 1.0, an artwork that playfully implements the concept of “translating of the designer’s ideas into a product”. Visitors to the installation were invited to use their own EEG to fabricate personalized physical objects. While primarily intended to provoke thought about the process of creativity, we also demonstrated that, with the right team, radical new interfaces are well within the reach.

  6. Thermal energy systems design and analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Penoncello, Steven G

    2015-01-01

    IntroductionThermal Energy Systems Design and AnalysisSoftwareThermal Energy System TopicsUnits and Unit SystemsThermophysical PropertiesEngineering DesignEngineering EconomicsIntroductionCommon Engineering Economics NomenclatureEconomic Analysis Tool: The Cash Flow DiagramTime Value of MoneyTime Value of Money ExamplesUsing Software to Calculate Interest FactorsEconomic Decision MakingDepreciation and TaxesProblemsAnalysis of Thermal Energy SystemsIntroductionNomenclatureThermophysical Properties of SubstancesSuggested Thermal Energy Systems Analysis ProcedureConserved and Balanced QuantitiesConservation of MassConservation of Energy (The First Law of Thermodynamics)Entropy Balance (The Second Law of Thermodynamics)Exergy Balance: The Combined LawEnergy and Exergy Analysis of Thermal Energy CyclesDetailed Analysis of Thermal Energy CyclesProblemsFluid Transport in Thermal Energy SystemsIntroductionPiping and Tubing StandardsFluid Flow FundamentalsValves and FittingsDesign and Analysis of Pipe NetworksEconomi...

  7. Energy 21. Preconditions and results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    In 1988 the Danish government adopted an action plan for the environment and sustainable development. In 1990, the energy aspects of this plan were embodied in Energy 2000 and, in 1993, in Energy 2000 follow-up. The objective is a 20% reduction of CO{sub 2} emissions by the year 2005, compared with the level in 1988. Various measures are therefore being taken as time passes to help achieve this objective. As part of the monitoring of developments in the energy sector, it is necessary to take stock from time to time and to assess the direction in which the sector is moving. The government has therefore drawn up a new energy action plan, Energy 21, both to ensure that the overall objectives in the current plan are actively followed up on and to look ahead at the possibilities for action after the year 2005. The Danish Energy Agency has previously carried out a number of analyses of the technological and behavioural possibilities for reducing energy consumption in the short and the long term, for improving the efficiency of energy supply installations, and for using new and sustainable energy technologies. The results of this work are described in the report Denmark`s Energy Futures. The calculations in the report itself and its appendices. The more detailed assumptions and a description of the methods of analysis etc. are given in Basis for Analysis of Denmark`s Energy Futures. This report contains the assumptions, a description of methods and some of the results of the work on Energy 21. (au)

  8. Embodied artificial agents for understanding human social cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wykowska, Agnieszka; Chaminade, Thierry; Cheng, Gordon

    2016-05-05

    In this paper, we propose that experimental protocols involving artificial agents, in particular the embodied humanoid robots, provide insightful information regarding social cognitive mechanisms in the human brain. Using artificial agents allows for manipulation and control of various parameters of behaviour, appearance and expressiveness in one of the interaction partners (the artificial agent), and for examining effect of these parameters on the other interaction partner (the human). At the same time, using artificial agents means introducing the presence of artificial, yet human-like, systems into the human social sphere. This allows for testing in a controlled, but ecologically valid, manner human fundamental mechanisms of social cognition both at the behavioural and at the neural level. This paper will review existing literature that reports studies in which artificial embodied agents have been used to study social cognition and will address the question of whether various mechanisms of social cognition (ranging from lower- to higher-order cognitive processes) are evoked by artificial agents to the same extent as by natural agents, humans in particular. Increasing the understanding of how behavioural and neural mechanisms of social cognition respond to artificial anthropomorphic agents provides empirical answers to the conundrum 'What is a social agent?' © 2016 The Authors.

  9. Nonimaging radiant energy device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winston, Roland; Ning, Xiaohui

    1993-01-01

    A nonimaging radiant energy device may include a hyperbolically shaped reflective element with a radiant energy inlet and a radiant energy outlet. A convex lens is provided at the radiant energy inlet and a concave lens is provided at the radiant energy outlet. Due to the provision of the lenses and the shape of the walls of the reflective element, the radiant energy incident at the radiant energy inlet within a predetermined angle of acceptance is emitted from the radiant energy outlet exclusively within an acute exit angle. In another embodiment, the radiant energy device may include two interconnected hyperbolically shaped reflective elements with a respective convex lens being provided at each aperture of the device.

  10. Context effects in embodied lexical-semantic processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wessel O Van Dam

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The embodied view of language comprehension proposes that the meaning of words is grounded in perception and action rather than represented in abstract amodal symbols. Support for embodied theories of language processing comes from behavioural studies showing that understanding a sentence about an action can modulate congruent and incongruent physical responses, suggesting motor involvement during comprehension of sentences referring to bodily movement. Additionally, several neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that comprehending single words denoting manipulable objects elicits specific responses in the neural motor system. An interesting question that remains is whether action semantic knowledge is directly activated as motor simulations in the brain, or rather modulated by the semantic context in which action words are encountered. In the current paper we investigated the nature of conceptual representations using a go/no-go lexical decision task. Specifically, target words were either presented in a semantic context that emphasized dominant action features (features related to the functional use of an object or non-dominant action features. The response latencies in a lexical decision task reveal that participants were faster to respond to words denoting objects for which the functional use was congruent with the prepared movement. This facilitation effect, however, was only apparent when the semantic context emphasized corresponding motor properties. These findings suggest that motor involvement during comprehension of sentences is not automatic. Rather, the results suggest that conceptual processing is a context-dependent process that incorporates motor-related knowledge in a flexible manner.

  11. Chasing some bodies: Tracing the embodiment of female refugees in transnational settings and reading tales of their bodie

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Saramifar, Y.

    2017-01-01

    The way individuals embody their homeland has been addressed by several scholars. However, this article questions how female refugees embody transnational settings while seeking a new home and homeland. The tales of bodies are traced through the writings of three Iranian female refugees living in

  12. Embodiment in a Child-Like Talking Virtual Body Influences Object Size Perception, Self-Identification, and Subsequent Real Speaking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tajadura-Jiménez, Ana; Banakou, Domna; Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia; Slater, Mel

    2017-08-29

    People's mental representations of their own body are malleable and continuously updated through sensory cues. Altering one's body-representation can lead to changes in object perception and implicit attitudes. Virtual reality has been used to embody adults in the body of a 4-year-old child or a scaled-down adult body. Child embodiment was found to cause an overestimation of object sizes, approximately double that during adult embodiment, and identification of the self with child-like attributes. Here we tested the contribution of auditory cues related to one's own voice to these visually-driven effects. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, visual and auditory feedback on one's own body were varied across conditions, which included embodiment in a child or scaled-down adult body, and real (undistorted) or child-like voice feedback. The results replicated, in an older population, previous findings regarding size estimations and implicit attitudes. Further, although auditory cues were not found to enhance these effects, we show that the strength of the embodiment illusion depends on the child-like voice feedback being congruent or incongruent with the age of the virtual body. Results also showed the positive emotional impact of the illusion of owning a child's body, opening up possibilities for health applications.

  13. Neuroanthropology: Evolution and Emotional Embodiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Benjamin C.; Garcia, Justin R.

    2009-01-01

    The Decade of the Mind is a proposal for a research initiative focused on four areas of neuroscience, including mental health, high-level cognitive function, education, and computational applications. Organizing efforts to date have primarily included cognitive scientists, computer scientists, and engineers, as well as physicians. At the same time anthropologists have started to explore the implications of neuroscience for understanding culture. Here we suggest that evolutionary neuroscience can be used to bridge knowledge obtained by social scientists with that obtained in the neurosciences for a more complete appreciation of the mind. We consider such a perspective as neuroanthropology. We use embodiment, an anthropological concept that has been substantiated by recent findings in neuroscience, to illustrate an integrative biocultural approach within neuroanthropology and suggest future possible directions for research. PMID:20305748

  14. Energy densification of biomass-derived organic acids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wheeler, M. Clayton; van Walsum, G. Peter; Schwartz, Thomas J.; van Heiningen, Adriaan

    2013-01-29

    A process for upgrading an organic acid includes neutralizing the organic acid to form a salt and thermally decomposing the resulting salt to form an energy densified product. In certain embodiments, the organic acid is levulinic acid. The process may further include upgrading the energy densified product by conversion to alcohol and subsequent dehydration.

  15. The Critical Role of Self-Contact for Embodiment in Virtual Reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bovet, Sidney; Debarba, Henrique Galvan; Herbelin, Bruno; Molla, Eray; Boulic, Ronan

    2018-04-01

    With the broad range of motion capture devices available on the market, it is now commonplace to directly control the limb movement of an avatar during immersion in a virtual environment. Here, we study how the subjective experience of embodying a full-body controlled avatar is influenced by motor alteration and self-contact mismatches. Self-contact is in particular a strong source of passive haptic feedback and we assume it to bring a clear benefit in terms of embodiment. For evaluating this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulate self-contacts and the virtual hand displacement relatively to the body. We introduce these body posture transformations to experimentally reproduce the imperfect or incorrect mapping between real and virtual bodies, with the goal of quantifying the limits of acceptance for distorted mapping on the reported body ownership and agency. We first describe how we exploit egocentric coordinate representations to perform a motion capture ensuring that real and virtual hands coincide whenever the real hand is in contact with the body. Then, we present a pilot study that focuses on quantifying our sensitivity to visuo-tactile mismatches. The results are then used to design our main study with two factors, offset (for self-contact) and amplitude (for movement amplification). Our main result shows that subjects' embodiment remains important, even when an artificially amplified movement of the hand was performed, but provided that correct self-contacts are ensured.

  16. Energy-efficient and low CO{sub 2} office building

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Airaksinen, M., Email: miimu.airaksinen@vtt.fi

    2012-06-15

    Current office buildings are becoming more and more energy efficient. In particular the importance of heating is decreasing, but the share of electricity use is increasing. When the CO{sub 2} equivalent emissions are considered, the emissions from embodied energy make up an important share of the total, indicating that the building materials have a high importance which is often ignored when only the energy efficiency of running the building is considered. This paper studies a new office building in design phase. The results showed that the reduction of energy use reduces both the primary energy use and CO{sub 2} eq. emissions. Especially the reduction of electricity use has a high importance for both primary energy use and CO{sub 2} emissions when fossil fuels are used. The lowest CO{sub 2} eq. emissions were achieved when bio-based, renewable energies or nuclear power was used to supply energy for the office building. Evidently then the share of CO{sub 2} eq. emissions from the embodied energy of building materials and products became the dominant source of CO{sub 2} eq. emissions. (orig.)

  17. Embodied Censorship: Academic Writing Rituals and the Production of Belief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Edward

    2014-01-01

    As compositionists have constructed a critical discourse on whiteness, they have tacitly theorized how students' bodies can stifle efforts to both reflect on unfamiliar beliefs and critique their own beliefs. While Composition's latent theories of "embodied censorship" challenge the notion that rationality or empathy can enable…

  18. Who are we when we are doing what we are doing?: the case for mindful embodiment in ethics case consultation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frolic, Andrea

    2011-09-01

    This paper explores the theory and practice of embodied epistemology or mindful embodiment in ethics case consultation. I argue that not only is this epistemology an ethical imperative to safeguard the integrity of this emerging profession, but that it has the potential to improve the quality of ethics consultation (EC). It also has implications for how ethics consultants are trained and how consultation services are organized. My viewpoint is informed by ethnographic research and by my experimental application of mindful embodiment to the development of an ethics consultation service. My argument proceeds in four phases. First I explore the notion of 'situatedness' in the bioethics literature, identifying gaps in the field's theories as they apply to EC. I then describe my theoretical approach to embodiment grounded in critical-interpretive medical anthropology and autoethnography. I use embodiment to refer to a moral epistemology grounded in the body, comprised of the interplay of physical, symbolic, intersubjective and political elements. Third, I describe how mindful embodiment can inform the role of the ethics consultant and the development of effective training techniques, vocabularies and processes for EC. I also discuss the benefits of this orientation, and the potential harms of ignoring the embodied dimensions of EC. My goals are to expose the fallacy of the 'theory-practice gap', to demonstrate how my own EC practice is deeply informed by this theoretical orientation, and to argue for a wider definition of what 'counts' as relevant theory for ethics consultation. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  19. Embodied social interaction constitutes social cognition in pairs of humans: a minimalist virtual reality experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Froese, Tom; Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Ikegami, Takashi

    2014-01-14

    Scientists have traditionally limited the mechanisms of social cognition to one brain, but recent approaches claim that interaction also realizes cognitive work. Experiments under constrained virtual settings revealed that interaction dynamics implicitly guide social cognition. Here we show that embodied social interaction can be constitutive of agency detection and of experiencing another's presence. Pairs of participants moved their "avatars" along an invisible virtual line and could make haptic contact with three identical objects, two of which embodied the other's motions, but only one, the other's avatar, also embodied the other's contact sensor and thereby enabled responsive interaction. Co-regulated interactions were significantly correlated with identifications of the other's avatar and reports of the clearest awareness of the other's presence. These results challenge folk psychological notions about the boundaries of mind, but make sense from evolutionary and developmental perspectives: an extendible mind can offload cognitive work into its environment.

  20. Energy Savings from Optimised In-Field Route Planning for Agricultural Machinery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Efthymios Rodias

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Various types of sensors technologies, such as machine vision and global positioning system (GPS have been implemented in navigation of agricultural vehicles. Automated navigation systems have proved the potential for the execution of optimised route plans for field area coverage. This paper presents an assessment of the reduction of the energy requirements derived from the implementation of optimised field area coverage planning. The assessment regards the analysis of the energy requirements and the comparison between the non-optimised and optimised plans for field area coverage in the whole sequence of operations required in two different cropping systems: Miscanthus and Switchgrass production. An algorithmic approach for the simulation of the executed field operations by following both non-optimised and optimised field-work patterns was developed. As a result, the corresponding time requirements were estimated as the basis of the subsequent energy cost analysis. Based on the results, the optimised routes reduce the fuel energy consumption up to 8%, the embodied energy consumption up to 7%, and the total energy consumption from 3% up to 8%.

  1. The Story So Far: How Embodied Cognition Advances Our Understanding of Meaning-Making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cedric Galetzka

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Meaning-making in the brain has become one of the most intensely discussed topics in cognitive science. Traditional theories on cognition that emphasize abstract symbol manipulations often face a dead end: The symbol grounding problem. The embodiment idea tries to overcome this barrier by assuming that the mind is grounded in sensorimotor experiences. A recent surge in behavioral and brain-imaging studies has therefore focused on the role of the motor cortex in language processing. Concrete, action-related words have received convincing evidence to rely on sensorimotor activation. Abstract concepts, however, still pose a distinct challenge for embodied theories on cognition. Fully embodied abstraction mechanisms were formulated but sensorimotor activation alone seems unlikely to close the explanatory gap. In this respect, the idea of integration areas, such as convergence zones or the ‘hub and spoke’ model, do not only appear like the most promising candidates to account for the discrepancies between concrete and abstract concepts but could also help to unite the field of cognitive science again. The current review identifies milestones in cognitive science research and recent achievements that highlight fundamental challenges, key questions and directions for future research.

  2. Comparing energy technology alternatives from an environmental perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    House, P.W.; Coleman, J.A.; Shull, R.D.; Matheny, R.W.; Hock, J.C.

    1981-02-01

    A number of individuals and organizations advocate the use of comparative, formal analysis to determine which are the safest methods for producing and using energy. Some have suggested that the findings of such analyses should be the basis upon which final decisions are made about whether to actually deploy energy technologies. Some of those who support formal comparative analysis are in a position to shape the policy debate on energy and environment. An opposing viewpoint is presented, arguing that for technical reasons, analysis can provide no definitive or rationally credible answers to the question of overall safety. Analysis has not and cannot determine the sum total of damage to human welfare and ecological communities from energy technologies. Analysis has produced estimates of particular types of damage; however, it is impossible to make such estimates comparable and commensurate across different classes of technologies and environmental effects. As a result of the deficiencies, comparative analysis connot form the basis of a credible, viable energy policy. Yet, without formal comparative analysis, how can health, safety, and the natural environment be protected. This paper proposes a method for improving the Nation's approach to this problem. The proposal essentially is that health and the environment should be considered as constraints on the deployment of energy technologies, constraints that are embodied in Government regulations. Whichever technologies can function within these constraints should then compete among themselves. This competition should be based on market factors like cost and efficiency and on political factors like national security and the questions of equity

  3. The healthy ancestor: embodied inequality and the revitalization of native Hawaiian health

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    McMullin, Juliet Marie

    2010-01-01

    ..." enjoyed by the "mainstream" population. Challenging this dominant approach to indigenous health, Juliet McMullin shows how it masks more fundamental inequalities that become literally embodied in Native Americans, shifting blame...

  4. The Embodiment of Class in the Croatian VET School System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doolan, Karin; Lukic, Natalija; Bukovic, Nikola

    2016-01-01

    This article engages with the notion that schools embody social class in their structures and practices. We draw on Bourdieu's critical concept of "field" to describe the larger landscape of Croatian secondary schooling: a stratified system whose routes serve, and have served, to reinforce the maintenance of class (under)privilege. We…

  5. Under cover and close at hand: Embodied metaphor in packaging design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Te Vaarwerk, Manon C.; van Rompay, Thomas Johannes Lucas; Okken, V.S.

    2015-01-01

    Designers and marketers of consumer products aim to communicate product benefits that connect to user needs underlying purchase behavior. Visual–spatial elements portrayed by packaging design are of particular importance in this context. Inspired by theorizing and recent studies in embodied

  6. Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) and Energy Finite Element Analysis (EFEA) Predictions for a Floor-Equipped Composite Cylinder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosveld, Ferdinand W.; Schiller, Noah H.; Cabell, Randolph H.

    2011-01-01

    Comet Enflow is a commercially available, high frequency vibroacoustic analysis software founded on Energy Finite Element Analysis (EFEA) and Energy Boundary Element Analysis (EBEA). Energy Finite Element Analysis (EFEA) was validated on a floor-equipped composite cylinder by comparing EFEA vibroacoustic response predictions with Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) and experimental results. Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) predictions were made using the commercial software program VA One 2009 from ESI Group. The frequency region of interest for this study covers the one-third octave bands with center frequencies from 100 Hz to 4000 Hz.

  7. Building embodied agents that experience and express emotions

    OpenAIRE

    Bui, T.D.; Magnenat-Thalmann, N.; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Joslin, C.; Nijholt, Antinus; Kim, H.S.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we presented Obie, an embodied agent that experiences and expresses emotions. Obie has an adaptive, quantitative and domain-independent emotion component which appraises events to trigger emotions. Obie’s emotions are expressed via his utterances or his facial expressions. The expression via utterances is done by a simple mapping from emotions to text fragments. The mapping from emotions to facial expressions is done by a fuzzy rule-based system. Obie’s utterances and facial exp...

  8. Mirror Neurons, Embodied Cognitive Agents and Imitation Learning

    OpenAIRE

    Wiedermann, Jiří

    2003-01-01

    Mirror neurons are a relatively recent discovery; it has been conjectured that these neurons play an important role in imitation learning and other cognitive phenomena. We will study a possible place and role of mirror neurons in the neural architecture of embodied cognitive agents. We will formulate and investigate the hypothesis that mirror neurons serve as a mechanism which coordinates the multimodal (i.e., motor, perceptional and proprioceptive) information and completes it so that the ag...

  9. Shattering the Screen: Embodied Narrative in Digital Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Russell J. Cook

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This illustrated phenomenological inquiry into storytelling in screen media identifies important media transformations of experience. Viewers embody, or situate their experienced selves, according to screen requirements. A viewer’s compelled perspective on the screen causes fundamental spatio-temporal transformations of narrative experience, including horizontal stretching of screen space and time compression or leakage. Virtual media have the potential, as yet unrealized, to break out of the screen and to restore narrative to its primordial, experiential roots.

  10. Energy efficiency and policy in Swedish pulp and paper mills: A data envelopment analysis approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blomberg, Jerry; Henriksson, Eva; Lundmark, Robert

    2012-01-01

    The paper provides an empirical assessment of the electricity efficiency improvement potential in the Swedish pulp and paper industry by employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) and mill-specific input and output data for the years 1995, 2000 and 2005. The empirical results are discussed in relation to the reported outcomes of the Swedish voluntary energy efficiency programme PFE. The estimated electricity efficiency gap is relatively stable over the time period; it equals roughly 1 TWh per year for the sample mills and this is three times higher than the corresponding self-reported electricity savings in PFE. This result is largely a reflection of the fact that in the pulp and paper industry electricity efficiency improvements are typically embodied in the diffusion of new capital equipment, and there is a risk that some of the reported measures in PFE simply constitute an inefficient speed-up of capital turnover. The above does not preclude, though, that many other measures in PFE may have addressed some relevant market failures and barriers in the energy efficiency market. Overall the analysis suggests that future energy efficiency programs could plausibly be better targeted at explicitly promoting technological progress as well as at addressing the most important information and behaviour-related failures. - Highlights: ► We provide an empirical assessment of the electricity efficiency improvement potential in the Swedish pulp and paper industry. ► The empirical results are discussed in relation to the reported outcomes of the Swedish voluntary energy efficiency programme PFE. ► The estimated electricity efficiency gap is relatively stable over the time period and equals roughly 1 TWh for the sample mills (three times higher than the corresponding self-reported electricity savings in PFE). ► The results suggest that future energy efficiency programs could be better targeted at explicitly promoting technological progress as well as at addressing the

  11. How Language Is Embodied in Bilinguals and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Ashley M.

    2016-01-01

    This manuscript explores the role of embodied views of language comprehension and production in bilingualism and specific language impairment. Reconceptualizing popular models of bilingual language processing, the embodied theory is first extended to this area. Issues such as semantic grounding in a second language and potential differences between early and late acquisition of a second language are discussed. Predictions are made about how this theory informs novel ways of thinking about teaching a second language. Secondly, the comorbidity of speech, language, and motor impairments and how embodiment theory informs the discussion of the etiology of these impairments is examined. A hypothesis is presented suggesting that what is often referred to as specific language impairment may not be so specific due to widespread subclinical motor deficits in this population. Predictions are made about how weaknesses and instabilities in speech motor control, even at a subclinical level, may disrupt the neural network that connects acoustic input, articulatory motor plans, and semantics. Finally, I make predictions about how this information informs clinical practice for professionals such as speech language pathologists and occupational and physical therapists. These new hypotheses are placed within the larger framework of the body of work pertaining to semantic grounding, action-based language acquisition, and action-perception links that underlie language learning and conceptual grounding. PMID:27582716

  12. Characterizing first and third person viewpoints and their alternation for embodied interaction in virtual reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galvan Debarba, Henrique; Bovet, Sidney; Salomon, Roy; Blanke, Olaf; Herbelin, Bruno; Boulic, Ronan

    2017-01-01

    Empirical research on the bodily self has shown that the body representation is malleable, and prone to manipulation when conflicting sensory stimuli are presented. Using Virtual Reality (VR) we assessed the effects of manipulating multisensory feedback (full body control and visuo-tactile congruence) and visual perspective (first and third person perspective) on the sense of embodying a virtual body that was exposed to a virtual threat. We also investigated how subjects behave when the possibility of alternating between first and third person perspective at will was presented. Our results support that illusory ownership of a virtual body can be achieved in both first and third person perspectives under congruent visuo-motor-tactile condition. However, subjective body ownership and reaction to threat were generally stronger for first person perspective and alternating condition than for third person perspective. This suggests that the possibility of alternating perspective is compatible with a strong sense of embodiment, which is meaningful for the design of new embodied VR experiences.

  13. The Importance of Visual Feedback Design in BCIs; from Embodiment to Motor Imagery Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alimardani, Maryam; Nishio, Shuichi; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

    2016-01-01

    Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed and implemented in many areas as a new communication channel between the human brain and external devices. Despite their rapid growth and broad popularity, the inaccurate performance and cost of user-training are yet the main issues that prevent their application out of the research and clinical environment. We previously introduced a BCI system for the control of a very humanlike android that could raise a sense of embodiment and agency in the operators only by imagining a movement (motor imagery) and watching the robot perform it. Also using the same setup, we further discovered that the positive bias of subjects' performance both increased their sensation of embodiment and improved their motor imagery skills in a short period. In this work, we studied the shared mechanism between the experience of embodiment and motor imagery. We compared the trend of motor imagery learning when two groups of subjects BCI-operated different looking robots, a very humanlike android's hands and a pair of metallic gripper. Although our experiments did not show a significant change of learning between the two groups immediately during one session, the android group revealed better motor imagery skills in the follow up session when both groups repeated the task using the non-humanlike gripper. This result shows that motor imagery skills learnt during the BCI-operation of humanlike hands are more robust to time and visual feedback changes. We discuss the role of embodiment and mirror neuron system in such outcome and propose the application of androids for efficient BCI training.

  14. The Importance of Visual Feedback Design in BCIs; from Embodiment to Motor Imagery Learning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Alimardani

    Full Text Available Brain computer interfaces (BCIs have been developed and implemented in many areas as a new communication channel between the human brain and external devices. Despite their rapid growth and broad popularity, the inaccurate performance and cost of user-training are yet the main issues that prevent their application out of the research and clinical environment. We previously introduced a BCI system for the control of a very humanlike android that could raise a sense of embodiment and agency in the operators only by imagining a movement (motor imagery and watching the robot perform it. Also using the same setup, we further discovered that the positive bias of subjects' performance both increased their sensation of embodiment and improved their motor imagery skills in a short period. In this work, we studied the shared mechanism between the experience of embodiment and motor imagery. We compared the trend of motor imagery learning when two groups of subjects BCI-operated different looking robots, a very humanlike android's hands and a pair of metallic gripper. Although our experiments did not show a significant change of learning between the two groups immediately during one session, the android group revealed better motor imagery skills in the follow up session when both groups repeated the task using the non-humanlike gripper. This result shows that motor imagery skills learnt during the BCI-operation of humanlike hands are more robust to time and visual feedback changes. We discuss the role of embodiment and mirror neuron system in such outcome and propose the application of androids for efficient BCI training.

  15. Energy analysis program. 1994 annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Levine, M.D.

    1995-04-01

    This report provides an energy analysis overview. The following topics are described: building energy analysis; urban and energy environmental issues; appliance energy efficiency standards; utility planning and policy; energy efficiency, economics, and policy issues; and international energy and environmental issues.

  16. Embodying Skilful Performance: Co-Constituting Body and World in Biotechnology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dall'Alba, Gloria; Sandberg, Jörgen; Sidhu, Ravinder Kaur

    2018-01-01

    This article offers a philosophical-empirical account of embodied skilful performance in the practice of plant biotechnology. Drawing on the work of Merleau-Ponty and others, we elaborate how skilful performance emerges from and through reciprocal relations encompassing the body-in-the-world and the world-in-the-body. The contribution of this…

  17. The perception of animacy and intelligence based on a robot's embodiment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bartneck, C.; Kanda, T.; Mubin, O.; Al Mahmud, A.

    2007-01-01

    Robots exhibit life-like behavior by performing intelligent actions. To enhance human-robot interaction it is necessary to investigate and understand how end-users perceive such animate behavior. In this paper, we report an experiment to investigate how people perceived different robot embodiments

  18. A journey toward wholeness, a journey to God: physical fitness as embodied spirituality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenwood, Tracey C; Delgado, Teresa

    2013-09-01

    Physical fitness expressed through exercise can be, if done with the right intention, a form of spiritual discipline that reflects the relational love of humanity to God as well as an expression of a healthy love of the embodied self. Through an analysis of the physiological benefits of exercise science applied to the human body, this paper will demonstrate how such attention to the optimal physical fitness of the body, including weight and cardiovascular training and nutrition, is an affirmation of three foundational theological principles of human embodiment: as created in the "imago Dei", as unified body/spirit, and as part of God's creation calling for proper stewardship. In a contemporary climate where women's bodies in particular are viewed through the lens of commodification-as visual objects for sale based on prescribed notions of superficial esthetics and beauty-as well as the consistently high rates of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and obesity, authors Greenwood and Delgado offer a vision of how women and men can imagine a subjective relationship with their own bodies that reflects the abundant love of God for God's creation. Spoken from the lived experience of professional fitness competitor and trainer, as well as trained biokineticist, Dr. Greenwood presents the most current scientific data in the field of biokinetics that grounds the theological analysis offered by Dr. Delgado, whose personal journey through anorexia and scholarly emphasis on Christian theological anthropology inform this work. Taken together, Greenwood and Delgado suggest a response to God's love for humanity, including our physical bodily humanity, which entails a responsibility to attend to the physical fitness of our bodies in order to live into the fullness, flourishing and love of God's creation as God intended.

  19. Clinical reasoning-embodied meaning-making in physiotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chowdhury, Anoop; Bjorbækmo, Wenche Schrøder

    2017-07-01

    This article examines physiotherapists' lived experience of practicing physiotherapy in primary care, focusing on clinical reasoning and decision-making in the case of a patient we call Eva. The material presented derives from a larger study involving two women participants, both with a protracted history of neck and shoulder pain. A total of eight sessions, all of them conducted by the first author, a professional physiotherapist, in his own practice room, were videotaped, after which the first author transcribed the sessions and added reflective notes. One session emerged as particularly stressful for both parties and is explored in detail in this article. In our analysis, we seek to be attentive to the experiences of physiotherapy displayed and to explore their meaning, significance and uniqueness from a phenomenological perspective. Our research reveals the complexity of integrating multiple theoretical perspectives of practice in clinical decision-making and suggests that a phenomenological perspective can provide insights into clinical encounters through its recognition of embodied knowledge. We argue that good physiotherapy practice demands tactfulness, sensitivity, and the desire to build a cooperative patient-therapist relationship. Informed by theoretical and practical knowledge from multiple disciplines, patient management can evolve and unfold beyond rehearsed routines and theoretical principles.

  20. Sensitivity to Social Contingency in Adults with High-Functioning Autism during Computer-Mediated Embodied Interaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata-Fonseca, Leonardo; Froese, Tom; Schilbach, Leonhard; Vogeley, Kai; Timmermans, Bert

    2018-02-08

    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be understood as a social interaction disorder. This makes the emerging "second-person approach" to social cognition a more promising framework for studying ASD than classical approaches focusing on mindreading capacities in detached, observer-based arrangements. According to the second-person approach, embodied, perceptual, and embedded or interactive capabilities are also required for understanding others, and these are hypothesized to be compromised in ASD. We therefore recorded the dynamics of real-time sensorimotor interaction in pairs of control participants and participants with High-Functioning Autism (HFA), using the minimalistic human-computer interface paradigm known as "perceptual crossing" (PC). We investigated whether HFA is associated with impaired detection of social contingency, i.e., a reduced sensitivity to the other's responsiveness to one's own behavior. Surprisingly, our analysis reveals that, at least under the conditions of this highly simplified, computer-mediated, embodied form of social interaction, people with HFA perform equally well as controls. This finding supports the increasing use of virtual reality interfaces for helping people with ASD to better compensate for their social disabilities. Further dynamical analyses are necessary for a better understanding of the mechanisms that are leading to the somewhat surprising results here obtained.