Behavioural responses to human-induced environmental change.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuomainen, Ulla; Candolin, Ulrika

2011-08-01

The initial response of individuals to human-induced environmental change is often behavioural. This can improve the performance of individuals under sudden, large-scale perturbations and maintain viable populations. The response can also give additional time for genetic changes to arise and, hence, facilitate adaptation to new conditions. On the other hand, maladaptive responses, which reduce individual fitness, may occur when individuals encounter conditions that the population has not experienced during its evolutionary history, which can decrease population viability. A growing number of studies find human disturbances to induce behavioural responses, both directly and by altering factors that influence fitness. Common causes of behavioural responses are changes in the transmission of information, the concentration of endocrine disrupters, the availability of resources, the possibility of dispersal, and the abundance of interacting species. Frequent responses are alterations in habitat choice, movements, foraging, social behaviour and reproductive behaviour. Behavioural responses depend on the genetically determined reaction norm of the individuals, which evolves over generations. Populations first respond with individual behavioural plasticity, whereafter changes may arise through innovations and the social transmission of behavioural patterns within and across generations, and, finally, by evolution of the behavioural response over generations. Only a restricted number of species show behavioural adaptations that make them thrive in severely disturbed environments. Hence, rapid human-induced disturbances often decrease the diversity of native species, while facilitating the spread of invasive species with highly plastic behaviours. Consequently, behavioural responses to human-induced environmental change can have profound effects on the distribution, adaptation, speciation and extinction of populations and, hence, on biodiversity. A better understanding of

Gender differences in children's problem behaviours in competitive play with friends.

Science.gov (United States)

Ensor, Rosie; Hart, Martha; Jacobs, Lorna; Hughes, Claire

2011-06-01

Disruptive behaviour disorders are much more common in boys than girls (Office of National Statistics, 1999); in contrast, gender differences in normative problem behaviours are poorly understood. To address this issue, 228 6-year-olds (134 boys, 94 girls) were each observed playing a board game with a same-gender friend. Ratings of aggression, disruption, arousal and negativity were used to index problem behaviours. Multiple-groups confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the latent factor had the same metric for boys and girls, but a mean that was approximately half a standard deviation higher for boys than girls. In addition, the association between the latent factor and teachers' ratings of total difficulties was significantly stronger for boys than girls.

The Relationship between Robot's Nonverbal Behaviour and Human's Likability Based on Human's Personality.

Science.gov (United States)

Thepsoonthorn, Chidchanok; Ogawa, Ken-Ichiro; Miyake, Yoshihiro

2018-05-30

At current state, although robotics technology has been immensely developed, the uncertainty to completely engage in human-robot interaction is still growing among people. Many current studies then started to concern about human factors that might influence human's likability like human's personality, and found that compatibility between human's and robot's personality (expressions of personality characteristics) can enhance human's likability. However, it is still unclear whether specific means and strategy of robot's nonverbal behaviours enhances likability from human with different personality traits and whether there is a relationship between robot's nonverbal behaviours and human's likability based on human's personality. In this study, we investigated and focused on the interaction via gaze and head nodding behaviours (mutual gaze convergence and head nodding synchrony) between introvert/extravert participants and robot in two communication strategies (Backchanneling and Turn-taking). Our findings reveal that the introvert participants are positively affected by backchanneling in robot's head nodding behaviour, which results in substantial head nodding synchrony whereas the extravert participants are positively influenced by turn-taking in gaze behaviour, which leads to significant mutual gaze convergence. This study demonstrates that there is a relationship between robot's nonverbal behaviour and human's likability based on human's personality.

Understanding behavioural intention to play online game: The case of VocBlast

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Z.

2018-04-01

Research has shown that mobile learning enables its users to learn at any time and place. The current study investigates the use of VocBlast; an app that integrates technical and engineering vocabulary, in terms of understanding the behavioural intention of its players. The study employs 129 engineering and technical students from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). Online survey was used to collect their opinions; in particular male and female students’ opinions on the use of the app in the future. The results of the study indicated that there was no significant difference pertaining to their behavioural intention using VocBlast in the course of time. The study implies that more time needs to be given to the students in playing VocBlast as it is believed that playing the game repetitively would promote positive perceptions among its players.

Imitating human playing styles in Super Mario Bros

OpenAIRE

Ortega, Juan; Shaker, Noor; Togelius, Julian; Yannakakis, Georgios N.

2013-01-01

We describe and compare several methods for generating game character controllers that mimic the playing style of a particular human player, or of a population of human players, across video game levels. Similarity in playing style is measured through an evaluation framework, that compares the play trace of one or several human players with the punctuated play trace of an AI player. The methods that are compared are either hand-coded, direct (based on supervised learning) or...

Playing with food. A novel approach to understanding nutritional behaviour development.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Meghan

2010-06-01

This study explored the use of a novel method of collecting data on nutritional behaviour development in young children: videos posted on the Internet site YouTube. YouTube videos (n=115) of children alone and interacting with parents in toy kitchen settings were analyzed using constant comparison analysis. Results revealed that in the videos of play nutritional behaviours, children showed influences of their real social environments, and that this medium enabled the observation of parent-child interactions in a more natural context without the researcher's presence. These findings encourage further research in the development and validity of alternative methods of data collection. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Exploratory Case Study of Young Children's Interactive Play Behaviours with a Non-English Speaking Child

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joohi; Md-Yunus, Sham'ah; Son, Won In; Meadows, Michelle

2009-01-01

This study is an examination of preschool-age English speaking children's interactive play behaviours with a non-English speaking child (NEC). The play types of a NEC were reported using the Parten's categories of solitary, parallel and interactive play. In addition, English-speaking children's interactive play with a NEC were reported in this…

Mechanisms of change in human behaviour

OpenAIRE

Marchal, Paul; Bartelings, Heleen; Bastardie, François; Batsleer, Jurgen; Delaney, Alyne; Girardin, Raphael; Gloaguen, Pierre; Hamon, Katell; Hoefnagel, Ellen; Jouanneau, Charlène; Mahevas, Stephanie; Nielsen, Rasmus; Piwowarczyk, Joanna; Poos, Jan-jaap; Schulze, Torsten

2014-01-01

The scope of this report is to present the science developed within the VECTORS project to improve the understanding of the key processes driving the behaviour of human agents utilising a variety of EU maritime domains. While particular attention has been paid to the spatial interactions between fishing activities and other human uses (e.g., maritime traffic, offshore wind parks, aggregate extractions), the behaviour of non-fishing sectors of activity has also been considered. Various quantit...

Play and optimal welfare: Does play indicate the presence of positive affective states?

Science.gov (United States)

Ahloy-Dallaire, Jamie; Espinosa, Julia; Mason, Georgia

2017-11-16

Play is commonly used to assess affective states in both humans and non-human animals. Play appears to be most common when animals are well-fed and not under any direct threats to fitness. Could play and playfulness therefore indicate pre-existing positive emotions, and thence optimal animal welfare? We examine this question by surveying the internal and external conditions that promote or suppress play in a variety of species, starting with humans. We find that negative affective states and poor welfare usually do suppress play (although there are notable exceptions where the opposite occurs). Furthermore, research in children suggests that beyond the frequency or total duration of play, poor welfare may additionally be reflected in qualitative aspects of this heterogeneous behaviour (e.g. display of solitary over social play; and the 'fragmentation' of play bouts) that are often overlooked in animals. There are surprisingly few studies of play in subjects with pre-existing optimal welfare or in unambiguously highly positive affective states, making it currently impossible to determine whether play can distinguish optimal or good welfare from merely neutral welfare. This therefore represents an important and exciting area for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Comparison of the Interactive Play Behaviours between Children with Albinism and Their Siblings and Children without Albinism and Their Non-Albino Siblings

Science.gov (United States)

Javangwe, Gwatirera; Mukondyo, Rachel Z.

2012-01-01

The study explored the nature of the interactive play behaviours of children with albinism and children without albinism and compared the interactive behaviours of both children with albinism and children without albinism. Naturalistic observations were conducted during periods of free play, using the interactive play behaviour checklist aided by…

Human behaviour in tunnels: what further steps to take?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martens, Marieke Hendrikje; Jenssen, G.D.; Ingason, Haukur; Lönnermark, Anders

2012-01-01

Tunnel safety, especially in case of fires, has received a lot of attention due to heavy disasters. However, much attention is paid to controlling and extinguishing the fire, and not so much on the role of human behaviour. In this case, human behaviour includes the behaviour of road users, rail

The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaller, Mark

2011-12-12

Because immunological defence against pathogens is costly and merely reactive, human anti-pathogen defence is also characterized by proactive behavioural mechanisms that inhibit contact with pathogens in the first place. This behavioural immune system comprises psychological processes that infer infection risk from perceptual cues, and that respond to these perceptual cues through the activation of aversive emotions, cognitions and behavioural impulses. These processes are engaged flexibly, producing context-contingent variation in the nature and magnitude of aversive responses. These processes have important implications for human social cognition and social behaviour-including implications for social gregariousness, person perception, intergroup prejudice, mate preferences, sexual behaviour and conformity. Empirical evidence bearing on these many implications is reviewed and discussed. This review also identifies important directions for future research on the human behavioural immune system--including the need for enquiry into underlying mechanisms, additional behavioural consequences and implications for human health and well-being.

Influence of the relative humidity and the temperature on the in-vivo friction behaviour of human skin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaassen, M.; Schipper, D. J.; Masen, M.A.

2016-01-01

Both temperature and relative humidity are known to influence the frictional behaviour of human skin. However, literature does not completely cover to what extent both parameters play a role. Measurements were conducted using an in-house built reciprocating tribometer inside an enclosure in which

Understanding and changing human behaviour--antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate modification of provider and consumer behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Stålsby Lundborg, Cecilia; Tamhankar, Ashok J

2014-05-01

This paper addresses: 1) Situations where human behaviour is involved in relation to antibiotics, focusing on providers and consumers; 2) Theories about human behaviour and factors influencing behaviour in relation to antibiotics; 3) How behaviour in relation to antibiotics can change; and, 4) Antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate changes in human behaviour as regards antibiotics. Influencing human behaviour in relation to antibiotics is a complex process which includes factors like knowledge, attitudes, social norms, socio-economic conditions, peer pressure, experiences, and bio-physical and socio-behavioural environment. Further, key concepts are often perceived in different ways by different individuals. While designing and implementing projects or programmes for behavioural change with respect to antibiotics for professionals or consumers it is helpful to consider theories or models of behaviour change, e.g. the 'stages of change model', including pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. People in different stages of change are susceptible to different behaviour modification strategies. Application of marketing principles to 'global good', so-called 'social marketing', to improve 'welfare of the individual and society' is gaining increased attention in public health. In conclusion, just providing correct knowledge is not sufficient although it is a pre-requisite for behaviour modification in the desired direction. We can never change the behaviour of any other human, but we can facilitate for others to change their own behaviour. One possibility is to implement 'antibiotic mainstreaming' as a potentially effective way for behaviour modification, i.e. to address consequences for maintaining effective antibiotics in all activities and decisions in society.

Humpback Dolphin (Genus Sousa) Behavioural Responses to Human Activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Piwetz, Sarah; Lundquist, David; Würsig, Bernd

2015-01-01

Humpback dolphins (genus Sousa) use shallow, near-shore waters throughout their range. This coastal distribution makes them vulnerable to recreational and commercial disturbances, especially near heavily populated and industrialized areas. Most research focusing on Sousa and human activities has emphasized direct impacts and threats, involving injury and death, with relatively little focus on indirect effects on dolphins, such as changes in behaviour that may lead to deleterious effects. Understanding behaviour is important in resolving human-wildlife conflict and is an important component of conservation. This chapter gives an overview of animal behavioural responses to human activity with examples from diverse taxa; reviews the scientific literature on behavioural responses of humpback dolphins to human activity throughout their range, including marine vessel traffic, dolphin tourism, cetacean-fishery interactions, noise pollution, and habitat alteration; and highlights information and data gaps for future humpback dolphin research to better inform behaviour-based management decisions that contribute to conservation efforts. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

[Affective behavioural responses by dogs to tactile human-dog interactions].

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhne, Franziska; Hössler, Johanna C; Struwe, Rainer

2012-01-01

The communication of dogs is based on complex, subtle body postures and facial expressions. Some social interaction between dogs includes physical contact. Humans generally use both verbal and tactile signals to communicate with dogs. Hence, interaction between humans and dogs might lead to conflicts because the behavioural responses of dogs to human-dog interaction may be misinterpreted and wrongly assessed. The behavioural responses of dogs to tactile human-dog interactions and human gestures are the focus of this study. The participating dogs (n = 47) were privately owned pets.They were of varying breed and gender.The test consisted of nine randomised test sequences (e. g. petting the dog's head or chest). A test sequence was performed for a period of 30 seconds. The inter-trial interval was set at 60 seconds and the test-retest interval was set at 10 minutes. The frequency and duration of the dogs'behavioural responses were recorded using INTERACT. To examine the behavioural responses of the dogs, a two-way analysis of variance within the linear mixed models procedure of IBM SPSS Statistics 19 was conducted. A significant influence of the test-sequenc order on the dogs' behaviour could be analysed for appeasement gestures (F8,137 = 2.42; p = 0.018), redirected behaviour (F8,161 = 6.31; p = 0.012) and socio-positive behaviour (F8,148 = 6.28; p = 0.012). The behavioural responses of the dogs, which were considered as displacement activities (F8,109 = 2.5; p = 0.014) differed significantly among the test sequences. The response of the dogs, measured as gestures of appeasement, redirected behaviours, and displacement activities, was most obvious during petting around the head and near the paws.The results of this study conspicuously indicate that dogs respond to tactile human-dog interactions with gestures of appeasement and displacement activities. Redirected behaviours, socio-positive behaviours as well displacement activities are behavioural responses which dogs

FCJ-175 Humans at play in the Anthropocene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Troy Innocent

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The arrival of the Anthropocene recognises the significant global impact of human activity on the Earth’s ecosystems. Building on Huizingia’s understanding of the relationship between play and culture, this essay explores the role that play could have in survival strategies or to provide awareness of the impact of human processes in the Anthropocene. In this worldview, play has a primary function in culture through its role in modelling modes of human survival: simulation is good tool for understanding the impact of systems on the world; play enables the possibility to become adaptive and ‘hack’ the world as conditions change; and lastly, play suggests that a changed philosophical perspective may offer an evolutionary edge for survival in a changing world. Drawing on Lévy, Bogost, Harman and Parikka strategies for play are explored using micronations and pervasive games; demonstrated and illustrated by analysis of games from recent experience within the Micronation of Ludea.

Implications of the behavioural immune system for social behaviour and human health in the modern world.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaller, Mark; Murray, Damian R; Bangerter, Adrian

2015-05-26

The 'behavioural immune system' is composed of mechanisms that evolved as a means of facilitating behaviours that minimized infection risk and enhanced fitness. Recent empirical research on human populations suggests that these mechanisms have unique consequences for many aspects of human sociality--including sexual attitudes, gregariousness, xenophobia, conformity to majority opinion and conservative sociopolitical attitudes. Throughout much of human evolutionary history, these consequences may have had beneficial health implications; but health implications in modern human societies remain unclear. This article summarizes pertinent ways in which modern human societies are similar to and different from the ecologies within which the behavioural immune system evolved. By attending to these similarities and differences, we identify a set of plausible implications-both positive and negative-that the behavioural immune system may have on health outcomes in contemporary human contexts. We discuss both individual-level infection risk and population-level epidemiological outcomes. We also discuss a variety of additional implications, including compliance with public health policies, the adoption of novel therapeutic interventions and actual immunological functioning. Research on the behavioural immune system, and its implications in contemporary human societies, can provide unique insights into relationships between fitness, sociality and health. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Imitating human playing styles in Super Mario Bros

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ortega, Juan; Shaker, Noor; Togelius, Julian

2012-01-01

We describe and compare several methods for generating game character controllers that mimic the playing style of a particular human player, or of a population of human players, across video game levels. Similarity in playing style is measured through an evaluation framework, that compares the play...... trace of one or several human players with the punctuated play trace of an AI player. The methods that are compared are either hand-coded, direct (based on supervised learning) or indirect (based on maximising a similarity measure). We find that a method based on neuroevolution performs best both...... in terms of the instrumental similarity measure and in phenomenological evaluation by human spectators. A version of the classic platform game “Super Mario Bros” is used as the testbed game in this study but the methods are applicable to other games that are based on character movement in space....

Ontogenetic trajectories of chimpanzee social play: similarities with humans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giada Cordoni

Full Text Available Social play, a widespread phenomenon in mammals, is a multifunctional behavior, which can have many different roles according to species, sex, age, relationship quality between playmates, group membership, context, and habitat. Play joins and cuts across a variety of disciplines leading directly to inquiries relating to individual developmental changes and species adaptation, thus the importance of comparative studies appears evident. Here, we aim at proposing a possible ontogenetic pathway of chimpanzee play (Pan troglodytes and contrast our data with those of human play. Chimpanzee play shows a number of changes from infancy to juvenility. Particularly, solitary and social play follows different developmental trajectories. While solitary play peaks in infancy, social play does not show any quantitative variation between infancy and juvenility but shows a strong qualitative variation in complexity, asymmetry, and playmate choice. Like laughter in humans, the playful expressions in chimpanzees (at the different age phases seem to have a role in advertising cooperative dispositions and intentions thus increasing the likelihood of engaging in solid social relationships. In conclusion, in chimpanzees, as in humans, both play behavior and the signals that accompany play serve multiple functions according to the different age phases.

A methodology for modelling energy-related human behaviour: Application to window opening behaviour in residential buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fabi, Valentina; Andersen, Rune Korsholm; Corgnati, Stefano P.

2013-01-01

that affect the results accuracy. Above all, the real energy performance can be affected by the actual behaviour of the building occupants. Thus, there are great benefits to be derived from improving models that simulate the behaviour of human beings within the context of engineered complex systems...... for modelling the human behaviour related to the control of indoor environment. The procedure is applied at models of occupants’ interactions with windows (opening and closing behaviour). Models of occupants’ window opening behaviour were inferred based on measurements and implemented in a simulation program......An energy simulation of a building is a mathematical representation of its physical behaviour considering all the thermal, lighting, acoustics aspects. However, a simulation cannot precisely replicate a real construction because all the simulations are based on a number of key assumptions...

Effects of playing video games on perceptions of one's humanity.

Science.gov (United States)

Greitemeyer, Tobias

2013-01-01

According to self-perception theory, individuals infer their characteristics by observing their own behavior. In the present research, the hypothesis is examined whether helping behavior increases perceptions of one's own humanity even when help is given that does not benefit a real person. In fact, two studies revealed that playing a prosocial video game (where the goal is to help and care for other game characters) led to increased perceptions of the player's own humanity (in particular, for positive humanity traits). Results also revealed that playing a violent, relative to a neutral, video game decreased perceptions of humanity on positive humanity traits and increased perceptions of humanity on negative humanity traits. Taken together, it appears that being helpful while playing video games leads to the perception of being more human, whereas being harmful while playing video games leads players to perceive themselves negatively.

Comparison of the chemical behaviour of humanized ACMS VS. Human IGG radiolabeled with 99mTc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rivero Santamaria, Alejandro; Zayas Crespo, Francisco; Mesa Duennas, Niurka; Castillo Vitloch, Adolfo J.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this work is to compare the chemical behaviour of humanized AcMs vs. human IgG radiolabeled with 99 mTc. to this end, 3 immunoglobulins were analyzed, the IgG (human), the humanized monoclonal antibody R3 (Acm-R3h) and the humanized monoclonal antibody T1. The results obtained reveal slight differences as regards the behaviour of theses immunoglobulins before the labelling with 99T c, which shows differences in the chemical behaviour of these proteins. Although in theory the modifications that are made to the AcMs in order to humanize them must not affect their chemical behaviour, the obtained data indicate that the conditions for their radiolabelling should not be extrapolated from other proteins; on the contrary, particular procedures should be elaborated for each AcM-h

The neurobiology of social play and its rewarding value in rats

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderschuren, Louk J.M.J.; Achterberg, E.J. Marijke; Trezza, Viviana

2016-01-01

In the young of many mammalian species, including humans, a vigorous and highly rewarding social activity is abundantly expressed, known as social play behaviour. Social play is thought to be important for the development of social, cognitive and emotional processes and their neural underpinnings, and it is disrupted in pediatric psychiatric disorders. Here, we summarize recent progress in our understanding of the brain mechanisms of social play behaviour, with a focus on its rewarding properties. Opioid, endocannabinoid, dopamine and noradrenaline systems play a prominent role in the modulation of social play. Of these, dopamine is particularly important for the motivational properties of social play. The nucleus accumbens has been identified as a key site for opioid and dopamine modulation of social play. Endocannabinoid influences on social play rely on the basolateral amygdala, whereas noradrenaline modulates social play through the basolateral amygdala, habenula and prefrontal cortex. In sum, social play behaviour is the result of coordinated activity in a network of corticolimbic structures, and its monoamine, opioid and endocannabinoid innervation. PMID:27587003

Prenatal phthalate exposure and reduced masculine play in boys.

Science.gov (United States)

Swan, S H; Liu, F; Hines, M; Kruse, R L; Wang, C; Redmon, J B; Sparks, A; Weiss, B

2010-04-01

Foetal exposure to antiandrogens alters androgen-sensitive development in male rodents, resulting in less male-typical behaviour. Foetal phthalate exposure is also associated with male reproductive development in humans, but neurodevelopmental outcomes have seldom been examined in relation to phthalate exposure. To assess play behaviour in relation to phthalate metabolite concentration in prenatal urine samples, we recontacted participants in the Study for Future Families whose phthalate metabolites had been measured in mid-pregnancy urine samples. Mothers completed a questionnaire including the Pre-School Activities Inventory, a validated instrument used to assess sexually dimorphic play behaviour. We examined play behaviour scores (masculine, feminine and composite) in relationship to (log(10)) phthalate metabolite concentrations in mother's urine separately for boys (N = 74) and girls (N = 71). Covariates (child's age, mother's age and education and parental attitude towards atypical play choices) were controlled using multivariate regression models. Concentrations of dibutyl phthalate metabolites, mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP) and mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP) and their sum, were associated with a decreased (less masculine) composite score in boys (regression coefficients -4.53,-3.61 and -4.20, p = 0.01, 0.07 and 0.04 for MnBP, MiBP and their sum respectively). Concentrations of two urinary metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) and mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) and the sum of these DEHP metabolites plus mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate were associated with a decreased masculine score (regression coefficients -3.29,-2.94 and -3.18, p = 0.02, 0.04 and 0.04) for MEHHP, MEOHP and the sum respectively. No strong associations were seen between behaviour and urinary concentrations of any other phthalate metabolites in boys, or between girls' scores and any metabolites. These data, although based on

Play therapy for a boy with emotional/behavioural problems: the therapist’s working experience with the child

OpenAIRE

Salles, Andréia Mansk Boone; Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo

2015-01-01

Play therapy offers children the opportunity to “play out” their intensive feelings, conflicts and issues in a constructive atmosphere, and with a sense of safety and acceptance given to them by the play therapist. Bering this in mind, the therapist employed Non-Directive Play Therapy approach during 31 sessions of 45 minutes each with a nine-years-old boy who was exhibiting emotional/behavioural problems at school. The client’s psychotherapeutic process is presented divided in three stages: ...

The neurobiology of social play and its rewarding value in rats

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanderschuren, Louk J M J; Achterberg, E J Marijke; Trezza, Viviana

2016-01-01

In the young of many mammalian species, including humans, a vigorous and highly rewarding social activity is abundantly expressed, known as social play behaviour. Social play is thought to be important for the development of social, cognitive and emotional processes and their neural underpinnings,

Playing with Gladys: A case study integrating drama therapy with behavioural interventions for the treatment of selective mutism.

Science.gov (United States)

Oon, Phei Phei

2010-04-01

This case study examines an integrative approach combining drama therapy and the behavioural skill "shaping", as offered to Gladys, a 5-year-old girl diagnosed with selective mutism. This study found that shaping, when implemented in the context of play, with play as the primary reinforcer, elicited from Gladys vocalization and eventually speech within a very short time. Her vocalizations allowed her to enter dramatic play, which in turn propelled spontaneous speech. This article looks at how the three elements of dramatherapy - the playspace, role-playing and dramatic projection - brought about therapeutic changes for Gladys. Aside from spontaneous speech, Gladys also developed positive self-esteem and a heightened sense of spontaneity. Subsequently, these two qualities helped her generalize her speech to new settings on her own. Gladys's newly harnessed spontaneity further helped her become more sociable and resilient.This study advances the possibility of integrating a behavioural skill with drama therapy for the therapeutic benefits of a child with an anxiety-related condition like selective mutism.

Technical energy savings versus changes in human behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard, Jørgen

1996-01-01

Energy savings seems to be the most environmentally benign element in an energy policy. The paper is a reflection on the work on saving energy both by improving technology and by adapting human daily behaviour. A simple model is suggested for the energy chain which converts the primary energy all...... the way into human satisfaction via energy services. Results of various analyses and field experiments show saving potentials for electricity of 50 - 80 per cents. Barriers for implementing these technical saving options are discussed. Also the necessity and potentials for changing behavioural or life...

The Impact of Speed of Play in Gambling on Psychological and Behavioural Factors: A Critical Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Andrew; Griffiths, Mark D

2018-06-01

Conceptually, there is a common association between gambling games with fast speeds of play and problem gambling. This relationship however, is largely correlational in nature, which comes at the expense of carefully controlled empirical investigation. Research that does exist aimed towards investigating the impact of gambling speeds on psychological and behavioural factors, is in its relative infancy, and the research possesses disparate methodologies and variables of interest. The aims of the current review is therefore to evaluate and summarise the existing body of evidence relating to speed of play in gambling, as well as discuss how this evidence can be used to inform harm minimisation approaches aimed at facilitating self-control during gambling. Eleven studies were selected for review based on the inclusion criteria, comprising nine experimental and two qualitative studies (one self-report focus group study and one observational study). There was a consistent finding across studies that games with faster speeds of play were preferred and rated as more exciting for all gamblers, ranging from non-problem to problem gamblers. Of concern, was the repeated finding that fast games are particularly appealing to those suffering with a gambling problem. Behavioural results were more inconsistent across studies, though the general trend supports the notion that games with faster speeds of play encourage more wagers, longer game play, and caused players, particularly problem gamblers, to experience difficulty in ceasing gambling. The implications of these findings for gambling policy, harm minimisation approaches, and future research are discussed.

Escape behaviour of birds in urban parks and cemeteries across Europe: Evidence of behavioural adaptation to human activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Morelli, Federico; Mikula, Peter; Benedetti, Yanina; Bussière, Raphaël; Jerzak, Leszek; Tryjanowski, Piotr

2018-08-01

Urban environments are very heterogeneous, and birds living in the proximity of humans have to adapt to local conditions, e.g. by changing their behavioural response to potential predators. In this study, we tested whether the escape distance of birds (measured as flight initiation distance; FID) differed between parks and cemeteries, areas characterized by different microhabitat conditions and human conduct, that are determinants of animal behaviour at large spatial scales. While escape behaviour of park populations of birds was often examined, cemetery populations have not been studied to the same extent and a large-scale comparison is still missing. Overall, we collected 2139 FID estimates for 44 bird species recorded in 79 parks and 90 cemeteries in four European countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy and Poland. Mixed model procedure was applied to study escape behaviour in relation to type of area (park or cemetery), environmental characteristics (area size, coverage by trees, shrubs, grass, chapels, tombstones, flowerbeds, number of street lamps) and human activity (human density, pedestrians speed and ratio of men/women). Birds allowed people closer in cemeteries than in parks in all countries. This pattern was persistent even when focusing on intraspecific differences in FID between populations of the most common bird species. Escape distance of birds was negatively correlated with the size of parks/cemeteries, while positively associated with tombstone coverage and human density in both types of habitat. Our findings highlight the ability of birds to adapt their behaviour to different types of urban areas, based on local environmental conditions, including the character of human-bird interactions. Our results also suggest that this behavioural pattern may be widespread across urban landscapes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is aggression in children with behavioural and emotional difficulties associated with television viewing and video game playing? A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitrofan, O; Paul, M; Spencer, N

2009-01-01

Possible associations between television viewing and video game playing and children's aggression have become public health concerns. We did a systematic review of studies that examined such associations, focussing on children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties, who are thought to be more susceptible. We did computer-assisted searches of health and social science databases, gateways, publications from relevant organizations and for grey literature; scanned bibliographies; hand-searched key journals; and corresponded with authors. We critically appraised all studies. A total of 12 studies: three experiments with children with behavioural and emotional difficulties found increased aggression after watching aggressive as opposed to low-aggressive content television programmes, one found the opposite and two no clear effect, one found such children no more likely than controls to imitate aggressive television characters. One case-control study and one survey found that children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties watched more television than controls; another did not. Two studies found that children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties viewed more hours of aggressive television programmes than controls. One study on video game use found that young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties viewed more minutes of violence and played longer than controls. In a qualitative study children with behavioural and emotional difficulties, but not their parents, did not associate watching television with aggression. All studies had significant methodological flaws. None was based on power calculations. This systematic review found insufficient, contradictory and methodologically flawed evidence on the association between television viewing and video game playing and aggression in children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties. If public health advice is to be evidence

Human behaviour in PSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schott, H.

1999-01-01

Based on the current international state of the art of methodology for evaluation of human errors for PSA, many research projects have been initiated by the competent departments of the BMU and the BfS (Federal Min. of the Environment and Reactor Safety, Federal Radiation Protection Office). Three major areas of the research activities are discussed: Database: - Specific investigations into the applicability of generic data (THERP) to other than the original cases, possibly elaboration of approaches for application-specific modification, further evaluation of operating results; - general enhancement of insight into human performance and errors, e.g. with respect to causes of error and application areas (influence of organisation, cognitive performance); interviews with experts as a supplementary approach for data verification and database enhancement. Sensitivity analysis: - Identification of information describing human errors essentially contributing to frequency of occurrence of incidents and system non-availability; - establishment of relevance rating system, methodology for uncertainty analysis. Further development of methodology: - Modelling of repair activities and knowledge-based behaviour. (orig./CB) [de

Exploring the effects of playing formations on tactical behaviour and external workload during football small-sided games.

Science.gov (United States)

Baptista, Jorge; Travassos, Bruno; Gonçalves, Bruno; Mourão, Paulo; Viana, João L; Sampaio, Jaime

2018-01-04

This study aimed to identify the effects of playing formations on tactical behaviour and external workload during football small-sided games. Twenty-three semi-professional footballers integrated three different playing formations in a 7-a-side small-sided game, according to their specific player positions: team 4:3:0 (4 defenders, 3 midfielders); team 4:1:2 (4 defenders, 1 midfielder, 2 forwards); and team 0:4:3 (4 midfielders, 3 forwards). Based on players' movement trajectories, the following individual and collective tactical variables were calculated: total distance covered and distance covered while walking, jogging, running and sprinting, distance from each player to both own and opponent's team centroid (Dist CG and Dist OPP CG, respectively), individual area, team length, team width and surface area. Approximate entropy (ApEn) was computed to identify the regularity of each variable. The team 4:3:0 promoted players' space exploration with moderate physical efforts. The team 4:1:2 promoted compactness and regularity of the team with increase in the physical efforts. The team 0:4:3 promoted team balance and adaptability on space coverage with increase in physical efforts. Concluding, different playing formations support different game dynamics, and variations on external load were directly linked with the variations on tactical behaviour. The analysis tactical behaviour through quantification of variability of patterns of play and quantification of distance covered at different velocities were the most useful information for the analysis of the effects of practice task manipulations. Therefore, in a practical sense, strength and conditioning coaches should plan and monitor these tasks in interaction with the head coaches.

The effect of oxytocin on human-directed social behaviour in dogs (Canis familiaris).

Science.gov (United States)

Kis, Anna; Ciobica, Alin; Topál, József

2017-08-01

The oxytocin system has recently received increasing attention due to its effect on complex human behaviours. In parallel to this, over the past couple of decades, the human-analogue social behaviour of dogs has been intensively studied. Combining these two lines of research (e.g. studying the relationship between dog social behaviour and the oxytocin system) is a promising new research area. The present paper reviews the existing literature on how oxytocin is related to different aspects of human-directed social behaviour in dogs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The dorsal striatum and ventral striatum play different roles in the programming of social behaviour: a tribute to Lex Cools.

Science.gov (United States)

van den Bos, Ruud

2015-02-01

Early work by Lex Cools suggested that the caudate nucleus (dorsal striatum) plays a role in programming social behaviour: enhanced activity in the caudate nucleus increased the extent to which ongoing behaviour is controlled by the individual's own behaviour (internal control) rather than by that of its partners (external control). Interestingly, later studies by others have indicated that the ventral striatum plays a role in external rather than internal control. Here, I discuss the role of these different striatal areas - and the emotional (ventral striatum) and cognitive control (dorsal striatum) system in which they are embedded - in the organization of social behaviour in the context of locus of control. Following on from this discussion, I will pay particular attention to individual differences in social behaviour (individuals with more internal or external control), focusing on the role of dopamine, serotonin and the effects of stress-related challenges in relation to their different position in a dominance hierarchy. I will subsequently allude to potential psychological and behavioural problems in the social domain following on from these differences in locus of control ['social obliviousness' (dorsal stratum) and 'social impulsivity' (ventral striatum)]. In doing so, I provide as a tribute a historical account of the early research by Lex Cools.

Metastatic behaviour of primary human tumours in a zebrafish xenotransplantation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marques, Ines J; Bagowski, Christoph P; Weiss, Frank Ulrich; Vlecken, Danielle H; Nitsche, Claudia; Bakkers, Jeroen; Lagendijk, Anne K; Partecke, Lars Ivo; Heidecke, Claus-Dieter; Lerch, Markus M

2009-01-01

Aberrant regulation of cell migration drives progression of many diseases, including cancer cell invasion and metastasis formation. Analysis of tumour invasion and metastasis in living organisms to date is cumbersome and involves difficult and time consuming investigative techniques. For primary human tumours we establish here a simple, fast, sensitive and cost-effective in vivo model to analyse tumour invasion and metastatic behaviour. We fluorescently labelled small explants from gastrointestinal human tumours and investigated their metastatic behaviour after transplantation into zebrafish embryos and larvae. The transparency of the zebrafish embryos allows to follow invasion, migration and micrometastasis formation in real-time. High resolution imaging was achieved through laser scanning confocal microscopy of live zebrafish. In the transparent zebrafish embryos invasion, circulation of tumour cells in blood vessels, migration and micrometastasis formation can be followed in real-time. Xenografts of primary human tumours showed invasiveness and micrometastasis formation within 24 hours after transplantation, which was absent when non-tumour tissue was implanted. Furthermore, primary human tumour cells, when organotopically implanted in the zebrafish liver, demonstrated invasiveness and metastatic behaviour, whereas primary control cells remained in the liver. Pancreatic tumour cells showed no metastatic behaviour when injected into cloche mutant embryos, which lack a functional vasculature. Our results show that the zebrafish is a useful in vivo animal model for rapid analysis of invasion and metastatic behaviour of primary human tumour specimen

The human papillomavirus immunisation programme and sexual behaviour

OpenAIRE

Forster, A. S.

2011-01-01

The introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has caused some parents to report concern that their daughters may change their sexual behaviour following vaccination. This concern consistently relates to vaccination acceptance, but had not been investigated in detail. Accordingly, five studies addressed the thesis objective: to explore parents’ concern about adolescent sexual behaviour following HPV vaccination in the context of the UK immunisation programme and to ...

Representation of human behaviour in probabilistic safety analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whittingham, R.B.

1991-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the representation of human behaviour in probabilistic safety assessment. Human performance problems which may result in errors leading to accidents are considered in terms of methods of identification using task analysis, screening analysis of critical errors, representation and quantification of human errors in fault trees and event trees and error reduction measures. (author) figs., tabs., 43 refs

Human behaviour can trigger large carnivore attacks in developed countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Penteriani, Vincenzo; Delgado, María del Mar; Pinchera, Francesco; Naves, Javier; Fernández-Gil, Alberto; Kojola, Ilpo; Härkönen, Sauli; Norberg, Harri; Frank, Jens; Fedriani, José María; Sahlén, Veronica; Støen, Ole-Gunnar; Swenson, Jon E; Wabakken, Petter; Pellegrini, Mario; Herrero, Stephen; López-Bao, José Vicente

2016-02-03

The media and scientific literature are increasingly reporting an escalation of large carnivore attacks on humans in North America and Europe. Although rare compared to human fatalities by other wildlife, the media often overplay large carnivore attacks on humans, causing increased fear and negative attitudes towards coexisting with and conserving these species. Although large carnivore populations are generally increasing in developed countries, increased numbers are not solely responsible for the observed rise in the number of attacks by large carnivores. Here we show that an increasing number of people are involved in outdoor activities and, when doing so, some people engage in risk-enhancing behaviour that can increase the probability of a risky encounter and a potential attack. About half of the well-documented reported attacks have involved risk-enhancing human behaviours, the most common of which is leaving children unattended. Our study provides unique insight into the causes, and as a result the prevention, of large carnivore attacks on people. Prevention and information that can encourage appropriate human behaviour when sharing the landscape with large carnivores are of paramount importance to reduce both potentially fatal human-carnivore encounters and their consequences to large carnivores.

Integrating human behaviour dynamics into flood disaster risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Botzen, W. J.; Clarke, K. C.; Cutter, S. L.; Hall, J. W.; Merz, B.; Michel-Kerjan, E.; Mysiak, J.; Surminski, S.; Kunreuther, H.

2018-03-01

The behaviour of individuals, businesses, and government entities before, during, and immediately after a disaster can dramatically affect the impact and recovery time. However, existing risk-assessment methods rarely include this critical factor. In this Perspective, we show why this is a concern, and demonstrate that although initial efforts have inevitably represented human behaviour in limited terms, innovations in flood-risk assessment that integrate societal behaviour and behavioural adaptation dynamics into such quantifications may lead to more accurate characterization of risks and improved assessment of the effectiveness of risk-management strategies and investments. Such multidisciplinary approaches can inform flood-risk management policy development.

Revisiting human behaviour in relation to HIV/AIDS | Bandawe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It is widely recognised that human behaviour change is a key element in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The reality of the situation however is that the current approaches to instigating sexual behaviour change appear to have borne little fruit. This paper shall argue that in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a fundamental error is made ...

Analysing playing using the note-time playing path.

Science.gov (United States)

de Graaff, Deborah L E; Schubert, Emery

2011-03-01

This article introduces a new method of data analysis that represents the playing of written music as a graph. The method, inspired by Miklaszewski, charts low-level note timings from a sound recording of a single-line instrument using high-precision audio-to-MIDI conversion software. Note onset times of pitch sequences are then plotted against the score-predicted timings to produce a Note-Time Playing Path (NTPP). The score-predicted onset time of each sequentially performed note (horizontal axis) unfolds in performed time down the page (vertical axis). NTPPs provide a visualisation that shows (1) tempo variations, (2) repetitive practice behaviours, (3) segmenting of material, (4) precise note time positions, and (5) time spent on playing or not playing. The NTPP can provide significant new insights into behaviour and cognition of music performance and may also be used to complement established traditional approaches such as think-alouds, interviews, and video coding.

Explaining human uniqueness: genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Varki, Ajit; Geschwind, Daniel H; Eichler, Evan E

2008-10-01

What makes us human? Specialists in each discipline respond through the lens of their own expertise. In fact, 'anthropogeny' (explaining the origin of humans) requires a transdisciplinary approach that eschews such barriers. Here we take a genomic and genetic perspective towards molecular variation, explore systems analysis of gene expression and discuss an organ-systems approach. Rejecting any 'genes versus environment' dichotomy, we then consider genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture, finally speculating that aspects of human uniqueness arose because of a primate evolutionary trend towards increasing and irreversible dependence on learned behaviours and culture - perhaps relaxing allowable thresholds for large-scale genomic diversity.

Understanding and changing human behaviour—antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate modification of provider and consumer behaviour

OpenAIRE

Stålsby Lundborg, Cecilia; Tamhankar, Ashok J.

2014-01-01

This paper addresses: 1) Situations where human behaviour is involved in relation to antibiotics, focusing on providers and consumers; 2) Theories about human behaviour and factors influencing behaviour in relation to antibiotics; 3) How behaviour in relation to antibiotics can change; and, 4) Antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate changes in human behaviour as regards antibiotics. Influencing human behaviour in relation to antibiotics is a complex process which includes factor...

Behavioural responses to human-induced change: Why fishing should not be ignored.

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz Pauli, Beatriz; Sih, Andrew

2017-03-01

Change in behaviour is usually the first response to human-induced environmental change and key for determining whether a species adapts to environmental change or becomes maladapted. Thus, understanding the behavioural response to human-induced changes is crucial in the interplay between ecology, evolution, conservation and management. Yet the behavioural response to fishing activities has been largely ignored. We review studies contrasting how fish behaviour affects catch by passive (e.g., long lines, angling) versus active gears (e.g., trawls, seines). We show that fishing not only targets certain behaviours, but it leads to a multitrait response including behavioural, physiological and life-history traits with population, community and ecosystem consequences. Fisheries-driven change (plastic or evolutionary) of fish behaviour and its correlated traits could impact fish populations well beyond their survival per se , affecting predation risk, foraging behaviour, dispersal, parental care, etc., and hence numerous ecological issues including population dynamics and trophic cascades . In particular, we discuss implications of behavioural responses to fishing for fisheries management and population resilience. More research on these topics, however, is needed to draw general conclusions, and we suggest fruitful directions for future studies.

Play, a mechanism for developing peaceful behaviour among elementary school pupils for sustainable peace in Cross River State, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita A. Ndifon

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This research work was aimed at investigating play, as a mechanism for developing peaceful behaviour among elementary school pupils for sustainable peace in Cross River State, Nigeria. In order to determine this, Ex-post facto research design was used. Some determinants of play such as; playing age preference of pupils, gender differences and willingness to play with opposite sex and pupils’ home background were identified as variables for the study. The population of the study was 26,363. A total of 200 primary six pupils formed the sample for the study through which the data were obtained, using purposive sampling technique. The instruments were faced validated and reliability ascertained. The data were analyzed using Pearson Product Movement Correlation Analysis (PPMCA and Independent T-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed a significant relationship between playing age preference of pupils and their home background, between boys and girls exist no significant difference in their willingness to play with opposite sex.. The implication is that when pupils play together they develop peaceful behavior which will help the interact freely in their adult life leading to sustainable peace wherever they find themselves. Also, when pupils are allowed to play with their peers at home, they learn to tolerate others and develop peaceful behaviours. It was therefore recommended that Children should be allowed to play with their age mates and also with the ones of the same sex and opposite sex as this will help them to interact freely and also develop the social relationship that will bring about peaceful co-existence.

Behavioural controversy concerning homo economicus: a Humean perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khandakar Elahi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In his monumental masterpiece, A Treatise on Human Nature, which explains the methodology of human reasoning concerning matters of fact and describes the roles that passions and morals play in it, Hume arrives at an enormously interesting maxim: An academic controversy cannot continue for long unless the disputants assign different meanings to the major terms employed in the debate. This theory has been applied in this paper to examine the behavioural criticisms about Homo Economicus (HE, the pivotal perception in the neoclassical microeconomic model.To achieve this objective, the paper discusses the origin and evolution of the concept, reviews behavioural criticisms, summarises the main tenets of Hume’s philosophy of human knowledge and finally examines the behavioural opinions from Hume’s perspective. The paper concludes that Hume’s theory convincingly explains the reason why the HE controversy is continuing for over half century- a fact that both the mainstream and behavioural economists are ignoring.

Learning and adaptation: neural and behavioural mechanisms behind behaviour change

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Robert; Sandamirskaya, Yulia

2018-01-01

This special issue presents perspectives on learning and adaptation as they apply to a number of cognitive phenomena including pupil dilation in humans and attention in robots, natural language acquisition and production in embodied agents (robots), human-robot game play and social interaction, neural-dynamic modelling of active perception and neural-dynamic modelling of infant development in the Piagetian A-not-B task. The aim of the special issue, through its contributions, is to highlight some of the critical neural-dynamic and behavioural aspects of learning as it grounds adaptive responses in robotic- and neural-dynamic systems.

Children's Gendered Drawings of Play Behaviours

Science.gov (United States)

Akseer, Tabasum; Lao, Mary Grace; Bosacki, Sandra

2012-01-01

According to child psychologists, vital links exist between children's drawings and their emotional, social, and cognitive development. Previous research has explored the important relations between drawings and play in educational settings. Given the vast research that explores the ambiguous topic of children's play, according to Richer (1990),…

The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural play therapy on the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children aged 7-9 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdollahian, Ebrahim; Mokhber, Naghmeh; Balaghi, Atena; Moharrari, Fatemeh

2013-03-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered to be the most prevalent disorder of childhood and adolescence, and a variety of methods have been used in its diagnosis and treatment. This study was conducted to study the efficacy of play therapy on the symptoms of ADHD in children aged 7-9 years. Using a clinical trial design, we selected 30 study participants among individuals who had been referred to the Ebne-sina hospital, child and adolescent outpatient clinic, Mashhad, Iran, and who had been diagnosed with ADHD by psychiatrists. The 30 study participants were then divided into two groups, experimental and control, based on similar characteristics (Birth order, parents' educational level, parents' occupation and average of last year school marks). Pre-tests (the Rutter Parental Questionnaire and the Rutter Children Behaviour Questionnaire for teachers) were performed prior to play therapy, and all patients in both groups had been receiving medication. Following play therapy, post-tests were also conducted for both groups. Eight sessions of sham play therapy has been performed for case group. (Cognitive-behavioural play therapy has not been performed basically.) All results were evaluated using an independent t test and a comparative test. Play therapy appeared to significantly reduce the symptoms of ADHD. The significant differences found between the experimental and control groups indicate that play therapy could be used as an effective treatment method for children with ADHD.

Ecological implications of behavioural syndromes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sih, Andrew; Cote, Julien; Evans, Mara; Fogarty, Sean; Pruitt, Jonathan

2012-03-01

Interspecific trait variation has long served as a conceptual foundation for our understanding of ecological patterns and dynamics. In particular, ecologists recognise the important role that animal behaviour plays in shaping ecological processes. An emerging area of interest in animal behaviour, the study of behavioural syndromes (animal personalities) considers how limited behavioural plasticity, as well as behavioural correlations affects an individual's fitness in diverse ecological contexts. In this article we explore how insights from the concept and study of behavioural syndromes provide fresh understanding of major issues in population ecology. We identify several general mechanisms for how population ecology phenomena can be influenced by a species or population's average behavioural type, by within-species variation in behavioural type, or by behavioural correlations across time or across ecological contexts. We note, in particular, the importance of behavioural type-dependent dispersal in spatial ecology. We then review recent literature and provide new syntheses for how these general mechanisms produce novel insights on five major issues in population ecology: (1) limits to species' distribution and abundance; (2) species interactions; (3) population dynamics; (4) relative responses to human-induced rapid environmental change; and (5) ecological invasions. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Laughter in popular games and in sport. The other health of human play.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichberg, Henning

2013-01-01

Hurling in Cornwall, la soule in Britanny, Shrovetide football in England: Popular games have normally been treated as forerunners of modern sport, sport having regulated the space and the time of the game, the (non-) violence of behaviour, the control of results, the planning, strategy, tactics, techniques and evaluation of the competitive action. This is told as a story of social improvement and progress--and about turning unhealthy wildness into civilized 'healthy' sport activity. What sociological analysis of game-playing tended to ignore was the laughter of the participants. With the seriousness of modern sport, as it was established in the nineteenth century, a culture of laughter disappeared. This study tries to counter this mainstream by a phenomenology of laughter in popular games. A contrasting attention is turned towards the seriousness of sporting competition, the smile in modern sport and fitness, and the 'underground' dimension of laughter in modern sports. By comparative analysis, laughter reveals as a bodily discourse about the imperfect human being. It tells an oppositional story about the perfectionism in the order of Western thinking--in sports as well as in health. The bodily 'physiology' of laughter, the exploding psychical energy, and the inter-bodily social relations in laughter and play and game point towards the multi-dimensionality of health, as it was formulated by WHO: as "physical, mental, and social well-being".

Effects of Divergent Selection for Fear of Humans on Behaviour in Red Junglefowl.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beatrix Agnvall

Full Text Available Domestication has caused a range of similar phenotypic changes across taxa, relating to physiology, morphology and behaviour. It has been suggested that this recurring domesticated phenotype may be a result of correlated responses to a central trait, namely increased tameness. We selected Red Junglefowl, the ancestors of domesticated chickens, during five generations for reduced fear of humans. This caused a marked and significant response in tameness, and previous studies have found correlated effects on growth, metabolism, reproduction, and some behaviour not directly selected for. Here, we report the results from a series of behavioural tests carried out on the initial parental generation (P0 and the fifth selected generation (S5, focusing on behaviour not functionally related to tameness, in order to study any correlated effects. Birds were tested for fear of humans, social reinstatement tendency, open field behaviour at two different ages, foraging/exploration, response to a simulated aerial predator attack and tonic immobility. In S5, there were no effects of selection on foraging/exploration or tonic immobility, while in the social reinstatement and open field tests there were significant interactions between selection and sex. In the aerial predator test, there were significant main effects of selection, indicating that fear of humans may represent a general wariness towards predators. In conclusion, we found only small correlated effects on behaviours not related to the tameness trait selected for, in spite of them showing high genetic correlations to fear of humans in a previous study on the same population. This suggests that species-specific behaviour is generally resilient to changes during domestication.

Effects of Divergent Selection for Fear of Humans on Behaviour in Red Junglefowl

Science.gov (United States)

Agnvall, Beatrix; Jensen, Per

2016-01-01

Domestication has caused a range of similar phenotypic changes across taxa, relating to physiology, morphology and behaviour. It has been suggested that this recurring domesticated phenotype may be a result of correlated responses to a central trait, namely increased tameness. We selected Red Junglefowl, the ancestors of domesticated chickens, during five generations for reduced fear of humans. This caused a marked and significant response in tameness, and previous studies have found correlated effects on growth, metabolism, reproduction, and some behaviour not directly selected for. Here, we report the results from a series of behavioural tests carried out on the initial parental generation (P0) and the fifth selected generation (S5), focusing on behaviour not functionally related to tameness, in order to study any correlated effects. Birds were tested for fear of humans, social reinstatement tendency, open field behaviour at two different ages, foraging/exploration, response to a simulated aerial predator attack and tonic immobility. In S5, there were no effects of selection on foraging/exploration or tonic immobility, while in the social reinstatement and open field tests there were significant interactions between selection and sex. In the aerial predator test, there were significant main effects of selection, indicating that fear of humans may represent a general wariness towards predators. In conclusion, we found only small correlated effects on behaviours not related to the tameness trait selected for, in spite of them showing high genetic correlations to fear of humans in a previous study on the same population. This suggests that species-specific behaviour is generally resilient to changes during domestication. PMID:27851792

Marked referential communicative behaviours, but no differentiation of the "knowledge state" of humans in untrained pet dogs versus 1-year-old infants.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaunet, Florence; Massioui, Farid El

2014-09-01

The study examines whether untrained dogs and infants take their caregiver's visual experience into account when communicating with them. Fifteen adult dogs and 15 one-year-old infants were brought into play with their caregivers with one of their own toys. The caregiver gave the toy to the experimenter, who, in different conditions, placed it either above or under one of two containers, with both the infant or dog and the caregiver witnessing the positioning; in a third condition, the caregiver left the room before the toy was placed under one of the two containers and later returned. Afterwards, for each condition, the caregiver asked the participant to indicate the location of the toy. Neither dogs nor infants-untrained to the use of the partner's knowledge state-showed much difference of behaviour between the three conditions. However, dogs showed more persistence for most behaviours (gaze at the owner, gaze at the toy and gaze alternation) and conditions, suggesting that the situation made more demands on dogs' communicative behaviours than on those of infants. When all deictic behaviours of infants (arm points towards the toy and gaze at the toy) were taken into account, dogs and infants did not differ. Phylogeny, early experience and ontogeny may all play a role in the ways that both species communicate with adult humans.

Human behaviour towards climatic change during the 4th millennium BC in the Swiss Alpine forelands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karg, Sabine

Human behaviour towards climatic change during the 4th millennium BC in the Swiss Alpine forelands.......Human behaviour towards climatic change during the 4th millennium BC in the Swiss Alpine forelands....

Understanding and changing human behaviour—antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate modification of provider and consumer behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Tamhankar, Ashok J.

2014-01-01

This paper addresses: 1) Situations where human behaviour is involved in relation to antibiotics, focusing on providers and consumers; 2) Theories about human behaviour and factors influencing behaviour in relation to antibiotics; 3) How behaviour in relation to antibiotics can change; and, 4) Antibiotic mainstreaming as an approach to facilitate changes in human behaviour as regards antibiotics. Influencing human behaviour in relation to antibiotics is a complex process which includes factors like knowledge, attitudes, social norms, socio-economic conditions, peer pressure, experiences, and bio-physical and socio-behavioural environment. Further, key concepts are often perceived in different ways by different individuals. While designing and implementing projects or programmes for behavioural change with respect to antibiotics for professionals or consumers it is helpful to consider theories or models of behaviour change, e.g. the ‘stages of change model’, including pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. People in different stages of change are susceptible to different behaviour modification strategies. Application of marketing principles to ‘global good’, so-called ‘social marketing’, to improve ‘welfare of the individual and society’ is gaining increased attention in public health. In conclusion, just providing correct knowledge is not sufficient although it is a pre-requisite for behaviour modification in the desired direction. We can never change the behaviour of any other human, but we can facilitate for others to change their own behaviour. One possibility is to implement ‘antibiotic mainstreaming’ as a potentially effective way for behaviour modification, i.e. to address consequences for maintaining effective antibiotics in all activities and decisions in society. PMID:24735112

Measurement Devices and the Psychophysiology of Consumer Behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schwarzkopf, Stefan

2015-01-01

of the type of subjectivity that underlies consumer behaviour. I argue instead that a posthuman view of the relationship between brain, mind and behaviour underpinned neurophysiological research into consumers from its very beginning in the late nineteenth century. By tracing the biopolitical potentialities...... of neuromarketing back to the Fin-de-Siècle neurophysiological laboratory, I show that consumers' bodies and later on their brains became reconfigured as part of a dispositif made up of laboratory-based artefacts (measurement devices) and new ways of seeing the human brain and human behaviour. This dispositif......From the 1890s, psychophysiological measurement devices have played an important, but as yet under-theorized role in marketing and consumer research. Because of the recent advances made in neuromarketing, it is often assumed that these measurement devices ushered in a radically new understanding...

Exploratory Manipulation and Play in the Human Infant

Science.gov (United States)

McCall, Robert B.

1974-01-01

Reports a series of studies conducted to investigate possible differences in the exploratory manipulation and play behavior of human infants 7-1/2- 11-1/2 months of age as a function of the attributes of the stimulus, the familiarity of the subject with the stimuli, the age and sex of the infants, and individual differences. (Author/CS)

Human Information Behaviour and Design, Development and Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Keshavarz, Hamid

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of human information behaviour and to explore the relationship between information behaviour of users and the existing approaches dominating design and evaluation of information retrieval (IR) systems and also to describe briefly new design and evaluation methods in which extensive…

The Centre for Early Human Behaviour (EHB) at the University of Bergen: A transdisciplinary exploration into the evolution of homo sapiens behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Sobolowski, Stefan; Henshilwood, Christopher; Jansen, Eystein

2017-04-01

Homo sapiens was anatomically modern by 200 000 years ago in Africa, but there is no archaeological evidence to demonstrate that behaviour was modern at the time. Attributes of modern behaviour, perhaps inspired by changes in the human brain, are only recognizable after 100 000 years ago. Before we can study the process, we must critically define the criteria for the term 'modern behaviour' and then find a means to recognize such behavior in the record. This seemingly simple research statement involves complex exploration by a team of specialists. In this highly competitive research field our centre will, for the first time, be able to rise to the challenge by combining the skills of cutting-edge scientists in archaeology, climate reconstruction and modelling, and the cognitive and social sciences. Over the next decade we will integrate knowledge and methods from different disciplines to synthesize approaches and contribute to a sophisticated understanding of early human behaviour. Our highly ambitious research program will focus explicitly on rare, well preserved archaeological sites occupied in the period between 100-50 000 years ago because these contain the 'keys' for unlocking the past. A major competitive edge is the EHB Director's 25 years of archaeological experience and his long-term exclusive access, with permits, to a number of the best-preserved sites in the southern Cape, South Africa - a region regarded as a major locus for vital evidence that could inform on the behaviour of early humans. Our planned excavations at existing and new sites and our ground-breaking and innovative interdisciplinary approaches, including climate (The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research) and cognitive research, to understanding the processes that shaped human cultures. Primarily, EHB will directly address unanswered, first order questions about Homo sapiens: a) what defines the switch to 'modern behaviour', exactly how should this term be defined and then, when, why and

Establishing 'quality of life' parameters using behavioural guidelines for humane euthanasia of captive non-human primates.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambeth, Sp; Schapiro, Sj; Bernacky, Bj; Wilkerson, Gk

2013-09-01

Chronic pain and distress are universally accepted conditions that may adversely affect an animal's quality of life (QOL) and lead to the humane euthanasia of an animal. At most research institutions and zoological parks in the USA, a veterinarian, who has physically examined the animal and reviewed the clinical records, ultimately decides when an animal has reached a humane endpoint. To aid in the difficult process of interpreting pain and distress, we have developed specific behavioural guidelines, in addition to standard clinical information, to help define unique characteristics and traits of primates to assess and promote discussion of an individual primate's QOL, and thereby, to assist in the decision-making process regarding euthanasia. These guidelines advocate the creation of a QOL team when the animal is diagnosed with a life-threatening or debilitating chronic condition, or at the time the animal is entered into a terminal study. The team compiles a list of characteristics unique to that individual animal by utilising a questionnaire and a behavioural ethogram. This list enables the team to quantitatively assess any deviations from the established normal behavioural repertoire of that individual. Concurrently, the QOL team determines the number of behavioural deviations that are needed to trigger an immediate discussion of the necessity for humane euthanasia of the animal. The team remains intact once created, and revisits the animal's condition as frequently as deemed necessary. This process improves animal welfare by continuing the quest to optimally define QOL for captive primates, and potentially for all captive animals.

Goats display audience-dependent human-directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task.

Science.gov (United States)

Nawroth, Christian; Brett, Jemma M; McElligott, Alan G

2016-07-01

Domestication is an important factor driving changes in animal cognition and behaviour. In particular, the capacity of dogs to communicate in a referential and intentional way with humans is considered a key outcome of how domestication as a companion animal shaped the canid brain. However, the lack of comparison with other domestic animals makes general conclusions about how domestication has affected these important cognitive features difficult. We investigated human-directed behaviour in an 'unsolvable problem' task in a domestic, but non-companion species: goats. During the test, goats experienced a forward-facing or an away-facing person. They gazed towards the forward-facing person earlier and for longer and showed more gaze alternations and a lower latency until the first gaze alternation when the person was forward-facing. Our results provide strong evidence for audience-dependent human-directed visual orienting behaviour in a species that was domesticated primarily for production, and show similarities with the referential and intentional communicative behaviour exhibited by domestic companion animals such as dogs and horses. This indicates that domestication has a much broader impact on heterospecific communication than previously believed. © 2016 The Author(s).

Sexual selection of human cooperative behaviour: an experimental study in rural Senegal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arnaud Tognetti

Full Text Available Human cooperation in large groups and between non-kin individuals remains a Darwinian puzzle. Investigations into whether and how sexual selection is involved in the evolution of cooperation represent a new and important research direction. Here, 69 groups of four men or four women recruited from a rural population in Senegal played a sequential public-good game in the presence of out-group observers, either of the same sex or of the opposite sex. At the end of the game, participants could donate part of their gain to the village school in the presence of the same observers. Both contributions to the public good and donations to the school, which reflect different components of cooperativeness, were influenced by the sex of the observers. The results suggest that in this non-Western population, sexual selection acts mainly on men's cooperative behaviour with non-kin, whereas women's cooperativeness is mainly influenced by nonsexual social selection.

[Play therapy--psychotherapy with play as the medium: II. New developments].

Science.gov (United States)

von Gontard, Alexander; Lehmkuhl, Gerd

2003-02-01

A wide array of new forms and combinations of play therapy have been developed. The aim of the second part of this paper is to present an overview of these newer approaches, including: focussed therapies for specific disorders; behavioural approaches like the Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy and the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy; various combinations with family therapy; and therapies especially for preschool children like Filial Therapy, Developmental Play Therapy and Thera-play. Following a phase of experiments and combinations, the empirical evaluation of many play-therapy forms is needed. Especially questions of the differential indication of specific play-therapies and their effectiveness in the therapeutical practice need to be studied.

The urban environment, its hazards and human behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Polič

1999-01-01

Full Text Available The physical environment is only a tool, a medium or a place enabling human interrelations to develop. This is perhaps the most evident in cases of dangers people confront within an environment. Everything from disasters and minor incidents to vandalism and crime is reflected in human behaviour, from satisfying our basic needs all the way to discerning the sense of reality. The article presents an array of reflections from accidents and dangers in an urban environment that can hurt the largest number of people, to less dangerous, but unpleasant acts for an individual.

Ascaris and hookworm transmission in preschool children from rural Panama: role of yard environment, soil eggs/larvae and hygiene and play behaviours.

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, Rachel J; Koski, Kristine G; Pons, Emérita; Sandoval, Nidia; Sinisterra, Odalis; Scott, Marilyn E

2015-10-01

This study explored whether the yard environment and child hygiene and play behaviours were associated with presence and intensity of Ascaris and hookworm in preschool children and with eggs and larvae in soil. Data were collected using questionnaires, a visual survey of the yard, soil samples and fecal samples collected at baseline and following re-infection. The presence of eggs/larvae in soil was associated negatively with water storage (eggs) but positively with dogs (eggs) and distance from home to latrine (larvae). Baseline and re-infection prevalences were: hookworm (28.0%, 3.4%); Ascaris (16.9%, 9.5%); Trichuris (0.9%, 0.7%). Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models revealed a higher baseline hookworm infection if yards had eggs or larvae, more vegetation or garbage, and if the child played with soil. Baseline Ascaris was associated with dirt floor, dogs, exposed soil in yard, open defecation and with less time playing outdoors, whereas Ascaris re-infection was associated with water storage, vegetation cover and garbage near the home and not playing with animals. Our results show complex interactions between infection, the yard environment and child behaviours, and indicate that transmission would be reduced if latrines were closer to the home, and if open defecation and water spillage were reduced.

The role of play objects and object play in human cognitive evolution and innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Riede, Felix; Johannsen, Niels N; Högberg, Anders; Nowell, April; Lombard, Marlize

2018-01-01

In this contribution, we address a major puzzle in the evolution of human material culture: If maturing individuals just learn their parental generation's material culture, then what is the origin of key innovations as documented in the archeological record? We approach this question by coupling a life-history model of the costs and benefits of experimentation with a niche-construction perspective. Niche-construction theory suggests that the behavior of organisms and their modification of the world around them have important evolutionary ramifications by altering developmental settings and selection pressures. Part of Homo sapiens' niche is the active provisioning of children with play objects - sometimes functional miniatures of adult tools - and the encouragement of object play, such as playful knapping with stones. Our model suggests that salient material culture innovation may occur or be primed in a late childhood or adolescence sweet spot when cognitive and physical abilities are sufficiently mature but before the full onset of the concerns and costs associated with reproduction. We evaluate the model against a series of archeological cases and make suggestions for future research. © 2018 The Authors Evolutionary Anthropology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The role of play objects and object play in human cognitive evolution and innovation

Science.gov (United States)

Johannsen, Niels N.; Högberg, Anders; Nowell, April; Lombard, Marlize

2018-01-01

Abstract In this contribution, we address a major puzzle in the evolution of human material culture: If maturing individuals just learn their parental generation's material culture, then what is the origin of key innovations as documented in the archeological record? We approach this question by coupling a life‐history model of the costs and benefits of experimentation with a niche‐construction perspective. Niche‐construction theory suggests that the behavior of organisms and their modification of the world around them have important evolutionary ramifications by altering developmental settings and selection pressures. Part of Homo sapiens' niche is the active provisioning of children with play objects — sometimes functional miniatures of adult tools — and the encouragement of object play, such as playful knapping with stones. Our model suggests that salient material culture innovation may occur or be primed in a late childhood or adolescence sweet spot when cognitive and physical abilities are sufficiently mature but before the full onset of the concerns and costs associated with reproduction. We evaluate the model against a series of archeological cases and make suggestions for future research. PMID:29446561

Methodology for eliciting, encoding and simulating human decision making behaviour

OpenAIRE

Rider, Conrad Edgar Scott

2012-01-01

Agent-based models (ABM) are an increasingly important research tool for describing and predicting interactions among humans and their environment. A key challenge for such models is the ability to faithfully represent human decision making with respect to observed behaviour. This thesis aims to address this challenge by developing a methodology for empirical measurement and simulation of decision making in humanenvironment systems. The methodology employs the Beliefs-Desires-I...

The therapeutic power of play: examining the play of young children with leukaemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Gariépy, N; Howe, N

2003-11-01

The therapeutic function of play has been investigated in relation to recognized stressors such as hospitalization, illness and medical treatments for ill children. While medical treatments in the past 30 years have improved survival rates, children's psychological experiences and quality of life during and after their illness have received limited attention. The present study investigated the therapeutic effects of play on 3- to 5-year-old children with leukaemia compared with a control group of healthy children. The participants with leukaemia (n = 11) were from the external oncology clinic of an urban children's hospital; control children (n = 11) attended a day care centre. Measures included children's experience of stress, social and cognitive play behaviours, and daily mood. A series of manova revealed that the children with leukaemia, compared with the control children, engaged in (a) significantly fewer total play behaviours, and in particular less (b) parallel, (c) group and (d) dramatic play. Pearson correlations revealed significant relationships between reports of 'being happy' and play only for children with leukaemia. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed a pattern of repetitive play activities week after week for children with leukaemia, but not controls. Findings are discussed in light of the theoretical and practical implications for children undergoing treatment for leukaemia.

Functions of pointing by humans, and dogs’ responses, during dog-human play between familiar and unfamiliar players.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert W. Mitchell

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Although much research focuses on human index finger pointing to hidden items for dogs in experimental settings, there is little research about human pointing in naturalistic interactions. We examined human pointing to dogs during 62 dog-human play interactions, spanning 4.8 hours of videotape, to determine the functions of human pointing and dogs’ responses to that pointing. Participants were 26 humans and 27 dogs. Humans played with their own dog(s and, almost always, an unfamiliar dog. Seventeen people (16 players and one passerby pointed for 20 dogs a total of 101 times (once with a foot during 26 interactions. Most (49.5% points were toward an object (almost always a ball, to direct attention or action toward the object; 36.6% were to the ground in front of the (almost always familiar pointer, directing the dog to come, and/or drop a ball the dog held, here; 10.9% directed the dog toward the designated player and/or play area; and 3.0% directed the dog to move away from a ball the dog had dropped. Humans almost always pointed such that the dog could see the point (92.1%, and pointed more with their own than with an unfamiliar dog. Dogs responded appropriately (i.e., did what the pointer requested for only 24.7% of the visible points, more often for points to the ground than for points to objects. The proportion of dogs’ appropriate responses to visible points was similar for both familiar (30% and unfamiliar (18% humans. Six dogs who responded appropriately to some points resisted responding appropriately to others. Future research should examine non-object directed uses of pointing with dogs and their responses in naturalistic and experimental settings, and experimentally assess diverse explanations, including resistance, when dogs and other animals fail standard pointing tasks.

Human Resources and Innovative Behaviour : Improving Nursing Performance

OpenAIRE

Xerri, Matthew; Reid, Stuart

2017-01-01

This study examines, using the social exchange theory, the mediating effect of employees’ perception of wellbeing on the relationship between two human resource (HR) management factors (satisfaction with teamwork and satisfaction with training opportunities) and innovative behaviour of nurses working in Australian public and private hospitals. Current nurse shortages and limited budgets have increased the need for hospitals to improve their efficiency and cost-effectiveness. It is proposed th...

Why infest the loved ones--inherent human behaviour indicates former mutualism with head lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rózsa, Lajos; Apari, Péter

2012-05-01

Head lice transmit to new hosts when people lean their heads together. Humans frequently touch their heads to express friendship or love, while this behaviour is absent in apes. We hypothesize that this behaviour was adaptive because it enabled people to acquire head lice infestations as early as possible to provoke an immune response effective against both head lice and body lice throughout the subsequent periods of their life. This cross-immunity could provide some defence against the body-louse-borne lethal diseases like epidemic typhus, trench fever, relapsing fever and the classical plague. Thus the human 'touching heads' behaviour probably acts as an inherent and unconscious 'vaccination' against body lice to reduce the threat exposed by the pathogens they may transmit. Recently, the eradication of body-louse-borne diseases rendered the transmission of head lice a maladaptive, though still widespread, behaviour in developed societies.

Human agency beliefs influence behaviour during virtual social interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Caruana, Nathan; Spirou, Dean; Brock, Jon

2017-01-01

In recent years, with the emergence of relatively inexpensive and accessible virtual reality technologies, it is now possible to deliver compelling and realistic simulations of human-to-human interaction. Neuroimaging studies have shown that, when participants believe they are interacting via a virtual interface with another human agent, they show different patterns of brain activity compared to when they know that their virtual partner is computer-controlled. The suggestion is that users adopt an "intentional stance" by attributing mental states to their virtual partner. However, it remains unclear how beliefs in the agency of a virtual partner influence participants' behaviour and subjective experience of the interaction. We investigated this issue in the context of a cooperative "joint attention" game in which participants interacted via an eye tracker with a virtual onscreen partner, directing each other's eye gaze to different screen locations. Half of the participants were correctly informed that their partner was controlled by a computer algorithm ("Computer" condition). The other half were misled into believing that the virtual character was controlled by a second participant in another room ("Human" condition). Those in the "Human" condition were slower to make eye contact with their partner and more likely to try and guide their partner before they had established mutual eye contact than participants in the "Computer" condition. They also responded more rapidly when their partner was guiding them, although the same effect was also found for a control condition in which they responded to an arrow cue. Results confirm the influence of human agency beliefs on behaviour in this virtual social interaction context. They further suggest that researchers and developers attempting to simulate social interactions should consider the impact of agency beliefs on user experience in other social contexts, and their effect on the achievement of the application's goals.

Being a Modern Human: essentialist and hierarchical approaches to the emergence of 'modern human behaviour'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terry Hopkinson

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The emergence of the modern human mind and modern human behaviour is a prominent issue in palaeolithic archaeology. The consensus has been that modernity, understood in terms of increased rates of innovation and the emergence of symbolism, is enabled by a heritable neurophysiology unique to Homo sapiens. This consensus is characterised as biological essentialist in that it understands modernity as genotypically specified and unique to Homo sapiens. 'Archaic' hominins such as the Neanderthals are understood to have lacked the modern neuroanatomical genotype and therefore to have been innately incapable of modern cognition and behaviour. The biological-essentialist programme, however, is facing a serious challenge as evidence for innovation and symbolism is found in the archaeological records of the Eurasian Middle Palaeolithic and the African Middle Stone Age. An alternative programme is emerging that understands modern human behaviour as an emergent property of social, demographic and ecological dynamics. It is argued that this programme is currently inadequate since it cannot explain the emergence of symbolically charged material culture and relies on inexorable long-term population growth. It is suggested here that the problem is better understood in terms of hierarchy theory, a body of ideas concerned with systems organised on multiple scales. Palaeolithic behaviour is reconceptualised as social practice emerging from a multi-scale knowledge system. It is shown that enhancements in the rate at which knowledgeable practices disseminate through social fields – the social transmission of knowledge - will have the effect of increasing the likelihood that novel practices will be incorporated into long-term structuring principles and thus become persistent practices. They will also effect a scalar convergence of domains of knowledgeability such that technical practices become incorporated into the construction of personhood as meaningful or

Variables influencing the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veijgen, N.K.; Masen, Marc Arthur; van der Heide, Emile

2013-01-01

In the past decades, skin friction research has focused on determining which variables are important to affect the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin. Until now, there is still limited knowledge on these variables. This study has used a large dataset to identify the effect of variables on

Modelled temperature-dependent excitability behaviour of a generalised human peripheral sensory nerve fibre

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Smit, Jacoba E

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine if a recently developed human Ranvier node model, which is based on a modified version of the Hodgkin-Huxley model, could predict the excitability behaviour in human peripheral sensory nerve fibres...

Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Bateson

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Play, as defined by biologists and psychologists, is probably heterogeneous. On the other hand, playfulness may be a unitary motivational state. Playful play as opposed to activities that merge into aggression is characterized by positive mood, intrinsic motivation, occurring in a protected context and easily disrupted by stress. Playful play is a good measure of positive welfare. It can occupy a substantial part of the waking-life of a young mammal or bird. Numerous functions for play have been proposed and they are by no means mutually exclusive, but some evidence indicates that those individual animals that play most are most likely to survive and reproduce. The link of playful play to creativity and hence to innovation in humans is strong. Considerable evidence suggests that coming up with new ideas requires a different mindset from usefully implementing a new idea.

Indirect effects of human-induced environmental change on offspring production mediated by behavioural responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Candolin, Ulrika; Nieminen, Anne; Nyman, Johanna

2014-01-01

Human-induced rapid environmental changes often cause behavioural alterations in animals. The consequences that these alterations in turn have for the viability of populations are, however, poorly known. We used a population of threespine sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus in the Baltic Sea to investigate the consequences of behavioural responses to human-induced eutrophication for offspring production. The investigated population has been growing during the last decades, and one cause could be increased offspring production. We combined field-based surveys with laboratory-based experiments, and found that an enhanced growth of macroalgae relaxed agonistic interactions among males. This allowed more males to nest, improved hatching success, and increased the number of reproductive cycles that males completed. Thus, the behavioural responses were adaptive at the individual level and increased offspring production. However, a larger proportion of small males of low competitive ability reproduced in dense vegetation. As male size and dominance are heritable, this could influence the genetic composition of the offspring. Together with a higher number of offspring produced, this could influence natural selection and the rate of adaptation to the changing environment. Thus, behavioural responses to a rapid human-induced environmental change can influence offspring production, with potential consequences for population dynamics and evolutionary processes.

Variables influencing the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veijgen, N.K.; Masen, M.A.; Heide, E. van der

2013-01-01

In the past decades, skin friction research has focused on determining which variables are important to affect the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin. Until now, there is still limited knowledge on these variables.This study has used a large dataset to identify the effect of variables on the

Students as "Humans Chromosomes" in Role-Playing Mitosis and Meiosis

Science.gov (United States)

Chinnici, Joseph P.; Yue, Joyce W.; Torres, Kieron M.

2004-01-01

Students often find it challenging to understand mitosis and meiosis and determine their processes. To develop an easier way to understand these terms, students are asked to role-play mitosis and meiosis and students themselves act as human chromosomes, which help students to learn differences between mitosis and meiosis.

Work psychology: understanding human behaviour in the workplace (5th ed)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arnold, J.; Randall, R.; Patterson, F.; Silvester, J.; Robertson, I.; Cooper, C.; Burnes, B.; Swailes, S.; Harris, D.; Axtell, C.; den Hartog, D.

2010-01-01

The fifth edition of this market-leading textbook retains its popular blend of theory, research and examples. Substantially revised and updated with extensive new material that reflects contemporary research and debate, the book offers an accessible and fascinating examination of human behaviour in

Effects of human handling during early rearing on the behaviour of dairy calves

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schütz, K.E.; Hawke, M.L.; Waas, J.R.; McLeay, L.M.; Bokkers, E.A.M.; Reenen, van C.G.; Webster, J.R.; Stewart, M.

2012-01-01

We examined the effects of daily positive or negative human handling on the behaviour of Holstein-Friesian dairy calves (n = 20 calves per treatment, five calves per group). The response to humans and indicators of positive emotions were examined at four weeks of age. Calves that received positive

Assessment of attachment behaviour to human caregivers in wolf pups (Canis lupus lupus).

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Nathaniel J; Lord, Kathryn; Arnold, Anne-Marie K; Wynne, Clive D L; Udell, Monique A R

2015-01-01

Previous research suggested that 16-week old dog pups, but not wolf pups, show attachment behaviour to a human caregiver. Attachment to a caregiver in dog pups has been demonstrated by differential responding to a caregiver compared to a stranger in the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test. We show here that 3-7 week old wolf pups also show attachment-like behaviour to a human caregiver as measured by preferential proximity seeking, preferential contact, and preferential greeting to a human caregiver over a human stranger in a modified and counterbalanced version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test. In addition, our results show that preferential responding to a caregiver over a stranger is only apparent following brief isolation. In initial episodes, wolf pups show no differentiation between the caregiver and the stranger; however, following a 2-min separation, the pups show proximity seeking, more contact, and more greeting to the caregiver than the stranger. These results suggest intensive human socialization of a wolf can lead to attachment--like responding to a human caregiver during the first two months of a wolf pup's life. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Comparison of French and Estonian Students' Conceptions in Genetic Determinism of Human Behaviours

Science.gov (United States)

Castera, Jeremy; Sarapuu, Tago; Clement, Pierre

2013-01-01

Innatism is the belief that most of the human personality can be determined by genes. This ideology is dangerous, especially when it claims to be scientific. The present study investigates conceptions of 1060 students from Estonia and France related to genetic determinism of some human behaviours. Factors taken into account included students'…

Expert judgment in analysis of human and organizational behaviour at nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reiman, L [Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, Helsinki (Finland). Dept. of Nuclear Safety

1994-12-01

Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of a nuclear power plant includes an assessment of the probability of each event sequence that can lead to a reactor core damage and of their consequences. Despite increasing maturity of PSA methods, there are still several problems in their use. These include the assessment of human reliability and the impact of organizational factors on plant safety. The assessment of both these issues is based on expert judgment. Therefore, the use of expert judgment in analysis of human and organizational behaviour was studied theoretically and in practical case studies in this thesis. Human errors were analysed in two case studies. In the first study cognitive actions of control room operators were analysed. For this purpose methods were developed for the qualitative and quantitative phases of the analysis. Errors of test and maintenance personnel were analysed in the second case study. Especially the dependence of errors between sequential tasks performed in redundant subsystems of a safety system was studied. A method to assess organizational behaviour was developed and applied in the third case study. The three case studies demonstrated that expert judgment can be used in the analysis of human reliability and organizational behaviour taking into account the observations made and the remarks presented in the study. However, significant uncertainties are related with expert judgment. Recommendations are presented concerning the use of different methods. Also, some insights are presented into how reliance on expert judgment could be reduced. (241 refs., 20 figs., 36 tabs.).

Expert judgment in analysis of human and organizational behaviour at nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reiman, L.

1994-12-01

Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of a nuclear power plant includes an assessment of the probability of each event sequence that can lead to a reactor core damage and of their consequences. Despite increasing maturity of PSA methods, there are still several problems in their use. These include the assessment of human reliability and the impact of organizational factors on plant safety. The assessment of both these issues is based on expert judgment. Therefore, the use of expert judgment in analysis of human and organizational behaviour was studied theoretically and in practical case studies in this thesis. Human errors were analysed in two case studies. In the first study cognitive actions of control room operators were analysed. For this purpose methods were developed for the qualitative and quantitative phases of the analysis. Errors of test and maintenance personnel were analysed in the second case study. Especially the dependence of errors between sequential tasks performed in redundant subsystems of a safety system was studied. A method to assess organizational behaviour was developed and applied in the third case study. The three case studies demonstrated that expert judgment can be used in the analysis of human reliability and organizational behaviour taking into account the observations made and the remarks presented in the study. However, significant uncertainties are related with expert judgment. Recommendations are presented concerning the use of different methods. Also, some insights are presented into how reliance on expert judgment could be reduced. (241 refs., 20 figs., 36 tabs.)

Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roxanne D. Hawkins

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Attachment to pets has an important role in children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, mental health, well-being, and quality of life. This study examined associations between childhood attachment to pets and caring and friendship behaviour, compassion, and attitudes towards animals. This study also examined socio-demographic differences, particularly pet ownership and pet type. A self-report survey of over one thousand 7 to 12 year-olds in Scotland, UK, revealed that the majority of children are strongly attached to their pets, but attachment scores differ depending on pet type and child gender. Analysis revealed that attachment to pets is facilitated by compassion and caring and pet-directed friendship behaviours and that attachment to pets significantly predicts positive attitudes towards animals. The findings have implications for the promotion of prosocial and humane behaviour. Encouraging children to participate in pet care behaviour may promote attachment between children and their pet, which in turn may have a range of positive outcomes for both children (such as reduced aggression, better well-being, and quality of life and pets (such as humane treatment. This study enhances our understanding of childhood pet attachment and has implications for humane education and promoting secure emotional attachments in childhood.

Human agency beliefs influence behaviour during virtual social interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan Caruana

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In recent years, with the emergence of relatively inexpensive and accessible virtual reality technologies, it is now possible to deliver compelling and realistic simulations of human-to-human interaction. Neuroimaging studies have shown that, when participants believe they are interacting via a virtual interface with another human agent, they show different patterns of brain activity compared to when they know that their virtual partner is computer-controlled. The suggestion is that users adopt an “intentional stance” by attributing mental states to their virtual partner. However, it remains unclear how beliefs in the agency of a virtual partner influence participants’ behaviour and subjective experience of the interaction. We investigated this issue in the context of a cooperative “joint attention” game in which participants interacted via an eye tracker with a virtual onscreen partner, directing each other’s eye gaze to different screen locations. Half of the participants were correctly informed that their partner was controlled by a computer algorithm (“Computer” condition. The other half were misled into believing that the virtual character was controlled by a second participant in another room (“Human” condition. Those in the “Human” condition were slower to make eye contact with their partner and more likely to try and guide their partner before they had established mutual eye contact than participants in the “Computer” condition. They also responded more rapidly when their partner was guiding them, although the same effect was also found for a control condition in which they responded to an arrow cue. Results confirm the influence of human agency beliefs on behaviour in this virtual social interaction context. They further suggest that researchers and developers attempting to simulate social interactions should consider the impact of agency beliefs on user experience in other social contexts, and their effect

Modeling Human Behaviour with Higher Order Logic: Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boender, Jaap; Ivanova, Marieta Georgieva; Kammuller, Florian

2014-01-01

it to the sociological process of logical explanation. As a case study on modeling human behaviour, we present the modeling and analysis of insider threats as a Higher Order Logic theory in Isabelle/HOL. We show how each of the three step process of sociological explanation can be seen in our modeling of insider’s state......, its context within an organisation and the effects on security as outcomes of a theorem proving analysis....

Human Factors on the Flight Deck Safe Piloting Behaviour in Practice

CERN Document Server

Scheiderer, Joachim

2013-01-01

What is for a professional pilot required to fly as safe as possible? Written by pilots the book gives a detailed introduction into the basics of accident prevention in air traffic. Explicit background knowledge as well as detailed listings of safety relevant features in human behaviour are included.

Dogs and their human companions: the effect of familiarity on dog-human interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerepesi, Andrea; Dóka, Antal; Miklósi, Ádám

2015-01-01

There are few quantitative examinations of the extent to which dogs discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar persons. In our study we have investigated whether dogs show differential behaviour towards humans of different degrees of familiarity (owner, familiar person, unfamiliar person). Dogs and humans were observed in eight test situations: (1) Three-way strange situation test, (2) Calling in from food, (3) Obedience test, (4) Walking away, (5) Threatening approach, (6) Playful interaction, (7) Food inhibition test and (8) Manipulation of the dog's body. Dogs distinguished between the owner and the two other test partners in those tests which involved separation from the owner (Test 1, 4), were aversive for the dog (Test 5) or involved playing interaction (Test 6). Our results revealed that the owner cannot be replaced by a familiar person in situations provoking elevated anxiety and fear. In contrasts, dogs did not discriminate between the owner and the familiar person in those tests that were based on obedient behaviour or behaviour towards an assertive person (Tests 2, 3, 7 and 8). Dogs' former training experience reduced the difference between their behaviour towards the owner and the familiar person in situations requiring obedience but it did not mask it totally. The dogs' behaviour towards each of the humans participating in the tests was consistent all over the test series. In summary, dogs discriminated between their owner and the unfamiliar person and always preferred the owner to the unfamiliar person. However, the discrimination between the owner and the familiar person is context-specific. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Canine Behavior. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Human recreation alters behaviour profiles of non-breeding birds on open-coast sandy shores

Science.gov (United States)

Schlacher, Thomas A.; Nielsen, Tara; Weston, Michael A.

2013-02-01

Sandy beaches are primarily valued for their amenity and property values rather than for their ecological functions and properties. Some human usage of beaches potentially conflicts with the conservation and management of wildlife, such as beach-dwelling birds, on sandy shorelines. Because responses by birds to environmental change, including disturbance by humans, often involve behaviours that carry fitness costs, we quantify behaviour profiles of birds in relation to human occurrence along 200 km of sandy shoreline in Eastern Australia, including the large conservation area of Fraser Island. Disturbance to birds on these shores was considerable: 1) birds encountered motorized vehicles (cars, trucks, buses etc.) during 80% of focal bird observation bouts, 2) birds were flushed in over half (up to 86% in individual species) of all bouts, and 3) individuals spent, on average, one-third of their time on disturbance-related behaviours; this was particularly prevalent for Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii) which were alert 42% of the time and spent 12% of their time escaping from human stimuli. Overall, this study demonstrated that motorized traffic is the prime agent of disturbance to birds on these beaches, resulting in frequent and time-consuming escape behaviours. These findings also emphasize that management of vehicle-based recreation on beaches needs to be re-aligned to meet conservation requirements in addition to providing leisure opportunities in National Parks and beyond; we identify some salient issue for this development: a) encouragement of social norms that promote environmentally benign beach use not involving motor vehicles, b) creation of spatial refuges for beach wildlife from traffic and other non-compatible uses, and c) investment in developing complementary management actions such as effective set-back distances.

The impact of communication on human behaviour in times of crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Andrew

Decision makers have constantly sought to find the most appropriate ways to use communication to influence behaviour during times of crises to assist in their recovery. This paper will investigate why policy makers wish to utilise effective crisis communications and explore the importance of crisis communication on influencing human behaviour in a time of crisis as well as the influence that the medium of communication can have. It will be noted that the medium of the message is important to ensure that the correct audience has been reached. This paper will suggest that, for decision makers to maximise the impact of crisis communications during a crisis, they must utilise rhetoric and cognitive response theory. It will also be suggested that the most importance factor in influencing behaviour in a time of crisis is that communications are provided from a credible source and are empathic in nature.

Gender Differences in Students' Mathematics Game Playing

Science.gov (United States)

Lowrie, Tom; Jorgensen, Robyn

2011-01-01

The investigation monitored the digital game-playing behaviours of 428 primary-aged students (aged 10-12 years). Chi-square analysis revealed that boys tend to spend more time playing digital games than girls while boys and girls play quite different game genres. Subsequent analysis revealed statistically significant gender differences in terms of…

Changes in behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels in response to increased human activities during weekends in the pin-tailed sandgrouse

Science.gov (United States)

Casas, Fabián; Benítez-López, Ana; Tarjuelo, Rocío; Barja, Isabel; Viñuela, Javier; García, Jesús T.; Morales, Manuel B.; Mougeot, Francois

2016-12-01

Human recreational activities are becoming increasingly widespread and frequent, a fact that may potentially exacerbate their effects on wildlife. These human-related disturbances on animals may induce behavioural and physiological changes that can ultimately affect their fitness, showing a similar anti-predator response that against natural predator or other threats. Here, we combine the use of behavioural and physiological approaches to assess the potential effect of winter human activities on a threatened farmland bird in Europe, the pin-tailed sandgrouse ( Pterocles alchata). We compared before, during and after weekend variations in human activity rates, pin-tailed sandgrouse behaviour (flocking and flying behaviour, interspecific association in mixed flocks and habitat use) and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations. Human disturbances, in particular those associated with hunting activities, peaked during weekends. Sandgrouse showed significant behavioural changes (increased sandgrouse-only flock sizes, increased proportion of birds flying and changes in habitat use) during weekends and higher faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations after the weekends compared with during or before weekends. Therefore, physiological stress levels could be modulated by behavioural adjustments such as increased flock sizes and changes in habitat use that may allow sandgrouse to cope with increased human disturbance rates during weekends. Nevertheless, temporal and spatial organization of hunting days among groups of estates might be good strategies to buffer these potential adverse effects on wintering pin-tailed sandgrouse and other steppe species of conservation concern, while preserving a socio-economically important activity such as hunting.

Changes in behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels in response to increased human activities during weekends in the pin-tailed sandgrouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Casas, Fabián; Benítez-López, Ana; Tarjuelo, Rocío; Barja, Isabel; Viñuela, Javier; García, Jesús T; Morales, Manuel B; Mougeot, Francois

2016-12-01

Human recreational activities are becoming increasingly widespread and frequent, a fact that may potentially exacerbate their effects on wildlife. These human-related disturbances on animals may induce behavioural and physiological changes that can ultimately affect their fitness, showing a similar anti-predator response that against natural predator or other threats. Here, we combine the use of behavioural and physiological approaches to assess the potential effect of winter human activities on a threatened farmland bird in Europe, the pin-tailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata). We compared before, during and after weekend variations in human activity rates, pin-tailed sandgrouse behaviour (flocking and flying behaviour, interspecific association in mixed flocks and habitat use) and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations. Human disturbances, in particular those associated with hunting activities, peaked during weekends. Sandgrouse showed significant behavioural changes (increased sandgrouse-only flock sizes, increased proportion of birds flying and changes in habitat use) during weekends and higher faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations after the weekends compared with during or before weekends. Therefore, physiological stress levels could be modulated by behavioural adjustments such as increased flock sizes and changes in habitat use that may allow sandgrouse to cope with increased human disturbance rates during weekends. Nevertheless, temporal and spatial organization of hunting days among groups of estates might be good strategies to buffer these potential adverse effects on wintering pin-tailed sandgrouse and other steppe species of conservation concern, while preserving a socio-economically important activity such as hunting.

A novel method for delivering ramped cooling reveals rat behaviours at innocuous and noxious temperatures: A comparative study of human psychophysics and rat behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunham, James P; Hulse, Richard P; Donaldson, Lucy F

2015-07-15

Thermal sensory testing in rodents informs human pain research. There are important differences in the methodology for delivering thermal stimuli to humans and rodents. This is particularly true in cold pain research. These differences confound extrapolation and de-value nociceptive tests in rodents. We investigated cooling-induced behaviours in rats and psychophysical thresholds in humans using ramped cooling stimulation protocols. A Peltier device mounted upon force transducers simultaneously applied a ramped cooling stimulus whilst measuring contact with rat hind paw or human finger pad. Rat withdrawals and human detection, discomfort and pain thresholds were measured. Ramped cooling of a rat hind paw revealed two distinct responses: Brief paw removal followed by paw replacement, usually with more weight borne than prior to the removal (temperature inter-quartile range: 19.1 °C to 2.8 °C). Full withdrawal was evoked at colder temperatures (inter quartile range: -11.3 °C to -11.8 °C). The profile of human cool detection threshold and cold pain threshold were remarkably similar to that of the rat withdrawals behaviours. Previous rat cold evoked behaviours utilise static temperature stimuli. By utilising ramped cold stimuli this novel methodology better reflects thermal testing in patients. Brief paw removal in the rat is driven by non-nociceptive afferents, as is the perception of cooling in humans. This is in contrast to the nociceptor-driven withdrawal from colder temperatures. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of data generated in older cold pain models and consequently our understanding of cold perception and pain. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Monitoring human health behaviour in one's living environment: a technological review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Shane A; Ólaighin, Gearóid

2014-02-01

The electronic monitoring of human health behaviour using computer techniques has been an active research area for the past few decades. A wide array of different approaches have been investigated using various technologies including inertial sensors, Global Positioning System, smart homes, Radio Frequency IDentification and others. It is only in recent years that research has turned towards a sensor fusion approach using several different technologies in single systems or devices. These systems allow for an increased volume of data to be collected and for activity data to be better used as measures of behaviour. This change may be due to decreasing hardware costs, smaller sensors, increased power efficiency or increases in portability. This paper is intended to act as a reference for the design of multi-sensor behaviour monitoring systems. The range of technologies that have been used in isolation for behaviour monitoring both in research and commercial devices are reviewed and discussed. Filtering, range, sensitivity, usability and other considerations of different technologies are discussed. A brief overview of commercially available activity monitors and their technology is also included. Copyright © 2013 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Play Matters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sicart (Vila), Miguel Angel

? In Play Matters, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human. We play games, but we also play with toys, on playgrounds, with technologies and design......, but not necessarily fun. Play can be dangerous, addictive, and destructive. Along the way, Sicart considers playfulness, the capacity to use play outside the context of play; toys, the materialization of play--instruments but also play pals; playgrounds, play spaces that enable all kinds of play; beauty...

Network information analysis reveals risk perception transmission in a behaviour-influenza dynamics system.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, C-M; You, S-H; Cheng, Y-H

2015-01-01

Influenza poses a significant public health burden worldwide. Understanding how and to what extent people would change their behaviour in response to influenza outbreaks is critical for formulating public health policies. We incorporated the information-theoretic framework into a behaviour-influenza (BI) transmission dynamics system in order to understand the effects of individual behavioural change on influenza epidemics. We showed that information transmission of risk perception played a crucial role in the spread of health-seeking behaviour throughout influenza epidemics. Here a network BI model provides a new approach for understanding the risk perception spread and human behavioural change during disease outbreaks. Our study allows simultaneous consideration of epidemiological, psychological, and social factors as predictors of individual perception rates in behaviour-disease transmission systems. We suggest that a monitoring system with precise information on risk perception should be constructed to effectively promote health behaviours in preparation for emerging disease outbreaks.

Excessive computer game playing among Norwegian adults: self-reported consequences of playing and association with mental health problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wenzel, H G; Bakken, I J; Johansson, A; Götestam, K G; Øren, Anita

2009-12-01

Computer games are the most advanced form of gaming. For most people, the playing is an uncomplicated leisure activity; however, for a minority the gaming becomes excessive and is associated with negative consequences. The aim of the present study was to investigate computer game-playing behaviour in the general adult Norwegian population, and to explore mental health problems and self-reported consequences of playing. The survey includes 3,405 adults 16 to 74 years old (Norway 2007, response rate 35.3%). Overall, 65.5% of the respondents reported having ever played computer games (16-29 years, 93.9%; 30-39 years, 85.0%; 40-59 years, 56.2%; 60-74 years, 25.7%). Among 2,170 players, 89.8% reported playing less than 1 hr. as a daily average over the last month, 5.0% played 1-2 hr. daily, 3.1% played 2-4 hr. daily, and 2.2% reported playing > 4 hr. daily. The strongest risk factor for playing > 4 hr. daily was being an online player, followed by male gender, and single marital status. Reported negative consequences of computer game playing increased strongly with average daily playing time. Furthermore, prevalence of self-reported sleeping problems, depression, suicide ideations, anxiety, obsessions/ compulsions, and alcohol/substance abuse increased with increasing playing time. This study showed that adult populations should also be included in research on computer game-playing behaviour and its consequences.

Do maternal attributions play a role in the acceptability of behavioural interventions for problem behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders?

OpenAIRE

Choi, Yee Ki Kathy; Kovshoff, H.

2013-01-01

The present study explored the relationship between parental attributions and treatment acceptability of behavioural interventions for problem behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Mothers of children with ASD aged 3–9 years (N = 139) completed survey measures that assessed demographics, parental attributions, treatment acceptability of parent-focused and child-focused behavioural interventions, severity of their child's disruptive behaviour, and severity of their child'...

Social and economic influences on human behavioural response in an emerging epidemic

Science.gov (United States)

Phang, P.; Wiwatanapataphee, B.; Wu, Y. H.

2017-10-01

The human behavioural changes have been recognized as an important key in shaping the disease spreading and determining the success of control measures in the course of epidemic outbreaks. However, apart from cost-benefit considerations, in reality, people are heterogeneous in their preferences towards adopting certain protective actions to reduce their risk of infection, and social norms have a function in individuals’ decision making. Here, we studied the interplay between the epidemic dynamics, imitation dynamics and the heterogeneity of individual protective behavioural response under the considerations of both economic and social factors, with a simple mathematical compartmental model and multi-population game dynamical replicator equations. We assume that susceptibles in different subpopulations have different preferences in adopting either normal or altered behaviour. By incorporating both intra- and inter-group social pressure, the outcome of the strategy distribution depends on the initial proportion of susceptible with normal and altered strategies in both subpopulations. The increase of additional cost to susceptible with altered behaviour will discourage people to take up protective actions and hence results in higher epidemic final size. For a specific cost of altered behaviour, the social group pressure could be a “double edge sword”, though. We conclude that the interplays between individual protective behaviour adoption, imitation and epidemic dynamics are necessarily complex if both economic and social factors act on populations with existing preferences.

Re-imagining malaria: heterogeneity of human and mosquito behaviour in relation to residual malaria transmission in Cambodia.

Science.gov (United States)

Gryseels, Charlotte; Durnez, Lies; Gerrets, René; Uk, Sambunny; Suon, Sokha; Set, Srun; Phoeuk, Pisen; Sluydts, Vincent; Heng, Somony; Sochantha, Tho; Coosemans, Marc; Peeters Grietens, Koen

2015-04-24

In certain regions in Southeast Asia, where malaria is reduced to forested regions populated by ethnic minorities dependent on slash-and-burn agriculture, malaria vector populations have developed a propensity to feed early and outdoors, limiting the effectiveness of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLIN) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). The interplay between heterogeneous human, as well as mosquito behaviour, radically challenges malaria control in such residual transmission contexts. This study examines human behavioural patterns in relation to the vector behaviour. The anthropological research used a sequential mixed-methods study design in which quantitative survey research methods were used to complement findings from qualitative ethnographic research. The qualitative research existed of in-depth interviews and participant observation. For the entomological research, indoor and outdoor human landing collections were performed. All research was conducted in selected villages in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia. Variability in human behaviour resulted in variable exposure to outdoor and early biting vectors: (i) indigenous people were found to commute between farms in the forest, where malaria exposure is higher, and village homes; (ii) the indoor/outdoor biting distinction was less clear in forest housing often completely or partly open to the outside; (iii) reported sleeping times varied according to the context of economic activities, impacting on the proportion of infections that could be accounted for by early or nighttime biting; (iv) protection by LLINs may not be as high as self-reported survey data indicate, as observations showed around 40% (non-treated) market net use while (v) unprotected evening resting and deep forest activities impacted further on the suboptimal use of LLINs. The heterogeneity of human behaviour and the variation of vector densities and biting behaviours may lead to a considerable proportion of exposure occurring during

Human Evolution, Movement, and Intelligence: Why Playing Games Counts as Smart

Science.gov (United States)

Kretchmar, R. Scott

2018-01-01

The article investigates several ways in which creating, entering, and playing games requires uniquely human levels of intelligence. It examines an element of our evolutionary heritage and the possibility that games (particularly in the form of sport) were among the first elements of culture. It describes sport as a "way of knowing," a…

The association of human papillomavirus vaccination with sexual behaviours and human papillomavirus knowledge: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Coles, Victoria A H; Patel, Ajay S; Allen, Felicity L; Keeping, Sam T; Carroll, Stuart M

2015-10-01

Since the 2008 introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for adolescent girls in the UK, parents and other groups have expressed fears that immunisation condones sexual activity, promotes promiscuity and encourages risky sexual behaviour. This study aimed to explore whether HPV vaccination programmes have increased knowledge surrounding HPV and associated disease and whether uptake has influenced sexual behaviour. MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO electronic databases were interrogated. Studies of behaviour, attitudes and knowledge associated with HPV vaccination (or vaccination intent) in subjects of any age and gender in programmes reflective of UK practice were included in the review (n = 58). The evidence regarding the association of HPV vaccination with high-risk sexual behaviour was varied, primarily due to the heterogeneous nature of the included studies. Young females typically exhibited better knowledge than males, and vaccinated respondents (or those with vaccination intent) had higher levels of knowledge than the unvaccinated. However, knowledge surrounding HPV and genital warts was generally poor. This review highlights the need to provide effective education regarding the HPV vaccine and HPV-associated disease to adolescents of vaccination age, nurses, teachers, parents and guardians to ultimately allow informed decisions to be made regarding receipt of the HPV vaccine. © The Author(s) 2015.

Feather damaging behaviour in parrots: A review with consideration of comparative aspects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Zeeland, Yvonne R A; Spruit, Berry M; Rodenburg, T Bas

2009-01-01

similarities with behavioural disorders present in other bird species. Feather pecking (FP) in poultry is of particular interest in this case. Because of the major impacts on welfare and economy, the disorder has been thoroughly investigated. It has been shown that genetic, socio-environmental...... and neurobiological factors all play a role in FP. Several theories have been postulated about the different motivational systems that affect the behaviour, of which (redirected) foraging appears to be the most generally accepted. FDB may result from similar motivations and underlying mechanisms, but has also been......Feather damaging behaviour (also referred to as feather picking or feather plucking) is a behavioural disorder that is frequently encountered in captive parrots. This disorder has many characteristics that are similar to trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder in humans. Unfortunately...

Object recognition in images by human vision and computer vision

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Q.; Dijkstra, J.; Vries, de B.

2010-01-01

Object recognition plays a major role in human behaviour research in the built environment. Computer based object recognition techniques using images as input are challenging, but not an adequate representation of human vision. This paper reports on the differences in object shape recognition

A Systematic Review of the Reliability and Validity of Behavioural Tests Used to Assess Behavioural Characteristics Important in Working Dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Brady, Karen; Cracknell, Nina; Zulch, Helen; Mills, Daniel Simon

2018-01-01

Working dogs are selected based on predictions from tests that they will be able to perform specific tasks in often challenging environments. However, withdrawal from service in working dogs is still a big problem, bringing into question the reliability of the selection tests used to make these predictions. A systematic review was undertaken aimed at bringing together available information on the reliability and predictive validity of the assessment of behavioural characteristics used with working dogs to establish the quality of selection tests currently available for use to predict success in working dogs. The search procedures resulted in 16 papers meeting the criteria for inclusion. A large range of behaviour tests and parameters were used in the identified papers, and so behaviour tests and their underpinning constructs were grouped on the basis of their relationship with positive core affect (willingness to work, human-directed social behaviour, object-directed play tendencies) and negative core affect (human-directed aggression, approach withdrawal tendencies, sensitivity to aversives). We then examined the papers for reports of inter-rater reliability, within-session intra-rater reliability, test-retest validity and predictive validity. The review revealed a widespread lack of information relating to the reliability and validity of measures to assess behaviour and inconsistencies in terminologies, study parameters and indices of success. There is a need to standardise the reporting of these aspects of behavioural tests in order to improve the knowledge base of what characteristics are predictive of optimal performance in working dog roles, improving selection processes and reducing working dog redundancy. We suggest the use of a framework based on explaining the direct or indirect relationship of the test with core affect.

Human gut microbiota plays a role in the metabolism of drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Jourova, Lenka; Anzenbacher, Pavel; Anzenbacherova, Eva

2016-09-01

The gut microbiome, an aggregate genome of trillions of microorganisms residing in the human gastrointestinal tract, is now known to play a critical role in human health and predisposition to disease. It is also involved in the biotransformation of xenobiotics and several recent studies have shown that the gut microbiota can affect the pharmacokinetics of orally taken drugs with implications for their oral bioavailability. Review of Pubmed, Web of Science and Science Direct databases for the years 1957-2016. Recent studies make it clear that the human gut microbiota can play a major role in the metabolism of xenobiotics and, the stability and oral bioavailability of drugs. Over the past 50 years, more than 30 drugs have been identified as a substrate for intestinal bacteria. Questions concerning the impact of the gut microbiota on drug metabolism, remain unanswered or only partially answered, namely (i) what are the molecular mechanisms and which bacterial species are involved? (ii) What is the impact of host genotype and environmental factors on the composition and function of the gut microbiota, (iii) To what extent is the composition of the intestinal microbiome stable, transmissible, and resilient to perturbation? (iv) Has past exposure to a given drug any impact on future microbial response, and, if so, for how long? Answering such questions should be an integral part of pharmaceutical research and personalised health care.

Teaching Play Skills to Young Children with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Sunhwa; Sainato, Diane M.

2013-01-01

Background: Play is critical for the development of young children and is an important part of their daily routine. However, children with autism often exhibit deficits in play skills and engage in stereotypic behaviour. We reviewed studies to identify effective instructional strategies for teaching play skills to young children with autism.…

Infants' visual sustained attention is higher during joint play than solo play: is this due to increased endogenous attention control or exogenous stimulus capture?

Science.gov (United States)

Wass, Sam V; Clackson, Kaili; Georgieva, Stanimira D; Brightman, Laura; Nutbrown, Rebecca; Leong, Victoria

2018-04-06

Previous research has suggested that when a social partner, such as a parent, pays attention to an object, this increases the attention that infants pay to that object during spontaneous, naturalistic play. There are two contrasting reasons why this might be: first, social context may influence increases in infants' endogenous (voluntary) attention control; second, social settings may offer increased opportunities for exogenous attentional capture. To differentiate these possibilities, we compared 12-month-old infants' naturalistic attention patterns in two settings: Solo Play and Joint Play with a social partner (the parent). Consistent with previous research, we found that infants' look durations toward play objects were longer during Joint Play, and that moments of inattentiveness were fewer, and shorter. Follow-up analyses, conducted to differentiate the two above-proposed hypotheses, were more consistent with the latter hypothesis. We found that infants' rate of change of attentiveness was faster during Joint Play than Solo Play, suggesting that internal attention factors, such as attentional inertia, may influence looking behaviour less during Joint Play. We also found that adults' attention forwards-predicted infants' subsequent attention more than vice versa, suggesting that adults' behaviour may drive infants' behaviour. Finally, we found that mutual gaze did not directly facilitate infant attentiveness. Overall, our results suggest that infants spend more time attending to objects during Joint Play than Solo Play, but that these differences are more likely attributable to increased exogenous attentional scaffolding from the parent during social play, rather than to increased endogenous attention control from the infant. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Learning from the mistakes of others: How female elk (Cervus elaphus) adjust behaviour with age to avoid hunters.

Science.gov (United States)

Thurfjell, Henrik; Ciuti, Simone; Boyce, Mark S

2017-01-01

In animal behaviour, there is a dichotomy between innate behaviours (e.g., temperament or personality traits) versus those behaviours shaped by learning. Innate personality traits are supposedly less evident in animals when confounded by learning acquired with experience through time. Learning might play a key role in the development and adoption of successful anti-predator strategies, and the related adaptation has the potential to make animals that are more experienced less vulnerable to predation. We carried out a study in a system involving a large herbivorous mammal, female elk, Cervus elaphus, and their primary predator, i.e., human hunters. Using fine-scale satellite telemetry relocations, we tested whether differences in behaviour depending on age were due solely to selection pressure imposed by human hunters, meaning that females that were more cautious were more likely to survive and become older. Or whether learning also was involved, meaning that females adjusted their behaviour as they aged. Our results indicated that both human selection and learning contributed to the adoption of more cautious behavioural strategies in older females. Whereas human selection of behavioural traits has been shown in our previous research, we here provide evidence of additive learning processes being responsible for shaping the behaviour of individuals in this population. Female elk are indeed almost invulnerable to human hunters when older than 9-10 y.o., confirming that experience contributes to their survival. Female elk monitored in our study showed individually changing behaviours and clear adaptation as they aged, such as reduced movement rates (decreased likelihood of encountering human hunters), and increased use of secure areas (forest and steeper terrain), especially when close to roads. We also found that elk adjusted behaviours depending on the type of threat (bow and arrow vs. rifle hunters). This fine-tuning by elk to avoid hunters, rather than just

Learning from the mistakes of others: How female elk (Cervus elaphus adjust behaviour with age to avoid hunters.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik Thurfjell

Full Text Available In animal behaviour, there is a dichotomy between innate behaviours (e.g., temperament or personality traits versus those behaviours shaped by learning. Innate personality traits are supposedly less evident in animals when confounded by learning acquired with experience through time. Learning might play a key role in the development and adoption of successful anti-predator strategies, and the related adaptation has the potential to make animals that are more experienced less vulnerable to predation. We carried out a study in a system involving a large herbivorous mammal, female elk, Cervus elaphus, and their primary predator, i.e., human hunters. Using fine-scale satellite telemetry relocations, we tested whether differences in behaviour depending on age were due solely to selection pressure imposed by human hunters, meaning that females that were more cautious were more likely to survive and become older. Or whether learning also was involved, meaning that females adjusted their behaviour as they aged. Our results indicated that both human selection and learning contributed to the adoption of more cautious behavioural strategies in older females. Whereas human selection of behavioural traits has been shown in our previous research, we here provide evidence of additive learning processes being responsible for shaping the behaviour of individuals in this population. Female elk are indeed almost invulnerable to human hunters when older than 9-10 y.o., confirming that experience contributes to their survival. Female elk monitored in our study showed individually changing behaviours and clear adaptation as they aged, such as reduced movement rates (decreased likelihood of encountering human hunters, and increased use of secure areas (forest and steeper terrain, especially when close to roads. We also found that elk adjusted behaviours depending on the type of threat (bow and arrow vs. rifle hunters. This fine-tuning by elk to avoid hunters, rather

The Effect of Parental Involvement and Encouragement on Preschool Children's Symbolic Play

Science.gov (United States)

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Podlesek, Anja

2014-01-01

The purpose of our study was to examine the ways in which parents engage in play with their children within the family context and to establish which parental play behaviour predicts the play behaviour of their children during interactive play with toys. The sample included 58 children from 2;6 to 6 years old and their parents. The parent-child…

Links between play and dominance and attachment dimensions of dog-human relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Rooney, Nicola J; Bradshaw, John W S

2003-01-01

It is often claimed that certain behavioral problems in domestic dogs can be triggered by the games played by dog and caregiver (owner). In this study, we examine possible links between the types of games played and dimensions of the dog-owner relationship that are generally considered to affect such problems. Fifty dog-owner partnerships were filmed during 3-min play sessions in which the owner was allowed to choose the games played. All partnerships then undertook a 1-hr test designed to measure elements of behavior commonly ascribed to "dominance" and "attachment." Principal components analysis of the data produced 2 dominance-related factors (Amenability and Confident Interactivity) and 4 factors describing aspects of attachment (Nonspecific Attention Seeking, Preference for Owner, Preference for Unfamiliar Person, and Separation-Related Behavior). Amenability, in particular, varied significantly between breeds. In the study, we then compared types of games played to each of these factors. Dogs playing rough-and-tumble scored higher for Amenability and lower on Separation-Related Behavior than did dogs playing other types of games. Dogs playing tug-of-war and fetch scored high on Confident Interactivity. Winning or losing these games had no consistent effect on their test scores. If the dog started the majority of the games, the dog was significantly less amenable and more likely to exhibit aggression. The results suggest that how dogs play reflects general attributes of their temperament and relationship with their owner. This study provides no evidence that games play a major deterministic role on dominance dimensions of dog-human relationships, but the results suggest that playing games involving considerable body contact may affect attachment dimensions.

A framework for understanding culture and its relationship to information behaviour: Taiwanese aborigines' information behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nei-Ching Yeh

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This article proposes a model of culture and its relationship to information behaviour based on two empirical studies of Taiwanese aborigines' information behaviour. Method. The research approach is ethnographic and the material was collected through observations, conversations, questionnaires, interviews and relevant documents. In 2003-2004, the author lived with two Taiwan aboriginal tribes, the Yami tribe and the Tsau tribe and conducted forty-two theme-based interviews. Analysis. Data were analysed with the help of software for qualitative analysis (NVivo, where all sentences from both interviews and field notes were coded. The conceptual framework used is the sociology of knowledge. Results. The model of culture and its relationship to information behaviour can show us how to think about the relationship between culture and human information behaviour. This model also identifies elements of the model, which are habitus, tradition and prejudice and suggests how we can apply the concepts of information fullness and emptiness to view the relationship between culture and human information behaviour. Conclusion. . Theoretically, this research puts forward a new model of information behaviour and focuses on the role and the importance of culture when thinking about and studying human information behaviour. Methodologically, this study demonstrates how an ethnographic research method can contribute to exploring the influence that culture has on human life and the details of the human life world and information behaviour.

Evolution and behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change.

Science.gov (United States)

Sih, Andrew; Ferrari, Maud C O; Harris, David J

2011-03-01

Almost all organisms live in environments that have been altered, to some degree, by human activities. Because behaviour mediates interactions between an individual and its environment, the ability of organisms to behave appropriately under these new conditions is crucial for determining their immediate success or failure in these modified environments. While hundreds of species are suffering dramatically from these environmental changes, others, such as urbanized and pest species, are doing better than ever. Our goal is to provide insights into explaining such variation. We first summarize the responses of some species to novel situations, including novel risks and resources, habitat loss/fragmentation, pollutants and climate change. Using a sensory ecology approach, we present a mechanistic framework for predicting variation in behavioural responses to environmental change, drawing from models of decision-making processes and an understanding of the selective background against which they evolved. Where immediate behavioural responses are inadequate, learning or evolutionary adaptation may prove useful, although these mechanisms are also constrained by evolutionary history. Although predicting the responses of species to environmental change is difficult, we highlight the need for a better understanding of the role of evolutionary history in shaping individuals' responses to their environment and provide suggestion for future work.

Extended prospect theory : Findings on choice behaviour from economics and the behavioural sciences and their relevance for travel behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van de Kaa, E.J.

2008-01-01

In Transport Sciences different implementations of Utility Theory are commonly used for the description and prediction of human choice behaviour. Almost 30 years ago Kahneman and Tversky proposed an alternative behavioural-economic model of choice behaviour called Prospect Theory. In contrast to

Mutants dissecting development and behaviour in drosophila

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshi, Adita; Chandrashekaran, Shanti; Sharma, R.P.

2005-01-01

We have traced in this paper the progress in Drosophila genetics research from the 1960s, at the IARI, spearheaded by the visionary insight of M. S. Swaminathan. The work started with the study of indirect effect of radiation and the synergistic interaction of physical and chemical mutagens on chromosomal and genetic changes. This paved the way for the study of single gene mutants in dissecting developmental and behavioural processes. New genes discovered by us have been shown to encode conserved cell signalling molecules controlling developmental and behavioural pathways. With the complete sequencing of the Drosophila genome, in the year 2000, mounting evidence for the homology between Drosophila and human genes controlling genetic disorders became available. This has led to the fly becoming an indispensable tool for studying human diseases as well as a model to test for drugs and pharmaceuticals against human diseases and complex behavioural processes. For example wingless in Drosophila belongs to the conserved Wnt gene family and aberrant WNT signalling is linked to a range of human diseases, most notably cancer. Inhibition as well as activation of WNT signalling form the basis of an effective therapy for some cancers as well as several other clinical conditions. Recent experiments have shown that WNTs might also normally participate in self-renewal, proliferation or differentiation of stem cells and altering WNT signalling might be beneficial to the use of stem cells for therapeutic means. Likewise, the stambhA mutant of Drosophila which was discovered for its temperature-dependent paralytic behaviour is the fly homologue of Phospholipase Cβ. Phospholipase C mediated G protein signalling plays a central role in vital processes controlling epilepsy, vision, taste, and olfaction in animals. Proteins of the G-signalling pathway are of intense research interest since many human diseases involve defects in G-protein signalling pathways. In fact, approximately 50

In Quest of a Meaningful Model of Human Self and Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manzurul Huq

1994-06-01

Full Text Available There is a growing awareness among many modern psychologists that the will to meaning is a highly distinctive feature of man, distinguishing him from animals. Accordingly, a behaviour model for man, to be truly representative, must include the drive for meaning as a significant dimension of human personality. In the light of this realization, some major psychological models of personality, e.g., the psychoanalytical model, behaviouristic model, humanistic model, and the existential model have been briefly examined, and a model based on transcendental nature of man is proposed. According to this model, the realization of an abiding comprehensive meaning of life and the consequent all­ inclusive meaningful behaviour, both at the individual and social levels, is the junction of man's perception and belief in a transcendentally anchored integrated framework of life.

Rationality and irrationality in understanding human behaviour. An evaluation of the methodological consequences of conceptualising irrationality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cosmin Toth

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Some of the most known and fertile models for understanding human behaviour are those which rest on the assumption of human rationality. These models have specific strategies for dealing with situations in which understanding human behaviour becomes difficult, i.e. cases of irrationality, and this, in turn, leads to particular methodological consequences. The aim of this article is to illustrate and systematize some of the typical theoretical approaches to the issues of rationality and irrationality and their methodological consequences, while warning, at the same time, against the risks of applying rationality models of a pronounced normative-evaluative nature. A number of important methodological consequences of applying the principle of charity to various degrees of strength are analysed and a taxonomic grid for the different ways of approaching rationality is presented.

Rumination-focused cognitive behaviour therapy vs. cognitive behaviour therapy for depression

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvenegaard, Morten; Watkins, Ed R; Poulsen, Stig

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioural therapy is an effective treatment for depression. However, one third of the patients do not respond satisfactorily, and relapse rates of around 30 % within the first post-treatment year were reported in a recent meta-analysis. In total, 30-50 % of remitted patients...... of future depression. Rumination-focused cognitive behavioural therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment targeting rumination. Because rumination plays a major role in the initiation and maintenance of depression, targeting rumination with rumination-focused cognitive behavioural therapy may be more...... effective in treating depression and reducing relapse than standard cognitive behavioural therapy. METHOD/DESIGN: This study is a two-arm pragmatic randomised controlled superiority trial comparing the effectiveness of group-based rumination-focused cognitive behaviour therapy with the effectiveness...

A novel video-tracking system to quantify the behaviour of nocturnal mosquitoes attacking human hosts in the field.

Science.gov (United States)

Angarita-Jaimes, N C; Parker, J E A; Abe, M; Mashauri, F; Martine, J; Towers, C E; McCall, P J; Towers, D P

2016-04-01

Many vectors of malaria and other infections spend most of their adult life within human homes, the environment where they bloodfeed and rest, and where control has been most successful. Yet, knowledge of peri-domestic mosquito behaviour is limited, particularly how mosquitoes find and attack human hosts or how insecticides impact on behaviour. This is partly because technology for tracking mosquitoes in their natural habitats, traditional dwellings in disease-endemic countries, has never been available. We describe a sensing device that enables observation and recording of nocturnal mosquitoes attacking humans with or without a bed net, in the laboratory and in rural Africa. The device addresses requirements for sub-millimetre resolution over a 2.0 × 1.2 × 2.0 m volume while using minimum irradiance. Data processing strategies to extract individual mosquito trajectories and algorithms to describe behaviour during host/net interactions are introduced. Results from UK laboratory and Tanzanian field tests showed that Culex quinquefasciatus activity was higher and focused on the bed net roof when a human host was present, in colonized and wild populations. Both C. quinquefasciatus and Anopheles gambiae exhibited similar behavioural modes, with average flight velocities varying by less than 10%. The system offers considerable potential for investigations in vector biology and many other fields. © 2016 The Authors.

Understanding Protein Synthesis: A Role-Play Approach in Large Undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Sturges, Diana; Maurer, Trent W.; Cole, Oladipo

2009-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of role play in a large undergraduate science class. The targeted population consisted of 298 students enrolled in 2 sections of an undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course taught by the same instructor. The section engaged in the role-play activity served as the study group, whereas the section…

Love Games that Insects Play

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 3; Issue 1. Love Games that Insects Play - The Evolution of Sexual Behaviours in Insects ... Author Affiliations. K N Ganeshaiah1. Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Bangalore 560 065, India ...

Human niche, human behaviour, human nature.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuentes, Agustin

2017-10-06

The concept of a 'human nature' or 'human natures' retains a central role in theorizing about the human experience. In Homo sapiens it is clear that we have a suite of capacities generated via our evolutionary past, and present, and a flexible capacity to create and sustain particular kinds of cultures and to be shaped by them. Regardless of whether we label these capacities 'human natures' or not, humans occupy a distinctive niche and an evolutionary approach to examining it is critical. At present we are faced with a few different narratives as to exactly what such an evolutionary approach entails. There is a need for a robust and dynamic theoretical toolkit in order to develop a richer, and more nuanced, understanding of the cognitively sophisticated genus Homo and the diverse sorts of niches humans constructed and occupied across the Pleistocene, Holocene, and into the Anthropocene. Here I review current evolutionary approaches to 'human nature', arguing that we benefit from re-framing our investigations via the concept of the human niche and in the context of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). While not a replacement of standard evolutionary approaches, this is an expansion and enhancement of our toolkit. I offer brief examples from human evolution in support of these assertions.

Human behaviour and energy demand : How behavioural science can be used to reduceenergy demand in the residential sector

OpenAIRE

Kaczmarek, Haiko

2015-01-01

The threat of human induced climate change is imminent. The reason is an everyincreasing demand for energy and products, producing more and more greenhousegas emissions. Everybody needs to take responsibility now. The estimations are thatwith 2% annual energy savings from residential households 12TWh and 3.3 billionmetric tonnes of CO2 can be saved per year. Greenely, a startup from KIC InnoEnergy,wants to engage residential households to change their energy behaviour athome. They combine a s...

Design for Play

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feder, Karen

2017-01-01

Abstract The purpose of the new Design for Play initiative is to inspire and educate designers to design for the future of play. To create “play ambassadors” equipped with excellent tools, methods, approaches and mind-sets to design for the playful human being in an ever-changing world. To teach...... and inspire children to grow up to be creative designers of their own life and the world around them. The Design for Play research team will study the interplay between people, processes and products in design for play and support the development of playful designers, playful solutions and playful experiences...

Interactions between personality and institutions in cooperative behaviour in humans

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, K. B.; Nettle, D.; McElreath, R.

2015-01-01

Laboratory attempts to identify relationships between personality and cooperative behaviour in humans have generated inconsistent results. This may partially stem from different practices in psychology and economics laboratories, with both hypothetical players and incentives typical only in the former. Another possible cause is insufficient consideration of the contexts within which social dilemmas occur. Real social dilemmas are often governed by institutions that change the payoff structure via rewards and punishments. However, such ‘strong situations’ will not necessarily suppress the effects of personality. On the contrary, they may affect some personalities differentially. Extraversion and neuroticism, reflecting variation in reward and punishment sensitivity, should predict modification of cooperative behaviour following changes to the payoff structure. We investigate interactions between personality and a punishment situation via two versions of a public goods game. We find that, even in a strong situation, personality matters and, moreover, it is related to strategic shifts in cooperation. Extraversion is associated with a shift from free-riding to cooperation in the presence of punishment, agreeableness is associated with initially higher contributions regardless of game, and, contrary to our predictions, neuroticism is associated with lower contributions regardless of game. Results should lead to new hypotheses that relate variation in biological functioning to individual differences in cooperative behaviour and that consider three-way interactions among personality, institutional context and sociocultural background. PMID:26503684

Play as Self-Realization: Toward a General Theory of Play

Science.gov (United States)

Henricks, Thomas S.

2014-01-01

In a wide-ranging essay that reviews the major theories of plays and relates them to significant notions of the self, the author addresses the question of why we play. He does so to argue that play is a biologically driven project of self-understanding and self-realization, one that humans--although they also share the experience with other…

Leadership empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and turnover intention in a manufacturing division

OpenAIRE

Janie Bester; Marius W. Stander; Llewellyn E. van Zyl

2015-01-01

Orientation: Employees’ perceptions of their leaders’ behaviour play a role in creating empowering environments where employees are willing to do more than what is expected, with retention of employees as a result. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to theoretically conceptualise and empirically determine the relationships between employees’ perception of their leaders’ empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and intention to leave wi...

Using network analysis to study behavioural phenotypes: an example using domestic dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Goold, Conor; Vas, Judit; Olsen, Christine; Newberry, Ruth C

2016-10-01

Phenotypic integration describes the complex interrelationships between organismal traits, traditionally focusing on morphology. Recently, research has sought to represent behavioural phenotypes as composed of quasi-independent latent traits. Concurrently, psychologists have opposed latent variable interpretations of human behaviour, proposing instead a network perspective envisaging interrelationships between behaviours as emerging from causal dependencies. Network analysis could also be applied to understand integrated behavioural phenotypes in animals. Here, we assimilate this cross-disciplinary progression of ideas by demonstrating the use of network analysis on survey data collected on behavioural and motivational characteristics of police patrol and detection dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris ). Networks of conditional independence relationships illustrated a number of functional connections between descriptors, which varied between dog types. The most central descriptors denoted desirable characteristics in both patrol and detection dog networks, with 'Playful' being widely correlated and possessing mediating relationships between descriptors. Bootstrap analyses revealed the stability of network results. We discuss the results in relation to previous research on dog personality, and benefits of using network analysis to study behavioural phenotypes. We conclude that a network perspective offers widespread opportunities for advancing the understanding of phenotypic integration in animal behaviour.

Spontaneous flocking in human groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Belz, Michael; Pyritz, Lennart W; Boos, Margarete

2013-01-01

Flocking behaviour, as a type of self-organised collective behaviour, is described as the spatial formation of groups without global control and explicit inter-individual recruitment signals. It can be observed in many animals, such as bird flocks, shoals or herds of ungulates. Spatial attraction between humans as the central component of flocking behaviour has been simulated in a number of seminal models but it has not been detected experimentally in human groups so far. The two other sub-processes of this self-organised collective movement - collision avoidance and alignment - are excluded or held constant respectively in this study. We created a computer-based, multi-agent game where human players, represented as black dots, moved on a virtual playground. The participants were deprived of social cues about each other and could neither communicate verbally nor nonverbally. They played two games: (1) Single Game, where other players were invisible, and (2) Joint Game, where each player could see players' positions in a local radius around himself/herself. We found that individuals approached their neighbours spontaneously if their positions were visible, leading to less spatial dispersion of the whole group compared to moving alone. We conclude that human groups show the basic component of flocking behaviour without being explicitly instructed or rewarded to do so. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A vision-based system for intelligent monitoring: human behaviour analysis and privacy by context.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaaraoui, Alexandros Andre; Padilla-López, José Ramón; Ferrández-Pastor, Francisco Javier; Nieto-Hidalgo, Mario; Flórez-Revuelta, Francisco

2014-05-20

Due to progress and demographic change, society is facing a crucial challenge related to increased life expectancy and a higher number of people in situations of dependency. As a consequence, there exists a significant demand for support systems for personal autonomy. This article outlines the vision@home project, whose goal is to extend independent living at home for elderly and impaired people, providing care and safety services by means of vision-based monitoring. Different kinds of ambient-assisted living services are supported, from the detection of home accidents, to telecare services. In this contribution, the specification of the system is presented, and novel contributions are made regarding human behaviour analysis and privacy protection. By means of a multi-view setup of cameras, people's behaviour is recognised based on human action recognition. For this purpose, a weighted feature fusion scheme is proposed to learn from multiple views. In order to protect the right to privacy of the inhabitants when a remote connection occurs, a privacy-by-context method is proposed. The experimental results of the behaviour recognition method show an outstanding performance, as well as support for multi-view scenarios and real-time execution, which are required in order to provide the proposed services.

A Vision-Based System for Intelligent Monitoring: Human Behaviour Analysis and Privacy by Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandros Andre Chaaraoui

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Due to progress and demographic change, society is facing a crucial challenge related to increased life expectancy and a higher number of people in situations of dependency. As a consequence, there exists a significant demand for support systems for personal autonomy. This article outlines the vision@home project, whose goal is to extend independent living at home for elderly and impaired people, providing care and safety services by means of vision-based monitoring. Different kinds of ambient-assisted living services are supported, from the detection of home accidents, to telecare services. In this contribution, the specification of the system is presented, and novel contributions are made regarding human behaviour analysis and privacy protection. By means of a multi-view setup of cameras, people’s behaviour is recognised based on human action recognition. For this purpose, a weighted feature fusion scheme is proposed to learn from multiple views. In order to protect the right to privacy of the inhabitants when a remote connection occurs, a privacy-by-context method is proposed. The experimental results of the behaviour recognition method show an outstanding performance, as well as support for multi-view scenarios and real-time execution, which are required in order to provide the proposed services.

Behaviour of solitary adult Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos when approached by humans on foot.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gro Kvelprud Moen

Full Text Available Successful management has brought the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos L. back from the brink of extinction, but as the population grows and expands the probability of bear-human encounters increases. More people express concerns about spending time in the forest, because of the possibility of encountering bears, and acceptance for the bear is decreasing. In this context, reliable information about the bear's normal behaviour during bear-human encounters is important. Here we describe the behaviour of brown bears when encountering humans on foot. During 2006-2009, we approached 30 adult (21 females, 9 males GPS-collared bears 169 times during midday, using 1-minute positioning before, during and after the approach. Observer movements were registered with a handheld GPS. The approaches started 869±348 m from the bears, with the wind towards the bear when passing it at approximately 50 m. The bears were detected in 15% of the approaches, and none of the bears displayed any aggressive behaviour. Most bears (80% left the initial site during the approach, going away from the observers, whereas some remained at the initial site after being approached (20%. Young bears left more often than older bears, possibly due to differences in experience, but the difference between ages decreased during the berry season compared to the pre-berry season. The flight initiation distance was longer for active bears (115±94 m than passive bears (69±47 m, and was further affected by horizontal vegetation cover and the bear's age. Our findings show that bears try to avoid confrontations with humans on foot, and support the conclusions of earlier studies that the Scandinavian brown bear is normally not aggressive during encounters with humans.

Human disturbance, nursing behaviour, and lactational pup growth in a declining southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engelhard, GH; Baarspul, ANJ; Broekman, M; Creuwels, JCS; Reijnders, PJH

We studied lactation behaviour in relation to pup growth in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at Macquarie Island, and compared harems in areas of high and low human presence to determine if there is an effect attributable to human activities, including scientific research. Pup weaning

Human disturbance, nursing behaviour, and lactational pup growth in a declining southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engelhard, G.H.; Baarspul, A.N.J.; Broekman, M.; Creuwels, J.C.S.; Reijnders, P.J.H.

2002-01-01

We studied lactation behaviour in relation to pup growth in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at Macquarie Island, and compared harems in areas of high and low human presence to determine if there is an effect attributable to human activitiesincluding scientific research. Pup weaning mass,

Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Magnusson, Maria K; Arvola, Anne; Hursti, Ulla Kaisa Koivisto; Aberg, Lars; Sjödén, Per-Olow

2003-04-01

We designed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes and behaviour towards organic foods, environmentally friendly behaviour (EFB), and perceived consequences of organic food choice in terms of human health, the environment and animal welfare. It was mailed in 1998 to a random nation-wide sample of 2000 Swedish citizens, ages 18-65 years, and 1154 (58%) responded. Self-reported purchase of organic foods was most strongly related to perceived benefit for human health. Performance of EFBs such as refraining from car driving was also a good predictor of purchase frequency. The results indicate that egoistic motives are better predictors of the purchase of organic foods than are altruistic motives.

Cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosomatic disorders

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Repro

bined psychological and medical .... which contributed to his sense of defeat and ... Based on the cognitive model of emotional disorders. • Depends ... training, graded exposure, role play, behavioural experiments ... Emotion. Physical. Behaviour. Fatigue. Effort will make. Depression ..... Positive outcomes include reduced.

Parametrisation of the variety of human behaviour related to building energy consumption in the Town Energy Balance (SURFEX-TEB v. 8.2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Schoetter

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The anthropogenic heat flux can be an important part of the urban surface energy balance. Some of it is due to energy consumption inside buildings, which depends on building use and human behaviour, both of which are very heterogeneous in most urban areas. Urban canopy parametrisations (UCP, such as the Town Energy Balance (TEB, parametrise the effect of the buildings on the urban surface energy balance. They contain a simple building energy model. However, the variety of building use and human behaviour at grid point scale has not yet been represented in state of the art UCPs. In this study, we describe how we enhance the Town Energy Balance in order to take fractional building use and human behaviour into account. We describe how we parametrise different behaviours and initialise the model for applications in France. We evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of the simulated building energy consumption for the city of Toulouse. We show that a more detailed description of building use and human behaviour enhances the simulation results. The model developments lay the groundwork for simulations of coupled urban climate and building energy consumption which are relevant for both the urban climate and the climate change mitigation and adaptation communities.

Parametrisation of the variety of human behaviour related to building energy consumption in the Town Energy Balance (SURFEX-TEB v. 8.2)

Science.gov (United States)

Schoetter, Robert; Masson, Valéry; Bourgeois, Alexis; Pellegrino, Margot; Lévy, Jean-Pierre

2017-07-01

The anthropogenic heat flux can be an important part of the urban surface energy balance. Some of it is due to energy consumption inside buildings, which depends on building use and human behaviour, both of which are very heterogeneous in most urban areas. Urban canopy parametrisations (UCP), such as the Town Energy Balance (TEB), parametrise the effect of the buildings on the urban surface energy balance. They contain a simple building energy model. However, the variety of building use and human behaviour at grid point scale has not yet been represented in state of the art UCPs. In this study, we describe how we enhance the Town Energy Balance in order to take fractional building use and human behaviour into account. We describe how we parametrise different behaviours and initialise the model for applications in France. We evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of the simulated building energy consumption for the city of Toulouse. We show that a more detailed description of building use and human behaviour enhances the simulation results. The model developments lay the groundwork for simulations of coupled urban climate and building energy consumption which are relevant for both the urban climate and the climate change mitigation and adaptation communities.

Present or Play: The Effect of Serious Gaming on Demonstrated Behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dijk, Tom; Spil, Antonius A.M.; van der Burg, Sanne; Wenzler, Ivo; Dalmolen, Simon

2015-01-01

Serious gaming is one of the newest developments in the world of learning and is gaining increasing attention within the business environment. Although many practitioners claim that serious gaming has more impact on demonstrated behaviour of trainees when compared to common presentations, little

Evidence that a functional fertilin-like ADAM plays a role in human sperm-oolemmal interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronson, R A; Fusi, F M; Calzi, F; Doldi, N; Ferrari, A

1999-05-01

Fertilin is a protein initially identified in guinea pig spermatozoa; it is the prototype of a larger family of conserved, proteins designated as a disintegrin and a metalloproteinase (ADAM). These heterodimers which consist of alpha and beta subunits, containing metalloproteinase-like and disintegrin-like domains, appear to play a role in mammalian fertilization. Peptides derived from the disintegrin domains of two ADAMs, fertilin and cyritestin, interfere with gamete adhesion and sperm-egg membrane fusion in non-human species. It has been suggested that fertilin-beta binds to an oolemmal integrin, and it is proposed that the tripeptide FEE (Phe-Glu-Glu) is the integrin recognition sequence in human fertilin-beta. We evaluated whether fertilin beta plays a role in human fertilization by studying the effects of a linear octapeptide containing the FEE sequence, SFEECDLP, and a scrambled octapeptide with the same amino acids, SFPCEDEL, on the incorporation of human spermatozoa by human zona-free eggs. The effects of G4120, a potent RGD-containing (Arg-Gly-Asp) thioether-bridged cyclic peptide which blocks both fibronectin and vitronectin receptors, and the relationship between FEE- and RGD-receptor interactions on sperm-egg interactions were also studied. The FEE-containing peptide, but not the scrampled peptide, inhibited sperm adhesion to oocytes and their penetration, over the range 1-5 microM. The inhibition induced by SFEECDLP was reversible and occurred only in the presence of peptide itself. The G4120 peptide exhibited 10-fold less inhibitory effects on sperm adhesion and penetration than did SFEECDLP. When combined, SFEECDLP and G4120 exhibited strong inhibition of both adhesion and penetration at concentrations that individually had been ineffective, suggesting co-operation between the two receptor-ligand interactions during fertilization. We propose that a fertilin-like molecule is functionally active on human spermatozoa and that its interaction with an

A generic biokinetic model for predicting the behaviour of the lanthanide elements in the human body

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, D.M.; Leggett, R.W.

2003-01-01

Information on the biokinetics of the 15 elements of the lanthanide series, 57 La to 71 Lu, is too sparse to permit individual development of meaningful biokinetic models to describe the behaviour of each of the elements in humans. The lanthanides show a regular gradation in chemical properties across the series, and animal studies indicate that this is reflected in regular differences in their deposition in tissues such as the liver and skeleton. These regular differences in chemical and biological behaviour have been utilised to construct a generic lanthanide biokinetic model and to define element-specific parameters for each element in the series. This report describes the use of the available biokinetic data for humans and animals to derive the parameters for each of the elements. (author)

A critique and empirical assessment of Alexandra Horowitz and Julie Hecht's "Examining dog-human play: the characteristics, affect, and vocalizations of a unique interspecific interaction".

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Robert W

2017-05-01

Horowitz and Hecht (Anim Cog 19:779-788, 2016) presented data about activities and vocalizations during brief videotaped dog-owner play provided by owners, examined these in relation to human affect during play, and made comparisons from their results to other research on activities and vocalizations during dog-human play. In this critique, I describe problems with Horowitz and Hecht's methodology, analyses, and evidence; in their interpretations of the data, evidence, and categorizations provided in other research, particularly my own studies of dog-human play; and in their claims of novelty for their findings. I argue that, to support their ideas about vocalizations and play types during dog-human play and their comparisons to other studies, their study requires fuller descriptions and reliability for their coding of vocalizations and play types, appropriate statistical analyses, and accurate descriptions of prior research. I also argue that their methodology provides results strikingly similar in many aspects to those of other researchers studying dog-human play, contrary to their claims of novel findings. Finally, I examine their suggestions about relationships between human affect and types of play activities and vocalizations using the videos of dog-human play I discussed in earlier publications, discovering minimal, if any, relationship.

Modelling Virtual Camera Behaviour Through Player Gaze

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Picardi, Andrea; Burelli, Paolo; Yannakakis, Georgios N.

2012-01-01

industry and game AI research focus on the devel- opment of increasingly sophisticated systems to automate the control of the virtual camera integrating artificial intel- ligence algorithms within physical simulations. However, in both industry and academia little research has been carried out......In a three-dimensional virtual environment, aspects such as narrative and interaction largely depend on the placement and animation of the virtual camera. Therefore, virtual camera control plays a critical role in player experience and, thereby, in the overall quality of a computer game. Both game...... on the relationship between virtual camera, game-play and player behaviour. We run a game user experiment to shed some light on this relationship and identify relevant dif- ferences between camera behaviours through different game sessions, playing behaviours and player gaze patterns. Re- sults show that users can...

[Play therapy--psychotherapy with play as the medium: I. General introduction, psychoanalytic and client-centered approaches].

Science.gov (United States)

von Gontard, Alexander; Lehmkuhl, Gerd

2003-01-01

Play therapies are psychotherapies with the medium of play primarily for children under 12 years of age, which can be differentiated according to their theoretical constructs and actual practice. Play therapies have gained importance and relevance in the 1990's, reflected in a wide range of publications. Following trends can be discerned: narrow concepts defined by individual schools of psychotherapy have been left. Different forms of play therapy, as well as behavioural and family therapy have been integrated. Focussed short-term and therapies for specific disorders have been developed. The aim of the first part of this paper is to present an overview of traditional forms of playtherapy, with a focus on the Individual Therapy of A. Adler, the Analytic Psychotherapy of C. G. Jung, Sandplay Therapy of D. Kalff and child-centered (non-directive) play therapy.

DEVELOPING ETHICAL BEHAVIOURS AT BPK THROUGH HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusuf Setiawan Syukur

2015-12-01

Full Text Available According to the 1945 Constitution, the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK has an important role in fostering good governance and combating corruption in Indonesia’s public sector through its audit works. To be successful, BPK must implement and enforce ethical behaviours within the organisation. There are laws and regulations (e.g., civil servants’ code of ethics and employee discipline and systems, policies, and practices set up by authorities at BPK (e.g., BPK’s code of ethics, whistle-blowing procedure, the Honourary Council of BPK’s Code of Ethics (MKKE, and ethics training that regulate and influence behaviours of employees and members of the board. When reviewing literature, this paper attempts to understand the antecedents of ethical/unethical behaviours in organisations and look for best practices (including human resource management practices in developing ethical behaviours in organisations. It turns out that the ethical frameworks within BPK have a strong theoretical support. Despite the strong theoretical support from the literature, this study attempts to identify gaps between the best practices and ethical frameworks within BPK. In response to the gaps, this study attempts to offer recommendations so as to close the gaps and improve the ethical frameworks within BPK. In the end, this study produces seventeen recommendations. KEYWORDS code of ethics, ethical behaviours, human resource management, ethics audit, and ethical climate survey. ABSTRAK Berdasarkan Undang-undang Dasar 1945, Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia (BPK mempunyai peran penting dalam meningkatkan tata kelola pemerintahan yang baik dan memberantas korupsi di sektor publik di Indonesia melalui kegiatan pemeriksaannya. Agar sukses dalam mencapai tujuan tersebut, BPK harus menerapkan dan menegakkan perilaku etis di dalam organisasi. Ada undang-undang dan peraturan peraturan (contoh: kode etik Pegawai Negeri Sipil (PNS dan peraturan disiplin

Extreme behavioural shifts by baboons exploiting risky, resource-rich, human-modified environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Fehlmann, Gaelle; O'Riain, M Justin; Kerr-Smith, Catherine; Hailes, Stephen; Luckman, Adrian; Shepard, Emily L C; King, Andrew J

2017-11-08

A range of species exploit anthropogenic food resources in behaviour known as 'raiding'. Such behavioural flexibility is considered a central component of a species' ability to cope with human-induced environmental changes. Here, we study the behavioural processes by which raiding male chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) exploit the opportunities and mitigate the risks presented by raiding in the suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Ecological sampling and interviews conducted with 'rangers' (employed to manage the baboons' space use) revealed that baboons are at risk of being herded out of urban spaces that contain high-energy anthropogenic food sources. Baboon-attached motion/GPS tracking collars showed that raiding male baboons spent almost all of their time at the urban edge, engaging in short, high-activity forays into the urban space. Moreover, activity levels were increased where the likelihood of deterrence by rangers was greater. Overall, these raiding baboons display a time-activity balance that is drastically altered in comparison to individuals living in more remote regions. We suggest our methods can be used to obtain precise estimates of management impact for this and other species in conflict with people.

Cognitive modelling with Coloured Petri Nets for the analysis of human behaviour; Kognitive Modellierung mit farbigen Petrinetzen zur Analyse menschlichen Verhaltens

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Werther, B.

2006-07-01

The thesis presents a model based approach for a holistic consideration of human-machine systems. The model supports the design and formation of the operator's work sequences. In scope of the thesis a Formal Cognitive Resource (FCR)-Model is developed which treats limitation of the human operators processing capability as a main property. From this limitation stems the need to integrate and organize different action sequences into a balanced working process. The model is implemented as a Coloured Petri Net. Typical characteristics of net components find inherent consideration in the FCR-Model. In a first validation example behaviour of the FCR-Model is analyzed and compared with empirical results obtained in an experimental study performed on the operation of a micro world. Reasons for a specific behaviour of human operators in a working environment are being identified depending on cognitive parameters of the FCR-Model. It is shown how these parameters correspond to psychological performance properties. The FCR-Model is its current version serves for analysis of human information processing and discloses critical situations and faults in human behaviour. (Orig.)

Behavioural design: A process for integrating behaviour change and design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cash, Philip; Hartlev, Charlotte Gram; Durazo, Christine Boysen

2017-01-01

Nudge, persuasion, and the influencing of human behaviour through design are increasingly important topics in design research and in the wider public consciousness. However, current theoretical approaches to behaviour change have yet to be operationalized this in design process support....... Specifically, there are few empirically grounded processes supporting designers in realising behaviour change projects. In response to this, 20 design projects from a case company are analysed in order to distil a core process for behavioural design. Results show a number of process stages and activities...... associated with project success, pointing to a new perspective on the traditional design process, and allowing designers to integrate key insights from behaviour change theory. Using this foundation we propose the Behavioural Design process....

A novel approach to measuring the frictional behaviour of human skin in vivo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veijgen, N.K.; Masen, Marc Arthur; van der Heide, Emile

2012-01-01

Friction involving human skin plays a key role in human life. The availability of a portable tribometer improves the accessibility to large number of both subjects and anatomical sites. This is the first mobile device suitable to measure skin friction with a controlled and variable normal load

Young Mothers' Play with Their Toddlers: Individual Variability as a Function of Psychosocial Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Driscoll, Joan Riley; Easterbrooks, M. Ann

2007-01-01

There is no one style of parenting which characterizes young mothers as a group. In addition, life circumstances play an important role in shaping maternal behaviour. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of maternal play behaviour and contextual (social and personal) factors associated with these different patterns. In this study, 107…

Friends of friends: are indirect connections in social networks important to animal behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Brent, Lauren J N

2015-05-01

Friend of a friend relationships, or the indirect connections between people, influence our health, well-being, financial success and reproductive output. As with humans, social behaviours in other animals often occur within a broad interconnected network of social ties. Yet studies of animal social behaviour tend to focus on associations between pairs of individuals. With the increase in popularity of social network analysis, researchers have started to look beyond the dyad to examine the role of indirect connections in animal societies. Here, I provide an overview of the new knowledge that has been uncovered by these studies. I focus on research that has addressed both the causes of social behaviours, i.e. the cognitive and genetic basis of indirect connections, as well as their consequences, i.e. the impact of indirect connections on social cohesion, information transfer, cultural practices and fitness. From these studies, it is apparent that indirect connections play an important role in animal behaviour, although future research is needed to clarify their contribution.

Present or Play: The Effect of Serious Gaming on Demonstrated Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

van Dijk, Tom; Spil, Ton; van der Burg, Sanne; Wenzler, Ivo; Dalmolen, Simon

2015-01-01

Serious gaming is one of the newest developments in the world of learning and is gaining increasing attention within the business environment. Although many practitioners claim that serious gaming has more impact on demonstrated behaviour of trainees when compared to common presentations, little evidence exists. In this paper, the authors present…

Integrated Programs and Pro-Environmental Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tiffany

2008-01-01

Research suggested that "nature experience as an education method played a role in developing environmental value and attitudes, and was influential in pro-environmental behaviour." Few of these studies however, assessed the long-term influences of outdoor education experiences on participants' pro-environmental behaviour. The Outward…

Modelling human behaviour in a bumper car ride using molecular dynamics tools: a student project

Science.gov (United States)

Buendía, Jorge J.; Lopez, Hector; Sanchis, Guillem; Pardo, Luis Carlos

2017-05-01

Amusement parks are excellent laboratories of physics, not only to check physical laws, but also to investigate if those physical laws might also be applied to human behaviour. A group of Physics Engineering students from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya has investigated if human behaviour, when driving bumper cars, can be modelled using tools borrowed from the analysis of molecular dynamics simulations, such as the radial and angular distribution functions. After acquiring several clips and obtaining the coordinates of the cars, those magnitudes are computed and analysed. Additionally, an analogous hard disks system is simulated to compare its distribution functions to those obtained from the cars’ coordinates. Despite the clear difference between bumper cars and a hard disk-like particle system, the obtained distribution functions are very similar. This suggests that there is no important effect of the individuals in the collective behaviour of the system in terms of structure. The research, performed by the students, has been undertaken in the frame of a motivational project designed to approach the scientific method for university students named FISIDABO. This project offers both the logistical and technical support to undertake the experiments designed by students at the amusement park of Barcelona TIBIDABO and accompanies them all along the scientific process.

Horizontal information drives the behavioural signatures of face processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valerie Goffaux

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Recent psychophysical evidence indicates that the vertical arrangement of horizontal information is particularly important for encoding facial identity. In this paper we extend this notion to examine the role that information at different (particularly cardinal orientations might play in a number of established phenomena each a behavioural “signature” of face processing. In particular we consider (a the face inversion effect (FIE, (b the facial identity after-effect, (c face-matching across viewpoint, and (d interactive, so-called holistic, processing of face parts. We report that filtering faces to remove all but the horizontal information largely preserves these effects but conversely, retaining vertical information generally diminishes or abolishes them. We conclude that preferential processing of horizontal information is a central feature of human face processing that supports many of the behavioural signatures of this critical visual operation.

Greek Preschool Children's Playful Behaviour: Assessment and Correlation with Personal and Family Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Rentzou, Konstantina

2013-01-01

All children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate. Yet, the pure essence of play is playfulness a notion not new, yet limitedly researched. Playfulness refers to the individual style each child has to play, which is linked to personality descriptors and attributes. The present study had a twofold aim. On the one hand, it…

Emotions and consumption behaviour

OpenAIRE

I. Soscia

2013-01-01

This stimulating book scrutinizes how emotions function in consumers, from both a psychological and a managerial perspective. It demonstrates how gratitude, happiness, guilt, anger, pride and sadness determine different post-consumption behaviours such as positive and negative word of mouth, repurchase intention and complaint behaviour. The emotional side of consumption seems to play an essential role in explaining choices made and actions taken by consumers. Isabella Soscia explores the ...

Pheromones in sex and reproduction: Do they have a role in humans?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taymour Mostafa

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Pheromones are found throughout the living world and are a primal form of communication. These chemical messengers are transported outside the body and have a direct developmental effect on hormone levels and/or behaviour. This review article aims to highlight the role of human pheromones in sex and reproduction. A review of published articles was carried out, using PubMed, medical subject heading (MSH databases and the Scopus engine. Key words used to assess exposure, outcome, and estimates for the concerned associations, were; olfaction; sex; pheromones; libido; behaviour; reproduction; humans; and smell. Although there are studies to support this phenomenon, they are weak because they were not controlled; others have proposed that human olfactory communication is able to perceive certain pheromones that may play a role in behavioural as well as reproductive biology. Unfolding the mysteries of smells and the way they are perceived requires more time and effort as humans are not systems that instinctively fall into a behaviour in response to an odour, they are thinking individuals that exercise judgment and subjected to different motivations.

Intrinsic motivation: how can it play a pivotal role in changing clinician behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Nantha, Yogarabindranath Swarna

2013-01-01

In the light of an increasing healthcare burden, this paper seeks to offer insight about how intrinsic motivation could play a pivotal role in improving the pre-existing healthcare service delivery systems by altering clinician behaviour. The paper argues the case for four salient dimensions worth exploring through the lens of intrinsic motivation--non-financial incentives, positive affective states, organizational culture and prescribing quality. This article reviews literature from both social sciences and health management practices to provide rationale on how intrinsic motivational approaches could optimize healthcare service delivery systems. The scrutiny of the body of evidence leads to the assertion that there is neglect in the initiatives to reinforce intrinsic motivation as a method to address the ailing morale of doctors. This seems to have exacerbated negative outcomes that include job dissatisfaction, compromise in the quality of care and poor patient-doctor relationships. Diminution in positive affective states amongst doctors, largely controlled by intrinsic motivation, led to strained doctor-patient communication and poor quality of care. Barriers in a healthcare organizational culture that restricts autonomy and empowerment seem to directly undermine job satisfaction. The article argues that it is crucial to shift away from the conventional tendencies promoting tangible rewards. A more holistic approach should be adopted by conducting formal research into intrinsic motivation and how it could aid the formulation of policies tailored to meet the current demands of the healthcare system.

The role of the skin microrelief in the contact behaviour of human skin: contact between the human finger and regular surface textures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Kuilenburg, Julien; Masen, Marc Arthur; van der Heide, Emile

2013-01-01

The friction behaviour of the human fingerpad as a function of asperity geometry was investigated experimentally. Surface textures consisting of evenly distributed spherically tipped asperities were used for in vivo testing. Using analytical expressions, a multi-scale model was developed to explain

The coevolution of play and the cortico-cerebellar system in primates.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerney, Max; Smaers, Jeroen B; Schoenemann, P Thomas; Dunn, Jacob C

2017-10-01

Primates are some of the most playful animals in the natural world, yet the reason for this remains unclear. One hypothesis posits that primates are so playful because playful activity functions to help develop the sophisticated cognitive and behavioural abilities that they are also renowned for. If this hypothesis were true, then play might be expected to have coevolved with the neural substrates underlying these abilities in primates. Here, we tested this prediction by conducting phylogenetic comparative analyses to determine whether play has coevolved with the cortico-cerebellar system, a neural system known to be involved in complex cognition and the production of complex behaviour. We used phylogenetic generalised least squares analyses to compare the relative volume of the largest constituent parts of the primate cortico-cerebellar system (prefrontal cortex, non-prefrontal heteromodal cortical association areas, and posterior cerebellar hemispheres) to the mean percentage of time budget spent in play by a sample of primate species. Using a second categorical data set on play, we also used phylogenetic analysis of covariance to test for significant differences in the volume of the components of the cortico-cerebellar system among primate species exhibiting one of three different levels of adult-adult social play. Our results suggest that, in general, a positive association exists between the amount of play exhibited and the relative size of the main components of the cortico-cerebellar system in our sample of primate species. Although the explanatory power of this study is limited by the correlational nature of its analyses and by the quantity and quality of the data currently available, this finding nevertheless lends support to the hypothesis that play functions to aid the development of cognitive and behavioural abilities in primates.

Correlates of children's independent outdoor play: Cross-sectional analyses from the Millennium Cohort Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Aggio

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Time spent outdoors is associated with higher levels of physical activity. To date, correlates of independent outdoor play have not been investigated. This study aimed to identify potential demographic, behavioural, environmental and social correlates of children's independent outdoor play.Data were from the Millennium Cohort Study when children were aged 7years. Parents reported whether their children played out unsupervised (yes/no as well as the above mentioned correlates of unsupervised outdoor play. Children's physical activity levels were measured using waist worn accelerometry. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine associations between correlates and odds of independent (unsupervised outdoor play. Adjusted multiple linear regression was used to estimate associations between independent outdoor play and objective measures of physical activity. Activity was measured as average daily moderate-to-vigorous activity, steps, and sedentary behaviour.3856 (n=29% participants were categorised as engaging in independent outdoor play. Older age, being white British, being in poverty, living in close proximity to both family friends and family, having fewer internalising problems, having more externalising conduct problems and fewer pro-social behaviours were associated with higher odds of independent outdoor play. Independent outdoor play was associated with >2 additional minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity (B=2.21 95% CI, 1.09 to 3.34, >330 additional steps per day (B=336.66 95% CI 209.80 to 463.51, and nearly 5min less time spent sedentary per day (B=−4.91 95% CI −7.54, −2.29Younger children, those from a higher socio-economic-status, those isolated in location from family friends and family, and those with high levels of prosocial behaviour have lower levels of independent outdoor play. Independent outdoor play was associated with higher levels of physical activity and less time sedentary. Future interventions to promote

[Sexual risk behaviours and PAP testing in university women vaccinated against human papillomavirus].

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Feito, Ana; Antón-Fernández, Raquel; Paz-Zulueta, María

2018-05-01

To estimate the association between the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and sexual risk behaviour, as well as the participation in the Cervical Cancer Screening Program (CCSP). Cross-sectional study. School of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Law, and School of Economics and Business (University of Oviedo). Female university students. Information was collected about contraceptive methods, sexual behaviours, HPV knowledge, and participation in the CCSP. Furthermore, proportions and odds ratio (OR) were estimated with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Approximately two-thirds (67.7%) of the sample was vaccinated against HPV, and 216 women (65.3%) were sexually active. Barrier contraceptive methods were used by 67.6% during their current intimate relationships, being less frequent in non-vaccinated women (54.9% vs. 75.4% in vaccinated female students) (P=.002). The risk of having at least one sexual risk behaviour was higher in non-vaccinated women: OR2.29 (95%CI: 1.29-4.07). In addition, the probability of having a PAP test within the CCSP was higher in non-vaccinated women: OR2.18 (95%CI: 1.07-4.47). The prevalence of sexual risk behaviours in non-vaccinated women is elevated, and it is related to the lack of use of barrier contraceptive methods. The vaccination against HPV could affect sexual behaviours and the participation in the CCSP. Therefore, the information received by young people about contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer prevention should be reinforced. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Can play be defined?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eichberg, Henning

2015-01-01

Can play be defined? There is reason to raise critical questions about the established academic demand that at phenomenon – also in humanist studies – should first of all be defined, i.e. de-lineated and by neat lines limited to a “little box” that can be handled. The following chapter develops....... Human beings can very well understand play – or whatever phenomenon in human life – without defining it....

Informing Active Play and Screen Time Behaviour Change Interventions for Low Socioeconomic Position Mothers of Young Children: What Do Mothers Want?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine L. Downing

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This study investigated views of mothers from disadvantaged urban and regional areas (i.e., beyond major capital cities as potential end users of child active play and screen time behaviour change interventions, with a focus on text messaging and web-based delivery platforms. Methods. Thirty-two mothers (22 urban; 10 regional were interviewed. Purpose-designed questions covered topics regarding mothers’ preferences for accessing and receiving information related to parenting and child active play and screen time. Data from transcribed interviews were analysed to identify responses and key themes. Results. Mothers reported frequently accessing parenting- and child-related information online. Regional mothers reported seeking information by talking with other people less frequently than urban mothers and seemed to have a stronger preference for receiving information online. There were few differences between responses from low and high educated mothers. The majority of mothers reported that they would be happy to receive text messages containing information about active play and screen time and that they would find a dedicated website with this information useful. Conclusions. Mothers in this study held favourable views on the potential of receiving information via new communication technologies. Future interventions targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers may benefit from delivering intervention messages via these technologies.

Non-Digital Game Playing by Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Mortenson, W Ben; Sixsmith, Andrew; Kaufman, David

2017-09-01

Research on video games' effect on cognition and behaviour has been extensive, yet little research has explored non-digital forms of game playing, especially among older adults. As part of a larger survey on game playing, 886 respondents (≥ age 55) filled out questionnaires about non-digital game play. The study aims were to determine perceived benefits of non-digital game play and to determine socio-demographic factors that might predict perceived benefits. Survey results indicate that non-digital game playing is social in nature and common (73% of respondents) among older adults. Older adults play for fun, but also to help maintain their cognition. Regression analyses indicated various socio-demographic factors - age, education, gender, and race - were independently associated with perceived benefits from game playing. The results thus emphasize the importance of non-digital game playing in this population and suggest that efforts to facilitate game playing may improve social interactions and quality of life.

Multispecies methods, technologies for play

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Ida Kathrine Hammeleff; Wirman, Hanna

2016-01-01

This article discusses methodological considerations of user-centred design for non-human animals. These considerations are illustrated through a design research project that aims to apply digital technology to build games for orangutans’ enrichment. The article argues that design for other species......-human contributions in design. This method applies play as an interspecies co-creative act and can be used as a starting point for addressing questions of difference in play and designing games that allow for ambiguous play....

Teachers' Conceptions about the Genetic Determinism of Human Behaviour: A Survey in 23 Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Castéra, Jérémy; Clément, Pierre

2014-01-01

This work analyses the answers to a questionnaire from 8,285 in-service and pre-service teachers from 23 countries, elaborated by the Biohead-Citizen research project, to investigate teachers' conceptions related to the genetic determinism of human behaviour. A principal components analysis is used to assess the main trends in all the interviewed…

Sociology and behaviour of West African blood donors: the impact of religion on human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Allain, J-P; Anokwa, M; Casbard, A; Owusu-Ofori, S; Dennis-Antwi, J

2004-11-01

Ghana is one of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa where the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence in blood donors ranges between 1 and 4%. Considering the social importance of religion and the very high level of religious practice observed in Ghana, the hypothesis that these factors may play a role in containing HIV was tested. Consenting HIV-infected candidate blood donors, and two age- and gender-matched seronegative control donors, were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their religious and sexual behaviour. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used. Irrespective of their HIV status or religion, 95% of the respondents believed that extra-marital sex was a sin, and 79% of those tempted to have an extra-marital affair considered that their religious beliefs helped them to abstain. In the multivariable models, having a formal role in church activities was associated with reduced odds of HIV [odds ratio (OR) = 0.41; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21-0.80]. Worshipping at the same location for more than 20 years was associated with a reduced risk (OR = 0.30; 95% CI: 0.08-1.10). In addition to other factors limiting HIV spread, such as male circumcision, relatively high level of education and an absence of armed conflicts in Ghana, the use of condoms conferred a reduced risk. An active role in religion, and reporting a lengthy duration of worship at the same place was beneficial. Collecting blood at places of worship with a strict behavioural code and from donors practicing in the community of their birth might improve blood safety.

Correspondence between Children's Indoor and Outdoor Play in Japanese Preschool Daily Life

Science.gov (United States)

Hirose, Toshiya; Koda, Naoko; Minami, Tetsuhiro

2012-01-01

This study examined the correspondence between children's indoor and outdoor play in a preschool environment to investigate whether the children maintained a tendency to engage in a particular type of play irrespective of the environment, or whether they changed the type of play according to the environment. Play behaviours of 18 three-year-old…

Child-Mother and Child-Father Play Interaction Patterns with Preschoolers

Science.gov (United States)

John, Aesha; Halliburton, Amy; Humphrey, Jeremy

2013-01-01

The study focused on qualitative and quantitative differences between maternal and paternal play interaction behaviours with their preschool children. Home observations of 18 child-mother and child-father play interactions were qualitatively analysed to derive interaction themes. In addition, the quality of child-mother and child-father…

Infectious disease, behavioural flexibility and the evolution of culture in primates.

Science.gov (United States)

McCabe, Collin M; Reader, Simon M; Nunn, Charles L

2015-01-22

Culturally transmitted traits are observed in a wide array of animal species, yet we understand little about the costs of the behavioural patterns that underlie culture, such as innovation and social learning. We propose that infectious diseases are a significant cost associated with cultural transmission. We investigated two hypotheses that may explain such a connection: that social learning and exploratory behaviours (specifically, innovation and extractive foraging) either compensate for existing infection or increase exposure to infectious agents. We used Bayesian comparative methods, controlling for sampling effort, body mass, group size, geographical range size, terrestriality, latitude and phylogenetic uncertainty. Across 127 primate species, we found a positive association between pathogen richness and rates of innovation, extractive foraging and social learning. This relationship was driven by two independent phenomena: socially contagious diseases were positively associated with rates of social learning, and environmentally transmitted diseases were positively associated with rates of exploration. Because higher pathogen burdens can contribute to morbidity and mortality, we propose that parasitism is a significant cost associated with the behavioural patterns that underpin culture, and that increased pathogen exposure is likely to have played an important role in the evolution of culture in both non-human primates and humans. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour : A moderated mediation model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alfes, K.; Shantz, A.D.; Truss, C.; Soane, E.C.

2013-01-01

This study contributes to our understanding of the mediating and moderating processes through which human resource management (HRM) practices are linked with behavioural outcomes. We developed and tested a moderated mediation model linking perceived HRM practices to organisational citizenship

Australian "Play School": Viewing and Post-Viewing Behaviours in Young Children

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Cathie Anne; van Vliet, Helen Elizabeth; Anderson, Tracy

2012-01-01

Australian "Play School" is a children's television programme developed in collaboration with early childhood educators. It is screened free to air across Australia. Two hundred and twenty-four adult carers of young children aged 1-8 years completed an online survey via a link on the "Play School" website. The survey addressed…

Energy, the Environment and Behaviour Change: A survey of insights from behavioural economics

OpenAIRE

Baddeley, M.

2011-01-01

Evidence of climate change is largely undisputed but moderating the impacts not only of climate change but also of resource depletion is a complex, multi-faceted problem. Technical solutions will have a large role to play but engineering behaviour change within households and firms is essential to harnessing the potential for energy efficient consumption, production and investment. To inform debates about behavior change, this paper explores some insights from behavioural economics including ...

SuDS and human behaviour: Co-developing solutions to encourage sustainable behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Everett Glyn

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS are today widely considered to be a more progressive and environmentally sensitive approach to Flood Risk Management (FRM. However, this paper argues that the sustainability of SuDS should not be so simply presumed. Devices will depend upon correct behaviour from those local to them in order to function properly over time, and for Green Infrastructure SuDS to flourish and deliver their promised multiple benefits. This paper looks to the potential value in using Social Practice Theory as a lens for understanding current behaviours around SuDS devices, and for assessing possible strategies for encouraging positive behaviour amongst affected communities. It concludes in arguing that involving local people as much as possible in the co-design of systems and then working to maintain involvement and awareness will be the most cost-effective means by which SuDS might be made to live up to the sustainability they are celebrated for.

Sources, behaviour, and environmental and human health risks of high-technology rare earth elements as emerging contaminants.

Science.gov (United States)

Gwenzi, Willis; Mangori, Lynda; Danha, Concilia; Chaukura, Nhamo; Dunjana, Nothando; Sanganyado, Edmond

2018-04-26

Recent studies show that high-technology rare earth elements (REEs) of anthropogenic origin occur in the environment including in aquatic systems, suggesting REEs are contaminants of emerging concern. However, compared to organic contaminants, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews on the anthropogenic sources, environmental behaviour, and public and ecological health risks of REEs. The current review aims to: (1) identify anthropogenic sources, transfer mechanisms, and environmental behaviour of REEs; (2) highlight the human and ecological health risks of REEs and propose mitigation measures; and (3) identify knowledge gaps and future research directions. Out of the 17 REEs, La, Gd, Ce and Eu are the most studied. The main sources of anthropogenic REE include; medical facilities, petroleum refining, mining and technology industries, fertilizers, livestock feeds, and electronic wastes and recycling plants. REEs are mobilized and transported in the environment by hydrological and wind-driven processes. Ecotoxicological effects include reduced plant growth, function and nutritional quality, genotoxicity and neurotoxicity in animals, trophic bioaccumulation, chronic and acute toxicities in soil organisms. Human exposure to REEs occurs via ingestion of contaminated water and food, inhalation, and direct intake during medical administration. REEs have been detected in human hair, nails, and biofluids. In humans, REEs cause nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and severe damage to nephrological systems associated with Gd-based contrast agents, dysfunctional neurological disorder, fibrotic tissue injury, oxidative stress, pneumoconiosis, cytotoxicity, anti-testicular effects, and male sterility. Barring REEs in medical devices, epidemiological evidence directly linking REEs in the environment to human health conditions remains weak. To minimize health risks, a conceptual framework and possible mitigation measures are highlighted. Future research is needed to better understand

Play-Personas: Behaviours and Belief Systems in User-Centred Game Design

Science.gov (United States)

Canossa, Alessandro; Drachen, Anders

Game designers attempt to ignite affective, emotional responses from players via engineering game designs to incite definite user experiences. Theories of emotion state that definite emotional responses are individual, and caused by the individual interaction sequence or history. Engendering desired emotions in the audience of traditional audiovisual media is a considerable challenge; however it is potentially even more difficult to achieve the same goal for the audience of interactive entertainment, because a substantial degree of control rests in the hand of the end user rather than the designer. This paper presents a possible solution to the challenge of integrating the user in the design of interactive entertainment such as computer games by employing the "persona" framework introduced by Alan Cooper. This approach is already in use in interaction design. The method can be improved by complementing the traditional narrative description of personas with quantitative, data-oriented models of predicted patterns of user behaviour for a specific computer game Additionally, persona constructs can be applied both as design-oriented metaphors during the development of games, and as analytical lenses to existing games, e.g. for evaluation of patterns of player behaviour.

Modelled temperature-dependent excitability behaviour of a generalised human peripheral sensory nerve fibre.

Science.gov (United States)

Smit, Jacoba E; Hanekom, Tania; Hanekom, Johan J

2009-08-01

The objective of this study was to determine if a recently developed human Ranvier node model, which is based on a modified version of the Hodgkin-Huxley model, could predict the excitability behaviour in human peripheral sensory nerve fibres with diameters ranging from 5.0 to 15.0 microm. The Ranvier node model was extended to include a persistent sodium current and was incorporated into a generalised single cable nerve fibre model. Parameter temperature dependence was included. All calculations were performed in Matlab. Sensory nerve fibre excitability behaviour characteristics predicted by the new nerve fibre model at different temperatures and fibre diameters compared well with measured data. Absolute refractory periods deviated from measured data, while relative refractory periods were similar to measured data. Conduction velocities showed both fibre diameter and temperature dependence and were underestimated in fibres thinner than 12.5 microm. Calculated strength-duration time constants ranged from 128.5 to 183.0 micros at 37 degrees C over the studied nerve fibre diameter range, with chronaxie times about 30% shorter than strength-duration time constants. Chronaxie times exhibited temperature dependence, with values overestimated by a factor 5 at temperatures lower than body temperature. Possible explanations include the deviated absolute refractory period trend and inclusion of a nodal strangulation relationship.

Impact of individual behaviour change on the spread of emerging infectious diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Q L; Tang, S Y; Xiao, Y N

2018-03-15

Human behaviour plays an important role in the spread of emerging infectious diseases, and understanding the influence of behaviour changes on epidemics can be key to improving control efforts. However, how the dynamics of individual behaviour changes affects the development of emerging infectious disease is a key public health issue. To develop different formula for individual behaviour change and introduce how to embed it into a dynamic model of infectious diseases, we choose A/H1N1 and Ebola as typical examples, combined with the epidemic reported cases and media related news reports. Thus, the logistic model with the health belief model is used to determine behaviour decisions through the health belief model constructs. Furthermore, we propose 4 candidate infectious disease models without and with individual behaviour change and use approximate Bayesian computation based on sequential Monte Carlo method for model selection. The main results indicate that the classical compartment model without behaviour change and the model with average rate of behaviour change depicted by an exponential function could fit the observed data best. The results provide a new way on how to choose an infectious disease model to predict the disease prevalence trend or to evaluate the influence of intervention measures on disease control. However, sensitivity analyses indicate that the accumulated number of hospital notifications and deaths could be largely reduced as the rate of behaviour change increases. Therefore, in terms of mitigating emerging infectious diseases, both media publicity focused on how to guide people's behaviour change and positive responses of individuals are critical. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Player behavioural modelling for video games

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Lankveld, G.; Spronck, P.H.M.; Bakkes, S.C.J.

2012-01-01

Player behavioural modelling has grown from a means to improve the playing strength of computer programs that play classic games (e.g., chess), to a means for impacting the player experience and satisfaction in video games, as well as in cross-domain applications such as interactive storytelling. In

Friends of friends: are indirect connections in social networks important to animal behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Brent, Lauren J. N.

2015-01-01

Friend of a friend relationships, or the indirect connections between people, influence our health, well-being, financial success and reproductive output. As with humans, social behaviours in other animals often occur within a broad interconnected network of social ties. Yet studies of animal social behaviour tend to focus on associations between pairs of individuals. With the increase in popularity of social network analysis, researchers have started to look beyond the dyad to examine the role of indirect connections in animal societies. Here, I provide an overview of the new knowledge that has been uncovered by these studies. I focus on research that has addressed both the causes of social behaviours, i.e. the cognitive and genetic basis of indirect connections, as well as their consequences, i.e. the impact of indirect connections on social cohesion, information transfer, cultural practices and fitness. From these studies, it is apparent that indirect connections play an important role in animal behaviour, although future research is needed to clarify their contribution. PMID:25937639

Maternal responsive-didactic caregiving in play interactions with 10-month-olds and cognitive development at 18 months

OpenAIRE

Mermelshtine, Roni; Barnes, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

Maternal responsive-didactic caregiving (RDC) and infant advanced object play were investigated in a sample of 400 mothers and their 10-month-old infants during video-recorded semi-structured play interactions. Three maternal behaviours: contingent response, cognitively stimulating language and autonomy promoting speech were coded and infant object play. Factor analysis confirmed the three maternal behaviours loaded onto one underlying factor, labelled RDC. Based on ecological and transaction...

A Socio Behavioural Perspective for Understanding and Managing Behaviour Problems in Children with Epilepsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. A. Cull

1992-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, reasons for the occurrence of interictal behaviour disturbance in children with epilepsy, and the management of such problems, are considered. The search for a direct relationship between epilepsy related variables and behaviour disorders is far from conclusive. While such a relationship may exist with respect to ictal behaviour problems, this line of investigation is of limited value in respect of its implications for the management of interictal problems. In the latter case it is proposed that organic factors may be considered to be a risk factor. In addition, the negative psychosocial sequelae of a diagnosis of epilepsy can result in conditions which are likely to foster the development of inappropriate behaviours. Learning theory would further suggest that environmental contingencies have a role to play in the shaping and maintenance of such behaviours. This broader framework for conceptualising the development and maintenance of interictal behaviour disorders has clear management implications. Clinical examples of the successful application of this approach to the management of persistent behavioural problems in two young people with epilepsy are presented.

Using Empathy to Improve Human-Robot Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, André; Leite, Iolanda; Mascarenhas, Samuel; Martinho, Carlos; Paiva, Ana

For robots to become our personal companions in the future, they need to know how to socially interact with us. One defining characteristic of human social behaviour is empathy. In this paper, we present a robot that acts as a social companion expressing different kinds of empathic behaviours through its facial expressions and utterances. The robot comments the moves of two subjects playing a chess game against each other, being empathic to one of them and neutral towards the other. The results of a pilot study suggest that users to whom the robot was empathic perceived the robot more as a friend.

The endocannabinoid system and nondrug rewarding behaviours.

Science.gov (United States)

Fattore, Liana; Melis, Miriam; Fadda, Paola; Pistis, Marco; Fratta, Walter

2010-07-01

Rewarding behaviours such as sexual activity, eating, nursing, parenting, social interactions, and play activity are conserved strongly in evolution, and they are essential for development and survival. All of these behaviours are enjoyable and represent pleasant experiences with a high reward value. Remarkably, rewarding behaviours activate the same brain circuits that mediate the positive reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse and of other forms of addiction, such as gambling and food addiction. Given the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in a variety of physiological functions of the nervous system, it is not surprising that it takes part in the complex machinery that regulates gratification and perception of pleasure. In this review, we focus first on the role of the endocannabinoid system in the modulation of neural activity and synaptic functions in brain regions that are involved in natural and nonnatural rewards (namely, the ventral tegmental area, striatum, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex). Then, we examine the role of the endocannabinoid system in modulating behaviours that directly or indirectly activate these brain reward pathways. More specifically, current knowledge of the effects of the pharmacological manipulation of the endocannabinoid system on natural (eating, sexual behaviour, parenting, and social play) and pathological (gambling) rewarding behaviours is summarised and discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What is the Relationship between Risky Outdoor Play and Health in Children? A Systematic Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Brussoni

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Risky outdoor play has been associated with promoting children’s health and development, but also with injury and death. Risky outdoor play has diminished over time, concurrent with increasing concerns regarding child safety and emphasis on injury prevention. We sought to conduct a systematic review to examine the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children, in order to inform the debate regarding its benefits and harms. We identified and evaluated 21 relevant papers for quality using the GRADE framework. Included articles addressed the effect on health indicators and behaviours from three types of risky play, as well as risky play supportive environments. The systematic review revealed overall positive effects of risky outdoor play on a variety of health indicators and behaviours, most commonly physical activity, but also social health and behaviours, injuries, and aggression. The review indicated the need for additional “good quality” studies; however, we note that even in the face of the generally exclusionary systematic review process, our findings support the promotion of risky outdoor play for healthy child development. These positive results with the marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities in recent generations indicate the need to encourage action to support children’s risky outdoor play opportunities. Policy and practice precedents and recommendations for action are discussed.

What is the Relationship between Risky Outdoor Play and Health in Children? A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Brussoni, Mariana; Gibbons, Rebecca; Gray, Casey; Ishikawa, Takuro; Sandseter, Ellen Beate Hansen; Bienenstock, Adam; Chabot, Guylaine; Fuselli, Pamela; Herrington, Susan; Janssen, Ian; Pickett, William; Power, Marlene; Stanger, Nick; Sampson, Margaret; Tremblay, Mark S.

2015-01-01

Risky outdoor play has been associated with promoting children’s health and development, but also with injury and death. Risky outdoor play has diminished over time, concurrent with increasing concerns regarding child safety and emphasis on injury prevention. We sought to conduct a systematic review to examine the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children, in order to inform the debate regarding its benefits and harms. We identified and evaluated 21 relevant papers for quality using the GRADE framework. Included articles addressed the effect on health indicators and behaviours from three types of risky play, as well as risky play supportive environments. The systematic review revealed overall positive effects of risky outdoor play on a variety of health indicators and behaviours, most commonly physical activity, but also social health and behaviours, injuries, and aggression. The review indicated the need for additional “good quality” studies; however, we note that even in the face of the generally exclusionary systematic review process, our findings support the promotion of risky outdoor play for healthy child development. These positive results with the marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities in recent generations indicate the need to encourage action to support children’s risky outdoor play opportunities. Policy and practice precedents and recommendations for action are discussed. PMID:26062038

Postphenomenological Play

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hammar, Emil

This paper aims to identify an understanding of digital games in virtual environments by using Don Ihde’s (1990) postphenomenological approach to how technology mediates the world to human beings in conjunction with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s (1993) notion of play . Through this tentatively proposed am...... amalgamation of theories I point towards an alternative understanding of the relationship between play and game as not only dialectic, but also as socially and ethically relevant qua the design and implementation of the game as technology....

The correlation between playing violent video games and bullying among adolescents in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jevtić Ana

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of playing video games among Serbian adolescents, the video game violence and the quality of parental control. We wanted to relate the frequency of playing, the video game violence, the bullying behaviour in schools, and GPA. The study involved boys and girls (N = 578 from four age groups (12, 14, 16, 18 years. Research results have shown that most participants play video games (75.1%. There are significantly more boys than girls among them, as well as more older than younger participants. Parental control is weak; a very small percentage of the sample (4.4% reported that their parents had forbidden them to play a game because of its content. The parents mostly never check which games their children play (50.2 %, and the majority (40.6 % do not even talk with the children about the games they play. GPA is negatively correlated with the frequency of playing (r = -0.228, p<.01 and the frequency remains a significant predictor of GPA even when controlling for age and gender. Those who play more violent games display more bullying behaviour (r=0.403, p<.01. This effect remains significant even when controlling for gender, age, the amount of TV violence and frequency of watching TV. The amount of violence in video games as a predictor has a unique contribution to the explanation of individual differences in bullying; the factor has a small but significant contribution to the explanation of this form of aggressive behaviour.

Free time, play and game

OpenAIRE

Božović Ratko R.

2008-01-01

Free time and play are mutually dependent categories that are always realized together. We either play because we have free time or we have free time because we play (E. Fink). Play, no matter whether it is children's or artistic play or a spontaneous sports game (excluding professional sports) most fully complements human existence and thereby realizes free time as a time in freedom and freedom of time. Therefore, free time exists and is most prominent in play. Moreover, one game releases it...

The Value of Play for Conflict Management: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Snodgrass, Lyn; Blunt, Richard

2009-01-01

This is a case study of a conflict management intervention in two secondary schools in post-apartheid South Africa. The feature of the intervention that we examine is the use of play as an educational strategy. The literature attests that play can facilitate change by allowing learners freedom to change their behaviour and opportunities to explore…

Identifying indicators of illegal behaviour: carnivore killing in human-managed landscapes.

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St John, Freya A V; Keane, Aidan M; Edwards-Jones, Gareth; Jones, Lauren; Yarnell, Richard W; Jones, Julia P G

2012-02-22

Managing natural resources often depends on influencing people's behaviour, however effectively targeting interventions to discourage environmentally harmful behaviours is challenging because those involved may be unwilling to identify themselves. Non-sensitive indicators of sensitive behaviours are therefore needed. Previous studies have investigated people's attitudes, assuming attitudes reflect behaviour. There has also been interest in using people's estimates of the proportion of their peers involved in sensitive behaviours to identify those involved, since people tend to assume that others behave like themselves. However, there has been little attempt to test the potential of such indicators. We use the randomized response technique (RRT), designed for investigating sensitive behaviours, to estimate the proportion of farmers in north-eastern South Africa killing carnivores, and use a modified logistic regression model to explore relationships between our best estimates of true behaviour (from RRT) and our proposed non-sensitive indicators (including farmers' attitudes, and estimates of peer-behaviour). Farmers' attitudes towards carnivores, question sensitivity and estimates of peers' behaviour, predict the likelihood of farmers killing carnivores. Attitude and estimates of peer-behaviour are useful indicators of involvement in illicit behaviours and may be used to identify groups of people to engage in interventions aimed at changing behaviour.

The Human Behaviour-Change Project: harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning for evidence synthesis and interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Michie, Susan; Thomas, James; Johnston, Marie; Aonghusa, Pol Mac; Shawe-Taylor, John; Kelly, Michael P; Deleris, Léa A; Finnerty, Ailbhe N; Marques, Marta M; Norris, Emma; O'Mara-Eves, Alison; West, Robert

2017-10-18

Behaviour change is key to addressing both the challenges facing human health and wellbeing and to promoting the uptake of research findings in health policy and practice. We need to make better use of the vast amount of accumulating evidence from behaviour change intervention (BCI) evaluations and promote the uptake of that evidence into a wide range of contexts. The scale and complexity of the task of synthesising and interpreting this evidence, and increasing evidence timeliness and accessibility, will require increased computer support. The Human Behaviour-Change Project (HBCP) will use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to (i) develop and evaluate a 'Knowledge System' that automatically extracts, synthesises and interprets findings from BCI evaluation reports to generate new insights about behaviour change and improve prediction of intervention effectiveness and (ii) allow users, such as practitioners, policy makers and researchers, to easily and efficiently query the system to get answers to variants of the question 'What works, compared with what, how well, with what exposure, with what behaviours (for how long), for whom, in what settings and why?'. The HBCP will: a) develop an ontology of BCI evaluations and their reports linking effect sizes for given target behaviours with intervention content and delivery and mechanisms of action, as moderated by exposure, populations and settings; b) develop and train an automated feature extraction system to annotate BCI evaluation reports using this ontology; c) develop and train machine learning and reasoning algorithms to use the annotated BCI evaluation reports to predict effect sizes for particular combinations of behaviours, interventions, populations and settings; d) build user and machine interfaces for interrogating and updating the knowledge base; and e) evaluate all the above in terms of performance and utility. The HBCP aims to revolutionise our ability to synthesise, interpret and deliver

Men with elevated testosterone levels show more affiliative behaviours during interactions with women

Science.gov (United States)

van der Meij, Leander; Almela, Mercedes; Buunk, Abraham P.; Fawcett, Tim W.; Salvador, Alicia

2012-01-01

Testosterone (T) is thought to play a key role in male–male competition and courtship in many vertebrates, but its precise effects are unclear. We explored whether courtship behaviour in humans is modulated and preceded by changes in T. Pairs of healthy male students first competed in a non-physical contest in which their T levels became elevated. Each participant then had a short, informal interaction with either an unfamiliar man or woman. The sex of the stimulus person did not affect the participants' behaviour overall. However, in interactions with women, those men who had experienced a greater T increase during the contest subsequently showed more interest in the woman, engaged in more self-presentation, smiled more and made more eye contact. No such effects were seen in interactions with other men. This is the first study to provide direct evidence that elevating T during male–male competition is followed by increased affiliative behaviour towards women. PMID:21632627

GenPlay Multi-Genome, a tool to compare and analyze multiple human genomes in a graphical interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Lajugie, Julien; Fourel, Nicolas; Bouhassira, Eric E

2015-01-01

Parallel visualization of multiple individual human genomes is a complex endeavor that is rapidly gaining importance with the increasing number of personal, phased and cancer genomes that are being generated. It requires the display of variants such as SNPs, indels and structural variants that are unique to specific genomes and the introduction of multiple overlapping gaps in the reference sequence. Here, we describe GenPlay Multi-Genome, an application specifically written to visualize and analyze multiple human genomes in parallel. GenPlay Multi-Genome is ideally suited for the comparison of allele-specific expression and functional genomic data obtained from multiple phased genomes in a graphical interface with access to multiple-track operation. It also allows the analysis of data that have been aligned to custom genomes rather than to a standard reference and can be used as a variant calling format file browser and as a tool to compare different genome assembly, such as hg19 and hg38. GenPlay is available under the GNU public license (GPL-3) from http://genplay.einstein.yu.edu. The source code is available at https://github.com/JulienLajugie/GenPlay. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Role of Structural Characteristics in Problematic Video Game Play: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

King, Daniel L.; Delfabbro, Paul H.; Griffiths, Mark D.

2011-01-01

The research literature suggests that the structural characteristics of video games may play a considerable role in the initiation, development and maintenance of problematic video game playing. The present study investigated the role of structural characteristics in video game playing behaviour within a sample of 421 video game players aged…

Effects of bone damage on creep behaviours of human vertebral trabeculae.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Callaghan, Paul; Szarko, Matthew; Wang, Yue; Luo, Jin

2018-01-01

A subgroup of patients suffering with vertebral fractures can develop progressive spinal deformities over time. The mechanism underlying such clinical observation, however, remains unknown. Previous studies suggested that creep deformation of the vertebral trabeculae may play a role. Using the acoustic emission (AE) technique, this study investigated effects of bone damage (modulus reduction) on creep behaviours of vertebral trabecular bone. Thirty-seven human vertebral trabeculae samples were randomly assigned into five groups (A to E). Bones underwent mechanical tests using similar experimental protocols but varied degree of bone damage was induced. Samples first underwent creep test (static compressive stress of 0.4MPa) for 30min, and then were loaded in compression to a specified strain level (0.4%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.5%, and 4% for group A to E, respectively) to induce different degrees of bone damage (0.4%, no damage control; 1.0%, yield strain; 1.5%, beyond yield strain, 2.5% and 4%, post-ultimate strains). Samples were creep loaded (0.4MPa) again for 30min. AE techniques were used to monitor bone damage. Bone damage increased significantly from group A to E (P30% of modulus reduction in group D and E. Before compressive loading, creep deformation was not different among the five groups and AE hits in creep test were rare. After compressive loading, creep deformation was significantly greater in group D and E than those in other groups (Pcreep test were significantly greater in group D and E than in group A, B, and C (Pcreep deformation may occur even when the vertebra was under physiological loads. The boosted creep deformation observed may be attributed to newly created trabecular microfractures. Findings provide a possible explanation as to why some vertebral fracture patients develop progressive spinal deformity over time. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The behaviour of satellite cells in response to exercise: what have we learned from human studies?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kadi, Fawzi; Olsen, Steen Schytte

2005-01-01

Understanding the complex role played by satellite cells in the adaptive response to exercise in human skeletal muscle has just begun. The development of reliable markers for the identification of satellite cell status (quiescence/activation/proliferation) is an important step towards the underst......Understanding the complex role played by satellite cells in the adaptive response to exercise in human skeletal muscle has just begun. The development of reliable markers for the identification of satellite cell status (quiescence/activation/proliferation) is an important step towards...

Does testosterone affect lateralization of brain and behaviour? A meta- analysis in humans and other animal species

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pfannkuche, K.A.; Bouma, J.M.; Groothuis, T.G.G.

2009-01-01

Lateralization of brain and behaviour has been the topic of research for many years in neuropsychology, but the factors guiding its development remain elusive. Based on sex differences in human lateralization, four hypotheses have been postulated that suggest a role for androgens, specifically

Teachers and Parents Play to Learn: Play-Based Instruction in Computer Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Denise

2010-01-01

Play is so important that it is declared as one of the human rights by the United Nations. Although it is focused on children, play does "not" stop there. In the 1990s the author designed and facilitated a blended curriculum for a Head Start Program. The instructional goal was to introduce and get the children to effectively and…

'Goats that stare at men'--revisited: do dwarf goats alter their behaviour in response to eye visibility and head direction of a human?

Science.gov (United States)

Nawroth, Christian; von Borell, Eberhard; Langbein, Jan

2016-05-01

Being able to recognise when one is being observed by someone else is thought to be adaptive during cooperative or competitive events. In particular for prey species, this ability should be of use in the context of predation. A previous study reported that goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) alter their behaviour according to the body and head orientation of a human experimenter. During a food anticipation task, an experimenter remained in a particular posture for 30 s before delivering a reward, and the goats' active anticipation and standing alert behaviour were analysed. To further evaluate the specific mechanisms at work, we here present two additional test conditions. In particular, we investigated the effects of the eye visibility and head orientation of a human experimenter on the behaviour of the goats (N = 7). We found that the level of the subjects' active anticipatory behaviour was highest in the conditions where the experimenter was directing his head and body towards the goat ('Control' and 'Eyes closed' conditions), but the anticipatory behaviour was significantly decreased when the body ('Head only') or the head and body of the experimenter were directed away from the subject ('Back' condition). For standing alert, we found no significant differences between the three conditions in which the experimenter was directing his head towards the subject ('Control', 'Eyes closed' and 'Head only'). This lack of differences in the expression of standing alert suggests that goats evaluate the direction of a human's head as an important cue in their anticipatory behaviour. However, goats did not respond to the visibility of the experimenter's eyes alone.

A New Context Affording for Regulation: The Case of Musical Play

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Zachariou, Antonia; Whitebread, David

2017-01-01

The present study set out to investigate theoretical speculations that regulation and musical play, an initial manifestation of musicality, are directly linked. This study aimed to explore the potential for regulation to occur during musical play and investigate the nature of the regulatory behaviours. Thirty-six children, aged 6 and 8, were…

Human Behaviour Analysis of Barrier Deviations Using a Benefit-Cost-Deficit Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe Polet

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A Benefit-Cost-Deficit (BCD model is proposed for analyzing such intentional human errors as barrier removal, the deliberate nonrespect of the rules and instructions governing use of a given system. The proposed BCD model attempts to explain and predict barrier removal in terms of the benefits, costs, and potential deficits associated with this human behaviour. The results of an experimental study conducted on a railway simulator (TRANSPAL are used to illustrate the advantages of the BCD model. In this study, human operators were faced with barriers that they could choose to deactivate, or not. Their decisions were analyzed in an attempt to explain and predict their choices. The analysis highlights that operators make their decisions using a balance between several criteria. Though barriers are safety-related elements, the decision to remove them is not guided only by the safety criterion; it is also motivated by such criteria as productivity, workload, and quality. Results of prediction supported by the BCD demonstrate the predictability of barrier violation

Brain regions involved in observing and trying to interpret dog behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Desmet, Charlotte; van der Wiel, Alko; Brass, Marcel

2017-01-01

Humans and dogs have interacted for millennia. As a result, humans (and especially dog owners) sometimes try to interpret dog behaviour. While there is extensive research on the brain regions that are involved in mentalizing about other peoples' behaviour, surprisingly little is known of whether we use these same brain regions to mentalize about animal behaviour. In this fMRI study we investigate whether brain regions involved in mentalizing about human behaviour are also engaged when observing dog behaviour. Here we show that these brain regions are more engaged when observing dog behaviour that is difficult to interpret compared to dog behaviour that is easy to interpret. Interestingly, these results were not only obtained when participants were instructed to infer reasons for the behaviour but also when they passively viewed the behaviour, indicating that these brain regions are activated by spontaneous mentalizing processes.

The research history of the human behaviour from the probabilistic safety analysis viewpoint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pyy, P.

1993-01-01

The so called human errors have always been apart of the everyday life of the mankind. In that sense, the discussion on man has a contributor to the operational safety of nuclear power plants is nothing new. It is interesting, that there do not exist widely accepted definitions of the human error nor the human reliability. Some of them are discussed at the beginning of this article. The second Chapter discusses the past and today of the research of man as a contributor to safety. Similarly, the development of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is described. The article, then, discusses the methods used in the contemporary HRA. The division between the identification of important human activities and their probability estimation is made. Especially, the pros and cons of the approaches and data sources used in the HRA are reviewed on a coarce level. At the end, a view on the use of expert judgment is given. The human behaviour has been an endless topic of research in the history - and will be it in future as well. In the conclusion of the article an opinion is given on the development during the past 30 years. Then, a rapid view on the possible future of the area is given. (orig.)

Measurement and Facilitation of Affectionate Behaviour in the Play of Young Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Marton, John P.; Acker, Loren E.

This study attempted to determine whether simple, naturalistic procedures could be used to increase the rate of physically affectionate behaviors directed at stuffed toy animals and at peers in the play of 4- and 5-year-old children. Procedures were developed for scoring affection and aggression during group play. The context of reading a story…

The effect of opponent type on human performance in a three-alternative choice task.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, Celia; Baxter, Jennifer; Alsop, Brent

2013-10-01

Adult participants played computerised games of "Paper Scissors Rock". Participants in one group were told that they were playing against the computer, and those in the other group were told that they were playing against another participant in the adjacent room. The participant who won the most games would receive a $50 prize. For both groups however, the opponent's responses (paper, scissors, or rock) were generated by the computer, and the distribution of these responses was varied across four blocks of 126 trials. Results were analysed using the generalised matching law for the three possible pairs of alternatives (paper vs. scissors, paper vs. rock, and scissors vs. rock) across all participants in each group. Overall, significantly higher estimates of sensitivity to the distribution of opponent's responses were obtained from participants who were told their opponent was a computer compared to participants who were told their opponent was another participant. While adding to the existing literature showing that the generalised matching law is an adequate descriptor of human three-alternative choice behaviour, these findings show that external factors such as perceived opponent type can affect the efficacy of reinforcer contingencies on human behaviour. This suggests that generalising the results from tasks performed against a computer to real-life human-to-human interactions warrants some caution. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Health-seeking behaviour of human brucellosis cases in rural Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MacMillan Alastair

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Brucellosis is known to cause debilitating conditions if not promptly treated. In some rural areas of Tanzania however, practitioners give evidence of seeing brucellosis cases with symptoms of long duration. The purpose of this study was to establish health-seeking behaviour of human brucellosis cases in rural Tanzania and explore the most feasible ways to improve it. Methods This was designed as a longitudinal study. Socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected from patients who reported to selected hospitals in rural northern Tanzania between June 2002 and April 2003. All patients with conditions suspicious of brucellosis on the basis of preliminary clinical examination and history were enrolled into the study as brucellosis suspects. Blood samples were taken and tested for brucellosis using the Rose-Bengal Plate Test (RBPT and other agglutination tests available at the health facilities and the competitive ELISA (c-ELISA test at the Veterinary Laboratory Agencies (VLA in the UK. All suspects who tested positive with the c-ELISA test were regarded as brucellosis cases. A follow-up of 49 cases was made to collect data on health-seeking behaviour of human brucellosis cases. Results The majority of cases 87.7% gave a history of going to hospital as the first point of care, 10.2% purchased drugs from a nearby drug shop before going to hospital and 2% went to a local traditional healer first. Brucellosis cases delayed going to hospital with a median delay time of 90 days, and with 20% of the cases presenting to hospitals more than a year after the onset of symptoms. Distance to the hospital, keeping animals and knowledge of brucellosis were significantly associated with patient delay to present to hospital. Conclusion More efforts need to be put on improving the accessibility of health facilities to the rural poor people who succumb to most of the diseases including zoonoses. Health education on brucellosis in

Reciprocal relationships between behaviour and parasites suggest that negative feedback may drive flexibility in male reproductive behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezenwa, Vanessa O; Snider, Matthew H

2016-05-25

Parasites are ubiquitous components of the environment that contribute to behavioural and life-history variation among hosts. Although it is well known that host behaviour can affect parasite infection risk and that parasites can alter host behaviour, the potential for dynamic feedback between these processes is poorly characterized. Using Grant's gazelle (Nanger granti) as a model, we tested for reciprocal effects of behaviour on parasites and parasites on behaviour to understand whether behaviour-parasite feedback could play a role in maintaining variation in male reproductive behaviour. Adult male gazelles either defend territories to attract mates or reside in bachelor groups. Territoriality is highly variable both within- and between-individuals, suggesting that territory maintenance is costly. Using a combination of longitudinal and experimental studies, we found that individual males transition frequently between territorial and bachelor reproductive status, and that elevated parasite burdens are a cost of territoriality. Moreover, among territorial males, parasites suppress aspects of behaviour related to territory maintenance and defence. These results suggest that territorial behaviour promotes the accumulation of parasites in males, and these parasites dampen the very behaviours required for territory maintenance. Our findings suggest that reciprocal feedback between host behaviour and parasitism could be a mechanism maintaining variation in male reproductive behaviour in the system. © 2016 The Author(s).

Does testosterone affect lateralization of brain and behaviour? A meta-analysis in humans and other animal species.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfannkuche, Kristina A; Bouma, Anke; Groothuis, Ton G G

2009-04-12

Lateralization of brain and behaviour has been the topic of research for many years in neuropsychology, but the factors guiding its development remain elusive. Based on sex differences in human lateralization, four hypotheses have been postulated that suggest a role for androgens, specifically testosterone. With the discovery that lateralization is a fundamental principle in the organization of brain and behaviour among vertebrates, it has now become possible to experimentally test such hypotheses in animal models. The use of different taxa, humans, other mammalian species and birds (with oestradiol and not testosterone involved in sexual differentiation in birds) facilitates to differentiate between the hypotheses. We used meta-analyses for analysing papers that provided sufficient information, and a semi-quantitative approach based on all relevant studies that we extracted from the literature. We tested the predictions of these hypotheses regarding strength and direction of lateralization for motor output, language and visuospatial cognition in these three taxa. We tested for sex differences and early organizational effects of testosterone (both correlative and experimental studies). We found sex differences in the direction of lateralization for non-human mammals (motor biases similar to humans) and in direction and strength in birds (visual cognitive tasks). However, the prediction that prenatal testosterone exposure affects the direction of lateralization was not supported for humans. In birds and non-human mammals, opposite trends were found, with the effect in non-human mammals being opposite to the expectation based on sex differences. None of the four hypotheses was sufficiently supported and more studies, testing a wider array of functions in different taxa while reporting the data more completely are needed.

Examining alcohol consumption with the theory of planned behaviour: Do health and alcohol knowledge play a role?

Science.gov (United States)

Hasking, Penelope; Schofield, Lachlan

2015-01-01

We used the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate factors associated with alcohol consumption among university students, and to examine whether general or alcohol-specific health knowledge acts as a moderator in the relationship between elements of the theory and drinking behaviour. Participants were 258 Australian undergraduate university students (79% female) who completed an online questionnaire, assessing the constructs of interest. The hypothesis that intentions and behaviour would be successfully predicted using the theory was generally supported. Little evidence for the moderating effect of knowledge on the TPB variables was observed, although both general and alcohol-specific health knowledge moderated the relationship between intentions and behaviours. Contrary to expectation, more accurate knowledge strengthened this relationship. Further work is necessary to investigate the role of knowledge in limiting alcohol-related harms.

Linking behavioural syndromes and cognition: a behavioural ecology perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Sih, Andrew; Del Giudice, Marco

2012-10-05

With the exception of a few model species, individual differences in cognition remain relatively unstudied in non-human animals. One intriguing possibility is that variation in cognition is functionally related to variation in personality. Here, we review some examples and present hypotheses on relationships between personality (or behavioural syndromes) and individual differences in cognitive style. Our hypotheses are based largely on a connection between fast-slow behavioural types (BTs; e.g. boldness, aggressiveness, exploration tendency) and cognitive speed-accuracy trade-offs. We also discuss connections between BTs, cognition and ecologically important aspects of decision-making, including sampling, impulsivity, risk sensitivity and choosiness. Finally, we introduce the notion of cognition syndromes, and apply ideas from theories on adaptive behavioural syndromes to generate predictions on cognition syndromes.

Towards an integrated approach of pedestrian behaviour and exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Papadimitriou, Eleonora

2016-07-01

In this paper, an integrated methodology for the analysis of pedestrian behaviour and exposure is proposed, allowing to identify and quantify the effect of pedestrian behaviour, road and traffic characteristics on pedestrian risk exposure, for each pedestrian and for populations of pedestrians. The paper builds on existing research on pedestrian exposure, namely the Routledge microscopic indicator, proposes adjustments to take into account road, traffic and human factors and extends the use of this indicator on area-wide level. Moreover, this paper uses integrated choice and latent variables (ICLV) models of pedestrian behaviour, taking into account road, traffic and human factors. Finally, a methodology is proposed for the integrated estimation of pedestrian behaviour and exposure on the basis of road, traffic and human factors. The method is tested with data from a field survey in Athens, Greece, which used pedestrian behaviour observations as well as a questionnaire on human factors of pedestrian behaviour. The data were used (i) to develop ICLV models of pedestrian behaviour and (ii) to estimate the behaviour and exposure of pedestrians for different road, traffic and behavioural scenarios. The results suggest that both pedestrian behaviour and exposure are largely defined by a small number of factors: road type, traffic volume and pedestrian risk-taking. The probability for risk-taking behaviour and the related exposure decrease in less demanding road and traffic environments. A synthesis of the results allows to enhance the understanding of the interactions between behaviour and exposure of pedestrians and to identify conditions of increased risk exposure. These conditions include principal urban arterials (where risk-taking behaviour is low but the related exposure is very high) and minor arterials (where risk-taking behaviour is more frequent, and the related exposure is still high). A "paradox" of increased risk-taking behaviour of pedestrians with low

Leisure Today--the Many Faces of Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Susan D.; And Others

1995-01-01

This series of papers examines the role of play from various angles, discussing play as an essential human function and universal experience, the role of play in developing cultural values and awareness, a symbolic interactionist view of play, early therapeutic recreation specialists, and the direction of commercialized play. (SM)

Exploring the use of role play in a school-based programme to reduce teenage pregnancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myra Taylor

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Can the use of a method such as role play help reduce sexual risk behaviour among KwaZulu-Natal learners? A study was undertaken of the use of role plays by Grade 8 learners, at eight urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal high schools, as part of a programme to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy. Within the framework of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, learners participated in role plays covering five topics - choice, self-respect and emotional abuse; partner coercion/negotiation about having sex; visiting the clinic for contraception; perceived and purchasing value of the child support grant; and testing for HIV. We report on the organisation, implementation and evaluation of the role plays. Data from facilitators, educators and learners were triangulated and suggest that role play has potential for building self-efficacy among learners with respect to sexual behaviour.

A multivariable model for predicting the frictional behaviour and hydration of the human skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Veijgen, N K; van der Heide, E; Masen, M A

2013-08-01

The frictional characteristics of skin-object interactions are important when handling objects, in the assessment of perception and comfort of products and materials and in the origins and prevention of skin injuries. In this study, based on statistical methods, a quantitative model is developed that describes the friction behaviour of human skin as a function of the subject characteristics, contact conditions, the properties of the counter material as well as environmental conditions. Although the frictional behaviour of human skin is a multivariable problem, in literature the variables that are associated with skin friction have been studied using univariable methods. In this work, multivariable models for the static and dynamic coefficients of friction as well as for the hydration of the skin are presented. A total of 634 skin-friction measurements were performed using a recently developed tribometer. Using a statistical analysis, previously defined potential influential variables were linked to the static and dynamic coefficient of friction and to the hydration of the skin, resulting in three predictive quantitative models that descibe the friction behaviour and the hydration of human skin respectively. Increased dynamic coefficients of friction were obtained from older subjects, on the index finger, with materials with a higher surface energy at higher room temperatures, whereas lower dynamic coefficients of friction were obtained at lower skin temperatures, on the temple with rougher contact materials. The static coefficient of friction increased with higher skin hydration, increasing age, on the index finger, with materials with a higher surface energy and at higher ambient temperatures. The hydration of the skin was associated with the skin temperature, anatomical location, presence of hair on the skin and the relative air humidity. Predictive models have been derived for the static and dynamic coefficient of friction using a multivariable approach. These

Effect of Partner's Gender on Early Pretend Play: A Preliminary Study of Singapore Chinese Preschoolers

Science.gov (United States)

Jing, Mengguo; Li, Hui

2015-01-01

This study examined the developmental trend of pretend play behaviour and the effect of partner's gender in Singaporean preschoolers. Peer dyadic play among 70 children, ranging in age from three to five years, was observed in a standardised toy play context. Videotaped recordings of the play were analysed using two scales--the Smilansky Scale for…

Theorising Digital Play: A Cultural-Historical Conceptualisation of Children's Engagement in Imaginary Digital Situations

Science.gov (United States)

Fleer, Marilyn

2016-01-01

In the early childhood education literature, a growing number of studies have referenced "digital play." Many of these studies seek to describe how young children play with digital devices, notably, how they engage with different kinds of apps. This work collectively illustrates a range of play behaviours where a number of important…

Playful learning in higher education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgård, Rikke Toft; Toft-Nielsen, Claus; Whitton, Nicola

2017-01-01

in higher education through the metaphor of the ‘magic circle’. This approach stimulates intrinsic motivation and educational drive, creates safe spaces for academic experimentation and exploration, and promotes reflective risk-taking, ideation, and participation in education. We present a model of playful......Increased focus on quantifiable performance and assessment in higher education is creating a learning culture characterised by fear of failing, avoidance of risk, and extrinsic goal-oriented behaviours. In this article, we explore possibilities of a more playful approach to teaching and learning...... learning, drawing on notions of signature pedagogies, field literature, and two qualitative studies on learner conceptions of enjoyment and reasons for disengagement. We highlight the potential of this approach to invite a different mind-set and environment, providing a formative space in which failure...

Bringing human information behaviour into information systems research: an application of systems modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2004-01-01

Full Text Available In their influential paper, Dervin and Nilan compared and contrasted the "traditional" and "alternative" paradigms for human information behaviour research, highlighting the inadequacies of the former and promoting the importance of the latter. In this paper, we argue that the two paradigms are not irreconcilable. We offer a research framework that allows qualitative and quantitative views of the same problem to be combined using systems models. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to reconcile the six key differences between the two paradigms as argued by Dervin and Nilan.

Basking behaviour in the rock hyrax ( Procavia capensis ) during ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Basking is a behaviour frequently observed in the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) during winter that supposedly plays a significant role in rewarming from nocturnal hypothermia. This behaviour, together with changes in body temperature and changes in black bulb temperatures (Tbb) were investigated in the natural ...

Exit choice, (pre-)movement time and (pre-)evacuation behaviour in hotel fire evacuation – Behavioural analysis and validation of the use of serious gaming in experimental research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kobes, M.; Helsloot, I.; Vries, de B.; Post, J.G.

2010-01-01

Human behaviour in fires is mainly studied by incident evaluations and real-life experiments, such as unannounced evacuation drills. The possibilities of virtual reality for studying human behaviour in fires are so far hardly adopted by researchers. Nevertheless, the application of a behavioural

Playful Interfaces : Introduction and History

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Anton; Nijholt, A.

2014-01-01

In this short survey we have some historical notes about human-computer interface development with an emphasis on interface technology that has allowed us to design playful interactions with applications. The applications do not necessarily have to be entertainment applications. We can have playful

Do behavioural insights matter for competition policy?

OpenAIRE

CIRIOLO Emanuele

2016-01-01

Behavioural insights make use of behavioural economics and psychology to analyse how humans behave when adopting economic decisions. The use of behavioural insights to improve policy-making is becoming increasing popular all over the world. Pensions, taxes, unemployment, energy efficiency, adult education, charitable giving and, of course, competition policy have benefitted from the application of behavioural insights. Emanuele Ciriolo, from the European Commission Joint Research Centre, expl...

Conceptualising Animal Abuse with an Antisocial Behaviour Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Gullone, Eleonora

2011-01-26

This paper reviews current findings in the human aggression and antisocial behaviour literature and those in the animal abuse literature with the aim of highlighting the overlap in conceptualisation. The major aim of this review is to highlight that the co-occurrence between animal abuse behaviours and aggression and violence toward humans can be logically understood through examination of the research evidence for antisocial and aggressive behaviour. From examination through this framework, it is not at all surprising that the two co-occur. Indeed, it would be surprising if they did not. Animal abuse is one expression of antisocial behaviour. What is also known from the extensive antisocial behaviour literature is that antisocial behaviours co-occur such that the presence of one form of antisocial behaviour is highly predictive of the presence of other antisocial behaviours. From such a framework, it becomes evident that animal abuse should be considered an important indicator of antisocial behaviour and violence as are other aggressive and antisocial behaviours. The implications of such a stance are that law enforcement, health and other professionals should not minimize the presence of animal abuse in their law enforcement, prevention, and treatment decisions.

Review of the relationship between Mianzi, SSG and employee’s behaviour in family enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Wang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available At present, voice behaviour under Chinese culture should be emphasized, and is in need of full consideration of Mianzi, supervisor-subordinate Guanxi and other factors influencing employee’s voice behaviour. This paper, from the perspective of psychological cognition, takes Chinese family business employees as research object to seek the mechanism of employee voice behaviour. This paper gathers more than fifty literatures in China and abroad to tease out the research model, and finds out Mianzi can positively predict the family enterprise employee’s voice behaviour, and play further influences on employee’s voice behaviour by affecting SSG,so SSG plays an intermediary role in the relationship between Mianzi and employee’s voice behaviour. This paper finally concludes that, organizations can increase the frequency of voice behaviour and improve the organizational performance by enhancing employee’s Mianzi and optimizing SSG.

Pediatric Hospital: The Paradigms of Play in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

de Macedo, Lino; da Silva, Gláucia Faria; Setúbal, Sandra Mutarelli

2015-01-29

The role of play in Brazilian children's hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children's Hospital ("Hospital Infantil Sabará") in Brazil is used particularly to discuss humanization. To understand the issue of play in Brazil, it is important to discuss hospitals in their social context, their history, current roles in children's care, humanization history and child development, according to the approaches of Piaget and Winnicott that are used in our culture.

Visual social network analysis: effective approach to model complex human social, behaviour & culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahram, Tareq Z; Karwowski, Waldemar

2012-01-01

The advent and adoption of internet-based social networking has significantly altered our daily lives. The educational community has taken notice of the positive aspects of social networking such as creation of blogs and to support groups of system designers going through the same challenges and difficulties. This paper introduces a social networking framework for collaborative education, design and modeling of the next generation of smarter products and services. Human behaviour modeling in social networking application aims to ensure that human considerations for learners and designers have a prominent place in the integrated design and development of sustainable, smarter products throughout the total system lifecycle. Social networks blend self-directed learning and prescribed, existing information. The self-directed element creates interest within a learner and the ability to access existing information facilitates its transfer, and eventual retention of knowledge acquired.

Does Playing Pay? The Fitness-Effect of Free Play during Childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Werner Greve

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Evolutionary developmental psychology claims that the sequences and processes of human development, in fact the mere fact of ontogeny itself, have to be viewed as evolutionary products. However, although the functional benefits of childish behavior (child playing for cognitive and emotional development have been shown repeatedly, claiming evolutionary adaptiveness of playing in childhood suggests that childish play supports evolutionary success in mature stages of development. This hypothesis is tested in a study with N = 134 adults (93 females; age range 20–66 years. Participants were asked to recollect their play experiences during childhood in detail, and to report their current developmental status with respect to several aspects of social success. Results show that the opportunity for and the promotion of free play in childhood significantly predict some indicators of social success. Additional analyses strive to explore mediating processes for this relationship. In particular, the mediating role of individual adaptivity (flexibility of goal adjustment is investigated. Results suggest that freely playing in childhood promotes developmental resources, in particular individual adaptivity in adulthood, which, in turn, promote developmental success.

Does playing pay? The fitness-effect of free play during childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Greve, Werner; Thomsen, Tamara; Dehio, Cornelia

2014-04-29

Evolutionary developmental psychology claims that the sequences and processes of human development, in fact the mere fact of ontogeny itself, have to be viewed as evolutionary products. However, although the functional benefits of childish behavior (child playing) for cognitive and emotional development have been shown repeatedly, claiming evolutionary adaptiveness of playing in childhood suggests that childish play supports evolutionary success in mature stages of development. This hypothesis is tested in a study with N=134 adults (93 females; age range 20-66 years). Participants were asked to recollect their play experiences during childhood in detail, and to report their current developmental status with respect to several aspects of social success. Results show that the opportunity for and the promotion of free play in childhood significantly predict some indicators of social success. Additional analyses strive to explore mediating processes for this relationship. In particular, the mediating role of individual adaptivity (flexibility of goal adjustment) is investigated. Results suggest that freely playing in childhood promotes developmental resources, in particular individual adaptivity in adulthood, which, in turn, promote developmental success.

Behavioural Decision Making and Suggestional Processes

OpenAIRE

Molz, Günter

2001-01-01

Common features between the domains of behavioural decision making and suggestional processes are discussed. These features are allocated in two aspects. First, behavioural decision making and suggestional processes are traditionally considered to provoke inadequate human behaviour. In this article arguments are put forward against this interpretation: Actions induced by non-rational decisions and / or by suggestional processes often have adaptive functions. Second, two common themat...

Go Play Outside! Effects of a risk-reframing tool on mothers' tolerance for, and parenting practices associated with, children's risky play: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Brussoni, Mariana; Ishikawa, Takuro; Han, Christina; Pike, Ian; Bundy, Anita; Faulkner, Guy; Mâsse, Louise C

2018-03-07

Children's risky play is associated with a variety of positive developmental, physical and mental health outcomes, including greater physical activity, self-confidence and risk-management skills. Children's opportunities for risky play have eroded over time, limited by parents' fears and beliefs about risk, particularly among mothers. We developed a digital tool and in-person Risk-reframing (RR) workshop to reframe parents' perceptions of risk and change parenting behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to describe our RR intervention, rationale and protocol for a randomised controlled trial to examine whether it leads to increases in mothers' tolerance of risk in play and goal attainment relating to promoting their child's opportunities for risky play. We use a randomised controlled trial design and will recruit a total of 501 mothers of children aged 6-12 years. The RR digital tool is designed for a one-time visit and includes three chapters of self-reflection and experiential learning tasks. The RR in-person tool is a 2-h facilitated workshop in which participants are guided through discussion of the same tasks contained within the digital tool. The control condition consists of reading the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. Primary outcome is increased tolerance of risk in play, as measured by the Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale. Secondary outcome is self-reported attainment of a behaviour-change goal that participants set for themselves. We will test the hypothesis that there will be differences between the experimental and control conditions with respect to tolerance of risk in play using mixed-effects models. We will test the hypothesis that there will be differences between the experimental and control conditions with respect to goal attainment using logistic regression. The results of this trial will have important implications for facilitating the widespread change in parents' risk perception that is necessary for promoting broad societal

Comparing Fathers' Physical and Toy Play and Links to Child Behaviour: An Exploratory Study

Science.gov (United States)

St George, Jennifer; Fletcher, Richard; Palazzi, Kerrin

2017-01-01

Increasing amounts of research show that fathers' involvement in children's lives contributes to the child's social, emotional and cognitive development; however, much of the evidence comes from fathers' caregiving and object play. This exploratory study compared the characteristics of 24 Australian fathers' play in two contexts--toy play and…

Functional architecture of behavioural thermoregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Flouris, Andreas D

2011-01-01

The human thermoregulatory system relies primarily on behavioural adaptation and secondarily on autonomic and endocrine responses for thermal homeostasis. This is because autonomic and endocrine responses have a limited capacity in preventing hyper/hypothermia in extreme environments. Until recently, the neuroanatomy of behavioural thermoregulation as well as the neuroanatomic substrate of the various thermoregulatory behaviours remained largely unknown. However, this situation has changed in recent years as behavioural thermoregulation has become a topic of considerable attention. The present review evaluates the current knowledge on behavioural thermoregulation in order to summarize the present state-of-the-art and to point towards future research directions. Findings on the fundamental distinction between thermal (dis)comfort and sensation are reviewed showing that the former drives behaviour while the latter initiates autonomic thermoregulation. Moreover, the thermosensitive neurons and thermoeffector functions of behavioural thermoregulation are presented and analysed in a detailed discussion.

Sleep hygiene behaviours: an application of the theory of planned behaviour and the investigation of perceived autonomy support, past behaviour and response inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kor, Kenny; Mullan, Barbara Ann

2011-09-01

This study investigated the sleep hygiene behaviour of university students within the framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB [Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.]), and examined the predictive validity of additional variables including perceived autonomy support, past behaviour and response inhibition. A total of 257 undergraduate students from an Australian university were administered two online questionnaires at two time points. At time 1, participants completed the TPB questionnaire and the Go/NoGo task as a measure of response inhibition. A week later at time 2, participants completed a questionnaire measuring the performance of sleep hygiene behaviours. Multiple and hierarchical regression analyses showed that the TPB model significantly predicted intention and behaviour. Although intention and perceived behavioural control were statistically significant in predicting behaviour, past behaviour and response inhibition accounted for more variance when added to the TPB model. Subjective norm was found to be the strongest predictor of intention implying the importance of normative influences in sleep hygiene behaviours. Response inhibition was the strongest predictor of behaviour, reinforcing the argument that the performance of health protective behaviours requires self-regulatory ability. Therefore, interventions should be targeted at enhancing self-regulatory capacity.

Investigating microenvironmental regulation of human chordoma cell behaviour.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priya Patel

Full Text Available The tumour microenvironment is complex and composed of many different constituents, including matricellular proteins such as connective tissue growth factor (CCN2, and is characterized by gradients in oxygen levels. In various cancers, hypoxia and CCN2 promote stem and progenitor cell properties, and regulate the proliferation, migration and phenotype of cancer cells. Our study was aimed at investigating the effects of hypoxia and CCN2 on chordoma cells, using the human U-CH1 cell line. We demonstrate that under basal conditions, U-CH1 cells express multiple CCN family members including CCN1, CCN2, CCN3 and CCN5. Culture of U-CH1 cells in either hypoxia or in the presence of recombinant CCN2 peptide promoted progenitor cell-like characteristics specific to the notochordal tissue of origin. Specifically, hypoxia induced the most robust increase in progenitor-like characteristics in U-CH1 cells, including increased expression of the notochord-associated markers T, CD24, FOXA1, ACAN and CA12, increased cell growth and tumour-sphere formation, and a decrease in the percentage of vacuolated cells present in the heterogeneous population. Interestingly, the effects of recombinant CCN2 peptide on U-CH1 cells were more pronounced under normoxia than hypoxia, promoting increased expression of CCN1, CCN2, CCN3 and CCN5, the notochord-associated markers SOX5, SOX6, T, CD24, and FOXA1 as well as increased tumour-sphere formation. Overall, this study highlights the importance of multiple factors within the tumour microenvironment and how hypoxia and CCN2 may regulate human chordoma cell behaviour.

Effect of drugs of abuse on social behaviour: a review of animal models.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanco-Gandía, Maria C; Mateos-García, Ana; García-Pardo, Maria P; Montagud-Romero, Sandra; Rodríguez-Arias, Marta; Miñarro, José; Aguilar, María A

2015-09-01

Social behaviour is disturbed in many substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. Given the consensus that social behaviours of lower mammals may help to understand some human emotional reactions, the aim of the present work was to provide an up-to-date review of studies on the changes in social behaviour induced by drugs of abuse. Various animal models have been used to study the relationship between drugs of abuse and social behaviour. Herein, we describe the effects of different substances of abuse on the three most commonly used animal models of social behaviour: the social play test, the social interaction test and the resident-intruder paradigm. The first is the most widely used test to assess adolescent behaviour in rodents, the second is generally used to evaluate a wide repertoire of behaviours in adulthood and the latter is specific to aggressive behaviour. Throughout the review we will explore the most relevant studies carried out to date to evaluate the effects of alcohol, cocaine, opioids, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), cannabinoids, nicotine and other drugs of abuse on these three paradigms, taking into account the influence of different variables, such as social history, age and type of exposure. Drugs of diverse pharmacological classes induce alterations in social behaviour, although they can be contrasting depending on several factors (drug, individual differences and environmental conditions). Ethanol and nicotine increase social interaction at low doses but reduce it at high doses. Psychostimulants, MDMA and cannabinoids reduce social interaction, whereas opiates increase it. Ethanol and psychostimulants enhance aggression, whereas MDMA, opiates, cannabinoids and nicotine reduce it. Prenatal drug exposure alters social behaviour, whereas drug withdrawal decreases sociability and enhances aggression. As a whole, this evidence has improved our understanding of the social dimension of drug addiction.

A note on the relationship between the behavioural response of lactating sows to humans and the survival of their piglets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hemsworth, P.H.; Pedersen, V.; Cox, M.

1999-01-01

The objective of this study was to examine the relationships, based on unit averages, between the behavioural responses of lactating sows to humans and the performance of sows in 25 farrowing units at a large commercial farm. The behavioural responses of 25 sows in each farrowing unit were observed...... at 2-4 and 16-18 days of lactation and a correlation analysis, using unit averages, was used to examine the behaviour-productivity relationships. Moderate and significant between-unit correlations were found between the behavioural response of lactating sows at days 16-18 to an approaching experimenter...... and the percentage of stillborn piglets. Units in which test sows were quicker to withdraw in the presence of the experimenter had a higher stillbirth rate than those units in which a reduced withdrawal response was displayed. The withdrawal response of sows in the close presence of the experimenter accounted...

Pediatric Hospital: The Paradigms of Play in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lino de Macedo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The role of play in Brazilian children’s hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children’s Hospital (“Hospital Infantil Sabará” in Brazil is used particularly to discuss humanization. To understand the issue of play in Brazil, it is important to discuss hospitals in their social context, their history, current roles in children’s care, humanization history and child development, according to the approaches of Piaget and Winnicott that are used in our culture.

Linking models of human behaviour and climate alters projected climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Beckage, Brian; Gross, Louis J.; Lacasse, Katherine; Carr, Eric; Metcalf, Sara S.; Winter, Jonathan M.; Howe, Peter D.; Fefferman, Nina; Franck, Travis; Zia, Asim; Kinzig, Ann; Hoffman, Forrest M.

2018-01-01

Although not considered in climate models, perceived risk stemming from extreme climate events may induce behavioural changes that alter greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we link the C-ROADS climate model to a social model of behavioural change to examine how interactions between perceived risk and emissions behaviour influence projected climate change. Our coupled climate and social model resulted in a global temperature change ranging from 3.4-6.2 °C by 2100 compared with 4.9 °C for the C-ROADS model alone, and led to behavioural uncertainty that was of a similar magnitude to physical uncertainty (2.8 °C versus 3.5 °C). Model components with the largest influence on temperature were the functional form of response to extreme events, interaction of perceived behavioural control with perceived social norms, and behaviours leading to sustained emissions reductions. Our results suggest that policies emphasizing the appropriate attribution of extreme events to climate change and infrastructural mitigation may reduce climate change the most.

A place for play? The influence of the home physical environment on children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Maitland, Clover; Stratton, Gareth; Foster, Sarah; Braham, Rebecca; Rosenberg, Michael

2013-08-17

The home environment is an important influence on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children, who have limited independent mobility and spend much of their time at home. This article reviews the current evidence regarding the influence of the home physical environment on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children aged 8-14 years. A literature search of peer reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2011 resulted in 38 observational studies (21 with activity outcomes, 23 with sedentary outcomes) and 11 experimental studies included in the review. The most commonly investigated behavioural outcomes were television watching and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Media equipment in the home and to a lesser extent the bedroom were positively associated with children's sedentary behaviour. Physical activity equipment and the house and yard were not associated with physical activity, although environmental measures were exclusively self-reported. On the other hand, physical activity equipment was inversely associated with sedentary behaviours in half of studies. Observational studies that investigated the influence of the physical and social environment within the home space, found that the social environment, particularly the role of parents, was important. Experimental studies that changed the home physical environment by introducing a television limiting device successfully decreased television viewing, whereas the influence of introducing an active video game on activity outcomes was inconsistent. Results highlight that the home environment is an important influence on children's sedentary behaviour and physical activity, about which much is still unknown. While changing or controlling the home physical environment shows promise for reducing screen based sedentary behaviour, further interventions are needed to understand the broader impact of these changes. Future studies should prioritise investigating the influence of the home

The contribution of social behaviour to the transmission of influenza A in a human population.

Science.gov (United States)

Kucharski, Adam J; Kwok, Kin O; Wei, Vivian W I; Cowling, Benjamin J; Read, Jonathan M; Lessler, Justin; Cummings, Derek A; Riley, Steven

2014-06-01

Variability in the risk of transmission for respiratory pathogens can result from several factors, including the intrinsic properties of the pathogen, the immune state of the host and the host's behaviour. It has been proposed that self-reported social mixing patterns can explain the behavioural component of this variability, with simulated intervention studies based on these data used routinely to inform public health policy. However, in the absence of robust studies with biological endpoints for individuals, it is unclear how age and social behaviour contribute to infection risk. To examine how the structure and nature of social contacts influenced infection risk over the course of a single epidemic, we designed a flexible disease modelling framework: the population was divided into a series of increasingly detailed age and social contact classes, with the transmissibility of each age-contact class determined by the average contacts of that class. Fitting the models to serologically confirmed infection data from the 2009 Hong Kong influenza A/H1N1p pandemic, we found that an individual's risk of infection was influenced strongly by the average reported social mixing behaviour of their age group, rather than by their personal reported contacts. We also identified the resolution of social mixing that shaped transmission: epidemic dynamics were driven by intense contacts between children, a post-childhood drop in risky contacts and a subsequent rise in contacts for individuals aged 35-50. Our results demonstrate that self-reported social contact surveys can account for age-associated heterogeneity in the transmission of a respiratory pathogen in humans, and show robustly how these individual-level behaviours manifest themselves through assortative age groups. Our results suggest it is possible to profile the social structure of different populations and to use these aggregated data to predict their inherent transmission potential.

Personality-matching habitat choice, rather than behavioural plasticity, is a likely driver of a phenotype-environment covariance.

Science.gov (United States)

Holtmann, Benedikt; Santos, Eduardo S A; Lara, Carlos E; Nakagawa, Shinichi

2017-10-11

An emerging hypothesis of animal personality posits that animals choose the habitat that best fits their personality, and that the match between habitat and personality can facilitate population differentiation, and eventually speciation. However, behavioural plasticity and the adjustment of behaviours to new environments have been a classical explanation for such matching patterns. Using a population of dunnocks ( Prunella modularis ), we empirically tested whether personality or behavioural plasticity is responsible for the non-random distribution of shy and bold individuals in a heterogeneous environment. We found evidence for bold individuals settling in areas with high human disturbance, but also that birds became bolder with increasing age. Importantly, personality primarily determines the distribution of individuals, and behavioural adjustment over time contributes very little to the observed patterns. We cannot, however, exclude a possibility of very early behavioural plasticity (a type of developmental plasticity) shaping what we refer to as 'personality'. Nonetheless, our findings highlight the role personality plays in shaping population structure, lending support to the theory of personality-mediated speciation. Moreover, personality-matching habitat choice has important implications for population management and conservation. © 2017 The Author(s).

The environmental behaviour of polonium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phaneuf, M.; Twining, J.; )

2013-01-01

In view of the importance of 210 Po as a dose contributor, the IAEA is completing a second specific Technical Reports Series document, entitled 'The Environmental Behaviour of Polonium'. This document covers the behaviour of polonium in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, and provides up-to-date information on key transfer processes, concepts and models that have been found to be important in radiological assessments for both humans and non-human biota. Additionally, applications of Po isotopes to environmental issues are discussed in order to alert readers to studies that use Po isotopes as tracers of environmental processes

Associations between Adult Attachment Dimensions And Attitudes Toward Pain Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lachlan A McWilliams

2010-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Despite the important role positive reinforcement of pain behaviour is believed to play in chronic pain, there is a paucity of research regarding factors that influence the provision of such reinforcement. Attachment theory suggests that individuals high in attachment avoidance view the pain behaviour of others in a negative manner and would, therefore, provide little reinforcement of pain behaviour. As an initial step in evaluating this model, relationships between attachment dimensions and attitudes toward pain behaviour were examined. Attachment avoidance was hypothesized to be negatively associated with accepting attitudes toward pain behaviour.

Crowd behaviour during high-stress evacuations in an immersive virtual environment

Science.gov (United States)

Kapadia, Mubbasir; Thrash, Tyler; Sumner, Robert W.; Gross, Markus; Helbing, Dirk; Hölscher, Christoph

2016-01-01

Understanding the collective dynamics of crowd movements during stressful emergency situations is central to reducing the risk of deadly crowd disasters. Yet, their systematic experimental study remains a challenging open problem due to ethical and methodological constraints. In this paper, we demonstrate the viability of shared three-dimensional virtual environments as an experimental platform for conducting crowd experiments with real people. In particular, we show that crowds of real human subjects moving and interacting in an immersive three-dimensional virtual environment exhibit typical patterns of real crowds as observed in real-life crowded situations. These include the manifestation of social conventions and the emergence of self-organized patterns during egress scenarios. High-stress evacuation experiments conducted in this virtual environment reveal movements characterized by mass herding and dangerous overcrowding as they occur in crowd disasters. We describe the behavioural mechanisms at play under such extreme conditions and identify critical zones where overcrowding may occur. Furthermore, we show that herding spontaneously emerges from a density effect without the need to assume an increase of the individual tendency to imitate peers. Our experiments reveal the promise of immersive virtual environments as an ethical, cost-efficient, yet accurate platform for exploring crowd behaviour in high-risk situations with real human subjects. PMID:27605166

Crowd behaviour during high-stress evacuations in an immersive virtual environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Moussaïd, Mehdi; Kapadia, Mubbasir; Thrash, Tyler; Sumner, Robert W; Gross, Markus; Helbing, Dirk; Hölscher, Christoph

2016-09-01

Understanding the collective dynamics of crowd movements during stressful emergency situations is central to reducing the risk of deadly crowd disasters. Yet, their systematic experimental study remains a challenging open problem due to ethical and methodological constraints. In this paper, we demonstrate the viability of shared three-dimensional virtual environments as an experimental platform for conducting crowd experiments with real people. In particular, we show that crowds of real human subjects moving and interacting in an immersive three-dimensional virtual environment exhibit typical patterns of real crowds as observed in real-life crowded situations. These include the manifestation of social conventions and the emergence of self-organized patterns during egress scenarios. High-stress evacuation experiments conducted in this virtual environment reveal movements characterized by mass herding and dangerous overcrowding as they occur in crowd disasters. We describe the behavioural mechanisms at play under such extreme conditions and identify critical zones where overcrowding may occur. Furthermore, we show that herding spontaneously emerges from a density effect without the need to assume an increase of the individual tendency to imitate peers. Our experiments reveal the promise of immersive virtual environments as an ethical, cost-efficient, yet accurate platform for exploring crowd behaviour in high-risk situations with real human subjects. © 2016 The Authors.

Supporting Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Innovation in Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Lukeš

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on existence and support of entrepreneurial behaviour and innovation in larger organizations. It first suggests why it is important to pay attention to entrepreneurship and innovation and then defines corporate entrepreneurship. Typical barriers of entrepreneurial activities are described as well as innovation dilemmas organizations solve. Innovation process is not linear, but six components of innovation behaviour may be identified, together with specific roles employees play when moving the idea forward from idea creation to implementation. Important factors influencing the success of entrepreneurial behaviour are discussed, involving the role of middle managers and reward systems. Recommendations for fostering entrepreneurial behaviour and innovation are provided together with a simple inventory for measuring employee perception of manager's and organizational support for innovation.

Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human-robot interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Dautenhahn, Kerstin

2007-04-29

Social intelligence in robots has a quite recent history in artificial intelligence and robotics. However, it has become increasingly apparent that social and interactive skills are necessary requirements in many application areas and contexts where robots need to interact and collaborate with other robots or humans. Research on human-robot interaction (HRI) poses many challenges regarding the nature of interactivity and 'social behaviour' in robot and humans. The first part of this paper addresses dimensions of HRI, discussing requirements on social skills for robots and introducing the conceptual space of HRI studies. In order to illustrate these concepts, two examples of HRI research are presented. First, research is surveyed which investigates the development of a cognitive robot companion. The aim of this work is to develop social rules for robot behaviour (a 'robotiquette') that is comfortable and acceptable to humans. Second, robots are discussed as possible educational or therapeutic toys for children with autism. The concept of interactive emergence in human-child interactions is highlighted. Different types of play among children are discussed in the light of their potential investigation in human-robot experiments. The paper concludes by examining different paradigms regarding 'social relationships' of robots and people interacting with them.

[The neurobiology of antisocial behaviour].

Science.gov (United States)

Loomans, M M; Tulen, J H M; van Marle, H J C

2010-01-01

Neuro-imaging is being used increasingly to provide explanations for antisocial behaviour. To make a neurobiological contribution to the diagnosis of many types of antisocial behaviour. The literature was searched using PubMed and combinations of the keywords 'psychopathy', 'antisocial', 'neurobiology' and 'neuro-anatomy' for the period 1990-2009. Impairments in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, superior temporal gyrus, corpus callosum and anterior cingulate cortex provide a possible explanation for a large number of the symptoms associated with antisocial behaviour. The concept of psychopathy is connected mainly with impairments in a prefrontal-temporal-limbic system. CONCLUSION Combinations of deficiencies in the associated brain areas and malfunctioning of the communication between the various brain structures seem to play a more important role than deficiencies in the separate brain structures.

The missing link between values and behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brunsø, Karen

For a long time human values have been perceived as abstrat cognitions representing desired goals or end-states which motivate humnan behaviour. A number of studies have tried to explore the link between values and behaviour, but often different constructs are included as intermediate links between...... values and specific behaviour, since values may be too abstract to influence behaviour directly. We propose the concept of lifestyle as a mediator between values and behaviour, and present our approach to lifestyle based on principles from cognitive psychology, where we distinguish between values...... and lifestyle and behaviour. Based on this appraoch we collected data covering values, lifestyle and behaviour, and estimated the cogntiive hierarchy from values to lifestyle to behaviour by structural equation models....

Neural and cortisol responses during play with human and computer partners in children with autism

Science.gov (United States)

Edmiston, Elliot Kale; Merkle, Kristen

2015-01-01

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit impairment in reciprocal social interactions, including play, which can manifest as failure to show social preference or discrimination between social and nonsocial stimuli. To explore mechanisms underlying these deficits, we collected salivary cortisol from 42 children 8–12 years with ASD or typical development during a playground interaction with a confederate child. Participants underwent functional MRI during a prisoner’s dilemma game requiring cooperation or defection with a human (confederate) or computer partner. Search region of interest analyses were based on previous research (e.g. insula, amygdala, temporal parietal junction—TPJ). There were significant group differences in neural activation based on partner and response pattern. When playing with a human partner, children with ASD showed limited engagement of a social salience brain circuit during defection. Reduced insula activation during defection in the ASD children relative to TD children, regardless of partner type, was also a prominent finding. Insula and TPJ BOLD during defection was also associated with stress responsivity and behavior in the ASD group under playground conditions. Children with ASD engage social salience networks less than TD children during conditions of social salience, supporting a fundamental disturbance of social engagement. PMID:25552572

Frequent video-game playing in young males is associated with central adiposity and high-sugar, low-fibre dietary consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Mario, Siervo; Hannah, Cameron; Jonathan, Wells C K; Jose, Lara

2014-12-01

Video-game playing is associated with an increased obesity risk. The association of video-game playing with body composition, physical activity and eating behaviour was investigated. A total of 45 young males (age range 18-27 years, BMI range 18.5-35.1 kg/m(2)) were recruited. Measurements of body composition and blood pressure were performed. The EPIC-FFQ questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake. A questionnaire battery was administered to assess physical activity, eating behaviour, sleep quality and frequency of video-game playing (hours/week). Subjects were categorised into frequent (>7 h/week) and non-frequent (≤7 h/week) players. Frequent video-game players had greater waist circumference and fat mass. Video-game playing was significantly associated with high added sugar and low fibre consumption. A higher level of dietary restraint was observed in non-frequent video-game users. These preliminary results identify frequent video-game playing as an important lifestyle behaviour which may have important implications for understanding obesity risk in young male adults.

Teachers' Conceptions About the Genetic Determinism of Human Behaviour: A Survey in 23 Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Castéra, Jérémy; Clément, Pierre

2014-02-01

This work analyses the answers to a questionnaire from 8,285 in-service and pre-service teachers from 23 countries, elaborated by the Biohead-Citizen research project, to investigate teachers' conceptions related to the genetic determinism of human behaviour. A principal components analysis is used to assess the main trends in all the interviewed teachers' conceptions. This illustrates that innatism is present in two distinct ways: in relation to individuals (e.g. genetic determinism to justify intellectual likeness between individuals such as twins) or in relation to groups of humans (e.g. genetic determinism to justify gender differences or the superiority of some human ethnic groups). A between-factor analysis discriminates between countries, showing very significant differences. There is more innatism among teachers' conceptions in African countries and Lebanon than in European countries, Brazil and Australia. Among the other controlled parameters, only two are significantly independent of the country: the level of training and the level of knowledge of biology. A co-inertia analysis shows a strong correlation between non-citizen attitudes towards and innatist conceptions of genetic determinism regarding human groups. We discuss these findings and their implications for education.

Does Sympathy Motivate Prosocial Behaviour in Great Apes?

Science.gov (United States)

Liebal, Katja; Vaish, Amrisha; Haun, Daniel; Tomasello, Michael

2014-01-01

Prosocial behaviours such as helping, comforting, or sharing are central to human social life. Because they emerge early in ontogeny, it has been proposed that humans are prosocial by nature and that from early on empathy and sympathy motivate such behaviours. The emerging question is whether humans share these abilities to feel with and for someone with our closest relatives, the great apes. Although several studies demonstrated that great apes help others, little is known about their underlying motivations. This study addresses this issue and investigates whether four species of great apes (Pongo pygmaeus, Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus) help a conspecific more after observing the conspecific being harmed (a human experimenter steals the conspecific’s food) compared to a condition where no harming occurred. Results showed that in regard to the occurrence of prosocial behaviours, only orangutans, but not the African great apes, help others when help is needed, contrasting prior findings on chimpanzees. However, with the exception of one population of orangutans that helped significantly more after a conspecific was harmed than when no harm occurred, prosocial behaviour in great apes was not motivated by concern for others. PMID:24416212

The human likeness dimension of the "uncanny valley hypothesis": behavioural and functional MRI findings.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcus eCheetham

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The uncanny valley hypothesis (Mori, 1970 predicts differential experience of negative and positive affect as a function of human likeness. Affective experience of realistic humanlike robots and computer-generated characters (avatars dominates uncanny research, but findings are inconsistent. How objects are actually perceived along the hypothesis’ dimension of human likeness (DOH, defined only in terms of human physical similarity, is unknown. To examine whether the DOH can be defined also in terms of effects of categorical perception (CP, stimuli from morph continua with controlled differences in physical human likeness between avatar and human faces as endpoints were presented. Two behavioural studies found a sharp category boundary along the DOH and enhanced visual discrimination (i.e. CP of fine-grained differences between face pairs at the category boundary. Discrimination was better for face pairs that presented category change in the human-to-avatar than avatar-to-human direction along DOH. To investigate brain representation of physical and category change within the uncanny valley hypothesis’ framework, an event-related fMRI study used the same stimuli in a paired repetition-priming paradigm. Bilateral mid-fusiform areas and a different right mid-fusiform area were sensitive to physical change within the human and avatar categories, respectively, whereas entirely different regions were sensitive to the human-to-avatar (caudate head, putamen, thalamus, red nucleus and avatar-to-human (hippocampus, amygdala, mid-insula direction of category change. Our findings show that Mori's DOH definition does not reflect subjective perception of human likeness and suggest that future uncanny studies consider CP and the DOH category structure in guiding experience of nonhuman objects.

Evaluation of behaviour testing for human directed aggression in dogs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Borg, van der J.A.M.; Beerda, B.; Ooms, M.; Silveira de Souza, A.; Hagen, M.; Kemp, B.

2010-01-01

Behaviour test batteries are used to identify aggressive dogs. The Dutch Socially Acceptable Behaviour (SAB)-test has been used since 2001 to select against unwanted aggression and fear in specific dog breeds, though much is unknown yet regarding its reliability, validity and feasibility. In this

Behavioural responses of spinner dolphins to human interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Fumagalli, Maddalena; Cesario, Amina; Costa, Marina; Harraway, John; Notarbartolo di Sciara, Giuseppe; Slooten, Elisabeth

2018-04-01

There is increasing evidence that whale and dolphin watching activities have detrimental effects on targeted cetacean populations. In Egypt, spinner dolphins regularly occur in the resting areas of Samadai, Satayah and Qubbat'Isa reefs. In-water human interactions with dolphins are regulated with a time-area closure system at Samadai, unregulated at Satayah and non-existent at Qubbat'Isa. This provided an ideal experimental setting to advance our understanding of the effects of tourism on a species highly sensitive to disturbances. Our study confirmed that the intensity and duration of interactions, and therefore, dolphin exposure to tourism, differed among the study sites. Compared with the Qubbat'Isa control site, behavioural reactions to boats and swimmers at the two tourism sites suggested that dolphin rest was disrupted, especially around the middle of the day and especially at Satayah, where dolphin tourism is unregulated. Our results indicate also that the dolphin protection measures at Samadai reduce the level of disturbance. We recommend that similar measures be implemented at other dolphin tourism locations, and that no new operations be initiated until the long-term impacts on dolphin populations are better understood. Our experience emphasizes the need to adopt precautionary approaches in research and management of whale and dolphin watching.

Consumer behaviour and the environment: Which role for information?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

My aim here is to present a broad-brush overview of some of the most important roles that information has been found to play as a tool for promoting environmentally responsible consumer behaviour. Because this workshop is organized by a network of economists, I will start with the importance...... of information for getting the full potential out of economic instruments. However, my main emphasis will be on the importance of information for creating and facilitating consumers' willing participation in solving environmental problems that are in some way related to their behaviour as consumers. Information...... may be even more important for furthering other important types of behaviour, such as voter behaviour or activist behaviour, but I won't discuss the specific issues about promoting these types of behaviour today....

Nudge this : behavioural economics & political marketing

OpenAIRE

Passera, Mark

2011-01-01

Nudge This – Behavioural Economics & Political Marketing\\ud \\ud A key aspect of a behavioural economic paradigm is that there are limitations in defining the citizen as an informed rational processing machine. Arguing that rationality is bounded: human motivation and behaviour can be viewed as more likely to be influenced by biases, perceptions and general rules of thumbs (heuristics). \\ud \\ud Sunstein & Thaler (2008) in Nudge debunk the assumption of homo economicus and focus instead on desi...

Improving the quality of manually acquired data: Applying the theory of planned behaviour to data quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, Glen D.

2009-01-01

The continued reliance of manual data capture in engineering asset intensive organisations highlights the critical role played by those responsible for recording raw data. The potential for data quality variance across individual operators also exposes the need to better manage this particular group. This paper evaluates the relative importance of the human factors associated with data quality. Using the theory of planned behaviour this paper considers the impact of attitudes, perceptions and behavioural intentions on the data collection process in an engineering asset context. Two additional variables are included, those of time pressure and operator feedback. Time pressure is argued to act as a moderator between intention and data collection behaviour, while perceived behavioural control will moderate the relationship between feedback and data collection behaviour. Overall the paper argues that the presence of best practice procedures or threats of disciplinary sanction are insufficient controls to determine data quality. Instead those concerned with improving the data collection performance of operators should consider the operator's perceptions of group attitude towards data quality, the level of feedback provided to data collectors and the impact of time pressures on procedure compliance. A range of practical recommendations are provided to those wishing to improve the quality of their manually acquired data.

Risky sexual behaviour and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) among healthcare workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Khamisa, Natasha; Mokgobi, Maboe

2018-01-01

South Africa is known to have one of the highest prevalence rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) globally, with one in seven healthcare workers being HIV-positive. An HIV-positive healthcare workforce is less equipped to respond to the increasing spread of the epidemic. Assessment of the factors contributing to high HIV prevalence rates among healthcare workers is important in planning the development of human resources. This review sought to identify and understand predominant risky sexual behaviours among healthcare workers in HIV and AIDS-affected countries. This study reviewed articles focusing on sexual behaviour among healthcare workers. Major health science databases (e.g. ProQuest, Cochrane, PubMed and CINAHL) were searched for combinations of keywords including 'healthcare workers', 'risky sexual behaviour' and 'HIV and AIDS'. Articles from a range of countries met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings of the study revealed three main contributing factors: unprotected sex, multiple sex partners and sexual violence. Sexual violence emerged as the dominant risk factor in the majority of the studies. Most research was conducted in developed countries where the HIV infection rate is much lower than it is in developing countries. More research needs to be conducted in developing countries and appropriate strategies should be implemented to reduce sexual violence among healthcare workers. Appropriate procedures on reporting sexual violence coupled with education on HIV and AIDS as well as influencing attitudes and belief systems could assist in reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS within the healthcare workforce while minimising the effect on patient care.

Noradrenaline might enhance assertive human social behaviours: an investigation in a flatmate relationship.

Science.gov (United States)

Tse, W S; Bond, A J

2006-09-01

The aim of the present study was to explore the role of noradrenaline on the social behaviour of healthy volunteers when they were interacting with a familiar person, their flatmate. Interaction with the flatmate was explored in a cooperative game situation. Ten pairs of same-sex healthy volunteer flatmates aged 18-25 years were recruited for the experiment. All volunteers gave written informed consent and the study was approved by the institutional ethical committee. A randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of reboxetine versus placebo was conducted. In each of the 10 pairs of volunteers, one (subject) volunteered to take the tablets and the other (flatmate) received no treatment. Reboxetine (4 mg/bd) and placebo were administered orally as identical capsules for 2 weeks. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either reboxetine or placebo first and there was a two-week washout period following the first treatment. At baseline and the end of each treatment, they filled in the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Social Adapation Self-Evaluation Scale (SASS), and Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). Then, they were instructed to play the Tangrams game. This task elicits face-valid social behaviours such as cooperation, giving commands and unilateral grasps. Analysis of covariance showed that there was a statistical trend for reboxetine treatment to increase commands (p=0.055). This study presents preliminary evidence that two weeks' enhancement of noradrenaline transmission induced by reboxetine makes healthy volunteers more self-confident and assertive.

The limits of behaviour change theory: condom use and contexts of HIV risk in the Kolkata sex industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Catrin; Lambert, Helen

2008-01-01

This paper uses ethnographic data from a sex workers' HIV project in India to consider the appropriateness of individual, social/group and structural theories of health behaviour when applied to HIV-prevention initiatives. Existing theories are critiqued for their modernist representation of behaviour as determined by individual rational decision-making processes or by external structural forces, with inadequate recognition being given to the roles that human agency, subjective meaning and local context play in everyday actions. Analysis of sex workers' accounts of their sexual practices suggests that existing theories of health behaviour can only partially account for sexual behaviour change retrospectively and that they have limited predictive value with respect to the outcomes of individual sexual encounters. Our data show that these outcomes were, in fact, highly context dependent, while possibilities for action were ultimately strongly constrained by structural forces. Findings suggest that interventions need to adopt an integrated, structurally-oriented approach for promoting safer sexual practices in sex work settings. Recognising that no one model of health behaviour is likely to be adequate in explaining or predicting behaviour change encourages responsiveness to local people's agency, recognises the different (health- and non-health-related) registers of risk with which people operate and encourages flexibility according to local contingencies and contexts.

Annotation and Anonymity: Playful Photo-Sharing by Visiting Groups of Teenagers

OpenAIRE

Rowland, Duncan; Appiah-Kubi, Kwamena; Shipp, Victoria; Mortier, Richard Michael; Benford, Steve

2015-01-01

This paper investigates the playful photo taking behaviour of teenagers during group visits to two touristic public events (an airshow and a guided tour of a museum). These studies provide the feedback for the iterative development of a smartphone based anonymous image annotation and sharing application. The resulting implications for the design of such photo systems are examined, specifically the appropriateness of opportunistic upload for social media. Playfulness in photography has many im...

The influence of action video game playing on eye movement behaviour during visual search in abstract, in-game and natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Azizi, Elham; Abel, Larry A; Stainer, Matthew J

2017-02-01

Action game playing has been associated with several improvements in visual attention tasks. However, it is not clear how such changes might influence the way we overtly select information from our visual world (i.e. eye movements). We examined whether action-video-game training changed eye movement behaviour in a series of visual search tasks including conjunctive search (relatively abstracted from natural behaviour), game-related search, and more naturalistic scene search. Forty nongamers were trained in either an action first-person shooter game or a card game (control) for 10 hours. As a further control, we recorded eye movements of 20 experienced action gamers on the same tasks. The results did not show any change in duration of fixations or saccade amplitude either from before to after the training or between all nongamers (pretraining) and experienced action gamers. However, we observed a change in search strategy, reflected by a reduction in the vertical distribution of fixations for the game-related search task in the action-game-trained group. This might suggest learning the likely distribution of targets. In other words, game training only skilled participants to search game images for targets important to the game, with no indication of transfer to the more natural scene search. Taken together, these results suggest no modification in overt allocation of attention. Either the skills that can be trained with action gaming are not powerful enough to influence information selection through eye movements, or action-game-learned skills are not used when deciding where to move the eyes.

Behaviour of human mesenchymal stem cells on a polyelectrolyte-modified HEMA hydrogel for silk-based ligament tissue engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosetti, M; Boccafoschi, F; Calarco, A; Leigheb, M; Gatti, S; Piffanelli, V; Peluso, G; Cannas, M

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to design a functional bio-engineered material to be used as scaffold for autologous mesenchymal stem cells in ligament tissue engineering. Polyelectrolyte modified HEMA hydrogel (HEMA-co-METAC), applied as coating on silk fibroin fibres, has been formulated in order to take advantage of the biocompatibility of the polyelectrolyte by increasing its mechanical properties with silk fibres. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells behaviour on such reinforced polyelectrolyte has been studied by evaluating cell morphology, cell number, attachment, spreading and proliferation together with collagen matrix production and its mRNA expression. Silk fibroin fibres matrices with HEMA-co-METAC coating exhibited acceptable mechanical behaviour compared to the natural ligament, good human mesenchymal stem cell adhesion and with mRNA expression studies higher levels of collagen types I and III expression when compared to control cells on polystyrene. These data indicate high expression of mRNA for proteins responsible for the functional characteristics of the ligaments and suggest a potential for use of this biomaterial in ligament tissue-engineering applications.

Bursty human dynamics

CERN Document Server

Karsai, Márton; Kaski, Kimmo

2018-01-01

This book provides a comprehensive overview on emergent bursty patterns in the dynamics of human behaviour. It presents common and alternative understanding of the investigated phenomena, and points out open questions worthy of further investigations. The book is structured as follows. In the introduction the authors discuss the motivation of the field, describe bursty phenomena in case of human behaviour, and relate it to other disciplines. The second chapter addresses the measures commonly used to characterise heterogeneous signals, bursty human dynamics, temporal paths, and correlated behaviour. These definitions are first introduced to set the basis for the discussion of the third chapter about the observations of bursty human patterns in the dynamics of individuals, dyadic interactions, and collective behaviour. The subsequent fourth chapter discusses the models of bursty human dynamics. Various mechanisms have been proposed about the source of the heterogeneities in human dynamics, which leads to the in...

Consumer choice behaviour

OpenAIRE

Hansen, Flemming; Percy, Larry; Hallum Hansen, Morten

2004-01-01

The paper is concerned with the measurement of emotions and the study of the role of emotions in consumer choice. Contemporary neurological findings suggest that emotions may play a role in its own right, quite different from the way in which they have been considered in traditional consumer choice behaviour theory. A large-scale study including 800 respondents, covering 64 brands, provide findings on emotional response tendencies for the brands, and relate these to involvement...

Influence of unexpected events on driving behaviour at different hierarchical levels: A driving simulator experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaap, Nina; van der Horst, A.R.A.; van Arem, Bart; Brusque, Corinne

2008-01-01

Computer based simulation models of human driving behaviour can be used effectively to model driving behaviour and behavioural adaptation to Intelligent Transport System (ITS). This can be a useful step in human centered design of ITS. To construct a comprehensive model of driving behaviour, the

Behavioural syndromes differ predictably between 12 populations of three-spined stickleback

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dingemanse, Niels J.; Wright, Jonathan; Kazem, Anahita J. N.; Thomas, Dawn K.; Hickling, Rachael; Dawnay, Nick

2007-01-01

1. Animals often differ in suites of correlated behaviours, comparable with how humans differ in personality. Constraints on the architecture of behaviour have been invoked to explain why such 'behavioural syndromes' exist. From an adaptationist viewpoint, however, behavioural syndromes should

Cyber security in the workplace: Understanding and \\ud promoting behaviour change

OpenAIRE

Blythe, John

2013-01-01

Cyber security and the role employees play in securing information are major concerns for businesses. The aim of this research is to explore employee security behaviours and design interventions that can motivate behaviour change. Previous research has focused on exploring factors that influence information security policy compliance; however there are several limitations with this approach. Our work-to-date has explored the behaviours that constitute ‘information security’ and potential infl...

Nosing Around: Play in Pigs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristina Horback

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The predominant method of measuring welfare in swine focuses on overt physical ailments, such as skin lesions, lameness, and body condition. An alternative metric for assessing welfare in swine can be to measure the frequency and duration of positive behavioral states, such as play. Given that play occurs only when an animal's primary needs (food, comfort, safety, etc. have been satisfied, it has been suggested that play may be a sensitive indicator for assessing the welfare of non-human animals. Play has primarily been described in young piglets and is assessed via the occurrence of specific play markers. These play markers include overt bursts of energy like scamper, or more subtle social behaviors like nose-to-body contact. This review describes four areas of play for swine: locomotor, object, sow-piglet, and, peer play. From sporadic leaping to combative wrestling, play behavior allows for the fine-tuning of reflexive behavior which can enhance physical development, enrich cognitive abilities, and facilitate the maintenance of social bonds.

When dogs look back: inhibition of independent problem-solving behaviour in domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) compared with wolves (Canis lupus).

Science.gov (United States)

Udell, Monique A R

2015-09-01

Domestic dogs have been recognized for their social sensitivity and aptitude in human-guided tasks. For example, prior studies have demonstrated that dogs look to humans when confronted with an unsolvable task; an action often interpreted as soliciting necessary help. Conversely, wolves persist on such tasks. While dogs' 'looking back' behaviour has been used as an example of socio-cognitive advancement, an alternative explanation is that pet dogs show less persistence on independent tasks more generally. In this study, pet dogs, shelter dogs and wolves were given up to three opportunities to open a solvable puzzle box: when subjects were with a neutral human caretaker, alone and when encouraged by the human. Wolves were more persistent and more successful on this task than dogs, with 80% average success rate for wolves versus a 5% average success rate for dogs in both the human-in and alone conditions. Dogs showed increased contact with the puzzle box during the encouragement condition, but only a moderate increase in problem-solving success. Social sensitivity appears to play an important role in pet and shelter dogs' willingness to engage in problem-solving behaviour, which could suggest generalized dependence on, or deference to, human action. © 2015 The Author(s).

Microsatellite polymorphisms associated with human behavioural and psychological phenotypes including a gene-environment interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagshaw, Andrew T M; Horwood, L John; Fergusson, David M; Gemmell, Neil J; Kennedy, Martin A

2017-02-03

The genetic and environmental influences on human personality and behaviour are a complex matter of ongoing debate. Accumulating evidence indicates that short tandem repeats (STRs) in regulatory regions are good candidates to explain heritability not accessed by genome-wide association studies. We tested for associations between the genotypes of four selected repeats and 18 traits relating to personality, behaviour, cognitive ability and mental health in a well-studied longitudinal birth cohort (n = 458-589) using one way analysis of variance. The repeats were a highly conserved poly-AC microsatellite in the upstream promoter region of the T-box brain 1 (TBR1) gene and three previously studied STRs in the activating enhancer-binding protein 2-beta (AP2-β) and androgen receptor (AR) genes. Where significance was found we used multiple regression to assess the influence of confounding factors. Carriers of the shorter, most common, allele of the AR gene's GGN microsatellite polymorphism had fewer anxiety-related symptoms, which was consistent with previous studies, but in our study this was not significant following Bonferroni correction. No associations with two repeats in the AP2-β gene withstood this correction. A novel finding was that carriers of the minor allele of the TBR1 AC microsatellite were at higher risk of conduct problems in childhood at age 7-9 (p = 0.0007, which did pass Bonferroni correction). Including maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) in models controlling for potentially confounding influences showed that an interaction between TBR1 genotype and MSDP was a significant predictor of conduct problems in childhood and adolescence (p behaviour up to age 25 years (p ≤ 0.02). This interaction remained significant after controlling for possible confounders including maternal age at birth, socio-economic status and education, and offspring birth weight. The potential functional importance of the TBR1 gene's promoter microsatellite

Antennae hold a key to Varroa-sensitive hygiene behaviour in honey bees

OpenAIRE

Mondet, Fanny; Alaux, C?dric; Severac, Dany; Rohmer, Marine; Mercer, Alison R.; Le Conte, Yves

2015-01-01

In honey bees, Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) behaviour, which involves the detection and removal of brood parasitised by the mite Varroa destructor, can actively participate in the survival of colonies facing Varroa outbreaks. This study investigated the mechanisms of VSH behaviour, by comparing the antennal transcriptomes of bees that do and do not perform VSH behaviour. Results indicate that antennae likely play a key role in the expression of VSH behaviour. Comparisons with the antennal t...

A place for play? The influence of the home physical environment on children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

The home environment is an important influence on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children, who have limited independent mobility and spend much of their time at home. This article reviews the current evidence regarding the influence of the home physical environment on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children aged 8–14 years. A literature search of peer reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2011 resulted in 38 observational studies (21 with activity outcomes, 23 with sedentary outcomes) and 11 experimental studies included in the review. The most commonly investigated behavioural outcomes were television watching and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Media equipment in the home and to a lesser extent the bedroom were positively associated with children’s sedentary behaviour. Physical activity equipment and the house and yard were not associated with physical activity, although environmental measures were exclusively self-reported. On the other hand, physical activity equipment was inversely associated with sedentary behaviours in half of studies. Observational studies that investigated the influence of the physical and social environment within the home space, found that the social environment, particularly the role of parents, was important. Experimental studies that changed the home physical environment by introducing a television limiting device successfully decreased television viewing, whereas the influence of introducing an active video game on activity outcomes was inconsistent. Results highlight that the home environment is an important influence on children’s sedentary behaviour and physical activity, about which much is still unknown. While changing or controlling the home physical environment shows promise for reducing screen based sedentary behaviour, further interventions are needed to understand the broader impact of these changes. Future studies should prioritise investigating the influence of the

From circuits to behaviour in the amygdala

Science.gov (United States)

Janak, Patricia H.; Tye, Kay M.

2015-01-01

The amygdala has long been associated with emotion and motivation, playing an essential part in processing both fearful and rewarding environmental stimuli. How can a single structure be crucial for such different functions? With recent technological advances that allow for causal investigations of specific neural circuit elements, we can now begin to map the complex anatomical connections of the amygdala onto behavioural function. Understanding how the amygdala contributes to a wide array of behaviours requires the study of distinct amygdala circuits. PMID:25592533

Consumer choice behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Flemming; Percy, Larry; Hallum Hansen, Morten

2004-01-01

The paper is concerned with the measurement of emotions and the study of the role ofemotions in consumer choice. Contemporary neurological findings suggest that emotionsmay play a role in its own right, quite different from the way in which they have beenconsidered in traditional consumer choice ...... behaviour theory. A large-scale study including800 respondents, covering 64 brands, provide findings on emotional response tendenciesfor the brands, and relate these to involvement, type of need gratification, purchasingbehaviour, etc.......The paper is concerned with the measurement of emotions and the study of the role ofemotions in consumer choice. Contemporary neurological findings suggest that emotionsmay play a role in its own right, quite different from the way in which they have beenconsidered in traditional consumer choice...

Best behaviour? Ontologies and the formal description of animal behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Gkoutos, Georgios V; Hoehndorf, Robert; Tsaprouni, Loukia; Schofield, Paul N

2015-10-01

The development of ontologies for describing animal behaviour has proved to be one of the most difficult of all scientific knowledge domains. Ranging from neurological processes to human emotions, the range and scope needed for such ontologies is highly challenging, but if data integration and computational tools such as automated reasoning are to be fully applied in this important area the underlying principles of these ontologies need to be better established and development needs detailed coordination. Whilst the state of scientific knowledge is always paramount in ontology and formal description framework design, this is a particular problem with neurobehavioural ontologies where our understanding of the relationship between behaviour and its underlying biophysical basis is currently in its infancy. In this commentary, we discuss some of the fundamental problems in designing and using behaviour ontologies, and present some of the best developed tools in this domain.

Changing behaviours, pushing social practices towards more sustainability. The contribution of human and social sciences to understand and act

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, Solange; Gaspard, Albane

2016-09-01

Beyond broad policy declarations, the implementation of ecological transition - which consists mainly in curbing consumption of energy and raw materials in our societies - requires substantial behavioural change at the collective, but also, quite obviously, the individual level. Yet, though there is general consensus around the principle of embarking on the path to transition, things get more complicated when it comes to changing our practices and habits. Can we act on individual behaviour and collective dynamics in respect of this particular aim of ecological transition, and, if so, how are we to go about it? Solange Martin and Albane Gaspard have examined this question for the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) and offer us the fruit of their labours here. They show, for example, how the social and human sciences help to understand behaviour both at the individual level and in its collective dimensions, and they outline different possible lines of action to modify it. But, given the entanglement between various levels, it is essential, if we are to act effectively on behaviour, to combine approaches, tools and actors, and to analyse and understand social practices thoroughly before implementing political projects or measures

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour : An integrative review and research agenda

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steg, L.; Vlek, C.A.J.

Environmental quality strongly depends on human behaviour patterns. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour A general framework is proposed, comprising: (1) identification of the behaviour to be changed, (2)

Behavioural strategies towards human disturbances explain individual performance in woodland caribou.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclerc, Martin; Dussault, Christian; St-Laurent, Martin-Hugues

2014-09-01

Behavioural strategies may have important fitness, ecological and evolutionary consequences. In woodland caribou, human disturbances are associated with higher predation risk. Between 2004 and 2011, we investigated if habitat selection strategies of female caribou towards disturbances influenced their calf's survival in managed boreal forest with varying intensities of human disturbances. Calf survival was 53% and 43% after 30 and 90 days following birth, respectively, and 52% of calves that died were killed by black bear. The probability that a female lose its calf to predation was not influenced by habitat composition of her annual home range, but decreased with an increase in proportion of open lichen woodland within her calving home range. At the local scale, females that did not lose their calf displayed stronger avoidance of high road density areas than females that lost their calf to predation. Further, females that lost their calf to predation and that had a low proportion of ≤5-year-old cutovers within their calving home range were mostly observed in areas where these young cutovers were locally absent. Also, females that lost their calf to predation and that had a high proportion of ≤5-year-old cutovers within their calving home range were mostly observed in areas with a high local density of ≤5-year-old cutovers. Our study demonstrates that we have to account for human-induced disturbances at both local and regional scales in order to further enhance effective caribou management plans. We demonstrate that disturbances not only impact spatial distribution of individuals, but also their reproductive success.

FATHER PLAY: IS IT SPECIAL?

Science.gov (United States)

Cabrera, Natasha J; Roggman, Lori

2017-11-01

Both mothers and fathers play with their children, but research on parent-child play interactions is conducted with mothers three times more often than it is with fathers. The articles in this special issue address this gap by focusing on the nature and quality of father-child play, across cultural contexts, and considering whether father play offers something unique and special for early human development, in infancy or early childhood. The studies show that fathers can be just as developmentally supportive as are mothers in terms of being playful and engaged with their children in ways that are related to greater child socioemotional competence, emotion regulation, and vocabulary, and to less aggression, anxiety, and negativity. We encourage future research to examine the cultural influences, family system dynamics, and specificity of timing and types of father-child play in relation to children's developmental competence. © 2017 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Adding Stiffness to the Foot Modulates Soleus Force-Velocity Behaviour during Human Walking

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Kota Z.; Gross, Michael T.; van Werkhoven, Herman; Piazza, Stephen J.; Sawicki, Gregory S.

2016-07-01

Previous studies of human locomotion indicate that foot and ankle structures can interact in complex ways. The structure of the foot defines the input and output lever arms that influences the force-generating capacity of the ankle plantar flexors during push-off. At the same time, deformation of the foot may dissipate some of the mechanical energy generated by the plantar flexors during push-off. We investigated this foot-ankle interplay during walking by adding stiffness to the foot through shoes and insoles, and characterized the resulting changes in in vivo soleus muscle-tendon mechanics using ultrasonography. Added stiffness decreased energy dissipation at the foot (p < 0.001) and increased the gear ratio (i.e., ratio of ground reaction force and plantar flexor muscle lever arms) (p < 0.001). Added foot stiffness also altered soleus muscle behaviour, leading to greater peak force (p < 0.001) and reduced fascicle shortening speed (p < 0.001). Despite this shift in force-velocity behaviour, the whole-body metabolic cost during walking increased with added foot stiffness (p < 0.001). This increased metabolic cost is likely due to the added force demand on the plantar flexors, as walking on a more rigid foot/shoe surface compromises the plantar flexors’ mechanical advantage.

Communities of Play - a collective unfolding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsted, Ann Charlotte

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the role of play in organizations and its ability to create a community of play regarded as a group of people deeply engaged in play. The elaboration is based on an empirical study of adults playing in the Danish international toy company LEGO. The study confirms that play can...... support organizations in solving present day challenges, such as learning, communication, innovation and collaboration. But before talking about solving anything, this paper argues – primarily through the perspective of Gadamer – that it is equally intriguing to look into what play as a universal life....... By introducing the new term ‘community of play’ into the discussion of play among adults in organizational contexts, the paper tries to spark an existential inquiry into the more intangible and human aspects of organizations....

Sexual Selection of Human Cooperative Behaviour: An Experimental Study in Rural Senegal

OpenAIRE

Tognetti, Arnaud; Berticat, Claire; Raymond, Michel; Faurie, Charlotte

2012-01-01

Human cooperation in large groups and between non-kin individuals remains a Darwinian puzzle. Investigations into whether and how sexual selection is involved in the evolution of cooperation represent a new and important research direction. Here, 69 groups of four men or four women recruited from a rural population in Senegal played a sequential public-good game in the presence of out-group observers, either of the same sex or of the opposite sex. At the end of the game, participants could do...

Religiosity as a factor protecting against problem behaviour in adolescence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niewiadomska Iwona

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article explores the question, to what degree religiosity contributes, as a protecting factor against a broad category of socially deviant adolescent and youth behaviours. It also tests the hypothesis that gender plays a moderating role in the relationship between religiosity and problem behaviour. It employs a modified version of the Problem Behaviour Syndrome Measure (PBSM, in concert with Jessor and Jessor’s conceptual work. It also makes use of the Duke Religion Index (DUREL to assess religiosity. The empirical study deals with a representative group of 960 students of upper-secondary schools in the Lubelskie province, Poland. The results were analyzed using canonical analysis and ANOVA. The achievements of the article are twofold. First, it identifies significant correlations between the different levels of religiosity among youth, and the occurrence and intensification of problem behaviours, particularly in regard to organized activity. Organized and intrinsic religiosity play principal protective roles, while the impact of personal religious practices is less significant. Secondly, while analyzing the moderating role of gender in the relationship between religiosity and the intensity of problem behaviour, it was found that gender does not have a significant interactive impact. An affirmative conclusion was confirmed in only two instances.

Goal-Role Integration as Driver for Customer Engagement Behaviours across Touch-points

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haurum, Helle; Beckmann, Suzanne C.

Customers and firms interact at many different touch-points that enable customer engagement behaviour. By adopting a customer-centric approach we investigated through 20 in-depth interviews what drives service customers’ CEB manifestations in touch-points, which the firm either manages, monitors......, or manoeuvres between. The key findings are that (a) CEBs are driven by different forms of goal-role integration across touch-points, (b) customers’ goal-directedness determines the touch-points where CEBs are manifested, (c) customers’ role-playing behaviours determine the nature of CEBs, and (d) customers......’ role-playing behaviours can change across touch-points, contingent upon goal-directedness. Hence, this study provides rich insights into customer-firm encounters at touch-points, which subsequently define and shape the relation over time....

Impact of Play Therapy on Parent-Child Relationship Stress at a Mental Health Training Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Dee C.

2008-01-01

This study investigated the impact of Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT)/Non-Directive Play Therapy on parent-child relationship stress using archival data from 202 child clients divided into clinical behavioural groups over 3-74 sessions in a mental health training setting. Results demonstrated significant differences between pre and post testing…

Real-life helping behaviours in North America: A genome-wide association approach.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georg Primes

Full Text Available In humans, prosocial behaviour is essential for social functioning. Twin studies suggest this distinct human trait to be partly hardwired. In the last decade research on the genetics of prosocial behaviour focused on neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, such as oxytocin, dopamine, and their respective pathways. Recent trends towards large scale medical studies targeting the genetic basis of complex diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia pave the way for new directions also in behavioural genetics. Based on data from 10,713 participants of the American Health and Retirement Study we estimated heritability of helping behaviour-its total variance explained by 1.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms-to be 11%. Both, fixed models and mixed linear models identified rs11697300, an intergene variant on chromosome 20, as a candidate variant moderating this particular helping behaviour. We assume that this so far undescribed area is worth further investigation in association with human prosocial behaviour.

Gratitude: prompting behaviours that build relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, Monica Y; Condon, Paul; Cruz, Jourdan; Baumann, Jolie; Desteno, David

2012-01-01

The emotion gratitude is argued to play a pivotal role in building and maintaining social relationships. Evidence is accumulating that links gratitude to increases in relationship satisfaction. Yet, there is currently little evidence for how gratitude does this. The present paper provides experimental evidence of gratitude facilitating relationship-building behaviours. Study 1 provides evidence that gratitude promotes social affiliation, leading one to choose to spend time with a benefactor. Study 2 offers further evidence of gratitude's ability to strengthen relationships by showing that gratitude facilitates socially inclusive behaviours, preferentially towards one's benefactor, even when those actions come at a cost to oneself.

Exit choice, (pre-)movement time and (pre-)evacuation behaviour in hotel fire evacuation – Behavioural analysis and validation of the use of serious gaming in experimental research

OpenAIRE

Kobes, M.; Helsloot, I.; de Vries, B.; Post, J.

2010-01-01

Human behaviour in fires is mainly studied by incident evaluations and real-life experiments, such as unannounced evacuation drills. The possibilities of virtual reality for studying human behaviour in fires are so far hardly adopted by researchers. Nevertheless, the application of a behavioural assessment and research tool (BART) in virtual reality is expected to be a valuable supplement on the existing research methods. The innovative instrument will be validated by comparing the results of...

Circadian variation and soccer performance: implications for training and match-play during Ramadan.

Science.gov (United States)

Drust, B; Ahmed, Q; Roky, R

2012-01-01

Ramadan results in a number of behavioural alterations in individuals when compared to their normal habits outside of this holy month. These changes in behaviour could impact upon the effectiveness of the activity of an elite athlete who has high daily activity levels and energy expenditures. Understanding the true impact of Ramadan on human physiology will also require an awareness of the key aspects of circadian rhythms. This article will present theoretical background content on circadian rhythms along with data on the potential influence of circadian variation on soccer performance. It will also attempt to provide an insight into the problems of partial sleep deprivation and travel for the elite player. The contents will suggest that there is a basis for the within-day variation in physiological and psychological function to impact soccer performance if games are played early in the day or very late at night. As competitive fixtures are uncommon at these times these influences may be more relevant to the timing and organisation of training sessions. It is also likely that a lack of sleep and excessive travel will provide conditions that are not conducive to optimal performance. This would indicate that teams should think carefully about their preparation strategies for important tournaments and games.

The correlation between playing violent video games and bullying among adolescents in Serbia

OpenAIRE

Jevtić Ana; Savić Milomirka

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of playing video games among Serbian adolescents, the video game violence and the quality of parental control. We wanted to relate the frequency of playing, the video game violence, the bullying behaviour in schools, and GPA. The study involved boys and girls (N = 578) from four age groups (12, 14, 16, 18 years). Research results have shown that most participants play video games (75.1%). There are significantly more boys than girls among t...

Sensing behaviour in healthcare design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorpe, Julia Rosemary; Hysse Forchhammer, Birgitte; Maier, Anja

2017-01-01

We are entering an era of distributed healthcare that should fit and respond to individual needs, behaviour and lifestyles. Designing such systems is a challenging task that requires continuous information about human behaviour on a large scale, for which pervasive sensing (e.g. using smartphones...... specifically on activity and location data that can easily be obtained from smartphones or wearables. We further demonstrate how these are applied in healthcare design using an example from dementia care. Comparing a current and proposed scenario exemplifies how integrating sensor-derived information about...... user behaviour can support the healthcare design goals of personalisation, adaptability and scalability, while emphasising patient quality of life....

Motivation, Creativity, Play & Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersson, Eva

2005-01-01

on their needs and desires. This paper presents results from SoundScapes body of research which is utilising technology in assistive (re)habilitation from Virtual Interactive Space (VIS); furthermore the paper describes what emerges in play scenarios that utilise enabling technology. The involved study exhibits...... implementation of robotic physical movement synchronously manipulated from sourced data movement information of a human. SoundScapes is a concept based on non-verbal communication and stimulation through interactive play with sounds and images, which is being realised in the production of a non-wearable sensor...

Best behaviour? Ontologies and the formal description of animal behaviour

KAUST Repository

Gkoutos, Georgios V.

2015-07-28

The development of ontologies for describing animal behaviour has proved to be one of the most difficult of all scientific knowledge domains. Ranging from neurological processes to human emotions, the range and scope needed for such ontologies is highly challenging, but if data integration and computational tools such as automated reasoning are to be fully applied in this important area the underlying principles of these ontologies need to be better established and development needs detailed coordination. Whilst the state of scientific knowledge is always paramount in ontology and formal description framework design, this is a particular problem with neurobehavioural ontologies where our understanding of the relationship between behaviour and its underlying biophysical basis is currently in its infancy. In this commentary, we discuss some of the fundamental problems in designing and using behaviour ontologies, and present some of the best developed tools in this domain. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Integrated Environmental Modelling: Human decisions, human challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Glynn, Pierre D.

2015-01-01

Integrated Environmental Modelling (IEM) is an invaluable tool for understanding the complex, dynamic ecosystems that house our natural resources and control our environments. Human behaviour affects the ways in which the science of IEM is assembled and used for meaningful societal applications. In particular, human biases and heuristics reflect adaptation and experiential learning to issues with frequent, sharply distinguished, feedbacks. Unfortunately, human behaviour is not adapted to the more diffusely experienced problems that IEM typically seeks to address. Twelve biases are identified that affect IEM (and science in general). These biases are supported by personal observations and by the findings of behavioural scientists. A process for critical analysis is proposed that addresses some human challenges of IEM and solicits explicit description of (1) represented processes and information, (2) unrepresented processes and information, and (3) accounting for, and cognizance of, potential human biases. Several other suggestions are also made that generally complement maintaining attitudes of watchful humility, open-mindedness, honesty and transparent accountability. These suggestions include (1) creating a new area of study in the behavioural biogeosciences, (2) using structured processes for engaging the modelling and stakeholder communities in IEM, and (3) using ‘red teams’ to increase resilience of IEM constructs and use.

Using insights from animal behaviour and behavioural ecology to inform marine conservation initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooker, Rohan M; Feeney, William E; White, James R; Manassa, Rachel P; Johansen, Jacob L; Dixson, Danielle L

2016-10-01

The impacts of human activities on the natural world are becoming increasingly apparent, with rapid development and exploitation occurring at the expense of habitat quality and biodiversity. Declines are especially concerning in the oceans, which hold intrinsic value due to their biological uniqueness as well as their substantial sociological and economic importance. Here, we review the literature and investigate whether incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may improve the effectiveness of conservation initiatives in marine systems. In particular, we consider (1) how knowledge of larval behaviour and ecology may be used to inform the design of marine protected areas, (2) how protecting species that hold specific ecological niches may be of particular importance for maximizing the preservation of biodiversity, (3) how current harvesting techniques may be inadvertently skewing the behavioural phenotypes of stock populations and whether changes to current practices may lessen this skew and reinforce population persistence, and (4) how understanding the behavioural and physiological responses of species to a changing environment may provide essential insights into areas of particular vulnerability for prioritized conservation attention. The complex nature of conservation programmes inherently results in interdisciplinary responses, and the incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may increase our ability to stem the loss of biodiversity in marine environments.

On play and playing.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudan, Dusko

2013-12-01

The paper offers a review of the development of the concept of play and playing. The true beginnings of the development of the theories of play are set as late as in the 19th century. It is difficult to define play as such; it may much more easily be defined through its antipode--work. In the beginning, play used to be connected with education; it was not before Freud's theory of psychoanalysis and Piaget's developmental psychology that the importance of play in a child's development began to be explained in more detail. The paper further tackles the role of play in the adult age. Detailed attention is paid to psychodynamic and psychoanalytic authors, in particular D. W. Winnicott and his understanding of playing in the intermediary (transitional) empirical or experiential space. In other words, playing occupies a space and time of its own. The neuroscientific concept of playing is also tackled, in the connection with development as well.

Playfulness and prenatal alcohol exposure: a comparative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearton, Jordan Louise; Ramugondo, Elelwani; Cloete, Lizahn; Cordier, Reinie

2014-08-01

South Africa carries a high burden of alcohol abuse. The effects of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy are most pronounced in poor, rural communities. Earlier research suggests that children with prenatal alcohol exposure have poor social behaviour; however, to date, no research has investigated their playfulness. This study investigated the differences in playfulness of children with and without prenatal alcohol exposure. Grade one learners with a positive history of prenatal alcohol exposure (n = 15) and a reference group without a positive history of prenatal alcohol exposure (n = 15) were filmed engaging in free play at their schools. The Test of Playfulness was used to measure playfulness from recordings. Data were subjected to Rasch analysis to calculate interval level measure scores for each participant. The overall measure scores and individual Test of Playfulness social items were subjected to paired samples t-tests to calculate if significant differences existed between the groups. Children with prenatal alcohol exposure had a significantly lower mean overall playfulness score than the reference group (t = -2.51; d.f. = 28; P = 0.02). Children with prenatal alcohol exposure also scored significantly lower than the reference group on 5 of the 12 Test of Playfulness items related to social play. This research suggests that children with prenatal alcohol exposure are more likely to experience poorer overall quality of play, with particular deficits in social play. Considering play is a child's primary occupation, this finding becomes pertinent for occupational therapy practice, particularly in post-apartheid South Africa, where high prenatal alcohol exposure prevalence rates are couched within persistent socio-economic inequalities. © 2014 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Externalizing Behaviour for Analysing System Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ivanova, Marieta Georgieva; Probst, Christian W.; Hansen, René Rydhof

2013-01-01

System models have recently been introduced to model organisations and evaluate their vulnerability to threats and especially insider threats. Especially for the latter these models are very suitable, since insiders can be assumed to have more knowledge about the attacked organisation than outside...... attackers. Therefore, many attacks are considerably easier to be performed for insiders than for outsiders. However, current models do not support explicit specification of different behaviours. Instead, behaviour is deeply embedded in the analyses supported by the models, meaning that it is a complex......, if not impossible task to change behaviours. Especially when considering social engineering or the human factor in general, the ability to use different kinds of behaviours is essential. In this work we present an approach to make the behaviour a separate component in system models, and explore how to integrate...

Consumer behaviour in the waiting area.

Science.gov (United States)

Mobach, Mark P

2007-02-01

To determine consumer behaviour in the pharmacy waiting area. The applied methods for data-collection were direct observations. Three Dutch community pharmacies were selected for the study. The topics in the observation list were based on available services at each waiting area (brochures, books, illuminated new trailer, children's play area, etc.). Per patient each activity was registered, and at each pharmacy the behaviour was studied for 2 weeks. Most patients only waited during the waiting time at the studied pharmacies. Few consumers obtained written information during their wait. The waiting area may have latent possibilities to expand the information function of the pharmacy and combine this with other activities that distract the consumer from the wait. Transdisciplinary research, combining knowledge from pharmacy practice research with consumer research, has been a useful approach to add information on queueing behaviour of consumers.

Acetaldehyde as the first hit of addictive behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Cavallaro

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Unhealthy alcohol use is common in the Western society, which puts risk of health consequences, causing multiple behavioural injuries. Increasing evidence focuses on acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, as the mediator of the several behavioural actions of alcohol, including its rewarding and motivational effects. In particular, acetaldehyde induces dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens modulating primary alcohol rewarding effect, drug seeking, and relapse behaviour. Recent behavioural studies point at acetaldehyde as a drug of abuse since its oral self-administration is induced and maintained in an operant/conflict paradigm. These findings provide further evidence on the role played by the acetaldehyde as a mediator of the effects of alcohol and focus attention on this molecule to arrange a more effective strategy, aimed at the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse. Thus, the aim of this review is to summarize latest results on the role of acetaldehyde as the mediator of ethanol-central effects focusing on its capacity to induce an addictive behaviour.

Investigating emotional contagion in dogs (Canis familiaris) to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics.

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, Annika; Barber, Anjuli L A; Faragó, Tamás; Müller, Corsin A; Huber, Ludwig

2017-07-01

Emotional contagion, a basic component of empathy defined as emotional state-matching between individuals, has previously been shown in dogs even upon solely hearing negative emotional sounds of humans or conspecifics. The current investigation further sheds light on this phenomenon by directly contrasting emotional sounds of both species (humans and dogs) as well as opposed valences (positive and negative) to gain insights into intra- and interspecies empathy as well as differences between positively and negatively valenced sounds. Different types of sounds were played back to measure the influence of three dimensions on the dogs' behavioural response. We found that dogs behaved differently after hearing non-emotional sounds of their environment compared to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics ("Emotionality" dimension), but the subjects responded similarly to human and conspecific sounds ("Species" dimension). However, dogs expressed more freezing behaviour after conspecific sounds, independent of the valence. Comparing positively with negatively valenced sounds of both species ("Valence" dimension), we found that, independent of the species from which the sound originated, dogs expressed more behavioural indicators for arousal and negatively valenced states after hearing negative emotional sounds. This response pattern indicates emotional state-matching or emotional contagion for negative sounds of humans and conspecifics. It furthermore indicates that dogs recognized the different valences of the emotional sounds, which is a promising finding for future studies on empathy for positive emotional states in dogs.

Leadership behaviour and practical implications for sustainable ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Government at various levels was the prime mover and animator of most agricultural rural development projects in Nigeria, as they played management roles, and in the process, encouraged mass involvement and participation, especially by beneficiary communities. This paper reviews leadership behaviour as a crucial ...

Play the Blood Typing Game

Science.gov (United States)

... Nobel's Life and Work Teachers' Questionnaire The Blood Typing Game What happens if you get a blood ... learn about human blood types! Play the Blood Typing Game 28 September 2017 The mission based game ...

Influence of unexpected events on driving behaviour at different hierarchical levels: a driving simulator experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaap, T.W.; Horst, A.R.A. van der; Arem, B. van

2008-01-01

Computer based simulation models of human driving behaviour can be used effectively to model driving and behavioural adaptation to Intelligent Transport System (ITS). This can be a useful step in human centered design of ITS. To construct a comprehensive model of driving behaviour, the interaction

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Marteau, Theresa M

2017-06-13

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes.This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'. © 2017 The Authors.

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies

Science.gov (United States)

Marteau, Theresa M.

2017-05-01

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes. This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'.

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Material demand reduction’. PMID:28461435

Threshold behaviour in hydrological systems as (human geo-ecosystems: manifestations, controls, implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Sivapalan

2009-07-01

. These are controlled by the topological architecture of the catchments that interacts with system states and the boundary conditions. Crossing the response thresholds means to establish connectedness of surface or subsurface flow paths to the catchment outlet. Subsurface stormflow in humid areas, overland flow and erosion in semi-arid and arid areas are examples, and explain that crossing local process thresholds is necessary but not sufficient to trigger a system response threshold. The third form of threshold behaviour involves changes in the "architecture" of human geo-ecosystems, which experience various disturbances. As a result substantial change in hydrological functioning of a system is induced, when the disturbances exceed the resilience of the geo-ecosystem. We present examples from savannah ecosystems, humid agricultural systems, mining activities affecting rainfall runoff in forested areas, badlands formation in Spain, and the restoration of the Upper Rhine river basin as examples of this phenomenon. This functional threshold behaviour is most difficult to predict, since it requires extrapolations far away from our usual experience and the accounting of bidirectional feedbacks. However, it does not require the development of more complicated model, but on the contrary, only models with the right level of simplification, which we illustrate with an instructive example. Following Prigogine, who studied structure formation in open thermodynamic systems, we hypothesise that topological structures which control response thresholds in the landscape might be seen as dissipative structures, and the onset of threshold processes/response as a switch to more efficient ways of depleting strong gradients that develop in the case of extreme boundary conditions.

Behavioural changes in dogs treated with corticosteroids.

Science.gov (United States)

Notari, Lorella; Burman, Oliver; Mills, Daniel

2015-11-01

In human medicine, psychiatric side effects among patients on corticosteroid therapy are widely reported, but this appears to have been largely overlooked in the animal literature despite glucocorticoids being widely used in veterinary medicine. Therefore the aim of the current study was to identify possible psycho-behavioural changes in dogs treated with corticosteroids. Two different methodologies were used. Firstly, dog owners were asked to fill a 12 item questionnaire aimed at further validating the initial results of a previous survey relating to changes seen when their dog was receiving corticosteroid treatment. In a second study, a population of dogs undertook behavioural tests aimed at objectively identifying changes when receiving corticosteroid therapy. In the first study, a sample of owners whose dogs were receiving treatment for dermatological, orthopaedic or other conditions evaluated their dogs' behaviour on and off therapy, using a seven point scale. The survey was completed by 44 dog owners with dogs receiving treatment with a range of corticosteroid preparations (mainly prednisolone and methylprednisolone) and 54 dog owners with dogs receiving treatment with other drugs, mainly antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Dogs under corticosteroid treatment were reported to be significantly less playful, more nervous/restless, more fearful/less confident, more aggressive in the presence of food, more prone to barking, more prone to startle, more prone to reacting aggressively when disturbed, and more prone to avoiding people or unusual situations. In the second study, eleven “treatment” dogs were tested both before and during corticosteroid treatment with either methyl-prednisolone or prednisolone to assess their sensitivity to a potentially aversive sound stimulus. Eleven control dogs were also tested at the same time intervals in the same environment. Dogs were exposed to a brief dog growl while they explored bowls containing food

Sedentary behaviours among adults across Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Katya M; Saunders, Travis J

2016-12-27

 OBJECTIVES: While cross-Canada variations in physical activity and weight status have been illustrated, less is known about sedentary behaviour (SB). The aim of this study was to describe various SBs and their correlates among Canadian adults. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the 2011-2012 Canadian Community Health Survey included 92,918 respondents aged 20-75+ years, representative of >22 million Canadian adults. TV/video viewing, computer, video game playing and reading time were self-reported. Associations with socio-demographic, health and health behaviour variables were examined. RESULTS: About 31% of adults reported >2 hours/day TV viewing, while 47% of men and 41% of women reported >5 hours/week computer use, 24% of men and 12% of women reported ≥1 hour/week video game playing, and 33% of men and 46% of women reported >5 hours/week reading; 28% of respondents reported ≥5 hours/day total SB time. Age was the strongest correlate: adults 75+ had 5 and 6 times greater odds respectively of reporting >2 hours/day TV viewing and >5 hours/week reading, but far lesser odds of reporting high computer or video game time, compared to adults 20-24. Other variables associated with specific SBs included gender, marital status, education, occupation, income and immigrant status, as well as BMI, weight perceptions, smoking, diet and physical activity. CONCLUSION: Common sedentary behaviours were associated with numerous socio-demographic, health and health behaviour characteristics in a large representative sample of Canadians. These correlates differed according to the type of SB. Public health interventions targeting SB should be behavior-specific and tailored to the population segment of interest.

Influence of surface roughness on the corrosion behaviour of magnesium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walter, R.; Kannan, M. Bobby

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Surface roughness of AZ91 magnesium alloy plays a critical role in the passivation behaviour of the alloy. → The passivation behaviour of the alloy influences the pitting tendency. → Increase in surface roughness of AZ91 magnesium alloy increases the pitting tendency of the alloy. -- Abstract: In this study, the influence of surface roughness on the passivation and pitting corrosion behaviour of AZ91 magnesium alloy in chloride-containing environment was examined using electrochemical techniques. Potentiodynamic polarisation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests suggested that the passivation behaviour of the alloy was affected by increasing the surface roughness. Consequently, the corrosion current and the pitting tendency of the alloy also increased with increase in the surface roughness. Scanning electron micrographs of 24 h immersion test samples clearly revealed pitting corrosion in the highest surface roughness (Sa 430) alloy, whereas in the lowest surface roughness (Sa 80) alloy no evidence of pitting corrosion was observed. Interestingly, when the passivity of the alloy was disturbed by galvanostatically holding the sample at anodic current for 1 h, the alloy underwent high pitting corrosion irrespective of their surface roughness. Thus the study suggests that the surface roughness plays a critical role in the passivation behaviour of the alloy and hence the pitting tendency.

Reduced variability in motor behaviour : An indicator of impaired cerebral connectivity?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hadders-Algra, Mijna

2008-01-01

Evidence is accumulating that abundance in cerebral connectivity is the neural basis of human behavioural variability, i.e., the ability to select adaptive solutions from a large repertoire of behavioural options. Recently it was demonstrated that variability in motor behaviour - the hallmark of

Theory and practice in sport psychology and motor behaviour needs to be constrained by integrative modelling of brain and behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Keil, D; Holmes, P; Bennett, S; Davids, K; Smith, N

2000-06-01

Because of advances in technology, the non-invasive study of the human brain has enhanced the knowledge base within the neurosciences, resulting in an increased impact on the psychological study of human behaviour. We argue that application of this knowledge base should be considered in theoretical modelling within sport psychology and motor behaviour alongside existing ideas. We propose that interventions founded on current theoretical and empirical understanding in both psychology and the neurosciences may ultimately lead to greater benefits for athletes during practice and performance. As vehicles for exploring the arguments of a greater integration of psychology and neurosciences research, imagery and perception-action within the sport psychology and motor behaviour domains will serve as exemplars. Current neuroscience evidence will be discussed in relation to theoretical developments; the implications for sport scientists will be considered.

In situ examination of decision-making skills and gaze behaviour of basketball players

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Maarseveen, Mariëtte J.J.; Savelsbergh, Geert J.P.; Oudejans, Raôul R.D.

2018-01-01

In this study we examined in situ decision-making skills and gaze behaviour of skilled female basketball players. Players participated as ball carriers in a specific 3 vs 3 pick-and-roll basketball play. Playing both on the right and left side of the court and facing three types of defensive play,

Maternal Responsive-Didactic Caregiving in Play Interactions with 10-Month-Olds and Cognitive Development at 18 Months

Science.gov (United States)

Mermelshtine, Roni; Barnes, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

Maternal responsive-didactic caregiving (RDC) and infant advanced object play were investigated in a sample of 400 mothers and their 10-month-old infants during video-recorded semi-structured play interactions. Three maternal behaviours: contingent response, cognitively stimulating language and autonomy-promoting speech were coded and infant…

Traumatic brain injury and post-acute decline: what role does environmental enrichment play? A scoping review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana eFrasca

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Objectives. While a number of studies provide evidence of neural and cognitive decline in traumatic brain injury (TBI survivors during the post-acute stages of injury, there is a dearth of research on the possible mechanisms underlying this decline. The purposes of this paper, therefore, are to (1 examine evidence that environmental enrichment (EE can influence long-term outcome following TBI, and (2 examine the nature of post-acute environments, whether they vary in degree of EE, and what impact these variations have on outcomes.Methods. We conducted a scoping review to identify studies on EE in animals and humans, and post-discharge experiences that relate to barriers to recovery.Results. Ninety-six articles that met inclusion criteria demonstrated the benefits of EE on brain and behaviour in healthy and brain-injured animals and humans. Nineteen papers on post-discharge experiences provided evidence that variables such as insurance coverage, financial and social support, home therapy, and transition from hospital to home, also play a vital role in regaining independence. Conclusion. There is evidence to suggest that lack of EE, whether from lack of resources or limited ability to engage in such environments, may play a role in post-recovery cognitive and neural decline. Maximizing EE in the post-acute stages of TBI may improve long-term outcomes for the individual, their family and society.

Gender differences and influence on ethical behaviour of consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovač-Žnideršić Ružica

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Consumerism, human existence, and the current business environment in which companies exist, are characterized by extreme complexity and dynamism, as a result of the simultaneous action of a large number of various factors, different in orientation and intensity. At a time when natural resources are consumed faster than they can be renewed, when the gap between rich and poor deepens, when the issue of sustainable development and socially responsible business practices are becoming a priority, the phenomena of ethical consumption and ethical consumer behaviour play a more prominent role in marketing theory and practice research. It is evident that consumers in both - developed and developing economies, are including the ethical evaluation of companies and their products and services on the market, in the process of forming their own opinions, preferences, and purchase decision. The modern consumer is sophisticated, knowledgeable and well informed, and as such is ready to decisively influence the companies to apply ethical practice. In order to fulfil these ethical demands of the market, marketing theory and practice pays great attention to the research of factors that influence the ethical behaviour of consumers. This paper tries to find an answer to the question - is there a significant difference between the ethical behavior of women and men as consumers.

Influence of children pedestrian behaviour on pedestrian space usage

Science.gov (United States)

Makalew, F. P.; Adisasmita, S. A.; Wunas, S.; Hamid, S.

2017-11-01

School children pedestrian behaviour can be seen along their journey to and from school. Pedestrian spaces used by children are places available in urban and rural areas including streets with and without pedestrian pathways. Samples data are collected from 23 elementary schools in urban and rural areas in North Sulawesi, Indonesia in the form of video records and photos taken. The aim of this research is to analyse children pedestrian behaviour and its influence on the space usage on pedestrian areas. Method of analysis is a comparative study on urban and rural areas. Results of this research are types of behaviour, factors that influence the behaviour, physical condition of pedestrian areas and space usage by children. The behaviours are duck-line walking, running, playing, walking backward and walking with bare foot in which running is the main behaviour. These behaviours are influenced by factors including following friends and responding to acts. There are similarities and differences between pedestrian space usage in urban and rural areas. Space use by children pedestrian demonstrates the way pedestrian areas should be planned. Space usage by children pedestrian indicates that there is a need of evaluation of the space available considering pedestrian children behaviour.

Genetics of aggressive behaviour in Golden Retriever dogs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berg, L. van den

2006-01-01

Dogs have been living in close proximity to humans since the last Ice Age. Like their progenitor the grey wolf, dogs may respond with aggressive behaviour to certain stimuli. This is natural behaviour in the majority of cases. However, canine aggression can develop into a dangerous problem. There is

The relationships between organisational citizenship behaviour, job satisfaction and turnover intention.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Yafang; Wu, Shih-Wang

2010-12-01

This study aims to explore the relationships between organisational citizenship behaviour, job satisfaction and turnover intention. Because of the changing health policies landscape, Taiwan's hospital administrators are facing major cost reduction challenges. Specifically, the high turnover rate of nurses represents a hindrance and a human resource cost. This study focuses on ways of reducing the employee turnover rate through enhanced organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction. A cross-sectional study. This study focuses on hospital nurses in Taiwan. Our research samples were obtained from one medical centre, three regional hospitals and seven district hospitals. Out of 300 questionnaires distributed among samples, 237 were completed and returned. Pearson's correlation was used to test for relationships among the main variables. One-way analysis of variance and Scheffé's post hoc analysis were employed to test the influence of demographic data on the main variables. The results reveal that the nurses' job satisfaction has a significantly positive correlation with organisational citizenship behaviour and a negative correlation with turnover intention. This study has proven that the turnover intention of clinical nurses is related to their organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction. Hospital administrators can reduce the turnover intention by meeting nurses' needs and by promoting their organisational citizenship behaviour. Organisational citizenship behaviour involves behaviour that encourages staff to endeavour to voluntarily improve organisational performance without lobbying for compensation. Employees' job satisfaction includes satisfaction with the working environment or welfare programme in the context of human resource initiatives. Similarly, human resource protocols may serve as the starting point for promoting staff organisational citizenship behaviour. Administrators in clinical healthcare are encouraged to meet their

Fluoxetine reverts chronic restraint stress-induced depression-like behaviour and increases neuropeptide Y and galanin expression in mice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Søren Hofman Oliveira; Olesen, Mikkel Vestergaard; Wörtwein, Gitta

2011-01-01

Stressful life events and chronic stress are implicated in the development of depressive disorder in humans. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and galanin have been shown to modulate the stress response, and exert antidepressant-like effects in rodents. To further investigate these neuropeptides in depression......-like behaviour, NPY and galanin gene expression was studied in brains of mice subjected to chronic restraint stress (CRS) and concomitant treatment with the antidepressant fluoxetine (FLX). CRS caused a significant increase in depression-like behaviour that was associated with increased NPY mRNA levels...... in the medial amygdala. Concomitant FLX treatment reverted depression-like effects of CRS and led to significant increases in levels of NPY and galanin mRNA in the dentate gyrus, amygdala, and piriform cortex. These findings suggest that effects on NPY and galanin gene expression could play a role...

The human LIS1 is downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma and plays a tumor suppressor function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xing, Zhen; Tang, Xin; Gao, Yuan; Da, Liang; Song, Hai; Wang, Suiquan; Tiollais, Pierre; Li, Tsaiping; Zhao, Mujun

2011-01-01

Highlights: → LIS1 mRNA and protein levels are decreased in 70% HCC tissues. → Downregulation of LIS1 expression induces oncogenic transformation of QSG7701 and NIH3T3 cells in vitro and in vivo. → LIS1 downregulation leads to mitotic errors including spindle and chromosome defects. → Ectopic expression of LIS1 could significantly inhibit HCC cell proliferation and colony formation. → Our results suggest that LIS1 plays a potential tumor suppressor role in the development and progression of HCC. -- Abstract: The human lissencephaly-1 gene (LIS1) is a disease gene responsible for Miller-Dieker lissencephaly syndrome (MDL). LIS1 gene is located in the region of chromosome 17p13.3 that is frequency deleted in MDL patients and in human liver cancer cells. However, the expression and significance of LIS1 in liver cancer remain unknown. Here, we investigated the expression of LIS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by real-time PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. The results indicated that the mRNA and protein levels of LIS1 were downregulated in about 70% of HCC tissues, and this downregulation was significantly associated with tumor progression. Functional studies showed that the reduction of LIS1 expression in the normal human liver cell line QSG7701 or the mouse fibroblast cell line NIH3T3 by shRNA resulted in colony formation in soft agar and xenograft tumor formation in nude mice, demonstrating that a decrease in the LIS1 level can promote the oncogenic transformation of cells. We also observed that the phenotypes of LIS1-knockdown cells displayed various defective mitotic structures, suggesting that the mechanism by which reduced LIS1 levels results in tumorigenesis is associated with its role in mitosis. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ectopic expression of LIS1 could significantly inhibit HCC cell proliferation and colony formation. Our results suggest that LIS1 plays a potential tumor suppressor role in the development and

The human LIS1 is downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma and plays a tumor suppressor function

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xing, Zhen; Tang, Xin; Gao, Yuan; Da, Liang; Song, Hai; Wang, Suiquan [State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Tiollais, Pierre [Unite' d' Organisation Nucleaire et Oncogenese, INSERM U.579, Institut Pasteur, Paris (France); Li, Tsaiping [State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Zhao, Mujun, E-mail: mjzhao@sibs.ac.cn [State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China)

2011-06-03

Highlights: {yields} LIS1 mRNA and protein levels are decreased in 70% HCC tissues. {yields} Downregulation of LIS1 expression induces oncogenic transformation of QSG7701 and NIH3T3 cells in vitro and in vivo. {yields} LIS1 downregulation leads to mitotic errors including spindle and chromosome defects. {yields} Ectopic expression of LIS1 could significantly inhibit HCC cell proliferation and colony formation. {yields} Our results suggest that LIS1 plays a potential tumor suppressor role in the development and progression of HCC. -- Abstract: The human lissencephaly-1 gene (LIS1) is a disease gene responsible for Miller-Dieker lissencephaly syndrome (MDL). LIS1 gene is located in the region of chromosome 17p13.3 that is frequency deleted in MDL patients and in human liver cancer cells. However, the expression and significance of LIS1 in liver cancer remain unknown. Here, we investigated the expression of LIS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by real-time PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. The results indicated that the mRNA and protein levels of LIS1 were downregulated in about 70% of HCC tissues, and this downregulation was significantly associated with tumor progression. Functional studies showed that the reduction of LIS1 expression in the normal human liver cell line QSG7701 or the mouse fibroblast cell line NIH3T3 by shRNA resulted in colony formation in soft agar and xenograft tumor formation in nude mice, demonstrating that a decrease in the LIS1 level can promote the oncogenic transformation of cells. We also observed that the phenotypes of LIS1-knockdown cells displayed various defective mitotic structures, suggesting that the mechanism by which reduced LIS1 levels results in tumorigenesis is associated with its role in mitosis. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ectopic expression of LIS1 could significantly inhibit HCC cell proliferation and colony formation. Our results suggest that LIS1 plays a potential tumor suppressor role in the

Measurement of stress-strain behaviour of human hair fibres using optical techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J; Kwon, H J

2013-06-01

Many studies have presented stress-strain relationship of human hair, but most of them have been based on an engineering stress-strain curve, which is not a true representation of stress-strain behaviour. In this study, a more accurate 'true' stress-strain curve of human hair was determined by applying optical techniques to the images of the hair deformed under tension. This was achieved by applying digital image cross-correlation (DIC) to 10× magnified images of hair fibres taken under increasing tension to estimate the strain increments. True strain was calculated by summation of the strain increments according to the theoretical definition of 'true' strain. The variation in diameter with the increase in longitudinal elongation was also measured from the 40× magnified images to estimate the Poisson's ratio and true stress. By combining the true strain and the true stress, a true stress-strain curve could be determined, which demonstrated much higher stress values than the conventional engineering stress-strain curve at the same degree of deformation. Four regions were identified in the true stress-strain relationship and empirical constitutive equations were proposed for each region. Theoretical analysis on the necking condition using the constitutive equations provided the insight into the failure mechanism of human hair. This analysis indicated that local thinning caused by necking does not occur in the hair fibres, but, rather, relatively uniform deformation takes place until final failure (fracture) eventually occurs. © 2012 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

Behavioural differences between single scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos) and females with dependent young when experimentally approached by humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahlén, Veronica; Ordiz, Andrés; Swenson, Jon E; Støen, Ole Gunnar

2015-01-01

Carnivore-human encounters that result in human injury present a conservation and management challenge and it is therefore important to understand under what conditions such incidents occur. Females with cubs are often involved when humans are injured by brown bears Ursus arctos. In Scandinavia, this is particularly true for unarmed recreational forest users. Our aim was to document behavioural differences between single bears and females with cubs in order to develop recommendations to minimize the risk of injuries to recreational forest users. We documented the reactions of GPS-collared females with cubs and single brown bears to experimental approaches by humans to 50 m from the bear on 42 and 108 occasions, respectively. The majority of females with cubs (95%) and single bears (89%) left when approached. Bears that left were passed at shorter distances and were in more open areas than those that stayed. Both groups had similar flight initiation distances, which were longer for bears that were active at the time of the disturbance. Females with cubs selected more open habitat than single bears, also for the new site they selected following disturbance. Females with cubs, particularly active females with cubs of the year, moved greater distances and spent more time active following the approach. Females with cubs and single bears were seen or heard in 26% and 14% of the approaches, respectively. None of the bears displayed any aggressive behaviour during the approaches. Females with cubs selected more open habitat, perhaps predisposing them to encountering people that are not involved in hunting activities, which might be the primary explanation why females with cubs are most frequently involved when unarmed people are injured by bears in Scandinavia. To mitigate injury risks, one must consider factors that bring bears closer to human activity in the first place.

MDMA reinstates cocaine-seeking behaviour in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Trigo, José Manuel; Orejarena, Maria Juliana; Maldonado, Rafael; Robledo, Patricia

2009-06-01

MDMA effects are mediated by monoaminergic systems, which seem to play a central role in cocaine craving and relapse. CD1 mice trained to self-administer cocaine (1 mg/kg/infusion) underwent an extinction procedure in which the cues contingent with drug self-administration remained present. Mice achieving extinction were injected with MDMA (10 mg/kg), d-amphetamine (1 and 2 mg/kg) or saline and tested for reinstatement. Acute MDMA, but not d-amphetamine or saline reinstated cocaine-seeking behaviour in mice in which cocaine self-administration and contingent cues were previously extinguished. Acute MDMA can reinstate cocaine-seeking behaviour in mice.

Exploring the Use of Role Play in a School-Based Programme to Reduce Teenage Pregnancy

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Myra; Diamini, Nthabiseng; Khanyile, Zama; Mpanza, Lloyd; Sathiparsad, Reshma

2012-01-01

Can the use of a method such as role play help reduce sexual risk behaviour among KwaZulu-Natal learners? A study was undertaken of the use of role plays by Grade 8 learners, at eight urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal high schools, as part of a programme to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy. Within the framework of Bandura's Social Cognitive…

The Role of Light and Music in Gambling Behaviour: An Empirical Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Spenwyn, Jenny; Barrett, Doug J. K.; Griffiths, Mark D.

2010-01-01

Empirical research examining the situational characteristics of gambling and their effect on gambling behaviour is limited but growing. This experimental pilot investigation reports the first ever empirical study into the combined effects of both music and light on gambling behaviour. While playing an online version of roulette, 56 participants…

Culture medium modulates the behaviour of human dental pulp-derived cells: Technical Note

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Lopez-Cazaux

2006-02-01

Full Text Available In vitro approaches have extensively been developed to study reparative dentinogenesis. While dental pulp is a source of unidentified progenitors able to differentiate into odontoblast-like cells, we investigated the effect of two media; MEM (1.8mM Ca and 1mM Pi and RPMI 1640 (0.8mM Ca and 5mM Pi on the behaviour of human dental pulp cells. Our data indicate that MEM significantly increased cell proliferation and markedly enhanced the proportion of -smooth muscle actin positive cells, which represent a putative source of progenitors able to give rise to odontoblast-like cells. In addition, MEM strongly stimulated alkaline phosphatase activity and was found to induce expression of transcripts encoding dentin sialophosphoprotein, an odontoblastic marker, without affecting that of parathyroid hormone/parathyroid hormone related protein-receptor and osteonectin. In conclusion, these observations demonstrate that not only proliferation but also differentiation into odontoblast-like cells was induced by rich calcium and poor phosphate medium (MEM as compared to RPMI 1640. This study provides important data for the determination of the optimal culture conditions allowing odontoblast-like differentiation in human pulp cell culture.

Characterisation of a behavioural protocol for the assessment of nociception in normal and inflamed porcine skin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

di Giminiani, Pierpaolo

2012-01-01

The study of pain has been historically based on the investigation of human clinical conditions with the purpose of identifying the direct causes of pain to develop suitable analgesic treatments. The need to comprehend the mechanisms behind the processes of pain ignited the rapid development of pre......-clinical research, based on the investigation of experimental models designed to reproduce painful conditions or parts thereof. Animals play a fundamental role, since they provide the platform to reproduce human conditions in order to study the mechanisms behind pain processes, and during the last three decades...... increasing scepticism because a large proportion of emerging pharmaceutical products never reached marketing approval due to poor correlations between preclinical therapeutic findings and the eventual efficacy of these compounds in clinical trials. Thus, the behavioural component of pre-clinical studies...

Can existing mobile apps support healthier food purchasing behaviour? Content analysis of nutrition content, behaviour change theory and user quality integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Flaherty, Sarah-Jane; McCarthy, Mary; Collins, Alan; McAuliffe, Fionnuala

2018-02-01

To assess the quality of nutrition content and the integration of user quality components and behaviour change theory relevant to food purchasing behaviour in a sample of existing mobile apps. Descriptive comparative analysis of eleven mobile apps comprising an assessment of their alignment with existing evidence on nutrition, behaviour change and user quality, and their potential ability to support healthier food purchasing behaviour. Mobile apps freely available for public use in GoogePlay were assessed and scored according to agreed criteria to assess nutrition content quality and integration of behaviour change theory and user quality components. A sample of eleven mobile apps that met predefined inclusion criteria to ensure relevance and good quality. The quality of the nutrition content varied. Improvements to the accuracy and appropriateness of nutrition content are needed to ensure mobile apps support a healthy behaviour change process and are accessible to a wider population. There appears to be a narrow focus towards behaviour change with an overemphasis on behavioural outcomes and a small number of behaviour change techniques, which may limit effectiveness. A significant effort from the user was required to use the mobile apps appropriately which may negatively influence user acceptability and subsequent utilisation. Existing mobile apps may offer a potentially effective approach to supporting healthier food purchasing behaviour but improvements in mobile app design are required to maximise their potential effectiveness. Engagement of mobile app users and nutrition professionals is recommended to support effective design.

The need for and development of behaviourally realistic agents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jager, W; Janssen, M; Sichman, JS; Bousquet, F; Davidsson, P

2003-01-01

In this paper we argue that simulating complex systems involving human behaviour requires agent rules based on a theoretically rooted structure that captures basic behavioural processes. Essential components of such a structure involve needs, decision-making processes and learning. Such a structure

Primates, Provisioning and Plants: Impacts of Human Cultural Behaviours on Primate Ecological Functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sengupta, Asmita; McConkey, Kim R; Radhakrishna, Sindhu

2015-01-01

Human provisioning of wildlife with food is a widespread global practice that occurs in multiple socio-cultural circumstances. Provisioning may indirectly alter ecosystem functioning through changes in the eco-ethology of animals, but few studies have quantified this aspect. Provisioning of primates by humans is known to impact their activity budgets, diets and ranging patterns. Primates are also keystone species in tropical forests through their role as seed dispersers; yet there is no information on how provisioning might affect primate ecological functions. The rhesus macaque is a major human-commensal species but is also an important seed disperser in the wild. In this study, we investigated the potential impacts of provisioning on the role of rhesus macaques as seed dispersers in the Buxa Tiger Reserve, India. We studied a troop of macaques which were provisioned for a part of the year and were dependent on natural resources for the rest. We observed feeding behaviour, seed handling techniques and ranging patterns of the macaques and monitored availability of wild fruits. Irrespective of fruit availability, frugivory and seed dispersal activities decreased when the macaques were provisioned. Provisioned macaques also had shortened daily ranges implying shorter dispersal distances. Finally, during provisioning periods, seeds were deposited on tarmac roads that were unconducive for germination. Provisioning promotes human-primate conflict, as commensal primates are often involved in aggressive encounters with humans over resources, leading to negative consequences for both parties involved. Preventing or curbing provisioning is not an easy task as feeding wild animals is a socio-cultural tradition across much of South and South-East Asia, including India. We recommend the initiation of literacy programmes that educate lay citizens about the ill-effects of provisioning and strongly caution them against the practice.

Primates, Provisioning and Plants: Impacts of Human Cultural Behaviours on Primate Ecological Functions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asmita Sengupta

Full Text Available Human provisioning of wildlife with food is a widespread global practice that occurs in multiple socio-cultural circumstances. Provisioning may indirectly alter ecosystem functioning through changes in the eco-ethology of animals, but few studies have quantified this aspect. Provisioning of primates by humans is known to impact their activity budgets, diets and ranging patterns. Primates are also keystone species in tropical forests through their role as seed dispersers; yet there is no information on how provisioning might affect primate ecological functions. The rhesus macaque is a major human-commensal species but is also an important seed disperser in the wild. In this study, we investigated the potential impacts of provisioning on the role of rhesus macaques as seed dispersers in the Buxa Tiger Reserve, India. We studied a troop of macaques which were provisioned for a part of the year and were dependent on natural resources for the rest. We observed feeding behaviour, seed handling techniques and ranging patterns of the macaques and monitored availability of wild fruits. Irrespective of fruit availability, frugivory and seed dispersal activities decreased when the macaques were provisioned. Provisioned macaques also had shortened daily ranges implying shorter dispersal distances. Finally, during provisioning periods, seeds were deposited on tarmac roads that were unconducive for germination. Provisioning promotes human-primate conflict, as commensal primates are often involved in aggressive encounters with humans over resources, leading to negative consequences for both parties involved. Preventing or curbing provisioning is not an easy task as feeding wild animals is a socio-cultural tradition across much of South and South-East Asia, including India. We recommend the initiation of literacy programmes that educate lay citizens about the ill-effects of provisioning and strongly caution them against the practice.

Water resources and human behaviour: an integrated landscape management perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luiz Oosterbeek

2013-09-01

Full Text Available A two sides balance can be drawn from the last 20 years of active intents to change local, regional and global policies concerning water and global environment issues. On one hand, as a consequence of the “sustainable development” model, there is an increasing awareness of the issues in stake, and environment became a core part of any public policy. International conferences and the investment in scientific research in these areas are an expression of this. Yet, concerns are growing in face of the increasing stress imposed on freshwater resources, climate change and the difficulties to achieve international consensus on specific strategies. This was the focus of discussion in the international conference on climate change organised in Nagoya in December 2010, by ICSS, ICSU and ICPHS. A revision of the conceptual approach to sustainable development, moving beyond a strictly socio-economic understanding of human behaviour and incorporating, as basic strategies, the dimensions of culture, didactics of dilemma and governance, is currently being applied in some scenarios, hopefully with a better result. The paper discusses water resources in the context of climate change from this integrated perspective.

TTS-Driven Synthetic Behaviour-Generation Model for Artificial Bodies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Izidor Mlakar

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Visual perception, speech perception and the understanding of perceived information are linked through complex mental processes. Gestures, as part of visual perception and synchronized with verbal information, are a key concept of human social interaction. Even when there is no physical contact (e.g., a phone conversation, humans still tend to express meaning through movement. Embodied conversational agents (ECAs, as well as humanoid robots, are visual recreations of humans and are thus expected to be able to perform similar behaviour in communication. The behaviour generation system proposed in this paper is able to specify expressive behaviour strongly resembling natural movement performed within social interaction. The system is TTS-driven and fused with the time-and-space efficient TTS-engine, called ‘PLATTOS’. Visual content and content presentation is formulated based on several linguistic features that are extrapolated from arbitrary input text sequences and prosodic features (e.g., pitch, intonation, stress, emphasis, etc., as predicted by several verbal modules in the system. According to the evaluation results, when using the proposed system the synchronized co-verbal behaviour can be recreated with a very high-degree of naturalness, either by ECAs or humanoid robots alike.

Anthropology and affect: a consideration of the idiosyncratic dimension of human behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Izmirlian, H

1977-01-01

In this paper a theoretical perspective is presented in which affect occupies a central position and behaviour is viewed in terms of different degrees of affective expression. Such behaviour is conceptualized in terms of three models: a structural model, a rational model and a psychological model. While the first two models are frequently encountered in the literature, the psychological model has not received explicit formulation, although, as shown here, it is crucial in understanding certain forms of idiosyncratic behaviour that have political and social relevance.

Do male birds intercept and use rival courtship calls to adjust paternity protection behaviours?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matessi, Giuliano; McGregor, Peter Kenneth; Peake, Thomas More

2005-01-01

Abstract: We tested whether male rock sparrows (Petronia petronia) change behaviours directed at their females when played back courtship display calls simulating a potential cuckolding event in the vicinity of their nests. We compared the behaviour of males before, during and after such playback...

Playing Possum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrico Euli

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Our society is drenched in the catastrophe; where the growth of financial crisis, environmental cataclysm and militarization represents its gaudiest and mortifying phenomena. Humans struggle with depression, sense of impotence, anguish towards a future considered a threat.  A possibility to keep us alive can be represented by the enhancement of our ability in ‘playing Possum’, an exercise of desisting and renitence: to firmly say ‘no’. To say no to a world that proposes just one way of being and living free, that imposes as the only unavoidable possible destiny.

Individual Differences in Children's Risk Perception and Appraisals in Outdoor Play Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Little, Helen; Wyver, Shirley

2010-01-01

Child characteristics including age, gender, risk-taking behaviour and sensation seeking are thought to influence children's ability to appraise risks. The present study investigated children's risk perceptions and appraisals in the context of common outdoor physical play activities. Risk perceptions and appraisal of four- and five-year olds were…

Nonverbal expressive behaviour in schizophrenia and social phobia.

Science.gov (United States)

Del-Monte, Jonathan; Raffard, Stéphane; Salesse, Robin N; Marin, Ludovic; Schmidt, Richard C; Varlet, Manuel; Bardy, Benoît G; Philippe Boulenger, Jean; Christine Gély-Nargeot, Marie; Capdevielle, Delphine

2013-11-30

Expressive behaviour plays a crucial role in the success of social interactions. Abnormality of expressive behaviour has been reported in interpersonal interactions of patients suffering from schizophrenia and social phobia, two debilitating mental disorders with important social deficits. However, no study has compared the expressive behaviour in these two disorders. Thirty schizophrenia patients, 21 social phobia patients and 30 healthy controls were evaluated and compared on expressive, cognitive and clinical dimensions. Expressive behaviour was assessed using the Motor Affective subscale of the Motor-Affective-Social-Scale (MASS). Covariables include the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the anxiety level Liebowitz-Social-Anxiety-Scale (LSAS) and cognitive tasks. After controlling for depression, schizophrenia and social phobia patients both exhibited significantly fewer expressive behaviours compared to healthy controls. Moreover, our results showed specific signatures: schizophrenia patients performed fewer spontaneous gestures (hand gestures and smiles) whereas social phobia patients had an impaired ability to produce voluntary smiles in comparison to healthy controls. Interestingly, poor social functioning was significantly correlated with a decrease of expressive behaviour for schizophrenia patients. Expressive behaviour is impaired in different ways in social phobia and schizophrenia and is associated in schizophrenia with poorer social functioning. The Motor Affective subscale of the MASS is an interesting tool for assessing the dysfunction of interpersonal expressive behaviour in mental disorders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Leadership empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and turnover intention in a manufacturing division

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janie Bester

2015-08-01

Research purpose: The aim of this study was to theoretically conceptualise and empirically determine the relationships between employees’ perception of their leaders’ empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and intention to leave within a manufacturing division of an organisation. Motivation for the study: In the ever-changing work environment, organisations must capitalise on their human capital in order to maintain competitiveness. It is therefore important to identify the role of employees’ perception of leadership in contributing to the establishment of an environment where employees feel empowered, are willing to do more than what is expected and want to stay in the organisation. Research design, approach and method: A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used. The total population (N = 300 employed at the manufacturing division was targeted. Two hundred completed questionnaires were obtained. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Questionnaire and Intention to Leave Scale were administered. Main findings: Employees’ perception of their leaders’ empowering behaviour (keeping employees accountable, self-directed decision-making and people development, psychological empowerment (attitude and influence and organisational citizenship behaviours (loyalty, deviant behaviour and participation predict intention to leave the organisation. Practical/managerial implications: Organisations should foster the elements of a positive organisation, in this case leader empowering behaviours, if they want to retain their employees. Contribution/value-add: The results of this research contribute to scientific knowledge about the positive effects of employees experiencing their leaders as empowering.

Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kühn, Simone; Kugler, Dimitrij Tycho; Schmalen, Katharina; Weichenberger, Markus; Witt, Charlotte; Gallinat, Jürgen

2018-03-13

It is a widespread concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce pro-social behaviour, increase impulsivity and interfere with cognition as well as mood in its players. Previous experimental studies have focussed on short-term effects of violent video gameplay on aggression, yet there are reasons to believe that these effects are mostly the result of priming. In contrast, the present study is the first to investigate the effects of long-term violent video gameplay using a large battery of tests spanning questionnaires, behavioural measures of aggression, sexist attitudes, empathy and interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness, risk taking, delay discounting), mental health (depressivity, anxiety) as well as executive control functions, before and after 2 months of gameplay. Our participants played the violent video game Grand Theft Auto V, the non-violent video game The Sims 3 or no game at all for 2 months on a daily basis. No significant changes were observed, neither when comparing the group playing a violent video game to a group playing a non-violent game, nor to a passive control group. Also, no effects were observed between baseline and posttest directly after the intervention, nor between baseline and a follow-up assessment 2 months after the intervention period had ended. The present results thus provide strong evidence against the frequently debated negative effects of playing violent video games in adults and will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective on the effects of violent video gaming.

Molecular transport behaviour of organic solvents through halloysite ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Micro and Nano Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Institute of Technical ... The transport behaviour of three organic solvents (benzene, toluene and xylene) through halloysite nan- ... ena play important roles in different areas of engineering and ... their blends by an equilibrium swelling method has been.

Animal personality and state-behaviour feedbacks: a review and guide for empiricists.

Science.gov (United States)

Sih, Andrew; Mathot, Kimberley J; Moirón, María; Montiglio, Pierre-Olivier; Wolf, Max; Dingemanse, Niels J

2015-01-01

An exciting area in behavioural ecology focuses on understanding why animals exhibit consistent among-individual differences in behaviour (animal personalities). Animal personality has been proposed to emerge as an adaptation to individual differences in state variables, leading to the question of why individuals differ consistently in state. Recent theory emphasizes the role that positive feedbacks between state and behaviour can play in producing consistent among-individual covariance between state and behaviour, hence state-dependent personality. We review the role of feedbacks in recent models of adaptive personalities, and provide guidelines for empirical testing of model assumptions and predictions. We discuss the importance of the mediating effects of ecology on these feedbacks, and provide a roadmap for including state-behaviour feedbacks in behavioural ecology research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Expression of lumican related to CD34 and VEGF in the articular disc of the human temporomandibular joint.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Kiga

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Lumican belongs to the small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan (SLRP gene family and has been reported to exist in the cornea, intervertebral disc and tendon. Lumican plays a significant role in the assembly and regulation of collagen fibres. The human temporomandibular joint (TMJ disc is made up of fibrocartilage with an extracellular matrix (ECM composed of collagen and proteoglycans. The existence and behaviour of lumican have not been studied in the human TMJ disc. Therefore, we used immunohistochemical methods to detect lumican, CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF and histochemical staining with toluidine blue in 13 human TMJ specimens (10 surgically removed and 3 obtained from autopsy. In both normal and deformed discs we observed staining with toluidine blue. We found that the area of metachromasia inside the deformed disc was uneven and expression of lumican was strong in the areas negative for metachromasia. Staining of VEGF and CD34 inside the deformed disc was seen. We confirmed the expression of lumican in the human TMJ disc and showed that a large number of fibroblastlike cells existed in the area of strong lumican expression. These new findings about the behaviour of lumican suggest that it may play a key role in the generation of a new collagen network by fibroblast-like cells.

Risky Driving Behaviours among Medical Students in Erbil, Iraq

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazar P. Shabila

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Objectives: This study aimed to assess risky driving behaviours among medical students in Erbil, Iraq, and to explore the relationship between risky driving behaviours and perceptions of risky driving. Methods: This self-administered questionnaire-based survey was conducted from January to May 2014 among a random sample of 400 medical students at Hawler Medical University in Erbil. The questionnaire was designed to assess the frequency of engagement in 21 risky driving behaviours, the perceived risk of each behaviour and the preference for each behaviour as ranked on a 5-point scale. Results: A total of 386 students responded to the survey (response rate: 96.5%. Of these, 211 reported that they currently drove a vehicle (54.7%. Drivers most frequently engaged in the following behaviours: playing loud music (35.9%, speeding (30.4%, allowing front seat passengers to not wear seat belts (27.9% and using mobile phones (27.7%. Least frequent driving behaviours included not stopping at a red light (3.9%, driving while sleepy (4.4%, driving after a mild to moderate intake of alcohol (4.5% and drunk driving (6.4%. Mean risky driving behaviour scores were significantly higher among males (P 20-year-olds (P = 0.028. There was a significant positive relationship between the preference for risky behaviours and risky driving behaviours (beta = 0.44; P <0.001. Conclusion: Medical students in Erbil reported high frequencies of several serious risky driving behaviours. The preference for risky behaviours was found to be an important predictor of risky driving behaviours among medical students in Erbil.

The role of oxytocin in relationships between dogs and humans and potential applications for the treatment of separation anxiety in dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Thielke, Lauren E; Udell, Monique A R

2017-02-01

The hormone oxytocin plays an important role in attachment formation and bonding between humans and domestic dogs. Recent research has led to increased interest in potential applications for intranasal oxytocin to aid with the treatment of psychological disorders in humans. While a few studies have explored the effects of intranasally administered oxytocin on social cognition and social bonding in dogs, alternative applications have not yet been explored for the treatment of behavioural problems in this species. One potentially important application for intranasal oxytocin in dogs could be the treatment of separation anxiety, a common attachment disorder in dogs. Here we provide an overview of what is known about the role of oxytocin in the human-dog bond and canine separation anxiety, and discuss considerations for future research looking to integrate oxytocin into behavioural treatment based on recent findings from both the human and dog literature. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Hormonal and neural mechanisms of food reward, eating behaviour and obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Susan; Tulloch, Alastair; Gold, Mark S; Avena, Nicole M

2014-09-01

With rising rates of obesity, research continues to explore the contributions of homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms related to eating behaviour. In this Review, we synthesize the existing information on select biological mechanisms associated with reward-related food intake, dealing primarily with consumption of highly palatable foods. In addition to their established functions in normal feeding, three primary peripheral hormones (leptin, ghrelin and insulin) play important parts in food reward. Studies in laboratory animals and humans also show relationships between hyperphagia or obesity and neural pathways involved in reward. These findings have prompted questions regarding the possibility of addictive-like aspects in food consumption. Further exploration of this topic may help to explain aberrant eating patterns, such as binge eating, and provide insight into the current rates of overweight and obesity.

Media and human capital development: Can video game playing make you smarter?

Science.gov (United States)

Suziedelyte, Agne

2015-04-01

According to the literature, video game playing can improve such cognitive skills as problem solving, abstract reasoning, and spatial logic. I test this hypothesis using The Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The endogeneity of video game playing is addressed by using panel data methods and controlling for an extensive list of child and family characteristics. To address the measurement error in video game playing, I instrument children's weekday time use with their weekend time use. After taking into account the endogeneity and measurement error, video game playing is found to positively affect children's problem solving ability. The effect of video game playing on problem solving ability is comparable to the effect of educational activities.

Cocaine affects foraging behaviour and biogenic amine modulated behavioural reflexes in honey bees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eirik Søvik

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In humans and other mammals, drugs of abuse alter the function of biogenic amine pathways in the brain leading to the subjective experience of reward and euphoria. Biogenic amine pathways are involved in reward processing across diverse animal phyla, however whether cocaine acts on these neurochemical pathways to cause similar rewarding behavioural effects in animal phyla other than mammals is unclear. Previously, it has been shown that bees are more likely to dance (a signal of perceived reward when returning from a sucrose feeder after cocaine treatment. Here we examined more broadly whether cocaine altered reward-related behaviour, and biogenic amine modulated behavioural responses in bees. Bees developed a preference for locations at which they received cocaine, and when foraging at low quality sucrose feeders increase their foraging rate in response to cocaine treatment. Cocaine also increased reflexive proboscis extension to sucrose, and sting extension to electric shock. Both of these simple reflexes are modulated by biogenic amines. This shows that systemic cocaine treatment alters behavioural responses that are modulated by biogenic amines in insects. Since insect reward responses involve both octopamine and dopamine signalling, we conclude that cocaine treatment altered diverse reward-related aspects of behaviour in bees. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding the ecology of cocaine as a plant defence compound. Our findings further validate the honey bee as a model system for understanding the behavioural impacts of cocaine, and potentially other drugs of abuse.

Coping strategies, mental health and HIV status: Predictors of suicidal behaviour among PWIDs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akram, B.; Ilyas, M.

2017-01-01

To understand suicidal behaviour among people who inject drugs. Methods: This correlational, cross-sectional study was conducted in two Pakistani cities of Gujrat and Jhelum from October 2015 to March 2016, and comprised male injecting-drug users aged18-60 years. Multistage systematic random sampling method was used. Urdu-translated versions of the brief cope inventory, mental health status scale and suicidal behaviour questionnaire (revised) were administered. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 200 participants, 83(41.5%) were aged 26-32 years. The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus was in 94(47%) cases. Suicidal behaviour was positively associated with psychological distress and human immunodeficiency virus status (p<0.05), whereas it was negatively associated with mental health, psychological well-being and coping strategies (p<0.05). Regression analysis showed mental health index and psychological well-being were negative predictors, whereas psychological distress and human immunodeficiency virus status were positive predictors of suicidal behaviour among the participants (p<0.05). Conclusion: The level of stress led people who inject drugs towards suicidal behaviour. However, the level of stress varied according to the severity of human immunodeficiency virus and poor mental health. (author)

Social information influences trust behaviour in adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Nikki C; Jolles, Jelle; Krabbendam, Lydia

2016-01-01

Trust plays an integral role in daily interactions within adolescents' social environment. Using a trust game paradigm, this study investigated the modulating influence of social information about three interaction partners on trust behaviour in adolescents aged 12-18 (N = 845). After receiving information about their interaction partners prior to the task, participants were most likely to share with a 'good' partner and rate this partner as most trustworthy. Over the course of the task all interaction partners showed similar levels of trustworthy behaviour, but overall participants continued to trust and view the good partner as more trustworthy than 'bad' and 'neutral' partners throughout the game. However, with age the ability to overcome prior social information and adapt trust behaviour improved: middle and late adolescents showed a larger decrease in trust of the good partner than early adolescents, and late adolescents were more likely to reward trustworthy behaviour from the negative partner. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence for strategic cooperation in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Burton-Chellew, Maxwell N; El Mouden, Claire; West, Stuart A

2017-06-14

Humans may cooperate strategically, cooperating at higher levels than expected from their short-term interests, to try and stimulate others to cooperate. To test this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulated the extent an individual's behaviour is known to others, and hence whether or not strategic cooperation is possible. In contrast with many previous studies, we avoided confounding factors by preventing individuals from learning during the game about either pay-offs or about how other individuals behave. We found clear evidence for strategic cooperators-just telling some individuals that their groupmates would be informed about their behaviour led to them tripling their initial level of cooperation, from 17 to 50%. We also found that many individuals play as if they do not understand the game, and their presence obscures the detection of strategic cooperation. Identifying such players allowed us to detect and study strategic motives for cooperation in novel, more powerful, ways. © 2017 The Author(s).

Does cheating and gamesmanship to be reconsidered regarding fair-play in grassroots sports?

OpenAIRE

Ponseti Verdaguer, Francisco Javier

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the attitudes towards fair play, playing foul/hard, and the acceptability of teams' antisocial behaviour, such as cheating and gamesmanship, in the context of grassroots sports teams. The sample included 48 teams of basket, football, handball, volleyball and rugby, including 1333 adolescents (1013 boys and 320 girls) with a mean age of 12.50 years (Range: 10-15; SD = 2.09 years). In order to study these psychological variables, the athletes answered the Pr...

Behavioural syndromes in fishes: a review with implications for ecology and fisheries management.

Science.gov (United States)

Conrad, J L; Weinersmith, K L; Brodin, T; Saltz, J B; Sih, A

2011-02-01

This review examines the contribution of research on fishes to the growing field of behavioural syndromes. Current knowledge of behavioural syndromes in fishes is reviewed with respect to five main axes of animal personality: (1) shyness-boldness, (2) exploration-avoidance, (3) activity, (4) aggressiveness and (5) sociability. Compared with other taxa, research on fishes has played a leading role in describing the shy-bold personality axis and has made innovative contributions to the study of the sociability dimension by incorporating social network theory. Fishes are virtually the only major taxon in which behavioural correlations have been compared between populations. This research has guided the field in examining how variation in selection regime may shape personality. Recent research on fishes has also made important strides in understanding genetic and neuroendocrine bases for behavioural syndromes using approaches involving artificial selection, genetic mapping, candidate gene and functional genomics. This work has illustrated consistent individual variation in highly complex neuroendocrine and gene expression pathways. In contrast, relatively little work on fishes has examined the ontogenetic stability of behavioural syndromes or their fitness consequences. Finally, adopting a behavioural syndrome framework in fisheries management issues including artificial propagation, habitat restoration and invasive species, may promote restoration success. Few studies, however, have examined the ecological relevance of behavioural syndromes in the field. Knowledge of how behavioural syndromes play out in the wild will be crucial to incorporating such a framework into management practices. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology © 2011 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

FROM EFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESIS TO BEHAVIOURAL FINANCE: CAN BEHAVIOURAL FINANCE BE THE NEW DOMINANT MODEL FOR INVESTING?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George BOROVAS

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The present paper reviews two fundamental investing paradigms, which have had a substantial impact on the manner investors tend to develop their own strategies. specifically, the study elaborates on efficient market hypothesis (emh, which, despite remaining most prominent and popular until the 1990s, is considered rather controversial and often disputed, and the theory of behavioural finance, which has increasingly been implemented in financial institutions. based on an extensive survey of behavioural finance and emh literature, the study demonstrates, despite any assertions, the inherent irrationality of the theory of efficient market, and discusses the potential reasons for its recent decline, arguing in favor of its replacement or co-existence with behavioural finance. in addition, the study highlights that the theory of behavioural finance, which endorses human behavioral and psychological attitudes, should become the theoretical framework for successful and profitable investing.

Triadic and collaborative play by gorillas in social games with objects.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanner, Joanne E; Byrne, Richard W

2010-07-01

Interaction with others over objects has until recently been thought lacking in the social play of non-human great apes, in contrast to that of children; even now, only bonobos have been observed to engage in social play involving objects. Human children's triadic interactions with objects involve joint attention, showing and giving, communication that maintains interaction, and sharing of emotions and experiences. We question assertions that chimpanzees, and non-human great apes in general, lack the key characteristics of children's collaborative play. Here, we show that zoo gorillas play games that are both triadic and collaborative. These games were videotaped at the San Francisco Zoo in five different years and involved five different pairings of gorillas. The context was in most cases playfully competitive, involving objects such as balls, bags and leather pieces as foci of joint attention; the ostensible goal in most games was to gain or keep possession of a particular object. In some episodes, roles as possessor or pursuer of an object were exchanged many times; in others, one gorilla retained possession of an object but encouraged pursuit from a partner. Through gaze and gesture, gorillas invited others to: share interest in and attention to objects; share patterns of play; and re-engage after breaks in play. Sometimes, gorillas would assist others in their efforts to engage in collaborative play: older gorillas encouraged younger partners by 'self-handicapping' their own actions. Collaborative games may occur later in the ontogeny of gorillas than in humans, and depend on the challenges and artifacts available in a particular group's habitat.

Cell behaviour on chemically microstructured surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magnani, Agnese; Priamo, Alfredo; Pasqui, Daniela; Barbucci, Rolando

2003-01-01

Micropatterned surfaces with different chemical topographies were synthesised in order to investigate the influence of surface chemistry and topography on cell behaviour. The microstructured materials were synthesised by photoimmobilising natural Hyaluronan (Hyal) and its sulphated derivative (HyalS), both adequately functionalised with a photorective moiety, on glass substrates. Four different grating patterns (10, 25, 50 and 100 μm) were used to pattern the hyaluronan. The micropatterned samples were analysed by Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy to investigate the chemistry and the topography of the surfaces. The spectroscopic and microscopic analysis of the microstructured surfaces revealed that the photoimmobilisation process was successful, demonstrating that the photomask patterns were well reproduced on the sample surface. The influence of chemical topographies on the cell behaviour was then analysed. Human and 3T3 fibroblasts, bovine aortic and human (HGTFN line) endothelial cells were used and their behaviour on the micropatterned surfaces was analysed in terms of adhesion, proliferation, locomotion and orientation. Both chemical and topographical controls were found to be important for cell guidance. By decreasing the stripe dimensions, a more fusiform shape of cell was observed. At the same time, the cell locomotion and orientation parallel to the structure increased. However, differences in cell behaviour were detected according to both cell type and micropattern dimensions

Mediating human stem cell behaviour via defined fibrous architectures by melt electrospinning writing.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichholz, Kian F; Hoey, David A

2018-05-29

The architecture within which cells reside is key to mediating their specific functions within the body. In this study, we use melt electrospinning writing (MEW) to fabricate cell micro-environments with various fibrous architectures to study their effect on human stem cell behaviour. We designed, built and optimised a MEW apparatus and used it to fabricate four different platform designs of 10.4±2μm fibre diameter, with angles between fibres on adjacent layers of 90°, 45°, 10° and R (random). Mechanical characterisation was conducted via tensile testing, and human skeletal stem cells (hSSCs) were seeded to scaffolds to study the effect of architecture on cell morphology and mechanosensing (nuclear YAP). Cell morphology was significantly altered between groups, with cells on 90° scaffolds having a lower aspect ratio, greater spreading, greater cytoskeletal tension and nuclear YAP expression. Long term cell culture studies were then conducted to determine the differentiation potential of scaffolds in terms of alkaline phosphatase activity, collagen and mineral production. Across these studies, an increased cell spreading in 3-dimensions is seen with decreasing alignment of architecture correlated with enhanced osteogenesis. This study therefore highlights the critical role of fibrous architecture in regulating stem cell behaviour with implications for tissue engineering and disease progression. This is the first study which has investigated the effect of controlled fibrous architectures fabricated via melt electrospinning writing on cell behaviour and differentiation. After optimising the process and characterising scaffolds via SEM and tensile testing, cells were seeded to fibrous scaffolds with various micro-architectures and studied in terms of cell morphology. Nuclear YAP expression was further investigated as a marker of cell shape, cytoskeletal tension and differentiation potential. In agreement with these early markers, long term cell culture studies

Social experiments in the mesoscale: humans playing a spatial prisoner's dilemma.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Grujić

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The evolutionary origin of cooperation among unrelated individuals remains a key unsolved issue across several disciplines. Prominent among the several mechanisms proposed to explain how cooperation can emerge is the existence of a population structure that determines the interactions among individuals. Many models have explored analytically and by simulation the effects of such a structure, particularly in the framework of the Prisoner's Dilemma, but the results of these models largely depend on details such as the type of spatial structure or the evolutionary dynamics. Therefore, experimental work suitably designed to address this question is needed to probe these issues. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We have designed an experiment to test the emergence of cooperation when humans play Prisoner's Dilemma on a network whose size is comparable to that of simulations. We find that the cooperation level declines to an asymptotic state with low but nonzero cooperation. Regarding players' behavior, we observe that the population is heterogeneous, consisting of a high percentage of defectors, a smaller one of cooperators, and a large group that shares features of the conditional cooperators of public goods games. We propose an agent-based model based on the coexistence of these different strategies that is in good agreement with all the experimental observations. CONCLUSIONS: In our large experimental setup, cooperation was not promoted by the existence of a lattice beyond a residual level (around 20% typical of public goods experiments. Our findings also indicate that both heterogeneity and a "moody" conditional cooperation strategy, in which the probability of cooperating also depends on the player's previous action, are required to understand the outcome of the experiment. These results could impact the way game theory on graphs is used to model human interactions in structured groups.

Evaluation of biexponential relaxation behaviour in the human brain by magnetic resonance imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjaer, L; Thomsen, C; Henriksen, O

1989-01-01

Quantitative estimation of individual biologic components in relaxation curves obtained in vivo may increase the specificity of tissue characterization by magnetic resonance imaging. In this study, the potential of biexponential curve analysis was evaluated in T1 and T2 measurements on the human...... brain at 1.5 tesla. Optimal experimental conditions were carefully observed, including the use of long TR values and a very small voxel size. T1 determination was based on a 12-points partial saturation inversion recovery pulse sequence. T2 determination involved a multiple spin echo sequence with 32...... echoes. No genuine biexponentiality was demonstrated in the T1 and T2 relaxation processes of white matter, cortical grey matter, or cerebrospinal fluid. Thus, a monoexponential model seems adequate for description of the relaxation behaviour in these cases. Furthermore, the results suggest...

Playful Collaboration (or Not)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogers, Marcel

2011-01-01

This paper explores how games and play, which are deeply rooted in human beings as a way to learn and interact, can be used to teach certain concepts and practices related to open collaborative innovation. We discuss how playing games can be a source of creativity, imagination and fun, while it can...... also be conducive to deep learning. As such, a game can engage different dimensions of learning and embed elements of active, collaborative, cooperative and problem-based learning. Building on this logic, we present an exploratory case study of the use of a particular board game in a class of a course...... collaboration at the cost of individual performance and possible long-term collective performance as well....

Investigations on the visco-elastic behaviour of a human healthy heel pad: in vivo compression tests and numerical analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matteoli, Sara; Fontanella, Chiara G.; Carniel, Emanuele L.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the viscoelastic behaviour of the human heel pad by comparing the stress–relaxation curves obtained from a compression device used on an in vivo heel pad with those obtained from a threedimensional computer-based subject-specific heel pad model subjected...... numerical analyses were performed to interpret the mechanical response of heel tissues, with loading conditions and displacement rate in agreement with experimental tests. The heel tissues showed a non-linear, viscoelastic behaviour described by characteristic hysteretic curves, stress......–relaxation and viscous recovery phenomena. The reliability of the investigations was validated by the interpretation of the mechanical response of heel tissues under the application of three pistons with diameter of 15, 20 and 40 mm, at the same displacement rate of about 1.7 mm/s. The maximum and minimum relative...

The influence of human behaviour on the energy consumption in buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Rune Vinther; Olesen, Bjarne W.

2010-01-01

the indoor climate in an energy efficient way. The simulated occupant could manipulate six controls, such as turning on or off the heat and adjusting clothing. All control actions were carried out with the aim of keeping the PMV value within predefined limits. An energy consuming and an energy efficient...... behavioural mode were simulated. A reference simulation was made during which the occupant had no control over the environment. The occupant was able to keep the thermal indoor environment close to neutral when he/she had the possibility to manipulate the controls. The indoor environment was similar within...... patterns derived from the measurements were used while the reference used simulated behaviour patterns defined like they might have been by a consultant engineer. The simulated behaviour patterns resulted in large differences in indoor environmental variables between the two simulations. The heat...

Reviewing the Relationship between Human Resource Practices and Psychological Contract and Their Impact on Employee Attitude and Behaviours: A Conceptual Model

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Upasana; Bhargava, Shivganesh

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise literature on the role of human resource practices (HRP) in shaping employee psychological contract (PC). Based on this review, a conceptual framework for examining the relationship between HRP and PC and their impact on employee attitudes as well as behaviour has been put forward for…

Epigenesis of behavioural lateralization in humans and other animals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaafsma, S. M.; Riedstra, B. J.; Pfannkuche, K. A.; Bouma, A.; Groothuis, T. G. G.

2009-01-01

Despite several decades of research, the epigenesis of behavioural and brain lateralization is still elusive, although its knowledge is important in understanding developmental plasticity, function and evolution of lateralization, and its relationship with developmental disorders. Over the last

Neighbourhood human capital and the development of children׳s emotional and behavioural problems: the mediating role of parenting and schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Midouhas, Emily; Kuang, Ye; Flouri, Eirini

2014-05-01

This study examined how low neighbourhood human capital (measured by percentage of residents with no qualifications) may be related to trajectories of children׳s emotional and behavioural problems from early-to-middle childhood. It also assessed whether effects of neighbourhood human capital or its pathways were moderated by child nonverbal cognitive ability. Using data on 9850 children in England participating in the Millennium Cohort Study, we found that, after adjusting for key child and family background characteristics, the adverse effects of low neighbourhood human capital on hyperactivity and peer problems remained, and were fully attenuated by the achievement level of children׳s schools. The effect of low neighbourhood human capital on the change in conduct problems over time was robust. Moreover, higher nonverbal ability did not dampen the adverse impact of low neighbourhood human capital on the trajectory of conduct problems or that of low performing schools on hyperactivity and peer problems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioural Profiling in Cyber-Social Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perno, Jason; Probst, Christian W.

2017-01-01

Computer systems have evolved from standalone systems, over networked systems, to cyber-physical systems. In all stages, human operators have been essential for the functioning of the system and for understanding system messages. Recent trends make human actors an even more central part of computer...... systems, resulting in what we call "cyber-social systems". In cyber-social systems, human actors and their interaction with a system are essential for the state of the system and its functioning. Both the system's operation and the human's operating it are based on an assumption of each other's behaviour...

Developing smartphone apps for behavioural studies: The AlcoRisk app case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Anthony; de Salas, Kristy; Lewis, Ian; Schüz, Benjamin

2017-08-01

Smartphone apps have emerged as valuable research tools to sample human behaviours at their time of occurrence within natural environments. Human behaviour sampling methods, such as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), aim to facilitate research that is situated in ecologically valid real world environments rather than laboratory environments. Researchers have trialled a range of EMA smartphone apps to sample human behaviours such as dieting, physical activity and smoking. Software development processes for EMA smartphones apps, however, are not widely documented with little guidance provided for the integration of complex multidisciplinary behavioural and technical fields. In this paper, the AlcoRisk app for studying alcohol consumption and risk taking tendencies is presented alongside a software development process that integrates these multidisciplinary fields. The software development process consists of three stages including requirements analysis, feature and interface design followed by app implementation. Results from a preliminary feasibility study support the efficacy of the AlcoRisk app's software development process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Melting behaviour of lead and bismuth nano-particles in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

Abstract. Nanomaterials are playing an increasingly important role in mod- ern technologies. Interfaces are crucial in nanotechnology. In this study, we have examined the stability of nanoparticles. Major emphasis is on understanding the effect of interfaces on melting. Melting behaviour of nanocrystalline interfaces,.

Modelling the basic error tendencies of human operators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reason, J.

1988-01-01

The paper outlines the primary structural features of human cognition: a limited, serial workspace interacting with a parallel distributed knowledge base. It is argued that the essential computational features of human cognition - to be captured by an adequate operator model - reside in the mechanisms by which stored knowledge structures are selected and brought into play. Two such computational 'primitives' are identified: similarity-matching and frequency-gambling. These two retrieval heuristics, it is argued, shape both the overall character of human performance (i.e. its heavy reliance on pattern-matching) and its basic error tendencies ('strong-but-wrong' responses, confirmation, similarity and frequency biases, and cognitive 'lock-up'). The various features of human cognition are integrated with a dynamic operator model capable of being represented in software form. This computer model, when run repeatedly with a variety of problem configurations, should produce a distribution of behaviours which, in toto, simulate the general character of operator performance.

Modelling the basic error tendencies of human operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reason, J.

1988-01-01

The paper outlines the primary structural features of human cognition: a limited, serial workspace interacting with a parallel distributed knowledge base. It is argued that the essential computational features of human cognition - to be captured by an adequate operator model - reside in the mechanisms by which stored knowledge structures are selected and brought into play. Two such computational 'primitives' are identified: similarity-matching and frequency-gambling. These two retrieval heuristics, it is argued, shape both the overall character of human performance (i.e. its heavy reliance on pattern-matching) and its basic error tendencies ('strong-but-wrong' responses, confirmation, similarity and frequency biases, and cognitive 'lock-up'). The various features of human cognition are integrated with a dynamic operator model capable of being represented in software form. This computer model, when run repeatedly with a variety of problem configurations, should produce a distribution of behaviours which, in total, simulate the general character of operator performance. (author)

Modelling the basic error tendencies of human operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reason, James

1988-01-01

The paper outlines the primary structural features of human cognition: a limited, serial workspace interacting with a parallel distributed knowledge base. It is argued that the essential computational features of human cognition - to be captured by an adequate operator model - reside in the mechanisms by which stored knowledge structures are selected and brought into play. Two such computational 'primitives' are identified: similarity-matching and frequency-gambling. These two retrieval heuristics, it is argued, shape both the overall character of human performance (i.e. its heavy reliance on pattern-matching) and its basic error tendencies ('strong-but-wrong' responses, confirmation, similarity and frequency biases, and cognitive 'lock-up'). The various features of human cognition are integrated with a dynamic operator model capable of being represented in software form. This computer model, when run repeatedly with a variety of problem configurations, should produce a distribution of behaviours which, in toto, simulate the general character of operator performance. (author)

Behavioural change as the core of warfighting : So now what?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duistermaat, M.; Vliet, A.J. van; Boor, R.A.E. van der; Daalen, A.F. van

2017-01-01

This article focuses on understanding human behaviour by providing an insight into its underlying mechanisms, and aims to widen the view on the military possibilities for achieving mission goals. The article intends to trigger a more behaviour-oriented view on military operations: how military

Families: Influences in Children's Development and Behaviour, from Parents and Teachers' Point of View

Science.gov (United States)

de Figueiredo, Claudia Rodrigues Sequeira; Dias, Filomena Valadao

2012-01-01

Family plays a very important role in infant's development and behaviour, being that the parents' divorce can be a very stressful experience. This is an exploratory and comparative study that aims at identifying the differences in children's behaviour with divorced parents (or separated) and married parents (or living together), based on the…

The power of possibility: causal learning, counterfactual reasoning, and pretend play.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchsbaum, Daphna; Bridgers, Sophie; Skolnick Weisberg, Deena; Gopnik, Alison

2012-08-05

We argue for a theoretical link between the development of an extended period of immaturity in human evolution and the emergence of powerful and wide-ranging causal learning mechanisms, specifically the use of causal models and Bayesian learning. We suggest that exploratory childhood learning, childhood play in particular, and causal cognition are closely connected. We report an empirical study demonstrating one such connection--a link between pretend play and counterfactual causal reasoning. Preschool children given new information about a causal system made very similar inferences both when they considered counterfactuals about the system and when they engaged in pretend play about it. Counterfactual cognition and causally coherent pretence were also significantly correlated even when age, general cognitive development and executive function were controlled for. These findings link a distinctive human form of childhood play and an equally distinctive human form of causal inference. We speculate that, during human evolution, computations that were initially reserved for solving particularly important ecological problems came to be used much more widely and extensively during the long period of protected immaturity.

Regulation of behaviour by the nuclear receptor TLX.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Leary, J D; O'Leary, O F; Cryan, J F; Nolan, Y M

2018-03-01

The orphan nuclear receptor Tlx (Nr2e1) is a key regulator of both embryonic and adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Several different mouse models have been developed which target Tlx in vivo including spontaneous deletion models (from birth) and targeted and conditional knockouts. Although some conflicting findings have been reported, for the most part studies have demonstrated that Tlx is important in regulating processes that underlie neurogenesis, spatial learning, anxiety-like behaviour and interestingly, aggression. More recent data have demonstrated that disrupting Tlx during early life induces hyperactivity and that Tlx plays a role in emotional regulation. Moreover, there are sex- and age-related differences in some behaviours in Tlx knockout mice during adolescence and adulthood. Here, we discuss the role of Tlx in motor-, cognitive-, aggressive- and anxiety-related behaviours during adolescence and adulthood. We examine current evidence which provides insight into Tlx during neurodevelopment, and offer our thoughts on the function of Tlx in brain and behaviour. We further hypothesize that Tlx is a key target in understanding the emergence of neurobiological disorders during adolescence and early adulthood. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally

Science.gov (United States)

Elkind, David

2008-01-01

Although under attack from some goal-oriented politicians and parents and ofen considered superfluous by school administrators and teachers, free play remains vital to human health and creativity. Contrary to the notion that play should serve utilitarian ends or consist primarily of organized sports, the author makes a case for self-initiated…

Miku's mask: Fictional encounters in children's costume play.

Science.gov (United States)

Helgesen, Espen

2015-11-01

Children's engagement with Japanese toys and fictional characters has taken on new significance in the age of YouTube. Drawing on ethnographic research on technology-mediated play among 8- and 9-year-olds in Norway, this article shows how boundaries between "real" humans and "fake" non-humans are blurred and undermined when children take on the perspective of a fictional pop star known as Miku. I argue that YouTube provides a platform for children's playful experimentation with posthuman subjectivities, where they orient themselves toward the future not in terms of becoming adult but in terms of multiple becomings.

Consumer behaviour and the environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2005-01-01

-style are not easily achieved, however. In a report issued by United Na-tions Secretary-General Kofi Annan in preparation for the Johannesburg Summit it was concluded that "Progress towards the goals established at Rio has been slower than anticipated and in some respects conditions are worse than they were ten years...... ago." It continues to be true that a funda-mental requirement for success in this endeavour is consumers' active support and willing participation (Norwegian Ministry of Environment, 1994). Information is an important tool in this connection. Not only for marshalling public support......, that information alone is usually not sufficient to change behaviour (Stern, 1999). My aim here is to present a broad-brush overview of some of the most important roles that information has been found to play as a tool for pro-moting environmentally responsible consumer behaviour. Because this publication...

Play Practices and Play Moods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karoff, Helle Skovbjerg

2013-01-01

The aim of this article is to develop a view of play as a relation between play practices and play moods based on an empirical study of children's everyday life and by using Bateson's term of ‘framing’ [(1955/2001). In Steps to an ecology of mind (pp. 75–80). Chicago: University of Chicago Press......], Schmidt's notion of ‘commonness’ [(2005). Om respekten. København: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitets Forlag; (2011). On respect. Copenhagen: Danish School of Education University Press] and Heidegger's term ‘mood’ [(1938/1996). Time and being. Cornwall: Wiley-Blackwell.]. Play mood is a state of being...... in which we are open and ready, both to others and their production of meaning and to new opportunities for producing meaning. This play mood is created when we engage with the world during play practices. The article points out four types of play moods – devotion, intensity, tension and euphorica – which...

Designing Out the Play: Accessibility and Playfulness in Inclusive Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Raymond; Beckett, Angharad

2017-01-01

Play is an important part of child development, yet disabled children are often excluded from the opportunity to play, either due to lack of accessible toys and games, or social pressures. This paper presents a case study reflecting on the development of Button Bash: a switch accessible game intended to encourage inclusive play between disabled and non-disabled children. In particular, the paper focuses on how changes intended to make the game more accessible tended to make it less playful, and reflects on the relationship between playfulness and accessibility.

Sun exposure and sun protection behaviours among young adult sport competitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawler, Sheleigh; Spathonis, Kym; Eakin, Elizabeth; Gallois, Cindy; Leslie, Eva; Owen, Neville

2007-06-01

To explore the relationship between sun protection and physical activity in young adults (18-30 years) involved in four organised sports. Participants (n=237) in field hockey, soccer, tennis and surf sports completed a self-administered survey on demographic and sun-protective behaviours while playing sport. Differences in sun-protective behaviour were explored by sport and by gender. Sunburn during the previous sporting season was high (69%). There were differences between sports for sunburn, sunscreen use and reapplication of sunscreen. Lifesaving had the highest rates compared with the other three sports. Hats and sunglasses worn by participants varied significantly by sports. A greater proportion of soccer and hockey players indicated they were not allowed to wear a hat or sunglasses during competition. For all sports, competition was played mainly in the open with no shade provision for competitors while they were playing. There were some gender differences within each of the sports. Female soccer and tennis players were more likely to wear sunscreen compared with males. Female hockey players were more likely to wear a hat compared with males. Our findings highlight that there is still room for improvement in sun-protective behaviours among young adult sport competitors. There is a need for a systematic approach to sun protection in the sporting environments of young adults. Health promotion efforts to increase physical activity need to be paired with sun protection messages.

Does human papilloma virus play a role in sinonasal inverted papilloma?

Science.gov (United States)

Govindaraj, Satish; Wang, Hailun

2014-02-01

Inverted papillomas are a benign sinonasal tumor with a propensity for recurrence and malignant transformation. Although many investigations have been made into the nature of this disease, its etiology and causes for malignant transformation have yet to be fully elucidated. It is the authors' objective to present a review on management of the disease and evaluate the present relationship between human papilloma virus (HPV) and inverted papilloma. A causal relationship between HPV and the pathogenesis and progression of inverted papilloma has been posited since the 1980s. Although widely varied HPV detection rates have been reported, recent studies have noted a substantial increase in both recurrence and malignant transformation in HPV-infected inverted papillomas. However, exact cellular mechanisms by which infection leads to subsequent recurrence and development of carcinoma have yet to be elucidated. Evidence exists suggesting that HPV infection plays a role in the progression of inverted papilloma and confers an increased risk for recurrence and malignant transformation. PCR is the preferred detection method, and fresh or frozen specimens are the ideal source of tissue for evaluation. Although multiple studies have detected an association between HPV and inverted papilloma (both recurrent and malignant transformation), further studies are necessary to elucidate the underlying molecular pathways before an association can be changed to causation.

Behavioural responses of caddisfly larvae (Hydropsyche angustipennis) to hypoxia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geest, van der H.G.

2007-01-01

The availability of aquatic oxygen can limit habitat suitability for benthic insects, and differences in hypoxia tolerance can therefore play a role in explaining distributions in the field. This study describes a behavioural test in which the trade off between different survival strategies after

The theory of planned behaviour: self-identity, social identity and group norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, D J; Hogg, M A; White, K M

1999-09-01

The aim of the present study was to examine further the role that self-identity plays in the theory of planned behaviour and, more specifically, to: (1) examine the combined effects of self-identity and social identity constructs on intention and behaviour, and (2) examine the effects of self-identity as a function of past experience of performing the behaviour. The study was concerned with the prediction of intention to engage in household recycling and reported recycling behaviour. A sample of 143 community residents participated in the study. It was prospective in design: measures of the predictors and intention were obtained at the first wave of data collection, whereas behaviour was assessed two weeks later. Self-identity significantly predicted behavioural intention, a relationship that was not dependent on the extent to which the behaviour had been performed in the past. As expected, there was also evidence that the perceived norm of a behaviourally relevant reference group was related to behavioural intention, but only for participants who identified strongly with the group, whereas the relationship between perceived behavioural control (a personal factor) and intention was strongest for low identifiers.

Play therapy as a mental health intervention for children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Rye, Nina

2008-01-01

Play therapy is a child-centred therapy for children between the ages of 3 and 16 years who have mental health and/or other difficulties. The play therapist works one to one with the child, allowing children to explore their inner emotional world in almost any way they choose in the play room. The therapist sets a few necessary behavioural limits in order to safeguard physical and emotional safety during the weekly sessions. Children from all kinds of families come for play therapy. Some have witnessed domestic violence, or experienced abuse or other trauma. Some have conflicted relationships with the parents or carers arising out of insecure attachment and/or other issues. Provided that the child has some level of symbolic play, play therapy has the potential to help. The other provisos are that the home environment is sufficiently supportive at a basic level, and that the parent or carer is willing to support therapy. Children typically have play therapy for between two and 12 months, depending on the complexity of their difficulties. Play therapists analyse sessions and track changes to determine when to plan the ending with the child. Play therapists come from a range of professions and undertake full-time or part-time training in play therapy leading to a post-qualifying diploma or Master's degree. Qualified play therapists work in, or undertake work for, Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) services, Children's Services (Social Care), schools, and voluntary sector agencies.

Changing historical flood behaviour - is there a link to landscape changes?

Science.gov (United States)

Rogger, Magdalena; Kiss, Andrea; Bloeschl, Guenter

2014-05-01

Although large-scale changes in flood behaviour are usually related to the variability and changes of climatic conditions and atmospheric patterns, human impact clearly also played an important role in changing flood behaviour by various types of river regulations and by land use changes (vegetation cover and soil conditions). The influence of land use changes on the flood regime is, however, still poorly understood. Based on scientific literature, we present the major phases of historical landscape changes of the last 1000 years in Europe discussing possible impacts on the related flood regimes. On the one hand, we provide an overview of major landscape changes and phases of changes in Europe dividing the available evidence into four major regions (Central Europe, Mediterranean, North- and West-Europe). On the other hand, we present case studies where we discuss the potential differences in the impacts of changes in specific vegetation types or the abandonment of formerly cultivated areas (with special emphasis on hilly areas) on the flood regime. In this sense, we make a special emphasis on the LIA-MWP (Little Ice Age - Medieval Warm Period) transition (i.e. 13th-15th centuries) as well as on the period of the early industrial revolution (18th-19th centuries).

Setting them up for lifetime activity: Play competence perceptions and physical activity in young children.