83,135 research outputs found

    Why study movement variability in autism?

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    Autism has been defined as a disorder of social cognition, interaction and communication where ritualistic, repetitive behaviors are commonly observed. But how should we understand the behavioral and cognitive differences that have been the main focus of so much autism research? Can high-level cognitive processes and behaviors be identified as the core issues people with autism face, or do these characteristics perhaps often rather reflect individual attempts to cope with underlying physiological issues? Much research presented in this volume will point to the latter possibility, i.e. that people on the autism spectrum cope with issues at much lower physiological levels pertaining not only to Central Nervous Systems (CNS) function, but also to peripheral and autonomic systems (PNS, ANS) (Torres, Brincker, et al. 2013). The question that we pursue in this chapter is what might be fruitful ways of gaining objective measures of the large-scale systemic and heterogeneous effects of early atypical neurodevelopment; how to track their evolution over time and how to identify critical changes along the continuum of human development and aging. We suggest that the study of movement variability—very broadly conceived as including all minute fluctuations in bodily rhythms and their rates of change over time (coined micro-movements (Figure 1A-B) (Torres, Brincker, et al. 2013))—offers a uniquely valuable and entirely objectively quantifiable lens to better assess, understand and track not only autism but cognitive development and degeneration in general. This chapter presents the rationale firstly behind this focus on micro-movements and secondly behind the choice of specific kinds of data collection and statistical metrics as tools of analysis (Figure 1C). In brief the proposal is that the micro-movements (defined in Part I – Chapter 1), obtained using various time scales applied to different physiological data-types (Figure 1), contain information about layered influences and temporal adaptations, transformations and integrations across anatomically semi-independent subsystems that crosstalk and interact. Further, the notion of sensorimotor re-afference is used to highlight the fact that these layered micro-motions are sensed and that this sensory feedback plays a crucial role in the generation and control of movements in the first place. In other words, the measurements of various motoric and rhythmic variations provide an access point not only to the “motor systems”, but also access to much broader central and peripheral sensorimotor and regulatory systems. Lastly, we posit that this new lens can also be used to capture influences from systems of multiple entry points or collaborative control and regulation, such as those that emerge during dyadic social interactions

    Valuing the SDG Prize in Food and Agriculture: Unlocking Business Opportunities to Accelerate Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

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    Business opportunities in the implementation of the SDGs related to food could be worth over US2.3trillionannuallyfortheprivatesectorby2030.InvestmentrequiredtoachievetheseopportunitiesisapproximatelyUS2.3 trillion annually for the private sector by 2030. Investment required to achieve these opportunities is approximately US320 billion per year.These 14 opportunities could also generate almost 80 million jobs by 2030, which represents around 2 per cent of the forecasted labour force.More than two-thirds of the value of the opportunities, and over 90 per cent of the potential job creation, is located in developing countries. That includes roughly 21 million jobs in Africa, 22 million jobs in India, 12 million jobs in China, and 15 million jobs in the rest of Asian developing countries

    Social Sustainability: A design research approach to sustainable development

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    While issues such as clean production and energy efficiency are still central in sustainable development discourse, attention is increasingly on patterns of consumption at multiple levels in society. This opens new opportunities and responsibilities for design research, as we shift from a focus on product lifecycles to people’s lifestyles. It also requires further understanding the ‘social sustainability’ aspects of the environment and development, including the complexity of problematics characterized by uncertainties, contradictions and controversies. In response, we propose a programmatic approach, in which a tentative assemblage of theoretical and experimental strategies frame a common ground for a collaborative and practice-led inquiry. We present a design research program based on two propositions: socio-cultural practices are the basic unit for design, and; transitions, and transition management, are the basic points of design intervention. Rather than affirming the status quo or the prevailing discourse, we argue for design research as a ‘critical practice’, in which cultural diversity, non-humans and multiple futures are considered

    Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning

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    This report is a valuable resource for state policymakers—whether they are seeking to create conditions in state policy to support personalized learning, moving forward with initiatives to develop personalized learning pilot programs, hosting task forces to explore policy issues and needs, or taking a comprehensive policy approach for supporting advanced personalized learning models.Personalized learning is where instruction is tailored to each student's strengths, needs, and interests—including enabling student voice and choice in what, how, when, and where they learn—to provide flexibility and supports to ensure mastery of the highest standards possible

    Technological learning for innovating towards sustainable cultivation practices: the Vietnamese smallholder rose sector

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    Deregulation and globalisation has altered the views of public involvement in development and led to strategies focusing on private sector participation. An implicit assumption seems to be that these linkages will enhance the technological capacity of smallholder producers by way of more cost-efficient technologies trickling down through the value chain or by quality requirements inducing best practices. The argument put forward in this paper is that sustainable non traditional agricultural chain development requires more purposeful actions and institutional transitions, both in the public and private spheres, targeting improved upstream innovative capacities. Empirical findings from a Dutch-Vietnamese partnership on sustainable floriculture development are used. Research revealed that the pest and disease control solutions applied by smallholder rose growers were incremental adaptations of experiences obtained in former food crop cultivation practices. Floriculture however may require more drastic changes in cultivation practices to make the sector more environmentally benign. In the case of smallholder Vietnamese flower producers, this implies adaptation of knowledge and skills currently not present. An important hindrance in promoting this knowledge and skills appears to be the weak vertical linkages between flower growers and public and private research and development organizations

    Environmental test chamber for the support of learning and teaching in intelligent control

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    The paper describes the utility of a low cost, 1 m2 by 2 m forced ventilation, micro-climate test chamber, for the support of research and teaching in mechatronics. Initially developed for the evaluation of a new ventilation rate controller, the fully instrumented chamber now provides numerous learning opportunities and individual projects for both undergraduate and postgraduate research students

    An Evolutionary Algorithm to Optimize Log/Restore Operations within Optimistic Simulation Platforms

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    In this work we address state recoverability in advanced optimistic simulation systems by proposing an evolutionary algorithm to optimize at run-time the parameters associated with state log/restore activities. Optimization takes place by adaptively selecting for each simulation object both (i) the best suited log mode (incremental vs non-incremental) and (ii) the corresponding optimal value of the log interval. Our performance optimization approach allows to indirectly cope with hidden effects (e.g., locality) as well as cross-object effects due to the variation of log/restore parameters for different simulation objects (e.g., rollback thrashing). Both of them are not captured by literature solutions based on analytical models of the overhead associated with log/restore tasks. More in detail, our evolutionary algorithm dynamically adjusts the log/restore parameters of distinct simulation objects as a whole, towards a well suited configuration. In such a way, we prevent negative effects on performance due to the biasing of the optimization towards individual simulation objects, which may cause reduced gains (or even decrease) in performance just due to the aforementioned hidden and/or cross-object phenomena. We also present an application-transparent implementation of the evolutionary algorithm within the ROme OpTimistic Simulator (ROOT-Sim), namely an open source, general purpose simulation environment designed according to the optimistic synchronization paradigm

    Experimentally measurement and analysis of stress under foundation slab

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    Understanding of a load redistribution into subsoil below building foundation is an important knowledge for reliable design and its economy too. The article presents the results of a physical model of a foundation slab and its interaction with the subsoil. The interactions were investigated comprehensively by monitoring the developments of stress in the subsoil and foundation slab settlement during its loading. The load acting on the foundation was applied by strutting the hydraulic press against heavy steel frame which was established by the Department of Building Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering of VSB -TU Ostrava for this purpose. The preparatory phase of the present experiment involved the homogenization of soil during which trio pressure cells in three horizons were gradually fitted. The quality of homogenization was checked on an ongoing basis through field tests: dynamic penetration load test, dynamic plate load test and seismic measurement of foundation slab response. Finally, the homogenized soil was subjected to mechanical analysis to determine the strength and deformation parameters for basic Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model.Web of Science133513512
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