Countermeasures to Enhance Sensorimotor Adaptability

During exploration-class missions, sensorimotor disturbances may lead to disruption in the ability to ambulate and perform functional tasks during the initial introduction to a novel gravitational environment following a landing on a planetary surface. The goal of our current project is to develop a sensorimotor adaptability (SA) training program to facilitate rapid adaptation to novel gravitational environments. We have developed a unique training system comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene that provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. We have conducted a series of studies that have shown: Training using a combination of modified visual flow and support surface motion during treadmill walking enhances locomotor adaptability to a novel sensorimotor environment. Trained individuals become more proficient at performing multiple competing tasks while walking during adaptation to novel discordant sensorimotor conditions. Trained subjects can retain their increased level of adaptability over a six months period. SA training is effective in producing increased adaptability in a more complex over-ground ambulatory task on an obstacle course. This confirms that for a complex task like walking, treadmill training contains enough of the critical features of overground walking to be an effective training modality. The structure of individual training sessions can be optimized to promote fast/strategic motor learning. Training sessions that each contain short-duration exposures to multiple perturbation stimuli allows subjects to acquire a greater ability to rapidly reorganize appropriate response strategies when encountering a novel sensory environment. Individual sensory biases (i.e. increased visual dependency) can predict adaptive responses to novel sensory environments suggesting that customized training prescriptions can be developed to enhance adaptability. These results indicate that SA training techniques can be added to existing treadmill exercise equipment and procedures to produce a single integrated countermeasure system to improve performance of astro/cosmonauts during prolonged exploratory space missions

Moral Hypocrisy and Acting for Reasons: How Moralizing Can Invite Self-Deception

According to some, contemporary social psychology is aptly described as a study in moral hypocrisy. In this paper we argue that this is unfortunate when understood as establishing that we only care about appearing to act morally, not about true moral action. A philosophically more interesting interpretation of the “moral hypocrisy”-findings understands it to establish that we care so much about morality that it might lead to (1) self-deception about the moral nature of our motives and/or (2) misperceptions regarding what we should or should not do in everyday or experimental situations. In this paper we argue for this claim by elaborating on a fascinating series of experiments by Daniel Batson and his colleagues who have consistently contributed to the moral hypocrisy findings since the late nineties, and showing in what way they contribute to a better understanding of moral agency, rather than undermine the idea that we are moral agents

Training to Facilitate Adaptation to Novel Sensory Environments

After spaceflight, the process of readapting to Earth s gravity causes locomotor dysfunction. We are developing a gait training countermeasure to facilitate adaptive responses in locomotor function. Our training system is comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene that provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to train subjects to rapidly adapt their gait patterns to changes in the sensory environment. The goal of our present study was to determine if training improved both the locomotor and dual-tasking ability responses to a novel sensory environment and to quantify the retention of training. Subjects completed three, 30-minute training sessions during which they walked on the treadmill while receiving discordant support surface and visual input. Control subjects walked on the treadmill without any support surface or visual alterations. To determine the efficacy of training, all subjects were then tested using a novel visual flow and support surface movement not previously experienced during training. This test was performed 20 minutes, 1 week, and 1, 3, and 6 months after the final training session. Stride frequency and auditory reaction time were collected as measures of postural stability and cognitive effort, respectively. Subjects who received training showed less alteration in stride frequency and auditory reaction time compared to controls. Trained subjects maintained their level of performance over 6 months. We conclude that, with training, individuals became more proficient at walking in novel discordant sensorimotor conditions and were able to devote more attention to competing tasks

Training Enhances Both Locomotor and Cognitive Adaptability to a Novel Sensory Environment

During adaptation to novel gravitational environments, sensorimotor disturbances have the potential to disrupt the ability of astronauts to perform required mission tasks. The goal of this project is to develop a sensorimotor adaptability (SA) training program to facilitate rapid adaptation. We have developed a unique training system comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene that provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. The goal of our present study was to determine if SA training improved both the locomotor and cognitive responses to a novel sensory environment and to quantify the extent to which training would be retained. Methods: Twenty subjects (10 training, 10 control) completed three, 30-minute training sessions during which they walked on the treadmill while receiving discordant support surface and visual input. Control subjects walked on the treadmill but did not receive any support surface or visual alterations. To determine the efficacy of training all subjects performed the Transfer Test upon completion of training. For this test, subjects were exposed to novel visual flow and support surface movement, not previously experienced during training. The Transfer Test was performed 20 minutes, 1 week, 1, 3 and 6 months after the final training session. Stride frequency, auditory reaction time, and heart rate data were collected as measures of postural stability, cognitive effort and anxiety, respectively. Results: Using mixed effects regression methods we determined that subjects who received SA training showed less alterations in stride frequency, auditory reaction time and heart rate compared to controls. Conclusion: Subjects who received SA training improved performance across a number of modalities including enhanced locomotor function, increased multi-tasking capability and reduced anxiety during adaptation to novel discordant sensory information. Trained subjects maintained their level of performance over six months

China and the crisis : global power, domestic caution and local initiative

Even though the global crisis had a quick and dramatic impact on Chinese exports, the Chinese government responded with a range of policy responses that have helped maintain high rates of growth. This success has helped propel China to the centre of global politics, accelerating what many perceive to be a power shift from the West to China. But these gains were achieved by reversing policy in previous years designed to make a fundamental shift in China‟s mode of development, and have highlighted the problems associated with making such a transition. At the moment that many are looking at the Chinese "model" as a potential alternative to the Washington Consensus, one of the consequences of the crisis is to further question the long term efficacy of this "model" in China itself

Locomotor Adaptation Improves Balance Control, Multitasking Ability and Reduces the Metabolic Cost of Postural Instability

During exploration-class missions, sensorimotor disturbances may lead to disruption in the ability to ambulate and perform functional tasks during the initial introduction to a novel gravitational environment following a landing on a planetary surface. The overall goal of our current project is to develop a sensorimotor adaptability training program to facilitate rapid adaptation to these environments. We have developed a unique training system comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene. It provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. Greater metabolic cost incurred during balance instability means more physical work is required during adaptation to new environments possibly affecting crewmembers? ability to perform mission critical tasks during early surface operations on planetary expeditions. The goal of this study was to characterize adaptation to a discordant sensory challenge across a number of performance modalities including locomotor stability, multi-tasking ability and metabolic cost. METHODS: Subjects (n=15) walked (4.0 km/h) on a treadmill for an 8 -minute baseline walking period followed by 20-minutes of walking (4.0 km/h) with support surface motion (0.3 Hz, sinusoidal lateral motion, peak amplitude 25.4 cm) provided by the treadmill/motion-base system. Stride frequency and auditory reaction time were collected as measures of locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, respectively. Metabolic data (VO2) were collected via a portable metabolic gas analysis system. RESULTS: At the onset of lateral support surface motion, subj ects walking on our treadmill showed an increase in stride frequency and auditory reaction time indicating initial balance and multi-tasking disturbances. During the 20-minute adaptation period, balance control and multi-tasking performance improved. Similarly, throughout the 20-minute adaptation period, VO2 gradually decreased following an initial increase after the onset of support surface motion. DISCUSSION: Resu lts confirmed that walking in discordant conditions not only compromises locomotor stability and the ability to multi-task, but comes at a quantifiable metabolic cost. Importantly, like locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, metabolic expenditure while walking in discordant sensory conditions improved during adaptation. This confirms that sensorimotor adaptability training can benefit multiple performance parameters central to the successful completion of critical mission tasks

Temperature effects on dislocation core energies in silicon and germanium

Temperature effects on the energetics of the 90-degree partial dislocation in silicon and germanium are investigated, using non-equilibrium methods to estimate free energies, coupled with Monte Carlo simulations. Atomic interactions are described by Tersoff and EDIP interatomic potentials. Our results indicate that the vibrational entropy has the effect of increasing the difference in free energy between the two possible reconstructions of the 90-degree partial, namely, the single-period and the double-period geometries. This effect further increases the energetic stability of the double-period reconstruction at high temperatures. The results also indicate that anharmonic effects may play an important role in determining the structural properties of these defects in the high-temperature regime.Comment: 8 pages in two-column physical-review format with six figure

Religious Styles Predict Interreligious Prejudice: A Study of German Adolescents with the Religious Schema Scale

Streib H, Klein C. Religious Styles Predict Interreligious Prejudice: A Study of German Adolescents with the Religious Schema Scale. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 2014;24(2):151-163.Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of interreligious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, Truth of Texts & Teachings (ttt), Fairness, Tolerance & Rational Choice (ftr), and Xenosophia/Interreligious Dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, whereas ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with interreligious prejudice. Results of an analysis of variance using high agreement on ttt, ftr, and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in interreligious prejudice in relation to religious development