Remembering Erving Goffman

Frederick Elkin, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at York University, wrote this memoir at the request of Dmitri Shalin and gave his approval for posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives. The memoir was received on March 7, 2009, with the addendum received on March 9, 2009

A System to Monitor Cognitive Workload in Naturalistic High-Motion Environments

Across many careers, individuals face alternating periods of high and low attention and cognitive workload can impair cognitive function and undermine job performance. We have designed and are developing an unobtrusive system to Monitor, Extract, and Decode Indicators of Cognitive Workload (MEDIC) in naturalistic, high-motion environments. MEDIC is designed to warn individuals, teammates, or supervisors when steps should be taken to augment cognitive readiness. We first designed and manufactured a forehead sensor device that includes a custom fNIRS sensor and a three-axis accelerometer designed to be mounted on the inside of a baseball cap or headband, or standard issue gear such as a helmet or surgeon’s cap. Because the conditions under which MEDIC is designed to operate are more strenuous than typical research efforts assessing cognitive workload, motion artifacts in our data were a persistent issue. Results show wavelet-based filtering improved data quality to salvage data from even the highest-motion conditions. MARA spline motion correction did not further improve data quality. Our testing shows that each of the methods is extremely effective in reducing the effects of motion transients present in the data. In combination, they are able to almost completely remove the transients in the signal while preserving cardiac and low frequency information in the signal which was previously unrecoverable. This has substantially improved the stability of the physiological measures produced by the sensors in high noise conditions

Serum Biochemistry and Serum Cortisol Levels of Immobilized and Hunted Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) from Northern Canada

Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) are Arctic-adapted ruminants native to the Arctic regions of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. Little is known about the serum biochemistry and serum cortisol of this species, or the effects of chemical immobilization on serum biochemical parameters. This study aimed to describe blood chemistry parameters and cortisol levels in hunted, tame, and chemically immobilized muskoxen and to examine differences in blood chemistry parameters and levels of stress associated with different capture techniques. Serum was collected from 91 adult female muskoxen in northern Canada. For analysis, these muskoxen were classified into six groups, five of free-ranging muskoxen (10 animals shot from snowmobiles near Kugluktuk, Nunavut; 18 chemically immobilized from a helicopter near Kugluktuk; 8 chemically immobilized from a helicopter near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories; 17 shot from snowmobiles near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut; 33 chemically immobilized from a snowmobile near Kugluktuk) and one of tame muskoxen (five tame animals maintained on pasture near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan). All samples were analyzed for cortisol, and 26 serum biochemistry parameters were measured in serum collected from three of the six groups (n = 36). Comparison of four groups showed that serum cortisol levels of muskoxen chemically immobilized from a helicopter near Kugluktuk were significantly higher(p < 0.05) than those of muskoxen chemically immobilized from snowmobiles or shot. A comparison of serum biochemistry from the groups of muskoxen shot and immobilized near Kugluktuk found that serum sodium, creatinine, phosphorus, magnesium, and creatine kinase were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in hunted muskoxen than in chemically immobilized animals, while urea, glucose and gamma glutamyl transferase were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in immobilized muskoxen. Most serum biochemical parameters, however, were similar to those of captive muskoxen. This evidence of differences between hunted and immobilized muskoxen in several serum biochemistry parameters will contribute to further research on the effects of immobilization and other health assessments in this species.Le boeuf musqué (Ovibos moschatus) est un ruminant adapté à l’Arctique qui est natif des régions arctiques du Canada, de l’Alaska et du Groenland. On en sait peu à propos de la biochimie du sérum et du cortisol du sérum de cette espèce ou encore, à propos des effets de l’immobilisation chimique sur les paramètres biochimiques du sérum. Cette étude visait à décrire les paramètres de la chimie du sang et les taux de cortisol chez les boeufs musqués chassés, apprivoisés et chimiquement immobilisés, de même qu’à examiner les différences sur le plan des paramètres de la chimie du sang et des degrés de stress en fonction de diverses méthodes de capture. Du sérum a été prélevé auprès de 91 femelles adultes du nord du Canada. Aux fins de l’analyse, ces boeufs musqués ont été classés en six groupes, dont cinq des groupes étaient composés de boeufs musqués en liberté (10 des boeufs avaient été tirés depuis des motoneiges près de Kugluktuk, au Nunavut; 18 avaient été chimiquement immobilisés à partir d’un hélicoptère près de Kugluktuk; 8 avaient été chimiquement immobilisés à partir d’un hélicoptère près de Norman Wells, dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest; 17 avaient été tirés depuis des motoneiges près de Cambridge Bay, au Nunavut; 33 avaient été chimiquement immobilisés depuis une motoneige près de Kugluktuk) et l’autre groupe était composé de boeufs musqués apprivoisés (5 bêtes évoluant dans des pâturages près de Saskatoon, en Saskatchewan). Dans tous les cas, le cortisol des échantillons a été analysé, puis 26 paramètres biochimiques du sérum ont été mesurés à partir du sérum recueilli chez trois des six groupes (n = 36). Les comparaisons établies pour quatre des groupes ont permis de constater que les taux de cortisol du sérum des boeufs musqués chimiquement immobilisés à partir d’un hélicoptère près de Kugluktuk étaient considérablement plus élevés (p < 0,05) que ceux des boeufs musqués qui avaient été chimiquement immobilisés depuis une motoneige ou qui avaient été tirés. La comparaison de la biochimie du sérum chez les boeufs musqués tirés et immobilisés près de Kugluktuk a permis de déceler que le sodium du sérum, la créatinine, le phosphore, le magnésium et la créatine kinase étaient considérablement plus élevés (p < 0,05) chez le boeuf musqué chassé que chez le boeuf musqué chimiquement immobilisé, tandis que l’urée, le glucose et la gamma-glutamyl-transférase étaient considérablement plus élevés (p < 0,05) chez le boeuf musqué immobilisé. Cependant, la plupart des paramètres biochimiques du sérum étaient semblables à ceux des boeufs musqués en captivité. Ces différences évidentes sur le plan de nombreux paramètres biochimiques du sérum entre le boeuf musqué chassé et le boeuf musqué immobilisé permettront d’approfondir les recherches sur les effets de l’immobilisation et d’autres évaluations de santé de cette espèce

Childhood in Sociology and Society: The US Perspective

The field of childhood studies in the US is comprised of cross-disciplinary researchers who theorize and conduct research on both children and youth. US sociologists who study childhood largely draw on the childhood literature published in English. This article focuses on American sociological contributions, but notes relevant contributions from non-American scholars published in English that have shaped and fueled American research. This article also profiles the institutional support of childhood research in the US, specifically outlining the activities of the ‘Children and Youth’ Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA), and assesses the contributions of this area of study for sociology as well as the implications for an interdisciplinary field.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

The psychological science accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data