The paradox from within: research participants doing-being-observed

This article analyses a collection of cases from video recordings of naturally occurring interaction in institutional settings, where members display an orientation to the presence of the recording equipment. Such instances have been treated elsewhere as evidence of contamination of the ecology of the setting. The findings suggest that participants do remain aware of the recording activity, but that they publicly display when they are attending to it. Indeed, it is used as one resource to occasion identity work as competent, knowledgeable members of a particular institutional community, displaying to one another their understanding of the research aims, and their knowledge of how these kinds of data are constituted. Investigating how observational research is oriented to and constituted by the observed allows for a better understanding of what at that moment and in that setting is deemed recording-appropriate or -inappropriate conduct, and offers a more nuanced perspective on how data are co-constituted

Muscle activity and inactivity periods during normal daily life

Recent findings suggest that not only the lack of physical activity, but also prolonged times of sedentary behaviour where major locomotor muscles are inactive, significantly increase the risk of chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to provide details of quadriceps and hamstring muscle inactivity and activity during normal daily life of ordinary people. Eighty-four volunteers (44 females, 40 males, 44.1±17.3 years, 172.3±6.1 cm, 70.1±10.2 kg) were measured during normal daily life using shorts measuring muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity (recording time 11.3±2.0 hours). EMG was normalized to isometric MVC (EMGMVC) during knee flexion and extension, and inactivity threshold of each muscle group was defined as 90% of EMG activity during standing (2.5±1.7% of EMGMVC). During normal daily life the average EMG amplitude was 4.0±2.6% and average activity burst amplitude was 5.8±3.4% of EMGMVC (mean duration of 1.4±1.4 s) which is below the EMG level required for walking (5 km/h corresponding to EMG level of about 10% of EMGMVC). Using the proposed individual inactivity threshold, thigh muscles were inactive 67.5±11.9% of the total recording time and the longest inactivity periods lasted for 13.9±7.3 min (2.5–38.3 min). Women had more activity bursts and spent more time at intensities above 40% EMGMVC than men (p<0.05). In conclusion, during normal daily life the locomotor muscles are inactive about 7.5 hours, and only a small fraction of muscle\u27s maximal voluntary activation capacity is used averaging only 4% of the maximal recruitment of the thigh muscles. Some daily non-exercise activities such as stair climbing produce much higher muscle activity levels than brisk walking, and replacing sitting by standing can considerably increase cumulative daily muscle activity

Naista merkitsevät sanat pohjoispohjalaisessa kansanrunoudessa

Tutkimukseni aiheena on lekseemien akka, emäntä, eukko, vaimo, ämmä, neito ja tyttö merkitys ja käyttö kansanrunoudessa. Aineistonani on Suomen kansan vanhojen runojen (SKVR) osat XII1 ja XII2 eli Pohjois-Pohjanmaalta kerätyt kansanrunot sähköisenä korpuksena. Runoja aineistoissani on yhteensä 476. Tavoitteenani on selvittää, millaisia merkityksiä akka, emäntä, eukko, vaimo, ämmä, neito ja tyttö saavat kansanrunoudessa, millaisissa konteksteissa ne viittaavat tiettyihin merkityksiin sekä millaisia kollokaatteja ja sävyjä lekseemit saavat. Vertaan myös tutkimieni lekseemien sanakirjamerkityksiä, merkitystä Suomen murteissa ja runoista esiin nousseita merkityksiä ja selvitän, ovatko merkitykset muuttuneet ajan saatossa. Apunani tässä ovat Kielitoimiston sanakirja, Nykysuomen sanakirja sekä Suomen murteiden sanakirjan ja Suomen murteiden sana-arkiston kokoelmat. Tavoitteenani on lisäksi selvittää, saadaanko kansanrunojen naiskuvasta vihjeitä merkityksiä selvittämällä. Tutkimukseni teoreettisena ja metodisena taustana ovat murremaantiede, leksikaalinen semantiikka, kontekstuaalinen semantiikka ja filologinen tekstintutkimus. Käytännössä tarkastelen, mitä tutkimani lekseemin sisältävä säe tarkoittaa ja on tarkoittanut tekstin aikaisessa kulttuurissa ja kuinka runo kokonaisuudessaan on tulkittava. Tämä muodostaa kontekstin, jonka perusteella etsin merkityksen tutkimalleni lekseemille. Murremaantiede on tutkimuksessani mukana siltä osin, että vertaan kansanrunoista löytämiäni merkityksiä murteista löytyviin merkityksiin. Tutkimukseni osoittaa, että akka, emäntä, eukko, vaimo, ämmä, neito ja tyttö saavat kansanrunoudessa yhteneväisiä merkityksiä Kielitoimiston sanakirjan, Nykysuomen sanakirjan ja murteista löytyvien merkityksien kanssa. Lisäksi akka saa uudeksi merkityksekseen ’äidin’, emäntä ’emuun’, eukko ’talon tai paikan naispuolisen hallitsijan’, vaimo ’synnyttäjän’, ämmä ’talon tai paikan naispuolisen hallitsijan’ ja neito ’morsiamen’ sekä ’talon tai paikan nuoremman naispuolisen asukkaan’. Vaikka murteet ja nykysuomi esittävät akan, eukon ja ämmän halventavina nimityksinä, kansanrunouden kieli tuo ne esiin suhteellisen neutraaleina ilmauksina. Neito ei saa aineistossani ollenkaan negatiivisia määreitä. Ylistävät kollokaatit ja määreet liitetään lähinnä mytologisiin naishahmoihin, joten akka, emäntä, eukko, vaimo, ämmä, tyttö ja neito ovat mytologisina hahmoina korkeammassa asemassa kuin todellisina hahmoina. Todellisina hahmoina naiset liikkuvat runoissa arkisen elämän piirissä ja nähdäkseni näihin viitataan sen tähden suhteellisen neutraaliin sävyyn

Laughter as medical providers' resource : negotiating informed choice in prenatal genetic counseling

This article aims to challenge the perception that in medical encounters laughter is an interactional resource primarily employed by patients. Drawing on 34 video-recorded prenatal genetic counseling (PGC) sessions collected in a Hong Kong hospital, and combining quantitative and qualitative methods, we illustrate that laughter is in fact frequently employed by the medical providers in our data. The particular focus of the article is on the ways in which laughter initiated by the medical providers assists interlocutors in negotiating informed choice, a crucial aspect of PGC sessions. Findings indicate that laughter initiated by the medical providers performs at least two PGC-specific functions: It assists the medical providers in olaughing offo and overcoming patients' resistance, and it helps them in dealing with patients' direct questions. Laughter is thus an important resource for the medical providers in pursuing the institutional goals of the interaction, namely negotiating informed choice with their patients

Using Laugh Responses to Defuse Complaints

This research uses conversation analysis to explore a collection of extracts from telephone calls involving laughter as a response in a sequence characterized by complaining. In these instances, the laugh responses fail to align with the complaint in progress and are somewhat disaffiliative (in that they do not display the same stance as that taken by the complainant). However, they do not strongly disaffiliate; they do not, for example, overtly disagree with complaint-relevant assessments produced in prior turns. In this way, recipients of a complaint work to display a somewhat discordant stance to that of the teller, and to discourage further development of the topic in progress while maintaining social solidarity. Thus, the current research adds to the finding (see also Drew, 1987, and Jefferson, Sacks, & Schegloff, 1987) that laughter can be located somewhere in the middle of a continuum ranging from overt affiliation to disaffiliatio

Effects of cognitive and motor dual-task on spatiotemporal gait parameters in children and adolescents with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) causes impairments in gait1. These impairments can be further emphasized if attention is directed to concurrent motor and/or cognitive tasks during gait. There is little evidence on how strong the dual-tasks cost is in CP. However, concurrent motor dual tasks has been shown to reduce speed, step width, and stride length in children with CP2, whose gait is often less stable3 and imbalanced between limbs4.nonPeerReviewe

Asymmetric gait results in symmetric muscular demands in affected versus unaffected side ankle and knee extensors in hemiplegic CP children

Children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit asymmetric gait due to compromised neuromuscular function of the affected lower limb [1]. According to a longstanding theory, natural gait patterns coincide with the minimal metabolic cost [2]. We hypothesized that biomechanical constraints may also play a critical role in determining the way humans move; for example, leading to compensation strategies that help to accommodate compromised paretic limb force production. To test this, we examined gait pattern asymmetries and relative muscle efforts of the ankle and knee extensors between affected versus unaffected lower limbs in hemiplegic CP children.nonPeerReviewe