Action-sentence compatibility: The role of action effects and timing

Research on embodied approaches to language comprehension suggests that we understand linguistic descriptions of actions by mentally simulating these actions. Evidence is provided by the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) which shows that sensibility judgments for sentences are faster when the direction of the described action matches the response direction. In two experiments, we investigated whether the ACE relies on actions or on intended action effects. Participants gave sensibility judgments of auditorily presented sentences by producing an action effect on a screen at a location near the body or far from the body. These action effects were achieved by pressing a response button that was located in either the same spatial direction as the action effect, or in the opposite direction. We used a go/no-go task in which the direction of the to-be-produced action effect was either cued at the onset of each sentence (Experiment 1) or at different points in time before and after sentence onset (Experiment 2). Overall, results showed a relationship between the direction of the described action and the direction of the action effect. Furthermore, Experiment 2 indicated that depending on the timing between cue presentation and sentence onset, participants responded either faster when the direction of the described action matched the direction of the action effect (positive ACE), or slower (negative ACE). These results provide evidence that the comprehension of action sentences involves the activation of representations of action effects. Concurrently activated representations in sentence comprehension and action planning can lead to both priming and interference, which is discussed in the context of the theory of event coding

Digital Communication Channel Selection for Organizational Leadership: Best Practices for Interacting with Dispersed Stakeholders

As organizations embrace hybrid and remote work models, there is a growing need for organizational leaders to use digital communication channels to maintain active communication with dispersed stakeholders. The purpose of this study was to analyze what digital communication channels have been implemented by organizational leadership and why they were selected. LinkedIn, Twitter, and corporate posts from six CEOs within the New York Metropolitan area were analyzed over a four-year period. Results revealed that personal social media channels were the most frequent forms of communication. Additionally, multimedia and multichannel strategies enhanced the communication messages and led to a best practices guide for executives

Altered distribution of mucosal NK cells during HIV infection.

The human gut mucosa is a major site of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and infection-associated pathogenesis. Increasing evidence shows that natural killer (NK) cells have an important role in control of HIV infection, but the mechanism(s) by which they mediate antiviral activity in the gut is unclear. Here, we show that two distinct subsets of NK cells exist in the gut, one localized to intraepithelial spaces (intraepithelial lymphocytes, IELs) and the other to the lamina propria (LP). The frequency of both subsets of NK cells was reduced in chronic infection, whereas IEL NK cells remained stable in spontaneous controllers with protective killer immunoglobulin-like receptor/human leukocyte antigen genotypes. Both IEL and LP NK cells were significantly expanded in immunological non-responsive patients, who incompletely recovered CD4+ T cells on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). These data suggest that both IEL and LP NK cells may expand in the gut in an effort to compensate for compromised CD4+ T-cell recovery, but that only IEL NK cells may be involved in providing durable control of HIV in the gut

Recruitment via social media: advantages and potential biases

© The Author(s) 2019. Background: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors are under-represented in research. Social media is increasingly used for recruitment given its ability to reach large audiences. Differences in participant characteristics and potential biases due to recruitment source are not well understood. Purpose: This study aimed to: (a) compare recruitment strategies (hospital-based v. social media) in enrollment metrics, and (b) among enrolled participants, evaluate group differences in patient characteristics and patient reported outcomes (PROs). Methods: Preliminary data from a cancer and fertility study with female AYAs were evaluated. Hospital-based recruitment used electronic medical records (EMR) to identify eligible patients. Social media recruitment involved posting on partner organizations’ social media outlets. PROs included validated measures related to the parent study. Descriptive statistics evaluated recruitment metrics. Independent samples t-tests and chi-square identified differences in participant characteristics and PROs based on recruitment. Results: Social media yielded a higher enrollment rate (37%; n = 54/146) compared with hospital-based recruitment (7%; n = 21/289) and required fewer study resources. Compared with hospital-based recruitment, participants from social media were more likely to be White (p = 0.01), with a longer time since treatment (p = 0.03); and reported higher levels of reproductive concern (p = 0.004) and negative mood (p = 0.02), and more negative illness perceptions (ps \u3c 0.05). Conclusion: Recruitment via social media may be a more effective and efficient strategy compared with hospital-based methods. However, group differences were identified that could bias findings and limit generalizability. Advantages of social media should be considered with an understanding of how methodology may impact enrollment and results

Application of Building Typologies for Modelling the Energy Balance of the Residential Building Stock

Building typologies can serve as a basis for analysing the national housing sector. During the TABULA project which was introducing or further developing building typologies in thirteen EU countries, six of the European partners have carried out model calculations which aim at imaging the energy consumption and estimating the energy saving potentials of their national residential building stocks (IWU / Germany, NOA / Greece, POLITO / Italy, VITO / Belgium, STU-K / Czech Republic, SBi / Denmark). The results show that the model calculations can provide plausible projections of the energy consumption of the national residential buildings stock. The fit of model calculations and national energy statistics is satisfactory, deviations can often be explained and corrected by adapting standard boundary conditions of the applied calculation models to more realistic values. In general, the analysis shows that building typologies can be a helpful tool for modelling the energy consumption of national building stocks and for carrying out scenario analysis beyond the TABULA project. The consideration of a set of representative buildings makes it possible to have a detailed view on various packages of measures for the complete buildings stock or for its sub-categories. The effects of different insulation measures at the respective construction elements as well as different heat supply measures including renewable energies can be considered in detail. The quality of future model calculations will depend very much on the availability of statistical data. For reliable scenario analysis information is necessary about the current state of the building stock (How many buildings and heating systems have been refurbished until now?) and about the current trends (How many buildings and heating systems are being refurbished every year?). The availability and regular update of the relevant statistical data will be an important basis for the development and evaluation of national climate protection strategies in the building secto

Corporate digital responsibility

We propose that digital technologies and related data become increasingly prevalent and that, consequently, ethical concerns arise. Looking at four principal stakeholders, we propose corporate digital responsibility (CDR) as a novel concept. We define CDR as the set of shared values and norms guiding an organization\u27s operations with respect to four main processes related to digital technology and data. These processes are the creation of technology and data capture, operation and decision making, inspection and impact assessment, and refinement of technology and data. We expand our discussion by highlighting how to managerially effectuate CDR compliant behavior based on an organizational culture perspective. Our conceptualization unlocks future research opportunities, especially regarding pertinent antecedents and consequences. Managerially, we shed first light on how an organization\u27s shared values and norms regarding CDR can get translated into actionable guidelines for users. This provides grounds for future discussions related to CDR readiness, implementation, and success

Estimación de la supervivencia anual de aves canoras migratorias bajo el efecto de una fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción: diseños de estudios que pueden resultar de utilidad

Many species of bird exhibit varying degrees of site–fidelity to the previous year’s territory or breeding area, a phenomenon we refer to as incomplete breeding site–fidelity. If the territory they occupy is located beyond the bounds of the study area or search area (i.e., they have emigrated from the study area), the bird will go undetected and is therefore indistinguishable from dead individuals in capture–mark–recapture studies. Differential emigration rates confound inferences regarding differences in survival between sexes and among species if apparent survival rates are used as estimates of true survival. Moreover, the bias introduced by using apparent survival rates for true survival rates can have profound effects on the predictions of population persistence through time, source/sink dynamics, and other aspects of life–history theory. We investigated four study design and analysis approaches that result in apparent survival estimates that are closer to true survival estimates. Our motivation for this research stemmed from a multi–year capture–recapture study of Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) on multiple study plots within a larger landscape of suitable breeding habitat where substantial inter–annual movements of marked individuals among neighboring study plots was documented. We wished to quantify the effects of this type of movement on annual survival estimation. The first two study designs we investigated involved marking birds in a core area and resighting them in the core as well as an area surrounding the core. For the first of these two designs, we demonstrated that as the resighting area surrounding the core gets progressively larger, and more "emigrants" are resighted, apparent survival estimates begin to approximate true survival rates (bias < 0.01). However, given observed inter–annual movements of birds, it is likely to be logistically impractical to resight birds on sufficiently large surrounding areas to minimize bias. Therefore, as an alternative protocol, we analyzed the data with subsets of three progressively larger areas surrounding the core. The data subsets provided four estimates of apparent survival that asymptotically approached true survival. This study design and analytical approach is likely to be logistically feasible in field settings and yields estimates of true survival unbiased (bias < 0.03) by incomplete breeding site–fidelity over a range of inter–annual territory movement patterns. The third approach we investigated used a robust design data collection and analysis approach. This approach resulted in estimates of survival that were unbiased (bias < 0.02), but were very imprecise and likely would not yield reliable estimates in field situations. The fourth approach utilized a fixed study area size, but modeled detection probability as a function of bird proximity to the study plot boundary (e.g., those birds closest to the edge are more likely to emigrate). This approach also resulted in estimates of survival that were unbiased (bias < 0.02), but because the individual covariates were normalized, the average capture probability was 0.50, and thus did not provide an accurate estimate of the true capture probability. Our results show that the core–area with surrounding resight–only can provide estimates of survival that are not biased by the effects of incomplete breeding site–fidelity.Numerosas especies de aves presentan distintos grados de fidelidad al territorio o área de reproducción del año anterior, fenómeno que denominamos fidelidad incompleta al lugar de reproducción. Si el territorio que ocupan las aves está situado más allá del área de estudio o investigación (es decir, si las aves han emigrado del área de estudio), el ave no podrá ser detectada y, por consiguiente, en los estudios de captura–marcaje–recaptura, no podrá distinguirse de los individuos muertos. Si se emplean las tasas de supervivencia aparente como estimaciones de la supervivencia real, las tasas de emigración diferencial sesgan las distintas inferencias sobre variaciones en supervivencia entre sexos y entre especies. Además, el sesgo introducido por el empleo de tasas de supervivencia aparente en lugar de tasas de supervivencia real puede repercutir significativamente en las predicciones de la persistencia poblacional a través del tiempo, la dinámica de fuente/sumidero, y otros aspectos de la teoría sobre historias vitales. Investigamos cuatro enfoques de diseños de estudios y análisis que proporcionan estimaciones de supervivencia aparente más próximas a las estimaciones de supervivencia real. Esta investigación es fruto de un estudio multianual de captura–recaptura de reinitas cabecidoradas (Protonotaria citrea) en múltiples parcelas de estudio incluidas en un paisaje más amplio de hábitats de reproducción adecuados, en los que se documentaron los movimientos interanuales más importantes entre distintas parcelas de estudio adyacentes por parte de individuos marcados. Nuestro objetivo era cuantificar los efectos de este tipo de movimiento en la estimación de la supervivencia anual. Los dos primeros diseños de estudio que investigamos consistían en el marcaje de aves en un área central, para posteriormente volverlas a avistar, tanto en dicha área como en un área adyacente a la misma. Por lo que respecta al primero de estos dos diseños, demostramos que cuando el área de reavistaje que rodea al área central se va ampliando y el número de "emigrantes" reavistados aumenta, las estimaciones de supervivencia aparente empiezan a aproximarse a las tasas de supervivencia real (sesgo < 0,01). Sin embargo, teniendo en cuenta los movimientos interanuales de las aves observados, lo más probable es que, desde un punto de vista logístico, no resulte práctico reavistar aves en áreas adyacentes que sean lo suficientemente amplias como para minimizar el sesgo. Por consiguiente, como protocolo alternativo, analizamos los datos con subconjuntos de tres áreas adyacentes al área principal, que se iban ampliando de forma progresiva. Los subconjuntos de datos proporcionaron cuatro estimaciones de supervivencia aparente que abordaban asintóticamente la supervivencia real. Lo más probable es que, desde un punto de vista logístico, este diseño de estudio y enfoque analítico resulte viable en estudios de campo, además de producir estimaciones de supervivencia real no sesgadas (sesgo < 0,03) por fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción en un rango de patrones de movimiento territorial interanual. El tercer enfoque que investigamos empleaba una serie de datos de un diseño robusto de toma de datos y un enfoque analítico. Este enfoque proporcionó estimaciones de supervivencia que, si bien no eran sesgadas (sesgo < 0,02), resultaban muy imprecisas, por lo que probablemente no proporcionarían estimaciones fiables en situaciones de campo. El cuarto enfoque utilizaba un tamaño de área de estudio fijo, pero modelaba la probabilidad de detección como una función de la proximidad de las aves al límite de la parcela de estudio (es decir, las aves situadas más cerca del borde presentan más probabilidades de emigrar). Este enfoque también produjo estimaciones de supervivencia no sesgadas (sesgo < 0,02), pero debido a que las covarianzas individuales se normalizaron, la probabilidad de captura media era de 0,50, por lo que no proporcionaba una estimación precisa de la probabilidad de captura real. Nuestros resultados demuestran que el hecho de combinar el área principal con áreas adyacentes dedicadas exclusivamente al reavistaje puede proporcionar estimaciones de supervivencia que no resulten sesgadas por los efectos de una fidelidad incompleta al área de reproducción