Hollywood and student learning

During second semester 1997 we undertook a project to ascertain how the use of Hollywood feature films with historical content affected students' learning of twentieth century American History. Questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews were used to gauge the impact of films on student learning. In this Research Vignette we will report on our findings

Feature film and teaching/learning

What are the effects of feature film on student learning? While it seems widely assumed that the use of feature films in teaching serves to pique student interest and facilitate learning, there has been relatively little study of learning produced by films. What work has been done in this field mainly focuses on educationally designed instruction/training films rather than popular cinema productions. This is an area of special interest to me, since in 1997 I will be offering a unit titled Hollywood and History. The course examines twentieth century America through the lens of feature films such as JFK, Malcolm X and Apocalypse Now. For some time many historians have accepted the intrinsic value of feature films in teaching history, but without specific examination of how this affects student learning. I am interested in exploring this dilemma

Ego-Splitting and the Transcendental Subject. Kant’s Original Insight and Husserl’s Reappraisal

In this paper, I contend that there are at least two essential traits that commonly define being an I: self-identity and self-consciousness. I argue that they bear quite an odd relation to each other in the sense that self-consciousness seems to jeopardize self-identity. My main concern is to elucidate this issue within the range of the transcendental philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Husserl. In the first section, I shall briefly consider Kant’s own rendition of the problem of the Egosplitting. My reading of the Kantian texts reveals that Kant himself was aware of this phenomenon but eventually deems it an unexplainable fact. The second part of the paper tackles the same problematic from the standpoint of Husserlian phenomenology. What Husserl’s extensive analyses on this topic bring to light is that the phenomenon of the Ego-splitting constitutes the bedrock not only of his thought but also of every philosophy that works within the framework of transcendental thinking

Biomechanical analysis of body movements of myoelectric prosthesis users during standardized clinical tests

Objective: The objective clinical evaluation of user's capabilities to handle their prosthesis is done using various tests which primarily focus on the task completion speed and do not explicitly account for the potential presence of compensatory motions. Given that the excessive body compensation is a common indicator of inadequate prosthesis control, tests which include subjective observations on the quality of performed motions have been introduced. However, these metrics are then influenced by the examiner's opinions, skills, and training making them harder to standardize across patient pools and compare across different prosthetic technologies. Here we aim to objectively quantify the severity of body compensations present in myoelectric prosthetic hand users and evaluate the extent to which traditional objective clinical scores are still able to capture them. Methods: We have instructed 9 below-elbow prosthesis users and 9 able-bodied participants to complete three established objective clinical tests: Box-and-Blocks-Test, Clothespin-Relocation-Test, and Southampton-Hand-Assessment-Procedure. During all tests, upper-body kinematics has been recorded. Results: While the analysis showed that there are some correlations between the achieved clinical scores and the individual body segment travel distances and average speeds, there were only weak correlations between the clinical scores and the observed ranges of motion. At the same time, the compensations were observed in all prosthesis users and, for the most part, they were substantial across the tests. Conclusion: The sole reliance on the currently available objective clinical assessment methods seems inadequate as the compensatory movements are prominent in prosthesis users and yet not sufficiently accounted for

Positive energy balance is associated with accelerated muscle atrophy and increased erythrocyte glutathione turnover during 5 wk of bed rest

Background: Physical inactivity is often associated with positive energy balance and fat gain. Objective: We aimed to assess whether energy intake in excess of requirement activates systemic inflammation and antioxidant defenses and accelerates muscle atrophy induced by inactivity. Design: Nineteen healthy male volunteers were studied before and at the end of 5 wk of bed rest. Subjects were allowed to spontaneously adapt to decreased energy requirement (study A, n = 10) or were provided with an activity-matched diet (study B, n = 9). Groups with higher (HEB) or lower (LEB) energy balance were identified according to median values of inactivity-induced changes in fat mass (\u394FM, assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis). Results: In pooled subjects (n = 19; median \u394FM: 1.4 kg), bed rest-mediated decreases in fat-free mass (bioelectrical impedance analysis) and vastus lateralis thickness (ultrasound imaging) were significantly greater (P < 0.03) in HEBAB (-3.8 \ub1 0.4kg and -0.32 \ub1 0.04 cm, respectively) than in LEBab (-2.3 \ub1 0.5 kg and -0.09 \ub1 0.04 cm, respectively) subjects. In study A (median \u394FM: 1.8 kg), bed rest-mediated increases in plasma leptin, C-reactive protein, and myeloperoxidase were greater (P < 0.04) in HEBA than in LEBA subjects. Bed rest-mediated changes of glutathione synthesis rate in eythrocytes (L-[3,3-2H2]cysteine incorporation) were greater (P = 0.03) in HEBA (from 70 \ub1 19 to 164 \ub1 29%/d) than in LEBA (from 103 \ub1 23 to 84 \ub1 27%/d) subjects. Conclusions: Positive energy balance during inactivity is associated with greater muscle atrophy and with activation of systemic inflammation and of antioxidant defenses. Optimizing caloric intake may be a useful strategy for mitigating muscle loss during period of chronic inactivity

The long-term effects of an implantable drop foot stimulator on gait in hemiparetic patients

Drop foot is a frequent abnormality in gait after central nervous system lesions. Different treatment strategies are available to functionally restore dorsal extension during swing phase in gait. Orthoses as well as surface and implantable devices for electrical stimulation of the peroneal nerve may be used in patients who do not regain good dorsal extension. While several studies investigated the effects of implanted systems on walking speed and gait endurance, only a few studies have focussed on the system’s impact on kinematics and long-term outcomes. Therefore, our aim was to further investigate the effects of the implanted system ActiGait on gait kinematics and spatiotemporal parameters for the first time with a 1-year follow-up period. 10 patients were implanted with an ActiGait stimulator, with 8 patients completing baseline and follow-up assessments. Assessments included a 10-m walking test, video-based gait analysis and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for health status. At baseline, gait analysis was performed without any assistive device as well as with surface electrical stimulation. At follow-up patients walked with the ActiGait system switched off and on. The maximum dorsal extension of the ankle at initial contact increased significantly between baseline without stimulation and follow-up with ActiGait (p = 0.018). While the spatio-temporal parameters did not seem to change much with the use of ActiGait in convenient walking speed, patients did walk faster when using surface stimulation or ActiGait compared to no stimulation at the 10-m walking test at their fastest possible walking speed. Patients rated their health better at the 1-year follow-up. In summary, a global improvement in gait kinematics compared to no stimulation was observed and the long-term safety of the device could be confirmed

Service robotics: do you know your new companion? Framing an interdisciplinary technology assessment

Service-Robotic—mainly defined as “non-industrial robotics”—is identified as the next economical success story to be expected after robots have been ubiquitously implemented into industrial production lines. Under the heading of service-robotic, we found a widespread area of applications reaching from robotics in agriculture and in the public transportation system to service robots applied in private homes. We propose for our interdisciplinary perspective of technology assessment to take the human user/worker as common focus. In some cases, the user/worker is the effective subject acting by means of and in cooperation with a service robot; in other cases, the user/worker might become a pure object of the respective robotic system, for example, as a patient in a hospital. In this paper, we present a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework, which allows us to scrutinize some of the most relevant applications of service robotics; we propose to combine technical, economical, legal, philosophical/ethical, and psychological perspectives in order to design a thorough and comprehensive expert-based technology assessment. This allows us to understand the potentials as well as the limits and even the threats connected with the ongoing and the planned implementation of service robots into human lifeworld—particularly of those technical systems displaying increasing grades of autonomy

Unified treatment of spin torques using a coupled magnetisation dynamics and three-dimensional spin current solver

A three-dimensional spin current solver based on a generalised spin drift-diffusion description, including the bulk and interfacial spin Hall effects, is integrated with a magnetisation dynamics solver. The resulting model is shown to simultaneously reproduce the spin-orbit torques generated using the spin Hall effect, spin pumping torques generated by magnetisation dynamics in multilayers, as well as the spin transfer torques acting on magnetisation regions with spatial gradients, whilst field-like and spin-like torques are reproduced in a spin valve geometry. Two approaches to modelling interfaces are analysed, one based on the spin mixing conductance and the other based on continuity of spin currents where the spin dephasing length governs the absorption of transverse spin components. In both cases analytical formulas are derived for the spin-orbit torques in a heavy metal / ferromagnet bilayer geometry, showing in general both field-like and damping-like torques are generated. The limitations of the analytical approach are discussed, showing that even in a simple bilayer geometry, due to the non-uniformity of the spin currents, a full three-dimensional treatment is required. The model is further applied to the analysis of the spin Hall angle in Pt by reproducing published experimental ferromagnetic resonance data in the bilayer geometry

‘You can never cross the same river twice’: climbers’ embodied quests for ‘original adventure’ in southern Thailand

This article presents ethnographic research into individual narratives of adventure in a small, undeveloped bay called Ton Sai in southern Thailand’s Krabi Province. Ton Sai is extremely popular with Western rock climbers and increasingly with other adventure seekers and backpackers questing for ‘authentic’ Thailand, yet is subject to almost no representation in the commercial sense. It is an example of a destination that is not on the corporate ‘radar’, yet, as will be seen, is famed, desired and produced by ‘niche’ tourists seeking very specifically valued tropical adventures. This research aims to interrogate how such a destination becomes, and remains, valued as adventurous by climbers and therefore shed some light on individual, subjective production of adventure in specific Developing World contexts. Drawing on original interview and other ethnographic data collected during winter 2012/2013, this article argues that even when third-party commercial mediators are absent, the powers of quest for authenticity and adventure are powerful enough to turn the wheels of mediation themselves. In the ‘elite circles’ in which this group manoeuvres, notions of ideal adventure space run deep and are reproduced discursively and through embodied performances in an exoticised environment that is valued for its ‘primitive timelessness’. The implications of this for locals are explored