A behavioral study of maternal-infant interaction with focus on infant attachment and infant cognition

This study examined the interactions between 15 maternal-infant dyads using an operant learning format with special emphasis on the relationship of infant attachment to maternal behaviors, specifically the securityinsecurity dimension of infant attachment. Observations of maternal-infant interactions were made each month from infant ages 9 months to 12 months. Maternal and infant behaviors were coded and each category was scored for frequency and duration of behavior with an Esterline-Angus Event Recorder. Maternal ratios of responding and latency in responding to infant behaviors were calculated from the Esterline-Angus charts. Infants were administered several cognition tests and an attachment test, while mothers were given several attitude measures. Intercorrelations of infant behavior suggested three systems of organized behaviors distress contact with mother, positive or affillative contact with mother, and exploratory behaviors. Infant behavior was unstable across months, and evidence was found that infant behaviors change with development, in that certain behaviors take on new meanings and different patterns of organization in the interaction between mother and child. Few relationships were found between infant behavior and the attachment test results, except that insecurely attached infants tended to emit more verbal distress and touching behavior. Important factors found in a factor analysis of infant behavior weres Lack of physical contact with mother, distress contact with mother, and non-verbal distal contact. Intercorrelations of maternal behaviors indicated more stability across months than for infant behaviors, with the most stable behaviors being distal contact and stimulation behaviors, whereas the most stable infant behaviors were proximity seeking behaviors. From a factor analysis of maternal behaviors, two important factors emerged: An acceptance and. child-oriented factor and a verbal factor. The maternal responsiveness and latency data did not cluster into one or two factors, rather these measures loaded on several factors. No relationship was found between maternal ratio of responding and frequency of infant behaviors, latency measures were related to infant behaviors, but contrary to the operant position, longer latencies to infant proximity seeking behaviors increased the frequency and duration of these behaviors, whereas shorter latencies to infant social affiliative behaviors did increase these behaviors, thus some infant behaviors demonstrated agreement with the operant position. There were few significant relationships between infant cognition measures and maternal behaviors, or between infant cognition and mater nal responsiveness ratios and latency measures. The findings support a modified ethological position to infant socialization rather than an operant position. An ethological or control and communication theory assumes infants have goals and a repetoire of behaviors to achieve these goals. Infants can alternate behaviors to achieve goals. If a selected behavior does not result in goal satisfaction, other behaviors are available for use Some determinants of this repetoire of behaviors include: developmental changes in specific response capabilities due to maturation, developmental re-organization of infant behaviors into more discrete and efficient behavioral system, and the reactions of the caretaker to infant behavioral overtures leading to inf suit goal satisfaction. The major goals for infants are proximity contact with attachment object, social stimulation from the caretaker, and exploration of the environment. No strong relationships between maternal variables and infant security of attachment were found, although infants of more responsive mothers evidenced more proximity seeking behavior as shown by more following and touching behavior

A Bayesian approach to analysing cortico-cortical associative stimulation induced increases in the excitability of corticospinal projections in humans

Repeated pairing of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over left and right primary motor cortex (M1), at intensities sufficient to generate descending volleys, produces sustained increases in corticospinal excitability. In other paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocols, in which peripheral afferent stimulation is the first element, changes in corticospinal excitability achieved when the second stimulus consists of brief bursts of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), are comparable to those obtained if TMS is used instead (McNickle and Carson 2015). The present aim was to determine whether associative effects are induced when the first stimulus of a cortico-cortical pair is tACS, or alternatively subthreshold TMS. Bursts of tACS (500 ms; 140 Hz; 1 mA) were associated (180 stimulus pairs) with single magnetic stimuli (120% resting motor threshold rMT) delivered over the opposite (left) M1. The tACS ended 6 ms prior to the TMS. In a separate condition, TMS (55% rMT) was delivered to right M1 6 ms before (120% rMT) TMS was applied over left M1. In a sham condition, TMS (120% rMT) was delivered to left M1 only. The limitations of null hypothesis significance testing are well documented. We therefore employed Bayes factors to assess evidence in support of experimental hypotheses—defined precisely in terms of predicted effect sizes, that these two novel variants of PAS increase corticospinal excitability. Although both interventions induced sustained (~ 20–30 min) increases in corticospinal excitability, the evidence in support of the experimental hypotheses (over specified alternatives) was generally greater for the paired TMS-TMS than the tACS-TMS conditions

Health and Nitrate-Contaminated Drinking Water in the Lower Yakima River Valley

In the United States, many private wells are used as the only source of potable water. These wells, under current federal and state regulations, are neither monitored nor checked for water purity. The purpose of qualitative case study was to gain an understanding about how the documented nitrate contamination problem in the Lower Yakima Valley River Valley is perceived by members of the community and to measure their willingness to engage in collective action for social change. Purposive samples of 6 participants were interviewed using 10 questions derived from the drinking water disparities framework by Balazs and Ray. Additional historical information and data were reviewed. While analyzing interview responses, observations, and documents to understand how the documented nitrate contamination problem, themes and patters emerged and were identified. According to the study results, the community was not actively engaged in any communication regarding the nitrate contamination. Private well owners hold beliefs about the safety of their individual water supply but had no knowledge of the water quality being used by their friends, neighbors, and families This community, if engaged in a collective action to deal with the nitrate contamination problem, could be successful in influencing larger organizations, such as state and federal governmental entities, to work toward nitrate contamination source identification and remediation

Approaching a more holistic education

The following dissertation argues that our current educational system should be improved for the benefit of the individual and society through the addition of what may be referred to as aspects of holistic education. Holistic Education for the purpose of this paper is defined as an approach, as well as a curriculum style, applied to our general education that integrates matters pertaining to our existential affairs with our educational material. Some topics that are applicable to this approach, and that will be discussed in this dissertation, include mindfulness, critical consciousness, communication techniques, and conflict resolution. The purpose for the addition of these matters to our curriculum are to enhance our abilities to function with a greater understanding of our lives outside of the classroom and to approach the classroom materials with less ambiguity as to education's goals. Within this dissertation I assert that students and educators sense a distance between the current mandated curriculum and its applicability to their lives. I discuss in detail how I believe that by creating our curriculum to be more meaningful to our daily existence that we may ameliorate what some may call our existential vacuum. This dissertation will include an example of a current alternative education process through the use of semi-structured structured interviews with some of this program's participants. The interviews will provide a deeper sense of a holistic educational experience while a sample course structure will also be detailed in order to exemplify how such a class could operate within our public education

A case of recurrent giant cell tumor of bone with malignant transformation and benign pulmonary metastases

Giant cell tumor (GCT) of bone is a locally destructive tumor that occurs predominantly in long bones of post-pubertal adolescents and young adults, where it occurs in the epiphysis. The majority are treated by aggressive curettage or resection. Vascular invasion outside the boundary of the tumor can be seen. Metastasis, with identical morphology to the primary tumor, occurs in a few percent of cases, usually to the lung. On occasion GCTs of bone undergo frank malignant transformation to undifferentiated sarcomas. Here we report a case of GCT of bone that at the time of recurrence was found to have undergone malignant transformation. Concurrent metastases were found in the lung, but these were non-transformed GCT

How are nitrogen availability, fine-root mass, and nitrogen uptake related empirically? Implications for models and theory

We gratefully acknowledge funding from Loyola University Chicago; suggestions for improvement by David Robinson and anonymous peer reviewers; logistical support from K. Erickson; help with maintenance and harvests from O. Urbanski, L. Papaioannou, H. Roudebush, & V. Roudebush; and tissue and substrate analyses from Z. Zhu. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.Peer reviewedPostprin

Report of Second Meeting for the Purpose of Obtaining the Views of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation on the Lieu Lands Offered by the Secretary of War, 1946

Report of the second meeting held in the office of Assistant Secretary of the Interior C. Girard Davidson for the purpose of obtaining the views of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation of the lieu lands offered by the Secretary of War. Includes a list of attendees and a transcript of the meeting discussing the Three Affiliated Tribes\u27 rejection of the offer of lieu lands made by the Secretary of Interior and Department of War to the Fort Berthold Reservation. See also: Report of Meeting for the Purpose of Obtaining the Views of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation on the Lieu Lands Offered by the Secretary of War, 1946https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1147/thumbnail.jp