Contextual Control Of Instrumental Actions And Habits Following Retroactive Interference

It is commonly accepted that instrumental responses that have been extinguished can return. For example, in a phenomenon known as the renewal effect, extinguished behaviors return upon removal from the extinction context. Another well-accepted notion is that instrumental behaviors can be thought of as goal-directed actions, which form over the course of moderate amounts of practice or training, and habits, which form after extended practice. Despite years of research on both topics, what happens to actions and habits following extinction is poorly understood. The present experiments examined the renewal of actions and habits following retroactive interference paradigms such as extinction and additional training. Experiment 1 examined renewal of an action following its extinction in a separate context, and demonstrated that the extinguished behavior renewed as an action upon return to the acquisition context. Experiment 2 asked the same question about habits, and found that the behavior renewed as a habit after extinction upon return to the acquisition context. Experiment 3 examined renewal of goal-directed responding in one context following extensive training and conversion into habit in another context. It demonstrated that a single response could manifest as a habit in one context, and renew as an action in the original training context. Experiment 4 asked if this effect depends on returning to the acquisition context, or simply removal from the habit training context. The results suggest that mere removal from the habit training context is sufficient to renew the goal-directed properties of a behavior. Together, the results suggest that actions and habits can be inhibited in a context-specific manner by extinction, and that instrumental behaviors can have both action and habit properties that can each renew under the proper circumstances. The results also expand on the notion that habits are especially context specific, while actions can transfer across contexts

Response of moist and dry processes in atmospheric blocking to climate change

Weather extremes are often associated with atmospheric blocking, but how the underlying physical processes leading to blocking respond to climate change is not yet fully understood. Here we track blocks as upper-level negative potential vorticity (PV) anomalies and apply a Lagrangian analysis to 100 years of present-day (∼2000) and future (∼2100, under the RCP8.5 scenario) climate simulations restarted from the Community Earth System Model–Large Ensemble Project runs (CESM-LENS) to identify different physical processes and quantify how their relative importance changes in a warmer and more humid climate. The trajectories reveal two contrasting airstreams that both contribute to the formation and maintenance of blocking: latent heating in strongly ascending airstreams (moist processes) and quasi-adiabatic flow near the tropopause with weak radiative cooling (dry processes). Both are reproduced remarkably well when compared against ERA-Interim reanalysis, and their relative importance varies regionally and seasonally. The response of blocks to climate change is complex and differs regionally, with a general increase in the importance of moist processes due to stronger latent heating (+1 K in the median over the Northern Hemisphere) and a larger fraction (+15%) of strongly heated warm conveyor belt air masses, most pronounced over the storm tracks. Future blocks become larger (+7%) and their negative PV anomaly slightly intensifies (+0.8%). Using a Theil–Sen regression model, we propose that the increase in size and intensity is related to the increase in latent heating, resulting in stronger cross-isentropic transport of air with low PV into the blocking anticyclones. Our findings provide evidence that moist processes become more important for the large-scale atmospheric circulation in the midlatitudes, with the potential for larger and more intense blocks

Common Metrics for Human-Robot Interaction

This paper describes an effort to identify common metrics for task-oriented human-robot interaction (HRI). We begin by discussing the need for a toolkit of HRI metrics. We then describe the framework of our work and identify important biasing factors that must be taken into consideration. Finally, we present suggested common metrics for standardization and a case study. Preparation of a larger, more detailed toolkit is in progress

Der wahre Preis für ein Schnitzel

Der ökologische Landbau gilt vielfach als ein Schlüssel für eine umweltgerechtere Landnutzung. Die Bundesregierung hat sich deshalb zum Ziel gesetzt seinen Flächenanteil bis zum Jahr 2010 auf 20 Prozent zu erhöhen. Verursacht der ökologische Landbau tatsächlich weniger Umweltschäden als die konventionelle Landwirtschaft? Wie hoch sind die externen Kosten beider Produktionssysteme? Eine aktuelle Studie des IÖW beantwortet diese Fragen am Beispiel der Schweinemast in Deutschland

Effects of Vegetarian Nutrition–A Nutrition Ecological Perspective

Although vegetarian nutrition is a complex issue, the multidimensionality and interrelatedness of its effects are rarely explored. This article aims to demonstrate the complexity of vegetarian nutrition by means of the nutrition ecological modeling technique NutriMod. The integrative qualitative cause-effect model, which is based on scientific literature, provides a comprehensive picture of vegetarian nutrition. The nutrition ecological perspective offers a basis for the assessment of the effects of worldwide developments concerning shifts in diets and the effects of vegetarian nutrition on global problems like climate change. Furthermore, new research areas on the complexity of vegetarian nutrition can be identified

State-to-State Rotational Relaxation Rate Constants for CO+Ne from IR-IR Double-Resonance Experiments: Comparing Theory to Experiment

IR-IR double-resonance experiments were used to study the state-to-state rotational relaxation of CO with Ne as a collision partner. Rotational levels in the range Ji=2-9 were excited and collisional energy transfer of population to the levels Jf=2-8 was monitored. The resulting data set was analyzed by fitting to numerical solutions of the master equation. State-to-state rate constant matrices were generated using fitting law functions. Fitting laws based on the modifed exponential gap (MEG) and statistical power exponential gap (SPEG) models were used; the MEG model performed better than the SPEG model. A rate constant matrix was also generated from scattering calculations that employed the ab initio potential energy surface of McBane and Cybulski [J. Chem. Phys. 110, 11 734 (1999)]. This theoretical rate constant matrix yielded kinetic simulations that agreed with the data nearly as well as the fitted MEG model and was unique in its ability to reproduce both the rotational energy transfer and pressure broadening data for Ne-CO. The theoretical rate coefficients varied more slowly with the energy gap than coefficients from either of the fitting laws

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

International Consensus Conference for Advanced Breast Cancer, Lisbon 2019: ABC5 Consensus – Assessment by a German Group of Experts

The 5th International Consensus Conference for Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC5) took place on November 14–16, 2019, in Lisbon, Portugal. Its aim is to standardize the treatment of advanced breast cancer based on the available evidence and to ensure that all breast cancer patients worldwide receive adequate treatment and access to new therapies. This year, the conference focused on developments and study results in the treatment of patients with hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer as well as precision medicine. As in previous years, patient advocates from around the world were integrated into the ABC conference and had seats on the ABC consensus panel. In the present paper, a working group of German breast cancer experts comments on the results of the on-site ABC5 consensus votes by ABC panelists regarding their applicability for routine treatment in Germany. These comments take the recommendations of the Breast Committee of the Gynecological Oncology Working Group (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gynäkologische Onkologie; AGO) into account. The report and assessment presented here pertain to the preliminary results of the ABC5 consensus. The final version of the statements will be published in Annals of Oncology and The Breast

Elucidation of the phenotypic spectrum and genetic landscape in primary and secondary microcephaly

Purpose: Microcephaly is a sign of many genetic conditions but has been rarely systematically evaluated. We therefore comprehensively studied the clinical and genetic landscape of an unselected cohort of patients with microcephaly. Methods: We performed clinical assessment, high-resolution chromosomal microarray analysis, exome sequencing, and functional studies in 62 patients (58% with primary microcephaly [PM], 27% with secondary microcephaly [SM], and 15% of unknown onset). Results: We found severity of developmental delay/intellectual disability correlating with severity of microcephaly in PM, but not SM. We detected causative variants in 48.4% of patients and found divergent inheritance and variant pattern for PM (mainly recessive and likely gene-disrupting [LGD]) versus SM (all dominant de novo and evenly LGD or missense). While centrosome-related pathways were solely identified in PM, transcriptional regulation was the most frequently affected pathway in both SM and PM. Unexpectedly, we found causative variants in different mitochondria-related genes accounting for ~5% of patients, which emphasizes their role even in syndromic PM. Additionally, we delineated novel candidate genes involved in centrosome-related pathway (SPAG5, TEDC1), Wnt signaling (VPS26A, ZNRF3), and RNA trafficking (DDX1). Conclusion: Our findings enable improved evaluation and genetic counseling of PM and SM patients and further elucidate microcephaly pathways

Towards a Learning System for University Campuses as Living Labs for Sustainability

Universities, due to their sizeable estates and populations of staff and students, as well as their connections with, and impact within, their local and wider communities, have significant environmental, social and economic impacts. There is a strong movement for universities to become leaders in driving society towards a more sustainable future, through improving the sustainability of the built environment and the universities’ practices and operations, and through their educational, research and wider community engagement missions. Around the globe the concept of ‘Living Labs’ has emerged as an instrument to integrate these different aspects to deliver sustainability improvements, through engaging multiple stakeholders in all of these areas, and through the co-creation of projects to improve the sustainability of the campus environment and operations, and to link these to the education, research, and wider community missions of the institution. This chapter describes a living, shared framework and methodology, the ‘Campus as Living Lab’ learning system, created through global participatory workshops and Living Lab literature, aimed at supporting universities and their Sustainability (Coordinating) Offices in the development and monitoring of Living Lab projects. The framework includes seven categories of supportive data collection and three levels of details to meet different requirements of potential users. The Living Lab framework presented in this chapter, aims to create value and help universities maximise the benefit of Living Lab projects within an institution, support monitoring, reflection and learning from projects, and facilitate communication with stakeholders, and the sharing of practices and learning between peers across the globe. As a living shared, framework and learning system, the framework will adapt and develop over time and within different contexts. To provide feedback and fast (practical) learning from users, the system will be further developed to facilitate transparent peer reviewing