Developing a corpus of strategic conversation in The Settlers of Catan

International audienceWe describe a dialogue model and an implemented annotation scheme for a pilot corpus of annotated online chats concerning bargaining negotiations in the game The Settlers of Catan. We will use this model and data to analyze how conversations proceed in the absence of strong forms of cooperativity, where agents have diverging motives. Here we concentrate on the description of our annotation scheme for negotiation dialogues, illustrated with our pilot data, and some perspectives for future research on the issue

Successful implementation of inquiry-based physiology laboratories in undergraduate major and nonmajor courses. Adv Physiol Educ 32

Casotti G, Rieser-Danner L, Knabb MT. Successful implementation of inquiry-based physiology laboratories in undergraduate major and nonmajor courses. Adv Physiol Educ 32: 286-296, 2008; doi:10.1152/advan.00100.2007.-Recent evidence has demonstrated that inquiry-based physiology laboratories improve students' criticaland analytical-thinking skills. We implemented inquiry-based learning into three physiology courses: Comparative Vertebrate Physiology (majors), Human Physiology (majors), and Human Anatomy and Physiology (nonmajors). The aims of our curricular modifications were to improve the teaching of physiological concepts, teach students the scientific approach, and promote creative and critical thinking. We assessed our modifications using formative (laboratory exams, oral presentations, and laboratory reports) and summative evaluations (surveys, laboratory notebook, and an end of semester project). Students appreciated the freedom offered by the new curriculum and the opportunity to engage in the inquiry process. Results from both forms of evaluation showed a marked improvement due to the curricular revisions. Our analyses indicate an increased confidence in students' ability to formulate questions and hypotheses, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and make conclusions. Thus, we have successfully incorporated inquiry-based laboratories in both major and nonmajor courses. pedagogy; curriculum; evaluation INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING is an alternative pedagogical method of classroom teaching that is characterized by a focus on learning through discovery. It incorporates four approaches to teaching: 1) a focus on ideas and concepts generated by students rather than by instructors, 2) an activity component where students actively participate in performing tasks (experiments) to test their ideas, 3) an emphasis on learning the methods of verifying and testing hypotheses, and 4) an emphasis on the importance of both content and process as components of learning Some individual studies of the effectiveness of an inquirybased approach have been reported. For example, DiPasquale et al. (2) modified the curriculum in an exercise physiology course at San Diego State University. The course was previously taught in a traditional style. Their new approach was to cover core exercise physiology topics in the first third of the course using the traditional teacher-centered style of learning while emphasizing the scientific process. In the last 9 wk of the course, students worked in small groups of three to four and completed independent research projects. In contrast, Myers and Burgess (11) redesigned an organismal physiology course centering on student-designed experiments throughout the course of the semester. Both studies reported an increase in student achievement of learning outcomes using student-designed experiments compared with a teacher-centered approach. Moreover, a recent review (10) published in Advances of Physiology Education summarized the evidence supporting the conclusion that forms of active learning, such as an inquirybased approach, are more effective in enhancing student learning than traditional modes of teaching. Problems With the Existing Curriculum The physiology curriculum using a teacher-centered approach resulted in several problems related to student learning. One of the problems was that students in our nonmajor course failed to connect physiological concepts taught in lecture with the laboratory activities. In addition, the laboratories did not emphasize the scientific approach to problem solving, and students were restricted in the types of experiments they were able to perform (13). Our old curriculum provided students with detailed step-bystep instructions for completing their experiments. As a result, students commented to the laboratory instructors that they lost sight of the educational purpose of the experiments. Furthermore, regimented instructions did not allow our students any flexibility to deviate from the experimental protocol, thereby impeding student creativity Students had no opportunity to develop their own understanding of physiology using the scientific approach. Even though our majors were required to write laboratory reports in prerequisite courses such as Cell Physiology and Organic Chemistry, they did not communicate their ideas effectively in a scientific report. For example, students did not refer to the neural control of respiration when discussing irregular respiratory patterns when solving a math problem. This resulted in low scores on laboratory reports. Clearly, this called for the need to offer students more opportunities using the scientific method, from researching background information to developing a testable hypothesis using appropriate written communication and reporting of scientific findings. Similar problems in understanding the scientific approach were also evident in our nonmajor course (see Precurricula Survey). Verbal comments from students in our physiology courses indicated a dissatisfaction with simply repeating experiments that had already been done by other researchers. Students could not see the purpose of performing some of the experiments, especially those involving animals, and often asked "Why ar

The development of path integration: combining estimations of distance and heading

Efficient daily navigation is underpinned by path integration, the mechanism by which we use self-movement information to update our position in space. This process is well-understood in adulthood, but there has been relatively little study of path integration in childhood, leading to an underrepresentation in accounts of navigational development. Previous research has shown that calculation of distance and heading both tend to be less accurate in children as they are in adults, although there have been no studies of the combined calculation of distance and heading that typifies naturalistic path integration. In the present study 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds took part in a triangle-completion task, where they were required to return to the startpoint of a multi-element path using only idiothetic information. Performance was compared to a sample of adult participants, who were found to be more accurate than children on measures of landing error, heading error, and distance error. 7-year-olds were significantly more accurate than 5-year-olds on measures of landing error and heading error, although the difference between groups was much smaller for distance error. All measures were reliably correlated with age, demonstrating a clear development of path integration abilities within the age range tested. Taken together, these data make a strong case for the inclusion of path integration within developmental models of spatial navigational processing

Demonstrations to Support Change to the >260 ppm Mercury Treatment Regulations

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are working together to justify a change in the Land Disposal Restriction for High Mercury (>260 ppm mercury) waste. The present regulation that requires roasting or retorting is based on recovering and recycling the mercury in the waste. However, most of DOE’s High Mercury waste is radioactively contaminated, eliminating the possibility of its recycle. The radioactive mercury recovered must be amalgamated and disposed. In addition, concern over fugitive emissions from retorting and roasting operations has raised the question of whether such processing is environmentally sound. A change to the regulation to allow stabilization and disposal would reduce the overall environmental threat, if the stabilization process can reduce the leachability of the mercury to regulatory levels. Demonstrations are underway to gather data showing that the High Mercury waste can be safely stabilized. At the same time, comparison tests are being conducted using an improved form of the baseline retorting technology to better quantify the fugitive emission problem and determine the full capability of thermal desorption systems. A first round of demonstrations stabilizing mercury in soil from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) has been completed. Four groups demonstrated their process on the waste: 1) BNL demonstrated its Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification process; 2) Nuclear Fuel Services used their DeHg (de-merk) process, 3) Allied Technology Group used chemical stabilization, and 4) Sepradyne demonstrated their vacuum thermal desorption system. All groups were successful in their tests, reaching regulatory levels for mercury leachability. Data for each group will be presented. DOE, EPA, and the University of Cincinnati are presently working on another series of tests involving treatment of surrogate sludge and soil by commercial vendors. Protocols that better determine the waste form’s ability to withstand leaching are being used to analyze the stabilized surrogates. Results of these and the previous demonstrations will be used to determine whether the High Mercury treatment regulation can be safely changed

Organic farming provides reliable environmental benefits but increases variability in crop yields: a global meta-analysis

To promote food security and sustainability, ecologically intensive farming systems should reliably produce adequate yields of high-quality food, enhance the environment, be profitable, and promote social wellbeing. Yet, while many studies address the mean effects of ecologically intensive farming systems on sustainability metrics, few have considered variability. This represents a knowledge gap because producers depend on reliable provisioning of yields, profits, and environmental services to enhance the sustainability of their production systems over time. Further, stable crop yields are necessary to ensure reliable access to nutritious foods. Here we address this by conducting a global meta-analysis to assess the average magnitude and variability of seven sustainability metrics in organic compared to conventional systems. Specifically, we explored the effects of these systems on (i) biotic abundance, (ii) biotic richness, (iii) soil organic carbon, (iv) soil carbon stocks, (v) crop yield, (vi) total production costs, and (vii) profitability. Organic farms promoted biotic abundance, biotic richness, soil carbon, and profitability, but conventional farms produced higher yields. Compared to conventional farms, organic farms had lower variability in abundance and richness but greater yield variability. Organic farms thus provided a “win-win” (high means and low variability) for environmental sustainability, while conventional farms provided a “win-win” for production by promoting high crop yields with low variability. Despite lower yields, and greater yield variability, organic systems had similar costs to conventional systems and were more profitable due to organic premiums. Our results suggest certification guidelines for organic farms successfully promote reliable environmental benefits, but greater reliance on ecological processes may reduce predictability of crop production

The Underestimation Of Egocentric Distance: Evidence From Frontal Matching Tasks

There is controversy over the existence, nature, and cause of error in egocentric distance judgments. One proposal is that the systematic biases often found in explicit judgments of egocentric distance along the ground may be related to recently observed biases in the perceived declination of gaze (Durgin & Li, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, in press), To measure perceived egocentric distance nonverbally, observers in a field were asked to position themselves so that their distance from one of two experimenters was equal to the frontal distance between the experimenters. Observers placed themselves too far away, consistent with egocentric distance underestimation. A similar experiment was conducted with vertical frontal extents. Both experiments were replicated in panoramic virtual reality. Perceived egocentric distance was quantitatively consistent with angular bias in perceived gaze declination (1.5 gain). Finally, an exocentric distance-matching task was contrasted with a variant of the egocentric matching task. The egocentric matching data approximate a constant compression of perceived egocentric distance with a power function exponent of nearly 1; exocentric matches had an exponent of about 0.67. The divergent pattern between egocentric and exocentric matches suggests that they depend on different visual cues

Identifying Farming Strategies Associated With Achieving Global Agricultural Sustainability

Sustainable agroecosystems provide adequate food while supporting environmental and human wellbeing and are a key part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some strategies to promote sustainability include reducing inputs, substituting conventional crops with genetically modified (GM) alternatives, and using organic production. Here, we leveraged global databases covering 121 countries to determine which farming strategies—the amount of inputs per area (fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation), GM crops, and percent agriculture in organic production—are most correlated with 12 sustainability metrics recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Using quantile regression, we found that countries with higher Human Development Indices (HDI) (including education, income, and lifespan), higher-income equality, lower food insecurity, and higher cereal yields had the most organic production and inputs. However, input-intensive strategies were associated with greater agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, countries with more GM crops were last on track to meeting the SDG of reduced inequalities. Using a longitudinal analysis spanning 2004–2018, we found that countries were generally decreasing inputs and increasing their share of agriculture in organic production. Also, in disentangling correlation vs. causation, we hypothesize that a country's development is more likely to drive changes in agricultural strategies than vice versa. Altogether, our correlative analyses suggest that countries with greater progress toward the SDGs of no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, decent work, economic growth, and reduced inequalities had the highest production of organic agriculture and, to a lesser extent, intensive use of inputs

How can the practice nurse be more involved in the care of the chronically ill? The perspectives of GPs, patients and practice nurses

BACKGROUND: A well established "midlevel" of patient care, such as nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants, exits in many countries like the US, Canada, and Australia. In Germany, however there is only one kind of profession assisting the physician in practices, the practice nurse. Little is known about the present involvement of practice nurses in patients' care in Germany and about the attitudes of GPs, assistants and patients concerning an increased involvement. The aim of our study was to get qualitative information on the extent to which practice nurses are currently involved in the treatment of patients and about possibilities of increased involvement as well as on barriers of increased involvement. METHODS: We performed qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 20 GPs, 20 practice nurses and 20 patients in the Heidelberg area. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and content-analysed with ATLAS.ti. RESULTS: Practice nurses are only marginally involved in the treatment of patients. GPs as well as patients were very sceptical about increased involvement in care. Patients were sceptical about nurses' professional background and feared a worsening of the patient doctor relationship. GPs also complained about the nurses' deficient education concerning medical knowledge. They feared a lack of time as well as a missing reimbursement for the efforts of an increased involvement. Practice nurses were mostly willing to be more involved, regarding it as an appreciation of their role. Important barriers were lack of time, overload with administrative work, and a lack of professional knowledge. CONCLUSION: Practice nurses were only little involved in patient care. GPs were more sceptical than patients regarding an increased involvement. One possible area, accepted by all interviewed groups, was patient education as for instance dietary counselling. New treatment approaches as the chronic care model will require a team approach which currently only marginally exists in the German health care system. Better medical education of practice nurses is indispensable, but GPs also have to accept that they cannot fulfil the requirement of future care alone

Combining Path Integration and Remembered Landmarks When Navigating without Vision

This study investigated the interaction between remembered landmark and path integration strategies for estimating current location when walking in an environment without vision. We asked whether observers navigating without vision only rely on path integration information to judge their location, or whether remembered landmarks also influence judgments. Participants estimated their location in a hallway after viewing a target (remembered landmark cue) and then walking blindfolded to the same or a conflicting location (path integration cue). We found that participants averaged remembered landmark and path integration information when they judged that both sources provided congruent information about location, which resulted in more precise estimates compared to estimates made with only path integration. In conclusion, humans integrate remembered landmarks and path integration in a gated fashion, dependent on the congruency of the information. Humans can flexibly combine information about remembered landmarks with path integration cues while navigating without visual information.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant T32 HD007151)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant T32 EY07133)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant F32EY019622)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EY02857)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EY017835-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EY015616-03)United States. Department of Education (H133A011903