An Investigation Into the Nature and Quality of Children's Experiences of Group Composing in the Secondary Classroom Based on the Concept of Flow

In music lessons in UK schools pupils are encouraged to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding in activities that are designed to integrate three broad areas; performance, composing and listening. Lessons are structured to include group work which has become the norm in many secondary classrooms. Collaborative musical participation generally involves pupils working together unsupervised for extended periods and gives them a high level of responsibility and autonomy to achieve the set objectives. Although many pupils have developed the musical skills, they are not always given enough guidance in how to apply them in collaborative contexts. At the same time, very little empirical research investigates the effectiveness of group work. This thesis investigates pupils’ experiences of group composing applying the concept of flow. Flow, also termed optimal experience, is ‘a subjective state that people report when they are completely involved in something to the point of losing track of time and of being unaware of everything else but the activity itself (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde and Whalen, 1997, pg 14). Investigating flow provides insights into the quality of experience. In the music classroom, investigating flow can provide insights into the situated nature of pupils’ experiences of collaborative work. The empirical context for the research is two secondary schools in the North-West of England. A mixed-methods research design provided insights into self-reports of flow experience using the Experience Sampling Method and also involved qualitative analysis of group talk. The findings reveal how more pupils experienced flow when the main activity was group composing and that those in flow influenced the quality of talk in the group. Overall, this study contributes to increased understandings of how pupils experience music lessons and in particular, how the quality of their experience in group work can be improved by recognising and understanding the importance of ‘speaking though music’

New reflections on agency and body ownership : The moving rubber hand illusion in the mirror

No previous study has simultaneously examined body ownership and agency in healthy subjects during mirror self-observation. We used a moving rubber hand illusion to examine how both body ownership and agency are affected by seeing (i) the body moving in a mirror, compared with (ii) directly viewing the moving hand, and (iii) seeing a visually identical hand rotated by 180°. We elicited ownership of the hand using direct visual feedback, finding this effect was further enhanced when looking at the hand in a mirror, whereas rotating the hand 180° abolished ownership. Agency was similarly elicited using direct visual feedback, and equally so in the mirror, but again reduced for the 180° hand. We conclude that the reflected body in a mirror is treated as ‘special’ in the mind, and distinct from other external objects. This enables bodies and actions viewed in a mirror to be directly related to the self.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Mechanisms involved in agency attribution and their contributions to normal and abnormal experience of agency

Agency attribution is the ability to distinguish between events that occur as a result of our own actions and events that occur as a result of the actions of other people. Previous accounts of agency attribution have been mainly divided into two camps, either explaining agency in terms of high-level conscious processes (Stephens and Graham, 2000) or low-level Comparator Model (CM) processes (Frith et al. 2000). Recently, however, theorists have begun to incorporate these two approaches, but as the bulk of previous experiments fail to specify which aspects of agency are investigated, little empirical evidence exists to inform us about how these different mechanisms interact. The aim of the current thesis was to tease apart these processes by examining high-level self/other judgments and low-level motor responses to actual and perturbed visual feedback of self-generated actions. Results from Chapters 3, 4 and 5 suggest that low-level (CM) agency mechanisms are situated in right hemisphere regions, disruption of which can reduce high-level self-judgments (Chapter 5). Proprioception was also found to negatively inform high-level judgments, as reducing proprioceptive signals increased self-judgments and visual-proprioceptive incongruence increased other judgments (Chapters 6 and 7). In terms of low-level agency mechanisms, however, visual-proprioceptive congruence was found to enhance low-level correction of visual perturbations (Chapter 8). Results from Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 provide evidence for a lack of high-level conscious awareness of low-level motor responses, as participants failed to notice their own low-level corrections (Chapter 8) and as a result failed to recognise their own actions (Chapter 9). Therefore, the current body of research provides evidence for a visual-proprioceptive comparison as an integral component of low-level (CM) agency mechanisms, and that these CM processes do not produce feelings of agency per se, but identify mismatches that inform and are then interpreted by conscious awareness

Mechanisms involved in agency attribution and their contributions to normal and abnormal experience of agency

Agency attribution is the ability to distinguish between events that occur as a result of our own actions and events that occur as a result of the actions of other people. Previous accounts of agency attribution have been mainly divided into two camps, either explaining agency in terms of high-level conscious processes (Stephens and Graham, 2000) or low-level Comparator Model (CM) processes (Frith et al. 2000). Recently, however, theorists have begun to incorporate these two approaches, but as the bulk of previous experiments fail to specify which aspects of agency are investigated, little empirical evidence exists to inform us about how these different mechanisms interact. The aim of the current thesis was to tease apart these processes by examining high-level self/other judgments and low-level motor responses to actual and perturbed visual feedback of self-generated actions. Results from Chapters 3, 4 and 5 suggest that low-level (CM) agency mechanisms are situated in right hemisphere regions, disruption of which can reduce high-level self-judgments (Chapter 5). Proprioception was also found to negatively inform high-level judgments, as reducing proprioceptive signals increased self-judgments and visual-proprioceptive incongruence increased other judgments (Chapters 6 and 7). In terms of low-level agency mechanisms, however, visual-proprioceptive congruence was found to enhance low-level correction of visual perturbations (Chapter 8). Results from Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 provide evidence for a lack of high-level conscious awareness of low-level motor responses, as participants failed to notice their own low-level corrections (Chapter 8) and as a result failed to recognise their own actions (Chapter 9). Therefore, the current body of research provides evidence for a visual-proprioceptive comparison as an integral component of low-level (CM) agency mechanisms, and that these CM processes do not produce feelings of agency per se, but identify mismatches that inform and are then interpreted by conscious awareness

Improving living and dying for people with advanced dementia living in care homes: a realist review of Namaste Care and other multisensory interventions

© The Author(s). 2018Background: Seventy percent of people with advanced dementia live and die in care homes. Multisensory approaches, such as Namaste Care, have been developed to improve the quality of life and dying for people with advanced dementia but little is known about effectiveness or optimum delivery. The aim of this review was to develop an explanatory account of how the Namaste Care intervention might work, on what outcomes, and in what circumstances. Methods: This is a realist review involving scoping of the literature and stakeholder interviews to develop theoretical explanations of how interventions might work, systematic searches of the evidence to test and develop the theories, and their validation with a purposive sample of stakeholders. Twenty stakeholders - user/patient representatives, dementia care providers, care home staff, researchers -took part in interviews and/or workshops. Results: We included 85 papers. Eight focused on Namaste Care and the remainder on other types of sensory interventions such as music therapy or massage. We identified three context-mechanism-outcome configurations which together provide an explanatory account of what needs to be in place for Namaste Care to work for people living with advanced dementia. This includes: providing structured access to social and physical stimulation, equipping care home staff to cope effectively with complex behaviours and variable responses, and providing a framework for person-centred care. A key overarching theme concerned the importance of activities that enabled the development of moments of connection for people with advanced dementia. Conclusions: This realist review provides a coherent account of how Namaste Care, and other multisensory interventions might work. It provides practitioners and researchers with a framework to judge the feasibility and likely success of Namaste Care in long term settings. Key for staff and residents is that the intervention triggers feelings of familiarity, reassurance, engagement and connection.Peer reviewe

Explicit non-Gorenstein R=T via rank bounds II: Computation

This is the second in a pair of papers about residually reducible Galois deformation rings with non-optimal level. In the first paper, we proved a Galois-theoretic criterion for the deformation ring to be as small as possible. This paper focuses on the computations needed to verify this criterion. We adapt a technique developed by Sharifi to compute number fields with twisted-Heisenberg Galois group and prescribed ramification, and compute the splitting behavior of primes in these extensions.Comment: 50 pages. To appear in the proceedings of the Fifteenth Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium (ANTS-XV

Illusory obesity triggers body dissatisfaction responses in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex

In today’s Western society, concerns regarding body size and negative feelings towards one’s body are all too common. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying negative feelings towards the body and how they relate to body perception and eating-disorder pathology. Here, we used multisensory illusions to elicit illusory ownership of obese and slim bodies during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results implicate the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex in the development of negative feelings towards the body through functional interactions with the posterior parietal cortex, which mediates perceived obesity. Moreover, cingulate neural responses were modulated by non-clinical eating-disorder psychopathology and were attenuated in females. These results reveal how perceptual and affective body representations interact in the human brain and may help explain the neurobiological underpinnings of eating-disorder vulnerability in women

What are the views of hospital-based generalist palliative care professionals on what facilitates or hinders collaboration with in-patient specialist palliative care teams?:a systematically constructed narrative synthesis

Background: Hospital-based specialist palliative care services are common, yet existing evidence of inpatient generalist providers’ perceptions of collaborating with hospital-based specialist palliative care teams has never been systematically assessed. Aim: To assess the existing evidence of inpatient generalist palliative care providers’ perceptions of what facilitates or hinders collaboration with hospital-based specialist palliative care teams. Design: Narrative literature synthesis with systematically constructed search. Data sources: PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and ProQuest Social Services databases were searched up to December 2014. Individual journal, citation and reference searching were also conducted. Papers with the views of generalist inpatient professional caregivers who utilised hospital-based specialist palliative care team services were included in the narrative synthesis. Hawker’s criteria were used to assess the quality of the included studies. Results: Studies included (n = 23) represented a variety of inpatient generalist palliative care professionals’ experiences of collaborating with specialist palliative care. Effective collaboration is experienced by many generalist professionals. Five themes were identified as improving or decreasing effective collaboration: model of care (integrated vs linear), professional onus, expertise and trust, skill building versus deskilling and specialist palliative care operations. Collaboration is fostered when specialist palliative care teams practice proactive communication, role negotiation and shared problem-solving and recognise generalists’ expertise. Conclusion: Fuller integration of specialist palliative care services, timely sharing of information and mutual respect increase generalists’ perceptions of effective collaboration. Further research is needed regarding the experiences of non-physician and non-nursing professionals as their views were either not included or not explicitly reported

Herbicide Effects on the Feeding Behavior of the Wolf Spider Pardosa milvina

Herbicides can potentially impact feeding behavior of beneficial predators in agricultural systems and subsequently compromise integrated pest management efficacy. We measured variation in feeding behaviors of an agriculturally abundant wolf spider, Pardosa milvina, when exposed to soil with field-relevant concentrations of five commonly used herbicides. Tested herbicides included atrazine, S-metolachlor, rimsulfuron, mesotrione, glyphosate, a mixture of all five herbicides, and a distilled water control. Spiders were housed individually in containers with topsoil previously sprayed with a recommended herbicide dosage or water control. Tested spiders were collected from two adjacent fields: one kept under continuous crop rotation for over twenty years and sprayed with various combinations of all these herbicides while the other was an alfalfa field with no pesticides applied for the last 12 years. Adult males and females from each plot were exposed to the seven treated soil substrates (N=1,214, n=43). Spiders were maintained on these treated substrates for 14 days and fed crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus). Their predatory behaviors toward an individual cricket were observed on untreated substrates. Individual spiders from each herbicide treatment were standardized for hunger then presented a cricket one week and two weeks after initial treatment exposure. We found no significant differences in prey capture latency for spiders across herbicide treatments during the first week of exposure, but large differences emerged by the second week. We also found large sex and collecting site differences in prey capture efficiency and weight change across treatments. Mesotrione and rimsulfuron-treated spiders showed the greatest weight loss between the first and second week of exposure while atrazine, glyphosate and s-metalachlor treated spiders gained more weight than the control group. Our results show that some herbicides can significantly reduce or increase feeding responses in this important agriculturally abundant predator and should be considered in integrated pest management decisions

Assessment and permitting for cross-jurisdictional development prjects : a case study of the Snowmass Ski Area, Snowmass Village, Colorado

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-85), and index.by Catherine E. Preston.M.C.P