Hierarchy Of Actions Research Articles

The Challenges of Achieving Equity Within Public School Gifted and Talented Programs

K–12 gifted and talented programs have struggled with racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, native language, and disability inequity since their inception. This inequity has been well documented in public schools since at least the 1970s and has been stubbornly persistent despite receiving substantial attention at conferences, in scholarly journals, and in K–12 schools. The purpose of this article is to outline why such inequity exists and why common efforts to combat it have been unsuccessful. In the end, poorly designed identification systems combined with larger issues of societal inequality and systemic, institutionalized racism are the most likely culprits. I end the article with a hierarchy of actions that could be taken—from low-hanging fruit to major societal changes—in order to combat inequity in gifted education and move the field forward.

Language and action in Broca’s area: Computational differentiation and cortical segregation

Actions have been proposed to follow hierarchical principles similar to those hypothesized for language syntax. These structural similarities are claimed to be reflected in the common involvement of certain neural populations of Broca’s area, in the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG). In this position paper, we follow an influential hypothesis in linguistic theory to introduce the syntactic operation Merge and the corresponding motor/conceptual interfaces. We argue that actions hierarchies do not follow the same principles ruling language syntax. We propose that hierarchy in the action domain lies in predictive processing mechanisms mapping sensory inputs and statistical regularities of action-goal relationships. At the cortical level, distinct Broca’s subregions appear to support different types of computations across the two domains. We argue that anterior BA44 is a major hub for the implementation of the syntactic operation Merge. On the other hand, posterior BA44 is recruited in selecting premotor mental representations based on the information provided by contextual signals. This functional distinction is corroborated by a recent meta-analysis (Papitto, Friederici, & Zaccarella, 2020). We conclude by suggesting that action and language can meet only where the interfaces transfer abstract computations either to the external world or to the internal mental world.

How well do people understand the climate impact of individual actions?

Misunderstandings in the relative efficacy of pro-environmental behaviors may have important consequences for climate mitigation efforts. In this study, we evaluate the ability to perceive the carbon footprint associated with individual actions, known as “carbon numeracy,” in 965 members of the North American public using ranking and tradeoff questions. The questions are designed to independently assess the role of knowledge, ability to do tradeoffs, and basic numeracy skills in determining carbon numeracy. We report multiple lines of evidence suggesting that people underestimate greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel and, to a lesser extent, meat consumption. They are also largely incapable of making tradeoffs between different actions (e.g., the number of hamburgers that would be equivalent to a trans-Atlantic flight in terms of climate impact). Concern for climate change, political orientation, and education were not significant predictors of accuracy in making tradeoffs, but basic numeracy was linked with increased accuracy. The results suggest that further education may be necessary to improve carbon numeracy by providing the public with a basic hierarchy of actions according to carbon reduction efficacy. Consumers seeking to balance their carbon budgets may benefit from external aids (e.g., carbon labels associated with actions) to guide emission-related decision-making.

Beyond the corrective action hierarchy: A systems approach to organizational change.

Many patient safety organizations recommend the use of the action hierarchy (AH) to identify strong corrective actions following an investigative analysis of patient harm events. Strong corrective actions, such as forcing functions and equipment standardization, improve patient safety by either preventing the occurrence of active failures (i.e. errors or violations) or reducing their consequences if they do occur. We propose that the emphasis on implementing strong fixes that incrementally improve safety one event at a time is necessary, yet insufficient, for improving safety. This singular focus has detracted from the pursuit of major changes that transform systems safety by targeting the latent conditions which consistently underlie active failures. To date, however, there are no standardized models or methods that enable patient safety professionals to assess, develop and implement systems changes to improve patient safety. We propose a multifaceted definition of 'systems change'. Based on this definition, various types and levels of systems change are described. A rubric for determining the extent to which a specific corrective action reflects a 'systems change' is provided. This rubric incorporates four fundamental dimensions of systems change: scope, breadth, depth and degree. Scores along these dimensions can then be used to classify corrective actions within our proposed systems change hierarchy (SCH). Additional research is needed to validate the proposed rubric and SCH. However, when used in conjunction with the AH, the SCH perspective will serve to foster a more holistic and transformative approach to patient safety.

Self-organization of action hierarchy and compositionality by reinforcement learning with recurrent neural networks

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for reinforcement learning (RL) have shown distinct advantages, e.g., solving memory-dependent tasks and meta-learning. However, little effort has been spent on improving RNN architectures and on understanding the underlying neural mechanisms for performance gain. In this paper, we propose a novel, multiple-timescale, stochastic RNN for RL. Empirical results show that the network can autonomously learn to abstract sub-goals and can self-develop an action hierarchy using internal dynamics in a challenging continuous control task. Furthermore, we show that the self-developed compositionality of the network enhances faster re-learning when adapting to a new task that is a re-composition of previously learned sub-goals, than when starting from scratch. We also found that improved performance can be achieved when neural activities are subject to stochastic rather than deterministic dynamics.

A New System of Preventive Measures Alternative to Remand in Custody: First Results of Application, Development Prospects

We currently witness a heightened interest for the humanization of penalization measures, specifically, preventive measures, both in the theory and practice of Russian criminal procedure. There is well-grounded criticism of the fact that the number of remands in custody used as preventive measures is high and that their terms are prolongated many times, and on similar grounds, both in the Russian criminal procedure sphere and in the European Court of Human Rights during the examination of specific complaints. The analyzed statistical information showed that in 2015, remand in custody as a preventive measure in the criminal cases of grave and especially grave crimes was used for every second suspect or accused. It could not but contribute to the development of a system of preventive measures alternative to detention, and to the emergence of its new types. The authors analyze changes in the strict hierarchical system of preventive measures in view of Federal Law № 72-ФЗ enacted on April 18, 2018, which changed the procedure of applying the preventing measures of house arrest and bail and provided a measure that is completely new for Russian criminal process - the prohibition of certain actions. A considerable variety of restrictive measures included in the prohibition of certain actions, and the possibility of applying them in combination with a bail created a situation paradoxical for Russian criminal process when the application of a measure of prohibition of certain actions, that is a milder one in the hierarchy of restrictive actions, may restrict the rights and liberties of a person to a greater degree than a bail, which is a stricter measure. Besides, the legislative definition of the essence of house arrest as complete isolation of a person from the society and the prohibition of certain actions as partial isolation has created a competition between these preventive measures when they are enforced in practice. The authors present convincing arguments to show that it is impossible to ensure complete isolation of a person form the society without placing that person in the pre-trial detention facility, which makes it possible to equal house arrest with a prohibition to leave a dwelling in a certain period within the framework of prohibiting certain actions. Although there are some questions regarding the application of preventive measures alternative to remand in custody, we should commend the efforts of lawmakers to develop a system of these measures, and the practice of their enforcement will certainly allow to eliminate the existing competition and solve specific problems of their selection and application.

The Perception–Action Hierarchy and its Implementation Using Binons (Binary Neurons)

Abstract The perception–action hierarchy contains a model of the environment as experienced based on what has been recognized and done. Binons (binary neurons) can be used to represent and implement this hierarchy. Binons are simple deterministic artificial neural nodes that represent relationships. They have two source nodes and are reused by zero or more target nodes. Binons are general purpose components that interact in an object-oriented fashion. The two types of binons are spatial and temporal. Spatial binons represent simultaneously occurring patterns of percepts and actions. Temporal binons represent sequential patterns of percepts and actions. Two kinds of temporal binons are used to learn and control behaviour. They are the action and expectation control binons. They are equivalent to command neurons in neuroscience, production rules in cognitive architectures, or the forward model in motor control when combined together. Learning takes place in the three stages of babbling, practicing and automaticity. The resulting hierarchy is a transparent, compositional, unsupervised, continuously growing, deep learning artificial neural network. The hierarchy is part of the Adaptron cognitive architecture.

Hierarchy of hydraulic and energy conservation actions at water supply systems

ABSTRACTWater supply systems (WSS) in developing countries present high water loss and energy consumption rates, thus strategies for conservation of these resources are needed. The challenge is to define which strategies offer better results based on multiple criteria and on the different interests of the stakeholders involved. The objective of this study is to apply the decision support tool, named Water Supply Systems Management (WSSM), which uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process, to establish a hierarchy between the strategies. A case study was carried out in Curitiba, Brazil. Three strategies were selected: leak detection and correction, rational use of water, and the replacement of old water mains. These strategies were evaluated according to implementation cost, flow rate, energy consumption, and population coverage criteria. The leak detection and correction was ranked as the best option. The results of this study show this tool helps to devise guidelines for the efficient use of water and energy in the WSS.

Toward Ergonomic Risk Prediction via Segmentation of Indoor Object Manipulation Actions Using Spatiotemporal Convolutional Networks

Automated real-time prediction of the ergonomic risks of manipulating objects is a key unsolved challenge in developing effective human-robot collaboration systems for logistics and manufacturing applications. We present a foundational paradigm to address this challenge by formulating the problem as one of action segmentation from RGB-D camera videos. Spatial features are first learned using a deep convolutional model from the video frames, which are then fed sequentially to temporal convolutional networks to semantically segment the frames into a hierarchy of actions, which are either ergonomically safe, require monitoring, or need immediate attention. For performance evaluation, in addition to an open-source kitchen dataset, we collected a new dataset comprising 20 individuals picking up and placing objects of varying weights to and from cabinet and table locations at various heights. Results show very high (87%-94%) F1 overlap scores among the ground truth and predicted frame labels for videos lasting over 2 min and consisting of a large number of actions.

The Existence of Decision Norms of the Constitutional Court as a Source of Legislative and Executive Laws

Norms are behavioral guidelines in the Indonesian legal state. Norms continue to exist in the legislation and juridical consequences of constitutional court decisions, and in particular, that of the Constitutional Court. Legal norms have principles that are applied to a wider hierarchy of legal norms and the production of legislation. In essence, the Constitutional Court's rulings have consequences on the actions of the government and therefore the action of governance. Including decision norms in the Constitutional Court's ruling has juridical consequences for the hierarchy of regulations and state legal actions in carrying out the function of government. This article aims to find out how to apply decision norms if there an identical or related decision exists within a different judicial institution. In government institutions bound by the Constitutional Court's decisions, application of decision norms resulted in chaos for the application and enforcement of the law. The implementing agency is faced with the same legal product, namely a verdict in another judicial institution. This causes no legal certainty. Rather than a solution or outcome, implementing agencies are faced with an identical legal response yet no legal certainty. The absence of legal certainty has consequences for government institutions that are bound by the Constitutional Court's decision. By utilizing a hierarchy of legal norms, the issue of rigidity and uncertainty caused by decision norms can be resolved. Likewise, in the legislature, the Constitutional Court's decision is the source of making legal norms. As the Constitutional Court’s decision is the source of legal norm production in the legislature, espousing a hierarchy of legal norms will enable laws and regulations that are formed to reflect justice, certainty and benefit.
 Keywords: Court Decision, Legal Norms, Government.

Neural Organization of Hierarchical Motor Sequence Representations in the Human Neocortex

Although it is widely accepted that the brain represents movement sequences hierarchically, the neural implementation of this organization is still poorly understood. To address this issue, we experimentally manipulated how participants represented sequences of finger presses at the levels of individual movements, chunks, and entire sequences. Using representational fMRI analyses, we then examined how this hierarchical structure was reflected in the fine-grained brain activity patterns of the participants while they performed the 8 trained sequences. We found clear evidence of each level of the movement hierarchy at the representational level. However, anatomically, chunk and sequence representations substantially overlapped in the premotor and parietal cortices, whereas individual movements were uniquely represented in the primary motor cortex. The findings challenge the common hypothesis of an orderly anatomical separation of different levels of an action hierarchy and argue for a special status of the distinction between individual movements and sequential context.

An Nfil3-Zeb2-Id2 pathway imposes Irf8 enhancer switching during cDC1 development

Abstract Classical type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) are required for anti-viral and anti-tumor immunity, motivating a need to understand their development. We recently discovered that the development of the cDC1 progenitor requires an E protein-dependent +41 kb Irf8 enhancer, but its maturation instead requires a BATF3-dependent +32 kb Irf8 enhancer. To identify the genetic circuitry underlying this switch, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing of the multipotent common dendritic cell progenitor (CDP). We found a cluster of cells within the CDP that already expressed transcription factors influencing cDC1 development, including Nfil3, Id2, and Zeb2. Genetic epistasis between these factors revealed a hierarchy of action in which Nfil3 expression is required for a transition from Zeb2hi and Id2lo CDPs into Zeb2lo and Id2hi CDPs, which represent the earliest committed cDC1 progenitors. This genetic circuit blocks E protein activity to exclude pDC potential within this progenitor and also explains the switch in Irf8 enhancer usage during cDC1 development.

A fuzzy interpretive structural modeling approach for evaluating the factors affecting lean implementation in Indian healthcare industry

Purpose Lean concept is implemented in healthcare organizations, as it deals with improvement processes so that best services may be provided to the patients and competitive advantage may be achieved. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the important factors which influence implementation of lean principles in the healthcare industry. Design/methodology/approach The factors influencing lean implementation in the healthcare industry have been determined through literature review and results of a survey where questionnaires were distributed among 325 healthcare professionals. Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling (FISM) approach has been used to analyze the interrelationships among these factors. A FISM model has been developed to extract the key factors influencing lean implementation. Findings Results of the survey and model show that lean leadership, professional organizational culture and teamwork and interdepartmental cooperation are the top level factors. Clarity of organizational vision, communication of goals and results, follow up and evaluations are the factors with strong driving as well as strong dependence power. Even a slight action taken on these factors will have a significant impact on other factors. Practical implications The healthcare professionals and managers can acquire information from the drive power dependence matrix so that they can thoroughly understand the relative importance, interdependencies and relationships among these factors. The model will help in determining the hierarchy of various actions and activities which may be taken by the management for managing the factors that remarkably affect the lean management in hospitals. Social implications In this paper, only 15 variables appropriate for the Indian healthcare industry have been identified. The model developed in the present research has not been validated statistically which can be done by structural equation modeling (SEM). Originality/value Though there are various studies which depict that lean principles have been implemented successfully in various industries, there are few studies specifying the application of lean principles in healthcare sector in India. This paper is an attempt to identify various factors which are important for application of Lean concept in the healthcare sector.

Factors affecting Palestinian customers’ use of online banking services

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine factors that affect Palestinian customers’ use of online banking services.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was conducted using a questionnaire in order to test the hypotheses. The questionnaire was distributed to 500 respondents selected by the participating banks. A total of 369 complete questionnaires were returned. The study’s independent variables include technology adoption propensity, customers’ value for online personalization, customers’ privacy concern, e-trust, technological leadership and loyalty. Palestinian customers’ usage of online banking services is the dependent variable.FindingsThe results of the model tested clearly suggest that the use of online banking services is influenced, respectively, by the technological leadership, e-trust, e-loyalty, customers’ value for online personalization, customers’ concern for privacy and propensity of technology adoption. Finally, this paper suggests that policy makers should develop a prioritized hierarchy of actions in developing the effective use of bank’s online services, based on thet- andp-values of the latter mentioned factors.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation of the study is relying on self-reported cross-sectional data collection, rather than longitudinal surveying. Despite such limitation, the study provides the Palestinian banking sector with recommendations to promote online banking services based on the empirically identified factors affecting such service adoption.Practical implicationsPalestinian banks should promote the adoption of online banking services by supporting personalization of services, privacy and trust. Customers should always be informed that their bank is among the first banks to introduce the latest state-of-the-art online services. Technology innovative and diverse online services should be offered by banks to attract customers.Originality/valueAlthough numerous research studies have studied the factors affecting customers in using electronic and online banking services, few studies have considered such usage in the developing countries, such as Arab countries in general and Palestine in particular. This is the first study to examine the factors affecting the adoption of online banking services in Palestine. This study provides empirical evidence to fill in the gap by providing a deeper understanding of the factors affecting the usage of online banking services in the country. The findings of this study can help decision makers in the Palestinian banks to develop practical plans that might accelerate and expand the adoption of online banking emphasizing personalized and trusted services offered with high level of security and privacy.

Modeling Framework Used to Analyze and Describe Junctional Tourniquet Skills

Medical educators have acknowledged the importance of simulation training in developing procedural skills. While simulation training in other disciplines has benefitted from evaluations of users' skill acquisition, the majority of medical training simulators continue to be developed from overly simplified descriptions of procedures, such as techniques prescribed by existing instructional material. Our objective was to use a modeling framework to characterize the skill of various users in applying junctional tourniquets in order to design an effective training simulator. We recorded 46 medical first responders performing training exercises applying a junctional tourniquet and used coded video and sensor data to identify the hierarchy of actions they performed in the process. The model provides several insights into trainee performance, such as the way in which advanced users perform more tasks in parallel, or areas where advanced users employ situational awareness to identify ways they can deviate from recommended protocol to improve outcomes. The model successfully identifies variations in tourniquet application technique that correlates with improvement on clinically relevant metrics including application speed, pressure applied, and tourniquet placement stability. This methodology can improve medical training simulations by indicating changes during the course of learning a new task, such as helpful deviations from instructional protocol.

Integrated water resource management in complex systems: How the catchment management strategies seek to achieve sustainability and equity in water resources in South Africa

It is increasingly evident amongst practitioners and academics alike that the management approaches of the past have failed to deal adequately with the challenges posed by complex and rapidly changing systems. Indeed the call for integrated approaches such as those embodied in integrated water resource management (IWRM) reflects such concerns. This is because these systems are characterised by complexity in which an understanding of linkages, multiple drivers and unpredictable outcomes is critical. It is also widely recognised that the management of such systems requires an iterative, 'learning-by-doing' approach that is reflexive in nature and builds learning into the next management cycle. We suggest that any attempt to define and implement viable and effective governance of water resources, as well as rehabilitation measures, requires understanding that catchments are complex systems showing the aforementioned characteristics. As a corollary, an adaptive management approach appears best suited to such conditions. In this paper we argue that South Africa's highly-acclaimed National Water Act and associated policy documents such as the National Water Resource Strategy is an example of a policy document that reflects this thinking, as is evident in the guidelines for the development of catchment management strategies which are introduced and described. These offer a framework for the development of a holistic, systems understanding which is strategic and adaptive. In particular, under such a framework, we select the two cornerstones of the Act - sustainability and equity - to explore this theme. We show that under such a framework ensuring that both these principles are achieved is not through one simplistic management action but through an integrated, systems approach. The development of strategies is driven by principles which help one to navigate issues that emerge in complex systems in a flexible way. Visioning and scenarios offer important management tools for establishing a hierarchy of actions that can achieve the overarching principles and that can accommodating change. In complex systems, the users must be part of deriving management solutions since this is where and how they learn. Self-organisation, identity and embeddedness are all essential characteristics of building resilience in a catchment system.

ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ РИЗИК-ОРІЄНТОВАНОГО ПІДХОДУ НАВЧАННЯ У ЗАКЛАДАХ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИЗІ СПЕЦИФІЧНИМИ УМОВАМИ НАВЧАННЯ

The features of the risk-oriented approach when used for educational purposes in higher education institutions with specific learning conditions are revealed. The ways of the risk-oriented thinking formation among employees of security structures are determined.It is assumed that the semantic space associated with the moral proper, includes the following concepts: "permissible", "unacceptable", "compulsory". The aforementioned triad is recommended to be supplemented by the notion "necessarily". The necessary actions should include actions related to the risk of losing freedom, health, and sometimes even death, in connection with forced or involuntary acts to carry out moral duty, order, law. Such actions are often endowed with a higher status in the hierarchy of official actions, are considered to be granted the highest degree of moral approval and, even, admiration. At the same time, those who carry out the necessarily actions, as a rule, perceive their actions as just the performance of official duty. Therefore, the commission of actions related to professional risk becomes a duty only because of the special self-consciousness inherent in the military and law enforcement officers.The higher education institutions with specific educational conditions should be aimed at improving the system of moral education of security officers, the comprehensive involvement of the latest ideas, methods and means of modern pedagogy, based on the deontological potential of the competent approach in the professional training system.The process of the risk-oriented thinking formation for future employees of security organs should be carried out subject to the use of the modern legal and regulatory framework on safety and health of the European Union, which will enhance their competitiveness in the modern labor market.Keywords: higher education institutions with specific educational conditions, employees of security structures, risk-oriented approach, risk-oriented thinking.

Avaliação da exposição das comunidades locais a incêndios florestais: o caso de Alvares, Góis

The parish of Alvares, in the municipality of Gois, was strongly affected by the fires of June 2017, with 70% of its area burned. To improve the protection of local communities and increase their response capacity, it is critical to assess the exposure of settlements to large wildfires. In this sense, the exposure level of the settlements located in the parish was evaluated, combining the density of the exposed elements, with probability to burn. Exposure level was calculated for two dimensions: structural (based on the number of times burned since 1980) and dynamic (based on simulations of the probability to burn considering different fuel management strategies). Social vulnerability was also estimated, taking into account the sociodemographic characteristics of the residents, as well as the characteristics and conditions of the buildings. The results suggest that: 1) the settlements located in the north and northeast of the parish are more exposed to large wildfires; 2) almost half of these have high or very high vulnerability; 3) the fraction of settlements with very high exposure decreases up to 80% with the implementation of a fuel break network. These results, at the level of settlements, can contribute to a better hierarchy of protection and emergency actions, adjusting the fire prevention and mitigation strategies to the characteristics of the population and landscape.

Human activity recognition using mixture of heterogeneous features and sequential minimal optimization

Automated detection and tracking of a person’s actions plays a vital role in surveillance systems. Human activity detection has been carried out by using a variety of features; including flow-based, spatio-temporal and interest points based. We have created a fusion of features by incorporating those which give better results. LBP, HOG, Haar wavelets, SIFT, velocity and displacement being the major ones. By employing the time efficiency and optimality of SMO to train SVM, we have trained our system for both single person and multi-human action classification with improved accuracy. A generalized hierarchy of actions has been presented in this paper to demonstrate the extension of our methodology. We have achieved an accuracy of 91.99% on combination of KTH and Weizmann dataset and 86.48% on multi-human dataset. We have introduced our self-generated multi-human activity dataset in the following paper.

Identification of Toll-like receptor signaling inhibitors based on selective activation of hierarchically acting signaling proteins.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize various pathogen- and host tissue-derived molecules and initiate inflammatory immune responses. Exaggerated or prolonged TLR activation, however, can lead to etiologically diverse diseases, such as bacterial sepsis, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, or stroke. Despite the apparent medical need, no small-molecule drugs against TLR pathways are clinically available. This may be because of the complex signaling mechanisms of TLRs, which are governed by a series of protein-protein interactions initiated by Toll/interleukin-1 receptor homology domains (TIR) found in TLRs and the cytoplasmic adaptor proteins TIRAP and MyD88. Oligomerization of TLRs with MyD88 or TIRAP leads to the recruitment of members of the IRAK family of kinases and the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF6. We developed a phenotypic drug screening system based on the inducible homodimerization of either TIRAP, MyD88, or TRAF6, that ranked hits according to their hierarchy of action. From a bioactive compound library, we identified methyl-piperidino-pyrazole (MPP) as a TLR-specific inhibitor. Structure-activity relationship analysis, quantitative proteomics, protein-protein interaction assays, and cellular thermal shift assays suggested that MPP targets the TIR domain of MyD88. Chemical evolution of the original MPP scaffold generated compounds with selectivity for distinct TLRs that interfered with specific TIR interactions. Administration of an MPP analog to mice protected them from TLR4-dependent inflammation. These results validate this phenotypic screening approach and suggest that the MPP scaffold could serve as a starting point for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs.