Conjoint Actions Research Articles

Gestural Matching and Contingent Teaching

This study explores how iconic gestural matching in responsive turns is used in Swedish L2 talk not only to demonstrate understanding, but also as a referable by L1 speakers to highlight part of the previous turn as the focus of instruction. Gestural matching indicates intersubjective understanding (de Fornel, 1992), cohesion across turns (Koschmann & LeBaron, 2002), or conjoint actions (Lerner, 2002). In the context of L2 learning, they can be used for pedagogical purposes (Eskildsen & Wagner, 2015; Majlesi, 2015). This study reports on the use of gestural matching in “language cafés”, where gestures are recycled to make part of the prior turn salient and relevant for the emergence of learnables and for contingent teaching.

Impaired neuromuscular function by conjoint actions of organophosphorus insecticide metabolites omethoate and cyclohexanol with implications for treatment of respiratory failure

Background Ingestion of agricultural organophosphorus insecticides is a significant cause of death in rural Asia. Patients often show acute respiratory failure and/or delayed, unexplained signs of neuromuscular paralysis, sometimes diagnosed as “Intermediate Syndrome”. We tested the hypothesis that omethoate and cyclohexanol, circulating metabolites of one agricultural formulation, cause muscle weakness and paralysis. Methods Acetylcholinesterase activity of insecticide components and metabolites was measured using purified enzyme from eel electroplaque or muscle homogenates. Mechanomyographic recording of pelvic limb responses to nerve stimulation was made in anaesthetized pigs and isometric force was recorded from isolated nerve-muscle preparations from mice. Omethoate and cyclohexanol were administered intravenously or added to physiological saline bathing isolated muscle. We also assessed the effect of MgSO4 and cooling on neuromuscular function. Results Omethoate caused tetanic fade in pig muscles and long-lasting contractions of the motor innervation zone in mouse muscle. Both effects were mitigated, either by i.v. administration of MgSO4 in vivo or by adding 5 mM Mg2+ to the medium bathing isolated preparations. Combination of omethoate and cyclohexanol initially potentiated muscle contractions but then rapidly blocked them. Cyclohexanol alone caused fade and block of muscle contractions in pigs and in isolated preparations. Similar effects were observed ex vivo with cyclohexanone and xylene. Cyclohexanol-induced neuromuscular block was temperature-sensitive and rapidly reversible. Conclusions The data indicate a crucial role for organophosphorus and solvent metabolites in muscle weakness following ingestion of agricultural OP insecticide formulations. The metabolites omethoate and cyclohexanol acted conjointly to impair neuromuscular function but their effects were mitigated by elevating extracellular Mg2+ and decreasing core temperature, respectively. Clinical studies of MgSO4 therapy and targeted temperature management in insecticide-poisoned patients are required to determine whether they may be effective adjuncts to treatment.

Wisdom in Chinese Confucian Philosophy

Abstract This article introduces the Chinese conception of wisdom by a focus mainly on the famous discussion in Mencius. It emphasizes that everything is a change, that changes toward wisdom are natural (or in the case of Xunzi, humane), and that people are always changing toward or away from what is wise. In contrast to much Western thought, wisdom is a response to external things, not to an internal marker. Moreover, it is nearly always a commentary on conjoint actions as in a game, or ritual. The essay continues some strands of Chinese thinking about wisdom through Xunzi and up to Zhu Xi. My position as a Westerner is commented on at the end.

Hiding in plain sight: systems thinking and school organization

PurposeThe article asserts that systems thinking and its concurrent organizational processes are central organizing structures in schools, yet “hide in plain sight” and are therefore underexplored and underutilized in leadership theorizing.Design/methodology/approachBy exploring the theoretical literature concerning school organization and leadership, tensions and contradictions within the literature are surfaced. The article examines and critiques distributed leadership theory and provides new directions for thinking about leadership practice based on school organization literature.FindingsRecent work (Kruse and Johnson, 2017; Murphy, 2015, 2016) suggests that schools are far too complex to be led and managed by a single dedicated leader, yet the practice of leadership remains largely reified within the literature (Bryket al., 2015), Insofar as leadership theory relies on narratives derived from and about work of “the” leader, it ignores the larger system. A contrasting literature is that of distributed leadership (Gronn, 2000; Spillane, 2006). Yet, even within that literature, the focus remains on interpersonal interactions and conjoint actions concerning school operation. While not dismissing the importance of leadership as a theoretical and practical construct, thinking about leadership as less a property of individuals and more a variable within effective organizational practice holds promise for the study of educational leadership.Originality/valueThis article extends the existing literature by suggesting how systems processes and structures serve school leaders in addressing the leadership demands of fostering continuous (rather than episodic) change, processing information and creating contextual local knowledge with the potential to enhance school outcomes.

ROLES AND FUNCTION ON REVITALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL BOARDS IN EAST JAVA PROVINCE: HERMENEUTIC STUDY OF JURGEN HABERMAS, INDONESIA

This study aims to analyze the managerial roles of Educational Boards in East Java Province, Indonesia. In particular, this concerns on five aspects, i.e. operational activities, human resources, organizational roles and functions, and facilities in the organization. In the management of educational council, there are many experts in their fields; however, its internal problem is in regard with human resources. The unhealthy organizational structures in determining organizational funds and facilities are also obstacles that need to be addressed to realize the educational council as an independent organization due to the law. Thus, this study argues that the educational boards in East Java Province needs to be revitalized owing to the autonomous principles of education. This relates to the democratization of education, involving conjoint actions and communication between the government and the community to reach the educational consensus.

The Multiple Movements of the Humanitarian Border: The Portable Provision of Care and Control at the Aegean Islands

ABSTRACT The “humanitarian border” that emerged at the Aegean Islands of Chios and Lesbos during the so called “refugee crisis” arose out of various engagements with care and control. A humanitarian border can be said to consist of the entanglements between humanitarianism and securitization. But how do care and control materialize in practice and how can they move from one place to another? By combining the notion of the “humanitarian border” with the concept of “viapolitics” and an actor-network lens, and based on interviews with state authorities, volunteers and NGOs, this article brings in three claims. First, by studying the “missing masses”, the humanitarian border can be said to arise out of “conjoint actions” that concern engagement with peoples and objects of all sorts. Second, the humanitarian border is not only of a composite nature but of a mobile nature as well. Third, the interstructure of the humanitarian border is generated by a productive relationship between the fluidity of network configurations on the one hand and emerging frictions on the other. By studying the situated tensions between humanitarianism and securitization and focusing on the circulation of materialities of all sorts the movements that make up a humanitarian border can be displayed.

FUNCTIONAL FOOD – A CHALLANGE FOR THE CONSUMER, OPPORTUNITY FOR PRODUCERS

Pro-health trend dominates all over the world, as well in Poland. Nutrition education is present from the early stages of our lives, which gradually creates healthy food conscious consumer. They are led to choose their nutrition in a way to prevent diseases of affluence, therefore there is a need for functional foods. Nowadays, together with the lack of definition of those products and with absence of dedicated to them law, consumers experience problems with identifying this type food correctly. Producers, on the other hand, are obligated to conduct complicated and expensive research to be able to set functional foods on the market. The social attitudes towards necessity and price of those products seems positive. Current feasible trends could be a chance for agribusiness and manufacturers to step in, listen to the consumers doubts and troubles and prepare products that not only would be an answer for markets needs, but also would meet diet recommendations. Such conjoint actions, together with well designed marketing strategy could build a market ready for getting functional food regularly in the future. There is also a need observed among consumers to design special mark, helping in distinguish between functional and conventional products.

«Здесь будет город-сад»: утопический образ города в заводской газете Уралмаша

The article introduces the previously unstudied heavy engineering Uralmash Plant newspaper Za Tyazheloye Mashinostroyeniye published between 1934 and 1937; the newspaper is studied as a meta-text and a historical literary source where the editors and party leaders created a utopian image of an ideal city. During the period in question, L. L. Averbakh was secretary of the plant party committee and later secretary of the Ordzhonikidze district committee of Sverdlovsk, and partook in creative writing and literary criticism. The author analyzes the stylistic peculiarities of the key text underlying utopianism in the newspaper, To Herbert G. Wells. My Country and Uralmash in 1950 that creates an image of a future city based on the comparison of an imaginative future with the most urgent issues of reality. The author makes a supposition that it was L. L. Averbakh who authored the article as he had a substantial experience of editorial work and enthusiastically participated in the newspaper publication process. The article describes the main methods the Editorial Board used to create the image of a socialist city of the future and its introduction to the reader as one existing in reality. The fact that the editors of the newspaper perceived the Uralmash Plant as a single unity is proved by the choice of lexical means employed to characterize it, namely, “the socialist city”, “our city”, “the city of Uralmash”, “the city of Soviet machines”, “the city of happiness”, “Sergo-City”, “beautiful Uralmash”. The article explores the role the Editorial Board assigned to the dwellers of Uralmash district; provided they observed the limits, they were allowed to criticize certain shortcomings, while the authors of articles used a multitude of grammar means (such as plural forms of first person proper pronouns and verbs) to create an illusion of conjoint actions. Together with the image of a new city of happiness, the newspaper of the Plant created a new calendar based on the date the Uralmash was launched which also manifested itself through other memorable dates. The shift to a new calendar is also emphasized by the constant contrast of the old world and the new one as well as the creation of an image of people of a new era. The author analyzes the image of the inhabitants of the utopian city who are described by means of constant metonymies gold and currency fund, and reveals the special everyday life canon of the first developers of the plant and determines the role the newspaper played in the process of Uralmash district population formation with them starting to realize their being a special group of people, standing higher than others up the social ladder. Additionally, the article explores the theme of childhood and the succession of generations in newspaper articles: it was children that were meant to become the lofty aim of the future for whose sake the constructors of the socialist city had to overcome so many hardships. The author singles out a number of lexical units recurrent in the articles such as happiness, joy, rejoicement used in different grammar forms to create the emotional tone of the newspaper. It turning to books published during the 1950s and devoted to the history of the Uralmash plant and to the memoirs of the inhabitants of the district leads the author to conclude that the basic elements of utopia one finds in the newspaper Za Tyazheloye Mashinostoryeniye got deeply rooted in the district’s inhabitants’ minds and formed their identity.

Macrocontingencies and Institutions: A Behaviorological Analysis

Macrocontingency is defined as the conjoint actions of two or more individuals under common contingency control. This unit of analysis addresses the effects of contingency relations controlling the actions of any number of individuals, concurrently or sequentially. A macrocontingency analysis at the institutional level begins by identifying the motivating condition and functional components of an institution. The components are occasional but interrelated behavioral situations (e.g., meetings) incorporating the physical settings, conjoint actions of the participants, and macrocontingencies controlling those actions. What is denoted or inferred in a macrocontingency analysis must be capable of being directly observable. An institutional macrocontingency analysis is illustrated with a report of a protest march issuing from the struggle in Brazil to reverse an unequal distribution of land.

Measurements of plastic strain around indentations caused by the impact of round and angular particles, and the origin of erosion

The aim of this paper is to examine plastic strain distributions around indentations and to consider the mechanisms of erosion damage caused by solid particle impact. A WC ball and an angular SiC particle of 3 mm in diameter were used to compare the effect of particle shape on plastic strain. Measurements of principal shearing strain distributions around the indentations were performed on surfaces of aluminum, iron and cast iron at impact angles of 20°, 30°, 40°, 60° and 90° at impact velocities from 50 to 200 m s −1. It was found that the impact angle dependence was roughly consistent with the maximum principal shearing strain and erosion damage data, which have been published in previous papers and obtained during additional works in this study. The surface topography of the impact craters suggested that depth, contact area and volume of indentation are affected by the particle density and the hardness of both particle and target material. Measurements of volume ratio of lips to craters proved that material removal did not necessarily occur at a single impact of the WC ball, but occurred at the impact of the angular SiC particle at low impact angles. It is concluded that the origin of erosion is probably attributed to the conjoint actions of high plastic strains followed by subsequent removal and the cutting process caused by particle impact.

Influence of dwell time on fatigue crack growth in nickel-base superalloys

Engineered systems for high temperature service are often subjected to cyclic loads with dwell times at maximum load that can exacerbate fatigue damage evolution through creep and environment enhanced crack growth. Experiments are carried out to examine the influence of dwell time on fatigue crack growth in powder metallurgy (P/M) nickel-base superalloys in highpurity argon and oxygen at 873–973 K. This study complements a previous study on an ingot metallurgy (I/M) alloy. The data are analyzed using a general superposition model to capture the microstructural response to the conjoint actions of stress and environment. The model is validated through backward comparisons of the estimated time-dependent contributions with crack growth rate data from sustained-load tests. The mechanical and mechanistic implications of dwell time, the feasibility for inferring sustained-load crack growth rates from the dwell time tests, and the usefulness of the superposition model for life-cycle design and management of engineered structures are discussed.

The Determinants of Pain Revisited: Coordinates in Sensory Space

Ron Melzack recognized that the gate control hypothesis of 1965 was incomplete. This led to the publication of a book chapter that would someday be referred to by some as ′the classical view′ of pain mechanisms. However, this paper presented some conceptual problems for research on pain mechanisms by using the term ′motivational‐affective′ to define a determinant of pain. To facilitate research and eventually improve practice, the determinants of pain need to be identified and quantified more clearly. In the present article, three critical dimensions of sensory experience that define pain and related sensory experiences are identified: sensory salience, affect and motivational dominance. The authors show that each of these dimensions can be measured and are mediated by specific neurophysiological mechanisms. Pain and other somatic sensations emerge from the conjoint actions of these neurophysiological systems and fall within unambiguously defined coordinates of the three‐dimensional sensory surface that they form. Pain mechanisms would be better understood if research focused on the physiology and psychology of these fundamental sensory dimensions and included a wider range of sensory systems.

Shaping of the cat paw for food taking and object manipulation: an X-ray analysis.

The kinematics of the cat distal forelimb during food-taking were analysed to obtain information on the movement processes within the paw before and during object taking in a species without monosynaptic corticomotoneuronal projections. The behaviour was investigated with two tests: either the table test (TT, food offered on a table located at ground level in a reaching distance of 22 and 28 cm) or the horizontal test (HT, food offered in a small container located at shoulder level, height 18-25 cm, reaching distance 6-12 cm). In five animals, the changes in configuration and the conjoint actions of the wrist, the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints were assessed with three-dimensional X-ray cinematography (time resolution 20 ms, spatial resolution 1 mm) and video analysis. While approaching the target, the digits were first extended and subsequently abducted. This 'preshaping' consisted of combined angular changes in the MCP and PIP joints, thereby attaining an adequate grip aperture. Each cat used a stable strategy, but different cats used different strategies. In the TT, preshaping involved an MCP extension and a PIP flexion. In the HT, predominant extension of the MCP, predominant extension of the PIP, or a combination of both were used, followed by MCP flexion and PIP flexion. The grip aperture started to decrease before object contact, earlier in the TT, later in the HT. Grasping was achieved by flexion of first the PIP and later the MCP. The X-ray analysis gave evidence for individuated digit movements. Correlation analysis of the angular position of the joints between the different phalanges showed that digits 3 and 4 acted in concert, as did digits 2 and 5, but with clear independence between the different pairs. Furthermore, the different phalanges served different purposes during the grasp. Digits 3, 4 established object contact, digits 2, 5 were mainly used to stabilize the paw onto the surface. The cat distal forelimb displays a refined movement repertoire during the preshaping and grasping phase of food-taking. During the preshaping phase, the kinematics resembled in some aspects the situation in humans. The results demonstrate the ability of the polysynaptic projections from the cortico-motoneuronal system to organize differentiated distal limb movements, including individuated movements of the digits.

Demonstration of T-cell-dependent and T-cell-independent components of 8-mercaptoguanosine-mediated adjuvanticity.

The contribution of T cells to potentiation of humoral immunity by the C8-substituted guanine ribonucleosides and the origin of the increased numbers of antigen-responsive B cells generated consequent to their action have been investigated. Augmentation of the antigen-specific antibody response by these nucleosides, exemplified by 8-mercaptoguanosine (8MGuo), can be separated into T-cell-dependent and T-cell-independent components, both by use of the T-cell tropic immunosuppressive agent, cyclosporin A, and by experiments using separated populations of T and B cells. Augmentation of adjuvanticity by T cells is hypothesized to involve a B-cell subpopulation not otherwise subject to the action of 8MGuo. This subpopulation could potentially arise by either of two mechanisms, one whereby preexisting antigen-specific B cells undergo clonal expansion, and one in which cells not normally participating in the response are recruited in the absence of clonal expansion. Although the former mechanism makes a minor contribution to adjuvanticity, the latter mechanism appears to be the dominant one, insofar as models in which 8MGuo-induced proliferation fails to occur (such as after irradiation, or in the SJL mouse) nonetheless exhibit strong adjuvant effects. Analysis of precursor frequency of antigen-specific B cells indicates that for each mature, antigen-responsive B cell present in adult murine spleen, an average of four additional cells can be recruited by the conjoint actions of antigen and 8MGuo. One group subject to such recruitment is the immature antigen-specific B cell, whose degree of functional maturity is accelerated in the presence of antigen and 8MGuo.

Mechanism of 8-mercaptoguanosine-mediated adjuvanticity: roles of clonal expansion and cellular recruitment.

Abstract The mechanism by which increased numbers of antigen-responsive B cells are generated in the presence of antigen and the C8-substituted guanine ribonucleoside, 8-mercaptoguanosine (8MGuo), has been investigated. Augmentation of the primary humoral response of splenocytes to antigen cannot be ascribed to the additive effects of the underlying antigen-specific response and the nonspecific (polyclonal) response induced by 8MGuo. This is clear from a consideration of the magnitude of the responses involved, as well as from a murine model (the SJL mouse) that does not generate a nonspecific response to the substituted nucleoside but responds to it with the usual degree of immunoenhancement in the presence of antigen. Other approaches suggest that two mechanisms are involved in adjuvanticity, one whereby preexisting antigen-specific B cells undergo clonal expansion, and one in which cells not normally participating in the response are recruited in the absence of clonal expansion. The latter mechanism appears to be the dominant one insofar as models in which 8MGuo-induced proliferation fails to occur (such as after irradiation, or in the SJL mouse) nonetheless exhibit strong adjuvant effects. Analysis of precursor frequency of antigen-specific B cells indicates that for each mature, antigen-responsive B cell present in adult murine spleen, an average of four additional cells can be recruited by the conjoint actions of antigen and 8MGuo. One group subject to such recruitment is the immature antigen-specific B cell, whose degree of functional maturity is accelerated in the presence of antigen and 8MGuo.

Recent progress in understanding environment assisted fatigue crack growth

Metal fatigue has been well recognized as an important cause for failure of engineering structures. In most applications, fatigue damage results from the conjoint actions of the cyclically applied stress and the external (chemical) environment, and is therefore time dependent. Understanding of this load-environment interaction is essential to the formulation of rational life prediction procedures and to the development of realistic materials evaluation and qualification tests. Research over the past 15 years has led to the suggestion that the rate of fatigue crack growth in an aggressive environment, (da/dN)e, is the sum of three components—the rate of fatigue crack growth in an inert environment, (da/dN)r, which represents the contribution of “pure” fatigue, a cycle-dependent component, (da/dN)cf, that requires the synergistic interaction of fatigue and environmental attack, and the contribution by sustained-load crack growth (i.e., stress corrosion cracking) at K levels above K Iscc, (da/dN)scc. Recent fracture mechanics and surface chemistry studies have provided a clearer understanding of the cycle-dependent term, and, hence, a more complete understanding of environment assisted fatigue crack growth. (da/dN)cf results from the reaction of the environment with fresh crack surfaces produced by fatigue, and is a function of the extent of reaction during one loading cycle. For highly reactive alloy-environment systems, this contribution depends also on the rate of transport of the aggressive environment to the crack tip. The experimental basis and the development of models for transport and surface reaction controlled fatigue crack growth are reviewed. Interpretation of the effects of partial pressure of the aggressive environment and cyclic load frequency in terms of surface reaction and transport processes is discussed. Implications in terms of service performance and life prediction procedures are considered.

Chemical effects in sliding wear of aluminum

The mechanism of the sliding wear of metals in corrosive media was investigated. In particular, the role of chemical heterogeneities on chemical interactions between the sliding surface and its environment was studied using 2024 aluminum alloy and sodium chloride solutions of varying pH and NaCl concentration. Sliding wear tests with a cylinder-on-cylinder geometry were performed at a sliding speed of 1 m min −1 and a normal load of 9.8 N (1 kgf). The results show that at pH = 0 and pH = 14, the wear rate is dominated by the dissolution of aluminum into the NaCl solution. In the intermediate pH range, the wear rate is shown to be controlled by the conjoint actions of corrosion and delamination wear. Microscope examination of the worn specimens by means of a scanning electron microscope further confirms that the mode of corrosion is of a localized nature.