Fourth Condition Research Articles

Moral Judgment and Empathic/Deontological Guilt.

People often make complicated decisions to help or to punish perfect strangers. Harming someone or breaking some moral imperative is usually linked to feeling guilt, and several researches suggested the existence of two different kinds of guilt: altruistic/empathic and deontological. Our study aimed to investigate the decision-making processes in moral and nonmoral judgments and assess how specific situations in which the subject is close to the victim or flanked by an authority can influence his decisions. We used three different moral conditions: Empathic Moral (the decision has made while physically close to the potential victims), Deontological Moral (the decision has made while flanked by an "authority"), and Standard Moral (without any influence); a fourth condition is represented by Nonmoral dilemmas (the subject must make a choice between two different things and this does not cause any harm or victims). Previously, a pilot study was carried out for validating the experimental stories to be used in the main study. We observed a higher number of utilitarian/positive responses when individuals had to respond to Empathic Moral condition, with respect to Deontological Moral and Nonmoral dilemmas. Moreover, looking at the time needed to read the dilemma, under empathic guilt condition, people tended to be slower in reading the dilemmas than in other conditions and this both in case of positive and negative responses. No significant differences in time needed to effectively respond emerged. These findings suggested that be physically close to potential victims or be flanked by an "authority" differentially influence the decision-making processes in moral judgment, inducing slower decisions and more utilitarian answers, particularly in the scenario of physical proximity.

Педагогічні умови формування комунікативної культури майбутнього вчителя музичного мистецтва у процесі диригентсько-хорового навчання

The article describes pedagogical conditions for the communicative culture formation of a future music art teacher and the process of conducting-choir training. It is noted that the pedagogical condition is a point of the learning process, the result of purposeful selection, design and use of content elements, methods, devices, as well as organized forms of training to achieve specific didactic goals. The pedagogical condition must be the result of a well-thought-out and thorough selection of each of the elements of the educational process. It is emphasized that observance of pedagogical conditions is necessary in connection with the possibility to realize innovative professional training of future music art teachers. The article substantiates feasibility of using the component structure of the communicative culture of a future music art teacher in defining a set of pedagogical conditions, in particular: motivational and value based; emotionally empathic; cognitive-informational; activity-behavioral components.Based on the didactic analysis of the structure and content of the communicative culture of a future music art teacher, four pedagogical conditions have been identified. The first condition is strengthening of value-semantic aspects in the content of conducting-choral training of future music art teachers. Any musical composition exists as a product of culture, independent from a listener but with some known meaning, which depends on the composer, its creator. Inclusion of empathic-creative tasks in the process of conducting-choral training on the basis of a dialogue between cultures (the second pedagogical condition) implies that a unified understanding of interpretative tasks and the content of performance forms an empathic-creative attitude towards music among participants of the educational choral group. The third pedagogical condition is creation of a positive incentive to the collective spiritual and creative interaction of the participants of the educational choral group. It is focused on a «dialogue position», which has a special dynamic character and is aimed at all participants in the dialogue. To create the atmosphere of creativity in classes, maintaining contact with students in the educational choir, it is necessary to stimulate creative self-realization of students in socio-cultural conducting and choir activity. This circumstance has formed the basis for the fourth pedagogical condition for the formation of the communicative culture of a future music art teacher and the process of conducting-choral education.

Invented spelling: what is the best way to improve literacy skills in kindergarten?

We examined the progress made by 132 six-year-old French-speaking children in their preliteracy skills during four kinds of interventions. Three of these interventions concerned invented spelling, where the children tried to spell words. In the first condition, they were encouraged to reflect on conventional spellings. In the second condition, they reflected on spellings that were slightly more complex than theirs, while in the third condition, they reflected on increasingly complex spellings that eventually led to the conventional spellings. The fourth condition (control) consisted of phonological training. We assessed the children’s phonological awareness, letter knowledge, spelling, and decoding skills, controlling for vocabulary and nonverbal cognitive ability. Posttest results indicated progress in each condition. The greatest progress was observed in the second condition for decoding, spelling, letter-name knowledge and syllable awareness, and in the control condition for phoneme awareness. Overall, results showed that all kinds of interventions led to very similar levels of progress, but that improvements were greater for interventions that focused on the children’s initial invented spellings - in other words, when they adopted a Vygotskian perspective.

Effects of early break intervals on musicians’ and nonmusicians’ skill learning

We measured the extent to which motor skill performance is advantaged by break intervals that include varied types of cognitive activity interposed early in a training session, directly comparing the performances of musicians and nonmusicians. Participants ( N = 118; 59 music majors, 59 nonmusicians) learned a 5-element keypress sequence on a digital piano during 12 min training sessions. Participants in three conditions took a 5 min break after 3 min of practice, and either practiced a new 5-element sequence (Break-motor), memorized word pairs (Break-word pair), or conversed with the proctor (Break-talk). Those in the fourth condition took no break (No-break). Participants were tested 12 hr later, following a night of sleep. Participants made significant performance gains across training and test, but musicians significantly outperformed nonmusicians at all timepoints. Nonmusicians made greater percentage gains than did musicians over the 5 min break interval and overnight, and participants in the Break-motor condition made significantly smaller gains over the 5 min break interval than did participants in the Break-talk and Break-word pair conditions. These results demonstrate that tasks involving declarative memories do not diminish performance enhancements that accrue during breaks early in motor skill practice, but these enhancements can be inhibited by engaging in competing motor tasks.

Spectral radii of truncated circular unitary matrices

Consider a truncated circular unitary matrix which is a pn by pn submatrix of an n by n circular unitary matrix by deleting the last n−pn columns and rows. Jiang and Qi [11] proved that the maximum absolute value of the eigenvalues (known as spectral radius) of the truncated matrix, after properly normalized, converges in distribution to the Gumbel distribution if pn/n is bounded away from 0 and 1. In this paper we investigate the limiting distribution of the spectral radius under one of the following four conditions: (1). pn→∞ and pn/n→0 as n→∞; (2). (n−pn)/n→0 and (n−pn)/(log⁡n)3→∞ as n→∞; (3). n−pn→∞ and (n−pn)/log⁡n→0 as n→∞ and (4). n−pn=k≥1 is a fixed integer. We prove that the spectral radius converges in distribution to the Gumbel distribution under the first three conditions and to a reversed Weibull distribution under the fourth condition.

The Service Conception: Just One Simple Question

It is crystal clear that the Service Conception includes at least three conditions, what I shall call: the ‘normal justification condition’, the ‘independence condition’ and the ‘dependence condition’. The overarching rationale of these conditions is that they ensure that authority is only justified when it provides the best means for the subject to conform to the reasons for action that she actually has. However, it is difficult to clarify whether Raz implicitly presupposes a fourth necessary condition. This condition might be called a ‘reliable belief condition’, that is, that the putative subject must reliably believe that the putative authority-agent satisfies the Service Conception (or more precisely, its other three conditions). In sum, the purpose of this paper is to pose Joseph Raz one simple question: is it a necessary condition of your Service Conception, that the subject believes that the authority-agent satisfies the Service Conception? As a matter of interpretation, different parts of Raz’s work appear to lead in entirely opposite directions: some parts clearly support the reliable belief condition, others do not. Regardless of Raz’s ultimate answer, however, the question reveals a broader inconsistency. Only if the Service Conception does include the belief condition will it support Raz’s claim that authority is consistent with one’s rational ‘self-reliance’, that is, acting upon one’s own judgement (including, as to who has authority). Only if the Service Conception does not include the belief condition will it support Raz’s perfectionist account of government. It seems Raz must choose between one or other.

Path Analysis: Knowledge, Motivation Factor, and Their Relationship with Readiness to Provide Exclusive Breastfeeding among Pregnant Women

Women who prepare early will be better prepared both physically and psychologically to breastfeed exclusively. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the motivation variable as a mediator of the relation between knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding with readiness to exclusive breastfeeding. The study was observational, A total of 150 respondents, These three variables, namely knowledge, motivation, and readiness in exclusive breastfeeding, measured by the enclosed questionnaire. Correlation between variables was analyzed with path analysis. The relation between variables in all three models was significant (p <0.001), whereas the relation between knowledge and preparedness in exclusive breastfeeding is not significant (1b '= 0.142; p = 0.092). The relation between knowledge and preparedness in exclusive breastfeeding changed from the first model, into the fourth model. Besides there is a decline in the path coefficient of 0,302 became 0,142, the relation also becomes insignificant. This shows that the fourth mediation relationship condition is fulfilled. Pregnant women motivation exclusively breastfed mediates the relationship between knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding with maternal readiness in exclusive breastfeeding.

An objective measure of temporal fine structure correlates with perception in a speech discrmination task

Sensitivity to the temporal fine structure (TFS) of sounds is considered important for understanding speech, especially in the presence of background noise, but few studies have employed objective measures to assess the relationship between sensitivity to TFS and listening to speech. Here, we used EEG (electroencephalography) to obtain an objective measure of sensitivity to the TFS of low-frequency sounds (520-Hz amplitude-modulated tones) in listeners who also undertook a speech-discrimination task (discrimination of vowel-consonant-vowel, VCV, sounds in background noise). Two different sound levels (60 and 80 dB SPL) and three different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; -6, 0 and + 6 dB) were used. Three symmetric interaural phase modulations (IPMs), were measured: -60°/60°, -90°/90°, and -120°/120°. A fourth condition used an IPM switching between 0° and 180° degrees. IPM-FRs were higher for the 0/180° degrees than all other conditions. Employing the ratio of the 3 symmetric to the asymmetric (0/180°) IPM-FR as a measure of the neural dynamic range of TFS processing, we found that VCV scores increased with age at 60 dB SPL, but not 80 dB SPL, and indeed were better at 60 compared to 80 dB SPL in older listeners, and correlated with a higher ratio of IPM-FRs.

Effects of glucose fluctuations on cellular and mitochondrial functions in HL-1 cardiac cell line

Background/aim The number of diabetic people never ceased to increase over the last decades. Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the primary cause of death in diabetic patients. Many studies have investigated the effects of glycemic variability on CV events, and some of these proposed glycemic variability as one of the factors associated with CV disease. Simple models can be used to investigate molecular mechanisms involved. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of glucose fluctuations on cellular and mitochondrial functions in HL-1 cardiac cell line. Methods/results HL-1 cells were subjected to a 12hours treatment. This treatment consisted in a several glucose concentrations exposure: 2mM (low glucose [LG]), 5mM (normal glucose [NG]), and 25mM (high glucose [HG]). A fourth condition consisted in glucose fluctuations, every two hours, between 2 and 25mM (intermittent high glucose [IHG]). After treatment, cells were harvested and several cellular and mitochondrial mechanisms were tested. We measured the oxygen consumption on permeabilized cells using polarography, with different substrates. IHG and HG conditions significantly enhance oxygen consumption compared with LG condition. We also evaluated activation of p38 and Akt proteins by Western blot. IHG significantly increased p38 and Akt phosphorylation compared with LG and NG conditions, respectively. Mitochondrial membrane potential was also determined, using a mitochondria specific fluorescent probe, TMRE. Mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly increased for IHG condition compared to LG and NG. Conclusion These data indicate that glucose fluctuations increase both p38 and Akt activation in HL-1 cells. Oxygen consumption and mitochondrial membrane potential were also increased for cells treated with IHG. Further studies to explore the cellular and mitochondrial mechanisms involved are required, particularly oxidative stress and cell death.

Ultimate Load Bearing Capacity of Web Members of Lattice Aluminium Structures Made of CHS Profiles

A joint of lattice aluminium welded structure made of circular hollow sections (CHS) has been analysed. Aluminium alloy EN AW 6082-T6 was used. Calculation of ultimate load bearing capacity of lattice structure web member assumes check of element load bearing capacity for the following calculation situations:- calculation of ultimate load bearing capacity of compressed elements with the influence of buckling,- calculation of ultimate load bearing capacity of compressed elements with the influence of HAZ,- calculation of ultimate load bearing capacity of tensioned elements with the influence of HAZ,- calculation of ultimate element force in truss joint, depending on joint construction.The first three checks are independent of type and characteristics of truss chords. They depend only on elements connection manner and geometrical characteristics of web members. The fourth condition directly depends on relation of chord and web member characteristics, i.e. ratio of their diameters and tube wall thicknesses. The choice of joint geometry, gap between elements in joint as well as joint eccentricity are also important for ultimate force in web member. Check of K-joint ultimate bearing capacity is particularly needed for welded joints due to aluminium strength decrease caused by HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) effect.European standard EN 1999 for aluminium structures design has not defined ultimate load of web members regarding type and characteristics of joint connection.Value of ultimate force in web member of K-joint, depending on connection type, by means of expressions defined in EN 1993-1-8 (Design of steel structures - Part 1-8: Design of joints), has been analysed. Comparative analysis has been done by means of ANSYS modelling, taking into consideration real characteristics of aluminium alloy and ultimate load bearing capacity reduction in the vicinity of weld due to HAZ effect. The main goal of the paper is to analyse capability of expressions from EN 1993-1-8 for steel structures to be used in aluminium structures, having in mind quoted limitations.

Word Problem Solving, Working Memory and Serious Math Difficulties: Do Cognitive Strategies Really Make a Difference?

A randomized control study investigated the role of strategy instruction on problem-solving solution accuracy in elementary school children with math difficulties MD (N = 162) who varied in working memory capacity (WMC). Comparisons were made of three strategy conditions that combined general (verbal and/or visual heuristics) and specific strategies (materials condition that include a controlled attention component of training), a fourth condition that focused only on specific strategies (materials-only) and an untreated control condition. Three important findings emerged: (1) strategy outcomes were moderated by WMC such that children with high WMC outperformed children with low WMC on all post-test measures, (2) the effectiveness of strategy conditions on post-test targeted (problem solving), near transfer (calculation) and far transfer (operation span, fluid intelligence) measures were significantly improved with specific strategies (material-only) than with the combination of general and specific strategies, and (3) treatment advantages related to the specific strategy condition were related to increasing controlled attention across training sessions relative to the other conditions. Taken together, the results suggest that among children with MD, children with higher WMC outperformed those with lower WMC suggesting that WMC serves as a bottleneck on both targeted and transfer measures.

Roll rate perceptual thresholds in active and passive curve driving simulation

In driving simulation, simulator tilt is used to reproduce sustained linear acceleration. In order to feel realistic, this tilt is performed at a rate below the human tilt rate detection threshold, which is usually assumed constant. However, it is known that many factors affect the threshold, such as visual information, simulator motion in additional directions, or the driver’s active effort required for controlling the vehicle. Here we investigated the effect of these factors on the roll rate detection threshold during simulated curve driving. Ten participants reported whether they detected roll motion in multiple trials during simulated curve driving, while roll rate was varied over trials. Roll rate detection thresholds were measured under four conditions. In the first three conditions, participants were moved passively through a curve with the following: (i) roll only in darkness; (ii) combined roll/sway in darkness; (iii) combined roll/sway and visual information. In the fourth (iv) condition participants actively drove through the curve. The results showed that roll rate thresholds in simulated curve driving increase, that is, sensitivity decreases, when the roll tilt is combined with sway motion. Moreover, an active control task seemed to further increase the detection threshold, that is, impair motion sensitivity, but with large individual differences. We hypothesize that this is related to the level of immersion during the task.

Rational Preference in Habitual Interactions

Article focused on human being as a rational creature. Therefore, every undertaken preference could be interpreted as a rational selection. The issue emerged will clarify whether every human action can be categorized as a rational act. This article aimed to clarify the conditions that could be considered as the fundamental for appraising a choice as a rational choice. The method utilized to explicate the subject was literature review. There are several conditions that were discussed in this article, they were the principle of rationality, preferences, interests, and beliefs. The research finds out that the fourth condition is the basis for a rational choice.

Sports Physical Therapy Section Poster Presentations (Abstracts SPO1–SPO119)

Sports Physical Therapy Section Poster Presentations (Abstracts SPO1–SPO119)

Poisson convergence on the free Poisson algebra

Based on recent findings by Bourguin and Peccati, we give a fourth moment type condition for an element of a free Poisson chaos of arbitrary order to converge to a free (centered) Poisson distribution. We also show that free Poisson chaos of order strictly greater than one do not contain any non-zero free Poisson random variables. We are also able to give a sufficient and necessary condition for an element of the first free Poisson chaos to have a free Poisson distribution. Finally, depending on the parity of the considered free Poisson chaos, we provide a general counterexample to the naive universality of the semicircular Wigner chaos established by Deya and Nourdin as well as a transfer principle between the Wigner and the free Poisson chaos.

Speech Intelligibility in Various Noise Conditions with the Nucleus® 5 CP810 Sound Processor.

The Nucleus® 5 System Sound Processor (CP810, Cochlear™, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia) contains two omnidirectional microphones. They can be configured as a fixed directional microphone combination (called Zoom) or as an adaptive beamformer (called Beam), which adjusts the directivity continuously to maximally reduce the interfering noise. Initial evaluation studies with the CP810 had compared performance and usability of the new processor in comparison with the Freedom™ Sound Processor (Cochlear™) for speech in quiet and noise for a subset of the processing options. This study compares the two processing options suggested to be used in noisy environments, Zoom and Beam, for various sound field conditions using a standardized speech in noise matrix test (Oldenburg sentences test). Nine German-speaking subjects who previously had been using the Freedom speech processor and subsequently were upgraded to the CP810 device participated in this series of additional evaluation tests. The speech reception threshold (SRT for 50% speech intelligibility in noise) was determined using sentences presented via loudspeaker at 65 dB SPL in front of the listener and noise presented either via the same loudspeaker (S0N0) or at 90 degrees at either the ear with the sound processor (S0NCI+) or the opposite unaided ear (S0NCI-). The fourth noise condition consisted of three uncorrelated noise sources placed at 90, 180 and 270 degrees. The noise level was adjusted through an adaptive procedure to yield a signal to noise ratio where 50% of the words in the sentences were correctly understood.In spatially separated speech and noise conditions both Zoom and Beam could improve the SRT significantly. For single noise sources, either ipsilateral or contralateral to the cochlear implant sound processor, average improvements with Beam of 12.9 and 7.9 dB in SRT were found. The average SRT of –8 dB for Beam in the diffuse noise condition (uncorrelated noise from both sides and back) is truly remarkable and comparable to the performance of normal hearing listeners in the same test environment. The static directivity (Zoom) option in the diffuse noise condition still provides a significant benefit of 5.9 dB in comparison with the standard omnidirectional microphone setting. These results indicate that CI recipients may improve their speech recognition in noisy environments significantly using these directional microphone-processing options.

Evaluation of transitional behavior of wetness/drought regimes in the Poyang Lake Basin, China

Transitional behavior of wetness/dryness regimes is investigated using the standardized precipitation/runoff indices (SPI-SRI) and the Markov chain model, and wetness/drought conditions are predicted. Results indicate that (1) the wetness/drought hazards have large negative impacts during initial conditions in the Xiuhe River Basin and manifest their negative impacts during the development condition of the wetness/droughts in the Fuhe and Xiuhe River Basins; in the Ganjiang and Raohe River Basins, however, droughts have their greatest impacts during the lasting time intervals, (2) the occurrence of meteorological or hydrological droughts/floods individually is subject to very low probability, implying close relations between meteorological and hydrological conditions within the Poyang Lake Basin, and (3) an abrupt shift between hydrometeorological wetness and dryness events is identified, specifically in northwest and northeast parts of the Poyang Lake Basin, which could be due to intensifying precipitation regimes in these regions under the influence of increasing temperature. The prediction of droughts indicates that the transitional probability from the second condition to the hydrological drought is the lowest and the transitional probability from the first (or third) condition to the fourth condition is the largest. Results of this study will be of value for developing measures for mitigation of droughts in a changing environment.

Do Emotional Appeals in Public Service Advertisements Influence Adolescents’ Intention to Reduce Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages?

Mass media campaigns are a commonly used approach to reduce sugary drink consumption, which is linked to obesity in children and adolescents. The present study investigated the direct and mediated effects of emotional appeals in public service advertisements (PSAs) that aired between 2010 and 2012 on adolescents’ intention to reduce their sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. An online randomized experiment was conducted with a national sample of adolescent respondents ages 13 to 17 years old (N = 805). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions. Three experimental conditions represented PSAs with different emotional appeals: humor, fear, and nurturance, plus a fourth control condition. The outcome was adolescents’ intention to cut back on SSBs. The direct effect of fear appeals on intention was mediated through adolescents’ perception of the PSAs’ argument strength; perceived argument strength was also the key mediator for the indirect effects of humor and nurturance on intention. Several hypothesized mediators influenced by the appeals were not associated with intention. This is the first study to test the effect of persuasive emotional appeals used in SSB-related PSAs. The perceived strength of the PSAs’ arguments is important to consider in the communication of messages designed to reduce SSB consumption.

Existence results for a nonlinear transmission problem

Let Ωo and Ωi be open bounded regular subsets of Rn such that the closure of Ωi is contained in Ωo. Let fo be a regular function on ∂Ωo and let F and G be continuous functions from ∂Ωi×R to R. By exploiting an argument based on potential theory and on the Leray–Schauder principle we show that under suitable and completely explicit conditions on F and G there exists at least one pair of continuous functions (uo,ui) such that{Δuo=0in Ωo∖clΩi,Δui=0in Ωi,uo(x)=fo(x)for all x∈∂Ωo,uo(x)=F(x,ui(x))for all x∈∂Ωi,νΩi⋅∇uo(x)−νΩi⋅∇ui(x)=G(x,ui(x))for all x∈∂Ωi, where the last equality is attained in certain weak sense. A simple example shows that such a pair of functions (uo,ui) is in general neither unique nor locally unique. If instead the fourth condition of the problem is obtained by a small nonlinear perturbation of a homogeneous linear condition, then we prove the existence of at least one classical solution which is in addition locally unique.

Constraints of Tones, Vowels and Consonants on Lexical Selection in Mandarin Chinese.

Previous studies have shown that when speakers of European languages are asked to turn nonwords into words by altering either a vowel or consonant, they tend to treat vowels as more mutable than consonants. These results inspired the universal vowel mutability hypothesis: listeners learn to cope with vowel variability because vowel information constrains lexical selection less tightly and allows for more potential candidates than does consonant information. The present study extends the word reconstruction paradigm to Mandarin Chinese--a Sino-Tibetan language, which makes use of lexically contrastive tone. Native speakers listened to word-like nonwords (e.g., su3) and were asked to change them into words by manipulating a single consonant (e.g., tu3), vowel (e.g., si3), or tone (e.g., su4). Additionally, items were presented in a fourth condition in which participants could change any part. The participants' reaction times and responses were recorded. Results revealed that participants responded faster and more accurately in both the free response and the tonal change conditions. Unlike previous reconstruction studies on European languages, where vowels were changed faster and more often than consonants, these results demonstrate that, in Mandarin, changes to vowels and consonants were both overshadowed by changes to tone, which was the preferred modification to the stimulus nonwords, while changes to vowels were the slowest and least accurate. Our findings show that the universal vowel mutability hypothesis is not consistent with a tonal language, that Mandarin tonal information is lower-priority than consonants and vowels and that vowel information most tightly constrains Mandarin lexical access.