Observers Of Behavior Research Articles

Procedural aspects of interrogation of minors in criminal proceedings

The article is devoted to the study of procedural aspects of the organization and interrogation of minors in criminal proceedings. The article considers the provisions of the current criminal procedural legislation on the requirements for the interrogation of a minor in criminal proceedings. The peculiarities of the interrogation of juvenile witnesses, victims, suspects are highlighted separately. The conclusions state that interrogation as one of the most important and most frequently practiced investigative actions is a form of obtaining evidentiary information, a procedural means of forming and verifying evidence. The interrogation of minors has its own peculiarities, due to the specifics of minors as its participants. This is reflected in certain procedural features of the procedure for such actions with the participation of minors, which are regulated by the CPC of Ukraine. To achieve the most effective result of interrogation of minors, in the process of its implementation it is important to comply with procedural and psychological aspects, strict compliance with the law on preparation, conduct and recording of interrogation and taking into account mental characteristics, socio-psychological characteristics, temperament of the interrogated, observance of high moral and tactful behavior.

When a Nudge Backfires: Combining (Im)Plausible Deniability with Social and Economic Incentives to Promote Behavioral Change

Both theory and recent empirical evidence on nudging suggest that observability of behavior acts as an instrument for promoting (discouraging) pro-social (anti-social) behavior. We connect three streams of literature (nudging, social preferences, and social norms) to investigate the universality of these claims. By employing a series of high-powered laboratory and online studies, we report here on an investigation of the questions of when and in what form backfiring occurs, the mechanism behind the backfiring, and how to mitigate it. We find that inequality aversion moderates the effectiveness of such nudges and that increasing the focus on social norms can counteract the backfiring effects of such behavioral interventions. Our results are informative for those who work on nudging and behavioral change, including scholars, company officials, and policy-makers.

Consistency Between Parent-Reported Feeding Practices and Behavioral Observation During Toddler Meals

To assess whether feeding questionnaire responses reflect observed mealtime behavior. Cross-sectional associations between self-reported and observed behaviors. Participants' homes. Parents (n = 75) of toddlers (mean age = 24.7 months) in the US. Feeding behavior questionnaires and coded videos of children's dinner meals. Parents' questionnaire responses of "never" (or "rarely") considered consistent with video observation if behavior was not observed; responses of "always" (or "most of the time") if behavior observed at least once. Proportion (%) of participants observed performing each behavior was calculated for the groups of parents reporting that they "never," "sometimes," or "always" used that feeding practice. These were compared across the 3 response groups. Parents reported 6 behaviors consistently (≥70% agreement): allowing child to eat as much as wanted, helping child eat, prompting child to eat, television/screens on during meal, nonfood rewards, and hurrying child. The remaining 8 behaviors fell below the threshold. For many behaviors, all response groups (never, sometimes, always) had similar rates of participants demonstrating the behavior. Only 5 behaviors had observed rates falling in the expected direction (frequency of always > sometimes > never). For some behaviors, the "sometimes" group had a higher (eg, clean plate) or lower (praise) frequency than the other 2 groups. Self-reported questionnaire responses predicted whether some, but not all, behaviors were observed. Parents' use of "sometimes" remains difficult to interpret as parents may use "sometimes" inconsistently across behaviors and perhaps to mitigate socially undesirable responses. Self-reports of "sometimes" performing a behavior may have limited utility for prediction of behavior and likely requires additional exploration with the respondent.

Visual and passive acoustic observations of blue whale trios from two distinct populations

Visual and passive acoustic observations of blue whale trios from two distinct populations

Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 3: Marsupials (Didelphimorphia)

This report is the third in our monographic series on mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavari-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru. Based on taxonomic analysis of specimens collected in the region, we document the occurrence of 19 species of marsupials in the genera Caluromys, Glironia, Hyladelphys, Marmosa, Monodelphis, Metachirus, Chironectes, Didelphis, Philander, Gracilinanus, and Marmosops. Our principal taxonomic results include the following: (1) we provide a phylogenetic analysis of previously unpublished mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data for Caluromys that supports the reciprocal monophyly of all currently recognized species in the genus but reveals substantial heterogeneity in one extralimital taxon; (2) we explain why Marmosa constantiae is the correct name for the southwestern Amazonian taxon previously known as Mar. demerarae, and we diagnose Mar. constantiae from Mar. rapposa, a superficially similar species from southern Peru, eastern Bolivia, and central Brazil; (3) we explain why Mar. rutteri is the correct name for one of the Amazonian species currently known as Mar. regina, and we restrict the latter name to the transAndean holotype; (4) we recognize Metachirus myosuros as a species distinct from Met. nudicaudatus based on morphological comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis of new mtDNA sequence data; and (5) we name a new species of Marmosops to honor the late Finnish-Peruvian naturalist Pekka Soini.Of the 19 marsupial species known to occur in the Yavari-Ucayali interfluve, 16 have been recorded in sympatry at Nuevo San Juan, the Matses village where we based most of our fieldwork from 1995 to 1999. We explain why we believe the marsupial species list from Nuevo San Juan to be complete (or nearly so), and we compare it with a species list obtained by similarly intensive fieldwork at Paracou (French Guiana). Although Nuevo San Juan and Paracou are 2500 km apart on opposite sides of Amazonia, the same opossum genera are present at both sites, the lists differing only in the species represented in each fauna. We briefly discuss current explanations for spatial turnover in species of terrestrial vertebrates across Amazonian landscapes and provide evidence that the upper Amazon is a significant dispersal barrier for marsupials.Marsupials are not important to the Matses in any way. In keeping with their cultural inattention to mammals that are inconspicuous, harmless, and too small to be of dietary significance, the Matses lexically distinguish only a few kinds of opossums, and they are not close observers of opossum morphology or behavior.

Historic behaviour for nonautonomous contraction mappings

We consider a parametrised perturbation of a diffeomorphism on a closed smooth Riemannian manifold with , modeled by nonautonomous dynamical systems. A point without time averages for a (nonautonomous) dynamical system is said to have historic behaviour. It is known that for any diffeomorphism, the observability of historic behaviour, in the sense of the existence of a positive Lebesgue measure set consisting of points with historic behaviour, disappears under absolutely continuous, independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) noise. By contrast, we show that the observability of historic behaviour can appear by a non-i.i.d. noise: we consider a contraction mapping for which the set of points with historic behaviour is of zero Lebesgue measure and provide an absolutely continuous, non-i.i.d. noise under which the set of points with historic behaviour is of positive Lebesgue measure.

Contracting with Opportunistic Partners: Theory and Application to Technology Development and Innovation

After a contract is signed, contracting partners may engage in opportunistic behavior aimed at circumventing the original intention of the agreement governing their business relationship, complying with the letter but not the spirit of the contract. We use an incomplete contracts approach to show that the anticipation and observability of such behavior are typically not enough to prevent it when parties can renegotiate contractual outcomes. This is because contractually specified incentives inevitably have conflicting effects: they simultaneously increase the likelihood of welfare-improving investments and welfare-reducing opportunistic behavior. The possibility of such opportunism thus limits the effectiveness of contractual incentives. We also discuss how our results relate to contracting practices observed in industries characterized by rapid innovation, such as information technology. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting.

Educational system defects and observing professional behavior: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND:Observing professional behavior in clinical settings encounters many obstacles. In this research, the effect of defects of the educational system in observing professional behavior in clinical settings of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) has been investigated.MATERIALS AND METHODS:This qualitative content analysis study was conducted using focused group discussions in TUMS. Twenty-two focused group discussions with 182 faculty members, medical students, and clinical staff were conducted. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data.RESULTS:One hundred and sixty codes (90 codes from the viewpoint of clinical staff and 70 codes from the viewpoint of faculty members and medical students) were extracted. The codes are categorized into 4 categories and 17 subcategories. The categories include “educators’ imperfections,” “inadequate initial training,” “lack of attention to continuous professional education,” and “lack of passion for professionalism education.”CONCLUSION:Greater efforts to empower educators, planning for the effectiveness of initial education, and motivating employees might play a role in promoting the observance of professional behavior in clinical settings. Professional behavior training should be considered at the entrance into the system. This education should be strengthened by continuing theoretical and practical training and addressed by proper supervision. It is also important to focus on attracting the attention of teachers to their own model role in observing professional behavior by others.

Upaya Meningkatkan Kompetensi Menulis Kembali Dongeng melalui Puzzle Alur Cerita Berbasis Film Dongeng

This study aimed to describe the learning implementation process of folklore rewriting competency through storyline puzzles. The puzzles were based on two folklore movies for improving the skill in revising folklore and also for behavioral enhancement of first Semester students in this case the VIIE class student in the academic year of 2015/2016, through this hopefully there will be a significant behavioral change in the student's personality. This research was conducted using the action research method by Kemmis and Taggart designing for two cycles. The steps in each cycle consist of (1) planning, (2) action, (3) observation, and (4) reflection. The subjects of this study were students of class VIIE of SMP Negeri 3 Ambarawa first semester in the academic year of 2015/2016. The technique used was the folklore-based storyline puzzle. Data collection tools used in this study were the performance instruments for folklore rewriting, student behavior observation sheets, student notes, observer notes, teacher and observer’s reflection sheets, and digital cameras to document the learning process. The Validated data consisted of learning outcome data (results of rewriting the folklore and daily quiz) and learning process data (teaching activities and the changes in students' behavior). Based on the results of the study and discussion, it can be concluded that learning activity through folklore-based storyline puzzles can improve the learning outcome of writing folklore, improving the students’ personality, and improving the process of implementing better learning, especially students of class VIIE SMP Negeri 3 Ambarawa first semester in the academic year of 2015/2016.

First Insights Into the Fine-Scale Movements of the Sandbar Shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus

The expanding use of biologging tags in studies of shark movement provides an opportunity to compare fine-scale movement behaviours among species. In May 2017, we deployed high-resolution biologging tags on four mature female sandbar sharks Carcharhinus plumbeus at Ningaloo Reef for durations ranging between 13 and 25.5 hours. Pressure and tri-axial motion sensors within these tags enabled the calculation of dive geometry, swimming kinematics and path tortuosity at fine spatial scales (m-km) and concurrent validation of these behaviours from video recordings. Sandbar sharks oscillated through the water column at shallow dive angles, with gliding behaviour observed in the descent phase for all sharks. Continual V-shaped oscillatory movements were occasionally interspersed by U-shaped dives that predominately occurred around dusk. The bottom phase of these U-shaped dives likely occurred on the seabed, with dead-reckoning revealing a highly tortuous, circling track. By combining these fine-scale behavioural observations with existing ecological knowledge of sandbar habitat and diet, we argue that this circling behaviour is likely to be a strategy for hunting benthic prey. Comparing dive geometry and energetics with those of other sharks reveals common patterns in energetically efficient oscillatory swimming.

System Transparency in Shared Autonomy: A Mini Review.

What does transparency mean in a shared autonomy framework? Different ways of understanding system transparency in human-robot interaction can be found in the state of the art. In one of the most common interpretations of the term, transparency is the observability and predictability of the system behavior, the understanding of what the system is doing, why, and what it will do next. Since the main methods to improve this kind of transparency are based on interface design and training, transparency is usually considered a property of such interfaces, while natural language explanations are a popular way to achieve transparent interfaces. Mechanical transparency is the robot capacity to follow human movements without human-perceptible resistive forces. Transparency improves system performance, helping reduce human errors, and builds trust in the system. One of the principles of user-centered design is to keep the user aware of the state of the system: a transparent design is a user-centered design. This article presents a review of the definitions and methods to improve transparency for applications with different interaction requirements and autonomy degrees, in order to clarify the role of transparency in shared autonomy, as well as to identify research gaps and potential future developments.

The Development of a Skills Taxonomy for Nursing Crisis Management

Abstract Background Effective crisis management requires nurses to demonstrate proper nontechnical skills as first responders to intervene early in handling crisis situations. Currently, a behavioral marker system with structured taxonomy of nontechnical skills in crisis management is lacking in the nursing literature. This article outlines the development of a skills taxonomy, which will form the basis of the behavioral marker system that we aim to develop in our next phase of study. Methods We audio-recorded 50 registered nurses and enrolled nurses over five simulation debriefing sessions. We analyzed the data using a thematic analysis approach and developed a skills taxonomy. To ensure face validation, we invited four experts to review the skills taxonomy and to comment on each behavior's observability. Results We developed a skills taxonomy comprising six categories and 18 underlying observable behaviors (elements). The developed categories are task and resource management, situational awareness, teamwork, communication, control of emotions, and leadership. Conclusion We have developed a skills taxonomy fostering the use of a common terminology for nontechnical skills in nursing crisis-management teams. Further work to develop a rating system and to test its reliability will be conducted.

Drone Up! Quantifying Whale Behavior From a New Perspective Improves Observational Capacity

From our traditional boat-based horizontal perspective, marine megafauna behavioral observations are typically limited to animal surfacings. Achieving an aerial perspective has been restricted to brief helicopter or airplane based observations that are costly, noisy and risky. The emergence of commercial small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has significantly reduced these constraints, and provide a stable, relatively quiet and inexpensive platform that enables replicate observations for prolonged periods with minimal disturbance. The potential of UAS for behavioral observation appears immense, yet quantitative methods of video analysis and proof of utility as an observational tool are required. We use UAS footage of gray whales foraging in coastal waters of Oregon, USA to develop analysis methods, assess behavioral impacts caused by UAS, determine the change in observation time enabled by UAS, and describe unique behaviors observed via UAS. Boat-based behavioral observations from 53 gray whale sightings between May and October 2016 were compared to behavioral data extracted from video analysis of UAS flights during those sightings. We used a DJI Phantom 3 Pro or 4 Advanced, recorded video from an altitude ≥25m, and detected no behavioral response by whales to the UAS. Two experienced whale ethologists conducted UAS video behavioral analysis, including tabulation of whale behavior states and events, and whale surface time and whale visible time (total time the whale was visible including underwater). UAS provided three times more observational capacity than boat-based observations alone (300 vs. 103 minutes). When observation time is accounted for, UAS data provided greater observations of all primary behavior states (travel, forage, social, rest) relative to boat-based data, especially forage, which increased by three times. Furthermore, UAS enable documentation of multiple novel gray whale foraging tactics (e.g., headstands: n=58; side-swimming: n=17; jaw snapping and flexing: n= 10) and 33 social events (nursing, pair coordinated surfacings) not identified in the field. This study demonstrates the significant added value of UAS to marine megafauna behavior and ecological studies. With technological advances, robust study designs, and effective analytical tools, we foresee increased UAS applications to marine megafauna studies to elucidate foraging strategies, habitat associations, social patterns, and response to human disturbance.

How anonymity and norms influence costly support for environmental causes

Abstract Social norms are a key driver of pro-environmental action, but their influence may vary by context. An important contextual factor is behavior observability. We employ a laboratory quasi-experiment studying donations to environmental organizations under different levels of donor anonymity and under different levels of injunctive social norms. Decision observability amplifies the effect of norms: donations are 84% higher when observability is added to pro-environmental norms, compared to a setting with pro-environmental norms but anonymous decisions.

How a Birthday Celebration Changed the Course of My Life

How a Birthday Celebration Changed the Course of My Life

The observability of problem behavior and its relation to discrepancies between adolescents' self-report and parents' proxy report on problem behavior.

This study provides evidence regarding the relatedness of multi-informant agreement and perceived observability of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Based on 2 distinct but comparable samples of children/adolescents (Sample 1: 58.2% female and mean age of 12.51 years; Sample 2: 56.4% female and mean age of 12.35 years) and their mothers, cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses were conducted. Although often suggested in the literature, the results of the study do not indicate that-in general-internalizing behavior is less observable than externalizing behavior. Moreover, the results do not corroborate the suggestion that multi-informant agreement regarding internalizing behavior is lower than that of externalizing behavior. However, apart from the broad distinction of internalizing versus externalizing behavior, observability and multi-informant agreement are positively correlated with respect to reports on actual state (cross-sectional) as well as change (longitudinal) of problem behavior. The results are discussed in the context of research on multi-informant reports on problem behavior and with respect to practical implications for the assessment of problem behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Intermittent pair-housing, pair relationship qualities, and HPA activity in adult female rhesus macaques.

Laboratory rhesus macaques are often housed in pairs and may be temporarily or permanently separated for research, health, or management reasons. While both long-term social separations and introductions can stimulate a stress response that impacts inflammation and immune function, the effects of short-term overnight separations and whether qualities of the pair relationship mediate these effects are unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of overnight separations on the urinary cortisol concentration of 20 differentially paired adult female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at the California National Primate Research Center. These females were initially kept in either continuous (no overnight separation) or intermittent (with overnight separation) pair-housing and then switched to the alternate pair-housing condition part way through the study. Each study subject was observed for 5 weeks, during which we collected measures of affiliative, aggressive, anxious, abnormal, and activity-state behaviors in both pair-housing conditions. Additionally, up to three urine samples were collected from each subject per week and assayed for urinary free cortisol and creatinine. Lastly, the behavioral observer scored each pair on four relationship quality attributes ("Anxious," "Tense," "Well-meshed," and "Friendly") using a seven-point scale. Data were analyzed using a generalized linear model with gamma distribution and an information theoretic approach to determine the best model set. An interaction between the intermittent pairing condition and tense pair adjective rating was in the top three models of the best model set. Dominance and rates of affiliation were also important for explaining urinary cortisol variation. Our results suggest that to prevent significant changes in HPA-axis activation in rhesus macaque females, which could have unintended effects on research outcomes, pairs with "Tense" relationships and overnight separations preventing tactile contact should be avoided.

Young Children With Behavior Disorders in Low-Income Families: The Role of Clinic Observations in the Assessment of Parenting

ABSTRACTChildren from low-income families are at elevated risk of meeting diagnostic criteria for behavior disorders. Although mastery-based behavioral parent training (BPT) programs have a robust evidence base for reducing disruptive behaviors of young children, socioeconomically disadvantaged families are more likely to drop out of treatment and, in turn, are less likely to benefit. Therefore, efficient assessment and treatment may be needed. Less research, however, has addressed the value of time-consuming behavioral observations relative to caregiver-report of problem behaviors in the assessment of this at-risk and underserved group. In the current study, 43 low-income parents and their clinic-referred child were observed during a standard mastery-based BPT interaction task (Child’s Game) at baseline. Findings revealed that parents were observed to display an extremely high proportion of maladaptive behaviors targeted for reduction by subsequent treatment (Instructions plus Questions) relative to behaviors that the treatment was designed to increase (Attends plus Rewards). In contrast, parents reported they utilized relatively high and low rates of positive and negative parenting, respectively. Behaviorally observed parenting was not correlated with caregiver-reported parenting. The findings suggest that baseline observations of behaviors targeted in mastery-based BPT interventions are an important part of assessment in parenting programs for low-income families with young disruptive children.

An automated positioning system for monitoring chickens’ location: Effects of wearing a backpack on behaviour, leg health and production

Automated tracking of the location of individual chickens is becoming more common in behavioural research. This technology has several advantages including gathering large amounts of data and monitoring of individual animals as opposed to flocks. To ensure the quality of the research the transmitters or tags attached to the bird as part of the automated positioning system should not have any effect on bird behaviour, welfare and production. Tag-related effects may lead to unreliable results which cannot be extrapolated to untagged birds. Therefore, we tested the effects of wearing a backpack containing a tag as part of an ultra-wideband system for automated position monitoring. The chickens' behaviour, leg health, cleanliness and body weight gain were studied. Sixty slow-growing broiler chickens (Sasso XL451) were housed in groups of 10 birds. Per pen, five birds were fitted with a 36-g tag (TAG) in a backpack from day 35-70 and the other five were identified using colour markings (CON). Behavioural observations from video recordings of TAG and CON chickens were performed twice daily (15-min periods) every other day. Birds were weighed on day 35 and 70, and on day 70 foot pad and hock dermatitis, gait, and cleanliness were scored. TAG birds walked less than CON birds in week 6, but this difference was absent from week 7 onwards. CON birds pecked more at TAG birds than other TAG birds did in week 6, probably due to the novelty of the tags, whereas the TAG birds could investigate their own tag instead of pecking at other birds' tags. No significant differences were observed for scores for foot pad and hock dermatitis, gait and cleanliness scores or weight gain between TAG and CON birds. These results indicate that the backpacks with tags had only minor, non-persistent effects on slow-growing broiler chickens' behaviour. The effects of colour marking on behaviours observed in this study are likely to be small. The results indicate that the tags can be used for further studies in which these behaviours, welfare measures and production parameters play an important role.

Approaches to team performance assessment: a comparison of self-assessment reports and behavioral observer scales

Human factors research popularly employs perception-based techniques to investigate team performance and its dependency to cognitive processes. Such studies frequently rely upon either observer-based or self-assessment techniques to collect data. In this study, we examined behavioral observer ratings and self-assessment ratings for measuring team performance in virtual teams, with team performance regarded as a combination of task outcome and team cognition. Juxtaposing self-assessments and observer ratings from a quasi-experiment comparing team performance rating techniques reveals that they indeed produce overall similar results, with both singling out teamwork effectiveness ratings as the strongest contributor to overall team performance. However, the comparisons show remarkably low correlation on individual questionnaire items. The most striking difference is that the team members’ self-assessments of workload are lower than the corresponding observer ratings. In particular, the self-assessments do not correlate at all with overall team performance, whereas the observers’ workload ratings are more consistent with contemporary research that suggests a strong correlation between workload and team performance, suggesting that observer-based techniques are more reliable than self-assessments for assessing workload. For other ratings, the results show that the two techniques are fairly equal, suggesting that the choice between methods to employ can be deferred to other considerations such as obtrusiveness, accessibility, and resource availability.