Acquisition Practices Research Articles

Visual Attention Affects the Amplitude of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-associated Motor-evoked Potential: A Preliminary Study With Clinical Utility.

The transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-elicited motor-evoked potential (MEP) is a valuable measure for clinical evaluations of various neurological disorders and is used to determine resting motor threshold for repetitive TMS dosing. Although MEP amplitude is primarily associated with motor system function, there is evidence that nonmotor factors may also influence amplitude. This experiment tested the hypotheses that manipulation of 2 factors (visual attention, cognitive regulation) in human participants would significantly affect MEP amplitude. Blocks of MEPs were recorded from the dominant right hand as participants (N=20) were instructed to shift their visual attention (toward and away from the hand) and cognitively regulate the MEPs (rest, attenuate MEP amplitude, potentiate MEP amplitude) using their thoughts (6 blocks, 20 pulses/block, randomized, 110% resting motor threshold). MEP amplitude was significantly affected by the direction of visual attention; looking away from the hand led to higher amplitudes (P=0.003). The relationship with cognitive regulation was nonsignificant. The significant effect of visual attention on MEP suggests that this should be a standardized parameter in clinical and research studies. These data underscore the importance of rigorous reporting of methods and use of standardized practices for MEP acquisition and TMS dosing to ensure consistent clinical measurement and treatment.

Approaches to the Modern Concept of Digital Marketing

Abstract In a complex, modern and flexible economy in a continuous and rapid evolution, individual consumers, on the one hand, and organizational buyers, on the other hand, have more and more financial resources that allow them to act in the conditions of using the methods , the modern means and systems applicable in the practice of acquisitions that have expanded considerably in the digital environment. Digital marketing, originally called "electronic marketing" or "internet marketing", first appeared in the form of various techniques implemented by pioneering companies that sold their products through the internet in the early 1990s. According to specialists, the definition of traditional marketing can easily be adapted to digital marketing, seen as a set of strategies and tactics that are executed through digital channels to achieve corporate goals (often to increase shareholder profits) in a time and budget defined period of time

Configuration of the Operation Modes for a Scintillating Fiber Sub-Detector in LHCb Experiment

In order to develop new techniques for the knowledge of the universe some experiments in elementary particles and high energy physics are proposed, where progress on detector and data acquisition techniques is fundamental. This project presents some improvements for the LHCb upgrade that will be performed in the period between 2018 and 2019 during the Long Shutdown 2 of the CERN experiments in order to configure, improve and re-structure the data acquisition practices. It will emphasize the Scintillating Fibers detector (SciFi), one of LHCb's future sub-detectors in charge of the trace pattern recognition based on the hits occurred on this sub-detector and the recording of significant events in the data transmission. Due to the proposed changes of the LHCb upgrade, regarding the increase of the luminosity and the collision center-of-mass energy, it is essential to reconsider the digital processes in the data acquisition and their respective processing among the transmission channels, due to the high velocities at which they occur. Therefore, the operation mode configurations in the acquisition digital boards were the aim of this work. And as such, the current condition of the detector and its acquisition techniques and protocols are documented corresponding to their modification. This paper shows a step-by-step presentation of the modifications applied to the codes to move from a Standard Mode to a Wide Bus Mode, increasing the data rate by means of the quantity reduction of the control bits to enlarge the amount of analyzable information among the events.

Facts or gut feelings: analysis of external pricing antecedents for SMEs in Germany

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the external antecedents of pricing information acquisition in an integrative manner. The study develops understanding of determinants of information acquisition as a crucial prerequisite of successful pricing strategies within German small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachA large scale survey of sampled 2,542 SMEs was conducted. A total of 220 questionnaires were completed, reflecting a response rate of 9 per cent. This was acceptable considering the sensitivity of pricing issues. A final sample of 173 usable questionnaires were obtained.FindingsThe result indicates that external antecedents of pricing information acquisition practices have a positive impact on SME pricing performance, and pricing performance is positively related to firm performance.Practical implicationsThe study indicates that external antecedents of pricing information acquisition are strategic pricing capabilities, which should receive attention by SME managers.Originality/valueThis study bridges significant obstacle to knowledge generation and theory development of the important issues of pricing information acquisition in SMEs.

Selection of informative hyperspectral band subsets based on entropy and correlation

ABSTRACTThe article proposes two novel and relatively simple unsupervised procedures for the selection of informative small subsets of spectral bands in hyperspectral images. To ensure the informativeness of the subsets, bands featuring higher entropy are included. The correlation of band images is restricted to avoid redundancy of the subsets. The entropy multiple correlation ratio procedure employs the entropy-correlation ratio for the selection of spectral bands. The entropy-based correlated band grouping (ECBG) procedure divides the spectrum into groups of bands featuring highly correlated images. The subsets obtained were characterized by the performance of classifiers using only data from included bands. The ECBG procedure provided better results than the alternatives if the number of selected bands was low. Another advantage of this procedure is the possibility of averaging the images obtained for spectral bands within the groups found. It is shown that classification results are significantly improved if such an averaging is used. In the data acquisition practice, it can be used for a purposeful merging of spectral bands in the configuration of hyperspectral imagers, which allows one to reduce the amount of data to be saved in real time and thus helps one to improve the achievable spatial resolution.

Massive open online courses in U.S. healthcare education: Practical considerations and lessons learned from implementation

Background and purposeMassive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer an innovative approach to pharmacy education and are expected to challenge traditional pedagogy and foundational knowledge acquisition practices. A survey of the literature reveals no current publications describing implementation of MOOCs in pharmacy education and limited information about MOOC implementation in other healthcare disciplines in the United States. Educational activity and settingA few colleges of pharmacy (COPs) and other health professions’ educational programs have recently started offering MOOCs. FindingsHerein we provide an overview of MOOCs and describe the early implementation stages of MOOCs being conducted at two COPs, an interprofessional MOOC, and a variety of MOOCs offered by a public health program. This overview and the four case studies on MOOC implementation in healthcare education provide practical information about course development, descriptions of selected course engagement outcomes, insight into lessons learned by the institutions, and practical considerations for development of future MOOCs. DiscussionMOOCs prompt diversification of models of teaching and learning, transformation of pedagogical frameworks, and innovation in the scholarship of teaching and learning. SummaryMOOCs offer exciting opportunities to distribute knowledge on a massive and global scale to a diverse population of learners.

Accessing African Farmlands: Discourses and Practices of Transnational Land Acquisitions in Central Uganda

The surge in international interest in and acquisitions of African farmland has received considerable attention in the last decade. An equally growing body of research has attempted to explore explanatory pathways, or drivers of the phenomenon from both a local and global perspectives. But how do these land deals actually occur? There is still insufficient understanding of the strategies of access and processes of acquisition deployed by transnational actors. Using findings from five years of empirical research in central Uganda on Chinese, Indian and Norwegian owned farms, this paper analyses the discourses and practices of land acquisition deployed by transnational investors and examines how these strategies shape the process and determine the outcomes of land deals at the local level. Findings show that investors construct multiple narratives at various times and selectively deploy them in pursuit of specific interests. Careful alignment with global developmental thinking designed to attract funding and synchronizing with local policy priorities to attain access show mixed results. Cultivation of local patronage networks are predominant pathways of access, but these are fraught with risks occasioned by socio-political heterogeneity and shifting power relations across multiple levels. I argue that the identity and experiences of the investors, and their dexterity in navigating the complex diversity of local contexts are important factors that shape the processes and outcomes of transnational land deals at the local level.

Strategy, identity or legitimacy? Analysing engagement with dual citizenship from the bottom-up

ABSTRACTWhy do individuals become dual citizens by acquiring kin-state citizenship? This article examines the case of Moldova as an extreme case of kin-state dual citizenship acquisition. In Moldova, a majority of residents can acquire (or reacquire) Romanian citizenship by virtue of being descended from former Romania citizens. First, the article moves beyond institutional and migration-centred perspectives on dual citizenship acquisition. Instead, the article explores kin-state citizenship as a practice of citizenship acquisition. The article uses 55 interviews with ordinary people, conducted in Moldova between 2012 and 2013, to examine why individuals choose (or not) to acquire kin-state citizenship. Second, the article argues for understanding explanations of acquisition of kin-state citizenship beyond strategic vs identity explanations. Rather, the article considers a third dimension of legitimacy. This legitimacy dimension demonstrates how the acquisition of kin-state citizenship is constructed as natural, normal and, thus, legitimate. The article finds that the legitimate dimension is used even by those who do not identify co-ethnically or with the kin-state. Ties of legitimacy can, therefore, bind individuals to the kin-state via citizenship, irrespective of whether they identify with the kin-state.

COMPORTAMENTO DE COMPRA SUSTENTÁVEL: QUAL O GRAU DE INFLUÊNCIA DE SEUS ANTECEDENTES ?

Nos últimos anos foram expressas preocupações sobre o impacto dos produtos no meio ambiente. Os consumidores e os fabricantes têm dirigido sua atenção para produtos menos nocivos ao meio ambiente que se presume serem "verdes" ou amigáveis ambientalmente, com baixo consumo de energia, alimentos orgânicos, tintas livres de chumbo, papel reciclável, detergentes sem fosfato, entre outros. Esta pesquisa fornece uma breve revisão da questões ambientais e identifica o comportamento de compra sustentável dos consumidores, seu nível de consciência sobre as questões ambientais e produtos verdes de acordo com as variáveis acessibilidade, consciência sustentável, marca, preço e qualidade. A coleta de dados foi realizada com questionário eletrônico, obtendo-se 302 respondentes. Os resultados revelaram que marca é o fator com maior influência sobre o comportamento de compra sustentável, não havendo preocupação com preço e qualidade. Acessibilidade aos produtos sustentáveis e a consciência sustentável dos consumidores também têm influência sobre suas práticas de aquisição de produtos.

Unpacking research and practice in world Englishes and Second Language Acquisition

AbstractResearch on world Englishes and Second Language Acquisition has conceptualized language, language users, and language learning as diverse and dynamic, broadening conventional knowledge. Yet, research outputs have not influenced language education policies in Expanding Circle countries, which favor Inner Circle standardized English, promote teaching English to young learners, and require monolingual teaching of English, as seen in the case of Japanese primary and secondary education. These activities are perpetuated by macro‐level language ideology and broader political, historical, and economic forces including neoliberalism that exist at a super macro level. Examining the roots of these practices directs our attention to both macro and super‐macro issues as well as to complicities between research/researchers and broader ideological and structural issues. Recommendations are offered to invite researchers to begin exploring how research can make impacts on real‐world issues.

County Government Fleet Acquisition Practices: Service Demand or Budget Limitations

Service provision through automobile use prompts the need for periodic replacement. Questions arise concerning service need versus popular trends. Any change has some type of cost impact and budget implications. The finance officer is charged with finding the balance between need and affordability. Very limited information exists concerning budget actor influence on fleet acquisition. This study examines fleet acquisition practices of professionally administered county governments. Findings indicate that the sheriff and departments can acquire specific makes and models, but only in conjunction with finance officer need assessment and the presence of appropriate facilities and financing mechanisms.

Examining social supply among nonmedical prescription stimulant users in the San Francisco Bay Area

In the US, prescription stimulants are prescribed for a variety of conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Over the last two decades, dramatic increases in stimulant prescriptions have led to greater availability and increased risk for diversion and nonmedical use. Our own and other investigators' findings indicate that many drug “suppliers” do not fit into the traditional image of drug “dealers.” These suppliers typically do not identify themselves as “dealers,” but instead understand their drug distribution as sharing with people they know. Coomber and colleagues' (2007; 2013) concept of “social supply” raises the question: When friends supply or facilitate supply of drugs to friends, is this really dealing? Further, if dealing and supplying are distinct kinds of social transactions, should different types of criminal justice approaches be applied? Social supply extends our understanding of drug dealing as a complex social activity. In this article, we examine the issue of social supply among nonmedical users of prescription stimulants. We conducted a 36-month National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded project to conduct a qualitative, mixed methods study of 150 adult nonmedical prescription stimulant users in the San Francisco Bay Area. We explore intersecting factors, including life stage and social location, that contribute to decisions to use prescription stimulants nonmedically, motivations to use, knowledge about risks and benefits of prescription stimulant use, any adverse health or social consequences experienced, availability, acquisition and diversion of prescription stimulants, and differences in attitudes and behaviours. For this analysis, we rely on participants' narratives concerning prescription stimulant acquisition practices and how they understood these interactions, purchases, and exchanges with the suppliers of prescription stimulants in their social networks. The authors argue that acknowledging the distinction between social supply and “proper” drug dealing would redress the disparity between drug sharing and profiteering particularly regarding criminal sentencing.

Should Learning (Mathematics) at School Aim at Knowledge or at Competences?

The Czech school reform tends to aim at competences rather than at knowledge. We attempt to bring some evidence that the mathematical competences is a vague term without precise scientific as well as practically useful contents. Based on the analysis of the Czech data from PISA 2003, we could not substantiate the differences in teaching practices referred by students with different mathematics test results, i.e. allegedly with different levels of math competences. Thus, any more or less effective competence-teaching practices could not be identified. Similarly, in TIMSS 2007, we did not find any differences in teaching practices between the Czech “pro-reform” and “antireform” teachers. We further investigated the reformists’ requirement to set up the real life, on the one hand, a starting point of the school teaching/learning, and, on the other hand, its ultimate goal. In the studies exploring the issue, we found no definite results in favour of the use of real-world problems in school mathematics. Similarly, the effectiveness of any particular method or practice of school knowledge acquisition on a far transfer into the everyday or even professional life cannot be proved. Moreover, the usefulness of the concept of transfer itself was questioned in recent debates as redundant (existing besides the concept of learning). We conclude that the Czech reformist discourse is predominantly based on extracting partial moments of the teaching/learning process, putting them as antagonisms and labelling them as universally good or bad. On the contrary, we argue that these different moments, however opposite they could seem, stand as mutually linked parts in the real teaching/learning process.

Food Acquisition through Private and Public Social Networks and Its Relationship with Household Food Security among Various Socioeconomic Statuses in South Korea.

This study was conducted to understand food acquisition practices from social networks and its relationship with household food security. In-depth interviews and a survey on food security were conducted with twenty-nine mothers and one father in metropolitan areas of South Korea. Many families acquired food from their extended families, mainly participants’ mothers. Between low-income and non-low-income households, there was a pattern of more active sharing of food through private networks among non-low-income households. Most of the low-income households received food support from public social networks, such as government and charity institutions. Despite the assistance, most of them perceived food insecurity. We hypothesized that the lack of private social support may exacerbate the food security status of low-income households, despite formal food assistance from government and social welfare institutions. Interviews revealed that certain food items were perceived as lacking, such as animal-based protein sources and fresh produce, which are relatively expensive in this setting. Future programs should consider what would alleviate food insecurity among low-income households and determine the right instruments and mode of resolving the unmet needs. Future research could evaluate the quantitative relationship between private resources and food insecurity in households with various income statuses.

While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice by Bill VanPatten

While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice by Bill VanPatten

Extroversion, mental practice and imagery in the acquisition of the cartwheel

O presente trabalho teve como objetivos (1) investigar os efeitos da prática física (PF) associada à prática mental (PM) com mentalização interna (MI) e externa (ME) na aprendizagem da habilidade “estrela” da ginástica artística e (2) correlacionar escores de extroversão e de desempenho na tarefa. Trinta adolescentes (12,93 ± 0,73 anos) foram designadas a dois grupos: 1) PF seguida de PM com ME (n=15) e 2) PF seguida de PM com MI (n=15). O delineamento constou de pré-teste, aquisição, pós-teste, retenção e transferência (todas as fases foram fi lmadas, exceto a aquisição). Os registros em vídeo foram analisados por meio de uma lista de checagem da estrela. O Eysenck Personality Questionnaire foi utilizado para classifi car as participantes quanto a níveis de extroversão. As análises apontaram que houve melhora de desempenho dentro de cada grupo (do pré-teste para os outros testes), mas que em nenhuma das fases houve qualquer diferença signifi cativa entre os grupos. No entanto, uma correlação positiva e moderada foi detectada entre os escores de extroversão e de desempenho no grupo ME. Esses achados reforçam a importância da PM como estratégia complementar à PF e sinalizam a existência de relação entre extroversão, desempenho da estrela e perspectiva de mentalização.

Value Modeling and Trade-Off Analysis of the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit

The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) is a powered, armored exoskeleton designed to enhance an operator’s survivability, lethality, and mobility. The suit is a SOCOM initiative using rapid acquisition practices with a functional prototype expected in 2018. Value modeling allows the TALOS design teams to rapidly perform design trade analysis while ensuring that the proposed system is in-line with the operator’s needs. A stochastic value model was built for the power subsystem through an analysis of the requirements to develop value hierarchies, swing-weight matrices, and value functions. An Excel based tool performed trade-off analysis to determine the best design solution. This tool accounts for uncertainty in raw data values to create distributions in the cost and value of each design alternative, which is critical for assessing risk. The model was expanded to other subsystems as well as the suit as a whole.

Practicing for the Future: Deliberate Practice in Early Childhood

Deliberate practice is essential for acquiring a wide range of skills that have been central to humans' adaptive success, yet little is known about when and how children develop this capability. The current study examined 4- to 7-year-olds' (N=120) ability to selectively practice a skill that would be useful in the near future, as well as their broader understanding of the role of deliberate practice in skill acquisition. Six- and 7-year-olds demonstrated both an explicit understanding of deliberate practice and the capacity to practice without being prompted. Five-year-olds showed an understanding of deliberate practice and some capacity to practice, whereas 4-year-olds showed neither of these capabilities. Findings reveal important developments in children's future-directed behavior beyond the preschool years.

Measuring Food Security in Canadian Homeless Adult Men.

To assess whether the current food security measurement tool used in Canada, the Canadian Community Health Survey, is appropriate for use with homeless adults. The Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM), a validated measurement tool utilized for determining the food security status of Canadian households, was used with a group of homeless men (n = 40). In-depth interviews were also conducted with participants to obtain particulars about their food acquisition strategies. Data were analyzed by comparing the results of the HFSSM with qualitative data. The HFSSM measurement tool found that 90% (n = 36) of the study participants experienced food insecurity with 67.5% (n = 27) experiencing severe food insecurity and 22.5% (n = 9) experiencing moderate food insecurity. The qualitative data, however, suggested that all participants (n = 40) were food insecure based on food acquisition practices, food accessibility, and diet quality. The HFSSM has validity concerns when applied to homeless populations. Nutrition professionals and other key stakeholders should work to develop valid tools for measuring the food security status of homeless individuals who are highly vulnerable to food insecurity.

The Metaphors of Knowledge and Academic Impact

AbstractThis essay discusses critically the ways in which different metaphors employed to illustrate the practices of knowledge production and knowledge acquisition as well as scientific and scholarly research shape our understanding of the academic form of life. The essay examines the metaphors of knowledge and their role in academia by means of philosophical analysis and a rhetorical analysis of language, thereby defending the core values of academic freedom. It focuses on two pairs of metaphors highly relevant to the tensions characteristic of contemporary academic work: verticality and horizontality, on the one hand, and change and stability, on the other. The entanglement of perspectives from philosophy and historical rhetoric serves a metaphilosophical goal here: to show that our philosophical understanding of the nature of inquiry will be considerably enhanced if we seriously, and with both historical and literary sensibilities, study the metaphors we use in characterizing our epistemic and cognitive projects.