Acquisition Practices Research Articles

Laterality of brain activity during motor imagery is modulated by the provision of source level neurofeedback

Motor imagery (MI) may be effective as an adjunct to physical practice for motor skill acquisition. For example, MI is emerging as an effective treatment in stroke neurorehabilitation. As in physical practice, the repetitive activation of neural pathways during MI can drive short- and long-term brain changes that underlie functional recovery. However, the lack of feedback about MI performance may be a factor limiting its effectiveness. The provision of feedback about MI-related brain activity may overcome this limitation by providing the opportunity for individuals to monitor their own performance of this endogenous process. We completed a controlled study to isolate neurofeedback as the factor driving changes in MI-related brain activity across repeated sessions. Eighteen healthy participants took part in 3 sessions comprised of both actual and imagined performance of a button press task. During MI, participants in the neurofeedback group received source level feedback based on activity from the left and right sensorimotor cortex obtained using magnetoencephalography. Participants in the control group received no neurofeedback. MI-related brain activity increased in the sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the imagined movement across sessions in the neurofeedback group, but not in controls. Task performance improved across sessions but did not differ between groups. Our results indicate that the provision of neurofeedback during MI allows healthy individuals to modulate regional brain activity. This finding has the potential to improve the effectiveness of MI as a tool in neurorehabilitation.

Second Language Developmental Dynamics: How Dynamic Systems Theory Accounts for Issues in Second Language Learning

Dynamic systems theory (DST) is presented in this article as a suitable approach to research the acquisition of second language (L2) because of its close alignment with the process of second language learning. Through a process of identifying and comparing the characteristics of a dynamic system with the process of L2 learning, this article illustrates that L2 development is indeed a dynamic process. This article argues that DST has not only broadened the theoretical perspective, but also enriched the practical and methodological approaches in the second language developmental research enterprise. DST has the potential to bridge the gap between reductionist and holistic research practice in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) field and to advance our understanding of L2 acquisition and development. This article argues that incorporating DST into cross-disciplinary inquiries will strengthen its practical application. It concludes by pointing out some directions to apply this framework and to expand beyond its current state.

Talent Management and Leadership Reciprocity: The case of the South African Aviation Industry

The talent mindset of an organisation is a critical success factor which can enhance its capability in driving its strategic objectives. The main objective of this research was to explore employee perceptions of leadership reciprocity in the application of talent management practices in the aviation industry. An adapted version of the Talent Mindset Index was administered among a convenience sample of employees in the South African Aviation Industry (N=150). The results showed that in general that leaders lack a talent mindset and reciprocity towards talent strategies, talent acquisition practices and talent retention practices. In addition, the leadership commitment towards talent management practices was low. This research highlighted the importance of effectively applying talent management practices in an industry where talented employees are scarce. Therefore leaders need to be equipped with the necessary business acumen to make talent management both a strategic and operation priority in the South African aviation industry. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p11

Quality assurance in the identification of deep-sea taxa from video and image analysis: response to Henry and Roberts

New high-resolution image data obtained from the Hebrides Terrace Seamount and analysed by ourselves and Henry and Roberts (Henry, L-A., and Roberts, J. M. Recommendations for best practice in deep-sea habitat classification: Bullimore et al. as a case study. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 895–898.), suggested that we may have misidentified Solenosmilia variabilis as either Lophelia pertusa or Madrepora oculata in a previously analysed dataset from the Anton Dohrn Seamount (published in Bullimore et al., 2013). Therefore, we undertook a reanalysis of our entire image data holdings from multiple sample sites and identified possible records of S. variabilis from four sites previously sampled: Anton Dohrn Seamount, Rockall Bank, George Bligh Bank and the Hatton-Rockall Basin. The reanalysis of our image data holdings together with historic data from the wider literature suggests that, in the Northeast Atlantic region, S. variabilis is distributed from 888–2803 m (mean ∼1500 m) with reef habitat present only on Anton Dohrn Seamount. In this paper we discuss the use of video and imagery as a survey and monitoring too and make recommendations of best practice in data acquisition and analysis. We highlight the need for the development of training materials for deep-sea field identification in order to achieve reliable, replicable and comparable datasets among observers, and suggest possible quality assurance procedures.

DMA Customer Acquisition Barometer 2014

This paper reports on the findings from research among marketers into their customer acquisition practices. It considers how shifting attitudes among consumers towards privacy are being taken into account when marketers plan their data collection and lead generation strategies. Findings are presented from a qualitative and quantitative study among 116 marketers as well as two marketer focus groups.

Towards a plurilingual development paradigm: from spontaneous to informed use of translation in additional language learning

This paper explores the role played by translation in additional language learning (ALL) as a particular example of translation in other learning contexts (TOLC), i.e. translation as used in educational contexts other than translation studies. The project presented in this paper draws on research and good practice in translation studies, pedagogy, educational psychology and language acquisition and is framed within a plurilingual development paradigm. The theoretical framework questions a monolingual approach to ALL and considers educational objectives, learning strategies, translation competence, multi-competence, the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism, plurilingualism and the Interdependence Hypothesis to favour the connected development of linguistic and mediation skills. The pedagogy adopts a humanistic approach to teaching, teaching for transfer and (socio)constructivism. The paper reports on the second of an ongoing three-stage study involving 45 undergraduate students. In the first stage, the spontaneous use of translation was recorded to identify critical instances of its use in ALL. In the second, data regarding the teacher’s and students’ perceptions and uses of translation were gathered. Following on from the findings of this research, learning material is currently being designed with a view to including translation in additional language learning in an explicit way.

Ecuador’s National Interpretation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): Green-Grabbing through Green Certification?

Este estudio analiza un nuevo acuerdo de gobernanza colaborativa ‘verde” conocido como la Mesa Redonda sobre Aceite de Palma Sostenible (RSPO) en Ecuador y cómo este espacio puede ser un nuevo sitio para la institucionalización de las políticas ambientales que sancionan los casos de despojo de tierras y facilitar incentivos para las nuevas formas de recintos de la tierra. En Ecuador, la RSPO se ha convertido en una institución de gobierno de colaboración que tiene como objetivo hacer frente a los efectos sociales y ambientales adversos que pueden acompañar a la adquisición de tierras legales e ilegales para el cultivo de palma. La iniciativa consiste en una variedad de ‘partes interesadas’ y llama a los actores para dar prioridad a la ‘sostenibilidad’ como una condición no-negociable para el desarrollo del aceite de palma. Cada vez más, sin embargo, la evidencia sugiere que en lugar de mejorar las desigualdades en la industria del aceite de palma, la RSPO es meramente un negocio que siempre ha estado en la sombra, pero ya es ‘verde’. Además, muchos apuntan a la RSPO como el establecimiento de un terreno para prácticas de ‘acaparamiento verde’. Este estudio sostiene que ciertos procesos de disciplina que el régimen RSPO promueve, como los planes para la titulación de tierras, la participación excluyente y la cultura capitalista de reunión, pueden exacerbar los conflictos sociales y ambientales mediante la estructuración del debate de colaboración al tiempo que establece los criterios de calificación que limitará ciertas oportunidades futuras. Estos procesos pueden, cada vez más, estructurar las políticas y en última instancia fomentar y legitimar la práctica material de la adquisición de tierras verdes en Ecuador.

High spatial resolution brain functional MRI using submillimeter balanced steady-state free precession acquisitiona)

One of the technical advantages of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is its precise localization of changes from neuronal activities. While current practice of fMRI acquisition at voxel size around 3 × 3 × 3 mm(3) achieves satisfactory results in studies of basic brain functions, higher spatial resolution is required in order to resolve finer cortical structures. This study investigated spatial resolution effects on brain fMRI experiments using balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging with 0.37 mm(3) voxel volume at 3.0 T. In fMRI experiments, full and unilateral visual field 5 Hz flashing checkerboard stimulations were given to healthy subjects. The bSSFP imaging experiments were performed at three different frequency offsets to widen the coverage, with functional activations in the primary visual cortex analyzed using the general linear model. Variations of the spatial resolution were achieved by removing outer k-space data components. Results show that a reduction in voxel volume from 3.44 × 3.44 × 2 mm(3) to 0.43 × 0.43 × 2 mm(3) has resulted in an increase of the functional activation signals from (7.7 ± 1.7)% to (20.9 ± 2.0)% at 3.0 T, despite of the threefold SNR decreases in the original images, leading to nearly invariant functional contrast-to-noise ratios (fCNR) even at high spatial resolution. Activation signals aligning nicely with gray matter sulci at high spatial resolution would, on the other hand, have possibly been mistaken as noise at low spatial resolution. It is concluded that the bSSFP sequence is a plausible technique for fMRI investigations at submillimeter voxel widths without compromising fCNR. The reduction of partial volume averaging with nonactivated brain tissues to retain fCNR is uniquely suitable for high spatial resolution applications such as the resolving of columnar organization in the brain.

Fractured shale description using isotropic seismic analysis

Direct methods for fracture detection using P-wave seismic data typically require an azimuthal analysis of the reflected wavefield. However, conventional data acquisition practices often lack sufficient azimuthal coverage for proper application of these techniques. In such cases, alternative methods become necessary. We investigated the use of subsurface properties estimated from seismic data under isotropic assumptions to delineate fracture systems in the Second White Speckled Shale of Alberta, Canada. We implemented two methodologies for fracture detection. (1) Using seismic attributes sensitive to the structure of the seismic image, structural changes such as folds were identified, from which the associated fracture systems can be inferred. (2) For fractures not directly correlated to such structural changes, analysis of the effective elastic properties of fractured media proved useful. In particular, failure criteria and effective-medium theories were used to investigate fracture phenomena and their corresponding seismic response. Using standard isotropic inversion techniques, estimates of reservoir elastic properties were derived. Subsequently, an interpretation of these results was conducted through consideration of anisotropic models. Specifically, low values of Poisson’s ratio were interpreted as more favorable conditions for fracturing and low values of Young’s modulus and vertical P-wave velocity were interpreted as direct indicators for the presence of fractures. The structural analysis identified a subtle fold where fracturing in its vicinity can be inferred. Furthermore, investigation into the elastic properties of fractured media revealed locations on the flanks of the fold that were likely to be fractured, providing an indication of the lateral extent of fracturing that was not possible from structural attributes alone. The combined interpretation of these results suggested the existence of a contractional fault-bend fold, where an area at the crest of the fold did not appear to contain fractures, corresponding to the undeformed zone as predicted by structural models of fault-bend folding.

External citizenship in EU countries

Citizenship laws often contain provisions regarding preferential acquisition of citizenship by certain categories of foreigners, such as provisions that allow for the possibility to acquire citizenship without the obligation to reside in the country. The practice of external acquisition of citizenship poses important challenges to the modern paradigmatic view of territorially bounded citizenship. This article surveys the legal rules allowing for external acquisition of citizenship in EU countries, and examines three justifications for such rules, namely, the principles of just restitution of citizenship, democratic continuity and national solidarity. The article argues that the principle of just restitution of citizenship offers the strongest, albeit partial, contextual justification for external acquisition of citizenship.

The Relationship between Resource Acquisition Methods and Firm Performance in Chinese New Ventures: The Intermediate Effect of Learning Capability*

Despite the omnipresent popularity of the resource‐based view of the firm, our understanding of how firms convert resource acquisition into performance returns remains something of a black box. We seek to unpack this problem in this study. Building on the resource‐based view and combining insights from organizational learning theory, this paper develops a theoretical model consisting of seven hypotheses in which resource purchase, resource attraction, and resource internal development are positively related to new venture performance, and in which learning capability mediates these relationships. We also posit that resource acquisition methods augment the learning capability of the firm en route to securing superior new venture performance. We test these hypotheses using survey data from new ventures in China. The results indicate that all three methods of resource acquisition have positive effects on new venture performance, that resource attraction and internal development have positive effects on learning capability in new ventures, and that learning capability mediates the relationship between these two resource acquisition practices and new venture performance. We put forward implications for theory and practice to close the work.

SAT0511 Achieving Consensus in Ultrasonography Synovitis Scoring in Rheumatoid Arthritis

BackgroundUltrasonography (US) is a sensitive method for synovitis detection in clinical practice but interobserver variation in both acquisition and image intepretation is still a key concern [1]. Various semiquantitative synovitis...

Pipes, Wires, and Bicycles: Rails-to-Trails, Utility Licenses, and the Shifting Scope of Railroad Easements from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries

This article responds to a series of class action suits filed against railroads, telecommunication companies, and the federal government claiming that once railroads abandon their corridors, all property rights shift to adjacent landowners. This article reviews the state law on this matter and offers a theory of how courts should handle these cases. After discussing the history of nineteenth-century railroad land acquisition practices, it analyzes the scope of the easement limited for railroad purposes, then discusses the role of abandonment in affecting the rights of third party users of these corridors as well as successor trail owners. The article concludes with a theory of railroad easements that interprets the railroad's powers based on the public participation that helped create and establish these corridors and the tenuous claims of adjacent landowners.

On Situating the Stance of Practice in SLA

The study of skill acquisition, as DeKeyser (1997) declares, is an important area within cognitive psychology. What is undeniable in skill acquisition is the fact that through extensive practice, the degree of attention on a task decreases and the task is performed without stopping; furthermore, the rate of error considerably decreases. The paper, in an attempt to work on situating the concept of practice in skill acquisition, goes on to hold that since each context has its own specific encoding cues, and that the skill achieved in that specific context is too specific to be transferred to other contexts, the degree of automaticity in employing the skill in that context is plausibly more than the other contexts.

Knowledge Management as a Source of Innovation and Competitive Advantage for SMEs in Peripheral Regions

The advent of knowledge management has offered new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral regions to leverage knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. However, few studies at firm level examine the role of knowledge management in helping to improve innovation and competitiveness in SMEs in such regions. This paper explores how SMEs in peripheral regions can use knowledge management concepts and practices of knowledge acquisition and assimilation to achieve higher levels of innovation implementation. Survey findings indicate that more innovative firms are more likely to acquire or source external knowledge through various methods, and are more likely to have higher levels of absorptive capacity. Overall, the authors conclude that SMEs in peripheral regions can use knowledge acquisition and assimilation as antecedents to innovation to help overcome innate tangible resource limitations.

Observing the unwatchable through acceleration logging of animal behavior

Behavior is an important mechanism of evolution and it is paid for through energy expenditure. Nevertheless, field biologists can rarely observe animals for more than a fraction of their daily activities and attempts to quantify behavior for modeling ecological processes often exclude cryptic yet important behavioral events. Over the past few years, an explosion of research on remote monitoring of animal behavior using acceleration sensors has smashed the decades-old limits of observational studies. Animal-attached accelerometers measure the change in velocity of the body over time and can quantify fine-scale movements and body postures unlimited by visibility, observer bias, or the scale of space use. Pioneered more than a decade ago, application of accelerometers as a remote monitoring tool has recently surged thanks to the development of more accessible hardware and software. It has been applied to more than 120 species of animals to date. Accelerometer measurements are typically collected in three dimensions of movement at very high resolution (>10 Hz), and have so far been applied towards two main objectives. First, the patterns of accelerometer waveforms can be used to deduce specific behaviors through animal movement and body posture. Second, the variation in accelerometer waveform measurements has been shown to correlate with energy expenditure, opening up a suite of scientific questions in species notoriously difficult to observe in the wild. To date, studies of wild aquatic species outnumber wild terrestrial species and analyses of social behaviors are particularly few in number. Researchers of domestic and captive species also tend to report methodology more thoroughly than those studying species in the wild. There are substantial challenges to getting the most out of accelerometers, including validation, calibration, and the management and analysis of large quantities of data. In this review, we illustrate how accelerometers work, provide an overview of the ecological questions that have employed accelerometry, and highlight the emerging best practices for data acquisition and analysis. This tool offers a level of detail in behavioral studies of free-ranging wild animals that has previously been impossible to achieve and, across scientific disciplines, it improves understanding of the role of behavioral mechanisms in ecological and evolutionary processes.

Development of sexual and socio-sexual behaviours in free-ranging juvenile male Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata

The emergence of conceptive and non-conceptive sexual behaviours in mature individuals can be traced back to immature socio-sexual behavioural patterns. We tested the ‘needing-to-learn hypothesis’ in the development of sexual behaviours in the immature male Japanese macaques of Arashiyama, Japan. This hypothesis holds that juvenility serves to provide young individuals with a period in which to practice adult male-like sexual and socio-sexual behaviours and partner choice. Our cross-sectional focal data on mounting behaviour and partner choice in juvenile males (1–3 years) supported most of our predictions: (1) as they became older and learnt more effective patterns of sexual solicitations, juvenile males performed more demonstrative solicitations and less non-demonstrative solicitations, (2) the frequency of mounts performed by juvenile males increased with age and converged on a frequency of mounts typical of adult males, (3) the frequency of mounts reflecting underachievement (i.e., improperly oriented mounts and single/no foot-clasp mounts) decreased as juvenile males became older, (4) the double foot-clasp mounting posture became gradually more common in juvenile males over time, while other mounting postures became less common and (5) from two to three years old, the frequency of males’ sexual mounts directed to adult females increased. Such timelines of gradual increase in the frequency of effective adult-like behavioural patterns and gradual decrease in the frequency of less effective immature behavioural patterns are consistent with the ‘needing-to-learn hypothesis’ emphasizing the role of age and practice in the progressive acquisition of adult-like sexual behaviour, mounting skills, and partner age choice during male juvenility.

Disparity between Ideals and Reality in Curriculum Construction: The Case of the Lebanese English Language Curriculum

This paper describes the disparity between the principles, guidelines, suggested themes, organization, methodology, classroom activities, and assessment outlined in the thematic, content-based English language curriculum adopted by the Lebanese government in 1997 and the classroom realities and other contextual factors that have hampered its proper implementation. The paper shows that the curriculum is designed in line with international ESL/EFL standards as it has clear goals, objectives, and performance indicators as well as sound perspectives on instruction, material selection and adaptation, and evaluation guidelines. These perspectives are based on widely accepted theoretical views in language acquisition and best practices in English language education. However, the content-based curriculum normally demands a high level of language proficiency and content and pedagogical knowledge from teachers, and it is highly dependent on the availability of adequate resources and ongoing professional development programs. The educational context in Lebanon still suffers the effects of the 1975-1990 civil war in these areas, which has made the implementation fraught with all sorts of problems.

Development through Large-Scale Oil Palm Agribusiness Schemes: Representations of Possibilities and the Experience of Limits in West Kalimantan

The potential of oil palm agribusiness for socio-economic development in Indonesia remains a matter of debate. There are important differences between the government’s representation of oil palm agribusiness as a panacea for the problems of development and the realities of this economic system as manifested on the ground. The analysis of land acquisition practices and labour regimes in an oil palm smallholding scheme in West Kalimantan brings fresh understanding to this debate. Diverse forms of socio-economic differentiation substantiate the need for nuanced representation of the role of oil palm agribusiness for development and suggest an approach to realistic understanding of its potential for development.

Pacific islands in the Anthropocene

Although the islands of remote Oceania were among the last places reached by humanity, many islands entered the Anthropocene early. Extinctions — some caused by the first people to discover islands — have been far more frequent on islands than continents, and the intensity and consequences of human-caused biological invasion, deforestation, and landscape alteration have been substantially greater as well (Vitousek et al., 1997; Steadman, Pregill and Butley, 2002; Rolett and Diamond, 2004). At the same time, islands provide a useful model for understanding how coupled human and natural systems experience the Anthropocene, and perhaps for how they can manage its impacts. The Pacific islands of Polynesia are particularly interesting in this regard. As (Kirch, 2000, 2007a) pointed out, Polynesia consists of hundreds of islands — ranging from tropical atolls like the Tuamotus and Tuvalu; to volcanic high islands like Hawaii, Samoa, and Tahiti; to the subcontinental mass of New Zealand. All were discovered and colonized by people of the well-defined and highly dynamic Polynesian culture — who then developed a wide range of productive systems and social organizations based upon their cultural inheritance, the plants and animals they brought with them, and their interactions with their diverse islands. The cultural “adaptive radiation” they displayed is an unmatched model system for human-land interaction, in that one founding culture developed very different social organizations as well as resource acquisition practices in the very different islands they inhabited (Kirch, 1997). Moreover, Polynesian societies largely developed within the resources of their islands. Also, Polynesians had no access to stored energy from the past (fossil fuels), and their institutions, culture and values did not recognize borrowing from the future (discounting). Utilizing only the resources of their time and place, many islands developed remarkably populous, socially and culturally complex societies; for example, Hawaii probably supported a larger population on each of its larger islands (other than Oahu, where the city of Honolulu is located) at the time of European contact than it does now. We focus here on Polynesian agricultural systems, because agriculture generally represents the most important nexus between ecosystems and societies. Properties of the land shape how humans can farm, even as farming activities transform land. The Hawaiian Islands are particularly useful for understanding agricultural development — and human-land interactions more generally — for several reasons. First, the environmental matrix of the Hawaiian Archipelago can be used as a model for understanding soils and ecosystems independent of human action, as well as for understanding human societies; many of the fundamental controls of soils and ecosystems (e.g., parent material, topography, and biota) can be kept nearly constant across much of the Archipelago, while other fundamental controls (notably climate and substrate age) vary widely but in well-understood ways. These properties (and others) have been used to evaluate how nutrient supply and cycling are regulated as a function of rainfall (Chadwick et al., 2003), substrate age (Vitousek, 2004), and their interactions (Vitousek and Chadwick, 2013). Second, the agricultural systems of Hawaii (prior to European contact) were remarkable even within Polynesia for their scope, intensity, and originality. Third, while there is good evidence for two-way voyaging between Hawaii and elsewhere in Polynesia shortly after the islands were discovered, that voyaging appears to have ended several hundred years before European contact. As a result, both social and environmental dynamics internal to Hawaii were paramount; human-land interactions played out in isolation to a much greater extent than occurs in any continental situation. Finally, Hawaiian culture itself is vibrant and makes unique contributions to understanding the interaction of land and society. Prior to European contact in the late 18th Century, Hawaiians developed a wide diversity of agricultural practices that with some arbitrariness can be classified into intensive versus resource-concentrating cropping systems. Resource-concentrating systems include shifting cultivation, in which nutrients are accumulated over time in vegetation during a fallow phase; they also include systems that concentrate resources in space by gathering soil and/or mulch across a wide area and bringing it into (typically) pits or depressions where Domain Editor-in-Chief Donald R. Zak, University of Michigan