Unsuccessful Actions Research Articles

Russia, Mexico and the USA in the struggle for California in the 1820-1840s

The authors analyze the process of interaction between Russia, Mexico and the United States in the context of the struggle for Alta California. The essence of this process was the diplomatic, military-political and economic activity of these powers aimed at occupying lands in California and legalizing them by some of them. The purpose of the study is to establish the reasons for the unsuccessful actions of Spain and Russia in Alta California which led to the subordination of this territory to the United States of America. The source base is the office, diplomatic and memoir sources published in various collections and periodicals. The study shows the struggle between Russia, Mexico and the United States for the possession of lands in Alta California. It was established that Russia acted through the Russian-American company which controlled the Russian colonies in America. At the same time, the Russian government adhered to the principle of legitimism which restrained the company’s initiatives to expand its influence. The authors conclude that the United States was more active in the region and used its economic and trade superiority to increase its influence. Russia was unable to compete with the United States and missed a good opportunity to conclude an agreement with Mexico to confront the Americans and legalize its possessions in California, Fort Ross and other territories.

"Whether the Lord putted Moscow and neighbouring cities empty?": Moscow pest of 1654

The first ten years of the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were distinguished by extreme turbulence. The unsuccessful actions of the "government" of the boyar Morozov provoked chain of city riots which reached their apogee in famous "Salt Riot" in the capital. After that, religious feuding began that in near future resulted in the Schism. Afterwards, Russia, after long hesitation, entered the war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that as it turned out, prolonged 13 years. Finally, in 1654, after long break, the plague again visited Russia. The plague pestilence of 1654-1655 was relatively transient (it began in summer and gradually faded away with the onset of winter), however very deadly and shook both the Russian state and Russian society to the ground. It disrupted habitual regular way of life and unsettled all and everything. The authors propose original version of origin of this epidemic and reconstruct its course and consequences on the basis of evidence of contemporaries and extant documents.

Проблемные вопросы квалификации действий соучастников при эксцессе исполнителя

The article describes features of qualitative and quantitative excesses of the perpetrator. The article analyses problematic questions of qualification of excess of a perpetrator in complex complicity, when the accomplices perform legally different roles. It is noted that excess of perpetrator may be referred to when he commits a more serious crime than was agreed upon by accomplices on a preliminary agreement, and less serious crime. If the perpetrator commits a crime with aggravating circumstances which were not covered by the intention of other accomplices, the perpetrator is responsible for the crime with aggravating circumstances, organizer, instigator, accomplice - for complicity in a crime without aggravating circumstances. The author substantiates the conclusion that in a situation where the perpetrator, by deviating from the instigator's or organiser's intention, commits a less serious crime he should be charged with that crime. The instigator, on the other hand, should be charged with incitement to the offence with the qualifying characteristics that was covered by his intention, while the organiser should be charged with the activity of organising the offence with the qualifying characteristics. Within the framework of complex complicity it is difficult to qualify the actions of accomplices in such a form of quantitative excess, when the perpetrator commits a crime that is similar to the one intended by the accomplices, but of a different kind: for example, instead of theft he commits robbery. The article substantiates the conclusion that when qualifying it is necessary to use a legal fiction: the actions of accomplices should be qualified according to the direction of their intent: the perpetrator should be responsible for robbery, other accomplices - for complicity in a completed theft. Such classification of the crime emphasizes that complicity in the crime took place, but the perpetrator committed an excess for which the other accomplices are not responsible. The problems of qualification of the perpetrator's excess in the group commission of a crime involving several co-perpetrators who had previously agreed to commit a certain crime together were analysed. Consideration is given to the qualification of the offence in the case of "unsuccessful accomplice". Sometimes a person who has been induced to commit a particular crime commits, for whatever reason, a heterogeneous new crime instead of the agreed crime (in relation to the latter he does not even perform preparatory acts). The perpetrator who has committed the crime will be responsible for the de facto act (qualitative excess), while the actions of other persons for the crime committed by the perpetrator are excluded. The author justifies the conclusion that unsuccessful actions of other persons to organize or assist a crime should be qualified as preparation to a crime. It would be advisable to enshrine this provision in law, as has already been done in relation to failed "incitement". The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Exploring how limiting the number of ball touches during small-sided games affects youth football players’ performance across different age groups

This study explored how the number of allowed ball touches per player possession affected the performance of different age groups (U9, U11, U13, U15, U17 and U19) during a Gk + 4vs4+Gk small-sided games. Each day, players randomly performed the following three conditions (for a total of 6 days): i) free-play (FP); ii) maximum of 2 touches (2 T); iii) 1 touch (1 T). Players’ positional data was used to compute time-motion and positional-related variables, while video analysis was used to capture technical performance. In general, no effects were identified in relation to the players distances (team centroid, opponents’ centroid, nearest teammate, and nearest opponent). There were small to moderate decreases in the longitudinal synchronization while playing with 1 T and 2 T in the U9 and U17, but a moderate increase in the U15. There was a general decrease in the distance covered and distance covered while running (small to moderate effects) when playing with limited touches in all age groups. Limiting the touches promoted small to moderate increases in the number of successful passes in the U9, U15, and U17 and a general increase in unsuccessful actions. Overall, playing with limited touches emphasized the passing skill while it also contributed to more unsuccessful actions and lower physical demands. As so, coaches may use the 2 T in young age groups (U9-U13) as they seem less able to successfully cope with 1 T, while using 1 T in older age groups due to their higher ability to interact with environmental information.

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH ROLE PLAY: AN ACTION RESEARCH FOR THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 1 PEDONGGA

Speaking is the special moment when the student can be improve their speaking in daily life or their classroom. With speaking the students can practice their knowledge of English and they can get new vocabularies. The objective of the research is to improve speaking skill for the eight grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Pedongga in the academic year of 2019/2020 with the use of role play method. Based on the observation, there were some problems in the teaching and learning of speaking. To solve those problems, the researcher implemented role play as a speaking activity.The research was carried out through action research that consisted of two cycles. Each cycle consisted of two meetings. The results of the research showed that there were some improvements in the students speaking skill. In cycle I, there were some unsuccessful actions. Meanwhile, in cycle II, the implementation of role play techniques was successful in improving the students’ speaking skill. The conclusion of this research were the students low in speaking was caused by lack in vocabulary, self-confident, and they were confused how to pronounced the word. The success in teaching doesn’t depend on the lesson program only, but more important is how to the teacher present the lesson and uses various method to manage the class.

Tort, Truth Recovery and the Northern Ireland Conflict

Northern Ireland has no effective process to address legacy of the human tragedy of decades of conflict. And yet during that conflict, and especially in the years since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 1998, people have employed multiple legal mechanisms to gain information about events which affected them and their loved ones. Human rights challenges, public inquiries, freedom of information requests, police investigations and fresh inquests have all contributed to a patchwork of approaches to truth recovery. The UK Government has long viewed these efforts with suspicion; as the primary state actor involved in the conflict its records provide a much richer source of information about historic wrongs than the recollections of members of clandestine paramilitary organisations. Successive Conservative administrations have characterised many of these efforts as “lawfare”, intended to persecute veterans long after the events in question and undermine public faith in the UK’s Armed Forces. One under-explored element of this complex picture is use of tort in legacy cases. Civil actions, supported by legal aid funding in Northern Ireland, provide a potential avenue for the discovery of information held by public bodies. Even unsuccessful actions can thus contribute new information about the events in question. Many of the harms inflicted during the conflict were torts as well as crimes, and this article assesses the extent to which these civil actions provide an ersatz mechanism for truth recovery, and challenges efforts to curtail such actions as a “witch-hunt”.

УКРАЇНА–РОСІЯ: ФОРМАТ ГЕОЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ ТА ГЕОПОЛІТИЧНОЇ КОНФРОНТАЦІЇ

The article reveals challenges and prospects of Ukraine in the conditions of transitive world order crisis in Eastern European context. The issue of strengthening national security and protection of the territorial sovereignty of the post-Soviet countries and Eastern European countries in connection with the aggression of Russia and the occupation of part of the Ukrainian territories has been mainstreamed. The confrontation between Russia and the post-Soviet countries is a conflict of two civilizational systems, the struggle of two opposing worldviews and paradigms of a new world order. It has been proved that Russia’s Eurasian integration projects were aimed at attracting Ukraine and maintaining it in the sphere of Russia’s geo-economic and geopolitical influence. The creation of integration associations in the post-Soviet space is intended to become one of the instruments of revival of the Eurasian empire, in particular at the expense of the destruction of the national economy and the sovereignty of Ukraine. A key result of the Revolution of Dignity was the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU which destroyed Russia’s strategy to engage Ukraine in the Eurasian integration area. It is confirmed that after the Russian Federation’s unsuccessful actions to involve Ukraine in Eurasian integration structures through the use of managed pro-Kremlin power, Moscow abandoned this option and switched to a scenario under which the strategy of fomenting and supporting separatism in the south-eastern regions of Ukraine was implemented. The strategy to create a pseudostates on the territory of Ukraine in one way or another involves the issues of infrastructure and transit of Russian energy resources to the European Union. The formation of Novorossiya at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty also included support from individual EU Member States to accelerate the construction of energy infrastructure bypassing Ukraine as a failed state. The annexation of Crimea became a non-standard geostrategic step in Russia, which led to the violation of the border of the sovereign state for the first time since the end of World War II. In general, the Crimea is an important sacred phenomenon and a geostrategic asset for the Russian Federation. Given the opening of new military bases in Belarus, the preservation of the Russian military contingent in Transnistria and the Donbas, as well as the creeping geopolitical displacement of Ukraine from the Black and Azov Sea, the latter automatically finds itself in a kind of geopolitical “garrotte” while losing access to the sea. In the end, Russian aggression aimed at destabilizing Ukraine also had internal political significance for Russia, since Europeanization of Ukraine and its political and economic success would become a new geopolitical trend and would call into question the effectiveness of the authoritarian regime of Russia and other post-Soviet countries. All this would become a clear example for the Russian society of the positive consequences of the democratic transformations of the great Orthodox state. However, while the Russian Federation has achieved some tactical advantages in Ukraine, thereby slowing its rapprochement with the EU and NATO, designing instability strategically prevents any involvement of Kyiv in Eurasian integration projects, further alienating it from Russia, making Ukraine more pro-Western and anti-Russian. Keywords: Ukraine, foreign policy, national security, Russian Federation, Eastern Europe, ODED-GUAM, Baltic-Black Sea Commonwealth

Interactions between motor exploration and reinforcement learning.

Motor exploration, a trial-and-error process in search for better motor outcomes, is known to serve a critical role in motor learning. This is particularly relevant during reinforcement learning, where actions leading to a successful outcome are reinforced while unsuccessful actions are avoided. Although early on motor exploration is beneficial to finding the correct solution, maintaining high levels of exploration later in the learning process might be deleterious. Whether and how the level of exploration changes over the course of reinforcement learning, however, remains poorly understood. Here we evaluated temporal changes in motor exploration while healthy participants learned a reinforcement-based motor task. We defined exploration as the magnitude of trial-to-trial change in movements as a function of whether the preceding trial resulted in success or failure. Participants were required to find the optimal finger-pointing direction using binary feedback of success or failure. We found that the magnitude of exploration gradually increased over time when participants were learning the task. Conversely, exploration remained low in participants who were unable to correctly adjust their pointing direction. Interestingly, exploration remained elevated when participants underwent a second training session, which was associated with faster relearning. These results indicate that the motor system may flexibly upregulate the extent of exploration during reinforcement learning as if acquiring a specific strategy to facilitate subsequent learning. Also, our findings showed that exploration affects reinforcement learning and vice versa, indicating an interactive relationship between them. Reinforcement-based tasks could be used as primers to increase exploratory behavior leading to more efficient subsequent learning.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Motor exploration, the ability to search for the correct actions, is critical to learning motor skills. Despite this, whether and how the level of exploration changes over the course of training remains poorly understood. We showed that exploration increased and remained high throughout training of a reinforcement-based motor task. Interestingly, elevated exploration persisted and facilitated subsequent learning. These results suggest that the motor system upregulates exploration as if learning a strategy to facilitate subsequent learning.

A Tablet-Based Interactive Movement Tool for Pediatric Rehabilitation: Development and Preliminary Usability Evaluation.

BackgroundMotivating interactive tools may increase adherence to repetitive practice for children with disabilities, but many virtual reality and active video gaming systems are too challenging for children with significant needs.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop and conduct a usability evaluation of the Fun, Interactive Therapy Board (FITBoard), a movement toy bridging digital and physical interactions for children with disabilities.MethodsThe FITBoard is a tablet app involving games controlled by hand, head, or foot touch of configurable, wired surfaces. Usability evaluation involved a cognitive walkthrough and think-aloud processes. Participants verbalized aloud while completing a series of 26 task actions involved in selecting a game and configuring the FITBoard to achieve the therapeutic goal. Therapists then responded to questions about usability perceptions. Unsuccessful actions were categorized as goal or action failures. Qualitative content analysis supported understanding of usability problems.ResultsParticipants included 5 pediatric physical therapists and 2 occupational therapists from 2 clinical sites. Goal failure was experienced by all participants in 2 tasks, and action failure was experienced by all participants in 2 tasks. For 14 additional tasks, 1 or more patients experienced goal or action failure, with an overall failure rate of 69% (18 of 26 tasks). Content analysis revealed 4 main categories: hardware usability, software usability, facilitators of therapy goals, and improvement suggestions.ConclusionsFITBoard hardware and software changes are needed to address goal and action failures to rectify identified usability issues. Results highlight potential FITBoard applications to address therapeutic goals and outline important practical considerations for product use by therapists. Subsequent research will evaluate therapist, parent, and child perspectives on FITBoard clinical utility when integrated within regular therapy interventions.

Manifestation of Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in a Youth Girls Basketball Match

Research background and hypothesis. Examining behavior in a youth girls basketball match it was hypothesized that players and coaches’ behaviors would differ in relation with players’ age, course and the final outcome of the match.Research aim was to explore the manifestation of observed prosocial and antisocial behaviors in a youth girls basketball match.Research methods. Fourty games were observed: 20 matches by U15 and 20 matches by U17 age groups.Research results. Younger players more often argued with the referees (p = 0.03), used physical aggression (p = 0.04). In the second half of the game players more often quarreled with referees (p = 0.05), welcomed unsuccessful actions of the rivals (p = 0.03). When the difference in the final result of the game was low, players more argued with the referees (p = 0.001) and used physical aggression (p = 0.01). Coaches working with younger players showed disrespect to them more often (p = 0.001). Such behaviours were more often at the beginning of the game (p = 0.001) and when the difference in the final result of the game was low (p = 0.04). Discussion and conclusions. Research did not confirm that younger basketball players more often demonstrated respect to referee’s decisions and opponents. Research confirmed that antisocial behaviors of players were more common in the second half of the match and when the difference in the final result was less. Research confirmed that coaches who worked with younger players demonstrated more antisocial behavior and that such behavior was more common when there was less difference in the results of the match.Keywords: basketball players and coaches’ behavior assessment, players’ age, course of the game, fnal outcome of the game.

Physical Therapist, Physical Therapist Assistant, and Student Response to Inappropriate Patient Sexual Behavior: Results of a National Survey.

A recent survey found that 84% of physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, and student respondents experienced inappropriate patient sexual behavior (IPSB) over their careers and 47% over the prior 12 months. Prevalence data justify consideration of how to address IPSB. The objective was to determine how physical therapist clinicians (used here to mean physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students) address IPSB and examine strategy impact. The design was observational and cross-sectional. Several sections of the American Physical Therapy Association and selected education programs fielded the electronic survey. Respondents reported on the frequency and effect of IPSB response strategy. Response-strategy impact was tested for statistical significance. Open-ended comments were analyzed using qualitative methods. Of 1027 respondents, 396 had experienced IPSB over the prior 12 months; 391 provided data on the frequency and effect of response strategies used. Common informal responses included distraction, ignoring IPSB, and altering treatment to avoid physical contact or being alone. Common formal responses included reporting the behavior within the facility and documenting the behavior. Successful strategies included distraction, avoidance, direct confrontation, behavioral contracts, transfer of care, and chaperone use. Experienced clinicians were more likely to be direct, whereas novice clinicians were more likely to engage in unsuccessful actions of ignoring and joking. Limitations included self-report, clinician memory, and convenience sampling. The first findings in 20 years on physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, and student response to IPSB provide direction for the profession. Results indicate a need for clear workplace policies coupled with training for managers and supervisors to support clinicians in resolving IPSB. Policies on using behavioral contracts, chaperones, and transfer of care could empower staff to consider these successful options. Professional education and training for all physical therapy professionals on assertive communication and redirection strategies with IPSB appears warranted.

Do previous sports experiences influence the effect of an enrichment programme in basketball skills?

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to examine the effect of an enrichment programme in motor, technical and tactical basketball skills, when accounting for the age of youth sport specialisation. Seventy-six college students (age: M = 20.4, SD = 1.9) were allocated according to three different paths: (i) non-structured (n = 14), (ii) early specialisation (n = 34), and (iii) late specialisation (n = 28), according to information previously provided by the participants about the quantity and type of sporting activities performed throughout their sporting careers. Then, the participants of each path were randomly distributed across control and experimental groups. Variables under study included agility, technical skills circuit, as well as tactical actions performed in a 4-on-4 full-court basketball game. The results indicated improvements in the early and late specialisation paths namely in the experimental training groups. However, the late specialisation path revealed larger benefits, in contrast with the non-structured path, which showed less sensitivity to the enrichment programme, mostly sustained in physical literacy and differential learning. Higher improvements were observed in agility, and also in reducing the number of unsuccessful actions performed during the game. Overall, this study provided evidence of how early sports experiences affect basketball skill acquisition and contribute to adapt to new contexts with motor and technical-tactical challenges. In addition, a path supported by late specialisation might present several advantages in sport performance achievement.

Depoliticised activism? Ambivalence and pragmatism at the COP16

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the forms of activist organisation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP16 in Cancún and reveals their attempts to create alternatives to a seemingly “depoliticised” response to climate change. The paper argues that existing attempts to challenge depoliticisation face problems in the form of governmental opposition, limitations on forms of organising, and internal conflicts between activists. Design/methodology/approach This paper utilises “scholar-activist” engagement with actors at alternative “popular” spaces established outside the COP16 in Cancún, Mexico. It draws upon extensive participant observation and in-depth interviews with 20 English-speaking activists. Findings Common among activists was a concern to try and model alternative forms of social relations, to the depoliticised and hierarchical forms found in the formal Conference of Parties, via forms of anarchist-influenced “prefigurative” practice. In spite, or perhaps because, of perceived challenges to attempts to organise their political praxis along non-hierarchical lines, many people were ambivalent about the scope of their action, revealing highly reflexive accounts of the limitations of these whilst simultaneously remaining pragmatic in trying to make the most of their involvement. Originality/value The paper helps us to better understand the potential to politicise climate change. Understanding the challenges faced by activists is important for trying to organise more effective political responses to climate injustice. It is suggested that we must understand activists’ responses to these challenges and limitations in terms of the pragmatism in response that allows them to continue to invest in activism in the face of unsuccessful actions.

A decision framework for managing risk to airports from terrorist attack.

This article presents an asset-level security risk management framework to assist stakeholders of critical assets with allocating limited budgets for enhancing their safety and security against terrorist attack. The proposed framework models the security system of an asset, considers various threat scenarios, and models the sequential decision framework of attackers during the attack. Its novel contributions are the introduction of the notion of partial neutralization of attackers by defenders, estimation of total loss from successful, partially successful, and unsuccessful actions of attackers at various stages of an attack, and inclusion of the effects of these losses on the choices made by terrorists at various stages of the attack. The application of the proposed method is demonstrated in an example dealing with security risk management of a U.S. commercial airport, in which a set of plausible threat scenarios and risk mitigation options are considered. It is found that a combination of providing blast-resistant cargo containers and a video surveillance system on the airport perimeter fence is the best option based on minimum expected life-cycle cost considering a 10-year service period.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is: Verbal Self-Reported Tactical Skills versus on-Line Tactical Performance in Soccer

The main goal of the study was to examine whether a relationship existed between self-reported and in situ tactical decision-making in the form of actions for small-sided soccer games, namely 4-vs.-4 and 8-vs.-8 games. Sixteen skilled male soccer players participated and completed the Tactical Skills Inventory for Sport Questionnaire (TACSIS). In addition, their decision-making performance was assessed for two 4-vs.-4 and one 8-vs.-8 small-sided soccer games. Video-analysis of the small-sided games was conducted to determine the successful and unsuccessful actions of each player. A performance ratio was calculated for each player based on the small-sided game analyses, which reflected the number of successful decisions made by players; that is, the number of successful ball actions divided by total ball actions. Correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship between the procedural knowledge TACSIS questionnaire scores and performance in the small-sided games. The findings are discussed within the theoretical framework of the two-visual system model and the repercussion for the use of questionnaires for talent identification.

A Theory for Market Growth or Decline

Market growth is fundamental to marketing. Frank Bass's seminal diffusion theory explains growth in new product markets. We develop an analogous theory for established markets exhibiting sporadic growth or intermittent declines. Our theory suggests that market participants repeatedly take successful and unsuccessful actions that cause them to change or to mutate in myriad and often unpredictable ways. The environment sorts these mutations, determining winners and losers. Abundant mutations often cause different market participants to become winners, displacing past winners. Abundant mutations also often cause market growth because the natural selection mechanism leaves more surviving favorable mutations. So one nonobvious falsifiable implication of our theory is that displacement precedes growth and stability precedes decline. Another is that risk taking, diversity of opinions, and experimentation should precede growth. We develop a metric for measuring displacement. Using multiple publicly available data sets (one including sales for top firms for 55 years and another including sales for all automobile models for 25 years), we find that our metric provides a practical way to measure the rate of mutation and confirm our theory's predictions. Our easily replicated tests show that our displacement metric can predict intermittent market growth or decline in very different contexts without the need for exogenous idiosyncratic explanations. Moreover, other alternative covariates (trends, lagged growth, new product entry, macroeconomic indicators, etc.) are unable to predict growth or decline.

The Missing Persons in the Republic of Croatia

Safety is a basic need, a precondition for normal living and development of an individual and the social community as a whole. Disappearance of a person in the modern society is a first-class security issue. That is also the reason to pay significant attention to this important social event, through academic and professional literature as well as the scientific and developmental research, which should analyse the structure of the missing persons, determine various individual indicators of risk and danger, as well as to connect the events related to the disappearance to various crimes, regardless if they include the victims or the perpetrators. Speaking on the police search study, especially in relation to the missing persons, it must be pointed out that it is based on causistics, giving the impression that it is strictly an empirical activity. Our goal is to give the study on the police search for missing persons a scientific content, to raise it above the pure story telling of individual successful or unsuccessful actions and their epilogues. We will there use quantitative and qualitative scientific methods in order to make our study on the search for the missing persons applicable and verifiable in the police practice. In order to introduce the readers with the social occurrence of disappearance of the missing persons in the Republic of Croatia, we will present in the article the short overview of the previous completed researches and analyses and the preliminary announcement regarding the future research that would already start in 2013.

Internet exploration behaviours and recovery from unsuccessful actions differ between learners with high and low levels of attention

Sustained attention (i.e., focusing attention on an activity for a prolonged amount of time) has important implications for learning and memory. However, little is known regarding the behavioural factors that contribute to sustained attention during Internet learning. The primary purpose of the current study was to explore differences in navigational choices and recovery from unsuccessful actions of learners with high and low levels of sustained attention. Undergraduate students searched the Internet for information corresponding to an assigned low domain knowledge topic for 20min while their eye-gaze was recorded. High- and low-attending learners differed in the selection of links, level of linearity used to navigate the Internet, Web reading strategies, and frequency of deploying unsuccessful actions. These results indicate that sustained attention may be impacted by the monitoring of one’s progress towards the learning goal, and have implications for scaffolding provided by teachers and adaptive hypermedia systems.

The day after an electoral defeat: Counterfactuals and collective action

An intriguing question for scholars of collective action is how participants of unsuccessful actions become re-engaged in future collective activities. At an individual level, previous research has shown that after negative outcomes counterfactual thoughts ('if only … ') may serve to prepare for future action. In the current research, we investigated whether counterfactuals may also prepare for future action at a collective level. After a defeat of their party at the regional elections, 163 political activists rated their agreement with abstract (as opposed to concrete) and party-focused (as opposed to other-focused) counterfactuals about how the elections outcome might have been better. Results showed that abstract counterfactuals, dealing with the core elements of the elections, supported collective action intention better than concrete ones. Consistent with the recent developments of dual-pathway models of collective action, counterfactuals predicted collective action intention through the mediation of group efficacy and group identification. In particular, while both party- and other-focused abstract counterfactuals increased group efficacy, only other-focused abstract counterfactuals increased group identification. Discussion focuses on how the investigation of counterfactuals can enlarge our knowledge of the socio-cognitive antecedents of collective action.

Colour in Branding: Asserting a Monopoly in a Colour for Marketing Purposes - The Cadbury-Darrell Lea Litigation

This paper reviews the litigation between Cadbury and Darrell Lea concerning the use of the colour purple in marketing chocolate products in Australia. At the time of the conduct in question, Cadbury had not registered uses of the colour purple as trade marks, and indeed Cadbury has yet to succeed in registering purple, given Darrell Lea's continuing opposition. The litigation concerned unsuccessful actions in passing off and pursuant to ss52 and 53(c) and (d) of the Trade Practices Act, in which Cadbury in substance sought to maintain a monopoly over a shade of the colour purple in retailing chocolate. The general principles governing the use of and legal protection of colour in marketing are commented upon, as are the utility and limitations of expert evidence in this class of case.