Primitive Drivers: Racial Science and Citizenship in the Motor Age

Lay participation in the deliberation of techno-scientific issues has become an important objective of policy making in many countries. Using the example of a series of Round Table discussions dealing with genome research allows us to analyse the ways in which the participants of this event construct their arguments during the discussion. Explaining the observed discursive strategies we focus on performative aspects of the deliberation process. In such a way it is taken into account how the setting of a given participatory process influences the ways in which participants are enrolled and enact their participation accordingly. In the analysed case, the setting was not taken as a given, but public participation and its discursive framework became itself subject to negotiation during the process. Hence, the discursive power of individual experiences and the legitimacy of personal interests as the argumentative basis were negotiated during the Round Table discussions. The participants only rarely grounded their statements in practical knowledge and individual experiences. Instead we saw them performing other discursive repertoires, e.g. drawing on societal benefits. Individual perspectives were often transcended and articulated in the form of super-individual arguments which endowed participants' statements with substantial discursive power and provided an alternative rationale for contributing to the deliberation without explicit reference to personal experiences. More broadly, the observed reluctance of the participants to speak-up for their personal interests can be seen as a result of a political culture that favours the advancement of de-individualised perspectives in public deliberation.     

Statistics and suspension

Philosophical Studies - It has recently been argued that some cases of naked statistical evidence license a high credence, but not an outright belief. If this is correct, there cannot be an...     

Statistics and ethics in medical research

Ethical conduct is an essential component in research, especially in medical research. Statistical methods for design and analysis are powerful research tools if used properly. Abuse of these principles and methods are just as unethical as other laboratory or clinical misconduct. Inadequate research design can produce worthless results and thus wastes effort and valuable resources. For clinical research, patient resources are wasted. Inappropriate analysis of data can also produce misleading results and conclusions. For clinical research, inferior therapy might be given to patients as a consequence. These ethical concerns can have implications for and affect the individuals responsible for the statistical design and analysis. Examples are provided which illustrate some possible abuses and inappropriate pressures.     

The Effects of Sensory Manipulations on Motor Behavior: From Basic Science to Clinical Rehabilitation

Modifying sensory aspects of the learning environment can influence motor behavior. Although the effects of sensory manipulations on motor behavior have been widely studied, there still remains a great deal of variability across the field in terms of how sensory information has been manipulated or applied. Here, the authors briefly review and integrate the literature from each sensory modality to gain a better understanding of how sensory manipulations can best be used to enhance motor behavior. Then, they discuss 2 emerging themes from this literature that are important for translating sensory manipulation research into effective interventions. Finally, the authors provide future research directions that may lead to enhanced efficacy of sensory manipulations for motor learning and rehabilitation.     

Critiquing Statistics in Student and Professional Worlds

This article compares students' critiques within a class discussion about an invented statistic to STEM professionals' critiques from interviews to better understand how the situated meanings of a statistic are similar and different across student and professional worlds. We discuss similarities and differences in how participants constructed meaning for the statistic, and argue that disciplinary practices in schooling will always have an approximate, and somewhat indeterminate, relation to the figured worlds of professional practice.     

再生障碍性贫血发病机制的探讨

目前再生障碍性贫血发病机制有如下解释:造血干(祖)细胞缺陷;造血微环境功能缺陷;免疫功能紊乱.这些解释显示着深刻的哲学意义,正确地应用哲学思维将有助于对再生障碍性贫血发病机制的进一步深入研究.     

耗散结构理论在生理学中的应用

医学与自然科学有着密切的联系.耗散结构理论作为更高层次的研究复杂系统的系统科学的一个分支理论,对复杂的生命系统的研究起着指导作用.它可以用来解释许多生理学方面的基本生命活动现象,因此耗散结构理论对生理学的研究和发展有着重要的作用.     

《管子》中的统计学思想与方法

本文分析讨论了《管子》中的统计学思想与方法,并与现代统计学的思想与方法作了比较,从而对《管子》中的统计学思想与方法作出定性的结论.     

Motor influences on judgment: Motor and cognitive integration

Performing motor behaviours (arm flexion vs. extension) that correspond also to lateralized peripheral activations (left vs. right side) of the motivational systems of approach versus avoidance have been previously shown to impact cognitive performance and judgment. Three experiments are reported that examined the combined effect of these variables, as a kind of motor integration, on the implementation of information integration rules in various judgment tasks: judging of a person's attractiveness from personality information, judging of the severity of health risk from alcohol and tobacco intake, and attributing blame to a perpetrator from information as to intent and severity of harm done. It was found that the congruence between these motivational activations consistently influenced the use of interactive information integration rules, compared to additive ones. This set of findings showed that cognitive rules might also be embodied. Motor integration affects cognitive integration in judgment.     

Social Cognition,Accuracy, and Physiology

Existing norms for scientific communication are rooted in anachronistic practices of bygone eras making them needlessly inefficient. We outline a path that moves away from the existing model of scientific communication to improve the efficiency in meeting the purpose of public science—knowledge accumulation. We call for six changes: (a) full embrace of digital communication; (b) open access to all published research; (c) disentangling publication from evaluation; (d) breaking the “one article, one journal” model with a grading system for evaluation and diversified dissemination outlets; (e) publishing peer review; and (f) allowing open, continuous peer review. We address conceptual and practical barriers to change and provide examples showing how the suggested practices are being used already. The critical barriers to change are not technical or financial; they are social. Although scientists guard the status quo, they also have the power to change it.     

Statistics as psychometrics

In this paper, modern statistics is considered as a branch of psychometrics and the question of how the central problems of statistics can be resolved using psychometric methods is investigated. Theories and methods developed in the fields of test theory, scaling, and factor analysis are related to the principle problems of modern statistical theory and method. Topics surveyed include assessment of probabilities, assessment of utilities, assessment of exchangeability, preposterior analysis, adversary analysis, multiple comparisons, the selection of predictor variables, and full-rank ANOVA. Reference is made to some literature from the field of cognitive psychology to indicate some of the difficulties encountered in probability and utility assessment. Some methods for resolving these difficulties using the Computer-Assisted Data Analysis (CADA) Monitor are described, as is some recent experimental work on utility assessment.1980 Psychometric Society presidential address.I am indebted to Paul Slovic and David Libby for valuable consultation on the issues discussed in this paper and to Nancy Turner and Laura Novick for assistance in preparation.Research reported herein was supported under contract number N00014-77-C-0428 from the Office of Naval Research to The University of Iowa, Melvin R. Novick, principal investigator. Opinions expressed herein reflect those of the author and not those of sponsoring agencies.     

Variability and Determinism in Motor Behavior

In investigations into perception-action systems, variability of observable behavior may be considered to (a) interfere with inquiry, (b) be neither detrimental nor particularly useful to inquiry, or (c) play a crucial role in inquiry. The authors underscore recent suggestions that alternative (c) is a preferred strategy for the study of many motor behaviors. In tutorial fashion, the authors review the concepts of variability and determinism with respect to postural and rhythmic movements. Study of the variability of those behaviors has revealed crucial features suggestive of underlying mechanisms and control, such as particular blends of noise and determinism (piecewise determinism). It has also revealed general lessons (for example, more variable does not mean more random and more controllable does not mean more deterministic) that may extend to other classes of perceptual-motor behavior.     

The Rice Virtual Lab in Statistics

The Rice Virtual Laboratory in Statistics is an integrated combination of an electronic textbook, simulations/demonstrations, and case studies. The electronic textbook covers basic concepts in statistics and data analysis and contains links to data analysis tools, instructional demonstrations/simulations, and other on-line texts. The simulations and demonstrations help make abstract concepts concrete and allow students to investigate various aspects of statistical tests and distributions. Case studies demonstrate the real-world applicability of statistical methods. Materials are available on the World-Wide Web.     

The Effect of Interpolated Motor Activities in Short-Term Motor Memory

This experiment examined the effect of an interpolated motor response on short-term retention of a blind positioning movement. The interpolated response was varied in degree of similarity to the response length (± 25, ± 50, and ± 100 mm.), in number of repetitions (0, 1, or 5), and in temporal position (immediate or delayed), with a retention interval of 25 sec. Absolute error was not affected but a systematic change in response bias due to interpolated motor activity was found. When an interpolated response was longer than the response length, the tendency to undershoot decreased. The defay of the interpolated response was relatively more important than the number of repetitions in producing a positive shift in response bias. These results are interpreted as evidence for a form of interference in short-term motor memory.     

Force Increase in a Repetitive Motor Task Inducing Motor Fatigue

To evaluate task induced motor fatigue in a well-established finger tapping task, we analyzed tapping parameters and included the time course of measures of force. We hypothesized that a decline in tapping force would reflect task induced motor fatigue, defined by a lengthening of inter-tap intervals (ITI). A secondary aim was to investigate the reliability of tapping data acquisition with the force sensor. Results show that, as expected, tapping speed decreased linearly over time, due to both an increase of ITI and tap duration. In contrast, tapping force increased non-linearly over time and was uncorrelated to changes in tapping speed. Force data could serve as a measure to characterize task induced motor fatigue. Force sensors can assess a decline in tapping speed as well as an independent increase of tapping force. We argue that the increase of force reflects central compensation, i.e. perception of fatigue, due to an increase in task effort and difficulty.