Brain oscillatory activity associated with task switching and feedback processing

In this study, we sought to dissociate event-related potentials (ERPs) and the oscillatory activity associated with signals indicating feedback about performance (outcome-based behavioral adjustment) and the signals indicating the need to change or maintain a task set (rule-based behavioral adjustment). With this purpose in mind, we noninvasively recorded electroencephalographic signals, using a modified version of the Wisconsin card sorting task, in which feedback processing and task switching could be studied separately. A similar late positive component was observed for the switch and correct feedback signals on the first trials of a series, but feedback-related negativity was observed only for incorrect feedback. Moreover, whereas theta power showed a significant increase after a switch cue and after the first positive feedback of a new series, a selective frontal beta–gamma increase was observed exclusively in the first positive feedback (i.e., after the selection of the new rule). Importantly, for the switch cue, beta–alpha activity was suppressed rather than increased. This clear dissociation between the cue and feedback stimuli in task switching emphasizes the need to accurately study brain oscillatory activity to disentangle the role of different cognitive control processes.     

From enjoyment to physical activity or from physical activity to enjoyment? Longitudinal associations in parent–child dyads

Abstract

Background: This longitudinal dyadic study used cross-lagged analyses to examine reciprocal patterns of associations between physical activity (PA) enjoyment and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) among children and their parents.

Methods: At Time 1 (T1) 879 parent–child dyads provided their data. The follow-up (Time 2, T2) took place 7–8-months later. MVPA and PA enjoyment scales were filled out separately by parents and children at T1 and T2.

Findings: Child PA enjoyment (T1) predicted a higher level of child MVPA (T2), parental PA enjoyment (T1) explained a higher level of parental MVPA (T2), and parental MVPA (T1) predicted a higher level of parental PA enjoyment (T2). Furthermore, child PA enjoyment (T1) predicted a higher level of parental PA enjoyment (T2).

Conclusions: Child PA enjoyment was the key variable predicting child and parental outcomes. In particular, it explained child MVPA, but also PA enjoyment among parents.     

Coexistence of adjacent vacancy-ordered and eutectic phases in Al–Cu–Ni alloys

ABSTRACT

Copper-mould-cast Al–Cu–Ni alloys show adjacent coexistence of in situ grown ordered and eutectic phases. A bimodal microstructure of α–Al and eutectic α-Al+θ-Al₂Cu phases with length-scale hierarchy evolves during solidification. Microstructural analysis through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) shows the presence of Vacancy-ordered phases (VOPs) with different morphologies in two different compositions.     

Transmission electron microscopy study of a new silicon nitride phase

An abnormally large phase, which was found in the precursor-derived Si 3.0 B 1.1 C 5.3 N 3.0 ceramics after crystallization under a nitrogen pressure of 100bar at 1800C for 3h, has been characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy and electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). EELS analysis shows that this phase consists of only silicon and nitrogen, no other elements being detected. The analysis of selected-area diffraction and convergent-beam electron diffraction in conjunction with EELS reveals that the unknown phase is a variant of silicon nitride. It has a hexagonal structure with lattice parameters a =0.737nm and c =0.536nm, and the space group P62c. .     

Übertragung von Schweigen in der psychoanalytischen Sozialisation

This work is based on two interview studies with psychoanalysts from the German Psychoanalytic Society (DPG) and the German Society for Analytical Psychology (DGAP) belonging to the war children generation. In one study the focus was on how childhood in war can be dealt with in teaching analysis and in the other, whether experience of childhood in war had contributed to choosing psychoanalyis as a profession. A theoretical overview on questions of teaching analysis and choosing psychoanalysis as a profession is given, the results of the interview studies and detailed excerpts from an interview are presented.     

The noosphere vision of pierre teilhard de chardin and Vladimir I. Vernadsky in the perspective of information and of world‐wide communication 1

The noosphere vision of the two great natural scientists and thinkers Teilhard de Chardin and V. 1. Vernadsky is presented critically. Their basic ideas are discussed from the viewpoint of present‐day insights in natural science and of the world‐wide information and communication technology. To date very little has become known about their mutual influence on each other. It is advocated that the development of a noosphere can be supported by the networking and globalization of information and communication techniques. The noosphere is a sphere of human mind and of work, but it must not be identified with the modern technological trend that is changing all sectors of our life. A reference is made to Teilhard de Chardin's warnings against individualism, nationalism and racism, as well as fascism and Stalinism as seductive erroneous developments. The fundamentally teleological vision of T. de Chardin is contrasted in this paper with the idea of creativity in nature and in man. Delimiting conditions, such as structure, information, and at the level of society, the free will of man who has become aware of himself—humanistic values, are considered. All of them operate to limit the number of possibilities for development that are derived from the creativity of nature and man. Thus, new possibilities for development emerge at a higher level. The utilization of technology must be really oriented to human beings among human beings. Only with a strong internal determination of the social processes by understanding the genuine existence of man as man will it be possible to master the ambivalence of the technological effects and to come closer towards a society with deepened human information and communication.

Klaus Fuchs‐Kittowski, born in 1934, is Professor of Informationprocessing. He was head of the Division of Systems Design and Automated Information Processing at the Department of Theory and Organization of Science of Humboldt University Berlin. He was associated with the research at the International Institute for Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. At present he works as Visiting Professor at the Department of Informatics of the University of Hamburg, and at the Beriin College of Technology and Economics he has a teaching assignment in Economy Informatics. He is also an associated member of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, U.S.A.

Peter Krüger, born in 1934, Dr. rer nat, Dipl. Mineraloge worked at the Bergakademie Freiberg/Sachsen from 1958 to 1961 and from 1961 to 1985 in the Central Geological Institute Berlin. From 1985 to 1992 he worked as historian of science at the Division of History of Science at the Department of Theory and Organization of Science of Humboldt University Berlin. His special fields are history of geology, Russian‐German scientific connections in the 19th and 20th century and unpublished studies of Marx about geology, mineralogy and agrochemistry.     

Prevention of chronic PTSD with early cognitive behavioral therapy. A meta-analysis using mixed-effects modeling

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is of great interest to public health, due to the high burden it places on both the individual and society. We meta-analyzed randomized-controlled trials to examine the effectiveness of early trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral treatment (TFCBT) for preventing chronic PTSD. Systematic bibliographic research was undertaken to find relevant literature from on-line databases (Pubmed, PsycINFO, Psyndex, Medline). Using a mixed-effect approach, we calculated effect sizes (ES) for the PTSD diagnoses (main outcome) as well as PTSD and depressive symptoms (secondary outcomes), respectively. Calculations of ES from pre-intervention to first follow-up assessment were based on 10 studies. A moderate effect (ES = 0.54) was found for the main outcome, whereas ES for secondary outcomes were predominantly small (ES = 0.27–0.45). The ES for the main outcome decreased to small (ES = 0.34) from first follow-up to long-term follow-up assessment. The mean dropout rate was 16.7% pre- to post-treatment. There was evidence for the impact of moderators on different outcomes (e.g., the number of sessions on PTSD symptoms). Future studies should include survivors of other trauma types (e.g., burn injuries) rather than predominantly survivors of accidents and physical assault, and should compare early TFCBT with other interventions that previously demonstrated effectiveness.     

Imagery and Motor Processes — When Are They Connected? The Mental Rotation of Body Parts in Development

Motor influences on the mental transformation of body parts have been observed in both children and adults. Previous findings indicated that these influences were more pronounced in children than in adults, suggesting a stronger link between motor processes and imagery in children. The present series of two experiments casts doubt on the general validity of such an interpretation. Kindergartners' (aged 5–6 years), first graders' (aged 7 years), and adults' performance in the mental rotation of pictures of body parts was monitored for influences of internal representations of motor constraints (motor effect). In both experiments, evidence for mental rotation was obtained for each group. Unexpectedly, kindergarten boys made significantly more errors than kindergarten girls. A motor effect was only found in the second experiment, where it was least pronounced in the youngest age group. Our results suggest that mental transformations of body parts do not necessarily involve motor processes and that embodiment may become stronger with development rather than weaker with certain tasks.     

Patients’ intention to speak up for health care providers’ hand hygiene in inpatient diabetic foot wound treatment: a cross-sectional survey in diabetes outpatient centres in Lower Saxony,Germany*

Hand hygiene in wound care by health care providers (HCPs) is a key principle in treating hospitalized patients with diabetic foot infections. This study aimed to estimate the extent to which patients with type-2-diabetes (T2D) intend to speak up for HCPs’ hand hygiene during inpatient foot treatment, test whether this motivation increases given the hospital would invite patients to speak up, and identify associations with socio-demographics, knowledge of hand hygiene requirements, and diabetes-related factors. A questionnaire-survey was conducted in eight diabetes outpatient centres in Lower Saxony/Germany. Intentions to speak up (without and with institutional encouragement) and knowledge about hand hygiene during foot-care were assessed. Analyses of variance were conducted, partly as repeated measures-models with intention-items as within-subject factor. N = 473 patients participated (response = 77.4%). N = 177 (41%) strongly intended to speak up. Institutional encouragement was associated with an increased rate of strong (54% vs. 41%; p < .001) and higher mean intention (M = 3.9 vs. 3.4 with vs. without encouragement [5-point-scales]; F(1, 434)?=?41.5, p < .001). In patients without diabetic foot syndrome, this effect was limited to those with at least medium school education (F(2, 292)?=?4.4, p = .013) and knowledge on HCPs’ hand hygiene (F(2, 294)?=?3.1, p = .047). In conclusion, a majority of T2D-patients in diabetes outpatient centres intend to speak for HCPs’ hand hygiene in inpatient foot treatment, and are receptive to institutional encouragement. However, this presupposes at least medium education and knowledge about hand hygiene, emphasizing that patient empowerment begins with knowledge.