Shoulder Muscle Activity Dampens Arm Swing Motion When Altering Upper Limb Mass Characteristics During Locomotion

Weighting the arms during locomotion results in decreased swing motion and increased shoulder muscle activity. To determine the functional relevance of this activity, participants walked on a treadmill with the arms unweighted, or weighted unilaterally or bilaterally. Similar to past work, the weighted arms decreased in swing amplitude and increased their shoulder muscle activity. A close examination of shoulder muscle activities in specific regions of the arm swing cycle suggested these muscles primarily acted eccentrically for all weighting conditions. These findings suggest that the increased shoulder muscle activities when weighting the arms act to dampen the arms when the inertial characteristics of the arms are altered, as opposed to assisting in driving swing of the heavier arms.     

PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS AND BIOLOGICAL FINDINGS,PART I: HUMAN COOPERATIVITY,COMPETITION, AND AGGRESSION

This Part II of a two-part article illustrates how research in evolutionary biology, anthropology, archeology, and psychology illuminates questions arising in philosophy—specifically questions about René Girard's theory of aggression. Part I looked at: (i) how old the systemic practice of severe aggression is; (ii) how much of it results from humanity's mimetic/social and competitive nature and how much from ecological, resource, and cultural conditions; and (iii) if ecological, resource, and cultural conditions are important, might we adapt this information toward greater cooperativity today? Part II investigates Girard's theory of ritual sacrifice—especially human sacrifice—as a societal steam valve for the systemic aggression explored in Part I. It draws on theories of play, theater, and art to examine the role and function of such ritual sacrifice.     

Source Handler telephone interactions with covert human intelligence sources: An exploration of question types and intelligence yield

Law Enforcement Agencies gather intelligence in order to prevent criminal activity and pursue criminals. In the context of human intelligence collection, intelligence elicitation relies heavily upon the deployment of appropriate evidence-based interviewing techniques (a topic rarely covered in the extant research literature). The present research gained unprecedented access to audio recorded telephone interactions (N = 105) between Source Handlers and Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) from England and Wales. The research explored the mean use of various question types per interaction and across all questions asked in the sample, as well as comparing the intelligence yield for appropriate and inappropriate questions. Source Handlers were found to utilise vastly more appropriate questions than inappropriate questions, though they rarely used open-ended questions. Across the total interactions, appropriate questions (by far) were associated with the gathering of much of the total intelligence yield. Implications for practise are discussed.     

Rethinking the Comparative Study of Religious Ethics

This essay describes the author's change of approach to the comparative study of religious ethics from the one contained in a book on the subject (with Sumner B. Twiss), published in 1978. The change resulted from interactions with Abdulaziz Sachedina, the noted scholar of Islam, demonstrating the importance of comparing different ethical systems in reference to global topics like human rights, particularly the right to freedom of conscience.     

An Analysis of the Status and Stability of the Behaviors of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

Students with emotional and behavioral problems are placed in a variety of classroom settings, presumably where their needs can be best served. Little attention, however, has been dedicated to monitoring their behavioral progress in these settings. This study analyzed data on student engagement, disruption, and destruction during 10 types of instructional activities. Data were collected at two times across one academic year in Pennsylvania and California in 90 classrooms, ranging from grades 1 to 12. Tests of mean comparisons (i.e., independent samples and paired t-tests) and the association between variables (i.e., bivariate correlation analysis) were conducted to address a number of concerns regarding the status and stability of classrooms for students with EBD. Independent paired sample t-tests showed a lack of significant improvement in behaviors across time, and the correlational data reflect a significant relationship between student engagement and classroom activity. Findings are discussed in light of limitations and directions for future research. In addition, practical implications are noted.     

Acceptance versus distraction: brief instructions, metaphors and exercises in increasing tolerance for self-delivered electric shocks

The current study compared the effects of an acceptance versus distraction rationale on coping with experimentally induced pain. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: Full-Acceptance, Full-Distraction, Instruction-only-Acceptance, Instruction-only-Distraction and No-Instructions. Participants completed a simple matching task and were intermittently given the choice either to receive an electric shock and continue, or to avoid the shock and terminate the task. Only the Full-Acceptance strategy (that included experiential exercises and a metaphor) had a significant effect on task tolerance as measured by an increase in the number of shocks delivered post-intervention relative to baseline. In addition, the participants in both of the acceptance conditions showed lower levels of believability in that they were more likely to continue with the task even when reporting more pain. The results support the prediction that acceptance-based interventions work by undermining the behavioural-control functions of pain-related thoughts and feelings, and call for a systematic analysis of how metaphors and exercises work in analogue research.     

论当代生命伦理学与人权

生命伦理学面临诸多的伦理问题,其中最为凸显的是人权困境,生命伦理学与人权有着内在的本质联系和契合点,人权是生命伦理的核心和生长点,人权的基本理论和原则使生命伦理学的存在与发展成为可能,并且成为活生生的伦理现实。生命伦理学饱含丰富的人权意蕴,成为人权理论合理性的印证。要科学审视当代生命伦理学和人权关系,化解人权困境,推动生命伦理学的发展。     

Multilevel Selection Theory and Major Evolutionary Transitions: Implications for Psychological Science

ABSTRACT— The concept of a group as comparable to a single organism has had a long and turbulent history. Currently, methodological individualism dominates in many areas of psychology and evolution, but natural selection is now known to operate at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy. When between-group selection dominates within-group selection, a major evolutionary transition occurs and the group becomes a new, higher-level organism. It is likely that human evolution represents a major transition, and this has wide-ranging implications for the psychological study of group behavior, cognition, and culture.     

从中外医学教育标准的差异看医学生的人文素质培养

通过中外医学教育标准在知识目标、技能目标、职业价值观上的若干差异的比较,探讨人文素质,包括医生职业价值观念、医学人文知识、“批判性思维”能力和交流技巧、沟通能力的培养等在国际医学教育标准的重要地位,并对改进我国医学教育的人文内涵提出建议。