Unilateral Fatigue Affects the Unipedal Postural Balance in Individuals With Intellectual Disability

This study aimed to explore the effect of local muscle fatigue on the unipedal stance in men with intellectual disability (ID). The Centre of pressure (CoP) excursions and the isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) were measured before and after a fatiguing exercise. Higher baseline values of CoP excursions and lower MVC values were recorded in the ID group. After the fatiguing exercise, this group showed higher MVC decrease and higher percentage of increase of the mean CoP velocity. In conclusion, men with ID are more vulnerable to the disturbing effects of fatigue during the unipedal stance compared to men without ID.     

Aversive functions of response effort: Fact or artifact?

Historically, effort has been viewed as aversive. Most supporting evidence comes from studies demonstrating increased force/effort requirements reduce operant responding. Changes in force/effort requirements, however, are often accompanied by changes in response definition when mechanical devices are used to define the response. As a consequence, responses measured at one point in a study may go unmeasured at other points. In an alternative approach, we used a continuous measurement strategy that provided a means to fix the threshold force defining the response class and simultaneously allowed independent manipulation of the force criteria required to produce reinforcement. Rats pressed a force transducer according to a fixed‐ratio 5 schedule of food delivery. The criterion force was systematically increased and decreased; the threshold for response detection was constant. When response rates included only criterion responses, overall rate decreased when force requirements increased. By contrast, when all responses, both those meeting force criteria and those that did not (above the threshold but below the criteria for reinforcement) were included in the rate calculation, increases in force increased response rate. Increases in force criteria also increased the maximum force (g) and time‐integral of force (g‐s) of operant behavior. Control conditions showed increases in responding could be explained by the emergence of subcriterion responses, irrespective of force. We conclude that prior results showing effort decreases response rates are due to an artifact arising from inadvertent changes in response definitions. Increases in effort may better be understood as changes in the response:reinforcer payoff owing to the emergence of a subcriterion response class.     

Accountability,Collaboration, and Social Change: Ethical Tensions in an Action Research Project to Address Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs)

We conducted a collaborative action research project with stakeholders in Detroit, Michigan, to develop long‐term policy strategies to resolve ~11,000 untested rape kits that were discovered in a police storage facility in August 2009. In our research, we uncovered overwhelming evidence of victim‐blaming behaviors and fundamental disrespect of rape survivors by the police, which directly contributed to their decisions not to submit kits for forensic testing. We had an ethical responsibility to report these negative findings accurately and completely, and in doing so, we were concerned that police stakeholders might disengage from the action research project and hamper our other ethical responsibilities to promote general and public welfare. In this article, we examine the ethical challenges of balancing accountability, collaboration, and social change.     

Prediction of calcaneal bone competence from biomechanical accommodation variables measured during weighted walking

Carrying weight while walking is a common activity associated with increased musculoskeletal loading, but not all individuals accommodate to the weight in the same way. Different accommodation strategies could lead to different skeletal forces, stimuli for bone adaptation and ultimately bone competence. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between calcaneal bone competence and biomechanical accommodation variables measured during weighted walking. Twenty healthy men and women (10 each; age 27.8 ± 6.8 years) walked on a treadmill at 1.34 m/s while carrying 0, 44.5 and 89 N weights with two hands in front of the body. Peak vertical ground reaction force and sagittal plane angular displacements of the trunk and left lower extremity during weight acceptance were measured and used to quantify accommodation. Calcaneal bone stiffness index T-score (BST) was measured using quantitative ultrasound. Correlation and stepwise multiple regression were used to predict calcaneal BST from the accommodation variables. Accommodations of the foot and ankle explained 29 and 54% (p ≤ .015) of the variance in calcaneal BST in different regression models. Statistical resampling using 1000 replications confirmed the strength and consistency of relationships, with the best model explaining 94% of the variance in calcaneal BST. Individuals who change foot and ankle function when carrying heavier weight likely alter the control of gravitational and muscular forces, thereby affecting calcaneal loading, bone adaptation and bone competence. These novel findings illustrate the importance of gait accommodation strategies and highlight a potential clinical consequence that requires further investigation.     

Features and investigative implications of muti murder in South Africa

Drawing upon anthropological, legal and forensic publications, an interview with a South African Zulu traditional healer and direct information gained during homicide investigations, the nature of Muti murder is discussed. Muti murder is defined as a murder in which body parts are removed from a live victim for the sole purpose of using the victim's body parts medicinally. These body parts are then often mixed with other ingredients or used alone to make a medicine called muti. Muti is a Zulu (umuthi) word meaning medicine. The victim usually dies as a result of blood loss from the wounds. While muti murders have occurred throughout history in South African culture, little is known about them and little research exists on the phenomenon. The term muti murder has been used interchangeably with the term ritual or sacrificial murder, often adding to confusion in terminology and definitions regarding these types of cases. This paper provides an overview of muti murder, explains the context in which these types of murder occur, defines the offenders and victims involved, and provides guidelines for investigating these types of murders. Two cases where muti murder was suspected are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using accelerator pedal force to increase seat belt use of service vehicle drivers

This study evaluated a device that applied a sustained increase in accelerator pedal back force whenever drivers exceeded a preset speed criterion without buckling their seat belts. This force was removed once the belt was fastened. Participants were 6 commercial drivers who operated carpet-cleaning vans. During baseline, no contingency was in place for unbuckled trips. The pedal resistance was introduced via a multiple baseline design across groups. On the first day of treatment, the device was explained and demonstrated for all drivers of the vehicle. The treatment was associated with an immediate sustained increase in seat belt compliance to 100%. Occasionally, drivers initially did not buckle during a trip and encountered the force. In all instances, they buckled within less than 25 s. These results suggest that the increased force was sufficient to set up an establishing operation to reinforce seat belt buckling negatively. Drivers indicated that they were impressed with the device and would not drive very long unbelted with the pedal force in place.     

Leibniz and Clarke in Conflict: The Role of “Force” and the Nature of God’s Providence

The intellectual background of the concept of force in the dispute between Leibniz and Clarke has not received enough scholarly attention. Vailati’s monograph, which is the most important study of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, focuses on a non-theological dimension in terms of the concept of force in this debate. Based on this perspective, Vailati’s conclusion is that Clarke’s understanding of force was totally different from that of Newton. However, the historical context shows that this is not the case. Clarke’s concept of motive force bore a strong resemblance to that of Newton, according to which force was an active principle that had been endowed upon matter at the beginning of God’s creation. Furthermore, the close link between force, matter and God’s providence had a long tradition of debate between Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers since early modern times. The different concepts of force dividing Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers were actually related to, and conditioned by, their underlying fundamental theological differences. The concept of force in the Leibniz-Clarke controversy, accordingly, could be regarded as along the lines of the earlier disputes between Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers.     

Psychological strain and emotional labor among police-officers: A diary study

The authors examined the relationship between psychological strain, emotional dissonance and emotional job demands during a working day of 65 Dutch (military) police officers, using a 5-day diary design. We hypothesized that emotional dissonance partly mediated the relationship between psychological strain at the start and at the end of a work shift. We also tested the mediating role of emotional dissonance between emotional job demands and psychological strain at the end of a work shift. Results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that psychological strain at the start of a work shift had a positive effect on the experience of emotional dissonance and psychological strain at the end of a work shift. Emotional dissonance partly mediated the relationship between psychological strain at the start and psychological strain at the end of a work shift. Results are discussed in light of conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, S. E. (1988). The ecology of stress. New York: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation).     

Effects of differing response-force requirements on food-maintained responding in CD-1 mice

The effect of force requirements on response effort was examined using outbred (CD-1) mice trained to press a disk with their snout. Lateral peak forces greater than 2 g were defined as threshold responses (i.e., all measured responses). Different force requirements were used to define criterion responses (a subclass of threshold responses) that exceeded the requirement. The reinforcer was sweetened, condensed milk, and it was delivered upon response termination. All mice were exposed to two ascending series of criterion force requirements (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 g). Increasing the force requirement decreased criterion response rates, but increased threshold response rates. The time-integral of force (area under the force-time curve for individual responses, which is proportional to energy expenditure for each response) increased with the increase in the force requirement. These results conflict with the hypothesis that higher force requirements have aversive qualities and suggest that increased force requirements are more analogous to intermittent schedules of reinforcement. These data suggest that estimations of effort or energy expenditure should be measured independently of the force requirement. Individual differences in responding were found for the CD-1 outbred stock.     

God as Spirit—and Natural Science

The biblical sentence "God is Spirit" (John 4:24) occasioned the development of the Christian doctrine about God as Spirit. But since patristic times "spirit" was interpreted in the sense of Nus, which rather means "intellect." The biblical concept of spirit (pneuma), however, has its root meaning in referring to "air in movement," as in breath or storm. The similar concept of pneuma in Stoic philosophy has become the "immediate precursor" (Max Jammer) of the field concept in modern physics, so that the conclusion is suggested that God is spirit as something like a field of force rather than as intellect. This essay argues for such a conception by relating the divine eternity and immensity to the concepts of space and time, the basic requirements of any physical field. God's eternity and immensity are interpreted in terms of undivided infinite space (and time) which is presupposed in all concepts of parts of space or time (or space-time), therefore in all mathematical and physical measurement.