Human pelvis motions when walking and when riding a therapeutic horse

A prevailing rationale for equine assisted therapies is that the motion of a horse can provide sensory stimulus and movement patterns that mimic those of natural human activities such as walking. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively measure and compare human pelvis motions when walking to those when riding a horse. Six able-bodied children (inexperienced riders, 8–12 years old) participated in over-ground trials of self-paced walking and leader-paced riding on four different horses. Five kinematic measures were extracted from three-dimensional pelvis motion data: anteroposterior, superoinferior, and mediolateral translations, list angle about the anteroposterior axis, and twist angle about the superoinferior axis. There was generally as much or more variability in motion range observed between riding on the different horses as between riding and walking. Pelvis trajectories exhibited many similar features between walking and riding, including distorted lemniscate patterns in the transverse and frontal planes. In the sagittal plane the pelvis trajectory during walking exhibited a somewhat circular pattern whereas during riding it exhibited a more diagonal pattern. This study shows that riding on a horse can generate movement patterns in the human pelvis that emulate many, but not all, characteristics of those during natural walking.     

Cue-elicited food seeking is eliminated with aversive outcomes following outcome devaluation

In outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT), stimuli that are predictive of specific outcomes prime instrumental responses that are associated with these outcomes. Previous human studies yielded mixed evidence in respect to whether the PIT effect is affected by a posttraining devaluation of an outcome, with the PIT effect being preserved after a devaluation of a primary reinforcer (food, drugs) but not following the devaluation of a secondary reinforcer (money). The present research examined whether outcome-selective transfer is eliminated when the devaluation of a primary (liquid) reinforcer is strong and aversive. Experiment 1 confirmed these expectations following a devaluation with bad tasting Tween 20. However, outcome-selective transfer was still observed when the earned (devalued) outcome was not consumed immediately after each test (Experiment 2). These results suggest that the capacity of a Pavlovian cue to motivate a specific response is affected by the incentive value of the shared outcome only when the devaluation yields an aversive outcome that is consumed immediately.     

Increased training complexity reduces the effectiveness of brief working memory training: evidence from short-term single and dual n-back training interventions

N-back training has recently come under intense scientific scrutiny due to reports of training-related improvements in general fluid intelligence. As of yet, relatively little is known about the effects of short-term n-back training interventions, however. In a pretest-training-posttest design, we compared brief dual and single n-back training regimen in terms of training gains and transfer effects relative to a passive control group. Transfer effects indicated that, in the short-term, single n-back training may be the more effective training task: At the short training duration we employed, neither training group showed far transfer to specific task switch costs, Stroop inhibition costs or matrix reasoning indexing fluid intelligence. Yet, both types of training resulted in a reduction of general task switch costs indicating improved cognitive control during the sustained maintenance of competing task sets. Single but not dual n-back training additionally yielded near transfer to an untrained working memory updating task.     

A job demands-resources perspective on salespersons’ market intelligence activities in new product development

Research shows that R&D's use of sales’ market intelligence positively influences innovation performance. However, little is known about whether this effect hinges on salespersons’ engagement towards and perceptions of market intelligence activities (MIA). Moreover, research remains incomplete regarding the drivers of salespersons’ MIA engagement. Using dyadic data from 359 salespersons and 239 R&D managers in a multi-level model based on the job demands-resources theory, we demonstrate that the positive effect of R&D's use of sales’ market intelligence on innovation performance is especially pronounced when salespersons’ market intelligence generation is high and role ambiguity is low. We also show that although salespersons’ self-set MIA goals are a strong driver of their MIA engagement, not assigning salespersons MIA goals may be a double-edged sword: in the short run, salespersons might engage in MIA voluntarily. However, in the long run, they could incur psychological costs in terms of role ambiguity and conflict, preventing them from engaging in MIA.     

God's Own Story? German Theology and Its Nineteenth‐Century Readers

This review essay discusses two recent monographs on nineteenth‐century German theology and its transnational reception. The books under review assess attempts by German theologians to present their discipline as a science, which required them to present its subject matter as at once purely historical and of absolute significance for humanity. The result was an attractive but inherently unstable discipline, which oscillated between idealist and critical objectives and historical and systematic modes of argument. Its reception in the United States demonstrates both its multifaceted character, which appealed to theologians from a range of traditions, and also the way in which engagement with Germany offered theologians a means of modernizing and sometimes challenging the doctrinal assumptions and scholarly methods of those traditions.     

Therapeutic activities and the assimilation model: A preliminary exploratory study on the Insight stage

The assimilation model describes the process of change assuming that the self is enriched when there is a dialogue between nondominant voices or problematic experiences and the dominant voices. This dialogue is best seen in the Insight stage. The aim of this paper is to study the Insight stage during the assimilation process in relation to the main therapeutic activities performed by the therapist. All the Insights from the assimilation process of a patient, María, were analysed. In assimilation terms, María could be described through the nondominant voices of “dizziness,” “tiredness,” and “inability to cope with daily demands,” and through the dominant voices of “control,” “overcome and solve,” and “why something is happening.” María showed a successful assimilation of her problematic experiences. The therapeutic context was the Linguistic Therapy of Evaluation (LTE), a kind of cognitive therapy based on the theory of General Semantics. María was considered a good outcome case in the LTE sample. Results showed that there were some general therapeutic activities related to these Insights. A high percentage of activities pointed to one of the main issues of LTE: the development of an extensional orientation. At the same time, some of these activities were related to María’s voices. Results are discussed in relation to the relevance of the development of an extensional orientation for the assimilation process; how voices are recognized or challenged in therapy, and to the importance of considering relationship issues during the assimilation process.     

The factors associated with geriatric depression in rural China: stratified by household structure

Depressive symptoms and empty nest phenomenon of rural elderly people are both important public health issues, which should not be ignored. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and related factors of the empty nest elderly in rural China. We recruited 3182 eligible subjects and gathered data by face-to-face interview. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to explore the related factors of depressive symptoms. The present study showed that the prevalence of depressive symptoms significantly differed between empty nest old adults and non-empty nesters (24.1% vs. 19.0%). The elderly living alone had highest OR of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms of empty nest elderly was associated with sleep quality, economic status, pain, social support and ADL. While it was associated with gender, economic status, pain and PSMS in non-empty nest group. Number of chronic disease showed significant associations with depressive symptoms in the elderly living alone. Subjective support, support utilization and pain were positively associated with depressive symptoms in the elderly living with spouse. Sleep quality, economic status and ADL were common factors. Depressive symptoms obviously prevail among empty nest elderly than non-empty nesters. It reminded us that complementary social support from family and society is essential.