Spontaneous change from seated to standing cycling position with increasing power is associated with a minimization of cost functions

Spontaneous changes of movement patterns may allow to elucidate which criteria influence movement pattern preferences. However, the factors explaining the sit-stand transition in cycling are unclear. This study investigated if biomechanical and/or muscle activation cost functions could predict the power at which the spontaneous sit-stand transition occurs. Twenty-five participants performed an incremental test leading to the sit-to-stand transition, and subsequent randomized pedaling trials at 20 to 120% of the transition power in seated and standing position. A Moment Cost Function based on lower limbs net joint moments and two Electromyographic Cost Functions based on EMG data were defined. All cost functions increased with increasing crank power (p < 0.001) but at different rates in the seated and standing positions. They had lower values in the seated position below the transition power and lower values in the standing position above the transition power (p < 0.05). These results suggest that spontaneous change of position observed in cycling with increasing crank power represents an optimal choice to minimize muscular efforts. These results support the use of simple cost functions to define optimal settings in cycling and to assess the cost of cycling during short-term efforts.     

PublicationHarvester: An open-source software tool for science policy research

We present PublicationHarvester, an open-source software tool for gathering publication information on individual life scientists. The software interfaces with MEDLINE, and allows the end-user to specify up to four MEDLINE-formatted names for each researcher. Using these names along with a user-specified search query, PublicationHarvester generates yearly publication counts, optionally weighted by Journal Impact Factors. These counts are further broken-down by order on the authorship list (first, last, second, next-to-last, middle) and by publication type (clinical trials, regular journal articles, reviews, letters/editorials, etc.) The software also generates a keywords report at the scientist-year level, using the medical subject headings (MeSH) assigned by the National Library of Medicine to each publication indexed by MEDLINE. The software, source code, and user manual can be downloaded at http://www.stellman-greene.com/PublicationHarvester/.     

Using neuropsychological profiles to classify neglected children with or without physical abuse

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is twofold: First, to investigate whether cognitive functions can contribute to differentiating neglected children with or without physical abuse compared to comparison participants; second, to demonstrate the detrimental impact of children being victimized by a combination of different types of maltreatment. METHODOLOGY: Seventy-nine children aged 6-12 years and currently receiving Child Protection Services because of one of two types of maltreatment (neglect with physical abuse, n=56; neglect without physical abuse, n=28) were compared with a control group of 53 children matched for age, gender, and annual family income. The neuropsychological assessment focused on motor performance, attention, memory and learning, visual-motor integration, language, frontal/executive functions, and intelligence. RESULTS: Discriminant analysis identified auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1), and problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2) as the two sets of variables that most distinguished the groups. Discriminant analysis predicted group membership in 80% of the cases. Children who were neglected with physical abuse showed cognitive deficits in auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1) and problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2). Children who were neglected without physical abuse differed from the control group in that they obtained lower scores in auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1). Surprisingly, these same children demonstrated a greater capacity for problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2) than the physically abused neglected and control children. CONCLUSION: The present study underscores the relevance of neuropsychology to maltreatment research. The results support the heterogeneity of cognitive deficits in children based on different types of maltreatment and the fact that neglect with physical abuse is more harmful than neglect alone.     

Das AutoMoDe-Projekt Modellbasierte Entwicklung softwareintensiver Systeme im Automobil

Die Entwicklung eingebetteter Software für Automobile ist inh?rent komplex und vereint verschiedene Entwicklungsphasen, mehrere fachliche Disziplinen, sowie verschiedene Akteure in beteiligten Unternehmen. Der AutoMoDe-Ansatz zur Entwicklung automotiver Software beschreibt Systeme auf verschiedenen Abstraktionsebenen und definiert schrittweise überg?nge zwischen diesen Ebenen. Neben der Definition geeigneter Ebenen werden zur Modellierung von Echtzeitsystemen ein einheitliches Berechnungsmodell sowie dom?nenspezifische Beschreibungstechniken verwendet. Automatisierte Anbindungen für Analyse und Synthese komplexer Softwaresysteme mit dem Ziel eines konsistenzbetonten Entwicklungsprozesses wurden realisiert. Die beschriebenen Techniken wurden in den Werkzeugprototypen AutoFocus integriert und im Zusammenspiel mit einer Werkzeugkette demonstriert.     

Application of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling to Evaluate the Academic Motivation Scale

In this research, the authors examined the construct validity of scores of the Academic Motivation Scale using exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 1 and Study 2 involved 1,416 college students and 4,498 high school students, respectively. First, results of both studies indicated that the factor structure tested with exploratory structural equation modeling provides better fit to the data than the one tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Second, the factor structure was gender invariant in the exploratory structural equation modeling framework. Third, the pattern of convergent and divergent correlations among Academic Motivation Scale factors was more in line with theoretical expectations when computed with exploratory structural equation modeling rather than confirmatory factor analysis. Fourth, the configuration of convergent and divergent correlations connecting each Academic Motivation Scale factors to a validity criterion was more in line with theoretical expectations with exploratory structural equation modeling than with confirmatory factor analysis.     

Writing argumentative text: A developmental study of the acquisition of supporting structures

The development of argumentative writing is studied here by examining the structural organization of argumentative texts. It is assumed that the ability to construct supporting relationships, that is, a conclusion statement supported by argument statements, is acquired gradually with age. The following stages of acquisition are postulated: (1) a preargumentation stage, where at first no explicit position is stated, and then an explicit position is stated but is not supported by an argument; (2) a minimal argumentation stage, where a position is explicitly taken and supported by one argument; and (3) an elaborated argumentation stage, where at least two unrelated supporting arguments are used, and then two related arguments are used. Two corpora were gathered under similar conditions: collective debate in the classroom, followed by individual essays written on the chosen topic. The first corpus was produced by 147 children aged 7 to 14, and a group of 34 college students. The second corpus included the protocols of 92 children aged 11 to 16 the essays were graded for the presence or absence of each structural level, and then classified at the highest structural level exhibited. The resulting classification largely confirmed the hypothesized order for the stages of argumentative development. The minimal argumentative structure (standpoint + one supporting argument) was mastered by nearly 90% of the 7 and 8 year-olds. The most elaborate structural level in our model (two related arguments) was attained later: less than one out of four 7–8 year olds versus three out of four beyond age 14. Techniques involving more complex argumentative relations such as refutations and counterarguments, or restriction of one argument by another, are mastered even later and seem to be strongly linked to the nature of the issues under debate. Three main conclusions can be drawn from these results: precocious argumentative skills exist in children before age 11 or 12, argumentative discourse complexity continues to increase up to age 14 and beyond, and the characteristics of the referential domain of argumentation have an impact on this structural elaboration process.     

Changes in University Governance in France and in Italy

Tertiary Education and Management - The transformation of higher education systems under the pressure of new needs required by the “society of knowledge” in France and Italy has had a...