The Influence of Environmental Factors on Daily Behaviour

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1175-1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Herz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Demand Models ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Observed Behaviour ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Transport Mobility

The question of the extent to which the concrete physical environment allows, causes, or even forces certain forms of behaviour to occur has been excluded from social sciences literature for a long time. More recent studies from environmental psychology show that the built environment, filtered by subjective perceptions, very probably influences the experience and actions of individuals. Town planning and transport planning is orientated towards the needs, demands, or simply the observed behaviour of social groups, segments of the population, and target groups of individuals. However, at this level the evidence about whether a spatiospecific determinant should be added to the sociodemographic, sociocultural, or socioeconomic determinants is very inconclusive. This paper investigates the influence of certain types of area on behaviour, and uses about 70000 weekday records at the level of differentiated groups of people. Everyday behaviour of the groups is quantified by their time budgets and daily programmes with broad groupings of out-of-house activities as well as various indicators of transport mobility. This study shows that with given characteristics of the individual and his household a series of behavioural parameters does not vary in space and thus these parameters can be used as input for behaviourally orientated transport demand models and transferred from one planning area to another.

Making it abstract, making it contestable: Gender/sex as a politicized concept

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Mazzuca ◽  
Matteo Santarelli
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Biological Feature ◽  
Dynamic Approach ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Cultural Construct ◽  
Science Framework ◽  
The One

The concept of gender has been the battleground of scientific and political speculations for a long time. On the one hand, some accounts contended that gender is a biological feature, while on the other hand some scholars maintained that gender is a socio-cultural construct (e.g., Butler, 1990; Risman, 2004). Some of the questions that animated the debate on gender over history are: how many genders are there? Is gender rooted in our biological asset? Are gender and sex the same thing? All of these questions entwine one more crucial, and often overlooked interrogative. How is it possible for a concept to be the purview of so many disagreements and conceptual redefinitions? The question that this paper addresses is therefore not which specific account of gender is preferable. Rather, the main question we will address is how and why is even possible to disagree on how gender should be considered. To provide partial answers to these questions, we suggest that gender/sex (van Anders, 2015; Fausto-Sterling, 2019) is an illustrative example of politicized concepts. We show that no concepts are political in themselves; instead, some concepts are subjected to a process involving a progressive detachment from their supposed concrete referent (i.e., abstractness), a tension to generalizability (i.e., abstraction), a partial indeterminacy (i.e., vagueness), and the possibility of being contested (i.e., contestability). All of these features differentially contribute to what we call the politicization of a concept. In short, we will claim that in order to politicize a concept, a possible strategy is to evidence its more abstract facets, without denying its more embodied and perceptual components (Borghi et al., 2019). So, we will first outline how gender has been treated in psychological and philosophical discussions, to evidence its essentially contestable character thereby showing how it became a politicized concept. Then we will review some of the most influential accounts of political concepts, arguing that currently they need to be integrated with more sophisticated distinctions (e.g., Koselleck, 2004). The notions gained from the analyses of some of the most important accounts of political concepts in social sciences and philosophy will allow us to implement a more dynamic approach to political concepts. Specifically, when translated into the cognitive science framework, these reflections will help us clarifying some crucial aspects of the nature of politicized concepts. Bridging together social and cognitive sciences, we will show how politicized concepts are abstract concepts, or better abstract conceptualizations.

ADHD with Comorbid Bipolar Disorders: A Systematic Review of Neurobiological, Clinical and Pharmacological Aspects Across the Lifespan

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (38) ◽  
pp. 6942-6969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Mucci ◽  
Maria Teresa Avella ◽  
Donatella Marazziti
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Features ◽  
Adult Adhd ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Bipolar Disorders ◽  
Mood Stabilizers ◽  
Disruptive Behaviour ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Pharmacological Management ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Individual

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, disruptive behaviour, and impulsivity. Despite considered typical of children for a long time, the persistence of ADHD symptoms in adulthood gained increasing interest during the last decades. Indeed, its diagnosis, albeit controversial, is rarely carried out even because ADHD is often comorbid with several other psychiatric diosrders, in particular with bipolar disorders (BDs), a condition that complicates the clinical picture, assessment and treatment. Aims: The aim of this paper was to systematically review the scientific literature on the neurobiological, clinical features and current pharmacological management of ADHD comorbid with BDs across the entire lifespan, with a major focus on the adulthood. Discussion: The pharmacology of ADHD-BD in adults is still empirical and influenced by the individual experience of the clinicians. Stimulants are endowed of a prompt efficacy and safety, whilst non-stimulants are useful when a substance abuse history is detected, although they require some weeks in order to be fully effective. In any case, an in-depth diagnostic and clinical evaluation of the single individual is mandatory. Conclusions: The comorbidity of ADHD with BD is still a controversial matter, as it is the notion of adult ADHD as a distinct nosological category. Indeed, some findings highlighted the presence of common neurobiological mechanisms and overlapping clinical features, although disagreement does exist. In any case, while expecting to disentangle this crucial question, a correct management of this comorbidity is essential, which requires the co-administration of mood stabilizers. Further controlled clinical studies in large samples of adult ADHD-BD patients appear extremely urgent in order to better define possible therapeutic guidelines, as well as alternative approaches for this potentially invalidating condition.

scholarly journals When physical activity meets the physical environment: precision health insights from the intersection

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa V. Giles ◽  
Michael S. Koehle ◽  
Brian E. Saelens ◽  
Hind Sbihi ◽  
Chris Carlsten
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Optimizing Design ◽  
Physical Activity Recommendations ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Precision Health ◽  
Activity Recommendations

Abstract Background The physical environment can facilitate or hinder physical activity. A challenge in promoting physical activity is ensuring that the physical environment is supportive and that these supports are appropriately tailored to the individual or group in question. Ideally, aspects of the environment that impact physical activity would be enhanced, but environmental changes take time, and identifying ways to provide more precision to physical activity recommendations might be helpful for specific individuals or groups. Therefore, moving beyond a “one size fits all” to a precision-based approach is critical. Main body To this end, we considered 4 critical aspects of the physical environment that influence physical activity (walkability, green space, traffic-related air pollution, and heat) and how these aspects could enhance our ability to precisely guide physical activity. Strategies to increase physical activity could include optimizing design of the built environment or mitigating of some of the environmental impediments to activity through personalized or population-wide interventions. Conclusions Although at present non-personalized approaches may be more widespread than those tailored to one person’s physical environment, targeting intrinsic personal elements (e.g., medical conditions, sex, age, socioeconomic status) has interesting potential to enhance the likelihood and ability of individuals to participate in physical activity.

LONG‐TIME RESPONSE PREDICTED BY EXACT ELASTIC RAY THEORY

Geophysics ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Formal Solution ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Time Limit ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Individual Response ◽  
Axially Symmetric ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Significant Figures

The formal solution for an axially symmetric radiation field in a multilayered, elastic system can be expanded in an infinite series. Each term in the series is associated with a particular raypath. It is shown that in the long‐time limit the individual response functions produced by a step input in particle velocity are given by polynomials in odd powers of the time. For rays which suffer m reflections, the degree of the polynomials is 2m+1. The total response is obtained by summing all rays which contribute in a specified time interval. When the rays are selected indiscriminately, the difference between the magnitude of the partial sum at an intermediate stage of computation and the magnitude of the correct total sum may be greater than the number of significant figures carried by the computer. A prescription is stated for arranging the rays into groups. Each group response function varies linearly in the long‐time limit and goes to zero when convolved with a physically realizable source function.

Neurotechnology as a factor of the educational process transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-13
Author(s):  
Л.Д. Александрова ◽  
Р.А. Богачева ◽  
Т.А. Чекалина ◽  
М.В. Максимова ◽  
В.И. Тимонина
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Special Equipment ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Mental Abilities ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control

Изучение возможностей мозга для повышения качества обучения находится в центре внимания педагогической науки уже много лет. Развитие цифровизации позволило использовать в исследованиях специальное оборудование, с помощью которого можно оценивать и контролировать работу мозга, развивать умственные способности, познавательные функции и т. п. Нейротехнологии стали эффективным средством, позволяющим трансформировать образовательный процесс за счет подбора специального учебного контента с учетом индивидуальных особенностей обучающихся. Вместе с тем возникает необходимость в конкретизации терминологии и определении актуальных направлений исследований в данной области. For a long time, the study of the brain capabilities for the improvement of the quality of education has been an urgent direction in pedagogical science. Due to the development of digitalization, new areas of research have emerged related to the use of special equipment that makes it possible to assess and control brainwork, develop mental abilities, cognitive functions, etc. One of them is neurotechnology, which is an effective means of transforming the educational process: it offers educational content based on the individual characteristics of students. Thus, a need to concretize the terminology and determine the current research areas arises. The article aims to attempt to fill this gap with the help of a representative analysis of publications on neurotechnologies, as well as the essence of neuroeducation.

The Everyday in a Time of Transformation: Exploring a Single South African Lifeworld after 20 Years of Democracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
P. Conrad Kotze ◽  
Jan K. Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Epistemological Framework

Transformation has come to be a defining characteristic of contemporary societies, while it has rarely been studied in a way that gives acknowledgement to both its societal effects and the experience thereof by the individual. This article discusses a recent study that attempts to do just that. The everyday life of a South African is explored within the context of changes that can be linked, more or less directly, to those that have characterized South Africa as a state since the end of apartheid in 1994. The study strives to avoid the pitfalls associated with either an empirical or solely constructivist appreciation of this phenomenon, but rather represents an integral onto-epistemological framework for the practice of sociological research. The illustrated framework is argued to facilitate an analysis of social reality that encompasses all aspects thereof, from the objectively given to the intersubjectively constructed and subjectively constituted. While not requiring extensive development on the theoretical or methodological level, the possibility of carrying out such an integral study is highlighted as being comfortably within the capabilities of sociology as a discipline. While the article sheds light on the experience of transformation, it is also intended to contribute to the contemporary debate surrounding the current “ontological turn” within the social sciences.

A study on orthodontic retention practices in Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Anjana Karmacharya ◽  
Dashrath Kafle ◽  
Ram Bhakta Adhikari ◽  
Nirjalla Malla
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Short Answer ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Retention Practices ◽  
Survey Questionnaires

Introduction: Retainers are used after all orthodontic treatment, to prevent or minimize relapse and recurrence. Among various retainers used, Hawley retainer and ‘invisible’ retainers are the most common. Most of the orthodontists favored permanent retention. It is obvious that the retention procedures are variable and depended largely on personal preferences, and there does not seem to be any consistent pattern in the application of retention methodologies. The  purpose of this study was to survey the retention protocols among orthodontists in Nepal. Materials and Method: The complete lists of the names and addresses of orthodontists in Nepal was obtained from the ODOAN. The questionnaire was sent to them which consisted of multiple-choice questions and short answer, related to background information of the individual orthodontist, retention use in general, the frequency of different types of bonded or removable retainers that are used, the retention protocol, the type of retainer used in specific situation. All statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 12.0.1 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA) Result: The survey questionnaires were completed by 90.42% of the 94 orthodontists of Nepal, 58.8% males and 41.2% females with a mean age of 36.7 years. Most of the orthodontists used a clear (vacuum) retainer (80%) in the maxilla and fixed bonded retainer in the mandible. Most of them prefer the use of retainer for a continuous 24 hours except during eating and brushing for 6 months to 1 year (56.5%) and if possible, for 1 to 2 years (28.2%). Conclusion: Majority of Nepalese orthodontists provide vacuum formed retainer on maxillary arch and bonded retainer in mandibular arch. There is no specific consensus on other type of retainers, duration of wear and follow up visits which is affected by various other factors.

Expressions for the effective diffusivity in materials with interphase boundaries

2004 ◽  
Vol 819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina V. Belova ◽  
Graeme E. Murch
Keyword(s):  
Polycrystalline Material ◽  
Effective Diffusivity ◽  
Poor Agreement ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Interphase Boundaries ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Grains ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractWe address the problem of calculating the long-time-limit effective diffusivity in stable two- phase polycrystalline material. A phenomenological model is used where the high diffusivity interphase boundaries are treated as connected “coatings” of the individual grains. Derivation of expressions for the effective diffusivity with segregation is made along Maxwell lines. Monte Carlo simulation using lattice-based random walks is used to test the validity of the expressions. It is shown that for the case analysed the derived expressions for the effective diffusivity are in very good agreement with simulation results. The equivalent of the Hart equation is also derived. It is shown to be in poor agreement with simulation results.

Effects of wildfire on national park visitation and the regional economy: a natural experiment in the Northern Rockies

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Duffield ◽  
Chris J. Neher ◽  
David A. Patterson ◽  
Aaron M. Deskins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Park ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Demand Models ◽  
Value Loss ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Observed Behaviour

Federal wildland fire management policy in the United States directs the use of value-based methods to guide priorities. However, the economic literature on the effect of wildland fire on nonmarket uses, such as recreation, is limited. This paper introduces a new approach to measuring the effect of wildfire on recreational use by utilising newly available long-term datasets on the location and size of wildland fire in the United States and observed behaviour over time as revealed through comprehensive National Park Service (NPS) visitor data. We estimate travel cost economic demand models that can be aggregated at the site-landscape level for Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The marginal recreation benefit per acre of fire avoided in, or proximate to, the park is US$43.82 per acre (US$108.29 per hectare) and the net present value loss for the 1986–2011 period is estimated to be US$206 million. We also estimate marginal regional economic impacts at US$36.69 per acre (US$90.66 per hectare) and US$159 million based on foregone non-resident spending in the 17-county Great Yellowstone Area (GYA). These methods are applicable where time-series recreation data exist, such as for other parks and ecosystems represented in the 397-unit NPS system.

The Longevity of Homosexuals: Before and after the Aids Epidemic

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cameron ◽  
William L. Playfair ◽  
Stephen Wellum
Keyword(s):  
Early Death ◽  
Drug Abusers ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
Short Lifespan ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Intravenous Drug Abusers ◽  
Age Of Death

Although the U.S. Surgeon General characterized homosexual sex as “normal” and “healthy,” homosexuals and IV drug abusers have suffered disproportionately from the AIDS epidemic. Longevity is often utilized as a measure of health. How long did homosexuals live before the AIDS epidemic and how long do they live today? We examined 6,737 obituaries/death notices from eighteen U.S. homosexual journals over the past thirteen years and compared them to obituaries from two conventional newspapers. The obituaries from the non-homosexual newspapers were similar to U.S. averages for longevity: the median age of death of married men was seventy-five, 80 percent died old (65 or older); for unmarried men it was fifty-seven, 32 percent died old; for married women it was seventy-nine, 85 percent died old; for unmarried women it was seventy-one, 60 percent died old. For the 6,574 homosexual deaths, the median age of death if AIDS was the cause was thirty-nine irrespective of whether or not the individual had a Long Time Sexual Partner [LTSP], 1 percent died old. For those 829 who died of non-AIDS causes the median age of death was forty-two (41 for those 315 with a LTSP and 43 for those 514 without) and <9 percent died old. Homosexuals more frequently met a violent end from accidental death, traffic death, suicide, and murder than men in general. The 163 lesbians registered a median age of death of forty-four (20% died old) and exhibited high rates of violent death and cancer as compared to women in general. Old homosexuals appear to have been proportionately less numerous than their non-homosexual counterparts in the scientific literature from 1858 to 1993. The pattern of early death evident in the homosexual obituaries is consistent with the pattern exhibited in the published surveys of homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers. Homosexuals may have experienced a short lifespan for the last 140 years; AIDS has apparently reduced it about 10 percent. Such an abbreviated lifespan puts the healthfulness of homosexuality in question.

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