Extracting Relevance and Affect Information from Physiological Text Annotation

We present physiological text annotation, which refers to the practice of associating physiological responses to text content in order to infer characteristics of the user information needs and affective responses. Text annotation is a laborious task, and implicit feedback has been studied as a way to collect annotations without requiring any explicit action from the user. Previous work has explored behavioral signals, such as clicks or dwell time to automatically infer annotations, and physiological signals have mostly been explored for image or video content. We report on two experiments in which physiological text annotation is studied first to 1) indicate perceived relevance and then to 2) indicate affective responses of the users. The first experiment tackles the user’s perception of relevance of an information item, which is fundamental towards revealing the user’s information needs. The second experiment is then aimed at revealing the user’s affective responses towards a -relevant- text document. Results show that physiological user signals are associated with relevance and affect. In particular, electrodermal activity (EDA) was found to be different when users read relevant content than when they read irrelevant content and was found to be lower when reading texts with negative emotional content than when reading texts with neutral content. Together, the experiments show that physiological text annotation can provide valuable implicit inputs for personalized systems. We discuss how our findings help design personalized systems that can annotate digital content using human physiology without the need for any explicit user interaction

Argumentation in school science : Breaking the tradition of authoritative exposition through a pedagogy that promotes discussion and reasoning

The value of argumentation in science education has become internationally recognised and has been the subject of many research studies in recent years. Successful introduction of argumentation activities in learning contexts involves extending teaching goals beyond the understanding of facts and concepts, to include an emphasis on cognitive and metacognitive processes, epistemic criteria and reasoning. The authors focus on the difficulties inherent in shifting a tradition of teaching from one dominated by authoritative exposition to one that is more dialogic, involving small-group discussion based on tasks that stimulate argumentation. The paper builds on previous research on enhancing the quality of argument in school science, to focus on how argumentation activities have been designed, with appropriate strategies, resources and modelling, for pedagogical purposes. The paper analyses design frameworks, their contexts and lesson plans, to evaluate their potential for enhancing reasoning through foregrounding the processes of argumentation. Examples of classroom dialogue where teachers adopt the frameworks/plans are analysed to show how argumentation processes are scaffolded. The analysis shows that several layers of interpretation are needed and these layers need to be aligned for successful implementation. The analysis serves to highlight the potential and limitations of the design frameworks

Keep looking ahead? Re-direction of visual fixation does not always occur during an unpredictable obstacle avoidance task

Visual information about the environment, especially fixation of key objects such as obstacles, is critical for safe locomotion. However, in unpredictable situations where an obstacle suddenly appears it is not known whether central vision of the obstacle and/or landing area is required or if peripheral vision is sufficient. We examined whether there is a re-direction of visual fixation from an object fixated ahead to a suddenly appearing obstacle during treadmill walking. Furthermore, we investigated the temporal relationship between the onset of muscle activity to avoid the obstacle and saccadic eye and head movements to shift fixation. Eight females (mean SD; age = 24.8 2.3 years) participated in this experiment. There were two visual conditions: a central vision condition where participants fixated on two obstacles attached to a bridge on the treadmill and a peripheral vision condition where participants fixated an object two steps ahead. There were two obstacle release conditions: only an obstacle in front of the left foot was released or an obstacle in front of either foot could be released. Only trials when the obstacle was released in front of the left foot were analyzed such that the difference in the two obstacle conditions was whether there was a choice of which foot to step over the obstacle. Obstacles were released randomly in one of three phases during the step cycle corresponding to available response times between 219 and 462 ms. We monitored eye and head movements along with muscle activity and spatial foot parameters. Performance on the task was not different between vision conditions. The results indicated that saccades are rarely made (< 18% of trials) and, when present, are initiated ∼ 350 ms after muscle activity for limb elevation, often accompanied by a downward head movement, and always directed to the landing area. Therefore, peripheral vision of a suddenly appearing obstacle in the travel path is sufficient for successful obstacle avoidance during locomotion: visual fixation is generally not re-directed to either the obstacle or landing area

Massage-like stroking boosts the immune system in mice

Recent clinical evidence suggests that the therapeutic effect of massage involves the immune system and that this can be exploited as an adjunct therapy together with standard drug-based approaches. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms behind these effects exploring the immunomodulatory function of stroking as a surrogate of massage-like therapy in mice. C57/BL6 mice were stroked daily for 8 days either with a soft brush or directly with a gloved hand and then analysed for differences in their immune repertoire compared to control non-stroked mice. Our results show that hand-but not brush-stroked mice demonstrated a significant increase in thymic and splenic T cell number (p lt 0.05; p lt 0.01). These effects were not associated with significant changes in CD4/CD8 lineage commitment or activation profile. The boosting effects on T cell repertoire of massage-like therapy were associated with a decreased noradrenergic innervation of lymphoid organs and counteracted the immunosuppressive effect of hydrocortisone in vivo. Together our results in mice support the hypothesis that massage-like therapies might be of therapeutic value in the treatment of immunodeficiencies and related disorders and suggest a reduction of the inhibitory noradrenergic tone in lymphoid organs as one of the possible explanations for their immunomodulatory function

Regulatory Constructivism: Application of Q Methodology in Italy and China

Conventional view holds that beliefs play an important role in the development of regulations but there is little evidence to support this claim. We use Comparative Q Methodology to systematically map out and compare the beliefs of public officers in China and Italy, two countries with contrasting sets of institutions but have both adopted similar ideas about integrated water resource management. We find some similarities and differences in the beliefs of public officers in both countries. In particular, we find that in both countries beliefs on the regulation of water utilities are diverse and fragmented on issues such as ownership structure of water utilities, how water infrastructure development should be funded, and how tariffs should be regulated. Our findings have two implications for theory, methods and practice. First, the Q methodology is a useful tool for systematically mapping out the beliefs of regulators and managers. Second, systematically mapping out beliefs will help facilitate the development of an alternative regime of regulation such as negotiated rule making. This alternative regime can provide substantial benefits such as more efficient rule making, more cost effective enforcement and compliance, and more equitable in terms of balancing the interests of stakeholders

Moving to capture children’s attention: developing a methodology for measuring visuomotor attention

Attention underpins many activities integral to a child’s development. However, methodological limitations currently make large-scale assessment of children’s attentional skill impractical, costly and lacking in ecological validity. Consequently we developed a measure of ‘Visual Motor Attention’ (VMA) - a construct defined as the ability to sustain and adapt visuomotor behaviour in response to task-relevant visual information. In a series of experiments, we evaluated the capability of our method to measure attentional processes and their contributions in guiding visuomotor behaviour. Experiment 1 established the method’s core features (ability to track stimuli moving on a tablet-computer screen with a hand-held stylus) and demonstrated its sensitivity to principled manipulations in adults’ attentional load. Experiment 2 standardised a format suitable for use with children and showed construct validity by capturing developmental changes in executive attention processes. Experiment 3 tested the hypothesis that children with and without coordination difficulties would show qualitatively different response patterns, finding an interaction between the cognitive and motor factors underpinning responses. Experiment 4 identified associations between VMA performance and existing standardised attention assessments and thereby confirmed convergent validity. These results establish a novel approach to measuring childhood attention that can produce meaningful functional assessments that capture how attention operates in an ecologically valid context (i.e. attention's specific contribution to visuomanual action)

Reduced P300 amplitude during retrieval on a spatial working memory task in a community sample of adolescents who report psychotic symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Deficits in working memory are widely reported in schizophrenia and are considered a trait marker for the disorder. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and imaging data suggest that these differences in working memory performance may be due to aberrant functioning in the prefrontal and parietal cortices. Research suggests that many of the same risk factors for schizophrenia are shared with individuals from the general population who report psychotic symptoms. METHODS: Forty-two participants (age range 11--13 years) were divided into those who reported psychotic symptoms (N = 17) and those who reported no psychotic symptoms, i.e. the control group (N = 25). Behavioural differences in accuracy and reaction time were explored between the groups as well as electrophysiological correlates of working memory using a Spatial Working Memory Task, which was a variant of the Sternberg paradigm. Specifically, differences in the P300 component were explored across load level (low load and high load), location (positive probe i.e. in the same location as shown in the study stimulus and negative probe i.e. in a different location to the study stimulus) and between groups for the overall P300 timeframe. The effect of load was also explored at early and late timeframes of the P300 component (250-430 ms and 430-750 ms respectively). RESULTS: No between-group differences in the behavioural data were observed. Reduced amplitude of the P300 component was observed in the psychotic symptoms group relative to the control group at posterior electrode sites. Amplitude of the P300 component was reduced at high load for the late P300 timeframe at electrode sites Pz and POz. CONCLUSIONS: These results identify neural correlates of neurocognitive dysfunction associated with population level psychotic symptoms and provide insights into ERP abnormalities associated with the extended psychosis phenotype

Visual attention and action: How cueing, direct mapping, and social interactions drive orienting

Despite considerable interest in both action perception and social attention over the last 2 decades, there has been surprisingly little investigation concerning how the manual actions of other humans orient visual attention. The present review draws together studies that have measured the orienting of attention, following observation of another’s goal-directed action. Our review proposes that, in line with the literature on eye gaze, action is a particularly strong orienting cue for the visual system. However, we additionally suggest that action may orient visual attention using mechanisms, which gaze direction does not (i.e., neural direct mapping and corepresentation). Finally, we review the implications of these gaze-independent mechanisms for the study of attention to action. We suggest that our understanding of attention to action may benefit from being studied in the context of joint action paradigms, where the role of higher level action goals and social factors can be investigated

Sequential induction chemotherapy followed by radical chemo-radiation in the treatment of locoregionally advanced head-and-neck cancer

We describe a retrospective series of patients with advanced head-and-neck cancer who were treated with induction chemotherapy followed by radical chemo-radiation. Patients treated with two cycles of induction chemotherapy followed by definitive chemo-radiation for squamous cell carcinoma of the head-and-neck region, from 2001 – 2006 at the Royal Marsden Hospital, formed the basis of this study. Cisplatin (75 mg m−2) on day 1 and 5-FU (1000 mg m−2) day 1 – 4 was the standard regimen used for induction treatment. Cisplatin (100 mg m−2) on day 1 and day 29 was used for concomitant treatment. The radiation was delivered using conformal technique. Tissues containing macroscopic and microscopic disease were treated to doses of 65 Gray (Gy) in 30 fractions and 50 Gy in 25 fractions, respectively. Data on patterns of relapse and acute toxicity (NCICTCv.3.0) were collected. A total of 129 patients were included, median age was 58 (range: 27 – 78). The site of tumour was: oropharynx 70 (54%), larynx 30 (23%), hypopharynx 24 (19%) and other 5 (4%). The median follow-up was 19 months (range: 4 – 58). Local control, disease-specific survival and overall survival at 2 years were 71%, 68% and 63%, respectively. The distant recurrence rate at 2 years was 9%. Ten patients required dose reduction during induction chemotherapy due to toxicity. The dose of 5-FU was reduced in six patients and that of cisplatin in four patients. The incidence of grade 3/4 toxicity was: neutropenia 5%, thrombocytopenia 1%, nausea and vomiting 3%. One cycle of concurrent cisplatin was omitted in 23 patients due to toxicity. Full-dose radiotherapy was administered to 98% of patients. The incidence of grade 3/4 toxicity was: skin 20%, dysphagia 65%, mucositis 60%, neutropenia 3%, anaemia 1%, nausea and vomiting 4%, nephrotoxicity 1%. Induction chemotherapy followed by radical chemo-radiation is a safe and tolerable regimen in the treatment of advanced head-and-neck cancer. Distant recurrence rates are lower with equivalent local control and survival compared to chemo-radiation alone (historical controls)