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Informal Observations (informal + observation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Noncontingent reinforcement and competing stimuli in the treatment of pseudoseizures and destructive behaviors

BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS, Issue 3 2005
Iser G. DeLeon
Individuals diagnosed with epilepsy have sometimes also been observed to display ,pseudoseizures', or clinical events that mimic those observed during epileptic seizures, but are not associated with abnormal cortical electrical discharges. Several investigators have hypothesized that pseudoseizures, in some proportion of those individuals that display them, may be maintained through operant contingencies. In the present study, this sort of hypothesis was tested in a 10-year-old boy with severe mental retardation and a seizure disorder. Informal observations, and later, response-reinforcer contingencies, revealed that the pseudoseizures, as well as other destructive behaviors, occurred at high rates when they resulted in attention from caregivers. Subsequently, a treatment package consisting of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) and competing stimuli was used to decrease levels of seizure-like activity and other problem behaviors. This study adds to the literature that suggests that seizure-like activity may come under operant control and extends the use of NCR and competing stimuli to a novel target behavior. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Improvements in early care in Russian orphanages and their relationship to observed behaviors

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005
Christina J. Groark
This article describes a unique study that attempts to promote positive social-emotional relationships and attachment between caregivers and children in orphanages in St. Petersburg, Russia. The children who reside in these orphanages are typically between birth and 48 months of age; approximately 50% are diagnosed with disabilities, and approximately 60% leave through foreign adoption. Initially, their orphanage caregivers showed a high level of current anxiety and depression and were detached from and communicated little with the children. Likewise, during baseline observations, the children demonstrated poor attachment behaviors such as indiscriminant friendliness, lack of eye contact with adults, aggression, and impulsive behavior. Two interventions were used in a quasiexperimental design: (a) training of caregivers to promote warm, responsive caregiving and (b) staffing and structural alterations to support relationship building, especially increasing the consistency of caregivers. The methodology required that both the training and staffing interventions be provided to one orphanage, only the training to a second, and neither to a third. (At any one time, ns = 80,120 in each condition.) Initial informal observations reveal positive behaviors for both the caregivers and the children, such as increased two-way conversations, animated and enthusiastic emotional responses, and positive social and language interactions. Early data analyses show an increase in the consistency and stability of caregivers and increased scores for caregivers on every subscale of the HOME Scales. Children showed improvements in physical growth, cognition, language, motor, personal-social, and affect, with children having severe disabilities improving the most. The implications of these findings suggest that training staff with modest educational backgrounds and structural changes are effective, can increase socially responsive caregiving behaviors, and improves social interactions of children, at least temporarily. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source]

On the unreliability of published DNA sequences

NEW PHYTOLOGIST, Issue 1 2003
Paul D. Bridge
Summary ,,Here, the reliability of published fungal nucleic acid sequences is tested by the critical re-evaluation of 206 named sequences obtained from public-access databases. ,,Sequences from the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene cluster were examined as these are commonly used to establish fungal phylogeny and evolution, and are also increasingly employed in the identification of fungi from nonculture based studies. ,,Fifty-one rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were obtained for species of Amanita, 55 ITS sequences were obtained for species of Phoma and 100 rRNA small subunit sequences were obtained from representative genera of the order Helotiales. In each case, the fungal group was selected partly on the basis of sequences deposited by three or more laboratories in order to avoid sample bias. The results suggest that up to 20% of the sequences available for each group may be unreliable, and this proportion is supported by additional informal observations. [source]

COMMUNITY, CONTEXT, AND THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN DISTRIBUTED WORKPLACE INTERACTION

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2008
Michael Youngblood
Instantaneous communications technology has made it possible for distant coworkers to be interconnected to an unprecedented degree. Despite this, distributed workers often feel deeply disconnected from the production and performance of conventional workplace relationships and workplace culture. As the knowledge economy workforce trends toward ever-greater distribution and globalization, this raises important questions about the practice and experience of creative coengagement by colleagues who are not proximate to each other in time and space. How are shared understandings of workers' behavioral norms disseminated and practiced when workers are physically isolated from the collective workspace? How are relationships of collegiality and hierarchy constructed and performed through increasingly narrow channels of social interaction? How do workers signal their energy and commitment to a collective creative enterprise when their actual productive activity is largely invisible to others with whom and for whom they work? This article draws on my research with distributed knowledge workers, informal observations of colleagues, and personal experiences working as an independent consultant in distributed settings. It focuses on the challenges these workers face in defining their workplace community and effectively representing their professional selfhood when working at a distance. In this article I suggest that one key to alleviating these challenges is to extend the attributes of "placehood" to distant work spaces. [source]