Past mobilities: archaeological approaches to movement and mobility

The new mobilities paradigm has yet to have the same impact on archaeology as it has in other disciplines in the social sciences – on geography, sociology and anthropology in particular – yet mobility is fundamental to archaeology: all people move. Moving away from archaeology’s traditional focus upon place or location, this volume treats mobility as a central theme in archaeology. The chapters are wide-ranging and methodological as well as theoretical, focusing on the flows of people, ideas, objects and information in the past; it also focuses on archaeology’s distinctiveness. Drawing on a wealth of archaeological evidence for movement, from paths, monuments, rock art and boats, to skeletal and DNA evidence, Past Mobilities presents research from a range of examples from around the world to explore the relationship between archaeology and movement, thus adding an archaeological voice to the broader mobilities discussion. As such, they will be of interest not only to archaeologists and historians, but also to sociologists, geographers and anthropologists.

Visual perception of movement kinematics and the acquisition of "action prototypes"

Recognizing a class of movements as belonging to a "nominal" action category, such as walking, running, or throwing, is a fundamental human ability. Three experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that common ("prototypical") features of moving displays could be learned by observation. Participants viewed moving stick-figure displays resembling forearm flexion movements in the saggital plane. Four displays (presentation displays) were first presented in which one or more movement dimensions were combined with 2 respective cues: direction (up, down), speed (fast, slow), and extent (long, short). Eight test displays were then shown, and the observer indicated whether each test display was like or unlike those previously seen. The results showed that without corrective feedback, a single cue (e.g., up or down) could be correctly recognized, on average, with the proportion correct between .66 and .87. When two cues were manipulated (e.g., up and slow), recognition accuracy remained high, ranging between .72 and .89. Three-cue displays were also easily identified. These results provide the first empirical demonstration of action-prototype learning for categories of human action and show how apparently complex kinematic patterns can be categorized in terms of common features or cues. It was also shown that probability of correct recognition of kinematic properties was reduced when the set of 4 presentation displays were more variable with respect to their shared kinematic property, such as speed or amplitude. Finally, while not conclusive, the results (from 2 of the 3 experiments) did suggest that similarity (or "likeness") with respect to a common kinematic property (or properties) is more easily recognized than dissimilarity.

Internal representation of movement in children with developmental coordination disorder : a mental rotation task

Recent studies show that children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have difficulties in generating an accurate visuospatial representation of an intended action, which are shown by deficits in motor imagery. This study sought to test this hypothesis further using a mental rotation paradigm. It was predicted that children with DCD would not conform to the typical pattern of responding when required to imagine movement of their limbs. Participants included 16 children with DCD and 18 control children; mean age for the DCD group was 10 years 4 months, and for controls 10 years. The task required children to judge the handedness of single-hand images that were presented at angles between 0° and 180° at 45° intervals in either direction. Results were broadly consistent with the hypothesis above. Responses of the control children conformed to the typical pattern of mental rotation: a moderate trade-off between response time and angle of rotation. The response pattern for the DCD group was less typical, with a small trade-off function. Response accuracy did not differ between groups. It was suggested that children with DCD, unlike controls, do not automatically enlist motor imagery when performing mental rotation, but rely on an alternative object-based strategy that preserves speed and accuracy. This occurs because these children manifest a reduced ability to make imagined transformations from an egocentric or first-person perspective.

Teaching landing skills in elite junior Australian football: evaluation of an injury prevention strategy

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a preseason physical training programme that taught landing and falling skills in improving landing skills technique and preventing injury in junior elite Australian football players.

Methods: 723 male players who participated in an under 18 elite competition were studied prospectively in a non-randomised controlled trial over two consecutive football seasons. There were 114 players in the intervention group and 609 control players. The eight session intervention programme taught players six landing, falling, and recovery skills, which were considered fundamental for safe landing in Australian football. Landing skills taught in these sessions were rated for competence by independent and blinded assessors at baseline and mid-season.

Results: Evaluation of landing skills found no significant differences between the groups at baseline. Evaluation after the intervention revealed overall improvement in landing skills, but significantly greater improvement in the intervention group (z = –7.92, p = 0.001). Players in the intervention group were significantly less likely (relative rate 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.98) to sustain an injury during the season than the control group. In particular, the time to sustaining a landing injury was significantly less for the intervention group (relative rate 0.40, 95% confidence interval 0.17 to 0.92) compared with the control group.

Conclusions: Landing and falling ability can be taught to junior elite Australian football players. Players in the intervention group were protected against injury, particularly injuries related to landing and falls.

The key learning area movement : A force for pedagogical change or a facade for continued conservatism?

Throughout the early 1990s the formal curriculum across all Australian States and Territories was re-organised to accommodate a Key Learning Area (KLA) focus.  The KLA approach to schooling marked a departure from an historical reliance on individualised school subjects as the organisers of disciplinary knowledge.  Indeed a KLA structure has the potential to promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning, a focus on the skills, values, attitudes and knowledge students are to learn and to break away from the sometimes divisive subject subcultures that permiate schools.  In short the potential for a KLA 'movement' of positive benefit to teaching and learning exists.

Over the last decade however, the impact of the 'KLA movement' on teacher practice has become more apparent.  Far from being a force for pedagogical change, some KLAs are merely re-badged versions of traditionalist conceptions of school subject and knowledge.  This paper draws on data from a study of New South Wales (NSW) history and Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) teachers and provides an evidenced argument about the use and misuse of Key Learning Areas.

Internal and external imagery perspective measurement and use in imagining open and closed sport skills: an exploratory study

This study explored the measurement and use of internal and external imagery perspectives during imagery of open and closed sports skills. Participants  (N=41; male=23; female = 18), ages 14 to 28 (M=19.4 yr.; sD=3.1), who were recruited from undergraduate classes in human movement and physical education, and local sporting teams, completed the Imagery Use Questionnaire and then imagined performing eight common sports skills, four open skills and four closed skills, in a random order. Participants provided concurrent verbalisation during their imagery. Immediately after imagining each skill, participants completed a rating scale and retrospective verbalisation of imagery perspective use. Analysis indicated that the questionnaire gave a general imagery perspective preference but was not a strong predictor of imagery used on specific occasions. The three measures of imagery perspective were equivalent in imagining performing particular skills. Participants experienced more internal imagery than external imagery while imagining the eight sports skills, but there was no significant difference between perspective use on the open and closed skills.

Visual discrimination and reproduction of movement by individuals with an intellectual disability

This study investigates the capacity of individuals with an intellectual disability to make accurate discriminations of computer-generated displays and also to reproduce the characteristics of those displays. The findings suggest that the learning of everyday motor skills in this population may be hampered by difficulties in visually perceiving important characteristics of the demonstration. Procedures, employed for teaching these skills to intellectually disabled, are being reassessed in the light of these findings.

On a clear day you can see forever : integrating values and skills in sex offender treatment

The topic of sex offender rehabilitation frequently evokes fierce reactions, ranging from strident demands for harsher sentences contrasted with calls for more imaginative and compassionate sentencing options. There seems to be a polarization of positions centred on the question of offenders' moral standing: are they moral strangers or fellow travellers? This fundamental disagreement about offenders' moral status is at the core of a number of independent, although related current practice and research issues confronting the field, namely: (1) risk management versus strength-based treatment approaches; (2) the utility of utilizing individually tailored versus manual-based programmes for offenders; (3) focusing on the technical aspects or therapy as opposed to relationship and therapist factors (what has been called process issues); and (4) the conflict between protecting the community versus promoting the interests of offenders. In this paper I suggest that an approach to sex offender treatment based on a combination of human rights theory (an ethical resource) and strengths-based approaches can help us navigate our way through the above dilemmas in a way that addressees both the needs of offenders and those of the community.

Influencing health equity : role of the effective consumer scale in measuring skills and abilities in a middle income country

The 2008 World Health Report emphasizes the need for patient-centered primary care service delivery models in which patients are equal partners in the planning and management of their health. It is argued that this involvement will lead to improved management of disease, improved health outcomes and patient satisfaction, better informed decision-making, increased compliance with healthcare decisions, and better resource utilization. This article investigates the domains captured by the Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17) in relation to vulnerable population groups that experience health inequity. Particular focus is paid to the domain of health literacy as an area fundamental to patients’ involvement in managing their condition and negotiating the healthcare system. In examining the possible influence of Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) on health equity, we used the recent translation and validation of the EC-17 scale into Spanish and tested Argentina as an example. Future plans to use the EC-17 with vulnerable groups include formal collaboration and needs assessment with the community to tailor an intervention to meet its needs in a culturally relevant manner. Some systematic reviews have questioned whether interventions to improve effective consumer skills are appropriate in vulnerable populations. We propose that these populations may have the most to gain from such interventions since they might be expected to have relatively lower skills and health literacy than other groups.

Movement patterns of green turtles in Brazilian coastal waters described by satellite tracking and flipper tagging

The movements of 8 green turtles Chelonia mydas in Brazilian coastal waters were tracked using transmitters linked to the Argos system for periods of between 1 and 197 d. These were the first tracking data gathered on juveniles of this species in this important foraging ground. Information was integrated with that collected over a decade using traditional flipper-tagging methods at the same site. Both satellite telemetry and flipper tagging suggested that turtles undertook 1 of 3 general patterns of behaviour: pronounced long range movements (>100 km), moderate range movements (<100 km) or extended residence very close to the capture/release site. There seemed to be a general tendency for the turtles recaptured/tracked further afield to have been among the larger turtles captured. Satellite tracking of 5 turtles which moved from the release site showed that they moved through coastal waters; a factor which is likely to predispose migrating turtles to incidental capture as a result of the prevailing fishing methods in the region. The movements of the 3 turtles who travelled less than 100 km from the release site challenge previous ideas relating to home range in green turtles feeding in sea grass pastures. We hypothesise that there may be a fundamental difference in the pattern of habitat utilisation by larger green turtles depending on whether they are feeding on seagrass or macroalgae. Extended tracking of 2 small turtles which stayed near the release point showed that small juvenile turtles, whilst in residence in a particular feeding ground, can also exhibit high levels of site-fidelity with home ranges of the order of several square kilometers.

Measurement error causes scale-dependent threshold erosion of biological signals in animal movement data

Recent advances in telemetry technology have created a wealth of tracking data available for many animal species moving over spatial scales from tens of meters to tens of thousands of kilometers. Increasingly, such data sets are being used for quantitative movement analyses aimed at extracting fundamental biological signals such as optimal searching behavior and scale-dependent foraging decisions. We show here that the location error inherent in various tracking technologies reduces the ability to detect patterns of behavior within movements. Our analyses endeavored to set out a series of initial ground rules for ecologists to help ensure that sampling noise is not misinterpreted as a real biological signal. We simulated animal movement tracks using specialized random walks known as Lévy flights at three spatial scales of investigation: 100-km, 10-km, and 1-km maximum daily step lengths. The locations generated in the simulations were then blurred using known error distributions associated with commonly applied tracking methods: the Global Positioning System (GPS), Argos polar-orbiting satellites, and light-level geolocation. Deviations from the idealized Lévy flight pattern were assessed for each track after incrementing levels of location error were applied at each spatial scale, with additional assessments of the effect of error on scale-dependent movement patterns measured using fractal mean dimension and first-passage time (FPT) analyses. The accuracy of parameter estimation (Lévy μ, fractal mean D, and variance in FPT) declined precipitously at threshold errors relative to each spatial scale. At 100-km maximum daily step lengths, error standard deviations of ≥10 km seriously eroded the biological patterns evident in the simulated tracks, with analogous thresholds at the 10-km and 1-km scales (error SD ≥ 1.3 km and 0.07 km, respectively). Temporal subsampling of the simulated tracks maintained some elements of the biological signals depending on error level and spatial scale. Failure to account for large errors relative to the scale of movement can produce substantial biases in the interpretation of movement patterns. This study provides researchers with a framework for understanding the limitations of their data and identifies how temporal subsampling can help to reduce the influence of spatial error on their conclusions.

Viewpoints, creativity and embodied learning : developing perceptual and kinaesthetic skills in non-dancers studying undergraduate university drama

Viewpoints are a structural approach to training and directing for theatre. Originating from the innovative, inventive and exploratory approach of Mary Overlie and the self- confessed scavenger approach of Anne Bogart, Viewpoints offers a practical philosophy of working. As a training approach it begins with a disciplined engagement  of the body in space and time. The tangible elements of the Viewpoints provide a set of tasks on which the student can focus, thus freeing the imagination and spirit to  create. Yet at the same time the systematic logic of Viewpoints supports novice practitioners to begin to question their perception, invest in creative practice that demands action and exploration, and to deconstruct, re-organise and rebuild scores and sequences in the pursuit of theatre that is visceral and visual. This essay reports on undergraduate student experiences of learning Viewpoints. It interrogates the demands of embodied learning of the movement/structural system on non- ancers and examines student-actor experiences of embodied learning from multiple of subject positions – observer/participant/creator/reflector/actor.  

Mind and movement

Mind and Movement is a brand new choreographic resource from Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, designed to develop students' personal imagination skills in order to enhance the creation of new and original dance movement.

Why has the safety and quality movement been slow to improve care?

Buist and Middleton lament that the safety and quality 'agenda' has failed to fundamentally alter the safety of healthcare systems, in part because of the disengagement of doctors from their responsibilities for patient safety . While there have been discernable improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of care in some settings, patients still experience unacceptable harm and often struggle to have their voices heard; processes are not as efficient as they could be; and costs continue to rise at alarming rates while quality issues remain . Perhaps of most concern, recent public reports into health system failures continue to document a widespread lack of attentiveness to patient concerns, a culture of denial and widespread lack of professionalism . Alarmingly, clinician discontentment, cynicism and burn-out are reflected in antagonistic language by clinicians about the healthcare system and their patients. Taken together with the many dissatisfied and now more vocal patient groups, all point to an unprecedented crisis of faith in our healthcare systems which has been getting worse over past decade . This personal perspective aims to address the fundamental tensions that are keeping much of healthcare reform efforts from successfully transforming the culture and outcomes except at the margins.

A simple microfluidic chip design for fundamental bioseparation

A microchip pressure-driven liquid chromatographic system with a packed column has been designed and fabricated by using poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The liquid chromatographic column was packed with mesoporous silica beads of Ia3d space group. Separation of dyes and biopolymers was carried out to verify the performance of the chip. A mixture of dyes (fluorescein and rhodamine B) and a biopolymer mixture (10 kDa Dextran and 66 kDa BSA) were separated and the fluorescence technique was employed to detect the movement of the molecules. Fluorescein molecule was a nonretained species and rhodamine B was attached onto silica surface when dye mixture in deionized water was injected into the microchannel. The retention times for dextran molecule and BSA molecule in biopolymer separation experiment were 45 s and 120 s, respectively. Retention factor was estimated to be 3.3 for dextran and 10.4 for BSA. The selectivity was 3.2 and resolution was 10.7. Good separation of dyes and biopolymers was achieved and the chip design was verified.