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We develop a Bayesian approach for modeling brain activation and connectivity from functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) data. Our approach simultaneously estimates local hemodynamic response functions (HRFs) and activation parameters, as well as global effective and functional connectivity parameters. Existing methods assume identical HRFs across brain regions, which may lead to erroneous conclusions in inferring activation and connectivity patterns. Our approach addresses this limitation by estimating region-specific HRFs. Additionally, it enables neuroscientists to compare effective connectivity networks for different experimental conditions. Furthermore, the use of spike and slab priors on the connectivity parameters allows us to directly select significant effective connectivities in a given network.

We include a simulation study that demonstrates that, compared to the standard generalized linear model (GLM) approach, our model generally has higher power and lower type I error and bias than the GLM approach, and it also has the ability to capture condition-specific connectivities. We applied our approach to a dataset from a stroke study and found different effective connectivity patterns for task and rest conditions in certain brain regions of interest (ROIs).

Many psychologists posit that intrinsic motivation generated by personal interest and spontaneous satisfactions is qualitatively different from extrinsic motivation generated by external rewards. However, the contemporary neural understanding of human motivation has been developed almost exclusively based on the neural mechanisms of extrinsic motivation. In neuroscience studies on extrinsic motivation, striatum activity has been consistently observed as the core neural system related to human motivation. Recently, a few studies have started examining the neural system behind intrinsic motivation. Though these studies have found that striatum activity is crucial for the generation of intrinsic motivation, the unique neural basis of intrinsic motivation has not yet been fully identified. I suggest that insular cortex activity, known to be related to intrinsic enjoyment and satisfaction, is a unique neural component of intrinsic motivation. In this chapter, I addressed the theoretical background to and empirical evidence for this postulation.

This chapter discusses children’s imaginative play and literacy practices as mediated by mobile digital technologies and media. In this chapter, drawing on sociocultural theory and the notion of dynamic literacies, we consider how digital technologies including mobile technologies interact and potentially expand children’s imaginative play, leading to dynamic literacy practices and learning opportunities. Based on this understanding, we will propose some pedagogical principles that can be applied to play-based early childhood education in support of young children’s creative thinking, storytelling and dynamic literacy practices, both indoors and outdoors.

Motivation significantly influences learning and memory. While a long history of research has focused on simple forms of associative learning, such as Pavlovian conditioning, recent research is beginning to characterize how motivation influences episodic memory. In this chapter we synthesize findings across behavioral, cognitive, and educational neuroscience to characterize motivation’s influence on memory. We provide evidence that neural systems underlying motivation, namely the mesolimbic dopamine system, interact with and facilitate activity within systems underlying episodic memory, centered on the medial temporal lobes. We focus on two mechanisms of episodic memory enhancement: encoding and consolidation. Together, the reviewed research supports an adaptive model of memory in which an individual’s motivational state (i.e., learning under states of reward or punishment) shapes the nature of memory representations in service of future goals. The impact of motivation on learning and memory, therefore, has very clear implications for and applications to educational settings.

The most important advance in system design is the development of modeling and simulation methods to predict complex performance before prototypes are developed. New systems are developed in a spiraling approach; as more is learned about the system, design changes are proposed and evaluated. This approach allows the engineering team to “spin out” early versions of the system for preliminary evaluation, permitting changes to be made to the system design without incurring unacceptable cost. Because of the complexity of human performance, current modeling techniques provide only a first approximation. However, it has been demonstrated that even simple, inexpensive modeling approaches are useful in uncovering workload and performance problems related to developing systems (Barnes & Beevis, 2003). More important, these models can serve as the basis for operator simulation experiments that verify and also calibrate the original models. Furthermore, early field tests and system of systems demonstrations that can validate these results under actual conditions are becoming an increasingly significant part of the early design process. Fig. 1 illustrates this interdependence indicating a spiraling process throughout the design starting with simple predictive methods and progressing to more expensive validation methods. These iterations should continue until most of the soldier's variance is accounted for, and before any formal soldier testing is conducted. Fig. 1 presents the ideal combination of techniques; not all systems can be evaluated this thoroughly but more cost-effective modeling and simulation tools combined with realistic field exercises should make this approach more the norm as future unmanned systems are developed (Barnes & Beevis, 2003). In the remainder of this chapter, several case studies are presented to illustrate how the techniques in Fig. 1 have been applied in UAV programs.

Capital increasingly takes the form of intangible assets, especially trademarked corporate brands. Further, contemporary capitalism increasingly accumulates through commodification of iconic cultural images and legendary narratives constituting a “second enclosure movement” (Boyle, 2008). This paper develops a critical theory of brands, branding, and brand management within economies of spectacle.

A case study of the consumer culture surrounding large displacement motorcycling is used to critique the central premise of consumer culture theory (marketing professionals create brands that become valuable icons) and develop an alternative view using concepts from critical theory, especially spectacle (Debord, 1967) and culture industry (Adorno, 1991).

After initial enclosure, legends were managed by Crossmarketing Licensing Networks (CMLN), coalitions of corporate and state actors, each possessing a piece of the legendary pie. The Sturgis CMLN was organized into two political divisions, rally profiteers and civic leaders, with overlapping but differentiated interests and approaches to the management of the Sturgis legend. The CMLN intervened in the cultural commons to overcome legendary degradations (banality, incoherence, undesirability) surrounding the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Brands are capitalized culture created by enclosures, a form of primitive accumulation. Under current conditions of immaterial production, CMLN’s engage in ongoing cultural production to maintain the capitalized value of their brands. Brands are not only hunted in the wilds of culture, but also increasingly domesticated and fattened when herded through legendary commons.

This chapter examines the role of corporate image-making in the everyday life of organizations and its contribution to the mundane reproduction of discrimination. With British Airways as an example, it is argued that images found in corporate materials reflect the organization’s construction of “male” and “female,” “white” and “non-white,” in distinct ways. Further, these images have profound consequences for the ways in which employees visualize themselves, their colleagues and their subordinates. This chapter also shows how organizational images can restrict diversity by identifying certain organizational roles and positions with specific demographic characteristics. It is suggested that (a) these various images have sanctioned and encouraged certain types of “male”/female,” “white”/“nonwhite” behavior, and implicitly prohibited others and (b) these images can be linked to the exclusion of women and people of color from positions of power, authority, and prestige within the airline industry.